Yang and Ruby discovered a few things about their guest in the weeks before school started. The biggest was the fact that Jaune was extremely awkward. Apparently, this was the first time he'd talked to people his age in a long while. This was made evident from his utter lack of conversational skills. Sure he was polite when it came to being a good guest, but Yang found it extremely entertaining to trip him up with embarrassing questions and teasing remarks.

Ruby on the other hand related with him a lot, this caused a sort of kinship between the two. So while Ruby introduced Jaune to the wondrous worlds of weapon modifications, which Jaune had no idea how she knew so much about, Jaune showed her his collection of X-ray and vav comics.

Of course, this only added fuel to the fire that was Yang's teasing, something she never really got tired of. The two blonde children also sparred a few more times before, Yang learning that the best way to beat him was getting around his insufferable guard. This was easier said than done, but with a few good fients and better use of her mobility she could eke out her own victories.

In the weeks leading up to their first day at Signal Academy, Jaune and Yang trained to their leisure. That is to say, Jaune kept an absurdly strict regime and Yang took it upon herself as a challenge to meet that same standard.

This meant that they were both up early in the morning beginning their stretches and workout, while this was normal for hunters in training, the feeling of competition between the two meant that they pushed themselves to the limit each day.

Tai and Qrow would have never thought they'd have to tell them to slow down on their training as to not burn out, but Jaune and Yang had a tendency to go all out no matter what. Sparring seemed to be the biggest example of this. If Yang managed to get under Jaune's guard and punish him enough to make up for the difference in aura, the next round Jaune's sword would be sure to be positioned in a place to counter-attack Yang's attack.

If Jaune won a match by waiting out Yang and bleeding out her aura slowly the next round, Yang's mobility would make a much larger appearance. She would get behind her opponent and punish the lack of visibility his shield gave him, the fact that she could hit way harder than Jaune making up for the difference in defense.

So once Signal had their first day Yang's friends swamped her with questions about the new kid in class. Yang gave them the truth, that Jaune was staying at their house for a semester and had come from Beacon. This sent her friends and fellow students into a frenzy, making Jaune the center of Signal's newest flash mob.

If you thought Jaune took all the questions and attention in stride, making a great first impression to all of Yang's friends and his new classmates. You'd be wrong. Instead, he blushed and stammered out answers to all the millions of questions they presented him, cementing his place as a dork. Luckily he was friends with Yang, which made him a cool dork, and eventually, he answered all the questions. Jaune also relaxed a bit after talking, telling everyone about the great halls of Beacon Academy.

Yang joined the group once Jaune began talking about Beacon, curious about the school. So in the few minutes before class started Jaune described the sprawling building, throwing in a few stories about his adventures with the students and teachers there.

Eventually class started, a lithe man by the name of Mr. Green going over ice-breakers and introductions. From there on the day went as normal, Jaune himself was excited to be going to a school with students his age, but he hoped it wasn't that noticeable.

Due to it being the first day nothing really out of the blue occurred, Jaune was introduced and learned the names of all of Yang's friends as well. Lunch rolled around and Jaune was once again swarmed by students begging to know about Beacon, they calmed down after a while, especially once Yang told them to chill out.

Yang couldn't help but laugh at Jaune through all this. She could tell a lot of her classmates were brushing Jaune off as a sort of nerdy teacher's pet, his demeanor didn't help a single bit but she couldn't wait to show him off in combat class.

Lunch ended and everyone went to their designated classes, Jaune sharing classes with Yang in every period due to him being a transfer student of sorts. The end of the day was brought about by combat class, where everyone was excited to show off what they had learned or mastered over summer break.

Qrow Branwen was the combat instructor for the day, waving hello to the class with a wicked grin on his face.

The first two rounds were normal, one ending with a ring out and the other ending due to a participant's aura getting to ten percent. Qrow then announced the third round, it being Yang against some other student who gave out a groan at seeing who their opponent was.

Yang then began to wreck house, her opponent obliterated in a flurry of blows and shotgun blasts. They got in a few hits, which only lit up her hair and fueled their destruction even more. By the end the poor student laid on the ground at eight percent aura, groaning face down into the floor.

Jaune was next, paired up with a student wielding a dust-infused longsword. Most students were on the edge of their seats to see how he'd perform, interested in the new guy. So the two opponents went down to the ring and got in their stances, Jaune taking a deep breath before shifting into a stance his body knew like a pastor knows his word.

