Chapter 01: Jaune Arc
Legends...
Stories...
Tales...
Humanity has quite the habit of recounting the exploits of heroes and villains and rulers and adventurers and lovers, whether they are fantastical or real.
None of that has ever mattered though, as they are all remnants. The leftovers of a grand, extraordinary and chaotic era where gods flew, mages wrought marvels and beasts of all sorts and mixed species frolicked across the living lands.
But the world of the current era... is weaker, both of it's beings and beasts. In this world, it was mostly ruled by the monsters that raged forth from the darkness.
The Grimm. Corrupted lifeforms borne of wrath itself in the twisted forms of the lands' fauna, all with the consuming desire to inflict harm upon humanity.
However, they were not without opposition. For as Darkness rises, and light to meet it.
They call themselves... Hunters. Such a fitting name, isn't it? What else do you call people who willingly walk into the darkness for various reasons?
Glory, ideals, resources, land, grudges, or absurdly enough, boredom. For any of the reasons mentioned, humans have always strode into the darkness to reap the benefits they could take.
The wise ones are afraid as they should be. For what could they do if the Hunters encountered a 'predator' instead of the 'fruits' and 'prey' they desired? Would they die? Surrounded by darkness, far from loved ones?
Or would they triumph, returning to the Light with their prizes?
Well, in the end, either endings would be fine with me. For my ambition forever remains undaunted. And that will be a tale grand enough for the records! Let the Reincarnate come! Let his Hunters all come!
A CEREMONY SHALL BE HELD OVER THE THEIR CORPSES DYED IN THE BLACK OF DEATHLY DARKNESS AND THE RED OF BLOODIED RAGE! THEY HAVE NO CHANCE AT ALL AGAINST AN EPITOME, LET ALONE ALL OF US!
LET THEM COME!
LET THEM BLEED!
LET THEM PERISH!
...pardon me. It seems that after all this centuries, my rage still burns strong. As it should, but it is disgraceful to be ruled by it instead of me doing so to it.
So... Tell me, what's your favorite tale? And what role would you take in it if you could?
Jaune hummed as he stared over his choices. The X-Ray & Vav latest issue? Or the latest in that new series he'd heard about but never actually read? Sure he knew the former better, but as a comic fanboy, he couldn't just ignore the start of a potentially new world.
Decisions, decisions.
The store's door banged open before the familiar cocking of a gun reached his ears.
"Hands up! Don't move!"
Jaune looked up at the mirror where he could see the pretty clerk being accosted by two robbers, their normal shotguns pointed at her.
"Who else is here?!" The other robber demanded. "Who owns that bike outside?!"
"Me." Jaune stated as he stepped into view, all of them immediately focusing on him. Which was good, because he had Aura unlike the clerk. "I may look like a scraggly guy in a Pumpkin Pete hoodie, but this sword with me isn't for show."
Jaune blatantly let his left hand rest on the sword hanging off his hip. While he wasn't as trained in it as he wished he was, he was still bulletproof with a very sharp sword that he did have experience in killing Grimm with.
"Stay the fuck back!" Robber A cocked his shotgun, his movements shaky. "You think you're faster than a bullet, little shit?"
"Toss your keys over here." Robber B seemed to be the smarter one of the duo, keeping his pistol trained on the shaking cashier. "And take that sword off, too."
"Okay, okay." Jaune slowly complied, unclipping his sheath before sliding the weapon towards Robber A. "So who'll be getting my keys?"
"Me, smartass." Robber B gestured with his spare hand, just as Robber A bent over to pick up the sword. "Make it quick."
"Okay, then." Time to be a Hero.
Seizing upon the moment neither robber had their gazes on him, Jaune grabbed a glass orb from the shelf and flung it at Robber B's gun, successfully knocking it out of his hand along with injuring it a little.
Before Robber A could rise back up at his partner's pained yell, he found his face meeting Jaune's shoe before his shotgun was ripped out of his hand and used to strike the side Robber B's head just as he tried to reach for the screaming cashier.
Then with Robber B successfully knocked unconscious, Jaune repeated the same treatment upon Robber A's face, making his freshly broken nose bleed even worse.
Threats neutralized. Hostage safe. Become Jaune again.
"You okay?" Jaune asked as he retrieved his keys and sword.
"A-Ah, yeah..." The clerk replied.
"Sorry about whatever that was." Jaune gestured at the broken glass object. "Will I have to pay for that?"
"I don't think so... The cops and my boss will understand after checking those." The cashier slowly relaxed before gesturing at the security cameras, still staring at the still robbers. "Th-Thanks by the way..."
