A/N: Ugh. Hope you guys like it.
When Jaune turned eleven, Raven had decided to show him how the world worked when you lived in a bandit camp.
A couple days after his birthday, Jaune had settled down to sleep, only to be woken up by a man trying his damndest to kill him.
The first thought was panic. Then fear started sinking in, and with that fear came clarity.
In this world, it was either kill, or be killed.
Jaune had managed to get the man off of him, but that wasn't enough. Raven had picked a man that was fanatical when it came to murder, and he wouldn't stop, would never stop until the man was killed.
So Jaune killed him.
And when Raven sent another during the night, Jaune killed him too.
Raven wasn't the type of person to vocalize much of her 'teachings', but Jaune had gotten the gist of this one. Always be on your toes, even when you're supposed to be sleeping. It was a lesson that stuck with him, even when Jaune and Saphron had escaped the tribe and settled down in Argus. It had taken him weeks before he could get used to the idea of sleeping in the same apartment as Saphron, when he had been so used to sleeping in a tent by himself, where he could sense when someone was getting close to the tent, getting ready to try and enter it.
Saphron hadn't been one to coddle Jaune when it came to his sleeping habits either, deciding that he would get used to this kind of environment eventually, his body unable to handle not sleeping forever. She was right, sort of, and eventually, Jaune was finally comfortable with sleeping in the apartment.
Even when they 'moved' to the academy, Jaune was fine with Saphron being in the same room. It was just another step closer, is all.
Jaune couldn't sleep.
He laid in bed as quietly as possible, eyes staring at the dorm ceiling, trying to pretend that there weren't three other people in the room with him.
How could anyone sleep like this? Why weren't their brains screaming at them, telling them that there were people in the same room as them, that they were in danger?
Jaune would've thought that Blake at the very least would be having the same problem he had, being a trained terrorist. Or did she not have the same training that Jaune had went through? Oh, who was he kidding, of course she didn't. Raven's the only one insane enough to try and teach an eleven year old things like this.
Letting out a quiet sigh, Jaune pulled himself out of bed slowly, trying his best not to wake anyone up. He wasn't sure if he succeeded or not, but also didn't really care. He just needed some fresh air.
Scroll in hand, Jaune left the room, grateful that the doors in Beacon were largely quiet and well oiled.
A place as big as Beacon had a lot of staff in it, and that wasn't just the faculty. There were cafeteria workers, janitors, even a few Bullhead pilots on twenty-four hour standby, no one ever knowing when there might be a need for a Huntsman. The Grimm don't sleep, after all.
Jaune passed by several janitors, most of them preferring to do the more thorough cleaning at night, when most were asleep. A few of them raised their eyebrows when they saw a Beacon student wandering the hallways at night, but most simply went on their way. It wasn't the first time that a new student got curious and decided to explore the hallways during the night.
Jaune had a destination in mind though, finding himself once again on the Beacon rooftop. Leaning against the railing, Jaune let out a breath, welcoming the open air. Buildings always felt so stuffy in comparison to the night sky.
He could remember the nights when he ended up sleeping outside of his tent, the night air just warm enough to be comfortable.
It wasn't always bad in the Branwen tribe.
"Couldn't sleep?"
Jaune turned, finding himself face to face with Pyrrha, who was leaning on the entrance door. He shook his head. "Hard to fall asleep in a new place," Jaune said, getting a nod from Pyrrha.
"I can understand that. I'm surprised that they didn't give us a weekend to get adjusted, but I'm sure there won't be much to go over on the first day of classes."
Jaune nodded, agreeing with her.
Pyrrha looked up at the sky, a soft smile on her face. She was always a good looking girl, and even in her nightwear she was a sight. Or maybe it was just Jaune's hormones telling him so.
Or maybe it was both.
"It's strange," Pyrrha commented, pulling Jaune out of his thoughts, "I didn't realize how different the night sky would be here in Vale as opposed to Mistral." She pointed to a grouping of dim stars. "The constellations are all so slightly different."
