I've wanted to write about this idea for a while, but I wanted the show to progress for a bit and reveal more info before trying it out. It's based on two different ideas I've seen discussed in boards (though I can't quite recall if they were on Reddit or image boards): 1) What if Jaune was instead fifteen like Ruby and had been trying to use his forged documents to get into Signal, but events contrived to have him dragged along to Beacon with Ruby by virtue of ending up at a certain Dust shop at the right (or perhaps, wrong) moment? 2) What if RNJR had been the default team after Initiation?
This is my attempt at making a coherent AU from combining those ideas, and I hope I can give you all something you can enjoy — especially if you happened to have been one of the posters involved with discussing those ideas or something similar.
I'm not particularly attached to any specific pairing in RWBY, mind, nor do I have any interest in asinine arguing about one ship over the other. So as fair warning to anyone not fond of that pairing, note that I've decided to make this fic a Lancaster-centric one. That said, I will also try to share the POV and development with other characters, particularly between all eight of the two focus teams.
For visualization purposes, fifteen-year-old Jaune still has the same clothing, weapons, and armor as canon Jaune but is around Ren's Volume I height instead. There's some RWBY height comparison charts just a quick Google search away for reference. Also, imagine his face a bit more boyish than in canon. I'll limit the details of his back story to just having seven sisters until the show reveals a bit more. If it turns out he does have a sister fifteen years of age, then this story will give her his canon age of seventeen instead.
As always, standard disclaimers apply as I obviously don't own RWBY.
A Girl and a Boy Walk into a Dust Shop
Ruby Rose's head unconsciously bobbed ever so slightly to tune of the music from her headphones, her red-higlighted dark hair swaying along, as she flipped through the latest issue of her favorite magazine, though she was too fully engrossed in the detailed weapon diagrams to pay the lyrics any mind. She wasn't technically supposed to be reading them off the stand without buying them, but the kindly old shopkeeper of From Dust Till Dawn didn't usually bother enforcing that rule on regular Dust buyers like her.
Besides, she'd even bought a few issues before when she found any of the featured weapons fascinating enough. She was actually even thinking of buying the one she was reading right now if only her allowance was anywhere near enough. The way the manufacturer had combined and simplified components without sacrificing shifting ability or functionality was amazi —
A light tapping on her shoulder interrupted her thoughts, and she turned to see a blond boy looking down at her with an apologetic expression on his face, the finger he used to tap her raised.
"Um, yes?" she ventured, wondering what he wanted.
The boy mouthed something at her, but she couldn't hear anything he said. A puzzled frown crossed her face for a moment before she remembered that she had headphones on. Her face colored slightly in embarrassment as she clicked the headphones off and pulled them down to her neck.
"Sorry," she mumbled sheepishly, "Ah, you wanted something?"
"Er, yeah." The boy gestured at magazine rack with a small uncertain smile. "I was thinking of looking at some of the magazines and catalogs, and you're kinda… um…"
The boy trailed off as Ruby looked at him bemusedly. Suddenly, her eyes widened and she took a quick look around, realizing that she'd been standing right at the entrance of the aisle all the while.
"Oh! Oh, gosh, I'm sorry!"
"It's all right —" the boy began, waving his hand reassuringly.
But Ruby was already backing away quickly to give him way. However, in her embarrassment she backed up too quickly and tripped over her own feet. A slightly painful whump and even redder face later, she found herself staring up at the concerned and slightly confused expression on the boy's face. Ruby wanted to pull her hood over her face and sink to the floor.
"Are you okay?" He held out a hand to her.
"I'm fine, it's fine." Nothing broken but my dignity.
She looked away, annoyed at herself, but took the offered hand all the same. Inconsiderately blocking the way without realizing, then falling on her butt when moving aside after it was finally pointed out — Ruby was so glad Yang wasn't here. This would've been prime teasing material, probably right after she sighed loudly about how dorky her little sister was.
Ruby turned to look back at the guy as he pulled her up. His blue eyes were staring at her strangely, and Ruby had to suppress a groan. He definitely thought she was some kind of awkward weirdo — and right now, he'd be pretty much right.
She looked down to avoid his eyes, and hopefully hide how red her face was from the humiliation, and caught sight of the boy's white chest plate, which drew her eyes further down to the sword hanging by his hip. Ruby perked up immediately, the familiar subject pushing aside her embarrassment a bit.
"A weapon!" she blurted out. "You're a Hunter-in-training too?"
"Huh?" He glanced at the sword before facing her again. "Oh, y-yeah. I'm transferring to Signal Academy for my last two years of primary combat trai —"
Ruby's silver eyes lit up.
"Signal? I go to Signal too! 'Last two years?' We're in the same year!" Then she winced, realizing that she'd interrupted him. "Eh-heh, sorry for cutting you off."
"It's fine." He smiled at her to show he'd taken no offense. "And maybe you can show me around when the year starts, then. Uh, if that's cool with you, that is."
She saw him scratch the back of his head at the last part, an unsure expression on his face. Ruby nodded quickly.
"No, that's totally cool. I'd gladly show you around." She blinked, realizing what she'd just said.
Had she just offered to show around a boy she'd just met on their first day of school? She barely talked to anyone in Signal other than her older sister Yang, plus her dad and Uncle Qrow, who were teachers there. This was gonna be so awkward.
Then again, she'd already made a fool of herself in front of him today, and he was being nice to her about the whole thing. Plus, he'd looked a little hesitant asking her, and she could imagine the feeling of being the new kid in an unfamiliar place, with no one to turn to. Put in the same situation, she would've wanted a friendly face to help her around too. Besides, Yang always said she should make new friends, and this counted, right?
"Whoa, really? Thanks!" his voice interrupted her musing. "Guess Mom was right. Strangers really are friends you haven't met yet. Nice to meet you, um…"
"Oh!" Ruby started, realizing she hadn't actually properly introduced herself. "Ruby, I'm hi! Gah! I mean… Hi, I'm Ruby. Ah, Ruby Rose."
Guuuuuhhhh. Why must talking be so hard?
