Okay, what a day. Well, this may be a little more rushed than usual on account of the fact I've now injured my right ankle (to go with my left wrist). I was asked out to help my mother walk her dog in the forest, and then lost my footing in a concealed hole, twisting my ankle badly. Fell hard, loud crack, but my mother just says "Oh, it'll be fine" and hurries me on. She then gets us lost for a full hour and a half because she "forgot" the route, and didn't want to backtrack, despite that I'm limping and struggling to move.

By the time I get back home, my foot is black and blue and has swollen up badly, and I can barely walk thanks to it. It's not much better today, so I'll be going to the doctors later to let them have a look at it. Since I'll be there for several hours of today, I won't have much time to write.

Also, it's the reason this is late – since I had to fit my appointment into it all, and posted later in the day as a result.

Beta: College Fool

Cover Art: Kegi Springfield

Chapter 43

Ruby sat wide-eyed on the comfortable couch, clutching a glass of water in her hands so tightly it almost cracked. There was a hand on her left shoulder, and another wrapped about her right, as her partner whispered comforting words into her ear.

"It's okay," Pyrrha said. "You didn't do anything. You don't need to look so worried."

"S-She collapsed the second she saw me!"

"That was probably a coincidence. What else could it be?"

"I-I don't know…" Logic wasn't exactly working at the moment, which felt about right since it came to something related to Jaune, but still, all she'd done was introduce herself and smile. How could that have led to Jaune's sister lying limp on the floor?

Was there something in her teeth? Had she displayed something so horrifying, the girl had passed out in horror? Ruby opened her mouth and poked about inside, but Pyrrha pulled the hand out before she could do anything else.

"Jaune and Weiss are looking after her, Ruby. There's no need for you to panic so much."

"Maybe I should leave. I could come back later?"

"No." Pyrrha's grip tightened. "We both know if I let you go now, you'll never come back. Stay." The taller girl smiled, and Ruby felt a sliver of hope come as a result of it. "You'll see, Ruby. This isn't about you. There's no reason it can be."

Ruby smiled tentatively. "I… I guess you're right…"

After all, there was no way it actually was because of her.

/-/

"Why did you bring one of those monsters here?" Lavender hissed. "How did you even find one!?"

Jaune thanked his lucky stars he'd had the foresight to send Weiss for a glass of water when he saw Lavender waking up, or there'd have been questions for sure. "You mean Ruby?"

"Rub- It has a name!?" She shook her head. "Never mind. What is it doing here? You… Don't tell me you consider that thing a friend?"

"Weeeell…."

"Big Brother!"

"Look, it's not that simple," he said, pushing his sister down. She was laid on a bed he'd found in one of the rooms, though judging from the lack of clothing it was a guest room. It wasn't like he'd had a chance to be shown around before she up and collapsed on them. "Ruby is a friend," he said, and then continued on when she opened her mouth to complain. "She's my first friend. In fact, she's easily my best friend. She means a lot to me."

"S-She's a silver-eyed devil!"

"She's a silver-eyed lovely and friendly girl," he refuted.

"That's so not the point!" Lavender fell back, one arm coming across her face. "The second I looked into her eyes, it was like staring into death itself. Elena screamed out in pain, and it felt like my insides were churning. I tried to say or do something, but I just lost control and blacked out."

"That's probably due to your health," he said, sitting next to her and stroking her hair. "You've always been the weakest of us."

"Not weak," she muttered.

"Not weak," he agreed, "but not entirely healthy, either. I know you work hard to be strong, but something like this probably hit you a lot more than it would anyone else. You can get used to it, though," he added. "I did, and Ruby isn't anything like what Mom said."

"Isn't she?"

"No. She wouldn't hurt us."

Lavender sighed. "You're such an idiot. She wants to be a huntress, which means she already wants to kill Grimm – and she'd probably jump at the chance to kill us if she knew the truth. The only reason she isn't right now is because you're lying to her."

He winced at that, especially since there was no denying it. If there was anything he knew about Ruby, it was how dedicated she was to her dream. Did that necessarily mean they had to be enemies, though?

Honestly… it probably did.

"I can't believe you'd do this," Lavender went on. "I thought you were smarter than this, or at least smart enough to avoid someone like that. I bet Mom doesn't even know any more silver-eyed monsters exist. I thought she'd dealt with them all ages ago!"

