A Small, very emotion driven one-shot set during the Volume 3 finale.
I Never Even Told You
'I'm a failure.'
Those three words were the three that haunted Jaune Arc constantly.
Others being words and phrases tormented his mind, such as 'Why didn't I do more?' 'Not good enough.' 'Not Fast Enough.' 'Stupid.' 'Childish' 'Lucky' 'Moron' 'Idiot' 'Blind' 'Loser' 'Incompetent'.
But something else plagued his mind, the greatest failure he would never live down, never forgive himself for; 'You had someone who loved you for you right in front of you and you didn't even fucking notice.'
But the two that really drove him over the edge were 'Pyrrha' and 'She loved me.'
He remembered the kiss.
So sudden, so surprising, so wonderful.
So terrible, so sad, so heartbreaking.
He remembered getting out of the locker and begging Ruby to help Pyrrha, to save her from Cinder.
He tried to get back to the tower, but he had been battered by the rocket locker crashing into Vale, and to make matters worse, Grimm were there, sensing the emotions coursing through him; fear, regret, shock...
He had fought his was through, getting slammed into debris and slashed by the creatures, but he had managed to kill them and get through, though his aura had shattered and the Grimm had managed to land a few hits before he took them out. He made it back to the tower...
But it was too late.
He remembered Professor Goodwitch and Ruby's Uncle Qrow exiting the base of the ruined tower, bringing down two things: Ruby, her small form held by Qrow and Pyyrha's headpiece.
Glynda Goodwitch, a woman who Jaune knew didn't think very much of him, made eye contact with him and he could see the pain and sadness in her eyes. Before he could speak she told him "Mr. Ar...Jaune...I'm so, so sorry."
As she handed him the headpiece of his partner. The girl he considered to be his best friend and mentor.
The girl who loved him.
Jaune looked at her, utterly failing to hold back any tears. Glynda shook her head sadly.
"N-no...no, she can't b-be..." He stammered as tears began to form, his body shaking.
He didn't remember what happened next. He recalled that his legs failed him and he fell to the ground sobbing, clutching the circlet to his chest.
Glynda knelt down to him and held his shoulder, trying to say something to him. Something about him being injured.
"Take care of the kid, I gotta get Ruby to a medic." Qrow said.
That was the last thing he could hear before he blacked out.
When he woke up, he saw two of his sisters; Shani, the second eldest sister who was a pretty blonde woman in her late 20's, and the youngest of the seven sisters, but was still eleven months older than him, Azure, who wore glasses and a blue hoodie.
"Oh thank God Jaune!" Shani said as she sat down on the bed and grabbed him and pulled him to her chest.
Azure hugged him as well said "I'm so sorry little bro."
"Shani? Azure? W-Where am I?" he asked.
"You're in a hospital Jaune. Azure, go get mom, dad, everybody!" Shani ordered.
"Why do I have to? You..." The youngest sister objected.
"Just do it!" Shani snapped loudly. Azure gave relenting nod and backed off and ran out of the room to get the rest of Jaune's family.
Then it all came flooding back to the blond teen; Penny. Grimm. Ozpin. Cinder.
Pyrrha.
"Shani... none of that was a dream, was it?" Jaune asked.
Shani sadly shook her head. "I'm sorry. I know you must have been close to that Nikos girl and I'm..."
"Her name was Pyrrha. And I wasn't close enough. Never enough." Jaune said miserably as the terrible reality set in for him and the tears began flowing once again, saying "I'm sorry, Pyrrha. I'm so sorry!"
"Oh my god..." his older sister said as she hugged him tighter as she began to realize what he meant by that.
Jaune was in the hospital for exhaustion of both the physical and emotional variety, but it was apparently the revelation of Pyrrha's death that pushed him over the edge and had taken a toll on his aura according to the doctor's at Vale's hospitals.
The disaster had been thankfully contained in the capital city of Vale itself, so hospitals elsewhere in the Kingdom were taking care of the injured. But hundreds were dead and Beacon was overrun by the monsters that the students there were supposed to kill.
