Beta/Creative Assistant: Jefardi

Cover Art: Natzo


Spectrum

Noir Arc and the Beginning


He glanced over the rest of the girl again. She was familiar somehow. It shouldn't have been possible because he'd never seen her before in his life. He would remember someone like her. Yet he couldn't place what it was he was drawn to.

She had on heavy boots, completely unfit for her tiny legs. Baggy dark pants concealed by the brown of a welder's apron. A white cloth shirt that was covered in soot with the sleeves rolled up, exposing her lower arms. She was thin, almost malnourished. Blue eyes just like Jaune and incredibly long black hair tied in a twirled ponytail, a white bow holding it together towards the base.

Finally, twisted mangled hands. Ah, that was what it was. Jaune realized it all at once.

"Ah, so you noticed. I'm a glyph bearer, just like you." The girl shook her head slowly, black ponytail swinging exaggeratedly with the subtle motion. "Actually, it would be more accurate to say I am the original glyph bearer."

"The original… glyph bearer?" Jaune's whole body went lax, dropping his guard in disbelief. If it was a ruse to attack him, the girl didn't make good of it, instead continuing her self-introduction.

"Although, telling you just that probably doesn't mean anything. Perhaps it would make more sense to tell you I was a blacksmith beyond compare… the person who forged the Seven Sacred Arc Swords and breathed into them a part of my soul."

"Then you're-"

"That all ended… when I was betrayed by the family I created the swords for and became the first soul of a human my Gluttony ever consumed."

"My ancestor, Noir Arc."

There was a pause. Then she smiled at him gently. Far too kindly for the person that created evil, family-murdering swords.

"If you already know my name, that makes this easier."

"Easier-" Jaune paused and glanced again at Coco. She was shaking her head at him and if he could see her eyes behind the sunglasses he knew they would be pleading with him not to buy into whatever it was Noir was trying to sell him on. Against his better judgement, he ignored the warning and turned back to his ancestor. "Isn't the word I would use. What do you want, coming to talk to me like this?"

Her smile had yet to vanish, but it did shift slightly. It was one he was kind of familiar with, reminding him of that smile Ciel gave when she had dirt on you that you didn't even know about. He hated that smile. "I'll answer all the inquiries you have… but first-" Noir lifted one of her mangled hands and pointed directly at his own damaged fists. "In exchange for information, I require a favor."

"...What kind of favor?" He felt like he was repeating himself and this conversation was only just starting. That almost surely wasn't a good sign and yet he felt an inexplicable urge to want to continue it anyways.

"Not anything you'll be uncomfortable with. To explain the nature of the favor, you'll need to understand what it is I'm about to impart onto you." Noir's answer was naturally as cryptic as he expected. No one could ever just be forthright anymore. Or was that the right logic to apply with Noir? It wasn't "anymore" for her, considering she'd been alive over a thousand years ago.

"Okay…" He kept trying to bit his tongue, but his mouth just kept moving anyways. "but what exactly is it you're going to tell me?"

Noir Arc's smile only got bigger.

"Everything."

Jaune and Coco shared a quick glance. That promise sounded too good to be true and after what happened with Envy… and he wasn't exactly in the mood to take chances. Not to mention he could feel the tremors in the background as his friends continued to battle.

"She's buying for time." Coco turned for her bag. It lay next to Olivia, who Noir was still just behind of. No way to get to it expect by going right through her. Which might have been possible considering she was dead. "We shouldn't trust her."

"I have no need to stall." Noir giggled. It was absolutely melodic, a noise lost to the planet centuries ago. "Despite appearances, I am not allied with Gluttony or her ambitions. Besides, she's already left and only three spirits remain. Do you really think your eldest sister's teammates incapable of handling them?" She had a point, but how did she even know about that? Nothing would happen so long as Rue had control of the situation, but there was no reason Noir should have that kind of knowledge.

"We better not regret this." Coco crossed her arms and dropped down to her butt, glaring up at Noir over the rims of her glasses. She seemed to realize that Jaune was going to agree in the end no matter how reluctantly he was trying to pretend he was. "If you're gonna talk then talk. 'Everything' sounds like it's going to take some time."

