Short one-shot plot bunny that I couldn't get out of my head after Volume 3. It was also much easier to write than my other fic, which is worrying.
"Weiss, please."
As much as she wanted to, she couldn't turn him down. She thought she had seen Jaune at his worst before, but now, with his eyes red from the tears that still dripped down his face… Despite herself, she wanted to give the poor boy a hug. But doing as he asked, and going back to Beacon, just the two of them… that was suicide.
Ruby was still comatose. Yang was awake, but it was like the fire in her heart had gone out, and she was in no condition to be moving anyway. Blake had left without a word, and Nora and Ren were still hospitalized.
Pyrrha…
Pyrrha was gone. Ruby's uncle had told them as much when he came back with Ruby. There was nothing left of her but her diadem, her shield, and the broken remnants of her sword.
And all of those were sitting on top of Beacon tower, right next to the Grimm Dragon that was frozen in place.
That was where Jaune wanted to go. But even he knew that going back to Beacon alone was suicide. He'd begged Qrow, Professor Goodwitch, Port and Oobleck, he'd even asked what was left of the Atlas military to help him. They'd all turned him down, and for good reason. Reasons that Weiss had repeated right back at Jaune when he'd finally turned to her.
But with him standing right in front of her, looking more pathetic than she'd ever seen him before (and she'd seen him some very pathetic situations), she couldn't turn him down. All he wanted was something to remember her by.
And besides, Pyrrha was- ...had been her friend too.
By the time they reached the bottom of Beacon tower, the pair were exhausted. Without an airship to their names, they'd had to rely on a centuries-old staircase to get to the top of the cliff that Beacon sat on. It had been carved straight into the cliff, well before the existence of the academy. Halfway up they started finding Grimm.
The first ones were easy. Even a Huntsman of Jaune's… lacking amount of skill found them simple to dispatch. But the closer they got to the top, the more Grimm there were. Rumors had spread of the Dragon attracting Grimm from across the land, and it seemed that was true. By the time they actually reached Beacon, there was an impossibly huge horde facing them. They had no choice but to use Weiss' glyphs to run past.
Getting up the tower was an even more arduous task. Cinder and Pyrrha had taken out one of the elevators on the way up, and the lines of the second one had been cut when the Dragon smashed the top off the tower. Fortunately, another staircase presented itself, and this one was mercifully free of the beasts. It was still a long walk, and even when they reached the top there was a mountain of rubble blocking their path.
"What do you think we'll find up there?" Weiss asked, as Jaune took his turn to clear some of the debris.
"Proof."
He couldn't believe she was gone. Neither could Weiss. Qrow had said there wasn't a body, but if Miló and Akoúo̱ were up there…
"I can't believe it was Cinder who did this…" Weiss whispered. They'd known the girl- woman for a semester, and although she wasn't part of their circle of friends, she was close enough to make the betrayal feel real. Emerald and Mercury has disappeared in the aftermath too, so they were likely in on it.
"It was. I saw her. She killed the other girl down in that… vault, and Ozpin stayed back to fight her."
"What do you think happened to him?"
"I don't know."
A crack of light began shining through the rubble, and Weiss helped Jaune clear the last of it. When they finally got up onto the roof, an awesome sight greeted them.
They had never seen the Grimm Dragon up close, and it was terrifying. It could swallow both of them and the rest of their friends in a single bite. It made Nevermores and Deathstalkers and Griffons look like toys in comparison. But it didn't move, and it wasn't breathing. They could tell it wasn't dead, if only because it wasn't evaporating, but it wasn't acting alive either. It was just frozen in a moment in time, unable to move onto the next one.
They found what they were looking for quickly. Akoúo̱ was embedded in what was left of one of the walls. Pyrrha had obviously thrown it, looking to hit Cinder with its razor-sharp edge. Miló was broken into three pieces, and scattered around the office. It wasn't a clean break, as if it had been cut through: someone had melted through it. Jaune explained that last time he had seen Cinder, she was using fire Dust. Or at least he thought she had: it didn't look like Dust to him.
The last bit of proof they needed was laying in the middle of the office. Pyrrha's diadem sat in a scorch mark, with some ash still stuck to it.
Neither of the pair could help themselves. Jaune violently broke down, falling to his knees and devolving into ugly sobbing. Weiss couldn't help the tears that flowed freely from her. Even with as little evidence as they had, it was obvious. Cinder had burned Pyrrha, and let her ashes scatter to the wind.
She didn't even leave them anything to bury.
Weiss' father had arrived by the time they came back. She barely got to say goodbye before he forced her onto an airship and off to Atlas.
Jaune couldn't blame the guy. He just wanted his daughter to be safe, and had the ability to come get her. Yang and Ruby's dad took them home as soon as the doctors said that Ruby was safe to move.
His own parents had come for him, but he had sent them away with Nora and Ren. They didn't have anywhere to live now that Beacon was gone, and the Arc household was large. It had to be, with eight children.
But Jaune stayed behind, as the Beacon students that were left dwindled. He didn't know any of them, and he didn't try to. Pyrrha's parents were probably on their way to find their daughter, and they deserved to be told by one of her friends.
He kept what was left of her with him at all times. He was going to give the precious artefacts to them when they arrived. They deserved something to bury in her stead.
He just hoped they left something with him when they came.
All he wanted was something to remember her by.