Jaune Arc never expected a battle as intense as this to happen on the day he was starting Beacon. What was this battle you ask? Well it was a battle between Jaune...and this blasted, dust powered, monstrous piece of machinery threatening to make him unload the contents of his Breakfast onto the tiled floor. Like an idiot, he had forgotten to buy more motion sickness pills, much to his own chagrin,as he was forced to endure this slow, pain-inducing torture.

Blake rubbed her hand in circles around his back in pity, but halfheartedly, this was his own fault after all. She had told him constantly to not forget his motion sickness pills, but of course-being the blonde idiot he was-he forgot it. Jaune managed to groan, both in embarresment and in a bit of pain as he held his head in his two siblings didn't notice a short girl with black hair and a red, frilly combat skirt and a busty blonde with braclets on her arms looking at him with concern.

Jaune breathed out a sigh of relief as the speaker announced," We have now landed at Beacon Academy, please take your items and exit please." The door opened and they were greeted with the amazing sight of Beacon academy. "Jaune can I go ahead while you...compose yourself?" Blake asked. Jaune nodded meekly before rushing off to the nearest trashcan, which was, thankfully, a mere few feet away. He could literally FEEL the disgusted stares he got as he unloaded his breakfast into the trash can. Hearing the snide remarks here and the occasional 'poor boy' there, but he tried to pay it no heed, as he shook his head to compose himself and started walking to the massive building in front of him.

He walked just in time to hear a loud explosion, his eyes widened as he saw a petite little girl apologizing profusely to a girl in all white, Weiss Schnee, as he remembered what his mom had said about the SDC and their cruelty towards faunus. That didn't exactly make him hate her per se, it just made him want to keep his distance, if he could at least. "Welcome to Beacon." the little girl mumbled sadly as she laid down on the hard ground of the courtyard. 'Well can't exactly leave her there can I?'

"Hey, you need any help?" Jaune asked, a friendly smile on his face. The girl returned his smile as she used his hand to stand back up, she took a good look at him and stifled a snicker," Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?" Jaune visibly deflated at this groaning slightly,"First of all I didn't throw up ON the ship, I threw up in the trashcan. Second of all can you please refrain from giving me and crude nicknames? Anyways I'm Jaune." He added that last part while he extended his hand yet again, this time for a hand shake," Sorry. Ruby. Ruby Rose!"

They started talking about things as they walked the way opposite of where they were supposed to go, which onlookers just chuckled slightly at, pegging them off as a couple going that way to do...stuff. Ruby and Jaune got onto the topic of weapons, which Ruby inwardly squealed at, finally getting to show someone other than Yang her precious darling. She unhooked her sycthe and let it dramatically hit the ground with a loud thud," This is Crescent Rose, a sycthe and a high-impact sniper rifle." She explained with newborn enthusiasum. Jaune whistled approvingly at the expertly hand-crafted sycthe before him."That's awesome! Wouldn't the recoil be a bit much though?" He asked this because she was about half the size of the sycthe, he wondered if she was the one dragging the sycthe, or if the sycthe dragged her and she somehow made those movments into attacks.

"Na. I've gotten used to it by now. Can you show me yours now? Please! Please~!" Ruby asked enthusiastically, really hoping to see a new weapon up close for a change. Jaune chuckled at how excited she could be about weapons, he was actually a bit of a weapons dork himself, of course he never admitted it, he loved seeing new weapons every now and then. He unsheathrd the katana that came out from his sheath at his hip," This is Tempest. In itself it has water dust infused into the metal allowing it shoot forward slashes of water energy. It has a trigger next to the hilt, and theres a barrel embedded into the circular part here." He gestured to the barrel sticking out of circular part that attached the blade to the hilt and continued.

"I can load bullets into the bottom of the hilt if I open it up, the clips consist of 12 rounds before I reload." Ruby was staring in awe as he explained all the cool features," C-can I hold it?" she asked uncertaintly, instinctively putting on puppy dog eyes. Now, Jaune would've let her hold it anyways, but seeing those eyes made him want to just shove it into her hands and let her use it for a long time, but he resisted his inward squeeing and handed Ruby Tempest.