His opponent was the first to strike, lunging forward in a sweeping slash. With fire crackling behind the blade it streaked through the air with power and grace. Only to be stopped in a sudden clang, the blade stopping in place suddenly.

Crocea Mors' shield held proudly, its golden arcs unscathed by the flames or blades. Jaune then attacked with his own slash, in a much less flashy manner, but his attack struck true and pushed his opponent back.

The observers were interested, Jaune's fighting style certainly contrasted with Yang's. Once again the longsword attacked, this time in a thrust, and once again it was blocked.

Any of the students that had been interested in the fight before quickly lost interest as the fight drawled on in a repetitive and boring manner. Jaune's opponent would slash, thrust or throw elements at him, and each time it would be blocked. At one point Jaune spent a good while blocking purely elemental attacks, his opponent growing desperate to get through his defense.

They ran out of dust eventually, something they seemed quite shocked by. Then, when their dust had run out, Jaune took his first step in a while. He moved slowly, almost at a crawl, but he was moving nonetheless.

This put pressure upon his opponent who once again began to attack, failing to get around Jaune's shield. The students watching the match let out a groan as the process repeated itself, Jaune being attacked and counter-attacking as needed. Eventually, however, Qrow broke through the murmurs.

"Match End!" Qrow yelled, "Jaune wins due to your aura hitting the red." He said to the longsword-wielding student, who was flexing his hands in pain due to hitting what was essentially a steel wall for the last fifteen minutes.

Almost everyone was quiet, the students almost feeling outraged at how boring the fight had been. Yang on the other hand was trying to hide her giggling at Jaune, who seemed almost disappointed at the fight.

Qrow dismissed the class, students dispersing to leave for the day. Yang and Jaune both chatted as they gathered their things, Jaune not noticing the looks he was getting. Some looked at him in disappointment, others looked at him in awe, and a few gazed upon him in determination. Those few students felt as if he had issued a challenge as if to say that no one could touch him, and they were planning on meeting this imagined challenge.

The dynamic duo of Jaune and Yang walked home, chatting about anything that came to mind. They arrived at the cabin earlier than Taiyang or Qrow, but not earlier than Ruby who had just finished her day at the elementary school. Ruby greeted them both, clambering over the couch to bombard them with questions about their day at Signal.

"Did you guys get to fight!" Ruby asked, "Who did you fight? How did you fight? Did you win? What weapons did they have?"

Yang put a stop to this with a small karate chop to her head "Calm down Rubes, not all of us think at a thousand miles an hour"

"You don't, but Jaune does!" Ruby said, turning to Jaune with her big silver eyes, giving a small pout to edge him on so he'd answer her questions. This worked extremely well, just like it had the last one hundred times Ruby had wanted something from Jaune.

"It was slightly disappointing?" He said, "I mean they didn't even come close to Yang."

"I'm just that good, aren't I?" Yang said, wiggling her eyebrows at Jaune. Her teasing caused him to sputter and blush, although he decided to ignore it to continue telling Ruby how their day had been.

The other blonde gave Ruby a rundown of what they had done, even boasting to her that he didn't mess up talking to people as much as he thought he would have. Ruby gave him a high five as they both celebrated his victory, Yang only rolled her eyes before plopping herself on the couch. She turned on the T.V and booted up their game console.

"Hey dorks, you guys want to play or what?" She said, holding out a controller in one hand.

The two dorks nodded and made their way over to the couch, Jaune taking the controller before sitting down and selecting a character in the fighting game Yang chose.

"I get to play Jaune once he loses!" Ruby said excitedly.

Jaune looked over, "Don't you mean if?"

"Nope," Ruby answered, popping the P.

Jaune looked offended, then he proceeded to lose in a one-sided match against Yang, her character never taking a single ounce of damage. Once the match was concluded Ruby crawled all over Yang to grab the controller.

"Gimme, gimme, gimme," the red-haired gremlin said.

Yang tried to give her sister her controller, "Get off of me I'll give it to you I swear-" she said before her mouth was shut forcibly by Ruby's foot.

"Aha!" Ruby proclaimed, wrestling what was rightfully hers from her wicked sister. Yang couldn't help but groan as Ruby sat on her chest, having been shoved onto the ground by Ruby's accidental kick.

