Hunting or Bust: The Journey Onward

Interlude

Well hello again dear friends! Been a while hasn't it? Ya miss me? Cause I missed you!

Been thinking about what to do with this new story. Imaging the outline for the next few chapters. Imaging what I'll do for the volumes. All while waiting for some update from the main story! I still need it!

Not a huge chapter, but does blend this story into the sequel a lot easier. Hope you enjoy!

((((((((Hunting))))))))

It took them a while to calm down from their very emotional, very public reunion. People around them could only stare on in confusion as what they considered to be four kids hugging and crying and blubbering incoherently about nothing. Honestly, it was such a ridiculous scene that they wouldn't be surprised if someone filmed it and uploaded it as a gag.

So despite how raw and devastated their emotions had been, they decided to move out of the street once they regained enough thought to do so. Ruby said to follow them back to the house - which was apparently a place they had rented in Mistral while they were staying here - and there they would try to make sense of things. Of course on their trek back not once did Ruby let go of his hand, or Nora and Jaune held onto his shoulder or his shirt to make sure he didn't fade away. It was a little ridiculous but he allowed it to happen.

He didn't squeeze her hand back or feel relief that they were so close at all times. Whatever. That wasn't happening. Shut up!

Finally, they walked through the door of the house they were staying in. It was a nice place. Quaint. Roomy. It felt cozy and-

"Oof!" The air rushed out of Naruto's lungs and he looked down to see Ruby hugging him again. Her face was in his chest and he could feel a small patch of dampness and sniffles from that spot. Nora quickly joined in again as well and Jaune took up space where he could.

Naruto reached around and squeezed all of them as best he could. Ren watched them from the side, probably already emotionally tuckered out after the experience in the street. He hadn't seen his taciturn friend express much emotion in all their time during Beacon and that hug was probably the most spontaneous he'd ever been.

Another wave of emotion and welling up started to affect the blond fox before he shook his head, "O-Okay, I need to breathe. I don't-" He squeezed them tightly one more time before going slack, "Can we stop with the hugging for a moment?"

"Y-Yeah, okay." Ruby sniffled and rubbed her nose before nodding, trying not to draw attention to how pink her eyes had become, "E-Enough with the hugging guys! Be professional!"

"You were the one hugging the longest!"

"No I wasn't - shut up!" The short red-clad girl exclaimed and argued with Nora as she tried to regain some form of control again. Naruto couldn't stop the warm chuckle rising in his throat at the sight of them bickering and hassling each other. A scene he honestly never believed he would see again. Ruby took a breath and calmed down before she looked up at him.

He found himself being examined deeply by those big silver eyes. And after a moment he looked around and found himself being watched by everyone else in the room too. They just stared at him like he was a mirage just seconds away from flittering out of existence, "It's you." Ruby muttered, "I just can't believe you're here."

"I-I mean it is you, right?" Nora asked curiously. When she noticed the odd looks she was getting the short bruiser threw her arms up, "It's just a question! I mean after that stuff with Tyrian and what Qrow told us and what I saw…" For once Nora's voice sounded meager and mumbling as she looked up at her whiskered friend, "I-I mean I just want to be sure."

"Nora is right." Ren stepped up and agreed with his partner, "As wonderful and miraculous as this moment might be, I think it wouldn't hurt to show a little caution." He looked at Naruto directly, "Can you tell us something only Naruto could tell us?"

From the way they talked and looked, it was clear that things hadn't been rainbows and sunshine for them either. Naruto took a breath and rubbed his neck, "Well I…I don't know what I can tell you." He admitted, "I mean the first thing that comes to mind was…is - is that-" He stuttered and shook his head, "T-The smell…the horrid, putrid smell…o-of that trash can. The trash can right outside the Airship when we landed at Beacon." He suddenly smirked and looked at Jaune, "You remember, right? The one you spilled your guts into and your breath was worse than death?"

"H-Hey!"

"Or what about that time when you wanted to see what made Weiss' perfumes smell so nice?" He said cheekily while looking Ruby's way, noticing her flinch upon the attention, "And you accidentally spilled them all down the drain and had to replace them with colored water-"

"E-Enough! That's enough!" Ruby waved her hands, "I believe you!"

As his fellow leaders started to panic and stutter excuses and reasoning, Naruto let out a chuckle. He couldn't describe how good it felt to be with the friends and family he had made during his time in Beacon. The people that helped him reclaim his life from the devious kingpin that forced him into crime. That helped him reconnect with his father after so many years of isolation. And that helped him try to make things right with the Uchiha and the White Fang. Being around them again-

Dammit, his eyes! Was there a leak?! Was this going to be a new thing?!

