5 years ago, Atlas.

"...So it has come into this."

An old man, sitting on a beautifully carved yet modestly decorated throne, muttered. "People of the old kingdom began to question us, question our dedication, our willingness to make our move. The accursed Atlasian become increasingly bold, using Faunus rebellion as excuse, they began to hunt us, every single of us. We are the enemy, and we're to be assimilated, or exterminated."

"The irony is strong with that statement indeed." The knight standing in front of him nodded, "But I believe there should be a way to avoid this."

"You always been optimistic, Solaire." The old man chuckled.

"What are people if they lacked hope?" The knight said, "Under the shining sun of Remnant, people live their life to the fullest. It's hope and optimism that brought us so far, and civilization prosper even with the force of darkness attacking us from outside and inside. It's hope, hope to reach a better future, and that way, the will to survive came."

"Indeed... you are truly yourself, which is why I would trust you with my greatest treasure, one that I would trade the world for." The old man said, "My son. Come here, Johann."

The knight looked aside to see the presence of a cloaked boy, probably about 12 years of age, approach them both. "Did you call for me, Father?"

The old man rubbed his cheek affectionately, "Johann, my son. I think you already know this, but I won't last longer."

"Stop saying that!" the boy shouted, "Tell him something, Sir Solaire! Please!"

"Even in this very minute, your father still bravely fight his illness. However, Johann, there are times where death is inevitable. The question is, how you choose to die." the knight put a hand on the boy's shoulder to ease his tension. "Your father made a decision, decision that will eventually save our people. But for that purpose, we need you, we need you to grow strong and wise, so you can continue your father's legacy. And I came here to make sure of that."

"I wish I can stay to see you grow, to see you become a man. But I'm afraid I won't have that time, so listen, Johann. I want you to follow Sir Solaire, to respect him as your mentor, and to love him like you loved me, as your father." The old man wished, no, begged, "Please promise me."

"Father... I... I promise I will." The boy can't hold back his tears, but he determined to fulfill his father's dying wish.

"... until that day comes, your name shall be Jaune, Jaune Arc." Solaire pat the boy's head, "You have seven sisters to meet, Jaune."

The boy will never forget what transpired that day. Leaving his forsaken hometown with someone he always thought to be his best uncle, Jaune traveled through the vast, harsh terrain of the Frozen continent.

Solarie handed the boy a sheathed arming sword. The weight of the equipment pushed the boy to his knees before he can recover and lift it with both hand. Solarie helped him by gently holding the sheath. "This, Jaune is the weight of a devastating tool... tool called weapons, exist to extinguish life from the face of the planet. That weight you felt just now, is the weight of a great power... and with great power comes great burden of responsibility..."

Solaire pulled the sheathe, which significantly weighed the set. The boy finally able to stand with a proper combat stance, holding the sword one hand easily. "More than the power to kill?" he questioned as he swing around the sword.

Solaire nodded, and then, letting his soul energy flow into the sheath. Simple but rugged mechanism within the sheath expanded itself until the thing became a shield, easily half as tall as the boy's own body.

"The power to protect." A pair of red crescent emblazoned the shield.

"I see..." The boy nodded.

"To protect something is much harder than to destroy, that's exactly the same as this weapon." Solaire handed the boy the shield, which the boy able to lift but not without breaking his form. "One day, Jaune, you will be strong enough to wield both sides of this weapon. The same weapon inherited by the Men of Arcs for generations. Crocea Mors."

The boy put the sword into the shield and triggered the closing mechanism. Jaune had to slung it on his back, like and adult would to a claymore. He doesn't have difficulty carrying it per se, but to wield them in battle would be different story.

Solaire wielded his own shield and sword, a massive round shield over a meter wide and a long sword, in anticipation of the waves of dark creatures approaching them from the horizon.

"Stay with me." Solaire gently told him.

The boy's hands were shaking, he was afraid. Afraid of getting hurt, afraid to die.

But above all else, he wanted to stay alive.

And so the boy decided as he pulled the sword from the sheath, steadily holding it in defensive stance.

His name is Jaune Arc, and he will become strong. Strong enough to wield the power to protect.