Ruby then proceeded to imitate her sister and kick Jaune's ass in the game without taking a single bit of damage. Jaune didn't feel bad for his loss due to him laughing at a defeated Yang that was being used as a seat by her sister, passing her his controller so the two could play together.

The three played a few rounds before Taiyang got back from the school, in his arms a few casseroles from the very grateful mothers of his students.

"Uhh, we're eating casserole tonight?" The blonde adult said, showing his bounty to the trio.

"Why do you always get so many casseroles daddy?" Ruby asked.

"Hormones," Qrow stated with a laugh, creeping from behind Taiyang into the cabin.

Tai rolled his eyes, scoffing at his fellow teacher before heading over to the dinner table to set up their dinner. Qrow, Ruby Jaune, and Yang helped out, setting the plates and silverware while they talked about whatever came to mind.

They ate the surprisingly well-made casserole, after finishing up, Jaune put away the other casseroles and the leftovers of the first one.

The rest of the evening was spent in a fairly lazy manner, Taiyang and Qrow chatting away in the kitchen while the kids played their video games in the living room. A few hours passed and Ruby's bedtime arrived, much to the silver-eyed girl's woe. So Jaune and Yang played by themselves while Ruby caused havoc in the background, somehow managing to out-maneuver the two huntsmen who wanted to get her ready for bed.

She was caught, eventually, and made to shower and brush her teeth for bed. Ruby grumbled the whole way, saying something about "big kids" and "not fair" on her way to bed. Of course, she didn't say a thing when her father picked her up in her arms and she sleepily yawned while she rested her head on his shoulder, eyes half-closed while she continued her sleepy complaints.

Taiyang and Qrow put Ruby to bed in under forty minutes, a new record for them. Once they finished such a herculean task Tai went to the living room to tell Yang and Jaune to wrap it up, making sure Yang knew that meant no midnight spars.

Yang scoffed and rolled her eyes, crossing her fingers behind her back as she promised that she wouldn't. Jaune noticed this and also promised to not be part of a late-night spar, much to Yang's dismay.

Everyone went to bed eventually, getting a good night's sleep for the next day.

Of the three children, Jaune was the first to wake up, getting ready with efficiency and heading downstairs to help with breakfast. This had become a sort of habit for Taiyang and Jaune, while at first Tai had protested at his guest helping out, he eventually caved. The two made quite the breakfast, creamy eggs and bacon accompanied by blueberry pancakes. Pancakes were a bit of a specialty for Jaune, them being one of the first things he learned to make for Ms. Goodwitch.

Yang and Ruby came down next, the smell of amazing food luring them in like sharks to blood. The four ate in comfortable silence, getting ready to leave once they finished.

The group left the house soon after, Taiyang stopping before leaving the porch and turning to face the house. With a mighty kick to the outside wall, he yelled out.

"QROW, WAKE UP!"

After a few seconds a set of thuds and a groan could be lightly heard by everyone outside, Tai looking satisfied at his results. Turning and looking quite smug at himself he left with the children, leaving Jaune and Yang to walk to Signal to drop off Ruby at her bus stop.

Yang was greeted by a series of hellos as she arrived, Jaune was met by a few nods and waves, something he took as a major victory.

Classes blurred by, actual assignments being given this time due to it being the second day. Combat class was led by Qrow again, who didn't look nearly as smug as he had yesterday. Of the fights, none were as memorable as the ones that had occurred yesterday.

Jaune was content as the day went by, just glad to be interacting with more people his age. He went home the same way as the last, and when dinner rolled around they ate some more casserole.

The week passed fairly quickly, Yang and Jaune being called up to spar once more against random students on the last day of the week. It was much like a replay of the first day, Yang wrecking with major style and Jaune slowly whittling down his opponent in a boring display of defense.

Once the weekend rolled around Ruby was bouncing with excitement, the reason being that they were going to the arcade in town. Jaune and Yang had been tasked with looking after her while Qrow was off somewhere and Taiyang did his teacher work.

For the third time during his stay in Patch Jaune got to ride the bus, it being one of the only ways to get into the town itself. Luckily for him, it wasn't nearly as bad as a bullhead or Qrow's truck, his motion sickness rearing its ugly head only once before calming down.

Ruby couldn't help but buzz in her seat the entire time on the way to Town, her little pigtails keeping a steady beat of two hundred BPM the whole time on the bus.

