Salutations everyone and welcome to my first story!

This fic will be a retelling of canon RWBY; like many other fics, it uses the 'strong-Jaune' formula...with the cost of turning his motivations into a 180. What I mean by that is that in contrast to Canon!Jaune who wants to be a hero but lacked the skills to become one, this Jaune, meanwhile, is exceptionally skilled but has no desire to be a hero and prefers to stay out of the dangers that regularly occur in a world of bloody evolution. He'll also have some slight personality changes, his canon demeanor is basically described as 'idealistic yet foolish' while here he is 'cynical and witty', though he will still act like his canon counterpart (keyword: act).

Jaune's character and the writing is inspired by Sandy Mitchell's 'Ciaphas Cain' series of the Warhammer 40,000 Universe and works inspired by it, such as the Mass Effect fanfic 'Accidental Hero of the Galaxy' by Random Equinox, where a self-deprecating, cowardly protagonist in a dangerous universe details his adventures in a series of private memoirs which are being edited by another character (usually a close friend or a significant other) who provides commentary and additional insights, despite the protagonist's efforts, they still end up in danger, forcing them to save the day. This story will follow its format from the sarcastic first-person narrative to the in-universe editorial, along with its footnotes.

Cain!Jaune fics are not new, in fact Coeur Al'Aran's "Beacon Civil War" and Aleandrex' "Arc of The Revolution" were direct and indirect Cain-inspired fics respectively and they're both fantastic; I recommend you go check them out. This fic meanwhile invokes the question of: What if Jaune Cains his way to the events of the show? This premise was actually attempted before in Kartofel von Kouch's "Jaune Arc: Hero of Vytal", albeit it dropped the memoir-like writing in favor of a third-person narrative with shifting perspective. Sadly, the story died before it could conclude the initiation event; it's a shame because the story showed a lot of promise so now I have to try to answer the previous question myself.

Keep in mind that this is my first serious fic, so there might be errors here and there, and this very chapter may be even subject to a rewrite, so feedback is appreciated.

Anyhow, enjoy reading!

EDIT: To celebrate the first anniversary of this fic, I made a Spotify playlist based on the songs Jaune listened to through this story. Feel free to listen to it:

(Replace the commas with dots)

open,spotify,com/playlist/3dV6TxBvxG6SsZ3r97HXVO?si=abkz8i3xROK1LYhvg01pew

Youtube Mirror:

youtube,com / playlist?list=PLx-5liPQvheIpI_fglcpwH-rVE4CkOJVw

Editorial Note:

It's been years since the Fall of Salem, Remnant has met a golden age of peace and Grimm activity is at its lowest and civilizations affected have recovered. All thanks to the brave heroes who risked their lives to save the world they live in. Their stories are still being told to this day. Among these stories, in particular, stand out more than the others.

Commissar Jaune Arc, The Hero of Remnant. The 8th child and only son of Caiaphas and Ambervale Arc. A simple boy from a lineage of heroes, who not only lives up to his ancestor's legacy but became one of the greatest in history. His exploits are detailed in his published memoirs: "The Bane of Salem: A Knight's Tale" which was co-written by his eldest sister, Bleu Arc. While I can confirm that the stories about him are indeed true since I was present when it all occurred, they were usually presented inaccurately and are often embellished.

I cannot say that I blame him, Jaune was simply too humble for his own good that he often has difficulties in seeing his own accomplishments, never feeling deserving of his own praise and admits to himself as a cowardly, manipulating fraud and an occasional thief who's primarily motivated by self-interest despite his remarkable feats. Despite this, he is genuinely one of the most exceptional Huntsmen to date; being able to prevail against the worst of Grimm, bandits, criminals, terrorists, and even unspeakable eldritch beings. Remnant would have suffered a terrible fate without his vital and significant contribution.

It should be also noted that he is his own worst critic, as everyone was able to acknowledge his accomplishments, save for himself, who dismisses them as nothing more than a result of luck, coincidence, instinct or an error on the opposition's part and he often emphasizes on his shortcomings. Admittedly, I once assumed this notion but only because I was admittedly arrogant and prideful at my younger years. Eventually, I mellowed up to him and was even shocked to learn of his insecurities and ulterior motives.

However, contrary to his own self-deprecatory beliefs - he was, and I say this with absolute sincerity, the most compassionate and altruistic person I have ever met. Over time, his compulsive apprehensions noticeably fade as he willingly puts himself before others in life-threatening situations where he could have easily withdrawn from. Thus, putting me in the conclusion that his claims and excuses to downplay or even deny his efforts were nothing more than his lack of self-esteem. Therefore, accounts of his heroism remain veracious, and that is to say nothing of the fact that the acknowledgments of his own imperfections have made him one of the most sincere heroes worthy of the title It is said that courage is not the absence of fear but the triumph over it, and there is no other individual that I know of that is more courageous than Jaune Arc.

Before his recent disappearance, he entrusted me with a series of journals that he has been writing for almost his entire life. Unlike his published memoirs which are mostly written based on the public's depiction of him, these are written in a candid manner and present the events as they actually transpired—for the most part, that is. I've taken the initiative to edit them and create a compilation of these accounts in his honor and for me to reminiscent to as well as so readers may gain insight on Jaune's peculiar take on heroism. I shall henceforth name it "The Jaune Archive". (Please note that I am aware of the wordplay in the title and I want to clarify that it was completely unintentional, but fitting nonetheless.)

While the contents are detailed enough for itself, keep in mind that these accounts were written in Jaune's own viewpoints. As such, he has a tendency to leave omissions and discrepancies while describing events with his own personal biases, occasionally even outright lying about them. So I highly recommend you to take his own writing with a pinch of salt, especially during his attempts to describe himself. Fortunately, I took the liberty to add annotations and occasional excerpts from various sources to provide clarity, context and better coherence to Jaune's self-centered narrative for the reader's convenience. That aside, I shall allow him to tell his story with his own words.

Before we begin, I would like to give a cautious reminder to the readers; due to the amount of sensitive and confidential information included in this accounts as well as to ensure public stability and Jaune's reputation as an inspiration for Huntsmen, these documents are strictly classified for the time being, with only a select few individuals granted to have the authorization to read. Any violation is punishable by international law.

The first volume of this archive will cover Jaune's life in Beacon Academy, as well as the friends and enemies he made along the way.

