A/N: It took a while for the reviews to pop up. A bug maybe? Anyway, thanks for all the favorites, follows, and reviews.
The Price Of Inexperience
Jaune had changed into the uniform her boss, Azure, had given him. It was almost formal, with black pants, a white shirt and an apron that went form his hip to his knees. Azure also wore the same uniform.
It was a diner that was almost 'fancy,' but to him, it was already fancy enough, as there were numerous paintings on the wall, and the chairs and tables had intricate designs.
But she explained that due to the place the diner was located, there weren't many offices, and due to that, not many office workers would come to lunch, so they had to adjust their target audience to a broader array of people. That meant adjusting their prices and dishes for people during the day and changing it in the night.
Azure then explained how she expected him to do his job and how certain things worked in her diner, such as; how tips worked (individually), how he should charge people and how he should greet and talk to the consumers.
After an hour of various explanations, people entered the restaurant. Azure greeted them and explained to Jaune that they were the rest of the employees.
He waved at them, and they did the same as they went to change towards the back.
As the last of them were out of sight, Azure asked him, "Hey, aren't you annoyed at me?"
Jaune was surprised; he wasn't expecting her to care about his feelings and said, "Because you made me wait thirty minutes? Not really."
She raised an eyebrow and put a hand on her hip, "If you are annoyed at me, this is your only chance before work starts."
Jaune replied evenly, "I'm serious, if you want an explanation why I am not annoyed, it's because I am desperate as well."
She sighed; it seemed like she didn't believe him and replied in a placating tone, "Well, it's because I wanted to see if you were lying."
He replied, exasperated, "People in Vale are really paranoid."
She explained to him, "You should know the 'I have work experience, but you can't search for it because it was outside of CCT range' is one of the most typical excuses teenagers use to try to get jobs."
She apologetically said, "But, you weren't lying, so I owe you an explanation: I made you wait because any kid from the city would have gone home within ten minutes."
She then raised a hand, "So all good?"
He just smiled at her sincerity and shook her hand, "Sure."
She then showed her palm and said, "That's why I believe you now, you are really naive and you have big callouses in your hands; both qualities teenagers from the city don't have."
He almost groaned but swallowed it and proceeded to go clean the tables.
Finally, after eight hours of work, did his shift come to an end, right after the lunch rush passed.
Jaune had some trouble working with the credit cards, but as the hours passed, he got better and wasted less time on the whole process.
Azure then called him towards a door that leads towards the back, and he followed her towards the break room where she dropped some papers in the table.
He was excited; he knew what this meant.
He was being offered a job.
Azure then said, "You did okay today, a little bit stiff, but that will go away with time."
She then pointed at the papers on the desk and said, "I am a woman of my word, so just sign your name at the end of the contract, and the job is yours."
He didn't hesitate and immediately signed it and thanked her, she didn't say anything and gave him another paper, showing the shifts he had to work during the week.
There were six days he had to work per week, more than he expected as Jaune had to train and study, but he couldn't complain the moment he accepted the job, all of them were in the morning through lunch.
As he looked through his schedule, Azure left the break room, saying, "I got to get back, so see you tomorrow."
She was already left before he got a chance to say anything, so he decided to go home.
Jaune was on the giant backyard of the Pharos combat school dormitory; he was wearing a plain blue t-shirt and jeans. He also had Crocea Mors strapped to his left hip; he was trying to activate his Semblance for the day, [Shadow Fighting].
Last night he had decided on a semblance that would help him train, and he had already paid the price during work.
[Shadow Fighting]
[User can create an illusion of a simple enemy that can only be seen by himself. The enemy will reset itself towards its spawning point if it hits the User.]
[Price: For 24 hours, temporarily lose 5% of the User's aura reserve. Uses 1% of aura reserves per minute used.]
[Time left: 15:32]
He had looked through many semblances, but not many would help him gain combat experience, so he created this one by basing it in some footage he had seen of students fighting against holograms.
He had added the part of resetting itself; if it hit him, it would be considered his loss as he couldn't use his aura to protect himself.
Jaune wasn't sure he would be able to in time to take the practical test of Beacon; he didn't know much about aura and how much it would take to learn the basics of it.
Besides helping him train, this Semblance would open the way for another that could help him gain even more combat experience.
[Nightmare of Eternal Battle]
[When the User falls asleep, he will enter a dream world and be able to battle enemies he has previously defeated in the real world. Enemies will never stop spawning and will grow in strength and numbers.]
