Chapter 25

Sorry for taking over two months to get this out but you know life gets in the way sometimes, and I also this is a chapter that I had no idea what to do in and that was true almost every step of the way. Aside from that I think it turned out well, and I hope you guys do too.

After another delicious dinner of my favorite food ever… Mac and cheese, and the extremely short trek over to Ruby's room, I knocked on her door to finally see the mythical, 'Crescent Rose'.

It had been about a minute and the door had not opened, I've never been one to be impatient so continued to wait, thinking Ruby might have just been in the bathroom.

Another minute ticked by and now I'm starting to believe that Ruby might have no heard me so I knocked again a little louder this time. Again I was met with no answer to the door, not even Ruby shouting that she'll be there soon.

Another minute went by and is it possible Ruby isn't home? I'm not sure why she wouldn't, since we planned to meet up after dinner so, where could she be?

Well if she isn't home, I guess I'll just wait to hear someone come onto this floor because odds are it'll be her… or that creepy drunk guy. As I began to walk back to my room, the door to our floor opened and it was thankfully Ruby.

"Oh, hey Jaune" She said a little more cheery than usual.

"Hey Rubes, what were you doing?" I asked as she jogged past me to her door.

"I was just dropping off some mail" That's odd… people don't mail things to anyone these days unless it's important or they're just people who prefer hand written mail, and no offence to Ruby, but she doesn't seem like that type.

"Who'd you mail?" I asked stepping beside her.

"Just my sister" The cheer in her voice disappeared.

"Why did you mail to her?" I asked curiously.

"It's just because since my sister is a huntsman, you can't always just call them" Ruby explained at that made sense, but I don't remember ever doing that with my Dad.

Ruby opened her door and as soon as it was open she sprinted at speeds I didn't think were possible, and came back to me with a case that I presumed "Crescent Rose' was inside of. Ruby was nearly bursting with excitement and it was infectious.

"You ready Jaune?" She asked bouncing holding the case to her chest.

"With how much you're hyping this up, it better not disappoint" I said crossing my arms.

Ruby faked offence "Jaune I wouldn't hype this up as the…" She took a short breath "GREATEST WEAPON OF ALL TIME" Ruby proclaimed pointing to ceiling and couldn't help but snicker "if it wasn't" she finished by placing the case on her kitchen table.

She opened the case by slowly opening each clasp of the case one at a time; I couldn't help but smile at how overdramatic she's being about this.

The case was open but I could not see what was inside, I tried to walk over to get a better view but a hand on my chest stopped me "Jaune, I need make sure you're ready to see perfection" Ruby said seriously but at the same time, I could tell she was just playing.

"Yeah, I'm ready" I said playfully rolling my eyes, which like I hoped, Ruby caught.

With her finger in my face she simply said "Don't you dare roll your eyes Jaune, for your mere mortal mind, cannot even comprehend… what you're about to see" She said trying her best to sound serious, but she had a smile on her face and nearly broke halfway through.

"Please forgive my ignorance Goddess of weapons, and allow me to see this ultimate weapon" I said overdramatically bowing my head in respect.

"It's the 'Greatest Weapon Ever', but I'll forgive you're ignorance" Ruby said with of us both just barely being able to contain our laughter. "And now feast your eyes…" She said putting both her hands on the case "ON THIS" She spun the case so that I could now see it. Upon my eyes seeing the red weapon, I placed both my hands on my cheeks letting out a long and loud gasp.

"It's so beautiful!" I exclaimed taking a better look at it to see it was currently folded up and was just a slab of metal, so I'm guessing it mecha shifts into something else.

"Thank you Jaune, but wait until you see her true form" Ruby said taking it out of the case… did she really call it a 'her'? "Please stand back, for it can be quite dangerous when I open her" Yup she called it a 'her'.

Ruby walked into a more open area, where she clearly had moved everything out of the way, so she didn't damage anything.

She took a deep breath, holding it in front of her again she moved so fast I hadn't even noticed she opened it before she spun in around her back it twirled in her hands at super speeds and… hit the ceiling. Ruby was so surprised by this that she let out frightened yelp and dropped Crescent Rose without even realizing it.

Ruby just stood there in udder shock staring at the dent she made in the ceiling, before looking towards Crescent Rose and fell to her knees.

