"I never thought I would really get the chance to come here." Jaune muttered looking out of the window of the airship at Beacon academy. He was wearing black cargo pants, black boots, a white shirt and an unzipped black hoodie over it along with white gloves with a red and green pattern covering them. He had received a few looks by the girls around him but nobody bothered him, probably thinking he was just there to see someone off at Beacon. Nora had run off somewhere and Ren had followed her so he was feeling a little nervous standing there alone.
He was glad he no longer suffered from motion sickness, Felix having got rid of that long ago.
"Jaune?"
Turning around he saw Ruby and Yang, the smaller silver eyed girl with black red tipped hair smiling at him while the blonde lilac eyed girl was glaring at him.
"Hello Ruby, good to see you again. Hey have either of you seen my sister?" Jaune asked.
"She's in the bathroom, she has motion sickness." Ruby told him before spotting his sword. "That's your weapon?"
"Well one of them, this sword is called Durandal." Jaune said.
"So just why did you run away from home?" Ruby asked him.
"Rouge didn't tell you?"
"Not really, just said some family thing and wouldn't say anything more."
Jaune frowned then sighed. "My family tried to put me int an arranged marriage, they said it was for the best, that I would be well looked after for the rest of my life. I wasn't going to let myself be trapped in a loveless marriage though. That's why I ran away, it wasn't easy, both the decision to run and actually escaping but I had to do it. And I'm glad I did, I would never have met Felix, never have had my aura unlocked and learnt to fight. If I stayed I would have just been someone's trophy househusband, something to show off to the world, and I couldn't think of a worse fate. Arcs are heroes or geniuses, people who make waves in any field they go into male or female."
"Damn you really feel strongly about this, so who was this person that you were going to get married to?" Yang asked.
"It doesn't matter I doubt I'll ever see her again, she was just a typical high class Atlas snob." Jaune said. "So, no hard feelings about the fight at the club then?"
Yang glared at him for a moment before sighing. "You know I actually have nothing against guys, I just didn't think you would be able to hurt me. My dad might not have aura but he is a champion kickboxer and taught me. Where's your friend? Didn't he come as well?"
"You don't know." Jaune asked her looking at Ruby. "Didn't you tell her?"
"Tell me what?"
Jaune turned his attention back to Yang. "Felix is going to be a teacher. He's actually older than he looks."
"Is it true he's over a hundred?" Ruby asked.
"What?!" Yang was stunned.
"As far as I can tell." Jaune said. "But what I'm more concerned about is the fact he's going to be a teacher. I wonder how many people will survive his lessons?"
"He can't be that bad." Yang said.
"I'll let you found out for yourself." Jaune simply said.
The hologram screen showing the news switched to an image of Glynda Goodwitch.
"Who's that?" Yang asked.
"Hello students to Beacon academy. I am Glynda Goodwitch, deputy headmistress."
"Oh." Yang muttered.
The hologram continued. "You are among the privileged few who have been selected to attend this prestigious academy. Our world is currently experiencing a time of peace, and as the future huntresses of the future it is your duty to uphold it. You all have demonstrated the courage to take up this task and it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and training to protect our world."
Jaune noticed that she didn't mention huntsmen but since it was more then likely a recording didn't say anything. Ruby and Yang moved away from Jaune as they talked, shortly later the airship arrived at Beacon and everyone disembarked. He looked around for Ren and Nora but couldn't find them, they were probably one of the first ones off with Nora wanting to rush out as fast as possible. Well he would meet up with them later.
There was an explosion in the distance, and being the curious person he was he decided to go investigate. To his amusement he found Ruby lying there in a small crater.
"Are you okay?" He held out his hand to the red cloaked girl.
"I'm fine." Ruby told him as he helped her up.
"Really?" Jaune looked at the crater then back to her.
"It was an accident! Some girl was waving dust in my face and I sneezed." Ruby quickly explained then quickly changed the subject. "So, shouldn't we be going to the auditorium?"
"Yeah, I have no clue where it is though so you'll have to lead the way." Jaune told her.
