Hey, everyone. Mystery Critic here, with a new story for y'all. As I said in my profile, I'll be doing a wide variety of stories to do fanfictions on, and her I am with my first chapter of my new story, Search For Gold And Red. This is a story will be taking place after the season finale of RWBY, Volume 3, Chapter 12; and will be told mainly from the point of Jaune Arc. This story will be about their journey to Haven and what they find along the way. This story is rated M for a reason; and includes language, gore, violence, suicide, and sexual scenes in later chapters. I do not own RWBY, nor any of the rights to it. That right belongs to the late, great Monty Oum(Rest in Peace, you wonderful guy.) and Rooster Teeth. Also, whenever you see double asterisks, it's an exert from the show. Anywho, without further ado, here's chapter one to Search For Red And Gold. (Warning, if you haven't seen the finale yet, this will contain spoilers for you.)
Chapter One
**Ren, Nora, and I are waiting outside Ruby's house for her to come out. After she does, she turns around and sees us.
"Hey." I say, looking at her, my heart sill not healed.
"Hey, Jaune." Ruby responds, walking over to us.
"Haven's a long way to go."
"I know." I respond.
"But it's the only lead we have."
"And you're sure you want to come along?" Ruby asks hesitantly.
"The journey will be perilous," Ren says.
"And whether we'll find answers at the end is entirely uncertain."
"But we wouldn't be here if we weren't up for it." Nora says, backing Ren and me up.
"Then let's get started." Ruby says, and we start walking down the road, starting our journey to Haven.**
As we're walking down the road, there's a deathly silence in the air. No one is saying anything, and everyone is looking at me. I watch the road ahead, the mission at the back of mine. The main thing on my mind is Pyrrha, and a tear falls down my cheek as the kiss she gave me soars through my mind.
"You guys go ahead," I say, breaking the uncomfortable silence.
"I've got to use the bathroom. I'll catch up, okay?"
"You sure, Jaune?" Ruby asks, stopping next to me.
"Yeah, I'm sure." I say, plastering a fake smile on my face.
"I'll catch up in a flash."
"We'll wait here for you." Ren says, sitting cross-legged on the ground.
"We're not leaving you behind. Go do your business."
"Yeah!" Nora said.
"We can wait five minutes. Go do your gross guy business."
I smile and walk into the woods, walking quite a bit away so they can't see me through the bare winter setting of the forest. After I'm out of eye and earshot, I start what I really wanted to do. I start searching for Grimm to kill, a way to take out some of my rage and sorrow. After another few minutes of searching, I come across a pack of Beowolf and charge in, screaming a battle cry of rage. The Beowolf look up at me and start charging back at me, snarling and growling as they run at me. I pull my sword out of the shield, then pull my shield off my belt and extend it. The first of the disgusting creatures swing at my head and I raise my shield to the side, blocking it as I ram my blade through it's chest. The others look at me hesitantly, wondering what to do next.
"Is that the best you've got it?" I scream at them.
"Come on! Try and kill me! I'll run all of you through!"
The rest of them start charging at me and my sword goes all over the place, slicing, stabbing, and gutting anything in my path. I feel the sting of their claws cut into my skin every time I miss a block or strike, but I fight through the pain, continuing my onslaught on these evil creatures. After a few minutes of eradicating these monstrosities from existence, there's a few left. I throw my blade into the one farthest away, then run towards the one my sword is sticking out of. Two of them swing at my head and I drop onto my knees, sliding underneath their attack. One more swipes at my legs and I jump over the attack, rolling over it's back and landing on my feet. I run towards the dying beast and yank my sword out and swing it around, just in time to lop another one's head off. The other two start running towards me, only to suddenly drop dead from sniper fire. I turn towards the source of fire, seeing Ruby as the shooter.
"Jaune, what are you doing?" She yells at me. I ignore her and start stabbing the headless corpse repeatedly, punctuating each word with a blow to it's chest.
"Why! Did! You! Have! To! Take! HER?!" I stab it one final time and look up at the sky.
"Why couldn't you take me instead, huh?! ANSWER ME!"
"Jaune, stop!" Ruby screams.
"You're scaring us!"
"Good!" I scream back.
"It's your fault she's gone, Ruby! I asked you, I begged you to save her! You told me you would, but you didn't! You lied to me Ruby, and now she's gone! She's gone…"
I fall to my knees and finally break down, all of my feelings I've been keeping bottled in are now flowing out. The pain of losing the girl I love is too much, and all the tears I held back are streaming out steadily as I feel her lips still on mine.
"Jaune, if there was anything I could have done, I would have..." She says, clearly hurt. She walks up to me and places her hand on my shoulder. I shrug it off, and I hear her sigh sadly.
"You know that, right?" I didn't get up there in time. I'm sorry, Jaune…"
I stand up, only to fall back own as the pain from the injuries start hitting me. I groan in pain and concentrate on my aura, letting the energy from my soul to hear my wounds. Once it's done, I try to get up again, only to find I'm too weak to do so.
"Let's set up camp for the night." Ren says, pulling a fire kit out of his bag and starts setting up.
"Just until you're ready to travel again, Jaune."
