It hurt.

"You'd better just tell us," he said. "I'll make you talk eventually. I always do. You'll save yourself a lot of pain if you just give up the code."

"Go fuck yourself!"

"That hardly sounds like a code to me."

"Go fuck yourself!"

"You aren't doing yourself any favors, you know."

"Seriously, go fuck yourself!"

A young Maxwell Noble struggled against the forcefield which kept him suspended. His eyes bore into the only other person in his steel cell. Bishop's lackey, the man named Arthur.

"Agent Beauvais has been gracious with you thus far," he said. "We allowed you the chance to willingly tell us the code to the GECK, and I haven't gone all the way yet with the sort of pain I can push you through."

"Fuck yo—"

Max's latest diatribe was cut off by a sudden, piercing scream as Arthur sighed and pressed down on a button set into a nearby panel, sending electricity ripping through the suspension field, right into Max's body.

"I warned you," he said as Max convulsed. "This is going to become very, very unpleasant for you if you don't just tell us the code." He took his finger off the button, ending the electric attack. Max was left heaving and shaking. "Now, are you going to—"

The intercom cracked.

"Hello?" someone asked. Max could tell it was certainly another one of the Enclave, for he had that same odd accident, vaguely southern and unnaturally refined. "Arthur, are you there?"

"Mr. President?"

"Ah, excellent, you are. Now, I'd like for you to stop what you're doing to our latest guest. If you could instead let him free and allow him to come to my office, that would be ideal."

"I'm sorry Mr. President, but the Colonel and Agent Beauvais ordered me to—"

"Excuse me? The last time I checked, it was written in the United States constitution that the President is the commander in chief. Accordingly, you follow my orders, and I order you to escort our guest to my office. Will that be a problem?"

Arthur stared up at the intercom, then back at Max, then back again. For a moment he seemed torn, before he sighed and relented. "Yes sir, I'll get him to you right away…"

Arthur's voice trailed off, as if he was suddenly getting further and further away. The room itself was slowly consumed by darkness, as the few observing shadows occupying the scene swelled and became bloated, eating everything as they expanded. Arthur was wiped away, and the walls were nowhere to be seen, and there seemed to be nothing else in all of existence aside from an overwhelming black void.

The dark room.

"My, my, my, what an interesting memory," someone said. It wasn't just someone. It was his nightmare.

The Lone Wanderer desperately moved to try and see the source, try and fight him, but again he felt as if he was still trapped in that suspension field, utterly helpless and totally immobile.

"But that was an interesting time, wasn't it?" he asked. That vaguely southern drawn, refined and tinged with a strange calmness, a friendly tone. He sounded like every other member of the Enclave, but with an added dose of kindliness. "That was the beginning of our little deception, wasn't it? You truly believed I was working against Eden? My father? You're an exceptionally foolish person, you know that?

"Of course you know that. The reminders are all around you. Well, I suppose the absences are more of a reminder than anything else. Your team? Remember them?"

The Wanderer strained, to no avail.

"Hmph, I suppose you're trying to do your best to forget about them, what now that you've callously replace them. Is that your way of coping with the fact that you got them killed? You know, you're still the same person now as you were back then…" Bishop Beauvais came full into view, stepping outside of the shadows with that horrific smile on his face, kindly to a fault. "And since you're the same person, there's no way for you to stop it all from happening again. It will. You're dooming these people with your presence, you know that? You're finishing them, you exceptionally awful creature."

Words struggled to burst from his throat and out his mouth, but again, he could not move.

Bishop chuckled.

"Oh? What as this? Do you want to talk to me? You want to say something? Well go on, say it."

Suddenly, his lips were free. "You're wrong!" he shouted. "I'm different! I'm stronger and I'm better! I was always better than you! I killed you! I—"

Bishop's fist lashed out, bashing him in the jaw with a sickening crunch. He didn't feel any pain, but there was certainly an odd sensation in his mouth and his face which told him his jaw and his teeth had just been shattered. He felt the broken shards of bone slide back into his throat as he swallowed.

"That's enough of that," Bishop said. "And you're all wrong, by the way, about everything. You're still the same, and you're still weak, and you didn't kill me." His smile widened. "Even if you turned me into ashes with that mini-nuke of yours, I'm still alive. I'm alive because I'm in you; I'm with you." Bishops placed his hand on the Wanderer's chest. "And that will always be the case. I'll always be right here…"

A horrible feeling manifested in his chest, behind his ribcage, right where his heart was supposed to be. It was a heavy, foreign presence that just… just… was there. It was there, and it felt so awful, so wrong, in so many ways.

Bishop laughed. "I could go on and on about how utterly horrendous you are, but I'm not sure that would have a great effect. Instead, how about you hear it from them."

Suddenly, from the shadows appeared two figures. For a moment, the Wanderer didn't recognize them, but as their form took shape and the details manifested, their pained visages he well remembered. Children. Two children that couldn't have been more than a few years younger than he was.