Weiss Schnee

Chief Executive Officer, Schnee Dust Company™

Chapter 1

Beginning of an Arc

"Blessed art the cowardly, for they know the perils of the world. Whereas the brave would foolishly storm toward it."

-The Book of Light, verse 276

Every time I look back on my childhood, it's almost impossible not to have the urge to strangle my younger self for all the stupid things I did. One particular memory is when I was stargazing with my family and saw a shooting star. They told me that if you make a wish when one passes, it would eventually come true. Being the naive child I was, I wished to become a hero like my parents.

That was before I grew up, wised up and took back what I wished for. I realized that being a hero wasn't as glamorous as the stories like to paint it as. They barely go to exciting adventures, becoming rich and famous on the way; instead, they usually end on suicide missions and end up dying in the worst ways possible, and are usually remembered as another shameful causality. If they do survive it usually means they are fit to be sent to another suicide mission and probably die there instead. Otherwise, the cycle continues until they stop, realize that it wasn't worth it and retire while they still could.

The efforts of the so-called heores barely change anything; even if they do, they are eventually undone which would render them pointless. The only reason why my parents are still alive despite being known heroes is that they were smart enough to choose to live a modest life and only take jobs that don't guarantee their children getting orphaned.

Face it, we're stuck in a never-ending war with Grimm, who already outnumber us ten-to-one, and they still keep growing every second. These are creatures that are attracted to negative energy that people had to sleep with guns under their pillows in case Grimm finds them for simply having nightmares. Even if you do avoid them, you still have to deal with bandits and terrorists, who are arguably worse and are rampant around civilization. It wouldn't be so bad if the kingdoms weren't so above their heads that they're still on each other's throats ever since the Empire fell. The world just wasn't worth saving.

Therefore, I have decided that a hero's life was not for me and chose to stay with my boring yet safe life at home. Just fool around, play video games, read comic books, maybe help with the farm when I feel like to, and not get myself killed for trying to be something I'm not and will never be. Most people didn't even know that Caiaphas Arc had a son anyway and my status of obscurity didn't bother me that much; it keeps me away from trouble so I don't have really have a good reason to complain about it.

That didn't stop Dad from training me and unlocking my aura though, since it was mandatory for Arc family members to be trained and have their aura unlocked, regardless if you're pursuing to become a Huntsman or not. Because Remnant is a dangerous place and mommy and daddy won't always be there for you. I can see where he is coming from, it's a pain to look after eight children while living in a countryside that is occasionally riddled with Grimm, and honestly, I had no issue with getting my aura. I'm aware that it attracts Grimm because it's the manifestation of the soul, and Grimm wants them souls, they would still want you dead regardless and if something wants to kill me, then I might as well last.

As for Dad's training—I've managed to do well enough to survive against Grimm on my own. Perhaps I was too good because training became increasingly challenging with Dad holding back less and less. I managed to beat him several times, enough to become Huntsman material. [1] He told me to keep it up and that my childhood wish would indeed come true someday. I assured myself that the make-a-wish stuff with the shooting star was just a silly superstition and I shouldn't worry about it becoming true anytime soon.

And to my horror, it kind of did.

It all started with a day like any other, I was trying to mind my own business when Dad told me to make myself useful and run for some errands at the nearby town of Podunk. Since I had nothing to do because the holonet was down due to the CCT being under maintenance and that Rouge hid my comic books again and I couldn't bother to waste time and sweat searching every inch of the house just to find them for the umpteenth time. [2] I accepted the task and headed towards Podunk. I had no reason to worry then. Podunk was a small and boring town with nothing interesting ever happening there. Life there was the same every day. People go to work while others stay at home, children playing on the streets, all that kind of stuff. The Grimm don't even bother attacking the place because of how little negativity its denizens are experiencing.

Little did everyone including myself know that it wouldn't be a typical day for long.

When I went to the bank to withdraw some money, a man in a mariachi outfit and a decorated skull mask with four other masked men came out of the blue and declared a robbery. The local authorities weren't able to do anything because as it turned out, they were bound and gagged shortly before the heist took place. And even if they weren't, they would still be useless because this was the only serious crime to occur so far. Not to mention the CCT was inconveniently still down so no one was able to call for help. When they opened the vault, the guy in charge of the hostages got carried away with the money they discovered, I took this opportunity to knock him out and ran to the exit. I managed to escape until I ended up running into an Ursa—not just any Ursa, but an Ursa Major. I turned back and ran to town with the Ursa following me.

I really didn't know what I was thinking at that time, I was too busy panicking to even care that I put the town in even greater danger. Thankfully, most of the locals were hiding indoors when it all happened and those who weren't at least did not get caught into the fight. The rest of the bandits came out of the bank and they all engaged the Ursa. Three out of five bandits were killed, including the leader, who was trying to murder me with his billhook machetes/shotguns, but I was able to fend him off thanks to Dad's intense training. Before he knew it, he was mauled by the Ursa because he was too occupied trying to at least land a hit on me. By a stroke of luck, I somehow manage to decapitate the Ursa and lived to tell the tale. The surviving pair of bandits were routed out and were eventually found and arrested by Pucelle's sheriff department.

Next thing I know, the town regarded me as a hero who simultaneously foiled a bandit and Grimm attack, when all I did was run around defending myself from anything that tried to come near me. I didn't even intend to save the town, I was mostly concerned with preserving my own skin and the bandits only lost mostly because I was stupid enough to lure the Ursa into town instead of running anywhere else. If I had known that bandits were about to raid Podunk, I would've stayed at home. But I knew that telling them that won't do any good, so I just nervously smiled, waved and went with the flow.

Becoming a hero was just a stupid childhood dream when I wanted to be like my parents and the comic book heroes I used to look up to. One of the reasons I gave up the dream is because I realized that I will never be worthy enough to become one. I never even cared about being selfless and altruistic, it was just the thrill and the adventures that used to get me interested in becoming a hero; saving lives and fighting evil were just excuses to make me feel good about myself while becoming famous and beloved in the process. Now I found myself getting those things and I can't help but feel bad about it.

