"Boss!"

"Hey, boss!"

"Boss Azure!"

A squint gave way to a whole-hearted glare towards the three hellions that just awoke the grumpiest kid alive.

"Shut up! And stop calling me boss, dammit."

"But you're our boss, boss!"

"You said it, Ken!"

"Yeah! You're our boss, Azure!"

The rudely awakened boy let out a deep breath to calm himself down. It was relatively easy to get him riled up, especially when it was at the expense of his much-needed rest. Even if he didn't want to, though, he had to see what was up with the kids. It was obvious that if they'd gone to him first, Micah was off on some grand adventure. Or stealing food.

Now that he thought about it, stealing food WAS an adventure for a good kid like Micah. How the unhealthily lazy Azure and the cocky runt that referred to himself as "The Great and Awesome Micah" became the sort of leaders for this group of street rats, no one would ever know.

"Dammit all, fine, fine! What do you guys want?"

The three little kids before him all looked at each other. All of a sudden, Ken's little face beamed up at Azure with his little bear features.

"Well, we found something super duper cool in that alley over there!"

Azure glanced at the alley. The one directly across from him. He met Ken's beam with his own dry, emotionless stare before he tried to get back to sleep.

All of a sudden though, his instincts kicked in and he threw a kick to his left.

Shooting up afterwards, he looked down and saw Ken and his little gang all looking absolutely mortified. It was in this moment that Azure's mind started racing with thoughts like 'Did I just kick a kid? Like, a new kid? Ah, hell, nonononono…'

As he shot up to see what hell he brought on himself, a ball of white jumped up from some spare boxes.

And Azure's face defaulted into his blank gaze.

When the white ball finally got into his range, Azure threw a hand up and caught it by the scruff of it's neck. In this unmoving form, he could make out it's features much more clearly. Blue eyes, pure white fur that had a couple dirt smudges on it, and a blank look that rivaled only his own.

A cat.

Ken and his entourage picked up, of all things that a snot-nosed kid could get in an alley, a goddamned cat.

Azure threw the cat back into the boxes and made his way back to his makeshift bed.

"Boss! Wh-what the hell?! Why are you being so mean to Neko?!"

Azure turned to the only girl of Ken's group, a little mouse faunus named Mika. While she was normally cute and full of sunshine, at this moment she glowered at Azure with anger that, with her features, came off more as a pout.

Azure met her anger with clear annoyance. "You seriously named the cat,'cat'?"

"Well, what would you name him?"

"Probably not something so boring. Seriously, what kind of name is 'cat'?"

The last of the group, Yo, shot him a pout. "Shut up boss! We thought real hard about his name!"

Azure shot the three in front of him a look before lying back down to sleep. "Yeah, I can tell."

Just when he thought he could finally catch a break, Azure felt something drop and cover his face. He shot back up at the sudden contact and moved to get a look at his latest disturbance, when he found it was only a hoodie. A little on the tattered side, but it would still keep him warm when winter rolled around.

And it was coming fast this year.

Some commotion broke him from his thoughts and he glanced over at the boxes he'd thrown the damn cat into. He found a mop of magenta hair looking cautiously over the boxes while a braid of orange scooped the cat up and examined it at every angle. It was then that the magenta turned to him.

"Leave it to grumpy ol' Azure to abuse stray cats! Another reason why I, the great and awesome Micah Brezhnev, am much more noble than you!"

Azure's annoyance grew substantially. Leave it to Micah to get on every single one of his nerves just by opening his mouth.

"Shut up. Just make Ken get rid of it alrea-"

The cat made a lunge at him before he simply caught the furball again and tossed it over his shoulder. He was expecting Micah to make some stupid joke or Ken and his gang to yell again, but he was surprised with a soft giggle.

"Azure, why would we get rid of such a cute little guy?"

The cat vaulted over Azure's head and into the arms of the orange-haired girl in front of him. As she always did, she showed no sign of irritation or disappointment, only that cheery grin and wide eyes that brought out the good in people.

If they saw past the fox ears, that is.

"Ugh, come on, Rachel, we're not seriously gonna keep it?"

Rachel only giggled again, shifting her gaze to the white fluff in her arms. "I think we should. I mean, he's a stray, right? So if we don't take care of him, who will? Besides, I always wanted a pet at the orphanage…"

Azure winced a little at that last part. While it may have sounded like a guilt trip, Rachel was nothing if not honest. She was only telling the truth, and no one could argue against that.

"...fine...dammit...let me sleep now, please?"

"BOSS! Don't be such a lazy bum!"

