A Knight's Journal

Jaune: (narrating) This is the very first entry in what I guess is about to become my journal. Just feels like something you do when you want to keep your daily life in perspective.

Jaune can be seen leaning against the railings of Shade Academy, staring out into the distance.

Jaune: And now that I've been young, and old, and young again, it's not always easy to keep things in perspective these days. I know I, uh, lost it for a little bit there.

Nora Valkyrie chases Lie Ren through the streets of Vacuo, with Jaune running behind them.

Jaune: Being back with my team helps, even though things aren't the same. Ren and Nora have their own thing they're working through, and I'm not the same boy they knew. I'm the Rusted Knight.

Jaune's position freezes, as his Rusted Knight appearance is mirrored behind him.

Jaune: Nora loves reminding people of that, by the way.

In the streets of Vacuo, Nora points at Jaune while Ren laughs. Jaune sheepishly holds his hand behind his neck.

Jaune: They usually just look at her like it's some kind of inside joke they're not a part of. These days, I'd rather forget.

Jaune looks down somberly.

Jaune: I guess I was the Rusted Knight, but the Rusted Knight wasn't really me. Who is Jaune now?

Jaune looks up, as the scene transitions to him sitting in Shade's library.

Jaune: Lately, I've been spending more time with the person I thought might relate most.

Across from Jaune, Oscar Pine can be seen sitting at the same table.

Oscar: And how is that journal going?

Jaune: I haven't quite started yet. Soon though.

Oscar: It'll help.

Jaune: Yeah, sometimes it doesn't really feel like anything will. Don't get me wrong, I'm not unhappy to be back, I just feel... out of place. Like I've left the world by and it's done the same.

Oscar: Believe me, I know what that's like. I've been the subject of a couple of fairy tales myself.

Jaune: You mean Ozpin has, right?

Oscar: Of course. (coughs into hand) Um, if you're not sure where to start, I do have a suggestion. If you'd like?

Jaune: Sure.

Oscar: Think about the good times. What little they might have been that you spent in the Ever After.

Jaune: (unamused) "Just focus on the positive?"

Oscar: No, not like that. It might be able to help you remember what it was all for, and rewrite the story in your own way.

Jaune: (sighs) The good times. I remember Alyx and Lewis, those early days of getting to know each other were magical.

Alyx can be seen being introduced to Juniper by an older Jaune in the Jungle Acre.

Jaune: It's like I was living someone else's life. For me, the secret that I knew a little of what was happening to all of us was exciting.

Lewis, behind Alyx, looks curiously at Juniper.

Jaune: Lewis was a puzzle, since he wasn't part of the story I knew, but he figured out really quickly that I knew more than I was letting on.

Jaune sits by a campfire by Lewis and Alyx. Lewis is writing in a journal while Alyx looks amazed at Jaune.

Jaune: We compared notes on Remnant. They couldn't believe I was from the far away future. I couldn't believe they were from Vacuo. Back before the war, before Huntsmen.

Alyx leads Lewis through the Garden, with Jaune and Juniper following from a distance.

Jaune: I remember the first time we tried to shop at the Garden Acre. They didn't have days of the week, so they invented one. "Splaturday" just for us humans. You know, for a while, they ended up having Splaturday every day, b-because they didn't understand. But every Splaturday, there was a farmer's marker. Only, instead of produce, you bought farmers, who would grow it for you for a little bit.

Jaune, Juniper, Alyx, and Lewis look down at small farmer Afterans at the farmers market.

Jaune: We would roast things by the fire every night, but it was those campfires I remember most. Lewis writing everything down in his journal. The story he'd one day tell to help lead my friends to me. Oh, and in those early days, every night around the campfire, when I tell them my story, my adventures, oh, they always seemed so amazed.

Around the campfire, Lewis writes in his journal and Alyx looks amazed at Jaune while eating a kebob.

Jaune: Which was weird because it was just, just my life. The mistakes I'd made and the times I'd gotten lucky. It was like having my team back.

As Alyx hands Lewis a kebob, Jaune sees Nora, Ren, and Pyrrha in their original outfits eating kebobs behind them as well.

Jaune: People around you who make you feel more than you are. Or maybe they see you in a way you can't see yourself. It's the same warmth that a good fire brings, laughter, and a good meal.

At night, many campfires are lit up across the city of Vacuo.

Jaune: I see those campfires all across Vacuo at night and I wonder what people are sharing, what they're building, the hope they're stoking, and what they'll be saying when this is all over.

Back in Shade's library, Jaune continues to talk to Oscar.

Jaune: (sniffles) I guess maybe there's something to this after all.

Oscar: Perspective.

Jaune: Yeah. Yeah. Do you... do you think we're going to make it?

Oscar: Around that campfire, did it matter?

An older Jaune, looking at the campfire, smiles as it transitions to the younger Jaune in Shade's library.

Jaune: (laughs) No. No, I guess it didn't.

Oscar and Jaune smile at each other.