Ch.1

Heat.

The first thing that Jaune Arc could feel as he began to return to consciousness, was heat. The stuffy, unbearable kind as he slowly awoke and his senses started returning to him. After blinking his eyes open, he noted his body feeling slightly wet and cold from a soft, rainy drizzle. Not cold enough to keep him wet or dull the uncomfortable warmth but better than nothing. Moving his arm to furiously rub his eyes as he tried to focus on the source of the intense warmth around him, the only thing he could see... was fire.

Not being one to lay around, he quickly rose to his knees. He gave himself a quick once over, surprised at the lack of aches or wounds on him as he wearily tried to view the area around him. The scenery before him however, quickly gave him pause as he realized that he was in the epicenter of a small crash site. looking over the immediate area, he peered within the flames he spotted the gleam of metal and machinery, squinting his eyes he could make out the shape of a wing.

His eyes following the winged shape further into the fire before he gasped in shock. Connected to burning metal and revealing the full picture to the young man, he was staring at the remains of a downed Weapons Locker. The sight of it drawing his awareness back into his mind, his memories.

A city in ruins, a kingdom in shambles, all of it covered in living darkness.

An Academy broken, a school torn apart and student body left to fend for themselves.

A Headmaster slain and a great power stolen, taken by one who merely craves power single-mindedly.

A last kiss, given only to mean the bittersweet end of a relationship never fully bloomed, and the beginning of a pain never fully healed.

Jaune Arc remembered.

He remembered how Vale fell. He remembered how his school and its Headmaster fell.

He remembered his partner, Pyrrha.

Sending him away out of concern for his life after revealing her plan to fight her Headmasters assassin.

He remembered his shame, his regret and his sadness.

He cursed his weakness and inability to fight at the pace of his friends. He cursed his family for their refusal of training him while allowing three of his four older sisters to become fully fledged huntresses.

What kind of sense did it make not to train him!? They knew how much he wanted to be a huntsmen, ever since his grandfather first showed him his Aura and told him the great tales of their bloodline.

He was constantly enthralled by the stories of his grandfathers trials and tribulations with his occupation, though his grandfather made sure that Jaune knew the reason why huntsmen were needed and why huntsmen should be humble in their duty. He remembered that conversation like it was yesterday.

———————————————————————

10 years ago

Sitting at the edge of a large lake, eighty year old Gene Arc was spending some quality time with his admittedly favorite grandchild. A young, seven year old Jaune Arc.

How in the gods names did Jared Arc, his only son of three, end up having an only son of seven? He himself was an only son out of four sisters. His father, Julius Arc being the one out of 6 and his fathers-father, Janne Arc being the only one out of nine! Though he had held onto the hope that his son would break the chains of the 'one male only,' fate that seemed to befall his blood, it was all for naught when his son told him that his wife, Arabella Arc was through having kids after her seventh.

Putting past miseries behind him, he turned to his young grandson in curious thought. 'Hmm, he's getting taller. Round tha perfect age ta start trainin too. Too bad mah gods damned, bonehead son's too afraid ta let tha boy learn...' He grumbled in his head, face furrowed in thought. Another point of contention with his own son. Just what had gotten into him, refusing the boys request to be trained after training his each of his older sisters beforehand? Gene surmised that the wife must've got to him, she was always far more protective of Jaune than the others. Something about him being her only son maybe? He didn't understand.

"You ok grandpa?" The boy asked, seeing the uncomfortable look on his grandfathers face.

"Jaune... whatsa huntsmen an huntresses most important job?"

"Hmm... giving people hope."

Huh. Gene was expecting a much more childish answer from the boy. "Why?" He urged the boy to explain.

"We need hope grandpa, hope is what makes people wanna do more. Without hope, the Grimm will get us faster but if we lose hope we wont want to even try."

Okay, now Gene was floored. This seven your old boy could answer such a question, so easily and with complete conviction. He couldn't help but smile at his grandsons earnest words.

