(Chapter 23)

(A/N at the bottom.)

Unfortunately, things rarely ever go according to plan.

As Jaune sat up in the cold snow, the ringing in his ears made it seem as if he was underwater; the darkness receding at the edges of his vision, added with the double vision he was experiencing only served to worsen the nausea he felt, not to mention the headache.

Shakily, the blonde attempted to stand up, and after almost failing, managed to find his balance on wobbly knees as he surveyed the newly made clearing he'd landed in.

Pine trees were either broken to pieces or ripped from the ground entirely, grimm corpses were still nearing the end of their disintegration, the snow was completely removed from the path the train car created save for a large space of mostly untouched snow in between the fresh dirt path, and pieces of the passenger cabin were scattered amongst the clearing.

The blonde brought a hand to his mouth trying to keep his bile down, but the multitude of stimuli proved to much as he fell to his knees and emptied his stomach into the snow.

He wretched for a minute or so until he was left dry heaving, before pushing himself to stand back up and do something about the situation. As he successfully, albeit barely, make it onto his feet again, he saw something sticking out from under a large piece of metal. As he narrowed his eyes to focus on what it could've been, his heart stopped when he saw Whitley's weapon sticking out from under the metal.

Hurriedly, he trudged through the snow towards the rubble, the horror of what possibly awaited him under the metal sobering the teen effectively. He tripped only once on his way there, but once he was kneeling near his friend's weapon, he tried lifting the metal with little success.

"Come on, Jaune. You can do this…you can do this…you have to…"

He attempted again, to lift the heavy fragment of the train, and managed to get it slightly budge before he fell backwards roughly when he lost his footing. The knightly teen scrambled to his feet as he attempted to once again lift the metal to no avail.

"Fuck! C'mon Jaune! You can do this! Just, keep, going…"

Before he could despair, the metal started to push lift upwards, and the blonde heard a breath of exertion come from his side. As he looked over, he was met with the face of a frustrated Ciel as she assisted him in attempting to move the rubble.

With renewed vigor, the two put everything they had into moving the debris. Jaune's body was screaming out at him to stop, begging, but he wouldn't listen, while Ciel was flooding her muscles with what little was left of her aura to pick up the metal.

A minute later, the two succeeded in pulling the scrap up enough to see under and were greeted with the site of two more members of their squad trapped. Ciel and Jaune shared a look, before the blonde nodded to her and prepared for what had to happen. As quickly as she could, the sharpshooter of team WICK let go of lifting the rubble and proceeded to pull out both of her friends from under the metal.

The girl sent her conscious squad leader a look and the knightly teen gratefully let the debris slip from his hands and impact the ground with a large thud. The two sat there near breathless, trying to regain their breath in the cold air, before painfully shifting themselves to check on their squad mates.

Both boys were completely out of aura and unconscious, but aside from the few cuts and bruises, and possibly cracked ribs in Flynt's case, they were okay for now. The blonde stood up and began walking towards the luggage that had been flung from the derailed train car to being searching, while Ciel checked absolutely everything she could about both her partner and the trumpeter's injuries.

As she was making her field diagnosis, a hand on her soldier earned her attention, and she looked to the left to see Jaune standing with some heavy coats in hand. He'd already put on one himself and held out three more towards her.

After donning the thick winter coat, she and the tall blonde put the remaining two unconscious members of their team before picking them up, Jaune carrying Flynt in a fireman carry, while Ciel had Whitley in a one-person lift. After discerning the direction that would lead them to Argus, the group began a silent trek through the winter forest.

The only sounds besides the periodic gust of cold air was the crunching of the snow that accompanied every step the two took, and the faint breathing of the two squad members being carried.

"…Do you think the others are okay?"

Ciel kept her head up and eyes forward as she heard the blonde leader's question.

"I don't know, but they have the client, our proctor, and the rest of our squad. I'm sure they'll be fine."

The dark-skinned girl let out the occasional breath of exertion as they walked up the hill, no doubt exhausted.

"…Jaune?"

"Hm? What's up?"

The girl seemed to pause momentarily before she spoke again.

"What do you remember about what happened? Back when the train car got derailed?"

The knightly teen looked over to the beret wearing girl confusedly before looking down at the ground in thought as he walked.

