Today was the day. He was finally going to start training. He knew he wasn't going to get to the levels of any of the huntsmen in training that made it in beacon legitimately, but it was a start at least. That was if he made it into Beacon. Jaune wouldn't find out if he made it or got rejected until the end of next week at the earliest.
He was doing it mostly to prove to himself that he was serious about becoming a huntsman. It didn't matter if he couldn't put up a good fight for now he just had to get through the session, and learn a little bit.
Neo had texted him on Tuesday giving him a location for where their training was and told him to bring a broom, and to show up at four instead, and that she would be there at six. Jaune didn't question the girl at all even though he probably should've. The only question Jaune asked was to Junior when he asked if he could borrow the push broom from the utility closet at the club.
Junior told him as long as he brought it back before his next shift in one piece he didn't care what he used the cleaning supplies for. Jaune made sure to take note of that before thanking Junior and taking the broom as soon as he was done cleaning up the club on friday.
Walking towards the warehouse district with a broom resting on his shoulder and a sword on his hip sure did make for a strange sight, but Jaune didn't care. Making it to the warehouses, Jaune walks past several dozen warehouses full, and empty. Some of them buzz with the sound of work like a swarm of bees.
Eventually Jaune arrives at the warehouse where Neo had presumably told him to go. Opening one of the side doors Jaune walks in and flips each switch one by one. Slowly the lights come on. Only around half of the lights work but it's more than enough to see why Neo wanted him to bring a broom.
In the dim light Jaune gets to work moving trash, rubble, and some of the smaller empty crates over to a corner while with the large containers, Jaune just did his best to push them out of the middle of the warehouse so there would be space for training. He may not be the most useful guy to have in a fight or to do something that required finesse, but he could move heavy things if he needed to.
Just over two hours later Jaune had gotten a fairly large space in the middle of the warehouse cleared, and swept. Looking at his scroll the janitor sees that it's 6:15. Neo was late. He wouldn't worry yet though she did seem like a busy woman, and if she was a little late who cared. If anything it gave Jaune more time to clean and make the warehouse look a bit better.
After another hour of just moving things around and sweeping, Jaune decides to check his scroll again. It's now 7:21 and Jaune is getting increasingly more worried, as the sun lowers outside. Jaune silently debates whether he should text her, keep waiting, or just leave since it's been more than an hour since Neo said she would show up.
Jaune paces around the warehouse until it hits 7:30, and then decides to bite the bullet, and texts the girl asking her where she's at since he's been here for three and a half hours.
BZZZT BZZZT
Neo woke up to the feeling of her scroll buzzing underneath her. Reaching under her back Neo grabs the device and opens it to a notification from Jaune. She opens it to read the text and groans. Of course… It was Friday after all.
Fighting the urge to send him a middle finger emoji and getting back to sleep, the thief sits up and texts him that she'll be there in an hour and just to wait until she gets there. As soon as she replies she gets a response back thanking her.
Slowly Neo gets up out of bed sore from the night before. The robbery she and Roman pulled ended up going a bit sideways. While Roman was able to save it, and make a grand exit getting away with a few million in valuables. Neo ended up having to fight a couple dozen armed security guards to make sure they got out of there. A couple of them even had unlocked auras which made it even more of a pain in the ass for her.
The massive strain on her semblance to keep her real look hidden while in the presence of the guests who would definitely end up talking to the public, along with the seemingly endless fighting, tired the girl out. When Roman and her got home she immediately passed out as soon as she touched her bed.
Stretching and popping her joints Neo yawns and walks over to her closet. Grabbing some clothes, Neo gets dressed, and slips on her boots. Heading out of her room and to the kitchen Neo hears the sound of the TV, and knows exactly what's going on Neo walks over to the couch and sees Roman splayed out on the couch his outfit half off, and the remote in his hand with the news playing. A commercial for some brand of cereal plays, and Neo sighs, taking the remote out of the master thief's hand and turning off the TV.
Putting a blanket over him, and a pillow under his head Neo smiles as she looks down at him. She loves him so much. She could never tell him the way she wished she could, but that doesn't mean she won't tell him one day she just has to build up the courage.
Walking away from Roman and back to the kitchen Neo opens up the freezer, and grabs out four frozen chocolate chip waffles, and the jug of milk from the fridge. Toasting the waffles Neo sits on the counter and waits checking her scroll for anything interesting news wise. Seeing the average headlines covering the robbery she makes sure that her actual description isn't mentioned at all in the reports.