Nora and Ren were also there with him, with no parents or real home of their own to go to, Jaune's mother generously allowed them to stay in the guest room of the Arc's house. They had been in the hospital for the various wounds they had received fighting the Grimm and the controlled Atlesian Knights soldiers as well as fatigue and exhaustion from the sheer overwhelming madness of the battle.
They had naturally been devastated by the loss of Pyrrha as well. Apparently they needed a baker's dozen worth of nurses and guards to stop Nora from breaking out and going on a blood thirsty rampage across the planet to find whoever had murdered Pyrrah and, going by Ren's words, 'break every bone in their body, destroy their genitalia, find a spell that makes them immortal for an hour and put it on them so she could hang them, beat them with a whip and a lead pipe, then impale them with said pipe, and then sick a flock of baby Nevermore on them, ripping their flesh off bit by bit, stab their eyes out and force them to chew on said orbs, and then finally smash their head open with Magnhild, incinerated them, and then flush the ashes down the nastiest toilet she could find'.
That put Nora in the 'do not mess with' category for sure.
She eventually calmed down, breaking down sobbing as Ren held her.
Lie Ren was more subtle with his grief, but it was the first time Jaune had ever seen the green clad warrior cry, and there was no mistakening the tranquil fury in his magenta eyes.
Team RWBY hadn't fared much better in the Battle of Beacon, as they were now calling it. Yang's arm had been cut off, Blake had ran away, Weiss was still hanging around in the Hosptial to look after Ruby and visit him but she was dreading a visit from her father, and, as far as Jaune knew, Ruby still hadn't woken up.
Jaune talked to the rest of his sisters; Olivia, Bianca, Violet, Indigo, and Sienna as well as his mother Joanne and father Andre, trying to air out his many, many conflicted emotions. Talking about his regret, his pain, his anger...
He remembered that woman that had attacked he, Pyrrha, and Ozpin in the vault, that... monster Cinder. Her partners too Mercury, Emerald, and the other girl he didn't know, Neo or something like that. They were all gone, vanished like ghosts.
One thing was sure however. One way or another, no matter how hard it was, no matter how far he'd have to travel, no matter how many people would try to stop him he would hunt all four of them down and have his revenge. Slow, painful, and just revenge.
The second afternoon he was in the hospital, he and his surviving teammates sat in his hospital room while his family went down to the cafeteria for lunch, watching a news report, now on local broadcast due to the damaged communications caused by the CCT tower's destruction, while the backups were still in place, the initial confusion was still causing chaos.
"...This disturbing footage, showing Atlesian Knights opening fire on unarmed civilians, claiming the lives of several, has sparked mass outrage at the Kingdom of Atlas and its military, as well as the manufacturers of the Atlesian Knights, the Schnee Dust Company." Came the voice of Lisa Lavender, "The councils of Vale, Mistral, and Vacuo are in discussion with the Atlas council to deal with the fallout of Vytal Disaster, but public opinion from the other Kingdoms is overwhelmingly against the Atlas Military. Yesterday, General James Ironwood issued a public statement,"
A video of Ironwood, still bandaged up from his crash landing and battle with the Knights, in front of a podium. "I just want to assure everyone out there that we of the Atlas Military were not behind what happened. As far as we can tell our Atlesian Knights, our ships, as well as the security systems of the Vytal Stadium were compromised and infected by a virus uploaded by the woman identified as the one behind this crime, one Cinder Fall, was responsible for what happened. I regret to inform you that Cinder Fall has not been apprehended...and has murdered Mistral Champion Pyrrha Nikos," There was an outcry from the many reporters he was speaking to, "Please...please let me speak! I'm afraid that is the case. W-we are still not sure about the total number of casualties and fatalities, but one thing I can assure you is that Yang Xiao Long is innocent! I have officially cleared her of all charges, as I have been informed that the other members of Cinder Fall's team that preformed in the tournament; Mercury Black, Emerald, and Neopolitian, were all accomplices and Black's 'injury' was a ploy to cause outrage and panic. Sadly, Miss Xiao Long was badly injured in the Battle of Beacon, having lost an arm."
