"YOU WHAT!" Ruby had shouted that a little too loud, as evidenced by the fact that Weiss, Sun, and Neptune came rushing to the hallway.
"Ruby, what's going on? Is Jaune hitting on you?" asked Weiss.
"Huh, why would I be hitting on her? I'm dating Pyrrha!" proclaimed Jaune.
"Well excuse me if I'm used to seeing you trying to seduce woman!" was Weiss' response.
"Not cool man!" said Neptune, trying to chime in so that he could be on the side of his crush.
"Neptune, buddy, don't start. You shouldn't be talking, man." said Jaune, who was definitely not amused. He couldn't help but cringe though. Did he really hit on Weiss that much during his time at Beacon?
"Weiss, it's fine. Jaune, was, uh, just telling me a secret. No need to get all mad!" said Ruby as she grabbed Jaune's hand and led him to an empty room where none could interrupt. She heard Weiss say something, but she couldn't focus on that now! "Jaune, are you serious?"
"Why are you opposed to my idea?" Jaune snapped back, feeling betrayed by the fact that, in his eyes, Ruby didn't want to avenge Pyrrha.
"Look, I want to make Cinder pay as much as you, but really, murdering her, Emerald, and Mercury in cold blood? That just doesn't sit well with me!"
"Why not? Ruby, THEY murdered people. Not just Pyrrha, but others too, including Penny!"
"Jaune, you know that I know that. You know that I can't stop thinking about that! But, killing people? My Mom and Dad taught me that if I kill someone who has killed another, I can end up being just as evil as them if I enjoy it!"
"Ruby, they're not people. They're monsters! Killing them doesn't make us as bad as them! Besides, if this whole Time Travel thing didn't happen, what were you planning to do when you came face to face with them again? Were you just gonna let them live?"
"I uh, would have beaten them in a fight and get them sent to prison!"
"Prison, really? And what if they escaped? What if they killed more of our friends? What you do then? How would you feel?"
"I, uh, I would…"
"Ruby, sometimes, terrible people deserve to die! I know you want to be like the Hunters and Huntresses from bedtime stories, but, the real world isn't like those stories! We found that out the hard way! Sometimes, the only way to stop a bad guy from doing terrible things is by doing terrible things to them! Besides, we're not killing them for real! When this is over, nothing we did here will last. We're just doing this so that we can reach a better world where we don't have to do this at all! Please Ruby! Please help me do what's right!"
Ruby sighed. It looked like Jaune was going to convince her after all. She still had some reservations though.
"Ok, but, not only did Chromos tell us to stay away from conflict, but what if something goes wrong and we get hurt!"
"It's fine Ruby! We can't die here. Even if we lose the fight, the timeline will still change! No matter, what we'll win! And as for Chromos, she's not gonna care! You fought Torchwick again and nothing happened!"
"Alright, fine. What's the plan?"
She didn't realize it then, but, the moment she stopped trying to convince Jaune to not kill Cinder and her allies was the moment that Ruby ensured that the fate of several people would not be a pleasant one.
I caught Covid even though I am vaccinated. That's why I hadn't posted in the last few weeks. I was actually better last week, but I wasn't motivated enough to write this chapter until today. Sorry for that. If all goes back to normal, the normal schedule will remain. I hope you all are looking forward to the next chapter!