I'm just glad the whole thing is over and that I'm still in one piece. Unfortunately, word about my 'heroics' went viral and almost immediately after the CCT went back up, someone posted a video on the holonet of me fending off the bandit leader and killing the Ursa Major. Even worse when I realized the bandit I just defeated was one of Vacou's most wanted by the name of 'El Segador', so not only I managed to save Podunk by beheading an Alpha-Class Grimm—but I also got an infamous bandit lord killed without knowing who he was. Why was he on the northern part of Eastern Sanus was beyond me. [3]

It didn't take long for the Headmaster of Beacon Academy: Ozpin, to take notice of my recent exploit, he was impressed enough to recommend me to his school which my father horrifyingly concurred. I've been trying to avoid combat schools for all my life—they put you into dangerous assignments, have you: share classes and compete with bloodthirsty nutjobs, fight the worst monstrosities in Remnant while everyone casually watches, endure hours of boring lessons before giving you piles of tedious homework, and that's just the tip of the iceberg. I've successfully convinced my parents that they were not worth my time and that I'm better off being home-schooled and have them personally train me instead. Besides, Viola, Vert, Blanche, and Noir didn't have to go. Sadly, I won't get the same results here because Beacon is not like other schools, it was one of a kind—the most prestigious combat academy on Sanus, only the best of the best have the privilege to study there, which is why I don't belong in that place. But Dad thought that I wasn't going to have my 'talents' wasted on me sitting around the house for my whole life and took the opportunity to accept the offer, effectively making one of my worst nightmares come true.

I discovered that Ozpin had been interested in me even before the Podunk event. Dad used to be one of his pupils and kept in touch with him. They talked about me and my sisters; he must have told him how I beat him enough times to be qualified for Beacon. So even if I didn't go to Podunk and cross paths with El Edgelord and have an Ursa tear him apart then slay said Ursa, he would have still dragged my ass into Beacon. The recent incident was just the last nail in the coffin.

My family persuaded me to go. Dad was noticeably worried at first but he saw a lot of potential in me as a Huntsman and he doesn't want to see them get wasted on nothing. He begged me not to have his only son let him down. Dad was a good man, he was always there when I needed him and this was the only way I could repay him after everything he's done for me. I would have hated to see him upset because o treat it like a normal school—just with blood-sports and dangerous field trips, it can't be that bad.

Right?

In all honesty, I don't really mind attending the stupid academy itself that much. I can take hours of boring lessons just fine, it helps that they are said to be more bearable than normal classes and that even includes combat training. I have at least picked up a few experiences to catch up with those subjects. So it wouldn't be that bad if it weren't for the dangerous missions that contain live Grimm and other hostile wildlife that becomes more endangering as the years go on, that is what I'm worried about, especially given with what they are expecting of me thanks to the status I've unintentionally made for myself.

My dad bestowed upon me the Arc family sword—the Crocea Mors. A sword once held by my great-great-grandfather, Harry "The Flash" Arc, who fought during the Great War [4]. Passed down from generation to generation. It was a symbol of Arc Family honor. The sword has been used for several generations; it witnessed many conflicts and slew countless amounts of men and beasts alike, yet it still looked like it was fresh from the forge.

Mom also handed me her old, yet fully functional and effective shield—The Désir Ardent, it was once a simple steel heater shield with the crest of the D'Rémy family, now it's painted to have the Arc family crest and was modified to be transformable to a scabbard for the Crocea Mors.

I felt ashamed of carrying the weight of these valuable relics, I've never truly done anything that makes me worthy of their possession. Was it because I was the only Arc child who bothered using a sword and shield and that my parents decided to give them to me so they don't have to stay in one place and collect dust? Whatever the reason was and regardless if I deserve them or not, they're mine now, apparently.

Before taking the airship to Beacon, I gave my parents a hug and waved my all sisters goodbye. I am going to miss our times together whether it's Dad's training, Mom's comfort, Bleu's lessons, Viola dressing me up, farming with Vert, shooting with Rose, helping Blanche and Noir with their music; heck, even suffering from Rouge's antics. While we do agree to keep in touch via video message, it just won't be the same.

As the airship lifted off. I gave one last wave to my family through the window and one last look at Pucelle's landscape. This was a place I've called home for my whole life. I prayed to whatever Gods that this won't be the last time I see it.

This was not the day I waited for.

=o=

1. Caiaphas Arc is known to be one of the most skilled living swordsmen on Sanus. The fact that Jaune managed to defeat him a few times in duel was impressive enough on its own, something which he rarely acknowledges likely because it contradicts his own belief that his fighting ability was only average at best.

2. The Arc family manor is rather huge, having two floors with 20 rooms. It's understandable why Jaune chose not to spend any effort to search for his comic books.

3. According to police reports, El Segador was supposed to meet for a face-to-face trade with Mistral's Yakuza. He arrived far ahead of time, so he went on a crime spree, taking advantage of the state of the CCT. After his death and the apprehension of his surviving accomplices, the Yakuza ship was raided by the authorities and seized all of the assets inside it.

4. The Crocea Mors was originally the personal weapon of King Phadrig the VII prior upon recompensating it to Harry Arc after the war and becoming an Arc family heirloom.

The trip to Beacon was not a comfortable one.

It wasn't because I was anxious that I was going to a school where teachers would try turning you into a killing machine through rigorous training and boring lectures, but it's because of an old enemy of mine—motion sickness. The first few hours weren't so bad. Dizziness aside, I thought that I would be able to get used to it, then I got a grim reminder that air travel doesn't get along with my weak stomach. I've been struggling to hold my vomit for hours and the lack of restrooms aren't helping. Apparently, some moron on the airship manufacturing company thought it would be a hilarious idea not to any add lavatories despite long travel times and instead spend the rest of the budget on holo-screens. They didn't even bother to add any waste containers either nor a single open window where I could just release it there and let an unlucky schmuck get hit by an aerial assault. Thanks a lot, bastards; good luck getting eventually sued over this.

"Hello and welcome to Beacon!" A female voice greeted via hologram. It was a sign that I was close to finishing that nightmare of a flight, which was a relief. I listened to her message hoping it would buy me some time to hold my puke. "My name is Glynda Goodwitch. You are among a privileged few who have received the honor of being selected to attend this prestigious academy!"

Which I never wanted in the first place. I feel bad for all the idealistic idiots who dreams to get into Beacon, only for them pick me instead. They would have made better Huntsmen than I would, even if they would last for only less than five seconds on the field, at least they had the spirit. I would have gladly traded this position with one of them if I got the chance.

She continued. "Our world is experiencing an incredible time of peace, and as future Huntsmen and Huntresses, it is your duty to uphold it. You have demonstrated the courage needed for such a task, and now it is our turn to provide you with the knowledge and the training to protect our world."

