Winter Break 12

"Jaune? Where'd you go?" Ruby called out making the two suddenly jump.

"I'm here Ruby, just talking with my dad," Jaune yelled out. 

"Ohh, well, the next piece is ready. I made knives since we can make a larger quantity of out of the remaining steel. The more you practice on, the better you get right?" Ruby opened the door and said with a bit of soot on her chin.

Jaune chuckled as he wiped off the ashy substance from her face and said, "Thank you, Ruby."

Ruby blushed and held onto Jaune's sleeve, "It's nothing, just trying to help out my hubby...I mean boyfriend." Ruby's face turned bright red as she realized what she just said.

Jaune gave her kiss on the cheek which made Lance laugh as he started to walk away, "You two take care now. I have a lot of work ahead of me. Don't leave the forge on at night, and remember to lock up when you leave."

"Come on, Ruby, let's get back to work." Jaune grabbed her hand and walked back in with an extremely embarrassed Ruby.

Yang smiled at the two and secretly left because she had faith in Jaune's chivalrous ethics.

She walked out to an empty spot in the backyard, she moved near a tree with a single tire swing hung from the thickest branch and stared at her shaking hands.

She gritted her teeth as she started to throw punches, "No way!"

Thoughts of Jaune catching up with her after the fall of vale made her clenched fists harder. She saw herself looking like the life had been dragged out of her. Say what you want about the blond noodle in the previous timeline. He was far more observant than most people thought.

She could see the look of fear when Jaune grabbed for his sword. The gleam of the metal made her hairs stand on end, and her expression changed to that of panic.

Yang continued to punch and kick at the air, "I'm not afraid of anything! I'm freaking Yang Xiao Long, the ass whopping Sun Dragon!"

A powerful kick put a dent in the tree before Yang thought, "I couldn't protect myself, I couldn't protect my friends, and I couldn't even protect my sister's unborn child. What the hell kind of sister let's all that happen? A weak one! I need to get stronger! STRONGER!"

[A/N: SHOW ME YOUR MOTIVATION! I NEED MORE POWER!!!]

Yang's fist tore off a piece of the tree's bark.

After a few dozen minutes of her practicing, sweat began to fall off of Yang's body. However, no matter how much she pushed her body, she couldn't shake the chill running down her spine, the chill known as fear. 

"I need to be stronger, faster, better!"

"You okay?" The voice of the Jaune's sister echoed out behind Yang.

Yang turned around and saw Rouge staring at her with a worrying expression. 

Yang paused and tried her best to cover up her emotional state as she joked, "Oh, I'm fine, just Yanging around here!"

Rouge shook her head and sighed before she walked up to Yang and hugged her out of nowhere. 

The blond spitfire paused for a second before she tried to joke her way out of the situation, "Are all Arcs as sensitive as you? I thought you all had shocking personalities."

Rouge smiled as she said, "It's okay, you know? If you want to vent, I'm all ears."

"I'm f-i-n-e…" Yang tried to lie as she was interrupted by Rouge, "No, you're not, you're doing what all big sisters do. Trying to hide your pain from your younger siblings is admirable, Yang. However, you can't just hold this stuff inside. It's detrimental for your training and focus, Grimm like that kind of weakness."

Yang couldn't help it as tears started to form around her eyes, she squeezed Rouge's back as started to cry, "I...I'm...scared, disappointed in my own weakness, and...I don't know, I just got the bad ending stuffed in my head, there are things the other me could've done back then, things I could have prepared for better…"

Rouge patted her on the back and said, "It's okay to be scared Yang, fear is a good asset; if you don't let it overwhelm and control you."

"But, I'm...!" Yang felt her legs go a bit weak as she leaned on her future sister-in-law.

"You don't always have to be the invincible big sister. Ruby won't love you any less if show a little weakness every now and then." Rouge petted Yang's hair and continued, "You'll get stronger than ever before, even more so than in that other timeline, but you shouldn't bury your emotions. Confront them, Yang. Face them down and make them your bitch."

Yang sniffled and started to calm down after a while. Once she had stopped crying, the blond spitfire spilled everything that she had been bottling up. After explaining that she was afraid of losing her arm, losing her friends, and seeing her mother again, Rouge just sat there and listened, she didn't offer advice, or solutions, she just listened.

Once Yang vented everything, she sat next to Rouge and felt extremely awkward, "S-o-o-o, I guess this what it must feel like to have an older sister," Yang said as the cool night air stung her eyes,

Rouge chuckled and said, "Well, you're going to be a sister of mine someday, so it doesn't just feel like I'm your big sister, I am."

Yang smiled and hid her face from the blush that was coming on, "Thanks, Rouge."

The big sister patted her future sister-in-law on the back and said, "No problem, it's a..."

"…Big sister's responsibility to look after their siblings!" Yang said at the same time as Rouge.

"And to pamper them when needed too," Rouge added as she stood up and took a stance before asking, "Now, how about a little friendly sparring?"

Yang grinned and stood up, "Careful you don't mess up my hair. You'll regret it."

"Hahaha! Same to you, hair and face are off-limits."

"Of course, we aren't savages!" Yang said while she got ready to throw a punch.

Rouge smiled and stood in her fighting stance as she said, "Well, come on then!"

The blond spitfire then jumped at Rouge and began to spar with her.

Back at the workshed, Jaune and Ruby just finished building and destroying an entire set of knives. 

