Back to Square One (Not this time, Fate)

## Back to Square One

### Events

Jaune's death, Jaune's time travel, Arc family trip to lake, Jaune promises to go to arcade with Amber

### Characters

Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall, Juniper Arc, Hazel Arc, Amber Arc

**Back to Square One** is the first chapter for *Not this time, Fate* published on 2016 March 3.

The literary work takes place shorty after the start of 3 AB, before Jaune Arc does the time-warp again and ends up at 3 BB, when he is about 14 years old.

## Plot

### Jaune's Previous Life and Death

Jaune participated in a 'final' battle against Cinder Fall a little over two years after Beacon started, who commented that regardless of the difficulties that Jaune imposed on Cinder's plan to induce chaos, his team and friends were all dead. Despite this, Jaune remarked that he would find a way to kill Cinder, though she found this unlikely since she had the immediate upper hand. Jaune ultimately died from Cinder making the environment too warm to survive, which Jaune laments was a new way for him to die.

### Jaune's Ascendance

Jaune awoke in his bed in Ansel, dissatisfied at his untimely death against Cinder. Jaune reflected that he was back at the same point he originally started, as happened for an indiscernible amount of time. Jaune ascended from the bed, and after further philosophical whims on Fate and the nature of infinity, he ventured downstairs. He saw Juniper Arc, who he noted was unfamiliar like the rest of his family. Jaune looked for Crocea Mors, but was perturbed when he realized it was missing. Juniper informed Jaune that it was currently gone since Nicholas Arc was busy on a mission, assuming Jaune wanted his father. As Juniper continued talking, Jaune eventually fell asleep again.

### Hazel's Rude Awakening

Jaune was rudely awaken by Hazel Arc, who flipped him off his mattress. Hazel informed Jaune that he had been asleep for six hours, and that the Arc family tried to wake him up, but failed multiples times. Hazel also reminded Jaune that the family were going to the lake, to which Jaune ascended and traumatized Hazel by removing his pants. As Jaune prepared to get going to the lake, he could not remember from previous lives, but decided to go anyway since Crocea Mors wasn't in the house. Eventually Jaune went downstairs, and noted he could not remember most of his family's names outside of Amber Arc, Hazel, Jade Arc, Coral Arc, and Sable Arc. Juniper put supplies into everyone's hands, and the group ventured through the trees to the lake.

### Trip to the Lake

#### Juniper's Concern

At the lake, Juniper observed her children and reflected on her family situation. At some point, Amber emerged and sat on her lap, as she was curious why Jaune was sleeping. Juniper hoped Jaune wasn't ill, as she saw an expression in his eyes similar to Nicholas after a failed mission. In an effort to distract Amber, Juniper tells her to see if Jaune wants to play.

#### Hide and Seek with Amber

Jaune did not appreciate being awakened, but decided to entertain Amber as she wanted to role-play as a princess. Rather than marry her off to strengthen national alliances, Jaune decided the best way to entertain her would be with hide-and-seek. Amber commanded Jaune to count to 30 while she hid. Jaune had no intent of looking for her, but Juniper politely asked that he venture to find her, since she was concerned Amber would get lost. Jaune acquired the art of tracking from Lie Ren, who applied the experience to search for Nora Valkyrie. Eventually, Jaune was pranked by Amber, who did her best impersonation of a wild animal, prompting Jaune to smack her in the face in self-defense. After Amber apologized to Jaune, confusing him as he was the one who assaulted her, but Amber forgave him following a hug. As Jaune continued inspecting the damage, Amber demanded that Jaune take her to the arcade the following day to apologize, which Jaune agreed to, much to Amber's delight.

#### Juniper's Relaxation

Juniper watched as Jaune and Amber arrived from the woods. She observed as Jaune started participating in games with his other sisters. At this point, Juniper relaxed, thinking things would be fine.

## Pre- and Post-publication Commentary

### Preparation and Writing

In his author note, Coeur mentioned that NTF had been in planning since seven months prior to the publication, or around August 2015, but did not have a chance to start it due to working on other literary pieces. Coeur established that the pairing would be secret, but that it would not be a pairing he had written before, meaning he would write a Blake Belladonna-Jaune Arc, Glynda Goodwitch-Jaune Arc, Cinder Fall-Jaune Arc, or Neopolitan-Jaune Arc romance. Coeur mentions that he plans to start the Beacon saga around chapter five with time-skips, but that Jaune would interact with other cast members in the chapters between.

### Post-Publication Commentary

Coeur commented that he wasn't good at first chapters, and that he intended to use the chapter to introduce the setting and a cynical Jaune enduring against countless repeats of the same life for an indeterminate amount of time. Coeur established that the next chapter would be published on 2016 March 18.

## Back to Square One Reviews

Graph showing the review rate per day and cumulative total. The x-axis represents the week-long interval between 2016 March 3 through 9, the blue line represents the reviews gained per day, and the orange lined represents the cumulative reviews over the week.

