Chapter 1

The last day of my old life was actually quite normal, all things considered.

I got up, ate breakfast, spoke with my sisters about how their studying and training was going and then Dad made sure I was packed for our trip that he was insisting I join him for. I didn't really see any point in joining him on a business trip but I liked taking trips on our yacht so I didn't complain. I hugged the rest of my family goodbye and waved as our limo drove off.

A few days later I was in my room aboard our yacht the "Arc's Gambit" as we waited for a storm to blow over. It had come as a bit of a surprise, since the forecast hadn't said anything about bad weather, but it wasn't anything we weren't ready for. Or at least that's what my Dad said. I didn't know the first thing about driving a yacht but if he said there's nothing to worry about then there was nothing to worry about.

The last thing I remember about that day was going to sleep in my bed, listening to the sound of the rain against the roof, letting the gentle sway of the boat as the ocean rocked it back and forth lull me to sleep, feeling safe and happy.

I woke up to chaos. The flashes of lightning in the sky followed almost immediately by the sound of thunder so close it made my teeth rattle. Shattered windows let the rain pour into my room and all the lights were out.

Suddenly without warning the violent rocking of the boat came to a head and before I knew what was happening my world tilted and I was falling towards the wall. A few seconds later the ceiling was rushing up at me.

I'm not quite sure what happened after that. All I know is that one second I was surrounded by water and darkness and the next I was gasping for air and my Dad was pulling me onto the life raft.

He gripped my shoulders and shouted over the rain, "Don't worry son, everything is going to be okay."

The city of Vale made for an impressive sight from his vantage point on board the military dust plane; the morning light almost seemed to make the city shine.

Jaune stared out over his city, the sight causing a feeling of warmth to spread throughout his chest. Warmth and anticipation. It had been five years since the last time he had been here, and he was finally ready to do something to make the heart of his city reflect the surface.

As the dust plane came in for a landing he looked down at the landing pad and smiled as his family came into view. All seven of his sisters and his mother had gathered for his return, all standing together just off to the side of the landing pad.

He was nervous about seeing them. They had talked for a few minutes over the last few days via video chat, but that had been short snippets filled with crying and disbelief that he was actually alive rather than an actual conversation.

A dull thump signaling that they had landed, moments before a voice came over the intercom stating that they were free to retrieve their bags and exit the aircraft. The commanding officer of the squad he had received transport with quickly had his troops moving

Jaune waited a moment until they had left before he gathered what few possessions he owned, all of which fit into a single duffle bag with the exception of a few more sensitive items that he kept in a separate crate locked with an antique steel combination lock. Once he had collected his things he followed the soldiers out onto the landing pad.

He didn't get very far before he was forced to drop them to catch one of his sisters who had proceeded to tackle-hug him. Trying to stay upright, however, proved to be an act of futility as the rest of his sisters soon joined the first and he found himself on the bottom of a dogpile, a gaggle of blonde headed beauties all vying for his attention.

"Are you hurt?"

"Are you hungry?"

"What was it like on a dust plane?"

"Who did you miss the most?"

"When did you cut your hair? It was way longer in the video chat…"

His response was to hug them all as hard as he could, laughing so hard that tears were coming out of his eyes.

Calming down a bit he managed to get back to his feet and answered them by saying "One question at a time I'm not going anywhere."

Their response was to simultaneously fold their arms and raise an eyebrow. If he wasn't so happy to see them he would have found it creepy.

He rubbed the back of his head, the feel of short hair still strange after so long, and gave a sheepish grin. "Okay bad choice of words, but my point stands, one question at a time."

Before anyone could say anything else he suddenly heard a soft voice that he would recognize anywhere, laced with emotion. "Jaune?"

He turned towards the direction of the quiet voice, already knowing what he would see and opened his mouth to reply, a sense of wonder in his voice despite knowing what to expect. "Mom."

Without warning she was suddenly hugging him so hard that he couldn't raise his arms to return the gesture. After a few seconds she managed to choke out, "My beautiful boy" sounding so sad and so happy that it was all he could do not to start crying right along with her.

Settling for patting her on the back in what he hoped was a comforting manner he quietly told her, "I'm home" as the rest of his family joined in on the hug.

This was why he was back. Bringing justice to his city, following his father's wishes, those things were important to him, but this. His family. This was why he would become the protector his city needed, the protector it deserved.

He would save his city and protect his family and there was nothing and no one that could stop him.

Later that evening Jaune and his family were sitting at the dining table. The mile minute questions hadn't stopped all day and Jaune was doing his best to answer them, but despite the attention, or maybe because of it, he was happier than he had been in a long time.

