Talk to the Wind

Ren's watch. He sat on a log and stared out at the forest, motionless. He could've been in a tree, but it's not like the tents would hide themselves too.

Jaune hobbled over to him and sat down. His foot was just sore. And not even that sore. It was healthy enough that he didn't hobble all the time. Specifically when Qrow was watching. Jaune had a lot of practice being the picture of health.

"Do you mind if I join you?"

"I do not." It was Jaune's watch in a five minutes anyway.

"How are you doing, Ren?"

"Fine." Ren's gaze never wavered. His head moved back and forth as he scanned the treeline. Every minute, his scroll buzzed, and he turned around to check the field behind them. Jaune wasn't nearly so careful on his shifts.

"Not in much of a... talking mood, I take it?"

"No." Typical Ren. Maybe even more so. He'd barely said twenty words in the past two weeks. Just walked, and stood, and sat, and slept with a mask of indifference on his face.

"Well, do you mind if I talk then? I won't be too loud."

"No." Scroll vibration. Turn around. See nothing. Turn back.

"I've been thinking about Pyrrha."

Ren didn't react. Why am I waiting for him to interrupt me?

"Right, I'll just talk. I've been thinking about Pyrrha. Maybe it's having her miniature clone sister person around, but I can't get her out of my head. The night she... the night she died. Just keeps going through my head, over and over again."

Ren finished scanning to the right, and began to turn his head left again.

"We were running from the tower. I was scrambling around my scroll for numbers. When she stopped, when she looked back and we saw the red reflecting through the building, we both knew what happened. And I think I understood instantly what was about to happen. I didn't want to admit it to myself, Ren. But I knew what Pyrrha was going to do.

"It was the look in her eyes. Well, that confirmed it, I guess. Really I knew what she would do because of who she was. Pyrrha Nikos, the..." Jaune took a ragged breath. "The invincible girl."

Scroll vibration. Turn around. See nothing. Turn back.

"She knew Cinder was going to destroy it. And that she would kill. She knew Cinder would destroy everything we loved. And all she ever was knew that it was her destiny to stop it." He forced the words out. "So she did."

Jaune stopped staring at Ren's face to turn around. Just looked like a field. He didn't understand why it would hold new interest every minute, but such were the joys of guard duty.

"The thing is, when I go over that night, I can't just remember what Pyrrha did. It's never that simple. The entire night is just a series of bad decisions. Not Pyrrha's, but mine. At every step, I failed. It's..."

Jaune had to get it out. It wasn't about himself. "The fall maiden died because I didn't stand and watch for Cinder. And I'm not saying you have to stay up until morning, by the way, I'm just saying that night I failed. Then Ozpin tells Pyrrha to leave, because she has to get me to safety. And I'm trying to call Glynda, but I can't find her number, so nobody was there in time to help. It all circles back to me, Ren. From every angle, I'm the reason things didn't work. Every step, I failed her."

Scroll vibration. Jaune turned around with Ren, scanned the field, and turned back. Ren to the treeline, Jaune to Ren.

"Pyrrha knew it, too. That despite all the time she spent on me, I was never even average. Maybe thirtieth percentile across all academies. Then she wasted more time and effort sending me away. And it wasn't easy for her. I mean, it was, I just got through saying I'm weak. But emotionally it wasn't easy for her. It might have prevented her from concentrating on her fight. It might have made her hesitate at a critical moment. From top to bottom, Ren, it was all me."

"Jaune Arc." Ren turned to him. "Pyrrha was a smart, capable woman who made a reasoned decision to risk her life for the safety of those she loved and believed in. It isn't right for you to claim her agency for yourself."

Jaune gave Ren a warm smile. Then he pulled Ren's arm in close, grasped hands, and shook.

"Tag. You're it."

Ren looked down at their hands, up at Jaune's face, and his mask slipped. Jaune saw the fear and the pain, just for a second, before they were covered up with a furrowed brow and slight frown.

At least it wasn't indifference.

Ren's scroll buzzed. He stood up stalk straight. "Please begin two minutes early." Without waiting for a response, he hurried over to their joint tent and slipped inside.

Maybe it would help the man. Maybe it wouldn't. All Jaune could do was guess what was going through that green and pink head of his. But smart money was on guilt.

Jaune had some experience with that. And if speaking meant that Ren would have less experience, he would talk until he was blue in the face.