Professor Arc: The Night Before Christmas

**"Professor Arc: The Night Before Christmas"** is the sixth published work by Coeur Al'Aran after *Stress Relief* and before *What Happens in Vacuo, Stays in Vacuo*. It was a one-shot work published for the Christmas season on 2015 December 24. The plot centers on how the Beacon staff handle delivering presents to all the children across Remnant after Santa Clause was shot down by Beacon Academy's anti-aircraft weaponry and killed by Headmaster Ozpin in his office.

## Plot

Professor Jaune Arc and Neopolitan are rudely awakened by an alarm issued by Headmaster Ozpin. Afterward, Jaune convened with Bartholomew Oobleck, Peter Port, and Glynda Goodwitch. It was revealed by Bart and Peter that Ozpin killed Santa. Jaune and Glynda are initially dismissive until they saw Santa's corpse. Santa served a valuable purpose on Remnant. According to Ozpin, millions of children would express negative emotions if they did not receive presents in the morning. Ozpin stated that the number of Grimm attacks would make the tale of the Grimm before Christmas literal. Ozpin proclaimed a plan of delegation where Beacon staff would save the Christmas season.

Ozpin showed the Beacon staff Santa's sleigh and five remaining reindeer. The identity of the deer remains unknown, but contrary to Jaune's expectations, the deer were angry creatures. Ozpin also revealed that the reins used were infused with ancient dust-weaving for the purpose of enslaving the deer. It is unknown if the deer became angry before or during their state of enslavement. Glynda defeated a reindeer in a staring contest and used the dust-woven reigns to fly to Mantle. Bart led one reindeer away to Vacuo, promising to free it later. Port also subdued a reindeer using his story-telling skills to travel to Mistral. Ozpin assigned Jaune to deliver presents for Vale and Beacon Academy before tempting the final reindeer with coffee.

Jaune decided to go another route, using the enslaving dust-reins on Neo when she slept. Neo did not appreciate this, expressing her disapproval through eye language. Jaune started begging Neo, prompting her to give a look of superiority, before using Neo's wormhole semblance to instantly travel to the necessary residences. After arriving, Jaune pulled a toy Hunter and Beowolf out of the bag. While Jaune was doing this, Neo was stealing jewelry. Jaune expressed his wish for Neo to not steal, to which Neo passive-aggressively responded by slamming a jewel box shut, the former lamenting that it would be a long night.

In Vacuo, Bart started calculating the number of children in Vacuo using a variety of postulates including a population of 80,000, a 75% marriage rate, an average of two children with one boy and girl, wind velocity and altitude, and population density. He calculated that the task would be difficult. He opted to conduct a drive-by present delivery by throwing gifts into people's houses.

In Mantle, Glynda was dealing with a father and his son concerned about the home invader. Glynda used her glaring power to subdue the man and proceed with the delivery.

In Mistral, Peter entered a house and asked what two boys wanted for Christmas. Despite Santa's bag providing coloring books, Peter realized the bag made a mistake and opted to unlock the boys' Aura instead. After doing so, Peter left for the next house.

In Vacuo, Bart expressed his disapproval of the children leaving milk and cookies out for Santa. The children consistently forget to leave coffee with the milk.

After visiting over 1000 houses, Jaune lost count. Neo was also tired from the exertion. Fortunately, Roman Torchwick was generous enough to enlist the help of goons from Hei Xiong Jr in exchange for a few million Lien from Santa's bag. With Vale taken care of, Jaune could handle the remaining students and visitors at Beacon Academy. He provided books for Penny Polendina, a Dummie's Guide to Dating for General James Ironwood, lager for Team CRDL, and other gifts for Team RVNN and Team RWBY. Jaune also narrowly survived sexual assault from Yang Xiao Long and encounters with numerous Santa Traps from other students.

At the end of the excursion, the Beacon staff reconvened and summarized the happenings. Glynda arrived slightly late, leaving copious amounts of coal for Specialist Winter Schnee. Winter was not appreciative of the high potential energy present. While she tried to stop a pile of coal from falling using a staring contest, it was not successful.