"Ruby's a child," he whispered.

"No older than Amber – and she'd kill Amber if she had the chance!"

"You don't know that…"

"Yes I do!" She sat up quickly, knocking him back and then stabbing a finger into his chest. "She tried to fight me when I was masquerading as you, and she shot me in the chest when she did! If my aura had been low, I'd be dead, and she did that thinking it was you!" She poked him again, harder this time. "This isn't a joke, Big Brother. You may think it all okay because she doesn't know what you are, but how long is that going to last? It'll only take one mistake and she'll kill you."

That wasn't… he'd known that, but… well, wouldn't they all kill him if they found out the truth? Ozpin certainly would. He was aware that wasn't much of a defence, but it at least meant Ruby was no worse than Weiss or Pyrrha.

"I did warn you," Remy whispered. "Back when you saw her flat on her back. You had every chance in the world to walk away, but you just had to go over and help her."

"She looked so lonely, though…"

"And since when has that been an indicator that someone is harmless?"

It wasn't. He'd known that. Befriending Ruby had been a mistake, and he'd known it the second he pushed out from behind that tree and approached her. Still, despite that… even with everything it might mean…

"Ruby is my friend. I know it's wrong, but she is. I'm not giving her up."

"Jaune!"

"No, that's final." He swept a hand before him, eyes firm. "She is off-limits to you, and off-limits to everyone else, too. I won't so much as hear of a hand being raised against her other than in self-defence, and even then, only enough as to get away."

Lavender's mouth fell open. "W-What!?"

"So, they're all waiting downstairs," he added, hoping to hurry her along before she could think of another really good reason why he needed to avoid Ruby. "Want to go meet them? It'll be great."

"What?" she said, again. Her eyes widened when he tugged her arm. "J-Jaune, no. I can't. I'm not prepared!"

"What do you mean? You look great."

"I mean mentally prepared! I'll collapse again if that thing-"

"Ruby," he corrected.

"If Ruby looks at me…"

"Well you can't just stay up here after inviting them to meet you," he said. "You're the one who kept pressing me to bring them, even to the point of asking for it as a reward for saving me from Ironwood."

"Yeah, but I didn't think it would be one of their kind," Lavender wailed. "You were supposed to being the pink-eyed Adonis!"

"The what?"

"N-Never you mind that!" She slapped his arm, cheeks red. "The point is that I can't go out there like this. I'll never manage. I-I need a few minutes to collect myself. Not to mention an excuse for why I collapsed the first time…"

"Leave that to me," Jaune said. "I'm the master when it comes to lying."

Lavender regarded him for a few seconds before nodding. "Well, you have been hiding among them for longer than I have. Okay, I'll trust you."

/-/

"So," Weiss said, one eyebrow arched, "let me see if I have this right. Your sister has some kind of ill-health condition that leaves her weak of breath if someone comes near to her and looks into her eyes?"

Jaune nodded. "Yep."

"I've never heard of such a thing."

"That's why it's incurable," he said. "It's so rare doctors haven't even heard of it."

Lavender nodded along, even if a bead of sweat ran down her forehead. Trusting her Big Brother had seemed like a great idea, but now she wished she'd listened to Elena and come up with something herself. She knew the parasite would never be so cruel as to say `I told you so`, but she could feel it nonetheless.

What kind of excuse was that, anyway? There was no way they'd accept that nonsense as the truth, and she could already see the white-haired one looking her up and down with clear suspicion in her eyes. She knew full-well there was no such condition. She knew full-well Jaune was lying. Lavender could only hope the girl didn't realise why.

"That's why you fell when Ruby came so close?" the redhead, Pyrrha, asked.

She nodded. "That's right. I'm sorry for scaring you all."

"Lavender is really delicate," Jaune said.

She wanted to pinch him so bad for that one. Delicate, huh? Sure, she might have been a little weak compared to everyone else, but she was still far superior to any mere human. Plus, she'd worked her butt off to be strong and independent. She was not delicate.

Who in their right mind would believe any of this tripe?

"I'm really sorry," the thi - Ruby – said. The girl sounded sweet and kind, but she knew better. She knew the truth. Of course, she couldn't do anything about the truth, since Jaune had essentially vetoed it, and whether or not she liked it, he was her Big Brother. Instead, she just stared at the girl – doing her best to focus on her pale forehead and not her murderous eyes.

