Chapter 3, The lights of Beacon

The City of Vale was rather quiet tonight. Shops were closing, people were heading home, or going out, cars were silently bugging along the streets. A normal, average, everyday night.

Well if you count the group of rather sketchy citizens wearing black business suits with reds ties, then yes. Normal...night.

"You have a nice night now, Mrs. Turner!" Jaune Arc waved a goodbye to the elderly woman behind the counter. It was a local drug store run by a nice couple, the Turners ran the shop for over 20 years and still they're going strong. That's all due to the their unique, and gentle personalities. Or their abundance of customers.

"Oh be quiet young man! Go home, rest, and get ready for school!" she reprimanded the boy, wagging her index finger while placing a hand on her hip. Jaune chuckled,

"You know me, Mrs Turner; always running out of food." he joked, the lady chuckled softly, a sweet sound that could make anyone smile.

"Ho, ho. Funny as always, Jaune. Now go, old people need their sleep too." she turned and started preparing for the night. Jaune nodded, turned and exited the store,

"See ya when I see ya!" he shouted, the door closed with the sound of the bell ringing.

Ever since moving to Vale a couple months ago, Jaune was given the privilege of 'burrowing' Steven's apartment. It wasn't fancy, more old fashioned and a tad bit Spartan at times. It had shelves of vinyl records and an actual record player by his couch, books scattered here and there, a decent sized kitchen and two bedrooms. Plus one bath,

Steve rarely showed at the apartment; only coming to see how Jaune kept the place going. Of course he'd pay the bills and such but lately he's been working alongside the military commander James Ironwood. Steve would occasionally complain about his desk job, preferring to be out in the field. Jaune was alright with the accommodations, rarely would he keep the place unkempt, and rarely would he destroy anything. Besides a crappy vinyl record that fell off one of the shelves, "It's fine. I hated that track anyways." Steve said,

The night was cold, wind blew trash across the streets and a dust bunny passed by, people were wearing light jackets and such while the Arc merely wore a blue navy button up shirt. A low rumble originated from within his stomach, it gargled and roared for food, making Jaune frown disapprovingly.

"Man I'm hungry." he whispered,

He crossed the street and headed towards his apartment. After turning a few corners he came across a street that was oddly empty. A couple scurried past him like they saw a ghost. He raised an eyebrow at the strange behavior before turning to his left. He strolled down the street with cautions steps, his eyes darting from each corner to the next.

The hairs on the back of his neck started to bristle,

"I have a bad feeling about this." he mumbled low,

The loud crash of a window shattering nearby alerted his senses, he turned and the next thing he knew a body was being hurled at him. Instinct took over his muscles in an instant, Cap's tutorial on acrobatics played in his mind, more specifically wrapping and tucking.

He pulled his arms up in a split second, got on the boles of his feet and leaped backwards. At the climax of the jumped he tucked his knees in and watched as his world went topsy turvy.

Jaune nailed the landing perfectly, barely stumbling, if you blinked you would've missed it. He was that good. He looked at the body beside him, it was a thug dressed up in formal attire. Black suit, tie, bowler hat, everything. The man was moaning in agony while turning from side to side, Jaune whistled as he kneeled down to see if he was conscious.

"Somebody got their ass kicked." he smirked, he picked up the man by the collar and slapped his face to wake him up. The thug groaned as a line of drool cascaded down from his mouth. Jaune finally got the man awake, he shook the person and growled,

"What's going on, pal?" in the deepest voice he could muster. Trying desperately to sound like a badass, the man brought up his limp hand and pointed to his right.

"That...girl...uhh..." his eyes rolled back into his skull as he ceased talking. The Arc dropped the beaten man and turned, curious to find out who this girl was. What he saw made his jaw drop.

Standing not far from him was a young petite girl with sliver colored eyes dressed in a black blouse and a skirt with red trimmings, complete with a red cloak, she was pale skinned, way shorter than Jaune, from his guess no more than 5'2. Her hair was naturally black but had a red tint towards the tips. The Arc's heart beat started to speed up, her beauty radiated something that struck a cord within the blonde's heart. He swallowed the lump in his throat. Suddenly his mouth became dry and parched,

The girl unleashed her a weapon, a weapon that appeared to be rifle of some kind at first but then extended in a huge red scythe. Jaune sweat dropped,

"Now that's just overkill!" he whispered to himself, he formed a meek frown on his face. Suddenly the girl twirled her scythe in an elegant show and drove the blade into the ground; breaking the concrete. Displaying a show of dominance, begging anyone who dared cross her, she even clicked off her music.

