Way back during Jaune's childhood days he would always play with a certain rabbit faunus, Velvet. Every day when school ends they'd go out to play in the nearby park, both were subjected to bullying with Velvet fighting back and Jaune holding his head while crouching. And when the fighting ends the rabbit-girl would offer her hand to Jaune and they'd go home together. They were neighbors, but they were attached to the hip.
They even had a secret place, outside their town is a forest and in that forest a meadow filled with colorful flowers, at one point in time Jaune made the girl a flower crown all the while laughing. That was the last good memory they had before circumstances separated them and Velvet had to leave.
The meadow was also a painful place for him. He sent Velvet a letter a week before they would leave asking her to meet him in their secret place. He never specified which date but for one week he'd stay there from morning till midnight waiting for her.
She never came.
She left without ever saying goodbye.
It was the first heartbreak Jaune ever felt.
Now back to the present time, seeing his childhood friend bullied by someone with the same name that subjected him to suffer in the past made him irrational again, the same thing that happened in his fight with the bully, Cardin Winchester. He approached him and took hold of the bigger guy's arm.
"Let her go Cardin." Jaune warned.
"What the hell do you think you're doing, Jauney-boy?" Cardin raised his eye brow.
"Let. Velvet. Go." The blonde's grip tightened.
"What the hell is your problem Jaune? I still remember the shit you said back in class."
Velvet looked up to see a familiar mop of blond hair. "Jaune?" She asked, with a surprised tone.
"Oh? You know this animal?" He finally let go. "Sorry man, didn't know she was your pet." He smirked.
And Jaune Arc snapped. He gave smashed his forehead on Cardin's nose. He stepped back and winced before he could try anything though he was held back by his teammates. He looked behind Jaune and saw his team and RWBY standing up ready for anything.
Cardin clicked his tongue "You better not forget this, Jaune. Learn to have eyes behind your head" And he left.
Jaune tightened his hands into a fist. "I'm all in, Cardin."
I'm ready to go any day that you want. He tried moving forward but couldn't. He looked back to see his arm was held back by Velvet.
"You trying to start something?" Cardin taunted looking back at Jaune.
Jaune kept quiet and glared at Cardin. Cardin huffed "Thought you got more balls than that Jauney-boy. Guess that time at Glynda's class was just empty threats huh?" He grinned and walked away.
He took a deep breath to calm himself down before facing Velvet. "You okay, Velv?"
She nodded.
Yang approached Jaune and gave him a strong pat in the back taking away the air inside his lungs. "Good going, Mr. Hero." Everyone approached them.
"I had my emotions get the best of me" the blond smiled with a sheepish grin. "Oh yeah, guys this is my friend Velvet. Known her since we were kids" He grinned.
"And Velvet, this is my partner Lie Ren."
"Greetings." Ren gave a slight bow.
"And the rest of my team, Pyrrha Nikos." He then whispered loudly, "Apparently she's a bigshot, some kinda champion" He snickered.
"Jaune!" Pyrrha pouted.
"And this pink ball of energy is Nora Valkyrie, she loves pancakes and has been together with Ren since they were young, but not together-together for some reason." Jaune deadpanned. Just like us but we were separated.
Nora stuttered for a bit "Uh, yeah that's me." And gave a nervous laugh while subtly giving glances at Ren.
"And, then there's Team RWBY!" Ruby interjected and raised her hand up.
"This young one here is Ruby, huntress-in-training with normal knees, and huge weapon nerd." Jaune grinned. "There's her partner, Weiss Schnee, also a bigshot heiress. Careful though she can get a little bit icey, sometimes."
Velvet gave Jaune a glare. "That's not nice."
"Thank you." Weiss said and gave a curt bow. "Weiss Schnee of the Schnee Dust Company. I do hope we can be good friends."
Velvet nodded.
"There's Blake Beladonna. A bookworm and introvert extraordinaire."
