Here we go. This will be my first fic absent of Volt. I had a couple ideas float around in my head but even a year later I still couldn't tear myself away from RWBY. There's just something about it...
In any case I've always appreciated the characters of RWBY, but as with other shows I have a special love for the hammy characters. There's something about really bad jokes and outrageous attitudes that makes me happy.
I'm open to any and all critique as always. Enjoy!
Chapter 1: The Birth of a Dream
Jaune was seven when he first wanted to become a huntsman.
All of Remnant knew of them. The symbols of hope that soothed the masses, who protected the last of mankind against the ever looming hordes of Grimm. Even from such a young age Jaune had been exposed to the adoration. Every night Jaune's mother told him stories, countless tales and myths of brave warriors doing battle against the most fearsome of enemies, and as he grew so too did his appetite for heroism blossom.
Jaune only knew his dream, however, when he first heard the booming and thunderous declaration.
"You!"
Jaune was one of many, crowded around another child's scroll pushing and shoving to get a closer look at the man on the screen.
The man, eyes twinkling and dressed in a pristine burgundy suit laughed uproariously.
"You too! Can become a hunter like me! A hero like Peter the Great!"
He had enraptured Jaune, who remained glued to the screen long after his playmates had left. Port's powerful mannerisms and invigorating speech, Jaune could not pull himself away. The words never left him even after his family had brought him home. He could be a hero.
Soon his family discovered little Jaune's obsession. Frequently he would swipe the scrolls of his parents or elder sisters, and the family would find the little boy laying gleefully on his bed listening to the middle-aged hunter.
"To become a successful hunter takes only courage and the will to excel! Why, when I was just a boy I ran into Forever Fall one day after a little lunch and strangled three beowolves to death on the spot!"
It was the man's video logs posted onto the Vale network, or what Port affectionately called "P-logs" that drove the Arc family near insane. At first they had attempted to quench the obsession but the resultant wailing soon gave way to begrudging acceptance. All too soon, Port's booming voice became a staple to the Arc household.
Jaune loved to hear the hunter talk of his many adventures. The great detail and exciting delivery made the boy feel as if it was him who trekked through dangerous swamps and over icy mountains to save fair damsels and entire villages. The best videos, however rare, were the hunter's demonstrations.
"Feet spread apart and the body low. Low! You must be rooted to the ground. Like a tree! Like the strongest tree in the world! Steady, steady… good form! Good work!"
He practiced the basics in his room and when his sisters complained he moved the lessons outside. It was not uncommon for his mother to look worriedly from behind a curtain, as she watched her little boy performing vague stances and attacks out on the lawn.
It only broke her heart to see him crestfallen after she carried him inside and away from pouring rain.
"Why pumpkin? Can't you wait for tomorrow?" she had flustered, wiping away errant droplets from his brow.
"I want to be a huntsman," and her boy's resolved expression broke her, "Please mummy."
She was many things, but Lavender Arc was not one to deny her child. It took her many days and nights of arguing and pleading but eventually she persuaded her husband. Shortly before his eighth birthday Jaune was off to Vale proper to see a special doctor. A doctor of aura.
"Your son will never become a huntsman," the doctor, a bespectacled old man shrugged to the shocked family. His nonchalant attitude sharply contrasting with his seemingly homey looking office. "A career in the armed forces is possible. But not a hunter."
"But how can this be?" Certainly the last thing Marrone Arc wanted was for his boy to actually become a huntsman, the lives of mankind's protectors being perilously short. However, he had never intended to so brutally destroy his son's dreams, "Surely this has to be some mistake."
The doctor tsked before turning the family's attention to a large screen, "Contrary to popular belief there are in fact different levels of aura."
"But Jaune's aura has never been activated! He's just a little boy!" Lavender tightened her hold on her son, "I don't understand."
"Hunters and huntresses activate their auras to empower their bodies and abilities but aura is simply the manifestation of a soul. As we all have souls all of us still have aura," the doctor remarked as a chart appeared on the screen, "You, your husband, your son, and even myself have some level of aura within us. Your son lies about…" a lazy finger landed near the bottom of the screen, at the lower end of the chart, "Here. Well below the average. In fact from a scientific standpoint his aura is quite fascinating, it is so non existent it may not even exist at all!"
To see his wife and son in such distress in front of this cold-blooded physician was too much for Marrone, "Doctor this is a serious manner for my family!" if his son wasn't present the white-coated man wouldn't be on his feet!
