A.N I should note that Tawny will be going through rewrites and edits to better the quality and pacing of the story. I've had this entire story in mind since 2014 and I think it's time to cut to the chase in some chapters, please look forward to the edited chapters and changes. If anything seems different this chapter it is because of these edits. Edits for chapters 8-14 are coming relatively soon!

Also I feel like I should give reasons why I haven't been updating in awhile. Lately my life has been going through a bit of state and I haven't the time to find myself writing. To anyone who has stuck around with this story I thank you from the bottom of my heart. I do all of this for free and for fun and every time I see someone favorite or follow the story, it give me more hope that I can continue and get better.

I've said this way too much in recent chapters but fuck it, I'm gonna say it again. Thank you so much for sticking with Tawny. I love you all.

She sat frozen on her seat, maybe it was because she was the last student to be tested and the tensity of the sudden moment got to her. Tawny's silver eyes widened as she looked at Ku.

"Go on!" Ku whispered with enthusiasm "you got this!"

"Do I really?" Tawny thought to herself. After seeing so many students perform she felt that lingering doubt she thought she'd rid of creep back. "And here I was," she continued thinking to herself "acting confident in front of everyone. Ku, Nero, Cardin and even Alice. But after seeing all of their performances, I don't even know if I can compare. I've never fought Grimm, the only thing I've ever had experience in terms of combat is running away from cops."

"Hey!" Tawny heard a shout that broke her trance, she looked down to see Cardin smirking and shaking his head. "Don't keep us waiting, young lady"

She heard snickers and whispering from the crowd. "She's supposed to be the daughter of Ruby Rose right?" "Where's this talk about living up to team RWBY?" "Guess this is what happens when your fathers Jaune Arc" "not so big now, are you?"

"Tawny..." Ku said as she laid her hand on her shoulder. She could feel her breathing repeatedly fast, if it hadn't been cloudy than she could have sworn she saw sweat dripping down her face.

Cardin sighed as he looked at the list "well than, I guess that settles It" he shook his head "I have to say I'm quiet disappointed in you. Even your father wo-"

"I'll do it!" she yelled, Cardin smirked as he saw the young blonde standing proudly on her seat. Most of the students faces were in wonderment and confusion. To him though, this would have been typical to the offspring of Jaune. "Like father, like daughter" he thought to himself, he thought of his days of mercilessly bullying others for his own gain. Thinking back he recalled the words he said to Jaune "let's see how much of a man you truly are" the same quote would apply to Tawny as well it seems, only under different conditions.

Tawny stepped down the seats, she tried her best to not make her shaking legs obvious. "There's always a way," she whispered to herself closing her eyes "there's always a way, there's always a wAAAY" as she met the ground face forward. The taste of asphalt was enough for her to moan, she felt the presence of another being standing over her as she looked up, Cardin sighed and shook his head.

"Next time Ms. Arc, I would advise keeping your eyes open while going down the stairs" he chuckled. She heard soft laughter from the other students behind her as she blushed.

"What did I tell you?" Alice thought to herself "one isn't made a huntress, one is born one. What a waste of time, let's see if she can at least entertain me in her mediocrity"

"Now you're facing reality, aren't you Tawny?" Nero smiled "this is your moment, show me what you can do!"

She stood herself up and brushed off any dust on her shoulder, Cardin stepped out of her way gracefully as she walked up to the exam location. She closed her eyes and sheathed Surrexit Crescent, staring at the wooden dummies. She couldn't help but be intimidated by them, they didn't represent a common thug to her, they represented her future and what's to come. To her, Beacon felt like a child stepping into the real world. It was almost terrifying to think about when reality set in.

"Are you ready, Ms. Arc?" Cardin smiled, readying his thumb in anticipation on his timer.

"C'mon girly" Tawny thought back to a time when she felt helpless to fight back "I saw you steal from my ma's shop! I know it was you!"

"I-I didn't do it! I didn't do it this time I swear!" she cried.

"Yeah, sure you didn't," the employee's friend said behind him "and who else would?"

