RWBY x OC fanfiction: The (not so) lonely boy

Chapter 19- I think I love you!

"You can't fight that thing alone, Zakai!" Ruby shouted at him as he struggled to stay mounted on the Nuckelavee.
"Oh yeah? Watch m-" he was interrupted as it let out a fierce shriek, causing everyone to grab their ears, including Zakai, who stumbled and lost balance, falling off the Grimms back.
He braced to hit the ground but instead felt the arms of someone catching him as they both crashed into the ground and slid a few feet.
"Are you okay?" Ruby asked him. She was the one who caught him.
"Huh....yeah. I'm fine," he smiled as he stood up and helped her up in return.
"Good, cause we're gonna need all the help we can get." She pulled her scythe out and spun it a few times before resting it behind her back, her signature pose.
His vision went static and he saw a younger Ruby in different clothes in the same pose. The vision vanished as he blinked.
"Well, what are we waiting for?" He asked as he twirled his weapon in his hand a few times before holding it backwards. "Let's go get 'em."
Juan, Ruby, and Zakai all ran at the Nuckelavee. It swung as they got closer to it. Zakai threw his sword, causing it to wrap around the Grimm's' hand. He planted his feet in the ground and pulled back, preventing it from swinging as Ruby and Juan got some hits in before jumping back as it yanked its arm, sending Zakai flying upside down in the air where he returned the sword to his hand, only to throw it at Juan, who, thankfully, caught up on his idea and caught it by the chain and spun, letting Zakai get a good kick on the Grimm's head before the sword returned to his hand and he landed on the ground next to him.
The Nuckelavee wasn't affected at all, and instead, shrieked again, making them cover their ears once more.
The shrieking stopped with an explosion of pink.
"Are y'all okay?" Nora asked as she ran up next to them all, Rin by her side.
"Took your sweet time, huh?" Zakai jokingly remarked.
"Sorry," Ren said as he looked up at the Grimm. His eyes seemed full of anger and he was about to charge before Zakai stopped him.
"No! It's not an easy foe that one of us can take down," he said. Ren just stood there in silent agreement.
"Good," Ruby said.
"Well then," Juan put his sword inside of his shield. The shield transformed into a larger blade, making it a two-handed sword.
"Nice," Ruby smirked.
"Guess we're goin all out then," Zakai sighed as he scratched the back of his head. Black dust traveled down the chain to his sword, forming the rest of the sword that was missing with dust.
He charged at the Grimm, slashing at its feet as Ruby snipped it. Juan attacked its feet with Zakai. The dust switched from black to blue and Zakai shoved the blade into the Grimm's foot. An explosion of ice froze its foot in place, also sending Zakai flying. He flipped back and landed on his feet before he was able to hit the ground. The dust switched to red and he charged at it again. It swatted at him with his claws. He blocked just in time, but the impact broke a few of his ribs. He sucked the pain up and flipped the blade over and shoved it into the Nuckelavee's hand, causing a fiery explosion.
"Now!" He shouted as it stumbled back. Rin finished the Grimm off by cutting its head off, and soon it's body vanished.
The dust vanished and the sword returned to its original form as he sheathed it behind his back.
"WE DID IT!" Ruby shouted as she ran up and jumped at Zakai, who just managed to catch her. His broken ribs made it a lot harder, but he didn't show the pain.
"Yes, we did!" He laughed. She laughed with him and high fived him.
He blinked slowly and everything seemed like it was normal. Everyone was cheering and smiling, and Ruby, the smell of Rose's surrounded him as he looked at her.
"What's up?" She asked, noticing his staring.
He smiled brightly. "I think I love you!" He blurted out.
"W-w-wha..." her face went deep red and her eyes seemed to turn into swirls.
'Uh-oh!' "A-as a friend! I love you as a close friend. Like you hold a special place in my heart that no one else can take. Wait, that's not the right wording either!" While Zakai was stumbling for words, Ruby's eyes were doing twirls and her face was red and she was speaking gibberish.
Juan and everyone else laughed, Zakai pouted and looked at the ground.
'Qrow!' "Where's Qrow?" He asked. Immediately Ruby returned to her senses. "Oh, over here," she said as she lead them over to him.
  "You did good, kid," was what he said as they approached him. Ruby smiled softly and Zakai scratched the back of his head.

