Arc 2 - Chapter 16 - You Rocked My World, You Know You Did

The first person Jaune saw when he woke, that final image of the Mad Wolf howling at the sky fresh in his memories, was the very person that pointless battle had been fought over. Princess Ruby. He couldn't help but find it fitting - her warnings, her pleas, her foresight had all gone unheeded, and so punishment had become his teacher. It wasn't the first time Jaune had been forced to learn some humility. A regular part of his experience, really. But this one hurt. To be wrong.

To be wrong precisely because he did not listen to Ruby's heart. At least not before getting his ass beaten.

He found it hard to be upset for long though - on account of still feeling cold as hell.

The Mad Princess was sitting in a chair beside him, she had a bowl and was mixing something inside it, white steam curling up from it. Hot, no doubt. Jaune could do with some heat right now. He wanted someone to throw him into a bath of boiled water, to stick him on a spit roaster, to put him on a rocket and hurl him straight at the Sun on the off-chance that such height might thaw him out. Somehow, he doubted he'd get any of these things. He could barely get any words out since his voice felt like it had gotten frostbite. He was shivering like a cat tossed in a lake.

"Don't move," whispered Ruby, setting aside the bowl and putting a damp and thankfully hot cloth on his forehead. "You could hurt yourself. If your body does not shatter like glass first."

Jaune found it hard just to move his arms, let alone the rest of his body. So, in fear that he might be humbled with another brutal lesson for lack of listening, he obeyed and allowed the Princess to do as she had been. The one thing he managed to get away with was turning his head to look around. He was not the only one justly humbled.

There were bedridden warriors everywhere, some unable to get even that much and so were settled into nests of blankets and pillows on the floor, while Healers dressed their wounds, soothed their pain, and fed them hot soup. Jaune found himself wanting that soup too, as his insides felt like they'd been frostbitten, too. As if reading his mind, Princess Ruby turned his head and brought a spoon to his mouth. It burned his tongue as he slurped from it, but there was no denying the immediate effect.

Jaune saw Yang too. The Warrior-Princess was sitting up on her sick bed, in little else but a gown and trousers, wrapped in a thick blanket and her feet soaking in steaming water. Even still she shivered, though Jaune doubted it was entirely because of the Wolf's last attack. She'd recover from this loss, physically anyway, but she looked completely and utterly defeated as if all her hopes and dreams had been crushed, with her being much too weak to prevent it. After a sound beating like that, I can't say I can muster much confidence, either.

"What... happened?" Jaune asked, looking up at Ruby.

The Princess was tucking a thick blanket around him with a calm set to her face as if she was a parent who'd told her children not to play rough and was now addressing their wounds. "You all put up a brave effort, but you were defeated. It seems the moon took mercy on you."

Jaune nodded slowly. "After?"

"The Mad Wolf returned to the forest and the remaining soldiers found you all. You were close to freezing to death, but perhaps the Wolf took mercy on you as well."

If freezing a man alive was his form of mercy, then Jaune never wanted to make an enemy of him. "Shouldn't... have fought him."

"Yes. It was foolish."

"Won't save the kingdom. Will it?"

Ruby shook her head, hair swaying side to side. "My kingdom does not need saving, not the way one may think. I must leave so that the winter may come in full. The summer has been too long, the Wolf says." Ruby paused at that, pursing her lips for a moment as if the idea still scared her. "But too much of anything, especially of a good thing, makes you depend on it. How can we not? Summer is warm and bright, bountiful and beautiful. It is home. It cannot be easy to abandon what we have known for so very long."

"It'll come back," said Jaune weakly. "Can always remember it."

Ruby grinned a little as she fed him another spoonful of soup. Liquid heaven, Jaune found. "Yes, that is what the Wolf said as well. He says much by saying very little."

"You have to go?"

"Nature decides the ways. We must change according to its course, or else be left behind."

Jaune nodded, not at all in the mood to argue. He had no more resistance in him. "Then, let me bring you to him."

"I will go alone. My soldiers will not stop me."

"Please, let me." Jaune looked up at her, his vision a little blurry. "Let me do the right thing, Princess."

She considered him for a moment, then nodded. "Very well, I am in your hands."

And she took his hand and squeezed it, Jaune finding more reassurance in it than he would have that. It reminded him of the real Ruby. How warm she felt to hold on to. The sound of her soft voice. He'd never thought about her so much before. Or so fondly.

It was time to get back to her. This world had not needed his help. He'd been little more than interference, and that was a cold truth that no amount of hot soup could wash down.