"It is you. I'm glad." He finished drying his eyes as Ren spoke up, "I'm sorry for doubting you. It's just…after what we saw, we had to be certain."

Naruto raised his head, one of his ears peeking up as he heard the odd inflection in Ren's tone. When he looked around he saw Nora looking down hesitantly at their feet. As she felt his stare she looked back up at him, "We…we saw the Wyvern eat you. Everyone thought you were dead."

…

It took a moment for his brain to turn back on. And after that, it was another moment to process what she just said. The whiskered man blinked a few times before shaking his head, "W-What? What are you talking about? What do mean I was eaten? I-I wasn't-"

"Think back," Ren stepped up, "What was the last thing you remember that night?"

As they looked to him for answers, Naruto tried to make sense of what was going on. He took a deep breath and remembered the series of events from that terrible day, "I-I just finished fighting these two assholes that blew up one of the landing pads. I was carrying my dad and then Ruby came down from the sky-"

"A-And I followed you to the next landing bay."

"Right, yeah." He nodded, "Then we saw everyone scared and trying to get on the Bullheads. But then that - that thing screeched in the sky and I decided I was going to try and fight. So that everyone else could get away." Naruto rubbed his head and grimaced, "You and Weiss got me up there, then I let my Semblance take control and…" He just stared ahead quietly before shaking his head, "That's it. After that, I was in the forest. Outside the city. Outside the mountain range. I didn't have a Scroll to call for help and I couldn't make it back through the horde of Grimm. I…I couldn't get back." He stared ahead blankly, "I thought I ran away."

The others looked distressed by his answer as they shared looks. Ren spoke up, "You reached the Wyvern and attacked it. You crawled over its body and attacked its wings to try and distract it. But after some time it got a hold of you, threw you in the air, and-"

"Chomp." Nora closed her hands together, her fingers interlacing like teeth in a jaw, "And you didn't come out."

"T-Then how did I survive? If the Wyvern was still alive-"

"It was attacked and killed after it ate you and flew away from Beacon. You must not have been digested or swallowed or…well I'm not quite sure how it works for Grimm. But you survived."

"That's…" He shook his head in disbelief. It was so unbelievable that he wasn't sure what to say. But after a moment his eyes widened as he registered what Ren had said. He turned and looked at the silent Huntsman, "Y-You said it flew away from Beacon?" Ren nodded, "Then…then the Bullheads got away? They made it?" He lost his breath for a moment, "Yang? Blake? Kiba? Tenten? D-Dad? They're all okay?"

"They were safe. And alive when we last saw them."

The lightness of that moment faltered after they made that distinction, "W-What does that mean? And where is everyone else?" He looked around the house and realized just how quiet and clean it was when there should have been so many people occupying it right now, "I-I thought the Bullheads were destroyed and the Wyvern obliterated Beacon! B-But if the Bullheads made it out and the Wyvern is dead then why did this still happen? How did Beacon fall?! Why is communication down everywhere?! Where is everyone else?! What-"

"Naruto!"

Ruby lurched forward and grabbed his hands. She squeezed them as tightly as she could as she looked up at him. And as she got his attention Naruto realized how fast and short his breathing had become. Even though Oscar had inspired him to travel to Mistral, and even though he had finally found some of his friends alive and well, the tension and indecision, and fear that had mounted in his stomach after months of believing that the worst was awaiting him were rearing its ugly head again.

And their expressions…the looks on Ren and Nora's faces. The way Jaune looked aside with his eyes downcast and melancholic. And Ruby's eyes…there's no way his friend filled with boundless optimism and hope would look at him like that if things were perfect. It only made dread fill his stomach faster, "What happened?"

Ruby looked down at his hands and squeezed. She gently pushed them back, making him step back in response until he felt his legs hit something. He carefully sat down at the table as he looked up at her and waited for an answer…

"You have to tell us everything that happened after you woke up. And we'll…" She took a deep breath and said in a solemn tone, "And we'll tell you everything too."

((((((((Hunting))))))))

Done

So, I'm planning to release the first chapter of the new story sometime this month. It might be the last day of the month, or maybe sometime before that. Not quite sure. I'm never really one for cementing dates ahead of time just to mess them up.

Anyway, Naruto finally reconnects with his friends again. And learns the truth about what happened to him and why no one ever went looking. He's also about to learn everything that happened after Beacon had fallen.

Man, what a day for them, huh?

Anyway, with this, Hunting or Bust: The Journey Onward finally concludes.

See you in Hunting or Bust: The Journey Continues later this month.

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