Flux barely got out of the door, covered in blood and dust from the roof when she literally ran into Ironwood, who had been nearby and had heard the alarms. He looked surprised to see her.
"Jet! What are you doing here?" he snapped, suspicious as two android guards ran into the dining area.
"Apologies sir! There was a collapse!" Flux panted, feigning a stitch in her side as her eyes resumed their normal emerald. "I got away, but three prisoners got crushed. Their blood hit me." Jet continued, putting on a scared act.
"Return to your cell immediately." Ironwood instructed, and Jet complied, walking away as he called for additional androids.
From afar, two figures watched, both perched on the roof of a building. Shade stood to the right, red eyes visible, while the other wore a Grimm mask, similar to that of a Nevermore.
"Nicely done. Now all that remains is to bait the trap." the masked figure said to the shadow in a feminine voice. "I will now set events in motion, my son."
Shade turned to look at her. "Make sure that everything proceeds as divined. But be careful. The one you plan to meet has some… issues if she gets too angry."
"Of course." she replied. The shadow reached out to hug her, and she obliged to his silent request.
"Mother," Shade whispered, "I don't think this is a good idea."
"It is, trust me. You do want your family to know about your connection to them, right?" she asked.
The shadow released her. "I don't know how well some would take it. It's also where I come from, if they knew, then it would only hurt them more."
"Your time is limited. And besides, it's only a matter of time before SHE comes back for you." the woman responded.
From inside his cell, later in the evening after another day in the prison compound, Jet lay flat on his bed, contemplating the possible events tomorrow would bring. He had to get out of here, there was no question about that. He needed to get back to Ruby, and would do anything to see her.
The cell door opened. Jet, who had had enough with people questioning him about the incident, sat up. He was shocked to see Mercury and Emerald, both of whom were armed. He was even more shocked to see Torchwick behind them. Before he could speak a word, Emerald swiftly covered his mouth, before plunging her twin blades into his stomach, Mercury following up with several brutal kicks to his ribs, breaking them.
Crimson blood flowed copiously from Jet, who was still silenced by Emerald. He struggled weakly, but eventually fell still, and Emerald withdrew her hand.
"Finally, after all that effort controlling and framing him, he's gone." Torchwick said.
Without warning, the still bleeding corpse suddenly jolted upright just as a voice from behind all three of them spoke quietly.
"Gotcha."
They turned to see a figure enshrouded in shadows, with glowing red eyes, accompanied by none other than General Ironwood! The shadow figure unleashed a solid wave of force that pushed all three of the now dumbstruck criminals backwards, and conjured purple glyphs which held them in place.
Ironwood took in the whole scene; in the small cell, Torchwick, along with two unknown criminals held in place by the wall, with brackish blood covering the floor and bed, along with Jet's cooling corpse on the bed. He sighed, as this would mean a lot of paperwork, but was grateful to Shade, who had tipped him off.
There had been one condition however, as Ironwood knew by the sounds of running footsteps around the corner. Team RWBY, Glynda Goodwitch and Professor Ozpin all came running from around the corner towards Jet's cell. Ironwood was dragged out by Shade before he swiped his hand at the key card activated door, and it shut.
Taking no notice of the shadowy figure beside him, the arrivals immediately closed in on Ironwood. Ozpin was the first to speak.
"General. What happened?" he asked. They had been alerted that something had happened to Jet, nothing more, as per Shade's instruction.
"Jet is… dead." Ironwood said slowly. Ruby immediately shrieked in grief, although the shadow beside him merely chuckled. Ironwood gave Shade a confused look, before continuing. "His sacrifice allowed us to apprehend the real criminals, whom he lured into his cell before my tipoff…" he gestured at the shadow person "…was able to restrain them."
At this, all present looked Shade over. He was only a silhouette of a person, with red eyes.
"Who are you?" Weiss asked him. He responded at first with a small chuckle again, and Ruby thought the voice sounded familiar. She hardly dared believe it though.
"Jet?" she asked him.
The shadow figure lifted an arm, and Jet's corpse appeared beside him, now no longer bleeding. He knelt near the corpse even as tears appeared in both Ruby's and Yang's eyes. He placed a palm on its chest, and the corpse decomposed into dark mist, which was absorbed by the figure. After he was finished, he rose, and began to spin on the spot, the darkness around him slowly fading.
"You're wrong about one thing, Ironwood." he said as he spun faster and faster until he was a blur. The shadow began to fly off him in strings, reminiscent of bandages flying off a mummy. He slowed down, and when he finally stopped, all of the shadows were gone, and Ruby's heart leapt as Jet took a bow. "I'm not dead!"
This was too much for Ruby, who pulled him into a crushing embrace, with Yang swiftly following, knocking the trio down. Weiss had a satisfied smile on her face, while Blake's was suddenly full of understanding.
Ironwood and Glynda were both immeasurably confused by this, which Ozpin could plainly see. As Jet extricated himself from his lover and friend, Ironwood addressed him.
"Jet? How?" Ironwood asked, shocked. "You were dead!"
"Not quite." Jet said, rising and shaking both Rub and Yang off. "The 'Jet' you found was a clone of me, courtesy of a certain someone's semblance, whom I will not name. How else do you think Shade knew so much about me?"
"So all that time…"
"Yes, it was me." Jet said with a smile. "And the best part is, now that we can convict those three with the evidence we've gathered of framing me with all crimes I committed, it clears me of all charges according to the law here, regardless of the height of those charges."
It was true. Ozpin had to hand it to Jet, in one fell swoop he'd tricked both the law and the ones really responsible for his crimes, all the while getting away for free. Now he watched as Jet turned to the sobbing girl around his waist.
"I'll be right back." Jet said, before he vanished from the spot with Ruby.
