06/09/2001…

"Who in the hell sets an alarm for a Saturday morning?" Was the first invasive thought to race through his mind as his body unconsciously fumbled around with his eyes closed trying to find the source of what he would consider to be the most annoying noise in the entire goddamn world.

Realizing it was a futile effort he finally opened his eyes to look for his alarm clock for another full minute before he looked down at the floor where he had swatted the battery-powered alarm clock almost two feet from his bed.

Sighing, he sat up as his still sleeping conscious brain tried to remember why in the hell he set an alarm for this morning. Taking a moment to stretch before he got up to reach for the alarm clock he asked himself "Why did I set this damn alarm for today… it's the last weekend before graduation, Ruby is busy… Blake didn't want to see me till tomorrow, Ren and Nora and going to be out running errands…"

Jaune finally got his hand on the alarm and reached using his other hand clicked the tiny switch that turned the alarm off fully before he tossed it onto his bed while thinking "Ah right, Weiss… she wanted to hang out today… it really has been a while since we just hung out."

The first thing Jaune did, after he pulled off his sweat covered shirt from yet another medication-withdrawal fueled nightmare, was to reach over for his Antidepressants as well as the medication to combat his schizophrenia and take both pills dry.

Two pills in the morning, two pills mid-afternoon, all so he doesn't end up in the shit, just one of the many small prices he paid for outliving one girlfriend, and almost dying for a second.

Jaune looked up at the sky with his eyes close as he counted to himself as the pills slowly started to push back the shadows in his head, to pull back the negative thoughts, to push back the voices. The stress of the last week, the not knowing, was weighing on him and opening up wounds he long stitched shut.

"Hey, buddy you okay?" Jaune heard a voice from behind him causing him to jump as he turned to face his mother who was staring at him.

His mother tried to make it a point to not stare at the scars on her son's body, particularly the small one in the middle of his chest, another small price, another pound of the weight he carried.

Jaune shook it off and signed back [Yeah, I'm just waiting for my meds to kick on, what's up?]

"Well I just heard you turn off your alarm and you've been standing in here for about five minutes so I figured something was bugging you this morning," Mina said as she walked over and took a seat on his bed.

Jaune pulled his desk chair over to him and sat backward on it facing his mother before he signed [I had a rough night]

"Yeah, you woke us up a couple times, I keep thinking we need to get you evaluated to see if we need to adjust your medication again." Mina said, "You know before you go off on your grand adventure west."

Jaune looked at the still unopened letter on his desk before signing [I mean if I am going on that grand journey at all.]

Mina put on a smile, she really hated seeing her son in this state so close to the end of his school journey before she declared "Well I still think you owe it to yourself to look, I mean it's not your fault that Ruby applied to every college in two states to try and stay close to home after all."

[No… It's not my fault I know that.] Jaune signed [It's just the way she is, rooted, scared of the type of changes you and I learned to take for granted…]

"Can I tell you a secret?" Mina asked.

Jaune smiled and gave her a thumbs up.

"I think, the idea of me ever having to leave this crappy of a dump of a house scares the hell out of me more than anything, I also think if I didn't get married, work would have tried to relocate us again by now…" Mina said.

[I guess that makes sense] Jaune signed

"It's also because… well the last time I tore you from a home…" Mina started to say

"Pyrrha…" Jaune said out loud. It was the first time he ever dared to utter that name out loud since he got his voice, the first time he even used that name to another person in months.

Mina smiled sadly and said, "I'm not saying I take responsibility for her, I hope you don't still blame yourself for her as well." Mina paused and thought about her words "I… I hated the way you looked at things for those first couple of months when we moved here. I hated that you went the entire summer and the first, what, half week of school not talking to anyone"

[It took me four days to get over myself for a little bit and to actually say hello to someone] Jaune signed [Admittingly that was more Yang's doing than mine.]

"I still remember how hard I laughed after you called me up on the payphone to tell me you were going to be late. Good lord do you know how many crazy thoughts went through my head when I found out you were hanging out with a girl?" Mina giggled.

[God I felt like I was tied to a chair under a bare bulb when you grilled me when I got home] Jaune signed out as he found himself chuckling. [I still can't believe you thought I was out getting laid that soon after what happened]

"Alright alright, I admit it was silly of me to assume that." Mina said, "But you have to admit, but you have to admit you were not in the best places mentally at the time."

