Disclaimer: I own nothing, not even a smidgen.

Prologue: Loyal Troops Are Hard to Find... So Just Make Your Own!

Jaune Age Nine

The sun was shining, the birds were singing, there was a slight breeze that was just right, today was a good day, and what better way to spend this day as a child than to play outside?

That's where little Jaune Arc could be found playing in the backyard of his family home. But he was bored, his sisters were all out doing... doing girl things, and that left all Jaune alone with only himself to play with.

So here he was, stuck kicking around a ball in their backyard, wishing for a friend to play with. Jaune absentmindedly kicked the ball a little too hard, and it went soaring up and over the wooden fence surrounding their home.

Jaune scrambled past the gate to retrieve the ball, though he need not to, someone had already gotten to it first.

Jaune's eyes widened in awe at the sight of the figure holding his ball in his armored gauntlet out to him. The figure dropped the ball and kicked it with one plated foot back to Jaune.

"D-Do you want to play w-with me?" Jaune asked in awe, nearly not getting the ball as it rolled by.

The figure nodded its covered head, and a grin that rivaled the brightness of the sun graced Jaune's face. He picked up the ball with both hands and dashed off; the figure in silver armor dutifully followed.

Jaune and his new friend played in the woods with the ball for what seemed like hours to Jaune, though it was more like only half an hour. Jaune was brought out of his haze of fun by the sound of his mother calling him.

"Over here mom!" Jaune answered.

There was the sound of someone going through the brush, branches and twigs snapping before Jaune's mother came into view.

"Hi mom!" Jaune waved at her.

"What are you doing out here, dear?" she asked.

"I'm playing with my new friend," Jaune answered with another smile bright enough to cast shadows and his eyes lit up. "Meet my friend, mom, he's a knight!"

Violette Arc watched as her son turned around expecting someone to be there, but there was no one else here when she had found him. Just him and his red ball.

"A-Are you feeling well, Jaune?" Violette asked slowly, moving up to kneel beside her son.

"Where did he go?" Jaune asked, apparently not having heard her question. "He was just here..."

"Jaune? Jaune!" Violette's voice cracked through the air like a whip.

Jaune jumped in surprise at the sudden intensity from his mom. He looked at her in fear and confusion.

"Are you sure there was someone else here with you?" she asked, staring directly into his eyes.

Jaune nodded his head resolutely. Violette's trained eyes roamed the surrounding dirt, but she saw no sign of anyone else being here, granted, the earth was disturbed by her son having his fun, but there weren't any marks left over that would be evidence of someone wearing armor running around in the woods.

Let's go home now Jaune, dinner's ready."

Jaune allowed himself to be led away from the woods, looking back, he could not catch any sight of his new friend.

Though that did not deter the young boy for long. He spent the entire trek back home regaling his mother about the adventures he had with Mr. Knight; from slaying a 'bajillion' grimm, to the beginnings of their 'totally awesome-cool tree fort' which will have at least ten rooms, not including the rocket launch pad and dinosaur room.

At the dinner table, his two younger sisters stared wide-eye as he talked, hanging from the edge of their seats as they hear how Jaune and the Silver Knight defeated several dozen beowolves.

"-And then, the knight swung like Hwah! and Shing!" Jaune swung his arms in imitation of holding a sword.

"Wooow..." intoned Auburn, the younger of the two listeners.

At the other end of the table, the adults and teenagers of the Arc Household were having a small chuckle at how animated Jaune was being.

Dinner passed on as a much more animated affair than usual, and by the end of it, everyone had heard of how great and cool Jaune's new friend was.

Weeks pass and Jaune continues to play outside with his new friend, so much so that some of his sisters were feeling left out now, as Jaune no longer played with them.

Even his parents were beginning to notice how Jaune seemed to recluse himself away from rest of them, though that only seemed to apply with the amount of time he spent with his friend. Other than the amount of time he spent outside in the woods alone, he was still their little bundle of good intentions and clumsiness.

