Disparate Youth: Locked Up

Chapter 3: Gruel and Unusual

Sleep did not come easy, but it did come eventually.

Jaune was used to short sleeps, a family of ten often stirred in the night and each shuffle down the stairs for water, or the bathroom, or to mom and dad's room after a nightmare, would compound and interrupt the sleep of anyone close by.

Jaune was also used to harsh wake calls, the boy recalling the period of time in which his mother would spritz her children with water if they refused to awaken for too long. It was only after complaining to his father that the wise man got him to realize that his mother should not have to spend thirty minutes begging her children to wake up in time for school. It made him feel more than a little guilty at the time, though it was quickly forgotten the next time she sprayed him.

While Jaune eventually learned not to test the fierce woman's temperament, Saphron had never seemed to take the lesson to heart. Even at the age of seventeen, she was still occasionally woken up with a shock of icy water to the face. That might change by the time he gets home, Jaune supposed, his favorite sister might even move out before then, just as his oldest already had.

Jaune missed them, and at his moment, he even missed being woken up with his mother's spray bottle.

Instead, it was done via a blaring alarm, coming not only from his own room, but every single room near him, much like the 'lights out' announcement the previous night. Trying in vain to cover his ears with his pillow, the neon light flickered on, and his door clicked open. Mercifully, the alarm stopped, and Jaune was finally able to unblock his ears.

Replacing it, Jaune heard a gentle, almost friendly, two-tone chime, like the kind made in a passenger airship before the pilot makes an announcement.

"Good morning residents!," Came a feminine, overbearingly sweet voice, originating from the grated speaker in Jaune's ceiling. "It's six am, so please be up and ready for breakfast. "How you spend your morning Is how you'll spend your days, so remember to start your day with a smile!"

Jaune didn't smile, and he doubted many of his fellow 'residents' did either.

Remembering his information booklet, Jaune made his way out of his cell, glad that others were as well. In his tired state, Jaune had had a hard time remembering where to go from there, but as he watched his peers, he simply shuffled along with them, certain they were headed the way he was.

As the crowd streamed down the stairs, the noise began to pick up, the group teenagers acting in a manner far more familiar to Jaune. Endless conversations, too many for Jaune to listen in on disturbed his still tired brain.

Once he made it down both flights of stairs, they all began moving towards the back wall, which is where the pack split. The girls began lining up at a door on the right hand side of the basketball hoop, and Jaune entered the boys line on the left.

As the line shuffled along, he heard several boy's wolf whistle, and watched the girls respond, usually with annoyed glances, but often some furious giggling and waving. Several boys tried yelling out, trying to have a conversation, but the girls only laughed and looked confused, unable to hear over the talking.

He did notice at least one other boy who didn't seem thrilled by the volume, the dark haired cat faunus from the previous night, Max if he remembered correctly. He was practically at the front of the line, and Jaune assumed he must have woken up before the alarm to get that position, which explained why he was not in his room when the blond had walked past. When the line shuffled forward, Max held his side, limping along with it, causing Jaune to wince.

As he looked on, the boy locked eyes with another familiar face, Miltia from the ship. He gave her a small smile, and held his hand up in a casual wave. For his trouble, he only received a confused frown back, which then formed into an annoyed eye roll. Embarrassed, Jaune's eyes wandered to the other side of the hall only to stop at Miltia again, exiting her room, yawning and stretching her arms. Much like Jaune, Miltia was wearing the same clothes they came in.

Jaune wasn't an idiot, and having a pair of twin sister's himself, it didn't take more than two, maybe three looks between the pair of them to remember that Miltia had a twin sister. His ears red, Jaune looked around the room for something, anything to distract him.

As more residents got out of bed and lined up to bathe, the noise level continued to rise, and Jaune began to find it a little strange that no guards had done anything about it, especially given the way all seemed to act yesterday. Twisting his neck around for any sign of the black costumed men, Jaune found only two, standing at the exact opposite end of the room next to the entrance, their bored expressions answered his curiosity.

Apparently this level of noise was normal for the mornings, or maybe Emerald was right… and that they just didn't care either way. Not having seen her that morning, Jaune looked around for a flash of green, but was unsuccessful, so the boy assumed that she hadn't woken up yet.

Jaune didn't wait for long in line, having gotten up to the entrance, he understood why this rowdy mob was so organized, standing single file in neat and orderly lines. Behind the doorway, a single mechanized guard stood, holding out its arm to prevent him from unauthorized entry, its red visor shining in his face.

When a boy approached the doorway from inside, the machine looked at him for a brief moment, lifted its arm, and allowed him to exit.

