82A/N: Hello everyone, and welcome to this new fic of mine.
There are 2 fics out there that inspired this: Just Add a Y by Kaosreaper4208 and Only Boy by Imaginary Guy117. Both involve the premise of Jaune being the only male with Aura (where women were the only ones to be able to have it).
Both tackle the idea with different ideas and issues (one more light-hearted and the other more serious), but both are good reads nonetheless and I recommend giving them a try.
Anyway, they inspired me to try something similar, but instead of Jaune we have four people total. Coming up with ideas, plot points, and new lore/world building for this was surprisingly fun and made me exited to do it.
Anyway, here's the first chapter of Remnant's First Huntsmen. Enjoy!
The elevator ascended up the tower. Jaune's heart thumped heavily and steadily. He gripped his chest and steading his breathing to calm down. He was honestly surprised he wasn't a sweating mess by now. He was fairly sure that even if he did break down, it would totally be justified, giving his situation.
He was currently at Beacon Academy, one of the four prestige huntress academies of Remnant. This very institution trained some of the finest women and turned them into the best of the best of Remnant's defenders against the darkness of the Grimm hordes. But the fact that Jaune was attending this academy is at first glance an anomaly because of one factor: he was male.
By whatever laws of nature that made it so, women were the only ones that were able to unlock and use their aura. Why men couldn't was a mystery to this day. Many theories as to why still circulate, the more popular ones being that men unlocked their differently than women, they just didn't have it, or it was the gift of an old goddess to womenkind. None were ever proven to be true, but many believed at least one of those possibilities.
If Jaune wasn't feeling so good at the moment he would have snickered at those thoughts, because he was living proof that those theories and statements were false.
It actually happened several months ago. Jaune's hometown came under attack by a wave of Grimm. His mother and father went to the front lines to fight them back, but some Ursa managed to slip through the defenses and made their way to his home. Joan, his twin sister who was actually training to be a huntress, took the family weapon, Crocea Mors, and did her best to defend her sisters and brother. She did her best and killed most of them, but one got a lucky swing and disarmed her of her sword, before biting down on her arm and thrashing violently.
She would have died, but Jaune (in an act that in hindsight was a very stupid one) ran up, grabbed the sword, and stabbed the Ursa. It roared and threw Joan away, and Jaune soon found himself flanked by more Ursa. Most of the memory was a blur or out outright lost in a sea of black emptiness, but he held out and dodged their attacks for a short while before getting his ass handed to himself ten times sideways.
He woke up several days later in the hospital. His family was all there and were beyond grateful that he was alive and well. Though the second brought mystery. According to Joan and the others, Jaune got messed up badly. He shouldn't have even been alive, yet all he had were a few scars. That was when one of the nurses came and told them why.
His aura saved and healed him.
HIS aura.
Not even the nurse sounded like she believed it, but that was the only logical explanation, esspecially when everyone saw his aura glow firsthand. The following weeks were filled with tests and examinations. No one could figure out why, but Jaune, a male, undoubtedly had aura.
Soon after, someone of importance visited the Arc household: Oznia. Very few knew her first name or much else about her, but she was a living prodigy. Oznia was a well respected and experienced huntress, always ahead in what she did and was even the youngest person to become Headmistress of an academy. And she was here because of certain rumors she heard floating around, about a male who had aura. She wanted to see it for herself, and the rumors were confirmed to her after a one-sided spar with his sister.
Oznia then gave him what was perhaps the offer of a lifetime. She offered him a spot at Beacon Academy to train to become a huntsman. It was an offer that she and his family urged him to think over and consider carefully, Oznia wouldn't even accept an answer until two weeks passed. He did heed the warning took the time to think things over. After three weeks, he made his decision.
Jaune was taken out of his thoughts when the elevator stopped with a ding. He took one final, deep calming breath and stepped out when the elevator opened.
He was now on the top floor in Oznia's office, if her instructions were correct. Glass windows covered all sides as a collage of gears tinked and clanked overhead. Jaune didn't stop moving, making his way over to Oznia's desk, but it was quite apparent that he was not alone. Infront of him and the desk were three other boys, all around his age if he had to guess. They turned to him as he approached.
