Noche
Artist: Northssketchbook (tumblr)
Their songs like sirens, the cicadas were in full force, screeching out into the dew-infested morning.
A grumbling child sat near the glowing embers of a dead fire; a finely decorated guitar held in his hands as he reached over to tune the instrument.
Plucking a few strings, he growled and shook his head, pushing some chin-length brown hair from his eyes as he muttered, "Maldito…"
The boy looked around at the palo verde trees, his hazel eyes gleaming in the low light, "If I could only find those demonios gritando, then I could squash them."
"Sobrino!" An exclamation made the kid jump and turn towards the source. A jovial man was approaching him, the town visible just behind him, beyond the yellow leaves of the trees.
The boy sighed, shaking his head. "Buenos días, Tío Ocaso. You're up earlier than usual."
"The same could be said to you, Noche." The kid's uncle sat down on a log across from his nephew. He gestured to the guitar in his hands. "I see you are practicing. How goes it?"
A low murmur emitted from the child. "Mal. These cicadas are screwing with my focus."
Ocaso gave a brief chuckle, glancing around them. "Sí, sí. They are quite bad in this area, heh? Why not practice at home, then?"
"Nuestra familia, tío. They are louder than the bugs."
"Ah, of course. My mistake." Ocaso smirked, watching his nephew tune a bit, then play a bit before tilting his head.
The uncle leaned in. "Maybe I can help?"
"If you can kill these demons, then please help yourself."
A roaring laughter burst from Ocaso as he shook his head. "If only, sobrino, if only. No, no. I was gonna try and distract you myself."
The boy grinned. "Another one of your stories, tío?"
"Como siempre! But I have been saving this one for a while."
This piqued the interest of Noche as he turned his head up from the guitar, resting his elbows on its body. An eyebrow raised.
Uncle Ocaso noted the newly found attention he got from his nephew as he placed his hands on his knees.
"Have you ever heard of the famous hunter Atigrado?"
Noche, his eyes wide with curiosity, tilted his head, "I don't think so."
The uncle nodded. "Hmm, he was very well known in this town, it was his birthplace after all. I remember him from my younger days, when I was just a chico." He emphasized it with his hand, showing how small he was as a child.
Noche glanced at his uncle's hand. "What was Atigrado like?"
Ocaso stroked his chin, glancing aside as he remembered the man. "Benévolo. Kind and gracious. Charitable. Tu madre y mi, with the other children, would run up to him as he came into town from a big hunt and show us the souvenirs of the places he'd been to. Then he'd buy us all a snack, each, and share his adventures."
The uncle continued, observing his nephew's reaction. "He was also quite the flirt. Un rompecorazón, more like. The women would fall for him without fail."
Noche's head picked up a bit at that, brow raised. "Really?"
Ocaso scoffed at his nephew, able to tell what interested him most. "Si, sobrino! However, he never found a woman to settle down with, though I wouldn't doubt it if a few of the townspeople were his bastardos."
Pursing his lips, Noche turned his head down.
"We barely get Grimm out in this part of Mistral, which is lucky for us. But that doesn't keep them from coming every so often. One time, there was un gran monstruo, muy bronco, that attacked the town. All of us feared for our lives...until Atigrado arrived. He walked like...like it was nothing. Once I saw him with his fearless demeanor, I knew we were safe. I also knew that I wanted to be like him."
Silence set forth, letting the story hang in the air.
"And?"
"And what, sobrino?"
"Did you become a hunter?"
A sharp laugh, "Hah! Obviously not. I was already getting roped into the family business when I created that dream. But I built my confidence...that's how I met mi esposa."
"Ah…" Noche's voice trailed as looked off into the distance.
Ocaso smiled, muttering, "But I see it in you."
Cocking an eyebrow, the boy looked to his uncle. "Perdóname, tío?"
Ocaso stood up, dusting himself off. "That's enough for story time. C'mon, sobrino, let's go home. I am sure things have quieted down, and you can practice without the cicadas bothering you."
Narrowing his eyes, the boy nodded and stood up.
He held the guitar by the neck as he and his uncle walked back into town.
Ten Years Later, Present Day
"Maldito…"
A low grumble came from a tall man walking through the streets of downtown Mistral. He briefly looked up at the sun; its heat beating down on his body as he cursed his decision to wear darker colors today: black and blue.
Needing to feel the cool air on his skin, he pulled back his cowl, revealing a chiseled, handsome face; clean-shaven and drenched in sweat. Brown hair that was longer up front than in the back clinged to his tan skin, forcing him to pull it aside so he could see ahead.
And people say looks don't kill, he thought, giving his own joke a chuckle, only to turn into a loud sigh as he attempted to fan himself.
