Been a hot minute, hasn't it?

Missing the Second Chance

(Inspired by Megatokyo)

The Jaune Arc that enters Beacon Academy is much different than the one in canon.

The Jaune Arc in this story is a time traveller, a man from the future in the body of his past self. The future that he is from is one where everything went wrong, where every bad thing that could've happened did happen, where all his friends died, where evil was triumphant, and where he was the last one alive, the last one to be sent back by means in which he does not understand or comprehend.

He does not know why he was the last to survive, but what he does know that he intents to change as much of the present as he can, and prevent the end from happening once again.

So he gets to work, adopting an aloof and mysterious persona around himself (like Miho Tohya from Megatokyo) as he begins to use his knowledge of the future to influence the people around him and getting them ready for the future that they fight, such as getting Ren and Nora together earlier in canon, giving Ruby hints to her silver eyes and encouraging her to pursue the subject more, and even getting Pyrrha to question her own views on destiny and getting her into a friendship with Weiss, even pushing it to possibly go further than that.

As he continues to change the people around him in Beacon, he also begins to manipulate events in Vale as well, sending anonymous tips to the police force about White Fang hideouts and Roman's impending robbery locations, putting a serious crimp in Cinder's operations before they can even start. He even begins to manipulate Blake and Yang's relationship, forcing Blake to confront her past and her feelings for the people around him and Yang's abandonment issues to gain the knowledge that he needs in order to carry out his operations.

He refuses to consult or even try to contact Ozpin over what he knows though, both due to his suspecting that Ozpin and his cabal may already have an inkling as to what he is doing, and also because of his intense dislike of the man. Jaune hates Ozpin due to his holding information, role in the events that lead up to the dark future that he came from, and his manipulation of his friends into serving his whims.

However, as much as Jaune hates the headmaster, he is a lot more like him than he would like to admit...

Only he's not as good a manipulator.

As much as he would like to deny it, underneath his aloof façade he is still Jaune Arc, still wanting to be a hero and still wanting to save people, only his actions are fuelled now by grief, self-loathing, and a blatant refusal to connect to the people around him due to fear of getting them hurt or killed (again).

Because of this refusal to befriend the people around him, even if he wants to, he cannot (or even refuses to) see the effects that he has on people.

Some of the people around him are beginning to clue themselves in on his manipulations, and begin to mistrust him due to not wanting to be fed lies and half-truths for some unknown agenda. However, other people begin to grow attached to Jaune due to him looking out for them, despite the indifferent persona that he tries extremely hard to project, and they seek to break him out of his shell and bring out the good man that they know is under there and understand what made him the way he is.

However, others have developed a dislike and downright hatred of him for his manipulative actions, particularly Blake and Yang as they have become aware of his actions and begin to plot against him because of it. Worse yet, Ozpin has begun to take notice of him...

As well as forces outside of Beacon.

Jaune is unable to deal with all of this. Underneath his fake persona, he was a deeply traumatised boy still mourning the deaths of those that he loved. He doesn't want to go through the same pain again, and he refuses to let anyone go through the same pain again, so he doubles down on his behaviour, increasing his manipulations and doing his best to alienate the people around him.

Unfortunately for him, this has the complete opposite affect, as the people that care about him quickly see his behaviour for what it is and reject his attempts to lash out at them. This only makes him panic and causes him to try and disconnect from the people around him entirely, only for them to deny him that as well.

Jaune's web of manipulations begin to fall apart, and with all of the changes to the timeline that he has brought about since coming to Beacon, he is finding it harder and harder to keep track of the things happening around him. His paranoia about things to come begins to grow and worsen. His façade begins to crack.

And as the Vytal Festival approaches, he is forced to confront one terrifying truth...

He cannot control everything.

He will need to tell the people trying to help him the truth...

One way or another, and sooner rather than later.