Jaune's first day as a student was going… alright.

Being a Huntsman was Jaune's dream before he went to the place where dreams went to die. Not necessarily all dreams, just Jaune's.

This should have been an exciting day, and Jaune was sure it would if he hadn't had to ride two airships in the same day.

The first one was from Beacon to Vale. It was all a part of Ozpin's master plan to have Jaune blend into the student body, along with one other key part.

"Don't let anyone know you can come back from the dead Mr. Arc. If anyone finds out, I can't be held responsible for what happens."

Ozpin's words were still ringing in his head, along with his stern glare. It wasn't like Jaune tried to die all the time. It usually just sort of ended up happening. Aside from that time he had tried to behead himself but he felt like that was warranted.

Jaune had to admit that maybe it was a good idea not to go around dying all the time. It's not like there were many blonde-haired, blue-eyed, immortal teenagers running around.

So after throwing up on that airship, Jaune had loitered around a little while before he boarded yet another airship.

Another airship where he was currently throwing up, much like the first one. This time as he was running to the trash can however, it appeared as if there was some "friendly fire".

"It's on your shoe! Get away!"

"Gross, gross, gross, gross, gross, gross!"

Jaune felt a little bit bad. Only a little.


This was supposed to a great day.

Ruby Rose was not having a great day.

First her sister had ditched her to go hang out with her friends. Then Ruby had bumped into the crabbiest person that she had ever met. And then she had gotten blown up!

Sure she probably shouldn't have sneezed next to a bunch of dust, but who carried around a bunch of dust like that anyways?

"I'm sorry! I'll promise I'll make it up to you!" Ruby called off at the retreating 'princess' and her minions.

Well. Maybe they'd meet up again later. Maybe she was just having a bad day too, and later they could meet and be friends!

Speaking of friends…

"So, what's…" Ruby turned to the other girl had been talking with the crabby princess, only to see her literally running away as if her life depended on it.

"Guess she didn't want to talk either…" Ruby said as she finally felt it all become too much.

She flopped down onto the pavement, staring up into the sky as she let out a suffering sigh.

"Welcome to Beacon…"


'Curse my bleeding heart' Jaune thought as he made his way over. It wasn't every day that you saw a girl literally explode and then flop down to the ground in despair.

The girl that she had been standing with in black however was kind of familiar looking… The moment she had seen him however, she had paled and practically sprinted away. That got Jaune thinking.

Was Jaune… Was Jaune ugly? He certainly didn't know if he was or not but constantly dying couldn't be good for his skin.

"Welcome to Beacon," he heard the girl on the floor as he walked over.

Now that he was closer, she was definitely younger than him. She was wearing a red and black skirt with matching stockings and boots. Her hair was a dark red, looking completely black near the roots. She was also wearing a red hood and cape of all things.

'Maybe all huntresses wear capes. Maybe I should wear a cape'

Jaune doubted he'd be able to pull off the cape though.

His shadow fell over her, and he saw her eyelids open to reveal two silver eyes.

Jaune didn't know if it was hormones or nerves, but the moment he saw those eyes he panicked. It was a visceral reaction, only lasting a second, but he felt his entire body lock up.

It was a feeling that Jaune had felt so many times before. That feeling of impending death, of oblivion. This ...was different. It came with something else. It came with a feeling of peace, that it would finally all be over. The End. He could feel the capital 'E'.

Jaune hoped it was just nerves.

Jaune finally managed to relax himself and extended his hand to help her up.

Strange feelings of death aside, her eyes also revealed who she was. She was just a girl. An extremely nervous girl on her first day of school.

"Hey… I'm Jaune" he said as she grabbed his hand and pulled herself up.

"Ruby" she said as she got up and dusted herself off. "Aren't you that guy that threw up on the ship?"

Jaune just glared at her. A new feeling was back. Mild annoyance.

He could salvage this… Probably.

"Uh… no?"

