We're back with everyone's favorite reforming male tsundere!

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Idle emotion and thought faded and disappeared, leaving behind nothing but his perception of the physical realm. Detail seemed crisp and clear, and time itself nearly slowed as he saw and heard it all with a greater clarity, mind absent of anything but the mechanics of physical observation and attention. It was in that state that he stared down his target. He pulled the trigger.

Nothing happened.

He pulled the trigger again, but again, nothing happened. The shooting range was filled with live fire, with other stalls taken by students testing out or practicing their own weapons. Each pulled the trigger and shot, except for him.

He shook his head and stepped back from the booth. He popped out the canister of electric dust they got, only to see that it hadn't gone through any change. Ruby peeked over his arm, then scowled.

Welp, time to call it quits for the day. He and Ruby both wore protective headphones (a safe-guard to which he was unaccustomed but not resistant). He waved to her, then pointed to the exit. She nodded, and after Jaune stuffed the yet inoperative Crimson Arc into his duffel bag, they departed.

The left the range and entered the lobby instead, leaving the sound of gunfire muffled behind them as the door slid shut. They walked towards the lobby's desk, taking off their headphones as they did.

Ruby sighed. "I though it would finally work… I got all excited to see lightning."

"Same," said Jaune. He tsked and looked down at his duffel bag, in which the busted rifle stull lay.

"Maybe an issue with the dust extractor pin?" Ruby asked while Jaune pressed a button on the display screen at the desk. A sleepy looking security guard only vaguely payed attention to them as they signed out.

"Maybe," he said as they walked out of the lobby and into the hall. They then headed back to their rooms while continuing the conversation, passing by the Beacon armory and going up stairs as they headed up into the academy itself and then towards the dorm wing. "That's the first thing we should look at, but the trigger mechanism is already cramped…"

Ruby groaned.

"Yeah," Jaune agreed, shaking his head. "It's always the finicky little bits that cause the most trouble."

"Yup… devil's in the details." Ruby furrowed her brow. "Well, I've got to go do something with the team later, so I better go prep with them now."

"Yeah? What it is?"

"Er, remember how I said that Blake is having a hard time sleeping, and getting all moody?"

"Yeah," he said, "gonna try and set her straight?"

"Something like that," she said, nervously rubbing her hands together. "We're going to go out and do some stuff in Vale… y'know, just team stuff, hang out a bit, get dinner, take in the sights. Just want to cheer her up, you know?"

"Sounds nice," he said. "Can I borrow your game system when you're gone, if you're gonna be out all day?"

"Totally," she replied. "You can keep it for the night; we might be out for a while."

YOU DIED

"Fuck!"

Nora cuffed him swiftly, smacking him with an open palm on the back of the head. "Watch that mouth, mister! What, your daddy never teach you manners?"

Jaune sighed as the game reloaded, the imperious red words mocking him: YOU DIED. He turned away from the tv and glared at Nora, sat just beside him on the bed. "My daddy taught me many manners thank you very much," he replied with a scowl. "It's just that a few nasty words every now and again make this terrible suffering we call life a little bit more bearable."

Nora chuckled—then she suddenly shoved him off of the bed.

"Ack!"

"Well whatever, my turn now!" She snatched the controller for herself, then rapidly pressed the buttons on it, trying in vain to make the loading screen hurry up and respawn their character. She now gave all attention to the tv they'd rented from the Beacon supply store, placed in the middle of their room. They sat on Pyrrha's bed like it was a couch.

It was now well into the night, and Jaune and Nora had been trading the controller back and forth for a few hours, end not in sight. And since it was the weekend, there didn't really have to be an end any time soon, did there?

"Come on kids, be nice to each other," Pyrrha said, lecturing down to them from her spot on the top punk, beside Ren. Neither of them had any interest in playing themselves, so they'd each taken perches from which to watch and chat without being in the way.

"Oh, finally embracing your status as mom-friend, huh?" Nora teased as her character finally loaded in, ignoring Jaune's indignant mumbling as he pulled himself off the floor.

"Someone has to keep you two from wreaking havoc," Ren said, voice as dry as ever. "Both of you are the most irreverent people I've ever known."

