The boy awoke as he did every morning, just before sunrise, in the spare room of the temple. He got dressed and proceeded with his daily chores. Wipe the floors, sweep the leaves, and collect the overnight donations to the shrine. All of the menial things that he'd been doing for the past seven years, ever since he was a baby, he'd gotten really good at it. He was able to complete his chores within an hour. After chores he had his strict regimen that he had to follow by. Run to the top of the mountain, alight the incense that they left there, and then meditate for the next three hours. He had to make his mind one with the wind spirits, then he would do the same at the waterfall for the water spirits, sunning rocks for the fire spirits, and the forest for the earth spirits. Only then, after he was in tune with the four major elements. Then he could return to the temple and he could eat. He set out for the mountain with haste, moving with the wind traveling up the mountain with him.
Finally he had reached the top of the mountain, he pulled out his crystal and proceeded to light the incense. He got into a meditation position, and inhaled deeply. In and out, in and out, just as he had been taught throughout all of his years of training. In and… it hit him and it hit him hard. A fowl putrid odor being carried on the wind, he knew the smell well, it was the smell of soot. Too strong to be just a simple camp fire, or a festival fire, no this was the smell of an entire colony that had been burnt to the ground. He look around and saw nothing. No smoke trail, no anything. He opened his ears to the sounds of the world… nothing, just the sounds of the animals that roamed these woods. The only other sound was that of the wind billowing at his robe… the wind! The wind was stronger than he had ever felt it up here, It was blowing to his right, as if urging him to go. Could this be the wind spirits trying to tell me something? He thought to himself. He turned and ran, he ran faster than he ever had, he had done it, he had finally connected with the spirits, and he would not mess it up.
As he ran the smell of soot grew stronger and stronger, so much that it soon became overwhelming. He ripped a sleeve off of his robe and tied it around his nose and mouth. Finally the boy came to a hill, and he saw it, an entire village in shambles. Almost everything was burnt to the ground. He ran till he got to the village entrance, or at least, what was left of it. He walked through the village hoping to find why the spirit had sent him to this horrible place, he could still see a little paint on some of the buildings. He could tell that it was once a beautiful place, but now it had been scarred black from a raging fire, he saw claw marks on some of the buildings, "A Grimm attack" he said aloud, then feeling immediately stupid, it was quite obvious there was no one around to hear his words, everyone had fled or… he refused to think of the only other alternative.
He found a building blown apart from the inside, the sign post outside was hard to read but he got the word dust out of it. Dust explosion would explain the fire he thought, untrained hands using unstable dust… well he knew those consequences all too well. A gust of wind came by he turned around just in time to see a charred door brake off of the last hinge that was holding it down. Another sign? He walked towards the building all too aware of the three Beowulf corpses that lied dead outside it. He walked through the door way and found that the building was, or at least used to be, a house. A fire place in the corner, what's left of a semi modern looking kitchen, and the two chairs sitting in what was once a living room. He took note that the Grimm count grew as he went further in, it wasn't just beowolfs anymore it was all kinds of Grimm. He saw the stairs and headed for them. At the top of the stairs he saw yet another Grimm whose face had been met with the business end of a Warhammer, which was still in its skull. He nudged the corpse aside and saw that he was now in a hallway with four doors, all of them seemed to be intact except for the last door, that one had been smashed open. He headed for it knowing he wouldn't like what he saw, but the spirits had brought him here so there had to be a reason. He entered the room to see two corpses a man and a woman, huddled in a corner the state of their bodies was nauseating the man's shield had been torn away from him he could tell it was the man's shield because his arm was gone, still attached to the shield he had clung so desperately too. It looked like the man had taken the brunt of the damage, trying in vain hope to save the love of his life. She unfortunately did not make it, and neither did her head. The boy turned away from the scene to keep himself from vomiting he started to leave then he saw it, the bed in the corner of the room was too small for a married couple to sleep on, it was a child's. The boy turned and walked towards the corpses again the odor seeping its way through his makeshift mask. He moved the man first, then the woman.
There she was a girl about his age covered in soot, her orange hair now stained black he kneeled down to get a closer look, and he heard it, her raspy breath. She was alive! Thinking quickly he ripped his other sleeve and tied it around her face. Then he picked her up and ran, he ran as fast as he could and the wind was once again on his side urging him to move faster as he ran back to the temple. Once there he ran straight to the elder with the girl on his back. "No question please elder just take care of her!" he screamed in such a panicked state that the elder had never seen in the young boy. He took the girl and immediately started work, using his aura to heal her scrapes and bruises and finally to cleanse her lungs.
