ARCH: A RWBY Prequel

Chapter 1: Angel

Disclaimer: I do not own or have rights to a majority of the characters in this fanfic, they are owned by the late great Monty Oum and Roosterteeth productions. I only own a number of OC's. I know my action sequences aren't that good, but this is my first time doing this, helpful advice is welcomed. This story takes place six years before the RWBY story line.

"Alright, it's been almost a week since I left the crew, and I am still homeless, and even more poor. Hey that last part rhymed!" A kid was then seen walking out of an alley.

He appeared to be around 13 years old. His appearance seemed different than that of a normal boy his age. His skin had a slight tan, he looked about 5'3 and had slight muscle tone. His eyes were astonishingly silver, his medium length black hair was messy and his clothes were covered in dirt and tears. He was wearing a pair of black shoes that looked like they've seen better days, a pair of faded black jeans with a black rope where the belt would be, and dark red V-neck t-shirt with a black zip up hoodie over it, and sword in its holster attached to his back. He also had some sort of pack attached to his left leg.

"Uh, why is the sun soo bright, stupid sun and its brightness."

He looked in the sky with his hands shielding his eyes from the sunlight. "Seriously, the sun sucks."

He proceeded to walk the streets of Vale with his hands in his pocket. "Maybe leaving wasn't the best idea, but at least I still have my heath and youth." He then preceded to cough roughly in his hand. "Ah well, still got my youth."

"Ok, no more screwing around, step 1 get fake transcripts, step 2 try to get a scholarship to Signal, step 3… think of a step 3." The kid said as he thought of his master plan.

He was walking with a grin on his face, until something caught his eye. He took a closer look at a little scene that was happening down the street. It looked like a little girl being picked on by guys older than himself. All four of them also appeared to be much bigger than the boy as well.

"I didn't plan on playing hero today, but hey, things happen for a reason."

He then proceeded to where the girl was being bullied. When he arrived at the scene the girl was on the floor and seemed to be on the verge of tears as the four boys stood over her, laughing and pointing.

"Look guys, the little freak is about to cry, come on kitty cat, cry for us." One of the four guys said, he appeared to be the leader.

"Please, leave me alone, I didn't do anything." The girl said as she tried to fight back her tears.

"You exist, that's more than enough to put you in your place, you filthy faunus."

"Please, someone…. Help." The girl pleaded as tears finally leaked from her eyes.

"Excuse me, you four with the dumb haircuts. Is there any particular reason as to why you are picking on this innocent little girl?" The boy said as he finally made to the girls rescue.

"Uh, do you not see the freaky cat ears sticking out of her head?"

"I see them, I also think they're cute. That's beside the point, another thing I see is a group of sorry excuse for huntsmen in training acting like a bunch of bullies." The boy said as he looked ready to fight.

"What was that?!" The leader of the group of huntsmen in training said with clear anger in his voice.

"You heard me, you Spruce Willis looking wannabe." The boy said with a smirk on his face.

"I oughta tear you to pieces you little brat!"

"Who's stopin' ya steroid breath?"

"No please stop, you don't need to do this on my-" The girl said until she was interrupted by her nameless savior.

"Calm down kid, I got this, he may be big but he's also ugly."

"You punk, who do you think you are?!" The leader yelled as his face now showed even more anger than before.

"Just a punk kid with a sword and a hero complex, and you are?"

"The guy who's gonna put you in an early grave."

"Really? That's the best you could come up with?" The kid said as he appeared almost dumbfounded. "I've heard better lines from The Corpirate, and that dude's all kinds of crazy."

"That's it brat, you're toast. Surround him guys." The lead ordered as his team got into position and the little girl looked on in fear.

"Can I at least stretch first guys? I could pull a hammy or something'."

The boy was then rushed by the group of guys. They then noticed that he wasn't where he was moments before.

"What the?" The leader said as he looked for the boy. "Where'd he go?"

"Wow, you guys are fast. I barely had enough time to stretch." The boy said as he once again had a smirk on his face. "But now it's my turn, and this the part where I take each of you down." He then drew the sword from his back.

The group once again rushed him as his sword then transformed into a sword-whip hybrid.

