In the beautiful Forest of Forever Fall, near the north end of Vale's commercial district, the sun was out and there was a calm breeze. It was all peaceful… Except for one small part, where there were the howls of beowolves. There were two of them that were confronting, a boy, and girl.

It was Lie Ren and Nora Valkyrie standing side by side, holding their weapons. Ren stayed focused locking eyes on the beowolves, with a straight face. Nora on the other hand, had a joyful smile, moving her eyes back and forth between the two monsters, waiting to attack.

As they stood there Ren spoke, "Okay let's play it safe. We'll strike at the same…"

"Me first!" Nora shouted, charging at the beowolf on the right, with her Magnhild in its warhammer form.

Nora used her Magnhild to smash the beast in its chest, sending it crushing into a tree. She then switched to its grenade launcher form, and launched a canister at the beowolf. The blast caused the tree to fall over on the beast.

The other beowolf went after Ren. It lunged at him, with its large claws. He swiftly moved out of the way, the beowolf missing, got its claws caught into a tree. Ren jumped on to its back, and used his StormFlower to shoot it in the back of the neck, killing it quickly.

He looked at the now dead beowolf as its body laid against the tree. Then he turned to Nora, and saw her joyfully jumping on the fallen over tree, laughing. He dropped his head, and gave a sigh, then he looked back up and smiled.

. . .

It was about an hour later, Nora, and Ren were in the commercial district, walking out of a small one story building. It was called "CG's Huntsman Trade."

"Look at all the Lein we made!" Nora said excitingly, holding up a pouch filled with coins. She had a bounce in her step excited to spend the money.

"It is a large amount for the time we spent," Ren said, as he walked slightly behind her. As they walked Nora came to a sudden stop. Ren stopped next to her, "What is it?" He asked.

Nora turned to him with a large smile, "I got it!" She shouted holding her arm in the air pointing her finger up. Ren tilted his head, and raised and eyebrow. "We should buy a ton of ice cream!"

"Nora… You know we need to buy dust for our weapons," he replied.

"Awe," She said dropping her head in disappointment, kicking the ground.

He sighed, "But… Whatever we have left we can spend on ice cream."

"Yay!" She grabbed Ren's hand and pulled him, "Let's go!"

"Nora, wait!" He shouted, but she didn't listen, dragging him along.

. . .

After finishing their ice cream they roamed the city of Vale. "What should we do now?" Nora asked as she skipped along.

"We should drop off this dust," Ren said holding a case filled with dust canisters. "The shopkeeper was generous, and gave us extra dust."

"I like that dust shop. That old man is really nice."

"Although I don't think it's safe for him to stay open as late as he does. Someone might try to rob him." As they walked Ren noticed something. He saw a group of seven men crowed together. Most were wearing black suits with red ties, but one wore a black pea coat, with a red button up shirt under, black slacks, dress shoes, and fedora. In the middle of the crowd was a girl, being held against the wall by two of the men. "Hold this," Ren said giving the case to Nora, then he walked over to the crowd.

As he walked over he heard them talk. "Where's my wallet you thief?" The man with the fedora asked looking at the girl.

"I told you I didn't take your wallet," The girl said trying to break away.

"What's going on here?" Ren jumped in.

Everyone looked at him, "This filthy Faunce chick, stole my wallet," the man told him.

"No I didn't!" She shouted

"Shut up you, scum!" He shouted back.

"How do you know she took it?" Ren asked raising an eyebrow.

"She bumped into me, and now my wallet's gone. It's obvious she pickpocketed me."

"Maybe you dropped it, and just decided to blame the closest faunce, that you thought would be easy to harass."

"Are you calling me a lair?"

"No I'm calling you a racist coward, who uses a group of lackeys to pick on a defenseless girl."

The man gave a laugh looking at all his men. He signaled to them. They all pulled out crimson red swords. The two holding the girl, dropped her and pulled out swords to. "Is this Faunce trash really worth it?"