  *time skip*

 
  The campfire was burning bright as everyone sat in a circle around it, all except Zakai, who was standing and leaning against a tree.
  He wasn't really listening to the conversation, but knew they where talking about fairy tails, things about Gods and them being brothers, light and darkness.
  He stated at the fire as they continued speaking, the sounds of screaming echoed in his head.

  "Mommy....Daddy....?" Young Zakai spoke. He was in a village that was burning, however, Zakai, the grown Zakai who had free movement and was able to walk around, had no idea where he was, yet he felt fear spike in his heart.
  Young Zakai continued walking, looking for his parents. "Don't do it! Get out of the village, there's a fire," he tried speaking to the younger him, but no sound escaped his mouth.
  "Mommy! Daddy!" Young Zakai cried as he spotted them helping and old women get out from some burning ruble. They started running up to him, when a dragons roar shock the core of the earth itself.....

  "Ai!.....Zakai!" Ruby's voice brought him back to the present.
  "Are you okay?" She asked. Everyone seemed to be looking at him.
  "Huh? Oh, yeah. I'm fine," he answered. Noticing he had tears running down his face, he wiped them away. "The smoke from the fire just made my eyes water, that's all," he added.
  "Oh...okay..., Ruby said, though there was a hint of disbelief in her voice.
  It wasn't long after before the fire died down and everyone was asleep, everyone except Zakai, well, Juan too. In fact, Juan had asked Zakai to help him with his 'training' which consisted of watching a video of Pyrrha who gave him instructions. Zakai was there to give him pointers.
  "Again," the video spoke. "Good. Now again," Juan swing each time she said again.
  "No," Zakai said as he walked to to Juan. "Like this," he put his hands out for Juan to give him his sword and shield, which he did.
  Zakai held the shield in his right hand and the sword in his left. He raised the shield up and tightened the grip on the sword, putting his right foot forward. He swung fast and hard, sending a slash of air through the trees that sent some of the leaves off of them, and along with them, lightening bugs.
  "Oh, I understand. So when you swing, I don't just swing the sword," Juan started. "I swing it like my arm is part of the blade."
  "Exactly," Zakai smiled, giving him back his weapons. Juan tried this time, and he managed to copy Zakai, creating a blast of air through the trees.
  "Good," Zakai smirked. He felt eyes burning into the back of his head and quickly turned to find the source, only to see nothing.
  Juan has finished his training and had fallen asleep, along wit everyone else, except Zakai. He couldn't sleep.
  The burning embers in the dying fire seemed to hypnotize him, as they flickered like a dying star.
  Ruby shooting up from her sleep brought him out of his trance. She had a look of fear and horror on her face.
  "You okay?!" He asked worriedly as he quickly made his way over to her, careful to be quiet.
  "J-just a bad dream...," she said sadly. He nodded.
  "Well, get some sleep," he said softly. "You need it."
  "You do too," she quickly added.
  "I can't sleep...," he said, staring into the embers once more.
  "Zakai....," Ruby's voice sounded scared and weak.
  "Yeah?"
  "Sleep next to me," she said. He looked at her to see that she had a scared look on her face.
  "You're scared of the nightmare," he said softly with a smile. "Okay," he lied down directly next to her, inches apart. "I'll keep those nightmares out," he grinned as he poked her forehead.
  She smiled softly. "Thank you," was all she said as she closed her eyes and soon fell asleep. Zakai soon followed after her, as the world went black and he fell into a dreamless sleep.