Author's notes!

I'm so happy to see this taking off so quickly, and I'm thankful for every follow, favorite, and review I get! This chapter is a bit longer than most I will do, but I wanted to get most of the stuff covered in the show over with before I started on the new stuff! Speaking of, so far things have been very similar to the show, but that most definitely won't be the case moving forward. Major events that have Jaune's influence in them will change now that Jaune is stronger, apathetic, and brash.

To those wondering why he isn't more awkward and aggressive, his family is huge and has basically tried to mold him into a polite young boy, which he tries to be when he can.

Chapter 2

Initiation

"It's morning it's morning it's morning it's morninnnggg!"

Jaune awakes with a groan, looking over as the loud girl with orange hair pestering a boy beside her.

That poor, poor boy.

After the noisy girl and her victim leave, Jaune sits up and cracks his neck, then his knuckles. Okay, this is the first day at Beacon. There'll be team assignments at some point, but all Jaune has to worry about is passing initiation first. His father didn't go to Beacon, though, so it's probably just a second written test, or something like that.

Hopefully, at least.

Stretching and standing up, Jaune shambles his way to take a shower and then get dressed in his casual combat gear once more. Fashion is for stuck up idiots and his sisters. Jeans, hoodie, armor, and that's all he needs to be a happy man. Or, well, a less irritated man.

"Wait… locker 636…?"

Jaune sighs as he sets the note down and heads to get breakfast. Eat first, equip after. That makes sense, right? Shaking his head, Jaune fits his chest armor into place and ruffles his hair, smiling at nothing in particular and preparing himself for a horrible day of human interaction. He shivers at the thought.

As he steps into the cafeteria, Jaune gets in line and glowers at the floor. Dust, it's so noisy in this damned room, a pit of gross, loud people. Maybe he could see about hanging out with that trash can from yesterday. Then when he was done with his food, he could just drop it in and leave! Wouldn't it be great if you could just do that with people too?

A man can dream, can't fault him for that!

Jaune grabs some pancakes and finds a table to himself, silently eating and trying to ignore how loud everything is.

"Jaune!"

Said man looks up with a frown, but it lessens as Ruby darts onto a seat near him. Not too close though, which he appreciates. Unfortunately, a tall blonde wrongly assumes the space there is meant for her, and she squeezes in, making Jaune scoot away and pick at his food.

"This is my sister, Yang! Yang, this is Jaune from yesterday!"

Yang looks down at him, due to him slouching in both anger and nervousness. "Vomit Boy?"

Jaune's face remains blank. "You two really don't look alike, for sisters."

Ruby nods with a big grin. "Half-sisters!"

Jaune nods, sitting up a bit straighter. "Let me guess, dad slept around?"

Yang raises an eyebrow and frowns at him. "Got something to say, Vomit Boy?"

"No, just, like, 99% of the time it's the dad that sleeps around. Just kinda figured. Also, my name is Jaune."

"Yaaaaang, be niiiiiiice," Ruby begs, pulling on Yang's arm as she glares at the rather bored Jaune.

He waves his hand, though, smiling slightly. "It's fine Ruby. I'm reaaaally bad with people, uh, Yang. Your sister said she was too, so I thought it might be easier for us to… be friends, I suppose?"

"You suppose, eh, fancy pants?"

"I thought my name was Vomit Boy."

"Oh, it is, I've just never heard anyone use the word 'suppose' in like… ever."

Ruby slams her hands on the table repeatedly, quite literally begging her sister for attention. "Weiss might!"

"That isn't a good thing, sis."

Ruby sputters and waves her hands around wildly while Jaune chuckles and stands up, having eaten some pancakes.

"I'm going to go find my weapon now, alright? Nice to meet you, Goldilocks."

"You're blond too, Vomit Boy!"

"Yeah but I'd like to see you mauled by Ursai."

Rather than taking offense, Yang just chuckles and punches Jaune in the shoulder. Playful, but enough to bruise for sure. Shaking his head and smirking, he walks away and throws his leftovers in another silent trash comrade.

