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Ruby was pissed.
She was really angry at everyone. Not in a ‘I wish you would die’ kinda way, rather how a girl gets upset at her friends for being… annoying .
It all started when the quiet and reserved Blake, of all people, came up with the idea for their little posse to go on a beach outing. “We’re in Vacuo! This place is world renowned for its amazing beaches!” she had said. Yang was obviously all for it, and she made sure to drag Ruby along with her like some barnacle stuck to her side involuntarily. Weiss, while she refused at first, noticed that Ruby was a little reluctant so she went along to keep her company.
The rest of the crew were invited as well, with Nora dragging Jaune behind her in a similar fashion. It’s only been a couple of weeks, but their respective teams seem to be determined to leave the events of the Ever After behind them.
For better or for worse.
She didn’t know how Jaune’s team was handling his mess (she wasn’t very talkative since they returned to Remnant), but Ruby sure as shit hoped they weren’t being as obnoxious as her team was. It’s almost as if the idea that she nearly offed herself meant that she renounced all rights to privacy. Her sister was the worst offender, she couldn’t even use the bathroom now without Yang standing by the door to make sure she was alright.
She knew they meant well, but gods above if it wasn’t frustrating as fuck .
The real reason she was so pissed, however, was Yang’s insistence that she had to wear a bikini that she picked out for her, and also the fact that Nora stole her shirt while she was changing so she wouldn’t cover up. On an intellectual level, Ruby knew and understood what they were going for. Ruby needed to rebuild her confidence in herself, and the quickest way to do that is by showing off a bit of skin while enjoying time with friends. Unfortunately that meant that Yang was in charge of choosing swimwear that Ruby would otherwise have never thought of buying (the price for that little scrap of fabric was outrageous! ). Even Blake seemed a bit hesitant, and that faunus was practically shameless!
And thus, here she was now, hunched up with her knees to her chest and arms wrapped around her legs, like a very angry ball lying on a towel on the Vacuan sand. She watched as her friends all played in the sea, having the time of their lives as if the world was not on the brink of ending. Yang and Blake were splashing water at each other while Weiss bounced a beach ball between a few glyphs. She noticed them throwing apprehensive glances towards her every few minutes, but for all intents and purposes their overall mission was forgotten.
At the very least they stopped trying to drag her into the water for now. Nora stealing her shirt and hiding it away was one thing, but when Weiss saw how upset she was getting she forced the others to leave her be, for which Ruby was grateful, even if she later shooed her away to have fun with the others. She knew either way that it was only a matter of time before they came back with reinforcements.
Right on cue, she heard Nora’s shrill voice emerging from the changing rooms in the distance as she charged into the waves while the rest of her team trailed behind; Ren contently jogged along until he was knocked down by the beach ball thrown by Weiss, Oscar and Jaune quietly chatted side by side as they approached the towels on the sand a few paces from Ruby, and Emerald sheepishly stood around, torn between swimming or sunbathing.
As they sat down, Oscar (or Ozpin, she could no longer tell them apart) waved at her with a smile while Jaune… averted eye contact.
And that hurt.
That hurt a lot .
She understood why he’d been avoiding her (and vice versa, but she couldn’t admit that) but it didn’t make his deliberate actions hurt any less. Ever since they had their spat in the Ever After, things had been more than strained between the two leaders and any time the both of them were in the same room, everyone else had to play a game of ‘let’s avoid the massive elephant in the room’ , which was understandably tiring, if her teammates’ urging that she talk to him were anything to go by.
Why couldn’t they understand that it’s not that easy?
Of course she wanted to talk to him. She had said some horrible things to Jaune on that fateful day, and she wanted to explain that she was not angry at him specifically, and that she also understood where he was coming from. It could not have been easy living by himself for decades with nothing but dumb paper stars to keep him company, and of course the second she showed up she had to ruin what little coping mechanisms he had.
She frowned at herself, Yang’s voice echoing in her mind.
‘Don’t blame yourself for what happened. You’re just one person and nobody is expecting you to be perfect.’
Ruby really tried to believe her. She really wanted to accept her failings and move on, but despite the assurances by the Blacksmith that she was perfect just the way she was, Ruby still could not help but dwell on her past mistakes. On the things she could have done differently.
