They followed Blake down the corridor at an unhurried pace was a few steps ahead, hands in her pockets.
Jaune broke the silence first.
"Alright Blake, seriously," he said, glancing at Blake's back. "Where are we going?"
Blake didn't slow. She simply lifted one hand and pointed to a door set into the wall to their right.
Another simulation chamber.
Jaune frowned slightly and Pyrrha mirrored his expression, her gaze flicking from the door to Blake. It was identical to the chamber they had just left, only this one had its status lights glowing softly, indicating active occupancy.
Blake stopped in front of it and turned around.
She looked… a little sheepish.
It was subtle, but unmistakable. Her shoulders rose a fraction. Her eyes shifted just a little to the side. She said nothing.
Jaune narrowed his eyes. "Blake."
She reached for the door controls.
Before either of them could press further, the doors slid open.
Inside were five familiar figures.
Ruby stood near the center of the room, hands on her hips, hood down and training outfit snug against her frame. Yang leaned against an invisible boundary with her arms crossed, golden hair tied back in a loose ponytail. Nora was perched on the holographic control console, legs swinging as she enthusiastically tapped at floating panels. Ren stood beside her, posture calm and composed as ever. Weiss was a little off to the side, engaged in quiet conversation with him.
The simulation environment itself was blank, no scenery loaded in yet.
Nora noticed them first.
Her face lit up, grin stretching wide as she waved both arms in exaggerated arcs. "Jaune. Pyrrha. Hi hi hi."
Jaune blinked, then nodded once in greeting. "Hey, Nora."
Pyrrha lifted a hand with a polite smile. "Hello, everyone."
Jaune looked around the room again, confusion setting in properly now. "Okay," he said slowly. "What's going on?"
Ruby and Yang exchanged a glance, then walked over together. Ruby stopped directly in front of Jaune, her red eyes bright with a kind of forced cheer that was not quite convincing. Yang stayed just behind her, hands resting casually at her sides.
"We decided to set something up," Ruby said. "Something fun. For all of us."
Jaune frowned.
Fun was not a word that sat easily with him right now. The idea itself was not offensive, but it felt misplaced, like trying to laugh in the middle of a funeral hall.
"I don't know if this is really the time for... something fun," he said honestly.
Ruby's smile faltered for just a second before she stepped closer and tugged him gently by the sleeve, pulling him a few steps away from the others.
"Just a second," she said to the group, then lowered her voice. "Look. I know Belmont is still fresh."
Jaune exhaled slowly and ran his fingers through his hair, gaze drifting toward the distant, empty walls of the simulation chamber. "Fresh doesn't even begin to cover it," he said quietly. "Seeing that place. Seeing what Sleepless did. It just made something really clear to me."
Ruby waited, listening.
"I'm weak," Jaune continued. "In the grand scheme of things. Compared to what's out there. Compared to what people like them can do. I'm still so far behind."
Ruby's shoulders slumped slightly. She looked down at the floor, boots scuffing against the matte surface.
"I know that you're hurting," she said softly. "And… you're right. This kind of stuff doesn't just go away because someone tells you to cheer up."
She hesitated, then looked back up at him. "But unlike me, you don't really have anyone to talk to about it."
Jaune stiffened.
Ruby continued before he could respond. "I mean, I've got Yang. I've got Dad. I can call them whenever things get bad. You could talk to a LUCID therapist, sure, but what are they supposed to say? That it'll be okay eventually? That you just need to get stronger?"
She shook her head. "That stuff helps, but it's not the whole answer. Time is. Time and not being alone while it passes."
Yang walked up then, placing a hand on Jaune's shoulder. Her smile was small and tired, but sincere. "Ozpin gave us all a break from patrols beyond the mandatory one Grimm kill per night," she said. "He wants us to heal. And that also includes you, Jaune."
Jaune looked between the two of them.
He was still unconvinced. The weight in his chest did not vanish just because they cared. But… he could see the effort. The intent. They were trying to pull him back from a place that was getting darker by the hour.
He sighed. "Alright," he said finally. "I'll go along with it."
Ruby's face brightened immediately. Yang gave his shoulder a reassuring squeeze before stepping away.
They walked back to the group together.
