Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

At the moment, Jaune hated being a Dragon Slayer.

Don't be mistaken, he liked his semblance, he really did, but in his current situation he hated his powers. Why? Because he was stuck on a flying vehicle.

It's such a weird and specific weakness. One he could have been warned before all of this.

'Oh yeah, you can be the master of poison and be immune to it. Oh FYI, you want to throw up anytime you enter something that can move.'

"Thanks a lot Mom…" He said to himself, his voice slightly echoing from the trash can he had grabbed and hugged on for dear life. He was dreading this part of his trip to Beacon, which was riding aboard a large Bullhead. As he lifted his head to look at the multitude of students around him, he saw each of them displaying a different expression and emotion. Some were quite excited, some were incredibly nervous, and a few just stared out of the windows with calm expressions. He heard a few comments of him vomiting with his enhanced hearing. They thought that they were being discrete, but Jaune could still hear them.

Gods, he hasn't even entered the damn school and he already has a reputation.

As soon as the ship had landed, he quickly stumbled his way to the nearest exit, nearly knocking everyone on the way and apologizing to every person he ran into. Once he was off of the plane he fell forward to be accepted once more to the ground's embrace. "Solid ground! Oh, how I've missed you!" He stayed there, not caring about the odd looks he was getting from other people.

After making out with the ground, he stood up and walked away from his location. As he did, he noticed a white haired girl complaining to a girl wearing a red hood about the usage of Dust. The girl in white was shaking a bottle of red Dust, which was leaking out of the bottle. Jaune could smell the Dust almost spicy scent.

"That's not good." He said hastily. Anyone with basic knowledge about dust knows how dangerous uncontained red dust was. He was about to intervene when the girl in red sneezed, causing the red dust to ignite. Jaune chuckled at the girl in white's reaction and her soot covered face. He also felt bad about the girl in red. Before their argument went on further, a third person joined the fray. She wore mostly black.

"It's like everyone has a freakin' color scheme..." Jaune whispered. Soon enough, the girl in white and the girl in black had left the girl in red to collapse on the ground in defeat.

"Well, that won't do." Jaune said with a slight frown before shifting his expression to what he hoped seemed like a welcoming grin.

He walked over to the girl and outstretched his hand. "Hey, I'm Jaune!" he said with his toothy smile, hoping to cheer her up.

She hesitantly responded and grabbed the offered hand.

"Ruby." She stated with a small smile. "Aren't you the guy who threw up on the ship?"

Jaune eyebrow twitched at this. "Yeah, well it's a sort of side effect that comes with my semblance. I have severe motion sickness because of it." He explained vaguely. He knew she would ask, and it would be easier just to say what he was, but Jaune liked to keep things a secret.

Things didn't work out so well last time someone found out about his past.

"How does that work?" Ruby asked. She'd never heard of a semblance with a drawback. Sure some semblances needed some sort of condition to work, but she was pretty sure motion sickness doesn't count as it.

Jaune shrugged and smiled. "Beats me, but as long as I'm not in a vehicle, I'm a force to be reckoned with!" He flexed, causing Ruby to laugh.

They began to walk silently when Ruby spoke up. "So I got this thing." She said offhandedly as she let her scythe completely form, causing Jaune to jump back in surprise.

"Brothers!" He shrieked not like a little girl as he had to dodge the blade. "So you have a scythe?"

"It's also a customizable, high impact sniper rifle." Ruby said proudly.

Jaune blinked.

"...it's also a gun." Ruby said with humor. She directed her attention back to Jaune. "So what do you have?" She said with surprisingly large interest.

Jaune drew his sword from its sheath, then activated his sheath, turning it into a large shield.

"It's not much, but it gets the job done." He said. He obtained the sword and shield in his travels from a man named Nicholas Arc. He saved him from being devoured by the Grimm in a mission, though his injuries forced him into an early retirement. Rather than leaving the sword and shield to gather dust in an attic or above a fireplace like a decoration, he gave them to him, as thanks for letting him grow old with his wife and see his daughters grow up.

