Chapter 20 – At the End of All Things

When Weiss had entered the clearing to find Pyrrha lying in a pool of her own blood, Jaune crying over her unmoving body and all of CRDL unconscious, a few different thoughts entered her mind.

When Velvet came running at them completely hysteric and in tears, Weiss had assumed the worst while Ruby took Velvet back to Beacon.

She hadn't actually expected the worse would happen though.

She slowly crept into the grove and stood next to Jaune. Weiss placed a hand on his shoulder and he looked up at her with bloodshot eyes.

"Is she…?" Weiss honestly didn't know how to phrase it, luckily Jaune got the gist.

"I don't know, I've been healing her the best I can but…"

Weiss swiftly kneeled next to him and put her head to Pyrrha's chest.

Silence.

Weiss' eyes began to water as she slowly looked to Jaune.

"She's-"

'Thump thump."

"Alive! Pyrrha's alive Jaune, but barely. We need to get her medical attention immediately!"

Jaune nodded furiously and stood up, snaking a hand under Pyrrha's knees and another between her shoulders to lift her bridal style.

The two set off for Beacon at once.

Hours had passed by this point and Jaune sat in the waiting room of Beacon's Medical Bay, it was well past midnight and the rest of the group had left for bed.

Jaune couldn't though. He knew he wouldn't be getting any sleep that night. So he opted to wait for Pyrrha to wake up so he could apologize and beg for her forgiveness.

It was his fault she was injured in the first place.

Jaune didn't notice the guys following him in the beginning, he didn't sneak away when he could've, he didn't deal with Russel when he could've and worst of all: he didn't notice Russel's attack.

And that cost Pyrrha more than Jaune thought he could repay.

'I'm still so worthless. I've been training for months now, months and still there's no improvement. I'm still as weak and useless as when I got here.'

Jaune almost laughed when he thought back to what Ozpin told him after he relayed today's events.

"Mr Arc, you do realize that Cardin was shipped off to Vacuo for his sentence, don't you? Even if he were able to escape, which is also unlikely seeing as the prisons guards are all droids designed by James Ironwood, he would have to go great distances to get back to Beacon."

Jaune merely stood, mouth agape, staring at Ozpin. "So all that stuff Russel said was-"

"Entirely fabricated." Ozpin replied as he took a sip from his mug.

"Now I suggest you go and speak to Miss Scarlatina about this, she seemed to be having a rough time."

That was something he didn't really want to remember, the talk with Velvet.

While Pyrrha was lying in that clearing and Jaune could only cry over what he thought was her corpse, he realized something.

Jaune loves Pyrrha more than anything.

He loves her more than his parents, his childhood, and his team. Jaune loves her more than himself, more than Ruby, Weiss, Blake, Yang and most importantly, he loves her more than Velvet.

That was not news she took very well.

Velvet was ecstatic; Cardin wasn't going to be coming back after all. She had the biggest grin of her life on her face.

She ran up to Jaune and wrapped her arms around him, bringing her face closer to his until-

Jaune stopped her.

"Velvet, listen." He truly had no way of telling her this; he never did anything like it before. Blake was the one who did all this work for him last time.

But when he saw those confused eyes on Velvet's face, Jaune knew he had to do this now, for her sake.

"Velvet, I love you, you know I love you, but I'm sorry. I love Pyrrha more."

When tears began to swell in Velvets eyes, Jaune had to hold back his own. "I-I see," She said as she pulled her arms back. "No you're right, that makes sense. She stood and fought valiantly by your side while I ran away like a coward."

Jaune was shocked to hear this. "No Velvet, that's not-"

"But it is Jaune, that proves who she is as a person, who we both are. I just…"

She turned around, hiding her tears from her once best friend. "I hope you can be happy together."

Then she ran, she ran as far from Jaune as she could and as much as Jaune wanted to go after her and tell her he loved her more:

Jaune knew he couldn't lie.

It hurt just to think about it, but Jaune knew it was for the best.

