AN: I don't own RWBY although I wish I did. Some might notice a few similarities to an older story on this site in some places. I tried to reach out to the author, but it looks like they gave up on writing and are no longer active.
This takes place during Vol 5 of the series when in Haven.
Castaway Island
Chapter 1: A Three Hour Tour
It had been a rough time for everybody, Ruby, Jaune, Ren and Nora had a rough journey on getting to Haven Academy. They had nearly been killed first by a powerful Grimm and then by a scorpion Faunus sent by Salem of all people. Thankfully it wasn't all bad since both Yang and Weiss had rejoined them. From the story they told both of them had accidentally found each other in the same tribe that Yang's mother and Qrow had once been a part of.
It hadn't been an ideal reunion but having the two here certainly did help with the overall moral. Then there was the young boy Oscar who had the soul of Ozpin inside of him. To say that things were getting weird was an understatement.
Currently Yang was in her room a little bored, she wanted something to do and wasn't sure what. Her bike was working perfectly so she could go out for a ride but maybe something else was in mind. She wanted to get her mind off things, mainly that Blake wasn't here. She still wasn't sure what she was going to say if she ever saw her partner again. She had no idea where Blake was or what she was doing. All she knew was that she had ran off…again.
"Seems to be a pattern with her," Yang sighed feeling hurt that her partner had just left when Yang had needed her the most. It hurt, it hurt deep and hard, and she was just so angry at Blake. Honestly, maybe she should have seen this coming? Blake ran away from her parents to join the White Fang, then she ran away to Beacon to avoid the White Fang. She ran away again when she and Weiss had that blow up and she had accidentally let it slip about being a White Fang member. Now again, Blake had run away after Beacon when Yang was hurting and lost and really needed a friend.
Yang got up from her bed in the Haven house they were using. She felt like she needed some air, something to do to distract her from everything. Looking around the house she saw Ren and Nora in the small kitchen area. Yang paused, something seemed a bit different with those two lately. She obviously missed something had happened between them as they did seem a bit closer now.
The blonde moved on hearing sounds from the backyard training area. She looked through the door to see Ruby and Weiss sparring against each other with Oscar/Ozpin there giving advice. No sight of her uncle who might be off drinking somewhere. Yang wondered until she saw the last member of their little group.
Jaune Arc was sitting alone sharpening his sword. Yang had to admit, Jaune had changed since she last saw him. If she had to guess, she would say depressed and angry were spot on. She knew because she had gone through it herself, and if she were honest? She still was. Losing her arm hit hard for her, the feel of the phantom pain, the feeling of helplessness and vulnerability. She felt her hand starting to shake as she gripped it until it stopped.
Looking at Jaune she could tell that Pyrrha's death hit him very hard. Yang figured if anyone else could use something to do to take their minds off thing he could use it too.
Slipping into her more cheerful side as she masked her own feeling, she went up to him. "Hey Jaune, I wanted to say, nice new armor you got. And your sword looks pretty cool now, you get that done on the road?"
"Huh?" Jaune was pulled out of his thought looking down at his equipment. "Oh yeah, the sword came first, and I got the armor not too long ago."
"Guess we both had to get 'upgrades' then?" She held up her mechanical arm.
Jaune almost winced at that, he was glad that Yang could joke about it now. He still remembered how bad she had been when they had left Patch. Yang had been so depressed and had this constant defeated look in her eyes that Jaune had been worried about her when they left. He was glad that some of the good old Yang was back, but he noticed little things.
Sometimes when she smiled it didn't reach her eyes and he could see her putting up an act to hide how hurt she was feeling sometimes. He noticed it because he knew he had been doing some of that too. He didn't want the others to worry about him and he guessed that she did too.
"Yeah, looks like it, still can't shoot anything out of my sword." He put on a grin.
"Eh, I'm sure Ruby could figure something out."
"She tried, and I mean a lot on the way here." Jaune cracked a smile at that. "Nothing really worked right with her ideas."
There was a moment of silence before she decided to break it. "Well, I don't know about you, but I'm bored, and I could use something to do. I can't stay in this house anymore and I wanted to look around, how about it? Want to come with me since everyone else seems to be busy?"