His seven daughters, by the way.

Sheesh, imagine having seven sisters… He thought, shivering.

Ruby was in awe even for a simplistic design. "That's so cool! There is nothing wrong with the classics!" she yelled with child-like glee, snapping him out of his thoughts. "Have you thought of upgrading and turning it into a gun?"

"...I don't think everything needs to be a gun." Jaune said with a raised eyebrow.

Ruby gasped, as if he said the most offensive thing in the world. "You don't like guns? Next thing you're going to tell me is that you don't like cookies…" She said as she sniffed with tears in her eyes and looked at him with a puppy-eyed look.

Suddenly he felt like an asshole. "Nononono! I love guns! And I love cookies! I love cakes, strawberries, snipers! Everything that is sweet and shoots bullets!" Jaune yelled, waving his arms, careful not to hit her with his sword. Please don't cry!

"Great!" Ruby quickly cheered up, wiping her face on her sleeve. "Well we better get to the main building or we'll miss the orientation."

They both retracted their weapons. "That sounds good, let's go!" Jaune said as he began to lead the way with Ruby close behind.

"How do you know where you're going?" Ruby asked curiously. Beacon was basically a maze to her, and they didn't even hand out maps!

"I can smell a large group of people over in this direction." He said, pointing his nose upwards.

"Huh?" Ruby tilted her head, confused.

Jaune chuckled. "Just kidding. I saw a bunch of people heading in this direction, so most likely I'm on the right track." He corrected himself. He learned pretty quickly that saying you can 'smell' something is somewhat creepy.

"Oh that makes sense." She said.

Once they entered the orientation room, Ruby was called over by a girl in yellow. The girl in yellow actually looked familiar. Jaune recognized her as one of the ones who commented on his air sickness.

Her hair is actually so bright it's giving me a migraine. He thought, rubbing his eyes.

Ruby looked back at Jaune. "Hey that's my sister, I gotta go. I'll talk to you after the orientation!"

Before he could respond, Ruby was gone. "Great. Now who am I going to talk to?" Jaune said with defeat in his voice. Jaune just stood awkwardly, waiting for something, ANYTHING to happen. Unfortunately nothing happened. He looked back at Ruby, only to see her talking to the girl in white again. He used his enhanced hearing to eavesdrop on their conversation, but he only caught the ending of the girl in white's sarcasm.

"Yeah, and we can paint our nails, and try on clothes, and talk about cute boys like tall, blonde and scraggly over there." She finished while pointing her thumb at Jaune, who was confused as to how their conversation had reached a topic like that.

Seriously, why does every girl I meet say that? Jaune thought. He then heard the sound of a microphone being turned on. He looked over to the stage only to see Professor Ozpin.

Hey it's Ozpin! Jaune mentally cheered. Finally, someone he actually knew! As the headmaster began his speech, Jaune just stared in deep thought.

He was probably the only headmaster Jaune liked. Two of them he was indifferent while one of them… He shook his head. Don't get worked up. You're in Vale. The only chance you would have running into him would be at the Vytal Festival and even then it's a small shot…

As he refocused, Ozpin finished his speech and the blonde woman next to him, Glynda, told everyone to prepare for the next day, Jaune looked at the girl in white again before thinking of a conversation starter. He walked over to her and said. "I'm a natural blonde you know!" She just sighed, clearly annoyed with Jaune's entrance. She walked off before he could say anything else.

Well that wasn't the reaction I was hoping for. He thought, and then shrugged. I'll just try again later.

Later that night, all of the students were gathered in one large room for the night. Jaune was slightly concerned by this. "Crap…" He whispered to himself.

He had enhanced hearing and it was a good thing, but he couldn't control it or tone it down in his sleep, meaning, in a place packed with multiple people, it just gave him a headache as he could hear multiple things at once.

He could always use earplugs, but he rather not risk getting attacked in his sleep. Chances of that happening in a situation like this are low, but never zero.