"Jaune Arc," was the reply. Then he cocked an eyebrow at her and added, "Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue — ladies love it."
"Do they?" Ruby arched her own eyebrow, not quite sure how to respond.
Jaune abruptly deflated. "They will! Well, I-I hope they will. Mom also always says that… Um, never mind."
Ruby giggled despite herself. Looks like she wasn't the only one find this whole conversation thing awkward. That made her feel a little better.
"A-anyway," Jaune continued, cheeks a little red. He looked around the store and seeming to remember why he approached her in the first place, "I think you can help me with something else too."
She titled her head expectantly.
"I… uh, well… You see, I've never really been to a big school like Signal before." Jaune fidgeted, scratching the back of his neck absently. "And, um, are there… Does it require certain… things?"
He looked at her like he didn't quite know exactly what he was trying to say, and Ruby felt her face mimicking the expression. "Things?"
"Er, well, y'know. Is there any Dust stuff I need to buy or something?" He shrugged helplessly. "I don't have any of those fancy gizmo weapons a lot of people use, so I've never really had to use Dust. I, uh, kinda only have this."
He slowly drew his sword and showed it to her. "It's a sword," he finished, then winced at the obvious statement. "Just a sword. It slices, it dices — no shooty, no shifty." Then he added, "It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandpa used it in the war."
"Ooooohh!"
Ruby took in the sight appreciatively. She didn't know why Jaune seemed so disappointed with it. It was a fine looking arming sword; so what if it was only a sword. A good weapon was a good weapon.
She nodded to Jaune encouragingly. "You can't go wrong with the classics."
"Well, yeah…" He looked unconvinced. "But everyone else seems to have those awesome-looking transforming weapons these days. And Signal is a well-known school, so I kinda feel… I dunno, maybe there's something I could pick up here. In addition to Crocea Mors — um, that's the sword's name. All I have that transforms is the scabbard."
He unclipped it, and she leaned forward eagerly. She let out an approving hum when the scabbard snapped open into a heater shield.
"I don't know why you're so down on your own weapon, Jaune," Ruby declared. "It looks perfectly fine, and the shield storage seems convenient. And it's a heirloom, isn't it? So you've probably trained with it for a while, right?"
"Erm, yeah… Trained. Sure."
"Then no sense just picking something from the store that you're not used to or trained for just because you think everyone else has something special. You might hurt yourself or other people fumbling with it," Ruby declared, talking more confidently now that the subject was something well within her element. "Use what you know, and you'll do fine."
"Y-you have point. I guess." Jaune sighed. "Still…"
"Of course," she added with a coy smile, "once you're familiar enough with other equipment and techniques, then you can consider modifying your weapons or supplement your equipment. And I'll happily help you if you do!"
"You will? Really?"
Ruby puffed up proudly. "Yup! I know a lot about weapons. I even designed my own."
Grinning, she reached for the compacted red-and-black weapon strapped onto her back and whipped it out with a flourish. With a dramatic gesture, she opened it out into its scythe configuration. Though she was careful not to knock over the store's shelves or stab the point into the floor. She didn't want the old man to kick her out of the store for damages.
"Whoa!" Jaune cried, drawing back a bit. "Is that a scythe?"
"Presenting Crescent Rose! My pride and joy. My baby." She barely resisted the urge to hug it. "Also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle."
"Um, whu?"
She grinned wider at the confused awe on Jaune's face. "It's also a gun."
The boy cocked his head at her. "Okay, you realize this just makes me want to get my own cool transformy thing even more now?"
Ruby chuckled, pleased at the impression Crescent Rose had made.
"Like I said, maybe you could after a little more training. I mean, all students at Signal forge their own weapons, but you said you've never been to a big combat school before and got passed down an heirloom. Won't take long to learn though, and I'll be there to welcome you to the wonderful world of weapon customization when you do!"
"I might hold you to that," Jaune nodded happily, a smile reflecting her own on his face.
She saw him start to retract his shield into scabbard form when, to her surprise, the shield suddenly sprang open, causing Jaune to lose his grip on it. He fumbled as he tried to catch it, but he failed and the shield crashed into the ground, retracted from the impact, then snapped open again, launching itself into the nearest shelf and knocking it over.
Ruby and Jaune each let out a startled yelp and reached out to grab the tipping shelf, but they could only do so with one hand each since they had to keep hold of their respective weapons. They managed to stop it from falling over completely, but it had leaned far enough to spill several of the items on it to the ground with a loud clatter. Luckily, the shelf only had mostly reading material on it, not anything breakable or — considering this was a Dust shop — explosive.
Still, both of them cringed and momentarily glanced at each other before looking guiltily over at shopkeeper behind the counter. The balding old man had a shocked expression that quickly morphed into a disapproving one when he caught their glances. They cringed again.
"Oh god, I am so sorry!" Jaune blurted out, mortified. "I'll pick these up, I swear."
"I-I'll help," she added, helping him pull the shelf upright again.
They stowed their weapons and began to awkwardly gather the magazines on the floor. Out of the corner of her eyes, Ruby saw the old man shake his head ruefully but make no further comment, apparently content to let them clean up after themselves. Jaune caught her gaze, turning the apologetic look he'd given to the old man at her.
"T-thanks… but you don't have to help, y'know. This was all me being a clumsy goof."
She shook her head. "Only happened because I just had to show off my weapon. Besides, you helped me up when I was being an awkward dork earlier. So, well, I guess this makes us even."
The boy shot her a grateful smile. "Awkwardly even?"
"The best kind of even." Ruby grinned. "And I won't say anything about all this if you won't. God, Yang would never let me live this down if she found out."
"Deal." Jaune nodded. "And I'm guessing Yang is…"
"My sister," she finished for him. Her face twisted into a grimace. "You know how sisters can be."
"Boy, don't I." He shook his head in sympathy. "I've got seven of them."
"S-seven?" Ruby croaked, eyes going wide as she imagined seven Yangs teasing, nagging, and embarrassing her. She shuddered.
"Yeah, that's kinda how everyone reacts."
"I… wow, that's a little hard to imagine."