His eyes opened, and he shot bolt upright in bed, panting heavily, covered in a sheen of slick sweat. His eyes were wild, glancing back and forth. His chest rattled as he took in haphazard handfuls of air, only to choke them out a moment later.

Where was he? Where…

That was right, he was in Beacon. He was in the top punk of the jerry-rigged bunk bed he'd made with Pyrrha. Across the room, Ren and Nora slept soundly in a similarly unsafe scenario. His team. He was with his team, his friends, somewhere safe.

He placed one hand on his chest, and beneath his skin, he still felt the presence of something unnatural and unwanted. It felt terrible.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

He took in a deep breath and smelled the aroma of strawberry, released by the little diffuser kept beside his pillow.

He laid back down and shut his eyes. He tried to go back to sleep, he really did. Though he didn't want to, not with the chance of facing his nightmare again. However, he was graced with the security of his team's presence, and the ever pleasant scent of strawberry. He was in an exceedingly comfortable place, and these sorts of night terrors weren't as common as they once were.

Nevertheless, they still occurred, and on wicked nights like this, he couldn't go back to sleep. An hour must have passed until he finally gave up. He checked his scroll and, squinting against its harsh light in the middle of the night, saw that it wasn't even two in the morning. Great, he'd hardly been asleep four hours.

He sighed and slowly pried off the sheets, then quietly climbed down from his bed.

This just wasn't going to be one of those nights, when he could get back to sleep. Not after that. The Lone Wanderer sighed and rubbed the tips of his fingers gently into his temples. He didn't have a headache, but the motion was soothing nonetheless. At least it served to distract him a bit from the awful feeling dwelling within his chest.

He threw on a dirty pair of pants and snuck from the room. He still made his fair share of creaks and squeaks leaving, but thankfully he didn't wake up the others this time around. Ren had proven himself surprisingly aware while asleep; now, he slipped out without disturbance.

He meandered through the halls for a little while. He didn't have a destination— that wasn't the point. The Lone Wanderer just wanted to follow his namesake for a little while, hopefully clear his head.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

The images from the dream faded away, the images of those two kids, of Bishop, of Arthur, of that terrible chamber. His dreams didn't seem to seep to far into reality, at least not for too long, at least not anymore.

He tensed when he heard something around a corner up ahead. Unmistakably, footsteps. When he saw who it was, his posture relaxed ever so slightly.

"Oh, hello there Jaune," Peach said with her little smile. "Whatcha doing up so late?" She carried a pile of papers and books, a few drops of sweat on her forehead. She looked around, taking note of the dimly lit hall and the pitch-black windows. "Really, I know it's the end of the week but you've still got school tomorrow. Save staying up late for the weekends, why don't you?" She looked back to him, and her smile receded.

"Having a rough night?" she asked.

"Yeah, not sleeping so well. Just decided to take a walk."

"Do walks usually help you get to sleep?"

"No, but it's better than lying in bed, isn't it?"

Peach tilted her head and observed him. "You definitely do look worn out. Do you think you could go back to your dorm and try to get some more rest, if just a little bit? You know, getting enough sleep is crucial to both physical and mental health."

Jaune found that a little funny, though not funny enough to laugh. She really was the caring type, wasn't she? Then again, that's sort of a requirement, given the occupation.

He shook his head. "No, no it won't be any good. I can tell already that I won't be able to sleep again tonight." He rubbed his eyes. He didn't feel any fatigue behind them, not after the adrenaline rush of the nightmare.

"Anything wrong in particular?" Peach asked. "Or just restlessness?"

"A nightmare," he said. No use in keeping that a secret from her, considering she was already well aware of his condition. It wouldn't do anyone any good anyway, keeping her in the dark.

The tips of her lips tugged down into a little frown. "Sorry to here that," she said. "You're sure there's no way you'll be able to go back to sleep?"

"Probably not, no. I figured I'd just for a walk to cool off, then may go to library and get some work done. Or maybe work out. I dunno, something."

"Well why don't you come with me?"

"Huh?"

"And impromptu little session, you could say. We could talk about your nightmare?"

He scowled.

"Or not," she quickly added. Nevertheless, she shrugged and gave a little smile. "But still, I'd like to think I'm better company than an empty library or gym. We could just chat for a little while. I just need to sort through some stuff, so it's not like it'd be inconvenient for me."

An impromptu session? In the middle of the night?

"Why are you even awake so late?" he asked.

"Hah! I'm up early kiddo. I went to sleep at ten last night, and right now it's three, and I've been awake for about an hour…" Peach sighed. "I just got swamped all of the sudden with some assignments, so I need to make some time meet the deadlines. Which you really should do!" She scowled and looked at him. "It's not okay to skimp out on sleep like this. Alas, employers demand what employers demand. Now come on, let's have a little chat."

She kept walking down the hall, and Jaune, with nothing better to do, followed her. All he'd wanted was a distraction of some kind to keep him busy until his team woke up. He'd thought of the library or the gym just as ways to keep his mind busy.