Jaune grabbed a sleeping bag and went to a corner, to try and distance himself as much as he could. He sighed. It's only one night… Jaune thought. He stood there awkwardly, fidgeting in his spot. Still, how is everyone comfortable with this?

He is seeing like, 3 different guys walking around shirtless, flexing and wrestling to impress the girls in the room, and he has had to look away 4 different times once he saw a girl take off her clothes. Mom always said to give a girl privacy. He thought

Maybe that's it? You won't exactly have the luxury of privacy out in the field, so maybe they want to drill that idea from the start?

He sighed. "Better get this over with…" He muttered as he took off his armor, his Pumpkin Pete hoodie he got from a nearby store and his pants since he might as well get comfortable. Immediately, he felt chills down his spine as he felt the volume quiet down ever so slightly a multiple pairs of eyes stare at him, and not for the right seasons.

"What the fuck?" Yang said.

"Language, Yang." Ruby said, still writing.

"Ruby, check out Vomit Boy over there." Yang said, ignoring Ruby.

Ruby sighed at Yang's nickname for Jaune. "Yang, I'm not about to look at Jaune like he is a piece of meat." She said.

"No, I'm serious. Look." She said, grabbing her sister's face and forcing her to look at Jaune.

Ruby eyes widened. His back was covered in scars. Actually... His back was nothing but scars. She could see the outlines of each of them, some looking new and some looking older, like he was covered in layers of scars.

It wasn't just his back though. His arms, his front from what she could see, and his legs were covered in scars. The only ones that seemed with less of them were legs, but that wasn't a comfort.

"What…happened to him?" Ruby asked, horrified. "That amount of scars isn't normal."

"Don't know, but Vomit Boy just went from a 6 to a 9." Yang said with a smirk, though on the inside she was worried as well.

"Should we go talk to him?" Ruby asked again.

"You can clearly see he was uncomfortable about it." Yang said as they watched Jaune quickly enter his sleeping bag and cover himself. "If he wants to, he will come to us."

"Okay…" Ruby said, looking away from Jaune to get the image of his scars out of her head before she stopped at someone. "Oh, that's her!"

"Who?" Yang asked, looking at where her sister was looking.

"The girl that helped me against Weiss!" Ruby said.

"Woah, she's cute." Yang said, before smirking. "Let's go say hi!"

"Wait what?" Was all Ruby said before Yang grabbed her and dragged her against her will.

Meanwhile Jaune was thankful nobody approached him. He was overjoyed by this. He got comfortable in his sleeping bag and began to focus on other conversations. He could hear the girl in yellow and the girl in black exchange names. '

So their names are Yang and Blake, cool.

He casually listened to their conversation, and learned a little bit about Blake and Ruby. He enjoyed hearing Ruby's inspiration to become a hunter, so innocent yet so… for the lack of a better word, inspiring. He found that he was about to fall asleep to their lovely conversation before Yang got Ruby worked up, which apparently pissed off the girl in white. She told them to be quiet, which somehow led to each of them telling each other to be quiet. Jaune inwardly groaned. Guess I can forget about peace and quiet…

Unknown to him, two sets of eyes were staring at Jaune, but for different reasons than you might think, a single thought going through both of their heads.

Those scars… Could he be like me?

Chapter Text

It took him an hour to fall asleep after everyone quieted down, hearing breathing coming from a lot of people at the same time until his hearing got used to it.

After that, it was a pretty peaceful sleep…

Until they had to wake up.

Jaune woke up with a groan and immediately scanned the room to find out what caused the early morning disturbance. The answer he found was an orange haired girl repeating "It's morning!" while practically teleporting around a slightly annoyed black haired man. Jaune sighed and looked around. Most were still asleep or trying to ignore the noise. So stood up and stretched his muscles, causing his body to crack and pop. Once he felt that he had woken his body up after a few stretches, he quickly got dressed and was pleased that he caught nobody staring this time. He should probably have bought some sleepwear, but he was always more comfortable sleeping with less clothes on. He did it since he was a kid, so why stop now?

