Hello, I wanted to try writing again, mostly for fun. I'm not sure how often I'll post chapters. I've gone through the process of outlining the first few arcs so I'll have a rough idea of the beginning. I thought of the premise of the story one night and thought, why not see how far I can go with it?
"So it's settled." He leaned back in his chair, the negotiations finally coming to a close. The dark Mistralan tea in his cup was cold after hours of extensive talks concerning the fate of Jaune Arc. Mildly disgusted he set it aside and returned to the conversation at hand. " The boy will attend my school for all four years, without interference from any outside force. The four schools must work together to ensure Mr.Arc can blossom into the Hunter he is destined to be...that applies to Atlas too, Ironwood. I don't want to hear by his third year he drops out and magically joins the Specialist core. He deserves at least this while he is attending Beacon."
The hologram of Ironwood shifted in his seat."With all due respect Oz, a weapon of his potential would best be suited on the frontlines, facing the Grimm by my side. It's only logical he come to me aft-"
"With all due respect, that's not how this agreement works. It is up to Mr.Arc to decide what he does with his life after he has concluded his time here. But I will first turn him into a diamond for the entire world to see."
Lionheart chimed in now, his fist curling under his jaw in thought. "Pyrhha Nikos, and now Jaune Arc...even the Schnee Heires. This generation of students at Beacon clearly upsets the balance of the four schools, Ozpin. Surely you must understand our trepidation of just simply handing over the boy to you."
"Iron sharpens iron, steel sharpens steel, Hunter sharpens Hunter. The hope of humanity's fight against the Grimm relies on precisely this generation of students. They must be brought up together and molded together in the best environment they can have."
There was a muttering of agreement among the group of humanity's leaders. He glanced over the faces of the most powerful men and women in the world and saw nothing that suggested anything further needed to be said. He let out a sigh of relief, resting his knuckles on his treasured cane.
"I trust we have nothing more to discuss, I bid you farewell." He closed the comms channel, and turned to view the great Valean skyline, the tall skyscrapers that adorned its portrait, the sun rising in the distant horizon. These coming years would prove to be the most important in his long tenure as headmaster. The fate of the world may, no, definitely, rested in his hands.
Jaune Arc, just what kind of person are you going to become?
Jaune Arc almost stumbled down the steps, but he caught himself before exiting the cabin door. Dressed in the only thing connected to his hometown, he adjusted his hoodie before coming out into the open. He could already hear hustle and bustle of Vale across the harbor, the nervous energy of young men and women traveling from all over the world to attend the huntsman Academy, Beacon. Two Atlas soldiers accompanied him as he made his way to the starboard. It was standard protocol for these two in particular to escort him wherever he went, unfortunately.
"Phil, come on man, it's hardly necessary to follow me around while we are just about to get off, where am I going to run to? It's a boat." He complained.
The young soldier met his gaze under the shadows of his navy cap, ginger hair neatly tucked within. "Sorry Jaune, just orders."
The lieutenant Jillian, or Jill as those around her liked to call her, punched him in the arm. It didn't do anything of course, but he supposed it was out of some habit from being around military guys all day. "Come on Jauney boy, you'll be free from us for the next four years, jus' hold out for a bit longer." Her Mistralan accent bled through quite heavily, to some he heard it was charming. He'd had enough of her personally, and every other Atlas solider.
"Whatever..." He couldn't wait to be freed and left alone. The lieutenants striking green eyes bore into the back of his head though, so he highly doubted it. Even if he was to be sold off to become a pawn of Beacon, the Atlas military would never relent. They would always be watching...freedom was not meant for someone like him. In some ways he was okay with that, given the circumstances. She scoffed, reaching into the lapel of her uniform, and pulled out a comms card given to all ranking officers. She grabbed his fist and sunk it into his hands.
"Jaune. I shan't promise anything foolish, the weight of more than one life rests on ya. " She paused, her short red hair illuminated in the morning sun. "My dad used to always say, find the silver lining, and then find another one. Things might not make a whole lotta sense now, but your place in this world will come. Good things will come in time. You just gotta be ready, so keep your eyes peeled, ya hear?"
