000: The Night Before The Fire


"I was in the darkness; so darkness I became."

-Unknown Author


Noir Arc was already bored of Beacon. It wasn't his fault, or his team's fault, or even his new instructors' fault.

No.

This was the fault of his old teacher, Qrow Branwen. That...that...that...crazy old man had turned him into what he was now, a Huntsmen in everything but title. Qrow Branwen had crammed seven years of training into his required three at Signal, drilling Noir till his hands bled, relentlessly pounding the history of Remnant into his head and last but certainly not least, beating down Noir any chance he got. Deciding to accept Qrow's offer of being taken on as his apprentice was both the best and worst decision of his life, he was now stronger than he had ever previously imagined but he was also accepting the fact that he was going to be unrelentingly bored till he graduated Beacon...in four years.

"Please end me." Noir groaned as he was forced to listen to a rather round professor preach about his adventures as a young man, slaying the Grimm and taming the kitty...or was it the other way around?

"Nope," His partner muttered, sounding just as bored as he did, Saxon looked at the professor with half-linden yes as he spun a pencil on the bridge of his thumb, "You die and I'm the one who's gonna have to lead this cat herd, no thanks."

"Both of you suck." Yuma muttered as he held his his head in his hands, looking to be on the verge of falling asleep.

"All of you need to shut it." A fourth voice spat, Lawton. Noir didn't know what to think about Lawton, he knew Saxon and Yuma from Signal and had become extremely close to them there but Lawton was from Vaccuo and therefore was a total wild card in his mind. He was a bit rude most of the time but he did have his moments of clarity, though most of them were during fights when he'd managed to pull one of their asses out of the fire.

"What's up your ass, Lawton?" Saxon asked, having folded his arms onto the desk and leaned on them like a pillow.

The cowboy hat wearing Vaccuoian tsked before turning away and somehow managing to focus on the "lecture". Saxon's eyes narrowed and his gray eyes turned dark before he himself turned back to the lecture. This was Noir's life, it had been his life for two month and Noir was already bored of it.

And it was all thanks to Qrow Branwen.

The lovable bastard.


Noir sighed as he pulled at the tie of his uniform, he hated the uniform inforced by the school and relished in the ability to take the damned things off and change into some joggers and a tank top or even better, his combat gear. The black haired Huntsmen in Training was personally of the belief that seventeen year olds shouldn't be forced to wear suits for eight hours a day, five days a week. They weren't civs working in some office building, they were children...who could kill creatures of evil.

Maybe they were a bit more adult than he thought.

Saxon had unbuttoned his jacket as he and the rest of the team followed Noir back to their dorm, all of them eager for some rest and relaxation after a hard week of being teenage monster killing machines. Yuma himself had undone the braid his hair had been in and let his long mane flow in the wind as they approached the dormitory while Lawton simply ran a hand through his crew cut.

"...so I wake up, there's blood everywhere, I'm holding an ice pick, cops are telling me to get down. It was a weird Tuesday."

"That's one helluva dream." Lawton admitted.

"Yeah, where the hell do you get this kinda crap?" Saxon asked as Noir felt a buzz in his pocket, someone had sent him a scroll message, Noir decided to ignore the message for now and lagged back before he interjected himself into his team's conversation.

"Is it those crime novels you always read before crashing for the night?"

"Could be, think if I read smut before I fall asleep I'll have sexy dreams?" Yuma asked earning a laugh from his three teammates as the made their way towards their dorm, having already reached their floor.

"I'd say it's a worthy experiment." Saxon said jokingly.

"That's exactly why Ozpin made me team leader and not you." Noir said as he swiped his scroll of his teams lock and they piled into the room, all beginning to change into more comfortable clothes.

"Ouch. Get dunked on, kid." Yuma said with a smirk.

"Screw you. I didn't want to be leader, too much work." Saxon said before a sharp knock rang through the room and the four boys all looked at each other in confusion, none of them had gone out of their way to make friends or even introduce themselves to someone outside their team. Noir approached the door, being the most dressed of the team, and opened it; finding Glynda Goodwitch on the other side.

