Chapter 7

A few days later all the Reds and Blues, aside from Wash, were all sat in the mess hall, Tucker had gathered them all for an impromptu meeting ''ok everyone's here, good let's begin'' he said.

''Wait Wash isn't here'' Doc noted.

''I know that's intentional'' said Tucker ''I called us all here to propose something, as you know we installed a program into Beacon computers allowing us to look through they're surveillance feeds and the new students are coming today, so I propose we watch the monitors''

''Why? Nothing bad happens yet to Wash's knowledge so why should we?'' Simmons asked.

''I'm disappointed in you Simmons don't you realise what an amazing opportunity we have?'' Tucker asked, the other Reds and Blues looked at each other confused ''don't you idiots get it!? This is our opportunity to see what Wash was like before Project Freelancer''

The Reds and Blues all took a moment to ponder over the idea, it seemed like an interesting idea after all they only knew about Wash post Project Freelancer, so seeing what he was like before it was interesting to them, they were also somewhat interested in what Wash was like when he was a kid, but… ''As interesting as that is Tucker and don't get me wrong it is a pretty interesting idea but there's one big problem, we don't know what Wash looks like remember'' stated Grif.

''Actually that's not true'' Sarge stated ''I've seen his face, Tucker's seen his face and so have Caboose, Donut and Doc and I think we should be able to identify him even if he is younger''

''Hmm, I don't know guys, I mean showing our faces is sort of a show of trust and doing this kind of feels like we're you know…'' Donut said.

''Oh come on, we're gonna see younger Wash eventually, so why not now'' said Tucker.

''Hmm, I guess that's true'' mused Donut.

''Look guys this is our one chance, we might not get another one'' said Tucker.

''What do you mean our one chance?'' Simmons asked.

''Don't know if you've noticed Simmons but Wash is in a pretty broody mood today'' said Tucker.

''Oh yeah'' said Simmons.

''Well it is understandable, I mean this is a pretty big day in his old life, I'm sure he's… you know'' said Doc.

''Look, I don't know about you guys but I'm gonna watch the monitors you can join me if you want and not if you don't'' stated Tucker ''how about you Caboose, you gonna watch it with me?''

''Hmm'' Caboose mused in a thinking tone ''well I would like to see a younger Wash… ok I will''

''Eh, we're gonna see him eventually so fuck it why not'' said Grif with a shrug, with that Sarge and Simmons also agreed.

''Hmm, I guess we will see him eventually so sure'' said Donut.

''[Eh sure, I mean I've got nothing better to do today]'' stated Lopez with a shrug.

''Doc?'' Tucker asked.

''Huh, peer pressure fine'' said Doc.

So the Reds and Blues all quickly moved to the monitor room and began to look over the various monitors, to try and find a younger Wash, eventually something caught their attention an explosion, they looked over to the monitor to see what was happening and saw two girls arguing one in a black and red dress and one in a white dress and then a third girl dressed in black joined the argument, the argument ended with the white one storming off and the black one walking away while the one in a red and black dress laid down on the floor, they were about to look at a different monitor when someone else walked up to the girl on the ground reaching a hand out, he was dressed far more casually, in jeans and a hoodie, along with some light armour, most of the Reds and Blues were moving to different monitors, but the ones who knew what Wash looked like recognised who this was.

''That's him, that's Wash!'' Tucker cried.

This drew everyones attention, those who were moving onto different monitors quickly rushed back to the monitor they were watching to look at 'Wash' they were all baffled by how he looked.

''That's Wash? Really!'' Simmons exclaimed.

''He looks nothing like I thought he would'' Grif mused.

''[Huh, I didn't expect him to be a blonde]'' Lopez said.

''Oh hey, you're right Lopez his hoodie is a similar shade to his armour'' said Donut.

''[Oh for the love of… why do I even try?]'' Lopez asked.

''Hey wait, does this thing have audio I want to hear what they're saying'' said Tucker.

''Oh, right got it'' said Simmons switching the audio on.

Just in time for them to hear…

''The name's Jaune Arc, short sweet rolls off the young ladies love it''

Silence and then…

''BWHA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!''

''AH-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!''

''OH-HA-HA-HA-HA!''

''EH-HEH-HEH-HEH-HEH!''

''[HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA-HA!]''

''Ah ha-ha-ha… I don't get it'' said Caboose.

''Oh my god!'' Simmons gasped for breath ''I did not expect that''

''Ah, we should probably thank Wash that was a good laugh'' wheezed Sarge.

