So I wrote this in reaction to the latest episode. Seriously Roosterteeth what the fuck? I enjoyed it, but why did you pull a Game of Thrones on us? WHY? That being said I will be back for the next volume, because I have a sneaking suspicion things aren't always what they seem.
Anyways, I was also watching Arrow yesterday, so I wrote this as a one shot, I hope it turns out okay, This is my first one shot. Well, at least the first on on this profile...I still have a ton of ideas for them.
You'll see a bit of Deathstroke in Jaune, thats for sure.
With RJRN
After making camp for the night, Ruby and Jaune took the first shift to stay up and keep watch in case of any suspicion. Its not like the two of them got much sleep these days anyways. With everything that had happened lately, it was hard to get a good nights sleep. Beacon was destroyed, hundreds of civilians laid to waste, the cities overrunning with Grimm, Yang losing her arm, and two of the worst things...the death of two friends.
Penny and Pyrrha.
It was hard to believe, Ruby saw Penny stop a truck with her bare hands. To think that she could be killed as easily as she was, even if it was Pyrrha she was fighting, it was not something she could believe, she had never seen death first hand, she had gone through loss and suffering, but never before had she witnessed it firsthand. And yet, she witnessed it twice in the same day.
Jaune...he was finding it hard to cope, especially with new things that came to light. How? How could he not notice how Pyrrha felt? Why was it that she had to kiss him before he finally understood what was going on? All those signs, the slight frowns she gave whenever he mentioned Weiss, the sad look in her eyes whenever he would stare at Weiss instead of her, even at the dance, where she told him exactly what to do to help win Weiss's heart...all of that...and he never once noticed.
He clenched his fist at the thought, he had always been dense. But this...this was something that would stick with him til his dying day. The fear he saw in her eyes, the regret that she must have felt. It was eating away at his soul, it hurt to even think about her like he used to. Never again would he see her smile, never again would they have those late night sparring sessions. She would never be around to see the crazy antics of Nora like they usually did on a day to day basis. She wouldn't be around to giggle at him in his bunny pyjamas...so many memories, and so many moments that they could have shared, and now it was all gone. And he could do nothing about it.
If he had been stronger, maybe faster, he could have helped. But she sent him away. Because she cared about him, in a way he wished he had never met her, he always worried that he was bringing his team down with his lack of experience. Granted she did help him get stronger, and yet in the end it wasn't enough. He couldn't stop her from shoving him in that locker, he was too far away to run back to help her, Ruby and Weiss were not quick enough to save her. Endless possibilities filled his head, so many 'What ifs'.
It was these thoughts that kept him up at night. Even though he hadn't witnessed her death first hand, he had the same dream every night, of his last memory of her. Those eyes staring at him with pain and regret. It ached to know that he was the cause of that. That was the last image that was burned into his mind...so what was he to do now?
"Jaune..." Ruby said as he looked over.
"Yeah?" He asked trying to turn his thoughts away from the so called 'invincible girl'.
"Are you sure you're okay with this?" She asked as Jaune sighed.
"If I wasn't okay, then its too late to turn back now." He said as she looked at him with worry...the same eyes Pyrrha had when she...he shook his head of the thoughts.
"Jaune...I miss her too." She said as Jaune clenched his fist.
"Yeah...we all do." He said looking over at Ren and Nora.
They were handling it better than he was, but even he could tell they missed her. Nora liked to refer to Pyrrha as her 'Unofficial big sister.' Ren, while he may have been quiet most of the time, Pyrrha and the rest of his team were really the only people he could talk to. He didn't seem to connect well with anyone else, granted they had been chosen as a team, so it wouldn't do any good if they didn't socialize. But still, the fact that Ren could form a bond with other people besides Nora...it was amazing. The affect she had on everyone she knew, and the hole that she left when she died.
"Well...she's gone to a better place." Ruby said trying to offer comfort.
"Only too soon." He said as he felt his nails dig into his hand.
"I'm sorry...its just...I don't know what to say...she was my friend too...and...the last I saw her...was when..." She started and Jaune cut her off.
"When Cinder killed her." He finished thinking about the woman they had met in the halls.
A student who was there for the tournament...who would have figured she was a homicidal maniac.
"Yeah..." Ruby stated.
The truth was that Cinder was still out there, when she woke up, Qrow had only told her that the Dragon Grimm had frozen in place, but they did not find Cinder anywhere near her. Which could only mean two things...Either somehow Ruby had killed her, or she had escaped. Considering there wasn't evidence of a body, chances are she had escaped.
"It was an arrow wasn't it? That got her?" He asked as Ruby nodded.
"To think, everyone always put her on a pedestal, called her invincible, heck even I believed it. No matter how hard I trained, she was always one step ahead, even when she trained me in hand to hand, no matter how good I got, she always beat me with experience, heh to think, I used to think that was the most pain I could ever be in...but this...this is something new." He said as he looked down at his chest.
How could someone feeling emotional pain feel physical pain at the same time? And why couldn't he stop it.
"We'll find her...we'll bring her to justice." She said as Jaune shook his head.
"Thats not enough..." He said in a dark tone.
"Jaune?" She was a little scared at his tone.
"What is Justice? Taking her alive? No I won't do that...she doesn't deserve that...Pyrrha doesn't deserve to have her killer run free..." Jaune stated as Ruby got a little scared.
"Are you saying...you're going to kill her?" Ruby asked as Jaune shook his head.
"Kill her? No, that would be far too kind. Death is a release, not a punishment." He said as he looked over Ren and Nora before turning back to Ruby.
"I am going to tear her apart, piece by piece, I will take away everything she has worked to do, break those who choose to follow her, I will find a way to take away those powers she worked so hard, and planned so long to gain, I will look at her in her final moments, relishing the fear that she felt...the fear Pyrrha must have felt at the end, once she has lost everything she values..." He paused for a bit before he narrowed his eyes at Ruby.
"I will drive an arrow...through her heart."