"Hey Miss Goodwitch, everything okay?" Noir asked nervously, teachers never came into the dormitory. Never.

"Mr. Arc, your presence is required in the headmaster's office," Goodwitch said, arms crossed as she stood there in her no nonsense manner, "Also, is your scroll functional?"

"Y-yeah, it's working fine. Why?"

"The Headmaster often summons students via their scrolls. Please pay more attention to it next time." Goodwitch instructed before turning and beginning to walk down the hallway before abruptly skidding to a stop, "Mr. Mo."

"Yes ma'am?"

"Please put on some pants."

"I'll get on that ma'am."


Noir stood in the rapidly ascending elevator, back against the wall as he tugged at the tight leather of his black, hooded, waistcoat that made up part of his combat gear. What could be wrong? Had he done something wrong? Was it something so wrong it required Ozpin's attention? Whatever it was, Noir hoped Ozpin's would go easy on him. Did Ozpin exactly owe Nicholas Arc, Noir's father and a old friend to Ozpin, enough to get his son off for whatever it was that required the Headmaster's attention? Who knows.

A light ding filled the air as the elevator reached it's destination and Noir pushed himself off the elevator wall, preparing for punishment for whatever he had done. But as Noir entered the Headmaster's chamber an overall feeling of confusion set in, Ozpn was behind his desk with Goodwitch at his side, Qrow Branwen was leaning back against the glass of the large window that covered the back wall of Ozpin's office with dark eyes and a sorrowful expression. But what screamed "Something is very wrong" to Noir was the short woman in a pantsuit standing off to the side with a familiar mop of blonde hair hiding behind her.

"Jaune?" The mop straighten and suddenly the ten year old darted out from behind the woman, tears in his sapphire eyes as he lunged at Noir desperately clinging to his older brother. Noir looked down to see his brother for the first time in months to see that both of the small boy's arms were wrapped tightly in pure, white, bandages.

"Noir!" The small boy said between bouts of wails and cries before his brother stooped down and held him, watching as Ozpin stood from his desk and walked around to stand in front of the kneeling Huntsmen In Training.

"Noir Lyon Arc, it is with a heavy heart that I must inform you that at nine oh two last night, Nicholas, Juniper, Blanc, Violet, Marron, Roux, Amber, Sky, Rose Arc and Jaune were trapped in a house fire. Your brother was the sole survivor. We believe it was foul play but we've yet to find evidence of such. I am truly sorry."


"What do you mean he can't stay with you?!" Saxon looked up from his spot on the floor of their dorm where he was playing with Noir's little brother, showing how he could use his semblance to make an RC car move. Noir was currently in the hallway talking- eh…having words with Qrow about arrangements for his brother; after Noir partially recovered from a colossal breakdown, he'd been informed by Ozpin that a Jaune couldn't stay at Beacon. Saxon only barely managed to get something about how "Ozpin said a ten year old can't be wandering around as school for warriors" before the team leader slipped into a fit of crying and swearing.

"Sorry, kid. I'm about to leave on a mission and I can't exactly just leave him alone for God knows how long."

"What am I supposed to do!? I won't throw him in the foster system, it'll kill him. Please! Fucking help me Qrow." Saxon heard Noir beg.

"I'm sorry."

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

Tap...

Tap…

"Bastards...heartless bastards…" Saxon heard before Noir burst into the room, tears in his cobalt eyes as he pulled a duffel bag out from under his bed and began shoving anything that belonged to him inside.

Saxon sighed as he lifted himself up, his gray eyes flashing a dark blue for a split second...he really needed to get a hold on that, "Noir, what are you doing?"

"Taking my brother and leaving." Noir muttered as he shoved and handful of clothes and a paperback he knew Jaune would like into his bag.

"And where exactly are you going to go? What are you going to do for money?" Saxon asked, a hand on his hip as Noir shouldered his duffel bag and the bag he'd been give by the social worker who'd been watching over Jaune; she'd apparently been nice enough to buy Jaune some clothes.

