Edit: Hey there friends, sorry to previous readers if you were expecting something major, like a new chapter, but... this is not that. I looked back at your reviews, took your compliments and critiques for certain details, and decided to check some things up. I agree, some of what I found was a bit less professional, or reasonably didn't make as much sense as I'd initially thought, or perhaps not as fulfilling as some may have hoped. To be fair, it was mostly caffeine keeping me up while finishing this, but it isn't an excuse, I know.
Now, if you just found this story, don't worry. This update is coming out just a few days following release, but most of the content follows the same premise, I'm just readjusting some stuff and adding on to a scene or two. You are not missing much. For those who've already read it, this does kind ofaffect you. The later scene in the argument has been redesigned to tweak an issue one of you reviewers pointed out (although this may or may not address one of your latter points). It's a bit less tame compared to previously as well. It seems better now, in my opinion.
Anyway, if you're new, then welcome! Enjoy. For those familiar, you're free to stay and see what's changed (a fair bit) or leave. Perfectly fine either way.
An Unlucky Quarrel
He just... limped off. Devoid, hunched, walking away for a midnight stroll in such a guilty way, as if he'd done something wrong. But he hasn't! There were still a couple of logs left...
Ruby couldn't help but feel the wrenching feeling in her gut. This was a huge dump of info for her, after undoubtedly one of the most stressful and hardest fights she'd ever fought in. Her uncle had saved her life. Finally told them what the hell was going on. And he was limping off into the forest so miserably, like just being around was a crime. Ren and Nora looked after him, too. They seemed to understand.
And yet, one of them didn't look like they had much sympathy.
Ruby felt a churning bubble of irritation grow to the surface as she scowled at the friend sitting across from her. Jaune didn't even bother to hide his animosity towards her uncle, peering over his shoulder at him in a way she didn't like. Why was her close friend, one of the only people she could rely on right now, acting this way?
She didn't like how Uncle Qrow had kept all of this a secret 'till now either, but that didn't give Jaune the right to so daringly accuse him of screwing up. That Tyrian guy wasn't what any of them expected, and her uncle had saved their lives, and stopped her from being abducted. He needed to understand that.
Stomping forward past the fire and Ren and Nora's questioning glances, she scowled. "Jaune," she voiced. Immediately, the boy turned forward for her, momentarily confused for a second. "What was that?" Ruby scowled.
Jaune quickly re-wore his previous frown, not even trying to restrain himself. "Look, Qrow may be your uncle, but a lot about what he told us seems a bit too shady to me," he stated plainly. Ruby crossed her arms with narrowed eyes, but Jaune ignored it. "I believe he's telling the truth, I do, but that doesn't mean I have to like the guy, alright?"
"No, but you could at least stop judging him like that. Why are you acting this way? He hasn't done anything to us!" she remarked with outcast arms.
"Maybe not," he leaned forward. "But that doesn't mean that he shouldn't have warned us, or told us he was close by, or, something! If Qrow's been following us ever since we left Patch all those months ago, which he definitely has, then I don't fully trust him."
Jaune and Ruby had never really argued before now. She knew what was at stake, and he did too; bickering was stupid. It was childish. But right now, Ruby didn't care very much. Her fists tightened.
"Well, you didn't have to be like that, Jaune. Ruby's uncle was just trying to help." Nora pointed out. Ren folded his hands neatly over the fire, warming himself, clearly uninterested in getting involved, even though his partner was.
Ever since Beacon Tower fell and RNJR had set out, Nora had slowly begun to shed off some of her mellow nature, traveling between kingdoms toning down her hyperactive streak. She was still quite cheery when she wanted to be, but right now she sported an upset frown.
"Well sometimes trying just isn't enough!" All three of them flinched.
He quickly reeled back, stepping backwards in front of the log he was just sitting in. Jaune sprawled his hand over his forehead with closed eyes and sighed, immediately regretting it.
A short silence permeated over the small camp, no one really looking like they wanted to add anything. Ren stared thoughtfully into the flickering fire, the misplaced log burning itself out in the soil. Nora clearly looked and probably felt upset at Jaune, gazing up at the night sky. And Ruby felt increasingly worried about her friend's behavior. She knew Jaune, or she thought she did, and had picked up how whenever he was thoughtful or really concentrating, he'd look down at the ground with his eyes closed. It was one of those little details you picked up about someone. He was doing just that right now. Was it slight guilt? He looked more frustrated than anything...
