Ruby and Jaune walk through the forest, each keeping an eye out for anything that could harm the pair. The two have been assigned a leaders mission into the Emerald Forest. All they have to do is collect a few items hidden about the forest, and then report back with said items. The two have been out for a few hours now, and have only found a little over half of what they need to fine.
Ruby looks around some bushes. As the younger leader looks around the green bushes, as Jaune keeps a lookout. The forest is crawling with Grimm of every shape and size. Anything can come out at anytime. It's best to have one person looking for the items, while the other keeps a look out.
"Find anything Rubes?" Jaune asks.
"No, nothing here. How much more do we need to find before we can go home?" Ruby asks, walking up to Jaune.
"Er…" Jaune digs around his pocket. He pulls out a crumbled piece of paper and looks at it with Ruby. "Three more items."
"Ugh…" Ruby slinks away. She beings to look for the last three times as Jaune follows her, close behind. After walking around for awhile longer, Ruby stops short. She turns to Jaune. "Think we can take a break? We've been walking for a long time now and my feet are killing me."
"I know the feeling. Ten minutes should be good enough." Jaune answers. He sits down with Ruby, under a tree. Ruby unties her boots, pulling them off of her feet. She starts to rub her sore feet.
"Man. I have no idea why my feet are killing me so much today." She groans.
"Maybe it is because we've been doing a heck of a lot of hiking today. Least you have boots on; my shoes are not being of much help."
"I wonder where the heck these last three items are. They can be anywhere."
"I'm sure we will find them. We still have all day to look. Ozpin did say we have till sundown to find the items and get back." Jaune looks up at an opening in the trees. "Judging by where the sun is, it is a bit past noon."
"All I know, the second I get home, I am going to take a nice, long, hot shower."
"Same. Hopefully by the time we get back, Nora hasn't ended up using all the hot water."
Ruby chuckles. "Blake does that from time to time. She is usually good about not doing it, though. I'm guessing Nora isn't?"
"That girl loves to take hot showers. Ren has to shout from outside the door for her to hurry up whenever she is taking too long."
Ruby chuckles once more. She puts her boots back on her feet, and ties them tightly. She stands up on her feet, also helping Jaune to his, and brushes off the dust and dirt from her skirt. "Let's find these last few items. The quicker we get this done, the quicker we can get home."
"Let's start looking over in that area." Jaune points to some bundle of bushes. The two walk over. Jaune starts to look around in the thick brush, saying 'ow' every time a torn pinches him, while Ruby keeps watch. So far, so good.
Ruby hears some rustling. At first, she thinks it is just Jaune making way too much noise, but the rustling comes from the other side of Ruby. Keeping her eyes on some trees, Ruby backs up a bit, and nudges Jaune in the back.
"What?" Jaune says, sticking his slightly scratched up face from the bushes. Ruby places a finger on her lips, telling Jaune to be quiet. She then points to the trees, which still makes some noise. Jaune closes his mouth, and listens along with Ruby. As the rustling grows louder, both leaders draw out their weapons.
Just as they draw their weapons, a pack of angry looking Beowolves come out from the trees. Most are of normal size, while one is much larger. All of them are snarling and growling, their eyes locked on the two leaders.
"I was wondering if we would ever run into any Grimm." Ruby states.
"We should take out the larger one first. The smaller ones are much easier to take care of, but that guy in the middle will be harder to deal with."Jaune points out.
"Agreed. Just be on your toes with the other ones."
Jaune nods in response. Some of the small Beowolves lunges at the pair. Both of the leaders jump out of the way. The Beowolves that first attacked them turns their heads to Jaune. The blonde raises his shield to his body as one of the Grimm lunges at him. The beast hits the shield hard. The force from the hit makes Jaune stumble backwards. Looks like we are not getting that big one first. He thinks to himself after he gets his footing back.
The Grimm growls at Jaune, flashing its white teeth at him before jumping at him again. Jaune moves out of the way. Just as the Grimm passes him, he pierces the beast in the back with his sword. It twitches slightly, before falling to the ground, dead and smoking. The other Grimm that had been looking at Jaune, go after him.
While Jaune deals with his own Grimm, Ruby is left with the remaining few. She stays focus on trying to get rid of larger Grimm, but the smaller ones have other plans. They charge forwards, towards the young leader. Using her semblance, Ruby moves out of the way. Before the Grimm can find the young girl, she uses her semblance again to cut through them with her scythe.