They got to their stop, departing the bus and walking to the arcade, aptly named 'ARCADE' in bright neon letters.

Ruby gave a squeal before sprinting into the building, her feet moving at insane speeds towards her destination. And as fast as you could blink, the rose-colored gremlin dashed into her neon heaven.

"How long do you think it'll take her to realize that we have all the tokens?" Yang asked Jaune as they bought a good amount of small metal coins from the front desk.

Jaune snorted, "How long do you think it'll take her to lap all the games?"

"I give her….." Yang said, looking down at her wrist which held an imaginary watch, "twenty seconds."

"I think she's smarter than that," Jaune said, "ten seconds."

And so the two waited, and waited, and waited, and waited until they realized it had been a minute since they'd seen Ruby. So they started searching for her, passing all the driving games and the Grimm shooting ones as well, all of which were prime places for Ruby to be. But they found her, at the very back, watching a pair play a new rhythm game with a wide mouth and even wider eyes.

Ruby wasn't alone, being a part of a large crowd that had gathered around the machine. It took Yang a second to realize that she in fact knew the pair.

"Hey, I know those two!" She said as dragged Jaune along to stand next to Ruby, "Rubes check out the moves on my friend!"

"You know those two! Yang, how come you've never introduced me to your cool friends, and how come you've never told me they can dance like that? Their feet move so fast" Ruby said in awe.

Both Yang and Jaune watched on, impressed at the skill their fellow students displayed.

"Daniel, Kai!" Yang shouted out, waving from the crowd.

The two turned their heads, their feet matching the arrows even while they looked at Yang. Daniel, a red-head with gunmetal gray eyes and a lithe build waved back before looking back and focusing once again on the game. Kaiser, a taller and more built individual with olive skin and golden eyes, gave Yang a set of finger guns alongside a crooked smile before also focusing on the game at hand.

Jaune recognized the two from Signal, Daniel having been the second-highest ranked fighter in combat class before Jaune had come along. Now Jaune sat in second place alongside Yang at first, unbeknownst to him, Daniel had been preparing to reclaim his spot since the second Jaune had come around.

So while the crowd stared at the two huntsmen-in-training and their display of speed, Yang placed their tokens in line for herself and Jaune to try afterward. Jaune wasn't privy to his inclusion, Yang making the choice for him. Eventually, Daniel and his partner completed their song, each achieving the rank of A on their attempt.

The pair made their way over to Yang once Kai had collected their tickets, greeting her and deciding to hang out with her until the crowd died down. Jaune gave the two a smile and a nod, something Daniel and Kai returned. Ruby just stared at the two gape-mouthed, wowed at their dancing skills. If Daniel noticed this he didn't show it, Kai, however, took the time to give a cocky smile and flex for his small fan.

"So, since when have both of you had such good footwork? Yang asked, eyebrows posed up high.

"We're just the best obviously," Kai boasted, "You aren't the only one with fancy feet."

Daniel rolled his eyes, "Lying through your teeth like always," Daniel smirked. "He's been practicing here since they installed the game machine. I tag along every once and a while, picked it up with this bone-head" he said, rapping his knuckles on Kai's head for emphasis.

Soon enough it was Yang's turn, and to Jaune's surprise, his as well. Yang chose the same song their friends had previously played, at the same difficulty as well. Luckily for Jaune, the crowd had dispersed a bit, not the same swarm it had been when Kai and Daniel had played. There were still a good amount of people, which worried him to an extent.

His worries were thrown to the side as the song began, arrows flying at him as he and Yang stomped on the corresponding arrows on the floor. Them being huntsmen in training helped them in comparison to other people, but Jaune wasn't nearly as good as Yang and Daniel, barely managing to keep up.

Jaune clasped the bar behind him, steadying himself as he danced to the rhythm of the song. Yang gave him a playful nudge in the middle of the game, earning a yelp from Jaune as he concentrated. By the end of the song, the crowd had regained its volume, much to the male blonde's woe.

The end-score displayed an A-score for Yang and a B-score for Jaune, who was visibly frazzled compared to Yang's pristine image. Yang laughed at Jaune's appearance, which caused him to straighten up and fix himself.

"So Yang, you want to play some more games?" Daniel asked.

Yang hesitated, "Sorry but I have to take care of my little sister," she said.