"General! What about that Grimm Dragon on the top of Beacon Tower?!" Came the voice of a reporter
"And what about that light? What was that?" Demanded another.
"And where is Professor Ozpin?!" Shouted another.
"As far as I know...as far as I know, the Wyvern frozen atop the tower is dead, killed by a special power from the student known as Ruby Rose." Ironwood answered, "Which was also the source of the light."
"General, General! What do you have to say about the rumors about the legendary Fall Maiden being underneath Beacon?" A reporter shouted.
"Where did you hear tha- No. Absolutely not. A fairy tale. Where did you hear that?" Ironwood asked.
"A source of mine in the Vale Government heard some of the Council members speaking about it, claiming she is dead, murdered by Cinder Fall."
Ironwood was silent, the look on his face told it all.
"Oh Gods..." said Lisa Lavender herself, "Is...is it true?"
Ironwood sighed and responded "I can neither confirm or deny that at this moment." He confessed.
There was silence, but some amazed and hushed whispers from the crowd, "And...what about Professor Ozpin? Is he dead?"
"It...pains me to inform you all that William Ozpin is currently MIA. No body was found and the security virus also affected that of the school itself. I'm afraid that is all I have to say currently. To all those who lost loved ones in this tragedy, you have my condolences and I swear to you that these terrorists will be brought to justice."
The video ended and Lisa Lavender returned to the screen, "Speaking of the now cleared Yang Xiao Long, it is believed that her assailant was one Adam Taurus, a major leader of the White Fang, who was identified by several witnesses leading the White Fang's assault on Vale. Menagerie, and the White Fang chapter there, both issues communiques disavowing Adam Taurus, with Mayor Ghira Belladonna offering rewards for any information that will help bring the renegade to justice. We tried to reach the Nikos family for comment on the death of their daughter, but they declined to comment."
Jaune cringed with guilt at the mention of Pyrrha's family. How could he face them?
"As for Headmaster William Ozpin of Beacon Academy, his official status is still unknown, but many are calling for his arrest should he be alive, many people citing incompetence and some even accusing him of willingly helping Cinder Fall cause the traged-"
Ren turned the TV off, sighing. "What a mess." He muttered quietly as he sat forward in his chair.
"And a load of garbage!" Nora chimed in as she sat on the bed by Jaune's feet, "I mean, Ozpin's a lot of things but he's no traitor and he's not stupid! He's been around a long time and would never do anything bad, right?"
"I don't believe so." Ren agreed with a nod. Nora looked to Jaune for confirmation, but was surprised by the look in his blue eyes. A look that told her Jaune didn't have a high opinion of their headmaster.
"Jaune? Y-you don't believe that, right?" She inquired.
Jaune lifted his head and responded "I don't know, Nora. Ozpin...he told Pyrrha something down there, like...I just don't know, okay?"
Quite frankly, Jaune was angry. How had Cinder managed to defeat Ozpin so quickly? How did Cinder's plan even work? Now that he looked at what had happened in retrospect, it seemed very odd that none of the teachers, not even Ozpin, had seen through the plan.
He sighed and laid back down in the hospital bed while Nora and Ren looked at each other, both surprised by their leader's answer.
Just then, there was a knock on the door. All three of them looked over to see Weiss Schnee standing in the doorway.
"Um... hey," She greeted.
Nora got off the bed and gave Weiss a gentle hug, "Hey Weiss. You okay?"
The Schnee heiress sighed and said "Could be much better, but it could also be worse."
"Any news about Blake?" Ren inquired.
"No, she's still gone. No one has seen her, as far as I know." Weiss informed them sadly.
"What about Ruby and Yang?" Jaune asked her with a dry voice as he pulled his blanket over him.
"They...left this morning. Their dad and uncle took them home. Ruby was still asleep when I watched them leave." Weiss revealed to them.
Jaune nodded as the heiress he used to have feelings for walked over to him, while Nora said "This is so bad. How did this happen? And why?"
"I don't know Nora." Ren answered honestly, his voice proving just how tired he was.
