Jaune didn't have to become a Hunter. Not really. He could always have been a farmer or something.
Disclaimer: I don't own RWBY. It belongs to RoosterTeeth, and the memory of the master of computer animation. May your brainchild keep moving forward, Monty.
A Farmer or Something
Yet, I speak truth, when you arrive there you will take revenge on them for their outrages. When, though, you have killed the Suitors in your palace, by cunning or openly, with your sharp sword, then pick up a shapely oar and travel on till you come to a race that knows nothing of the sea, that eat no salt with their food, and have never heard of crimson-painted ships, or the well-shaped oars that serve as wings. And let this be your sign, you cannot miss it: that meeting another traveler he will say you carry a winnowing-fan on your broad shoulder.
Homer, The Odyssey
/
In another time, in another place, Jaune never lied about his transcripts, never stole the family weapons from the fireplace mantle, and never snuck away in the middle of the night to chase a fool's dream of Heroes.
/
In another time, in another place, Pyrrha knew she was destined to be a Champion and Hero from a young age. It took years to learn that the Oracle's prediction was a curse, not a blessing- after all, what would be the need of a Great Hero is not even greater suffering?
/
He lived the life his parents had wanted for him, the life of peace they had fought so hard to secure for their family.
/
Hers was a life of glory and accomplishment, magnificent and inspiring. The last time she saw her parents, before she left for Beacon, it was with tears of pride in their eyes, glad their training had been successful.
/
He had friends, normal as they might have been.
/
Beacon was kind enough, if odd. She entered with hopes, dreams of fitting in like everyone else. Of making friends, of having someone of her own to share simple confidence in. A lonely girl in red on the ground was her first attempt. It would not be her last.
/
He never lost them until old age, not to war or pestilence or famine or tragedy.
/
Her first partner died before the Initiation was over- dashed by the Deathstalker in its own cave. A tragedy, they said- how unfortunate that everyone else already had been paired.
Her second, the first to lose her own partner to a swarm of Grimm, lasted a week before she took her own life. To be too close to a partner was to risk dependence. The third was cocky, over-reliant on her and her fame- and fell to the White Fang as soon as she was absent. Others came. They all died. No matter how hard she tried.
Eventually they stopped trying. Team NPR was merely support, a partnership and a spare worth both of them to save the day whenever needed.
Years later, she confided to Weiss that she was glad they hadn't become partners- if only so that the Heiress didn't fall victim to the curse.
/
He never had enemies, though there were some he disagreed with.
/
The White Fang Rebellion defined her. The Breach started an uprising, years in the making. Friends turned and kingdoms fell as years of planning and conspiracy tore against each other. She fought through it all, unbeaten, a Legend in her own time.
/
He never hated them, no matter how annoying.
/
She became what she hated, and hated herself for it, hated how much hate she swallowed down each day. A Champion was poise, dispassionate, the image of self-control- the virtues of stoicism and self-restraint worthy of a hero.
It should never have become her mask of merciless execution.
/
He never knew war, or conflict, or strife.
/
The war raged on and on, long enough that the days of being a Champion-in-Training were a distant memory. There were no more new Champions now- not since Sanctum had been overrun. Just as there were few new Hunters since Beacon had dimmed.
She was among the last. So long as she fought, they would not be forgotten. They would live through her legend.
/
He did know loss, but only the sort of outliving your parents and older friends.
/
Her parents had been early casualties- a cowardly attempt to bring down the champion through dirty means. Then elements of RWBY- a heroic sacrifice there, a crippling injury there, a soul broken by guilt, another removed by family.
But it was Ren and Nora that broke her. Even if she hadn't been as close as they were together, they had been her closest friends. Her touchstones to normality. She mourned. She raged. She avenged them in a struggle that became a legend in its own right. And then she was alone once again.
/
In his entire life, he never once went further than the ten miles it took to reach the next village.
/
She traveled the world. She went to exotic places. She met new people. And then she killed them.
/
And yet, he was content with his life of simple deeds and simple kindness.
/
They honored her for it. Showered her with respect and adulation even as she held back her bile. Guilt and disgust and trauma at fighting for 'necessity,' for 'the greater good,' for other people's battles in other people's lands for other people's reasons. She lied encouragements to others, giving them hope to travel a road she had long since despaired of.
/
In another time, Jaune Arc never lied his way into becoming a Hero.
/
In her time, Pyrrha Nikos was the Hero. Champion, Huntress, Goddess of Victory. When Beacon was rebuilt, it was her statue (and hers alone) that would greet students.
(And then, one day, she disappeared.)
/
But he did meet one once.
/
She didn't know where she was, honestly- she had simply picked a direction away from the battlefields and started walking. She knew she was further from the old fronts when fewer people pointed and stared as the Champion walked past.
One day a cart carrying crops passing her slowed to a stop. A blonde man with blue eyes looked at her curiously.
"What's that?" he asked, pointing to Milo balanced on her shoulder. "Some sort of fancy new shovel?"
/
And married her, never knowing.
/
"Nothing so useful or important," she claimed. "Would you mind if I caught a ride?"
"I'm not going far," he warned even as he offered a hand. "Just down the road to home, Miss…?"
"Home sounds marvelous," Pyrrha said, taking his hand with the first real smile in years.
/
Jaune Arc was a Farmer.
/
Pyrrha Nikos preferred to be remembered as a Farmer's Wife.
/
And that was something.
/
It was all she needed to be happy.
/
He just wanted a peaceful life for his own children.
/
His wife agreed, never training their children in the way of heroes, in the art of war.
/
And he intended to let both sets of family heirlooms stay where they belonged, up and unused on the fireplace mantle.
/
Until one day two empty children's beds, an empty fireplace mantle, and a foolish shared dream of heroism set the wheel of Fate turning once more.
/
Fin
/
In another time and place, Jaune was something else.
/
Author Notes:
An idea that has been bouncing around my head for awhile now. Obviously based on Jaune's words to Pyrrha, about what he could have done with his life instead of Beacon. I like to think that Jaune could have lived a happy, peaceful life... but that things would have been worse all around without him.
(Well, I take that back. I think Jaune would have chased after his kids and been eaten by a beowolf, but that didn't fit well into this story.)
I used the / to delineate transitions because FFN is finicky with its page breaks bar. I find that they appear and disappear inconsistently, so this may become a thing going forward... which is easier for me, honestly, since I can just type that into the text documents.
I intend to make more of these in the future, after I return from a long trip. I seem to have a thing for Jaune AU's or backstory rewrites that don't make him into an utter badass- while the machismo can jump off a cliff, Jaune being the weak guy who doesn't quit and tries to do the right thing is central to his character, and a major part of his charm. It humanizes him in a way that others aren't, and it's his weakness that contrasts how impressive everyone else is.
So expect more alternative life/career choices for Jaune in the future. Modest, mundane, simpler lives befitting a guy who wasn't cut out to make it into Beacon and the world of heroes. And yet, somehow, each job will still bring him in contact with one of his friends from Beacon.