Stupid Jaune! Why didn't you take your pack off! Jaune yelled at himself inside his head. If he had taken his pack off then the Ursa Grimm wouldn't have gotten tangled up and he wouldn't have been dragged down the hill and into this ravine. Using all of his strength, he managed to push the dissipating weight off of his body and slowly got to his feet with a groan. He felt himself lightly and found none of his arms or legs were seriously damaged aside from a few scrapes that were already healed. Taking a deep breath, he didn't feel any broken ribs poking his lungs, bonus.
Looking over, he saw that his pack had opened up mid flight and all of his things were scattered against the rocks and tiny streams of water running through them. The rations would be okay, but his few issues of X-Ray and Vav that he managed to find room for were ruined. A few bits of clothing need to be washed and his tent was in pieces. With a sigh, he went to start collecting what he could when he heard a bone chilling scream.
Whipping around, he saw Ruby sitting with her hands on her leg. Running towards her, his things forgotten, she knelt next to her as she let out a desperate cry. Looking to where her silver eyes were staring, his gut dropped when he saw a large piece of wood sticking out of her leg. "Oh shit" He heard himself say, her blood staining her tights and spilled onto the rocks below. She gave another cry and he placed his hand on her shoulder.
"You're okay..." He didn't believe that himself, but that's what people say when they're trying to help, right? He placed his hand on her leg and began to examine the wound, the large shard was poking through the other side just a bit, it was bad. Gulping down a dry mouth, he looked at her and nodded lightly. "Okay...I'm going to pull it out" She have a quick nod as she gripped her leg. Jaune wrapped his fingers around the wood and he put a little bit of pressure on it when she cried out again.
Pulling his hand away quickly, he shook his head. "Okay! Okay, it's staying" He said quickly as he looked around. With a panicked noise, he placed a hand on her shoulder and leaned in. "Stay calm, I'll grab the first aid pack and then we'll get out of this cold" He said as he waited for her to nod and quickly ran to collect what he could from his ruined pack. Grabbing the blanket, the first-aid kit as well as his ration packs, he rushed back to Ruby and began to wrap bandages around her leg.
Securing the shard so it could not move while they moved, glad he actually learned something from his short time at Beacon that was useful. Team leaders and one other member of their team were required to take emergency first aid it was simply an elective for rest. Once the wood shard was secure, he quickly ran and gathered up the last of what he could salvage and lastly collected Ruby's Crescent Rose. After she quickly collapsed it, he placed it in his pack to carry as he helped her move.
"Hold on" He said simply as he leaned down and slipped his arm under her legs and behind her back and hoisted her up bridal style, Ruby let out a surprised gasp as she clutched onto Jaune's breastplate and pulled herself closer to him. Jaune noticed a blush form as she tried to hide her face under the hood of her cloak. With her heavy weapon in his pack and her in his arms, he began to carry her out of the riverbed and back into the forested area.
"Thanks, Jaune" She said gently as she gently wrapped her cloak around herself lightly as she leaned against his chest.
"Its fine" Jaune began as he continued to carry her, she was fairly light so it wasn't so bad. "I mean, it's kinda my fault you got dragged down here in the first place" He said as he stepped over a large root and she hissed in pain as the shard rubbed against her other leg. "Sorry" He said simply as he slowed down his walking pace enough so that she wouldn't get as hurt. The small woman in his arms simply nodded and looked around lightly.
"Do you even know where you're going?" Ruby asked as she looked around after about an hour of being carried by Jaune. Looking around, all he could see was trees, rocks, plants and more trees.
"Uh...no..." He said simply spun in a slow circle to try and get his bearings. After pushing his brain to its limits, he let out a defeated sigh and hung his head. "I'm lost..."
Ruby giggled lightly as she pointed in a direction. "We were travelling eastward, so I guess we should head that way...hopefully meet the others" She said gently as Jaune nodded and began to walk in the direction she pointed.
"Oh, can you call them up on your scroll?" Jaune asked. Ruby shook her head simply and her head dropped slightly.
"The CCT tower was destroyed, so our scrolls are only good for paperweights and downloaded apps that don't require a constant connection until we get to Mistral..." Jaune silently swore at himself for the fifth time today, forgetting that Scrolls were useless right now.
