The Academy

Jaune sat on a bench facing the landing area. He wasn't alone, with other people standing and waiting. After overhearing those around him, Jaune learned they were awaiting a bullhead to take them to Beacon Academy.

At a closer look, Jaune saw that those around him were at a similar age to he was. He assumed that these would be his peers at Beacon Academy. Leaning back on the wooden bench, Jaune folded one leg over the other as he continued to wait.

Adam's sword rested awkwardly at his waist. While the sword did share some similarities to his lightsaber, the two weapons still swung very differently from each other.

All of the weight behind the lightsaber was in the hilt, the blade being essentially weightless. The sword was nothing like that, the hilt was instead made to be a counterweight to the blade itself. A setback, but Jaune would need to practice to get used to the weight difference.

His thoughts drifted back to Beacon Academy. He was still blind going into this school. His scroll died yesterday, and having no means to charge it, it was now practically useless. He still had his note sheet to practice his reading skills. He was learning, but still very behind the average person.

He doubted that Beacon Academy was similar to the Jedi Temple in the sense that students stayed year-round. Evident because of the other students standing around him and waiting. But do students train beforehand and apply to Beacon Academy? Or are they hand-picked by Ozpin like how he was?

Jaune saw the ship approaching.

Questions to answer later.

Jaune stood off the bench and stretched his arms. The ship, or bullhead as the locals called it, began to land. He joined the crowd and awaited the doors opening. Once they did, the crowd flowed into the massive bullhead.

He took a seat along the wall. Jaune barely felt the bullhead take off again, as the ride was smooth enough to allow most of the people to stand during the ride.

Staring out of the window, Jaune admired the beauty of Vale during the day. The city reminded him of the planets Jaune and his master visited before and during the Clone Wars. It gave him hope to see a planet untouched by galactic war and the Empire itself.

But he was suddenly saddened, remembering that there was still much suffering in the core and outer worlds.

But Jaune pushed those thoughts away, as he couldn't do anything because of his situation. He sat back in the chair, settling in and preparing himself for a dull ride, even though he was slightly hungry. Considering he hasn't eaten in the last two days.

"Oh, I can't believe my baby sister is going to Beacon with me! This is the best day ever!" a blonde-haired girl exclaimed as he turned to see her embrace Ruby who looked as if she was being strangled by the buxom teen. Jaune guessed that the two must have been siblings.

"Yang! Please Stop! You're crushing my spine!" Ruby, the girl from before said. His interest was piqued, though, by the familiar voice.

"Sorry, but I'm just so proud of you! You got into Beacon Academy! Everyone's gonna think you're the bee's knees!" The other girl, Yang, said. Praising her sister, who rubbed her arm awkwardly.

"I don't want to be the "bee's knees", okay? I don't want to be any kind of knees! I just want to be a normal girl with normal knees." Yang shook her head.

"What's with you? Aren't you excited?"

"Of course, I'm excited... I just...I got moved ahead two years before anyone my age. I don't want people to think I'm special or anything. Not only that but aside from you, I'm not going to know anyone there. All my friends are back on Patch and I won't see them, if at all, for at least another two years."

"Well first off, you are special. Second, Beacon is a chance for you to make new friends. Especially when you get assigned to a team, then you'll have like…three times the friends!" she smiled while Ruby sighed.

"I guess…But, I'll have you right. And maybe I can be a part of your team?" she asked hopefully.

"Uh…Well, see the thing is…Maybe you should try being on someone else's team?" Ruby pouted and glared at her sister.

"My dear sister Yang, are you implying that you do not wish to be on the same team as me?"

"What? No! Of course, I do! I just thought... I don't know, maybe it would help you... break out of your shell!" she replied meekly.

"What the?! I don't need to 'break out of my shell'! That's absolute-!"

"Look I'm not going to abandon you! Truly! I just think you need to expand your circle. Meet some new people instead of focusing all your time on your weapon. Seriously, Rubes, you spend so much time with that weapon. I'm surprised you haven't married it yet." Ruby pouted and crossed her arms.