"Hey, laws are just suggestions," Jaune said. "Right Nora?"

"Yup!" she happily cheered, pressing a button so her character on screen leapt in the air, then crashed back down, driving their spear into the ground and sending out a shockwave that annihilated the horde of Grimm she'd thrown herself into.

"Damn that was cool," Jaune mumbled, already forgetting any ill feelings. "This beats Grognak's text adventure by a million miles…"

It was at that moment that Pyrrha flicked her wrist, and the cabinet beside her bed rattled. The metal handles shook, faintly covered in a dark aura. Then the shelf was pulled out seemingly by an invisible hand. A can of grape soda levitated from the open cabinet, then flew through the air and toward Pyrrha's open hand.

"Crap! Crap! Crap!"

YOU DIED

"CRAP!" Nora shouted as her character was ripped to pieces by an immense Beowulf.

The sudden outburst attracted Pyrrha's attention for a moment, distracting her just long enough for the can of soda to waver in the air. It struck the bedframe before her hand at an odd angle, cracking open the top and spilling out a gout of purple pop.

"Ah shit!" Jaune yelped as soda poured down and splashed onto his shirt.

"Oh no!" Pyrrha gasped, horrified. She quickly grabbed the can before more could spill out, but the damage was already done. "I'm sorry!"

"It's fine," Jaune said. He even smiled, for it was honestly a little funny. Heck, Nora certainly wasn't holding back her own laughter at his misfortune. Even Ren smirked.

But the Invincible Girl was inconsolable: "I'm sorry!"

"Really, it's' fine," he repeated, already head toward his own drawers for a fresh shirt. "It's just a bit of soda… shouldn't leave a stain after just a normal wash… I hope." He pulled open the drawer, which held many crisp, well-folded t-shirts in various shades of blue. He'd expanded his wardrobe a little since coming to Beacon, even if the color was all the same. He'd decided that, since everybody else was doing it, he might as well pick one color and make it his own. Blue was a shade not all that common in the wasteland, for the sky and seas were so thoroughly polluted, and the paint was all long gone.

The shirts were neatly organized and folded, perfectly clean. He'd come to quite enjoy doing the laundry, since there was something oddly satisfying about having a bunch of nice clothes that were all clean. He hadn't realized just how good it felt to walk around in fresh cotton that wasn't stained and crusted by sweat, dirt and blood.

He shuffled into the bathroom and closed the door behind him, then pulled his shirt over his head. It wouldn't have been weird for him to just change real quick outside in front of his team, if only it weren't for one little thing: the scars.

Ren had questioned why he always went to a shower stall to change, or why he'd worn a swimshirt that one time they'd all went to the pool. He'd simply answered that he was shy, and to some extent that may have been true.

Jaune threw the stained shirt on the floor, leaving his torso bare to the open air. He caught a glance of himself in the bathroom mirror and couldn't help but observe the proof of his adventures for a just a moment:

Across his stomach and chest swelled little patches of flesh where bullets had once torn into his skin, maybe five in all. Aside from that, a few nasty slashing scars showed where crudely-armed raiders and animals had cut him. By far the most shocking wound, however, was a series of long slashes across his back, ten and all. Whips are vicious.

But there was one scar here that distinguished itself: it was a perfectly vertical scar that was neat and straight, much less vicious in appearance than any of the others. It crossed down the middle of his chest.

Jaune quickly looked away, then pulled his shirt on and walked back out to the room.

"Hey Jaune," Ren said, "I didn't mean to snoop, but I just saw these up here by your pillow." He raised a few polaroid photos in his hand.

"Oh yeah—"

"Crap!" Nora said, cutting him off as she died once more.

Jaune only chuckled, before shaking his head and continuing: "Yeah I was looking at those earlier… dunno why, just a little nostalgia. I usually keep them in my locker but… saw them again today and brought them back to look at."

"Oooooh, I wanna see, I wanna see!" Nora excitedly shouted, pausing the game and bouncing where she sat. "More of your super mysterious past, revealed!"

"There's really nothing special about my past," he lied. "I was just a mercenary in the Vacuo wastes for a wild."