At first, she is having no problems dealing with the Grimm that attack her. She cuts through them with ease. When a few get too close, she jumps up in the air, and starts to fire down at the Grimm, killing them. It is when she lands that the problem arises.
She lands to the ground. Before she can regain her bearings, one of the last remaining Beowolves swipes its paw at her. Ruby is hit in the head and stumbles backwards. She stays on her feet. Blood starts to trickle down her face. The red liquid goes into her left eye, forcing her to close it so no more gets in. As the Grimm goes after her again, she points her gun at it, firing a shot, killing it.
The black-red headed girl shakes her head, trying to clear it from the dizziness surrounding it. She doesn't notice the larger Beowolf jumping at her. By the time she does, the beast is already on top of her, pushing and pinning her down on the ground. Her weapon falls from her hand, just out of her reach. She looks up with her silver eyes at the Grimm. Its mouth is inches away from her head. Salvia comes out through its teeth, landing on Ruby's face.
Ruby squirms under the beast's grasp. She tries to reach for her fallen weapon, but is unable to reach it. The Grimm pushes more of its weight down on Ruby, making it harder for her to move. Ruby looks around, for anything that can save her. She sees Jaune, gasping as he finishes off one last Grimm. He is her last chance.
"JAUNE!" Ruby screeches, her voice filled with terror. Jaune snaps his head around. He sees the Grimm's face extremely close to Ruby's face. He also sees that her weapon is away from her, leaving the younger leader defenseless.
Jaune picks up a large rock just as the Beowolf opens its mouth, intent on finishing the girl beneath its paws. Before it can lock its jaws around Ruby's neck, Jaune throws the rock at the Grimm's head. The Beowolf clamps it mouth shut, centimeters from Ruby's neck, and looks at the blonde.
"Hey, Ugly! Over here!" Jaune shouts. The Beowolf steps off of Ruby. It leaps at Jaune. The blonde boy blocks its attack with his shield, somehow keeping his feet on the ground. He pushes the Beowolf back slightly. The Grimm stands on its hind legs, its paw up in the air. Before it can swipe down, a few blast to its back causes it to fall to the ground. Jaune looks to see Ruby, back on her feet, her weapon smoking from where she shot it.
Her legs become like jell-o, and she falls into her knees, clutching the side of her head that still bleeds. Jaune rushes over to her. "You okay?" He asks as she checks over the girl's wound. It is a deep, long gash. Part of her black-red hair sticks to her forehead from both sweat and blood.
"I'm a bit dizzy and lightheaded, but other than that I am fine." Ruby says, swaying a bit.
"It got ya good. We need to get that checked out. It doesn't seem like it is going to stop bleeding anytime soon." Jaune wipes away some of the blood away from Ruby's eye, allowing her to open it up. Ruby nods in agreement with Jaune's plan. No matter how much she wants to finish the mission, she knows that it is not a good idea to be running around with a wound like hers.
Jaune helps her too her feet. "I can walk by myself, ya know." Ruby states, pulling free of Jaune's hand when she is on her feet. She attempts to walk forward, but stumbles as she does so. Jaune catches her before she falls to the ground again.
"Your body is saying otherwise." He laughs when Ruby groans, rolling her eyes. "Stubborn as always. Come on; let's get out of here before I have to carry you."
Jaune sits down on the bed, next to Ruby. There is a large, white bandage covering her wound. She was far from happy when she was told that she was going to need stitches for it. She is now just waiting to get the go ahead to leave.
"How does your head feel?" Jaune asks.
"A lot better. Though, I can feel a headache coming on." Ruby answers."Thanks for saving me back there. I thought I was a goner."
"Not a problem." Jaune carefully places a kiss on the white bandage on Ruby's forehead. "Think Yang is going to kill me for this?"
"Once she finds out you saved me, I think she will either reprimand your ear off or just not say anything about it to you. Either way, I think she will be more than happy about you saving me." Ruby leans in closer to Jaune, and gives him a kiss. "Thank you again."
"Like I said, not a problem. Anything for you." Jaune wraps his arms around Ruby. "I love you, and I am going to make sure that you stay safe."
"Same here." The two sit in silence for a bit before Ruby speaks up again. "Can we go see if we can leave yet? Yang might have a heart attack if we don't get back soon, and I, for one, don't like being stuck here."
"Sure. Once we get home, I'm sure you are going to be more than happy to take that long hot shower you were talking about before."
"Yes…Yes I am. Let's go."