The End

Cover Art: drivorobotnik77 DeviantArt

Jaune stood wordlessly as the sounds of destruction and the cries of pain echoed around him, his sword lost and shield hanging uselessly by his side at the end of his dislocated, bloodied arm. It was almost ironic how the namesake of the Coliseum he currently stood in belied the current situation as the gigantic symbol of unity continued falling from the sky.

"How... how did it come to this?"

He didn't even realize it was his own voice speaking his thoughts aloud as he thought back on his first tournament at Beacon. Teams RWBY and JNPR had been unstoppable, he and Pyrrha advancing after their initial team win and Yang forfeiting her spot to Ruby after what they'd all figured was her stepping down from the position. They should've suspected something was wrong then... but who could've guessed all of this? Yang was now nowhere to be found. Jaune and Pyrrha had advanced their team to the finals, as had Ruby and Weiss. And Weiss, in the ultimate display of submission and personal redemption, had let Ruby accept the honor of facing Pyrrha in the finals.

So why... why... was it the heiress' body currently sprawled across the floor before him, her skin as cold as the still blood in her veins that had been flash-frozen by the spike of ice protruding from her chest? What had she done to deserve an end like this, so gruesome and unexpected from a woman he'd heard her call 'sister' in her last breath!?

It was all so fast, the final fight interrupted before it could begin by an explosion which preceded a charge of men in black uniforms and Grimm masks that quickly overran the place, shooting indiscriminately at audience and students alike. Then the higher ups had come in, led by a guy with a chainsaw who took out the hunters and androids that dared oppose them... the Professors made headway against them, but even they fell short to a man wearing a katana and a custom tux who made short work of them, too. Ruby, Blake, and JNPR had done all they could, even with SSSN's help, but then the worst thing he could've imagined happened.

Students - at least, four people they thought were students - suddenly turned on them, every one of them going down one by one until only he, Ruby, Blake, and Pyrrha were left. He was knocked out early after a tiny girl sliced up his arm with a tiny sword, twisting his shield arm back till it snapped before punching him into a wall and knocking him out of the fight, presumably dead. Jaune watched the guy in the tux appear in a flash as he flew back from the small girl's punch towards the wall... Blake falling with another flash of the guy's katana... impossibly, Pyrrha going down to the woman with the fiery Dust sabres... strange...

His mind had gone blank for a while, never figuring out what had happened to Ruby before waking and finding himself where he currently stood.

Despite the searing pain, Jaune's torn knuckles turned white as he curled his fist up so tight that nails broke skin, his eyes stinging from the pain of salt and sorrow before he found the other bodies close by. Ironwood. Lain to waste with a scowl on his face as a broken pistol lay at his side... his hand seemingly busted into a million pieces which Jaune suddenly surmised to be a mechanical limb of sorts before his eyes traced a woman's hand holding the General's other.

Glynda... Goodwitch?

It, it couldn't be. She was the toughest woman Jaune could remember, but judging by the multiple burn marks and pieces of glass Dust littering her body, this was definitely the work of that woman who'd killed Pyrrha. If only he could find that fiery-eyed woman where she was now... he would make her pay. Somehow, someway... she had to pay for what she'd done here!

"Mister Arc..."

"W-Who said that?" the hapless knight eked out, his body visibly shaking from a strange mix of fear and residual anger only to dash forward to remove some rubble behind Glynda and Ironwood. It didn't take long to discover Ozpin under the wreckage of the announcer's luxury box that had fallen to the stadium floor.

The Headmaster's legs had been crushed, and he was bleeding profusely from his torso along a gash from his shoulder to his hip, but Jaune could see that the inflictor of the blow had met a grim fate himself... judging by the motionless hand still holding a broken red katana out from underneath the main pile of rubble.

"Mister Arc... Jaune," Ozpin began slowly before coughing out blood on the small boulder supporting him and wiping his mouth clean with his sleeve, "You must, remember these words... Everything happens for a reason."

"H-Headmaster, I don't know what you mean..."

"I do not expect you to, not... right now," Ozpin continued haggardly, the blonde knight's panic rising as he saw the man's eyes already beginning to cloud over, "But you must know, that after initiation... I knew you would become the only one who could end this... before it ever begins..."

Jaune's eyes widened, his throat tight to the point of barely letting out a croak as he managed to ask, "What? How?"

At that, the silver-haired man slowly reached behind himself with evident pain in his movements to pull out what Jaune immediately recognized as his family sword, Crocea Mors.

"Because... of who you are..."

Jaune wordlessly took the sword, the man's hand falling limp on the boulder with the last of his energy expended as he weakly wet his lips to add, "Call it an old man's final gamble... I saw the initiation tape. It only appeared that Miss Nikos unlocked your Aura... but your Semblance had already been unlocked... long, long before... If only we'd had more time..."

The student quickly looked around as the Coliseum made impact with what was presumably the tallest spire of Beacon and knew there was little time left. Despite it all, Jaune looked down in surprise to see his body beginning to glow a brilliant white now that the sword was in his hands and Ozpin cracking the first earnest smile he'd ever seen the stoic Headmaster give.

"And it seems the gamble paid off... Glynda... will owe me quite a bit of Lien for this one. Be sure to remember my words; everything rests on you now... Jaune."

"How... What do I even do?" Jaune cried out in disbelief as a second jolt caused the entire structure to lurch violently, large pieces of Amity Coliseum falling apart as an impossibly huge chunk of stadium wall began falling towards them.

Ozpin let out his final words in a single breath before his eyes slowly closed.

"Come find me... when you wake up."

In his last second of life, Jaune Arc looked up at the gigantic slab of concrete about to crash onto them and closed his eyes.

'Wake up... if only it were that easy. I'd just start back at Day One...'

"GAH!"

The young man immediately jolted upright, his eyes wide as he furiously struggled to fight down his body's hyperventilation upon waking. Standing up and taking a final deep breath to regain some semblance of composure, he noticed that his hand was cradling his shoulder; pulling it back, he cocked a brow at his unconscious action.

His shoulder was fine.

Sure, his armor was dingy at best and could probably use an upgrade, but it seemed he was in decent working order. Stepping around a corner of the hall inexplicably filled with heavily-armed teens, he stopped as he chanced to pass by a full-length mirror to inspect himself.

Blonde hair? Check. Blue eyes? Check. Kinda scrawny body? Check. He huffed at himself as he resolved to work on changing that last part.

"My name... is Jaune Arc," he told himself with some surprise, partly because the phrase was the first thing that had come out of his mouth and partly because of how unsure his voice sounded as he said it. Shaking it off as he scoffed at the thought, his self-rebuking smirk quickly turned into a groan as he turned back at the sudden onset of nausea rocking his system.