Ren didn't reply, he just took a battle stance. The man gestured to his men. The six henchmen attacked Ren. He swiftly and smoothly took them out, using just the palms of his hands. The man looked at his men on the ground in shock, then at Ren who stood there looking at him, "Well… This isn't how I thought it'd go," He started to walk away, "Whatever it's not worth the trouble," He said as he walked away. His men got up, and followed.

Ren walked over to the faunce. She had long straight blue hair in a "peek-a-boo" style. She wore a dark blue hoodless cloak that went down to her waist over a light blue button up shirt, tucked into, khaki cargos, and black boots. From the back of her cargos, there was a blue furred husky-like tail. Ren held out his hand, "Are you okay?" He asked.

She grabbed his hand. As he pulled her up, she said, "Yes, thank you. But you shouldn't have done that."

"Why not?"

"That man… The leader, he's Talen Torchwick, brother of Roman Torchwick. They're both powerful, and dangerous. Now you might be a target."

"Don't worry, me and my friend could handle it," He pointed to Nora who was balancing the large case of dust on her head, while standing on one leg. He turned back, "Trust me she's a good fighter."

"I'll take your word on it. So umm… Why did you help me?"

"You seemed like you needed it."

"But… I'm a Faunce, and you're a human."

"Not all humans hate the faunce. There are many of us who accept them. As for the others… Well acceptance is a long process."

"You're different than most humans I've met before. You're nice," She said with a warm smile. She pulled out a piece of paper, and a pen, and wrote something on in. She handed it to Ren, "I have to go, but umm… If you ever need me… Or you just want to hang out, give me a call," After handing it to him, she had a shocked, and embarrassed expression, "I completely forgot! I haven't told you my name! I'm Aoi Blythe."

"Lie Ren. I normally go by Ren. My friend is Nora."

"It was nice meeting you Ren. I hope to see you again," she turned and started to walk away. As she did Ren saw a symbol on the back of her cloak. It was a large light blue water droplet.

Ren walked back over to where Nora was, but only the case was there. "Nora?" He said looking around, "Nora?" He picked up the case, "I guess she wondered off," He thought to himself, "I'm sure she'll show up. I'll go home, and met up with her later," Ren carried the case, and walked home.

. . .

It was the next day Ren hasn't seen Nora since the previous day. He walked around the city looking for her. "Nora," he shouted as he walked. "Nora where are you?"

As he searched the city he heard a familiar voice, "Ren?" He turned to see Aoi walking up to him, "Is something wrong?"

"It's Nora, I haven't seen her since yesterday. I have a feeling something happened."

"Well if you're looking for her, I might be able to help."

"How?"

"Do you have anything she's been in physical contact with in the past 48 hours?"

"I have this," he pulled out the pouch that held the Lein coins that earned yesterday, "She was holding it yesterday."

"That can work, She took the pouch, held it to her nose, then gave it a sniff. She handed it back, "I should have her scent. Let's walk around, and when I find something with her scent it might lead us to her." Started to walk, "Let's go, we're burning daylight."

Ren nodded and followed.

. . .

They spent hours walking through the city, but didn't find anything. The sun was starting to set. "Are you sure something happened to her?" Aoi asked.

"Yes, she runs off a lot, but never for this long."

She sighed, "Maybe you're a little para…" She stopped and started to sniff. She pointed ahead, "That way," they started running. She made a turn around a corner, and then stopped. She pointed to a man in a black suit, walking down the street, "There, he has her scent."

They ran to him, "Hey you!" Ren shouted.

He turned and saw them running at him, "Oh crap!" He started to run from them.

"Stop!" Ren shouted.

He continued running until he turned into an alleyway that led to a dead-end. He turned to Ren, and Aoi, "Uhh… can I help you two?" He gave nervous laugh.

Ren recognized him from Talen's men, "Where's Nora?" He asked taking a step forward.

"I… I don't know what you're talking about," He said stepping backing up.

Aoi sniffed, "You have her scent."

"Tell me where she is," Ren demanded.

