Prologue...

The sun rose, partially obscured by soft gray clouds on a quiet, peaceful morning, over a quaint little village bordering Mistral. Nestled in one of the bigger forests, it was the kind of place where the elderly could kick back and relax, and where the children could frolick and play. The kind of place one would expect to lead a perfectly average existence...

...But sometimes, places like this are where heroes are born... and legends resurface...

~o~0~o~

In the forests around his home, Jaune Arc, age 12, wandered through the trees. He took to wandering like this a while ago, after his eighteenth attempt at getting his parents to train him. Rayden Arc and Asia Arc were Huntsmen of incredible renown, their Grimm kill counts averaging in the thousands, as well as siring seven of the most prestigious Huntress prodigies of the new generation. As the next male heir to the ancient and legendary Arc name, who wouldn't want to become one of those great legends?

The answer was painfully simple to Jaune... he couldn't. No matter how much he tried, it didn't seem to possess any of the natural talent the rest of his family showcased. His clumsiness became a sort of running gag between the other village kids. It didn't help that he failed the entrance exam to Foundation Academy three years ago. His parents had elected not to train him after that.

He'd tried to use the family sword, Crocea Mors, for training on his own, but it always ended in failure; he dropped it when he tried to swing it, and repeatedly lodged it in the trees he used for target practice. The mech-shift sheath/kite shield wasn't much better. He had once coerced one of his older sisters into having a spar with him in the backyard training field last year.

The fight had ended seconds after it began when he performed a solid face-plant after he practically pole-vaulted over the shield when he somehow managed to jam it into the ground, while simultaneously tripping over it. His father had forbade him from sparring again when he came away with a mild concussion.

Mom and Dad and my sisters are all super awesome heroes, and I can barely swing a sword straight. I'm honestly starting to wonder if I'll ever be a hero like them at al--

he was broken from his thoughts of self-pity when he heard the unmistakable caw! of a crow. Jaune's brow furrowed in concern.

Now if Jaune prided himself on anything, it was his abnormal abilities of perception and his amazingly quick and talented tactical mind. His family was constantly amazed by his penchant for creative thinking and observation, and his younger sisters kept asking him to make or fix things for them. Sometimes his older sisters would even ask him to help them solve problems. Thus it was relatively easy for Jaune to recognize the birdcall as a call of distress.

Jaune's head snapped in the direction the call had come from when he heard it again.

"Huh, and pretty close, too..."

Well, I've got nothing better to do, and , heroes help people in need, right?

~o~0~o~

Walking to where he'd heard the call, he found a decently large crow, covered in dust, standing in the shade of a tree, next to a broken branch. One of the bird's wings was hanging limply to the ground. looking at the tree, Jaune saw that one of the low-hanging branches had been torn away, leaving a small, jagged stump.

It didn't take a genius to figure out what went wrong.

"Ouch...that looks like a nasty hit you took."

Jaune sqatted down and reached for the bird. He half-expected it to try and run away when it shied away from his hand, but it let him pick it up without any trouble, aside from its croaks of discomfort. Jaune gently swept a bit of dust off the avian's tail feathers.

"I guess I'll call you...Dusty!"

The crow looking at him and croaked in response.

Little did Jaune know that his relationship with the bird in his arms would help him unlock an incredible power, inherited from ancient times, from the first Arc legend...

...the legend of the Grim Reaper...

~o0o~

(A/N): it's a bit obscure, but I wonder if anyone can guess the inspiration? Also first fanfic, reviews and advice would be appreciated.