Better Days
For Jaune Arc, his second day at a school that taught super-powered children to fight monster made of nightmares could have been better. It could have been worse, had a red-headed girl not pinned him to a tree.
The second day at Beacon Academy hadn't started off very well for Jaune Arc. Waking up late after sleeping on the floor shared by a hundred other new students, practically inhaling a very rushed breakfast, to then running at a full sprint to be just in time for Initiation. Of course, he then got to find out that the Headmaster was going to launch them Into the Grimm-infested Emerald Forest. His stomach was already queasy after running such a short time after eating, so this 'first step' was already amongst his most hated moments of motion sickness to date.
Yes, for Jaune Arc, his second day could have started better.
*Ka-Thnk!*
"Thank you!"
"I'm sorry!"
It could have been worse, though. If the red-headed girl-Pyrrha Nikos, if he remembered right- hadn't pinned him to a tree with her spear, he would have become a red stain for some hungry baby Ursai to feed on. The fact that this was the second time she had speared him today was only a slight downside to him getting to live for a little longer, he supposed. Being raised with seven sisters who were constantly saving him from trouble, moments like this were almost a return to normalcy for him.
Seconds became minutes as he was deciding whether he should try to get himself down or wait there for someone to see him and take pity on the knight by helping him.
An unwelcome normalcy came, however, in the form of Weiss 'Snow Angel' Schnee came to a stop under his tree. Torn between getting down from his current position and saving face in front of a pretty girl, he could only summon a weak laugh and an awkward wave hi. To which she turned back the way she came, dragging Ruby, his first friend-if introductions and a pick-me-up were enough for friendship-away and out of sight by her hood.
No pity from the 'Ice Queen', then.
Giving up on preserving his masculinity, he waved his arms desperately to regain their attention. "Hey wait!" the blonde knight cried, hating how whiny he was coming off. "Who's gonna get me down from here?!" His arms came loosely back to his sides when they didn't turn around.
"Jaune?" came an almost immediate reply to his question. He turned his head downwards and saw the girl who pinned there to begin with. "Do you…" She paused, crossing her arms with a light smile on her face. "…Have any spots left on your team?"
"Very funny." He crossed his arms and looked away, annoyance on his features.
He couldn't keep up the act for very long, a grin came to his face before he even turned back to look at her. Honestly, he was elated that anyone would put up with saving his hide from a fall that any normal Huntsman-Student would have dealt with easily.
She smiled back, hers becoming a little wider at his antics. He chuckled. "I guess we're partners now, huh?" He stared down at her, immediately getting lost in her vibrant green eyes.
Her grin now had pearly white teeth showing. "I guess we are." She replied.
"Need some help?" The Spartan called up, raising a cheeky eyebrow at the next part. "Or are you just enjoying the view?"
That brought Jaune out of the sea of her eyes. He realized then that just looking down at her could easily be misconstrued as taking a peek at her…chest piece. He blushed rather heavily at that and turned his head away from the sight of her emerald-eyed gaze. "U-um, yeah. You pinned me real good…again." He stammered slightly, already awaiting a berating from the bronze champion. However, he missed the slight reddening of her cheeks at the unintentional double entendre of his statement.
'Yes,' she thought awkwardly, 'impaling your future partner'-she paused her thoughts to blush harder at that phrasing-'twice in one day does make for a bad first impression, doesn't it?'
"I'm sorry about that. I'll get you down in a sec." Pyrrha yelled out, preparing herself to run up the tree to disconnect him.
"It's fine," the Arc said to the Mistralian as she pushed upwards and grabbed onto the shaft of Milὀ, "I'd rather be alive and embarrassed than dead and-" He was cut off as the crimson warrior pulled the tri-form spear out of his hood and the tree, giving him no leg to stand on, so to speak. He crashed heavily at the base of the tree, releasing an "Oofm!" while Pyrrha landed gracefully, with only a slight "Hmph" at the little effort that required. "-Dead…owww…" the white knight tried finally finished his sentence without grimacing too hard at the bruising of his tailbone on a large root.
Pyrrha smiled apologetically. "Sorry."
He smiled through the pain. "You apologize too much." He got up, ignoring the stinging in his rear when he began to dust himself off. "We're partners now. Don't worry about it." He tilted his head away from her to avoid her hearing. "If anything, I'm sorry." He mumbled to himself.
