Chapter 3
Jaune was scared, now that wasn't saying much since after the incident in old Mellow's house a few weeks back fear had become a very common felling for him. He still had a lot of nightmares and whenever he was left alone a felling of panic would slowly but surely start to rise up inside of him. Today though, it was a different type of fear. It was finally time to go back to school and Jaune was concerned of what he would find.
'This is stupid, I didn't do anything wrong so why I'm scared? It's not like the other kids are going to mock me, I mean, why would they? By now everyone in Ansel already know what happened, so they know I did the stupid dare, it should be fine.' Despite telling himself that the anxious felling inside him did not go away, but its not like he could just stay in the school hallway forever, so with with one last deep breath he entered his classroom.
For a small village Ansel had a surprising number of children, not enough to compare with the big city schools but enough that in Jaune's class alone there were 14 other kids, though some where a year older or younger, still for a small place like their village those where impressive numbers. All of them went instantly quiet when Jaune entered the room.
Pushing back the urge to run he made his way to his desk, he had just opened his backpack when he noticed Cooper standing beside him.
Cooper Lore was the most popular kid in his class, and the one Jaune get along worst with, he wouldn't go as far to say that Cooper bullied him but he certainly had been the butt of the other kid jokes more often them he liked. He also had been the one to make the dare that almost cost Jaune life and the one who most taunted him into doing it. Just looking at him made Jaune blood boil.
'What does he want this time?' Before he could open his mouth to make the question though he got his answer.
"I'm sorry." Said the other kid without meeting Jaune's eyes.
The boy almost didn't believe his ears, he was sorry? Of all the things he tough the other boy could say that was not one of them.
Taking a better look at Cooper he realized that he was telling the truth though, he looked clearly scared and guilty, his eyes locked in his own feet.
"We didn't know there was a Grimm and there, and we didn't want you to get hurt, and I know that doesn't make it up but, I mean, we just, I just…" The words rushed out of his mouth so fast Jaune almost had trouble understating them, but he clearly understood their meaning, he was apologizing.
Should Jaune forgive him though? He almost died after all, Sparrow actually died! How could he expect to be forgiven for something like that?
He opened his mouth to tell him as much but… Was all that happend really only Cooper's fault? Sure he and the others might have dared him to go inside, but they didn't made him, his own pride did that, and when Sparrow showed up they did tell him Jaune was inside even though they probably would had rather just run home immediately without saying anything.
He could only imagine what their parents did when they found out. He hadn't been here for Sparrow's funeral, still in the hospital in Vale at the time, but he was sure the other kids had, he wondered if they blamed themselves for his death too.
He took another look at Cooper, clearly the other kids was expecting Jaune to chew him out, and so was Cooper himself but the other boy still stood there, looking like a prisoner waiting execution. In the end though getting angry at him wouldn't change what happened, at best it would make things awkward in school and that wouldn't do anyone any good.
"Its okay." Said Jaune finally.
The other kid looked up, shocked "Really?" He clearly had trouble believing it.
"Yea, I mean you shouldn't have made that stupid dare, but I shouldn't have accepted it, and if you hadn't told Sparrow about me, well… lets just forget about it okay?"
"Oh, okay, I mean if that is okay with you…" Cooper looked incredibly relived. After seeing how well he's apology went for him, many of the other kids that had been there that day started coming forward to ask forgiveness too. It annoyed Jaune how until now they were content to just sit back and let Cooper bear everything by himself, but whatever, he would let it go. It was best if everyone got along after all.
_/**\_
3 years later
"Alright I'm going to call him" Said Julius Arc. He and his wife had spend the last three years discussing between themselves and the Headmaster of Beacon, Jaune's future and eventually agreed with the man's proposal. As dangerous as Huntsman training could be, they didn't want their son to have to grow up afraid, always wondering if somebody would come for him or the people he loved, the training would not only give their child a way to protect himself but also a way to live with less fear and now, it was time to tell him about it. A while back they had already told him about how there might be some people that might come after him one day because of his semblance, but they had yet to tell him about Beacon, choosing to give him some time to process the news.
Yesterday it had been Jaune's 13th birthay and now was time to start his training witch meant they couldn't delay telling him their decision any longer. Before he could leave to get his son though his wife called him.
"Wait, there is something I want to talk to you about first. Its about how Jaune been doing." Layla Arc's face looked conflicted.
"What is it? I though he was doing great. Bit of a smart ass sure but also the most social kid in all of Ansel."And wasn't that a shock? After the incident he and his wife had been worried Jaune would start to close himself to people, but to their surprise he actually became more and more extroverted after it. It started small, hanging with friends outside more often them usual or bringing them home to do something when before he would rather keep them away from his sisters as much as possible, but as time passed Jaune became the most popular kids in his school, and seemed to get along with the majority of the people in the village, even his sisters seemed to like him more, at least when they weren't trying to kill each other, but that is just how siblings are.
"That is what actually what I'm concerned about." Replied Layla.
