A/N: Another new story!
...yay.
Nothing much else except for the fact that this idea has been eating away at me for a little bit, ever since I started replaying Darksiders. So, without further ado, here it is.
There can be no life without order. Good, evil... darkness, light-there must be Balance in the Universe. That was what Jaune had been taught his whole childhood. That light cannot exist without darkness, and vise versa. Those that think that good always triumphs...
They are naive. This world is not all sunshine and rainbows. His master taught him that.
The only way to get what you want, is to earn it, or take it. His master taught him that.
His master taught him a lot of things, things that allowed him to survive life and death situations. Things that made people such as himself feared.
However, he was never taught anything that had to do with socializing. The only form of communication was between himself and his master, which, even then, was limited to short conversations and strict instructions. Sometimes, he talked to himself, imagining that there was another person with him.
Let it be known that Jaune literally had no friends.
So, as Jaune walked into the Bullhead that would take him to Beacon Academy, he cursed his master for not teaching him about social cues. Why couldn't he have at least mentioned how to talk with other people. Hell, his master didn't even allow him to buy a scroll, despite having the funds to do so. As he passed by a few of his other future classmates, Jaune heard talk of a champion of sorts. Jaune let a smile form on his face.
'A champion, huh? I hope they are good. I have not had a good spar since I tried to take on Death in a sword match.' Jaune thought to himself. As he remembered the fight that he had with his master, Jaune smiled. Despite not being related, Jaune loved Death as if he were his father.
Suddenly, he bumped into someone, sending them to the ground. "Ah!" They exclaimed in surprise.
As soon as Jaune was snapped back to reality, he looked down at the person he had just knocked down. She had black hair that had red tips, and silver eyes that matched the silver rose buckle of her belt. She wore a sort of gothic style dress, along with a red cape. He held out a hand to her.
"I must apologize. I was thinking, and I did not see where I was walking." Jaune apologized, helping the girl up as she took his hand.
"Th-Thanks. I-It's fine." The girl replied. Jaune noted that her hand twitched towards the hood of her cape.
'Habit, perhaps? Maybe I am making her nervous?' Jaune thought.
Jaune's stomach lurched as the Bullhead began to move. Letting go of the girl's hand, he made a mad dash to the trash can on the other side of the ship. Jaune then, proceeded to empty his stomach of his lunch. With a groan, Jaune pulled himself away and steeled himself.
"I despiseair travel." Jaune muttered under his breath as he slid down the wall. He hung his head, examining his current wear. He wore one of his master's old outfits, which seemed to fit him just nicely. He had a grey and orange-red shoulder mount that had a gray hood, which was currently on, and shoulder pads which looked looked like the heads of a falcon, and a crescent piece attached to his back, which also held his massive sword. Underneath that, he wore a skin-tight, short-sleeve, thermal shirt, which was covered by a gray cowl that extended from his shoulder mount. On his arms, he wore his secondary weapons, the Fists of Elhazar, a deadly pair of clawed gauntlets he had received as a reward for eliminating a legendary Grimm called the Noss. Covering his entire midsection was an armor piece with staggered plates as well as a horse skull engraved on a metal plate on his stomach. Extending from the piece of armor were gray pieces of cloth that hung past his waist.
For bottoms, he wore his cuisses, which encased his entire thigh, and his shins were armored with thick, gray, metal sabatons over a pair of thick faded brown boots. Hanging on the sides of his waist, from a thick metal and leather belt with Death's horseman emblem as the buckle, were two scythes that used to belong to his master. Beithir's Talons were two, dual-wielded scythes made from the scavenged talons of an ancient, fire-class Nevermore, named Beithir. On his back, hung his sword, which did not have a sheathe. Carefully so as not to damage the wall behind him, he took out his sword and caressed the surface of the blade. Jaune carefully examined the ghoulish faces etched onto the blade. His sword, Chaoseater, was not really his.
It used to belong to Death's brother, War, before he fell in battle. Jaune always made sure to treat the blade with respect. Death used to tell Jaune tales of War's life. How he took down one of the most dangerous SS-Class dragon grimm, the Destroyer, and even killed a semi-sentient arachnid-class grimm, named Silitha. Jaune, despite his admiration for his master, wished to take up the mantle of War. He may have earned the blade, but he has yet to earn the name.
Out of the blue, a pair of red and black combat boots appeared in front of him. Looking up, Jaune saw that it was the girl that he had bumped into earlier. Without warning, or asking for permission, she sat down beside him, carefully so as not to cut herself on his blade.
