When Emerald heard a knock on the bathroom door a long while later, she looked up, blinking tears from her eyes as Jaune's voice spoke to her.
"Yang? Are you doing alright?"
Emerald looked down slowly.
She wanted to answer, but found herself unable to form the words.
Outside the door, Jaune frowned, a bit hesitant on the matter, before speaking again.
"Are you feeling hungry right now?" He asked, tone curious. "It's been a long time since we ate last. I can try seeing if there's anything I can order for you."
Emerald barely mustered up the energy to conjure an illusion for him.
"I'm not hungry." She had her illusion speak for him, though the tone remained emotionless.
Jaune gave a taken aback look, but decided, after a moment of thinking, not to press the issue.
"OK." He said, mentally sighing. "If there's anything you'd like help with, you can tell me."
When she didn't respond for a few moments, he relented and walked away from the door, sighing to himself.
Emerald later found herself wanting to leave the bathroom, but her only available article of clothing was Cinder's dress.
She stared down at the dress for several moments, a painful cluster of emotions writhing inside her, but her numb to it at that moment all the same.
She opened the closet door, seeing Jaune's weapon and shield-sheathe sitting in there, before promptly kicking the fabric inside and closing the door again, sighing heavily as she walked over and sat on the toilet, towel wrapped around her body as she hugged herself.
Activating her semblance, Emerald tried sensing if Jaune was nearby, finding him in the room still and looking out the window.
"Jaune?" She called.
He looked to the bathroom door, raising an eyebrow.
"Yeah?" He asked, rising to his feet and walking over.
"Do you think you could buy me other clothes?"
He raised an eyebrow.
"I can try." He said, mentally wondering why she would have a need or want for clothes. "Do you need new ones?"
"Yeah. Pants and a shirt" Emerald said, sighing. "Do you know if that prize money that you got would be enough?"
"I can go see." Jaune answered. "Do you mind coming with me? I'm not sure what your size is."
"I'd... rather not." Emerald curled into herself. "But..."
Though her words seemed hesitant, Jaune felt as though something was wrong, somehow, though he couldn't figure out what exactly.
"It's fine. Don't worry." He found himself saying without thinking on it, turning to the door out of the room. "Just hang tight. I'll be back as soon as possible, see what could probably fit you."
"Thank you." She said, tone more grateful than she realized, but her perking up and adding more to her request hurriedly. "And... Jaune?"
"Yes?"
She looked to her the burn marks adorning her arm, then winced.
"Can you... buy me something long sleeved?"
His eyebrows furrowed.
"Are you sure?"
"Definitely."
"OK. I'll try seeing what I can do."
"Thanks again."
He gave a goodbye before leaving the room, and though Jaune wondered why she specified wanting a long sleeve shirt, when she seemed to wear pointedly sleeveless attire even when the Vytal Festival came around during the Fall, he decided to focus on one thing at a time.
This involved questioning the inn keeper on a subject gnawing at the back of his brain, with recent revelations about his and Emerald's drunken escapades fresh in mind.
"Excuse me?"
The inn keeper, at this point, had become patently worried about the blonde, yet seeing him again, he wanted to assume the best.
"Are you about to head out again?" He asked.
"I am. I wanted to ask you something first though." Jaune said.
"What did you want to know?"
"We came here with a dowry someone gave us, right?"
He paused, then nodded.
"Have you been using it to pay for the room we've been using?" Jaune asked.
"I have been."
"Why have we been doing dishwashing duty these past two days then?"
The inn keeper crossed his arms.
"It was an agreement your wife and I came to, before she left and came back in with you. She wasn't alone though. She came in with someone else, sayng that she didn't have any money to give, but that she'd do anything, if it meant getting her friend a place to rest. They had both been really hurt, but she refused to let me call a doctor. I agreed she could have a room with her, as long as she worked off the debt the next morning." The man glanced towards the door, recalling the events of the last couple nights. "I was a bit worried when she didn't come back for a long time, but while I was concerned that you both had to be brought back to me, drunk, by mobsters no less, I was also disappointed, since she got drunk in the first place while her friend was recovering."
He shook his head, breathing a sigh while rubbing his head, Jaune looking down while processing this information, only for the man to get his attention again, with a question of his own.
"Can you at least tell me something, before you go?"
"What did you want to know?"
He looked up the staircase, Jaune following his gaze, seeming to ponder his words.
"Both of you are young, bound to make mistakes." He began, looking to him seriously. "So, just so I can rest easy... Have you two gotten caught up in something you can't get out of?"
Jaune's eyes widened at this question.
"If you have, I can try helping you all disappear, if you need to." He offered. "If it can't be smoothed over, I'm willing to help, however I can. You just need to say the word."
