Sorry on the lack of posting as of late. Just wanted to get back on track and I figured, "Hey, why not try and do some more of those 9DoL prompts?" Let me know what ya'll think!

GodRealm

Bold – Speaker

Italicized – Inner Thoughts

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Weapons Prompt

Steel

"I… I can't." Jaune spoke with unease.

"It's fine, Jaune." Ruby huffed, insisting further. "Seriously."

She held the scrap of steel in her hand, offering it to the young blonde as they stood under the hot sun, or rather suns. They'd been there for a while now, exploring the uncharted terrain after meeting up with Weiss, Yang, and Blake. Unfortunately, they hadn't been able to find anyone else since they arrived no matter how much reconnoitering they'd done.

Luckily, one by one they had found each other, seemingly having landed in the same vicinity after their descent from the platforms in roadway between Atlas and Vacuo—After their fight with Cinder and Neo—After Penny.

That conversation… was entirely uncomfortable as the blonde recalled.

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He was the first that Ruby had found in the jungles close to the beach she had landed on, similarly to where they were now. She found him against a tree, clutching his legs towards his chest, quietly sobbing much like a child did when they lost their mother in a large crowd. She remembered seeing his broken blade before him, stained with a dried blood. Human blood.

He didn't notice her approach, too distraught in his own thoughts, she assumed. When she attempted to console him, his sobs turned to wails as he couldn't bring himself to look at her. She didn't understand why. Why would he avoid her after they had found one another and survived such a fall?

When she heard the answer to that question some time later, once he had regained some form of composure, she understood it clearly. She felt two emotions at that time. One was an uncharacteristically deep-seated rage. She was angry with everything. Cinder, Salem, Ironwood, Ozpin, Neo, J—

Jaune.

Her anger had led her to even her best friend. Her first friend. No one escaped her rage in this instance. Even as he apologized profusely, unable to come to terms with his inability to do much else than grant Penny a swift death and the ability to choose the next maiden, she wouldn't have it.

She had lost Penny again. It was almost like a cruel joke. The girl who wanted nothing more than to be just that, a girl was slain by Ruby's best friend, the man who swore to protect her, except no one was laughing.

The other emotion? Guilt.

It was guilt she felt at her own actions. From her plan to evacuate the civilians properly, to her inability to lead her team when they could have worked more cohesively with the short time that they had, and lastly, at being unable to be anything more than an invalid in her most recent fight against Cinder and Neo. She wasn't there to protect Penny, her teammates, or Jaune from making the choice he was all but forced to make.

Jaune observed her through bloodshot eyes as she staggered away silently, leaving him where he was initially perched against the tree trunk as he begged for forgiveness, but she didn't reply. She just kept walking as if she had never found him at all.

"I'm sorry." He muttered endlessly. "I'm so, so sorry."

She found herself hiking without destination through the forest; unable to think… feel… care. Her tears just continued to streak down her face, muddying her vision. She hadn't felt a grief like this since Beacon. It was too much… everything was just too much for her. Aside from the rest of her team, was anyone else still alive? Did they think they were dead? What happened after—

So many questions as she dropped to her knees in exhaustion and despair. She felt a tightening in her chest as she remained there, wallowing. Her mind raced with different scenarios of what she could have done different. Maybe if she had just—

It didn't matter. None of it did. She gritted her teeth in her mouth before throwing her head back in frustration and letting out a loud roar of anguish. The deafening sound startled the wildlife from their homes as she repeated the screech-like sound as many times as she needed—enough to become lightheaded and winded.

She huffed in place, attempting to catch her breath; fatigue taking over slowly. She heard what she assumed to be the bushes rustling behind her. As she was, she was an open target for any kind of predatory animals that lived there. No weapon, no energy. She relented to who or whatever it may be as she remained still as ever, tears still streaking down her face as ominous footsteps approached.

Much to Ruby's surprise, no attack ever came. Instead, she felt the felt warm embrace of the blonde she left behind not long ago. She recognized his physique as he wrapped his long arms around her. He said nothing as they lingered there together. She attempted several times to mouth any kind of comment, but she never found what she wanted to say.

"We need to move, Ruby." Jaune finally spoke. "We need shelter."

He relaxed his hold, standing once more with her following as well. He began walking steadily in a direction after examining his surroundings. After a few steps, he checked behind him to see Ruby still standing in place. "Ruby," He all but pleaded. "I know you're angry with me."

Ruby bit her lip as she stared downward. She wasn't sure what she felt towards him right now. The stir of emotions was replaced by hunger and the need for sleep.

"We need to keep moving, though. We need to find the others and we need to find shelter." Jaune finished.

Ruby took a deep breath, slowly looking up towards the blonde who also shared a serious face before nodding. "Yeah, you're right."

