I Saw you

Jaune shifted from one leg to the other, leaning up against a tree over the small cliff they were camped in front of as he watched the night sky begin to take over. His fingers tapped at it's bark, his boots dragging through the dirt over and over again in place. His vision would fall from the rays of light dancing off the Mistral treeline again and again as his mind wandered. However, every time he changed the subject he was thinking about, everything always ended up right back where he had started.

It had become more and more of a challenge to keep his mind off the subject the farther and farther from civilization they had found themselves. Less people to talk to, less jobs to do, less ways to kill time and keep himself occupied.

"Jaune," he heard her voice ring out in his head again before he shook the thought away for the millionth time that day. Any time they walked along in silence, sometimes even when his friends were standing right in front of him trying to get him engaged into a conversation he still couldn't shake her from his mind. Every second he ached to see her again. To wake up and find her right where he had left her. He knew of course this would never happen, but every night in his dreams he saw it again and again.

One second she was there and the next, gone with out a trace. Sometimes he felt he may have even imagined her existence all together. A fantasy his mind had come up with just to distract him of how badly things had been going at school. But then he would scroll through his messages and there it was, the recording he held so dear. The only video he had had the good sense to save on his scroll of the girl who had captured him completely.

As he pressed play on the video for the hundredth time that week her voice rang out from the device as it always did, and so too did his breath catch in the back of his throat. "Alright Jaune, just like we practiced," he heard her say, almost mouthing the words along with her before tuning out the rest of the world as he listened in silence.

"Jaune?" He heard from behind him this time, becoming startled and nearly dropping his scroll to the ground, fumbling around with it to catch and stop the video before turning to find Ruby walking toward him slowly. Just from the look on her face he could tell she had heard the video, but that wasn't going to stop him from pretending it was nothing.

"Duhhh-uuhhh-hah whats up Ruby?" He asked as casually as he could, shoving his scroll down into his pant's pocket.

"I just uh..." she began softly as she inched her way toward her friend, looking down to the ground, not wanting to seem like she was here to interrogate him. "Wanted to...know if you're doing okay?"

"What? What do you mean," he faked a laugh, "I'm...doin great," he said shakily as he gave the small girl a very unconvincing smile and a thumbs up. "Always am."

"Jaune I...look I saw you the other night okay?"

He froze, racking his brain for an explanation. "Sss-saw me huh? Saw me doing what...exactly?"

"Jaune..." Ruby sighed before looking up into his eyes. "What have we told you about trying to be someone you're not...stop hiding it and talk to me...You're not the only person she left behind in this world you know..." She let out wearily, looking back to the ground and kicking the dirt.

Jaune's smile ran away form his face before letting out a long and hard sigh, his shoulders sinking several inches as he turned around and walked to the edge of the small cliff and sat down on it, patting the ground beside him, inviting Ruby to come sit with him. "Sorry..." he let out softly.

"It's..okay," she sighs as she walks to his side and sits down, both their legs dangling over the camp. "You don't have to hold this in...you're not alone..."

"I know that I just...If I had been stronger I could've...done...something!" He waves his arms up in front of him, as if half yelling his last words toward the sky. "Anything!"

"Look I feel the same way okay...I watched her die...If I hadn't landed on tat rooftop and just frozen then I could've...I don't know...helped...maybe."

"Oh please you did much more than I did...more than I ever could," he let out as he began to draw his finger through the dirt. "I was so stupefied that she just shoved me in a locker and shot me away..."

"Stupefied...what actually happened when she said goodbye to you?"

Jaune was silent for a long time as the events played over and over in his head. He felt a burning on his lips, lifting his hand up to his mouth and tracing his lips with the tip of his finger.

"Jaune?"

"She...she kissed me and then...shoved me into that locker," he finally said, taking Ruby very much by surprise. "She told me she loved me and just...went off alone to fight..."

"Jaune I..." Ruby began before realizing that she had no idea what she even wanted to say. She couldn't believe that after almost an entire school year one of them had finally plucked up the courage to make a move on the other only for fate to rip them apart immediately afterward. "I'm sorry I didn't mean to-"

"It's fine Ruby," he shakes his head before looking back down to his hands. "I just...had no idea she felt that strongly about me..."

