A/N: 6.9k Pre-A/N. I'll be honest, originally was only like 4.7k cause it was only going to involve what was seen in the episode, but I decided since it's been awhile and you guys deserve some nice good ol' fanfiction, I'd go ahead to make it longer ^^ With that said, it does add some parts from the following episode, but since I plan on changing the next few eps here and there, I figured it would be good. We'll still get our forest trip, we'll get our resolvement bit, yada yada yada. You'll know the changes when you see em ^^
With that said, enjoy!
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~This will be the day we waited for~
Cinder and salem are seen standing on a balcony on the side of the latter's home looking out in the distance to where Vale would be. As they look up to a Nevermore flying overhead, the camera pans up as well, showing an orange sky that slowly turns blue.
~This will be the day we open up the door~
Returning back down from its view of the sky, we see Ruby opening the door to Beacon's main hall, Wolfie peaking out behind her, Blake standing next to her, oblivious to the Grimm's presence.
~I don't wanna hear your absolution~
The Camera 'flies' through the hallways until it settles on Ozpin going through illegible notes on his scroll next to a photo of young miss Fall.
~Hope your ready for a revolution~
Outside his window, WYJR can be seen standing together. As the screen is overtaken by a storm of white petals, Weiss pushes Jaune a bit away.
~Welcome to a world of new solutions~
One of the petals remain before a black background and is revealed to be Ruby as she pulls out [insert weapon name] and starts twirling her Scythe around, leaving a burning crimson Halo above herself.
~Welcome to a world of blood evolution~
The red halo turns into Wolfie's red Iris as the camera zooms out revealing the pool of blood beneath the Grimm. before he dissolves into a shadow and to the side.
~In time your heart will open minds~
The shadow flows beneath Ruby cloak who is standing with her team, a conflicted expression on her face. Soon though it is replaced with a look of determination as the Camera pans once more.
~A Story will be told~
When the camera settles on Ruby's viewpoint we see Amber kneeling before Cinder, before the camera zooms back and her surroundings turn into the vault beneath Beacon.
~And Victory is in a Simple Soul~
We see a final shot of a young Ruby hugging her family, which reveals itself to be an old picture in Salem's Hand who is enjoying tea served by Neo.
"Yes! Yes, prior to the Faunus Rights Revolution, more popularly known as the Faunus War, humankind was quite, quite adamant about centralizing Faunus population to Menagerie." Oobleck explained as he went into many a great detail about the events.
The classroom was a magical place in any given environment. Within it you could find one of three different races in it; the people who struggled to stay away to falling asleep, the people who continued to follow along and be whisked away in wonder in what they were learning, and the people who were bored out of their mind and doodling in their notebooks or trying to find something to preoccupy their minds. Jaune himself actually fell into the first category of people, quietly snoring to himself as he slouched on his desk in one of the front rows.
At first Ruby was excited about her classes up to this point. School was a new and unique experience for the sheltered child. There were plenty of people for her to meet, new and surprising faces, the classes themselves seemed different enough yet similar to those studies she had when she was tutored by a personal tutor and then by Watts later in life, and there were surprisingly some fun classes too! Of the many, Professor Ports had to be one of her favorites, mostly because it made her feel like a genius above the rest since she knew so much about Grimm. On top of that, she got to fight a few here and there too! Hopefully none of them were her dear Gran's personal Grimm, otherwise everything was great!
THEN you had classes like this one. Professor Oobleck. Historian, teacher, architect, coffee addict, every single piece of boredom rolled into one. It's not like she didn't understand why learning about history was important, she just didn't find any of it interesting. Why bother reading up on what stupid people did during the stupid ages? That's like going to a Safety Seminar and asking why you don't lay in the middle of a road, it's just common sense! Besides, most of the stuff they taught were all about stupid racial issues, and she sure didn't have any racisms!
...Unless saying textbooks are boring is one, otherwise she was good.