"I...I don't know!" Tawny cried "look, I'm sorry I stole from you before! But I'm telling you the truth! I didn't take anything this time!"

Tawny had left a weapons store, browsing the various mods and accessories she could add to Surrexit Crescent. She herself, did not have any money to afford the mods. Surrexit Crescent was made out of stolen parts and accessories from the store. "Stupid of them to take so long to notice that I was the one responsible for their missing stock" she thought to herself back than. Though that day came to when she was indeed caught.

Luckily for her she got to keep Surrexit Crescent due to the stolen parts already in use. Jaune had to pay back for her theft, he would always try to take away Surrexit Crescent in the past but she would find a way to obtain it again. Why he never destroyed it himself was a mystery to her, maybe something in him would feel bad if he did. Maybe he didn't want to break her heart too much.

Despite the thefts, she would always find herself going back to the store. It was the closest one nearby after all. The shop owner would always keep a watchful eyes on her though, she couldn't blame them after last time. After a day of browsing and drooling over the newest gear she had left the store only to find one of the employee's yell that she had stolen some ammo mods. Without thinking she darted out of the store only to find herself in the alleyway with the employee's.

"You wanna call the police on this one?" the employee's friend asked.

"No, actually..." the employee said as he grabbed Tawny by the neck, she could feel his tight grip squeeze as she gagged and gasped for air. It grew stronger for every plead she cried.

"This girl's stolen enough from this city, and I don't think another time out is gonna cut it out for her" the employee said. "I think, that we gotta show her what happens when she mess with honest working people like us" he smiled.

"You took the words right out of my mouth" the employee's friend said as he cracked his knuckle.

"Hey there!" a voice echoed through the alley "what the hell do you think you're doing?"

"Teaching scum like her what happens she mistreats the the system," the empllyee yelled back. His grip around Tawny loosened as he became distracted by the sudden intruder. "What? You got something to do with her man? If not get lost"

"As a matter of fact, I do have something" the man said as walked closer to the thugs "that's my baby girl you've got there. And you better think twice before laying a finger on her"

"Wait a minute..." she thought to herself "is that..."

"Well well well," the employee's friend said "If it isn't Jaune Arc, hero of the hour. A'right Mr. Hero, could you tell me what your girl was doing stealing from my friends family store? It's a damn shame that your own daughter would do such a low thing."

"What makes you think it was her?" Jaune asked "Did you ask her to give back the items you accused her of stealing?"

"Why should I?" the employee asked "She's known to be the most common thief in this part of Vale. I'm sure her own father would know how much she's stolen from shops around town"

"Of course I do, but my real question is why would you assault someone from a mere accusation?" Jaune asked "who's the bigger scum? You guys who result to immediate violence? Or a common teenage thief?"

"Consider our treatment of her as punishment for her crime against society," the employee said "sometimes you gotta do dirty work in order to make things better"

"Look pal, I've been through hell. I've seen friends and family die, I've fought monsters that you can't even imagine. And in my experience I can tell you one thing" Jaune said "it's that not even the most common of thief is scum, far from it actually. Real scum are people who take advantage of the weak, real scum are those who use their judgment on the innocent, real scum are those who use fear for power. And right now you two are fitting all three of those categories"

The employee's grip around Tawny loosened even more as he became more concerned and aggravated from Jaune. "Spoken like a true hero" He said shaking his head "How bout we see what kind of hero you are"

"Gladly, and by the way thanks for letting my daughter go" as Tawny slipped from the employee grip, Jaune threw a punch straight to this face. The employee's friend in that instant didn't hesitate to fight back as hit Juane in the spine from his kneecap, he fell onto his knees and on all fours as the employee grabbed his hoodie. Jaune kicked his leg as he toppled on top of him, grabbing the employee's friend face right before impact as he threw him over his shoulder and onto the recovering employee's body. Toppling him down as his friend slammed on the ground face forward.

