It happened suddenly. One minute she was on the other side of the cave, the next she was in front of him. Bleeding. Standing. Grunting with pain. Jaune stared in horror, shouting her name as she struck out with her sword, cutting off the beast's head. She stumbled backward slightly, while Jaune sat there, petrified. She fell to one knee and coughed, sending blodd spattering everywhere, shocking him out of his frozen state. "P-Pyrrha!" he screamed. He scrambled to his feet and stumbled over to her, almost tripping on the pieces of their broken shields. He didn't care. She was on one knee, breathing heavily, with a wound that looked- He stopped in front of her, watching with horror as she turned slowly to face him. There was blood everywhere, pooling around their feet, streaming slowly from her mouth, staining the Grimm's claw red, the claw that- Jaune couldn't think about that. He turned his attention back to Pyrrha, taking her gently by the shoulders and leaning her back onto him, cradling her upper body. Her blood started dripping onto his hands and he squeezed his eyes shut, feeling tears well up. A gentle hand brushed his face, making him gasp. Pyrrha looked up at him with a sad expression, then smiled. "D-Don't look so d-down Jaune. I was happy to-" she cut off, wincing as she hacked up more blood, staining what was left of her torso almost completely red. "T-to help y-you. I-I didn't think this would h-h-hurt this much but-" She was silence by Jaune as he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her to his chest. Drops hit her face as Jaune cried silently, and Pyrrha gave a small, sad smile. She put her hand on the claw that had impaled her, feeling it become slick with blood. She leaned her head back, suddenly tired, and Jaune looked up in alarm as he saw her eyes half-close. "Pyrrha!" he screamed in a panic. She opened her eyes in surprise as Jaune kissed her, still crying. She began to tear up herself as she kissed him back. She heard footsteps echo behind him, heard them speed up as they realized what had happened. "Pyrrha!" she heard voices yell, saw a flash of yellow and red appear in the corner of her eye. "H-Hey you two. I wondered w-where you wen-" she was cut off by another wave of blood, hacking as it trickled out of her mouth and shocked Jaune. "Pyrrha! Oh my god, Pyrrha, no…" she heard Ruby begin to cry, and heard Yang kneel down next to her. She looked Pyrrha over and turned her head away, clenching her jaw. Jaune understood and clenched his eyes shut, pressing his face into her shoulder. Pyrrha reached her hand up shakily, and he grabbed it, looking at her with pleading eyes. "P-please-Pyrrha- you can't- you saved me-I don't want you to-don't leave, please!" Pyrrha was silently crying now, wearing that same, sad smile as always. "J-Jaune, I s-saved you for a reason. D-don't spend the rest of your time grieving, go out and s-slay s-some Grimm. Save p-people. Do what you w-were meant to. Use your aura, as I ob-obviously forgot to. And… I'm sorry to have to tell you t-this now of all t-times but…" she strained upwards, placing her mouth by his ear. "I love, Jaune." Jaune's eye's widened as his tears fell on her face, her beautiful face. He choked and leaned back over her, remembering all the time she'd helped him, in training and with girls, not noticing all the hints and small, sad smiles like the one she wore now. He tightened his grip as he remembered the dance, how she had confessed her loneliness and almost liking for him, how he had been so blind before, how he had bluntly stated that he went after Weiss. It had hurt her, and now, here she was, dying in his arms because he was useless. He heard a splash, and realized with numb horror that her hand had hit the cave floor. He pulled back and saw a sight that nearly killed him- her face, with the smile and tears, both hers and his mingling together, with her lively green eyes dim and blank. Her head sagged and he caught it, breathing heavily. She wasn't breathing, wasn't talking, wasn't going to laugh at any of his terrible jokes, wasn't going to help him train, wasn't going to be able to enjoy her life anymore. Because he had been to weak to stop a Grimm from nearly killing him, from forcing him to call for help, making her sacrifice herself to save him. Ruby was sobbing on the floor, kneeling with her face in her hands. Yang was hugging her protectively, tears falling from her eyes as she cursed herself. Jaune turned back to Pyrrha, knowing there was only one thing left to do. He reached down and closed her eyes, gently pulled her back so she was lying on his knees. Then, he mourned Pyrrha, his love, one of his closest friends and best teammates, the only person who had liked him for him, had always helped him when he was down, that he had let slip through his fingers.