The only thing he could do now was help move things along their natural course.

In the night, Jaune and Neptune stole Princess Ruby away. Or they would have if it had been necessary.

There were guards on watch, but none tried to stop them as they escorted the Princess through the half-lit castle corridors. Some looked sad, hurt, disappointed, but not surprised. As if they'd subconsciously known this would happen, that their fighting had only forestalled the inevitable, that their beloved Princess would one day have to leave them. There was no shame quite like it. Fighting for a thing while knowing well it could not be yours. It was like climbing a wall of infinite height - pointless and painful.

Ruby kept her head held high, trying to look unfazed, but Jaune could see through that. This hurt her. Perhaps more than anyone else.

"What about your father, Princess?" asked Neptune.

"He will understand. If not now, then one day."

"You're sure?"

She shook her head. "No. But we are short of certainty in many things lately."

They approached the great doors leading out into the castle courtyard, already wide open and leading out into the approaching night, where snow was coming gently down. That might have been their cue to continue, but someone stood in their way. Who else but Warrior-Princess Yang. She did not look as intimidating as she could have, still in her underclothes and not even holding a weapon in case they tried to fight.

She stared at them, a heavy frown on her face, eyes misty, trembling every time the frosty breeze rolled in and tickled her skin. It was just her now, between her sister and the inevitable winter, the promised reunion of lovers.

Ruby stepped forward. "Aside, my sister. You cannot prevent this. Not anymore."

Yang's frown deepened, eyebrows creasing like she might start screaming and throwing a tantrum. "If you leave, the winter will come and kill our people. Father, me, your loyal warriors, we'll all be lost without you. Don't you understand that you are abandoning us? For that beast?"

Jaune wanted to tell her the truth of it, but it wasn't his place. He was but an observer to events that would have played out regardless of his meddling. "I abandon you, yes," said Ruby. "But for mine own purposes. For myself and no other. I am abandoning you, my sister, my father, my kingdom. I will leave you to the cold and merciless winter." Ruby's face set hard. "But not forever. The day will come that I shall return."

"When will that be, do you suppose? When? How long must we wait and suffer without you?"

"A long time, I think," said Ruby, taking a few more steps closer, making Yang step back either out of an attempt to stop her or fear. "But it must be done, Yang. You know it."

Jaune could tell that Yang did know it now, and that only made her look more scared. "Don't leave us, Ruby. We're family. It's only us left."

Ruby finally closed the distance between them, wrapped her arms around Yang's neck, and hugged her tightly. Breaking into sobs, Yang hugged her back, so strong that it looked like she might break her dear little sister in half if it'd keep her around. Then, with a final reassuring but sad smile, Ruby pulled away and gently moved on past her without another word. Jaune and Neptune trailing awkwardly behind.

He heard Yang continue to cry far behind, and though Jaune could not see Ruby's face, he wondered if there were tears in her eyes too. He saw her shoulders tremble, and that couldn't be because of the cold. It wasn't easy in any way, leaving one's family. Who would know better than himself? But like his father had said, sometimes you have to do the hard things in order to get better, even if it hurts. Maybe especially so.

Ruby put up a brave front just like Jaune had the day he had to leave his family behind. He supposed she had to.

The snow continued to fall. Whether it was in the right to was not in question. The snow fell because that was nature's way.

Summer was gone.

The snow had fallen anew on the forest floor. A flowerless, grassless meadow of white.

Princess Ruby was a fast walker, even through the troughs of snow and cold. Somehow not shivering despite being in only a hood and white dress, even barefoot, a long white trail left behind her path ahead, outpacing Jaune and Neptune by at least ten strides.

It was then that Jaune noticed the great disparity between the Princess and her wolf-lover. He armored to the teeth and her in little else but bedclothes as if this whole world was her bedroom and she was at her leisure at all times. And even that was generous since the fabric was just thin enough to hint at the figure beneath. As if to tempt anyone looking. Or, more likely, to attract a specific someone.

And all this without considering how different they were in every other way. Her kind and good, if a little strange. Him cold and serious and savage, but also strange now that he thought about it. Their only similarity. Everyone had a type, he supposed. But Jaune couldn't pretend he didn't understand Yang's hesitations. Ruby, with a beast like that? What did she even like about him?

Maybe it wasn't for him to understand. What mattered was that the job would be done and he'd no longer need to care. Maybe.

Still, it nagged at him. "I don't get it."

"What?" asked Neptune.

"Her and the Wolf. It's just strange. Lovers."

