zIt was an unimpressive figure that wandered among the crowd of Beacon's new students, to the point where it made him stand out, as it were, approaching from the other direction; that is to say, so obviously unimportant as to draw the eye almost out of pity. Where most wore either stylish ensembles or full sets of armour, he had only an old hoodie, a pair of torn jeans and scuffed trainers. Where everyone else seemed to be carrying elaborate weapons, the majority of which carried a certain also-a-gun quality, he had only a sword hanging from his belt, a crescent-moon insignia on the scabbard (that appeared to be covered in scratches, almost as though someone had tried to scrape it off). Even the way he moved seemed wrong; where everyone else was moving with grace, purpose, or a sense of excitement, he moved with… energy, as though expecting an attack to come out of nowhere.
Tall, blonde and scraggly; everything about him seemed to broadcast the fact that he was safe to ignore. Well, everything apart from his eyes; his eyes were putting out a very different signal. They were in a state of constant motion, surveying everyone around him, taking in as much information as possible. There was something else about them, beyond simple alertness; a hint of sadness, a little fear, and a dash of resignation. They were not happy eyes. They were, in fact very unhappy eyes, but, unusually, their cobalt-blue depths seemed to contain a vague suggestion of hope. After all, Jaune reflected as he tried his best to blend in with the other students, Beacon was everything he could ever ask for in a school; respected, full of interesting people, well-appointed, and far away from his father.
Now, there are a few different ways of escaping a bad family situation and most of them a great deal more sensible than sneaking into a Hunter academy with forged transcripts. But when you have no marketable skills, you're seventeen and your father's friends with the local sheriff, well, things get a little tricky. He'd spent months trying to come up with a way out, and years before that working up the courage to leave. He'd thought of just plain running away, but that required money, something he very distinctly lacked. It had been hard enough scraping together enough money to get himself to Vale; the deposit on an apartment would have been too much. Beacon, however, was a publicly-funded academy that provided free room and board, with the only drawback being the need for prior training in a fully accredited school.
That wasn't as big an issue as it might otherwise have been; his father may have been short-tempered, cruel, domineering and selfish, to name but a few of his better qualities, but he wasn't lazy. Jaune's physical conditioning was fantastic, his reflexes impressive, and his tolerance for pain unnatural. His swordsmanship… left something to be desired (like a training method other than just being beaten senseless with a stick until he passed out from exhaustion), and his grasp of more academic pursuits was definitely lacking (except for very specific subjects whereby his father had given him a comprehensive, if biased education), but he was fairly confident he'd be able to muddle along until he got the hang of things. Beside which, he'd checked what would happen if he got caught, and eighteen months in a correctional facility was eighteen months away from his father, after which he'd be an adult in the eyes of the law. It was, in fact, a win-win situation; no matter what he did, he'd have some time free of the beatings, free of the verbal abuse-
"-What kind of idiot is that careless around highly unstable dust?!" Or not. He sighed as he walked towards the source of the tirade; he really didn't want to get involved, but it wasn't like he could just ignore it. No matter how he looked at it, someone was getting torn into, and if he wasn't going to be able to leave them to their misery.
The source of the shouting turned out to be a petite, white-haired girl wearing an expensive-looking combat skirt. She looked haughty; the sort of person used to getting everything their way. Jaune was familiar with people like that.
"I didn't mean to…" The white-haired girl's target looked young; too young to be studying at Beacon. She also looked scared. In a sense, he really didn't have a choice.
Ruby's first day at Beacon was going predictably badly; she'd only just arrived and she'd already been ditched by her sister, gotten lost, exploded, and now she was being yelled at by this really mean girl. She was just about ready to give up on Beacon and run for the Bullhead docks when a shadow fell over her.
"Is there a problem here?" His voice was calm and level, but looking at the blonde boy who had made his appearance, Ruby wasn't so sure that matched him. His face was set in a deep scowl, his eyes narrow and his hand resting on the hilt of a sword.
Apparently the white-haired girl wasn't quite as perceptive as Ruby. "This idiot just destroyed thousands of Lien in dust, nearly killing me in the process!" He seemed to consider that for a moment.
