My little last minute addition to Lancaster Month, one OTP of RWBY. Enjoy.

I do not own anything.

Five Times Wrapped

Jaune wasn't sure what to make of the bright red cape the first time he saw it. He'd heard all kinds of people came to Beacon with odd senses of fashion that they were either praised or ridiculed for. Having said that capes weren't supposed to be all that surprising, yet Ruby's rose-colored cape caught his eye. It reminded him of the various blankets he and his sisters wore during their childhoods. Perhaps that was why even after the day's end the image of the red cape would stick with him for years to come. In time he couldn't associate the article of clothing with anyone other than Ruby.

"So what do you think?" She asked him flipping it so it bellowed dramatically in the wind. "Pretty cool right?"

Cute was what Jaune would have used to describe Ruby's cape if he were honest. Of course he wasn't stupid enough to say that directly to her face, he had no idea how she'd take it. Three weeks later he'd get an answer from her.

"Why didn't you ever say I look cute with my cloak on?" she suddenly questioned one evening they were sitting on one of the school steps while eating caramel apples. It'd come as something of a shock to her upon learning her blond-haired friend knew how to cook, more importantly that he could prepare sweets. "Don't you know a lady likes being complimented?"

Internally Jaune face-plated. "W-Well R-Ruby, y-you see I uh…I…I…I didn't think I needed to state the obvious." Smooth Arc, dad would be proud of that if I could deliver it with a little more confidence. It didn't work on Weiss so why should it work on Ruby?

So busy was the blond with berating himself he failed to notice the ear-to-ear smile spreading across the young reaper's face. "The obvious eh?" Putting her treat down she leaned over and gently pressed her lips against Jaune's sweaty face. His rambling instantly came to an end and fire spread through his cheeks. Ruby couldn't contain her giggling thus she let it burst through her lips. "No offense, but if you're going to do this every time you try to talk to a girl you're not going to get very far. Thanks for the compliment though. I think your armor is pretty neat too."

"Maybe, but it's not as cool as your cloak." It was a miracle he'd gained the ability to speak again. Or that he hadn't passed out yet. Nervously scratching his red cheeks he continued, "Seriously though, in my opinion cloaks and capes and way cooler looking than armor. Adds a little more mystery to a person; that is if they can wear it right."

"I know the feeling. I've seen some people try to pull the look off and to be honest some just can't do it. Unlike yours truly." Ruby finished jumping to her feet proudly beating her chest.

It wouldn't be until almost five years later that Jaune would have the courage to tell Ruby what he thought of her in that moment. The truth was she already looked like a hero in his eyes, one he'd wished in his heart he'd one day become. With the sun at her back and a fall breeze gently blowing her cape out she looked like she'd walked out of some fantasy novel or painting, even if she was in her academy uniform. The cloak's deep red easily caught the myriad of orange and crimson the setting sun bathed the area in. Her silver eyes in particular stood out, Jaune hadn't seen anyone with eyes as silvery as Ruby's. Just looking at them put him at ease causing the redness in his cheeks to recede. Typical Ruby, even when you're looking like the hero of some epic you're still nice enough to make me feel like I'm not such a loser.

"Say, if my cloak looks cute on me how do you think it'll look on you?"

By the time he realized what the mischievous look in her eyes meant it was already too late. "Wait, what?"

In the blink of an eye Ruby had taken her cloak off and wrapped it neatly around Jaune's shoulders. The blond was now sitting on the steps cloaked in possibly his friend's most sentimental article of clothing, and he was still blinking like a moron by the time he realized this.

"Hmm, it looks…decent." Ruby offered cocking her head to the side before motioning for Jaune to stand up. "I think you could make it work."

Thank God no one is around to see this. The young man shuddered fumbling to get the cape off. He didn't need a mirror, or anyone else, to tell him how utterly ridiculous he looked. "T-Thanks for the offer Ruby, but really you shouldn't. My armor works just fine for me and red's not really my color."

"Ah, I can't wait to tell Pyrrha you said that last one." She responded with a Cheshire grin.

"Ruby!"

SNAP!

Proudly holing up his Scroll so he could see his expression Jaune felt the desire to melt away or turn to ashes and be scattered to the wind return stronger than ever. His face was beat red almost matching Ruby's cloak shade for shade. "See? You can totally pull off red, you know on the color wheel they're not that far off from each other right?"

