Hello, this is just a one-shot I'm writing over spring break. Hope you all enjoy.
Jaune had finished rummaging through the burnt out ruins of some mall shop. He had found nothing but empty shelves and smashed displays. He always had the hope that in one of these old shops he would find some piece of the old world. Some comfort item that would have reminded him of the stories his parents told him about how the world once was.
So with a sigh and a shrug he walked out, not much care in his path as these streets had been empty long before he came here. He passed by rusted up APCs and wrecked cars, occasionally giving them a tap with his crowbar to alleviate some of his boredom.
The sound of a lamp post crashing down stopped him in his tracks. He was quick to hide behind one of the less damaged cars and made himself smaller. The more logical part if his mind was telling him that it was natural for a lamp post to fall down on it's own due to exposure. Yet the voice in the back of his head that had been beaten into him by his grandfather, the one that's kept him alive for so long on his own, was telling him that he had to be careful.
He let stayed quiet for a full minute before peaking out. Far up the street a lamp post had indeed fallen due to exposure, rust and weight having eaten into its core, but there was another issue. A girl, around his age by the looks of it, was just parallel to the lamp post with a machete in hand.
She seemed to be as on edge as he was from the lamp post collapsing. The Jaune took a cautious step forward, keeping his body as close to the car as he could. The creak of metal bending stopped him as the girl seemed to wave her hand and tear the broken lamp post out of the ground.
He had never seen someone outside of his family use their semblance before, it was almost beautiful seeing the way the metal was crushed and warped by her artful hands. He hadn't even noticed the 'Woah' that had left his lips before the girl screamed and the lamp post was sent into the wall.
The girl had fled as fast as she could, not that Jaune would follow her. All that this told him was that; A:He was not alone here and B:She had a powerful aura and semblance that far exceeded his own. All he could hope was that she was not hostile, and that they did not have any nasty encounters.
Pyrrha was terrified for her life. She had thought she would be alone in this burnt out town. She had not had any contact with anyone in over a year, after she had to bury her parents, and she liked it that way. She has spent most of her life wandering through the destroyed world. From the Vale Ruins too the Warzones of Vacuo, from the Atlasien Megacities too Minstrals' Wastes. The only places she had yet to explore were what had happened to Menagerie and the far south.
But now she was struck here, he leg was damaged in a fall while she had been searching the burnt out ruins of this cities' shopping district. She couldn't afford to spend time recovering due to the presence of the other. She didn't get a visual of him but she could tell he was watching her while she was practicing her semblance.
So now she hobbled to her camp site, trying to hold back tears as the pain in her leg just grew worse. She should not have run he moment she heard him, but what could she do in the face of the unknown ?
Well, best she get ready for the night and hope he didn't follow her.
He would not see the girl again until a couple days later. This time she was searching an abandoned theater and now had a brace on her leg. He wasn't sure how she had gotten such a wound but it was best he didn't try to push things further.
Snow fall was just three months away after all and it would be best that he gathers enough supplies. Better that he has enough supplies to survive the winter.
He does hope she will make it though.
So he did something that his grandfather would consider stupid, he wrote a note to her. There wasn't anything threatening on it and he just left it near the entrance the girl came in through.
Hopefully she isn't violent.
Pyrrha just stared down at the letter. It was just confirmation that she was not alone. Yet the nature of the note itself wasn't too bad. All that was on it was a Hello and a question about possibly trading resources. She didn't have much to trade in the first place anyway but she might just accept it.
But if he tries anything she'll teach him a lesson.
She accepted, she actually came to the spot he had purposed to trade. She had a gym bag on her back and she was using metal pipe as a walking stick. He himself had his own bag of supplies to trade with her.
Now the two of them stood face too face, an awkward silence seemed to radiate from them. Neither would be willing to speak the first words so the tension continued to build.
So Jaune did something drastic... He spoke.
"Hi, my name is Jaune, I've got some supplies for trade" he knew it was stupid but what else could he do ? The girl seemed to calm a bit and spoke up herself. "I'm Pyrrha, do you have any canned meat ?" said Pyrrha.
Jaune smiled as he pulled out his bag and the two began to barter. He managed to heckle an unused razor, two packs of jerky, and some rope for some canned meat and three bars of soap.
