Two children, a boy and a girl, slept alone in the forest on tattered blankets.
She screamed in her sleep. He woke up and rubbed his eyes. She yelled, "No, please no."
She sobbed. Her copper hair drenched with sweat, her pale skin ghostly white. He put his hand on her shoulder and she stopped crying. She slept quietly again.
He closed his eyes in concentration. He didn't sense any Grimm nearby, but heard footsteps approaching.
He shook her. "Nora. Wake up."
She bolted straight up, her aquamarine eyes shining brightly in the moonlight.
"Calm," he said, holding her arm.
A man dressed swinging a metal baton with a wooden handle walked up to their camp. The two children stood up.
"Whatcha got, kids? Not much lien, I'm guessin'. Any food?"
"No food, no money," said Ren, stepping in front of Nora, slowly shrinking behind him. Ren was a small, thin boy, with black hair and pale skin, dressed in ill-fitting silk clothes that told the story of a rich kid who hadn't seen money or decent shelter in many months.
"Huh. That's too bad."
The man swung the baton at Ren's head. Ren ducked, covering his head with his hands. The man jabbed Ren with the end of the baton. It landed on the side of Ren's small torso and sent a shock through his body. Ren fell to the ground. His black hair fell over his face, his small body shook, then went limp.
Nora froze. The man jabbed her with the baton. She gasped, grabbed the baton and broke it in half. The man looked down at the broken baton, then again at Nora. "Huh?" he said.
Nora closed her eyes and kicked, landing her foot on his knee. His leg cracked. As he fell she kicked again, this time making contact with his chest throwing him up into the air. As he lifted, she hit his torso with one end of the broken staff sending him flying into a tree, knocking him unconscious. She lifted the broken ends of the baton to hit him but felt a hand on her shoulder.
Tears streaming down Nora's face, her body shaking, she looked up at a small woman smiling down at her. Nora jumped away from the woman, like releasing the tension on a spring. She held up the two ends of the staff, awkwardly mimicking a fighting stance.
The woman help up both hands in a gesture of playful surrender, still smiling.
Nora took several sideways steps towards Ren, keeping her eyes locked on the woman's.
Nora knelt next to Ren, still watching the woman. She pulled one of his arms around her shoulder. With a grunt, Nora hefted Ren onto her shoulders and back in a fireman-carry position. She walked slowly backwards, maintaining eye contact with the woman. The woman stood still, smiling with her hands still up. Nora turned and ran into the woods, running between trees and bushes until she collapsed, panting and coughing. She looked back. The woman was gone. She couldn't see the camp anymore.
"Ren," she said, shaking him. "Ren, please wake up."
His eyes fluttered open. "What happened? Why are you crying?"
"I…I don't know." Nora said through ragged sobs.
"Where are we?"
"I don't know, I just ran. There was a man and…"
"Slow down, you're okay now." Ren said, putting a hand on Nora's shoulder. Her breathing slowed down. She wiped the tears from her eyes. She took a deep breath and sighed, sitting with her knees bent in front of her.
"He hit you with his stick and you fell down and he hit me and I got some kind of shock. I got shaky all over and my heart was beating so fast and I closed my eyes and just started kicking as hard as I could. Then I opened my eyes, I hit him with his stick and he hit a tree, I think that knocked him out. A woman came but she just watched and I grabbed you and ran and now I don't know where we are. And all our stuff is gone and it's all my fault and I'm so sorry, I just didn't know what do it."
Nora grasped her ankles in her hands. Her head hung low between her knees. She panted and coughed, breathing rapidly.
"You took action. You were brave. It's okay. Everything is going to be okay. I'm proud of you."
"Really?"
"Really. Let's go find our belongings. Do you remember which direction you ran?"
"I think it was back that way," she said, pointing.
They followed a path of broken branches and smashed plants back to their campsite.
"I don't understand. Everything is still here, exactly as we left it." said Ren.
