Disclaimers : I do not own RWBY, everything in this story belongs to their rightful owners

"Normal " - speaking

italics- thinking \ flashback

Bold-yelling

He Who Endures

Ch 1: The Fallen

Jaune was once told by his father that life was cruel to anyone and everyone. Rich, poor, weak, strong, none of this matter in life as they will all be beaten down one way or another. But he who endures all of the beating that he receives is the one who will prevail and succeed. That is why Jaune endured all the beatings that he received, whether it be the physical beatings he got from Cardin, or the mental beatings that he got from being called weak. But no amount of endurance could prepare Jaune for what he was experiencing right now.

Right now, Jaune was looting the corpse of a dead Atlas officer for his keys. He felt wrong that he was looting a corpse, but he had to if he wanted to take off the cuffs that bound his hands together. The stench of blood entered his nose, nearly making him gag, the groups of dead prisoners were to thank for that. When Jaune had found what he was looking for he immediately backed away from the body, and tried every key that was on the key ring he got from the officer on his cuffs with shaky hands. After multiple keys he was finally able to unlock the handcuffs, he rubbed his wrists to relieve them from the binds that he released them from. Jaune then felt a blast of heat from behind him, he turned and saw a sight that he will not forget.

Flames danced across the air bus that Jaune and multiple (dead) prisoner had occupied no more than a few minutes ago. Those who had survived the crash but not escape the bus were now being burned alive in the active flame that engulfed the air bus. Prisoners that were trapped in the fire stuck their hands out of the windows, but unlike the air bus that dropped Jaune and other hunters to Beacon. These were modified to handle prisoners, so the windows were covered in rows of iron bars. There was nothing that Jaune could do but watch as the prisoners were roasted alive. Deciding that he had enough of watching this, he turned and ran to the forest that surrounded him. He didn't get far before tripping over a green Atlas soldier. He was about to get up and run again before he realized that he was in a forest, and he didn't know if there were any Grimm nearby, it was Nevermores that destroyed the bus. If there were Grimm nearby he would need protection. Everything that this guard had was just what he needed, but his morals conflicted with his needs.

" I'm so sorry." Jaune whispered, letting his needs guide him in his actions. He striped the soldier of almost everything that he had from his weapons to his clothing. He gave the the guard some decency and clothed him in the orange jumpsuit that he was forced to wear so he wouldn't be found naked. After saying sorry once again to the body, he jumped up and sprinted in the other direction just as a large group of Grimm appeared.

(?)

Jaune didn't know how long he had been running for, but it must have been for awhile as he could no longer see the smoke from the air bus. He saw a lake and decided to take a rest, he walked to the edge of the lake and took off the cracked helmet to look at his reflection in the water. He almost couldn't recognize himself. His face was covered in dirt and blood, his blonde hair was a mess of knots and locks, his blue eyes seemed to have lost their color, and he was wearing someone else's armor.

He stuck his hands in the water and cuffed them. He brought his hands to his face and rubbed his face vigorously to remove the dirt and blood. He look at his reflection again, he still couldn't see himself.

"How did it come to this." Jaune said in a depressed manner. He tried to remember all that happened to him in less than a day ago.

(1 day ago)

Jaune didn't know what was going on, all he remembered was that he was in his dorm alone at night and then he passed out. When he woke up, he was greeted with the sight of a police officer putting handcuffs on him.

"W-What's going on?" Jaune asked, confused at what the officer was doing. Jaune was about to turn around but was immediately slammed on the trunk of the police car.

"Don't resist!" The officer commanded, opening the back of his car and shoving him in. Just as Jaune landed in the seat, the officer shut the door making the car shake from the impact. Jaune got up and looked out the window, he saw an ambulance loading a girl in the back.

It was Weiss. She was covered in cuts and bruises, her left eye was swollen to the point of shutting, her hair was cut and left on the ground besides her. Jaune immediately felt worried for her, he saw her team with her. They all turned around and looked towards him and a flash of anger and betrayal showed on their faces. He was going to call to them but he felt the car's engine start, and soon enough they drove away.

"What's going on?" Jaune shouted, he wanted answers, and he wanted them now. He heard the officer driving chuckle.

"So you don't know what you did huh?" The officer asked, he nodded vigorously, the officer sighed. "You wouldn't be the first one to try to pull that card." he said under his breath, but Jaune heard.

"Pull what card?" Jaune asked, he was beginning to understand what he meant, but he didn't want to believe it. He had to hear what he had to say.

"Jaune Arc, you are under arrest for the attempting to murder Weiss Schnee. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say or do-" Anything said after that was blocked out of Jaune's mind. All he could think about for the entire car ride was that he almost murdered Weiss.