"Well regardless, tell us about these photos," Ren said, climbing down from the top bunk to hand them off. Pyrrha came down behind them, and then all four sat on the edge of Pyrrha's bed, then eyed the photos.

"This first one is just me and my dad when I was little," he explained, pointing to one picture that looked especially worn, being creased and wrinkled. "You can see me there with my bb gun, and that's my dad." A smile easily slid onto his face as the old memory embraced him once more. "I can still remember shooting the roaches whenever they got loose…"

"Ew, roaches are the worst," Nora said. "But you were such a little cutie pie!"

"Thanks?"

"And what's this other one?" Pyrrha asked, pointing at the picture just beside it, one of a significantly older Jaune, though young enough that he didn't yet have the scar on his eye.

"That's me and my old friends. John, Jane and Dogmeat." He pointed to each in turn, one of the twins on either side of him, both proudly brandishing their rifles and smiling. His loyal hound sat just in front of him, tongue out and tail blurring, mid-wag. "Fawkes is there, too. You just can't see him because he's taking the picture."

Thank god for that. I have no idea how I'd be able to explain him to them… maybe as some kind of giant lizard faunus?

"He was a giant lizard faunus."

"Ooh, got a pic of him?" Nora excitedly asked.

"Sadly, no," he replied with a chuckle. "But I do have this picture of me and Moira." He pointed to the last photograph, which showed a rather nonplussed young Maxwell with Moira's face pressed up against his own. She sported a massive grin while taking the selfie. "She was so proud of making her own camera from scratch, and I was the only person willing to take a picture with her…"

"Aww, that sweet!"

"Yeah, she was nice. Really weird… but really nice, nice and hopeful." Something in his voice, something a little wistful, a little sad, stopped any of them from asking what had happened to her. "A shame she's gone, since she made the world better."

Despite the words, he was smiling. The expression was one part real and one part faked. A voice inside demanded he be happy, for he had had the chance to know all these people, the chance to laugh with them and love them. Another voice told him that he had failed them, and that if only he were strong enough, they would all still be alive and well.

But then he remembered also what Peach had told him: things go wrong in a million ways, and never are they all because of you.

So his smile widened a little bit. Just a bit.

"But hey, that's all in the past," he said. He stuck the photos in his pockets and, armed with a fresh idea, decided to beat back the sudden, rather depressing atmosphere. "Let's live in the now, right? Group photo!"

"Yippee!" Nora quickly hooked her arms around both Pyrrha's and Ren's necks, dragging them close so they could all fit into frame. This only made Jaune smile more: Nora was the best person to have around whenever you wanted to drop a rough subject and move on.

So he turned on the scroll's camera, reversed its direction into selfie mode (a feature he'd only recently discovered) and lined it up so that he and his best friends were all there, together. Nora smiled as wide as she possibly could, while Ren politely grinned and Pyrrha turned her head to the side and smiled in that well-practiced way that celebrities do. Jaune just smiled and pressed the button, capturing the moment, a good moment.

Then his phone buzzed, and a notification appeared onscreen, the result of his breaking news app:

Mech Battle on the Highway!

Ruby hummed, a smile still on her face as she marched down the hall. Sure, the police report had been long, and sure, Miss Goodwitch's lecture had been horrifying, and sure it was super late and she was dead tired, but hey, a mech fight! Easily the most awesome thing she'd done in her life thus far. Not only that, but info and progress on the white fang's plans were now in their hands! A true huntress, she already was… and Ozpin seemed fine with it, so they didn't even get detention!

Ruby lead the pack back to their dorm, with all of RWBY marching triumphantly through Beacon's halls. No one was awake at this hour to see them, but no doubt their awesomeness would be well known by tomorrow, and they took pride in it already. Weiss strutted with her chin held high. Yang massaged her hand, bruised by her punch to the mech, but a dumb grin was still plastered on her face. Even Blake seemed rejuvenated and cheery, a smirk still on her lips.

Ruby couldn't stop herself from skipping down the last hall. She probably shouldn't go and wake up team JNPR, but Jaune had said they'd be staying up late playing anyway, right? And they'd certainly wake up quick to hear the story!