"Wait! It was definitely you! I remember because I turned to Yang and called you Vomit… Boy…" Ruby's voice trailed off as she realized that she was in fact standing right in front of "Vomit Boy". Said Vomit Boy also probably wouldn't take too kindly to being called Vomit Boy.

"It's a very common problem! Everyone else gets motion sickness every now and then too!" Jaune shot back.

He may have been omitting the fact that he got motion sick all the time. Ruby didn't need to know that though.

Ruby just laughed. More so at his problems than at him. Then again it might have been at him. Either way Jaune was glad to see Ruby's mood lighten up.

"Look, I'm sorry! Vomit Boy was the first that came to mind!"

Jaune needed to nip this in the bud. He was not going to go through four years with this nickname!

"Why Vomit Boy? Why not Vomit Man?!" Jaune internally smacked himself. Not the best new nickname.

He soldiered on. "How would you like it if I called you Crater Face?"

'Ha! Nice one Jaune. Burn! ...Maybe she actually did get burned? That wouldn't be funny. Bad Jaune!'

At least the new nickname managed to distract Ruby.

"Hey! That was an accident!"

Jaune just stuck his tongue out at her. Sure he was being a bit childish, but he felt like he could afford it.

He was doing pretty well so far. Maybe this making new friends thing wasn't too hard.

"Anyways the name's Jaune Arc! Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it"

'Shit! Why! Why do you always come out of my mouth!'


-10 years ago-

"Mom I don't like my name! What kind of name is Jaune?!"

"Don't worry sweetie. Trust me! It's short,sweet, and rolls off the tongue. Ladies will love it!"

"Really Mom?"

"Yep! Now repeat after me Jaune. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

"The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies love it!"

"Good! Again!"

"The name's-"


'Dammit Mom…'

Ruby for her part just stared at him with a weird look on her face.

"Do they?" She asked, skepticism heavy in her voice.

'Huh, deja vu' Jaune thought as Ruby continued to stare at him.

"Well… my mom said they will…" Jaune actually wasn't sure that ever would be true. He had heard the stories of his father wooing his mother. They were not pretty.

Ruby just giggled at Jaune's downtrodden look. Then the conversation died.

The two of them kept on walking, both of them struggling to find something else to say.

"So… I've got this thing!" Ruby said as she pulled something out. All of the sudden the entire thing unfolded and a blade sank into the ground.

Ruby had just pulled out a giant scythe out of nowhere.

'Huh. Even more deja vu' Jaune thought as he stared at the scythe. It followed the same color scheme as Ruby, shades of black and red accented in a vicious curved blade. Maybe those feelings of death from before weren't unfounded.

"That. is. so. COOL!" Jaune said as he stared at the scythe, awe in his eyes.

"Thanks! Crescent Rose here is my baby!" Ruby said as she cooed a little at her scythe.

Ruby was pleased. Any parent would be happy about their baby being praised after all.

"It's also a customizable high-impact sniper rifle!" Ruby said, quickly noticing the blank look that settled over Jaune's face.

"It's also a gun." Ruby said as she cocked the sniper scythe to demonstrate.

"Wow…" Jaune couldn't help but be jealous. This was probably what a real huntress was like. He wondered if Ms. Goodwitch also had a secret badass unfolding weapon?

"So what've you got?" Ruby asked as she unfolded the weapon. Jaune eyed the hole that it had left. Glynda would not be happy.

Realizing that Ruby was waiting on him, he hastily fumbled for Crocea Mors.

He unsheathed it and expanded the shield. He raised the sword up in front of his face, watching the sunlight glint off its aged blade.

"This… is Crocea Mors. Weapon of my forefathers and a constant reminder."

Ruby saw the sunlight striking Jaune and his sword as he held it before him and gazed into its surface. She couldn't help but think that he looked like a knight from the stories Yang used to read her.

"A reminder of what?" Ruby asked as Jaune continued to stare at his sword.

