I feel like we're gonna find out where Ren and Nora came from. And I think we're all gonna cry.

They've grown up together in such unknown circumstances, and I think it's headcanoned far and wide that they came from a village, with some sort of cataclysm that happened to cast them forward on the seas of life alone. Sure, assuming volume 3 never happened and everyone's happy (except Cinder and Adam and the rest of them freaks), such tragedy doesn't leave one so easily.

Then again, it was never said you had to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune alone.

As always, Thank you, Monty.

The courtyard lay quiet, muffled by snow and the silence of the gray specks that dotted it, students and teachers in their dull grey Beacon cloaks milling back and forth to wherever they may. Occasionally one would break from the rest and pause, their eyes flitting over the cliff edge, playing across the horizon that stretched infinitely off into monochrome eternity.

Amidst the landscape of gentle grays and whites, atop a bench bleached by the flakes falling from above fluttered a cloth of pink that refused to change, forbidding the elements from sapping the warmth from the two figures it shrouded, protected, kept warm and drew together.

Past the cobblestones and safety fences lay the crimson forests of Forever Fall, its vibrancy asleep under a neat quilt of snow. Even the Grimm seemed to be sleeping; not a single tree shook, nor tufts of snow, flitting upwards away from massive paws. From under her vibrant pink traveling cloak, in which she and Ren were comfortably swathed, she could peer over the cliffs at the restful expanse, stretching from the waves that pawed halfheartedly at the rocks below, to the shore across where the sand ended and the trees begun, white melding into gray into white again, trees that cast a paltry shadow across their roots.

And long ago, such trees would have towered above them, flashes of black and red cutting through the shades and sending coldness crashing down upon their frail bodies.

Nora closed her eyes, watching sights of the past slice through her mind, the redness marring the virgin snow, the stumble and stagger into the darkness where red and black became one, dark decals on a gray backdrop, as branches beckoned like evil fingers, the two children, hurt, alone, fading flowers in a snarl of trees and twilight.

She stirred, a strange saltiness trailing down her cheeks as she inched closer to the other beside her, the other blossom plucked from frost and chill, dying, but warmed and revived by the hearth, where embers of friendship and love and safety cast their light into the depths of his soul.

The soft motion across his side brought Ren out of his reverie, a chill spreading through him at the strange shivers that ravaged his companion, stemming not from cold or frost or even ice. Although his eyes remained closed, he could see the waves of fear shaking the air as droplets of salt upon the blanket corrupted it into a darker, more painful shade of pink.

Beneath the blanket, he reached over, his arm snaking gently across Nora's back and over to her side before drawing her close with a gentle squeeze, muffling her shaking body and pouring warmth of every kind into her soul.

And when Nora opened her eyes again, it was not the crimson stains of pain upon the snow, nor tendrils of darkness reaching down from above, but peaceful drifts twirling about her, tumbling over the cliff, gliding through the trees that no longer threatened to swallow them whole, and alighting on a shock of dark hair belonging to her partner nestled against him, his stalwart arm under their cover keeping her safe from the calls of times happily bygone.

These two deserve all the best, and they definitely deserve each other, in whatever capacity; whether you're a Renora shipper like me or whoever you ship them with, you can't deny these two have chemistry; romantic, platonic, whatever. They'll always be friends for life, always there for each other.

They both need a big hug. And NOT impending death in the season to come. (And tons of happiness in chibi form.)

Thank you for reading:) I devour input like Nora devours R̶e̶n̶ plates of pancakes.

-Don