Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY.
/
/
Thursday
/
Ruby wakes in time to join the family for breakfast. Comments are made about the bags under her eyes, and when Leandra asks how she slept Ruby admits that it was terrible and admits that the bed was uncomfortable. The answer surprises Leandra- who put many mattresses and pillows as possible to make it soft- and Jaune's mother vows to see the problem herself. There's a snigger from the younger side of the table- Wrath or Envy- and Ruby has a suspicion as to who's to blame for the poor bed and a few other minor pranks she's seen across the days.
Jaune and Ruby both make efforts to spend time with Wrath that morning. Jaune is utterly refuted, but Wrath is forced to accept Ruby's company by her older sisters and the directive from Nicholas. Ruby accompanies Wrath as she goes to a local school for a half-day of final exams at a preliminary Huntress school. Sort of a rural version of Signal.
Wrath is stern, too stern for her age, and all but seems set on disliking Ruby by proxy of Jaune. As Ruby accompanies her, and gets dragged in as a guest speaker/Beacon student/minor celebrity by the gaggle of children, she has a chance to see Wrath interact with the students. Wrath is the class disciplinarian, all about the rules, and brokes no compromise. But she's also honest to a fault, has a strong sense of justice- taking responsibility for her own mistakes, intolerant of cheaters, and stepping in to stop bullying. Wrath is the second coming of Pride, leading the Class into their final exams, but is probably pushing herself too hard- and pushing school friends away in the process.
It's some of those schoolmates- young and enamored with Ruby as the grown up Huntress- who ultimately reveal the source of Wrath's, well, wrath. It turns out that Wrath used to be like Envy, adoring Jaune and always bragging about him. Wrath's initial reputation for being scary-mad was from her righteous retribution against those who mocked him and his dream of becoming a Huntsman. Wrath always insisted Jaune would, because he said he would and Arcs never go back on their word. Anyone who questioned Jaune's integrity was subject to Wrath.
Wrath, who had the same sort of dream as Jaune, got a start on the path before Jaune did through a local tourney. The prize for the winner was entry to the local private Huntress school. Despite being as much a novice as Jaune, Wrath did surprisingly well and made her way up the tourney ranks. She dedicated every victory to the family that supported her, and especially to Jaune who encouraged her to dare and try in the first place. Despite her nerves at facing girls years older than her, Jaune supported her, and made her a promise to encourage. Jaune gave his word that if she made it to the finals, he'd be right there rooting for her.
She did, dreaming of passing on her lessons to Jaune in turn so they could be Hunters together, but he didn't, because he ran off to Beacon instead. Jaune broke his word as an Arc, to his own family, when disappeared without warning. Wrath wouldn't even accept that he was missing- sure he was just late and would arrive at any minute- until the tournament was already over. The family didn't even know he was alive until the Vytal Festival, and Wrath and spent that first semester in mourning thinking he'd died to Grimm until he appeared on TV.
Wrath has never forgiven him his double betrayal, of hurting the family and breaking his word to her, for running off as he did.
Ruby learns this, but it doesn't help her bond with Wrath. Wrath is angry at Jaune, enough that she claims her real brother died long ago- and even if he didn't, he's still dead to her. She doesn't want an apology from a lying imposter who's just saying what she wants to hear. Jaune lied his way into Beacon, where he went on to become a hero without integrity, and hid away from family all this time. Nothing Ruby says otherwise can convince her that Jaune actually keeps his word or cares about his family- and in fact, Wrath slings some sharp questions at Ruby. What makes her think Jaune would be any more faithful to her than he was them? If Jaune puts family first- like all the Arcs do- and abandoned them once, what makes her think he'll be any more loyal to her? Jaune is surely going to just abandon her, or the Arcs again, or both.
Ruby's too mature to rise to such challenges… openly. They'll niggle later, but she puts them aside. Ruby wants to know what it would take for Wrath to be satisfied, but Wrath demands the impossible. Wrath wants her real brother back- the one who kept his word.
Until then, Wrath is opposed to both Jaune and Ruby. Jaune, for reasons given. Ruby, for so blatantly trying to curry favor with all the sisters. Wrath knows Ruby is trying to get close, and reacts negatively to it. As far as Wrath is concerned, Ruby caring for liar-liar Jaune- and keeping the secret on top of her own Beacon rule-breaking- makes Ruby almost as bad. It makes her complicit in keeping Jaune away, and promising to take him away from the family once more. This is the real reason that Wrath dislikes Ruby- conflating her with Jaune's abandonment of the family and family-first.
The half-day ends poorly as they return for lunch. Wrath goes off to train for her finals tomorrow- a mini-tournament of the school- leaving Ruby wondering what to do.
Losing her mark for the day, but seeing Envy open while Jaune is off with other sisters, Ruby tries to take the opportunity to get to know Envy. It's their first time together without Jaune. It's not productive.
Envy is just shy of a bro-con, and was one when she was younger before Jaune left, and intends to make up for lost time now. Over the course of the week so far she's been guilt-tripping Jaune over how he ran away, and so on, in order to get him to spend more time with her. She shares with her sisters, but openly excludes Ruby. It's worse when Jaune isn't there. When Ruby runs into the wall with Wrath and tries to make progress with Envy as well, she's shot down despite her outreach. Without Jaune around to be sweet for, Envy is a bit of a brat- claiming that she's Jaune's favorite sister, and making clear she has no intention of letting Ruby take Jaune away again. She not-so-subtly hints that she's also been behind Ruby's minor misfortunes since arriving, and Ruby has to draw on all her maturity not to respond poorly.
