Left step
Drip drip
right step
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Quiet, yet deafening footsteps were heard walking in the forest, making small and nearly silent noises as two teens slowly tread their way in the deep and endless ocean of trees.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Drip drip
Left step
There were two different footsteps, and they were different from each other, being distinctly dissimilar yet still somewhat the same. One of the steps were more quiet and proper-like, having a good footing with each step. The others were done in longer and a somewhat dragging motion, each step sounding like a chore to do. Both steps sounded weak though.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
"Come on, Jaune, just a little farther; I just know it." The voice of Ruby called out, sounding weak, frail, and absolutely terrified. She had the fatigue and wound riddled body of Jaune Arc; who was barely able to stand, let alone walk.
His ribs were most definitely broken and were most definitely piercing a lung in his chest. One of his eyes were scratched and was bleeding profoundly like a faucet. Blood dripped from his chest, which was currently wrapped up in Ruby's hood in a hope to stop the bleeding. Dried blood was on the outer part of his mouth and rapid short breaths were birthed from his already weak lungs, sending violent and unbearable spikes of pain inside him. It felt like getting his lungs ripped from his chest from each time a weak and desperate breath was heard.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Drip drip
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Those were the only things occupying Jaune's mind at the moment. His brain was a haze and he couldn't even walk on autoplay at the time. Each step was done manually, as if he was doing something complicated and tedious.
Jaune knew he was losing way too much blood, and it was obviously taking a toll on him, making him weaker and more pale than usual. His eyes were becoming blurry with thousand of white dots swarming his vision, amplifying the difficulty to walk. The only thing he could think about was reminding himself to take each step carefully.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
No one on their team expected an ambush by the white fang; especially in the middle of the forest. The fighting got too intense and forced the teens to split up and fight them in groups. During the skirmish, Jaune………..Jaune got hit bad, catastrophically bad; and Ruby was terrified that it might of been fatal. He looked so unrecognizable, like a corpse fresh out of the coffin. His body was leaning against her smaller one, the extra body weight making it difficult to carry him; and boy, was she practically dragging him along with her.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
"That's right Jaune, you're doing good. Very good. Keep it up, Jaune. I think I can hear Yang from here."
That was a lie. The only sound in the area was their footsteps, breathing, and Jaune's blood hitting the dirt. The lack of natural sound made all of these things deafeningly loud, much like white noise in a quiet room.
"Are you alright Jaune? Are you doing well?" Ruby wanted to make sure he was still okay; still fully responsive to her calls. "Jaune? Are you listening? Jaune?!"
Her voice was laced with panic as Jaune sluggishly continued walking while using her as a crutch.
"J-jaune?!"
"I-ima fine Rubes." Jaune finally slurred out in a short quick breath. "D-don't worry about me...I'll be fine, I promise." The words left his mouth weak and uncertain, as he trudge on the journey in hope to find any of their friends; although, his hopes were dwindling very fast.
Left step
Drip drip
Right step
Each step was agonizingly hell-like, making him push himself past his limits and then more. His ears were ringing, which was probably a sign of a concussion; despite that though, he had to keep moving.
Left step
Drip drip
Ri-righ-right st-
Jaune collapsed on the ground, feeling the fall crushing his partial intact ribs; a rib most definitely got pushed into his lung even more. The cry that escaped his lips was fragile, almost non-existent. That shortfall sent agonizing needles of pain all across his body, and small tears formed in his eyes from it. Vomit threatened to leave his body from the pain; rather it be bile or blood.
"J-JAUNE!" Ruby cried out, quickly crouching down on her knees. "I'm sorry! Are you alright?"
Jaune couldn't speak, only being able to grit his teeth and try to wait until the pain went away; if it would at all at least.
"I-I'm f-f-fine, Ru-ubes." He choked out in between coughs. Every ounce of energy got smacked out of him from the fall, leaving the boy in a somewhat paralyzed state. He couldn't even turn over on his back by himself, leading for Ruby to help him.