He felt tears of his own coming to his eyes as he let his mind wonder more about whether or not he'll see her in the morning, but soon felt himself falling asleep as exhaustion from the day finally took effect.

The only solace he found was imagining the look on Pyrrha's face when she wakes up to him confessing to her.

Jaune fell asleep in moments, waiting for the news of Pyrrha's immediate recovery so he could apologize already.

Hours would pass before that happened and Jaune was lucky enough to sleep through them all, when Pyrrha herself had finally woken up a nurse was sent to retrieve her leader.

"Mr Arc, Mr Arc!"

"Huh? Uwah…" Jaune woke up feeling groggy and tired, finding a nurse attempting to shake him awake.

"Mr Arc, Pyrrha Nikos has woken up and wishes to see you."

Jaune's eyes bolted open instantly and he frantically looked around the room. "Where is she?"

"She's in the room down the end of the hall, last door on the left." Jaune nodded his thanks and took off.

When he reached the door however, he hesitated. He wasn't sure whether or not Pyrrha would forgive him for making such a huge mistake.

He couldn't help but sigh. 'No other way to find out.'

The door opened swiftly and Jaune was taking slow, deliberate steps towards the only bed in the room.

"Jaune? I wasn't expecting you so soon."

Despite the fact his partner was sitting in front of him smiling warmly with her hair let down, Jaune could only see the white bandages wrapped around her wound. It would definitely leave a scar.

"Pyrrha, I'm so sorry you got hurt because of me. I was useless in that fight and you got hurt and it was all my fault and-"

"Jaune, it's okay. I forgive you." He looked up to see her warm smile again and felt tears welling in his eyes once more.

He let them fall this time as he walked closer to his partner and wrapped his arms around her.

"How could you say that when you're in this position…"

Pyrrha almost chuckled. "Because I'm in love with you, why else?"

Jaune laughed as he took a step away from her and wiped his eyes.

"About that."

Pyrrha looked confused and just the slightest bit worried when he said that. "What is it?" She asked hesitantly as Jaune stepped closer to her.

"Pyrrha," Jaune whispered as he slowly moved his head closer to hers.

Their lips met softly as Jaune wrapped his arms around her once more, making sure to watch out for her bandages.

When they parted, Jaune could only say one thing. "I'm in love with you."

Pyrrha's eyes began to water from the amount of joy she felt at those words. But there were steps that needed to be taken. "W-what about Velvet?" She asked.

Jaune shook his head. "I love her, but I'm not in love with her like I am with you. I realized recently... that I care about you more than anything Pyrrha."

He kissed her once again for good measure.

Pyrrha let her tears fall as she pulled him into a hug. "I love you too Jaune, I love you so much. You don't know how long I've waited to hear that from you."

Jaune hugged her back, not even caring about her wound anymore; he pulled her in as tightly as he could.

"I know you've waited a long time, and I'm sorry for that. I guess the only thing we can do" Jaune kissed her again. "Is make up for lost time."

Pyrrha's only reply was yet another kiss.

Ozpin was kind enough to give Pyrrha some time off class to recover and through some persuasion, Jaune managed to snag a few days to 'help' her too.

So none of team RWBY could see either of them for the next few days, nor did they manage to catch a glimpse of Velvet either.

Eventually though, through Pyrrha's aura and the help of someone else's, she had made a full recovery and was ready to get back to classes.

That morning, Jaune woke up to his morning kiss from Pyrrha, she really wanted to make up for lost time, and got ready for the day.

Pyrrha was only allowed to receive visits from team members and although Ren and Nora dropped in every now and again, they decided to leave the lovebirds to their business.

They wanted some alone time in the dorm themselves anyway.

Therefore, Jaune wasn't very surprised that when he entered the cafeteria that morning, both he and Pyrrha were glomped by Ruby.

Yang, Blake and Weiss also walked over to greet them but they weren't nearly as enthusiastic as Ruby was about it.