"I-It's fine, m-R-Ruby." She swallowed audibly, and felt more sweat appear on her forehead. "I-I guess I was just a little less well than I thought," she stammered. "It was… nothing personal."

"I'm really glad." The girl took her hands, and Lavender froze. "Does that mean we can be friends?"

"Arghhhhhh!" Elena cried, writing inside of her and making her feel just as sick. The second the skin had touched hers, she'd looked down automatically – and now felt herself transfixed once more. Forget sweat, she was practically dripping with moisture now, and her face was so red it might have looked purple.

She tried to speak, but only managed an incoherent babble.

Thankfully, the white-haired girl (who was now coincidentally her most-favourite of Jaune's friends), dragged the monstrous fiend off her. "Down, Ruby," she said. "Huh, maybe Jaune wasn't joking after all. That's a rather poignant reaction."

"Why don't you sit down?" Jaune suggested, guiding her by the shoulders and pushing her into an armoire. He took a spot on a couch nearby, coincidentally now between her and the terrifying girl. Which of them that was designed to protect was another matter, since even now her instincts were telling her to draw forth her tentacles and crush slam the girl against a wall as hard as she could.

"Oh my God, I did it again!"

"It's fine, Ruby." Jaune smiled at the thing and patted its knee. Lavender bristled at the familiar motion. It wasn't fine. It wasn't fine, at all. Why was he so close to it? "Isn't it fine, Lavender?" he asked, smiling meaningfully at her. The message was not lost.

"It's fine," she gritted out. "So fine. I have never been finer than I am right now."

Weiss looked between the two and sighed.

Pyrrha laughed nervously.

"So, we should all get to know one another," Jaune said, valiantly trying to bring things back to normality. She was fine with that, since the further the conversation got away from silver eyes, the better. "Anyway, this is my team like we were saying before. Weiss is my partner, and Ruby and Pyrrha are partners as well. Everyone, this is my sister, Lavender. She's younger than me, and the second-youngest of the family."

"A pleasure to meet you all," she said, nodding. The benefit of her current position was that she could only technically meet the eyes of Weiss and Pyrrha, with Ruby trapped on the other side of her brother. "I'm sorry for the display earlier. I… hadn't eaten much today, so perhaps I was a little weaker than I normally would be."

"You shouldn't skip meals, Lav," Jaune said, frowning at her.

She wanted to slap a hand to her forehead. It was an excuse, you idiot! "W-Well, enough about that," she said. "Tell me a little about yourselves. How are you doing with Jaune on your team? I hope he's not being too strange around you all?"

Like, Grimm-strange, or inhuman-strange, or any kind of strange that might get him noticed as something other than normal, and thus brought into trouble.

"Jaune is…" Weiss Schnee trailed off as she stared at him. She worked her tongue around the inside of her mouth, and it looked like she was desperately trying to refrain from saying something. "He's… great," she eventually said. "A true teammate…"

"Aw, Weiss," he crooned.

Lavender rolled her eyes. "You can tell the truth to me. I know what he's like."

"Oh, thank goodness. He's a walking disaster!"

"Weiss!?"

"He has no sense of propriety," Weiss continued, eyes wide. "Some of the things he does never seem to have any basis in common sense, and those that do are so far removed from what is normal I don't know what they are. I realise you and he have been raised away from a social environment, but he's so… so blunt!"

"That sounds like my Big Brother." She giggled honestly at that, and let out a quick breath of relief afterwards. It sounded like he was being his usual self, but clearly he hadn't been too weird or they'd have noticed something off. "Still, I thought you were in a romance with him?"

"Me!?" Weiss recoiled, and then shot a furious glare to the boy. "No, no, no. We are in a fake relationship, but that is just something we need to do at the moment. I don't feel that way, and besides, someone else likes him."

Oh, really? She liked the sound of that, right up until the girl's eyes flickered to the other side of her brother – directly to where the silver-eyed monster sat. No way, anyone but her. There was no way something like that could have happened.

"There is something I'd like to know," Pyrrha said, and Lavender was only too happy to turn and listen to her. "I noticed that you have a weapon by the mantelpiece." She nodded over to where her sword stood. "Are you trained to be a huntress, as well?"