"Eh, you get used to it." He shrugged. "Except, y'know, when you don't. But I lived. So far."
Ruby placed a hand on his shoulder, causing him to jerk a bit in surprise. With a solemn look, she said, "You, my friend, are my hero."
Blue eyes blinked at her, then suddenly Jaune burst out laughing. She maintained her grave look for a moment before she started giggling too.
Jaune glanced sidelong at the giggling girl squatting on the floor across from him among the fallen magazines. The cute girl around his age whom he — Jaune "Awkward Dork" Arc — had not only managed to approach but actually have something resembling a proper conversation with. Looks like his dad had been right: all you really needed to talk to girls was confidence.
Well, okay, so maybe that was because she'd seemed just as awkward as he was and had embarrassed herself after he'd gone and talked to her, allowing him to look more confident by default. And, yeah, maybe he'd also humiliated himself right after she did. At least that had given them even more common ground. Heck, she'd even seemed impressed when his seven sisters had come up as a topic. Usually the very mention — or worse, presence — of them when he'd already been reduced to a bumbling mess around the opposite sex just meant even more humiliation, intentional or otherwise.
But the best thing of all? She was also a Huntress-in-training, and in Signal at that. Even better, she'd even offered to not only show him around but also help him out with Dust and weapons stuff, and other Huntsman… things. Judging from her impressive looking scythe-gun and how much she lit up talking about weapons, she probably knew what she was doing too. Certainly a hell of a lot more than he did, which was exactly zip.
His mood fell at bit at the self-reminder that he was, well, a fraud. Other than looking at a few really basic swordsmanship manuals and (poorly) imitating the illustrations and instructions, all his Huntsman "training" before making off with the family heirloom and running away to Vale boiled down to imitating what he'd seen on TV, the movies, and comics.
Even now, Jaune still couldn't quite believe he'd gotten this far. Either the forged transcripts really had been that good, or someone in Signal's admissions department hadn't been paying enough attention. At any rate, the further he got the more nervous he became about his lack of knowledge. Turning in a bunch of forgeries and getting in were one thing, but if his lack of any real Hunter education ever eventually outed him…
He imagined the friendly look on Ruby's face turn into one of disappointment and disgust, and he felt his stomach churn.
Stop it, Jaune! He snapped to himself, shaking his head. It's because you've gotten this far that you can't back out now, or it will have all been for nothing. Besides, Signal is supposed to teach the basics, and there'll be two years' time to catch up. It's not like you're forging your way into full-fledged Hunter training in Beacon or something. You'll have Ruby to help too.
Even as he reassured himself, he couldn't quite silence a traitorous part of his mind from pointing out that the last part sounded an awful lot like he was planning to use the girl he'd just met and befriended. He felt his face twist into a shamed grimace.
"Jaune, are you okay?" a voice startled him out of his musings. Ruby was staring at him, silver eyes wide with concern.
His face reddened, realizing he'd thrown himself a pity party right in front of her. Well, there's goes whatever good first impression you made, he groused at himself.
"Eheh, sorry…" His racked his mind for an excuse. He avoided her questioning gaze by turning to fetch some of the fallen magazines and replace them on the shelf. "I, uh, guess I still feel like an idiot about knocking over the shelf."
"Hey!" Ruby huffed, waving a magazine in front of his face to make him face her again. "I thought we had a deal about not bringing this up anymore?"
Jaune turned to face an almost exaggeratedly pouting Ruby, and couldn't help but smile despite himself. He raised his hands in mock surrender.
"Right, right… sorry."
"Sorry?" The girl raised an eyebrow on her suddenly very not-guilty face. "I didn't see anything you needed to be sorry about. Did you?"
He drew a hand over his mouth to stifle a laugh then, with a face just as innocent, replied, "No, I guess not. I'm not sorry at all."
"Ehem."
They both stiffened at the loud cough from the counter and turned to find the old man staring at them again, his own eyebrow raised over a stern expression.
"B-but if there was something to be sorry about, then we would be very, very sorry!" Ruby blurted out as both of them rapidly picked up the remaining magazines from the ground.
"A-and, uh, we'd promise that whatever it was would never happen again. Ever," Jaune added, nodding judiciously.
The old man held his gaze toward them, other eyebrow slowly raising to join the first. Suddenly, his face broke into a smile, and Jaune immediately realized that the shopkeeper had been pulling their legs
The three of them exchanged brief glances with each other then chuckled a bit. The old man shook his head in amusement as he turned his attention toward the chime of the shop door opening.
Jaune saw Ruby give one final satisfied look at the now restored shelf before unceremoniously dusting off her skirt and standing. Then, imitating the pose he'd used to pick her up earlier, held out her hand to help him up, a faintly cheeky grin on her face. He rolled his eyes at her, but took the offered hand all the same and let himself get pulled off the floor.
He opened his mouth to say thanks, but his voice caught in his throat when he saw who'd entered the store in the short distance behind Ruby. A bunch of thugs dressed in black suits with red ties and red sunglasses — and more pressingly, brandishing a variety of equally red weapons. Following them in was a cigar-chomping redheaded man in a much fancier white suit and derby hat.
Jaune's blood ran cold. An armed robbery, and here he was not ten feet from it! Mind racing, he grabbed Ruby by the shoulders and pulled her behind the shelf they had just finished tending to.
"Wha —" Jaune covered the girl's startled protest with one hand and made a shushing motion with the other, gesturing urgently with his heard toward the scene unfolding at the counter.
He let go of Ruby's mouth, and they both peeked around the corner.
"Do you have any idea how hard it is to find a Dust shop open this late?" They heard the apparent leader say.
Fancy Suit nonchalantly strode toward the old man and gestured with his cane. One of the henchmen brandished a gun at the shopkeeper.
"P-please!" The store owner raised his hands. "Just take my Lien and leave."
"Shhh, shhh, shhh, shhh, calm down, we're not here for your money," the boss's voice was thick with false reassurance. He cocked his head at his henchmen. "Grab the Dust."
"They're robbing him!" Ruby hissed in a whisper.
"Yeah, I can see that," Jaune snapped, trying to squelch his rising panic.