"Aren't Heart Worlds supposed to be kind of weird?"

Damn Neptune, using logic now of all times. Never consistent, the asshole. "Yeah but... isn't this just... " Jaune palmed his face. "I don't even know what I'm trying to say. Why this Wolf character?"

Neptune shrugged. "I mean, I wouldn't have guessed the dude she calls her lover was the Wolf, but I sorta get it."

Jaune rounded on him, feeling a little hurt for some reason. "What do you mean you get it?"

"I won't say it doesn't make me scratch my head, but people said that Weiss and I were too different. Said we wouldn't last. I said it about us." Neptune rubbed his chin. "I was thinking I was too much of a playboy for someone like her. I thought that the entire time we dated. But it never stopped me from being with her, you know?" Neptune looked toward the antsy Princess. "We all see people differently. We can see similar things but our interpretations will always be different. You see a Wolf that looks like he might eat people alive… while maybe the Princess sees a hero. We don't choose who we love, at least not often. Your brain kinda just tells you what's what and you do something about it. Or you don't."

All of that just sounded unnecessary and confusing to Jaune. "I have no clue what you're talking about."

"Have you never been in love before?"

Jaune remembered having a few crushes but that was the extent of it. Mystery was probably the closest thing. "I'm seventeen. Of course not."

"It messes you up. In a good way though."

"In a good way?"

"Like…" Neptune crossed his arms in thought. "It makes you do things you otherwise wouldn't. Makes you stop doing things you might have done all the time. You feel like a slave and free at the same time." Neptune smiled fondly. "All those girls I chased and slept with... I remember things about their bodies the most. I get their faces and names mixed up. Then Weiss showed up and… well I never got her mixed up with anyone and we hadn't even been under the sheets together. I was listening to what she said instead of pretending just to get what I wanted. Maybe it wasn't love exactly, but I at least think it was similar. Does that make sense?"

Jaune nodded, understanding him to some extent. Maybe this applied to the Princess. The Wolf and her found something in the other that made them want to be together. Someone who talked to you about personal things, someone who listened to and cared for you. Who brought change for you.

Perhaps that was something close to love. At least, that's what he thought he felt for her. That was what he felt about her, right? Had to be. But then, if he cared for her so much, why had he still not responded to her in over a week? Those messages had gone unanswered. Meanwhile, he'd been giving all his time to Ruby. Was now sleeping in Ruby's bed, and with her family's approval, wasting his time on her rather than his sort-of-girlfriend. It made no damn sense.

Unless...

In a moment of crystalline clarity, Jaune had a horrific thought that made him feel colder than any ice prison he could have been put in. Such a thought, so wrong and unsafe that he gave it no time to fester in his mind and shook it away. This was hardly the time to be bemoaning his problems. He'd give this more thought later. Or never. Hopefully never.

Jaune and Neptune hurried to catch up with the Princess, who now stood further ahead in an empty patch surrounded by frost-covered trees, looking around.

"My love!" she called out. "I have come, my love! Reveal yourself!"

A great wind came through, almost blinding the world behind a screen of white, then out of the blankness before them stepped a shadow. A black spot amongst the white. A shadow that revealed itself to be the Wolf. Jaune thought to step forth, but decided against it. They'd done their part. Now they could leave.

His feet did not move, though. And he was not frozen this time.

With that damn helmet on, it was hard to tell what the Wolf was thinking, what he was intending. Jaune had expected him to somehow break character and rush toward Ruby and scoop her into his arms like a guy in a romantic comedy who finally got his childhood to go to prom with him. The truth of this meeting did not play out too similarly. The Wolf's greaves simply crunched through the snow as he came upon Ruby, fur cloak swaying, dark visor locked onto her like a predator eying his catch. Then, he was right in front of her. Less than half an arm's length apart.

It could not have been more apparent now, that the Wolf loomed over the Princess like a person's elongated shadow in the late evening. Taller, wider, no doubt stronger and more vicious. The teeth of his helm emitted steam like he was breathing hard, now with the woman he coveted right in front of him. Would their shared desire make them so bold as to take each other right there in the snow, howling like animals? Jaune sure hoped not.

"It would seem," said the Wolf in his dark voice. "That my efforts to take you myself were failures."

Ruby looked up at him, craning her neck back and yet not looking or sounding intimidated or inferior. It was as if they were on equal footing. Had always been. "You exaggerate, my love. Though, I did implore you not to fight my soldiers. You may be stronger than they, but their commitment and loyalty are without equal."

