Chapter 18 – Night of the Living Dead

WARNING!

The following chapter contains a torture part of the story which may find readers uneasy... maybe... I'm not that good at choosing the right words that fits, considering I've never done one. You've been warned...

"Jaune… Jay could already be… dead." Blake said.

"It will take you about 3 hours just to make it to Jay's location and by the time you reach him… it could already be too late."

"Blake is right. The best thing we can do now is work together here and stop Adam's plan before things go horribly wrong." Weiss said.

"The mission at hand should always come first That's one of the things that is very important when you are a Huntsman." Winter said.

"Are you guys insane! He could still be alive if we get there as soon as possible Jaune!" Yang was heard yelling through the phone.

"Yang is right, we can still save Jay. There could be a sliver of chance that Jay could still be alive. You just have to trust him, he can't easily be beaten… you know that." Ruby said.

"Do what you think is the best choice for yourself Jaune." Amber said. Jaune had no choice, but to choose the logical choice. Thousands of lives for a single life or sacrifice that life for the thousands that could be saved.

"Yang… Blake and Weiss are right. There would be no reason why they would keep Jay alive and it would be make things complicated for them if they kept him around." Jaune said. He finally made up his mind and decided to stay here with the rest of the team to finish the job at hand.

"You guys are willing to sacrifice a friend who is need of help for a job that can be divided!? Are you all fucked in the head!?" Yang yelled through the phone as her voice startled everyone listening.

"Just stay there and wait for us to come back. We'll go…" Jaune was cut off by Yang's rage.

"I'm not staying anywhere! I'm going to Vacuo to save Jay! I'm not going to be like you, Blake, or Weiss… making the mission more important than your friends. If it was me that was captured… would you all agree to the same exact thing?" Everyone stood in silence and looked at each other. Neither one would ever think to leave a Yang behind considering they have been close friends since arriving to Beacon, but Jaune's thoughts were the opposite.

"If the mission determined how many lives were in stake, I would make it more important than my friends. I now know that the world isn't only about me or my friends. There are tough decisions that I am going to need to make in order to bring about a more peaceful world. I'm sorry Jay, but this is the only thing that I can do that would make up for my decision." Even though these words went through his head, he can stop to think the connection he had with Jay. Jaune, Jay, and Ren became close friends to the point of considering one another as a brother and overtime, they enjoyed each other's company whenever they met up somewhere. They would constantly go out to the city and have a good time. However, this happened before Jaune was told about the mission he was on. He had completely forgotten about his revenge on the people who attacked Beacon. He was considering about Ruby's desire to be with him at his side, but the mission that he was tasked brought back all those deep dark emotions he once had during and after the incident. He no longer was the same student who first came to Beacon or the same student that forgot about the tragic moment in his life.

"I'm leaving to find Jay. If I'm the only one who is going, so be it." Yang said, ending the phone call with Jaune before he could respond.

"We can't let her go by herself." Blake said.

"I'll call Ren and tell him what happened and make sure he keeps her from leaving. For the meantime, Amber… you should call Ozpin and ask him what we should do about Adam's plan here." Jaune said. Jaune called Ren and told him what happened and he agreed to prevent Yang from going anywhere. Amber called Ozpin and told him what they discovered here at Mistral. Ozpin was now worried that this could ultimately cause a full scaled war amongst the kingdoms. He tasked the teams to stop the plan at all cost and to bring Adam alive. This was something Jaune didn't want to do. He wanted to kill Adam to make sure he wouldn't cause problems in the future, but all he can do now is nod his head in agreement.

"Torchwick, I suggest we come up with some sort of plan if we want to get into the structure without tripping any alarms." Jaune said.

"Neo can take out the security guards that are watching through the surveillance cameras since she can easily teleport inside."

"That's great, but don't kill anyone Neo… got it?" Neo made a gesture that allowed Jaune to understand that she will do as he asks.

