Chapter 2: That's Why I'm Here
The motion of the airship through the sky was soothing to some. For a few people airships, cars, and just motion, in general, could even help make them fall asleep. Not for one young man, 17 years of age dressed in a brown hoodie that was worn underneath the white metal armor. Jaune Arc student of Beacon Academy was trying to meditate and clear his mind. Steady breaths would help, that was what he was taught. Reach into yourself and expand your mind to the Force. Easier said than done when you had motion sickness like he did. He could try using some of the Force to help calm himself, but Jaune was resolved to get through this himself. Almost instinctively Jaune's hand brushed down into his pocket where it found the comfortable and familiar steel frame of his holocron. Ever since that day almost a decade ago, that little box had become his most prized possession. The little box that fit in the palm of his hand, it was the secret to so much more than he could ever have dreamed of when he was nine years old.
As bad of an idea it probably was to keep the holocron in something as fallible as a pocket, Jaune didn't exactly trust any sort of baggage claims for safe handling of cargo. He and his sisters had been on the receiving end of enough rouge handling of their luggage to know how that usually went. For eight years Jaune had worked to understanding this little thing, this contraption he now knew to be called a holocron; and he could tell that he was only beginning to scratch the surface of what it contained. Running his fingers along the contours of the contraption, he had to stop himself mentally from subconsciously opening it with the Force. That had been his first test all those years ago, and though he could now open the holocron with ease, so much of it was still secret to him.
The aircraft shook again, probably from hitting some rough air, and Jaune looked out the window to see that it was actually storming outside now. That was funny, it was mostly clear skies when they were leaving the city. Either way, the rain outside was rather heavy, and Jaune was surprised he did not notice it earlier. Perhaps he had been too deep into his thoughts to notice. Live in the moment right? Be attached and listen to the Living Force? Easier said than done. Jaune could sense a few of the other passengers on the airship were feeling a bit uneasy about the rainfall, while he actually was a bit thankful for it. Having the sound of the raindrops against the windows gave him something to focus on. Even if the wind buffeted the airship, he could focus on the rain. Then came the thunder and lightning, apparently this wasn't going to be a squall that passed quickly. The airship was as safe as anyplace, but still. Jauane wondered if maybe this ship had umbrellas or something aboard. He would've hated to get his hoodie and armor drenched, and his raincoat was packed away in his baggage; by the sounds of grumbling around him and the emotions he was sensing, a lot of people had made that same mistake.
The remainder of the flight was uneventful, with a brief introduction to the school given by one Professor Glynda Goodwitch. The transmission was a bit garbled from the storm though, even though it was probably a pre-recording rather than a live message. Soon enough the airship and others like it made it to the landing platform amidst the gray skies and pouring rain. The motion of the airship beneath him finally steadied, Jaune got up to his feet slowly to let everything get back into gear properly. Students were scrambling to get out of the airship now, some of them with their bags others without. Jaune decided to take it easy for a minute, letting others filter out of the ship before making his way out. All that pushing and shoving that came with being the first one out of the aircraft wasn't worth it. Especially when you were just going to be walking into a storm. Well, into the school away from the storm but either way there would be time spent in that downpour.
Well, nothing for it but to go out there and get into the storm. Pulling up his hoodie over his head, Jaune hoped that despite the fact that it was mostly cotton and polyester that his hoodie would help protect his head. It wasn't that he was going to be totally put out by the rain, but still. Jaune wasn't the last one off the ship but he was certainly coming at the late part of the pack as he stepped out of the transport. Everyone was running for the cover of something, with very few people apparently packing umbrellas. Stepping off from the gangplank into the storm, Jaune took notice of someone apparently lying on the ground with their face looking high in the sky. Jaune could sense a bit of dismay and despair coming from the form on the ground, and nobody should be left alone in the rain like that. Walking up to the fallen figure he saw the face of a girl with silver eyes that shined even in the gray skies.
"Hello there," Jaune said as he held out his hand to help the girl up, "Resting easy after a busy first day?"
"You could say that again," She took Jaune's hand and rose up to her feet carefully. It wouldn't do her any good to fall in the rain again, "I don't recognize you from the ship, my name's Ruby."
"Jaune, you always like to take in the rain face up?" His asked from beneath the protection of his hood, while Ruby's face looked as though she'd just gone swimming.
"No! It's just, things happen. I was walking and I tripped, and there was Dust and there was the rain and..." She took a deep breath, awkwardly shuffling her feet around while she remembered that it wasn't exactly sunny skies up above, "We should probably get out of the rain and head inside, shouldn't we?"
