Doing what's right isn't always easy. Pyrrha found that out the hard way. When Jaune revealed he forged his transcripts, she had no choice but the tell Ozpin. Little did she know of how this one act would affect not only his life, but hers as well.
— Fanfiction Dot Net summary
The Choices We Make is a RWBY fanfic written by Darkbetrayer
. It follows a Fandom-Specific Plot by beginning when Pyrrha decides to inform Ozpin of Jaune's forged transcripts. However, rather than expel him immediately, Ozpin instead gives him a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: he can instead apprentice himself to an active Huntsman for a year, getting field experience no student could ever dream of. Jaune accepts the offer, but things get far more complicated when not only does his best friend Ruby insist on going with him, but the Huntsman they're shadowing is none other than Qrow Branwen.
The story can be read here.
This work contains examples of:
- Achilles' Heel: The Chill is completely incapable of passing through Aura despite being incorporeal. Jaune is able to kill it by unlocking its host's Aura, then using his Semblance on his hands, grabbing it when it tries to escape the host, and ripping it in half with brute strength.
- Adaptation Expansion: The backstory behind Raven abandoning Ozpin's forces is fully expanded here. Here, she and Summer attempted to kill Salem, only to learn in the worst possible way that she was completely immortal. She then trapped them in her castle, converted Summer into a Hound, and released Raven solely so that Summer would be forced to hunt her down. Raven killed Summer at her own request, fled, and then spent the rest of her life until now focusing on the tribe.
- Adaptational Nice Guy: Qrow takes the reveal of Salem's immortality and that Ozpin had kept it secret much more reasonably than in canon. He's also less harsh with Ozpin about it.
- Adaptation Relationship Overhaul:
- Pyrrha exposing Jaune's transcripts completely changes the relationships within RWBY and JNPR. Pyrrha barely interacts with anyone (Jaune and Nora aren't on speaking terms with her, though Ren is trying to fix that), and without Ruby and Jaune's friendship tying the teams together since they're away from campus, while they still hang out together, it's far more incidental.
- Jaune and Ruby's travels eventually lead them to make relationships with Raven Branwen, Vernal, and Sienna Khan, whereas in canon none of them interacted with each other in any meaningful capacity.
- Ambiguous Situation: When Qrow meets Sienna while she's going by the name Kali, Qrow clearly recognizes that her name isn't Kali but it isn't made clear if he realizes who she actually is.
- Armor-Piercing Attack: The Trapdoor Arachne's bladed legs are so sharp that it pierces Jaune's Aura with no problem whatsoever.
- Boring, but Practical: Jaune's ability to refill his own Aura is noted to only refill it about 5% faster than if he just let it recharge naturally, but doing so gives him just that much more training time with Qrow and it allows him to refill Ruby's Aura once he has enough, so it's great for training purposes. It also saves his life when he gets caught in a bad current, as he can refill it just fast enough to take the damage from the rocks he hits.
- Both Sides Have a Point: After the fight with Tyrian Callows, Jaune and Qrow voice their disagreements with each other and admit the other has valid points. On Jaune's side, Qrow used them as bait, and while Ruby coming back to the fight put them all in danger, yelling at her about that wasn't very productive when she was already torn up about it. On Qrow's side, he had told them at the start to always follow his orders without question, breaking that order almost got someone killed, and if it were anyone but Ruby, he'd have them sent back to Beacon immediately.
- Break the Cutie: Both Jaune and Ruby begin the adventure as bright-eyed and innocent as they were when they first entered Beacon, not fully understanding what they're getting into by signing up with Qrow. Their innocence gets dashed quickly when they uncover a Faunus slave trade outside of the Kingdoms, and it only gets worse when Tyrian Callows almost kills them all.
- Broke the Rating Scale: The Atlas leadership simulation is powered by all the technology it could ever require, yet Jaune manages to outright crash it the first time he uses it with a move no one ever could've expected: dropping Atlas onto Mantle. The act killed so many Grimm at once that the simulation couldn't count it properly and crashed.
- Bunny-Ears Lawyer: Qrow is a drunk jackass who rarely takes anything seriously and trolls everyone around him, but he's widely regarded to be one of the best Huntsmen in the world. Jaune notes that nothing proves the respect he commands more than when Qrow acts exactly the same as he always does around General Ironwood and no one calls him on it.
- The Cassandra: After an encounter with Tyrian, Ruby tries to tell the remainder of her team about it, saying that she encountered a murderer and almost got killed by him. After a brief moment of shock, the rest of her team assumes it's a joke and hangs up before she can correct them, with Ruby bitterly noting that they're still treating her like a kid - it's not until JNPR corroborates a part of Jaune's story that Ruby's team starts to think she may have been serious.