"What kind of weapon is that?"

"Mine, so are we doing this one at a time?"

After that being said, one of the group attacked head on with a bo staff that appeared to also be some sort of rifle. He took a swing at the boy, only for him to wrap his sword around the staff, sweep the guys legs, then smash the guys face with his foot.

"Next."

The second guy then attacked with a halberd with several dust vials attached to the shaft. He took a huge downward slash at the boy, who barely moved out of the way to avoid ending up like the cracked sidewalk.

"Alright, that was almost bad, I'm guessing you're gonna be a little tougher than the last scrub."

The guy now went for an equally powerful vertical swing, aiming to cut the loudmouth boy in two. The boy was able to use his sword to block the attack, then went for a big kick to the side of the guy's head. After temporarily stunning the guy, the boy proceeded to jump at the boy with his fist cocked back, the nailing him with a big superman punch to the face, knocking the guy out immediately.

"Alright, that was a little less easy, but I still haven't broken a sweat." The boy said as he got ready for round three.

"Then how about going against the both of us at the same time?" The leader asked as he gestured to him and his remaining teammate.

"Go for it, saves me time."

"You're gonna wish you hadn't said that." The leader said with an evil grin as he pulled out a sword that appeared to be part gun and his teammate pulled out a club that looked as though it were part shotgun.

They attacked the boy in tandem forcing him to take a defensive strategy. The boy looked like he was having trouble keeping up with the attacks of both his opponents. It looked as though they had him with a combined attack, only for him to once again vanish before their eyes. The boy the blindsided the teammate with a big kick to the side of the head, leaving only him and the leader.

"What exactly are you?" The leader asked as his eyes widened and he stepped back with fear. "How are you able to move that fast?"

"I already told you what I am, a brat with a hero complex, and as for how I can move fast, consider it a secret." The boy said with a smirk. "So, you done here or you wanna end up like your buddies?"

The leader then looked around at his fallen teammates. "Why are you protecting the faunus? You're human, we're human, you should be on our side." The leader looked right into the eyes of the boy.

The boy glanced at the girl, then looked back at the leader. Then in an instant he disappeared, again. The leader then felt cold steel on his neck.

"I'll ask you again," The boy said, this time with anger and dark intent in his voice. "are you done or do you wanna end up like your buddies? Or worse?"

The leader than proceeded to get his fallen teammates and run as quickly as he possibly could.

"Hmph, and he called me a punk, typical." The boy said as he once again looked at the girl. He walked over to her and noticed that she looked like she was at least 11 years old. She also looked like she still wanted to cry. "Hey, are you ok."

"Um… yeah, I'm fine." The girl said as she still wasn't sure what to make of her savior. "Thank you, but why did you save me?" the girl said as she looked down at her feet. "It's like he said, I'm a faunus." Tears then started dripping down her face.

The boy kneeled down so he was at eye level with the girl, and proceeded to wipe a tear of her cheek. "Faunus, human, all I see is a little girl who's hurt and scared." The little girl then smiled at him, but then he noticed a little bit of blood on the floor where she was. "You have a little scrape on your knee."

"Huh? D-d-don't worry about that, it's just a scratch."

"Maybe, but I wouldn't want that to get infected." He said as he reached into the pouch on his left leg and pulled out an antiseptic wipe and an adhesive bandage. "Come here so I can clean you cut."

The girl hesitated at first, but then decided to trust him.

"This is gonna sting a little." He said as he wiped her cut with the cloth.

"Ow!"

"I know, but it prevents infections." After wiping the cut he put the bandage over it so it can heal. "Leave that alone for a day or two so it can heal properly."

"T-thanks."

"No problem."

"Why, why do people like him treat us faunus like that?" She asked with sadness.

"That's not an easy question kid." He said as he thought of a way to explain faunus discrimination to a little girl. "You see, people are afraid of things that are different, and they tend to do dumb things out of fear."

The girl then looked a little concerned about his answer.

"But don't worry, for every person that's negative toward faunus, there's another person that's positive." He said, hoping to cheer the girl up.

"You mean people like you?" She said with a smile.

