Hi! So I didn't hear any objections to updating this story, so I guess this is what you guys wanted. And I'm going to address this one last time before I drop the subject all together. I can not update this as often as my other stories. I would love to, but I don't have the time. Now, I know you want to read this already, so I'll talk to you in the Notes at the bottom.

What now?

That was the question going through most of the student's minds while they had made the long and quiet trip to the nearest town. That just so happened to be the Island of Patch. They had been for the most part, quiet as they rode in the Bullhead. None of them were willing to say anything. Not after what happened to Jaune. They would have made the pilot turn his ass around and look for their blonde friend. But even now, they knew that if they did go back that they wouldn't have a mode of transportation to get back. And with a shortage of ammo, a long distance between them and the next village, they had no other options. That wasn't even considering the fact of how long it would take to find Jaune in the first place. They would be hard pressed to get anyone back to Beacon. But the fact itself was making this all that much worse.

'I want him back. I want my knight in shining armor back." Ruby thought to herself as she cried into her sister's shoulder. She gripped onto her crush's weapon tightly, trying to hold onto one of the only things that she had of him. It was one of the first things that they had bonded over. It was when they had become friends.

Eventually, she'd grown to realize that she loved him.

He was so sweet, nice and willing to help. He gave her a hand whenever she needed it. He was the same person that goofed off with her whenever her team was too busy with their own plans. When Weiss needed to go and get her bi-weekly spa visit, or when Blake...wanted to be alone, and when Yang had plans to go out on the town, he would be all down to hang out with her. Whatever she wanted to do, he'd go along with it without question. Even when she wanted to make some cookies in the cafeteria after dark, he went with her. Goodwitch had caught them after they had accidentally blown up the kitchen when Ruby tried to use fire Dust to 'enhance' the flavor. Ruby had been behind one of the counters when the professor had walked in, so she wasn't initially found out. Jaune was standing directly in the middle of the kitchen when the combat instructor walked in. When asked if there was anyone else in there, he said no and was able to convince Goodwitch to not investigate the place. He got a months worth of detention. Even when she tried to apologize to him for getting him in trouble, he waved it off, saying that it wasn't a big problem. Jaune seemed to never get angry at anyone. He was always the reliable one of the group that you could count on. After what he said though...

'How could I have missed it?' Ruby thought, thinking back to how she would sometimes see Jaune alone in the training rooms, sitting down on a bench. He always looked so...worn. His eyes looked so sad and she could have sworn that he had some tears falling down his face. But whenever she would try to talk to him about it, he would quickly change attitudes and talk to her like nothing was wrong. She never really thought much about it, but she wished she did. Jaune thought that he didn't deserve to be their friend. He thought so low of himself that he felt the need to jump out of the Bullhead and save them from that Nevermore at the expense of his own life.

"I love you. Both of you. Goodbye"

His final words to them. To both her and Pyrrha. That was something that the small reaper was going to have to think about later. But for now...she just...she needed to cry for a bit longer. None of this would have happened if she wasn't so selfish...

It had been a few hours since they had escaped, and now they were about to make it to their destination...a lot faster than they might like though.

"Hold on everyone! The engines are failing!"

Like, a whole lot faster.

As the teams held onto the ship for stabilization, the entire aircraft started to shake and shutter. The engines each caught fire and stopped working before one even blew up, sending them plummeting to the island of Patch. The pilot was able to level out the Bullhead enough before they started crashing through the forest below.

The ship dragged through the ground, tearing up trees and different plant life. Even some Grim were ran over as the aircraft ground to a halt. The teams inside were recovering from the impromptu landing as the pilot took off his helmet and thanked Oum for letting them live through that experience. He got up from his seat, being followed by his Co-pilot, going to check on the two teams.

"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" He asked as he surveyed the room. He didn't see anything as bad as you would expect from a crash landing, but it never hurt to ask. But looking at the students, he could tell it wasn't the physical damage that he should be worried about. He's had his fair share of missions gone wrong. If anything, they were lucky that only one person had been left behind. Some missions, he had to go home alone. He would never forget the mission that his own son was his Co-pilot. He was told to go without him as he baited the Grim away because the Huntsman team had been completely wiped out. He lost a lot that day. If they were feeling anywhere near as terrible as he did all those years ago, they were going to need time to adjust and heal.