"What? You're concerned that Jaune is getting along with people?" Julius looked dumbfounded.
"I'm concerned that Jaune is always getting along with people. Whether is schoolwork, chores, playing a games, he always find somebody to do it with him."
"And what is wrong with that? That is just how he is." Julius did not understand what had her concerned. Was she feeling sad that her baby boy was growing up?
"It's not how he used to be." Replied Layla looking frustrated. "I know he's changed, and that is fine, but I'm concerned that the reason he makes sure there are always somebody around him is not just because he enjoys having people around but because he needs to have people around, do you understand?" His wife looked at him in a way that made clear she wouldn't accepted a simple dismissal.
He sighed, but he knew he couldn't disagree with her, not when it came to Jaune's well-being "Okay do you want me to talk to him about it?"
"Yes, I might be wrong but I want to be sure, and I think he might be more willing to talk to you about this. His at that age where boys really don't want their mother fussing over them"
"Okay, I will do it later, but for now I'm going to call him, are you ready?"
She nodded.
The weeks prior Julius and his wife had discretely sounded their son about the subject of Huntsman, in preparation for this conversation. He knew that when he was younger Jaune had wanted to join Beacon and became a Huntsman, but as far as he could tell that dream had died a quick death after the events with the Grimm three years back. While Jaune had more respect for the profession then ever, he didn't seen personally interested in it at all anymore. Hopefully he wouldn't be too upset about this.
_/**\_
It was official, Jaune's parents had gone insane.
That was the only explanation he could think off about why he was currently at Vale, entering a Huntsman weapon's store. When they first told him about their deal with the Headmaster of Beacon last week he though they were joking. When it quickly became clear they were not, he kindly asked them if they had been eating anything strange and if maybe he should call the doctor. They didn't like that very much.
He understood their logic, it wasn't like it was rocket science: a stronger Jaune would be a safer Jaune, and it's not like he was against training. They even already had some! Though to be fair they had to considering what happened...
Shortly after they returned from the hospital after a particularly bad nightmare he had fallen of his bed, half-awake he had instinctively used his semblance like in the hospital and went right trough the floor of his room.
Luckily his room was on the second floor and he had been able to deactivate semblance before he fell through the floor of the room below him so he did not just fall inside the planet, not so luckily the room below him belonged to one of his younger sister's and she was quite scared after she woke up with the loud bang of Jaune's body hitting the floor. She got up with scream and being too dark to see she did not recognize her brother causing her to scream even louder when she saw what appeared to her like big shadow on the floor next to her bed. She spent the next month on their parents bed and only started using her own room again when their father put a "Big brother net" on the ceiling of her bedroom. After that Jaune's dad made a point of helping him learn how to at least reliably not use his semblance. It wasn't easy at first, his initial reaction to any danger being to just rely on his new power, but eventually with some effort and the horrible fear of what would happen if he tripped one day, he got the hang of it, becoming able to simply block the hits he took with his aura as opposed to always letting them trough. It had been years since he had an incident of unintentional phasing. To this day the Big brother net remains.
The point was Jaune was fine with training, more them fine really! But did the training really had to involve facing off against soulless monsters that wanted nothing but kill all people of remnant?
He didn't think so.
Yet here he was, choosing the weapon that he would use until he graduated beacon. He would be 21 years old by them! A lifetime! Supposing he lasted that long anyway. This was so unfair.
"I know this isn't what you wanted" Said his father, the cruel warden that had dragged him all the way to Vale. "But trust us this is for your own good."Jaune wanted to argue that, but having already done so several times to no effect he simply resigned himself to enter the store tough not before sending his father one last glare.
When his dad told him they were going to Vale to pick his weapon, one of (though certainly not the only one) objections that Jaune had was: 'Is there really a need to go all that way for that? We have weapons here in the village! How different could a weapon store in Vale really be?'Entering the store now, he had to concede that his father had been right.
The place was massive, Jaune had seen the store form the outside sure, but he though that it was some sort of shopping mall, the weapon store just being a small part of it, but now that he was inside he could tell the whole place was focused on Huntsman gear and nothing else. Just from where he stood he could see wall after wall of weapons, ammo, vests and much more, and that was just the first floor!
"Come on son, this way." His father went further inside, with a small smirk on his face that told Jaune he had seen his awed expression. After making sure he looked sufficiently displeased again the boy followed. It wouldn't do for his dad to think he was enjoying this.
They took an elevator to the an underground level, exiting it, Jaune found himself at what looked like a giant shooting range with all sorts of different types of areas inside it. Noticing them a man came closer.
He was big, with gray hair and a sharp look that Jaune recognized immediately, he was a retired Hunter just like the others at home. He approached them with a big smile on his face.
"What is this? A future Huntsman in the making here to pick his weapon? Wonderful! My name is Ajax and I run this range. Follow the rules and you should have your new companion sorted out in no time, disrespect them though and we are going to have a problem." He looked straight at Jaune saying that with a look that told the boy he really didn't want to have a problem.
