Disclaimer: RWBY and all affiliated characters/titles belong to Rooster Teeth, those wonderful geniuses.

Jaune and Ruby broke up? There's no way that could have happened. They were always so happy together and Ruby was trying so hard at her first relationship. How in Remnant could they have broken up? By the looks of Jaune, Ruby had done the breaking too and that just didn't make sense to Blake. She darted down the hallway and tore open the door as quickly as she could, her mind thrown into high gear to try and figure out what could have happened.

As soon as she was inside, Blake threw the door shut behind her. Ruby was sitting on the edge of Weiss's bunk with her head in her hands, sobbing. The heiress was at her side, rubbing smooth little circles on her back to try and ease her down off of her emotional high. Yang was sitting on Ruby's other side, holding Ruby's hand and murmuring something to her about how it was gonna be okay. Blake cleared the gap between the door and the bedside in a single, long stride and was at Ruby's feet. She knelt down in front of her team leader and attempted to gauge her emotions. She thought Ruby had dumped Jaune, but if that was the case why did she look so heart broken? Blake tried to look up at her, to see her eyes, see her face, to get some judge of how hard she had been crying, how long. Ruby's dark, red tipped hair fell loosely around her face and hid any hints from Blake.

Blake reached out to Ruby and set her hands on the younger girl's knees, Ruby jumped at the touch, hiccuped a little in her sobbing and looked up slowly to meet Blake's gaze. She shook her head and got some of her hair out of her face, though most still clung to her tear stained cheeks. Her eyes were red and slightly swollen from her rubbing at them, her face was smudged from wiping tears away and she just looked like an absolute mess. The usual light behind her eyes seemed muted and distant, smothered by sadness and noticeable fatigue.

"Ruby…?" Blake wanted to ask if she was okay but realized the answer to that was obvious. She wanted to hold her and console her but she didn't even know what had happened. She looked back and forth between Yang and Weiss, hoping for some sort of help, but Yang kept focused on her sister and Weiss gave Blake a very confused shrug.

"Hey Blake." Ruby's voice was weak and squeaky, strained by her emotions. "Did you have fun with Pyrrha?" That broke Blake's concentration and nearly toppled her over. How could Ruby be as distraught as she was right now and still be concerned about her and how her day had been? Blake gave Ruby a soft smile, so touched by her concern. Ruby really was infallibly considerate, always trying to put other before herself.

"That's not what matters right now," Blake rubbed her palm back and forth across Ruby's knee gently, trying to massage the sorrow out of her. "You are."

"Rubes…" Yang's voice was soft and caring, more so than Blake had heard it before, "What happened?" Ruby pulled her knees up under her chin and out of Blake's grasp, she folded her arms and dropped her face down where none of them could see it anymore.. Maybe asking Blake about her day had just been an attempt to distract herself from the all too evident reality. It was clear that whatever had happened between Ruby and Jaune out there was really getting to her. Blake wasn't sure she had any kind of grasp on what had happened despite what she had gathered from Jaune

"It's just Jaune…." Ruby voice was muffled by her hands and legs but they all heard perfectly well what they already knew.

"Oh Ruby, I'm so sorry." Weiss's voice was warmer than usual, the care she put into her words surprised Blake. "I told you he was no good though didn't I?" Weiss's hand never stopped running its soothing circles across Ruby's back.

"What happened?" Yang asked much more sternly than before, some of the maternal care being replaced with a strong protective overtone.

"We got into a fight." Ruby lifted her eyes to Yang, "I told him exactly what I meant about kissing in front of everyone else and…" Ruby trailed off uncertainly and began to waver in her resolve. Blake wanted to squeeze her reassuringly but she had pulled away, Blake was left painfully distant from her and felt like she was completely unable to help console her in any way. She had her sister and her partner with her. What could Blake do for her?

"He was still out there when Pyrrha and I came back." Blake said softly, "He was crying too." Ruby rubbed at her face with her bare arm and turned to look at Blake, letting her knees slouch just a little so she could see Blake's caring amber eyes.

"I just.. I wanted him to understand that it feels weird and I didn't want anyone else to feel weird. But he started freaking out and I didn't know what to do about it." Ruby sniffled hard and looked back at Yang, "You told me I had to tell him so I did. But I never thought we would argue about it like that. I thought he would understand."

