Chapter 1: A New Legend Begins
"Jaune!"
I stirred a little bit from my nap. Why was it that when you get so comfortable that someone decides it would be nice to wake you up? While pondering this extremely important quandary, I was once again roused by the sound of a very annoyed little girl.
"Jaune! Wake up you lazy-head! Grandpa has been looking for you, and you still have to visit Mr. Ravio!"
I began to sit up from where I was laying down on one of the watchtowers overlooking the ocean. Ah, this is the life. Running a hand through my blonde hair, I gaze out towards the horizon. I have lived in this small village all of my life, yet I never get tired of this view. The endless expanse of ocean, with its gentle waves and warm breeze, has always had a calming effect on me. I got so lost in the calm of the scene in front of me, that I didn't notice a little pipsqueak come up behind me and whack me in the back of the head with her paper fan.
"Seriously Jaune, you're supposed to be the mature one. Grandpa is waiting for you in the training room. He said something about giving you your inheritance. Also, Mr. Ravio said that he has a special gift for you."
Getting up from my spot and turning around, my blue eyes found the eyes of the slightly annoyed voice.
"I know Lillianna, I just wanted to enjoy the ocean a little bit before I leave here tomorrow."
Lillianna is the youngest of my seven, yes seven, sisters. She is eight years old, but she sometimes acts like she's twenty-eight. She has blonde hair and blue eyes like me, a small button nose and a beautiful smile. Well, right now she's sporting a bit of a frown, but she can usually be seen smiling while she plays with her friends and her other sisters around the village.
Looking down at her now, I still can't believe how big she has grown. She is currently almost up to my chest for Pete's sake! At this rate, she may grow to be taller than me. Please gods do not grow taller than 6'1", I can't take another Isabella.
Smiling, I ruffled her hair, "Thank you for waking me Lillianna. Sometimes, I don't know what I would do without you."
She puffed out her cheeks, turned her head, and blushed. Guess I embarrassed her a little. Well, that is the job of a big brother after all!
"Geez brother, you're going to have to be a little less lazy. I won't be around at Beacon to ensure that you make all of your classes," she told me in a small voice.
Chuckling, I lift my hand from her head, "I know, but are you sure I can't bring you along? I could always sneak you in in that large suitcase that mom has."
"Jaune, I am not that tiny! I'm a big girl now!" She shouted, clearly embarrassed as evident by her increasing blush.
"Okay, okay, got it, you're a big girl now. I just can't help it. You'll always be my little sister."
She began to smile, "I know, and you'll always be my lazy big brother."
I put on a face of mock hurt and struck a dramatic pose with my hand over my heart, "Lillianna, how can you call your big brother lazy, after all that I have done for you."
"Yeah, yeah. If you're done with your rendition of Shakespeare in the Park, go and see Mr. Ravio and Grandpa," she huffed.
"Aye Aye, ma'am!" I mocked saluted her.
Leaving Lillianna to giggle at my antics, I walked past her and climbed down the ladder of the watchtower. Once my feet were on solid ground, I turned and started walking back to the village.
Ordon Village was pretty small and located on the coast to the southeast of the Kingdom of Vale. The population of the village was small, but I wouldn't have it any other way. Right off of the beach is the commercial district, where several shops were located. There was a small general store that sold various goods, a school that taught students up to age seventeen, and other various mom and pop shops. Up a bit further is where all of the villager's homes were, and even further away, atop a small hill overlooking the village was Arc House, my ancestral home. Yes, my family has lived in the same house in this village for several generations. It is why my grandfather is also the mayor of this village.
I made my way to a little trading post in the commercial district that is sometimes rented out by various traders passing by to peddle their wares. I approached the door of the trading post, and, without a second thought, opened the door and walked in.
The little shop was pretty bare, apart from a large counter in the center of the room with various goods displayed for sale. Behind the counter stood what many people would describe as an eccentrically dressed man. He was a little taller than me and was dressed in a purple long-sleeved robe that reached all the way to his feet. On his waist was a brown belt with a green gem in the center. On his head, he wore a purple hood that even perfectly covered his rabbit ears, so they can be seen fully even when on. He has black hair that in some light could be mistaken as very dark purple and green eyes. On his shoulder sat a small white and blue bird affectionately named Sheerow.
"Hey Ravio, I heard you were looking for me," I called out to the man.
The trader looked up at me and smiled, "Right you are Jaune. I can't have you running off to Beacon without first giving you a Ravio special sendoff!"