"No problem." Jaune winked, feeling a little pleased when the girl blushed. She looked slightly older than him, having wavy ash blonde hair and green eyes, along with a pretty stacked figure beneath the store uniform. "My name's Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue. Ladies hopefully love it. What's your name, lady?"
The cashier blinked at him in disbelief before bursting into a snigger that soon grew into a welcome chuckle. "S-Seriously? That's... Hah... I'm Crystal. Just Crystal, if you don't mind."
"I don't. I just wanted to see you smile or laugh after an experience like this." Jaune shrugged before heading back to retrieve the comic he'd wanted to buy, missing Crystal's heavy blush. When he came back, it was to her already preparing a bag for him. "Thanks."
"It's the least I could do." Crystal avoided his gaze, her cheeks still pink. "G-Get going. I've already tapped the emergency alarm button. The cops will be here soon."
After paying, Jaune left for his bike and started it up to ride away. Just as he checked on the comic book just to verify it's safe location, he paused at the sight of a slip of paper inside the small bag, it bearing Crystal's name and a set of numbers. Looking back at the store, he caught her looking out the window at him, Crystal blushing before she smiled and waved.
Returning her gesture, Jaune rode away with a happy little smile. He hadn't expected that, but hey, maybe he could get a girlfriend out of this surprise encounter.
Who said good deeds brought consequences?
Apparently, there was somebody up there that did believe in such things, Jaune sighing as he sat inside a questioning room the next day.
Well, not exactly a questioning room. Instead it was just one of his school's classrooms while it had just been closed for the holiday, with him being called here by his shocked principal.
The culprit?
"A pleasure to finally meet you, Jaune Arc." Ozpin, Headmaster of Beacon Academy, sat opposite him with a blonde bespectacled woman standing behind him at his side. "You were surprisingly hard to find."
"But not impossible, I believe." Jaune sighed in defeat, already having some idea of why the man wanted to meet him. But just to be sure. "What's your business with me, sir?"
"I've always wanted a face-to-face with the Hero of Ansel." Ozpin revealed, causing Jaune to hunch into himself a little. "Your actions yesterday were very well done. Zero casualties, incredibly minimal collateral damage and best of all, proper care for the distressed civilian. Huntsmen like you are a rare breed."
"I'm not a Huntsman." Jaune spoke up, his fingers clenching into fists. "If you've been looking me up, you should know that."
"True." Ozpin agreed as he looked into his Scroll. "Name: Jaune Arc. Age: 17. Hunter Registration Centre: N/A. Such a lacking resume for the one who saved this town from certain disaster last month."
"Not as well as you would've." Jaune sighed, getting lost in the memories that cropped up. "You guys would've handled that Grimm pack better."
"Perhaps." Ozpin shrugged. "But while that may be a probability, your actions were a certainty for Ansel's survival. Believe me, I wasn't the only one to be surprised by the absence of your name on any of the Hunter Academies for the upcoming semester. Do you not wish to become a Huntsman?"
"Eh? No way." Jaune shook his head. "Don't get me wrong, 'cause I admire Hunters as a whole. I just don't think I'd qualify as one."
"Interesting answer." Ozpin took a sip from the steaming mug before him. "Why do you believe that?"
"A Hunter is somebody who hunts the Grimm so that they don't prey on the people." Jaune stated. "Somebody who has entered into a deadly profession to save people, regardless of whatever reason they did it for. I used to want to do so, just for the glory of it. Then I looked a Grimm in the eye."
The Grimm pack that had threatened Ansel last month hadn't been something that could probably be considered a serious threat to trained Hunters like the two before him, but to Jaune and the militia that had never even seen a Grimm before, it had been nightmare incarnate that had swept them all into panic and terror.
With Dad having passed some years back and Rose being away at the time, there had been no active Hunters present for the threat, which had left Old Man Grey to come out of retirement and lead a small militia of untrained people to deal with it.
Before the horde had even reached the defensive walls, Grey had unlocked all of their Auras before leading a charge that dealt with the first wave.
"No matter what anybody says, Grey was the only reason we even bothered to fight, rather than evacuating or killing ourselves to spare ourselves the slaughter. He'd called for anybody 17 and above to follow him if they wanted to fight and I'd been one of the first rushing forward with my ancestor's sword."
Crocea Mors had been heavy, the sword and shield weighing heavily in both his hands and heart as Grey gave his 'pep talk'. He'd bluntly stated that the gathered militia had been brought forward only to grant the Ansel civilians more time to evacuate and most of them would be probably die that day.
"Even to this day, I'm still shocked that he was the only one to die that day. Not even by a Grimm, but damn liver failure of all things."