Despite the embarrassment he laughed with her. He guessed that was just the power she had over him. No matter what he could always find himself at ease around the young reaper he'd met on his first day at Beacon.

The second time he found himself wrapped in Ruby's cloak they were two days from the Vytal Festival. Two days before facing off against the best teams the other academies could put forth. Jaune liked to believe he did a good job of hiding his anxiety, but everyone could see how nervous he was.

I'm going to humiliate myself, my family, and my team…on international TV. In front of all of Remnant.

Forget someone finding out he forged his papers to get into Beacon; at this point getting expelled because of that actually seemed preferable compared to fighting at the festival. He knew he was going to fail, the only question was how badly it would it be. Would Pyrrha or Ren get themselves knocked out trying to cover his dumb ass? Would he be the first one eliminated, maybe less than a minute into the round? Those were the nightmares that had brought him out to one of the benches in the courtyard almost two o'clock in the morning. With nearly all the students and staff asleep the school grounds had practically become a graveyard, eerie but welcomed for the seventeen year-old.

"Maybe if I just hang back and let the others do all the fighting I'll be able to save myself some humiliation."

"That or you'd look like one big weenie, I don't think that'll help things much."

Jaune had chosen a good time to come out and contemplate his perceived uselessness, no one was around to hear his very unmanly screech. Jumping out of his seat his head spun to see Ruby standing to his left wrapped in her signature cloak and clad in her black tank top and pajama pants. A pair of Beowolf slippers snugly protected her feet from the chilly breeze.

Eyes twitching Jaune felt his budding anger at her overridden by his concern upon seeing her bristle. "Please tell me you didn't come all the way out here just to see me."

"Do I get a prize if I answer that?" It was a cheesy attempt at making light of the situation. Pulling her cloak tighter around herself she sat on the courtyard bench and waited patiently for Jaune to take his seat beside her. Eventually he did albeit he refused to look at her. "You…you haven't been you all week." It didn't take a degree in psychology to figure out why he'd come out here in the middle of the night.

"Heh, my older sisters always told me I sucked at charades."

"I can understand, I sucked at charades too."

"Yeah, but I'm sure you had things that could make up for it."

"So did you, cooking for example."

A silent wind blew through the courtyard rustling the tree leaves and bushes, a near endless series of whispers and chattering that could either put one's mind at ease or unsettle it. In Jaune's case it did the former rather than the latter. Perhaps hearing Ruby's soft breathing beside him played a part in that.

"You think you're the only one who's scared?" she started clasping her hands together.

"I got a lot to be scared of Ruby." He replied in a meek voice. "I know for a fact my family is going to be watching this…and so will Pyrrha's family. I…I can't embarrass her like that or Nora or Ren."

Ruby spent almost a full minute biting her lip trying to decipher the best way to break through to her friend. She wasn't exactly the most talkative person around or the kind needed for giving pep talks, but this was Jaune. "You said that like none of them have any faith in you, don't you think you're being a little rude to them by underestimating yourself?" Silver and blue met each other in the glow of the streetlights. The knight's eyes were full of doubt as opposed to the reaper's who held a budding strength. Hesitant at first she slowly reached over to take one of Jaune's hands in hers. "Don't sell yourself so short Jaune. If your team didn't believe in you they would have let you know by this point, believe me I've gone through that before."

"You know hearing that makes me glad I gave up on Weiss when I did." He chuckled.

"Not that I don't like Weiss or you, but you're a better fit with Pyrrha." Ruby giggled.

"Do you like doing this to me?"

"Like I said, you can wear red." The redhead laughed enjoying the redness in his cheeks. "You're friends with me and best friends with Pyrrha, yellow goes well with red. Just ask Yang."

"Alright, I give you win on that one." Hanging his head low he threw up his hands. Dad was right, never try arguing with a woman, you'll always lose.

Bottling her joy at the Arc's declaration she gently grasped his exposed arms. It was good he'd lost his previous sleepwear in favor more simple attire. Light blue pajama pants and a white t-shirt that showed off the muscular gain he'd attained within the last few months at Beacon. "You've gotten strong enough now that you can kill an Ursa without any kind of help and hold your own in a fight. You're a tactician Ren, Nora, and Pyrrha would happily trust their lives with, I know because they told me so. And," In one swoop her cloak encircled Jaune as well surprising him with its length. "I'd trust you to have my back in a fight too."