He backed up into the wall, "Okay!" He shouted, "After Talen left he had us take your friend."

"To where?"

"To a formally abandoned facility in the Forest of Forever Fall."

"I know where he's talking about," Aoi said, "I can take you there, but I need to stop by my place and pick some things up."

"What about him? He'll go and worn Talen if we just let him go."

"Don't worry I'll deal with him."

A few minutes later the lackey was tied up, struggling to get loose. The two walked out of the alleyway, "Someone will find him eventually," Aoi said, "Now let's go het my things."

. . .

They stopped by Aoi's house, she had grabbed a duffle bag, and brought it with them. She led the way to the facility. The sun was almost fully down as they entered the forest. By the time they were close, the sun had set.

Eventually Aoi led Ren to a ridge that over looked a large circular, three story building, "That's the place."

"Any idea on how to get in?" Ren asked.

"I don't think there's any alarms in there. So we only need to find a way in, with few guards."

"We? You're going back. It'll be to dangerous, and you don't even have a weapon."

"You think this bag is for fashion?" She said with a smile. She opened it and pulled out a belt that had a buckle, and what looked like holsters on it. She wrapped it around her waist, and clicked it together. Then she pulled out two strange swords that she holstered on the belt.

The blades of the swords were chainsaws with a long barrel on top. The hilt was curved, with a trigger below the hilt, and a switch on top. "I call them my Stormcallers. I once fought off 22 ursas with them."

Ren sighed, "Alright you can come. Now where should we go in?"

"Follow me," she led Ren to the side of building.

They entered through a door, and started to find their around, "I'm surprised that there's no guard," Ren said.

"Talen thinks no one would dare come here without his permission Aoi told, "And he's right, everyone's to scared, or doesn't think he'll bother them."

"What do you mean?"

"He keeps his focus on the Faunce. He hates us, and wants to rid the world of us. He'll do anything to do it."

"I see…"

"In his eyes, you're either against the faunce, or him," They continued down a hallway with a series doors on both sides of them, "But we're not here for that. We need to find your friend."

"Where do you think she'd be?"

She sniffed. "There's a lot of smells here, very nasty smells I should add, but I still have a faint trace of her scent." They kept walking through, and then she pointed to a metal door, "Through here."

Ren tried to open it but it wouldn't open, "Locked," He saw a slot over the handle. "Looks like it needs a keycard," He turned to her, "Any ideas?"

"We could use the keycard."

"You know where it is?"

"I have a pretty good guess," She said pulling out a wallet from her pocket, with a sly smile. She opened it up, and pulled out a card. She put the card in the slot, there was a click and she opened the door. She tossed the wallet, "Don't need that anymore."

"Was that…"

"Yep. Let's just say there's a lot you don't know," She walked in, Ren stood there for a second then followed her.

The room was dark and lit with an emerald green light. In there was large glass tanks, that went from the floor to the ceiling. Inside the glass tanks was a person in each, surrounded by some sort of liquid. "What's going on here?" Ren asked shocked by what was in the room.

"There must be 50 of them," Aoi said.

"Close," They heard come from a speaker in the room. A screen to their right turned on. They turned to see Talen was on the screen. "There's 52 of them," he said, "Beautiful aren't they?"

"What are they" Ren asked.

"They're the solution! With them, I'll wipe out the Faunce freaks!"

Ren and Aoi looked at each other, then back at the screen, "What's this 'solution'?" Aoi asked.

Talen laughed evilly, "I've had their DNA altered to make them stronger, and better. With them I'll lead an army to exterminate the Faunce!"

"You altered their DNA?"

"Yes. We've found a way to merge theirs with the Creatures of Grimm."

"Are you mad?! Merging people with Grimm?" Ren shouted.

Talen laughed again, "You know, I'm actually really glad you showed up. Here let me show you something.

He turned the camera to his left. A large glass box container came into frame. In it was Nora, banging on the glass, "Nora!" Ren shouted.

"She's a tough one. It took all my men to take her down. She'll make for a good experiment."

