A/N: In regards to the requests for Weiss to return, I understand that a lot of people were possibly surprised by her death, but it is something I do not wish to change. When I started writing this fanfiction, my goal was to create a world that people truly felt was dangerous, one where 'nobody was safe', so to speak. While I am happy with the fact that many people were upset by her death, as it means that I succeeded as a writer in making people care about a character, I feel if I go back and change that now it would ruin the atmosphere I've been trying to create this whole time. To me it just wouldn't sit right. It would feel too 'Disney', and would ruin the whole threat aspect of the story if I went back to bring her back into the story. There will definitely still be parts of the story revolving around her for people who do wish to keep reading, but this is a decision I do not wish to take back. I understand and will respect your decision if you choose to stop reading, and for those who do I want to thank you for at least reading this far. It means a lot to me to have feedback and people commenting on my story, even if it is not something I personally prefer or agree with.

Following Nora's lead, the group slowly trudged their way back to Ruby and the others, Pyrrha decided to be the one to break the uncomfortable silence that had settled over the group.

'Jaune?' she said lightly, almost as if confirming whether she was allowed to speak, 'where did you learn to do what you did back there?'

'What do you mean?'

'Against that White Fang. You used instant regeneration. I know your semblance is a healing ability, but when did you gain so much control over it?'

She saw the pain etched on his face as she asked that question.

'It was you who told me, Pyrrha. A long time ago, back when we were still at Beacon you told me that extremely strong emotions can sometimes unlock the limits of a person's aura.'

'Yes, but you already need to be able to control aura to some extent before that will happen. Wasn't aura one of your weak points?'

'Again, it was you, Pyrrha. You unlocked my aura for me, remember?'

He was right. Pyrrha was surprised at herself. She was usually the calm, collected strategist of the group. Thinking clearly was her forte. How could she forget something like that? A flurry of questions floated in her head, and a mixture of emotions took over her. She realised that the most prominent was not sadness, nor anger. It was fear.

Did that man really have such a big impact on me?

She thought back to her fight with the whip-user and how he was able to hit her, completely ignorant of her semblance.

'Wait.'

Jaune stopped dead in his tracks as he said it. His face lit up for a second.

'That's it!'

'What's it?'

Jaune could see they were confused, so he explained.

'Some people have really powerful semblances, right?'

'Yes,' Pyrrha responded, unsure where he was leading with it. 'What about them?'

'Well I was thinking, there must be someone with a semblance capable of bringing the dead back, right?'

It was like a knife in the heart to Pyrrha. She knew that it was completely impossible, but seeing Jaune get his hopes up like that, she didn't want to upset him further. After briefly thinking about it, she decided to tell him the truth.

'Jaune,' she began, the sad tone of her voice slowly taking the smile from his face, 'I'm sorry. Nobody on Remnant has ever had a semblance capable of bringing back the dead. Even if they did, the aura it would take to perform such a powerful task would kill the user. I'm sorry, Jaune. Weiss is gone. We all hate it. We all want to go back and change it, to save her. But what's done is done. You can't change the past.'

Seeing the disheartened look settle on his face again, she gently put her arms around him.

'It's OK. I know it hurts, but we'll help each other through this, OK?'

'Yeah,' Jaune said, trying to be optimistic, a smile gracing his face for the first time since the incident.

'They've been gone a long time,' Ruby pointed out. 'Wait, you don't think Nora and the others...?'

Cutting her off, Blake quickly dismissed the suggestion.

'They're fine, Ruby.'

Even Blake didn't really believe her words, and she was sure Ruby didn't either. Yang lay sleeping, taking care to not disrupt her injuries. Ten days had gone by since Nora left to find Weiss and Ren, and Blake was beginning to suspect the worst. Just as she was about to put up for the night, however, she heard a noise outside that sounded an awful lot like footsteps. Grabbing Gambol Shroud she slowly skulked towards the barn door, peeking out before seeing the distant silhouettes of Nora and 3 others.

'It's them!' Blake excitedly shrieked to Ruby and Yang, both shaking alert at the sudden noise, 'They're back!'

Blake ran outside to greet them, happy that they made it back alright.

