Everyone has their little quirks, some hide big secrets, others are prickly, some are just silly. Jaune's? His family is a pack of noir detectives, famous for solving some of the worst crimes in the Kingdoms and bringing the worst murderers to justice. Jaune doesn't want to just be another Detective Arc though, he wants to follow his Grandfather's footsteps, become a Hunter-Detective and be worthy of Crocea Mors!

Arc 1: Simpler Times

Chapter 1: Shining Beacon

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Blue eyes narrowed under a few strands of blonde hair poking from under an old fashioned detective's fedora, a small trail of smoke obscuring his gaze now and then, streaming from the dust infused cigarette perched lazily between his lips. Patches of white armor lay over a heavy brown trench coat, giving him the look of an especially well armoured detective. Emblazoned on the back of his coat, stitched in a darker shade of Brown was the Arc family sigil proudly.

Sighing to himself, Jaune plucked the cigarette from his lips. A breeze fluttered past from where he had leaned casually against the wall observing his classmates carefully, his trench coat fluttering behind him. A few of the unimportant people in the airship stared in open curiosity, he cut a very intriguing figure when it came down to it standing out in his quiet way amongst the louder hunters. He then pushed off the wall and began to move.

This handsome blonde stranger held himself in a careful controlled stride, as though every movement was planned and executed…

-before he twisted, grabbed a garbage bin, and promptly threw up in it.

'Nevermind…' Ran through the minds of those random Beacon hopefuls minds; so unimportant they might have well been silhouettes, 'This guy is just some idiot.'

And it was like that Jaune Arc found himself making a wonderful first impression to his fellow Beacon initiates.

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Jaune sighed, running a hand over his face, before tugging his fedora lower to try and hide his face in vain. He hated air-travel, always had. It was the Arc family curse to throw when air travelling. "Remember Jaune… don't trust those fuckin' ships, they're goddamn, flying, deathtraps!" his dad had always told him, a sentiment often echoed by his sisters when the booze flowed in their house.

The Arcs were world famous really; a family full of detectives, made up of gorgeous women aside from Jaune, his father, and then his father. Each Arc before Jaune had proven themselves by solving the worst cases throughout the kingdoms. Daring car-chases, handsome men, revolvers, cigarettes and gun smoke, his sister's all lived glamourous lives that probably had smooth noir jazz following them around as they narrated cynically in their minds.

Jaune was… a little different, the rest of his family had well-meaningly pressured for Jaune to follow in their footsteps and become a detective.

Jaune was good at it. A young prodigy when it came to deductive skills and planning, matched only by his imagination and capacity to use it. For now though; Jaune was the darling of the large family, his sisters all doting on their baby brother, his parents coddling their only son as much as cynical noir detectives could.

Jaune had different dreams, his grandfather had dealt amazing blows to the Grimm, not just as a hunter, but as an author. Deducing and writing about many of their behaviors, creating guide books that allowed not just hunters to kill them with ease, but also the well-prepared civilian to defend themselves somewhat.

Jaune wanted to do more than solve crimes, he wanted to change the kingdoms as they were, to follow his grandfather's footsteps and help humanity's never-ending war against the Grimm.

To reach his lofty dream, he'd have to first get through Beacon.

The blue eyed detective strolled out of the now parked airship, before suddenly he heard an explosion! Jolting violently; Jaune dipped his hand into his trench coat and grasped his weapon cautiously. Looking to the source the detective let out a sigh as he saw that girl dressed in red and black from earlier being yelled at by another in white.

Jaune sighed to himself, that was great. He wasn't even properly enrolled and he'd already made a fool of himself by vomiting in the airship, and now here he was, preparing to shoot at fellow students. Dropping his hand he strolled over to them curious… eager really, to make friends.

"-Can't believe someone could be so irresponsible, how can you be a hunter-in-training when you can be so careless with dust?!" The white haired one ranted, Jaune's blue eyes flicking over her and her suitcase.

Dust… the sigil on her suitcases, the goons in not-so-cheap suits, her fine clothing, icy demeanour, and matching icy looks meant one thing.

"Easy there Snow Angel," he interrupted teasingly, the pair jolting before looking to him, the dark-haired one sending him a look with a clear, 'help me please!' in her silvered gaze. Schnee in the meantime furrowed her delicate brows, further and looked only angrier.