On top of that, she knew a great deal about prejudice from growing up with Blake. Every several months, she would come back with stories about one of the rallies or protests and go into great detail about what she and her parents did and the people they were trying to help. A lot of them sounded like fun activities to Ruby when she was younger, seeing the rallies and protests as some form of "Family activity" until she was old enough to understand what they really were. Every single one of them started with the Faunus protesting for equality, and more than half of them ended in despair.
That's what made history so boring to Ruby and confusing at the same time. Why were people so stupid back then just to hold prejudice against someone based off how they look? So someone had rabbit ears, that's cute. Someone had a dog's tail, must've been comfortable to nap with. So that person can breath underwater and swim like the fish Faunus they were, how amazing! Why were people just so stupid?
To only add to the dilemma of boredom, only Nora was in the class at the same time Ruby was, the rest of her teammates having a different class schedule than her. There were times she could socialize with Nora during studies and do assignments together, but much like Ruby, Nora found it impossible to pay attention for longer than 30 seconds with how fast this teacher spoke. The only consolation she did have was that Yang and Ren were in her class too, so they provided some support when it came to studying.
At least during the lessons, they were on the upper rows of the classroom, so any time they seemed distracted or bored in front of the teacher, he wasn't as likely to call them out on it.
"While this might feel like ancient history to you," or complete boredom to Ruby's case, "it is imperative to remember that these are relatively recent events! Why the repercussions of the uprising can still be seen to this day!" He paused for a full second to take another sip. "Now! Have any among you been subjugated or discriminated because of your Faunus heritage?"
It was at that time Blake felt a little guilty as she watched Velvet slowly and nervously raise her hand. She hated what she had to do with herself, hiding her own Faunus heritage from the rest of the academy despite how many other Faunus were showing theirs off with pride. She wasn't ashamed of her heritage, far from it! She just didn't want to have to deal with the constant harassment she's seen other Faunus' suffer from bullying and subjugation.
Yet here was Velvet, announcing her own problems before the class, feeling a little embarrassed. She was constantly picked on, and knowing the more unsavory people in this classroom, aka Cardin, she was going to get harassed even more from it, and she still held up her hand honorably.
She definitely owed her an apology at some point.
"Dreadful," Oobleck commented shaking his head, "simply dreadful! Remember, students, this kind of ignorance breeds violence! I mean, I mean, I mean, just look at what happened to White Fang! Now, which one of you young scholars can tell me what many theorists believe to be the turning point in the third year of the war? ...Yes?" He questioned to the Schnee who raised her hand.
"The battle at Fort Castle!" Weiss answered.
"Precisely! And, who can tell me the advantage the Faunus had over General Lagune's Forces?"
It's been awhile. It's been awhile since Cardin found a way to amuse himself during this dull class. The teacher talked his ear off, the assignments were boring, and there wasn't anyone to harass as long as the teacher kept teaching.
Except for one certain blonde Jaune snoozing in front of him. Taking a quick double take to make sure his coast was clear, he fiddled with a piece of paper into a paper football before flinging it straight at the back of Jaune's head.
"Hey!" Jaune yelped startled, trying to scratch away whatever irritated his head just now. Unfortunately for him, the teacher took that as a sign, just as Cardin had anticipated.
"Mr. Arc! Finally contributing to class! This is excellent! Excellent! What is the answer?" The teacher's expectancy gave Jaune little time to process what just happened. All he did know at that moment was that he owed his thanks to Cardin for getting him into future trouble.
"Uhhh... The Answer..." He glanced around the room trying to think. Luckily he was at the edge of the row of seats, so he plenty of space to look around for some possible clue. "The advantage... of the Faunus... had over that guy's stuff..."
She couldn't just let him do this alone. Whether or not they were on different teams, Pyrrha wanted to help Jaune with everything, especially if Cardin was the root cause of his dilemma. Doing her best, she made silent gestures around her eyes to the young Arc, doing her best to word out the answers without giving away her hints to the other students, save for Blake, who didn't mind, right next to her. It was at her last gesture that Jaune finally came up with the answer!