"Yeah, people like me." He said, smiling back at her. He then remembered that this girl was all alone. "Quick question, why are you out here alone, um-" he then preceded to scratch the back of his head nervously. "My bad, I didn't get your name."

This led the little girl to let out a small giggle. "Hehe, Blake, Blake Belladonna." The girl said, finally introducing herself. "And the reason I'm out alone is because I was looking for something to eat, I actually live outside of Vale." Her stomach then made a light rumbling noise and made her blush lightly while looking down at her feet.

"Hm, even if you're hungry, it still isn't smart to be wondering off on your own." Angel said with his hands in his jacket pockets. "My name is Angel, by the way."

"Nice to meet you Angel." Blake said to her now named hero as she stuck out her hand.

"Nice to meet you too Blake." The now named boy, Angel, said as he shook her hand.

"Are you really a huntsman in training?" The girl questioned the boy.

"Sorta, I don't have actual training like most people, but I'm trying."

"Do you think that I could probably become one, you know when I'm older?" She asked with hope in her eyes and voice.

"Kid, in my mind you need three things to be a huntsman." He said as he held his hand out and extended his index finger. "First, you need heart, if you don't have heart then you have anything to motivate you when your back's against the wall." He then stuck out his middle finger with his index finger. "Two, you need to be brave, true bravery is revealed when you put your life on the line to protect those you care about." He then stuck out his ring finger with his previous two fingers. "Finally, you need to be adaptable, if you can't adapt to any situation again then you better be willing to take a few hits and failures."

"That sounds tough, I don't think I have any of those." She said as she looked down with disappointment.

"That last thing you have to learn, but the other two you're born with." He said as he grinned at the girl. "And kid, you definitely have heart and bravery."

"You- you really think so?" She said, once more with hope.

Angel then ruffled her hair and smiled at her. "Of course kid, just give it some time. Just fight for what you believe in and don't let anyone stop you from chasing your dream." Blake then smiled at Angel.

There was silence, until Blake's stomach rumbled again, causing the little girl to blush.

"Come on kid, let's go get something to eat." Angel said as he gestured at Blake to follow.

"Really?" She asked with glee.

But before he could answer, the sound of police sirens was heard.

"That doesn't sound good." Angel said as he realized that the sirens were getting louder. "That might have something to do with my fight." He then pulled lien out his jacket pocket. "Here, take this and get out of here."

"But, I can't-

"Don't worry about it, I actually took that from those chumps I beat up." He said, nonchalantly interrupting Blake.

"You what?!"

"I'm not proud of it, but they were jerks and I'm kinda strapped for cash at the moment." He said as the sirens got even louder. "Now go before they take both of us."

"Why don't you come with me?" Blake asked with hope.

"Normally I'd actually be miles away by now, but there were probably a handful of witnesses." Angel said as he looked around. "I'll probably just get a slap on the wrist or something for disturbing the peace." He said nonchalantly.

"Will I ever see you again?" She said, with concern for her new friend.

"I don't know, probably, good luck with being a huntress." He said as he waved bye to Blake.

"Thanks, you too." She said as she took off in to the nearby ally and waved bye to him.

When he turned around, a police car pulled over in front of him.

"Did you witness a group of boys fighting with another boy?" One of the policemen asked as he got out of his car.

"Does being the guy that won the fight count?" Angel asked while nervously scratching the back of his head.

"Get in the car, you're coming with us." The cop demanded.

"Alright, had nothing else to do." Angel said as he walked toward the passenger door. "Shotgun!"

The policeman then gave him a harsh glare.

"Or not?" He asked nervously as he walked toward the back of the police vehicle. 'Well shoot, this is gonna be a long day, maybe I should've ran with Blake.' He thought, as the police car made its way to the police station.

Chapter 1 is done, I've had this idea for a while, but I've just been too lazy to write. Anyways thanks for reading, I'll try to update every other week, but college doesn't exactly give me free time. The fighting scene wasn't that good, but it was my first try and he was fighting scrubs, so go easy on me. Feedback is appreciated, tell me what's on your mind, some notes or advice would also be good. Review, pm, whatever, just tell me what you think. Coming soon, Chapter 2: Nice to meet you.