A/N: How's everyone doing? I'm back and this is the rewrite I promised you! So, I know that this is really a bit of a dick move for me, I know, I'm aware. But with how the original story was going, it was getting really hard to really go into the plot that I had originally planned out, so I decided that the best course of action was to redo it. And so, here we are.
Enjoy!
Atlas; City of Stratos: Alleyway...
Jaune shivered, alone in a back alley, the bitter cold of winter washing over him, and covering him in a thin layer of snow and near-frozen water. His arms were wrapped tightly around his own body, but they did little to protect him from the wind. He looked down at his clothing; a simple black zip-up sweater, a pair of torn jeans, and a pair of black sneakers.
They were useless in this weather.
Jaune's sapphire blue eyes looked out of the alley way and out to the street, where people walked on the sidewalks, comfortable in their warm winter jackets and heavy boots. A shiver shook his body once again, and he came to a conclusion.
If he didn't do something, the cold would kill him.
Using part of what little strength remained in his body, he forced himself to his feet, using the brick wall to steady himself. He stumbled forwards, his legs weak, his body numb, and his mind blurred. Each step he took seemed to require all of his strength, and after a few tiring minutes, Jaune found himself out in the open. The wind was stronger here, and Jaune was barely able to stand the cold. The people who passed him did not even bother to look his way.
"T-Typical..." Jaune murmured, his voice weak. He looked around at the shops that lined the streets, all of them probably warm, a few of them with food or clothes. He looked down at his only form of protection, a small metal rod, no longer than his forearm. He clutched it to his chest as if it were a lifeline, though the cold metal was starting to hurt his hands.
"I-I n-n-need t-to g-get w-warm." Jaune muttered, before stumbling through the sidewalk. He stayed out of the way of the other people, for the most part. There were times when he would bump into another person, in which he would mumble a small apology before continuing down the street. He was starving, so he was looking for a restaurant of some kind. But after about ten minutes of stumbling around, the cold was so unbearable that he pushed his way into a random store.
It was an ice cream parlor, so it was still a little cold inside, but it was much better than the cold outside. Jaune stumbled into one of the booths, before curling in on himself in the seat. He lay there shivering, though not as bad as before.
He lay there for what felt like hours, his body shaking as it desperately tried to sustain his body temperature. He shivered, suffering from painful cramps as he did so.
Hours passed, people came and went, only a few of them sparing a glance at the poor boy in the booth. Jaune was about to fall asleep, and fear gripped his heart at the thought of it being his final sleep. So desperately, he stayed awake, clinging on to his state of consciousness with all of his willpower. He shifted a little, moving his limbs so that they were in a more comfortable position, when his stomach growled loudly, drawing a few glances from the people around him. He blushed before curling into a ball, hiding his flushed cheeks.
A few more hours passed, agonizing hours at that. At least, for Jaune they were. His stomach kept growling, a reminder of how empty it was. Jaune looked up as he heard someone open the door. Looking around, he noticed that there weren't a lot of people inside, and he checked the clock hanging on a nearby wall.
"Ei-Ei-Eight th-th-thirty?" he stammered out, before looking at the store's closing hours. They closed at 9:00.
Which meant that they would kick him out of the only warmth he had.
His head dipped back into his arms, a tear leaking out of his eye.
Suddenly, he felt someone tap his arm. Looking up, he was startled to find the face of a girl in close (very close) proximity to his own, and he let out a small yelp as he backed into the wall behind him.
The two stared at each other for a few moments, before Jaune broke the silence. "C-C-Can I-I h-h-help y-you?"
The girl frowned, and Jaune had the small urge to manually bring the edges of her lips upwards, something that he loved to do with his sisters.
The girl was very pretty, if not adorable. She was both really, with her pink eyes staring curiously into his own, and small, pale lips that were currently in a frown. Her white hair, which would probably end at her calves if she were to stand, was tied into a single braid from the middle to the end. Her bangs framed her paled face nicely, and she had a small cowlick at the top of her head. She wore a white track suite that had pink stripes starting from below her armpits and ended at the middle of her thigh. The tracksuit ended there, and the rest of her legs were covered in black thermal leggings, which ended in a pair of white, shin-high boots.