Weiss sat down on the bed and put her hand atop Jaune's.
"Jaune... I'm so sorry about Pyrrha." She told the blond.
He looked at her, two sets of blue eyes met, and hers could see just how devastated he was.
Jaune said nothing as he turned around onto his side, bringing up the blanket over his body. "It's not your fault Weiss. Can't say the same about me."
This shocked the other three Hunters-In-Training beyond belief. What in Oum's name did he mean by that?
"Don't be daft! You're not to blame for what happened." Weiss told him firmly.
"Really?" Jaune asked without turning to face her, "Then I guess I must be wrong because the great Weiss Schnee said so! After all, she is perfect in every way and so much better than everyone else!"
To say Weiss was taken aback by Jaune's hostile response would be an understatement, she was outright flabbergasted.
"Wh-where's this coming from? What are you talking about?" Weiss demanded to know as she grabbed his shoulder to turn him around, only for him to jerk up and let loose.
"What do you care?! You never cared about me before! Never! Why are you even here?!" He snapped furiously.
Silence filled the room.
Ren was silent with wide eyes, as was Nora, whose mouth hanging open.
Weiss was speechless, shocked by Jaune's fury and the look in his eyes that showed sorrow and rage.
But she knew why. Pyrrha was gone and something told her he finally realized how the champion felt about him when it was too late. And she couldn't help but admit to herself that she had earned that outburst because of her own treatment of the blond.
Jaune realized what he had done and calmed himself. "I'm... I'm sorry. I just..."
"It's okay, I don't blame you. It only makes sense you'd be angry after what happened." Weiss said, unusually empathetic.
Before Jaune could reply a nurse entered the room, "Excuse me, Miss Schnee? Your father is here and he's demanding to see you. Right now."
Weiss looked at the nurse, a tad nervous to know that her father was here. She looked at her friends and said "I'll speak to you later. I hope. I hope you'll all be okay."
"We will. Take care." Ren told her as the ashen haired girl left the room. He looked over to Jaune and asked "Jaune-"
Before he could continue Jaune let out a long, sad, heavy sigh and said "Sorry. Just... I need to be left alone for now, okay?"
He laid back down, pulling the blanket over himself.
"But you need us!" Nora objected before Ren stepped in.
"All right Jaune. Get some rest, okay?" The green-clad ninja told his team leader as he took his partner by the hand.
"But-" Nora tried to object again before Ren looked her in the eyes, and that was all she needed to understand. "Okay."
The pair left the room, turning off the lights as Jaune closed his eyes and felt the tears begin to flow.
As he drifted off to sleep, he began to dream.
Dream about getting justice for Pyrrha. For the girl who loved him and he was too damn stupid to notice.
He dreamed battling a tired and battered Emerald before using his blade to slice her sickle-guns apart before slamming her into a wall before he grabbed an assault rifle from a downed Atlesian Knight and shoved it into her exposed midriff and opened fire, blasting its way through before he rammed it through her torso, and he shoved forward, impaling the rifle into both Emerald's body and the wall. He stood back, looking into her eyes as she died painfully. He walked away, leaving her as a macabre decoration and he turned to see there was a group of people standing their watching, clapping and nodding in approval.
Jaune woke up from the dream, sobbing.
The next day he was discharged, but before he left the room he had one last visitor, one he never expected to come. Cardin Winchester.
He was half tempted to yell at his former bully to get the hell out, but considering the sympathetic look Cardin had on his face.
The leader of Team CRDL held his hands up, "Hold on Jaune! I...I just want to talk."
"What do you want to talk about?" Jaune asked bitterly.
"I heard about Nikos. I'm...ah crap I'm not good at these...I'm sorry okay, for everything." Cardin said. Jaune stared at the muscular brunette teenage that stood across from him. Cardin shut the door, "This conversation never leaves this room, got that Arc?"
Jaune nodded understandingly.
"I'm not gonna deny it, I was an asshole man, a real piece of shit." Cardin said.
"You were, yeah. So what?" Jaune asked, deadpanned.