"Hello." Jaune greeted, as he forced the bile back down his throat.
"H-Hi! I-I'm Ruby. R-Ruby Rose." She introduced herself, Jaune noting her stutter. Jaune gave chuckle as he compared her name to her clothes.
"Certainly fitting," Jaune commented, "however, my name is Jaune Arc. It ISO pleasure to meet you."
Ruby nodded with a smile and replied, "It's nice to meet you too!"
Jaune noticed that she was now staring at Chaoseater. "What's that?" She asked.
"My sword. Well, it is not really mine. It belonged to my master's brother, but he fell in battle, and it was passed to me." Jaune explained, looking down at the blade.
Ruby held out her hands and looked at him with a pleading expression. "M-May I see it?" She asked. Jaune smiled, and handed it to her, handle first. He smirked when he saw her face immediately go red from the blade's weight.
"It... It's... heavy..." Ruby managed to say through gritted teeth as she tried to lift the blade up. Jaune chuckled. Ruby let the blade rest on her leg, probably cutting off the limb's circulation, but her aura would deal with it. She gently touched the edge of the blade, before immediately pulling back as the blade dug into her flesh.
"That's really sharp," she commented, "isn't it dangerous to walk around with that not in a sheathe?"
Jaune shrugged. "It is how I normally carry it. However, people normally tend to stay their distance from me anyway." Jaune said. With a gesture of the hand, he pointed out to Ruby that, in fact, there was a wide circle of empty space from the two, the other students not wanting to be near Jaune.
Ruby turned to him. "But... doesn't that get lonely?" she asked, "not having people around you?"
Jaune shrugged again. "I would not really know. I never really had anybody else aside from my master."
Ruby frowned, and then a bright smile appeared on her face. "Then how about you become my friend?" She asked.
Jaune took Chaoseater off of her leg and returned it to it's place on his back. He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye. He held out a hand, and gave her a smile.
"Sure. I would like that very much."
Beacon Academy Docks:Later...
Jaune stretched as he exited the Bullhead. Next to him stood Ruby, gushing over seeing so many different weapons. One thing that Jaune had learned on the Bullhead, was that Ruby was an absolute weapon-nut. Suddenly, he saw Ruby get pulled backwards by the cape by a hand with a yellow bracelet. Turning to see who the arm belonged to, he saw a well-endowed girl with long blonde hair that ended at her... derrier. Jaune raised an eyebrow at the girl's hair length.
Ruby groaned, before she perked up, as if remembering something. "Ah, Jaune! This is my sister, Yang!" She said, gesturing to the blonde girl.
Yang held out a hand to him with a small, yet confident smirk. "Nice to meet ya' Jaune! I'm Yang, Yang Xiao Long." She introduced herself.
Jaune took her hand, though he rose an eyebrow when he felt her trying to squeeze his hand to a pulp. He applied his own pressure, and she watched as the girl nearly jerked her hand away from him, the only indication that she was in pain being the twitch of her eyebrow.
"It is... nice to meet you too... My name is Jaune Arc." He greeted, letting go of her hand. Yang sighed before shooting him an amused glance.
"Strong grip ya' got there." She commented.
"...Thank you?" More of a question than a statement, as Jaune was confused as to why she tried to crush his hand in the first place.
"So! Where to next?" Yang asked. There was a small beat of silence, the only noise being the footsteps and random conversations of nearby students, before Jaune spoke.
"I must be going, now." Jaune said, looking down at a piece of paper in his hands.
Ruby looked over his arm and saw that it was a letter from Ozpin.
"I am required to see the Headmaster, it seems." Jaune murmured. He turned to Ruby with an apologetic smile.
"I apologize that I have to leave Ruby, Yang. Perhaps we will meet up later?"
Ruby pouted, but nodded anyways.
"Yeah... sure." She said dejectedly.
"C'mon Rubes! Let's go find the auditorium!" Yang exclaimed as she dragged Ruby away.
Jaune sighed with a smile. What a weird friend he made.
Ruby watched helplessly as Yang dragged her towards the school.
"Yaaanng! I can walk by myself!" She cried out indignantly. Yang chuckled, but otherwise let her sister go.
"I'm gonna go see some friends. So, catch ya' in a jiff!" Yang yelled, before speeding away.
Ruby stumbled as she spun in place, before she finally fell backwards.