"Then we have come to terms." Noir nodded without Jaune even getting to say anything. It seemed everyone knew him better than he did, dammit. Ignorant to his internal conflict, she pulled at the welder's apron she was wearing and gave a small curtsey with it as if it were a dress. "Once again… My name is Noir Arc and I am the blacksmith that forged the Seven Sacred Arc swords."

She released the apron and held up the back of her hands for him to see. "The Shatter Glyphs were not created to prevent thievery. I imagine the true purpose was lost over the centuries… but the glyphs have only continued to be branded on a new generation because of distrust and avarice."

Jaune tilted his head and checked his ears for wax. He'd heard her words. Heard them and not in the least bit understood them. "Umm ...what?"

She giggled again. "Perhaps I should start with what led me to create the Shatter Glyphs? In order to do that, I will also need to tell you why I forged the Seven Sacred Arc Swords."

"That's fine…" He drawled, not sure at all where she was going with any of this.

"Very well then." She nodded in satisfaction and launched into her story without further delay. He would almost say she was kind of excited to talk about it. Most likely it had been quite a long time. "In the age I come from, Man had not yet discovered the miracle of Dust. We only had our own Semblances and what weapons we could craft for protection against the Grimm. Those weapons were quite primitive compared to what you have now. Spears, swords, pikes, hammers, and the like. They didn't transform and they most certainly were not also a gun. Forging them too took time. Often too much time. We were being overrun by Grimm and we couldn't build weapons fast enough to fend them off.

"This is where I came in. At a young age, my Aura was unlocked as our village was on the brink of extinction. Every woman and child was expected to contribute. If we didn't we were all going to die. Luckily for us, it was discovered that my Semblance was the ability to transmute matter; what Man would presently call Alchemy. What's more, I wasn't half-bad at it. Using my talents, I was able to arm the whole village and we fought to push back the Grimm. Sounds like it should have a happy ending, right?"

Noir paused, as if waiting for his input. The muscles around Jaune's mouth twitched several times, unsure whether to smile or not. Was it supposed to be a joke? There was no way her story had anything like a happy ending considering the means by which she was standing in front of him now.

"Unfortunately it didn't work out that way." Then Noir continued as if the pause hadn't even happened, either giving up on the joke or having just stopped for dramatic effect. "Even with my weapons and the speed at which I could make them, the battles were still hard… and eventually we were overrun. I thought for sure we were all going to die. My five brothers. My father. Me. It seemed like the end was coming.

"And then it didn't. When things were at their darkest, a great warrior came brandishing a Living Weapon with extraordinary power. It spit fire and set the Grimm ablaze. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen in my whole living life." Noir paused, looking at the flames nearby that had once been Jaune's childhood home as if recalling those first flames she saw. "Maybe it's a little too much information, but I think that was the first time I had ever found myself sexually aroused."

"Definitely too much information." Jaune and Coco deadpanned in such perfect sync he almost thought he was with his twin.

Noir smiled almost victoriously and he knew for a fact now she had been trying to get him to laugh earlier. With such awkward and terrible humor as that he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt. She was an Arc alright. All his family's awkward genes could be traced right back to the source. "Moving on." Noir tried to brush it aside in typical Arc fashion even too. "My family and the village were thankful for his help. He stopped with us for a while. I almost think to brag. While everyone else was busy singing him praises... I was jealous."

She let out a scoff very familiar to Jaune. He was the same. No matter how much he wanted to be happy for his sisters and all their new fame, he couldn't help but feel the bad taste in his mouth. His jealousy and how much he wished it could be him disgusted him. It wasn't a feeling he wanted to have, but one he couldn't help but have.

"It was a great blow to my Pride." Noir continued, oblivious to the same feelings they shared at that moment. "Having someone else's weapon outshine my own. So I began researching Living Weapons and the way they were made. While he was with us, I studied his weapon every waking moment and constantly pestered him with questions. Living Weapons were created by means of permanently fusing our Aura with a weapon to give them a Semblance of their own. This method was… extremely taxing and the power of the weapons ranged greatly… more often than not the results weren't worth the price paid.