Walking out of the cafeteria, Jaune checks his scroll for the time. He's still got time before initiation starts, but since he has to find the locker room, then find his locker, then find where initiation actually takes place, he should probably leave now. This place needs a damn map.

Jaune bumps into a tall man while complaining in his head. Jaune remembers what his mother yelled at him to do when he does stuff like this. "Sorry."

Jaune looks at the man he bumped into, a strangely dressed man with green hair and thick glasses. He's holding what seems like coffee.

"It's quite alright! Good to see a student up early, initiative requires initiation or, rather, the opposite!"

"Right…."

Jaune flees at a speed he did not know was possible. That fast speech pattern, it will haunt his nightmares. He crashes into the locker room, gasping for air.

"I know! We'll have some sort of signal! Like a distress signal!"

Dear gods above, please no! The orange-haired devil gasps.

"A secret signal so we can find each other in the forest! Can you imitate a sloth?"

Jaune goes blank. Nora and Ren. That's their names. He must avoid them at all costs. Jaune looks back down at his note and huffs, looking around the increasingly crowded locker room with intense apprehension. He mutters about not even having to count that high last night while he shambles through the hordes of horrible, horrible people.

In his hurried state, he bumps into a tall, redheaded woman dressed in bronze. He's about to slip away when a certain snob dressed in white points at him ferociously.

"Do you have any manners?"

"Huh? Right, uh, sorry. I'm bad at paying attention."

The redhead turns to meet him, her gorgeous green eyes and smile as bright as the sun doing absolutely nothing to Jaune's irritation.

"Oh, it's fine!" The redhead bows her head softly.

"So… Am I excused now?"

The girl in white's eyes go wide. "Do you even know who we are?!"

"…Should I?"

"I am Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company and this is Pyrrha! She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row! A new record!"

"…The wha?"

Weiss waves her arms in anger, stomping off. "These people know no respect!"

Jaune rubs the back of his head, frowning. He really, really isn't good with people, is he?

Pyrrha taps him on the shoulder, making him turn to look at her. He's quick to remember to apologize, however. "Sorry I didn't know you, or the, uh, tournaments. My dad's a huntsman so I didn't really bother to watch stuff like that."

Pyrrha's genuine grin would melt his heart if it could. "No, no, it's quite alright! What is your name?"

"Oh. Jaune, Jaune Arc."

"It's very nice to meet you Jaune!"

"You too, Pyrrha. Anyway, I need to find my locker, which is, uh…. Somewhere around here. Does this place have a single map?"

Pyrrha giggles softly, shaking her head. "I'm afraid it doesn't. If you tell me the number, I can help you look for it, perhaps."

Jaune grins and quickly nods. Maybe he's not… terrible at making friends? Pyrrha seems nice, if a bit too happy go lucky all the time. "If anyone stops you for any autographs or something I'm leaving."

She puts her hand over her mouth as she quietly giggles again. "Then I'll make sure not to sign any, Jaune."

He nods again and Pyrrha leads the way to locker 636, where Jaune grabs his weapon, just in time for an announcement.

"Would all first-year students please report to Beacon Cliff for initiation? Again, all first-year students report to Beacon Cliff immediately."

"Beacon Cliff? The hell is that!"

"Don't worry Jaune, I can lead you there."

"Thanks, Pyr. You seem pretty good at leading."

Pyrrha's face gets a bit pink for some reason, and she quickly nods, leading Jaune through the crowds of freshmen and to the cliffs. They're actually some of the first students there, which makes standing around beside what Jaune would consider an incredibly beautiful woman quite… awkward. They're told to step onto silver tiles, and Jaune is quick to comply.

Weiss, the she-devil, is off to one side preparing herself. Nora and Ren, the other she-devil and her victim, are chatting to his left. Thankfully the rather quiet Pyrrha is acting as a buffer between himself and the horrible, horrible girls. Jaune looks to the two professors standing ahead of him and waiting for the full group.