So it was without hesitation that she stopped in front of their door and knocked. Then she knocked again, and again, and—

"Stop that!" Weiss said, slapping her hand. "They're probably dragging themselves out of bed, you little ingrate."

Ruby responded only be sticking out her tongue, just as the door opened.

"Oh. Hey." Pyrrha had opened the door, and she now stood bleary eyed in her pajamas. "Jaune's not here."

"Oh, well—"

"And yes, I know where he is," she said, cutting off her rather predictable question. "But I wouldn't go try to talk with him right now, since he's in a bad mood. Went to go blow off steam in the gym, prob ably still in the showers if he's not back yet."

"Oh, what happened—"

"He saw the video of you fighting that robot and… was not very happy."

Her heart dropped.

"He… well, he thinks it was a stupid and dangerous decision and wishes you'd left it to the professionals." Pyrrha winced. "He sorta… yelled that. No, not really yelled… just raised his voice a bit. Just a bit."

"What?"

Seeing the look on Ruby's face, Pyrrha mustered her own smile. "Don't worry, your fight was awesome. Jaune is… only mad because he's worried. He doesn't want any of his friends being hurt."

"Oh…" And suddenly, Ruby felt even worse. Of course he'd take this hard; all his old friends were dead. Killed by doing crazy stuff like they had.

"Just wait 'til tomorrow. Then I'm sure he'll be fine to talk."

Nora appeared beside Pyrrha, eyes bloodshot from being woken up, eyelids slid halfway down. She held the borrowed game-station, which she wordlessly passed onto to Pyrrha, before turning back and, like a zombie, stumbling back to her bed. She pulled the blankets over herself and snuggled in beside a little wooden hammer. Instantly, she went back to sleep.

Pyrrha giggled at the sight of her catatonic teammate, the smile lingering. "Don't worry, it's all alright. We can all talk more tomorrow. Good night, and rest well." She passed on the game system, then closed the door.

Ruby held the console and controls in her arms, all her elation now fully annihilated.

The garden was pretty. She tried to focus on that rather than the fear within. Ruby had always appreciated the flowers and the cherry blossom tree and the light breeze that often swept through Beacon's garden, but now she payed them all an undue amount of attention, nervously tapping her fingers together as she counted the petals on a nearby daffodil.

J: Can you meet me in the garden? I wanna talk

R: Okay

Such was the last conversation on her scroll, the last words she's shared with him. Oh god, what does he—

A sharp, painless pain suddenly tapped against the back of her neck while she was distracted.

"Ack!" She leaped from the stone bench and frantically turned around, only to see him. The smile he wore made her fear melt away.

"Got this for ya," he said, holding out a little tub of strawberry ice cream.

Her lips formed a smile to match his, and then she reached out and took it from him, the ice-cold treat he'd pressed against her neck just a second ago. "Jerk," she said, "that freaked me out!"

He only shrugged. "Well what can I say, there you were, just sitting there, practically begging to be messed with."

Then they both chuckled, and Ruby noticed what he held in his other hand.

"Mint?"

"Yup," he replied, holding up a tiny tub of ice cream, the same brand as hers but a different flavor; she'd seen it just beside the strawberry in nearly every frozen vending machine at the school.

"You like mint?"

"Just discovered it yesterday," he said, sitting down on the bench and gesturing for Ruby to do the same. He continued his explanation as she sat: "Peach said I should 'spread my wings' or whatever, start trying out more stuff than just what I've gotten used to." He peeled off the little plastic spoon attacked to the tub's cap, then pried off the cap itself. "So that's what I've been doing. You know, I never realized I've been eating like, the same exact stuff since I first got here. The exact same kind of fitness meal I saw in one of Beacon's recommended nutrition guides at the start. And the same snacks." He spooned out a small glob of ice cream, a pale shade of green. "And I've never had anything mint other than my gum and my toothpaste, not in my whole life."

He put the spoon in his mouth, and his smile widened. A few seconds passed, before he pulled the spoon of his mouth, cleaned.

"To be honest, I sorta like this more than I like strawberry."

"Oh," Ruby said. "I hate mint."

