Preword: Alrighty, so here we go. My next project.

I honestly didn't expect to start something new this quickly. I had a vague idea for what I wanted to do in terms of themes and characters, but there was almost nothing concrete at all even a couple weeks ago. I pitched some of what I was thinking to Jefardi and Wildstraydog and they were immensely helpful in getting this idea pushed through the planning process at a fairly expedited rate. Wildstraydog will also be continuing to help me by looking over every chapter before release for quality control. Usually Jefardi does that kind of stuff for me, but alas, real life has been busy for him lately and he doesn't have much time to work on his own stuff, let alone help me with mine. So thanks to Wildstraydog for stepping in to help me out!

You'll also notice that this particular story is tagged as M, which will be a first for me. I ended up deciding to rate it this from earlier on just because of the themes central to the story, more-so than because of any kind of planned excessive violence or sexual situations. Having said that, I think I may take advantage of the higher rating to try and write things I wouldn't normally. Just a fair warning.

This is going to be another story with heavy focus on an OC in the form of Jaune's twin sister. After the relative success of Spectrum, I'm feeling confident enough to try something like that again. However, don't expect the Joan in this story to be like the one in Spectrum. She and Jaune both are different characters from that story and with a different background. There also won't be any other OCs in this, so you don't have to be worried about being potentially overloaded with characters you don't know this time around. Just the one.

With all that good stuff said and out of the way, I guess it's time to get started.

Twin's Game

Prologue

I am not a bad person.

How many times have I repeated this lie to myself like a mantra? How many times have I actually believed myself whenever I said it?

It didn't matter how many times you said something. It didn't matter how much you tried to bury the truth.

In the end and a lie was still a lie. No matter how much you wanted to believe it wasn't.

If I really was a bad person, was it even my fault that I turned out this way? Wasn't it more sensible to blame my parents or my older sisters who raised me? It wasn't my fault that I didn't know what we were doing could be considered wrong or abnormal. No one had ever told me and by the time they did- how could they expect me to change just like that?

I had been normal until that moment. To all of the sudden tell me that all along my way of thinking- my world-view was wrong and somehow twisted? It was like a bad joke and at first I had just treated it as nothing more than one.

It was only after I was aware of it that I noticed the change. The way he held me felt different, somehow more intimate. The scent of him caused me to itch in ways I never had in places I never knew were capable of before. His smile made my heart flutter and skip a beat, always pushing the blood upwards and coloring my cheeks.

If that had been all it was, it might have been fine. I could have crushed those feelings at any moment. I'm sure of it. There's no doubt. Another lie.

I wasn't the only one who changed, however. They did too. Everyone looked at us differently. No, it wasn't right to say the way they looked at us was somehow different, it was just more accurate to say I was now aware of their looks and what they truly meant. The townsfolk, our neighbors, the Huntsmen, even our own parents began to look- had always looked at us like we were strange. Like we were freaks.

So we did the only thing we could. We ran. Away from our family. Away from their judgement. Away from our problems. We took a couple old family heirlooms for protection and got the Hell out of there.

The thing was, there was no running away from the problem we had. If anything, running only made it worse than before. Made us worse than before. After all, it wasn't society that was at fault. It was us. It had always been us.

My body heaved, stomach churning angrily and rejecting the contents inside with violent purpose. Had this been a Grimm, I would have thought it out to kill me. This was no opponent I could physically strike at, however, and I was helpless to do anything but silently feel the tears roll down my cheeks as what little breakfast I managed to eat came roaring back to the surface.

Hunks of half-digested bread and eggs, mixed together with orange juice and gastric fluids tumbled from my lips like a waterfall and splashed into the pond on the edge of our little village. My throat ached, begging for it to stop. It did.

My reflection in the water was obscured now, diluted by the orangey-brown substance. Just as it started to clear, strands of my scraggly blonde hair coming into view in the reflection, and my stomach saw fit to strike again. My whole body seized as if I was going into cardiac arrest and an awful, inhuman retch sent another wave splashing down. Through the fabric of my knee-high stockings, I could feel the water and puke spraying against my shins and ankles. After only a couple seconds that felt like hours did it stop.

I gasped, lungs desperate for oxygen of any kind. They didn't care that every inhale came along with the strong scent of my regurgitation. Every breath and I thought this would be the one that caused me to start again. Every breath I waited in terrified agony for the inevitable. Only for it to never come and the earlier contents I rejected sank to the bottom of the pond.

Rolling my tongue around the inside of my mouth, I did my best to gather the leftover puke. Every time I collected a little bit more and it sent a shiver down my spine. Finally I thought I had it all and spit, attempting to clear the taste completely from my mouth. It wasn't even the slightest bit successful.