Tawny stood there in shaking and in hesitation as she reached for Surrexet Crescent with shaking hands as she looked up to her father, trying to stand up. He looked at her and shook his head, she knew what this meant "No, it's not worth it" as he got back up on his feet.

Jaune took a deep sigh as he reached his hand out to Tawny, she felt relief as she took a single step forward. In that instant she saw him fly past him as she used her semblance to catch him in her arms.

She looked up to see a gigantic woman in front of her, her body was as gigantic as the bear Grimm she read about in the history books. Her overweight frame almost took up the room of the alleyway, she growled softly only for it to somewhat echo through the area. Her face distorted as she growled, Tawny could see her cold soulless eyes remain the same as she did, it was almost as if she were an animal.

"Ma!" Tawny heard a voice boom behind her as she looked back to see the employee awoken, he was helping his friend up to his feet. His friend was bleeding from his mouth as he sobbed, Tawny could see that his front tooth was broken.

"This is the bitch that stole from the store!" the employee said "her and her daddy there beat the living crap out of us!" he looked over to his friend and presented his fractured face to her. "Look what they did to poor Burnie, Ma! She can't be-"

"QUIET!" the employee's mother boomed "I already took care of the thug Kerry! So maybe you should be sticking with me in solving these problems instead of running out on your own!"

"But she's stolen stuff from around town, Ma! She-"

"For the love of god Kerry, you shouldn't go after someone with just Accusations. This is why you got here! So you and Burnie over there got what you deserve!" she said pointing her finger at him. "Now c'mon! Pick up Burnie and we'll give him an ice pack. And no I will not be paying for any dental bills!"

"Y-yes ma..." the employee said with a defeated and terrified tone "C-c'mon big guy...we're outta here"

His friend wrapped his arm around his back as his friend dragged him while limping. The employee's friend looked at Tawny and Jaune, breathing rapidly and panted "You shuns ob bishes...shuns ofb bishs"

Tawny couldn't help but giggle at his lisp but was interrupted by the woman's booming voice "YOU, GIRL!" she yelled. Tawny jumped as she looked up apologetic to the her "stay quiet! And you..." she said to a groaning Jaune. "You best keep watch on that girl of yours! Cause she's got herself a name in this city! And don't you ever attack my boy again! You'd best be lucky I didn't break your spine in this time because if you ever come near my boy again, your daughter there will have to be your wheelchair assistant!"

After a few seconds of tense silence the woman left the alleyway, leaving Tawny and Jaune by themselves. "Crap..." Jaune grunted again, struggling to get back on his feet.

"Don't get up!" Tawny said "you're still hurt! We need to take you to-"

"I'm fine Tawn," Jaune said. He sighed as he looked to his daughter's side "But could you lift your old man up?"

Tawny took a deep breath, calming her anxiety. She offered her father her shoulder as she lifted him up off the ground "You okay?" she asked.

"Yeah, I'm alright" Jaune said, Tawny could hear soft laughter under his breath as he smiled "like I said Tawn, I've been through much worse. And what you saw there was something special, I haven't been in a fight like that in over 15 years"

"So basically you haven't been in a fight since you and mom had me" Tawny rolled her eyes "great job hiding that fact"

"Who said I was hiding it?" Jaune barked back at his daughter.

"I could have taken them," Tawny mumbled sadly " you've seen my semblance! And you see I've even built my own weapon"

"You would have regretted it," Jaune said "I saw you back there, you were terrified. Scared of someone falsely accusing you"

"T-they weren't throwing any punches at me," Tawny stuttered, fearing that her father was catching on to her "I'm not one to resort to immediate violence"

"And that's a good thing," Jaune said "you're not one to charge head on into problems all the time. But that's also your weakness"

"My weakness?" Tawny wondered "what do you mean? Isn't it better that I didn't take action to make myself look worse?"

Jaune stayed silent and smirked "alright..." he said "if you wanna play that game I'll play along" he looked to a nearby bench and pointed at it "here, let's sit right over there. I'm pretty sure you're gonna be exhausted holding and talking to your old man like this"

Tawny sat her father down looking down worryingly and she asked "We're near a convenience store, are you sure you wouldn't want me to run and get some ice?"