"Ermahgerd... where am I..."

Stumbling forward, he caught himself with an outstretched hand against what immediately felt like a window, groggily picking up his head from his half-keeled-over state only to groan again at the realization that he was thousands of feet above ground.

"Bullhead... why'd it have to be a Bullhead?" he asked himself as he turned and slumped back against the window, slouching down against the glass despite the curious glares he was receiving and placing an arm over his eyes to block out the sight. And the motion. And hopefully the airsickness.

How he hated airsickness... he hated it, right?

Suddenly pausing mid-sigh, Jaune lifted the arm from his eyes with very furrowed brows as he slowly... slowly... turned his gaze to gauge his surroundings.

A Bullhead? A blonde lady on ship-wide holograms rambling on about a "privileged few" and "prestigious academy"? Hormonal teenagers armed to the teeth with stupidly lethal tools of destruction!? Not a very wise idea, now that he thought about it...

Standing up and hoping to Oum above that the ship didn't make any sudden movements, Jaune began walking across the main room filled with said hormonal teenagers towards an extremely familiar building on the horizon growing closer by the second. But sure enough, the ship lurched to the side.

"Ugh, screw you, gods... blergh," was all Jaune could finish with before having to keep from blowing chunks all over the floor with a hand to his mouth. Looking around frantically, the only thing freaking out Jaune more than his impending humiliation was the increasingly intense sense of déjà-vu he was getting from the area.

'I... I know this place! I've been here before! No wait, that's not right,' he thought quickly before accidentally swallowing his bile at the sound of a nostalgically familiar voice.

"Oh, wow! Look, you can see Signal from up here!"

Wide-eyed, Jaune turned towards the voice that had come from a few feet down by the windows, seeing a flash of red before his stomach usurped his full attention once again with a forced dry-heave. Finally finding his aluminum receptacle of salvation just behind the red-hooded girl who'd spoken and some blonde girl next to her, he noisily brushed by them to relieve the contents of his stomach into the bin.

"Ughhh... I don't remember eating any carrots..."

"Well, I guess the view isn't for everyone," a smug-sounding voice began from behind Jaune as he coughed out what was left in his system and wiped his mouth with his sleeve. Great, he'd gotten attention from his little mishap, after all.

"Yaaang... be nice!"

"There's that voice again," Jaune mumbled to himself before the first voice continued from right behind him.

"Fine. Hey, you holdin' up alright there, Vomit Boy?"

Grunting at the unimaginative yet still-insulting nickname, Jaune slowly stood and was about to protest the girl's choice in words before pausing at the sight of the two young women in front of him.

"..."

"Um... is that a no?" the shorter girl questioned, a brow raised at the seemingly awkward airsick boy before he finally shook himself out of his funk.

"Um, uh... yeah. I mean no," he corrected quickly, sheepishly scratching the back of his head before giving them a small shrug, "Sorry... I, guess I'm just having an off day. Name's Jaune. Jaune Arc."

"I'm Ruby!" the girl beamed again, confusion suddenly reappearing over the knight's face as the word Rose instinctively rolled across his mind.

"And I'm bored," the taller girl mulled disinterestedly before idly glancing out the window, "Oh. At least we're here. Thanks for not puking on anything important, Vomit Boy."

"Jaune," the young man hedged under his breath as the airship finally docked, the kids all around him spilling out in excitement to the strange new place. Barely keeping from being run over by the stampede, Jaune turned back to where his new acquaintances - well, one acquaintance, one non-enemy(?) - had been, only to see that they were no longer there.

"Well... welcome to Loserville. Population: One," Jaune mumbled to himself as he stepped out of the ship, looking around and suddenly feeling the need to spit out the one word this place was causing him to think of as if it were a bittersweet treat he needed to roll off his tongue, "Bea...con... Beacon?"

He hummed at the word as he instinctively made to place his hands in his pockets and take a stroll around the place to see why it seemed so familiar before his left hand hit a metallic object en route to pocket. Looking down, Jaune took a glance at the vintage-looking weapon strapped to his side.

"A sword? Oh right, Crocea Mors," he mused aloud as if becoming reacquainted with an old friend before pouting at something about it that felt oddly out of place. Lightly bouncing it in his hand as if to test out its weight, Jaune then unsheathed the sword to see that it was as polished and immaculate as ever.

However, it was when he expanded its sheath that he felt something amiss. Or added.

"One... two... three arcs?" he counted to himself as he ran a finger over the insignia. Somehow, it just felt like it wasn't what he was used to. Like it was... off...

Sheathing his weapon, Jaune paused as he looked around the wide courtyard, suddenly seizing up at an instinctive sense of danger.

"Uh oh," he noted aloud as he saw Ruby nearby, reeling and about to fall onto a large stack of suitcases. At that moment, Jaune somehow knew that it would not end well if she did that.

"D'ooohhhhh... uwah!?" the recently-ditched girl in red yelped as she was right about to fall back in a slump, her descent suddenly halted as she suddenly found herself cradled in someone's arms, "J-Jaune!?"

"Oh hey uh, Ruby," he replied unsurely, quickly letting her stand again and shuffling a step of two back himself, "Fancy meeting you here..."

She glanced at the stack of suitcases and back at him curiously, her eyes narrowing just a tad as she spoke up, "Yeahhh... uh, how'd you get here so fast?"

That... was actually a very good question. The blond knight faltered for a moment as he considered it. How had he known to get there on time? Well, one couldn't go wrong with saying the truth, even if he couldn't quite understand it himself.

"Well, I saw you spinning around like that and was able to make it before you finally decided to fall back. I couldn't help getting a feeling that nothing good would come out of you crashing into this stuff," he noted with a warm smirk as he patted one of the fancy-looking cases, "You never know what's inside."

"Dust, you blundering oaf, Dust!" a prissy voice began abruptly from behind the stack of cases before Jaune suddenly felt his hand forcefully pried off the case, "Mitts off the merchandise!"

Yelping in pain, Jaune turned and scooted back to stand next to Ruby, his subsequent protest once again quelled in his throat as a flood of what felt like out-of-place memories filled him with information he could've sworn he never knew.

"You're... you're," he began monotonously, his eyes wide in unwarranted disbelief as he continued, "Weiss Schnee... heiress of the Schnee Dust Company... you're, here..."

Her impending tirade stopping cold in her own throat, Weiss stopped opening the case Jaune had touched and left the vial inside it as she turned to face the teens with a smug smirk, "Well then, some proper recognition in this place for a change. It seems I chose my future academy wisely, after all."