Jaune raised an eyebrow at that. "I didn't realize you knew anything about constellations." Pyrrha looked at him, eyes unreadable as she smiled.
"You're not the only one who can withhold information, you know."
Jaune wasn't sure if she was simply teasing or being passive-aggressive, but he got the message, even if she didn't mean to send it. Making a pained noise, Jaune turned his body so that he could stand completely face to face with her.
"I'm sorry, Pyrrha," Jaune said, quietly, firmly. "I should've called or messaged you. Done something to let you know that I was still alive." He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. "Things happened really quickly, and I'll have to admit that by the time we had arrived in Beacon, it had slipped my mind."
Pyrrha didn't react to his apology, simply watching the stars some more. It took another minute or three before she even looked at him, and even then, her thoughts were masked. Jaune had learned how good Pyrrha was at hiding her feelings when they had become friends in Argus, and it pained him a little to see her do it to him.
"Words can mean very little," Pyrrha said finally. Her tone made it obvious that she didn't mean it in a hurtful way, simply wanting to just bring out the statement.
"I mean it," Jaune said solidly, getting a small nod from Pyrrha.
"Then prove it with actions," She countered, eyes holding him sternly. "I've heard those words a dozen times, Jaune. Sponsors promising the world to me, tournament organizers telling me 'things will be different this time'." She shook her head, again, not in cruelty, making sure Jaune understood that. "Let me see if you really mean it."
Jaune stared at her. He had forgotten how jaded Pyrrha could be sometimes. Most days she was a force of positivity and politeness, but Jaune had seen some of her harder days. The days when all the pressures of being the Invincible Girl got to her. The days when she broke down and explained expectations that had fallen flat, friends that weren't friends, promises that were only meant to be broken.
And now, Jaune was in that category as well.
He knew that she wanted to believe in him. She wanted to put her faith in him.
But faith was something she lost so long ago, and Jaune didn't help her there.
Finally, Jaune nodded, running a hand through his hair.
"It's late," He said, gesturing to the broken moon with a jerk of his chin. "We should get some rest. Don't want to be sleep deprived on the first day of the school year."
Pyrrha smiled at him, nodding.
The start of the first day of the school year was uneventful, to say the least.
Nothing had really happened, except the snow-haired girl, Weiss Schnee, had volunteered to fight a Boarbatusk, almost screaming at Ruby afterwards as well.
Jaune wasn't sure he liked that girl so much.
It only got more exciting when everyone filtered into the combat room, where Professor Goodwitch held combat classes. The crowd of students muttered up a storm as she stood in the middle of the platform, eyes sweeping through them while they settled into their seats.
She waited a little longer than necessary, until there was an absolutely oppressive silence, only made worse by her steady gaze.
If Jaune hadn't been a recipient of that glare a couple times already, he would've probably broken into nervous sweats.
"Congratulations on almost making it through the first day at Beacon Academy." The blonde professor spoke in a normal voice at a normal volume, as opposed to the boisterous boom that Professor Port spoke in, or the rapid-fire word vomit that Professor Oobleck threw at them. That wasn't to say it got lost in the crowd. In fact, the room got even quieter, if that was even possible, to make sure that they didn't miss anything that the professor said.
"This is the last class of the day, and it entails much of the same thing that most have experienced in other schools. You will be paired up. You will fight." Her glasses flashed in the light. "You will improve."
The whole classroom took a collective gulp nervously.
Again Professor Goodwitch let silence fall before continuing to speak.
"We will begin with a Mr. Lie Ren, and Russel Thrush."
The sparring was interesting, at least to Jaune. Every pair that came up had a different style of fighting, which made sense, Jaune supposed. Everyone had a different weapon, so everyone had to fight differently. Was Jaune the weird one for having more than one weapon on himself? Even the students who had different ways of fighting generally stuck with a single weapon that would shift into other forms, giving themselves a good way of versatility.