JWMM - The Story of Love, War, and Redemption

By ZeroXSEED

Disclaimer:

RWBY created by Monty Oum and owned by Rooster Teeth

Chapter 1: Rite of Passage

Vale, Emerald Forest.

Jaune opened his eyes to realize that he's been flying across the sky, being thrown from the top of a cliff with a powerful springboard. His entire body clad in dark blue cape. The he remembers, it was his second day at school, the initiation event for Beacon Hunter College's students. As if they need to prove the absurdity of a school designed to train teens and young adults into deadly fighters, the initiation started with literally being thrown into a forest full of deadly beast.

Jaune decided that it's time to spread his arms. The cape blown into a makeshift glider that slow down his fall to much reasonable level, like that of a flying squirrel. "I've done this before... done this before, gotcha!"

Jaune could feel his flight path stabilize, though at the price of slowed down descent, his horizontal speed greatly diminished as well. Meanwhile, the other students continue their way further than he can reasonably achieve.

And he landed smoothly in the woods on his two feet.

"Yep, that's a perfect landing." Jaune untied the cape corners from his ankles and wrists, and then fold the upper part around his neck before clipping them with golden button, turning them into reasonably long cape instead.

He heard the rustle a little to the left and then a loud thud. Must be another student.

"Ozpin said the first person we made eye contact with will be our partner." Jaune muttered to himself as he approached the source.

What Jaune saw was the body of an imposing man, though they're about the same height the man was much more heavily built. On his back was a massive concrete chainsaw almost as tall as the man carrying it, which would've weight few dozen pounds at least. The man wore a black vest that exposed his arms, chiseled marble arms!

"Nice to meet you." Jaune carelessly called, as he felt too excited to care how stupid his action was. "The name is Jaune Arc."

The man turned to see the source and grunted. He was wearing a full face metal mask.

...

Jaune did expect to find a much stronger partner, but not as literal as he found now.

"Moderation please." Jaune begged when the big burly student punched yet another tree out-of-the-way as they both walk, without a slightest bit of effort. It's not like Jaune can't do it, it's because the man with chainsaw can do it as easily as flicking a marble.

Jaune squinted a bit to notice how the man's muscles contract and retract, and concluded that this quiet partner of him probably traded his speed for the brute strength. On the other hand, this means fighting in the open would disadvantage him, however, he would be pretty much unstoppable up close. Jaune had learned how to read muscle movement since he was a little, and luckily enough, his partner forego sleeves for extra freedom of movement.

"...If you don't want to die, don't mess around." The big man told Jaune.

"I was raised outside kingdom's protection." Jaune whipped out a small hand axe and twirled it, before shortly charging it with aura and threw it. The Axe cut through the branch of a small tree before embed itself on the skull of a bear-shaped Grimm, killing it in the very instant. "May I know who you are, Partner?"

It wasn't like Jaune can stare THROUGH his mask, but Jaune could feel the man looked at him as if Jaune's crazy.

"...Oh right we haven't even had an eye contact." Jaune said in defeat as he realized that the man still wear his mask. "I guess you really don't want me as your partner huh."

"Bane."

"Cool." Jaune smiled and raised his shield to deflect the paw of a beowulf, "Whoops." He kicked the unhinged wolf away, "Looks like we're caught in their ambush."

Bane quietly observed as Jaune cleaved through the swarm of Grimm with efficient way. Jaune was hardly fast by hunter standard, but he know how to move well. Every single stroke of his sword meet the target with utmost efficiency, with no wasted movement. It was a pretty much by-the-book Atlasian Swordmanship, but Jaune used it very well.

Just my luck. Bane thought. A nugget with some promise, whatever.

That was when Bane decided that this scrawny blond guy went from total joke to someone actually worth entering this stupid school, and MAYBE he would consider the proposition to become partners. Bane walked past Jaune to intercept an angry Ursa. The Ursa swung its paw only to be parried by a single swipe of Bane's left hand, with a resounding crunch signified that the Grimm's arm was broken. Bane grabbed the Ursa's face and shove it hard enough to make a two meters wide crater on the ground, killing it instantly.

"That's just bullshit." Jaune squeaked like a girl in disbelief.

"More to come." Bane growled and revved his Chainsaw as they saw a pack of Grimm approaching.