Jaune noticed that the Dust Till Dawn store window was shattered, revealing a rather strapping flamboyant man with orange hair covering his right eye, bowler hat with a red band and for some reason black eyeliner. He also wore a red collared white suit with a small gray scarf with black gloves, shoes, and pants. Rather extravagant for a thug he thought.

"He wears makeup?" he exclaimed in clear disbelief, the man scowled at the girl, thoroughly pissed off with her shit. He pinched the bridge of his nose and squinted his eyes shut in annoyance,,

"Oh for Dust's sake! GET HER!" he shouted, thus kicking his lackeys into high gear. Jaune knew a fight was going to ensue so he checked if any civilians were around in the area.

"Thank Mounty there's no one here."

The Thugs surrounded the red scythe wielder in seconds, one thought it was ok to attack the girl head one. Big mistake. She jumped and twirled her legs expertly and planted a nice kicked to the thugs face. Then grabbed her scythe, pulled the trigger and twirled in a circle; thus sending one poor sap hurling into the air. Jaune winced,

"That's gotta hurt."

She brought the scythe down and hurled the entire object into another thug, knocking him out instantly. Moving faster than any normal human, she started darting from one point to the next point, using her gun feature to accelerate her body. And in an extravagant finisher launched the last thug into the air, twirled around on the edge of her weapon and kicked the man by the orange haired man's feet.

He growled, "Seriously?! What the hell are they feeding you kids nowadays!?." he dropped his cigar and crushed it to ash under his cane. The girl made a determined expression as the man leisurely walked up to him, twirling his cane like a jester. Jaune caught him mumbling under his breath, saying something along the lines of: "all fluff and no substance." The blonde Arc was debating whether or not to intervene, this is seriously starting to get out of control! he thought.

"Well Red, I think we can all say it's been an eventful evening," he stops twirling his cane and smirks mischievously at the girl he dubbed as RED. Jaune was starting to piece together the invisible puzzle in front of him,

"and as much as I'd love to stick around..." he lifts up his cane, the butt facing her,

"I'm afraid this-" the end pops up and becomes an armed sight, one used for quick shots if need be.

"is where we part ways." and fires an huge incendiary projectile at the girl. Her body freezes up and she doesn't move.


A huge explosion rocks the streets; shattering and ripping pavement as a result of the blast. As the dust and red sparks settle down and the world becomes quiet again, the girl unfreezes and opens her eyes. She should be dead and or unconscious, but she wasn't. She froze, why did she freeze up? This question plagued her mind until she noticed the boy standing in front of her.

He was tall, 6'1, natural blond like her sister, jeans and a blue shirt. She noticed his rather toned muscles and lean figure, for some reason she blushed. Even though boys never really crossed her mind before. Her dream far surpassed the simple idea of love or relationships. But this kid was different.


Jaune slowly eased his grip on his weapon as the last of the vibrations rang through his trusty shield. His right arm throbbed but the pain subsided in seconds, all due to his high pain tolerance. He turned around and opened his baby blue eyes at the girl, she was still, as still as a rock. Her eyes were darting up and down his body, almost if she was evaluating his physique.

"Is she checking me out?" He thought,

Jaune shook his head subconsciously as he brushed off the thought, he rushed over and tapped her shoulder lightly. He needed to get her attention,

"Hey, are you alright?" he asked innocently, the girl released a breath and nodded,

"Yeah, fine. I'm fine." he repeated, Jaune turned around and walked over to an old man. Presumably the owner of the Dust store. He directed the man to a safe place and the man scurried off. He turned back to the girl and shouted,

"Hey, Red!" he pointed to the ladder adjacent to their location, she turned and started running,

"Way ahead of you, blondie!" she shouted back. She pointed her scythe at the bottom of her feet, jumped and pulled the trigger. Launching herself as she pursued her target in an daring manner. Jaune ran over to the building and cursed,

"Shit! I should've brought my super dangerous, scythe gun thingy too!" he sarcastically berated himself. He looked for any means of getting himself on top of the roof, he eyes locked onto a pipe. He smirked, clapped his hands together and leaped for the metal.

"Up and Adam!" and proceeded to climb,

Minutes passed as he agonizingly made his ascent to the top, for some reason he started hearing engine noises. Low rumbles that shook the building, thus shaking his body.