"I don't know, but I'm not gonna stay in a place that refuses to help me or my brother." Noir spat before Jaune rose and began to follow his brother out.

"So you're just gonna throw away your future?" Yuma asked as his tiger tail trashed frantically.

"Nah," Noir muttered, a look of sadness and anger passing of his face before he turned to his friend, "Just embracing a new one."

The dorm was silent for a few moments, the only sound being Jaune's occasional sniffle which told Noir that he'd caught a cold of some kind, but the silence was effectively broken when Saxon stooped down and pulled a backpack out from under the his bed and slung it over his shoulder, "Fine. Let's go."

"What the fuck do you mean 'let's go'?"

"You might wanna cool it with the language." Yuma suggested quietly, he himself looking deep in thought, his face twisted up and relaxed all at once.

Lawton grimaced as he stood up from his bed, "Yeah what the fuck do you mean 'let's go'? You're not going anywhere."

Saxon tuned and stepped forward as Noir covered Jaune's eyes and ears, he definitely didn't need to hear or see what was about to happen, "Who's gonna stop me?"

"Beacon doesn't allow teams less than three. So you leaving, fucks me and Yuma."

The corner of Saxon lip pulled back in a sneer as his eyes shifted to a dark blue, "I say again, who's gonna stop me? Because it definitely isn't gonna be your punk ass-"

"Guys. Language."

Lawton clearly wasn't a fist fighter, his form was atrocious at best and he telegraphed his first punch to Saxon; choosing to throw a wide haymaker that even Jaune could have predicted. Unfortunately for Lawton, Saxon was a fist fighter. Saxon blocked the haymaker with his left forearm, delivering a vicious undercut to the shorter boy before slamming his left hand into Lawton's chest, sending electricity surging through his body; it was almost enough to kill him. Almost.

Lawton collapsed into a twitching heap and the smell of ozone filled to room as electrify sparked between Saxon's limbs and fingers. His eyes shined a cobalt even darker than Noir and Jaune's before he rubbed his eyes with a groan, "I hate when they do that."

"I think you're going to jail." Yuma muttered.

"Totally worth it. Guy is a prick," Saxon said before kicking the unconscious body lightly, "Lucky I didn't fry his ass."

"You sure you didn't kill him?" Noir asked as he continued to attempt to protect his little brother from the possibly fresh corpse.

"...No…"

"Of course you aren't." Noir muttered as shuffling was heard from Yuma's side of the room and Noir looked to see that Yuma had begun shoving things into a backpack of his own.

"What are you doing, Yu?"

"Well, seeing as how I just witnessed a possible third degree murder-"

"Possible second degree murder," Saxon corrected, "I've wanted to gank Lawton since I met him."

"-possible second degree murder. I think it's a good idea to make tracks and hell, why not do with my best friends?"

Noir sniffled, rubbing his teary eyes with his coat sleeve before smiling at his friends, he'd thought he lost everything today; leave it to Saxon and Yuma to prove him wrong, "Thanks guys."

"No big thing," Saxon dismissed with a wave and a smile, "Beacon wouldn't be the same without you...can we leave? It's starting to smell like burnt asshole in here."

Noir suppressed a laugh as he felt small hands wrap around the hands that were covering Jaune's eyes and ears, "Noir? Can I look yet?"

Noir motioned to the door and Saxon quickly stepped around the Arc brothers to open the door. Saxon was fairly sure that Noir didn't want his little brother seeing a possibly dead body so he watched. Noir led his little brother out and was soon followed by his dark haired companions.

The lock to what was no longer their room snapped shut as Saxon closed the door. This was it. They were on their own now.


"This fucking sucks!" Saxon shouted as he pushed a wheelbarrow full of shredded bark down the long walkway that went down the very center of the garden that happened to belong to the politician they were now working for, tending to his expansive grounds and maintaining his large mansion.

"You can say that again." Yuma muttered around the box cutter in his mouth as he walked with a bag of bark over each shoulder.

They had been on their own for six months, roaming from settlement to settlement in an attempt to find a stable place to stay for an extended period of time. They'd finally managed to get established in a rather large settlement just outside of the City of Vale called Lian Yu and had found jobs at the politicians mansion. Noir was working a cook, putting his nature skills to the test while Saxon and Yuma were forced to do the brunt work.