"You're absolutely right sonny, but n order ta give hope we huntsmen gotta make sacrifices sometimes, ya get me sonny? If you get ta be a huntsmen which I know ya will, never forget that it takes sacrifice ta give hope. Sometimes we gotta give up time, other times its opportunities an sometimes we have ta give up love. As a huntsmen, it's no longer bout us, it's bout tha people. Human an Faunus, inside an outside ah kingdom walls, ya get me?"

The boy hung onto every word with rapt attention. Fully digesting the words of wisdom being imparted to him.

"Yes sir, grandpa I won't let you down!"

————————————————————

Present time

Shaking his head free of old memories and finally standing on two feet, he reached in his pants pocket for his scroll. Hopefully he'd be able to make a call or at the very least check its digital gps for his current location. Fate was not kind to young Arc sadly, as he soon noticed the scroll was in two parts instead of one. "No... no no, damn it! Damn it all!!" He screamed, throwing the pieces into the wind as his rage and hopelessness momentarily leaked out him. Taking a few deep breath's, he calmed himself enough to assess that he needed to get moving. His mood would only make things worse the longer he stayed stationary.

Hobbling away from the locker slightly and somewhat regaining his bearings, he quickly realized that he was in a lightly wooded area, the beginnings of a forest most likely. Most of the flora and fauna was unrecognizable to him. The bark of the trees, a faded green with white veins. The leaves a very faint lilac that at first glance looked completely white. His confusion was fully evident at this point. He was sure it wasn't the Emerald Forest, definitely not the Forever Fall either. Just where the hell was he?

"W-what? These lockers don't usually shoot that far... do they??"

He breathlessly spoke to himself as he tried to examine his recent mode of transportation. Taking a closer look at the locker, his question was answered. Indeed the locker wasn't supposed to have thrown him out of the kingdoms limits with its limited power and propulsion systems. The revelation of which leaving only one idea in the Huntsman in trainings head.

His partners Semblance, she must've used it in junction with the lockers take-off to launch him as far away from the battle as she could. The more he thought of her, the more he hated himself for his own weaknesses and the more confused he became. He knew she only wanted him to be safe, but to run off alone... to face that raven-haired lunatic of a woman without any help whatsoever? What was she thinking??

He could only pray that she, the rest of JNPR and the others made it out of Vale alive and unharmed. He needed to stay focused as he had much more urgent issues to take care of... like figuring out where he is. As soon as the thought left his mind however, the tree-line to the left of him was suddenly occupied by multiple large shadows. Jaune was put immediately on high alert as he knew what was in store for him now.

One by one, Ursa and Beowulf shot out in groves. Their numbers in the near twenties, yet there were no Majors and only one Alpha to be seen. Said alpha staying in the back of the pack, staring intently at him.

Grimm, blasted beasts of the dark. No one knew where, how or why they came to be but everyone was of the agreement that they had no business on Remnant.

His hand fell to his sides and was instantly grateful to the skies above as Crocea Mors was still attached to his belt. Quickly drawing the blade, the first few Grimm to shorten the distance being the unlucky ones as he unflinchingly rolled to the left of them. He narrowly dodged their combined attack and with a well timed diagonal slice, off came the heads of two Ursa at once. Seeing the slumped over Grimm bodies, he was taken aback by his own strength and quick thinking. Though, he had no time to celebrate his kills as the other Beowulves sprung into action. Evidently, they'd grown tired of waiting for what they assumed would be a swift end for the human.

Wasting no more time, Jaune deployed his shield and slightly crouched down to block the incoming over-head swing of a Beowulf. Watching the beast somewhat soar over his head and careen into a tree after the attempted hit. As he arose from his position however, another Beowulf took advantage of the opening, barreling into him at startling speeds. Completely unprepared to take the full weight behind the beast, his defense crumbled as he fell to the floor.

Stumbling into a roll, he quickly caught himself and rose to his feet and as the Beowulf lunged at him to finish the job. Jaune quickly thrust his sword into the beasts chest, bypassing white, armored, plating and sinking into black flesh. Eyes darting from Grimm to Grimm as he pulled his blade from the dissolving creatures remains.