If your definition of courage means running around and get a crime lord killed only because you forgot that you bought a Grimm into town, then I fit just right in.

The hologram faded and everyone went to the windows to check the view, meanwhile, I was back with my losing battle against motion sickness. I tried to restrain my vomit for a few more minutes before I could arrive at Beacon. But alas, I came to the point where I couldn't hold it any longer. So I told to myself to screw it and let it some of it out before stopping. I swallowed it back and panted for air before holding it out again. I saw that my pool of bile ended up hitting the shoe of an above-average looking blonde girl, who was being accompanied by a short goth-looking girl who both were shrieking out of disgust and are withdrawing from the puke. Knowing that these girls can kick my ass at a minute's notice and not because I think girls take their shoes seriously, I slinked towards the corner of the ship, not caring about the disgusted remarks being made by other attendees.

I'm going to file a complaint to the airship manufacturers after this.

After a few minutes which felt like an eternity. The airship finally stopped and opened its doors, the first thing I did after exiting the ship, was quickly unload the rest of my vomit in the nearest garbage bin before getting up and panting for fresh air. I'm a son of a well-respected Huntsman and former military commander and has been said to be the one who saved a humble town from a wanted, ruthless bandit lord and an overgrown Ursa that even fully-trained Huntsmen struggle to defeat... and the first five seconds in Beacon has me throwing up in a trash bin. This is how the savior of Podunk starts his school year, people. After finally departing from a lengthy battle with nausea, I took a moment to relax and headed to the courtyard to give my first impressions of the academy.

I stopped in the middle of the tracks to appreciate the academy's structure. I heard people say about how beautiful Beacon is and I've seen pictures of the academy itself but I was not prepared to be astounded by its beauty in the flesh. 'The Shining Beacon', indeed. Now I'm no expert when it comes to architecture but Beacon looked more like a palace than a school. If it didn't call itself an academy, you could easily trick someone into believing that royalty or an evil wizard or dragon lives there. Then again being one of the most prestigious academies in the world requires you to rub your glamour on the other schools' faces. That aside, it's pretty beautiful. It almost makes me forget that this place would probably be the death of me.

My gaze was rudely interrupted when I heard what sounds to be an explosion. I turned around and saw the goth girl from earlier being yelled a regal-looking girl clad in white. The only thing I heard was the goth girl called the other a princess or something before another girl entered the scene. This one had long black hair and wore the most oversized bow I've ever seen on the top of her head. Gods, and I thought those only existed in silly cartoons. The girl in white angrily took something from her before leaving. [1]

"I promise I'll make it up to you!" the goth girl cried out to her, who was probably pretending to not have heard her. She sighed and turned to the other girl, only to see her walking away too. All alone, she sat down and fell to the ground. I feel kinda sorry for her, I know what it feels like to be left out. If I were to survive four years here, I needed someone to watch my rear. So I put on my 'nice guy' persona and walked over to her and helped her out.

"Hey," I called out, she opened her eyes, revealing her silver irises. "You okay?" I asked as I offered my hand.

She smiled and took my hand and rose. "I'm fine." she said. "Just having a rough start."

"Happens to the best of us," I replied.

She paused for a moment before recognizing who I was. "Wait, aren't you the guy that threw up on the ship?"

Oh boy.

=o=

1. It was just one of the dust vials that dropped after Ruby fell on my luggage. I had my servants take care of the rest.

We headed inside the academy together. As we were walking, I tried to convince her how serious motion-sickness is, how it's a more common problem than people think and why it's not my fault that air travel makes me nauseous.

"Look, I'm sorry. Vomit Boy was the first thing that came to mind. I didn't quite get your name." she excused.

Oh right, we haven't properly introduced ourselves to each other. With that out of the way, I gave out the cheesiest introduction I could think of: "Well, the names Jaune Arc. Short, sweet, rolls off the tongue, ladies love it!" Okay, that was a little too cheesy than what I was aiming for but seeing her unconvinced face, it worked.

"Do they?"

They don't.

Instead of answering, I gave out a shrug. It's not like that I'm going to convince her that ladies always fall for guys because of their cheesy pick-up lines or because they act suave like some Atlesian super-spy. Mom said that women don't work that way.

"Names Ruby, Ruby Rose," she said perkily.

"Nice name." I complimented. "I have a sister named Rose, you kind of remind me of her sometimes." Come to think of it, it's funny to see that having generations of parents name their kids after colors, which caused some kids to have the same name. I know at least four people named 'Amber'. [1]

Ruby smiled for a second but I noticed it turn upside-down. "Look, Jaune... I'm sorry for calling you 'Vomit Boy'. I guess I was coping with the fact that my sister ditched me and that other girl at yelled at me because I caused that explosion... might as well call me 'Crater Face', huh?"

Crater Face? Last time I checked—there weren't any craters I saw after the explosion. Now that I think of it, either my eyesight was failing me or the gods were lazy today.

Because of the awkward atmosphere, she decided to change the subject. "So… I got this thing," she said before she pulled out her weapon, opening it out into a sniper rifle with a short scope. "This is my rifle. There are many like it but this one's mine," she presented proudly, cocking the charging handle before further expanding her weapon as it unfolds the curved blade beneath its barrel and then abruptly stabbed the ground, making me flinch slightly as I try not to think that she picked a farming tool that was meant to harvest crops of all the weapons to choose from. [2] "And it's also a scythe."

Of course, nowadays all the cool kids have a weapon which can turn into a gun. Which ranges from plausible and practical (for example, Bleu's halberd rifle and admittedly El Segador's shotgun machetes.) to stupid and downright ridiculous. There was also this one guy who had a laser yo-yo as a weapon, while his weapon doesn't transform, it begs to ask what was he thinking when he designed that crap. Let's just say he became too crippled to become a huntsman.

"Oh, that's cool!" I said, trying sound as enthusiastic as I can.

"So what do you got?"

I gulped for a moment since my weapons are pretty boring compared to others, then again I wasn't planning to impress anyone. "Well, I got this sword," I unsheathe the Crocea Mors and gave it a twirl.

"Ooooohh!" she seemed impressed for whatever reason despite my weapon being arguably the dullest armament in an academy full of crazy hardware that I might as well bought a rusted shovel as my weapon.

