When Ruby next awoke, she checked her scroll. It was 6AM in the morning, but as she curled up intending to go back to sleep, she gazed sleepily out through the window. It was at the point that she saw daylight.
Ah, stuff it. May as well get up.
As Ruby stretched and yawned, she wondered if Jet was awake at this time. Probably not, right?
Ruby gently got out of bed and hopped down, treading carefully, tiptoeing away from Weiss' bed, slowly padding towards her wardrobe. It opened with a creak, loud in the silence of the dorm room. Ruby quickly reached inside and grabbed her outfit, deciding as she crept towards the bathroom to forgo a shower and let her team sleep.
As she got dressed, Ruby fought to keep the excitement everyone knew her for down. Jet, the person she'd been crushing on, was in love with her too! How was this possible? Nobody could love Ruby Rose, the socially inept king of the… what was it that Weiss called her every now and again?
Oh right. King of the dolts.
Still, if Jet was an indicator, then maybe what Yang said was true. There was someone out there for her. And he happened to be a hunter in training, just like her. Talking of strength, maybe she could see if he did any early morning training in the arena?
As Ruby stepped through the arena gates, she saw him. And she was entranced.
He was fighting a training robot, one of the latest models by the look of it, which had a light on its head that was shining red, meaning it was at the height of its capabilities.
And yet, even as the thing completed a series of very advanced judo techniques, intending to offset Jet, he kept his cool, deflecting each blow with one of two purely black swords, one, two, three, before slashing with one sword downwards.
The 'bot blocked it with the singular blade they all wielded, yet this left it open to the other sword in that instant, and Jet knew it. The other blade, trailing black rose petals, decapitated it, sending the head flying straight up into the air, while the body crumpled with a series of clangs and tinkles.
Woah. He had just chopped its head off. Oookay then, those swords were definitely sharp.
"Hey, Jet!" she called out tentatively.
He looked up, and grinned at her presence, though this was rewarded by the severed head of the chrome robot coming back down and landing on his own head with a resounding clonk. His eyes, having a harsh focus, instantly dilated in embarrassment.
"Apologies. Forgot to look up." Jet replied, massaging his head with a small hiss. Ruby giggled unintentionally even though she knew Jet was trying to play it up. "So what brings you out here?" Jet asked, still blushing a little from the situation he'd just underwent. Ruby knew the real reason she'd wanted to find Jet, but decided it wasn't the time.
"I just came out to train." Ruby said. This WAS true, at least, she did do an early morning session during the weekends.
"In that case, why not spar with me?" Jet suggested. "The training bots here aren't really doing it for me." At his suggestion, Ruby noticed that Jet suddenly had his arm behind his back, and his swords were gone.
Ruby was curious as to how her crush fought, but something… somehow, was telling her not to bother. It was as if there was a voice in her head warning her not to pursue this fight.
"Sure." She said, a smile crossing her face, ignoring the internal warning. Jet smiled, and adopted his own stance, unnervingly mirroring her. Before Ruby had a chance to even move, however, a black mist started to envelop Jet, covering him utterly in a dark cloud her eyesight could not penetrate.
This time, the déjà vu came with a sense of dread. And Ruby felt it like an icy downpour down her back.
As suddenly as it had appeared, it began to disperse, revealing Jet, still in his combat stance, but he was not wielding Shadow Meteor, nor the blades that had decapitated the training bot. Ruby's eyes widened as she gazed upon the familiar scythe clasped in his hands. 'He was wielding Crescent Rose! But how?' Ruby thought to herself.
It was a duplicate of Crescent Rose, but all the red details had become black, and the metal had a purplish tinge to it. The metal blade had also been replaced with a purple, transparent, laser-like blade, glowing darkly. Spinning the scythe and causing black rose petals to scatter as he did so, Jet anchored the shimmering blade into the ground.
"Ruby, meet Midnight Rose." Jet proclaimed, grinning devilishly.
Without waiting for her to react, Jet charged at a speed that defied belief.
Blake opened her eyes. It was another day. She pushed herself up, looking at the clock on the wall of the dorm. It read 7:30. Knowing that Ruby was probably doing her secret training, she glanced over at Weiss sleeping peacefully, with Yang's soft snores giving Blake all the information she needed to know there.
As she got dressed, Blake's mind drifted over to all the new people she had met while being in team RWBY. Many of them she probably would have never met if she hadn't been here. Sighing, Blake adjusted her bow that often sat atop her head, and decided to go out and find Ruby. It hadn't been the first time she'd watched Ruby train, and she didn't want Yang to catch her with the new series she was reading, not after what had happened the last time.
Reaching the training grounds, Blake wasn't surprised to see Ruby. She was surprised to see her backed up against a wall, however, with her shadowy opponent countering any attempt to escape. Blake frowned, before she recognised Jet as one of the two blurs, and even more when she saw his weapon. It looked like Crescent Rose, but had more of an 'evil' feel to it. Blake leaned against a wall, and decided to watch.
Ruby was tiring, and Jet knew it.
