Hello one and all. I am Nexus26 coming to you with a brand new story I've come up with. As you might have guessed this is a new story for Jaune Arc with the one question "what if Jaune Arc went to Atlas academy instead of Beacon"? Welp with that little intro to the story let's get started.
One decision is all that's needed to change the course of history as we know. For good or bad this decision was made at the top of Beacon's tower, far from the eyes of any other.
Ozpin sat at his desk with a fresh cup of coffee and the next batch of applications for students aiming to be taught at his school for huntsmen and huntresses. The elder wizard let out a tired sigh as he browsed through each form from students from all walks of life. "Hmm, so young miss Xiao Long has already come of age has she" Ozpin chuckled lightly. As far as he was concerned any daughter of Summer's - step or otherwise- was a welcome addition to his school. "If only miss Rose was of age" he complained as he set Yang's application in the "yes" pile.
There were several students that caught his eye such as the cat faunus with obvious ties to the chief of menagerie or the young Winchester boy who more then likely fostered hate for all faunus kind courtesy of his fathers teachings. Just like many others before him time and strict discipline would take care of that issue. Ozpin flipped through more applications and stopped on one that brought a smile to his face. "Oh James is definitely going to hate me for taking this one". In the elder wizards hand was an application for Beacon from one of the most prestigious families in all of remnant. One Weiss Schnee of all people.
Ozpin quickly tossed the form onto the "yes" pile with a satisfied grin. "I wonder how I'll rub his nose in this later" he chuckled. In the midst of his glee the headmaster picked up a brand new form and scanned the page quickly. The smile on his face vanished and was replace with a mildly amused one instead. All it took was a once over to notice that the application in his hand had been doctored. That and the person whose name was on the form came from a prep school that he knew didn't exist in the first place.
The elder wizard stared at the photo the teen with blonde hair and blue eye's. "Jaune Arc, the latest descendent of the Arc bloodline" he let out a disappointed sigh "If only your father was willing to train you then I might have accepted". Ozpin placed the form in the "no" pile and turned back to the other applications. Although he added more forms to the "no" pile the elder wizard kept placing the young Arc's on the top of them all. After Ozpin got through the remaining forms he took the young Arc's application in hand and sat back in his chair.
"It would be a shame to let someone with his family background just slip through my fingers" Ozpin mused. He could have pretended that all was in order but then he'd fall victim to the one woman in his life that'd make him regret being reincarnated. Crossing Glynda like that was unwise but what else could he do? After thinking about it for a few minutes the answer struck him like a thunderbolt. Ozpin sat up straight and activated the terminal that was built into his desk before connecting a call to another headmaster of his choosing.
/
Atlas
It was that time of the year again for prepping for the new year. The new year that meant fresh new recruits of both soldier and hunter candidate alike. Ironwood settled into his seat behind his large desk and began looking through the assortment of documents that Winter had delivered to him earlier. The second he sat down he immediately knew something was wrong. On his desk were two different piles, one for the huntsmen academy applications and the other for the military enrollment applications. Both sitting side by side with one another and yet one pile towered over the other.
On the one hand it was great to see the military life agreed with so many but on the other it was because of said life that crippled the belief that huntsmen and huntresses were needed at all. A unified force, that's what the military was but a huntsmen/huntress was not. They were a force onto themselves and a need Ozpin always strove for and to some degree he did agree with his old friend. The General picked up the stack of huntsmen applications and growled. "If we continue to lose applicants like this it'll only be my fault and the council will make a field day with my failures as the main attraction".
Ironwood flipped throw the papers one after another. None were what you'd call impressive but then again when you had places like Beacon academy taking all the best and brightest all that was left were the rabble. The General put half of the stack down and leaned back in his chair. If he remembered correctly the heiress of the Schnee family was of the age where she could join the academy. Winter as well said something to that affect when he last spoke to her.
Ironwood felt a little eager and skimmed through the applicants to find Winters little sisters form. There was none. He put the stack down and went through the remaining applications for the huntsmen only to come up with nothing. His eye's slid over to the stack of military enrollment applications, "could she have..."? One after another he skimmed passed faces on forms that held no resemblance to his right hand specialist whatsoever. "This can't be" he sat back in disbelief "but if she's not applying here then where..."?
The terminal built into Ironwoods desk made a small buzzing noise letting it's owner know there was an incoming transmission. Ironwood press on the a finger recognition scanner on his left hand side allowing the terminal to read his thumb print and accept the connection. Ozpin's face appeared a few seconds later thanks to the hologram system built into the desk. "I usually don't receive calls like this from you unless it's an emergency" Ironwood stressed "please tell me that's not the case here".