"Too much dust for you to replace?" He asked curtly.
"Hardly! I 'll have replaced that paltry sum by nightfall."
He considered this as well. "Running low on Aura?"
"Please, I could have taken a dozen blasts like that." Ruby was pretty sure she could see where this was going.
"So who cares?" He looked pleased with his reasoning. "You're not hurt, and you can replace the dust. So I'd say she's learned her lesson."
"Learned her lesson? After that kind of stupid, irresponsible-" There was a sound; not a very loud sound, and not a very long one either. It was the sound of the boy pulling the first couple inches of his sword free from its scabbard.
"I think you should leave." His voice was steady, his body language unaggressive; if it weren't for the way his right eye was twitching, he'd seem perfectly harmless.
"Yes, well, I suppose I can be lenient just this once," said the white-haired girl, very nearly hiding the fear in her voice. "Just don't let it happen again." And with that, she stormed off.
"Are you okay?" The blonde boy asked, offering Ruby a hand up.
"I'm fine," she replied. "Thanks for that."
"It's nothing," he shrugged. "I don't like to see people treated like that. I'm Jaune, by the way."
"Ruby." There was a moment of silence. "So, uh… I've got this." She unfolded Crescent Rose.
Jaune's eyebrows shot up. "Is that a scythe?"
"And a high-powered sniper rifle," said Ruby.
"It's also a gun?" Jaune sounded impressed. "Nice. Makes mine look pretty lame."
"Well what does yours do?"
He unsheathed his sword as his scabbard unfolded into a shield. "It folds up, in case I get tired of carrying it."
"But wouldn't it weigh the same either way?"
He shrugged. "Yeah, but it's easier to carry it on my hip than it is to hold it all the time."
"Neat," said Ruby.
"Eh," Jaune Shrugged. "It does its job. Still kinda lame, even if it is a family heirloom."
"No it's not, It's… classic."
Jaune snorted derisively. "Yeah right; that'd imply my father had class."
"What, don't you get along with your dad?"
A shadow passed across his face for a second. "Sure, let's go with that."
"I'm sorry to hear that."
He shrugged. "Not your fault. Besides," At this, he grinned. "He's not here."
Ruby shuddered; she had the feeling she didn't want to know the details of that. "So, which way to the auditorium?"
Jaune looked worried. "I thought you knew."
"You exploded?!" Yang was having a great day. Arriving at Beacon, hanging out with some friends, and now basking in the glory that was her little sister's procession of disasters.
"It's not funny Yang!" Ruby pouted adorably.
"Okay, okay, sheesh," Yang chuckled. "Sounds like you had a pretty rough day."
"That wasn't even the worst part," said Ruby, flailing her arms. "After I exploded, this really mean girl started yelling at me, and I felt super bad and it was totally embarrassing!"
"Well did anything good happen?"
"I made a friend," said Ruby. "At least I think I did."
"A friend?"
"Yeah, this guy showed up while I was getting yelled at and helped me out!"
"A guy?" Yang asked, leaning forward. "Does my baby sister have a boyfriend?"
"Yaanng!" Ruby blushed. "It's not like that, we only talked for a couple minutes!"
"So what's this mystery man like?"
"Well, he's really nice, but he's also kind of intense and scary too! His name is Jaune and he's really tall and-"
"Blonde?" Yang interjected. "With blue eyes?"
"Yes!" Ruby exclaimed. "How did you know?"
Yang answered by silently pointing at the tall, blonde boy walking stiffly through the room. While wearing a baby-blue onesie. "Intense and scary, huh?" She smirked.
"Hey Jaune," exclaimed Ruby, waving to her friend. "Over here!" Sure enough, he walked up to them, a nervous grin on his face.
"Hey Ruby, good to see you again." His tone was relaxed, but his body language didn't quite match up; his shoulders were too tense, his eyes too active.
"Hi! This is my sister, Yang."
"Yo," Yang smiled. "Nice pajamas."
