05/04/2000…
The following Morning, Jaune arrived at school early with a singular goal in mind, Blake had told him where he was going to be able to find Sun Wukong, and it was well past time the two of them had a talk to clear the air between the two of them.
When Jaune finally found Sun the first thing he noticed was the fresh Black eye he was sporting, and the completely disheveled look on his face.
Sun took one look at Jaune and asked directly "What the fuck do you want?"
Jaune frowned at the sight of how frankly pathetic Sun looked and he said "I… I want to talk…"
Sun looked directly at Jaune, leaning on his Cane and struggling to speak and scoffed "Worry about your own shit and leave me be… While you're at it, tell Blake to fight her own battles"
"You owe me a new art book," Jaune struggled to get out "and.. And a Discman"
"Oh fuck you, you owe me new friends asshole!" Sun retorted.
Jaune found a comfortable spot to lean on the wall and said in a raspy tone of voice "Your friends were psycho's, killers, and in two cases rapists."
Sun gritted his teeth "I know that asshole, did you just come over here to point that out?"
Jaune coughed a bit before he spoke "No... I didn't... last time I checked... you didn't murder anyone... So why the hell are you still doing this?"
"Doing what exactly?" Sun asked As he glared at Jaune.
"Punishing yourself like this…" Jaune replied softly to conserve his already strained voice "As far as I know... the only thing you did was... kick my ass and have a shit taste in friends."
"You don't know shit! You really don't" Sun shouted as he stood up and got up and got in Jaune's face to shout. "You have no fucking idea what kind of person I am!"
Jaune refused to give Sun the satisfaction of looking intimidated and just quietly said "Then spell it out for me then."
"I've turned a blind eye to the shit that the others were doing for most of my life!" Sun shouted "Just because I wasn't doing those… horrid things… To Blake and other people, Adam's gang was going after didn't mean I ever tried to stop it!"
Jaune chose to keep silent to rest his voice while Sun kept speaking. "I also helped the others in fights, I helped kick your ass and so many other people's asses for that matter! Do you know how strong it makes you feel to kick the hell out of someone just for looking at your wrong?"
Jaune knew the feeling quite well, as he remembered the time last year he attacked Cardin. "I… understand that feeling…"
"Well, that was life for me as part of Adam's gang," Sun replied. "Shit I felt like I actually belonged there even if I didn't do a fraction of the shit the others did."
"Then… Why-" Jaune started to say before a coughing fit stopped him
"Why what? Why was I still part of his gang? Because Adam saw a kid like me getting the shit beat out of him had stepped the fuck up to protect me!" Sun Ranted "He had been my best friend since I was in first grade! He had my back when the world was kicking my ass"
Sun paced as he kept speaking "I didn't see it at first, how he was slipping by inches and how he was taking us with him! Neptune saw it, and he got out, but only after Sage and I kicked his ass for trying to sleep with Penny!" Sun stopped and paused "Shit Sage probably just wanted an excuse to kick someone's ass…"
"So… you're doing this to yourself because you were friends with those assholes?" Jaune struggled to get out.
"No dammit! No!" Sun shouted as he choked back tears "It's because I got them all killed or arrested! Because I had to choose between them and Penny and I chose Penny in a way that got them all fucking killed!"
It was Jaune's turn to get flabbergasted as he threw his arms out "Are you serious?" Jaune practically shouted before he put a hand to his throat "They made their choice to follow Adam's insane plan, Hell Adam broke out of Prison and rather than run and hide, came here to murder Blake and everyone she knew…"
Sun glared at Jaune as Jaune struggled with speaking "They made their choices, you made yours, all of you were given the choice to walk away from Adam, you're the only one who did…"
Sun clenched his fists as he felt a surge in his own self-loathing "You fucking idiot… I almost didn't though, I came very close to making the same choice Sage and Scarlet made!"
Jaune remained silent as he rubbed his now very sore throat allowing Sun to ramble more "You know I was in love with Penny right?"
Jaune could only shake his head no.
"Yeah I guess you wouldn't, I never told a soul about it…" Sun went back to pacing, "I didn't want to drag her into the shit, risk putting her in the same spot Blake was when she was with Adam…"
"So you kept your feelings to yourself…" Jaune said.
"Yeah…" Sun said tensing up. "I was going to shoot her…"
Jaune raised an eyebrow in surprise
"I went to her home… with a loaded revolver in my pocket, and I was going to shoot her in the head…. I told myself that if I didn't do it, Adam would have done worse to her." Sun added bitterly "People tell me how god damn brave I was to have done what I did… But I'm just another fucking coward…"
"No…" Jaune said
"No? What the fuck do mean no! I was ready to kill her goddammit!" Sun said. "I… I was too scared to pull the damn trigger…"
"Maybe, but you wouldn't have pulled the trigger on her," Jaune said holding his overly strained throat while speaking.
