So, I decided to right a short Christmas one shot because I felt like it, no other reason really.
/
Life on the road was hard.
Ruby knew the journey to Haven would be hard, but they needed answers and to possibly prevent a crisis occurring their too.
She just wished it wasn't so cold, the snow was making her toes numb and she couldn't feel her fingers. Sure, aura prevented the cold from hurting her, but it didn't keep her warm.
That wasn't even the worst part, she was missing Christmas. Christmas!
Sure, she had Ren, Nora and Jaune to spend it with, but they were just moving from placing to place camping out whenever they were too far from a village or an inn. Ruby wished she could spend the time with her family, Yang, her Dad and Uncle Qrow.
She also could have invited Blake and Weiss and they could have a team RWBY Christmas, but no, stupid Cinder had to go and destroy Beacon, so they were all separated and Ruby had to set out to prevent even more damage.
Whenever she got these thoughts she couldn't help but feel guilty, all her team was alive and when Beacon opened back up again team RWBY would be able to celebrate together.
For the remnants of JNPR, it would never be the same, if Beacon were to open they'd be down a teammate, there'd never be a JNPR Christmas. She could tell how miserable they were, probably having similar thoughts.
Ren and Nora weren't so different, Ren was even quitter, if you thought that was possible, and Nora was similar, she wasn't as positive but the worst of them all was Jaune.
Ren and Nora had each other, Jaune had no-one, he had left his family to go to Beacon, now he was on a trip with her and he no longer had a partner.
At nights he would reach into his bag and just stare at the remains of Pyrrha's gear, tears rolling down his face. She'd also began to notice him disappearing in the middle of the night.
One time she had searched for him and found him training, he would watch a video on his scroll, a video of Pyrrha and then proceed to train until he could barely stand before, staggering back to the camp and collapsing in his sleeping bag.
She wasn't sure Ren and Nora knew, both were caught up in making sure the other was okay, she tried to be mad at them for focusing more on each other than Jaune, but the two had been together forever and relied on each other especially at times like this and she just couldn't stay mad.
It was horrible, her first friend, her fellow leader, Vomit Boy, one of her best friends, maybe even higher than Weiss- who wasn't to hear that- was depressed and she hated it. He had always been kind to Ruby, a goofy and fun friend that she could easily rely on for advice and encouragement.
The Rose had spent time trying to cheer up her first friend at Beacon, but nothing seemed to do the trick. That wouldn't do. It was Christmas, so it came down to Ruby to give Jaune the best Christmas he could possibly have.
Ruby was going to save Christmas. The power of festive cheer would not be defeated.
/
As the month of December neared its end, Jaune noticed Ruby had begun to act weirder, she would wander off to different shops when they stopped in any villages, coming out with a backpack full of something, when he asked to see what she had bought her response had been simple.
Nope.
He should have expected that, it was such a Ruby thing to do, Jaune remembered talking to her about Cardin, when Jaune had been avoiding his team after talking to Pyrrha…
Pyrrha… he missed her so much.
She had been the best partner in the world, always kind, supportive and loving. He now knew why; she had had feelings for him.
He'd never noticed but looking back on things, it should have been obvious, she'd spend all the time she could with him, help him with absolutely everything, try to get closer to him than with everyone else.
Stupid, he was stupid, thinking she was just an affectionate friend who wanted to spend time with her partner. How had it taken her to just kiss him, for him to notice, the signs had been there and he'd never seen and never done anything about them.
One thing made him feel even worse, he didn't know if he felt the same.
Obviously, he had loved Pyrrha, he just wasn't sure if that was in the romantic sense, he had never thought about her in that way, figuring she was so out of his league that it wasn't even funny. Not even attempting to see her as anything more because why would a girl as smart, as strong, as kind and as beautiful as Pyrrha ever want to be with him.
Jaune Arc, Vomit boy, a fraud, the boy who couldn't even do the one task Ozpin had given him at the end and then he was so weak that Pyrrha had sent him away so she could face certain death on her own.
