A Not So Typical Reincarnated Jaune—To Love Oneself
(We're going to use the actual title this time.)
Chapter 2 - There's an Order to These Kinds of Things
"Jeaaaannne!" a short girl with light blue hair called out, before crushing Jeanne in a hug, making her lose her breath—and her footing—for a moment, nearly making her tumble down to the ground.
"Ah! Azura, please stop doing that!" Jeanne groaned in surprise, patting her little sister's back, "My ribs…" she moaned, even now she still wondered how in the world she even managed to survive with all the extremely active siblings she had.
"Did you just get a boyfriend?! Did you?! Did you?! You even went up to dad with him in tow! What's his name? Can you tell me? How did you meet? Ooh, ooh, don't tell me you guys already kissed?! AAAHHHH BIG SISTER PLEASE TELL MEE!"
… Especially this little sister she had.
Thankfully someone saved her from suffocating to death by pulling her out of Azura's death grip of a hug.
"Azura, don't crush Jeanne like that. You're going to suffocate her." Olivia, ever the voice of reason of the Arc sisters, sighed, rolling her eyes as Azura just screamed nonsensical things while flailing her limbs wildly as she was held up in the air. "Though yeah, who exactly was that guy you brought home? I doubt he's your boyfriend cause I've definitely never seen him around here before, and you're not exactly the kind of girl I'd see that kind of guy hanging around with, you're definitely not good with a sword."
"Hey!" Jeanne pouted at her older sister, "That hurts you know?"
"But it's true."
"I know! But…" Jeanne sighed and shook her head with a shrug. "Eh, honestly I don't know where he came from either. As far as I know, he's basically me from another world… and also from the future apparently."
"... What?" Olivia and Azura blinked at that, giving her a deadpan stare.
"Don't believe me? Just look at how similar both of us looked—facial features, hair color, clothing preferences, and the freaking weapon he had in the exact same place I would have Crocea Mors in."
Her sisters seemed to pause at that, seemingly coming to a realization.
"... what's his name?" Olivia asked, putting Azura down,
"Jaune Arc."
"Jeanne Arc?" Olivia asked, apparently mishearing it, raising a confused brow,
"No, no, Jaune Arc, as in the masculine version of the name." Jeanne said, scratching the back of her head, "Kinda makes you wonder about mom and dad's creativity in naming us…" she murmured to herself, "EEP!" she squeaked out as she felt a familiar strong grip on her shoulder.
"What did you say, my dear Jeanne Arc?" her mother, Jasmine Arc, whispered sweetly next to her ears, making Jeanne shiver at the coldness of those words.
"N-Nothing! I'm just very happy to have such amazing and wonderful names given to us from our birth, mother!" Jeanne said quickly, "P-Please stop crushing my shoulder…?" she muttered in a low voice, an apologetic smile on her face.
"Oh, of course." Jasmine chuckled, letting her go, "Though, it is rather intriguing that the one who ended up chosen this time would be an Arc, of all things…" her mother muttered to herself, but Jeanne heard it, making her tilt her head at her mother, Jasmine just smiled, "Oh, don't worry. It's nothing. The Arc family is rather… special after all." she chuckled, "Though, try not to get attached to him now, it could be rather dangerous after all." her mother teased, making Jeanne blush.
"W-What does that mean?!" Jeanne asked, backing away, "Besides… it didn't seem like dad believed us and just took him away with him."
"Did he now? Hmm…" Jasmine frowned, furrowing her brows, "Well, perhaps he just wanted to talk to him. If he really is from the future, there is much that your father would need to know after all." she said with a nod, "Other than that… you should prepare yourself."
"What?" Jeanne blinked, confused, "Prepare for what?"
"Training… I have a feeling that your father will start training you in earnest soon. Or maybe he'll just get your counterpart to train you, who knows." Jasmine smiled mysteriously, "After all… the winds of fate is ever changing… as the one chosen by Crocea Mors, you should be ready for it even more so now." she chuckled.
Jeanne frowned at that, but she can definitely see merit in what her mother was saying, if what she'd heard from Jaune was right… her future would be challenging.
Extremely so, that she might just end up resorting to faking transcripts into Beacon.
At least now, thanks to Jaune, she had a general idea of just how unprepared she was. And if the fact that he had to face an Immortal Witch was anything to go by… she was extremely unprepared.