"Pleasure doing business, hope we can meet some time again" was his words before he left the spot. He considered today to be a success as he both talked to someone and got some supplies out of it.
The boy, Jaune, was quite nice. he hadn't been pushy or rude like some of the other people she had run into out in the wastes. His kindness was genuine too, major points to him.
She savored the taste of something that wasn't extremely salty as she ate the canned meat he had traded to her (after cooking it of course).
Maybe... Just maybe they could work together.
Who knows.
They would meet up once a week to do trade. It was at the third week that Jaune had asked about her plan for the snow fall. When he had asked her, he didn't even realize she didn't have one. She had just expected to get out of here before the snow fall happened but her leg seemed to be getting worse.
"What happened to it ?" he had asked in concern. "I just fell, nothing to serious" was her reply. Jaune wasn't convinced by this as he glanced down at her leg.
Despite being in a brace it seemed to be getting redder by the day. It didn't seem broken but if she doesn't recover she might be at risk of exposure. He didn't want to think about being alone again, brothers know he was losing his mind without anyone to talk too.
So he mad an offer that she was definitely shocked by. He offered to let her stay at his place.
She seemed a bit hesitant, understandable of course as this world is not a very kind place, before she looked down at her leg.
She agreed.
He stays in a cabin, just a little away from the burnt out city. Pyrrha had at first been hesitant to accept his offer to stay at his place, she didn't know him fully. But now he had been kind enough to help her haul all her remaining supplies to his cabin and let her stay.
The cabin itself was probably an old ranger station used for recreation. Now it had been fixed up and repurposed as a permanent home for Jaune. Its inside having been decorated with his possessions and sentimental items.
The most eye catching was the picture of a younger Jaune standing with seven girls (some younger, some older) with an old amusement park ride in the background. It was obvious that this was a picture of his family.
The main reason she had put so much attention to detail is that she was becoming less and less capable of movement with her injured leg. Jaune had asked, pleaded really, that she not stress the leg and let him get something to help her. So now she spent most of her day in the cabin either reading through the collection of books he had, or just day dreaming.
Had she not been injured she would have already been off towards Vacuo to avoid the snow fall.
Now all she could do was wait to see just Jaune could get her.
Pyrrha was crushing his shoulder. Her hand curled into him as he pet his aura surge into her injured leg. This was his back up plan originally but he couldn't find any of the proper equipment in this destroyed city. So he used his semblance and her brace to fix her leg.
Of course he hadn't expected it to be this painful. Aura doesn't normally hurt when its healing but the condition of her leg was getting worse so it.
He let the glow of his aura dissipate as the last of her injured leg was healed.
She stopped crushing his shoulder after that and just let pained tears roll down her face. Jaune looked her in the eyes, hoping she wouldn't hate him for this. Then she hugged him, pulling him into a deep embrace and hurting his shoulder worse. Jaune just returned the hug as the two held each other close.
She had gotten more active after her leg was fixed. Walking around the cabin as snow began to pelt the ground. She wasn't back to her peak self yet, but it was nice that she was free to move again.
She didn't have enough time to leave for Vacuo so she would be staying with Jaune for the snow fall. So he made sure to supply her with a couple sets of winter clothes to help her through it all.
For now she would watch as Jaune shoveled all the snow on the ground into a sort of wall around the cabin's yard. She wasn't sure if it was for defense or just to keep the snow out, all she could tell was that it was grueling and tedious.
She just hoped he had a plan about their bed situation.
Admittedly he hadn't thought of everything for Pyrrha staying with him. He only had a single bed which had a bit of a hassle to deal with when there were two people. He was not going to be cruel and have Pyrrha sleep on the floor. Pyrrha herself was quite adamant that he shouldn't have to sleep on the floor either.
So here they were, both so close to each other that they could feel everything. Jaune was trying to not push himself into Pyrrha. While he was sure she was trying to not feel down below.
Though he wouldn't admit it, it was one the most comfortable sleeps he had had in a long time.
Jaune's plan had turned out to be quite pleasant. The two of them keeping each other warm during the cold nights that came with the snow fall. There wasn't much they could actually do other than keep themselves warm during these times. Most animals had either migrated away or hibernated so all they could really eat was their stockpile of food.