"I mean…" Jaune thought about it, and he really didn't have much planned. Truth was he was starting to go a bit stir crazy himself and maybe a walk around will help him clear his head. "You know what? Sure."
"There we go," She offered him a hand and pulled him up as she put his sword in the sheath and the whetstone into a pouch he had. "So, let's see what this place has to offer."
The two of them left the house as they didn't really have a destination in mind. So, they just walked on taking in the sites. The two blondes chatted a bit, mainly catching up a little bit but mainly commenting on everything they were watching. They stopped for lunch at this nice little outdoor diner. Yang got a message by that point from Ruby asking where she was.
She simply told her she was seeing the town with Jaune, and they would be back later.
Walking off their meal, Yang wanted to find something with a bit more excitement for it. Maybe something by the beach? She hadn't been to the beach in ages and the tropical weather of Haven was nice. It wasn't even the summer month yet and it was a bit on the warm side in the mornings.
"Let's check out the ocean, see if the beach life here is decent." Yang offered and Jaune shrugged. He went with the flow of things as they had to walk down a very long set of winding stairs to get to the beach after finding it.
"Why…are there…so many stairs?" Jaune asked feeling the burn in his legs.
"No idea," Yang was feeling it too, she really needed to get back into fighting shape more. The little 'tune up' she did with her dad helped but she still felt like she could use a bit more to get all the rust off. The beach was pretty simple and basic, they could see a group playing volleyball, some parent watching their kids play on the playset that was set up in the sand. She could see a few people surfing actually.
"I always wanted to learn how to surf." Yang pointed them out.
"Yeah, it always looked like fun," Jaune nodded. He noticed the lifeguard stations and the Huntsmen stations these were where professional Huntsmen stays in case of a Grimm attack by water.
Yang saw some docks set up she could see a few fishing boats but what really got her attention was the seaplane docked with a large sign nearby.
Sky High Tours
"Huh, well that looks like it might be interesting." Yang nodded her head.
Jaune took one look and felt a little apprehensive. "You do remember what happened the first and last time we were on an air ship together right?"
Yang cringed as she couldn't forget that it's not every day you go up to say hello to a stranger and they throw up on your boot. "Okay yeah, but you really need to get over that. How do expect to be a Huntsman if you can't fly? You can't walk everywhere and if you take a ship all the time it's going to take forever. What if you need to get somewhere in a hurry?"
Jaune hated to admit she did make some good points. He just hated the fact that he got sick in the air. He as fine on the ground or in a vehicle, granted the boat they took to get off Patch at the start of the journey hadn't helped. He was starting to wonde if Ruby chose to walk it because flying all the way to Haven because it would have been easier on him. Well, that and the cost of such a trip for all of them was another thing he suspected.
"Can we at least ask if they got something for motion sickness?" He begged her.
"Sure thing," she smiled as they walked up to the plane. It was a bit larger with a cockpit and what looked like a cargo area with twin propellers. It was a faded blue color that looked like it might have been for cargo once upon a time, but it did have windows along the sides. There was an open hatch on the side, so she knocked on the plane.
"Anyone home?" She called out.
"Just a minute," A male voice was heard as soon an older man with grey in his black long hair came out in only shorts, a topical shirt and flipflops. He was a little unshaven and had on aviator shades on his head with a deep tan. "Now what can I do for you?"
He gave what might have been a charming smile thirty years ago, but the man was well past his prime, so Yang felt it was a little creepy. "How much for a tour?"
"For the two of you?" He asked as they nodded. "Well about hundred each."
"That much?!" Yang blurted out.
"First, it's a three-hour tour, plus fuel ain't cheap. If there were more, I would offer the group rate but just the two of you?" He left the ending in the air for them to make their own assessment.
Yang was eager to do something today, it was a bite out of her savings, but she could live with it.
"You got anything for air sickness?" Jaune asked.
The man blinked and looked back into the side door. "Yeah, I think so, you sure you want to go up if you got a weak stomach?"
"Come on, I really don't want to go up alone with the creepy old guy," Yang whispered to him.