He looked down. "I look pretty stupid, huh?"
Yang snorted. "Big time."
"I thought it might be a good idea to cover up my- you know what? Screw it," he shrugged. "I'll just sleep in my boxers." With that, he began to unzip the baby-blue embarrassment.
"Woo, take it off!" Yang bellowed, grinning cheekily. "Shake what your daddy gave you!" The smile fell from her face when the onesie hit the floor, however. He was definitely in good shape, his tall frame packed with hard, lean muscle, but quite surprisingly for a hormonal teenager, Yang's attention wasn't on his musculature.
"I can't shake them," Jaune noted apologetically. "But this one kind of twitches in the winter." He was covered in scars; little jagged scars across his shoulders and thighs, sickly yellow blotches that looked to be bruise scars all over his chest and stomach, tiny burn scars dotting his forearms and a lump on his left clavicle that could only be the result of a broken bone healing messily.
"A-are those… training injuries or something?" Ruby asked nervously.
"This one is," he gestured to his clavicle. "And a couple of these, too." And then to his many, many bruise scars.
"And the rest?" Yang asked, not sure she wanted to know the answer.
A shadow fell across his face. "I'd rather not talk about it."
"Then how about we talk about how you helped out my little sister?" Yang suggested, desperate to avoid the subject of his injuries. Those are definitely cigarette burns on his arms, and a couple of those little scars look kind of like the corner of a belt buckle.
He shrugged. "I've got kind of a 'big brother instinct'. Don't like seeing younger girls getting yelled at."
"Fair enough," said Yang. "Guess we owe you one. If there's anything you need help with, just let me know."
"Actually, there is something," said Jaune, looking suddenly nervous. "It's kind of weird though…"
"What kind of weird?" Asked Yang. Please don't ask me out; that'd be so awkward.
"Well…" He leaned in close, lowering his voice. "Do you know how to unlock Aura?"
"Excuse me?" Yang asked, not quite believing what she was hearing.
"I told you it was weird."
"Well, whatever; I can unlock your Aura, no problem."
"Thanks for this, I really didn't know what I was going to do."
"No problem," Yang replied, placing her hand on Jaune's chest. "Now hold still." She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. "For it is by our passions that we achieve immortality. Through this we become guardians of love and fury to overwhelm all. Infinite in courage and untroubled by death. I release your soul, and by my heart, unleash thee." After a moment, Yang stepped back, slightly out of breath. "Damn, how much Aura do you have?" After a moment, her brow knotted and she scowled. "Dammit! That was the perfect opportunity for a joke and I blew it!"
"Is that something you normally worry about?"
"It is," Sighed Ruby.
"Seriously though, you're packing some serious Aura."
"Really?" Jaune asked, looking uncertain. "I've seriously got a lot?"
"I didn't know they got that big at our age!" She winked saucily.
"Oh!" Jaune blushed. "Well, I, uh… thanks?"
Yang burst out laughing. "I told you it was the perfect opportunity!" She shook her head. "Man, you're just too easy."
"I'm no good at talking to girls," Jaune muttered. "I get all flustered."
"You didn't get flustered with that mean girl," Ruby giggled. "You scared her silly!"
"Yeah," Jaune frowned. "I did, didn't I?" He sighed. "Well, goodnight. I guess I'll be seeing you at initiation."
"See you there!" Ruby called after her friend's retreating back.
"He seems nice," Yang commented idly. "Weird, but nice." She frowned. "Those were some pretty nasty scars though, I hope he's okay…"
Pyrrha wasn't okay. She was sure her fans would have been shocked to hear that, but they were part of the problem, so she didn't really care. She'd suffered through the fame, the weight of expectations, for so long in Mistral, and she'd hoped against all hope that things would be different in Beacon. But, not twenty-four hours in, and already it was like she'd never left Mistral. "I think we'd make an excellent team; we're clearly the two most skilled new students." The Schnee heiress just wouldn't leave her alone; she was so damned determined to have the Invincible Girl in her corner, with little apparent interest in getting to know Pyrrha Nikos.