"Right, sorry I forgot..." Ruby simply shook her head slightly and curled up a little against his body.
"You okay?" She asked. "You've been carrying me for a while now, you must be getting tired"
He gave her a small smile and nodded. "Don't worry, I'll be fine. I had to haul Nora's weapon back to the dorm after her she ate all the pancakes in the cafeteria that one day and got chased out before she could collect" He said lightly as he smiled at the memory. "And let me tell you, Magnhild is not light..." Ruby laughed a bit as he took a deep breath and felt a very strong wing blow past them, sending shivers through their bodies. "Looks like a storm..." Jaune said lightly as the wind continued to rise around them, causing the trees to rattle as branches bounced against each other. Ruby nodded and looked around lightly.
"We'd better hurry"
Jaune picked up his pace but they were still caught out in the middle of the storm that blew past the trees, sending large clumps of snow into his face, wetting his hair as the cold stung his face. He positioned himself the best he could to prevent most of the snow from hitting the girl he was carrying but she just pulled the hood more over her head to try and cover herself. Her cloak waving behind them as the wind picked up even further. He could smell the faint fragrance of roses as the cloak whipped past him, he stood and looked down at her, lost in his own little world until a length of her cloak whipped around and slapped him across to the face, sending a painful cold slap to bring him back to reality.
"We need to get out of this wind!" Ruby shouted over the wind and snow. With a point of her finger, Jaune followed it and saw a large opening in the base of a larger tree. Making his way over to it, he peered inside and saw that it was an opening that lead down deeper under the tree, leading into a natural cave that the tree created where there would just be a large hole in the ground. Doing his best to be as gentle with her as possible, he set her down and slipped in first, sword at the ready.
There was only enough head room for crawl anywhere inside the smaller area. They could probably fit Nora and Ren down here before things got super uncomfortable, if they could find them. With nothing but roots and dry dirt in the hole, Jaune helped Ruby down and they crawled to the back and sat down to wait the storm out.
As the wind whipped past the entrance to their little hovel, their clattering teeth became the noise that filled the room with the howling of the wind joining them. He could feel his armour began to chill him further so he took it off and set it to the side as he looked through his pack for anything to help. He managed to pull the wool blanket out and wrap it looked at it for a few moments before crawling over to Ruby and wrapping her up in it. "Arn't. You. Cold?" She asked through chattering teeth.
"I'll be. Fine." He replied, doing his best to stop his own chattering and violent shaking as he slumped down next to her, pushing his hands into his armpits to try and get feeling back into his limbs. After a few moments, he heard Ruby began to shift next to him. Looking over, he saw her shifting closer and closer to him until they were shoulder to gentle hand, she pushed her hood over her head further, obscuring her face before she moved his arms out of his armpits and crawled into his lap.
His face turned a deep crimson as she wrapped the blanket around the two of them, followed by her cloak making a cocoon of warmth. He felt her hands on his under the blankets and she forced him to hold her by her waist, her face still hidden by her hood, but he suspected that her face was the same shade as her hood.
"It'll be warmer this way" Ruby said simply. "Sharing body heat..." She was right, his shaking was going down and he could feel his jaw stop making his teeth bash against each other. She was sitting sideways in his lap, he saw her legs poking out by his right side as her right shoulder pressed against his chest, her head leaning on his shoulder. He could feel her breath on his neck, he was fighting with his mind and body to stop them from doing what they wanted to do, making an embarrassing situation even more awkward if he popped a boner.
He just kept all his metal energy on breathing and not shaking her too much when he needed to adjust himself when his butt began to fall asleep on the cold ground under him. After a while, his concentration was broken by her shoulder slowly jumping against his chest a few times, a quiet sob escaped from under her hood. Slowly, he reached up and pulled the red cloth from her head and saw tears running down her face as she looked up at him with sad, silver eyes.
"I'm sorry, Jaune" She cried out as quietly as she could.
Jaune pushed his hands back under the blanket and held her close in a hug. "It's okay, Ruby. It's my fault you were dragged down here with me" He tried to reason with her.
