It started when Jaune accidentally split a bandit into two halves.

It was when he was still six. He and his family was out by a lake near their village, enjoying the summer break.

It was so sudden. One moment he was playing hide and seek with his younger sisters. She was a bad hider, it didn't take long for him to find her, since she left deep and obvious footprints on the dirt path.

Jaune was smiling as he approached the bush his cute sister was hiding, the next he knew he was knocked into a tree and an awful headache killing his head.

With difficulty he saw a relatively huge man towering over his sister's fallen form.

He could make out the faint outline of a glinting knife, positioned over her sister.

He felt a tug in his gut.

Padap!

His vision cleared and his headache banished. The ragged gasps left and replaced with calm drawn breaths.

And he saw it, purple distorted lines stretched on every living and nonliving thing he saw. Like cracks on worn stone steps, or spider webs. They were pulsing, constantly shifting and glowing with an ominous violet.

Without thinking, he crawled over to the bandit, reaching out and absently dug a single finger into one of the small cracks.

It was cold and foreign, like damping a finger into warm water after putting it in cold water.

Crack!

The crack widened in front of his eyes, stretching over the broad back of the man even as he choked and gasped in indescribable agony.

Jaune frowned, and with a quick motion, he thrust his entire palm into the crack.

That was his first kill, a brutal one noneless.

And when his father finally came over to see why it was taking them so long. The elder Arc was greeted by the sight of his only son kneeling over the bloody remains of a bandit and his daughter hugging her brother from behind despite the blood and mess.

His son swayed and collapsed in the puddle of blood.


His son's eyes were emotionless ever since. He demanded training to prevent the same thing to happen again in the future. While he appreciated his determination to protect, he was very reluctant towards that matter.

He was seven for god's sake, he should be enjoying his childhood like kids his age, instead of being so cynical towards everything.

He hadn't really asked him, but he knew that his son wasn't an idealistic kid who dreamed of being a hero. The world is cruel, there's no such thing as happy endings and justice. For every person saved, thousands die.

That's good, the Arc family had been bound with unfortunate fate, most died barely into their adulthood, fighting grimms and humans alike like heroes people see them as.

He was tired of seeing the bloodshed and was immensely relieved when his son was without a naïve mind.

Martyrs were an idiot's dream, he rather having a perfectly fine family than for some stupid fame.

His son was gradually maturing as he aged. Soon he was fifteen, while he was not a huntsman, he certainly was no push-over. He was far from reaching his limits.

Then one day he was gone. Gone without a trace.

He had no idea where his son went.

Two years later Jaune Torchwick appeared on the television.


Jaune Torchwick sighed as one of the goons busted through the glass of the dust shop.

Serious, Roman really need stop hiring shitty men for cheap price. Hei's men were all single-minded meat bags. They knew nothing other than swinging their butchers like kids to their bats.

Jaune adjusted his glasses as he pushed himself off the wall. The loud noises of breaking bones and metal against metal clank echoed in the silent night.

The junior Torchwick stepped out of the alleyway and into the light, stepping aside as an unconscious body of another goon flew past him and impacted heavily against the cobblestone wall.

Serious, they had one damn job. One fucking damn job!

The teen stood fuming as he surveyed the damaged surroundings. Surely someone had already contacted the cops, and he was surprise to see none here already.

The chaos ended when he heard metal crashing into flesh. The final goon slumped down and the reaper stood victorious. Or so she thought.

At least the meat bags arranged the boxes of dust neatly by the entrance of the shop.

Jaune sighed, tapping his ring on his pinky against the sheathe of his knife, emitting faint but clear rings.

The girl turned immediately and readied her scythe, "who are you! Are you with the bad guys?"

Jaune sighed harshly, "please, do me a favor and never compare me to those trashes."

Jaune's semblance flared and his stamina and reflexes skyrocketed, his muscles bulged from the potent aura flowing through his system and he unsheathed his unimpressive knife. He watched as the girl's leg twitched in anticipation in slow motion, her silver eyes glowed as she prepared her semblance.

He charged, but was forced the duck as he dodged the girl's flying kick. He twisted and grabbed the girl's heels midair, earning a startled gasp from the girl as she never expected anyone being able to react to her speed.

The Torckwick grunted from exertion as he threw the girl on the ground in front of him. She yelped and her grip on the terrifying scythe slackened, the weapon skidded away from the fallen body.

Jaune kicked the red hood, but the impact bleed off as the Aura took the hit. But still the girl flipped over and Jaune stomped on the red cape and pinned the girl on the floor. He twirled the knife in his hand into a reverse grip as he swung the blade down at the girl's unprotected forehead.

