The Silent Hear the Loudest Screams
A.N.: This is an idea that a loved one and I came up with. It makes a lot of sense to me. Enjoy!
The room was dark. The only light illuminating it was that of the shattered moon. By this light, you could see three figures lying in bed, the fourth sitting upright.
This one – Lie Ren, by name – stared into space. He would not do it, tonight. He. Would. NOT!
A sigh escaped his lips before he cast his eyes to Nora, his friend. Of all the fantasy flashes appearing and then receding in his mind, hers were the most important to him.
It wasn't stalking or an intrusion. It could be something really important!
He told himself this as he silently, ever so silently, slithered out of bed and stole over to the girls' side of the room.
Gently, he settled onto Nora's bed. She was, unfortunately, too wrapped up in her dream to wake upon the creaking springs. Her breathing came out more ragged than the others'. It almost always did around this time. He lightly placed two fingers on her left temple, and then concentrated.
It was the same dream. Always the same.
He saw, from a nameless outside eye, himself and Nora cornered by a pair of Beowolves in mid-day.
He and Nora eventually fought them off, and took a fang each as trophies. Everything faded to black.
Ren reopened his eyes. He hadn't been reading her mind for more than two minutes, by Pyrrha's clock (Nora never set hers), but Nora was breathing much more easily now. She wriggled slightly as Ren removed his fingers, settling into her comforters.
New dreams made their appearances on the plane of Nora's mind, mingling with the others'. Jaune at home, with his parents; Pyrrha sipping coffee with some people he'd never seen before; Nora – and for this he was very relieved – playing charades with the rest of the team, making funny faces to the team's uproarious laughter.
He did his best to ignore them as he made his way back to his own bed, hoping to finally get some rest before the headache set in. The pain wasn't usually so bad, but entering dreams definitely took a lot out of him.
He found he was in luck. Sleep found him before the headaches.
BREAKLINE
Nora told team RWBY about the dream the next day.
Chips of ice had settled in his stomach when she'd brought up the subject, but he supposed it might've been for the best.
She had never been able to fully remember her dreams. He'd known this ever since they were kids and just discovering their semblances. She always told him about her dreams, but whenever he got the chance to join her, it was completely different from what she told him the next day.
It had taken him years, but eventually he worked up the courage to tell her what he could do, and he was glad she hadn't reacted like it was cool and not like he was some weird, trespassing stalker. She, even today, was the only one who knew about his power.
Usually, he didn't correct her in her retellings, but this particular dream gave him a bad vibe.
"So there we were, in the middle of the night," she began.
"It was day." She didn't hear him, and luckily, neither did the others.
"We were surrounded by Ursai."
"They were Beowolves." Still nothing.
"DOZENS OF THEM!"
"Two of 'em."
"But they were no match. And in the end, Ren and I took them down and made a boat-load of lien selling Ursa-skin rugs!"
Ren let out a sigh, finally admitting defeat. "She's been having this recurring dream for nearly a month, now," he explained. Maybe the others would find it as strange as he did.
Unfortunately for him, the conversation shifted almost immediately.
BREAKLINE
Ren sighed as he exited the shower, strolling through the steam into the dorm room. He was following along with what Nora was reading, just enough to use his semblance and not get a headache afterwards. This was why he was so surprised when Jaune grabbed his wrist, blurted out a rushed "We need to talk," and dragged him over to his bed.
He'd started out with a spiel about how much they'd bonded over the last few months, and how Jaune considered him "the brother he never had," none of which was genuine.
"And I you," he replied, making a valiant attempt to stay out of Jaune's blonde head.
"Which is why I wanted to get your advice on girls."
"Girls?" he replied. A specific girl's image floated into his mind, but he pushed it away. Stay OUT!
"I just, don't know how to…girls, um. I-I guess what I'm asking is, well, how did you and Nora…" The beginning of the question snapped Ren to attention. He could tell that Nora also had been eavesdropping, because the words in her mind switched from a wizard boy meeting Hermione Granger (whoever that was) to 'if only!'
As he stumbled for an answer himself, Nora chimed in and made it very clear that he and she weren't "together-together." Ren kept it to himself that they had already been more together than any two people ever could be. Jaune immediately told her off about listening in.
"Jaune, what is this all about?" It was Weiss.
"It's Weiss," admitted Jaune. "I'm completely head over heels for her, and she won't even give me a chance. She's cold, but she's also incredible. She's smart, and graceful, and talented, I mean have you heard her sing‽ I just wish she'd take me seriously, you know? I wish I could tell her how I feel, without messing it all up."
Just as he finally decided to root around Jaune's brain for a bit more context, Pyrrha beat him to it.
He supposed this saved him from a very terrifying explanation.
BREAKLINE
"Hey, Ren, could you come here for a minute?" Pyrrha called. She sounded uncharacteristically uncertain of herself.
Ren dropped the textbook he'd been reading and strolled to her desk, diagonal from his.
"Could you please read my history essay and proofread it?" She pointed to the laptop as she dropped her head onto the desk.
He didn't have the time for this. He still had his own essay to start, let alone finish.
Just this once, he told himself. I'll read her mind just this once.
'Please-let-him-tell-me-what-he-thinks-of-the-conclusion- Please-let-him-tell-me-what-he-thinks-of-the-conclusion- Please-let-him-tell-me-what-he-thinks-of-the-conclusion!' Her mind rambled on. He gave the last paragraph of the essay a quick read. There was something missing…
"I think the conclusion needs a little work. It doesn't seem to bring everything together, so you need to restate your points. It also should be a little bit stronger. Other than that, you're fine."
Pyrrha smiled gratefully. "Thank you so much, Ren. Really."
"Happy to help." He returned to his paper.
A.N.: I'm not particularly pleased with the last scene, but I suppose it's alright. If you'd like me to continue this in a "short story" kind of way, then let me know and give me some ideas for scenes in a review. Thank you for your time, good luck with Volume 4, and GOD BLESS!