Disillusioned

By Lightningstrxu

Beta Aetheling

Chapter 1: When a Plan Fails

Today was the day!

Today was the day that Jaune Arc would take his first steps towards becoming the hero he always wanted to be. It had taken a lot of work, but here he was ready to start his days at Haven Academy.

"Ugh…" he groaned.

That was, if the airship ride didn't kill him first. He was currently strapped tightly to a chair to the point that he could barely move, along with several dozen Haven hopefuls awaiting their chance to pass initiation: That was perhaps the most significant roadblock in front of him. Hundreds applied to Haven every year, but in the end, they took only a small fraction on as students.. If he passed this, he would be a student of Haven at least. He could fake it after that, just say he was a poor study and take remedial courses.

Yeah, that was a plan.

Looking around, he took in the people who were to be his friends for the next few years. A blue-haired boy was casually attempting to hit on a dark-skinned green haired girl, who rolled her eyes in annoyance. Further down the line, he saw a blonde in martial arts attire casually chatting with a red-haired…pirate?

His potential classmates were undoubtedly a colorful bunch, Jaune mused, as he closed his eyes and attempted to will his heaving stomach to settle. It would be over soon; it couldn't be too much longer to their destination, right?

A rather high pitched nasally, voice caught his attention: "Ladies and gentleman, may I have your attention." Turning his head, Jaune saw a screen being lowered from the airships ceiling, on which stood a wizened old man of diminutive stature, standing on a chair to stay in frame for the camera.

"My name is Rupert Stiltskin, Deputy Headmaster of Haven Academy and overseer of its initiation exam." The pint-sized professor coughed, clearing his throat.

"I doubt that shrimp can see over anything." A random silver-haired initiate said under his breath.

"I heard that, young man!" The professor snapped. Causing the cocky teen to start. Apparently, this was a two-way call. "Anyway, shortly you will be airdropped into the initiation area…"

"Airdropped!?" Jaune said stunned. "Isn't that a little dangerous?"

The professor rubbed the bridge of his nose obviously frustrated.

"Yes, and fighting Grimm isn't?" Stiltskin said, clearly annoyed. "Don't worry, and parachutes will be provided to those who need them. Keep in mind that they will drastically slow your descent, giving you a disadvantage concerning time. May I continue now?"

"Yes, sir." Jaune nodded anxiously.

"Good." The professor nodded in return. "As I was saying: you will be airdropped into the testing area, your job once there will be to retrieve one, and only one coin!" he held up a single finger for emphasis. "Of the many coins hidden around the testing area, and bring them back to the retrieval point on your map. Anybody caught hoarding more than one coin will be immediately disqualified. There are already fewer coins than initiates; I will not have anyone denying students for the sake of competition. There are forty coins in total, so good luck."

"Forty…" Jaune whispered. There were about thirty initiates on this airship alone, not to mention the five other airships he saw. "A hundred and eighty applicants and only forty slots."

"I'd like to add a few more words of advice." Stiltskin spoke up again, interrupting Jaune's musings. "There are creatures of Grimm down there; it is not a requirement to fight them, but chances are you'll have no choice. Also, while an initiate cannot hold more than two coins, there are no rules against an initiate without a coin taking one from an initiate that does. So, defend your coin with your life, if you must! One last thing, should you find yourself in an emergency you may activate the distress mode on your scrolls, and you will be evacuated. However, this will result in immediate failure of initiation. That is all: brace yourself, kids."

The screen went black, and a loud whirring noise could be heard. Jaune turned to the front of the airship in time to see one of the initiates dropped through a panel that opened beneath them. Thirty seconds later, the initiate opposite him also fell. Jaune's eyes widened as the pattern continued until it got to him.

The floor fell out, releasing him into the open air, and the force of the expulsion caused him to lose the tenuous hold he had on his stomach.

He hoped that whoever might be below him would forgive the mess.

His first hurdle was about to begin.