Jaune never really got a chance to witness Huntsmen and Huntresses fight that much, even if everyone that did wasn't considered a fully fledged Huntsmen yet. To be honest, Jaune really only experienced that kind of fighting when he had participated in that tournament against Pyrrha. But a lot of these guys were a lot better than the contestants that he had fought with, barring Pyrrha, of course.
Still, there was something Jaune wasn't a big fan of when he watched the fights. Things moved... a lot. Jaune hummed to himself, drawing a raised eyebrow from his teammates, which he ignored. He couldn't think of a good way to say it. There was a... lot, to the sparring. Excessiveness, Jaune thought. Even the ones who were supposed to be fast still found a way to add an extra step to their fight, a little special 'oomph' that Jaune wasn't sure was entirely necessary.
Flashy, Jaune realized, as another student fell into a back flip, flying through the air and landing on one foot, weapon outstretched.
Every student had a degree of flashiness to them that Jaune had never even considered putting into his own movements. And they fought so... fairly. It was nuts. There were no neck shots, no blinding feints paired with flashing strikes to vulnerable areas...
Was this the way Huntsmen were supposed to fight?
Had he been doing it wrong the whole time?
No, Jaune thought to himself. To begin with, Jaune wasn't a Huntsmen. He was in Beacon through luck and maybe a bit of outside intervention, but he had never trained to become a hero.
Raven had raised him to be a killer.
Jaune wasn't sure if he would get in trouble if he fought the way Raven had taught him to, but it wasn't like he could just change it up on such a short notice. If the professor called him up to fight, he would fight, and if he did it wrong, Jaune supposed Professor Goodwitch would have to teach him how to fight right.
That's what she was there for, right?
"Very good." The professor said as the last two left the platform. Looking at the large tablet in her hand, she scrolled through a list a names before speaking, "It looks like there's time for one more bout. Can Mr. Jaune Arc and Mr. Cardin Winchester come up to the platform, please?"
Jaune took in a deep breath.
Here we go.
Hopping onto the platform, Jaune shook out the creeping tension in his arms, mentally going through his checklist of what he had on him. Professor Goodwitch raised an eyebrow, looking at the boy.
"Mr. Arc. I am giving you time to fetch your weapons and any armor that you might wear before we start this bout."
Jaune furrowed his brow, nodding once. "Thank you, Ms. Goodwitch," He said, but didn't move. The teacher's gaze sharpened for a second before a look of approval passed through.
"Very well." She said, returning her attention back to her tablet.
It took about five minutes before his opponent was ready, bursting through the locker rooms that were connected to the room, a look that one less forgiving would call as arrogant on his face as he swaggered towards the platform. He hoisted a heavy looking mace on his shoulder, his boots rattling against the greaves, his slow pace almost surely an attempt to intimidate.
Jaune simply touched a finger onto his own hip, making sure that he had a stiletto on him, something long and thin that would fit through the cracks of Cardin's breastplate.
Waiting until Cardin found his place on the platform, Professor Goodwitch looked at the two of them, tapping something on her tablet as she started speaking.
"This match will last for three minutes. Your goal during this spar is to either get your opponent's Aura down to the red, or have more Aura by the end of the time limit." Two bars stretched out on a screen above them, their faces appearing next to the bars. "You can also win if you can get the opponent to fall out of the ring, or if they surrender." She looked at the two of them carefully, double and triple checking everything. "Are there any questions?"
The redhead spoke up.
"Yeah. Do I get a special prize if I win in under a minute?" Cardin jabbed a thumb at Jaune, smirking. "Doesn't look like this is going to take that long."
Jaune tapped his fingers against his waistband.
"No." Professor Goodwitch said, turning to look at Jaune. "Any other questions?"
Jaune shook his head, Cardin following suit after a second's delay.
"Very well. On my count." She took a step backwards. "Begin."
Movement began the instant the first syllable was uttered, Jaune moving straight towards the other boy. Cardin wasn't in Beacon for nothing though, reacting quickly enough to bring his mace down in a long arc, intent on smashing it through Jaune's skull and stopping his charge.
