Jaune Arc woke up with a violent gasp for air. This wasn't uncommon for him, as a huntsman, he had seen many terrible things. He had seen whole villages razed to the ground by the creatures of Grimm, he had seen violent terrorist plots come to fruition, he was even present at the battle of Beacon, where he had lost almost everything, including his partner, Phyrra Nikos. However, none of these events are the source of Jaunes nightmares, no. He always relives one event in particular, one night that finally showed him the true cruelty of the world, in the form of gnashing teeth and angry claws.
The death of his best friend, the death of Ruby Rose.
With a sigh, Jaune dragged himself out of his bed, and immediately felt himself getting dizzy. Lucky for him, he never goes anywhere without his motion sickness pills. After swiftly chugging one, the swordsman forced himself to his quarters wash room. Looking in the mirror, one could see that the past 8 years had been rough on him, where once he would have seen a bumbling buffoon who was in over his head, staring back at him was a hardened warrior, covered in scars from the many battles he had been part of over the years.
Quickly washing himself, he walked out of the wash room and got dressed into his combat outfit, a set of cargo pants, a hoodie, and a pair of combat boots, covered in overlying light armour. Finally, he grabbed his belt of ballistic knives, and went to grab Crocea Mors, but hesitated upon setting his eyes on the band of red cloth wrapped around its hilt. His thoughts turned to that night, of how Ruby was dragged away in the fighting by a pack of beowolves, of how he tried to get to her, but before he knew it, he had lost sight of her, and of how when the fighting had passed, Jaune, Ren, and Nora found only the tattered remnants of her cape.
He was brought out of his thoughts by the load banging on the door. Jaune grabbed Crocea Mors and opened the door to his cabin to be greeted with the frustrated face of Coral Wake.
'Great, just what I needed right now.' He thought with an internal sigh.
"Do you know what time it is Arc? Because you were supposed to be up and about 20 minutes ago." shouted Coral, likely waking up the other members of the crew in the process.
"We were supposed to wake up around dawn, and please, call me Jaune." the knight tiredly claimed.
"Whatever, Arc, the boss wants to see you." she snarled before storming off, leaving Jaune alone.
"Why did I take this job again?" he asked to no one in particular, before remembering he had no money left to get back to Vale using any other means after spending it all on a heavy night of drinking.
With a sigh, he walked towards the bridge of the airship, forgoing his breakfast for the time being, fully knowing what the captain was going to say.
"I've told you time and again, Steele, and my answer remains the same." exclaimed Jaune, with a hint of frustration seeping into his voice.
"I will pay you double my last offer, you have been a great help thus far, and with the recent increase in avian grimm activity, I would feel a lot more comfortable with two hunters aboard to fight those beasts off." pleaded Steele with a hint of desperation. He had longish, curly grey hair, dark green eyes, and was wearing a dark blue trench coat.
"I'm sorry but I can't. I haven't seen my friends face to face in over a year, and I kind of owe them a visit at this point. And to be honest I also don't know how much more of Coral I can stand before I throw myself out of the cargo hatch." This got a chuckle from the captain.
"Well I guess there is no convincing you, oh well, it has been gre-" it was at this moment Coral barged into the room, interrupting the captain. "What is the meaning of this!?" he demanded.
"We found a stowaway in the cargo hold! She was armed as well!" responded an exasperated Coral
"WHAT!? Where are you keeping this woman?"
"In the cargo hold, she is being watched by the crew until we get down there."
Steele immediately got up from behind his desk and rushed toward the cargo hold, the two hunters in his employ following close behind. As Jaune turned the corner with the Steele and Coral, his eyes locked with the stowaways silver ones, and for a second, his heart stopped.
They stood there for a few seconds, both shocked, the knight because he was looking at someone that was supposed to be dead, someone that he had had nightmares about every time he slept for the past eight years, and the reaper because she knew what he would be thinking, and she feared what he would do.
"Jaune"
"Ruby"
They spoke at the same time, and their shocked words cut through the air like a blade, neither could believe that they were standing in front of the other.
"I'm sorry" Jaune uttered before breaking down, tears trailing down his face. Ruby stood frozen on the spot, not knowing whether she should comfort her friend, or if she even had the right to call him her friend, after all, she had disappeared off the face of remnant, only to show up out of nowhere, without either of them expecting it.
"I guess you two are acquainted, but there is still the issue that she is a heavily armed stowaway, we should probably just kill her and ge-" Coral was interrupted by Jaunes fist slamming into her face, sending her flying to the floor with an unceremonious thud.
"YOU WON'T LAY A FINGER ON HER, DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME!" screamed the knight, tears still streaming down his face.
Ruby smiled at that. She knew that he still cared for her enough to not let any harm come to her, although despite the fact that she was cuffed, she could have dealt with her easily.
"I am not a threat, I assure you." spoke the girl in red."I only wish to get to Atlas."
"Yet you stowaway aboard my ship, heavily armed, clearly not intending on drawing any attention, so how am I supposed to take your word? After all, you stowed away on my ship, meaning you aren't exactly the most honest person in the world." pressed the grey haired captain, only to be instantly answered by Jaune.
"Captain please, I can assure you she is the most trustworthy person I have ever met in my life."
Steele paused for a moment, to consider how to handle the current situation. He trusted the knights word, after all, he was always kind and respectful, and despite disliking Coral, Jaune always was patient with her, other than now of course, which showed that he cared for her enough to not allow Coral to threaten her. With this he came to a decision.
"Fine, let her go."
"What!? You can't be serious, she could be working with the White Fang for all we know!"
"The White Fang would never work with a human and you know it, Coral." Jaune spat the words as if they were poison.
"Really Arc, what about Roman Torchwick, and Cinder Fall?" questioned the woman, who was still bruised by Jaunes earlier outburst, though her aura was healing it by the second.
"I was the one who killed Torchwick" this time it was Ruby who responded."As for the fire bitch, Jaune was the one who cut her down, and one more thing, I would never work with the White Fang, considering that they are responsible for the battle of beacon and took everything from me, and they took my sisters fucking arm!" Everyone present flinched at her tirade, Jaune especially.
He had seen Ruby when she was upset a few times, but he had never seen her when she was angry, and frankly, it scared him. Everything from her voice, and how it seethed with venom, to the slight glint in her eyes, and how they seemed to glow ever so slightly.
Steele let out a sigh. "I stand by my decision Coral, and that is that, however, she can't continue on to Atlas with us. She gets off at Vale."
"I understand. So how long until we get to Vale then?" asked the scythe wielder
"Two hours."