It's fine if she's in any of the criminal reports that aren't released to the public, because cops didn't usually look for her, and if they did she had a special talent ensuring she wasn't caught. It did suck having to be in disguise most of the time, but when she didn't even have to dress up to hide herself, it made everything a bit easier.
If she did show up on any news sites or channels Roman would have to make sure that those people realized that they got false info. It helped having contacts. Especially the higher up ones. Unfortunately Roman's ability to influence people, his long reach, and his talent at stealing, made it so he got caught up in a new scheme that had him more stressed than she had ever seen the man.
The sound of the toaster shooting the waffles up takes the mutes attention off of her phone and onto her breakfast. Devouring the four unfortunate waffles Neo goes back on her search, and sees no mention of her face or Roman having an accomplice. Satisfied Neo hops off the counter and heads out to fulfill her part of the deal with the knight…
Jaune was spent. He had spent the last 4 hours moving, cleaning and even asking one of the workers at one of the other warehouses if he could use the dumpster for some of the stuff. Thankfully the man said yes, and Jaune was able to get rid of a solid chunk of the mountain of debris and trash.
Once he had it stuffed in a corner and a solid arena sized space in the middle it was just after 8pm. Jaune was spent, but he'd wait here for another hour if need be. If Neo didn't show up by then Jaune was going to leave since he has work tomorrow. Laying on one of the larger boxes Jaune waits until he sees someone standing over him behind his scroll.
In his surprise Jaune recoils, and bashes his head against the crate eliciting a fit of silent laughter from the thief. Rubbing the back of his head with a frown, Jaune looks up at Neo. "Evening." The knight greets sitting up.
Slowly her laughter dies down and the girl nods back acknowledging his greeting. She then hops off the crate with a somersault landing perfectly in the middle of the makeshift arena. Hopping off the crate Jaune stands facing her. Neo nods at the weapon on his hip, and Jaune pulls out Crocea Mors holding the sword and shield in front of him.
Giving him a once over Neo decides to get straight into her first lesson of teaching Jaune how to avoid attacks. Being nowhere near fast enough to keep with the girl Jaune is barely able to hide behind his shield as a boot smashes into it driving him back into the crate he just got off of. Jaune falls to his knees from the impact and takes a minute to get back up his whole arm immediately having gone numb from the force of the hit.
Back on the other side of the arena already stands a very unimpressed looking Neo who waits for Jaune to get set again before signaling for him to come at her. Not willing to back down as soon as they started Jaune rushes at his opponent, and goes for a heavy overhand swing that Neo side steps before slamming a fist into the knight's stomach driving the air out of him, and immediately putting him back on the floor.
'You left yourself open.' Neo holds the scroll over the young arc writhing on the ground beneath her. Once he finally catches a breath he looks at the scroll, and frowns.
Getting to his feet once more Jaune decides to go on the attack again, and fails miserably as he gets the sword knocked out of his hand and then tripped. Landing on his face Jaune growls as he gets up to see Neo holding his sword with both hands. Now it's Jaune's turn to laugh as he sees the girl tip slightly as she tries lifting his weapon with one hand. Tossing the weapon to the ground Neo rushes in to attack, and Jaune ducks behind his shield waiting for an attack. After three seconds of nothing Jaune lowers his shield.
WHACK!
Jaune's head whips back from the shot he just received to the face, knocking him out and causing him to hit the ground. The impact wakes Jaune up, and he lays on the ground dazed, and confused. Neo kicks his sword over to him, the weapon scraping along the concrete floor, and bumping against his shoe.
He gets up slowly, his head feeling like it was just put through a wall. The knight reaches down for the sword, never taking his eyes off the grinning Neo as he does. The girl is like a cat playing with its prey. Her joyous smile brings him no comfort, and it's at this moment that Jaune finally realizes that he is in way over his head.
Neo was having a lot of fun. Beating up on the kid was really cathartic in a way. She didn't have to put in much effort, and he was getting right back up prepared for more. Neo decides she might as well show him how far ahead of him she really is, and sprints at him ducking under his slow swing and grabbing his wrist before twisting.
CRUNCH
The boy drops his sword just like she wanted, but there seems to be a much more pressing issue as she looks at the arm she was still holding in her grasp. His wrist was broken, and it did not look good. An angry purple was spreading from his arm, and his eyes were watering, the fact that he wasn't openly crying was a good sign though.