The blonde boy sighed and removed his hand. "Alright, look. It's been a long day, and I think that we're all really tired after Oniyuri." Ren and Nora nodded in agreement. "We'll discuss what we do next in the morning. For now, why don't you all get some sleep?" He stepped opposite the direction Qrow walked to, past Ruby.
"And what will you be doing, Jaune?" Ren asked.
It was a fair question, but she had a good feeling regarding what he was off to do. He still hadn't taken off the sheath for Crocea Mors, and he probably had his scroll on him.
"Just going to let off some steam with a walk." He turned to Ruby and gave her a slight smile. "I might as well follow your uncle's lead, maybe that'll help. I'll be back to catch some zzz's myself later. We'll talk tomorrow." With that, he smiled at Ren and Nora, then Ruby before walking off. They didn't return it, though. "Good night guys," Jaune departed halfheartedly.
She did not feel done yet. Ruby felt like she couldn't wait to finish this at another point. He was copping out of this argument and they all knew it. It would be just like Jaune to avoid talking about this for as long as possible, and for goodness' sake she couldn't stand to see him trying to act alright like that! He obviously wasn't. And yet he always chose to keep it to himself.
"Guys, I..." Nora and Ren turned to the crimson girl, fidgeting with her left hand and frowning with uncertainty. "I can't just leave it like that. I'm going to go after him, finish talking with him. Are you two, okay with that..?" She asked.
Ren's mouth slightly lifted. "I think he needs someone close to talk to with, and you're the best person to do that, Ruby." He remarked.
"Yeah, definitely!" Nora agreed with Ren.
She raised her eyebrow, somewhat surprised at their lack of argument. "But, you two are his teammates. I mean, don't you want to talk to him?" She skeptically asked.
"No," Ren said bluntly. "Well, yes, but I don't think Nora and I are the best people for this situation. Jaune would feel more comfortable talking about this with you than us. Ever since Pyrrha's death, well," Ren was distant for a moment. He sighed. "Jaune rarely talks about it with us, and I don't know how to approach him for it. I believe Nora and I would have little luck here as well."
Ruby would've never guessed. Yes, she knew he was keeping his late night training sessions a secret from them, but avoiding the topic of Pyrrha entirely? Frankly, before that night when she watched Jaune train in the clearing, he looked mostly fine. He had his fair share of tough days, but frankly, so did the rest of them. And if Ren and Nora couldn't approach him about it, then what chance did she have? He seemed to trust her, and they were good friends, but...
"Hey!" The exuberant girl bellowed. Ruby initially flinched, turning towards the cheerful bomber. "Our fearless leader is in trouble, and you're the only one who can set things straight." She pointed a finger at Ren and her thumb towards herself. "Ren and I know that out of all three of us, you deal with talking the best!"
"And please," Ren smiled, amused. "You're our teammate now, too. You and Jaune are clearly very close, you're his friend, he'll listen to you. You might not change how he feels about your uncle tonight, but at least try to clear this quarrel up now, rather than later." He said pretty seriously. "If you need to talk to him, you have Nora's and my blessings to do so." He playfully joked. Actually, was that a tease? She didn't know.
Quickly looking at the ground in thought for a few seconds, she perked up and nodded. Ruby determinedly followed after Jaune's fleeting form. This discussion was not over. She and Jaune were going to have a talk.
Pondering over things with a more level head allowed Ruby to think rationally. Jaune had apparently gone ahead farther than she thought. It seemed like he really wanted to be alone. If he was leaving to train, he probably won't be going to a place where he'll be heard by the group, but close enough to camp to come back quickly if needed.
Back at the campsite, she was mostly running off of the high of emotions that had been building up throughout the day. Beginning with worry in Oniyuri, panic over the presence of a lunatic, fear during the near final strike. Heck, considering the clump of conflicted signals her head was throwing at her ever since they made camp and Qrow laid them down, the entire emotional spectrum had probably been experienced by now.
Only now was the adrenaline in her body beginning to fade, and the physical fatigue finally catching up to her. Ruby felt her eyelids become droopy, and she had to muffle a yawn to avoid noise. At the end of a normal day, if these days could be considered normal, she would've called it a night. But today wasn't anywhere close to that, and she needed to talk through to her knightly friend. Only then could she rest. Huh, that sounded pretty romantic, when she thought about it.