"We're trained badasses! We shouldn't have to put some rich jerkoff's garden together for him." Saxon bristled as he let the back legs of the wheelbarrow hit the ground and grabbed the small shovel he'd brought before beginning to haul and smooth out the layer of bark on top of loose dirt.

Yuma simply nodded as he tossed the two bags onto the dirt before grabbing the box cutter from his mouth and extending the blade with two sharp clicks; quickly slashing the bags open with practiced grace he'd gained from the past week of nothing but laying bark with Saxon and on occasion Noir, if things weren't busy in the kitchen.

Yuma knew that Saxon detested this kind of work, while the monochrome haired boy came from a poor family he was never poor enough to need to get a job at a young age. Yuma however, had work experience as both a gardener and dishwasher from his time back in Atlas. Two things that helped the three of them get their current jobs.

"Stop whining you baby," Yuma playfully spat as he grabbed his own shovel from the wheelbarrow and began spreading out the bark, "We're lucky to have this job seeing as how between the three of us, there's practically no work experience."

"Well...what do you expect," Saxon asked solemnly, a rarity in of itself, before planting his shovel into the ground and leaning against it, "We were all so busy training that a normal job just wasn't in the equation. Hell, for me, my own family wasn't in the equation."

"Same. At one point, I went a whole week without speaking to my father," Yuma said as he confined his work, "Eat. Train. Sleep. Repeat."

"You think that's bad? One time I was so into a training regimen that I forgot my sister's birthday."

"That's pretty bad but not unforgivable." Yuma admitted through a light laugh.

"Yuma," Saxon said, leaning towards his friend, "She's my twin sister."

Yuma howled with laughter, his tail bouncing in every direction imaginable as he attempted to control himself; only managing to smother his laugh into closed mouth giggle. Saxon however, took the laughing in stride. He was used to it, he knew he'd done some dumb things in lifetime and wasn't afraid to admit it, especially when he knew it would partially cheer up the friend who he knew hated this job just as he did.

It was degrading, not because of the manner of the job in any way, but because he knew that their boss would look down on them from his bedroom and smile. He knew the bastard was a racist and only hired them to attempt to break Yuma. But that frankly just wasn't possible as far as Saxon was concerned but it did concern him that Yuma had the tendency to look at the world through rose colored glasses, ignoring and blocking out all the problems they had experienced.

"Hey guys, what's up?" Saxon heard before looking over his shoulder to see Noir jogging up the cobblestone path towards them, wearing a white chef's coat and black sunglasses; a necessary evil seeing as how Noir had sensitive eyes as an aftereffect of his shadow based semblance.

"Oh you know...bark." Saxon muttered before continuing his work.

"No shit," Noir asked with a smirk before standing between his two friends, "Need help?"

"We should be okay, we'll probably finish today if that bastard doesn't make us redo it...again." Saxon spat.

"If it makes you feel better, I spit in his food."

"Rule one of the service industry: don't fuck with the people who handle your food." Yuma muttered, not looking up from his tedious task.

"Who the fuck needs a garden this big anyway?" Saxon growled, his arms shaking as he suddenly gestured around the massive garden. It was almost stereotypical in a way, cobblestone pathways, a hedge maze, paths of roses along with every other kind of flower imaginable.

"Who the fuck needs any of this crap," Saxon shouted before pointing towards the mansion, "That dickless politician doesn't deserve any of this shit!"

"Inside voice, Saxon." Yuma teased.

"We're outside! I'm venting! And you know I'm right!"

Both dark haired teens nodded somberly, knowing that their monochromatic friend was correct. He usually was when it came to things such as this, he got people more than both Yuma and Noir. He was...sociable and a fast talker. Noir on one hand could barely get through a lie without laughing and Yuma would much rather hole up in a dark room with a computer than have person-to-person contact.

Both teens were staring at the ground when suddenly, an idea struck Noir like lightning. Quick, unexpectedly and without mercy.