"See, boys are just useless." Weiss's voice had regained that icy superiority Blake was so accustomed to, "They really aren't worth the hassle at all."

"What do you mean he started freaking out?" Yang completely ignored the heiress and kept her attention focused completely on her sister. Weiss seemed to notice that the tone was not lightening anytime soon and sobered up her attitude with a shake of her shoulders.

"When I went out there to think… I-I was actually starting to figure it out. But, then he came out with me and I couldn't think with him there." "She stopped to rub at her nose with her arm and Blake reached over behind Yang and grabbed a tissue off of the bookshelf for her. She handed it to Ruby without a word. Ruby accepted the tissue and wiped at her nose. She tried to eek out a smile for Blake but didn't manage to really look pleased at all. "It was like with him around I just couldn't do anything. I felt really confused and my head was all fuzzy." Ruby was looking intently at Yang, trying to explain it all to her, the emotions she had been feeling, what had actually happened. Blake sat and listened, she just needed to be here for Ruby right now. "Then, he kind of asked if we could kiss and stuff I guess. I mean, he mentioned that no one else was around and he sounded sad. I had been kinda pushing him away when he tried to get close. Maybe he could tell I felt weird about it and he was worried. I don't know. But, we kissed and he just pulled away because I didn't really kiss back, I just kind of stood there and let him kiss me." Blake glanced over at Yang as Ruby spoke and could see her tension building, slowly rising up inside her despite a visible effort to maintain her calm. And then it broke.

"Oh that is it." Yang dropped Ruby's hands and stood suddenly, "I have been putting up with that boy because he was making you happy, but no." Yang clenched her fists at her sides and stared so intensely at the door that Blake was almost certain it would spontaneously burst into flames. "I warned him that if he ever made you cry." Yang gritted her teeth in anger, unable to vocalize her intentions through the haze of fury filling her mind "I'm gonna kill him. I'm really gonna kill him." She took a step past Blake, towards the door but Ruby reached out and grabbed her wrist, halting her.

"No Yang stop." Ruby nearly shouted, her voice pleading with Yang. "Don't do anything." Yang turned back on Ruby and Blake could see that her eyes had gone red, she was obviously boiling inside. Torn between staying with her little sister and tearing the boy across the hall to pieces. "Yang he's still my boyfriend."

Blake felt a physical shock go through her chest and it was hard to breathe for a moment. Ruby's eyes were so sincere and Yang seemed to relax a little. Blake kept her eyes focused on Ruby. Still her boyfriend? Hadn't they just broken up? Blake was so confused. Not just by what had actually happened but by what she wanted.

One part of her wanted nothing more than for Ruby to be happy. She just wanted to see her smile and hear her laugh and Jaune had been making that happen. Jaune had made Ruby happy. But another part of her, a dark, jealous part had been horribly happy when she heard that Ruby and Jaune had broken up. That meant Ruby would go back to spending her time in the room with them, Ruby would be able to read with her more often and want to go do silly things together. Blake hated that she felt that way, but of course she wanted to spend more time with her.

Wasn't Ruby's happiness more important though? Shouldn't she want her to be happy more than herself if she really cared about her the way she had convinced herself she did? Should she tell her what Jaune had said? Would that help the situation at all? Jaune had only said he thought that they had broken up. Maybe if Ruby came to him in the morning they could still fix things? But maybe, maybe Ruby hadn't realized that Jaune had broken up with her and if she went back to him it would blow up in her face. Jaune could fumble about and be really unclear and Ruby was so new to doing anything like dating. It's possible there had been some sort of horrible misunderstanding between them.

"Ruby? You're still dating?" Blake said softly, and at first Ruby didn't react. She was still focused on her sister. After just a moment, Ruby dropped Yang's arm and looked at Blake in startled confusion.

"What? Uhhhh….Yeah." She sounded uncertain and shook her head to try and clear her thoughts, "We just had a fight. I said I couldn't stand there and argue with him in the middle of the night like that and ran in here." Ruby sniffled and wiped at her nose with the tissue again, even though it was balled up in her fist. Blake felt the heat coming off of Yang ease behind her as her thoughts undoubtedly shifted from her anger at Jaune to deeper concern for Ruby.