Now, it was the night of Jaune's tenth birthday, and there was a great party planned out, with presents, a cake, everything a ten-year-old would want.

The party went off without a hitch, lasting well into the evening, so much so that Jaune fell asleep before the festivities were concluded.

Jaune was awoken to the sound of his mother rushing into his room, a look of fear upon her face before it momentarily turned to relief upon seeing him underneath his sheets. Then the fear return as she grabbed Jaune and hugged him to her chest.

Jaune was still groggy from being woken up and did not understand what was going on. He did not speak, because his mother whispered to him not to as she carried him down into the cellar, where his sisters were already congregated.

They looked scared, holding each other for dear life. But Jaune still did not understand; what could cause boisterous, fearless Ashe to hold young Auburn tightly? Why was talkative and bright Azure, now so silent? Why were Tawny and Hazel silently crying while holding each other?

Why was mom crying as she spoke: "No matter what you hear or what happens, do not open these doors, We'll come back when its safe." she gave Jaune a reassuring smile. "Be strong Jaune, for all of us." she closed the thick oak doors, and Jaune heard something falling over on the other side.

Safe? Safe from what? Jaune did not understand.

And then Jaune heard it; the teeth rattling howl. The howl went on for seconds, and then it was join by a second voice with a piercing growl, and then a third sound was heard; shrill screeching, more and more sounds joined the howl until there was a cacophony of sound.

And Jaune understood now.

They were coming.

The Grimm were here.

The noise continued to persist, and Jaune brought his hands up to cover his ears from the sound. He could feel his hands shaking against the sides of his head. Jaune couldn't breathe, all he could hear was the sound of his blood pounding.

He was gasping for breath.

He couldn't breathe!

They were coming!

Jaune was momentarily brought out of his minor freak-out to looked up as he felt arms circle around him and hug him close. His older sister Ashe was hugging him, then he felt more arms encircling him, and craning his neck, he was able to see Ivory hugging his back as well.

This seemed to prompt all his other sisters to join in on the hug, so an impromptu hug ball formed in their cellar as they hugged each other in fear of what was to come next.

This outpour of love made Jaune feel slightly better as his fears momentarily subsided.

Then those fear returned as something impacted the other side of the closed cellar doors. One of his sisters gasped, Jaune wasn't sure which one, too busy trying to bury himself in Ashe's warm embrace. Jaune felt himself being lifted and then carried away, he looked away from her shoulder to see them now at the very back of the cellar, beside a half-assembled exercise bike and several boxes of undisclosed contents.

Jaune could hear stifled crying, but he couldn't tell which of his sisters were, in a way, Jaune was glad he couldn't identify the source.

In the silence since whatever had struck the cellar doors, Jaune could consciously hear himself breathing.

A growl came from the other side of the door, reverberating through the wood and rattling Jaune's little bones.

Jaune flinched and clung even harder against Ashe.

The growling increased, and the sound of wood cracking and being torn apart was heard before something impacted against the doors once more, causing them to bend inwards.

Jaune turned to face the cellar doors to see the crack between the doors be filled by matted black fur and white bone.

Part of the left door broke away as a furry black limb that ended in long sharp claws punched through it.

Jaune heard screaming, someone was screaming now, A high-pitched shrill scream.

It took Jaune a moment to realize that it was him screaming, but then his scream was joined by those of his sisters.

With that realization, Jaune could not stop screaming as the beowolf crashed into the cellar door again. He also could not look away as he made eye-contact with the beowolf, staring into its visible red eye through the crack in the cellar doors.

In response to Jaune's fear, and actually seeing him, the Beowolf gave another roar that shook the doors in their frame.

Jaune screamed himself hoarse, just in time for the Beowolf to finished breaking through the cellar doors. It ripped the doors into splinters, flinging them behind it as it stalked into the cellar.

Jaune and his sisters cowered in fear. Jaune's eyes roamed around the room, trying to find something, anything at all that could save them, but there was nothing in sight.

Jaune could hear crying again. This time, he saw that it was Azure crying with both hands covering her mouth.