"And I got this shield" I took out the Désir Ardent and raised it to its shield form. Basically the closest thing I got to a transformable thingamajig.

"So, what do they do?"

"Well—the sword… kills things." I know it was so blatant that the stupidest person could figure that out but it was the only answer I could think of. "And the shield gets smaller when I'm not using it," I said while demonstrating it and putting it back on my belt. "And before you ask, yes it still weighs the same." I have pretty much have gotten accustomed to its weight since I used to carry shields that were just as heavy. While it's nothing much to be proud of, I am happy with my choice of weapons. The simplicity of the sword makes it very useful, effective and so easy to maintain that a child could do it. They're also still pretty common even if only a few people use them today, so if you lose your sword, you can easily just replace it with another one. As for the shield, it plays a crucial part in defense, and as for someone who values his life, the shield is my most trusted friend on the field of battle.

"Well, I'm kind of a dork when it comes to weapons," she giggled. "I guess I did go a little overboard when designing it."

"That's nice. I never crafted my own weapon." I didn't have much of a reason to. I haven't attended any combat schools which would have required me to craft one. Besides, why bother making your own weapon, when there are several well-made weapons for you to use?

"Oh? So where'd you get it?" she asked very curiously.

"It's a hand-me-down. My great-great-grandfather used it to fight during the war." I answered.

"Sound more like a family heirloom to me!" she chuckled. "Well, I like it! Not many people have an appreciation for the classics these days."

"Yeah... the classics," I muttered as I sheathe my sword.

"So why'd you help me out back there? In the courtyard?" she asked as we continue to walk.

I thought for a reason before coming up with one. "Eh, why not? My mom always says, 'Strangers are just friends you haven't met yet.'" I lied. Mom actually told me to never trust strangers, especially the suspicious-looking ones.

"Hmm..." Ruby hummed. "Hey, where are we going?"

I didn't realize we were wandering around blindly until she brought that up. "Oh, I don't know. I was following you."

They didn't exactly give me a map or anything, they just told me to get to the auditorium once I arrived. We found ourselves lost inside. There wasn't a directory or some recognizable landmark we could as a reference.

I looked around for a clue and in a distance, I saw a tall, athletic, redheaded beauty who caught my attention. I squinted my eyes and leaned my head closer to take a good look at her. She looked kind of familiar, have I seen her before? I couldn't tell. She was curiously looking around. I notice her bit her lip before walking away.

"Uhh, Jaune?" Ruby waved her hand in front of my face. "Are you okay?"

I snapped out of my daze. "Let's follow her," I pointed towards the tall redhead. "I think she'll take us to the auditorium."

We began to trail her. We were able to be discreet that she didn't realize she was being followed by two lost weirdos. She led us to a large building before being pulled over by a group of people who seemed to recognize her. She continued to enter the building while being followed by the said group.

"Well, this must be it." I declared. We went inside the hall and saw an entire audience of soon-to-be Grimm fodder, waiting for the ceremony to begin.

"Ruby! Over here!" called out the blonde from earlier whose shoes I vomited on, sticking out like a sore thumb from a crowd of what felt like looking at a bunch of faceless silhouettes. "I saved you a spot!"

"Oh, hey I gotta go. I'll see you after the ceremony!" she said. Leaving for her blonde friend.

Sweet girl, her optimism pretty much brightened my day. It's a shame that she's throwing her whole life for a dangerous profession that increases your chance of death, in a world that already wants to kill you. I hope things go well for her, and I mean it, really.

I looked around the auditorium and spotted the redheaded girl. I walked towards her side, pardoning myself from the people standing in the way until I got next to her.

"Umm... hi." I approached shyly.

"Hello." she graciously greeted me back.

"Nervous?"

"I guess you can say that," she confessed.

"So, mind if I ask for your name?" I saw her emerald eyes widened when I asked her that. Was there something I missed?

"Pyrrha Nikos." she noticed me fret and assured me. "It's fine. There's no harm in asking."

"Uhh... okay... thanks. Ja-Jaune Arc. Pleasure to meet you, Pyrrha." I offered my hand.

"Likewise." she accepted the gesture and smiled.

"Look, sorry if I bothered you. It's just... you looked familiar, and I just wanted to get that out of my system."

"Don't worry about it. In fact, it feels nice for someone not to recognize me for a change," she said, suggesting that she is rather popular, which explains why she was swarmed before entering this place.

I checked to see how Ruby was doing and saw her being scolded by that girl in white again. What's her problem anyway?

"…Like tall, blond, and scraggly over there." I heard her say to Ruby, apparently pointing her thumb back to my direction. Was she talking about me? I'll have to ask later. Right now, the show's about to start.

Enter The Great & Powerful Ozpin[3] – the man responsible for trapping me here. Turns out, my little joke about an evil wizard living in Beacon wasn't far-fetched. Beside him was the woman from the hologram in the airship – Glynda Goodwitch, if I'm not mistaken.

He approached the microphone and spoke. "Ahem" Everyone in the room turned to him. "I shall 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."

Heh, you wish.

His speech became a bit blunt "But I look amongst you, and all I see is wasted energy, in need of purpose, direction..." he gave a subtle glare at me as if that remark was directed towards myself. Considering that Dad told me almost the same thing, that's probably the case. Nobody was able to notice this because they were too busy murmuring on what the hell he's talking about.

He looked back at the crowd and continued. "You assume knowledge will free you of this, but your time at this school will prove that knowledge can only carry you so far." the way he was speaking, it felt like a lecture for me disguised as an opening ceremony for the school.

"It is up to you to take the first step."

He turned back and left as Miss Goodwitch stepped up. "You will gather in the ballroom tonight. Tomorrow, your initiation begins. Be ready. You're dismissed." she announced before leaving as well.

Normally, I would still think of something witty, but I just stood there, trying to comprehend if Ozpin just called me out in front of the entire school.

I was able to stop spacing out before Pyrrha was able to see me in my bewildered state. "That was... strange." she was visibly just as perplexed as everyone else.

"You tell me," I replied, hiding the frightened tone in my voice.

I remembered wanting to ask what was with Ruby and that other girl. "I got to go, it was nice knowing you, Pyrrha."