Nora was still at the controls, laughter bubbling out of her as she layered setting upon setting with reckless enthusiasm. Blake hovered nearby, eyes wide and increasingly alarmed as she watched new parameters stack onto the simulation.
"Nora," Blake said slowly. "Why does that say environmental hazards?"
Nora beamed. "Heh. Because it's more fun that way."
Weiss had shifted closer to Pyrrha, speaking quietly with her. Ren noticed Jaune approaching and gave him a nod.
It was subtle. Barely noticeable to anyone else.
Jaune returned it with his own nod.
A silent exchange. Ren asking if he was alright. Jaune answering that he was peachy.
The simulation chamber hummed louder.
The blank environment began to distort.
Distance stretched unnaturally, the far edges of the room pulling away as if space itself were being inflated. The floor segmented, massive tiles forming beneath their feet, each one the size of a small house. The air shimmered with unreal color as textures loaded in waves.
Then the scenery snapped into place.
They were inside a bakery.
A massive bakery.
Pink walls towered overhead, frosted with decorative trim and oversized piping like icing. Giant countertops loomed like cliffs. Pancakes floated lazily through the air, spinning slowly as if caught in a gentle current. Waffles drifted past, dripping syrup that splashed onto the tiles below in sticky, glowing virtual puddles.
Somewhere above them, enormous scissors flapped through the air on their own, blades snapping shut with audible clicks. Conveyor belts moved trays the size of buses. Rolling pins swung on chains like pendulums. Traps were scattered everywhere, pressure plates shaped like gumdrops, ovens that belched bursts of hot air, and mechanical arms wielding spatulas with alarming enthusiasm.
Everything was pink.
Violently pink.
The scale was absurd. They looked like ants in a giant's kitchen.
Jaune stared.
"What," he said slowly, "the hell did you do?"
Nora threw her arms into the air, laughing with pure, unfiltered glee. "I made it awesome."
Blake slapped a hand to her forehead and groaned. "I told you not to give her full access, Ruby."
Everyone else stood in stunned silence.
Yang coughed into her fist. "Uh. Right. Jaune."
He turned to look at her, expression flat and incredulous.
"We're supposed to be playing tag."
Jaune stared at her.
Then at the floating pancakes.
Then at Nora, who was still giggling uncontrollably.
"…You're kidding," he said.
.
.
Ruby clapped her hands once, the sound echoing softly through the cavernous pink bakery. The floating pancakes bobbed as if startled, syrup wobbling in slow arcs before settling again.
"Okay," she said, already stepping toward the holographic control panel. "Rules time."
She flicked her wrist and the air in front of her blossomed into light. Several simple bands materialized in neat rows, black fabric threaded with faintly glowing virtual filaments. They drifted forward, hovering patiently until Ruby plucked them from the air and began handing them out.
"Headbands," she explained as she passed one to Jaune, then Pyrrha, then the rest. "You wear it on your arm, leg, waist, wherever. The goal of this training/exercise is to take other people's headbands and keep yours."
Yang raised an eyebrow as she tied hers around her upper arm. "Classic."
"Ten minutes," Ruby continued. "No weapon use at all. Rune skills however, are allowed."
That last part made several people perk up.
Jaune turned the band over in his hands, feeling the faint hum of energy inside it. Training. The word settled better in his chest than fun ever could have right now. He slipped the band around his forearm and tightened it without comment, eyes lifting to study the massive room again.
Pyrrha raised her hand politely. "Quick clarification. Since my Ferrous rune involves metal control… how does that factor in?"
Ruby paused, finger hovering over the panel. "Good question. This is mostly meant to be hand to hand combat and agility training. So no weapons whatsoever. That means no spears, swords, or shaped constructs."
Pyrrha nodded, thoughtful. "What about manipulating existing metal in the environment?"
"That's fine," Ruby said. "You can affect what's already here, but you can't form weapons."
Pyrrha considered that for a moment. "Including waves of liquid metal?"
Ruby hesitated, then shrugged. "Yeah, okay. As long as it's not shaped into weapons. Tripping hazards, barriers, stuff like that is fair game."
Pyrrha smiled faintly. "Understood."
Weiss stepped forward next, arms crossed. "And my Element Rune?"
