No one thought this would happen, but it did.
They were just acquaintances for the most part, back when everything was normal and happy. Back before the End. He'd accidently puked on her shoes the first time they met. Not exactly the most romantic thing to start a relationship to. She punched him. Hard. He didn't complain, cause he knew that he kinda deserved it. (If he had complained, she would have probably punched him again.)
She didn't see his problems. He was just a background character in her life, where her biggest problems were homework and trying to get in the ring with his partner, the Champion. (And trying to get her painfully attractive partner to think of her in a different light than friend and partner.)
He never really paid her all that much attention. In his defense, he was more than occupied with not getting killed on a daily basis, getting shit from Cardin, training with his partner. (And getting shot down over and over again by the resident Snow Angel, or as she preferred, the heiress.)
They shared two things in common. They were both blonde and they both enjoyed puns. That was really all it was. They would occasionally just start pulling out the puns at a meal time, just to see even the most resolved of them slam their head against the table in exasperation. Looking back, those times seem tarnished and rusted.
When she broke that prick's leg, he had the same view as her team and his. It wasn't her fault, but the boy's. Who would attack after his aura was depleted? They shared a small smile as he told her this, his gloved hand resting on her shoulder.
When everything fell, they didn't see each other for the most part. They followed two separate paths that day, but they took them to the same place. Broken and alone.
She didn't even know that he was here until he and what was left of his team left with her sister and she read the note that she had left. It didn't really sink in. Nothing did for the longest time.
She didn't realize that her dad and her uncle had brought them back until he showed up on the threshold of her door with a tray of food. He set it down on the bedside table next to her, put down his food and started eating without a word. She ate as well, more than she had the last few months. When they had both finished, he took her dishes and left. Neither of them had said a word.
This continued for a week or so. He would bring her meals, they would eat in silence, and he would leave without saying a word. She would watch him after she finished eating. He was a slow eater. She noticed that he looked different. More broken. But more together than she had ever seen him.
He had gotten a tattoo. It was on his upper left arm. She recognized the familiar spear and shield, despite not seeing them since before the End. It was the first time he wore short sleeves since their daily ritual began. It reminded her too much of what happened. She moved to touch it before realizing that it was with the wrong arm. The phantom feeling had not gone away and she sure as hell wasn't used to it yet. She could feel the tears running down her cheeks, but still wouldn't open her eyes.
He didn't know what prompted him to wipe the tears off her face when she started crying, but he took his handkerchief and carefully wiped the tears that spilled over her cheeks. She leaned slightly into the touch and spoke the first words that they had spoken to each other since the End. He responded in a quiet voice.
"Thank you."
"For what?"
"This."
He smiled at her, not quite reaching his eyes, but she mirrored it. She slowly drew him into a hug and he reciprocated, pulling back after a couple seconds. His hand lingered on her shoulder as he stood up and gathered the dishes. He left without a word.
The next time he brought the food in, he had a letter. Two, in fact. He placed one next to her meal. She could recognize the writing as her partner's.
Yang,
I'm sorry for running. I made my way to Haven, where I found Sun and the rest of his team. I spoke to the Headmaster and he said that he would accept people who were studying at Beacon. I plan to take advantage of this opportunity. I hope you, Ruby and whoever else you are with would join me.
I miss you,
Blake
She looked up at him, who, like her, hadn't touched his food in favor of reading the letter he had. He looked up at her, despair clear in his eyes. Her eyes flicked to the letter in his hand. His voice was scratchy as he spoke.
"Pyrrha's-" He paused, took a breath, and continued.
"Pyrrha's parents offered to house us in Mistral. They heard about the offer that Haven's headmaster made to ex-Beacon students." She nodded slightly.
"Blake said that she was there with Sun's team, so you'll have some friendly faces."
"Yeah, we will. We were going to leave in a week or so. The Haven headmaster will send a Bullhead for the five of us." She laid back, suddenly too exhausted to eat. They were silent for what seemed like forever before she spoke again.
"When is Weiss getting here?" He looked up, puzzlement written across his face.
"I haven't talked to Weiss recently. I thought Ruby would try to stay in contact with her, but I don't think she has texted her yet." Yang sat up.
"Then who's the fifth? Wait…" He looked at her with a determination that she only saw on his face during battle.
"You're coming, Yang." She deflated.
"No. I'm not." Her eyes stung of tears.
"Yes, you are."
"NO, I'M NOT. I don't have an arm, if you haven't noticed." Her hair erupted in an inferno, but he didn't react. After a minute, she had used up her anger, leaving a scorched pillow behind her. He grabbed her hand and lightly squeezed it, not flinching when she crushed it with her grip.
He pulled out something that she didn't remember him bringing in. It was a box, that he passed to her. She balked at the autonomic arm in front of her. It was beautifully made, with the same mechanical style as Crescent Rose.
