Arc Life #2-Stranger Friends

Beacon

I wasn't dead.

This scene. I've seen it before. Exiting the airship, a familiar bundle of red cloth lied in the center of a minor crater that ruined the once smooth pavement of Beacon's entrance. Further along, I could see another figure clad in all white to accentuate her white flowing heir huffing along as she dragged her precious cargo away. The girl that was left behind in the result of her explosive sneeze, silently and awkwardly made motions as if trying to call back the girl in white. Despite the obviously bad first impression and the savage dressing down, I could see how the young huntress in training wished to apologize and make amends as though she thought doing so would at least allow her a chance to possibly become friends with the girl.

The scene was all too familiar. This was a recreation of my first day at Beacon. But could this merely be an image of my past? If I were truly dead then I could not rule out the idea that I was just reliving scenes from my life. I don't know the rules of the afterlife. Perhaps this was just an aspect, and something I just had to get used to.

But what if... What if I was alive still?

What if I was back in the past?

I hesitantly walked up to my 'first' friend here. As I tried to confirm whether or not the both of us were either dead, if this was just an illusion, or I somehow went backward in time.

"Hi there. Having a rough start?" I gently asked as I approached.

Turning around with a surprised expression and a flutter of rose petals as she had hastened her movement with her Semblance, the girl eeked out a short yelp. Silver eyes shot wide open and full of life as she tried to take in my form as she tried to process who I was.

As I waited patiently for her to respond, the girl slowly began to realize that I was, in fact, talking to her. That I had not made a mistake. That she was possibly keeping me waiting.

"I'm sorry! Oh my god, you're not going to start yelling at me too for being rude! I_"

Guess that cements it. The events differed from my original version of it and I was able to talk with somebody rather than be forced to watch scenes. I'm still alive! Suck it, Death!

Not wanting for her to talk herself into a corner due to her nervous habit, I mirthfully chuckled and quickly tried to squash any possible worries that had popped in her head.

"No worries. My name is Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies love it."

Goddamit brain! Even with a second chance, you still resort to making the same corny introduction. Haven't established that that line does not work at all?

"Do they now?" she asked with a light giggle.

"Let me correct that. They like it."

"They like it?" Ruby asked as a small grin still stuck to her face as she became more at ease with my presence.

"That's what the last girl said when I introduced myself."

"HAHAHAHA!"

"Glad to see you're feeling better now, Miss..." I continued.

"Ruby Rose," she responded with a chirp.

"Well, Ruby. I know that I found you lying in a crater_"

"Can we please not dwell on that?" Ruby interrupted with a cute pout and blush as she tried to fold herself into her red cloak.

"Maybeeeeee?"

"Jaune!"

"Alright, alright! But only if you will be my friend."

"Your friend? Me? But_"

"No buts. Be my friend... Please?"

"But_"

"Nope!"

"I'm awkward," Ruby said as she started kicking the ground shyly.

"So am I."

"We don't know anything about each other."

"My mother says that strangers are just friends you haven't met yet," I shrugged.

"I'm fifteen."

"I'm seventeen. Also, nice job in getting in Beacon so early."

"You could do so much better_"

"Nope! Ruby, I want you to be my friend."

"Why?"

"Do you not want to be my friend?" I asked while feigning a hurt expression.

"Of course I do!"

"Great, then we're friends! Glad we could agree with that," I said with a smile.

"... We're friends? We're friends. We're Friends! My first friend at Beacon!" Ruby slowly said with increasing excitement as the reality settled in her mind. Her exuberance soon turned into a dance of rose petals as she quickly zipped around me in excitement. It was extremely endearing as her happiness just filled the atmosphere. It was strange that she was so hesitant and happy this time. The first time that we had interacted, she wasn't nearly this ecstatic. I wonder what made her that much happier this time. Was it the conversation or had I done something to warrant a different reaction? The only other thing that I think that could have altered her reactions was that she didn't witness me vomiting on her sister's shoes. I could see how that would make her happier knowing that I wasn't ridiculously pathetic, but not why it would make her more hesitant this time around. If anything, I figured she would want to be friends with a normal person rather than Vomit Boy. Something to possibly ponder at a later point.

Wanting to tease the girl ever so lightly I decided to continue the conversation.

"Ah, as your first friend here at Beacon I reserve the right to bring up the fact that I found you in a crater. How does Crater Face sound?"