[Yeah, that's true I guess.] Jaune signed out.

"Well, who would have known it at the time that very goofy little girl would end up causing you this much grief," Mina asked.

Jaune just smiled and chuckled and signed [She really is a pain in the ass] before he paused and thought out loud signing [I guess I wouldn't have it any other way.]

Mina said "Neither would I…:

Jaune closed his eye and rubbed his face for a moment before he said [God it's crazy how much has changed since we moved here.]

Mina stood up and started to head out of her son's room "Mostly for the better, but you need a shower, I'll get breakfast put together since your sister and Alan are sleeping in today."

Jaune nodded as he stood up as well and said "Thanks"


One long shower and a breakfast burrito to go later that Jaune had eaten in the Truck. He had arrived at his destination at the school, specifically the football field a couple blocks down the road where Jaune was planning on meeting up with Weiss that morning.

Jaune parked his truck as he was still chewing on the last few bites of his breakfast and made his way to where Weiss was hard at work with the cheerleading Squad. Although there were no more planned events this school year, Weiss and "the girls" still had to practice regularly to keep in form.

Grabbing his coffee thermos and locking up his truck he then made his way onto the field and pulled up a seat on the bleachers to wait for Weiss to be able to take a break. Jaune took in the sight of one of his oldest friends barking at the cheerleaders in the squad as they were practicing some surprisingly complex maneuvers.

Jaune took a drink of his coffee as he noticed a couple of the girls looking over at him giggling. He guessed they were not quite used to having an audience for their practices. Weiss waived the girls off and started to make her way to Jaune clearly looking like she needed a break.

One thing that struck Jaune was the fact she was clearly dressed largely casual for this morning, the girls were practicing in full uniform where Weiss was wearing a T-shirt and shorts that showed off the scars on her legs.

Weiss sat down and yawned out a "Thank god you're here, these girls are hopeless."

"They seem to be doing better than I could ever hope to do," Jaune replied before taking a swig of his coffee. "Although I know you didn't ask me to come out here to gawk at the freshmen in their uniforms"

"If I catch you doing that I'm calling your girlfriend," Weiss said playfully

"A fate truly worse than death." Jaune deadpanned back.

Weiss laughed "Well I'm basically done with this group anyway, I did what I could to get them into something resembling shape for the next year."

Jaune shrugged as he watched the girls practice a rather complex formation and took another sip of his coffee. "Huh… that I'm guessing, red-head is cute, I wonder if I can introduce Sun to h-"

Weiss elbowed her "No gawking!"

"I'm trying to help Sun out here!" Jaune as he rubbed his side.

Weiss just glared at him.

"Anyways, what you managed to pull off with this group is nothing short of phenomenal," Jaune said. "They went from what, a bunch of girls that were only able to stand around looking pretty and bounced around shaking there-"

"Jaune…" Weiss warned

"Pom-poms… And Became an actually coordinated bunch of Athletes." Jaune Finished.

"Yeah I guess, it's a shame I won't be doing this anymore after next week," Weiss said.

"What, you're not trying to become a coach full time after this?" Jaune asked.

Weiss sat back and started fanning herself with her hand "After this year I got to start getting ready for my future as the heiress of my dad's company."

Jaune just shook his head in confusion "You mean to take over your dad's company?"

Weiss chuckled "Well yeah of course you Dolt…" Before she leaned forward "I know, Blake keeps telling me that if I don't have to follow in my dad's footsteps if I didn't really want to…"

Jaune tilted his head "But you kinda feel like you don't have a choice? I mean who will run the family business? Who else could even start to run it?"

Weiss nodded as she smirked "I mean, of course, I kinda like the lifestyle of the rich spoiled brat sometimes. I just have to start working to keep it now."

Jaune loudly chucked which drew a few stares from some of the cheerleaders which were no doubt gossiping about their coach as they spoke. After his laughter died down he finally was able to speak "Weiss I have never known you to act like a spoiled anything"

"Well…" Weiss started to say "You don't know how much of a bitch I was before the accident. By the time you met me I had already lost the use of my legs."

"Temporarily lost the use of your legs," Jaune said correcting Weiss.