Until a red and bluish white blur tore through the mass of black with the sound of slicing and dicing. Jaune had to focus to see the image of two black-haired girls, twins they were, calmly danced around and cut the Grimm with inhuman speed. Their frilly dress and platform shoe they wear did not hinder their movement in the slightest. The red one viciously use her pair of triple claws to mutilate her enemies, while the white one skilfully use the blades on her heel to deliver surgical strike to take out vital spots. What a strikingly similar yet opposing combat style.

Jaune whistled.

"Ahem, I shall thank you for helping us with the clean up." Jaune approached them and then bowed slightly and offer his hand graciously, "The name is Jaune Arc, and he's Bane. He's... uh, quite a big guy huh. But he's really, really nice."

"For you." the white one let her hand on Jaune's, and he lightly kissed it, disregard the faint scent of Grimm blood, it's always better to treat women with respect. "Melanie Malachite." She said almost cockily, which don't go unnoticed by Jaune. He decided he will be careful, because this kind of young woman is the type that want to stay dominant and be served.

"Miltiades Malachite." The red one bowed slightly and lift her dress as she retracted her claws and fold it up, forming some kind of arm brace, "You can call me Miltia."

"The honor's mine." Jaune nodded,

Bane was kind of surprised, what a bunch of polite humans, he chuckled inwardly in disgust, the story will be different if one of them were Faunus. Truthfully, he would prefer to go with Adam or Blake. But looks like his own weight become his own detriment.

"There's no need to waste time here." Bane slung his chainsaw and continued his way.

"Rude." Miltia frowned, while Melanie just scoffed in response, "Typical."

"Well, he got a point." Jaune courteously offered them to go ahead of him, "I'll take rear guard."

Melanie eyed him for few second, trying to discern his motive. This kind of guy usually the most untrustworthy ones, as she learned in the dark corners of Vale. However, at the same time, she lived in the shadow long enough to take cues and she trust her own judgment more than anything else.

This boy, Jaune Arc, is either a gentleman, or an idiot. Even if he's an useless weakling, he could at least serve as nice distraction.

"Fine, let's go Miltia."

Miltia gave her a knowing smile, which made Melanie scowled in disgust. "Eww no, you KNOW my taste more than anyone else." She whispered

"Eh I dunno, he looks like the naïve type, and you totally dig that." Miltia smirked even wider. Oh she will totally have a field day teasing her twin sister.

...

Miltia and Melanie Malachite never thought there will be one day where someone actually told them to go to school. They survived their sixteen years of life in the red street of Vale, where outcasts and criminals gather for profit and for satisfaction. However, the stupid bear of a boss keep insisted that they should go.

"You two, you two are still young." The bearded bartender chuckled, "So... I don't know, go to school, kill monsters, beat the wimps, lay with a nice boy... just don't get knocked up or something. You two have a long way to go."

"Unlike this old Junior, you HAVE a future."

Melanie rudely laughed at these words, future? For Malachites? As if. They've known crimes since they were born, they're raised by dirty, filthy money. Future is not something they can get.

Or something they deserve.

The bartender should know better than that. And yet... despite his terminal bout of personal stupidity, libido of fifteen years old boy, and brilliant, shady mind capable of gathering all kinds of information, he still have faith in them.

It was as if the fate is a laughing mad gambler, somehow the Malachite Twins got accepted in the most prestigious school in the entire Kingdom of Vale. Beacon Hunter Academy. The future promised by Junior no longer seems like unreachable fantasy.

And it all start now, from the initiation ceremony.

Miltia squinted a bit to focus on the figure of six-foot tall masked man in front of her. She had her share dealing with less than savory men, especially tall and macho type.

And among them, the most dangerous type, is none other than the quiet ones. Tight-lipped monster with taste for human blood, less a person and more of a tool. Bane is not an exception, as his unbridled thirst for carnage kept drawing Grimms to their current location.

"Could you chill a bit?" Melanie open her mouth before Miltia could say anything reasonable, "Your killing intent is attracting unwarranted attention, big guy."

Leave it to Melanie to say needless things.

"She's right you know." Jaune added calmly, "I know you're nervous but please, calm down. We can do this, all of us."

"Now you're just being stupid." Melanie scolded the blond, much to his confusion.

