The Bullhead shuddered as it landed, and I lamented my misfortune.
I didn't want to be here, and I certainly didn't want to be a huntsman.
I AM A BAKER FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!
Or I wanted to be, at least. Technically, I'm a something-hundred-ton, flying, fire-breathing fairy tale monster pretending to be a faunus.
Yeah... I'm not really interested in destruction. I'd very much rather put smiles on people's faces with baked goods than burn down their homes...
I stepped onto the academy grounds, and I looked around, feeling even more out of place when I saw all the prospective students walking around.
I was hoping I could just blend in and remain unnoticed during my time here. But, when everyone but you is dressed like the main character out of a Mistralian anime, you are the one who ends up standing out.While everyone looked like some kind of action hero, I was dressed in a simple, dark red (or is it maroon?), loose-fitting, long-sleeved t-shirt, dark green cargos, and hiking boots.
Thankfully, no-one paid me any attention and I briefly considered making my escape here and now. But then I recalled that I had nowhere to go to now. In Vale, at least.
That was when I heard some shouting followed by an explosion.
I turned around to see a young girl in red and black laying down in a small crater while she was abandoned by a pair of pretty girls in black, each going her separate way.
I may as well at least try to make some friends while I'm here.With a sigh, I walked up to the downed girl and extended my arm.
"Need a hand?" I offered.
Craterface opened her eyes, looked me over, and accepted my outstretched hand.
Wait a second... I know this girl! She and her very friendly, if not kind of shy, blonde friend were regulars at the bakery I used to work at!
"Thanks..." She shyly said with a blush as I helped her up. Looks like she recognizes me, too.
"Sooo... What happened? If you don't mind me asking. Jaune Arc, by the way," I introduced myself.
"Rr-Ruby! Ruby Rose!" She stuttered before excitedly adding, "You're the guy from Baker's Barn!"
"Yep." I wasn't exactly sure how to proceed with this conversation. And it wasn't just because I thought she was kind of cute in the adorable puppy kind of way.
"Oh!" She grimaced as she remembered something. "Sorry to hear about that bombing... my sister and I REALLY loved that place..." Ruby apologized.
"Yeah," I sadly agreed. "I loved that place too..."
About a week ago, the bakery I worked at was destroyed when a neighboring Dust shop got hit, and the robbers tried to hold out in the bakery and attempted to hold me and a few customers hostage.
I... did not appreciate that, and may have lost my cool...
At least no innocents were harmed as I inadvertently had created a distraction...
Too bad the Dust got set off, and I was the only non-criminal to walk out of the explosion unscathed. Which led to a bit of an awkward trip to the police station when I was discovered to be an "unregistered" Aura-user.
From there, I was given a choice. Go to Beacon or jail...
The choice was obvious.
"So you haven't answered my question..." I tried steering our conversation back to a potentially happier topic. Or more amusing one for me, at least. "Did you strike out on joining the school goth girl club?"
"No!" The smaller girl defended. "I wasn't trying to join any dumb club!"
Ruby then described how her older sister had abandoned her in favor of her own friends without telling Ruby which way was up and how that led to her tripping on some rude girl's luggage. Who then proceeded to shake a cracked vial of Dust in Ruby's face while telling the poor girl off before sneezing the resulting explosion into existence.
"That's... Quite the sequence of events..." I commented when she was done. The two of us began walking together through the academy grounds.
"Sooo... I've got this thing..." My new companion started before whipping out a massive mechanical scythe.
"Woah! Is... that a scythe?!" I exclaimed. More out of a slight sense of apprehension than anything else.
"It's also a high-impact custom sniper rifle!" She added while pulling a bolt back. "Fifty cal!"
Of course it's also a gun...
"That's... cool..." I nervously complimented the weapon. I don't think she noticed my anxiety around her tool of death.
Well... As long as she knows what she's doing, I guess everything'll be okay...
"So what about you?" She asked out of the blue.
"Huh? What about me?" I returned.
"I showed you my baby, so what have you got?" She explained.
'She calls that her baby?!'
