Chapter 4: A Destined Reunion
Ever since Salem was defeated, Jaune practically retired from huntsman work and decided to live with Oscar at his farm. Oscar was dealing with a new sense of grief when he discovered that his aunt had passed away while he was gone, and he was despondent since he never even said goodbye to her until Jaune decided to stay with him. The farm boy was happy that his friend was staying by his side throughout his grief, and he taught the former huntsman well with the sufficient experience he had before leaving for the fateful journey to Haven and beyond.
"Thank you so much for staying here with me," Oscar said to Jaune half a month after Ruby's funeral. "It really means a lot to me after what we've both been through."
"I would do anything for my friends," replied Jaune, but then his face fell as he looked at his sword. It was repaired and cleaned, but he didn't think so. "But I'm not proud of it. I never will be…"
Oscar recognized the shame in Jaune's face. It was the same face he had when he finally came back to Remnant and told them that he was the one who sacrificed Penny to give Winter her maiden powers. What made it worse, was that he had to tell him about Ren's own death.
"We've all done things we're not proud of, Jaune," he finally said, regaining his friend's attention. "What I said about us going through so much, I also meant about Ren's death."
"Tyrian was a deranged murderer, Oscar. None of you in Vacuo had seen it coming. Nora was quick to avenge Ren, anyway, and she survived the poison after taking down Tyrian. If you ever thought I blamed you for it, I didn't."
Oscar shook his head. "Maybe you should blame me. You were furious about the truth back in Argus and thought Pyrrha died in vain at that moment."
"And I was wrong to have lashed out at you, Oscar. I was angry at Ozpin, and just like Haven, I let out all my frustration and attacked you. It's another reason why I've been staying with you. I always felt like you deserved better than a simple apology. Pyrrha didn't die in vain in the end, but by the gods would she have been upset with how much I've hurt myself, you, and the others for not letting it go. And when I saw her statue…"
Jaune was about to start crying again at remembering those days when Oscar moved to hug him tight, his own body shaking in sorrow. While the two friends just stood there comforting each other, they heard a pair of voices.
"We hold nothing against either of you. Stop blaming yourselves for my death, and Pyrrha's. You can recover from your guilt and beat your inner demons when you're ready."
"I believe in the hope we'll meet again, Jaune. When we do, I will hold you in my loving arms, and reassure you that everything to come will be okay. Until our reunion, I will continue to watch over you like a guardian angel."
Jaune took in deeper breaths to calm himself down upon hearing his partner's reassuring voice. Oscar noticed and read it as a signal for him to control his own breathing. Only to lose control again as he heard one of his recently installed smoke alarms going off.
"Gah! The casserole!"
Jaune laughed as he followed the farm boy to attend to the burning casserole in the kitchen.
It was a fire more small and tame than the final one Jaune experienced…
He and Oscar went out to Mistral for new farming tools, only a fortnight after Yang's funeral. Suddenly, there was a siren alerting everyone around. A flock of phoenix nevermores, a burning subspecies of the feathered Grimm created by Salem's use of the staff, had breached the city's defenses, and began attacking by igniting the roofs of buildings and disintegrating everything in their path. Jaune felt a long lost instinct kick in.
"Oscar! Help evacuate the citizens," he said. "I know what I must do!"
"Right! Take care, Jaune!"
"… Goodbye…" Oscar didn't understand the true meaning behind Jaune's mutter as they split up, but Jaune knew that he was going to die fighting. He had only the shovel he bought and his shield, which he brought with him to Mistral in case of an emergency that would need him to shield Oscar. He refused to ever touch the sword he mounted on the wall again after the fight against Salem was over. When he found the phoenixes, he was quick to get their attention away from a cornered woman.
"Hey, chickens! Come get your dinner!" The nevermores engaged him in battle. They were the size of average beowolves compared to the size of those that Salem had created. This flock had a number of four, and one swooped down to try and claw at the Arc. He blocked the blow with his shield, focusing his aura and semblance on it to avoid damage, a technique he learned and used in case he had to face Cinder again to keep his sword intact. He then countered the attack with an aura boosted stab with the shovel at the nevermore's torso, the Grimm swiftly shriveling up in flames and disintegrating upon this critical hit.