"Maybe I should try a new color. Blanco? Ehhh, but that doesn't work with my aesthetic."
Lifting his arm, he smiled as the sun shined against the stars depicted on the inside of his cloak to provide a wonderful display of gradience, wavering from light to dark then back.
With this came a glimpse of what he wore underneath: a body-tight leather suit, and a belt full of pouches carrying lockpicks, throwing knives, dust, and the occasional granola bar.
The practicals.
On his hands were gauntlets with the thumb and forefinger uncovered. They were of a peculiar design, but fit in well with his sleeves. On the underside were a variety of metal pieces seemingly unconnected to each other. Besides that, it felt like they carried other mysteries...
Currently he had nothing to do, but walk around and find cute girls; his most favorite hobby during the summer season.
He also didn't know how to cook, which is why he wasn't helping Ivory with grocery shopping.
Not that he wouldn't have offered to help carry the bags, but she was already gone by the time he had come back from breakfast.
So he spent his time on the hunt for beautiful women, of which there were plenty in the city of Mistral. Teammates were included in that, but he considered them off-limits. Especially one of them.
"Stop it!"
Snapping out of his thoughts, the man looked towards the sound of a voice to see a group of four men in the nearest alleyway, each with devious smiles on their face, surrounding a young woman.
"C'mon, cutie. We just want to hang out with ya! Why not give us the time of day?"
The woman was backed against a wall, shaking her head. "No! How many times do I have to tell you? I am not interested in you or your friends."
"But you haven't even gotten to know us! We could be soulmates, for all you‒"
"Do your ears work, güey? She said get lost."
The group of men turned to see a lone cloaked man standing just outside of the alley, his hands behind his back.
The supposed leader of the group frowned. "Who the hell are you?"
He held an arm out to his side to show the stars inside his cloak and pulled the other in front of his chest as he bowed to them.
"My name is Noche De La Capa, third-year student at Haven, y un hombre guapo." He turned his head up as he spoke the last words, eyebrow cocked.
"Oon ohmbray gwapo?" one of them asked.
"Doesn't matter." Noche crossed his arms, shifting his weight to one leg. "I am a hunter-in-training, and you are filthy creeps. I suggest you step away from the lady. For your safety, por supuesto."
The leader chuckled. "For our safety? Hunter or not, we outnumber you." He gestured for the group to follow as they exited the alley, circling the tall man.
"Tal vez. However, I have something better."
Noche found himself surrounded, two men behind him, two men in front of him, each more than an arm's distance away. The leader sneered as he and the creep next to him pulled out lead pipes. One hit could do plenty of damage.
"And what would that be?" he asked, raising the pipe.
Noche grinned. "Training!"
"Watch out!" The girl screamed as she saw the men behind him closing in.
Noche threw his arms out, two grappling hooks shooting from his gauntlets with a poof before pulling them to either side as they wrapped around the torsos of the two men in front.
With a quick tug they were wrenched into Noche's outstretched elbows, dazing them momentarily before he retracted the hooks. Wrapping his arms around their necks, he pulled them behind his back just as the leader and his friend whacked at him.
Instead, they hit their own buddies and knocked them down. Noche stepped away a bit and twisted around, his fists held up in a combat stance.
He clicked his tongue. "Looks your numbers just dropped a bit, güey!"
The leader looked from his incapacitated men to Noche.
He growled. "You son of a bitch!"
Noche smirked as the leader charged at him. With a flick of his wrists, blades emerged from the gauntlets, connected to small mechanical arms. He grabbed them by the arms as if they were handles. The knives' blades elongated a few more inches in time to block the pipes as the men swung.
He hooked his foot behind one guy's leg and bashed at his chest with his shoulder to trip him. In the short amount of time available, Noche retracted the blade from his now free hand and used it to sucker punch the leader in the cheek, causing him to reel.
Turning his attention back to the guy he previously knocked down, he saw him getting up on his feet. Noche was swift to give two quick jabs to the man's stomach, then a hook to his cheek before pushing him away.
As the leader ran back in, Noche shot his foot out at the man's shin before throwing a punch at his nose.
Crack!
"My nose!" The leader nursed his nose as it gushed blood.
"Eh, it wasn't your best feature anyway!" Noche remarked.
Staring at the pained leader, he heard a shout from behind, turning around in time to catch the pipe swung at him. The man holding it grit his teeth as he realized he made a mistake and tried to pull the weapon free.
Noche rolled his eyes before twisting his body, elbowing the man in the face, and aiming his gauntlet at the leader, wrist pointed up.
The pieces of metal on the underside of the gauntlets formed together to create mini-crossbows that auto-loaded a bolt.