- Cell Phones Are Useless: After Jaune gets separated from the group via falling into a river, his Scroll gets soaked, and he can't turn it on to call for help until it gets completely dry or it'll short circuit. The time it takes for the scroll to dry is longer than the time it takes for him to just complete the mission he was there to do in the first place, and by that point he's reunited with Qrow and Ruby anyway.
- Chekhov's Gun: The hammock Qrow gives Jaune largely as a way of trolling him ends up saving his life when he uses it to avoid going over a dangerous waterfall.
- Cliffhanger: Chapter 16 ends with Jaune falling into a very dangerous river in Grimm infested territory where Ruby and Qrow can't reach him.
- Colony Drop: Jaune broke the Atlas simulation because he dropped Atlas onto Mantle. Ironwood notes such a move should've ended the game immediately, but he had evacuated the civilians first, so all it killed was a number of Grimm so high the simulation couldn't count it.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: Tyrian vs. Manny can't even be called a fight with how fast Tyrian wins and kills his opponent.
- Curb Stomp Cushion: Jaune and Ruby vs. Sienna Khan is pretty one-sided in the latter's favor, but they give a good showing and manage some solid hits along the way. She ends up calling it off after Jaune accidentally kisses her, but it's clear that she would've won had the fight reached its conclusion.
- Demonic Possession: Jaune and Ruby discover a new breed of Grimm they've never seen before called the Chill, capable of taking control of someone's body by touching it. They discover it when they see a Grimm child walking around during an attack, and they and several of the White Fang pass it back and forth between several people to attempt to kill it without killing the host in the process.
- Determinator: Ruby is originally shocked how Jaune can wake up so early and go outside to train even when he's dead on his feet, but then she notes that he really has no choice; if he doesn't do it, he'll be kicked out of Beacon for good. This determination inspires Ruby herself to get up earlier than usual to train alongside him.
- Dramatic Irony: After Jaune and Ruby escape from the Branwen tribe, they encounter what is clearly a White Fang cell making their way towards a village that is sheltering them. Neither of them realize they're working with the Fang, nor that the woman calling herself Kali is actually Sienna Khan herself.
- Exact Words: When Raven explains why she turned against Ozpin, she says that the secrets he kept directly led to Summer's death. After he hears the story, Jaune reflects on that wording and realizes that Raven never said that Salem killed Summer, meaning that Raven did it herself.
- Famed In-Story: Though their fame doesn't spread worldwide, Jaune and Ruby become known figures in the Sanus countryside for their liberation of the SDC slave camp. Their reputation is strong enough that a White Fang caravan recognizes them by their weapons and lets them travel with them.
- Fighting from the Inside: Raven reveals that Summer was still conscious after being transformed into a Hound, and the only reason Raven was able to win the fight at all was because she forced herself to stay still and let Raven kill her despite her Grimm instincts.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: After getting separated from the group, Jaune briefly recalls Qrow mentioning his sister Raven forcing new tribe members through a Trial by Blood. Almost immediately after that, he happens to encounter Vernal, who's in the middle of her own Trial.
- For Want Of A Nail: Pyrrha exposing Jaune's transcripts leads to him being apprenticed to Qrow Branwen, Ruby leaving Beacon with him, Penny not ending up in Beacon during the events of volume 1, and the whole lot of them encountering Tyrian Callows and discovering his allegiance to Salem almost a year earlier than in canon.
- Genre Savvy: Jaune immediately looks around in terror when he makes the mistake of saying the words "everything's going to be fine", noting that the moment any horror character says those words, something bad happens to them.
- Godzilla Threshold: The Chill is such a dangerous threat that Sienna is perfectly willing to kill Tobias, the helpless child the Chill is possessing, if it means getting rid of it for good. Luckily, Jaune is able to prevent that from happening.
- Good Is Not Nice: Qrow is a good person at heart, but he's also a giant dick and he damn well knows it.
- Good Is Not Soft: By the same token, Qrow is even willing to use his own niece as bait for Tyrian if it gives them a shot at taking him out, though he notes that it was a decision he made pretty much on the spot and it tears him apart later.
- Hate Sink: Ash, the commander of the Atlas base Qrow visits, seems like a nice enough fellow. Then it turns out that he lied about how big the Arachne base was so that Qrow would accept the job, putting their lives in danger just for the sake of a little profit for Atlas.
- Hidden Depths: When Jaune attends one of Port's lectures after their trip returns to Beacon, he realizes that the long-winded stories he tells actually quietly describe how to kill the Grimm featured in them. For example, when Port explains how he once killed an Arachne, all of the extra details (like how he had just finished cooking dinner and how slicing the legs allowed him to heroically save the village) are just long-winded ways of saying "the Arachne is weak against fire and destroying its legs renders it immobile".
- Hypocrisy Nod: Jaune criticizes Qrow for keeping Salem's existence a secret from everyone, especially Ruby. Qrow counters with all the good reasons why her existence is a secret, and then asks if he wants to go ahead and tell Ruby the horrible fate Summer suffered at Salem's hands. After internally discussing how much it would hurt Ruby without actually changing anything, Jaune agrees to keep it secret from her and fully admits he's being a hypocrite.