"B-Binoculars!" Sadly no matter how proudly he answered, it wouldn't change the fact it was wrong. Jaune never would've realized this so soon if it wasn't for the laughter from dozens of his fellow classmates, Cardin getting the most kick out of it since he started this.
Sighing to himself, Oobleck cooled any temper he would've had with another sip of his warm coffee, all while Pyrrha moaned to herself at Jaune's failed guess. "Very funny, Mr. Arc." The teacher muttered returning to his desk. There was some fairness to this ordeal as Oobleck suddenly noticed Cardin cracking up over the situation, practically volunteering to answer to him. "Cardin," he spoke up, grabbing his attention, "perhaps you would care to share your thoughts on the subject?"
The bully was only slightly caught off guard, leaning in his chair without a care in the world. He didn't care much for classes or history so he just threw out the first thought that came to mind. "Well, I know it's easier to train an animal than a soldier."
Unbelievable. In just a few short seconds he broke the record for how quick someone can respond to show his disinterest in a classroom and insult hundreds of people at the exact same time. Pyrrha scoffed as she shook her head at him.
"You're not the most open-minded of individuals, are you, Cardin?" She replied, greatly insulting his pride.
"What? You got a problem?"
"No, I have the answer!"
Oh snap.
"It's night vision. Many Faunus are known to have nearly-perfect sight in the dark." Cardin could only grumble to himself as the warrior continued insulting his ineptitude without actually saying anything direct.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and made the mistake of trying to ambush the Faunus in their sleep." Blake added. "His massive army was outmatched, and the General was captured." She turned her attention to Cardin with a small grin. "Perhaps if he'd paid better attention in class, he wouldn't have been remembered as such a failure.
"Oooh!" Cardin growled as he squeezed his fist, slowly rising out of his chair.
"Mr. Windchester, please take your seat!" Oobleck instructed, preventing what could've been a fight breaking out. His focus wasn't distracted enough to ignore the small chuckling coming from Jaune ahead of him, quickly zipping in front of his desk immediately after. "You and Mr. Arc can both see me after class for additional readings."
"Ooh..." He knew he should've kept his mouth shut.
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With the rallying bell, the students began to exit the classroom one after the other. If there were a few sounds in the world children loved to hear, it was the sound of a bell going off to tell them that classes were over. Nobody hesitated exiting the classroom with satisfaction, save for Jaune and Cardin who had to remain behind for whatever "readings" Oobleck had in store for them.
Even with this, Pyrrha couldn't bring herself to leave Jaune behind, Blake looking back at her as they left, noticing her pause.
"You can go on ahead, Blake. I'll wait for Jaune." The incognito Faunus smiled with a nod as she continued onward. Classes were over for the day for most students. Now, aside from whatever time they required to get their assignments done, they had the rest of the evening to do as they pleased.
Meanwhile, the teacher continued his lecture with the remaining two students.
"You two have been struggling in my class since day one! Now, I don't know if it's a lack of interest or your stubborn nature, but whatever it is," he paused for another sip, "it stops now!"
It was troubling when a student didn't seem the least bit interested in anything he taught. He found it to be one of the most important teachings of the entire world! You can teach your science mumbo-jumbo and your lessons on how to deal with Grimm, but history is what leads people to the future, preventing them from making mistakes of the past!
"You've worked hard to gain entrance into this school, and we only accept the best of the best! So, I expect you to act like it! History is important gentlemen. If you can't learn from it... you're destined to repeat it. Pages 51 to 91! I want an essay on my desk by next class. Now, run along." He waved off, allowing the tortured souls to finally leave.
They weren't fast enough to out-walk him, the teacher passing by them in seconds with the power of caffeine coursing through this his veins. It's a rather unfortunate outcome too since mere seconds after passing the two students, he failed to watch how Cardin casually shoved Jaune to the floor before Pyrrha, the bully outrage that a dweeb such as him got him into trouble and extra homework. And like every bully in the world, he didn't stop to wait around and watch Pyrrha get him up.
