Love Heals All Wounds

Staying Behind

Hey guys, this is AnimeFan299110, coming to you with the newest fandom story in my lineup. I wanted to make an AU Dragon Slayer fic because there are so few out there and I feel that with has happened between these two blondes, they could help each other heal.

As per usual, I do not own the rights to RWBY, its characters, or locations. They are all owned by the good folks at Rooster Teeth and, of course, the great and powerful Monty Oum. Wherever you are, Monty, this is my way of saying thanks for creating such an amazing show.

Jaune Arc sat on the edge of his bed staring down at the ground with a sullen look on his face. It had been several days since Beacon Academy had been attacked by Grimm and the once prestigious school fell to Cinder Fall and her gang of cronies. Many people, including some of their classmates, survived and escaped, but others were brutally killed by those horrid beasts. Jaune, along with his teammates Nora and Ren, were able to escape and ended up at the house of Taiyang Xiao Long, Yang Xiao Long and Ruby Rose's father.

Both teams suffered heavy losses that day; Yang lost an arm trying to save her teammate Blake from Adam Taurus, leader of the White Fang and Blake's ex-boyfriend. Weiss' father picked her up to take her back to their home in Atlas and Blake had run off after the battle.

As for Jaune, Nora, and Ren, they had perhaps suffered the greatest loss of all: a comrade. Pyrrha Nikos was a skilled fighter and tactician who had graduated at the top of her class at Sanctum Academy. She had also won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row. Sadly, however, she was killed by Cinder after she had kissed Jaune and sent him flying toward the city of Vale in a locker.

A wave of emotions had stirred inside him after what had happened; some of which included shock, sadness, remorse, and confusion. However, the one dominant emotion that had been stirring inside Jaune ever since that day was anger. He was angry at Ozpin and his associates for deciding that Pyrrha should be the next Fall Maiden and thus putting her life at risk. He was angry at General Ironwood for questioning Ozpin and relying heavily on advanced robots that would eventually turn on the people of Vale. He was even angry at Pyrrha, though he was more frustrated than angry, for the fact that she believed it was her duty to take on Cinder even though it was a pointless battle.

But the one person he was angry at the most was himself. He was angry for the fact that he had failed to keep one of his teammates safe. He was angry that he couldn't do more to ward off the Grimm. And, of course, he was angry at the fact that he had completely ignored Pyrrha's hints indicating that she liked him. He had spent so much wasted time trying to hook up with Weiss that he couldn't see what was right in front of him. If he hadn't been so clueless and had actually picked up on Pyrrha admitting that she liked him, maybe they could have had time to spend together as a couple. Fate, it seems, had other ideas.

"Jaune?" A familiar monotone voice asked, snapping Jaune from his thoughts. He looked up to see Nora and Ren staring at him with concern. Jaune also noticed that they both were carrying their travel packs along with a rolled-up mattress pad.

"Hey, guys." Jaune said casually as he tried to put on a smile. "Are you guys going somewhere?"

"Yes we are." Ren said. "We're going to Mistral with Ruby to try and reach Haven Academy. We'll be leaving soon."

"Yepper!" Nora said in a chipper voice. "So let's get you packin'!" Immediately, she raced around the room grabbing whatever she could find and began stuffing it all into Jaune's personal travel pack.

As Nora continued her comedic method of packing, Jaune felt torn. On one hand, it was essential to get to Mistral and Haven to try and find out anything that might help defeat Cinder and her cronies. But then again, he felt as though he didn't deserve the privilege of going on this journey. One of his own teammates had died on his watch; he wasn't even sure he deserved to be a leader, let alone a huntsman.