Right into a pile of suitcases.
"Ugh! You dolt! Watch where you're going!" A snobby voice said. Ruby lucked up and saw a white-haired girl in a white dress scowling at her. She had pale blue eyes that seemed to freeze Ruby on the spot.
"I-I'm so s-sorry!" Ruby cried out.
"Do you have any idea what could have just happened?! This is Dust! Mined and refined by the SDC! We could have been blown off of this cliff!" The girl shouted.
"I-I'm s-sorry..." Ruby murmured. Suddenly, her nose began to itch. She looked up to see that the snobby girl was waving a vial in front of her, a bit of red Dust escaping into the air.
And right into Ruby's nose.
"Ah... Ah... ACHOO!"
Beacon Academy; Headmaster Ozpin's Office
Jaune smiled when he opened the door to the headmaster's office. As he entered, he saw a chair spun around so that it was facing away from the door, and towards the window.
"So... you are still playing the cool villain?" Jaune prodded.
"I would recognize that voice anywhere, Jaune. Or should I say, Vomit-Boy?" A voice shot back. Turning around with a small smile, was a man with a messy mane of silver hair, and hazel eyes hidden behind small bifocals that balanced on the edge of the man's nose. He wore a simple vest and suit, with a green undershirt, and a green scarf wrapped around his neck.
Jaune rolled his eyes, but otherwise seemed to not take the jab too seriously.
"How have you been Oz?" He asked, dragging a chair backwards and taking a seat in front of Ozpin's office.
Ozpin shook his head. "Jaune, it's headmaster here. I can't have students suspecting me of favoritism, now can I?"
Jaune smirked. "But I am one of your favorites anyways, aren't I?"
Ozpin's smiled seemed to widen a little. "I suppose that's true. Though I doubt I would like a repeat of the fight at Vincent." Ozpin casually mentioned.
Jaune's smirk was wiped right off of his face, in favor of a playful scowl. "Hey, I thought you, Death, and I agreed to never speak of that?" He growled with a smile.
"Jaune, if there is one thing you should know about me, is that I-" Ozpin was cut off as a loud explosion occurred, lightly shaking the office.
With practiced ease, Jaune stood up, sending his chair backwards, and had Chaoseater in his hands within seconds. He was just about to jump out of the window when Ozpin grabbed his shoulder.
Jaune looked back over with a raised eyebrow, but saw what Ozpin was referring to. On Ozpin's terminal, there was a cloud of red Dust, surrounded by what looked like suitcases. When the Dust cleared, Jaune saw that inside was his recently-made friend, Ruby Rose. She was being yelled at by... a familiar girl dressed in white.
"Hey... is that Weiss Schnee?" Jaune asked. Ozpin nodded, but then a smirk made it's way to his mouth when he saw Jaune staring at her longer than necessary.
"Well, Jaune. There aren't any rules going against relationships in this school, so go ahead!" Ozpin casually teased, taking a sip of his coffee afterwards.
Jaune turned his head slowly, before deadpanning at the silver-haired man. "Your humor is oh so grand, headmaster. Truly it is."
Ozpin chuckled, and turned his chair to face the window once more. "Well. We can catch up later. In the meantime, why don't you check on Miss Rose?" Ozpin suggested, gesturing down below towards the crater that Ruby was still sitting in.
Jaune smiled and nodded. "Yeah. I'll go do that."
Beacon Academy; Front Courtyard:
Ruby sighed dejectedly as the crabby girl in white left. "Welcome to Beacon..." She muttered to herself.
A pair of armored boots appeared in front of her. "Are you okay? That seemed rough. Do you need a hand?" A familiar voice asked. She looked up to find a smiling Jaune Arc with his hand held out to her.
She smiled in return, accepting the hand and pulling herself up. "Thanks Jaune. How'd the meeting with the headmaster go?"
He glanced at her. "It was surprisingly short. It was cut off by an explosion that seemed to have come from the courtyard. You wouldn't happen to know anything about it would you?" Jaune teased, a smile on his face as he looked at her in amusement.
Ruby flushed, before pulling the hood of her cape up. "Shut up." She mumbled, prompting Jaune to chuckle.
There was a moment of comfortable silence, the two walking side by side with each other. Jaune took this opportunity to start a conversation.