"Ugh..." Jaune groaned, rubbing his thigh trying to ease his soreness.
"You know, I really will break his arms." Pyrrha said, half jokingly and half serious. All she needed was for his approval. The sigh he returned only worried her more.
Jaune was a good friend, and a good person. Different teams or not, he was still a person being bullied by an incredible jerk. Cardin picked on Jaune at every opportunity, for no reason other than being stronger than Jaune. He prided himself on everything he did, and only grew more prideful with each person who suffered within his reach. He practically saw himself as the king of this castle, the king of Beacon if anything.
They were exactly the kind of people Pyrrha and others hated. Why did they pick on people anyway? That wasn't going to get him any fans, it was just going to make people hate him more. Given Cardin's character, there was little doubt it had anything to do with some form of tragic backstory, not that it would matter at this point.
It was entirely pointless, just like all bullies were. They did nothing more than pick on people, and unless their goal was to get their lunch money or boss them around, there was little reward on their end. They simply spread suffering for the sake of spreading suffering, and didn't care who knew it.
It was only then that Pyrrha thought up an idea, smiling as it came to her. "I have an idea. Here, come with me!" That was less of a request and more of an order on her part as she grabbed Jaune's wrist and ran down the hallways with him.
"Ack-!"
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As they entered one of the many spacious rooftops, the sky came into view. The night sky was a glorious thing to behold at times, seeing it so peaceful and beautiful with it's many bright lights. People could often come out to these wonders at night and just let out all of their tension at once as they relaxed.
Not to mention the view of the surroundings themselves. Night lights were glaring on the dark pavements as small chirps of crickets could be heard all over the place. There was a strange, unique, sound in the air as all these sounds mixed with the majestic wind, blowing past gently against the students. It was the perfect temperature for any outdoor activity, whether day or night. And it was the perfect time of the day to just let all those problems come out.
Which is what worried Jaune as they neared the edge of the roof.
"Pyrrha, I know I'm going through a hard time right now, but I'm not..." He gulped a little as he looked over the ledge. "I'm not THAT depressed. I mean I can always be a farmer or something..."
"Wha- No!" She quickly yelped, pushing him away from the edge before he got anymore wrong ideas. "That's not why I brought you up here!" That was one of things Pyrrha admired about Jaune, his innocence. Whether he was joking or being serious at the time of the comment, she still found it funny and a little cute.
"Look, Jaune, I know you're having a difficult time in class, and you're not one of the strongest of fighters, so..." With her head down, Jaune couldn't see the small semi-transparent blush briefly flashing on her face. "I want to help you!"
"W-What?" He was completely baffled by the words. Unlike Pyrrha, he found it rather surprising and confusing that someone from a different team would want to help him. Actually now that he thought about it, it was surprising to him that anyone would want to help him out with his troubles. Yang was helpful with the occasional pep talk, and Weiss did somewhat lend him her notes, but she was against trying to teach him things directly in the hopes he would eventually start paying attention on his own.
So to find anyone else willing to directly say they would help him was rather shocking!
"We can train up here after class where no one can bother us!" Pyrrha explained.
"You... think I need help..." She was only aware of how that made it sound after Jaune said it.
"N-No, that's not what I meant."
"But you just said it."
"Look, Jaune, everyone needs a little push from time to time. There's no reason to feel ashamed about it. It doesn't make you the least bit different than the rest of us." She said, trying to comfort him. There were plenty of good things about Jaune, even if he didn't see it himself.
"What makes you want to help me anyway?" He muttered, looking over the edge again. "We're not even on the same team Pyrrha, so why do you care?" Once again, with his back turned, he failed to notice the brief redness that flashed over Pyrrha's face.
"W-Well that-! I mean... B-Because we're friends, of course!" She answered. It's not like she was lying at least.
