What a long day. Or at least, she thinks it was a day. It was hard to tell how time worked down here. She was at least thankful she had a comfortable place to rest that night. The rest of her team seemed happy too. Weiss was drinking some some tea, Blake and Yang were sitting by the fire, Yang was holding Blakes hand… Oh yeah, that happened.

They finally kissed.

Good for them.

Ruby knew she shouldn't be jealous. She wanted to be happy for them. For her sister at least. After all, it wasn't their fault that Ruby's happy ending got cut short. It was-

"Hey," Jaune said, walking into the room with a box. "There's something I thought you should have."

Unless Penny was in that box she doubted that. He opened the box and put it down in front of her. There was Crescent Rose. Her pride and joy. Well it was. Now she didn't know what to think of it. A huntress' weapon was supposed to help them save people. Who had Ruby saved with it? She couldn't stop Neo from hurting Yang, she couldn't stop herself from falling before Jaune or Weiss. She couldn't save-

"Ruby?" Jaune asked.

"Oh... thanks." She put a hand on the weapon. She wanted to take it out, but she couldn't. She didn't deserve it.

"Can I... talk with you?"

"What is it?"

She really didn't want to do this in front of her friends.

"Just one on one, please."

Jaune studied his friend carefully. Her teammates looked at her too, but if they had any thoughts they kept them quiet.

"Okay. You three stay here, we'll be back soon enough."

Ruby followed him out the door. What was she even going to say? What was she even going to ask. Weiss refused to tell her more about what happened after she fell. She needed to know.

"Jaune…"

"Ruby…" Jaune looked a Ruby with a sadness she had never seen in him. "I know what you're going to ask about." He took a deep breath. His voice was cracking. Ruby felt bad bringing up the pain of that day but she needed to know. She looked down, not able to meet his gaze.

"Jaune I know you probably want nothing more than to forget that day…" Could she really do this? Could she handle what he had to say? No, she could. She'd face it head on.

"...but I NEED to know what happened to Penny."

She looked up at Jaune. Tears were already flowing from his eyes. Silent, endless tears.

"Ruby- I- are you SURE you want to know?" His voice was pained, panicked even. Desperate. Like he wanted to save her. Save her from what? She was already suffering so much, what else could he possibly say to make it worse?

"Yes. Please. I need it."

"I killed Penny." he choked out before collapsing in sobs.

Her world went dark and quiet.

Jaune?

Killed Penny?

No that can't be right. Jaune couldn't hurt a fly.

Why would he?

Did Cinder mind control him?

Did he blame himself for not blocking her shot like with the fall maiden?

Surely he didn't-

"Jaune... what do you mean you killed Penny?"

She needed to understand. He was speaking nonsense.

"I- she- Cinder-"

So it was Cinder.

"Cinder hit her real bad." Jaune struggled to gain a semblance of composure.

"She couldn't get up, Weiss and Winter could barely hold her off."

Oh no.

"Penny-"

No.

"I couldn't heal her in time."

Jaune.

"I wanted to. I TRIED TO." Grabbed Ruby's hands, begging for her to believe him.

"But she knew there wasn't time. She gave her life to save everyone elses. Without- without a maiden no one could beat Cinder. So she asked me to kill her before it was too late."

Ruby could not believe what she was hearing.

"Jaune…"

Jaune cried. No, he sobbed. Wept. There weren't enough words to describe it. She had never seen anyone this bad. And one by one, the tears welled up in Ruby's eyes too.

"...I'm... I'm" her voice broke.

"I know Ruby I know." Jaune said as if he was surrendering. "You're mad. You're angry. You hate me. You think something could've been done, that I should've ignored her. I've had 10 years to have this conversation with myself Ruby. I know everything you're going to say and you're right."

She put a hand on his shoulder.

"I'm sorry Jaune." And she broke down. She cried. She wept. She sobbed. She buried her head against his neck and bawled like she never had before.

Jaune didn't know what to do.

"Ruby… Ruby I don't understand."

Ruby tried to compose herself. "I'm sorry I don't hate you Jaune." She barely managed to get it out. She held onto him as if for dear life. "I can't hate you. Even if I wanted to I couldn't."

"Ruby I-"

"You're my best friend Jaune. From day one of Beacon to here and now. You waited years for us Jaune. I can't hate someone like that."

Jaune had no words. He had been dreading this day for years. Why wasn't she angry? What was wrong with her?

"Ruby I don't understand. Penny- she- you- you can't just let that go can you?"

Ruby cried harder still. Her voice as fractured as her heart.

"Jaune it wasn't your fault. You can't take the blame for that. You didn't blame me for Pyrrha. If I had been faster. If I had been smarter. If I hadn't gotten caught fighting torchwick. I went through all of that and you never blamed me once."

"Of course not. But you didn't put the arrow in her heart Ruby. You didn't choose to kill her."

"And you didn't chose to kill Penny. She choose to sacrifice herself." Ruby almost screamed. "Just like when she had that virus. She would rather sacrifice herself than let others die for her sake. So I don't blame you Jaune. I don't hate you. I don't think there was another way. I love Penny too much to even consider that she'd ask you to do that if there was."

"I'm sorry."

That was all Jaune could say.

He hadn't expected this.

He hadn't prepared for this.

He had spent years and years thinking about how giving Ruby Crescent Rose was likely the last thing he'd ever do with her. He was ready for hate, anger, fear even.

Anything but forgiveness.

"I am too Jaune."

The pair cried and cried in each others arms. Neither had expected what the other said, not could they have. And finally, when there were no more tears left to cry, they stood up.

"I loved her so much." Ruby said, wiping away her last tear. "I don't think I realized it till it was too late, but I really did."

Jaune almost chuckled. "I think I know a bit what that feels like."

They walked farther away from the hut in silence, taking in the foreign flora and fauna. The time for words was over, but they were both far too raw to go back yet. But something was still gnawing at Ruby's mind. Eventually, she broke the silence.

"Soooo... Blake and Yang. How about that?"

"I've been waiting years to see them together." He said. But he could tell something was still bothering Ruby. "Are you jealous?"

"What, no?"

She tried to play it off, but she was. She had hoped that some form of closure might fix that but it hadn't. She still felt the same.

"You're not a bad sister if you are jealous. I was jealous of Ren and Nora after Pyrrha died. I've been a little jealous of everyone who still has their partner alive. Since then. Still am."

"Jaune..."

"But that doesn't mean you can't also be happy for them. We all want what we can't have." He sighed. "We can't control how we feel Ruby, just how we act."

"But-"

"If you can forgive me for what I've done, I'm sure Yang and Blake can forgive a little jealousy."

That put Ruby's mind at ease. They were all friends after all. Nothing could change that, not even years and years of time apart. The two returned to the hut and Ruby hugged her sister tighter than she ever had before. She didn't tell her why. She didn't tell her how jealous she felt. She just wanted her to know that she loved her.