Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY.

Am I just not worth it?

These are the thoughts plaguing the young boy's mind.

Jaune Arc.

Normally, a 12-year-old boy should not be having these kinds of thoughts. Normally, they should be out playing and having fun, dreading to go to school and wishing to skip it – only to attend it anyway since they are scared of the wrath of their parents. Normally, they'd rather watch T.V, read comics, and play games.

But Jaune Arc is NOT a normal 12-year-old boy.

Or rather, he is a normal boy with unusual thoughts. If you look at this child's lifestyle, you would have thought of him as pretty normal. Average grades, not a lot of friends but not too little that he's considered a loner. Wake up, eat breakfast, take a shower, go to school, eat lunch, go back to class, go home, eat dinner, do homework, sleep, repeat.

The only thing that makes him stand out from the rest of your perfectly average youth is that he's got seven sisters.

And a lineage of warriors.

Now, you'd think that with that kind of background, he'd be pretty unique amongst fellow children. But nope. He's not. And this kind of lifestyle equals adequacy, and for a 12-year-old boy, you can guess that he doesn't like it.

That's why he's tried.

And failed.

Ask his parents to train him to become a Huntsman? Denied. Convince them to enroll him into a combat school? Refused. Try to enroll in a combat school anyways? Rejected. Every single time, he's tried to become a hero. And every single time, he failed.

Now, this wouldn't instantly make Jaune go into an angst fest. He's a child – bordering into puberty years, but not quite old enough to become that kind of teenager.

Not yet anyway.

But when this kid, whose dreams have been denied for so long… Suddenly see his sisters asking the same question and requests and getting accepted?

Oof.

It's not the first time Jaune asked for something, get denied from it, one of his sisters asks for it then suddenly mom and dad agree. Nope, he understands perfectly, it's what having seven sisters feels like. What parents having eight children feel like. There's bound to be some priorities, like a choice in dinner, a movie to watch, a change in channels.

But Jaune has determined his dream is to become a Huntsman, a hero. And yet… When his twin sister Citrus asked for the same thing on a whim and she suddenly receives combat training from dear-old-dad – a retired huntsman –, and mom – a former soldier, of which rank Jaune doesn't know –, then there's bound to be some negative thoughts from the boy.

And that's where Jaune is right now. Inside a forest outside the border of his village, brooding.

Is there something about him that makes his parents not train him? Does he have some kind of constitution not meant for fighting? Does he have to complete a hidden test where if he passes, they'll put him into some super-secret and special training? Or is it because…

He's just not worth it?

That it's not because he has a glaring weakness or that he's too incompetent; it's just that he's mediocre and that's it. And when you have to pick between his seven sisters who are all good and specializing at something, or him who has nothing going for him…

It's obvious who his parents will choose to train.

.

.

.

.

"This sucks," Jaune grumbled.

All his life he'd been fed stories of the heroics his family had done. All the achievements and challenges his ancestors had conquered. He wanted to be like them! But how?

Suddenly, he got a notification from his scroll, a birthday present when he turned 10. It was from a website that shows videos, mostly about cartoon shows. He visited the website and was surprised.

"Oh?"

It was a completely new show and a weird one at that. Because there wasn't a single view on it. Jaune couldn't have been the first one to watch it, because there are people all over Remnant who are addicted to this website and its provided shows! It's impossible – he would know, he tried to become the first viewer hundreds of times.

The synopsis wasn't anything completely original. It's about a young boy who wants to become a hero, runs away from home, has adventures along the way, and eventually defeats the big bad guy and everyone has a happy ending.

But what surprised Jaune when he watched it was its worldbuilding.

In this world, people had a gimmick, a special ability, something that makes them strong and unique. A superpower. This boy though, didn't have any strong superpower – in fact, he didn't have any superpowers at all! All he had was grit, determination, and a sword. All he had in him was a sword that didn't seem to break no matter what.

Now there's an idea…

Jaune decided, then and there, that he was going to become a swordsman, not just any swordsman, a master swordsman! A blade master!

And with this mindset, Jaune set to work on his goal.

…

"The next match will be between Jaune Arc against, Cardin Winchester. Will Mr. Arc and Mr. Winchester meet up in the arena in 10 minutes?" declared Glynda Goodwitch, Combat Class professor of Beacon Academy.

Yang elbowed her sister, "Oh, Rubes! Your new friend's up!"

Ruby nodded in her seat. This is exciting! She'll finally see what her first friend is capable of. She didn't get to see much of him since she was too busy with her team slaying the Nevermore. She was kind of worried for her friend since he said that all he had was a sword, not even a special sword, like Crocea Mors – a family heirloom, he said -, but just a regular sword. But no matter! This is her friend, and he seemed confident enough.