Within the time-stop, Jet gently carried a tearful Ruby through the greyscale world. She was still clutching at his chest, and he marvelled at how easy she was to carry. There were a lot of new things he'd be discovering.
Ignoring the girl on his back, Jet felt the familiar purple light on his back which could only mean one thing.
Barely a minute later was he standing on the green grass of a place he knew very well. He sighed happily as he laid Ruby down on the summit of Sunset Hill, which admittedly didn't sound nearly as impressive as it first sounded.
Ruby for the most part had cried her eyes out, and as Jet laid down next to her, she put her arms around him. The gentle grass, the setting sun… this was Sunset Hill at its finest. Ruby sniffed as Jet rolled over to face her, leaning on his right arm.
"That last week without seeing you," Jet said softly, "was, hands-down, the worst week of my life."
"Mine too." Ruby said, glaring at Jet.
"I suppose you want me to say I'm sorry." Jet muttered. "But I'm going to say something first. I'm going to tell you why I did it."
At Ruby's silence, Jet continued.
"At the time, I was going to fight with the rest of you. I realised something. If I fought, I'd bring great danger upon you all. If I lost you..." he took a deep breath. "So I did the one thing I could to protect you. I gave myself in. I did it to protect you."
He stopped as he heard a low groan from Ruby. Wait. Was she growling?
"Jet." Ruby angrily spoke. "The last time someone this close to me tried to protect me like this, it resulted in the greatest tragedy in my life. Don't you dare make yourself the second."
Rather than recoil, Jet knew she couldn't stay angry at him, even if she herself didn't know it yet. He reached over and pulled Ruby into his embrace, feeling the familiar soft touch, the scent of roses. Tears reached his eyes as his emotions suddenly broke lose, and he shook as he started to cry. He felt Ruby's surprise at this sudden outburst of emotion.
"Ruby, you're the only one that I love this way. I've missed your company so much, and I don't want to let go. You're the only one who sees past my shadowy exterior. You…" he took a shuddering pause, before continuing, "are a part of my heart now. If you die, I would -, I would –" he hiccupped, but was stopped from further talking by Ruby gently burying his head in her chest, ignoring the course spikes of his hair.
"Jet." Ruby spoke tearfully from somewhere above his head. "It's alright. You're out of there now, and we're back together."
She put her own head nearer to Jet's before whispering in his ear what she'd wanted to say since the floodgates had been opened, hugging him as her own tears came forth.
"I'm not going anywhere."
After what felt like ages to Ruby, she and Jet finally calmed down. He still shook where he lay, having released many days' worth of pent-up emotion in one go. He gave Ruby one final kiss, to which she happily obliged, before standing up with her.
She realised that she'd crossed an invisible barrier. From what she'd gathered, he was very much like Blake in keeping to himself, except he was more social than her teammate, but she was one of the only people that he'd opened up to like this. It spoke miles for how much he trusted her, and Ruby realised the privilege of being in this position.
Before she could think any further, a familiar motorcycle was coming up behind them. Turning, she saw Yang speeding up the hill towards them, with Blake riding on the back, while Weiss used her glyphs to speed towards them.
As the brawler dismounted, Ruby knew by the smile on her face that she came with good news. She only had to wink for Ruby to catch the vibe.
"Am I –" Jet began to ask, worriedly, but Weiss cut him off with a graceful sweep of her hand.
"You're free. Welcome back, Jet." Yang grinned, as she and Jet bumped knuckles. Jet was about to say something else, but was distracted when Ruby literally leapt into his arms. She was ecstatic, and Jet looked happier than he had ever been before, even when he was with Ruby.
Yang was cracking up laughing at this new development, while Blake covered a small smile, and Weiss huffed, before leading the way back to Beacon. She didn't get far before Jet unfurled his wings from under his jacket, and took off, Ruby still in his arms, yelling "See ya back at Beacon!"
Jet hooked Ruby by the chest using his arms, and the two begun to soar across Vale, Ruby amazed by the sight of Vale at night and from above. Despite it being cold where they were, she felt that warmth that she'd missed for so long coming from Jet, and that sealed the deal in her mind. Jet was truly back. There was no question now. Smiling the widest smile she had done in a long time, she straightened her back and enjoyed the flight, Jet gently tilting his wings every once in a while.
He flew smoothly through the clouds, not performing the ridiculous acrobatics he sometimes did, just letting Ruby enjoy the cruise. She had to admit, up here in the sky, she was practically helpless, but she trusted Jet with all her heart, and let her worries drop down to the ground.
Before long, they were circling the park that held Sunset Hill again. Ruby thought that they were going to land on the hill, so she was surprised when he flew near a lake and dropped her! Her stomach dropping twice as fast, she crashed into the water with a tremendous splash and a yelp. She looked up irately at Jet who had landed on a nearby bank, and who was cracking up laughing.
"Sorry Ruby!" he said, falling on his back and still laughing. "I couldn't resist the opportunity!"
Ruby splashed him as she clambered out of the lake.
"Jerk." she growled, pinning him to the ground. Jet struggled to get her off, but ceased when Ruby kissed him. Instead, his wings extended and pulled her in closer, while Ruby let go of his arms. They broke apart, but remained embraced. Both said the words that had been playing in their minds.
"I've missed you so much!" both said in unison. Neither thinking it strange, they simply resumed their kiss, that single action purging themselves of all the negativity being built up in the time they had spent apart.
As they did, Yang smiled at the pair. Blake and Weiss were already back at the dorm, but she'd stayed to watch from afar. She could barely contain her own laughter at Ruby's dunking, and now was watching the pair with a look of pure adoration. She knew she'd been right in telling Ruby.
Jet was the one for her.