Welcome to Beacon Chapter 5 - A little help?

After the little "event" at the cafeteria, team RWBY and JNPR started to head to their next class. Ruby and Nora enthusiastically ran across the hallway, Ren tried to stop the two, while Jaune tried to flirt with Weiss who clearly wasn't amused, and Pyrrha, Blake, and Yang just walked slowly, behind everyone else. They weren't even in the same class.

"Ahaha! You're too slow Nora!"

"Ack! No fair! Stop using your semblance!"

"Nora! Ruby! Don't run in the hallways! And that's not the way to our class Nora!"

Nora and Ruby were running so fast that they already disappeared to the other side of the hall. I repeat, THEY DON'T HAVE THE SAME CLASS. So who knows where they were going right now.

"Your sister is such a dolt."

Weiss said as she looked in the direction where Ruby and Nora had just disappeared as Ren tried to catch up to them.

"Ah shut up Ice Queen. She's adorable."

Weiss groaned as she rolled her eyes.

"Yea right."

"Well, I mean, she is cute."

Pyrrha said as she chuckled.

"Ruby, she... She's cool."

Jaune said.

"She stood up to those Cardin guys in the cafeteria!"

Jaune said in awe.

"Maybe because she doesn't think twice about the consequences. Anyways, someone text that dolt to get back to class at an instant."

Weiss said as she opened the door to her classroom and walked inside. She was supposed to have a class with Ruby this period, but no one knew where she was right now.

"Ah well... She's not wrong but..."

Yang shrugged.

"I don't know, I think it was very kind of her to do so during lunch."

Pyrrha said with a smile.

"Ehh... She's been like that ever since."

Yang said as she scratched her cheek.

"Then that's even better! I mean, people don't usually bother to stand up for someone else, right?"

Jaune said.

"Ah yes, it is. But it's just... Ruby being Ruby. She loves Faunus."

"Huh?"

Blake hummed in confusion.

"She never stops about how cute all the Faunus are."

Yang said as she remembered all those times she had to listen to Ruby go on and on about cuteness of the Faunus.

"So she always had at least one Faunus friend with her and became... Very protective. She'd beat the ass out of whoever picked on the Faunus child."

"Oh."

Pyrrha chuckled as she imagined young Ruby standing up for a Faunus friend.

"That's cute."

"Not when she starts talking about how cute they are for 6 hours straight."

Yang sighed.

"She once had a cat Faunus friend when she was like I don't know, 7 or so. Heck, she followed the Faunus girl EVERYWHERE. Rubes always begged the cat girl if she could touch her ear and everything."

"That's adorable."

Pyrrha was now laughing.

"It wasn't when she pushed the guy who picked on the Faunus girl down the stairs and broke his leg. Like, literally. I mean, she did a great job, I probably would've done the same, but we had quite a lot to deal with afterward."

Yang said as she shrugged, not wanting to think of those painful times.

Now Jaune was laughing too.

"She refused to eat for a whole week when the cat girl's family had to go back to their home. They met during the summer. I don't know what's with her with all the Faunus, but heck, she's all over them."

"Yang, do you remember her name?"

Blake asked.

"The Faunus girl? No. Ruby probably does, but not me. I think... The cat girl... had black hair. I think."

Blake's eyes started to glow.

"Do you know their age?"

"Ehhh... I think they were about the same age as me. Two or three years older than Ruby, why do you ask Blake?"

Blake quietly hummed as she looked down at the floor.

"Oh wait, this is my class. Well then, bye guys!"

Yang said as she opened the door to a classroom.

"Well then... We should hurry to our class. Doctor Oobleck wouldn't be happy if we came in late."

Pyrrha said rushing the other two students.

That night, the same time Jaune and Pyrrha met up at the top of the building, Ruby was taking a walk around the school. When she randomly looked up at the sky, she was able to see two small figures at the top of the school building. She took out her scroll, using her camera function to zoom in, only to find out that the two dots were Jaune and Pyrrha, having some kind of serious conversation.

"Huh..."

Ruby went back inside the school building and started head up to the rooftop out of curiosity. By the time Ruby reached the rooftop, Pyrrha was already gone. Ruby quietly opened the door, only to find Cardin head locking Jaune. Neither of them seems like they noticed her. Ruby groaned as she rolled her eyes and she walked over to the two.

"Cardin, are you picking on Jaune again?"

"Ruby?"

"Hey, Jaune. Getting bullied again?"

"Hey there little red."

"Cardin, let go of him."