"Well, I still like strawberry but… I dunno, this has a better sort of bite to it. I like that"

"Heh, yeah I don't really like my food biting me back when I eat it. I kinda want it to be one-sided, you know?" She laughed uneasily while prying open her own ice cream. Her eyes glanced between the red packaging of her own treat and the green packaging of his, and a part of herself noted how different they each were, in appearance and—more importantly—in substance.

She just started eating, as he started talking.

"So I'm not mad at you are anything," he began.

Immediately, a remaining weight lodged in Ruby's chest dissolved and disappeared. She let out an imperceptible little sigh of relief.

"I was mad before, but that's just 'cause I was freaked out." Jaune shrugged. "I talked it over with Peach in our session today… since I didn't really want you to see me upset."

"Oh… Pyrrha said you were really mad, yeah."

"Yup." He just shrugged. "But watcha gonna do? I've cooled off now."

"That's nice—"

"Still disappointed though."

She looked down into her ice cream, not daring to glance up. "Why?" she asked, having decency enough not to let any awkward silence drag on.

"Because you lied to me."

"Hm." She despondently took a spoonful of her treat, its melting frost shining slightly in the sunlight.

"You lied to me and went off and did something dangerous. A girl's night out? Dinner?"

Her ice cream really didn't taste that good.

"No excuses?" he asked. "Not gonna try and tell me you just happened to run into a giant robot?"

"Nope." She shrugged. "You're not stupid. And even if I could keep lying to you, I wouldn't. I don't like doing that a lot." Her forlorn gaze looked down at the ground, ice cream forgotten. "I just didn't want you to worry too much."

"Well I wound up more hurt because yeah, not only did I get worried, I got lied to."

Her shoulders hunched.

"You would have tried to stop me or tried to convince me that you should come with," she said. "I don't want to get you or your team involved in the stuff we're doing."

She set down the cup of ice cream beside her and instead raised her hands to her eyes, wiping away some dust that had happened to cause some watering.

"Well you can't do stuff on your own—"

"Yes I can!" she spat, suddenly transferring anxiety and guilt into anger. A scowl cut down onto her face as she turned to glare at him. "I'm a huntress, and that means it's my job to hunt down bad guys like this, and I'm good at it, and I can handle myself."

I've been called a baby for years, even now after beating a giant robot.

Jaune closed his eyes. He breathed in and out, quietly, methodically, the way she'd seen him do it time and time again now. The sight of it made her wilt.

He only did that when he needs to focus or… when he feels bad about something.

Her eyes fell back down to the floor, the sense of guilt returning with even greater weight now. Her ice cream melted beside her.

She didn't notice how tightly he'd gripped his fists, nor how that rash grasp slackened with the last breath he took.

"I'm a huntsman too, you know." Jaune shook his head. "My job's the same as yours. I want to fight bad guys, too. I'm putting my life on the line, too. I know that you can handle this stuff, right? I know because you prove it over and over again. I just want us to do it together."

Together

The word held a special weight in her mind, and it made her think:

Yes please.

"My team and I want to get at the White Fang and Torchwick as you guys do." He chuckled, dryly. "I mean, they dropped a crane on me, the assholes." He tapped a finger against his chin. "Although it was only a small crane… just one for crates. A bigger one would have killed me—"

"Please don't talk about that," Ruby said. "That's scary."

"Yeah. Thinking about your friends dying. It's really scary. Isn't it?"

She swallowed.

"Especially when you've already had some die on you."

Ruby screwed her eyes shut as hard as she could, face turning red from the effort needed to stop herself from crying. Her shoulders hunched up further when she felt something come to rest on her shoulder… his hand.

"It's alright," he said. "You were just trying to do good… even if it ended up pissing me off a bit. You're doing your best."

She nodded.

"Let's just do our best together from now on, huh? I'm not dumb enough to think I can actually make you all stop, so let's just go for it together."

That magic word, he just keeps using it.

Together

"Yeah," she said, and a small, tentative smile came to her face. "Yeah we can do that."

"Good. It'd make me feel a lot better," he said. He took his hand off his shoulder, then stuck it out in front of her in the form of a fist. "We can kick some serious ass and watch each other's backs while we do it."