Later the elder came to the boy "she's doing fine but she needs to rest, I was able to get most of the soot out of her system but there is still some left in there, she'll be staying in your room for the time being until-"
"She can have it! She can keep it for as long as she likes! I'll sleep in a hammock outside! Just please don't let her die!"
It was clear to the elder that the boy had encountered to much death for a boy his age, he asked the boy to explain what had happened. The boy launched into his story, he told the elder everything, the spirits, the Grimm, the village, he needed to vent his fear, and the elder was the best for that job. Once he was done the elder simply nodded. "The hammock is already made out back, you've had a long day, try and get some rest."
The next day the boy woke up later than usual, he went into the temple to check on the girl, she wasn't in his room so he grabbed his clothes and exchanged the incense burner…. He saw it, clearer than ever before, the night before he went to the village the incense had fallen over and scorched the floor slightly, he thought nothing of it. But now he knew, he knew it was the fire spirit trying to get a hold of him, he could've maybe saved them, and he punched the wall. "How could I have been so stupid!" who knew what other signs the boy had missed, had his dinner been hotter than usual that night? He burned himself on the fire too, was that a sign?! He screamed in anger and in defeat, he could never be a monk, after missing so many signs.
"umm… hello…" the voice was small, it sounded scared, he turned to see the girl from yesterday standing in one of his borrowed robes, she had gotten cleaned up he hair now shined orange like the sun, the girl herself was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen. "umm… my name is Nora" she slowly extended her hand. The boy calmed down, "Hello Nora, I'm Ren" he reached out his hand and gently took hers, she returned it with a firm almost bone shattering grasp.
Over the next couple days, Nora's condition improved and her and Ren got to know each other better, though Nora had never seen Ren smile she knew, he had a beautiful one. She started sneaking out at night to sleep in the branches over Ren's hammock , waking him up every morning with a simple poke and a word he had grown to love "Boop"
And then it happened on a run to the shops with Nora, Ren heard her make a strange sound. "what was that?"
"what" she asked acting as innocent as ever.
"that sound you just made"
"oh that, it's the sound that slothes make" she said it as plain and simple as could be
Then Ren smiled, and he began to laugh, laugh harder than he had in a long time, and Nora made a vow that day, that no matter what she would keep this boy with a beautiful smile smiling, she never wanted to see him that sad again.
Little did she know that on that day Ren had made a vow of his own. He vowed to protect this incredibly happy girl with his life no matter what the cost.
10 years later….
Ren followed Jaune and Pyhrra through the forest Nora sticking close behind, Ren had been waiting for this, the mission was delayed by Torchwick and the Grimm invasion they reached the hill that he had stood at 10 years ago, and looked down to the village still in ruins. Their mission was simple. Clear the area to make the village inhabitable again, and make sure everyone got a proper burial.
They made their way throw the village stopping by each house to check for Grimm or forgotten bodies. Finally they reached the house from ten years ago. "You guys go on ahead to the other houses, I got this one" he looked at Nora who seemed almost relieved to hear him say that. He searched the house and found nothing, taking as long as he could, prolonging the inevitable. The room with the shattered door, Nora's room. He took a Deep breath and entered, not much had changed, the bodies where removed but that's about it, it was all the same. He went through the dresser and a few cabinets trying to find something of Nora's like a family picture or something. He bent down to look under the bed, his lone stray lock of pink hair fell in front of his face, his secret reminder of the vow he made to Nora. It was her favorite color. He smiled and stood back up. He turned towards to door to leave, and saw it, right there next to the door frame, as clear as day.
Nora walked slowly through the ghost town every so often remembering bits and pieces of the people who once lived there, her team mates were sweet. They kept shooting her worried looks, when they thought she wasn't looking. It made her happy to know that her team mates cared for her so much. Then she heard it, the sound she hadn't heard in ten years. She ran she ran before the others even knew what they were hearing. It was Ren, making that same sound she had heard the day they introduced each other, he was screaming.
She got to her house and ran to the room the screaming was coming from, Ren was on his knee's screaming out to the world, she called out to him but he couldn't hear her, he was lost in rage. Then she saw it, it had been worn over the years but there was no mistaking it, clutched in Ren's hand was a black bowler hat with a red band.