Night descended on the snowy woods, the shattered moon emerging faintly from behind the dark, wispy clouds, causing the snow and ice to sparkle dimly. The fire lit in between the trees cast eerie shadows and uneven orange light around the vicinity. The warmth of the flames was nearly non-existent, but it gave the four a sense of comfort and familiarity.
He had offered to take first watch that night. His three companions rolled out their sleeping bags and huddled close together against the cold winter night air, moving closer to their only source of light and warmth.
They were the only ones left of their teams. Blake had abandoned them, Weiss had been taken back to Atlas, Yang was numbly refusing to function at her home, and Pyrrha...
His jaw clenched tightly. His eyes turned upwards, and the clouds parted just enough to let the light of a single cold star shine against the immense blackness of the sky.
He closed his eyes, trying to focus on his memories of her. He could almost feel the warmth of her hand, the touch of her lips, the taste of the kiss...
"Jaune?" a small, tired voice asked.
Jaune looked in her direction in surprise, before relaxing sadly. "Oh... hey Ruby..."
Ruby looked at him with worried silver eyes. "I can take watch..." she said kindly.
"It's fine," Jaune replied, looking back up at the dark sky.
"Jaune..." Ruby started in a concerned voice. "You need to rest."
Jaune clenched his jaw. "I'm fine, Ruby. Go to sleep."
"Jaune..."
"Ruby," he replied quietly. "Please. I don't feel like talking."
Ruby looked at him sadly.
"Ruby? What's-" Nora sat up groggily, her words cutting of in a yawn, "-wrong? Is it my watch already?"
"No, Nora, not yet. Go to sleep," Jaune told her.
Nora's movement broke Ren from his slumber, and all four of them were all awake. "Nora?" Ren asked. "Is it my watch?"
"No," Nora replied, "I think it's Ruby's."
"No-" Jaune started.
"It isn't, but Jaune needs rest," Ruby told the two.
"No, guys-"
"You've been awake longer than the rest of us," Ren said. "Rest would do you well."
"Ren, I-"
"Yeah, Jaune," Nora agreed. "Our leader can't be too tired to lead."
"Nora, I'm not-"
"Please, Jaune..." Ruby said.
"Enough!" Jaune burst. The three fell silent. "I'm not tired, I don't need rest, and I'm not your leader!" he roared.
"But-" Nora started.
"I can't be your leader when there's no team left to lead..." he said quietly, slumping back against the tree.
"You will always be our leader, Jaune," Ren said. "Just like Ruby always will lead her team."
Ruby's face darkened. "Jaune's right though... even if our teams were together, Beacon's gone... we're not really teams anymore, just... us."
"And Team JNPR will never be together again," Jaune breathed, his eyes closing.
"Jaune..." Nora whimpered, her eyes sad. "Don't..."
Jaune sighed. He hurt. And it wasn't even physical pain anymore, but he could still feel it inside him. If she were here, it wouldn't hurt anymore...
Ren put an arm comfortingly around Nora's shoulders, pulling her in to rest against him.
"I'm sorry, guys, I just..." Jaune looked at his companions, his blie eyes searching theirs for some ounce of comfort. "...I don't want her to be gone..."
"Jaune..." Ruby started hesitantly, her stormy eyes looking at her hands. She looked up at the blonde boy. "What if she's not?"
Jaune looked at her, a spark of hope igniting inside him that almost hurt to consider. "What do you mean?"
"Well... bodies don't really disintegrate..." Ruby murmered.
Jaune slowly began to hope. She could be alive. There was a chance!
And Ren shot it down.
"The woman had an affinity for fire," the quiet boy stated plainly. "The arrow could have easily been imbued with Dust to burn her body away." Even Ren still hesitated when speaking about Pyrrha, reluctant to acknowledge her name when mentioning her death.
A quiet, choked sob broke through lips forced closed, half-muffled by Ren's chest as Nora buried her face deeper into him. After Ren, Pyrrha had been the hammer-wielder's best friend. Ren embraced her tighter, feeling faintly guilty for saying what he still felt needed to be said.
Jaune visibly darkened. His posture, which had straightened at the thought of seeing Pyrrha again, resumed back into its defeated state, slumping against the tree and hanging his head. If he had trained harder with her, if she hadn't promised the day they met to protect him, if he hadn't been so weak, so blind, if he had seen the woman coming in the Vault, if he had been strong enough to hold her off, if he had called Weiss sooner, if he had been there...
"I was there, Ren," Ruby said, her voice growing defensive. "There was no body. She turned into golden dust and vanished. And by dust I mean, like, top of the shelves dust. She's human, not a Grimm, and humans don't just vanish."
"But we burn," Ren pointed out solemnly.
Ruby crossed her arms, angling her body away. Her jaw was clenched tight, but her shoulders shook. In a quiet, hurt voice, Jaune heard her whisper, "She can't..."
"I don't want to say goodbye, either," Jaune breathed. "But-"
Suddenly, Nora's strong arms had wrapped around them both, having jumped away from Ren and him following her, trying his best to consold her, tears sliding down Nora's cheeks. "Then don't," she said in a low, shaky voice.
Ruby immediately hugged Nora back, both girls crying softly, and Jaune could feel tears starting to slide down his own face. "What do you mean?" he asked.
"We don't ha-have to say g-goodbye, and then she'd be g-gone," Nora told them, her crying breaking up her words. "She's ju-just not here right n-now."
For a moment, no one moved, save the shaking of the girls' bodies. Jaune's throat tightened and he wrapped his arms around his companions in a crushing hug.
Yes, he was cold without Pyrrha, but he wasn't alone. And she isn't gone,he thought quietly, the small spark of hope lighting up like a star amidst a sea of despair.
She just isn't here right now.
* * * Bonus Scene * * *
So there really was an afterlife. She always thought when she died, she'd fade away to nothing but a memory. There was nothing after death-that was just futile hope of people that were afraid of oblivion. She always thought you lived on in the impact you made while you lived, not through a life after death.
If this was the afterlife, though, it was extremely uncomfortable. They always said any afterlife would be perfect. You wouldn't have sore and a pounding headache...
She opened her eyes, wincing against the light that shot pain through her head. She blinked a few times, trying to adjust to the odd-colored light.
Or, maybe reds and purples weren't unusual in the afterlife. She wouldn't know-she'd never been dead before.
A sharp pain shot through her chest and she cried out. This was definitely not the afterlife they had talked about. She looked down at her chest, eyes wild with shock. Blood pooled around a small, deep wound. As she inhaled sharply, she realized she felt far too alive to be dead
A figure on the corner of her vision moved, and her eyes shot to it, searching for answers.
"Who are you? Where am I?" Desperation rang in her words.
The figure, a woman, simply chuckled-a low, sinister sound that made the girl's skin crawl.
"I-I'm supposed to be dead!" she cried to the woman's back. As she protested, she leaned forward, panic sinking in as she realized some force was restraining her. She began to struggle, trying to pull her arms and legs away from where she was pinned, writhing in terror.
"Oh don't worry," the woman replied. "You will be. Soon enough." She turned, a small smile spreading across her lips. Horror overtook the girl as she took in the sight of the woman's unnatural appearance.
"But for now," the woman purred, striding slowly towards her captive. She extended one white hand, her fingers reaching lightly under the girl's chin. Disgust and fear gripped her and she flinched away from the touch, struggling in vain against her invisible bonds. "You're still useful."
An unnatural light illuminated the woman's dark eyes and her smile hardened. She gripped the girl's chin tightly, nails cutting into her skin. She cried out and tried to pull away, but the grip only grew tighter, forcing their eyes to meet.
"And our work is far from finished."