Chapter One: The Stairway to Heaven, Or the Pit to Hell
Hello my wonderful people! Welcome to what will probably not last as long as I think it will aka my writing on this site! Yes, I'm in dire need of a hobby, so I decided to try my hand at writing. And what better way to do such a thing other than with my favorite show ever: RWBY? Other than that, I have no words other than enjoy and a long as fuck summary.
Jaune Arc: the guy who most people make fun of in the show pre-season 3. Well, what if he got a power at the start that made him more… Godly? When his aura was awakened, he also started to awaken something different. Something that would inspire him to bring this world to peace in a different way. Yes, readers, I'm talking about the Rinnegan. Oh, didn't think I was? Well, fuck off, not important anyway. I consider this story to be a challenge of sorts. I need to improve my skills, and why shouldn't I tackle a daunting task like annihilating the OP Jaune BS (Coeur, eat your heart out :). It's going to be gradual, not a snail's pace, but it'll be more of his progression with this power and his evolution with it. This fic will contain a more powerful Jaune, but he's still just an untrained asshat. Well, if an untrained asshat had a fucking cannon, then yes. But untrained nonetheless. He'll still fuck some shit up on accident, and I do intend on humor being here. This isn't a crossover by any means, I'm just using the Rinnegan. And the Nagato "this world shall know pain" type feels. Also, shoutout to The Rage Wheel for my inspiration. Anyways, enjoy! Or don't, it's not important!
Many people throughout the history of Remnant have tried to grasp the concept of God. Or, in some cases, gods. Some do it through exploration of the soul, and some do it through sheer logic. A select few don't believe; after all, what god would leave them to a threat like the Grimm without any support? Most of the people of Remnant find something to pray to in a desperate moment, regardless of whether or not they are religious. They pray to a god in a desperate bid to save themselves from the darkness that plagues them and threatens them with extinction.
So far, no prayers have been answered.
Somewhere out there, however, exists a deity who doesn't yet know his true power. Of how he'll bring his enemies to heel and crush resistance with a thought.
But we aren't there yet, are we? My apologies. I'll start us off somewhere near the beginning.
Our story begins with one blonde teenager aboard a flight to his dream school, Beacon Academy, where he dreams of becoming a Hunter. So passionate about this is he that he decided to abandon his home and family to become one. Whether this is a good or bad decision is up to you. After all, the guy has very limited training. What good is he gonna do here?
These were a few doubts that plagued Jaune Arc's mind as he tried not to upchuck a lung. How can he even be a good Hunter if he can't even control his motion sickness?
"Passengers, we have arrived at Beacon. Please exit the bullhead in an orderly fashion. Thank you," called out a voice over the intercom. Thankful to get away from such a hellish place, he found himself in a courtyard of an academy that can only be described as this:
Fucking expensive.
Let it also be said that Jaune Arc focused on minute details. Like how that red-headed chick who was spinning around was about to fall into some luggage. He didn't notice the event itself, just that the suitcases were of high quality, and that their silver outer layer was great at blinding him with light reflecti-CHRIST ON A CRUTCH THAT'S BAD.
After regaining his sight, Jaune looked over to see a pristine snowflake yelling at a black and red puppy. Wait, no, those are actually people. One which is angrily storming off after a… dark ninja said something? Maybe Jaune's more messed up from than light than I thought he was.
Jaune walked over the the black and red haired girl, allowing her a helping hand up.
"Need a hand?" he said. "Name's Jaune Arc-short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"
"Do they? Hey, didn't you throw up on the ship?" she asked.
Jaune groaned.
Once they finally got to where they were supposed to go, Ruby dashed off spouting something that vaguely sounded like "sister."
"Great, now where am I gonna find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" he asked.
Not really paying attention, he was drawn out of his sulking when he heard the snowflake-erhm, he supposes it's actually just a very pale girl-call out adjectives that only he could be. He was pretty scrawny, his hair was blonde, and he was tall. He decided to just leave her be for now, as she wasn't really doing any harm to him. The same cannot be said for Ruby and Yang, who were trying to save their eardrums from the ban-Schnee's screaming.
Jaune was called to order when the headmaster, an old man who didn't look old in the slightest, began a speech.
He went back to daydreaming when Ozpin didn't have anything valuable to say. Goodwitch later came and told the kids where they'd be staying.
The blonde knight proceeded to say a prayer to whatever god was listening that he would be able to rest. God only knows how much he needs it for tomorrow. He doesn't know what his initiation thing is, but he's nervous.
It was while he was getting dressed when he first saw it.
