"This is it… your last change, you need to choose now, or life will make a choice for you…"


Ruby rushed to the hospital when she got the news. A nurse had been asked to call her if any major developments had come up. Once she had burst into the hospital room almost full sprint she was able to bear witness to the unfolding progress after all eyes were briefly on her.

The doctor, after composing himself from Ruby's forceful entry into the hospital room turns and faces Mina as Alan stood stoically behind her watching his wife speak with the doctor.

"Miss arc I have to be blunt, at this point, your son no longer needs the respirator, his body is more than capable of breathing on its own." The doctor said in as close to a sympathetic done as the clear tired-looking older man could muster.

"Then what is the problem, you didn't need to call my husband and I in to tell us that much," Mina replied back with a wavering voice.

The doctor looked off to the side briefly, as he tried to choose his next words carefully. "In the last thirteen days, your son has not shown any improvement or signs that he intends to wake up. He's not brain dead, but he's also not showing signs his brain is functioning at more than the most basic of levels, just enough to keep the lights on and the body working." the doctor signed as he looked at his comatose patient. "The Hospital wants your permission to remove the rest of his life support measures."

Ruby gasped off to the side in shock at the words she heard, the doctor was asking for his mother to give them permission to effectively kill her own son. It was little moments like these she cursed her hearing aids.

Alan looked at Ruby and gave her a sympathetic nod.

"So if I'm to understand you correctly, the hospital wants to write my son off? What happened? Did the Schnee's bounce a check?" Mina said with fire in her words.

"Ms. Arc. I'm sure the Schnee family would be glad to pay for your son's medical care until his body passed on from old age, but the reality of the situation is that odds of him waking up at this point are close to zero." the doctor said tersely. "We have the ability in your son's case to keep him alive for the rest of his body's life, maybe even beyond, but his body with atrophy and wither from not being used. It wouldn't be a life, it's us sustaining his biological functions"

Mina folded his arms "You're talking like I haven't been here before, that my son has not been here before!" she shouted.

"I know about your son's medical hist-" the doctor said before being cut off.

"My son was three years old, the last time he laid on a bed like this, he fought to live for over a month before he woke up again, no one gave up on him then, and I refuse to give up on my son now," Mina said.

"The circumstances back then were different, your son's medical records show that he had consistent signs of brain activity, flares, sparks, signs that gave the doctors then hope." The Doctor said. "We have no signs of that here."

Mina paused and clenched her fists in anger, it wasn't the first time she fought these doctors like this, but she knew in a way they were right.

The doctor noted this pause and added: "I'm not trying to be the villain here, and I'm not asking you to kill your son, as it stands right now, barring a miracle, your son was effectively murdered by the crazy kid that attacked him."

Ruby stood off in the back in stunned silence as she watched Mina's face and resolve crumble.

Mina herself looked at the bed at her son, not seeing the almost seventeen-year-old boy in the bed, but saw him as the three-year-old he once was so many long years ago as he clung to life after the accident that killed her first husband. Mina felt a reassuring hand on her shoulder as Alan put an arm around her.

"Your son is a fighter, he's been one for as long as I have known him Mina," Alan said. "Right now though he's not fighting."

Mina nodded as she wiped away tears, here she was making the one decision no parent should ever have to make, the decision that potentially could haunt her for the rest of her days.

The decision to let go…

As she looked at her son, Mina said with a cracking and wavering voice "I understand doctor… I give you my consent to remove my son's life support."

Off to the side, Ruby's tears were falling freely down her face.


Mina couldn't bear to stay with her son, Ruby found it understandable. Mina had just pulled the almost literal plug on her son, and while he wouldn't pass right away, he would likely pass on in a few days.

Ruby thought that Jaune almost looked normal laying in the hospital bed. With the feeding tube removed and the IV pulled out, his body would just eventually shut down and that would be it. The Doctors said he wouldn't even feel it as it happened.

That didn't stop Ruby from spending the entire day crying in the hospital bed in grief of what was going to happen to him. For five straight hours, until it was well past nine in the evening. Ruby was only snapped out of her grief-induced haze when she heard a voice call out to her.

"Hey, you should try and rest, you have school tomorrow," Yang said while signing in case Ruby's hearing aids were dead again. From the doorway with Penny standing next to her.

