Hello and welcome back. I am sorry for lack of updates. Work is still fairly insane and most days when I get home I just want to curl in a ball and fade away from the world. But I am still here and want to update.
I also would like to mention I made an AO3 account and posted this story over there too. I might post more of my stories over there and see where that goes. Who knows I may start updating those again since I'll be re-reading them and posting them once more.
Anyway cheerio!
New Divide
Jaune punches the wall, leaving a very large crack in it, "Jaune!" Nora yells at him. Ren places a hand on her shoulder and she gives him an incredulous look; to which he simply shakes his head.
"You are defending her! I don't give a damn about the reasons! You should have told us! ME!" He growls out not looking at Pyrrha but instead at the wall he just punched.
Pyrrha had gotten done explaining everything she could about the events that led up to the fall of Beacon. Recounting her own demise had been the hardest on them, and that is when the arguing began, "I'm sorry Jaune. I promised Ruby-"
"I don't give a damn about your promise!" Jaune yelled angrily spinning around now and taking a step towards her, "WE are your team! WE are your family! Not RUBY!"
"Perhaps we should all calm down." Ren said in a soft tone as he saw Nora's pleading look to him to help and be the voice of reason.
"Calm down?! Seriously?! How are you not the least bit outraged?!" Jaune yelled at him.
"If I may…" They turned to the newcomer in the room. Oscar had set up his sleeping arrangements when he heard the yelling from down the hall. He had hesitantly knocked and was greeted inside by Ren. He had come to the part where Pyrrha had explained what Ozpin's plan for her was, the old wizard's feelings of regret coming through him, "Perhaps we should just take a step back and talk to Ruby about all of this…to maybe learn more? Get her side of the story a bit?"
Jaune glared at him, "We don't need her." He growled out dangerously.
Nora was getting angry now and took a step in front of Oscar, as if to protect him from her team leader's wrath, "Really? Cuz it sure does sound like we do."
"For what? What good can she be if Salem can't be killed, then how are we supposed to win this?" Jaune demanded as he ran his hands through his hair in exasperation, "What good has she done since she's been back? Why couldn't she stop Beacon in the first place?! What is her plan?!"
Everyone remains silent, avoiding eye contact with each other. Jaune gives the silence a moment or two longer, before snorting and saying sarcastically, "Wow…great explanation everyone! She sure is a genius."
Go on, Oscar subconsciously straightens as he hears Ozpin's voice, talk to them.
It's not my place I tried; he doesn't want to hear anything we…or rather I…have to say.
They are your team now too, he says comfortingly, you will be working with them. Oscar shakes his head and sighs, hoping his face doesn't end up like that section of wall, "Look, none of this is great, we know. But Ruby is not the bad guy here."
Pyrrha remained mostly silent, unsure now where she stood. She just watched Jaune closely as he slowly turns towards the young farmhand, "Are we sure about that?" Her stomach sinks as she hears the unfamiliar hostility in his voice.
Oscar's face pales as he asks, "What?"
"You said Ruby is not the bad guy. Ozpin is in your head, isn't he? The banter, the snide comments, the glances…did he already know about this?" Angrily he walks over to Oscar, "Did you already know about this?!"
"Jaune!" Ren yelled out as Jaune grabs Oscar and shoves him against the wall.
"How can we even trust him?! Or Ruby for that matter?!" He yells in Oscar's face.
Pyrrha roughly grabs his shoulders and pries Jaune off of Oscar and throws him aside so he lands violently on one of the beds. Ren and Nora stand by Oscar who cowers in slight fear, "ENOUGH! None of this is on Oscar, or even Ruby!" She yelled out vivid green eyes flashing with unfamiliar anger, "You are angry?! Fine! You have that right! Why do you think I avoided Ruby?! Huh?!" Jaune flinched, "Should I have kept this from you…all of you?!" Her anger simmered down some and she took a step back, "No, maybe I shouldn't have. Maybe I should have said 'to hell with it' and told you that night she told me everything."
She slowly backs away and lets him sit up some, "But it wasn't my story to tell. I died Jaune." He doesn't look at her, "She told me I died and that even though she saved me twice, she doesn't think it can happen a third time. That somehow I am meant to die."
"How is that not your story to share?" Nora demanded, not harshly but more like trying to understand.