"Hello Ajax, I'm Julius and this is my son Jaune, could you show us some of the different types of weapons?"
"Of course, of course, do you already have something in mind Jaune?"
"Do you have any intercontinental missiles in stock?" The boy said with a serious look on his face.
"What? I'm sorry boy but that might be a little too much even for this store" Ajax answered looking amused.
"You have to excuse my son he's been in a mood recently. Take this serious Jaune." Said Julius with a stern look.
"It's fine" Said Ajax "How about a sniper kid? They have a lot of range and a lot of power, though it also takes a lot effort to learn how use one. How about you give it a go?"
The next hours where spent with Jaune trying out all sorts of different weapons, while his father and Ajax would comment on their strength's and weakness's. He liked the sniper, if he had to kill monsters he would prefer to do it as far way as possible after all, but the weight and the fact the weapon was not nearly as effective at close range made it hard for him to choose it. After all while he was not planing on getting close to a Grimm he knew better than to expect them to not get close to him, at which point the lack of mobility and effective could very well cost his life.
Another thing that got Jaune's attention was the fact that many weapons had "Mechashift" to them as well as something called "Enhanced recoil" witch meant that weapons could not only change from one to another but also, if they were guns, they could send whoever fired them in the opposite direction of the bullet. Ajax promised that this was a feature, not a bug.
"What if I wanna fire my gun but not by send flying? Is there an option to turn it off?" Asked Jaune
"As a matter of fact there is! It varies from weapon to weapon, but usually all you need to do is press a button and the mechanism that enhances the recoil can be deactivate allowing you to switch to normal firing mode easily enough." Answered Ajax.
"Could I have a sniper rifle mechashift into a sub machine gun? Or some other type of gun better to close distance?" That would be perfect. That way he would have a way to deal with Grimm both at close and long distance without ever having to get close enough to get killed by them!
"Unfortunately no, while having guns shift to melee ones is possible, having them shift to other guns tends to be impossible more often them not"
"Why not?" Jaune didn't mean to whine but he was disappointed to say the least.
"Guns are more complicated them melee weapons. Rearranging all the parts is not enough to turn on into another and adding more can cause the weapons to be to heavy to be used." The retired Huntsman explained patiently. "Not to mention problems with different calibers and firing mechanisms. The bullet of a sniper is very different to a bullet of a shotgun."
In the end he settled for two revolvers with enhanced recoil, deciding to focus on his mobility above all else. The revolvers only had 5 bullets each, and was not meant to be used at anything above mid range, but they packed a punch and having both of them allowed Jaune to quickly change direction at any time, the weapons were also simple and quick to reload. Sure Jaune would be forced to get closer to anything he wanted to fight them he would've liked but if you thought about it, any Grimm that was far away from him enough to justify using a long range weapon was a Grimm he was better of running away from in the first place. It was the ones near him that he had to be concerned about.
"What about your melee weapon?" Asked his father.
"Do I really need one? We have guns! Why get close when they can do the job just fine?" Replied Jaune.
"There is a reason most Hunters use melee weapons kid" Said Ajax "Guns are fine, but Grimm don't have organs and most often them not the way to kill them is to do devastating damage to their body's until they fall apart. Fill a Grimm with small holes and it will keep coming, bash his head in with a sledgehammer tough… well that usually does the trick." The large men laughed. "Tell you what, if is mobility you're after I could make so the revolvers can mechashift into daggers, how about that?"
"Daggers?" The weapon with so little range, Jaune would've to be practically hugging a bewolf to use? "How about a spear?" The boy said with an awkward laugh.
"Can't do, kid. The revolvers are to small for that. Of course you could always have the revolvers and the spear. These days there seems to be a fashion of only having one weapon with the younger crowd but personally I think the more options the better."
Jaune could agree, but he had tested the spear before and it was heavy. He knew that as he grew up it should be easier to carry but the whole reason he picked the revolvers was that he wanted to say light as he could so he could move as fast as he could, preferably in the opposite direction of danger.
"You know what? I think I will just have these two after all, start a new fashion."
"Wait, son" Said Julius concerned "You need a melee weapon, its not just about the damage, what do you plan on doing if you run out of ammo?"
"At that point I intend to follow the ammo example and just run." The boy answered with a smile.
"You won't always have that luxury son." There was a tone of reprimand on his father voice.
"Sure I will, did you forget what my semblance does?" At this point Jaune was getting annoyed.
"Son, listen to me…"
"No! You listen! I don't even want to do this! The only reason I'm doing it is because you're forcing me to, but at least you promised I could choose my own weapon and I chose it. I though an Arc never goes back on his word?" Jaune was angry now.
"Son…" His father clearly want to say something but didn't seen to find the words, in the end he only sighed and said "Alright, go wait in the car while I pay for these."
Jaune stomped his way to the elevator trying his best not to look at all the people watching the scene he made.
Julius massaged his temples, he could already tell his son training would no be an easy one.
"Ha ha" Ajax gave an awkward laugh "Kids right? So you're paying card? Credit or debit?."
