09/25/1999….

To his left, the novice Gray Mage Ren was preparing to cast a fire spell. To his right, The Beastsaster Penny was standing beside her noble Honey Badger. Somewhere out of sight the pickpocket Blake was no doubt waiting for her chance to drive her dagger into the spine of an unsuspecting bandit.

Then was the Dark Knight Himself, Jaune stood front and center clad in black chain mail wielding a mighty two-handed sword. As he faced down the bandits in front of him shouting "Stand down or my blade will drink deep of your blood this day!"

In the real world, Nora poked her head over the Gamemaster screen saying "Really, is that what you're going with?"

The group of Jaune, Ren, Nora, Blake and of course Penny, were all sitting quietly around a table at the local library. If it wasn't for the fact that Jaune was now allowing himself to think about Ruby, he'd remember this was the very table they sat at the very first time they hung out.

[Well yeah, I'm hoping the fearsome reputation of my class alone might intimidate them slightly] Jaune signed.

"Alright, roll to see if the bandits are intimidated into surrendering," Nora asked as Jaune picked up a handful of ten-sided dice to roll.

[It's been a while, so it's roll my stat in dice, keep the highest die unless it's a ten, in which case keep rerolling it till it stops rolling a ten and add the total all together, and add my skill to it?] Jaune signed out to Nora with a free hand.

"Yeap, show me what you got mister three social" Nora said with a smile.

Jaune did not exactly roll stellar...

"Yeah that's a three Jaune, I'm pretty sure if you managed to roll a one we'd all have to roll our will checks to keep from laughing" Ren added.

Penny giggled from her seat "So that means we roll initiative now right? Since Jaune couldn't intimidate a kitten?"

Jaune looked indignant but he couldn't deny that she was right in this case.

"You got it guys, roll initiative and join the battle." Nora said as she picked up dice to roll for the bandits.

"You do not scare us, Dark Knight, we outnumber you three to one. We will spill your blood and your coin and gear will pay for our whores and ale tonight!" The bandit leader said drawing out a long sword.

"So I stab the leader in the back, I've concealed already so I should be able to get up right behind him, right?" Blake said picking up a surprising number of dice.

"Are you sure that's the right number of dice?" Ren asked looking baffled "8 seems like a lot for our level"

"I didn't spend the last week studying the rules to not know how to get the most out of my rogue. Most of everything about my character revolves around my Sense and Body stats so it seemed better to focus on them." Blake said shaking her dice.

"Did you add the bonus for the fact your backstabbing him and flanking him?" Nora asked. "You have a talent that adds three dice to your concealed attack roll and a second that adds two when your backstabbing specifically."

"I almost forgot, oh and thanks for talking me into rolling a Faunus so I can take the 'Discriminated species' background for the extra stat points as well," Blake said as she picked up 5 more dice.

Ren and Jaune looked at each other and then back at Blake as she dropped the pile of dice on the table, re-rolled the three dice that came up as "ten" one of them rolled ten twice before Blake declared "Okay so that's a 26"

"The bandit leader was laughing like a mad man before he was suddenly silenced as the cat-eared rogue slipped out of the shadow and drove both daggers into the bandit leaders sides. The bandit leader was dead before he hit the floor.

The Mage Then turned and projected a massive gout of fire at one of the bandits setting him on fire and caused the bandit to fall down screaming.

Finally, the Dark Knight closed the gap and swung his heavy blade down at a bandit!

Jaune dropped his 5 dice for his strike declaring he was using his "Nightmare edge" ability to enable to reroll dice on an eight and above instead of a ten, it hurt him slightly to do so, but the results were apparent.

"Okay Jaune, they changed it so when you do rerolls when you crit on a 'less than ten' roll, the die still counts as a full ten" Nora reminded him.

[Oh that makes the math so much easier.] Jaune said as he counted up the roll in his head [I got a 32]

One half of the bandit landed a couple feet from where its legs hit the ground. The Dark Knight, only slightly drained from the use of his power declared as faint wisps of dark power emanate from his blade "You should have surrendered when you had the bloody chance!"

"See that sounded better," Nora said "Helps that you're backing it up with action," Nora said with a gentle hand before she said, "so the bandits are up, we have a few of them still standing of course."

A few moments of rolling later, Nora then described the bandit's actions...

The surviving bandits rallied and lashed out in mass, Blake was able to pull back and evade most of the strikes the bandits were throwing at her, but a few of the untrained bandits managed to leave some shallow cuts on her. The Dark knight covered for the Mage and too several deep injuries in the process, but the pain only fueled his dark power and would serve to empower him. Few bandits dared to brave the Beastmaster and her fearsome companion.