"STALL EIGHT," the guard announced, its head swiveling to face Jaune once more. "FIVE MINUTES."

Jaune swallowed and, when it was clear the machine was finished speaking, crept past it trepidatiously. The bathroom was small, far smaller than one would expect for a place of this size, which explained to Jaune why there were guards posted inside. The tiling was dreary beige, continuing from the floor to creep halfway up the walls, and lining the numbered stalls on the right hand side. Beyond the brownish-red color staining the grout, Jaune was able to see the shower heads running across that wall, along with the faces of multiple boys, chatting amongst themselves as they washed up.

Walking past numbers one through seven, Jaune pointedly refused to look to his right, quickly realizing that each stall had no door, which meant no privacy, to speak of. When reaching his designated space, Jaune finally had a moment to properly inspect the facilities. Before the shower, there was a dry section containing a laundry trough, a dry towel, and a spare gray uniform, folded neatly on a small bench..

Remembering his instructions, he looked back out the doorless frame, took a deep breath and undressed, trying his best not to think about his exposed state. Jaune placed his dirty street clothes in the trough, piled in with a bunch of dirty uniforms, and it was with a small sense of melancholy that wondered whether they ever returned them, or how they even could.

Still embarrassed, he walked into the shower and turned on the tap, allowing it to run for a moment. While waiting, Jaune spotted a large dispenser, bolted to the wall, which claimed to contain a product that was simultaneously body wash, shampoo and conditioner. Doubting these claims, Jaune tested the water, and found that while it was not unbearingly cold, it had warmed up even a little.

Disappointed, but not overly surprised, Jaune allowed the water to wash over him, unphased by the cold. Running out of hot water was a mainstay in the Arc household, and the girls usually had first dibs. He showered quickly and efficiently, well aware of his strict time limit, but mostly because those same, impatient sisters had educated Jaune as much in the virtue of a short shower, as they had in a cold one.

Having emerged from the stall, dried and garbed in his new uniform, Jaune approached the sink's, and inspected himself in the mirror. The usual face stared back at him, if only slightly different due to the bags that had been developing under his eyes, only getting worse since the beginning of his sentence. To the right of the sink, he noticed another dispenser bolted to a wall, this one labeled 'toothpaste'. Jaune was suddenly very aware of the smell of his breath, and the taste of the bile forming at the back of his throat.

Racking his brain, he tried to remember if there was anything he missed yesterday. He came up short however, and after a moment of looking around, while being careful not to disturb the privacy of the other boys, he swallowed nervously, and approached the only authority figure he could find.

"Uh, excuse me… sir," He said, hesitantly, the beating of his heart at the forefront of his mind. "I'm not sure where to get a tooth brush, there wasn't anything in the letter last night…"

Jaune breathed heavily as the cold monster turned its head to face him, the red of the visor shining down on his face.

The boy immediately regretted his decision.

Before he could step back, however, the drone turned, and opened a freestanding cupboard, which the boy had not yet noticed. A small plastic package crinkled in its crude grip, and Jaune suddenly found a disposable toothbrush thrust into his chest, and when the robot released it, the boy made sure to catch it before it fell to the floor.

"Uh… Thank you?"

"DO NOT MISPLACE." It replied, the cold, lifeless voice loud enough to drown out the sounds of showers running, and teenagers gossiping.

Shaking nervously, he nodded, hoping to never find out what would happen if he asked for one again.

Once he left the bathroom, Jaune weaved through the crowd, climbing back up to his room, only to find himself unexpectedly blocked half way up the stairs. Determined to feel something, anything other than overbearing dread, Jaune put on a brave face, plastered on a smile, and approached the familiar boy, who was struggling to push himself forward.

"It's Max, right?," he asked, holding out his arm for the boy.

Nodding up at him wearily, Max accepted the gesture, grunting in pain as he hoisted himself up with better side's arm.

"I'm Jaune," he continued, still holding on to the boy's arm to steady him. "You need a hand?"

"Yeah," Max sighed, giving Jaune a nervous smile. "Thanks."

"No -" Jaune began, as he hoisted Max's better arm over his own shoulder with a grunt. "- Problem."

It didn't take long for Jaune to get the boy up to their neighboring dorms, and Max could only wince, holding his bruised side as he limped up each step, his new neighbor hunching down in order to keep his bad leg held up.

Embarrassingly for Max, the taller boy did not hesitate to continue helping him onto his bed, gently releasing the boy once he was sat down.

"Uh, thanks Jaune," Max said, the pain in his side causing him to make it hard for him to speak up. "You were a real help."

"It was nothing really," Jaune laughed, the blond rubbing the back of his neck with his hand while a light blush formed on his cheeks. "Anyone would have done it."

