Just Quiet
Beacon Academy had suddenly known peace for an entire month.
There were no sudden crashes from the tower.
No random explosions from the training field.
No shrieks of despair from a certain red-hooded girl.
No outrageous stunts that left the disciplinarians chasing after a blue-eyed menace.
It was… unnerving.
The academy should have felt relieved, but instead, an unsettling tension crept over the students and faculty.
Whispers spread.
“What happened?”
“Did he get expelled?”
“Did Miss Goodwitch finally snap and erase him from existence?”
Even Professor Port had noticed. He had started asking where his ‘enthusiastic young man’ had gone.
But the reality was far more disturbing.
Jaune Arc was still here.
And Jaune Arc was quiet.
It started small.
Team JNPR and RWBY had picked up on it first.
In the cafeteria, hand signs were exchanged between students—silent signals meant to communicate without words.
Nora sent a quick flick of her fingers toward Ren.
Ren responded with a subtle nod, his eyes sweeping the room.
Weiss crossed her arms. “What is happening?”
Blake, usually unbothered by chaos, actually set her book down.
Nora leaned in. “It’s been quiet.”
Yang raised a brow. “Yeah? That’s a good thing, right?”
“No.” Ruby looked deeply troubled. “It’s too quiet.”
The table went silent as they glanced at the subject of their concern.
Jaune Arc sat at the far side of the cafeteria, eating his food in peace.
He wasn’t talking.
He wasn’t flailing his arms.
He wasn’t cracking bad jokes.
He wasn’t causing a scene.
He was just… calm.
It was so out of character that even the teachers had started to notice.
Professor Oobleck had eyed him with suspicion.
Glynda Goodwitch had stopped mid-step during patrols, as if expecting to hear an explosion or see Jaune dangling off the side of the tower.
Even Ozpin had lingered, watching Jaune from his office as if waiting for something to break the unnatural silence.
But nothing happened.
Jaune Arc was simply behaving.
And that terrified them more than anything.
It was two weeks into the silence before they snapped.
“We need to do something,” Nora whispered, dramatically slamming her hands onto the table.
Ren, ever the strategist, sighed. “Nora, we don’t even know what’s wrong.”
“Exactly!” Ruby exclaimed. “Jaune isn’t just quiet. He’s too quiet.”
Yang shrugged. “Maybe he just learned how to behave?”
Weiss scoffed. “Unlikely.”
Blake looked at her, surprised. “That was fast.”
Weiss turned to her. “Blake, we know him. Have you ever known him to go an entire day without somehow getting into trouble?”
Blake opened her mouth—paused—then sighed. “Point taken.”
“Exactly,” Weiss said. “Something’s wrong.”
Nora nodded fiercely. “We’re not just worried about him! We need balance! Peace without stupidity is unnatural!”
Ren looked at her flatly. “That’s the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard.”
Nora waved him off. “It’s true! The world runs on balance, Ren. Yin and yang. Order and chaos. If Jaune stops being stupid, what’s keeping the Grimm from invading?!”
Silence.
“…That’s not how it works,” Weiss muttered, pinching the bridge of her nose.
“Point is,” Ruby interrupted, “we need to fix Jaune.”
“Agreed,” Yang said, cracking her knuckles. “Alright, what’s the plan?”
They found Jaune in the library, of all places.
And he was reading.
Like—actually reading.
Not a comic book. Not a magazine. Not a children’s storybook.
A real, actual textbook.
The sight was horrifying.
Nora whispered, “Is this what fear feels like?”
Jaune didn’t even look up.
“Jaune,” Ruby said cautiously. “Are… you okay?”
He blinked, turning a page. “Hmm? Yeah, I’m fine.”
Silence.
Yang narrowed her eyes. “...Are you?”
Jaune finally set his book down and looked at them. “Yes?”
Ruby squinted. “You’re too quiet.”
Weiss crossed her arms. “You haven’t done anything dumb in a month.”
Nora flailed. “You haven’t even crashed into anything!”
Jaune shrugged. “I just decided to focus on my studies.”
“…Liar,” Blake said immediately.
Jaune chuckled. “Wow, thanks for the confidence.”
Ren stared at him. “Jaune. What’s actually going on?”
Jaune simply smiled.
Then evaded their questions.
It continued.
He still trained. He still went to classes. But the chaos? The stupidity? The unpredictable nonsense that made him Jaune Arc?
Gone.
Beacon had never been quieter.
By the time Semester Break rolled around, everyone was losing their minds.
Even Cardin Winchester had taken notice.
“What’s wrong with the retard?” he muttered in the cafeteria, watching Jaune eat his meal like a normal student.
Jaune didn’t react.
No sarcastic retort. No dramatic monologue. Not even a challenge to a duel with a butter-knife.