Soon, they settled into Peach's office and he told her about this. She smiled. "Look at you go, Jaune! Those are great ways to reassign attention away from negative thoughts or feelings," she said while laying out some of the papers amid several more stacks, all messily cobbled together on her desk. "There are a lot of ways to refocus. You can exercise, read a book, watch a favorite movie, listen to some of your favorite music, do a hobby. And there's always temperature change, too."

"Temperature change?"

"Yup, get an ice or heat pack and apply that to your body. The shock of the new stimuli will refocus your mind from thinking to physical feeling. Now let me tell you what: it doesn't matter how bad your thoughts are at any moment, if you hop into an ice-cold shower, oh boy, you won't be thinking about anything else.

"Though it all depends on what you do with that opportunity."

"What do you mean?"

Peach stopped flipping through her papers to focus on him fully. As she swiveled around, the chains around her midriff clinked together. He himself sat back on the short sofa.

"I mean, it's all about giving yourself a chance. If you exercise for a while, or read a book, or take a cold shower, you get your mind off of the negative thoughts, but they aren't necessarily dispelled completely. You've just given yourself some breathing room.

"You need to follow up on it by doing something else, something positive that'll fully refocus your brain from negativity so you can get into a better mood and not be dragged right back into that slump by the thoughts.

"You can do that same exercise of thinking about good things that have happened to you lately, or you can watch something funny, or (and this is what I think is the best) you can go talk to someone.

"Engaging in a conversation with someone you like can have a really good impact on keeping you steady."

"Huh… well, I've got my team, and team RWBY."

"As well as Ruby herself, yes?"

"Yeah, Ruby," he said with a smile.

"How did your little outing with her go, by the way?"

"It was great," he said, smile getting a little bit wider.

Peach did not miss that detail.

"You like her a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah…" he trailed off a little and didn't speak anymore. His smile was slightly meek, and he looked down at the floor.

Peach did not miss that detail either.

"Well, Jaune, you can definitely give Ruby a call and I'm sure she'll be willing to spare you some time. You don't even have to tell her the exact reasons for why you're talking out of the blue: you can just ask her to talk."

"Yeah, yeah I can. I do that a lot anyways."

"Oh, I'm sure you do," she said, hiding a smile. "Now if no one's available, you can try out all the other strategies, too. Especially exercise. Exercising gives fantastic benefits to your mental health, makes you a lot happier. I'm not just talking about being happy with your body or whatever, but the physical endorphins that get released that help make you happier."

"Really? Never knew that."

"Yup. I always recommend to my clients that they eat healthy and exercise, but that's a little unnecessary at a school for huntsman and huntresses."

"Yeah, I guess it is." Jaune didn't have anything else to say after that. That part of the conversation had somewhat run its course. Instead, he let his eyes wander, and they fell shortly upon the collection of little 'nick-nacks' as Peach had called them, resting on a small side table.

On a whim, he reached over and took one of them: a slinky. He absentmindedly grabbed either end in his hand and shifted it back and forth.

"So," Peach said, sparking the conversation again, "you told me that you don't have as much problems with sleeping anymore. Why's that?"

"Well, I got my life in control," he said, still idling with the slinky. "I guess that setting everything straight and dealing with a lot of stuff took the load off."

"Oh yeah, real life anxiety definitely puts a damper on your ability to rest easy. What exactly happened?"

"Sorted things out with my team, so that's nice. Got to know Ruby well. I also let go of some stuff, so that was nice."

"What stuff?"

I wanted to leave Beacon. I wanted to run away and return to that hellish life of before.

"Meh, just stuff."

"Don't care to share?"

"Nope."

"Fair enough." She idly tapped her nails against her chains for a few moments, causing some staccato clicks as she thought about what to address next. "Is there anything you do to try and help get to sleep?" she eventually asked.

"Yeah, I have a little diffuser that gives off a strawberry smell. I like it. It helps me relax so I can go to bed."

"Ooh, awesome!" Peach said. "Yeah, aromatherapy can be really helpful for some people. I know that lavender is the classic scent to help people sleep, but if strawberry works for you, that's great. And peppermint's good for waking up or staying focused."

"Huh, maybe I'll try that out."

"It's definitely worth a try, I'd say. And of course, there's always medication as well."

Jaune stopped moving the slinky.

"You aren't on any medication, though, correct?"

"No."

"It's an option though, to be sure. There are a lot of things that just can be resisted through willpower or even therapy, just because of how our mind works. Seeing a psychiatrist and getting a prescription could do you some good."

"I don't want that."

"I figured," Peach said.

He scowled. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"You're just not fully invested in this process yet," she said. "You're holding things back; you're still reserved. Deep down, you're not convinced you need any of this." She looked him in the eye. "And there's absolutely nothing wrong with that. It's totally fair that you aren't going to be spilling your guts out and throwing yourself into the program on day one. Most people are like that. It takes time to ease into. And once you east into it, then opening up about more and maybe seeing a psychiatrist could be options." She tilted her head, and although he knew she was examining him, it didn't quite make his skin crawl like it usually would. Her gaze held no judgement, no scrutiny. "It's just going to be some time."