Jaune glanced to his side to see Ruby cringing at the clearly uppity girl's attitude before Weiss continued, "As much as I'm sure you'd enjoy my continued company, I must get going lest any other dunces nearly ignite my weekly Dust supply."

With that, the heiress strode off with her cart close behind, the two teens merely standing in her wake before Ruby finally called out, "Sorry!"

Jaune sighed, the shorter girl turning to face him with a renewed smile before adding, "I guess you were right. I'm kinda sensitive to raw Dust and stuff and it makes me awfully sniffly when I breathe any in... and here I'd taken you to be the awkward clumsy type!"

"I am the awkward clumsy type... I think," Jaune corrected before surrendering at the silver-eyed girl's deadpan and raising his hands placatingly, "Fine. I may have my moments every now and then, I guess."

Ruby's smile widened into a grin before she jutted out her hand at him expectantly, "Don't sell yourself short, it was a nice save! By the way, I'm Ruby Rose, sorry about the whole Vomit Boy thing earlier."

"T'is a pleasure to formally meet you," Jaune replied with a fake-regal accent as he shook her hand, causing the girl to chuckle before he added with a smirk, "But if you keep it up with the Vomit Boy gag, I'll just have to call you Sniffles."

"Hey, no fair!" she retorted petulantly, crossing her arms tightly with a pout that could make a puppy cry.

"Neither is that face!" Jaune complained aloud, playfully shielding himself with an arm over his eyes before being smacked in the arm by the girl, "Anyway, I take it you're as new here as I am?"

"Yep," Ruby noted idly with a pop of the 'p' as she held both hands behind herself, shifting her weight back and forth between her heels and balls of her feet as she looked around happily, "I mean, it's Beacon Academy, though! One of the best Huntsmen schools in all of Remnant! There's just so much to take in, just seeing the weapons the people here carry is enough to give me goosies!"

Jaune gave a chuckle at the young woman, unable to do much else than acknowledge her definite aura of adorkableness before noticing the evident metal hunch on her back and getting on his tip-toes to identify the unique creation.

"Seems fitting, coming from a girl packing a customizable high-impact sniper rifle."

Ruby then let out an exaggeratedly long gasp of surprise, hobbling over wide-eyed to the blond in shock and placing both hands firmly on his shoulders before half-whispering, "You know weapons. We will be best friends!"

"Uhh..."

"Hehe, anyway," Ruby noted mousily and scooted back quickly, lightly blushing before clearing her throat as she pulled out the weapon itself with a grin, "Guess what it mecha-shifts into?~"

"Duh. A scythe," Jaune noted flatly with a smug smirk and a side shrug, "That beast of a weapon ain't exactly something you forget about once you've seen it."

"Um... I've never even opened my baby on this side of Vale before," Ruby noted slowly, all trace of previous excitement replaced with a tinge of her initial suspicion which caused the knight to try and find a save once again.

"Uh well, I mean, I'm sure that thing's got sister models and stuff that the manufacturer sells..."

"I built Crescent Rose with my bare hands."

'Quality save, Jaune,' he noted internally with a mental facepalm, going with a last-ditch effort which would just as likely leave his friend count for the day back at zero than not, "Um... right, then, I must've seen it... on the news?"

At that, Jaune was surprised to see that it was Ruby who was now not-so-subtly trying to find a decent save.

"Whaaaa? Really? Nah... no way! They totally said that none of the footage made it to the news! Not that they would, I mean, cuz my Crescent Rose wouldn't be on the news! I'm just a normal giiirl... withnormalknees! Okay Ruby, now you're sounding weird just shut your little face and-"

"Heh, you know, how 'bout I toootally believe what you're saying right now and you toootally believe that I'm just the world's best guesser. Fair deal?"

The crimsonette stopped short at the blonde's suggestion, mulling it over in her mind for exactly half a second before reverting to her normal standing position and giving him a quick happy nod.

"Deal! ...Anyway, we should probably head to the auditorium. You know the way?"

Jaune scoffed light-heartedly, about to respond in the negative but slowly stopping as his gaze instinctively drifted towards a particularly promising entrance on campus.

"Actually... I think I do."

"Awww, this blows! Where else am I gonna find a nice, quirky girl to talk to!?" Jaune shouted to no one in particular inside the auditorium just after Ruby ditched him upon the blonde girl's calling. He sighed as he walked forward, mumbling angrily to himself about his shoddy luck before finding a spot amid the youths packed into the large room.

Jaune took a final step to settle in his spot but paused just before putting his foot down, looking down and grinning at himself as he put his foot down about four inches to the left to avoid the piece of gum on the floor.

"Hehe, you won't get me twice, you evil piece of bubble gum..."

But as he processed his own words, Jaune's grin slowly began to fade as his situation finally began dawning on him. The Bullhead. The scythe. The gum.

"I've... actually been here before?"

His question was answered, and the final nail hammered into the coffin, as the unmistakable voice of a man he'd never met yet knew all the same began to speak on the comm system from the platform.

"I'll... keep this brief. You have traveled here today in search of knowledge, to hone your craft and acquire new skills, and when you have finished, you plan to dedicate your life to the protection of the people. But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction."

Jaune's jaw had been dropping lower and lower as he watched the man. Everything about him, foreign yet familiar at the same time. Ozpin. Headmaster Ozpin of Beacon Academy...

"You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far."

"It is up to you to take the first step," Jaune whispered aloud, finishing the speech along with the silver-haired man simultaneously as he let his hand drift up to his shoulder. Something... was definitely off here.

Come find me when you wake up...

Jaune took a few steps forward as if in a trance, looking down at the ground before him as a woman's voice on the intercom directed the students to a ballroom before the first blonde's voice became discernible in the vicinity.

"He seemed kind of... off."

"It's almost like he wasn't even there," Jaune added monotonously, Ruby turning to face him with a wide grin as she noticed who it was.

"Hey, Jaune! I was actually right about to... say... that... Hey, you okay?"

"Yeah, right as rain," he noted softly, finally looking up and acknowledging the third woman in the group, "Hey, Weiss."

"Jaune, was it?" the heiress began politely, almost mindfully straightening her posture as if about to direct herself to a business partner, "I was actually just asking about you. It seems that in my haste to avoid any more... near-mishaps..."

She paused to shoot a light glare at Ruby who merely shrugged in apology before the young woman turned to face Jaune with a placid smile, "I seem to have managed to forget the other half of our introduction. I'd hate to go without acknowledging the presence of too many of those who've taken the time to appreciate mine."

