Hey all! So, this is an idea I thought up in the dead of night because I'm just kinda weird like that. Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if someone has done an idea like this already, and if you have I sincerely apologize. This is going to be a collection of chapters on Jaune starting his journey in a different place and time, perhaps with a new companion. The inspiration for this comes from a mod for Skyrim on Xbox One, as it allows you to multiple different starts. On an interesting note, I actually kinda want to make this a challenge. If any of you reading are authors and you like one of these, send me a message. I wanna see where you would take this start. Sorry for the long intro. First one for this project:
From low and dusty beginnings.
The sand lashed at the faces of the hunting party. Faunus eye sight is all well and good, but sensitive noses or ears aren't well suited for desert sandstorms. The largest member strode forward, his broad form fighting through the twisting wind. A smaller fox Faunus laid a hand on the giant's shoulder.
"Chieftain! The storm is getting worse! I don't know if we can make it to the settlement. They may be sympathizers, but they're still just human!"
Ghira Belladonna let a growl reverberate in his throat. The family who had tried to extend into the deserts of Menagerie were long-time friends, and had always been appalled by the racism against Faunus.
"If we choose to abandon them for the reason 'they're still human,' then we are no better than those that hate the Faunus. These people have sacrificed much to try and give us a better home. We owe them at least this much." The scout lowered his head in submission. Few had seen the Chieftain as worked up as this.
After another hour of braving the storm, they finally rounded the last dune and saw the settlement. It was intended to be a foothold in the desert, a first step to expanding Kuo Kuana. If it succeeded, it would bring hope to all of Menagerie.
Ghira felt a tear fall down his cheek as it burned before him. The buildings were torn, the walls shattered, and the bodies of Man, Faunus and Grimm alike scattered through the streets.
"Go, gather the dead. Look for survivors. We don't have time to bury them all, but we can honor their sacrifice." The typically strong and proud voice was barely audible. As his scouts went about their orders, Ghira knelt by the body of a young man in a blacksmiths apron.
His cold hands were wrapped around a forging hammer, bits of black fur still clinging to it's head. Forgive me, son. You should never have had to take up arms. Rest well.
As the dead were lain before him, Ghira felt his heart twinge in pain. We could have saved them. If I had sent more guards, perhaps we could have prevented this.
"As we send our brothers and sisters to eternity, we remember what they accomplished here. Even in death, they worked together, side by side, Human and Faunus. They proved that there remains good people in this world, a chance for us to live in harmony. Thank you, my friends. Rest in peace."
The Faunus scouts remained silent with their heads bowed, before moving to burn the remains. They had no wish to be disrespectful, but they couldn't take the time to bury the bodies and leaving them out would see the Grimm eat the bodies.
As the fire began to burn, a gleam of metal caught a scout's eye. The women's keen hawk-like eyes made out a piece of white metal, suspiciously propped underneath some rubble.
"Chieftain, come see this." Ghira moved toward her, but the entire party stopped in their tracks when they heard it. A noise all of them prayed they wouldn't hear.
*sniffle *
Ghira motioned for all to be still, moving forward as stealthily as his feline heritage would allow. As he neared the white metal, a band of yellow entered his view.
Dear Monty, please no. Don't let this be what I think it is.
Ghira gently brushed the debris away, allowing the gleaming surface of Crocea Mors shield to catch the firelight. Ghira felt the tears come to his eyes.
"Rhea," his voice was horse, but he fought to keep it steady. "How many did we find?"
"Less than half the main force. We have evidence of a few more, but no much. Perhaps the storm covered them, or perhaps they made it away." The hawk Faunus came close and spoke softly. She had known this emblem. They were often on the shoulders of a few young maidens who would help Faunus children who begged in the streets of Kuo Kuana.
Ghira shook his head slowly. "No, they would never abandon this. And I fear, they would never choose to abandon what lies behind it." Ghira's sensitive hearing had already heard it, but he feared allowing himself to see.
He placed his hand on the edge of the shield, tilting it softly.
"Jaune?" Another sniffle could be heard, but the source strove to be quiet.
"Jaune, do you remember me? It's Ghira. I'm your dad's friend. You spent last Dustmas at my house." He tilted the shield just a bit more, and a small blue eye peered through the hole. It was reddened from crying, and there more unshed tears in them.