"That's ummm…" Blake trailed off, still uncertain as to what she should say. But, Ruby deserved to have all the information. Honesty was always correct right? If Blake decided to hide something from her, that might be because of how she felt. But telling her the truth could never be wrong, could it? "That's not what he said." Blake slid her hands up and grasped both of Ruby's small calloused palms between her hands. She applied a gentle pressure to show Ruby she was sincere and how much she cared. She wanted to make sure Ruby understood what she was saying.

"What?" Fresh tears welled up in Ruby's eyes.

"He thinks you dumped him." No sooner had the words left Blake's mouth then Ruby's momentary composure shattered, fresh tears running down her cheeks. Her shoulders weren't bucking and she wasn't sobbing, she was just staring at Blake in disbelief, tears streaming unchecked along her cheeks.

"No." Ruby sounded broken, "No that's not what I said." No one said anything. Yang moved back to her spot at Ruby's side and pulled her into a side hug, Ruby just kept staring forward in disbelief.

They all sat there for a few minutes, letting Ruby soak in the information and waiting for her to react. Blake still wasn't sure if that had been the right thing to do. Watching the pain on Ruby's face as she spoke had hurt Blake so much. Ruby stared absently at the ground, trying to process it all, her tears dried after a few moments. It looked like she was too shocked by it to even cry. Finally Yang spoke up.

"Maybe it's for the best though." Yang's eyes were a deep amethyst again and she was resting her head on top of Ruby's. "I mean, if this is how he is…" Yang trailed off, not wanting to say anything overtly negative about their friend just because he and Ruby had this happen, but also wanting to express her dislike for how he had treated Ruby.

"I thought, I thought he would be like me." Ruby finally spoke. "I thought he would get it."

"He's just an immature little boy Ruby." Weiss said plainly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"But, if we broke up. Does that mean we aren't gonna be friends with them anymore? With Team JNPR?" Ruby looked around at her team. "Did I mess everything up?" Her voice started to break as her confidence collapsed in on itself.

"No Ruby, no." Blake wanted to lunge forward and hug Ruby and tell her she hadn't done anything wrong. She wanted to pull her down and stroke her hair until she fell asleep and have her wake up happy in the morning like none of this had ever happened. But she stopped herself. She couldn't do any of those things for her. "No you didn't."

"I'm sure they will be better than all that." Weiss's voice lost a bit of its edge. "Besides. I can't imagine anything keeping Nora away from you. Apparently not even a locked door can." Weiss tried desperatley to chuckle at her joke but it appeared Ruby still wasn't easing down. Yang shot Weiss a sympathetic smile over Ruby's head and then squeezed her sister's shoulders again.

"I think you need sleep now sis." Yang ran her index finger along each of Ruby's temples, pulling the tear dampened strands of hair off her cheeks and tucking them back behind her ears. Ruby nodded her head limply and lifted herself up from the bed.

"I'm gonna wash my face first." Ruby said as she made her way to the bathroom. Blake stood with her and took a step back so she could escape. They all watched until the door closed and then a let out a mutual sigh.

"Do you think they're actually done?" Weiss asked quietly, not wanting Ruby to overhear. Blake waited before responding. She heard the water start up in the sink before she began speaking quietly.

"Jaune seemed to think so. He just looked broken. It seemed like she let him down pretty hard. I figured they were done for sure until she said they were still dating." Blake glanced at the floor, embarrassed that she had let her mind jump around so much. She felt like if she met either of the other girl's eyes they would know how she felt and what she really wanted. She already hated that part of herself, how would they feel if they knew? They obviously cared about Ruby more than they did about her so she couldn't let them know. They were her sister and her partner after all, of course they wanted Ruby to be happy over everything else. They would probably try to set Jaune straight and get the two back together. Blake could be okay with that, really. She had been okay with them dating as long as it made Ruby happy so if they figured it out and Ruby was happy again then that would be okay.

"They better be done." Yang crossed her arms and spoke much louder than the other two, apparently not caring if Ruby heard exactly how she felt on the matter. Blake's head snapped up to meet Yang's determined eyes. Apparently Yang really was holding a grudge against Jaune for treating Ruby poorly. She was the overprotective type, hopefully that didn't come back to hurt Ruby.