"...Really?"

"Yes really," He scoffed, "why is that so hard to believe," he sulks. "You said the same thing as Nora and Ren. Why is it so hard for you all to believe that I thought Pyrrha was too good for me?"

"Because she had a crush on you since the moment she met you Jaune. Somehow you were the only one who never noticed..."

"But why?! Why me? There is LITERALLY not a single thing special about me!" The pair went silent for a long time before Jaune finally speak again. "A girl like her had no business settling for a guy like me..."

"Look...Jaune I don't...think that she looked at it that way...She was really happy that you just treated her like anyone else. You made her laugh," Ruby smiled up to her friend, grabbing Jaune's attention and making him look down into her innocent smile. "Sometimes that all a girl really needs is a guy to make her laugh. To take our minds off of how messy life can be for just a minute.

"That's just a way of saying that I'm easy to laugh at," he said as he nudged a rock off the cliff and rested his cheek into his free hand.

"No Jaune...it's not...really it isn't like that I promise," Ruby says quietly as she looks out over the cliff to their small capsite. "Pyrrha was famous...she loved that you treated her like normal person. You made her feel normal...and while most women want to be made to feel special, someone who and been a star all her life probably thought it was incredible to be treated just like everyone else..."

"That's what you all say but none of you have realized the simple fact..." he sighed out before looking back down to Ruby and picking up where he had trailed off. "If I had known that she loved me then I would have treated her special from the beginning and I would have been just like everyone else..."

Ruby falls silent for several moments as she too looks down into the dirt and begins fidgeting, drawing doodles in the dirt. "Ya I...guess that true..."

"I never even considered that she could have serious feelings for someone like me...I spent months chasing a girl that wanted nothing to do with me only to wake up one day and hear that you were dating her instead...the entire time I somehow managed to be so oblivious that I couldn't see the girl sleeping in the same room as me every night thought of me as more than a friend...On our first day of school Weiss said something to me that...I didn't think had stuck with me but maybe it actually did...subconsciously..."

"Ya," Ruby grumbles out as she grits her teeth at the mention of the name. "She has that affect on people..."

Jaune, noticing the change in her tone immediately looks back to her and puts an arm around her shoulder, "Oh gosh sorry!" he begins too quickly before taking a deep breath and taking more softly. "I didn't mean to bring her up like that I'm just...so backwards right now..."

"It's okay...I get it."

"You...you really changed her a lot you know?"

"Hah...ya not really...apparently shes just as cold as when we met..."

"I guess it's possible she was just acting nicer and nicer the longer you dated but...to be sure she was only being nicer to you and not really everyone else...Sorry for bringing it up we can change the subject..."

"Please do...I'm the one trying to make you feel better," she smirks before wiping a forming tear from her eye.

"Hah," he chuckles to before their eyes meet and they both begin to laugh uncontrollably for several moments before looking back out to the dark horizon. "Here you are...still helping people who have been through less than you have...Like you said, I know I'm not the only one who lost Pyrrha...but you lost Penny too...and Yang and...so many others..."

"Well," she breaths out sharply, "Kinda...getting used to it."

"Hey," he retorts, taking her hand and looking back into her eyes. "Don't ever talk like that..You should never act like you're used to losing people. Besides, when we get home Yang will still be there, hopefully some time alone will clear her head huh?"

"Ya maybe...Some part of me hopes that some part of Penny is still alive...maybe a back up of her since she wasn't human but...I don't know..."

"And before you assume the worst, I'm sure Mydnight is fine okay?"

Ruby smiles hopefully, "I think he'll be okay...I worry of course but...I don't I kinda...Feel like he's alright...I can't really explain it you know?"

"Sibling intuition," Jaune laughs. "I've had those feelings before. Besides there wasn't anything medically wrong with him right?"

"Right ya the doctor's said he was fine his system just seemed overwhelmed by something. I'm sure he's gotta be awake by now."

"I'm sure he is. He's a tough guy. And I'm sure as soon as he found out what we were doing he would've jumped into action too come after us just like Qrow did."