Regardless, he then went down to the cafeteria. He sat down next to the same black haired man from earlier, who was still being spoken to by the overly energetic girl. She had a pancake in her mouth, so her words were muffled. The black haired man just endured his partner's unrelenting banter. Jaune decided not to intervene for the time being. Jaune finished his breakfast and slowly made his way to the locker room, just enjoying his walk in silence and peace.

Jaune finally entered the locker room, only to once again be met with the same unending banter from the orange haired girl.

How does she have so much energy!? I swear I'm five seconds away from poisoning her…

"Nora?" the man said. This was actually the first time Jaune heard the man speak, but the now dubbed Nora had been talking all morning.

"Yes Ren?" Nora asked innocently. She acted similar to a small child, but Jaune wouldn't comment on it. She was here for a reason too, after all. She could be just as dangerous as he was. Don't judge a book by its cover.

"I don't think sloths make a lot of noise." Ren responded calmly, slipping his green pistols into his sleeves smoothly. Jaune actually thought that Ren's sleeves ate the guns for a moment.

Jaune was extremely confused. What kind of conversation did I just walk in on? Jaune thought. Jaune quickly made his way deeper into the locker room. He pulled out his locker paper as he walked. He stared at the paper, and then started to frown.

"Ridiculous! There's no way I put my gear in locker six three six yesterday. I would've remembered having to count that high..." Jaune groaned again and he felt like he was going to do that quite a bit today. Having literally no idea where he was going, he shrugged and folded the paper up and shoved it in his pocket. He passed by two girls and-

A cold dread washed over him. 'What… is this foul smell!?' He thought. 'Not even the Grimm had this horrible smell!'

He turned around to find the source, expecting to find the most dangerous being alive… only to see the girl in white sporting one of the most disturbing grins he had ever seen.

She was the source of the smell? He saw the girl in white had a red haired girl next to her. Maybe she was the source instead?

He decided to get closer, which the girl in white seemed to have noticed.

"What do you think you're doing?" She asked.

Jaune stopped for a bit. "Um… walking towards you?" He said, a bit unsure. He had no idea what these girls were capable of. Would one of them attack him if he tried to approach? They had their weapons on them while he was unarmed, though he didn't really need his weapons.

The redhead behind the girl in white chuckled at his comment. Somehow this caused the girl in white to scowl even more. "How dare you not show any sort of respect to an heiress, as well as a celebrity!?" She pointed at herself, then the girl behind her, who merely waved politely.

Jaune raised an eyebrow. "What are you even the heiress of? And I honestly don't know who that woman is." He pointed at the red haired girl, who suddenly stepped in front of the girl in white and outstretched her hand, a bit too eager. Whatever, she was probably just being friendly.

"Well then, my name is Pyrrha Nikos." the red-haired girl said. Jaune went to shake Pyrrhas' hand, when the girl in white stepped between them.

Rude, but it helped him confirm who was the source of that foul smell. Not Pyrrha, but the girl in white.

Was this girl a serial killer in disguise or something?! He's fought terrorists with better scents than her!

"How do you not know who either of us are?!" She yelled. Jaune scratched the back of his head again.

"Well I know who she is now, she's Pyrrha Nikos. And so far that's all I know." He stated as Pyrrha laughed again. The girl kept her scowl which to Jaune seems like her default expression.

"Fine! Since you don't know, I will grant you the opportunity to know who I am. I am Weiss Schnee, Heiress to the Schnee Dust Company." She praised herself. Weiss waited for Jaune to respond with some shoe kissing or something, but Jaune's expression didn't change in the slightest. To Weiss, he seemed unimpressed.

In reality, Jaune was thinking. He knew of the Schnee Dust Company and while their actions sometimes disgusted him, he was pretty sure they didn't smell worse than the Grimm.

