Ch.2 A dream reforged
It was a tough week for Jaune. When he was rested he was hit with a sudden anxiety about the work still to be done on the sword. So many things that could go wrong.
But a rested Jaune was less prone to mistakes than a sleep deprived Jaune. And so he grinded the blade, formed the crossguard, shaped the handle on a lathe and engraved the Arc double crescent on the pommel. Truth to be told he went all out. This wasn't just a sword to pass the test with. It would be his sword, his weapon, something he poured his very soul into and would keep him company for the rest of his life. Provided it didn't break in the test of course. Jaune firmly believed it wouldn't.
It was on the morning 24th of February when all the pieces were put together for the first time. The polished blade was gunmetal grey in colour, whereas the guard and pommel made of titanium brass high dust alloy shone bright yellow. The handle was wrapped in braided steel wire, coloured gunmetal grey to match the blade.
"Well boy, this is it. You either become a full blacksmith today, or you go back to the drawing board."
"Yeah…"
"You put your all into this Jaune. I believe that you can do it."
Jaune was silent for a moment before picking up the sword. He began to pour his aura into the blade. It took almost twenty minutes before the sword was sated.
"I think I have about one propper aura powered swing in me."
"Then that's all you'll need."
Fèvre took his masterpiece and positioned the deep purple blade above the anvil.
"One swing. Go for it."
Jaune closed his eyes and swung the blade with both his hands in an overhead strike. There was a loud clang of clashing metal and the sound of sword breaking.
"Sorrow's Song is no more. And what a swan song that strike was. Jaune your sword sings, it's a masterpiece like I've never heard before."
Jaune opened his eyes to gaze at the broken sword before him. A sword broken in two, half of the purple blade now embedded into the anvil, the other still in his master's hand.
"Jaune, what is the name of the sword that finally ended the cacophony that was supposed to be my masterpiece."
Jaune was in shock. Disbelief even. He had done it, he made a sword that surpassed the best blade his master ever forged. He was silent for a few moments. He had of course thought about what to name the blade, but decided not to name it prematurely in case he failed. Now though there was a name that seemed appropriate.
"Atra Aurora, I name thee The Black Dawn in the ancestral language in which all weapons carried by an Arc are named."
As those words left his mouth, the blade faded and dematerialised like an aura construct would.
Jaune stood there, now holding nothing but air. A dopey smile slowly making its way onto his face.
"Jaune, what happened!"
"I've just discovered my semblance."
"You've what?"
"I just… I think I understand how it works."
"What are you talking about?"
"I just have to call it by name, or call all of them to me. But considering I only have one weapon right now I suppose it's the same thing. Armamentarium."
As Jaune spoke the name of his semblance in the ancestral Arc language the only weapon in his arsenal, Atra Aurora, offered itself to him and he grabbed it with both hands.
"My semblance is Arsenal. I am an Arsenal."
"Jaune, you're making no sense. I get that several exciting things have happened all at once but I need you to calm down, and explain this to me. Deep breaths Jaune..."
Jaune stopped for a moment and focussed. Breathe in… Breathe out...
"So, first of all my understanding of my semblance comes from the semblance itself. It teaches me about how to use any weapon within the Arsenal, itself included. An Arsenal is a place where arms are made, repared, maintained, stored and issued. My semblance makes me into an Arsenal in its own right. When I make a weapon, saturate it in my aura and name it, it becomes a part of my arsenal. As such I can store it within my aura, it gets repaired and maintained there with my aura as if it were a part of my own body. Then I can call for them by name or call for the whole arsenal, which is what I did, but I only have the one sword. As a part of the issuing weapons thing, it teaches me about how to fight with it."
"So you've become a walking armoury."
"That's exactly what I just said."
Fèvre stood there for a moment, contemplating what he just heard. Then he just shrugged his shoulders.
"Well, I guess I'm lucky you're not my problem anymore. As far as I'm concerned your apprenticeship with me is officially over. Did you have plans to go home for your birthday?"
"Uh, yeah. Mom wanted me to come home over the weekend."
"Perfect. I'll come with you, tell your parents the happy news on sunday 28th, and on the first you'll be seventeen, a master smith, a free man and most importantly, no longer my problem. Now go pack up your stuff or something, I've got other things to do."