Despite Max's sincere smile, internally, part of him was frowning. The faunus knew full well that for a myriad of reasons (his ears chief among them), not just anybody would have helped him. In fact, the boy was sure that if not for Jaune, nobody would have.

Looking past Jaune, brown eyes met red, and Max watched Emerald, already clean and dressed for the day, pause and hesitate. Following his eye line, Jaune turned around and shot the girl a small, genuine smile. Emerald cursed internally, knowing her hesitation had cost her, and that she could no longer walk past them without saying anything.

"You good kid?" Emerald grunted, as if saying the words required some great feat of effort.

"Yeah. I'm cool Em, don't worry so much," Max rasped back, pitifully, waving the girl off.

"You want me to bring you some breakfast?" Jaune chimed in, his bright and cheery demeanor coming off as slightly disturbing to his neighbors.

"Already ate," the boy replied, simply. "Got up early. Didn't want to risk Blud messing with me again."

Jaune was about to say something else, but before he could, he noticed the absence of a green haired girl, the one who'd been standing behind him barely a second before. With a quick scan of his surroundings, Jaune saw her down the steps, her back already facing him.

"Sorry, gotta go," Jaune said, turning around, already beginning to jog after her.

Max gave him a lethargic, two-finger salute, which Jaune did not have the pleasure of seeing.

He would give her this, Emerald was fast.

Weaving through the crowd, Jaune didn't manage to catch up with the girl until he had reached the exit of the common area. Crossing through the now open barrier to the rest of the facility, Jaune managed to gently tap on the girl's shoulder.

"What?" She asked simply, with only the barest hint of hostility present in her voice.

Her eyes however, glued onto the spot his hand still laid, and Jaune very smartly removed his offending appendages from her person.

"Sorry, Emerald," he began, his apology genuine. "I just don't know where the cafeteria is. You don't mind showing me, do you?"

"You could ask anyone to do that."

"Well, yeah… I could, but I don't know anyone else."

"You don't know me," She responded, sounding as if it were a reminder.

"I'd like to," he answered back, sharper in tongue than she expected. "Know you… Get to know you. I mean."

Never mind, she thought, as he grinned at her like an embarrassed hyena. Not that sharp.

The girl sighed deeply, closing her eyes while masking her expression with a blank face.

"Fine," She answered, opening them again.

"As in, fine I'll get to know you or…" Jaune said, making Emerald mouth twitch upwards once again.

"As in, fine I'll show you where the cafeteria is," She answered, her lips pursed.

"Great, sounds like a plan. Thanks, Em."

Despite the way she grumbled about him shortening her name, throughout the entire walk to the cafeteria Emerald's smile, small as it was, did not even once let up.

Her smile did vanish eventually when, as the pair entered the buzzing cafeteria, Emerald was reminded of perhaps one of the worst parts of being a resident of the 'Vale youth services center'; the food.

Jaune, for his part, did not notice the (admittedly) slight change of demeanor in his companion, his own attention bombarded by the mass of rowdy teenagers who, in this instance, were unabated by any pretense of morning being a quiet time. This cafeteria was like a scene from a teen movie, like the ones his sister's often forced him to watch. Growing up, they had never attended a large school before, never been inside a cafeteria this big, never even eaten a lunch that they or his mother hadn't packed for them.

The boy felt like a fish out of water, or more accurately; A country boy among city folk.

In this place, in stark contrast to the school attached to his small, mostly human town, everywhere around him were teenagers with extra sets of ears, scales along their skin or horns attached to their skulls. Most were eating and drinking alongside their human peers, while some stuck to themselves. Jaune even spotted a table which seemed exclusively reserved for cat faunus, who stared him down as he skittered past them.

Even more interesting to Jaune than the quantity of faunus were the traits themselves. Floppy dog ears and bushy fix tails were few and far between, especially compared to the number of snake noses, deer horns or, in the case of the cat table, a particularly heavy presence of black and dark-brown hair. To Jaune, it almost seemed that in this place, the more negatively regarded, or stigmatized, the faunus trait was, the more likely he was to see it.

Distracted, the boy only barely stopped in time to avoid barreling into the back of Emerald, he found himself directly behind her, waiting in a line of hungry young people. Slowly they shuffled along towards a rather crotchety-looking woman, obscured behind a glass partition and, when it was finally their turn, she passively slid to them a blue tray each.

"Next!" She announced, her voice somehow hoarse and shrill at the same time.

Before Jaune could even wonder what he'd been given, he had already been pushed forward, and found himself, once again, trying not to run into Emerald.

When they got to a table, Jaune, glad she did not object when he sat down opposite her, shot the girl his goofiest smile.

