RWBY and APRJ: volume 1

Chapter 13: forever fall part 1

It was night at Beacon, it was peaceful with the nighttime creatures lurking about. Team JNPR, minus Jaune, were in their dorm, waiting Jaune to come back. Nora was jumping on the bed, Pyrrha was just sitting on a chair and Ren was cleaning his weapon.

"Why does Jaune come back so late?" Nora asked. "Doesn't he know we have a field trip tomorrow?"

"He's become rather scarce ever since he had that talk with Cardin" Ren added, his voice calm as ever. Nora Just hummed in impatience.

"But we need our rest!" Nora landed on the bed, still playful as ever. Pyrrha, however, was quite angry.

"I'm sure our leader know EXACTLY what he's doing" Pyrrha frowned, not even bothering to look at her teammates. They just sighed and accepted Pyrrha's thoughts.

"Maybe you're right" Nora replied. Little did they know, Jaune was eavesdropping on the conversation about him and closed the door. So that's what his teammates thought of him after Cardin blackmailed him.

"Hey, Jaune!" Jaune turned around in surprise and saw Ruby in her pyjamas, smiling as always. "Long time, no see. Did you lock yourself out again?"

"Me? Nope. I got it right here" Jaune answered, holding up his scroll. Ruby still knew that there was something wrong.

"You've haven't been around much lately, what's going on?" Ruby had to know why Jaune was so distant lately. Eventually, the blonde sighed and decided to confess.

"I messed up"

Ruby was confused at those words, but she kept silent and let Jaune vent.

"I did something I shouldn't have and now...Cardin's got me on a leash and Pyrrha won't even talk to me and...I think coming here was a mistake" Jaune explained. He slid down to the ground with his dorm door helping him. "I'm a failure"

"Nope" Ruby bluntly said.

"'No'?" Jaune was now the one to be confused.

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

"But, what if I'm a failure at being a leader?" Jaune asked, trying something to convince Ruby that he was right, but she would not have it. Instead she just hummed in a thinking manner and said...

"Nope"

Jaune bumped his head against the door as Ruby sat down beside him.

"You know..." Jaune started as Ruby just stared at him. "You're not the easiest person to talk to about this sort of thing"

"Nope" Ruby smiled. "Look, maybe you were a failure when you were a kid, maybe you were one when we first met, but you can't be a failure now, you know why?"

"Because..."

"Because, it's not just about you anymore, we have a team now, both of us; if we fail now, we'll be bringing them down with us. So let's put our teammates first..." Ruby got up from her sitting position and put her hands on her hips, showing that she meant business. "...And ourselves second"

Jaune thought hard on Ruby's words and smiled in hope, maybe she was right.

"Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune" Ruby headed towards her dorm door. "Who knows...maybe that'll be you"

"Wise words, Red" Amity came out from the corner of the hallway, surprising both Jaune and Ruby. "And who knows, maybe you'll be the best huntress Remnant has ever seen"

Ruby nodded, smiled at Amity and closed the dorm door. Amity crossed his arms and helped Jaune up.

"You like her don't you?" Jaune asked, making Amity blush...again. He had to admit, he was getting tired of people asking about that.