Bane took a moment to gaze at the ragtag bunch of clowns behind him, and then scoffed. Old habits die-hard indeed.

Bane has absolutely NOTHING in his mind left to ease his anger, his sadness, his bottled up stress. The days long gone in the past were filled with nothing but despair, and he knows very well that hope only lead to disappointment. For the chainsaw wielding student known as Bane, there's no such thing as happy place.

Is there anything left in his mind that would be considered positive?

Why I am even here. He contemplated. And it finally dawned to him.

...Bane has a purpose. Bane has a concrete goal. He decided to follow Adam and Blake in their stupid runaway to make it reality. And there's nowhere else to go but to move forward. The three teenagers behind him looks more relaxed when he can finally lessen the tension in his mind, now that he's more focused.

As they move forward, they saw trails and scars of battle. Other students who landed farther than them already cleaned most of the Grimm, and it shows. The most obvious battle scene being half acre's worth of forest, black and smoking.

"What kind of retard use fire elemental attack in a densely packed woods like this?" Melanie scowled.

"The ignorant one, obviously." Miltia smirked.

Somewhere in the forest, a white-haired girl sneezed.

"Hey." Jaune walked ahead and raised his hand to stop them, the rustling sounds around the bushes caught their ears. "RUN!"

"What?" Melaine balked and then deliver a somersault against the wolf trying to jump at her, "They're just easy peasy."

"No you have to trust me." Jaune said, his innocent blue eyes seems to lose its shine. "This is not an ordinary ambush!"

Miltia extended her claws in anticipation, completely ignoring Jaune's plea. "What are you babbling about, Jaune?"

Miltia didn't hear anything when a massive paw loomed upon her, trying to squash her soundlessly. Miltia dodged aside only to face a giant Beowulf twice as tall as adult man, its teeth gleamed in contrast to its black fur.

But before it can catch the girl in red dress, Jaune slipped between them and raised his shield. "Elder beowulves, and there's a lot more of them!"

"What, how?! I thought an elder grimm usually lead a pack of smaller ones!" Melaine danced around to dodge their vicious assault, and the fact that these beowulves use a couple of tree branches as improvised weapon doesn't help her cause at all. And then, dozens of smaller wolfs began to encircle her, leaving her little room to move. "What the-?!"

"Bane! Open the path!" Jaune stabbed his sword on the chest of one giant beowulf, and Miltia took the chance to behead it as it writhed in pain from Jaune's attack.

Bane silently charged forward with his chainsaw screaming. Though his speed weren't that faster than untrained humans, his body mass and strength allow him to break through the ocean of beasts without shedding a single drop of sweat. Not even the strength of an elder beowulf can stop his charge, as Bane tossed it aside with a swing of his chainsaw.

"Melanie! Miltia, jump!"

The Malachite sisters took off, using their aura to boost their jump, ahead of Bane in a single bound. Their lighter body mass granted them unprecedented mobility. Melaine and Miltia jumped from one branch to another to avoid attacks.

Jaune finally caught up with Bane shortly after he zigzagged around the bigger Grimms.

"The Grimms become much smarter." Jaune said between his breath, "This is a phenomenon that started to manifest few years ago. Usually, they just attack blindly, or in easily avoidable pattern, however...when more than one elder grim appeared, their tactics will change considerably."

Bane thoughtfully finished for him, "No wonder it's so quiet."

"You should've told us beforehand!" Melanie angrily accused Jaune, and looked away with resounding pout. "Hmmph. You're more useless than I thought."

Jaune wanted to protest, but decided it's not worth. Miltia tapped his shoulder to get his attention, "Ignore Melanie, she always been like that. Anything else we need to know?"

"Not in the moment no."

"Alright." Miltia nodded, "Though we're not stranger to the dangers of the city, we never once step outside the mountain barrier of Vale, I hope you can keep that in mind."

For being twin sisters, they sure have opposite mentality. Then again, growing up with Seven sisters told him that siblings differentiate themselves from each other purely on instinct. And with twins, that basic pattern is even more prevalent. Jaune smiled and nodded. "Can't promise anything, but I'll try."

Although they met more resistance, it wasn't as much as before. Stray grimm that will fall to them in a single hit.

