Initial thought: I am running out of steam for writing my main fic, getting writers block, so what should I do to try and rejuvenate myself?

Follow on thought: Just throw out a one-shot to spur yourself on, new ideas and shit.

Me: But what should I do?

Voice in head: Just do something for your preferred ship idiot.

Me: ...Alright then.

And so I made this fic

Do enjoy.

A burnt, ashen landscape,

Flames flickering and slowly dying,

Tall trees twisted, destroyed and blackened from heat,

An area pockmarked with craters,

And in the midst of all this…

A lone woman, red cloak tattered and barely hanging to her shoulders, blowing gently in the hot wind as she staggered forward slowly one step at a time, her body teetering on the brink of collapse as she swayed this way and that. She was leaning on a great scythe for support for one of her legs was too wounded to be used, having been struck with an arrow which had broken off, the weapon itself was worn and heavily damaged from the prior battle; her breathing was ragged, coming in great gasps and heaves as she stumbled forward, her head swiveling right and left, desperately searching for something.

Her eyes widened when her gaze fell open a broken body lying on its back.

Putting whatever strength was left into her legs, she hobbled over to it as fast as she could, however while nearing the body her other leg gave out from under her and she was sent tumbling to the ground crying and wailing out in pain as she held her wounds tightly, her scythe clattering away to the side. She took several deep breaths and sucked in a lungful of air, biting back another gasp of pain, squeezing her eyes shut and willing the sensations away.

With all her remaining strength she reached out with both hands to drag her battered body across the ground on her elbows and knees by her fingers, slowly, painfully, inch by agonizing inch towards the body on the ground. Grinding her lower jaw against her upper jaw with every echo of pain that lanced through her body.

At last, she reached out with one trembling hand and her fingers lightly brushed against the palm of the body's hand.

"Jaune…" Ruby hissed in pain, gasping and choking on her own breath, her throat was parched from the battle, she had a small canteen filled with water hanging from her belt, but at the moment none of that was her concern.

Her only concern was the burnt and broken body of her fallen comrade in front of her.

Ruby pulled herself up onto her knees to look at the body, he was lying with his face to one side, his armor shattered in places with his clothing just as torn and damaged as her own, a third of his face had been burnt in the battle, "Jaune…?" The voice that said it dared to hope, to plead for the still body in front of her to show any sign of life.

"Oh…Jaune…" Ruby's voice cracked and before she knew it, a pain erupted in her chest like a knife had slammed through it, she nearly fell on top of him, choking and sobbing, her body quivering, salty tears flowing freely from her eyes as she crouched low over the still body of her fallen friend.

No, not just a friend anymore. A voice in her head corrected her, they almost had something between them, something more than just mere friendship, or perhaps it was more accurate to say they did have something. Something born out of a mutual friendship between two socially awkward idiots, something born from shared grief at the loss of their friends, something intangible and yet somehow, at the same time all too real to be dismissed.

"You're strong, I'll give you that much." Cinder huffed as she approached the fallen Ruby crawling on the ground struggling to reach Crescent Rose.

"But what made you think you could succeed…" Cinder smirked as she powered up a fireball in one hand, "When your own pathetic champion failed?"

The memory of the fallen Pyrrha blazed in Ruby's mind as she glared with bared teeth at the Fall Maiden.

"Well I guess you should prepare to join her…" Cinder clasped her hands together before pulling them apart to reveal a large fireball in her hands. "In the hereafter."

"NO!" A scream rang out, a figure burst from the side of Ruby's view and charged right at Cinder.

"I'm not letting you…!" Jaune snarled, "You're not taking anyone else I love!" He screamed in rage as he pushed against her.

"Wake up Jaune…" She gasped out between choked sobs, "Please wake up, I…" She tried to bite back a sob but failed, "…don't...want...to lose you…" Her own words felt heavy, she inhaled and exhaled sharply as she pressed the heel of her hands into her eyes, choking and letting more tears fall.

"Please Jaune…" She raised one fist above his chest, and weakly brought it down onto his chest with a soft thump, "Please wake up." She pleaded desperately as her body shook from her sobbing.

No response, not a breath or a twitch, his body remained perfectly still.

"No…" Her forehead slumped against his broken chestplate.

It's not fair! It's not fair! It's not fair! Thoughts echoing and bouncing back and forth in her mind.

"Jaune…"

Why? Why?! WHY?!

"Please…"

What's the use? What good is a hero who can't protect her friends?