"Well I already formed a plan that will guarantee our victory. This is what I came up with…" Torchwick said as he begun to explain what he had in mind. Everyone came to an agreement on their roles. Jaune immediately called Roy to tell him that they will no longer need someone to be in charge of the surveillance cameras since Neo had it covered. This allowed him to start the operation and meet outside the facility. An hour later after preparations they met outside the facility in the outskirts of Mistral. They went over the plan once more and started the operation. Roy pulled out a blueprint of the facility's structure and marked each area that had a camera with a marker. This allowed Neo to teleport to the camera's blind spots to avoid detection. Roy then marked the direction in which Amber, Jaune, Blake and Ruby would enter from in order to get inside the facility and look for anything that seems out of the ordinary. Winter, Weiss, Torchwick and Roy would then enter from the opposite side of the facility and enter through an elevator inside that they can use to get to the top floors and check each level out. Sun and Neptune stuck together and decided to look around the premises for anyone that might have not been knocked out unconscious. Everyone was given an earpiece to talk to one another and entered the premises with caution. Neo teleported her way towards the security room where it was thought to have visual on every surveillance camera from both inside and out of the structure. Luckily the room did indeed have the visual of all the cameras and made it simple for Neo to take out the guards.

"There should only be a few people left that are inside or outside the facility. Neptune and Sun keep your eyes peeled for anybody that are roaming around outside. The last thing we need is for the authorities to get involved." Amber said.

"No problem. Neptune and I have things covered here." Sun said. Amber looked back at Jaune and noticed he had a puzzled look on his face.

"What's the matter Jaune?"

"I learned to be able to sense people's aura from a one mile radius, but I can't sense anyone inside the facility and outside it."

"It seems you still need practice huh." Amber moved ahead while Jaune stopped for a second to think, but brushed it off.

"This is Winter, we've entered the facility and are now heading towards the 2nd floor. It appears that there are 2 bottom floors as well Amber. Should I split the team in two in order to cover more ground?" Winter asked.

"No, stay together, we have that covered. Just make sure everything from the top floor is cleared from suspicion.

The Familiar Face

Two Days Earlier…

"Are you sure you want to do this?" Yang asked.

"I have to. This is the only way I can return back to my normal life. I can't stop to think that Rhett is still out there torturing other victims when I have the opportunity to end it. I would have asked the others to come along, but they already have something to worry about in Mistral." Jay said.

"Let me at least go with you. We both have been training our best and there is doubt that I am strong as you. We both would have a bigger chance of winning this together."

"I want to take you Yang, I really do, but if something were to happen to you there's no telling what Ruby, Blake, Weiss, and Qrow would do to me."

"It doesn't matter. I don't want something to happen to you." Jay placed his hand on the back of Yang's head and pulled it towards him. Both were staring at each other's eyes which made them forget about the dangerous aspects that the trip will have.

"When I come back, I'll take you to that new ice cream store they opened by the ports." Jay said. Yang smiled and agreed to his offer as he pulled away from her forehead. Yang watched as Jay headed towards the city and took one last look at Yang which could potentially be the last time he will ever see her again.

One Day later…

*RING* *RING* RING* Jay's phone began to ring and this time it was Yang calling. Her picture appeared in front of his phone to signify who was calling.

"Who's the girl? You didn't tell me you fell in love with someone else." A familiar voice asked from the shadows of an old unkempt room that had a single window in it and had both old and fresh bloodstains. It was dark out and the only light shining that Jay had that allowed him to see was the one above him. Jay had his ankles tied together and his body tied down to a chair as well as handcuffed behind the chair. His face had cuts and bruises which showed signs of abuse, but he was still wide awake and witness what could possibly be the beginning of his never ending nightmare.

"Shut up Rhett! I'll make sure to kill you the slowest way possible!" Jay yelled as he tried to force his way out of the ropes and handcuffs, but it was useless.

"Calm down Jay. You are in no position to make threats considering the state you are in." Rhett swung his arm hitting Jay right across the face.

"Trying to remove these handcuffs with pure strength alone won't work. You see, the handcuff prevents any person to use their aura, but of course you should already know, since these are the same ones that your family created for Atlas many decades ago." Rhett said as he walked around the angered student who would be unable to defend himself from Rhett's attacks.

"What… Just what the hell do you want!? You torture innocent people for your own sick pleasure so why the hell would you be working for Adam and Torchwick? What's in it for you!?"

"You and your girlfriend really have something in common… you just don't like to shut up huh?" Rhett asked as he chuckled from something he remembered.

"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE TALK ABOUT HER AS IF YOU EVEN KNEW HER!" Jay yelled. He begun to use every ounce of strength he had to force his way out the ropes and handcuff, but all he manage to do is fall to the side along with the wooden chair.