"Meh, don't worry about it," Jaune remarked coolly, lightly waving off the statement and adding before Weiss could take it the wrong way, "Men forge their legacy with actions. A name is just a word to remember those by. Something my dad used to say... I think."

At that, Weiss let her jaw slack a bit with what eventually formed into a small smile of intrigue, "Well stated... My sister used to say something like that as well."

"Must be a busy family, then," Jaune noted before giving Weiss a final nod, "Anyway, take care... I, have to go somewhere right now. Ruby. Unnamed blonde girl. Nice jacket."

The blonde girl in question shrugged proudly before turning to him with a small smirk, "That just might be the first time a guy compliments something other than my body... Jaune. Name's Yang. Yang Xiao Long."

He nodded in response, a ghost of a smile on his lips at the event of a girl offering him her name without any real reason to before feeling the need to round out the conversation with something he oddly enough felt was missing, "Okay, and for the record..."

Three expectant stares as he pointed at all of them with an idle wave of his finger.

"I'm a natural blonde, you know."

"..."

Yang was the first to snort in response, a smile across her features as she hiked a thumb over a shoulder, "You heard the princess from way over there?"

"Hey!"

"My bad. Ice Princess."

Weiss grunted unceremoniously in a miffed gesture of petulance before jutting her hip out to the side and motioning in Jaune's general direction with a hand, "Well if you heard that, then I should probably add that you're not that scraggly."

"Right," he noted with a humored raised brow before waving a final good bye at the girls, "Later."

Yang watched the blonde leave with vague curiosity before half-nodding her head to her sister, "I guess you're right, Rubes. He's not that bad, after all."

Weiss shook her head beside them with a small smirk, the siblings unaware that it was a sign of agreement instead of the opposite.

'Cool-headed and occasionally suave,' she noted internally, 'Occasionally. But, not bad at all...'

"Okay freaky brain thing, do your stuff," Jaune muttered to himself as he stepped out of the auditorium from the general area he'd seen the Headmaster exit. He had to admit, despite her unique character, Jaune was getting a feeling that Ruby was the type of person who had an excellent intuition when it came to being a judge of the character of others.

And the more he thought about it, the more Ozpin did seem aloof. Why? A Headmaster disconnected from his students didn't seem so far-fetched, but in this case...

"Maybe Ozpin was waiting for something, too?" Jaune asked himself in curiosity before he rounded a corner and froze in his tracks, nearly stumbling back at the sudden presence before him.

Either this was really really bad luck, or...

"Hoh? Why would you say that?"

"M-Mister, I mean, Headmaster Ozpin," Jaune stammered as he regained his bearings, the man simply standing there as if he were one of the many statues that lined the sides of the open walkway between marble columns while he idly took another sip of coffee.

"Mister Arc, I presume. A pleasure to finally meet you."

"You... know who I am?"

"No," the Headmaster noted flatly, the subsequent silence seemingly intensified by the crystal clear sound of the Professor's next sip and sigh of successful caffeine acceptance, "But I know your transcripts."

The next silence seemed doubly intense by the sound of Jaune's audible gulp echoing through the halls.

"Now now, nothing to fear," Ozpin continued just a fraction more lightly than before, "If I'd wanted, I'd have ensured that you never stepped foot on campus property. But as it stands... I believe you have something to say before I make my final decision."

"I-I do?"

"Yes. To my next and only question... depending on your answer."

Either the Headmaster's Semblance had something to do with sucking oxygen right out of the air, or Jaune was seriously beginning to find it much more difficult to breathe.

"Mister Arc. As you surely heard in the auditorium, Miss Goodwitch ensured her instructions were clear that every student find lodging in the ballroom for the night. Now, would you be able to tell me why you decided a stroll through the administrative wing - which is strictly off limits to students, might I add - was a more desirable option?"

Jaune had a strange feeling despite himself, his mind racing a million miles per hour through decent excuses or lies that might be able to buy him some time or save him some trouble. But the feeling wasn't fear of expulsion. Or even fear of very public humiliation, for that matter. It was that pervading feeling that he was a student in the middle of nothing more than a pop quiz. And Jaune had found his ace... the truth.

"To be quite honest, I'm not entirely sure... but I have a feeling it's because you told me to. Sir."

"A feeling? I do not recall asking a prospective student to go directly against the advice of arguably the most dangerous woman on Remnant. Care to expand on your thoughts about that 'feeling'?"

Jaune sighed as he decided to play his final card, "The same one that's telling me that this hallway is for the lecture classrooms. Not the administrative wing."

"..."

"..."

"Interesting."

"S-Sir?"

Another brief pause, and a sip of coffee, before the man whose eyes had never broken contact with Jaune's from behind the small brown spectacles spoke again, "This wing of the school did not exist before this year. Professor Port - you'll meet him, a rather engaging administrator at the facility - has a fond tradition of unleashing Grimm on unsuspecting first-year students. Last year, he decided to unleash a juvenile Goliath that got out of hand and destroyed a dated Dust depot we kept here before it was eventually neutralized. Needless to say, his class is to be reduced to lecture-only activities which will be held in the smaller lecture halls located in this new wing... something no student, past nor current, would know. Follow me."

Just like that, Jaune found himself following the Headmaster with a slack jaw through the hallways, his trust in his own questionably sane mind growing bit by bit every few minutes as the Professor silently took the blonde knight through breathtaking walkways and balconies of a school he knew he'd once attended. Or hadn't attended. Yet...

"Guhhhh," Jaune groaned at himself as his mind felt like it was trying to move backwards and forwards at the same time, his reaction catching the attention of the ever-observant man leading him around campus.

"Everything alright, Mister Arc?" Ozpin drawled without slowing or turning around, "I imagine anyone walking these halls for the first time would be rather taken aback by these views as well."

Trying to ignore the ticking pulse of the vein on his forehead as Jaune pinched the bridge of his nose in an effort to assay the oncoming migraine, he blurted out with limited inhibition, "Would you believe me if I said this wasn't the first time I've seen these sights?"

Jaune didn't realize his slip up until he nearly collided with the woven wool back of Ozpin's suit since the man had suddenly come to a complete stop. Ozpin turned, giving the knight an unusually light-hearted expression of thought as he glanced upward in deliberation before fixing his glare right at the knight.

"Yes."

Ozpin turned and continued walking out from under the main archways into the outer courtyard at the front of the campus, once again leaving Jaune behind in his own morning brew of mixed emotions. Mostly confusion and an increasingly piqued hint of annoyance.