"WAKE UP!" Ruby screamed, a despairing cry to the heavens as she brought her fist down with more strength this time, the force making Jaune's body shudder and-

Jaune coughed.

Ruby's breath hitched in her throat as her eyes widened considerably.

"Jaune?" The merest flicker of hope had grown, "Jaune! It's me Ruby!" Ruby quickly bent over him, her tears falling down onto his face.

A rough gasp sounded out, Jaune's eyes opened a crack, he was beginning to breathe, short and in small gasps at a time.

"Ru…by…?" His voice was hoarse, soft, straining to get out even a single word, crackling with dryness.

"Yeah," Ruby smiled and held his hand tightly, "It's me." She sniffed and dabbed a tear rolling across her cheek.

Jaune relaxed a little and returned a weak smile of his own, "Is…she….?" He struggled to even gasp out, his contorting as he tried to force the words out, a single tear fell from one of his eyes, rolling down the side of his face as he struggled.

"We did it Jaune," Ruby cradled his face gently, "We avenged Pyrrha," She swallowed a lump in her throat, a smile settled onto Jaune's face when he said that, even though a part of it was mangled from his burn it still looked beautiful to Ruby, and she did not bother suppressing the small giggle that came out of her.

Jaune's face contorted again and his eyes went wide, more tears falling from them, "I…" He choked and gasped, "I…" His shoulder shifted as he struggled to move his other hand upwards. Ruby immediately grabbed it with her other hand and placed it on his chest.

"Shhh," Ruby placed a finger to his lips to hush him, "Save your breath, Ren and Nora went to get help so it'll be ok." She adjusted her position and his body so that she could rest his head on her lap with one arm supporting his head and another on his chest. She took out her water canteen and placed its near Jaune's lip.

He opened his mouth slowly as Ruby tipped it and let the last small gulp flow down Jaune's throat.

He choked, spluttering and coughing and a little Ruby quickly withdrew the bottle and put it away.

"Sorry sorry!" She apologized profusely as she cleared some of the water away from his chin; he looked up at her with eyes full of exhaustion.

"Ruby…I…I…" The water had made his voice clearer, but every word had to be forced out of his mouth slowly, Ruby quickly covered his mouth.

"I said save your breath, you'll be just fine," She tried her best to reassure him and herself, but her heart was still beating furiously, going off like a jackhammer against her chest, Jaune was badly injured and he would not survive for much longer, she herself had no aura, if help did not come soon they would both be doomed.

He shook his head ever so slightly, one hand coming up to gently take her hand off her mouth.

"That was stupid of you," Ruby said, trying her best to keep a conversation going, distracting the both of them from any imminent thoughts of an end.

His eyes seemed to widen in confusion, she smiled at him in turn.

"You shouldn't have taken that hit for me like that."

"Ruby…you…" He struggled, "…were…al…ways…" Ruby slapped her hand right back over his mouth and leaned downward so that her face was right in front of his.

"Don't say it Jaune," She whispered frantically, "Don't let it be your last words; I want to hear you say it to me when we're safe ok?" Ruby did her best to smile at him, "C'mon vomit boy," She tried teasing to lighten the mood, "Just think…in a little while we'll be on a bullhead flying out of here and I don't think Weiss would appreciate you vomiting all over her ship."

"I…don't know…if…ake…it…" His breathing was ragged, uneven as he cracked a thin smile.

"No don't say that!" Ruby shook her head, "You'll make it! And when you do we'll call Weiss ice queen again, you can…you can groan when Yang puns again, you can…you can…" Now the exhaustion was taking Ruby as well, she slumped over his body, her own aching in all the places that were not feeling numb.

"I'm sure…we'll…meet again…someday…" His voice was just the barest of a whisper now.

"NO!" Ruby shouted stubbornly, she clutched his head tighter into the crook of her neck, "Don't say that! You're going to be fine Jaune!" Tears were beginning to fall all over again, "You're going to be fine! Promise…" Her voice was wracked with pain and anguish, She inhaled sharply, "Promise me you'll be fine! An Arc always keeps a promise right? Right?!" She was practically screaming at him now.

"Don't make promises…" His voice was fading; his eyes were slowly closing "th…can't eep…"

"No! NO!" Ruby shouted, the tears falling free once again, she held his body closer and tighter than ever, "Stay here with me! Don't go! Don't…don't leave me…" She was now sobbing again. She stared upward into the sky as little rivulets well from her chin, begging for some kind of sign that Jaune was going to be ok.

