Hey all! Thank you for all the reviews last chapter, it was great to see the fic being taken well. I'm confident in this one and truly do hope to make it as enjoyable a read as Professor Arc, hopefully even more so.
For the cover art, this site is a bit temperamental at times, which is why some of you might not have been able to see it. Hopefully it works now, but it's honestly 50-50. You can always Google Kegi and see it on his DA.
Beta: College Fool
Cover Art: Kegi Springfield
Chapter 2 – A Sheep's Stand
"Wow…" Jaune gasped and pushed his way through the crowd into Vale proper. Tall buildings sprung up on either side of him and some reached almost as high as his mother's tower. They came in myriad colours, ones he'd never thought he might see; greys, whites, blues… it was enough to take his breath away. And the people – there were so many of them! At least… well there'd been at least fifty in the queue to get through the main gatehouse, a number which was already unfathomable to him. But now that he got to see the streets themselves? "There's so many of them," he whispered as his eyes traced over the huge swarms of people that pushed left and right. Men and women shouted, children cried or laughed and strange, coloured vehicles buzzed by.
The sheer noise of it all was enough to make him feel dizzy and he staggered backwards. Luckily, something caught him.
"Oi, watch it." The man he'd bumped into growled and pushed him aside, "Don't stand in front of the gates, you idiot!"
Jaune blinked, he wondered who the man was talking to, only to realise a second later that it was himself. "Ah," he gasped, "I'm sorry. Was there somewhere you would prefer me to stand?"
"Sarcastic piece of shit," the man scoffed and glared at him before walking away. Jaune blinked. Wait, but the man hadn't told him where he should stand…
"Perhaps somewhere where you won't be run over," Remy whispered into his mind.
"Oh, I see… maybe against the wall?" Jaune looked towards the wall in question, which seemed to be part of the defensive structure of Vale. The Nevermore had dropped him off some distance away from it, leaving them to trek the rest of the way. It might have been a difficult journey for most, but luckily there'd been plenty of friendly Grimm around. He was lucky mom and dad had thought to have ID cards made for him and his sisters – all labelled as just being of the Arc family, of course. "Are you seeing all of this Remy?" Jaune asked within his mind, "This place is so alive!"
"Yeah… great." the parasite sighed, "I am literally wracked with paroxysms of cheer."
"Me too," Jaune grinned, "This is amazing!"
"Ugh… forget it."
Vale was incredible, but also a little daunting. Faced now with the reality of it, he wasn't actually sure what he was supposed to do. It felt like he was a Beowolf just discovering that he was in the middle of a village, now faced with the impossible choice of where to start his spree. He'd read about cinemas before, big buildings where they showed movies to an audience. Uncle Watts had brought home a movie for him to watch on his scroll once, a documentary on the great political leaders of Atlas or something. It had been pretty boring but the idea that more could exist, some with stories like his books, was pretty cool.
And speaking of books – he could check out a book store, or even a library! The one back home had contained a few fairy tales and stories, but it was old-fashioned and mostly stocked with books on topics like history, strategy, warfare and other things. Not to mention a few forbidden tomes, or so big sis had told him with a hungry gleam in her eyes. She always asked him to look for some but he'd never managed to find any. Then again, if they were forbidden then surely his mom had hidden them.
Oh – oh, but what about meeting new people too? Maybe he could go and talk to some of the people on the street and get to know them. Maybe… no, well… was it possible?
He might even be able to make a friend too!
"Jaune," Remy sighed, wriggling around beneath his skin, "Why don't you keep your eyes on the goal, hm? Didn't you want to become a huntsman?"
Right! He nodded and steeled himself as best he could. Excitement could wait. He'd be in Vale for all of four years or so if this worked. The main thing was to focus on what was important; getting accepted into Beacon Academy. With that in mind… well, the first thing was to probably try and find the academy. The news clipping he'd seen it from hadn't been too specific on that part, seeming to act like everyone just knew where it was. How ridiculous. How would anyone know where a place is if they didn't have directions?
"Excuse me," Jaune called to a random person passing by. The woman ignored him entirely. Perhaps she hadn't heard him. "Hello there," Jaune tried again - and this time he held his hand up as well. The man he asked had strange animal ears on his head. "Could you hel-" Despite the ears, it didn't seem like he'd heard him either.
