Our Hidden Lives
A/N Hey All! Had this pop into my head while I was at work the other day and really felt the need for it to be written and posted. The semester is winding down for me so I am not able to find adequate time to work on my other stories. But fret not! They will be updated eventually. This will be a two shot and is more or less a little experiment for me. Let me know what you think with a Review!
Regards,
LastchaosDarknoman
*Prologue*
"Hey, did you hear about that rumor?" A nameless faceless shadow of a person asked another of their kind.
"What rumor? The one about our headmaster being a sociopath?" The other replied with confusion which was...not evident on their face. (Not having a face can do that)
"The one about the two strongest hunter/ess's of our generation coming to Beacon to learn! You know! Jaune Arc and Pyrrha Nikos!" The first replied in what could be described as a fangirlish yell.
"Oh yeah! Don't you think it's kind of weird though?" The second shadow questioned. "I heard that those two like hated each other's guts. Some kind of rivalry or something."
"Yeah I heard that too!" The first shadow exclaimed. "Look! There's Pyrrha" Indeed it was Pyrrha Nikos walking towards the two and toward the fountain and statue at the entrance to the school at which the two shadows stood in front of. "Oh! And there is Jaune! He's...not as intimidating as I thought he would be." As she said, Jaune Arc was in the distance, also walking
their way, wearing his customary sweatshirt and jeans combo that he wore under his armor pieces.
The two shadows quickly noticed that the two were on a collision course, and judging by the looks on the two-famous hunter/ess they noticed as well. The two shadows backed away from the collision course, but still stood close enough that if there were to be words thrown out, they would be able to hear them.
"Nikos."
"Arc."
The two exchanged as they came face to face in front of the courtyard. The glares that they sent each other would be intimidating enough if not it was also amplified by their respective standing. The two shadows thought they could see lightning pass between the eyes of the two just from the tension in the air.
"So, they let someone like you into Beacon." Jaune sneered, not breaking his gaze. "I thought Beacon was only for the best of the best from Vale. Shouldn't your kind be at Haven?"
"It seemed that Beacon was not going to have any outstanding recruits this year, so I thought I would help them out." Pyrrha offered in response, getting a smirk as a response.
"No outstanding recruits eh?" Jaune questioned as he brought his hand up to cup his chin. "That doesn't say much about yourself Nikos, considering the score between us."
"You know that last tournament was a fluke!" Pyrrha Growled. "I was leading until that exchange at the end."
"Fluke or not, you still know the outcome. So, as I said before, not saying much about yourself Nikos." Jaune challenged, the smirk on his face growing larger as he knew he was close to victory.
"Watch yourself Arc." Was the short response as the shorter girl pushed past him and continued on her way. Jaune watched her for a second, his smirk escalating into a grin before turning and continuing on his own path.
"Wow. That was intense" The first shadow said after a minute.
"Yeah, I know." The second replied after a big breath. "I felt like I almost couldn't breathe. I wonder what made them act like that around each other.
*Past*
"Another!" A man yelled to his son who just finished a combo against an imaginary opponent while holding an appropriate sized sword and shield. The boy complied, his movements just as sharp and deadly before. There was obvious strain on the boy's face, which was red and dripping sweat. Finishing off his opponent, the boy dropped to the ground panting in exhaustion.
"Good Jaune, you look to be ready for your tournament tomorrow! Now, go inside and shower while I make sure everything is packed for our trip." Jaune's father said with a proud grin.
"Okay!" Jaune said as he ran inside to do just that. It was the day before his first ever tournament. He asked his father to start training him a few years ago and now, at the age of 12 he was now, old enough to start competing in the junior tournament scene. The first of which being held in Mistral.
After a quick shower and a meal, the two Arc men set out for the airport to catch their flight to Mistral. It was a boring, uneventful, and dreadfully long flight in Jaune's opinion, granted he often went with his father on flights from his village outside of Vale into the larger city itself. All he could think about was the tournament that would take place the next day, and how he would be able to show off the skills he had trained so hard to get and prove the might and legacy of the Arc name.
Eventually their flight landed and the two took a cab to the hotel they were going to stay at for the next few nights. All the fights were to take place in a single day, there only being 8 fighters made it an easy event to schedule. As such, Jaune's father decided that this was also to be a mini vacation for the two men in the family. After all, when you are outnumbered 8 to 2 in terms of gender it is nice to just be the two of them for a while.
The two woke early the next day to make it to the arena in time for an early training session and for Jaune to be able to warm up and get ready without any prying eyes of other competitors. There was no pep talk, or some speech about how no matter what happens all that matters is that he did his best. Jaune wanted none of that, and told his father so. He was focused to go out and win it all, no matter what it takes.
And, for a while, it seemed that Jaune would do just that. Jaune had easily gone out and dispatched the two opponents that he was to face before the final round. The first was a slaughter, with Jaune beating the boy without so much as taking a hit. The second was nowhere near close, but Jaune had made some mistakes in overconfidence and took some unnecessary hits.
Even though his father had scolded him about being overconfident and not being one hundred percent focused on the fight, Jaune was on cloud nine. He was confident that he would win this tournament. The rest of these fighters were pushovers. Sure, they had some training and knew what they were doing, but it was obvious that they did not put the effort into it as he had. Which made up the clear difference in skill.
As he stepped into the ring for his final fight Jaune could not be more focused. He had worked so hard to get to the point that he could be proud of his skills, and that work was finally paying off. Here he was in the finals for his first ever tournament and he was paired off with a girl. Sure, Jaune knew not to take her lightly because she was a girl, but in all seriousness, she was a girl, and Jaune shouldn't lose to a girl.