"I can't marry an inanimate object, Yang, that's just silly. Doesn't me I haven't tried." She muttered as Yang raised an eyebrow.

"What?"

"What?"

"…Okay, just going to ignore that." Yang shook the mental images out of her head.

"Look the point is, unless you get out of your bubble and try to make new friends, you're going to find it very difficult at Beacon. I mean it's not like you're going to already know some random person off the street-!"

"Hello there." Yang snapped her head around while Ruby's face brightened as she saw the blond-haired boy. As Jaune decided to introduce himself at that moment.

"What the!" Yang said, caught off guard.

"Jaune! It's so good to see you! I didn't realize you were going to Beacon!" Ruby said, zipping over so she stood in front of Jaune. In response, Jaune smiled.

"Yeah, me neither. But Professor Ozpin gave me an invitation yesterday, so here I am." Jaune said.

"Me too! Sorry we didn't get the chance to talk properly yesterday, I tried looking for you when I left. But I had to tell my dad and is about being able to go to Beacon." Ruby explained, and Jaune waved away her worry.

"Don't worry, it's completely understandable. I got out pretty late myself." Jaune said.

"Yeah, I'm kinda nervous though. Being bumped up two years is kind of scary, I'm a little worried about it."

"Don't be. The fact that you got an invitation regardless of your age is a huge honor, and speaks highly of your skill." Jaune said, reassuring Ruby. Who smiled at his words.

"Thanks!"

"Hold it!" Jaune felt an interesting wave through the Force, it felt like fire and strength. Turning, he saw Yang walking up towards them, her once purple eyes now red. His heart stopped, worried that Yang had just become a Sith.

"Who are you, and how do you know my sister?" Yang said, walking right up to Jaune and pointing a finger at his chest. Jaune remained calm and kept his posture neutral.

"Ruby and I met the same night she got invited to Beacon. We both participated in stopping that dust store robbery." Jaune spoke in a calming tone, explaining the situation. Yang's demeanor changed immediately, the feeling of fire through the Force had disappeared, and her eyes changed back from red to purple.

"Oh, that's right! I do remember Ruby mentioning a boy helping her." Yang said, smirking at her sister who quickly turned away from Jaune.

"Yang!" Ruby whisper-yelled, but Yang only smiled and grabbed Ruby in a headlock.

"I'm just messing with you Ruby, c'mon." She said cheekily. Jaune chuckled lightly at their antics.

"Well, anyways, I'm Yang. Yang Xiao Long." Yang held her hand out to Jaune.

"Jaune Arc," Jaune said, shaking her hand.

"Arc's not a name I've heard before. Your folks from out of town?" Yang said, and Jaune nodded.

"You could say that," Jaune replied.

"You guys excited for Beacon?" Yang questioned, leaning to the side slightly.

"Totally. Beacon is one of the best schools to go to. A lot of famous huntsmen and huntresses attended there and I'm so excited to be there!" Ruby grinned as she hopped to her feet.

"Yeah, but that's only if you pass the initiation exam." Yang reminded her as Jaune blinked.

"Initiation?"

"Yeah, the Initiation Exam. What, did you think it was as simple as sending in a piece of paper? Nope. Unless you pass the Initiation Exam, you're not guaranteed a position at Beacon Academy. I mean sure you can apply for other Academies. But Beacon is the one you want." Yang informed as the boy nodded.

"I see. So how do the initiation exams work?" he asked as both sisters raised an eyebrow at the young man.

"Uh…they have like a trial by fire sort of thing. They change it up every year, but it always involves them testing your abilities. Didn't they cover this at your starter academy?" Jaune flinched a little and came up with an excuse.

"Yeah, well…I didn't go to an Academy…so to speak. So, I'm a little out of the loop, one would say."

"Really? Self-taught huh? That's rare." Yang said, clearly surprised.

"I had a teacher, she taught me everything I know," Jaune said, reminiscing.

