04/24/2000…

Two months ago Jaune almost died… He spent two weeks in a coma and when he came out of his coma, he had learned that his friends went through hell when he in that hospital bed. He now struggles to walk, requiring a cane, and that was just the latest in a series of events he would call "The tip of the heaping iceberg of bullshit he's gone through in the last two years of his life."

As Jaune walked into his hometowns small diner to meet up with a certain someone he mused over his life up to this point. He knew that even months later most of his friends were still struggling with the trauma they had all gone through in the last two months. He still couldn't wrap his head around the group therapy sessions he and his friends we also all still attending once a week. To him at least, they didn't seem to have been doing him much good.

As Jaune looked around the trying to find the person he was here to meet up with his eyes locked with the person he was looking for.

Jaune waved to Ms. Fall as he walked over to Join her.

"I'm glad you could come out to see me today Mr. Arc." Cinder said with a warm smile as he sat down "I called you out here so I'm going to buy you lunch to make it worth your time."

Jaune put a hand to his throat and asked "How… Can I help you?"

"Well first off, how are you personally holding up?" Cinder asked with a warm smile "We haven't had a one on one session since you woke back up."

Jaune nodded as he softly and slowly spoke "I guess… You have had a full plate after all."

Cinder smiled and said, "Well, it's not every day that you find yourself responsible to try and put an entire group of kids back together."

Jaune nodded in agreement as the server brought over menus and took their orders for coffee and a light lunch. After a few minutes later, now with drinks and sandwiches in hands, they were able to pick up right where they left off. Cinder looked at Jaune as he sipped his coffee and asked directly "So how is your love life these days."

Jaune almost choked on his drink as the words hit his ears after he had a small coughing fit he spoke out what would only be a shout "The hell kind of question is that Ms fall?" Before he paused for a second and turned red and said quieter "Hey, wait a second I'm even seventeen yet."

"I've heard rumors that didn't stop you in the past." Cinder said with a smirk.

Jaune blushed hard and shrank in his seat for a bit before responding "I-I don't know what you mean."

Cinder smirked and said, "Look, I'm not judging you here Mr. Arc, I don't intend on telling anyone about what I heard if anything in certain circumstances a casual encounter like that could be seen as a sign that you're mentally healthier than you were."

Jaune waved it off before he coughed into his arms from the strain of using his voice for as long as he has before saying "Throat... sore, please get to the point…"

"Rest your voice and let me speak then." Cinder said, "I'm not trying to make a pass as you, but the truth of the matter is, I don't think you realize how much the others are currently looking to you for guidance."

Jaune took a few sips of his coffee while looking confused.

"It's like this, I have noticed the relationships in your circle have begun to fall apart, particularly in the case of Ms. Branwen and her boyfriend. The only relationship that seems to be strengthening is Ren and Nora's but I suspect that's because they in times of hardships lean into each other harder than the others." Cinder declared.

Jaune softly said "What… does that have… to do with me?"

"Not to put too fine a point on things, you Mr. Arc have lived in a world separate from all of us for as long as any single one of us has known you." Ms. Fall stated. "Since the day I met you, you have been a soul that has lived through hardship, from your first girlfriend's suicide, your own suicide attempt, your relationship problems with Ms. Long. Your repeated injuries and now, most recently, your own near-death experience."

Jaune just shrugged, still not getting the point.

"I understand from talks with your mother and Mr. Ozpin that you emotionally struggled with the death of Pyrrha Nikos, it's clear you took her death, and later revelation of her own suicide attempt rather badly given your attempt ad taking your own life." Cinder said. "However, that experience along with your later experiences have, in a way, made you more mentally resistant to the trauma of the last few months."

"That... Doesn't seem healthy-sounding." Jaune softly rasped out, still tired from talking.

"Under most circumstances, no it's not, but it has been noticed by your friends that you're taking your near-death experiences about as hard as most people would take a comparatively minor incident like breaking a leg." Cinder said. "The reason you're handling this as well as you are is that you don't live in the same world we do. Your world is a hard one, a traumatic world, a painful world."

Jaune shook his head in disagreement. As cinder kept speaking. "Your breakup with Ms. Long was the worst experience of her life before Adam Taurus. Ms. Schnee's lowest point before losing her sister was finding herself staying in the home of people that arguably cared about her more than her own parents do."

