Hey everyone! Yeah, fortunately I'm not dead yet! It's been quite a while since my last update! Don't worry, I'll try to update The Grimm of Beacon and Hellbent soon, too, but right now I wanted to publish this small first chapter for this new story.

Warnings: Suicidal Theme, Dark Theme, OOCness, VBT (Very Bad Things), Blood, Self Harm. Basically I just need Rape and Murder and then I have the whole negative set!

Admiring his new weapon, Jaune Arc felt proud of himself.

It wasn't a very complex weapon -it didn't even have a ranged mode like everyone else's-, but he felt proud as he examined it one last time. The pole of the new weapon was made of dark pinewood, smooth and cool under his hands. The blade, long and serrated like a saw, was slightly curved, just enough to be perfect at his eyes. A more experienced crafter would've probably made a much better weapon, but it was his first time forging a weapon, much less one as sophisticated as a scythe.

It wasn't like he would use it in combat, but paired with his Semblance it would be the perfect prank. Cruel and extreme, but a prank nonetheless.

His tiny smile was wiped off when he thought of his Semblance. As if being the weakest fighter of the whole Beacon, the worst student and even the only one who couldn't channel his Aura to enhance his strength or speed wasn't enough, he had to have the most cowardly Semblance ever. His Semblance, that he called Shadow of Death in a desperate attempt to make it ever so slightly better, allowed him to become immaterial. That meant that attacks passed through him, and he could pass through walls and even people, and he could even attack them. The flaw of his Semblance was that even if the others' attacks went through him, they damaged him twice as much as they normally would, forcing him to use his Aura to protect himself even in `ghost mode`. He was so ashamed of his Semblance he hadn't even told the others about it. To them, he still was the only one in their group not to have a Semblance.

Besides, a useless and cowardly Semblance wasn't the Semblance he needed.

He took a deep breath and sheathed his new weapon, that still had no name. The pole shrank into itself and the blade bent downwards, the sharp teeth almost grazing his knuckles. With a sigh, he put it away on his back and donned his white cloak. It was really unusual for him to wear a cloak, but he wanted it to be a surprise.

With a little smile, he pondered if he should show them the weapon first, or if he should scare the hell out of them. His smirk widened fractionally. He already had the black clothes and mask ready. Nobody knew, of course. If there was something he was good at, it was hiding things from the others. Until the day before, his own team and Team RWBY hadn't even known he had used fake transcripts to enter Beacon. He had told them, and they had asked him some time to think about it.

Well, at least they hadn't immediately accused him of cheating and reported to the Headmaster.

"Mr Arc?".

He froze, that was the default response of every student to that voice. Turning around, he saw one of the people he really didn't want to see. Professor Glynda Goodwitch herself. And behind her, eleven other students. He knew each and every one of them, some more than others. Some of them had smug looks, some had disappointed looks, and some weren't even looking at him.

Ruby Rose, Weiss Schnee, Blake Belladonna, Yang Xiao Long, Nora Valkyrie, Pyrrha Nikos, Lie Ren, Cardin Winchester, Russel Thrush, Dove Bronzewing and Sky Lark.

"Y-Yes?", he replied uneasily.

Goodwitch's expression was beyond severe, stern, or angry. She was absolutely seething icily.

"I've been informed of the nature of your transcripts", she stated, her eyes never leaving his. He wanted to glance at the others, maybe to see why would they betray him like that, but breaking eye contact with Glynda Goodwitch was about as impossible as knowing what Headmaster Ozpin was thinking. He gulped guiltily and stayed silent, and that was enough for Goodwitch.

Her anger left her, and only utter disappointed remained. "I knew you shouldn't have been here at all", she grumbled under her breath, but everyone heard her perfectly. "It's not even worth bringing this to the Headmaster. Pack your belongings, Mr Arc. You're hereby expelled from Beacon Academy. We won't report your crime of forgery, but do hurry. You're leaving with the first Bullhead".

Jaune said nothing. He couldn't say anything. It was far too sudden. He had expected, in case his transcripts were revealed, to be brought to the Headmaster, maybe to the Vale police. Not to be just told off by Goodwitch in the middle of a corridor, and sent away without as much as care in the world.

"It's not even worth bringing this to the Headmaster". That hurt.

"I knew you shouldn't have been here at all". That hurt too.

"Pack your belongings, Mr Arc. You're hereby expelled from Beacon Academy". That hurt more.

"You're leaving with the first Bullhead". Even that hurt.

But what hurt him more than anything else was that as he turned and walked, no one farewelled him. Not Ruby, his first friend at Beacon, not Nora, Pyrrha or Ren, his teammates. He didn't really expect Weiss, Yang or Blake to farewell him. And he absolutely didn't care about Cardin and the other assholes in his team.