Phillip gave a grunt signaling agreement.
"Alright Lieutenant Jill. Phil. Thanks for everything. Goodbye."
He gave them a weak smile before turning, his mood growing darker as he made his way to the boardwalk connected to the shore. As he disembarked and looked back one last time to see the retreating form of the two soldiers who had watched over him ever since he left his home. His cerulean eyes, devoid of any real light, then looked to the tall ivory tower of Becaon Academy, a becaon of hope for all of Vale and its neighbors. He brought out the card Jill gave her, her cursive writing with her number and information. He cursed under his breath before dumping the card into the ocean. He wouldn't need it.
Besides, Jill failed to consider one thing during her speech. Not one silver lining had showed up his entire life.
Ruby Rose wore her combat dress on her first day at Beacon. Was it a little gaudy? Sure, but screw it all she was Ruby Rose! Huntress Prodigy Extraordinaire! A whole 2 years ahead of all her peers back in Signal. Nothing would stop her from accomplishing her goals of being a hero like her uncle and late mother.
"Hey, did you listen to anything I said at all?" The girl who looked like a porcelain doll with anger management issues was saying something again.
She nodded and gave a nervous laugh. "Sorry, kindaaaa spaced out there...What was your name again?"
The snow princess(at least that was her head canon for now) was taken aback, probably cause of her own stupidity. And the dust crates she stupidly ran into were open for the world to see. Her sister Yang ran off with some boys, saying "a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do", whatever the heck that means. Anyways, she was left to fend herself off in the wilderness of the unknown, surrounding by people way older than her, lost on her way to orientation. And now she ran into a really-
"As if I would need to tell you that, you blithering dolt!"
Well whoever she was, she seemed...nice.
She let out a small sign of frustration. If Yang was here, she'd know what to say to get out of this situation. Probably some funny quip into a non sequitur into a charming farewell with explosions and some badass music playing in the background as she looks away from the explosion. Yeah that'd be nice. As the young lady began criticizing her again, her mind began to try and picture her as a weapon instead of living human being. Perhaps that would-
Suddenly one of the crates turned over due to its awkward position on the road, two vials of dust came rolling to them at high speed. Without warning, the mean girl grabbed her by the hand and tried to get them away, but it was too late, the vials shattered just below them and exploded.
She closed her eyes in fright, arms flailing in a pathetic attempt to protect them both, except the blast never came? She was roughly shoved away with the other girl to the ground, someone else taking the full force of the explosion.
"Uh, hey, you girls alright?
Ruby blinked a few times, trying to process what just happened. There was a rather scraggly boy in front of her, wearing an adorable hoodie with a bunny rabbit, the hood up. Strapped to his side was a simple dagger, with a peculiar stiletto like design, the scabbard adorned by two Arcs. He stood a head taller than her regardless of anything, and also there was a crater behind him where the dust explosion should have been...but he seemed fine. Perhaps his aura blocked the brunt of it? He had a kind of listless expression on him, he probably didn't think too much of it. The two of them got up off the ground.
"Y-yes, my apologies, I'll gather my dust crates and be on my way...Hold on...that symbol." The white-haired girl gestured to the two arcs she noticed. A gasp escaped her lips, "You're Jaune Arc, aren't you?"
Now Ruby wasn't the most socially intelligent in the entire world, but she could tell Jaune was a little uncomfortable, the way he backed away a bit.
"...Yeah I am."
"I am Weiss Schnee, it's a pleasure to meet you." She curtsied like a princess might in one of those old timey medieval movies she used to watch with her dad. She had no idea who this boy was, or why he was important enough that Weiss felt the need to do that, but at least she wasn't mad at her anymore.
"And I'm Ruby Rose.. Um, your dagger looks really cool, I'll show you mine if you show me yours?" She said gesturing shyly to her own beloved scythe. Weiss was looking at her like she had grown horns on her head.
"D-Do you not know who this is? You can't just-"
"Oh this? Oh uh, it's just something my dad gave me. " He cut Weiss off, reaching down to unsheathe it. It had a sleek curved design, probably made in the desert lands of Vacuo.
