The three members of team JNPR waited nervously in the hallway for someone from RWBY to answer. There was a heavy silence around them, but nobody wanted to break it. At this point, any talk would only make them more uncomfortable than they already were, and would distract them from figuring out what they were going to say. So, they waited. And waited.

After what seemed like forever, Pyrrha tried knocking again, this time a little louder. However, this time, instead of silence, the action was met with muted voices. She could vaguely make out two people arguing about something, and then… footsteps! Someone was coming to the door. As the footsteps grew closer, she realized she was holding her breath, wishing for whoever it was to hurry up, until-

With a slam, the door was wrenched open, revealing a fuming Weiss. "Now you listen, we have had it with you people showing up! We are not some circus event for you to –" Weiss froze, finally realize who she was talking to. "Pyrrha! I am so, so sorry, I wasn't thinking and it's been a very long day, and we haven't been sleeping well, and Blake thought you were someone else, and as you know, Blake has a tendency to be correct on these matters, and so I just assumed you weren't you, and… I'm sorry," she finished lamely, averting her eyes.

JNPR was stunned by Weiss' rant for a moment, before Ren quickly composed himself and placed a hand on the heiress' shoulder. "Have others been coming by?" he asked.

Weiss nodded. "As I'm sure you all know, getting expelled is a rather difficult task at Beacon." Unfortunately, they all did. A certain Winchester had proved that several times over. "As such, the students here have taken to seeing us as some kind of novelty. They treat us like some carnival attraction, something to gawk at and laugh about once we leave. It's attracted a lot of miscreants and other unsavory people, I'm afraid. Even someone from the press managed to sneak in, though I doubt I'll ever know how she got past Ozpin."

"The media has been stalking you?" Pyrrha asked worriedly.

"I… wouldn't say that exactly. But they have been clamoring to get the first story out. These morons have no respect for privacy. All they care about is getting the next story sensationalized as quickly as possible," Weiss huffed.

The three members of JNPR had no idea how to respond. Sure, they expected there to be a little backlash against RWBY for Yang's actions, but none of them thought that the story would become this big of a deal. They had been so caught up in dealing with their own problems that the three girls had dealt with the unwanted attention without anyone to turn to. Sure, it was a member of their team who had injured Jaune, but none of them had done anything to hurt him. They certainly didn't deserve this treatment.

"I'm very sorry, Weiss," Pyrrha finally said. "May we… may we come in and talk for a bit? I know that things have been tense between us, but I… we want to make things better."

Weiss stepped into her room for a moment, presumably to ask the rest of her team, before emerging again and giving the okay. As the team entered the room, the first thing they noticed was the mess. RWBY's dorm had always been immaculate (with the exception of the jerry-rigged bunk beds), but now it looked like chaos. Clothes were strewn across the floor, books lay untouched in stacks in the corner, and the walls bore several deep gashes.

"Sorry about the mess." JNPR all turned to see Blake sitting on her bed. "We haven't had much time to clean. It turns out having people bother you 24/7 means nobody gets to do any work outside the room, and we're always too busy to get it cleaned. That, or we just don't have the energy to care." The faunus sounded exhausted, as if she had been awake for three straight days. And if the bags under her eyes were any indication, there was a good chance that's exactly what she did.

"Please, don't worry about it. It's understandable," Ren replied.

Pyrrha scratched her arm nervously. "Er… is Ruby here, or is it just you two?"

The heiress sighed. "No, she's here. Give me a moment to wake her up." She went over to the leader's bed and began poking at the mass of sheets on top of the mattress. After a few attempts, a hand shot out to swat her away, which she promptly grabbed and used to drag out her leader.

"Weiss, c'mon, I'm really not in the mood. What's so important that you had to wake me up?" the leader pouted.

Weiss cleared her throat while continuing to stare at Ruby until the redhead finally took stock of her surroundings. Her eyes widened once she recognized who was in the room, and she teetered dangerously on the bed before tilting too far and plummeting to the ground below. Luckily, she was caught by a white glyph before she impacted the floor.

"Honestly, you would think by now you would've learned to be careful, you dolt."

"Hehe… Sorry, Weiss. And thanks for the catch."

The six students shared a quiet laugh at the awkwardness of the situation before Pyrrha finally gathered the nerve to speak. "Ruby, how are you doing? I'm sure this can't be easy, but have you at least been taking care of yourself?"

Ruby gave a sad smile. "I'm doing okay, I guess. Going through every day without Yang is really weird. Like I keep expecting there to be a dumb joke thrown in at a bad time, or for her to start complaining about her hair, but every time I remember that she's not there, and then I just feel bad so… Things could be worse, I guess?" The group could tell she was putting on a brave face, but nobody commented on it. "What about you guys? How are all of you?"