"As long as no weapons are formed, it's allowed," Ruby said without hesitation.
"And Spirit?"
Ruby grimaced slightly. "Limited. No direct harming applications. Think boosts and positioning."
Weiss gave a satisfied nod. "Acceptable."
Ren asked about his own rune usage and Blake asked about her Phantom clones. Yang asked if punching really hard counted as a weapon.
Ruby stared at her. "No."
"Worth asking," Yang said with a grin that didn't quite reach her eyes.
They went through the rest of the rules carefully. No lethal force or targeting joints with intent to cripple. No trapping someone permanently. Anything that would be considered fatal or mission level escalation would be flagged and shut down by the simulation.
When everything was settled, Ruby tapped the panel again and a timer appeared in the air above them, set to ten minutes and frozen at zero.
"One more thing," Ruby said, a little brighter now. "Prize."
Nora immediately leaned forward. "Prize."
"Whoever has the most headbands at the end, wins an all day spa trip at Bamboo Retreat in downtown Vale. This place is super exclusive and is almost always booked. But I got the luxury of winning a pass that grants full access for one day!"
Nora's face fell slightly. "Aw... I guess that's not too bad."
Ruby smiled seeing Nora's face. "Oh... did I mention..."
Nora's eyes snapped back up.
"They have pancakes," Ruby added. "With syrup."
Nora gasped. "Why didn't you lead with that!?"
Jaune could not help the corner of his mouth twitching.
As everyone adjusted their headbands and began drifting toward different sections of the bakery, Jaune noticed something quietly strange. No one was talking about Belmont.
Weiss was focused on strategy. Ren was relaxed and composed and Nora... was already plotting chaos. Blake watched the environment with analytical interest. Ruby and Yang were acting like this was just another team exercise.
Maybe they had already talked about it without him. Maybe they were choosing not to bring it up right now.
Jaune suspected that Ren had stopped Nora from saying anything. And Weiss likely knew better than to press when there was no official statement yet.
It was strange. But it was not an unwelcome oddity.
They spread out.
Jaune moved toward a section where massive bread loaves were stacked like hills, each one as large as a small car. He rolled his shoulders once and let out a slow breath.
The hum of the simulation filled his ears. Somewhere, a giant oven door slammed shut. Syrup dripped rhythmically from a floating waffle above.
Focus.
He closed his eyes for just a second.
Perhaps Ruby was right. He had been pushing himself relentlessly. Every mistake, loss and failure—He carried them all like weights tied to his ribs. Belmont had only added more.
He was weak. That much had become painfully clear. But with comprehension in his rune, Jaune had come to understand something very important. Weakness was not permanence.
He opened his eyes again.
Across the bakery, Yang crouched behind a massive cupcake wrapper, peeking around it with exaggerated care. She caught Jaune looking and gave him a lazy finger gun.
"Hey Jauney Boy," she called softly. "Try not to cry when I steal your headband."
Jaune smiled despite himself. "You planning to distract me with bad trash talk?"
"Hey," Yang said, offended. "That was premium trash."
She paused, then added, "Guess you could say I'm… raising the stakes."
Jaune cringed. "That wasn't even a pun."
Yang sighed. "Yeah. I know. I'm tired."
Somehow, that made it land harder than if she had joked properly.
The timer beeped once.
Ruby's voice echoed through the bakery. "Ready."
Jaune bent his knees slightly, senses expanding outward. The Weakness rune stirred, not aggressively, but attentively. He felt the fragile points in the environment. The instability of syrup puddles. The stress points in stacked pastries. The tension in moving platforms.
Not to break. Just to understand.
The timer flashed.
"Go."
The number began to count down.
Nora vanished in a burst of electric motion and laughter. Weiss sprinted toward higher ground. Blake spilt into multiple shadows of herself between giant shelves. Ren moved silently along the edge of a conveyor belt.
Jaune pushed off the ground and ran.
He vaulted over a rolling pin as large as a tree trunk, landed lightly, and cut left between two floating pancakes. Somewhere behind him, something exploded into confetti and frosting.
He didn't look back. Because for now, this was enough. Training, movement and breath.
Time would do the rest.
.
.
AN: Was supposed to have two chapters out today but... had no time to write. My bad.