"Listen, I'm sorry about everything. I'm sorry I blackmailed you, I'm sorry Pyrrha is dead. It's because of you Jaune that I look back at myself seven months ago and I can say that who I used to be was a real douchebag. I don't want to be like that anymore, and I have you to thank for it man." Cardin said.
Jaune was too stunned to say anything, but Cardin continued. "If I had the chance I would've taken her place. She didn't deserve to die, man. I did." Cardin said as he sat down on a wooden chair for visitors.
"Don't say that. No one deserves to die. Except for the people responsible for this." Jaune said, clenching his fist.
Cardin nodded in agreement. "I'm just sorry man. Just... truce okay? I won't picking on you anymore." Cardin said as got up to leave. "Oh and Arc, if it's any consolation, if you ever need help in taking down the bitches and bastards responsible for this, call me." And with that Winchester was gone.
Jaune smiled a small, bittersweet smile.
The night Jaune returned home, he found it hard to sleep. So he woke up and strolled about his family's large home. All his sisters were sound asleep, as were his parents, and Ren and Nora were resting comfortably in the guest room.
He walked downstairs, wearing nothing but sweatpants, and sat in front of the kitchen table, having gotten a bottle of water out of the fridge. He drank from it, questions still surging in his mind.
'Why would she love me?' 'How could I be so stupid?' 'Why didn't I see the signs?!' 'Did everyone else know?' 'How could I have hurt her like that?'
More questions gnawed at his mind until he let out a snarl of frustration and self-loathing and slammed his fist into his head several times, punishing himself for what he had done to her. His aura dulled it, but he didn't deserve any reprieve from pain, not after what happened to Pyrrha. Not after what he had done to her.
Tears formed once again on his face as he looked over to the kitchen counter and saw the knife.
He walked over and grabbed it, walking into the bathroom, turning on the light, and locking the door behind him.
He looked at himself in the mirror and it took all his restraint not to punch the reflection.
He looked at his bare arms and chest, growing with muscles due to his training.
The lack of scars was noticeable.
Time to correct that.
He took the knife and sliced himself across the forearm. He seethed as the cut glowed with aura, with blood trickling down before the aura stopped the bleeding.
"This is for hurting you so much Pyrrha. Gods how could I have been so damn stupid?" He asked aloud before cutting himself again, lower this time. And deeper, "This is for letting her die. Why wasn't I good enough? Why didn't I do more?!"
He repeated the process yet again, claiming "This is for dragging you down...you deserved so much better!"
It hurt. It felt wrong. Yet at the same time he felt as though he deserved this.
He cut himself across the chest, creating a thin scar that healed quickly, yet still left a long line of blood spilling down his chest. "This is for breaking your heart. I'm so, so, so sorry for hurting you like that. I'm sorry I pined after Weiss!" He cut himself in the arm again, crying.
"This is for the happiness you deserved so much...but I never gave you." He cut down his arm, grimacing as he felt the scarlet oil, smelling of iron, decorate his arm before his aura healed him.
He looked in the mirror, looked directly at himself.
He felt sorrow. He felt rage. He felt disgust.
He he felt loathing towards himself.
He left the bathroom, washed off the blade and put it back where he found it before wandering out into the hall and falling against the wall and sliding to the floor, burying his face in his hands.
"I'm sorry."
He wanted to lay down and die. Just so he could be with her again.
About a week later, the funeral for Pyrrha was held in her home country of Mistral.
Jaune, Nora, and Ren had traveled with Jaune's sisters to Mistral to attend the funeral. It was easy, despite the differences between the Kingdoms and the rifts created by the fallout of the disaster. General Ironwood was also there, as was Glynda, and Professors Port and Oobleck, Teams SSSN and CFVY were there in attendance along with Ruby and her Uncle Qrow. Since there was no body to bury or burn there was a simple sermon where Pyrrah's friends and family mourned her and said their piece about the girl they admired.
Pyrrha's parents, Hera and Zeus, spoke of their little girl was born, and how quickly she grew up. How powerful and talented she became. Jaune didn't really listen, he was too busy looking at the pictures of Pyrrha on a table, just now he was realizing how incredibly beautiful she was.