She formed a fist of her own, then tapped her knuckles against his.

"Together."

"Together."

"Hey Jaune?" The question reached him through the empty hallway. This late at night, no one else was around, and the only light provided came from the many lunar fragments shining from many miles away, seeping in through the corridor's tall windows.

"Hm?" He turned around and smiled when he saw who was there. "Hey Ruby, what're you doing up so late?"

She blushed and looked down at her feet, cutely crossing her arms across her chest. "Oh… I just wanted to talk to you."

"Yeah?"

She nodded. "I just wanted to tell you how much I appreciate you… that I think you've been nice to me and that I like spending time with you."

His smiled widened, and Ruby shuffled forward, never daring to raise her eyes in an adorably shy way.

"And… well I think a lot of things about you."

"Yeah?"

She nodded again. "Yup. I think you're really nice, and you're smart, and you're really dedicated and talented." She cautiously stepped forward more, one foot tentatively following the other. Her silver eyes sparkled in the moonlight as she finally looked up to him. "And I think you're really handsome…"

"Ruby—"

She closed the distance. "And I love you."

The smile on his face was immense; some otherworldly sense had already told him that she was going to say this. He wasn't surprised. He was ready. He was happy.

They leaned into one another, and as their lips touched—

"Oh my."

That voice. Soft and airy, sculpted with a refined, light southern accent; that voice could lull you to sleep with a smile on your face, make you laugh, make you cry, make you feel alright.

"We can't have this happening."

There was nothing else in existence that could terrify Jaune Arc as much as the sound of that voice.

Roughly, fingers grabbed onto his hair before he could try to react. The hand wrenched back with immense strength, hurling him away. He fell against the floor hard, hearing nothing now but the screams of the girl he loved.

Bishop Beauvais smiled. Of course he did. He always did.

Jaune tried to rise, but something weighed him down, something unseen and unstoppable, a force that kept him on the floor, where he could only watch helplessly as Ruby was picked up and thrown to the ground. A sickening crunch as her legs, those beautiful superpowered legs, buckled as the power of Bishop crushed her into the tiled floor.

She cried, and Bishop drew his sword, clasped at the waste of his spotless officer's uniform. He smiled as he flipped a switch, and Rubrem Mors flashed to life; a cruel red flame struck up along the blade's length.

Bishop raised that monstrous sword, a slash of flame, high above his head, Ruby groveling at his feet. Then he brought it down, and Jaune couldn't even find the strength to scream through his horror as Ruby Rose had her head cut off—

His eyes shot wide open, and he sat bolt upright in his bed, the nightmare shocking him awake.

What first hit him was a terrible sense of confusion, a feeling of not knowing where he was or what was happening or what was real. And intimately bonded to that confusion was panic, a feeling of threat and anxiety and terror that instantly made his muscles seize, that made it impossible for him to draw in a breath, that made him collapse back onto his bed, groveling in the sweaty sheets while he struggled not to suffocate or otherwise die from the immense tightness which had formed in his chest, right where his heart was supposed to be.

Time passed, though he had no idea how much did. All he was conscious of was a sudden fear of his own death, as it seemed impossible to move or breathe. Even as he feared for himself, he feared also for Ruby, as the lingering terror of that dream rattled around in his skull and clawed in under his skin.

But this too, passed: his muscles loosened, and his lungs flexed and drew in air once more, after feeling like some immense, ghostly hand had driven its fingers into his chest and squeezed.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

Breathe deep. Hold. Release.

He got a hold of where he was—he was in his room, and so were his teammates, as he could tell by a desperate glance under his bed and across the room. His skin was cold with cooling sweat, spawned by the nightmare. He sat in the sweaty sheets, feeling distinctly uneasy as the graphic image of the girl he loved being beheaded remained there, burning in his consciousness alongside the view of Bishop smiling at him, and the sensation of utter helplessness.

He shakily clambered off the bed and stumbled to the bathroom. If he woke up the others, they didn't say anything, likely thinking he just needed to piss in the middle of the night. Ren especially, he'd learned, was a light sleeper. Making up for Nora's ability to sleep like a rock, he'd always been the diligent one at night. Not like he'd be of any help here. This was an enemy that one couldn't really fight back against in the conventional sense.