The discolored leftovers clung to the edge of my lip, slowly sliding down and into the pond by a string of drool. It connected with the water and held for a few seconds before finally parting with an inaudible snap and causing the rest of the string to stick to my chin. I spit a couple more times in rapid succession and licked at my lower lip to try and get rid of it but only succeeded in making it worse.

Finally, I just lifted my sleeve to wipe it away, only to stop just short as the orange fabric came into view. There was a slight hesitance, a desire to not dirty his clothes with my filth. Only to have it disappear as soon as I realized by wearing it at all I was in a way already desecrating it. So I wiped my chin dry, content with the knowledge it wasn't any more filthy now than it was before. At least not to anyone other than me. Of course, my opinion didn't matter anyways so in that regard there truly wasn't any change.

His scent drifted from the sleeve and I paused, letting it rest while pressing against my face. There was another moment's hesitance, but I already knew the choice I was going to make. So I just closed my eyes and inhaled deeply, desperate to do anything to allow me to sense him more.

As his essence filled my nostrils, I was overcome by a powerful bout of drowsiness. How long had it been since I last slept? Two days? Three? It was all starting to blend together, as it always did when I went more than a single night without any rest. An occurrence that was becoming more and more frequent as of late.

It was what led to this almost grotesque appearance. The vomit had all but disappeared now and the ripples of the water had slowed, giving me a perfect reflection of myself with the aid of the first light of day. My sky-blue eyes looked almost sunken into my skull, thick dark bags underneath them doing nothing to better my image.

If not for that and I may have been kind of pretty, with my fair skin lacking any blemish when not covered in dried tears and shoulder-length golden blonde hair. Of course, my hair right now was an absolute disaster with odd ends poking out every which way. It was almost laughable, if only I didn't look so pitiful.

My clothes didn't help either, the hoodie I was wearing making me look like a homeless plague-upon-society. It was at least two sizes too big, the skin of one of my shoulders completely exposed and the sleeve nearly falling off. The Pumpkin Pete bunny mascot in the middle was at least adorable, but anyone looking at this hoodie knew it wasn't mine from the size alone. Nor were the orange sleeves I wore, so long they covered the entirety of my palm when held straight and leaving only my fingers visible. Then there were my jean shorts, sporting several tears that reduced the already negligible amount of fabric they barely had. It was supposed to be fashion or something, but combined with my already hobo-esque appearance and I wasn't going to be winning any beauty pageants in the foreseeable future.

I almost let out a sigh of self-derision. Almost. My appearance wasn't worth being upset over. It wasn't like I didn't have my own tops, but they didn't have his scent on them like this hoodie and these sleeves did. Besides, he didn't care much how I looked and he had seen me in far worse states than this. So if he wasn't bothered by my appearance, than I wouldn't be either.

"Joan." Or perhaps I spoke too soon. Standing at the edge of the pond, looking out across it and over at me was my twin brother, Jaune Arc.

His tone carried with it that silent disappointment and general uneasiness whenever he was about to confront me about something I had done. Despite that, he also always managed to sound simultaneously worried for me and my well-being. Which made it impossible for me to get mad at him when he went and acted like an overprotective big brother. Never mind the fact he was only older by seven whole minutes.

The first rays of light cast him in an orange glow, making his scraggly blond hair practically shine and blue eyes to appear a dark purple. His expression was shrouded in shade, but I knew every face he was capable of making. So I knew without difficulty the kind of expression he wore now. It didn't bode well for me.

Why did I have to come out to the edge of the village of all places? On the other side of me was a deep forest, the inside not yet visible with the sun still so low over the horizon. The residential houses were a ways off still, the closest building to us being an old church positioned behind Jaune. No one lived at the church, meaning if Jaune felt like yelling, no one was going to hear our sibling spat. Had it been later in the day maybe, but it was still too early for anyone in the village to head in this direction.

Despite this, he didn't yell. "Give me the bottle." Instead he just held out his hand and made a demand in a normal speaking voice. Don't misunderstand. Just because the volume was low, didn't mean his voice wasn't absolutely terrifying right now. If I didn't comply, there would be consequences.

Even so, I still sought a way out of this situation. So I played dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about…" I said, averting my eyes and looking up at the changing sky.

"The bottle." He played along with my game, but I was a fool to think that meant he was going to let me off the hook. "The one with the sleeping pills I told you to stop taking. The sleeping pills that you're going to overdose on because you keep taking too many of them. Like what happened this morning which is why you're out here right now, throwing up into the pond to hide the evidence so I won't find out. That bottle."

Fuck. I should have known better than trying to hide it from him. He was my twin. There was nothing I could ever hide from him, just like there was nothing he could ever hide from me. This deception had been meaningless from the beginning, yet I vainly tried to get away with it anyways. Maybe I had just been hoping he would let it go? Even I wasn't sure what I was thinking by going through this whole elaborate scheme.