"Then why don't we take it?"

Saxon stopped his rant and looked towards his former leader who was quickly joined by Yuma, who looked extremely confused at the question, "Take...what?"

"His shit," Noir stated simply, "Why don't we take it?"

"It's illegal."

"I'm too pretty for prison."

Noir glared at Saxon for his joking response before pointing to him, "You said it yourself, he doesn't deserve any of this. So why not take a bit of it for ourselves?"

"Let me reiterate, I'm too pretty for prison." Saxon said, this time with a straighter face.

"What Sax is trying to say is, it's illegal and we'll get caught." Yuma reasoned.

"Saxon can short out the security system. I can steal the loot using my Shadow Travel. And you can use your senses to be our lookout. We were born for this." Noir said, forcibly bringing his friends into a huddle.

"I'm uncomfortable with how easily you turned our gifts we swore to use to protect the innocent to skills we can use to roll mansions." Yuma admitted with a shrug.

"Why stop at mansions? Museums and high rise penthouses are just as vulnerable." Noir suggested with a sly grin that brought a sigh from the reaches of Saxon.

"Fine. Let's steal some shit."

"Wow, here I thought you were straight as an arrow." Yuma almost spat, breaking Noir's makeshift huddle.

"I'd rather have food in my stomach and clothes on a little boy's back than morals, Yuma." Saxon growled, causing Yuma to immediately relax. The faunus only just realizing why Noir would suggest such a thing and why Saxon was so willing to go along with it. They weren't just looking out for themselves. They were looking out for Jaune.

Yuma swallowed audibly before running a hand through his long hair, "Alright. Let's do this."


It went off without a hitch. They came, they saw, they conquered. It had went exactly according to plan. They had broken in and made off with a plentiful bounty and they had done it completely scot free. Or so they thought.

The three boys would soon learn that committing the crime wasn't the hard part, it's getting away with it. You can never know how an investigation will go, what evidence you may have left behind. After the night of their first crime they learned to sleep with one eye open.

But before that lesson, they learned something very important. Cops aren't stupid. This lesson began when Noir was woken up by a loud knocking on the door of their small two bedroom apartment. Dragging himself from the couch that he'd chosen to sleep on as well as just barely seeing the digital clock out of the corner that told him it was only half past two, Noir made it way to the door and tiredly looked through the peephole before his blood ran cold.

"Noir, who's at the door?" Noir spun to see that Jaune had gotten out of bed and was now standing in the living room, right next row the duffel bag full of stolen jewels, jewelry, and other expensive luxuries.

"Jaune. Hide that bag." Noir said in a low mutter as he pointed to the loot bag, turning back to the door and seeing his baby brother haul the bag down the hallway out of the corner of his eye before he opened the door.

The officer was pretty cute if Noir had to say so himself. She was rather petite and young but managed to fill the drab blue uniform rather nicely, opening the door just enough to reveal his head he smiled, "Hello Officer...Smoak. How can I help you this...late evening."

"Hello. Noir Arc, I presume," the officer asked before receiving a nod that was mixed with a tired yawn, "I bring the unfortunate news that there has been a break in at your employers home."

"That's awful," Noir said, trying with every best of his being to keep the sarcasm from his voice as well as begging himself not to crack, "Was anything stolen? Was anyone hurt?"

"No one was hurt but plenty was taken," The woman said as she pulled out her scroll and tapped on it a few times, "Including...thirteen watches, eight rings, five bracelets, nine necklaces, a jewel encrusted di...sexual apparatus and a holotape set containing the entire series of Neko Neko Paradise."

"I didn't know my boss was into catgirls…" Noir muttered as he strokes his chin, looking rather solemn while also questioning when he'd grabbed such a thing.

"Beside the point, where and what were you doing around midnight?"

"Midnight," Noir asked, opening the door a bit more so that the woman could see his entire body. Noir would freely admit that he was in fact using his toned and currently shirtless body to distract and disorient the officer in front of him. Women used their breasts to get out of tickets, why couldn't he use his abs to get away with breaking and entering and theft, "I was here with some friends, we were all winding down after work with a game of poker."