"Why is he your boss? Shouldn't the great Micah be your boss?"

"Maybe you should be our boss now, Micah! Since Azure's just a bum!"

"Ken! Mika! Yo! Please come help me with getting the food ready!"

"Sure thing ma'am!"

As the Ken brigade took off to help Rachel with dinner, Azure was still noticeably irritated about something. And Micah had a knack for picking up on even the slightest of feelings.

"Something about home?"

Azure looked up, still a little upset but calming down little by little.

"...it just pisses me off whenever I think about it, you know?"

Micah took a seat next to his biggest foil, and closest friend.

"Yeah, I know what you mean. I'm still not completely over it, you know? Hard to think it's already been a year…"

"What kind of backwards logic is that White Fang group fighting for?"

Micah sat in thought for a moment. "I don't think it was the White Fang."

Azure was slightly taken aback by this. "Well who the hell was it then? If the White Fang didn't do it, who did?!"

"I think it was just some faunus who were off their rockers. I mean, the White Fang are all about equality and stuff. So, why would they burn down a human-run orphanage that took in human and faunus children alike? It doesn't make any sense."

Azure seemed to mull over this for a few moments. "I guess you're right, but still…"

Micah stood up and placed a hand on Azure's shoulder.

"I get it Azure. I miss home, too. I miss director Brezhnev and all the kids that didn't come with us. But you and I, if no one else, have to be the strong ones now. For Ken, and the other kids."

Azure glanced over to Rachel and the kids, who were happily preparing dinner whilst singing songs and dancing the slightest bit.

"We have to be strong for when Rachel can't anymore, too."

"Yeah."

Azure knew that Rachel hurt more than any of them. She and the director were especially close, and it was almost like she lost the father she never had when he died in the fire. That being said, it surprised him and Micah when she smiled the brightest out of all of them and kept everyone together, sort of like a family.

Rachel looked up at Azure and her face colored with the faintest hint of a blush. Azure returned the look with his own smile, one that he seldom gave.

Micah gave him a playful smack on the shoulder before he went to help the others.

…

'Well, kid, I thought as far as dreams go, we needed a change of pace. What do you think?'

The peaceful scene of Azure's family enveloped into black flames.

Azure shot up in a cold sweat and examined the room. It was his room in the Schnee manor again. Still recovering from his sudden shock, he scanned the room until he convinced himself that he wasn't in the middle of a burning building again.

Once he was certain his home wasn't in danger, he began to silently weep.

In almost an instant, he heard the door softly opened and he struggled to compose himself before whoever walked in could realize what he was doing. He failed as he was pulled into an embrace before he could cease the flow of tears.

It was an embrace he knew all too well.

"Weiss…? What are you-"

Weiss pulled away to look at his face but didn't fully release him.

"I heard you wake up. I wasn't sure what was happening, so I stood still and listened until I heard you start crying."

Azure, regaining himself bit by bit, gave a response typical of himself.

"So, you were standing outside my door…?"

Weiss scoffed. "Idiot! I-I went to get some water-yeah! Water! A-and on my way back, y-you-"

Further explanation was halted by Azure's playful giggles. Weiss only huffed and crossed her arms.

"Was it the same one?"

…

"No. All the nightmares I've had were all about that day. This one...was nice, until the end."

…

"You wanna talk about it?"

…

"It was an old memory. About my old family."

Weiss shifted uncomfortably at this response. "Oh, I'm sorry...if you don't-"

"No. I never told you about my life before you all brought me in. You deserve to know."

Weiss looked into Azure's heterochromatic eyes. He wasn't crying anymore, and he looked like he genuinely wanted to tell her about his old life.

She nodded. "Okay."

While he never looked away from her, Azure's eyes seemed to travel somewhere else as a nostalgic mood overcame him. "When I was four, I moved out of the house my bastard dad and I lived in. I went to go live at a place called the Brezhnev Orphanage. The guy who ran the place, director Brezhnev, was seriously the coolest guy in the world…"

A/N: Chapter 2, ladies and gents. While I realize that I only have two followers at the moment, reviews are appreciated. So, please, review.

Also, to be clear, the prologue-Chapter "x" (Probably like 5-6) is gonna be a kind of introduction arc that will explain most of Azure's life before his adoption into the Schnee family. Now, the big stuff I'm saving for the twists later on. Still, this chapter isn't the last time you'll get a taste of the great Micah & co.. so if you like those characters, great. You'll also be pleasantly surprised later.

Well, that's all for now!

LATER BABES