He then reached below the counter and pulled out two items. One looked like a worn brown leather pouch that could be strapped onto a belt. The second item was a bow. The bow looked plain enough, golden wood and a taught string with silver metal accents.
Ravio first held out the pouch to me, "First I want you to have this Adventurer's Pouch. It can hold an almost unlimited amount of items."
Skeptical about the unlimited amount of items comment, I grabbed the pouch from Ravio. As soon as I touched the pouch I felt a slight shock run from the hand I was grasping the pouch all the way to my head. As quickly as it happened, the feeling of the shock disappeared.
"What the heck was that!" I yelped in surprise.
Ravio chuckled, "That's the pouch analyzing your brainwaves. That pouch is infused with a new type of dust called Void Dust. The dust allows the pouch to hold an almost unlimited amount of items. You can also mentally call forth anything inside of the pouch and it will appear in your hand. That's why it had to analyze your brainwaves."
I continued to stare at him skeptically.
Ravio sighed, "If you still don't believe me, why don't you try putting that telescope Lillianna got you for your birthday yesterday into it."
I reached for the telescope strapped to my belt. When I looked at it, I began to smile. I turned seventeen years old yesterday, and Lillianna wanted to get me something that I would absolutely love. When she gave it to me, she told that she bought the telescope since I loved to gaze out at the ocean. With that much thought put into the gift, how could I not love it! It was red with yellow accents, and had some decals of seagulls on it. Some may say it's a bit childish, but I don't care.
I took the telescope and began to put it into the pouch. To my amazement, the telescope went right into the pouch, even though it was bigger than the pouch! I stared wide-eyed at Ravio as he chuckled.
"See, I told you it could hold an almost unlimited amount of items. Now in order to retrieve it, you can reach your hand into the pouch while thinking of the item and you'll pull it out, or you can just think of the item appearing in your hand and it will do so."
Nodding, I held out my hand and thought of the telescope appearing in my hand. I stared in wonder as the telescope, as if by magic, materialized in my hand.
"Wow," I stated, "that's amazing!"
Ravio beamed, "I'm not even done yet!"
He then grabbed the bow and handed it to me. When it took the bow from him, I once again received a small shock similar to the pouch as well as a strange power emanating from it.
"I call that the Hero's Bow," Ravio began talking, knocking me out of my stupor, "It as special kind of bow infused with three different types of dust. The earth dust can create a standard arrow, the special fire dust can create fire arrows, and the special ice dust can create ice arrows! Just pull back the string and think of the type of arrow you want."
I would be skeptical if not for the amazing pouch that I just experienced, so I took an archery stance, thought of a regular arrow, and pulled back the string. To my ever increasing wonder, as I pulled the string back, an arrow materialized in the bow.
"That's it!" Ravio beamed excitedly, "And remember, you can also use fire and ice arrows, but I would prefer if you try that outside so you don't burn down the shop or freeze me."
I gave him a look that said I was a little peeved that he would think I would be so careless and he smirked back.
I let the arrow dissipate by retracting the string slowly. I then placed the Adventure Pouch on my belt and placed the bow in it. Turning to Ravio, I said, "These things are awesome! How can I repay you for them?"
He then smiled at me, "Don't worry about it Jaune. You have helped me plenty of times when I come to Ordon over the years. Consider it a gift between friends."
I smiled back at him, "Thank you Ravio. I'll be sure to make use of them when I'm at Beacon."
Ravio smiled and struck a dramatic pose, with one leg propped up on a stool and a hand in the air, at me, "However, if you do want to pay me back, you can tell everyone you meet at Beacon that you received these fabulous items from Ravio, the greatest wandering merchant in all of Remnant!"
I immediately sweatdropped.
"Yeah, I'll be sure to do that," I deadpanned.
Waving goodbye to the eccentric merchant, I left the shop and headed up the hill towards my home. It was time to see what Grandpa wants.
(Line Break)
I made my way up the hill, coming closer and closer to Arc House. As it came more and more into view, I was reminded how, even though it was called Arc house, it was more akin to a mini mansion. It was three stories tall, complete with fifteen bedrooms, for all of the children that the Arcs tend to have. Entering the sprawling grounds, I made my way around the house to head to the training room in the backyard. Before I could get to the small one story building that housed the training room, I caught sight of my older sister Isabella sunbathing near the pool.