Oh, how quickly that changed. As the klaxon sounded to begin the fight, the girl that was Jaune's opponent disappeared in a flash, only to end up face to face to Jaune with a low strike towards his right leg, as far away from his shield as possible. As Jaune moved to parry the easy strike, the blade changed course and slashed the bicep on his sword arm. Overextending, Jaune was open to a spinning shield bash that the girl sent his way with her buckler. It connected with the outside of his shield, forcing further to his right, and further off balance.
Trying to compensate and fix his balance, Jaune stepped towards his opponent with his right foot while also bringing his sword up in a vertical slash to gain some room. This effectively failed when the girl instantly dodged his attempt and swept his right leg, which Jaune had shifted all his weight to, to provide more power for his swipe. Jaune found himself splayed across the ground with a foot stepping on and trapping his sword arm to the ground as the girl pointed her weapon, now a spear, to his throat.
The klaxon once again sounded and the match was over, Jaune had lost, and it had taken less than 20 seconds. Jaune didn't know what to think. He was so sure of himself up to this point. But now, he was just so angry. So angry that he batted away the hand the girl had offered him with a smile before picking himself off and stalking towards the locker rooms.
His father was disappointed in him for that way he acted after his loss. However, when Jaune walked up to him and asked to return home early to receive more training with a fire in his eyes he knew it had to be put on the backburner now and was for another time.
Jaune's training had stepped up a notch from then. A new drive, a new goal, a new limit he needed to break. It never stopped. For months, he trained like he had nothing to lose and continued to compete in tournaments, a real challenge never found, always ending in wins. After all, she did not compete in them.
That simple fact only made Jaune's desire to get more powerful stronger. So that when he met her it would not be a repeat of their last match. It would be the opposite, with him standing above her in victory, with her back in the dust.
It was not long before Jaune got his chance. 5 months after his initial defeat, Jaune found a tournament that was to be held on the border between Vacuo and Mistral. His last few tournaments being restricted to citizens of the Kingdom of Vale limited his chance at a challenge. But, this being an international competition would allow for some new faces and the possibility of a real challenge.
Jaune could not have dreamed of a perfect setup. The field of combatants were divided up into two groups, with one group not knowing who was in the opposing group and the fights for the groups being held simultaneously in two different arenas. This way, the final two combatants would not know their challenger until they stepped into the arena. The fights were to be held on two opposite days due to there being a field of 32 challengers. Five consecutive rounds were not a clever idea after all.
Jaune had of course made it to the final round. His opponents posed more of a challenge than usual, but were still no match for the blonde swordsman.
Stepping into the ring for the final round Jaune could only grin as he saw his opponent. A certain girl that he had been hoping to see for a while now. A rematch that he saw in his dreams. A mess of hair as red as the fire that leapt from the blacksmith's forge as he stoked the coals. A bronze buckler. A bronze and red Xiphos held in loose fingers.
The fight was not like the last. It was an all-out war of two competitors who were equally matched. The fight had at first swung in the favor of Jaune as he surprised his opponent with his new skill that he had trained so hard to achieve. He was not like the boy she had fought almost half a year prior. The fight from there on had equaled out. In terms of skill, Jaune was still on the short end of the stick. But in terms of aura Jaune's was a lake to her pond. That, in the end was the deciding factor in the fight.
Jaune had won. In terms of hits, he had taken many more. But Jaune's hits had more force behind them, and she had less aura for him to chip away at. It was still a close match after all, with Jaune's Aura just dropping under 40% when hers had entered the red. She had offered him a small smile as congratulations before walking off towards her locker room. However Jaune saw the true meaning behind that smile.
A promise. A promise to get stronger herself, to once again come out on top. Jaune had found a rival. A young girl. A miss Pyrrha Nikos.
*Present*
It was not long after the short "speech" given by Professors Ozpin and Goodwitch that all the incoming students had found themselves inside the ballroom. For Jaune, it had seemed, that he had been lucky for once and had found a few new students to spend time with. A hyperactive prodigy here before her time, and her older sister, a buxom blonde who was not afraid of much.
They had run into each other (literally), the red reaper had attempted to run out of the auditorium to explore but had ended up running straight into our blonde knight, ending up in a pile of twisted limbs and pain. Yang had come soon after to help untangle the pile and the three had stuck together since then.
They, of course, knew about Jaune and his talent. Him being famous in the Valean territory making it easy to do so. As such, it led to a myriad of stories being told and rumors being discussed (You can guess who asked which). That is until, the final question was asked.
"So Jaune," Yang began as she shared a look with her younger half sister. "We were wondering, what is the big thing with your rivalry?"
"I-I don't understand," Jaune answered with confusion. "Everyone has their rivalries, why is mine so popular."
"It's not that it is weird you have one," Ruby supplied. "It's just that you are such a nice guy, and we've heard nothing about Pyrrha being anything other than nice…"
"Oh," Jaune said with a small chuckle. "You mean more or less of why we are so...vocal when we see each other?"
"Yeah!" Both sisters answered with matching eyes and wide eyes. They had started to lean forward ever so slightly. So far in fact that they were almost uncomfortably close to Jaune. If not for his seven sisters, he would probably have been made uncomfortable.
"So you really want to know huh?" Jaune whispered in a low voice, while also motioning for them to lean even closer (if that was even possible).
"You see…" Jaune began again, in the same low voice. "That's for me to know, and for you to find out later."
The sisterly duo fell flat on their faces at this. Led on, just to be played. Jaune was chuckling at the effect of his charade, which only grew to a full laugh when he saw their pained and disappointed faces. It was not to last long however as his attention was drawn to a similar fiery red mane. The owner of which was making their way out of the ballroom. Quickly giving an excuse to the duo, who were now bickering over something or other, Jaune left to follow the rogue redhead,