"Is she a huntress?" Yang asked.

"No… she wasn't," Jaune said, his reminiscing quickly turning dark.

Before they could keep talking a holoprojector turned on as a program called the VNN began to broadcast.

"The robbery was led by the nefarious criminal Roman Torchwick, who continues to evade authorities. If you have any information on his whereabouts, please contact the Vale Police Department. Back to you, Lisa."

"Hey, isn't that the same guy we took on yesterday?" Ruby asked as she pointed to the orange-haired man.

"I believe you are correct, Ruby. Roman Torchwick…" he stroked his chin as he stared at the man.

"Thank you, Cyril. In other news, this Saturday's Faunus Civil Rights protest turned dark when members of the White Fang disrupted the ceremony. The once peaceful organization has now disrupted..."

The mugshot changes to Lisa Lavender, with a photo of animal-eared demonstrators holding signs saying, "WE ARE NOT ANIMALS!" followed by an image of the logo of a growling red wolf's head with three scratch marks.

'I guess racism and discrimination stretch even this far into the Galaxy.'

The VNN was interrupted as the same woman from the interrogation room appeared.

"Hello, and welcome to Beacon!"

"Who's that?"

"My name is Glynda Goodwitch."

"Oh." Jaune wondered if the Force was responsible for that comedic timing. But he doubted the Force had that much of a sense of humor.

"You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy! Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

The Beacon hopefuls looked out as they flew close to a large castle-like structure as they stared in awe at the school. To the new students, it was a marveling site that would be their home for the next four years. To Jaune, it faintly reminded him of the first time he saw the Jedi Temple on Coruscant. For a moment, for a brief second, he had a vision of the Jedi Temple in ruins and thought about the same fate possibly happening to Beacon. But he shook off the morbid thought and focused on himself. Reciting the Code of the Jedi always helped to calm his nerves.

'There is no emotion, there is peace. There is no ignorance, there is knowledge. There is no passion, there is serenity. There is no chaos, there is harmony. There is no death, there is the Force.'

The bullhead landed, unloading the mass of wondrous, hopeful, potential students. Among those were Yang, Ruby, and Jaune.

Jaune felt a little stomach ache from the landing of the bullhead, but figured it was a side-effect of the hyperspace travel and ignored it. Focusing on the academy, he stared at its large structure.

'Impressive, but nothing compared to the Jedi Temple.' Jaune thought somberly, and turned to look for the sisters, but couldn't find them as they had been swept into the crowd.

As he looked for the two, his eyes did land on another familiar sight. She wore a similar outfit to the time they fought on the train but now wore a bow to conceal her ears. It was the girl from the train.

He slowly approached her from behind, and even though he stood in a crowd, the girl was able to pick up on Jaune following her. She turned to face him, and her eyes widened.

Jaune watched as her body immediately tensed, her eyes scanning for a fast exit.

"Easy now, I'm not here to fight." Jaune raised his hand to calm the girl, who eyed him wearily.

"Why are you here?" She asked.

"I'm attending Beacon, same as you," Jaune spoke calmly.

"Are you going to report me?" The girl asked her hand still at the weapon at her side.

"Depends. Probably not. I remember how you acted on the train, and how you tried convincing Adam not to go through with it, and detached the train car." Jaune said, recalling the events of the train. The girl calmed slightly.

"I was a stowaway on that train, I probably would've gotten in trouble if I was caught, same as you." Jaune finished.

The girl relaxed her arm.

"My name is Blake. I promise I'm not here for the White Fang. Ozpin himself invited me to come here." Blake said, pulling the invitation out of her pocket to show him.

"That's interesting, I was invited by Ozpin as well. My name is Jaune Arc, and now I can thank you for the assistance on that train." Jaune extended his hand for Blake to shake. The two shook hands, quick and firm.

The crowd had been dispersing at this point, and as Jaune looked for the two sisters Blake disappeared.