"I'm trained, but I don't want to be a huntress," she said. "It's just that there are a lot of dangerous things around, so Mom and Dad thought it would be a good idea for me to learn to fight."

"To protect you from Grimm, right?" one of those dangerous things asked.

"Sure. Why not?"

"Do you know how to use it?" Weiss asked.

"I'm fairly proficient, though nowhere near as much as Sapphire, our oldest sister."

"Are you better than Jaune?"

"Uh…" How did she answer that without insulting her brother? It wasn't that she was trying to be mean or anything, but… well…

"She is," he said, answering for her. "I'm the worst when it comes to the sword."

"We know," Ruby, Pyrrha and Weiss said as one.

"I was just curious as to why," Weiss added. "I mean, if the rest of your family can use it well, then I don't understand why you have so much difficulty."

The topic was an easier one, and she fell into it without too much difficulty, painting a picture of Jaune as a child being too interested in books, stories and listening to his father's tales than actually training. "You have to understand that Dad is a huntsman," she said. "He travels a lot, and whenever he comes back, he's careful to make sure he spends the same amount of time with each of us. For Sapphire and for me, we wanted to spend time learning his sword style, but Jaune just wanted to sit in front of him and listen to stories."

She paused to smile as the three "oohed" and "awed" at her brother's crimson face and downcast eyes. She half-wished she could have brought one of Mom's photo albums (she had hundreds), but seeing baby Jaune wrestle with a juvenile Beowolf pup might have raised questions, even before they got to the ones of him being put on a Nevermore, falling off, and then having hundreds of Nevermore swoop down to catch him again.

They were cute, but undeniably inhuman.

"It sounds like he was a daddy's boy," Pyrrha said, chuckling at her teammate's embarrassment. "That's adorable."

"Oh, he was a Mommy's boy, too," she said.

"Lavender…" Jaune whined.

No way. He'd already put her through hell, so she was going to get her own back if it killed her. "Jaune's always been the sibling who tries to follow the rules and impress Mom and Dad, but he never really cared all that much for training. He spent most of his time in the library reading." She stuck her tongue out. "Coral calls him the little nerd of the family."

Jaune's shoulders fell in abject mortification.

"It's okay," Ruby silver-eyed Rose said, patting his arm. "Yang calls me a weapons geek, too. We can be nerds and geeks together!"

And just like that, Lavender's good mood turned to ash.

"Thanks, Ruby. You're always there for me."

"Say, Ruby," she began, drawing the girl's attention and shivering when she did. "You're a little young to be a huntress, aren't you? You must be what, fifteen?"

"And three-quarters," the girl said, as if the addition were of grave importance.

"What made you want to become a huntress, anyway?"

"I want to save people."

Jaune shook his head. Lavender ignored it. "From what?"

"The Grimm, I guess. I want to make sure the Grimm can't kill any more people."

"By killing them first, I take it."

"Yep."

She shot her brother a victorious look, but he rolled his eyes and ignored the girl right next to him blatantly admitting her intent to murder him. She'd known he was forgiving, but this was ridiculous. Ruby Rose had the means and the motive to kill them, with the only thing she lacked being the information of who they were. How he didn't see that as a problem, she had no idea.

"Why hasn't Cinder dealt with this yet? She should be paying attention to things like these!"

"Because she is incompetent, my sweet," Elena whispered. "You have always said it was so."

"True, but this borders on something beyond even incompetence. Is she wilfully trying to get him killed?"

"Do you think she would, my lady?"

No. No, she didn't. Cinder was many things, an ambitious bitch among them, but she wouldn't harm Jaune, no matter how much she might threaten it. Their Mom hadn't been blind to the girl's thirst for vengeance and power, and her decision to entrust Jaune to her hadn't been as blind a move as it might have looked to some. Cinder had resisted at first, but eventually given in, and whether she liked it or not, Jaune had imprinted himself in her life.

Cinder would not dare lose that, which meant there was something more at work. Annoyingly, she had a feeling Jaune had done the same to Cinder as he had to her.

Jaune took the conversation in a different direction before she could think more on it, and before long she was being inundated with life histories of each of his teammates, along with stories of their adventures at Beacon – which was also the bloody epicentre of Grimm-slaughter around. She kept a pleasant smile on her face through it, all the while inspecting his teammates and processing what she was told.

