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Smoke on the wind, as he rushed past terrified citizens towards a crumbling tower. In a rush of red, he feels small hands lifting under his arms as the world blurs. Though he can’t see her he knows it is Ruby.
The blurring red movement halts as they reach the top of the tower. He feels his body seize at the sight before him. Pyrrha collapsed on the ground, weapons shattered around her and blood beginning to pool beneath her from various cuts and burns. Above her is Cinder, reaching down to lift Pyrrha’s chin to meet the villain's blazing eyes.
He can’t move, his limbs suddenly sluggish and heavy as sweat beads down his neck. He can’t even open his mouth to yell, to do anything. But Ruby, forgotten in his shock, does scream. And with it, the world turns white. As the blinding light starts to consume his vision, Pyrrha and Cinder fading, his lungs finally find the air to give voice to his devastation.
As he wakes, Jaune struggles to move, like his dream has followed to the waking world. Once he does free an arm and can sit up the room finally comes into focus. He is tangled in the sheets, locking his limbs and contributing to his profuse sweating. Looking around to orient and calm himself, he tries to slow his racing thoughts with the reminder that he is at home in their bed.
His distress from the nightmare does not lessen however, as he notices Pyrrha isn’t here in bed. Paranoia and doubt take hold of his mind for a moment and forces him to untangle from the sheets. Once free, he quickly makes his way out of the bedroom and downstairs. It is only upon rounding the corner and seeing Pyrrha standing at the stove, cooking breakfast while one of their children sits at the table coloring, that Jaune can pause, heart rate finally starting to slow as he stands in the doorway.
Pyrrha notices him after a moment, looking over her shoulder to smile at him.
“Good morning, Jaune. Do y-” She starts to say, pausing as she takes in his startled expression.
Using her semblance, Pyrrha places the pan and spatula she was using on the counter, hand darting out to turn off the stove so she can hurry over to Jaune. She takes his head into her hands, meeting his worried gaze.
“What happened?”
Jaune glances away, hands coming up to gently hold Pyrrha’s waist as he hums, “Nothing, just a bad dream is all.”
Not to be perturbed, Pyrrha pulls Jaune into a quick kiss before taking his hands to guide him into the kitchen proper. She pulls out a chair and helps him settle down into it.
“Sounds like more than that, Jaune. I think I know just what you need though.” Pyrrha says as she glances over at their eldest daughter, Cerise.
Prepared, the young red head gets up from the table to help her mother. Cerise grabs a plate to place in front of her dad before running to the fridge to begin pulling out some containers of fruits and cream. Pyrrha, having gone back to the stove, brings over a stack of pancakes she had been making.
Cerise then returns as well, placing the bowls around the table before excitedly shouting, “Birthday pancakes!”
Jaune’s expression is of minor shock before morphing into a wide grin. With the panic from his morning he had entirely forgotten it was his birthday, not to mention his birthday always felt overshadowed with his many siblings so it was easy for even himself to forget. With guidance from Cerise on what makes the perfect stack of birthday pancakes, Jaune and her quickly built and then quickly began to devour their breakfast. Pyrrha chuckled fondly as she finished cooking a few more pancakes.
“I’m going to go wake Chyrs. Don’t eat all the pancakes now you two.” Pyrrha said before heading upstairs to wake their young son.
She brings down the 7 year old, his blonde hair messy as he rubs sleep from his eyes. As Pyrrha sits him down Jaune leans over to ruffle his hair.
“Hey buddy, ya want some birthday pancakes?”
This wakes the young boy further. “Is it my birthday?”
Pyrrha places a small plate of pancakes in front of Chrys while softly laughing.
“No silly, it’s daddy’s birthday.”
Once Pyrrha joins them with her own filled plate, the small family continues to eat and converse, laughing softly throughout. Once everyone has had their fill, Pyrrha claps her hands.
“Okay everyone, time to get dressed! We have a party to get to!”