"Oh please James there is nothing you can do. Just like a year ago when you couldn't save your team and the person you loved."

"SHUT UP! JUST SHUT THE HELL UP!" Rhett went down to the floor and whispered to him.

"Do you want to know what happened to them? I mean do you know what I did to them?"

"Don't… I'm begging you don't." Jay couldn't cover his ears from what Rhett was about to tell him. Rhett got back to his feet and wiped off the dirt off his knees.

"Well of course I started with your friend uh… what was his name… oh yeah, Dustin which by the way was a real smart ass. I made sure that girl uh… Ash I think her name was and his brother Ecru watched as I went to town on him. Now I started off by bashing him with a metal rod that was lying around. Now before I go deeper into that, you mentioned that I torture people for the sick pleasure of it. Now that's really not the case. I find it amusing how people tend to show their true colors once they are staring at the face of death. I guess that's one of the many reasons why preferred to do research that involves live test subjects. Now… let's go back to your teammate Dustin. After beating him for quite a while, I began to slash deep into his arms and legs making sure he was awake to feel the pain. I smacked him once more with the metal rod and that made him fall to the floor. I sat him back up to his chair and he was unconscious, but still breathing. His brother was really upset of what I was doing to him so I asked him… "What's with the long face? You should smile more often. It really helps you when you are feeling down buddy. " I grabbed my knife and I sliced the sides of his lips to form a smile." Jay at this point had his eyes closed and tried so hard to avoid listening to his gruesome story, but it was impossible to not listen.

"Of course I did all this for one sole purpose and that is to find that special person that had that special requirement, but he wasn't there Jay. I was already short in time so I grabbed my knife and stabbed that kid Dustin right in the heart, killing him instantly. Your girlfriend uh…. Ash? I think that was her name, began screaming for help. No one came of course so I grabbed the metal rod and swung it towards her stomach and chest repeatedly. She started coughing out blood and that made her stop crying and screaming like an annoying dog." Jay's eyes widened and it was filled with rage and no longer had control over his emotions and tried again to force his way out of his imprisonment.

"I thought I told you it was useless!" Rhett yelled as he begun to beat Jay repeatedly until he stopped struggling which he did minutes later. Jay was now covered with his own blood in his face and fractured bones all over his body.

"Now… where was I? Oh yeah… your girlfriend Ash. Well, when I killed your buddy Ecru, I could have sworn she said something about someone named Jay will kill me. Of course I asked her to speak up since the blood that she was coughing up was impairing her voice. She repeated the same thing again and I just laughed at what she said." Rhett had begun to laugh hysterically and all Jay could do was just watch.

"She told me that you were going to kill me. ME! HA! But the look on her eyes… her eyes intrigued me. Those eyes of her really gave me the impression that she was telling the truth. She honestly believed that to be 100 percent true. She believed you would come and kill me! I didn't believe at first, but when I heard your name back at Roland… when your friends tried to stop all of us, SHE WAS RIGHT! To think that would end up being true… well sort of. When she continued babbling about you killing me, I turned around I stab her in the throat and stared… straight into her eyes and do you want to guess what I said? I said… "Try saying that again." Rhett stared at Jay to see his reaction and the expression he got was what he had hoped to see. Jay's face was horrified and had tears streaming down his eyes. A man with a mask came in and informed Rhett about something that Jay couldn't hear quite well. The man exited the room and Rhett sighed which was a sign of someone displeased.

"Well it seems like something came up and story time will need to wait. I am needed at the moment, but I'm sure you'll be a good boy and not cause trouble here. I'll be back in a jiffy so don't you go anywhere." Rhett walked out of the room and locked the metal door from the outside and left. All Jay can do now is to wait and think of a way out. Jay looked around the room to find any cameras that could possibly be observing him and luckily there weren't any. Hours went by and Jay still wasn't able to get out from the ropes and handcuff, however, Jay noticed that every 2 hours someone would come in to the room to check on him so Jay took this to account every time he attempted to remove his restraints.

