Chapter Text

Chapter 3 - Part 1: The Apology

Weiss had rehearsed the apology a dozen times as she walked through Beacon's corridors, each version sounding more inadequate than the last. How did you apologize for destroying someone's spirit? How did you take back words that had clearly changed how someone moved through the world?

She had checked the library, the dining hall, and even the training rooms before remembering that Team JNPR's dorm was on the floor above theirs. The walk up the stairs felt like a death march, each step heavier than the last. Ruby's disappointed face flashed in her mind, followed by Yang's ultimatum and Blake's quiet judgment.

She had to make this right. She owed Jaune that much, and she owed it to her team.

The hallway was quiet when she reached JNPR's floor, late afternoon sunlight streaming through the tall windows and casting long shadows across the polished floor. She could hear muffled voices from behind their door—Nora's energetic chatter and Ren's occasional calm responses. Taking a deep breath, she raised her hand and knocked.

The voices inside quieted, and after a moment, the door opened to reveal Jaune. He looked surprised to see her, but not hostile—just carefully neutral in the way she had become accustomed to over the past week.

"Weiss," he said politely. "Is everything okay? Do you need something?"

The formal tone stung more than she had expected. This was how he spoke to professors or acquaintances, not friends. Not people he had once cared about.

"I..." She faltered, suddenly aware of how public the hallway was. "Could we talk? Privately?"

Jaune hesitated, glancing back into his room where she could see Pyrrha reading on her bed. "Sure. Let me just grab something."

He stepped back into the room briefly, and Weiss heard him say something to his teammates before returning to the hallway, pulling the door closed behind him. He leaned against the wall, arms crossed but not defensively—more like someone trying to maintain a comfortable distance.

"What did you want to talk about?"

The words she had practiced suddenly felt clumsy and insufficient. "I wanted to apologize. For what I said in the library. I was... I was harsher than I should have been."

Jaune was quiet for a long moment, studying her face with those blue eyes that seemed older than they had been two weeks ago. "You don't need to apologize, Weiss."

"Yes, I do. What I said was cruel and—"

"What you said was right." His voice was calm, matter-of-fact. "I should have gotten the hint earlier. You made it clear you weren't interested, and I kept pushing anyway. That wasn't fair to you."

Weiss blinked in surprise. This wasn't how she had expected the conversation to go. "Jaune, no, that's not—"

"It is, though." He straightened up from the wall, but kept that careful distance between them. "I was so focused on what I wanted that I didn't really consider how uncomfortable I was making you. Ruby helped me see that, actually. She asked me how I would feel if someone kept asking me out after I'd said no, and..." He shrugged. "I realized I'd been kind of selfish."

"You weren't selfish," Weiss said quickly. "You were being kind. Bringing soup when Ruby was sick, offering to help with homework—that wasn't selfish, that was just you being... you."

"Being me got you so frustrated that you had to humiliate me publicly to get me to stop." There was no bitterness in his voice, just resigned acceptance. "I mean, you were stressed about other things too, I'm sure, but I was the one who pushed you to that point."

The casual way he dismissed his own worth made something ache in Weiss's chest. "Jaune, what I said about you being pathetic and disgusting—that was wrong. You're not those things. You're kind and loyal and—"

"It's okay, Weiss." He held up a hand to stop her. "Really. I'm not angry about it anymore. You were honest about how you felt, and I needed to hear it. I just... I needed some time to process it, you know?"

The hallway fell silent except for the distant sounds of other students moving through the building. Weiss felt like she was missing something important, like there was a conversation happening beneath the words they were saying.

"I want things to go back to normal," she said finally. "Between us, I mean. And with the team."

Jaune nodded slowly. "Yeah, I've been thinking about that too. I know I've been making things weird for you and Ruby and everyone. That wasn't fair either."

"You haven't been making things weird—"

"I have, though. I've been avoiding you, which means I've been cautious around all of you." He ran a hand through his hair, a gesture that reminded her of the old Jaune—less guarded, more open. "Look, I can't just flip a switch and go back to how things were before. But I can stop making everyone else uncomfortable because of my own issues."

"What does that mean?"

"It means I'll stop avoiding group conversations. I'll sit with you guys at lunch if there's room. I'll be normal and friendly." He paused, meeting her eyes directly for the first time since the library incident. "But I'm going to keep some distance, Weiss. Not because I'm angry, but because I need to. For both of us."

Weiss felt a strange pang at his words, though she couldn't quite identify why. "That's... that's fair, I suppose."

"Good." Jaune straightened up, and for a moment his smile was almost like his old one—warm and genuine, if a bit more reserved. "Actually, wait here for a second. I have something for you."

He disappeared back into his room, leaving Weiss standing alone in the hallway. She could hear muffled conversation from inside—Jaune's voice, then Pyrrha's, though she couldn't make out the words.