"Hmph." That was his only reply. He didn't care for medication; only crazy people took meds and he wasn't crazy. Besides, there was no telling what it could do to him. There were tons of freaks in the wasteland who got destroyed by whatever concoction of chems they shoved into themselves.

He threw the slinky back onto the table.

Peach hummed and looked at him for a moment, letting the brittle silence settle. She'd need to perk him up a bit, and there was probably a pretty easy way to do that.

"Hey, why don't you tell me about your day out with Ruby?"

Jaune instantly perked up.

She smiled. Yup, that was it.

Ruby sat on her bed. It had been a long day— Friday classes always seemed to drag on to be twice the length they actually were. Though it'd started off pretty nice: Jaune had been awake pretty early for some reason, greeting her right at breakfast. It was nice.

Now, he was out training with his team. Weiss was studying on the bunk below her, and her sister was out with Blake, practicing some combo moves.

It was about time she addressed some things.

Before her was a notebook and a pen. It was a technique taught to her by her old counselor back at Signal. He'd recommended that if she ever had anything to tell someone, but it was stressing her out, then she could write it out in the form of a letter. That way, she could make sure that it all came out just the way she wanted it to, without the anxiety of having the person right in front of them.

Also, she could choose in the end, whether she'd actually give it to them.

Even now, she was hesitant. She picked up the pen, shakily. Doing this… it would confirm it. Writing it down, making the words real, making the thoughts real… would confirm it. She wouldn't just be able to deny anymore that it was just random thoughts or fantasies. It was true. She wrote out the first couple words.

Dear Jaune,

The heading. Nice. Easy. Simple.

There was no need for this to be anything more than a nice, friendly letter between friends about things that friends typically do and talk about. Just friends.

She couldn't write that, though. It'd all be lies. She knew the truth. She took a deep breath, held it for a bit, then let it out. She'd seen him do it so many times—all the time, actually—and now it seemed to work a little for her, too. She lowered her pen once more.

I like you.

There it was. Three words. It was pretty simple. But somehow… it wasn't right. It wasn't enough. She scribbled them out. Then, she wrote something different.

I love you.

Yup, that was it. She could feel her heart pounding ridiculously quickly in her chest, and in her head, she felt an uncomfortable pressure. That was how she knew it was true. Her pen lowered again, and she wrote out the letter in its entirety.

I don't know why I've been trying to ignore it for a such a long time, but yeah, I love you. Well, I'm pretty sure I do, I dunno. I think I do. I'm only fifteen, so maybe I'm just being stupid and I don't know what I'm talking about. I don't care though. I don't care at all. It was what I wanted to tell you back then, when you were about to leave. I almost said it, but then I stopped myself because I was too scared about actually saying it especially right then. I was just really afraid. I still am.

I've known ever since you were there to help me when I really found out my friends from Signal were all crap. I knew right then, right there. I knew it. All of the sudden, it just hit me. Sitting with you, listening to that song, having you so close to me, helping me out when I needed you. Right then, I knew it. I think I'd been feeling it for a while maybe, I'm not sure. Like I said I really don't have any idea what I'm talking about, haha.

But I know that I really like being with you and I really like who you are and I really like how you make me feel. And I think that means I love you. I want to be with you a lot. I feel different about you than I do for anybody else I know. Like, I love Yang, Blake, Weiss, my dad, my dog, Beacon. I love all that too. But you make me feel really special. I think about you in a different way, you know? I don't think about anybody else the way I think about you. You make me smile just by being there, and I get all funny feeling in my chest and my tummy whenever you're around and whenever I think about being with you.

I had a lot of fun on our date. I know you don't think it was a date, and I've been telling everybody it wasn't one, but deep down I want to think that it was. And I want to go on a bunch more dates with you too. That'd make me really happy.

And all of that makes me pretty sure I love you.

Ruby let out a shaky breath and finished writing. Her hands were quivering ever so slightly, and her heart was still beating faster than a machine gun could fire, but something inside her felt so incredibly awesome. She smiled. She smiled wide.

It was true. It was all true, all of that. And just thinking about it made her happy. Now, she could give this to him—

She froze. Her smile dropped. A feeling in her chest clenched uncomfortable. She couldn't even breathe at all. Oh god was she having a panic attack!?

No, no she was fine… she hadn't had one of those in almost a year, though she used to have them all the time. The pills she took every morning saw to that.

She shook her head and focused on breathing, in and out, in and out. Right, she was good… just freaked out for a moment there.

For a good damn reason, she freaked out! Actually give this to him!? That was crazy!

Or… was it?

Yang would absolutely tell her to go for it, but Yang was like that, taking risks and doing stupid stuff for the big payoff. This though… the risk was huge. It would change everything.

Yeah, it could change everything, but for the better. It could get you everything you want, wouldn't it? You could just hand it to him and run away, let him read it and only come back after a while. Heck, you didn't even have to give it right to him. You could give it to Yang or Weiss and have them pass it along, or to one of his teammates.