#####

With a loud crackling, Jaune's seat crashed into a thicket of trees, his chute becoming tangled in the gnarled branches. Jaune sat helplessly, swinging back and forth until his momentum gave; he was still a good thirty feet off the ground.

"Great, how do I get down from here?"

Jaune gazed at the ground below him and at his surroundings. They had been dropped into a highly mountainous region of Mistral, rocky and barren: he had been lucky enough to fall in one of the few scattered pockets of trees. Jaune undid his harness and managed to scramble onto the branch above. "Okay well, I'm out of the chair at least."

Clinging bodily to the branch, he inched himself along with it until he reached the main body of the tree. Nestled into the branches, he surveyed the trunk. The branches stopped about ten feet below him, which still left about a twenty-foot drop: not too far, but enough that he didn't want to risk his only shot by breaking his legs.

Jaune sighed: all his efforts to make it here, dashed before he could barely get started. That was when a flash of gold caught his attention out of the corner of his eye. Turning to face it, he saw a small golden shrine complete with carved door wedged into one of the branches. Gripping the tree as tightly as he could, he slowly crawled towards it. Reaching out, he opened the door: nestled inside was a small gold coin.

Nervously, he reached out his hands shaking he picked it up and looked at it. The image of a tiger carved into the face of the coin.

"Yes!" Jaune shouted with glee. He couldn't believe his luck, of all the trees he could fall into, he managed to fall into the one tree that gave him a coin. Now all he had to do was get out of this tree and get out of here.

"Hey, whatcha find?" A voice called out from behind him.

"Ah!" Jaune started and, in his panic, rolled off the tree.

This was it; this was how he would die. Jaune Arc, aged seventeen: fell from a tree. He braced to hit the ground but felt several pairs of hands deftly nab him. Opening his eyes, he saw he was being held by three glowing golden figures. They dropped him the short distance to the ground before dissipating.

"Hey, you okay?" the voice called again. Jaune looked over just as a young blond boy jumped from the tree. Jaune was a bit surprised by him, dressed in jeans and an open shirt exposing his chest. Was he the only one who bothered with armor in this school? "Sorry if I scared you, I was just wondering if you found a coin." The boy extended his hand out to Jaune, a golden tail swishing behind him as he did so.

"Need a hand?"

Jaune reached out and took the other boy's hand, who quickly pulled him to his feet.

"Thanks." Jaune said as he stood. It was only then that he realized how tightly he had his coin gripped into his left hand. Relaxing his fist, he saw he had grasped it so hard that it had left an imprint in his palm.

"Oh, so that's what they look like. Good to know!" The boy exclaimed.

"What, what looks like?" Jaune said nervously slamming his hand shut around the coin.

"Relax, dude. I'm not going to steal your coin; there's probably plenty left to find." The boy shrugged. "Besides, only a jerk would do that." He extended his hand out to Jaune. "Sun."

"Jaune." Jaune replied hesitantly shaking Sun's hand.

"Cool!" Sun smirked. "Between the two of us, we should be able to find a coin for me in no time." Sun put his arm around Jaune's shoulders casually: "Isn't that right partner?"

"What?" Jaune looked at the faunus. Partner? He hadn't agreed to that; he had his coin, he didn't need to be here any longer. He could walk out of this test right now and be done with it! Then again, Sun did probably save his life.

And while Sun was nice enough not to take his coin, others wouldn't be so kind. Having someone watching his back sounded like a good idea at the least: "Alright then, I don't mind working together."

"Alright, man, let's do this." Sun held his fist up to Jaune who only stared at it. "Come on bro, don't leave me hanging." Slowly Jaune brought his fist up to Sun's and tapped it. "Yeah, let's go!"

Wandering around the forest, the pair of blondes kept their eyes peeled for more shrines, but their luck didn't seem very promising.

"So…" Sun spoke up as he sauntered along. "You think there's a pattern or something with these coins?"

"Who knows?" Jaune shrugged. He scanned the surrounding trees looking for any sign of a golden glimmer to catch his eyes. But he saw nothing. "Perhaps there isn't any pattern; maybe I was just lucky." He gazed down at the golden coin in his hand. "Then again, it might be a test to see how observant we are."

