It had been a quiet night in the bogs of Mistral. And what started out as a quick trip into town before the coming night turned into one that would forever change Jaune Arcs life. The young five year old had been walking with his father down the old beaten roads to their house, his arms wrapped firmly around his fathers waist. The children in town had started picking on him while his father had gone into the store, calling him Bog Boy as they threw stones at him. Jaune never understood why the people in town seemed to treat him with such hostility, while his father was treated as a paragon. But it was something that he had always looked up to, to be treated like a real person.

One day he would be like that. But for now, he was fairly content with living on his families farm, raising the livestock and helping with the manual labor. The hard work had already begun to show its merits, as the young child was able to easily fight off any bullies that tried to grapple with him up close. But no amount of manual labor could ever prepare him for the sudden anguish that had ripped through his small, fragile body. It happened when the clouds in the sky moved, revealing an almost full moon hanging low. It was then that he collapsed onto the ground.

"AAGH! DAD!"

Josiah glanced down at his screaming child, the boy thrashing and convulsing wildly on the soft, damp ground as bulges appeared and vanished in his skin at random intervals. He knelt down beside the child and gazed at him with his glowing, ghostly blue eyes. It was hard to watch, but yet he knew that if he were to turn away it would only frighten his child more.

"DAD! IT HURTS!"

Josiah nodded in response. "I know, pup. But just hold on. It should be over soon." He knew though that this would only be the first of many transformations. He wished that this would have happened of the boys own choice, but the moon is a fickle mistress. And for him to develop like this at such a young age, it was mostly unheard of in their society. Josiah noticed that the bulging had stopped, the childs skeleton having finished its first transformation. He watched in silence as the next part began. It started with his sons hair, the beautiful yet scraggly tuft of blonde hair turning a darker shade of brown. And so too was the hair that began to sprout across the young boys body, engulfing his pale skin in a forest of fur. "You're almost there, pup." He encouraged, knowing that it would give the child a boost in morale.

The boy curled into a ball, a symphony of sickening cracks rang out from all over his body to compliment the unspeakable pain that accompanied them. Josiah couldn't help but feel guilty over what was happening, even if it was an inherited curse. The cries of his child died down, however. And the quiet sniffles that he had heard a steady stream of went silent. Josiah felt his body moving of its own accord, his hand reaching out to grasp the childs shoulder. "You alright, pup?" He found that he would get no response, the childs body growing still. "Jaune?"

The next thing Josiah remembered was feeling the sensation of teeth ripping into his arm as he blocked the attack. The man pushed the creature off of him, the monster dropping to the floor with a yelp that sounded as if a puppy had been kicked. Josiah and the creature stared at each other for a moment before the beast snarled and threw itself at him once more. A simple sidestep was all it took to dodge the creatures lunge, but Josiah knew that he would need to match his sons form if he were to keep the beast that he was calm.

Josiah took a deep breath before he forced the transformation upon himself. The pain was brief, but strong as he felt his entire body contort and stretch, seemingly at the same time. His skin tingled as his brown fur burst from his skin, and his breathing became rasped as he felt his mouth begin to jut forward. The entire process took only a few seconds at the most, but it was one that could never be dulled or forgotten. Josiah the Huntsman no longer stood in the bog, but instead a new creature took his place. One that matched his size and frame, but was vastly different. The head of a wolf was adorned between the mans shoulders, his body still mostly that of a humans. Thick brown fur blanketed his skin, and pushed itself out of the clothing that the creature wore. Its long, muscled and furry arms ended in clawed hands that looked as if they could rake flesh with ease. The beast stepped forward, its long and equally muscled legs contorting into a canine's build before ending in pawed feet.

The smaller beast turned and snarled before it caught sight of one of it's own kin. A much larger and stronger looking beast that made the smaller one whimper and cower. Both beasts gazed into each others eyes and acknowledged that they were in the presence of another Werewolf.

Josiah snarled at his son, causing the smaller wolf to let out another whine as he fell in line with his father. The larger wolfman bent over to pick up the bags of groceries that had been dropped, securing them firmly within his clawed hands as the smaller wolf began to run circles around him. Josiah glanced up at the moon for a brief moment and snarled, it was not time yet, but it would be soon. They would need to make haste. With another growl, Jaune returned to his father's side and the two of them began their march back to their home, where they would be able to manage each other before the moon reached its full glory. Tonight was a night where even the most seasoned and wise Arc would lose his wits to the beast that lurked within.

