'250 lien,' he thought as he sighed at the sight of the dismal numbers that was his bank account displayed on the screen of his scroll. Lifting his coffee mug to his lips, downing the remainder of his spiked drink, then cringing at the burn as it slithered down his throat, he thought out loud, "I guess I should do another job. The alcohol isn't going to pay for itself and rent is due this week."

Gathering his belongings and putting on a pair of aviators to shield his hungover eyes from the bright morning, he gently placed the cup in the kitchen sink before departing his lonely apartment for the CCT mission boards. Jaune pulled his hood over his forehead as he walked down the dilapidated steps on the side of the concrete building before turning in the direction of Beacon academy. He gnawed on his greasy breakfast burrito as he walked, checking his playlist before inserting his earbuds just as the chaos of the synth beats picked up and necessarily drowned out his thoughts.

3… 2… 1… The huntsman took slight amusement in counting down the seconds to when the data updated. He looked through his reflective sunglasses up at the partially overcast sky to make a mental note and prediction of the weather. As he flipped through the high-risk listings, lost in thought, a familiar hint of red entered his peripheral vision. Ignoring the bright red hood, he settled on a moderately paying, two-person, 1-day mission and simply walked away. Red was a popular color, it couldn't be her.

Turning the corner, Jaune felt a slight breeze at his back before a hand grab his shoulder and pulled him around, causing his hand to fall to his absent sword. To his unfortunate surprise, he found a familiar face followed by a trail of rose petals. He watched her mouth move inaudibly to him for a few seconds before holding his hand up to indicate a pause, so he could remove his earbuds.

"Jaune!" her still high-pitched voice rang louder than usual, "I knew I recognized you. Well, the Pumpkin Pete hoodie was a dead giveaway."

"Not so loud, I had a rough night," Jaune rubbed his temples.

"Oh, sorry," Ruby replied, self-consciously bringing her hand to her mouth, "hungover?"

"Yeah," Jaune looked down at his scroll to pause his music.

"So, what have you been up to?" Ruby asked as the pair continued down the direction Jaune was headed, "I haven't seen you at all since we defeated Salem."

"How keen of you to notice," Jaune stared straight ahead, hiding behind his aviators, "much of the same thing. Take a job, finish the mission, get home and drink until I run out of money for food and alcohol. Repeat."

"Ah, so exactly what Uncle Qrow used to do," Ruby's gaze fell to the ground before quickly forcing herself to perk up, "well, I've been doing a lot of huntress work as well. A lot of people come to me personally ever since word got out that I killed Salem."

Jaune let an awkward pause pass before turning to the young woman, "Did I ask?"

"Mmm, no but it's been so long since I've seen you," Ruby replied, "I thought I shouldn't miss the chance to catch up."

"Well, we're caught up now," Jaune answered coldly while reinserting his earbuds, "bye."

"Jaune wait!" Ruby called out, ripping the earbuds out.

"What the fuck do you want?" Jaune snarled as he turned to meet her eyes.

"What happened to you?" Ruby asked, "You disappear for six years and you're not my best guy friend anymore? You didn't even come back to Beacon for your final year."

"I was done with it all," Jaune averted his eyes, "I was done with being left behind. You weren't there for me when I needed it the most and when you didn't show up at Vacuo, I was done with you especially."

"We did get to Vacuo," Ruby argued, "and everything was destroyed."

"That's because I watched it fall," Jaune's voice grew dark, "I helped protect the city, I guarded the winter maiden until her gruesome end, I did everything in my power to prevent it all from happening alone."

"Jaune, believe me, if you lasted a bit longer we could've made it there with backup," Ruby did her best to cover up her shame.

"I waited for months, Ruby, months!" Jaune continued as Ruby stared at the ground in front of her feet, "It's not like I didn't ask either, I sent multiple messages your way, even had Qrow personally deliver a message to you so don't you dare give me that grimm shit. When it was all said and done, you didn't care, you didn't even so much as mention my name."

"I thought I lost you," Ruby started off softly, getting louder with each word, "I didn't want you to leave, but you insisted. I came running as fast as I could as soon as Uncle Qrow said you were in trouble, but when I got there, I was way too late. I spent a week looking for your body, any sign if you were alive or dead just so I could get some closure, but nothing. As soon as I saw your name registered on the mission boards a month after we took down Salem, I knew I had to find you."

"Well, here I am, you found me," Jaune mocked, throwing his arms up dramatically, "so what on fucking Remnant do you want?"

"You know, it's funny. I spent six years rehearsing what I was going to say to you once I found you," Ruby hid behind her smile, holding up her scroll, "I guess we're teammates for this mission."

Jaune's jaw dropped in disbelief, "You mean to tell me that you wasted my time and energy, dug up shit that I never want to remember, just for this?"

"Mmhmm," Ruby nodded with a smile on her face, bracing herself for another round of verbal abuse.

"Whatever, just don't bother me until the mission," Jaune sighed at the woman's insanity before turning to leave, "oh, and after this mission, we part ways and never speak again, you understand?"

"Wait, Jaune," Ruby caught Jaune's sleeve, "can I please stay at your place? I've been kinda homeless for the last six years."

"What the fuck?" Jaune simply said, pinching the bridge of his nose

Author's Note: It's been a long ass while since I've written an AU fic, let alone a future AU fic. I had the idea for this a few months ago while I was arguing with my roommate about whether or not Jaune's going to make it until the end of the series. I was thinking that he's probably going to die, but my roomie argued plot armor. Anyway, that still doesn't explain the reason for this fic... I guess I'll chalk it up to "my brain made dis." Pls review and send ideas my way, I have writer's block.