He never fully appreciated her until she was taken away.
How could he have been so blind?
Nora, Ren, Glynda, and Ruby all said their own speeches, he didn't really pay attention to any of them, but eventually he had to say his own speech about Pyrrha, the girl who loved him.
"I only knew Pyrrha for a little under year, but I knew from the moment we became partners in the forest that we were going to be friends. I don't know why Ozpin chose me to be the leader, maybe he just put us in what ever order made a cohesive word, but I always wondered why me to lead this team and not her. The one actually qualified to lead us. I still don't have the answer to that and I probably never will, but all I can say is..." He stopped choking back his tears. "All I can say is that I didn't realize how we really felt about each other until it was too late and that she was the greatest friend I ever had." Was all he said before he walked back to his chair.
Before the group of seven sisters, one brother, and two guests left for home, Hera stopped Jaune. "Jaune, what you said about my daughter up there, it reminded me of something." She said as she took out a scroll that Jaune recognized as Pyrrah's.
"Pyrrha left this in her room, Professor Goodwitch found it and was kind enough to deliver it to us. I found a video on it you should see." Hera said as she brought up the video.
"Mrs. Nikos I..."
"Take it." Hera said as she placed the scroll in Jaune's hands. "Keep it safe, and keep it with you always Jaune Arc. Pyrrha would have wanted it that way." She said, struggling to hold back her tears. Jaune hugged the older woman, and she hugged him back in return.
The ship they were taking back to Vale, just so happened to be taking Ruby and her uncle back as well.
"You doing okay?" He asked his young friend, who gave him a small smile.
"I'm holding on as much as I can. Sorry Yang couldn't come but she's...she's in a dark place right now," Ruby told Jaune.
"What about Blake? Any word? Or Weiss?"
"Nothing from Weiss. I think he dad's getting a little too protective. Sun's tried to find Blake but no such luck. Poor guy's going out of his mind he's so worried...but I think she'll be okay. Blake's smart and strong, she can take care of herself. He's taking it better than Yang is." The Silver Eyed girl related to the blond. Yang had descended into a horrible, bitter depression over the loss of her arm and Blake leaving them.
"I'm sorry about Yang. It can't be easy to lose an arm." Jaune said to Ruby.
"Probably just as bad as losing someone who loved you." Ruby answered with a depressed look in her eyes.
The entire ride home Jaune did not look at the scroll. If he was going to break down crying again he would do it in the privacy of his room. He fell asleep and he had another dream.
He dreamed of confronting a battered, bloody Mercury who was trying to limp to safety. He grabbed Mercury by the hair and slammed him on the ground on his back, seeing that his legs were robotic, surprisingly. He slammed Crocea Mors down, severing Mercury's prosthetic legs off, causing sparks and blood to pour from the wounds. As Mercury screamed in pain, Jaune used his sword to cut apart the legs before he took the jagged, torn pieces of steel and used them to stab the gray-haired bastard's neck, even shoving one down his throat, drowning the murderer in his own blood.
The group of people was there again, still applauding and even cheering for him, but they now appeared to have Grimm-like attributes to their features. Before Jaune woke up from that he could swear he heard Pyrrah's voice calling to him but he couldn't understand what she was saying.
These dreams were becoming rather unnerving.
When they arrived back at Vale, said their goodbyes to Ruby and her uncle but before they parted way Ruby whispered something to Jaune.
"Jaune, I remember something Cinder and her team told me. They came from Haven. I'm not going to let them get away with this. Do you want justice?" Ruby asked quietly.
Jaune looked into her silver eyes and said "Yes."
Ruby smiled and whispered "Call me tomorrow, if you and the rest of your team are interested."
With that, Ruby returned home while Qrow went back to join Glynda and the others to deal with the chaos.
After that they returned home, Nora and Ren hung out with Azure, Shani and Indigo while the others retired to their rooms.