Jaune smiled at Ruby as he sheathed the blade. "To survive. Sorry I don't have anything as fancy as your uh… baby..."

Ruby waved it off. "There's nothing wrong with the classics!"

"Oh and I've got Mr. Stabby!" Jaune's eyes lit up as he pulled out the hunting knife strapped to his thigh.

"Mr… Stabby?" Ruby said as she looked at the hunting knife. Weapons were supposed to have cool names. Like Crescent Rose! Mr. Stabby didn't really strike fear into the heart of… well anything...

Jaune just nodded. "Mr. Stabby. He doesn't just stab though. He also slices and dices! He's saved my-" Not really life I guess… "- hide too many times to count."

Ruby just giggled. Jaune was weird. Nice, but weird.

"That's cool. I'm kind of a dork for weapons myself. I went a little bit overboard designing Crescent Rose here."

"You made that?!" Jaune said, gaping at the smaller girl. He was beginning to feel a little out of place.

"Of course! All students at Signal build their own weapons." A lot out of place then.

Silence fell between the two of them as they walked, this time however it was nowhere near as awkward as that initial silence..

Ruby glanced back up at Jaune again, before looking at the ground, fidgeting a little with her robe.

"So… why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?"

This time it was Jaune's turn to shoot her a weird look.

"Why not?" He said with a shrug. "You looked like a kicked puppy. And besides! My mom always said 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet' "

At least one of her sayings was working out he supposed.

Ruby had bristled initially at the 'kicked puppy' comment but she quickly settled down. He had said friend right? She had made her first friend at Beacon! Yang would be proud.

"Uh hey, Ruby?"

"Yeah Jaune," Ruby said, breaking out of her thoughts.

"Where are we?"

"Uhhh…. I was following you?"

Ruby and Jaune simply stopped as they looked around. Finally their eyes settled on each other.

"Crap"

"Language!" Ruby said with a giggle as the two newly made friends continued to get lost.


Blake Belladonna was freaking out. Not like freaking out that her hair didn't look okay, but worried that she was losing her mind freaking out.

He was here.

She thought the hallucinations on the train were the end of it. She thought that would be the end of it, a single guilt-induced hallucination. She hadn't seen his blue eyes since.

Until now.

She had seen him walking up to her, those same damnable blue eyes staring at her. She did what any sane person would have done.

She ran.

She ran only to notice that those blue eyes weren't following her, instead they had stopped to chat with the girl who had blown herself up along with the Schnee.

Blake stopped and looked back, finally noticing the body that went along with the eyes. Blonde hair, blue eyes, jeans, and a black hoodie. He looked so similar to that boy on the train, but there was no way right?.

She wasn't crazy!

She wasn't crazy. Blake Belladonna knew what she had seen. The black hoodie, the jeans, those blue eyes… It was the same person.

Her eyes narrowed as her hand went instinctively to the hilt of Gambol Shroud. That meant that he was following her. Both at the train and here? There's no way that was a coincidence!

Her grip tightened as she turned and walked away. She was certain that a fall from the train would be certain death, but it might not be if one's aura was strong enough. He didn't even look a little bit scuffed up! He was either incredibly strong or incredibly lucky.

She didn't know why he was following her, but Blake Belladonna wasn't one to wait.

It looked like she was going to have a little chat with Blue-Eyes.


"Oh hey! There's Yang! I- I've got to go! I'll see you after the ceremony Jaune!"

Jaune gave a weak wave as Ruby sprinted away to a waving blonde.

And with that, the only person that Jaune knew was gone. Well aside from Glynda and Ozpin. He had the odd feeling they wouldn't want to talk.

Jaune awkwardly stood amongst the large amount of students still milling about, looking for a seat before the opening ceremony.

Did he just sit down somewhere? Should he just sit down next to someone? Would they find that weird? Would they find that offensive? Did he really want to offend someone the very first day? Would they become enemies? Rivals? What should he do?

"... and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde, and scraggly over there!"

