It was dark, though the forest was lit with the malicious radiance of the flames that consumed what was left of the town Arcadia, the howling and roaring of Grimm as they continued their slaughter of those that remained in the town audible even at this distance. Run, that was all that could be done, run far enough to escape the negative emotions that had drawn so many Grimm to the town in the first place and pray to Monty that...
Then came the ominous growling, fear gripping the heart as an alpha Beowolf appeared from the woods to the left, maw gaping with the feral hunger that all Grimm seemed to possess, red eyes narrowing a moment before it leapt forwards, claws ready and waiting to tear flesh limb from limb...
"Sis, sis!"
Even as she raised her arm to block the Grimm's slavering jaws, the voice dragged her from the familiar nightmare, Amber Arc opening her eyes a little blearily as she did her best to relax her frantic breathing.
"That dream again sis? We can talk about it later, but I am afraid if you don't get you head off my shoulder soon I am not going to be able to hold back and that will get messy..." Realising at last where she was, and more importantly who was talking to her, Amber quickly shifted her head up off the comfy shoulder of her younger brother.
The reason behind the pained, almost halting manner of his speech became obvious as she looked up and saw he was turning greener by the second, the boy taking the opportunity by his new freedom to rush over to the nearest waste bin and deposit what was left of his breakfast inside. It made her laugh even though she knew it wasn't the 'nice' sibling thing to do, given what they had been through it was relieving to see that Jaune still hadn't got over the male Arc affliction.
"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone..." The rather boisterous and amused comment drew Amber's attention to the person talking, a tall, blonde haired young woman who was stood with one arm around the shoulder of a smaller girl who seemed almost out of place given how young she looked.
"Yang! Be nice..." The smaller girl's slightly exasperated comment had a surprisingly profound effect on the blonde, her face changing to a resigned smile as she shrugged as if trying to act like she didn't care.
"Fine! You holding up okay there Vomit Boy?" Even as Jaune flipped her the finger without looking up from the bin he was using as a personal vomit collection machine, Amber decided to step in and try and save something of her little brother's pride.
"It's an unfortunate family trait that my brother has picked up from our father's side of the family. Given that he managed to last this long he is doing far better than most of my dad's side could claim." It seemed that Jaune had finally finished spewing his guts as he raised himself from the container and flashed her a thankful grin, one that became even wider when she handed him a pack of tissues and some gum.
Whilst Jaune was the idealist in the family, Amber had always been the over-prepared for anything kind of girl, meaning that if she or her family needed something it was probably in one of the multitude of pockets that she had all over her clothes. Though not even she could be prepared for everything, the dull ache in her shoulder reminding her of that even as the younger girl looked excited before pointing between the two of them in an enthusiastic manner.
"You're siblings? I thought Yang and I would be the only ones this year? Does that mean you are twins? Or did one of you graduate early like I did..." The stream of questions tailed off as the girl seemed to realise that both her and Jaune were staring at her, Jaune's expression shielded as it often was nowdays and hers tinged with a hint of amusement, the girl giving an adorable eep a moment later and shifting slightly behind the blonde who gave another sigh and patted her on the head.
"Well done there Rubes, you managed a whole 30 seconds of conversation as a big girl without letting it get awkward, but now you are back in your little girl shoes." This comment managed to make the smaller girl blush even harder, clenching her fists and looking up with an annoyed frown.
"I am not a little girl Yang. I. Drink. Milk!" Amber couldn't help it, images of a much younger Jaune using a similar line about vegetables at her when she teased him for being small fresh in her mind.
"Haha, sorry but that line reminded me so much of Jaune, you two are quite a like it seems." It took a moment for Jaune to realise what she was referring to, a glare from the boy promising future pain if she carried on stopping any thought of further teasing for the moment.
Whilst Jaune for the most part remained the cheery and somewhat dorky kid she had grown up with, it was now tempered with a steely edge and backbone of someone who could and probably had been forced to fight for his life on more than one occasion. His glare disappeared a moment later as he found himself confronted by the smaller girl, who had shifted between them so fast Amber wasn't entirely sure she hadn't teleported.
"You're big sister a pain all the time to you as well? I am Ruby, nice to meet you?" As the two seemed to bond over annoying older sisters, said older sisters took the opportunity to step back and allow their siblings to talk in relative peace.
"Despite his body language your bro seems to be a bit of a charmer at heart, Yang Xiao Long." The girl was vaguely familiar and it took a moment before Amber remembered where the connection was from.
"Signal right? You were top of your class at graduation, gave quite the show in the graduation match..." And by show she meant creamed the second placed student so hard that he was in hospital for two weeks even with his Aura helping him heal.
"That's me, though I don't recognise either you or tall and broody from our class?" Ah yes, well there was a reason for that...
"Jaune, Jaune!"
"Run sis, run and don't look..."
Seeing Yang cast her an odd look as she shivered and reached up to grab her arm, Amber decided it was best to get this out of the way now rather than try and hide it. Grabbing the hem of her elbow length glove on her right arm, Amber gave a deep breath before replying.