"I think I was… fourteen, when I was finally confident enough to create one of my own. However, I decided to add my own flare to the process. As you can guess, discarding a fragment of my soul, one consisting of a core sin I had as a human being. After all, what better to combat the evil of Grimm than the evil of the human heart?

"And thus, the rapier Lust was born."

Noir spread her arms and held them up as if holding the sword again for the first time ever, a nostalgic twinkle in her blue eyes.

"The result… was far beyond what I or anyone else could have predicted. Lust was even greater than what that warrior who protected us had used. I gifted the sword to my father and he went on to become a powerful hero, respected by the neighboring villages. Soon, the protection granted by Lust allowed us to expand. Our population boomed as people came from miles away to a village that promised absolute security. Treaties with other villages came about and we formed a network of communication and trade.

"However, as our town grew… so did its troubles.

"The larger the population, the more Grimm were drawn to us. Lust was no longer enough to protect everyone by itself as I had only created it with the intent of our small village and family. My five older brothers and I had aged in that time and they were all fine warriors in their own right. So one at a time, I whittled away at my soul and created them each a sword as well, until you have now the Seven Sacred Arc Swords. The second sword, Sloth, I kept for myself. With their unrivaled power… we finally achieved the peace of mind and security we had always desired. My family and their loved ones no longer had to live in fear of the Grimm. For a time… even I was happy."

The smile on Noir's face slipped, replaced by a displeased frown. The way she was telling the story had begun to change. The humorous tone in her voice was no longer there. Nor was any other kind of emotion, at least not one Jaune could detect. Not sadness, nor anger. Just... nothing.

"Then I discovered the truth. By sacrificing my sins… I gave up the core part of my personality. The things that made me who I am. Without a personality or a sense of self, I could no longer use my Semblance. I could not perform Alchemy. That by itself wasn't enough of a problem. Without my greed or my pride, so too gone was the desire and wish to seize those powers back. What opened my eyes and made me create the glyphs was something else.

"That brave warrior who had saved us returned. He was from a faraway city of his own, one that had long established stability and trade routes. Both our city and his had the largest populations of humans in the history of Man up to that point. His demands were simple. They had heard about the power of my swords and as payment for what he'd done for us all those years ago, they wanted three of them. My family refused, claiming they needed all the swords to maintain our present way of life.

"War was threatened and suddenly the swords I had created to protect humanity against the Grimm was about to be pointed against itself. Still I did nothing. My true intent had always been to protect the family I loved. I perhaps felt something akin to pity for the once great warrior who had protected us but I decided there was nothing I could do. Without my Semblance it wasn't like I could create more. It was this disinterested and callous attitude that paved the way to tragedy.

"My father was assassinated and Lust stolen."

She said that in the same emotionless tone she'd said the whole last part of the story. Jaune shivered, finally beginning to realize what it was Noir truly meant when she said she'd lost her emotions and Semblance. She still didn't have any of that. Nothing had changed and she hadn't ever reclaimed her sins. What did that make the jokes she had been cracking earlier and that personality? Was it just a habit? Some kind of memory of how she thought she used to act? Jaune didn't know and he didn't want to know. Instead, he continued to listen to her story.

"Tensions had mounted between our cities and the desire for my swords had grown unmanageable. Even up until the end my father had tried negotiating with them to find a peaceful solution… and that was their response. I was beside myself with grief. Not only were my swords threatened for war, but they became the reason my father was killed. My brothers swore revenge and set out to take back the sword. While they did this, I devised a plan to destroy them and prevent further harm from coming to my family.

"And thus next, the Shatter Glyphs were born."

Noir once again indicated to the marks on the back of her hands and then to the same ones on Jaune's. He felt them itch and ache, just by having attention drawn to them. Regardless, he pushed past it, completely enraptured with the tale at this point.

"The glyphs are actually a transmutation circle traced onto your bones. Although you wouldn't know that just looking at a Glyph Bearer's hands. Your Aura tries to heal the damage which is what creates that inconsistent and asymmetric pattern. Regardless, it's the marking on the bones that count and by filling those markings with the Ambiance from Sloth, I was able to partially restore my Semblance at the cost of permanently maiming my hands. It wasn't complete, only enough to perform deconstruction, but that was all I needed to destroy the swords.

