The Last Maiden

Chapter One

The glare of the sun off of the top of Beacon Tower was blinding, an effect which didn't go unnoticed by Jaune Arc. The tower itself was a gigantic, blue steel spire with various buttresses connected by walls that resembled the aqueducts of older times. Courtyards dotted the ground. The specific entry courtyard in front of Jaune featured a gorgeous fountain; the rainbow effect created by sunlight playing off the bouncing jets of water was breathtaking. The top of the fountain was flat, creating a pedestal upon which stood a towering statue of a warrior, pointing his sword towards the sky.

Jaune could have stared at the scene for hours, except that the rest of the group on the Bullhead had started to disembark. Jaune grabbed his sword and sheath from the storage above his seat and started to join the end of the line, only to bump into a girl that barely reached his shoulders.

"Sorry! I didn't mean to knock you over there – I didn't see – I was just…" Jaune could barely get words out as his face went red.

"It's fine, honest!" The young girl chuckled, and reached out her hand to let Jaune help her up, "My name is Ruby, I'm tiny so I'm just going to get used to getting knocked over now."

Jaune smiled at her. "My name is Jaune, cool to meet you."

Now that he could get a good look at her, he could tell that she was a bit younger, probably by a year or two. The girl had jet black hair down to her chin, and wore a black dress with a long red cape. Her eyes had a strong silver color to them that almost sent chills down Jaune's spine.

"Nice to meet you too!" Ruby chirped back, an overwhelming amount of cheer in her voice. "See Yang, I've already made a friend here!"

At this, Jaune followed Ruby's gaze to what appeared to be her sister; this girl was as tall as Jaune, with golden yellow hair that trailed down her back. She wore a brown jacket over a yellow shirt, and beige cargo pants. Her eyes caught Jaune's and she smiled, albeit a touch mischievously.

"Not bad, although this one looks more nervous than you do," she said, lightly punching Jaune's arm.

Jaune laughed, knowing she was right. He was on edge already, worried about how he would fare at Beacon. Socially he was not too concerned; a lack of confidence had always plagued him, but he was still usually very able to make friends and hold his own in conversation. It was the classwork and the fights that were more concerning. Looking again at his sword, his gaze fell a bit before remembering the two sisters in front of him.

"Nervous or not, we definitely still have to get into the Great Hall before everything starts!" he announced. The two girls nodded and followed him out of the ship and up the walkway to the massive double doors at the front of the tower.

As they passed the fountain and the statue, Jaune cast one last glance at the statue, specifically the sword. His heart strained as he looked sadly at his own sword, knowing the two weapons to actually be one and the same, although one was a marble depiction of the other. He sighed but continued walking.

Ruby saw this, and thought about saying something. She shut her mouth instead, and continued walking behind Jaune as he chatted with her sister just a bit flirtatiously.

The Great Hall was immense. As Jaune looked across the ceiling, he spotted various staircases overlapping and numerous walkways. His eyes returned to ground level, inspecting the numerous rows of tables that lined the space. He assumed this is where meals were eaten, and it made sense that the space would need a ton of tables given that a few hundred students had just filed into the building.

Ruby and Yang stared straight ahead as the group continued to walk forward, since both their attentions had been captured by a lone figure standing on a stage near the front of the room. The man was slender, with messy gray hair and spectacles. His right hand rested on a cane, despite a lack of any need for it as far as it looked. His black coat ended right below his knees, and a green scarf topped the look. No one could seem to tear their gaze away, and Jaune knew why.

"Professor Ozpin…" Jaune said, noticing the girls stare.

Ruby looked at him, quizzical. "Who?"

"He's the headmaster of Beacon, and a really mysterious guy. If half the rumors I've heard are true, he has more history than the school itself does." Jaune looked at the headmaster with an interesting gaze, something Ruby could only define as a mix of admiration and fear.

Everyone seemed to look at Ozpin with the same intensity, as the figure himself started to walk across the stage towards the microphone in the center. He stopped to briefly exchange words with a blonde-haired woman that Jaune didn't recognize, so he used the opportunity to look around the room and check out the other new hunters and huntresses-in-training.

The variety was incredible. Colors ranged from vibrant patterns to neutral grays, weapons were impossible to describe in some cases, and the people themselves seemed to come from every walk of life. There were even a few Faunus in the crowd. They were a race that Jaune grew up with a lot of contact with, and so he never understood the racist tendencies that cropped up in several regions. However, he did understand how this had caused tension between the humans and the race that looked humanoid but with some physical animal traits. That would explain their lack of numbers in a school in the middle of Vale.