Jaune had heard that.

Tall, blonde, and scraggly? Judging from everyone else here, probably him. No one else really pulled off scraggly like him. He turned around, looking for his vocal admirer.

That's when he saw her.

Beautiful, long, white hair with alabaster skin. A scowl only accentuating her elegant features as she verbally abused someone in a red hood. She was beautiful.

This time he was sure it was the hormones.

'I should go talk to her' Jaune thought as he found himself staring. He couldn't just go talk to her though! He needed a line! A line and confidence!

'Also a good time to go over and talk to her. My god she's like an angel! And her hair! It's like snow! It's like a ...a… a snow angel! Aw man I am totally using that one! I just need a moment to talk to her.'

" … And with that you all are dismissed."

Jaune's head snapped over to the stage, only to see Glynda and Ozpin's retreating backs. Had he missed the whole speech?!

'Nevermind that. I have an angel to woo!'

His feet quickly carried him over to the white-haired beauty. As he got closer though, he realized that his Snow Angel was talking to two other girls. And then he realized that the red-hooded girl that she was verbally beating on was Ruby.

Ruby his first friend here at Beacon. His first friend in… years really.

And just like that, Jaune had his first crush at Beacon and the end of his first crush at Beacon.

Jaune's nervous smile quickly turned into a frown as he finally made his way close enough to his Snow Angel.

She still thought he was cute though, and he should let her down gently. A man had to take responsibility after all.

The three members of the conversation looked over as Jaune approached. Jaune didn't know the blonde that was standing with Ruby, but he could worry about that later. He had more important things to do.

"Hi there, I heard what you said earlier." He said, looking directly into Snow Angel's eyes.

For her part, she looked nervous and abashed, as if she hadn't wanted him to hear.

'So cute… Focus Jaune!'

"Oh… I apologize. You see I was."

Jaune cut off her nervous reply.

"It's fine," he said, a solemn expression on his face. "Sadly my Snow Angel, it was never meant to be."

"What." all three girls involved in the conversation said as they stared at Jaune with a blank look on their faces.

"I'm so sorry. Just know that this was one of the hardest things I've had to do."

"What."

"I hope we can still be friends." Jaune said as he took the white-haired girl's limp hand and patted the top of it sympathetically.

"What?!"

Snow Angel had finally come to her senses, confusion giving way to frustration and fury.

"I wasn't complimenting you, you dolt! That was sarcasm! Wait. Were you turning me down?!"

"What's the problem with that Weiss? You didn't even like him," the blonde chimed in as Weiss proceeded to turn red.

'Ouch. That kind of hurt…' Jaune thought as he realized he had gaffed.

"Oh… so you weren't…"

"NO!"

In his defense, he blamed two years of repressed hormones and puberty finally taking a hold. Two years of hormones and puberty that once they had tried to see the light of day, had quickly been kicked in the nads and retreated into the fetal position.

Jaune also wished he could do the same and curl up and die. Permanently.

"Hrmph!" was all that came out of Weiss' mouth as she turned and stomped away.

That had gone well.

The blonde had thought so, as she was currently keeled over and dying from what appeared to be laughter.

'At least someone's enjoying this' Jaune thought as he scowled at the laughing blonde. If anything his hormones curled up into a tighter ball.

"Ahahaha! It's okay there Lady Killer! Ohmygod that. Was. HILARIOUS!"

Jaune just sighed as he looked over at Ruby had huddled over and pulled her hood over her head. Her hand was covering her mouth, trying to stifle the giggles coming from it.

Welcome to Beacon indeed.

"Wait a minute! You're the guy who threw up on my shoes!"


A/N: Sadly no gratuitous death this chapter. I've noticed that my highest reviewed chapters are the ones with… super-death. But I will not bow down to peer pressure! The blood will not flow (today)!

Let me know if there are any errors! I've been sick the past few days and proofreading is not my specialty.

Anyways as always, thanks for reading, and please review!