The Once and Future King

Chapter 4 - A Small Test

"We will be making our way to Beacon Academy now, Your Highness." Tyrian said respectfully. Over the past few days, Jaune managed to convince Tyrian to not call him 'liege' or 'king' but only up to this point.

It seems as though he was disgusted by the mere idea of not treating him like the royalty that he supposedly was.

Regardless of that, Jaune did learn a lot in the last week with Tyrian. Though Tyrian did a lot of the work, like cooking and hunting for food and such, Jaune did participate every now and then. They stayed and lived in the Emerald Forest (he'd learned that was what this forest was called) for a few week and Jaune managed to learn a lot.

Though it was still kind of embarrassing having Tyrian bath him, but the man simply insisted upon it, stating how this was something he had to get used to as someone of royalty.

Still, he'd learned to ignore most of the awkward stuff after a while, and he'd been learning how to talk formally and act as such. Who knew etiquette was so rigorous?

Still, Jaune didn't complain much, it was the least he could do for the help that Tyrian was giving him in becoming a Huntsman. Speaking of which, he was a lot stronger now, he could also feel his control over his aura was much smoother than before.

He was starting to understand why they started in a river in the first day here, controlling and using Aura was akin to directing the flow of a river. His Aura starting from some point within his body, and expanding all-throughout like a flowing river.

It was surprisingly easy once he'd learned about that, now, he was much more confident in his ability as a Huntsman, feeling like he could definitely get into Beacon now even without those transcripts.

Speaking of which… he wondered how his family would react to it, considering someone like him, born of royalty, tried to get in to Beacon by cheating…

He hoped that he wouldn't get scolded too badly.

"Your Highness?" Jaune blinked as Tyrian snapped him out of his thoughts, "Is there something on your mind?"

Jaune simply smiled, "Yeah… I'm just happy. To finally have myself one step closer to my dream."

Tyrian smiled and nodded at that, "Indeed, Beacon should pose no problem for you now. Shall we go, your highness?"

"Yes." Jaune nodded, and Tyrian snapped his fingers again, covering them in a bright flash of white.

Jaune still found this weird, the ability that Tyrian had, as far as he'd been told, this wasn't a power that Tyrian originally had, but was instead given to him by an Arc. It made him wonder who it was…

Feeling his Aura react, they found themselves in the Vale docks as the bright flash of white disappeared.

They ignored the surprised looks of the others around them, instead walking towards the startled guard who was blocking the way to the airships.

Before the guard could say a thing, Tyrian pulled out a letter from his suit, flashing it towards the guard. The guard's eyes widened before bowing to them and hurriedly guiding them to a private airship.

"R-Right this way, your highness!"

After hearing that, the other people in the docks started to gossip amongst each other in hushed whispers.

Curious silver eyes blinked at the events she'd just witnessed. "Um… what was that?" Ruby asked, turning to her sister, Yang.

Yang shrugged, "Beats me. Looks like some sort of Prince or something."

"Prince? I thought the Royalty of Remnant were gone already?"

Yang shook her head, just as confused, "I don't know Rubes. I'm just as confused as you are." She stared at where the two people who suddenly appeared had gone to, frowning. "I just have a weird feeling about this…"

Before Ruby could say anything, another bright flash of white came, and with it appeared two other people. This time it was some woman dressed in a beautiful black and gold dress alongside a young girl who wore a similar but more refined and beautiful attire. Ruby squinted, making out that the dress she was wearing was actually fairly armored, though it didn't look like it.

She was surprised, she didn't know of a material that would have properties like that unless… "She's…!"

The black and gold pair headed towards another guard, showing a letter to them, by which the guard reacted in a similar, but slightly more composed manner.

"Y-Yes, this way, your highness." the guard lead the way, going in the same direction as the others went.

"Wow… what the heck is happening?" Yang muttered, "What were you going to say, Ruby?"