Looking at the damage she caused Neo cusses silently. She didn't feel bad for snapping his arm, because it was his fault for not having his aura unlocked. Sure she may have been the actual cause and all, but it was still his fault for being dumb enough to not have the most important thing to get into a huntsman school with.
Neo lets go of his wrist and takes out her scroll. Jaune immediately cradles his arm, and bites his tongue to stop himself from screaming out in pain. Neo types a message, and shoves the scroll in the knight's face, but gets no answer seeing as he isn't even looking at the device. Smacking him softly on the side of the head Neo gets his attention.
Jaune reads the message, and looks at Neo. "What the hell is an aura?" He whimpers to the girl's surprise.
'It's what protects huntsmen, and other people whose line of work might cause them to fight.'
Jaune nods as best he can, "Could it heal my arm?"
'Faster than a doctor's visit, but it still might take a few hours or a few days depending on how large your reserves are.'
"How do I get this aura thing?"
'If you are willing I can unlock yours for another favor.' As soon as Jaune gets through the message he immediately nods his head frantically.
"YES! I accept! It hurts so bad!"
'Ah ah ah, You didn't say the magic word.' The knights face flashes with irritation on top of the pain but it disappears a moment later, as another sharp throb of pain shoots through his arm.
"Please will you unlock my aura Neo." The knight grits his teeth as he tries his best to keep his voice steady.
With a happy nod Neo places her hand on Jaune's chest and closes her eyes.
'For it is in imagination that we achieve true freedom. Through this we become a symbol of victory, and glory over all. Infinite in possibilities, and free from control, I release your soul, and by my mind set thee free.'
The warehouse flashes with a bright white light and Neo is suddenly out of breath. Ninety percent of her aura had immediately gone when she had jump started the knight's. Jaune on the other hand looked more than fine. His arm was bathed in the white light of aura, and slowly the discoloration on his arms disappear.
The only sounds in the warehouse are of Neo's heavy breathing, and the sound of Jaune's bones resetting. Within a minute Jaune's arm looks normal again, but the glow on his arm tells her that it is still in the process of healing.
Neo looked at him with astonishment. His aura had to be massive to require a jump start that big. Catching her breath Neo watches as the boy's arm heals, the damage quickly fading completely within five minutes. The knight flexes his arm, and hand testing the limb with an amazed look in his eye.
Absolute bullshit. Neo couldn't help but feel a little irritated. Something that could have been a fairly good lesson on how aura isn't a thing to take lightly immediately thrown out the window, because she just so happened to take on a "student" who had such an insane amount of aura that it could heal his wounds nearly immediately. She also might be a little annoyed because if it took him a day or two to get back up, she could end the training session here.
"Neo, you look a bit worn out. We can end the session now if you want." Jaune says with concern in his voice.
Said thief looks at Jaune with a new and renewed vigor. He might have an aura now, but without any training all that meant was that she could keep going for as long as she wanted. She also could take out any frustrations she wanted. So that's exactly what she decided she was going to do.
Neo shakes her head to Jaune's question and gets back in the center of the space. Jaune's face morphs from concern to fear as he looks at the smiling assassin in the middle of the makeshift arena. Seeing his worry Neo's devilish grin grows in size. Jaune decides to bite the bullet, picking up his sword, and getting in his best fighting stance…
Jaune laid on the ground his aura shattered, his body exhausted, and his spirit crushed. On top of his back stood a very satisfied looking Neo. Groaning Jaune asks Neo to step off of his back to which the girl answers by grinding her boot in between his shoulder blades.
"Please Neo can you get off my back?" Jaune begs. Neo complies and hops off the knight's back allowing him to get up. Rolling over Jaune looks up at Neo, and when she looks back Jaune sees that she's still ready for a fight. Jaune on the other hand his body is sore, and worn out to the point that he can barely lift himself off of the floor.
Stumbling over to his sword and shield, he prepares himself for one last fight. Leaning against the crate across from him Neo motions for him to come to her, and Jaune complies. The last time he didn't it apparently warranted one of the worse beatings of the night. Slowly crossing the space Jaune gets ready to take one more beating, but instead of attacking Neo stays still.
Concerned that it was a trick, Jaune keeps his shield up, and his sword down, knowing that if she was going to attack he would have to be on the defensive. After around a minute and a half of nothing Jaune peeks over his shield and sees Neo looking at him with amusement. Her finger taps his shield and motions for him to lower it. Going against his better judgment Jaune obliges, and the girl takes out her scroll and starts typing.
'That's going to be it for your first training session. It was more fun than I thought it would be.'
