RWBY - Now It's Time to say Goodbye

Chapter 20: Stumble Upon

Jaune's POV:

We were in the infirmary. Juniper had used much of her aura to heal and save Ren. She was recovering fast, but her healing prowess had came with a price. Seeing that her aura had to keep her up and running, it had increased her chance for heart failure. Although it wasn't drastically, she had sacrificed her own life span to save Ren's.

I packed Pyrrha's and my gear. The Black Smith had back ups after back ups of Pyrrha's arsenal. I sheathed our swords and slung her shield over me.

Nora came in on me. "What are you doing?"

"I'm going after her," I said. I put on the rest of my armor and combat gloves.

"I'll come with you," she offered.

"No, I'm going alone," I said. I slung my travel bag over me. "Besides, you need to stay and watch Ren."

"He's in top condition. He can fight anytime," she protested. I knew she wanted payback.

"I know you want to help, but I'm not risking my team members life to save another," then I said somethings I shouldn't have. "As a team leader, I'm responsible for all in my party."

That made her stop. I walked past her and left the inn. The tracks were still fresh, so I followed them.

The next few days, I continue to track them, they kept going. I knew Ruby's semblance is speed, but the track she covered is ridiculous. I made a stop and did a quick estimate, this was about a hundred miles from town and it still kept going. I came across a river and washed up. I noticed something shining as I looked up. On the other side of the small stream. There was a small golden object. I swam over and retrieved it.

It was a head piece. Then I realize it was Pyrrha's. I swam back to my belongings, retrieving it. I examined to find any tracks. There was, but barely. I followed them to an small burned down village. I looked around. People were injured and huts were burned. The population was mostly faunus.

I went to the locals and they freaked when I got near them. Clearly Ruby did something to them. I backed off. Tracks were all over the place. I couldn't tell if any of them was Pyrrha's or Ruby's.

One of the village elders came up to me. "What do you humans want now? You've taken all we have!"

An angry mob surrounded me. I took out a picture of Pyrrha. "I want to know if this girl had passed by around here."

They looked at the picture. One little feline faunus came up to me. A girl. "Um...are you Jaune Arc?"

I was confused. How did she know me? Her parents came over to me.

"Yes...I am," I said. I was ready to fight any moment. But then I realize something.

"You must be friends with Blake Belladonna," the mother said. She was faunus, as her husband was human. A cross breed family. "Blake's my...cousin..."

"I didn't know Blake had a cousin," I said.

"I understand," she said. She picked up her daughter. "Please, follow me."

I did. Her husband trailed along.

"My name is Barabara Belladonna, well, my surname is," she said. "This is here is our daughter, Blair."

"And I'm Rex Faron," the husband said.

"Jaune Arc," I said.

"Blake writes a lot about you and her friends," Barbarbra said. "Especially one specific girl. A Yong Show..."

"Yang Xiao Long," I said. "She's a member of team RWBY...or at least what's left of it."

We entered a minorly burnt hut. "Come in."

I went in and sat down. Blair slowly walked to me. I saw curiosity in her eyes. I remember what Yang told me about Blake, her secret purr point. I wonder if it apply to her family, if one ever existed. I rubbed the back of her right ear. She purred uncontrollably and lay on me.

Barbarbra giggled. "I see you know the Belladonna weakness."

"Yang told me," I said smiling.

"I'm sorry to hear about your friend," she said. "It must have been hard."

"Not as hard..." I paused. "As her sudden resurrection."

Her expression changed. "Resurrection?"

"I don't know, the day of her death, Ruby's heart exploded due to a lot of static energy surging through her body," I said. "When we found she was alive, she seemed fine and...different..."

"How long was she dead?" she seemed to know something.

"About...two months...three," I tried to remember exactly. "

"Brain decay doesn't begin till after eight years, longer depending on what your buried in," she said. I had a suspicion, and I asked.

"Were you and Blake...in the White Fang?" I asked. Both parents looked down.

"Yes...ever since the White Fang came to be," she said. "We were both very talented fighters and assasins. It's just..."

"Just?"

"Before Blake left, she and I would have arguments, she try to convince me the White Fang was planning something that was not as the faunus of Vale was promised," she said. "Of course, I was an extremist at the time. I told her she was insane, and she would be killed if she was caught questioning the White Fang."

I leaned in.

"When she went on a mission with Adam Taurus, her former partner," she hesitated. "When I first heard that she had went rogue against us, I was... so... afraid of one day, when we crossed paths... we'd have to kill each other. To this day, this past... this... phantom fear lurks within me."

I nodded. Rex took his daughter and rocks her around. She purred.

"When her words finally got to me, I had noticed the White Fang beginning to side with human beings...criminals such as..."

"Roman Torchwick," I said.

"Yes...her, Cinder Fall, Neopolitan..." she held herself. She seemed to be going through some anxiety issues. Rex took her hand and she calmed down. "I'm sorry, as reality had hit me, I've developed post traumatic stress disorder days after I left the White Fang. Even still, I can not overcome it."

"How long since you left?"

"Two months before Team RWBY of Beacon created legitimate equal rights for faunus in the most bizarre way," she said.

I smiled at that memory. Team RWBY took stage at live television broadcast to everyone in Vale, she had taken off Blake's bow and she and Yang rubbed her ears. With Ruby's childish features and Blake's adorable feline reactions, it struck something into human hearts and they started laying more attention to faunus in a different way.

"So you stayed even though you saw the organization siding with criminals," I said.

"I had no where else to go," she said. "I was afraid to leave at the time."

I got back on point. "You seem like you familiar with resurrection. How?"

She sat up straight. "Over the past year, the White Fang branch has been developing a resurrection chamber."

And damn how they've succeded.

"It's used to restore bodies, make them live, but the brain damage was permanent, so the live corpse were mindless," she said. "If Ruby has undergone that procedure... She must have went on some sort of mind control method to control the living corpse. If so, I'm afraid the Ruby you know is not the Ruby you see before you."