"No… nothing. I was just surprised, the material she had on her clothes… it was a very rare and difficult resource to acquire."

"Really?"

"Yeah, it was… it was said to be something from another planet." Ruby muttered, before shaking her head, "W-We should hurry, we need to get into the Beacon Entrance Exam after all."

Ruby said, but she couldn't shake off a weird feeling that she was having. It's just that… things don't seem right.

It's like something that wasn't supposed to happen happened…

She didn't know why.

It just feels wrong.

Jaune grimaced as he looked at the airship in front of him, noticing this, the guard nervously asked, "I-Is it not to your liking, your highness?"

Jaune sighed and shook his head, "No, it's not that. I just have bad experiences with airships." he said, crossing his arms, "Hopefully it'll be better this time."

"Y-Yes sir! We can assure the quality of the pilot and the ship itself! You won't be disappointed, your highness!" the guard hurriedly said, sighing in relief as Jaune nodded absent-mindedly.

"It shouldn't be much of a problem for you now, your highness. You have your Aura now after all." Tyrian added, making Jaune let out a breath.

"We'll have to see." was all he said, before three other people arrived at where they were. Turning around, they saw two women alongside a guard, Jaune's eyes widened as he saw someone familiar. "A-Alexandria?"

Said girl, Alexandria, also had her eyes wide, "Jaune…?" she blinked in disbelief, "Y-You're here… I—"

"What a surprise to see you here, Nero Claudia." Tyrian said in a dark voice, making them turn to him,

Nero, the woman beside Alexandria, smirked, heterochromatic eyes switching between pink, brown then settling on simply brown. "To you as well, Tyrian Callows." she chuckled, curtsying to Jaune, "A pleasure to finally meet you, Prince Jaune Arc of Vale."

"Y-You knew?" Alexandria looked to Nero, a question in her eyes,

"Of course she does." Tyrian growled, dark aura flowing out of him, "You—what are you—"

"Stop." Jaune commanded.

Suddenly, the area turned silent. Jaune let out an exasperated breath, looking around them and seeing the startled people all around them.

Clicking his tongue, he glanced at one of the guards, "We can enter the airship now, right?"

"Y-Yes, your highness." the guard bowed, shaking slightly,

"Very well. Let's continue this inside." Jaune then turned around, stepping into the airship.

Alexandria simply stared at him for a moment before frowning, "Let's go."

"As you wish." Nero replied with a grin, following as Alexandria walked into the airship. Nero glanced at the guards around them, "Do keep your mouths shut about this, you all know the consequences, don't you~?" she said to them with a sweet smile before entering the airship herself.

She chuckled to herself as she heard the guard collapse as they went in. She recalled her conversation with Julius a week ago…

"You know, I don't think they're quite ready for this." Nero said to Julius,

"They were born for this, there's no better time than now—"

"You know I'm not talking about them, right?" she frowned, "Grandfather… if this succeeds, then the Grimm would be the least of our problems."

Julius was silent at that, knowing fully well what she meant. "The fate of the world… I would rather give the choice to them. In your world, they never got that choice, and perhaps this is what Jaune would rather have for everyone."

"Is it really worth it to give them another chance?" Nero asked, narrowing her eyes, "They've wasted it once, already. How can we be so sure that it would be better now?"

"We can't." Julius answered, "Nobody knows what the future holds, after all… we can only guess."

Nero sighed and shook her head at that, "They don't deserve this."

"Perhaps they don't. Perhaps they do. One thing is for sure, however… Jaune made the choice that he would give the world another chance. He gave you another chance too. Would you not honor his decision at least?"

Nero glared at him, before scoffing, "Fine. Let's go get that bitch then."

Julius simply laughed, "You never change, do you, Nero?"

No, that was a lie. She changed, a lot.

