I had a thought. What if the crystal thing from Chronicle exploded over the town, giving everyone telekinesis, instead of a couple teenagers and a budding psychopath?
I then spread that idea over this simulation like a fine marmalade.
The Pusher
Jaune Arc sat down at the lunch table with all of his friends, not really paying them any mind. It wasn't that he was annoyed or angry at them, or they, him. The blonde boy was actually very happy with his life, and friends, at the moment. Cardin was leaving him alone after the Forever Fall incident, Pyrrha had forgiven him and was training him, and most important of all, the newest issue of X-ray and Vav had come out.
That last one was what had captivated his attention so thoroughly.
It had distracted him so completely that he had forgotten to grab a fork.
"Ugh," he grunted, looking over at the line he would have to join, only to get a fork. He sighed and turned to face the spot in the middle of the line, where you picked up your utensils, and made a gesture with his free hand.
A fork slid out of the cup, into the air. It spun lazily as it made its way over to Jaune, who was staring solely at the utensil in question. After a few seconds it landed in his hand. He turned around, speared a piece of his lunch with it, and paused mid bite.
"What?"
Everyone, everyone, was staring at him. He belatedly realized that the entire lunchroom was silent and he was the absolute center of attention.
"What!?" He almost barked, frowning now, "Did my pants rip, or something?"
"Why didn't you tell us you unlocked your Semblance, Fearless Leader?" Nora said, excitedly.
"What?" He repeated a third time, "No, I didn't."
"But you just used it," Ruby said, "To grab a fork."
"Oh, that," he chuffed dismissively, "That's not my Semblance, it's just a little telekinesis. Jeeze, get a guy's hopes up."
"Arc, what the hell are you talking about? 'A little telekinesis'? How the hell is that not your Semblance?" Weiss spoke up.
"Because it's not?" The teen frowned in confusion, "What is with you guys? So I can float stuff, it's no big deal. Everyone back home can do it. Hell, Professor Goodwitch can do it, too."
"Jaune," Pyrrha spoke this time, "Telekinesis is Professor Goodwitch's Semblance."
"No, it's not," Jaune said simply, "It's those purple rune disk thingies she summons up."
"But-"
"Mister Arc is correct," Goodwitch made her presence known. Several of the watchers quickly looked away and whatever Ruby had been about to say died on her lips.
"Hi, Professor," Jaune said, his smile wavering only a little.
"Mister Arc, I do believe the event happened a few years before your birth. How were you affected?" She slapped her crop into her palm, demanding an answer.
"Oh, uh, it's genetic. If you have any kids, they'll have it," he scratched his head, "Especially if you find someone who was affected. We Second Gens are usually stronger than our parents."
"And why haven't you used yours in combat?"
"Because it's cheating!" he said with conviction, "My parents and older sister don't use it for Huntsman work, so I won't either."
There was silence around the table as they all considered what he'd just said.
"Jaune, that's just-"
"Mister Arc, there are three possibilities here," Glynda said severely, interrupting Yang this time, "Either you are trying to honestly tell me that you believe Huntsmen and Huntresses wouldn't use every possible advantage against the Grimm, you are trying to play some juvenile prank, or you are trying to hide the fact that your telekinesis is particularly weak. Which is it?"
"I, uh," Jaune blushed, "I believed my mom and dad, I guess," he hung his head, "But they told me it was cheating! They said that we couldn't use an unfair advantage to get ahead in life. It isn't the way of the Arcs!"
"Then they lied to you," she said simply, "In the struggle against the Grimm, there is no such thing as an unfair advantage. In the Arc family, you are known for having a higher capacity for Aura than most other individuals. Would that not count as an unfair advantage?" she didn't give him the chance to answer as she went on, "And your weapon-"
"Watch yourself, Professor," Jaune said with a tone that his friends had never heard from him before, "Say what you want about me, but you will not insult the sword my forefather used in the Great War."
"That is my point, Mister Arc," she said, surprisingly not reprimanding him for his disrespect, "You are using a relic of the Great War. Why in the world do you not have a weapon that wouldn't bankrupt the school to replace?"
He began to answer, but she raised her hand to stop him. She adjusted her glasses, took a breath and continued.
"Mister Arc, your family was, rather blatantly, trying to sabotage your chosen path. Are you aware of this?" She looked him in the eye as she said this.