Jaune went into his room and sat the scroll on a desk and he sat on his bed. He just stared at it. He stared at it for over an hour, not sure of what to do. He knew he had to watch the video Mrs. Nikos told him about eventually but he didn't know if he could.
Night fell and he continued to stare at the scroll across from him. His silence was interrupted by his eldest sister Bianca. She had long blonde hair with blue eyes, the ARC family trait, and wore a plain white blouse and white pants.
"Jaune, time for dinner. You hit it rich with Ren! I don't think mom will want to give him up! If she could she'd adopt him and Nora." She joked, but she stopped when she saw the sorry state Jaune was in. "Oh...still haven't watched it?"
He shook his head.
"You really loved that girl didn't you?" she asked.
He sighed and answered "She loved me. I didn't realize I loved her too until it was too damn late." He said, slamming his fist onto his desk in anger at himself.
Bianca sighed and said "Jaune, I need to show you something."
"What is it?" he asked. She grabbed him by his hand and pulled him up and dragged him out of his room and towards her own.
Her room was a little dusty, since she had her own apartment now, but she still left some of her old personal belongings here. She led him to a large walk-in closet in the back of her room and opened the doors to reveal something covered in a tarp.
"Bianca, what is it?" Jaune asked.
"It's my painting, well it's our painting technically." She said.
"Ours?" Jaune questioned.
"Mine and Tobias'." She answered.
"Tobia... oh! Toby!" he said, remembering now Bianca's dead fiancé Tobias. Jaune had been a mere seven years old when Bianca was eighteen and had been engaged to a wonderful man named Tobias, or Toby as a young Jaune had called him. He sighed and confessed to his sister, "I don't really remember him all that much."
"You were too young. He was a wonderful man, always wanted to be a Huntsman, but couldn't because of a damned medical condition. It was back when I was a young girl trying to be an artist. I was at the park one afternoon, I went to the top of a big hill trying to paint a perfect sunset, but a sudden rush of wind knocked me over, but I was saved by Tobias who was cloud gazing on the same hill. Things hit off, we dated for a few months, and after a while... engagement. I wanted to make this." Bianca said as she ripped off the tarp and revealed a nearly finished, wonderful painting of a park that Jaune recognized as one he and his sisters had played in hundreds of times in their youth.
"I wanted to make a painting of the place we met. He never knew what I was making, I always told him 'I'll tell you tomorrow, you'll find out tomorrow' but then it happened." Bianca said sadly.
"The car crash." Jaune said, remembering the accident that took his would be brother-in-law from this world.
Bianca nodded somberly. "After that I locked the painting up in my closet, mom and dad were the only ones besides me to know about it." She said.
"That had to have been hard knowing who we live with." Jaune snarked.
Bianca smiled and shook her head, "Like you wouldn't believe." She confirmed before she frowned again.
"After Tobias died I not only locked the painting I had worked so hard on away, I locked tomorrow away because I realized that the tomorrow Tobias had waited for was never going to come." She said sadly, putting her hand on the painting.
"You locked tomorrow away but I don't think Toby would have wanted that...and now that I think of it, Pyrrha wouldn't want me to do it either just because I lost her." He said. Bianca smiled at her little brother.
"Your right little bro." she said proudly, "Now...let's go eat."
That night Jaune had another dream but this dream truly scared him.
In his dream he was fighting Cinder Fall, the woman he wanted to see die more than anything else. He dreamed he was utterly kicking her ass in a fight, hitting, kicking, stabbing, slashing, and shooting her. He was destroying her.
He saw that she could no longer fight him; she collapsed in a shuddering, bleeding pile. He walked towards her slowly, ignoring her pleas to leave her alone or pleas for mercy.
He picked her up, bridal style, and it was then that Jaune realized that they were on top of the ruined tower where this bitch had murdered Pyrrha. He heard her weakly beg him to spare her life but all he could hear himself shush her before saying in response "Hush little baby don't say a word, daddy's gonna buy you a big black bird!"