The rest of the pack began closing in on him. "There's too many of them." He outwardly noted, he knew he was horribly outnumbered. His admittedly poor swordsmanship skills could only take him so far and his gut screamed at him to flee, to escape with his life.

And yet... he would not move.

"...I refuse to go down like this... all of that time spent training and practicing... I can't let it be for nothing!" He couldn't let those long nights with Pyrrha fall by the wayside. He refused to let his team down, to let himself down!

Defiantly screaming at the small horde before him, the Grimm seemed to sense his change in mood and halted their strides. refusal to run strengthening his Will. He gripped Crocea Mors tightly and raised it's shield with a hateful glare as he steeled himself for the coming assault.

Almost forgetting his close proximity to a monster, he turned on his heel albeit a bit clumsily and took the opportunity presented to him in the form of the formerly airborne, downed Grimm near the trees. He managed to pump a bit of his aura into his legs and dashed towards his prey. The recovering Beowulf had no time to escape or counter the would be huntsman's downward swing and in one smooth motion, a young beowulf met its end via bisection.

Repositioning himself to face his enemies, he pointed his blade menacingly at the Alpha of the bakers dozen of dark denizens as he felt his aura flow powerfully through him, let out a powerful battle cry and charged into the fray.

Unbeknownst to him, a curious man was watching from the top of a nearby high tree branch.

——— ——- ——— ——— ——— ——— ———

Near Kuroyuri, Anima

As the island winds blow the fallen leaves to and fro, Ruby Rose hums in contemplation while a sharing camp with whats left of her Beacon friends. If Yang was any example of how bad it was, she could only imagine how Blake and Weiss felt. Seeing her sister look so defeated saddened her, but it also emboldened her resolve. Overall, her team wasn't fairing much better than JNPR but at least they had left Vale with their lives.

Accompanied by one Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie on her Journey, something she's incredibly grateful for. With everything they've been through, she would've completely understood if they refused. Yet here they were, following her halfway around Remnant. She would really have to thank them for it one day.

Settling down in a small clearing for the night, they laid out their individual sleeping bags. Ren was retrieving various cooking supplies from his bag, she helped Nora start the fire. Though as she worked, the thought of her first friend plagued her mind to the point of conversation.

"What could've happened to Jaune? I didn't see him anywhere and when I finally found Pyrrha..."

She stopped, the loss of her friend was taking a toll on her, on all of them. The remainder of JNPR being just as upset as she was about the turn of events. Sitting with her knees pulled into her chest, Nora sported a tearful frown as she's deeply worried about her fearless leader. Not only is Pyrrha... dead but Jaune's been reported missing in action, having not been seen or heard from since the fateful day.

Ever the strong and silent type, Ren continued to brew tea for the three of them. Though, his mind was racing with thoughts of his male leader. He feared the worst for his leader, knowing his lack of battle prowess. Self-guilt slowly creeping into him. Jaune was like a brother to him and he deserved more than just Pyrrha's nightly practice. He should've assisted him in his efforts to improve instead of just trusting Pyrrha and the school to do it for them.

"Maybe he got away...? He could've gone back to his own hometown..." Ruby questioned as the remains of her sister team looked at her meaningfully.

"And not contact us? Jaune wouldn't do that," Nora indignantly huffed as she stoked the fire. Ruby raised her hands in an apologetic, flinch of a gesture. Having given the issue much thought, Ren finally spoke. "I have to agree with Nora on this one, Ruby. He definitely would've called us, unless he wasn't able to."

The conversation continued on that route until the trio could no longer guess and draw straws at the outcome of their missing friend. Tired and weary, they decided to try and get some sleep. They had a long road ahead of them and staying up pondering what ifs wouldn't get them to Haven.

As she started to get comfortable in her sleeping bag, Ruby couldn't help but hope that her very first friend was alright. Not quite ready to sleep yet, she had sent out a silent prayer for the young Arc before turning in, hoping that tomorrow would just be... better.

In the distance, the soft cries of a crow could be heard.


Words from the Author

Hey guys, Cubia here with my ever first fan-fiction here and Im really excited to have everyone read and enjoy it. Feel free to send some feedback and creative criticism, I need it. :)