06/08/2001…

Only crazy people go out for pre-dawn jogs, but that was exactly what Jaune, Yang, Neptune, and Sun were doing on this Monday morning. They had all agreed to do a two-mile jog before breakfast, take turns grabbing showers at Neptune's place, and then head off to school.

"School… one last week of it…" Jaune mused as he ran alongside the rest of his morning work out-group. Jaunes mood had grown somber in the last week or so as the growing realization that after graduation he honestly had no idea where his future was going to take him. He had received a letter back from the Art college he applied to a few days ago but had yet to open it.

"You good over there?" Jaune heard the voice of Sun say to him.

"Yeah sorry, I'm just thinking…" Jaune said.

"Yeah no kidding, it's hard to believe that by this time next week the four of us are going to be receiving diplomas," Yang said with a chuckle. "I mean how did we pull it off? You spent two weeks in a coma and I still can't stay awake in my math classes."

"Well someone was taking notes for you, and Jaune still had to go to summer school to pass AP Algebra," Neptune said with a wink towards Yang.

"Seriously though Jaune, Thinking isn't normally your thing, at least not for terribly long." Neptune asked, "You getting cold feet about graduating?"

Jaune sighed "Oh hell no, I'm looking forward to graduation, don't get me wrong…"

"So what's up then?" Yang asked.

"I'm just a little concerned about my plans going forward," Jaune said waving off his concerns. "I'm more concerned right now with how freaking hard you guys are pushing me this morning."

"You skipped a week, that's how," Neptune said. "I used to practice swimming every damn day to be ready for state competitions."

"Have you ever thought about going back into it? Swimming I mean." Sun asked

"I honestly have not," Neptune said "After almost getting taken out by Scarlet… I don't know suddenly competitive swimming didn't seem so damn important anymore"

Sun went silent for a couple of moments as if lost in thought himself.

"Hey, don't go down that road, Sun," Yang said. "If you didn't make the choice to go against Adam…"

"None of us would be here right now… I know that." Sun said.

"Besides, didn't you say you wanted to join the police department with us because you wanted to try and make up for things?" Yang Asked.

"Yeah, I did…" Sun said quietly.

Neptune reached over and pushed the sun forward a little "Then run your ass off! Were starting to fall behind"

Jaune groaned internally feeling his right leg start to flare up in pain from being pushed.

"You sir, don't need to push it, you're not trying to get into shape to join the police," Neptune asked.

"Hell Neptune we don't even really need to push right now, we still have a couple of years before we'll be able to join the academy." Yang started to say "Dad said we have to wait till we're twenty to join up"

"True, but we're not going to be super cops if we half-ass now," Neptune said.

Jaune chuckled, he felt a certain relief that at least a few of them had their collective acts together. That wasn't something he was quite ready to claim himself quite yet.

"Speaking of you Jaune." Yang started to Ask "Any idea if you're going to make it into that art college you applied for?"

Jaune was focused on pacing his own breath said in short bursts "I got the letter…" He paused to take a deeper breath "But I'm waiting for Ruby to get her last acceptance letter before I check it"

Neptune scoffed "I couldn't wait for that, I'd be wanting to know so I could start planing out stuff like where I'm going to stay, or where I would get a part-time job to put food on the table"

"More like a full-time job and Alan mentioned his old man had left him a house out in some area called Boney Lake I could use while I was in classes as long as I didn't mind doing some repairs on the place while I was there," Jaune said.

"Sounds like a pretty good deal actually," Sun said with a chuckle "You're also learning some useful skills in the process"

Jaune was silent for a few moments before he said "Yeah…" bitterly.

"Yeah? Yeah, what?" Yang asked.

"I don't know, I don't like the idea of me and Ruby going different directions like this. I'm honestly considering giving up the whole Art college thing." Jaune said.

"I don't mean to be rude, but do you have any other talents that could be turned into a career?" Neptune asked. "I mean Ruby is a freaking genius it turns out with designing things, she has a head for mechanics the likes of which none of us in our group can imagine."

"What Nep is trying to say, is that she's playing to her strengths, and so are you." Sun said, "I've seen some of your art, it's freaking amazing."

"Yeah I know that, and I want her to be able to pursue the opportunity to put her talents to good use you know?" Jaune said back.

Yang smiled and said, "You just don't want to give up my sister in the process."

Jaune bobbed his head side to side while thinking "I mean that's basically it."

"I wouldn't worry about it Jaune, Ruby's just not as comfortable with uprooting her whole life to chase her dreams as you are, that's the only reason she's looking closer to home," Neptune said with a chuckle.

"Besides just because you end up on different sides of the state doesn't mean much when you have a cell phone."

"Well I mean, yeah your right I guess, I just remember what happened last time someone I was with told me it'd only be a few years…: Jaune said bitterly.

Yang coughed out "You know Ruby's not like that right?"

"Well yeah of course…" Jaune said, "that doesn't make me any less scared of the idea of us drifting apart, or the idea that one of us might meet someone else."

