Arc 1, Chapter 1

Self Help


Jaune Arc brought the weight down again, pausing just before it brushed against his chest. He held it for a beat and then exhaled slowly, forcing the bar and its payload upward while his muscles screamed out in protest. The ache was short lived. Almost immediately his aura hummed in response, replacing the hurt with a soothing warmth.

"Ten," he sighed, placing the bar back down on the rack with a thud.

Aura - the projection of an individual's very soul - actively worked to mend injuries, which, luckily for Jaune, included rebuilding torn muscle. As long as that personalized inner light didn't run out, a hunter could potentially work on muscle training indefinitely. So, deciding to make good use of his own generous amount of the stuff, Jaune had recently opted to become intimately familiar with Beacon Academy's athletic facilities. Over the course of the last few months he had made considerable progress, putting on much needed muscle mass and building up his lackluster stamina to a more acceptable level.

He had more than doubled the amount of weight he could lift during any given exercise through sheer sitck-to-itiveness, and he was now easily stronger than most adults who had yet to unlock their own aura. Unfortunately, he was still well behind the majority of his classmates, even those who didn't predominantly focus on strengthening their muscles. He suspected his own teammate, Lie Ren, who concentrated on technique rather than raw stopping power, could still floor him in an arm wrestling match about as easily as a powerhouse like, say, Yang Xiao Long. For obvious reasons he had yet to test that theory. He was somewhat attached to his arms.

Even after months of work, his own lack of skill troubled the young knight, though not as much as it once had. Honestly, it was probably to be expected considering the fact that Jaune had more or less cheated his way into Beacon. His fellow soon-to-be huntsmen and huntresses all had the benefit of a few years head start on him, so he was always striving to make up the lost ground. It was an uphill battle, in terms of both academics and, of course, physical fitness.

Fortunately, the school's sports complex was extensively outfitted with every imaginable free weight and a wide assortment of complicated machines to suit any style of training regiment. Jaune suspected that the building could comfortably accommodate the entirety of the student body at once if necessary. However, at the moment, he sat inside almost entirely alone, joined by only a handful of other late night stragglers.

A glance up at a nearby clock confirmed that he had been lifting heavy things and then putting them back down far longer than he had originally intended; hours longer than anyone without the assistance of aura could be expected to last. The curriculum at Beacon - an academy meant to train the future protectors of humanity - was… understandably rigorous, meaning most students, including his own teammates, were most likely already sound asleep, exhausted by the day's activities.

You should be asleep too, a little voice in the back of his head warned.

Instead of acknowledging it, he slipped another few plates onto either end of the bar, grinning somewhat maniacally as he raised the weight well out of his comfort zone. The blond hunter was feeling uncharacteristically confident, eager to really test his ever-expanding limits before calling it a night. He slipped back into position on the bench, gazing up at the now very familiar gym ceiling.

"We'll just go for one rep," he reasoned aloud to himself.

Jaune gripped the bar tightly, gritted his teeth, and went to work. His aura hummed reassuringly as he strained to bring the weight down and keep it hovering over his chest.

Now for the difficult part, he mused, arms shaking, working against gravity.

He grunted loudly, pushing upward with all his strength - and the bar didn't give so much as an inch. Instead it sank even lower, thumping painfully against his collarbone. The metal rod bent slightly as both ends sagged towards the floor under the heavy plates.

And... that would be my limit, Jaune realized, embarrassed and panicked in equal measure.

But, the embarrassment quickly evaporated to make room for some extra panic as the familiar warmth of his aura began to fade, first flickering, and then dying all at once, like a light bulb burning out.

He was completely spent, and at an extremely inconvenient time, to say the least. Without the extra energy that his personal "force field" afforded him Jaune couldn't even find the strength to tilt the weight off of his body to the side. So, head throbbing, lungs burning, he gave one final, ultimately ineffective shove.

So this is how I die, he thought solemnly, killed by gym equipment. He would have laughed, but he needed air to do that.

And suddenly, inexplicably, the weight was lifted from his chest and Jaune was taking in the most satisfying breath of his life. He'd nearly bitten his own lip off in the struggle, and the inside of his mouth was wet with blood.

"Thanks," he wheezed up at his savior, before freezing when he realized who is was.