It all happened so fast that I had no idea how to react, but seeing the defeated look on Ruby's face, I knew something was wrong and I should try to help her.

I kneeled down to her level and asked "What's wrong"

Ruby took a deep breath before answering unable to even look me in the eye "I'm sorry"

I had no idea what she was apologizing for, but by the sounds of her voice I doubt she even heard what I said. Taking a deep breath myself before placing a hand on her shoulder, I was afraid that she might react badly but to my surprise she made no reaction.

"Ruby" I said trying to get her attention. She made no reaction again. Taking another deep breath I slowly moved my other hand to her cheek, this finally got a reaction out of her with her eyes widening.

I gently moved her head to face me and looked her eyes. Looking into her silver orbs I saw that she was holding back tears. "Ruby, what's wrong" I asked in a tone similar I'd use to comfort my sisters when they were frightened.

Ruby sniffled before saying 'I'm sorry' again; I still had no idea why she was apologizing. If I had to guess she probably has been holding back her emotions, and this simple mistake made it all come out.

I pulled her in closer gently holding her as she began to weep. Slowly I felt her arms wrap around me, and she just let all of it out on my shoulder. I softly rubbed her back trying to comfort her as best I could.

After about a minute I felt her grip tighten, there were no more tears but the sobs didn't stop, it was hard to see Ruby like this. Someone who's my friend and is always saw so happy and lively, to see her just break down like this was downright heartbreaking.

My grip on her tightened a bit as she continued to sob, I wanted to say something to comfort her but I wasn't sure if that would make things better or not so I my mouth shut.

Finally the sobs ended and after a few deep breaths, Ruby pulled away. My arms we still around her waist while she rested her hands on my shoulders. She looked me in the eyes and unlike before they weren't as lifeless as before, despite how try they were and pink she was.

"I'm really sorry Jaune" She said using one of her hands to wipe the tears of her face, before returning it back to my shoulder.

"You don't need to apologize" I said giving her a smile, which she did return, even though it was weak and a short one, it was so good to see.

"No I do, I shouldn't have reacted like this to making a dent in the ceiling" Ruby said with her voice sounding weak. She looked up at the dent, as did I, and in all honestly it was barely noticeable outside of a crack in the paint.

"Ruby, I think we both know that isn't why you started crying" I said while we were still looking up.

Looking back at Ruby she was no looking towards the ground "It's stupid"

"So?" I asked because it can't be that stupid as she thinks it is.

Ruby let out a sigh "I've wanted to be Huntress since I was three years old" She said looking towards a photo on a table. From the looks of it, it was of Ruby and she couldn't have been older than 7. She was holding a much smaller weapon then the one she had today, it looked to be a scythe. I then looked over to 'Crescent Rose' to that it was also a Scythe.

"I tried so hard, I had the best teacher ever… but even with all of that, I failed" Ruby said with her eyes tearing up again. "I was never strong enough, and the only reason I was even considered for being a Huntress, was my speed and my courage" Ruby explained unable to meet my eyes.

"I rarely won my sparring matches, and whenever we fought Grimm, I was good at it, but I couldn't fight for very long, I couldn't take as many hits as the other kids… I wasn't good enough" She said tightening her grip on my shoulders with tears in her eyes.

"Everyone… Everyone in my family has been a Huntsman, my father, my mother, my uncle, and my sister… everyone but me, because I wasn't good enough" She started taking some deep breaths through her nose.

"When I put my hands on Crescent Rose it felt so good, like an old friend had come for a visit, and you reminisce about the good times" Ruby sounded like she was just barely holding herself back from breaking down again. "And then when I hit the ceiling, I remembered all my failures, all the times where if it was real I would died or have gotten someone else killed" Her breaths were getting faster she was sniffling constantly. "I remembered how I thought that one day… one day I would get better, I'd be at the top of the class, I'd be good enough… but… that day… never…" She was unable to finish as she broke down again, failing into my chest.

Again I did my best to comfort her, this whole time I've wanted to say something to her to let her know that I understand but I didn't want to interrupt her, now I have a chance to speak and I think I know what to say.

After she started her tears slowed down I finally opened my mouth and said "I know what that's like"

She sniffled before looking up at me her nose was dripping with snot; her eyes still had tears falling from them "What?" She asked clearing her throat.

