I loved this amazing story! It feels like an accurate representation of the five stages of grief. :D

kinda reminded me of my fic I wrote a while back. about Jaune and others breaking the news to her parents. good fic :D

Once again you play my emotions like a god damn fiddle. CF you really are a conductor of the feels train, Kudos (you tear jerking jerk-face ;) )

Beautiful. I love it. Thank you for this story, and I wish you well. Hope to hear more from you, College Fool. You're the first RWBY author that made me love this series, and your stories. Once more, thank you.

Respect for Ren. You da man, Lie Ren!

Now this is pretty sad. Also a big fuck you to what if stories made to turn a tragedy into a happy ending. Fix fics more like shit fics.

Blaming others. Real mature, Jaune, you baby. Manbaby.

Surprised I haven't read this yet. Well, hats off to you for this nice little story.

Man, I get that this was a response to the fix fics. But the criticism of them was not subtle in this chapter.

Liked it though, a good portrayal of what could have happened between volumes 3 & 4.

Holy moly, Jaune pretty much went into a coma.

Also, nice criticism of the "fix-fics" that were going on at the time and the overreactions some people had to Pyrrha's death. It was before my time, but I can appreciate it.

I just want to point out that I think studies have shown that the 5 stages of grief are pretty bullshit.

Enjoying the story by the way.

...Yes. Thank you. The fic I didn't know I needed.

I never had the courage to give this a proper review, only left a few answers to your Author's Notes. But after a year of experiences and upon reading this again, I feel like I can leave a proper review now. Something that hopefully makes you reconsider your opinions in a way. So here goes.

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This story was incredibly exaggerated. The depression, the edginess, the dramatic moments, it all felt so "not Jaune Arc". Like you were writing it by following a manual that doesn't apply to the kind of character or story that Monty created. At first I thought it was acceptable since this is your fic but you said it yourself:

"I think it's a shame to discard underlying themes for mere gratification."

I agree hence why I'm sending this review to tell you how much I disliked the main aspect of the story. It's a shame how it uses the depression theme to twist Jaune into an unrecognizable edgy lord for the sake of being so malleable that he can follow the five states of grief. I'd have preferred to see Jaune Arc dealing with the pain with his friends. To see his reaction to Weiss and Blake leaving, to his teammates' concern, to Yang's equally fucked up state, to the fear of Ruby's comatose state. Imagine: Jaune Arc swimming in the pain of his friends while trying not to drown as he fights against his own pain as well... But instead he shoves himself away from his friends and all the happiness in the world, choosing to fight it all alone. Something that ignores one of Jaune's major developments: His dependence on friendship. Something he accepted and embraced as part of his person.

The fix-fics ignore the character known as Pyrrha Nikos but your fic ignores the character known as Jaune Arc. In a way, it's the opposite of a fix-fic but that's not a compliment at all. Instead it shows that this fic failed just like the fix-fics to create something that follows the themes of RWBY. You want a happy ending? Go read a fix-fic. You want depression and edginess? Go read College Fool's "not a fix-fic" fic.

I expected a more canon take on Jaune. Something that doesn't make him the second coming of Jesus, that accepts the fact that Pyrrha is gone and that makes Jaune feel like the real thing. But I didn't find it here.

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And there it is. Yeah, if "a year ago" me had left a review, I would've failed to properly explain why I couldn't just accept that this isn't Jaune Arc. But now I feel like I do. Your Author's Notes helped me with that a lot. Heh. You're awesome like that, y'know?

Beautiful, heart-breaking, bittersweet, and hope for the future. Words don't do justice on how to describe this short story. Currently listening to Let's just live. :) T_T

Don't know why i'm torturing myself by listening to melancholy osts. Currently listening to Wings. Could that be considered bittersweet? O.o