Hanging on her thigh was a sheathed katana, with a pink handle, and a white sheath.
"Who are you? I don't remember seeing you around here," she said, tilting her head a little as she gently poked him with her index finger. Her voice was soft, but loud enough to be heard. Jaune could barely feel her poking him, with how cold he was and such.
"M-My n-n-name is J-Jaune. I-I'm not f-from h-here," he said, holding out his hand for her to shake.
She tentatively took his hand into her own, and her frown deepened. "The name's Irene. Nice to meet ya'. Why are you so cold?"
Jaune took his hand out of hers and pointed outside. "I-I s-stayed ou-outs-side f-for t-too long."
Irene shook her before offering him her hand. "Why don't you go home? Here, I'll take you there."
He replied with a firm shake of his head. "I-I d-don't h-h-have any-nywhere t-to go."
The white-haired girl turned to him. "What do you mean?"
Jaune turned away from her. "I-I r-r-ran away f-from h-h-home."
"And home is where?" she asked.
"Vacuo."
Irene chuckled a little. "And you decided to come to Atlas? Talk about climate change." Even then, she turned to him and offered him her hand.
"C'mon, I'll take you to my place," she offered. "There you'll at least have food and warmth."
Jaune stared at her hand skeptically. "S-S-Suspicious."
Irene pulled away her hand and instead scratched the back of her head with it. "Yeah, I guess that would seem suspicious, wouldn't it?"
Despite that, Jaune got out of his seat and stood beside her. "B-B-But I-I d-don't h-h-have any-anywhere els-else to go." Tentatively, one of Jaune's shaking hands reached for Irene's arm. She met him halfway, and pulled him into a warm hug that he hadn't felt since he left home.
"Don't worry Little Jauney, you're gonna be alright."
5 Years Later
Vale; City of Vale: Bullhead Station to Beacon Academy...
So, here he was, standing in front of the Bullhead station of Beacon Academy, about to become a Huntsman. Technically he was already a Huntsman, right? After all, he passed Basic, and there really wasn't anything a Huntsman could do that a Division Agent couldn't. The only difference is that one kills bad guys, and the other stops bad guys and occasionally kills a few of them. The former was the Division, obviously. However, since regulations are a b*tch, if Jaune wanted to become a Huntsman he'd have to go to a combat school.
And seeing as he was already 17, he couldn't go to Signal, and instead had to go to Beacon. Of course, in order to go there you have to have gone to a combat school previously, which Jaune didn't. Luckily, some transcripts from the RNG seemed to solve that little problem.
Jaune's next problem presented itself as soon as he sat down. Looking around, he noticed the lighthearted and carefree atmosphere. He would have to blend in with the crowd. Of course, a soldier-esque presence would undoubtedly trouble a few students, Jaune had to put up an act.
He would have to be weak. And so...
Weak would he become.
Vale; Beacon Academy: Several months later in Proffessor Goddwitch's class...
Jaune wiped a small drop of blood that was forming on the corner of his lip as Ms. Goodwitch called the match. "Enough!" she cried. "Mr. Arc, I advise next time that you be wary of your aura consumption." Jaune gave a small nod. He'd restricted too much of his aura's reserves this time around.
Ms. Goodwitch returned the gesture before turning to Jaune's opponent, Cardin Winchester.
"And you, Mr. Winchester. Overkill will not be tolerated! Not only that, but it is also not advised. That wasted energy could be spent doing better things, things that could save your life or other's." Ms. Goodwitch reprimanded.
"Yeah, yeah, whatever. I got my aura to give me more energy when I need it." Cardin uncaringly replied.