"I know what it's like to be at the bottom, and to think that with enough training, and if push yourself hard enough you'll be one of the best" I said holding her a little tighter "And I know what it's like to fail to do that" I wiped the tears from Ruby's eyes and she gave a smile in return, again it wasn't long but I could tell she was happy that she found someone who understood her pain.

"Really?" She asked with a sniffle that sucked all the snot back up her nose.

"Yeah" I answered with a smile of my own that like hers didn't stay for long. "I guess you could say I was the opposite of you" She looked interested by that "I wasn't very fast and couldn't hit people very well, but I could take a beating like no other" I laughed at saying that "That's the only reason I was able to win any of my matches, my opponent would tire out before they could knock me out"

Ruby laughed at that "That is basically the opposite of me; maybe if we could fuse together we'd make an amazing Huntsman"

I couldn't help but laugh at the idea of that. "Yeah with your speed and my tankiness we'd be unstoppable!" I said raising a fist in the air.

"But, I'm pretty sure we'd look like a freak if we did" Ruby said with a laugh.

"What are you talking about?" I asked jokingly "With your cloak mixed with my sweater we'd have two hoods, it would be perfection" I said making the ok sign.

"You know now that I think about it… My skirt with your pants would actually look amazing" Ruby said with a sly smirk.

"And for our shoes one would be your boot and the other would be my shoe" I said trying not to laugh.

"Our hair would be your style with my colours" Ruby said touching my hair

"And our eyes would be silver and blue" pointing to my eyes then hers.

But the real question is…" Ruby started

"Are we a boy or a girl?" I said finishing for her.

We both stopped a moment putting a finger on our lip, before in unison yelling "BOTH" Both of us began to cackle and Ruby would have fallen to the ground had I not been holding her.

After we recovered from our fit of laughter I looked back at Crescent Rose, I had to say it was a tad overdesigned, a bit clunky looking, and I'm pretty sure it's also gun, but my real concern was that it was bigger than her.

"How could a girl your size fight with something like this?" I asked standing up to pick it up. When I did I found out one reason, it was incredibly light, even with the blade end being heavier but it could still be held steady with only one arm.

"I'd show you but…" She said looking up at the dent.

"Maybe some other time you could show me in action" I said holding it out for her.

"Yeah but…"

"I'll make sure that we have more room" I said giving her a smile. Ruby returned it before taking Crescent Rose back. "So what kind bullets does it use?" I asked because it kinda looked like a sniper rifle, judging by the magazine and scope.

"Well I use a mix of elemental dust bullets, and 50 cal." Ruby explained and my eyes shot wide open.

"How the hell do you control the recoil on that?" I asked baffled.

"Welllllll…" Ruby said biting her lip "I'd plant the scythe blade into the ground" well that sounds incredibly awkward.

"What about when you can't do that?"

"IIIIII… would use the power of the shot to propel me through the air" She said with a laugh.

I decided not the question that, and just accept it as the only answer I was going to get. It's not like I'd expect her to lie about it, and she is very tiny a light so, maybe it works.

"You'll have to show me that as well" I said laughing it off.

"I'd love to but… without my Aura it's too dangerous" Ruby said solemnly.

"Yeah, now that I think about it, that's for the best" I really miss Aura, it would have helped a crap ton when I fought Cardin, or when that Faunus guy attacked me.

"But my Dad basically recorded everything I've ever done, so he's bound to have an old tape that shows me doing it" Ruby said kinda annoyed.

As nice as that would be to see that, I'm really scared to see Taiyang again. Even with his limp and age I'm pretty sure he could kill me no problem.

"It's a real shame we don't have our aura anymore, I would love to have had a sparring match with you" Ruby said swinging Crescent Rose back and forth.

Honestly I have to agree with her. Sparring with Pyrrha was probably the most fun I had while training to become a Huntsman, but I'm sure that a fight with Ruby would be a lot different from Pyrrha.

"Yeah it would be great, and the question of overwhelming offence vs. unwavering defense would finally be answered" I said, hoping Ruby would take the bait.

"Pfff… I would win no problem" Ruby said like I expected.

"No way, you'd tire out before you could even knock me down" I said crossing my arms with a smile that I knew would get her riled up.

"Oh come on!" She exclaimed "If I remember correctly you said you only used a sword and a shield, I have a sniper rifle" It was honestly really cute how much she was into this fight that will never happen.