Jaune sighed, he had seen the flirty look the guy gave Yang, a woman who could have been his daughter in age. Granted it wasn't overly creepy, but the guy really should learn what was out of his age range. "Yeah, I'm sure." He tried not to sigh.
"Alright then, names Hank Steel by the way and I'll be your pilot," He grinned and led them inside.
Both blondes shared a look before going inside, the inside looked to be in as rough a shape as the outside. Nothing dangerous but it was well worn and well used. There were seats that were a bit mismatched looking to come from two separate places bolted into the floor making two isles and a total of eight seats.
"Here you go champ," he tossed a bottle to Jaune who looked at the bottle. It was a year expired but it was better than nothing as he popped them. They paid for the trip as he told them to take their seats.
"This thing has safety equipment, right?" Yang called out.
"Oh yeah," Hank said from the cockpit doing some checks. "Got emergency supplies there on the wall in the back."
Yang looked at the back which seemed to have a ramp that could be opened and lowered. Most likely this had hauled cargo at one point after all. The side she looked to see two boxes. The one on the ground was labeled in faded white paint 'emergency raft' and above it on the wall was another labeled 'Emergency Supplies' on it.
With that they took their seats, they both took window seats with Yang in the front row and Jaune behind her. The captain started up the engines after he was done the checks, they sputtered to life with a bit whine. Thankfully after a little coaxing they were soon on their way, once the place got going it seemed to fly better. It was a smooth take off as they started to sail through the air.
The view was kind of nice, the pilot would be using an intercom to tell them all about what they were seeing. They had no idea if he was telling it accurately or just making it up, but the guy at least seemed to know his craft. After an hour though Yang was getting a bit bored seeing nothing but beaches and islands. She was king of hoping for something a bit more exciting or at least interesting.
"Hey, you know of anything really cool around here?" Yang yelled out from her spot.
"This not doing it for you Sweetheart?"
Yang grimaced at the nickname. "It started out nice but it's just more of the same."
There was a pause as the man seemed to consider something. "Okay then, I know just the place. It's off the beaten track and not many people know about it anymore, at least those that still live in the area. Kind of a special place I take for special clients but for you Sweetheart you got it. Take us thirty minutes to get there."
Yang leaned back in her chair arms folded. "I swear he calls me that one more time…"
"Well at least he's taking us somewhere unique." Jaune felt decent after the meds, but he was still feeling a little queasy. He had to admit at first the tour was getting fun and a little interesting, but you could only see the same islands and beaches so many times. He was sure the pilot had repeated the same story once as well. "Where do you think he's taking us?"
Yang shrugged, "Not sure, maybe he knows of a volcano? I always wanted to see one of those."
"Same, it's one of those things you always hear about but never really see in person."
"Yeah exactly," Yang smiled and looked back at him. "How are you holding up?"
"Better than last time we were in an airship together." He commented.
The two chatted away the time to overcome the boredom and to help take their minds off things. Neither had noticed that both had needed some time away from everything. From Ozpin being 'alive' again to the whole thing with Salem being the big bad behind everything was a lot to take in. Not to mention their own trauma wasn't helping so a distraction and a breather from it all was slowly easing off a lot of the mental pressure they had been feeling.
Of course, over thirty minutes later that's when the plane violently shook.
"The hell was that!?" Yang shouted.
"That seems a lot worst than just turbulence," Jaune commented.
"Hey, you guys!" the pilots panicked voiced called over the PA system. "Those weapons you got ain't for show right?"
"Yeah, why?" Yang shouted up to the cockpit's open door.
"Because we got Grimm on my plane!"
Both young adults looked at each other before unbuckling and rushing up to the cockpit. They had to try and kept themselves steady as the pilot was making evasive turns. By the time they got in they saw a flock of Giffins were starting to swarm the craft.
"Well, this is just perfect," Yang shouted out. "This thing got any defenses?"
"This is a tour plane, what do you think?" Hank shot back turning violently to the right sending Yang into Jaune. The boy managed to catch her as his armor slammed into the side of the doorframe. "I could use any ideas here."