Of course, eating his first home cooked meal in five years may have had something to do with it. That was one thing he loved about his family. Even after they had gotten rich enough to afford a whole army of world class chefs, his mother still insisted on doing the cooking.

During a lull in the conversation Jaune decided to voice something he had been planning ever since he was first picked up on the Island. "I want to see the city." His statement caused a few heads to turn his way before his mother smiled and replied, "I think that's a wonderful idea. You should see the changes that have happened in the last five years. Not to mention it'll give your sisters a chance to buy you a scroll."

Jaune frowned. "Why do I need a scroll?"

He actually did need one. But he had never shown any interest in technology before and he was worried that he might arouse suspicion if he didn't at least put up a token complaint.

"Now honey, I know that your… time away may have left you with the impression that technology isn't all that important, but in the wider world it does have a use." His mother smiled at him again before turning to his sister and told her told her to make sure he got a good one.

After that the conversation turned to more mundane topics. His sisters seemed determined to have him catch up on everything he had missed in one sitting. Between one bite and the next he found himself talking about everything from the weather to the latest issue of X-Ray and Vav that they insisted that he read after dinner.

He had to blink away a few tears when he found out that they had made sure to get a copy of each month's release. The comic itself didn't really have any real significance to him anymore, but the fact that they had gone out of their way for it meant the world to him.

They had never stopped believing that he would return one day.

"What was it like on the Island?"

"What?" he turned towards his sister with a look of surprise on his face. The question had caught him off guard.

"What was it like on the Island?" she repeated.

He set his fork down and thought for a moment about how to answer the question. Up till now on one had actually asked about his time there.

The Island was many things but what could he actually tell his family? In the end he settled on the one thing that was at the forefront of all his memories, the one thing that created an undertone for his entire time there.

He lifted his head to look at her and said, "Cold. It was cold."

"That's it? That doesn't sound so bad." At a look from their mother she quickly amended, "I mean it couldn't have been fun but if that was the worst thing there was…" She trailed off after a moment when she heard Jaune give a quiet huff of laughter.

At her questioning glance he decided to elaborate. "I could tell you about the hunger or the fear I felt every time I tried to sleep, but honestly the one thing that comes to mind more than any other when I think back to the Island is the cold. Cold so strong that you could never escape it."

His sister looked stricken at his explanation. "Oh… sorry for bringing it up."

"It's fine. You couldn't have known." He wasn't bothered by his time on the Island. Not anymore at least. It wasn't exactly a pleasant memory and never would be but the Island had made him into who and what he was now.

But it had come at a price.

The person he used to be, the little kid who liked reading comic books, who looked up to his family, and wouldn't hurt a fly was gone, killed by Lian Yu.

He looked down at his plate still half covered in food, but found that he wasn't hungry anymore.

He stood and looked his mother in the eye. "May I be excused?"

After she gave him a small nod he walked out of the dining room towards his bedroom, mentally apologizing to his sisters that he wouldn't be able to read comics with them like they were hoping.

Sighing, he hoped that the next day would go a bit better.

The next morning Jaune was in a scroll shop with three of his sisters, the rest having been called out on a high priority mission, looking at various models of scrolls and trying his hardest not to punch the salesmen that was helping them in the face.

He knew exactly what kind of scroll he needed but couldn't think of a way to ask for it without having to give an explanation about just how he was so knowledgeable about scroll technology, which was something that he couldn't do. So instead of exactly what he needed it looked like he was going to have to content himself with a scroll with a bunch of add-ons that he would never use and have to go back later himself to remove them.

But when the guy tried to get him to go for the extended warranty he had to put his foot down.

Even as rich as his family was there was no way he was wasting money on that. Especially when he intended to violate the warranty within a few days leaving it null and void.

As he left the scroll shop a half hour later, sisters in tow and brand new scroll in his pocket, he almost missed the black, unmarked van pull up next to them.

Within moments his sisters were incapacitated and he watched in an almost detached way as one of the assailants pointed a stun gun at him and pulled the trigger.

He could have avoided the stun gun if he had tried. They were too far away to aim with any real accuracy, especially if he moved fast enough. But he was out in the open. Exposed. He couldn't act here. Trying to look shocked he turned towards the attackers and half-raised his arms before a jolt of electricity shot through his body, darkness following soon after.

I don't know how long the two of us had been drifting aimlessly across the ocean. It must have been at least a week, but it was hard to tell. The days tended to blur together without a way to keep track of the time, but I knew it had to have been for at least that long because we were running low on food and water.

