The end of the beginning.
The day was sunny, too sunny for one young boy of eight. That boy's name was Lie, Lie Ren.
The young boy in green pajamas pulled the covers over his head as he heard his mother call for him. The next thing he knew his older brother was at his bedside and had pulled the blankets off of the young man.
"Time to get up Lie. You don't want mother to come up here and drag you down again, do you?" A older looking boy said to the drowsy child still curled up in his bed.
The older boy was roughly the age of fourteen. He wore light blue with black lining along his changshan. The boy was the heir of the family, and his name was Fu Ren.
"Ugh. I don't want to get up." The younger boy cried to his older brother. He had never really taken a liking to mornings, or afternoons, or nights. He much preferred to just sleep then actually do things.
"Well then, i guess i will eat all of the pancakes then." Fu teased as he threw the blankets back over Lie and headed back out of the room with inaudible footsteps.
A mumbled response came from under the pile of blankets. This caused Fu to stop for a moment.
"Pardon?" He asked, already knowing what Lie would say. This was their morning ritual, and it always ended up the same way. But neither of them would change it for the world.
"I'll get up. Save me some." Lie half shouted, his voice muffling due to the blankets piled up on his head.
"Sure thing bro. Hurry up before mother comes in here and dresses you herself." The older boy taunted as he left the room to tell the pair's mother that he was getting up.
Meanwhile Lie sighed to himself, unmoving from under the blankets. After two minutes, he got up, hair sticking up in every direction. He then moved to get ready for the day, of which would be the same as yesterday, the day before, and the day before that. It was an endless cycle that was only ever broken by the occasional Grimm attacks. Such was the life of a farmer family.
After a few moments, Lie was headed down the stairs of the two story house, his feet making a soft thud on each step as he descends. The house was quiet, as his older brother would have already left to go work in the fields, and his mother would be out hanging up the day's laundry. Cleaning after two boys, a husband, and eight odd workers was a full-time job after all.
Lie quickly sat down at the table and began to eat. After he finished, he would need to head into town for his schooling. Unlike his brother who was learning to manage a farm and work hard, the younger brother decided to walk the path of a hunter, as they were in dire need in his village.
"Lie! Hurry up or you will be late!" A soft voice echoed from outside, and Lie instantly identified it as his mother's. In response he inhaled the rest of the pancakes at a speed that a normal person couldn't match.
After almost throwing his, now empty, plate into the sink, the boy ran out the front door, passing his mother as she hanged up some unmentionables.
"I'm off!" He cheered, a grin on his face so big it would make the moon jealous.
"Have fun dear." The mother of the family told her son as he ran past her, a ghost of a smile gracing her perfect red lips.
Lie got to class just in time. The teacher just called his name the moment after he entered the classroom, and almost knocking the door off it's hinges at the same time. Such as it was for a young boy with little control over his aura.
"Nice of you to join us today Lie. Take your seat." The teacher scolded in a light voice, enough to let him know that such behavior will not be allowed again, yet at the same time enough for him to know there wouldn't be any real punishment.
"Yes ma'am." He said for the eighteenth time this year, having repeated this at least once a week. He quickly took his seat, ignoring the giggling and snickering of the children around him.
Every child in his class knew of his aspirations of being a hunter, but unlike city kids, they didn't have romantic fantasies about how cool it is. These kids knew the truth of what being a hunter was about. They had all lost someone to the Grimm at one point, so they knew what would happen to Lie. Because of this, no one wanted to get close to him, so they can avoid the pain of losing him.
Thus, Lie Ren was alone. He pretended not to mind, but in reality, it ate him up from the inside. No one wanted to be his friend, all because he wanted to protect them. All because they lived in fear. But that just made his move convinced he was doing the right thing. That he could prove their fears wrong.
It was lunch time and Lie was sitting alone. Dark clouds had rolled over the previously sunny sky, shading all below. People predicted it would rain, but the young farmer's son knew better. It didn't smell like rain, so it wouldn't rain. Perhaps a light sprinkle, but not an actual rainstorm.
Just as the young boy took his first bite of his lunch, the alarms went off. There were two sets of alarms. The lighter one that signaled a few stray grimm. If that one went off, then people would continue on normally, but would be ready to run.