Ruby examined it with such perception, he wondered if she was secretly some sort of master forger, but he soon set that ridiculous idea aside when he heard her start to fan-girl on how awesome it was. She handed him his sword back and they continued walking in peaceful silence. Jaune was musing internally, he felt like he was forgetting something, it was right on the tip of his head it was-it.

"Hey Ruby do you know where we're going." he asked, finally realizing what was wrong. She didn't realize though and started in her normal, cheery tone,"No I was...following...you..." she trailed off, finally finding out their current situation. They both started sprinting off in the right direction, screaming in unsion.

"Oh come on!"

-Page Break-

After a long sprint they finally made their way to the auditorium, sighing in relief as they found out they hadn't missed the speech some students had said would be given. They heard a loud, obnoxious voice through the crowd call out," Hey Ruby! I save you a spot!" Ruby noticed this a blushed slightly in embarrassment at the attention she was getting," Uh...Sorry I have to go to my sister, I'll see you later?" The statement turning into more of a question towards the end in uncertainty. Jaune nodded and held out his fist," Yup see you during dinner." She bumped fists with him as she ran off to where her sister called her to.

Jaune walked aimlessly around for a few moments before spotting Blake within the crowd, he slowly moved up to her, attempting to scare her by putting a hand on her shoulder. "That won't work on me and you know it." she deadpanned. Jaune chuckled as he scratched the back of his head sheepishly, of course it wouldn't work. They were interuppted by the sound of tapping on a microphone and a semmingly old voice," Ahem."

[Insert speech that injures your dignity but is still inspirational for reasons we can't understand...done.]

A blonde lady appeared as the headmaster finished," You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tommorow, initiation will begin, make sure to get plenty of rest." She walked off the stage, her heels clacking with every step as the chatting resumed between the Beacon hopefuls.

Jaune was able to make out someone calling him 'Tall, Blonde, and Scraggly'and he looked to see Weiss with a thumb jabbed in his direction, and an oddly...hopeful? Ruby. He grinned, taking out a wind dust crystal, he placed it into the palm of his hand and flicked his wrist in their direction, blowing wind out as it did. The wind made her skirt flutter, and she held it down with a blush as red as a tomato, sputtering incoherently. Jaune winked towards Ruby and her sister as he turned to the other side, looking as innocent as possible. "Idiot." Blake mumbled while rolling her eyes and giving his shoulder a playful punch. All the while a small smile gracing her lips as she did so. As they walked off to the cafeteria for dinner they heard the laughter of a girl and the slightly quieter laughter of another.

They grabbed their food and sat down at an empty table. "Hey Jaune, mind if we sit here?" Ruby asked as she walked up to Blake and I with her sister by her side. I looked at Blake questioningly, silently asking her for permission. She merely glanced up from her book and nodded in response before going back to reading. "Sure." he said as he moved to create some more space. They got to talking and her sister introduced herself as Yang, they both had different last names, but he decided he didn't really want to pry.

Ruby glanced over at Blake, still reading her book as if they weren't there. She hadn't said anything in their conversation, she wanted to try and make more friends, so she asked," Is that book good?" Blake just nodded absentmindedly, not even bothering to look up from her book. Ruby shrank down in her seat at that. Jaune, however, was watching this scene with held back mirth. It was horribly funny how people reacted to his sister not even acknowledging them, they seemed offended. This, was just Blake's personality in general, and she never really has opened up to anyone besides himself, and he felt he should change that.

"Now Blake, be nice." he chided in a mock motherly tone. She decided to play along and rolled her eyes," Yes mother." Jaune chuckled and Blake couldn't help but smile a little, Jaune just had his ways of, in a way, cheering her up, or at least stopping her from being moody. "Get a room." Yang teased. "Ewwww! That's incest...I think. Wait, no nevermind, we used to have one in that one apartment when we were, what 13?" Jaune asked this so nonchalantly that the sisters wondered if he was even more innocent than Ruby, Blake however, nodded in affirmation,"Wait...you guys are siblings?" Ruby asked slowly, as if they were joking, they practically had nothing in common. While yes they got along, they looked completely different and their personalities were almost exactly the opposite of eachother.