Cardin Winchester was looking back down at him, very obviously irritated, holding the bar up… with only one arm. For one insane moment Jaune thought the sizeable huntsman was going to drop the weight back down onto his face. But thankfully Cardin instead chose to set it down on the bench, before shaking his head disapprovingly and walking off, muttering as he went. "Don't kill yourself before the Grimm get the chance to do it."

"I'll try," Jaune replied weakly, though Cardin was already out of earshot.

That helping hand, and the accompanying lack of laughter, had come as quite the unexpected surprise. Cardin Winchester and Jaune Arc were not on particularly good terms with one another, by any stretch of the imagination.

The school bully had been strangely... subdued ever since a certain Grimm related episode in Forever Fall, during which Jaune had managed to save the big idiot's life. Rumor had it that the aforementioned incident - along with several merciless beatings on the practice floor - had acted as a wake-up call for Cardin. Apparently, he no longer stalked Beacon's hallways taunting the weaker students, but had instead doggedly directed all of his effort into his training regiment, and, according to some, he was often seen studying in the library as well...

Jaune adamantly refused to believe the latter until he saw it for himself.

He looked away from Cardin - who was now curling more weight than the knight would have been able to get off the ground, and made to leave - only to find himself face to face with his teammate and partner, Pyrrha Nikos. "Whoa!" He half yelped, before collecting himself and grinning sheepishly. "Don't go sneaking up on me like that, Pyrrha. One of these days fight is going to kick in instead of flight, you know."

His partner was sporting Beacon's school uniform, looking utterly studious with schoolbooks and notepaper under her arm and a pencil tucked picturesquely behind her ear. In comparison, Jaune was clad in only a sweat drenched tank top and a pair of shorts, and suddenly felt tragically under dressed.

So, how much of that embarrassing spectacle had she seen?

She answered his unasked question immediately. "I saw that, Jaune," she told him, looking deadly serious.

"Right? What have they been feeding Cardin?" Jaune replied, with a weak chuckle.

Pyrrha didn't look at all amused. "I know you want to improve, but you should be less reckless. You could have really hurt yourself without a spotter." She eyed the now vacant bench with apprehension.

Jaune realized then that his partner would probably have had no problem handling the weight that had nearly just executed him. He shook off a momentary pang of humiliation. That was actually something he was getting quite good at since coming to Beacon.

"I'm fine," he announced, grinning and flexing his arms to demonstrate, "See?" But, his smile quickly wilted under Pyrrha's imploring look. "Alright, alright. I'll be careful not to hurt myself from now on. I promise."

"And an Arc's never goes back on his word, or so I've heard." Pyrrha allowed herself a small smile. "Just... please don't push yourself too hard. That's all I ask."

"I'm a team leader, Pyrrha. Working ourselves half to death is in the contract," Jaune joked easily. "So… why are you still up so late?"

Pyrrha gestured at the books she was cradling. "I was at the library finishing some last minute work before class tomorrow. I realized you would probably still be here. You always are lately." There was a peculiar mix of emotions in the last sentence; somehow pride and melancholy all at once.

Jaune missed it completely. "Ugh, how intellectual of you," he said, partially deflating. There was a mountain of schoolwork waiting atop his desk back in the dorm room. "But, whatever the reason, you should really be asleep."

"So should you," Pyrrha countered.

"Alright, fair enough. Just let me fit in a jog and a shower." Jaune offered her what was hopefully a pacifying grin. "However, as team leader, I'm afraid I am hereby ordering you to go climb into your bed."

"Not without you."

Jaune quirked an eyebrow.

"Coming to the room… to sleep, I mean," Pyrrha addended hastily, suddenly very interested in adjusting the hem of her skirt. It was an unusually defenseless look for the four-time champion of the Mistral regional tournament.

Abruptly, Cardin strong-armed his way between the two, moving to deliver a dumbbell back to the appropriate rack. "Get a room," he offered brusquely, and again without waiting for a response, he stalked off to make use of a nearby machine.

Jaune recovered from his own nervous blush first. "I'll make it a short run, but I can't really afford to skip the shower."

"Of course," Pyrrha agreed with slightly more enthusiasm than the situation called for. "Come back soon."

With that brief good-bye, she hurried off and left Jaune to his cool down, alone with his thoughts. He hopped onto the nearest treadmill and, true to his word, limited himself to only a hurried five-minute run, the last thirty seconds of which were a jog to the gym showers.