One day I woke up to the sight of my Dad sitting next to me, going through our meager supply of food and shaking his head. He turned towards me and when he saw me watching him his eyes grew soft for a moment before this look came over him.

He put his arm around my shoulders and smiled down at me. "How you holding up kiddo?"

I gave him a half-hearted smile in response. I didn't feel up to forming a proper response.

He turned away from and scanned the horizon for a few moments before facing me again. "I'm so sorry; I thought I'd have more time." His voice was… strange. It sounded full of regret and if I didn't know better I would say he was trying to stop himself from crying. "This is all my fault. I'm not the man you think I am. I didn't build our city, I failed it… and I wasn't the only one.

He reached into his coat pocket and pressed a small leather-bound book into my hands, before he reached up and caressed the side of my face with his hand. As he brushed a small patch of dirt off my cheek he started talking again. "You have to survive. Make it home. Right my wrongs."

He gave me a one armed hug before moving to the other side of the life raft and turned back to face me… with a gun in his hands. "Dad, what are you doing-?"

"Survive." And with that he raised the gun to his temple and pulled the trigger.

When Jaune came to the first thing he noticed was the smell. Dust and some kind of vegetable unless his nose was mistaken. Cracking open his eyes he was treated to the sight of the inside of a burlap sack, indistinguishable lights and shadows were just barely visible on the other side of the bag.

The second thing he noticed was that he was strapped to a chair his hands tied behind his back.

No. Not tied. Strapped with zip cuffs. These guys were professionals. Most people would just use some rope and be done with it, but zip cuffs were both easier to use and harder to break out from.

For normal people anyway. They wouldn't slow him down in the slightest.

Now if he could just make sure his sisters weren't around he'd be able to escape without any trouble-

"Mister Arc. Oh Mister Arc!"

Suddenly the burlap sack was gone, ripped off his head so fast he became disoriented and Jaune needed a moment for his eyes to adjust to the light. The moment he could see he felt the urge to put the burlap sack back over his head.

His kidnappers had chosen to wear matching black hoodies and red masks designed to look like demons. They were all roughly the same size and were all armed. Between the three of them they had both exits covered and were able to keep his sisters under guard off to the side of the room.

Professionals indeed.

The one standing closest to him raised a stun in front of him and pulled the trigger causing electricity to arc back and forth between the electrodes.

"Did your father survive that accident?"

Well wasn't this interesting? Jaune had expected something like this to happen sooner or later but he hadn't been expecting them quite so soon.

But it wasn't like he wasn't prepared for this situation.

When it didn't seem like he was going to answer the kidnapper tried to get his attention again. "I ask the questions. You give the answers. Did your father survive the accident?"

Jaune just stared at him. He could use his aura to break out of his restraints but that would give the game away too soon. And there was always the chance that one of these guys had some training as a huntsman and would be able to tell if he was using his Aura so he couldn't risk it.

But there were other ways of escaping.

When he remained silent the kidnapper holding the stun gun turned to his partners and shrugged. Then without warning he turned around and jammed the stun gun into his gut and pulled the trigger.

It wasn't an especially good stun gun, unlike the ones they had used to knock them unconscious in the first place but it still packed a punch and forced Jaune to scream against his will.

Unbeknownst to the kidnappers however Jaune had tensed his muscles at the last second and when the stun gun had forced his muscles to contract the zip cuffs binding his hands together had snapped, his scream covering up the sound.

"Now let's try this again." Leaning down to look him in the eye the kidnapper sneered at him. "Did he make it to the Island? Did he tell you anything?"

Jaune glanced over at his sisters to make sure there were still unconscious. Taking this as a sign of his continued refusal to talk the kidnapper jammed the stun gun into another random point on his body and pulled the trigger, eliciting a second involuntary scream from their captive.

Taking a few deep breaths Jaune ground out "Yes he did." He had to fight a smile when the others took a few steps closer just as he had been hoping.

The one in front of him got his attention again and sounded almost pleased. "And what did he tell you Mister Arc?"

Meeting his eyes for the first time since this 'conversation' had started, in an even voice Jaune replied, "He told me I'm gonna kill you."

And to his delight, they started laughing, letting their guard down even further. "You're delusional. You're zip cuffed to that chair."

Without breaking eye contact Jaune casually removed his hands from behind the chair and said, "Not anymore."

Their eyes barely had time to widen before Jaune, in one smooth motion, stood and took the chair from behind him, smashing it over the first of his kidnappers. Crying out in alarm the second tried to use the stun gun on him but Jaune dodged to one side and grabbed his arm, forcing the stun gun into his attacker's throat.