"Professor? Why are we at the cliffs?"

"Initiation," the blonde woman replies with a glare.

"I mean yes that was fairly obvious but I meant what're we going to do?"

"We will tell you," she responds with an even harder glare.

"Right now would be preferable. You could always just repeat it to the rest."

"I do not repeat myself."

"Good for you I guess but that still doesn't mean you can't tell me, like, a summary now and then the full shaboozle when everyone is here."

Pyrrha cracks a smile at the word shaboozle, desperately trying not to break out laughing in front of a very intimidating professor. Jaune doesn't seem remotely phased by the glare he's being given.

"Mister Arc, correct?"

"Yup."

"Do not speak again until told."

Jaune raises a brow, and isn't sure whether he's supposed to respond to that. He resorts to waving his hands around and trying to make some kind of sense. Naturally, he's failing, and decides to give up. Thankfully, the angry glare of the blonde professor eventually moves away from him. The other students slowly arrive, including Ruby and Yang.

One professor, the guy in green that had given the speech earlier, steps up and sips from his mug. "For years, you have trained to become warriors, and today, your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest."

The other professor with the mean glare continues for him. "Now, I'm sure many of you have heard rumors about the assignment of 'teams.' Well, allow us to put an end to your confusion. Each of you will be given teammates... today."

Jaune raises an eyebrow and taps his foot on the silver tile. Well, that's not too bad, the sooner the better. The professor in green speaks up once more. "These teammates will be with you for the rest of your time here at Beacon, so it is in your best interest to be paired with someone with whom you can work well. That being said, the first person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years."

Jaune rubs his temples while Ruby's world shatters. Just great, the very first…

"Wait, landing?"

The professor continues without answering Jaune's question. "After you've partnered up, make your way to the northern end of the forest. You will meet opposition along the way. Do not hesitate to destroy everything in your path... or you will die. You will be monitored and graded through the duration of your initiation, but our instructors will not intervene. You will find an abandoned temple at the end of the path containing several relics. Each pair must choose one and return to the top of the cliff. We will regard that item, as well as your standing, and grade you appropriately. Are there any questions?"

Jaune immediately raises his hand.

"Good. Now, take your positions."

Jaune's eyes go wide as everyone else makes weird poses. "Uh, did I miss the part where we get parachutes?"

"No, you will be falling."

Jaune watches some students down the line go flying off. "Right, right, so we're landing on, like, mattresses or something?"

"No."

"I'm pretty sure there's a phrase abou-"

Jaune is thrown into the air mid-sentence, sighing to himself.

"C-come on, stupid damn-"

Jaune stops tugging at the spear pinning him to the tree to see Weiss stumble upon him. He shows her his favorite finger, to which she turns around and heads back the way she came. Heh, nailed it.

"Jaune?"

Jaune looks back down, seeing the nice quiet redhead from before. She smiles at him gently, continuing. "Do you… need a map…?"

"Har har, very funny. Wait, do they give out maps?"

Pyrrha giggles, jumping up and dislodging him from the tree. "So, then, we're partners?"

Jaune nods, rolling his shoulder. "If you were trying to kill me, your aim needs work."

"Oh no no! I just heard you didn't have a landing strategy and figured I could help…"

"That's the thing! Why weren't we told in advance?! How did you and everyone else know about that?!"

Pyrrha frowns as they begin to walk through the forest. "Secondary combat schools taught us."

"See, I didn't go to one!"

Pyrrha's eyes go wide and she blinks at him. "And you were accepted to Beacon?"

"Well, mostly. Still have to pass this, right?"

Pyrrha smiles and nods. Dust, she's… actually being quiet, but politely quiet rather than the emo reading a book last night? Jaune smiles brightly, walking silently through the forest with her. It's a comfortable silence, the two hunters-in-training listening for sounds of Grimm. They both stop, though, when the sounds of gunshots and explosions start in the distance. They look to each other and nod, continuing to walk north. About ten minutes or so of hiking in silence pass before Pyrrha stops ahead of him and holds her hand out, indicating him to stop. Ahead of them is the mouth of a dark cave.