"Because it goes further than that. Jaune just didn't let me get there." Pyrrha says, "She gave me a cliff notes version of the events that followed afterwards." There is a moment of silence as she looks at her family. It was only partially that she meant the reason for her anger was the knowledge of her own demise, however hearing what her team and friends went through due to this adventure was the bulk of her anger, "I can continue-"
She stops when Jaune stands up. He offers a silent apology to the farmhand and takes a deep breath, releasing the last bit of tension he had left in his body, "No." He says softly, "You've told us enough."
"Jaune-" Pyrrha started to say.
"No. I'm sorry." He says to her, and then looks at Ren, Nora, and Oscar, "I am truly sorry." He goes to the door.
"Where are you going?" Nora asks.
"To speak with Ruby."
"To speak?" Ren asked in his calm tone that made Jaune pause just before he touched the door knob, "Or to demand?"
Jaune sighs, "Speak, listen, demand? What difference does it make so long as I know what the hell is happening right now and just how far we've gotten ourselves into this madness?"
"The difference is whether you will actually listen instead of just hearing her." Oscar said quietly. The four of them slowly looked at him, unsure if it was actually him speaking or their former headmaster. Swallowing, he takes a deep breath and slowly makes his way across the room towards the blonde, "I cannot possibly imagine how hard this is for all of you including…well him…" He motions to his head, "But it sounds like this is just as hard for Ruby as it is for all of you…and the way she made it sound like was that…well…" He paused trying to figure out what he was trying to say, "The one who lived to see the future was the one who truly suffered…"
"So the dead were the lucky ones?" Nora whispered out, hesitantly looking towards Pyrrha. The only confirmation was that she looked away towards the corner of the room.
Jaune only felt sicker as he processed that bit of information, "Regardless. I need her to talk. No more hiding, twisting, bending, or any other form of manipulation of the truth. You all coming?" He didn't wait for another response and opened the door. A moment later they followed.
When they approached the room of RWBY, Jaune raised his fist to knock when they heard Blake's voice, "Who's ah…fate is next?" Pyrrha stopped Jaune's fist before it could land on the door.
He gives her a look, as does the rest of the team, but she shakes her head and motions them to listen as they hear Ruby's response, "Yours."
Inside the room, there was a severe storm brewing as Ruby's voice weighed them down as if a ton of Goliath were pressing on their chests, "Mine?" Blake asks, feeling her hand getting crushed by Yang's.
"Yes." Ruby said looking away, her hands balling into fists as she tries to control her emotions, "But there is something else I have to get out of the way first…" Taking a deep breath, she gains the courage to look at them, "I owe you all a huge apology; and I am not just talking about keeping all this hidden from you either."
They gave her a moment as she collected herself, "We had brought Yang back to Patch…to be buried next to our mother." Yang swallowed hard, feeling her own hand now being crushed, "In that time I had thought I already went through the grieving cycle you know?" They didn't dare say anything as she paused briefly, "Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance. I mean I don't believe I have to tell you the details, but seeing…well next to…" Ruby took a shaky breath, "Raven came to…pay her respects." She was faltering somewhat as she tries to explain, but she didn't want to linger, "It's part of the reason why I hate her so fucking much, but I will save that conversation for later. The aftermath is what really matters. After our conversation, she awoke feelings that I thought I managed to get through…although I suppose now that I think about it I was still in denial. Anyway I…"
"You what?" Yang asked, pulling away from Blake to lean forward and offer her sister some comfort.
Ruby took a brief look at Yang and then away, "I gave into anger. See I made a vow that I would give the both of them something that they'll never forget."
"Both of them?" Weiss asked.
"Raven. Salem. I placed all my anger into missions. However I also directed my anger at everyone…especially at Jaune, you, and…" She looks at the faunus with regret, "You, Blake. You perhaps more so than the others."
In the hallway, Jaune backed away from the door slowly, "Wait what?" Looking at Pyrrha he asks, "Yang…she blames me for Yang…hold on. Yang dies?" He chokes out.
Pyrrha nods slowly and watches as he leans against the hallway just to slide down it. Nora covers her mouth in shock, and Ren offers her some comfort but at the same time also trying to draw some strength from her touch as she gripped the hand that held her close. Oscar doesn't know what to say, even Ozpin is in quite the shock. Jaune just stares at Pyrrha as he processed Ruby's words, "Yang dies because of…me?"