"Snow Angel?! I'll have you know that I am not just some air-head you can try and flirt with, my name is-"

"Weiss Schnee, heiress to the Schnee Corporation." Jaune interrupted with a wry expression, "it doesn't take a genius to figure that out," he said with a flat look.

"I… well... it's about time someone recognized me," Schnee grumbled looking irritated at being cut off mid introduction. Dusting off her dress and straightening up, "This foolish girl bumped-"

"-bumped into your dust and it exploded," Jaune interrupted once more, idly noting the way Schnee coloured angrily at his interrupting her once more. "But that just means it wasn't stored properly, volatile Red dust might be, but a heavy fall like that shouldn't have detonated it so easily." Schnee pinked at that.

"Why you!... I-" she huffed before deciding to not waste any more time on the blonde, whirling about on the girl Jaune now mentally referred to as Red. "Look, that doesn't matter, a future huntress needs to be responsible, and aware of her surroundings!" Weiss shot at Red before grabbing her case and leaving in a huff.

"See you later Snow Angel!" Jaune called out playfully, a teasing smile on his face as Weiss turned about,

"DON'T CALL ME THAT!"

"Hmph," Jaune grumped watching her leave for a moment, "Looks like someone still has that silver spoon wedged up her ass," he commented, to which Red coloured like the namesake and giggled before pausing and calling out to the now far away Schnee.

"Ah! I'll make it up to you!" Ruby shouted before sighing and wilting. She then looked back to Jaune, "Oh! Um, what's your name?" she asked and Jaune paused for a moment.

His Sisters had made the Arc name famous and were often role models and heroes for civilian girls, of course this girl was a huntress-in-training, but did Jaune really want to take that chance?

"Jaune," he introduced with a small incline of his head, "Just Jaune,"

Ruby nodded and smiled brightly before pausing, "Hey aren't you the guy who vomited on the ship?"

Jaune's face fell now it was his turn to wilt, that… went over well.

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"Hey c'mon, it was just one time, what if I called you crater face?" he shot back after being called vomit boy by Ruby.

"Hey it was an accident!" she protested back and Jaune nodded, having expected a response similar to that.

Jaune raised a finger in the air, spinning it around as he made his point, "Exactly why it's unfair to call me vomit boy!" he said triumphantly using Ruby's own logic against her, his hand lowering. Her eyes narrowed before she blushed and rubbed at her arm.

"Alright, I'll call you Jaune, and you can call me Ruby! I'm Ruby Rose!" Ruby said finally before pausing.

Jaune paused as well, unsure of whether or not he should talk… the silence hung around awkwardly until right as he was about to break the sudden awkward silence that had sprouted, she cut him off. "-Soo… I got this!" Suddenly with a few mechanized sounds there was a…

Massive Scythe. Jaune narrowed his eyes studying it thoughtfully for a moment, it was... a helluva weapon, and one of those that were so complicated to use it'd take a lot of dedicated training to use, and nobody other than the creator/user would probably be able to wield it properly. Still, for all its over-designed abilities, something told Jaune that Ruby knew exactly how to use it for devastating effect… something in the way she held it easily.

Realizing he'd tuned out her explanation he nodded at a pause, in her rant, something about a heavy rifle in the gun before she asked him.

"-soooo, what about you?" she asked curiously, leaning into him. Jaune leaning back flushed and rubbing the back of his head, "Ahh… nothing… really…"

"Ooh! A hand-to-hand fighter?" she asked curiously and he shook his head,

"Nah, nothing like that…" he reached into his Trench coat and drew out an old beaten revolver, it was a large pistol, with an elongated barrel, very comfortable grip, and a customized 8 round chamber, Heavy, heavy leaden-dust bullets inside. That aside it was obviously an antique, and a beaten one at that.

"Just Dad's ol' pistol, and uh, Crocea Mors" Jaune added, Before frowning as his pistol was no longer in his hands, looking up to Ruby spinning the chamber expertly and squinting, aiming along the sights and sticking out her tongue.

"This is really cool!" she suddenly said with a nod before grinning, "-and a sword and shield?" she asked as Jaune nodded, putting away his revolver and drawing Crocea Mors and unfolding his shield.

"This is the most complicated bit… it folds up into a sheath," he shrugged, "Just a buncha hand-me-downs." Jaune tried in vain to ignore the burning on his cheeks that told him he was blushing, his new friend probably could already tell he was really lame compared to the other students.