The first one was a white-haired man who wore the fatigues and armor of an Atlas soldier, standing with his arms behind his back. Though his armor looked different from the standard set. The plating was red, he had oversized tan shoulder guards, was without arm guards and gloves, and was without a helmet. The man also had a pulse rifle strapped on his back and some kind of one sided chainsaw sword on his hip. He gave Jaune a blank stare as he approached.
The second one was fully covered in tan and brown clothing that made Jaune wonder how he wasn't uncomfortably sweating in it. He had a green-greyish mask and goggles covering his face while a green helmet covered the rest of his head. He had an old and rustic looking gun strapped over a frontal piece of brown armor. Jaune couldn't help but notice the small tally marks carved in it.
The final one was a black-haired faunus with hedgehog ears. He wore light trousers and a white shirt with a black and red light jacket with white fur around the top. Jaune also noticed that he had bulky shoes and wrist gauntlets over fingerless gloves. Jaune looked over the shoes and gauntlets, wondering if they were weapons of some kind, but quickly looking away under his not amused brown-eyed glare.
Jaune walked up to the edge of the group and stood there with them. He stood there quietly and occasionally stole a glance at the others, sometimes catching them doing the same. He didn't make any attempt to converse with them and neither did any of them. He felt underdressed compared to them, in only jeans and a hoodie, and some just adequately breastplate and joint pads that his family barely manage to scrap the lien for… though he was very grateful for it.
He began to grow curious about the other guys. Why were they here in the Headmistress's office? Were they here for the same reason he was? It seemed a little absurd, but considering what he was here for…. he swallowed his anxiety and spoke.
"So," he started as the others looked towards him, "what are you guys here for?"
"I-" the masked one began to saw but then everyone snapped back to the elevator as they heard it ding. Everyone stood straight as they saw Oznia stepped out and walk towards them.
"Headmistress Oznia, Ma'am," the Atlas soldier said as he saluted her. Jaune heard the faunus scoff quietly.
"Your discipline is welcomed, but necessary," she said with a smile. "I'm not like Ironwood, you can be at ease around me and the other professors, Mr. Angelos." He stood at ease as Oznia walked around and leaned against the front of her desk. "I'm sorry for being late, there was a surprise manner that required my attention."
"It's ok ma'am, we weren't waiting long," the masked one said.
"Thank you for your patience. Now before we begin, I would like to do a little icebreaker. Please, tell us your name and why I brought you here, starting with you if you wouldn't mind."
'Crap,' Jaune thought as Oznia looked right at him, and the other's gazes followed. He thought he was done with these dreaded icebreakers after he finished high school. 'Welp, no use complaining about it.'
"My name is Jaune Arc. I live here in Vale and...Oznia asked me to come here because… I have aura." he winced as he hesitated at the last part. He still wasn't used to saying that.
The Atlas soldier nodded and spoke next. "I am Corporal Gabriel Angelos of the Atlas military, and General Ironwood recommend I come here after I obtained aura as well."
"Shadow Nahk," the faunus grunted, "from Mistral, here for the reason as you guys."
"Rost Kaitse, Rodnia militia of Vacuo. I'm here for the same reasons," the fourth one said as he loosened the straps of his mask and goggles, making them hang idly. Jaune and the other guys winced at the burn marks on his face. Those looked painful.
"As you all know, I am Oznia, Headmistress of Beacon Academy," she greeted, "and I must say that I am very appreciative that you all accepted my offer." Jaune offered a small smile as he and the rest nodded. "Now, the reason I invited you all here to my office is because I wanted to clarify a few things with you four. First, all of Beacon's staff know about you and that you'll be attending here. Every professor expressed delight in meeting and teaching you, but none of them will show any favoritism."
She paused before continuing. "Second, here." She took out four scrolls and looked them over before giving it to them. "Every student gets specialized scrolls while they're training to be huntresses. I wanted to make sure you each got yours personally. If there's any question about them in the future, don't be afraid to ask."
"What's different about these compared to other scrolls?"Rost asked as they pocket their scrolls.
"In addition to a vast increase in durability, these specialized huntress scrolls have access to restricted functions, such as huntress emergency beacons and a beacon for rocket lockers."