Shaking her head, Ruby quickly dispelled that thought. I'm still mad at him. He had no right to treat Uncle Qrow that way.
What was the big deal, anyway? Normally, Jaune was a friendly guy when meeting new people, never acting impolite, like his parents and seven sisters (shiver) probably taught him. And now, after this display, she would probably refer to her introduction to Weiss' sister Winter as warmer and more receptive, and that was saying something.
Worry, hormones, emotional distress? Ruby was doing all she could to try and rationalize her friend's attitude to her injured uncle, and the last one made the most sense to her. It was still weird how judgmental he acted back there, however. Well, the truth would come soon enough.
Finally hearing movement up ahead, Ruby hastened her pace to catch up. The sound of running water graced her hearing, a river? The trees began opening themselves more up from a narrow path to reveal the edge of a clearing. Ruby was right behind him.
Exiting the bushy foliage, she was about half right. The small area graced a river, a pretty small one, though. Jagged rocks protruded above the brook's surface, complementing the stream's fair width across. The area around the place was dotted with thick tree branches sporting hearty leaves on both sides, so most noise would be muffled in the silence of night. And, to paint a picture perfect scene was Jaune Arc, sitting cross legged near the river way's entrance, fiddling with... something. She couldn't tell exactly what he was doing.
Ruby decided to just walk over there. This time she wasn't going to stand behind a lonely tree watching from afar.
Approaching him, before she could put even a word in, the unmistakable sound of Crocea Mors' shield transforming left her to halt her movements, cautiously waiting for him to turn around. His senses must've been pretty heightened, but then again, isolation out here would do that.
Quickly pulling a 180 turn, Jaune fell into a refined defense form, holding the tip of his blade just below the horizontal as his heater shield was lifted to defend himself if needed. It didn't take him long to figure out who the intruder was, and the hostile glint in his eyes disappeared as quickly as it came. "...Ruby?" He whispered.
"Jaune..." Her voice as low as his. Folding the shield back up, Jaune returned it to sheath-form, although he didn't return Crocea Mors yet. Even though he wasn't coiling himself up to spring into an attack, the suspicious glare was still there. No surprise that he was probably equally shocked as he was upset.
This was awkward, she would be honest. That was something that could easily describe many conversations they've had before, but never one so tense. She didn't like this anymore than he probably did.
Before she could peep out a word, Jaune let out a rough sigh and sheathed the blade. "Ruby, were you following me?" He glared out. To be fair, Ruby was intruding on him when he wanted to be alone.
"Jaune, I'm sorry, but I couldn't just leave it like that. What happened back there was stupid, and I have to talk to you." The young girl reasoned.
"I told you," the blonde bit back, although not unkindly. "We are going to finish this tomorrow. I just wanted to be left alone for tonight."
She shook her head heavily. "I don't think so. I know you Jaune, you would pretend that it had never happened, coming up with some excuse or something to avoid it." She took a few steps to him. "I don't know why, though."
"Maybe because it's not important?" He challenged. Her eyes narrowed. Was he not taking this seriously?
"Anything involving my uncle is important, Jaune. Don't you understand that? I love him, and you're accusing him for things that he's not responsible for."
"W-what...? Not responsible for?!" He appeared almost dumbfounded. "Ruby, your uncle's decision almost cost you dearly. You were almost taken, nearly hurt because he was irresponsible. He could've gotten you seriously hurt, all because of his presence alone."
"He can't help that!" Ruby whipped out. "He told us the truth in the end. He's sorry about it, he really is. Uncle Qrow has good intentions, you need to understand that, Jaune." She pleaded.
"Yeah? Well, sometimes good intentions just aren't enough, Ruby..." Said girl reeled back for a second at the... rawness of that.
Jaune took a step back, kicking his heavy feet into the dirt. He looked tired, more emotionally than anything. His droopy eyelids made him look a little older, tiredly looking at her. The edge of regret in his form was as clear as the stars above them.
It was quite the cynical comment, and she didn't know how to counter it, this halt temporarily putting the heated word battle into pause. She really wished that she could be as good at talking as she was fighting. Why did it have to be so hard?
What was he doing before she came? A random question, but now that they were at a standstill, she was curious. Leaning to the right past his figure, she noticed a few items littered next to a fairly flat rock. Let's see: a cloth, a bottle of oil, and wax. Was he...?
