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A guard walks through his fourth loop of patrol, eyes lazily scanning the inky darkness of the shadows. The shattered moon overhead casting a pale light onto the forest around him, but not providing enough light to properly see. He takes a deep yawn and scrubs his eyes as his mind finally begins to wear down, but he soldiers on with only an hour left on his shift. Little does he know that that yawn, that momentary lapse in concentration, was all that was needed for a figure shrouded in shadows to slip past his notice.

The shadowed figure burst from the treeline, soaring through the air with a practiced grace, and landed in a roll in the cover of the shadows just beyond the guard's vision. Azure eyes gleamed out from within the darkness, seeing perfectly where the human guard's eyes could not, and the figure slipped away once more, a long tail swaying slightly behind them.

The figure found a doorway, and checked around the area until it found a small window leading to the inside. Checking a small map it had brought with it, it takes a deep breath before jumping and kicking off the wall to reach nearly double its own height, reaching out and clinging on to the sill. With a flick of its wrist, the figure produced a thin metal wire and slipped it between the panes of the window, proceeding to unlock the window with a practiced motion.

The figure moved through hallway after hallway, expertly ducking out of the way of cameras and keeping an eye out for any guards. After stalking the halls for almost twenty minutes, the figure came across the door they were looking for. Producing what looked like a broadhead arrow with only two inches of shaft and the same thin wire, the figure picked the lock to the door. Swinging it open as silently as possible, the figure entered the room. Ocean-blue eyes still seeing perfectly in the near pitch-darkness of the room, the figure examined rows upon rows of filing cabinets.

Shifting through the cabinets, the figure looked through cabinet after cabinet of files marked with blueprints for other sections of the building, records of weapon blueprints, a long list of names belonging to people who used to use the building's services, and names of the faculty; most of which were regarded with disinterest, with the figure taking but a single blueprint out of one of the cabinets. Continuing on, the figure searched several other cabinets until it found the one it was looking for. Carefully removing a binder from a backpack they wore, the figure removed a set of documents and placed them within the cabinet, before leaving the building equally as undetected as they entered.

The next morning, Headmaster Ozpin would look through the paperwork for the new hopefuls for Beacon Academy, and stumble across transcripts for a student he didn't remember seeing before. In his hands, he would hold the transcripts for one Jaune Arc, and make probably the dumbest decision possible.

((()))

I crawled through the window of a rather decrepit apartment, pulling a navy blue mask off of my lower face and lowering the hood I had been wearing. Slinging my backpack on a ratty couch nearby, I walked the all of ten steps it took to clear the apartment and opened my fridge. Grabbing a carton of milk, I began to close the door when out of the corner of my eye, I noticed a burst of white, brown, and pink.

Dropping the carton, I leapt backwards and managed to purchase myself in a corner on the ceiling with a startled hiss. Glaring down, I saw the smug grin of one multicolored thorn in my ass, silently laughing at my reaction. "Hello, Neo." I gritted out, none too happy with her sudden appearance in my home. She gave a smirk and taunting wave in response.

"Hey, fleabag." I heard from across the room. Gritting my teeth, I turned my head from my purchase on the ceiling to look at one bowler-hat wearing wannabe gentleman. "Roman," I growled. "How many times do I have to say it? My name is Jaune. Not 'moggy,' not 'animal,' not 'puss,' and certainly not 'fleabag.'" Roman waved his hand dismissively, yet good-naturedly at me. "It doesn't matter what you call yourself, puss-in-boots. What does matter, is whether or not you got what I asked for." Clearly, he thought he was hilarious.

Dropping from my perch, I walked over to him, all the while maintaining a respectable distance from Neo. Reaching into my jacket, I produced a rolled-up blueprint and tossed it to him. I sat down on a chair I had across from the couch, letting me keep both Neo and Roman in my field of vision. "Why you'd need blueprints for the CCT tower is beyond me, but as long as you stick to the deal, we're good." I said.

Roman unfurled the paper, and Neo stepped to move behind him and read over his shoulder. Roman looked at me with what I can only describe as amused respect. "Not bad kid, and you didn't get caught?" He asked, reclining on my couch and producing a cigar case from a pocket on the inside of his coat. "Haven't been caught yet." Was my simple response. Part of me wanted to point out that he had dropped his tough-guy act and forgotten to call me a slur, but the smarter part of me decided to enjoy it while it lasted.