"So... I have shown you my weapon. Or rather, weapons. But I have yet to see yours." Jaune said as they stopped. Ruby's smile turned into a wide grin as she took out a red... something... from her back. Suddenly, it unfolded, revealing a large scythe that would probably even make Death a little envious. Jaune grinned at the thought of his master looking longingly at Ruby's scythe.
The blade of the scythe sunk into the ground. Jaune inspected the weapon, finding a trigger, bolt, magazine, and a barrel. The diameter of the barrel was pretty big.
"So... A scythe, huh? With an integrated .50 Cal. sniper I presume?" Jaune guessed. Ruby seemed to freeze.
When she didn't move for a few minutes, Jaune grew a tad worried. He waved a hand in front of her face.
"Ruby? Ruby, are you alright?" He asked. Ruby's head slowly turned to him, creeping him out in the process.
"Jaune..." She murmured.
A bead of sweat trickled down his face as he replied, "Y-Yes?"
There was a moment of silence.
And another...
And another...
Jaune was about to take off when Ruby disappeared. He looked around frantically, thinking that she was going to attack, when all of a sudden, a pair of arms wrapped around his right arm. He lifted up the limb to find Ruby hanging off of it like a monkey would a jungle gym.
"You're. The. BESTEST FRIEND I'VE EVER MADE!" She cried out, her legs kicking outwards.
"Wha...?"
"Nobody's ever guessed that my baby was a sniper before!" Ruby exclaimed.
"Um... Alright..." Jaune said, a little off-put by her behavior. Ruby let go of his arm, falling to the ground due to the height difference.
Ruby started talking about different weapons, meanwhile, Jaune did his best to try and listen to the girl's fast-paced speech pattern. Suddenly, she stopped speaking.
"Um... Jaune?"
"Yes?"
"...Where are we going?"
There was a beat of silence as the two looked around.
"...I have not the slightest clue."
Beacon Academy; Auditorium:
After 30 minutes of searching for directions, they finally stumbled into the Auditorium, which was filled to the brim with students. A familiar boisterous voice shouted amongst the already noisy environment.
"Ruby!" Yang called, waving at said person, "Over here! I saved you a spot!"
Ruby sped towards her, before the two descended into a playful argument about how Yang had left Ruby. Jaune chuckled to himself.
"Where else am I to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?" He said to himself, a smile on his face. Behind him, a red-haired girl with emerald green eyes, wearing bronze armor raised an eyebrow at the blonde Arc.
Jaune settled for sitting against the wall, ignoring everything around him. He took this time to play with his semblance a little. His semblance was the ability to turn his skin into stone, allowing him to absorb a lot more damage, and have a raging fire envelop his being, making it so that anyone who touches or attacks him will burn.
(A/N: If this ability sounds familiar to you, then it should be. It's a crossover between Immolation and Stoneskin, my two favorite wrath abilities aside from Blade Geyser.)
Jaune let his hand turn to stone, watching in silent amusement as the flames danced along his palm. He was vaguely aware of Ozpin saying something, but otherwise was too preoccupied to care. It was only when students started to file out did he stop playing with his semblance and follow along. He then felt someone tap his shoulder. He turned around and found that it was Yang, who had her hand out, that had tapped him. Next to her stood Ruby.
"C'mon Jaune! Let's go explore!" Yang said, trying to drag him away, before Ruby stopped her.
"Yang, we have to put our stuff away first!" Ruby said, dragging Jaune the other way. Jaune stood in the middle, helpless as the two sisters pulled him in different directions. So, with a sigh, Jaune decided to take a page from Death's book. He split himself into two forms, one, a transparent, pale green version of him, and another purple version. The two cracked their knuckles in sync and looked back towards the two sisters.
"What?" The two Jaunes asked in unison.
"How the..."
"Wha..."
The two sisters could only gape, much to the Jaunes' amusement.
"Well, come on you two," the Jaunes said, each on pulling one of the sisters with them, "let us go and explore."
Ruby seemed to have locked up completely, literally having to be dragged by the arm, he legs sliding across the smooth tiles of Beacon Academy. Meanwhile, Yang didn't have it as bad.
She was still locked up, but at least she was able to walk. The two Jaunes chuckled at the same time.
With Green Jaune and Ruby:
Jaune G. and Ruby stood in the locker room, the green aura construct waving his hand spectral hand in front of Ruby's face. "Ruby, are you alright?" He asked, poking her shoulder a bit.