Jaune didn't know what to do, he didn't know how to stop her crying, he hated seeing his sisters cry.

Jaune could only hug his sister all the tighter as the first of two beowolves entered the room on all four, the one behind it entering with wide upright steps.

The eight of them scrambled backwards, hands reaching behind themselves to find their way, eyes always on the stalking beowolves.

But there was only so much space left in the cellar, and when their backs reached the cold cement wall, there was nowhere else to go.

Beowolves, sensing easy prey, took their time stalking towards the trapped Arcs. The one on all four was salivating, dark liquid staining the carpet black. While the bipedal one simply followed behind.

Up close, through all the fear, a part of Jaune's mind was still capable of distinguishing that the upright one was larger than the other, it was also more armored, with actual bone white plating covering forearms and thighs as well as the head, instead of the spikes.

One of his sisters whimpered.

Jaune could only watch as the two beowolves leaped at him and his family.

Jaune looked away, even as his sisters screamed, Jaune looked way from certain death. To his eternal shame, Jaune covered his face with his hands as the beowolves came at them.

Jaune screamed in terror as the beowolf swiped at his front.

His last thoughts were for someone, anyone, to save him and his family. For a savior. For a knight in shining armor.

As Jaune fell down, he continued to scream as what appeared to be the end arrived for him.

Jaune was still screaming, which means he wasn't dead, which means this wasn't the end.

Suddenly, a piercing keen interrupted Jaune's internal and external screaming. The loud and off-putting sound drew Jaune's attention, stopping his own screaming as he ran out of breath. He opened his eyes and looked up to see the impossible.

Jaune was slack-jawed at what appeared before him.

Standing between Jaune and the beowolves was a figure covered from head to toe in glowing silver armor, a close-fitted silver chest plate over a tunic of gleaming silver chainmail, pants legs, greaves, boots, gauntlets, and a winged helm, all shining brightly in the cellar, resting from its shoulders was the remains of a short tattered off-white cape, its edges fluttered from a non-existent wind.

It stood over six feet tall, standing a head taller than even the beowolves in the cellar with them. In his right and left hands respectively were a straight sword, and a kite shield with two silver crescent moons carved into its face.

The same design was in gold on the tattered cape, shimmering against the glowing silver.

Before him and his sisters, was his friend, The Silver Knight. Whom had just killed the beowolf that was about to attack, from what Jaune could see of the black smoke rapidly dissipating in the room, and the fact one of the two beowolves were now gone.

The last remaining beowolf, the alpha, seemed to regard the silver knight warily. It sniffed at the Silver Knight, unsure of something.

Not even one last snarl was allowed to escape as the silver knight -rushing forward in the blink of an eye- struck at the beowolf alpha where it stood, and bisecting it from left shoulder to right hip.

Jaune was bewildered at the sudden appearance of his friend, but that didn't stop him from breaking out into a smile that rivaled the brightness of the sun.

The beowolf alpha dissipated into black smoke as the silver knight turned back to face Jaune and knelt before him, sword planted tip-first into the floor.

Jaune rushed forward and hugged the kneeling knight, pressing its wing-tipped helm against his chest. he did not feel the cold of the metal armor wore by the knight, but was overcome by a feeling of warmth from the knight, like a thrumming battery, Jaune felt the pulsing energy the knight emitted.

Jaune looked up in wonder at his friend, while his sisters -seeing the coast was clear, and that the new entity before them was not going to kill and eat them- spread out likely at their momentary reprieve.

One of his sisters asked him whom the knight was. Jaune released the knight from his hold and turned around as he answered that it was his friend from the forest, now here to save them all.

With that thought, Jaune turned back to the knight, and with a wide smile asked for him to save his parents as well.

The silver knight stood up, and simply floated through the ceiling of the cellar, the astonishment of Jaune and his sisters.

A moment later, Jaune, to the surprise of his sisters, rushed through the broken doors and back up the stairs leading down to the cellar, ignoring the calls and shouts of worry behind him.

