Darkest Nights: a RWBY Story

Chapter 1: The Guardian Awakens

"Why me?"
Jason's voice sounded far away and distant, even to himself. He was gazing down at the golden sword that rested in its niche in the long, stone table.

"Who else?"
Adrien Creek, King Of Remnant, looked across the table at his son.

Jason was silent for a moment before he answered.
"What about Talia. We're the same age and she's just as skilled as I am."

His father thought for a minute before speaking, as if choosing his words carefully.
"Your sister is skilled in a different way. She is a skilled healer already. You have the spirit and the training of a warrior. I never had any real need of the power myself, but with the war approaching, I have a feeling you will. You were meant to carry the power of The Guardian."

Jason took a deep breath and reached for the sword. He slowly gripped the dark red leather on the hilt in his right hand as he lifted the sword from the table... then everything went black.

Jason opened his eyes. He was in a forest at night. He looked up to see a blood red moon high in the sky overhead. There were no stars. All around him were twisted, gnarled tree roots, most of them twice as tall as he was. Just then, Jason heard a sound that chilled him to the bone.

They emerged from the darkness, tall and lumbering, their claws razor sharp. Ready to strike. Ready to kill. Beowolves. Four massive ones in the pack, forming a wall around the alpha in the middle.

Jason reached to his belt for his long hunting dagger, Cursed Flame, but grabbed only air. It wasn't there. But he was out of time to think as he heard a howling-snarl as the lead beowolf charged.

Throwing caution to the winds, Jason chargeds straight towards the creature. Just as he got to the beast's massive legs, he ducked, sliding straight through. He popped up from the slide on the other side and, without missing a beat, pushed off from the ground– hard.

Jason shot into the air, spinning as he did so. His ark and rotation were perfect as he landed on the creature's back.

The Beowolf twisted and writhed, unused to the sudden weight on its back. Jason climbed up its back, hand over hand, fighting the creature's violent attempts to buck him off.

After only five seconds he had reached his goal, the creature's head. He kicked down on the skull hard, causing the creature to howl in pain. Jason saw his opportunity and went for i. Using the beowolf's howl as an opening., he grabbed the beowolf's front two fangst. At the same time, he hooked his boots just inside its jaw and punched down with all the force he could muster.

The beowolf let out a shrieking snarl as it's lower jaw, along with its two fangs,was torn clean off, the fangs breaking free with the force of the impact. Blood sprayed everywhere as the creature shook its head in pain. The beast's scream was cut short however as, using the force from his rebound, Jason slammed the two fangs into the side of the creature's head, shattering the skull and killing it instantly.

The large beast began to fall but, by the time it hit the ground, Jason had already jumped to the next beowolf.

This one was easier, already having the two fangs to work with. He, yet again, sank the fangs into the skull of the screaming beowolf to the same result.

He repeated the process, dropping the remainder in two beowolves until only the alpha was left. Jason didn't know much about beowolf bone structure but he was pretty sure that the fangs wouldn't be able to penetrate such a thick skull.

That's when he saw it, a flash of gold wrapped in leather sticking up from the stump of a tree 15 feet in the air. From the ground, he hadn't been able to see it, but from his perch on the back of the fourth beowolf, the flash of gold had instantly caught his eye.

As the fourth beowolf began to fall, Jason launched himself towards the top of the tree stump.

His landing wasn't great. He hit the flat surface at an odd angle, rolling to an upright position and grabbing the sword as he did so.

The alpha beowolf spun around and charged towards him. Jason barely had enough time to jump clear before a swipe from one of the Alpha Beowolf's massive claws demolished the stump.

Jason landed cleanly in the ground this time, the soft and muddy ground helping to cushion the impact. As he straightened up, he noticed for the first time how light and powerful the sword felt in his hand.

Jason once again jumped at the beast's legs, climbing up them as swiftly as possible. Slipping the sword into the slots on the top of his left arm's metal gauntlet so it lay flat long his arm, he climbed up the underside of the beast's belly, clinging to its matted hair as tightly as possible.

The alpha beowolf slashed at him but only succeeded in slashing its own belly. Jason finally got to the top as the great beast howled in a mixture of pain and frustration. Slipping Phoenix Fire out from its holding place, he slashed it across the creature's throat. Blood rained down everywhere as the creature let out one last breath and collapsed, Jason managing to jump clear at the last moment to avoid being crushed.

The alph's body hit the ground with a crash that shook the forest, its head rolling to a stop several feet away.

As he landed, he looked at the sword in his hands and felt the power of the guardian coursing through him.

"I am the guardian." He said quietly,. And then not so quietly. "I. Am. The. Guardian!"

As he finished the last word, the world around him desilved, and he was back in the castle of Remnant once more, looking across the table at his father.

Blake and Yang sat on a bench that ran along one of the castle walls. They talked as they looked out over the island of Menagerie. Then the castle doors opened and Jason stepped through.

Blake looked at him. Apart from the golden sword now slung across his back, not much had changed. Yet she could sense something else. She could see it in the boldness of his gaze and the strength of his movement as he walked.

Yang was the first to speak.
"So, how'd it go?"

Jason smiled slightly,
"Let's just say that I've found what I was looking for. I'll explain more later, it's a long boat ride to Atlas."

Yang nodded and then glanced over at Blake.
She had been fiddling with the safety and release on Gambol Shroud, purposefully not looking at Jason.

Yang looked down at Jaune, Weiss, Nora, Ren, Ruby and Oscar who were all sitting on the slope of the lawn at the base of the wall. Then she looked at Blake.
"I'll go get everyone else ready to go."
With that, she headed down the staircase that ran along the length of the outer castle wall.

After a moment, Blake finally looked up at Jason.

Jason smiled at her.
"I'm still me, nothing is going to change. I'm still the same person I always was, just with some added power. Don't worry."

Jason saw the look of anxiousness on Blake's face slowly melt into a small smile as she hugged him.

After a few moments they pulled away, Jason's cat ears twitching slightly.

"C'mon." Jason said. "Let's get to Atlas. This war won't wait forever."