Jaune shrugged and softly said, "So what? You taught me that it's not healthy to compare my pain with others."

"I'm not asking you to compare anything. What I'm saying is that in December of 1998, you stood on the edge of a cliff and was ready to jump. If someone didn't grab your hand to stop you well... My point is though is that now, all of your friends are, in their own way, staring down the same cliff you once stood." Cinder declared "They need someone to stop them from leaping. They need someone to help walk them back from it."

"Ruby walked me back from that cliff, that's why you're asking me about my love life…" Jaune said with a clear tone of physical discomfort in his voice.

"I know what I'm asking you is, frankly insane, but right now I'm worried they're going to divide themselves, splinter, try to rely on themselves, when they should really be trying lean on each other, and used their relationships as a way to have, frankly, a hand to hold to keep themselves standing." Cinder said.

Jaune shook its head and scribbled out on a notepad 'I'm zero for three for relationships.'

"I'm kinda aware of this Jaune I really am, and hell I'm single at 28 so I don't have a leg to stand on." Cinder said. "I'm not however suggesting you leap into a relationship with both feet, but given that your kind of the position your in to help me guide your friends in the right direction to get them healing and not stagnating, well I'm just saying going on a couple of casual dates with someone you enjoy being around would be healthy, not just for you, but for your friends to see."

Jaune wrote down on his notepad 'I really don't like this idea one bit, you're almost asking me to use someone to make myself happy, so I can by proxy make my friends happy.'

Cinder read the note and started laughing. "Jaune that's that's a great response, it really is." she said, smiling holding her coffee "I appreciate that you're not willing to try dating someone you're not serious with, a lot of guys your age would use what I'm saying as an excuse to go on a couple one night stands."

'I just don't think that's the kind of example I would want to set, a good chunk of my friends are in pretty stable relationships, hell I think the only two people that are single in my circle of friends anymore is Ruby and myself.' Jaune wrote out.

Cinder just stared at Jaune sipping her coffee.

"You can't be serious..." Jaune strained his voice to spit out. "Our relationship didn't end well…"

"Well look at the reasons you and her broke up. Ignoring her slip up with Winchester, you two broke up because you both wanted different things and you were still in mourning for the death of your first love." Cinder said.

Jaune wrote out 'yeah but why would it be different now?'

Cinder read the note and replied, "Because you're frankly not the same Jaune you were half a year ago, the reason I haven't had to do one on one sessions with you is that you don't need them anymore." Cinder paused to take a sip of her coffee "You lost that chip on your shoulder and you stopped trying to hide the full extent of your problems. You're no longer trying to pretend to be strong for other people."

Cinder dramatically reached over and poked Jaune in the chest "You, young man, have faked it till you made it."

'Yeah but I'm on two types of medication and I need a cane to walk, that's not strength Ms. Fall." Jaune wrote

"I disagree, you have the strength to admit to yourself and others that you need help, you're strong enough to not need to hide your weaknesses." Cinder added "I have seen too many people in my career waste their potential, or waste away as people because they couldn't say the magic words 'Help me'. They would have rather chosen to fail than admit their failings."

Jaune paused to let Cinder's words sink in. He knew, in a way, that she was right, six months ago he would have been content to try and deal with it all himself. He was content to keep quiet about the problems he and Ruby were having in their relationship. It literally took the "Cardin incident" to force him to see how unsustainable it was.

Cinder noted the time and spoke "Well I have an actual appointment to be at soon, so I'll leave our chat where it's at. Try to at least consider what I'm suggesting here. Like it or not, I don't think I can reach them all. I need your help here."

Jaune pondered his thoughts in between sips of coffee before he a moment later replied by writing out 'Alright, I don't want to see my friends hurting anymore, but I'm not going get back with Ruby just because my shrink said I should.'

"Just think it over, that's all I'm asking," Cinder said as she stood up to pay "Enjoy the rest of your coffee"

Jaune sipped his coffee feeling the burning heat of the drink soothe his raw feeling throat as he watched her leave.


An hour later Jaune was walking slowly through the town using his cane to walk as he made his way towards Ruby's place. They had agreed to meet up to play some video games a couple days ago and Jaune planned to stick with it.

Jaune just underestimated how long it would take to walk there, but it gave him time to weigh in on his thoughts. He had to admit he was still rather fond of Ruby, he couldn't deny this, he wasn't sure if he'd say he was in love with her though.