Just because they didn't share the same dorm or share the same team didn't mean they didn't hang out from time to time. There was dozens of moments when the team interacted with one another, both sides wanting to hang out for various reasons. Be it studying, sparring, socializing, or just having breakfast, lunch, and dinner together, they always hung out because they were all friends.
"But why even bother with me?" Jaune asked again. "What makes you think I can even do anything?"
"What do you mean?" She questioned his words. "You made it to Beacon Jaune, that speaks volumes of what you can do!"
Like the last several times, all he could reply with was a small sigh as he turned away. "You're wrong... I... I don't belong here..."
"That's a terrible thing to say, Jaune. Of course you do!"
"No, I don't!" He snapped back, surprising her. He waited for a short moment as he tried to calm down again, the look on her face telling him how badly he reacted. "I wasn't really accepted into Beacon."
"Wh-What do you mean?" For the first time since the conversation started she found herself mixed with confusion worry.
"I mean, I didn't go to any combat school, I didn't pass any tests! I didn't earn my spot at this academy!" He revealed. Each word surprised Pyrrha more than the last, but no more than the entirety of the reveal itself. "I lied. I just got my hands on some fake transcripts and I lied."
"What? But why?" This couldn't be right. Jaune? The seemingly all around normal kid actually went behind everyone's back and did something as illegal and faked his transcripts? She could expect something like that from Cardin of all people, never Jaune.
"'Cause, this is what I always wanted to be! My father, my grandfather, and his father before him were all warriors! They were all heroes! I wanted to be one too... I was just never good enough."
She knew it. She knew there was a good reason behind all this. Jaune was a selfless, caring person, so it all added up with what he did. It didn't necessarily mean he could be forgiven for doing something so illegal, but coming from Jaune it was sweet to see him do it for a reason that was noble, like honoring his ancestors and family line.
With a small smile, she gently laid her hand on his shoulder "But Jaune, you can be a great warrior, you can be like your whole family!" She tried to encourage. "I can help you, we can train every day up here, we-"
"I don't want help!" He yelled. "I don't want to be the damsel in distress! I want to be the hero!"
"But Jaune-"
"I don't want to be the loveable idiot, the goof off who gets thrown through the air by a Deathstalker, the idiot who gets stuck in a tree while his friends fight for their lives! Don't you get it!? If I can't do this on my own... then what good am I?"
"But-"
"But nothing! For crying out loud, we're not even from the same dorm, go bother your own team!"
"..." She could only look away slightly as she frowned, this time being the one unaware of the facial expression growing on Jaune's regretful face. "I... I see...Well then, if that's what you think is best, I apologize for troubling you. I hope you have a good night."
By the time Jaune could regain any sense of his body, it was already too late to reach out for her. For the next few moments he could only stare off in the direction Pyrrha left, realizing everything he just said, and finally grumbling to himself as she scratched his head.
Great. Just great. Not only did he piss off an incredibly friendly person, not only did he reject help from someone offering their assistance to his problems, not only did he make himself look like the biggest jerk of the century, he told off someone in the absolute worst way imaginable with all those details combined! He'd be lucky if she didn't tell the rest of her team about this and watch as the rumors spread around the entire school within a few short hours! At this point, he would've been shocked if no one was there to beat him up the next day.
And why wouldn't they? He was a jerk! Even he could see that, repeating every flippant thing he just said inside his head on a continuous loop. It was just so frustrating! He wanted to be a great warrior, he wanted to be like his family and make everyone proud! So here he was, not just doing the complete opposite, but making himself out to be the dumbest jerk whoever lived.
Saying sorry wasn't going to cut it at this point. On the very unlikely chance she forgave him, it wouldn't take back anything he just said. Aside from pushing away any help she was trying to offer, he just insisted that she was being a nuisance and bothering him for the last several minutes. Way to go, at this rate, he saw himself going to talk a doctor out of preforming life-saving heart surgery for a sick child.
And just when he thought this was the worst point of his life, this happened.
"Oh Jaune..." Every fiber of his being prayed he was imagining thing when he heard it. It wouldn't be. It couldn't be.
