The boy snuck down the street of a middle class Atlas neighborhood ten miles away from the warehouse district.

Stealing up to small house, he took a key from the pocket of his jacket. He winced as the wound on the back of his hand brushed the edge of his pocket. Successfully retrieving the key, he slid it into the lock. Turning the key briskly, he unlocked the door with a click and slid inside the house.

Standing in the entryway, he started to let out a sigh of relief when, all of a sudden, the light in the entryway flashed on, temporarily blinding him.

He staggered backwards and tripped over a shoe behind him. He fell, landing hard on his rear. Shielding his eye from the glaring ceramic lamp, he glanced in the direction of the light switch. From his spot on the floor, his eye first found a pair of slippered feet.

His gaze traveled upward finding a pair of navy blue shorts, then a "Dust 4 life" t-shirt and finally meeting the irritated stare from a pair of greenish blue eyes.

"Do you have any Idea what time it is?!", a female voice asked sharply.

The boy was still having a hard time seeing and his eyes were watering from the shock of the bright light. "

That was low! You know I have very sensitive vision at night". He groaned.

The girl scoffed, "Oh yes I know, the great faunus hunter who can see in the dark!" The boy stood up and brushed himself off, still looking her in the eye.

Her expression turned from one of irritation to one of concern as she saw the wound on his face. "Are you okay?"

The boy looked into a mirror hanging in the entryway. The blood from his cheek had dripped down his face and neck, making the wound look much worse than it was.

He tried to shrug off her question. "Yeah just a scratch".

The girl facepalmed "activate your aura you dummy" she sighed "it should help it heal"

The boy nodded silently and concentrated. Slowly a blue glow crept over his body, his wounds glowing faintly as his aura did its best to heal them. The girl rolled her eyes at her friend's apparent lack of aura knowledge

"honestly…" she grumbled. The boy rolled his eyes back and turned to leave the entry way. The girl darted in front of him as he tried to walk toward the stairs.

"What is that?", she said, pointing to the stolen sword.

"Nothing?", he answered. The girl's eyes narrowed. "Roy? Did you steal it?" Roy braced himself, "Yes" he whispered.

A dangerous light came into the girl's eyes. She suddenly launched a punch at Roy's face. "You IDIOT!"

Roy dodged to the side. "Sierra!", he hissed, "What the hell?" Sierra blew a wisp of hair out of her face, "You know damn well what!", she snapped, "You told me you were done! You told me you weren't going to steal again-"

"And I'm not", Roy cut her off, "after tonight" Sierra sputtered wordlessly as Roy continued "I just needed a real weapon before I go to Beacon".

Sierra huffed, "I suppose you're going to have to leave Atlas now". Roy nodded, "I doubt Atlas will put up wanted posters as far south as Vale".

Sierra rubbed her temples. "Why didn't you wear your mask?", she asked. "That thing is really hot", Roy answered. Sierra sighed, "Yeah but it does a lot of other great things, too. Like mask your identity" She added sarcastically.

Roy simply shrugged. Sierra facepalmed again. "Shiroi Arashi, I swear you are going to be the death of me".

Shiroi Arashi or Roy, as he liked to be called, grinned, "I doubt that".

A sleepy voice came from the second level. "What's going on down here?" Sierra and Roy both looked to the top of the stairs.

A female faunus was standing on the landing, a blanket wrapped around her for warmth, her hair tousled and her eyes heavy.

"I'm so sorry, Ebony", Roy apologized, "I didn't mean to wake you". Ebony yawned, "It's fine, I wasn't having a good night anyway".

Roy turned to Sierra, "I want to thank you again for letting Ebony stay here while we… Figure things out". Sierra grinned, "Don't mention it, it's been nice to have another girl around the house".

Ebony sat on the top step and smiled sleepily at Roy, "Where have you been?" she murmured. Roy smiled back, "I went on a little bit of a midnight supply run".

Ebony was struggling to keep her eyes open. She'd been having trouble sleeping for the past few weeks. Roy watched as she leaned her head against the stairwell wall. She yawned again, "Oh, Where?"

Roy hesitated before answering, "I was at a…", he trailed off as he heard a soft snore.

Looking up he saw that Ebony had fallen asleep, her head leaning against the wooden banister. Walking up the stairs, he gently picked her up.

Looking back down the steps he saw Sierra shaking her head at him. "What?", he whispered.

"You should tell her the truth in the morning," Sierra said, "she's not stupid, she'll notice the cut on your face".