"I am, now," he sighed, "But I don't think they wanted me to get hurt, is all."
"That is a possibility. Now, come along," she turned on her heel and started walking away.
Jaune didn't hesitate to stand up and move along behind her, "Uh, where are we going, Professor?"
"Now that I am Aware of your capabilities, it is past time we put you through your paces. Your real training begins now."
The teen nervously nodded, looking back at his friends helplessly. The seven teens shook their heads, indicating they weren't going to step in on his behalf, not against Professor Goodwitch. Pyrrha, at least, followed along, more than a little curious about this training.
A month later, the changes in Jaune were miniscule. At least, physically. He was slowly getting into better shape, what with continuing his training with Pyrrha. His swordsmanship was going up by leaps and bounds.
But it was his confidence, really, that was the deciding factor.
Before, he seemed to practically curl in on himself any time the topic of individual skill came up. Slowly, but very noticeably, he was starting to feel like he belonged there, not like an outsider.
The biggest most notable change was his weapon.
The week after the reveal of his Telekinetic ability, Jaune had sent Crocea Mors home. With Ruby's help, he designed a gun sword that looked like a revolver had a sword attached to the barrel. He called it Lionheart. He also had more armor now, to make up for the loss of his shield.
It was after that first month that Jaune was allowed back into the daily arena.
"Mister Arc, you are not to use your weapon for the first round. Mister Winchester, one hit on Arc and you will be declared winner. Understood?" Both boys nodded, Cardin with a smirk.
"Begin!"
Cardin took two steps forward and froze. Well, not really. He simply couldn't get his armor to move, but he still had control of his body. In essence it was holding him in place. And his mace was getting heavy.
He looked at Arc. The blonde was staring at him intensely, not moving, not blinking, hardly even breathing.
The red headed teen growled and pressed a button on his mace, causing it to release an explosion. Whatever Arc had been doing had let him go.
Getting to his feet, he tried to bring his weapon to bear, only to find it stuck like he'd been.
"The hell is this!?" the larger teen roared. He turned away, hitting the button again. This time, the explosion was only light and noise, but Cardin didn't feel the usual heat and vibration of his mace. He looked at it to find that it had been contained in a perfect sphere.
Growling, he decided to test how powerful this Tele-whatsit that Jaune was using could be. He pressed a second button that started off a chain of explosions. It was supposed to be a last resort against whatever threat he'd come to face on the battlefield. It was something he'd added after the blonde had saved him in the Forever Fall forest.
The only thing that ended up happening was the end of his mace being obscured by a sphere of fire and smoke. When that dissipated, the end of Cardin's weapon was glowing white hot.
He tugged it a few more times for good measure. Not an inch. He let it go, turning to Arc. He took another step forward and heard the mace clatter to the ground as he was once more immobilized.
"Grah!" he roared, trying to move, even the smallest amount, but he couldn't get any leverage, "Fine! I get it! I yield!" he almost stumbled as the invisible force let go of him.
Jaune lost the intense look he had, bent over, hands on knees, and took a few deep breaths. When he stood up straight again, he had a bright smile on his face.
"Jeeze, man, you are a beast! Blowing up your weapon even though you are in the blast range? That was smart! The next half of this is gonna suck for me," that said, he still looked happy to have finally shown that he had some worth as a Huntsman.
"Whatever," Cardin growled, not willing to admit that some base praise from the kid he used to bully felt really good. He picked up his mace and waited for Goodwitch to restart the match.
"Now, Mister Arc," the severe woman said, looking him in the eye, "If I sense even the slightest use of your telekinesis, you will be immediately disqualified. You are finally showing promise with a sword. You need not ruin that by relying on your other gifts too much."
"Understood, Professor," the blonde teen said.
He drew his gunblade, holding it at the ready, waiting for Cardin to make a move.
The fight wasn't quite as one sided this time, but the victor was clear. Jaune had improved by leaps and bounds, but Cardin had been training for years. It would take more than a few months to catch up physically.
Still, after being knocked down the final time, Jaune hopped back to his feet and held his hand out to Cardin.
The larger teen stared for a moment, then shook it.
"You are a beast, dude," he shook his head smiling, "Exploding your mace like that to get out of my TK Hold? Really cool." That said, the blonde walked off to join his team.