"Makes sense, I guess." Sun said as he climbed up a random tree. "Well, nothing up here!." Perching himself on a branch, he looked around the surrounding area. "Looks like we're reaching the end of the forest, the trees are thinning out ahead."

"Well maybe that'll change our luck, maybe there's only one coin per area?" They continued walking onward, Jaune on the ground while Sun bounded from tree to tree. Exiting the forest, they found themselves in a rather desolated area of open rocky mountainside.

"How are we supposed to find a coin in all this?" Sun gave an exasperated sigh.

"Well, they wouldn't give us a test that was impossible, would they?" Jaune brought his hand to his chin in contemplation. "There has to be something, right?"

That was when a loud roar cut through the air around them.

"Shit, shit, shit!" A string of profanities reached Jaune's ears, and he turned to face the source. Barreling towards him at breakneck speed was a girl on a hover-board, which he just then realized is a thing that exists.

"Get down, you idiots!" the girl hissed. The roar sounded this time closer again, she raced past Jaune and Sun and dived behind the nearest outcrop of rock. A moment later, her head peeked out from behind it: "What are you waiting for…hide!"

Jaune and Sun both blinked in confusion for a moment before running to the girl's location.

"You mind telling me what's going on?" Jaune whispered harshly.

"Shhh!" the girl clamped her hand over Jaune's mouth. "It'll hear us!"

"What will?" Sun asked increasingly concerned. A low rumbling growl could be heard coming from the other side of the rock, which was now their only shield from whatever was on the other side.

The three teens sat in silence while the creature, or whatever it was because Jaune wouldn't dare risk peeking out, prowled around sniffing the air and scratching the ground. Finally, after what felt like an eternity had passed, footsteps could be heard plodding away from them.

"Okay, I think it is gone now." The girl let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay, what the hell was that?" Jaune spat.

"Dude." Sun place a hand on his shoulder. "Chill out before you draw that Grimm back here."

"You're right." Jaune took a deep breath to calm himself down; his father often told him when he had been camping to keep a cool head lest nearby Grimm come looking.

"What's there to explain?" the girl cocked her head to the side and placing her hands on her hips to better show her annoyance. "I got chased here by a Grimm and found you two. I wish I could have gotten the coin that…" she stopped clamping her hand over her mouth.

"Wait?" Sun interjected. "You know where a coin is?" The girl sighed, she hadn't meant for that to slip. But the secret was out now.

"Yeah, it was in a cave a little over that way." The girl pointed in the direction that she had come from. "I saw the shrine in there and figured with my board I could race in grab it. It turns out an Odogaron is a lot faster than it looks."

"Yeah but now you have my pal Jaune and me here to help you out." Sun said with an easy smile as he again put his arm around Jaune's shoulder. "Between the three of us, we should be able to help you out with your coin."

"How do I know you guys just won't take mine?" the girl narrowed her eyes, suspicious of such convenient assistance.

"I already have my coin." Jaune blurted out, holding it up for emphasis. "And Sun hasn't taken it." The other boy nodded his support.

"Yeah, I figure I help people out, and they'll return the favor. If you get your coin, then we can focus on finding me one. As a team, we can get one for all of us."

The girl brought her hand to her chin and closed her eyes pondering for a few moments.

"Fine, it's a deal." She declared. "But no funny business or I jet out on my board, got it?"

"Yeah, we got it, errr…" Jaune began suddenly realizing that he didn't know the girl's name.

"Reese." She answered his unasked question.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, Reese." Jaune held out his hand. "The name's Jaune Arc; short, sweet, ladies love it."

Reese looked at Jaune for a moment before doubling over in suppressed laughter. Jaune was a little wounded by the response but tried to keep it cool. Sun shook his head gravely beside him.

"Oh man, that was great." She said between laughs. She reached out and gripped Jaune's hand, causing him to wince at the surprising strength of her grip. "Nice to meet you too, Jaune."

