pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
(Yang POV)
We were sitting in the train-car on the Argus Unlimited together. All of team RWBY reunited again.
My little sis was wearing Jaune's old hoodie over her usual clothes. It was a little distracting.
I really wasn't sure how to feel about that because on one hand I'd been kinda right about Jaune. On the other hand I'd been kinda right about Jaune.
I was right to try and keep him away from my sister. My instincts had been confirmed. But it broke my little sister's heart to have him as a traitor.
She'd been wearing that hoodie for two days. Like a flag of warning on where she stood on the subject. She firmly believed that Jaune was somehow a victim in all this. I… I was less convinced. I knew Blake was too. I mean the way he snuck into Beacon counted for something in all this.
I wasn't sure quite what all it counted for but it counted for something.
Weiss, meanwhile, believed in Ruby. And by extension she must believe in Jaune. I wouldn't have thought it from the Ice Queen but there she was standing beside Ruby. Metaphorically, of course. We were all sitting.
And I wasn't sure what to say. What could I say? What would get through to my sister at this moment?
There was nothing. She believed in Jaune despite everything. The wounds on Nora and Ren's bodies. The missing relic. How he ran.
All of it.
She believed in Jaune through all of that.
And besides, how could I really fault it? It was that same thing which allowed her to believe in me when I'd faltered in my course to the mission. It was that same sort of quiet patience that believed in him now that was once supporting me.
"Ruby… you need to wash that. It's starting to smell," I managed.
"It still smells a little like Jaune, though," she protested weakly. "If I wash it… it'll stop and I'll have nothing left to remind me of him."
"Ruby, you'll find other things." Weiss supported me, her voice gentle. "And the hoodie won't be gone."
"His smell will be, though." She buried her nose under the collar. Her voice came out muffled.
"Ruby, it's unhygienic," Blake said. "You have to give this up."
"But-but-"
"Come on. Take it off and give it to me," Weiss said. "We'll just be putting it away for now."
Ruby whined but took it off. Progress of a kind was good. And Weiss was on our side.
Ruby managed to look even more depressed without the enormous hoodie on her. Somehow. She managed to look cold.
Weiss stood up with the hoodie and deposited it in her case. She carefully folded it and set it with the bunny face up. From there she clacked the case shut.
"Ruby, you have to know obsessing over him isn't a healthy coping mechanism," Blake warned her. "Look where obsession always got me."
"That's different. You were obsessing over the White Fang. Jaune's a friend."
"I know you still believe that Ruby but-"
"But what? You weren't there either with Tyrian. You didn't see him put his life on the line for me like it was nothing. He would have died for me like his own life meant nothing to him."
"But he took off with the relic," I said.
"What if he didn't? What if he had to run?"
"Ruby, you're just coming up with scenarios now to break your own heart. He's gone." I went on. "You're ruminating. And it's not healthy."
"We're not trying to attack you, Ruby. We just want what's best for you," Blake said.
"You believe me about him," Ruby mumbled. "Don't you Weiss?"
"I- I didn't think it was in his nature to turn on us," Weiss said when we all turned to look at her. "But the evidence against him is compelling. I saw the wounds on Ren's and Nora's bodies."
Ruby let out a low whine.
"But I believe you Ruby. If you said he's a victim in this, I'll believe you."
"Weiss…" Blake trailed off in frustration.
"Come on," I said. "You saw how violent he was."
"He was no more violent than the situation called for," Weiss returned easily. "The rest of the time, in training, he took it so easy on us. You must have seen how laid back he was."
"It's hard to believe you guys," Blake intruded. "The way you all talk about him as a great fighter. It's hard to match up with my image of him from Beacon."
"He wasn't the same person," Ruby mumbled. "He changed so much and he… he did it all with me in his heart. Do you know what that's like? To watch that happen?"
"I do," Blake said. "With Adam it was slow. And everything he did was for the White Fang and me and our mission but soon… soon he was killing people. Soon he had destroyed himself and my love for him. I do know what it's like Ruby. To watch somebody change like that. The only difference is instead of him running, I did."
"My Jaune isn't like your Adam," Ruby protested.
"No?" Blake asked. "From where I stand they seem pretty similar. Even their semblances from what you told me. Adam's has a charge to it too. One that he spends on a massive final attack. Wasn't Jaune's Limit Breaker like that?"
"A little. I mean right?" I asked Weiss and Ruby.
"And it started out small. He killed one person here or there because 'the situation called for it.' Then he was killing because it pleased him. Wasn't Jaune just the same way, just before the end?"
Weiss and Ruby said nothing. Ruby looked away and Weiss reached out and took her hand and rubbed it gently. "We never got to talk much before… before it happened," Ruby mumbled.
