Chapter. 2
Small world, Big consequences
It's been roughly six months since Jaune arrived in Vale, and in that time he furthered any and all knowledge he thought he might need in order to actually make it in Beacon, since his transcripts – however dubious they might be – only got him into initiation, the rest, was up to him.
That was a week ago, now Jaune found himself in a little mom-and-pop Dust shop called, From Dust Till Dawn, with his hood up over his head and headphones blasting some music he discovered during his time in Vale.
"Okay." Thought Jaune. "Since I don't have as much experience as everyone else, I'm going to need a full deck of tricks up my sleeve in order to not die." He shakes his head with a quite sigh. "This has got to be the dumbest thing I've ever done…"
Jaune had updated his arsenal during his almost half a year in Vale. For starters, he shaved – he didn't like his beard, it was itchy – and had changed his battle outfit, just a tad.
He traded out his shotgun chaps for some armored ones – with an additional cod piece, hey, sue him, he wanted kids one day – and beefed up his chest plate, as it now covered his entire torso in two segmented plates, with some additional armor covering the entirety of his left arm along with a gorget under his armor protecting his throat.
His chaps and vest – for what little could be seen past his armor – were now of a gray color that matched his new gunmetal armor – as he hadn't had a chance to paint it yet – and his hoodie was now a pale yellow in color, with his left sleeve running the length of his arm with the right being short.
His weapons stayed the same, since mech-shift weapons and regular firearms were far from his now meager budget, with the exception of some grenades – as Dust was still fairly cheap for the time being anyhow – but that was fine, after all, Crocea Mors and some grenades was more than enough for Julius Arc to fight and win both the Great War and the Faunus Revolution – though it was now worn in a new contraption that had it rest on his left shoulder, but had it shift down to his forearm when needed.
But his armor and gadgets was back at his motel, meaning he only had Crocea Mors, which was attached to his left hip – worn in the old Valean Legionary fashion, being completely vertical instead of at a slight angle.
Jaune was flipping through a Dust for Intermediaries magazine, until a hand gripped and violently pulled down his hood, revealing his headphones blasting music to the world.
Turning, Jaune saw the man in question.
He was a blank slate of a man who stood a bit shorter than Jaune, with a clean shaven face and dark hair. He was dressed predominantly in black, with his black shirt, slacks, and shoes, with a black fedora with a red band, and a red tie and sunglasses – of which he was wearing at night, the jackass – with a red machete held in his right hand, near his hip.
The man motions for him to take his headphones off.
Jaune removes his headphones and asks. "Yes, can I help you?"
"Yeah, you can put your hands in the air, now!"
Jaune looked the goon up and down, before quirking a brow and smirking slightly. "Are you… robbing me?"
"Yes!" Replied the goon, exasperated.
"Ooohhh…" Replied Jaune.
At the front of the store, two bodies were suddenly flung from the back – one through the glass window, with a red blur following it, and the other into the wall beneath it.
Jaune ran to the front of the store, seeing it empty but for its owner, and elderly man who barely stood above his waist.
Jaune looked to the owner. "Are you okay!?"
"Yes… I am." Replied the owner. "Don't mind me, son, go help that young girl out front!"
Jaune nods and rushed outside, Crocea Mors drawn and shield extended.
Only to see none other than Ruby surrounded by a pile of unconscious goons, with none other than Roman Torchwick, gentleman thief of Vale, smoking a cigar across from her. Though in all fairness, Jaune didn't know that, he hasn't really been spending too much time watching Tv since he's been in Vale, let alone the news.
Roman was a pale man who stood at a height of six foot three, with a lanky build and a sharp face. He has slanted, dark-green eyes and bright, long, orange hair with long bangs covering his right eye – with black eyeliner tracing his visible left eye.
He was dressed in dark slacks that lead to black leather shoes with a white, single breasted, red lined peacoat. He wore a small gray scarf around his neck, with black buckled sleeves gloves, and a black bowler hat with a small feather tucked into its red band atop his head.