She whistled. "Cool". Unsheathing her own weapon with a twirl, trying to look cool herself in front of her two new friends. "Meet Crescent Rose, custom made by yours truly! Not only is it a scythe, it's also a high impact fully automatic sniper rifle."
"Um."
"It's also a gun."
"Oh."
He paused for a second. " That's really neat, s-so you made it?" He looked to be amazed by her creation, his blue eyes sparkling with excitement. Ruby squealed internally. FINALLY someone who spoke her language, awesome badass weaponry.
"Hmph, I'll be on my way now." The girl known as Weiss stamped off in frustration, her dust crates in tow, headed towards orientation. The two of them watched her pony tail bob angrily around a corner out of sight.
"W-wait!...Sheesh, what's her problem?"
He muttered something under his breath, before gesturing for them to move" Come on, we probably should follow her to orientation, I had no idea where I was going anyways, we can talk on the way, Ruby right?"
After Jaune had explained to her his dagger was just a plain and simple dagger, she looked kind of bummed there wasn't any secret mechanism behind its exotic look. Still, it was to be expected for her be a bit naive, he thought, she was 2 years younger than him and brought straight from Signal. Something about meeting a guy in a bowler hat stealing dust from a dust ship, next thing she knew she was on a bullhead to Beacon. He'd heard weirder origin stories in his comics books. As soon as she saw her sister, a really wild looking blond girl who was messing around with some of the boys, she scurried off. Great, there goes the only company he had. He then noticed Weiss Schnee saying something angrily to her and her sister, and thought it best to move away as soon as possible.
The less people from Atlas that knew who he really was, and more importantly, who his family was, the better.
Anyways orientation was starting soon. The students were situated around the gymnasium, the headmaster Ozpin adjusting his microphone ready to speak. Glynda Goodwitch was right next to him, keeping a constant surveillance for any disturbances.This wasn't the first time he had seen Ozpin, Jaune remembered, he could recall his dad telling him stories about him. Nothing too crazy in particular.
"I'll keep this... brief." Ozpin started, scanning over the crowd, as if searching for something. His eyes seemed catch him in the back right corner, and it felt like he was being spoken too directly.
"You have all come here to gain knowledge, acquire strength, hone your craft, and become the defenders of tomorrow known as Huntsman. But I look over at you all, and all I see is wasted potential."
He felt forced to avert his gaze.
"You assume simple knowledge will set you free and find your purpose for you, but it's on you to take the first step. I expect much. From all of you."
There was an erie silence before the headmaster moved to the side for Goodwitch to give some instructions regarding initiation.
The students were assigned to sleep in the gymnasium. The night was filled with the murmurs of students, anxiously waiting for the next day for the chance to become huntsmen in training. Blake was no different than them really, except she'd been through far more stressful scenarios than a simple entrance exam.
Being an ex-terrorist who just escaped from near death while your crazy boyfriend,now ex, tries to kill you kinda ruins any further surprises life could throw at you.
So she sat in her little corner of the gym, with a book she bought from home, dressed in her yukata-styled pajamas. Despite her attempts to read, she couldn't help but overhear the constant chattering of those around her.
"Did you hear...Arc,Weiss Schnee..."
"Pyrrha Nikos..."
A member of the Arc family, a Schnee, the famous champion fighter from Mistral were all attending beacon this year? Talk about a stacked lineup of talent.
"Hey...mind if I sleep here?"
She snapped here eyes to the right in fright before calling down, it was just a student, in a really embarrassing onesie, pillow clasped tightly in his hands, for some reason he was wearing a hood at this time of the night, she could make out his cerulean eyes and his blond hair and sharp features.
"Can't really stand the noise, do ya mind?" He asked again.
"Not at all." She made room for him to occupy his own corner some distance away from her bag. He took a seat some ways next to her, leaning against the wall staring out at the crowd of students. They sat in silence for a while, before he chirped up.
"So...whatcha reading?" He asked rather weakly.