"Just what The Creator gave me," I admit while holding up my bare hands. It's not like I ever really needed a weapon before. Even in my "human" form, I was more than capable of literally tearing apart almost any Grimm with my bare hands.Plus, I can still breathe fire or grow some scales at will if needed.
"Oh." That seemed to certainly take the wind out of her sails.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing!" She quickly replied. "Nothing's wrong! It's just that I'm starting to think every blonde I know has a thing for punching everything. N-not that it's a bad thing! It's just... odd..."
"Would it help if I had these things?" I suggested while extending a set of claws from my fingertips while uneasily grinning to reveal my large, sharp canines.
After a moment of silence under Ruby's silent gaze, I began to think I made a mistake. For all I knew, the girl might be one of those narrow-minded humans...
"Oh! I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were a Faunus! And a lucky one to be born with natural weapons!" She apologized.
Yeah... Lucky...
Looks like my fears were unfounded.
"Don't worry about it," I shrugged. "So do you know which way we were supposed to be going?"
"Do I know? I was following you!"
"Whew! We made it... Just in time, too..." I sighed in relief.
It was all thanks to a cute bunny faunus girl's directions that we made it over to the auditorium in time for the opening ceremony.
"Ruby!" We heard a voice calling out.
Turning to the source, I saw a lovely buxom blonde waving over at us.
"I saved you a spot!" She called.
"That's my sister! Gotta go! See you later!" Ruby hastily said before zipping off to the older sister who ditched her just like how she ditched me.Guess it runs in the family.
"Great... Now, where am I supposed to find a nice, quirky girl to talk to?"
(-Ruby's POV-)
"So, how has your day been so far?" My traitorous older sister asked.
"Before or after I exploded?" I replied irately.
"Oh come on..." Yang said. "I'm sure it wasn't that bad..."
I corrected her by detailing the sequence of events that happened right after she ditched me.
"...and I just really wanted her to stop!"
"You again!" I heard the voice of the mean rude girl declare from behind me.
"Oh gods! It's happening again!" I cried as I jumped into my sister's arms.
Protect me Yang!
"You nearly fucking blew up half of Beacon!" The girl whose sense of style that was similar to mine continued."Oh my gods, you really did explode..." Yang muttered more to herself than me before setting me back down.
"I said I was sorry!" I angrily reminded this girl. Who does she think she is anyways?
"Hey, hey... Looks like you guys got off on the wrong foot," Yang stepped in between us. "Why don't we just start over from the beginning?"
Good idea, Yang.
"Right... I'm Ruby, wanna hang out sometime?" I tried while offering a handshake.
"Sure! We can go get school supplies, get our nails done, and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde, and fuckable over there..." Bleiss sarcastically started off with before jerking her thumb over in Jaune's direction and continuing with a more sultry tone while giving the guy a half-lidded stare.
Jaune, who was just standing around awkwardly and looking like he'd rather be ANYWHERE else, saw us all looking at him and gave a small, uneasy wave and nervous smile.
"Sorry, he's off limits," Yang interjected. "I already called dibs."
I looked over at Yang in surprise.
"Wha-? Huh? Oh. Right..." I was bewildered at first, then it clicked when I recalled how much happier Yang usually was after a visit to the Baker's Barn.
My sister may talk a big game, but in reality, she has about as much experience with boys as I do.
Which is to say, none.
In other words, Yang has never even so much as kissed a boy outside of our family.
And Yang had a MASSIVE crush on Jaune...
It was kind of cute, really.
Well... Until we heard about the bakery going kaboom a couple weeks ago on the news...
Yang didn't leave her room for a week...
Before I could back up my sister's claim - or say anything, really - we heard the headmaster's voice on a microphone.
"I'll keep this brief..."
(-Yang's POV-)
"It's like a giant slumber party!" I exclaimed to my dear little sister as she continued writing in her... journal?
"Yeah, I guess it is," Ruby agreed. "But I don't think Dad would approve of all the boys, though..."
Sure, a bunch of them were good-looking and looked fairly strong, but I had my eye on a specific one...
"I know I do..." I purred when I spotted him.
Ruby said his name was Jaune. I knew his last name thanks to the name tag he wore at his job, but I never got around to asking for his full name.