"Think this is it?" he asks, drawing his blade.

"I'm not sure it is… Look at these drawings."

Jaune walks up to the drawings on the side of the cave, depicting armed men fighting Grimm. "Doesn't seem like a good sign, really."

Pyrrha nods at him. "It would be best to avoid for now, but we can remember its location for later."

"Wait, do you have a map?"

"No…"

"Then how are we going to remember its location!"

Pyrrha thinks to herself for a moment before shrugging. Jaune shakes his head and starts walking north again, Pyrrha following close by. This silence is a biiiiit more awkward, but Jaune doesn't care enough about his new partner to make small talk. She's… pretty, and quiet, and professional, and honestly a great partner for him, yes…

"Are you alright?" she asks him. Jaune blinks, realizing he's been staring.

"I'm fine, just thinking."

"About?"

"You."

Pyrrha's cheeks get a bit pink and she quiets down, but continues the hike with him. "…What about me?"

"You seem like the heroic type."

"I suppose I am, Jaune… Thank you."

"That wasn't a compliment."

"Oh?" She stops and turns to him curiously. "What do you mean?"

"You seem like the type to throw yourself in front of a train to save a baby duck is what I mean."

"Ah… Well… I… wouldn't go that far…"

"Wouldn't you? People seem to like small animals for some reason."

Pyrrha frowns and doesn't respond, continuing to walk.

"All I'm saying is I'd rather have a partner than a martyr."

"…Okay, Jaune. Are you not the heroic type?"

"Not at all, really."

"Then… why become a huntsman at all?"

"…That's a good question, honestly. I guess it's kind of like the equivalent of college for me. Like, it's something I've always just thought I'd do because of my family and everything else. Then, after I've trained, I can just… find something I like. Own a coffee shop or something."

"A coffee shop?"

"Well I wouldn't have to worry about robberies, being trained as a huntsman!"

"I… I guess that is… a good dream, Jaune!"

Jaune nods, and the two keep walking.

"Just so you know, Pyr, I'm terrible at talking to people so if my answers make you sad or something just tell me directly."

"O-okay!"

"You stutter a lot."

"I'm sorry."

Jaune rubs the back of his head as they both walk into a clearing, just in time to see Ruby crash headfirst onto the emo, Blake, from earlier. Jaune and Pyrrha rush over to the scene, and Jaune looks to the very confused Yang. "Did your sister just fall from the sky?"

Yang shakes her head, completely confused. "I…"

"YEEEEEEEEEEEEE-HAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAW!"

DEAR GODS NO

Nora comes riding in on an Ursa, killing it with her hammer before jumping off and giggling.

Yang shakes her head again, eyes wide. "I…"

Nora looks around for her victim, skipping across the open field. She finds him, when he erupts from the treeline being chased by a massive deathstalker. "Nora!"

"I tolllddddd you that glowy thing was gonna be fun!"

Jaune rubs his temples as Yang starts yelling about everything needing to calm down.

For once, he's on her side.

I wonder how that trash can is handling things. I miss it.

If Jaune could cry easily, he would be a sobbing mess right now as he stands beside his partner and… and…

"Jaune Arc, Lie Ren, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie. The four of you retrieved the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Juniper. Led by… Jaune Arc!"

Jaune shakes his head and rubs his temples. "Dear God…."

Pyrrha smiles and shoulder bumps him, to which he sighs and leads his team to sit down and watch the final team form.

"Blake Belladonna, Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Yang Xiao Long. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team Ruby. Led by... Ruby Rose!"

Jaune shudders, holding himself. At least he's not on that team.

"I'm so haaaaapppy, Renny!"

Jaune sniffles and puts his head in his hands. Don't cry, hold it together man.

Just… four… more… years…