He didn't get any verbal confirmation, but they just got up and started looking for the exit. He sighed and looked to the side, seeing that the ax for emergencies was loosely hanging from it's designated place. He knew that the hanger door would most likely be shut tight. It was designed to stay closed until either a rescue team got them open, or if the pilot(him) were to use the ax to cut a cord that will release the torque keeping the door shut.

"Hold on everyone, let me get this sucker open." The pilot said, carefully treading the messy room to a certain sheet of metal to the side. It looked worn and nearly torn open, but It was still fine.

The students stayed there, trying to recuperate from the crash. They had been trained to get up even when disorientated, but they figured that it took experience to recover like the pilot did. Though, the pain in their heads still did nothing to distract them from the painful memory of losing someone close to them.

The pilot tore away the metal plating and saw the cord that was left alone. He drew back his weapon and swung with all his might. This cord wasn't a frail little thread of cloth after all. So with a satisfying snap, the cord was split in two, releasing the tension of the door and allowing them to pry it open.

Once the students regained their bearings, Yang and Nora helped since they were the strongest out of their group to open the door. With some groaning and screeching of metal, the hanger was finally opened revealing the trench that had been made from their crash landing. The pilot sighed to himself before he pulled his emergency flare gun from his belt, at first thinking that they should wait here for someone to eventually come and pick them up, but a second later, he put it away, remembering that the two teams were still recovering from losing one of their own. Those negative emotions were practically a siren for Grim to come. With that in mind, the pilot decided that he should lead them all to the closest city. Patch was a relatively small island, so it shouldn't take that long to get there. With them low on ammo and strength, they were lucky that they were able to make it to one of the mainland settlements.

"Alright everybody, the plan here is to keep moving and see if we can make it to civilization before sunset." He said, making them nod to him and make sure that their gear was all ready. After a brief moment of checking, they had all started walking westward in the direction that they were last heading to. But the only thing that they could think about was that they were probably better off than Jaune. Not only did he not have his weapon, he also had no real settlement to go to. If they didn't get back to Beacon soon and get Ozpin to send a rescue party to him, he...

'We need to get him back. I need to get him back.' Pyrrha thought to herself, thinking about how he was so kind to her. How he was so...perfect to her and everyone around him. If she let him die, then she would feel like she had failed him as not only his partner and friend, but also someone that could have been more to him. She needed to save him. She needed to.

How long had it been? Seven? Eight hours? He wasn't sure. All he knew was that it had been some time between killing that Nevermore and wandering the forest. The blonde had been confused as to where he was and lost his orientation. He landed somewhere deep in the forest. The treetops were thick with branches, yet almost no leaves grew from them. It gave off a foreboding aura. With how the entirety of the treetops was still covered in darkness, covering the sun, Jaune didn't know what was where.

As sad as this was, he was going in the opposite direction that his friends had gone and was instead heading deeper into the Grimlands. He was deemed lucky however, as he hadn't found any Grim on his trek through the woods. That last invasion from earlier had been a majority of what inhabited the forest, so Jaune lucked out. However, he also knew that it wouldn't matter how lucky he was if he stayed in this forest for very long. Grim would eventually find him, and when they did, he would be mincemeat.

"I just hope...that the're safe." Jaune said to himself as he stepped over tree roots and around the large trees. His hoodie had been torn mostly in the right hand side from that Aura blast. His jeans were mostly the same, save for a few tears from his rough landing. His armor had been completely totaled, taking most of the force of his fall. He knew that he was going to die out there, and that he didn't know why he was trying to get anywhere. It was a long ride over to that village in a Bullhead, so it would take even longer on foot. He chalked it up to some base primal instinct to preserve his own life. He chuckled at the thought, having believed that the instinct had been lost to him years ago.