=O=O=O=
The next day Jaune woke up early, earlier than he was used to. His room felt even emptier than before. He may have lived here for four years, but he didn't exactly bring many possessions with him. Now all of those possessions sat inside his steamer trunk.
While packing his stuff the day before he thought about what to do from now on. Truth was the more he thought about it the more obvious it became that as much as he thought that he'd left his one dream behind, now that he had the slightest opportunity to grasp that dream again… well he wanted to at least try. Should he fail, well he would just open shop in Vale. But if he managed to succeed, to pass Beacon's entrance exam…
With nothing left to pack and nothing to do, Jaune gravitated toward the workshop.
"Well now I have a little bit of a chance to become a huntsman."
"Did you say something Jaune? Sorry I was concentrating on something."
"I'll apply for Beacon academy. There's still some time before the practical entrance exams."
"You do what you wan't, you're not my problem anymore. You might want to make yourself some armour though, and maybe a knife or something."
That wasn't a bad idea, thought Jaune. He still had that one small test ingot of the alloy he made Atra Aurora with, so maybe he could use that to make a knife or two. As he contemplated how to make those knives he started sketching in his journal.
After a few minutes of iterating a few designs he decided to go for a flat throwing knife design, this would allow him to make two from the limited material he had. This had the added bonus of, should he mess up, he would still have the other knife. Room for error would do wonders to ease his anxiety.
As for armour, he would just make a simple chestplate to wear over his normal clothes. He really didn't have time to make more than that before he went home.
=O=O=O=
Saturday morning of the 27th of February, Jaune stood in the workshop. He was exhausted, but satisfied. Though he hadn't managed to finish the chestpiece, all the rough work was done. All that he had to do was polish it and add the leather straps. As for the twin blades he managed to finish those in what was for him record time. The forging process only took about twenty hours and since he had room for error he really rushed the grinding process. To his surprise he managed to keep both blades intact. They were polished gunmetal in colour, wire wrapped handles included.
Jaune pushed his aura into both knives before giving them a name.
"Gemini Aculei, I name thee the Twin Stings in the ancestral language in which all weapons carried by an Arc are named."
As he spoke those words the Twin Stings disappeared in an already familiar manner.
"You done Jaune? Go take a shower and take your pills, the bullhead will be here in less than an hour and I don't want a repeat of last year."
"Motion sickness is a far more com..."
"Yeah, yeah, just take the damn pills."
Jaune, knowing himself and not wanting to barf on the way, quickly recalled the location of his medication and then moved the pills on top of his trunk, so as to not forget them.
A quick shower and a change of clothes later, Jaune took his pills and checked that he closed his trunk properly.
"Bullhead's landing in five minutes Jaune, it's time to go."
"Okay..."
Jaune took one last look at the empty room and felt a touch nostalgic. When he first came here with the dream of becoming a huntsman it looked just like this. Now he's leaving, his dream renewed, reforged if you will. He smiled, picked up his steamer and went down to the bullhead.
The ride itself was largely uneventful, seeing as the two settlements weren't that far apart. There was no proper road connecting them though. Just forest and a tranquil lake.
For once Jaune was enjoying his journey, though his mind did wander. Namely to the bullheads armaments. A bullhead has weapons, but could the whole bullhead be considered a weapon? How cool would it be to have the ability to summon an aircraft with his semblance. The only hurdle would obviously be, that he had no idea how to make a bullhead from scratch, let alone saturate something of this size with aura.
"A man can dream..."
"You say something boy?"
"Just thinking… You know I really don't know how I'll tell dad."
"What, that you succeeded? He'll be proud."
"Not that, it's about Beacon. I don't know if he will accept this."
"I've known Doré Arc for a long time. He worries, that's for certain. But you're practically an adult, you have mastered a trade, and have a backup plan for if you don't get into Beacon. If you pass their exams, then you're good enough to be a huntsman, that's how I see it. For what it's worth, I think you should do it."
"Thanks Fèvre."
"Cobalt, Jaune, call me Cobalt. You're no longer an apprentice."