[The progress will reset if the User doesn't have any aura left in the dreamworld or dies within it. Can only be used for two hours per sleep.]
[Price: For 24 hours, temporarily lose 10% of his aura reserves and use 1% of his aura reserves per minute.]
[Requirements: Must perform these actions while having Shadow Fighting equipped.]
[User must kill one hundred Newborn Beowolfs. 0/100]
[User must kill ten Masked Beowolf. 0/10]
[User must kill one Bone-plated Beowolf. 0/1]
[User must use Shadow Fighting for thirty hours. 0/30]
[Can be used to unlock: Master of My Dreams, Gifter of Nightmares…]
[User cannot use this Semblance.]
This Semblance would help him gain combat experience during the night, and he could exercise and study during the day.
Though he would have to go hunt Grimm to unlock it.
Jaune had to admit; he was terrified, but every huntsman-in-training would have killed many more than one hundred Grimm.
Besides, he shouldn't expect to enter one of the Huntsman Academy, without having killed a single Grimm, not that Beacon would care. Still, it seemed unrealistic that he would be able to enter the academy with only [Shadow Fighting].
It wasn't that different from the holograms combat student would fight, and even some of them would fail to enter Beacon. And they would do that for their first years before sparing each other.
Jaune needed actual combat experience if he wanted to catch up. But he wasn't going to be reckless in fighting Beowolfs as he would make sure he wouldn't be far away from the walls of Vale, where he would run if things went awry.
Also, there was no way he would face all those Beowolfs at the same time; he would make hunt the ones that strayed out their pack or where newborns and didn't join one though that wouldn't be possible with the masked and bone-plated Beowolfs.
He also considered asking help for guards or a Hunstman, but he couldn't afford it, so he could only risk it.
He would be insane to fight against a pack of Beowolfs where he could only rely on his non-existent skills; he would do ambushes, make traps and maybe wildly throw dust at them, all to thin the pack and fight the strugglers.
Jaune would then unlock [Nightmare of Eternal Battle] and would be able to train with the ones he defeated in his dreams and go for stronger ones.
He would also make sure he would be able to take care of each of the Beowolfs in a one-on-one situation with [Shadow Fighting]. Otherwise, there was no point in going; it was just going to his death.
But what annoyed him most of the [Requirements], was the fact that he had to have [Shadow Fighting] equipped while he hunted the Beowolfs; If Jaune could freely choose the Semblance, he would have a much easier time.
He would be able to increase his strength or speed or reflexes or choose a semblance that affected the environment around him.
The possibilities were endless, but he was stuck with [Shadow Fighting];if he wanted to unlock [Nightmare of Eternal Battle].
But, Jaune couldn't say he didn't see this coming, as he saw the same circumstances with [Spatial Manipulation], where he would need to perform specific actions with semblances of the space category.
It seemed that to go further in a skill tree; he would have to use it.
Now that he thought about it like that, it didn't seem unreasonable; It still annoyed him, though.
Jaune shook his head and tried to focus on his training.
Not that he had trained at all, as he couldn't activate his Semblance.
He tried to do the same thing he did with his, just focus on his aura and use his thoughts to bring it out, but it didn't do anything.
He then thought it was because he wasn't thinking in an enemy, so his Semblance wasn't producing one.
Jaune then delved into his memories and tried to visualize a newborn Beowolf as he had seen from the walls when he lived in the village. He had seen them several times when he visited his father in the walls. They had taken care of them as if they were bugs.
With that image, he focused on his aura, trying to make anything come out.
Nothing happened.
Jaune sighed, maybe he was doing this all wrong; he doubted his perception of a Beowolf be accurate, and perhaps that was why he was failing.
He searched for the statistics of average newborn Beowolfs and also and image of it.
He read them again and again and tried to imprint the image of the newborn Beowolf. He then focused on the ball of aura that was on his abdomen; still, nothing happened.
Jaune was beyond frustrated, he had to stand around in the scorching sun in the middle of summer and was incredibly sweaty and wasn't getting anything done.
He took a deep breath to calm himself and reflected on the steps he had taken. He had focused on the image and tried to give an 'order' to his aura to activate as he did with his original Semblance.
Jaune was lost, so he reviewed [Shadow Fighting] again, focusing on its description.
[User can create an illusion of a simple enemy that can only be seen by himself. The enemy will reset itself towards its spawning point if it hits the User.]
