Chapter 2: Dewpoint
The inside of his head must have looked like one of the fireworks displays at the Vytal Festival. Random memories, thoughts and dreams flashed before his eyes in seconds. The events of the past few hours, no, days were being translated… organized perhaps… into something of a living nightmare. Very little of it mattered, even in the least. Right now, Jaune was shaking… uncontrollably. Legs trembling and mind completely overloaded, he dropped back to a kneel, arms hanging lax at his sides. The only thing he could think about was the only thing that he cared about right now. Pyrrha.
That moment. The one single moment that had confounded Jaune to the point of verbal and physical paralysis. It was the culmination of every single interaction between the two. The invincible girl, Pyrrha Nikos and… Jaune Arc. Together, as one. For no more time than was necessary to communicate her inexplicable adulation to him. In his mind, it was a brief eternity... The shame of it was that all he could manage in return was a stunned "Hey!" as he was shoved into the rocket locker. His pleas for Pyrrha to reconsider… to take on this challenge together... went unheeded. The last thing he saw… her deep green eyes meeting his own through the unforgiving coldness of the metal prison that would preserve his life.
Jaune's head darted to his right. For a moment there was hope! "The locker! I can go back. I won't be the damsel in distress. NOT. AGAIN." Just as quickly as he summoned the strength to move, it left him again. The locker was a wreck. Structurally, it looked fine, but it was never intended to carry a person, especially not an ironclad warrior. Smoke still puffed intermittently from the base of the machine. The illuminated keypad on the door's exterior was dark, and shot a spark at Jaune, mocking him, as if to say "There's nothing you can do. Just give up."
The fog that had previously incapacitated his mind now took on a new, equally debilitating form. Condensation. The tiny droplets welling in his eyes returned his vision to a blur. But his expression wasn't one of sadness. Anger and helplessness gave way to frustration and fragmented thoughts. What was Professor Ozpin trying to do in that basement? Why did Ozpin send them away? What had even happened to Ozpin? What was Pyrrha trying change by staying to fight? There was no reason she had to send Jaune away. He could have called Professor Good...witch… from… "SCROLL."
In the seconds it took him to rifle through his pocket in search of his scroll, Jaune began to weigh every option he had. Calling Glynda wouldn't do any good. She was… somewhere… but without knowing exactly where, it was too much of a gamble. "What about Ren? Nora?" he contemplated. "No, no, no…" The last time he'd seen the rest of his team, he explicitly told them to keep fighting. If they were engaged with the Grimm, White Fang or any of those giant mech soldiers… they wouldn't even have time to answer. Calling Pyrrha directly was a fool's errand. Jaune knew what her intentions were, even if he didn't fully understand them.
With the options on his own team depleted, his considerations shifted to team RWBY. He hadn't seen Ruby since she lept off of the transport ship at Amity Coliseum. Weiss and Blake had gone for coffee, or maybe it was tea… but that was in the early afternoon. And Yang? Who knew anything about Yang? She could still be effectively under house arrest in her dorm. Outside of RWBY, Jaune's options became very limited, and quite frankly... he couldn't afford to waste another moment searching through his contact list. "Ruby. It has to be Ruby." Hands still shaking, He touched the call button on his scroll, and heard it begin to ring.
"No one moves as fast as her, and she's always been there for me, for… everyone really." he thought. It was true, Ruby was always there to save the day. She trusted Jaune enough that he was her first call on many occasions in the past. "And...I mean, she charged that Nevermore without a second thought. Didn't even have her own weapon with-"
"I'm sorry, your call could not be completed, the number you are trying to reach is currently out of service." Those words hurt him more than they should have, but Jaune didn't have time to try to consider why Ruby's scroll was out of service. "OH, COME ON!" he shouted at the device. "I'M SORRY? REALLY?!" Anger gave way to despair. These passing moments could determine the fate of his closest friend, his mentor, and the girl whose life he cherished more than anything else in the world right now. Just the thought of something happening to Pyrrha brought more tears to his eyes, and more focus to his resolve.
With one hand, Jaune wiped the condensation from his eyes as he simultaneously, and automatically, pressed the next name listed in his scroll.
Slowing from a sprint, Weiss quickly retrieved her ringing scroll from it's place on her belt. "It's Jaune!", she exclaimed, stopping her search to answer the call. She had been scouring the grounds at Beacon for the two missing members of team JNPR, but now she decided it would be prudent to just ask, "Where are you-"
"Weiss! PLEASE, you have to stop her."
"What-", she sputtered. It was the only word she was able to get out before Jaune's patience, and time ran out. Weiss had absolutely no idea about any of what Jaune and Pyrrha had seen and been through that night, and right now Jaune had no time to explain it. He interjected.
"PYRRHA! She's going after that woman. A-at the top of the tower. She doesn't stand a chance!"
A quick glance to the right was all Weiss needed to confirm her location. The CCT Tower was impossible to miss. But this conversation didn't make any sense to her. Wasn't Jaune with Pyrrha? What woman? And did he actually mean that there's someone who could completely overwhelm Pyrrha in a fight? She had to try to get answers. "Jaune, what are you talking about? Where are you?"
"DON'T WORRY ABOUT ME.." he stammered. The outburst clearly caught Weiss off-guard. This was serious. The tremble in his voice meant something was very wrong. Jaune was never so blunt, so direct. He was always polite and jovial... hopelessly awkward... but an upstanding guy nonetheless. "Please…" he begged, battling back the tears, "You have to save Pyrrha…" It was the only thing he could think to say to communicate the gravity of the situation to Weiss.
"We will. Are you okay?" It was clear that Weiss and Jaune had come a long way since first meeting on their first day at Beacon. She showed a legitimate concern for his well-being. But knowing what he knew, that just wasn't good enough. Through no fault of her own, Weiss had become so selfless that it hurt Jaune in ways he couldn't even begin to articulate.
"AAAAAHHH..." was the only sound he could manage. It was an instinctive scream, at the top of his lungs. Unable to do anything more to help, and in a blur of mixed emotions and tears, he pitched his scroll down to the street in front of him. The sound of shattering glass, a cruel parallel to his own level of composure.