A/N: Created 15 February 2016. It's RWBY Relationship Week again on Tumblr; the challenge is to take two randomly-selected characters and explore their relationship, whether that be romantic, platonic, parental, mentor-apprentice, sibling, antagonistic, or what-have-you.

Monday's Randomly-Generated Names: Jaune Arc / Velvet Scarlatina (Holy Grail / Playboy Bunny)

Keep Moving Forward

Summary: Still understandably reeling from the aftermath of the Fall of Vale, Jaune finds some unexpected comfort.

In the aftermath of the Battle of Beacon and the Fall of Vale, most students had left to be with their families—those who could find them or who had families to return to. The rest banded together in a makeshift camp on Patch Island, where the teachers of Signal Combat School allowed them to stay for a while before deciding what they wanted to do next. As the weeks went by, students trickled away a few at a time—either to join other Academies or to work directly with other Hunters in the attempt to stabilize the region and stop the panic of Vale's Fall from spreading to the other Kingdoms—and soon there were only a few teams remaining.

Team CRDL, the latter three of whom had nowhere to go and were sticking with their leader, who had declined to retreat to his family's manor; Team CFVY, who were determined to help the civilians evacuated from Vale; and the remainder of Team JNPR, who…were still in recovery, as it were.

Ren and Nora had recuperated well with some bedrest, while Jaune…

Jaune was waiting for Ruby, who was still comatose. Ren had raised the possibility that she might remain so, but Jaune was certain—certain in the same way he had known the instant Pyrrha had died—that Ruby would be okay.

Ruby was the only one who had been there on the tower with Pyrrha when it happened. Her Uncle Qrow had come by to offer his condolences for their loss, and to explain that the subsequent flare of power which had frozen the giant Grimm had come from Ruby, but he was not forthcoming about whatever the hell it actually was, so Jaune was determined to hear it from Ruby's mouth.

Tensions in the camp were, understandably, rather high. So, when a distracted Cardin knocked shoulders with an equally-distracted Velvet one particularly hot day, it was not particularly surprising that his temper flared.

"Watch where you're going, you damn freak," he growled, staggering to a halt.

Before Velvet could apologize, though, Jaune cut in. "Back off, Cardin."

Both of them turned to look at Jaune, stomping over to them with an uncharacteristically angry look on his face.

Cardin sneered. "You just gonna play white knight all the time now, Jauney boy? This because you couldn't save your girlfr–"

His words cut off as Jaune's fist collided with his jaw. "There's no teachers here to give me detention and no Beacon you can blackmail me with getting kicked out of anymore, Cardin," Jaune snarled. "So by all means, continue to piss me off."

Cardin steadied himself again, barely managing to stay upright, and took in Jaune's seething posture.

"I've had it with you, Winchester," Jaune said flatly. "Look at where we are. You think this is the time to indulge your racist bullshit? Your grades were barely above mine, and I've never been to Combat school. How much good were you in Forever Fall?" He was advancing now, prodding at Cardin's chestplate. "Where were you during the Breach? How long did it take you to get involved in the Battle of Beacon? Because Velvet was right there with us at Ground Zero both times, more than holding her own!" With an effort, it seemed, Jaune reined himself in. He turned on his heel and walked away again. "Take a good look at yourself sometime, Cardin. I can't believe you like what you see."

Still making every attempt to restrain his temper, Jaune found himself stamping through the woods toward the seaside cliffs. There were parts of Patch that lay nearly at sea level, but nearest the camp, it was easily a sheer fifty-foot drop, and Jaune had found himself sitting on a boulder there on more than one occasion of late, when he needed a break from Nora's rambling and worrying about Ruby and mourning Pyrrha…

His blood boiled again at the callous way Cardin had brought her up, and he slumped down on his usual stone seat, watching the waves crash against the rocks below.

Jaune didn't know how long he sat there, staring moodily at the ocean, before he heard a small click. Before he could look around, though, he felt a body press against his back, and a chin rest on the top of his head. It was definitely a woman, from the shape, and a glance at the shadow stretching toward the cliff face in front of him showed two tall ears and told him who it was.

"Velvet?"

She didn't move, just continued leaning on his shoulders and resting her chin on his head, but she wasn't uncomfortable, so he went back to staring out to sea. After an unmeasurable pause, she said softly,"I really can't imagine it."

Jaune said nothing.

"I can't even bring myself to picture losing Yatsu, and we've never been…well."

Jaune sighed. "We never had much chance, anyway."

After a moment, Velvet said, in a quieter voice still, "I imagine you're probably not ready to hear it, but—"

"She would want me to keep moving forward," Jaune finished for her. He sighed, and let some of his weight lean against Velvet in turn, recognizing that she was trying to lend support. "Knowing it isn't the same as being able to do it, since I'm kinda stuck here waiting, but…I know."

They both watched the horizon for a while longer, just taking comfort in each other's presence.

A/N: I guess having Cardin as an antagonist is kinda cliche where these two are concerned, but to hell with it, I'm already behind.

Rabbits rest their chins on each other's heads as a show of (essentially) dominance, though since rabbits are always pretty timid creatures, it's usually less 'dominance' and more 'I'm being the strong one right now'. I personally like the idea of Faunus characters showing slight behavioral quirks, but I try to be careful not to phrase it as a 'beast within' or any kind of a racial thing.