"G-ghira?"
Ghira mustered the best smile he could.
"Yes Jaune. It's okay. Can I help you up?" The shield moved a little, as the young boy crawled out of his hiding place. Even with Ghira on one knee, Jaune barely reached his shoulder.
The boy was cut and bleeding, his hoodie torn, clutching the blade of Crocea Mors to his chest. His eyes started to move around, but Ghira gently grabbed his shoulders.
"Jaune, look at me. I'm going to take you back to my house. Blake is there. You remember Blake, right?" A small nod from the blond. "Okay. It's going to be a long walk; would it be okay if my friend carried you?" Rhea moved forward and offered the boy a small smile. She was the mother of two daughters, so Ghira felt she would be able to comfort him the best. The rest of the scouts either didn't have children or were unmarried.
"Hi Jaune. I'm Rhea." The boy was still shaking, and Rhea could feel her heart shattering. He couldn't be older than the Chieftain's daughter. Four years old. How could he possibly register what's happening?
"You, you have pretty eyes." She smiled and ruffled his hair gently, minding the cuts on his forehead.
"Well, thank you very much. Now come on, hop on my back. It's a long way back, so you just go ahead and take a nap, okay?" Rhea felt a small nod against her shoulder. She turned to Ghira as he stood, holding the ancestral blade.
"We'll take him back to my home. Kali can help heal him, and Blake will be good for him. Let's go." Ghira strapped the sword and shield to his back, vowing to give it back to the boy one day.
Eight years later, Kuo Kuana.
Jaune shot from his bed, grabbing ahold of the small kunai on his end table. His body was covered in sweat, his aura leaking from his skin as it reacted to his fear.
As his vision cleared, he tried to calm his frantic breathing. Easy, Jaune. They aren't here. They didn't take this one. Everyone's fine.
"Jaune? What's wrong?" His eyes looked to the door of his room. Blake was standing there in her night clothes, rubbing at her eyes.
Of course, one of them would hear that. For all my training in stealth, those ears of theirs always seem to hear me.
"It's nothing Blake. Go on back to bed, I'm just going to grab a glass of water." His sister pinned him with an unamused glare.
"You're going to go get water… armed with a knife in your hand and your heart sounding like it's about to burst from your chest?" She stood right in front of him and gently removed the knife from his hand. She softly pushed him back onto his bed, climbing in next to him.
He would've protested, but he could hear her soft purr's and felt her hand running through his hair.
"It's okay Jaune. Everyone is here, and we aren't leaving." Jaune had a gentle smile as he fell asleep to his sister comforting him.
A year later.
Jaune snarled as he brought his sword through yet another dummy, eviscerating the toughened wood like it was so much tissue paper.
It had been two months. Two months since Blake left. Since both she and Ilia ignored his warning.
Since she called him a human.
In nine years of living together, not once had either of them thought to mention their separate heritages.
Nothing had ever quite hurt him as much.
As he twisted through his combo, his sword flashing, a white aura overtook his body. He turned and buried his fist into the last dummy, discharging his aura and causing it to shatter.
Kali watched from the door to the training yard, her eyes watering. She had watched her adopted son train for almost eight hours without rest. She was distraught that her daughter had left, Ghira had thrown himself into his work, but she didn't think either of them had taken it as badly as Jaune.
He never let anyone see, very carefully schooling his features when in the presence of another. But alone he had let out his rage, his fear, and his sorrow.
Kali knew Blake had done the one thing Jaune had feared most. The thing that woke him in the middle of the night in sweat and tears.
She had left him alone. Just like all those years ago.
She was broken from her thoughts when she noticed Jaune had stopped moving and was looking right at her.
"I'm going. I'm going to find her and bring her back."
"She may not want to Jaune."
"You think that'll stop me?"
"Adam and the others would be angry at you showing up."
"They've always hated me. They beat me in the alley when no one else was around. They're just as racist as the people who banished you to this island. Now they've given me good reason to beat them within an inch of their lives."
Kali strode forward and wrapped her arms around him.
"We don't want to lose you too." He dropped his sword and returned the hug.
"You won't. I'll keep her safe, then I'll bring her back. I promise." Kali pulled back with a bittersweet grin.
"Just like an Arc. Promising to save everyone." Jaune's eyes gained a pained look.