Yeah… Confident alright.

Ruby blushed at her thoughts. No! Bad Ruby! Just because he helper her up when she exploded and was kinda cool and had that air about him and- no!

It's not her fault that she thought Jaune looked cool – by her standards. He was friendly! Socially awkward like her, and he knew what kind of weapon Crescent Rose was at first glance! Who wouldn't think that someone like that was cool!

"Yang, stop!" she whined.

"Oh, come on, shouldn't you be excited to see him fight? You pretty much ranted to me all night about what kind of fighting style he uses and if it's similar to Uncle Qrow."

"That's because he was only using a sword. Yeah, he may be awesome in a sword – I wouldn't know, I never saw him fight properly in Initiation, but what about range? I thought he'd at least have a secondary firearm, like, a pistol or something."

"Maybe he does have a gun and you just didn't see it?"

"Nope," Ruby popped the 'p'. "He said that he only had a sword and scabbard. He didn't tell me he had a gun."

"Maybe he lied?" Yang drawled.

"What? No, Jaune wouldn't lie to me."

"Ruby, you only met him yesterday."

"Still, he doesn't seem like someone who'd lie."

The sisters' conversation was interrupted by a haughty voice.

"Of course, he would lie!" Weiss scoffed. "That no-good ruffian is probably lying and bragging to boost his own ego."

"Why are you mad at him anyway, Weiss-cream?" Yang questioned.

"First off, don't call me that, second, he barged into my private conversation with Pyrrha and called me names!"

Her tirade was followed up by another voice.

"Are you sure you aren't just mad at him for interrupting your recruitment with Pyrrha Nikos?" Blake interrupted.

"Why- I would never-" Weiss blushed and was interrupted yet again.

"And that he called you Snow Angel?" Blake smirked.

Weiss looked away with a humph and arms crossed, ignoring the snickering of the two sisters.

"Girls! It's starting!" Ruby shouted.

Jaune entered the stage. He was wearing a yellow and white striped shirt, over it is a black casual jacket with coattails reaching halfway to his knees, black pants, and combat boots. On his lower back is a sword in a scabbard hanging diagonally. He was wearing fingerless combat gloves.

Jaune noticed Ruby and waved, "Hey Ruby!"

"Hey, Jaune!" Ruby waved back.

"Mr. Arc, please get ready now and onto the arena," Goodwitch proclaimed.

"Sorry professor," Jaune laughed and said with a carefree smile.

"Very well, the both of you, get ready."

Both Cardin and Jaune got into a combat stance, but while Cardin looks like he was ready, Jaune was getting into a nonchalant combat stance with his weapon pulled out and not even out of its scabbard. Seeing this, many of the audience was shocked. Some were laughing that he's not taking this seriously, a few were shaking their heads in disappointed that they've got a cocky student who thinks they're the center of the world, some are mocking him for the same reason and that he's overcompensating for his skill, but none more so than Team RWBY and Team NPR.

Weiss was one of the few that was shaking her head in disappointment. She expected this, but still hoped that he'll at least take things seriously when it's needed. But it appears that he's another arrogant, cocky rascal like those suitors from Atlas.

Ruby and Yang were shocked and excited. Mainly because both of them have seen this kind of nonchalant stance before, from their skilled huntsman uncle Qrow Branwen. They've seen this kind of stance many times from when he was teaching them or sparring with their dad, Taiyang Xiao Long.

It was a stance that's made for throwing your enemies off guard. It looked like a mix between an amateur that didn't even know a proper stance or an expert that's not taking you seriously. People who can't distinguish a third option between an amateur and an expert will either look down on them and lower their guard or get angry and reckless when they're not taken seriously.

Blake was curious, wondering if that's his main style of fighting or just a stance that he uses occasionally when he's annoying his opponents. She also wants to pay more attention to this fight, trying to estimate and scale her fighting abilities when compared to students that are not a part of her team.

"Mr. Arc, what is the meaning of this? While this may not be a match against grimm, I would advise you to still take this fight seriously." Goodwitch scolded. While she may have seen his performance in Initiation via the cameras placed there and knows how strong Jaune Arc is, she must still warn him that you should take fights seriously or it could end badly.

"I am serious, professor," Jaune said with a carefree smile.

"You're pissing me off, Arc! You think I'm a joke?" Cardin roared.

"Whaaat? Noo…" Jaune said as sincerely as possible. But with his cheeks puffed up, trying to hold back a laugh, one can clearly that's not true.

"Well, you better not regret this, Mr. Arc. Match, start!" Goodwitch declared.

"Better be ready for this, Jauney-boy!" Cardin broke into a run and raised his mace high to attack.