Jaune can’t help but smile widely as Pyrrha escorts Chrys to help him get ready. It’s still hard to believe he got a woman like her, so kind, considerate, and loving. A birthday party just for him? He had to find a way to repay her properly, a way to make her next birthday memorable.
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As they arrive at Valewood park, Jaune is greeted by their group of friends and some of their children. Some like Weiss or Coco he hadn’t seen in awhile. As Ren manned the grill, Nora and Yang led the party games for the children, and Jaune got to catching up with everyone. Pyrrha watched him from her seat at the picnic table, sipping her drink as Ruby came over.
“Sooooo, have you told him yet?” Ruby said with a wide grin.
Pyrrha hid her giggle by swiftly taking a sip of her drink. Ruby had helped Pyrrha with much of the logistics for this party, informing everyone and helping to plan and set everything up. As such, she had also learned the news that Pyrrha planned to share with Jaune.
“No, I have been waiting for today. He is gonna get many gifts from the others, and that is when I will share the news.”
Ruby danced with anticipation. “I can’t wait to see the surprise on his face!”
Before Pyrrha could continue the conversation Ruby dashed off to her sister and Blake who were playing tug of war with all of the kids. Pyrrha watched as Ruby whispered to them, pointing towards the table that held the gifts. She saw the other two nod at the younger’s words. Pyrrha knew she could count on them to ensure the perfect presentation of Pyrrha’s gift.
After a bit longer of chatting and letting the children run amok, Nora gave a shout to draw everyone’s attention, “IT’S TIME FOR CAAAAAAAKE!”
Instantly everyone, adult and child alike, swiftly made their way back around the picnic tables. Pyrrha stood prepared to help cut and serve slices while Yang helped to light the candles. One year she had tried to light them with a shot from her gauntlets, which had led to the cake being beautifully splattered across a nearby wall. Luckily she had learned her lesson since then.
As Jaune settled in front in the seat of honor, blushing and smiling awkwardly through the song, Pyrrha felt nerves of excitement race through her. It was almost time.
Once cake was devoured (and Nora kept from starting a cake eating contest with an 8 year old), Pyrrha collected everyone’s attention once more. It was time for Jaune to open gifts. Cards with heartfelt messages, various accoutrement, and an impressive set of blade oils from Ruby. Then finally, it was Pyrrha’s turn to present her gift.
As she stood up, nerves racing through her as everyone quieted down, Jaune was captivated by her even though she hadn’t said a word yet. Walking forward to stand in front of him, she took a deep breath before beginning.
“Jaune, it has been another amazing year of getting to love you, to see our family grow and change.”
Out of the corner of her eye Pyrrha could see Ruby wiggling in her seat excitedly. Pyrrha held the tension for one more moment before continuing.
“And with that, my gift is for our family to continue to grow.” She said slowly.
Placing a hand on her belly, Pyrrha smiled brightly at Jaune as happy tears welled in her eyes. With her other hand, she reaches toward him.
Slack-jawed and wide-eyed, it takes a few moments for Jaune to fully process everything. After a moment, still slightly bewildered, he reaches out to take her hand offered to him.
“Y-you’re serious?” Jaune whispers to her, eyes watery and voice filled with awe.
Pyrrha laughs and vigorously nods. Jaune’s tears and laughter follow quickly as he wraps his arms around her to spin them around. After setting her down Jaune quickly pulls Pyrrha into a kiss, swaying together as their gathered friends cheer for them, and mostly drowning out the noises of their children loudly sighing at seeing their parents giving such a cute public display. Breaking apart with a laugh, the pair enjoy their intimate closeness for another moment before turning to fully acknowledge the rest of the friends and family.
As Jaune looked at all their faces sharing in his joy, he felt the tears really well up, spilling over in large rivers down his cheeks. He sniffled, wiping at his eyes to no avail. He couldn't help but ask himself how he got so lucky. And soon enough, he would get to share this joy with another new soul.