There was nothing, not a gasp of wind.

"Don't cry Ruby…" Jaune's voice brought her face back down, "I…hate to…see you…" He barely mouthed the last word.

"HOW CAN I NOT?!" Ruby screamed her voice out, she was starting to breathe heavily again, her head turning back and forth, desperately looking for the rest of her friends, silently begging them to come to her faster.

And then the silence got too much for her, "REN?! NORA?!" She called out as loudly as she could, "Where are you…" More a statement than a question.

And then she heard a growl coming from in front of her, her head shot up, recognizing the sound immediately.

One…no…two…three…a whole pack of beowolves was slowly surrounding them, their teeth bared, voices growling deeply, faces glaring right at the two wounded hunters.

"Get…out of…here." Jaune stared at her, "save…your…self…"

"I don't care about that!" Ruby growled, "I'm not leaving you." She looked to her side, Crescent Rose was still functioning, but she had not the strength to fight back, she barely had the strength to keep herself upright. She felt like the world had fallen out beneath her, there was no escape here.

This is it then, we're going to die… She looked down sadly at Jaune, "I guess this is it for us."

Despite his lack of energy, Jaune still managed to look horrified, "Ruby…please…I…" Ruby huddled his body in response and smiled.

"It's ok…it'll be ok…" Empty reassurances, they were surrounded, wounded, without any forthcoming help.

"Love you." Jaune forced out with one breath.

Ruby bit her lower lip and lowered her head slightly, gasping as tears fell onto Jaune's chestplate, she turned her head slightly so that they could look each other in the eye, "I…" A harsh gasp sounded from her, "love you too Jaune." She answered in return.

"It was always you…" Somehow that declaration seemed to breathe a little bit more life into him.

"Since the first day huh?" Ruby was smiling awkwardly as she watched one beowolf advance on them slowly, "You made me happy you know? That day when everyone else left me alone, and then this blonde boy just walked up to me and…" She giggled, somehow even in their situation that day still made her smile and laugh, "And you remember what he said?"

"Strangers…are just…"

"Friends you haven't met yet." Ruby completed for him, "I'm so happy I met you Jaune."

"You too…crater face." Jaune nodded with a smile, Ruby heard someone laughing, and then realized that she was laughing even as the beowolf drew closer and closer.

She looked up and gave what she thought would be one last defiant stare in the face of death.

A series of explosions all around interrupted her thoughts, she ducked down low, covering Jaune with her own body to try to protect him from the debris and dirt being kicked up around, the one beowolf in front of her was startled and howled, backing away in confusion as its pack died.

Ruby looked up, just in time for a bullhead with a snowflake emblem on it to streak right overhead, making her duck again, it unleashed its machinegun fire on the remaining beowolves, wiping them out.

"Hey!" a cheery voice came up as Nora appeared in the distance waving her arms madly, "We're back!"

An incredible grin crossed Ruby's face, a warm feeling swelled in her chest and she swallowed back a sob as her eyes widened happily, "They're here! They made it! You're going to be fine Jaune!" She looked down to the man she held in her arms, "Jaune did you hear me? You're going to be…" Her voice fell off as she looked at the limp body in her arms, his eyes closed and with a small, sad little smile on his face.

"Jaune…?"

Let's meet again someday…

I love you Ruby…

So how was it? I'm aiming to try to make something that could maybe possibly give a reader feels, and not just make them go "Oh that's depressing as shit."

Writing scenes that actually make others feel is definitely something difficult but also something I want to at least try, I've made readers laugh, get angry and get depressed. But make a reader actually sad? That's something I've never been able to accomplish.

Whenever I think of all the scenes on TV or film or games that actually give me a feels trip, its always the perfect combination of atmosphere, character, music, writing, words, actions and expressions and its all the more incredible for it, I enjoy deriving inspiration from them.

But writing?

Writing only has words for it, as they say 'a picture paints a thousand words', and there are things that cannot be expressed in words at all.

I confess that it's a little difficult for to me to feel purely by writing, imagining a scene in your head and getting emotional about it is one thing, it is entirely another to try and write it out. It's a weird balancing act between portraying the emotions clearly and not getting bogged down in flowery descriptions, giving just enough information to let the reader imagine for themselves the scene while ensuring that the emotions are still represented, it's really difficult since I wouldn't really consider myself a natural writer.

With that in mind I really want to be able to hear your thoughts on this, where I can improve, what I should do, tips for any future pieces of writing?

Do leave a review if possible.