Roman looked down at the recently knocked out goon and sighed. "Worth every penny, you were… truly." He then drops and snuffs out his cigar, before looking to Ruby. "Whelp, it's been fun, Red, but isn't it passed your bed time?"
Roman lifts his cane and the end pops up, revealing a crosshair, before firing off a bright red flare of Dust at Ruby. Without thinking, Jaune rushed in between Ruby and the flare and deployed his shield, angling it so that the shot would be deflected off into a relatively harmless direction.
Roman's uncovered eye twitched. "This is getting out of had… now there are two of them!" He then smirked. "As much as I'd like to stay and play house…" He aims his cane once more. "…I really must get going!"
His second shot was aimed lower than the first, forcing the two teens to dodge. When the smoke clears, Roman was seen scuttling up a nearby ladder.
Ruby shook some bits and pieces of asphalt from her hair, before looked between Jaune and Roman. "Come on, Jaune, he's getting away!"
"Wait, wha-" Jaune tried to ask, but before he could finish Ruby grabbed his arm and activated her Semblance, shooting the both of them up to the roof.
One second, Jaune was standing on good, solid, ground, and the next, he was violently shunted onto a roof at the speed of Mach Fuck, it took Jaune a tremendous amount of willpower to not hurl the contents of his stomach onto the roof.
By the time Jaune regained his senses, it was to see Roman's flare on a direct course flight towards a singular, large, red Dust crystal. Jaune's eyes widened as he practicality tackled Ruby into a turtle-like position, angling his body and shield to be in between her and the explosion, before squeezing his eyes shut in anticipation for the blast and heatwave.
But after a few precious seconds… neither heat nor blast enveloped the two teens.
Jaune unscrunched his eyes and wearily peeked over his shield, only for his eyes to bug out of his skull and his jaw to firmly plant itself onto the ground…
…For standing in front of him was one of the most beautiful women he had ever seen.
She was a pale skinned, curvaceous, woman who stood a little over six feet in her two and a half inch heels, with a sharp face and trim build. Her vanilla blonde hair is tied back into a bun with a curl hanging down the right side of her face, and her olive green eyes are enhanced by a pair of thin ovular glasses.
She wears a white long sleeved, pleated, blouse – that has a wide keyhole neckline with gauntlet cuffs that flare into pleats at the wrist – that is tucked into a black high waisted pencil skirt with bronze buttons and black stockings that fade into a brown color. She also wears black boot-like heels, with the heels being made of bronze, and a two-tone cape – with the inside being purple and the outside being black – that is stylized to end in flames and arrows, with a row of diamond shaped bronze beads on the back, above said line of beads is an emblem of a tiara. With dangling teal earrings that match the similarly hanging pendent on her collar, and the faint hints of a golden wristwatch under her left sleeve.
The woman waves her black riding crop in the air, holding the debris in mid-air, before flicking it towards the hovering Bullhead and launching the debris as if it were a spear.
The Bullhead lurches to the side, in order to prevent the craft from being pierced by the debris spear, almost flinging the gentleman thief out of it. Said thief rushed to the cockpit and took over while the pilot, another one of the horridly dressed goons, went to the side door with a bazooka in hand and promptly fired it at the three Hunters.
Both trainees and veterans eyes widened at the sight, with Jaune once again shielding Ruby with both himself as well as his shield and the Huntress protecting all of them with a telekinetic shield made of debris.
When the smoke cleared, the Bullhead was long gone, and the three Hunters stood in somber silence… Until said silence is shattered by Ruby acting like the puppy dog of a human being she was.
"Y-You're a Huntress! A real live Huntress!" Ruby yelled with stars for eyes. "Can I have your autograph!?"
-{O}-
Jaune and Ruby sat in the local precincts interrogation room with their heads down as they were being chastised by the veteran Huntress – Ruby because she was being chastised, and Jaune because he didn't trust either his eyes nor mouth to not make a fool of himself in front of the drop dead gorgeous Huntress.