The snow wall was also doing a great job as it grew higher and higher, keeping any sort of grimm that may still be active in the forest. Now admittedly she thought the grimm were just an old world myth, but Jaune said that they were just as harmed by the collapse as the rest of us. Apparently they fed off of negative emotions and with their source of food dying off from plague, they began to starve.
She thought it strange that she didn't see any near the Atlasien Megacities before Jaune had explained that they still had the fire power to exterminate the grimm that got close to their 'paradise'. He then explained that it's common practice to exterminate any grimm that is encountered due to the fact that they still represent a source of danger. That danger being that only the older grimm are still around.
Well, tomorrow Jaune's going to be leading her through the woods to set some traps. She wasn't sure if the traps were to catch animals or to take care of any grimm which may be in the forest.
The forest during snow fall was a calm and quiet environment. The only sound that would escape was the crunching of snow underneath their boots as Jaune led Pyrrha through the forest path. Jaune had an axe in hand while Pyrrha was carrying a rifle from the cabin. They would idly chat as they walked through the forest to his first trap.
They ended up snagging a rabbit in the trap. Though they couldn't get much else before the snow started falling again. They quickened their pace before the snow grew to overwhelming.
Then they heard it, the growling of something unnatural. An Ursa Major had been making way through the forest when it caught sight of the pair and made itself known. It barreled towards Jaune even as Pyrrha took aim with the rifle.
The first shot broke out as Jaune took a stance and prepared to cut into the grimm. The bullet ended up harmlessly bouncing off its armor but the axe being boosted by aura had hit home. Its front leg was severed with a strong hit as Pyrrha took another shot.
This one hit true as the Ursa's left eye was shot out. Jaune followed up with his next attack by driving the axe into the grimm's skull. It howled in pain before Pyrrha shot it a third time.
With that last shot the grimm stopped thrashing. Jaune took precaution before swinging the axe down onto its neck, decapitating it. The two stared as the grimm began evaporating before the held one another in an embrace.
That was Pyrrha's first encounter with a grimm and she handled it well.
From their time together, something had sprouted. Nothing bad to say, something beautiful to be precise. They had grown attached and let that consummate into a merging of bodies.
They had boned, fucked, whatever lingo of choice could he used to describe it.
Pyrrha had been the one to instigate it during one of the worse snow storms. It had started like a normal night as Jaune put on his night layers when he saw Pyrrha had draped herself with one of their blankets. He had been confused at first before she beckoned him closer.
He had been pulled in hook, line, and sinker.
Their souls became one that night, and let their bodies do the rest.
When they had woken up, still connected even, they had been entangled on the floor.
From this their relationship grew into a proper union. Both willing and happy with finally being with someone. Neither had to suffer the effects of loneliness anymore, they had one another.
Soon their actions led to a third being joining them.
They continued to improve the cabin, always using any good quality wood or decent bit of metal they could get their hands on to do so. They had a kid coming in after all, couldn't afford to take any risks to their safety.
Some of the Cabin's yard had been turned into a small time farm to make them less reliant on the ruined city. They had set up a rain catcher just at the edge of it. The many trees and bits of metal from the area had been turned into a small permanent wall around the main yard.
Slowly but surely they had turned their cabin into a small fort to raise their kid.
From many years onwards they would raise not just one child, but many. The cabin fort slowly being expanded outwards to accommodate the larger family. The farm was grown out, the walls uprooted and moved outwards.
By the time Jaune and Pyrrha had gotten old they had about twenty-three children. Some chose to stay behind and care for their parents. Many others chose to wander around the wastes either on their own or with others. They made sure that each kid had their aura unlocked from a young age and trained to the point that their semblance was awakened- they aren't foolish parents after all.
Of course with the world the way it is, not all returned, but many did with families of their own. And from this the cabin fort grew into a small settlement- then a large settlement as people outside of their family began migrating there.
In the end a pair of survivors, ones who could have easily just left each other alone and parted ways, joined together. From this union came a family, and from this family came other survivors.
No one had ever actually agreed on what the settlement would be called so they just named it after the official name of the founding family.
The Town of Arkos.
Hope you enjoyed this sweet little story, felt good to make something that was romance rather than non-stop fights. Goodbye, see you all later.