After slipping on his nightclothes (he didn't find his onesie, sadly, even if it looked stupid it was comfortable) he proceeded to brush his teeth in one of the school's bathrooms.
He looked up at his reflection after washing out his mouth, and for a brief second his eye was… Different. He couldn't describe it, but it was gone as soon as he realized it was there.
So distracted was he that he didn't notice his toothbrush inching towards his hand. It stopped soon after.
Shrugging it off, he blamed it on a trick of the light and kept on with his night. He ignored the way the guys were wrestling for the attention of the girls, and he also ignored the hungry look in the eyes of a gorgeous blonde girl. He laid down next to a wall and slept.
His dreams that night were of conquest. Of the many falling to the might of a man. Of the man falling to the might of a king. Of the king falling to the might of a god. Of the god falling to no one.
Jaune dreams of gods. Day and night. He's obsessed with there being something out there that's higher than humanity.
His dreams differ every night, and this followed that pattern, Except for one thing.
Blood. That's all that remained on the ground anymore, it seemed. All the rain seemed red to him. He never dwelled much on what he did, but he dwelled on why he did it. On why he didn't allow peace talks because the only peace to him was war. That was when he thought best. He was a paradox to be sure. But Octavius always won, so he didn't question it.
The men fought valiantly for their homeland, but they were outmatched against the vastly superior General Octavius' forces. His might crushed all, and they stood to challenge him.
In the end, like all others, they failed.
Many had wondered why so much blood had been shed on the other side, but so little had been shed on theirs. After all, it was a war. They didn't wish to question victory, but the enemy surely wasn't that weak, were they?
Only a god could destroy his enemies with such dominance. And they were right.
Only a god could do this much damage and protect his people like this. Not even the darkness stood against him; the feral beasts fell to him as easily as any man, woman, or child who stood in his way did.
Only a god could be lead them to such success. Maybe the enemy was hated by the god, so he lent their side his power.
Octavius had more power than he imagined, and more than any other man. Maybe he was the god? Maybe he had the key to immortality. He gave them a longer time of prosperity than any of their previous leaders, so it makes sense that he's a god.
Many thought that, until the day that their empire fell. Even gods bleed, and Octavius, god-king as he was, died. Died squandered by history and his home destroyed by the men he thought mere savages. He died due not to a lack of power, but to having too much. Power breeds arrogance, and his folly was that he believed in himself and his forces too much.
His flaw was believing that having the power of a god and being a god were the same. They were not. He died due to his own fault, and another empire rose in place of his to do the same as he did.
When a true god came along to see what had become of this part of humanity, He smote them.
And when the earth was blackened and the sky tainted with His power, the survivors knew what a god was. It wasn't a leader who led a nearly flawless war or a leader who destroyed all who came after his head. It wasn't a man.
It was something higher. And this higher power treaded the land with purple eyes.
Jaune woke up with the images vivid in his mind. His dreams never involved the purple eyes detail, so what was different? Was this a one time thing? He'd never read about a god with "purple eyes," but it could be one that was lost to the Grimm.
His mind assuaged, he got dressed and ate breakfast, encountering a ball of energy in the form of a girl and a ball of insomnia in the form of a guy. After talking to them for a bit, where he learned their names were Nora and Ren, he headed off to the lockers.
If there was one thing Jaune was genuinely awful at, it was his interactions with the female kind. Make no mistake, he had troubles with the males too. But that wasn't as bad because he hadn't met any males he felt too fond towards. Ren was nice, but that's it. The muscular guy with a bird on his armor seemed just the type of asshole that he didn't like.
His ineptness was clear when he talked to Pyrrha and Weiss.
He butted in when they were talking about teams with this stellar come on:
"You know what else is great? Me. Jaune Arc. Couldn't help but notice you mentioned teams, so I thought you would like the lovely opportunity of being on my team." Immediately after he said this he internally cringed, and somewhere far away his dad was laughing his ass off.
"Do you know who this is?" Weiss asked. "This is Pyrrha Nikos."
Said girl waved at him and smiled. Jaune took this opportunity to look at her and was momentarily stunned. Not by her beauty or some recognition of her accomplishments, but her armor.
A moment of silence passed where Jaune just stared at Pyrrha's armor, knowing that he'd seen in the night before in his dream. Octavius and his legions wore something like it, so maybe she comes from the area where his empire once reigned?
"Are you done staring off into space?" Weiss' voice snapped him out of his reverie.
"Sorry, Pyrrha just looks like something from one of my dreams."
A beat. Then two. Then Weiss and Pyrrha's cheeks heated up while Jaune wondered why he said such a thing.