Wow… did all the noise from the city make them go deaf?
He'd have to find help elsewhere it seemed. All he needed to do was have a little confidence; that was what his dad always said. Checking to make sure Crocea Mors was still secured at his hip, Jaune tacked onto the end of one of the crowds, following them for no other reason than to have somewhere to go. The roads started to slim as cars gave way to wider areas for people to walk on, with brightly coloured buildings on either side. Crowds milled outside those windows, staring in as they carried bright, plastic bags. This must be shopping, Jaune thought as he watched a small child look at something their parent had bought. He fingered the lien in his own pocket, currency his mom had given him for good behaviour. Where he was supposed to spend it he had no idea, but occasionally he could ask his dad to pick something up, and once or twice Watts or Hazel had done the same too, buying books on his behalf.
He'd also made the mistake of asking Uncle Tyrian once as well, but when the man had come back without a book and tried to give Jaune a dead bird instead? Yeah… he didn't bother asking him anymore.
"Who should I ask for directions?"
"Why not just walk up to someone eating?" Remy scoffed, "At least that way they can't ignore you." Jaune nodded, seeing the logic behind it as he made his way towards a group of tables arranged outside a windowed building that smelled of food. "I wasn't being serious!" Remy howled.
Why not? It sounded like a good idea.
"Hi there," Jaune waved at a rather pretty girl sat with a spoonful of dessert balanced before her lips. She had blonde hair and purple eyes, almost reminding him of some of his sisters. He pulled out the seat opposite her and sat down.
"Hi?" the girl responded, looking around and behind her for some reason. "You're talking to me?"
"Yep. The name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls of the tongue – the ladies love it."
"Oh, do they?" she laughed and leaned back a little, licking some chocolate off the spoon.
"Well, that's what my mom always says," he said. There weren't many other women to get the opinion of, not unless he dared to ask his big sis. His actual sisters didn't count, of course. They would say whatever they thought would make him feel better. Well, unless they were in the mood to tease him... it was about 50-50 really.
"Aww," the girl cooed, "You're a mommy's boy?"
Jaune blinked, "I guess?" He was his mother's boy, as in her son. Did she mean if he belonged to her? Well, yeah, sort of – but most people belonged to his mother if her claims were to be believed. "Aren't you going to introduce yourself?" he asked.
"Since you asked so nicely," the girl laid her spoon down on the plate and grinned widely. "The name's Yang Xiao-Long. Long and unwieldy, but I don't need a name to make all the boys fall for me."
"I can see why," Jaune nodded, "You're very pretty."
The girl's mouth fell open for a second, before she caught herself and burst out laughing. Had he done something wrong? He was just being honest and speaking his mind, and big sis Cinder always did react well when he lavished her with compliments. Those were the only times he could actually get her to do something nice like read him a story or play a game with him.
"You're pretty blunt, aren't you?"
"Am I?" he asked, "I thought I was just being honest."
"Geez, you're going to make me blush, lover boy. Is that why you came to talk to me? Can't say I've ever met a guy as forward as you."
Oh, right! "Actually, no," he said, making the girl blink, "I was hoping you would be able to give me some directions."
"Directions?" She sounded surprised, though he couldn't understand why. Didn't people normally ask each other for directions? Crap, was he messing up again? Whatever you do, do it with confidence!
"I'm looking for Beacon," he handed over his news clipping in case she hadn't heard of the place. "I want to enrol there as a huntsman. Do you know where it is?"
"I know where it is," Yang said, "But I think you're a little late to sign up… the initiation ceremony starts, like, tomorrow."
"Tomorrow? Great, I'll enrol today then. Can you tell me where?"
"You... don't get what I'm saying, do you?" Jaune blinked and looked at her. The blonde sighed. "Never mind, if you want to sign up then you need to send your transcripts there, along with a reference from your previous combat school. The headmaster then decides whether he wants to accept your or not and sends a letter back by post."
Yang looked at him as she said that, tilting her head as though waiting for him to catch on to something. "What's post?"
"Some kind of wooden stick, I think."