He was a terrifying opponent, matching her in speed and agility but he fought with a skill that reminded her of her uncle. It was literally the first time she'd seen him fight with her OWN weapon and he was kicking her butt. His brutal attacks quickly drained her energy when they impacted her blocking scythe. 'I really should have loaded up on cookies before facing him.' Ruby thought.
Desperately, Ruby continued to try to parry every single swipe of Midnight Rose with Crescent Rose, but Jet was too crafty, getting in the odd hit here and there, matching a use of her semblance with his own. Little nicks from Midnight Rose were starting to get sore, but Ruby knew that she had to get away from this lock, or Jet would easily overpower her. His systematic slashes and twirls almost made him seem robotic in his movements, yet Ruby knew he was not mechanical and definitely not predictable.
Before she could do anything that would stop this series of attacks, however, Jet turned his wrist at an angle seemingly impossible, one-handedly sweeping Midnight Rose past Crescent Rose and penetrating her defences, slashing her across the chest! Ruby's aura had saved her, but Jet had just dealt a major blow to her aura levels.
It surprised her immensely, a move that was not one she'd 'experienced' before!
The moment Ruby's shocked cry sounded out, Jet capitalised on her distraction, swinging Midnight Rose by gripping the haft very close to the blade. The blunt end of the haft smashed into Ruby, knocking her backwards, and she felt Crescent Rose being wrenched away from her by a strength comparable to Yang's, leaving Ruby on the ground, defenceless. As soon as she hit the metallic floor, Jet immediately folded up Midnight Rose, and crouched next to her.
The pain was unbelievable. Ruby curled up into a ball around the glowing cut in the flesh of her stomach, one that felt almost numb if not for the needles of cold, harsh pain stabbing into the skin. The area around it felt blisteringly cold, as if the affected area had been transmuted into ice.
Ruby shut her eyes as a pair of hands encircled her.
At Sunset Hill, Jet put Ruby down and checked her wounds. Ruby was still feeling searing pain from Midnight Rose's touch, freezing cold, coupled with searing pain. Did she mention the searing pain? She looked at Jet, whose face was pained with worry.
"I-i-it h-h-h-urts" Ruby stuttered, the best she could manage while still groaning in pain and shivering from the unnatural chill. Jet said nothing, but held his palm up to the sky, which suddenly shone a scattering of red and blue lights. Ruby heard rapid footsteps near her head as Jet lowered his hand.
Jet moved away from Ruby, and Ruby looked down at her body as it felt strangely warm, despite the shimmering purple slash into her stomach. There was an orange aura surrounding her, and without warning, she felt the agony of each of her injuries as fresh as if Jet had dealt them again, in reverse order, starting with the ending hit.
She screamed in pain, agony re-dealt hurt just as much as the first time, and threw her head back. Then, it suddenly stopped as swiftly as it had started.
Ruby looked again, only to find they had all been… healed?
No, more than that, it had felt as if she hadn't even suffered the wounds in the first place. What was going on?
She felt Jet picking her off the ground, and he turned to face the stranger, which was Izzet, a look of worry on her face.
"Thank you Izzet." Jet said. "That makes another deed in the long list of deeds that I am eternally grateful for." Izzet smiled, before making an enquiring face. Jet smiled, and nodded. Izzet blushed, something Ruby did not think she was capable of doing, before vanishing. Ruby smiled weakly. 'She must disappear when she stops time.' she thought, before turning to the matter at hand, the fact that she was in Jet's arms.
"Um, I can walk you know." she said, somewhat sarcastically to Jet. A small laugh escaped Jet as he put her down. She turned, with hands on hips, even though Jet regarded her with his neutral smile.
"How did you do that?" Ruby asked. He had beaten her easily! Her speed did nothing to trick him, and Midnight Rose was something else. Even then, how was he that fast and that strong? It was like the guy had no weakness! She shuddered. It had even been HER own weapon that he'd beaten her with.
"Let's just say you're not the only one with a few tricks, my little Rose." he said, grinning. Ruby blushed with the sentiment, sure she'd never been called that before. Jet was still very close to her, and it felt like they were the same height, though in reality Jet was slightly taller than her.
Immediately, without warning, without any sign, without pause, all the emotions she had felt during the previous encounters with Jet, both in real life in her dreams, came flooding through her mind. Curiosity, suspicion, longing, fear and love all jockeyed for position in Ruby's mind, a veritable tempest of emotion that sucked rational thought out of her head. Except for two things.
She knew that she loved Jet.
And that he loved her.
Almost being overwhelmed by this sudden onset of emotion, Ruby did the only thing she thought was right. She kissed Jet. Full on the lips. Blushes appeared on both of their faces upon contact, and Jet hissed in surprise, but didn't pull away. For a moment, Jet merely stood there, his lips still against hers. Then, Ruby felt arms wrapping around her, slowly pulling her closer. Both had closed their eyes. Jet's lips were soft but firm, masculine but gentle in their administrations. Ruby revelled in a feeling of harsh triumph coupled with overwhelming embarrassment.