Revenge is so sweet. No one gets to call me Vomit Boy.

"Jaune, you said you would drop that!"

"But as your friend, I reserve the right to bring it up."

"Then I'm going to call you... you... Mamas Boy," Ruby muttered out as she tried to scramble for something in our conversation to pull from.

"Nope!"

"Nope?! You don't get a say in that! It's my nickname for you!"

"It's not nearly funny enough, and you'd be surprised how many people are in fact Mamas Boys. Hardly fair for me to let you call me something that could be anyone. Try again... Crater Face!" I laughed out.

"Don't be a meanie, and I will think of something... later."

"Okay, Okay. I'll lay off for now. So how are you feeling now?"

"I'm feeling great!" Ruby responded while puffing her chest out.

"That's great to hear. Are you excited for Beacon?"

"Duhhhh. It's Beacon. It's the place to go for anyone trying to become a Huntress," she said before staring at me and continuing with,"...or Hunter."

Choosing to ignore how she seemed to have forgotten that she was talking to a guy midconversation, I asked, "What are you most excited for?"

"The weapons of course! It's like meeting new people but better since it's like looking at a person's soul. Take a look at my baby, Crescent Rose, for instance."

With a quick flourish, she drew the collapsed weapon from her back and quickly twirled the contraption as it began to unfold. In mere moments the weapon extended itself into a long pole taller than Ruby herself with blade quickly making a menacing sound as it cut through the air to form a blood red scythe. To finish the reveal Ruby quickly slammed the weapon down with the blade digging through solid brick and concrete. All in all, a masterpiece of a weapon in the eyes of a novice such as myself. Possibly a masterpiece in the eyes of an expert as well. It was a glorious weapon of death...

But it was something I had already seen before.

I whistled, "A customized scythe with a built-in high impact sniper rifle. I'm assuming you use the blade as a stand to reduce the recoil or you use the recoil as part of a way for you to move quickly in the air or to change what direction you make be going. Don't see too many people who use or even know how to make scythes. Did you make it yourself?"

"..."

Hearing nothing but a high pitched squealing barely within my ability to hear, I could only see Ruby with her hands clasped together with her eyes open and full of adoration(?).

"Oh my god!" Ruby managed to finally squeal out before tackling me to give me the most affectionate hug I have ever had from a nonfamily member.

"Ruby?"

"You're a weapon geek like me! Oh my god! We're going to be the best of friends! And... Wait... Do you know how to make cookies?"

Startled by the sudden change in topic, I automatically responded, "I can bake."

"Best Friend Of All Time!"

"Okay, Ruby," I laughed as the excited girl wrapped herself around me.

"So, I showed you mine. Can I see yours?"

Oh boy, she was going to disappointed that I didn't have some epic death machine after she had come to the conclusion that I was some weapon nut like her.

"Well... I haven't got anything as impressive as Crescent Rose, but I do have a classic. It's a weapon that's been passed down my family for generations as an Arcs first weapon. It's called Crocea Mors," I said as I slowly drew out my families blade from its sheath, "A simple blade that never needs maintenance with a sheath capable of turning into a supposedly unbreakable shield."

"OOOhhh!"

Well, that was different. Ruby was far more interested this time than last time. The only thing different was that this time I presented the sword with far less self-depreciation. I guess Dad was right when he said girl's liked confidence.

"So can it do anything else?"

There we go.

"No... but I think that's because it's supposed to be a starting weapon to help me figure out what works best for me. It's ability to not be destroyed makes it a good and reliable beginner weapon. It's also pretty balanced so that I can probably figure out if I need a heavier weapon or not. There's probably a lot of other small details that give me an idea of what I can do to craft the perfect weapon for me."

"Crafting the perfect weapon?! I can do that! If you have any ideas, come to me so that we can make you the very best weapon!"

"Of course, Ruby."

"I'm so excited!"

"Me too, Ruby. Me too. Now, why don't we head on for orientation? We have been talking for some time now."

Beacon-Auditorium

"Ruby, I saved you a spot!" a girl hollered out somewhere in the auditorium.

"Yang! You ditched me!" Ruby hollered back as she quickly dashed away. I would have lost her had it not been for her distinctive cloak and the trail of red rose petals showing the path that she had hurtled across.