The Pyrrha girl, for instance, was quite a powerful and skilled fighter, but also famous. Delightfully, that fame didn't seem to have gone to her head which was a relief. The humility mixed with raw capability had crafted an unusual specimen, but one she could approve of. She also seems enamoured of Jaune if her looks towards him are anything to go by. Maybe I should encourage that?

It would be a way to get rid of the chance of Ruby snatching him. On the other hand, Weiss Schnee would have made a perfect girlfriend for her brother. She was beautiful, intelligent, wealthy, successful and focused – all things Jaune needed or deserved in one way or another. Being her brother, he couldn't settle for an unattractive woman, after all. He needed the absolute best, and someone worthy of his splendour.

It was just a shame Weiss seemed to be the only one of the team not interested in him, and judging from her denial earlier, she was trying her hardest to remain that way. The reason was obvious, since the team must have been awkward enough with both Ruby and Pyrrha chasing her brother. Weiss probably didn't want to dive head first into that mess. More sign of her intelligence. She really would be good for Jaune, offering him some much-needed caution.

And hey, Dad hadn't been interested in Mom when he'd first met her, but that relationship had turned out well. Maybe Weiss and Jaune could be the same.

"How about I go get some more drinks for everyone," Lavender said, taking her moment to escape for a quick break.

"I'll come with you," Jaune offered instantly. When she shot him a curious look, he coughed into one hand. "I have something I need to ask you," he admitted.

"Oh, I see. We'll be back in a moment."

Their guests waved them off, and Lavender led Jaune into the kitchen, closing the door behind her. For added security, she gently turned on a nearby radio as well, allowing the sound to mute their voices.

"What is it?" she asked. "If this is about that girl, then I think I've been perfectly-"

"It's not about Ruby," he interrupted. "It's Cinder." When she remained quiet, he continued. "I need some advice about her."

"About what, exactly?"

He sighed. "I may have upset her."

"May?"

"Okay, I've definitely upset her."

Oh, and wasn't that not nearly as terrible a thing as she was supposed to suggest. Lavender made sure to gasp and smile sympathetically, while inside she was cheering happily. "Well, that's a shame," she said. "Maybe you should just forget about her. I'll always be there for you, Big Brother."

"Lavender…" He frowned at her.

"I'm just saying that nothing lasts forever. Maybe she wants to move on."

He crossed his arms.

"Maybe you should move on?" she tried.

"Help. Me." His words were short and succinct. She tried to resist them, but he looked her in the eyes and drove the final nail into her coffin. "Please, Lavender. You're my sister. I trust you…"

Argh, the killing blow! Her spirits rose even as they dove, creating a bizarre state of thrilled and annoyed within her. She couldn't even lie now, since he'd as good as begged for her help. Her! He wanted his little sister's help. What kind of cruel witch would she be if she led him wrong, now? She'd be as bad as one of those silver-eyed monsters.

"Fine," she sighed, leaning back on the counter. "Tell me what you did, and don't miss anything out."

He did, and Lavender listened with a tiny scowl. It got worse when she heard about him dismissing his own safety, and then morphed into an understanding nod when he mentioned how Cinder slapped him. Damn it. It would have been so easy to push him in the wrong direction and away from that bitch, but nooo, he had to look at her with those trusting eyes, and suddenly all her clever plans fizzled into a useless pool of goo around her feet.

"You're an idiot," she said once she was done.

Jaune blinked. "Is that the answer, or just a random observation?"

"Both," she said. "Jaune, I love you. You know that. But if you ever said what you did to her to me, I'd slap you five times, once with my hand, and once with each tentacle." She tapped her chin. "I'd then ring Mom and tell her what you said, and she'd probably come here in person to bend you over her knee."

He winced. "That bad?"

"Worse. You as good as told Cinder you cared more about her survival than you did her own."

"Which I do," he pointed out.

"Which you do," she agreed, "but that doesn't mean you need to say it. That's like… I don't know what it's like. Dad would kill himself if he knew it would save us from death, but that doesn't mean we want to hear him say it, nor to know that kind of fate awaits us if we make a mistake. It puts pressure on us, and on her, and also makes it sound like you don't value your own life."

"What? Of course I value it. I wouldn't have run away to work for my dreams if I didn't."

"I know, and she does too, but it's the way you said it."