"Maybe it was the woman. Maybe she chased off the man. She didn't say anything. I ran, just to be safe, but she didn't try to hurt us. She just..smiled, and watched. She didn't do anything."
"If we leave now, we should reach my aunt and uncle's village before nightfall. The sun is beginning to rise. Do you think you can walk?" he asked.
"Yeah. My body still feels all weird and shaky, but let's get out of here. That man might come back." she said.
"Let's get moving," said Ren, looking towards the horizon as the sky began to glow. "If we don't find food soon…"
"I know," said Nora.
"Wake up, idiot," said the small woman from the woods, kicking her partner in the ribs.
"What the…what the hell just happened?"
"You just got your butt kicked by a kid."
"Why didn't you stop her?"
"I was curious. Your baton didn't work on her. I wanted to see what she could do."
"What are we waiting for? Let's get 'em!"
"They won't get far."
"Neither will I on this broken leg."
"You look pathetic. I shouldn't reward such failure, but I'll let you ride the horse just so you don't slow us down."
As the sun began to set, Nora and Ren found the sign pointing towards Ren's relative's village.
"I see smoke ahead. Is that coming from…?" Nora's voiced trailed off.
"I guess we'll find out." he said.
"That's a lot of smoke. I think I hear screaming."
"Quiet." said Ren.
He pulled Nora under a tree as a Nevermore soared overhead. They held each other until the Nevermore passed.
Res and Nora crept closer to the village. They climbed a tree close to the perimeter wall.
Bandits and villagers battled in the streets. The Nevermore circled overhead.
"See the Grimm flying overhead? It's the bad feelings that bring the Grimm. See all the fighting and the scared kids? That's why it's here." said Ren.
"But why?"
"I don't know. My parents never told me that part, before they…you know."
"Before we found each other. Before you said we'd keep each other safe," Nora said, inching closer to Ren on the branch.
Ren nodded. "I can't talk. I have to focus."
"To keep the Grimm from seeing us?"
He nodded.
Nora and Ran watched a bandit smashing through the window of a grocery, climbing through, then climb out with a full canvas bag.
A village man in front of an armor shop shot at bandits with a shotgun. One, two, three men fell to the ground. A woman from window above shot anyone approaching their shop with a rifle. A circle of bodies lay motionless in front of the man and woman's shop. A bandit woman ran past with a shield, deflecting the bullets from rifle as another bandit woman ran in the opposite direction shielding herself from the shotgun.
A third bandit woman ran straight between the two and with a gun, shot a chain into a nearby tree. A hook latched onto a branch. The two women with shields changed directions, firing pistols over their shields as they ran towards each other, continuing to take fire from the shopkeepers.
The woman with the hook pressed a button on her gun; the chain pulled her up into the tree. From the tree she threw a glowing orb into an upper level window. She shot the man firing the shotgun with an sniper rifle. The woman above the shop screamed as the bomb exploded, throwing her from the building. The two shielded women moved on to the next shop. A large man with canvas bags entered the shop then exited, his bags filled with weapons and armor.
A toddler stumbled alone in the street crying. A bandit man, already carrying one child over his shoulder like a sack of flour, grabbed the toddler and threw the child over his other shoulder. He dropped them both into the back of a horse-drawn cart.
The woman pulling the cart looked at the smaller of the two. "Too young to be useful. Leave 'er here."
"If she can walk, she can fetch water." he said. "Take her."
The Nevermore circling overhead landed on the perimeter wall. A pack of Beowolves streamed through the broken gate. An Ursa plowed through the rock wall. The Ursa grabbed a bandit, shook her in it's mouth, then threw her against a building. The pack of Beowolves surrounded a group of fleeing villagers. Humans and Faunus on both sides of the battle turned towards the attacking Grimm.
The raid leader shouted through a speaker, "Grimm! Fall back!"