Ms. Goodwitch's eyebrow twitched. "And is your aura unlimited? What if you are in a situation in which your aura reserves are low? Would you still be able to continue on?" She asks, a victorious smirk flashing across her face before vanishing when Cardin remained silent.
Jaune went back to his seat, pretending to look miserable, as per usual. Probably his best friend and partner, Pyrrha, moved to comfort him.
As per usual.
He looked up to look back up at the front of the classroom, only to see a hand wave to him out of the corner of his eye. Turning to it, he saw that Ruby was the one who had waved at him, and she gave him a thumbs up as soon as she saw that she had his attention. Jaune gave her a small smile in return, just to show her that he was fine with the loss.
If he were being honest, this charade was starting to become tiring. He understood its necessity, but still disliked it. It was damaging to his pride to lose to someone with that kind of upbringing.
Suddenly, the bell rang, signaling the end of class.
"Class dismissed!"
Vale; Beacon Academy:Team JNPR Dorm...
Jaune lounged lazily on his bed, an X-Ray and Vav comic book held above his head as Pyrrha sat across from him on her own bed, combing her mane of crimson hair. Oddly enough, he found himself entranced by his partner's hair. He always wondered whether or not the color was natural, and he sometimes admired its beauty. Of course, it was mostly subconscious; after all, he was still a hormonal 17-year-old boy going through puberty, no matter how much military training he had.
Apparently, life liked to f*k with people that way.
He stared at Pyrrha's hair for a few more minutes, which, unfortunately for him, did not go unnoticed. Blushing, Pyrrha called out to him.
"I-Is something the matter Jaune?" she asked, the brush in her hands shaking a little.
Jaune finally noticed that Pyrrha had seen him staring and was quick to apologize. "Sorry Pyrrha, it's just... your hair is really pretty. Is its color natural?"
The champion nodded, looking down at her hands and twiddling her thumbs.
"*Whistle* You don't see that very often. That's pretty cool." Jaune said, standing up from his bed and throwing the comic book to the side. He grabbed a medium sized pouch, bought the week prior, before heading off.
"Hey Pyrrha, I'm going to go train a little in the arena. If you need me, you know where to find me," Jaune called back as he left the room.
Vale; Beacon Academy:Arena...
As Jaune walked through the ornate hallways of the academy, he passed by a vibrant crop of students, too many to to be a team, who were apparently talking about current events.
"Yeah dude, I mean, everything's basically gone to sh*t in the city. The VPD really f*cked up this time around." Jaune heard one of them say.
"I know. It sucks that we can't go to the arcade like we used to." One of the girls said somberly.
She was lightly nudged by a taller boy beside her, who jokingly exclaimed, "Unless you want to get mugged by thugs or killed by world-renowned criminals, then we'd best stay way the f*ck away from the arcade, for some time."
The group passed by Jaune without a glance, but the subject they were talking about piqued Jaune's interest. He hadn't been that behind, had he? Sure, he took a break from looking into current events, but even then, that was only for a few months. Surely things hadn't changed that drastically in such a short period of time.
"I really should start prepping myself..." he muttered.
He made a quick trip to Beacon's Armory, where students could borrow weapons to practice with. He grabbed an Atlesian M4 off of the racks, as well as an Atlesian UMP-9. Of course, he grabbed some sim rounds for them, too.
"Beacon sure does love its Atlas weaponry," Jaune murmured under his breath. He walked out of the armory, M4 lowered in his hands, UMP-9 hanging from a sling by his side, and Crocea Mors on his left hip.
He stepped into the training arena. It had been used recently, given how the combat drones were still repairing themselves, and the presence of quite the number of craters in the dirt floor. Jaune shrugged and waited for the drones to finish up, walking over to a nearby bench and loading all of the magazines he brought, which were five standard 30-round mags for the M4, and six standard 32-round mags for the UMP. They all went inside the pouch he had brought, which, in all honesty, barely fit them all. In fact, one of the UMP mags was sticking out of the side.