"God's, you are just happy… all the time, aren't you"? She said, rolling her eyes.

At first the boy was nervous, but when Jaune saw the smallest hint of a smile grace her lips, he knew she wasn't mad, not really.

"I try to be," he replied, still showing her his teeth.

When the boy finally got a proper look at his breakfast, his smile faltered.

Jaune grew up on a farm, and while the primary use of his family's land was as a vineyard, he had always grown up growing, cooking and eating fresh ingredients. If he wasn't eating freshly laid eggs, poached perfectly by his father, his breakfasts usually consisted of homemade cottage cheese with jam, or fresh, crusty bread with butter and dry-cured sausages.

Now, that's not to say Jaune was a spoiled child. He earned each and every one of those meals.

Every day he and his sisters helped his mother to maintain the chateaux's gardens. By hand he tilled soil, removed weeds and harvested food. After that, they all helped in the kitchen as well. Jaune, the oldest with the least amount of schoolwork, was often tasked with making breakfast for his younger sisters. To avoid making several different meals to accommodate all his little sisters, Jaune's specialty was porridge, and he was a pro.

Despite being twins, Skye and Maya liked honey and jam, respectively. Jaune did his best to swirl the sweeteners in the bowl, making it look nice. Once, he learned, his father had once made them porridge, and the girls simply refused to eat it because it was, in their words, too ugly.

Jade was far simpler, she liked fresh fruit and nothing more. This was a blatant lie. She often looked glum after her breakfast, and so Jaune experimented by mixing half a teaspoon of sugar in her bowl. This always made her smile more. They both knew he was doing it, but she never said a word, as complaining would mean admitting she was wrong.

Lavender liked Sugar, lemon juice and coconut shavings on top, and wouldn't eat it unless she was the one who mixed it in. Getting Lavender's breakfast right took far more time and experimentation than Jaune would like to admit.

Violet was the easiest. Jaune always pureed hers when she was little, and despite growing out of baby food, always asked for the same. She also always asked Jaune to play the 'airship game' and so, the boy always found himself spoon feeding the girl, to her delight.

Thinking about his sisters, about home, was the briefest distraction from his current time and place. His smile turned melancholic, but Jaune held onto the memories instead. He couldn't wait to see them again… but he would have to.

When Jaune snapped back to reality, and took in the sight before him, his smile finally fell. Nestled in center of his blue tray was a disposable aluminum package, with it's paper cover labeled:

KWIKMEEL

The fastest way to start your day!

To his horror, the package also detailed defrost and heating instructions in small lettering, accompanied by a delightful little list of ingredients that simply had no place being in what, Jaune could only assume, was a parody of porridge. Jaune supposed he was lucky that, laying in a separate compartment, he had half of a banana, only partially oxidized. It was far more appetizing than the 'porridge', so he peeled the skin, and began to take a bite.

"You know," Emerald interrupted, her spoon full of the mysterious 'kwikmeel', "You should really save the banana for last, help get the taste out of your mouth."

Jaune, finding her logic sound, hummed in agreement, and replaced his banana with kwikmeel. The taste was far too plain to be totally horrendous, but it was approaching it anyway.

"Ughh," he groaned, to her apparent delight. "It tastes like cardboard."

"I know," Emerald laughed, taking another bite without a flinch.

"Then why are you smiling?" He asked, befuddled.

"Eh. Misery loves company."

Jaune rolled his eyes, and took another bite.

"Running theory is that they fill it up with sawdust," She added.

Jaune, despite the taste in his mouth, was delighted she was warming up to him.

"Is there any milk, at least?"

"No milk today, fancy-ass," the girl teased.

"I'm pretty sure oatmeal without milk is technically gruel," He replied. "And what was that about my a-"

"Nothing moron," Emerald interrupted quickly, before gesturing back to the kwikmeel. "Don't worry too much anyway, they only pull this shit out when the cook is sick or something."

"Well, thank the god's for that," Jaune replied, deciding not to press his luck further.

Emerald, her eyes shifting from side to side, slowly pulled out a small object from her pocket, handing it to Jaune. Reaching out, Jaune realized it was a single serving of honey, like the ones in hotels.

"Where did you get this?" he grinned.

"I have my ways." She bragged, licking her spoon clean.

"Well, I owe you one." Jaune insisted, unwilling to let her kindness, as reluctant as it appeared, go un-thanked.

"Don't worry. I'll definitely hold you to it."

If there was one thing Jaune could praise kwikmeel for (and there really was only one thing), it was filling. Eating slowly, Emerald explained that they actually had quite a bit of time before they needed to go to their first period, and so the pair simply relaxed and took their time.

