Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or any of it's characters or locations. Those are the property of Rooster Teeth. And the song "Ain't no rest for the wicked" belongs to the band Cage the Elephant.

Chapter One: Ain't No Rest for the Wicked.

'I don't belong here.'

It was a simple thought, a basic one, but one that resonated deeply within the mind of Jaune Arc. As the large metal dust plane continued its long journey to it's destination, he looked over the other passengers. They were all green. All children. He doubted any of them had ever seen the chaos of a real battle.

Every now and then, one of them would look over at him and stare. It was to be expected, after all, he was dressed like a desert dweller in the middle of a mostly forested area. His sandy brown cloak wasn't about to win any fashion contests, and the fact that his face was obscured by a series of bandanas and a pair of goggles, was irregular, to say the least. The irony of the fact that his clothing was drawing attention was not lost on him, but dressing like everyone else only works if you're in the same place as everyone you're dressing like.

He sighed as he continued to survey the crowd. Other than a girl in red that looked too young, and a blond girl that looked too eager, no one on the plane seemed to stand out.

Jaune yawned and turned on some music. One of the nice thing about keeping your head covered is that no one knows you're wearing a headset. When he was younger, Jaune found dust plane trips like this nauseating. Now, he just found them tedious. In all honesty, it was a very slight improvement.

As he listened to a man sing about the evils of human nature that he encountered on his walk home, Jaune began to drift off to sleep. His rest was short lived, however, as the memories returned. Memories of his friends and comrades. Memories of the dead and lost. Memories of his failure.

He was soon awoken by an all too familiar feeling. Someone was getting too close to his mask. With speed that surprised the culprit, he reached up and grabbed the offending hand by the wrist. He opened his eyes and found himself staring straight into the surprised gray of the young girl from earlier.

"Please refrain from touching my mask, ma'am."

"U-umm… Uhhh." The girl stuttered and stammered. She clearly didn't expect the masked boy to wake up. At least not so abruptly. "I t-thought you might want to know t-that w-we're here."

Jaune looked around and saw that the rest of the passengers were shuffling off of the plane.

"Oh. Thank you, ma'am."

He let go of the girl's wrist, picked up his duffle bag, and disembarked. As he stepped into the sunlight, he looked at his destination, the prestigious Beacon Academy. He couldn't help but chuckle as he thought about his current situation. It was going to be a busy next few years.

"I guess what they say is true, 'Ain't no rest for the wicked.'"

Authors Note: Yeah, so this is my first time writing in like 8 or 9 years, and quite frankly, I'm pretty sure I'll need a lot of work to make something readable. So, any constructive criticism would be gladly welcomed. After all, I'll need some advice on my flaws to improve. But enough about me. I hope you enjoyed the first of what I hope to be many chapters of "Faceless Mercenary." Jaune's past and future should be revealed soon enough. Thank you for reading, and please review.