"I've got Ruby under control, you're free to go with them Yang," Jaune said with a thumbs up.

This caused the blonde brawler to perk up, "Aw thanks dude, you're the best," she said, running off with her two other friends.

"So, you want to play some shooting games?" Jaune asked Ruby, who had been gazing at the contestants of the rhythm game the whole time.

"Can I try?" She asked Jaune, her patented puppy eyes aimed directly at Jaune's susceptible face.

"Can't see why not," He stated, placing another token to save their place in line. The two spent the next few minutes waiting for Ruby's turn, Ruby being so excited that she was vibrating ever so slightly.

Once her turn came around she picked the song that Yang had chosen, her small feet bouncing as she waited for the countdown to begin. As soon as the song began Ruby's feet blurred, matching the arrows perfectly in accordance with what was shown on the screen.

This continued for a minute, the song playing out for Ruby to dance alongside. At one point she gave a series of twirls, spinning her skirt in glee as her feet stomped on the arrows. Jaune watched on with amazement as Ruby finished, getting an S+ rank for her turn.

The number of tickets given was more than either Ruby or Jaune had expected, this only sparked the hunger in Ruby's soul for more tickets. Jaune gulped as Ruby's eyes shone with greed, mentally preparing himself for what he was about to go through.

Ruby didn't waste a single second, dragging Jaune along from game to game, her tiny but adept fingers getting a series of new high scores for the arcade. Her name even topped Yang in some games, something Jaune was sure would cause quite the stir in their cabin.

By the time they reached the bottom of their tokens Jaune was left carrying around a ball of tickets the size of his body. He trailed behind Ruby as she skipped happily towards the prize counter, an arcade worker staring in shock at the sheer amount.

With a muted thud Jaune placed the tickets on the glass counter, turning to Ruby before asking. "So, what do you want?"

Ruby gazed upon her many options, she had so many tickets she could buy whatever she wanted, and enough to buy more than one top prize. In the end, she chose a big puppy plushie, something twice her size, and a few other small stuffed toys. Jaune was the one carrying them all, of course, the two leaving the arcade with their bounty.

Yang and her friends were already waiting outside, all three of them staring in awe at the number of stuffed toys Jaune was carrying.

"What happened?" Yang and Daniel asked simultaneously.

A muffled, "Ruby happened." Came from behind the mountain of plushies.

Kai, who looked back and forth from the towering mountain of stuffed toys and a very smug Ruby, kowtowed before her.

"All hail the queen of the arcade!" He said, head bowed towards Ruby. The queen in question giggled at her newest knight, giving a small curtsy at Kai.

Daniel sighed and clasped his face in disappointment, "Let's go dingus, we're going to be late for our bus."

Kai whined as he was dragged from the chosen one, "She has so many prizes!", and continued to argue with Daniel as they faded out of view.

"So, you need any help with those?" Yang asked Jaune, "That would be appreciated, yes," he responded.

In the end Jaune's load was diminished greatly, now only carrying the biggest plushie alongside a few other small ones, Yang and Ruby helped with the rest of the stuffed toys.

You have fun?" Yang asked Ruby, who nodded vigorously with a wide smile as she skipped along with Jaune and Yang. Jaune still had his view obscured by the ridiculously large puppy plush, so Ruby was guiding him around by the hem of his shirt. Luckily their path was somewhat short, their bus stop breaching the horizon as they marched along.

Taiyang sipped his tea in peace, sitting down on the living room couch with a newspaper open in his lap.

"Ahh," he said, letting out a warm breath after taking a sip of his tea, "What a peaceful evening."

He regretted saying those words the second they left his mouth since the universe decided to punish him for it. A loud bang was heard as the front door slammed open, revealing Yang and Ruby bickering loudly about something as they entered. Their arms were full of stuffed toys as they argued, an even larger plushie being squeezed through the door frame between all the loud arguing.

"Snipers are better!" Ruby stated, glaring at Yang.

Yang scoffed, "Shotguns are way cooler, snipers are for weak little babies. Shotguns are for huntresses who want to get up close and personal."

"If you care so much about being close to people why don't you put on some deodorant!" Ruby yelled.

Taiyang spit out his tea, "RUBY! You can't just say that!"

"Come here you little brat," Yang snarled, dropping her load of plushies to grab Ruby.