Without warning, the boy heard, and felt, a slam on the table, and jumped as another blue tray landed beside Emerald. Looking up, he spotted a familiar face, but judging by the expression of distaste leveled upon him, the boy concluded this was not Miltia.

"Who's the freak?" She jabbed, not yet pulling out her chair.

"New neighbor," Emerald said, waving off her concern.

"Uh… It's Jaune," The boy greeted, holding out his hand.

She looked down at it like one would at an un-flushed toilet.

"So, 'uh it's Jaune', why were you, like, staring at me earlier," Melanie barbed. "You a Weirdo?"

"Chill out Mel's," Came a near identical voice, the seemingly friendlier of the pair placing down her tray next to her sister and sitting down. "We, like, met on the airship."

"Uh, Sorry about this morning," Jaune spoke up, hoping to diffuse the situation. "I thought I was waving to Miltia."

Melanie sneered down at him, clearly unimpressed by his reasoning.

"So you were, like, creeping on my sister then?" She prodded, still not taking a seat. "How is that any-"

"Oh for god's sake Melanie," Interrupted Emerald, clearly annoyed. "Would you shut up already? You can't just get bitchy every time someone looks at you funny."

Jaune said nothing, but did notice the twins lock eyes for a moment.

"Yeah, I guess you're right Em," Melanie said, giving out an exaggerated sigh and finally sitting down. "Like, everybody looks at me funny anyways. Isn't that right, Newbie?"

Melanie, ever the trouble maker, shot the boy a wink, causing him to sputter, her sister to roll her eyes, and Emerald to give the girl a momentary sideways glare, an action that did not go unnoticed.

"I am surprised that Mil would, like, introduce herself to you though," Melanie continued, enjoying every minute torturing the boy. "Must be real special or whatever."

"So Miltia," Emerald interrupted loudly. "How do you like this shit hole so far?"

Emerald flashed a smug grin, knowing the twins could, and would, complain for hours if permitted. In response, Miltia stared at Emerald like she had something stuck to her face.

"Cold showers," Was her only comment, her eyes taking on a serious edge.

"Eh," Melanie remarked, making a 'so-so' gesture with her hands. "You get used to it."

Miltia, looking scandalized, gave out an exaggerated groan.

"I don't really mind the showers," Jaune chimed in with his signature goofy voice. "But whatever that soap is, I don't think it was meant for people."

"Yeah, it always reminds me of, like, dish soap or whatever," Melanie agreed. "It always makes my skin dry."

"Speaking of the bathroom, do you girls know when I can get some…" Miltia began, before eyeing Jaune, awkwardly.

The boy, however, was raised with seven sisters, and was intuitive enough to know where Miltia was going.

"You get them from the robot that stalks us in the bathroom," Melanie informed her sister, "That's what gave us the toothpaste."

"Just remember to conserve as much as you can," Emerald added, sounding annoyed. "Getting extra is next to impossible."

"You know sis," Melanie remarked, taking a sip of her drink. "I haven't even asked what you got arrested for?"

"Truancy," Miltia remarked, folding her arms.

"You're kidding?" Emerald asked, rhetorically, her eyes wide.

"I mean, technically," Miltia continued, with a subtle smirk. "I think the cop was just pissed I wasn't flirting back or whatever."

"Are you for real," Jaune asked, disgusted but, truthfully, not surprised.

"You can believe whatever you want, ass-wad," Melanie growled, glaring at the boy.

"Oh- sorry I didn't-" Jaune shuttered, his eyes darting between the twins.

"It's like, fine, Jaune," Miltia reassured, elbowing her sister in the gut. "I get what you meant."

Jaune, sighing relief, watched as the sister glared at each other, the nicer of the pair ultimately winning when Melanie rolled her eyes in reluctant agreement.

Yet another reminder of home.

"So, uh…" Melanie mumbled, looking only a little guilty. "We could, like, compare rap sheets, or something."

Emerald scoffed. "You first."

For the first time in the conversation, Jaune saw Melanie flash a genuine smile, her eyes shining mysteriously.

"I stole an old sports-car, took it for a fucking awesome joyride," She bragged.

Unfortunately, this did not receive the response she desired, as the boy frowned at her.

"Don't look at me like that," She pouted, mischievously. "I was drunk."

"That's worse!"

"Huh. That's, like, exactly what the cop said. How'd you know?"

Jaune scoffed, but it came out more like a laugh.

"What about you, Em," Melanie continued, not enjoying the girl's smug expression. "Aren't you, like, a 'master thief' or something?"

Emerald waved her off, annoyed.

"Come on Em," Miltia whined, teasingly. "Spill."