"One foot in front of the other." he reminded himself of his mantra as he climbed. The shaking was making it harder to climb,

An explosion rocked the building, making Jaune lose his grip, one hand went off the pipe and his body lurched back. Barely being held up by his other hand,

"WHOA! WHOA! WHOAA!" he flailed a little bit before he regained his footing, Jaune clenched his teeth and cursed.

"What the hell is going on up there?!" He shouted, Jaune balled his fist and shook it at them.

He leaped higher up the pole, climbed, and leaped again, trying to increase his pace as he went. Another explosion rocked the building, he braced himself for the shock. After that one, he noticed strange colorful flashes originating from the top, he squinted. He saw an arrange of colors, purple, orange, red, blue even. He grit his and concentrated on his climb,

"I've gotta get up there!" he sucked in a breath and resumed, and with a couple of jumps he made it.

There was one final explosion, a large one at that. Jaune barely had a chance to react as the g forces launched him off the roof, his stomach feeling the weight of the hit.

With a quick reflex Jaune brought his hand out and gripped the edge. Luckily, his body was sent backwards, is head automatically saw the ground and in a frantic frenzy lurched his other hand to the ledge.

He panted heavily, then shook his head tiredly,

"I'm seriously getting no breaks today; am I?" he sighed, flipped himself back onto the roof and hunched over. His hands on his knees as he regained his breath,

"Jaune?" said a feminine voice,

He raised an eyebrow and looked up, air hitched in throat.

"No way! Miss Goodwitch?" his eyes almost bulged out of his sockets.

His old babysitter from times long past; Glynda Goodwitch was standing alongside Red as the result of a battle that transpired minutes ago took place. She had a look of disapproval on her face or she was just merely pissed off. Jaune couldn't tell, all he knew was that it's been ages since he seen, let along heard from the woman.

"Long time, no see, eh?" he bashfully rubbed his hair.

There was a slight grin on the woman's face. A very, very, small grin.


Jaune was now in a makeshift interrogation room. He's been in a real one before not too long ago...

The mere thought made him shiver,

'Wasn't one of the best experiences.' He frowned,

Miss Goodwitch was pacing around the desk, berating and reprimanding him about his actions.

"What in Dust's name were you thinking, Jaune?!" he shouted as she moved to the front of the table,

Jaune shrugged his shoulders and merely yawned,

"I told you already. I saw some girl who was in trouble and decided to help her! No muss, no fuss." he stated with a curt nod,

Glynda rolled her eyes and sighed in exasperation,

"Always playing the hero, are we, Jaune?"

He turned and smirked,

"You know me, Miss Goodwitch."

The teacher pinched her nose and paced some more, Jaune was shivering from the cold air that filled the room. He wished for a jacket and started to yawn. Drowsiness was starting to get the better of him. Glynda noticed this and decided to wrap it up,

"I wish we could stay and chat some more, but someone important is here to meet you." she almost whispered, the Arc could pick out the slight disappointment in her voice, but elected to ignore it. Miss Goodwitch had more important priorities than her use to be child,

Jaune smiled, "Oh goody, I wonder; who could it be?" he tapped his chin in fake contemplation, but in reality he had a clue to who it was.

A man walked out of the back room, gray hair, glasses that hung on his nose, jacket and green scarf. He seemed calm and collected, the type that usually would avoid physical confrontations. He threw an vanilla dossier folder perfectly onto the table, causing a picture to slide out for Jaune to see. When the boy got a better look at the photo, he froze.

It was him,

He was carrying a bloodied child while shouting at someone, probably a medic or Doctor, fire could be seen in the background. The Arc was covered in grime, sweat and blood. It was a horrifying image to look at. One would say explicit,

Every hair on his entire body stood up, a single drop of sweat came down his cheek and numerous goosebumps covered his body. This didn't go unnoticed at all, Glynda frowned at the boy as she evaluated him from head to toe. Her lips dipped into a sorrowful expression, she knew the story, she knew everything. And it worried her to no end.

Jaune's defense mechanism kicked in, his only defense for something like this.

He joked,

"Now who in the world is this handsome devil?" it was transparent as glass, everyone knew, who was he trying to fool. The man smirked, but it wasn't a normal one. It said something like: "don't bother."

"The hero of the Signal Massacre." announced the man,

A title,

A title that made Jaune's blood go icy cold, he flinched slightly from the name. An image of a woman screaming flashed in his mind, he gulped and tried to regain his lost composure. He closed his eyes and snorted,

"You and I both know that I don't deserve that title..." he sighed,

"Professor Ozpin." he finished with a grunt,

The man seemed impressed, but a little confused, Jaune would even say curious.