[I'm not going… Mom already called me out.] Ruby signed as she sobbed out.

Yang walked over and pulled her sister into a tight hug as she let out a sob as well. When she pulled away she signed out [I'm so sorry Ruby.]

[It's… It's not over yet, tell me how sorry you are when he's gone okay?] Ruby signed out

[Yeah, I hear you.] Yang signed back.

"I… I'm sorry as well Ruby, I know that you really did love him," Penny said as Yang interpreted for her.

Ruby waved it off and sobbed out a broken sounding "Oh stop, he's your boyfriend, I blew my chance with him already."

Penny's smile turned fake and the light went from her eyes "I… I guess so…" Penny stammered out. "I'm… Honestly, I'm here to say goodbye to you and your sister as well as Jaune…"

"Penny?" Yang questioned with a look of confusion "I don't understand, what do you mean your saying goodbye to us as well?"

Penny sobbed as she spoke "I'm sorry… I… My father… after what happened he made the decision to move the two of us away from town."

Ruby and Yang's minds clicked at the same time, Penny had been distant from the group since the attack, neither of them could figure out why. "Penny, why didn't you come and tell us all of this sooner?" Yang said.

"I… I didn't want to have everyone worry about me, all of us went through so much and I didn't want to add to it…" Penny continued to sob as she spoke

Ruby stepped over and pulled Penny into a hug holding her tightly to her as Yang spoke, "Hey it's okay Penny, I understand why you didn't want to tell us, especially with Blake and Weiss taking things as hard as they are…" Yang paused as her own hand shook while recalling her own experience "I guess we all had it kinda rough" she said as she shook her hand till the shakes stopped."

Ruby nodded in agreement as she tried to say with her own already flawed and wavering voice. "It wouldn't have been a burden on you, I think everyone would have wanted to give you support or to try and stay in touch, I have you on AIM still, I'll be there for you when you get dug into your new place."

Penny looked at Ruby and sobbed "I didn't deserve you as a friend, I stole your boyfriend from you…"

"I lost Jaune as a boyfriend perfectly fine on my own, you didn't have a part in that," Ruby said with a nod.

Penny stepped back and went over to Jaune's bed taking his hand. "To be honest with you all, dad wanted us to go days ago, he already lined up a couple family members of his we could stay with… he wanted to give me a chance to say goodbye to Jaune if he ever woke up…"

Penny shook her head and squeezed Jaune's hand before looking at Ruby "But I gave up hope a couple days ago… Ruby, you never stopped believing he'd wake up right?"

Yang patted Ruby on the back. "Well, she's a stubborn bitch when she wants to be yes."

Penny smiled through her tears and said: "I hope he wakes up, just for you Ruby."

Ruby smiled and blushed a bit and said awkwardly "do you want me to pass a message to him?"

Penny's smiled brightened a bit as she said "Tell him… I hope you two are happy together" before she turned and looked at Jaune and said. "You were the first boy I ever fell for… you set the bar kinda high." before she leaned over and kissed him on the cheek.

A few moments of silence passed between the Trio before Penny's head drooped "I have to go, my father will be here soon, then it's straight to New York where his sister lives."

"I hear they have one hell of a Zoo there, maybe it'll work out for you," Yang said.

Penny walked by giving them both hugs as she passed "Yeah… Maybe…" and exited the room for the last time leaving the sisters alone in silence.


A full hour of mostly silence later Yang turned to Ruby and asked [So what's your plan now?]

Ruby looked at Jaune as she signed [I guess that's up to him... First, he needs to decide if he's even going to wake up or not.]

[I'm not sure how much of a say he has here.] Yang signed back.

[Maybe…] Ruby signed back thinking as Penny's words bounced around her head. [I have a few things I do need to talk to him about when he does]

Yang found herself a comfortable seat as she kicked her feet up and reached into her bag tossing ruby a granola bar [I bet you missed dinner again.]

Ruby caught it and looked at it signing with her free hand [Yeah…]

As ruby sat down and started to nibble away at the small plain granola bar Yang brought her. Yang smiled in satisfaction and signed to her sister [That stubborn son of a bitch needs to hurry the hell up.]

Ruby almost choked for a second and hit her chest a couple times before she signed [Who Jaune?]

[Yeah.] Yang said with a smirk.