"Poker? Well could I have the names and addresses of these friends, so I can confirm your story of course."

"Of course, but they're actually here with me. We all live together you see, I fact, I believe you may have to interview them soon anyway. Saxon Armonia and Yuma Mò?" Noir asked, no point in hiding them. They were on the lease of their apartment and Noir figured they were going to be interviewed anyway, might as well get it out of the way so they can sleep easier.

"Y-yes. I do actually." A blush had spread across her cheeks and Noir caught her onyx eyes glancing at his shirtless form.

"Well come on in." Noir said, standing back and opening the door for the officer to come inside their small apartment where Saxon and Yuma shared a room and Jaune got a room to himself, while Noir had decided to do the noble thing and sleep on a couch the found at the curb, "I'll go wake them up, don't want to wake up my brother.

Noir walked down the short hallway and entered Saxon's and Yuma's room to find the boys already up and rubbing the of their eyes. Saxon yawned as he spoke, "Jaune told us what's up."

"Then let's get this done. Our alibi is poker here, got it?"

"Yeah, yeah; I remember. Come on let's get this shit done so we can freaking sleep and not get locked up in the clink."

"Agreed." Yuma muttered as he stood and entered the living room with Noir and Saxon behind him.

The interview went rather quickly and absolutely perfect in the eyes of the three dark haired thieves, they'd practiced their lie till the could tell it with surgical precision and just as they thought they'd done perfect; they felt a jolt of terror as the officer reached out behind her from her position behind the couch and produced a black duffel bag. The duffel bag that'd previously held the loot.

"Why exactly was this laying on the floor in the living room?"

"What? You never heard of teenagers being messy? We all work full time, cleaning is kinda tough for us." Noir said dismissively, internally sweating and wondering why Jaune had brought the bag back into the living room and where the loot was.

"Ah. Well, you three have a nice night. I'll be in touch if your situation changes." The officer said before stowing her pad and leaving with a goodbye that was reciprocated by the thieves.

The single sigh of relief was released by the three boys as their door shut and Noir found himself running his hands through his hair with a exasperated groan, "Thank God that's over."

"Think she bought it?" Yuma asked as he pulled the hair tie that he'd put in for their company out of his hair.

"We gotta hope so." Noir muttered as he heard small shuffling steps behind him to see that Jaune had into the living room, now holding his X-Ray and Vav backpack that Noir had bought for him.

"What's up kiddo?" Noir asked as he kneeled down and ruffled the wheat colored mess utop Jaune's head.

"I thought I should switch the bags…" Jaune muttered as he heaved the bag up to Noir, who took it and realized it's contents at the unexpected weight.

"Nice job, kid." Saxon complimented as he held a closed fist down to Jaune who bumped his fist into Saxon's as Noir unzipped the backpack and sighed as the fruits of their labor came into view.

"What do we do now?" Yuma asked, a question that had been on everyone's minds; especially Noir's.

"We get out of town...then we keep stealing." Noir said, they had no other choice at this point. This loot would support them for the moment but for an extended period of time...no way.

"Okay then. Where are we heading?" Yuma asked, another question that had been plaguing the mind of Noir Arc.

"...Vale. It's practically a few steps from Vaccuo when it comes to the criminal underworld. If we're gonna aim, we might as well aim big." Saxon offered.

"... Vale it is."


AN: The quote in the beginning of the chapter really works for Noir in my opinion. Oh hey there, kinda long time no see. Why has it taken me a month to get out one chapter? A long list of things. Semester ending, Fallout 4, (currently doing a modded Minutemen playthrough) dealing with my anxiety and ADHD. (if it wasn't for those two little untreated problems i'd seriously have a chapter out every week) My arm is a 100 percent now and I managed to get the scratch together to buy a "new" car. So about this chapter, I wanted to tell the small story of Noir and I didn't want to do a twelve paragraph infodump in a normal chapter so I did this instead. I thought some people might want to learn a bit more about Noir as well as a extra little bit about the other two in Jaune's merry band of criminals.