Just a shrug.
Cardin stared. “That’s it? No comeback?”
Jaune kept eating.
The entire cafeteria went silent.
Cardin, unnerved, walked away.
Ruby clutched her head. “Guys, this is serious. If even Cardin is noticing, that means Jaune’s broken on a fundamental level!”
Blake sighed. “We should just accept that maybe he’s grown up.”
Nora slammed the table. “NEVER.”
The final nail in the coffin was Ozpin’s End of Semester Speech.
By tradition, once the speech was over, it was time to celebrate.
Team RWBY and JNPR had plans.
Food.
Games.
Questionably legal fireworks.
But there was one problem.
Jaune Arc was nowhere to be found.
Ruby blinked. “Wait. Where’s Jaune?”
The group looked around.
Not in the crowd. Not sneaking out the door. Not anywhere.
Nora crossed her arms. “He wouldn’t miss a party. He wouldn’t dare.”
Yang frowned. “Maybe he’s in his room?”
They checked.
No Jaune.
No signs of struggle.
Nothing.
Blake glanced at the open closet. “…He didn’t even take his armor.”
That was truly alarming.
Jaune never went anywhere without his gear.
It was as if he had vanished.
Weiss crossed her arms. “Okay. This actually concerns.”
Ren nodded. “Agreed. If Jaune willingly left his gear behind, then something is wrong.”
Nora’s face darkened. “We need to find him.”
And thus, Team RWBY and JNPR began the hunt for Jaune Arc.
Where had he gone?
Why had he disappeared?
And most importantly—
What the hell happened to him?
Beacon was empty.
The semester had ended, and the students flooded into Vale to enjoy their break. Restaurants were packed, streets were lively, and the air buzzed with celebration.
Except for one group.
Team RWBY and JNPR weren’t celebrating.
They were searching.
And so far, they had nothing.
“He’s gotta be somewhere,” Yang muttered, arms crossed.
“We checked the CCT, the training grounds, the cafeteria…” Weiss listed off, looking more and more frustrated. “Nothing.”
Blake pulled out her Scroll. “Still no response.”
Pyrrha gripped her arms, trying to steady her breathing. “He wouldn’t just leave without saying anything.”
Ren and Nora exchanged a look.
They weren’t so sure about that.
For hours, they combed through Vale.
The cafés—no Jaune.
The arcades—no Jaune.
The shopping district—no Jaune.
Even Junior’s Club—not a single trace of him.
“Are you sure he wasn’t arrested?” Sun asked, taking a bite out of his banana.
Neptune shrugged. “Honestly, that was my first guess.”
“Not helping,” Pyrrha muttered.
Desperate, they checked a small tavern near the docks.
Maybe he had gone there for a drink?
But the bartender shook his head.
“Jaune Arc?” he said. “Blond kid? Blue eyes? Talks too much?”
“That’s the one,” Ruby said.
“Haven’t seen him.”
Weiss groaned. “Great.”
Then, a drunken Huntsman overheard.
“You lookin’ for Arc?” he slurred.
Pyrrha immediately turned. “You’ve seen him?”
The Huntsman blinked. “Oh. Nah. Thought you meant someone else.”
Pyrrha’s eye twitched.
Nora had to physically hold her back.
They searched until sundown.
But no matter where they looked—
Jaune Arc was gone.
Pyrrha stood at the edge of a pier, staring out at the ocean.
Weiss sighed. “This is ridiculous. He wouldn’t just leave.”
Blake crossed her arms. “And yet, that’s exactly what he did.”
Yang rubbed the back of her head. “No note, no message. Just… disappeared.”
Ruby frowned. “This… isn’t normal.”
Pyrrha clenched her fists.
“It’s not.”
Jaune Arc wouldn’t do this.
Would he?
She bit her lip, looking down at the water.
“Where are you, Jaune?” she whispered.
But the ocean gave no answer.
And the city of Vale was silent.
Days turned into weeks.
And still—
No sign of Jaune Arc.
At first, they had checked everywhere.
They had even asked the police if he had gotten into trouble.
But there was no record of Jaune Arc leaving the city.
No ticket purchases.
No Scroll activity.
Nothing.
It was as if he had vanished.
And as the days passed, the search slowed.
Then, it stopped.
Because where else was there to look?
Beacon continued.
Classes resumed.
Students trained.
Life moved forward.
But Team JNPR felt different.
The empty seat at their table.
The missing voice in the morning.
The silence where there should have been laughter.
Ren and Nora said nothing.
But they felt it too.
Ruby had stopped talking about it.
Weiss buried herself in work.
Yang acted like it didn’t bother her—but it did.
Jaune was just gone.
Ozpin did say that Jaune had to take care of something.
But that didn’t lessen their concern.
At all.