Jaune was expecting a spray of blood, but he certainly didn't anticipate an invisible force of a truck to slam into him. He was lifted off the ground with ease and flew into the broken dust shop, further trashing the already damaged shelves.

He luckily didn't suffer any serious injury other than some bruise, but damn it still hurt.

"…Definitely going to feel that tomorrow…" Jaune groaned as he picked himself up from the broken pile of wood. He looked out the broken windows and met the murderous green eyes of Glynda Goodwitch.

"Seriously, what the hell is with today?" Screw this, he's out of here. Roman could bitch and sulk all he wanted. But no way he was dealing with Beacon's deputy.

Jaune grimaced as he took the moment and escaped through the backdoor while the female blonde was distracted over the red hood, no doubt telling her how irresponsible and reckless her actions were.


Jaune groaned into his pillow as he felt familiar heels dug into his back.

"Fuck Neo…. I'm not in mood…" He was too tired to deal with this.

Something dripped on his blonde mane, he tried ignoring it at first, but when it began to stream down his forehead, he snapped.

"What the hell Neo!" He growled and sat up. The woman flipped off his back and gracefully on his bed when he tried to swat her away.

The multicolored eyed smirked and scoped another spoonful of Neopolitan favored ice-cream and stuffed it in her mouth.

The anger idled away and he slumped back on couch. He sighed as he heard the door of the safe house flung open by a certain senior Torchwick.

"Yo kid! You miss me?" He called out enthusiastically and took off his bowler hat to place in on the hanger.

"Go away, Roman," Jaune mumbled as he ignored occasion pokes from the annoying girl, "go bother another poor guy."

"Funny. It is part of the Torchwick charm." The man sang as he sat down heavily on one of the other sofas and fished out his scroll.

"You are awfully cheerful today, what happened?"

"You know, the usual stuff," the man said as he went over the news, "Neo! Go and help me with a cup of coffee!"

"I don't see any burnt marks on you, the crazy bitch must've went easy on you."

"Nah, she was absolutely pissed. She melted right through both my clothes and Aura. I actually just bought this suit." The man seemed pretty pleased with himself, "the boss fired me."

Jaune perked up.

"Wait, she fired you?"

"Well, I screwed up pretty hard today and I guess she couldn't handle my awesomeness any longer, so she got rid of me. I actually feel pretty good with myself. Freedom at last!"

"You actually got off the hook?"

"I certainly am, but you are not." The man said nonchalantly, taken a sip of the coffee Neo had passed. The blonde froze.

"…what?"

"Your failed raid today. Ring any bells?" The man said tauntingly and switched on the TV, "you weren't publicly known, Cinder didn't really have any idea you really existed. But then your act today threw you right in the middle of the wolves."

Roman switched the channel to Remnant News. A blurry but clear enough picture of himself appeared.

"Now that Cinder knows that I have a 'son', she's pretty eager to meet you." The man chuckled despite the dire situation they were in.

"…"

"Fuck me sideways."


Cinder Fall was a gorgeous woman that had a face that seemed ageless.

"Jaune Torchwick…hmm." She purred his name sensually. Jaune tried to ignore the shiver down his spine.

"Yes, ma'am."

The woman eyed him. And he shivered again, not in a good way. Her golden eyes glowed ominously and she smirked.

"Jaune… I'll assigning you your first job." The woman traced her slender finger over the rim of her glass of wine. "You see, there's this… working partner I sought. They are… a group of uncivil animals." The woman sighed and placed down her glass, rubbing the bridge of her nose as she frowned.

"White Fang… I assume?"

"Indeed. As much as I despise them, they are necessity to our plan." Cinder said.

"Sooo… you want me to negotiate with them?"

"That was already done. While we are in a 'partnership' with the White Fang, or at least, their leader. They are quite reluctant to our presence. I was planning to have Roman to deal with those animals. But now that he is gone, I guess you will be taking his place." Cinder stood. With exaggerating swaying hips, the woman approached the nervous boy.

She sat on his lap, and traced his jawline with her burning finger. Jaune winced as he felt his stubble being burnt away.

"I'll be relying on you. Don't disappoint me like your father did." She tilted his head and placed a light kiss on his cheek. She stood up with grace of a seductress and left the room without another word.

The Torchwick was lone in the sofa, still in daze. Then he rubbed the red spot on his face.

"Shit."


"Nice to meet you all…. I guess." Jaune forced out a nervous laugh, and the glare on him intensified.

"…Stop wasting my time." The chain-saw Lieutenant growled as he walked away, leaving the group of angry looking White Fang members with him.

For a moment no one spoke, then Jaune said.

"So… who's up to raid a dust shop?"