The Light in the Darkness
Disclaimer: RWBY and all its intellectual properties belong to Monty Oum and RoosterTeeth. I claim no ownership.
"Hey, Jaune! Why do you have a moon?"
Jaune Arc paused his current activity of unpacking his belongings onto his bed to look over to Nora. She had been in the middle of rambling on about how the next 4 years was going to be like one big sleepover and then suddenly changed gears and popped that odd question.
"Uh...what?," was Jaune's eloquent response.
Nora was unphased - as indicated by her ever-present smile - by Jaune's confusion and merely pointed towards his weapon, set against his nightstand, "The moon on your shield-sheath thingy! Why do you have that?"
Comprehension clicked in a Jaune's mind, "Oh, that. That's my family crest. My ancestor came up with it during the War and we've kept it ever since."
"Ohhhhh~ Okay!," Nora chirped, seemingly satisfied with that answer. Pyrrha, who had been listening in while polishing her shield, was not.
"Why a moon?," the redhead politely inquired, genuinely curious now that the subject had been brought up.
Jaune - who had been about turn back around to finish unpacking - seemed taken aback. Not many people asked him about anything pertaining to himself. Those few that did were his parents. There was a beat of silence as Jaune tried to figure out how to explain his family's crest.
"Well," he began timidly, "during the War, everyone saw the Sun as the greatest weapon Humanity had against the Grimm. It lit the way and revealed the monsters hiding the shadows."
Jaune slid down onto the floor and made himself comfortable as he continued.
"They would lead charges under the watch of the Sun and clash with the Grimm, fueled by the light surrounding them."
His eyes seemed to glaze over a bit and he began speaking as though he were reciting something from memory. There was none of the monotone that usually came from recitation though. If anything, his voice began to tinge with sorrow.
"When the Sun fell, though, and darkness blanketed the lands, their courage left them and they were forced to lose almost all of the ground they had gained that day. It continued from there. They would lose many great men and women just so they could claim a few more yards of ground as their own. It was a never-ending cycle."
Then, his frown turned into a small smile and pride began to emanate from his words.
"But one day, as the Sun began to fall below the horizon and the warriors felt fear beginning to grip their hearts, one man - a fresh-faced commander - stood proudly and proclaimed to them the words that would turn the tables of the entire war. 'Take heart!,' he shouted. 'Though the Sun may be gone, the Moon will light our way!' Then he charged forth. The warriors, their courage enflamed by this hero, followed him into battle; their battle cry heard for miles."
Jaune let his head fall back against the bed, his smile becoming wider as he continued.
"Humanity gained more ground in that one battle than in a dozen of their previous battles. It was our first real victory against the Darkness. It was also the day that the family name 'Arc' was immortalized in the annals of history"
When Jaune had finished his tale, he merely sat there and basked in the pride he had in his ancestor and his family. It was a tale his father told him numerous times when he was just a kid. Then again when he had handed him the Arc Family weapon. And then once more before he had left for Beacon. It was his favorite story, and it drove him to reach such awe-inspiring heights.
Then he remembered where he currently was. Suddenly, the room sounded way too quiet for comfort.
The young Huntsman's head shot up and he was met with the enraptured gazes of his teammates, even Ren. He felt blood rush to his cheeks as he realized how ridiculous he must have sounded to them. He had recited the story the exact way his father had and, though it might've sounded cool and heroic when he was a kid, it must've sounded completely silly to young adults.
There was a few moments of silence as Jaune debated whether or not he should just continue unpacking his stuff and pretend that this hadn't happened. Finally, Pyrrha broke the silence.
"I...had no idea there was such history behind it," she said, sounding modestly awed by the tale. That seemed to break the other two out of their trance and Nora hopped on the opportunity to drop in her four cents.
"Wow! That's so cool!," she remarked, her eyes alight with childish delight. "I should come up with a crest for my family! It could be a hammer! Or-or-or a heart! Or maybe- !"
Jaune and Pyrrha had quickly picked up on how to tune out Nora's ramblings, leaving Ren to bear the brunt of his friend's hyperactive antics. Something he accepted with the ease of years of experience.
Pyrrha's attention returned to Jaune. Her gaze was contemplative and intrigued. She had high hopes for his future but she had no idea that he had so much prestige behind his name. It was something wholly unexpected from the goofy boy. His voice suddenly broke her from her thoughts and Nora from her train of speech.
"I should probably also mention that...it sorta gave birth to my family's motto."
All attention was returned to Jaune at that.
"Your motto?," asked Ren.
Jaune nodded and reached for his weapon. He brought it over and held it almost reverently in his lap; a far cry from his previous nonchalance with it. As he looked down at the Moon engraved onto the sheath, he spoke the words that his family lived by for generations. His voice was soft, but firm with conviction.
"'In the Absence of the Sun, the Moon shall Light our Way'."
Unexpectedly, a gloved hand laid itself over his sheath. Jaune's head twisted to look at the owner and was met with Pyrrha's soft smile and warm, emerald eyes.
"As the leader of Team Juniper, we'll be looking towards you to light our way," she said.
Then Nora's hand slammed excitedly down onto Pyrrha's and she added her own words of encouragement.
"Yup! So don't mess up or your ancestor will be really grumpy with you!"
In her own special way, that is. Then Ren laid his hand on top of Nora's. He didn't say anything, but his smile and nod were all the encouragement Jaune needed. The blonde felt a joy swell in his chest at the unanimous support of his teammates. He silently vowed to himself to not betray their trust.
He would light the way for them.
A/N: And voila! My second RWBY fanfic. It's another one-shot, and any future RWBY stories from me will most likely be one-shots. I just don't have any inspiration for a full-length RWBY story, at the moment.
I feel like this story is lacking somehow but I can't bring myself to sit around and ponder it. I wrote this up to get myself out of a slump writer's slump I recently found myself in. And because I just like Jaune and Team JNPR as a whole. As you can probably tell, this one-shot is entirely based around speculation, so there's a heavy chance that future episodes will make this story obsolete.
Questions? Comments? Critique? Then review!
KineticKaiser, out.