09/14/1999….
The following day, Jaune, Ruby, and all of their mutual friends had arrived at school, by this point had all in some form or fashion learned about the break up of Jaune and Ruby.
Ruby Sat at the table, largely desolate with just her sister and Neptune to talk to, not completely abnormal for this time of day.
"I wonder if anyone's going to show up?" Yang wondered out loud
"Hm, Maybe, I guess the others are going to have to take a side as to who they want to support through the breakup" Neptune added as he sipped his coffee and flipped through a sports magazine.
Ruby just sat there looking somewhat defeated. She knew that this crisis her group was going through was her fault and she didn't quite know how to fix things. [Do you all think I should apologize when he gets here? Maybe hands and knees beg?]
[What in the fu-] Yang started to say [Hell no, let him learn the error of his ways and make him beg for you back Ruby, your more valuable than him any day of the week.]
Neptune chuckled and added since Yang was also speaking out loud for his sake."As much as I appreciate Yang beating the war drums for you like this" He said catching a slight glare "I'd at least consider trying to make peace with Jaune."
Ruby looked like she was pondering what Neptune and Yang sad as Yang looked over at her boyfriend and said: "You're on crack Neptune, my sister doesn't owe that boy shit."
Neptune, almost to hammer the point home counted off on his fingers as he spoke. "Okay, well first off, both of them are alive only because of the actions of the other. Second, let's also add the part where, as the only two students who primarily communicate nonverbally they kinda need each other since it's murder for most people to actually learn sign language." Neptune shook his head "I honestly have no idea how all of you are picking it up as fast as you all are. It's kicking my ass as it stands."
"Long hours of practice and hard work," Yang added.
"Fair enough." Neptune said "But third, and I think this is the most important, Jaune was kinda wronged here. I think I can say truthfully I'd have kicked your ass to the curb to if I saw what he did."
Yang grimace "Yeah well, unlike that son of a bitch, you actually add something to the relationship. Your also not fucked up six ways from Sunday like he is."
Neptune clearly wasn't getting nearly as emotional about it as Yang was. Neptune, in an effort to pull Yang back from the Warpath, said. "Okay I agree the guy is a bit messed up in the head, but look at it from where he's standing, his last girlfriend killed herself over him moving across the state." Neptune shrugged "Shit if that was you I think I'd break a bit as well."
Ruby finally seeing a point to jump in added [It's quite a bit more complicated than that Neptune. She had become dangerously dependent on Jaune for her happiness as her home life was in shambles.]
"That's just getting to my point, there are absolutely zero reasons for Ruby to even have to worry about any of this. That never should have been her problem." Yang said chiding her Boyfriend.
Neptune looked over at Ruby "Yeah that was your decision to make not your sisters right Ruby?"
Ruby glanced between the two, thankful for Neptune's naturally calming nature on her sister. And spoke out "Yes"
Yang sighed and signed out with one hand to her sister looking utterly defeated [Traitor…]
Ruby faintly giggled at Yang before signing back [Sorry, he's right though, Jaune was my mistake to make.]
The trio was surprised when saw a bag being set roughly on the table and Nora sat down at the table as well "Hey Nerds, what's up?"
"I'm surprised to see you here Nora, I'd thought that you'd be off with Jaune or your own boyfriend," Yang said.
"Jaune and Ren are off doing whatever the hell those two do when they need to blow off steam," Nora said with a grin. "Trust me it's for the best, Jaune has been rocking a resting bitch face all morning."
"That's a rather cold way to talk about your friend isn't it?" Neptune asked Nora.
"Well he's still my friend but that won't change that he's kinda being a moody little dork right now," Nora said as she kicks her feet up on the table. "But I digress, I just wanted to give you a heads up to try and give him a and the others a very wide berth right now."
[I don't understand what you're trying to say Nora.] Ruby signed.
"First off, stay away from Jaune, And definitely stay away from Weiss," Nora taping her chin as she talks. "Yeah, she's taking this whole thing way too personally. I don't even know what's up with all that."
"How about you cut the crap and tell us who Ruby shouldn't avoid?" Yang said with a clearly frustrated tone in her voice. I get that half of our 'so-called friends' are turning their backs on us over this."