Jaune nodded, not agreeing, but perhaps coming to understand. "So, that's why she slapped me?"

"Oh no. You did something far worse to deserve that." She prodded his chest, and if it was hard enough to push him back, that was only because he deserved it. "What were those last words you said? If you're worried Mom will be angry, you can just say it's my fault." She mimicked his voice, or at least how she imagined it, casually dismissive and joking. Once she was done, she rolled her eyes. "You basically accused her of caring more about what Mom would say than about you. That would be like saying Dad only loves us because he's afraid Mom would be angry if he didn't, and that he secretly hates our guts."

To her amusement, Jaune's mouth fell open. The notion was ridiculous, of course, since Dad was only about half as humiliating as Mom was when it came to cooing over them. Still, it was an apt comparison and certainly looked to have driven the point home. He groaned and covered his face with one hand.

"I'm such an idiot."

"Yep. I did tell you that."

"No, like, a real idiot…"

"The worst," she agreed. "You might have made me cry. If it were me," she quickly added when his head shot up, eyes wide in horror. As it was, since he'd gone and pissed Cinder off, he'd instead made her day. Yay for progress!

"I need to apologise to her…"

"Do you, though?"

"Lavender, she's your sister."

"No, she's not." She crossed her arms and pouted. "I have six sisters and one brother, none of which are called Cinder Fall."

"Well, I consider her a sister-" Jaune began. He got no further for she threw her arms in the air and interrupted.

"Why? You already have seven sisters. Do you really need one more?"

"I don't see the problem," he said. "Why are you so upset?"

Ugh, he really was an idiot. "Nothing," she said, turning away and busying herself with the kettle. "Forget it. Just go and take some juice out to your friends." Stupid big brother and stupid feeling he needed more sisters. Weren't she and the others enough? If he wanted to spend more time with her, she'd have been thrilled. Instead, he'd stuck with his comics, books and dream of somehow creating peace between the Grimm and the humans who relentlessly hunted and slew them.

And now with a silver-eyed devil, too.

One whose voice echoed from directly behind. "Um, Lavender?"

"Y-Yes, Ruby?" she replied, jumping a little but keeping her eyes ahead. If she didn't turn around, she wouldn't meet those terrifying silver orbs, and if she didn't do that, then she could pretend this was just another normal human she didn't need to be afraid of. "What is it?" she asked. "Do you want something to eat?"

"No, it's fine. I just… I wanted to ask you something… since you're my best friend's sister, I mean. You know him best and everything, right?"

Despite their animosity (not that the girl knew it), Lavender did preen a little at that. "Well, I certainly know him better than a lot of people do. He's my Big Brother, after all. I spent a lot of time trying to earn his attention."

Unlike Cinder…

"So, you could maybe give me some advice if I asked for it?"

Advice… from her?

"Whatever she asks, tell her the solution is to walk head-first into a wood chipper."

"Be nice, Elena," she rebuked, even if a part of her chuckled at the idea. Jaune would be angry, and then he'd distance himself even more from the family – and there was no way she wanted that. No matter what she wanted, Ruby Rose had to be left alone.

But that didn't mean she had to be helped in any way.

"I'll do what I can," she said. "Shoot. D-Do you mind if I keep looking this way, though? It's just a little easier…"

"That's fine." Ruby giggled. Her laughter trailed off a second later, and from the sound of it the girl was shuffling her feet together. "So… well, I… I have this friend, okay?"

"Yes…?"

"And this friend, which isn't me by the way, but this friend maybe likes a guy… Jaune," she added. "She likes Jaune."

"A friend, or you?"

"The friend!" Ruby gasped. "T-The friend is definitely not me. It's a really close friend who trusts me and asked for advice, and I promised I'd ask you for it since they're shy and don't want it to be noticed. It's not me, though. It's my friend."

Lavender sweat dropped a little but waited for the girl to continue. A friend of the girl, hmm…? Interesting. And this friend liked Jaune? Wait… Could she have been talking about that Pyrrha girl? Lavender's eyes widened at her genius. Of course, it made so much sense! The friend trusted her, and was close, and who closer than your own partner in Beacon? Plus, with how humble the championship fighter was, that would make her feel shy and nervous around Jaune.

"She could be talking about herself," Elena said.

"Oh please, she said it was a friend. Why would she lie?"