Slowly he twisted his head to look her in the eye. "…Seriously?"

"Have I ever lied to you?"

At that Jaune grinned. "That time all the cookie dough went missing and you blamed Nora for it. When all the strawberries I'd gathered to bake a cake disappeared and you tried to point me in Yang's direction."

"Okay have I ever seriously lied to you about what I really think of you?"

The cloak was warm and comforting, he could understand why Ruby kept it on her person whenever possible. How it felt in battle he could only guess; what Jaune did know now was it offered safety and security in moments of peace and unease alike. "No, but that's how I know you're a friend I can depend on."

Squealing she hugged Jaune a little tighter than he could have liked, but he got the message loud and clear. I may not be the hero I wanted to be…but at least coming here I made some of the best friends possible. He took the time to enjoy Ruby's petite body against him wrapped in her rose-colored cloak. Before they presented themselves to the world as warriors in the making they could enjoy being two kids who could lean on each other. Brief as it was it was precious to the two of them. Years down the road they'd realize just how precious those moments were.

The third time Jaune hadn't been awake to protest Ruby sharing her cloak with him. Opening her eyes to find her head leaning into the crux of his neck with her cloak used as a blanket for the both of them shocked him beyond words. Almost immediately his first instinct was to push Ruby off and scramble away, luckily his rationality got a reign on things before he could do anything stupid. However, that didn't stop the maelstrom of emotions from tearing his insides apart. In an attempt to calm himself he tried examining the situation from a logical perceptive starting with how he'd arrived at this point.

He'd left the group to train again, as usual no one protested. Ren and Nora already knew trying to stop him was pointless as they'd tried numerous times in the past. Apparently at some point they'd passed this information onto Ruby who took things in quiet acceptance. Putting on the recording again he'd trained and trained until he could feel his arms practically burning in pain and his legs about to collapse under him. When that happened sometimes he found the strength to keep going finding his limitations had increased. Tonight apparently hadn't been one of those nights.

Craning his head as not to upset the redhead leaning on him he saw Crocea Mors and Crescent Rose safely perched against the tree side. Jaune didn't remember sheathing his weapon nor did he remember placing it in such an easy to reach place. On top of that he was pretty sure he hadn't been perched against a tree when his vision went dark.

"Ruby…" His words were barely above a whisper when her name fell through his lips. Besides a slight shaking of the head there was no indication she'd be awakening from her sleep any time soon. Her soft breathing was all he needed to know that she was deep in her dreams. "You're going too far for me…just like she did." Jaune felt his hands dig into the grass inviting dirt between his finger nails. They were still throbbing from the overexertion of his training. Knocking his head against the tree trunk he saw the rays of moonlight reaching through the tree's branches. How long had he been out? When did Ruby find him? Why had he only just woken up now? Usually he slept through the entire night and was only awoken when someone went searching for him then dragged him back for breakfast. Ruby had just now broken that cycle.

How am I supposed to get back to sleep now? Then again it wasn't like sleeping had helped him much. In his dreams he always saw the same thing-him failing to save the woman he loved. When nightmares was all he had to look forwards to sleep rapidly fell from his list of wants. Besides, every hour he spent sleeping was another lost he could spend honing his skills so he wouldn't lose Ren or Nora.

Or Ruby.

"I'm sorry."

"Hm?"

He'd only looked away for a minute or two but in that short span of time Ruby's peaceful face had changed dramatically. Her face was twisted into a fearfully frown while shivering racked over her body as if she alone were huddled in the middle of a winter storm.

"I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry. I'm sorry." She repeated unknowingly clinging onto Jaune as if he were a lifeline. "I know. I know! I should have…I should…have…I'm sorry…I'm sorry. I'm sorry…I'm sorry." There were tears now rolling freely from her shut eyes as she began rocking back and forth like a frightened child. In that moment Ruby Rose, the once admired freshman of Vale was gone and in her place was a little girl Jaune could hardly recognize.

Completely overridden b shock Jaune couldn't respond until he heard a name come through Ruby's lips. It was a name that brought sober clarity to his mind as well as explained this entire situation.