"And why might that be, Jaune Arc?" he asked, his tone innocent.

Jaune stared hard at the table, not wanting to look up at anyone. Shame filling his body at the mere thought,

"There were so many others that I could've saved. I'm no hero." he belittled himself, scolded himself. Jaune couldn't see Ozpin's smirk,

"You're only human, Mr. Arc. What you did on that day was remarkable, something few people could pull off." he walked over and gently touched the boy's shoulder.

It was warm and comforting hand on his cold skin. Something drove the boy to look up into the man's eyes. Ozpin reached for the folder and rifled through its contents, he nodded his head, seeming rather impressed for some reason.

"Disciple of Capt. Steven Rogers. Moderate grades in most academic fields, exceptional strategic capabilities, and I quote "has the right stuff to become more than just a Huntsmen." Also an affinity for hand to hand combat and weapons." He passed the dossier over to Glynda and pulled up a chair,

"How's Steve?" he asked, Jaune could hear concern in his voice,

"He's fine. Still acting like the Captain, you know?" he chuckled, "But lately he's been swamped with work."

Ozpin shook his head in agreement,

"I'd figure as much. On that fateful day, the word 'peace' became a mere idea; not a reality." he rubbed his jaw and continued, "Ironwood has more to deal with nowadays. Because that wasn't White Fang that attacked, it was someone else."

He was right, Jaune furrowed his brows,

"It was. If anything, the White Fang are a bunch of glorified bullies that think violence is the only means of achieving their goals." he stated with a passion that made Ozpin smile,

"But those guys...they...they were different." he gulped, he remembered the horrendous events that happened,

"They were trained killers; trained Huntsmen and Huntress. People who didn't show mercy, they just...killed. Almost if they were soulless machines, I saw people beg for their lives, and they answered their prayers with a bullet to the head." Jaune's voice trembled in fear, anxiety and terror, Glynda was by his side in a second. Her hand on his shoulder, she rubbed small circles and tried desperately to calm him down. One look into her eyes and the Arc started to regain himself,

Ozpin closed his eyes and rubbed his face, he's seen worse. Which was horrifying, the idea that he could relate to the boy in front of him spoke volumes. The headmaster leaned in close and stared deeply into the baby blue eyes of the male Arc.

"Mr. Arc, are applying to my school?" his voice was deep and ominous, "Even after what you've been through; you still want to pursue this path?" he asked.

The room was filled with a pregnant silence for at least a good minute.

Jaune sucked in a deep breath and returned the headmaster's gaze with one of his own.

"Yes Sir. I am, and there's nothing that's gonna to stop me." his voice was stern, determined, and filled with conviction. Ozpin got up abruptly and raised his hand out,

"Then Welcome aboard, Mr. Arc." In disbelief the boy shook the headmaster's hand,

"Sooo... Does this mean...I'm in?" he asked, confused as ever.

"Yes my boy, you're in." he chuckled,

Jaune exploded,

"YES! OH HELL YEAH!" he shouted and cheered, he jumped from his seat and hollered and jumped. He even hugged Glynda, he closed his eyes and smiled happily as his body exploded with excitement.

The poor Arc missed the beet red blush on Glynda's face. She stuttered and fumbled as the boy twirled her around, enjoying every bit of it. Radiating a glow of happiness the was once nonexistent a moment ago.

"YA hear that, Miss Glynda, I'm going to Beacon! WOOOOAAA!" he cheered,

Glynda Goodwitch lost her professional composure in seconds. She made the fatal mistake of touching the young man's chest as she tried to pry herself from his iron grip. She felt his toned abs, the hard muscles sent shivers down her spine. She noticed his chest, he wasn't huge but in between. He was the ideal man, not teenager...

This was getting out of hand.

"L-let me down this instant, Jaune Arc!" the boy stopped and let the down, Jaune stilled smiled like the sun. He rushed over the Headmaster and started vigorously shaking the man's hand. Beaming with an untamable joy,

"Thank you so much sir. You won't be disappointed! I'll train my butt everyday, I'll be the best Huntsmen out there!"

Ozpin smiled back,

"Oh I'm counting on it Mr. Arc. I'll surely be curious to see what happens in the future." he let go the boy's, he actually felt his hand pulsate from his grip. "Now head home and rest. You'll need all the sleep you can get. See you at Beacon, Mr. Arc." he turned on his heel and started to head out.