With that he tossed her over the side of the tall tower, listening in sadistic glee to her screams as she fell and landed with a sickening thud. He looked over and his mind was filled with both horror and satisfaction. Cinder Fall's head had been impaled on a spiked tower, a spike coming out of her mouth and blood pouring out of the back of her head like a waterfall. Large ravens were picking her body apart, tearing off bits of flesh and ripping out her organs. He could see her eyes, wide with horror and pain as she slowly, painfully died.
He looked up and saw the Grimm Dragon softly growling as it nodded in approval, he looked around the tower and saw Grimm of all species roaring and snarling at him, but not in a hostile manner, in a manner of respect. They were the people who applauded him; they were the primal evil of the Grimm, attracted to him by his anger and hate.
He turned around and saw Pyrrha looking at him sadly.
"Jaune, don't." Her voice faintly whispered.
He woke up with a start, sweat covering his body. He wiped sweat from his forehead as he turned on the light. He looked at the scroll and he took a deep breath.
He needed to watch that video.
Jaune turned the scroll on and found the video Hera Nikos had directed him towards. He selected the video and pushed play.
He saw Pyrrha, sitting in their old dorm room. "Hello Jaune. If you're watching this, then something bad must have happened." The redheaded beauty said in her recording.
"Pyrrha..." Jaune whispered aloud.
"Jaune if I haven't told you already then I should tell you know. Professor Ozpin has selected me to become a 'Fall Maiden', I don't fully understand it but apparently if I say yes I will be granted enormous power. The thing is I don't want more power. I feel that I'm powerful enough and I'm an idol to thousands, even though I never really wanted to be one. I feel like taking this power would make me some kind of religious figure and I'm... I'm afraid of what would happen. I might gain followers, zealots, but I'd lose you and Ren and Nora and Team RWBY and all the friends I've made since I began attending Beacon. Truth be told Jaune, you were the person in a long time to see me for me, and not Pyrrha Nikos the champion, Pyrrha Nikos the prodigy, or something like that. You just saw another girl. It was after what we went through in the Emerald Forest, what happened with Winchester that I realized... I love you Jaune." She said.
Jaune covered his mouth to hold back a sob.
"I love you Jaune and I hope you return the feeling. I mean not a lot of people will do what you did at the dance." She said, chuckling a bit. Jaune blushed at the memory of himself in that dress and he realized that it was there at that dance that he began to have romantic feelings for her.
"Jaune, I don't know what the future holds, if I'll take the maiden's powers or not, but I know that no matter what, nothing will change two facts about us. One; you are stronger, smarter, and braver than you know or believe, and two is that I love you." Said Pyrrha Nikos.
And with that the video ended.
"I never even told you how I really felt Pyrrha. I love you too." He said as went back to bed and cried himself to sleep. All those words, all those berating, insulting phrases that swarmed around in Jaune's head were now replaced by three words that he no longer saw in a negative light; 'She loved me.'
Then and there he made a small, but powerful promise that he'd never fall in love with anyone else but Pyrrha Nikos.
The next morning Jaune came to see Bianca off before she left for her apartment, but she had something in the trunk of her car. The unfinished painting. Bianca looked to him before she left and said "I think it's about time I finished that painting for all of us; Me, Tobias, you, and Pyrrha."
Jaune cold only give her a smile and a hug.
That afternoon Jaune brought Nora and Ren into his room and used Pyrrha's scroll, 'Our scroll' as Jaune would now call it and called Ruby.
"Okay guy, so what do you say?" She asked.
"Well...we talked it over-" Ren began.
"We're in." Nora announced.
"We'll be there in a few weeks, so we all better get ready." Jaune said to Ruby.
That afternoon Jaune walked into the backyard and placed his scroll on a bench, opening up another video, one Pyrrha had made for him to help him train during breaks.
As Jaune spread his legs apart and held his sword firmly he made a vow.
"I will make things right. For Pyrrha."
Well done Rooster Teeth. This is the first time I felt so damn depressed about something that I had to write I freaking fanfic about.
Anyways read and review and RIP Pyrrha.
EDIT: I'm making a sequel to this. It's going to be a big, sprawling, epic fic called RWBY: Destiny of Remnant. Expect the first chapter in a week or so.