"What now?" He asked himself, walking further and further into the forest. He had no idea why he wanted to go in this direction, but he didn't exactly have any other choice in the matter. He figured that if he was going to die, he was at least going to try and go down with a struggle. As little of one as he knew he would put up, he'd be damned if he didn't at least fight until his last breath. He was an Arc. And an Arc fights until they either arose victorious, or died trying.

Going along his way, he still couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. He looked around him and even above him, trying to see if there was anyone that had been tailing him or if any Grim was stalking him. He couldn't find anything of the sort. But he just couldn't dismiss the notion, knowing that in this forest, he couldn't let his guard down for even a moment. The only thing that would allow him to really relax would be a welcoming party from his friends. As unrealistic as that sounds, a boy could dream. And that positive outlook was what was going to help him get through this.

"I told myself that I would live without any regrets, but not being able to really confess Rubes and Pyr how I felt about them is something that I'll never live down." Jaune said to himself before he heard a low rumbling coming from the direction he was facing. It sounded like it was coming from the distance, but with how it was literally shaking the ground...he needed to move. Now.

"Shit!" Jaune exclaimed, grabbing onto a nearby tree and started climbing. Without his armor and weapons, Jaune had no trouble climbing up a roughly textured tree. Using the grooves as a natural grip to lift himself up higher and higher. He climbed as fast as he could, despite the fact that hiking the rough terrain of the forest for many hours had left him feeling worn out. He had reached the top of the tree within a minute, looking down from his nearly eighty meter perch. He was surprised at himself at how quickly he was able to climb. Despite his arms and legs burning with exertion, he finally carried himself over a branch and rested there, waiting for whatever had been thumping its way in his direction to pass.

Only waiting for a few seconds more, with the thumping of the ground becoming intense enough for the tree he was on and the surrounding trees to start to shake violently, Jaune saw something that made him realize exactly why he never saw any other Grim in this forest.

It stood at more than half of the tree's height. Around sixty to seventy meters tall. It had giant arms that were even thicker than the tree trunks. Both of them heavily plated in white bone armor. In fact, it's entire body was covered in heavy bone armor. small chips and gashes showing that it had seen many battles before. The monstrosity had a torso that looked very much like a Wrecker's. With the slightly cylindrical shape and different layers of armor at the 'stomach' for maximum defense and maneuverability. But the strange thing was that the face wasn't on it's head, as there was no such thing to be seen on this creature. Instead, six eyes, each in two rows of three going down it's chest were shown. Each holding a bright red light of unyielding hatred. However, unlike other Grim, these eyes held a controlled rage that focused on whatever just so happened to cross it's path.

Further from that, It had three thick fingers in each hand which it clinched together, creating a loud clang that almost sounded like metal. It's legs were like columns of thick bone. The giant creature looked from side to side, moving it's body that was riddled with red patterns as if looking for something. Jaune knew that he was the reason for it's search. Jaune had to actively repress his emotions and cover his mouth to stop himself from breathing. Repressing his Aura was something that he had already done before he even got to the top of the tree. Fearing that he would give his position away to the utterly terrifying and monstrously built Regi Gigantice.

Jaune had heard of this monster of nightmares from his grandmother. She was the only one out of his grandparents to talk about it. His grandfather had been tight lipped about his fight with the Grim. Both he and his wife had to deal with one as it formed. His grandmother had told him that her, Nicholas, the rest of her team and several other Hunters had been sent out to try and gain more land from the Grimlands when they had encountered an Alpha Wrecker. The titan of bone armor had caused her section of Hunters some trouble. It wasn't anything that was too difficult, but it was when they had it on it's last legs that it's evolution came about.

When the Grim had been decapitated, they had all thought that the fight would be over, but the sudden ripple of armor and jittering of the creature's body had caused them to reenter their fighting stances. After several pulses of it's body, the Grim had suddenly stopped moving for a moment. In an instant the entirety of it's body exploded in a black mass. The entire cloud swirling and twisting, generating a gust of wind that blew nearly everyone away. The only people that could keep their footing were Nicholas and another one of his friends that acted as Tanks for the group.