"The first one I intended to break was Lust, so I left Sloth intact and set off after my brothers. When I arrived at the rival city… it was devastated. My five brothers had razed the whole thing to the ground, butchering everyone; women, children, they didn't discriminate in their blind rage. The great warrior who had once saved us was the only one left, but that was by the twisted design of my brothers' intent.

"He held Lust but could not wield its power, having been incompatible. The sword he had stolen and killed for brought nothing but death, destruction, and helplessness on his people. Only once I arrived did my brothers kill him, murdering our father's assassin in front of my eyes. I became filled with even greater disgust at what my swords had turned them into. That wasn't the act of my family, but strangers consumed by something evil.

"I explained to them my intent and moved to reclaim my Lust, underestimating how far they had fallen and the extent to which they would go to not lose the swords. When I turned on them, it was our youngest brother who stabbed me in the back with Gluttony and pierced my heart. It was at that moment Gluttony's true ability was discovered and I was assimilated into the scythe.

"Following that betrayal, my brothers took Lust and Sloth, attempting to pass them onto their own children to find compatibility. Lust worked, but Sloth did not. The Seven Sacred Arc Swords would never work in tandem together again until your sisters.

"My brothers remained too far gone and eventually they started to kill one another in a bid to take the swords for their future lineage. Also disgusted by the death and betrayals, my nephew, Noah, branded himself with Sloth in the same way I had. He then threatened to destroy the swords if my remaining two brothers and their families did not come to terms.

"It worked this time… the fear of losing even one sword and the exhaustion at all the death already enough to stay their madness. And thus, the tradition of passing down Shatter Glyphs along with the swords started; not to protect from external thievery like you have been told, but to prevent Arcs from wiping themselves out… all in exchange for the life of one person per generation.

"That is your legacy, Jaune. You and your sisters are descended from a selfish, deranged, family-killer, as is every single living person with Arc blood. It's not wrong to say that my sins view you all as a disease… and is likely the true reason behind their mass murder spree. They're simply finishing what should've been done and almost was from the very beginning."

Noir went silent. And in her silence, Jaune's mind could only reel as he tried to make sense of her story and all the information it provided. Even with all those answers, he still had so many questions. "Why did the swords wait so long to do this?" He felt guilty right after asking. She had just given him this incredible story and he didn't even take the time to let it soak in before he asked her something.

Not that she seemed to mind, answering without pause. "The swords did not have sentience initially. Their power was much more limited back when they were first created as was their Ambiance. As they grew older, so too did their Ambiance grow stronger until it was far larger than even the Aura of an average human. With that age and Ambiance came personality. However, they were incomplete. It was only in moments when all seven were wielded in tandem that they could trigger a reaction and suppress your sisters' Aura."

Noir paused and seemed to consider her next words carefully. "At least, that's my best guess."

"Your best guess!?" Jaune found that hard to believe. Even if she was separate from them, those swords were still a part of her, weren't they? No, that couldn't be right. If that was the case, Noir wouldn't have been as empty as she was. It still seemed impossible to believe she had no part in this.

"Please don't look at me like that." Noir looked truly and deeply wounded by whatever face it was he was currently making. Even he didn't know what his expression must have been right now, but it had been enough to even hurt a dead woman. "I really didn't have any part of this aside from being the one to create the swords. I don't have any kind of desire for revenge. I'm sure I would have if my Wrath was still a part of me and that's the truth. However, as I am now that's just not possible."

"So what?" Coco lacked any kind of remorse that Jaune currently felt. "Your swords had to work together to get free and had a goal, right? If that's the case, why did things go to shit for them right after and they started betraying one another?"

"Again, it's just a theory." Noir restarted slowly, still looking with some slight dejection at her descendent. "They waited to take over until the most optimal moment, once all your sisters were strong enough to hold their own and when a mass number of Arcs were gathered in one place. It was a plan they had been fostering for centuries and while still swords they were patient. It was only when they attained human bodies that their individual natures came out and those plans started to unravel."