"Pyrrha…"

"I'm sorry…I'm sorry…I'm sorry." Ruby sobbed clenching at Jaune in her sleep. "Please come back…please…please…please…don't leave us…please…please…please…I don't want you to leave. Don't leave…don't leave…don't leave me."

All the dots seemingly connected right then and there inside his mind. His cerulean eyes drifted to the rose-red cloak they were currently wrapped in, dryness biting at the edge of his mouth.

"I styled it…after the one my mom used to wear." Ruby had once told her. According to her the only difference between hers' and her mother's was that Summer Rose's cloak was stark white. He thought it oddly fitting for the leader of a team called Team STRQ just as Ruby led Team RWBY.

Stark white and ruby red… He'd once mused thinking God had an odd sense of humor. Looking down at his crying friend Jaune felt his body moving while his mind remained almost entirely blank. "Shhh, Ruby, it's okay." His arms fell over her pressing her against his chest allowing his chin to settle over her head. "It's…it's okay, it's okay." Rocking his body with hers he could feel her shaking decease little by little even if the sobbing continued. "I'm right here so let it all out." It was painful realizing how selfish he'd been as well as how blind he was to the reaper he'd known since day one at Beacon. You…you always put on that brave smile so no one sees how sad you are on the inside right? It wasn't that different from him constantly putting on his Casanova disguise to mask his crippling shyness as well as his uselessness. With Pyrrha and Ruby he never had to do such things nor did they allow him to do so. "Ruby, I'm right here." He said again as another heartfelt sob choked her body.

"J-Jaune?" her broken voice pierced the night.

"I'm here Ruby, I'm here and I'm not going anywhere so don't worry." He stated.

Her face disappeared back into his chest, and eventually so too did the sobbing. He stayed with her until her soft breathing indicated the nightmares that had taken hold of her had passed. If they returned he'd be there to weather them with her; she had after all done the same for him when he needed it. Minutes passed and her slumber remained peaceful bringing a smile to his face. You're always able to do that to me Ruby.

Examining it Jaune could now see Ruby's new cloak was a clear perfect representation of herself. Unlike the first one the edges were now torn and uneven, as if some unseen damage had been done to it. In nerd terms it was battle-damaged just as its owner was. It went well with her new outfit; she now looked less like a girl and more like a maturing woman. I guess I wasn't the only one who realized he had to grow up. In spite of its appearance it still offered the same comfort it had to Ruby in the past, and to him as well. Feeling a peace he'd long since forgotten Jaune allowed his eyes to flutter shut letting sleep in now unafraid of what it would bring. Having Ruby's soft breathing tickling his neck only hastened his decent.

The following morning Ren and Nora would find the two tightly wrapped up in Ruby's signature cloak, both sound asleep with expressions of peace on their faces. Smiles broke out along their faces before they decided to wake their companions to inform them breakfast was ready. As they stretched and yawned both caught the other's eye. In that look a silent exchange took place.

Thank you.

The odds hadn't been with them, and yet not for the first time they'd beaten the odds and emerged victorious. Ruby was still having a hard time believing she'd managed to save her uncle's life it seemed hope was finally ready to desert them. It almost had, but Jaune had been there to grab it and hold down long enough for them to pull through.

She'd be forever grateful to the people of the town of Egio. A stray patrol into the destroyed village of Kuroyuri and the next thing anyone knew it seemed a small army had descended onto the desolate town turning it into a warzone. Everything from the last twelve hours were nothing but a blur to her except for one thing-she was alive and so were all the people she'd cared about. She hadn't lost anyone else. In addition to that she now had a newfound love for airships, especially ones equipped with twenty millimeter assault guns. Never had she thought hearing the fury of an airship could be so relieving.

Egio was unlike the other villages they'd past, whereas the previous villages were far eastern in architecture and layout Egio was a Greek-style town of fair size and stature. On foot it would have taken them almost a full week to reach Egio, and that's if they deviated from their original path towards the capital of Mistral. Amongst the multitude of settlements Mistral had to offer Egio was for the most part heavily fortified and well-connected to the central government. Protected by thirty foot walls with mounted gun batteries and daily patrols it was a human settlement that had shouldered many years of abuse and hardship to emerge stronger than ever. With a fairly component defense force its twenty thousand residents were able to live relatively free of strife, even with the fall of CCT from what she heard things had been manageable.