Roy's hand darted to his cheek "didn't my aura fix…" he stopped as his hand found the fresh scar where the cut had been. "Wow" he breathed "I didn't know the cut was that deep"

Sierra crossed her arms and tapped her foot impatiently "well?" she asked.
Roy lowered his hand "I'll tell her tomorrow" he said finally.

Sierra gave a satisfied "humph" as she walked up the stairs past Roy and disappeared into a room on the left of the hallway.

Roy smiled and gently carried Ebony to the guest room. Setting her down, he tucked her in, smiling slightly as she sighed and curled into a ball under the covers. As quietly as he could, Roy left and retreated to his own room.

Taking the sword from his back, he set it on the bed. He then grabbed a towel made the short walk down the hall to the shower. Opening the door to the bathroom, he silently stepped inside and, flipping on the light, he set his extra clothes down and turned on the water. Satisfied with the temperature of the water, He proceeded to strip down. Removing his soft leather eyepatch first followed by the rest of his clothes.

Stepping into the shower, he let out a sigh of contentment as the hot water cascaded over him. The water stung the cuts on his face and hand slightly, but overall did a wonderful job erasing the residual chill of the frigid Atlesian night.

Fifteen minutes later, Roy turned off the water, stepped out of the shower and started to dry off. Walking over to the sink, he wiped the fog off the mirror hanging above it. He contemplated his reflection.

His longish, tousled black hair partially covered the left side of his face. Sticking up through his hair were two large cat ears covered in soft dark gray fur that darkened to black at the tips. A trait inherited from his mother's side of the family, his ears were larger than the average faunus' being almost the size of his cupped hand. He lifted his bangs to get a better look at his face. It was plain with one deep blue, slit-pupiled eye shining out from under his bangs, A jagged row of three scars ran through where his left eye had been, ending just below his cheek bone. The fresh scar stood out pink against the surrounding skin and he once again ran his finger over it, feeling the smooth raised line of flesh along his cheek. His body was not overly muscular, but toned and his stomach was flat with just a hint of abs. On his right side was a large round scar with ragged edges.

Having seen enough, he turned away from the mirror and slipped on a t-shirt and sweatpants. Quietly opening the bathroom door, he snuck through the hall.

As he passed the guest room, he heard the Ebony cry out softly. Swiftly, he opened the door and looked toward the bed. Ebony was tossing and turning violently in her bed, whimpering every few seconds. Roy knew she was having a night terror, a bad one too by the look of it. The nightmares had become more frequent the last few months, keeping her from the sleep she so dearly needed.

Roy crept over to her side and softly gripped her shoulder. She jerked awake, looking wildly around. "NO!" she cried, her arm flashing out, almost catching Roy in the face.

Roy gently caught her arm with a soft smack, feeling the force of the blow travel up his arm. "Ebony, you okay?" he whispered.

Ebony extricated her hand from Roy's grip and looked away, ashamed.

"Y-yeah" she stammered "Just a bad dream"

Roy's brow furrowed as he looked more closely at Ebony, she was not "okay". In the pale moonlight coming through the bedroom window, he could see a slight sheen of sweat on her forehead and just by listening, he knew she was breathing hard.

"Are you sure?" he asked her tentatively.

"Yes Roy!" Ebony snapped "I'm fine!"

Roy gave her a hurt look; he'd only been trying to help.

Ebony sighed and gripped her head "Sorry, I'm just tired" Roy nodded "I know" he gently pressed her back into bed and patted her shoulder "you're safe here, I'm just down the hall if you need me" He slid off the end of the bed and walked toward the door.

"Roy?" Ebony's voice stopped him in his tracks, "would you...stay with me until I fall asleep?" she asked timidly.

Roy smiled softly to himself "I'd be happy too" he said, turning back to the bed and sitting down next to Ebony. Her face softened and she gave him a grateful smile before laying back down and closing her eyes.

Roy sat with her until her quick breath faded into the deep sighs of REM sleep then he turned and snuck quietly out the door. He crept down the hall to his room and entered. Softly closing the door behind him, he moved to the bed and placed the sword on the dresser. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers over his head. He didn't know what Ebony had been dreaming about, but he had a pretty good idea. He quickly banished thoughts of it from his mind and, turning over, sank into the comforting depths of sleep.

You ever have those nights when it's really hard to fall asleep? I have those a lot and it sucks. On the flip side, most of my ideas for this story come from those sleepless nights. Blessings in disguise I guess.

Until next we meet,

-Ar3mRising.