'You guys are alright,' Blake sighed with relief as she approached the four of them, the worry fading from her mind. 'Where's Weiss?'

Immediately after asking the question, she knew something was very wrong. For one, Nora wasn't being hyperactive. Second, even Pyrrha looked uncomfortable. As sweat starting forming on her brow, she nervously asked again;

'Where's Weiss?'

'Speaking up, her eyes tearing up as she spoke, Pyrrha answered.

'She... uh... she... didn't make it.'

Blake's expression could only be described as stunned.

'...What?'

That was all she could muster. The shock of what she just heard rattled her to her core.

'She... she's gone?'

'I'm sorry, Blake,' Jaune sobbed, 'we tried. God, we tried. But we couldn't help her.'

'If it's alright to ask... how did she die?'

Silence. The group didn't want to answer. They didn't want to admit they gave her the means to end it all.

'Please. I have to know. How did she die?'

'She... she saved my life,' Pyrrha lied. 'She took a hit that would have killed me. There was a guy with a harpoon gun and she willingly took that into her chest to stop it from hitting me while I was down. She died a heroine, Blake.'

Blake let herself crack a smile at the news.

'At least she died with her dignity intact,' she commented.

Jaune felt like saws were slicing into his skin. The pain he felt as he remembered that image, of Weiss slumped on the ground, covered in scars and her own urine, unable to speak or even recognise them... the memory of that image, the once humble heiress reduced to a pitiful pile of broken sanity... it hurt him more than anything. But as much as it hurt, he didn't show it. He knew the others must have felt the same way, but they too stayed strong.

'How are Ruby and Yang?' Jaune said, quickly changing the topic. The less he remembered of Weiss, the better. He was coming dangerously close to just breaking down at the thought of her.

'Not good,' Blake answered quietly. 'Yang's got a broken nose and jaw, and Ruby can't even move her arms.'

'Not a problem,' Jaune said, happy to be able to do something to help, something to take his mind off the event that happened just days ago.

After healing the two of them, Jaune broke the news to them. They shared a very melancholy evening that night, Jaune collapsing due to exhaustion from using his aura so much. The next day, now that everyone was finally healed up, they set out once again in search of a more stable residence. A barn was only going to last them so long. They needed something more permanent. Avoiding the now taboo trail, they veered off towards a different direction instead, eventually coming to a bridge that led towards a location all of them knew, but had never actually seen, let alone visited.

General Ironwood's mansion.

'This bridge doesn't look too safe,' Ruby pointed out, flailing her now fixed arms around in the air, trying to heat herself up as it was quite high up, and so it was fairly cold.

'Ruby, it's literally falling apart. Of course it doesn't look safe,' Yang brashly stated, before trying her luck with one foot, pressing down quite hard.

'It's... actually pretty sturdy,' she informed the others, surprised at how well it held up considering the visual condition of it. Before the others could even tell her to stop, she quickly hurried over to the other side.

'Come on, let's go!' Yang shouted from the opposite side of the ravine.

'Oh no. Nuh uh. Me and heights, not friends,' Jaune stated before being practically dragged across by Pyrrha, screaming like a girl all the way.

'Well, here goes nothing I guess,' Blake said, sounding very bored as she daintily walked over to the other side.

'Hey Yang,' Ruby shouted across, 'on a scale of one to ten, how cliché would it be if this bridge collapsed while we were walking across?'

'I'd give it a solid eight!' she shouted back enthusiastically.

'This is totally gonna fall,' she said sheepishly to Nora and Ren, before successfully traversing it.

'Huh, guess its fine after all.'

Finally, Ren and Nora also made it across fine, the bridge not-so-majestically swaying in the wind.

'Well, I expected that to go horribly wrong,' Ruby said to the rest of them, glad that all of them made it across fine. They began to grow wary, however, as things seemed to be going a little too well. There were very few Grimm around as of recent, and they were all fine (physically at least.) Maybe it was all the positive karma they were long overdue, but they were happy to finally get a break from the trauma that they had suffered through the last two weeks. After an hour more walking, they finally reached their destination. In front of them stood the gargantuan mansion that belonged to General Ironwood.