(I took some more time to make this chapter a little longer, and I will be making the chapters after this one longer also. I hope you guys enjoy! :D)

Chapter 3: The Confrontation

It had been more than two hours since Jaune had left and Ren was starting to get more nervous. Ren was usually of clear mind, able to quickly find a solution to most problems. Thus, he would almost never get nervous over something as "trivial" as a fight. But this situation puzzled him. No matter how much he meditated or tried to relax, he couldn't help but feel worried. Like he KNEW something bad was bound to happen. When Pyrrha walked in she didn't really notice Ren's slight uneasiness, for he did not show his emotions much. But it only took Nora a few seconds after she got back before she was over next to Ren, poking his nose, asking what was wrong. Nora had known Ren almost all of their lives, and he'd never been this out of it. She poked and prodded until he finally gave up and told them what Jaune was up to, and that it had been three and a half hours since he left. That information almost broke Pyrrha. She knew what Jaune had been going through and she understood that he didn't want to "bother" anyone with his problems, it's just who he is.

Ren withheld the location from the girls, already kicking himself for breaking his promise to Jaune that he wouldn't tell Pyrrha. He knew that, if for some reason, Jaune was still fighting Cardin, and Pyrrha came to "save" him. He would never be able to gain any confidence.

"Give me his scroll" Pyrrha said giving Ren a death glare for holding out with this information.

"What are you talking about?" Ren asked nervously, although unless you were Nora, you couldn't have told.

"I already checked where he usually leaves it and it's not there. And he never takes it with him because he doesn't like technology that much." Pyrrha stated, pointing to his dresser drawer. Ren eyed the spot she pointed.

'How does she know where he keeps it?' Ren thought to himself, also asking if Pyrrha's affection for Jaune was getting on the dark side. After a bit of Pyrrha's constant glaring he reluctantly pulled out Jaune's hidden scroll and handed it to Pyrrha.

After a few seconds her eyes went wide and she darted out of the dorm room, followed by Ren trying to stop her and Nora saying that "We really ARE going to break his legs this time". Team RWBY was exiting their room for a training session when they caught sight of a red blur and the NR of JNPR chasing it.

"Woah, what's all this about?" Yang asked with a smirk.

"Jauney's in trouble" Nora said, not seeming worried.

On that note, team RWBY joined on this rescue mission for the leader of team JNPR.

What they were met with when they got there, they would never forget for the rest of their lives. There was a mound of dirt and what seemed to be a chestplate at the head of it.

"Hey, doesn't that look like…" Ruby asked as they approached.

"A grave….." Ren said with a visible shadow over his eyes.

When they got closer, they saw that there was a name engraved into it.

Cardin Winchester

This made both Ruby and Nora vomit and elicited a gasp from Weiss. Everyone else just stood there, staring at the newly dug grave in disbelief.

"No… NO! Jaune couldn't have! He wouldn't!" Pyrrha yelled dropping to her knees. While Yang was helping her up, she caught sight of a yellow head on the edge of the cliff.

"Why don't we go ask him ourselves?" she said as she nodded her head to where Jaune stood. Everyone ran over to him while calling his name. When they got to him, he turned around with closed eyes and a wet face. He was smiling. Then, like a flash of light, he was gone… It took them a little to process what had just happened.

"OH MY GOD….. HE JUMPED!" Yang screamed while jumping off the ledge after him. Followed soon by the teams going to the edge to watch. More than one person was enough to catch him, any more and they would just get in the way.

Yang could hardly see, the wind in her eyes made them water like crazy. She fired shots from Ember Celica to hasten her descent. She finally caught up with the boy and grabbed him with one arm while repositioning so she would belly flop the ground that was steadily approaching. She then kicked off of the wall of stone and launched them into the nearby treeline.

"Just… Dropping in?" Yang said, mocking Jaune's words when he caught Weiss in their trial mission.

"You should've let me drop Yang, I don't deserve life."

This shocked Yang. I mean, sure, she wasn't friends with him per-se, but she knew his attitude, and this was the opposite of his normal, goofy self. It scared her, she only then felt the weight of the situation. Jaune had tried to kill himself, and he would have done it if they hadn't found out soon enough.

"Yang….. Before you take me back up. I need you to tell Velvet to go to the cliffs. I need to tell her something" Jaune said while avoiding eye contact. Yang, caught off guard by his sudden request could only say "sure".

Back at the Cliffs

"They sure are taking their sweet time aren't they?" Weiss asked, arms crossed and tired of waiting.

This made both Pyrrha and Ruby to blush. Thinking of what they might be doing down there made them uneasy.

"Hey guys, where's Yang? She said that I needed to be he-…" She was cut off by the sight of the grave that entered her vision. Cardin's Grave…

Velvet dropped to her knees and stared at the chestplate/tombstone. Her eyes empty, almost like her soul had gone with him in that moment. The friends gathered around her, now knowing that Jaune was safe.

"What… What happened to him?" Velvet whispered loudly, as if her voice was being drained by the second.

"We… We don't know yet… All we know is that Jaune came to meet him an-" Ruby said before being cut off by Velvet.

"AND YOU JUST LET HIM GO?!" Velvet screamed, tears now flowing like a waterfall.

"We didn't know until it was already too late" Pyrrha said while looking at Ren, who was helping Nora with the situation.