"Were you polishing Crocea Mors?" He appeared surprised at the change of topic, and glanced behind him at the cleaning tools. She'd always been fascinated by Jaune's sword and shield, even if it was a relatively simple choice. That was probably why she was interested in it in the first place. And it's history wasn't to be scoffed at.
"Um, yeah actually. Keeping myself busy, you know?" Oh, she knew. Tinkering with Crescent Rose was practically a favorite pastime for her. She'd taken a look at the blade a couple of times now: two times back at Beacon, once on the journey out of Vale, and once again a few weeks ago due to its upgrade. It was a good quality weapon, that was for sure, and well maintained.
He continued. "It just... it calms me down. Looking after it, caring for it, keeping it maintained makes me feel better, distracts me when I need it." Jaune chuckled without amusement. "Back at Beacon, I never really got why you loved your weapon so much, but I think in a way I understand now."
Ruby had a feeling that they had slightly different reasons for liking to care for their respective weapons. Crescent Rose was an extension to herself, a weapon she'd hand crafted on the advice of her uncle, the very person Jaune despised right now. She was a gun nut, a weapons enthusiast, and when you used it long enough, you can't help but be sentimental.
Crocea Mors, however, was something a little more intimate for Jaune. Sure, it was a family heirloom, a good one, it should be said, but it represented something a little more personal and revealing than Ruby imagined with Crescent. It represented loss, and she understood that personally, but not through her own weapon. She could tell straight up that Jaune was not going to talk about Pyrrha and wouldn't respond well to being pushed, so she avoided that for now.
Jaune ceased to avoid eye contact and coughed aloud. "Well, uh... Do you want to sit down?" Sitting down sounded practically lovely. She nodded, and he led her over to the mossy rock wall, gently sliding his body onto the soft, leafy ground. She followed suit. He followed her movements with a slightly wary eye, but it didn't really hold anything angry. Once her body plopped down next to him, he sighed.
"Look, Ruby. I know that you're upset with me, and I get it. You're offended that I'm angry at your uncle and think that I'm being irrational. To be fair, I was a little harsh back there." Her pointed glare quickly caused him to throw his arms up. "Okay, fine, maybe a bit more than that. But Qrow didn't bother to warn us about any potential threats. He didn't try to tell us that he was watching over us, and I do appreciate him thinning out the Grimm, even if he's negating my much needed workout." That caused her to let out an amused snort and smile. "But he put us at risk, since he did kind of influence you into this journey."
"Jaune, it was my choice to lead us all out into the unknown, not Uncle Qrow's. If you should be mad at anyone, it should be me..." She did lead them all out into the dense wilderness of Anima on a wild goose chase.
"Ruby," he said with concern. "I could never be mad at you for something like that. You were right, and still are, that we do need to act. We can't be kids anymore, and Mistral does seem like a good starting point. You had no idea that we'd be facing anything more dangerous than the Grimm on our way here, so I won't blame you for this."
"We weren't really in any danger until now, though." She thought aloud. "Uncle Qrow was always looking out for us, making sure we were safe. He's always been like that. Always looking out for me and Yang, teaching us to fight, teasing us on occasion." She felt happy sharing this, and it said so with her grin. Turning her head to him, he looked pretty comfortable himself, even smiling a little. "He's always known what's best."
"I can certainly say that I've had experience with a tough acting father figure who cares deep down, although the teasing was aplenty thanks to the female side of my family." They both chuckled with each other, feeling better.
However... "But, does he really?"
"Huh?" She voiced aloud. He was looking at her again with that deadset expression.
"Does he really know what's best?" She attempted to say something, frowning, but he stopped her. "Think about it. At the end of the day, he's a regular person like anyone else, Huntsman or not. He certainly acts the part of protective, loving uncle, but he has flaws like the rest of us. Alcohol, shadiness, and a tendency to think he knows what's best for those around him. Like Ozpin." Her eyes widened. What?
This was beginning to sound more personal, and she didn't dare interrupt. "I-I can't trust someone like him... them. I already have before, and it ended up with Pyrrha dying. Dying alone at the hands of a cruel woman who we now know works with some crazy, world domination eccentric mastermind, or whatever Qrow says she is." A little bit of moisture was building up out of his eyes, and part of her wanted to wipe them away as he let his thoughts out at last.