Or having an actual conversation with him yet.
Every time I tried, I got cold feet. Or, something came up that required his attention.
Sporting a set of grey sweatpants and a matching hoodie, he waved at us in a friendly manner with the smile he usually wore at the Baker's Barn before carrying on to wherever he was going.
Ruby and I returned said wave and smile.
No! Come back!
Now, you might be asking yourself, "Yang, why are you getting worked up over some civilian guy who works at a bakery? You're Yang freakin' Xiao-Long! The hottest, most confident, and kickass girl in Vale! You could have any guy (or girl) you wanted!"
And you'd be right!
But, well... Your guess is as good as mine. Being the daughter of Taiyang Xiao-Long and niece to Qrow Branwen meant that any guy who came within sight of me had a target on their back. So there's that... And I DID have a certain... reputation... So most guys ended up steering clear of me.
So yeah, I had ZERO experience with boys. Normally, that wouldn't stop me.
Normally.
Somehow, Jaune just didn't feel normal. Due to the similarities between Dad and my fighting styles, I was taught early on how to read people and their intentions by watching how they moved and how they carried themselves.
With Dad being a wreck during my early childhood due to Summer's, the woman who stepped up after my biological mom's disappearance, I had to look after Ruby and be the mother figure she needed. That ended up giving me a certain 'pull' towards people good with kids. And Jaune? Jaune was very good with kids.
I think that was what drew me to him. His looks were just a bonus.
But then I began noticing other things. Like the way he always pulled his sleeves over his wrists, how he only smiled with his lips sealed, or how he was always extremely careful even with his catlike grace whenever he was doing something or helping someone.
Sure, it was his job and all, but he was constantly going above and beyond.
Jaune was very earnest in his kindness. Always stopping to help a customer or put a smile on a child's face, whatever he did. His kindness was genuine. But that smile didn't, let alone couldn't, hide the pain and fear in his eyes. It was almost like he was scared something bad was about to happen.
He was clearly haunted by something in his past. Even now, I could still see it.
But maybe now I could help him...
But how?
(Jaune's POV)
I was more than ready to hit the sack by now.
Between being Shanghai'd into attending this "prestigious" institution and dodging that girl who was giving Ruby a hard time earlier, I wanted nothing more than to find a nice, cozy, and quiet place to curl up and go to sleep.
That's something that probably won't ever change no matter what form I take. Us dragons love to sleep.
As I waved at the pair of sisters, I considered approaching Ruby and her sister to see if I could perhaps sleep next to them in an effort to keep away from the admittedly pretty black haired girl with red eyes and potty mouth. But then I thought better of it when I felt the intense glares sent my way by nearly all the males in my vicinity.
Better try my luck elsewhere...Eventually, I found a quiet spot against a wall next to another pretty girl with black hair reading a book. She wore a bow, likely to hide the ears on top of her head, and a yukata.
What is up with this place and all these supermodel-like girls? Geeze!
The girl gave me a curious look as I set down my sleeping bag.
"Just looking for a quiet spot to sleep and get away from all the commotion..." I told her as I got into the bag and curled up, facing the wall. "I won't cause you any trouble..."
She went back to her book, but I could feel her occasionally set her gaze upon me. And because of that, I couldn't rediscover the miracle of sleep.
Before I could say anything, the bookworm finally spoke up.
"Thank you."
"You're welcome? I think?"
I was genuinely confused.
"For protecting that family. I was there when your store was destroyed. Most people would just leave those faunus to be held hostage," she explained. "You gave me a chance to help them get to safety."
She had a warm, gentle smile on her face as she spoke to me.
Oh. I think I remember her now. If I had known she was a huntress in training, I probably would've let her handle the situation.
Then again, threatening children is the number one way of reaching the top of my shit-list...
Plus, it likely didn't help seeing as I knew the Scarlatina family as regulars and had built something of a rapport with them.
I wonder if I'll see their daughter they keep telling me about here?
Knowing that, I couldn't fight the small blush from appearing on my face.
"Blake," the bow wearing girl introduced herself.
"Jaune," I replied.