Thankfully, they still had about a year, if not a bit less.
Jeanne let out a short breath, nodding at Jasmine with resolve in her eyes, "I will. I will be ready."
"Good. Now… how do we explain his existence to everyone in the town…?" Jasmine mumbled with a frown…
Right.
There was that too.
… this had to be his fault, right? Or was it hers? No, it doesn't matter, they're pretty much the same person anyway, right? So they're both to blame…
Oh Gods what will their future in Beacon be like anyways?
Jaune took in a deep breath as he felt it flowing through him again. Power. Energy.
His magic.
Opening his eyes, with it glowing brightly, he found himself in an empty space again.
Gray.
All gray and empty.
"It seems that you've decided to make contact with your family." a low voice chuckled, "You wish to get involved in the affairs of this world, Jaune Arc?" a man who was shrouded in darkness smiled, large horns above his head.
"Is that not my job here, Noctus?" Jaune said, raising a brow, "Here I thought that the affairs of this world are none of your business."
"Oh it isn't." Noctus chuckled again, "But you are, Jaune of Arc."
Jaune frowned at those words. "Just don't forget your part of the deal, Noctus."
"Why would I? You are, after all, one of my most promising agents…" Noctus said with a large smile. "I'm just worried that you might be involving yourself in this world's affairs far too much. You needn't yourself be tied to anyone there… unless you wish to do the same thing as a certain bird did, no?"
Jaune tensed at that, glaring at Noctus, "I can look after myself, Noctus."
Noctus seemed to frown at that, before sighing, "Fine, you know of the consequences already after all."
"I know very well, Noctus." Jaune closed his eyes, exhaling a long breath, "I just… have a few things I wish to see through."
"... Very well. Then I have nothing more to say." Noctus nodded, "Beware of the hands of fate—"
"—for the path of divergence will be ever more challenging… and painful." Jaune finished with a sigh. "I'm sorry for my selfish desires."
"No, no, I expected this, really." Noctus chuckled. "It's certainly not the first time, after all."
"Well, then I'll hope that this will be the last, for your sake, Noctus." Jaune said, before closing his eyes again as his vision started to shift, signifying the end to his time up here.
"I hope so too, Jaune Arc…" he heard faintly before he opened his eyes and found himself back in the temple with his father, Alexander.
Jaune looked over his body again and found that everything was back in place, Crocea Mors on his back, his black hoodie (NOT Pumpkin Pete this time), and his brown fingerless gloves. Oh, and his dark gold cloak. He didn't forget that this time at least.
"Oh, that's an interesting getup you got there." Alexander said to him with a raised brow, "No armor?"
"Nope. Too annoying to lug around all the time, besides, armor is useless for me with… everything I am." Jaune shrugged, "Try hitting me." he said to Alexander, smiling.
Alexander just raised a brow and unsheathed his own sword, an extremely large greatsword that was just about Jaune's current height. "Alright, sure." he then slashed at Jaune with a considerable amount of force and just as it was about to cut Jaune… it stopped.
It just stopped in place as the spot he'd tried to cut Jaune on faintly glowed white, a sign of Aura, and it was holding the sword in place.
Alexander's eyes widened and he tried to push harder… but it didn't budge, the small glowing light just started to glow a bit brighter when he did.
Putting his sword back into its sheath, he whistled, "Well then, that's a rather interesting use of Aura." Alexander said with a smile, "Not even Jasmine would be capable of that kind of fine-control, much less being able to block that kind of attack from me. Though… I might be able to pierce through that with my own Semblance."
"You should be able to, but that's just my first line of defense." Jaune shrugged, "Learning magic through our legacy only made me tougher, apparently. I can now… dispel Aura."
"That's…" Alexander frowned, "How did you find out?"
Jaune sighed, "When I nearly killed my friend in a spar, really." he muttered, remembering how he'd nearly killed Blake that one time, "Thankfully, I could still supply my own Aura into them to save them, but… it was a rather horrifying learning experience." he said, laughing morbidly, "That, certainly, is something I wouldn't want Jeanne to experience here."
"Definitely not." Alexander agreed, before looking outside the window for a moment, the sun was about to set. "Let's head back, Jasmine should have been able to take care of everything by now."
