Extra #5: Jaune Arc

"Your potential is clearly there, and because of that you will remain in Beacon and I expect you to graduate as a hunter. You will have the same requirements and have the same access to resources as any other student. This will be both your punishment for your transgression and opportunity to achieve your goal. Have I made myself clear?"

"... And if I were to leave?"

"Then I will ensure that you are branded as a liar for the rest of your life to the fullest extent of my power."

The headmaster's words had hung over Jaune's head for the longest time. It was almost cruel - succeed or be something worse than a failure. A failure would still have a chance at living a civilian life, but Ozpin's threat was one he didn't intend to put to the test.

Yet neither had the man cursed him with nothingness. Aside from a slight pause of a glance from the instructors, nothing changed on the next day. They put him through the same exact tests as his peers and expected him to succeed, and they gave him the same exact advice.

But he struggled the most in combat class. He could make himself small in the other classes to avoid speaking up in class. He could read and try to cram as much information as he could into his mind and regurgitate it onto paper. Come time to pick up his sword and shield, though, there was a clear difference in his ability. Everyone else had gone through a basic training academy or had been trained by someone in their family.

All he had to fight with was the armor and weapons he brought with him on the first day. He lacked the muscles and experience on how to avoid and how to strike. Nothing he did could hide that lie.

He brought it up to his team shortly afterward. They needed to know what the truth, and he exposed it to them. It was hard to tell his friends, and for a day or two things were different. Nora was silent and Ren seemed even more contemplative than usual. Pyrrha looked like she didn't know what to say. He gave them the opportunity to go.

They stayed in the end.

"You might be a liar, Jaune, but you're our leader until we graduate. We've seen you lead, and with some work I'm sure we can get you into fighting shape."

It was a rough year after that. Every morning before classes (Pyrrha had let him sleep on the weekends), he was given the basics of combat - things that every hunter must know to fight Grimm. He had his sword taken away and told to defend blow after blow with the idea that the longer he survives, the more openings he can find to actually strike. Only when team was convinced that he could consistently block a blow or dodge it was he given his sword back. It was one step at a time, ensuring that his fundamentals were there before anything else.

The second year was the worst for a while, though. That was when his ineptitude was called out. Somehow, the status of his transcript was leaked and the student body ached to know the truth. Aside from a few others that his team shared the issue with, the gossip was hot and the stares were lethal. Nasty notes popped up on his team's door a few times. Finally, though, Jaune drew the line when his teammates were targeted.

"I might be a liar, but at least I'm willing to pick fights with my problems directly."

Despite sporting a black eye and split lip, he came out on top against his peer. He might have looked like shit and everything hurt like hell, but there was something else about the hardfought win.

He rode the high.

"I lied on my transcript, and if it would get me closer to my goal of getting into Beacon to become a hunter, I'd lie again and again. If that's what it took for me to get to where I am today, then it was worth it."

Team JNPR might have lost a friend or two that day, but most of their friends already knew about it. The people that mattered stayed. And yet somehow, being open about it made things easier. Anyone who brought it up was rebuffed by his acceptance of his status as a liar.

Then in his third year, just like the majority of hunters, he felt it. He had woken up with a jolt, jostling Pyrrha awake with the creak of the bed. But the two of them recovered and got started. Pyrrha tried to call Ren and Nora to tell them that they wouldn't be able to meet up for training while he did his best to get dressed and make his way to the summoning hall. His foot was out the door before she was even able to begin dialing.

If he were to be honest with himself, he wasn't sure if this day would have come. He knew he lacked talent when he first came in, and still did in more areas than he'd like. He could handle Grimm, but that was about it. Anything bigger than an Ursa was going to give him trouble.

And gods help him if he ran into Dominus-class Grimm alone.

Yet despite the pressure welling up in his chest, the way each footstep seemed to pound, his growing nausea edging away at his stomach, there was a strange humor rising inside of him as he watched the streams of light swirl and spin in front of him.

Would he still the biggest liar of Beacon if he met all the basic benchmarks to be a hunter?

He laughed. Not a mad, uncontrolled one. Just one of strange humor. A chuckle that went on for longer than he expected, perhaps.

Whoosh

The nausea cleared away and he looked onward. As the smoke began to die, a loud roar echoed from behind the clouds. Gazing around, he saw the supervisors in the area looking upward towards the ceiling, mouths hanging wide open. But as he turned his head up, there was nothing.

There was a small gasp, and he snapped his head back to the others in the area. One of them had fallen down and was now staring at… something. But again there was nothing to fear. He could see nothing. He could hear nothing.

He looked at the center of the summoning hall and slowly made his way towards it. In the smoke, a small silhouette sat still. And as it finally faded and died, a fox remained amidst it all.

And it would have been a plain and simple one with its reddish-orange coat and white belly had it not been for the many tails fanning out from behind it.

Well, no time like the present. He got on one knee and ventured out.

"Hey there." He couldn't help but smile. Until this very moment, he was unsure if he would ever speak to his summon, or if he would ever acquire one. "You got a name you go by?"

The fox remained still, sitting on its haunches. The head slowly turned, red eyes looking into his own and gazing long and deep before finally moving its jaws.

"Loki."

A/N: Despite the timing of it all, this is not inspired by Marvel's Ragnarok movie whatever thing at all. I've been sitting on this one for Jaune very early on in this AU's lifespan :3

Beta'd by ImSoAwesome