"Evidently. Your family is strong. In the future, implore your soldiers not to make war with me. I am wounded easily."

Jaune couldn't see Ruby's face, but also somehow he could. A great big smile. Again, like she'd found the greatest treasure in the world, and now owned it. As if this person in front of her made her the happiest girl in known history. Of course, this couldn't be. Because she wasn't looking at him. And a part of Jaune had to admit that this bothered him.

The Wolf held out his gauntleted hand, strangely poised, strangely gentle. "I have come to fulfill my promise."

Ruby did not reach for him yet. "What awaits us?"

"That I do not know."

"But you will be with me?"

The Wolf was quiet for a moment, then there was the slightest incline of his head, serious and sure. "For as long as you need me."

Ruby stepped closer, reaching her smaller, warmer hand to grasp his cold metal one. "And what if the day should come that I no longer need you? What if I should love you no more?"

"I will perhaps remind you of why you once did." He brought her hand to his chest plate, right over his heart. "My love. The winter will be long and merciless and we will not be spared our sufferings. One day, the summer will return. On that day, shall I return you to your kingdom?"

Ruby leaned closer. "Only if you would accompany me."

"You have proven yourself impossible to deny." Then he looked up at Jaune and Neptune, saying nothing, unreadable. They all knew what this was, even if they did not understand each other. Maybe there was no need.

"If the Princess is your love," asked Jaune, "Why don't you call her that?"

The Wolf simply said, "Do my actions not make it clear?"

"Who are you?"

He looked at Ruby, who smiled up at him, then he turned back to Jaune with a shrug. "I am just a normal guy."

With their hands linked together, Princess Ruby and the Med Wolf turned as one and walked alongside one another, their long cloaks flapping in the whistling wind. Jaune couldn't help but notice they'd received no thanks for this, but it didn't matter. He stood there, watching until the two had vanished in the next blinding snow breeze, obscuring the very world. The sound like two wolves howling side-by-side.

When it passed and they were gone and nothing else was keeping them, Jaune felt Neptune touch his shoulder and draw his eye. "Guess we should head home now, huh?"

Jaune stared off where the couple used to be for a moment. All that while, he thought about what love was supposed to feel like. What it meant. In the end, he put it aside and nodded to his friend. "Yeah, let's go."

"Mission accomplished?" said Neptune, raising his hand for a high-five.

And for that, Jaune did give Neptune a smile. Half of one, but it was something. It seemed to make Neptune positively preen as he met his high-five back.

They headed back the way they came and picked their way through the city. The outer wall and plaza were already being mended, soldiers manning the gates and fighting off Grimm, all while the snow fell around them. The people were all in various states of reaction to it. People openly wept about the unfairness of it all, or cursed their luck, or said their All-Mother had abandoned them. Dogs barked at the sky. Children who'd never seen snow before began to play with what they could scoop up. Adults touched it for the first time, looking worried and excited, both. Would they be alright? Winter was merciless, as the Wolf had said.

But human beings, even ones in another universe, were made to weather such a struggle, weren't they?

Jaune and Neptune crossed the wharf, up the cliffside path that led into the forest, and Jaune looked back once final time. He had no thoughts, no real regrets, he just found the city beautiful, even more so now than before. But then, he had always been a fan of snow.

They traveled up that long path through the woods together and it was only then that Jaune noticed two people in that very clearing they'd landed in, standing around and talking to one another. One in a long half-black-half-white lab coat, the coattails drifting in a breeze that did not exist. The other was in a black skin-tight suit, and tight in all the right places. They noticed Jaune and Neptune as they approached and turned their way, and as a collective four, their jaws dropped.

Jaune hurried up to his Aunt Peach and her old apprentice, Cinder, quickly coming to discover the look of pure shock on his aunt's disbelieving face. Even Cinder was in a rare state of total bewilderment, as if Jaune had grown another head since their last meeting.

"What are you doing here?" Jaune asked.

Peach's tone took on a tone of mostly well-concealed anger, yet the edge was still there, like a dull knife being filed sharp. "That is my question for you. How did you end up in Qrow's heart?"

Jaune blinked at her, looking at Neptune who stared back with the same shock. Even Cinder was no help in this, waiting rather expectantly on an answer as if her old master had not just said something completely ridiculous. This was Ruby's heart. This was Ruby's world.

Right?

Jaune looked back at his Aunt, who was steadily growing more and more impatient. "Well, nephew? I hope you have an explanation for this."