Ozpin smiled warmly at his old friend, "you needn't worry on that front James this is more a business discussion then anything Salem related". Ironwood groaned and pinched the bridge of his nose at the thought of more business, like he didn't have enough of that already. "I can't help but wonder what's worse being worried about Salem or terrified over all the work that I need to do before the new year arrives. Four months from now" he stressed. Ozpin nodded in agreement, "well speaking of the new year I actually have something I was hoping you could take care of. I guess you could think of it as a type of experiment for the future".
Ironwood raised a brow as curiosity hooked it's claws into him. "What kind of experiment"?
Ozpin looked away from the screen for a bit to send a file through the established connection they shared. When the file went through fully Ironwood clicked on it to reveal the face of a teenager with blonde hair and blue eye's. The General took a moment to scan through the file before looking to his fellow headmaster. "I don't understand. From what I can see this application is a complete fake and should be rejected on the spot" the Generals eye's narrowed on Beacons headmaster "so why give it to me"?
"Because I'd like for you to accept this young man as an apprentice before giving him a chance to take the huntsmen qualification exam for Atlas academy".
Both headmasters sat in silence for what felt like the longest few minutes of their lives before Ironwood sat back in his chair. "You've got to be joking with me". When Ozpin didn't respond the General sat up and slammed his fist on the table. He met Ozpin gaze and jabbed a finger at his face in frustration, "I've already told you Oz I've got enough on on my plate and you expect me to somehow fit this boy into that schedule? Impossible". The elder wizard took a long sip from his mug before focusing on his old friend.
"I never specifically said it had to be you the boy trained under. If anything you can assign someone of your choosing to be the head of this project so long as we can see then end results" Ozpin reasoned.
"And what prey tell are we trying to find out? Even if I accepted this it could cause complication down the road. I would need to set aside a room for him ahead of time, choose a good enough educator to teach him and that's not even covering the cost of all this". Just thinking about it all was enough for Ironwood to start feeling the headache. Ozpin cleared his throat to get the Generals attention, "I wouldn't worry about the cost just leave that to me. As for the young man's instructor...how about Winter Schnee? She's had experience with dealing with untrained individuals so this would be up her alley".
Then General listened to Oz's idea so far and it didn't sound so bad. He just hoped it'd stay that way. Ozpin tapped his chin in thought before raising a finger, "and the experiment will be to see how quickly it would take to train a civilian to the standards of a basic huntsmen in training in case of an emergency". Ironwood raised a brow in surprise. Everything else aside there had never been a study to see just how far one could progress in training like this before and he was sure others would be interested to know as well. Besides being a cover up for whatever plans Ozpin had for the boy it would also be a boon for human kind should Salem increase the number of Grimm they had to face.
"Very well Oz I'll leave transport of the boy up to you while I deal with the other issues. Be sure to inform this Jaune Arc that if he really does plan to become a huntsmen that my specialist and I will be pushing him to the extremes to make that wish come true. Also the sooner you bring him in the faster we can get started, we only got four months for training and even less when we take into account the time it will take to have him transported to Atlas from Vale". Ironwood linked his hands together in front of him "And one final thing tell Arc that he better be ready to hit the ground running or I'll be forced to throw him into the military for not being good enough".
Ozpin nodded to his old friend, "I'll get right on it and impress the seriousness of this opportunity". With those final words the connection cut and Ironwood quickly wasted no time in summoning Winter to his office.
The specialist gave a picture perfect salute as soon as she entered the Generals office before she was told to be at ease. Ironwood stood from his chair and walked over to the large window behind his chair before linking his hands behind his back. "Specialist I have an urgent assignment that I can only entrust to someone I trust". Just hearing those words were enough for Winter to feel a strong sense of pride in herself, even more since it was obviously she who the General was talking about.
"What do you need me to do sir"?
Ironwood turned to his subordinate with a serious expression, "I need you to come up with a training regiment that is guaranteed to change a civilian into a capable warrior within the span of three to four months". Winter struck a salute. "Sir". Then after a few seconds to let his words sink in her rigid form faltered. "Um sir, I don't think I heard you correctly can you please repeat your orders" she asked. Ironwood knew this was coming so he replayed the entire conversation for her - excluding the small parts about Salem - and leaving her to come to terms with his words.
