AN: Watching season 6 of RWBY (the free episodes as I can't afford a paid account) and I had the thought of what if Jaune from a young age was trained by Maria Calavera to be her successor as the Grimm Reaper. Jaune's design will be similar to Death from Darksiders as will his fighting style but I'm making some changes to fit the world of RWBY more. The pairing is Jaune/Amber as you saw but his team is going to be a surprise.

AN2: And meeting Jaune's sister Saffron gave me some bad vibes about the rest of Jaune's family. We know Jaune's sisters constantly forced him to dress up as a girl when he didn't want to and never hear of his parents sticking up for him about that. We also know that he is canonically stated to be the only member of the family to be refused training. Saffron is his sister and therefore also trained by the family but she lives as a civilian so the one who was trained left that life and the one who wanted training didn't get it. Secondly, Saffron moved away from her family the second she could. All in all it paints a poor picture for the rest of the Arc family.

Second coming of the Reaper

Chapter 1

-Jaune-

Stepping out of the store with a grin, the ten-year-old Jaune unwrapped his candy bar and looked around Argus. His sister Saffron and her girlfriend Terra had just moved here to get away from their family and he had left with him, much to his own parents' outrage but Saffron was more than willing to bring him with her. Frowning, he remembered how much he hated living with the rest of his family. His sisters besides Saffron were always pushing him around, forcing him to dress up as a girl, and all-around amusing themselves by humiliating him. His parents never stopped them from doing that and whenever he tried to train or do anything to follow his dream of being a huntsman they would scream and ground him.

Shaking his head, Jaune looked around and saw a little old lady trying to get across the street, some weird things on her eyes closing repeatedly even as the women kept tapping them with a frown. "Hey, do you need some help ma'am?" he asked, always wanting to try and help others.

"Why thank you young man…you are a young man right?" the woman frowned as she grabbed his arm and he helped guide her across the street, "My prosthetic eyes seem to be on the fritz…again."

"I'm a boy." He laughed, and nodded, "My name's Jaune, Jaune Arc."

"I'm Maria Calavera." The old lady smiled, patting his hand, "So Jaune, where's your family?"

"My sister is getting off work." He smiled, proud of his big sister Saffron.

"And your parents?" Maria coaxed.

"They aren't family." He scowled, remembering his parents always punishing him for trying to get his dream, "Family care about you, family encourage you, family want to help you."

"I sense a bit of resentment." The old lady quipped as they got to the other side of the street, "Care to share?"

"…I want to be a huntsman." He hoped she didn't laugh, everyone always laughed at his dream "I want to help people, to help the world." He could feel her looking at him but kept facing forward "I want to be a hero, like my grandpa, and his father, and his father." A wide smile split his face as he pictures himself as a great hero before all the wind fell from his sails, "But my parents won't let me train and I can't join any entry level huntsman academy without their permission. Whenever I tried to train on my own before they would punish me."

"Maybe they just wanted to protect you." Maria offered, the little old lady thankfully not laughing even if she had an odd frown on her face.

"They trained my sisters. Everyone in my family was trained whether they wanted to be or not. But when I want to learn how to be a huntsman I get insults and punishment." He grit his teeth, "When big sis moved away I came with her and I'm never going back!"

"I see." Maria frowned before giving him an odd smile, "Well young man I think you deserve a reward for helping me cross the street. There's a nice little ice cream place nearby so why don't you tell your guardians so they can meet us there."

-Maria-

Sitting back in her chair, Maria watched Jaune happily eat his ice cream as he sat between his sister and her girlfriend who eyed her warily, not as open around strangers as the young boy which was understandable. "Thank you for the ice cream Miss Maria." The young boy smiled at her happily, licking at his frozen treat.

"You're welcome young man." Maria nodded, unable to keep the smile from her face at the innocence of the young man. Taking in a deep breath, her expression turned serious, something the boy's guardians noted as well. "There's actually something I want to talk to you three about."

"And what's that?" Jaune's sister, Saffron, asked warily, clearly protective of her younger sibling.

"Jaune, you told me about your dream." She said as the boy frowned dejectedly, slumping in on himself.

"Yeah and it won't happen. My parents will never allow me to enter combat school." Jaune sniffled even as Saffron and Terra tried to comfort the young boy.

"Young man, I used to be a huntress myself when I was younger." Maria told them, frowning as she looked down at her frail arms. "I…I gave up when I lost my eyes years ago. I stopped helping the world and only focused on myself." She clenched the cane head tightly. "I became a huntsman and travelled, confident in my own skills and thinking I didn't need anyone. I…I'm a disappointment." A single tear slid out from under her prosthetics. "But you young man, you want to be a huntsman for some of the right reasons. You want to help the world, and I want to make up for what I should have been doing long ago."

"What are you saying?" Terra Cotta asked, even as Saffron's eyes lit up in recognition of the offer.

"Assuming you three are willing, I'd like to train Jaune." She smiled as Jaune's face lit up at the offer he never got before, "He'll learn my fighting style and everything I know. I think a nice young man like him deserves the chance to realize his dream."

"Really?" Jaune bounced excitedly "Can I Saff? Can I? Can I? Can I?"

"Jaune, I want to say yes." The blonde woman said softly, "You know I want you to live your dream and if I was better I'd train you myself, but we don't even know her."

"You don't want your brother with a stranger so often." She nodded, not at all insulted by the very fair concern. "If it makes you feel better, I can train him within your sight until you feel more comfortable around me."

"I…don't really have any other reason to protest." Saffron sighed out but looked serious "I'm going to be there for every training session though." The girl said seriously, Terra Cotta nodding in agreement.

"Perfect." Maria smiled, "In that case I'll send word to an old smith friend of mine, so we can make some training weapons for Jaune since he'll be learning my style."

"Thank you Miss Maria!" Jaune rushed over to hug her as she let out a surprised noise before patting the child's head, "I'll be the best student ever, you'll see!"

"I'm sure you will young one." She smiled, "Now I think it's time these old bones got going. I still need to go see someone to fix my eyes." She pulled out a piece of paper and wrote down her name and contact information "Here's my number. Send me a message with yours later and I'll let you know when my old smith friend is ready to make Jaune weapons."