"Don't touch her!"

"I'll see you soon, ta-ta," The screen shut down.

Ren turned to Aoi, "We need to hurry."

"Right," She nodded.

They ran through the building, Aoi led the way, and followed Nora's scent. Then soon found their way to a large area. The height of it went to the top of the entire building. On the walls there were walkways with railings. "Welcome," They heard. They looked up and saw Talen up on the top walkway.

"Come on down, and fight, you chicken!" Aoi yelled.

"Why would I fight? I need to test my experiments." As he said that two large metal doors, from both the left and right. Five men walked from each. They had large claws, fangs and red eyes. "They've been spliced with beowolves. Their appearance isn't the only thing that's changed. Their personalities have become a little… wild. I call them Howlers. But enough with the chit-chat… Howlers… Kill them!"

They howled, sounding exactly like normal beowolves. Ren pulled out his Stormflower, "Looks like we'll have to deal with them."

"That'll make this fun," She pulled out her Stormcallers, and pushed the switch on top forward. The chainsaws revved up.

Two of the Howlers charged Ren. He dodged them, and then swiftly sliced their backs. They fell to the ground. Four more came at Aoi. She smiled, and sliced through them easily. There were only four left, "I'll handle the rest," She held up her Stormcallers, pointed it at two of the Howlers.

They ran to her, she pulled the trigger on the hilts of her Stormcallers. A large blast came from the barrels taking out two of them. She quickly aimed at the last two, and shot them. After finishing them off she looked at Ren, "I forgot to mention these are also part shotgun."

Talen looked at his fallen Holwers, "Well… This is awkward… I should bring this up with the eggheads."

"I wouldn't mind fighting an army of these things," Aoi said with a smirk.

"I was hoping for a longer fight," He sighed, then turned and ran off, "Ta-ta again!"

"Wait where's Nora?!" Ren shouted.

At the front of the large area there was another large metal door. Aoi sliced through with her Stormcallers. "They ran up some stairs looking for Talen. As they searched for him, they came across a strange room. It looked high class, and out of place, compared to the rest to the facility. It had expensive furniture, a red carpet, and red walls. They around the room. "This must be where Talen stays," Aoi said looking at the furniture, "Figures."

Ren saw a door on the far wall. He walked over, and opened it. Inside he saw a large glass case, with Nora in it. She was pounding on the glass. "Nora!" He ran to the case. Nora smiled, seeing Ren, and jumped in place. To the right of the case was Nora's Magnhild.

On the side of the case was a red button. Ren hit it. The fround of the case split, and folded into itself. Nora ran out and hugged Ren, "Ren!"

"Are you okay?" He asked hugging back.

"Yep, they were too scared to do anything after I told them I'd break their legs."

Ren laughed a little, "You should grab Magnhild, and then let's leave," She nodded, and went to grab it. Ren walked out of the room to talk to Aoi, but she wasn't there, "Aoi?" He saw a note on the table. He picked it. It read:

"I saw a bullhead flying away. I think Talen was in it.

There are a few things I need to wrap up here. You,

and your friend should go home. See you around!"

He put the note in his pocket. Once Nora came out, they left the facility. As they walked out Nora talked, "Ren."

"Nora?"

"Can we get pancakes?"

He sighed, and then smiled, "Sure."

"Yay!" She jumped with joy.

. . .

It was a few hours after the fighting; Talen was now in a limousine, with some of his men. He pulled out a phone, and dialed a number. After waiting for the other line to pick up he spoke, "Hey Roman, its Talen. Some… Complications came up. I was hoping you could give some cash, so I can get a new hideout, and supplies," He paused and listened to Roman, "Thanks, I'll pay you back," He hanged up, "I say it's time for use to find a new place, and start up our little operation."

. . .

Ren, and Nora were at Ren's house. He had made pancakes for the both of them. As they were eating, Ren looked out the window. He couldn't stop thinking about Aoi. There was something about her she wasn't telling him… Something more…