"What if she's right though? What if that does push us and team JNPR apart?" Weiss sounded saddened by the prospect, but then seemed to catch herself. "Not that I enjoy spending time with them so much that I couldn't go without it. They're nice and all but, they're also very loud." Blake smiled to herself, she knew Weiss would feel the absence if they didn't see the other team as much. As indifferent as she tried to appear, she loved their little social group as it was more friends than she had ever truly had before. Blake would definitely feel bad if this caused a rift between the two teams. JNPR was really great and they had to live across the hall from them. But, Ren and Nora, even Pyrrha. They were bigger than that right? It might be a little weird for a while, things would be strained between their leaders but they could figure it out.

"I'm sure that part will be okay. They may be a little strange around each other. But they didn't date for very long. I think they can repair their friendship." Blake nodded her head gently, hoping to ease Weiss's anxieties a little. The door from the bathroom opened again and Ruby emerged, her face was clean now but she did not look truly refreshed.

"I'm really tired," she admitted as she came out. She stifled a long yawn with the back of her hand. Usually when she yawned she would smile and stretch her arms above her head, giggling a little as she leapt up to her top bunk. But now, she just looked exhausted, she dropped her hands to her sides and slowly moved towards her bunk.

"You should sleep. You and Jaune were both tired tonight. I'm sure that in the morning you can talk about it with clearer heads and figure the whole thing out." Blake gave Ruby a small smile, hoping to cheer her at least a little. Going to bed sad was a terrible thing to do.

"Sleeping will help you think too." Yang walked over and wrapped Ruby up in another hug. Ruby hugged back and her shoulders seemed to ease down a little. "You have to decide what makes you the happiest Ruby, what makes you feel most comfortable." They held each other for just another moment before Ruby pulled away.

"I'm not being dumb am I?" Ruby looked at her teammates, her sister.

"No Ruby." Blake responded immediately.

"Of course not. If anyone is being dumb, it's that idiot boy." Weiss held her usual derision for Jaune wide out in the open.

"Never." Yang put her hand back on Ruby's shoulder.

"Thank you guys." Ruby looked at each one of them and held their eyes for a moment. "I love you."

Blake couldn't stop herself anymore. She rushed forward and gave Ruby a hug as well. She felt another set of arms wrap around them and realized Yang had joined in as well. Weiss audibly sighed and then slowly slid her arms around Ruby.

"We love you too. Now are we ever going to go to sleep?" Weiss tried to hide how touched she was but they all knew better. Blake realized then just how close they had all gotten. She had never really been the hugging type before. She preferred to sit back and deal with her own problems on her own and let others do the same, but here, with them. This felt right.

A/N - So this chapter is a little shorter. But the conversation isn't over. It's just late and they needed to sleep. It's one of those pieces where I either put a chapter break here or posted behemoth of a chapter. I decided splitting it would be better in this case.

I got a lot of responses on both sides of last chapter. Some people thought I did really well with Jaune and others seemed to really hate what I did. I also got one quest review that I obviously couldn't respond to, so please, whoever that was, treat this note as a response to your review.

At the start of the show Jaune wasn't as loveable as he is now. He was constantly chasing after Weiss, quite desperately, didn't do any of the helping people over himself stuff and abandoned his team to suck up to Cardin during the blackmail thing. Then with the dance and the Forever Fall forest scenes his character really changed and developed into the Jaune we know and recognize now. I wanted him to go through that same change but for different reasons here. I think you'll see as the story progresses that his interaction with Ruby will really change his outlook and he will realize what happened. In the canon of the show Jaune is an incredibly dynamic character and not treating him as such here would fail to do the show justice.

Thanks so much for reading everyone, and for weathering the break I had to take for attending Comic Con. I wish I could say it was a super relaxing vacation and I'm back feeling refreshed and relaxed. But, honestly, at this point. Getting back to work and the daily grind will be more relaxing than that all was. Also, now I can respond to reviews again, thank people for following and maybe get some work done on my new stuff.

Hope you enjoyed the chapter. Jaune and Pyrrha's talk will be on Thursday.

-Zach