Nora and Ren, still and silent, watched dozens of bandits fleeing beneath them, some on horses pulling carts, some on foot. One raced ahead on a motorcycle. The Nevermore flew overhead following the fleeing bandits. Beowolves chased the villagers fleeing the village. Two more Ursa arrived, smashing into stores, searching for survivors. As the Beowolves disappeared with the fleeing villagers, the three Ursa remained, wandering the empty streets, then disappeared from the children's sight.
"What now?" asked Ren.
"We wait until we're sure that the Grimm are gone." said Nora.
At sunrise, the pair quietly climbed down from their refuge in the tree. They peeked through a crack in the village wall. "I don't think anyone, or any Grimm, is still here, Ren."
"We should keep moving, go around the village."
"No, Ren, we can't. I'm scared, but I'm hungry and so are you. We haven't eaten for days. We need food, we need supplies. If we don't eat soon, we won't have the energy to keep moving. What about your aunt and uncle's house? Even if they got out in time, they couldn't have taken everything."
"The bandits took everything." Ren said, shaking his head.
"No, the Grimm came before they had a chance. I've done this before. It's scary, but we have to try. We need to eat."
Nora and Ren slipped through the crack in the wall and quietly crept through the deserted village.
"We have to be fast. If they didn't already take everything, the bandits may come back," said Ren.
"Do you know where your aunt and uncle's house is?" asked Nora.
"No, I was too young when my parents brought me here. Look, this house still has windows. Maybe the bandits didn't get to it in time."
They found the front door unlocked. Lights flickered in the entryway. The electricity in the village, at least somewhat, still functioned. Lights were on, but dim, throughout the house. Nora jumped at a shadow that seemed to move as the lights faded on and off.
"I'll get food and lien, you get first aid - medicine, bandages - and blankets. Look for bigger, sturdier backpacks. And shoes. You need shoes." Nora said, pointing Ren's outgrown sandals.
"No, we stick together," said Ren.
Nora filled her pack with jars of preserved fruits, vegetables, meats, cheese wrapped in cloth, loaves of bread, and cured fish.
In closets they found ornate travel luggage, but no backpacks. On beds they found fine silk and linen.
"The silk is okay, but no cotton," said Nora. "We need wool. Wood stays warm when it's wet. We need a general goods store."
Nora rifled through drawers.
"But what if the owners come back? We can't just take their things."
"They won't come back." said Nora.
"I know," said Ren. "It still feels wrong. I like it better when we find work. I hate doing this."
"We've been lucky. We've run into a lot of nice people, but sometimes you have to do this. You have to take things to survive," said Nora.
Ren nodded and looked away; his cheeks reddened. He continued searching.
Ren looked under a mattress. "No, it won't be there. No one hides it there." Nora said, shaking her head.
Ren cocked his head. "Hides what?"
"Lien. It'll be someplace weird, like this." she said as she lifted a loose board under a chair. She pulled out a box with a small stack of lien and a few pieces of heirloom jewelry.
"How did you know?" he asked.
"I've been on my own…for a long time." she said.
In the village center they found ransacked stores. On the edge of town, right before the back gate, they found a fueling station with food, woolen bedrolls, larger backpacks, canteens, and first aid kits. A cash register was still full of lien.
"Doesn't this seem too convenient?" asked Ren.
"Yeah, it does, but it's a store for travelers, and this is stuff for travelers, so maybe it's okay. Let's just take what we need and get out of here." said Nora.
"This is stealing," said Ren.
"I know, but the owners might be dead," said Nora. "I feel bad about it, too. But this should last us for a few weeks if we're careful, longer if we find clean water. That should be enough time to find another job on a farm or something."
From the top of the perimeter wall the man said to the small woman from the campsite, "Why not just take them? Why are you helping them?"
"I'm not taking a slave. I'm recruiting a solider."
She watched Ren and Nora, smiling, as they walked away from the village. She deftly leapt from the wall, landing without a sound. She followed behind from a safe distance.