She stared down at the letter. Yeah, she could go down right now and hand it over to Weiss. If she pleaded enough, then she could probably convince her to go deliver it to Jaune.

She tore the paper out of the notebook and stared at it. The letter shuddered in her shaky grip.

She could do it. She could do it right now. She could really make everything come true.

Or she could ruin it all.

She could hand it to him, and he'd be disgusted. No, he wouldn't do that…

No, but he could reject you. He could be into someone older, someone prettier, someone cooler. There were a ton of girls like that at Beacon. And then what? Awkward couldn't even begin to describe what it would be like after that. Everything would fall apart, and she wouldn't have a boyfriend—she wouldn't even have a friend.

She'd have nothing.

Ruby tore the letter to pieces.

In a moment, that was it. She sat there alone on her bed, breathing heavily, clutching ribbons of ripped paper. The possibility was gone. There was no way she'd be writing something like that again, not anytime soon.

It took her a moment to collect herself, but when she did, she hopped off her bunk and threw the papers into the trash can in their room. Weiss glanced over, before returning back to her book. She was utterly unaware of the turmoil that had just ensued right beside her.

Ruby stood in the middle of the room, not really sure what to do after that. How the heck could she be sure of anything right now?

The door slammed open, knocking her out her thoughts and making her squawk in surprise. Yang barreled into the room, red-faced from running and smiling like a lunatic.

"Guys! Guys! Awesome news! They finally finished repairing the pool!"

Oh yeah, Ruby had heard about that. Beacon had a pretty big pool complex, but a semblance gone wild had forced it to close down at the beginning of the first quarter. Yang had been particularly put down by that, considering how much she normally loved swimming and showing off.

"So come on, we all gotta go! We have to! Like, right now before another idiot ruins it again!"

Meh. Ruby had never liked swimming all that much, finding it tiresome before anything else. She much preferred running and other land-based exercise. Besides, swim suits could be really ridiculous—

Her eyes widened. She looked at the trash can wherein her ripped letter lay. That… that had been a failure… but there's more than one way to skin a cat, isn't there?

"Yang, that's a great idea!"

Jaune neither knew how to swim nor had any wish to learn.

"There was no water where I grew up," he told Ren. The two of them were sitting out by the poolside. Ren wore bathing trunks, while Jaune wore both trunks and a swimshirt.

He didn't want people to see his chest. It was bad enough as it was, with several scars visible on his arms and legs that were normally hidden by his longer clothes. Like the scar on his eye, he didn't much care for any of those being seen… but his chest? No thank you.

"So I never learned how to swim," he continued. "And none of the water around wherever I went was ever good for swimming. It all just had monsters and radiation, not exactly a winning combo."

Ren nodded agreement. "I can't imagine swimming with Grimm is pleasant."

Well, mirelurks, but close enough.

"And this radiation you talk about really sounds terrible. I'd hate having to live with it."

"Yeah, I did too."

He sighed and stretched back onto the long pool chair. It was cheap and plastic, but fairly comfortable nonetheless. The most important thing was it allowed him to bask in the nice, weekend sun. It was pretty nice. The day had been pretty nice so far, all in all. His session with Peach earlier had been amiable, even a little enjoyable if he dared to admit it.

In front of them stretched a massive pool, fit for a sporting event. Several other students were milling around, swimming or lounging like he was. Idle chatter mixed with splashing and created a distinct background noise. He liked it.

For the moment, it was just he and Ren out by the poolside. What was causing the girls to take longer, he didn't know; but girls always seem to take longer in the bathroom. Whatever, he'd have fun just relaxing here, chatting with his friends and enjoying the sun—

"CANNONBALL!"

A tell-tale pink blur shot up high into the air and came rocketing back down to Earth, splashing into the pool and sending up a massive spray of water. As the impact zone had been directly in front of him, Jaune was promptly drenched.

He scowled and sighed, before chuckling. Nora really was something special… and this really would be fun.

The rest of the girls came out after her. First there was Pyrrha in a conservative two-piece, then Weiss and Blake each in modest one-pieces. Yang, not unexpectedly, was wearing a bikini, and when Nora hauled herself out of the water, she was too.

Hm, a pretty good view, all in all.

His eyes flashed to Weiss, whom he'd always considered the most attractive girl in Beacon (the most attractive girl he'd ever met, actually). However, he blinked, then looked away soon enough. Strangely, he didn't find her quite as alluring as he had before. To be sure, she was beautiful, but there was just something else…

"Hey, where's Ruby?" he asked Yang as she sauntered close.

"Eh, she was taking forever to get changed so we went on without her. Weird, since it's super easy to put on her swimsuit." Yang shrugged, and Jaune had to spare no small amount of effort on keeping his eyes firmly focused on her face. "But meh, she'll catch up." She smiled and suddenly darted to the side, yelling out a cannonball of her own as she leapt into the pool. Nora cheered and followed after her—though this time, she was hauling Ren beside her.

