Guess what this is a Revamp of?
All credit to respective owners!
-Y.A.R.N.
Jaune Arc idly tapped his pen against his paper in time with the clock ticking on the wall above the board his professor was talking about.
3...
2...
1...
The alarm sounded for all the classes to be let out and Jaune let out a sigh as he began to pack up. He made sure everything was in its proper place and swung his bag on his shoulder, rolling his neck to work out the kinks. He had just made it to the side of the building before he felt someone shove him; he instinctively rolled with the blow into the wall and grasped the railing to keep from tumbling down the stairs. He locked the urge to hurt the grinning asshole down deep and straightened, wishing he was free. He trudged up the steps and winced at the pouring rain that flooded the way ahead, winter months in this rebuilt Empire City were hell.
He miserably flipped up the hood on his jacket, pulled out a plastic bag from one of the pouches on his backpack, and put all of his books and notebooks in before sealing it shut and walking into the storm. The rain pelted him as he felt the numbing cold seep into his clothing as he walked towards his dorm room. It was a good thing that his parents had deigned to buy him an apartment, it would have been a great thing if they did it because they loved him. The thing was, they were disgusted by him even when he was supposed to be the one child they wanted.
"Mother and father always wanted a son." Jaune muttered quietly, "Too bad he's a bio-terroist, or conduit given how Seattle had been changed..."
When the insanely strong conduit Delsin Rowe gave conduits freedom and beat the DUP that were there, the city became a haven for conduits. However — like Jaune — some conduits set out for hometowns to see family and grow up in the places they were taken from. Unlike Jaune, many of those reunions were filled with tearful gratitude and loving embraces of families being reunited. And some of those were like Jaune, hated for their very existence as a freak; a monster that should have been put down rather than be given the gift of a life. Knowing he didn't have a place for him in a loving family or in Seattle where he had been through too much, Jaune didn't even consider going back home and instead went to Empire City, a city where conduits who had no other place to go could maybe find a place to long.
Jaune's family only wanted him when he was 'normal, what was odd about a kid sleeping in the sun or always wanting the window open for a sliver of moonlight to light the room? Nothing much, the kid just like sleeping in the light. Then one day while playing with his sisters he dissolved into a wave of light and reformed in time to run into a tree. He had been able to do nothing but stare at his glowing hands and his sisters had wasted no time in running over and making sure he was okay. The eldest sister's — Saphron — hand was over her mouth and gathered him up in her arms when he began to cry in fear of what his parents would do.
His sister would never let them send their sweet little brother away to prison just for being special.
So they kept his secret.
And as any kid with a new toy, Jaune played with his powers and learned what he could do with them. He made sure to sneak out at night and sat in the moonlight (or in the day if he could manage it), feeling his body thrum as steadily drank in the light of the of the celestial bodies. He found — and after a grabbing a bunch of books for ideas — he was able to fire bolts of light from his hands, bend light around him to be technically invisible to people, create holograms or illusionary copies of anything, and even solidify light into weapons and shields. Unfortunately, he wasn't able to practice much as he had to be alone but he loved learning about what lights 'felt' the best. He found the best feeling came from drinking in the light from the sun and drinking it in. Nighttime wasn't as good as a walk in the daytime, but the stars and moon weren't anything to sneeze at. Artificial light felt off and wrong — like drinking bland and tasteless honey — but they also could heal and energize him to a degree. Low lights were barely comparable to a spark and overcast dark places made him feel as though he hadn't had any sleep.
It was only when he felt he had a decent grasp on his abilities that his own good nature to help people worked against him.
There had been accident in the school bus he had been riding on and he ended up next the bus, his body instinctively absorbing the sunlight and fixing his cuts, bruises, and even his blood loss. He staggered to his feet and saw some of his classmates under the bus, screaming for help. He didn't think about the fact that people were already staring at him and making frantic calls to the police, he just placed his hands and under the bus' side and channeled his power into his hands. With a roar, he lifted the bus with a burst of light from his hands and collapsed back on his ass, his body glowing with pulsing light.
People screamed in fear and he looked around wildly, panic welling in his throat.
And he ran.
He sprinted as fast as he could taking as many back alley shortcuts and out of the way passages he could until he was back at his house. If he saw a fence he didn't bother to scale it and dispersed into a wave of light and phased through it to shave seconds off his time. He scrambled inside to find his sister sitting at the table reading a book until she looked up at the commotion and found him, tears running and breathing labored.
"Jaune?" Saphron gasped, "What happened? What's wrong?"