"Everyone else I have ever fought had a gun, I got pretty good at closing the distance" Even though when I actually closed the distance, I got my ass kicked anyway, but Ruby doesn't need to know that.

"Yeah… maybe if they're slow" She said crossing her arms.

"Hey, I'm pretty fast on my feet!" I exclaimed pointing to myself.

"If we ever fought, you'd never be able to catch me" Ruby said proudly.

"Oh yeah?" I asked when an idea popped into my head "Then why don't you prove it?"

Ruby looked shocked by my request, before laughing it off. "I don't that's a good idea"

"Hmmm… is that fear in your voice?" I asked knowing that would get her going.

"Yeah I'm afraid I'll destroy your ego" Oh damn I got to give her that one.

But I wasn't going to give up on this race, so I stared her down. Ruby let out a sigh before asking "You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Nope" I said popping the P.

With a smile on her face and a roll of her eyes she said "Fine, I'll accept your challenge" It was obvious that she thought she was going to win, and she probably will. I'm just doing this so she'll maybe feel a little better. "So, where will we have this race?"

"There is a park nearby that is perfect for this" I answered.

"Ok lead on" She said and I just can't resist saying this.

"Already accepted that I'll be leading?"

"Think of it as more of a head start" Damn, that was another good one.

xXx

Walking to the park consisted of mostly some light trash talking, which we could both tell was all in some good fun. When we arrived at the park we found a good starting line by a tree, and as we looked down the pathway we decided that the entrance would be the finish line. If I had to guess I'd say the race was close to 100M but I can't really be sure.

"You know you can still back out now" Ruby said while we were both stretching.

"And have you call me chicken forever? Not a chance!" I said as we finished up.

We both took up a sprinters stance, I could see people staring at us but I wasn't bothered in slightest and neither was Ruby, all that mattered was this dumb pointless race.

"You want to do the countdown?" Ruby asked sounding quite excited.

"Yeah I guess I will"

"3" I raised my body to make it easier to launch myself.

"2" I looked over at Ruby and saw complete determination and confidence on her face.

"1" I took a deep breath.

"Go!" I launched myself forward and began sprinting as fast as I could, and like I expected Ruby was in the lead… what I didn't expect was her to take off like a rocket going at the speed of sound.

I'm not joking when I say she was basically done when I was only a quarter of the way there. The speed she possessed was unprecedented, and did she drop a rose petal? Anyway by the time I was at the halfway mark, she was already looking back at me with a smug smile that she defiantly earned.

When I caught up to her she raised her shoulders and just said "I tried to warn you"

"Yup" I said smiling while rubbing the back of my head.

Ruby turned around away from me with her arms behind her back "That's twice today you doubted the weapon goddess, I'm not sure I can forgive you for this Jaune" She said looking back at me trying her best to sound intimidating (And failing).

"Oh please forgive me, I'll never doubt you again" I said pleadingly.

"There is one way to earn my forgiveness" Ruby said looking away from me.

"I'll do anything, what is it?" I asked over dramatically.

Ruby spun around to face me with the biggest smile on her face "Getting me some ice cream!" She exclaimed before giggling.

I let out a sigh but couldn't help but smile "Is that the only reason you agreed to this race?"

Ruby began to ponder and cutely tapped her finger on her lips before saying "No but it was the biggest reason"

"Alright let's go, there has to be an ice cream shop around here somewhere" I said beginning to look around for one.

"Yay!" Ruby exclaimed before she dashed over to me giving me a big hug "Thanks Jaune" She said softly, it was clear that wasn't a thank you just for the ice cream.

"No problem, Rubes" I said returning the hug.

Which wasn't very long anyway with Ruby bursting out giving me a punch (and I use that term in the loosest way possible) on the shoulder.

"You're the best friend I could ask for!" She said taking my hand and dragging me away in some random direction.

As I thought over the word she just said while being dragged around, I couldn't help but agree with them, Ruby really is that best friend I could ask for.

So before you go, I'd just like to say that entire race they had at the end, was only done because I had no idea how to segway into my original plan for the end of this chapter, which I am sad about but I won't it spoil here… I'll save it for later.

So anyway thanks for reading, hope you enjoyed, review if you can, and have a great day.