We here with another chapter!

Sadly.

Them be fightin words boy.

Not exactly.

Well...yeah, you're right.

Onto the chapter?

Onto the chapter!

"Alright! Time for Operation: Save Ruby's boyfriend!"

"Yang, that's not what it's called." Ruby sighed as she laid out a "map" she had made herself.

"I know, but I like that name better." Yang had a triumphant smirk on her face as everyone gathered around to go over the plan again.

"Okay, so we know that he has to be somewhere in the forest, since that was the direction they headed off in." Ruby began.

"But have you figured out exactly where this place is yet? You've been at this for a month ya know." Weiss interjected, preferring to know where they were going instead of just wandering the woods for hours until they found it.

"Uhh, no, not quite. But I think I found a general idea of where it is at." For an entire month, Ruby would head out into the woods trying to find where Mark was being held at, after all her classes were done, it was all she did, and now was the time for her to save him. She only hoped that she wouldn't be too late.

"A general idea? That hardly seems like it'll be enough to find a White Fang base. There's a reason it hasn't been found yet."

"Weiss don't be so hard on her, she has made a lot of progress on this and has worked hard at it." Blake said as she walked into the room, she had been stuck in the infirmary for the whole month, despite the wounds being healed after a week. But Ruby would visit her and tell her the progress she had made everyday, and Blake looked forward to it.

"Blake, you're back!" Yang yelled as she ran up and hugged her partner, who flinched slightly.

"Stomach's still a little sore, careful there Yang."

"Oh, sorry!" The blonde let go and they went back over to Ruby.

"Okay, so the plan is to head over to his area that I've pinpointed the base to be located in, and once we find it, infiltrate and save Mark!" Ruby said, getting little reaction from her teammates.

"That's it? Find, go in, save him? It's going to be a lot harder than that sis."

"I know, but we gotta try something! We can't just let him stay in there! We don't know what they're doing to him!"

"I agree, they could be doing to him what they did to Austin, and I don't think we need to lose another person to that." Blake said as she stood up and started getting her stuff ready.

"She's right, we can't sit back and do nothing anymore! So let's go save Ruby's boyfriend!"

"Yaaaaaaang!" Yang ruffled Ruby's hair as they both stood up and began getting ready, Weiss was the last one up.

As they opened the door, they noticed that Team JNPR was standing on the other side.

"So we heard what's going on and we decided to try and help you guys out." Jaune said sheepishly as the others agreed.

"We want to get him back as much as you do." Pyrrha said with a kind smile.

"Will we get to smash heads?" Nora asked curiously.

"No Nora…..not yet." Ren said with a tired expression.

"It would make getting through everything easier, Ruby." Blake said as she placed a hand on her leader's shoulder.

"Let's go then, we're getting Mark back." Ruby smirked as everyone headed out towards the forest to retrieve their captured friend.

As Ruby and the others got to the base, Cinder and her gang were about to leave said base.

"You can handle it right?" Emerald asked as she got up from an ammunition crate.

"Don't worry about it Emerald, he'll be fine." Mercury smirked as he got up and cracked his neck.

"He hasn't betrayed us yet." Cinder said as she opened the doors and noticed that there was company.

Austin noticed her look and said "We have intruders?"

"Let the new kid handle it." Roman said as Neo nodded in agreement.

"Then it's settled. We expect results from you, Mark." Cinder said as he emerged from the shadows. He was still the same but with a noticeable scar on his forehead, had a more tired expression with a white fang mask dangling on his neck and white fang armor. He also had a trench coat that's brownish red.

"Don't mock me Fall. Now please, I recommend you get away from here as far as possible, I have a feeling it's gonna get messy." Mark said with a deadpan as the others chuckled and got into a car. They drove off as Mark looked into the cliffs and noticed a shine. He chuckled and smirked as he went into the compound.

"Where are you goin', buddy?" Austin came around the corner as Mark headed in "We have some people to fight, and kill." He drew Hope and Despair "You going to help? Or do I have to do this myself?"

"I recommend you take care of Cinder and the others. I should be able to eliminate all the targets." Mark said as he pulled out Holhack. "What? Don't trust my abilities?"

"It's not that I don't trust you, there is just not way in Hell I'm missing the chance to fight with you again. Let's make it a game, whoever kills more, wins 50 Lien."

"I. Don't. Kill." Mark said with a serious expression and tone. "Plus we've worked alongside each other a lot of times. Go take a break, I got this."

"I don't need a break, and you better kill, otherwise they'll just keep coming back. I will not let them come back!"

"Wow...you really want blood on your hands. Didn't you go on that damn massacre a long time ago? Oh yeah now I remember….Because I couldn't get their screams out of my HEAD!"

"You're still weak, don't worry, we'll fix that when Cinder gets back. But for now, we have some people that are eager to die."