Winter mulled it over in her mind before asking a question that had been bugging her for quite a while, "why couldn't Ozpin and Beacon handle this instead of pushing the young man on us"? Then General opened his mouth to respond only for his voice to die and he to look back over his decisions during the conversation. He thought about it hard until something clicked inside his mind. Ironwood grabbed his face with his left hand and let out an explosive sigh. "Of course he would push this on me knowing Glynda would never in a million years ever allow this at Beacon".
That explained everything very easily. "Sir couldn't we just refuse if that's the case"?
Winter's question was a valid option but Ironwood didn't feel like he could agree with her response with Ozpin already working on sending the boy over. "In the end it doesn't matter Winter because I'm also curious as to what might come of this experiment. I don't know how Oz's planning to pay for the young man but seeing as how Beacon is footing the bill why don't we have a little fun of our own".
Winter couldn't have agreed more with the Generals idea.
/
Beacon
Two days later
The elevator leading to the top of the tower pinged before opening for the young man. Jaune didn't know what to expect when he was summoned to Beacon but when a bullhead arrives at your home to fetch you on the headmasters request you kinda don't want to decline. Now here he was at the school of his dreams. The blonde took a deep breath before stepping into the elevator. There was a few dials to press but the second he reached for one the entire elevator shook for a quick second before starting to climb up the tower on it's own.
When the elevator reached the top of the tower there was another ping and the doors opened to reveal a clock themed office with a single man sat behind a large desk. Jaune was hesitant at first but when he stepped into the office he couldn't help but gawk at how the gears turned all around the room. 'Whoever was the architect for this place sure had an imagination on them' Jaune thought as his eye's wondered around the room.
"I usually don't receive such an awe inspired reaction from visitors to my office".
Jaune turned to the man behind the desk, "sorry I've never seen something like this before and I gotta say it's mind blowing to say the least". The elder wizard nodded in approval then motioned to the seat opposite of his for Jaune. Once Jaune was seated the headmaster pulled out two slips of folded paper, each of which he placed in front of the young Arc. "Now then Jaune please take a look at the documents I've just give you and tell me, which is real and which is false".
Which was real and which was false? Jaune didn't get it at first until he flipped open the first document only to have his own goofy mug staring back at him. His eye's traveled down the page and he immediately recognized the fake contents from when he spoke to that forger in Vale. Jaune looked over to the other slip of paper on the desk and could easily tell what was on it without having to look. He did so anyways just to buy himself a little more time to come up with an excuse for why he'd done this.
After a little thinking Jaune place both documents on the table and met Ozpins fixed gaze. "This is real" he said as he pushed the second paper forward "and this one is fake". The first sheet in his hand was crumpled into a ball and tossed away. Ozpin nodded knowingly, "glad to see you can be honest when the need arises. That being said I'm sure your away that submitting false documents like this knowingly is a grave offence. Even worthy of prison time".
Jaune shuddered at the thought of being thrown in prison. The blonde bowed his head suddenly, "I'm sorry but I was desperate and wanted a chance to do something worth while with my life. I just wanted to be a hero who could live up to my family's legacy". Ozpin didn't blink nor move a muscle for the longest time until finally he let out a small sigh and sat back in his seat. "This world is in desperate need of individuals who belief as strongly as you do young man. Unfortunately my academy is ill equipped to spend long periods of time trying to raise up someone from nothing".
Those words were like a harsh blow to both Jaunes pride as a man and his dream.
Ozpin linked his fingers together and allowed a tiny smile to grace his features. "I suppose it's very fortunate that I have a close friend who'd be willing to take you in and give you the proper training to live your dream". Jaunes eye's widened and his head shot up to stare at Beacons headmaster. "You do"? he asked without trying to show how excited he truly was. Beacons headmaster nodded in confirmation, "I do and it just so happens I've already asked and got you cleared to attend a three to four month advance training camp at his academy should you wish it".
Jaune hopped to his feet with shining blue eye's filled with excitement and determination. He never knew the headmaster of Beacon academy could be so generous and yet he was, so he sure as heck wasn't about to let this chance slip by. "I'll go anytime, just tell me when" he answered happily. Ozpin stood up and held out a hand for Jaune to shake. "Very good mister Arc, as for when and where you'll be headed I'll be happy to explain on the way to the bullhead landing platforms".