"I trusted him, and Ozpin, and General Ironwood, and Goodwitch, too, to protect us, to protect Pyrrha. She was used in the end, and I was unable to stop her from dying, even though I had the chance. And now, I run the risk of losing you, too."
Her? "...M-me?" Out of all things, she didn't expect their conversation (argument?) to go this way. "What do you mean?"
"Well," he let out, scratching his head, a bit sheepish. "I was worried. That Tyrian guy was no joke, Ruby. He was tough. Tough enough to kick all us down, and even knocked your aura out. And even when Qrow came, you jumped back in. Ruby, you always seem to run into the middle of things. Like a-... how do I put this... an overeager kid..."
An overea- what?! This argument had begun out of concern for her uncle, but now she was in the cross-hairs? Ruby attempted to keep her cool, but that didn't stop her from narrowing her eyes and tightening her fist.
"I'm not a kid, Jaune! You don't have to worry about me, I'm fine. I can handle myself."
"Right..." he sarcastically drew out. "The great Ruby Rose doesn't need to throw caution in the wind, since her rose petals do just fine."
It took her a second to catch that. "What are you talking about, they aren't... Wait, what?!" She stammered. Right back where they originally started, but worse. It was going fine! "I do not!"
"Yeah, you do!" He yelled. Despite her anger, she still shrunk back a bit, casting her gaze downward. His eyes softened for a second, before hardening once more. He spoke again, but lightened his tone, albeit not by much. "You and him both have similar problems: charging head first into everything as if you had nothing to lose, thinking everything will work out if you lead the way. You don't think! And you get hurt for it. And it affects others." His emotions resurfaced briefly. "Do you know how much that hurts? To see you always throw yourself into the thick of things? How Ren and Nora feel about it? H-how I feel?"
No... but he still... his argument wasn't... He didn't know. He couldn't. And he wouldn't. Not now. She wouldn't dare let herself slip it here.
A minute or two passed, and she heard another sigh beside her. "You're not like Qrow." She snapped her eyes back at him, staring ahead at nothing in particular. "You don't do it for a selfish reason, I know you wouldn't. You don't ever want to put us in danger. Opposite, really. And when the going gets tough, you're always trying to lighten things up. Even if you're not really a cloud yourself."
She was about to spring back in, but again, he stopped her. "Ruby, I'm not going to ask. You have your own problems. That's not what this is about."
Despite herself, her anger at his accusations just couldn't keep on running, and she allowed it to be taken over by the fatigue they both felt. She allowed herself to drop the scowl for a weary frown. She was not going to talk about that with him. Not tonight. Part of her wanted to, but he himself seemed to imply that she needed to slow down, and she was getting tired of arguing.
"I... don't know why this is such a big issue." She laid her palm against the back of his limp hand. "I made a mistake today, sure. But, losing me? All the guy wanted was to take me. You guys with the help of Qrow could've easily gotten me back." That childish naivety. She still liked those little cliches, even if she couldn't trust them anymore.
"Ruby," he started. Jaune looked at her full and hard. "before today, losing you was irrational. It was ridiculous. It sure felt like it. But it was still there, taunting me. Making me think about it. But I've always believed in you, knew you'd be alright if I just watched your back, looked out for you." Himself...? Realizing what he said, Jaune shook his head. "All of us."
"...But?" She could practically hear it lurking in the following silence.
He smiled humorlessly. "But, today changed that for me. Made me realize that none of us were really ever ready. And it nearly cost us you." The thought alone seemed to force the unshed tears to reappear. "I myself just watched in the back of it all. I was standing, though. I was right there! If I just ran towards you guys, I could've bashed him down, taken him by surprise. Or at least kept him off you..."
"And, I didn't. It felt like my feet were glued. Like a dream... Huh, probably not that different from how you felt with Pyrrha, right?"
She wouldn't lie, it did feel wrong. Like it wasn't real. That any moment she would wake back up from her crazy musings mid-climb, reach the top of the tower, and save her friend's life. Ruby managed to nod.
"I couldn't look. But then Qrow came, saved you; I will admit, he does have good timing." The hidden jab was lost on her, too wrapped in the moment. "You're incredible, Ruby: a better fighter than I'll ever be, a better leader, and a great listener. You're an incredible girl in general, like Pyrrha..."
This argument was going all over the place. Accusations, bonding, confessions, more accusations, more confessions, and now admiration? Her heart was beating at a fast, irregular pace. It was a bit too much, but she forced herself to let him finish.