Weiss and Pyrrha took a far more measured approach. They waded into the shallow end, up until the water reached as high as their midriffs, then leaned beside the wall and kept talking. Blake didn't get in the water at all, instead picking out a secluded pool chair and stretching out on it, enjoying the sun as much as he was, perhaps more.

He closed his eyes, sighed and leaned back. This was nice. He draped one arm over his face to keep the sun out of his eyes, for it pried against his retinas even through the closed lids. He could fall asleep like this. He'd put on sunscreen, so he shouldn't burn… probably. So many years underground didn't exactly help one out against the sun, even with the additional UV screenings they got. Nevertheless, he settled back into his chair and prepared to doze off—

"Oh hey Ruby— whoah what the heck!?"

It was Yang who'd spoken, first in her usual tone and then in a tone of utter shock. It was enough to make Jaune open his eyes again and sit up. He looked around for a moment and glanced this way and that, before his eyes finally settled upon Ruby Rose. When they did, his jaw dropped.

Holy shit.

She was—

Well, I mean—

She—

Erk—

"Hey Jaune." She smiled and waved, somewhat timidly. She kept her arms folded in front of her, meekly. She seemed a little uncomfortable, actually.

Perhaps that was because she was wearing a bikini.

Yang? Nora? Absolutely he'd expect them to wear something like that… but Ruby? No, he struck her as a one-piece kind of girl, plus maybe wearing her towel around a lot because she still felt a little shy.

Nope. Her toned muscles shone fully in the gleaming sunlight, lithe arms and legs. Her legs. They were… well he found them to be very nice. But her chest… he hadn't quite expected them to look like that, but he'd only ever seen her with full clothing on so—

Oh Jesus Christ and everything that is holy, he was staring.

Instantly, he snapped his mouth shut with an audible click and whipped his head away, looking into the far distance. Far, far distance. Far away. Not here. He…

How!?

Why, why would… Ruby never struck him as the sort to… to wear that! To… look like that…

His breath caught. He looked down at his lap. Horror cracked through him as he realize he was about to be faced by a distinctly male issue.

Oh no.

Oh dear god no.

Frantically, he snatched up his towel, still folded on the ground beside him, and threw it on his lap. Nope. Nope he would not be dealing with none of that, nuh-uh, no siree.

"Ruby, what the…?" Yang was treading water, but she still quickly threw her soaked hair out of her face, then rubbed her eyes and looked again. "When did you get a bikini?"

"Uh, just yesterday," Ruby said. Her voice was a little quieter than normal. Out of his periphery, he saw her self-consciously bring her arms up to cross and cover her chest. "I, uh, needed to get something to wear for today, you know?"

"What's wrong with your old swimsuit? The one-piece?"

"Oh, it's too small for me now."

"We bought it over the break a few weeks ago!"

"Oh, well, it, err, it ripped." She chuckled nervously. "Yeah, it ripped so I went and bought a new one."

"I though you told me you were just going out to buy a game or something?"

"Well, um, I did that too."

"Well what game did you buy?"

"Uhh… I looked at the store, but didn't find anything cool, so I, uh, just wound up getting the bikini instead." Ruby shrugged. "Funny, huh? Anyway, it's all cool now so whatever!" Ruby quickly shuffled away from the part of the pool where her sister was, heading towards Jaune.

He stiffened as she neared. In more ways than one.

He swallowed and continued looking into the distance, as if he was unaware of Ruby approaching. He wanted to be unaware of her. For some reason, he felt hotter, even hotter than he had before under the sun.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby said again when she finally got close to him. She skittishly fidgeted where she stood. "So… nice day out, right?"

"Yes."

"Pretty sunny."

"Yup."

"Are you getting sunburnt?"

"Nope."

"Really? You're pretty red, especially your face."

"It's nothing."

Ruby brought up on hand to her mouth and gnawed on the tips of her fingers for a few seconds, looking away from him. This continued for an achingly long minute, during which Jaune put all of his mental effort into looking away, not at her.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Pay attention to anything else, anything. The horizon, just stare straight ahead at the horizon.

"So, do you like swimming?" she eventually asked.

"I can't swim."

"Oh… you wanna learn? I could try teaching you a bit."

He liked that idea. A lot. He glanced back down to his lap, thank god fully covered now by his towel. Hmph, he liked the idea a little too much.

"No thanks, I'd rather just sit and enjoy the sun."

"Oh… okay." She turned away and gripped herself tighter with her arms. As if trying to hide despite the lack of cover. "I'll just, uh… go now."

And she did. She walked past him, then slipped into the pool beside Pyrrha and Weiss. She didn't engage in the conversation, though, just wading there beside them, silent.

Ren hauled himself out of the pool and came back to Jaune, sitting down once more on the poolchair beside him. He picked up his water bottle and took a draw from it, and after putting it back down, he glanced at Jaune and the towel he'd draped over himself. He looked at it for a second, then masculine experience granted him a realization.

He look Jaune in the eye, one eyebrow raised.

"Shut up!" Jaune snapped.