Again Noir paused, waiting patiently for his next question. Which was an easy one for him to choose, as it seemed it always came back to that question in his mind to the point he asked it every day.

"Why spare me?" That was the part that made the least sense to him. He was the biggest obstacle in their path, so why would Pride have let him live that night at the beginning? Even if she thought he would one day join them, the risk was simply too great.

"To answer that," Noir placed a hand over her heart. "Let me talk about Gluttony and Pride for a moment."

"Talk about whatever you gotta." Coco snapped dryly, sending an annoyed glance towards Jaune. She seemed to be getting fed up with this whole conversation, not finding any of it as fascinating as he still was. He didn't want to admit it, but he almost didn't want it to end. The more he talked to Noir and the more he wanted to know. She could tell him so much and probably more than he could even think to ask.

"Pride is my strongest sin," Noir said that as if in direct rebuttal to Coco, giving her a lopsided grin. "It was the emotion I felt most powerfully and my biggest flaw as a human. In contrast, Gluttony is by far my weakest." She patted her thin, nearly malnourished frame for emphasis.

"Gluttony seems plenty strong to me." Coco mumbled under her breath, a fact Jaune agreed with. They had nearly gotten wrecked by it and only a fraction of its souls were here. In fact, of all the swords, Gluttony might have even concerned him more than Pride at the moment.

A sentiment Noir seemed to disagree with. "Gluttony has become incredibly powerful over the course of time, but it was a very slow process. This is not for her own power, but the powers she steals from others. For all the power she has obtained, however, she cannot control me."

"Why is that?" That possibly should have been his first question, as up until this point he could have been talking to Gluttony pretending to be Noir in order to buy time and come back with greater numbers. If that wasn't the case, then why was Noir different from the rest of the souls Gluttony had killed?

"Every soul consumed becomes a subsidiary of Gluttony. However, Gluttony was already a subsidiary of me. I am bound to the scythe in the sense that I am dead and have to return to it after so much time, but it does not control me. That is Gluttony's biggest shame. She wishes to become the strongest sin, even more so than Pride, thinking that will allow her to somehow become me. To achieve this, she is trying to absorb as many Arcs as possible. Which is Gluttony's true goal… and you, Jaune, stand in the way of that goal."

"Wait… I thought Gluttony wanted to keep me alive?" When all the other swords had come after him, it had been Gluttony and Pride alone that hadn't. Gluttony had seemed pretty upset when Envy had cut off his arm too, knowing he was going to die.

Noir shook her head adamantly, black-ponytail swinging with an almost mesmerizing motion. "No, Gluttony is the one who wants you dead the most. You being a Glyph Bearer makes you the closest to me and Gluttony wants to absorb you and your glyphs, thinking she will somehow be able to use them. Pride is the only sin that wishes you alive. As you may have noticed… your glyphs are getting stronger with each subsequent sword you break. Which brings us to Pride's goal."

"Are you saying Pride wants me to break the swords?" That was crazy... but if he thought about it, that was his only purpose in life so if someone was going out of their way to keep him alive, that would be the only real reason to do it.

"Yes and no." Noir's nose crinkled and she seemed to struggle with how to continue. "What Pride wants is for you to become strong… which she can test by having you destroy the other swords after defeating them in combat. That way, when she fights and kills you… she can verify for herself that she is the strongest and most powerful. It's all for the sake of her vainglory.

"It was with these opposing goals, that Pride and Gluttony's underhanded competition began. Gluttony is not strong enough to challenge Pride in outright combat, which is why she thinks she needs to kill you. So she started a dangerous game of chess the night they took over, using all the other sins as pawns.

"Lust attacking you was no accident. Gluttony goaded her into seeking you out, thinking to mask her betrayal by using Lust's unstable personality. It didn't work and you won. Gluttony lost her chance to kill you when Pride ordered the rest of the swords retreat. Pride then left you there that night because she knew she couldn't necessarily protect you from the other swords. Then Ozpin took you in and Gluttony lost another chance to go after you immediately.