It might've worked, except Jaune stomped hard a couple feet away from Cardin, stopping himself mid-charge and waiting for the mace to clear the length of his body, resuming momentum the instant the boy was open.
That's when things got a little wonky.
One second he had pulled out a stiletto, intent on jamming it down one of the overlaps of the breastplate, and the next second Jaune found himself flying through the air, landing on his back several feet away.
Dazed, Jaune had to prioritize Aura recovery towards his mind for a moment, clearing his muddled state just enough to see Cardin towering above him, Jaune diving out of the way.
This time, due to the fact that Jaune wasn't standing on top of where the mace had landed, Jaune was able to hear the roaring explosion the moment the mace touched the ground. Spinning neatly around, Jaune spotted the two craters where Cardin's mace had missed him and mentally slapping himself upside the head.
Of course his opponent wouldn't just be carrying an ordinary mace. This was Beacon, after all, and Jaune was the only one would be crazy enough to bring something as normal as a bunch of throwing knives to this school.
Okay. Adjustments.
Jaune could do adjustments.
The first round of volleys thrown, the two boys circled each other, Jaune's eyes narrowed as his mind raced to try and think of a way around mace. With the addition of the mace exploding, Jaune would have to move clear of the mace and continue to do so for much further than he would like. Cardin basically had his whole front guarded. Slipping through would be a challenge.
Glancing up at the screen, Jaune saw that Cardin was marginally ahead in Aura, something that Cardin noticed, judging from the smug smirk on his face.
So Cardin probably wasn't going to throw away his advantage, which meant that Jaune would have to figure out a way to strike him first—
Cardin charged forward.
Not expecting it, Jaune froze, making the dodge away a much closer call than what he was hoping. Cardin didn't stop there, pivoting in the direction where Jaune jumped and swinging his mace again, in that same stupid downwards arc.
Again, Jaune was forced to back away further than he would like to avoid the splash damage. He knew he couldn't keep dodging forever though, pulling out a balanced, but ordinary throwing knife, chucking it at Cardin's face.
It had the intended effect, getting the boy to flinch and giving Jaune a split second to prepare something else to attack with. Pulling out his new toys so early on in the year disappointed Jaune a little bit.
But damn was he excited to try this one out.
Cardin recovered as Jaune moved into the mace's range, pulling it up into yet another overhead swing. Jaune flicked another blade that he had kept in his hand, so close that Cardin had no way of dodging the blade.
The handle smacked hard against Cardin's nose as his mace rose past his target, the knife shattering like sugar glass, smoke covering his head and causing him to lose balance and stumble backwards. Jaune continued stepping forwards, pulling a thin blade out and slamming it into Cardin's armpit, Aura flaring brightly before the blade snapped from the opposing force, the handle flying out of Jaune's hand.
Cursing, Jaune pulled out a heftier blade, cutting through one of the straps on Cardin's shoulder plate, the spaulder slipping off and clanging on the ground. Finally recovering, Cardin swung a meaty hand at Jaune, who ducked underneath and slammed the blade against his exposed shoulder, getting a pained hiss as Cardin hurried to take some steps back, getting some space to swing his weapon.
And flailed his arms as one of his feet found one of the craters that he had left with his mace.
Jaune didn't waste a moment, slipping past Cardin's windmilling arms, unclipping his looping leather bracelet as he did so.
As heavily armored as Cardin was, Jaune couldn't play a game of attrition. He wasn't any good at it. Raven had beat into him ways to quickly incapacitate people, using surprise and ambush to his advantage.
Jaune had stamina, but in a fight like this, Cardin would simply tank anything Jaune threw at him, content on just getting a single, solid hit.
So Jaune improvised.
Moving in a way so that the two of them ended up back to back, Jaune looped the leather strip into a large hoop, hands wrapped tightly around both ends as he slipped it around Cardin's neck. Jaune took a deep breath and heaved downwards, getting a panicked gasp from the other boy.
Bending his knees, Jaune pulled, and kept pulling until Cardin was laid across his back. Making sure that his grip on the improvised garrote was secure, Jaune unbent his knees, lifting Cardin off his feet and letting gravity do his work for him.