Chief among them was in her treatment of the blonde man sitting nearby. Oscar has since taken his leave and joined the others, and Emerald seemingly settled on sunbathing a short distance behind everyone. This left just Ruby and Jaune sitting silently, the huntsman staring at their friends, and the huntress staring at him.
A light tap on Ruby’s shoulder startled the redhead out of her reverie, and she turned to face the dark skinned culprit with a stern expression. Emerald’s face was unreadable, but for some inexplicable reason, despite everything that she had done in the past to their illusions of safety, Ruby saw no malice in those red eyes.
“What?” she asked the defector.
Emerald furrowed her eyebrows slightly before replying with a whisper, low enough so that Jaune wouldn’t hear, “Why don’t you talk to him? It’s clear as day that you’re both pining for each other so j-”
“What do you know about us?” Ruby interrupted. “You came to us after ruining our lives and you think you have a say in any of this?”
Emerald remained unphased, although her stoney expression did flinch a bit. “Yes, I did all of that. And now here I am, helping you out.”
Ruby snorted.
“Hear me out,” the rogue insisted. “I’ve seen the way you both look at each other. You might not admit it but you’re practically gagging for him, so stop moping and talk to him .”
“Bu-”
“Shut up. You wanna die without telling him your feelings? From what I’ve heard that’s already almost happened so suck it up and just go .” Emerald concluded, her voice firm, yet gentle.
Ruby wanted nothing more than to lash out at her for the audacity of her statement, but she was right, and Ruby was just so tired of all these emotions.
“How?” she asked nervously. How was she supposed to talk to the source of her angst without literal years of pain spilling out on the poor boy? How was she supposed to maintain composure for long enough to tell him how she really feels about him, about them ?
Emerald sighed while glancing at Jaune. She had an illusion up to hide their conversation from the rest, but it seemed like he was deep in his own thoughts and the rest were too distracted to care, so she focused her attention back to Ruby.
“Look, I’m not going to pretend that I’m the most thoughtful person, but in this case I’d just rip the bandaid off and tell him how I feel directly. Be honest and don’t beat around the bush, alright?”
The redhead thought about those words, and with a resigned sigh uncurled herself to lean back on her elbows.
“What if I say the wrong things again?” she asked, to which Emerald shook her head.
“You’ll never know until you try.” she replied with a smirk.
Ruby looked at her friends, then back at Jaune before finally scooting herself to sit close to him, but not too close. A good five minutes passed as she wracked her brain to think of a conversation starter, but nothing really came to mind. After a while she simply decided to apologise and go from there, but before she opened her mouth to speak she got interrupted by the blonde huntsman.
“Yeah, I figured we should do this eventually.” Jaune said. His voice, while back to its familiar, slightly high pitched tone, had an air of unease to it, like he was speaking with someone else’s mouth. Ruby supposed that it made sense, in a way. He did spend a good chunk of his life trapped all alone, and was only brought back to their age relatively recently. She couldn’t begin to imagine the mental toll this was taking on him.
“Jaune, I–”
“I’m sorry for what I said, Ruby.” he interrupted. She glanced at him and to her surprise, he was actually looking at her.
“I shouldn’t have blamed you for what happened in Atlas. You were under a lot of pressure and I should have noticed that you were cracking. Hell, I knew you weren’t ok in the Ever After, but I was selfish and only thought about myself, so… I’m sorry.” he finished, his voice trembling.
Ruby stared into his vivid blue eyes as she tried to muster up a reply.
“But… it is my fault. Everything you said was right.”
“Ruby–”
“No Jaune, let me finish.” her eyes started to sting. Was it the sea salt getting carried by the wind?
“I was supposed to lead us all to victory. I thought my plan would work and that we could beat Salem in her own game, but all I did was push everyone to their deaths. My plan caused Penny to die a second time, Jaune!”
“That wasn’t your fault.”
“It was!” she could no longer blame the sea salt. Tears were openly streaming down her cheeks.
“My plan was a longshot at best and I should have known that Cinder would be there to stop us. They had the relic of knowledge so I should have assumed they would use it.”
