Hey guys, RWBYBlackFlames here and I'm glad to welcome you to chapter two. I read the reviews, thank you for them, and do not worry, Jaune is still gonna be the main character.
miss-nerdgasmz.(tumblr).com(/)post/110739178214/jaune-arc-speculation Just remove the parenthesis. It upsets the fanfiction police. This explains a lot so you really want to read it. It covers a headcanon that's I put into the chapter.
I should get this out of the way now before the reviews are bombed with DECEPTION!1! so I'm just gonna leave this here. This is very much part of the story and I will explain more at the end.
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ARC 1
A Prelude to Despair
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Chapter 2
The Knight and The Reaper
"If you can't see what's important, then it's because you're too ashamed to open your eyes."
~Igarashi Ganta
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"I'm glad you asked Beryl, we begin now. Come with me." said Pyros as he walked back towards the factory, with Jaune and Beryl following right behind them with Miles and Courant hanging back.
"Do you think they're ready for these weapons Courant?" asked Miles as the two watched the children hold their new weapons with delight.
"I'm not sure, but the world isn't going to wait for them to catch up. You should know that Miles, especially considering your past. Let's hurry, we don't want them blowing up a building or something..." said Courant as he walked after their children.
"Wait, those things can blow up buildings? Hey, wait up!" said Miles as he ran after the group. After a moment, he caught up and heard Jaune talking.
"So where are we going?" asked Jaune curiously.
"Unfortunately, out of the three of us, Miles, Mr. Majorelle and myself, none of us are to unlock a person's semblance. However, your mother and Mrs. Rose do. It seems that fortune favored the women in that regard. So we're going to the barracks to see if they're around." said Pyros as they walked.
"Why can't you unlock a person's aura?" questioned Jaune as the group walked on.
"That's a good question. Unfortunately, I have a bad answer. I don't know. Perhaps it's genetic, maybe it's for people with certain types of aura, but I can't recall ever reading about it, how about you Miles, Courant?" answered Pyros.
"You know as much as I do." said Miles.
"I remember something about an advanced aura class in Beacon that was non mandatory. I didn't take it since my plate was already full enough as it was, but I remember that they did since they were team leaders. That class was mandatory for team leaders, perhaps it taught them about it there." mused Courant as they finally reached their destination. As they started to open the door to the barracks they heard a crash which was promptly followed by shouting. Miles hesitated for a moment before he finally opened the door, which inside was a white haired rabbit faunus with red eyes on one end of the room holding a double handed sword and on the other a maroon haired woman with silver eyes holding a scythe on the other.
"Uh… Jeanne? Summer?" said Miles as he alerted the two women to their presence. They turned and saw them, before quickly deactivating them and trying to hide them behind their backs in an attempt to hide what they had previously been doing.
"Oh hi Miles, how are you? Are you feeling well?" said Summer with a smile trying to distract them.
"Good I guess, I could be taking a nap right- Wait a minute, Summer, Jeanne, we're talking about your little rivalry later but for now we have more important things to talk about." said Miles. While Miles explained the situation to them, there was a different conversation happening with the two smaller occupants of the room.
"So Jaune, why don't you have rabbit ears like your mom?" asked Beryl curiously.
"My mom said that her faunus traits seemed to carry over to her daughters, while I kept a human look like my father. I can see in the dark though and I have a little tail so I didn't lose everything." replied Jaune as the adults conversation continued.
"That's cool. It's a shame you don't have them though, I bet you would look adorable with those ears!" said Beryl.
"Hey! I would look handsome…" said Jaune indignantly.
"Sure..." said Beryl as the conversation between the adults drew to a close.
"So you two want to unlock your aura. That's excellent! However, I need to know first if you two really want to become hunters. It's a serious job and this is the first step in becoming one. Are you sure you want us to unlock your aura?" questioned Summer.
"Yes!" said the two excitedly.
"Alright. Jeanne, you can take your son and I'll take Beryl. Sound good to you?" asked Summer.
"Sounds good to me. Now let's begin. Jaune, come over here, we'll let Summer go first. Ours will be a bit longer than the average unlocking ritual. It's a ritual specially designed for our family after all." said Jeanne as the two stepped away from the center of the group. Summer put a hand on Beryl's shoulder and began the ritual.