Cardin looked at his hand then at the blonde. Jaune was weak, small, skinny, and had literally defeated the red haired teen without laying a hand on him.
"You're the beast, idiot," he grumbled, having to fight off the smallest of smirks, thinking about it. Jaune was gonna be great. Cardin would be damned if he didn't try to match that weakling.
"We need to talk," he said to his team, once he was back in the stands. From that day forward, there were three teams to fear in the first years. RWBY, JNPR, and CRDL. All of them stood out as exceptional teams and paragons of the school. Cardin even tried talking others out of their prejudices. It helped, coming from someone who was forcing himself to deal with his own misguided racism.
As they neared the Vytal Festival, Jaune was training with Pyrrha on the rooftop again. They sparred for close to forty minutes before she was finally able to push him down. The best part for Pyrrha was that he had sworn not to use his telekinesis, so this was just his own stamina keeping him up. Jaune sometimes had trouble seeing it, the progress he'd made, but compared to the night he admitted everything to her, then begged her forgiveness, he was a different person.
As the two sat there, cooling off, the blonde spoke up.
"Why do you keep your Semblance secret, Pyr?"
The girl blinked at him, then said, "Well, simply put, almost no one knows to look for it, so no one can prepare for it. The surprise of having a weapon fail can be all that decides a match."
"Yeah," he nodded, "But you're really limiting yourself, you know?"
"What do you mean?"
"Okay, so, let's say that you come out with your Semblance as Polarity. Number one, you are still the same badass you've always been. Fast, strong, smart. You'd still be nigh untouchable," he said very seriously.
"'Nigh'," Pyrrha quirked an eyebrow at him.
"I bought a Thesaurus. Shut up," his grin let her know he wasn't serious, "Anyway, you still have all that going for you. Two, I assume that by preparing for you, you mean that they would somehow rid themselves of all metal. That's cool and all, but also kinda impractical. And even if they can pull it off, your weapons and armor are still made of metal, so you can still use it for… Hell, a ton of stuff. Oh my god!" Jaune suddenly stood up, turning to her, "Pyrrha! You could Fly!"
"What? No, that's-"
"No," he shook his head, not letting her consider otherwise, "Think about it! You use your boots to lift you up, your grieves, guards and chest piece to stabilize. You could actually fly! And that's just the tip of it. When we had that food fight, you used soda cans like a freaking storm. Could you do that with ball bearings?"
"Well, yes, I suppose," she nodded, still thinking about the idea of flight.
"So, even if your enemy doesn't have any metal, you keep your stuff, plus a bag full of marble sized steel balls and you really do become the Invincible girl!" he held out a hand and lifted some stuff off the ground, "Me and Professor Goodwitch-"
"Goodwitch and I, Jaune."
"Goodwitch and I," he corrected himself immediately, "Could help you practice because we'd be some of the only people that could actually stop you!" Jaune was more excited about turning his partner into an unstoppable titan than he was about being a Huntsman himself, it would seem, "And just think about the Grimm. You'd be a terror in the ring. You'd be death incarnate to the Grimm. Flying about the battle field, using Tiny bits of metal to destroy every Monster in your path!" Jaune turned to her, his eyes absolutely shining with excitement, "You could save entire towns, Pyr!"
"Jaune," the girl said, taking his hands into hers, "Jaune, by that same measure, so could you," she wanted to remind him that he was actually powerful, "Your abilities could do the exact same thing, but with more than just metal. My Semblance is versatile, but your TK is so far above that, and we don't even know what your Semblance is yet," she stopped to take a breath, "If you really think that no longer hiding my ability will actually be a boon, then I agree to do this, on one condition."
"Anything," he nodded.
"You have to be right there beside me, doing the same training."
Jaune's smile, to Pyrrha, lit up the night.
And, nearly Two months later, atop Beacon Tower, Pyrrha thanked the man she was totally confessing to, if they lived, for his ingenious idea. It was all that was keeping her alive. That, and Jaune being there to help.
Cinder was a monster, in ability, mindset, and desire. By herself, Pyrrha knew she wasn't good enough. She'd be long dead, if Jaune hadn't flown up to help her.