"True enough, my sweet. You're probably right. I don't really understand much of human mannerisms anyway."

Exactly, and Ruby Rose was way too simple to lie to someone like her. "Okay," Lavender said, smiling to herself. "So, your friend likes my brother. I promise I won't tell anyone. Go on…"

"T-Thanks. Well, the problem is that I li- I mean my friend likes Jaune, and I think he liked m-her too, or used to. But… uh… someone else kind of got him to like her as well, and now my friend isn't sure what to do about it."

"I see…" Lavender cupped her chin in thought. Well, from what she'd seen that couldn't be Weiss, since she knew well enough that relationship was fake. Could Ruby be referring to herself here? The idea made sense, and she nodded along. Pyrrha was the friend, and Ruby was the other girl. It was so obvious.

"And my friend wasn't sure if she liked Jaune at first, but I've changed my mind now – or my friend has, I mean. She…. Maybe… sort of…" Ruby paused, and then swallowed audibly. "Maybe likes him… more than she should…."

"Because the other girl is already with him?" Lavender asked.

"Y-Yeah…"

"And you're asking me for advice on what this `friend` should do, right?"

"Yeah… should she just give up and move on? I mean, if he has the other person first, then that's right, right? You can't just steal someone away."

No, you couldn't, or shouldn't, but at the same time if it was Pyrrha stealing Jaune away from Ruby, then she could make an exception. "It's not as easy as that," she said, adopting a lecturing pose, even if it was diminished somewhat by the fact she was too afraid to face the girl. "Your friend shouldn't think of it as stealing, but rather of making sure Jaune and her – and maybe even the other girl – end up with the person you all really love."

"Real love…?"

"Oh, of course. Teenagers get together all the time, but no one expects it to last forever." Or so she'd read in some of Coral's books. "Even so, if Jaune is with you - I mean, this first girl right now – then that doesn't mean it's perfect, you know? Would P-your friend really want to sit back and do nothing when it might make everyone miserable? What if Jaune and this first girl aren't meant to be? What if it doesn't work out? What if it does, but he might have been happier with your friend – and maybe the first girl has someone else she would come to love even more than Jaune? If people sit back and do nothing, then you might never know."

"Really?" Ruby asked with a hint of something odd in her voice. "But wouldn't that be unfair to the first girl?"

Well, obviously she would think that, since she was the one being left out in this example. Even so, Lavender nodded. "You shouldn't think about it in terms of right or wrong, but in what it might mean in the long-term. If your friend sits back and does nothing, then she might lose the love of her life. Is that really worth a little bit of honour or pride, especially if Jaune might not even be the right person for the first girl? Your friend is basically giving up her chances for happiness for nothing."

"You're saying it's better to take a risk and be happy, than sit back and always regret it?"

"Precisely… and be sure to tell your friend that! She needs to strike quickly before the other girl can sink her evil claws into him any further!"

"She's not evil," Ruby whined.

It really was, even if Jaune didn't believe it. The silver-eyed devil was pure evil, while Pyrrha looked like an absolute saint by comparison. It would be for the best this way round, even if Jaune might be angry at her later. At least he can be honest and have a real relationship with Pyrrha. He'd either have to lie his whole life with Ruby, or take her prisoner.

That was no basis for a good wife, and what the hell would even happen if they had silver-eyed half-Grimm babies!? It would be ridiculous. They'd be knocking themselves out every time they looked in the mirror.

"Thanks, Lavender," Ruby said, even if she sounded a little distracted. "You've… given me a lot to think about."

"No problem, Ruby." She smiled viciously. "I'm always here to help."

/-/

Ruby stood beside Pyrrha and watched as Jaune said farewell to his sister, who now seemed to be a lot more stead on her feet since the three of them were further away. It must have been hard to have an illness like that.

"Don't be a stranger, Big Brother," she said, hugging him tightly. "And maybe bring your other friends to visit as well, especially any male friends with dark hair and beautiful pink eyes. I'd love to meet them."

Pyrrha laughed, as did Ruby. She felt bad for Lavender though, since she was fairly sure the obvious instructions would go flying over Jaune's head. She also had no idea what Nora might do if she ever found out about this, which was probably a good reason to make sure she never found out in the first place.

It was probably for the best.

Before thee two parted, Lavender looked over to Ruby, and even though she shivered a little, she still managed to wink and lean a little closer. "Remember to tell your `friend` what I said."