"Look, Headmaster. I know I did something really really dumb by faking my transcripts and by going against Glynda's direction on my first day as a fake student at that," Jaune panted out as he ran up to Ozpin's side at the center of the courtyard, the man making no motion to turn to face the knight, "But with all due respect, would you mind letting me know if you leading me around like this isn't an attempt to break the Guinness Remnant record of 'Longest Walk of Shame'?"

Raising a brow, Ozpin took a final sip from his mug before clearing his throat and turning to grant Jaune the first... or was it second?... show of genuine emotion he'd ever seen from the man: confusion.

"Wait. You faked those transcripts?"

At that moment, Jaune's extremities immediately fell limp as he suddenly felt like he'd just had his brain smashed out of one ear by a large golden brick of irony.

"Hm. Could've fooled me," was all the Headmaster stated before turning to face away from the knight once more, "Though I'm certain Glynda would've caught onto any discrepancy by tomorrow at the latest. I'd likely have made a wager on your behalf to dissuade her from looking into it any further."

"A... wager?"

"A bet, Mister Arc. A very large bet. She'd have made a counter-offer, and I'd have tripled her ante just to show my resolve," he droned more to himself than anything with a ghost of a smirk barely turning up the corner of his lip, "She'd have ended up owing me quite the sum of Lien for this one."

Jaune took a deep breath and gradually let it out, slowly lifting a hand to his head as if to verify the validity of the flashback he'd just received instead of the sudden onset of a debilitating brain fever.

"Actually... sir... I'm pretty sure you said that. Right before you died."

"...Oh dear," Ozpin noted flatly, his head flicking to the knight uncharacteristically as if the slow-building progress to the world's best punch line had just been shattered before looking down into his empty mug, "I think I'd need another pot to brew before delving into that topic. How did-? No, I mustn't know. The mere knowledge could alter the course of history itself..."

Jaune was unnerved, yet strangely consoled, that such a calm and collected man was actually showing at least a crack in his usual composure at the possibility that had been wrecking his own mind for the past few hours. Still, Ozpin brought up a particularly important point...

"But Professor. I'm here. I mean, I may not remember everything, and I don't know if I ever will, but with just what I already know... if this is even possible... then there's no telling what I might've already changed with what I've done in the past few hours!"

"Indeed," Ozpin replied before closing his eyes and regaining his usual composure with a deep breath before glancing off to the side once more, "But for years... years... I've collected Remnant's best and finest into this Academy. And waited. Waited after every speech. Waited after every ceremony. Waited after every main event. Waiting, for this moment."

"Wha... why?" Jaune eked out, incredulity affecting his every feature as something he knew was well beyond his comprehension was being revealed, "You were waiting... for me?"

"Tell me, Mister Arc. Are you familiar with the game of chess?"

Jaune blinked a few times at the seemingly off-topic question, but noting the man's total concentration remaining fixed on whatever it was, decided to reply, "Yeah... I mean yes."

"Good... that is good. You see, in chess, you have a variety of pieces that move in different ways. You have the common pawn, the versatile rooks and bishops with reach and strategic value. And of course, the Queen... the most versatile of all the pieces, able to move in the quickest manner and inflict the greatest damage in terms of area."

"Yeah, I get it..."

"But of all the pieces, there is one that makes no sense to the others. A piece that seemingly breaks the rules of the game as it performs feats of movement and ingenuity that even the Queen cannot hope to match. Tell me... do you know of which piece I speak?"

Jaune shrugged a single shoulder, slowly nodding one before replying, "Sure. A knight."

"Precisely. It may seem a confusing piece at first, but in the hands of the right player... the knight is the strongest piece on the board, able to corner Queen and King alike in the most unexpected ways. Mister Arc, have you ever really looked at this thing?"

"Uh... Headmaster Ozpin... sir?" Jaune began, a cocked brow at the man he was beginning to think was finally losing it. But with no response from the placid old man as Ozpin seemed content with leaning forward on his cane, Jaune finally got the bright idea to follow the man's gaze. Slowly turning his head and then his whole body until he was standing practically shoulder to shoulder with the Headmaster, Jaune sighed in disappointment as he realized Ozpin had been staring at some random memorial this whole time.

"So... we're looking at an old war statue featuring my great-great-gramps. That's... enlightening...?"

"Still haven't figured it out, have you."

"Um, no?" Jaune guessed carefully, furrowing his brows in a brief attempt at thought before giving up, "Okay, what are we really looking at?"

"Have you ever wondered... just how alike you both look?"

The young man scoffed with amusement, half shaking and half nodding his head as he motioned at the man on the statue, "Well yeah, I mean, we're related, right? That's not too surprising..."

"I do not refer to simply your features... look harder."

Jaune's amiable grin began to fade as he noticed the man still completely serious, the young man clearing his throat before raising both brows and mouthing a long Ooo-kay, "Well, our stance is kinda similar. Our hoods, too. We both have the same weapon, of course. And, well..."

"Have you noticed the shoes?"

"The shoes?"

Sure enough, Jaune had to admit that the detail of the artist had even managed to catch the cloth-like vintage feel of those old Chucks in stone.

"It is said that the sculptor of this memorial bore an eye witness to the event, a man whose ability to take a mental image and translate it to stone renowned in all of Remnant. Don't you find it interesting, Mister Arc, that you so happen to be wearing the exact same brand of shoe as a man in an eighty-year-old sculpture?"

"Well, these babies are classics..."

"Shoes that were taken off the market?"

"Hey, nothing lasts forever, you kno-"

"More than fifty years ago?"

Jaune paused a bit, less out of the fact that he was out of comebacks than the fact that he was finally catching onto what Ozpin was getting at, "Sir... you can't possibly be saying that-"

"But the thing that vexes me the most. The thing I just have been unable to stop looking at this entire time," the spectacled man continued as he continued glaring into the statue, "Is that fabled sword. One-of-a-kind. Said to be indestructible."

"Well," Jaune noted with a measure of pride in the heirloom girded on his waist, "I guess it is a pretty cool-"

"Knock-off."

"...ewhat."

"I did not stutter," Ozpin noted as he glanced between the shield and sword on the knight's hip and the one on the statue, reaching out his hand in a receiving gesture, "Your sword. Please."

With a glare that might've come off as defiant if it weren't accompanied by a dejected sigh, Jaune did as he was told and handed over the weapon to be verified. At this point, he wasn't even sure if what he held really was his grandfather's weapon for all he knew... it was like his memories were a puddle someone had tossed a pebble into, making ripples that reflected so many things that didn't make any sense and forced him to wait until the water became still.