"…I don't know either."
They stared at each for a moment before Jaune spoke up. "Let's find someone who can tell us."
After finding someone who have them directions the two quickly made it to the where all the other new students were waiting. Ozella, Glynda and Felix were standing on a stage talking among themselves.
"Ruby over here." Yang called out from the crowd of people.
Ruby quickly ran off to her blonde haired sister, Jaune seeing the crowd around them decided not to follow. He never noticed the inquisitive stare from a tall green eyed red haired girl a short distance from him.
Ozella stepped up to the microphone and cleared her throat, she gave it a few seconds for everyone to stop speaking before she spoke. "You have travelled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills and when you have finished you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people." She looked around the students with a piercing stare before continuing. "But I look amongst you and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, of direction. You assume knowledge will free you of this but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far. It is up to you to take the first step."
Pausing for a moment the headmistress spoke in a lighter tone. "Also I would like to introduce the newest teacher to join Beacon's staff, I don't know if you have heard yet but it is now possible thanks to his discovery for males to unlock their aura's. This will no doubt increase the number of those who will stand against the Grimm threat. Please welcome one of Remnant's first Huntsmen, Professor Felix Kingsway."
Felix stepped forward, there was some slight applause but most were to shocked at this news to do much but stare. It must have been a bit of culture shock for most of them. He didn't bother with any speech, just stepping back after a moment as Ozella left the stage with Felix letting Glynda stand in front of the microphone.
"You will gather in the ballroom tonight, tomorrow morning your initiation will begin, be ready. You are dismissed." She told them before walking off the stage as well.
Jaune looked around to see a lot of the girls staring at him. "Well this is going to be awkward." He muttered to himself, having to sleep in a room with so many women made him feel a bit like someone bleeding in a shark infested ocean.
Ren wouldn't have this problem, he had Nora around to scare off any girl who so much as looked at him funny. More then once did they have to restrain her from breaking legs. To think they still say they aren't together together, well it was only a matter of time before they wouldn't be able to hold back their feelings for each other Jaune thought amused.
He spent some time looking around Beacon before finally making his way to where everyone was going to be sleeping. He quickly found Ren already in his pyjamas with Nora next to him both already in their sleeping bags.
"Hey fearless leader is back!" Nora cheered seeing him.
"Hello Jaune." Ren said.
"Hey you two, so looking forward to tomorrow?"
"Yep, me and Ren have a got a plan. We'll call to each other with sloth noises." Nora told him. "But how would they form teams? We need to make sure we're all on the same team! Me, Renny, fearless leader and whoever becomes his partner will rule Beacon!"
"We'll think of something." Jaune said. "I'm going to get changed."
Felix had told him a bit about Beacon, how he was slightly impressed they actually put in male toilets in the short time before the school started, but he also warned him that the changing rooms would be co-ed. After all male or female if you couldn't trust showing a bit of skin to another person how could you trust them to protect your back when fighting the Grimm. This made Jaune slightly nervous, despite everything he had been through he was still a little bit shy, so undressing around strangers made him more then a little uncomfortable. Luckily there wasn't anyone else around at that time so he quickly got changed before anyone else could walk in.
Walking out of the changing room now in a simple white t-shirt and dark blue shorts he started to make his way back to Ren and Nora. However just after he came out of the changing room someone stood in his way.
"Jaune, finally I've been looking for you."
It was Rouge, she was wearing a white tank top and light blue boy shorts. The outfit showed just how much she had grown over the years, Jaune held back any comments on her revealing pyjamas. It wasn't like there were any other boys around, well except for Ren but he was completely Nora sexual so there would be no problems with him. Although he noticed more then one girl looking at her with a gleam in their eyes. Even though he had been away from her for three years she was still family, one he hoped to reconnect with if things went well. If anyone tried to make moves on her they would be getting a little visit from him, girl or guy.
"Hey Rouge, I heard you were out of it on the airship. Still have the air sickness huh?"
Rouge sighed. "Yes, wait what about you? You were as bad as I was when we were kids."