It's a frustrating day of failure, and a stressful one. Dinner isn't a disaster, there's even a moment of comedy when Leandra worries about fixing Ruby's bed for the night so that she can sleep better, but dinner is more negative than not. Wrath's anger and Envy's hogging Jaune's attention away dominate the dinner feels, but what really sticks out is when Jaune's parents voice their disappointment/disapproval that Ruby and Jaune aren't making progress with Wrath and Envy. It subtly calls to mind their conditions for supporting Ruby, and her threat of open disapproval if Ruby fails.
After dinner, Jaune and Ruby meet in her room and talk about Wrath. Knowing the truth, Ruby confronts (asks) Jaune about how he ran away from home. Jaune has no good answer, only the truth. When Wrath was winning her way up that tournament, Jaune's own dream of becoming a Huntsman seemed further away than ever. Being surpassed by his little sister was one thing- having to beg training from her would have been humiliating. Jaune couldn't stand it, the same sort of immaturity that held him back during the Jaundice arc, and ran off to Beacon to become a Huntsman on his own. Then he struggled to just stay in, and then got distracted with their friends, and then Cinder happened…
He does, and doesn't, regret that. He doesn't regret going to Beacon, or making his friends, and he especially doesn't regret meeting Ruby- insert sincere look of love and holding of hand here- and he doesn't even regret lying about his transcripts. But he does regret lying to his family, and letting them think he was dead, and staying away as long as he did, and most of all breaking his promise to Wrath. Even if most everyone else has forgiven him in the years since, none of them have forgotten, and Wrath in particular hasn't forgiven. He can't protest her accusations when they're so right. For someone who claims to think family is important, he certainly hasn't acted like it- and that shames him.
And what's worse is that Jaune doesn't know what he can do to make things right. He can't even tell Wrath he regrets all of it because that really would be a now she hates him, and even Ruby by extension, and he doesn't know how he can make it up to her. To prove that he's sorry and does love her. There's nothing he can do that she'd believe.
Despite her own worries, Ruby embraces Jaune in empathy and promises him that she'll help him reconcile with Wrath. She'll find some way to appease Wrath, no matter what it takes. Saying so makes Jaune nervous- afraid of the connotations of sacrifice- but Ruby laughs. Who said anything about sacrifice? She'll win them all over, for Jaune too. By the end of the week, he'll have all his family back.
Jaune embraces her, and with a tight throat thanks her, and Ruby smiles into him as he says he loves her. This time when Envy comes seeking Jaune, Ruby shoos Jaune away, claiming she needs to think. She sees him off with a smile, lets the door close… and the smile drops.
Despite her brave words, Ruby feels time slipping away as no ideas come- and as it does, her worries start to cloud her tired thoughts as everything circles. Jaune is clearly guilty about how he left his home, and putting family first is his way of trying to make it up to them. Considering all the family-centric sisters, remembering how Jaune got angry with her over Avarice, and Wrath's criticism of Jaune's faithfulness, and knowing that Jaune is trying to prove himself to his family-first family…
If Leandra and Nicholas won't approve if their daughters don't approve of them… and if Wrath won't approve of Jaune because Jaune didn't put family first…
If it came down to a choice between family and Ruby… would Jaune choosing family over Ruby prove his sincerity to Wrath? Help him reconcile with the family he clearly cares for?
It's an option that makes Ruby unhappy, but it's not one that she can shake as the thought continues to fester and grow. Maybe Jaune would choose her, maybe not... but maybe he shouldn't. Or maybe she should save him the dilemma. If the family disapproval and veto is inevitable, perhaps she could stage something to deserve it, something that would help reconcile Jaune and Wrath. Remembering Jaune's reaction over Avarice would make it easy. She'd still lose Jaune either way, but at least Jaune would have his entire family.
These aren't thoughts that make Ruby happy, because she doesn't want to break up with Jaune. She loves him, and doesn't doubt that he loves her, even if she fears he loves family more. She wants to have him, and doesn't want him to have to choose between her or family, but she can't think of anything that would allow him to reconcile with Wrath and his family and be with her. The threat of family disapproval feels inevitable.
The feeling is reinforced that night when Ruby, still awake, stumbles across Jaune talking with his mother and father. Jaune is confronting them in private, where he wouldn't do so at dinner, about their remarks towards Ruby winning the sister's approval. Jaune is on Ruby's side, but not as strident or forceful as he was the first night. Leandra makes clear (and is implied to have been telling so from the start of the trip) that she has doubts about Ruby, no matter how fair or sensitive she is- and Nicholas warns Jaune that his disapproval will only be worse if Jaune betrays his Top Ten again by running away from them once more. Jaune falls silent, and Ruby slips off to bed before she's noticed or can hear the rest.
It's another poor night of sleep, and not just for the lumps under her mattress.
/
/
Author Notes:
No, this isn't a happy feel-good chapter. But even if this was a rom-com, this would be the crisis period of dark worries.
Something a little different. Wrath is somewhat special, and has two character pieces (because spoilers).
Wrath (Ren) (Part 1 of 2): A visual rather than thematic influence. Wrath, as an under-developed girl, has Ren-like proportions, Ren-like martial arts and wardrobe, Ren-like hair, and even (usually) pink eyes. Like Yang, Wrath's eyes go from default blue to red-ish (pink) when angry- or, as is usually the case, when Jaune is around. Wrath is also a quiet girl, though more simmering righteous anger than serene calmness. Wrath is ultimately a very passionate but tightly controlled person. Her anger at Jaune is a combination of broken pedestal, broken trust, and personal betrayal all mixed with the grief she had when he disappeared and she thought he was dead.