"We're coping," the champion replied. "We had some issues, but I think we've managed to flush them out."

"What about Nora?" asked Blake.

"What about her?" Ren answered.

"Well, she hasn't said anything the entire time you've been here. Normally, she's the loudest person in the room. It seems to me like something's bothering her."

The rest of the group turned to Nora, waiting for her answer. Finally, she said quietly, "I just don't see why we're here."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Weiss asked.

"It means that this whole thing is your fault!" She exclaimed. "Our leader's in the hospital because of one of your team members, and we're just supposed to act like nothing happened? It isn't fair!"

"Nora, that's too far," Pyrrha scolded.

"Why?" She asked. "You said you blame them too, remember! So why are you acting like there isn't a problem here? They hurt one of our team, they hurt our leader! Maybe they even killed him!"

"NORA!" Ren finally raised his voice to silence his partner. "Apologize. Now."

The bomber shook her head. "No. This is stupid," she said before rushing out the door and slamming it behind her.

Ren shot an apologetic look to the room before departing as well to prevent her from destroying anything expensive, and leaving Pyrrha alone to face the stares of team RWBY.

"You think this is our fault?" Ruby asked quietly, her hands shaking.

"No, we don't think that!" she quickly assured.

"But Nora said you did," Blake accused.

Pyrrha could tell the room was quickly growing hostile, and she had to choose her next words very carefully. She knelt in front of Ruby and brought the reaper's eyes up to meet her own. "I know she did, and I think she still has trouble seeing it otherwise. Jaune is very precious to all of us, and I think seeing you three reminds us of the condition he's in right now." She paused to wipe away some tears from Ruby's eyes. "But that doesn't make it your fault. And I promise, neither Ren nor I blame you for Jaune, and we'll still be there for you all, no matter what happens."

"But Nora does blame us?" Weiss asked coldly.

"I'll talk to her," she replied. "Honestly, I think Nora doesn't know who to blame right now. You know how she is, when a problem comes up, she confronts it head on. But right now, she can't do that. If Yang were still here, I imagine they'd go hit each other for a day or two until they finally gave up. But now, the one person she wants to hate isn't here. So she turned her anger towards the people closest to the one who hurt Jaune. And I am so sorry that she did. I swear, as soon as she calms down, I will drag her back in here to apologize for her words. But until then, please, don't hold it against her. She's just as confused as you three are, maybe even more."

"So… you don't hate us?" Ruby asked.

"No, of course not. You all are our dear friends. This has been hard on all of us, and I'm still not sure exactly what's going to happen, and I have no idea what will happen to us if Jaune doesn't pull through. But I have faith that he will, so in the meantime, let's do our best to support each other, okay?

"Okay," the reaper agreed. And for the first time that day, she let a small, tearful smile come out.

After another brief conversation, Pyrrha excused herself. "As nice as this has been, I really should go check up on Jaune. The nurses stop letting guests visit in about an hour, and I haven't had a chance to see him today."

However, before she could leave, there was a small tug on her arm. To her surprise. Ruby was lightly holding onto the back of her uniform. "Um, would it be okay if… if I came too?" she asked nervously. "I kinda haven't been over there yet, and I'm still a little scared to go, and I'm not sure if I'm ready but I think if you agree to let me come it will make it a little less awkward and oh my gosh I'm making this awkward and it was a stupid idea I'm just gonna shut up now so sorry." She quickly pulled her hood over her head.

Pyrrha laughed lightly before patting her head. "It's okay, Ruby. I'm sure Jaune would love it if you came to visit." The leader nodded silently before waving goodbye to her teammates and following the champion out the door.

The trip to the infirmary was short, but even so, traversing the courtyard in absolute silence was a strange experience for Pyrrha. She thought about trying to make small talk along the way, but she couldn't think of anything to say. Unfortunately, there weren't any 'Sorry your sister punched my leader and now she's expelled' greeting cards at any of the local markets. Luckily, it seemed Ruby was just as content to remain silent, and so they were spared any awkward conversation attempts that would undoubtedly end in one of them embarrassed.

When they finally reached the infirmary, the two quickly made their way to Jaune's room. It helped that the nurses all knew Pyrrha by now – she had taken more than enough trips to see Jaune.

When they entered, it was a familiar sight to Pyrrha, but a shocking one to Ruby. Jaune lay on the bed, surrounded by monitors beeping at asynchronous intervals. Surprisingly, the sight appeared to calm Pyrrha. "Maybe it's just my imagination," she said, "but I think he has a little more color than he did yesterday."

"He was worse than this?" Ruby gasped.

The champion answered solemnly, "For a while, they couldn't get him stable. He lost a lot of blood, and he didn't have any aura left to heal. Even with the regular aura injections, they had to resort to some more archaic methods of healing. Apparently, it's akin to sewing, using a thread and needle."