They could see Cinder losing her patience. No matter what she threw at the two of them, Jaune would deflect and redirect it. Not having to focus as much on defense, Pyrrha was able to push the woman to the very edge of her new abilities as the maiden.
"You both die!" The woman roared, summoning a line of glowing glass arrows. The moment they solidified, they slammed into the ground.
"Not today!" Jaune roared back, clearly marking him as the culprit.
"Jaune, now!" Pyrrha yelled.
All around them, various bits of rubble lifted into the air and began to bombard Cinder fall. She tried to use the fire she was so fond of, but the same invisible force kept pulling them out of the way. She was forced to block or dodge every piece of debris coming her way.
And she was doing it, too. Nothing had touched her. Nothing!
At least, not until a scattershot of metal ball bearings slammed into her back.
The mostly human woman screamed in pain and anger. She would have retaliated, had that not opened her up to the debris from Jaune's Telekinetic attack. She could feel each hit eating its way through her enhanced, but not infinite, reserves of Aura.
So, in a last desperate measure, she called on the Grimm dragon, Roanoke.
The giant black beast roared. The ground shook as it passed by and people were blown off their feet from the wind.
"She's gotta be weakening soon!" Jaune called over to Pyrrha. The redhead nodded. Above the area where the boy was smashing everything he could into the monster woman, the Champion was using her semblance on her spear and Jaune's sword. They were pointed down, and started to spin.
The plan was to launch the two of them at the woman, the moment the blonde opened a hole in his maelstrom.
Then the dragon ate Jaune.
It was just so sudden. One moment, the Arc son was standing there, focusing on his barrage. The next, it was the massive snout of a Grimm dragon that had been using a mountain range as a mattress in his spot. The last she saw of him, was a look of fear as he realized what was closing around him.
The maelstrom stopped, Cinder got to her feet, Ruby appeared, the sword and spear fell. The youngest girl there took in everything. Her semblance allowed her to move at hyper speed and, she was just discovering, it allowed her to perceive time much slower as well.
She could see each footfall as the woman charged Pyrrha from behind. She could see the grief on Pyrrha's face as she screamed a name. She saw the gunblade on the ground and guessed that it must be Jaune's name. She saw that the redhead was screaming it at the dragon. She connected the dots.
The dragon ate Jaune. Pyrrha was distracted. Cinder was going to kill her.
Ruby screamed to the high heavens, silver light pouring from her eyes.
The next thing Ruby knew, she was waking in an infirmary. Her team was nowhere to be seen, and the last thing she remembered was screaming over the loss of her first friend at Beacon.
Then he opened the door and walked in, uninjured, but looking sad. Until he saw her, awake and staring at him.
"Jaune!" She cried, jumping up out of the bed and attacking him with a hug.
"What happened?" She asked as soon as she settled down.
"Well," he began, "I only know for sure what happened on my part, but Pyrrha told me about what I missed. So," he gave a smile and copied Nora, "There we were, in the dead of the night, surrounded by enemies…"
-909
Pyrrha had barely shielded her eyes in time to avoid being blinded by Ruby's little explosion. She barely noticed that it had knocked Cinder off the tower. It had the side effect of freezing Roanoke.
Then Ruby collapsed to the ground, out cold.
The redhead looked at the dragon that ate the love of her life. It was frozen, nose to tail. Jaune was likely already dead. The dragon would serve as a monument to his sacrifice.
Ruby, however, was alive and passed out on top of a crumbling tower. The best Pyrrha could do was get her to safety. They'd be able to mourn the boy they both knew later.
Crick! Crunch! Crack! Crack!
She turned back to Roanoke, her eyes widening with fear. It was breaking out.
The ice shattered and the beast let out an aborted roar. This was because its head was ripped into four distinct pieces. The bottom jaw, the top jaw and skull, and then, each was split in half, lengthwise. Jaune stepped out of the gaping hole that was its neck, covered in saliva and black ichor.
"I am uncomfortable," he growled, "with being eaten."
The body of Roanoke fell from the tower, already disintegrating.
As fast as the dragon had been in eating him, Pyrrha was faster as she enclosed the teen in an embrace. Her happy, relieved sob was as ugly as it got. Tears poured messily out of her eyes, spit bubbled out of her mouth and snot left a trail from her nose to her chin.