"That sounds like a good idea, the storm doesn't sound like it's gonna get any easier on us," Jaune remembered from the little map he was shown of the school where the big first meeting hall was, "C'mon, I'm pretty sure the big hall is this way."
"Thanks, I just hope my sister is saving a spot for me!" Ruby and Jaune then both jogged at a quick pace towards the safety of the main hall.
At this point, the wind was whipping wildly enough for the raindrops to land horizontally into Jaune's face, and he lamented that of all the things he packed a hair dryer wasn't one of them. Or actually, maybe one of his sisters might've done it for him. Rosemary and Azura insisted on being the ones in charge of his luggage. Their reasoning was mostly built upon the lines that Jaune would probably forget everything but his hoodie and a T-Shirt if left to back on his own. That wasn't totally true, but there were a few times that Jaune did have to run to a thrift store during a vacation to buy replacement clothes. Wait, Rosemary was packing, that meant that... Oh no. It was waiting for him in his bag, wasn't it? By the Force... First thing once he got the chance, new PJs.
Soon enough Jaune and Ruby made it inside the main hall, both of them drenched in the rainwater with small puddles forming beneath them. Everyone else didn't look much better though. At this rate, the floor was gonna look like a swamp. It didn't help that a lot of it was carpeted either. Jaune noticed Ruby was scanning the crowd for someone, probably the sister she mentioned earlier.
"Oh, I see my sister, Yang!" Ruby cheered excitedly, pointing to a blonde girl who looked ready to lash out at anyone at any moment. Clearly, this was someone who was not happy about the rain. "I'll catch up with you later Jaune, it was nice meeting you!"
Jaune was about to say likewise but then the girl was off in a rush. He lost sight of her through the sea of people, and he did not feel inclined to reach out to seek with the Force. All these people gathered, all this power, it did make it a bit difficult to focus. The Force was strong here, among these people, even if they did not know it. Jaune himself didn't nearly know enough about it, truth be told. Regardless of what answers he did or did not have, it did feel right to be here. He was taught that the Force would lead you to the right places and people if you listened to it. Though right now, it was time to listen to something else for a change. Namely the headmaster of the Academy up on the stage. Headmaster Ozpin, in contrast to nearly all the students here, was perfectly dry and poised, his outfit bearing not a single stain or blemish. He looked a tired man, lines of aging were etched clearly upon his face. His voice was a calm tone, but in it, you could feel the weight of years and wisdom in it.
"I know you are all eager to dry yourselves off after the sudden onset of the weather so I'll get to the point," He didn't seem all that enthusiastic about this speech, but then again he'd probably given plenty like this many times before.
"You have come here to be Hunstmen and Huntresses, to become the servants of the people. You have come in search of the knowledge that will make you greater than you once were. Yet if there is anything I wish to teach here, it is that it is within you to take initiative with your gifts. Knowledge and skill, information and technique, is useless without the drive to see it put to proper use."
Without anything else, the Headmaster promptly walked off the stage. Something did feel a bit off, but Jaune's grasp of sensing the emotions of others apparently was not attuned enough to get a reading on the headmaster. Either way, Ozpin was quickly replaced by Professor Goodwitch who dismissed the assembled students. However, she did have news that sent a cheer through almost everyone as the Professor said that carts full of hot towels were to be delivered to the room. Perhaps predicting what was about to happen, the all the members of the staff quickly left the room after that; once the carts rolled into the room it was pure chaos. If Jaune thought that the rush to get out of the rain was bad, the stampede for fresh towels, hot towels, was something out of an adventure movie. Young men and women stomped and crashed into each other for the cloth instruments of drying, from the corner of his eye Jaune thought he saw Ruby and Yang mow down a group of other students in an attempt secure their pair. Jaune had a much more subtle approach to this conundrum.
With the chaos of the scramble for towels, nobody really noticed one towel flying through the air that just so happened to land in Jaune Arc's hands. By the Force, he needed this though. The towel was fresh out of the drying machine warm and Jaune quickly made use of it to remove the invading rainwater from his flesh. It was clear to many that there wouldn't be enough of the things to go around, and Jaune wondered if soon there were going to be weapons drawn out in the clash for the cloths of drying.
"You will not take it from me!" Came the high pitched shriek of a girl who was holding onto a towel for dear life. Who appeared to have no fear in her expression despite the fact that she was staring down at least five other female forms who wanted that towel.