"I didn't say anything."

"No, but you were thinking something! You were definitely thinking, so shut up in your head."

Ren looked at him for a moment longer, before shrugging and walking back to the pool. Jaune was certain he'd seen a little smirk on that bastard's face. He scowled and slumped over in his chair, fallen now into a decidedly foul mood.

This… he hadn't expected this.

Well, as time wore on, things normalized. The need for the towel on his lap went away, though he kept it in place just in case. Eventually, Ruby became less skittish, getting into a splash fight with her sister. Blake was, after much coaxing, persuaded to come into the pool herself. After some time, even Jaune joined them in the shallow end where he could safely stand, after Nora pestered him relentlessly about it.

Another hour wore by and things became fun. The bizarre awkwardness that had characterized the beginning of their pool-day dissipated, and he was able to relax a little. However, he pointedly continued to avoid looking at Ruby. He didn't talk to her a single time for the rest of the pool outing. And by the time it was over and they'd called it a day, he was left hopelessly confused and still feeling a little strange.

"Oh, uh, hey Ruby," he said.

"Oh, uh, hey Jaune," she said.

It was Sunday. They hadn't spoken since the pool. He didn't like that, the lingering feeling of unease that had been summoned. Deep down, he knew somewhere that things were happening, but never anywhere near the surface did such awareness rise. He wouldn't let it.

"I saw you out here and figured I'd come say hi," he said. It was true, that he'd seen her up on the rooftop, the very same place they'd sat together back in the last quarter. It was visible just from his window. However, he wanted to do a bit more than say hi. He held a bottle in one of his hands.

I want to try and fix things. I don't like feeling like this, feeling weird and apart from you. I'm not totally sure why, but both of us are being really awkward, and I don't want that to be the case.

He didn't say these things to her, of course; he just sat down beside her on the ledge, each of them looking at the falling sun. It was beautiful, especially since the orange glow wasn't blocked by the smog as it was back in the wasteland.

Beside him, Ruby just nodded, quiet. Perhaps she said something, but if she had, then he didn't notice it, didn't hear it. He didn't like that.

She didn't like it either. Why didn't she like it? Well, because she'd been a tremendous idiot, that's why. Sheesh, she'd taken her plan right out of some of the cheesy comics she'd used to read, where the femme fatale would seduce the man using her bathing suite wiles. She'd known she hadn't looked good in it, but she'd gone through with it anyway. Idiot. There was no way he'd liked it, of course not! God, he hadn't even looked at her once!

Jaune glanced back at her, and for a moment, he recalled how she'd looked the day before, in her bikini. Man, she'd looked really good. He could admit that easily. So had all the other girls, too… but there was something particular about Ruby, too.

Ruby glanced at him, and when she did, he looked away.

She looked away, figuring that the awkwardness was because he's remembering how weird she was yesterday.

Jaune looked off into the distance, figuring that the awkwardness was probably because she'd seen him staring like a creep.

His hand tightened around the bottle he'd been carrying. If there was one thing that could end this, then maybe this could. He'd found it just that morning while going through the old things in his locker. He'd forgotten about it, to be honest, but of course it had been one of the few things to survive the trip here to Remnant. Heck, it'd managed to survive a nuclear war and the hellish centuries after it.

"Want to try some of this?" he asked, holding up the bottle for her to see.

Ruby squinted and peered at the unfamiliar brand label. "Nuka Cola?"

"Yeah, it's a type of soda back from where I come from. The only kind that was ever made there. Can't get it anywhere here."

Ruby's mouth widened into a smile. "Really?" She leaned over, staring through the glass at the brown liquid within.

Heh, he knew it. Just leave it to a sugary drink to knock Ruby back to normal. Hopefully, this moment would be enough to get things back into shape… though he wasn't so sure what had put them out of whack in the first place.

"Here, let me get it," he said. He pried off the cap, resulting in a hiss of escaping air that hadn't been outside the bottle in two hundred years. He brought it up to his nose and took a sniff, enjoying for the last time the smell of his favorite drink. Habitually, he pocketed the valuable bottlecap.

This really would be the last, wouldn't it? This was the only bottle he had on him, and there was no way he'd ever be able to get more, considering this stuff had only ever been manufactured in a different universe. This would be the last time he ever tasted it, and he'd be giving half of it away to someone else.

He glanced at Ruby, saw the happy look on her face.

Heh, that was well worth the price of half a bottle of pop.

"Here, try it. It tastes good and has a bit of a kick." The 'kick' was due to the radiation that had seeped in over the years, but he left that part out. At most, she'd get a single rad, which was so far away from harmful that she wouldn't feel a thing. He glanced at his pip-boy, seeing his own measure to be 25 rads. Again, far from harmful, and he still kept a pack of radaway just in case. Yeah, this was no problem.

Ruby grabbed the soda and took a sip. Immediately, her eyes widened and she stared down at the bottle. For a moment, Jaune feared that she didn't like it, but the massive smile on her face, coupled with her immediate act of taking a full swig, erased that fear.