When he returned, he was holding a single white lily, its petals perfect and pristine.

"I bought this a few days ago," he said, offering it to her with a slightly embarrassed smile. "I was going to give it to you as like... a peace offering? I know white lilies mean rebirth and new beginnings, and I thought maybe..." He shrugged. "It seemed appropriate."

Weiss took the flower carefully, surprised by the gesture. The lily was beautiful, and clearly fresh—he must have been taking care of it while waiting for the right moment to approach her.

"Jaune, this is lovely, but you didn't need to—"

"I wanted to," he said simply. "Look, I don't want there to be bad blood between us. We're going to be at this school together for years, and our teams work together all the time. I'd rather have a friendly acquaintance than an enemy."

A friendly acquaintance. The words shouldn't have stung, but they did. When had she become someone who would be grateful for Jaune Arc's casual friendship instead of taking it for granted?

"Thank you," she said, holding the lily close. "For the flower, and for... for being more mature about this than I was."

"We all make mistakes," Jaune said with a shrug. "The important thing is learning from them, right?"

Inside the room, Weiss could hear movement—someone getting up from a bed, footsteps moving closer to the door. Jaune glanced back, then looked at her again.

"I should get back. Pyrrha and I were working on some Combat strategies for next week's exercises."

"Of course. I should go too."

They stood there for a moment longer, the conversation feeling both resolved and somehow incomplete. Finally, Jaune gave her a small nod.

"I'll see you around, Weiss. And thanks for... for coming to talk to me. I know it wasn't easy."

He went back into his room, closing the door gently behind him. Weiss stood in the empty hallway for a moment, turning the white lily over in her hands. She had gotten what she came for—an end to the tension, a return to civility, a promise that things would be less awkward for everyone.

So why did she feel like she had lost something instead of gained it?

Inside the JNPR dorm room, Pyrrha Nikos sat on her bed with a book in her lap, though she hadn't turned a page in the last ten minutes. She had heard every word of the conversation through the door, and her heart was beating faster with each passing moment.

She had watched Jaune struggle over the past two weeks, seen him question his own worth and value because of Weiss's cruel words. She had wanted to comfort him, to tell him how wrong Weiss had been, but she had held back—partly out of respect for his need to process things on his own, and partly out of her own cowardice.

But listening to him just now, hearing him speak with such maturity and grace about someone who had hurt him so deeply, only reinforced what she had known for months.

She was completely, utterly in love with Jaune Arc.

And if Weiss Schnee was fool enough to let him go, then Pyrrha wasn't going to make the same mistake.

"Everything okay?" Jaune asked as he came back into the room, settling back down at his desk.

"Fine," Pyrrha said, closing her book and looking at him with new determination. "Actually, Jaune? Could we talk later? After dinner, maybe? There's something I've been wanting to discuss with you."

Jaune looked up from his homework with mild curiosity. "Sure, Pyrrha. Everything alright?"

"Everything's perfect," she said, her heart racing with the decision she had just made. "I just... I think it's time I was honest about something."

Back in Team RWBY's dorm room, Weiss found her teammates scattered around the room in various states of evening relaxation. Ruby was cleaning Crescent Rose with her usual meticulous care, Blake was reading in her bed, and Yang was doing some kind of complicated stretching routine.

"So?" Yang asked without looking up from her position. "How did it go?"

Weiss sat on her own bed, still holding the white lily. "It went... well, I think. We talked. He accepted my apology."

"Really?" Ruby looked up from her weapon, eyes bright with hope. "So things are going to go back to normal?"

"Not exactly." Weiss touched the lily's petals gently. "He said he'd stop avoiding group situations, but he wants to keep some distance between us. Which is... understandable, I suppose."

Blake looked up from her book. "How do you feel about that?"

It was a simple question, but Weiss found herself struggling to answer. How did she feel about Jaune's polite acceptance, his mature forgiveness, his promise to be a friendly acquaintance?

"I feel like I got what I set out for," she said finally.

Yang finally looked at her, something sharp and assessing in her expression. "And what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means I was cruel to someone who didn't necessarily deserve it." Weiss lay back on her bed, holding the lily up to catch the light from the window. "He gave me this. Said it was a peace offering."

"That's very sweet of him," Ruby said softly. "White lilies are pretty."

"They mean rebirth and new beginnings," Weiss murmured, remembering Jaune's explanation.

"Sounds like he's trying to start fresh," Blake observed. "That's probably healthy for both of you."

Weiss nodded, though something in her chest felt tight and uncomfortable. She should be relieved. The tension was resolved, her teammates would be happy, and Jaune would stop making things awkward for everyone.

She had gotten exactly what she wanted.

So why did the thought of being Jaune's "friendly acquaintance" make her feel so empty?