Ruby evaded her sisters grasping hands with expertise, staying out of reach before giving her sister a raspberry and running upstairs to freedom. Yang followed closely behind, hair ignited in a blaze.

"Wait, girls need deodorant?" Jaune asked, before stepping and slipping on one of the plushies dropped by Yang and Ruby. He landed on his back with a yelp and a small "ow", Taiyang kneading his brows, setting down his tea before making his way up the ruckus upstairs.

"Yang!" He called out, "Don't hurt your sister!"

As soon as he reached the top of the stairs he was met by two extremely excited girls.

"Dad! I found out my semblance!" Ruby yelled.

Yang followed suit with the screaming, "She turned into a bunch of flower petals!"

Taiyang was also extremely ecstatic, "My little girl just discovered her semblance!" He said as he picked up his youngest daughter, throwing her up into the air in excitement.

"Come on you two, let's go outside to test it out!" He exclaimed, rushing down the stairs with Ruby in his arms and Yang trailing behind. They exited out the backdoor, where their boisterous talking could be heard from inside the house.

Jaune, however, was still pinned under the weight of the giant dog plushie. His arms splayed out to the side, "Yeah you guys don't have to worry about me, I'm just going to stay here for a bit" he said to no one in particular.

The Arc stayed there for a while, being interrupted in his resting with the sound of a door opening. Jaune tilted his head to peek at the familiar black boots of Qrow entering.

"Jaune?" Qrow asked.

Jaune's muffled voice replied, "What's up."

"Do you need help?"

"I'm fine, thanks for asking."

"Well then, I'll be in my room then," Qrow said, stepping over the mess that was Jaune Arc and his fallen army of stuffed toys.

"Oh, by the way, Ruby discovered her semblance and they're in the backyard practicing with it" Jaune stated.

Qrow pivoted in the middle of his step and started towards the backdoor, "I will not be in my room then," leaving Jaune with his horde of plushies.

He picked himself up, eventually, and made his way to Ruby's room to deposit her conquests. This took him two trips, due to the sheer amount of prizes Ruby had won.

From Ruby's window, he could see the family outside playing with Ruby's new semblance, her new power being the ability to move at high speeds and turn into flying clouds of rose petals while doing so. The only problem was that Ruby didn't seem to know how to stop all the time, since she had just smashed into Qrow's stomach at mach three.

Jaune smiled at the familial display, his heart tightening with a small tinge of jealousy at Yang and Ruby, something he buried the second it bubbled up. Once he had dropped all of Ruby's things off he went to his room, burying himself in his blankets until the morning.

Weeks passed, the end of the first semester drawing near as winter approached. Fall had fully fallen upon Patch, and the anniversary of the death of Jaune's family approached. Jaune himself had retreated into himself, lost in thought for the past week. This might have tricked someone into thinking his thoughts were full of morose emotions, however, the students that had been pitted against him in combat class would sing a very different song.

Jaune had been fairly conservative in his fighting beforehand, defensive and patient in his movements. Now, however, he was a whole different animal. Jaune was still a defensive fighter, much like a fortress, except now the fortress was set on crushing you under his foot.

Any mistake in an opponent's guard or attack would see them thrown through the air with a shield bash. Once upon a time, Jaune let the attacks come to him, now his shield would meet any slash, strike, bash, and stab in the middle. Allowing him to throw off his opponent in their rhythm and punish them severely for it.

The peak of Jaune's hyper-focused state was when he was pitted against Daniel, the redhead being extremely prepared to fight Jaune and reclaim his title of second best.

So when Qrow started the match like he would any other, Daniel was the first to move, swinging a giant greatsword the size of his body at speeds only an aura user was capable of. The first swing wasn't meant to hit Jaune, merely lining himself up to attack with a savage overhead blow. Daniel's logic was simple, all fighters beforehand tried to play Jaune at his own game, trading blows to whittle each other's aura down until they won. The flaw in their play is that if they weren't like Yang, who could consistently hit like a truck with every punch, they would never be able to breach the gap between Jaune's aura and shield.

And so he decided he'd end it as fast as he could, his giant black-steel greatsword coming down with earth-splitting capabilities. Jaune simply shifting into the same stance he had every single fight beforehand, face unreadable.

