Sitting in the principal's office while petrified, Jaune couldn't help, but stare at his elder with wide eyes while breathing heavily.
Ozpin finally broke the silence after a few moments of observing his student's anxiety, "Jaune, do you know why we're here?"
"Uhhh well," he muttered, "It is one of life's great mysterious. I mean are we-"
"We are here, because our world is all that remains of the world of Remnant."
"Remnant?"
"...Before there was Earth, this planet was once called Remnant. Like Earth today, we had good and evil spread across the world and to keep the world in balance, the gods created five magic rings. These rings gave five men the power of the elements to protect the innocent and to destroy evil."
"And you gave me all five of them?"
"I was only able to determine the neon ring's wearer, each of the rings choses their owner based on a different criteria of character. The ring of light, as you have, choses its master based on whom has the greatest strive for leadership. As the newly appointed leader of the Guardians, the task of locating the other four wearers is now your burden."
"Is that all, cause I'm brand new to this area and I've barely gotten to know anyone in this school, much less the entire town."
"Don't worry so much, just focus on mastering your ring and the other four will reveal themselves in time."
The blonde took a deep breath and finally asked, "Who is Salem...And what does she want?"
The principal grimaced at this question, "She...has a unique view of the world. She believed humanity's peaceful existence was a cancer upon its evolution. Her goals were simple, slaughter the weak and foolish so the best and brightest can reproduce. When the Guardians had her cornered, in an act of desperation, she ignited a powerful blast upon Remnant. Using every ounce of her energy, she destroyed the Guardians and all life on this planet. Then she fell into a deep sleep to recharge her strength."
"My god."
"Not god, gods. Centuries later, the gods rebuilt civilization as we see it now and have tasked me with keeping humanity safe. If humanity fails again, it won't be rebuilt. Over twenty years ago, Salem had returned and wanted to carry out her plans once again. I formed a new team of Guardians and with our combined efforts, we managed to cripple Salem to near death. However, after our last confrontation, I lost all five Guardians and...Well."
The older gentleman began shifting from his desk, revealing he was in a wheelchair, "In her final moments, she crippled me as well."
Jaune didn't know how to react, he simply stared downward and took a deep breath.
"I know this is a lot to take in."
"OH YOU DON'T SAY," The blonde teen rose and growled, "You're telling me I have use these Guardian powers to fight some evil chick, who's already single handedly killed all of them TWICE?"
"I've been trying to find suitable owners for these rings for years, but they'll only accept those who adhere to their traits the most. Now that the neon ring has chosen its master, the other four will follow soon enough. As the Magic Guardian, you are fully capable of finding the heroic traits in others and leading them to victory."
"You think I'm capable of being a leader?"
"I absolutely do."
Jaune sat back down, continually troubled by this predicament.
"You have to understand, if Salem rises again, a lot of people will die. She believes humanity is holding itself back, by allowing the frail and unintelligent to procreate. Jaune...The world is going to need you to assemble a new team to stop her...Permanently this time. I can't fight her myself, not like I did with the previous Guardians, but I will put every effort into locating her hidden base."
"I...I don't know if I can do this." The boy mumbled while breathing heavily.
"Like I said, this is a lot to take in at once. I was hoping to find the neon ring's new owner before Salem began her recovery. To ease you into this slowly, but it's become clear she's not going to wait around forever." The man then reaches into his draw and takes out a large book, "Take this at least. When you're ready, this book will contain everything you'll need to master your ring."
"...What if, I'm never ready."
"Jaune...If that were the case, the ring would have never chosen you. You have potential Jaune and I'll be here to help guide you in any way you need."
However, after two weeks, Jaune still felt incredibly anxious from the entire situation. He often stared at his massive book he received from Ozpin. Always tempted, but never willing to look inside. For if he chose to open it, it would mean taking on the responsibility of fighting someone who could wipe out all life on Earth if she wanted to. It be one thing, if a team was already assembled, but he was alone and nearly died in his first fight. What would he do if someone or something came at him that was even stronger? All the boy could think to do was to put it off indefinitely.
As he and his sister walked home in silence, Ruby peaked up and soothed, "Are you okay? You've been really quiet for a while now."
"I'm just...Feeling a little overwhelmed at school," He shrugged off.
The small girl gave a small chuckle, "You and me both, the school year's just started and I'm already falling behind."
"WHAT!" The mere thought his sister was struggling with school sent the boy into an instant panic. It was then, he pictured the image of her gasping for air as a mysterious figure began choking her.
"It's okay Jaune, I'm only having trouble with one class and I already gotta tutor coming over to help me."
"...Ah, well...Good. Glad to know you'll be covered there."