"If only I can shoot at them," Yang muttered as she activated her weapons, the bracelet on her flesh arm expanded as her robotic arm's canon popped out.
Jaune paused for a moment and looked at the back. "Does that back door still work?"
"Yeah," the pilot turned again as the scrapping sound of claws on metal was heard. "That's a switch on the side."
Yang got what Jaune was thinking. "Then try and get them behind us, come on Jaune." She grabbed him as they did their best to race to the back.
"I'm no good at long range Yang," Jaune told her.
"Good because I need you to keep me from falling out," She hit the switch as the back ramp slowly opened, air gushing out of the cabin. "Hold on to my belt and for the love of god don't let go."
Jaune could do that he figured as he held her belt with one hand and the other onto one of the plane's structure. Yang tried to keep herself steady, but it wasn't easy. If Jaune wasn't here she might have fallen out of the plane. She eyes a few of the Grimm flying at them as she fired her weapons. Only a few hit, she wasn't used to hitting moving targets while she was on the move as well but she adjusted.
One shot landed into one of the open mouths of the Grimm, its head exploded as the body started to disintegrate. Yang whooped at the first kill and went for another but the plane jerking last second threw off her aim. Gritting her teeth, she tried to take more careful shots, she clipped one wing sending the creature spiraling into the ocean below.
"I wish we were on the ground," Jaune muttered trying to keep his stomach from trying to leaving his body. All this movement was not going well for him, but he just tried to focus on holding Yang, he tried to push it all aside except that.
Hank was doing his best to keep the Grimm off his plane, but he knew it was taking damage from the beasts. He knew he should have radioed his new flight plan to see if any Grimm were sighting in this area. He had flown this path constantly with no issues plenty of times before, so he figured the path was safe. He had no idea how long this lasted, it could have been minutes, but it felt like an hour, his adrenaline was coursing through his body, he could feel his heartbeat.
A sudden jerk made him look to the side to see engine number one had been torn into, the Grimm wasn't there but he could see the damage, he could also see black smoke coming from it as warning lights came on.
"Damn it, I hope we can get back with one engine," He muttered before looking forward only pull back in shock as a Griffin was flying right for the cockpit. "FUUUCCKK!"
Yang didn't see anymore Grimm so far, she was starting to wonder if they got them all. "Think that's it?" She yelled over to Jaune so he could hear her.
"Might be," He flipped the lever as the door slowly started to close. That's when they heard the pilot scream out as a crashing sound was heard and the plane lost control.
Both young blondes cried out as they went into free fall for a bit, the plane righted but was slanted. Both struggled to get up and make it to the cockpit where they could hear something was going on in it. By the time they got close enough they could see the black form of a Grimm thrashing about.
"Oh shit this is bad!" Yang pulled herself forward using the seats as leverage. Jaune was right behind her as both of them saw the Griffin was stuck in the window making a mess of the cockpit and had made a mess out of the pilot. There was blood everywhere from wounds all over the man's body. Yang took aim and paused. "If I shoot, I might take out the controls."
"I got this," Jaune pulled his sword and got in front of her with his free hand he held the doorframe as the Grimm noticed him and tried to peck at him. Jaune pulled back and countered with a thrust through the creature's eye and into what was assumed was to be where the brain was. It squawked and jerked before going limp and started to disintegrate. With that out of the way both blondes got into the cockpit.
It was a literal bloody mess, Jaune could now see where the peak had impaled the man several times and slashed at him, he looked down to see one of his arms had been severed rolling on the floor. Jaune covered his mouth, and it took everything he had to force it back down. Yang tried not to look as she got into the copilot's seat.
"Do you know how to fly?" Jaune asked.
"Nope but it's better than crashing," She strapped in and took the stick trying to get the plane level. It wasn't as easy as it looked, she pulled too hard on the stick and the plane went nearly upside down, she tried again and again but at the most she got it slightly level, but it was wobbling. She knew she couldn't make it back, not like this. She was pretty sure she couldn't even land it without crashing. Maybe if she figured out how to slow down, she could land hard on the water and hope they didn't crash into it or flip the plane or just break apart.