A part of him knew she was trying to keep him safe, but the rest of him just wanted to know why, why she had pushed him away, why had she not mentioned whatever was going on in the basement, why had she hidden her feelings! Why had he left him by himself! Did she not realise he needed her!
He roared into the night sky, not caring if he woke the others and swung his sword in the pattern he had been practising since Beacon had fallen.
His hands dropped down to his side and he stared over to the log where his scroll sat, her visage stared at him, mocked him, constantly reminding him that he wasn't good enough. That would change he would be good enough, no one would hurt his friends and he kill Cinder- according to Ruby, that was the girl who had killed his partner- for what she'd done.
He went to begin another loop of the video but upon stretching his arms out to the scroll, the sharp pain in his arm when he moved it signalled he was done for the night.
Sighing he placed his scroll back in his pocket, sheathed Crocea Mors and began to wake back to the clearing they were camping in.
As he got closer he began to notice light, different colours of light, the campfire they had made to keep warm was definitely only one colour earlier, nearing the campsite he saw that the light was coming from the trees, open close inspection, there were various multi-coloured lights wrapped around some of the trees and hanging in between them.
The combination gave everything a sort of glow, a warmer atmosphere belied by the surrounding snow, which had begun to melt from the campfires heat.
Jaune tried to find the cause of the phenomena but the only other thing out of place, was the person seated on one of the logs and decidedly not in their sleeping bag.
Ruby.
"Ruby what is this?" he asked, gesturing to- everything really. She hopped off her log and made her way over to him.
She reached for her his hands and dragged him closer into the centre of the clearing. "This Jaune is to celebrate." She declared.
"What is there to celebrate?!" he snapped at her, he hadn't meat to and he could see her face fall.
She shuffled her feet and rubbed her arm, "It's just… it's Christmas and I thought, even with everything how it is we should still be able to enjoy our Christmas. Yeah?" he hadn't even realised that it was Christmas, to caught up training and focusing on their journey.
"I'm sorry but what's the point, your team's not here, there's no Pyrrha it won't be the same." He sighed.
The Crimsonette jumped out of her slump, "I know that, but we can still try, everyone would want us to enjoy ourselves as much as possible." She looked into his eyes and he looked back, she seemed really convinced about this, it mightn't be a bad idea, at least to distract him for a while.
"Fine Ruby, what did you have in mind?" at his word she cheered, seemingly uncaring if she woke the others, before grabbing his arm, and in a flurry of rose petals dashed in front of a nearby tree.
By the looks of things this was no ordinary tree, it was wrapped in more lights than all the others and had a star placed on the top, under the tree sat various wrapped items- presents, he realised.
"So, this is what you've been up to every time you disappeared?" he gestured to the tree.
"Yep" she nodded popping the 'p'. He continued to stare before she nudged him, "Don't you want to open the presents" he shrugged.
"Sure, why not" as soon as he finished Ruby dashed off to wake Ren and Nora, soon the trio reached the tree and joined Jaune. A brief silence settling over them.
It was Nora who broke it, "I'm sorry Ruby, but we didn't get you anything." He and Ren nodded to her statement but Ruby just waved it off.
"You didn't have to get me anything, you all agreed to join me on the way to Haven and without you guys I'd definitely be lost and probably have starved to death because seriously I had no idea what I was doing. Anyway, presents!" she rushed under the tree and deposited a present in each of the remaining members of JNPRs arms.
Nora tore into her gift with her usual fervour, excited at receiving a gift even with circumstances as they were. "Oh, I hope it's pancakes, oh, or a sloth!" she cheered tearing off the wrapping paper at lightning speed.
The packaging gave way to reveal a box, the box gave way to reveal a new pan, and a set of ingredients, the ingredients that would be required to make pancakes that is. "Oh Renny, lets go make some pancakes." Ren glared at Ruby for having forced him into pancake duty.
"In a second Nora, I still have to open my own present." He then started to do just that, opening the wrapping an associated box to reveal a collection of herbal tea.
Ruby looked sheepish "I know it's not much but we don't have a lot of money and I heard you like tea so, yeah." Ren nodded.