"I'll be fine," Jaune smiled "I'll be fine after we talk, now c'mon and sit down"

With hesitation, Tawny slowly sat on the bench next to Jaune. She blushed thinking that this looked a bit embarrassing considering his state, but this wouldn't be the first time Jaune embarrassed her in public.

"Now...as I was saying before" Jaune smiled "your weakness comes from you hiding your emotions. There are times in life you have to listen to your heart to decide, if you keep it all in than life will become more difficult"

"And that brave display you showed back there should be an example for me?" Tawny said "yeah dad...I'll keep that in mind"

"Hey!" Jane barked back "sometimes we win and sometimes we lose, that's something I had to learn in life. Back when I was around your age, there was this one kid who gave me a hard time. He bullied and pretty much blackmailed me, to the point where he told me to hurt my friends"

"And?" Tawny asked "Did you do it?"

"Of course not," Jaune laughed "in that moment I learned to defend for myself and stand up to what I believe in. I believed in my friends and fought back against my bully. Back there you were giving into what those boys wanted, you gotta learn to stand up for yourself Tawny. This world is a cruel place despite this so called time of peace"

"Hmph..." Tawny scuffed "if you believe I should stand up for myself than you would let me attend Beacon. I think I would learn better on how the world works over there"

"I told you many times, Tawn. And the answer is still no" Jaune snapped back.

"Why? Why do I have to hold myself back to who I really am?" Tawny shouted at Jaune "you're being a bit hypocritical, you know? ""Express myself"" how else will I be able to express myself when I can't even show the world who I really am?"

"Besides the fact that I would be worried sick for you, there's also the fact that being a Huntress isn't the same as it used to be," Jaune shrugged "now most of if not all of them fight back against common criminals and are used as for odd jobs. There's no more Grimm in the world so what's the point? They've never had any morality for what they do, and I don't want you getting mixed in with those crowds"

"What isn't the point?" Tawny asked "evil still exists! And the world always needs more heroes! You sit there thinking that Huntsmen and Huntress's just do the police's job for less"

"Because that's what it's come to, Tawn" Jaune said "we've had no bigger threat in Remnant since the Grimm. I'm pretty sure the police can handle a bunch of crazed religious idiots and a couple of criminals now"

Tawny looked at her father sternly and shook her head. That was the thing about Jaune, there was no changing his mind. Once he's made a decision he sticks with it

"there's just no getting through to you is there?" Tawny thought to herself. She saw Jaune's gaze slightly drift off from her, she guessed he was most likely done giving his little ramble and hearing her pleads.

"The Grimm...you said that mom got rid of them right?" Tawny asked, trying her best to change the subject.

"Yep, she took down the Grimm queen Salem and rewrote reality with the four relics" Jaune said, giving his attention back to Tawny. "It came as quiet the shock when the public found out about the four relics and maidens being real."

"How bad are we talking?" Tawny asked curiously

"Bad enough for people to start turning to new religions and cults. When the public hears something like that is real, the masses usually freak. So now we hire Huntsmen or Huntress's or let the feds take care of any underground work done by the cults. I guess you could say after the Faunus had more rights we as a society get more progressive over time, yet it feels like we've taken a step back" Jaune said "I'm 38 years old Tawny and it feels like just yesterday religion was mostly uncommon in Remnant"

"Days go by as you grow older," Tawny smiled "you're the one who told me"

"That I did. Anyways, three years after your mom and her team restored peace to Remnant and became legends we had you" Jaune smiled at Tawny, trying to lighten the mood.

"And than...she disappeared three years after you had me..." Tawny pouted.

"Hey now..." Jaune said "don't act like that! C'mon, she didn't leave because of you. We all don't know what happened, so don't be making accusations like that!"

"But...suppose that she did leave because of me," Tawny said "what reason would she have? Why would she leave her own family behind?"