"For it is in passing that we achieve immortality, through this we become a paragon of virtue and glory to rise above all. Infinite in distance and unbound by death, I release your soul, and by my shoulder, protect thee." said the white hooded reaper as they both began to glow. Suddenly, Beryl had a blue outline and the ritual was over with Summer appearing slightly out of breath.
"Congratulations Beryl, you're one step closer to becoming a huntress like me!" said Summer with a smile as the two got out of the way for Jeanne and her son.
"Are you ready Jaune? Then let's begin." said Jeanne as she sat down cross legged, and motioned for Jaune to do the same. After he complied, she grabbed Jaune's hands and the ritual began.
"For it is in life that we realize our limits, through this we surpass them and become a guardian of the light and free the darkness from within. Through this we become a paragon of bravery and compassion to guard the weak. With our limits surpassed, we become the light and realize our true being and become a shield to block the dark's blade. With this, I release your soul, and by my body and soul, protect thee." said Jeanne as the room lit up from the two Arc's aura. Finally it calmed down and Jeanne appeared weakened and Jaune had a white glow around him. He smiled in delight until he saw his tired mother.
"Mom, are you alright?!" asked Jaune with worry.
"I'm alright Jaune, I just need a moment to catch my breath. You had a lot of aura to unlock, so it took a lot of aura for me to protect you." said his mother with her eyes now black, which everyone took note of.
"So Father, I was wondering about my weapons. You said they used primarily aura as a fuel source, can you please explain?" asked Beryl.
"Of course, your weapons are unique in how they handle aura. When you're using the clear dust crystals, instead of using the crystals energy supply like most dust, it uses aura instead. As a result, when activated your weapon's strength goes up and you can use dust attacks depending on what type you have. However, this provides three unwanted side effects. It's always draining on your aura once the C.D.C is activated, and once it's turned off it has a five minute recharge period in which it can't be turned on again as well as the fact that you need to have some of the dust that you want to use. You can't create something out of nothing. Unfortunately, at this point I doubt you'll be able to maintain the dust part of the weapon until you've learned better aura control but that's what Pyros here is for. Let's head back to the training area and practice. Will you follow us girls?" asked Courant.
"We will, don't wait up. We need only a moment to catch our breath." replied Summer.
"Alright. Let's go." said Courant as the group left, leaving the two alone. There was no noise for a few moments as the two thought about what they were going to say. It was Summer that broke the momentary silence.
"Jeanne, you know that it breaks my heart leaving Ruby home. It hurts even more when I have to lie to her face that I'm leaving for a 'mission'. So tell me, why did you call me here?" questioned Summer.
"We both know Summer. You were with me and Miles when we uncovered the ancient temple, and you were with me when we found that prophecy. Ruby is the seventh heir to the mantle of the Dark Reaper. I believe that Jaune will be the seventh heir to the mantle of the Knight of Light. That's not why I called you here, it's what we've discovered." said Jeanne.
"Oh? What did you discover?" asked Summer.
"We found another Temple. This one's with your symbol." said Jeanne blatantly.
"Really? Do you think there's another clue? Perhaps a way to prevent the conflict mentioned in the ancient text?" asked Summer.
"All we can do is hope." said Jeanne.
"Alright, when are we going out to it?" asked Summer.
"Miles and I were thinking about exploring it with you tomorrow. The Grimm have been pretty tame lately, I'm sure that we can be gone for a day and not be missed." said Jeanne.
"Alright, you can count me-"
*BOOM*
As Summer said that, they felt the ground rumble and a deafening explosion. They rushed outside and saw that smoke was coming from the opposite side of the camp, luckily far away from any of the workers areas and even farther away from the training grounds.
"Jeanne! We need to get out there and fast!" said Summer as she pulled out her scythe, appropriately named Eclipse Rose and started to dash towards the attack site before she was stopped by someone grabbing onto her hood before she began running. She turned and saw blue eyes staring back.
"Summer, we need to make sure that everyone's safe. There's not much we can do right now, we need to regroup and make sure the workers and children are being evacuated." said Jeanne.
"Right, thanks Jeanne. I almost got myself into some serious trouble. Jeanne, you go and make sure that the children are safe and I'll go make sure the workers can evacuate. They're closer to the explosion and I'm faster than you." said Summer.