"While Ren and Nora are great friends, I can't compare them to you. Today, you were the target of a hysteric madman, not them. You were only saved thanks to good timing alone. I couldn't help you, I was useless." He admitted. Not again.
She found her voice, although it felt dry. "J-Jaune. I don't hold it against you. Stop doing that, please." Why did she have to sound so pleading right now? "You've gotten so much better ever since Beacon. Look at how well you do against Grimm now. You fight great along with the rest of us." She decided to leave the bit about his training out. There was only so much one could handle in a single day.
"Well, thanks for the vote of confidence, Ruby." He hardly looked like he believed it himself, but he seemed appreciative for it. "It doesn't change the fact that you were at risk today." And so it goes full circle, huh? "Thanks to Qr-" Jaune stopped himself short, opting to slowly close his mouth and look thoughtfully back at the ground before shaking his head. Looking back up, he spoke, swallowing nervously. "What happened today could've easily been much worse. I'm really, really glad it didn't. I-I care about you Ruby. And l-losing you would be like losing P-Pyrrha all over again. And I can't let that happen."
She honestly didn't know what to say to that. Jaune had left her speechless. Her closest friend, current partner, and somewhat of a support, Jaune. The awkward, goofy, ridiculous person that was Jaune freaking Arc, quelled her desire to continue. She looked down between them, noting that their hands had switched, his laying caringly on top of her left hand. The right one, she finally noticed, had moved to her chest. She noticed that her breathing had increased a fair bit since the beginning, even during her anger.
Without a second thought, Ruby leaned in towards him, and embraced him. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she rested her head against his chest, laying against the chest plate. Jaune responded kindly, squeezing his arms against the back of her waist, causing her to let out a shaky breath. She leaned comfortably against him. This was... really nice. She'd hugged him before, but none that came before could match the intimacy and sheer niceness of this one, and she didn't want to let go. Although, she did need to wrap this up.
"J-Jaune... I... don't want to argue anymore." She whispered. She was too tired at this point, and he was too determined to hold on to his belief. Jaune rested his chin on top of her head.
"I d-don't really want to either, Ruby." He shakily let out. "Look, I can't promise anything, I still don't like Qrow very much. Just give it time, though. If Qrow proves himself trustworthy, when I see for myself all the stories you told us around the campfire all those times were true, I'll try to like him. I'll do my best, Ruby. Promise."
That was probably the best she was going to get. It wasn't the ideal outcome, but it seemed like she could only ask for so much. At least she could close this chapter of their relationship, and move forward. That's what something Uncle Qrow always told her: Keep moving forward. That was what she was going to do, and Jaune would, too.
Approaching their small, makeshift campsite in relative silence, Ruby felt much better. They had rested there for about roughly ten minutes, but they mused that the others would become worried, and reluctantly departed. She had argued with Jaune, exchanged somewhat harsh words, harsh opinions, and tested the strings of their friendship, but it worked out in the end. Jaune and her had come out stronger she liked to think, and their bond would only grow stronger as time progressed. She really liked him, and she was alright with him knowing that.
It was somewhat disappointing that she couldn't fully convince him tonight, but maybe tomorrow, or the next day, or beyond. Time and effort on both her and Uncle Qrow's parts would show him that he was a good person. For now, she was happy to at least somewhat gotten through to him, and to have shared something so... intimate with him.
He actually appeared okay talking about Pyrrha like that, with her, and even compared the young girl to the Mistralian champion. Not directly, but certainly in similar high regard. Jaune really cared about her, and Ruby did for him, too. She wondered if that care extended beyond that, and she'd admit to not having thought about it too much before. It wasn't something that grossed her out, or thought as weird. It was... a pleasant thought. At the very least something nice to entertain.
Now, the drama of today was finally over. In the end, Ruby, Jaune, Ren, Nora and Uncle Qrow had come out alright. They stopped a bad guy, or at least a person with some serious issues, and sent a threatening message back to this 'Salem' person, whoever she was. This wasn't going to be the last of Ruby's encounters with her people, she could tell. But with Uncle Qrow at her side, she was confident that they would all be alright.
Viewing the campfire a short distance away, Ruby and Jaune smiled at each other. Things ended off pretty okay.
