Author's Notes:

-It seems that my inner muse has become more active then usual. This chapter is out quicker than I expected.

Now let's get on with the show!

"Cinder!" a voice called out. "Cinder!"

"Keep it down, Emerald!" a man with grey hair scolded. "Are you trying to attract the police?!"

"I can't help it, Mercury! I'm nervous, I'm scared!" she retorted.

Mercury and Emerald, Cinder's henchmen, were looking for her after her battle. They knew she was somewhere in or around Beacon Academy, but they weren't sure where. They also had no idea if she succeeded in taking the fall maiden's powers.

"Do you think she succeeded in her objective?" the girl asked.

"She probably went to the top of the tower. That's where she suspected the secret elevator to the basement where Amber was located was." Emerald saw something out of the corner of her eye and ran towards a tree. "Or maybe not."

She gasped upon reaching Cinder, lying unconscious under the tree. She knelt down to examine her, tears threatening to fall from her eyes.

"Cinder... No..."

Mercury's jaw dropped. Emerald brushed away Cinder's bangs, revealing that she had a massive scar on the left side of her face and a lack of skin, exposing her skeleton. Her left eye was missing, leaving an empty socket. Her long raven hair had mostly fallen out, leaving it very short and she had lost her entire left arm. Her left ear was also greatly damaged and the upper part of it was gone.

As Emerald evaluated the damage, she burst into tears. "What do we do now?"

"We can't drag her to the infirmary, lest we risk being caught and arrested. We have no choice but to return to... her domain."

"But what if someone should see us here?"

"I know you're not going to like this, but... we have to brave the forest to make it to her realm."

Hoping to avoid being attacked by any Grimm in the area, Emerald and Mercury traveled into the forest. The girl carried Cinder by her legs while the boy carried her by her back. They ran through the forest for a few minutes before stopping in an area densely packed with trees.

Mercury looked to be sure there were no witnesses. "This should be far enough. Get out the compass."

Emerald pulled out of her pocket at first glance looked like a compass made of a black metal. But it was not an ordinary compass. Above the letters indicating the four cardinal directions were these small red gems. Emerald took her index finger and starting at the south point, dragged her finger on the compass in a counter-clockwise motion, and pressed her thumb against the glass where the S was. The compass glowed black and formed a portal in front of her.

The thief put the gadget away. "We must hurry." She picked up Cinder's legs. "There is no time to lose."

Carrying their unconscious boss, Mercury and Emerald quickly went through the portal and a few seconds later, it vanished.

Meanwhile, Jaune was still in the city, having recently slayed a bunch of Grimm monsters. He had his sword in his right hand and his shield had been shattered into pieces during the fight. He was standing there, panting.

That was... too close. the young man thought to himself.

Unlike many of his follow students at Beacon who fought, he was not horribly injured, although he was exhausted.

Maybe I can make it back to the tower... But would Pyrrha even be there?

"Jaune! What are you doing here?" a familiar voice asked.

He heaved for breath as he looked at Professor Oobleck. "I... I... It's a long story."

"Come on, we better get you to safehouse in Vale."

He sheathed his sword and followed Professor Oobleck to the outskirts of Beacon Academy. They got onto one of the planes set to take the students to a safehouse in Vale city. He looked around and saw that Pyrrha was not there. Crestfallen, he sat down next to this teammates, Ren and Nora, who were injured and exhausted from battle. They looked at the ground, staring sadly down at the students around them. Some were unconscious, some were trying to rest, others had their eyes open. Yang laid on the ground under a bench. Jaune noticed that part of her arm was missing.

What happened to her? he thought to himself.

"Where's Pyrrha?" he asked.

Ren and Nora nodded sadly.

"Jaune..." Nora began.

The plane took off without any warning. Ren and Nora explained what happened while he and Pyrrha were gone, and he told them what little he knew.

"How could you guys not find her?" Jaune asked.

"Ruby and Weiss aren't here either." Ren pointed out.

"I hate to say it, but..." She paused, closing her eyes, turning away. "Maybe they never returned because they were killed..."

Ren looked at the window. "She could be anywhere by now."

Jaune looked at a picture of Pyrrha on his scroll, before looking at team RWBY, smiling like nothing could go wrong. Pyrrha, Ruby, Weiss... Wherever you are, I hope you're okay... Pyrrha... I love you. Don't die on me now...

Meanwhile, in Vale city, many of the hospitals were overrun with injured patients due to the Grimm attacks and try as they might, they couldn't save everyone. Qrow hoped that they could save Pyrrha.

"Hurry, she's been injured!" Weiss said.

The workers rolled Pyrrha's stretcher down the hall. As Weiss reached the operating center, she was denied entry.

"You are not allowed to go any further." a paramedic said.

She sighed sadly and returned to the lobby where Qrow and an unconscious Ruby were.

"What do we do now?" Weiss asked.

"I have to get Ruby and Yang home so that they can recover." Qrow said, carrying her away. "I better find Yang and contact their dad to get them back to Patch so they can recover. If you can get a messenger to send a message, tell me what happened to Pyrrha."

