Don't Own RWBY. Heavily inspired by Forged Destiny written by Coeur Al' Aran.

Author's Note: Hey all! If you are new to the story then welcome! But if you have already read my previous Chapter 1, you will notice that this is definitely not it. I recently decided that I jumped into the meat of the story way too fast, and as such, I wanted to back up and try to flush out Jaune's character a bit more, as well as the rest of my fantasy world. Hope you enjoy!

Ansel was a small outlier town of Vale, boasting a population of barely 800. Yet those 800 were family. Because of the lack of comfort which living in the capital provided, each and every one of the citizens contributed to the community. Some were tailors, working the wools that farmers harvested. Some were builders, in charge of construction and maintenance, whether that be a home or the town walls. Some were guards. Holding crossbows, and keeping vigil through day and night. They were the first line of defense against the grimm.

The grimm were monsters, plain and simple. Soulless beings manifested from the negative emotions of humans into the forms of various animals. Nobody knew how they came to be, but they did know that humanity has fought with the grimm for longer than anyone can remember. The conflict between the grimm and humanity was as plain as night and day.

Most common around Ansel were Boarbatusks and Beowolves, along with the occasional Ursa. They looked very similar to their namesakes, boars, wolves, and bears, except for their pitch black coloring and their white masks.

Luckily, these grimm were also among the easiest to slay. Boarbatusks and Beowolves were D-class grimm, the lowest on the grading system, while Ursas were C-class. The grade scale determined the threat level of the grimm, and ran from D to S in sequential order - D, C, B, A, S. Ninety-nine percent of grimm were among the D to A class. The S class grimm were beings of untold power, capable of wiping a city off the map with a single attack. Fortunately, these grimm were very rarely spotted, and even more rarely did they attack. It took at least a hunter of equal ranking to combat these threats. And that was difficult, because there were only 4 registered S-class hunters in the world, the headmasters of the four combat academies of the countries. Vale's Beacon academy, Vacuo's Shade academy, Atlas' Atlas' academy, and Mistral's Haven academy.

Every so often, a grimm would live for over a hundred years, and they would grow bigger, stronger, and more tactical - almost like an evolution. Suddenly, these D-class beowolves became C-class. This concept applied to the entirety of the grimm ranking system. Ursae could occasionally become B-class threats, and the normally B-class Deathstalkers, could sometimes become an A-class threat.

Luckily for Ansel, those tier of grimm only occurred around larger populations of humans, like the capitals, where the magnitude of emotions was much greater. Thus Ansel had no need for a Hero to protect them. Their guardsmen were more than enough to protect their small town from harm.

Jaune Arc sat quietly in his room atop his bed. His light blue eyes tracing the cloud patterns on his sky blue ceiling. He was wearing his pajamas, a blue onesie with a bunny logo on the chest. Today was his birthday. But he wasn't feeling excited at was his 6th birthday, and that meant that he would soon be receiving what could either be the greatest, or worst present of his life. In just an hour or so, he would be undergoing his class awakening. While an exciting event, Jaune was fearful. Fearful of not being a Hero class. More than anything in the world, Jaune wanted to be a Hero. To go to the Heroes academy, and to be a savior. But he was scared. He was scared of becoming a part of the working caste. He didn't want to be a farmer, or a woodcutter. He wanted to be a Hero!

A creaking noise alerted him to the door being opened.

"Come on Jaune! Aren't you excited?" His 12 year old sister, Joan, asked.

"Y-yeah, of course! I-it's gonna be awesome!" Jaune replied, his stutter belying his true feelings.

"What's wrong? You're not scared are you?" Joan teased.

"N-No! I'm not scared of anything! I'm the bravest person in the world!"

"Then why do you look so pale?"

"B-because I, uh, I'm cold!" Jaune lied, proud of his foolproof excuse.

"Suuure," Joan commented, dragging out the word, "so what's up squirt? You know you can tell your big sis anything."

"I'm not a squirt! I'm six!" Jaune angrily pouted. Then he frowned. "I'm just a little bit scared, y'know? What if I don't get a Hero class? What if I'm stuck in the workers caste? I don't wanna be something sucky like a tailor," he whined.

"Hey! I'm a tailor, brat!" Joan playfully swatted the back of his head.

"Ow! I didn't mean it like that! I just wanna be a hero y'know? To fight grimm, and save people, and be a hero."

"Well, considering Mom's a Tailor, and Dad's a Miner, your chances are pretty slim there."

"Uuuu~, don't remind me" Jaune whined.

"Don't worry so much Jaune. No matter what class you are, I'll always love you. And mom, and dad, and all of your sisters! You don't have to be in the Hero caste to be a Hero." Joan said.

"Yeah... I guess so... wait, whaddya mean I don-"

"Jaune! Come downstairs! It's almost 7 o'clock!" Their mother shouted, cutting off his question.

Jaune looked at his eldest sister of seven for reassurance. She looked back at him, before smiling. Her eyes were filled with love, and care. Jaune hopped off his Pumpkin Pete's blanket clad bed before he could be overwhelmed with emotion. Walking out the door, his eyes were almost glowing with determination.

"It's almost time! Oh, I'm so excited for my baby!" Jaune's mother, Juniper Arc said.

"Hehe, yeah," Jaune weakly chuckled. In truth, Jaune was feeling terrible. His skin was hot and cold at the same time. He was sweating bullets. His hands were shaking.

"You alright their son?" Jaune looked up from his seated position on the floor of the living room, his eyes meeting those of his father, Archimedes Arc.

"T-totally. I'm fine."

His father chuckled. "It's okay to be nervous Jaune. I was nervous too, at my class-awakening."

Jaune's hands stopped shaking. "Really?" Unbelievable. His father, the biggest man in all of Ansel, was nervous? Archimedes Arc and nervous didn't go together at all.

"Oh yeah, I was so nervous, I was shaking in my boots. My old man had to hold me down, so I didn't start vibrating with anxiety."

"I was nervous too honey, but that's a part of life. It's okay to be scared. It is a big deal, but don't let it get to you sweetie. In just a few minutes, you'll have your class, and we can all celebrate!" his mom's voice was soothing. Like a shower after a long day of playing in the dirt, his mother's words washed away his anxiety. Slowly, his nervousness disappeared and was replaced with restlessness.

Jaune looked around the living room once more. His sisters, all seven of them, were upstairs in their rooms, waiting for his awakening to be over. Awakenings were a pretty private affair, so usually only the parents were present. This was essentially a courtesy for the child. If they didn't get the class they wanted, their parents were there to hold and comfort them. When the child had finally settled down, only then, did he or she appear to the rest of the world. That meant his sisters would have to wait until he was done before they could come downstairs.

A faint reddish orange glow began to permeate the room. "Oh! It's starting Archie! Our baby is growing up!" Juniper whispered, wiping away a stray tear.

Jaune looked at his hands in wonder as they began to glow orange. 'Please let me be a hero. Please let me be a hero, please let me be a hero. Please, please, please.'

As the awakening reached its peak, the light became unbearable to look at. And just as suddenly as it had begun, the glow vanished. Jaune was scared to open his eyes. 'Please be a hero class. Please be a hero class. Please."

Hesitantly opening his eyes, Jaune looked up to see a single word that would bring the world down around him.

Blacksmith

Author's Note: Hope you enjoyed! More will be coming out soon.