AN: Sorry about how long this update took to get out. I've been having some severe writer's block and decided to just put out what I had rather than make the other chapters I wanted to add in.

A Personal Favor

Chapter 1

-Yang-

Hiding behind a tree after having made an excuse to zip off, Yang watched her sister shift around awkwardly. "Come on Ruby, you can do it." Yang muttered to herself, wanting to help her baby sister break out of her shell. To step out of her comfort zone and make some friends of her own in her new school.

What she hadn't expected, was for a group of guys led by a massive looking brute to rush past Ruby, sending her staggering back into a cart full of dust crates and their White-haired owner. The explosion from dust vials being knocked out of cases and smashing apart likewise wasn't on the planned itinerary for the day.

"Ruby!" Yang started to run but someone else got there first. A boy with blonde hair wearing a startling amount of white, crouching beside Ruby and the white-haired girl as he started having them follow his finger amongst other things.

"Alright, still conscious. Any signs of nausea?" The boy asked as Yang's rush slowed from the confusion, "Your balance feel off? The light more intense?" as he spoke, he shined a small flashlight into the two's eyes, checking for some sort of a reaction.

"N-no?" Ruby stuttered out nervously, unsure how to respond.

"No slurred speech either." The blond boy nodded before touching a finger to both girls' foreheads, his aura shining before theirs flashed for a brief moment "I don't think you have a concussion, and I just refilled any damage to your auras. Still, might be a good idea to check in with the nurse just to be safe. Explosions, especially dust triggered ones, aren't exactly healthy to experience."

"…Who are you?" Ruby was utterly baffled by the stranger who gave what was apparently an impromptu medical checkup.

"My name's Jaune." The blond guy smiled as he helped the two up, "Jaune Arc." That only seemed to be enough of an answer for the albino girl.

"And what was with all that just there?" Yang decided to make her presence known to them.

"I'm attending the Vale Institute of Medicine as well as Beacon." Jaune explained with a confident smile, "It's why I chose to attend Beacon over Atlas. I've been studying the medical field for years, so I know enough to at least do a base checkup, especially with my semblance allowing me to heal."

"So cooooool!" Ruby was starry eyed at the confident nurse boy.

"Well…thanks for looking out for my little sis. The name's Yang Xiao-Long." She gave a confident stance as she observed the first guy her age she'd met for some time who was able to keep his eyes above her chest. It honestly surprised her more than the knowledge that this Jaune guy was some sort of super Nerd going for two degrees at once.

"And I'm Ruby Rose!" her sister introduced, both of them noticing Jaune stiffen.

"Wait…Rose? As in Summer Rose?" he asked hesitantly, Ruby looking perplexed while Yang narrowed her eyes.

"She was our mom." Ruby frowned, "But how did you…?"

"Because…my mother was on that mission as well." Jaune's tone was dark and bitter, even if the revelation he'd just dropped floored Yang and Ruby both.

-Jaune-

"So…" hearing Weiss speak to him, Jaune looked over at Winter's younger sister, "You're my sister's student?"

"Yeah, she taught me a lot." Jaune nodded, "She's one of the best swordsmen I've ever met."

"One of?" Weiss narrowed her eyes, tone making it clear she didn't appreciate him not stating Winter was the actual best.

"I may still have a…rocky, relationship with my father." Jaune winced, unsure how to process his relationship with his father after all the recent revelations "But he's still the single most terrifying swordsman I've ever met."

"Your dad?" Yang stepped out of the hospital wing with Ruby, Jaune having waited behind to make sure he hadn't missed anything in his inspection earlier.

"Yeah. He…used to be a Huntsman." Jaune grimaced, "If you want an example of what he can do he 'came out of retirement' for a bit a few years ago. Did you hear about the Crown Organization in Vacuo a few years ago?"

"Yeah, some sort of terrorist cult wanting to take over the world, right?" Yang scratched her head as the four began to explore campus; the nurse having let them watch a video feed of Ozpin's introduction during the checkup, the explosion having caught attention.

"And they were taken out by one…" Weiss trailed off "Oh."