Jaune closed the door behind him and turned on the lights. Immediately, he walked to the sink and turned the faucet on, cranking the handle to the coldest setting. He splashed the water up into his face, relishing the icy, refreshing sensation. And then he breathed in, in and out.

He looked up into the mirror, saw his own red face, eyes bloodshot. He screwed them shut, forced himself to breathe for a while longer. In and out. Hold it and let it go.

"He can't hurt you," he mumbled to himself. Peach's words came to him, the advice she'd given him recently after he finally opened up to her about the terror that was Bishop Beauvais. "He can't hurt you, because he's dead, because you beat him, because you won, because you beat him, because you won, because he's dead…"

He droned on like that for a while, reassuring himself that the old adversary could never hurt him again.

He flicked the match and lit the cigarette.

Ultimately, it had proven a futile effort to go back to sleep. He was fully awake, and the sheets were uncomfortably damp with sweat, and he'd already used his two allowed daily pills to calm down earlier in the day. He'd checked the time and sighed when it showed one in the morning. Tomorrow would be rough, but at least he could probably go to sleep early.

He just sighed and brought the cigarette to his lips. The nicotine gum he now favored sat in a drawer back at his desk, beside a playing card pack that contained cigarettes he'd gotten a bum to buy for him.

Not like I have them a lot anymore… didn't have that many in the first place, maybe once a day or so. Now… just when I need to.

The smoke drifted hazily in the air, distinct in the moon's glow, that broken moon now looking down on him in the Beacon garden. He sat, hunched over on the bench beside the cherry blossom's pool, smoking a cigarette. The quiet sounds of the night drew up around him, with the occasional rustle of the breeze or caw of some nearby crow.

He closed his eyes and savored and the taste, the feeling, his muscles relaxing as he did. The cigs in Remnant were soooo much better than the stuff back on Earth, same with the booze. This place did vice pretty well.

So he cleared his mind in that way, drawing in the experience, living there and there alone, the past and the nightmares far away from him, just a guy smoking a cigarette while sitting on a park bench.

He did that, all the way until the cigarette ran low, and eventually died out. Then he just sorta sat there. Eventually, he thought back on how the day had gone. Sans the nightmare, it had been pretty alright. With Peach's help, he'd sorted out his emotions and cleared stuff up with Ruby quickly… so hopefully no more need to worry about the dangers she was taking on apart from him.

And that's good. I love her.

Then once more, the image of her broken and crying, getting her head cut off, reappeared in his mind, a shocking jolt like the sudden flash of a thunderbolt.

He shut his eyes again, hoped that it would go away.

"None of it can hurt you," he told himself. "The past is long gone… take hold of the future. Yeah… yeah I'll do that." He nodded. "Go fuck yourself Bishop… and go fuck yourself too, Lone Wanderer." He smiled. "My name's Jaune Arc, a huntsman on Remnant. There's some fucked up stuff I've dealt with… but tell you what…"

He looked up, glared at that giant wreck of a moon which glared right back.

"Maybe I'm a shit person, but I can do what I want." His eyes narrowed. "I can do whatever the fuck I want and be whoever the fuck I want, right? Peach said as much… everybody's said as much, hell my dad said as much and so did Sarah and Fawkes and everybody I've ever known.

"So I'm gonna be a good person, the kind of person who deserves to be happy."

He spoke up into the night, a quiet promise made to something or other, maybe to the universe, or the people he knew, or to himself. Who or what it was made to didn't matter, so much as it was made in the first place. So long as he kept it.

He jumped when someone spoke behind him:

"Been a while, huh?"

He turned and saw a face he hadn't seen for some time.

Well hot darn, who could that be? Comment with your guess, kudos to whoever gets it right. I'm excited to do the next chapter.

I'm glad to see people like the switch away from canon, as I feel it definitely will help make the story more unique and fit things together better given my style and the nature of a crossover.

Also, total headcanon that Pyrrha is the mom friend, especially since this Jaune is such an unruly little shit.

And oh boy, it's been a while since best troll Bishop has showed up for a dream sequence. You didn't think he was gone, did you?