Ruby's cheeks went red, but she nodded quickly. The emphasis she'd put on the word made it pretty clear she hadn't been nearly as subtle as she'd thought, but who on Remnant would have fallen for the "my hypothetical friend" thing? You'd have to have been raised under a rock to take that at face value.

As Jaune re-joined them and they made their way back to Beacon, Ruby remained silent in the face of the good-natured banter between the team, of Weiss asking why he wasn't as proficient as his sisters, and Pyrrha asking for more stories of baby Jaune listening to stories on his father's knee. Jaune bore it all with a laugh and a red face, rubbing the back of his head as he gave in to some demands, but held firm on others. Ruby smiled, but was too distracted to really take part.

Was Lavender right?

Should she really take the chance of hurting Yang like that?

It felt wrong, but there was no denying that some of what Jaune's sister said had sounded true. If she did nothing and Jaune and Yang broke up down the line, then she'd have wasted her own chance for nothing, and if Jaune was loyal to Yang, he'd just say no to her. Plus, hadn't Yang practically told her to try and get closer to him?

Was it really stealing if she had Yang's encouragement?

It felt like it…

It really did.

"Hey, Jaune," Ruby whispered, sidling up to him at a moment where Pyrrha and Weiss were lost in conversation.

He glanced down at her and smiled. He always smiled at her, and not in that indulgent way Yang did. He smiled like he was happy to see her. "Yeah?" he asked.

"You like Yang, right?"

"Of course."

Okay, cool. He did. That was fine. Her stomach twisted a little, but it was okay. This would be super easy if he just liked Yang all the way and had no time for her. She could back off and be happy for her sister without any confusing feelings getting in the way.

The time for subtlety was gone. She needed to be blunt. Jaune levels of blunt!

"Do you like me?" she asked, and instantly wanted to hide under a rock a second later. Was that too blunt? It felt too blunt. It felt like Cardin's mace to the face. There was no way Jaune would answer tha-

"Of course I do."

"Not like," she said, accurately guessing what he meant. "I mean…. Like-like."

"Like-like?"

Ugh, why did he have to make thing so complicated? Her cheeks were already red, and she had to spare a glance for their teammates to make sure they weren't listening in. They weren't, so she bit her lip and forged ahead.

"I mean… not like a friend. It's…" The words failed her – as they often did. "Do you think I'm pretty?" she asked instead.

Jaune blinked once, but answered immediately. "Yes."

"You could at least look. No one's going to believe you if you just say it straight away!"

"But I don't need to look," he said. "I get to see you in our room all the time."

Her mind died. "W-W-What!?"

"Well, I mean we share a room," he said, waving a hand like it was nothing. "And you walk around in your pyjamas in front of me." He carried on, heedless of her wide eyes and rapidly darkening face. He… He… He… "I'd have to be blind not to pay attention, especially when you wake up in the morning and you're all cute and sleepy."

"Gah…"

Okay, okay, deep breaths. This could still be Jaune being Jaune. He might just be making statements – even if she'd just found out he maybe paid as much attention to her getting changed as she did to him. Not that she looked, of course. Except only when he changed his top – and come on, Pyrrha and Weiss looked too! It wasn't just her!

She had to be sure, though. She had to be absolutely certain.

"And do you… do you like what you see when you look?"

Jaune glanced to her and raised an eyebrow. "I wouldn't look if I didn't. Why?"

"N-No reason," she stammered, looking away.

Oh…

Oh…

OH…

Things had… become a little more complicated.

Well, Lavender gets to officially join the Qrow school of misunderstood shipping advice. On another note, I'm back from my doctor now and it is a minor fracture in my right ankle, made worse by the fact I had to limp for another hour or more on it through the forest. My foot is in a weird corrective boot thing, and I have a crutch if I need it.

Wow… so, yeah. Left wrist in a brace and right foot in a cast. I am now half the man I used to be (Yang, plz...)! We'll see what else drops off next, I guess. At first I thought it was the ghost of all the Jaune's I've put through such horror in my fics, but some people have pointed out it is more likely the Pyrrha's I've deprived of their noodle.

Makes sense, I guess. Take pity on me, Pyrrha! I am already beaten!

Next Chapter: 23rd November

P a treon . com (slash) Coeur