"Yeah, oh." Jaune nodded "Dad didn't take kindly to the mind control…especially as a relative of one of the Crown leaders had already threatened me after I beat him in a fight, so he was already more than a little short on 'mercy'."

"So, what's he like when he isn't destroying criminal empires?" Yang probed, her eyes showing there was more to this question than just what was on the surface. Maybe something about how her dad had reacted to losing his wife in that mission?

"He's…unyielding." Jaune phrased his answer carefully, "He used to be pretty laid back from what I remember, but after mom…" he choked for a bit, having always struggled to talk about her passing "After that mission he became rigid. He didn't like letting me or my sisters our of his sight if he could, he didn't even want me to become a Huntsman or my sisters to become Huntresses. Don't get me wrong, he loves us." That much he always knew without a shadow of a doubt, "He's just…" he searched for the right words "Afraid. So, he held on too tight. He lives his life now almost entirely devoted to protecting our town and his family, he doesn't go out and do Huntsmen missions anymore and doesn't care much about the rest of the world. But if anything threatens someone, he cares about then he's terrifying."

"I…see." Yang trailed off, judging by her expression Jaune could guess her dad's response to that day had been very different to what Alexander Arc had done.

"So…you three ready for the team selection tomorrow?" Jaune decided to switch things to a less heavy topic.

"Oh, hell yeah!" Yang gave a fist pump, not even batting an eye as she put some money in a swear jar Ruby pulled from…somewhere, "I wonder how teams are chosen though."

"We get catapulted into the Emerald Forest and the first person you make eye contact with is your partner." Jaune shrugged as the three girls stopped to stare at him, "That part is apparently the same every year. Only thing they change up is deciding how to combine partnerships into a team."

"You're shitting me." Yang deadpanned, once again paying the tithe to Ruby's swear jar.

"That's what Dad said at least." Jaune shrugged, "Along with several comments disparaging the man's intellect and ancestry but I don't think those last bits are really relevant right now."

"His ancestry?" Ruby made a confused face.

"Something that would make me have to fill the jar too." He told her as the hooded huntress mad an 'oooooh' face. "But yeah, the stories mom and my godfathers told when I was growing up kind of give credence to that too though."

"Godfathers?" Ruby perked up, "Were they Huntsmen too? Oooooh, what were their weapons! Are they cool! Who are they?"

"They were the coolest." Jaune's sad smile gave away a lot as Ruby wilted "One of them was Rhodes, he was killed in Atlas years ago. But he had a pair of maces that were also guns…then again almost every huntsman weapon is also a gun so that isn't really saying much." Yang and Weiss snorted at that remark while Ruby looked like she was trying to decide if he was insulting weapons or not.

"And the other one?" Yang tilted her head.

"Roman Torchwick." Jaune didn't even bat an eye as he revealed the relation, having gotten used to people knowing after someone at the prep academy had spread it to ruin his reputation a little over a year ago.

"Heeeeeeh?!" the three girls gaped at him.

"The known super criminal?" Weiss looked aghast.

"He used to be a huntsman but blamed the councils for the Mountain Vale incident." Jaune shrugged, "So he turned his back on the Huntsman system. Also, 'master criminal' is a bit of a stretch. The biggest things he's done are taking down the old Vale crime Kingpin, and stealing the Kingdom's supply of Ozpin's favorite brand of coffee. The man's more of an internet troll on steroids than a legitimate threat."

"But he tried robbing a dust store when I was there!" Ruby protested, "He had a bunch of goons with red swords and everything."

Jaune paused and frowned, "That sounds odd." He felt the urge to look into this, "He's always prided himself on a Gentleman Thief, on avoiding collateral damage. Hell, more than once he's robbed and exposed companies or politicians who were breaking the law themselves to screw people over. A random smash and grab feels…forced."

"Aaaaalright there Mr. Conspiracy theorist." Yang rolled her eyes, "Let's just focus on the test tomorrow, yeah?"

"Fine, fine." Jaune relented, still determined to keep his eyes open, "Let's keep exploring the grounds, we're going to be here for a few years after all."

"Yeah!" Ruby cheered.

AN: To those curious, the things Jaune was given will show up during the Initiation exam.