"I hope so-" she begins before she hears her uncle call out for them.

"Ruby! Come on down huh?" She heard Qrow yell up to them, bringing their focus down to the campfire they had lit, now glowing in the early evening. "Time I gave you all some answers..." he finishes before looking back away from them and sitting down in front of the fire.

"Alright!" She calls back before standing up and holding her hand out to Jaune. "Comee on, don't wanna keep him waiting now that he suddenly wants to let us know what's going on right?"

"Ya..." Jaune frowns as his mood sours, taking her hand and getting to his feet as they head back down the small hill and back to the campsite.

By the time they have arrived and taken a seat the Darkness has fully taken their campsite as the sun has completely gone down.

"Alright..." Qrow sighs before taking a deep breath, followed by a large gulp from his flask. Ruby swore sometimes that it was bottomless but of course she knew better. "So I imagine I know what you'd like to hear first," he begins as he nods in Jaune's direction.

"I'm sure you can," he lets out sternly, turning his focus fully to look upon the older huntsman.

"Right...Have...all of you heard the story of the four maidens? The fairy tale?"All of Qrow's younger counterparts nod their heads in confirmation before he begins again. "Good...Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter represent exactly what they do in the fairy tale...meaning of course that they are in fact real people."

"Really?" Ruby reacts, wide eyed.

"Really. That girl you saw," he again looks toward Jaune, "Was named Amber...She was the previous Fall Maiden. The Maidens are able to use magic without the use of dust or weapons. They have the power to actually manipulate different powers based on what season they belong to. However," he begins as he looks in Ruby's direction, "Cinder was able to take some of Amber's power and put her into a coma." With the mention of Cinder's name he sees his niece look down to the ground and ball her fists. "She wasn't able to take it all however before I showed up and drove her away. We actually had Amber under our protection for quite some time before all of this...Pyrrha was not our first choice to succeed her. Ambur, your brother's partner was a perfect candidate to receive her powers but team AMBR's accident happened only days before Ozpin was ready to attempt to transfer the power to her."

"How many people has he tried to force this on?!" Jaune speaks up, cutting Qrow off.

"He didn't force it on anybody. Ambur made her choice. She was more than willing to take the power. She and he team have been in on all of this since their first year at the school...Mydnight has known all of this since he started at Signal in fact..."

"He was that young? He's known all along?"

"Yeah...he was one of the youngest people Oz ever recruited actually. His fauness senses ensured that he would have a lasting usefulness to us, but none of us could have predicted the caliber of fighter he would become. Due to the nature of how difficult the secret can be to keep it became necessary very early on to bring his new teammates at Beacon into the fold. Anyway," he says before taking another long gulp from the flask. "These Maidens have been around for hundreds of years. Every time one dies the power is passed to another, however it can only be passed down to another female, and it must be someone who is in their last thoughts in this world."

"We thought that perhaps in Amber's unique situation that would be able to purposefully transfer her remaining power to another person. The machine she was in was keeping her alive, but only just. We had no way to effectively heal her. So the machine was designed to transfer her soul and powers into the next host, so that we could immediately know who the new host was. Only very trusted and highly talented women were considered, people who wouldn't run off with the power and make all our efforts be for nothing. We had to know that whoever was receiving the power would use it to help our cause, not hinder it."

"Of course we had no idea that the procedure would actually work. On top of that we didn't know that Amber would wake up in the middle of the transfer, which made the margin for error much wider, considering the process would kill her and we had no way of guaranteeing that she wouldn't simply die while thinking about a girl on the other side of the planet and sending her power across the world. For all these reasons Pyrrha, and Ambur before her were chosen. Not only were they already some of the strongest members of their class, and at the school entirely, but they had righteous hearts and wanted nothing more than to help people in any way that they could. Even after she was injured Ambur tried to convince Ozpin that she could still do he transfer but Oz wouldn't have it until she had made a full recovery, and by then he had set his eyes upon Pyrrha instead."

As Qrow finished he sees all his younger counterparts look into the fire for several moments, falling completely silent. He takes a long drink from his flask again before asking speaking up one more time.

"Really? No questions?"

_End of Chapter_