Okay, this was getting out of hand. Jaune had his towel, his warm, soft, synthetic fiber towel. It was time to make a break for it. Ducking his way in and around the students jumping and dash around each other, Jaune applied a small amount of the Force to achieve a burst of speed. Calling upon his limited command that mysterious energy field, there was a noticeable spring in Jaune's step, and he also applied his abilities to achieving the reflexes needed to anticipate and move around this maelstrom. Jaune looked back behind him to see that it was now descending into an all-out brawl for the towels with students literally climbing on top of each other holding towels like one would hold the flag of a defeated enemy. Man, if this was what the school was gonna be like all the time, it was either gonna be the best or worst place ever depending on your point of view. Didn't seem like much of a place of peace and focus, but then again sometimes to really understand life and the Force, it was best to just jump into it. His instructions weren't exactly always clear on what really was best for an aspiring Jedi. Being caught in that storm in the main room probably wasn't something that would help him right now. Jaune would escape this carnage, for now, his own prize secure. Hopefully, tomorrow would not see another storm like this, indoors or out.
It was here, it was here staring him in the face. He didn't want to believe it, but here it was. Right where it ought to be, even when he really wished that it was not. The blue onesie, that comfortable but all too embarrassing garment that would not leave him. Jaune searched deeper into his bags for anything else that might be used to sleep in, but he came up short. Really, why had he trusted his two younger sisters to handle his luggage? Oh right, because he was too busy practicing what he had learned from the holocron. Too bad there wasn't any Jedi technique for creating clothes out of thin air. Or maybe there was, for even after all these years, Jaune felt as though he was still scratching the surface of what the little cube had to offer. Right now though he was sitting down in the ballroom on a sleeping bag, knowing that sooner or later he was going to have to change into that blue onsie that probably wouldn't be looked on with much admiration or respect. Again his hands drifted down into his pockets, checking once more for the presence of the holocron. He really needed to think of a better place to hide and store it. Once he got a dorm, that would probably be his chance to make some sort of little hideaway for it.
Jaune wanted to open it again, talk and train with the Gatekeeper of the holocron. It was just a computer program by its own admission, but sometimes Jaune wondered if there was a little piece of the original maker's soul in that device. There was a deep sadness in how the projection talked and taught; even if it was just a recording. The Gatekeeper talked about more than just techniques and powers. He talked about vast worlds beyond countless stars, wars that created the greatest heroes and villains the galaxy had seen, histories thousands of years in the making, and tragedies and losses on the most personal of levels. It blew a young Jaune Arc's mind away when he first heard it all, and it still amazed him even today; thinking about all that lay beyond this one world. There were times Jaune looked up at the night's sky and wondered if that star over there was the one around which Onderon, Coruscant, or Yavin was orbiting at this very moment. It could really make someone feel small if you thought about it a lot. One person in a big wide galaxy, especially when most people you knew only knew about this one world right here.
It all sounded crazy actually, and if someone had told him any of this, he would've written it off as bad fiction. Who wouldn't? Dust, the great power source of Remnant, couldn't get anything into space. How could anyone travel to other planets, build star-spanning republics, and explore distant solar systems without Dust? Yet Jaune knew what he'd seen and heard all those years ago when that Jedi crashed in the forest. That man wasn't a Faunus, he was an Iridonian, he wasn't flying an airship, he was flying a starship with a hyperdrive, and he wasn't a Huntsman, he was a Jedi of the Republic. If what he had seen with his own eyes and what he had been taught to do with this holocron were real, then all the history that the holocron revealed to him must've had truth to it as well. Exar Kun, Nomi Sunrider, Teta the Empress, they all must've existed at some point. They all must've lead these lives he was learning about through this cipher.
Looking at the clock, Jaune noticed that it was not yet 8 o'clock. The storm outside continued to rage, lightning and thunder sporadically appearing to punctuate the minutes. Well, before he had to turn in for the night and wear what PJs he had, Jaune decided to do just a little bit more meditating on the Force. Here it was again, one of the first things he was taught, and still one of the hardest. Not sleeping but not waking, not seeing but not dreaming, not letting go of the Force, but not grabbing for it. He didn't take to it incredibly well, but he did feel as though practice made perfect with this sort of thing. Calm breaths and an open mind. If you called to the Force and you were willing to listen, it should come to you. He didn't know how much time had passed once he started, but soon enough it began. That feeling of leaving behind the world of the physical, and touching an intangible expression of life itself. He began to hear whispers, echoes of thoughts and emotions. Try as he might Jaune could never truly read the thoughts of others, though he had begun to sense emotions and intent. A part of him didn't want to try and pry further into someone else's mind, thinking that sort of thing a large invasion of privacy. For now, the young Jedi contented himself mastering the process of reaching out into the Force and merely observing the emotions of others.