"It's fine Ruby, I am very grateful" Nora tugged at the green clad boy's arm, "Well it seems I will have to go make pancakes, have fun." He then allowed himself to be dragged back over to the campfire leaving just Ruby and Jaune.
Jaune stared at his present it was rectangular in shape, likely a box that hid the real present inside it, rattling it gave no clue as to its contents so, he started to tear the paper off. After he had removed the wrapping he open the box and gazed upon its contents.
Inside sat a book that was longer than it was tall, he turned to Ruby, "A book? I'm not exactly a book person, Ruby." The girl in question was shivering in anticipation, "Just-just look at it."
Doing as he was told he reached in pulling out the book and let the box fall to the ground. Examining the front, he saw a neatly engraved title, Beacon Days. When he opened the book, he had to choke back a sob, there on the front page sat a picture.
A picture of his team standing beside team RWBY, everyone smiling and standing beside their respective partners, Ruby and then her team on Jaune's right, Pyrrha on his left.
Her red hair flowing down her in a ponytail, emerald eyes positively glowing with energy and a huge smile on her face, a smile he had seen so many times, whenever they were together.
A drop hit the front of the picture, "She'd want you to be happy you know?" Ruby offered, leaning into her shoulder.
"Ho-how did you do this?" He asked his voice shaky, afraid that speaking would cause him to burst into tears. She snuggled in closer to him, "One of the villages had a place where you could print photos, I borrowed you're scroll and got an album made, there's loads of photos there, from day one up until the end."
Wiping his eyes, he quickly embraced the girl, "Thank you Ruby." She nodded but didn't say anything, just offering him a form of silent comfort as he flipped through the album, with both of them offering tales or explanations of what was going on in the various photos.
Soon the atmosphere turned from melancholy to a form of fond remembrance, the two laughed and spoke into the night. Ruby pulling some eggnog she had bought in a village from her back. They re-joined Ren and Nora .
The four ate pancakes, drank eggnog, celebrated, and reminisced for hours, sharing their best stories of Beacon, of better times and even offering some of their lives before. Eventually Ren and Nora retired to their tent and sleeping bag, before the left Nora gave some parting words, "I know everything isn't great right now but me and Ren never had a family, and now we do, so thanks both of you, for everything."
By the end of the night, Jaune was glad he had decided to go along with Ruby's idea, it had been nice, not crying because it was over but being glad that it had happened.
"What would I do without you Ruby?" he asked, he couldn't imagine having never met her, without Ruby he probably would have continued to let Cardin push him around, never got to know any of her team, he'd also likely be moping by himself at home, having no idea on what Cinder and her group were planning next.
The girl hummed, "I don't know you definitely wouldn't be as cool, not be friends with the amazing Ruby Rose." He chuckled, "Thanks Ruby you're a great friend and despite the circumstances, I really did enjoy this Christmas."
Curled up in her hood for warmth Ruby offered him you're welcome before mentioning turning in as it was getting cold.
They made their way back to their respective sleeping bags, noticing Ren and Nora stuffed into the same one, the two laughed slightly at the display but were careful not to wake their friends.
Settling into their sleeping bags they bid each other goodnight, Jaune turning to look at the wall of the tent. He was interrupted by his attempts at sleeping by Ruby slipping in beside him in the sleeping bag.
"It's cold, can I stay here?" he nodded to her question and the two kept each other warm, Ruby soon falling asleep, it was around then Jaune noticed the exhaustion he had worked up from his earlier training.
Things weren't great right now but, if there was one thing this Christmas had taught him, it was that with Ruby and his friend at his side…
…They would get better.
/
Decided to write a Christmas themed one-shot and this came to me, I wondered about what would happen during the winter when they were on the road as seen at the very end of volume 3.
From there it became Ruby attempting to cheer up Jaune.
Anyways this hasn't detracted from progress to my other story.
Now I know 2020 has been an absolute dumpster fire of a year (thinking of the song reddit made) but hopefully next year will be better and…
I'd like to wish everyone who reads this a Very Merry Christmas and A Happy New Year.