"I mean I didn't like her enough a few months ago to choose her over Penny" He mused "But at the same time, we had just barely got back to being friends, and Penny and I only lasted a couple months at best."

As Jaune continued to walk through his thoughts turned back towards some of the better moments in their relationship, their first kiss, that valentines day when just sat around reading and snuggling. Jaune kept thinking and he realized something.

"God I really missed how she felt when she was touching me, I don't know if I ever enjoyed the physical presence of anyone the way I enjoyed hers." a few seconds later however he had another thought "But at the same time, she didn't really respect my boundaries or ever let me take things at my own pace, but what if my pace was too damn slow? I mean hell realistically I went into our relationship at the worst point of my life, and I've changed a lot since then."

Jaune smiled and remembered the talk he and Blake had about her some time ago. the night before Adam attacked Blake had asked if Jaune had missed being with Ruby.

Jaune wouldn't have said it at the time because he was still with Penny, but now that they had officially broken up, he was willing to admit, saying out-loud to himself. "Yes… I did miss being with her…"

Jaune started getting close to her house, it was just down the road now and his heart was skipping in his chest as he thought "Dammit Ms. Fall, why did you have to go putting the idea in my head that I should get back with Ruby, things are fine with us as friends right now, why would I want to risk fucking that up?"

But then he thought about the day he came back to school, the feeling of her resting herself on him, that primal deeply buried urge to wrap himself around her and frankly claim her for himself was a powerful and growing urge he's found slowly building up in himself since he woke from the Coma.

He was finally here, standing at her front door. He reached over and pushed the doorbell to announce his arrival. It didn't take long before Ruby answered the door with a dopey grin on her face.

"Hey Jaune," Ruby said with a warm smile.

Jaune smiled back and gave her a hug which she quickly returned back.

[What was that for?] Ruby signed looking confused

[Just happy to see you is all.] Jaune replied back.

As Ruby let him in, Jaune took in the sight of her, her hair had been growing out steadily since her implant operations and was down to the middle of her back, she was wearing a loose modestly cut tank top and shorts that came up to just above her knees. Overall she was modestly dressed, not the type of outfit one would wear if they had planned on seducing someone or trying to entice someone. Jaune's head however was trying to calm him down while Cinder's words bounced around his head.

[Are you okay today? You seem off?] Ruby asked.

Jaune fought back a blush as he looked her in the eyes, it bothered him that he was getting used to the lack of happiness in her eyes.

"She's on the cliff, just like Ms. Fall said. It'd be moronic to try and rekindle things right now, that's not what she needs." He thought "Then again, I've been where she is, I know what she would need is patience and to allow her to set the pace she's comfortable with."

Ruby reached up and poke him in the nose [Dude your spacing out on me.]

Jaune said quietly "Sorry… I was thinking over something Ms. Fall asked me about."

Ruby took his hand and say him down in a chair in her living room as she dragged a chair over to sit directly in front of him. [What did you two talk about?] Ruby asked.

Jaune didn't want to disclose the entirety of the conversation, but so he chose to speak out loud, he had to admit seeing her eyes light up when he was able to talk like a normal person was something he enjoyed. He softly said "She…. is of the impression…. That I don't need… one on one sessions with her."

Ruby's eyes lit up as she listened to his voice. "Yeah, I mean you took what happened to you pretty well… disturbingly well honestly."

Jaune tilted his head in confusion.

"It… Kinda hurts to see how easy you can brush off the pain, brush off hurt, I don't think you're bottling it up like Weiss and Blake, it just rolled off of you." Ruby said.

"Ms. Fall…. Thinks… It's because I… Have already powered through…. So much shit…" Jaune softly rasped out.

Ruby nodded and looked down a bit. "Yeah, you have survived more than any of us."

Jaune tilted her head up to look him in the eyes and said "You helped me… through most of it."

Ruby blushed slightly as she struggled to maintain eye contact. "I… I was just a friend for most of it."

Jaune reached into his carrying back and took a quick swig of some pain medication for his throat that he rarely used but felt he needed his voice, he waited a few moments until he felt it kick in before he spoke as loudly and clearly as he could. "Ruby… I know you're hurting still, I know your still not sleeping great, and I know you don't think you can do this alone. You've said as much in our group sessions."