Seeing a group gathered around a map, Jaune made his way over. Looking at the map of Beacon's campus, he found his location. And a holo-message showed where the students needed to go. It was marked as an auditorium, and Jaune memorized the location, as well as his location.

He was about to make his way toward the auditorium when an explosion went off.

Jaune reflexively crouched down and covered his head with his arms. After not feeling harm in his body, he looked over his shoulder for where the explosion originated from, his hand already on his lightsaber.

He saw a cloud of dust and guessed that was where the explosion took place. Were they under attack? Jaune looked to the sky but saw no ships.

Running to the center of the explosion, he needed to check for survivors before another went off.

His train of thought stopped, however, when he spotted Ruby, Blake, and another girl in white. Standing there perfectly fine even after an explosion went off next to them. He watched as the white girl stormed off angrily, and Blake walked away in the opposite direction.

Jaune ran up to Ruby, who looked up at him in surprise.

"Ruby, are you alright?" Jaune asked, his tone bordering on frantic.

"Yeah Jaune, I'm fine," Ruby said, standing and dusting off her pants.

"Are you sure? I heard an explosion…" Jaune trailed off, noticing that the ground wasn't affected in the slightest and that Ruby had no signs of harm whatsoever. Was he overreacting?

"Oh thaaaaat. The white girl, Weiss Schnee, shook a dust container, and I may have sneezed and ignited it." Ruby said, rubbing her arm awkwardly.

"Well, I guess we should get going. The ceremony might start without us." Ruby said, grabbing Jaune by the arm and running in that direction. Jaune blinked, his head clearing quickly enough to realize Ruby made a wrong turn.

"Ruby, we were supposed to go left back there," Jaune said

"Whoops!" Ruby pivoted, and they sped off in a different direction.

Skidding to a halt right outside the entrance, Ruby let go of Jaune to go and find her sister. Leaving Jaune to find a seat himself.

Looking at the crowded auditorium, he spotted an open seat not far from where he stood. Making his way over, he saw someone who sat next to the open seat.

"Hi, is this seat taken?" Jaune asked politely, not knowing if it was being reserved or not. The girl he asked had red hair and wore a corset that was gold, red, and brown. Almost a mix of fashion and armor.

"No, it's open." The girl said with a warm smile.

"Sweet, thanks. I'm Jaune by the way." Jaune said, sitting down and offering his hand for the girl to shake.

"Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos." Pyrrha said, shaking Jaune's hand.

"Nice to meet you Pyrrha," Jaune responded, leaning back against the chair. After turning his attention back to the stage, but felt that the girl was still looking at him. Looking back at her, he saw her green eyes staring at him.

"Can I help you?" He asked.

"Oh! Sorry, it's just… usually when I tell people my name they act differently." Pyrrha said.

"Should I act differently?" Jaune asked again, and Pyrrha shook her head.

"No, no. I guess you could say I'm kind of a celebrity. This is kinda refreshing actually." Pyrrha spoke, "Oh look, it's starting."

A microphone sounded out as Ozpin took to the stage, Glynda Goodwitch to his left.

"I'll... keep this brief. 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. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction." the students whisper among themselves, while Jaune narrowed his gaze.

"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." He finished as he walked off and Goodwitch took the mic.

"You will gather in the ballroom tonight; tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You are dismissed." She instructed as everyone began to pair off.

"He seemed a little…hollow, didn't he?" Jaune asked as Pyrrha nodded.

"It was almost like he barely cared. But he is the Headmaster of Beacon Academy, it must be a very taxing job that requires all of his attention. The paperwork alone must be a nightmare."

Jaune made his way to the cafeteria, very glad that the school offered dinner before having them spend the night in the ballroom.

He grabbed two trays and loaded them with the mouthwatering fresh selection of meat, fruit, vegetables, and even a flavored drink as a treat. Thanking the Force that the food was free. Grabbing his two trays, he spotted the two sisters from earlier sitting at a table. Making his way over, he sat on the same side as Ruby.

"Jeez Jaune, is there any food left?" Yang said jokingly.

