Hey all. My Mass Effect muse is currently on life support, so I decided to work on a little side project to try and get back into the flow of things. This story is based on Coeur Al'Aran's Professor Arc story (with his permission), and the idea is pretty simple; What if Jaune, several years older than canon, had actually attended the Vacuo Academy for Gifted Youth? This story is, by necessity, going to involve several OC's, but it will focus primarily on Jaune and Neo.

Author's addendum: When I originally began this story, it was intended to just be the first ten chapters as a minor project to get my muse working once more. It has obviously grown since then, quite significantly in fact. For those you looking for my take on Professor Arc alone, without the Vacuo prologue, feel free to skip to chapter eleven. I'll warn you that you might miss a few things about his background, but I've had a few people request I at least make a note indicating where the core story begins.

Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy. ~ Kat.

Arrival and Luck

Jaune Arc was in trouble.

It turned out that his armor and hoodie, while plenty comfortable on the long flight from Vacuo City, was far less so when exposed to the blazing heat of the countryside. Combined with the airsickness he'd suffered through the entire trip and he knew he smelled as bad as he looked within a couple of minutes of landing. Pretty much every other prospective student had cleared out of his general area and were now studiously ignoring his existence.

One, a tiny slip of a girl with multi-colored hair, had glared at him while she held her nose shut. He'd made a mental note to avoid her, and as many other cute girls as possible... at least until he could get cleaned up.

Way make a first impression Jaune... He groaned as he finished emptying his stomach into a convenient trash-bin. ...everyone's going to want to be your friend now.

The plan had seemed so simple back home. It had always been his dream to be a hero, to be someone that others could look up to, to be... something more than the weak kid who'd needed his sisters to defend him. His younger sisters on a couple of humiliating occasions. But given that his dad hadn't let him attend Signal, he'd never really had a chance to pass Beacon's entrance exam and he'd known it.

So... when he'd been fifteen, he'd come up with a plan to get around that little problem. Working odd jobs had made his parents happy, but more importantly they'd given him enough money to pay a personal trainer to help get him into shape. It wasn't anything as good as getting trained by a real huntsman, but since his dad was on first name terms with everyone in Ansel his options had been limited.

Then, when he'd gotten old enough and had enough lien saved up, he'd put stage two into effect. Attending Beacon may have been his dream, but... it was safer to go farther away. Way farther away. Vacuo farther away. It helped that Vacuo's reputation had been entirely accurate, and it hadn't taken him all that long to find a forger willing to take all of his extra savings in exchange for some false transcripts that glorified his education at Signal Academy on Patch.

Everything had been going great, the guy had even unlocked his aura for him! The next day even better news had come in, since both Shade, located in the city itself, and the Vacuo Academy had accepted the fake transcripts as real and offered him a spot in their upcoming classes. After a bit of debate he'd chosen the latter for the fact that it also trained younger students. That meant there'd be plenty of books and other materials on the subjects he hadn't been able to learn on his own. He'd still be behind, but if he worked hard he might be able to mitigate that.

He hoped.

Sighing and wiping his mouth, he straightened and tried to take a better look around. The school was set on a broad plateau overlooking the Southern Ocean, but not so close that the temperature was anything less than scorching. There was a decent sized little city on the coast, he didn't know the name of it off the top of his head, but apart from that and the blue on the horizon there wasn't all that much to see. Just an odd stepped pyramid looking structure that seemed to be the heart of the school, with plenty of smaller adobe style buildings all around it.

Colorful awnings stretched out from most of the buildings, providing at least some degree of shade, and he wasn't surprised at all to see misters running while older students jealously hogged the cool spaces. It seemed like half the school had turned out to see the new kids, and he noticed more than a few pointing in his direction and sneering as they laughed with one another.

Yeah, not exactly the glamorous arrival he'd been hoping for.

Right... step three, complete, I made it. He huffed out a breath and grimaced as he smelled it, … new step four, have to find a bathroom and get changed, maybe brush my teeth. Preferably before-

"Prospects!" A deep baritone shouted from somewhere nearby, "Prospects this way! You lot have initiation!"

It was all he could do to sigh and wipe his mouth, straightening as best he could. Making sure his backpack with all of his worldly possessions was in place, and that Crocea Mors was secure on his belt, he set off after the rest of the nervous seventeen year olds. They all shuffled along a path away from the landing area, perhaps twenty teens gathering around a man standing on a crate not far from the landing pads.

He was tall, built, and was strangely wearing a thick green trench coat with a fedora... and the jerk seemed entirely comfortable despite the fact that the rest of them were sweating enough that Jaune's own smell was hardly noticeable.

"Right." He continued, "I'm Professor Verde, I'll be your combat instructor assuming any of you lot manage to survive the rest of the day."

Jaune tried not to swallow nervously, and only barely noticed a few others doing the same. A tall, dark skinned girl who'd ended up beside him seemed to be nearly as terrified as he was... which was an oddly comforting thing to see. At least he wasn't alone.