"Uhh, It was a necklace. Pinched from a jewelry shop. Got caught trying to sell it."

Emerald, for reasons unknown to the girl, found herself looking at Jaune as she said this. There didn't seem to be any judgment on his face, and internally, the girl wondered why she even cared at all.

"So Jaune… What about you," Miltia asked, poking his shoulder gently.

"Me?"

"What did you get locked up," Melanie clarified, before adding an insult for good measure. "Weirdo."

"Oh. Right," Jaune sighed, breathing deeply while averting his eyes from theirs. "Assault."

The twins tilted their heads, and Melanie's eyes widened with a sudden interest. At their questioning gaze, he followed up his answer.

"Uhh, There was a fight, and the guy was already down. I kicked him in the head."

Emerald blinked in surprise.

"Huh, don't think I wouldn't have pegged you as the violent delinquent type," Melanie commented, raising her eyebrows, clearly impressed.

Emerald, despite her face, wasn't overly shocked. The girl knew from experience that most people, even the sweet ones, were capable of viciousness if the moment called for it.

"How long did that getcha?" Miltia asked, delicately.

"Two seasons," Jaune sighed, drearily..

Miltia winced, but her sister didn't seem to have as much sympathy.

"Damn newbie, you must have, like, really fucked that guy up."

Emerald, eyeing the boy from the side, was the only one to notice the very slight shaking of his hands.

"Did you put him in the hospital?" Melanie continued, eagerly, pushing his buttons without a care in the world.

"Yes," he answered, through gritted teeth.

Her eyes darting between them, Miltia kicked her sister in the foot, before gently reaching out to take Jaune's shaking hand in her own.

"Don't be too hard on yourself Jaune," She whispered, in a sweet, nurturing way that infuriated Emerald, particularly as she noticed a creeping red tint on the boy's cheeks.

"Yeah," her sister agreed. "Plenty of people here did some, like, way worse stuff than a little light hospitalization."

Jaune, his brow furrowed, wondered how on Remnant that was supposed to make him feel better.

"You know Max?" Melanie pressed on, "He was caught selling some dirty . Got someone killed apparently."

"Shit." Jaune remarked, his mind unable to reconcile the image of a drug dealer with the rather pitiful boy he'd met yesterday.

"Oh, and Blud…" Melanie went on, pointing to the large boy sitting at another table, "What did he do again Em?"

"Arson," The green haired girl answered. "No rumor this time, Blud definitely got someone killed."

"He admitted it," Miltia asked, giving the boy a sideways glance.

"Nah," Emerald sighed. "More like he bragged about it."

Blud, noticing the attention, turned to the group, locked eyes with Melanie, and gave her an exaggerated wink.

"Ughh, how do you put up with that?" Miltia asked.

"She kind of deserves it," Emerald said, causing some eyebrows to raise. "What? She tried to 'date' him... wrap him around her finger like she usually does."

"As much as I like, hate to admit it, he isn't actually as dumb as he looks." Melanie acquiesced, seemingly still bitter about the matter. "Still a massive tool-bag though."

"Agreed," Emerald grumbled. "Just be glad you don't need to share class with him this morning."

From the fleeting eye contact, Jaune got the feeling that he and Emerald weren't so lucky.

Jaune's urge to stick close to Emerald, someone who, he assumed, knew how to take care of herself, was short-lived. The girl, clearly out of instinct, immediately strolled to the back of the class and took a seat along the windowed wall, at a desk which only seated one. Apparently, the girl didn't want to be stuck with him again.

It was just about the most normal thing to happen to the boy since he got here.

Close to her, Jaune spotted another figure sitting alone, but this time, not by choice. Max, his expression mainly bored, was fiddling with his pen, twirling it between his fingers, finding the task difficult due to the chain linking it to his desk. He was sitting alone at one of the middle tables which, in contrast to the ones lining the window, was longer and seated two students each, made obvious by the second pen also chained to it.

Jaune may be blond, but he wasn't that blond. He could see the way the other's avoided Max, looking around the class for a seat, their eyes dismissing his table with barely a glance, or even a cruel sneer or giggle. For a moment, a small piece of him wondered if the boy deserved it, but Jaune quickly dismissed the notion. He knew as well as anyone that being sent here didn't necessarily mean you deserved to be, he hadn't needed a lecture from Emerald to learn that lesson.

As he began walking toward the back of the class, Jaune felt his shoulder being shoved forward roughly, almost landing him on the floor. He, however, quickly steadied his balance and once again found himself once again face to face (or rather face to chest) with Blud.

"Sorry about that Newbie," Blud said, his smile wide and unnerving. "Didn't see you down there."