"*Sigh* There are times when I just wish I didn't have to act. Now is one of them," Jaune lamented, a little bit disappointed that he couldn't use his Tac-Vest. Ah, the storage...
Jaune was snapped out of his reverie when a beep signified that the drones were ready to be activated. Smiling a little, he went up to the control panel and set them to the Full Setting, as well as setting the number of drones to three.
He quickly got set up in the middle of the arena as a 30-second timer started to count down. He inserted a fully loaded mag (NOT CLIP) into both weapons and aimed at the three drones with the M4.
5...
Jaune let his breathing slow, his body becoming unnaturally still.
4...
With both of his eyes open, the drone in the middle had its head sighted, ready to be blown off.
3...
Jaune quickly flicked the safety off on his gun.
2...
His finger touched the trigger.
1...
Breathe in...
*BEEP*
Breathe out... *BANG*
Vale; Beacon Academy:In the Cafeteria...
Jaune wiped the sweat off of his brow as he stood in line for food, eyeing the meals hungrily. Apparently, Beacon didn't get the memo about current school lunches. Once he grabbed his plate, comprising of an eight ounce steak, steamed broccoli, mashed potatoes, asparagus, and steak sauce, he went over to his team's usual table. He wasn't really happy about the tables location, if he were being honest. It was in the middle of the room, and usually his team sat on the bench that had his back to the door. If only they could have chosen the corner seat, which was close to the door while giving them a wide view of the room. That would've made Jaune a lot happier.
But, of course, that wasn't the case, Jaune thought to himself as he sat down at the table. His friends were up to their usual antics, taking almost nothing seriously. Except for Weiss. Speaking of the girl taking nothing seriously, he should probably stop with those advances of his. They were originally just a part of his facade, but Jaune could tell that the white haired heiress was getting pretty annoyed.
"Meh," Jaune said while shrugging, before digging into his meal.
While he ate, Jaune watched the wall-mounted TV screen which displayed a crashed Bullhead with the words 'No More Pain' spray painted across the side of the burnt surface, along with the symbol of the White Fang. The reporter's words were mostly drown out by the chatter of the students, but Jaune could still hear it.
"In what is possibly the boldest course of action taken in years, the White Fang shot down SDC Dust Delivery Bullhead #395 last night, sometime near midnight. Witnesses to the incident report that several cases of dust seemed to have exploded as soon as the Bullhead was shot, and the ship disappeared underneath the tree tops of Forever Fall forest soon after. The Valean Police Department advises all residents near the forest to remain inside their homes until further notice. Investigators are currently attempting to find any traces of the weaponry used to down the Bullhead. This is Lisa Lavender, Alert 1 News."
Jaune's gaze steadily drifted down to his left wrist, where the black and orange themed watch rested beneath his sleeve, hidden from the world.
The first semester was already coming to a close, and Jaune had successfully created the image of a weak boy trying to be someone he isn't. But now... the chance of him being 'activated' was at an all time high.
That team he had passed on his way to the arena had brought his attention back to world-wide events, which he had forgotten about due to his friends and time at Beacon. On this way to cafeteria, Jaune had searched up recent news on his scroll. Needless to say, he did not like what he saw. Vale was torn. Thugs now littered the streets, criminals somehow manage to escape from the Liner's Correctional Facility. The worst part was probably the fact that there were divisions, which had broken off from the White Fang of all people, who have recently been linked with quite a few homicides.
Most of the activity was centered in Vale, but there were also some reports of major White Fang activity in Atlas and Vacuo as well.
With all of that in mind, Jaune couldn't help but be on edge. He was both excited and afraid. Excited that he would see some action and actually utilize his training, and afraid because he didn't want to leave his friends. He'd have to, according to regulations. He looked to his left, where all of his friends were having fun.
