Chapter 03:
The lunch bell rang as Jaune was putting his stuff in his bag. A hand slamming on his desk brought his attention to one Weiss Schnee, who was looking at him in the eyes, furiously tapping her foot on the floor.
"Uh… can I help you?" Jaune asked carefully.
"Why yes Jaune Arc." She smiled at him. "You can join my Schnee Aura Corps."
"The what?" Jaune asked with wide eyes. 'Can we even talk about Aura amongst regular people?'
"He won't." A voice behind him answered. He turned around and saw Ruby as murmurs erupted around them. He noticed she was taller than Weiss. She also had her cape on her shoulders. "He will come to a club meeting right now, so he will be busy."
"What kind of club?" Weiss narrowed her eyes as Jaune looked around. He could see the students still on the classroom giving him looks of pity.
"The Music Club." Ruby sent her a smile which didn't reach her eyes.
"The Music Club? Poor guy." He heard someone whisper behind him.
"I wonder what he did to piss off the Huntress gang." He heard a girl whisper back. 'What are they talking about?' He hadn't heard anything about the Music Club… then again, he didn't really have friends so what would he know.
"A music club huh?" Weiss glared at her. "Then I hope you won't mind me joining, considering my reputation."
"Don't bother princess." Ruby stood straighter, looking down on Weiss. "We are an amateur bunch, no need to get on with professionals."
"Professionals?" Jaune blurted out, managing to get both girls to glare at him. 'Roll with it.' "Do you sing Weiss?"
The girl in question gave him a startled and odd look. "You don't know me?"
"Sorry, should I?" Jaune asked, confused. Weiss' eyes softened and she sighed.
"I'll speak to the Headmaster to gain access to this 'music club'." Weiss picked up her bag and walked up to the door. Once she reached it she turned her head back to look at him. "We'll talk later… Jaune."
'Well that was weird.' A hum from Ruby's direction grabbed his attention. "Interesting." The girl looked up at him. "Grab your guitar case and follow me." She started walking, making him scramble to get his bag and his guitar case.
-OOOOO-
The walk to the Music Club was an… interesting one. Walking behind Ruby, he could hear murmurs and see looks of pity. The things they said worried him. Whispers of the 'Huntress gang' and 'Death by purse'. While paying attention to them he bumped into a black haired cat Faunus with amber eyes. After apologizing he kept walking.
When they reached the clubroom Ruby simply entered before him. As he followed her he saw the curtains closed, with the only light inside being that of the artificial lights. Around the wall were a bunch of musical instruments propped in stands. An actual fridge stood at a corner of the room. Two girls were sitting at a table in the middle of the room.
One of them was a rabbit Faunus. She had long brown hair with two large ears on her head. As he entered she turned around and Jaune saw her face. She had light skin and brown eyes. She gave him a smile as he waved at her.
The other one had short brown hair with an orange dyed lock of hair falling by the side of her face. She was wearing black sunglasses with a black beret. Once she saw him she grinned. Both girls were wearing the Beacon High female uniform.
"Since The Boss didn't bring you here beaten up I guess you are the new guy she mentioned." The one with sunglasses pulled them down a bit, letting Jaune see her dark eyes. "Not bad kid, the hair could use some work. I'm Coco Adel, third year."
"Jaune Arc, second year." Jaune introduced himself and looked at the longhaired girl.
"Hellao theah, Oy'm Vaelveh' Scahluytina." She replied. Jaune just looked at her confused. Was she from West Vale?
"I'm sorry. What?" Jaune tried to sound the less rude possible.
"Ahh yah syyin yah cahn't unduhstahnd me? Thaht's nawt very noice." She replied I gibberish.
"Velvet." They both turned to Ruby as she closed the door. "Play nice."
"Sure Ruby." She replied, nearly causing Jaune to get whiplash from how fast he turned to her. As he looked at her in the eyes she burst out into laughter.
"What is going on?" Jaune turned to Ruby, clearly confused.
"She is Velvet Scarlatina, a third year who comes from West Vale, a few kilometers from the border with Vacuo. She likes to mess with some heads with her accent." Ruby replied as she sat at the head of the table. "Take a seat Jaune. Velvet, get Jaune some fruit." As Jaune sat down next to Coco. Velvet got up and went to the fridge. She got him a banana, which Jaune ate as he looked at Ruby.
"So… what was that about the Schnee Aura Corps?" Jaune asked once he finished his banana. "Are we even allowed to talk about Aura in public?"
"We are not supposed to. You can if you want to, but people will treat you as a lunatic until you can prove it. In which case… well, you are responsible for those you bring into this world." Ruby replied. "And the Schnee Aura Corps are just one of the many factions of Huntsmen."
"Can you tell me about the different factions?" Jaune asked.
"I guess I have to." Ruby nodded. "There's the Beacon affiliated Xiao Long Household, which you know by now. We focus on dealing quickly with the Grimm we can find with extreme force. My sisters, Velvet, Coco, my uncle and I are members of it."
"So you are affiliated with Beacon? Are the teachers Huntsmen?" Jaune put his hand on his pocket, touching a piece of paper.
"Yes, most of them. The Headmaster is one of the strongest Huntsmen ever." Ruby replied as Jaune pulled out the piece of paper.
"'The White Fang is watching you.' Is the White Fang another faction?" Jaune asked.
"Yes." Velvet replied with a frown. "They are a Faunus-led group focused on protecting the Faunus-heavy areas of Vale. They are not against working with humans or Beacon… but I can't say they wouldn't let a human die in place of a Faunus."