Nora thought it over for a bit before answering "Well Blake seems to be trying to stay out of it, Penny doesn't seem to get what the fuss is about. Ren's safe as well." Nora smugly grinned "I mean it's not like Jaune didn't have an excuse in this case. I mean is Cardin as good of a kisser as he looks?"
"You're crossing a line here Nora! I get your old friends with Jaune, but don't start shit with my sister unless you want to be carried home in a body cast today!" Yang barked out turning more than a few heads in the cafeteria.
Everyone heard Ruby sigh out openly and look down at the table. Yang rubbed her back and signed quietly to her [Hey it's okay sis, They'll come back around once they realize that what you did was an innocent mistake, nothing more.]
Nora chimed in looking sympathetic "Well, you had an uphill battle, maybe whoever Number three will prove to be more up for the challenge."
Yang slammed her hand into the table "Excuse the fuck out of me!?"
Nora slid her feet off of my table "Well I'll take that as a sign that I'm no longer welcome at the table. I'll see myself out" As she started walking away she turned and signed back to Ruby [See you around Number two]
Ruby struggled to keep from breaking down again as Nora left as she thought. "Damm her, she can be a real bitch sometimes…"
Elsewhere in the school Ren, Weiss, Blake, and Penny were all sitting in a semi-circle near the school's Gym with Jaune, who was toweling off from working the hell out of a punching bag to vent some of his anger and was not watching Ren and Penny pour over a few gaming books.
"I'm sorry Blake, I know you want me to turn the other cheek but I can't. She cheated on him. Let's not mince words here." Weiss said to her girlfriend.
"I'm not saying you should, but try to not rip the girl a brand new asshole for it, I talked to her, she seems pretty torn up over it," Blake said to her girlfriend with a wavering voice. "Besides it sounds like Cardin kinda forced a kiss on her and caught her off guard by his own admission."
"I'm sorry, that sounds a lot like your trying to defend her Blake," Weiss said with increasing agitated tone in her voice.
"Slow down Weiss, I'm not trying to defend what happened, I just don't want you to go out and lynch Ruby over it," Blake said.
"Well, maybe a lynching it's what she deserves Blake, what she did was a violation of Jaunes trust plain and simple!" Weiss said as she started to catch the attention of the other people in the conversation.
While Blake and Weiss were having their heated discussion over the issue, Jaune, Penny, and Ren were now all sitting on the floor with dice laid out around them and thumbing through books making characters for the Dungeon Fantasy game that Nora was planning on running.
Penny looked over at Jaune with an innocent smile, not quite understanding what Blake and Weiss were going on about asking "Hey are they talking about you breaking up with your girlfriend?"
Ren nodded and answered as Jaune didn't seem to be interested in the topic at the moment "Yeah it sure looks like it."
Penny seemed to need to think about it for a few moments. "Ah okay, Are you okay though Jaune?"
Jaune just turned and smiled at Penny before reaching over and patting her head.
"Looks like he'll be okay Penny lets focus on your character okay?" Ren said smiling
Jaune glanced over as Weiss threw her arms up in frustration shouting "Look, all I'm saying Blake, is I'll try to be civil. But I'm not a civil minded person when it comes to crap like this."
Blake retorted "It's none of our business, we need to stay the hell out of it and let Jaune and Ruby deal with it however they want to."
Weiss had enough and pulled herself back to her feet to leave "I'm done with this, I'm not going to be chided by you for wanting to have my friend's back."
"Ruby was your friend to you know…" Blake said quietly not making eye contact with Weiss.
"Yeah well, I don't like people who stab people in the back," Weiss said as she left.
Blake just sighed out and move to sit down next to Jaune and the others silently while Ren worked with an increasingly flustered Penny as she made her character.
Jaune finally decided to add to the conversation signing out [If you want, I can talk to her later.] to Blake.
"God please do, I don't think she's going to listen to me about this." Blake begged, "I mean I know that you're not doing great right now, but if you can get her off the warpath I'd appreciate it right now."