Jaune was about to turn his attention back to the Professor when he stopped suddenly. A flash of red hair trailed down the back of one of the most beautiful girls Jaune had ever seen. Her hair seemed to glow with life, almost as though a fire had started roaring but decided instead to simply wave back and forth. The hair's glow was reflected off of a gold and red corset, the start of an armor set that was completed by golden greaves and gauntlets. The girl turned and Jaune could see her headpiece, which looked almost like a crown, and incredible emerald eyes which contrasted greatly with her flawless skin.

"If you're going to stare that much, at least do yourself a favor and close your mouth," Yang said looking at Jaune.

Ruby giggled and Jaune's face went beet red.

"I'm not – well, look – see I'm just, it's the armor, it's cool…" Jaune trailed off, realizing the drool out the corner of his mouth was not helping his case.

He turned to look back at her, but Ozpin had already started talking, so he refocused his attention.

"Good afternoon, future hunters and huntresses. Welcome to Beacon, where you all will receive exemplary training and the majority of you will come out alive…"

Even from far back, Jaune could picture the grin on the old hunter's face. He sighed, hoping he would be part of the majority.

The first day of classes went about as well as Jaune hoped it would. All the coursework he knew would be very interesting to him, and so far nothing seemed like it would be the death of him. He glanced around the lecture halls in each class, seeing plenty of attractive girls, but none of them had the fiery red hair he was hoping for. However, he knew the classes would end up changing around; the first day was to meet the Professors essentially, since the Initiation would lead to teams being created, and classes were then attended with teams.

Jaune chatted nervously with Yang and Ruby before the Initiation began, where they all stood near the edge of a cliff with Ozpin and his blonde-haired partner from before, who they learned was Glynda Goodwitch. A few other students had joined them, namely Weiss Schnee, who had befriended Ruby in a sense, and the duo of Ren and Nora, two friends who could not have been more unlike each other. Finally, minutes before the event was supposed to begin, a familiar sight strode towards the group. The red-haired woman took her place among the group, while Jaune did his best to look anywhere else in order to keep his attention focused ahead.

"Pyrrha, nice to see you!" Ozpin said with a small grin, "Welcome to this group's Initiation process, Ren, Nora, Jaune, Ruby, Weiss, Yang. I do hope you all make it through, this group shows some great potential."

"After you are launched, proceed to the goal as quickly as possible. The first person you see is your partner for the next four years, so play nice and do not perish before at least meeting them." Goodwitch stated, without an ounce of emotion in her face.

"Time to begin!" Ozpin said softly as each student was flung into the forest, most of them screaming as they barely had any time to process what they were being told. "You've already predicted the partnerships; I'm assuming?"

Glynda smiled. "Of course, we'll see if I'm correct though. And you, you've definitely decided on team leaders already. I know you. This is just a test."

"You do know me far too well. Yes, I have two candidates in mind for these two teams. One has already shown promise, and if her silver eyes indicate anything, she will be a fearsome huntress."

Glynda nodded thoughtfully, having already guessed one of Ozpin's choices. But she did not know the other, although Pyrrha was the obvious choice; however, Ozpin was rarely a man who made the obvious choice.

"Ruby will do a wonderful job as team leader, and I don't see her age holding her back at all. If anything, opponents might underestimate her thanks to that," She paused, then decided to hazard a guess. "And Pyrrha will be a natural, given her history. Both great choices."

Ozpin smiled, and Glynda had to force herself to not show any surprise.

"Not Pyrrha."

"Well, then it must be Yang. Although the two sisters I thought would be on the same team. Weiss would be a good choice I suppose, and Ren and Nora would both make for good team leaders."

Ozpin had not interrupted her to confirm any of her guesses so far.

"Surely, Ozpin, you're not considering…?"

"Glynda, what I am about to say will probably come as some surprise. Before I even knew the boy was from the Arc lineage, I could have told you this. That boy may not be able to tell a Grimm from a tree at the moment. But soon enough, he will be a force to reckon with. He likely holds more potential than any other student right now."

Goodwitch half-suspected some sort of oddity with the choice of leadership, but what Ozpin had just said, she never would have guessed. However, she held her silence. If Ozpin was going to explain more, he would tell her. That man loved secrets more than anything.

"I won't ask for now, but know that I am very curious, Ozpin. Perhaps, we should go to the goal zone now? I'm sure they're just about done."

Ozpin nodded, and a Bullhead came from behind them to pick them up.

"Let's see how our new students did." Ozpin said as he tapped the pilot on his shoulder. The Bullhead roared off as the sun began to set.

Hey! So I will admit, I never had even really read any fanfiction or anything like that prior to maybe last week. I watched all of RWBY getting ready for Volume 4, and I realized that I wanted more of the Arkos line. I found some awesome ones online, and they inspired me to attempt my own.

I can't really say I've done anything like this before, so if anyone reads this and has suggestions or anything like that, please feel free to send them to me. That would be awesome, my goal is to write a story that people want to follow, not necessarily just to enjoy by myself.

Thanks a ton to anyone who sees this and reads it!