And that's how she ended up here, having to handle Alexandria Watts of Mantle. Still, to think that Jaune had a soft spot for this girl was rather absurd, considering she was pretty much one of the main reasons why Jaune was forced to become the King of Remnant. Not to mention how she'd literally backstabbed him by the end, wanting to save herself and her family—a family that would rather want her dead.

She never really figured out what Jaune liked about this girl so much, this bitch was literally insane. Though, that did make it all the more satisfying to kill her… not that Jaune would ever know, heh.

Nero could definitely understand how Tyrian feels here at least, especially with how much he hated Alexandria for what he did to Jaune. He never really did get over his obsessiveness, for all that Jaune made him a lot less… well, insane.

That did make her think, though… Jaune really did surround himself with insane people in that world, didn't he?

… he's far too good for this world, she swears.

"Nero." she blinked as Alexandria called her name, "I… I would like to be left alone with Jaune for now."

Nero frowned at that, "Are you sure about this, your highness? I might not be able to protect you by that time if I'm not close by." That was a lie, she could literally teleport to her if she wanted anyways, she just didn't want this bitch to get too close to Jaune.

Really, she would have rather not have her meet Jaune this early, who knows what she'd do?

… That, and, Tyrian. He might kill her before she could. That would be pretty problematic if that happened.

"It's fine. I trust Jaune." Alexandria said, but that wasn't what Nero was worried about. Nero hardly trusted this bitch.

Still, she had to follow her orders, as much as it killed her inside. Seriously, if it weren't for Jaune, she'd have killed this bitch already the first moment she'd stepped into this world.

"Very well then." Nero curtsied, much to her disgust, not that she ever showed it, "I shall be waiting by the lobby, your highness."

"Thank you, Nero." Alexandria said, heaving a sigh of relief, unbeknownst to her, however, Nero just rolled her eyes as she walked over to the lobby area.

Upon arriving there, she saw a couch and decided to sit on it. Personally, she would love to lie down on it, but she wasn't allowed to do that right now, at least with what she was doing, she turned her attention to a holographic screen showing the news.

"On other news, there have been reports of wanted criminal Roman Torchwick being seen fighting a red-hooded Huntress just the other night…"

Nero briefly lost herself for a moment, staring at the portrait shot of Roman. Clenching her fists for a moment, she shook her head and sighed. There was no point in that.

The Neo here… well, she'll just have to see. At the very least, she hopes that they don't cross paths, considering everything, she'd rather not kill herself, but who was she to decide? She'd totally kill Neo if she tried to get in their way.

Wow, just thinking of that was weird.

She heard footsteps coming from behind her, and she chuckled, "Kicked out by our little King too?"

"Why are you with her?" Straight to the point as always, Tyrian.

Nero sighed, "Honestly, I'd have rather killed the bitch than babysit her."

"Then why didn't you?"

"Because it was his orders." Nero said, facing him as he stood in front of her. She crossed her legs, "I don't care what you think of me, just know that I really would kill the bitch if I was allowed to. But, no, gramps told me not to, so… I can't."

Tyrian stared into her eyes, just as she did, unblinking.

Tyrian was the first to break the eye contact, clicking his tongue, "The moment she steps out of line…"

"I'll kill her myself." Nero finished for him, standing and looking around as she felt a few… trespassers. "Though, it seems, right now, we have company." she smiled, watching as black and orange androids started to appear around them.

"Nero Claudia and Tyrian Callows detected. Unauthorized lifeforms… Executing termination…" one of the androids said, making Nero roll her eyes.

"You guys were never really good at your job." Nero said, clenching her fists as she glowed a pink hue.

"Please don't disturb his highness." Tyrian said, light glinting off his monocle, a manic grin settling upon his face as he spread his fingers out, invisible strands of aura extending from his gloves.

Nero grinned, the two of them may not always agree with each other, but one thing was for sure.

They weren't the King's personal guards for nothing.

A/N: I don't know why, but I'm having too much fun with this story, as crazy as everything happening in it is... Hmm...