Uncle Qrow was the first one to pop into view, leaning up against the large maple tree, he was fast asleep. Jaune stared at the sleeping man passing by, but it was pretty unreadable. She hoped that there wouldn't be too much tension between the two of them. Jaune promised to give him a chance, but that didn't guarantee peace. Time would tell.
Ren and Nora were already comfortably snug in their respective sleeping bags. Ruby wished that they an extra for her uncle, but he seemed accustomed to living out on his own, which was both impressive and kind of sad to her. Their yellow and red beds for the evening were kindly opened up, welcoming their occupants to drift away from this crazy day forever.
They both removed their boots and began to climb in. But before that, Jaune whispered aloud. "Hey, Rubes." She turned her head at him questioningly. "Thanks for talking with me. I... I kind of needed that." He offered an awkward smile.
There was the Jaune she normally saw. She smile back wholeheartedly. "No problem Jaune, anytime. Let's try to avoid arguments in the future, though, okay?"
"Definitely," he agreed. "This has never really happened before, has it?" She shook her head. "Yeah, that's what I thought. And it just so happened to occur once your uncle came around..."
She narrowed her eyes dangerously. "Jaaaune."
He raised his hands in mock surrender. "I'm kidding. Or am I?" She was not amused. "Yeah, fine. But seriously, this argument was really almost out of the blue. You could call it an unlucky quarrel, if you think about it."
She shook her headed bemusedly. "Alright Mr. Jokester, don't start taking pages out of Yang's book or I'll make you wish that your sisters were around to tease you instead."
He grinned cheekily at her. "Please don't. But, I seriously doubt it, though." She easily grinned back. Jaune, unfortunately, bit back a particularly drawn out yawn. "Okay, I'm tired. Sleep well, Ruby."
"You too, Jaune." She climbed in her bag before closing her eyes. Come morning light, things were bound to improve. She was sure.
Ruby smiled, drifting into fantasy.
RWBY END
And there we go. That was An Unlucky Quarrel. All things considered, I believe that the end result was quite nice, neat and tidy.
So, the premise here, obviously, is that following the explanation that Qrow gave to Team RNJR in Chapter 8, Volume 4, Ruby confronts Jaune over his bad attitude with her uncle. The show currently offers very little in terms of explanation, and beyond the dialogue given I can only really base predictions on thoughts and moods on the characters' facial expression, which were in no short supply in this chapter. Chapters 9-12 will almost certainly offer an explanation for this, but for now, until official confirmation arrives, speculation is all we can rely on.
Obviously Jaune's old wounds concerning Pyrrha and his failures at Beacon (little fault of his own) have been reopened here, now that the full truth has been given to him. Obviously Qrow wished to be straight forward with our journeying heroes, but a bitter truth stings much worse initially than a sweet lie. Jaune is clearly experiencing some emotionally distressing thoughts and accusing Qrow seems likes the easiest and most legitimate way of quelling this anger and sadness. And he personally feels that Qrow was using Ruby and the rest of them as bait in order to draw out potential predators such as Tyrian, and Qrow doesn't exactly deny it... just says he wouldn't say it like that. It's all very tangled.
The main argument scene between Ruby and Jaune near the creek doesn't address everything wrong that Jaune is experiencing, and it's not supposed to, although a fair bit was discussed. Ruby hasn't revealed that she knows about Jaune's late night training sessions, and he simply assumes that she followed him and is none the wiser. Feelings for each other were not revealed here. WHY AK?! I felt like it all would've been too much for this one scene. Shoving too much information all at once makes the dialogue and situation seem forced and progressing too quickly. Balancing out their arguments about Qrow, combined with thoughts about Beacon and Pyrrha's fate, mixed with care about Ruby's well-being felt like an appropriate amount. Hopefully it was shippy enough for you all.
And I'm sorry if you did come for Lancaster romance :( I really did want to, and I tried to sprinkle in feelings of genuine, mutual somewhat love as best as I could, but this did ultimately amount to a friendship fic (for now, in terms of story progression). I'm not sure if I'll be attempting a Lancaster romance story anytime soon. This was my contribution to the month of Lancaster, which is apparently now a thing (that I just recently learned about). Perhaps I'll come up with something else, given enough time.
Anyway, I sincerely hope that you enjoyed reading my literary genius! (jk) and that you might leave your thoughts about it. I wanted to finish this story as quickly as I could before Chapter 9 releases. Future people, if you're reading this, I suppose you'll know if I got it at least semi-right. Thank you for reading! :)