章 1799: 30
Black Rose Blooms SilverCyberQueen_Jolyne
Chapter 30
Chapter Text
Cardin had officially found himself at the very top of her shitlist, Ruby thought to herself idly as she stayed back, listening to Cardin blackmail Jaune even after Pyrrha had left. What a fucking dick- all that work put into trying to make Jaune feel better, to make him feel like he could actually rely on the people who trusted and appreciated him… and Cardin came smashing it all down like a Creep in a Dust shop.
After nearly an hour of gentle prodding, reassurances, promises to help, and general comforting words in the wake of their conversation, Jaune had probably thought she'd gone with her fellow redhead to go get ready for bed. In truth, Ruby had sensed Cardin's presence becoming malicious and triumphant down a floor below, and in response simply pressed herself into the shadows and vanished about as much as a living spot of blackness in the dark could, fading away into an utterly forgettable amorphous shape while Cardin hoisted himself up onto the roof with a triumphant grin and the knowledge that Jaune didn't belong at Beacon .
That he'd forged his transcripts and somehow managed to entirely evade scrutiny despite his lackluster performance in most of his classes- though, somehow, he managed to be an utterly ridiculous master of tactics, strategy, and boardgames to the point that he treated some of the training simulations like games as he allocated resources and worked his way around digitized settlement logistics like an old pro.
And now, in the wake of several classes where Jaune seemed years behind, in the wake of his utter bungling of their shared first and second year history lecture by way of not knowing even the basic outline of the Faunus Rights Revolution that had happened literally less than fifty years ago , in the wake of constant harassment and bullying by Cardin over the last weeks…
Well.
She couldn't let that stand. Couldn't let Cardin blackmail one of her friends into essentially being his gofer . Couldn't let Cardin manhandle his way around the school like some kind of obnoxious jerk!
It made her blood (what… little of it she probably had) boil with so much rage it was a wonder that she didn't just shift into a Beowolf and rip his arms off for the indignity.
But she waited. Patiently.
She stayed behind, patient as a prowling Beowolf stalking its prey, waiting for Cardin to walk past Jaune and descend down the roof access stairs, silently observing Jaune for a moment longer. He was… distressed, obviously. Stressed, panicking, full of self loathing, self doubt, self hatred. He felt like a failure, felt like he wasn't good enough, felt like he was only bringing down everyone else by needing so much help- that he was just a burden.
Not that she knew in so many words, but that roiling storm of emotions- she could feel it in so many people growing up. It was why she tried to read so many of those dry, boring, utterly tasteless therapy books that usually only licensed therapists and medical students ever really had an interest in. Because… she could help. She wanted to help. It was all she'd ever wanted to do, really. Be the hero, save the day, make sure no one ever had to go through the pain of losing loved ones to the grimm ever again.
Ruby sighed quietly as she slid out of the shadows, striding up behind Jaune and letting her cloak flutter in the wind as she approached- the heavy snap of the thick grimm fabric alerting Jaune to her presence.
"Wh- hey! Ruby! You're um… You're here! I… thought you left ages ago…" Jaune mumbled, bringing one hand up behind his head and giving her an awkward grin as his feelings surged in his chest in such a way that, were he alone in the woods, he'd have attracted at least two Beowolves to him in a snap. "What's… what's up?"
"I heard about Cardin, Jaune," Ruby answered, letting her hood materialize up and around her head as she stood there, wreathed in shadows and letting the burning coals of her pupils dig into Jaune's soul as she gave him a measured, even stare. "About how he wants to blackmail you. Use you as a gofer. A servant . About how he's so desperate to knock you down a peg that he'd expose your secret to Professor Goodwitch in an instant. I'm going to break his legs for you."