The beastmaster then ordered her Pet to attack…

[I know I'm not familiar with your class, but what the hell is a badger going to do here?"] Jaune signed as Nora translated for him.

"It's gods damn best," Penny said as she rolled the badgers attack with so many dice she struggled to hold them all in her hands.

The sight of the trained honey badger ripping apart one of the bandits was enough to send the rest into a panic as they all began to fall back in a disorganized rout as one shouted "My gods, it's a freaking War Badger, I thought those things were outlawed."

"Only in the use of war, but clearing out some bandits from a cave like this hardly counts!" Penny shouted back standing confident "Feast my pet, feast!"

[Slow up, a fucking Honey Badger is doing this? The hell is this thing, it sounded all cute, like a teddy bear or something!] Jaune signed

"You have got to start paying more attention in earth science class Jaune" Ren said shaking his head.

"Okay the Honey Badger does have the 'terrifying brutality' rule, so roll an intimidation check with its body stat instead of a social check." Nora said as she watched Penny roll after she counts with penny she declares "Oh yeah they panic and throw down their weapons in surrender"

"Well, I'd count that as a win, what say you Jaune?" Blake said with a chuckle

Jaune looked dumbfounded for a moment before he signed [Well remind me not to piss Penny off, good job everyone, let's round them up and get the bounty from the local lord.]

Penny smiled and put a hand on Jaune's shoulder "Seriously though, look up honey badgers later, they're freaking awesome!"

Jaune smiled as he checked the time and signed out [Hey isn't it about time for a food break Nora?]

"Oh crap yeah, let's pack up and head for the waffle house down the road, okay?" Nora said as they all made haste and started moving.

As Ren, Nora and Penny started walking, Jaune stopped and scooped up his dice bag, a simple, he was told, a purple bag that was originally from a liquor bottle company. Jaune smiled at the bag in his and thought to himself "Once again,. Your dice saved my ass Pyrrha." as he slid the dice bag carefully into his coat pocket.


The Waffle House was only a few minutes walking from the library. Jaune and his entourage all filed in being called by Nature's most primal needs, that being hunger. Also being that they lived in a small town of fewer than two thousand people. It was of little to no surprise to him when as he looked around and saw Yang out on a date with Neptune.

She had apparently noticed him come in with his crew first and was shooting daggers at him the entire time the looked at each other. He opted to ignore her and turned to the others only to catch Ren signing [It's She-bitch of the Dark Covenant on your five o'clock]

[I noticed, treat her like a T-rex no eye contact and no sudden movements and we might get out of this unscathed.] Jaune signed back.

[Yeah she's walking this way, do we just want to eat somewhere else?] Nora signed to Jaune looking over his shoulder.

Jaune's eyes went wide as he started to sign [Wait she's what?] only making it halfway through the sentence before he felt a hand on his shoulder and someone spin him around to face them. Yang was in his face shouting "You have a lot of nerve to show up here Arc!"

Jaune didn't immediately respond to her and held an arm out to block his friends from intervening on his behalf. Ren and Nora looked like they wanted to jump in on his behalf as Penny recoiled and hid behind Jaune. Blake stood back as she still considered Yang to be a friend as well.

Jaune finger signed out to the group [My problem, find us a table.] before turning his attention to Yang and sarcastically signed out [Yes, I have a lot of nerve, going out with my friends for lunch at a public restaurant. Show some fucking restraint before you get the cops called on all of us.]

Yang had not realized how tightly she was grabbing onto Jaune's shirt and let go before taking a step back. "I'm standing by my point, you and your, circle of dorks here is not welcome in this place."

[Unless your mother runs the place or you can present a restraining order against our dork circle, then get back to your damn table] Jaune signed out.

"You know you were never good enough for her," Yang said with a slight hint of smugness

[You know what? You've been riding my dick about this more than your sister was riding my actual dick. Yes, I made a mistake, what was it, fucking nine months ago? I find it hard to believe that you are still caught up on it!] Jaune signed out a growing frustration. [All of us found a way to move past it, you should too]

"How fucking dare you talk about my sister like that!" Yang said gritting her teeth.

[Why? Because I let her dictate our entire relationship even when I wasn't ready?] Jaune signed out in clear [She's the one that ended up cheating on me remember? Or is that warped brain of yours somehow putting that on me still?]

"Maybe if you were worth her time, she wouldn't have been tempted to stray?" Yang said raising her voice.

[Well she sure did learn from the best in that field then didn't she?] Jaune signed out his hands shaking in a barely contained rage.