"Cardin!?" Jaune gasped. Sure enough, there he was,, climbing up from the ledge of building and walking casually over. "W-What are you doing here?"
"I couldn't help but overhear you two from my dorm room." He replied, grinning. A grinning bully was every person's worst nightmare, worse than an angry one. "So, you snuck into Beacon, huh? I got to say Jaune, I never expected you to be such a rebel."
"Please! Cardin, please don't tell anyone!" Jaune begged as he panicked.
"Jaune! Come on! I would never rat out a friend like that!" He replied walking over. That was mong the last of responses he expect from Cardin when it involved Jaune himself.
"A-A friend?" He repeated questionably. He nearly yelped as he found Cardin putting him in a one-armed headlock, tightly squeezing him around the head.
"Of course! We're friends now, Jauney boy. And the way I see it, as long as you're there for me when I need you, we'll be friends for a long time." Blackmail. The one simple word that sent shivers down anyone's spine was blackmail. Cardin knew his secret, and Jaune was only too horrified to realize he now had absolute control over him. "That being said... I really don't have time to do all those extra readings Dr. Oobleck gave us today. I think you'll do just fine pulling both of ours at once, eh Jauney boy?" His request was more along the lines of an order as he released Jaune from his headlock, dropping him to the ground.
"Mmh..." It wasn't like he could say no at this point, grumbling silently to himself in his mind. "Fine, I'll do your homework for you."
"Oh, no, no, no, Jauney." He continued, waving his hands and head. "It doesn't just end there. There's gonna be a lot of interesting things I need you to do."
"Like what?"
"Oh, I'm so glad you asked." Jaune cursed to himself for his big mouth. "While you're at it, I need you to look into something for me, involving a certain girl from that other team you hang out with."
"Look, whatever you have against Pyrrha-"
"Pyrrha? Pffft, I could care less about her, for now anyway." Jaune was rather surprised by the statement, his hope and relief slowly dwindling away with what he had to say next. "I need you to do something about a certain Ruby Fall."
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"Mmh... come on..." Ruby mumbled to herself.
She was proud of herself. She was proud of the family she came from. They entrusted her with all their hope to take upon this mission and see to it that she discover and possibly kill the evil maiden. She never felt so happy to feel needed by the people she's trained with, everybody she grew up alongside, to finally be needed by them instead of the other way around.
It was wonderful! She could finally work towards becoming the true hero she was always meant to be, the people they needed her to be right now. Once she proved herself to the rest of them, she'd be greeted with open arms and praise from her allies, all congratulating her on finishing the job she set out to do months ago with her mother the first time.
She just wished it wasn't so boring! At this point, she was forced to contend with the library. After her many weeks of scavenging and exploring the school herself and not finding any hint towards the maiden's whereabouts, the only alternative she came to was checking up the library itself. While it might've been a long shot, she needed to find something about this place, Beacon Academy, that could point her into the right direction, or give her some clue to where the maiden could be.
At first she thought it would be a simple task to accomplish, thanks to the fact there were at least twelve different books she found about the creation and construction of this place. They were all very large too so the chances of her finding anything was fantastic! With this done, she could discover any secrets to the school, find the maiden's location, and finish her task and be home within a week's time, a month at most!
It wasn't until she opened the first book before her that she came to regret her optimism. There she was, staring down a hardcover five-hundred page book about the origins and history of this school, with the world's smallest of writing! There might've been thousands of words on every single page given how minimal the writing was. Mixed that together with the near five-hundred pages of this book, being the first out of a dozen she had to contend with, and this was turning into a complete nightmare!
Don't even get her started on her homework either. Of course there was tons of homework to do, why wouldn't there be? She had maybe five assignments given to her each day, about fourteen in total every week. The assignments weren't hard either, thanks to her friends giving her hand here and there, and not everything was boring like the lectures and Grimm-based studies Port gave her. She just wished she could keep better track of everything within the pages and everything related to her mission here. Half the time she read one book she realized she was reading the wrong one!