Yang then, like on que, hopped up onto the edge of the cliff, said boy in arm. Yang let him go and immediately sat down, trying to comprehend what had just happened. While Jaune got up and started walking over to the group that was spread around the grave… That he had made. He didn't know if he could face them, but he had to tell Velvet. Velvet looked up and saw the shell of what was once Jaune Arc, slowly walking over, head down. She got up and started walking towards him also. It then got slowly faster, until she was a full sprint. Jaune looked up only long enough to see Velvet's fist. She had punched him, and it was hard. She kept repeatedly pummeling him with no resistance from the knight. The others ran over and pulled Velvet off only to see the damage she had caused. Jaune's nose was visibly broken what seemed like four times over in different areas. One of his eyes were bleeding profusely, and the other was too swollen for them to see. He was missing most of his teeth and he was coughing up blood. He was mutilated to say the least.

"Velvet! You could have killed him! What's your deal?!" Ruby asked while getting down to tend to her fellow leader.

"Who cares!" Velvet spat.

"He killed Cardin!" she said as she collapsed yet again. Her words echoing through everyone's minds. Could the lovable goof that everyone has come to know really do something so horrible? Pyrrha had already thought of the possibility and she didn't care. Cardin was the scum of the earth, no one cares when they take out the trash, this was the same thing to her.

"So what if he did?!" asked Ruby, surprising everyone. Pyrrha was about to say the exact same thing.

"Cardin is the one who invited him out her-" Ruby was saying before being interrupted by a loud, audible snapping noise. It was Jaune, his aura was already healing him. Which meant that his bones were snapping back into place, piece by *SNAP!* piece. This elicited a horrendous scream from the boy, this pain was very much worse than it being broken in the first place. This made everyone cringe. Except for Velvet, who had a wicked nasty grin on her face.

'H-Had she… Planned that?' Pyrrha thought in terror as she re-assessed the huntress next to her. After about thirty minutes it was starting to get dark out and no one had talked for the rest of that time. Jaune was almost fully healed, teeth and everything. He felt like it was the best time as ever. So he sat up, surprising some of his friends with his sudden movement. He then stared Velvet in her eyes.

"Cardin, he… He wanted me to tell you that…. That he loved you Velvet" Jaune said with immense sadness in his voice. This news shocked and confused everyone. Everyone but Velvet, she had a look in her eyes that was a mix of sadness, anger, and slight happiness.

"So he was finally able to say it huh? And it took him dying to get there…" Velvet said while putting a hand on the chest piece.

"Idiot" she said while holding back another wave of oncoming tears. It had only just then that it had sunk in to their friends. Jaune was a murderer, he had killed a human being.

"I… Guess I should explain…." said Jaune looking back down from Velvet.

A Few Minutes Later

"You can't expect us to believe that do you?!" Blake asked angrily. Everyone was speechless at his story.

"I…. I don't think he's lying guys" Velvet said quietly.

"I mean sure, we've read about this in textbooks and such, but for it to actually happen?" asked Ruby, who was sat next to Jaune.

"I know this may be surprising, but Cardin and I were childhood friends…" Velvet said, trailing off at the end, as if looking into the past.

"His dad was extremely abusive to him, he was bullied all throughout his school years." Velvet said.

"We thought that we could escape all of that by coming here to Beacon. But he had changed into the Cardin that you all knew" Velvet said, starting to cry again.

"I just let him do what he wanted, I thought he would get over it and go back to the way he was. But he never did, and this is what happened" Velvet then looked at Jaune and… Hugged him? This made both Ruby and Pyrrha's eye twitch.

"W-w-what are y-y-you doing Velvet?" Asked Ruby, flustered by Velvet's sudden show of affection.

"I didn't know you had gone through so much for him Jaune. Even if he was a jerk, you fulfilled his wish to you" Velvet said as she cried into Jaune, hugging him tighter.

"I don't deserve your forgiveness Velvet…" Jaune said pushing her away.

"I… I killed someone. You should have finished the job when you had the chance" Jaune said.

*SLAP!* Pyrrha had slapped Jaune out of no where.

"You are the most idiotic person I know!' this was very out of character for Pyrrha, she was usually very collected and composed. What she looked like now didn't seem to be herself anymore. Her green make-up was smeared all over her face from all of the tears she shed for her team leader silently. Her face was that of pure anger and confusion.

"Do you honestly think that we… No! That I could live without you Jaune?!" Pyrrha said, finally lifting the immense weight that had been on her chest. But that weight was the only thing keeping her tears from coming back. She hugged Jaune and cried into his shoulder.

"Yeah Jaune, you're a great team leader and person" said Nora, having one of her brief moments of sincerity.

Ren then put a hand on Jaune's other shoulder.

"It takes a great heart to do what you did today Jaune. Cardin knew that it was too late and he trusted you enough to end his suffering. It's not your fault." Ren said quietly, almost at a whisper.

"B-b-but, I'm a murderer! He's never coming back… Ever!" Jaune cried.

"Then fulfill his wish Jaune" said Weiss.

"You mentioned something about him saying that you could be the best hunter didn't he?"

"Then strive for that Jaune, be the best you can be and do what he thought you could. I'd say that's a good way to honor his memory" Weiss's sudden outburst shocked the others, she was acting out of character also.

"Thanks Weiss, I guess I could do that…" Jaune said getting up.

It was almost fully dark out by now.

"I think we should all get a full night's sleep. We've all had a long day" Yang said going to the group from her spot on the cliff where she was sat.

Ozpin's Office

"Well that was interesting" Ozpin said aloud to the figure standing in front of him.

"Yes… Very interesting indeed. He might just be everything you said he'd be Ozpin" Ironwood said, cracking a grin.

Authors Note:

(There was A LOT of crying in this chapter huh? So, I've been feeling like this story has been doing badly, do to the review count. I just wanted to know if I should continue this or not? It will help me a lot., thanks!)