Before Pyrrha could respond, they hear a loud crash. Jolting up they immediately went to the door, throwing it open to see that Yang had her fist through a wall, "YANG!" Weiss and Blake yell, not even realizing that Team JNPR and Oscar are back in the room.
"How dare you blame her?!" Yang yelled at Ruby, "You knew it wasn't her fault…their fault…and yet you blame our friends?!"
"I was grieving Yang! Besides I blamed you for leaving me too!" Ruby yelled standing up to meet her sister's challenging glare; but then she took a step back, "I blamed myself, but at the time I placed my energy into blaming everyone else." She then notices Jaune and the rest of the members. Based on the looks on their faces, she sees that they heard some of what they were saying; no explanation was needed.
She looked away from JNPR and Oscar, "We had gone back to the hideout of the resistance after burying Yang. We started training some of the new recruits that wanted to take up arms against Salem since Ironwood had made her existence public. Weiss had been teaching a survival class, and Blake had been teaching a combat class. Jaune, Nora, and Ren had gone on a scouting mission…they hadn't reported in." Ruby looked over at them to see their pale faces before turning back to her own team, "They were deemed MIA."
"What?" Nora whispered, "MIA? Us?"
Ruby nodded, "Yea. Scouting missions were set up to report in at least two weeks. Three the latest. When your team failed to report in, you were given MIA status." She then looked towards Blake and Weiss, "Something in me snapped that day when I received the news. Blake had been training the recruits and I snapped."
"In what way?" Blake asked softly.
"I accused you of not training the new recruits hard enough. That you were doing them a great disservice after everything you've seen and done. That it would be your fault if they died just like Yang." Ruby said feeling absolutely sick with herself.
Silence. Utter silence fills the room. No one spoke a word. Blake's ears folded down as she looks at her leader and the need to say something plagues at her mind, but before she could say anything, Ruby continued, "I challenged you to a duel to demonstrate what real combat was like; you refused. I kept shouting horrible things at you. To make you mad and infuriated with me. But you refused. You just kept taking my abuse, not giving me the satisfaction of raising your weapon." She paused again, "I…I raised Crescent Rose against you. Yet you refused to raise Gambol Shroud. I gave you a chance and yet you kept giving me this sad look, accepting every accusation I threw at you. I couldn't take it. I lunged."
"You didn't…" Weiss said sadly.
"I did, but you summoned a glyph. You stopped me. Brought me out of my haze…just in time for Winter to come down and send Blake and Qrow on a mission to retrieve information about team JNR."
The enormity of the situation was upon them. Blake was silent for the whole time processing everything. Seeing the guilt in Ruby's eyes was suffocating, and it was unnecessary because Blake did not at all blame Ruby for this, "Ruby please-" Blake started to say.
"I didn't want you to go." Ruby said cutting Blake off, "I was adamantly against it. I didn't…I couldn't just let you go. Winter overruled me. Saying that from where she stood I was emotionally compromised and forced me to back down. Especially after the reason that Jaune, Nora, and Ren took that mission in the first place." Ruby looked at the faunus, "You were adamant on going. You were going to visit members of the White Fang that were loyal still to your family." Exhaling a shaky breath, Ruby finishes, "You and Qrow left…and two weeks later you both were marked MIA just as Jaune, Nora, and Ren were marked as presumed KIA…"
"KIA?" Oscar whispered out.
"Killed in Action."
Silence once more suffocated the room. Yang paced violently, shaking her head. If JNR was presumed 'Killed in Action', then it was obvious that Blake and Qrow were as well. Blake sighed and got up, going over to Ruby's side, "Ruby please. I'm sure my future self-"
"Doesn't…or rather didn't…blame me? Yea I know, but it's one of the moments that I've relived over again. I hadn't even said good-bye to you…or to Qrow." Ruby admitted, "There isn't much I regret in my life; but I do regret ever raising Crescent Rose against my friend." She pulled away from Blake and then looked to Weiss, "And crossing blades with my partner…"
"Ok just what the hell did we miss?" Nora demanded as team RWBY sat in utter silence and Weiss looking at her best friend in utter betrayal.