...
An awkward silence ensued for a moment before I tried going back to sleep.
"Well... Good luck with initiation tomorrow," I wished her.
"You too."
(Blake's POV)
As Jaune attempted to find sleep, I couldn't help but think about how we would fare as teammates as well as what brought him here in the first place.
I recalled the day when his bakery was attacked and how, before shit hit the fan, he seemed perfectly happy with what he was doing.
I had already gotten myself a small latte and blueberry muffin when a family of three entered the building. The father was a red-haired human with his wife and five year old son being brown haired faunus that had rabbit ears.
I smiled to myself as I witnessed this pinnacle evidence of humans and faunus peaceful coexistence. They all looked so happy and content as the admittedly cute blonde cheerfully greeted them with an air of familiarity.
I recalled the day when his bakery was attacked and how, before shit hit the fan, he seemed perfectly happy with what he was doing.
It happened so fast, I barely had time to process what was happening.
Five men wearing masks burst in through the building carrying guns, sabers, and a sack.
One fixed his sights on me and began barking out orders for me to get on the ground. Cursing myself for leaving Gambol Shroud behind in my hotel room, I had no choice but to oblige.
Another gunman was pointing his weapon at Jaune before turning his attention to the small, crying boy as he was ripped from his mother's arms while his father was held back by a crimson blade to his throat.
That single instant was all Jaune needed before striking with preternatural speed. Grabbing the handgun still held at his face, Jaune effortlessly crushed it and the hand wielding the weapon, leaving it a mangled mess of blood, flesh, bone, and iron.
Before the thug could even scream, his head was then slammed into the cash register between Jaune and himself.
The remaining four panicked as Jaune leaped over the counter and tossed a plate of frosted cupcakes into the face of the man holding the child, blinding him as he let go of the boy as his mother had been shoved aside earlier.
With my thug distracted as he turned around and forgot me in favor of the surprisingly effective baker boy, I punched the gunman in front of me in the back of his knee. Bringing myself up, I drove my own knee into the back of the man's skull, stunning him just long enough so that I then tackled the blade bearing thug, freeing the father.
Together, the family and I made it out to the street and away from the fighting to see the police already pulling up to the scene.
"There's still one more inside!" I called out, turning my head to look back through the bakery's windows. Only to see large splatters of blood coving them. Inside, I could hear the screams of terror and pain followed by gunshots.
After one gunshot, there was an explosion of fire blasting through the windows and door. After a few moments of watching the flames in disbelief, a figure emerged.
It was Jaune, his apron and uniform in tatters, while he himself looked more sorrowful than exhausted, shaken, or injured.
From there, it was a quick trip to the police station to give my testimony of the events as an eyewitness.
I suppose that it was my testimony that landed Jaune here.
"Hi! Good evening!"
I was broken out of my thoughts by the approach of two girls. A blonde, and that crimsonette I saw earlier arguing with the Schnee.
(Bleiss's POV)
I was left in a rather piss poor mood that evening when I couldn't find that cute blonde guy that was hanging out with Jailbait earlier.
Who cares if Cowtits called 'dibs' on that hot piece. If he was actually hers, he would've been right there instead of all the fucking way across the damn auditorium!
I scanned the ballroom for what felt like the thirtieth time before I saw a flash of blonde hair moving by.
'Fucking finally!'
I tried to navigate my way through the sea of people in an attempt to catch up to the blonde.
Only to be cut off by some dumbass with indigo eyes and short reddish-brown hair trying to chat me up.
"Yeah... I don't think so, fuckwad," I said as he tried blocking me off again after my second attempt of going around him.
With a glyph, I slammed him face down into the ground and walked right over him.
"Dammit! You made me lose him!" I half-shouted as I lost sight of my target.
Oh well... Better luck tomorrow...
AND SCENE!!!
And there's chapter one. I've always wanted to do a story based on Jaune secretly being a dragon, so here it is!
This story takes a good bit of inspiration from works such as "The Arc Dragon" by Timetraveling Author and "Vytalian Dragon Jaune Arc" by BoxinShrimp, but with my own flair.
Ciao For Now!