"I think it's time to let the Arc's rest. They did well, and I owe them everything. But it's time to let them go." Kali's eyes let the tears fall down her face.
"Then I think I need to give you a new name." Jaune smiled sadly and pulled her into another hug.
"You already did, Mom."
Four years later, on a train through Forever Fall.
Jaune watched through the scope of his rifle as Adam Taurus sliced through another Atlasian drone. Jaune had agreed to take Crocea Mors with him, but had kept his own weapon too.
A semi-auto rifle that could shift into a heavy bow when silence was preferred. He had multiple kunai strapped along his chest armor, two wakizashi's around the small of his back. His torso was covered in armor reminiscent of a Knight's cuirass, but slimmer and comprised of Kevlar padding and Carbon Fiber plates. Light weight greaves, vambraces, and a rerebrace on his left arm all made of the same materials completed his armor.
Jaune had a helmet made in much the same fashion, but added in a small HUD system. It allowed him to track up to four aura gauges, had infrared and ultraviolet filters, and the screen was covered by a carbon fiber plate concealing his features.
Dust Blake, why didn't you just listen to me? Jaune shook his head as he followed their progress through the train. For the past four years, he had shadowed Blake, making sure that she was safe while trying to mitigate the damage caused by the Fang.
As much as he tried to be unseen, a few survivors had told his story. The White Fang hadn't taken kindly to an unknown undoing their work, which led to Jaune being chased more than a few times.
"Oh, for… A walker? Really Atlas? Oh, and Adam wants to take it on head first. There's a shock." Jaune sighed as he aimed for the leg joint of the giant robot. His rifle couldn't kill it from this range, but he could buy Blake time to get out of it's line of fire.
Three rounds rapidly impacted the walkers leg joint, causing the limb to collapse under the colossal weight. It's attack went wide, conveniently irritating Adam in the process.
Jaune grinned as he stood. He had made sure to be far enough up the line that he could support from a distance, at least for a little. But now he needed to be on the train. He could see in Blake's manners that she had been wanting out for a while now, and by Monty Jaune was going to give her that window right now.
He latched onto the zip line he had rigged earlier and flew toward the train. Well, where the train would hopefully be.
As his boots hit the train roof, Jaune began running toward the back cars. He stopped by the connection of the passenger cars to the cargo cars. He reached down and placed a small, shaped charge. Once he and Blake got clear, he would make sure the civilians were safe from Adam.
Jaune carefully approached the two as they continued to fight the injured walker. Despite having crippled it's leg, Jaune could see that it still had plenty of fight left. He slung his rifle over his shoulder and drew one of his shortswords.
Blake leapt over an attack and Adam dodged backwards, both stopping to regroup.
"This isn't going well Adam. We should pull back." The bull Faunus shook his head and renewed his stance. Before he could attack, the walker began sparking and fell, with oil spouting from multiple cuts along it's hydraulic lines.
A figure in black armor with a black cloak billowing behind it flicked the oil off it's blade.
Adam drew Wilt and pointed the crimson edge at the new arrival.
"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The figure cocked it's head, then crouched and carved a symbol into the walker's leg. Blake's eyes widened as she moved to look at the symbol.
"That's the crest of Kuo Kuana. You're from Menagerie?" The figure nodded once, then scraped the symbol away, destroying any chance of someone else recognizing it.
"Why did you come here, brother? Did one of the others send you?" Adam sheathed his blade and walked forward, stunned at the appearance of another Faunus.
The figure shook it's head and reached to it's side to unlatch a white metal sheath and hold it before itself. Adam cocked his head to the side, but Blake's breath caught in her throat.
No, he couldn't…
The figure expanded the shield and displayed the two golden arcs proudly across the white metal. Though there was something different about it.
A black flower inside of the golden arcs. Blake's personal emblem.
"Jaune…?"
"You've got some explaining to do, Sister mine." Blake flinched. The voice was definitely Jaune, but it was hoarse and dry. He wasn't happy, but he had it controlled. It was so much older than she remembered.
"You? You dare come here, scum?" Jaune turned his armored face to Adam's.
"Mind your tongue, fool. You have brought so much punishment down on the Faunus, all in the name of your own lust for power." Adam shook in rage as he redrew Wilt.
