Ephemeral Dream

I: Dream

Blood.

Pouring from my mouth, leaking out my stomach, covering my entire body.

All around me was blood. Some of it mine, some of it not. My comrades lay on the ground nearby, holding their wounds as blood leaked from their bodies too.

Ruby, Weiss, Blake, and Yang. All of them my close friends, all of whom I'd thrown to the sides to protect them. The wounds they had results of me being too slow, always too slow. I never seemed to be fast enough when I wanted to save the people I care about.

The least I could do would be take their wounds onto my body.

"Futile," came her voice. The voice of the one who had started all this pain and agony. Those cold crimson eyes stared down at me furiously, black blood leaked along her form, but the wounds were sealing shut, even as I saw the blood flowing down her body. Her hair, a dirty white, flowed down her body as she glared at me.

"I don't know," I quipped weakly, despite the fact I was on my knees, knowing my life was fading. "I seem to have pissed you off, I wouldn't call that-!"

Pain.

I was cut off as her foot hit my jaw, sending me crashing into the wall as my friends cried out my name, making me cough up blood. She also knocked a tooth out, which I spat out to the side. "... Thank you, sir," I croaked out. "May I have another?"

"You are just begging for it, boy," Salem snarled at me. "Still living in some delusion that you are a hero, I see. Wake up, and face reality. You are no hero, you're just a weak little boy who dreamed of becoming something bigger. And look where it's led you: Your death. All dreamers must wake up, and it is time for you to reach your awakening, boy..." It was clear from her tone she was trying to get a reaction out of me. Maybe break my spirit?

"Don't listen to her, Jaune!" Ruby called out, shakily rising to her feet. One hand grasped Crescent Rose, the other on her stomach. "We haven't lost this yet! We can still-!"

"I know," I cut her off, forcefully dragging myself out of the wall, a small sigh coming from my lips as I closed my eyes. All dreamers must wake up.

My eyes snapped open as I looked at Salem. "I know what you are," I told her. "I'll admit, it took a while, but I know what you are. I know what it is you really want."

"Jaune...?" Ruby questioned.

"Is that so?" Salem looked amused. "Pray tell, boy, what am I?"

"Just a dream..." My voice was barely above her a whisper. "All of this, everything. It's just a dream, it's always just been a dream. I knew the whole time."

There was silence...

And then Salem hissed. "You knew?"

"I knew," I admitted. "But even knowing, even knowing what it is I should... No, what I need to do, I can't let myself wake yet."

"Why!?" Salem screamed, and the girls looked between the two of us in worry. "Why do you refuse to wake!? Why do you deny your reality!?"

"Because this is their reality," I gestured to the girls. "This may just be a dream. None of this may be real... But even so, why should they suffer for it? Why should they live in this world, while I live my life away? The answer is simple; they shouldn't."

"You..." She looked furious now, but also... Pleading. "For such a reason... For a world that will fade away when you wake!?"

I shook my head. "You don't understand. I don't think you've ever understood... But I do..." I lifted my sword. "Maybe this world is just a fantasy... But who's to say it will fade away once I wake? I don't think it will... I can always come back here, always come visit again... Whenever I close my eyes."