Velvet looked at Blake and gave a silent nod, which Blake also gave in return.
Weird Jaune thought.
"And this buxom beauty is Yang-Xiao Long. Careful cause' she does things with a bang!" Jaune gave Velvet a finger hand gesture and shot at her.
Velvet rolled her eyes.
Yang chuckled. "Hiya! Yang Xiao-Long" She reached for a handshake to which Velvet shook. "So, do you and Vomit-boy here have some history or something?" She asked.
Velvet retracted her hand and stepped back. "ummm, I think I have to go. My team is gonna be needing me." She paused "It was nice meeting all of you though. You too Jaune! Bye!" She ran away.
Jaune sighed. "What the heck was that all about."
"What the heck was that all about."
The pair of blondes said at the same time.
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Meanwhile Cardin was walking with his team in the hallways of Beacon Academy on their way to their next class. He had clear irritation in his eyes.
Cardin was never to back down from empty threats. He's had his fair share of punks who think they can take them on. The Winchester family is a prominent noble family back in Atlas. So, taking on assholes who think high of themselves was normal for Cardin, that includes threats that had nothing to back them on. But Jaune Arc was different.
'I'll end you' Cardin recalled the words Jaune said during their sparring. An empty threat he thought.
And yet he felt fear.
Cardin realized that during his spar with the blond and the scuffle at the cafeteria his knees were shaking in fear. He never knew it until it was over.
Back then during the spar and the cafeteria. The way Jaune looked at me wasn't the eyes of someone giving false threats. He was serious. He wanted to kill him.
"Someone's gotta' put him down and teach him a lesson." Cardin bit the nail of his thumb.
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Velvet entered her team's room and flopped straight to her bed. There was no one there except for Coco, her friend, partner, confidant and most importantly, her lover.
"Oh hey, what's the matter bun-bun? Did they serve you carrots for lunch again?" Her partner snickered until a pillow hit her square in the face.
"Very funny Coco." Velvet pouted.
"Okay, so you're clearly not in a good mood." The fashionista returned Velvet's pillow sat on next to her while playing with her hair.
"Remember that kid I told you about once?" The rabbit-faunus asked.
"The one who got drenched in the rain?" Coco asked, though he's the only boy you've ever talked about.
"Well, he's enrolled here." Velvet buried her face into her pillows.
"No way!?"
Velvet nodded.
Coco stood up. "I gotta see him"
Velvet held Coco's hand. "No, Coco. Please, it felt awkward seeing him again, and you don't know how awkward it was when we met again."
"I can feel a story here. Tell me about it."
Meanwhile, the boys of team CFVY were standing in front of their team's room.
"Can we enter yet?" The huge teen, Yatsuhashi asked.
His blind team mate, Fox, shook his head. "C'mon, let's go walk around for a bit."
"Another female-talk?"
"Yep" Fox replied with a pop.
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Jaune was confused. And that was an understatement. The way he acted in front of Velvet was out of character for him. Way out of character. It was sickeningly obvious that his friends asked about him. And Yang, well, she kept asking about me and Velvet. He didn't want to make Velvet look bad so he restrained himself from talking about what history he and the rabbit-faunus had. And there was also the way this Proffes-Doctor Oobleck talked.
The way he talked was as if caffeine were injected into his bloodstreams. He was giving lessons about the Faunus Rights Revolution. Weiss could answer his question regarding the battle at Fort Castle. And then Jaune was asked why the Faunus won.
"Isn't it because they had an idiotic general, sir?" Jaune asked.
"Oh? This is an interesting notion, General Lagune though inexperienced as he maybe he opted to have a nocturnal attack, which is a textbook strategy for war." Oobleck explained, not stopping even for a breath.
"That's exactly it, sir. The general was too much of a textbook strategist, I think the general was too confident, and his hubris caught him in a downfall. He forgot a simple factor when he made his plans for the attack."
Oobleck raised an eyebrow. "Pray do tell, what is this factor?"
