Ruby knew that the most important thing in the world at the moment was to keep moving forward. To put one foot in front of the other and just take a step. A single step.

To just do that, once at the very least, every day.

Any progress in the face of adversity was good progress. A lesson she had learned from her father, from her sister. From Weiss, from Blake…

And he didn't know it, but Jaune, too. Back at Beacon he could have just given up, but he didn't. He fought against everyone and their mocking looks, he fought against everyone who didn't believe in him.

He found his strength in his friends. In… Pyrrha. He found his strength in progress. Good progress.

Now, however…

Ruby looked in the mirror, her toothbrush hanging limply from her lips. She looked ridiculous. Hair out of place, distant look in her eyes, dark bags; the sudsy mint tasting toothpaste slurry was all over her lips too.

She sighed inwardly before spitting into the sink, cupping water from the running faucet into her hands before drinking it and rinsing her mouth out, cleaning her lips in the process.

This was what progress looked like. Just this.

Getting up, in spite of everything. In spite of Salem, in spite of being pushed away at the gates of the military base, in spite of wanting to do nothing but sleep until she didn't wake up.

This was what Ruby had to do. It was a part of her mission, and in her job-description. She was a leader; if she wasn't rallying her team and smiling despite the pain, showing an example of courage and a willingness to keep moving forward… She would be doing a bad job.

That's why it pained her to see Jaune, half awake as he entered the bathroom behind her. He looked just as worse for wear as she did. His eyes, however, were more distant. There was a deeper despair in them than she could even realize. She knew just how bad he had it, but she couldn't be certain she understood.

Knowing and understanding were two entirely different things, she knew.

"Hey, Ruby," Jaune greeted, clearly more tired now than he had been before bed. He certainly looked like he came crawling from a restless sleep, tossing and turning all night no doubt.

"Heya, Jaune." She turned to regard him, leaning back against the counter. He didn't say anything else. He just looked in the mirror, and turned to walk away after a sigh. She saw the way he looked at the shower from the corner of his eye, the way his sight lingered on the toothbrush he had purchased the day he had made it to Argus.

Her face hardened. She wasn't going to let him not take care of himself.

"And just where do you think you're going?" she asked with all the venom of a cross mother. She tried to recall all the ways Yang had scolded her back in the day, all the ways that her father had as well.

"Uh, the... kitchen?" Jaune said with a confused, though slightly annoyed tone. He stopped walking, however. She fought back a smile, knowing that she had gotten his attention with the unexpected outburst.

"Not until you've brushed your teeth and washed up, you're not," she said, crossing her arms across her chest.

Jaune just raised his eyebrows as if to question the sudden attitude. If Saphron were to see this she surely would have laughed. Ruby almost reminded him of her back when they were younger, the way she would take on a motherly tone just to lighten the load for their actual mother.

Jaune didn't know what Summer looked like, but if he had to guess, Ruby probably looked very much like her at the moment. A stern expression, eyes drilling deep into him. She was almost scary like this.

He felt sorry for any kids she may have in the future. He felt even more sorry for her future husband.

The thought gave him pause, and he felt a twinge of sadness hit him from deep within. He began to turn and walk to the kitchen once again, but this time he was stopped not by her words but a hand gripping his shirt.

"Nope," Ruby said, simply laying down the rules. She didn't need to say much more than that for him to understand what she was getting at.

He pinched the bridge of his nose.

"Look, Ruby, I'm just really not in the mood to-" he was interrupted by a very non negotiable-

"Nope. I'm not budging on this. If you want out of here you're going to have to wash up and brush your teeth. I refuse to let you get away with not taking care of yourself." Ruby all but teleported in front of him when he seemed to disregard her statement. Petals flew before disappearing.

"Ruby, this is ridiculous, I-"

"Nope. Taking care of yourself is important. Not ridiculous. Sure you may think that one day without doing these things is fine, but then you'll just end up doing the same thing tomorrow. And then the next day, and the day after that. I've seen it all before. Yang was in the same spot, and I couldn't help then. But I won't let you do to yourself what Yang did to herself. I care about you too much to just…" Ruby went silent, her entire body deflating. Her hardened expression fell along with it. "Look, Jaune. It's been hard. It's been very hard. I hardly wanted to get out of bed. But you're a leader, Jaune. You're my partner in all of this. Things have changed. I need you by my side for this, and if I have to get up…" She stood up straight, her face shifting back to being stern. "If I have to get up every day, brush my teeth, take a shower and put my boots on; well, then you have to do the same. Everyone is looking to us, and if I was the only one they were looking to for help, for direction I- I would cave, Jaune. I would lose it. So-"

"Alright," Jaune interrupted. "Alright. If not for me, then for you. Always for you." He looked down towards the floor with a somber expression. She reached out, and moved his head upwards by his chin. When he looked into her eyes, he saw things he hadn't seen in… Well, awhile.

His mind inevitably went right back to Pyrrha. Just like it always did. But he knew that that wasn't fair. He shook his thoughts away, and when he looked back he saw only Ruby. Only that quirky, cute girl that had been the first friend he made at Beacon. The very same girl he looked up to, that he cared for more than he could ever put into words.

There was no way on Remnant that he would ever be able to hurt himself if it meant that he was hurting her in turn.

"Jaune. One step at a time. You know I'm here for you. I always will be." She hesitated, but eventually she leaned up and closed her eyes.

Her arms wrapped around him tightly.

"I know, Ruby. Thank you." He accepted the embrace with open arms.

"Now," she said with a smirk, "get cleaned up and brush those teeth! I'll be making breakfast!~" She pulled away from him, speaking in a sing-song way that made him smile. "If I don't see those teeth sparkle, I'm giving your portion to Nora," she warned, adopting her mom-face again.

Jaune just chuckled, rolling his eyes.

"Really…" he mumbled. "What would I do without you girls always watching out for me."