Yang was taken aback by what Jaune said. "What the hell is that supposed to mean, that she took after Summer?"

[As much as I respect him, I'm talking about your father. Or does he get a free pass for being family as well?] Jaune signed out as he took a step towards her [You think your mother is giving Ruby the same free pass as you are?]

That's when Yang punched Jaune in the face causing him to stumble back into the wall.

An uncomfortable silence filled the thankfully mostly empty restaurant as Neptune was watching Yang and Jaune. Jaune's only reaction was to wipe his mouth to make sure he wasn't bleeding from it. Yang to her credit looked shocked at what she had just done herself.

"Jaune I…" Yang tried to say

Jaune just raised a hand shut her up. Before he signed to Ren and Nora [This place ain't working out, let's go somewhere else.] before he looked at Yang with a look of pure hate on his face [This bitch clearly wants it more than we do.]

As Jaune walked away from yang with the trio of friends Yang called out "Jaune wait…"

Ren turned around and shouted "Have you not done enough already? Jesus, I get he was in love with your sister, but I don't know why else he'd put up with you!"

Jaune put a hand on Ren's shoulder and signed [Dude, I don't need a defense force, I can fight my own battles.]

"I'm just trying to-" Ren started to say before he saw Jaune hold up a hand and wipe a small amount of blood off of his nose

[I get what you're trying to do, but breaking up with Ruby was my choice, and I can handle the fallout.] He signed out. [Let's go, we'll just split a pizza at the pizza place the next block over.]

With that, the four left as Neptune walked up with carryout bags "Well I guess we can't come back to this place a while."

"I'm sorry I… I don't know what happened Nep," Yang said as she walked out barely fighting back tears by Neptune.

"Sounds like you just got your worldview challenged, But I was only able to understand your half of the conversation.

"That bastard, he had the audacity to compare his situation to Summer's, and compared Ruby to my father," Yang barked out. "Where does that bastard get off making a comment like that?"

Neptune bit his tongue trying to avoid making the comment he was thinking about in his head.

"Okay, fine, I know that look, what did you want to say about it?" Yang said forcing herself to calm down.

"It's just that he may have a bit of a point, I mean your dad cheated on your mom right?" Neptune asked slightly wincing as he said it.

"Yeah I know I know, your going to say that what Ruby did was technically was the same thing as what my dad did to my mom right?" Yang said with a long sigh in her voice.

"Well yeah, and I think if that's the case… well." Neptune said with a growing confidence

"My father was seduced away by the harlot. Not to mention that she only managed to rope my father in by baby trapping him. That's very different than what happened to my sister." Yang declared.

"Only in the context of the scale of what happened. Did Cardin not seduce your sister away from Jaune?" Neptune asked her directly.

"I said it's different, Summer was a childhood girlfriend of my dads. Meanwhile, Jaune is a basket case of mental issues who got my sister hurt when she stopped him from killing himself. " Yang said folding her arms across her chest.

"Yeah, and look how far he came after that?" Neptune said. "You're also intentionally ignoring the fact that Ruby was saved by Jaune that one time."

Yang sighs out "Yeah I know that believe me I do, but If Jaune could break up with my sister despite what she did for him, I'm allowed to ignore what he did for her."

Neptune sighed as he handed her bag "I love you, but your hopeless Yang." As he walked past her.


While Jaune was having a confrontation with Yang, Ruby was on the cusp of her own encounter elsewhere in town, She had ventured out alone to get some clothes shopping done as the local second-hand store, while her family did have the money for clothes, she often found it to be less of a hassle for her to just walk to the local second-hand store for clothes than to pester one of her parents to drive her out to the city to go to the Mall for clothes.

As she was looking over what she considered a lovely bright red hooded sweater and a matching skirt that would work with a pair of leggings, she noticed someone familiar out of the corner of her eye. Looking through clothes as well as Weiss Schnee and Mina Arc.

Ruby maintained a safe distance away from the pair as they talked. Mina held up a small black onesie with a pumpkin on it saying "Oh this one's cute right?"

"Aw, that's so cute! Yeah, the baby is going to look adorable in it!" Weiss said excitedly as she was looking at clothes her own size.

"Hey if you see anything nice you let me know and I'll put it on my tab okay?" Mina said with a smile as she happened to glance overseeing Ruby.

Ruby recoiled a bit as Mina waved at her before speaking "Hello Ms. Long, it's been a while."

Ruby felt her stomach tie up into knots at the idea of speaking to the woman whom she has less than a month ago almost considered her a second mother filled Ruby with an uncomfortable dread.