Blake studied him carefully. He was seemingly innocent in his approach. "It's a story about a man with two souls, if you've ever heard about it."
He noticeably perked up. " Oh, one of my sisters loved that book, she used to tell me about it all the time. Although she preferred the sequel..."
"There's a sequel?" She exclaimed, trying to maintain a low volume.
"Yeah, the man with four souls."
"...Why did I not see that one coming?"
An awkward silence filled the space.
"So..."
"It's Blake."
He looked a little surprised, before sheepishly continuing. "The names Jaune, Jaune Ar- ahem, just Jaune."
"It's okay, I know who you Jaune Arc." Blake whispered with a small grin.
The young man let out a very feminine "eep", which was pretty amusing. She chuckled and pointed to the double arcs on the breast pocket of his onesie. "Pretty hard to ignore the signature mark of the Arc family. And since everyone knows the next in line was attending this year...wasn't hard to put two and two together." He hastily covered it up with his blanket so the others in the room wouldn't notice as well.
"...Damnit Saphron..."He muttered under his breath, before pleading to her, "Please don't tell anyone."
She really didn't have any great reason to bother him, nor to cause a huge disturbance around her, since this was her corner. People would flock over to their corner to ask questions about the most famous family of heroes in all of Vale, maybe the world. So she put his worries to rest.
"It's fine with me, I just wanted to continue reading in peace."
His mouth formed an O before he gave her a thankful smile. "Thanks Blake."
"Although...just answer one of my questions. Call it an exchange of information via two mutual parties."
His expression was pretty amusing under the candlelight, losing all the gratitude before with a deadpan, "So, basically, you're blackmailing me."
"Well...I'm not one to put labels on things."She chided humorously. He didn't find it humorous though.
"You do realize that if you tell everyone I'm here, there goes your reading time in peace, AND WHAT THEN? I-It'll be both our loss! Mutual destruction!"
She made herself disappear, turning into one of her shadow clones, and reappearing on his other side, book in hand. He looked shocked, staring into space before she lightly tapped on his shoulder, causing him to whirl around, jumping in his blanket with another "EEP!".
Never gets old. She thought fondly.
"I can make shadow clones to escape pretty easily, that's my semblance."
"Ah, so it's only my destruction then, great."
She had to giggle. "Which brings me to my question, I gave you mine, what's yours?"
His face hardened almost instantly, and he looked rather grim in the candlelight, like he was contemplating smashing the window above them and jumping out the otherwise, or committing a felony. Either was pretty entertaining options from her perspective.
"The Arc family is known for having extremely powerful semblances, from the ability to travel wide distances in seconds, to the ability to cleave entire buildings in half." She elaborated. "Initiation could test us on nearly anything, so having all the information I can gather about who I have to work with could prove handy. Plus..." She looked at him rather apologetically. "It's hard not to be curious."
He looked like he was still having an massive internal struggle, like he had two mini-Jaunes on his left and right shoulder furiously debating on the right course of action.
He started. " I am..."
"HEYYYYYY!"
A really, really beautiful blonde, with lilac eyes,and mischievous smirk walked over to them to get their attention, just in the nick of time. Trailing behind her was..
"Oh, hey Ruby!l" He exclaimed over-enthusiastically. She was dressed in fairly cute polkadot pajamas that matched her crimson black hair, and she grinned back at him.
"Oh ho, so friendly with my sister already, Ladykiller? The blonde said with a chuckle. Pink dusted Ruby's cheeks.
"Yang! Come on.." She complained hotly. The blonde laughed heartily, before introducing herself.
"I'm Yang Xiao Long. But you already knew that, Ninja. By the way I like your pajamas, the go great with your...book!"
Ruby elbowed her, "What are you doing?" She whispered in their hearing range. They started brawling in a tangle of limbs, some odd looks coming their way from the other students.
Blake looked at him. "Yang and I met on the bullhead ride here...we don't actually know each other."
"Yet!" Yang quipped before landing a body shot on her poor sister.