Isabella was 28 years old with long red hair and bright green eyes. At 6'5", she is the tallest of the Arc siblings. As such, she has made it her job to rub the fact that I am shorter than her in my face almost every chance she can get. I tried as stealthily as I could to walk past her to get to the training room, but it seems that stealth is still not my best attribute.
"Where are you going short stuff?"
I grumbled and turned to face Isabella as she sat up from the lounge chair.
"I'm going to see Grandpa in the training room. Lillianna said that he was looking for me."
Isabella nodded, "Yeah he was. Today is a very important day after all. You just turned seventeen, and you are leaving for Beacon tomorrow. It's almost time for you to put all of your training into use."
As far back as I could remember my grandfather has been training me in the art of swordplay. Whenever I had some spare time, I would spend it with my grandfather learning the art of the sword. Because of my relentless training, I grew to love swordplay and longed to go on a grand quest where I can put my skills to use. Those aspirations of becoming a grand adventurer and hero fueled my big brother instincts made me very protective of my sisters. That's most likely why Isabella started teasing me about my height, to show that she doesn't need my protection. Still, I wish that I could go on an adventure like the hero in the legends my grandfather told me as a child. Maybe I'll have the chance when I entered Beacon.
I snapped out of my musings to see Isabella staring at me with a knowing smirk, "Got lost there for a second Tiny Tim?"
I suppressed a small growl, "I'm only four inches shorter than you."
I could have sworn that her smirk grew bigger, "Whatever you say tiny. Now move along, don't want to keep Grandpa waiting."
Nodding my head in agreement, I turned around and resumed my trek to the training room.
"Oh by the way," Isabella shouted to my retreating back, "I hope that you like the hat!"
I brushed off her comment as her usual teasing and stepped into the training room.
(Line Break)
The training room was a large single rectangular room resembling an eastern style dojo. It had a hardwood floor and different swords lining the wall facing the doorway. There were some mats that lined some parts of the wall and some additional mats stacked into a corner for hand-to-hand combat training. In the middle of the wall exactly opposite the entrance hung a shield and behind it a sword in a sheath. The shield was made out of what appeared to be iron with a thick silver metal border that came to three points at the top and swooped down to meet at a single point at the bottom. The top point of the border had an intricate carving whereas the other three points had a bolt in the center of them. The inside of the shield was colored a dark blue. On the top were three golden triangles, situated where they formed a larger triangle together with an upside-down small triangle in the space between them. Underneath the three triangles was a depiction of a red bird with its wings outstretched, giving it the appearance of soaring beak-first into the air. Two more metal carvings were on each side of the three triangles, and the triangles were surrounded by a thin metal border that circled around at the edges of the larger triangle and interconnected with each other.
For as beautiful as the shield looked, the sword was wholly unimpressive. It had a plain circular steel pommel that lead to an oval leather wrapped grip. The guard was also very plain and made of steel, which lead to what I assumed to be a steel blade.
I always wondered what the significance was of the sword and shield ever since I started training with my grandfather as a child. I always assumed that they were connected with the legend of the Hero of Twilight that my grandfather told me so long ago. Whenever I would ask him about it, he told me that he would explain everything to me when I came of age.
Speaking of my grandfather, I brought my gaze below where the sword and shield hung on the wall to see my grandfather sitting cross-legged on the floor. He currently had his eyes closed, but I knew that he was completely aware of my presence. His long white hair cascaded over his shoulders, which complemented his long white beard, giving him an older and sophisticated look. He is dressed in a grey and white kimono and training slippers. On his lap, he heled what appeared to be folded green clothes, leather gauntlets, some belts, and a blue scarf. Next to him was a pair of leather boots.
As I walk closer to him, I begin to wonder what he wanted to see me for. Our last training session was the day before yesterday, and he told me that it would be the last session I would have before I departed for Beacon. Staring at the green clothes in his lap, I began to ponder whether Isabella's hat comment had any merit.
"I assure you, the hat is not as bad as Isabella makes it out to be."
I jumped as the voice of my grandfather reached my ears. Even as he got older, he can still spook me with nothing more than a well-executed sentence when I'm not paying attention. He then opened his sky blue eyes and cracked a small smile.
I responded back to him, "Lillianna said that you were looking for me."
Closing his eyes and nodding, he began, "Yes I was Jaune. You have reached seventeen years of age, and are now beginning to embark on your own adventure. As such, it is time for you to learn of your inheritance, the inheritance of all first-born male Arcs for the past generations."