"Uhm, yea. We're adoptive sibling." Jaune explained, Blake nodded, yet again, confirming the explanation. Yang and Ruby became less confused, at least shows why they look different and act different. They were curious, however, to why one of them got adopted, not knowing the tragedy that happened that led to them being siblings. "So...it might be rude to ask but why were one of you guys adopted to the other?" Ruby asked innocently. While Jaune knew that Ruby had no idea, his mood grew solemn as his blonde hair shadowed his eyes from everyone. Blake noticed this and practically spat," Nothing we want to share."

Ruby nodded meekly, surprised by her sudden outburst, not noticing Jaune's mood swing. The same couldn't be said for Yang, however, she took heed of this and immediately felt sorry for bringing up a sore subject for him. She was about to apologize when she saw Blake put a hand on his shoulder and squeeze it gently. Jaune looked up with a sad, lopsided grin, unshed tears forming up in his eyes as he got back to eating his dinner. The rest of dinner Jaune and Blake didn't say anything, Yang and Ruby talking to eachother about little things, but it was clear they were worried about hurting their friendship with Jaune already.

"Hey Jaune We-" Yang was cut off by said blonde rasing his hand," No it's not your fault. You couldn't have known, I just can't really control my emotions when this topic gets brought up." he smiled at the two, and his mood switched, yet again. He stated adding parts into the conversation and soon began talking to them again, unbeknownst to him, Blake was ecstatic behind her book. Jaune was able to get over his emotions about his family in a quick amount of time, he finally he finally had friends he could find comfort in, besides her.

She didn't understand why she felt a knot tighten in her chest as she thought that.

-Page Break-

As dinner ended they all headed into the auditorium, which was packed with students and their sleeping bags, some were asleep while others were quietly whispering to eachother. The three girls went to the changing rooms as Jaune decided he needed a shower because, well why not?

He switched off his combat gear to some sporty dust ball shorts, a shirt that had a 'KD' printed clearly on the front of the shirt. He slipped on a pair of those dust ball socks that went up longer than normal socks, again'KD' printed on the side, the other with a lightning bolt, he HATED going barefoot. He didn't know why to be completely honest, he just did. As for the basket ball attire, he liked to wear these when he slept. First off because pajamas tended to refrain him from sleeping, he literally stayed awake the time he tried to wear pajamas, he was very, VERY irritable the next morning.

Second, he actually used to play dust ball, as a hobby at least, explaining how he got so tall. He had a bunch of sets like these and couldn't exactly put them to good use, so he wore them as Pajamas, cuz why not.

He stalked off towards where Blake was and propped his back up against the wall, a few feet away from her. Said girl was currently reading a book with a serene look, eyes moving bsck and forth scanning the pages of the book. "The man with two souls?" he asked, she had brought a few new books coming here and she was particularly enthralled by that one. She nodded with a small smile on her face, her brother always seemed to know what book she was reading, it was...nice...in a way.

"Hey Jaune,Blake." Ruby greeted while walking up to them in her pyjamas, sleeping bag tucked under her arms, Yang close in tow. He gave a two finger mock salute, a goofy grin on his face while Blake nodded curtly, acknowledging their presence. The sisters set their sleeping bags near where the other two siblings were sitting. "You guys ready for initiation tomorrow?" Jaune whispered to them, breaking the silence. "They both nodded, a little too tired to formulate an actual response. "Well goodnight guys." Jaune yawned out. "yea goodnight Jaune." Ruby replied while slipping into her sleeping bag, a content sigh as she snuggled closer into her bed, flipping on her beowolf face mask. Yang, however, was already snoring, quite loudly actually.