AND SHE WAS ONLY ON THE THIRD PAGE OF THIS STUPID BOOK FOR GOD SAKE-!
"Hey Ruby."
"Ack-!" Ruby nearly jumped as Jaune greeted her. He was just as startled by her response, figuring someone like Ruby wasn't scared of anything so easily. "Oh, phew, Jaune, hiya." She breathed a sigh of relief. For a grand millisecond, she thought everything about her true purpose at this school was being discovered. That's how deeply in thought she was by the time Jaune greeted her. "What's up?" Her answer came in the form of a small frown on his face, looking away from her. "Something wrong?"
"Eh... sorta..." He mumbled just loud enough for her to hear. It was as he sat down that she noticed the two cups he was currently holding, setting them down before him. She had a feeling one of them were for her, she just waited patiently with the proper manners taught to her by her grandmother. Not to mention the questionable look on his face which concerned her. "It's... about Pyrrha."
"Pyrrha?" She blinked curiously. "What happened? Is she alright?"
"Well yeah, it's nothing bad like that or anything, it's just..." He paused briefly with a sigh. "I might've screwed things up here."
"What? You didn't burp or fart or something in front of her face, did you?"
"What? No, nothing like that!" He exclaimed, earning a small chuckle from the hooded girl.
"Heh, I was just kidding, geeze." Despite her attempts at brightening the situation, she started to frown in turn as Jaune's expression stayed the same. "Jaune... is everything okay?"
"No, I... I did something stupid..." He mumbled.
Thus he began going into his long story of almost everything within the last several hours. It was hard to tell if Ruby was paying attention to any part of his story directly as she continued to maintain the same facial expression for the past ten minutes. She just sat there and listened to everything he said, nodding the occasional minute when he got to an important piece of it. He couldn't tell if she was taking this extremely well, was bottling up her anger for his lashing out at another of her teammates, or just didn't care because her posture never shifted once.
This was starting to become worse than if she did say anything. At least if she did say something to him, he would have a grasp on what her thoughts were. Heck, it would prepare him for any and all future reactions he got from anyone once rumors of this, if there were any, spread around the school about what he did.
The only thing he didn't tell her about was the reason for the argument, everything related to his false transcripts. There was no way he could reveal the secret behind the argument no matter how badly he wanted it fixed.
Finally, taking a minute to process everything in, she finally left with him some words of encouragement.
"Wow... You're an idiot."
Ok well maybe despair but close enough.
"Ugh, tell me about it." Jaune groaned.
"No I mean really, you're being stupid right now." She repeated, closing her book as she leaned on her arm. His ears perked up a bit while he turned his head a little. "You went and snapped at someone trying to help you and now you regret it. That's fine. But if you really are sorry about it, you should just tell her the truth then, don't keep it bottled up so much." To his surprise, a small personal frown grew on her own face as she looked away. "You'd be surprise how much worse you can hurt someone by keeping things bottled in."
"I'm not keeping things bottled up, I just... I just don't know what to say..."
It's not like she didn't know where he was coming from. If she said anything like that or did what he did to someone she cared about, she'd be in a mess about making things right too. Add the fact that this involved someone from both her's and Weiss's team, the latter who Ruby was still trying to get on legit friendly terms instead of rivalry-friendly terms, and she wouldn't know what to do aside from the truth. Anything he said or did would reflect on both teams, just like how whatever Pyrrha did after today would reflect her own team.
"Well... I really can't say much other than just apologize to her." Ruby replied. "Let her know you're sorry and you didn't mean it. That's what good people do, Jaune."
"But I'm not a good person Ruby, I'm... I'm just a screw up." He sighed.
"...Nope."
"Huh?" He was caught off guard by her response.
"Nope. You're not a screw up, Jaune. You're a hunter." She stated with a smile. "You don't get to be a screw up anymore, you have a team now."
"Hmph, says you. You have a team, Ruby, I'm just the screw up on mine."