"Well, he was fighting faunus, sir. He forgot that they can see well in the dark. Simple as that. To not take that into account proves how he was overconfident." It was how Velvet always manages to find him when they play hide and seek whenever there was a power outage.
And at one point or another, officers who always believe victory is in their grasp tend to fall apart when something doesn't go in their favor. Always blinded by their emotions.
The last phrase echoed in his head.
Blinded. Blinded. Blinded. Blinded.
A flashback rang through his head. It was of the times he, as Jeanne, begged the newly crowned king to attack. That they had the advantage. When she was alive she never bothered to see what was happening behind the scenes but there was a rather old legend about the greeks and how they would confide in the dead for they were given knowledge of the world and the future. Jeanne wasn't sure if this was one of the knowledge of the dead but she learned that someone whispered to the ears of the king, that Jeanne was getting too powerful.
So, she had to be stopped. She remembered the scene quite well. She led her forces through the city to defend it from incoming invaders, but when she stepped out, the gate fell and her soldiers remained inside. The shocking betrayal rendered her unable to react to the enemy that captured her. She fell from her horse and from there the enemy brought her to their country.
Was I blinded with rage when I fought Cardin?
"Mr. Arc!" Oobleck shouted and brought Jaune back to reality.
"Y-yes sir?" He stammered.
"I said you may sit down. Are you not feeling well?"
"N-no sir, I'm alright." Jaune sat down.
Cardin snickered his feet on top of his table. "Idiot." And threw a paper ball at Jaune.
"Mr. Winchester. How about you? Why do you think General Lagune failed?"
Cardin shrugged. "I dunno, must be because animals are easier to train than soldiers?"
Oobleck shook his head
"You're not the most open-minded individual, are you Cardin?" Pyrrha looked at Cardin.
"What, you got a problem?"
"No, but Jaune already said the answer." The champion stated
Cardin made a face and mocked Pyrrha in silence. Jaune threw back his ball of paper to him and subtly gave him the finger. Cardin growled.
"General Lagune was inexperienced and thought to ambush the faunus in their sleep. The general's army was outmatched and the general was captured. Perhaps he'd known this if he paid attention to class he wouldn't be remembered as such a failure."
Cardin stood up, thinking who to charge at, Jaune or Blake?
"Mr. Winchester, please take a seat. You will stay here in class for some additional readings. Moving on!" And he resumed classes.
When the bell rang and class ended, Jaune was shoved by Cardin's shoulder when he was making his way to the exit. He was gonna push back but Ren held him back.
"It's not worth it Jaune, He's already given a punishment. If you let him get to you you'd be suffering like him."
Pyrrha agreed.
"Or, we can break his legs if he does it again." The ball of orange energy said with a glint in her eyes.
"Nora. Its strike three before they're out." Ren winked at her.
Nora gave a nervous laugh "Y-you're right, I was being too hasty."
Jaune and Pyrrha both chuckled at Nora for trying to hide the blush in her face.
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Jaune's team has just finished dinner and is preparing themselves for sleeping. But he wasn't with them, he was waiting inside the elevator that will take him to the headmaster's office. The elevator rang and opened revealing the clockwork theme of the headmaster's office.
"Wow" Jaune said as he looked around.
"Ah, Mr. Arc. What can I do for you this late in the night?" Ozpin put down the papers he was reading.
"Sir, there's something I want to talk to you about."
"I see, then please take a seat." He gestured to one of his couches and went towards another table and picked up a clear pitcher of coffee from its maker and poured it into his own mug, the scent and the steam coming from it told how fresh and grand it was. "Coffee, Mr. Arc?" He offered.
Jaune shook his head, "I'm weak to coffee, I might not be able to sleep."
The headmaster chuckled. "In my line of work, you'll need coffee if you want to get anything done."
Still doesn't explain Oobleck though.
After preparing his mug he sat back down. "So, Mr. Arc. What is it that I can help you with?"