"I remember…things were going okay; the plan was working the way we wanted it to. I heard a scream, and I turned around and saw the guy with the mace getting carried off by a grimm. Whitley tried to use his glyphs to save him, but before he could do anything…the swarm tore him apart in the air."

The girl nodded with a grim look on her face, the haunting memory of watching a man get pulled apart piece by piece by their soulless enemy still very fresh.

"Anything else? Like how the train got derailed?"

Jaune thought hard since it felt like he was forgetting something as he went to answer her.

"I'm not sure…I remember there was a shaking, almost like an earthquake. Then we all tried to move to the next car, but…we'd already been detached from the rest of the train. I don't know happened after that except somehow, we got derailed and ended up in the snow. Weird, it feels like I'm forgetting something though…"

The silence from before returned in full, before Ciel spoke once more.

"Jaune?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you think we're going to be okay?"

No aura, two injured friends, no backup and miles away from where they needed to be; while the concerned question was a bit out of the usual for the markswoman, her worry was justified.

"We've been through worse before, haven't we?"

(Hours Later)

The Argus Limited and the train cars still attached had just finished rolling into the station, the majority of passenger cars missing from the famous train gathering a great deal of attention.

The moment the train doors opened, Marrow did his best to direct the frazzled passengers from the cramped front cars to the station's platform. Everyone was grateful to be alive and to not have been abandoned to the grimm but craning his neck over to the remnant of the student squad, he knew that they didn't share the sentiment.

After managing to move past the initial shock of the incident, the team had been clamoring to him about going back to retrieve their squad mates. The teens all submitting different ideas and plans of action to safely find and rescue their friends from where they'd crashed and were, hopefully, still alive.

"No."

Unfortunately, while Marrow felt for kids, truly he did, he also couldn't let them put themselves, or their elderly client, at risk for what most everybody would consider a M.I.A/K.I.A. incident. Plus, they weren't in the right mindset to go back out there looking for their friends, if Kobalt's enraged assault upon Dudley had been any indication. Speaking of the cowardly rifle-wielder, Marrow scanned the crowd and noticed the man slipping out of the station and onto the streets of Argus.

Seeing the police of Argus arriving to attempt and calm the frantic crowd, the dark-skinned man gave a look to the five he was responsible for and gave them a look signaling them to follow his lead.

A few minutes of walking, and the group was led to a near empty café close to the station. The woman who seemed to be running the shop alone smiled at them, and per Marrow's request, led them to the second floor's outdoor seating before taking their orders and disappearing down the stairs to make them. Waiting until he was sure the café's owner was gone, the canine faunus steeled himself before he spoke.

"I already know what you're about to say and ask, and I'm sorry, but the answer is no."

Kobalt stood up from his seat quick enough to make it fall back as he slammed his hands down on the table.

"And why not?! There are four of us, five if we count you; we could easily go back and find Whitley, Ciel, Jaune, and Flynt if we tried."

The dark-skinned operative shook his head solemnly before looking the brawler in the eyes as he responded.

"And what about the client? Or did you forget that we are supposed to be escorting an elderly woman back to Atlas?"

"So we leave one of us then. One of us should be more than enough to protect her."

"And what happens if a swarm attacks Argus while the rest of us are gone trying to find the rest of your squad?"

"We're in a major city, with an Atlas military base! That should be more than enough protection!"

The green-haired man rubbed his eyes as he sat back in his chair facing the ceiling exhaustedly.

"What's your plan then? Have me lead three of you outside the walls to trek across the countryside so we can try and find your friends, leaving the client in the protection of one student? Or have me stay with the client, while the four of you search the space between Argus and Mistral without any supervision, which is NOT happening."

The blue-haired teen growled before a hand was placed on his forearm. He looked to the side to see his partner giving him a look telling him to try and calm down. Kobalt clenched his fist before moving to set his chair back upright and falling into it upset.

The following silence that filled the balcony persisted until the owner had returned with everyone's drinks. The mood somber and full of regret, Marrow struggled for the words that he should say next, knowing that nothing he said would make any of the students feel any better. Fortunately, his saving grace chose this time to speak up.

"Well, I'm tired. Where are we staying for the night?"

Marrow looked up from the table to face Maria Calavera before checking his scroll.

"Says here there was one bullhead to Atlas that got delayed due to a refueling mix-up. We can take that flight and-"

"No."