/
It was a truly great chance to follow his dreams but he couldn't help but wish that he'd at least had a chance to say good bye to his family. Ozpin did explain that he'd be training in Atlas under the supervision of some of the most powerful huntresses and huntsmen in the kingdom and that he would be doing so in order to join the Atlas academy. Joining Atlas wouldn't have been his first choice but as long as he could pursue his goal he'd happily agree. For his flight Jaune received several books in history, math and several other subjects like dust manipulation. He was then told to read as much as he could before getting to Atlas just to get a glimpse of what he'd be facing later on.
The warning of what could happen should he fail drove home only one thought and that was that he couldn't fail no matter what. When all was said and done he was on a one way trip out of the kingdom with only his fathers sword Crocea Mors at his side and a few books to keep him company. The young Arc stared out the window and watched his kingdom vanish before his eye's. One hand pressed against the window of the bullhead, "see ya" he whispered before taking a seat and hauling up the books he was given to go over.
This was definitely going to be a long flight so he thought it best to dive right in and get started. Jaune flipped through the history book and noticed certain parts of the book were highlighted in yellow with the words "important" scribbled above. The small notice brought a smile to his face as he read through the paragraphs, making sure to memorize them as best as he could. Most of what he read was about three important subjects, the faunus wars, the mantle civil war and finally the great war.
"Huh, those are a lot of wars".
Despite the fact that each subject entailed some facts about the wars themselves the real take away was usually what came after such events. Like the results of the faunus war that resulted in the island of menagerie being established. The more he read the more he found himself being absorbed into remnants history. But with each great change there was always some negative event that seemed to follow shortly after. Jaune lowered his book and let out a sigh, "the faunus won the war yet even then the humans act like they won by isolating most of the faunus to a single island. I don't know what idiot allowed his people to fall for such an arrangement but even I could see that things weren't going to turn out well. Hindsight is twenty - twenty I suppose".
Throughout the several long hours of the day and over several long days of flying they finally arrived at their destination. The bullhead landed on an open platform specifically prepared for his arrival. It was just as Jaune had imagined Atlas to be "cold and lacking any freedom". Waiting for his arrival was a woman who he had to admit was incredible beautifully with white hair and a face that looked like it was carved by angels. Jaune remembered that his father told him a woman was only looking for confidence in a man but even he could see that he would need more then that for a woman like this.
Resisting every urge in his body from hitting on the beautiful woman, Jaune greeted her as if it was she who was an important guest. "Hi I'm Jaune Arc, Thank you for going out of your way to meet me here" he said as politely as possible.
The white haired woman shook his hand when offered but not before giving him a once over. "Welcome, it's a pleasure to meet you mister Arc I'm specialist Winter Schnee of the Atlas military. General Ironwood has been waiting for your arrival and has asked me to escort you to his office before you settle in here". Winter released his hand and took a half step back, "please follow me so we can get the pleasantries out of the way and move on to the real reason for why you are here". She didn't even wait for his reply before walking off and expecting him to keep up with her.
He did follow as instructed while carrying the books he was given from Ozpin. The walk to the headmasters office was a silent one and quite frankly he was a little too intimidated to even utter a word to the specialist to pass the time. It wasn't all bad though thanks to how grand the academy looked on the inside. When they arrived at the door to Ironwoods office, Winter rounded on him and begun straightening out his outfit. "Keep in mind that it is thanks to the General that you are being given this chance. Remember to speak calmly, be upfront with all your answers, don't slouch and be as respectful as possible unless you want to be thrown off Atlas by everyone who lives here".
"Yes ma'am" he answered nervously.
Winter's eyes narrowed on him for a split second before she turned away and opened the doors for them. Inside General James Ironwood stood with his back to them as he peered out the window. When the door clicked shut Winter made her way to Ironwoods side and stood quietly with her hands linked behind her back.
The headmaster of Atlas academy turned away from the window and met Jaune's eyes. "Welcome Jaune Arc to Atlas".
And just like that the first chapter is over. I originally posted this first chapter in Salem's Knight on accident and it was about 2,000 words long so I reworked it a bit to make it longer for us to enjoy. Somethings were changed here and there but overall I like how it came out.
On a side note I've rewatched some of volume 7 because I was seriously bored and I realized something I never noticed before. How the Hell did Tyrian Callows manage to grab Qrow's weapon, move all the way around the battlefield and stab Clover in the back without being seen? I mean If anything the one he could have most likely landed that hit on - realistically - would have been Qrow. Just look at the field they stood on and tell me you wouldn't have noticed a dangerous criminal roaming around with that huge sword in his hands.