Had he been a shorter boy, the thinly veiled insult might have actually gotten to him, but Jaune simply laughed it off.

"Nah, it's okay man, accidents happen."

"Yeah," Blud agreed, tilting his head to the side. "They do."

Jaune clenched his jaw, trying his best not to gulp, failing in this endeavor. Blud, clearly having noticed, smiled at the gesture, and brushed past him, making his way to a pair of tables which, being already empty, also had a birth of space left between them and anyone else sitting down.

Looking on as he walked, he watched Blud give Max a sinister flash of teeth, before staring down the rest of the class, making it abundantly clear that he was the primary reason the cat faunus was avoided by his peers.

To the side, Jaune caught Emerald watching the scene, frowning at him with an expression that seemed to be guilt. She pursed her lips however, when she was the first to notice Blud gesture to one of his cronies, pushing him toward the back. Jaune quickly caught on. There was only one empty seat left, back there, and Blud's intentions were clear.

Jaune, mustering all his daring, made his way to Max before the other boy could, and sat down next to him. Ignoring his neighbor's stunned expression, Jaune instead eyed Blud, staring him down. The larger boy only returned to him a brief, cold-blooded grin, before turning back around. Jaune balled up his fist and sighed, unable to deduce if he had just made a huge mistake by trying to do the right thing… again.

Before his thoughts could turn existential, a new figure appeared, a rather dainty looking woman, of about middle age, who carried herself with a sort of down-cast boredom. When she sat down, Jaune noticed the thick, heavy bags under her eyes, and thought back to his own, which seemed relatively pale in comparison.

"Good morning everyone," The woman announced, with a low, hoarse voice, as she fiddled with her wedding band. The woman waited for no response before continuing. "For any new students, this is Grammar level 2."

The teacher lazily placed down a stack of papers at the front of each column of tables, gesturing for the students to take one, and pass them along.

"You need to read the chapter, then do the activity, sound simple enough?"

There was no malice in her voice, and after a few murmurings in the affirmative, she sat down at her desk, and immediately began typing on her terminal.

"Come up to the front if there aren't enough," She added, not looking up from her screen.

Very quickly, the class began to chatter, loudly. Jaune thought, for a moment, that the teacher (who had never introduced herself) would try and quiet them. She never did.

"Right," Jaune whispered to himself. "Nobody gives a shit."

"Hmm?" His desk partner asked, smiling up at him, a little nervously.

"Oh, it's nothing."

"You didn't have to do all that by the way. You know, help me.. I mean" Max told him, his lips twisting guiltily.

"Yeah, I know," He replied simply. "I wanted to anyway."

Max nodded slowly and, as he was closer to the girl than his neighbor, noticed Emerald roll her eyes, though strangely absent of the cynical, almost venomous edge she usually had.

"Well thanks. Again, I mean," The cat faunus continued, hoping the boy understood what the consequences that his gesture would have.

"Don't mention it," Jaune laughed.

Max sighed. The taller boy clearly didn't understand yet.

After a moment, the pair finally received their worksheets from the pair in front of them, and lazily flicked through. It was a chapter of a book Jaune had never read. Poking his head up, Jaune hesitated for a moment. Looking between the back of Blud's head, and the weary face of his teacher, the thought of drawing more attention to himself or bothering the woman made the boy lower his half raised hand.

"She looks tired." Jaune commented, watching the woman type slowly into her terminal.

Looking up, Max followed his eye line and nodded sagely.

"Yeah, she's not got much longer."

"What do you mean?"

"Teachers usually leave soon as they can," Max clarified, matter-of-factly. "She's only been here six weeks. The last teacher didn't even make it past five."

"What happened?"

"Blud threw a stapler," The faunus explained with a shrug. "Broke the guy's nose."

Jaune didn't reply beyond an alarmed expression, and Max only shrugged again. Apparently, classroom violence was just business as usual at the VYSC.

"What happened to Blud?"

"Oh, he spent a day in the quiet room," Max answered, the boy quietly flipping through his work-sheet.

Jaune couldn't help but scoff, the thought of time-out as a punishment seemed ridiculous, especially in a place like this. Before he could voice this skepticism however, Max looked up and eyed him seriously.

"Do yourself a favor, Jaune. Don't get put in the quiet room."

The blond paused for a moment, confused, analyzing the expression on Max's face.

"We should get started on this," Max told him quickly, pointing to the school-work, and seemingly unwilling to continue the conversation.

And so, the pair began reading, Jaune completely confused as to the context of the book. Thankfully, it was short read, so they were quickly back to chatting away, absentmindedly sharing the answers as they did.

"Uh, do we get any of our stuff back, like what we came in with?" Jaune asked, still hoping for the return of his books.