"We have to help!" the girl pointed out.
Jaune looked around, searching for an exit. "Y-yeah, if we can find a way to sneak out we can call the police —"
"What? No!" The girl whirled on him. "I meant we gotta help him."
He stared at her incredulously. "Are you crazy? We're just kids. This is a job for the police!"
"We're Hunstmen, Jaune! We're supposed to help people."
"We're student Hunstmen, junior ones," he countered. "And we're supposed to help people against Grimm, not common crooks."
"Just because it's not Grimm doesn't mean it's not our problem!" Ruby retorted. "We're right here, right now, and there's people threatening someone with weapons. We can't just sit by and do nothing, waiting for the police who might not even get here in time!"
Oh god, this is no time to be getting into an argument! Jaune screamed mentally.
Ruby was determined to go fight those thugs, and hell, maybe she could. But he certainly couldn't, and if he just stood by and let her go fight them on her own, that could kill whatever good impression and budding friendship he'd just established with her. On the other hand, if he and his absolute zilch training got dragged in, waving around his sword at a bunch of criminals who probably actually knew how to use their weapons, that could kill him.
Maybe if he pointed out that the old man might get hurt in the crossfire if they provoked a fight here he could convince her —
"Hey, you kids! Come out of there and put your hands where I can see them!" One of the thugs had finally noticed their presence and was now pointing a wicked-looking crimson sword at them.
Goddamn it! Jaune thought, knowing that the last chance of finding a way out this had just been yanked away from him.
Ruby, on her part, grinned viciously. Suddenly, in a single swift motion almost too fast for Jaune to even process, she leaped from their erstwhile hiding spot, swatted aside the criminal's sword, and sent him flying.
His mouth fell open as he stared at her. He knew Ruby actually had training unlike he did, but he never expected someone his age to be capable of… this. If this was what junior Huntsmen-in-training were expected to be like, what hope did he have of his ruse working in Signal? I am such an idiot.
Unaware of his thoughts, the girl took his slack-jawed despair for amazement and gave him a smile and thumb's up.
"Okay…" The criminal leader titled his head a bit, decidedly less impressed. "Get them."
One of the thugs armed with a machine-pistol opened fire, but Ruby dove aside easily… and in so doing, left the firing line open right in front of him. Jaune cried out as the line of bullets stitched its way toward him, but even in his panic he'd managed to snap open Crocea Mors's sheath-shield and bring it up in front of him. He cowered behind the much welcome protection as a hail of bullets clanged loudly against it.
"Not inside, you moron!" There was a loud thwack of a cane striking something, and the gunfire abruptly cut out. "Do you want to blow us all sky high?"
Risking a peek from behind the shield, Jaune spied Fancy Suit gesturing angrily with his cane at the Dust displays while the gunman cradled his head in his hands.
"Good idea," Ruby declared as she snapped open Crescent Rose into a scythe. "Let's take this outside."
Jaune took that as a cue and dove for the floor, cringing behind his shield and closing his eyes. Sure enough, after a moment of loud shouting and the sound of a violent scuffle, there was a resounding crash, and Jaune felt a rain of glass shards tinkling against his shield. Oh god, oh god… I'm so dead!
"Keep him safe, Jaune!" he heard Ruby call out to him.
Confused, Jaune wrenched his eyes open. Beside him, also crouching behind his shield, was the old shopkeeper. Somehow his urgent dive had plopped him right in front of the guy, and Ruby had assumed he'd done it on purpose. He felt a sudden, ridiculous urge to giggle at the absurd coincidence.
Instead, he said, "You, uh… okay?"
"Uh-huh." He received a curt nod.
"O-okay. Cool," Jaune finished lamely.
"You can go ahead and help your friend," the man suggested. "I'll be okay here, and I already tripped the silent alarm so the cops should be here soon."
Jaune paused, wondering if he could make up an excuse to stay inside to continue "keeping the shopkeeper safe." Even as the thought came to him, he felt another part of his mind hiss at him, Didn't you want to get into Signal to learn how to be a hero? Some hero, cowering with an old man while someone else does all the fighting.
He bit down the bitter bile he felt rising to his throat. This was different. He wasn't trained. He wanted to go to Signal to be trained so he actually knew how to help people, not rush in like an idiot and probably do more harm than good. It's not like he'd been actively looking to run into armed criminals before he even started his fraudulent schooling!
Besides… He sneaked a glance at Ruby outside the shop, who looked like she was having the time of her life subduing the robbers with an ease that made him feel even more inadequate. She actually knows what she's doing, and I'd probably just get in her way anyway.
All perfectly logical and sensible. So why did he feel like such a slimeball?
"Ugghh…" someone groaned, pulling him out of his self-recrimination.
To his horror, Jaune saw that it was the sword-wielding brute Ruby had tossed aside earlier, and as he came to, his eyes locked onto Jaune. The criminal scowled menacingly behind cracked red lenses and pushed himself up, his glare unwavering.
Jaune scrambled to his feet as the man stalked purposefully toward him. He held out his sword and shield uncertainly and pronounced, "T-the police is gonna be here soon, and your friends are kinda busy right now. J-just stay down, surrender."
He nodded jerkily toward the outside, cursing the way his voice quavered. He didn't sound at all convincing, and judging from the way the goon didn't even break stride or spare a look outside, he knew it. The shopkeeper apparently knew it too, because of the corner of his eye he saw the old man taking the chance to sneak away.
Gee, thanks for the vote of confidence!
Not that he could blame the guy, though. Honestly, Jaune wanted nothing more than to run out right behind the old man if he wasn't sure that the moment he turned his back he'd likely have the thug's sword run right through it. He gulped down the lump that formed in his throat. Not that there was anything he could really do to stop the guy from running him through the front anyhow.
Sweat slid down his forehead as Jaune backed away, desperately searching for a way out while keeping the goon firmly in view. Jaune was jarred to a stop, and an icy pit formed in his stomach as he realized he'd backed into a wall. Seeing the fear on his cornered soon-to-be victim's face, the criminal's expression changed into a sadistic leer.