Cardin smirked and released Jaune.

"Jeez, calm down there girl. I wasn't bullying him or anything. We're friends. Right Jauney-boy?"

Cardin gave Jaune a threatening smile.

"Uh-Uh, yea! Yea.."

"See little red?"

Ruby sighed as she facepalmed.

"Two-no three things to say."

She reached out her arm in front of Cardin's face and lifted her index finger up.

"One, I'm not THAT stupid to not notice that you're bullying him."

She stretched out her middle finger too, making a V-sign."

"Two, if you don't stop picking on him, I'll break your leg. Or legs."

She finally stretched out her ring finger.

"Three, DON'T YOU DARE CALL ME LITTLE RED."

Ruby sounded irritated.

"Aw come on. Don't be like that."

Cardin said as he threw his arm around Ruby's shoulder.

"Ugh. Jaune, let's go."

Ruby simply slapped Cardin's hand off of her shoulder and held Jaune's hand as she started to drag him back inside the building.

"Jaune, you really need to stop hanging out with him."

Ruby said as she walked down the staircase with Jaune, still holding onto his wrist.

"Uh, well... That's... Nothing to worry about. Really. We're... Friends.."

Jaune said with an awkward smile that Ruby groaned at.

"Jaune."

Ruby stopped in the middle of the staircase and turned around to face Jaune.

"I know that there are things that you don't wanna share with other people."

"Ruby, I-"

Ruby brought her hand up in front of Jaune's face, and placed her index finger in front of his lips, signaling him to be quiet.

"Maybe you don't want to make us worried. Or maybe it's simply out of embarrassment."

Ruby's hand made its way down to Jaune's hand. She held onto his right hand which was already held onto with Ruby's other hand.

"But Jaune, there are things that you simply can't take care of on your own."

He didn't know what to say, so he just stood still listening to Ruby.

"That's why... We are trying to help you."

Jaune now felt so powerless and useless, that he sighed and rubbed his face with his free hand.

"I-I'm such a failure."

"Mmmm... Nope."

"Huh?"

"Nope."

"Rub-"

"Nope."

Ruby chuckled and held Jaune's hand more tightly.

"Jaune, you're not allowed to be a failure anymore. We have a team. We are the leaders. We can't be a failure. We can't let them down. Your team deserves a great leader after all."

"Ugh, I... I just don't know anymore... I..."

Jaune looked down at the ground, too embarrassed to face Ruby.

"Hey, everyone needs a hand. I can't solve all of my problems on my own. Even Weiss and Pyrrha can't do that. Everyone needs a little help. Everyone. It's not just you."

Ruby let go of Jaune's hand and sat down on the stairs. Jaune, feeling upset as soon as their hands parted, sat down beside Ruby.

"You can't call yourself a failure only because you need a little bit of help. You're not, and you can't be one anymore."

Jaune stared down at his feet, debating whether he should tell Ruby about his problem with Cardin or not. Oh, he sure did need some help, but if he were to tell Ruby about Cardin picking on him, he had to tell her about him faking his transcripts to get into this school.

"Jaune, it obviously doesn't need to be me who you decide to talk to. It can be someone from your team, your classes, or the professors."

Ruby said as she placed her hand softly onto Jaune's shoulder. Well, the last one clearly wasn't the option for Jaune.

"If you don't feel comfortable talking to me, that's fine. But find someone who you can trust, who you feel comfortable to talk to, okay?"

Ruby stood up, brushed the dust off her skirt and started to walk down the stairs, but was stopped by Jaune, who was now grabbing on to her wrist.

"I... I want to talk."

Ruby smiled.

"Sure Jaune, anytime. Though... We might want to go somewhere else for the talk, someone else might be able to hear us if we stay here."

"Right."

Ruby and Jaune headed to the back of the school. They simply just sat on the ground, and Jaune started to tell Ruby about his fake transcripts and how Cardin found out about it. Though, he decided to leave out the conversation he had with Pyrrha.

After telling Ruby everything, he looked away, worried that she might yell at him for faking the transcripts or something. But instead of an intense scream, he heard a little hum from his side.

"Huh, sounds like you're in some complicated situation, doesn't it?"

Ruby said as she placed her hand under her chin, trying to come up with a solution to this problem.

"Well, yea. Yea, I guess."

Jaune said as he sighed.

"Well... I don't know professor Ozpin all that much, but based on the conversation I had with him, he... He probably already knows about your fake transcript."

"You-You think so?"

"Yea, probably."