"And I'm Sun." the shirtless wonder proclaimed proudly, holding out his fist which Reese pounded without a moment's hesitation.

"Alright, guys." Reese grinned. "We've got this."

#####

"We don't got this!" Reese screamed as she skated her way along the wall of the cave, trying to keep ahead of the Grimm that was bounding behind her.

"Jaune!" Sun called out as he brandished his staff. "I'll run some interference, and you go for the coin!" He pointed to the small green shrine at the edge of a precipice.

"Yeah…sure." Jaune said, a little unsure, but glad to be the one chosen not to fight the Grimm.

"Alright." Sun squared his feet ready to leap. "Now!" He sprang forward at the Grimm, swatting it in the side and causing it to cease its pursuit of Reese. Jaune sprinted for the coin as they sprang into action, running as fast at his legs could carry him.

This is what he wanted, right? To be a hero like his ancestors before him. He was an Arc; this should have just come naturally. Yet, he was terrified; this is what all the other kids his age were expected to fight!? He reached the shrine and slid into a crouch as he stopped. Opening the door, he retrieved the coin inside: green in color and the visage of a dragon carved onto it.

"Jaune, on your six!" Reese shouted.

"My what?" he turned towards the shout to see the Grimm bounding towards him at top speed, leaping to close the distance.

The coin fell from Jaune's grip as time seemed to slow down. This Grimm, an Odogaron Reese had called it, was about to be on top of him. Its oversized teeth and many jagged claws ready to tear him apart. Just as the creature's legs reached him, he backpedaled out of the way, taking a long but shallow slash to his right forearm. Jaune staggered back as he grit his teeth in pain, slipping off the ledge entirely.

Jaune bounced painfully off a few outcrops of rock; he had to slow his decent before he ended up as paste on the cavern floor! Managing to draw his sword he dug it into the rock wall in front of him. His blade dragged through the rock, and Jaune was very thankful for the expert craftsmanship of his family heirloom. Sparks flew as he slowly ground to a stop.

He was panting hard, his arms were aching and trembling, but he kept a death grip on his sword. Looking to see how far he had fallen, he could barely see the path his sword had carved into the rock wall.

Jaune shifted his feet, trying to see if he could somehow will them deeper into the rock to gain a foothold. This was insane; this is what hunters did? Why had his father never spoken of this before? All his stories of the great Arc bloodline, the heroes that were his forebearers had made it seem all so easy! True, he hadn't expected it to be a cakewalk, he had no experience, but weren't they all supposed to be students?

Jaune grit his teeth: it didn't matter. He had found a coin, and he had found some allies. Now all he had to do was get out of here, and hopefully, the school proper would be able to give him the training he always needed.

That's when he felt the sword shift, and he slid down slightly.

"No!" his eyes went wide, as he tried desperately to keep from sliding. He had no idea how high he even was. He didn't dare try to look down as the sword continued to slip and come loose, he was plummeting again and nothing would save him this time. How long until he impacted the ground? The last thing Jaune remembered was a flash of surprised green eyes.

#####

Consciousness slowly came back to him, and he groaned as he shifted, snuggling more into the rather soft pillow he had managed to land on. Wait a minute, why would there be a pillow out here?

The 'pillow' beneath him began to wriggle beneath him as a sharp fingernail poked him in the cheek. Opening his eyes, he looked up to see a black-haired girl with pigtails, and her green eyes narrowed in a scowl. Why was she so angry? Had he hurt her when he fell, what was he going to do?

That was when he realized that he hadn't been snuggling into a pillow earlier. He had landed on top of this girl and had buried his face in her….

"I'm sorry!" Jaune leaped off of her, scrambling away from her. "I didn't mean to…I'm sorry!"

The girl cocked her head to the side studying Jaune almost curiously. Rolling onto her hands and knees, she crawled over to him. Her eyes bored into his.

"Hey, I'm…" Jaune began but stopped when the girl placed her finger on his lips. She then brought it to her own and made a shushing motion. She moved to sit cross-legged in front of him, continuing to study him silently. Raising her hand, she pointed at his right arm.