The Next Day…

The next day arrived and Rhett hasn't returned and Jay managed to come up with a plan to remove his restraints. Inside his boot was a lock pick that he would always take with him in case of situations like this come up, but the problem is… how to grab it. Jay had been cutting the rope from behind using a small sharp object on the back of his pants that he managed to pull out. He has been cutting the rope since the day before and he managed to finally cut it loose. He got up from the chair and fell down to the floor due to the severe beating he received from Rhett. Luckily for Jay, no one heard him fall and he continued on trying to remove the remaining restraints he still had. Jay rolled back and managed to lower his hands underneath the back of his legs and feet in order for him to comfortably untie himself then grab the lock pick inside his boot. He grabbed the lock pick and begun to pick the handcuffs. It took several minutes, but he managed to do it and slowly get back onto his feet. He stumbled his way towards the metal door in order to escape, but it was locked. He looked towards the window and knew he could easily escape, but he had to find anything in the structure that could possibly reveal what Rhett is planning with Adam.

"20, 19, 18, 17…" Jay continued counting down and hid by the side of the metal door. Footsteps were heard coming and the door unlocked and a man walked into the room and noticed that Jay was gone. Jay quickly grabbed him and held him tightly by the neck, choking him so that he wouldn't yell for help. He loosened his grip and asked the man a series of questions.

"If you don't tell me what Rhett is planning I will be sure to snap your neck before you can even try to call for help."

"I-I-I don't know anything man. If you want answers, you can go to the room that is located in the end of the hallway to the left. That is where most of the planning goes on."

"How many people are inside the building?"

"I-I think it's about 15. Most of them are outside patrolling while a few are here inside."

"… alright then."

"P-Please don't kill me. I have a family to take care of. I needed the money plea… *Snap*" Jay had snapped the man's neck before he couldn't finish his sentence.

"This world doesn't need people like you." Jay said as he picked up the body and placed it onto the chair to make it seem as though Jay had never left.

An Hour Later…

"I'm on the east side of Vacuo! By the Ridgewell area! Rhett and Adam are planning to-!" A grenade detonated by Jay, but he managed to make himself intangible. He was already low in aura so he couldn't make his phone intangible as well. The explosion knocked Jay's phone away and he couldn't go and grab it since many soldiers were running towards him. He ran to the opposite direction hoping he will find someone to help him, but found someone else who he couldn't believe to be there. He stopped and stared at the girl in front of him. He begun to breathe heavily as sweat dripped from his face. His mind couldn't believe what he was seeing. Was it a hallucination due to the loss of blood? Was it a figment of his imagination? Jay's pupils dilated and his body was shaking like an animal fearing for his life.

"Th-Th-That's not possible. You're supposed to be dead… you were dead."

"I died because you couldn't save me." The girl took a few steps ahead and stopped and pointed at him.

"Because you were and always will be too weak James."

"I-I-I'm sorry… Ash. I'm sorry I couldn't save you, but how… how are you alive!?"

"Like I'm going to tell you." Ash took her stance as she was about to attack Jay who was already tired and injured.

"This can't be real. This can't be real!"

"This is all real James and I'm going to show you what it feels like to wish you never met me." Ash ran towards Jay as he accepted the punishment he was about to receive for not being able to save her in time. Everything went dark when she punched Jay right across the face and he woke up to see him being dragged by Rhett.

"Where… where is she?"

"Who are you talking about boy?" Rhett asked.

"Ash…"

"I killed her remember?"

"I saw her… back in the woods."

"Is that what you did Emerald? You used your semblance to create an illusion of him seeing the girl he loved?" Jay looked behind him and saw a girl with emerald hair.

"Yeah. It was really pathetic the way he reacted, almost to the point where I felt bad for him."

"That's pretty cruel compared to me and people already think that I'm the devil itself." Rhett said as he slightly chuckled. Jay didn't know how to feel about what he saw. He wasn't sure if he was happy that it wasn't actually her who wanted to hurt Jay or sad that she wasn't actually alive.

"Where… where are you taking me?" Jay asked, barely managing to stay awake.

"We're going to Mistral of course. Your friends were seen over there and I can only guess that they're trying to stop thi plan of ours. We are going to show them what happens when they keep trying to stop us. They walked along a path that led to an open area by the sea. A helicopter was waiting there and from afar, Jay could see a grey haired boy who looked like the same age as Jay walk towards the group dragging a body from behind.

"So this is the girl that was causing trouble Mercury?" Rhett asked.