And there was now another familiar face, as I casually walked to where Ruby had dashed off to. I noticed that there were more spaces around Ruby's blonde haired sister. I guess we did manage to get here quicker since we weren't lost this time around as we had unintentionally taken the scenic route.

With no real reason to go elsewhere, I simply decided to go introduce myself once more.

"Hello. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue, ladies like it."

Seriously brain!? Why must you insist on using that line? Sure it's worked three for three this time around, but it's still lame.

"Like?"

"Used to be love, but the ladies have convinced me otherwise," I sheepishly said.

"Snrk!"

Yeah. Saw that coming from both Ruby and Yang. But at least their laughing with me and not at me this time. Right?

I'll take what I can get. Honestly, a much better meeting than the first time. All things considering.

"I'm Ruby's sister. Name's Yang Xiao-Long. But you can call me Yang, Mr. Adorkable."

"You know, I feel I should be offended that you just called me adorkable..."

"But?"

"... At least being adorkable is... cute? Better than what you probably call all the other guys trying to get your number."

"Are you hitting on me?"

"Only if it's working."

"Yep, Mr. Adorkable it is. Where did you find this guy, Rubes?"

"It's more like he found me after I exploded after you ditched me!"

"Geez, Rubes. You already had a meltdown? We haven't even met the teachers."

"Literally!"

"I can attest to Crater Face's account of the events," I not so helpfully supplied.

"Jaune!"

"Hey, you brought the subject up, Crater Face. You can't get on my case for supporting your statement."

"Wait, my baby sister actually exploded?!"

"Yes! After you left, I ran into this crabby girl and accidentally knocked her stuff over, then she got angry and started yelling at me, and she was shaking this bottle of Dust in my face, and then I sneezed and then there was an explosion! I tried to apologize, but she just kept yelling at me and_"

"There you are!" a very irritated voice sounded out.

"Oh god, it's happening again!" Ruby screamed as she quickly used her Semblance to hide along my side.

Looking towards where Ruby ran from, I was greeted with the fuming face of one angry princess.

"Hello?" I greeted hesitantly. I honestly had no idea how to feel about this encounter. On one hand, I originally found Weiss to be quite attractive like one of those princesses that are shown in stories. On the other hand, my previous life experience of her had her act as though I were some pest even when I had not talked to her before. Though to be fair, I did not make the best of first impressions given that I had tried to hit on her in the locker room. Didn't help that my attempt of calling her by an endearing nickname just managed to turn her annoyance to full blown anger.

"Not talking to you scraggly," she hissed.

Yep, any attraction I had held for her just froze and shattered into nothingness. Hard to hold affection for someone when they loathed your very existence before even having any chance to acknowledge your existence. I literally just said hello and she was treating me like dirt. I guess she really was insulting me before when she made mention of cute boys in my first life. The sarcasm should have been obvious, but I guess I never noticed it before due to my rattled nerves and desperation for female attention.

In any case, I was not going to stand for her behavior.

"And you rudely interrupted a conversation I was having with my friend. Seeing how neither of us wants to talk to each other, and you're scaring my friend, would you kindly leave? I'd very much like to be able to talk with my friends in peace."

"Do you even know who I am?" she asked as she gave this baffled expression. Figures that the thought that someone not kissing her ass was something she couldn't comprehend. Probably used to everyone putting her on a pedestal in an attempt to stay in her good graces. After all, she was... "Weiss Schnee, heiress to the SDC," I stated briefly as I recalled how proud she was of that fact.

"You know that, and you have the audacity to tell me what to go away?"

"Merely a suggestion, given how you haven't exactly endeared yourself to us," I calmly pointed out how I was annoyed, Yang was starting to simmer, and Ruby was scared into hiding behind me.

"I'm a Schnee. A Schnee Demand And Deserve Respect!"

"So what? I'm an Arc, but you don't see me swinging my name around like some weapon to get people to either fear or worship me."

Oh god, mouth! What are you doing! Think before you speak! Why am I escalating the situation!?

"How dare you!? I'm not doing that at all!"

"Could have fooled me," I responded as I gestured to Yang and Ruby as a means to de-escalate the situation. Hopefully, Weiss would be dissuaded of continuing this argument when she saw the results of her labor. Either that or Yang's angry snarl. Yeah, something tells me that Yang would be too entirely winning to kick Ice Queen's ass to the curb if Weiss couldn't take the hint that she wasn't welcome.