"Blake, blow out the candles, it's time to sleep." Jaune whispered to her. She sighed, a bit irritated her reading session was over, but complied as she let out a breath, darkness now engulfed the entire auditorium. Blake was rather uncomfortable sleeping with her back on the hard, cold wall, so she found her own pillow, Jaune's shoulder. As she settled her head on her brother's shoulder she could feel his shoulders rumbling with silent mirth, it was catching onto her too as she felt herself holding back a smirk.

Jaune closed his eyes, entering dreamland.

-Page Break-

W-where am I? That was the one question Jaune was asking him self as he jumped off a...tree? When did he climb into a tree? He landed with a grimace as he clutched his right side in pain, wait pain? He looked down and what he saw horrified him. His hand was now completely soaked with blood, a large gash forming throung the side of his stomach.

He heard a scream, and his eyes widened. He rushed to where the sound was, fully ignoring the agonizing pain as he ran, step by step. He readied Tempest, expecting some kind of resistance when he got there, the scream, however, was somehow oddly familiar, he couldn't place why zthough. He burst through a clearing as he readied his katana, panting in fatigue. He blocked the slash of a beowolf with the side of the blade, as he took a step back. He twirled his sword, his katana now taking an angle pointing downward, before slashing up, slicing through, fully in half.

He desperately looked left and right, searching for the person who screamed out, but he almost screamed himself. There, on the left, was a corpse. He saw the same, bright yellow hair, the leather vest, but something made his rage go beyond breaking 's arm was cut clean off, and he knew enough to conclude that a grimm definitely didn't do this. He desperately checked for a pulse, putting to fingers to the side of her neck, he slumped in relief as he felt one. Yang's eyes shot straight open, only it wasn't the cheery lilac she usually had, they were both null gray voids. "You have failed us, even with training you're weak. Pathetic, you brought this upon us, you will die a slow, painful death for what you brought upon us, Arc. " Her voice was an eerie monotone and Jaune felt a spear of guilt pierce him straight through the heart as she doubled backwards and let death consume her.

He brought this upon them? He was destined to make his friends fail? Was he still the weak- he shook his head, if this had happened to Yang he needed to find Ruby and Blake before they suffered the same fate. "I-I'm...sorry." He heard the sound of metal piercing flesh, hopefully grimm flesh, as he sprinted with speed no one even knew was possible. He wouldn't-no-couldn't let his first friend in Beacon and his own sister suffer this same fate. He could feel the fury burning through and shred of reasonableness inside of him.

He came out to see Beacon Academy...only it was burning to bits and pieces. Jaune started to shudder, who could have such power to do this? But there, in front of all the chaos, stood a woman, with long raven black hair, a red dress, and high heels. The clicked as she walked forwards towards him, fire encasing her palm as she did so. "How does it feel?" she asked cryptically, Jaune didn't bother responding, as he saw the blade she was holding in her other hand, it was covered in blood. Jaune slashed forward with Tempest, only to find out he was holding nothing. Jaune took a shaky step backwards, what was he going to do? "Your friends were right, you are week." The ominous woman let out a sadistic laugh.

His...friends? He turned to his right to see Ruby, in a heap of blood, coughing and sputtering. Jaune dashed to her side...only to be slammed to the ground by an invisible force. "Why...Jaune? I thought you could protect us...Ozpin said you would...we trusted you." Jaune froze, they trusted him to protect them, yet here they were, the whole of Beacon coming down before them, and it was all his fault. "I thought my brother could do this." Jaune's eyes widened as tears started to form around his eyes. "Apparently my mother trained a failure." Blake spat, before collapsing her head to the ground after her final words.

Jaune's fists were clenched so tight that his nails dug through the palms of his skin, it was his fault, all his fault. His two first friends, even his own sister who he loved to the bottom of his heart, saw him as a failure. He had betrayed their trust. But he could at least make the one who did do it suffer a slow, horribly painful death. He turned back to where the woman was standing, only to see nothing except the fiery shambles of Beacon.