Jaune raised his sword and sliced a single arc and for a moment, his eyes glowed blue-

-and within a single instant, Cardin fell, his weapon falling out of his grip and making a clanging sound on the floor.

Above the stage, on the screen that shows the aura levels of the students, Cardin Winchester's aura dropped from full to 17 percent, straight into the red.

Back in the seats, Team RWBY had varying reactions.

Ruby was excited and gushing over how cool it was. Although she didn't exactly know how Jaune did it, she is still supporting him. Maybe he could teach her how to do that with Crescent Rose? And maybe she could repay him by giving him a firearm and teaching him how to use it? Ideas, ideas.

Yang was surprised. Even she couldn't just punch someone straight to red in one hit. At least, not unless she uses her semblance. Maybe he had a semblance that makes him stronger? Still, she was excited, maybe a fight with him could be fun!

Weiss was surprised. She never thought that oaf would be able to do something like that! Was it a semblance or a technique she could learn? She didn't know, she never got into the more advanced combat techniques from her tutors since she was preparing to enroll in Beacon.

Blake was intrigued and afraid. She saw a move that was eerily similar – but still different from Jaune's. But even then, Adam had to have at least his semblance half-charged to strike his opponent into the lower-yellow zone, bordering on red.

Back to the stage, Jaune put his sword back on his lower back and turned to Goodwitch.

"Professor, am I done?"

"Um, well yes – Winner, Jaune Arc!" Goodwitch was surprised for a moment but calmed herself soon after.

Before Jaune walked down the arena and back into the seats of his team, he went down and whispered something in Cardin's ear.

"Please don't try to mess with Velvet again, okay?" Jaune said with a smile.

Cardin groaned.

"WOOOOOOOO! Go Fearless Leader!" Nora cheered.

"Nora, stop screaming." chided Ren.

"That was quite the fast match, Jaune. Are you okay now?" asked Pyrrha

"Thanks, Pyrrha. I was just looking to blow up some steam since I've been in a bad mood recently, but I'm okay now!" said Jaune.

"If you say so," Pyrrha receded.

Their conversation was joined by Team RWBY.

"Jaune! That was so cool, what did you do?" Ruby instantly appeared in Jaune's face and gushed over how what he did in the match.

"Sorry Ruby, that's a secret for now," Jaune slowly pushed Ruby's face out of his space, wondering if she knew personal boundaries or if she does know and just doesn't care.

"Hey blondie, that was a pretty quick fight, good job. Looks like you got to Cardin first though. Shame though, was hoping to beat him into a pulp. The guy was pissing me off," Yang complimented with finger-guns.

"What? You're blonde too though, also he was too arrogant for my tastes – so I just tried to take him down a notch. Hopefully, he won't cause too much trouble with everyone," Jaune retorted while scratching the back of his head.

Yang ignored the retort and just nodded sagely – close eyes and humming included. Weiss and Blake though…

Weiss was looking at him like she was studying, looking for something that isn't there. He certainly has some skill, so was she wrong in her judgment of him? At least she can see why he seemed so confident and carefree though.

While Blake just looked at him and nodded.

Jaune nodded back, although he wasn't sure why she nodded in the first place. Is it because he did a good job in the match? Or because he beat Cardin up? He doesn't know.

Both the teams just had a casual conversation while watching the rest of the matches.

…

Early in the morning, Ruby woke up. She wasn't sure why she did suddenly but for some reason, she can't seem to go back to sleep. Well, since she can't go back to sleep, she may as well get freshened up and take a walk around the school. Maybe there's a hidden room filled with weapons magazines! Or a private stash of cookies!

Getting outside, Ruby took a walk and admired the place.

Beacon Academy, huh? She still can't believe she made it in – two years early at that! She's scared, what if this is all a dream? What if she's still in Patch sleeping in? What if something happened to her during Torchwick's robbery and she's in a coma? What if she's actually dea—

Her thoughts were cut off when a gleaming light met her eyes. She looked up and saw on the rooftops a silhouette. Curious, who is that? She went upstairs to the rooftop and opened the door to find…

"Jaune? Is that you?"

Jaune stopped his training mid-swing and turned to Ruby.

"Ruby? Good morning! What are you doing here so early in the morning?"

"Morning. I couldn't sleep, so I went for a walk, and I saw something and went to find it and found you,"

"Oh… Well, want to have a chat?"

"Sure," Ruby said and went to sit with her back behind a wall. Jaune then took out a towel to wipe his sweat, grabbed a bottle of water to drink and sat down next to her.

"You were training pretty early, Jaune,"

"What can I say? These skills had to come from somewhere," Jaune laughed.

"Say, during the match with Cardin, why didn't you take out the sword out of your scabbard?"

As she said this, Jaune's smile became forlorn.