I nod and everything is quiet as everyone else sets up camp, the only sounds coming from the wilderness around us and the noises of the camp being set up. After everything is done, we're all sitting in front of a fire and roasting meat over it. After a while of silence, Ruby is the first to speak up.
"So, Jaune?" She says, looking over at me.
"I'm wondering something. What's your semblance?"
"I don't have one, Ruby." I say, tossing the rest of my dog into the fire, only to have Nora shout hey and yank it out, saving it from burning.
"What do you mean?" She asks with a nervous chuckle.
"How could you have gotten into Beacon without an advanced skill or semblance?"
"Because I didn't really get in!" I scream at her, causing everyone to look at me in shock. I sigh and look into the fire.
"Only two people know about this besides me, Cardin and Pyrrha. Cardin only knows because he overheard me talking to Pyrrha about it. That's why I was always hanging out with him back during our first semester at Beacon. If I didn't, he was going to report me to Goodwitch. I was able to find some fake entrance papers and I lied my way into Beacon. Now you know, okay? That's why I'm weak, and that's why I don't have a freaking semblance."
"So you snuck into Beacon?" Nora says, looking at me with a confused look. I nod at her, and she jumps up laughing.
"That's awesome! That's our leader, the most badass of Team Juniper!"
"There is no Team Juniper anymore, Nora!" I snap at her.
"There's not a damn thing anymore! Not without Pyrrha..."
I stand up slowly and start walking off.
"Jaune, where are you going?" Ruby says, getting up to follow me.
"Please don't follow me, Ruby." I say, continuing to walk.
"I need some time alone to think."
"Okay, Jaune." She says, tears in her voice.
"We're here if you need us..."
I nod and keep walking until the light from the fire is no longer visible behind me. I look around me and sit down under a tree and pull out a photo from my jacket of me and Pyrrha, staring at it for what feels like years, until I finally start crying again, my tears falling on the photo.
"Pyrrha..." I cry.
"I begged you not to go… Why didn't you listen?"
"Because it was my duty."
"What?" I say, standing up and grabbing the hilt of my sword and looking around.
"Who said that?"
"You can't recognize my voice, Jaune?" Pyrrha says, walking into view.
"P… Pyrrha?" I say, letting go of my blade. I walk forward slowly towards the beautiful woman, reaching my hand out to her.
"Is that you?"
"Yes, Jaune." She says, smiling at me.
"It's really me."
"How is this possible?" I say, as I try to grab her, only to have my hands slip right through her.
"Why can't I touch you?"
She walks into the light and I see how she really looks. She's visible, but transparent. Almost like a ghost wandering around in our world.
"Well, to answer your questions," She says, smiling at me warmly.
I don't know how it's possible, it just happened. As for why you can't touch me, I really am dead. It's just my spirit remaining in this world. But you can help me get a physical form again, Jaune."
"What is it?" I say, dropping to my knees in front of her.
"I'll do anything to have you back. Pyrrha, I love you. I'm sorry I didn't say it before, but I do. I love you so much, and every day I haven't seen you has been killing me inside."
"Jaune, I know." She says, chuckling.
"Why do you think I kissed you? I love you too, silly."
"You do?" I say, utterly dumbfounded.
"Do you really think I'd kiss someone if I didn't love them?" She says, placing her hands on her hips and looking at me with a face that just screams seriously.
"Well, no." I say slowly, looking down. Then I remember what she just said and look back up at her.
"How do we get your physical thingy or whatever back? How do I get you back?"
"We need to get to Weiss and Blake." She says.
"All we need to do is get Blake to make a clone of herself for my spirit to slip into. Then, we have Weiss do a special glyph that solidifies doubles of one's self. I learned it in a private study with Professor Ozpin. If you do this, my spirit will shape Blake's clone into looking like me, and the glyph will make me here to stay."
"Okay, Pyrrha." I say, standing up.
"Let's go tell the others."
I start running and see Pyrrha running next to me, and I smile again. I turn back towards where I'm going and quickly come across the camp.
"What's going on?" Ruby asks, everyone standing up and pulling out their weapons.
"Are there more Grimm?"
"Guys, Pyrrha is back!" I say, gesturing behind me.
"Well, not her. But her spirit is still here! She has a plan to get a physical form back, and we should go do it! Pyrrha, come on out!"
As she walks out, I turn back towards the others smiling widely.
"See?" I say happily.
"Isn't it great? We can get Pyrrha back! Isn't it great to see her again?"
They all look at each other and shake their heads.
"Jaune..." Ruby says slowly.
"We can't see her..."
There we go! I've been up all day writing this. When I saw the finale, I was crying, and I thought, I have to make my next story be one about Jaune and Pyrha. I mean, there's no other option. You need to start now. So, I did. How'd you like my first chapter, everyone? I hope you enjoy it as much as my other story. I know I didn't tell anyone about it, but I wanted to keep it a secret. So, spread it around, I want more fans, please. Now, obviously, the chapters on both this and my other story are going to be spaced out a little, so you'll have to be more patient for a next chapter on each story, because I'm going back and forth, one chapter at a time for each story. Anywho, the usual. Read, review, and subscribe. I'll see you guys next time. This is Mystery Critic, signing off.