In desperation, Jaune held out his shield and the point of his sword in front of him and charged, letting out a mighty battle cry that was probably more of a terrified scream. The thug had just regained consciousness after Ruby knocked him out, after all. Jaune dearly, dearly hoped he'd still be unsteady enough that a sudden lunge might be able to knock him back down.
However, that hope quickly died when the thug easily parried aside his sword even as he sidestepped away from Jaune's charge. Off-balance and with the weight of the sword and shield held before him, Jaune tipped forward and painfully clattered into a heap. Jaune rolled onto his back, body still stinging from the hard fall, and found the man standing over him with a savage grin. He raised his arms to shield himself, only to find that he'd lost his grip on both halves of Crocea Mors.
"Is this what they're teaching Huntsbrats these days?" the swordsman mocked. "What a joke."
Jaune's eyes widened and focused on the all too blood-like red color of the man's blade as it came down, knowing that he was dead. In final desperation, he tried to sweep at the man's legs with his own to trip him up, but the criminal avoided it just as easily as he had his lunge. Nonetheless, Jaune still felt his foot strike something hard — the leg of a display case beside his would-be murderer.
The display case teetered and slammed into the man, the bottles on it falling, and Jaune could hear some of them cracking. It hadn't struck with enough force to knock down the criminal, who was already swatting it aside with an annoyed bellow, but it had given Jaune time to roll away.
Jaune reached out for his sword and shield, fumbling in the attempt to bring them up with his hands shaking badly and his heart hammering in his chest.
"That's it!" an enraged voice howled, and Jaune almost dropped his weapons again at the sheer volume. "I'm gonna —"
The thug suddenly stopped, making a choking noise. Then he began to sniffle. Even in the midst of his panic, Jaune noted the multicolored cloud that had risen from the fallen bottles. Dust particles.
Jaune froze, the criminal boss's earlier scolding slammed into the forefront of his mind.
Not inside, you moron! Do you want to blow us all sky high?
The goon sneezed.
Ruby shot a confident smirk at the man in the white jacket as the last of his henchmen landed at his feet, unconscious. The criminal leader looked at the crumpled form for a moment before sighing.
"You we're worth every cent. Truly, you were."
He glared at Ruby, dropping his cigar and smothering it with his cane. He opened his mouth again, but whatever he was about to say was suddenly smothered by an explosion that almost knocked the both of them off their feet. Ruby caught a glimpse of something flying at her and instinctively dodged. It landed where she'd been standing; it was one of the goons, the first one she'd knocked out.
When the shock wave passed, Ruby whirled around and, to her horror, found herself facing a burning Dust shop. The view inside was completely obscured by flames and thick smoke pouring out of the shattered store front.
"Jaune!" she cried.
Movement caught her eyes, and she realized that the old shopkeeper was sprawled on the street right outside the shop. In a flash, Ruby went to him and hastily began helping him up.
"Mister! Are you okay? Wh-where's—"
"I-I'm fine," the old man choked out, coughing, "but your friend's still in there! Held one of them back to give me time to get out!"
No! No no no! He can't be…
"Well, Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," the criminal mocked her, "and as much as I'd love to keep this going, it looks like you have a little something to take care of."
Ruby shot him a furious glare. But as much as she wanted to wipe his smug expression off his face, she forced herself to turn away and right into the burning shop. She needed to get Jaune — now.
She gritted her teeth, ignoring the criminal's loud laughter. "See you 'round, Red! If he's still in one piece, give your boyfriend my regards!"
"Jaune!" she called out, as much to drown out the mockery than from any expectation of getting a reply.
However, doing so just made her inhale a lungful of smoke, and she ended up in a coughing fit. With her free hand she pulled at a part of her hoodie and covered the lower half of her face even as she squinted against the eye-searing smoke. She crouched down to get under most of the cloud, and found herself face-to-face with a still, unmoving figure sprawled against a wall and partially covered with debris.
A figure with blond hair.
"Jaune!" she cried out.
Ruby stowed Crescent Rose and swept the debris off her peer. A quick, almost panicked check later, and she felt a stab of relief when she confirmed Jaune was still breathing. As carefully as haste would allow, she hoisted the boy up in a fireman's carry and bodily took him out of the still smoldering Dust shop. She carried him all the way to the other side of the street, just in case there were secondary explosions from any unexploded Dust left inside.
The shopkeeper met her, having made his way there when she'd gone to get Jaune. He helped her set the boy down as carefully as they could. Apprehensively, she knelt down beside him, uncertain what to do. Her earlier relief at having found him breathing fell as she took in just how banged up he looked, and there was a slight gurgling sound with every uneven breath he took that she really didn't like the sound of.
"Why isn't his Aura activating?" Ruby wondered out loud.
The old man shrugged helplessly, as if she'd asked him the question. She gave him an apologetic smile and shook her head, but the question was still eating away at her mind. Those thugs weren't anywhere near that great, and she found it hard to believe any of them could've fought hard enough to drain a Huntsman — even a junior Hunstman-in-training — in the short time they'd fought. Was it the explosion? Did Jaune need to be conscious for his Aura to kick in and start healing him?
"Ughhh…" a weak moan interrupted her thoughts, "w-whuh… unnnn… why does everything hurt?"
"Jaune! Oh, thank goodness you're awake! You have to use your Aura and heal. Now!"
Groggily, Jaune turned toward the sound of her voice. He squinted up at her, a pained, confused look on his face. For a moment, he just gaped at her blankly, but then his eyes widened a bit in recognition.
"R-Ruby? Whu…"
"I'll explain later, Jaune. Just use your Aura to heal, please."
The confused look returned to his face. "What's… Aura?"
Oh no. He must've taken a really bad hit to the head. Oh god, what if he does need to actively access his Aura for it to work, and he's too out of it to do it? Ruby's mind whirled. Aura was usually passive and automatic, but she'd also been taught that it varied from person to person, and sometimes it was tied to their Semblances in ways that made it behave unexpectedly. Maybe Jaune just needed a reminder to shake him out of it? She started making urgent motions with her hands.
