It was not that hard to find her room.
It was rather hard, though, to see her in such a state as this.
Ruby Rose sat on her hospital bed, hooked to a tube, head shrouded in a waterfall of black hair reddened at the tips. Her hands rested atop the blanket draped over her lower body. No one needed to see what had been done to salvage her legs, let alone what was left of them when she was retrieved from ground zero by a team of Atlas specialists. Not even the best of Atlas technology could raise the chances of restoring her Semblance.
Saphron Cotta-Arc took slow steps, inching closer and closer to the girl her younger brother so highly regarded. This same girl, said to have been the paragon of undying hope, did not acknowledge her presence. This girl who had been so vibrant and cheerful when she first entered her household in Argus all those years ago...with her brother by her side and a large team of Huntsmen and Huntresses on a mission to preserve humanity...
"Um, hello."
Ruby angled her head to regard her visitor. Damp silver irises shone through strands of hair, weighted by hours of mourning and a pale face damp with dried tears. The same eyes that could petrify the mightiest Grimm, the same Huntress of her generation with unparalleled mastery of the scythe, the same girl who radiated optimism in the darkest hours...reduced to a sullen paraplegic mess in a hospital ward. She was so...shattered.
Saphron awkwardly waved. "I don't know if you remember me."
"Saphron...?"
The elder Arc sibling sighed. "You do. That's great. Uh, hi. How...how're you feeling?"
Way to start a conversation, Saph. The stunned surprise on Ruby's face dimmed until the reaper dipped her head once again. "... Hey."
Saphron glanced around before sucking in a deep breath. She was in her thirties, damn it. She was married with a son and a secure job that netted her enough to pay for the exorbitant living costs that came with Atlas protection. Ruby was in her mid-twenties and a renowned Huntress with years of experience. How hard could it be to have a chat among adults?
Pretty difficult, actually. Given the circumstances.
But she came here to talk. And talk, she will. The elder Arc sibling pulled up a chair and sat beside the wounded Huntress. "Ruby...I'm not here to...say what the others are saying."
Ruby craned her head towards her.
She rested her hands over her palm. And cupped it. "Hey. I'm here to help. I want to know how you're feeling."
The reaper did not pull away. Nor did she say anything for a moment.
It seemed like she had run into a brick wall until she heard a muffled noise escape her lips. Droplets landed on her hands. Saphron glanced up to find Ruby breaking down.
"How could you," the Huntress sobbed, "how could you still be here...after what happened to Jaune..."
"Ruby, you—"
"I failed. I failed him. I could have done something. Anything... But I didn't...I couldn't... And now...now, he's gone... Just like Pyrrha...like Yang and Weiss and Blake—"
Saphron grabbed her cheeks, startling her. She held nothing against this girl. She was grateful for all that she had done, all the unneeded effort she expended to fulfill her duties as a Huntress. She realized she herself was pouring tears but she didn't care. "Ruby, please... It's not your fault."
"It is! I was there! I saw him die..." She was bawling now. "He was right there...and he was gone..."
"And there was nothing you could have done."
Ruby gaped at her wide-eyed. "W-what?"
Saphron cupped her hands. Unlike what most people would say, she knew her brother more than anyone in their family did. She understood his frustrations, understood his motivations. Yes, she did regret some of his actions to get to where he was but it didn't matter now. He had become a Huntsman, fulfilled his dream to be a hero, and even got the unwanted bonus of serving in a branch of the Atlas military for a time.
Though that last part created the domino effect that spiraled into this conclusion. Her brother had paid the ultimate price. Willingly. She understood that too as best she could.
"Jaune did what he believed was right," she told the crippled girl. "He knew the risks and he took it. He knew his chances and he took it. And as his sister, I supported him. I respected his decisions and I supported him all the way until the end. I...accepted the inevitable when he left our home for the last time."
Glistening silver irises melted against caring sapphires. The elder Arc sibling wrapped the broken reaper in her arms.
"You're a wonderful person, Ruby. Don't let anyone demean you for your limitations. You tried your very best and I believe you. I don't hold anything against you. Yes, I was hurt. Yes, I was angry. But I never was angry for long...because I know that it would do nothing to help us get past this."
Saphron held tight and she felt Ruby complete their embrace; they both released the dam holding back their emotions. When they pulled back, their shoulders were moist with their shared tears. It was then that Saphron noticed a distinctive white stick set aside on her bedside table. Two sharp red lines stuck out.
Ruby didn't stop her from picking it up. She sunk back onto her bed and let her examine the results. Positive results.
The elder Arc sibling gawked at the reaper. "You loved him, didn't you..."
The wounded Huntress was out of breath that her reply came in broken whispers, "I loved him so much... He was everything to me..."
Saphron could not stop her emotions from bursting out once again. Jaune would always saturate his letters to home with paragraphs of praise over his partner, loose remarks about her character, and countless other hints that he unwittingly dropped whenever he went on about her. She had always known her brother had been enraptured with this girl. Now, there was no denying it. "You were everything to him, you know."
And Ruby cried again. Right back into her arms.
"He would have wanted you to be happy," Saphron soothed. "I know how painful this is to you. To me. To us. But he would not have wanted us to be broken over his grave forever. For his sake, for his memory, we push on." She pulled back and pressed her forehead against her unofficial sister-in-law. "I'll be here with you, as Jaune had been."
"He was anxious about starting a family," the reaper admitted distantly. "He was afraid of fatherhood. Of being there for his...our...my child. Of not being around to be a dad..."
"That's just like him. He'd still be there," Saphron reiterated over a light chuckle.
"He would have." A sniffle. "He once asked me about settling down...someday. I think he was...he was going to..."
Saphron offered a sad smile. The many secrets divulged in letters to home. Soon, she would have to unseal that metal box in her drawer and show her the heaps of mail from her brother, each one bearing at least a section of adoration for the Huntress. "He thought of proposing."
She bit her trembling lip. "H-he did?"
A somber nod.
Ruby blinked wide-eyed at her sheets. "He did. We were going to be together... Now...I'm alone and I'm...I'm scared. I...I'm the only one left of my family..."
The elder Arc sibling rested her hand on her shoulder. "A family isn't one person. You have the next generation inside you. You won't be alone. You'll never be."
An uneasy mien came back at her. "I...don't know how...to be a mother."
"If that's the case, then I'll help you raise your child. Might even teach Adrian a thing or two about raising kids like he was."
Ruby was wide-eyed and startled. "Y-you would?"
Saphron beamed. "That's right. You have my word as an Arc that I will be by your side in motherhood. And an Arc never goes back on their word."
And for the first time in what must have been a long time, Ruby smiled. "Thank you...thank you..."
"No. Thank you," Saphron openly wept in return, "for being his world."
ORIGINALLY DRAFTED: February 19, 2019
LAST EDITED: February 20, 2019
INITIALLY UPLOADED: February 19, 2019
NOTE: I wanted to write something with Saphron in it. And this idea was boiling in my head long before Volume 6 came out. Saphron's introduction made it easier to finish this because I won't have to make up an Arc sister. How'd I do?