Author's Note: I know it's been a long ass time, but I've just been extremely busy. Anyways, hope you guys enjoy.
"Jaune Arc, you have been charged with altering past events for personal gain, murder of the first degree, and theft," the judge looked at the former knight hero with contempt, "How do you plead and what do you have to say for yourself?"
"I plead not guilty," Jaune stared into the judge's eyes, showing no remorse for his crimes, "Why is it so wrong? I saved a friend, and changed the fate of Remnant. Might I remind all of you that most of you were dead before I came back?"
"It's not about the results or the reasons, Mr. Arc, it's about the principle," the judge angrily replied, "Are you saying you don't regret your actions?"
"Let's put it this way, Judge Torchwick, if I had to do it all over again, I would," Jaune knowingly smiled.
Torchwick stared, mouth agape, at the knight's audacity, "Given all this evidence-"
"That you can't even prove," Jaune interrupted.
"Like I said, given the evidence-"
"What evidence?" Jaune interrupted once more, "Everything you've shown me and the jury is just a collection of lies meant to hide the fact that-"
"That's it, you're guilty of everything I just said earlier and I'm charging you with contempt of court," Torchwick furiously slammed the gavel down, a victorious smirk appearing on his face, "Any last words before I give you your sentence?"
"Yeah, do you happen to have the time?" Jaune simply asked.
"Oh, um," Torchwick scrambled for his scroll, disarmed by the strange request, "it's about noon."
"Oh, would you look at the time," Jaune nonchalantly waltzed over to the seat next to his lawyer, silently taking the beacon device that had been taped to the bottom of the table in front of him, "as much as I'd love to play this 'he said, she said' game, it seems like my ride is here."
All eyes were on the former hero, the room patiently waiting for anything to happen. Torchwick looked around nervously before deciding to break the silence, "Um, okay?"
"Stupid faulty transmitter, I knew I shouldn't have trusted Ruby with it, it's also a gun my ass," Jaune muttered under his breath as he fiddled with the device, tapping it against the edge of the table.
"Well, I guess you're right?" Torchwick agreed in confusion, still anxiously scanning the room, "Because I sentence you to life of hard labor in the Dust mines with no chance of parole. Bailiff, get this weirdo out of here."
Just as the large muscular officer approached Jaune, an inky portal opened up behind the defendants' table. Thinking quickly, Jaune dove under the table, covering the back of his head in the process as a bullet of electricity flew from the portal before stunning the bailiff. Stepping through the portal, gun raised, Ruby opened fire on the room upon entrance.
"You're late," Jaune pulled himself to his feet before dusting off, "Timeline and date of origin?"
"I'm your Ruby, dumbass," Ruby answered, dropping Jaune's gear onto the defendant's table.
"If you're really my Ruby, then where did I take you on our first date?" Jaune asked before breaking his handcuffs.
"Trick question, we were never romantically involved," Ruby answered, turning away to allow Jaune to change and to hide the slight blush that crept across her face.
"That's pretty disappointing," Jaune shrugged as he wiggled out of his prisoner jumpsuit, "The timelines are starting to get jumbled up in my head."
"How many loops so far?" Ruby asked, "What's changed so far?"
"We're already on the third loop," Jaune answered as he stuck his head through his hoodie, "Torchwick was my judge this time, meaning he survived the attack on Beacon. I have no idea who the Bailiff is, never seen him before. We lost Pyrrha during initiation, and you have both your eyes this time. Other than that, we still need Pyrrha if we're going to win this."
"This time?!" Ruby exclaimed in shock.
"Hey, quit complaining, at least you're alive in this loop," Jaune turned his head in Ruby's direction, his eyes lingering on her left eye. Images of blood and tears dripping down her cheek flashed across his vision. Turning away, he quickly avoided her concerned gaze.
"I died in a previous loop?" Ruby demanded to know.
"Everyone has died at least once in the past loops," Jaune stared at his feet in shame, "even me."
.
.
.