"W-wait what! No! You can't! If anything happens to him, Cardin will know it was someone acting for me!" Jaune protested, waving his hands vaguely in Ruby's direction and shaking his head. "He's not as dumb as he looks- he knows how retaliation works! You- you can't! He'll just…"
"He'll do nothing," Ruby answered, shuddering slightly as she let slip her emotions and descended into her grimmlike rage, eyes glowing like burning coals as she stepped forward and reached up so she could place a hand on Jaune's shoulder (subconsciously cursing the fact that her friend was so weirdly tall) as she spoke. "Jaune. You're my friend. And I know you want to do things on your own. I know how you feel, and I know how much it hurts being seen as weak or lesser. I know how much you want to be better . I understand. Train with Pyrrha. Train with your team. Train with us, Team RWBY. You're already a smart cookie, Jaune. You just… need to trust us to help you. None of us think less of you for not being a combat whiz- you're still our friend. So…"
She sighed, unable to maintain her rage as she hugged Jaune around the waist, squeezing him lightly as she wrapped her cloak around him in a way that she almost never did for anyone outside of her family. "I'm going to make sure Cardin knows exactly why he shouldn't do or say anything about your transcripts, and I'm going to make sure that- that…"
A hand on her shoulder stopped her, Jaune shaking his head as a sense of calm washed over him- it didn't stop his other emotions, but… he'd forced himself to calm down a little, process things.
"Don't," Jaune murmured, his voice slightly thick with emotion as he gently pushed Ruby away so he could look down into her eyes- shining pools of silver with burning coal pupils glimmering in the moonlight as she forced herself to relax. "Don't. Even if it does work, even if you do retaliate against them- that's only gonna make them mad. Make him and his jerk friends… want to escalate harder. Against either me , or everyone else . I know how bullying works, Ruby. I got bullied all through school up until now. If I want Cardin off my ass, I either have to change his mind about me or change his worldview entirely. Otherwise, if you'd want to stop him, the only thing you could possibly do is make him scared of you and then hang around me for… pretty much the rest of our time here. And that's… not really doable."
Ruby kindly did not disabuse Jaune of the notion that she couldn't be in two places at once when she could already sprout dozens, if not hundreds of Rosebud grimm at once to go fight if she really needed to.
"Right… then… what are you gonna do?" Ruby asked, tilting her head to the side slowly and pursing her lips, idly drawing a shard of bone from her wrist and shaping it into the form of a long stinger full of the worst grimm venom she could produce, idly imagining what Team CRDL would look like as they choked on their own liquefied organs as they died… mm, maybe later, if they proved to get worse.
"I'm gonna train," Jaune stated, shrugging his shoulders and motioning as though he were holding Crocea Mors instead of having it tucked away in his locker. Ruby idly thought about how her own locker was entirely just used for spare ammo storage, since she usually just shoved Crescent Rose inside of her body in lieu of actually being apart from her baby. Focus. Pay attention to Jaune. "I'm gonna train my ass off, get better at fighting, pick up some tips from Ren and Blake and Pyrrha and-"
"... Wait, why Ren and Blake?"
"I need to learn how to dodge, not just block," Jaune deadpanned, wincing as he rubbed his forearm and shrugged again. "Taking Cardin's hits really hurts after a while, even with Aura."
"Right… So… I… can't throw them out of a window?" Ruby asked, not really liking the idea of not hurting the bastard racists that made Jaune's life hell and ruined the days of pretty much any faunus student at Beacon- most of whom didn't fight back at all for some reason.
Ruby had a sneaking suspicion it was because they were too used to dealing with assholes with friends in high places, so they didn't even bother. Well. Ruby was feral and used to living in the backwoods far away from any Kingdom, where the rule of law was just beating the shit out of the other guy until he stopped being a dick, so fuck that.
"Probably don't until I make him stop bullying me," Jaune answered dryly. "That way it'll seem less like you're trying to protect me."
"Ah. Well. Alright then. Guess I won't have to brutalize them tonight."
"Yeah, maybe… Gods, I hate the idea of beating up anyone on a whim but… maybe save it for… next week after Oobleck's lecture?"
"Maybe? What's so important about next week? Wait-"
"I've got a plan. Sort of. Half of one?"
"... Truly, your genius is astounding, Jaune."
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