He let out a small wail of anguish upon Ruby's touch, and it only increased in volumes when Ruby went to turn him on his back.
"Ok Jaune, you'll need to help me with this. I can't do this alone." The pint sized reaper told the knight as she prepare to lift him up.
"Ruby I-I ca-n't!"
"Don't say that! You'll going to make it! On the count on three."
"Ruby-"
"1"
"C-can't"
"2"
"M-mo-ve."
"3"
"Ruby!" His voice was louder this time, yet still frail. This caused Ruby to halt with her attempts. "I-I can't Ruby. I can't take a si-n-gle step."
His voice was laced with defeat, which broke the young girl's heart. "That's ok then. We can wait. Yang or one of them might find us and they can help!"
"Either that or a white fang member." Jaune choked out, feeling his body temperature rapidly dropping. It didn't take a genius to know what was happening to him.
"No, I'm pretty sure the team took care of them. T-they're strong, and can easily take care a few white fang grunts. Besides, we had most of them on us anyway, so they shouldn't have much issue. They're probably looking for us right now as we speak."
Despite the cloakless girl's words, she sounded nervous about the situation. Not only did she had to worry about her other friends, but one of them were currently bleeding out rapidly right in front of her.
She swallowed hard in an attempt to calm her nerves. She couldn't afford to be weak; especially since Jaune needed her right now.
"We're just going to wait here and get help. Then we all will travel to the nearest village and get the treatment you need."
Death. That was the only thing that circulated Jaune's mind at the moment. Usually whenever the boy thought of this it involved someone else, like a love one or a dear friend. Jaune had always feared of losing his friends like how he lost Pyrrha, but not once had he ever feared death for himself, nor did the boy ever actually really thought of his demise in the first place.
So the young Arc boy was once again fearing death, but not for any of his friends like the norm, but for himself. The fear was huge, and filling. It made him terrified to his core that the reaper might be lurking somewhere, readying to pounced and capture his soul.
The only sound in the forest was Jaune's sharp quick breathing, being faint yet still roaring from the lack of sound surrounding them. The quietness didn't help his nerves either; in fact it made them practically do flips from the lack of distractions. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't stop thinking about his demise.
Jaune didn't want to go. The boy was still young and had dreams and ambitions to be a hunter. To die like this, feeling like he didn't accomplish anything at all would be despairing; yet he knew there wasn't anything he could do. His body was slightly shaking, and blood was oozing out of him like a fountain. His skin probably felt cold to the touch and pale compared to his friend's.
He opened his eyes and saw silver looking into his before they looked around. Ruby looked sorrowful and nearly on a verge of a breakdown. A gust of wind could probably break her as she rapidly checked her surroundings in hope to find someone; ANYONE, that could help. Seeing her in this state left a bad taste in his mouth. (but that could have easily been the blood.) Ruby was his first friend at Beacon, and it was somewhat of a poetic thing for her to be his last sight.
He had to be strong; for Ruby's sake at least. If he was going to die then he'll die with a smile on his face. The last thing he wanted was for her to know how he'll die fearful and in pain.
"Ruby, can you do me a favor?" He asked his smaller friend while choking up small drops of blood and putting on a fake smile.
"W-what?" She questioned while slightly jumping from the sudden sound. Her eyes immediately left the forest and went to her friend instead. "Do you need anything? Is my hood coming undone, cause I can tie it up easily."
"N-no, that's n-not it. I just want you to tell e-everyone that I l-love them." Jaune managed to choke out but while still having that weak smile on.
The atmosphere changed as soon as the words left his mouth; Jaune's words hammering in Ruby's fear.
"Y-you can tell them that yourself Jaune."
"I do-n't believe I'll g-get a chance to, Ruby."
"Stop talking like that! Someone is going to find us!" Ruby desperately yelled at him. "A-a-a-and we'll get you the help you'll need!"
"We both k-know how this is g-going to end. It's alright Ruby. I know what I signed up for w-when I first j-joined you after the fall of B-beacon.