"Hey! I like it! Nobody appreciates the classics these days!" she said and poked him in the chest, right above his chest-piece, "It's all unfolding bits and built in guns! Not everything needs to be so complicated!" she said, though from the way she glanced at her scythe the detective didn't have to use every bit of his ability to tell she wasn't being wholly honest.

They soon arrived at a crowd, Ruby looking around curiously, "Hey, we're here!" She said surprised and Jaune nodded, "I followed the newer looking students while we talked," he explained before a voice called out.

"Hey Ruby! I saved you a spot!"

Before Jaune could even protest she was gone. Huffing to himself, the blue eyed detective glanced around the room sharply. Something… felt… odd…

"Achem!" A voice sounded throughout the room and Jaune straightened up. Professor Ozpin; Jaune could recognize that seemingly lazy manner, ever present and filled coffee mug, and even-toned voice just from his Dad's stories…

Ozpin was half the reason his Dad never wanted him to become a hunter. Tugging his trusty Detective's fedora over his eyes, Jaune hoped his distinctive Arc blonde hair and blue eyes wouldn't be recognized by Headmaster just yet.

"I'll...keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge-to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step." And with that he stepped off, Jaune's eyes narrowed so much they were practically blue slits. That… was an interesting speech.

Ozpin was a large influence in his life, even if the grey haired man never realized it. His Father… had complicated feelings on Ozpin. He was firm on the fact that none of his children were to become public figures and deal with what came of that till they were 18, it'd sparked a lot of arguments, but he'd always won.

Ozpin was one of the reasons why. Dad never explained why. So in the end, because he was headmaster, none of Arc siblings were allowed to become hunters. Jaune… had a complicated home situation, which was putting it lightly.

Humming to himself, idly listening to who could only be Glynda Goodwitch explain about the ballroom, Jaune pondered over those words.

The first words he heard from Ozpin, and they were already cryptic in of themselves. It sounded as though the speech wasn't meant for his ears, or most of the students, rather it was meant for a few individuals in the crowd, but for that to be case it set a certain precedent.

Glancing around Jaune noticed Ruby, a blonde woman with a generous bust, and the Schnee from earlier bickering, and suspected he knew who those few were, that scythe…

It was too easily wielded by such a young girl, she was almost certainly very powerful. Similarly, the Schnee's wouldn't be caught dead sending an heiress to Beacon unless she already knew the combat skills needed to ace everything… reputation was everything to them after all. That just left Blondie… Jaune couldn't identify any weapons on her, but she held herself too confidently among such seasoned fighters to not be one herself. Or maybe he was just reading into things too much.

Either way detective Jaune Arc suspected he'd found Ozpin's exceptional students in need of direction.

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A/N:

I don't know RWBY that well, only read the fanfiction because this is quite literally the funniest 'community' on Fanfiction I've seen. However, for accuracy sake I've been watching episodes as I go for a guide, and making sure things are as close to cannon.

Fanfiction is a bit like an experiment, it's no good if you change more than one variable, especially if it's by accident.

Despite the light tone, make no mistake, this isn't just a comedy fic. Noir detectives- as fun as they are to parody- deal with messed up situations.

I hope I got that across. Jaune is still Jaune here, vomiting when traveling, still somewhat socially awkward. But he's been raised differently, and it shows. He's also now tapped into that head of his and is going to use it properly, not like a shield like he does in cannon. I always felt like Jaune had a strange intelligence, that he just wasn't using.

Appearance wise: the best way I can describe him is a cross between the Mysterious stranger VATS drawings from Fallout and of course, Jaune Arc, he has the trench coat and the… ugh… fedora, and revolver. But he still has Jaune's haircut, eyes, and armor pieces… along with an Arc sigil on the back of his trench. Of course we have Crocea Mors, which I included by impulse because…

Well... It's part of Jaune as much as his big heart, and I couldn't leave it out! I'll probably do more with it, its important symbolism wise.

Anyway, only question I have is how I should describe the fedora. I'd like to have it be part of his ensemble as a detective, tipping it at people, saving it from certain doom, hiding under it from attention, etc. But of course there's a certain online stigma that comes with Fedoras these days and I don't know if it's distracting. So if every time I mention it you cringe, let me know.