"Y'know, Aura. It's… um, your soul… force-field… thing. And it heals you."
Gaaah, that's not helping! And judging by the grimace on Jaune's face and the arched eyebrow on the old man's, they knew it too. Besides, if he's this out of it, explaining wouldn't help — certainly not if he couldn't do it properly.
She racked her mind for a solution, but was coming up blank. Her lessons so far hadn't covered what to do when someone's Aura wasn't kicking in for some reason or another. She looked around desperately, but couldn't see anything like a hospital or clinic nearby. She was hearing sirens, but they still sounded way too far away, and Jaune needed help right now. She tugged at her hair in frustration.
Argh! Why won't it activa — her mental cry of frustration screeched to a halt. Wait a minute… It won't activate. Activate! Unlocking Aura was pretty much activating Aura for the first time. If he can't then maybe I can…
Excitedly, she leaned over Jaune and gently touched the side of his head.
"H-huh? Ruby, what're you…"
"It'll be okay, Jaune. I've got this," she reassured him. "Just close your eyes and concentrate as best as you can."
She closed her eyes, trying to remember the time Uncle Qrow had unlocked her Aura when he'd decided to start training her. He'd said something to her, but that'd been years ago and the words weren't coming. Ruby squeezed her eyelids tighter, forcing herself to concentrate. Come on, please. I need to remember.
For what seemed like an agonizingly long time, she came up blank. But then, little by little, the sound of her Uncle's voice trickled in.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality," she repeated out loud in an almost whisper. "Through this, we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death."
She placed a hand on his chest. "I release your soul, and by my shoulder protect thee."
Ruby felt her own Aura channeling our of her hands, seeming to seek out Jaune's own, drawing it out. She slowly opened her eyes when she felt something rush back, slightly at first but steadily intensifying. Seeing that Jaune was glowing brighter and brighter from Aural energy, she felt like her own face lit up in relief.
"W-Whoa," Jaune's voice sounded stronger now, and he brought his hands up to his face and stared in amazement as they glowed with Aura. He kept looking until the glow disappeared, flexing his fingers in amazement.
Then he brought them down and Ruby found herself staring face-to-face at a boy she was leaning over, her hands still holding his face and chest. Her face went red as she hastily pushed herself off with a slight eep. She was again glad Yang wasn't here; her sister would have teased her for ages about that.
Jaune pushed himself off the ground, his cheeks also a bit red. He avoided her ayes and looked at his hands again briefly, then shrugged and flexed his shoulders. "That… feels so much better. H-how?"
"Your Aura wasn't, um, on for some reason," Ruby explained. "And, uh, you were kinda a bit too out of it to bring it up. So I tried using the unlocking processes to do it for you. I'm glad it worked. You looked really, really hurt by that explosion."
"Um… okay. Aura. Healing," he said blankly. He shook his head for a bit, then gave her a grateful nod. "Thanks, I guess."
Ruby was about to tell him it was no big deal, when what sounded like the roar of jet engines suddenly cut in from overhead. They all looked up, and Ruby caught sight of the bottom of a Bullhead as it slowed and came to a halt over a nearby building. Her eyes widened and snapped away from the Bullhead and onto the emergency ladder on the side of the building.
"Is that the police?" Jaune asked.
"No! It's here for that cane and hat guy! He's gonna get away!"
Ruby launched herself forward and shot up the ladder at blinding speed, ignoring Jaune crying out in surprise and calling after her. That criminal had just waltzed right in and attacked a civilian's shop, and his goons had blown it up and hurt her new friend. Like hell was she gonna let him get away, not after everything he'd done.
She vaulted over the top and came to skidding halt on the roof, whipping out and unfurling Crescent Rose with a single sweeping motion. As she'd feared, the criminal boss had already boarded the Bullheaded, which was already starting to gain altitude. She saw him shoot her a smirk and a mocking wave. He'd probably said something equally mocking too, but whatever it might've been was drowned out by the roar of aircraft engines.
Scowling, she shifted her weapon into rifle form and fired off a few shots at white-clothed passenger, but he deftly dodged them and pointed the tip of his cane at her. A bright red blast vomited from the end of the cane, and Ruby quickly shot Crescent Rose down by her feet to propel herself away. She spun in the air and landed to the side, but before she could raise her rifle to return fire, she saw a glint of something red flying toward her. It was a shard of Dust.
"End of the line, Red!" the man yelled at her, just loud enough to be barely heard over the engines, before sending a shot right at the piece of Dust.
It exploded, and Ruby raised Crescent Rose in front of herself protectively. However, despite the sound and fury of the detonation, she felt neither the wash of heat nor the shock of concussive force. She looked up from behind her weapon and, to her amazement, saw a glowing, purple circle of glyphs hovering protectively before her.
A blonde stepped into her field of view. Her hair was in a bun, and she was dressed in a high black bodice skirt, with a dark cape flapping in the wind from behind a white top. Ruby gaped in amazement as the woman raised what looked like a riding crop at the Bullhead. Purple streaks shot from the circle in response. The streaks slammed at the aircraft, buffeting it and threatening to send it into a spin.
Oh my god, a Huntress! Ruby mentally squealed. An actual Huntress!
The Huntress made another sweeping gesture with her riding crop, and a new purple circle opened up over the Bullhead. Dark storm clouds poured from the center of the circle and spewed a hail of shards, hammering the aircraft even as it struggled to keep stable.
This is so cool! Ruby gushed from behind. There's no way that jerk is getting away now.
Just as she thought that, however, a woman in a red dress came to view in the Bullhead's open passenger compartment. Despite being besieged, the aircraft had gained enough distance and altitude that Ruby couldn't quite make out the woman's facial features. As Ruby watched, the woman's arms and chest lit up like flame. The woman channeled the energy out into a burst.
The Huntress blocked it with circle, but the flame splattered around it and behind her like molten lava, glowing hot when the enemy raised her hand. The Huntress back-flipped out of the way as the glowing detonated, sending pieces of the roof into the air. The debris suddenly stopped, briefly held in place by a gesture from the Huntress, before she spun them into the shape of a large arrow. With a flick of the wrist, the arrow shot at the craft.