Jaune continued to stand there, open palm extended and waiting for me to produce the bottle. He would have already come out to get it if I wasn't standing on the middle of the pond. Reluctantly, I fished in my back jean's pocket for it and tossed it to him. He caught it with practiced ease, twisting off the cap and counting the contents inside without delay.

He grimaced but said nothing. I already knew how many pills I had taken so he didn't feel the need to verbalize the number missing. The fact that we were here at all was proof enough that I had overdone it. Exactly like he said. Damn know-it-all.

I started across the pond with my head hung low, feet soundlessly stepping on the water as if it was solid ground. I walked until I was right in front of him, his feet on the very edge of the pond, me just over the shallow, ankle-deep surface. "I'm sorry." I whispered, not even loud enough for him to hear.

He cupped my chin between his thumb and index finger, lifting my head and turning my sapphire blue eyes to look into his matching own. He might not have heard me, but he knew I had spoke and what I had said. There was a moment of silence between us where he debated what to do. As well as I knew him and even I didn't know what decision he would land on. Had I been punished enough by throwing up or did he feel I hadn't yet learned my lesson?

My body shivered, waiting for his decision. For him to punish me. My heart-beat quickened and cheeks filled with color. I tried to hide my shortening breath, but it was pointless as my breasts rose and fell in sync with my flaring nostrils. I squeezed my legs together, hips slowly swaying back and forth as I tried and failed to ignore the tingling sensation growing down below.

He noticed all this and finally let out a long, terribly pained sigh. His decision was made and I knew I was safe from any further consequences. This time. I also knew if I were to do this again, he wouldn't let me off the hook so easily. Provided I didn't accidentally kill myself by taking so many pills that I went to sleep and never woke up.

It wasn't my fault. The stupid pills were supposed to put me to sleep. If one wasn't going to work then maybe that just meant I needed two? When not two, I tried three. So on and so forth until… well, I applied this logic until I wound up in this predicament I currently found myself.

Jaune's hand left my chin, fingers coming around to wipe my cheeks and attempt to clear the dried tears from my face. It was like he simultaneously had no idea what I was feeling right now and yet was perfectly aware of the effect he was having on me all at once. It would be downright infuriating if his touch didn't make me so damn pleased. I hated the contradiction, but I knew the source of the problem was with me, not him.

I stood still, fuming silently at myself while also just enjoying his touch and allowing him to wipe my face clean. In the end and the pleasure of the situation won out. It was hard not to smile and I think he noticed the edges of my lips curl ever so slightly. Had I been a cat and my chest would have been humming in a loud purr.

"What are you wearing?" I finally asked him, having noticed the unusually sharp suit the moment he arrived, but having been too scared to attempt to switch the conversation while he was angry.

"Ah, this?" Jaune took a step back while his hands, to my obviously-made disappointment, separated from my face. He posed in the suit as if showing it off like I hadn't already gotten a full view of it while still standing on the middle of the pond. His mouth parted in one of his famous picture-worthy smiles. And by famous, I meant infamous because they were so terribly awkward and terrifying to look at that it made little children cry and dogs growl at him whenever he tried. "How do I look?" He asked like the smile wasn't ruining the whole image. Poor, naive soul.

"Like a million lien." I lied through my teeth. We were both terrible liars, if my earlier failure of a deception didn't already make that obvious. Yet he bought into this one without so much as a blink. Just went to show that sometimes there were lies that you could believe simply because you wanted to. "But you didn't answer my question, what is it? Why do you have it?"

"It's Beacon's uniform." He said. The smile was gone, replaced by a slightly more apprehensive expression. He cleared his throat, adjusting the tie of the suit to loosen it slightly and then let out a nervous chuckle. "I decided to accept Ozpin's offer. For both of us. We should probably leave today." His voice started to trail off until it was barely over a whisper by the time he finished. "The nearest town with an airship is in Shion Village and it's a long flight… to Beacon, that is." After that he went silent.

"I see." Was all I said. It wasn't that I was mad, but I was still trying to understand his decision. Even if he didn't tell me, I could connect the dots well enough on my own. It was just rather sudden and it was odd for him to make a choice without consulting me first. The last I heard about this offer was over two weeks ago when we first got it. Jaune hadn't brought it up since then so I assumed he decided against it.

"What about the village?" I asked. That was the only part of this that didn't line up with the image of Jaune I had in my head.

Jaune had always wanted to be a Huntsman. It was his dream since he was a little kid. However, father refused to train us outside of basic self-defense and the bare minimum when it came to wielding a sword.

We had gained some skills since running away, paying a passerby to unlock our Aura, and then picking up things here and there from the travelling Huntsmen who stopped in our current village for the night. As things stood now, however, Jaune and I were the only protection this little place had. They were just a small-time fishing community. Huntsmen rarely travelled here and most of our training had been do or die against the Grimm.