''[I'm not even programmed to laugh so… oh god I'm gonna be making fun of that without him knowing it]'' stated Lopez.

''Oh look at him'' said Donut pointing at the screen where the younger or Jaune as he was now known trying to assure her he would ''I feel bad for laughing at him now''

''Oh don't worry about it Donut, it's just one of those things you do when you're young, ya know I'm sure we all did it, I know I did'' said Doc.

''You know what I'm gonna say that at one point just for the hell of it'' said Tucker.

They were about to continue watching when they heard the door opening behind them, they turned to see Wash entering the room ''what the hell is going-'' he started but stopped when he saw what they were doing.

''Wash, we can explain'' said Tucker.

''You came in here to watch my younger self to see what he was like'' stated Wash.

''Ok, maybe we can't explain'' said Tucker.

''It's fine guys, really I don't mind, you were going to see him eventually, but I do have to ask what did you see?'' Wash asked.

The guys snickered causing Wash to raise a brow before Tucker spoke up ''is the reason you go by Wash because its short, sweet and rolls off the tongue''

''I don't think ladies would love it though'' Grif said snickering.

Wash just groaned ''ah, you heard that did ya'' he said before his eyes fixed on one of the monitors.

''Y-yeah, that's hilarious we'll be quoting that for years'' Tucker laughed, the guys continued laughing until they noticed just how still Wash was ''Wash are you ok?''

''Hey I know it's hard having a joke like that on ya, but you gotta take the joke'' said Sarge, Wash still didn't move.

The guys were concerned now, Caboose looked over at one of the monitors ''hey look it's Carolina!'' He cheered, causing the other Reds and Blues turned to look at the monitors and saw a girl around the same age as Jaune was who really did look like Carolina, she was dressed in bronze Spartan armour.

''That's not Carolina idiot, but…'' Tucker trailed off ''Wash, who is that'' but when Tucker turned Wash had already left the room

Wash stood atop the Air Ship watching as clouds passed by while the ship drifted through the air just thinking about the past.

''Hey''

Wash turned to see Tucker and Caboose stood behind him, Caboose was carrying a tray of cookies.

''You ok?'' Tucker asked.

''I made you cookies'' said Caboose ''Doc helped but it was my idea''

Wash smiled under his helmet ''yeah, I'm ok guys'' he said, the two walked up to him and Caboose held the tray up to Wash, Wash took his helmet off and held it underarm before taking two of the cookie Caboose offered, he passed one two Tucker and bit into the other ''it's good, thanks Caboose''

''Cookies always make me feel better'' said Caboose.

''Hey, uhh… we're- we're sorry about…'' Tucker trailed off.

''It's fine Tucker, I'm not mad or anything'' said Wash.

''I didn't think you we're but you know, it obviously opened up old wounds and I'm sorry about that'' said Tucker.

''Tucker it's not your fault alright'' said Wash.

''Well, it kinda is I wanted to watch the monitors to try and find the younger you, I wanted to see what you were like before Project Freelancer, but I ended up hurting you because of it and I'm sorry'' said Tucker.

''Tucker it really wasn't your fault, ok, you didn't make me come into the room and you didn't make me see… her…'' Wash trailed off and looked down, he took a long deep breath and continued ''I would have seen her eventually and have been confronted by this eventually and there is more stuff I'll eventually have to confront, so you don't have to apologise''

Tucker nodded and for a while the three were quiet just eating the cookies until Tucker spoke up again ''listen Wash, you don't have to do this alone alright, you were there for us when Church…'' now Tucker looked down and so did Caboose ''so we're here for you now if you need to let this all out, but if you don't want now its fine, we're here for you whenever you need us''

Wash was quiet for a while until…

''Pyrrha… her name was Pyrrha… she loved me and I loved her… but I didn't realise I loved her until it was too late…''

Wash started to tear up as Tucker and Caboose hugged him comfortingly and the three just stood there watching as the clouds peacefully passed by.

Ok so that's the chapter, sorry it took a while I didn't really know how to start this one eventually I came up with it, I hope you enjoyed it, oh and a little thing to note I've decided I am doing the dumb Cardin idea I came up with and I noticed I incorrectly uploaded the last chapter, it had a section where Wash and Tucker were running through the courtyard, which was going to highlight the idea, if you want give the last chapter a reread or at least that section in particular and see if you can spot it.