For tonight, was a full moon.

Jaune's eyes slowly opened, his mind foggy and numb from the night before. His entire body ached, though as his woke up he wasn't sure if that was from the hard wooden floor he was sleeping on or what had happened to him last night. As he slowly pushed himself to his feet, he glanced around the room he was currently in. It wasn't his bedroom, and it certainly wasn't any part of the house that he knew of. The room was fairly small, and the walls were made out of what looked like very hard metal. The door itself was metal as well, with slabs of previously used metal bolted all over it. Claw marks riddled the door and the surrounding walls and were also present on the floor in certain spots.

A yawn broke his concentration as he heard his mother climbing to her feet. "Good morning, Jaune. I see you slept like a rock!" His mother spoke as she nudged the person lying next to her. "Wake up, Josiah. Our sons going to need an explanation on what happened." The collapsed form of Jaune's father let out a grunt before rolling away from his wife, which did not go over well with the woman of the house. "Josiah Arc, do NOT make me repeat myself."

Jaune watched as his father let out another grunt before he pushed himself to his feet and stretched. "Alright, alright. Jaune, meet me upstairs on the patio in five." His father ordered before he procured a key from under the nearby floorboard. Jaune watched his father step over to the door and unlock it with a click, the door letting out a loud rattle as it was opened. Jaune watched his father ascend the stairs without muttering a sound, afraid of what he might have possibly done wrong that would require the dreaded "patio talk." He jumped a little when he felt his mothers hand ruffle his hair as she walked passed him and towards the stairs herself. She turned her head back to him and gave him a reassuring smile. "Breakfast will be waiting for you two when you're done." She said before she turned and climbed the stairs.

The front door opened with a loud creak as Jaune stepped out onto the patio. He gulped nervously as he stared at his father, who was smoking out of his bone pipe while on their wooden bench. That pipe was always an important one to his dad, yet he never understood why. As he was staring from the doorway, he was startled when his fathers eyes turned and met his. With a heavy sigh, his father took the pipe out of his mouth and blew a puff of smoke out before beckoning him over. "Alright pup, sit with me." he said as he pat the bench next to him.

Jaune slowly made his way towards the bench before he hopped up onto it, adjusting himself a bit before he finally got comfortable. He flinched when he felt his fathers arm wrap itself around his body and pull the two closer together. The two of them sat in silence for a moment before his fathers voice broke it.

"I'm sure you have a lot of questions, Jaune. And I'm going to try and give you some answers." Josiah took another puff of his pipe before setting it down on the nearby table. "What happened last night... well, I'm sure by now you know that we aren't an ordinary family, Jaune." He blew the remaining smoke out of his mouth. "See, there's something special about us. It's... a good kind of special, but it can be a bad kind of special, too." Josiah watched as his child looked on in confusion. He chuckled to himself before continuing on. "See, Jaune. We're not normal people. We have this... ability, as it were, to turn into something that isn't human."

Jaune's eyes lit up as he listened to his father. "You mean we can shape-shift?! Is that our family semblance?"

Josiah let out a hearty laugh as he pat his sons shoulder. "Haha! No, Jaune. Our ability doesn't stem from the soul, it stems from our blood. We have the blood of the wolf, pup."

Jaune glanced down at his arm, looking at his wrists in particular. He folded his hand down, making the veins in his arms bulge into vision. "We have dog blood?"

Again, Josiah let out a laugh. "Sort of, Jaune. It's got many names. Dog, Wolf, Werewolf, Lycan, Worgen. It's all the same thing, really. We can turn into something that isn't quite all man, but it isn't all beast either."

"Is that what happened to me last night, papa?"

"Yeah." Josiah scratched his nose as he glanced out into the bog. "That's what happened to you. The wolf usually doesn't come out until you reach the age of ten, but yours came a couple years early. Y'see, normally we can keep the wolf hidden with a little training. We're taught how to do that early because we have to."