Jaune nodded and added [Yeah, well even if I overreacted when I broke up with Ruby I can't change what happened.] Jaune reached over and picked up a couple dice tossing them up and catching them in one hand before he hand-signed out [All I can do is find a way to keep my mind off of it for now.]
Blake glanced over at Penny and Ren as they quietly worked on characters, Penny was back to her routine of rapid-fire talking about mechanics and ideas while Ren quietly smiled and nodded.
"She sure is something, it's just a shame she joined our group at the worst time possible right?" Blake asked Jaune.
[It's alright I guess. I mean she has been a breath of fresh air in all of this.] Jaune signed back.
"I guess it must be considering what you're living with right now," Blake said.
Jaune's face wasn't a smile, but it wasn't one contorted in anger, it was just kind of blank looking at the moment. After thinking about it for a second he signed out [Being mute does have it's advantages sometimes I'll admit Blake.]
Blake's heart sank a bit as she spoke: "Is there honestly anything I can do to help?"
[Keep the others wrangled in the best we can, I don't want anyone ragging on Ruby more than she deserves right now.] Jaune signed out with one hand as he idly rolled the dice in his other hand around. [Pretty sure Nora would let you jump in as a fourth player if you really wanted to.]
Blake chuckled "I don't know, never really saw the appeal of those type of games myself."
[Well sometimes all we need is to check out of reality for a few hours a week and slay a dragon right?] Jaune signed with a silent chuckle.
Blake smiled and said "Okay fine, show me how to do this." before pulling out a pencil from her backpack.
Ren who was listening in to the conversation slid over a character sheet and a few spare dice as he said: "First off, roll four of these on a scrap paper and order them on these stat boxes as Jaune tells you about the classes okay?" Ren then paused.
Blake sat down next to Jaune and listened as he explained the classes in a general detail, He was, of course, going with a "Dark Knight", Ren was going as a "Gray Mage" to cover magic and healing, and Penny was going with a "Beastmaster" which she would have spoken Blakes ear off about if Ren didn't keep her focused on making her character.
They were only able to get a few more minutes into it before the bell rang and they all had to split off to class. Ren and Blake were headed in the same direction away from Penny and Jaune. As she watched Penny and Jaune step off Ren glanced over at the pair and muttered something she didn't catch.
"I'm sorry what did you say Ren?" Blake asked tilting her head at him.
"Sorry, I was just thinking about something Nora said earlier, said that Penny girl was doing a lot of good for Jaune." Ren said, "I guess it's easy for Jaune to ignore what's going on when she's frankly assaulting you with her single-minded chatter about certain things."
"Do you not think that's a good thing Ren?" Blake asked ren as the pair walked together.
"Honestly, I think that's fine, I'm just worried that with Jaune and Ruby broken up that Nora is going to get a few bad ideas in her head for those two," Ren said with a sigh in his voice.
"What, do you think Nora's going to try to get Jaune and Penny together?" Blake chuckled out
"Nora has already been jokingly calling her 'Number 3'" Ren said with concern "So I think we might need to keep an eye on her."
Blake nodded as she walked "Yeah, Good call. We should keep an eye on her then."
Both made it to their classes without any further drama, at least for the morning.
So it's been a minute since I uploaded a chapter of anything, last week was super busy with my other projects not to mention having a group of friends repeatedly drag me off for sessions of God Eater 3, which is a great game that everyone should play. But you not here to read me ramble on about Games. I got other things to ramble about.
So on the 12th of October last year I uploaded the first chapter of my other fic Dust Eater and started my Fan fiction writing career with some gusto. It's amazing how time flew since then honestly, I started this story in March after just to mix it up and I tried a couple other idea's since then since my ADHD barely lets me focus on anything without forcing the issue mentally. So yeah, in case I don't manage to shake the writers block and get that Dust Eater update up, here's to a year writing for the Rwby fandom. I can honestly say I don't think I would have made it that far without commenters on here as well as the entirety of the FFC on the r/Rwby discord kicking me along and frankly motivating me to push on. So as always once again, thanks to everyone who's read either fic really for sticking it out with me through my efforts to maintain a regular update schedule as work ramps up in the later half of this year. You all are honestly the best.
As always, thanks for reading and i'll see you all next chapter.