"I imagine you wouldn't know me, I was three years above you when I graduated, Jaune here had applied to join Signal at the same time as you. But I got waylaid by injury..." Dragging her glove down, she saw Yang's eyes widen as the mechanical arm that was attached to the stump of her elbow was revealed, though she brought the glove back up quickly so as not to attract Jaune's attention to what they were talking about.
"Wow, and here I thought Ruby would have the best story of what happened to get her into Beacon this year, I guess it's a story you don't want to discuss just yet with a stranger you just met?" Despite her rather blunt and forward attitude Amber appreciated the fact that Yang didn't seem to want to push her for the story just yet, something that earned the boisterous fellow blonde some points in her book.
"Well, as my mother would say, strangers are friends that you just haven't met yet. Amber Arc..." Reaching out with her real hand to accept Yang's hand shake, Amber decided that being three years older than everyone here wouldn't be the worst thing in the world, certainly Ruby seemed to have it worse as the youngest here by far.
And if all else failed, her eyes flicking to Jaune as the bullhead touched down at their destination, at least she would have her beloved brother...
!"£$%^&*()_+
At times like this Jaune regretted letting Amber talk him into attending Beacon Academy this year, his socially awkward fumbling had only gotten worse after... it had happened, meaning that they had only been at Beacon for three hours and he was already mentally exhausted from the socialising he had been rather unsubtly dropped into by his sister.
Looking over to where Ruby Rose had just run off back to her sister's sleeping area, Jaune chided his mental whining even as he leaned back against the wall, Crocea Mors sheathed in hand and ready just in case he needed it for whatever reason. Once they had gotten over their respective social awkwardness, helped along by similar experiences of overbearing elder siblings and a face full of red dust, Ruby had been very fun to talk to even if trying to keep up with her in depth analysis of everyone's weapons was a primary reason behind his current headache.
Reaching up and running a finger down the long scar that dominated the left side of his face, Jaune decided that it was probably for the best, despite his lack of official schooling he probably had more experience with Grimm than 90% of the people in this room and probably some of the second years now he came to think about it. That wasn't cockiness, especially given most of said people could still probably hand his ass to him in a one on one fight, but if there was one thing Jaune's experience had taught him it was that straight up fights were rare when dealing with the Grimm, especially when out in the badlands...
Water everywhere, his eyes, his nose and his lungs as he tried to fight against the roaring current and get back to the surface...
A half burned log, probably from the destruction of Arcadia, his lifeline as he swept down the river, consciousness fading as he just about managed to strap his belt to the log and round his wrist...
Waking with a coughing splutter as a thunderous growl causes his heart to skip a beat, shifting off the log just in time for an Ursa to come sauntering out of the nearby trees...
Cold, bitterly cold as the wind howled through the weak array of branches he was erecting half way up a tree, doing his best to ignore the calls of Beowolves waiting below...
Jerking awake was something that he had managed to subconsciously learn NOT to do, primarily because most of his sleeping locations during his time in the badlands had been several stories up and precarious at best, so instead his eyes merely shot open and he gripped Crocea Mors reassuringly. The now familiar weight on his shoulders instantly let him know that his sister had once again fallen into her bad habit of sleeping with him, not that he was the one who complained about it after finally being rescued and returning home.
It was probably just after dawn, given the dim and feeble light that was just starting to ease it's way through the windows in the large hall they were sleeping in, meaning there were a good couple of hours left before they actually needed to get up for initiation. With the prospect of a very grumpy Amber if he tried to move and accidentally awoke her, something he knew from experience was something for him to avoid at all costs, Jaune resigned himself to a couple of hours of training in his worst area by far.
Raising his right hand and focusing on the feeling of his Aura, something that Amber had unlocked for him the night of Arcadia Falls, Jaune summoned a dull white orb which he promptly covered with his cloak before he woke anyone up. That was unlikely though, the light hadn't been light enough to wake his sister and he doubted anyone else's senses were good enough to have reacted to it.
Doing his best to ignore his frustration as the aura ball warped and twisted in his hand, Jaune didn't notice the pair of eyes that had shot open the moment he had summoned his aura, nor did he notice them watching him as a bow flickered slightly in the darkness...
Another leap into another series, primarily because the idea for this story just would not stop bugging me until I wrote it down. So we have two Arc's at Beacon, one with a prosthetic and the other with a traumatic past in the Badlands before coming to Beacon, meaning he didn't have to fake his transcripts to get in.
To clarify, this is not super Jaune or Mary Sue territory, RWBY and most of the other students would probably beat Jaune in a fight, primarily because they have experience fighting other humans. The Grimm however, that is where Jaune will come into his own, which will be a nice Counterbalance to Pyrrha with her semblance being OP against MOST humans.
What effect will this have on the world of RWBY? What is Amber's weapon going to be? Will Cinder need to change her plans? Let me know what you think people.
Defias out!