Then there was the one going off now. The louder, deeper, darker one. One that signaled a full Grimm invasion. One that told everyone to run.
As it turned out, the signal was given late. The Grimm had already broken into the small wall that surrounded the community and offed the normal bell ringer. It was too late to run.
As Lie began to run to the storehouse so he could hide under the floorboards with the other children, he saw something that stunned his so much that all he could do was stand and stare.
A large flock of Nevermore's where eating the entrails of the local shopkeeper. Beowolves Ripped the jugulars out of men trying to protect the people fleeing. Boarbatusk using their speed to catch up to people and rip out their spines with their tusks. Creep at every corner, herding people like goats into corners then devouring their faces. Ursa's knocking down walls and houses to grab people in their massive claws and rip them apart. Tiny Death Stalkers crawling all over people, cutting to their eyes, cutting off their fingers, stinging them in all different vital points. It was hell, and Lie Ren had a front row seat.
As the boy stood there, watching the carnige around his, something caught his eye. A King Taijitu was chasing a girl. Lie didn't know what made him move, nor did he care, but before he could even process what he was doing, he was running. Running towards the girl and the King Taijitu.
Pushing his aura into every part of his body, the young student did the most stupid thing he had ever done. He rugby tackled a King Taijitu. "Run!" Was all he could yell as the head that wasn't tackled sprung to life and started to attack him.
One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Seven. Again and again. It struck with the force of a sledgehammer over and over again. Lie would have died very quickly if not for his aura, but it was quickly depleting. He knew he would only be able to hold on for another few seconds. But he was glad. He was glad that his death at least saved one person.
But that's when the unexpected happened. The strikes stopped. A bloody face looked up and saw that the white head was missing, and the black head soon followed. Looking around, Lie spotted a man with a cape. The only words the boy could find to describe him was a dusty old crow.
"Get up kid. It's time to get out of here." The mystery man said as he grabbed the young lad by his shirt and pulled him off the corpse of the dead King Taijitu. Behind the man was the young girl that he had saved but moments ago.
"We are leaving, now. Everyone else is either dead, or so badly injured that they are going to die. If you try and save anyone, i'll leave you behind." The man with the cape told the pair of children. Before Lie could even say anything, he was off, almost leaving the children behind.
On the way out of the village, many Grimm attacked the trio, but the man used his weapon, a strange sword/gun combo to kill them with ease before they could lay a claw on anyone. Eventually they reached the main gate, broken open by what looked like a small Goliath, as it's corpse was rotting away only a few feet to the left.
Even after hours of walking the man didn't stop moving forward. But eventually he stopped, right before it got dark. He quickly lit a fire. and told the pair to stay close to it as he went off to get some food for them to eat.
A few minutes after he had left, the girl moved to sit next to Lie. "Umm, thanks for, you know, saving me and all." She said, tucking a stray orange hair behind her ear.
"Yeah. I couldn't really let you get eaten. I mean, i didn't really know what i was doing until i had already tackled it, but i'm glad you're fine." The boy replied, not really knowing what to say. Feeling that he should reassure the girl some more, he kept talking.
"Don't worry. I'll protect you until we reach somewhere safe."
"What about afterwards?" She asked, a hint of worry filling her voice. That worry stuck a cord in the boy's heart.
"And after." He said simply, putting his hand over the girls and giving her a ghost of a smile, much like the one his mother wore the last time he ever saw her.
The girl then proceeded to wrap her arms around the boy's arm "For ever and ever." She said, as if to hold him to his promise.
"For ever and ever." He replied, earning the first smile from the girl he had yet to see.
"Nora. Nora Valkyrie." The girl cheered, obviously trying to add some normality into the chaos that was today.
"Lie Ren." The boy said in return as he put a hand on the girl's head to sooth her.
With a yawn, Nora began to drift off. "Ren. What a lovely name." She said as she went to dreamland to forget the death they had witnessed. Though Lie didn't have the heart to tell the girl that Ren was his last name, not his first. Instead, he decided that he liked that way she said it.
Hope you all enjoyed. I felt like there wasn't enough Ren stuff out there, so i decided to add a bit to the small collection.