The second and third ones got in front of and behind him and shot flaming talons at him, but Jaune dodged and they classically hit the opposing nevermores instead, taking them out. Then came the final one. By that time, the street became a blazing arena because of all the damage done before the fight began. The woman Jaune just saved had already ran away while the Grimm were distracted.
Instead of directly attacking Jaune, it began breathing fire onto the burning buildings, and all the smoke began to take affect on the former huntsman. He coughed and couldn't concentrate his aura, then the nevermore flew in for the kill, but Jaune collapsed his shield and pointed it and the shovel towards his incoming target. The shovel and sheath stabbed into the phoenix's mouth, and out the back of its head. The Grimm faded away, and Jaune tried to escape the flames, when one of the buildings around him began to crumble, and the burning debris landed on him before he could realize what was happening. His aura suddenly broke upon impact, and he was crushed from the chest down, face towards the ground.
The next thing Jaune knew was that paramedics, the fire brigade, and even Oscar had come to extinguish the fire and rescue him, but he could barely open his eyes. The burns and wounds from the debris coupled with the prior smoke he inhaled proved to be too much. He could just make out Oscar's voice, panicked and on the verge of tears.
"Jaune, don't leave me! Come back!
Jaune?! JAUNE!"
Then every sense faded, and he knew what that meant as he perished…
Wherever he was, Jaune found himself resting comfortably in the pitch black space his immovable eyelids showed him. There was no more pain, no more need to breathe, no more need to fight, and no more waiting to be reunited with the ones he lost before his final breath.
When he could finally open his eyes, he saw that the armor he always wore was gone and he was in an autumn colored forest, similar to the Forever Fall forest of Vale. The brown and scarlet leaves of the trees struck a very deep meaning to Jaune. They were a symbol to him of Pyrrha's promised presence, that she was always there for him.
"Hello again." And there she was as Jaune turned around to see her. She looked just like how he last saw her, shining emerald green eyes and hair as red as some of the aforementioned trees. She had a smile that was only a recorded memory for the longest time since Jaune had last seen it, and it was so beautiful that he smiled too amidst his tears.
"Pyrrha…" It wasn't long at all before he had her in his arms, her own loving ones wrapping around him just as tight as his. Then they kissed, feeling whole again. Broken hearts were finally mended, and they could finally tell each other their true feelings.
"I love you so much, Pyrrha."
"I've always loved you, Jaune. I'm sorry I left you the way I did…"
"You were a hero in the end, Pyrrha, and so was I. I forgave you a long time ago, and I am blessed to have you as my partner again. Only this time, we're together forever now."
"Together-together as Nora calls it?" came a third voice. Jaune's looked over Pyrrha's shoulder to see Ren and a giggling Nora walking toward them, hands intertwined and smiles genuine.
"Hi, Jaune," Nora said sweetly. "I'm so happy for you and Pyrrha!"
"Ren… Nora…" Jaune was now crying as his friends joined the hug. He had never seen Ren after the fall of Atlas and he had nothing left of Nora after she exploded as a result of all the lightning Cinder tried to electrocute her with. This resulted in the fall maiden's demise as well when Nora slammed her storm-bringing hammer down on her. But here, they were just as Jaune remembered.
"There, there," soothed Pyrrha. "We're all together again now. Team JNPR is all together again now. It's all going to be okay now that we can be here for you."
"You were always there for me, Pyrrha. All of you were. Ruby and Yang, too. Where are they, by the way?"
"They're watching over Weiss and Blake on Earth," answered Ren. "There's a lot we need to explain to you about reality in the afterlife."
"That's fine. I do have all the time in the world to listen, after all."
All four of the teammates laughed at that unintentional joke. They stayed in their embrace for some time afterward. As Pyrrha said, Team JNPR was indeed whole again, and Jaune knew that in the end, he will always be his team's hero.
Author's note: Yes this chapter is about Jaune, but as I developed this fanfic, I realized I could do more with the littler details I've made in the first chapter about Ruby. If I could tag them on FanFiction, I'd tag Jaune/Pyrrha and Ren/Nora since they're both a given. It's certainly longer than the previous three, but I wanted to write some more detail for this fight scene compared to the brief events of Yang's final battle.