The last one, finally recovered from his surprise, brought his gun to bear on Jaune only to have his partner, still trapped in Jaunes arms, be used as a human shield absorbing the bullets.

Seeing how easily his two partners had been dealt with the last of the kidnappers decided discretion was the better part of valor and ran from the room as fast as he could.

Pausing only to check on his sisters, Jaune insured they were all breathing and ran after him.

As he chased after him, the final kidnapper turned around and started firing at him forcing him to slow down and dodge but losing ground in the process. As Jaune rolled behind an air duct opening his mind was already cataloguing the type of weapon being used against him.

It was a high end military model, the kind that couldn't be acquired through legal means. Only the best went out of their way to get them because in addition to being illegal for civilians to own, they were also untraceable, which made their price skyrocket.

Whoever had paid for this kidnapping had been willing to pay top dollar. Or at least they had been willing to pay for the best non-huntsman trained kidnappers out there.

Glancing over his shoulder and seeing that Jaune was gaining on him the kidnapper tore his mask off, revealing a pair of small horns on top of his head, and ducked into the nearest building.

Jaune dove through a window in pursuit and rolled onto a scaffolding one level above his target. Seeing that he was being cut off the kidnapper raised his gone and started firing almost point blank at Jaune.

Jaune vaulted over the opposite side of the scaffolding and used it as a shield until he heard the kidnapper's gun run out of ammo. Not wasting a second he shot around the side into the open and reached his target moments before he could reload. Ramming his elbow into the Faunus's gut he forced him to double over before kneeing him in the face which caused his head to snap back giving Jaune the opening he needed to wrap his arms in a choke hold around his neck.

As he held the Faunus he felt remorse, and anger at the ones who had sent them after him. These men shouldn't have had to die.

But no one could know his secret.

With one sharp twist he snapped the neck of his assailant and felt the body go limp in his hands.

Less than an hour later he was giving a statement to a very confused Detective. "So let me get this straight… A man wearing a green hood, with a bow and arrow, came out of nowhere, killed three armed kidnappers, and then freed you and your sisters?"

Jaune smiled at him from across the desk and simply said, "Yes."

"Well, who is he? What did he want?"

Jaune just shrugged, "I don't know. Catch him and you can ask him yourself."

The Detective, who Jaune discovered was named Quentin Lance after he finally, got a good look at his badge, sounded skeptical. "You do get that this sounds crazy right?"

Jaune smile grew as the look of frustration grew on the Detective's face. "Believe what you want to. I'm just telling you what I saw."

"Look kid, I don't care who you are, if you're lying you will be charged with obstruction of justice, as a start and then-"

"Thank you Detective," his mother interrupted in an icy tone, "but if you're finished taking my sons statement then I believe were done here." She gestured to the rest of her family, "Unless you have any other questions?"

Detective Lance locked eyes with his mother for a moment before turning to his sisters. "All three of you were unconscious?"

After they all nodded he sighed and said, "You're all free to go, but remember, we may need to contact you for further questioning, so don't make any travel plans."

As they left the Police station couldn't help but think back to the kidnapping and, more importantly, what he had left out of his report to the police.

They had wanted to know about his father, about whether or not he had told him anything.

They wanted to know if he knew about the List.

It was sooner than he would have liked but the abduction had forced him to move up his plans.

He paused just before he reached the limo and turned back to face his family.

"Jaune what is it?" His mother sounded concerned and his sisters were looking at him curiously.

He gave them the most convincing smile he could muster and told them, "I want to go to Beacon."

Drifting on the ocean was never fun, but with the image of my Dad taking his own life burned into my mind, it became hell. His body had fallen over the edge into the ocean after he had pulled the trigger and I had been too shocked to even move. I'm not sure how long I just sat there, but when I finally forced myself to the opposite side of the raft to look over the edge his body wasn't in sight.

For days I just laid there, with one arm hanging off the side, just over the water, next to the last place I had seen my Dad. Eventually I forced myself to eat and drink from the meager supplies that were left. I almost didn't want to but the last word my Dad said kept me going.

Survive.

I didn't understand what he had been talking about before, about how he had failed our city… but I did understand that he wanted me to live, that he had given his life so that I would have a chance to survive, and I wasn't going to let him down.

Three days after I had run out of food, and one day after I had run out of fresh water I saw it, in the distance. Black jagged cliffs reaching into the sky, shrouded in fog, growing larger and larger as the current brought me closer.

AN: You may have noticed that I was rather vague about Jaunes family in this chapter and that was deliberate. I don't want to design a bunch of characters that would essentially be OC's when, sooner or later, we'll have canon descriptions and names for them.