(Next day)

(Vale's courthouse)

"Jaune Arc, for the attempted murder of Weiss Schnee, I sentence you to 15 years in Atlas State penitentiary." That was it, Jaune's lawyer had lost, and now he was a criminal. He looked to the stands and saw his family along with Weiss's. All of them had a look of rage, his family had come in here with their best wishes to him, not a doubt in their mind. But all of the evidence showed that it was him, he didn't know how, but they have a security camera footage from the dorms, it showed a figure holding Crocea Mors leaving his room and making their way to the docks, proving the story that he told them wrong. Not only that, but they brought Crocea Mors and show that it was the weapon that he had used to fight Weiss. It was stained with blood, and they brought DNA test, showing that it was indeed her blood. That was all the jury needed to show that he was guilty.

He couldn't believe it. There was no way he could beat Weiss in a fight, but no matter how many times he shouted that out. But the evidence had shown it was him, and there was nothing that he could do. He felt the guards in the room pick him up by his arms and shove him out the door, he didn't do anything, he couldn't do anything. He tried to turn to R(W)BY for their support, he didn't receive any, not even from his own team. He was shocked that they would believe any of this, they knew just as well as anyone in Beacon that he couldn't beat Weiss. So why? Why are they just standing there with looks of anger.

(8 hours later)

Jaune could barely breath. He was surrounded by men three times his size, each of them giving him a predatory glare, like lions surrounding buffalo. All of them were waiting to go for the neck when he was most vulnerable. The air around him was so thick that it almost caused him to cough with each breath. He wasn't supposed to be here, and yet here he was. Jaune turned to look outside the window he sat in front of, under all the prisoners laid a thick forest. But to Jaune, it was the closes place to heaven, anything would be compared to where he was going. His thought were interrupted by a sudden jerk, causing him and the other prisoners to slide forward. He was leaning on someone before being shoved off.

"What's going on up there?" A guard yell through the bars and to the pilots, another jerk nearly caused him to fall over, but he caught himself.

"We got Nevermore!" The one of the pilots yelled, just as a flurry of feather broke the windshield and tore through his body as if it were paper.

"Shit!" The guard shouted in panic. It was obvious that they had not expected a Nevermore to attack. He tried to unlock the gate that separated them, to take the pilot seat. But the bus was already in its descent. Jaune felt himself be raised from his seat, before being slammed down on the iron gate. He felt multiple body land on him. And then there was an explosion from the engine.

(Present time)

That was how he got to where he was now. He somehow managed to get out of the explosion with a brushed forehead and a busted lip. He woke up outside so he didn't remember ever falling out of the bus.

He looked back up at the pond, and stared at his reflection again.

"Nothing but a shell." He said to the reflection. He gave up at trying to find himself in the reflection and checked the gear he had. The rifle that the soldier carried was warped from the nozzle, Jaune didn't need to know a lot about guns to know it was dangerous to use.

"I might find someone that can fix it." he mumbled, putting the rifle on his back, and letting the magnetic holster do its work. The next weapon was the side arm. It was a simple pistol that seemed to be in fair shape. The worst it had were black mark from the fire. He tried to see if the it was loaded, but had trouble releasing the mag.

*BANG*

Jaune jumped back in surprise as the gun fired. He took that as a yes. The last weapons were a pair of combat knives. The knives had black carbon fiber handles, and the blades were extremely sharp.

Jaune already saw himself using these in the future. It was as close to a sword as he was going to get right now.

'I should get going.' he thought, getting up and dusted the armour off. He didn't want to be caught outside when it got dark. The night was when the Grimm would be most active. With that in mind he set off in a random direction.

(Some time later)

It didn't take too long before Jaune found a village. It almost seemed coincidental that he found one so quick. He walked to the village with hope, but when he arrived, he saw that the village was abandoned.

"Great." Jaune grimaced, letting what little hope he had fade. He continued through the village to see if he could find any shelter. He looked through every building but couldn't find anything of use. "They must have taken everything that they could." Jaune concluded, closing the door to another empty house. He walked to the house next to it and to his surprise it was locked.

He gave the gave the door a few knocks, "Hello, anyone in there?" Jaune asked, he got no answer. Once again he knocked, still no answer. "Owners must have locked it." And with that, Juane slammed his shoulder into the door until the door frame gave way and let him.

"Kyyaaa!"

Jaune froze in place for a second, to say that he was shocked at what was in front of him was an understatement. What he saw in front of him was a orange haired girl no older than six cower behind a counter in a kitchen, she was wearing rags as clothing and had no shoes on. The features that Jaune was most focused on were on top of her head and lower back. She had orange, feline like ears with black stripes, and a long tail the same colors. She was a faunus, a tiger faunus.

"Please don't hurt me!"

(End of Ch 1)

AN: So I don't know if anyone noticed, but I have a thing for betrayal stories. I don't know why, but I just can't help it. The thought of a hero going from rags to riches always caught my interest. I just suddenly thought of the idea of Jaune being framed for a crime, and knew that I had to make a story. This is going to be an experiment to see if anyone likes it, and if you do. Why not leave a like, maybe even a favorite, and tell me what you think in the review. That's all I really have to say

So until next time, Lupus out.