'I mean think about it:' His inner thoughts began. 'This girl is smart, kind, obviously very powerful and skilled if she's a four-time champion. He stopped in cleaning his clothes, giving her a quick but respectful look over as she checked her javelin to see if it was still in perfect condition after she launched it. 'And if I have to say: very, very beautiful to boot.' He kept his blush as hidden as possible.
'And now she's stuck with you.' Pessimism had reared its ugly head. 'A kid with a rusty old sword who doesn't know his ass from a hole in the ground about monsters like Grimm, let alone fighting with it!' Well, he had a point, didn't he?
He had used most of his personal savings on paying for fake transcripts to get into Beacon, for what? To be a hero, the kind people thought of when they heard the name 'Arc'? Wars and revolutions had been won with the help of his ancestors. Was it worth trying to recreate the legends with lies? Especially now, that if he got caught-'When you get caught', Pessimism reminded him-, it would ruin this wonderful girl's future as a huntress?
He had half a mind to call up Ozpin now and confess his sins now, begging that no ill will would befall Pyrrha.
…The other half almost agreed.
##########
Pyrrha had used inspecting her weapon as an attempt at hiding a small smile that had formed on her lips when he said they were partners. She had honestly been worried about being partnered with someone who would use her standing as a quick ride to success. People like Weiss- no offense to Weiss, of course. She seemed really nice once you got to know her- had always known and seen her as 'The Invincible Girl'. An unstoppable force of skill and wit who was quickly rising in the ranks to join the pantheon of Remnants Greatest Huntsmen.
But not to one Jaune Arc. From what she saw when she look into those sapphires he called eyes, he saw her as Pyrrha: the girl… who turns out to be the one on the box of overly-sweetened junk food disguised as breakfast. To him, she was 'That Nice Girl Who Spears Him and Then Says Sorry'.
She liked that second title way more than the first one. More than she should have.
But what exactly did she see in the dusty blonde?
She thought back to their initial meeting in the Rocket Locker Room. To be honest, what she saw was a young man who, despite his 'Lady Killer' confidence, looked so lost and out of place amongst the other students with just a shield and a sword; like the knights of Old and fairy tales that children loved. A plain, double-edge sword and kite shield in a world of collapsible sniper-scythes and purses that turned into Gatling guns.
She loved the classics, though.
It wasn't like he was horrible to look at, either. It's just, when compared to the musclebound jocks like Cardin Winchester or the pretty boys like Lie Ren, he was just normal. Like Vanilla ice cream surrounded by a rainbow of colors and flavors.
Turns out, Vanilla was her favorite flavor, bar none.
Even with her sharpened Aura training, she could barely sense his Aura, let alone figure his Semblance out. But that didn't matter. She could feel the warmth of his being, emanating off him in waves so massive, it was a wonder no else had complained about the heat.
The warmth wasn't of pure innocence, though. He was, as far as she could tell, a healthy teenage boy with all the hormones and impure thoughts that made imperfect people just plain people. And in a school where they trained your mind and body to destroy, whether for good or bad, innocence was stamped out sooner rather than later.
No. The warmth of his being was kindness. Like 'helping little old ladies across the street', or 'making children smile by making silly faces' kindness. The kindness in his soul was a river that ran very deep. It was like he'd rather break his own arm than hurt someone he cared for, even remotely. She knew, without a doubt in her mind, that no matter what happened to him; no matter how life stomped on him and kicked him while he was down, reminding him that getting up would only result in greater pain; he would pick himself up, dust himself off, and immediately lend his hand to a friend in need.
She loved that about him more than all her years of fame in Mistral combined.
So, as to what she saw when she looked at Jaune? She saw the perfect four-year partner for a girl who wanted to be normal for once in her life; She had transferred to a new school-to a different kingdom!- to find a school like Beacon: a school of new beginnings for a little champion.
To her, he was the perfect friend a girl like her could ask for.
She hadn't had a real friend in years. Not one with a meaningful connection, anyway. She had watched him after she and Weiss had left him. He spoke with the little red-hooded girl and her fiery blonde sister. They looked like they were getting along well. He deserved to have good friends like that. She had turned back to the Schnee heiress and continued their small talk.
They would be good friends in the future.
She wanted to be Jaune's friend, too.
Maybe more, one day; Perhaps by the end of their first year…
A champion could still dream big, right?