"My apologies. I meant no disrespect," his hands raised in a placating gesture the doctor continued, "Nevertheless, your son will never be able to use aura effectively. I can't see any institution accepting him with such a low potential."
"There must be something-"
"I am not a miracle worker. I practice medicine here, not magic. I'm sorry, but the biological reality is clear. He will not become a huntsman."
Jaune's eighth came. Too soon for his presents to be changed. Jaune was met with glances of shame and guilt as he unveiled present after present. A book about famous huntsmen. A set of action and grimm figures. A toy sword with an accompanying shield. The apologies came the next day. The assurances soon following after.
"How about becoming a police officer Jaune? They do tremendous work for the community and they do all sorts of heroic work."
"Come here Jaune. Did I ever tell you about your grandfather. He was a fighter too, but he fought against fire."
"Don't worry little brother, no matter what you decide to do I'm sure you'll be great at it!"
Days past however, and Jaune remained unchanged. The voice of Port continued to echo from his room. Jaune continued to practice out on the lawn. In the summer months his eldest sister Coral joined him, seemingly tasked by his family to keep an eye on him. She too was training to become a huntress and she imparted the many horror stories of huntsmen schools in an attempt to dissuade him. To Jaune however, she might as well have been speaking to him from behind a glass wall, he heard nothing other than his hero. The one who would not give up on him no matter what.
"You must fight for your dreams even if everyone else tells you they are impossible! This is the true test to those who wish to become huntsmen! To become as great as Peter Port, that's me!"
Jaune never stopped listening, and it hurt Lavender like nothing else to listen from the other side of the door. She wanted to tell him to pursue something else, but she lacked the courage and resolve. How could she tell her son no?
"I'm going to be a huntsman mummy," he would tell her face devoid of emotion. She never had the heart to deny him, only able to shower him with apologies while holding him tightly within her arms.
The seasons past and as Jaune's ninth birthday approached his father grew desperate. Marrone started actively taking Jaune on field trips. He spent weeks attempting to ignite some form of passion in his boy. He begged his local detectives to train the boy, and Jaune learnt how to detect a lie, to case a crime scene, and to research a mystery. When that didn't work he sent the boy to the fire station, where Jaune learnt how to respond quickly to a crisis, the best way to douse a flame, and the importance of patience. Finally, Marrone let Jaune follow him around the clinic, where his boy learned the basics of first aid and how to check for injuries.
None of it worked. They all ended the same, with Jaune being asked the same question, "What do you want to be when you grow up young man?"
His boy answered with the same answer every single time, "I'm going to be a huntsman."
Jaune's ninth past and his parents gave up. Occasionally they would apologise, or give him a guilty look, but soon they disappeared into the background. Jaune trained in peace, and in earnest.
He was aware of course. Aware from the day at the doctor's. Aware of the pain his efforts seem to bring his family, and the seeming impossibility of his dream.
Jaune hid these thoughts whilst akin to a well tuned clock he performed the routine. By day he would go to school, train his body, and watch Port's videos. At night he would lie in bed, the dark cloud of doubt circling in his head as he struggled to sleep, soothed only by his hero's encouraging words.
He watched as his fellow schoolmates grew stronger and faster than he, aura giving them vitality he could not match. Soon, even with his endless training he fell behind physically. He placed under average in his age group at the sporting events before slowly making his way to last place in all categories.
One day as he returned to the lawn with a bottle of water in hand he discovered his little sister with a broken wooden board. She had been curious and had copied his movements after he had left. The board she held the same one he had attempted to break with no avail for weeks. He stopped training that day.
Lavender was quick to notice his morose demeanor and came back from Vale the next day with an armload of books, "Hunters and huntresses all need someone to support them don't they my dear? Someone knowledgeable about their schools and practices?" his brightening face had made her day, but Lavender quickly realized that Jaune was reading not to learn about huntsmen but to become one.
So Jaune read. His family bought him shelves which quickly became filled with volumes upon volumes of huntsmen materials. The day came when Jaune hardly ever left his room but to eat, spending the majority of his time listening to Port or voraciously reading whatever his family had left for him.
His most prized title was The Grimm Encyclopedia, Coral's farewell gift as she left for Beacon.
"Coral, tell me about Beacon when you come back," he had said with his family, amongst the crowd of wellwishers seeing Coral off at the local station.