"Most of the other schools give you a day to settle in, prepare yourselves, that kind of crap." Verde continued, "We don't bother with that out here, easier to ship you all back in the same day if you don't make the cut. Drop your luggage over here, keep any travel packs on you. The initiation itself is simple, doesn't mean it's easy. We're going to drop you all off on an island just off the coast. Your goal is to get to the boats we've left on the shore. Any questions?"

Blinking a few times, Jaune glanced around, then nervously held his arm up in the air. "Um, sir?"

"Good." He grunted, ignoring him entirely and hopping down. "Get your asses back to the Bullheads."

There was a quiet sound, and the girl next to him murmured, her voice soft. "Maybe he didn't hear you?"

"Maybe?" Jaune shook his head, already turning around. The benefit of being in the back during the speech meant he was now in the front. "At least we'll get good seats."

She blinked a few times... it was rather adorable. As much as he wanted to he couldn't stop his hormone driven eyes from flicking up and down her. She was about as tall as he was, oddly tall for a girl, with short cropped black hair, and just like him she seemed inappropriately dressed for the climate. A black skirt and dark, robe like blouse covered almost all of her skin save for her face. Her eyes were an odd shade of pale yellow, and they narrowed a little as she realized what he'd just done.

"Sorry." Jaune fought not to squeak. Heroes didn't squeak when they got caught checking out a girl. He flailed for a couple of seconds to get out of the trouble he'd just bought himself, and waved a hand at the thing hanging from her back. "I was.. just trying to see what your weapon was."

"Oh." Her features, more cute than really pretty, pulled into a frown. It was pretty clear that she didn't believe him, but seemed wiling to give him a pass as she reached back and touched the thick metal rod protruding from over her shoulder. "It's a collapsible dust flail. That sword yours?"

Jaune nodded, grateful for the escape. "Yeah! Crocea Mors, it's a family heirloom."

"Heirloom?" She blinked, peering a little more intently at it.

"Yeah..." His voice trailed off as he remembered his father describing the sword's past... and felt a pang of guilt for having stolen the sword when he left. "My grandfather used it in the war."

"Oh." She offered quietly. "My grandfather fought too, my older sister has his weapon. An old mace that turns into a staff. Does yours have any mecha-shift?'

"Kind of?" Jaune patted the sheath, "The sheath can turn into a shield, but the sword is... well, it's a just a sword. What is a dust flail anyway?"

"You'll see... I hope." The last few words were a bare mutter that he almost missed, and she rushed indecently to move on. "Um, what was your name?"

"Oh, it's Jaune. Jaune Arc, short, sweet, rolls of the tongue. The la..." Those yellow yes narrowed again, and suddenly the line he'd practiced didn't seem quite as cool as he'd thought. He nearly bit his lip as he stopped himself, coughing a little self-consciously. "Um... what's yours?"

"Primula Fiora" She replied as they reached the Bullheads.

Apparently the pilots had gone off to take a quick break because they were shut down and the ramps were up, leaving them to stand around a bit awkwardly before the Professor bulled his way through the milling crowd.

Verde stopped near Jaune. Up close the guy was even larger than he'd thought, and he could see that his face was in dire need of a shave. Not that he said that, or dared glance at those hard green eyes for more than a couple of seconds.

That became doubly true when the Professor frowned, his nose wrinkling, and then glared at the young man before pointedly taking a few steps to the right to stand nearer to the aircraft. "Which of you idiots isn't from Vacuo?"

Jaune, Primula, and maybe six others slowly raised their hands.

The Professor pursed his lips, "You all have at least two bottles of water? Hold up how many you've got in fingers."

Jaune winced and held up an index finger, then blinked as he saw that Primula's right hand kept all five spread.

At least he wasn't alone, one of the other boys didn't have any at all, and the Professor had irritably sent that poor man off to grab a crate from a nearby building while they waited for the pilots.

"So..." He tried after maybe a minute of silence, "Where you from?"

Primula glanced at him, as if surprised that he was still trying to talk to her. "Mantle. You?"

"Outer Vale, little town called Ansel. What brought you here?"

"I... wanted to be a huntress, not a soldier." She spoke quietly, "Atlas is... well, Atlas. You?"

Jaune bit his lip before deciding to go with something like the truth, "My family didn't really approve of me becoming a hunter. Going to Beacon would have just been asking for them to try and drag me back home."

"Oh." Primula offered, going quiet again. She seemed comfortable in the silence, and comfortable despite her clothes.

He wasn't, and wiped a bit of sweat off of his brow. "How are you not sweating?"

"Clothes like this actually help with the heat." She shrugged a little, "I did a lot of research before we came in...you might want to take that sweater off."

"Yeah..." He bit his lip, then nodded and quickly began to work on getting his armor off. It was cheap stuff, the best he could afford with what little lien he'd had after meeting the forger, but hopefully it would help keep him alive.

Primula made a strangled noise when she saw his sweater, and didn't meet his eyes when he gave her an inquisitive look. Girls... I don't know if I'll ever understand them.