Until then, she would try stacking the deck in her favor. Her Semblance was a form a manipulation, was it not?
So when she landed in that tree, taking aim and keeping an eye out for that white knight, she saw Opportunity before she heard it knocking. And she answered fiercely… by pinning Jaune Arc to a tree with a rifle-boosted javelin throw.
*Ka-Thnk!*
"Thank you!"
"I'm sorry!"
And here she was: almost seven minutes later, and she did not regret her choice at all. Not in the slightest. 'In fact,' she had thought to herself, smiling softly as her partner hung from a tree, crossing his arms and looking away pouty, 'since this is to be a new beginning for me, I think I will live this life without regrets.'
She was pulled out of her very long train of thought by what sounded like Jaune mumbling to himself about 'being sorry.'
"What was that?" The Champion-turn-Student inquired of her partner.
She looked back at him to see that he had averted his gaze. In embarrassment? In shame? She wasn't really sure. He hadn't done anything wrong, as far as she knew.
He turned back to her, but his eyes would not reach her own for very long. "Nothing. It wasn't important."
'He'd tell me if something was wrong, right? I mean, we're going to be partners for the next four years.'
The happy feelings she had slowly left her. 'The Invincible Girl' suddenly felt very vulnerable.
He turned around, away from her, staring deeper into the forest ahead.
'Unless…'
"We should probably get going. We need to find that relic." The blonde spoke to the crimsonette over his shoulder.
'…He doesn't want to be my partner.'
That thought became a heavy stone in the pit of her stomach.
She had been so focused on finding him, she hadn't considered that perhaps he was trying to find someone himself.
She did notice his gaze following Weiss when the heiress had left him hanging - quite literally - and picked the younger scythe-wielder over him.
Did her intervention ruin his plans at being Ms. Schnee's partner?
He had seemed so charming earlier, with his goofy attempts at being suave with Weiss and her; was that just him being friendly with her by association with the Schnee?
Her 'assaulting' him with Milὀ-TWICE- could have put him off her completely.
Would he try leaving her to find a different partner?
"Wait!" She put a hand on his shoulder, stopping him after he had only taken two steps.
"What is it?" He asked looking over his shoulder.
"I-I just wanted to say…" she stuttered, too frazzled to care and too worried of losing him so early in their journey together. She had reacted too fast for her own comfort; she hadn't come up with an actual way of keeping their 'team' in one piece.
When he turned back to face her…
She had heard once that the eyes were the windows to the soul.
And when she finally looked into his again did Pyrrha Nikos finally understand the problem.
In his eyes, she saw disappointment and shame. Not disappointment in her, but for her.
He was disappointed for her being stuck with him.
Shame that he wasn't good enough.
Shame that he would fail her.
Her heart was torn two ways about the revelation. She was hurt that he would think so little of himself. He was here in Beacon; he was more than deserving to partner with her, celebrity status or no.
And yet she was happy he held her in such high regard, having only known her for an hour at best.
Her smile from before returned full force.
She knew she made the right choice in partners.
'No Regrets'
"I look forward to our Partnership, Jaune Arc." She extended her gloved right hand to him.
"I promise I won't let you down." She said to the knight and to herself. She would help him with his confidence issues, and whatever else came their way. They would get though all that Beacon threw at them.
Together.
##########
Jaune Arc was stunned into silence.
Pyrrha Nikos, the girl who said 'Sorry' way too often- to him, anyway-, held her hand out to him. With a promise to never let him down.
The star he was born under was cursed and blessed at the same time, it seemed.
It cursed him with mediocre luck and zero skills, making him resort to lying and cheating his way into Beacon.
Then it blessed him with a partner who would accept him in spite of his faults.
He saw her expression before she reached out to him. Somehow, he had already hurt her. And that made his chest ache.
What would happen if he failed her-'When is more like it'- and she found out his secret? Their partnership would not survive on a foundation of lies. She would never trust him again. She would hate him.
He didn't think his heart could take it.
At this point, he'd rather rip out and crush the beating muscle in his own hands than hurt hers like that.
He was half a second from opening his mouth and spilling his guts to her, hoping she wouldn't physically doing that to him. And then he heard it.
It was faint.
Very faint. But he heard it crystal clear.
'But what if you didn't fail?' Optimism said. He thought that had died in him a long time ago.
But what if he -'But what if you succeed?' Optimism cut him off.