"We actually got the rocket lockers out of beta-testing?" Gabriel asked.
"Rocket lockers?" Jaune asked as Rost and Shadow raised an eyebrow at the term.
"Rocket propelled lockers. If you activate the beacon on your scroll the locker will launch to you," Oznia explained.
"That sounds pretty cool and handy," Ross said. Shadow and Jaune nodded in agreement, but a part of him shivered at the thought of what would've happened if those things existed when he was in middle school.
"If you have any other question, Professor Goodwitch will hold a class about them, among other things, during the first week. Now, initiation is tomorrow and all of the other huntress students have some idea of what to expect from here. Since none of you have attended one before, I'm going to explain the process and what would be expected of you."
Oznia spent the next hour or so explaining to the boys about Beacon, and what they could expect and what was expected of them, along with answering any questions they had. To Jaune, most of it sounded like the typical lecture you'd get at the start of a regular school, but with added emphasis on physical activity and combat, and the likely possibility of harm or worse if they weren't careful.
He would be lying if he felt a little fear wake inside of him at that last part, but he managed to fight it down. He was green, but not completely defenseless. In the months between the offer and now, his mother, father, and twin made sure to get as much sparing in as they could. He went from lasting five seconds to five minutes. Considering two of them are huntresses (one in training) and one was an experienced guardsman, it was a big step for the short time span.
"Now, are there any more question?" Oznia asked No one said anything. "Ok. Now, there's one- well, two more things I want to discuss with you." She waited for them to give her nonverbal gestures to continue. "In about an hour, the airship bringing the new students will be arriving. From there, they're meeting in the auditorium for a mandatory meeting. Its nothing we haven't already gone over, but I want you there for just after the opening speech. There, I'm going to reveal you all to the rest of the school."
"Reveal us?" Rost asked.
"Did you have to say it in a way that makes us sound like property or a prize?" Shadow grunted.
"That's not what she meant and you know it," Gabriel chimed in with a glare.
Oznia coughed into her hand to get their attention "My apologies if it sounded like that, but you four are extremely extraordinary individuals whose very existence can change the world." She informs them.
"But not everyone will see it that way, as some of you know." Jaune peeked left and saw Shadow's and Rost's hands tighten. "Though not as extreme, those feeling of skepticism and unease will be within some of the student body, especially those who have had few interactions with men in their lives thus far thanks to this career path. It won't be much, but I am sure I can ease some other tension if I, the Headmistress, vouch for you all being here." Ozina explains to them.
Jaune and the others nodded in some form. It made sense and they didn't see any reason to argue.
"What was the second thing?" Jaune asked.
The Headmistress smiled and stood up straight. "As a small compensation and thanks for coming as soon and early as you did, I had the cafeteria staff make you some fresh pizza." Ozina suddenly became one of the coolest people ever in Jaune's book.
If the pizza was any indication, then Beacon's food was ten times better than any of his previous schools. After they ate, Oznia gave them a short rundown on how the speech in the amphitheater would go and then let them go. They all went their separate ways and would regroup right before the speech.
It was now a few minutes before it would begin. Jaune ran up to the other three guys, who were waiting just by the door. "You're almost late," Shadow said.
"Sorry, I got lost," Jaune said as he approached. "My sister's attending here so I tried to find her when the ship arrived. I couldn't and ended up running into and making friends with this other girl, Ruby. What have you guys been up to."
"I just stuck to the sidelines and observed everyone coming in," Shadow explained. "I did see those two walk up to a girl with a cart, and then explode," he added with a smirk.
"Wait, that was actually an explosion I heard?!" Jaune gasped as he turned to Gabriel and Rost.
"Gabe did it… but we decided to agree it was an accident for the sake of his dignity," Rost added the last part when Gabriel glared at him.
"What happened?"
"Are you familiar with Weiss Schnee?" Gabriel asked. Jaune shook his head. "She's the heiress to the SDC, the biggest dust mining and distribution company in Remnant. I thought that with the two of us being from Atlas, it was a good idea to get on her good side and become acquaintances. It was working up until Rost tripped into her dust containers."
"No my fault she didn't have better cases. Besides I'm not the one that sneezed when the dust got in my nose."