As much as Jaune always wanted to be a Huntsman, that goal was just a way to service his real dream of being a hero. He wanted to protect people and save lives. Becoming a Huntsman had been the most realistic way of achieving that, but he gave it up to run away with me. Now he was at least able to partially live that dream with our current life. It wasn't perfect, but we were the best chance this place had. If that didn't qualify Jaune as a hero, I didn't know what would.

"Do you even care?" Jaune returned my question with his own.

It was a fair point. Unlike him, I didn't give a rat's ass about these people. In the end, they were no better than the ones we had run away from in the first place. Jaune and I risked our lives without proper training all the time to save them and this shitty little settlement they called a home and for what? Sure, they hadn't chased us out but that was because they needed us and knew it.

They judged us for something we weren't even guilty of. No matter how close Jaune and I were, there was a line we hadn't crossed. My feelings on it regardless didn't change that we had always been innocent despite their thoughts to the contrary. They didn't deserve us to protect them, but just like how they couldn't afford to chase us out, we couldn't exactly take a chance to break this peaceful (no matter how strained it was) coexistence.

At least not until now. Something had changed, but I still didn't know what. I was missing a crucial piece of information. Without it and I would never be able to see where Jaune's sudden decision was coming from.

"It's fine." He didn't wait for my answer. He already knew it anyways. "Ozpin agreed to send a Huntsman to protect this village in our place." Ah, so that's what it was. No matter what and Jaune truly just couldn't abandon anyone to die, regardless of what his feelings towards them may have been. I wish I could say I was as good as he was, but that would just be another lie.

"That's kind of odd though, isn't it?" I asked, crossing my arms and biting my lower lip. "Why would he go so far to ensure our recruitment?" It was still the middle of the school-year if I understood correct. The Vytal Tournament had ended just over a month ago, even if it hadn't exactly finished.

We weren't really able to get the details, living so far out in the boonies, but someone had staged some kind of attack during the tournament that stopped it halfway. Whatever it was that had happened, it had been brought under control and as far as we knew, everything was continuing in Vale as normal now.

There had been a scare in there for a minute and the intensity of Grimm attacks spiked for a couple days. I hear it was far worse in Mistral City, but they also had the staff to handle that. We held up pretty well considering it was just the two of us.

Maybe the damage in Beacon had been worse than what they were saying? That still wouldn't explain why Ozpin would go so far as to recruit us specifically. Unless… did he know about our ability? That was an intriguing possibility and that alone was enough for me to make my decision. No doubt something my twin already knew.

"Well, it doesn't matter." I nodded to him. "If you're going, of course so will I. We'll figure out what he wants when we're actually there." There was a brief smile that crossed Jaune's face after I verbalized my agreement before it slipped back into that same frown he had when he first found me this morning.

He crossed the distance back to me and I tensed, waiting for whatever it was he was about to scold me for this time. His hands came to rest on my shoulders. On the shoulder with my exposed skin, his fingers traced gentle circles and left a trail of goosebumps that travelled all the way down my spine.

"You've been getting worse recently." He whispered. It was only then I understood the real reason he was making this decision. "It's true I don't want anyone here to die, but if we stay here any longer, Joan, and it's going to be you who dies. I can't let that happen."

"Heh," I snorted while looking up at him, trying to inject some humor into my voice. "That's not very heroic sounding of you, bro. The real hero is supposed to save everyone." I didn't mean those words and he knew it.

It was just… he was scaring me right now. I didn't want to die either. If I died, we wouldn't be together anymore and there was no guarantee we would be able to meet in the afterlife. That thought was most terrifying, being separated from my twin so permanently. Yet here he was predicting without any doubt my death in this village.

His next words were spoken in such a soft whisper I had to strain my ears to hear them. "So long as I can be your hero, that's enough for me." He then leaned down, pressing his lips hard against my forehead.

We stood there for far too long in that position. It was exactly things like this that started the rumors in the first place. Both before and again. Even so, I did not care.

Tears silently rolled down my cheeks, ruining Jaune's earlier efforts to make my face clean. Unlike the tears of fear and pain while throwing up, however, these were born from unrestrained joy. My body didn't know how else to possibly express itself and this was the only thing it could do to show how deeply my twin's words and actions moved me.

My chest swelled with repressed feelings and had my body not been frozen, I would have taken Jaune's cheeks in my hands and moved his lips to capture mine. I felt that itch again, like I always did when I considered the possibility of taking him and claiming him irrefutably as mine.

Just like that and I could have so easily become like what everyone always said I was. Like how we were.

I really am a terrible person… and that isn't a lie.

Prologue End