"Yeah Felix got rid of that as soon as he learned I had it." Jaune told her.
"He can do that?! Do you think he'll do that for me?"
"Don't know, he tends to be fickle when it doing things like that. He probably will if you ever have to fly with him. It's the only reason he did it with me, he just didn't want vomit around him. You can ask him though." Jaune looked thoughtful for a moment before asking. "What about everyone else? I'm surprised they didn't try and call me."
"They miss you so much but are waiting until after initiation. They want to come and see you in person, they are really proud of you, and while you'll probably get an earful about running away they understand why you did it. You're an Arc after all. Also they want to meet the person who has been looking after you these last three years." Rouge explained. "I think they're also a little worried you might hate them. For the whole arranged marriage thing."
Jaune shook his head. "I don't, I actually understand why even if I hated it. After all at that time it seemed impossible for a guy to have aura, and I had no talent at anything else. I could have probably become something like a scientist or a doctor, even maybe joined the Atlas army but I would have never been anything special. Not like dad. They wanted to try and secure my future, they wanted me safe. But I never would have been happy."
"But your happy now right? You always wanted to fight the Grimm as a kid and now you have a chance." Rouge said.
"Yeah, hey come and meet my friends. Ren and Nora have been wanting to meet you as well." Jaune told her with a smile forming on his face.
Rouge smiled back. "I've been wanting to meet them myself."
Pyrrha Nikos was taking her usual early morning run before most of the other students were awake. She was wearing black jogging leggings and a dark red sports bra. She heard a noise behind her and turned her head to take a look, she watched as the blonde haired boy from yesterday wearing a tight fitting white shirt and a pair of black jogging pants was quickly catching up to her. She was impressed at his speed, while she was taking it easy she was still a lot faster than most people, even most hunters.
"On your left." He said as he passed her on her left.
She watched him run off ahead of her and she smiled, it was going to be interesting to see how things will change with these new huntsmen joining the ranks of the huntresses.
A short later she heard running again behind her and turned her head again to see the same blonde once again catching up to her. Had he already ran around Beacon in that little amount of time? He was going to wear himself out if he kept going at this speed.
As he passed her again, he once again said. "On your left."
"Uh huh, on my left, got it."
Not to long later she heard running behind her again and she didn't have to look back to know who it was. "Don't say it, don't you say it!"
He passed her again and she swore she could see a smirk on his face.
"On your left."
"Come on!" Pyrrha shouted in frustration and increased her speed, her competitive nature getting the better of her.
Sitting with her back against a tree Pyrrha panted in exhaustion. Jaune walked over to her with a smile.
"Need a doctor?"
"You don't even look out of breath." Pyrrha noticed, already getting her breath back. "None stop and at that speed you had to have just ran something like twenty miles in less then half an hour. I think most experienced huntsman would find that difficult."
"Huh that's all, well I did have a late start being in a new place and all." Jaune told her.
"Really, you should be ashamed. Go and run another lap, did you do it, I assume you just did."
Jaune laughed and held out a hand, she grasped it and he helped her up. "Let's just say my semblance is very useful. Hi my name is Jaune Arc."
"Hello I'm Pyrrha Nikos." The red haired girl waited bracing herself for his reaction.
"It's nice to meet you Pyrrha." Jaune told her.
Pyrrha blinked in surprise not seeing any of the usual signs of recognition on his face. "You don't know who I am?"
"Should I?" Jaune asked confused.
"No!" Pyrrha quickly said but calmed herself down. "No, anyway we should go and get ready. Initiation will be starting soon."
Jaune walked with her until they reached the main Beacon courtyard where he saw Rouge looking around. She was dressed in blue jeans and a brown belt with a few pouches on it and a black hoodie with some white armour on her chest, white gauntlets with elbow guards, white grieves and spaulders. He immediately recognised the sword strapped to her left hip, Crocea Mors the famous Arc heirloom. The sword used by there great-great-grandmother in the Great War.
"I'll hopefully see you at initiation Pyrrha." Jaune said before separating from the red haired girl and making his way over to his sister. "I see you're using Crocea Mors, I'm surprised mom let you take it."