"Sounds good to me, stay safe." said Jeanne as she dashed towards the training site.
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*BOOM*
"What was that?!" yelled Miles as the whole campground shook from an explosion. He looked west and saw a pillar of smoke coming from the wall. A wall specifically meant for keeping Grimm out. And now that there was a whole in it…
"Courant, Pyros, we need to do something. Grimm are going to get in unless we hurry!" said Miles as he pulled out his longsword. As they were about to mobilize, they heard a shout and saw that Jeanne was running to them. After a moment, they were all together.
"Jeanne, what is it?" asked Miles.
"We need to evacuate the children to somewhere safe. Also we can't go rushing in head first, that's a foolish way to die. We need a plan. Summer is evacuating the workers to the bunkers. We need to make sure that the wall is resealed or we're going to lose. Does anyone up for an idea?" said Jeanne. After a few moments, Courant offered a suggestion.
"We have an abundance of Ice Dust Crystals near the area the wall was hit. If that's intact, we could try to make a fake wall of solid ice, so we can have the factory sealed. It wouldn't last very long, but if we can keep it up, we can radio for help. After that, we can evacuate the factory until the wall is fixed." said Courant.
"Sounds good to me, we need to kill off any Grimm inside first and make sure none get in while we're making the wall. Here's my idea. Courant and I will head to the breach and start neutralizing the threat. Miles, your job is to get the children somewhere safe, and then tell Summer's part of the plan to her, and finally come help us seal the wall. Make sure that you kill any Grimm you see. Summer's part of the plan is to go around the camp and kill any Grimm that's past us. She's a speed demon and an excellent fighter so it won't take long for her to kill off the Grimm inside. Once she's done, we're gonna need every hand we can get on that wall. It'll require at least two people to create the wall and many more to defend the base and us to do it. Lastly, stay safe. We can't afford to launch a rescue effort at this point, so make sure you're able to fight. Any questions?" said Jeanne, with the battle strategist mindset working at full speed.
"Yeah, what's my role?" asked Pyros.
"Ah, I almost forgot about you. You have the most important part of this operation. We need you to get to the factory, get into the radio tower and call for immediate help. If all else fails, we'll need a way out, fast. If possible, call the Vytalian Defense Force. They're the nearest and the ones most likely to help us. Got it?" said Jeanne.
"You can count on me!" said Pyros.
"Alright, let's go!" said Jeanne as the small group of hunters mobilized.
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"Let's see… The Majorelle Dust Company should be somewhere around here, and with them are the Arcs… Now, if I were a giant factory in the middle of nowhere Remnant, where would I be…" said the red dressed woman as she walked around. It was strange how there was no Grimm nearby, especially this deep into the Forever Falls… Suddenly she heard an explosion coming from her left. She turned and saw a smoke pillar start rising in the distance.
"Apparently I'll be over there." remarked the woman as she started to run in that direction. After a solid thirty seconds of running, she saw how bad the situation was.
"You gotta to be kidding me…" whispered the woman as she saw the true horror of what was in front of her. Heading towards the explosion was a giant black mass. If you were just a bit farther away, you'd think it was a darker part of the forest but in reality, it was Grimm swarming towards the exploded area in the tens of hundreds.
"…It seems they'll require some help." said the black haired woman as she ran towards the smoke pillar, killing the Grimm that came too close easily with a fireball. This was going to be a long day.
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Hey guys, RWBYBlackFlames here and I'm glad to put an end to Chapter 2. For those of you concerned with OC focus, or perhaps overpoweredness, do not fret. By next chapter, everything will sort itself out. Now, regarding Jaune, Jeanne and the Arcs. First off, you should've clicked the link already so this makes sense. I believe that the Arcs have another secret that has yet to be revealed. This, I believe canon unless proved otherwise regards their heritage. I believe that the Arcs are part faunus, specifically rabbit. They even said that Jaune's great-great-grandfather fought in the war, but never which side. Plus, when Jaune attended Beacon, he really didn't get too much attention and no one cared that he was being bullied. Even if he wasn't well liked, if he was a major hero that help win the war for humanity against the faunus, Cardin would probably not do that and he'd have some respect. Also bunny's have lots of children, and seven seems like a lot. But that's just a theory. A RWBY theory. Thanks for reading! Until next time, Black Flames out!