She stopped with a choking sob while Jaune sat in silence. Why was he like this? Why was he being so Godsdamned stubborn? In some twisted perverted sense of self immolation, she wanted him to be angry at her. To rage at her stupid decisions that led them down this path. To justify her own rage at the shit hand she was dealt in life.
But no. He had to be understanding. He had to be kind. He had to be caring. In a way, and contradictory to her self loathing, she also wanted this. For Jaune to be this frank with her, and to tell her that she wasn’t at fault and that everything will be alright was a confusing mixture of comforting and frustrating.
Then she remembered the Blacksmith. Remembered how she was told that she is perfect just the way she is. Remembered how her friends, through thick and thin, stood by her, and she felt the spark of something she thought she had lost a long time ago, back in Beacon.
After a few moments had passed, she was startled by a palm on her shoulder.
“You were not alone when we made those plans. We should have known. I was also chosen to be a leader, but instead of helping you I expected to have everything solved for me. It’s not fair on you and I promise to never allow you to shoulder this burden on your own.”
Ruby turned to look at him with bloodshot eyes before he continued.
“When I was alone in the Ever After, I never stopped thinking about you, you know?”
She held her breath. Jaune had never spoken about his time in the Ever After before. Not like this, at least.
“Sure the others were in my mind as well, but not as often as you were…” He continued, “I can’t even begin to describe my thoughts throughout my exile. I went from grief to anger to despair and resentment, and then helplessness. Until you arrived.”
Silver eyes met blue. Ruby knew that those eyes are the same that she saw for the first time in Beacon, but she could barely recognise the way they looked at her now. The sorrow mixed with intense care pooled within was clear to her, and for once she felt an overwhelming sense of pity for the man who sacrificed so much for her, and who despite everything remained by her side.
She moved her hand and gently held it against his, causing him to twitch slightly before he continued.
“In all of those years, I was only ever scared of one thing, Ruby…”
“What’s that?” she asked, even though she knew what the answer would be, and after a brief moment of silence, he replied.
“Losing you.”
The waves gently lapped over the sand, while the sounds of their friends goofing about were muted as Ruby focused on what Jaune just confessed to her. With full knowledge of what she’s doing, she leaned her head against his shoulder.
“Me too.”
They sat there in silence for a few minutes. Emerald had long since joined the others in a game of dodgeball in the water, leaving the leader duo to contemplate in privacy. For her part, Ruby was curled up again while still holding onto Jaune’s hand, but still unsure if she and Jaune were on regular speaking terms again. Jaune, on the other hand, looked at ease in his plain white t-shirt and blue swimming trunks. He sighed in contentment.
“Why don’t we join the others?” he suggested.
“I’ll pass if it’s all the same to you.” came her reply.
Jaune considered her words for a moment before he noticed what she was wearing.
“I uhh… I notice you have new swimwear.” he said sheepishly while averting his gaze.
Ruby’s face flushed a deep crimson.
“Oh Brothers. Blame Yang for this.”
“Your sister has good taste…”
She glared at him, but her scowl quickly broke into a giggle at his flustered expression.
“Well, no matter how nice my outfit is, I’m not going to show myself off for everyone to see.” she stated firmly. In response, Jaune moved to take off his shirt.
“Umm, what are you doing?” Ruby asked.
“Here,” he said, handing her his shirt, “I’m not going to sit and do nothing while my friend is uncomfortable.”
Ruby cocked her eyebrow.
“Is that so?” she said with a smirk while putting on the shirt.
Jaune nodded sagely.
“As the only boy in a family with seven sisters, I can always tell when a girl is embarrassed by her outfit.” he proclaimed while puffing out his chest. “And I’ve also had to lend more shirts than I can count because of it…” he added with a hint of annoyance.
Ruby giggled,
“My hero.” she said playfully, giving him a peck on his rapidly reddening cheek.
“Well, ahem, now that you’re decent, care to join me with the others?” he asked, offering his hand to her.
“I’ll race you to the sea!” she squealed, her face beaming for the first time in what seemed like months.
Jaune laughed as he took off behind her.
Ruby was smiling again, and that made him smile as well. For the both of them, seeing each other be happy made everything worth it.