"That's… Well, I made a promise to myself," Jaune said melancholy.

"A promise?"

"Yeah, a promise. A promise that I would only unsheathe the sword when I need to take something,"

"Take what?" Ruby asked with begging puppy dog eyes. Jaune saw this and chuckled.

Ruffling Ruby's hair, Jaune said, "That's a secret,"

Ruby pouted.

"Can you at least show me your sword?"

"Sure," Jaune said and took out his sword.

Ruby took the sword in his hands and inspected it. The sheath was nothing special, but it looked to be made really well. The sword however looked…

Absolutely normal.

However, as a weapons expert – as Ruby likes to call herself, she can tell that there's something different about this one. Being a weapons geek (expert!), Ruby has seen many a weapon, ranging from the most basic of daggers to the coolest weapons like Crescent Rose. And while she's seen plenty of swords, she can tell that there's something special about this one. She can feel it humming with power, almost as if it's… alive.

"Woah…"

Jaune smiled.

"Sorry, I know it's nothing special, just a normal bastard sword,"

"What? No! This is very cool, Jaune. It's pretty big that I thought it would be heavy but it's surprisingly light. And the balance is… perfect…" Ruby moaned. "The sharpness too," Ruby said as she put a finger on the blade, "it's a perfectly good weapon! This sword is special, I can tell!" Ruby yelled right into Jaune's face.

"Really? Thank you then, but please don't get so close in front of my face," Jaune smiled and teased.

"Ah! Wha—I—I mea—sorry!" Ruby blushed and backed away. Oh no! She didn't mean to do that. Darn her weapons enthusiast self! Now Jaune's gonna think she's weird! And he'll want to stay away from-

"It's fine Ruby," Jaune patted Ruby's head.

"Eh? Really?"

"Yup, that was just the weapons enthusiast in you, right? You told me so the day we met,"

"Oh, I did? Hehe, sorry,"

"It's fine Ruby,"

The two continued their conversation while getting comfortable next to each other. Jaune kept patting Ruby's head while Ruby leaned closer next to Jaune. The two talked about their relatively short time on Beacon and snippets of information about themselves – like how they chose their weapons.

Jaune was shocked to find out that Ruby's uncle is Qrow Branwen. He'd known about him during his journey, that and looking up websites about Huntsmen and the people there keep talking about him despite not ever seeing his face. He was said to be a member of Team STRQ, one of the top teams of Beacon 20-30 years – practically a generation – ago! She said that he taught her how to use a scythe, so that's the reason she has a scythe. The sniper rifle mode was just something she thought was cool and added.

Ruby was surprised and amused that Jaune only used a sword because of a kids' show. About a kid wanting to be a hero and only had a sword available to him, and so he trained to become the strongest. It sounds pretty cool, maybe he could show her the show when they have time?

"Hey, Jaune?" Ruby asked with a soft and nervous voice.

"Yeah, Ruby?"

"Do you think I belong here?"

"What do you mean?" Jaune asked, confused about why she's asking something like this.

"It's just…" Ruby sighed. "Weiss told me that I'm 'immature', that I don't belong here, and that the headmaster must have made a mistake – she apologized for that by the way, we're cool-cool now. Said that she was just stressed because she's in a new place and just starting to get used to it so I should please and I quote 'forgive her for her volatile reactions' whatever the word volatile means. And even though my team and the headmaster reassured me that I belong just fine, I still have doubts, y'know? Everyone here is two years older than me, and even though Weiss is tutoring me on subjects, it's still hard to keep up. I'm starting to think that even though she apologized, Weiss is right. I shouldn't be here. I should be back at Signa—"

"-Ruby, stop," Jaune shushed Ruby with a finger.

"Ruby, whether you believe it or not, you belong here, okay? I don't know where this kind of thinking you're having came from, but—like, just stop. I don't exactly know what happened during your fight with Weiss, but the headmaster enrolled you in Beacon - chose you as a leader for a reason. If you don't believe in yourself, believe in me, okay?" Jaune said while comforting Ruby.

"Believe in the me who believes in you, Ruby,"

"Believe in the you who believes in… me?"

"Yeah,"

"I… Thanks, Jaune," Ruby smiled.

"You're welcome… Crater Face,"

Ruby pouted and raised her fists to hit Jaune in the chest.

She seems mad at him for ruining the moment.

The gleam of joy in her silver eyes says otherwise.

A/N: Hello, Author here. This is a test or a… prototype of sorts. This is my first time ever writing and publishing a story on FF. I'm trying to dip my toes on how to do this and hopefully, it will stick and I'll get better over time. Fingers crossed.

Anyway, I don't know what else to put here so, uh… bye.

P.S: Also yeah, that was a TTGL reference.