"Okay Yang," he said, "Thanks for your help. Do you know where I can send some posts from?"
"Yeah… tell you what; I'll give you their scroll address. At least that'll be instant for you. You got your scroll on hand?" Ah, sending a message by scroll. That he could do! Jaune passed his across the table to her. "Whoah," she gasped, "This is like... this is a really advanced model. I didn't even think this was going to be released for a couple of months!"
"It is? My Uncle got it for me a while back." Uncle Watts that was, and he'd proudly talked about how he'd used his connections to get the newest and best model for Jaune's birthday. At the time the man had seemed to be waiting for a response, though Jaune hadn't been sure what. He'd thanked his Uncle and accepted it though. It was a good scroll.
"It's amazing," she said, tapping on it. "It's not even on the market yet. Ah, here you go, I've added the school's address. Just attach your stuff to it, write a message and if you're lucky they might get back to you."
From the tone of her voice she didn't seem to think that was very likely. The heavy sensation in his gut echoed that sentiment, despite the smile he struggled to keep on his face. Transcripts, a past combat school, references!? Did a reference from Salem Arc, Queen of the Grimm, count? Somehow he had the suspicion it wouldn't. "Thanks a lot Yang," he said and stood up, "You're a really nice person."
Her cheeks actually went a little red at that. The girl coughed and glanced away – though she might have muttered something about him being strange. Uh-oh, maybe it was time to relocate before he blew his cover. Luckily she didn't follow after him.
"Can we go home now?" Remy asked, "No transcripts means no Beacon. That's the end of it, right?"
"Not necessarily," Jaune said out loud. Remy seemed to be waiting for him to expand on that but he kept quiet. It wasn't because he wanted it to be a surprise, however. It was because he had no idea whatsoever. Dad never said anything about this, though I guess I never asked him how he got started. What am I going to do? I've never been to a combat school before!
He could fight… Uncle Hazel had made sure of that; would that be enough for Beacon? Maybe there was some kind of test, something he could do in order to prove his worth. There had to be something he could do!
Maybe a walk around Vale would give him some inspiration? Help clear his mind.
/-/
By the time night rolled around, Vale had lost much of its splendour in his eyes. The streets were still packed and lively, but the people were so rude! Some had knocked him around as he tried to slowly walk down the streets; others had insulted him and shouted for him to move faster. He didn't know where he was going though, so how could he get there faster?
"If these idiots knew who you truly were, they wouldn't dare be so rude."
"They don't know, Remy," Jaune sighed, "Besides, they can't know, remember? I can't exactly become a huntsman if everyone knows who my mother is."
That didn't really excuse them. Remy was right, the people here were very rude, but at least it wasn't personal. The people in his books had been a lot nicer, but maybe that was because they'd been talking to the hero of the story. He might be able to rely on that if he got into Beacon and became a super-cool huntsman.
"You still have no idea how to get around your transcripts, do you?"
"Actually," Jaune thought, "I've got a great idea."
"Oh dear… I'd say I daren't ask, but since my life is intrinsically tied to yours, I'm sort of forced to."
"My not having transcripts is a problem, sure, but you have to remember that in all the stories, the hero doesn't always have everything available at the start either."
"Need I remind you of the differences between real life and fiction?"
"Stories can be based on real life too. What I'm saying is that sometimes you can go through the normal channels, but what if I got myself `invited` into Beacon some other way?"
"Invited, how?"
"Beacon is a school for huntsman and heroes," he said, smiling widely, "If I show them all that I have what it takes, they've got to take me in. Instead of applying the normal way I'll win my place with a feat of strength!"
The thought had struck in a moment of inspiration as he thought back on how the hero of one of his stories had fared when faced with a Princess that didn't realise he was a true knight. He'd had to go slay a dragon to prove it beyond a doubt. It would be the same here, except he wasn't going to go and hurt Kevin like that.
"Against all odds that isn't a terrible idea," Remy sounded amazed. "It should be pretty safe too if you go and slay a bunch of Grimm. Do it on the school's borders and they're bound to notice and want you in Beacon."
"Whoah," Jaune said out loud, startling some passers-by before he realised. "I'm not going to start killing Grimm!" Jaune hissed inside his head, "Why would I do that!?"