"Trust me Austin. And besides, I'm weak because I want to be, allows me more freedom. Now go!" Mark jokingly said as he lightly pushed Austin, trying to get him out of the compound.

"You think you can order me around? No one orders me around! I call the shots! Now are you going to kill them! Or am I going to kill all of them myself!"

"Who was the one left in charge here? Me, because I'm the more reasonable one. I don't want blood on my hands. Now please, just protect Cinder and the others. We need them in order for our kind to become more powerful."

"They don't need protection, no one can match their strength. Now, I'm here to fight, not talk." Austin turned toward Blake "Hey there, sweetcheeks." Blake's eyes narrowed and she immediately charged Austin, which he blocked the oncoming attack with ease. "Come on, I know you can hit harder than that." He kicked her back into Jaune, sending them both to the ground.

"DAMMIT AUSTIN! Now I have to clean up YOUR mess!" Mark grumbled with tiredness. "And you wonder why I don't work with you these days." He said as everybody noticed him there. "Oh boy….." He gulped as the others ran towards him, weapons ready.

Blake got back up and got into a stance instead of charging this time, realizing that rushing him wasn't the best idea. This time, Austin charged Blake and she managed to block each swing that came at her, but didn't see the leg sweep coming, as she fell to the ground, Austin chuckled.

"Did you ever think you could win?" Austin crouched above her and stuck both his knives just under Blake's arms. "Why do you want to beat me so bad, huh? You can't do it, you know you can't."

"Because she still loves you dammit!" Mark exclaimed as the others looked on in confusion.

Austin turned quickly towards Mark "You stay out of this Mark! It doesn't concern you!" He looked back at Blake, whose expression of anger was gone, and it was replaced by one that Austin had not seen before.

"She can't kill what she loves. It will tear her apart to kill the one she loved." Mark said putting a hand on Austin's shoulder. "Can you bear to kill your loved one and not suffer regret?"

"Will you just fuck off a moment? Like I said, this doesn't concern you. Go deal with them." Austin waved Mark off and looked back at Blake.

Mark sighed and shook his head as he walked towards the other seven.

"Sorry about this...it's been a long month." Mark said with a chuckle.

"Jaune, Ren, Nora and Pyrrha. Sorry about ditching you lot."

"Weiss, sorry for not being there to mock and criticize you." Weiss was about to object but he already moved on.

"Yang, sorry for abandoning Ruby and not being there to crack bad jokes." Yang chuckled at the last part.

"And Ruby…..Sorry for leaving you alone and not being there to help." Ruby started to cry as she hugged Mark. They hugged it out for a bit before letting go with smiles on each others faces.

Austin pulled his knives out of the dirt and sheathed Despair, holding Hope in both hands he slowly raised it above his head "I'm sorry Blake." He slammed the knife down into the dirt next to Blake's head. His voice was but a whisper "I can't…..why can't I do it?"

Mark looked on in sadness and, with a whisper, he said "Because you still love her….."

Austin stood up and sheathed Hope "I suggest you all leave here before I change my mind. Go back to Beacon, I'll tell Cinder you escaped with Mark." He turned and headed back inside the compound, closing the door behind him.

"...Now I wanna go back." Mark chuckled with sadness. "Oh well, let's go home….. back to Beacon I guess." He said as he walked off, looking at the White Fang mask. The others looked on at their former/current comrade in sadness as they walked off as well.

"There seems to be a lack of bodies here, you'd think with Austin staying it would have been a lot more brutal." Roman said as they entered the compound, seeing most of it rather unharmed confused them.

"Was there even a fight? It looks more like someone was throwing an iron ball around in here." Emerald added in as they continued their walk until they finally found Austin. He was scratched up, cut, and bruised. It looked like he had been in a brawl, but he had actually just been assaulting the walls for the past thirty I minutes.

"What happened here? Where is Mark? Where are the intruders?" Roman asked as he walked towards Austin, his cane raised up.

"They got away, took Mark with them. I couldn't fight all eight of them by myself."

"You fool!" Roman hit Austin in the back of the head with his cane and Austin quickly turned and grabbed Torchwick by his throat.

"Don't you EVER try that again, or I will rip out your entire throat!" The grip tightened before he let go at Cinder's expression.

"Austin, you know what happens when you attack your superior." Cinder said as she stepped toward him.

"Yeah, well no one orders me around! I'm calling my own shots from now on!" Austin yelled before swinging a powerful punch, surrounded by Black Aura at Cinder, she dodged and he hit the wall. When the dust settled from the impact, Austin was long gone.

Meanwhile, Team RWBY, JNPR and Mark saw the impact from far away. Mark's Black Aura flared up due to the influx of Black Aura that was released.