"I'm just hungry," Jaune said, grabbing a plastic fork and beginning to eat the group of leaves called a salad. "I haven't eaten in a while."

"What do you mean?" Ruby asked and Jaune looked at her meal. While it contained some healthy foods such as protein and fruit, there were plenty of sweet treats. The meal would be considered taboo by the temple, and not up to Jedi standards.

"It's been about a day or so since my last meal." And he had thrown up whatever he had eaten after crawling out of that hyperspace pod.

"That's terrible Jaune." Ruby said, her face showing concern. But Jaune just shrugged.

"I guess you could say I lived on the road, so to speak. I'll take whatever meal I can get. After all, I might not return tomorrow. You know the whole initiation trial and all that." Jaune continued in a neutral tone, eating a piece of chicken that came from his salad. It didn't taste bad. The rest of the table was left in silence as Ruby and Yang absorbed Jaune's words.

"Well that's depressing. I'm gonna go refill my drink." Yang stood, taking her cup with her.

That left Jaune and Ruby alone. Ruby played with her food while eating, looking like she wanted to say something but kept quiet. Instead the two ate in silence.

Now in the ballroom, Jaune saw rows upon rows of sleeping bags laid on the ground. Jaune had no such item, meaning the floor would be his bed for the night.

Not far away one of two sisters laid on her own sleeping bag. Ruby was writing a letter while Yang snuck up behind her. She landed with a plop next to Ruby.

"How's my favorite sister doing?" Yang asked, stretching her arms.

"I'm your only sister Yang. And I'm writing a letter back to my friends on Patch. It's the only thing that can distract me from the boys." Ruby spoke, her head pointed directly downward.

"I don't mind~" Yang said, looking at the several muscular young men that walked by. But after they passed, she spotted Jaune.

He sat alone, his legs crossed, back straight and eyes closed. His vest was taken off, leaving only a white shirt that did hug tightly against his chest. Was he meditating?

Hey, what do you think of Jaune?" she asked her sister. "You met him last night, right. What do you think about him?" Ruby stopped writing as she looked over to the boy meditating at the far side of the room.

"I don't know. He's nice, and he's good in a fight. Oh, and he stopped a fireball! Which was cool!" she stopped when she gazed at him. "But when I look at his eyes, I see this…sadness inside them. He tries to bury it, but it's there. He acts older than he looks, seems wiser than most people our age. He's…odd." Yang stared before she grinned

"Sounds like you have a crush on him?" Ruby's blood-red face shot up quickly.

"What! Ew! Yang that's gross! I don't boys like that! Get your filthy mind out of the gutter!" she slammed her pillow in her face, while the blonde just laughed.

Meanwhile, Jaune was busy meditating as he reached out and connected with the Force. He could feel the life Force of everyone around him, and just like with Ruby, they were all connected to the Force differently.

'Being this close to these people, I can feel them drawing power from the living Force inside them. They draw this energy outwards and shroud themselves in it like a force-field. Not only that, but their unique abilities give off a… feeling as well. The smell of roses, the strength of fire, the twisting of metal, and the feeling of family.'

Jaune thought back to the explosion Ruby and Weiss had sustained in the courtyard. They had taken no damage at all, their aura protecting them.

'They remind me of the Nightsisters of Dathomir. I read about them in the temple, and how they manipulated the Force fascinated me. But after learning they use the dark side, I put the research down since it was taboo.'

Not only that, but I feel my connection to the Force grow stronger the longer I stay on this planet. I know that Jedi are supposed to trust the Force for its guidance… but I feel a deeper connection… why is that?'

'Could it be related to this strange natural Force Nexus on this planet? Or… something else…'

He was interrupted by Weiss, Ruby, and Yang arguing. Relaxing out of his meditation, he stretched. Laying back, he placed his head on the vest he had worn prior. He had folded the jacket into a pillow shape, so his head would be supported.

Finding a comfortable position, Jaune drifted off to sleep. Preparing himself for the coming day and the trials that await him.