Jaune's shoulders relaxed faintly at the younger girl's acknowledgment of his words. The fact that she gave him any kind of response gave him a sense of relief. He reserved himself from smiling, not wishing to press his luck. He instead turned around once more and began his trek once more, hearing the faint footsteps of Ruby following behind.

As she followed the blonde, she kept her eyes pressed onto him. Her heart ached at her initial treatment of the young man when she found him weeping under the tree. Perhaps she should have taken some time and analyzed things more before leaving him behind. That wasn't something she would normally do. That wasn't her. Then again, nothing about this whole ordeal was exactly "normal" per say.

They were in a land they'd never been to after nothing short of a failure. There was nothing about this situation was positive except that they had found each other.

Ruby stopped for a moment as that thought lingered at the forefront of her mind. She gazed at him as he cleared a thicket of branches with his broken sword to clear them a path. After he was forced to make a decision that would have driven others to be unable to carry on for the sake of the world, here he was making sure she was being taken care of.

Meanwhile, she seemingly gave up.

The memory of her talk with him at Beacon came to her during this time. It was when she reminded him that he couldn't fail, because he was a leader now, much like her. Ruby never put much stock in herself when it came to advice, but he reminded her time and time again about how that talk helped him. It helped him become the glue of Team JNPR before and after Beacon fell.

Much like what had happened in Atlas. She wondered now what became of Weiss's home—

Weiss.

Ruby recalled how Jaune stated she had fallen as well. This meant her entire team was here somewhere, or at least she hoped. Who's to say because they landed here somehow that they were also as lucky, or unlucky. Regardless, she needed to at least try and find them. She was still the leader of Team RWBY, and she needed to act like it, much like Jaune was even without his team.

"Ruby," He called to her, causing her to break away from her introspect. "this might be the spot for the night."

they looked to ahead to where Jaune motioned to and noticed a cave. It wasn't much, but it was probably their best option when it came to shelter as they hadn't found any kind of settlement up until now. Ruby gazed upwards and noticed that the cave was part of a much larger infrastructure, or rather, a tree. A very large tree.

"First things first, we need to find food." Jaune commented.

As if on cue, Ruby listened to the grumble of her stomach as she covered it in an attempt to reduce the noise. Her face flustered as Jaune coughed into his hand, pretending not to have heard it.

"R-right." He added. "I'll get to searching."

He strolled past Ruby before he felt her tug on his sleeve, causing him to look at back at her.

"Let's stay together." She spoke with a weak smile. "No more splitting up."

The taller boy blinked for a moment before offering a smile of his own followed by a nod.

The rest of the night was rather uneventful after dinner. The two remained in the cave, huddled by the fire Ruby had put together and enjoyed the company of the other. During a period of uncertainties, it was good to have another voice, even if it was just to talk. Both avoided the subject of Penny, still uncomfortable with the idea of where the other stood on the subject. Eventually they would have to discuss it once more, but for now, they were just two young adults, sharing a makeshift blanket and a fire.

As the days passed, Team RWBY and Jaune would eventually re-connect, one by one, each returning member bringing further hope to the idea of making it home. They had no idea how or why they'd arrived here, but they were alive and they were together, so they weren't about to make waste of this opportunity. Somehow, or some way, they would return.

First thing was first, Ruby needed to find her beloved Crescent Rose.

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Ruby clinched her weapon in her hand, examining where the piece of steel that was damaged from the fall once was. It was going to need a repair, much like Jaune's sword, but at least she had found it, and now their team was complete.

"Thank you, Ruby." Jaune stated as he held onto the steel.

She looked over to him and smiled at him, now a full smile unlike the weak ones she could muster days earlier. "Well, we can't have you using a sword with no blade, right?" She walked beside him as the waves crashed on the beach, compacting her large scythe and storing it properly. "Plus, this just means I can give Crescent Rose some sort of upgrade when I find a weapons shop!"

Jaune sighed loudly as he smirked at the girl. "Of course there was another agenda to this."

The girl pouted and narrowed her eyes at him after he muttered the comment. "What?!" She exclaimed defensively, pushing a finger into his cheek. "Don't complain about receiving a gift!"

"Okay! Okay! But seriously, thank you. The sooner I can repair this, the better." Jaune stated as he held the broken half of his sword before them both.

Ruby looked over at him, his face also showing a genuine smile much like hers. It was nice that they could finally show any kind of happiness once more as compared to when they first met up in this strange land. Each passing day brought both hope and worry to everyone there, but a positive outlook and family helped during those ambiguous times.

Her silver eyes traveled to his broken blade, no longer dressed in the blood of their comrade. The hurt from hearing that story may never leave her, but over time and with the strength of those around her, she would repair what was broken, much like Jaune's sword. If he was by her side, there was hope.

Yes, they would forge a new sword, a new path, and a new destiny together.

THE END.

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Thanks for reading!

GodRealm