"W-Well I, wha-, I don't even want to know about why you're fantasizing about the four time Mistral-" is all Jaune heard our of her mouth. He turned his attention to the red-haired girl, just know noticing that she was looking at everywhere but him.
"So, your name's Pyrrha, right? Why's she making such a big deal over you? Not that you're not bad or anything, but she acts like you did something important." Jaune asked.
Pyrrha, suffice to say, was shocked that he didn't know who she was. However, she gave him an honest smile and said, "I didn't really do much of anything, Jaune. All I did was win some things and people treat me like this." Weiss finally noticed Jaune wasn't listening, so she angrily composed herself and said, "You aren't going to be anywhere near me if you can't even listen to what I'm saying half the time! With that type of attitude you can forget being worthy of either of our camaraderie."
Jaune wasn't one to take such things lying down; spineless coward he may be, but he doesn't tolerate being on the receiving end of an entitled girl's meltdown.
"And who would wish to partner with you? All I've heard you do is scream at people and the only person you've shown a shred of decency to is Pyrrha. Please explain to me how I would work well with a banshee and maybe I'll give a damn about what you have to say!" Jaune stated angrily. He didn't feel like himself in this moment. Why am I so angry? What has me so worked up? I didn't mean any of that!
Weiss huffed and said, "Pyrrha, if you don't mind."
Time slowed. Jaune was looking at Pyrrha, who was moving in slow-motion, drawing her weapon. It changed into a spear and he knew what she was about to do. What he didn't understand was why time felt off. He then realized it when he looked into the reflection of one of the lockers.
His eyes were a lighter shade of blue, almost comparable to violet. Curiously, he looked back at the girls to notice she was aiming the spear right at hi-
SHING!
Jaune found himself hung up by a spear to his hoodie. "Sorry!" Pyrrha said. When Weiss had walked away, Pyrrha turned back and shouted, "I don't think you're that bad, Jaune! Good luck in initiation!"
Yang and Ruby walked up to him. "Girl troubles, Lady Killer?" she teased.
Jaune rolled his eyes, which were now his normal blue he noticed, and said "You don't know the half of it."
Jaune was on the launching pad, tugging at the collar of his hoodie nervously. His hand found solace on Crocea Mors' hilt, and he calmed himself. He didn't fake his way this far to be killed in a simple initiation! He was an Arc, for gods' sake! Nevertheless, he found himself saying a silent prayer asking for protection from the Grimm.
"Any questions?" Headmaster Ozpin asked. Jaune realized that he, once again, zoned out whenever the man talked. Upon raising his hand, he noticed one student be flung into the forest.
His hand instantly dropped, along with his hopes of survival. He began praying even harder. Please don't let me become a pancake on this forest floor! Please don't let me die! I'm still a virgin! As if sensing his prayers, the launch pad sent him flying.
Jaune Arc, in all of his days of studying gods and goddesses, had never heard of one who saved a man who fell to his death. And as he flew through the air, he prayed for some divine intervention to help him.
A red and bronze spear flew by him, missing him by inches. Jaune was too scared to care.
Then time dilated again, and he saw with even more clarity what he was doing.
Flailing through the air like an idiot. The ground was 40 feet below him, he realized. He also came to another startling realization: he could move normally. It was almost as if he was walking on solid ground.
Almost is key here. He tried righting himself and walking normally. It worked. He could walk around freely, but some after a little experimentation, he found that this physics-defying stunt was exhausting him. Ten steps had him hunched over, but with each step he was getting lower to the forest floor. One more step and-yes! He touched down, and was breathing heavily. He duly noted that time was back to normal, and that he was starting to hope that these dilations became less frequent.
Once he caught his breath, he looked around the forest for any threats. Seeing none but not trusting his sight, he drew his sword and expanded his shield. A rustling in the bushes next to him caused him to raise his sword in alarm, but all he saw was a smiling Pyrrha. She looked at him, and started to say, "Any room left on yo- Oh Jaune, I thought your eyes were blue?"
"Huh? They are Pyrrha."
"No, they aren't. Here, look." She showed him his reflection in her shield. He looked at it with wonder in disbelief.
His purple-eyed reflection stared back.
And that's a wrap! Jaune now has new eyes and an odd new power. Yes, I know. Time doesn't dilate with the Rinnegan, but I'll explain later. In due time my friends.
Well, what did you think? I'd really love to hear your responses to this story! Was the writing good, did it seem rushed, what about it all?
Let me say this: I am not doing this to promote or insult religions. This is merely a story for entertainment and not the furthering of my nonreligious agenda, I swear.
Thanks for reading guys, and stay safe and have a happy day!