He still remembered holding Grey's hand after he'd suddenly fallen and had been unable to get up again, neither knowing of the consequence of the alcoholic's habits until it was too late. With Grey's death, panic had returned with a vengeance, the fighters arguing about either continuing or fleeing while he'd stared at Grey's unblinking eyes.
"I still don't know what had gotten into me, but I took charge. Not out of responsibility or anything, but just because I wanted to be able to go home."
None of them had listened to him, naturally. He was nerdy Jaune, a loser at their local high school. Not even the Arc that had been desired to be there. But it was the Arc that they'd got regardless.
At first, he'd only gone forth with a desperate few while many of the others stayed behind, picking off the Grimm with hit-and-run tactics that slowly bled them dry while confusing them. It had been terrifying, being responsible for his ragtag subordinates' lives while frantically trying to apply videogame strategies to real-life Grimm(and being immensely thankful when they kept working).
It had been very close, but they'd been driving them back. With every victory Jaune and his group came back with, at least one extra fighter followed them back to the walls after their rest and feeding.
"By the time we'd whittled them down to the last Beowulf, it was already the longest two days of my life."
It had been the most terrifying, exciting and exhausting period of his life, which all but convinced Jaune that he really hadn't been suited for that sort of thing to be a constant in his livelihood. So as soon as he'd managed it, he'd gotten home and burnt the falsified transcripts he'd been in the midst of forging and then hung Crocea Mors back up in it's place above the mantle.
"The only reason I still walk around with a sword is because I... I just never felt safe without one after all that." Jaune confessed, idly patting the sword hanging off his hip. Compared to Crocea Mors, it was a simple steel longsword that he'd bought from a blacksmith. Not even named, but still hadn't made him feel like a fake as much as using Crocea Mors had. "Nobody's ever complained about it."
"I understand the feeling, and I assure you that you're not wrong to feel so." The blonde woman gently assured, her soft smile breaking the stern expression she'd been sporting. "Besides, you're a local hero who defended Ansel against terrifying odds. It wouldn't be wrong to say that you did achieve glory as you'd desired."
No kidding. Jaune's social life had essentially flipped over, the former geeky loser now being admired and adored by everyone.
"Jaune, what if I told you that you would make an excellent Huntsman?" Ozpin spoke up. "And that I want you in my school?"
...how would one go about labelling one of the world's most influential man as insane? "I'm untrained."
"It's a school." Ozpin shrugged. "You'll learn."
"I'll be nothing compared to my peers." Jaune stressed, not wanting to enter a place with bullies that would have superpowers.
"On the contrary, you'll have a solid lead on them with your field experience." Ozpin countered. "Naturally, Beacon students are capable of slaying Grimm in droves, but none of them have ever dealt with a siege like you have. None of them have defended an entire settlement without immense backup which you lacked."
"You severely underestimate how many academies value your attendance, Mr. Arc." The blonde woman chimed in. "Barring Shade Academy, they all wanted you."
"Mr. Arc, may I offer a deal to you?" Ozpin spoke up. "It seems to me that rather than glory, you now seek strength instead. At Beacon, you can attain that and more."
It hurt a little that Jaune couldn't immediately refute that. Before the siege, he'd never trained beyond joining Rose for her daily exercises. After the siege, he'd still been refused training by Rose.
Now that he'd looked Death in the eye and had survived, Jaune was painfully aware of his shortcomings.
Still... "And in exchange?"
"You do nothing more than fulfill your duties upon graduating." Ozpin answered before extending his hand for a shake. "If you desire it, you will gain strength and many more at Beacon."
Jaune stared down at the offered hand for a little bit in worry and hesitation.
Then he reached out and shook it.
A couple of weeks later, Jaune felt like he might not have thought this through as well as he wished he did. Well, if he had, he probably wouldn't have been n this airship heading towards Beacon at the moment.
Being known to be the best of all Hunter Academies in the four kingdoms(five if Menagerie was counted, but they didn't have an academy of their own), Jaune didn't feel so good of his chances of being one of the lucky twelve of sixty potential candidates that would pass the Initiation.
Clutching his stomach again as his breakfast threatened to make a reappearance through his mouth, Jaune cursed the stupid motion sickness for having to always show up whenever he got too nervous.
Having had enough of disparaging Valean transportation for now, Jaune stumbled towards what he hoped was the bathroom, barely missing two girls on the way, one pretty young girl with with black-red hair and a red cloak, and the other being somebody that could easily pass as one of his sisters.
"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone." The Arc-lookalike commented.
Well, that made him feel less guilty about painting her shoes in puke. Even if she did nearly break his jaw even with his Aura active.
KingVessel: I have started a new fic, and no, it's not a rewrite of Knight's Guide in any way.