"So?" She shrugged. "What does being the leader have to do with it? It doesn't matter how skilled I am with stuff or what strengths I do have. If I have to carry the entire team on my shoulders, then as a leader I'm doing something wrong. And even if I wasn't, that still wouldn't change things. A single person can change the whole team for better or worse Jaune. That's why we can't afford to be screw ups anymore. WE can only be who our friends need us to be."
...Wow...
He never thought she would get to a valid point but wow. The hyperactive girl only second to Nora actually brought up a decent, well-made point. It's not like he didn't think she was incapable of doing anything like that, seeing how she was the leader of a great team of Hunters, known by some to be a rather mismatched bunch. He just didn't think it would be something as deep as that given her past tales she told him about.
The lies she displayed, at least.
Still, as helpful as that was he could only frown. No amount of comfort would prepare him for what he had to do next. "Yeah, well... I don't know..." He mumbled again.
"Just sleep on it tonight and apologize by morning. Consider it a Captain-to-a-Captain-to-a-Teammate's order." She said with a small salute. Jaune was aware of her eyeballing the drinkings in his hand, becoming harder and harder for what he had to do soon. As for Ruby herself, she slowly rubbed her fingers with anticipation, finding it harder and harder to resist asking for the great-smelling drinks. Maybe it would still count as polite if she hinted to them? "So... about those drinks there..."
"Huh? Oh, yeah, that..." He paused looking into the mug in his right hand, seeing his reflection staring back at him. He always wanted to be a hunter, and went through great lengths to get here. There was no way he could screw that up now. "Yeah..." There was no going back now. He handed her the mug in his right. "Here you go, hope you like it." With a simple swipe, his fate was sealed.
Ruby happily drank the contents of the sweet-smelling drink. It had a strange aroma of cocoa to it mixed with honey, both of which were a delicious combination! As she continued to drink it though, she couldn't help but make a face as a small irritation began tickling the back of her throat. "Hack-ough!" She coughed, rubbing her throat a little. "It tastes kinda funny..."
"Sorry, it's a... different recipe I was trying." He apologized, slowly rising his chair shamefully as he gulped down the contents of the other drink. "Anyway, I better be on my way. Thanks for the pep talk, Ruby." She gave him a simple smile as she waved back, coughing again a few seconds after.
"Yeah, I'll be taking off shortly too. Nora and I are gonna make some," Ruby paused briefly as she let out another strange cough, "make some pancakes tonight. Have a goodnight!" She smiled with another wave of her hand as he left, returning to her reading once more.
That was it. He sealed both their fates. Everything that happened from here on out was going to be on him, and he had no one to blame but himself for it. He could've said no at any point, could've refused to give her the drink, but he couldn't. He couldn't do anything by himself anymore.
"I'm such a coward..."
"And a darn good friend, Jauney." Cardin spoke up, catching him by surprise again as he saw him leaning against the outer entrance of the library.
"C-Cardin? Wh-What are you-"
"Just making sure you followed through, Jauney boy." Cardin interrupted with a smug grin, peeking over into the room. His grin only widened as he saw Ruby cough again to herself while reading, seeing his plans falling through to effect. "I gotta hand it to ya Jaune, you really do pull through when you're needed. I didn't think you had it in you."
"Yeah well... You promise it's not going to hurt her or anything, right?" Jaune asked worriedly. He didn't care how blackmailed he was, the last he wanted to find out was that a student died because of him!
Actually any student would've had the same thought...
"Of course Jauney, of course!" He replied, never removing his smug grin as he patted Jaune's shoulder. "All it's going to do is make tomorrow's exam very...interesting..."
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A/N: And what'cha think ^^? I'll be honest, I added the last 1/3rd of it on a whim to give you guys some more stuff, so sorry if any wording came out weird. Halfway through it I decided to go with my previous idea for the next episode additions, so that might've made things slightly confusing.
Either way, hope you still enjoyed it! Leave a like, fav, and review, and hope to see you soon ^^!