"My arm? What about…" he looked down at it and saw the large gash that the Grimm had left on his limb. Suddenly aware of the injury, it chose that moment to start hurting. "Ah!" He gripped onto his arm.

It hurt, his whole body hurt in fact, now that his adrenaline had worn off his injuries had caught up to him. "I don't suppose you have a bandage?"

The girl shrugged and shook her head and motioned to her right arm and then to his. She pointed at how her arm was perfectly smooth and unmarred and then to his cut.

"Yeah…I'm hurt? What do you want me to do about it?" Jaune looked at the girl confused.

The girl motioned to herself again and then flourished with a vigorous show of jazz hands.

"Can't you just tell me?" Jaune sighed, starting to get frustrated.

The girl shook her head and pointed to her throat. While Jaune tried to decipher what she meant, he missed the look of realization on the girl's face. She leaned forward, her face inches from Jaune's. Her eyes gleamed dangerously, an evil smirk crawling onto her face.

"What are you doing?" Jaune asked in a timid voice

She inched closer and placed her hands on his shoulders, closed the gap between them, and slammed her lips to his. Jaune's eyes widened, he tried to pull away from her but found that her hand had snaked its way around his neck to hold him firmly in place. What was happening, why was she kissing him, why did he suddenly feel better, was that her tongue?!

She pulled back a moment later a wide grin on her face.

"Wow…" Jaune whispered. The girl seemed greatly amused by his reaction. She then pointed at his arm. "What my arm?" Jaune was more interested in why the whole kissing thing had happened, but he followed her finger.

He looked down to see that the cut on his arm had healed, as well as the other minor scrapes and bruises he had received: his whole body engulfed in a fading white glow. "What is this?" he examined himself. "Can you heal people?"

The girl facepalmed and sighed. After a moment she stood up and held her hand out to him. Taking it, Jaune stood and realized that he towered over his silent savior.

"Well, thank you for helping me." Jaune said still feeling a little awkward. "And sorry about… you know." The girl reached up and groped her breasts and smirked mischievously at him. "Yeah, that." The girl silently giggled at his embarrassment. "We should get out of here; do you still need help finding a coin?"

She shook her head.

"Good." Jaune nodded. "I also have one so…" Jaune paused as he reached into his pocket to find only lint: his coin was gone! "I must have dropped it when I fell! what am I going to…"

The girl reached up and clamped a hand over his mouth. With her other hand, she reached into her pocket and placed something in his hand. Jaune looked at it. A coin. He felt the girl's hand leave his mouth.

"Thank you." He looked back up to her, but found that she was gone; vanished into thin air. "Uh…" Jaune was going to call out when he realized he had no idea who she even was.

But whoever she was, he owed her a lot. She had somehow healed his injuries and recovered his lost coin for him. He brought his hands to his lips and grinned. That was his first kiss; not exactly how he expected it to happen, but he wasn't going to complain!

Taking a deep breath, he put his coin back in his pocket and took in his surroundings; now he just had to find a way out of here. Maybe even meet up with Sun and Reese again if he could. Looking himself over once more and checking his gear, he started off down a dark, stone path.

#####

Emerald Sustrai stood leaning against the wall arms, crossed over her chest. She was bored; she had completed her exam in record time and was now waiting in the auditorium for the rest of the participants to finish it. Well knowing the location of her coin in advance had undoubtedly helped with that. She had been here for a while, but now more and more initiates were starting to mill into the common area.

"Hey, Em!" A voice called off to her left causing Emerald to sigh.

"Hey, Merc." Emerald ground out in annoyance; her peace now shattered by her hopefully temporary ally. "You certainly took your time, did you forget how to read a map?"

"Nah, some chump managed to find my coin first." Mercury leaned against the wall next to her his hands behind his head. "I took care of it."

"You didn't pummel them into oblivion; if you get too rough, it may arouse suspicion." She eyed him suspiciously.

"Relax." He shrugged. "I just intimidated him a little. You're taking all this way too seriously."