Ruby chuckled.

"Though even if that's the case, it probably won't be the smartest idea to go up to him tell him about it straight up forward."

"Yea... Can't do that..."

"And I'm assuming that you don't want your team involved in this?"

"Well... I don't know. I mean-"

Jaune sighed once again.

"Yeam I don't really want them involved."

"Let me ask. Is that out of embarrassment or... Fear?"

She didn't say fear of "what" but Jaune had a pretty good idea of what she was referring to.

"I think... Both. And I don't really want to bother them. Plus, if I told this to Nora, she probably would go up to Cardin and break his leg. And that makes things more complicated."

"It would get messy and drag all the professors in, I assume?"

Ruby giggled.

"Probably."

"Well, how about this. I have an idea."

"Really?"

"Yea, but you would have to hold up with Cardin for a few days if that's okay with you I mean."

"Uh well-"

"Or you can ask Nora to break his leg. That wouldn't take long."

"-On the second thought, I can hold up with him."

"Good. Okay so... In a few days, we're gonna be heading to the Forever Fall."

"That forest? Why?"

"Professor Goodwitch will be asking us to collect the Red Sap sample from the trees."

"Okay...?"

"All you have to do is just listen to what Cardin tells you to do."

"Uh..."

"Unless he tells you to harm other people or so. Then you must fight back."

"Okay. Got it."

"Then, I'll take care of the rest."

"Ummm..."

"Trust me Jaune. I got this."

Jaune closed his eyes, deep in thought for a moment.

He sighed as he opened his eyes and faced Ruby again.

"Alright. But I have one question."

"Ask away."

"How... Do you know about... Well.."

"Going to the Forever Fall to collect some red sap?"

"Uh, yea."

"I'll just say that I got lucky."

"What do you mean?"

"Uhhhh well... I kind of got to hear Professor Goodwitch and Ozpin talking about it...?"

"You were eavesdropping?!"

"Ssshhh! I wasn't! Lower your voice!"

"But you just said-"

"It's not my fault that they were dealing with this matter in the middle of the hallway!"

Ruby clenched both of her fists and started to swing them in the air as she tried to explain.

"I just happened to be there!"

"Well... Okay."

"It's true! Plus, it's not like this is a 'top secret' or anything like that. The Professors will tell us sooner or later. I just got to know about it a little faster than others!"

Ruby said as she started to softly slap Jaune's arm.

"Ow! Ow! Okay okay! I trust you."

"Good."

Ruby now said with a smile.

"Well, then. We should be going back to our room."

"Right."

Ruby stood up and then reached out her hand to Jaune. Jaune looked up at Ruby and took her hand as he felt a little tingle in his stomach. He didn't know what these growing emotions were but soon came to the conclusion that it didn't really matter.

Little did they know that their cute little conversation was being watched by the boy's teammate. The red hair girl, Pyrrha Nikos. Pyrrha was heading back to her room, and she happened to look outside the window only to find Ruby and Jaune sitting out there leaning against the wall, talking to each other.

Pyrrha felt some negative emotions building up inside her. Jealousy, sadness, and maybe even a little bit of anger. Jaune didn't want Pyrrha's help. He didn't even want to talk to her. And yet, he was talking to Ruby about his problems. To be honest, Pyrrha didn't know what they were talking about, but just assumed that it had to be something relating to his problems with Cardin.

Yes, Ruby was a cute girl who was filled with determination and happiness. She was funny, nice, and caring. Maybe that's why Jaune wanted to talk to her about it? Pyrrha didn't know. She wanted to know. But she couldn't just straight up ask him about it. Pyrrha sighed, seeing herself get so jealous over such a little thing.

Pyrrha felt jealous of Ruby. Wait, her jealousy was headed towards Ruby, right...? Of course, she was jealous of Ruby. She had a... little tiny crush on Jaune. Little tiny crush. Right...? Right. She didn't even get a chance to talk to Ruby all that much, to begin with!

That's how Pyrrha concluded about her feelings before going back to her room.

A/N. Annnnd that's done! This chapter was a little longer than usual, wasn't it? Anyways, this chapter had a lot of... Ruby x Jaune scenes as I'd like to call it. I kinda hated how Cardin guy got something out of Jaune and now Jaune was being... Cranky. Poor Pyrrha was so concerned! So, I decided to let Ruby take care of everything. She is the main character of the series, and this fanfiction after-all.*shrugs*

Anyways, thanks for reading and please feel free to point out any spelling or grammatical errors!