Shucking the heavy material, he shoved it into his pack and re-arranged things a bit to leave his bottle of water on top. Then he got his armor back on over his plain orange t-shirt, already a bit sweat-stained, and had just settled everything into place when the other teen who'd been sent to gather water returned.

The Professor didn't get any less gruff while he made sure that everyone had at least two or three bottles on them. Then, when the pilots still hadn't shown up, he growled and stomped off to find them.

Right, this is your chance! She's smart, she thought ahead... doesn't seem to like flirting, is a bit nervous, but so are you and she's still taking with you! Remember to be confident!

"So Primula," He gave her what he hoped was a confident smile, "You want to work together when we get to this island? Better than being alone, right?"

Those yellow eyes blinked a couple of times, then she seemed to give him a hesitant smile, "I... think that would work out. We'll just have to find two others."

His throat went a little dry, his brain nudging him with the memories of the welcome packet he'd skimmed. "Oh right, the rest of the team."

"Right." She nodded, glancing around at everyone else. Jaune did the same. The first person who met his gaze was the same girl who'd pinched her nose when she'd walked past him, though now she had a parasol out to shade her from the sun. That didn't stop her brown eyes from narrowing into another glare the second they met his.

Swallowing, he quickly moved on, and almost instantly realized that everyone else seemed to be pairing up with whoever was nearby. He tried to catch the eyes of a few others, to see if they'd be interested in working with them, but apparently his bit of airsickness had made everyone else just as determined to ignore him as the first girl.

Primula didn't seem to have any luck either, but the Professor returned with an annoyed pair of men in pilot's gear before they could come up with a better plan.

"Let's get this over with!" Verde shouted as the ramp lowered, a broad arm waving for everyone to get in.

He couldn't help but pause as they returned to the vomit-inducing machines, and it was with every degree of reluctance that he climbed in after his new friend taking a seat right next to the ramp. Primula bit her lip, having clearly wanted to sit farther near to the back... but after a couple of moments walked back and sat down beside him.

Oh my god this is awesome! A cute girl as a friend already? Who is going to work with me!? This is going even better than I hoped! Fighting to keep a dopey smile off of his face was hard as everyone else stomped onto the aircraft. The seats were filled up almost at once, leaving everyone else to stand around and clutch onto straps hanging from the ceiling.

Professor Verde was the last to get on, and he didn't bother with sitting or hanging on to anything, instead standing right next to the ramp as the Bullhead lifted off. It didn't take the big man more than a couple of seconds to notice Jaune's place nearby, and his features seemed to pull into another scowl.

Jaune swallowed and quickly looked down, staring at his sneakers. ...one friend and one enemy, and the enemy is a teacher. Maybe not as lucky as I thought. No, no Jaune! Don't think about that! This is it! You have to focus! This is your first day of learning to be a hunter, a hero, don't screw it up!

The flight was far shorter, and his nerves were so bad that he didn't even notice the motion sickness until water shifted to sand and scrub trees. After maybe a minute the Bullhead dipped, and seemed to start circling the evident island.

"Right!" Verde began again "For those of you who are idiots and were too lazy to pay attention to the syllabus they sent out, you're all going to be divided into partners and teams. First person you run into the ground is your partner, and we're going to be watching so don't try and get out of it! Teams are made of two partnerships, and are determined by who finds what boat! Questions?"

"Yes sir!" He tried again, raising his voice over the engines. "Are you dropping us off or something?"

"Everyone stand up!" ...and once again, the Professor ignored him. "Off your butts! Line up behind blond and scrawny on the right, behind big and round on the left!"

Jaune glanced past the professor in time to see a giant young man rising from the chair opposite. He was, just as the Professor had said, huge... but not at all fat. Just massive in a way that made it hard to believe he was seventeen.

Behind him, Primula took a stab at asking a question, "Um, Professor Verde? If we all land in one spot, how do we figure out-"

Verde ignored her too, stabbing a finger at Jaune. "You're up first kid!"

His throat worked as he swallowed, "I'm... what?"

"Get over here." The Professor grabbed him by the armor and hauled him right to the edge of the ramp, making Jaune's heart start hammering as he realized just how high up they were, and quickly they were moving. "First test as students is on your landing strategy! It's pass-fail, so nothing to worry about!"

Landing strategy!? He can't be serious! He quickly turned around, suddenly desperate to stay on the nausea machine rather than facing the very long fall behind him. "Professor!? What-"

"Roll when you're near the ground." The Professor advised.

Jaune could only blink and gape, trying to process that. Before he could get anywhere with said process, the older man reared back and drove a booted foot right into his stomach. He had about a second to feel his eyes widen in horror, to see Primula and the others staring with similarly shocked expressions on their faces... and then he was falling.

So yeah, quick little intro chapter here. The prologue will run for ten chapters, after which we'll be moving on to the Professor Arc portion of the story. Thanks again to Coeur for letting me play around with the idea he created.

Hope everyone enjoys this short little sojourn, and hopefully I'm not too rusty when it comes to writing in the third person. Addendum just to be clear; Jaune is 17 as of this chapter, while everyone else from the canon cast will only be 14 (and ruby 12).

~ Kat