"Okay fair enough, even with surgery and pushing three years of physical therapy though I'm still not a hundred percent back to where I was though, and I'll honestly never be." Weiss said, "Not to mention these hideous scars."

Jaune smirked and pulled on the collar of his shirt showing off the twin scars on his shoulder "Everyone in our group has scars, Weiss. That's part of living."

Weiss waived it off scoffing out an "Of course you'd say that."

"Of course I would," Jaune said.

"Still…" Weiss started to say "I think I gained so much more than I lost. I mean I got a frankly hot as hell girlfriend from it, and I got some of the best friends I could ever want."

"Now that I can agree, I still can't believe that I am somehow as lucky as I was when I met all of you guys," Jaune said. "But at the same time, I know what the cost of that was in a way."

"Hell Jaune you almost died on us, what, twice? Three times?" Weiss said. "It's weird of me to say, but I was put in a wheelchair and I still think life screwed you over the hardest of us all."

Jaune shook his head in disagreement. "I got my voice back, I got my friends, I got Ruby which is very much the best part of it." Jaune paused "All it cost was a few scars and some mental problems."

Weiss shook her head. "How the hell did you end up the eternal optimist… When I first met you I swear you looked like you were perpetually a bad day from walking off an overpass." Weiss froze up after the words left her mouth with an audible cringe.

"Nah you're fine" Jaune declared as he waved it off "I guess I just learned to appreciate what I have, I know nothing is forever, even us."

Weiss stood up and stretched "Well that was a long enough break, time to put the girls through some more hell." she paused for a second "By the way, did you know Ren and Nora settled on a name for their kid?"

"Do they know the kids' gender?" Jaune asked.

"Nora swears it's going to be a girl, she can feel it in her guts," Weiss said. "But they asked me how I'd feel about letting them name their daughter after my sister"

"You gave them the okay?" Jaune asked.

"Your right, we need to cherish what we have, but we also need to remember what we lost." Weiss said as she smiles "I told them my sister would have been honored."

Jaune smiled "I miss her sometimes."

"I do too, that's why I'm going to keep pushing myself, I'll never get these damn legs up to a hundred percent, but I'll get them back up to 98% if it kills me," Weiss said as she walked off. "One last thing…"

"What's up, Weiss?" Jaune asked.

"Ruby can become a doctor anywhere, at any school. Don't let her fuck up and let her fear cost her you." Weiss said. "Make her remember what she has and how lucky she is to have it."

Jaune smiled as he started to stand up "I'll try Weiss."

Weiss just smiled as she walked back to her girls already barking directions at them. Jaune started to walk back to his truck with a chuckle.


Alright, so I'm trying to get the author notes done quickly since I'm on a break at my work so bear with me here. I don't have a huge amount to say about this chapter since it was a pretty straight forward chapter that does call back to early events while I try to keep the cast reflecting on how they all changed in grew, just like how the last chapter contrasted how Yang, Neptune, and Sun changed over the story, so is the same with Weiss as well.

Blake is going to be next, I have a chapter partially planned for her after this then… well we'll see.

Dragonlord, I think Tension is the right word for it here, I think anyone reading this that has graduated from Highschool knows that even without the pressures of moving or trying to figure out what's going to happen to loved ones like Jaune is, Graduation is a stressful time, sure once your on stage shaking being handed your diploma the tension goes away in a burst of catharsis that you'll rarely feel in life. Life itself goes on afterward.

ZHSteven, funny you should mention that I actually recompiled and rewrote the first twenty chapters of this fic about a year and change ago and put it up on the Kindle store under the title "A Silent and Monochrome world" (removing Rwby references and changing names around of course) and I have a few partially completed "Original works" In my WIP folder that I want to get around to finishing after I wrap this story up. I don't know at this time if I aim to do that with the rest of the fic as it didn't exactly fly off the shelf. But it was comments like yours that had me try to see what happens. After I did that I stopped really treating the cast as canon, and started to picture them more like the original characters they became, and ran with it.

In any rate, I hope this finds all of you well after a difficult first eight days of the new year, and if you all take anything away from this story, is to look at the challenges we face in life today as something to overcome and to look back and remind yourselves all of the struggles you have already survived and endured. It's going to be okay.

With that, thanks again for reading, I'll see you all next time.