I sighed. That was my fault. She'd felt like she'd had to hide what she felt from me. It was my fault Ruby and Jaune didn't get to talk as much as she would have wanted. And maybe that would have changed things. That was on me. It was my bad. My little sister couldn't trust me with the truth.
"But he couldn't have been a traitor the whole time. What about Pyrrha? What about when Tyrian attacked me? It meant putting his life on the line when he should have turned."
"Adam protected me too. He would have killed and died for me once," Blake said. "People change. Maybe Jaune just snapped. Maybe Salem made him an offer and he just took it up. It happened to Lionheart."
"But Ren and Nora were his family..."
"And he still killed them. Ruby…" I sighed again.
"At the end of the day, whatever reason he had for doing it, he killed Ren and Nora. And they were fighting back too, Leonardo's office was littered with evidence of it. Nora's hammer, Ren's bullets, all of it," Blake continued. "It wasn't sneaky. It wasn't fast. He looked them in the eye as he did it."
"Then he left. With the relic," I finished.
"Ruby, I know it's hard. Believe me. I know what you're going through. I swear. I went through it too with Adam."
"Jaune isn't a monster."
"And Adam didn't used to be. Do you all really think I would have loved somebody who was as monstrous as Adam is now? People can change and not always for the better, Ruby."
"It hurts more your way."
"Maybe," Blake said. "But it's more true that way. Jaune was a killer."
"Is." Weiss said quietly. "Ruby's right, you all do talk about him in the past tense. He's out there somewhere right now."
"Probably on his way to Salem, relic in tow. I know it's hard Ruby. Hell, Adam is even older than me. Like Jaune is for you. And all of it from what you've told me is so similar it's scary."
"Jaune was so nice to us," Weiss muttered. "He looked after all of us."
"Adam used to feel that way about all Faunus," Blake countered. "About the White Fang. Until…"
"Until he didn't," I said. "Tell us more about Adam's semblance."
"He would stand still and charge it," Blake began. Ruby whined again. "I take it Jaune's was the same way? Anyway he'd stand still until he had the energy to unleash a devastating attack. You don't want to be caught up by him when he unleashed that energy. Yang knows." I flexed my arm. "He could also absorb other energy into his weapon and release it."
"Jaune's was a lot like that. He'd charge by standing still, forcing you to approach him." Blake nodded along with my words. "Then it would make him change states. He'd enter a higher plane where he'd be both faster and stronger and he could spend the charge on an attack or movement option." I went on. "It was scary to fight against it, it made him better in every possible way."
"See Ruby?" Blake finished. "They're so similar it's frightening. Do you know the first time he killed someone?"
"It was so fast…" Ruby murmured. "He just spent his Limit Break and killed him before I could blink. It was over in a flash of blue. It looked like an accident."
"But you're not so sure now, are you?" Blake went on. She was relentless. "Adam's was like that too but his flavor was red, a flash of red and it was just over. He fell into pieces."
Ruby curled up, wrapping her hands around her knees in the fetal position. She looked so pathetic I just wanted to die. I felt like I was watching heartbreak in stereo.
"We couldn't have kept that many prisoners. With the bandits. A-and he was covered in blood so often," Ruby mumbled. "He came back soaked in it all the time."
"Adam was like that after his missions. And at the time I thought I was doing everything I could for him… maybe I could have done more. I probably could have done more. But by the time I knew it was too late."
"He looked… he looked more scared about what I thought about it than what he was actually doing. He said I was his moral compass. He said he did things he wasn't proud of," Ruby muttered. "I thought everything was alright but it was all collapsing."
"Ruby…" Weiss tried to cut in.
"No, no. No. No," Ruby repeated. She shook her head. "It can't be. It just can't. He was so sweet."
"Blake… maybe you should settle down," Weiss said.
"What?" Blake wondered bewildered.
"You're upsetting her."
"It's the truth."
"Oh. Now we're good enough for the truth," I shot.
"I… I was wrong to keep this from you all. Maybe if I would have shared it at Beacon things would have been different. And not just with Jaune. Ruby… just...think about it. I won't tell you Adam was ever a sweetheart. He was never as… soft as Jaune was. At least when I knew Jaune. But from what he all told me he was a hard man after Pyrrha died."
"If only you had been there with me. We could have saved him," Ruby muttered.
"Ruby, it's nothing you did. Nothing you could have done. I used to torture myself about Adam. Wondering if I led him down that path. In the end he chose that. And so did Jaune."
"Unless he was a sleeper agent," Weiss said. At our looks she went on. "What? You don't know what happened between him and Salem and he walked into that fight willing to kill and die for Ruby. Not Salem."
"Weiss…" Blake murmured. "Don't get her hopes up. Sleeper agent or not he's dangerous and he's our enemy."
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
"Hey." I cornered Blake by the train-car bathrooms.