Qrow then left with Ruby over his shoulder. Weiss sighed and looked at the ground, crestfallen.

Please... Pyrrha... tell me that I didn't fail.

Weiss started silently sobbing.

Meanwhile, the plane landed at the safehouse. The students were all gathered in the empty warehouse. Many were scared, many were sad, some were discussing what they thought about doing. Commotion sounded throughout the whole venue.

"Alright, alright, quiet down!" Professor Port shouted into a megaphone. Many students covered their ears. "Alright, we have no idea how long we'll be forced to stay here. With the CCT down, we have no way to notify your parents of the situation. However, you can still write them a letter, and hopefully a messenger will be able to deliver it despite the risk of a Grimm attack. I hear they're in high demand right now and offer a big pay!"

"Don't encourage them!" Glynda scolded.

He passed the megaphone off to Professor Oobleck. "Alright, normally, we would get right to distrubution of supplies. However, since this is the Vytal Festival and we have more teams here than usual, there is nowhere near enough room or supplies for all of you to stay overnight. Therefore, we'll have to rent out temporary apartments for some teams. Now we know this is a hard decision to make, so we will give the team leaders ten minutes to discuss with their team members what they would like to do."

Nora and Ren looked at Jaune, who was still distraught from the events that had recently occurred.

"What do we do know?" Nora asked.

"I.. I'm thinking."

I don't want to stay here where everyone can see me vulnerable, but yet, I wonder if Pyrrha might show up here.

He remembered what his teammates said on the plane.

"Maybe they never returned because they were killed..."

"She could be anywhere by now."

He asked himself, Why can't I be like Blake, who's so good at hiding her emotions?

The young man was so lost in his thoughts that he had to make a quick decision.

"Alright, your ten minutes are up!" Professor Port declared. He walked to the center of the mob of students. "Now I will call out your team name and the leader will come up and confirm the team's decision. Team CFVY."

Coco Adel walked up closer. "We have decided 3-1 that we're getting an apartment."

Yatsuhashi quietly groaned.

"Alright then. Team CRDL."

Cardin Winchester approached Peter Port and answered, "We have come to the unanimous decision of taking an apartment instead of staying here."

"Team RWBY." He looked at Yang's arm and gasped. "What happened to her arm?!"

"Long story." Blake answered, trying not to sob.

"Is anyone here a medic?!" he asked.

"I am." a random female student answered.

She ran up to Yang and tended to her wound, trying to stop the bleeding and numb the pain. Then he noticed the absence of two of RWBY's team members. "And where are Ruby and Weiss?"

Blake sobbed. "We..." Sniff. "don't know." She blinked as tears continued falling down her face. "They left to try and find Pyrrha... but neither of them returned. And she's still missing." Sniff. "And to answer your question." She wiped away her tears with her right hand. "We'll stay here." Sniff. "For now."

He looked to the ground, somber. "Very well then. Team JNPR. What is your decision?"

"We've decided to move into an apartment." Jaune answered.

"We have?" Ren asked.

"Yes. If Pyrrha comes here, tell her where to find us."

"Will do. Moving on... Team SSSN."

As he went down the list of teams and recorded their decisions, Jaune kept saying many prayers (most of them in his head), that Pyrrha would be okay. Some people, including Sun, tried to comfort and reassure Blake that everything would be okay, but she yelled at them. She even slapped Sun... twice. Once in the arm, and once in the face.

"Ow!" he cried out.

"Keep it down, will ya?! Team ABRN."

Eventually, after an hour or so of doing this, he was done taking responses.

"Alright, those of you that are moving into apartments, go with Professor Oobleck to discuss living arrangements."

"That's Doctor Oobleck!"

"Put a sock in it, Bartholomew!" he commanded. "The rest of you, hang tight and we'll discuss what happens from here on out."

Glydna face-palmed. He sighed and walked outside. Team CRDL, team CFVY, and the remaining members of team JNPR, among others, went outside to discuss apartment arrangements with Professor Oobleck.

"Alright, now that we have cleared out a significant number of students, we have enough sleeping bags and pillows for everyone. When I call your team's name, have the leader come up and get your supplies." Professor Port instructed. "Team SSSN."

Sun gathered the sleeping bags and pillows for himself and his teammates.

"Team BRNZ."

Brawnz Ni got his supplies and went back to his teammates.

"Team NDGO."

Nebula Violette gathered the pillows and sleeping bags and gave them to her team.

"Team RWBY."

Blake took the stuff given to her. Yang got into her sleeping bag immediately. Blake gently lifted up her head and placed a pillow underneath it. The cat faunus was not tired at all. Not physically, mentally or emotionally. Not even her eyeballs were fatigued. Eventually, they got sleeping bags and pillows distributed to everyone there.

"Now then, since we are technically still responsible for you, all of you must stay here unless noted otherwise or you get permission to leave the vicinity. Professor Oobleck will be keeping an eye on you all night, so don't even think about trying to sneak out!"