"… You're kidding me…" Remy sighed. "Jaune, you do realise that most of the Grimm outside your mother's lands are absolutely mindless. They don't feel pain or even really think. Also, what do you think a huntsman does?"
"A huntsman stops the Grimm," he thought, "That doesn't necessarily mean I need to kill them – and it doesn't now either. Huntsman fight against more than just Grimm, remember. Dad always says some of the evillest people in the world look sweet and kind on the surface."
"He was probably referring to your mother!"
"Details," Jaune rolled his eyes, "Anyway, all we need to do is stop some terrible criminal or baddie – that way I won't have to kill Grimm and I can prove my worth to everyone."
"And what?" Remy scoffed, "You think a `bad guy` is just going to come flying out into the street?"
A nearby window smashed as a figure was sent careening through it to slump at Jaune's feet. The man groaned and looked up at him for a moment, before he collapsed with a grunt and lay still.
"That doesn't count."
It totally did.
"Time to be the hero." Jaune grinned and reached for his sword, only to pause. Sure, he could run in, sword-drawn and ready for heroism… but his swordplay wasn't the best. In fact, when it came to using Crocea Mors, he was pretty much garbage. His father had given it to him as a gift and tried to train him in it… Hazel had tried too, but the forms just didn't come easily. He needed to make an impression here… one that would get him invited into Beacon. There was no way he was going to manage that if he made a fool of himself. He ducked into a nearby alleyway and closed his eyes.
The change came swiftly. Blood seemed to drain from his face as his skin turned snow white. The blonde in his hair slipped back, as though being washed away as his locks changed to the colour of freshly fallen snow. With a noticeable twinge, the veins on his face darkened and turned almost black. His eyes snapped open to reveal crimson orbs surrounded by a sclera of darkest black.
"Perfect," Jaune whispered, his voice a little deeper as he clenched and unclenched one fist. The transformation made him stronger and faster, hopefully enough so to make up for his lack of skill. And if all else went wrong… well, there were other benefits.
The streets had emptied by the time he came out, people no doubt running away from the danger. His mother would have told him to do the same if she were here, but right now he had to prove himself, to prove that he was someone worthy of becoming a huntsman. He stepped over the downed body on the floor as shadows coalesced around his body. It was a dust shop from what he could see; there were rows and rows of the substance on the shelves. The bell over the door jingled as he entered, not that anyone inside heard him.
Another man crashed into a pillar to his left, sliding down it with a groan. Others were laid out in similar situations, some clutching their heads or other injuries, groaning and moaning. In the middle of them all stood two people, a tall man in a white jacket, and opposite him – a short girl in red, wielding a huge scythe.
Jaune realised what was happening in an instant. Men unconscious and hurt across the floor, a tall man in a similar suit – albeit opposite colours – backing away in worry. A girl with a scythe pointed towards him. She smiled as she stood among the downed men?
It was a robbery.
Which meant it was time for Jaune Salem Arc to become the hero. "Stop!" he shouted, stepping forward with one hand raised. The two figures turned to look at him, eyes widening as they saw his pale face.
"Not more of you," the man with the orange hair groaned. "Where do they all keep coming from?" He coughed and turned so that he had an arm facing each of them, "What's say we resolve this without violence, eh? We can talk like adults."
"No need," Jaune said, "For daring to commit a crime and place the people of Vale at risk, I will bring you in, villain."
"Tch."
"Yeah!"
Jaune's eyes narrowed as he stepped forwards to face his foe.
"Wait, her!?"
"Eh!?" the girl blinked.
The poor man sounded amazed. No doubt he'd expected everyone to leave him in the hands of this villainess and save their own skins. She, meanwhile, looked behind her as though to check he wasn't addressing someone else. Was she trying to confuse him? How ridiculous... she had come into this store and attacked these businessmen, who no doubt were here on some important task. To draw a weapon on an unarmed man too, one that had to use a walking stick to get around?
That was unforgivable.
Jaune pointed one hand towards her. "Don't think you can hide your crime, you villainous fiend."
"Her crim-? I mean yeah, boo - get that evil fiend!"