Roman hummed in acceptance and lit his cigar, much to my chagrin. Wrinkling my nose, I asked, "Do you have to smoke in here? That stuff smells awful." Roman took a long drag and made a point to blow the smoke in my direction. "Do you think you can stop me?" He teased, with Neo gaining a more predatory smirk behind him. I sighed and dropped my head. "No."

"Y'know, kid, with skills like yours we could do a lot of damage together." Roman mused. "Neo's better for stabbing people than recon like you, and I wouldn't mind another undetectable underling." I looked at him with creased brows. "No thanks, I did more than enough of that with the Fang. Remember why I'm here in the first place?" Roman gave a nonchalant shrug. "I remember. I was just saying, job's always open if you want to put your skills to actual use instead of just hiding from your old boss." "Thanks, Roman, really. But I didn't quit being a terrorist so I could become a common criminal instead." I responded.

Roman sighed to himself before rolling the blueprints up and standing. "Have it your way. Pleasure doing business with you, kid!" He said, before putting on a smirk. "In the spirit of the gentleman thief, I will uphold my end of the bargain. Neo?" With that, the Neo standing next to him shattered into a million pieces, and I felt a pair of diminutive arms drape themselves across my shoulders, as well as a small but curved body press into my back. The hairs on my neck stood straight and a shiver ran down my spine, but despite that, I stayed stock still.

I heard what sounded like a disappointed huff in my ear, probably due to my lack of reaction, and the arms moved so one was touching the side of my head and the other was between my shoulder blades. After a few seconds of silence, I felt a rush of energy run through my body as it began to glow a bright yellow, almost encompassing the room with its glare. The glow died down, and Roman looked at me with a cocked eyebrow. "Well, that was unexpected." He stated simply, before straightening his posture and tapping his cane on the floor. "Neo!" He called.

I felt the arms remove themselves from my back, but as the body pulled away, I felt something warm and wet travel from my collarbone to my jaw. That got a visible reaction from me, as I jerked away, ears burning, to glare at the multicolored menace. Neo flashed me a teasing grin before skipping over to Roman and taking his arm.

Roman looked at me with what looked like a mixture of amusement and pity. "Looks like you caught someone's attention." He said, "Lucky you," his last line dripping with sarcasm. With that, both the master thief and the vertically-challenged vixen shattered into a million pieces, leaving me alone in my dingy apartment.

I released a heavy sigh, and trudged over to my fridge, picking the milk carton off of the floor before taking a swig. Opening the fridge to put it back, I noticed that my freezer was cracked open ever so slightly. Investigating, I let loose another exasperated sigh. Neo had taken everything tangentially related to ice cream I owned. "It's okay, Jaune." I comforted myself, biting back another sigh. "Once you get to Beacon, you can start hanging out with normal people, and dealing with normal problems." If only I knew exactly how wrong I was.

((()))

It was agony. Torture. I wanted to cry out, to give up, but I refused to give the bastards who locked me here the satisfaction. I sat with my head down, gulping deep breaths as I was given a minor, but heavenly respite from my torment. Then the bullhead rumbled again, and I was back in the sadistic grasp of whatever demon governed the pit of hell known as motion sickness.

"Why, Oum, why? I know I've done some bad things, but was this really a fitting punishment?" I cried out in my mind as another wave of nausea hit me like the very bullhead I was riding. Of all the days to discover I had severe motion sickness, it had to be today. My tail was wrapped around my stomach alongside my other arm, as my remaining hand was clasped over my mouth in a desperate bid to keep my nausea in check.

My surroundings were a blur. Some girl with a squeaky voice was talking about knees, some girl with a deeper, but far louder voice was telling about sloths, a giant glowing woman was introducing the students to Beacon. It was all a mess of voices and sounds and bumps and nausea. Eventually, it boiled over, and I lost the fight to what should have been named mankind's greatest enemy. So much for remaining inconspicuous. I'm pretty sure I threw up on some girl's shoes, too, so that's one less potential girlfriend. Not that I wanted one or anything, I did just fine on my own for a while! I'm not lonely, you are!

I felt the bullhead touch down, and the doors slowly open. "Oh thank Oum!" I cried out loud, before sprinting to the nearest trash can to let loose what meager breakfast I had had that morning. With my head ducked into the trash can, I could hear passerbys whispering amongst each other with my enhanced hearing. Jeers of "freak" and "filthy animal" and "loser" filled my ears. Off to a great start already.

Recovering from my stupor. I stood and examined the Beacon campus. It really looked different in the day, far more majestic with the sun glinting off of its tall spires and reflecting through the many windows. My reverie was broken by the sound of an explosion. "Fang!?" Was my first thought as adrenaline through my veins, causing me to drop into a ready stance and scan my surroundings.

What I saw at the source of the explosion was not the White Fang, but something far more despicable. A Schnee. My lips pulled back in a sneer as I watched the heiress to the SDC herself shriek at some girl in red, both being covered in ash from the explosion. I could barely understand what her long-winded rant was about, but I didn't care. Her shrill voice was like nails on a chalkboard to my ears, and the seething hate I felt bubbling to the surface didn't help.

I began to make my way over to the Schnee, hands scrunched into claws, when she turned on her heels and started walking away. I saw the girl in red collapse to the floor. That cleared the red from my vision, and I quickly moved towards her.

Looking upon her prone form, I decided to reach out a hand. "You alright?" I asked cautiously. She looked up at me and said nothing, so I decided to introduce myself. "Uh, hi. I'm Jaune." She narrowed her eyes at me, as if inspecting my features, and then blurted out "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the airship?" ...Great.

((()))

"Sorry, 'Vomit Boy's was just the first thing I thought of!" The read haired girl who I learned was named Ruby squeaked.

"It's not my fault I didn't know I had motion sickness!" I whined back.

"So… you had no idea you had motion sickness up until today?" Ruby asked.

"Well, I got a little queasy on trucks here and there, but never as bad as on that bullhead." I responded. "How about this? We start over! My name is Jaune, Jaune Arc." I said, ending my sentence with a slight flourish.

"Ruby, Ruby Rose." Ruby chirped with a smile.

That smile quickly faded as an awkward silence descended over us. Ruby shifted in place for a second, before reaching behind her. "So, I got this thing…" she remarked, as she unfolded a giant, red and black, mechanical scythe. I blinked dumbly at it, my brain jarred by the sudden change in topic.

"Is that a scythe?" I questioned.

"It's also a customizable, high-impact sniper rifle!" She chirped.

"It's a gun. That thing's not only a giant scythe, but a gun…" I remarked, dumbfounded.

"Well, I did go a little overboard when designing it. I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons…" Ruby mumbled shyly. She perked up to look at me. "What's yours!" She squeaked out.

I responded with a small grin. "I'll tell you after initiation." I teased.

"Awwww, no fair!" She cried, putting her face into an adorable pout.

I grinned, and I reached out with my tail to boop her in the nose. On contact she froze, and on seeing this, I froze. "Oh! Uh, sorry, I did that a lot to my sisters and you just reminded me of them when you made that face and-" "You have a tail?..." she asked. Immediately my face dropped into a light scowl. "Is that a problem?" I asked, with a slight edge to my voice. Ruby's eyes were fixed on my tail and a smile began to break out on her face. "That's… so… cool!" She shouted. "It's so fluffy and cute! What animal is it from? Can I touch it? Can I can I can I?" She squeaked, vibrating in place with dinner-plate eyes.

"Um," I grunted, not used to that response, "it's a jaguar tail, and you can't touch it." She deflated before my eyes. "No! It's because touching faunus parts like ears, tails, horns, and the like is a super intimate thing! Not because I don't want you to!" I quickly amended. "Since we just met it would be super awkward, like me putting my hands all over you five minutes after meeting. If that makes sense." Ruby's eyes narrowed for a second, before understanding dawned on her. "Oh, got it! We didn't have many faunus on Patch, so I didn't know that, sorry." She apologized. "No problem, Ruby." I consoled.

Another short silence stretched across us, before I spoke up. "So… how long until we reach the auditorium?" Upon hearing this, Ruby stopped dead in her tracks. "I was following you." She stated. "I was following you!" I cried. We both started panicking, and after a brief scramble, we looked up the direction of the auditorium and took off.

((()))

When we arrived, Ruby split off to meet up with a girl she called her sister, though they looked nothing alike. Half-sisters, maybe? Adopted? I dunno. After that, I just kinda waited around, my tail wrapped around my waist, until the headmaster himself walked onto the stage. He gave some speech about wasted energy which was honestly kind of depressing, then we were told by the deputy headmistress that we were to meet back here tonight and that we had the rest of the day to explore. Before I could turn around to scope the area out, I heard the Schnee start talking in her annoyingly shrill voice. Turning to look, she was accosting Ruby again, for what, I don't know, I just know it pissed me off seeing my first friend here getting talked down to by a Schnee. Not saying I would be okay with it if it was another person, just that specifically the Schnee made me angrier than normal.

What made matters worse was when the Schnee gestured at me over her shoulder and called me "tall, blonde, and scraggly." I wear slightly baggy clothing so it doesn't restrict my movements! Just because I look a little lanky doesn't mean I'm scraggly! Furrowing my brow, I marched over to stand just to the side of the Schnee.

"Got a problem with me, Schnee?" I gritted out. She whirled to look at me like I was the one who insulted her. "Excuse me?" she whined, sounding about as bitchy as I had imagined. "Who do you think you are to talk to me like that?" I bent at the waist, hands in my pockets, "Who are you to insult me despite us never having met? Or is it one of those Atlesian privilege things? Think you're so much better just cause daddy has a little extra money?" I snarled. She looked at me appalled. "Why-! I never-! How dare-!" she sputtered out, before looking me over. Her eyes paused on my tail, and she looked back at me with unveiled disdain. "So that's what this is? Another one of you people harassing me for the things the SDC has done? I'll have you know that the SDC pays their workers fairly and are not responsible for workplace incidents. Those are the fault of the worker's incompetence." She said to me in a simultaneously business-like and condescending tone.

A tick formed in my eyebrow. "Worker's incompetence?" My teeth gnashed together. "Worker's incompetence!?" I shouted, "My father got crippled from the waist down because of an explosion caused by a poorly maintained rail system! One of my sisters had to get medical treatment we could barely afford with your 'fair wages' because your company couldn't give enough of a shit to pay for a ventilation system in their mines! My brother in all but blood-" I cut myself off abruptly, not wanting to give more information than necessary. Taking a deep breath, I ground out in a lower tone of voice "the people I know and care about have been hurt for decades because of your company, and you brush it off as 'worker's incompetence?' Shit like this is the reason why the White Fang exists. I didn't even come over here to attack you, I came over here to defend my friend, but you, Schnee, you just made it personal." With that, I stormed out of the room, ignoring Ruby's calls of "wait!" And missing the range of hurt that briefly flashed across the Schnee's face. Even if I had seen it, I was too wound up to care.

((()))

I found myself outside a few minutes later, walking across campus with no clear direction, my thoughts in a whirl. "Who do I think I am? Who does she think she is!? Worker's incompetence? Bullshit! Fucking Schnees think they own the damn world! This is why I joined the damn Fang!" That final thought gave me pause. "That's… that's not right. I didn't join the Fang to stick it to the Schnees, I joined the Fang to make a better world for my sisters. I… I left the Fang because it became less about faunus equality and more about faunus superiority. Became less about making the Schnees answer for their crimes and more about making them pay. What am I doing?" I walked over to a bench near a green belt and plopped down, looking out at the horizon where parts of the city of Vale were visible.

I looked across the horizon and took a deep breath, closing my eyes. Images flashed through my mind. Newspaper clippings showing security camera footage of a blonde jaguar faunus with his hair swept back standing side-by-side with a red bull faunus. A hallway of unconscious bodies, but the one at my feet laying in a slowly expanding pool of blood. Fear in the eyes of a security guard as I dropped on him from the shadows. Sheet after sheet after sheet of distribution plans, guard rosters, and timetables stolen from various offices. The Fang grunts returning victorious from each, the smell of blood stronger after each victory. I took another deep breath and shook my head to relieve myself of such thoughts. "I left for a reason, and now it's my job to make things right. To protect everyone, instead of guarding my own people and condemning others."

My resolve strengthened. I opened my eyes and looked back over the horizon. "I am an Arc, and an Arc never goes back on their word." I muttered, before standing up and making my way around campus, memorizing some key locations such as the cafeteria and information like the number scheme of the classrooms for easy navigation later on. Once that was done, I looked out and saw the sun beginning to set, and so I made my way back to the auditorium.

((()))

Once in the auditorium, I saw people already beginning to mark out spots to sleep. Deciding that I didn't have much time, I quickly moved to the locker room to get changed. Pulling the bag that Roman had given me out of my locker, I looked inside to find the most hideous, baby-blue onesie I had ever seen. Upon closer inspection, it was bunny themed, too. Clearly, he thought he was hilarious. Grumbling under my breath, I decided to sleep in the casual clothing I had worn that day, having known initiation was tomorrow ahead of time due to my snooping the other day.

As I walked outside, I walked past a peanut gallery of hormonal teenagers attempting to woo each other by flexing and posing in their tight-fitting sleepwear. That was what made me realize why I was called scraggly earlier. Some of these dudes were eight feet tall and had muscles on their muscles, meanwhile I was a six foot noodle with a bit of lean muscle. The huntsman lifestyle really did the male body well. Not to mention how well it helped the female populace too, who were doing just as much grandstanding with their "before bed stretches." The fittest grunt in the Fang wouldn't hold a candle to the men, and most supermodels paled in comparison to some of the ladies at Beacon. Honestly, it's a wonder anyone gets anything done in this school.

I was shaken out of my reverie by a squeaky voice calling out "Jaune! Over here!" I let a small smile grow on my face before turning to look at one Ruby Rose, dressed in a black tank top and white, heart-pattern pajama pants, ecstatically waving at me from her spot on the floor. I walked over to her and sat down smiling at her from my position on the floor. "Hey Ruby, what's up?" I asked, a gentle smile on my face. Before Rubby could say anything, a head of blonde hair peeked over her shoulder and promptly wrapped her in a headlock. "Ruby!" the blonde teased "First day here and my sister already has a boyfriend! They grow up so fast!" The blonde tightened the headlock, drawing attention to the rather shapely mounds Ruby's head was being pressed into, and further accentuated by the criminally low-cut tank top she wore. I could feel heat rising to my face, both from the blonde's teasing, and the sight before me.

"Yaaaang!" Ruby whined, "He's not my boyfriend! This is Jaune, you know, my first friend at Beacon?" At that, the blonde, now called Yang, looked at me with a new sort of gleam in her eyes, I didn't like it. It reminded me too much of my sisters when they were getting ready to tease me. "Oh, so this is Vomit Boy?" She asked with a fake innocence in her voice. "Ruby!" I cried, only to be met with a muffled "I'm sorry! It slipped out!" from the traitor in question.

Yang looked at me and held out a hand, the other still holding Ruby as she squirmed helplessly. "My name's Yang, I'm Ruby's big sis. Thanks for watching out for her." She said with a smile. I took her hand and shook it. "My name's Jaune, it's a pleasure to meet you, Yang."

After a second of shaking hands, Yang's grip suddenly increased in pressure to the point where she was grinding my bones together. She leaned in a little closer, her smile becoming slightly strained and a bit dangerous, and said in a low voice "Just so we're clear, my little sister is off-limits. Just cause she's young doesn't mean you can just take advantage of her and get away with it, capiche?" Without changing my facial expression at all, I responded calmly. "Sure thing, but maybe try not to chase away all of your sister's prospective friends in the future. Not all of them will understand what it means to protect a little sister from ne'er-do-wells."

With that, Yang's grip relaxed, and she returned to a natural smile, giving Ruby a small noogie just as she managed to pull herself out of the headlock. Quickly fixing her hair, Ruby glared at Yang in the cutest pout I'd seen in a while. "What did you say to Jaune?" She asked, to which both Yang and I simultaneously responded "nothing." I stood up and looked over at the two sisters. "Initiation is tomorrow, so we should try to get some sleep. See you around, Ruby, Yang." And with a small wave, I made my way over to a relatively quiet corner of the auditorium, curled my tail into my chest, and got ready to go to sleep. Tomorrow was a big day after all, and after that, well, I just had to stop people from asking too many questions and I would be on my way.

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So yeah, that's all for this first chapter of faunus Jaune. I made this story entirely because I hadn't seen many recent stories that contained a faunus Jaune, and far fewer that contained an ex-WF Jaune, so I decided to make one myself. Some clarifications that should be made so that the faunus in this story make more sense, is that alongside their obvious trait, all focus have "passive abilities" related to what species they get their traits from. For example, an axolotl faunus may inherit gills as their obvious trait, but heal far faster than a normal person and have a longer lifespan as a passive thanks to the axolotl's healing abilities. This is why Jaune is shown to be rather strong for a human and have superior agility out of the gate, despite not having his aura unlocked until after completing his deal with Roman. Since he's a jaguar faunus, he gained feline agility and is naturally stronger than a human his size should be, since jaguars are very physically powerful and can take down animals twice their size. This will give me more room to maneuver with faunus traits outside of just darkvision, and I feel will make my faunus characters more interesting. That said, I hope you enjoyed this. Please leave a review on any things you enjoyed or any constructive criticism you might have. This is my first story, after all, and I'd like to use this as an opportunity to improve my creative writing skills. That's all for now, I hope to see you in the next update!