But right as he got to the door he stopped,

Without looking, he shouted back at him: "Oh and I hope you're recovering well. I never knew the human body could make such miracles...anyway, Goodnight."

Jaune's eyes dilated,

'Holyshit! Does he know!?'

Glynda followed behind Ozpin, but waved to Jaune in farewell.

"Nice seeing you again, Jaune." her professional aura back and her cold exterior present, nut he returned the wave with a cheeky smile,

"It was nice seeing you too, Miss Glyn." he called her by her nickname, hoping she would remember, she chuckled,

"You still remember that?" he nodded, "How could I forget!"

Once the two teachers left, Jaune found the door and ran his ass home.


The next week

He reached over a tapped a random kids shoulder,

"I gonna warn you right now. I might throw up on ya." Jaune felt bile fill his throat, luckily he choked it down. The kid looked at him in disgust and moved as far away as possible, not wanting to fall victim to Jaune's vomit.

Jaune resumed starring at floor, trying desperately not to look out the window. Because if he did...there'd be a pile of vomit on the floor.

"I freakin hate flying." he groaned, a hiccup came out of nowhere and he started to feel it rise up again. He pushed it back down again,


Ruby Rose was not having it,

She was nervous; and Yang's 'being the bee's knees' was not helping at all.

"Look Yang, I just want to be a normal girl, with normal knees." she declared, Yang frowned at the statement

"What's wrong with you!" she lurched over and locked Ruby in a tight hug,

"you are special, Rubes." she reminded the girl,

As the news rambled on in the background, Ruby's eyes started to scan the crowds, that was until she noticed a blonde boy standing alone by upper half of the Airship. He was sweating profusely and looked...slightly green.

"He looks familiar." she mumbled, she wiggled her way out and proceeded to the boy.

"Rubes where are you-" she cut her off with a finger to her lips, shushing her.


Jaune felt a tap on his shoulder, he turned.

It was the girl from the other night. He didn't get her name, so he settled on just calling her Red. Her sliver eyes grew two sizes as shock took over,

"Holycrap! It's you!" she asked in disbelief, Jaune merely smirked,

"Oh yeah, you're that badass chick from the other day!" he pointed, she literally started jumping up an down,

"You're seriously going to Beacon!" she asked exuberantly,

"If I can make through this flight, then yeah, I am." he laughed,

"You're not a fan of flying, are you?" responded the girl,

"Yep. Never have, never will." he declared, Jaune tightened the straps on his gauntlets, it was like a tick to calm his stomach down. He reached his hand out and offered a hand,

"Names Jaune Arc, short, sweet, and rolls off the tongue. Chicks dig that." he said in a suave manner, seeing if he can put on his womanly charms,

She merely laughed,

"I'm sure they all do. It's Ruby, Ruby Rose." the two shook hands.

"Pretty name." he complemented with honesty, no suave manners, just plain Jaune. He didn't miss the cute blush on her cheeks and the way she fumbled with her skirt.

'Adorable.' he smiled,

Suddenly a tall girl walked up beside Ruby. She was 5'10 with yellow hair that exceeded the color, almost if it resembled the sun. Lilac colored eyes, and...

pretty impressive assets. Not to mention her state of attire just screamed social butterfly. Or adrenaline jockey, either or. She looked at him with almost hungry eyes, checking out every curve of his body.

'Hope you like what you see.' He smirked,

"Who's tall and handsome here, Rubes?" her voice was rather loud, but he didn't mind. He blushed at the statement, even Ruby blushed.

"Yaang!" she scolded,

"Oh pipe down, Rubes." she moved in extra close to Jaune's personal bubble. Making him feel super uncomfortable and getting a healthy dose of boob.

"If you don't back up, I'm gonna hurl all over you." and she did. Ruby sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose.

"Yang, meet Jaune Arc. Jaune, this is my sister; Yang Xiao Long." she introduced,

Yang got super close again and started flirting with the boy,

"Hey handsome," he blushed, Ruby grabbed Yang and pulled her back,

"Yang stop!" she pouted,

"Oh lighten up! I was merely joking!" she laughed at the red face her younger sister was giving him.

Jaune merely smiled as the two sister started arguing. He enjoyed their company, and he's already made friends,

"This might turn out to be a great year." he mumbled,


Alright another chapter completed! What happened during the Signal Massacre? Does Professor Ozpin know something that everyone else doesn't?

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