"What? I'm not a villain!" The violent girl twirled her weapon around and pointed it straight at him. Didn't she get the memo? All the evil people wielded scythes… it was like the weapon of a baddie. "If you're with him then I'll stop both of you."
"You can try," Jaune crossed his arms, smiling down on her. Oh yeah, I bet that sounded so cool. All the good huntsmen and heroes needed some kickass catchphrase. That could be hi- "Whoah!" Jaune dodged back as the girl's weapon slammed into the floor. "Attacking while I was distracted," he growled, "How devious."
"N-No it's not," she looked horrified as she stared at him, "I'm not devious! You're working with Roman Torchwick; that makes you evil!"
Jaune's pale brow furrowed as he tried to understand what she meant. She had come in here and attacked a bunch of shoppers. She'd even launched some out of the window, which had to be pretty dangerous. What if they'd been badly hurt?
"Don't listen to her," the well-dressed man called from behind, "She's trying to trick you!"
Tch, as though he'd fall for something like that. Okay, maybe he'd already fallen for her first trick since she attacked after she distracted him but this- ah… she was doing it again! "Nice try," he smirked and ignored the girl's confused expression, "I'm not going to fall for it."
"Fall for what!? I didn't do anything!"
"Exactly," Jaune nodded. She hadn't done anything because he'd seen through her plan.
Silver eyes blinked owlishly, and there was something about those which made him feel uncomfortable, but they were soon hidden as she scrunched up her face, shook her head and readied her weapon. "Ugh... I don't really know what's going on, so I'm just going to stop you now, kay?"
"Careful," Jaune's new ally warned and readied his cane, "She's pretty damn fast."
Resolve surged within him as he nodded and waved for the man to step back. There was no way this guy could be the criminal here, not when he was prepared to stand up against this girl to protect his friends, even if he was disabled in some way and needed a walking stick. "Stay back," Jaune said, "Allow me to handle this. Do you have some method of escape?"
"I've called a Bullhead. It'll be here in five minutes if you can hold her off."
Jaune hummed but nodded. It sounded pretty inefficient to him, especially since from what he'd read, cows were pretty sedate creatures. Maybe bulls were faster, and hey, he was the tourist here. If the people of Vale wanted to ride around on the back of cattle, who was he to stop them? "I understand," Jaune lied, "Leave this to me."
The girl before them had clearly had enough of their conversation and lunged forwards at speeds he could barely keep track off. Red blurred with silver eyes and a weapon that swished through the air towards his neck.
Intense heat pooled in his hand as the air around him began to smell of ozone. Sweat beaded on his brow but he focused on the task ahead and slashed his arm before him. The tendrils of fire that had sprung to life there blazed towards the girl. Heh, I'd better thank big sis for getting bored and teaching me that.
The girl gasped and dodged back, twisting and twirling through the air as the flames chased her. She slashed at one, only for the fire to coil like a snake towards her. It wasn't until she retreated behind the injured men that the flames stopped. Not a single one of them was harmed. Her eyes narrowed as she fell into a crouch and pulled back on a lever.
Pain blossomed across Jaune's shoulder as startled cry tore itself from his throat. He staggered back and clutched at his chest, but his thick aura had prevented any damage. "It will take more than that to strike me low, scum." Jaune shouted. He hoped some people outside had heard, since at the end of the day this was only going to work if Beacon heard of his heroism. Maybe the theatrics were a bit much, but he only had the one shot. "You've brought another enemy here? Face me, coward."
"Actually, the brat's weapon is a sniper rifle," his orange-haired friend whispered. "There isn't anyone else."
"I knew that…"
The man didn't look fully convinced but clearly decided not to argue. "Whatever, you must have some serious aura to take that without feeling winded. Not to mention the flames… those look oddly familiar."
Jaune cracked his neck but didn't answer. His aura was incredible, a testament to his parents. Nicholas was a prime huntsman, as powerful as they came – and his mother? Yeah… let's just say there were some good genetics there.
"We have to get to the rooftops," the man beside him whispered.
"Why?" Jaune almost pouted, "I can take her."
The girl was tough for sure, but eventually he'd be able to wear her down. He had been trained by Hazel himself, not to mention his mother, big sis and the others on occasion. It would be a cold day in the Grimmlands before some little girl could beat him at full power.