"So what Gluttony did next was begin poisoning the other swords against Pride, appealing to Greed, Wrath, and Envy's newfound desire to live as humans. She convinced them that the only way to do that was to kill you. Pride noticed this but instead of punishing Gluttony, saw a chance.

"Sloth is subservient to Pride, and under her orders pretended to get taken in by Gluttony's promises. When in reality she was actually there to set you up in situations where you would fight the others one on one. Everything up to that point went in Pride's favor as you defeated Greed and then Wrath.

"Even with this game of deception between them, the two still seemed to be in agreement to wipe out the Arc lineage. So they moved onto that for the meantime… but then you came here. Gluttony had posted Roman to protect the book with the transmutation design for the glyphs under Pride's orders but when you showed up she saw a chance to kill you without Pride's interference.

"She brought Envy, promising her freedom if she helped kill you. However, what Gluttony wanted was to absorb your soul while you were complete and add another glyph bearer to her collection. Envy betrayed her by cutting off one of your glyphs. Seeing as you were dead either way, Gluttony left and abandoned Envy, not even conceiving that you could somehow survive, let alone kill Envy in that state. As we talk… she is no doubt informing Pride that you're dead."

Then this whole time... he had just been a pawn being used by Pride? Every single move he made up to this point, every sister he saved, just another part of a game he didn't even know they were playing? If that really were true, then thanks to Noir that changed now. If the swords really thought he was dead it might be better to let it play out that way. It would allow him to move without their taking him into consideration.

Not that he even understood why he was still alive. Losing one of the glyphs was death sentence. Guaranteed. Yet here he was, still alive and talking to a someone who wasn't. "Why did my arm reattach when I shattered Envy?"

"That would be because-" Noir clapped her hands. It seemed like a random gesture, but Jaune felt some deep meaning to it as it felt like there was some kind of raw energy that just passed through his body when she did. "Your glyphs have gotten strong enough to the point that they're now capable of more than just deconstruction. Your glyphs performed transmutation and used the energy from the sword's destruction to heal you."

"Okay… how?"

Noir sighed.

"The glyphs replace your true Semblance by overriding it with mine, or a fraction of it at least. Now that your glyphs are stronger they're closer to what my Semblance originally was. I cannot say for sure but it might even be possible for you to perform transmutation on your own, although it will likely cost the cooldown of both glyphs." Both cooldowns wouldn't exactly be much of a hindrance, since with four swords gone he should be at ten seconds now. The problem was...

"I wouldn't even begin to know anything about how to transmute... this is way too sudden." He looked down at his hands. Never did he think they would allow him to do anything more than destroy. Let alone one day give him the ability to create.

"If that book you came for survived the explosion it should contain within it all the basics. You won't necessarily be an expert... but it is my Semblance you're using, odds are you could achieve something."

"You're a glyph bearer... couldn't you teach me?" He felt pathetic, like he was asking her to stick around and not leave him. Like he had somehow come to care over when that was the last thing he should feel towards this person. "And what about destroying the swords yourself?"

"The dead cannot use Alchemy."

"I see…" He really didn't but it also didn't look like she cared to elaborate further. "...what about the former Glyph bearers? Why do they die when a new one is marked?"

"Glyph bearers die because my Semblance is passed on from the old bearer to the new one. Any person that has the core of their soul ripped out from them would perish, this isn't a concept unique to the glyphs. That's why Semblance replication and transference is considered a taboo science." Noir recited this information like a dictionary, as if it was just something she only memorized.

"You know an awful lot for someone who's been dead for centuries." Coco noted this with no small amount of sarcasm.

At this, Noir let out another quick giggle. "Listening to what's going on in the outside world is considerably more tolerable than paying attention to the thousand souls Gluttony has consumed bicker amongst one another." Her words reminded him that Amethyst had commented before on how she could hear the souls of the scythe screaming.

She was staring directly at Jaune again, looking at him almost like his mother used to. "You don't know it, but I've always been there. I've been watching silently all this time over all of you. Every single time one of you was born, I was there."

Hearing that, Jaune blurted out the next words without even thinking. "Why didn't you ever come out before now?"