Noche clenched his fist, a clang reaching the leader's eyes as a tiny bolt penetrated his neck.
He dropped instantly. His friend was quick to show worry.
"What did you do to him?"
The hunter sighed. "Ay, cállate, eh?" he said before shooting the man with the bolt loaded into his other gauntlet, causing him to drop quickly as well.
"Stop!"
A shout interrupted his victory. Turning around, the two men he had previously incapacitated were already standing up, guns clenched in their grubby hands, aimed straight at the hunter.
Noche glanced at the barrels of the two guns and chuckled.
He simply wagged his finger at them.
Before their very eyes, Noche sunk into his shadow. Literally. He descended into his shadow, and was gone.
"Wh-where did he go?"
They looked around, attempting to spot the man and figure out where he could have possibly gone.
As one of them glanced to the other, his eyes widened.
"Behind y-"
An elbow silenced his friend before he could finish the sentence.
The man aimed his gun, about to fire when Noche used his hook to wrench the gun from the man's hands, disarming his opponent. The hunter stepped in to deliver a swift snap kick to the thug's face, knocking him unconscious.
He aimed his gauntlets at the two recently knocked down and shot them both with a bolt to ensure they didn't get up anytime soon.
Noche exhaled deeply. "I told them. For their safety." he said, turning towards the girl to find her staring in fear at him.
His eyebrows raised as he gestured to the men. "I didn't kill them, worry not." He showed her the underside of his gauntlet where the strip of bolts lined up. "Tranquilizers. They'll be out for about, eh, three hours, then wake up with a headache...well, that one will have a bloody nose too." He said, pointing to the leader.
She sighed in relief.
The hunter approached her with a gentle smile. "How are you? Bien?"
She frowned at the language he used, finding it unfamiliar.
"Good?" He repeated.
A look of realization before she nodded. "Uh...yeah, thanks. They just...wouldn't listen."
He clicked his tongue again. "Si...si. I've dealt with men similar to that back in my town. What matters is that you are okay."
She opened her mouth to speak when‒
"Noche?"
A familiar voice called out to him. Turning back towards the street, his eyes flashed in recognition of a fellow teammate.
"Eh? Ivory?"
A small woman dressed in the garb of red cloth and white fur stood on the street with grocery bags weighing down her arms. Her icy blue eyes stared at him in bewilderment before turning amused.
"Being the knight in shining armor for another damsel, huh?"
Gazing at the bodies surrounding him, he chuckled. "Of course! A handsome man such as myself gets into many a situation with beautiful women. You would know, Ivy!"
Ivory frowned and looked away as she stuttered, "W-well Mr. Man, why don't you be one and help a poor girl carry groceries back home?"
He smiled and nodded, brow raised. "Por supuesto!"
Looking back to the girl, he gestured to the unconscious bodies. "Just call the cops and they should handle the rest. Make sure you get home safe. Adios!"
Pivoting on his heel, he jogged over to his teammate, reaching out to grab a large percentage of the groceries.
Ivory grinned in thanks as he took the bags. "I found those tomatoes, by the way."
"Ah gracias, Ivory! Sorry I couldn't come to make it easier."
"I mean you're here now, aren't you?"
Starting their journey to Haven, Ivory observed the dropping sun.
"The other two should be finished with their hunt pretty soon. Let's get back quick."
"Agreed!" He said as the two increased their pace.
Meanwhile, Ivory tilted her head his way.
"Wanna tell me what happened back there?"
"Eh, it's a long story. Maybe over dinner!"
"Sounds good to me. Oh and one more thing," she said, looking to him, but hesitated a second before asking, "Uhm...can you play some guitar when I prepare dinner? I could use some noise while I cook."
Glancing at her in surprise, Noche smirked. "Of course, amiga."
A/N:
Thank you for reading! Please leave comments with feedback as that is what keeps me growing as a writer! As stated, these are going to be short stories in the same vein as character trailers from RWBY. There will be eight, split into two separate works of four chapters each. These will be leading up to the main story. We aren't gonna have a definitive schedule release for these, but we will try to be consistent and at least release them on Tuesdays at 2:00 PM PST. We just want to make sure every short is at it's best before being released.
I would just like to thank a few people. Primarily North Venari for not only assisting in the creation of this series, but for drawing and sketching out the characters. Due to 's not allowing me to post pictures here, you will be able to find them on her tumblr Northssketchbook or her twitter at NorthSketches. I would also like to thank my friends. Lunar and Sarge for being there with me and North to help us in the formation of these characters. Raine for taking the time to read over the story and provide editing assistance. Nakamatoo and Titan Wolf Dog for reading my stories and giving useful feedback. I couldn't have gotten as far as I have without any of these people.
Once again, thank you for reading!