"Interesting indeed," Ozpin noted calmly as he took out the sword and held it up by the hilt to line it up with the one on the statue, "There is no reason to believe that it is not the original Crocea Mors..."

"Then? The-"

"-Except this marking here."

Jaune leaned over to get a closer look as Ozpin set his cane down against his side and directed the boy's attention to a small rune-like marking on the blade itself just over the hilt, "It's just my family insignia. Three arcs."

"Look at the one in the statue."

Jaune squinted at the stony replica, raising a brow as he saw the only discrepancy in the likeness of these weapons, "It... only has one arc. So, the sculptor guy may have made a mistake?"

"That is rather debatable," Ozpin retorted before letting out a sigh in reason, "However, we are at the disadvantage of being able to get in touch with the original artist to gain further insight."

"Too bad the shield isn't on there. Would've made it way more obvious," Jaune shrugged in reply before adding in thought, "But then again... I did feel like something was a little off about it this morning. But I got a question. You'd never seen the sword, Professor... how'd you know they were different by the blade?"

"I didn't," the silver-haired man confessed before holding up the collapsed shield, "This, however, did. Look here... we know that Crocea Mors was fabled to be indestructible. But this insignia is much too polished for a nearly century-old weapon. It's almost as if it were newly forged. And reforging an indestructible metal is all but impossible."

"Well... like I said, something did feel off about it, too. Any idea why the same weapon would have different symbols eighty years apart?" Jaune asked as Ozpin handed him back the weapon and the young blonde expanded the shield to run his hand over it, "I get what you mean, I guess... but this material is supposed to be super rare. And these symbols feel like they've always been there even if they look new. Any idea why that is?"

The young knight looked up at the old man with a small sense of wonder, a deeply pensive expression along his wizened features striking Jaune with guesses as to the depth of cognizance within that man's mind before settling his gaze on the boy.

"I've no idea."

"..."

Jaune let a full five seconds of silence pass before running his hand through his hair in ill-disguised frustration, "Then... how'd you know any of this would happen?"

"Well, that," Ozpin noted, lightly taking the cane by his side and leaning on it as was custom as he turned once more to face the statue in vague contemplation, "Call it an old man's final gamble. History books still only glance on the subject, but the existence of a Semblance with the ability to manipulate time itself has long been debated in academia around Remnant. Such an aura-user would likely come through a Hunter Academy at one point or another... so I resolved myself to make a failsafe, nothing too demanding, of waiting just a minute after any major interaction with students. Waiting to see that if one day, if such an Aura-user became known, I could give a final piece of advice should a tragedy beyond our means ever occur."

"Come find me when you wake up," Jaune slowly recited, drawing the glance and a dim smile from the Professor.

"Yes. Exactly. And this year, after seeing your transcripts, I knew. Though... not necessarily your transcripts. Rather, the cover image of yourself on top of the transcript page. But I knew. And here you are."

Jaune let out a short chuckle of incredulity at the idea before finally noting, "You know, for some reason, I don't really find it hard to believe you'd accept someone on a hunch. But... you know I'm not him, right?"

At that, Ozpin completely turned to face the miffed teen pointing emphatically at the statue with a mildly amused smirk, "Oh? What makes you so sure? I presume you must be able to easily refute such a bizarre claim with a life account, perhaps? ...Tell me about yourself, Mister Arc. Where were you before coming to Beacon?"

"Hey, no fair putting me on the spot right now!" Jaune quipped with narrowed eyes at the Headmaster, roughly straightening out his armor as he gathered his thoughts, "If any of this is true and my Semblance works like you say it does, then I recently just time-travelled. Not exactly something you recover from with a simple 'good morning'... I still can't even remember where - or even if - everyone had their luggage packed on that Bullhead we arrived in today..."

"You don't remember."

"I ran away, okay!?" the young man shot back with a stronger tone of exasperation, lifting his arms out from his sides and letting them drop against his legs with a lame clank, "At least, that's what I think I remember."

"A runaway from home... very well. Because I no longer trust the validity of your transcripts, can you tell me where you're from?"

A blank stare from Jaune as the blonde's eyes then began darting to and fro in search of a reply, "I... I uh... can't remember right now."

"Then let us try something else. What is the name of this Academy?"

"Beacon."

"...The kingdom we're in?"

"Vale."

"...Continent?"

"Vytal."

"...Name two more continents."

"Um... Mantle and Menagerie."

"...Need I ask you what planet you're on?"

Jaune deadpanned at the smug Professor before hedging, "Remnant. So, what was with the geography quiz?"

"You see, you seem to have no difficulty recalling general locations on Remnant. Knowledge which any educated citizen of a kingdom would have been instilled with since grade school. Logically, however, the most important location for any grade school student is the location of their own home... a location you seem entirely incapable of surmising despite running away from it a few days ago at most."

"That doesn't prove anything!" Jaune retorted hotly, "If anything... maybe that I didn't put as much care in remembering my address. But even then, it doesn't prove I'm him."

"Him?"

"Yes."

"The man you called 'great-great grandfather'."

"Yes. Besides, location isn't the only way to prove anything. I know plenty of stuff about my family that'll show I'm not him! Like... my dad, he was the second best Huntsman in all of Remnant in his prime!"

To Jaune's chagrin, the ghost of a smirk on Ozpin's face merely widened as the man replied, "Funny. So was his."

"Well... my mom was the best Huntsman in all of Remnant in her prime!"

"So was his."

"Suuuuure. Well I have seven sisters!"

"Hm. What are the odds."

Jaune went slack-jawed in disbelief, "No..."

"Yes. I heard they were beautiful. And rather prone to squabbling over him to have as a dance partner."

"Bu- wha? Okay well... I'm... I'm a father!" Jaune practically shouted at the Headmaster, Ozpin doing little more than flicking off a drop of saliva which had landed on his left cheek.

"No you're not."

"You're right," Jaune huffed in dejection before giving the Headmaster who had turned a final time to face the statue a curious glance, "What."

"...Neither was he."

Once again, Jaune found himself spinning on his heel to face the statue with renewed vexation as his mind was sent reeling with the fact, "Wait. You mean he never even..."

"No. Julius Arc was barely seventeen at the start of the Great War. A common boy from an uncommon family who rose up in a time of need to destroy the main base of Remnant's oppressors and the droves upon droves of Grimm which inevitably followed... in what to this day is regarded as the most decisive string of battles in the Great War itself."

"Can't be me. That takes some serious ski-"

"Reportedly done without a single day of actual combat training."

"...Well, I'm sure he had-"

"Single-handedly."

"..."