"Ruby made this a month ago. She told me that you'd need to go through some surgery to get a connection to this that you can swap out. I think your sister has made a couple more since then." She could feel his intense gaze on her. All she could do was nod.
The procedure was simple, quick and painless. When she was finally cleared to try her new arms, she went outside and tested it. It was the first time she smiled since the End.
Her first experiences at Haven were the same as they were in Beacon. He vomited, got some on her shoe, she punched him. But this time, he wound up in the infirmary. She forgot how much stronger she was with the new arm that she had named Indian Paintbrush. (Her sister had a similar experience, where she bumped into Weiss, and promptly exploded again.)
The housing situation was very different here. They didn't have team based rooms. They didn't have dorms either, for that matter. What they did have was an older version of his partner and a mansion. They all had their own rooms, which helped. He didn't know how he would handle sleeping in the same room as his team. Or at least what was left of it. Her room was right next to his and across from her partner, who currently had company over as was indicated by the closed door.
He was sitting at his desk, looking over a textbook that they had received the first day of class. She paused on the threshold and knocked. He swiveled to look at her and waved her in when he saw who it was. She took a seat on the extra chair that he had.
"What are you doing?" He held up the copy of Advanced Team Tactics for Hunters.
"It's really just common sense. A middle schooler could understand it." He closed it and looked at her. She looked very different since she took a good foot or so off of her hair.
"Hmm. Want to go into town?"
Mistral was very different than Vale. The downtown area was a bit more spacious than it was in Vale, but had similar shops and cafés, but more importantly to her, there was a club that she was able to drag him into. They danced and drank until, when they made their way back to the mansion, they were leaning heavily on each other. When they got back to her room, they lounged on the futon that was in her room, still leaning heavily on each other.
"Have you shown anyone your tattoo yet?" He looked her in a drunken haze.
"No." He shook his head. "When did you notice it?" She could feel his hands in her hair and resisted the urge to moan.
"The first day. When you wiped the tears away from my cheeks. It was the first time I saw you in a short sleeved shirt." They lapsed into silence. He bowed his head and felt the beginnings of tears, tears that he had held back for so long.
"I loved her."
"I know."
"No, like, I was in love with her."
"I know. We all knew."
"What do I do?"
"I don't know." He had silent tears streaming down his face. She pulled out the handkerchief that he had given her and wiped them from his face as he had done with hers. He sniffed and mumbled out a waterlogged 'Thanks'.
"I'm in love with Blake." He looked up at her.
"…Really?"
"Yeah."
"So, you're gay?"
"No, I'm attracted to guys too."
"Ok."
"You don't care?"
"I mean, not really. That just sucks for you cause I think she and Sun are together now."
"Yeah. They are."
"I'm sorry."
"Me too."
By now, her head was comfortably in the crook of his neck as they leaned against each other. He leaned his head on hers.
"I guess we go on."
"Yeah."
"We have each other."
"Yeah, we do."
They looked at each other. They leaned in and didn't talk the rest of the night.
He woke up curled around her, her eyes on his.
"Hey."
"Hmm, good morning."
They lapsed into a comfortable silence.
"I think we should get up."
"But it's the weekend."
"Good point."
They fell back into a light nap.
When they got up, they went back to normal. They would pun until their friends all booed at them, teased Blake and Sun and Weiss and Neptune with endless innuendos. Not only they went back to normal. Life went back to normal, where they only worried about their upcoming tests and physical exams. She took the role of his trainer and he progressed even faster than he had with his partner, if that was even possible. Everything was as normal as it could be for a group of teenage hunters and huntresses in training.
But then everything changed, their old headmaster resurfaced. He visited Haven and specifically them. He brought her dad and her uncle and Beacon's headmistress with him. They were beaten up and bloody but fine otherwise. But the worse thing was the news they brought.
Atlas had fallen.
The only survivors were the general and the heiress' sister. They had saved some of the dust from the Schnee Dust Company, but the school at Atlas was decimated. They brought tales of the White Fang and a bull faunus who shredded through the students with impunity. They told of how they had somehow, single-handedly, destroyed the White Fang. They brought the blood red katana as proof of the demise of the bull.
At this, her partner broke down in tears. She was the first one there. She was just as surprised as the rest of them when her partner kissed her, not much unlike the one that she and he had shared awhile back. (And had several times since then.)
He wasn't mad. He knew how much she cared for her partner. He knew that he was only rented that part of her heart and he didn't mind. (But damn, if it didn't hurt.)
She disappeared into her room with her partner, leaving him with the heiress, who had just been ditched since her beau had gone with his best friend after he stormed out. Part of him guessed that they wouldn't come back as best friends, but something more. (I mean, did anyone else see how they looked at each other?)