"You kicked the hell out of me for hours and broke my wrist." Jaune grumbles
'Exactly' Jaune rolls his eyes at the message, and Neo chuckles at his reaction
The look of irritation is wiped off his face, and is replaced with a soft smile as he looks at the girl. "Thank you for doing all this Neo. The sparring, unlocking my aura, and the few lessons scattered in there. Seriously, thank you."
'Don't thank me yet. You do owe me a favor and I'll make sure to cash them in.'
"I know, and I'll make sure to do my best to repay you when you decide to cash them in. You've given me so much help already."
'Might want to start writing down how many favors you owe me so you don't lose track.' the girl 'says'.
Jaune laughs at the message, but the look on Neo's face tells him she's dead serious about it. Erasing his smile Jaune nods before asking Neo what he can improve on.
'Simple answer? Everything.' While it hurt his pride a little, Jaune couldn't disagree with the mute's assessment.
"That's fair. Can you tell me what I need to work on most, and should focus on immediately?" Neo pauses for a moment while she thinks.
'I would focus first on aura control, and learning how to use your weapon including basic footwork, and stances. Outside of that, keep trying to improve your stamina, and physical fitness.'
"Alright, and can you help me with that at all?"
'No I don't have the time for that nor is that what the training sessions are for. Treat them more so as tests at the end of each week than a place to learn things besides very basic practical lessons.'
"Oh… Alright that's fine. Do you have any advice on where I can find books or information on these things?"
'Libraries, your scroll, or lessons. For the last one I would ask Junior if he knows anyone that can help you at all.'
Jaune stares at the message and nods showing his engagement.
'I expect you to improve at least a little every time we meet.' Neo didn't really give a shit if he improved in all honesty she found it fun to beat up on him, and damn if it didn't take some stress off her shoulders to have a dedicated punching bag that wouldn't complain.
"I'll do my best Neo." Jaune says with a bright smile contrasting heavily with his dirtied, and slightly scraped up face. Jaune's everything really fucking hurt but he couldn't keep the smile off his face. He was getting real training, and had his aura unlocked. He was even closer to his dream than before
She couldn't help it. As Neo looked up at that goofy smile she knew she just made a decision in helping him that would affect her for the rest of her life. Whether that be good or bad, unlocking his aura, and agreeing to help him would start them on new paths that would run parallel and eventually intersect…
Almost a week had passed since his first training session with Neo. Jaune had just finished cleaning Melanie's, and Miltiades' apartments, and was now back in his apartment laying on the couch. The twins really knew how to make a mess in a week, but he didn't mind. The Malachites were nice enough to him, and if they liked him it made his jobs easier.
Watching TV, and eating some leftovers, Jaune relaxed his day over for now. Until he felt his scroll buzz in his pocket. It was probably Junior, or the twins asking him to do something either now or later. He might as well look at the message, and see if it was urgent.
Pulling the device out of his pocket Jaune looks at the notification, and his heart freezes. It wasn't the twins, Junior, or Neo. It wasn't even his parents or sisters. It was from Beacon.
His nerves were shocked as he looked at the scroll. He didn't want to open it. He was terrified. What if he didn't get in? What would he do then? Then just as fast those thoughts were dashed and replaced by new worries. He would have to tell his parents either way, and either way that conversation wouldn't be fun.
He had to at least check though. Jaune owed it to Junior to tell him as soon as possible what the outcome was either way. Neo would probably also want to know about it too. Taking a deep breath and closing his eyes the wannabe knight taps on his scroll. He holds them shut for almost a minute before he slowly opens them and looks at the message.
Mr. Arc
We at Beacon academy would like to congratulate you on your entry into Beacon's initiation test. We hope you know this is a high honor, and that you will be expected to train, and learn while here if you make it through. We were very impressed reading your transcripts, and learning your story. We hope to see you soon. I hope to see you soon Mr. Arc do not disappoint.
Courtesy of Headmaster Ozpin, Headmistress, and Professor Glynda Goodwitch, and the rest of the staff of Beacon Academy.
Jaune's whole body shook with excitement. He was going to Beacon! He would have to go through the initiation test, and whatever that might entail. But he was getting a shot, and was one massive step closer to his dream. He knew what that meant though, He would have to study, and train even harder.
Not wanting to wait to share the good news, Jaune pulls on his shoes, and hoodie. Not wanting to wait for the elevator, Jaune races down the stairs, and towards Junior's club. In a dead sprint down the block Jaune gets close to the club, the music pumping louder as he gets nearer. He knows he has to look insane running down the street like that, but he really couldn't care less.