The mass of darkness multiplied and grew until it had grew to massive proportions. Nicholas tried to walk towards it in an attempt to maybe stop whatever was trying to form, but right before he was able to swing his sword, the body of evil had pulsed again, pushing him back and knocking everyone on their backs.

When they looked up to the mass, it started forming something...something big.

The rest of the Hunters had just been able to get back into their feet when the mass had started settling into the shape of a Regi Gigantice. It had grown in height with more bone armor from before. Jaune had been told by his grandmother that looking into it's six eyes had been terrifying. But having to fight it was nearly nightmarish. A Wrecker was normally stronger than most other Grim with the weakness of being painfully sluggish. But the Regi Gigantice had an ability that made it truly terrifying. with it's blood constantly pumping faster and faster during a battle, It's body becomes faster and faster with it's strength becoming ever more vast. There were reports that a Regi Gigantice had once become so pumped that it just...vanished. It had been lost and no Huntsman team had been able to find where it had gone. The account had sent a wave of terror throughout those who knew about it. What happened to it? Did it evolve further? If so...where did it go?

All questions that had been gone unanswered. Even to this day, his grandparents were worried about it. His grandfather had sworn to hunt that thing down and kill it before anyone else had to die because of it. His grandmother on the other hand had prayed every day and night that Nicholas would never find it. She hoped that no one would have to go through the hell of fighting those things. But...the one that she described had nothing compared to this thing.

'It must have killed everything in this forest. No wonder why this place is so devoid of other Grim!' Jaune thought to himself as he watched the Grim stay for a few moments longer before it suddenly struck with it's giant arm, seemingly going to attack Jaune, but instead, smashed it's large hand into a Beowolf that had been in the area. It retracted it's hand, showing a crater where the other Grim used to be. Jaune had nearly jumped out of his skin when the Regi Gigantace started leaving, toppling trees in it's wake.

.

..

...

"I need to get out of here as soon as I can." Jaune said to himself in a whisper, a cold sweat covering his brow and his breath heavy. Seeing that...thing, had made him remember the reason that he wanted to become a Huntsman in the first place. To make sure that other people wouldn't have to face these monstrosities.

Resigning to this fate...it went against what he promised his family. It was in violation of his oath to his friends. It betrayed his own dreams! He was Jaune Arc for Oum's sake! The next of kin to the Arc family. So what if he was weak? He would train even harder than before!

"What next?...I know what to do next. I'm going to get out of here, get back to my friends, and train harder than I've ever trained possible. I'll finally be able to fight as equals to the others. I wont be the dead weight! I refuse to fie in this forest. Even if I have to break every bone in my body, I'll make it out of here and get back to achieving my dream of becoming a Huntsman." Jaune said to himself, hearing the tumbling of more trees in the distance. He had a fire in his eyes, one that hadn't been there before now. He hadn't felt this truly motivated before. Before, he had a dream that he was passionate about, yes, but he didn't really have anyone to motivate him. He didn't have friends like now. His parents had been reluctant to support him and his sisters were only empathetic towards him. The only person that had really supported him was his sister Saphron. She had helped him get some transcripts with the help of her then Fiance now wife Terra.

Now though...he had people that he truly cherished. People that he loved. People that he needed to get back to. He'd be damned if he just gave up now after all the effort he put into this dream.

With a fire in his soul and a new mission to accomplish, Jaune slid back down the tree and walked forward. Determined to make it out of the Grimlands and fulfill his dream.

One way or another, he will make it out of here!

'That's a promise. And an Arc never breaks their promise.'

This was the end of the story for 'Jaune the weakling', and the beginning of the journey of Jaune Arc.

The Man That Will Become King.

Okay, so I finally got around to updating this story. Be warned, I probably wont be able to update again for the rest of the year. In other news, I am going to be working on the two One-Shots that I promised before I work on any other chapter. So with that out of the way, I will see you all in a few weeks, either on Thanksgiving or on Christmas. Maybe even both? Who knows. But I will post something by the end of the year. Anyway, that's all from me. I will see you all in another work of mine. Until then, Toodles~!