Yang had apparently just told another one of her "jokes", heavy on the quotation marks, as evident by the deadpanned stares she was getting. Seconds later, everyone ignored it altogether and continued doing what they were doing. Nora was trying to race to the lunch line, but was held back by Ren's hand grabbing the back of her shirt. Pyrrha was giggling at their antics. Blake was reading a book while simultaneously holding a conversation with Weiss about Port's homework which, unsurprisingly, was to list the five ways to kill a Beowulf that he had described in his class the previous day. Apparently, Weiss was having trouble with number five.
...and four.
...and three.
Jaune couldn't blame her, honestly. Thankfully, he had taken to recording his classes with his watch, then listening to them on his scroll. Anything that happened visually... well... he'd had to ask his team mates for those.
But, back to the lunchroom, poor Ruby had nobody else to talk to, and was instead the victim of Yang's constant stream of puns. She sent him a look from the other side of the table, a message clear within her eyes.
'HELP ME!'
He laughed silently, mouthing an apology to her and trying his best to ignore and not laugh at the betrayed expression on the reaper's face. His thoughts went back to the Division not long after.
He didn't want to leave his friends. And on the off chance that they see him while he's working, he didn't want to feel guilty for lying to them should they confront him about his training. With an exasperated sigh, Jaunee glanced down at his watch again, and to his shock and slight horror, the rim was blinking blue.
There were two colors that the watch had, blue and orange. Blue meant that you were on standby, and that you should be prepared to be called at a moments notice. Orange meant that you were activated, and you were expected to be out in the field within 24 hours of your activation.
His was blue, so that meant he was close to being called. He had to prepare all of his gear.
He stood up immediately, causing both teams (J)NPR and RWBY to look at him. "Jaune? Where are you going?" Pyrrha asked. The others nodded along with her question.
Jaune gave her a smile. "It's nothing. I just got a call from Headmaster Ozpin, that's all." He replied. At this, Pyrrha began to stand up.
"Then I should go too. As your partner I should be there as well" Pyrrha stated. Nora bolted up from her seat as well.
"Me and Renny too, fearless leader!" Nora cheered, dragging her poor childhood friend by the back of his collar. Jaune shook his head in response.
"No, guys. I appreciate it, but I've gotta go alone. Sucks, I know. But trust me! There'll still be plenty more Jaune to pass around!" He joked. This caused the whole table to look at him dryly. "R-Right... Well, I've gotta go now. I'll see you l-, uh, later."
And with that, Jaune walked away from the table. However, as he was doing so, Ruby noticed that his sleeve had hiked up just a tiny bit, but it was enough to reveal the glowing blue watch on his left wrist.
"What the...?" she murmured.
As soon as Jaune was out of earshot, Ruby told the others.
"Hey, uh, guys? When did Jaune have a watch?" She asked the table. The others looked around in confusion. Team (J)NPR looked at Ruby in confusion.
"What brought this up?" Pyrrha asked her. Ruby pointed to the door that Jaune had just walked out of.
"Jaune had a glowing blue watch on his hand! I noticed it when he walked out of the door. It looked so cool!"
Blake put down her book. "Yeah, I saw it too."
Yang grinned. "Even while you were reading your porn?" she asked, slyly nudging Blake's side with her elbow. The girl in black rolled her eyes at her partner's antics, but the blush on her cheeks gave away her embarrassment.
Weiss scoffed. "Please, it's probably just some toy he got from a kids meal or something."
Ruby turned to her with a pout. "If he got it from a kids meal, then I would have already had it! In fact, I haven't seen anything like it on any of the McZonald's kid's toys catalogs!" Ruby exclaimed, shaking her fist in the air. "I should know! I go there every time they come out with a new toy line!"
The entire table went silent. Ruby looked around at the faces of her friends, who were desperately trying not to laugh.
"R-Ruby?" Yang called, holding a hand to her mouth.
"Yeah?"
"You just admitted to buying kids meals... at age 15..."
Once Ruby was made aware of what she did, her cheeks heated up. Seconds later, her hood hid her face from the world.
After the good laugh, Blake noticed the worried expression that was still on Pyrrha's face. Gently, Blake nudged the champion's foot with her own, sending her a questioning look when she had her attention.