That's when his world turned upside down, darkness consumed him as he let out a scream of pain. Everything was black, there was no one, there was nothing at all to be seen. Had he...died? He started to tear up more furiously, he died a failure to his friends...HE was the cause of their deaths. Jaune was trembling with every thought, he would be a man living, or dead-living, in regret, every day, every hour, every minute, and every second.

"Please...go back and save them." A tiny voicewhispered out. Who was that? Jaune's vision was growing hazy," Please...I need them to stay alive, for me...for everyone." Jaune was breathing erratically now, his vision going from black to blurry. "You're going to need this...you'll know what to do when the time is right. Please...you don't know how much these girls mean to me." And thats when he instantly shot back to reality. His eyes opening quickly as he felt himself sweat.

It was just a dream...just a dream. He kept repeating this over and over again in his head, he needed to assure himself it was all a dream. He could feel Blake's amber irises slowly looking at him with concern," Don't worry, just a nightmare. I just need to get something to drink, help me clear my thoughts." He whispered reassuringly to her. Blake hesitated for a second, before scooting over to the side to allow him to stand, he made his way over to his locker and grabbed out a bottle of water he packed earlier. He was calming down a bit, but a question was dangling at the back of his mind.

Why did it seem so real?

-Page Break-

He walked out into the courtyard of Beacon and into one of the gardens that he overheard people mentioning. There was a bench surrounded by greenery, attached to some metal chains linked to a large post, allowing it to swing back and forth. He sighed as he trudged over to the bench, plopping down in fatigue as he fought to stay awake. His eyelids were drooped, but he wanted to just enjoy the nice, calm nature around him for awhile.

He let his head dangle off the back of the bench as he looked up to see the tree, full of apples. He smiled, remembering that he and Blake had an apple tree in their backyard. They would always tend to it together, and they would always eat the apples that came off together. Thinking about Blake, though, made him remember the dream he had, and his expression immediately grew solemn. He constantly had nightmares, one would think he would be used to it.

Let it be known that NO ONE could be used to having nightmares. But this particular one made him feel even worse, even more guilty, like these things actually happened. He had never really felt these when he woke up from a nightmare, he had only felt fear and sadness, so he knew that this was a different case. The words echoing back in his head.

Please...you don't know how much these girls mean to me.

Jaune has been crushed when he heard the voice's tone, he had failed the people that voice cared about most...but she still said he could change this.

You're going to need this...you'll know what to do when the time is right.

When he heard those words play back in his head, he inky then noticed some extra weight in his pocket. Cautiously, he reached down into his pocket pants and felt a piece of paper, with something hard inside. His eyes widened in fear as he felt these, he never remembered bringing these. He took them out and read what the paper had to say.

Please...you're our last hope...

Jaune shuddered, was that dream not a dream? He could feel his breathing get shakier after every breath. What made him freeze, though, was what he found on the back if the paper. A cleanly cut black dust crystal. He trembled as his fingers ran through the edges around it, he could feel the power emanating through. Was that dream really real? This has gotta be a dream as well. He slapped himself a few times as it finally sunk in.

It wasnt a dream at all.

These things were very much real, and that somehow, someday, he would be chosen to protect all of Beacon, and he would fail. He shook his head, no...he wouldn't fail. He woukd train harder and harder, he would get stronger, he would make more friends, he would fight by their sides, all to make sure that only HE had the chance to suffer agonizing pain, or even death. He looked up to the stars with determination glinting in his eyes. He didn't know if these were actually true or not. But he would train, he wouldn't ever let his friends down.

He didn't notice, however, a figure smiling down at him from the treetops. "I have no doubt you will not fail you friends. Thank you..." She dissapeared into the shadows of he night, as if she weren't there.

-Page Break-

AN:So thats it! Anyways, this took a good amount of time to write, and it was considerably longer than anything else I've ever written. Anyways chapters are probably gonna be this long anyways, considering how much time I get to write them.

Love it? Hate it? Leave a review!

Cya!