"And now? How long do they think he'll be out for?"

"It's hard to say. He could wake up tomorrow, or he could wake up three months from now. But his aura's working overtime already. No matter when he wakes up, he'll still need several weeks before he can even leave the bed."

The reaper approached Jaune slowly, and began carefully stroking his hair. Half his face was hidden by a bandage, but the part that was visible seemed peaceful. "When I first met Jaune, it was like, for the first time, I got to have a real sibling," she said.

Pyrrha was shocked. "Ruby, I know you're mad at Yang, but doesn't banishing her from your family seem a little harsh?"

"What? Nonononono that's not what I meant!" she said, waving her arms frantically. I love Yang, and she's a great sister, it's just…" she trailed off.

"Just what, Ruby?"

"As long as I can remember, it's been Yang taking care of me," Ruby said. "My mom died when I was really young, and after that, our dad just… stopped. I guess losing two wives does that to a guy. But my point is that it was Yang who raised me, not my parents. She was the one who made sure that I ate three meals a day. And it was her that made sure I always did my homework and got to bed on time. She was only two years older, but we never really got to be sisters. We never got to play house, or have sleepovers, because she had to play every role in the family."

"Ruby, I had no idea…" Pyrrha said. She wasn't sure how to respond to such a revelation.

"For a long time, Yang was all I had. Nobody really wanted to be friends with the kid who was always crying about her mom. Before I got to Signal, none of the kids in my grade talked to me. Yang tried to get me to sit with her friends, but apparently having your little sister around 24/7 isn't really cool. So, she and I would sit together at lunch, every single day. Even when she went to Signal she still came back twice a week. Come to think of it, I probably ruined any chance she ever had at dating back then." She let out a small laugh.

"She really cared about you, didn't she?" Pyrrha asked.

"Yeah," Ruby replied softly. "She's always been there to protect me. But she's always cared about other people too. I know she didn't mean to hurt Jaune, Pyrrha. It was stupid, and reckless, but she didn't mean to hurt him, I swear." She paused, before adding quietly, "I don't think she's a bad person."

The champion shook her head sadly. "I know she didn't mean to, Ruby. But sometimes," she paused to think of what to say. "Sometimes just having good intentions isn't good enough. Maybe she didn't mean to hurt Jaune, maybe she did. But the fact is that Jaune is laying on that bed, unconscious, because of her. And if he has to give up his dream because of her… I don't think I'll ever forgive her for that."

The two sat in silence for a while. Slowly, it was broken by a rhythmic tapping on the floor. Pyrrha glanced up to see tears dripping off of her friend's face, splashing onto the floor. Quietly, she wrapped and arm around the reaper and pulled her close. "Hey," she whispered, "why don't you tell me more about growing up with your sister?"

Ruby gave a weak smile of thanks. "Things got better once Uncle Qrow came by and beat some sense into my dad," she answered, the tears gradually starting to slow. "But by that point, raising me like her own child was a force of habit to Yang. When my dad first starting acting like a father again, she got really protective and said he was only allowed to be a parent when she was around, because she didn't want him to hurt me again."

At the thought of Yang telling off her father, Pyrrha burst into giggles. "I'm sorry," she choked out. "I just can't stop laughing about a tiny Yang telling your dad he can't raise you without her permission." A few seconds later, Ruby joined in with her own laugh, wiping away the leftover moisture from her eyes.

"Yeah, the whole situation was kinda ridiculous. A twelve year old teaching a grown man how to be a parent. But that's who Yang was. That's who she still is. And that's why I was so glad to meet Jaune. For the first time, I had someone I could really be close to, who I could do all of things I never got to do with Yang."

"I think I understand how you feel," Pyrrha replied. "I didn't have many friends at Sanctum, just fans who saw me as some idol. So meeting Jaune for me was the same. It was like there was finally someone I could just be 'Pyrrha' around. Not the Goddess of Victory, or the Invincible Girl. Just plain, old Pyrrha."

Ruby smiled fondly at her comatose friend. "He really is a dork, isn't he?"

"He certainly is. But, I wouldn't have him any other way. Would you?"

Ruby shook her head before leaning down and pressing a gentle kiss to his forehead. "Wake up soon, Jaune," she whispered. "We all miss you."

She exited the room, and Pyrrha rose to follow. However, she did take the chance to give him a quick kiss on the cheek. "You'll pull through, Jaune. I know you will."

AN: And for once, this ends on a happy note. Not much to say for this note, but just a few things to mention:

First, thanks to RWBYGuy2015 for becoming the new Beta reader for this story.

Second, as always, please leave a review, the feedback is always super helpful, and I love hearing from all of you.

And finally, a very happy summer to all of you!