"Why do we have to keep the wolf hidden?"

"Because people fear the wolf, Jaune. So we keep the wolf hidden away, so people don't try to hurt him." He watched his son nod before he continued. "But, there's something that MAKES him come out, even if we don't want him to. Something that gives him control of our body, even if we want it all for ourselves." Josiah glanced up towards the patio's ceiling. "When the moon is full, he takes control. That's what my dad always used to tell me."

Jaune followed his fathers gaze, noting that the patio ceiling was looking particularly old and rundown. They would probably replace the planks soon. "Is that what happened last night? Did it happen to you and mama, too?"

Josiah nodded. "It did. And that's why we all woke up in that cellar. That's our cage for the night."

"...Why don't we keep the wolf locked up forever then?" Jaune asked as his blue eyes dimmed. The question felt wrong, but he had to ask it. "Why don't we keep him away from everyone so he doesn't hurt anyone?"

"Because, pup. You can't do that to him." Josiah sighed. "He's a part of you. And if you treat him like an animal, keep him locked up like one, he'll get out one day." He turned to his son and gripped him by both shoulders. "And when he breaks outta his cage, he'll ruin everything you ever loved." He watched as his sons eyes grew wide in fear. He didn't like scaring his child, but in this situation it had to be done. "But it's okay, Jaune. You've got your old man here to help you learn how to tame the wolf."

Jaune's eyes lit up again as he grabbed onto his fathers arm. "You're gonna teach me how to control him?!"

"Hehe, yep." Josiah chuckled as he ruffled his sons hair. "You'll be able to turn into a werewolf whenever you want. Course, you'll never need to. But it's best to teach you how to reign him in so he doesn't get out of control."

"Wow! I get to be a werewolf!" Jaune could barely contain his excitement. He was going to learn how to be part man, part wolfman! "I bet when I learn to be a huntsman, I can use my wolf instincts to-"

"We've been over this, pup." Josiah sighed. "You're not going to be a huntsman. You're going to stay here with us, and learn to live off the land."

Jaune slumped over a bit. "But papa... you were a huntsman! You used Croaky Mores to kill that crocodile last week!"

"That was in self defense, pup. And I don't do anything relating to huntsman jobs anymore. And I never will."

"But papa, I wanna go out into the world and help people like you used to do! I wanna meet new friends, too! Nobody in town likes me, they just call me the weird boy from the bog! But they all like you! I want to be like you, to be liked by everyone!"

Josiah grit his teeth in frustration. "I know, pup. But one day you'll understand that this life is better for you. The outside world isn't a place for us. And in time, the people in town will come to like you as they do me." Josiah's nose picked up the scent of Maribelle's cooking, a welcome distraction from the conversation at hand. "Smells like your moms got breakfast ready. How about we go get some, huh?"

Josiah watched as Jaune's eyes lit up, the boy hopping off the bench and running into the house as fast as he could. Josiah couldn't help but laugh once again as he followed his son into the house. Breakfast would do their bodies and minds good after a night of going crazy in a cage. And then it was off into the bog to teach Jaune how to stretch his legs. He paused for a moment as he remembered his sons cries of anguish, the transformation being a painful one. He would learn to get used to the pain. While it never truly went away, it became dulled to the point of being a mild irritation at best. He would get used to it.

He would need to get used to it if he ever wanted to live a quiet and safe life out here.

Jaune let out a grunt as he slashed Crocea Mors at the tree, the metal sword bouncing off of the trunk with a clang. It wasn't the best kind of training, but it at least allowed him to practice the forms and techniques written in his book. He glanced down at the open book again and scanned the next move properly. With a nod, his muscles tightened and he moved in for the next strike, stabbing his sword into the trunk of the tree with all his strength. And with an equally strong pull, he yanked the sword and and spun it in his hand, facing the weapon's blade away from the tree as he firmly gripped the hilt. He brought his arm up into the air and then down, slamming the hilt of the blade against the tree with the rest of his strength. When the attack bounced off the wood harmlessly, Jaune exhaled and wiped the sweat from his brow.

"JAUNE!"

He flinched and dropped the sword into the dirt, scrambling to pick it up as his father stomped angrily towards him. After he grabbed the sword, he hopped to his feet and turned to face his father.