Jaune turned to gape at the man before finally blurting out, "Bullshi-"

TWACK

"Gah!" the young blonde yelped in pain as he suddenly felt his head knocked a full 90 degrees to one side, "Where did that even come from!?"

The only sign of movement the man made was a minute readjustment of his palm over the head of his cane before noting aloud, "There are a great many things I overlook here at this Academy. Profanity, however, is one offense I shall never condone."

"Ack, fair enough. So this Julius guy wins a war without a single day in class. Wouldn't that make me a badas- I mean... really really good... at fighting?"

"Not exactly," Ozpin stated a bit more lightly than his previous statement, "Imagine a game you could reset whenever you didn't like how it was unfolding. You could start back at the beginning as many times as you wish, memorizing the enemy's every move and pattern as you advance to a perfect ending."

"Pfft... pretty much every Halo and first-person shooter game in a nutshell right there," Jaune joked with a smirk before giving the Headmaster a shrug, "I dunno, though. Plenty of people out there might call that cheating."

"Is there ever such thing as cheating in war?" Ozpin noted somberly, his eyes drifting shut for a moment before opening them with a contemplative sigh, "When desperate enough, people will consider any action if it holds hope for survival. Remnant as we know it is a much better place because of the actions of this young man... a man, who mysteriously disappeared after the Great War without a trace. Many mourned his loss."

"You seem to know quite a bit about him," Jaune noted with a tinge of suspicion at the oddly well-aged man.

"Well, many had their speculations on how an untrained citizen could outmatch an elite army with nothing more than a sword and shield. Of course, Crocea Mors is no ordinary weapon, but this young man was clearly more than the sum of his parts. There's a wealth of information available after the Great War about how Julius Arc may have attained such skill in so little time, and how it may have been related to his disappearance. Many accused his parents of giving him unsanctioned Hunter training from the government, and others went so far as to insinuate he was working with the enemy the whole time. Ugh, conspiracy theorists..."

Jaune quirked a brow and glanced at Ozpin's scoffing gesture, the older man continuing with a subtle level of animosity in his voice, "Needlessly enigmatic. Gaudy woven suits. Eccentric crazy hair..."

The blonde merely looked the man beside him up and down, raising both brows and turning back to the statue.

"Riiight."

"In any case, I researched most of this after seeing your transcript cover image. Unfortunately, it seems this is the first time you've reset to this period, so information has been understandably scarce... I suppose with time we will discover how exactly your Semblance works... Julius."

Jaune huffed as the two men turned to face each other a final time, the sun already dropping low on the cliffside horizon behind them, "You're seriously gonna stick to that shpiel?"

"There was one more thing I thought you'd find particularly interesting," Ozpin noted with a tap of his cane, "Julius was a man of... interesting... ideas. A few vague sources cite him as one of the original advisors to the newly-formed councils after the war who postulated that names should be made after colors."

"Oh yeah. Everybody's name at least makes me think of a color," the knight concurred, wondering what color Ozpin's name might invoke to the imagination... if he ever decided to reveal it, "Anyway, what makes you think this is the first time I reset to today's date? I could've been here a hundred times already for all I know."

"You ask far too many a question."

"...Oh."

"Indeed," Ozpin concurred, doing little to hide his amusement at Jaune's subtle peeved expression, "However, I had not finished about Julius' final act as war hero. To begin the naming trend which has continued to this day, Julius Arc had his color-picked nickname legally changed to be his real one. Hours before his disappearance, in fact."

The young man cocked his head to the side, curiosity coming to the fore as his attention sat fully with the Headmaster.

"What?"

A brief pause before the man let out a small warm smile at the knight, "Jaune."

"..."

"..."

"Alriiight, I'll go along with your theory," Jaune hedged as he shook his head at the man, "You're just as bad as the rest of the conspiracy dudes in my book."

"Rest assured, I take full offense at that remark," Ozpin warned with a soft glare before putting Jaune at ease with another placid smile, "But I believe that it is time to send you off to the ballroom with the remaining students, don't you? We wouldn't want anyone thinking that a first-year is getting special treatment."

"And the last thing I need is someone digging around in my transcripts and scratching their head at why some kid has a name which supposedly disappeared eighty years ago," Jaune added, scratching the back of his head as he continued, "But I still have a couple questions. I mean... How'd that transcript get here if I didn't know what was goin on? And more importantly... I get it if I reset, but that doesn't explain how I seemed to go forward most of a century without remembering my previous timeline. Or aging a day."

"I believe those are questions that can only be answered with time as you regain knowledge of your Semblance, Mister Arc. Besides... you'd be surprised what true mastery over Aura can grant its users," Ozpin then stated, continuing before Jaune's raised brow translated into questions, "For future reference, in case you reset to this day a future time... try to do everything exactly as you did after regaining consciousness today. Memories or no, it'll be much easier to keep track of divergences in the timeline if you stay exactly with the timeline you've set now."

"Fair enough."

"With the exception of myself, of course," the Professor added smugly as Jaune sent him a flat glare, "Since I'm technically expecting you, feel free to shorten up your delivery next time. And... I'd recommend you never tell me of my demise again."

Thrown off by the request, Jaune only replied with a confused expression, "Huh?"

"I said it before, people will consider any action if it holds a hope for survival. If anyone died, you mustn't tell them, as doing so may only make matters worse when you need them most."

"What? No way! If people I know die, I have to do something to keep it from happening!" Jaune cried out in protest, Ozpin's only response being a sorrowful shake of his head.

"That would be impossible. Consider it. For you to have desired to return to the past, I fear it would have taken more than simply my death to goad you into doing so. Otherwise, if it were only my life, or your life, offered in sacrifice for the greater good so that those you care about most could go on... tell me, would you truly wish to risk it with a redo?"

"Wha... well... no," Jaune reluctantly reasoned, his expression scrunching up in distaste but unable to make a retort as he was stopped by the Headmaster's upheld hand.

"Then you've already sealed the fates of all those you've lost before coming here. Your loss causes you go back and change the fates of those whose demise caused you to go back in the first place. Therein lies the paradox... time will always make it so that the flow of events remains the same. You may be able to save them from one fate, but they will merely perish in another."

"Hey," Jaune quickly stopped him through gritted teeth as he pointed at the Headmaster in warning, "I've done you the courtesy of putting faith in your theory, so do me a favor and put a little faith in mine: I don't care what it takes, but I'll punch logic in the face if I have to if it means saving my friends!"

The two men stared at each other for a moment more as the golden-orange rays of sunlight crept through and across the column-filled courtyard, a small breeze ruffling the spectacled man's coat before he hummed to himself in thought.