He focused on how the Semblance created this enemy, through an illusion that could only be seen by himself, that meant that only his perception would be changed, so that said, it was affecting his brain.
A loud smack could be heard in the backyard as Jaune facepalmed and realized his mistake.
Semblances weren't supernatural; they were something that could be explained through science and had a clear cause and effect. That lead to how he failed; how could he place an illusion on himself if his aura wasn't affecting his brain?
He needed to move his aura to his brain and then give it the order to activate.
He was only a bit worried, but his bare minimum knowledge about aura told him it would be okay, as one of it's basic principles was that a user's aura would never harm them unless a semblance were at play.
He focused on his abdomen, where the ball of aura was located and forced it to move upwards. It didn't resist as much as he expects it too, it was easier than yesterday when he tried to heal the cuts on his back.
Once more, a spike of aura was moving upwards through his spine, and he could feel the comforting feeling of his aura reach the back of his neck.
Then, he willed his aura to move from his abdomen to his brain through the spike he created.
Quickly, his brain was overflowing with aura; he didn't feel any different from the feeling of aura being in his brain than in his stomach.
Jaune even felt like he had done the same process before.
He shelved that thought in the back of his mind and tried to focus on activating his Semblance.
He thought of the statistics he read before of the newborn Beowolf and its image and gave his aura an order, to activate his Semblance.
In the other end of the backyard, a black gas was gathering itself, and soon it had a from; a Beowolf.
Jaune was ecstatic, he finally managed to activate [Shadow Fighting], but soon it faded away, as the Beowolf's red eyes locked into his.
His senses screamed to move as the Beowolf that he knew wasn't real was rushing frantically at him, growling at him, its eyes screaming murder and rage, and its claws would rip him apart gave them a chance.
Jaune knew this wasn't real, he would be okay if it hit him, But his senses were screaming at him.
'Move! Run! Do something!'
The rational part of his brain was telling him to stay calm and draw his sword; this was just an illusion; a part of his training, nothing would happen.
His body responded to both parts, he took a step back and gripped the hilt of Crocea Mors with his right hand; but it failed on both, he tripped and was falling on his butt, and he let go of the sword, and it fell back on its sheath.
As he fell on his back, the newborn Beowolf covered in black, with red eyes, was in front of him, swinging its claws towards his neck.
Jaune saw them move inch by inch towards his neck, and by the time he reacted, he saw them disappear from his vision, and he knew; they were milliseconds away from his neck.
His instincts screamed for survival and called for everything to stop.
The newborn Beowolf disappeared, dissolving in a black gas when his butt hit the ground.
It didn't appear again.
Jaune was paralyzed on the floor; he gazed blankly at the space where the Beowolf disappeared.
His heart was beating furiously against his chest as if it was trying to set itself free from its cage, it's sound felt thunderous in his ears.
He could feel the blood pumping in his veins, especially in his right arm, as it screamed because he used excessive force when he gripped the hilt of his sword.
Then there was the cold feeling enveloping his body, overriding whatever feel of comforting his aura brought and the warm summer heat that was in the backyard. He could feel the cold sweat drenching his clothes and his skin that stood on end, signaling the emotion he felt fight now.
Fear.
No, that wasn't enough; he felt terrified, terror-struck, and helpless.
And for a single second, he felt hopeless as his mind demanded how he could expect to enter Beacon when he couldn't even stand up straight against the Grimms weakest.
Jaune pushed the doubts to the back of his mind, but his feelings of fear didn't stop.
He was scared shitless as he called his aura to his brain and demanded the Beowolf to appear again by activating [Shadow Fighting].
He knew that if he didn't do it right away, he would rationalize it and convince himself there was a better way, but he knew that would only make his fear grow, and his resolve would crumble.
He would give up if he didn't face his fears. Jaune knew himself.
He was a coward; he would always choose the easy way out, all his important decisions in his life so far had been that way.
Running away from home just leaving a letter instead of confronting his family about his dreams that they didn't approve.
Getting fake transcripts, without even trying to take the test.
Leaving aside his anger towards the people who scammed him.
But he wouldn't do that anymore.
Jaune unsheathed his sword and held it with both hands in a shaky grip as a black gas was coalescing into a Beowolf.
The moment his eyes locked into the Beowolf; It rushed as if it smelt his fear and was desperately trying to snuff it out.
His fear was increasing by the moment, but he knew he had to do something, so he rushed towards the Beowolf and with his two-handed grip and did downwards swing.