"How do you fucking know?" Sun said as his voice cracked.
"Because… Penny already told me about this last night…" Jaune said. "She doesn't like… that you are doing all of this to yourself…"
"It's what I deserve though, I've been a son of a bitch my whole life, my own parents even threw me to the curb when they realized what I almost did." Sun shouted as the tears started falling freely from his face "I deserve this damn you!"
"No.. Weiss lost a sister, I lost two weeks of my life, Yang's Uncle is looking at prison time… There are all victims… but you lost more than all of them." Jaune strained to get out.
"What are you fucking talking about?" Sun said as he slid down the wall clutching his head.
"Adam took your childhood, took your freedom, he took your friends, your parents, and almost made you take Penny from yourself…" Jaune struggled before pausing to cough "He took almost everything from you…"
Sun looked at Jaune with a look of pure confusion on his face "What the hell are you trying to say, and stop fucking spitting out those long sentences your barely able to talk…"
"You're just as much of a victim in this as we were…" Jaune said as he struggled to pull up a seat next to Sun "Penny might have helped you, but you made the choice to put the gun down."
Sun sobbed out in shame.
Jaune put a hand on Sun's shoulder "That was the first thing you ever took back from him…" Jaune said with a pause before he had to cough again "The right to choose…"
Sun looked down "I… Chose to not shoot... "
"Yeah…" Jaune said. "I had to learn once… how to ask for help…"
"Bullshit, you're not the type to ever need anyone to help you," Sun said.
Jaune shook his head and said, "Ruby has a scar on her wrist because of me, did you know what?"
"I don't exactly keep up with your circle…" Sun said.
"Two years ago…" Jaune paused, half to clear his throat with a cough, and have to push back old memories "I tried to kill myself in my kitchen…"
Sun blinked "Jesus…"
"She stopped me… I needed help then…" Jaune coughed out.
"You didn't know how to ask…" Sun said. "She got that scar stopping you is what you saying?"
Jaune nodded in silence
"Your saying I need to learn how to ask for help… that if I don't, I'll end up doing what you tried to do." Sun stammered and sobbed out
Jaune nodded sadly not making eye contact.
Sun sat in silence. He struggled with the weight of the horror he's allowed to be done to him since Adam's death. He even went back to every single moment he could remember where he didn't have the strength to fight his own battle. Every moment where he couldn't stand up to one of the others and stop some horrible thing they were doing. He reflected on all the times he wished he could just die feeling like a coward for not being willing to do it himself.
Sun shook quietly as the battle raged in his mind. Until he saw Penny's face in his mind, the moment when she looked at him as he held a gun to her head ready to shoot. He didn't realize it at the time. But she didn't look scared, it was like she knew that Sun wasn't going to pull that trigger.
"Let me help you," her voice said in his mind.
Sun sobbed out as the dam broke and muttered something Jaune couldn't make out. All Jaune could do was tap his ear to sign he didn't understand
"Fucking help me… I don't know how to escape this fucking hell I'm in…" Sun sobbed out grabbing on to Jaune's sleeve
Jaune struggled to his feet and held out a hand to Sun to help him up. Sun took his hand and pulled himself up to his feet before pulling Jaune into a Hug and cried out "I can't do this on my own! I never could! I've always needed someone else to carry me along!"
"I'm not a therapist…" Jaune whispered, "But I know a damn good one, let's go talk to her, I'll be with you and have your back."
Sun nodded and grabbed his stuff as he followed Jaune back towards the front of the school.
May 5th, 2000…
Ruby walked up to Jaune and Blake as they sat on a bench in the early morning hours before school was getting ready to start, Blake was sitting next to him drinking coffee as Jaune quietly yawned. Ruby smirked knowing something was going on but couldn't quite figure out what it was.
[Alright you two, what on earth are the pair of you doing?] Ruby said as she sat down on the bench with them.
Blake smiled "Actually I'm wondering that as well, I was asking Jaune how his talk with Sun went yesterday and he refused to tell me.
[All questions will be answered very soon, but I did need you here today.] Jaune signed out
[I'm going to regret this, but why, and what does this have to do with Sun.] Ruby signed out to the pair [all I know was Jaune couldn't speak at all yesterday so I know he overdid it… Again…]
Jaune waived it off and signed [I think even you'll be pleased with the Results Ruby…] Jaune signed
"Jaune… I don't know… I'll believe it when I see it…" Blake said.