He wasn't sure what would happen if he didn't fail. Maybe he'd become a real huntsman. Maybe this girl would be proud to call him 'partner'.
Maybe she'd grow to love him…
That last one was too ludicrous to even consider in the realm of possibilities.
'Just try' the tiny voice begged, 'If not for you, then for her.'
He imagined-just for a moment- that four years had passed and they had just graduated into full Huntsmen. She would turn to him. She would thank him for being an amazing partner these last four years as leaned in to thank him with a ki-
…
…...
…...
##########
Pyrrha could only watch as the emotions flew by on his down-turned face.
Shock.
Fear.
Shame returned.
Self-loathing.
Surrender.
Surprise.
Realization.
Embarrassment.
Absurdity.
Wonder.
Embarrassment again.
Then his face went blank.
A full minute had passed since the Red Spartan made her promise to the White Knight by this point.
He looked back up at her, into her eyes, her soul. His ocean-blue eyes, so deep she felt herself sinking in them, held a fierce determination. Something she'd never seen in them before.
He took her hand in his own fingerless-gloved one.
"As do I, Pyrrha Nikos."
And gave it a firm squeeze.
"And I'll try not to disappoint you, either."
He smiled at her, in a way she knew she'd grow to love very quickly.
##########
Jaune didn't like making promises. Only because he hated breaking them. With him, despite his best intentions, his promises were broken too easily. He was scared he'd break another.
But…
This time…?
For his partner…?
He held his head high.
"That's an Arc's Promise!"
His body would break before his promise would.
His partner's smile had grown twice its size since he took her hand.
He knew he made the right decision.
'No more second-guessing, no regrets.' The 'Fake Knight' thought to himself. He would do everything in his power during his stay here-by her side- to remove the 'Fake' from his title, and make his partner proud of him.
They gave each other's hand a single shake with an affirming nod. When they release their grip on one another, the red-head of the two walked past the blonde, drawing Milὀ and Akoὐo as she peered deeper into the Grimm-ridden woods. She turned her head to look back at the man she would fight side-by-side with for the next four years, a smirk on her face.
"Shall we get going?" She asked her partner.
He nodded in reply, happy to let her lead the way.
"Yes. We shall."
So, eighteen minutes after their 'First Step', the Shielded Huntsman Duo known as Pyrrha Nikos and Jaune Arc stepped into the dark forest to begin their careers as Huntsmen-in-Training.
It was strange that in such little time, one of Jaune Arc's worse starts to a day became one of the better days of his life.
And it was only just beginning.
Arkos blooms early, eh?
Had they perhaps read too deep into each other's character? Perhaps. But, they do say that the eyes are the windows to the soul. And they had lovely windows.
Were their thoughts all over the place and out of character at points? Maybe. But when have teenagers thought in straight, concise thoughts when things like young love come into play?
There was some difficulty in merging past and semi-present tenses in the 3rdperson with 2 characters, but I think I kept most of it readable.
What was worse, though, was re-editing the whole thing-twice- trying to fix the messed-up spacing and missing symbols. A lot has changed since I last published on here...
That being said, I'm not dead!
Is this my comeback? Maybe.
Will I keep writing? Yes. After 9 years (WOW), I never stopped writing ideas for scenes or notes for concepts, even if just mentally.
The Writer's Vow is a very difficult one to break.
This was originally supposed to be the first chapter in a new series I was starting, but it took life of its own; And after Volume 3, I figured it'd be a nice look back at the start of it all.
The new series I mentioned, 'The Tenno of Remnant', will be a crossover of RWBY and Warframe, so look forward to that…soon! I have free time coming up soon, so I'll be doing some work on that during then. I have plans for all three Volumes, but I'll try to focus on Volume 1 for the first part.
To the few loyal readers seeing this, 'Regret' will be coming back- with multi-chaptered sequels to boot! 'Regret, Revenge, and Redemption: A Tale of Two Souls' is now the title for the series, 'Regret' being the first of the Trilogy, which may/may not get a rewrite for the first chapter. I'm not sure. I still kind of like how it was.
As for all the other stories I had planned…Let's put those in the 'On Hiatus' category and focus on these two first.
Anyway!
If you liked this story, please leave a review or favorite! Or both! I'd love to hear feedback and see how I should improve. And please leave any ideas you have for this or ToR; I'm very interested in what you guys think of that.
I hope you enjoyed. Till next time!
-The Villain