She shook her head quickly, her fair flailing against his face gently, bringing with it a fresh wave of the scent of roses he grew accustomed to while they sat together like this. "No, not this...I'm sorry for Pyrrha" She sniffed as she tried to wipe the snot off her face with her black sleeve. He felt his heart give a little at the mention of her again, but for this conversation again all together. "I wasn't fast enough to save her! I wasn't fast enough to save Penny! Or Pyrrha! Or anyone else during the attack! What kind of Huntress am I?" She asked as she placed her face in her hands and cried some more. Gently, Jaune reached up and pulled her hands from her face so he could look into her eyes.
"Ruby, you are the best Huntress out of all of us right now" He said gently. "I mean, you got into Beacon two years early. That's an unbelievable accomplishment in its own right. I'm the useless one" He said simply. "I lied my way into beacon, counterfeit transcripts got me in, and I struggled in everything I did there. It was only thanks to Pyrrha that I didn't get dropped..." His blue eyes scanned down. "It wasn't your fault that she died, Ruby. Its mine. I wasn't a strong enough leader to protect my teammate, my partner. My friend" He took a deep breath and closed his eyes lightly. He could feel Ruby had stopped crying lightly, trying to wipe her eyes with her sleeves the best she could.
Her voice came out quietly, just barely a whisper. "You're strong enough for me, Jaune"
"I'm not strong enough for anyone..." He said just as softly. "I wasn't strong enough to finish primary combat school, so I left home everyday and stayed out in a field while everyone else learned how to be heroes. I wasn't strong enough to tell my parents, so I lied to them about continuing my training. I wasn't strong to make my own weapon so I stole my grandfather's and lied my way into Beacon. I wasn't strong enough to protect all those people who died at Beacon" He stared at the hard stone and the thick roots that dangled from the ceiling. "I'm not strong enough to stay with you guys. I'll just stay in whatever town we go to next and you guys keep going..."
She was silent for a few moments before speaking his name quietly. Pulling his attention away from the wall to look at her, he was caught off guard when her face was so close to him. Her lips pressed against his quickly and he was shocked into stillness. She pushed into the kiss gently, and he found himself kissing back out of reflex. Her lips slightly rough from being out in the cold for so long, but roses filled his nose and his thoughts as he pulled her just a bit closer to him.
His eyes closed lightly as she broke away first. She placed her head under his chin and snuggled close to him, his hoodie being balled in her fist lightly. "We won't leave you Jaune" She said quietly. "I won't leave you" He gripped the blanket and the cloak and pulled them tighter around the two of them. He had suddenly felt very tired while he was trying to make sense of what happened, he made sure his sword was nearby just in case. Closing his eyes, he leaned against her gently, his head on hers as he slowly fell asleep with her in his arms, his mind filled with a little girl wearing red and black.
A rustling woke him up from his little nap, light was still coming through the entrance of their little cave, meaning they haven't been asleep for long. Looking over, he saw a man with dark hair with a pink strip lean in and look at them. A small smile graced Ren's lips as his shoulders dropped in relief. Leaning back and calling out for Nora, Jaune looked down at Ruby who was still asleep on his chest and shook her lightly to gently wake her up. "Hey, we're rescued" He said gently. When she didn't stir, he shook her a bit harder and then heard her heavy breathing.
Leaning down, he gently pushed some of her red tinted hair out of her face her see her eyes closed tightly and sweat droplets on her forehead. Placing his hand on her forehead, he could feel a terrible fever on her skin. "Ruby?" He shook her a bit more, Ren must have heard the urgency in his voice because he was next to them and examined her. Jaune pulled the blanket off of them and laid her down slowly, Ren looked over and saw the large shard of wood that was still in her leg and quickly undid the bandages and examined the area. Jaune looked over and saw the skin around the wound was an angry red with streaks of red running up and down her leg.
"Damn, its gotten infected..." He said as he quickly wrapped the damaged area again and the two men began to pull her out of the hole. Jaune quickly gathered their things from the hole as Nora took her pack off and picked up the small woman with ease. "We need to get her to the next town now, before it gets any worse" Jaune nodded as he picked up Nora's pack and the three of them began to run to the east, hoping the next town was nearby. Jaune refused to lose anyone else.