"Just what do you people think you are doing? People are trying to sleep." Weiss, in a rather elegant night gown, paradoxically looked anything but as she stomped over in anger to the two sisters. Yang's foot was caught mid spartakick between Ruby's hands. The prodigy looked a bit embarrassed.
"Oh, W-Weiss, we were just.."
"We were just about to go to sleep, weren't we?" Jaune nervously laughed before quickly wrapping himself in his blanket and turning and belting out a "okgoodnight!".
Blake blew out the candles, and everyone retired to sleep soon after.
That was too close a call.
Jaune found his locker, and sorted his things out inside, a picture of himself with his sisters, a keepsake or two from his parents, his dagger, his scroll...He wouldn't need much. He closed his locker, and noticed Weiss chatting with a really striking red headed girl, who looked like a real warrior. She reminding him off Lieutenant Jillian, so maybe she was from Mistral as well. Weiss herself, when he took a closer look, was insanely pretty in her combat skirt.
Well, might as well shoot his shot.
"Hey ladies, excited for initiation?" He must have had a pretty painful smile on his face, cause Weiss was already looking at him with that usual frigid contempt.
"Yes, actually, Jaune Arc right? It's an honor." The redhead said, a hand outstretched. He winced a bit but took her hand nonetheless. He really didn't want people bothering him over his heritage. Still, she seemed like a pretty nice girl.
"Pleasures all mine...?"
Pyrrha and Weiss looked at each other than looked at him. "You...don't know Pyrrha Nikos, THE Pyrrha Nikos? Champion fighter from Mistral, top of her class?" Weiss looked incredulous so he supposed he might be lacking some critical information here.
He tried to play it off cooly. "You know how it is with us Arcs...so busy! With, um, fighting off hundreds of criminals! LOADS of them. Unfortunately couldn't tune in for those matches. It is what it is."
"She was on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's cereal box!"
Somewhere in his head a synapse fired and he faintly recalled seeing those emerald eyes before. "Oh wow, that was you?"
"Well, yes, unfortunately the cereal isn't very good for you." She looked a bit sheepish being recognized for such a reason.
Weiss rolled her eyes and walked away, probably offended by his own stupidity again. Pyrrha laid a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't think too much of it, Jaune, she'll calm down...I hope." She finished storing some stuff away, checked herself, readied his equipment then looked at him with a look of pure confidence, that she was going to go out there and pass as this test Ozpin had for them.
Woah, she's really...
"I'll see you out there Jaune, you would be a really interesting teammate to have." She said goodbye, and left.
She's so...
Wait a minute hold on, TEAMMATES?
Emerald Hill
"So Professor Ozpin."
"Yes Mr.Arc?"
He looked down at the launch pad, looked to the forest in front of him, then glared at Ozpin.
"You...you can't be serious."
Ozpin just chuckled lightly, of course. " I would worry less about me and my mood and start thinking of a landing strategy."
"Yeah so... as far as landing strategy goes, say for example I-AHHHHHHHHH."
Before he knew it he was already sailing through the air into Emerald forest.
When he came to, he was stuck in the ground. His arms and lower body were buried in some kind of quicksand-type dirt, and it was impossible to get out. Great, now what? He could scream like a girl and and hope someone saves him from this predicament. That was always a viable option that he had no great complaints for. Self respect in general was overrated and it never did anything for him anyways.
He finally took notice of his surroundings. The dense canopy gave way to rays of sunlight above, shining down on the undergrowth. He noticed the destruction he had caused during his fall, as a straight line trajectory through the tree line had cut through several trees, thanks to his semblance.
It was useful in that regard.
Anyways, now what? The first person he made eye contact with would be his partner for the next several years. He guessed he should just start calling for help, so as to not waste time. "Uh, Hello? Is anyone out there...kinda need some help here." He sounded out into the forest, the only response the tranquil silence of nature. He sighed. Maybe he should just wait for Ozpin-
A rustling of tree leaves snapped his head to the right. Finally, someone heard him!
"Oh, thank Oum, someone finally showed up I was wondering when...you..."
His voice died in his throat, as he stared into the hellish jaws of an Ursa.