"This is so good!" she said. "Like, really good! Haven't tasted anything like it!"

"Yeah, it's based all on stuff from back home, so I guess you wouldn't."

"Hah, you keep saying the wasteland was terrible, but this is pretty great! We'll have to go to sometime just for this!"

Yeah, that won't be happening. Ever.

"Maybe," he said.

Ruby took another drink, then smacked her lips together in satisfaction. She passed the bottle back to him, and he appreciatively nodded and took a drink of his own. The familiar and delicious taste flowed into his mouth, and he loved it, he really did. However, the taste was so familiar to him, having grown up drinking it constantly, that he was able to detect something slightly off. Nuka Cola had been made famous for its use of a particular blend of fruits, but this one was slightly off, ever so slightly off.

He handed it back to Ruby, who took another sip and passed it back. This time, he focused again on the odd taste. It was still great… but there was a strangely distinct taste of… strawberry?

He gave it back to Ruby, and this time when she took a sip, he watched her do it, and this time, he noticed a slight gleam on her lips. It was nothing much, hardly noticeable unless you looked, but it was there. It hadn't been there before.

"Ruby, do you have something on your lips?" he asked.

She swallowed the last of her sip and smiled. "Yeah I do. Yang went shopping earlier today with Weiss for some makeup, and she got me some cool strawberry lip gloss."

For a moment, Jaune couldn't breathe.

"I like the taste of it," Ruby said.

Yeah, I do too.

"Here, want some more?" she asked, passing the bottle back to him.

Strawberry.

"No, no that's alright, you can finish it."

"You sure?"

"Absolutely."

"Well if you say so," Ruby said. She tilted the bottle back and finished off the last of the drink, sighing with satisfaction as she did. He watched her throat, saw how it pulsed as she swallowed. She closed her eyes and let a lazily little smile rest on her face. The orange glow of the falling sun cast in her a particularly pretty light at that moment.

Jaune could do nothing but stare.

When she finally opened her eyes again, he reacted fast enough to glance away. She set the bottle down, and Ruby started chatting to him idly about the day. It was easy enough for him to limp along and try to keep up with the conversation. After a few minutes, Ruby thanked him for the drink and headed back to her room, citing the need to wake up early for Monday.

Then there he was, alone. Mission accomplished: make things less awkward. Well, the mission had been accomplished in theory. Ruby seemed to have been knocked out of her spell and the status quo seemed to have been reinstated. However, it seems he'd traded an open awkwardness with a more personal kind.

He looked down at the bottle she'd left behind. Slowly, he picked it up, then stared at the lip of it. He ran the tip of one finger around the mouth of the bottle, collecting what residue remained. Then he stuck that finger in his mouth.

Strawberry. He tasted strawberry. Her. He was tasting her right now, and the gloss on her lips.

Holy shit.

He shook his head and put the bottle down, breathing hard all of the sudden.

Do you love her?

What!?

Do you love her?

That had been a long time ago. Back when he was still in the vault, still a little kid, before even the GOAT. Amata had cornered him and gotten him to confess about his crush on Christine Kendall. Then she'd asked him:

Do you love her.

That memory, it was becoming alive once more, brought up by a mind overactive and overeager to make some things become real.

Do you love her?

What!?

Do you love her?

W-what do you mean?

Silly, I think it's pretty obvious what I mean. Do you love her?

I-I don't know…

How do you not know?

I don't even know what love is! I'm a kid! I dunnno! I can't say! I don't know if I'm in love!

Fine then, are you in like?

Like?

Yeah, do you like her? Are you in like at least?

Well, I think so…

Jaune stared down at the bottle. Was he… in like? No, no that's not right. Like isn't the right word here. Like isn't the right word at all—

He grunted and hurled the bottle with all his might. With his powerful aura, it sped out into the distance, doomed to fall somewhere in the Emerald Forest. Gone.

He shook his head. Stupid thoughts and stupid dreams and stupid words. She was his friend, and that was where things ended.

Oh boy, will Jaune ever be able to solve his latent emotional issues? Perhaps.

I was actually a little uncomfortable writing this, considering Ruby's only 15 and Jaune's just 17 yet I had to describe some of their more intimate physicality. But even as young as 15 things are definitely sexually charged. Hell, that's right when it all starts! I'm still just 18, so I recall it well. I tried to be a bit more vague and let things be assumed, so I think it works out.

Glad to see that there was a good reception to Peach last time. Be sure, she'll be getting an important role in the story from now on, being the main character's therapist and all. I was actually a volunteer working with therapists at a youth counseling center, so it's pretty fun to implement everything I learned there in my writing. Everything that Peach says is based off of legit methods and concepts I learned with the therapists. Even her office is based on the ones I worked at; like, there's nothing physically in between her and the client, and she's got toys out to busy yourself with while talking.

Anyhow, everyone's encouraged to review and question as they please. Come back sometime soon for a new chapter. Next time, we'll be getting an update on a weapon long in the making, and Peach is gonna lay down the law.