Ruby placed a new set of crudely made knives on the table and fell over exhausted before saying, "Any progress?"

Jaune shook his head while saying, "Some, I can feel I'm getting closer, maybe a few more hundred times."

Ruby grinned, "You're really into this aren't you?"

Jaune smiled and laughed a bit, "Yeah, I feel that I can't lose this second chance I've been given. I..." Jaune started to pick up the rubble and put it inside a large barrel with thousands of fragmented iron pieces.

"Jaune?" Ruby sat up and knew something was bothering him.

"You know, sometimes I wonder if Ozpin's introductory speech was specifically aimed at me. Since you've been dreaming about the other timeline, you should know how I was," Jaune sat down beside her.

"Dorky, funny, a little silly, and my best friend," Ruby tried to cheer him up.

"You know I'm talking about my wasted potential. The reason I try so hard, is because of my regret." Jaune made a self-loathing expression, "I let my teammate die, and because of my lack of confidence in my strength, I relied on you when I should have worked besides you. I got lost in my own pain, and it took me forever to realize how you felt about me."

Jaune let out a breath of air as he looked at Ruby's eyes, "I lost my family because I was scared of how they would react to me running away and forging my transcripts. If I had the guts to visit them like we're doing now, I could have stood my ground and demanded training."

"Jaune, please, stop putting yourself down. Look how far you come. Ozpin was right to let you into Beacon," Ruby said as tears started to form around her eyes. 

She knew he was blaming himself for the loss of his friends and family, and Ruby hated seeing that look in Jaune's eyes.

"I did a lot that I regret," Jaune wiped the tears from her eyes, "Even now I'm doing it again, messing up like always. I never want to see you cry, Ruby."

Jaune kissed her and with a smile on his face, "It wasn't until you took my hand and pulled me out of the pit of emptiness, that I truly began to grow."

The blond knight then gripped his hands, "I threw everything I had into training, took any teacher I could find and forged my own path. This chance that has been given to me, I will grasp it and will never make you cry again."

Ruby's face was red, her expression was solely lovestruck as she saw Jaune's heroic figure. She has been dreaming of the alternate timeline for a while; and seeing his slow but steady growth from the weak yet cute/dorky Jaune, made her realize how much he had been through, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him.

Jaune was surprised to feel her tongue exploring the inside of his mouth, he remembered this kiss, lost in his memories, Jaune grabbed her waist and pulled her close.

The two shared a long and deep kiss as they pulled apart a few minutes later and stared at each other with a dazed expression. 

"How did you know how to do that?" Jaune asked still dazed by her sudden outburst.

Ruby's face lit up and Jaune could almost see a puff of steam rising up from the top of her head, "I saw, our...first...ti..me."

Jaune slapped his forehead and hid his face, "You weren't supposed to see that."

"But I did, I didn't know I could make a face like that," Ruby said as she placed her head against his chest and listened to rapidly beating heart.

"Sorry? I think? Yeah, sorry about that," Jaune said with a confused tone.

Ruby smiled and continued to listen to the beat of his heart as she said, "I don't mind, Jaune, you know...we could...I mean... I kind of want to... That is if...you know..."

Jaune's mouth almost hit the floor, "Ruby...We can't and you know why. I don't feel like being arrested," Jaune responded, choking on his own words before he let out a laugh.

Ruby puffed up her cheeks and looked up at Jaune with a silly expression, she nuzzled her head into his chest as she mumbled, "Thanks to Wukong, I had several years' worth of memories crammed into my head. Mentally, I'm much older now…but…I know what you mean. Ugh…it's going to be a long two years."

"1 Year and 10 months, "Jaune said as he placed his forehead against the top of her head.

"Pft..." Ruby started to chuckle, "You're really counting the days."

Jaune grinned, "Yep, 1 year, 10 months, 9 days and 8 hours until the day I make Yang an aunt."

Ruby's face lit up as she looked in his eyes, "You...perv..."

Jaune started laughing. His playful expression made Ruby realize that he was teasing her.

"I think you should know that you were very aggressive in your approaches. You came at me like you were looking at a finely made weapon, and you even tore my clothes off few time." Jaune blushed a bit, "Said it was your favorite scene in Ninja's of Love."

Ruby gave his shins a couple of kicks while she pouted, but she didn't move her head away. 

Jaune stayed like this for several minutes with a peaceful smile on his face. He then looked at Ruby's yawning expression and could see she was getting tired.

The blond knight then let out a tired yawn of his own as he looked at the time and said, "It's already midnight. I guess we should get some sleep. I'll walk you back to the house."

Ruby shook her head, "Let's sleep here...together."

Jaune lifted a brow, "Ruby, are you hitting on me?"

Ruby giggled, before poking her fingers together, "I mean, let's just sleep side by side, we don't have to do anything…"

"But what about snuggles?" Jaune replied with a look of dejection on his face.

Ruby laughed again as she threw her arms into the air and said, "Of course snuggles are allowed! What kind of girl do you think I am?"

Jaune walked over to a storage closet and pulled out a Futon that was stored inside. He then pulled out a couple of large bear pelts and laid them over the Futon and patted the bedding as he sat at the edge.

Ruby grinned as she flew over in a burst of petals and got under the covers. She saw Jaune getting back up and turning down the furnace to an ember. 

"Well, are you coming?" The silver-eyed reaper tried her attempt a playful teasing.