"I mean, not officially…" Max replied, as he absentmindedly jotted down some answers.

When he looked up, he saw the questioning look on the blond's face, and winced at his slip of the tongue.

"I mean, I managed to get my dad's chess set back… but they don't know I've got it."

"How did you manage that?"

Jaune got no reply, but watched as, for only a fraction of a second, Max's eyes dashed to the green-haired girl to the side of them.

Before he could press one, however, A loud knock was heard from the doorway, which led to heads poking up, and a sudden hush to fall over the dingy classroom. At the door was a guard, his familiar black uniform adjourned with an unusual white band around the left arm.

"Hey Becky" The guard spoke, leaning on the door frame, casually.

For her part, the teacher was startled a little, so immersed in her terminal that the guard's presence had apparently gone unnoticed. When she did look up, however, the bags in her eyes didn't seem so heavy.

"Oh, Good Morning Officer Moss," The teacher answered

"Becky, It's been weeks. Call me Darian"

"Sure thing,' Becky replied, twisting a strand of hair between her fingers. "Darian."

The man gave her a charming smile, one so wide and disarming that it actually caused the teacher to giggle.

"Sorry to do this," Officer Moss continued, quietly tapping the door-frame with his fingers. "But I need to borrow one of your students for the rest of the period. Would that be okay?"

"Oh sure," The teacher murmured, smiling softly. "Whatever you need, Darian."

The man shot her a wink, before scanning the class. The Jaune's alarm, the man's eyes met his.

"Jaune Arc," he announced, his voice all business now. "You need to come with me."

Confused, the boy turned to his desk partner, who merely shrugged.

"I don't have all day, Mr Arc," Moss told him, sighing impatiently.

Nervously Jaune stood up and, as tried to ignore the way the class was staring, saw the man's eyes glance past his form towards the window, before quickly returning back to him.

As officer Moss pulled him through the doorway, Jaune took one last look at the class behind him. Blud seemed… interested, as if Jaune's predicament were some mildly entertaining oddity. To his surprise, both Max and Emerald looked concerned, the latter seeming downright anxious.

Note:

My initial plan for this chapter has been split into two. Chapter four will cover the rest of Jaune's first day at the Vale youth services center. Because of this change this chapter feels a bit… stale. I think however, it fits what I'm trying to do for these first chapters, particularly as Jaune gets used to the day-to-day drudgery, the small indignities, and the coldness of incarceration.

While elements of this system may seem a tad unrealistic, particularly to contemporary audiences, we must not forget that it wasn't long ago that juvenile detention was often as cruel as this, perhaps even more so. Even today, while it is unlikely for such a place like this to exist openly, abuse and mistreatment occur all the time, in all kinds of situations. Remnant is a fictional place, and so I base the VYSC on some of the worst our history has to offer, without being so horrific that it could not really exist. I suppose the most unrealistic thing about the VYSC is that all of these injustices are happening in one place, but this is fiction so that's what I'm going to do.

While trying not to be ham fisted, you might have been able to tell that I'm trying to explore more about faunus discrimination in this story. Of particular interest to me right now is: Are some Faunus treated worse or differently than others? Are black cat faunus deemed unlucky or an omen of misfortune? Are snake faunus considered untrustworthy? Are some kinds of faunus (such as those with more drastic physiological differences) shunned by other faunus as well as humans? Are there faunus that try to remove their physical traits in order to pass as human?

There are so many things to explore in that regard, which is the main reason that Max exists as a character. I don't particularly want to use OC's much in this story, but I think one extra canon character being in the VYSC would move this story from plausibly canon-adjacent, to off the rails AU, which is not my intention at all. Originally I hadn't even intended for the Malachite twins to be in, but while I think it's plausible those little fiends did a little time at some point, I don't think that's the same for Ilia, Blake or like, Velvet, you know?.

Anyway, the dreadful alarm that makes Jaune cover his ears should clearly be the iPhone default alarm right? The one from years ago? I still have nightmares about that damned thing. Still, whatever alarm you hate is the one that it is for you. Recently (at least before they weren't available on spotify, which as of posting this chapter seems to no longer be the case) I have been using the RWBY intro songs playlist to wake up. They're quite loud but not annoying, though I probably am a little sick of the first 0.5 seconds of 'this will be the day', it never gives me enough time to ease into it.

I'll be honest with you guys, having watched Terminator Zero last week, having AK130's as guards suddenly seems even more scary to me. I'm glad I decided to go with it, as using them so liberally was not originally planned at all.

Thanks to l0rd khaos for being a big help, beta-reading the first draft of this chapter for me.

Peace be with you my friends, and remember that someone loves you.