Vanilla ice cream (Neo x Reader)

Chapter 6: Forever falls

Narrator POV

JNPR's dorm room was fairly standard, beige wallpaper, desks for each member, and bookshelves pretty much just for Pyrrha and Ren.

Currently, their leader was out. Nora was jumping on her bed.

Nora: "How come Jaune gets home so late?"

Ren answered from his own bed, where he was cleaning his pistols.

Ren: "He's become rather scarce ever since he began fraternising with Cardin."

Nora: "That's weird. Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow? We need our-"

She spun mid-air, landing lying down. Pyrrha commented angrily, glaring out of the window at the starry sky.

Pyrrha: "I'm sure our leader knows exactly what he's doing."

Nora: "Hmmm, I guess so."

Outside, Jaune closed the door to his dorm silently, none of them noticing him. His head was hung low, the bitterness of his partners words stinging.

Ruby: "Hey Jaune!"

He turned around, startled. Having forgotten that RWBY's dorm was directly adjacent to his own.

Ruby: "Long time no see. Did you lock yourself out again?"

Jaune: "Nope, got it."

He scratched the back of his head as he held up his scroll, that also acted as a key for the dorm room.

Ruby: "So, where have you been lately?"

He hesitated, but he figured that Ruby was a good a person as any to talk to about his problems.

Jaune: "I – ah – I messed up. I did something I shouldn't have, and now Cardin's got me on a leash, and Pyrrha won't even talk to me... I'm starting to think coming to this school was a bad idea."

He slumped against the door, sitting down, he said the one thing that summed everything he felt up.

Jaune: "I'm a failure."

After a brief pause, Ruby answered.

Ruby: "Nope."

He looked up at the younger girl, not understanding.

Jaune: "Nope?"

Ruby: "Nope. You're a leader now Jaune, you're not allowed to be a failure."

Jaune: "But what if I'm a failure at being a leader?"

Ruby: "Hmm... nope."

Jaune: "You know, you're not the easiest person to talk to about this kind of stuff."

She sat down next to him.

Ruby: "Nope. Jaune, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid, you might of even been a failure the first day we met."

He slumped lower and lower at her words, almost laying very quickly.

Ruby: "But you can't be one now. You know why?"

Jaune: "Because?"

Ruby: "Because it isn't just about you anymore. You've got a team now Jaune, we both do. If we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first –"

She stood up.

Ruby: "and ourselves second. It's the price we pay for this position, having to shoulder everyone's burden."

She pauses for a second. Deciding to say something that had weighed on her since the start of the school year.

Ruby: "In a way, it makes me envious of Y/n, not having to worry about anyone but himself. It took a while, but I figured out why Ozpin put him on a solo team."