"Something like this is bound to draw reinforcements for her."
"What about the police?"
"Them?" the man scoffed, "They're usele- I mean, if the police arrive then she'll just hurt them too, y'know? Do you want to see innocent men torn from their families because they tried to tangle with her?"
Frustration bubbled beneath the surface but Jaune nodded. This guy knew more than he did around here and surely someone this strong would be well known. Not everyone's going to be as strong as me. I can take her, but can normal people? "Okay," Jaune sighed, "You're right." He held an arm out and started to back away, herding the unarmed businessman behind him as he went.
"I won't let you escape!" The reaper in red cried. In some ridiculously complex manoeuvre she turned and fired her weapon backwards, using the force of it to launch herself towards them. With how fast she was there would be no escape if they tried to run. She could run them down forever.
He couldn't afford to waste time like that. Red eyes glowed as he slashed an arm across his body and summoned a tentacle of pure, black power. It lashed forward to catch the girl by her ankle and hoist her upwards as she cried out in shock. Out of politeness he averted his eyes as her skirt fell down, before – a little less politely – he tossed her back into a shelving unit.
"What the hell was that!?" the man gasped, but Jaune simply shook his head, pushing him out the door. That was something he didn't really want or care to explain.
"Semblance," he said, as best an explanation as he could give. It was and it wasn't, though the actual explanation would be too difficult to explain. Most of it boiled down to his genetics, who he was and the fact that he had Remy inside of him. Summoning tentacles made of Grimm material wasn't exactly a normal person kind of thing, however, so the less people knew, the better.
"Right, fine," the man shook his head, gripping onto his bowler hat. "Clearly I've entered the crazy zone but beggars can't be choosers. We'll need to get up onto a rooftop. Come on, there's a ladder over there."
Jaune nodded and rushed after the man, climbing up behind him. He heard the girl shout after them by the time they'd reached the top, red cloak billowing as she came crashing out of the store front. Damn but she was persistent. He guessed the super villains always were, that was how they became super, after all.
"Looks like our ride is here!" The man reached down to help Jaune up and the two rushed off towards a strange vehicle that was definitely more machine than bovine. Travel by Nevermore had already been rougher than he'd ever imagined. How bad would this great, metal monstrosity be? With the girl shooting her way up the stairs, he didn't have the time to waste.
"I'm in," Jaune said as he clambered inside and nodded a friendly greeting to the man's allies. They watched him warily but he ignored it. They were probably just in awe of how heroic he looked with his red eyes and veined face.
"Stop!" the girl screamed, firing a couple of shots. They pinged off the metal around them, making the guy duck.
"Damn brat," his friend yelled, "If that's how you want to play it then try this on for size." Jaune watched as he pulled his cane back, loading something into it. So it was a weapon. Either way, self-defence was useful. The man clicked it shut, taking aim with a wide grin. The impact flew towards the girl, her face twisting in panic at the last second, before a huge explosion engulfed the rooftop. "How about that?"
The metal Nevermore lurched.
"Is that normal?" Jaune asked, already feeling his stomach coming up. It shook again to the side, seeming to descend against its will. "I'm not an expert but this feels very non-normal."
"Damn it," the suited man cursed, looking back towards the rooftop. "And here comes her cavalry."
Atop the rooftop a blonde woman with glasses stood before their enemy. A strange, eldritch sigil floated in the air before her, fire and dust from the earlier attack sliding down it. She pulled her hand back and the Nevermore seemed to shift towards her.
"Where's the boss lady? We could really use her here!"
"She isn't coming," another man called back, "She called to say there'd been some kind of emergency on her end and she had to sort it out. She wouldn't say more!"
"Damn it," the orange-haired man cursed and turned to Jaune, "Hey, kid, I don't who you are or what you can do, but if you can't pull a miracle out of your ass then we're toast!"
A miracle? A heavy weight settled deep within his stomach as he stared leadenly out at the two criminals. The dust on his clothing was spent, so big sis' fire was out of the question. His tentacles could reach maybe six or seven feet at best and the sword on his hip was decorative. Still, there was one option… as much as he hated the thought of it. "There's something I can do," Jaune sighed. "You have to promise not to tell anyone, though."