With the two arriving home, Jaune wasted no time and sprinted up to his room. Even if Salem's utopia spared his life from any harm, the mere thought of his sister's life even being somewhat in danger fired him up to unprecedented levels. He spent hours reading through each page then attempting each and every basic conjuration with minimal success.
He stood in the middle of the room with his Guardian uniform on and read aloud, "When manifesting a levitation spell, one must focus the surrounding area of said object. It is important to note, the more mental energy used on your object, the faster it will move. However weight and wind resistance will factor in how much energy is needed to move an object. Practicing different levels of focus with several different items of diverse weight classes is key for receiving the best results."
Jaune then placed a single action figure in the middle of the room. He thought to himself okay, we're gonna take this slow and just gently lift it.
While holding his palm forward to the small toy, his hand as well as his item began to glow. The link had been set, unfortunately the thoughts of his sister sprang into his mind again and he quickly lost control and shot the object right upwards in a rapid motion smashing into the ceiling.
"...Fuck," he whispered. This was getting out of hand, before he was too scared to do anything at the thought of Salem killing him, but now thinking about Ruby's safety has made him more stressed than before.
What if he can't find the other four Guardians and has to fight Salem himself, someone who's already killed the Guardians twice?
What if he does find them and it makes no difference and the four people he roped in are dead because of his leadership?
What if Salem finds out who he is and goes after his family before his training is ready?
"GAAAHH," He growled plopping onto his bed, he felt a new wave of terror course through him. This was real, the night he fought Weiss was real. He barely managed to beat her then, what is a poor boy to do now?
Suddenly, he heard his mom call out, "KIDS, dinner's ready."
The boy took a deep breath, reverted his uniform back and slowly sauntered out. However, not wanting to explain why he's STILL in his school uniform(as reverting back made his old clothes appear), the boy prompted to remove his jacket and undershirt and replace them with a single tank top. Then upon opening the door, he saw his sister sprint across the hall and down the steps. He chuckled for a bit on his sister's appetite, but then he heard a quite familiar, unexpected, yet stunning voice.
"Hello Jaune."
Slowly turning to the source, he found the one and only Lie Ren.
"Ren? What are you doing here?"
"I'm tutoring your sister, I would have knocked on your door and said hi, but...I heard grunts, moaning, and...I didn't want to disturb you."
Instantly picking up on the awkwardness, "Oh, NOOOO I wasn't doing THAT, I was just...Working out."
"I see, well its important to stay in shape. You do a..." The Asian was lost in thought as for the first time since meeting Jaune, he admired the fact his friend had...Quite the masculine figure. Even for a nerdy socially awkward guy, boy had an enticing physique, "Wonderful job at staying fit."
The blonde teen rubbed and chuckled, "Hey thanks man, that means a lot."
The two stood in an awkward silence until Ren stated, "So...Um, I guess we should get to dinner."
"We?"
"Yes, upon arriving I was invited to partake in your family's meal."
"Oh uh GREAT! Hehe, glad to have you."
Back in Salem's liar, we find a tall muscular man entering the witch's den. The man was tan with short brown hair, a beard and hazel eyes. He gazed upon his frail leader in bed, while Dr Watts was tending to her medical needs. "Hazeeel..." She mutters, "Thank you for finally arriving."
"I'm glad you're feeling better, now we can crush Ozpin."
"Settle down Hazel, right now he has a new apprentice. A new Magic Guardian has resurfaced."
"I know, I've seen the news. Does he have any other Guardian's blindly following him."
"Not...That we know of" The witch began coughing profusely again. "I've chosen specifically you to kill this kid."
The large man looked downward, his eyes filled with guilt, "...Anything...To hurt Ozpin, is worth it."
"Gooood, goooood. I have Watts monitoring any signs of magic to find him."
"Why not just morph someone and draw him out?"
"Out of the question." The mustached man interjected, "We have very few hawkmoths to spare. We have to conserve them on anyone who shows the highest amounts of distress."
"My recoveryyyy," She hissed, "Takes full...Priority."
The large man groaned at how far his leader has fallen.
"Don't despair Hazel, I promise you we will kill Ozpin. One way...Or another."
And done, sorry for the exposition dump on ya guys.
So yeah I've looked into how I'm gonna structure this fic and I'm not sure how I'm gonna be able to write this story without making Jaune a little Mary Sue-ish or relying on a lot of clichés. So if that already sounds bad, I guess feel free to stop following. I'll still put my best efforts to make this fan fiction as entertaining as possible though.
Side note, it might be a while until I update again. Work has been piling on lately, I've enjoyed writing two other fanfictions, and at the end of the month I'm scheduling some vacation time. So if I don't update by the 31st, well then I'm even less likely to update for a week after that day.