At the very peak of Daniel's attack he activated his semblance, he could remotely ignite dust as long as he had touched it beforehand. The way he used this in a fight? A rocket-powered greatsword. He had equipped his weapon with a series of exhaust pipes at the back of it, each filled with fire dust, which when activated made his lethal swings even more deadly. Daniel had used his semblance sparingly before, it taking a decent amount of aura to activate his sword. So most students were shocked at the attack, even more, shocked when the blazing blade was met with Crocea Mors.

The sound of steel against steel deafening across the quiet room, even Qrow sat with a serious expression at the sight.

Jaune had raised his shield in a split second, knees bent slightly to take the brunt of the attack but otherwise unfazed. His expression both focused on the fight and extremely far away at the same time, this only fueling Daniel's fire even more. But before the redhead could do a thing about it he was sent backwards, Jaune having kicked him squarely in the stomach.

Daniel looked up, lifting his sword up at the same time as he gazed upon his opponent. Jaune looked back, blue eyes bottomless pits as he gazed back. And with a single step forward, Jaune answered the challenge everyone had been trying to meet, declaring that none of them would be able to touch him.

This enraged Daniel, their rivalry changing from academic to personal in a second. He threw himself forward, greatsword blazing behind him in a sweeping slash. Once again sword struck shield, except this time Jaune stepped toward his opponent, meaning that Daniel was stuck his arms extended and Jaune extremely close to him.

In the millisecond it took for this to register in Daniel's mind Jaune had already attacked, his sword thrusting forward against Daniel's neck. A move that would have decapitated someone without aura, and taking a chunk of Daniel's with it, and before there could be a reaction to this Jaune brought his sword back to his chest.

This time his shield, which had been connected to Daniel's greatsword, slammed into the redhead's face. Sending him down one knee and forcing him to drop one of his hands from his greatsword. As this happened Jaune struck again, shield bashing into Daniel's face, sprawling him against the ground with a groan.

A tone sounded, alerting everyone that one of the contestant's aura had dropped below the allowed ten percent. Qrow called the match and told the two fighters to go back to their seats.

This was the last straw for Yang, she'd felt something was up for a while and she was going to confront Jaune about it. She thought better of it and opted to ask her father and uncle first in a very un-Yang fashion. However, when they both told her that some things were better left alone, the look in their eyes and tone of voice made her realize that it might be for the best until she thought of a better way to approach the topic.

Ruby noticed Jaune's mood as well, how could she not? Jaune hadn't played with her in a week, and he seemed so sad. It reminded her of Yang and her dad a few years ago, so she made it her personal mission to cheer him up.

One day, when Jaune was in the shower she decided to sneak into his room, planning on giving his weapon some surprised maintenance. She'd done it with Ember Celica a bunch and had helped out Qrow clean his scythe a few times as well, a sword and shield didn't seem that hard. So once Jaune had left to the bathroom Ruby crept into his room, a rag, whetstone, and oil in hand.

Ruby looked around the pristine room, the only thing decorating anything being dust, and locked eyes on Crocea Mors. It was on Jaune's bed, and Ruby thought it was strange to not see the blade attached to Jaune's hip like it was most of the time. She shrugged it off and grabbed the blade, sitting down in the middle of the room to begin her work.

She unsheathed Crocea Mors' sword, placing it to her side before unfolding the shield into its full length. The shield was easily Ruby's size, which wasn't saying much since she was a petite ten-year-old. Ruby went to work on the shield first, as she couldn't really do much except polish it and make it look pretty. She tightened the shield's leather straps before setting it aside as well, her attention being directed at the blade, and got to work.

It was cleaned first, not that there was much to clean since Jaune wasn't a very messy fighter. Next, it was sharpened, nimble fingers grasping the whetstone and running it down the blade's edge until it was sharp enough to shear through the toughest of Grimm skin.

Once Ruby was satisfied with her work she stood proudly with her supplies on the ground and Crocea Mors in hand, playing with the weapon as she went through what movements she remembered from Jaune. As she played and made sound effects to kill whatever imaginary monster was in front of her she didn't hear the door open behind her.

And so Jaune entered his room, towel over his shoulder and fresh clothes. The first thing he saw was Ruby, the second thing being that she had his sword, his family sword, the one thing left to remember what he once had.

So he moved, eyes wide in panic as he snatched Crocea Mors from Ruby's hands, tumbling the little girl backward onto the ground. He held the weapon close to his body, sheathing it and collapsing the shield before slotting it to his hip.