"I wouldn't say we're in trouble," Jaune stammered, "nothing like what you're probably imagining, at least."
"Do you need help though?" He stressed.
"I'm okay. We're... okay." Jaune corrected himself.
The innkeeper frowned at his hesitance, but didn't comment on it.
"You're asking about your dowry, right?" He asked.
Jaune nodded, and he left, coming back with the envelope.
"If you are in trouble, my offer still stands." The innkeeper told him. "Tell that other young lady too, will you?"
"I'll tell her." Jaune nodded.
"Alright. You have enough in there for another few days, anyhow. Are you two planning on staying here until it runs up?"
"I'd have to discuss it with her." Jaune said. "Hopefully it won't come to that. But could I ask you something else?"
"What do you need?"
Jaune questioned him on where he could find good clothing stores that were still open.
The sprint over there was not nearly as exhausting as the one to Haven Academy had been, but Jaune was glad to find he still had a small amount of time left before the stoe itself closed.
For once, Jaune felt glad for the numerous times he'd been volunteered to help carry his sister's bags for stores; throughout that routine, he had a gained a decent sense for what sizes fit others, though he was still iffy on picking out a sweater and pants for Emerald to wear.
Not helping matters was the question of whether or not he should keep up the façade of him not knowing that it was really Emerald under an illusion.
It made him hesitate, but ultimately, with time running low, he decided to pick clothes that would suit Emerald better, for the sake of efficiency, along with a belt, if, supposedly, he picked a pair of pants too big.
After paying the money to a tired looking, but still friendly, clerk, he jogged back to the inn, inwardly wondering about how much he'd been running today.
"Hey, uh... Yang?" Jaune asked as he came to the bathroom door of his room, breathing heavily.
Emerald perked her head up, "Jaune?"
"I got the clothes for you." Jaune said. "If it doesn't fit, then I'm willing to go back for you tomorrow. But do you think you can wear these for the night?"
The door opened slowly, Jaune seeing Yang's eye looking out to him.
"Were... you running?" She asked, surprised at his short breath and sweaty face.
"Y-Yeah." Jaune chuckled sheepishly, handing the bag over to her through the crack. "The stores were about to close when I got there, so I had to be fast. Sorry if the clothes aren't the best fit. But I tried looking into what I thought might look good on you."
"Oh... I'm sorry you had to go to all that trouble." She said, frowning with guilt as she took the bag. "I didn't know, honest."
"It's okay, don't worry. I needed the workout anyways." Jaune replied with a joking smile.
"Thanks... I'll put them on now." She said, closing the door, Jaune turning and walking to the bed, sitting down as he looked up the ceiling.
It didn't take long for the door to open, him looking to find Yang standing there in the clothes he'd picked out for her.
"Thanks again for this." She said, adjusting her shirt on herself.
"I'm glad to help." Jaune answered, standing back up. "Does it fit you well?"
"It does." She nodded curtly, before glancing to the door. "Did you ever get a chance to eat?"
"Not yet."
"Do you want to go out to eat?" She said.
"Are you hungry now?" Jaune asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I..."
Trailing off, she looked down a bit, before breathing a sigh.
"... honestly, I just want to get away from here." She told him honestly, a hand running up the length of her upper arm, Emerald wincing beneath her illusion.
"That's fine." Jaune said, trying to keep the wariness out of his expression. "We don't need to go out for a reason though. I don't think the places are even open this late anyways."
"I see."
"Do you... REALLY want to go out though?" Jaune asked. "I know you said you wanted to, but is there something important that you have to do?"
"No." She shook her head.
"If that's what you want to do, I'd be willing. Fresh air never hurt anyone. Unless you'd rather be alone." He answered.
He watched her expression, how she pondered it briefly, then finally answered.
"I'm- I'm not sure." She admitted. "But would you be okay, walking with me?"
He hesitated for a brief moment, wondering if this was another trick or not, before deciding to go with his gut.
"Do you have any idea where you wanted to walk to?"
"Not really."
"Alright." Jaune nodded, deciding to believe her. "I think we should try keeping away from bars though. That's reasonable, right?" He asked jokingly.
She tried forcing to laugh, but it didn't come out naturally, and Jaune frowned, running a hand through his hair.
"Ready to go now?" He wondered.
"Yeah."
Walking along the area, they moved around for a long period of time before they situated themselves on a bench, somewhere Jaune was certain was on the other side of town.
As expected, most of the restaurants were closed.
As with the walk, the silence between the pair was notable, though Jaune never pointed it out.
When Emerald finally broached a subject however, the subject in question caught him by surprise.