The green-haired man looked exasperated at his client's sudden desire to be difficult.

"Miss Calavera, with all due respect, it doesn't make any sense to wait until tomorrow morning. We should make for the bullhead port and finish the mission."

The woman stared at him for a moment, and he began to feel uneasy, as if she was doing more than judging him.

"Is that what you honestly believe."

"O-Of course, the mission comes first."

Another pause filled the air before the woman finished her cup of tea and stood from her seat.

"I see. However, we are going to be leaving the day after tomorrow,"

Before the Ace Op could protest, the woman held up her cane towards him to silence him as she explained.

"For three reasons. One, I don't like travelling when the sun is down. It makes it harder to spot grimm at a distance. Two, I asked about the bullhead schedule for tomorrow while we were at the train station. They looked it up and there won't be any bullhead flights tomorrow per the Atlas military base, due to expectations of rough weather and an expected aerial horde that will pass near the city tomorrow."

Hearing the woman's reasoning, Marrow was beginning to see her point, but asked a question he had anyway.

"What's the third reason?"

The woman pointed towards her eyes while waving her cane at him.

"I'm old, and blind. It's not easy for me to make trips like this, and I'm starting to feel exhausted."

All eyes present at the table pointed their eyes to the canine faunus, waiting to hear the verdict. The man ran a hand through his hair as he thought about the pros and cons of staying the extra nights. He looked over to Penny and asked the girl a question to help make his decision.

"Polendina, who's your team's second in command?"

"Flynt, Sir."

The man frowned further as he looked over to Ivori, prompting him the same question with a look of the eyes.

"Ciel."

The man winced at that; the captains and their seconds in command were missing in the field.

"…we'll leave for Atlas the day after tomorrow. The way I see it, it gives your friends time to make it to Argus before we leave. But under none of you are allowed to leave the city and go looking for them."

The students looked amongst themselves, holding a silent conversation with their eyes before they nodded towards Marrow in agreement. The group finished off their drinks before standing up and moving to leave the coffee shop. As they did, the canine faunus and the mission client were a few paces behind the students when Maria quietly made a made a comment to the Ace Op.

"You should be more honest with yourself boyo."

"What?"

The older woman didn't bother looking up at the graduated huntsman, electing to shrug her shoulders as she continued walking forwards.

"Just a thought."

Marrow stayed silent as he followed the students and Maria outside of the café. Closing the door behind him, he was just about to start leading the group towards the hotel they'd planned to stay at in the case of an unforeseen delay, when a voice called out behind him.

"Hey! You guys!"

The green haired man turned around and felt his heart stop, as did the students behind him, as they were greeted by the sight of Saphron Cotta-Arc approaching them with some shopping bags in hand.

The woman stopped a few paces from the group, immediately noticing some missing heads, one of them in particular.

"Where's Jaune?"

(Hours Later Between Argus and Mistral)

A blinding blizzard raged on, covering the steps taken by the knight and the markswoman almost quicker than they could leave them. The blonde continued trudging forth a few paces ahead of Ciel, his cerulean eyes shining amidst the snowstorm as he scanned his surroundings with extreme scrutiny.

In over six hours later of walking through a forest with worry in their veins, they hadn't come across a single grimm. Jaune's pondering was shattered when he heard the sound of something heavy falling into the snow.

Turning around, his heart sank when he saw Ciel had fallen into the snow, motionless save for her breathing. The blonde cursed his luck as he took stock of the situation. Three teammates unconscious and with barely any aura to spare. He was the only one still capable of moving, and his own aura reserves were extremely low.

He laid Flynt down next to his friends in the snow as he hurriedly began to rummage through a traveling pack he'd filled with supplies from the luggage scattered by the crash. He had to transport three incapacitated squad mates, though realistically, he might only be able to carry two of them.

As his hand reached the bottom of the pack, he pulled out a large rolled up piece of plastic, remembering what it was. Storing the rest of the items he'd retrieved from his pack back into their place, Jaune took the tent and unfurled it. It was large enough that it could work, and it had tether cords so that he could carry his friends without having to use his arms, mostly. The only problem left was the possibility of them falling off the tent while on the move.