But the Beowolf's claws were on their way towards his chest, and again, his instincts stopped the illusion.
Jaune once again called on [Shadow Fighting].
He wouldn't stop, not until he killed it.
The Beowolf once again charged at him; Jaune charged as well and swung sideways, displaying his inability to swing correctly, as his swing was finished, and only then did the Beowolf arrive, not once changing its speed.
He could see the Beowolfs claws coming down in a diagonal swipe towards his shoulders, this time his instincts didn't dispel the illusion, and the Beowolf struck his shoulder, and his body tensed up, but his rational mind told him, nothing would happen.
The Beowolf disappeared as in a cloud of black gas only to appear again in the other end of the backyard, charging once again as the mindless beast it was.
With that last 'fight,' a lot of his fear disappeared, as only now that he experienced that nothing would happen did his body believe at as well.
He took a deep breath, changed his grip on his sword towards a single-handed one, which he held on his right hand, and waited for the Beowolf to enter his range.
The moment he felt he could hit it, Jaune swung diagonally from below, he didn't hit the Beowolf withe blade, but with the pummel, making it disperse.
Jaune didn't stop because that definitely wouldn't kill a Beowolf, even a newborn one, it just dispersed because it touched his hand.
Jaune didn't charge anymore, he stood still and waited for the Beowolf to come to him.
His fear disappearing each time the Beowolf dispersed, he felt the weariness of his body, but he also felt the satisfaction that he was getting closer each time.
Eventually, Jaune managed to cut the Beowolfs arm and saw the Beowolf lose it's balance and fall to the ground, his sword did as well as it ran through its chest and into the ground.
He was exhausted, as he leaned into the sword stuck in the ground and canceled is Semblance.
He felt his heart beating in his chest, the blood pumping in his veins and exhaustion in every inch of his body.
But he didn't want to stop, after a quick breather, he called on again [Shadow Fighting].
This time he smiled at the charging Beowolf.
Jaune felt exhausted as he reached his room after a shower to remove all the sweat.
He wanted to go to the Public Library to search for books to study, but he felt in no condition to go; Jaune was sure he would fall asleep on the bus, but he couldn't afford to lose time, so he decided to cook his dinner for the week.
When he entered the kitchen, he heard two men look at him and whisper to each other, "Is that the sword-wielding maniac?"
He was beyond embarrassed; thankfully, he had too much experience in that department so he could ignore it.
Jaune was bringing his dinner in a lunch box as he headed towards the east part wall of the village; he wanted to have dinner with his father, as he couldn't stand the sight of his sisters right now, and locking himself up in his room wouldn't work as they could just rip the wall from its hinges.
He eventually reached the Guard House Two, that was right next to the east wall, he saw a Captain of the wall, and he greeted him, "Hi, Uncle Elm."
The tall man with green hair, brown eyes, dark green armor that covered his chest, and a long sword strapped to his back, greeted him back, "Hey Jaune, here to get away from your sisters?"
Jaune immediately grimaced; it seemed like everyone had seen that photo, he nodded as he barked, "Yeah, I don't want to see them."
His uncle, though not by blood, said as he patted Jaune's shoulder, trying to comfort him, "I'll lead you to the Chief's office."
His uncle Elm then said after a moment of silent walking, "You know avoiding them isn't going to work, right?"
Jaune knew it as well, "Yeah, I know, but that I can't go there and yell angrily at them, I know they would feel relief from that, so I'll avoid them for as long as I can; so I can extend their misery."
Uncle Elm said uncertainly, "Kind of cruel, don't you think? I cannot see them doing this on purpose."
Jaune said in an even tone, "They need to learn the consequences of their actions."
Uncle Elm laughed at that, "You heard that from your parents, didn't you? You are even trying to copy their expressions."
Jaune said a bit shyly, "Maybe," but quickly recovered and said with a whine in his voice," If I just forgive them right away, they will do something worse next time; hopefully they will learn to leave me alone."
Uncle Elm said with no mercy, "They are your sisters, Jaune. You are stuck with them for life."
Jaune said under his breath, "Hope not."
He felt a hand grab his shoulder and root him in place, and he heard Uncle Elm with steel in his voice, "Don't ever speak like that again. Got it?"
Jaune gulped and nodded as he looked at brown eyes of his Uncle Elm and said with frustration on his voice, "It's just that… They humiliate me all the time, and they don't seem to learn."