"In contemplating your countenance, Mister Arc, I fear a part of you already knows the magnitude of your loss," Ozpin noted somberly, the weight of the knight's alternate future seeming to weigh on him as well for a moment before the man broke their gaze to look at the floor with a shake of his head, "However... if there's anyone whom I now believe could truly alter the course of history and fate itself... I'd place my lien on you."

Jaune's glare lingered a little longer as the man lifted his gaze to meet Jaune's with a small smile, the sunlight reflecting off the lenses for a moment before the young man finally let out a sigh and gave a nod with a small smirk.

"Nice to know we're in agreement," Jaune began before looking around and zeroing in on a nearby building, "Hey, not to impose, but there's a place in this school I used to - or haven't yet - like to go to think. The building's empty right now since I'm pretty sure it was the first-years dorm, so..."

A brief hum in thought preceded a rare single-shoulder shrug rom the man, "I suppose."

Jaune grinned at the implicit permission, eager to reacquaint himself with the place he'd come to know and already making to take his leave when he was stopped a final time by the teacher who strangely enough was looking into his empty coffee mug he'd had nearby. Somewhere.

"Nothing is more invigorating than knowing the world is as unstable as you are."

The knight's shoulders then went slack as he watched Ozpin casually chuck the mug over his shoulder and begin walking in the other direction as the ceramic crashed against the floor several feet away.

"Uhh... you gonna clean that?"

"Professor Peach will attend to it," was all the Headmaster stated without turning back as the distance between the two increased.

"Professor Peach? I've never even seen her, and I'm pretty sure not in any timeline I've been in, either! No way she's real!"

"Did you see where the mug landed?"

"Yeah..."

"Look again."

"...You gotta be kidding me, no one's that- uwah!?" Jaune cut himself off as he noticed where there was once a ceramic mess was now free of debris, the blonde glancing back and forth between the empty space and the distant Headmaster before whispering, "creepy..."

Aura is the manifestation of our soul. It bears our burdens and shields our hearts. Have you ever felt you were being watched without knowing that someone was there?

'Huh? ...What is this? What is this place?'

Darkness. Darkness all around him. Couldn't move, couldn't speak... only a mass of whispers through the infinite abyss.

By baring your soul outwards as a force, you can deflect harm. All of our tools and equipment are conduits for Aura. You protect yourself and your soul when fighting.

'Wait... I, I know that voice...'

For it is in passing that we achieve immortality. Through this, we become a paragon of glory and virtue to rise above all, infinite in distance and unbound by death.

A new meaning of the words barely starting to sink in, the whispers began getting louder, beginning to clamor above each other to be heard first.

I'm Queen of the cast-le! I'm Queen of the cast-le!

Did that girl just ride in on an Ursa?

My hero.

My back...

'Waiiit...'

But the whispers didn't listen, slowly speeding up as if beginning to go on fast forward.

The four of you collected the white rook pieces. From this day forward, you will be working together as team Juniper... led by, Jaune Arc!

Gauging your Aura will help you decide when it's appropriate to attack, or when it is better to move to a more... defensive strategy. We wouldn't want you gobbled up by a Beowolf, now, would we?

You're not allowed to be a failure... Because it's not just about you anymore. You've got a team now, Jaune. We both do! And if we fail, then we'll just be bringing them down with us. We have to put our teammates first, and ourselves second. Your team deserves a great leader, Jaune. And I think that can be you.

Don't ever mess with my team - my friends - ever again. Got it?

'But, th-this hasn't happened to me! I'm... I'm...?'

Your swordplay's improved immensely!
Hey, an Arc never goes back on his word. Now do you wanna stand there and laugh at me, or do you wanna dance?
You're going on world-saving missions without us? I'm hurt... sad! Maybe a little hungry?
We're changing our mission. Everyone on board!
We've got a world-renowned fighter on our team, one's basically ninja, I can bench five of me, Jaune... we trained all year, our weapons are awesome, Glynda barely yells at us anymore, and uh... Jaune!
WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIGHT!
AND WE'RE IN THE MIDDLE OF A CONVERSATION! WHAT DON'T YOU GET ABOUT THAT!?
I think that he means that we're all in the middle of a fight.
Just... hit them with the hammer.
What's going on? There's been an explosion!
The Fang, all security engage!
There are too many! Retrea-gerk!

From there, the whispers had become yells, the cries multiplying and increasing in volume until finally stopping abruptly to make way for a disturbing silence in the dark. The following thought overlapped with the identical whisper.

'How... how did it come to this?'
How... how did it come to this?

History is important, gentlemen! If you don't learn from it... Then you're destined to repeat it.

The final voice echoed through the dark before a surge of wind preceded a swirl of color, invading the space with fast-forwarded scenes of what could only be memory before the young man awoke with a long gasp for air.

"Wh-wh-wha..." was all Jaune could manage as he jolted up to a seated position before looking around and slowly standing. He was on the roof of the first-years' dorm, empty for now but sure to be filled by the end of the day.

"Must've fallen asleep up here on accident..."

Looking down, Jaune let out a small smirk as he realized this would be where his training would make him strong, would prepare him for what was to come.

And no... Jaune knew he couldn't remember every detail. No one would be able to memorize months of memories. But as he looked up at the bright, wide expanse of Beacon Academy under the rays of the rising sun, the shining symbol of humanity's survival glinting white through the morning breeze, Jaune knew.

This time, he'd get it right.

This time... he'd save them all.

A/N: Hi there, TPS here! So, a weird Semblance? Yes. Weirder possibilities? Yes. For all the hubbub about Jaune having faked his transcripts to enter a friggin combat academy, and not only that, but to appear (and win) on worldwide TV as a team leader without a single person going, "HEY, SO THAT'S WHERE YOU RAN OFF TO, YOU LITTLE BRAT!" it naturally raises a few questions in my mind.

EDIT 1/29/2018: And after two more Volumes and a 2 year hiatus, my above theory still actually stands.

In any case, for those of you who've realized my little messages pointed to my Fulcrum fic for an A/N detailing what I've been up to, nice detective work. Sometimes, after an absence like this, it's just not right to start over without a single word on what I've been up to, nor is it something people would care to read about anyway (mostly). Therefore, take this and my TBD messages - i.e. To Be Determined - as my long belated greeting to the community I've grown fond of from so long ago. As for the date... stay tuned :)

But whether it's your first time reading this or your tenth, please Fave, Follow, and Review to show your support if you haven't already! As always, take care...

And Happy Reading!

Live. Die. Repeat.

TPS (c) 2015, 2018