Few minutes later, they managed to find something vaguely resembles an ancient altar. 24 pillar making a half circle formation, and on each pillar was a single chess pieces... or used to be, as Jaune noticed. It seems that there's only a pair left.

"Looks like we're the last one to come." Melaine huffed, somewhat disappointed. Then again, their drop point also were the furthest from this altar.

"Guess that's the relic?" Jaune lifted the leftover piece: white pawn. Melanie took another white pawn, leaving nothing on the altar. Part of the initiation is not to kill all the Grimm they face, but to retrieve relics and return back to the cliffs.

"Pawn, what a fitting piece." Bane scoffed incredulously, being struck with a couple of overdressed clown would do that for most people.

"Well, I guess we should go back to the cliff." Jaune sneered, the irony is strong with this relic. Then again, he fully realize that there were students far and above his level in terms of skill. And these four quickly traveled through the shortest route to the cliff. Miltia decided to hop between trees to get a better view of the terrain, and then she saw a black feathered giant raven in the sky.

"Jaune, I've seen something... flying, and big." Miltia informed her team.

"Really? Giant Nevermore I guess." Jaune shouted, "Come here, you really don't want it to notice you!"

As they ran closer and closer to the cliff, they heard gunfires and screams from somewhere nearby. "Are you sure we don't want to change direction?" Jaune asked, somewhat afraid, "Looks like we're getting closer to location of a major fight."

"Don't be a wuss." Bane unslung his chainsaw and let it roar, "Bane, did you hate trees or something?" Jaune asked in disbelief. Though bane did not cut anything in particular, this time around. The sound of hissing alerted Jaune and made him grab both girls' shoulders to warn them. "JUMP!"

Jaune and Malachites jumped out-of-the-way from the reach of a giant black snake, it's giant maw big enough to swallow a human whole. "King Tajitu! And the biggest one I've seen this close!"

Jaune had seen how big a Tajitu can grow, and he feel lucky that the one faced now is well within the average range, instead of gargantuan behemoth several hundred years old, that can flatten entire human settlement in one swipe of its tail.

"Oh my." Melanie said sarcastically, "What a cute little snakey."

The snake grimm coiled around and stood, hissing. Measured well over thirty meters long, it's easily three times as long as normal Tajitu, and almost five times as wide. Jaune clenched his shield open and grinned, "Careful. It has two heads living independently of each other. You need to kill both to take it out"

"Just like BOYS." Melanie joked, which earned a dope slap from Miltia. "OW!"

When the snake made its move, mouth open and fang extended, Bane charged forward with his chainsaw at full throttle, meet the fangs of the black snake with resounding PANG! "Pah, just a bit bigger than usual."

Jaune had seen what kind of strength Bane possessed, but the fact that he could effortlessly hold the snake head, easily as big as himself, Bane deserved an award. As strong as Tajitu fangs were, they're no match for aura reinforced chainsaw, which breaks through the arm sized biting implements with ease. Chainsaw teeth carving through more teeth as it goes.

However, as Jaune mentioned, another head, the white half of the snake, tried to take the chance by attacking bane from the top.

"SAVE HIM!" Jaune pointed, the two girls reacted with lightning speed and charged their respective weapons with aura, slashing the white head with razor-sharp blades. Alas, their weapons were too small to deliver anything beyond superficial injury, leaving Jaune to pull bane out of harms way. "I have a plan, let's go!" The blonde called.

Bane growled in frustration, but looking around, the woods actually give the accursed reptile field advantage, and he decided to follow whatever the scrawny knight had in mind. Melaine and Miltia shared a glance as they follow shortly.

"Jaune can be trusted, he knows more than us." Miltia told her sister with no-nonsense tone. "I know." Melanie grudgingly agree.

...

The mismatched group of four students brought the snake king to a more open terrain near a massive complex of temple, which seems to be constructed in the center of a gaping hole a hundred meter wide, stone bridges and pillars supporting it. There, they saw eight more students fighting their own respective enemies, a giant Nevermore and what Jaune recognize as elder Darkstalker, a giant scorpion the size of main battle tank, with armor to match.

"Bane!" Jaune signaled.

"Let's kill this slimy little creäture." Bane finally lost enough patience from running, and delivered an aura charged punch to stop the white head on its tracks with shock wave-generating impact, temporarily dazed it. The black head took over, but Bane raised his chainsaw to hold against it.