The woman in the red dress responded with several more blasts, scattering the the makeshift projectile. However, it immediately reformed and slammed into the side of the Bullhead. The wreckage separated and coalesced into more shards that swarmed around the aircraft, but the woman in the passenger section quickly summoned several glowing rings to swat them out of the sky.
No! They can't get away, not now!
Ruby aimed Crescent Rose at the woman in red and pulled the trigger, sending round after round at her. To her frustration, the woman simply raised her hand and blocked each shot with almost contemptuous ease.
Red circles blazed all around her, and before Ruby could react she felt herself getting telekinetically shoved aside by the Huntress. Explosions obscured the ground they'd been standing on. By the time they had cleared, Ruby could only let out a disappointed grunt as she watched the Bullhead flying away, already moving too fast and too hight to intercept.
The blond woman came over, her green eyes looking her over from behind a pair of glasses. Ruby felt her disappointment give way to her earlier excitement. The criminals may have gotten away, but at least she's seen an actual Huntress in action tonight. Up close, even! It had been amazing.
"You're a Huntress!" she gushed. "Can I have your autograph?"
The Huntress's gaze, however, sharpened into a stern glare, and Ruby's smile froze. The woman fixed her gaze on her for a moment before opening her mouth, but another voice interrupted her before she could speak.
"Ruby! W-wait up!" Jaune huffed as he finally clambered up onto the roof after her.
He froze as well when the stern woman turned her glare at him, and Ruby felt a little bit guilty at the relief she felt at no longer being its target.
"Um… hi?" Jaune said weakly, giving the woman a small wave.
All he got in reply was an even sharper look, and he cringed and turned toward Ruby, his expression begging for an explanation.
Ruby rubbed the back of her head sheepishly and shrugged.
Jaune stared nervously at the scary-looking blond woman as she slowly paced in front of them, reading from a Scroll. It didn't help at all that the room they were in just screamed "interrogation room" — its dark lighting broken only by a single harsh light — with nothing but cold, stark metal chairs and a table in it. He glanced at the seat beside him and saw that Ruby was also sitting in agitated silence, eying the the woman warily.
How could this night have gone so horribly wrong so fast? It had started out pretty great: he'd walked into a shop, struck a conversation with cute girl where he hadn't been the (only) awkward mess, and he'd even made friends with said girl. Who'd have expected a bunch of robbers to walk into the very same shop and ruin everything just like that? And the same cute girl had to be all gung-ho and pick a fight instead of having the sense to sneak away and call the police —
Jaune rocked back in his seat as a spike of guilt struck him. No, it wasn't fair at all to blame Ruby for everything that had happened. She'd just honestly wanted to help, and it wasn't like she'd asked for the criminals to walk in. The criminals would probably have noticed them anyway if they'd tried to sneak out, so there would've been little difference. His suggestion to do so had been given solely because he wanted to run away.
And she probably could've handled it all by herself too. She had handled it all by herself. All he'd done was get stuck in the shop with one goon, who'd almost killed him all by himself. Then get almost blown up because of his bright idea to dump a shelf full of Dust at the guy. If Ruby hadn't been slowed down saving his life, she'd probably have taken care of the criminal boss just as fast as she had his thugs.
Then there was the way she'd saved his life in the first place. Using what she'd called his "Aura," some sort of soul energy that apparently could protect from damage and heal you. Something he'd never even heard about when he'd gotten it into his fool head to impersonate a student Hunstman. And the worst part was that she was his age! Yet she knew about all that, and was trained enough to use it and fight several goons off with ease.
If anyone was at fault here, it was him for being a big fake joke pretending to be something he wasn't.
"I hope you realize your actions tonight will not be taken lightly," the woman's sharp voice cut through his thoughts. "You put yourselves and others in great danger, and let's not even mention the property damage."
Jaune shrank back in his seat, wondering how the older Huntress could've known what he was thinking. It was only when her glare passed from him to Ruby that he realized she'd been talking to the both of them.
"They started it, and it was the bad guys who started blowing things up!" Ruby shot back, much to his horror. He wanted to shake his head or find some other way to signal to her that talking back was the last thing you wanted to do. Having come from a family of seven sisters, a number of them older, he'd become intimately familiar with older female scolding dynamics.
"If it were up to me," the woman continued, and Jaune could tell there was an edge to her voice, "you'd both be sent home with pats on your backs…"
Ruby actually perked up at this, but Jaune didn't. He knew the hammer drop was coming.
"…and slaps on your wrists!" Whap!
And there it was. It was only because he'd been expecting it that he didn't cringe as much as Ruby when the older woman had slammed her crop onto the table.
"Fortunately, I'm told insurance should compensate the shopkeeper for criminal damages."
Despite the good news, the woman let out what sounded like a disappointed, exasperated sigh. This, above anything, made Jaune a bit hopeful. He also knew what the disappointment of a scolding undercut by someone else sounded like too. In his family, it was usually his parents quashing any of his older siblings' "fun."
"Also, there's someone here who would like to meet the both of you." The woman turned aside so they could see the doorway behind her open.
A sharp-featured silver-haired man stepped through the doorway. He was equally sharply dressed in dark green formal attire that just screamed "Big Deal," and Jaune started feeling nervous again. Not even the friendly expression on the man's face or the plate of cookies he was carrying along with a mug could put him at ease. This was a lot of hubbub over a bunch of kids foiling a robbery, and it was telling no cops were involved. Only these two, who he assumed were some bigs-shot Hunters.
Green Suit placed the plate of cookies in front of them and took the seat across from them. The woman handed him the Scroll, and he took it while keeping his eyes on them even as he took a small sip from his mug.
Jaune felt himself sweat at the silent scrutiny, wanting to look away but didn't for fear of already looking more guilty than he already felt. What if all this was because they'd looked the both of them up, and something in his "official records" had looked questionable? He tried not to shoot a fearful glance at the Scroll.
Finally, he couldn't take it anymore and turned away to look at Ruby. For her part the girl also seem to be looking uncertainly at the man… then down at the plate of cookies. Then back at the man.