"What would you do, if you knew someone was working with Cinder?"
He looked to her, eyes widened, but her gaze was downcast.
"Huh?"
She looked up to him slowly, seemingly hesitant before speaking.
"If you met someone, and you found out they worked with Cinder - even after everything she did - what would you do?"
Though Jaune understood this much, he was more baffled by her asking such a question, if he was assuming she hadn't figured out that he knew the truth.
This assumption turned to anxiety as he pondered if she DID know, somehow, but he tried to envision how he'd genuinely react, if it had been Yang asking this, and answered as such.
"Are you talking about Raven?" He asked, with feigned uncertainty.
She glanced away.
"Anyone in general, really."
"I'm not sure." Jaune answered honestly. "I don't know what I'd do then."
"Why is it that you hate Cinder?" She asked, no malice or undercurrent of confusion in her tone, simply curiosity.
He frowned, then looked forward.
"Are you really asking me that?" He wondered.
Reading his tone, she paused.
"I'm sorry." She sighed. "Just... curious."
He decided, ultimately, to humor her.
"Beyond her killing Pyrrha? Or her dragging her and Yang's reputations through the mud for her plan, make them out to be monsters? She's... just a terrible person." He explained bluntly. "People were dying, and she just gloated about all of it. No one deserved what happened to them that day. But while SHE'S still alive, good, innocent people were killed, because of her. And she doesn't care."
She winced.
"So... Knowing that, you tried killing her?"
"Yes." He nodded slowly.
She fell silent for a moment.
"What if someone else was responsible too?" She elaborated, him looking at her, seeing her eyes on him. "What if THEY caused all of that death and destructon, knowing it would turn out the way it did? Would you kill them too? Like... say Emerald, for example."
He stared at her for a moment, noting the minor shift in her tone, but it seeming, against all reason, hopeful.
He struggled to understand the reasoning behind her questioning him on this matter, but tried to maintain the façade all the same.
"If... if she was someone, JUST as terrible as Cinder, or if other lives were on the line... I think I would, if I had an actual chance." He answered.
For the first time since he'd come back from Haven, he saw the ghost of a smile cross her face.
"Alright." She nodded, looking down again, silent once more.
It took several minutes more, before it finally happened, but when Jaune saw the illusion masking Emerald as Yang suddenly dissipate and show the girl next to him, his heart stopped.
Looking at her, he silently wondered if she had been planning to drop the ball like this, and his eyes flickered towards her waist, pausing as she slumped over slowly.
He then instinctively caught her before she fell over, and it was with this that Jaune finally realized she'd fallen asleep.
This did little to ease his worries, but after a moment, he decided to check her person for her weapons, finding neither.
She only slept peacefully while leaning against him, and he sighed and looked about.
Her sleep grew restless as the night went on however, shifting and talking in her rest, before, quite suddenly, she jerked awake with a loud scream, holding her head as yelled repeatedly, Jaune so startled that he wasn't sure what to do for several seconds before he pressed his hands on Emerald's shoulders.
"You're okay," Jaune said, rubbing her shoulders as the woman's night terror reached a peak, "you're okay Emerald!"
Her shrieking ceased after about half a minute, and Jaune held her as she tried laying back down.
"Are... Are you okay?"
Jaune looked up to find a woman standing nearby with a concerned look.
"Y-Yeah, my wife just has night terrors." Jaune lied, speaking quickly. "She had one yesterday too, sorry about this."
"No reason to apologize, but..." She stopped, then nodded, walking away and leaving Jaune to his own devices after a moment, during which he sighed.
"How do I explain this to her?" Jaune asked while laying Emerald on his lap.
By the time she awoke, he lacked any answers.
A/N: Going back to the whole choice thing, I kind of wanted to have little things like picking out clothes for Emerald or for Yang to be choices, along with other things, but I've already got enough planned out as is, so meh.
I was originally going to describe Emerald's dream too, but I'm not sure whether to actually put it in or not.
The entire thing was meant to be Emerald having a nightmare of Cinder again, pertaining to... recent events in this route of the story.
The problem is, while the other dream was short and to the point, this one... Kind of got long, and was a bit wacky (it involved a rat that talks to people through radios that has a Red Cross tattoo and healing powers, among other dream symbolism stuff - thank you Dream Moods).
Anyways, the backstory behind the whole thing with Jaune is meant to be because one of his little sisters had night terrors often.
His mind correlated it with Emerald because, while she didn't have a night terror in the bathroom after night 1, she still started screaming repeatedly while in the bathroom.
(Just me being overly detailed though.)
Thankfully, we're finally reaching the last hurtles of this story. Til then.