Jaune didn't care about any of that. He just held his partner tightly. She was saying things, but the words were so garbled by her tears and snot and emotions that they just came out as half muffled sounds, instead.
The blonde boy held her close for a moment, then said the words she needed to hear from him.
"I love you too, Pyrrha." He'd known how she felt for a little while now. He wasn't sure how to react to the fact that someone as amazing as Pyrrha liked him, maybe even loved him. It was almost too much to imagine.
Being eaten by a dragon, though, made one consider their life and choices. If Pyrrha wanted to date him, of all people? Well, he could certainly try to be worthy of her.
They were found, not too much later, by Weiss and a crippled Yang. The four of them carefully got Ruby to the ground.
"Blake?"
Yang, missing her right arm, tear streaks on her face, turned away, growling out, "She's gone. Ran away. Like usual."
"Yang…" Weiss sighed, but didn't say more.
"Weiss!" A man barked. He had the girl's white hair, even his mustache, and he approached with a contingent of robot guards. The frown on his face was… thunderous.
"Hello, father," the girl said. She yelped when the man slammed a hand into her face with no warning whatsoever.
"You have brought shame to the Schnee name, Weiss," the man said coldly, "Come. We will begin retraining you as soon as you are returned home." The robots took a single step forward, then crushed into perfect metal spheres that dropped to the ground with a chorus of ground shaking thumps. "Wha-"
"Sir," Jaune said, his blue eyes glowing with Aura and anger, "I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but you are going to leave."
"I'm her Fath-" he was interrupted by being lifted into the air by an unseen force.
"Yeah, I figured that, dumbass," the blonde snarled, "And I don't give a fuck. Get back in your goddamn plane and leave. Now. I don't care who you are, or what kind of power you think you have. I will not be holding back on the next person that tries to take one of my friends from me."
"Jaune," Weiss breathed, awed at what the formerly annoying young man was doing for her.
"Yo-you're cut off, Weiss!" Jaque tried his last gambit.
"That has not changed since the morning of the Festival, father," Weiss said, taking a step back to stand with Jaune, Yang, and Pyrrha, "Unlike you, I have friends, family, who care about me. I will live with them. I will work and earn my way. If I am left to nothing more grandiose than flipping burgers and serving fries, I would prefer that to ever being in your clutches again. In the words of a friend of mine," here she put a hand on Jaune's shoulder, "Fuck off."
Jaque was lowered to the ground. He resettled his blue tie and cleared his throat.
"This matter is far from settled," and suddenly he was in the air again. "If you hurt me, young man, the full weight of the Schnee name will fall upon you and your family!"
"I, Jaune Arc, humbly accept your declaration of war. What are your terms?"
Jaque started coughing and hacking, pounding his chest. After a moment, the kids were shocked to finally see a look of out and out fear on the man's face.
"Did you say 'Arc'?" Jaune just nodded, "I withdraw my threat and wish you the best. Weiss is an unruly, petulant child, but she should bring with her some small amount of utility. If you please, I will be on my way." Again, the man was lowered to the ground and he swiftly walked off, with not another word.
"What the hell was that?" Weiss looked at Jaune.
He shrugged and said, "My family is older than yours."
"What? Why would that matter? The Schnees are the richest, most powerful family on the planet!"
"Richest? Yes. Most powerful? Not even close," Jaune said with a small bit of pride leaking into his voice, "My father is Gol Arc. Strongest Huntsmen currently alive. My mother was a year his senior, Tannis Arc nee Fellgrove. My great, great grandfather fought in the Battle for Haven as the lead general. Our founder, Belimus Jean-Baptiste D'Arc was said to be descended from a dragon and a warrior woman from Mistral."
"Oh, holy god," Weiss all but moaned, "I can't believe you're actually one of those Arcs!"
"And I just adopted you," he grinned at her, "Welcome to the family, little sister."
+- 909
"Okay, what?" Ruby asked in deadpan.
"So, when Weiss's father came to take her away I was… annoyed. You were out cold, Yang was hurt, Pyrrha was still not completely okay and Blake… well, Blake still hasn't come back. I had just been eaten by a dragon. I was done dealing with people's BS. So, I adopted Weiss as a little sister to keep her father from taking her away from us."
"And why did that work?"
"Because," Jaune smiled, "My dad can beat up her dad."