He looked around with ragged breaths, eyes latching onto a scared and teary-eyed Ruby clutching the back of her head, having bumped it on his bed when he had pushed her. Immediately he panicked even more.

"I'm so sorry Ruby, oh brothers, I didn't mean to hurt you Ruby," said Jaune, reaching to check on Ruby, worried about hurting her even if she had aura.

Ruby flinched in fear at Jaune reaching for her, causing him to flinch as well.

"I'm sorry for hurting you Ruby, are you okay?" He asked.

Ruby nodded with tears in her eyes, letting Jaune hug her as he murmured his apologies into her hair.

Jaune needed to check if he'd hurt her, smoothing his hands over her head to check for blood or a bump. Focusing on making sure if she was okay his hands glowed slightly, at the same time Ruby's aura seemed to rise up to the surface to meet his hands.

The glowing seemed to go down once Jaune figured out Ruby was okay, sitting her on his lap to face her.

"Ruby are you okay?" He asked again, this time getting a sniffly nod from Ruby.

"I'm sorry for touching your things," She said quietly.

"It's all right, no you didn't do anything wrong Ruby. You just scared me that's all, not a lot of people touch my sword so when I saw you grabbing it I freaked out a bit. You didn't do anything wrong I promise, I've just been in a bad mood for a while." Jaune promised Ruby.

Ruby nodded, wiping her nose on her sleeve before looking up at Jaune, "Why are you sad?" She asked.

This made Jaune freeze, his answer coming after a short pause, "I lost my family when I was little, around this time of year I get reminded that I don't have a family like everyone else."

"I lost my mom when I was little too, but I had Yang and Dad and Uncle Qrow to hug when I was sad. Do you have someone to hug when you're sad?" She asked.

Jaune paused again, "Yeah, yeah, I do, you don't have to worry about me all right Ruby." He assured her. Patting her head before standing up and setting Ruby up straight, "Now how about you go to your room so you and I can both sleep, all right?"

Ruby nodded once again, leaving quietly for her room, leaving Jaune as well.

And so he set aside the cleaning supplies Ruby had brought into his room, putting them on top of his drawer so he could put them in the right space in the morning. Then he went to bed, clutching Crocea Mors like he had when he was a small kid, hoping to wake up and find out that it had all been a bad dream.

The end of the semester rolled around eventually, Jaune seeming to be in a better mood much to everyone's surprise and relief. So Taiyang, Qrow, Yang, and Ruby went to see him off at the bullhead station, Ruby crying and clutching his leg in an attempt to have him stay.

"Have a safe trip Jaune," Tai said, patting him on the back.

"See you later Vomit-Boy, promise to visit all right," she said as she punched him in the shoulder.

"You can't leave! You're my best friend in the whole wide world! Who's going to be socially awkward with me if you're not here!" Ruby wailed, looking up at Jaune from his leg.

Qrow laughed and picked up Ruby, prying her from Jaune from her cape, "Stay safe kiddo, Ozpin will want to talk with you first thing once you get to Beacon so make sure you don't forget to call all right." He said, consoling a crying Ruby about the loss of her bestest friend in the whole wide world.

The whole time Jaune couldn't help but laugh, a large smile coming to his face as he said his goodbyes and boarded the bullhead. This time not forgetting his motion-sickness medicine, having stocked up all his pills in Patch.

This time the flight went through the night, meaning Jaune fell asleep and was woken up around three in the morning that they had arrived at Beacon's bullhead station. Once he arrived he made his way through Beacon, as he walked he got a notification on his scroll.

It was from Ozpin, asking him to come to his tower. Jaune doing so, even if he was tired he wasn't going to deny Ozpin anything. He went up the elevator and entered Ozpin's office.

Ozpin's was filled with silence and a constant clockwork ticking, the room dark except for a light that seemed to fall of Ozpin from some unknown source. The bespeckled man signaled for Jaune to take a seat in front of him. He gave a reassuring smile to calm Jaune's nerves and then asked a question.

"Tell me my boy, what's your favorite fairytale?"

Hi guys, this is Rickiardo.

This was the last chapter of the prologue, hope y'all liked that cliffhanger.

Gonna answer some common questions I've seen.

No this isn't a harem, Jaune will be strong but not OP, and the Arcs will be explored more in the future.

Thank all of y'all for reading this.