The sound of combat drew him to the family parlor, where he had played with his toy trucks not even a day earlier.

Jaune passed through the remains of their destroyed kitchen and hallway before skidding to a stop in the parlor.

There, his mother was standing guard over the crumpled form of his father, she was in the midst of a bitter fight with a large Ursa, while at the other end of the room, the silver knight was dispatching several Arthropods -large chitinous spider Grimm- and the second Ursa.

"Mom!" Jaune cried out in fear.

Violette Arc's focus shifted to surprise at hearing her son call to her, and in that moment of inattention, the Ursa Major swiped at her, forcing her to block awkwardly as the large paw took her off her feet.

With a grunt of pain, she impacted the wall before sliding to rest on the ground, the large family portrait crashing down on top of her, adding insult to injury.

With speed belied by its size, the ursa took several quick lumbering steps and made to grab hold of Jaune.

And suddenly, the silver knight was in-between Jaune and danger once more. but wait... he was still fighting the other ursa, the arthropods having already dissipated.

Who was this knight?

He looked identical to the first silver knight, and like his counterpart, made no sounds when fighting, not even the sound of his sword swinging, or his armor clinking, or even the sound of footsteps as he cornered the ursa before dispatching it with a clean decapitation.

Jaune rushed over to his prone mother, pushing away the family portrait to drop down beside her body. To his relief, she was still breathing, but no matter how much she shook her body, she remained unconscious.

The same applied to his father, he could not see any wounds on his body, but neither of his parents were getting back up.

He looked up from their prone forms, worry etched upon his face, but as he looked up, he caught sight of the rest of the village through the broken wall of the parlor.

As if responding to his curiosity, the two knights glided across the room and through the hole.

Jaune slowly made his way to this opening, eyes transfixed upon what was happening to his home town.

What Jaune saw outside made his skin crawl. The family house was on a hill near the back of the settlement, and from that hill, it overlooked the rest. So Jaune could see as the horde of Grimm attack the settlement. To his left, somehow a fire had started and now several buildings were going up in flames.

Here and there were explosions and flashes of light that repelled the Grimm momentarily, but they were drowned out by the hunting cries of the creatures of darkness.

Climbing through the wreckage of wall, Jaune found himself at the very foot top of the knoll.

From his vantage point, he could see his friend, and his friend's friend currently engaging a Deathstalker. The two knights seemingly blocking the large pinchers and attack in return.

Jaune watched as one of the knights parried the gleaming stinger, momentarily stunning the grimm, and his partner thrust his sword though one of its many eyes.

Jaune looked away to the rest of the settlement and his heart sank; it was not enough. Just two knights to stop the spread of carnage, fear and destruction.

For every grimm the silver knights killed, there would be five more to take its place, and with the fear and despair in the air, more and more grimm were attracted here by the minute.

The knights were just far too outnumbered to do much good for his village.

Jaune gasped, as if sensing the threat they represented, a large group of Grimm had amassed, and were now heading towards the two knights.

Jaune's felt his heart plummet as he sank to his knees at the sight of so many Grimm; beowolves, ursas, arthropods, and several more that Jaune couldn't even name.

The two knights faced a horde of death and destruction, of soulless beings hell-bent on ending all life on Remnant.

And it just wasn't enough. Nowhere near enough.

There weren't enough knights to win this fight.

There needed to be more.

Jaune furtively wished there were more. His eyes closed as he begged, pleaded to some higher power to answer him to send more knights to save his village.

...

...

...

So did their liege raise his voice to the heavens...

And so did they answer.

Author's Note: Right, so it has been a while again. Ugh, I've got nothing to say really, stumbled into writer's block and haven't been able to get out of it. Plus classes started again a couple months ago, so that didn't help. I've just found less and less time to sit down and write. I also have begun to not like what I have already written, and conflicting ideas have made entire chapters to be erased and in need of redo.

Well, I hope you all like this new idea I had. If you aren't able to fully picture the silver knights, they resemble the silver knights of Anor Londo in the Dark Souls series.