"Headmaster" He paused. "I would like to talk about my transcripts."
"Ah, are you referring to its authenticity?" Ozpin took a sip.
Jaune looked down on the floor and gave a pained expression. "So, you knew. Headmaster?"
"I knew. But whether I know, will know, or perhaps I may never have found out. Whichever the context is, Mr. Arc. I would always choose to accept you in beacon." He smiled.
Jaune looked at the headmaster. "How? Why?"
"I've known you before you ever came here Mr. Arc. Your parents talk about you a lot. Even your eldest sister has told me about you."
"Then you must have known I have no training whatsoever! My dad never allowed me to. Mom even said I have no talent for it. So why!?"
"Because when I saw you enter the ballroom during initiation, I didn't let my peers or your sister's judgement blind me. I saw so much in you Mr. Arc. I saw potential. Like a diamond in the rough, you just need a little bit of polishing."
The life of a huntsman was always hidden from Jaune by his family. He only ever knew grimm by books and newspapers. Heck he didn't even knew what aura is. He was a sheltered boy. He grew sick and tired of the way his family treated him. At this point, looking back it was immature of him to make fake transcripts and run away from home. But if he's asked whether he'd come to regret it he'd answer no. he wanted to be a huntsman. From his past life to now it coincides with his desire to be a hero. But now he doesn't have to fight other people for his country.
I want to be a great hero that will bring smiles to the faces of the people. To be a beacon of hope. Jaune laughed at his internal joke failing to realize that tears that have been falling down his face.
He smiled and faced the headmaster. "Thank you, sir. For believing in me."
Ozpin shook his head. "I owe your family many favors Jaune, and I don't think this counts as paying one of them. Is there anything else?"
"Actually, sir. I need advice."
"Well, please do tell, and let this old man help you as best he can."
Jaune told the headmaster about Cardin and he's unreasonable anger for him. And the threat he unconsciously gave him during Combat class. Of course, Jaune never told Ozpin about his rather complex history but the headmaster knew about the way Jaune and Cardin has been acting between each other. He advised Glynda not to intervene and have the two solve it by themselves.
"And, there's also the fact that he's a racist bigot towards faunus." Jaune huffed and crossed his arms.
"I see. Then, let me be the first one to say he's hatred is misplaced, and so is yours. I'm sorry to say Mr. Arc, you know why you're angry but you just don't want to admit it. Maybe you don't want to admit it to yourself but you know that hatred initially came from nowhere. I suggest a moment with yourself and maybe a talk with Mr. Winchester himself."
The talk ended with that and Jaune went back to his dorm room to end the day.
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The next day, Team JNPR woke up early for a weekend (Around 9am) and they were stretching in one of the school's sparring room wearing their combat outfit.
"So, great leader. How are we gonna do this?" Nora asked stretching her back.
Jaune already finished limbering up and was checking his gear properly "Well, I plan for a 1 on 1 between partners and then a 2-v-2 match with me and Ren teaming up and you and Pyrrha as our opponents."
"Ah, efficient." Ren smiled.
"True, with me and Nora facing off we can scope each other and then against you two we can find out our strengths and weaknesses."
Jaune nodded.
The spar happened simultaneously.
At the start of the match Ren rushed towards Jaune. The blonde knight put his shield up and when Ren was meters away from Jaune he hopped to the side and attempted to attack Jaune's back. The blonde knight followed Ren's movements well and spun around swinging his blade in the process. Ren saw this and hopped back to create distance.
Ren had speed as to Jaune having strength. This time Jaune didn't relent and hit Ren with the edge of his shield. Ren parried the strike with his Stormflower and kicked Jaune with both legs and made distance between them again.
Jaune noticed this and thought Ren had something in mind. He grinned and put his shield up gesturing Ren to execute his plan.