"And do what, exactly?" His mouth opened and then snapped shut, having not expected her to answer his question with one of her own. Noir gave a bitter laugh at his speechlessness and begin fiddling with the end of her long ponytail absentmindedly. "I did enough damage while alive... my family fell apart because of me. It was better for everyone if I just stayed inside Gluttony and repented for all eternity. That was what I thought... but today I saw you."

"Me?"

"You and I are fairly similar, Jaune. And I do not just mean because we're both Glyph Bearers. Both of us were the only gender among our siblings. We both loved our family and would do just about anything for them. We're both crushed by an overwhelming sense of guilt. Unlike me, you've pushed beyond your guilt and are trying to do the right thing... I guess you could say I felt a little inspired?"

So they really were similar after all. He thought perhaps it had been his imagination... but what she said confirmed it. How much of that was even real? Were they only similar to one another because he had been branded with her Semblance or would he have turned out like this anyways? He could probably ask her and she would tell him... but he was tired of all this and he wasn't even sure he wanted to hear the answers. There was no point in thinking about what might have been.

"I guess... I just have one question left."

"Just one?" She winked at him playfully.

He tried his best to ignore it. "...What do you want me to do for you?"

Noir's smile transformed… but this time, it felt different. He couldn't say for sure why, but he felt bad for her. No, he knew why. This was a girl that had tried to do the right thing and all she received for her efforts was death and betrayal. Some part of him... sympathized with her. With that sympathy came an earnest desire to want to do whatever favor she asked. That desire still failed to prepare him for the words Noir said next.

"Please, Jaune... free me from Gluttony."


Chapter End


AN: Such exposition. Much backstory. Wow.

This was a big chapter for me. Not only is it the fiftieth but I finally got to answer most of the questions this story created and kind of retroactively explain why things happened the way they did since the very beginning. I hope it was all sensible. There's still a lot more going on but this at least covers a pretty big section of the stuff.

Originally this chapter I wanted to start off with the other group finishing their fights but I didn't care for the flow it created, so I pushed that back to the next chapter. Which made this whole one about Jaune and Noir. Was her backstory even interesting? I hope so, as I've updated it pretty recently to make it flow a little better too.

I didn't delete the original omake, but bumped it into one part with the next chapter so you can read that full omake there. While I was rewriting this chapter, I felt inspired to write a new omake, one that came from Noir's own past and showed her when she was younger and so much different than the girl Jaune met in this chapter.


Omake 44

Noir Arc and the Hero


This is the story from over a millennia ago.

One that no one has ever told.

That would because no one remembers it anymore.

It's lost.

The people involved are long since dead.

However, at one point and during one time…. they had certainly been alive.

Noir Arc padded bare-foot through her little village.

She was skinny. Far too skinny. There weren't any other girls her age in the village to compare to, but everyone said it about her anyways. For twelve-years of age, she looked far more like she was seven with the petite, malnourished frame she had.

Most of them joked it was because all her nutrients went to that hair of hers. It was pitch black, so dark that at night it was completely invisible and when the sun shined on it, you might have thought it was a wormhole that sucked in the light, never to be seen again. It was impossibly long, hanging past her butt and going halfway down her legs too. This seemingly unmanageable mess was tied neatly together in a twirled ponytail that was held together at the base by a cute, white bow.

"Wha'cha looking for, pipsqueak?" To him, that wasn't her most striking feature. As she spun towards his voice, her crystal blue eyes like sapphires were always what stood out to him most. They were filled with bottomless curiosity. Always looking to know more and always trying to understand.

"You know very well what it is I desire, Sir." She stalked up to him with an adorable pout, fit for the age she appeared to be for but probably not for the age she actually was. At least, it would have been adorable if not for the fierce glare behind those same blue eyes he found so striking. There was something else in them that also made him uncomfortable. Her curiosity wasn't for the sake of knowledge itself. It was for something more. Some greater purpose he couldn't understand and that he didn't want to understand.