"If you can fix this I'll do anything. Just get it done!"
Jaune nodded and stepped forward, into the sight of the enemies below. He glared at them for a moment, before he slowly brought his hand up to his mouth and bit down. Sharp teeth cut through the flesh with ease, aura giving way beneath his intent to cause damage. Blood pooled in his palm and turned a thick, black as the powers granted to him by his mother's line tool hold. "Distraction only," he whispered inside his mind.
"Got it," Remy sent back. "This is risky, though… everything else can be explained away. You sure this is worth it?"
He didn't answer with words but instead stared down into the blonde woman's eyes. The girl behind her seemed slack jawed as she stared up at them. "Let us go in peace," he called. He saw those emerald eyes widen as she finally took in the heroic sight of him. "If you do not," he warned, "Then I'll be forced to make you."
"Who... what are you?"
There was no answer he could give to that. With a sigh he drew his hand back over one shoulder, only to swing it back a second later. Blood flew from his palm to splatter on the concrete rooftop between the two groups. It hissed against the stone.
"Not for nothing kid," his friend sighed, "But I'm not sure wh- holy crap!" The man's gasp was well-warranted as the blood began to bubble and grow. Like tar it reared up of its own power to take the shape of three small Beowolves. They lifted their heads and howled into the night's sky. Did the poor man think him a monster, now? Jaune hoped not… He would prove to them that he could be a hero.
"These should be enough to keep you busy," he called down to the startled women. He felt a small twinge of sympathy… they were evil, but he wasn't. He sighed and scratched his cheek… it was a bit soft of him, not to mention it ruined the heroic image a bit, but he didn't like to see two girls look afraid. "Worry not," he called out in what he hoped wasn't too comforting of a voice, "Accept your fate and they shall be merciful."
"You won't get away with this," the blonde snarled, though she proved herself wrong a second later when she let go of the vehicle and turned to face the Grimm. "Someone with the power to create Grimm is an enemy of all mankind," she stared directly into his eyes, "We will hunt you down, monster. There will be nowhere you can hide from us!"
Hmph... as though someone like her could break into a place as famous as Beacon.
"She's let go," the man hissed to his companion, "Get us out of here!"
The door slammed shut as the metal Nevermore lurched to the side and caused Jaune's stomach to do the same. Buildings and towers passed them by with incredible speed. "The Grimm died," Remy said. The little Grimm sounded exhausted. "Neither of the women were hurt."
"Thank you, Remy." Jaune stroked his arm where the parasite was burrowed. "Get some sleep. You've earned it."
"Who the hell are you?" The white-suited man regarded him with some wary fear, as Jaune had known he would.
"My name is Jaune Salem Arc," he said, releasing his powers and letting his skin turn back to a normal colour and his hair to blond. He smiled at the man, as best he could. He thought about adding the short and sweet line, but the poor man looked pretty stressed. "You don't need to worry sir. I'm just an aspiring huntsman doing his bit to stop a crime taking place."
"Just a huntsman doing his bit," The man pulled forth a cigar and lit it as he shook his head. "I kinda hate to tell you this kid… but do you know who I am?"
"There wasn't a chance to ask. Not with that crazy girl attacking you."
"Crazy girl... Yeah, not to mention the huntress helping her. Anyway, the name's Roman Torchwick, not that I think that means anything to you."
He didn't recognise the name, but then again he wasn't native to Vale. And wait a minute…
"Did you say huntress?" Jaune asked, suddenly nervous.
"Oh boy..." Roman grinned, "You might want to sit down before I tell you this, kid."
Oh my, Jaune… well, to be fair what was he supposed to do? There's a girl swinging around a scythe and hurting all those well-dressed businessmen! Then she attacks a person walking with a cane? That's despicable!
And oh, there were oh so many people wondering how I would manage his power. With his heritage, there's just no way he could be weak – and some feared I'd ignore that and have him be useless. On the other hand, if he's too strong then he could have been OP for Beacon. Well, hopefully this has answered some of that, lol.
Next Chapter: 22nd January
P a treon . com (slash) Coeur