No way, is she… Jaune thought incredulously, wondering how on Remnant Ruby could be more concerned about the plate of cookies than whatever trouble they were likely gonna be in.
Then again, it wasn't like she had anything to worry about. She was the hero of the night. She didn't need forged transcripts to get into Hunter school. She… finally gave into the temptation, grabbed a cookie off the plate, and scarfed it down in one bite. When no rebuke came, she happily began helping herself to the rest of the plate.
Despite the worries eating at his mind, Jaune couldn't help but smile a little at the sight — if only for the welcome distraction.
The green-suited man suddenly leaned forward, scrutinizing the girl. "Ruby Rose… you have silver eyes."
"Um… yes?" Ruby nodded, apparently not quite sure how to take that.
Jaune wasn't quite sure how to take that either, but he remained silent, content that the scrutiny wasn't on him. For now, at least.
"Tell me, young lady…" The man leaned back, placed the Scroll on the table, and gestured at it. "Where did you learn do this?"
"S-Signal Academy."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one of them in particular."
"A dusty old crow, perhaps?" The man quirked an eyebrow at her as he took another sip.
Ruby mumbled around a mouthful of the last cookies on the plate. Embarrassed she swallowed then wiped her mouth before trying again, "Sorry, that's my Uncle Qrow! He's a teacher at Signal. I was complete garbage before he took me under his wing. And now, I'm all like, 'Hooowaaah! Witchaaaa!'"
The girl made some exaggerated fighting gestures in her hand, which seemed to amuse the man. Jaune, however, felt like he'd received yet another blow to his already sunken ego. She used to be "complete garbage"? Either her uncle was some miracle worker, or he was even more out of depth than he realized. How in the world was he gonna fake his way through two years of Signal if Ruby was anything to go by?
And that was assuming his secret hadn't been blown already. His eyes flicked over to the man, and Jaune felt his bowels tighten when he saw the man was looking right at him.
"And as for you, Jaune Arc…" The man slid the Scroll toward him.
"Y-yes, sir?" He peeked at the Scroll, half-certain it was gonna be an image of his transcripts with fake stamped all over it in bold capital letters.
To his surprise, it was showing what looked like a security camera image of him glowing. "You… have quite a lot of Aura."
"I… I guess?" he said carefully, still not sure where all this was going.
"And from your transcripts" — Jaune winced — "it looks like you want to transfer to the same school as Miss Rose here."
Mouth dry and not trusting himself to speak, Jaune could only give him a jerky nod.
The man took another sip, then leaned forward. "So tell me, what do two bright young people such as yourselves hope to achieve in Signal Academy?"
It was Ruby who answered first, "Well… I want to be a Huntress."
"You want to slay monsters?" Green Suit prompted.
"Yeah! I only have two more years of training left at Signal! And then I'm going to apply to Beacon!" Ruby's voice was growing faster and more enthused. Jaune stayed silent content to let her do all the talking while he calmed himself down. "You see, my sister's starting there this year, and she's trying to become a Huntress. I'm also trying to become a Huntress 'cause I wanna help people. My parents always taught us to help others, so I thought, 'Hey, I might as well make a career out of it!'"
Ruby giggled. "I mean the police are alright, but Huntsmen and Huntresses are just so much more romantic and exciting and cool and really… gosh, you know!"
The man gave an indulgent nod, then turned to face Jaune, eyebrow slightly raised. Jaune stiffened nervously.
"Uh… well… Ruby pretty much said it all, you know?" he finished lamely. Ruby, though, took it a lot more wholeheartedly and beamed at him, which just made him feel worse.
Green Suit pushed back and shared a look with the stern woman still hovering behind him.
"Do you know who I am?" he asked after a moment.
Not a clue, Jaune thought.
"You're Profressor Ozpin," Ruby answered easily. "You're the Headmaster of Beacon."
Wait… WHAT?
"Hello," the headmaster said with a small smile.
"Nice to meet you," Ruby replied. Jaune could only nod his head blankly.
"Do the both of you want to come to my school?"
Whoa, whoa, whoa! What? Jaune's eyes bugged out. I-Is… is he serious? Beacon Academy? That was for advanced Hunstman training! Me and Ruby are fifteen, and more to the point, I don't have any training at all!
He'd already begun to realize just how badly behind he was for someone his age, and now they were being given an offer to be moved up two whole years ahead? And for what? Stopping a bunch of criminals? Hell, the boss still got away anyway. Not to mention it was Ruby who did all the actual work, a harsh part of his mind reminded himself.
Before he could answer, though, Ruby grabbed him by the arm and began shaking him excitedly. "More than anything."
He began frantically shaking his head, but he wasn't sure that was coming through from how hard Ruby was shaking him. The professor exchanged another look with the woman, who rolled her eyes but didn't seem willing to give any further protest. No! No no no! You stop this madman right now, lady!
"Well…" Ozpin grinned at them. "Okay."
Ruby abruptly stopped shaking him and grabbed him by the shoulders. She looked right at him, her face a wide-eyed mask of happiness and excitement.
"Oh my gosh, Jaune! This is happening! This is actually happening! Can you believe it?"
In the face of her enthusiasm, Jaune felt his own face twist into an expression he wasn't quite sure was a smile or a grimace of despair. He felt a sound come out of his mouth, and he wasn't quite sure it was the sound of cheering or sobbing.
Ruby just smiled wider.
He was so dead.
And with that, the introduction to this little premise is done. Note that fifteen-year-old Jaune, being a bit younger, is not quite as confident as canon Jaune. Or more accurately, he hasn't quite developed the same thin veneer of confidence that canon Jaune put on at this point. Also unlike canon Jaune, this Jaune doesn't want to go to Beacon, and the feeling of getting there undeserved when he was aiming lower will exacerbate how out of his depth he'll feel. All of this will also shape his interactions with the rest of the cast.
As for update schedule, I want to try for a weekly update. Since this is gonna be posted in October 24 by my timezone, ideally the next chapter should be up by October 31. Hope this idea caught your interest, and I'll see you then.