What broke his heart was the sigh Goodwitch emitted before saying farewell. "Goodbye, Jaune".

Of the twelve people, the fact that the one who knew him less had farewelled him while the others had just remained silent was too much. His fist clenched as he turned a corner, tears ready to fall from his misty eyes. As soon as he was out of sight, he broke into a run.

/-/

"Did you see his face?", guffawed Cardin as he laughed alongside his team after Professor Goodwitch left them alone. Team NPR and Team RWBY were still unmoving, each of them looking in a different direction, none of them daring to make eye contact. "He deserved that, ha!", added Russel.

That provoked a reaction, in the form of Crescent Rose deploying and giving Russel a new haircut. A real growl fought its way out of Ruby's throat as she turned to face the bullies, eyes red and tears running down her cheeks. One after the other, all of Jaune's former teammates and Ruby's teammates unsheathed their weapons.

"It's your fault if Jaune has been expelled!", cried Ruby, and even if WBY had always thought the boy was far too weak to be attending Beacon, their grip of their weapons tightened. NPR wasn't so calm, and a few bullets whistled past Cardin's head as warning.

"Hey, I just did what you should've done in the first place!", he defend himself, knowing fully well that Pyrrha Nikos alone was enough to beat his team without a scratch, and the others weren't too far behind. There was a reason Cardin picked on Jaune: because the blond was the only one who was weaker than the bully himself. It wasn't wise to anger the seven strongest first year of Beacon. "If you don't have the guts to follow the rules, well it's not my problem!".

"Oh, but now it's very much your problem", grinned Nora, and there wasn't any playfulness in her voice, just the promise of pain.

"Why are you getting so worked up?", asked Sky, flinching when seven weapons were pointed his way. "Hey, you knew and acknowledged he was worth absolutely shit in combat, and even his grades were far behind yours, so what's the deal? We did him a favour by getting him out of here before he can kill himself in a mission!".

"We would've helped him!", shrieked Ruby, firing a bullet and creating a five-inches hole in the wall by Sky's head. "He was our friend!".

"Was?", commented Dove, who still hadn't caught up with the danger he was in. "Well, I guess you got over him quickly enough, eh? I've heard JNPR will be assigned a new student. At least he will be better than that pathetic failure".

His words weren't the best ones. Two minutes later, Goodwitch was forced to give Team RWBY and NPR detention for sending other students to the infirmary. And then they were sent back to the main hall, where they would meet their new teammate.

Along the way they passed by JNPR's dorm, but all signs of Jaune had disappeared, and his bed was spotlessly made. Saddened by his wordless departure, they headed to the main hall.

/-/

Still wrapped in his white cloak and with a bag by his side, Jaune subtly watched as his former friends, the ones who had turned his back on him by betraying his secret, talked to another student, the one who would replace him if he wasn't wrong. He sighed, keeping himself out of sight but keeping them in earshot.

Everyone seemed happy. He couldn't make out the details from the distance, but from the looks of it they were all smiling. Even Ren sported a tiny smile.

He closed his eyes as his heart ached. Not even half an hour since his departure and they already happy to have a new, better friend. He looked one last time at his former friends before exiting the hall.

Ruby, Ruby Rose, the young prodigy, his first friend at Beacon, the one who had always believed in him even though it was obvious he was a failure. She was smiling and shooting questions non-stop.

Weiss, Weiss Schnee, the heiress of the Schnee Dust Company, the girl he had started to develop a crush for, was smiling too, although of course her own smile was less wide than Ruby's. Her greetings sounded polite, and if he heard right she had asked him about his past time at Beacon.

Blake, Blake Belladonna, the mysterious bookworm, the secret Faunus. Who she thought she was fooling with that bow of hers? It twitched often enough to fan herself on a hot day! And that was without counting how sharp her senses seemed to be, or the fact she could read in almost complete darkness. He had never spoken to the girl for more than a couple of sentences, but that was fine for him. She was smiling her usual small smile, but apart from introducing herself she remained silent.

Yang, Yang Xiao Long, the most horrible pun-maker he knew, and also one of the liveliest people he knew. Yang had teased and mocked him relentlessly, both about his utter lack of combat skills and the fact he had vomited on her shoes the day before initiation. Weeks had passed, but it seemed that the girl wasn't a forgiving one. She had thrown an arm over the newcomer's shoulder and was chatting brightly.