As he held the meditative trance, he began to have his attention drawn to an argument happening in one of the far corners of the room. Anxiety, frustration, annoyance, and all those things were coming from that spot. Jaune thought he felt Ruby's particular presence in the Force in this location, and for a moment Jaune considered whether or not he should go over there and see what actually was going on. So focused was he on that which was occurring in the corner that he failed to notice the energy and excitement bounding up to approach him now. If he had he would've noticed the orange haired ball of energy with her face very very close to his own.
"Whatcha doing over there?"
"Ah!" Jaune was startled out of his meditative trance and actually fell backward. Looking up he saw blue eyes gazing at him with an inquisitive look that reminded Jaune of when his younger sister Azura found something interesting.
"Oh, you okay there? I didn't mean to really startle you, it's just that you looked so funny. Sitting there I knew you weren't asleep because people don't sleep sitting up. Unless they're in a car or plane or boat. I kinda slept on the airship here actually." She talked fast, and Jaune coming out of his trance wasn't quite equipped to keep up with her just yet, "Hi, sorry, my name's Nora."
"Jaune..." came the groggy reply as he sat back up and recentered himself.
"Heh, I kinda got carried away there, sorry. I just kinda thought you looked cool. The way you were all sitting and concentrating and stuff. It reminds me of stuff my friend Ren does."
"Oh, yeah, meditating. I do that sometimes, I know other people do too," Jaune had actually looked up meditation techniques from outside his Jedi training from time to time. They sometimes helped with his own focus with the Force.
"Yeah, anyway. I just kinda wanted to see what you were up to. I don't know if I was really thinking all that hard about how you'd react. Ren's kinda been telling me to tone that done but-"
"Nora, what are you doing?" Another figure entered the area and the look on his face held the expression of a man who had done this dance many times before, "I'm sorry is she bothering you?"
"Not really," Jaune admitted at this point, feeling that maybe this was a chance to get to know new people rather than spend all his time working at his training, "I take it you're the Ren she mentioned?"
"Yep, he's my Ren alright!" Nora said before she quickly backspaced verbally, "I mean not that he's mine-mine, I mean we've been together forever, but not together-together I mean-"
"Don't worry, I think I've got it," Jaune smiled as he thought about those friends of his own that he left behind in his hometown of Shiloh. None of them had the ambition to become Huntsmen, and none of them would ever think to come to some place like Beacon, "You guys feel excited about initiation?"
"Like you wouldn't believe!" Nora responded with enthusiasm, almost bouncing up and down even though the carpet floor wouldn't quite allow for it. "That's also when teams are formed too. I'm gonna have to try and think of a way to get me and Ren on the same team."
"We'll just have to see what happens when the time comes," Ren said, "They'll tell us the procedure for building teams tomorrow no doubt."
"Hey, maybe you'll be on our team too, Jaune!"
'Well that would certainly not get boring quickly,' Jaune thought in his head, wondering what it would be like to be partnered up with someone as energetic as this girl.
"Like Ren said, we'll see tomorrow. Who knows, maybe they just draw two names from a hat or something." This thing Jaune said aloud, he knew next to nothing about how teams and partners would be chosen, only that teams were apparently part of the setup.
"I doubt that a school for trained fighters would be that random about how they select their partners." Ren theorized, he was probably right. This school was an institution for training the finest warriors on Remnant, surely they had some sort of system in place.
Jaune, Ren, and Nora spent the rest of the night making small talk. Jaune telling a little about himself while Ren and Nora shared a few stories of their own. He did notice that none of the duo's stories talked about their parents or where exactly they grew up. That was alright though, he didn't expect to learn anyone's life story after just meeting them. As the storm howled outside and the rains came down, Jaune felt that more than just being a place to train and grow, this could also be a place to have a good time and make friends. The Gatekeeper said that he had belonged to a whole order of Jedi once. There were no Jedi here, but there were Huntsmen and Huntresses who basically wanted to do the same things as Jedi did: to help people. The path of a Jedi didn't have to be a lonely one, after all, so, for now, Jaune enjoyed himself, remembering the words of his mother "strangers are just friends you haven't met yet".
A/N My next chapter in the Knights of Remnant Saga, the Padawan has made it to Beacon. Jaune Arc may have had different instruction than most of his peers, but he'll have challenges of considerable difficulty, training or no training. Initiation is next, and the echoes of forgotten legends will begin to make themselves known in the world. Till next next time, Jankmaster signing off!