"This was the dumbest idea I ever had," she muttered to herself. If they got out of this, no more tours unless it was in a nice save bus in a city.
Then the plane was rocketed again with what sounded like dying machinery.
"That doesn't sound good," Jaune stated as he frantically looked at the controls. There were a lot of blinking lights but what caught his eye was one flashing label with 'Engine One Fire' on it. "I think we have an engine fire."
Yang looked to her right out at the engine on her side. "My side is fine."
Jaune gulped as he tried to look over the corpse of their pilot and saw the engine on his side was on fire with black smoke coming out of it. "It's on this side."
"Do we have to cut the fuel?" Yang only knew motors from her bike, but it wasn't like her bike's engine was ever going to catch fire. She did know that an engine on fire was a bad thing.
"You're guess is as good as mine," Jaune tried to look for something, anything that could help but there were a lot of lights and sounds coming form the controls. By luck he found a nob with emergency fuel dump. "I think this dumps the fuel but then we're out."
"I don't think this thing is staying in the air much longer," Yang told him she could feel the plane fighting her like something was wrong. She didn't know the full damage yet and she could only guess at the state of the plane. "Screw it, better to try and land on the water than blow up as a fireball."
Jaune couldn't argue that point and pulled it a sound was heard as eventually the plane's engines started to slow down and finally stop. They were gliding now, and both knew they had limited air time. Jaune noticed something off in the distance. "Look, is that an island?"
Yang could see it the island was close they might even be able to it if they had to. "Alright I'm going to try and gently land us, but you might want to strap in Jaune."
He nodded and went back to get strapped into a seat in the back. Yang held her breath as she aimed for the island as best, she could. The plane was going down a lot faster than she would have liked. The ocean was getting closer and closer. She felt the plane hit and skip off the waters with a large jolt. Then it happened again, then suddenly the world flipped, and she was thrust forward before everything went black.
"…ng….Yan…Yang…Yang!"
Yang's eyes fluttered open as her skull seemed to explode in pain. "Ow…what happened?"
"Well, the good news we landed, the bad is that we're sinking!" Jaune told her as he was helping her out of the seat.
Yang could feel the cold water around her feet as she saw the plane was on its side as water was coming in. Jaune helped her from the cockpit as he shut the door, thankfully it was a metal door that looked solid. It might give them more time as Yang felt a bruise on her forehead.
"What hit me?" She asked.
"I saw a dent in the control panel, I think you slammed your head into it hard enough to get through your aura."
"Ah that explains it," She had taken hits before that would have killed someone else but that doesn't mean aura stops all the damage. You still could take a beating it's just aura allowed you to take a lot more punishment than a regular person. A regular person would have had their skull cracked by that instead of the bruise she felt.
The plane lurched again as both of them stumbled, they could see water was starting to seep in from the cracked windows of the plane as well as from the cockpit door and leaks in the body of the plane.
"This is bad, as soon as we open anything this thing's going to sink." Jaune stated.
"We got to get out before it gets too far down, and we drown." Yang suddenly remembered the emergency supplies. She rushed over and opened the lower box to see an inflatable raft. She handed it over to Jaune as she tried to open the supply box, but it was locked. Frustrated with her metal arm she ripped it off the wall. At any rate she hoped the box would at least keep the supplies dry.
There was a lot more water now as they couldn't even see anything but water outside the windows.
"Okay getting out is not going to be pretty, side door or back door?" Yang asked him.
Jaune thought about it, "the side door is too small if we open the larger rear door more water will come in but give us both room to get out. Plus, it's starting to roll on its side, the side door is facing down."
"Good enough for me," She flipped the level, but nothing happened. "Damn no power…okay hold on, this next part is going to get rough, oh and hold your breath."
Yang secured the box under her good arm as she activated her semblance, her eyes going red and her hair lighting up as the damage from hitting her head transferred into it. She took a deep breath as she punched the rear door. It didn't open all the way because of the water pressure behind it but it opened enough. Water rushed in as soon both of them were engulfed in water.