Ren glared at Jaune's challenged and flipped back, his right hand returned his weapons back to its sleeves and he rushed towards Jaune. The blonde knight steadied himself, he bent his legs to affirm the ground and find his center of gravity. He then put his sword back ready to retaliate for whatever Ren has in store for him. But Jaune didn't expect the kind of attack that Ren did, when his left elbow and right fist met his shield the force was enough to blow back Jaune's shield arm causing him to be open for attacks. Ren took the opportunity and attacked 3 times before the blonde knight could recover.
Once Jaune snapped out of his daze he dodged an incoming attack and hit Ren's side with his pommel. The two combatants fought a fiery match with Jaune blocking and parrying and Ren dodging and finding holes in Jaune's near-perfect defense. In the end the two had a draw and was unable to continue their next spar due to Ren being tired.
"Man, you better get into shape if you wanna survive Nora." The blonde knight winked, sweaty but not out of breath.
"Ugh, I hate you." Ren said before collapsing on the ground.
Jaune snickered.
"So, what now?" Pyrrha approached the two boys.
"Hm, well, Nora you watch over Ren. I'll be taking on Pyrrha." Jaune smiled.
"Okie dokie oh great leader." Nora said and she picked Ren up like a princess towards the bleachers and laid him there.
"They're so cute together." Jaune said.
"Agreed." Pyrrha smiled and Jaune gave a grin before whispering some inaudible words to her to which she agreed to.
"Nora! I think Ren will recover faster if you let him lie on your lap!" Pyrrha shouted.
Jaune nodded. "Yeah, it's kind of a boy thing and we recover way faster if you do that!"
Nora blushed. She knew it wasn't true but Jaune was giving her an opportunity to let Ren realize how she feels for him. And she wasn't gonna waste Jaune's effort. And so after further rationalizing the situation she took the two's advice and told her self that she just decided to believe them if things go south, which hopefully, it doesn't.
The battle between Jaune and Pyrrha was brief and one-sided to say the least. Jaune wasn't aware of what semblances were, therefore every time he swung his blade, it would miss its target, his shield would often move a bit for Pyrrha to strike, so Jaune opted to try and dodge the attacks while relying on his legs to attack Pyrrha. It was one-sided.
And when the match ended Jaune learned what semblances are. And he is the only one in his team who has yet to discover his own.
And in the afternoon team JNPR bonded together over lunch and playing in the arcade with Jaune urging Ren to win a prize for Nora. And Pyrrha asked Jaune how to play Dance-Dancing Resolution in which the blond, with his experience in dancing and pride on getting the highest score back in his hometown, happily obliged.
After that, the team bought some snacks and drinks and had a mini picnic on the dorm rooftop while watching the sunset.
Nora was hugging her sloth stuffed toy.
Ren was sitting beside her sipping his tea.
Pyrrha was asleep on Jaune's shoulder.
Jaune was watching a girl taking pictures of random things in the courtyard.
The day ended well.
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Jaune convinced his team to head back first when the sun finally set. He walked around the academy's courtyard, surprised to see a familiar friend's rabbit ears, Jaune approached and sat next to her.
"Hey, Velv." The blonde greeted
"Good evening Jaune." Velvet was wearing her beacon academy uniform while taking pictures of random spots around the courtyard.
Silence ensued. 5 awkward minutes later, Jaune coughed into his hand and spoke up. "So, umm… It's been a long time huh?"
"Indeed, it has." Velvet put her camera on her lap.
"I, uhh…" He stammered and scratched the back of his head.
"Do you want to know about what happened years ago?" The rabbit-faunus spoke up, not looking at him, but at the fountain.
Jaune sighed. "Yeah. I do. It still bugs me even now. You left without saying a word. You didn't even give me a reply. It would've help a lot even if I'm up for rejection you know." He gritted his teeth. "At least I wouldn't have been wondering whether I did something bad to you."
She immediately looked at him "Jaune. I-" then she stopped herself, her hand clutching her chest. "I didn't want to reject you. In fact I wanted to return your feelings."