"And you're not taking this seriously enough!" She snapped her face twisting into a scowl. "This is important, and I can't have you messing up."

"Says the one talking about them in public." He replied with a shit-eating grin.

Emerald quietly seethed, he wasn't wrong, but that didn't mean she didn't want to wipe that smug little smirk off his face.

"Enough, both of you." Cinder spoke softly yet threateningly as she walked up to her two associates.

"Yes, ma'am." Emerald nodded while Mercury went silent. "Is the plan going ahead…" she was cut off as a powerful smell hit her nose nearly causing her to gag. "What is that smell?"

"Apparently one of the initiates couldn't handle the airdrop." Cinder motioned to herself drawing attention to her brown outfit now tinged slightly green with sick. "A minor inconvenience, I plan on taking a long shower after all this. Where is our new friend Noir, is she here yet?"

"Hmm, Roman's gir…" Mercury began but was cut off by a sharp glare from Cinder. "I mean Noir; no haven't seen her yet."

Cinder reached into her pocket and pulled out her scroll. "Well, if she followed instructions, she should be here soon enough."

The three conspirators stood and waited for a while watching as the area slowly filled with students carrying their coins. Finally, after almost an hour of waiting, their final member skipped up to them seemingly without a care in the world.

"There you are." Cinder acknowledged the mute girl as she joined them, her finger tapping impatiently on her crossed arms. "You retrieved your coin." Noir nodded. "Turned it in?" She nodded again with a roll of her eyes following it. "Good."

"If I may have your attention, please!" a voice called out over the speakers, causing the four of them to turn to face the main stage. Professor Stiltskin stood, hunched over a mic. "All initiates have now completed their test and have turned in their coins."

A screen lowered down behind him.

"Many of you are wondering what exactly the coins mean." The professor continued. "Well, I shall explain now." The Image of four coins appeared on the screen. "The design choice this year was the old Mistralian gods, the Northern Tortoise, Southern Bird, Western Tiger and Eastern Dragon. Each of these four coins was a part of a larger set grouped by material. These coins are how your teams have been determined this time around. So, without further ado, here are your assigned teams."

Emerald Signed as the old man began to rattle off teams: this was going to be an even longer one. Her team was a foregone conclusion, and everything was going to her mistress' carefully laid plan.

"Cinder Fall!" Stiltskin announced grabbing her attention. She would be called soon. "Mercury Black!" She watched as her two compatriots walked up onto the stage. "You two retrieved the Southern Bird and Northern Tortoise bronze coins, respectively. You are now partners for the remainder of your stay in Haven Academy." The diminutive man paused. "Emerald Sustrai!"

That was her cue, she began her way up to the stage, in just a moment Roman's girl's name would be called, and their team would be set.

"Jaune Arc!"

Emerald nearly stumbled; what had that shrimp said? She must have misheard him. Her eyes fell to Cinder; surely she would have the answer. What she saw frightened her.

To most Cinder would appear the vision of being calm and collected, but she knew her well enough to see the barely contained fury swirling in her eyes. She stepped onto the stage, followed soon after in by some blonde dork in makeshift armor.

"You two have retrieved the Eastern Dragon and Western Tiger bronze coins respectively. You are now partners for the remainder of your stay in Haven Academy."

Emerald felt dizzy; this couldn't be happening. Cinder had planned out everything. This wasn't how it was supposed to go.

"The four of you will now be known as team Jasmine." The screen behind Stiltskin flashed showing a portrait of herself and her new teammates, the letters JCME below their respective portraits.

This wasn't happening this was a disaster, she glanced at her so-called partner smiling stupidly, doofus wasn't supposed to be here. Everything was falling apart, and it took everything she had not to panic on stage. How could this possibly get any worse?

"Led by Jaune Arc."

It got worse.

Hello all and welcome to my newest project, this story was conceived by a simple challenge from Mallobaude.

Do for Emerald what I did for the Malachite Twins

And thus this story was born. As always read and review and don't you worry people a new Last Resort is in beta right now and should be out later this week.