She still managed to sign out a quick [Hi Ms Arc, it's good to see you.] before glancing at Weiss who was shooting daggers [It's good to see you too Weiss]

"It's not mutual," Weiss said bitterly.

"Hush Weiss, this town's too small for grudges," Mina said smiling "How are you doing Ruby, are you holding up okay?"

[I guess I'm doing okay, Am I allowed to ask about Jaune?] Ruby signed to Mina

"You lost that right when you decided that your time was better spent making out and flirting with Cardin Winchester" Weiss growled

"No she didn't Weiss, I'm still friends with both her father and her next-door neighbor despite all of our kid's drama" Mina said to Weiss before turning to Ruby "The truth be told though, he's obviously hurting and confused right now, he's a lot better now than when it all first went down, but I still don't know if he's going to be willing to reach out and talk. Someone might need to take the initiative on the issue."

"The hell she does, Ms. Arc are we forgetting she cheated on your son?" Weiss asked.

"It sounds to me like the worst she did was not tell this Cardin kid 'No' Hard enough," Mina said while looking through some more of the baby clothes. "Also I'm not claiming to speak for my son, I'm only speaking my mind as his mother."

[Look, I don't know how many times I have to apologize for what happened, I know I screwed it up with Jaune, I just don't want to cause our group to completely fall apart.] Ruby signed [I mean look at us, we don't even sit at the same table anymore but just before the school year we were all inseparable. Everyone seems to be so damn obsessed over something that should really only be between Jaune and I.]

"Well you don't have to see him every day, I do, that's why I'm involved," Weiss said folding her arms around her chest.

"How are your leg braces holding up?" Mina asked with a slight smirk.

Weiss looked like she was about to answer but quickly went silent.

"My point is Weiss, is while I strongly disagree with how Ruby handled the Cardin situation," Mina said looking at Ruby which caused her to cringe in shame. Before looking at Weiss putting a hand on her shoulder "You all are friends because of all the various things that all of you did for each other. I'm not going to suggest that Ruby and Jaune get back together or anything. I just think all of you need to sit down and think of what you all have done for each other up to this point."

Weiss took a long, hard long look deep inside of herself before she spoke up. "Okay, I see your point and yeah it's true Ruby and Jaune both have been there for me ever since my first day back from almost losing my legs."

Ruby tentatively stepped over to Weiss and tapped her on her shoulder signing when she Weiss looked at her [I really am sorry. I haven't been able to really sleep since it happened]

"I'm not the one you need to apologize to Ruby," Weiss said barely making eye contact. "If Jaune accepts your apology, I'll make sure the others do as well."

[And if he doesn't accept?] Ruby signs looking stressed

"Then there's nothing else to say about it," Weiss said. "I just simply won't forgive you either." Weiss then looked at Mina "Is that fair?"

"Well, I guess," Mina said getting mildly flustered.

Ruby shook her head and signed [Well I had better cash out and see how I'm doing to fix the mess I created then] as she started making her way towards the cash register. She now had a goal in mind to right the wrongs she caused.

She, however, had no idea how hard that goal was going to be now.


Hey everyone, another week is here and with it another chapter. This chapter may come off as disjointed despite my best efforts. Writing this week has had several distractions and normally it would only take a day or two to write a first draft up, but this one took close to three to get anything done with. Even though this chapter should have been part of the larger "fractures" arc I'm writing for this story, I kinda decided to now make it part of the Fractures storyline in title since a good chunk of it revolved around Jaune's "Dork squad" of Tabletop players. I have to say it was fun to write this chapter just from a past GM's perspective but I digress because this is not a gaming fic persay.

That being said, the die mechanics described, with some writer bullshitery was at least mostly cribbed from an actual tabletop RPG called "Double Cross". I could have easily cribbed something more mainstream like Advanced Dungeons and Dragons or the third edition of of Dungeons and dragons which is still about 4 years away in real life, I decided that a game that was kinda sorta Final Fantasy with the numbers filed off would be best served with the mechanics from a Japanese Tabletop RPG.

So just a little bit of Behind the scenes trivia for those of you who bother to read my post chapter ramblings.

So I wanted to say thanks to everyone once again that took the time out of their no doubt busy days to drop a review, it always has and still means alot to me to see what people have to say about a chapter and make whatever tweaks I need to the story to help it along. I've seen many of your names since the very beginning of the fic and it puts a smile on my face to keep seeing them pop up from time to time. Also want to say hi to the surprising number of you that commented after the last "Fan Fiction friday post" on the Rwby subreddit. I do have some big things coming down the pipe with this story in particular and I can't wait for you all to see it when it happens.

Well as always I just want to say, thanks again for reading, and I hope I'll see you all next time.