I walked straight towards Ruby's position. "Hey Ruby, is there something wrong?" I asked. I turned my head to the girl in white to finally get a good look at her, I once again found myself in a gaze. She was easily the most beautiful girl I set my eyes on. With her silver hair complemented with a side ponytail, light blue eyes whose grace is never tarnished by the scar on her left eye, and with her petite body—she looked more like an angel than human. Maybe she really is an angel. I never believed in love at first sight, dismissing them as ludicrous nonsense popularized by mediocre romance novels... until now.

...Then I took it all back after she opened her mouth.

"Yes, there is something wrong!" she answered before Ruby could say anything. "Your idiot of a girlfriend almost got us killed!"

I slightly flinched. There goes my plan to asking out this pretty if irritable white-haired chick. "Whoa, okay first off, I am not her boyfriend and second... who are you?"

In contrast to Pyrrha, she did not take kindly to that question. "Have you been living under a rock?!" she yelled before toning her voice down to a proud manner. "I am Weiss Schnee, heiress of the Schnee Dust Company."

Cool, and I'm the vice-mayor of Who-gives-a-crapVille.

I'm familiar with the Schnee Dust Company, or the SDC, for short. I just couldn't bother to know what's beyond their company name and products. I rarely use dust myself.

"Jaune Arc. Pleasure to meet you." Well, it was a pleasure for maybe like three seconds.

"Now with that out of the way, would you kindly tell your friend to be more careful around dust?! I don't need her causing more property damage." [4]

"I'm sure already she apologized and promised not to repeat it again and if that's wasn't enough then I would also like to apologize on her behalf."

She groaned and decided to change the subject. "I noticed that you've made your acquaintance with Pyrrha Nikos..." she folded her arms. "Do you have no idea who she is as well?"

Oh no, I could see where this was going. "Well... she looked kind of familiar..." I said. "No. I can't say I heard of her though."

"Excuse me? You really don't know who she is?!"

I simply shook my head.

"She graduated top of her class at Sanctum!"

"Never heard of it."

"She's won the Mistral Region Tournaments four years in a row, a new record!"

"The what?" I know what Region Tournaments are. It was just something I couldn't care less about.

"She's on the front of every Pumpkin Pete's Marshmallow Flakes box!" [5]

"Wait, that was her?!" I suddenly exclaimed. It's no wonder why she looked familiar. Ever since her face was slapped on every Marshmallow Flakes box, I've been trying to ask: 'Who is this chick and what is she doing on my cereal box?' before immediately moving on and just ate its contents. It didn't bug me again until now.

"So, after hearing all of this, do you really think she deserves your time?" Weiss asked skeptically.

I was already aware that I was out of her league the moment I saw her fans surround her. I don't plan to go on the trouble of arguing with a pseudo-princess any further, so I just told her what she wanted to hear. "I guess not."

"Good. Speaking of which, why am I wasting my time with you imbeciles? Now if you'll excuse me, I shall make my leave." she said before walking away.

Sigh, it's one of those girls. I decided to annoy her one more time before she was able to make her exit. "Oh, and just for the record, I'm a natural blond."

"Whatever."

Well, aren't you a ray of sunshine. I chuckled to myself.

"You alright, Ruby?" I asked as I turned my head to her.

"I'm okay." she replied. "We just set off on the wrong foot, I'm sure she'll be nicer soon! After all, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet!"

Oh gods, I was worried she'd take that advice to heart.

"Hey," Ruby's blonde companion called. "Thanks for sticking for my sister there—wait a minute, are you Vomit Boy?!"

I was too occupied with why she just called Ruby her sister to be disturbed by that nickname. I can tell that she is definitely not living that one down.

"The one and only." I jested. "It's Jaune Arc, by the way. Sorry for throwing up on your shoes, motion-sickness and all." I said, doing my best to maintain eye-contact and not have my sights fall toward her 'distracting assets'. Thankfully, living with seven sisters helped me prepare for this type of situation. She kinds of looks like Rose, sans the twin ponytails and the country-girl accent, instead she had hair that looks like it was never cut once in her life. [6] Seriously, what is it with this school and attractive women?

"Hey, don't sweat it, its water under the bridge. Besides, any friend of my sister is a friend of mine. Yang Xiao Long, nice to meet you."

"Good to know, you said you two are sisters?" I curiously asked, she barely had any physical resemblance to Ruby and they don't even use the same surname for whatever reason.

"Well, half-sisters. While we do share the same dad, we were born from different mothers." Yang looked down as they both frowned. I can tell that there was something that happened that they would rather not talk about.

"I see. Sorry for asking, I'm a little curious sometimes." I apologized.

"It's okay, I didn't want to leave you hanging." she reassured, cheering up.

"Hey, Jaune." Ruby called. "Thanks again for standing up to me there."

"Just helping out a friend,"

"Man—can you believe that Weiss girl? She's such a bi-...very irritating person." Yang hissed.

"She's rather cold, don't you think?" I quipped.

She laughed. "That's my line, Vomit Boy. Anyhow, it was really nice to meet you. We'll catch you later, right now we wanna tour the rest of Beacon."

"Be seeing you, Jaune!" Ruby said.

"You too, Ruby."

After I parted ways with the sisters, I went to the ballroom where I would apparently be staying in until tomorrow. As I entered, I saw some students unpacking and unfolding their sleeping bags while others were just sitting down and chatting.

So far, no one has recognized me as the Podunk guy yet, despite it being all over the news the other day. I did get a few glances, but they don't appear to be intrigued by my everyman appearance. Maybe they do recognize me, but they didn't see what I did as much of a feat—being capable of slaughtering Grimm is a minimum requirement after all, so it's probably overshadowed by all the much more impressive stunts actual Huntsmen and Huntresses pull. Not that I'm complaining, I'd rather be known as 'Vomit Boy' than have someone remind me of my embarrassing fraud of a reputation.

"Ren, look! It's Jaune Arc, the Defender of Podunk himself!"

Oh, for crying out loud.

Before I knew it, an orange-haired girl dashed towards me and repeatedly shook my hand with her tight grip. "Hi, my name is Nora. I'm a huge fan of your work. You were awesome! How often do you see someone defeat an Ursa Major and a bandit lord at the same time? Oh, you got to tell me your secrets." she babbled, still shaking my hand. I was trying to process what she all just said.

"Calm down, Nora, I think he's a little tired from his trip." A ravened haired boy with a single pink stripe said as he catches up with his friend.