"Then why didn't you come!? I waited! Even when it rained I waited. Even when my family would stop me, I waited. Why? Why couldn't you at least come?"
"Because, Jaune. The reason why we even decided to move in the first place is because of your family."
"what? What do you mean!?" He clenched his fist.
"No, let me explain. Back then the discrimination towards Faunus was high due to the terrorist attacks of the white fang. And, my father was a part of it. The way humans would treat faunus caused a huge amount of hate, which in turn the humans retaliated with hate as well. Your family has been nice to us, Jaune. And my dad didn't want to get you all involved. He knew then that you'd intervene and find a way but we couldn't risk it. Your family is in a position where they cannot side with anyone who's connected to the white fang. That's why, I couldn't tell you. My dad knew about your letter and its contents. He told me the best thing to do in that situation was to reject you, Jaune." Tears started falling.
"Then…" Why didn't you? Jaune couldn't continue.
"It was too much for me. I knew then that if I approached you, I couldn't bring myself to reject you. I couldn't bring myself to lie, Jaune. I loved you. That would've been my answer." She sniffled.
"So, past tense?" Jaune asked.
Velvet nodded. "I've come to terms we're not meant to be. Not in this lifetime."
"I see." He looked up at the stars. "Man, the rain sure is drizzling hard."
Velvet stared wide-eyed. The line was a huge memory for both of them it was from an anime show that they once watched together, it was the first scene that made them cry in FMA. He looked at her and smiled despite the tears flowing mad on his cheeks. He smiled.
"Yeah, the rain sure is pouring hard tonight." Velvet said grinning at him while the waterworks fell from her eyes.
Jaune turned around. "Well, I guess this officially ends my first love story, huh?"
"I'm sorry." She stood up.
"Please. Don't be. You made it clear. You've done your part, now as a man, I should too as well." I've got to move on. He took a deep breath and shouted. His lungs were clear, as is his heart. He gave a thumbs up as he walked. "I'll see you around Velvet."
The rabbit-faunus noticed that he didn't use her nickname. "Yeah. I'll see you around, Jaune."
Jaune took a few steps.
Don't look back.
He walked.
Don't.
He walked.
Please, Jaune don't do it.
He stopped.
He turned around.
Velvet Scarlatina was nowhere to be found.
Tears started pouring out again and Jaune ran forward, away from the courtyard, away from the fountain. He went towards the direction of the training room until another girl appeared in front of him with her hands open.
Yang Xiao-Long caught Jaune Arc and held him tight as he cried that night.
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AND. My dear readers. That ends this chapter. Glob, this is the longest chapter ever. Wrote this while in a coffee shop so maybe it's why my focus was strong. And it's to exercise my brain for my other fanfic 'The Fall Moon's Fragments' Please give it a read, sorry for the shameless plug. But I'm in a huge rut in that story since from what it looks like the next chapter is hard to make a proper foundation.
I ask ya'll. Is having a narrative summary bad as a prologue? (030) I need an answer.
Hope you guys enjoyed this chapter. Next chapter is about Jaune and Cardin and probably how yang was fitted to this chapter
I hope you guys have a nice day and please, give a like and a follow, AND MOST OF ALL, A REVIEWWWWWW!
WOOP WOOP!
BTW A message for you guys, let's celebrate for 100 bookmarks! Gosh, I never really thought people would try to pick this up. At most I never expected any attention at all. I mean, holy heck, the other fanfic (TFMF) got 60 follows just in the first week with a bunch of positive reviews (Which is why I'm being careful and asking about the narrative summary… I don't want it to be something people would like and then BOOM bad next chapter.) So, thank you guys for the follow and the support. I hope to see you all again in the next chapter! Probably gonna be the most testosterone-filled chapter ever. I'm trying to end the volume 1 arc before next week since I've gotta focus for my board exams on the 29th of October. God, wish me luck pls. XD
See ya'll!