It was because of all of those things she could now breathe a sigh of relief by one of the countless rivers that crisscrossed the town. A cold chill had blown in from the mountains, luckily she kept her cloak with her when it did. Amongst the haze of memories she realized she hadn't taken it off since arrival. Whipping it off her shoulders she examined the countless new tears and holes in it. "I guess I'm going to have to get a tailor to take a look at this; wouldn't want it getting torn up before we get to Mistral."

"I could always take a look at it for you if you want." A familiar male voice sounded behind her.

Sitting up she saw Jaune approaching her from down the street. As she expected his left arm was still in a cast that hung from his shoulder, his right hand had a thick set of white wraps around it, and a butterfly bandage had been placed near the edge of his right eyebrow. All the other stitches and wrappings he'd had to have were hidden by the navy blue t-shirt and jeans he'd been gifted with at the hospital. There was a visible limp in his step that told her his body was still healing from the thrashing it had taken. Though he hadn't been given any sort of cane or bracer to walk with it was clear having one would have made his recovery a little easier.

"I…I thought you would have stayed at the hospital to look after Ren and Nora." She started as he took a seat beside her.

"I…would have, but the doctors told me they were out of danger and said I should relax. Staying in there wouldn't have helped me relax, so I decided to track down the one person who I can always be relaxed around." The blond answered grinning.

Ruby felt as if she were going to burst into tears at seeing the look on Jaune's face. If she had to guess it'd been almost a year since she'd seen such joy on his face. Not that she could blame him, they hadn't had much to smile about over the past few months. Now they finally did. "Let's change sits." She suddenly said standing up and moving aside so he could slide over. Now she could lean on his shoulder without worrying about reopening old wounds. "I can't believe we survived that mess."

"You're telling me. For a minute there, I seriously thought we were done for. Between the…thing from the forest of hell and Grimm hordes I…I didn't think we were going to make it out of that village alive." Jaune offered looking at the riverside with half glazed over eyes.

"We wouldn't have survived…not if you hadn't been there." Ruby added wrapping one arm around his waist. "Pyrrha…did she know about this?"

"No, but I think she had an idea." He calmly answered welcoming her touch. "She always said my Semblance was defensive, I just wasn't expecting deflector shields to be it. I kind of wish she was here to see it. I think she would have been proud."

"She would have been proud." The reaper chuckled. "It suits you ya 'know, an anti-army Semblance that throws back whatever the hell is thrown at it with almost twice as much force. It also looked pretty cool too."

The first time Jaune activated his Semblance was when Cardin was inches away from punching his lights out, the next thing he knew everyone was lying on the ground groaning in pain while he only felt a little light-headed. There had been a bright white light then, when he consciously activated his Semblance the light turned bright yellow, almost golden in radiance. According to Ren and a few of the pilots who were watching the scene from the sky it resembled a shining star.

With tender and care she rubbed her knuckles against Jaune's cheek catching his attention. Illuminated by moon and street light Jaune's bruised face looked almost three years older. Sometimes Ruby forgot Jaune was eighteen, legally speaking he was an adult and in that moment his face looked it. "Jaune, you saved my uncle's life, you saved Nora's life, Ren's, and you…you saved mine."

Her touch was like that of a feather with all the warmth of a campfire; losing himself in it was all he wanted to. All of it, all of it was worth it. It was okay if he no told stories about him or praised his name as a paragon or remarkable Huntsman. Within walking distance his two remaining teammates lay safely in their hospital beds recovering while her best friend's uncle and idol did the same. Right in front of him was his best friend, bruised and wounded like he was, but alive none the same. That's all the power I need, just enough to keep the people I love safe. That's…that's all I want out of any of this. Silently pressing his forehead against Ruby he allowed the peace of the moment to swallow him just as it did her.