Skidding to a halt in front of the club Jaune looked at the bouncer, and the man let him in with a nod. As soon as he passed through the doors Jaune spotted his employer standing behind the bar.
The man looked at him right back, the knight having caused enough of a commotion to draw a lot of eyes towards him. Junior's brow was furrowed and he wore a slightly worried expression. Who could blame him though one of his employees just ran through the door with a manic expression on his face.
Miltia and Melanie also looked surprised, and were even more surprised when Jaune bowled right through them, on his way to Junior. The owner of the club watched warily setting down a cocktail, before turning towards the blur that is Jaune Arc. Not even having time to brace himself, Junior is slammed into by his janitor, and picked up in a bear hug.
"I got in! Thank you! Thank you! Thank You!" Jaune yells as he spins the massive bartender.
"Jaune let me down." Junior says, and the boy complies, letting him back down. Jaune looks kind of embarrassed seeing the scene he's caused, but the embarrassment can't wipe the goofy grin off his face.
Hei snaps his fingers towards a man dressed similarly to himself, who immediately comes jogging over. "I'm going to need you to man the bar for a little bit." The man nods and replaces Junior without missing a beat. The owner then starts to walk and beckons for Jaune to follow which he does.
While they walk over to a private room they're suddenly blocked by the twins who glare at Jaune.
"What was that about?" Melanie asks her eyes boring into the knight. Her gaze causing him to whither slightly.
"It's about some business between me and him." Junior responds for Jaune seemingly unaffected by the glare that is suddenly sent his way. Jaune would have told them, but if Junior wasn't telling them it meant that he had someone in the club who he didn't want to hear.
"We'll just have to squeeze it out of him tomorrow then won't we?" Miltiades says back to which Junior shrugs. Jaune is a little worried at the implications of that. Junior walks by the twins, and Jaune smiles at them. The twins smile back like two characters from a horror movie, and Jaune shudders before catching up with Junior.
The two sit down in one of the very nice private rooms that were usually for expensive and high profile guests, or for important business. Junior speaks first. "First off congratulations. Secondly I'd prefer it if you didn't barge in and sprint at me. I would be excited if I was in your situation, but please try not to do that next time you have big news. Only time you should do that is if you're in immediate danger, and you need help."
"Thank you, and sorry about that I'm just really excited." Jaune says sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.
Jaune nods, the smile still not leaving his face. "Thank you so much Junior, I couldn't have done it without you."
"I know, and I know I'm not your dad and that I've only known you for about a month, but I'm going to give you some advice. Train your ass off, but make sure that you don't push yourself too hard. I put good effort into those transcripts, and getting the right people to sign off." Jaune nods, and Junior starts to speak again, "If you fail, then that's going to look bad for a lot of people. You also owe me a favor, that will majorly increase in value if you get in so do your damndest to do that."
"I'll do my absolute best sir. Arc's promise." Jaune says seriously, his eyes full of determination.
"Good, now get out of my bar, and make sure you get to work tomorrow. If you want to celebrate we can do that on Wednesday when you have the day off."
"Will do. Thank you again. It means more than you know." With that Jaune leaves the room, and the bar thereafter. Sitting inside the room Junior does nothing for a while the music outside thumping.
"I can't believe those transcripts worked."
Author's note:
A quick chapter. Next chapter will be after a small month-long time skip, and seeing as I'm not really going to be here for a while. You guys are gonna have to wait at least three and a half months for that. You guys could probably tell, but I didn't do much editing outside of a rewrite of the original rough draft sorry if it's extra shitty.
I was checking the heights for RWBY characters because I wanted to be at least kind of accurate for the height of Junior. He is 6'11 which is pretty insane to me, but height is a weird thing in the show. It feels like Jaune fluctuates from 6 foot to 6'5 especially in the later seasons.
I should hopefully have a new chapter of RSSH out before the 20th, but if I don't I'm very sorry. It's going to be a crazy time, and I'm not going to have access to my phone or computer let alone internet. I really want to thank you all for trying this out whether you like or dislike the stuff I've put out. Seriously thank you for reading both Favors, and Rusted Souls and Shattered Hearts.
As always I hope you enjoyed the chapter and enjoy the story. Feel free to leave a review and tell me what you do and don't like or what I can do better, as well as any theories or ideas you have. I love reading all of the reviews and I hope you all have a great day, night, morning or whatever time it is. :)