"Oh, I'm sorry." Nora apologized, letting my hand go as she steps back. "It's just a huge honor to finally meet you. This is Ren, well, Lie Ren, but everyone calls him Ren. Nobody calls him Lie, it sounds too much like 'Lie' as in 'lying'." [7] She giggled before slowing and toning her voice down as she turned her face to Ren. "No offense."

"None taken," he said.

She turned back to me and began to babble loudly once again. "We've been together for soooo long, well not 'together-together', not saying he's handsome; he IS handsome, but that'd be just weird, right?"

"Umm... right." It was the only thing I could say at the moment.

"Well, enough about us! Tell us about you! How did you save an entire town from an Ursa Major and that big meanie, El Segador?!" she eagerly asked.

I was worried I have to answer questions from my apparent fans as if being interviewed by journalists and the Great & Powerful Ozpin weren't trouble enough. So I just went with the half-truth. "I don't know how I did it honestly, I just... did it," I answered nervously.

She doesn't seem to be disappointed at that answer at all. "Wooooow! So you're telling me that you are so amazing, you just simply defeated them like it was nothing? Awesome! Even me and Ren have a little trouble beating a few bandits and a single large Grimm, you on the other hand, just put them in their place like it's nobody's business! You are more hardcore than I thought."

That's obviously not what I meant, but with someone like this, what else could you do? "It's nothing, really, I was very lucky it went that way," I responded. Remember that El Edgelord would have killed me if it weren't for the Ursa I accidentally lured into town.

"Still, you have to admit, it was impressive," Ren stated, finally speaking again after letting Nora do most of the talking. "The authorities have been after El Segador for years; not only you stopped a robbery, but you succeeded in where everyone failed. His clan wasn't the same since his demise."

"Yeah, it kinda does," I replied. I really need to get out of this, I thought. It felt uneasy when discussing that fiasco. "Listen I got to go, thanks for the support."

"Anytime, Jaune!" Nora said.

Well, that was bizarre. Now I have an adoring fan on the same campus, honestly, I don't know how to feel about that. I do feel ashamed of because she is praising me for something I only did because I didn't know any better, but at the same time, she seemed so happy that I didn't want to disappoint her.

I chose not to think about it. I've met enough people with varying quirks and personalities who I will apparently be stuck with for the next four years that I needed a break.

=o=

1. An unfortunate side effect of the colorful naming convention that remains a problem to this day, while common names were a thing before, the first batch were mostly named after basic colors, which provided almost no variety. Eventually a concerned individual urged the population to diversify the names of their children by releasing a long catalog that included almost every color or color-related names; even then, communities are still prone into having at least two or more children having the same name after a color, especially with less creative parents.

2. Ignoring the fact that scythes have been proven to be effective melee weapons, and the existence of war scythes.

3. Jaune had nicknames for everyone he holds distaste with, though he was careful enough to keep them privately. One exception would be me, but it was because everyone called me nicknames at that time, which I admittedly deserved.

4. Friendly reminder that The Schnee Dust Company™ is still not responsible for any injuries or damages sustained while operating a Schnee Dust Company™ product.

5. Fun fact: While Pyrrha did enjoy posing for the box, she dislikes the cereal itself, saying they are unhealthy.

6. A correct assumption. Yang takes her hair very seriously. In fact, she unlocked her semblance at her first attempted haircut. Needless to say, Taiyang Xiao Long had to pay for the damages.

7. Many people assume that Lie Ren's naming order is 'surname first, given name second' due to him hailing from Anima, where some parts follow that naming order. It's soon confirmed that this is not the case for him and that he is often addressed through last-name basis, intentionally or not. Not that he minds at all.

If there's anything more embarrassing than my undeserved reputation, it's my choice for apparel during lights-out—A light blue adult-sized onesies, accompanied with bunny slippers of the same color. Anyone starting on elementary school would deem wearing these discomfiting which I barely felt until now because I never thought of wearing these outside the house.

I have four legitimately good reasons for wearing this ignominious excuse of a nightwear:

One, its fabric is too comfortable not to wear.

Two, my other options are so much worse, that I left them at home.

Three, the reactions I get from it were pure gold.

Four, screw you, I wear what I want, what are you gonna do, mock me to death? Oooh, I'm scared.

I know I could have just slept with jeans or with boxers on at least but wearing jeans in bed is rather uncomfortable that it would require an amount of fatigue to sleep in those things, and there's no way I'm showing my heart-patterned boxers in public, if I am to make a fool out of myself anyway, I might as well get comfortable.

What worries me more than my childish nightwear is the initiation tomorrow, there was no doubt that I have to impress The Great & Powerful Ozpin by going through trials that he himself has set up. So I waited for the locker room to be clear of any potential eavesdroppers before calling the most intelligent trustworthy person I know who have previously attended Beacon.

"Hello, Jaune! How's Beacon treating you?" Bleu appeared on my scroll's screen, wearing her dark blue nightgown. I haven't seen her much in person since she was too busy teaching at a Huntsman academy on Mantle.

"Not as bad as I fear it to be, even made a few friends. Its tomorrow's initiation is what I'm worried about." I told her.

She seemed to be more focused on a familiar sight. "Are you seriously wearing those in public?"

"Hey, I didn't have much of a choice, you've seen my other pajamas!"

She audibly sighed. "Fair point, but still, buy some new pajamas. I keep hearing Viola regretting to have made them like that. Seriously, you don't have a reason to be lazy this time."

I plan to. I always have the feeling that Viola only made these so that everyone at the house could stop cringing every time they look at me at night and made them cozy enough to keep me from wearing my old pajamas, however, it's still designed to make me look laughable, but at least relatively bearable to look at. I admit it's partly my fault by not telling Viola to make me a less embarrassing sleepwear, then again I got too comfortable with the onesies that I forgot to ask.

"Don't worry, I'll work it out. Anyway, can you give me some details about the initiation tomorrow?"

"You want me to spoil the initiation for you? Doesn't that ruin the excitement?" she raised her brow.

"The only thing exciting about it is when it ends." I scoffed.

She chuckled. "And why would I do that? Even if I tell you, it's probable that Professor Ozpin made changes to the initiation after these years." she has a point, being in her early thirties, it has been a decade since she studied here.

"It would still be worth it," I said. "You wouldn't want your only brother to die a shameful death on the initiation, would you?"

She rolled her eyes. "Jaune, you're not getting killed—I've seen what you can do, you'll be fine."

"I almost died to an Ursa and a group of bandits!"