"Yeah she was a pretty difficult to fight compared to the Vytal festival match we had, but I managed… barely." Jay looked to see who the person was and saw long yellow hair. He couldn't get a clear look since everything seemed to be blurry and he was losing focus, but the only thought that could come to his mind was that it was Yang.

"No… let her go." Jay said as he tried to grab hold of Mercury's leg.

"Oh now I remember this girl. Isn't she the one who called you when I was about to share you the story? Things are getting more interesting by the second."

"What… what are you going to do?" Jay asked.

"Don't worry Jay, you'll see soon enough." Rhett said as he kicked the student unconscious.

The Return

"Jaune… what is this?" Ruby asked as they saw a massive reactor on the basement floor.

"I… I don't know. Whatever it is… it's something that definitely shouldn't be part of a medical facility." Jaune said. The ceilings of each floor above it had a round opening that reached all the way to the roof and what they were trying to figure out was the purpose of it. In the center of it was a black aura that looked like was being used as a catalyst.

"Roy… did you know about this reactor underneath the facility?" Jaune asked.

"No I didn't. I was arrested before I could even reach down there. What does it do exactly?"

"I don't know, but somethings feels familiar." Jaune looked at the contents inside it and froze for a few seconds.

"Jaune what's wrong?" Ruby asked.

"Th-that's…"

"That's the aura that will lay this kingdom to ruins!" A voice was heard in the shadows.

"A-Adam!" Blake yelled.

"No it can't be. He isn't supposed to be here just yet." Amber said.

"That's true, but I was informed by Rhett that a bunch of children intend to stop what I am planning to do and that is something that I cannot allow." Adam walked out of the shadow and snapped his fingers which summoned a large number of White Fang soldiers out of the shadows and rooms.

"There is no way Adam is supposed to be here. We still had a few more days to take out his plans, but why is he here early? Wait a minute… Is it possible that Jay told them where we went? He wouldn't just tell them unless… they were forcing him to by…" Jaune shook the dark thoughts out of his head and maintained his composure.

"No... that's not possible. I should have been able to sense all of the Faunus's aura." Jaune told the team.

"That's because this facility recently added a few adjustments which makes aura detection impossible to sense from inside and outside from the ground floors." Adam said.

"Neptune, Sun the White Fang expected us to be here. Go to Winter and make sure they are fine. The others and I can handle things down here." Jaune said over the earpiece quietly to avoid Adam from listening.

"Are you sure? Neptune can go topside and I can go help you."

"First go to Winter's team and if everything is fine you can join us over here, but you need to move now." Jaune conjured up his Dark aura and told the team to be ready.

"We already know what you are planning Adam and I can assure you it isn't going to work with me and Jaune here." Amber stated. Adam chuckled at the statement and gripped the handle of his Katana.

"If I didn't go along with the experiment, I would most likely lose in a confrontation like this, but unlike the last time when I fought that blonde kid… I will be the one that will be victorious."

"You're delusional Adam. Why do you continue doing this? Just stop while you still can. You can still achieve peace with humans if you stop forcing humans to accept Faunus through fear and violence." Blake said.

"No! You are wrong my darling, they can never accept us. The only way they can accept us is only if they are wiped off from the face of Remnant and that's what I plan to do!"

"Then I have no choice, but to stop you."

"You were once by my side Blake and when you left you betrayed not only me, but the Faunus across Remnant. I found someone else that believes in what we are going to do. How about you introduce yourself my dear?" The sound of footsteps were heard behind Jaune and the others and when they saw who it was, Jaune, Ruby and Blake could not believe what they were seeing.

"No no no no no no no… this can't be real… this can't be real." Jaune said as he took a step back from the direction he was facing.

"It is real Jaune." The girl said. Jaune, Ruby and Blake's body froze and time stopped for them which made it seem like they have been staring at the person for hours. Memories from the past flashed through their eyes.

"Pyrrha?"

Now there might be people who are upset of what I did towards the end or even in the middle since it was mostly about Jay. Well like I said before, there is a reason for all this occurring so bear with it if you can. As for the choice you were given before, Choice B won by 2 votes so this is road Jaune is going. I also want to apologize for not uploading a chapter last week. I had exams all week so I didn't have time to make one. I hope you enjoyed this chapter and stick around for a while longer.