"They know." He whispered brokenly, "They all know."
Saphron gasp and hugged her brother tightly as he crumbled.
The DUP came for him soon after.
They had pleaded for them to not take him, but even though he tore his heart in two, he made them promise not to do anything rash and he would always love them.
Jaune jerked himself out of the memories and stopped at the apartment before fishing out his keys and going inside. He pulled out his books, phone, wallet and dropped them on his desk — taking an extra moment to plug in his phone — before stripping out of soaked clothing and throwing them in the hamper to take a shower. After he was done letting the heat from his shower soak into his bones and he felt better and stepped out to wrap a towel around his waist before padding to his bedroom and changing into some black jeans and a black polo shirt with a stylized 'AG' on the left breast. He got dressed and grabbed his wallet, phone, and an umbrella before making his way to work.
Working at a cafe isn't all that stressful, the pay was enough for Jaune's bills and classes, and he never really had many complaints when it came to customers. The boss was the father of one of his classmates — Blake Belladonna — and was an absolute bear of a man. Any unruly guests usually took one look at him and quailed at the glare he gave and him cracking his knuckles. It was because Jaune worked there that he had at least a decent if not friendly relationship with Blake. She was a quiet and enjoyed reading and sometimes would ask for a coffee with liberal amount of milk, which apparently Jaune was great at making.
Jaune smiled as Blake walked in, shaking out her umbrella and seeing her shiver, "Hey Blake, your usual?"
Blake sighed, "Please."
Jaune frowned as Blake collapsed in a chair, without any of her usual grace and placed her head in her hands. Jaune made her drink, warmed up a panini and poured himself some water before sitting next to her and giving her the food and drink. She looked up and shook her head in amused resignation and taking a nibble out of the sandwich. Normally, Jaune wouldn't sit with customers, but the Aura's Gift — the name of the cafe — was completely empty despite the heavy rain. It had been busy earlier, but at no sign of the storm abating, people just wanted to head home and wait it out in a presumably warm bed and a to-go order here and there.
"You okay?" Jaune asked.
Blake nodded, "Yeah, it's just... My friend Yang is throwing a party and invited me. As you know, it isn't my scene. If I don't go, I wouldn't put it past Yang breaking in and dragging me to it."
"Yang's..." Jaune leaned back and took a slow drink of his water he looked for the right word, "Zealous. But I don't think she's not that unreasonable. Just tell her how you feel. Everyone and their aunt know she dotes on her sister like a baby."
Blake lips curled up in amusement, "Well Ruby is a sweet girl in a very literal sense."
Jaune laughed, he had met Yang and Ruby as they sometimes accompanied Blake to the cafe to get a drink. Ruby's sweet tooth was notorious and Yang was more for hotter drinks that Jaune thought she might just be a conduit as the one time he tried a drink at her temperature, he nearly seared his tongue off. He took another drink and they sat in companionable silence for a moment before Jaune got up and finished his water.
"By the way Jaune..." Blake asked, a note of concern entering her voice, "I was in your last class, is Cardin still giving you trouble?"
Jaune paused and Blake saw his fist tightened and crumpled his paper cup, "I can handle it Blake. He's just throwing his weight around like a big shot because he was an enhanced DUP enforcer, a 'king'. What makes him even more cocky is that his dad is able to smooth over any... 'incidents' thanks to his cash. I can take it Blake, better me than someone else."
Blake worry increased with the sheer bitterness of Jaune's voice when he talked about Cardin and his father. Blake was no idiot and knew Jaune lived alone and apparently he didn't have any family near him. When ever she tried to bring up his family, Jaune would clam up or try to change the subject to anything else and everything else. The worst part was she didn't initially think much of Jaune, he was a scaredy little guy who didn't talk a lot. She didn't even particularly care he was bullied until he got in between Cardin and some terrified girl said bully was hitting on. Jaune got a beatdown and even a blast from Cardin that had him groaning in pain as the girl quickly scampered away while Cardin was distracted.
It was then Blake had been the one to offer a shoulder as he limped to the nurse, unable to keep herself from letting the blond-haired guy rest at least some weight on her. He thanked her softly with a small smile before the nurse guided him to a bed to rest. When Blake came back to check on Jaune, the young man was stirring and sat up while rubbing he forehead and letting out a yawn. She watched him sleepily blink before sighing and flopping back on the bed to stretch and fully wake up. She almost let out a giggle at the utterly content face he made while letting out a contented sigh as he relaxed.