Aura or no, cutting off the air will stop a man from doing much.
Cardin wasn't very light, and the flailing made it hard for Jaune to keep his balance, but through careful footwork and sheer determination, Jaune was able to keep himself upright.
It didn't take much longer for Cardin's movements to slow down, then stop completely. Voices floated around in his head, but Raven's voice spoke the loudest in Jaune's mind.
He could be faking it.
Jaune held on.
"That's ENOUGH!" Professor Goodwitch roared, startling Jaune enough for his grip to loosen, Cardin collapsing into a lifeless heap.
The blonde professor pushed past Jaune, kneeling over Cardin and placing fingers along his neck. Jaune waited for her to finish.
"What... were you thinking?" Professor Goodwitch hissed out, stepping towards Jaune. "You could've killed him!"
Jaune crossed his arms. "I could've," He agreed.
Professor Goodwitch's eyes flashed in anger, before rational thought took a hold of her. She watched the unrepentant boy, and reminded herself what the boy had gone through.
She sighed.
"Mr. Arc, in the future, please refrain from doing anything that could seriously harm or kill one of your fellow students."
"What?" Jaune scrunched up his face, confused. "How're you supposed to fight without hurting the other person?"
"Restrain yourself from hurting them in ways that Aura could not prevent," The professor said, crossing her arms. "This is not up for discussion, Mr. Arc. This is a school for Huntsmen and Huntresses. Not assassins."
Jaune didn't stop frowning, but relented with a slow nod, stepping off of the platform as she dismissed him.
Three boys stood up and moved toward the stage, presumably Cardin's teammates, and picked him up, heading to the infirmary. They shot murderous glares at Jaune as they passed by, who didn't notice.
Professor Goodwitch got everyone's attentions with a slap of her riding crop.
"This goes for everyone else, as well," She spoke loudly, making sure everyone in the room could hear her. "While Jaune displayed a certain amount of ingenuity in taking down a larger opponent and bypassing their Aura, such routes should only be considered when your life is truly on the line," Her glasses shone as she moved her head to look at every student. "While you are on this platform, I will not permit any voluntary endangerment of life. Am I understood?"
The crowd of kids mumbled their assent.
"Good. Class is dismissed."
Jaune stood up, gathering his bag and headed towards the exit. The rest of the students lagged behind him, making room for him to walk through, their eyes trailing him as they whispered to each other. Jaune ignored the whispers and stares, something he had learned to do years ago, when the Branwen bandits did the same thing.
He ignored everyone until he reached the lunch room, happy to receive something to eat. Sitting down at a empty table, Jaune bit into a chicken nugget, mentally thanking the Headmaster for catering such a food option. Seats pulled out beside him, his team and Team Rowan sitting down around him.
He looked up, finding all of them staring openly at Jaune, like an animal in an exhibit. Jaune shifted a little in his seat, uncomfortable with the attention.
"What?" He finally asked, glancing at Pyrrha in hopes that she would shed some light into the stares. Instead, Ruby was the one to speak up, her voice hushed and quiet.
"That was pretty harsh, Jaune."
The blond raised an eyebrow. "What do you mean?" He asked.
Everyone exchanged looks with each other.
"The... the fight," Ruby continued, worry clear in her eyes. "What you did... was..." Ruby pursed her lips, looking around the table helplessly. Yang spoke up to cover her sister.
"That was brutal." The blonde girl said simply. "It looked like you were about to kill the guy."
Jaune pushed a nugget to the side of his plate slowly, before looking up at the group. He shrugged, unsure of what to say. "It was a fight," was what he settled on, unable to think of something else to say to justify what he did.
He still wasn't sure why he needed to in the first place. It was a fight. Kill or be killed. Well, sort of. Jaune wouldn't have just killed the other boy. He just had to make sure all of the fight was out of Cardin before Jaune set him down. He would've been fine.
Probably.
The rest of lunch was passed in silence.
A/N: Fun, fun, fun.