For starters, how did she even hide her scent? I was near her yesterday and didn't smell a thing! Was it because there were a lot of people at the auditorium? That doesn't explain when she was with Ruby after she made the Dust…

The Dust! The explosion must have somehow hid her scent for the rest of the day and he only smelled today because the Dust either wore off or because she took a shower or a combination of both!

I better keep my eye on her. Something about her is suspicious. Jaune thought as he outstretched his hands. "I'm Jaune, pleased to meet you two." Pyrrha shook his hand while Weiss batted his other hand away lightly. "So I've been hearing rumors about teams, either of you want to team up with me?"

Weiss looked slightly disgusted while Pyrrha smiled again. "Jaune was it? Do you have any idea who you're talking to?" Weiss asked, pointing at Pyrrha. Gods, she was beginning to sound like a broken record…

"If I remember correctly, I believe I am talking to the one and only Pyrrha Nikos who you claimed to be a celebrity." Jaune stated. Weiss pinched the bridge of her nose in clear annoyance.

"Well do you have any idea WHAT she is famous for?" Jaune cupped his chin with his hand, thinking for a moment. He was pretty sure in his travels he never came across the name Pyrrha Nikos.

"Should I?" He asked. She definitely isn't a huntress if she is coming to this school. Maybe she's an heiress like Weiss?

"Pyrrha graduated top of her class in Sanctum." Weiss said proudly. Jaune simply held a blank stare. Where the hell is Sanctum?

"She won the Mistral Regional Tournament four years in a row." She added while Jaune still stared. Ok, I think I've heard of that. Always happens when I'm out of town... Still not recognizing her though...

Weiss was getting even more annoyed at the blonde's ignorance. "She's on the front of every Pumpkin Petes Marshmallow Flakes Box!" She yelled while flailing her arms in frustration.

Jaune thought for a moment before snapping his fingers. "Ah, I remember eating those sometimes. Always fun when I want something sweet. You must be pretty famous to be so well known, especially by an heiress."

Weiss crossed her arms, "So after hearing all of this, do you really think you're in a position to ask HER to be on your team?" she asked.

"Hey, there's no harm in asking, right?" Jaune said, shrugging. "And sheesh, lighten up will you? You act like the ground she walks on is divine or something. She's a champion, not a goddess."

Pyrrha felt happy to have someone finally see her as a fellow student and not some sort of prodigy for once.

"I think you'd make a great team leader, Jaune." She smiled warmly at him. Jaune wasn't sure where that had come from, but he decided to just roll with it.

Jaune smiled back, "You think so? I honestly can't see that happening. I've never led anyone anywhere, well except when I led Ruby to the orientation room." He said.

He turned back to Weiss, and got a bit closer. "So how 'bout it, wanna be on my team?" Jaune asked. He was getting a little too close for comfort and he knew that, but he wanted to see how she would react.

Weiss looked away. "You're too close. Pyrrha, a little help please?" Before Jaune could respond, he felt something stick into his sweatshirt and send him flying backwards.

"I'm sorry!" Pyrrha said as he found himself stuck to a locker. Weiss slowly walked past him with Pyrrha right behind her. She retrieved her javelin from his hoodie.

"It was nice meeting you." She said with a smile.

"Likewise." he responded in a daze. He was impressed. Pinning him like that took serious accuracy and he didn't even hear her pull out her weapon.

Screw being on the same team, he wants to fight her!

He heard new footsteps approach him and heard a familiar voice.

"Having some trouble there ladykiller?" He looked up to see Yang and Ruby, the latter holding an outstretched hand.

"I think I have a concussion." He said as he grabbed Ruby's hand and lifted himself up, rubbing the back of his head.

"Meh, your Aura will fix that before the test." Yang said.

Aura, right…. He thought with a grimace.

Jaune looked at Yang. "We haven't formally met yet, I'm Jaune." He outstretched his hand towards Yang, who took it with a firm grip.

"Yang Xiao Long, pleased to meet you. You know, with you talking to Ice Queen and the Amazonian back there and helping Ruby out yesterday, I can't help but feel you're building a harem." She responded.