"Oh. Hey Yang. What's up?"
"Do you think you could slow down with Ruby?"
"Not you too…" Blake trailed. "I just don't want her to make the same mistakes I did."
"I know. I know. I agree with you. I do. I just want you to slow down. You're overwhelming her."
Blake looked away. "I see."
"Yeah. She still sees Jaune as a victim. It won't do her any good if she can't process it."
"What about you, Yang?"
"I think you're making a strong case. Especially when you talked about his semblance. You were getting through to her then."
"I can't believe how similar they are. It's honestly freaking me out a little."
"I hear you…"
"And Yang I should have told you. About Adam. He… Well, I was embarrassed by it. I was ashamed of how far I let him fall."
"And now Ruby's in the same boat."
"Yes… I wish I could save her."
"One way or another she's going to beat herself up over it."
"I beat myself up over Adam for the longest time. Wondering if I could have done more. What else I should have done."
"Well Ruby's pretty hard on herself. I'm worried about her."
"You're a good sister to be."
"Not good enough…"
"What's that mean?"
"Jaune… Ruby felt like they should hide what they had. From me. For the first time she couldn't trust me with what was going on in her life. And then this happens."
"It's not your fault, Yang. Jaune made his choices."
"I know, I know. I just wish I could have been there for her. When she needed me. That's what hurts. I wish talking to me could have been the right call for her."
Blake reached out and embraced me. "Ruby made her choice too."
"When I caught them together I flipped out. Overreacted, maybe. He was on top of her and I slammed him against a wall. That was back when we thought he was on our side. It made me wonder if she was right to hide it from me."
"Yang…"
"I freaked out without even thinking. She knew I'd do it too. I alienated my own little sister. She felt like she couldn't share it with me and she was right."
Blake was quiet for a long time. "I don't know what to say."
"Nothing you say will make me feel better about it. I just wanted you to listen. And I want you to trust me like that. To share things with me that are bothering you like you never did at Beacon. I can't track you down like I did when we were at school. I need you to come to me. This can't work if we can't all get along. Team RWBY will be as finished as JNPR."
"I… I understand."
"Then we're square."
"I, too, have been bothered. I worry constantly about my father and mother. The White Fang won't leave them alone, especially now that I forced them back into the limelight."
"What happened?"
"We were attacked. In my house in Menagerie, I was trying to set up a peaceful alternative to the White Fang and they attacked us. They shot at my mom. My dad was almost killed. I ran into some old compatriots in the White Fang. A girl named Ilia and a few others. They ambushed me in the streets after agreeing to a peaceful meeting. They backstabbed us at every turn. And Sienna Khan is dead. Adam was in control of the White Fang until we ran him off at Haven."
"That's a lot of business." I whistled. "You've got a lot on your plate. You're not alone, though."
"I know. I know."
"This is good Blake. This is progress. Sharing things with one another is the first step."
"We should be better at it considering we're partners." She smiled.
"Well we can get better." I smiled back at her. "Thank you for what you told my sister. I was worried about getting through to her. I think you really helped."
"The way she was still wearing his hoodie… it reminded me of all the time I spent hung up over Adam."
"It's not the only thing that reminded you of him."
"No. It's not. It really is freaking me out. The similarities between him and Jaune… they're really cutting at me."
"Well hopefully we can get my sister out of this crisis."
"I know Weiss thinks she's helping but she's not. She's only drawing out the wound, making the injury worse."
"I think she is. Ruby needs both. She needs the support."
"If you say so..."
"I do. We'll get through this. We're team RWBY."
We went back to our seats. Ruby was exhausted and napping against Weiss's shoulder.
"Did you two have a nice chat?" She didn't ask with any kind of vitriol and went about stroking Ruby's hair gently.
"We did. Maybe I was too hard on her. Maybe I pushed too fast," Blake said apologetically.
"Maybe she needed to hear it," Weiss dismissed her apology. "What you told us about Adam was concerning."
"You see her point, then?" I asked her.
"I see everyone's points. Jaune really did seem mostly the same to me. He seemed… I don't know- better, in many ways. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe he was turning and I just couldn't notice it. If only you'd been there, Blake."
"If only," Blake echoed in a chorus of quiet agreement. "I had other things to take care of."
"In Menagerie?"
"My family. It's hard."
"I know a thing or two about that."
"My family isn't like yours Weiss. They truly deeply care about me. Wait I meant-"
"I know what you meant and it's fine. Team RWBY is my real family. I thought JNPR was too."
"They were," I said. "They definitely were."
"How'd we get so broken up?" Blake asked.
"Beacon's fall. Haven's near miss," Weiss listed. "History will remember them."
I couldn't help but wonder if history would remember us, this team RWBY, for all the wrong reasons.
pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq pq
-WG