The blonde scanned the area around them with the limited visibility available, and found his eyes settled on a mess of thick branches covered in snow. Shambling over to them as quickly as possible, he began shifting through the pile until he settled on a particularly dense branch. Pulling it free and moving back to where his unconscious squad mates were laying in the snow, he set to work.

Cutting a hole at the ends of the tent opposite from where the tether cords were, he stuck the branch through the holes before checking over his improvised work. It was crude, it was ugly, but as he set Flynt, Whitley, and Ciel on the tent he could care less. As he was about to tie the tether cords around his torso, he paused and looked back to his friends.

He took of his heavy coat and wrapped it around the three of them like a blanket, before securing himself with the cords and beginning to move forward through the moonlit wilderness.

As Jaune walked on, dragging the unconscious teens behind him on the tent, he was acutely aware of how dark it was getting, and more importantly, how cold it was. One foot after the other, that was how he was going to get his friends out of this mess, even if it killed him.

An untold amount of time passed as he continued pushing forth, periodically checking back on his friends at short intervals. Darkness was beginning to creep into the edges of the blonde's eyes, his frost tipped hair partially obscuring his vision.

His eyes stung from the cold; his aura having depleted completely a while ago. Teeth chattering, Jaune dropped to a knee as he was breathing heavy. He felt like crying. The blonde didn't want to die like this; unable to save his friends. He looked ahead and as a few tears made their way down his face, the knightly teen had to squint as he could've sworn he'd seen something ahead.

A mere moment later, the teen rubbed at his eyes vigorously before he began to move faster than he would've thought possible. He stopped to look up at the wooden sign above him.

"Brunswick Farms…"

The teen didn't dwell on it as he pushed open the metal gates, not bothering to close them behind himself as he ran towards the centermost building. He nearly collapsed against the door as he began to beat against it.

"Hello! Is anyone there!? We need help, please!"

The blonde rested his forehead against the surface of the wooden surface of the door, his hand reaching for the doorknob. To his surprise, it turned with his hand, and the door opened, revealing a dark, and quite dusty living room. Scanning the room, he saw a fireplace, and a few folded blankets left on the recliner in the corner.

Exhaustedly, Jaune pulled his friends near the fireplace before searching through his bag for anything to start a fire. Finding some matches and metal wool, the blonde thanked the brothers that the fireplace already had wood waiting to be burned. He shakily managed to start a fire after a dozen or so matches ruined due to his shivering, before moving towards the blankets.

Picking one up, he began to cough as years' worth of dust assaulted his eyes and nose. He smacked it against the ground a few times before he was satisfied, and draped it over his friends. He went to the still open door and shut it, locking the cold air out, before turning around to where his squad mates were. He smiled to himself tiredly as exhaustion claimed him, collapsing to the ground as he finally let himself stop fighting off the exhaustion.

(Unknown Location)

Turbulence on the bullhead flight woke Roman, causing him to stand from his seat as he glanced around the small aircraft. Neo was still sleeping, and it was maybe an hour past midnight if he had to hazard a guess. The pilot looked back at him, before turning back to the skies ahead as he focused on the task at hand.

Roman sat back down, eyes focused on the sleeping form of Neo, and began rubbing his knee, a habit that had formed after his first, and still only, punishment at the hands of Cinder. His mind was a mess, though strangely calm. The flame-haired man spent the last weeks trying to devise a way him and his longtime partner to escape the she-demon with their lives but kept coming up blank.

Hopefully sorting out the horrors, the past, that awaited him and Neo would allow him to think clearly. So, no more running. Roman and Neo were going back to where their lives were first derailed.

They were going home.

(A/N)

Sorry for the wait on this one. This was probably the hardest time I've ever had trying to put out a chapter. Chalk that up to part lack of motivation, part too much other things going on, and the biggest part: I didn't know how to start this chapter. I likely rewrote the first 500 or so words of this chapter maybe 20-30 times, no exaggeration.

Also, yeah, this is a shorter one than usual, but this seemed like a good place to cap this one off since the next one is coming up.

But.

I'm happy that it's finally out, and that within the next few chapters we can move onto where Vol. 2 of RWBY takes place, and like the animation, it will be brisk, but set up for what we're all waiting for, The Vytal Festival.

Discord as usual is below.

/dSbQbK7FTy

Anyways, Sorry again, stay tuned, and I hope you enjoyed.

B.J.H.