A warm sensation flowed down Pyrrha's arm. A sticky, metallic odor flowed through the crimson forest as she stared into a sea of opal.

Drip. Drip.

Drops of water landed onto the Spartan's forearm, cleaning some of the blood off.

No, it wasn't water.

Pyrrha's eyes refocused, capturing the entire face of her target. Tears had streaked down Jaune's face, but he still managed a weak smile towards the girl he had held dearly for the past four years. For what seemed to be an eternity, they stayed there, still. Only the tears and the blood dripping on to the crimson grass flowed with time, everything else was still.

Pyrrha did not know how long they had stayed in that position when she felt a light touch onto her cheek. It was his hand, quivering and sticky.

Yet Pyrrha felt nothing but rage.

And rage burns bright.

"Jaune didn't do it Pyrrha! He didn't do it!"

But it also burns fast.

And in that instance, all of the fire inside her was extinguished. A hurricane blew through Pyrrha, blowing away all the flames and taking away all of the ashes that remained. A shiver ran down her spine and through her heart, as if she was bare naked, battered by the wind. She looked back at Jaune, trying to go back to that calm cerulean sea that were his eyes, where she always had found peace. Yet his eyes had already lost its luster, life seeping outwards.

No! No! NO! Pyrrha backed away from Jaune's body. In fear of the thought that shot through her. In fear of the truth. She wanted to run into the forest. Then she would wake up from this nightmare, and find her beloved leader sleeping peacefully in the bed next to her. But her feet were planted in to the ground.

The pilot of the bullhead along with the co-pilot quickly ran past her, carrying a stretcher and a small first aid kit. Ruby was already next to Jaune as they tried to remove Miló from Jaune, but they couldn't, it was too far imbedded into the tree. "Get the saw!" One of the personnel yelled at his colleague. He quickly turned to Ruby. "You, call the headmaster, we need a medivac now. He is already in shock." The pilot took one look at the Spartan and went back to trying to stop the bleeding.

Pyrrha was frozen. She desperately wanted to hide. She did not want to see the cold body of her crush, pinned against the tree. But she could not tear her eyes away from him.

'Take a good look at him,' Another side of her spat venomously, 'this is what you have done. How did it feel to drown in rage as he drowned in his own blood? Did it feel satisfying? You know this is what you spent the past 12 years preparing for right? That time with Penny? That was practice. This, now this is graduation day.'

'No! I am not…' Pyrrha desperately tried to argue against herself. She fell onto the ground as she pushed her face into her knees, trying to shut to world out.

The co-pilot again ran past her, this time with a small handsaw. The pilot propped Jaune upwards as he powered up the saw. Soon they started to cut through Miló.

'What? A monster?' Her other side continued to sneer at her. 'Of course you are. Why else would anyone train an eight-year-old to kill? What did you think? For slumber parties?'

As soon as they got Jaune off the tree, they moved him onto the stretcher. At this point Ruby also came back. "Ok, we are going to remove the blade from his body. But we must keep pressure on the wound. Do we have enough bandage?"

The co-pilot ran through the kit, "We should, but its barely enough." He took out a small roll of field dressing and started to unravel it.

"How long until the medivac arrive?"

"It just left the launch pad when I hung up. It should be here in a couple of minutes."

The pilot took a pocket knife out of his pocket and proceeded to cut open the boy's clothing, revealing a huge gash that ran from his shoulder through his chest. As the knife slid through the fabric, a small grey box jumped out of the right pocket in the hoodie. Ruby quickly picked it up and opened it. After discovering its contents, quickly hid it into her own pocket. Soon, a dropship with a big red cross painted on its bottom hull descended onto their position. Two paramedics rushed out with a bigger stretcher. They loaded Jaune on, and with only brief and succinct statements, slipped back into the medivac and took off, leaving the four that stayed on the ground.

The medivac was extremely cramped. Jaune laid on a makeshift operating table as the paramedics worked feverishly over him. They did everything they could to stabilize the poor boy, but the wound was too big for any sort of field dressing. The best they could do was to insert a tube to keep his lung inflated. They knew his heart was damaged and his spine was likely broken but there was little they could do. They temporarily stitched part of his shoulder together to stop the bleeding while transfusing packets of blood through a converted IV drip.

Ruby and a now incoherent Pyrrha to rode in the first bullhead because there was not enough room in the medivac. The girl did not know how to react to what she just witnessed. Four years of huntsman training prepared her to fight monsters without souls, not this. She could not face the champion who now huddled in one corner, crying her eyes out. The little reaper slowly moved closer to Pyrrha, putting her hand on the champion's shoulders. "He is going to be fine, Pyrrha. Jaune always pulls through. He always does."

Right now, even Ruby doubted her own words. The wound was terrifying. But she must stay strong. Her best friend will live through this. He has to. There are still things that she wanted to say to him. Things. A small tinge of jealousy appeared in her heart. Ruby's hands tightened around the small black box that was in her pocket. She saw what was inside. And almost hated the redhead in front of her for it.

She doesn't even want it! Just look at what she has done to Jaune! But deep inside and right in front of her, Ruby knew that was not the case.

AN: Another short chapter. I wanted to have an ending point for the first act before I start the next section, which will probably be longer chapters (3-6k words/chapter). This story will have similar background to Kingdom of Crescent Dawn in the sense that Jaune is a part of a 'Royal/powerful' family, although the fight for independence part will probably be excluded. Obviously, no asshole/SOB/rapey/edgy younger brother (which was on purpose btw, for all of those that read it and was disgusted by Jace. You are NOT supposed to like him). Any suggestions and ideas welcome. Starting from now, since school is over for me, I am willing to take commissions for fanfics. It doesn't have to be RWBY, but I reserve the right to accept or decline a commission.

Oh, btw, I decided to go to William & Mary for those who care. I really like the atmosphere and the location. The nerdy students also help. GO TRIBE!