There would be a talk tomorrow, Aunt Peach had said, after making Jaune explain his little adventure inside Ruby's heart. Which, based on the foreboding nature of a future encounter, was a world that either had a lot more going on than he knew, or was someone else's world entirely. That fact had already taken a hefty space in his head rent-free, but they were considerations for another day. Jaune was too tired.

And he had a promise to keep to.

Four days in that world, about an hour and a half in real-world time. Yet it felt like a different night entirely. He heard Neptune get into his car, looking pretty exhausted himself. He waved Jaune goodnight and he waved back, then drove off into the night, vanishing around a corner. Jaune headed up the steps toward the Rose family house, feeling pretty groggy and his mind spinning with thoughts and wanting nothing but to lay down.

He headed up the steps and pushed through as quietly as possible, feeling like some rebel brat who snuck out past curfew. And yet it felt like he'd returned after a long trip overseas, the smell of the house strangely nostalgic, new yet familiar. He was upstairs before long, stopping at Ruby's door and not knowing why. It wasn't like he needed to be here anymore. His mission was accomplished. So well, in fact, that he'd basically done nothing. He could return to his house now.

He didn't want to. And that awful thought in the back of his mind he so desperately wanted to ignore knew why.

Jaune slowly pushed the door open, cringing at the creaking sound, hoping like hell that he would simply see Ruby turn over and not notice him. Turned out he needn't have worried.

She was already awake.

She looked up at him now, reflected his exhaustion right back at him, as if she'd just been on a long and dangerous adventure in another universe, too. Technically not wrong, either. Sat there in her pajamas, one thin strap of her top hanging off her shoulder, exposing way more neck and collar than Jaune was comfortable with. Her hair was a wild mess too, as if she'd been tossing and turning all night due to nightmares. For some reason, he liked her hair like that. Liked it a lot. What the hell was wrong with him?

Jaune stepped in quietly, not knowing what to say, but knowing he had to say something. Her bright eyes watched him expectantly.

"How long have you been up?" he asked.

"Since you left," said Ruby softly, glancing down at the bed. "I thought you were just going to the bathroom, but…"

"You couldn't get back to sleep?"

Ruby's eyes were wet and bright, awesome to behold. "Not without you."

Jaune immediately assumed the worst. Had she thought he had abandoned her? Gone off to enjoy himself somewhere once she was finally asleep? He probably looked like an inconsiderate ass. "Sorry."

"No, no, it's fine." Ruby began to trace the bedsheets with her finger. "Was it something important? Go off to spend some time with your girlfriend?"

Jaune sighed and sat on the bed. "I told you I don't have one."

"I know, I'm joking."

"We need to work on your humor." Jaune sighed. "I just needed some air, that's all. I'm sorry."

"It's okay. Really. I'm not mad. You came back, didn't you?" She scooted up to the left side of the bed and laid back on her elbows, smiling nervously at him. "I do want to get back to sleep, though."

She'd get no argument from him. Jaune took his spot in the bed on the other side. He felt her wrap both arms around his left, laid her head on his shoulder, and pressed her nose into his collar as if she'd missed the scent of him. He couldn't say he didn't appreciate hers, either. By the Gods, that sounded so weird.

They didn't say much, then, but they didn't have to. He simply wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close, felt her drape her leg over his, her foot rub gently against his ankle, the fingers of her bandaged arm lightly scraping his chest. Just them, laying in the quiet, listening to each other breathe as if that had been their normal way for years now.

Eventually, Ruby began to yawn and drift off. "Where'd you go?" she whispered.

"Doesn't matter. I'm here now, alright?" Jaune whispered back.

He felt her breath on his neck. "For how long?"

Jaune drew her even closer and relished her warmth. He still felt cold from the Wolf's little ice age attack, that was why he did it, of course. Or perhaps he just wanted someone to hold on to. To sleep next to. As the Wolf returned for the Princess without reservation, so too did Jaune return to Ruby like a dog who always knew the way home. Why, though? Why did he do it?

That awful truth in the back of his mind knew why, and so Jaune knew why, no matter how much he wished to deny it.

Jaune pulled a blanket over the both of them, but he might as well not have bothered. Just her warmth was enough for him, and he liked to think it was the same vice-versa. He whispered into her hair just as he was starting to drift off, no idea if she was even asleep or not. "As long as you need me."

And Jaune had to admit to hoping that Ruby would need him for a very long time.

I swear, I'm not a romance writer. Lancaster really got the full course this chapter though. With this, we move on to the final act of this arc. Let's keep it going.

ISA