"Don't remind me," Gabriel sighed as he pinched his nose, earning a chuckle from Shadow and Jaune. Their scroll suddenly vibrated and Jaune pulled his out first.
"It's the cue from Oznia. We go in now," he said. The four of them opened the doors and walked down the short hall to the amphitheater. They entered the now dark room and stopped right at the entrance inside the room, spread evenly as Oznia's instructions. A few girls heard them and turned their attention to them and whispered to their peers about them, but the guys ignored them.
Oznia soon took the stage and walked up to the microphone.
"Good afternoon everyone. I'll keep this short. You are all here because you want to be huntresses, the proud defenders of humanity against the Grimm. You came here in a search for the knowledge to do so, and once you are done you will move on to protect those who can't. You may believe that all you need is to just learn more and you'll be set on your merry way, but that is not true. Knowledge alone will not take you the whole way. Knowledge is information, but experience is understanding. Only once you have experience will you truly understand what it is you signed up for, and only then will you be ready. We're here to extend the hand, to offer the opportunities for knowledge and experience to you, but it is up to you take the first step, and grip that hand."
Jaune wasn't sure how to judge it, but he thought it was a good speech. Something seemed visibly off about her, but he couldn't put his finger of what it was. Oznia then gave them a short rundown, an abridged version of what he and the other guys were told.
"Miss Goodwitch will fill you in on the rest. However, before I take my leave, I have one final announcement to make. It is an important one, to where I'm making the upper year students watch this on their scrolls, so pay attention." Any hushed whispers among the crowd were silenced. "Now, I'm sure you've all heard some of the rumors among the kingdoms. Rumors about there being men who have had their aura unlocked."
Snickering and hushed whispers could be heard in the crowd.
"Today I am here to tell you… those rumors are true." The snickers were replaced with gasps and the whispering grew more numerous. "I have seen them with my own eyes. I have traveled all across Remnant to confirm those rumors myself. I am still unsure as to how, but there are four men who have aura."
The lads remembered that cue and braced themselves just before a bright spotlight turned on and illuminated them, causing all of the new students to quickly turn to them.
"And they will be attending Beacon with you all. They will Beacon's… no, they will be Remnant's. First. Huntsmen."
The entire amphitheater erupted in conversation at the revelation. Jaune looked over the crowd. He saw faces expression shock, surprise, intrigue, and a few… less than pleased glares. He soon found and made eye contact with his twin sister. She gave him a thumbs up with a proud filled smile. He returned the smile with a nod.
He briefly looked left to see how the other's fared. Gabriel had a blank stare, Rost had his mask and helmet on, and Shadow seemed to be narrowing his eyes at someone.
It was at least a minute before Oznia spoke again. "Now, I will take my leave. Professor and Deputy Headmistress Glynda Goodwitch will fill you all in on the rest. Boys, you know where to meet me."
The boys nodded as Oznia left the stage. They followed suit and turned to left the amphitheater, leaving the girls to gossip about the recent event.
A/N: And that's the end of chapter 1.
At first, I was worried about creating OC's, but I believe I managed them pretty well.
Also here's just a little more info about their appearances:
-Rost Kaitse: based off of the elite skin for Fuze from Rainbow 6: Siege.
-Gabriel Angelos: based off of Gabriel Angelos from Warhammer 40k. Appearance is the basic Atlas soldier uniform, but the armor is red and he has 40k Space Marine shoulder pads (Aka the best - Austin)
-Shadow Nahk: based off of Shadow the Hedgehog, just look up any fanart of humanoid shadow (Aka also the best - Austin)
Also special thanks to Austin Ga Kill (same guy who got me started on A Drunken Arcwitch Marriage), for helping me out with ideas and betaing, and for writing Oznia's speech for this… and for highjacking the ending a/n
(Austin - *clapping* Bravo Bravo good show my boy a great first chapter brings a tear to my eye!)
(Make sure to check back for more chapters edited by the amazing me! Most likely. I am taking this whole ending now, and you know check out more stuff by Blaiseing cause he's cool.)
Kiss ass XD and I swear to god if you keep egging me to ship Gabriel and Neon I will turn it into a tragedy
(Austin - Hey as long as there is no harems I am good)
Thanks again for reading! Have a great day :)