"And if it were up to me, you'd be sent home… with a pat on the back…" Ruby looked up hopefully, but Jaune knew better, as the shoe had yet to drop. "And a slap on the wrist!"
The Huntress emphasized her point by slapping the table with her riding crop, causing Ruby to let out an "Eep!" and Jaune to gulp and blush.
The Huntress stepped back. "But… there is someone here who would like to meet you two."
Before either teen could ask what she meant, a middle aged man walked through the door holding a plate of cookies in one hand, and a mug of gently steaming coffee in the other, with a cane held in place between his elbow and ribs.
The pale skinned man stood at an equal height to the Huntress next to him, with a trim build and sharp face. He had tousled silver hair and thin brown eyes that peered through a pair of round, tinted, spectacles that rested on the bridge of his nose.
He was dressed in an opened black suit jacket, which was over a dark green buttoned vest and green shirt, with dark green slacks that lead to black leather shoes. He had a green cowl around his neck, which had a small cross with a purple stone in the center pinned to it
"Ruby Rose…" The man leans in. "You… have silver eyes."
"Uh, um…"
"And Jaune Arc…" The man turns to Jaune. "Your the spitting image of your father."
"Thanks?"
"So!" The man suddenly looks back to Ruby. "Where did you learn to do this?"
He gestures with his head towards a tablet showing Ruby's fight.
"S-Signal Academy."
"They taught you to use one of the most dangerous weapons ever designed?"
"Well, one teacher in particular."
"I see…"
The man puts the plate of cookies on the table in front of Ruby. She tentatively picks one up and eats it in a single bit, and not seeing any rebuttal, starts shoveling the rest into her mouth. Before blushing and offering one to Jaune, which his accepts in a shock induced haze.
After a few more minutes of conversation – which reveals the man as Ozpin, the Headmaster of Beacon, and ends with Ruby being accepted into Beacon early and then being released to her parents.
The Headmaster turns to Jaune. "Tell me, Mr. Arc, do you wish to be a Huntsman like Ms. Rose?"
"More than anything."
"Then tell me… why did you not receive any formal training?"
"My father."
"I'm sorry… it seems you've lost me." Ozpin quirked a brow. "I was under the assumption that Johnathan would've jumped at the chance to train one of his many children."
"My father changed his mind after… after the incident." Jaune closed his eyes and grit his teeth. "And after years of begging and begging, I couldn't take it anymore, so I took the family sword and just… drifted from place to place, helping wherever and whoever I could."
"I eventually found a Huntsman who would sign the slip I needed to enter Beacon." Jaune shrugged. "And here I am."
"Incident?" Ozpin asked.
"Something happened to me when I was seven, I… I don't like to talk about it." Jaune shrugged uncomfortably. "But what happened, made both my parents agree to never train me." He laughed humorlessly. "Barely let me leave the house too…"
"Interesting." Ozpin thought before speaking. "Then what, pray tell, would you do if you did not get into Beacon Academy?"
"I'd try the rest of the Academies."
"And if they too, did not choose to accept you, what then?"
"Then I'd do what I've been doing, go from place to place and help whoever and wherever I could."
"So… what you are telling me is, that no matter what I or the other Headmasters thought, you'd continue being a Huntsman, even without a license or any formal training?"
Jaune nods.
Ozpin shares a quick look with Glynda. "Well then." He smiles. "I look forward to seeing you once the semester starts, Mr. Arc."
With all said and done, Jaune was released from police custody and allowed to return to his motel.
Jaune flopped back onto his crappy mattress and let out a long, protracted, sigh of relief. "Whelp, no turning back now, Jaune, you're in it for the long haul now!"
Sorry for the wait, my life's been hectic as of late.
Thank you all for reading, following, and reviewing, and I hoped you enjoyed.