"Jaune, you need to conserve your energy, please stop talking!" Ruby tried, not wanting to hear the blonde tell her that he was good as dead. Jaune was going to survive this; he wasn't going to die, especially in a forest of all the places.
"N-no. Ruby, I'm not going to make it, and I need you to tell everyone what I got to say. Can you do that for me?"
"B-b-but you can tell them yourse-"
"Ruby." Jaune interrupted the young girl, his voice weak and quite. "Please."
Ruby stared at her friend with tears leaking from her eyes. The words struck her like a train. She didn't want to believe them yet she wasn't ignorant; the wounds were bad and bleeding profusely. He looked weak and obviously had to strain himself to even talk. No matter how much she wanted to lie to herself, to tell herself that everything was going to be alright; the reality of the situation was weighing down on her like a boulder.
Ruby soon solemnly nodded her head at him, trying to be strong even though she felt like crumbling at the moment.
A hiatus of sound followed soon after, until Jaune spoke up after clearing his throat.
"Tell Yang that to make sure that she protects you; especially from any dumb boys." He let out a chuckle from that before stopping from the pain in his chest. "And tell her to please stop making those puns of hers."
This earn a choke laugh from Ruby, before she quickly nodded her head again while tears were crashing down like rain.
"Tell Weiss that I'm sorry for all the bad pick up lines and cheesy one liners I threw her way. Also tell her that if I could, I would throttle my own neck for never taking a hint."
Once again a laugh was heard from Jaune, but it was immediately followed by a loud cough of blood. Ruby quickly sat his head on her lap to make him more comfortable. Jaune soon started again, although the energy he didn't even know he had was leaving.
"Tell Blake that I wish I got to know her better. She seems like a nice girl. My sister and her would probably be great friends, both of them have the same dirty taste in literature."
Ruby, whose mind was going wild with emotions, could only nod her head at this before choking out an 'Okay.'
"And tell Ren that he better get his head out of his ass and ask Nora out already, because he obviously loves her. I swear I'll haunt him until he does, and that's an Arc promise."
More violent coughs were heard before Jaune moved on, but having nearly every once of back up energy gone.
"And tell Nora to never change. Always be that l-lose cannon girl that we all know and love. A-also tell her to ease it d-down on the pancakes." He chuckled after that one. "Otherwise t-they might be the death her."
Ruby was nearly wailing now, but tried to kept to together for Jaune's sake.
"And lastly." Jaune started, but this time completely out of energy; barely over a whisper. "Tell everyone thank you. Tell them thanks for believing in some weak kid from a farm that couldn't even hold a sword correctly upon arriving to Beacon. You, your team, Ren, Nora…..and Pyrrha were the only ones who believed I could actually be a hunter." More tears were forming in Jaune's eyes, but his smile grew from the memories from Beacon. "I……..love……..you guys."
And with his eyes rolling to the back of his head, Jaune eyes closed for the last time.
Ruby stared at the body for a few moments, not wanting to believe the image in front of her. It didn't feel real, like a nightmare that she couldn't wake up from.
"J-jaune?" She croaked out, almost inaudible and praying to God that he was just resting. "Jaune………..Jaune!" Each time the name left her lips it got louder and more desperate, until she was shouting it! "JAUNE!?"
Ruby buried her head in his chest, crying for the lost of her first friend at Beacon.
LineBreak
Jaune didn't know what to expect when he opened his eyes. In all honesty he always questioned rather there was an after life in the first place. So the bright light engulfing the young man scared him at first. He shielded his eyes and waited for his vision to readjust before peaking again.
What his eyes saw couldn't actually be described into words properly. Beautiful, mesmerizing, basically any word that could describe any type of beauty, yet that would still be an understatement.
Where was he? Was this what the afterlife was? What was goin-
Before any other thoughts swarmed his mind, a familiar and oh so enchanting voice called out.
"Hello again ~"
And there's the story. I hope you enjoyed it. and also this was my first attempt at writing agnst, so sorry if it was bad.