"Ruby?!" Jaune cried out her name. Even with his hands pressed to her abdomen, he could still feel her life escaping between his fingers, "Come on, Ruby, you need to stay with me. What about all that talk about becoming a hero?"
"Jaune, you need to go," Ruby whispered, her voice weakening by the second, "it's too late for me, but you can live another day."
"We need to go," Blake screamed before firing at the nevermore overhead.
"We are not leaving Ruby behind," Yang argued as she got into a defensive position.
"Ruby, I'm gonna get you out of here," Jaune hastily slid his hands under her petite frame, lifting her up as gently as he possibly could, "
"I don't think I can anymore," Ruby coughed, blood spraying from her mouth. She struggled to breath as she reached out to Jaune's face, "just don't break down again when I'm gone, okay?"
"Jaune, what are you doing?" Pyrrha cried out, "The ice won't hold any longer."
Jaune squeezed his eyes shut, bracing for impact, just as the ice wall that had been protecting him and Ruby shattered. The numbing silence of pain and near-death came to him, his entire short life came in flashes. Tears fell. He couldn't save Ruby, or himself. If he couldn't even do that, then there's no way on remnant he could protect anyone.
"If you could change history, what would you do differently?" Jaune heard the question ring loudly in his head.
"If I just had the power, I…. I wouldn't let my friends die like this," Jaune sobbed out loud, his eyes still tightly shut.
"Any regrets?" Taken aback by the question, Jaune finally opened his eyes.
Jaune looked down at his younger self, distraught, and holding his dead future partner, his friend. Future Jaune looked back to the tree line, he watched his Ruby flicker in and out of existence. Turning back, he placed a hand on his younger self's head. In an instant, the younger Jaune felt an intense pressure entering his mind, the world around him began to disintegrate into a white light that approached him. He screamed in agony while his vision began to fade to white.
"I'm sorry, I just wasn't fast enough," Jaune heard Weiss' voice, frightened, regretful.
"We need to go," Blake screamed before firing at the nevermore overhead.
"We are not leaving Ruby behind," Yang argued as she got into a defensive position.
Jaune looked around, disoriented by the flash of white. He watched the friends he had just met struggle to barely keep the grimm at bay. He looked down at his bloodied hands pressed against the hole in her abdomen, then back to Ruby's face quickly losing color. A lump formed in his throat while all he could manage to get out was, "You're going to be okay, Ruby, just don't give up on me."
"Just go, Jaune," Ruby spoke softly.
"I'm not leaving any friends behind," Jaune calmly replied before taking a breath. His hands began to glow, aura pouring from his palms, "that especially means you."
Ruby felt warmth return to her fingers, the sensation of cold air in her throat pleasantly stung, and a newfound sense of adrenaline rush coursed through her entire being. She struggled against the pain to sit up, raising her head to Jaune and Wiess, she confidently smirked, "Then let's kick some butt, I have a plan."
.
.
.
"Doesn't matter how many times I watch it, I still feel the need to say that that's badass," Jaune remarked, binoculars glued to his face.
"We both know that's nothing compared to what we've gone through," Ruby tried her best to downplay the accomplishment, her face flushed with embarrassment, "and please tell me you're not still creeping on younger me."
"I totally mean that. Come on, give yourself some credit, you dragged a nevermore up the side of a cliff, in the original timeline, I couldn't even swing my sword correctly," Jaune lowered his binoculars to give Ruby a look of sincerity.
"Really?" Ruby smiled, boastfully crossing her arms, "Well, I was the combat genius who was admitted into Beacon two years early."
"I have to say though, you've always had a nice ass," Jaune noted the subtle movements of a dim blur of red and orange in the distance beyond the younger Ruby then snickered as soon as he heard a hard clunk against his armor.
"Creep," Ruby muttered.
"You know, I don't actually mean any of that, I just say it cause it's funny when you're like that," Jaune looked to Ruby, the same dumb smile plastered across his face.
"Jackass," Ruby muttered in response.
Clunk.
Jaune snickered once more in response.