"Melaine, Miltia, your turn." Jaune pointed, and the twins began to run over the body of the snake, using their heels to skate around its slippery scales. The white head tried to catch them when it finally regain consciousness, but Melaine and Miltia danced around its attacks, like a pair of ballerina on a crowded stage.

"Let's do this!" Jaune slipped under the black head and then jumped with as much strength as he could, smashed its chin with his shield from below. The twins went into offensive and blinded the white head with decisive slashes of metal heels and claws to its red eyes.

Unable to control itself, the white snake head bit the black one on accident. The length of the fangs make sure that the wounds are deep enough that the black head rendered dead in the following seconds. Melanie and Miltia delivered a synchronized dropkick that send the white head to the ground, at the mercy of Jaune and Bane.

Jaune pressed his sword right through its left eye, while Bane jumped and cut through its skull and turn its brain into mush.

"Not as hard as I thought." Melanie crossed her arms arrogantly as she and her sister landed on the evaporating snake corpse.

"Well... Tajitu were one of the few Grimms that actually grew proportionally weaker with size, as opposed to THAT." Jaune pointed the Giant Nevermore, which shrugged a barrage of fire from four students on the peak of the temple. The same goes with the giant scorpion down the valley, which managed to ignore the relentless assault of four others.

Melanie and Miltia recognized one of the student as the one who made a mess of their former workplace. They wonder what kind of punishment she received from the good old killer Goodwitch when they reported her action. "Ahh the crazy blondie." Melanie scoffed in satisfaction. Schadenfreude at it's finest.

"Let's go." Bane turned off his chainsaw and carried it on his exposed shoulder, "They can handle it."

"Are you sure, Bane?" Jaune asked in concern, "I know it's ridiculous but they're still our friends, perhaps we can help-"

Jaune stopped for a moment only to see the Deathstalker writhe in pain as a blonde with burning hair cracked open its armor with her devastating fist, letting the rest of his team to finish it. Meanwhile, the Giant Nevermore was beheaded by the single swipe of a scythe-wielding girl after her friends launched her with a makeshift human slingshot. "Wow, Ruby, wow..."

"I told you they CAN handle it." Bane stressed, growing tired of Jaune's naïvety. "You know what? You're more hypocritical than I thought, Arc."

"What?!" Jaune scowled.

"You want people to listen to you but you can't be arsed to trust ME." Bane poked Jaune's temple with anger, "So enough with that holier-than-thou attitude. It made me sick."

Jaune stand there as Bane left in disgust, he looked-no, Jaune pleadingly looked at Malachites. Melanie just shrugged and told him, "Thanks to you we're unharmed, but little Bane has a point." Melanie left and caught up with Bane, trying to strike a conversation with chainsaw wielding masked man only to be ignored.

Jaune slumped in shame, for he bear no ill will and just wanted to protect people. Miltia slapped his shoulder to bring him back to reality. "Get a hold of yourself, we still have to walk back to the Cliff. You can mope as much you wanted as soon as we finished."

"Yeah, sorry showing you something so unsightly." Jaune smiled weakly as he followed Miltia.

...

Their arrivals were celebrated with fanfare. All the new students who passed the initiation (read: all of them) gathered in the Main Hall. The principal of the school, the grey haired man that's Professor Ozpin, stood on the podium with his mysterious and enigmatic assistant, Glynda Goodwitch.

And he's here to congratulate them for passing the Beacon's trial of fire, as well as announcing the team assignment.

"Russel Thrush. Cardin Winchester. Dove Bronzewing. Sky Lark." The screen of the auditorium shows each of their profiles as the boys lined up for the applauding audience to see as Ozpin continues "The four of you retrieved the black bishop pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team -CRDL- CARDINAL, led by... Cardin Winchester"

"Yang Xiao Long, Pyrrha Nikos, Nora Valkyrie, Lie Ren. The four of you retrieved the white knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team -YVPL- APPLE, led by... Yang Xiao Long."

"Blake Belladonna. Ruby Rose. Weiss Schnee. Adam Tauros. The four of you retrieved the black knight pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team -RWBT- RABBIT. Led by... Ruby Rose."