"They also like to steal kills from the Schnee." Coco informed him. "If they see someone from the SAC they'll wait in the shadows and steal the kill at the last second since for every Grimm you kill you and your Relics get stronger.
"They don't sound very heroic." Jaune frowned. Why would someone with power not use it to protect people?
"That's because they aren't." A new voice joined from the door as Weiss entered the room. She closed the door and sat down in front of him, next to Velvet.
"Hey princess wha-" Coco stopped herself as Weiss put a form on the table.
"The Headmaster allowed me to be part of this club." Weiss smirked at her before frowning. "The White Fang aren't heroic. They will try to hinder other factions if they can."
Ruby nodded. "For now they are affiliated with Beacon, though I think that's mostly so they can escape repercussions from the SAC."
"So what's the deal with the Schnee Aura Corps?" Jaune asked Weiss.
"The SAC are a faction by the Schnee Mining Company. We focus on protecting people inside our influence, pay for damages caused by the Grimm and fight off Rogue Huntsmen." Weiss replied. "We are affiliated with Beacon and people in our faction gain top of the line equipment, alongside any Relics without Huntsmen if you can make it work with you."
"The White Fang don't like the SMC because of their business practices." Velvet pointed out. "They say the Faunus that work for them are pretty much slaves but compared to other jobs, one can get a lot of money working for them. Since they don't like the SMC they feel disdain for the SAC, though they wouldn't attack them directly, they are not that stupid."
Weiss looked at Velvet. "Nice to know a Faunus with more sense than to join them."
"I'd rather just protect people without looking at their race you know?" Velvet shrugged and looked at Jaune. "You should look out for Rogue Huntsmen though, like the Red Axe Gang."
"The Red Axe Gang?" Jaune looked at Ruby.
"They are a group of Rogue Huntsmen who focus on stealing kills from other Huntsmen and forcing them into their ranks… or killing them." Ruby snarled. "They are scum. If they saw you weakened against a Grimm they wouldn't hesitate to take you out first and steal your power. Not even the White Fang would do something like that."
"Steal your power?" Jaune asked with wide eyes.
"As a Huntsman gets stronger by killing Grimm, if a Huntsman kills you they would absorb all of your power." Weiss replied with clear disgust. "Those of the Red Axe Gang also like to involve civilians in their fights, using them as meat shields and making the Grimm stronger to kill them later."
"So the Grimm get stronger the more people they kill?" Jaune was horrified. 'If I didn't already have a motive to want to protect people I have it now.'
"They do." Ruby's voice was cold. "Those monsters get stronger the more they kill. And they focus on people instead of animals, barreling to anything to get to their prey."
As Jaune was about to answer the bell rang, signaling the end of lunch.
"We'll talk later Jaune." Ruby replied. "Go along, you don't want to miss classes.
Jaune got up and grabbed his bag and guitar case. "Thanks for the information Ruby." He replied before rushing out the door.
As he ran through the hallway he heard Weiss yell at him. "Wait for me you lunkhead!"
Jaune slowed down to let Weiss run beside him, hoping they weren't late.
-OOOOO-
They were late.
As Jaune took notes in Math class he reflected on the information he got.
'Of the factions they told me the Xiao Long Household and the Schnee Aura Corps sound the most noble… but should I join them? Should I just be affiliated with Beacon? I shouldn't be hasty with this stuff…'
As he pondered this topic the final bell rang. He started putting his stuff in his bag when he saw Doctor Oobleck entering the room.
"Jaune Arc, please go to the Headmaster's office." He announced before walking out of the classroom.
Jaune sighed and grabbed his stuff to go see the Headmaster.
-OOOOO-
Not much happening this chapter, mostly introducing new characters and Jaune asking about his new life as a Huntsman.
Info on the characters:
Jaune Arc: 16 years old. Second year student at Beacon High. 1.85 meters tall.
Faction: ?.
Relic: Crocea Mors.
Semblance: ?.
Ruby Rose: 17 years old. Third year at Beacon High. 1.62 meters tall.
Faction: Xiao Long Household.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Yang Xiao Long: 15 years old. First year at Beacon High. 1.70 meters tall.
Faction: Xiao Long Household.
Relic: Ember Celica.
Semblance: Fiery Fury: User gets stronger every time they take damage.
Robin Branwen: 12 years old. First year at Beacon Middle School. 1.40 meters tall.
Faction: Xiao Long Household.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Blake Belladona: 17 years old. Third year at Beacon High. 1.68 meters tall.
Faction: White Fang.
Relic: Gambol Shroud.
Semblance: ?.
Weiss Schnee: 16 years old. Second year at Beacon High. 1.52 meters tall without heels.
Faction: Schnee Aura Corps.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Bartholomew Oobleck: 38 years old. Teacher at Beacon High. 2.01 meters tall.
Faction: Beacon.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Coco Adel: 17 years old. Third year at Beacon High. 1.83 meters tall.
Faction: Xiao Long Household.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Velvet Scarlatina: 17 years old. Third year at Beacon High. 1.68 meters tall without ears.
Faction: Xiao Long Household.
Relic: ?.
Semblance: ?.
Reviews:
Siegnir: I like to put little twists with the premises of my fics. Later on the situation of the Xiao Long family will be explained. And I'm not sure what pairing to give this story.
The Ancient Irish Viking: Nice to see you like this. I'm pretty good at starting ideas if I do say so myself.
So yeah, uh, tell me what you think.