Nora, Nora Valkyrie, probably the craziest entity he had ever stumbled upon, and self-proclaimed Queen of the Castle, was grinning as usual, and she hugged the newcomer -Yang wisely removed herself for a second- with one of her bone-breaking hugs, spouting gibberish over sloths and pancakes all along.

Pyrrha, Pyrrha Nikos, the strongest first year of Beacon, the Goddess of Victory, as well as one of the most kind-hearted people he knew, was smiling kindly as she introduced herself. Apparently the newcomer was a fan, because he immediately began speaking excitedly, probably asking for her autograph, and his heart ached even more when she accepted and even laughed at one of his stupid jokes. Apparently she didn't hate her fame as much as she had told him.

Ren, Lie Ren, the silent ninja of JNPR as well as the only person he knew who preferred friends to call him by surname, probably because of the many possible puns with `lie`, was wearing a small smile on his usual neutral face as he shook hands with the new guy. He closed his eyes at that. Ren had never shook hands with him. He didn't know if he should feel proud of that or not.

"Yay! We're gonna be Best Friends Forever!", came Ruby's voice, a bit strained probably by the distance. Best friends forever, huh? Wasn't that the same thing she had said to him? Where did the `forever` end up?

As his heart broke with almost an audible sound, he fled the hall.

/-/

Her smile ached.

If there was something Nora hated more than waffles, it was smiling when she wasn't in the mood. She wasn't exactly the most observant of people, but it was clear everyone else was going through the same pain. Even when she hugged her new `roommate` -she refused to call him teammate-, she made sure to add just a tad more strength than usual, just to make him feel uncomfortable.

Looking around, she saw that the others weren't faring well, either. Ruby's eyes were as hard and cold as two real orbs of silver. Weiss's barely conceived glare would've scared Goodwitch. Blake's cat ears twitched in annoyance under her bow while her glare was less pronounced but also less hidden than Weiss's. Yang's eyes were red, and she heard the uncomfortable pops that came from the new guy's shoulders when she passed an arm around them.

Her teammates weren't far behind. She had passed far too many years with Ren to miss the subtle hints that were his emotions, but in that case everyone but the newcomer could tell he was seething. His mouth was smiling, but his eyes were boring a hole in the skull of the other male. Surely, if looks could kill, they would need another roommate already. Pyrrha was, tied with Weiss, the most used to put up a façade, but even hers started to leak when she realized the new guy was a fan of hers. And a huge fan at that. Her eyes were two chips of emerald, and she had to keep her hands behind her back to hide the fact they were continuously clenching like claws.

Unfortunately, that boy seemed three times as obvious as Jaune, if such a thing was even possible. He ignored the killing intent that was emanating from them all and continued to shamelessly flirt with everyone, even Ruby much to Yang's great annoyance. But since it was against the rules to pummel another student to death, they had to restrain themselves. Trying to break the tension in the group, Ruby said the first thing that came to her mind.

"Yay! We're gonna be Best Friends Forever!".

'Snowball's chance in Hell', they all bitterly thought.

/-/

Jaune Arc never left Beacon by Bullhead. The burned remains of his belongings were found right in the middle of the courtyard. Only three things were missing.

One was the sword Crocea Mors and its scabbard. The armour was found discarded near the ashes of what remained of his clothes and stuff. And even though they searched everywhere, and they asked to every single student, no one had seen the sword.

Another was his writing set, although many just guessed it had burned completely, or someone had stolen it. The professors tried to search for it, but unlike his sword that was just a normal writing set with several pens, papers and ink.

The third and last thing was Jaune Arc himself. Even though the Bullhead pilot swore time and again that Arc hadn't even boarded the Bullhead, the professor never found the blond boy in the school, either. They searched in the forest surrounding Beacon, too, knowing that the Grimm never ate their preys, preferring to leave them to rot, but even there they found nothing.

Jaune Arc was just written off as a student who had simply sneaked out of the school in humiliation for his expulsion.

Until, barely two days after his expulsion, the Headmaster called Team RWBY and the newly appointed Team SNPR to his office. He would've called Team CRDL, too, but unfortunately the four boys were still in the infirmary, nursing the wounds from the brief beating they got from Team RWBY and NPR. NPR's new leader, Saber Crimson, was not called as the call wasn't about him. And when the seven students finally arrived to the headmaster's office, it was to find the man drinking from a bottle of whiskey, and a message written in blood on the wall.

REVENGE

"It's Mr Arc's blood".

So...

I don't know how often will I update, but I hope soon enough. Otherise... wish me luck!

Tomorrow will arrive here a guest. That will probably cut even further my writing time. Let's just hope...

Anyway, bye to everyone!

Khor Evik Vlakhavlakh