"What the HELL are you doing? I told you not to touch that thing!" Josiah shouted as he yanked the sword from his sons grip. His eyes scanned the tree behind his son, cut marks adorning the old battered thing. "...Jaune..." He began. "I told you to give up on your dream! It's not happening! I've been telling you for years, and I'll keep telling you until I drill it into your thick skull!"

Jaune puffed his chest out as he locked eyes with his father. "I told you, dad. I'm becoming a huntsman, just like you and grandpa! I mastered the wolf, and now I'm mastering the sword!"

"HA!" Josiah forced a fake laugh out of his lips. "Master the wolf? Pup, you can't master the wolf. You just stop him from mastering you." His gaze was drawn to the small book on the ground, causing the man to bend down and pick it up despite his sons protests.

"Uh, th-that's nothing dad, just ignore that-"

"Sword fighting for dummies." Josiah read the title of the book and chuckled to himself. "Guess that wolfs blood makes you a rebellious son of a..."

Jaune winced for a moment, but stopped when he noticed his fathers expression soften. Josiah turned to his son and stepped closer to him, a look of pain spreading across the mans face.

"Jaune. Please. Give up all this nonsense." Josiah watched as his son tore his eyes away and looked towards the ground, arms crossed defiantly. "Why do you even want to be a huntsman?"

"Because. All the stories that you and grandpa shared... All the people you helped... I wanna be a hero like you guys and help others too. I wanna show the world that Jaune Arc is a man, not some lonely, dumb and awkward boy who lives out in the swamp."

"Jaune..." Josiah glanced down at the book and ran his fingers over the cover. He grit his teeth as he slowly shoved the book back in his sons hands. "You can practice with the sword. But it's not in your destiny to become a huntsman. Your destiny is here, with us. I know the life of a farmer isn't exciting, but it's the safest and most honest thing you can do. I know that one day you'll understand that, but for now I'll just... let you get all of this huntsman nonsense out of your head."

Jaune held the book close to his chest before gritting his teeth and nodding. Josiah soon turned and left his son to his practice, hoping that it would at least give him something to do in the meantime.

As he opened the book once again, Jaune breathed a sigh of relief that his father didn't find what he had hidden in it. Flipping the pages to the center of the book, Jaune pulled out the envelope that was securely placed inside the book and opened it. It was his ticket off of Mistral, after all. He couldn't let anything happen to it, and it certainly couldn't let his father see it. As he unfolded the piece of paper, he read the title to himself.

"Beacon Academy."

This application was his way out of Mistral, and into the life of a huntsman like he wanted. Despite the years of discouragement and refusal, Jaune Arc would become a huntsman. He was a young man now, he could make his own choices in life, and his first choice was to go to the prestigious Beacon Academy, even if he never had any formal weapons training. The years spent mastering his cursed bloodline would give him a feral edge in combat, one that would surely cover the gap that only extremely basic weapons training would create.

Jaune stretched a bit before picking up his belongings. As he turned to look at the now setting sun, he wished that his father would understand why he wanted to be what he wanted to be. But sadly, that was something that would never happen. He turned and trudged his way back to the house, already catching the scent of dinner before he even approached the door. With a smile forming on his face, he pushed it open and went inside.

Jaune plopped down in his bed and stared up at the ceiling. Tonight would be the night that he would start his new life. He had already made contact with someone in Vale that could help him get into Beacon, and it had been a monumentally hard task given how limited his access was to any real technology. But he did it. He had even gone so far as to plan out his travels in advance, he bought all the tickets necessary and saved up the money that would pay for his documents. Now all that was left to do was to wait for the right time to leave.

As he continued staring up at the ceiling, his mind sifted through the memories of his training throughout the years of his life. The most painful part was learning to control the transformation process, and once he had mastered that the rest was simply learning to listen to both your instincts and your brain. He remembered running through the bog on all fours with his father, learning to how to hunt down prey just like the wolves did, learning how to fight with tooth and claw. He learned how to use his improved senses in his every day life, his hearing, his smell and his nightvision all came in handy at some point or another.