He continued drinking his stimulating drink as Professor Port spoke. He looked at his cup, and realized there wasn't a drop of liquid left.

"Aw man, I've run out..." he grumbled.

His grumbling couldn't be heard by the students.

"Alright, it's been a long day, so I'm officially declaring lights out." Professor Port declared. "Try to get some sleep if you can. Good night."

And with that, the lights were shut off and everyone (save for the watch-guard) went to bed (or at least tried to). Well, all except one that is. Blake remained wide awake. She looked at Yang ruefully.

Yang, I'm so sorry. This is all my fault... I shouldn't have lived... You shouldn't have been so severely injured by him...

Weiss sat at the hospital, waiting to be allowed into Pyrrha's room.

What's taking them so long? Or does it just feel like it's been an eternity because Pyrrha is clinging onto life?

Her thoughts were disrupted when her father, Jacques Schnee, entered the room with one of the personal pilots from his house.

"There you are, Weiss. I've been looking everywhere for you."

She blinked twice. "Father? What are you doing here? How did you get here so quickly?" she asked.

"Originally, I was on my way to a coastal city south of here for a business meeting, but when I heard about the events of the Vytal Festival Tournament and the Atlas' robots being hijacked and attacking innocent civilians, I cancelled the meeting and came here immediately."

Weiss looked at her father, using her confusion to mask her slight anger and irritation. "But for what reason?"

"I'm taking you home."

She raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"We will be leaving tomorrow morning after staying overnight at the nearest hotel. It's not safe for you here Weiss. And with Beacon Academy in tatters, there's no point in staying here."

She argued by asking, "B... But they can fix it, can't they?"

"Considering that Grimm are surrounding the entire school because of the petrified Grimm on top of the tower, I am highly skeptical that they can resolve the situation in a swift and timely manner."

Weiss's eyes widened. "You saw Grimm surrounding the school?"

"Lots of them."

"What about my friends?"

"They've abandoned you, haven't they? I don't see any of your described teammates here with you."

"They never abandoned me." she stated. "Me and Ruby went out to find Pyrrha, one of our friends, but... she was injured. I'm waiting for the paramedics to let me see her."

"How long have you been waiting?"

She shrugged. "I don't know. Maybe an hour or two?"

"The fact that they haven't given you an update on her status means they think you don't care about her, or more likely, she's dead."

"But that can't be..." Weiss looked at her hands. "I nearly exhausted my aura trying to save her."

Her father softly grasped her arm. "Come along, we need to make hotel arrangements for the night. Then, tomorrow at dawn, we leave for Atlas."

"But what about Pyrrha?"

He scoffed. "She is of no concern to us."

Weiss had always disliked her father and disapproved of many of his actions, but that one sentence was slowly starting to make her hate him. Reluctantly, she submitted to his will and left the hospital.

Eventually, at around 11:59pm that evening, Jaune, Ren and Nora were in their new apartment with their weapons and remaining possessions. Their apartment consisted of three queen sized beds, two of them being in the same room, a full sized bathroom in the lower left corner, a kitchenette, a wooden dining table with four chairs and a small living room with a couch and television.

"Oh... man... It's been a long day." Nora said.

She plopped back-first onto the nearest bed. "At least we have a roof over our heads." Ren said, trying to be optimistic. Nora got herself comfortable under the covers of the bed. "Jaune?" He looked away from Ren, despondent. Nora sat up, looking at the leader as Ren spoke to him. "Look, I know you're worried, but, if you stay up all night worrying, it won't do us any good."

He sighed and admitted, "You're right. I should get to sleep. Goodnight guys."

The leader of the team set his stuff down in the other room. He was fortunate to be alone so no one could see him like this. Unfortunately, for Jaune, his mind nor his heart would let him rest. For in his dreams, he saw what he feared reality could be.

Pyrrha was pinned down by her boots with an arrow. She was already defeated, but the new maiden wasn't done with her yet. Cinder approached Pyrrha.

"It's unfortunate you were promised a power that was never truly yours." She lifted Pyrrha's chin with her fingers. "But take comfort in knowing that I will use it in ways you could never have imagined."

"Do you believe in destiny?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yes."

She formed her bow and arrow as Ruby ran up the side of the tower on Weiss's glyphs. When she arrived at the top of the tower, Cinder shot an arrow right into Pyrrha's chest. She gasped for air, trying to breathe, but she couldn't. Cinder grasped onto Pyrrha's circlet with her left hand and turned her corpse into ashes. The ashes were blown away by the wind before her circlet fell to the ground.

As these events unfurled, he wanted to scream, No! This can't be happening!

But he had no voice. He couldn't speak.

Pyrrha! PYRRHA!

Jaune woke up, gasping for air. He looked at the time on the alarm clock in the room. 3:20am. He groaned internally.

I can't take this anymore!

He grabbed his sword and armor, went to the kitchen and opened a drawer. He took out a piece of paper, a pen and started writing something.

I'm going to find her, even if I have to tear the whole city apart!