Jaune was overwhelmed. Fèvre… No, Cobalt had been so harsh and demanding as a teacher. To see him not just supporting him but treating him as an equal. Yeah that would get some getting used to.
"I'm coming in for a landing. I'll be coming back here on Monday evening to pick you up."
"Yeah, I expect a heads up from you on approach."
=O=O=O=
The bullhead landed at the edge of the settlement proper, which was still a bit away from the Arc home, which stood further separated by a thicket of birch trees.
Jaune hauled his steamer over his shoulder and was once again glad for his aura enhancing his strength. Then another thought entered his mind, could a trunk be a weapon? And if so could he store the contents of the trunk in his Arsenal? He should write that down in his journal together with the bullhead idea. His mind raced so fast that he almost didn't realise when his home came into view.
The house was nothing too special, though it was big. It was built by his ancestors, originally resembling a high class manor. But after generations of Arc huntsmen living here, the interior was nothing like it used to be. Bottom floor consisted of a kitchen, living room and a combat arena that took up half of the house. The top floor was just rooms and bathrooms. Twelve rooms and three bathrooms. Though one of those was only accessible from the master bedroom that belonged to his parents, so the eight siblings had to share the other two bathrooms. Jaune was already starting to miss his small room above the smithy, where he had a bathroom to himself.
Thinking about it, Saphron moved out with Terra when they got married last year. With him moving out four years ago, it might have become less crowded.
It was his two youngest sisters that noticed him first out the window. When the door flew open Jaune quickly set his luggage on the ground and prepared himself for the running tackle-hug that followed.
"Topaz, Lavender! Good to see you again. You're growing up to become fine ladies."
"Jaune, you're here! We got you the best birthday present."
"I'm sure you did. But I'll have to wait till tomorrow to open it so no spoilers."
"Jaune!"
"Hi, mom."
"Hello Juniper, how are you. I don't see you nearly enough since you retired."
"Cobalt, I'm well. How has Jaune been, he never calls."
"I guess that's my fault. I don't exactly leave him any free time."
"Working hard is he?"
"Oh, you'll see, we brought some of his work home."
"Well come on in."
=O=O=O=
The dinner table was as packed as ever. Sure Saphron wasn't here, but Cobalt was easily twice her size so it evened out.
Lunch was always a lively affair in the Arc household, and today that was doubly so.
"Jaune, Juniper told me you brought some of your work with you. Last I spoke with Cobalt he kept complaining about your constant tinkering. Any chance this has something to do with it?"
"I, yeah I guess it does. See I made a hand and half sword. And, well..."
"Oh out with it boy, you broke Sorrows Song, be proud of yourself."
"He did WHAT? Wasn't that the gravity dust alloy sword that was supposed to be nigh indestructible?"
"Um, yes? I forged a sword and as my final test Cobalt had me pit the two against each other."
Doré Arc looked at Jaune, then at Cobalt and back at Jaune
"Jaune, you did it!" it was Blanche, Jaune's oldest sister that broke the silence and stood to hug her brother.
"...dad, I also unlocked my semblance..."
Jaune spoke in a quiet voice. Doré, sensing the mood, motioned for the rest to quiet down.
"My semblance, it's called Arsenal. Any weapon I create, saturate in aura and name, becomes a part of my aura… it taught me combat. I want to try out for Beacon in two weeks."
"Show me."
"Uh what?"
"Show me your semblance, show me the sword, show me how well you can fight."
"I… okay. I don't think I can win against a full huntsman, but I should be able to at least hold my ground."
It was then that Cobalt spoke to Doré.
"Just a reminder, the lad broke Sorrow's Song. I don't think your battleaxe would survive the encounter. I would recommend Crocea Mors, that ancestral blade of yours has survived worse."
It would also help throw his dad off his game, Jaune thought to himself, silently thanking Cobalt for the assistance. Plus he might be right about the axe, he was the one that forged it.
=O=O=O=
Author's note:
Well here we are. Those that speculated about Jaune's semblance hopefully had their questions answered. Unfortunately the dates didn't quite line up but we'll celebrate Jaune's birthday and see the best birthday present ever in the next chapter. : Ch.3 The exhibition match