Slowly but certainly Ruby's hands spread across Jaune's cheek while inside her stomach a fire burned. It's now…or never. Steadying her breath as she pulled away from him she looked into his eyes for acceptance. All the advice Yang had given her came rushing back in jumbled up order, the only clear thing she could fish out of the miss was her sister's words on making sure both parties wanted what happened next to happen. She looked into Jaune's puzzled eyes hoping he got the message. It took him almost ten seconds to give her answer. Framing his face Ruby pressed her lips against his unsure if she was doing it right, this was after all her first kiss. At first when Jaune didn't respond she felt like pulling back and was about to, but then she could feel his free hand wrapping around her waist. Not long after that she felt him return her kiss in full.

The time eventually came for the blond and redhead to separate for air, when it did both of them could feel the fire inside them pushing them to reconnect once the need of oxygen had been filled. During that time the two looked at each other with crimson cheeks. Each could still taste the other on their lips, and it left them wanting of more.

A minute passed before Jaune smiled at Ruby, a smile that told the reaper everything she needed to know. Framing his face again she leaned in enjoying the taste of the knight's lips who found hers' equally enjoyable. Time disappeared and the world outside of each other faded away leaving nothing but the cool wind and warmth they felt. Ruby's tattered red cloak wrapped around the blond encasing him as it had done three times before. In time they'd break apart and return to their comrades. Once they were healed and rested they'd board an airship for Mistral and hopefully find answers. After that they'd make plans for the future, but all that would come later. For now Jaune and Ruby simply held onto each other, grateful despite all the darkness they'd crossed, they still had each other and would hold on for as long as possible.

"So what do you think?" The blond knight asked his startled girlfriend as she stood up from their dinner table.

Ruby had to give her boyfriend credit for playing the game well. Over the past four years he'd gotten better at wowing women or maybe he'd just gotten better at sweeping her off her feet. Either way once she realized what it was he'd draped over her shoulders all the pieces came together. In retrospect she should have seen it coming. She was gone for almost four days giving Jaune enough time to modify her cloak in whatever way he saw fit. Beaming at him she ran to the nearest mirror down the hall to see what he'd thought of.

Years of living side by side had caused her artistic senses to rub off on him. She was breathless to find he'd sowed various roses onto the cloak's front and back, roses blooming and petals scattered in magnificent scrollwork all done in jet-black that complimented the cloak's deep red. Waving around to examine every inch of it she realized the shades of red and black were a perfect match for her hair, now grown to the middle of her back. Feeling the soft texture beneath her hands made her feel as if she were moving her hands through a pile of feathers.

"J-Jaune, this is…I don't even know where to start." She laughed hearing the knight enter the hallway.

Leaning against the wall with his arms cross he added, "It's more than a fashion statement, try adding your Aura to it."

Immediately doing as he said she felt the texture of the cloak change instantly. Removing it from her shoulders and holding it up Ruby was breathless to find the rose petals were now glowing with crimson-light. Based solely on what she was feeling and seeing this cloak was much stronger than she believed. Later on in the week she'd have to test out just how strong it was. Spinning on her heel she saw her boyfriend grinning like an idiot. "How did you make this? I thought you sucked at Dust infusion?"

"A little practice here and there can go a long way, having help helps too." Jaune responded.

In a heartbeat she jumped into his arms nearly knocking him off his feet while screaming thank you over and over again. Regaining his balance he carried her over to the living room coach where he let gravity bring him down leaving his girlfriend straddling him. "So I take it you like it?"

Leaning down she passionately pressed her lips against his, barely a second later their mouths opened allowing their tongues to get reacquainted. Pulling back with a foxy grin Ruby answered, "I love it Vomit Boy."

"I figured you would Crater Face." The knight laughed wrapping his arms around her wait to pull her back down.

Ruby offered no protest as for her the only thing better than being wrapped in her cloak was being in the arms of her boyfriend. For Jaune the only thing better than snuggling beside Ruby under her cloak was having her arms wrapped around him and his around her.

I never was able to tell you to your face how cute you looked with that cloak wrapped around your neck. By the time I did you stopped being cute and started looking beautiful. I guess I'm lucky by then I didn't have to tell you because you already knew.

But I'm still happy when you do.

Fin.

I'm kicking myself for dragging my feet in making this. I must say though, writing this fic put my nerves at ease. Looking over it I'm quite proud to say this is my first straight Lancaster story. With any luck I'll be writing more Lancaster one shots in the future, maybe even a lemon or two for Valentine's Day or do one when spring gets here. Leave a review to let me know what you thought and be safe readers!