In any case, how could Ice Queen not see what she was doing? Ruby is literally hiding from her and she keeps telling me how disrespectful I am for not saying how wonderful she is or agreeing with her on everything.

"Just... Argh! Look, I just came here to tell your friend to be more careful! Her carelessness could and did hurt someone! Namely, me!"

"Did she apologize for it?"

"Wh_"

"Yes or no question. Did she apologize?"

"Yes, but_"

"Also, from my perspective, there was something strange about the events. Did you or did you not start shaking the Dust bottle in front of her face?"

"Th_"

"Really. Let's try this again. Yes or no question. Did you shake a bottle of dust in front of her face? The same bottle that had to have been packaged improperly for it to have released the volatile and dangerous Dust into the air and caused my friend to sneeze? Or perhaps the bottle was damaged, but you decided to forgo properly checking whether or not the Dust could be dangerous before shaking it about?" I said with a glare to hopefully just end this conversation.

It wasn't enough.

"Yes..." she said as she glowered at me. No doubt she had more choice words to state about my attitude but had refrained knowing that I would just interrupt her again.

Why did Weiss have to be so damn stubborn?! Can she just go away? I tried to excuse her on her behalf and tried to give her good reasons why continuing this argument was not something she wanted. What do I have to do? Piss her off to the extent that she just storms off in anger? I could always just let her get to Ruby, but that was just something I could not allow to happen. Ruby was my friend, and I just couldn't abandon her to Weiss's temper.

Guess that really left only one option to chasing off the girl.

"Then I believe you owe my friend an apology for quite a number of things."

"For her blowing me up!"

"Which she has apologized for. But had you simply stored the Dust properly and not shaken it in front of someone's face, you wouldn't have exploded. Or is it my friend's fault to that you can't properly store your Dust? Or is that simply the standard set by the SDC for all of their Dust products? Or perhaps you don't feel any regret for those because you intended for something bad to happen to Ruby? After all, you could have knowing shaken explosive Dust in front of Ruby's face as a means to physically harm her out of some petty need to get back at a girl that had accidentally walked back into your luggage."

"... Are you insinuating that_"

"Look, Ice Queen," I leveled a smoldering glare (how convincing it was, I don't know) before continuing with, "We both know that this conversation is going to just get worse from here on out. Neither you nor I want that. So let's just cut to the chase. Either apologize and walk away or just run along."

"I won't forget this slight," she hissed as she was far too stubborn to just accept that she was in the wrong.

"Run along now," I cheekily repeated.

Without even responding, she turned and strutted away. She only gave a momentary glance back towards us as she drew away as if trying to process the conversation and who I was before carrying on. Or she might have been memorizing my face so that she would remember who was on her shit list. Doesn't matter since I pretty sure that I not only burned the bridge, and Weiss and I would forever be at odds. I could only hope that this wouldn't come to haunt me later in life.

The moment she was out of earshot and lost interest in me, all my earlier bravado finally crumbled. My entire body started to heat up. I could feel everything shake and couldn't help but let out an enormous sigh as I desperately tried to get my heart rate under control. I was failing miserably. I literally argued with the heiress of the biggest and most shady business corporation around. This was my second chance at life. I literally experienced a miracle of miracles and I nearly threw it away on something so trivial.

But at least Ruby didn't have to deal with Weiss.

"You okay there?" Yang asked hesitantly with an interesting glimmer in her eyes.

"Did I just?"

"With Ice Queen? Yep!"

"I'm sorry..."

Looking down, I saw Ruby looking dreary and riddled with guilt.

"You've got nothing to apologize for, Ruby," I tried with as much confidence that I could muster. So basically zilch.

"But that crabby girl got angry at you too! And she even attempted to threaten you!"

"Something tells me that she already hated my guts before all of this," I snorted.

"But you two have never even bet before! She might have been mean to you because you're my friend! And I don't want you to suffer just because of my mistake!"

"Trust me, Ruby. Something tells me that we are the exact opposite of soulmates."

"Soul enemies?"

"Probably nothing so drastic, but yeah."

"So tell me, Jaune. Why did you decide to get into an argument in the first place? You could have just easily sat by and let Weiss ream my sister for like thirty seconds. Certainly would keep you out of the crosshairs," Yang questioned with an expectant look on her as though she were searching for something.