Uncle Elm sighed and put his hands on his knees and leaned forward making their eye-level equal and said in a soft voice, "Families are complicated, they can humiliate, frustrate and annoy you, but those actions are because they love you, so you get over it, and love them back."
Jaune sighed, let go of the grip he had on his lunchbox, and said, "Yeah, I get it, just not today."
Uncle Elm straightened his back and gave a few pats to Jaune's head and said, "That's okay; they hurt you; you need time to heal."
When they reached the Chief's office, he spoke up, "Thank you, Uncle Elm."
Uncle Elm smiled, shook Jaune's hair, and said as he walked away, "No problem."
Jaune, with an annoyed expression, tried to fix his hair with his left hand as he knocked on his father's door with his right.
A deep voice belonging to his dad, responded from the office, "Come in."
He opened the door and saw his dad on a desk facing the door; he wore a white armor with the Arc symbol in its center.
He had light blue eyes and short blond hair, Jaune could see his father's weapon on the left side of the office leaning against a wall, a sword within a white sheath; that also held the Arc symbol, just below the hilt.
His dad showed a shaky smile when he saw Jaune; he immediately figured the meaning behind it; Jaune said exasperated as he closed the door. "Great, you saw it too."
His dad tried appeasing him, "Come on, it's not that bad."
Jaune snorted and replied, "It's not that bad!?"
Jaune ranted as he left the lunch box on a table and walked towards his dad's desk," Let's dress you in a pink dress, high heels, and spread the photo around the entire village."
His father's face was becoming pale, but Jaune continued to say, "I already have a name for the photo: The Great Chief of the east wall showing his dominance against the enemy of humanity."
His father had a smile on his face as he replied, "Jaune, I can't do that; it would drop morale for my men, and Grimm could come."
Jaune then shook his index finger at his father as he said, "Dad, you are looking at this all wrong; it would be a boost for morale."
Jaune walked to the other side of the desk and put his left arm around his father's shoulder and moved his right hand from left to right as he said, "When has a Chief of the wall, faced Grimm with a pink dress and high heels?"
Jaune smiled when he felt his dad's trembling shoulders, but he wanted to deal the finishing blow, "It would show that Grimm are nothing to be afraid of."
His father released a heavy sigh and turned to look at him in the eyes and said in a nervous tone, "If it makes you happy, I'll do it. "
Jaune considered it, he knew it would make him feel better, but it wouldn't make him happy, he just sighed, "No that's-"
He was immediately interrupted by his dad's head hitting his desk, making papers fly, he then heard his dad's relieved voice, "Oh, thank God."
Jaune was amused and touched at the time, but he didn't know what to say and decided to pick the papers on the floor and started laying them on the desk as did his dad.
Finally, when he picked up the last paper, did words and actions came to mind.
He hugged his dad and said into his shoulder, "Thank you."
His father returned the hug with one hand in the back of his head and the other on his back, pressing his head into his shoulder," I love you, son."
He could feel tears coming to his eyes as he replied into his shoulder. "Me too, Dad."
After a few moments, they separated, Jaune felt a bit awkward, but his father didn't as he said, "Hey, how about you stay the night here?"
He looked up to meet his eyes with hope of evading his sisters and said, "Really?"
His father nodded, motioned to the paperwork-filled desk, and said, "Yeah, you can take my bed. I have to sort this out."
Jaune felt guilty because he indirectly caused that and said apologetically, "I am sorry."
His father just waved it off, "It's was my fault." and continued, "How about you skip school tomorrow, we can spend the day together."
He knew his father worked on a twenty-four hour on and a forty-eight hour off shift, so that meant his father would have free tomorrow, but he was worried about his other parent and asked, "What do we tell mom?"
His father just smiled at him and said, "Don't worry, I'll handle her. So what do ya say?"
He matched his father's smile and replied, "I'd like that."
Jaune had a bittersweet feeling on his stomach when he woke up. Those were fond memories he had of his father; it proved to him just how far his father was willing to go for him and his sisters.
His relationship with his father wasn't the same after the argument he had with him, Jaune knew he loved him all the same, but he wished it could go back when things were simpler, where he could simply hang out with him without the tension lingering between them.
He wondered, what would his father think of what he was doing?
Would he be horrified?
Would he tell him how disappointed he was with him?
Or respect him by sticking by his choices despite all of this time.
He shook his head; he should just focus on his goal and nothing else.
Today, he took his first step towards his dreams.
A/N: Please, tell me what you think.