"Well a weapon is meant to be used and I've got a talent for the sword and shield so mom told me to take it. Anyway you'll need to get ready, and try and meet up with me before then, we need to come up with a plan on how to become partners." Rouge told him.
"I know that you want us to become partners but let's not try and force the issue. What happens will happen, and think about it like this, if we were on separate teams we could have our teams meet up often and work on things, you know promote cooperation between more people." Jaune said.
Rouge sighed. "I guess, still it would be nice if we did manage to partner up."
"It would, well I need to get ready, I'll see you later." Jaune made his way into the building quickly making his way to the changing room and getting changed into the same outfit as yesterday before going to find the locker with his weapons in. "So locker six-three-six, huh don't remember counting that high last night." He muttered looking around for the locker with the right number.
He found his locker a few moments later. What else he found made his eyes shoot wide open.
"So Pyrrha, have you given any thoughts to the teams?" Asked a petite girl with pale skin, pale blue eyes and long white hair pulled into a side ponytail on the right with what looked like a tiara. She had on a white dress with what looked like a white bolero over it that was red on the inside. She also had a rapier hanging from her waist with what looked like a revolver cylinder filled with multiple colours just above the handle. She was called Weiss Schnee.
She also happened to be his ex-fiancée.
Pyrrha was now wearing a brown corset and a black miniskirt with a red sash around her waist and long brown gloves that reached up past her elbows. She also wore a bronze circlet, bronze greaves and cuisses, her boots were high heeled and there was a bronze bracer on her left arm. She had a bronze round circle on her back and what Jaune could tell a short sword under it.
"I was just planning on letting the chips fall where they may." Pyrrha told Weiss.
"I was thinking maybe we could be on a team together. With your skills as a four time Mistral regional combat tournament winner and my skills, connections and intelligence we would easily be the top of the school." Weiss said.
"That sounds grand." Pyrrha said, Jaune was slightly amused at how fake she sounded while also pitying her slightly. While he didn't know what for he already guessed from her reactions that she was probably famous, and didn't think much about all the attention it brought her.
Seeing as how they looked like they weren't moving anytime soon Jaune sighed and stepped forward. "Excuse me, you're in front of my locker."
"Hello Jaune." Pyrrha said with some slight relief.
"Jaune Arc." Weiss widened her eyes seeing him. "What are you doing here?"
"I am one of the new students, didn't you here the headmistress's announcement? I'm one of the guys who had unlocked their auras." Jaune told her.
Weiss stared at him for a moment in surprise. "You shouldn't be here! Men cannot become huntresses! It doesn't matter if they can know unlock your aura."
"Well that's obvious, we'll be Huntsmen not huntresses." Jaune said.
"That isn't what I meant. You belong at home -"
Jaune interrupted Weiss's rant. "I ran away from the arranged marriage for this very reason. I will not have my life controlled like that, you atlas nobility and your views of the world. The moment I met you all you did was throw demands at me. I don't care what you think, and I'm truly glad that I will not have to marry you. Also not only the headmaster but the council's agree, well I don't know about Atlas's council but the rest all believed it was a good idea to except the huntsmen, after all anyone who wishes to fight the grimm and have the capability to do so should, if only to boost the numbers."
Passing the new wide eyed open mouthed Weiss Jaune nodded at Pyrrha. "Sooo…four time winner huh, no wonder you were surprised I didn't recognise you. I guess you must get something like that a lot then?" He nodded towards the still shocked Weiss.
Pyrrha sighed. "Yes a bit."
"Must be annoying." Jaune opened his locker pulling out his sword strapping it to his back. He then pulled out a gun, a six shot revolver with a barrel around seven inches in length, it was black in colour with a brown grip and golden trigger guard. He tucked it into the holster hidden underneath his hoody.
"It can be." Pyrrha said.
"Well we better go or we'll be late. Want to walk together?"
Pyrrha smiled at him, even after finding out about her fame he didn't change how he acted towards her. "I would love to."