"Finally, the last team to complete their assignment. Wolfsbane Sawyer, Melanie Malachite, Miltiades Malachite, Jaune Arc. The four of you retrieved the white pawn pieces. From this day forward, you will work together as Team -JWMM- JAM."

Jaune's ears perked up when Ozpin finished his list, "Led by...Jaune Arc"

He turned to see his partner, but the masked man doesn't seems to care in the slightest. Instead, Bane seems to be more interested joining a conversation with the tall faunus swordsman and the strange girl in black maid clothes from team Rabbit.

Jaune felt like Ozpin made a mistake somewhere...

The red hooded leader of team Rabbit approached him and smiled. "Congrats, Jaune."

She was his friend, his first friend in Beacon to be exact. Jaune knew no one else when he first set his foot on the Beacon's ground, and he just happen to stumble on the young prodigy. Despite being 15, Ozpin went out his way to transfer her to Beacon two years early, a testament of her skill as potential Huntress.

Her name is Ruby Rose.

When they first talked it was awkward, what with Jaune automatically resort to his courtship mode and Ruby being rather... socially inept, to put it lightly. But after few accident involving the bushes, packs of baloon, a leatherbag and a flying drone, they decide to be a lot more casual and at ease around each other.

"The sentiment was shared. Nice take on the Giant Nevermore by the way." Jaune offered his hand, which she grab rather excitedly. "Without everyone's help that won't work." Ruby refuted him.

"Too bad your sister in the other team huh." Jaune turned his head to see Yang Xiao Long, the blond, long-haired tall girl in question, caught in a cold war with the Malachites. If glares can hurt, Jaune wondered how many times they killed each other already.

"Nice to meet you again, goldie." Melanie taunted, "How's the deal with Ms. Goodwitch by the way? I hope she put her whip to a good use."

"One day, whitey." Yang taunted back, "One day I will make you vomit your makeup and won't even need violence to do that."

"Yeah, and one day that precious hair of yours will wither and fall, just like your dignity as student." Melanie retaliated, THAT seems to get into Yang's nerves, as Jaune began to see the air around her heated up, literally. Miltia pulled her sister away, averting the possibilities of turning the cold war into something a lot more dangerous and destructive.

Yang can only huff in anger, but can't possibly do anything in retaliation that doesn't earn her another black mark in front of the teachers. Now that she become a team leader, more burden for her to carry, and more people whose names shouldn't be tarnished by association with Yang. Ruby's suffering was enough of a reminder for Yang to behave more responsibly.

Thankfully, she had pretty nice teammates. Which soon enough dragged Yang from her funk, healing her soured mood.

"Uhh...looks like things will be a little rough. These two totally hates Yang." Ruby sighed.

Jaune was quite interested, the more he learn about his team members, the better. "Malachites? Why?"

"Well, Yang got involved in a bar brawl, went overboard and sort of wrecked the place, which just happen to be their workplace and home." Ruby embarrassingly told Jaune, "Ms. Goodwitch was involved and caught Yang red-handed, it was really awful. And when she learned my connection with Yang, it doesn't help us in the slightest. Getting into Ms. Goodwitch's sides will be a major hassle."

Jaune realized that maybe, maybe his little team problem weren't as big as he thought. No use of worrying anymore. Every other leader has their problem, and weeping alone is not a solution.

"Thanks Ruby, had it not for you I wouldn't have learned this." Jaune smiled, decided that he will seriously talk with Bane given the chance. "You know what, if you need any help don't hesitate to talk with me, kay?"

"Definitely." Ruby raised a glass of fruit punch to him, Jaune picked a glass of drink for himself and raised it. The little clink from the impact of their glass reinforced their unspoken friendship.

Always thought what would happen if you make the antagonist good guys while keeping their personality relatively intact. So I decided that Banesaw will be first choice, with Malachites and Adam second.

There will be no Powerful!Smart!Harem!Jaune bullshit here, just the same dork with a little bit more skill and different background. I know Jaune is rather overused as main character, but he's also so easy and flexible to write. Of course, team RWBT and YVPL will have their time to shine. But for the most part, we'll focus with the much weaker Team JWMM.

Alternate name: Team Expendables, Team Scrub, Team Poorfags.

As for the plot? You can worry about that later. Read and review, folks.