After prying the small girl off of them and readjusting their vertebrae from the sheer force of the hug, Jaune and Pyrrha began answering questions.

Sadly, the first one was of course: "Have you seen Velvet?"

Weiss always knew how to bring down a good mood. "No, you guys haven't seen from her either?" Jaune asked fearfully.

A chorus of shaking "No"s was the reply. Jaune sighed in frustration. "She wasn't lying then, she really couldn't stand to see us together…"

They were all slightly confused by this. "What do you mean?" Yang asked. Jaune was confused also as he turned to Ren and Nora. "You didn't tell them?"

Ren shook his head as Nora spoke up. "We thought you'd want to see their faces."

Jaune laughed at the thought of Nora actually managing to keep a secret for once. "Tell us what?" Blake asked.

Jaune looked between the four of them and smiled softly, grabbing Pyrrha's hand and lifting it up. "We're going out." He announced as he waited for their reaction.

Nora was right, he was glad he saw it. All four girls gasped in shock, Weiss was trying her hardest not to be interested while Yang gave them a smirk that said 'ammunition acquired', Blake only smiled softly at the new couple while Ruby jumped around ecstatically with a huge grin on her face.

Jaune laughed at the commotion while he looked over the cafeteria in search of a familiar pair of brown ears.

He saw nothing.

Internally sighing, Jaune turned his attention back to the girls. Yang was talking to Blake about all the 'stuff' Jaune and Pyrrha would've gotten up to while they were alone and Ruby was telling Weiss all the ideas of what their kids would look like.

All in all it was a happy moment. Jaune felt Pyrrha squeeze his hand and lean on his shoulder. "I'm sure she'll be alright eventually." She whispered as she closed her eyes.

Jaune rested his head atop hers as he whispered back. "I hope so."

"Hey, hey it's okay Velv." Coco was holding Velvet in her arms as she whispered soothing words into her ear. "We'll get the next guy, I promise."

Velvet continued to sob as she held her leader as tightly as possible. "But I loved him Co. I loved him, I can't just forget about that."

Coco held her tighter. "Then don't, never forget anything you've learned during all this. Use it to your advantage and let it make you a stronger person." Velvet's sobs seemed to quieten down.

"Failure isn't the end Velv." Coco announced as she looked into Velvet's innocent, bloodshot eyes.

"It's the next step towards success."

Velvet looked away as she took her friends words into account. 'She's right, I'll just have to buck up and try again with someone else.'

"Thanks Coco, I needed that." Her friend smiled softly as she ruffled Velvets hair. "Come on, Yatsuhashi and Fox are at the Training Grounds, I think they'll want you to come along this time."

Velvet laughed softly as she picked up her case and followed her leader out the door.

'I'm sorry Jaune, but I guess this really is goodbye.'

Team JNPR sat in their dorm passing the time by doing whatever they could to keep themselves entertained.

Nora was bouncing on her bed singing a song completely offbeat while the new couple was sitting on Jaune's bed wrapped in each other's arms.

Ren however, was looking at them. 'I can't believe all that's happened recently. There have been some good moments and a lot of bad ones. But throughout it all, we've come out as different people. I'm certain that no matter how long I may live for,' He smiled at the two and turned his attention to Nora before she could shatter the roof.

'I'll never forget this tale of Jaune's Escapades.'

The End.

Aaaaaand done. It's been fun guys and I know I've destroyed plenty of your hopes for Jaune and Velvet, but this was how it was going to end from the beginning.

Although I will admit that I feel like a jerk for doing all that to Velvet. I had planned to make up for it by putting in an alternate ending where Jaune get's with her instead, but that blew out of proportion so now it's a story.

If you want to see my apology to Velvet, it's uploading right after this.

Thank you to everyone who read this dribble of mine that was born from my brain juices, thanks to everyone who gave criticism and to all who reviewed and gave ideas. Let's just hope it doesn't take another four months to write a measly forty five thousand word story.