"We fight for Faunus freedom! We-" Jaune swiftly stepped forward and knocked the blade aside, grabbing Adam by the throat.
"You fight for yourself. You've done well in blinding Blake, but I've seen what you do to the Faunus who do not wish to take part in you 'crusade.' Torture and execution for those who try and protect innocent life. You even have bomb for this train, despite there being both Human and Faunus passengers." Adam broke himself free from Jaune's grip and moved to a distance.
"They will die for the cause." Blake turned to her 'mentor' with disgust written across her face.
"Adam! We were just going to steal the dust!" Jaune shook his head as he drew his wakizashi.
"No. On almost every heist, they've tried to wipe out the survivors. I've done my best to limit casualties, but I couldn't be everywhere." Adam retrieved Wilt from the ground and leveled the blade at Jaune.
"You will not interfere again. Blake, let's go."
Jaune matched Adam's stance, his wakizashi in his right hand while his left was offered to Blake.
"Will you stay, Sister? Will you continue this madness?" Blake looked to Jaune, the memories finally connecting. He's followed me all this time. He was the reason I kept 'getting lucky.'
Her eyes watered just a little as she took his hand.
"Blake, what are you doing!" Jaune sheathed his sword and pulled a small cylinder from his hip.
"Hey, Adam." Jaune flicked open the cap with his thumb, revealing the small, glowing red button.
"Have fun with your dust." Jaune detonated the small charge, allowing the cars to separate.
Adam glared at them as they pulled away, but his anger turned to fear when he remembered Jaune's words. He watched as Jaune pulled another cylinder from his hip. Adam dove from the train car, hoping his aura was high enough take the fall. Just as he hit the ground, Jaune ignited the dust.
Jaune took off his helmet as he and Blake stopped underneath a tree. They had made good time away from the train, and needed to stop for the night. Jaune had led them back to his campsite and was reorganizing some of his gear. Blake turned to him, feeling her heart twist in her chest.
"Jaune, I-" He whirled to face her.
"Shut up. You do not talk right now, understand?" She nodded, never having heard Jaune sound like this. He had yet to raise his voice, but the steel in it terrified her.
"You left. You left Menagerie, you left your ideals, you left your humanity. All for what? Some psychopath that you didn't even know? I warned you Blake. I told you exactly what was going to happen, and you left anyway. You left Mom, you left Dad…" The fire left his eyes and the steel fell from his voice. He collapsed onto the roots of a tree, placing a hand over his eyes.
"You left me." Blake felt the hot tears streaming down her face. She had been so angry when she left she hadn't thought about what she had said. About what her actions meant to Jaune.
Before she could try and comfort him, he stood and put a hand on her shoulder. His eyes were red, but he refused the tears.
"The good thing about leaving things? If you try hard enough, you can make your way back to them." Blake broke into sobs and threw her arms around Jaune. He gently stroked her back as she cried, comforting her just she did for him.
"We can't go home yet Blake. We've got sins to atone for, and I think I found us a good deal. Some dusty old Qrow liked how I fought. Told me to meet him in Vale, two weeks from now. Sound like a plan?" Blake nodded against his armor, calming herself down.
"Jaune, I'm sorry. I didn't know what I was getting myself into." He released her and started heating up survival rations for them.
"I know. Give it some time, Blake. I'm not angry, but I'm not exactly happy with you either. For now, we work together and make our way to Vale. Then we find our way." He stood and moved back towards her.
"As long as I've got you back, I think I'll manage." Blake smiled, her cheeks still stained with her tears.
"Thank you Jaune." For the first time in five years, Blake heard a magnificent sound. Jaune's boisterous laughter rolling across the forest.
"Don't thank me yet. I'm enrolling us into one of the most difficult Huntsmen and Huntress academies in the world. Beacon, here we come."
All righty, there we have it. OH MY GOODNESS, this was so much longer than I intended. But I kinda like it. Let me know what you guys think. My plan is to kinda jump through different opening with different characters. Just so y'all know, a Wakizashi is the shortsword version of a Katana. A Katana is the one handed longsword, and the two handed version is called an Odachi. Though I'm thinking I reserve this particular opening for myself, if you guys like the other chapters I put out just let me know. I'd love to see you guys write your own takes. Alright, well, I think that's it for now.
Happy Holidays everyone!