Yang started to swim out of the hole as she did her best to swim to her surface. The problem was she was in her leather biker outfit and wet leather was heavy, not to mention while her mechanical arm was waterproof it weighed her down in the water unevenly.
Jaune was soon finding his own issues, his armor was literal dead weight on him. He was struggling to get the surface, but he was sure he wouldn't make it. He didn't have time to take off the amor before his air ran out in his lungs. Was this how he was going to die? Because of the armor he wore? The thing that was supposed to protect him was going to kill him in the end. The irony wasn't lost on him.
Then he felt the raft in his arm, could that work underwater? He didn't have the time to debate it as he twisted in the water to be over it and pulled the cord. It expanded instantly and he soon found himself in the middle of it as it rushed upwards. Yang heard something rushing in the water and looked down to see what Jaune did as he and the raft were rocketing up. She did her best to grab it was it passed catching the edge and held on for dear life.
Soon the raft broke the surface as it launched itself two feet above the water before slamming back down. Jaune was nearly thrown off it as Yang lost her grip. She kicked herself to the surface as she saw the raft a few feet away. She swam as best she could as she saw Jaune sit up and when he noticed her he reached out to help her into the raft.
He pulled her in as both of them were gasping for breath their backs onto the small raft looking up.
"Well…that happened," Yang breathed out.
"I'm never getting on another plane as long as I live," Jaune muttered.
"I don't blame you," Yang sat up and looked round. "Oh, hey there's that island…looks further than I thought."
Jaune forced himself up to look and he could see it but then looked around. "I don't see any paddles."
"Damn it," Yang looked around and didn't see anything. She tried to quickly move to the side of the small raft where the direction of the island was before she felt dizzy.
Jaune saw her sway as she stopped moving. "Are you okay?"
"Don't know, might be the head injury." She really hoped she didn't have a concussion.
Jaune was having similar thoughts as her as he got out his sword and scabbard. "Sit back just in case, I got this. See what we got for supplies."
Yang was about to ask what he planned to do when he gently placed his sword down and made his shield expand. He started using it like a paddle as best he could as they slowly started to make their way. Yang undid her jacket as she wrapped his sword up in it, it would prevent the blade from accidentally cutting the raft at least.
She took a look at the locked box it had a small padlock on it which was no issue for her. She easily crushed it with her mechanical hand and looked inside. "Looks like we got a flare gun, some flares, what looks like a radio." She checked it but the batteries were dead. "Needs new batteries I guess, two small water bottles and what look like a few bags of rations. I don't even want to guess at how old they are."
"Are the flares any good?" Jaune asked still paddling.
Yang took a look, and the box was watertight at least so that was good. Then another thought hit her.
"Fuck!" She yelled out and quickly did a search of herself.
"What?" He was surprised as Yang didn't curse often.
"My extra ammo," Yang pulled it out and started checking. "Damn it…these might have gotten waterlogged."
"Does that mean they're useless?"
Yang shrugged. "Maybe, depends on how much water damage they took. I would have to take them apart to check the fire dust inside to see if they are useful. The ones in my arm and weapon thankfully should be okay. But after they're spent, I'm most likely out. I don't want to put damaged ammo into them if I have to."
"How bad could it be?" he genuinely asked since his weapon didn't use dust.
Yang made a sour face. "Let's just say at best they don't fire at worse…I already lost one hand; I don't want to repeat that."
"Well maybe we can find help on the island." Jaune wanted to look on the bright side of things.
"God, I hope so, this sea water is not doing us any favors." She sighed. She was silent a moment before she spoke up again in a softer tone. "Sorry for getting us into this mess."
Jaune signed. "You didn't know this was going to happen."
"Still my stupid idea," Yang signed.
"Well, maybe one day we can look back on this and laugh at it all." Jaune told her.
"Yeah…maybe," Yang laid back wondering how long it would take for them to get back. Ruby and the others were going to be so worried. She was pretty sure they were out of scroll distance, but she pulled it out to check. The device was water damaged, she asked Jaune to check his and it was down too.
It was just to two of them in the middle of the ocean, lost and hoping for find luck in the island they could see.
TBC…