- I Know Mortal Kombat:
- Qrow points out that Atlas's leadership simulation is essentially a large-scale tower defense video game, making Jaune and Ruby far more comfortable using it. The analogy works well, with Ruby scoring well for her age group and Jaune killing so many Grimm that it crashes. Ironwood later notes that treating it as a video game instead of a test may improve student performance and that he'll try that on one of his classes.Winter: Mr. Arc's results were actually very promising. He knew how to simultaneously defend the city while gathering resources. When I asked him if he had done something like this before, he mentioned it reminded him a lot of a tower defense game. I wasn't pleased with the comparison, but I couldn't deny the results.
- Later on, when Qrow introduces the concept of a Trapper Arachne to them, Jaune compares it to a pit trap from the video games he's played. Qrow responds with a "sort of", later on showing why the analogy worked as a starting point but not in execution.
- Qrow points out that Atlas's leadership simulation is essentially a large-scale tower defense video game, making Jaune and Ruby far more comfortable using it. The analogy works well, with Ruby scoring well for her age group and Jaune killing so many Grimm that it crashes. Ironwood later notes that treating it as a video game instead of a test may improve student performance and that he'll try that on one of his classes.
- In Spite of a Nail:
- The circumstances of their meeting are drastically different, but Ruby and Penny still become good friends very quickly and her robotic nature is exposed.
- Despite Ruby and Penny not being in Vale when Blake flees, the fight at the docks seems to go pretty much the exact same as it did in canon.
- I Reject Your Reality: The idea that Jaune could beat Cardin in a fight is so incomprehensible to the latter that he assumes Jaune must have hacked Goodwitch's computer to rig the match.
- Jerkass Has a Point: It doesn't take away that Raven is a murderous bandit on top of generally being a bitch, but Jaune does admit that she has every reason to hate Ozpin after his lies directly led to Summer's death.
- Living Battery: After doing some calculations, Winter learns that Jaune's Semblance causes him to give someone else double the Aura that he loses - so if he gives up one unit, the other person gains two. Using this logic, Winter realizes that it's possible he might one day be able to use his Semblance on himself, and if he does so, he'll essentially become an infinite Aura battery.
- Loophole Abuse: Jaune breaks the Atlas leadership simulation by taking advantage of the programming and using it to drop Atlas onto Mantle. Ironwood points out that the simulation should've ended when Mantle and Atlas were destroyed, but Winter points out that it truly only ends when all the civilians are killed - Jaune tricked the game by evacuating them to a nearby military base before the drop, annihilating the infrastructure but killing untold numbers of Grimm and saving the civilians in the process.
- Mythology Gag: Just like in the show, Ren and Nora don't understand why Jaune wants to name their team attack "Flower Power".
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business:
- Ruby ignoring Qrow's orders during the fight against Tyrian makes him so angry that he outright yells at her, something that shocks everyone in the room into silence.
- Having to relive killing Summer traumatizes Raven so much that her arm begins to shake.
- Jaune walks into a meeting with Ozpin, Ironwood, Goodwitch, and Qrow and instantly can tell it's serious, but he doesn't feel very nervous. Then he sees Qrow doesn't have his flask on him and realizes that it's very serious.
- Running Gag: Qrow gives Jaune a hammock and calls it a vital Huntsman tool in an attempt to troll him, but Jaune and Ruby take it seriously and keep spreading the benefits of having a hammock on your person everywhere they go, even to General Ironwood. It only gets worse when the hammock actually saves Jaune's life, to the point that they keep actively trying to find a new one in every town they're in. Even once they've returned to Beacon, Jaune continues preaching the benefits of a hammock to everyone who will listen, to the point that even Port agrees with him.
- Secret-Keeper: Thanks to some story time from Raven, Jaune is officially let in on the secret of Salem's existence. He's kept on an otherwise need-to-know basis, but he's also let in on the vague details of Amber's situation so he can attempt to use his Semblance to save her.
- Spotting the Thread: After hearing the story of Summer's death from Raven, Jaune immediately points out something that doesn't line up; with how strong Summer already was combined with her Grimm strength and power, Raven shouldn't have been able to beat her in a straight fight as she originally tries to claim. When he calls this out, she reveals that she didn't, and the only reason she survived was because Summer managed to hold herself back long enough for Raven to kill her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Both Jaune and Qrow give each other a tongue lashing after the fight with Tyrian goes wrong. Qrow lectures the kids for coming back and specifically calls out that Ruby's insistence on returning almost got all of them killed; in return, Jaune lectures him for piling on to her when she's clearly already tearing herself up over it, then lays him out with a punch while pointing out that his plan would've gotten Penny killed if she'd been human.