"...And you didn't." she retorted. "Seriously, do you think that father trained you for nothing?!"

I widened my eyes a bit. I then realized that self-deprecation won't get me anywhere other than further arguing, so I gave her another reason. "I just wanted to be prepared this time. All I just need is a little heads-up, that's all."

She sighed again. "Knowing you, even if I refused, you would still stubbornly hold out for me, would you?"

I gave a dim nod. "Fine, at the very least, you'll learn something from this," she said, taking a deep breath. "The initiation will take place at the Emerald Forest. You will be launched into the air and you will have to land with your own landing strategy. You still have one right?"

I remember during Dad's training, I would sometimes be thrown off a cliff without a parachute just so I could work on my landing strategy. If it wasn't for my huge aura reserves I would have died or at least be very severely injured on my first few attempts. [1] "Just like we practiced at home." I nodded.

She smiled. "Good. Now about the Grimm, you have not much to worry about. Usually, the forest is just full of Beowolves, some Ursa and if you're very unlucky, a King Taijitu." I gulped at the latter. "It's nothing you can't handle. Besides, like I taught you back at home, King Taijitus aren't that bad if you aim for their heads." [2]

Even if they are not as tough as they appear to be, their appearance alone was enough to give me a series of nightmares. I already hate snakes, and them being two-headed giant snakes makes them even more terrifying. "I hope you're right about this."

"Oh Jaune, as bitter as ever... You're not being rude to your new friends are you?"

"Of course not. I am a lot of things, Bleu, but being a straight-up jerk isn't one of them."

"Good, because you'll be paired with the first person you make eye contact with, they'll be your partner for the next four years; if you want to get through Beacon, you will need to trust one another."

I thought of Ruby and Pyrrha for a second. "Anything else?" I asked.

"Your objective is to retrieve a relic, your team will be formed depending on the relic you took." she took a deep breath. "I've said enough. Take it with a grain of salt though, I may have not mentioned some things because of possible changes. Keep this between us, okay?"

"Don't worry. I will. Thanks a lot, Bleu."

"You're most welcome—and Jaune, please don't push yourself too hard," she said before ending the call. I got to give it to Bleu, she had yet to let me down, even if I did doze off at some of her lessons. She's always known to be the reliable one, practically carrying us Arc children. I wouldn't know what to do without her.

I exited the locker room and made my way to my futon. I reminded myself of my questionable apparel, while I still do find these embarrassing, it actually didn't bother me that much. I don't care how people see me so long as they don't intend to give me any serious harm. I would gladly exhibit my childish apparel for kicks. However, most students were fast asleep and those that weren't were too preoccupied. The only person who witnessed my crime of fashion was Yang, who was gazing at some shirtless boys, I spoiled her eye-candy by walking through her field of view, her smile quickly turned into a cringe as I grinned at my own mischief. Sadly, that was the only reaction I got when I reached my futon. The boys she was staring didn't seem to mind at all for some reason, maybe they were crazy enough to think that was normal, I don't know.

Still, it was worth it. I needed a little fun. It was one way to cope with being on a school to become a killing machine in a world that hates your guts. The people I met here are surprisingly friendly and decent, aside from a certain snotty corporate brat, I wouldn't mind spending four years with them. But I shouldn't be too attached to these people, in case something goes terribly wrong, and this being a school for Huntsmen and Huntresses, that is very likely. We'll be going through hazardous terrors to see if we're good enough for them and the initiation tomorrow will only be the beginning. Perhaps I'm thinking this a little too much, they did manage to get themselves into this prestigious academy, after all, it's myself that troubles me—I'm nothing like them, I'm only here because of sheer chance and stupidity. I'm worried that I'm going to slow them down because of my cowardice and unwillingness to become a Huntsman like them, the fact that I been trying to make them believe that I was some lovable idiot to get them to be protective of me didn't help.

Why not get expelled? I didn't want to be here after all. Yeah well, the problem is, Dad would not only be disappointed in me, but it would also leave give my family name an ugly reputation. Rouge, for all her flaws, at least managed to graduate to Beacon, even if she did eventually lose her Huntress license, she wasn't pursuing to be a Huntress anyway since she only attended to stay out of trouble for a little while. Although even if she's not the worse person I've met, I'm not going to stoop lower than her and dishonor my family, so I'm going to have to get through Beacon while making sure my hide is safe and avoid being too impressive that teachers get the wrong idea and send me into dangerous missions because of it. Then I can go home and go back to my peaceful, boring life. It's the least I could do, I'm not going to let Dad down after everything he's done for me.

I sighed and took a deep breath. Only time will tell how well my life in Beacon goes, I'm still barely twenty-four hours here and I needed to get some sleep.

I took one last look at the shattered moon before falling into slumber...

...

...

...

Until it was ruined by the sound of fighting.

"What in the world is going on over here?!" I heard a certain Ice-Queen yell. "Don't you realize some of us are trying to sleep?"

"Oh, not you again!" she and Yang exclaimed in unison.

I groaned. It's going to be a long year.

=o=

1. The Arcs are well-known for their large aura reserves, making them very durable fighters.

2. King Taijitus are infamous for their huge and menacing appearance, however, their fragile heads made them less threatening to any experienced Huntsmen. This is due to being one of the few Grimm specimens not bear a mask on its face.

Well, there you have it! The second chapter should be out shortly, it's at least 90% by the time this chapter is published.

Jaune's father obviously is based on the titular protagonist this fic is inspired from as if his name didn't give that away, while his mother is a combination of Joan of Arc and Amberley Vail (where Jaune's blond hair and blue eyes inherited from.) (EDIT: I renamed Joan to Ambervale, since she was becoming too much of an Amberley, that I decided to name her after her. That and I wanted to deviate from stories where Jaune has a relative named Joan.)

And yes, El Segador is based off Overwatch's Reaper in his Mariachi skin. And no, some of Jaune's sisters, namely Vert, Blanche, and Noir aren't intentional references to Hyperdimension Neptunia, I have yet to play those games myself.

Whether you enjoyed the fic or didn't, please don't forget to leave any feedback.

EDIT 12/9/2018

(SPOILERS FOR V6 CH7)

No, I am not renaming Bleu (or any of Jaune's sisters) to Saffron/Saphron, whatever her name is spelt. This story is already AU before the first episode even started, which means you can stop searching for retcons now.