She decided to leave him alone after that, but when he came around to her father's cafe about a job, she had no choice but to at least accept him a permanent fixture in the future. It hadn't taken long for his kind nature to shine through and she found herself looking forward to greeting him at the cafe. He memorized her favorite by heart and made everyone feel welcome and well cared for, and by the time a month slipped by, Blake and Jaune were good friends. Underneath that quiet boy was a funny if a bit awkward guy who genuinely wanted to help anyone he could, from making a coffee or lending a sympathetic ear. Blake had been glad to have actually met him and not left her preconceived impressions of him dictate her attitude towards him.
Either way, something about Jaune just seemed to rub Cardin the wrong way and he let his irritation at that land squarely on the poor guy. Blake wished Cardin wasn't as stupidly lucky to have a dad rich enough to pay of the authorities. The guy had an ego the size of the solar system and it wasn't like anyone could stop him when he pushed Jaune around. Blake clenched her hands around the cup, wishing for a moment she had conduit abilities, she would give so much to be able to protect the innocent from people like Cardin.
Sitting in his office, Ozpin looked over the reports of the conduits who could be in his city. Their current dossiers for potential students was numbering to several dozen candidates for the university, but honestly, the sheer number of 'lesser' conduits was annoyingly vast. The DUP upper echelon made a near overabundance of them, at least they were already grown men and women who were employed by them. Cardin Winchester had been a person of interest, but picking a fight with his father was iffy to have been worth his inclusion. His personality would also be a detriment to the people he want to collect, but could they really discount him based on that? Some conduits had been approached from before the other cities could acquire them, but as things were now, Ozpin wasn't going to be able to jumpstart his project with a few dozen students.
With Augustine detained, the DUP was crumbling and the Conduits were no longer to be incarcerated. Ozpin felt grateful that he had been able to reunite with his son, but Oscar had been changed from his time in Curdan Cay. The fragile state of Oscar psyche and his subsequent panic attacks had been too painful for Salem to take, and she had left, needing some time to adjust. Ozpin still loved his wife, but his son desperately needed his family, and he would never forgive Salem for abandoning him. He sighed and got up to quietly make his way to his son's room. Peering in before entering, he sat softly on his son's bed running a gentle hand through Oscar's dark hair.
"I'll make a place for you." Ozpin whispered to his slumbering son, "I'll do everything in my power to give you a place to belong."
Winter Schnee hugged her sister and younger brother tightly, "I love you both so so much. Conduit or normal, father's love or mother's love or no one else's approval, I will always cherish you."
Winter and Whitley both hid their faces in their older sibling's shoulders, it was one of the few things that bound them so tightly as each other's rock. When Weiss and Whitely manifested their abilities, their father had only seen it as a way to revolutionize his security force. Winter had been the one to keep them from any experiments to see if they could somehow share their abilities with himself. Even his contacts at the DUP before it crumbled hadn't been able to help him, so his interest was instead replaced with scorn. What good were they if they could not be of use?
"You will be sent to Empire City." He commanded with the errant concern of asking about the weather.
And so Weiss and Whitley broke Winter's heart as they were guided away from her.
Their longing glances at her would haunt her till she saw them again.
And she vowed she would.
Jaune sighed and collapsed on his couch and threw a hand over his face, grumbling wordlessly at Blake. She was a great girl, but it wasn't like she knew he was a conduit himself, it was honestly an effort to keep himself from absorbing too much light that his wounds wouldn't noticably close up with his fast healing. Cardin giving him bumps and bruises wasn't even a concern, his 'testing' at the DUP facility had made him more than able to roll with most of the blows. Still, being normal was a nice change even if it made him a target for bullies and other people who saw him as the quiet looser. He could at least pretend his parents didn't think he was a freak and a monster ready to kill them after he got 'bored'.
Jaune let out a long sigh and got up to start working on studying, better than letting his thought fill his head. But even as he flipped through his books, his mind wandered to his family.
Why hadn't he tried to find them?
Why hadn't they come to see him?
Had how they felt about him changed?
He didn't know what he would do if they looked at him like a freak.
Even the idea of them rejecting him, made a sob claw its way out of his throat. His body began to shake and he started to hyperventilate as his mind began to torture him with his sister's voice twisted with mocking scorn.
He couldn't bear it, better to keep his distance, remember them as they were rather than see if they changed.
He force his impending break down at bay with pure will and his shivering stilled as he calmed down and made his fears settle in the back of his mind.
It was the best he could do.
It was all he could do.