They stayed like that for what felt like hours, before they finally broke apart. Ruby felt an unnatural warmth flowing through her body. No. This was natural. She was so glad she'd done what she'd wanted to do for some time, Ruby nearly missed Jet muttering to himself. She opened her eyes, seeing Jet with a neutral expression, blushing, but no other outward emotion, eyes still shut. Ruby's heart skipped a beat. Had she done the wrong thing?
"I think… you're proven my suspicions." Jet said, opening his eyes, and emerald met silver.
"What suspicions?" Ruby asked, barely a whisper, the pair still blushing.
"We had the same feelings for each other." he simply stated, before Ruby locked him in another gentle kiss, which he did not refuse, rather he drew her closer towards him so that they were in a tight embrace. He fell against the solitary tree on the hill, and neither moved, bathing in the warmth of the other, Ruby on top of him in the morning sun.
From afar, Blake watched the pair, having witnessed everything. She had seen Izzet's reversal of time on Ruby's wounds, making it so that they had never occurred. She had to hand it to the silent girl; there were times when that ability would have come in handy. She was covering her presence with her new favourite novel, Twice Ninjas of Love, but this was one of the few times that she could not focus on her book, instead being entranced by what she was seeing.
Of all the girls on her team, it had been Ruby Rose who had found love first. Sure, Weiss and Neptune seemed to be nearing the dating stage, but that couldn't match the spectacle she was witnessing. It was both terrifying and heart-warming, and as the two broke apart, she made a mental promise to herself and the two lovers that she wouldn't mention it to another soul. They would tell when their time was due, Blake thought, smiling as she disappeared from the scene.
Something of a novel was clearly in the making here.
Here, in real life.
Jet was in heaven.
So it HAD been true.
Ruby was in love with him. His gambit with Yang had paid off. And now, he was savouring the spoils.
He gently shifted Ruby, who was still on top of him, onto her side, so that they laid side by side. Neither deepened the kiss, yet neither broke the lip lock. Their arms were around each other, and Jet could feel Ruby's heart beating through her skin.
Yes. Her heartbeat. Through her lips, her pale fingers intertwined with his own, and even through her own clothes. It was a beautiful remedy to his nerves before she had shocked him with the kiss. He had to admit, things had progressed very quickly between them. Was he surprised?
Yes. Without a doubt.
Did he dislike it?
No. Without a doubt.
He let go of Ruby, and slowly broke their kiss. Neither of them had used their tongues, or done anything other than hold each other with their hands. Jet knew that Ruby was most definitely inexperienced.
He was, too. While he hadn't expected her to kiss him or be okay with kissing him, he was definitely NOT going any further.
Jet knew he was the kind of guy who'd prefer to take things slowly. And while something had drawn him to Ruby, his patience was legendary from whence he came. He was, as some had described him, a slow burner. And if Ruby's blush and nervous silver eyes were any indication, she was too.
"So, what do we call ourselves now?" Jet asked her. His voice was a quiet as a whisper, yet in the peaceful quietude of Sunset Hill in the morning, it may as well have been an ordinary level of speech. Her eyes flickered, but they didn't waver from his own. Ruby was definitely nervous.
"I don't know." Ruby said. Jet held back an 'aww' at Ruby's lack of experience and/or knowledge of all of this. Even though he knew he was closer to her age than she knew, he knew much about matters of the heart. Still, he wouldn't tease, or go too fast.
He would break the widespread opinion that the first romance always broke.
"Maybe a couple? How does that sound?" Jet suggested, flashing her a warm smile and a wink. He was rewarded by Ruby's own smile widening, some of the nervousness starting to fade from her eyes.
"Yes." Ruby responded softly. "You and me." She put her arms around him. "Please hold me. I just want to stay like this."
"I can do that." Jet assured, once more enveloping her with his arms. Ruby started to lean into the space between his right shoulder and his head, resting her head there. Jet leant over to whisper in her ear. "You've shown me your answer."
It was her love.
And he would connect with her. He would make sure she was safe from all the dangers in this awful world. The creatures of Grimm, the White Fang, none of them would touch her now that he was with her.
"Now, I won't ever leave you." Jet added, leaning back to give Ruby a bit of room to readjust before he embraced her again.
To his surprise, Ruby did not. She jolted up, bolt upright, as if he'd just slashed her again with Midnight Rose. The move sent Jet sprawling, relaxed and unprepared as he was. Ruby turned to look at him, and there was genuine fear in her eyes.
Jet felt his aura immediately activate, the purple glimmer barely visible yet perceivable arcing across his skin as he watched Ruby. He was unarmed, but now he was ready for combat if needs be. And all the while, his thoughts were going into overdrive.
What had he said? Was it something he'd done? Done or said?
"D-don't say that." Ruby stuttered, her voice very fearful. She got to her feet quickly, and before Jet could stand, she disappeared in a flash of rose petals.
It took Jet a moment to calm his mechanical heart, which had started racing at the demand of his mind and muscles. Once he had, he reached out and took a rose petal. He turned it in his hand, curling it, gentle so as not to tear the delicate little thing.
Just like he'd surely torn Ruby. With that promise to not leave her.