"It's nothing Blake, it's just... I've never noticed that he had a watch before. I've never even seen it. Not even on the nightstand before bed," Pyrrha told her, the wariness evident in her voice.
Nora threw in her own two cents. "Maybe it's some super secret spy gadget!"
"No, Nora," Ren said, "our team leader is not a spy."
Nora smirked at him. "Aha! But that's what he wants you to think!"
Pyrrha giggled at Nora's antics, lifting a bit of the wariness from her mind. Just a bit.
"Pyrrha, a simple accessory doesn't mean the end of he world is approaching," Weiss said from across the table.
Said champion looked up at the heiresses and tilted her head, curious as to what the girl meant.
Weiss cleared her throat. "What I meant to say, was that Jaune having a watch doesn't mean he's in any sort of trouble. Does it really matter if you've never seen it before?"
Pyrrha shook her head.
"Exactly," Weiss stated, "so just relax. I'm sure you're worrying over nothing."
The champion nodded. Yeah, she was just being paranoid. Of course.
So why did she still feel that pit in her stomach?
Vale; Beacon Academy;Team JNPR Dorm...
Jaune went into the closet. He dug behind all of the piles of clothes, as well as a box full of his personal belongings, and finally pulled out a large sized black backpack. It was a sling pack, with a single grey device which was glowing blue on the strap, along with a few pouches filled with ammunition. He'd hidden it behind his own things so that his team mates wouldn't see it. He looked at the time on his watch. He had five minutes to check on his gear. He opened up his backpack and found his AUG Para 3x, and his Covert SRS. His TRCK .45 tracking pistol was already in its holster. Aside from that, his Tac-Vest was stored inside, along with a few mags for all three guns. His knee pads were inside, as well as his Combat HUD glasses, a pair of sunglasses similar in appearance to the Oakey sunglasses.
Jaune looked at the time again. Two minutes until team JNPR would return from lunch.
There was one thing Jaune still hadn't checked on yet, and he reached inside to grab it. A silver canister, about the same size as Dr. Oobleck's thermos, came out of the pack in his grasp. It had a cord sticking out of the bottom, which needed to be pulled. It was a mobile parachute.
Before he could inspect it further, Jaune heard the door to the room click, signifying his team mate's return. He quickly stuffed the canister back into his backpack, then stuffed his backpack back into the closet and rearranged the clothes and his stuff to hide it.
"Jaune?"
The young Arc looked to his right to find Pyrrha's head poking around the corner, green eyes peering down at him in confusion.
"What are you doing down there?" she asked, stepping out of the corner and clasping her hands behind her back. Jaune closed the closet door and stood up, dusting off his pants afterwards.
"Oh, you know, just deciding what I should wear tomorrow. After all, we're still going on that trip to Vale tomorrow, right?" Jaune asked.
Pyrrha raised an eyebrow at him. "Tomorrow? I thought that was planned for next week?"
Jaune feigned surprise. "Really? I thought it was tomorrow!"
Pyrrha smiled a little while shaking her head, before switching topics. "Anyway, what did the Headmaster want with you?"
"Sorry, I can't really tell you. It's supposed to be 'confidential', or something like that," Jaune lied, again. "Anyway, I'm gonna go take a shower. That workout really made me sweat!"
Pyrrha nodded, letting Jaune pass her by and into the bathroom. As soon as the door to the bathroom closed, Pyrrha used her semblance and quietly opened the closet without the rails squeaking. She heard the shower start up, and she went to work removing the clothes and Jaune's stuff carefully. Behind it all, sitting in the darkness of the closet, was a black backpack.
With a grey device that glowed a disturbingly ominous blue.
A/N: Alright guys, so I'm trying to flesh out the story a little more, as evident by how different the first chapter is. So yeah, here it is. Anyways, I hope you enjoyed, and if you find anything wrong please leave a review about it.
IU13, signing out!