Ruby folded her arms around herself as she nodded "Yeah… I admit that sometimes I don't like where my thoughts go, I've been hitting some dark spots lately."

"I was in that same place," Jaune said back to her.

"How did you do it?" Ruby asked Jaune.

Jaune reached over and took both her hands into his and looked at her "I wasn't alone… you never let me be alone. From the day we met, I always had you."

Ruby sobbed a bit "I can't ask you to do the same for me, your body's a wreck, you lost weeks of your life protecting me and blake, you've been hurt more for me than anyone deserved to be." Ruby looked at Jaune "You don't owe me…"

"It's not about owing you Ruby…" Jaune replied before pausing for a moment to choose his words, "I… Want to do this because I love you."

Ruby looked down and sobbed "After as bad as I treated you… I broke your heart, I used you for my own happiness, I forced you to go too fast, you want to try again with me?"

Jaune smiled a warm smile at her and spoke through the pain of speaking "You're not the same Ruby you were back then. She wouldn't have hesitated, or questioned or even doubted if it was the right thing, she wouldn't have taken me into consideration at all." Jaune paused to rub his throat as Ruby watched with concern "I loved you then, but I love the girl you turned into more."

Ruby said, "I… I'm a real mess upstairs, I won't be the best girlfriend on earth to you."

"I know that I remember saying the same thing a year and a half ago," Jaune replied.

Ruby looked up at him with a look of a wavering resolve, she stared hard into his eyes for a moment, for something, a sign that this would be a mistake. When one didn't come she sobbed out in joy and threw her arms around his neck and pulled him into a desperate deep kiss that Jaune was more than ready to return by that point.

They had no idea how long they stayed entangled in each other kissing for, the world melted away at some point and it wasn't until they heard a whistle from nearby did they both pull away with a shocked look on their faces and looked at the source of the noise. Only to be faced by the grinning face of Ruby's mother looking at the pair of them.

Summer looked at the pair with and amuse grin on her face and just said to Jaune, "Nice to see you Jaune, I'll set a plate out for you and order pizza. Just let your mom know for me okay?"

Jaune rubbed his next and nodded before reaching for his cellphone to text his mother. When he looked at Ruby he was rewarded by something he had not seen in her eyes for a couple months.

A spark of life that had been missing from there, not nearly to where she was before that horrid night two months ago, but it was a start.

As Ruby looked at Jaune she almost gasped when she realized something that shocked her to her core as remembered the oath she made herself the previous summer when she stood before Pyrrha's Urn."His eyes look alive." she thought to herself as he stood up and pulled her to her feet.

The last thing Jaune thought as he left the room with Ruby wrapped around his arm like it she was worried it was going to vanish, was an amused "Well… I'll be damned, Ms. Fall… maybe this is what we really do both need."

As Jaune looked at Ruby who was now softly smiling he thought to himself "You, and everyone else dragged me back from the abyss. Now it's my turn to drag all of you back. I won't let any of you fall if I can bloody well help it!"


So here we are at the start of this stories last planed final arc, and at least two of the players have been set into motion, Honestly this chapter ended up quite a bit longer to hammer out as Jaune's talk with Cinder covered so much ground and recapped a lot of the past chapters that it kinda just, ballooned out on me. It was a lot of fun to write as well. I hope the two month time game didn't seem to long, but I wanted to get everyone more or less over their physical injuries before we moved on to the herculean task of help them all mentally recover.

Dragonlord, yeah I do plan on working in a small side arc about Jaune getting speech therapy, right now as demonstrated in this chapter he's still in a lot of pain talking casually for any serious amount of time. I rather enjoyed the idea of Jaune forcing himself to speak for Ruby though because of how much it makes her happy to see though.

Calamk, Yeah I still like his first words as well, I won't lie.

Guest, in my notes I call this the "Survivors arc" personally. but I like the "Healing arc" as well.

Beowulf, Yeah I hear you, we can only hope that all the chaos around us here in 2020 can only lead to better things, maybe this will be the kick in the ass we as a society needed, but who knows.

In any rate, Before I sign off for the day, I wanted to thank you all once again for reading, and have a great rest of your day, and hey if you happen to be on ship 3 in PSO2, feel free to say hi if you see a Bearded human named "Akito" running around.