"Heh, don't fret it squirt. I'll even get you a souvenir," Jaune had squeaked as she ruffled his hair. He could not help notice how calloused they were compared to his own.
A pack slung over her shoulder, Coral cut an impressive figure against the setting of the sun. At the time, Jaune could not help a surge of pride flowing through him, as he watched Coral confidently step onto the train.
Step onto the train and out of his life. The family later received word that Coral had perished during initiation. The family held a funeral days later in her memory, the body never found.
Jaune later found his parents talking quietly at the family dinner table. Around the corner and out of sight, he held his breath as he listened intently.
"What are we going to do Marrone?" Lavender whispered between sobs, "Jaune he- he won't give up and we've already lost Coral. Is he doomed to the same fate. Will I lose my son just as I have lost my daughter?"
"We won't lose him Lav," Marrone swore as he comforted his grieving wife, "Trust me that I will do everything in my power that Jaune will not suffer the same fate. I will not bury another child."
Jaune was ten when his father took everything away. Boxes upon boxes of his books were wrapped and shipped to places unknown, only with constant pleading was Jaune able to spare Coral's gift from his father's wrath. Any further book Jaune brought home was inspected for hunter related content. A parental lock was put upon Jaune's scroll and Peter's stories were swept out of Jaune's reach.
He began to sneak out of the house, to sneak out of classes. Sometimes his older sisters helped him, other times he disappeared on his own. His destination? The library, where he quickly became a common sight. A little boy engulfed by a cushion too large for him and surrounded on all sides by stacks of thick volumes.
Marrone soon found out of course, but as much as Jaune's father pleaded the library would not bar Jaune from entry. The building soon became the little boy's hideaway, where he could disappear from the realities of the world. He was content in the library, but the world would not leave him be.
Word spread fast in their village and news the death of an Arc caught on like wildfire. Soon the story was on everybody's lips, even Jaune's ten year old classmates.
"Wah? Reeaaally?" Jaune clenched his teeth in frustration as yet another classmate deigned to tell the story of his sister's death, "Mmm well I guess she was too weak. Hey Jaune, was your sister weak?"
Jaune put his hands over his ears as his classmates surrounded him. The loudest was Cardin, the strongest boy in their class who proudly announced daily his intention to become the strongest hunter in the world.
"Hey Jaune, was she? Was she?" Jaune curled up into a ball on his seat as Cardin teased, emboldened by the apparent joyment of his classmates.
"No…" Jaune whispered with a whimper, "She's strong, something happened-"
"What would being eaten by a grimm feel like?" Cardin wondered aloud, cutting Jaune off, "I think it would hurt. Hurt a lot. I'm glad I will never know, right Jaune?"
"Coral will come back!" Jaune cried out as some of his classmates backed away, "She's going to tell me about Beacon, she promised!"
Cardin had a strange glint in his eye as he pressed forward, "Beacon? I can tell you all about Beacon when I go. Do you want to be a hunter Jaune?" Jaune looked up to find Cardin's face inches away from his own, a hungry look on his face, "Do you Jaunie? A weakling like you?"
"Y-Yes…" Jaune muttered, wincing as his classmates all began laughing.
"You? You Jaunie?" Cardin jeered, as he pushed Jaune against his seat, "Do you think you are… better than me? Better than us?"
Suffocating, they surrounded him. Jaune pressed his eyes shut as he tried to curl into a ball, intensely aware of the press of his classmates. Why couldn't they leave him alone? His mind drifted to Coral, was this how she died surrounded on all sides by monsters?
"You'll never be a huntsman. You're weak. You're the slowest in class, in the school! What makes you think you can be a hunter," something vicious passed through Cardin's face, "Do you want to… die Jaunie? You don't need to be a hunter to do that, you can just run into the forest."
Jaune looked up with tear stained eyes, flinching as he met Cardin's own, "C-Cardin, I-"
"Run into the forest Jaunie," Cardin whispered, as their classmates like a wave pressed forward, "Run into the forest. Get lost Jaunie. Who knows? Maybe you'll find your sister… or maybe you won't." He finished with a push and their classmates fled as Jaune's chair tipped over, spilling Jaune onto the floor.
"Into to the forest Jaunie. Don't you want to be a hunter? Nobody will notice you leaving," Cardin stalked forward as Jaune scrambled backwards, finding himself backed up against the classroom cupboards.