Jaune understood better than most that he had a truly exceptional partner, one he was more "blessed with" than "assigned to." For all intents and purposes she was a celebrity at Beacon, famous for her skill and combat record. The red haired huntress was currently undefeated on the training floor, an absolute whirlwind of grace, dexterity, raw power, intelligence, and several other, equally impressive qualities that Jaune had yet to find matching words for.

"Strategery," He tried aloud, while scrubbing shampoo into his scalp.

Yet despite all of that Pyrrha had never once displayed even a scrap of arrogance. Instead she was courteous to the point of absurdity, offering a helping hand to anyone in need, including Jaune Arc, the talentless goofball she had ended up partnered with. Although, Jaune liked to think that, thanks to Pyrrha, he was now a moderately talented goofball. Private training sessions with her were the only thing that had kept him clinging on during his first few weeks at Beacon.

Well, that and generous assistance from the rest of his team.

Though not all too talkative, Ren was incredibly intelligent, and also astonishingly patient in the face of Jaune's ineptitude when it came to reading, writing, studying, or… any other academic ability really. Ren's partner and childhood friend Nora Valkyrie was difficult to describe; it was hard to dilute her "essence" down to a few simple words. However, Jaune could say that she was unendingly enthusiastic about just about everything, and that it was contagious. With her downright suffocating positivity and bubbly nature, she would have made an excellent cheerleader. Though she also would have made an excellent football player.

Team JNPR was unique and truly exceptional… or… three-fourths of it was.

Jaune was a disappointing leader. That wasn't exactly a secret. He was commanding a group of individual's who would be much better off with a competent, actually qualified hunter calling the shots. Those constant, needling feelings of guilt were the driving force behind his recent training binge. After some prodding, Pyrrha had begrudgingly confirmed that he needed a more solid foundation to build up from, before he could move on to more advanced fighting techniques. He needed to get into proper physical shape. Unfortunately, this meant that his rooftop practices with Pyrrha were now limited to only one or two sessions per week, sometimes fewer…

Jaune stepped out of the shower, toweled off, and pulled his own Beacon uniform out of his gym bag. Once fully clothed, he made his way out of the sports complex and started towards Beacon's first year dorms. He yawned loudly and, all at once, the enormity of how tired he was cracked him over the head.

It would be great to fall into a bed.

As it turned out, he happened upon one more quickly than he had been expecting, just outside of his dorm room door in the hallway. However, this particular bed seemed to be taken... quite literally. Yang Xiao Long and her very worried looking little sister, Ruby Rose, were in the process of carrying the heavy piece of furniture out of their room, when they noticed Jaune approaching. Both girls were in their pajamas, but otherwise looked far from ready to go to sleep.

"Hey, Jaune! You didn't see anything," Yang announced cheerfully, strolling towards him. "Right?" she asked sweetly, the threat of violence very tangible in the lone syllable.

The knight's gaze bounced between Yang's violet eyes and her ample chest, once, twice, a third time. Make your decision Arc, the voice in his head mentally reprimanded. He settled on looking just over the girl's shoulder at Ruby, who gave him a smile and a small wave.

This view also gave Jaune a better look at the runaway bed. From the snow-white hair barely visible over the top of the covers, it seemed that Weiss Schnee was the occupant, sound asleep and unaware that… apparently, the movers had arrived...

"I didn't see anything," Jaune agreed wearily.

"Very good decision." Yang smiled and patted him on the shoulder.

"She's going to be soooo mad, Yang," Ruby said in an anxious whisper.

"Really?" Yang asked with a puzzled look. "I've never known Weiss to overreact."

"So, what am I 'not seeing' right here exactly?" Jaune asked, not sure if he really wanted to know.

"Ms. Schnee has been complaining about how we take too long to get ready and make her run late every morning," Yang explained (while Ruby whined nervously), "so we're kindly moving her to the classroom early, so she'll definitely be there on time tomorrow." She grinned. "Care to help?"

Jaune opened his mouth to speak, looked from Yang to Ruby to the bundle of blankets that was Weiss, closed his mouth again, and about-faced to open his own door. He wanted nothing to do with this one. His earlier assumption that most of Beacon's students were asleep was clearly inaccurate. This school was insane.

"G'night ladies," he yawned as he stepped inside of his room. "Have fun."

"Goodnight, Jaune" Ruby replied, still keeping her voice low as not to wake Weiss.

"Night!" Yang yelled after him.