"I... don't know. Aside from the fact that something about the girl rubbed me the wrong way, she just seemed so unreasonably angry at Ruby. I get that Ruby accidentally caused a dust explosion, but Weiss decided to seek her out to yell at her after Ruby apologized and refused to acknowledge that she was partially at fault. It just didn't feel right to just sit back and watch," I carefully mused as my attention drifted back down to the little reaper for a moment before coming back up to meet Yang's eyes.

Looking at Yang, she seemed to like my response.

"You know what? I like you. Something tells me that we are going to be the best of friends here at Beacon," Yang claimed as she quickly caught me in a headlock. Unfortunately for Ruby, who had still been clinging to my side, she was now the meat in this impromptu sandwich.

"Jaune-Jaune!" a quick cry yelled behind as another person decided to join our impromptu group hug.

"Would you look at that. A friend of yours?"

"Yang, Nora. Nora, Yang. Say hi, Ruby! Also, where's Ren?"

"Can't breath!"

"Maybe Mr. Adorkable doesn't do you justice. Maybe Lady Killer or Playboy is a better fit," Yang playfully mused as she proceeded to squeeze ever so slightly harder. Or maybe that was Nora. Can't really tell since both girls are absurdly strong.

"Sis, too tight! Need air!"

"So I see you made some new friends already."

"Come in and join this group hug, Renny!"

With a quick shrug, the boy joined. Most likely to appease the bubbly girl. Thankfully he didn't squeeze, opting to only lay on the wall that Nora was a part of.

"As much as I'm feeling the love here, I think Ruby really needs air. So, can we stop with the hugging for two seconds."

Ren, the ever understanding boy that he was, quickly got off and helped pry off the reluctant Nora.

Yang refused to let go.

"Yang, that means the headlock too."

"Alright, alright, but you know you liked it," the blonde bombshell teased before finally letting go and allowing her sister to finally breath.

I could only blush. Pretty sure any guy my age would love to be sandwiched between such beaut_

Libido, seriously stop.

"Not about whether or not I enjoyed it," I muttered.

Before anyone could start another conversation, the blunt sound of a microphone being tapped echoed through the halls. The sound drew all of our attention to the stage. On it stood the Headmaster and all of Beacon's staff just like before. All these famous Hunters and Huntresses stared at us from above and quickly scanned over us with a critical gaze. The images which I aspired to be were looking over us and wondering who would be worthy.

Hanging on every moment, I listened as the Headmaster drew himself closer to the microphone to once again deliver his message to us all.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge... to hone your craft and acquire new skills. And when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose – direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."

It was the same speech, word for word. Everything about his speech was exactly the same as the one in my past life. I suppose that's to be expected since I have yet to interact with any of the faculty in any manner and I doubt any of the students have talked to the teachers here yet.

Despite the familiarity of the speech, I couldn't help but be held in awe over it still. It was something simple and very clearly improvised given how the man seemed to search for words in the few sentences that he spoke. It still seemed to speak to my heart as though it were directed at me.

"Initiation will begin tomorrow at ten hundred hours. You will all be sleeping in the main hall for the night. Feel free to explore the campus and use our facilities as you see fit."

Oh right. Initiation... I wonder if I can find a parachute somewhere on campus.

And learn how to fight before I get killed by Grimm a second time.

Probably best to learn how to fight first.


Author's Notes:

1) Managed to introduce every one of Jaune's friends up until this point in the show. Ruby is still Ruby. Still deciding if I want Yang to be overprotective or simply a wild card. Weiss is honestly a terrible person for a long while in the show. Wondering if I pushed it too far or if the responses are in line with how Weiss acts during the beginning of the show.

2) Obviously, Jaune acts slightly out of character. This is due to experiencing death and seeing everything for the second time as well as seeing events from different points of view. He will obviously act in a way that he feels will impress his friends the most for now but will obviously show his more normal responses in newer situations.

3) Seriously tell me if some characters seem too out there. Helps me with writing more consistently if I get a better idea of how the characters would/should act in certain scenarios.

4) To people saying that this is just another Groundhog Day Fiction, I ask you, "So what?". Also would like to point out that this fiction is probably more like "The Butterfly Effect" since it is about Jaune altering the course of events to suit his goals (even if he doesn't know his end goals yet) rather than stave off boredom.