Jaune's eyes widened in fear. Cardin had always been so mean, but he never seem them colored with such intensity… and darkness.
"C-Cardin, m-maybe he's had enoug-" An intervening boy was pushed away, falling to the floor with a yelp as Cardin hardly spared him a glance. The tall boy's attention remained solely with the Arc on the floor.
"Be like your sister Jaunie. Go to the forest. Prove that you can become a hunter," Cardin taunted, as he lifted Jaune up from his shirt collar, "Show them you aren't as worthless as everyone thinks. Get out of here!" the tall boy finished with a hiss as he heaved Jaune towards the door.
Jaune caught himself before he could fall over. He looked back towards Cardin, who seemed gripped with fury, before he sprinted away from the classroom.
Stupid. Stupid. Stupid! Jaune couldn't help the tears as he ran. He was mocking Coral! And I couldn't do anything, useless! What kind of huntsman would he be if he couldn't even defend his sister? Jaune let out strangled sob as he let his legs take him away from the school - away from the village.
Eyes closed, he hardly felt the small cuts to his skin as he crashed through the foliage. Slowly as his feet took him further and further, the sounds of the village quieted and disappeared. The smell of the forest soon filled his senses, right up till his foot hit a fallen branch.
He crashed to the floor. Letting himself lay limp on the bed of leaves and dirt as he pounded the soil with tiny fists. You'll never be a huntsman. Cardin's words played over and over in his mind. The very words that everyone thought but hadn't the nerve to say. His mother, his father, his sisters. They knew the truth. Why couldn't he accept it? This was the reality of the world. Remnant was a harsh land and it was filled with harsh truths, what made Jaune's dreams any different from the thousands of impossible dreams held by children everywhere? Those same impossible dreams that everyone grew out of - to be reflected in old age as they were, foolish.
He needed to give up. I should listen to my parents. After what happened to Coral they-
Jaune froze as his ears picked up a rustle in the forest. Sounds of heavy footfalls and someone… sniffing?
He sprang to his feet, but it was too late. A beowolf emerged from the underbrush, its red eyes gleaming as it snarled at the lone boy.
Jaune's eyes widened. The grimm was huge! He had remembered the beowolf from Coral's book but print was nothing like reality. Its black fur was covered in errant leaves and its bonelike spines seemed cracked in many places, but the grimm looked even more fearsome than its drawings had made it seem. Its bony jaw opened, revealing rows upon rows of pointy teeth. He shivered as an indescribable liquid - drool perhaps - escaped from its mouth.
Jaune started to back away slowly but stopped as the beowolf stood up onto its hind legs, reaching its fullest height. Somehow the extra height made the grimm even more intimidating. Jaune attempted to continue his escape but found his legs frozen with fear. The grimm's front claws came into view, long and sharp. Perfect for rending flesh and bone, Jaune's mind helpfully supplied from his readings.
He knew the grimm's weaknesses. Beowolves, while agile were extremely susceptible to distractions. He let his right hand slowly drift to his pants pocket and found nothing.
Jaune also knew that beowolves were often cowardly. If only he could scare it somehow. It's no use, I'm more scared of it than it is of me. And it knows that. Desperately he tried to think of what else he had read, but he instead found his thoughts gripped by fear.
The beowolf gave a single snarl before it lunged forward. Jaune closed his eyes. Coral.
He heard the cracking of bone and flesh, but felt… nothing.
"Haha! Take that you beast!"
He recognized that laugh. He recognized that voice. In fact…
"Oho! Now what will you do without your arms!"
Jaune hoped against hoped. Slowly, he opened his eyes.
A gold-lined burgundy suit. A brown and yellow blunderbuss. Laughing heartily as the beowolf disintegrated at his feet. A merry face framed by cheerful eyes and a thick mustache.
"You! you are-" Jaune gasped in awe as the man himself walked towards him. He was dead, or this was just a dream.
"Indeed young man! It is I! Peter Port!"
I'm not too satisfied with the ending here. The scene was a little difficult to picture in my mind and that makes putting it down on even harder. It might seem surprising but I actually don't rate Peter Port highly on my list of interesting characters. Mostly of course, due his limited appearances and rather one-dimensional characterization. The whole flirting with Yang thing definitely didn't help either.
However, I believe there is some potential here. So, we'll see I guess.
I can see that Cardin might come off as unnecessarily evil here. True, he is rather mean but kids are always mean. We'll see him again I think.