AN: This idea came about as I felt it was kind of bullshit that the Maiden powers can only go to girls while the only 'magic' a guy can have is a controlling old dude possessing them and eventually taking over. So, this idea has someone able to make a slight change which causes a butterfly effect.

AN2: For Jaune's power levels entering beacon, I'm planning for him to be around Pyrrah's level when she entered the academy. We know that Pyrrah was able to hold her own against Cinder who had the maiden's powers and experience with them by that point. He'll still have weaknesses, just like Pyrrah did, but he'll be much more ready for combat than he was in canon.

AN3: Also, this is just a rough first chapter. When this story eventually becomes a real thing, it will be more fleshed out in the beginning.

To those who are worthy

Chapter 1

-Jaune-

"Nana?" Jaune called out as he opened the door to the small cottage just outside Ansel, the little ten-year-old having gotten concerned when his honorary grandmother hadn't been in town that day, "Are you here?"

"Jaune dear, is that you?" he heard his nana's voice coming from the back rooms and was concerned at how frail she sounded. Hurrying in, he found her in bed, looking pale and tired, "I thought that was you dear." She gave him a small smile, eyes shining even if her body was weak.

"I got worried when you weren't in town." Jaune took a seat by her bed, pouring her a glass of water from a pitcher when he saw her hands shaking.

"Oh, I'm just old deary." His nana chuckled, "Listen to my advice and never grow old yourself, it's no fun at all. Just stay young and adorable for me, would you?"

"Nana!" Jaune whined red faced, "I'm not adorable."

"Oh, pish posh," his Nana pinched his cheek playfully, "you're cute as a button deary." At his flustered protests she just cackled happily "So, what'll it be today sweetie? Do you want more training tips or another story from back when I was a young kick ass huntress?" the old woman grinned, flexing her frail bony arm smugly as if she could still take on a horde of Grimm. Although, given her stubbornness, Jaune wouldn't be surprised if she tried.

"Can't it be both?" he smiled as he refilled her glass, "Your stories are amazing Nana, and one day I'm gonna be a huntsman just like you were."

"Hmmm, just like me huh?" the retired huntress poked his belly with mock seriousness, "I don't know if someone so skinny could be that tough."

"I'll show you!" Jaune grinned as he helped his Nana into her chair on the porch so she could watch him train in her yard and tell him stories of her time as a pro while she did so, a routine they'd developed over the years after her move to Ansel when she would occasionally babysit Jaune or his sisters when their parents were off doing huntsmen missions, or training his siblings. With eight kids he wasn't surprised that he didn't get a lot of attention, especially when the others were already in the middle of their training and his parents didn't want to just stop partway with them. As he went through a training routine though, he couldn't help but feel something was off. He wasn't sure what it was, but there was definitely something different about his Nana as he finished his exercises and helped her back inside and into her bed so she could rest.

"Thank you for visiting me Jaune." His Nana smiled, squeezing his hand with a tender smile, "Your visits always mean so much to me."

"Of course, Nana, you're family." Jaune smiled at her, knowing that while something was wrong, she was still family and he wanted to make her as comfortable and happy as he could.

"Be safe heading home dear." She pat his hand before pausing, "Oh, and could you send your father to come see me? There's something I wanted to talk to him about?" nodding at the request, something that wasn't that out of the norm, Jaune made his way home. His mind so lost in thought and body aching from the exercise that he didn't feel the change going on within him, let alone when it settled down.

"Jaune…can I come in?" hearing his father's tone, Jaune knew something was horribly wrong. He'd passed along Nana's message the second he got back, and his father had agreed easily enough, there still being plenty of time before dinner. Now the Arc Patriarch was back and Jaune was terrified at what would be said.

"Is something wrong dad?" he asked, having a horrible idea and praying it wasn't true.

"Jaune it…it's Nana." His dad sat on the edge of the bed, taking off his glasses to rub at red eyes, "She…she's passed on son." That statement, the very one he'd been dreading, hit him like a ton of bricks as he staggered back, "She asked for me since she didn't want you to have to see her like that." His father spoke softly, pulling Jaune into a tender embrace as the man silently mourned as well, "She left a letter for me, asking for me to give you her journal, and her old weapon. You meant so much to her son, you gave her light and happiness in these final days. No matter what ever happens, I want you to know that you were her hero." Jaune barely registered those words as he sobbed his heart out into his father's shirt, screaming at the world for taking away someone who'd meant so much to him.

-Seven years later-

Waking up with a gasp, Jaune sat forward in his seat, the memories of that day fading away, what had once been a stabbing pain now a dull familiar ache. Reaching to his side to hold the spear that had once been his Nana's, Jaune steadied his breathing, riffling through his bag as he pulled out the letter she'd left for him tucked away into her journal. It told of so many things, of magic and gods, maidens and immortals, but above all it told of her semblance and powers.

His Nana had once been one of the most powerful huntresses of Vacuo before slipping away to retire where she wasn't known and be able to enjoy her final years. During her time as a huntress, she'd acquired a set of powers that came with a mantle, the summer Maiden. A power that went from one host to the next, always to a young woman who was the last person the previous maiden thought of in death, or to a random young woman if the recipient thought of a man or a woman who was 'too old'. His Nana had decided those terms were bullshit though and used her semblance on the maiden's powers. His Nana's semblance was a finicky one that could only be used so often and if she used it on someone it could never be used on them again. Her semblance gave her the ability to alter the semblance of another to some degree so long as the change fit the idea of the semblance as a logical variation. Someone being immune to kinetic energy? She might make them immune to thermal energy. Someone who could break aura on contract might instead reinforce it. The Maiden's powers that gave magic to the last young woman in the previous user's thoughts or a random one if the arbitrary criteria weren't met? His Nana had made it so that she could pass on that power to whoever she wanted at any time regardless of gender of death. And now, so could he. In his palm he stared at a flickering orb of flame, feeling the roiling power of the magic mingling with his aura. He'd made a promise to his Nana that he would become a huntsman as great as she was, and damn it all if he'd let anything get in his way of that goal.