Jaune G. sighed, before his gaze found a certain red scythe hanging off of Ruby's back. With a smirk, Jaune took it off of her, and folded out into it's scythe form. Mere seconds later, Jaune G. found the scythe's blade at his throat. He held up his hands in surrender.
Ruby was in front of him, glaring menacingly at him, despite her very short height and young age. She then snapped out of her trance, and seemed to realize that her friend was, in fact, spectral and green.
"Jaune?"
"Yes, and do not space out on me again, Ruby." Jaune G. said.
Ruby huffed. "Well, you can't blame me for being shocked that my friend can tear himself into two people, can you?" Ruby said as she gently put Crescent Rose into her locker. She closed the door and waited. Seeing her expectant expression, Jaune G. raised an eyebrow.
"What?" He asked.
Ruby gestured to the lockers. "Aren't you going to put your weapons away?" She asked.
Jaune G. shook his head. "I am unable to do that in this form, Ruby. I require both forms in order to separate from my weapons." Jaune explained, and as demonstration, tossed one of Beithir's Talons across the room, only for it to reappear at Jaune G.'s waist.
"See?"
Ruby nodded. She sighed before she exited the locker room, Jaune G. in tow. She decided to take a nap, given that Jaune G. had given her one of the most troublesome headaches she's ever had. And she has a Yang.
That's saying something.
With Jaune P. and Yang:
Jaune P. continued to drag Yang through the halls of Beacon Academy. He sighed as Yang was still unresponsive. He pushed open the door leading to the courtyard, holding it open with one hand while pulling Yang through with the other, and sat Yang down onto a nearby bench, hoping that her brain would reboot. He sat down next to her, his elbows resting on his knees and his hands clasped together, his thumbs holding up his chin.
They sat there for a while, and Jaune P. decided to get in just a small bit of practice with his scythes. He was more used to using Chaoseater, as Beithir's Talons were a last minute gift from Death. But he had some experience with scythes, given that Death was a master at them, second to none. Jaune P. connected the two rings at the handles of the scythes, forming the two scythes into one passive scythe with a large curved blade, and a smaller, straight blade at the other end. Jaune P. threw the large scythe in a circle, a larger, purple aura apparition of his scythe following the real scythe's path, before catching it, and stabbing it into the grass. He looked over to Yang, to see if she had snapped out of her daze yet.
She had not.
So, he continued to practice, practicing regular attacks and aura-enhanced attacks. He had just finished a combo that ended with him throwing his scythe forwards, spinning it vertically while enhanced with aura, and catching it, when a small snore caught his attention. Looking back, he saw Yang had fallen asleep, with her head tilted backwards. He sighed.
Disconnecting his scythes, folding them up, and hanging back onto his belt, Jaune P. carefully grabbed Yang's arm and draped it over his shoulders. He grunted as he started dragging her back into the building, her snores filling the hallways with sound.
Beacon Academy; Ball Room:Later that night...
Jaune snorted as he looked around, watching as a large amount of the boys walked around shirtless, hoping to impress the female students. Jaune himself, however, had settled for merely removing his armor and weapons, leaving him in his black pants, dark gray thermal tee-shirt, his gray cowl and hood, which was still up, and his combat boots. He sat against the far wall, an open view of all the students available to him. He looked over to where Ruby and Yang were. The two of them were fast asleep already, no doubt thanks to himself. Jaune chuckled.
He looked to his right, and found a black-haired girl with amber eyes, reading a book. He noted the large black bow that sat on top of her head, and tried not stare at her... rather revealing set of pajamas. Unfortunately, the girl caught his gaze and raised an eyebrow. Jaune gave a small smile before returning to his own business. He started looking around the room once more, before a teacher came into the room. He recognized the teacher as Miss Goodwitch, the strict blonde that had already given two students after-school detention.
"Students, I would advise that you sleep now. You have a long day tomorrow, and your Initiation will require you to be at your best shape. I will be turning off the lights shortly, and in the meantime, I suggest you prepare for bed. That is all." And with that, the woman left. Jaune watched as the bathroom was flooded with people carrying toothbrushes, acne kits, and even a few hair-rollers.
He shook his head before let his body rest, and his head hang. He barely heard the conversations of the students around him, before he darkness clouded his vision.
A/N: Another story! I know right? Why am I writing this when I already have one mainstream story and a bunch of others as well? I have no clue. But, as usual, if you enjoy this chapter, and would like to see more, please send your reviews, and I'll try and write a 2nd chapter. Until then...
This is IU13, signing out!