Jaune pointed out into the crowd as she saw someone walking towards the school from a different direction.
Blake noted that Sun was looking cleaned up, he still had a fair share of bruises on him, but he didn't look like the filthy beaten down boy he had been up to that point. Blake could even swear he had some new clothes even.
[Huh… he cleaned up well…] Ruby signed.
Jaune nodded as he stood up [You don't have to come with us, I get your not ready to give him another chance, but Blake and I are…]
Blake looked confused as she hesitantly stood up as well and followed Jaune as he walked towards Sun.
Sun stopped as he saw the pair and looked around nervously for a few moments, someone bumped into him and apologized as they went by. Blake looked on as Jaune took a couple steps towards Sun and held a hand out to Sun.
She could only observe for a moment as Sun starred at Jaune's hand before he reached out to take it. Blake felt a smirk creep on her face as Sun and Jaune shook hands in front of the school.
"You sly bastard" Blake thought "You figured that if we made a big show of forgiving Sun, then Cardin's gang would have to back off of him, rather than lose face."
Blake walked up to Sun "Hey… It's uh… Been a while yeah?"
Sun's smile faded as he looked at everything but her "I… Yeah it had been…"
"Hey look at me Sun," Blake said.
Sun looked at her stammering "I… I know I never apologized for not doing more to help you and I-"
"It's in the past, you never treated me bad anyways Sun. We were all powerless against him until… we had the power." Blake said.
"I… Should have done more goddammit…" Sun said still not making eye contact for more than a few moments.
"Sun… As I said, it's in the past okay?" Blake said leaning so she could make eye contact. "I had help, and it looks like you're getting it now as well."
Sun nervously chuckled. "Uh yeah… I had a chat with Ms. Fall… and she and Mr. Ozpin set me up with someone they could trust to help me out till I'm on my feet."
"Oh really? Who do they have you staying with?" Blake asked
[It was short notice, Neo's ex disappeared weeks ago after he heard a rumor that the cops were finally done with his shit…] Jaune signed. [You're looking at my temporary new next-door neighbor.]
"Yeah… she had some clothes my size and well… At least I'm not sleeping on a couch anymore." Sun said before he paused "I was such a damn fool for so long…"
Blake smiled and said, "We all were at one point, some of us stopped being fools, some of us will never get the chance now…"
"I really am Sorry… for everything that I had the power to stop and failed to…" Sun said as he looked down.
Jaune slapped Sun on the shoulder and signed as Blake translated [Dude, let's go to the table before all the seats are taken, just maybe sit a few seats away from Weiss and Ruby until they come around okay?]
"Alright… thank you both…" Sun said softly.
"Hey, It'll be good to have another of my old friends back, it really does help to know you and Neptune are still around. It's nice to know some of the old group were decent people, you know?"
Sun smiled as he noticed Ruby had finally joined him and while she wasn't shooting daggers at him, there was a certain level of hesitation in her eyes.
"Yeah, I know I have an uphill battle, but with Ms. Fall's help, maybe I'll get to the point where I can say that I forgive myself and mean it…" Sun said.
"We both forgave you months ago, it's nice to see you joining us on this side of the fence Sun, but Jaune's right, let's get you introduced to the rest of the gang," Blake said as she started leading Sun into the school.
Blake and Sun walked off into the school with Blake doing most of the talking as Sun quietly listened. Ruby started at Jaune as the pair wandered into the school.
[How the hell did you pull that off?] Ruby asked Jaune.
[I guess I just told him what he needed to hear] Jaune signed back in return
Ruby tilted her head in confusion as she signed [Which was?]
Jaune just smiled and started walking towards the doors of the school without answering. Ruby sighed and followed Jaune in accepting that this was something he wanted to keep private…
"For now," Ruby thought to herself as she followed Jaune into the school.
Sun's Arc since he was introduced almost thirty chapters ago has been a hell of a ride, starting him off as little more than on of Adam's thugs to his current state has been one of the more surprising story Arc's to come out of this fic. I guess i'm just a sucker for redemption stogies.
Yeah I kinda agree with your comment Dragonlord, I guess I might have shifted the group back to a weird status quo, damn shame i'll probably end up screwing with it before too long.
Good to see you as well Beowulf, I hope your not entirely disappointed this chapter played out a little more differently than you thought it would, but here we are, we still got a lot of ground to cover after all still.
As for everyone else, I wanted to take the time as always to just say thanks again or reading, and I hope you all have a great day.
