"We are all gathered here to mourn the loss of one of our own," Ozpin spoke to the few in audience of the funeral, his voice coarse, "Ruby Rose, now former leader of the first year team RWBY, has fallen in battle, her body wasn't recovered. She would have made a great huntress, and a great woman had this tragedy not happened, but let's not forget the dangers this line of work holds. Let us keep her memory in our hearts as we move forward."
The funeral pyre was lit. Team JNPR and the remaining members of team RWBY watched the cloth banner that bore the deceased leader's symbol slowly catch fire and turn to ashes. It had been hours as the observers slowly trickled away, leaving the only the blonde knight staring at the ashes as the sun slowly rose over the horizon.
"Jaune, we have to go," Pyrrha approached her leader.
"She was my best friend, you know," he muttered as he finally collapsed to his knees.
"We all know," she sat down next to him, putting a hand on his back to comfort him, "you spent so much time with her, we all thought it was more than that."
"I wish it was," the broken boy tried his best to hold back his tears, "I loved her, Pyrrha, but I never got the chance to tell her. I never will."
"It's okay, Jaune," she gave a pained look as the tears started to flow, "I'm sure she would have felt the same."
"No, it's not! It's never going to be okay," he cried out, "We were all on that mission, and I was supposed to protect her!"
"None of us could have done a thing, it's not your fault."
"I could have done something if I were stronger I-, I…" his voice faltered and allowed the sobs to pour out of his mouth.
"Come on, Jaune," she lightly tugged on his arm, "you need some rest."
The pair walked in silence back to their dorm, Pyrrha was too scared to say a thing in fear of triggering any memories in her friend. Jaune stayed silent in fear of what he might not mean to say. He collapsed face first onto his bed as soon as they reached their shared room, instantly falling asleep, hoping to dream of better times.
Later that night, Jaune tossed and turned, his subconscious forcing him to relive those painful moments. There was blood in his vision, but it wasn't his. "Ruby?!" he called, with no reply, he turned to the cat faunus who had just struck down a large creature, "Blake, where's Ruby?!"
"I don't know, she went off on her own," she answered as she defended against another attack.
Jaune took off in the direction Blake had pointed out to him. He sprinted as fast as his fatigued legs would allow him. His stomach turned with anxiety and his heart was ready to jump out of his throat at a moment's notice, the thought of what might happen. "Ruby!" he called as he entered the clearing.
"Jaune, what happened?!" she screamed, taking the head off an ursa and turning to him.
"Nothing, we just need you back with the group," he internally sighed at the sight of his fellow leader. He paused for a moment to quickly take in her appearance. Though it had been just two short years since he had first found her in a small crater outside the school, there was certainly a noticeable difference. She hadn't grown too much, but the top of her head now matched the height of his nose. He admired how her hair flowed in the wind, which now came down to her shoulder blades. Her hips have also widened, giving her a more womanly appearance, though it wasn't just her waist that has grown. Jaune blushed after realizing what his focus had come to.
As soon as she joined him at his side, Jaune grabbed her wrist and pulled her into a hug. It wasn't a short hug that they had commonly shared, it was a longer and tender hug. The younger of the two pulled away, a red color strewn across her face. "What was that?" she asked, feigning ignorance to hide her own feelings.
"Please, be careful," was all he could say as he stared into her silver eyes. "I can't lose you, so just please…"
"I'll be fine," she reassuringly smiled, "and after the mission's done, we'll have movie night together, like we always do."
"Let's just focus on staying alive right now," he said, leading the way back to the rest of their respective teams.
"Holy shit! This fucking hurts!" she howled in pain, trying her best to keep pressure on the hole in her side. The group had been pushed up against the mountain side, forming a semicircle around the wounded brawler. "Where the fuck are Jaune and Ruby?"
As if on cue, the creatures of darkness started dropping at the sound of gunshots in the distance. Jaune came flying from the treetops, throwing his sword at one and crashing into the other, beheading it with the edge of his shield. He retrieved his blade that had impaled the beowolf and swiftly cut down three ursa. Ruby had followed in a similar fashion, hooking the edge around the neck of the first enemy, shot another and used the recoil to sever the head.
"Show offs," Weiss scowled at the two.
"Before anything else happens, we should probably get back to Beacon," Jaune reminded them of the more pressing matter.
"He's right. Blake, Ren, do you think you can carry her?" Ruby chimed in.
"Yeah," Blake answered while Ren just nodded in agreement. Both took a side, each taking a leg to lift and an arm to hold her back for support.
"We need to get moving, another wave of them are closing in," Jaune announced. "I'll take point with Nora. Weiss and Pyrrha, you two stay with Ren, Blake and Yang and cover their flanks. Ruby, cover our asses from the back, make sure nothing takes us by surprise. Let's hurry, we don't have much time if we all want to live."
No one questioned his command, they all fell into their respective places and took off running. The group cut through the crowds of darkness like an arrow through wind. Beacon was finally in sight. 'Just a few more miles,' the paladin thought to himself, 'less than an hour to safety and I can finally tell her.'
All seemed to go so well until the nevermore showed up. It wasn't just one or two, but a whole flock raining death onto them in the form of weaponized feathers. The group did their best to defend against and evade the feathers. Jaune instinctively fell back to help defend Ruby. "Nora, we're almost to the safe zone, just don't stop!" he instructed as he block an oncoming feather from piercing his beloved.
The safe haven of Vale's guarded walls were in sight. Jaune watched as, one by one, his friends and comrades entered the open gates. 'We're safe,' he internally sighed in relief, 'just a few more meters and-,'
His train of thought was caught off as he felt his body being violently knocked to the side like a ragdoll. The pain in his left arm was too much for him to lift the shield and stay conscious. "Jaune!" his eyes shot open after a few seconds of drifting. He saw as the reaper impale the beast that was standing over him, "Come on, Jaune, we're almost there."
She took his arm over her shoulders and helped him for a few steps, only for him to hit the ground again. Every bit of pain was replaced with panic, rage and grief as his vision turned red. Her blood flowed down the length of the shaft of the giant feather and pooled at the base where it met the ground. Ruby's body went limp mere seconds after Crescent Rose had fallen from her hands, but held in place where she had been impaled.
"Ruby!" Jaune shot up in his bed and out of his dream. He looked around to find that it had gotten dark. He stood up, gathered his jacket, exited the dorm into the cold night air and made his way to Beacon cliff. He sat at the edge, letting his legs dangle freely, and stared out into the darkness of the night. Once again, he let his sadness flow from his eyes, and allowed the grief to escape his mouth.
Author's note: I came up with the idea for this story while I was eating dinner with my extended family for Thanksgiving. I focused way too much on the action of piercing the turkey with my fork and viola, the idea for the death of my favorite character to ship with Jaune in RWBY was formed. I feel like a sick bastard for coming up with this. Tell me what you all think of it, is it too graphic to keep it at T rating? I think that it's going to be the only death I'm gonna write in this story.