"Yeah, yeah." He tried to ignore it by turning his gaze towards the sword on his hip. "Also, don't call me Sir. I have a name, you know? It's-"

"Sorry, but I don't really care what your name is." She cut him off with that prideful and haunting tone she always had when speaking to him. "It's troublesome to remember each and every person's face as it is but asking me to remember their name on top of that is a bit much."

"Right, sorry. I forgot." He gave a small chuckle which only seemed to upset her more, pout becoming deeper and more pronounced. Only to vanish immediately when he pulled the short sword off his hip, handing it to her. The smile that took its place was radiant, completely unlike anything he had ever seen her give to anything or anyone else.

This girl was something else. Aside from her family, she didn't seem to much care for other people. All the village said so too and although he'd only been here for a short few days now he think he understood their sentiments. All the same, they all sang her nothing but praises. At only twelve years of age, she was the most respected blacksmith for miles.

He had come to this town specifically in search of her at first, hoping to find someone who could further understand his sword. When he arrived, they had been under a particularly nasty Grimm assault and so he lent a hand. If only too because he was hoping to earn some favor with this supposedly legendary smith of unequaled skill. When he found out it was this little girl, he'd almost laughed. Watching her handle his sword, however, he thought maybe there was some truth to it after all. It was almost like she never looked at the exterior, but was studying the inside of it. The soul of the weapon itself.

It was almost awe-inspiring, except for the fact that no matter how long he watched her he couldn't tell exactly what it was she was seeing. The other day he'd asked her to explain it and she'd simply told him "Idiots wouldn't understand" and left it at that.

"This sword feels very much like you." She finally said something after almost five full minutes of silence. For perhaps the first time since they'd met, it felt like she was truly looking at him. Studying his fiery red hair tied in a short ponytail. The rugged, still adolescent beard on his face and green eyes that had already seen so much death.

He shifted uncomfortably on the rock he sat on while under her gaze, straightening himself out a little in the process. It was almost embarrassing to be made to feel this way by a girl four years his junior. "Well, I would imagine so." He still managed to speak in a voice that belied his actual feelings, sounding strong and confident as always. "It was made by taking a piece of my Aura, after all."

He didn't understand what that meant but it seemed to mean something to her as she placed a hand under her chin and looked up at the bright blue sky. "Hmmm… taking a part of your Aura and placing it inside a weapon. Certainly sounds feasible… but what would have to be lost to accomplish such a thing?" She muttered not to him, but to herself.

"I'm right here, you know." She blinked in what might have been shock, looking at him as if she only just remembered despite having been scrutinising him so deeply not more than a minute ago. "You've said it yourself, I'm not very bright. If you got questions, I can try and answer them at least. I don't know what to make of what happened to me either when those warlocks made that sword by forcibly ripping out my Aura. You might be able to, however. So let's work together. At least that way maybe we'll both get something out of this, yeah?"

"Hmm…" Noir crossed her arms, sword still in hand and tapping her bare-foot against the dirt ground she stood upon. Just how much did she not want to work with him that she had to think this hard about it? "...Very well then." She finally relented. "Nothing can be gained without first giving something up. I suppose this too is also like my Semblance."

"Sure, whatever that means." He hopped off the rock and stood straight in front of her. "It's my pleasure to be working with you, partner." He extended his hand.

She appeared to misunderstand his intentions and instead returned the sword to him. It took all his effort not to sigh and instead he slid the sword back inside its sheath. No sooner did he finish the action than did she grab his hand, but still not for a handshake.

"W-where are we going?" He stuttered as the girl nearly half his size dragged him along.

"My home." Noir stated as if it was a matter of course. "I have to cook for my brothers and father. Since you and I will be working together, you might as well join us. It will also save me the time of having to come searching for you again."

"Heh," He couldn't see her face with her back to him, but the tops of her ears were a distinctive shade of red despite the severity of her own words. "Not cute at all."

"Who said anything about wanting to be cute!" Noir shouted and while he couldn't be sure, he thought she was walking with heavier steps after too. It wasn't a particularly powerful moment, but all the same he would remember the sound of her bare feet stomping on the dirt path all the way until his final moments.

It was a story he never told anyone else.

It was a moment Noir never wanted to talk about.

It was a second in time that created history for a thousand years to come.