"So you took me with you here just so you didn't have to deal with the paperwork?"
"No, what could you ever mean, Jaune?" Alexander smiled, "That was merely a coincidence."
Jaune just rolled his eyes, that was his father all right.
Jeanne exhaled a short breath, gripping her sword tightly before swinging it forward again with a cry, panting as she held that position.
Training… how great that would have been had her father given her that, but with how busy he was all the time and the amount of sisters she had, they were never really able to find the time. It was a miracle that she was even chosen by Crocea Mors to be it's wielder, but considering the experiences of her future male self, Jaune… there was a reason for it. She smiled, it was going to be a long journey ahead of her but… she wasn't going to give up. She never intended to even give up in the first place, after all, this path was given to her—this chance was given to her. To be that hero she always dreamed of…
Closing her eyes and taking a deep breath, she pulled the blade close to her again—
"Working hard there I see. My words motivated you huh, Jeanne?"
—immediately jumping and pointing her sword at Jaune who appeared out of nowhere.
"Ahh! You scared me!" Jeanne exclaimed with a glare, grumbling as she retracted the shield into a sheath and sheathed Crocea Mors. "At least give me a warning Jaune. And did you just call me Jeanne with the wrong pronunciation just now?"
"Eh, it's less confusing than calling you by the correct way, since it feels like I'm talking to myself."
"But you are talking to yourself technically." Jeanne sighed, shaking her head, "Whatever, what did you and dad do?"
"Just talked, sparred for a bit and then we hugged it out." Jaune shrugged, "Standard affair when the guy meets his girlfriend's parents really."
"Did you seriously just imply that…?" Jeanne raised a brow, though she did have a smile on her face, "But… I certainly wouldn't mind, the male version of me certainly looks good."
"That's an extremely narcissistic thing to say, but I can agree with you on that, girl me looks cute as heck, I certainly wouldn't mind you as a girlfriend." Jaune said with a grin, moving his face close to hers while holding her cheek, "I bet you wouldn't mind that… would you?" he whispered in a low voice and for all that Jeanne tried to not have his words affect her so she could retort, the way he whispered those words just now and the way he was holding her was…
"U-Uh…" Jeanne stuttered while blushing, actually embarrassed that she was reacting this way. She wasn't lying when she said he looked good, Jaune was, after looking closely, actually really handsome… even more than that he was really easy to talk to and was really cool! So if he teased her like this then she…
Jaune blinked before laughing as he patted her head, "You were serious about what you said, huh?"
"And you weren't?!" Jeanne glared at him,
"No, no, nothing like that, it's just…" Jaune scratched his cheek with a smile, "Your reaction was really cute, honestly."
And there's her blushing again. "S-Stop! Why are you so good at this?!" Jeanne had her face in her hands, absolutely confused and perhaps a bit mortified that she was falling for herself—it hasn't even been a day damn it!
"Sorry, sorry. I shouldn't tease you too much." Jaune chuckled, gently peeling her hands from covering her face, "Still, try not to push too hard when training, that can do more harm than good… especially when you're just training by yourself."
Jeanne sighed, gripping his hands. It was warm and soft… "I know, but it's not like I have anyone to help me train with how busy mom and dad are…"
"No, you do."
"Do I?" Jeanne looked up to him with a smirk, "Well, then… if you're going to train me, can you at least unlock my Aura?"
Jaune sighed, a helpless smile on his face, "You know… you already had your Aura unlocked from the moment you met me. Coming into contact with my Aura unlocked yours, which is also basically my Aura because of how similar it is but… eh. Basically, Jeanne—" suddenly, he started glowing a bright white—though she could also see slight yellow within it, and before she realized it, she was glowing the same color as him. "—you already have it, you just have to learn it."
"Whoa…" Jeanne marveled at their glowing forms, "It really is like a forcefield!" she exclaimed, making him chuckle, "What?"
"No… it's just, it's the same thing I'd said when I had my Aura unlocked too." Jaune said, shaking his head, "Now, close your eyes."
She did as he said, and after a moment, many things flitted into her mind, memories, experiences, sensations… all of Jaune Arc's experiences, was being transmitted over to her, and she could see it all, almost as if it were her own, and yet it was still distinctly separate. It was distinctly his.