"Because..." Jaune sighed "because your mother didn't want you stepping down the path she stepped in Tawny. Another reason why I can't have you going to Beacon is because I made a promise with her to have you live a normal life"

Clenching her fist, Tawny grunted "so that's it...isn't it? She left because she didn't want me following her? Y'know dad, I find that very hard to believe. Because right now I'm determined to follow her footsteps even more" she looked to see Jaune smile back to her.

"There you go, now see? You're taking action" he chuckled at her "you must be a fast learner, or maybe something awoken inside of you just now"

Tawny blushed "D-don't say that, I was just..."

Jaune interrupted her as he asked for her hand "I think we've talked enough, c'mon lets go home. I'm feeling a bit better"

She smirked as she took up his hand, giving him support once more. Tawny couldn't agree with her father's decisions for herself, she felt as if he was holding her back in life. But on that day she could see that her father was a good role model.

"Ms. Arc? Ms. Arc? Ms. Arc!" Cardin yelled as Tawny snapped back to reality. She looked around to see her weapon out and the tense atmosphere return around her. "Ms. Arc, are you ready?" Cardin repeated, it was funny how little time had passed with her dozing off into her memories.

She shook her head and smiled "yes!" Tightening her grip on Surrexet Crescent, she readied herself.

"3...2...1...GO!" Cardin yelled as Tawny dashed to the first dummy, swinging her blade onto it's neck. It's head flew off as she turned to slash off it's chest. Dashing to the next dummy, she pierced right in it's chest and flew it to the next dummy. Breaking its support, she dashed behind to the two now suspended dummies only to dash forward and slice them in half.

The next pair appeared in five in diagonal form, readying her blade for piercing she dashed through the row. After what felt like a tense second, the dummies fell from the blades sharpness.

"That's it cos!" Ku smiled giving small jabs in the air with her fists to cheer Tawny "that semblance is your key!"

Tawny looked to see more dummies appear besides her, this time in crowds. She smirked as she remembered Jaune's words "Let my heart decide..." she mumbled to herself as she transformed her weapon. The students gasped as they saw Surrexet Crescent transform into it's scythe shaped form Tawny threw the weapon as it spun through the crowd of dummies, she dashed past them and grabbed her weapon at top speed. She looked around to see the destroyed dummies and the silent crowd, she panted and smiled "yeah!" she cheered to the crowd "how do you like that?"

They remained silent as she turned around to see Cardin writing down some notes. "W-well?" she said, her legs began to shake from nervousness "how is it? How did I do? Did I pass?"

"I say that was an fine performance," a voice came from behind. She turned to see a woman with long black hair and yellow eyes approach the site. What struck out the most about her was her black cat like ears, judging from the way she dressed Tawny assumed she was a professor at Beacon.

"Another Faunus..." Tawny said to herself.

The woman walked up to Tawny and smiled, as if she were a child "do you recognize me, Tawny?" she asked in a calm tone.

"Excuse me? I-I mean...excuse me, mam?" Tawny said, correcting her words. She had never spoken to an adult in such a proper tone before, it felt a bit uncomfortable to say it. Nothing came to memory about who this woman was, had they met somewhere before?

The woman smiled at Tawny before switching attention to Cardin "how do you think she did, Coach Winchester?"

Cardin finished writing his notes and nodded "I say she did above average, Professor Wukong"

The name struck Tawny's mind "w-wait! Wukong? Just like Nero Wukong?" she looked up the audience to find Nero. She was amazed yet she wanted to poke fun at him for this. Nero was nowhere in her sight "he must have transformed off somewhere..." she thought as she smiled to herself.

"He does that," the woman smiled "whenever he's proven something or embarrassed he like to escape the situation. But we're getting off track here Tawny, I was watching your performance and I must say I was quiet impressed"

"Better than I expected it to be," Cardin added with a smile.

A million thoughts poured into Tawny's mind, she felt her heart beat increase as she felt her body lighten up. "S-so wait..." she stuttered "does that mean?"

"It does," the woman nodded "you have passed. Welcome to Beacon Academy, Tawny Arc"