Ruby sighed and brushed the hair out of her face [He really does, the slacker.] as she leaned back in her seat.

Yang smiled [Well you should consider getting a shower while I'm here, I'll grab you if anything happens okay?] Yang shrugged [You don't want him to see you like this right?]

Ruby nodded and tilted her head in agreement [I'll be quick.]

[Take your time.] Yang replied.

Yang kicked back in her seat and relaxed while watching Jaune's vital monitors, she saw one set pulse regularly while the other set stayed mostly passive. "You need to-"


"-Make a choice now Jaune."

Jaune sat in the same field he had spent the last, well he didn't know how long he had been there. In the last couple hours, the skies started to dim and the ground began to tremble. A storm was almost here.

"I'm dying out there aren't I?" Jaune asked out loud.

"You are," said the small glasses wearing redhead that stood feet from him.

"I guess it was bound to happen eventually," Jaune said.

"You can't stay," Pyrrha said pointing at the large portal of light off in the distance. Both of them could see the cracks forming in it even now.

"You're out of time, soon the only way back to them will crumble and you'll be dead just like I am."

"Do you regret it? You know, Killing yourself?" Jaune asked.

"Yes, I regret it every day," Pyrrha said bitterly

"I still don't have the faintest idea if this is, what, purgatory, heaven, hell?" Jaune mused as he stood in place watching the portal.

"Or if it's all in your head, some kind of Coma dream," Pyrrha added. "Even if I told you the answer it wouldn't matter once you're gone."

"I won't remember this?" Jaune said, turning to look at Pyrrha.

"This isn't real, real is over there. Real is with them, your friends."

Jaune sighed "You know out there I take pills to keep from seeing you."

"Keep taking them, the past is dead." Pyrrha said, "Get out of here god damn you, it's not your time, you fight too damn hard for it to be and they're all going to need you."

"No rest for the wicked I guess," Jaune said, rubbing a hand through his hair.

"They'll need you to be something else, not a dark knight, maybe a paladin or something?" Pyrrha mussed as she tapped her chin

"How about I just be me for once," Jaune said.

Pyrrha smiled and said, "Yeah that should work." Before she said after a short pause, "Good luck, don't let me see you back here till your old"

Jaune smiled and nodded as he turned to walk off "I'll do what I can" As he turned to walk back towards the real world.

"It's going to be a real hell of an ordeal out there, you're going to have to fight harder than you have ever fought before!" Pyrrha shouted

"You're right, but everyone keeps telling me I'm a fighter, it'd be wrong to disappoint them now," Jaune said as he walked on.


Tuesday, February 22nd, 2000 around two in the morning.

It was the annoying beeps that he noticed first, his eyes opened, he didn't know where he was… His body was stiff like he had not moved in quite some time. The dull aches that shot through his body with ever small movement reminded him that he was alive. This throat was dry and his stomach growled at him.

Jaune felt something in his hand, his eyes looked down to see ruby sleeping with her head against the hospital bed as she gripped his hand. Jaune looked at her for a second, her hair was slightly longer than he remembered it being, and it was clear she had been there a while. It was clear she had been crying for some time before he woke up.

Jaune looked at her and said in a voice that barely went above a pained raspy whisper "Ruby…"


I've made off and on jokes to people on discord that I was planning on thinking the cast a bit more before the storyline's end, and most of them had some kind of worried "Oh god who is he killing this time"

I don't think anyone on there really guesses I was just going to have one of them move... Penny's story was more or less finished, she never managed to get an arc of her own, and that's fine not every character does, but she did serve to help advance several plotlines.

God damn if I didn't get weepy writing her last scene though. Also hey, Ended on a cliffhanger of sorts, because that's how I roll apparently. This was originally going to be split into two chapters but I couldn't make the first half, Mina's conversation long enough to make it work on its own, so I folded it into this chapter which was mostly Penny's exit. I like how it turned out.

I'm glad you liked the last chapter Beowolf, yeah Ren reaching out to the others was something he had yet to do in this story, Yang normalizing out was nice as well. Sapoman and Chinaluv, yeah they all needed some time with each other to talk out the hurt, it won't make it go away, but maybe now that someone is waking up, they can start working towards fixing each other.

Either way, it should be fun, I'll see you all next time, and thanks again for reading. Also shit, before I forget, we hit 100k views, go us!