"Oh dear god Austin…..Guys, go back to Beacon and get help…...I'm gonna go get my friend back." Mark said as he ran back to the compound. He noticed a figure that was running in the woods, trailing a faint outline of Aura in the process and decided to follow.

Austin was dashing through the forest as fast as he could, hoping to gain as much ground between himself and the White Fang as possible before the search teams were sent out to find him. He knew what would happened if they did track him down, and he wouldn't be able to take on that many people by himself, he knew that, so he kept running. "Gotta find a spot gotta find a spot." He ran until he came across a dead end "Just my luck!" He turned and headed back in a different direction.

Finally managing to find shelter inside a cave, Austin decided to wait out the WF search parties while resting and tending to his wounds.

"Okay, this should be good. I had a good headstart on them, they won't go this far." He took a deep breath and laid down, letting his body respond to the exhausting sprint it had just went through.

"You're right, they won't be looking here." Mark said while revealing himself from the shadows.

"Shit." Austin quickly stood up and drew his knives, ready to defend himself.

"Calm down Austin, I'm not here to fight. Look, I already surveyed the area and there's no one near here except me and you."

"Why are you here? I told you all to leave." He coughed a little, his lungs still gathering air. Mark took out a first aid kit and started to tend to his wounds.

"Because I saw that explosion that you pulled." Mark replied as he tried to wrap gauze around a rather big cut. "Now stop moving man."

"That was meant for Cinder." Austin pulled away from Mark. "But I missed and used it to escape instead. Now go back to your friends, they're probably worried about you."

"They should be fine. By now they should have reached Beacon and sought medical attention but for now, I'm patching you up." Mark said as he wrapped the last wound. "There that should help you out."

"You done? Now get out of here, if they find us here we're both dead. And I am not letting that happen."

"Which is why we're leaving. Together."

"You think I can just walk back into Beacon after what I did? It's not that simple."

"I never said Beacon man."

"Then where the hell am I supposed to go? There isn't anywh-

"Quickly check over here!" "Come on, this way!"

"Shit, they're getting close. Get out of here, I'll keep them away from you." Austin grabbed Hope and Despair and made for the cave's entrance.

"No way in hell man. We ride together…..we die together." Mark chuckled as he pulled out Holhack and ran for the entrance as well.

Austin stopped Mark "Listen, go back to Beacon. Go to Ruby, you've been right with her this whole thing. You need to be with her to end this."

"And you've been with Blake. I need you alive so she can have someone to laugh with, to cry with and to be happy with."

"This is something I need to do, besides, I am not letting these bastards kill me here. I am not going down like an animal, I'll meet you in Vale tomorrow morning. That's a promise."

"You and I both know you're not gonna survive this onslaught, especially with Cinder and the others. We can do this together….like we always have."

"We haven't done anything together in a long time, and besides, if I heard them right, it's definitely just White Fang flunkies. I can handle them, now get out of here before the big baddies actually get here and kill us both."

Mark looked at him with an angered look and regret on his face before swallowing what he had and said "I'm staying in the shadows ok? I'll only come out when you're in danger. Trust me, they won't kill me."

"Mark, I want you to get out of this, tell everyone what you went through when he captured you. You'll be the hero, you deserve it. You've dealt with enough shit, now go."

"And you've dealt with even more shit than me, I fucking refuse to let my friend die so I can gain fame, I. REFUSE. TO. LOSE. MY. FUCKING. PARTNER."

Austin sighed "I told you, I'll make it through this." He smirked "Trust me." He took off out of the cave "Get back to Ruby! She's probably worried sick about you!" He made his way to where he heard the shouts "Hey assfaces, looking for me!" He stopped as the search party looked at Austin, a determined look on his face.

Mark looked at him with a sigh and muttered "You better come back, you fucktard." before taking off into the woods in the direction of Beacon.

"I'll go get Cinder." One of the members said as he took off running.

"Oh no you don't!" Austin through Despair and it stuck in the back of the faunus's head. "Now, let's begin this." He charged at the group, ready to strike.

"Where in the world is Mark?! What's taking him so long?" Ruby was pacing the room back and forth as the day grew closer to the end. She had been waiting for him to return all day, and she was worried sick.

Suddenly the door flew open, revealing a rather tired Mark. Ruby immediately jumped onto Mark, crying as she hugged him while the others just smiled.

"What took you so long? I was worried sick!" Ruby took a moment to wipe the tears from her eyes.

"I was visiting an old friend…...one that I might not see for the rest of my life." Mark said as he looked out into the woods.

Well that's sad.

You know what else is sad?

Deez nuts?

Get off my Document.

Eh, don't feel like it. Anyways hope you enjoyed this chapter y'all. Do what readers normally do when they like a story.

Favorite! Follow! Review!

See ya next chapter!