### Location

Not this Time, Fate

The graph to the right aligns with the table below showing the sampled data for Back to Square One between 2016 March 3 to March 9. The most reviews came within the first two days after publication, followed by a quick decrease as NTF left the front page. After approximately four days of publication the piece flat-lined in terms of new reviews, meaning this is an accurate sample set to use to judge initial reception for the chapter.

## Back to Square One Word Cloud

Word cloud showing top 100 words from the 84 reviewers for Back to Square One.

### Location

Not this Time, Fate

The following word bubble on the right compiles the top 100 most frequent words out of the 84 reviews as of 2021 October 30. As Jaune is the main protagonist, his name appears frequently in reviews discussing his current circumstance. Several users are curious about Jaune's platonic and romantic relationships, as words like "pairing", "friends", and "love" emerge along with early speculation about team RWBY's role in the story. There is general approval for the story among reviewers, as key words include "interesting", "good", and "great" denoting that users like the chapter and look forward to the next.

## References

1. ↑ "You've failed Jaune Arc, everyone you believed in is dead. Your team, your friends... From your partner, all the way down to little Ruby Rose. They are all dead."
2. ↑ "I'll kill you Cinder. I'm going to kill you. I will end this."
3. ↑ [Jaune]'d never burned to death before.
4. ↑ How long had it been now, sixty... ninety years? Had [Jaune] finally reached the treble digits, or was he getting close to four? As time wore on, it became harder to keep count.
5. ↑ To [Jaune], Juniper arc was little more than a stranger who made him his one recurring meal.
6. ↑ "Where's Crocea Mors!?"
7. ↑ "Hmm? Nicky? He's on a mission sweetie, remember? He'll be back in two days."
8. ↑ Jaune's eyes drooped heavily, body slouching forward as he leaned his arms on the table, a cushion for his head. For the first time in so long, he finally allowed himself to rest, lulled into a deep sleep by the pleasant melody of [Juniper's] voice.
9. ↑ [Jaune] didn't as much *wake,* as he was rudely woken up.
10. ↑ "Are you *joking?!* We tried [shaking Jaune awake] oh... two hours ago? Everyone has tried, you just slept through everything."
11. ↑ "Yeah well, mum said you fell asleep at the table, so she carried you back to your room. It's been like... maybe six hours since then? It's gone noon."
12. ↑ "Yeah well, don't forget we're off to the lake today - so make sure you bring something to swim in, and a towel- eww my eyes! I'm scarred!"
13. ↑ A trip to the lake though? That didn't stir any memories, though that didn't mean much. Maybe it had been a boring thing in his first life, or just something that did every now and then. It didn't really matter since he had to wait for Crocea Mors anyway, he might as well go with whatever they said.
14. ↑ [Jaune] could only remember a few names off the top of his head. The youngest Amber...There was Hazel of course, and her twin sister Jade... Coral, Sable... uh... Saffron?
15. ↑ Jaune didn't get a chance to consider the rest, for the moment he entered the room a pack was thrust into his arms, his mother saying something about looking after it, before she started distributing baskets to the girls. A few moments later and they were turfed out of the house, and trekking through the nearby woods.
16. ↑ "Mummy, why's big brother still sleeping?"
17. ↑ It made sense that [Jaune] would have that same expression Nicky sometimes did. The look that said the mission hadn't gone as well as hoped. That he'd seen things, and wanted desperately to forget them.
18. ↑ "Why don't you go and see if big brother wants to play then?"
19. ↑ "I'm not a brat! I'm a princess, and you need to play with me."
20. ↑ "Hide and seek?"
21. ↑ "Okay, you count to thirty! And no peeking!"
22. ↑ "I hadn't intended to [look for Amber], figure I'll give her ten minutes before I look, let her have some fun."
23. ↑ "I'd rather you went for her now, actually."
24. ↑ "[Jaune'd] learned hunting - or at least, the art of tracking - from the best. Ren might not have had the most in terms of stamina, but there was never any doubting his intelligence. He'd been an absolute machine when it came to stalking down his prey, or - as was more ofte4n the case - hunting Nora."
25. ↑ Jaune knew the sound of a Beowolf, or the differences between one and an Ursa. In fact he could identify most Grimm simply by the noise they made, or even the rhythm of their breathing. This was not a Grimm. He realised that the moment he heard it... but after years of being attacked by just about anyone, that knowledge did nothing to stop his hard-won instincts kicking in.
26. ↑ [Amber] wanted a hug, to be held by her brother, a sign that he didn't hate her.
27. ↑ "The arcade. I want you to take me to the arcade tomorrow, to say sorry!"
28. ↑ Juniper let out a sign of relief when [Amber and Jaune] appeared from the woodlands, the tension slipping from her soldiers at the sight of her youngest balanced on her boys shoulders.
29. ↑ [The] seven girls grew Jaune into their games. He indulged them all.
30. ↑ Maybe, [Juniper] thought to herself - finally losing that last bit of doubt. Just maybe... everything would be okay after all.
31. ↑ Reviews for Not this time, Fate | FanFiction (archive.org)