Jaune blinked. "I don't know what that is, but I wasn't trying anything. Ruby looked lonely and I was making small talk with the other two."

He decided not to tell them about the scent because he had no proof.

"Oh?" Yang raised an eyebrow, before smiling. He did not like that smile. "So if I was lonely, would you keep me company~~?"

"Uh…" Jaune was very confused. He looked behind Yang, seeing Ruby making a X with her arms. "I'll think about it."

Yang's smile went wider. "Hope I'll be in your thoughts for very long." She said, crossing her arms under her chest, hoping to see if he would sneak a glance.

Jaune however, did not even break eye contact.

Before Yang could say anything Ruby jumped in. "Okay guys we need to leave, like right now!" She said as she started pushing Yang out the door. "See you at the cliff!"

Jaune was still dumbfounded by Yang's actions. Why do most girls I meet do this? Is it just something that they do? He thought. Mom's teachings about girls were weird and sometimes he zoned them out. Something about mates, using protection, bla bla…

He then remembered what Ruby said.

"Crap! Gotta get to the cliff!" Jaune yelled as he sprinted out the door after getting his weapon.

Jaune barely made it to the last empty platform before Ozpin began his speech. Ozpin raised an eyebrow at the blonde, but then returned to his stoic demeanor.

"For years you've trained to become warriors. Today your abilities will be evaluated in the Emerald Forest." As Glynda spoke about the teams, Jaune stared at the forest. It looked so calm and peaceful, but he knew there were creatures of darkness lurking inside. He heard Opzin say that the person you make eye contact with after landing will be your partner for the next four years. Jaune gave Ozpin a quizzical look.

That's kind've a weird way to select teammates. Jaune thought, but this was Ozpin who came up with this. There's always some weird thing that influences his decisions. And every time it has been for the best, so he was sure he knew what he was doing.

He was also sure he just heard Ruby's entire world crack. She must not be happy about the team situation. That was understandable as from what he gathered, Ruby wasn't the most social of people. The only people that he'd seen or heard Ruby talk to were him, her sister, Weiss, and Blake, though the latter two did not seem as friendly as him.

"I guess I'll try to be her partner then." Jaune whispered. He wasn't really picky about partners. So as long as they weren't assholes, he would work with them professionally at least. Whether or not they become friends will depend afterwards.

Jaune looked to his left and saw students being launched one after another. Yang winked at him before sliding a pair of aviators on her face, then was launched. Then Ruby smiled at him and was also launched. Jaune prepared himself for the worst, as soon as he heard the small sounds of gears turning, he braced himself. He too, was launched into the air.

Jaune watched as several students made their landings, most of them were pretty smooth, while others were quite destructive. He couldn't think of any way to land using his powers that wouldn't risk the life around him or any other students.

Screw it, I'll just use the shield as protection and hope for the best. Wouldn't be the first time.

He was about to do so when he felt something get impaled into his hood. He looked and saw a familiar looking javelin.

"Sorry Ruby, looks like my partner has been chosen for me." He said as he was sent into a tree, suspended in the air. "Thank you!"

"I'm sorry!" He heard her shout.

Wait, what? Why is she apologizing? Jaune thought. Jaune stayed suspended in the air by the javelin in his hood. He tried to rip it out, but that javelin was pretty damn deep in the tree and he wasn't in a good position. Once again, he was impressed by her aim.

He heard someone complaining in a nearby bush and by the horrible scent, he knew it was Weiss. She looked up at Jaune, who merely smiled and waved. He saw the distaste in her eyes as she walked away.

At least don't leave me hanging! Jaune thought. Soon after Pyrrha walked up to where he was hanging. "Jaune, are there any spots left on your team?" She asked.

He smiled. "That depends, how good are you at ripping a javelin out of a tree?" Pyrrha laughed lightly. Jaune's smile grew even wider. Seems his new teammate is going to be an interesting one after all.