As he began his explanation, I took a seat on the floor crossed-legged across from him.
"Jaune," he continued, "I am sure that you remember the story of the Hero of Twilight that I have told you when you were a child."
I nodded my head in affirmation, and he took that as a sign to continue, "As is customary in our village, when a boy reaches the age of seventeen, they are to be garbed in the green clothes reminiscent of the hero to channel his spirit in your quests."
He then handed me the garments and boots that he was holding.
"Please change into these clothes and meet me back here."
I nodded to him and took the clothes. I then turned and walked to the door on the right side of the room, which housed a small bathroom. I entered the small bathroom and began to change.
(Line Break)
The hat was as bad as Isabella made it out to be.
That's all I could think as I stared at myself in the full length mirror in the bathroom. The predominant theme of the outfit was, of course, green, with a long dark green hat that came to a point that covered the back part of my head, leaving my bangs exposed. I wore a light tan long-sleeved tunic with chain mail over it which extended below my hips. On top of that was a dark green tunic, which was slightly shorter than the chain mail, with some intricate designs along the inside edges in a lighter green. The outside edges of the tunic were trimmed in gold fabric. On my right shoulder was a steel pauldron with some elaborate carvings. On my hands and forearms were brown leather gauntlets attached to blue fingerless gloves which went well with the brown boots and brown belt, where I fastened my Adventurer's Pouch. The outfit was finished off with tan slacks and the blue scarf tossed around and over my neck. I have to admit that the scarf was my favorite part of the outfit. It was long and extended well down my back to my legs. On the end of the scarf were the same three triangles and red bird design that were on the shield. Overall, the outfit looked pretty cool, if not for the hat. Seriously, it looked like a giant sock.
Finishing my once over, I turned and walked out of the bathroom. When I reentered the training room, I saw my grandfather standing up and holding the sword and shield I was observing earlier in his hands.
"Ah, you look like a true hero, Jaune," se said to me.
"Yeah, this outfit is pretty cool, if not for the hat," I conceded.
Grandfather smirked with a twinkle in his eye at my last comment. You knew about the hat all along didn't you!
"Anyways," Grandfather began, once again breaking me out of my thoughts, "I now wish to bestow upon you your inheritance."
I looked at him confused, "I thought these clothes were my inheritance."
Shaking his head, he explained, "No my son, the clothes that you wear is the customary inheritance of all of the boys in this village. Your inheritances as an Arc are these."
He then gestured for me to take the sword and shield from his hands. Doing so, the first thing that I noticed was how light the shield was, despite appearing to be made from solid steel. Additionally, the sword seemed very sturdy even though it appeared to be very old.
"That sword and shield has been passed down through the Arc family for generations," he continued to explain, "It is believed that these were the weapons used by the Hero of Twilight himself, the Ordon Sword and the Hylian Shield."
At the mention of the legendary hero, my head shot up from observing the sword and shield to meet my grandfather's eyes. These were the same sword and shield used by the hero of legend? It couldn't be, but, somehow, I felt that everything that my grandfather said was true. Looking back down at the sword and shield, I felt an instant connection with the weapons, even though this was the first time in my life that I ever held them. I strapped the sword and shield to my back and looked back to my grandfather. He looked at me with one of the largest smiles I ever saw from him. At that moment, I felt like I could accomplish my dream. Yes, in the garb of the hero of legend, and with these weapons, I can become a hero in my own right and go on an adventure!
My Grandfather spread out his arms and declared, "You are now ready my son. Go forth, for your legend begins now!"
Nodding my head, I turned around and proceeded out of the training room. However, before I walked out, I heard my Grandfather whisper to himself, "Maybe you will be the hero to return the light to this world."
Deciding to shrug it off, I continued to walk out of the training room and back to the house. Tomorrow will begin my first day at Beacon Academy, and I somehow knew that the adventure that I have longed for will finally begin.
(Line Break)
And…Cut! There you have it, the Prologue and first chapter of my RWBY/Legend of Zelda crossover, The Legend of Zelda: Aura of Light! I am a long time reader of fanfiction, but a first time writer. Please review and tell me what you think!
By the way, in case you are wondering, Jaune is wearing Link's outfit from Hyrule Warriors, with the pauldron on the right side since Jaune is right-handed.
Until next time!
Oh, and Disclaimer: I do not own RWBY or The Legend of Zelda. RWBY is owned by Monty Oum and Rooster Teeth. The Legend of Zelda is owned by Nintendo.