And the next full moon wasn't for another month entirely! He would have plenty of time to figure out what he was going to do when he was at Beacon. After all, he just had to keep himself hidden and locked up for a single night. That wouldn't be hard, would it?

A door creaking shut shook him from his thoughts. Only a little while longer now, and his mother and father would be asleep. That was when he would take his belongings, grab Crocea Mors and leave. But as he continued to wait patiently, his thoughts drifted. He was going to break his mother and fathers heart, all just so he could live his dream. He never understood why his father wanted to keep him from the life of a huntsman when he himself had been a very succesful one. Josiah had plenty of medals and trophies from all the great deeds he had accomplished, and Jaune wanted to have his own collection to remind him of all the good he had done in the world. He wanted to save people, to make a difference. He wanted to BE someone, instead of the hermit who lived with his family in the bog.

But in order to be a hero, you have to make sacrifices. His relationship with his parents would have to be that sacrifice, no matter how painful it was.

Jaune waited a few more hours before he got out of bed and snuck out the door. Turning his ear to his parents bedroom, he heard the sounds of his mother and father snoring in the night. With a firm nod, he crept back into his room and grabbed his suitcase. As he tiptoed down the stairs, his eyes fell upon Crocea Mors, the sword having just been polished while the shield lay folded up into its sheathe form. He carefully walked over to the table and picked up the weapons, strapping the sheath to his belt before placing the sword inside.

Jaune then made his way into the kitchen, where he carefully laid a note onto the table, pinning it under a salt shaker. His eyes gazed over the note one last time.

Dear mom and dad,

I'm sorry that I have to do this, but I know that there's no other way. I'm leaving for Beacon Academy in Vale, and by the time you read this, I'll already be long gone. I don't want to be the weird, weak little boy on the edge of the swamp anymore. I want to be a hero. I want to be a huntsman, and I'll sacrifice anything to achieve that, even if it means my old cozy life. I know you'll be worried about me, that you think I might be too soft or unprepared for the real world, but I always have the wolf to guide me. My instincts have never taken me down the wrong path, and I know they never will. I'll keep the wolf hidden though, and only bring him out if my life depends on him. I'm also taking Crocea Mors with me, they will protect me as well.

Jaune nodded firmly to himself before he returned to the living room and picked up his luggage. He quickly did a double check of everything in his pockets and in his backpack before he walked to the front door and opened it. Stepping outside the door, Jaune turned and took one last look at the empty living room before he finally shut the door behind him.

The wolf was free to pursue his own destiny now.

Author's Notes

Yeah, another supernatural Jaune-centric fic. This will be the last one I write for awhile, because I don't feel like writing a bunch of Jaune fics. I'll leave that to the master, Coeur Al'Aran, since he's far better at it than me.

A bit of backstory before I get to the fic details themselves!
Someone in the Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc reviews suggested that I make a werewolf Jaune fic, and I laughed it off at first, thinking nothing of it.
But then I thought "Hey, I like werewolves more than dragons, and I like the idea of putting myths and fairy tales into Remnant just like the canon show did." so here it is.
And then as I was writing the plot down, I thought "Hey, a wolf is a canine. And what do canines usually hate? Cats! And Blake is part cat... Hm..." and then it became a knightshade fic.

So thanks, BlueBlood66! This idea might never have happened if you didn't suggest it!

Anyway, this fic is going to be different than Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc. It's going to be a lot slower paced, and a bit more serious. Blake's not going to stumble upon a werewolf jaune training in a goofy fashion, and it won't be as loose as Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arcs general feel is. Granted, this isn't going to be a straight up serious story, and there are going to be a few skips here and there. After all, I can't write every single day to day interaction between Blake and Jaune, there's actual plot that has to be gotten to! But I promise to make the interactions between the two main love interests... interesting. They won't immediately fall in love, after all I don't think that would ever be Blake's style. So sorry, fluff lovers, you might get some fluff here and there, but not a whole lot. Most of the interactions between the two will be meant to build on their relationship, not to fluff it out.

As a quick note, this story will be updated every 10 days as opposed to Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arcs every 5 days. This may be subject to change at a later date, but I'm not so sure at this point.

Either way, I hope you all enjoy this as much as you enjoy Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc!