Jaune believed he was a pretty normal twelve-year old kid, all things considered. Sure, he didn't hate maths with a passion, was pretty meek however hard he tried otherwise, and had a rather naive dream of being a hero, especially given his complete lack of training... but then, everyone was allowed a certain amount of oddities, wasn't it? Anyway, like any normal preteen boy, he was interested in girls, hated milk and history, and loved action movies. All in all, he had been a pretty run-of-the-mill kid... until yesterday.
The day had started normally enough. The homeroom teacher at his school had reminded the kids of the fact that the application date for Signal, and other prep schools for huntsmen academies, was fast approaching. He had, after school, raised this point with his parents (and seven elder sisters). And had been told, "Jaune, even though we won't force you to do anything you don't want to, we all would like for you to choose a safer life for yourself than that of a huntsman. You are the man of the house kid, its up to you to keep the Arc name alive, after all." He had, like any good boy, acquiesced sullenly. The Arc family had a pretty rich and proud history, going way back to the great wars, but all the current denizen of the Arc household were proud civilians. The only link remaining to the battle-stained past of the name was the ancestral sword, Crocea Mors, and its scabbard, which could also double as a shield. Anyway, Jaune was a good kid, or maybe he wasn't a teenager yet, so he had swallowed the bitter pill and quashed his dreams to be a hero, for now. He had still spent the evening moping, though recieving the Crocea Mors for safekeeping from his father had mollified him somewhat.
And then, the weirdness that was his night had come.
As soon as Jaune had finally fallen asleep, he had woken up to a dark, open space around him. He couldn't see anything nearby. Heck, he couldn't see himself either. Confused, he had tried to unfocus his mind and slip off to slumberland, when a feminine voice had interrupted him.
"Please don't try to slip off kid, we've got much to discuss. It is your story, after all."
Eh? "Who's there?" He had asked. "And where am I?"
"I've pulled you into the Astral plane, Jaune Arc. In simple words, you are in the world where everyone's mind and soul lies, overlapping with their bodies in the physical realm. You may also look to it as the world of dreams."
Huh? But I can't see anything, he had thought. And surprisingly, she had answered him somehow. "That's because your mind was empty when you slept. You had no lingering thoughts which your mind would have expanded upon to create a vivid dream for you... just think of some place, quick.
Did she just read my thoughts? Freaked out, he had tried to recall his dark room, and tried to wake up from whatever this odd dream was about.
Suddenly, the environment around him altered to reflect his room. "You won't be able to leave until I will it, kid. I have pulled you inside my dream, after all. As for who am I... you can call me an OC."
"OC?"
"Yes OC, or Otherworldly Caretaker if you will."
Otherworldly... caretaker?
"Yep! I am not from around... what was it again? Remnant, wasn't it?"
Jaune nodded dumbly, falling back to his default reaction when he didn't get something, choosing to wait things out.
"Good boy. Anyway, we OC's are extensions of the Creator's will. We are beings who watch over various worlds. And when we sense something drastic approaching, we interfare to correct things."
This, Jaune understood. So, something drastic was approaching Remnant?
"Uh-huh! I can sense a storm coming here, the likes of which hasn't been seen since the faunus wars. And I have chosen to help Remnant weather it through you."
The OC talked pretty fast, so Jaune didn't get much time to think upon her words. "Me?"
"Yep! You are one of the special type of people who we use to influence the world through. We call people like you 'SI,' or self-inserts. People like you are easygoing, friendly but with an iron-will to protect your loved ones. We OCs have perfected the art of moulding people like you into heroes the worlds need."
Jaune was twelve and the OC was talking pretty fast, so he naturally zeroed in on the first thing that caught his attention. "You'll make me a hero?!"
"Yup!" She answered easily. "You've got everything we need in our prospects. If you follow my instructions, I'll make you good enough to steamroll past any problems this realm faces."
This sounded cool! Though, didn't his family want him to be a normal person?
"I remember them saying they won't stop you if you wish to be a hero, kid. And for what my friend has foretold your world would soon face, we need you to be a huntsman to stop things going FUBAR."
FUBAR? What's that?
"Eh. Fucked Up Beyond All Repair."
Did she just... "Did you just cuss?"
"Oh right, you're twelve. You'll have to man up kid. It was hard enough not running my mouth for as long as I did, but let me warn you... I have a fucking shithole of a mouth."
Oh. Okay... "But I don't want to go against my parents..."
"Noone fucking does kid, but we damn well need you to co-opertare for the good of your world. It's not like you won't simply rebel later and try to get into Beacon with some half-arsed training and forged transcripts, won't you?"
You don't know that... do you?
"In at least a few timelines, I've seen you do just that. And let me assure you, the results are like horse-shit for you."
Now that sounded scary... but what was he to do?
"Don't worry kid, I'm going to train the hell outta you... unfortunately no prep school worth its salt would accept a fucking untrained civilian like you. But we can work with that. We'll just have to forge your transcripts at Beacon later down the line... but you'd have done it anyway."
Oh, okay. "What will you train me in anyway, miss OC?"
"Meh. We'll work on your body in the day and your mind in the night. I've forged a connection with your soul, so I'll be able to pull you in the Astral realm and help you find your way around here. First we'll have you organize your mind, order your thoughts and memories into a structured way."
"What do you mean?" Jaune was confused.
"Oh, just that we'll make you have a perfect memory. You won't forget anything ever again."
That might be cool and all... but was that it?
"Nah boy, I'm just getting started. When you become an expert in walking this realm, you will be able to read minds, plant thoughts into others' heads... all in all, you'd be a sodding telepath for starters. And once you learn to manipulate Astral energy and interconvert between physical, astral and spiritual energy..."
Jaune looked at her blankly... or he might have looked like that if he had a body here.
"Meh. One day you'll understand. What I mean is... I'll make you be able to turn invisible and avoid any hits that way, for once. You'll also be able to throw balls of aura at your opponents."
He still didn't get a lot of it, but what little he did sounded decidedly cool.
"You've got it right, kiddo. As for your body... I'm gonna train the hell out of you. I'll train you till your dick falls off, then I'll train you some more. We'll work on your conditioning first, then see about designing you a weapon. You'll have to start saving up for that by the way."
Okay, I'm sorta following you till now... "Wait, how'd you train me while I'm back home?"
"Oh, I've fused myself with your mind kid. We'll be able to talk even when you're up. Anyways, I'll teach you tricks like walking on walls, turning intangible, boosting your punches, throwing beams and balls of aura on your opponents... all in all, I'll make you a fucking powerhouse."
It sounded good. Too good. Now Jaune wasn't an intrinsically suspiscious person, he was rather a very trusting boy... but all this seemed way too outlandish. "I think I should try to sleep."
"Fine by me kid. You'll just believe it to be an odd dream until you wake up tomorrow, and then you'll have to believe me when I contact you in your world. It's better this way. Go on, sleep. And beware, I'm waking you at five."
What?
He felt a sudden push, and was thrown back to his body. Sleep wasn't very hard to come by... though he had thought about that odd dream for a bit before finally falling asleep...
...Only to wake up to a very, very shrill yell ringing in his mind.
W-wha?
"Rise and shine, sleepyhead!" An irritatingly chipper and vaguely familiar voice greeted. As his brain booted slowly, he finally recalled who that voice belonged to... "OC?" So it was real after all?
"Yup, it was real as fuck, Jaune. Now... it's time to see how much you want to be a hero. Dress up in your workout apparel, quick. We've got a lot of work to do before you have to go to school..."
Yeah. He'd been pretty normal until yesterday. Now though... he had a motherfucking voice in his head, who wanted to train him to be a hero Remnant needed to prevent things going FUBAR. Go figure.