He had been here before. Walking around the street-lit downtown of Mistral with a beautiful companion. Only that this one wasn't her. It was the heiress, the girl who he had feelings for before his partner. They didn't go to a club this time, but a fancy restaurant that he, who was wearing a nice button down and tie, felt underdressed for. She of course, looked like she belonged there, as he would expect. They made conversation, nothing flirty or very deep, but it was nice. They both smiled a lot more than usual. When they had finished, he tried to insist that he picked up the bill, but that small disagreement ended when he looked at the tab. She laughed and paid for it. (He noticed this was the first actual laugh he got out of her that wasn't a mere giggle or at him.
They walked around the city arm in arm, looking in some of the shops. They had just entered the dust store, when she asked him a question.
"Would you like to look for a longer ranged weapon?" He paused, his hand hovering over an ice blue dust crystal, not much unlike the heiress' eyes.
"Yeah, I had thought about it." He plucked the crystal off the counter and held it up next to her face. She playfully slapped his hand away.
"What are you doing, you dunce?" He held it up again and gently grabbed the hand that came to slap it away again.
"Deciding if you are copying the crystal or if it's copying you." She rolled her crystalline eyes at him, a slight blush on her cheeks, and picked up a crystal that matched his. She did the same as he did to her.
"Water. We harness this type of dust through a process of channeling our aura through a focal point, usually a gemstone of similar color, as it strengthens the power behind the reaction. The purer, the better. Sapphires work the best for water." She softly explained to him, lowering the dust. She gently took the crystal out of his hand.
"And this one?"
"Ice. The best gemstones are usually opals or aquamarines, depending on the purity and color." She turned to the rainbow of remaining crystals on the counter and listed them out. He set his hand down lightly on the counter.
"Sun, sunstones."
"How surprising."
"Quiet, you. Fire, garnets. Lava, rubies. Grass, Emeralds." At this, her hand fell upon his and he looked up at her, a familiar emptiness in his eyes.
"Do you want to look at weapons now?" He nodded.
When they left half an hour later, he carried a complicated blueprint that he was planning to ask the prodigy to build. He was prepared to spend a good amount of money, but he expected it would be on cookie ingredients instead. He didn't quite realize how it happened, but they were holding hands. He enjoyed it.
"So how do you think finals went?" He smiled slightly at the question.
"Well. I'm just really proud that I am not last in the class in combat class."
"I'm proud of you. And I think she would be too." She felt him tense, but he relaxed soon after.
"Thanks. I just really miss her." She squeezed his hand gently.
"Now tell me about how you managed to get Yang to come." He smiled slightly.
"I told her she was coming. She'd say no, but I just kept at it. She needed it."
"It was surprising when those two just started going at it." He shrugged and chuckled a bit at her expression.
"She told me before we…" He trailed off, not sure what to say.
"Wait, you and Yang…?" He nodded. "How?"
"We were both just vulnerable. Blake was with Sun that night and we were pretty drunk. One thing just led to another." He exhaled heavily. "And I was having, am having trouble with being alone. Not something I'm used to with a family my size." They walked in silence the rest of the way to the mansion.
"Well, I'm not getting in bed with you after just the first date, Arc." He laughed before he realized what she said.
"Wait, that was a date? But you and Neptune?"
"Oh please. We went on one date before he broke down and told me that he was deeply in love with Sun. We just never told anyone since he was still so broken up about how Sun and Blake were a thing."
"That's complicated."
"Goodnight, Jaune."
"Goodnight, Weiss."
The sun was hot. Despite the winter season, he was burning up in his suit. As would be expected, many people wanted to attend the funeral so they held the actual procession in private but had the reception in public. Needless to say, it was one of the worst days of his life. Despite him being relatively unknown, people still recognized him from the tournament. Most were polite and kind, but one belligerent visitor asked if he thought they would have won if the tournament was finished.
He broke his nose and disappeared.
They couldn't find him, but no one considered that he didn't want to be found.
Time passed. Days turned into weeks and weeks into months.
They found him by a complete fluke.
She, the one who left him alone once again, overheard Beacon's headmaster and headmistress speaking of someone called 'Paladin' who was reportedly scouting around their old school. They left the next day.
It was eerie. This place which was once so happy and full of life was barren and dead, ruined from a year of abandonment. They cut down hordes of monsters, covering the cracked and weedy tiles with black blood. There was no sign of him until a massive Nevermore crashed into the ground in front of them, headless.
"The dragon!" The remaining leader exclaimed and the heiress summoned a massive glyph that sent them all skyward.
He looked different. His minimal armor had been replaced by a full set of gleaming white knight armor. Crocea Mors was no longer the one handed sword that they had grown accustomed to seeing, but a massive two-hand sword that had a similar sheen as his armor. He had it hefted with one arm over his shoulder as he placed something on the dragon's neck. The heiress realized what he was doing before anyone else and summoned a glyph to bridge the gap between the top of the tower and where the knight stood.