She knew she was probably being unfair; there was every chance that Weiss was a perfectly nice girl, but in terms of first impressions, she couldn't have done much worse. I can see the hunger on her face; she wants power, she wants influence. She wants the Invincible Girl. Please, something happen to end this conversation. "What do you want?" Weiss scowled at the lanky blonde boy who had approached. That works.
"I just wanted to apologise for yesterday," the boy said, looking sheepish. "I was way out of line, and I feel terrible about my behaviour."
"Well, you should!" Weiss huffed. "Your behaviour was completely out of line!"
"I know," the blonde rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "It's just that I have kind of a big brother instinct, so when I saw you giving Ruby a hard time, I just sort of moved in without thinking." He cast his eyes to the floor. "But that doesn't change the facts: it was messed up to threaten you like that, and I was acting like…" He trailed off. "Someone I'd rather not be like." He extended one hand awkwardly. "I'm Jaune, by the way."
After a moment, Weiss shook his hand. "Weiss Schnee." She gestured towards Pyrrha. "And of course, she needs no introduction." Pyrrha fought down a scowl; here came the old familiar routine…
"I'm sorry, should I know you?" Oh. Well, that was certainly unexpected.
"Are you serious?!" Weiss demanded. "That's Pyrrha Nikos!"
"Who?" Jaune replied.
"She's the most successful tournament fighter in the history of the under-eighteen tournament bracket!"
"Oh, well I never got into tournaments," Jaune shrugged. "My dad never let me watch much tv…" He trailed off.
"She's an international celebrity!"
"I didn't really get out much."
Weiss sighed. "She's on every box of Pumpkin Pete's cereal."
Jaune chuckled awkwardly. "You'd think that would help, but Sugary cereals aren't good training food, so my dad's had me on protein shakes from age ten onward. He bought it in bulk."
"You've been having protein shakes for breakfast for the last seven years?" Weiss recoiled.
"Cheap protein shakes," Jaune shuddered. "Believe me, you can taste the difference."
Pyrrha couldn't believe it; he really had no clue who she was. He wouldn't treat her like she was any different. This boy was going to be in her team; she would make sure of it. She didn't care what she needed to do; Jaune represented her best chance at having a friend, and she wasn't going to waste that chance. "Hello Jaune, it's nice to meet you." She extended her hand.
After a moment, Jaune took her hand. "Nice to meet you too." He gave her a sheepish grin. "Maybe I'll get lucky and we'll end up on the same team."
Pyrrha smiled. "Maybe we will."
As Ozpin looked out across the students, he found his eye drawn to a few specific individuals in the crowd: miss Rose, of course, and Miss Belladonna too; his personal projects, as it were. Mister Winchester had the look of a problem about him; Ozpin knew a bully when he saw one. Still, such problems tended to be resolved within a year or two, so it was no real issue. Miss Schnee, of course; James had been terribly annoyed with him for poaching her away, and Miss Nikos, who he had plans for… And one he wasn't familiar with; a Mister Arc. A rather shabby, nervous figure, and one who currently had his hand up. "Yes, mister Arc?" The boy tensed slightly at that; strange.
"Um, excuse me sir, but when you say landing strategy…"
"You will be falling," Ozpin stated simply. "And it shall be up to you to ensure your safe landing. He saw fear and nausea flashing across the young man's features, only to be replaced by a look that was far too old to be on a face so young.
"Understood. Thank you for clarifying, sir. One more question, if you don't mind?"
"By all means," Ozpin said, vaguely disquieted by the boy's stiff, awkward formality. "Ask away."
"What exactly are Beacon's rules regarding profanity?" And it was at that point that the launch pads activated, which was perhaps for the best.
Author's notes: Well, that's chapter one finished. To give credit where credit's due, this fic was inspired by Coeur Al'Aran's works, specifically the way he radically changes the plot by changing Jaune. This fic is built around a simple idea; what if Jaune didn't join Beacon in the pursuit of a dream? What if, in fact, the important part was to escape his home life? This is going to get dark in places, but it's also going to be funny in others.