Jeanne felt as though she was floating in a sea, but then it became a rushing current, then a whirlpool, she struggled to hold on, but before she drowned, a hand reached out to her—Jaune. He was there.
And then she opened her eyes, letting out a breath she didn't know she was holding, staring at Jaune with wide eyes.
"Wow…" she muttered, "You… you really went through a lot." she said softly, holding his hand more softly now, rubbing it, thinking about just how soft it was right now… he was forced to change a lot, huh? If that was the case then… it would be the same for her, right? But then why… "Why did you stay here to help me? I may not know what it is, but I know that you can't be here for free… There's a consequence to all this, to all this tampering with the past, isn't there?"
"There is." Jaune nodded, "I haven't shown you everything but…"
"I get the gist," Jeanne sighed, "Jaune, you can't do everything alone. Even I know that." he stayed silent at her words, making her look him in the eye, "Jaune." she said, this time with more force, glaring at him slightly, "You can't just throw your life away like that."
Jaune looked down, letting go of her hands, "I'm sorry."
Jeanne realized then, that for all that they were basically the same person, they also weren't. Jaune Arc lived through many things in his life, things which she was now able to see thanks to him. Experiences she'd never experienced—and may never experience—now within her head.
He was broken. For all the power he now apparently has… he doesn't seem satisfied. She supposed that's why he went here in the first place, to fix his regrets, but even she knows that that isn't healthy. And he even dared to talk to her about being safe in her training.
Well if he's going to be like that…
Jeanne sighed and placed her hands on his cheeks, pulling his face up to look straight at her.
"What are you—?"
"Shh…" she put a finger to his lips for a moment, "Hear me out first, okay?" she said, watching him frown, but he nodded anyways. "Good, now, so… can you promise me something?"
Jaune looked confused at that, so she continued,
"Promise me in our name that you won't recklessly throw your life away for other people, okay?" Jeanne asked, letting his face go, watching as he slowly closed his eyes and sighed, before laughing all of a sudden, "Hey, I'm being serious here." she glared at him, so he nodded to explain.
"No, I know, it's just… amazing to me that I would be lectured by my other younger self right now of all things." Jaune said with a smile, scratching the back of his head, "I honestly wasn't expecting any of this."
"Well," Jeanne smirked, "You should have. Because you could certainly learn a lot from the younger you right here. Now… can you promise me that at least?"
Jaune paused at that, but ultimately nodded after a second, "Yes, I swear by the name of Arc, I won't recklessly throw my life for other people." then he smiled, "This is my punishment, huh?"
"Yes, this is your punishment from trying to go back in time and expecting yourself to be the lone hero that could just magically fix everything." Jeanne said, before rolling her eyes, "Besides, even heroes bleed, and, even more than that, nobody can ever truly live alone and everybody needs someone with them from time to time at the very least." then she smiled, "And for you, Jaune Arc, that person… will be me!" she exclaimed, pointing to herself with a grin, "So you better get ready cuz this blonde girl is not going to let you wallow in despair or die alone even just one bit!"
At that, Jaune just shook his head with a smile, "Alright, then that's settled I guess. Shall we start with our training?" he asked, offering her a fist.
"Yeah!" Jeanne grinned, bumping his fist with her own, "Just watch me, Jaune Arc, cuz this girl is going to save your butt eventually!"
Jaune laughed, "I'll hold you to that then." he said, unsheathing his Crocea Mors, and Jeanne followed, unsheathing her own…
And that's how their training began.
A/N: So we're going to use the actual title now, because the clickbait title is only really fun for the first chapter. This story will still technically have the whole Humor/Adventure thing, but it's slowly going to have more serious Drama/Romance later on... depending on how things go. But I'm not going to spoil anyone on that, because like hell if I'm even sure of my own plans lol.
So... yeah, hope it was fun to read and I hope you're excited to read more, because I myself am excited as hell to write more of this, especially since this was the idea I had for this weird selfcest ship from the start when I wrote To Fuck Oneself. Stay safe and see you guys on the next chapter! ... whenever that will be.
BTW, I was actually surprised by how long I'd made this chapter, and considering everything... I might stick to this kind of style more often. The kind where I have comedy but also balance it out with enough drama/angst or whatever fluff there might be.