"Hey, I'm rooting for you two…" Yang said with a warm smile on her sweat-covered face "but what will be will be you know?"

Jaune tried to find some comfort in her words.

Jaune walked hand in hand with Ruby at the mall a couple towns over later in the day. Because this was the last week before graduation and Jaune still couldn't shake off his fears of going in a different direction than Ruby, he wanted to try and spend as much time with her as he could.

While he still could.

[Are you okay?] Ruby signed at him with her free hand

[Of course, I am, are you okay?] Jaune signed back as they walked through the mall.

[Well Besides debating if I want to drag you into a lingerie shop to torture you while I look at new bra's…. No not really.] Ruby signed back

Jaune stopped in his tracks processing what she just said [I mean I'm perfectly fine going to a bra shop, but what's going on?] he replied

Ruby smiled as she let go of his hand and signed [I still don't have all my acceptance letters, and you need to know if you got accepted so you can start making arrangements out in Seattle.]

Jaune milled it over and signed back [It's okay, I got most of that taken care of on my end.]

Ruby sighed out [Right, I guess you know how to relocate in a hurry at this point…]

[Yeah…] Jaune signed back as he walked with Ruby [I mean at least this time I have a truck, so I can come back here for holiday breaks to see people…]

Ruby nodded and signed back out [You know what, that's true!] before she paused [I mean hell were not even talking about forever here right?]

Jaune snapped his fingers and pointed at her before signing [Exactly, even if we end up at different colleges, it's not like we're going to different states right? I mean how long is the program going to be for anyway?]

Ruby sighed and curled her lips as she signed [About… three of four years…] before she paused. [I mean… It's not like you're going to be out of my life forever right?]

Jaune sighed [I know it's not, but it sure feels like it is…]

Ruby stopped and smiled before she stepped in and kissed him [Trust me, I will personally bus out to Seattle to stab a bitch if they think they're going to steal my man.]

Jaune involuntarily laughed at that one before he signed out [I never thought I'd hear you say something like that.]

[Hey I know how those western Washington girls are, they see a tall strong boy from the sticks they go crazy.] Ruby signed back before pantomiming a stabbing motion and signing [In the ovaries, I will stab them in the ovaries.]

That had Jaune laughing even harder as he bent over chuckling and signed [Why am I laughing at this!]

Ruby chuckled as she walked along with Jaune before she stopped a few moments later and turned pale.

[What's up?] Jaune signed.

[Oh my god, I just made a stabbing joke… at you!] Ruby signed out in realization.

[I laughed, don't worry about it hon] Jaune said as he pulled her into a hug.

Ruby sighed and rested her head on his chest "I'm going to miss these…"

Jaune quietly whispered "Yeah…. Same here…"

A few moments passed before Jaune said "You know, It's not too late to look into the art programs around here, I might lose a quarter or two bu-"

"No…" Ruby said softly.

Jaune blinked reflexively in confusion before he asked "No?"

"I don't want to be the reason you give up on your dream." Ruby said, "I won't be the reason you waste your talents either."

Jaune sighed as he took a step back and signed [Dreams can change hon.]

Ruby shook her head and signed again [I know, but you've wanted this longer than you've known me, you've been building a talent your entire life that many would kill for.]

Jaune rubbed his neck not knowing what the hell he was supposed to say to that.

Ruby reached out and took Jaune's hand as she smiled at him before saying "It'll be okay."

"I just still remember what happened the last time someone said 'it'd only be a couple years'" Jaune said back

"So, that's what's wrong…" Ruby said, "Your scared of losing me."

"Yeah…. I am." Jaune said back.

Ruby leaned up and kissed him before she said "I'm not going to pretend I'm not scared as well, I mean for the first time in my life I'm going to go to a different school than my sister."

"You're not even going that far from home, the dorm at one of the colleges you applied for is barely a couple hours from here," Jaune said back.

"Hey you're only going across the state, that's what… a six-hour drive?" Ruby added. Even if we don't end up in the same place, that doesn't mean the end of us."

Jaune tried to smile in agreement, but he could quite get the words out. That he wanted to say. Either way, he still went home that night more afraid of what was to come than he started.

Well it's been a minute here, I'm sorry to say I didn't quite account for Christmas being as busy as it was, so I didn't get anywhere near as much writing done as I would have wanted to. So sorry about all that.

I also don't have a huge amount to say about this chapter. This chapter was mostly, like the prior chapter written to kind of show how far certain characters have come over the course of the story. (I'm also kind of of annoyed with how short this one ended up)

In any rate Dragonlord, it's good to see you, yeah I've been trying to make sure I look at how what I write would effect a large whole, and to not treat the characters as if they were in a bubble.

I agree ZH, I know I'm the guy writing this so I should be the one in control, but these characters have minds of their own I swear, I feel like they'll be okay.

It's good to meet you Astray I'm glad your enjoying the story so far!

In any rate I'll try to get this story back on track and get more consistent with updates, but, Happy what ever holiday you celebrate out there, and thanks again for reading!