He looked up when he saw someone land across from him. He took the fire dust that she had removed from Myrtenaster without a word but met her eyes with a quick glance. He placed it next to the crystal that he had already put in the small indent that he had carved out.
"You should get to safety." His voice was rough and scratchy, as if he hadn't spoken for as long as he had been gone.
"Jaune-" He stopped her with a quick gesture.
"I don't want to lose anyone else. Go." She reached out to him, taking a hold of an edge of his armor.
"Don't you dare die. You've got too much to live for." He looked up at her with dead eyes.
"Like what?" She took a deep breath.
"Me." She jumped off the frozen Grimm and made her way back to the group.
He smiled after her and slammed his sword over the dust.
They watched as the dragon began to freefall after being thawed. But it went wrong.
The beast let out a mighty roar and flapped its wings, shattering the remaining ice on them and rising above the tower. They could barely see the white figure as he grasped the horns. The dragon dive bombed them and smashed into the tower just below the top, where they stood.
There was no room for thought, only action. They all fell as the tower crumbled below them, forcing them to try to control their descent, jumping from broken piece to broken piece as they plummeted to the ground.
As they fought to survive, he fought to hang on to the beast as he slashed its neck with his sword. A large chunk of tower smashed into the left wing and shattered it.
They all stopped when he fell.
They could feel the shift in the world as the massive Grimm plummeted, taking the knight down with it. When it landed, an enormous cloud of dust exploded from the landing zone, the dust covering everyone and everything, the force blowing everyone to the ground.
And then, everything was quiet.
They all woke up at the same time. The only way to distinguish who it was, was by their height and eyes. The ice blue eyes opened first. The heiress slowly clambered to her feet, using Myrtenaster to push herself up. She first noticed the layer of black on top of the brown, a common trait of slain Grimm. She could hear the others stirring but didn't care. She needed to know.
He woke up a bit before the rest of them and a good distance away as well. He sat up and dispelled his aura, allowing it to seep into him and heal the worst of his injuries. A broken collarbone, collapsed lung and a large gash across his front. There was a light. He didn't know why, but he rubbed his eyes with his gloved hands and looked up.
It was her. Not her, as in the lilac-eyed brawler who accidently broke his heart. Not her, as in the small, petite yet ferocious and reliable heiress that he was busy falling in love all over again with, but the first and should have been only her, his emerald-eyed Amazonian who will always have a part of his heart, forever.
It was Pyrrha.
"Pyrrha…?" She smiled at him, her form flickering slightly in the breeze.
"Hello again, Jaune." He reached a hand out to her, meeting the one she extended but he passed through it with the same sensation as passing a hand through mist.
"How are you here?" They maintained eye contact as through it was a grip on a cliff. They dared not let go, lest they fall into the abyss.
"My work is officially complete."
"What?"
"Your aura has finally revealed your semblance."
"Wh- This was your work?"
"Yes."
"N-No. Your work should have been to grow up and fall in love and have children and live a full life. Not just a teacher for me. You-You deserve better." He was crying, but unlike the countless times before, it helped. He could see the tears forming in her eyes as well.
"I wish it was Jaune. I would have given so much to fall even more in love with you, to have kids and grow old together. I wanted to marry you." He was shaking.
"That's all I wanted out of life, Pyrrha. Even if I didn't know it at the time. I love you so much, but what do I do now? I feel like my entire world has been torn away from me, a world I never got to explore or enjoy. I'm just so lost." A sad smile formed on her face as she looked off behind him.
"Well, I have an idea." He could hear the heels behind him, getting closer and closer. They stopped and he turned to just who he expected. Weiss Schnee. She was focused on Pyrrha who had not moved from where she was speaking with Jaune.
"Hello, Weiss." The heiress' jaw fell open.
"I- uh- What? How?" Pyrrha laughed, a sound that he had missed.
"It's complicated and I'll let Jaune explain it to you when I'm not pressed for time. Keep an eye on Jaune for me, won't you? I'm afraid I won't be able to for a while." She turned back to Jaune. "As for you, just find something or someone you love and never let it go. Make the best of life and I will be waiting. I love you, Jaune, Goodbye." Pyrrha slowly faded away, leaving the two alone as the sun rose on the grounds of Beacon Academy.
He slowly stood up, turning to the girl who stood behind him, still in shock from what happened. She focused on him, her eyes flicking down his body at his relatively clean clothes. He moved toward her and before she could comprehend it, he was kissing her. One hand went to the side of her face and cupped it gently, while the other settled lightly on her hip. Without a second thought, she kissed him back, her body moving to fit against his unconsciously as her hands fell on his chest.
When Yang and the rest of them arrived, they saw Jaune and Weiss in a passionate embrace. Yang felt the pang of disappointment as they held each other but when her partner came up next to her and took her hand, it faded.