deep in the marshes of mistral lay the small town of lakna, unchanged by time and untouched by the blade of man and the jaws of grimm alike.

Here lived a boy and his family, a boy who dreamed of greatness. sometimes he'd imagined that he was a noble knight protecting villages and killing grimm, and other times he was an evil warrior…but in all dreams of greatness there was a secret hidden inside him he'd not known about.

Up to his usual antics cole wielded a long stick walking up to a group of kids laughing loud and yelling about throwing too low or too high.

Pushing through them he saw a cat buried from the neck down meowing/screaming in fear, cole ran over to the cat and dug it out ignoring the complaints of the others.

"why do you keep spoiling my fun you little shit; this has nothing to do with you, so be a good boy and piss off"

Cole pulled his stick out of his left belt loop and held it in front of him and said with a dramatic and grandiose tone, "I will not stand by in the presence of evil such as you heartless prods!"

"why you…" the bully said stalking towards him glaring.

Cole was proud of himself when he did that….right up until the bigger kid grabbed his stick, yanked it out of his grasp and swung it hard and fast snapping it over the side his head.

cole's reaction to that went from shocked to fearful, the bully laughed before beating him. "we. are. trying. to. have fun. and your. ruining it!" he yelled emphasizing every swing, and did so until he left sweating and laughing with his friends feeling winded.

Cole was left there sobbing and bleeding curled up into himself shaking in fear assuming they'd be coming back. the shaking got worse when he uncurled from his position seeing the cat he'd saved purring and nuzzling against his hair trying to comfort him.

After a few minutes rayla found cole glumly petting the cat he'd saved covered in dry blood and dirt mixed with his tears dripping on his legs.

"oh, cole" she whispered feeling her heart breaking at the sight.

She walked over to cole and helped him to his feet neither saying a word to the other

sitting on a rock wet and shirtless, cole let his sister clean him up but kept flinching and pushing her away every time she touched a cut or bruise.

despite having a badass mom who worked as a town guard and took care of the family rayla was the second mother figure for cole when their mother was busy, and that meant that both women took care of cole while their dad just sat around and drank 'mom should just leave him behind when he's passed out; lazy tard wouldn't care anyhow' she thought as she wiped more mud from cole's back and shoulders.

"cole, i know you hate it when i help you but i need to step in if you go playing hero" he stiffened at the tone and whimpered.

"but even still, I'm proud of you so, hows about i promise I'll tell mom and dad you won the fight" rayla said wiping off dirt and dry blood from his right eyebrow. "as much as we don't exactly get along with dad, I hope that even he is proud of you for being so steadfast and loyal to your morals; Faunas or human he deserves our love….remember when he told you that your crush on that cat Faunas was gross and you yelled at him for being a big jerk, I bet you anything she thought you were cool" she giggled when he blushed and turned away, but content with her explanation.

"ill let mom know how strong you were when faced against four to one" she exaggerated with a hand swiping through the open air "cole beat em to a pulp and stood triumphantly; like a true hero" when she looked down she stopped with a sigh and frowned "or is it your pride that makes you feel that your big sister came to your rescue?" he sighed and looked into her blue and green mismatched eyes "sis, im not mad that you helped me out, its just that...when those other kids insulted you..." he took the cloth and rung it out and gave it back to her as she kept wiping him off. "it made me angry that people say things that puts others down; I wish I had your eyes so you wouldn't be bullied by the other villagers; two different colors are better than one as they say- uhm well... its what I say anyway. two opposite colors that compliment each other." Hearing him say things like this was one of the reasons her and their mom adored him cause he could find a physical flaw and would call it beautiful and in his deepest beliefs thought they were what made people beautiful even Some of the other parents found him extremely odd because when he met a woman with while wolf ears and two ears he told her she was the most gorgeous woman he'd ever saw which landed him in a full hour of being lectured by his father that Faunas were filthy animals that were nothing more, but cole stood his ground and told him that people were beautiful no matter their figure or color and Faunas weren't any different to him. Which was the biggest issue that got him on the business end of a belt for every Faunas he befriended or gods forbid complemented. it got worse since cole didn't particularly have any other male figures in his life other than his father he saw every male adult as an abuser or a liar.

"you know i can take care of that on my own right?" she asked giving him his shirt back with a assuming smile on her face. She saw how much he took after their mom, but their dad? The only thing he took after in that department were the facial features, his eyes, and his unrelenting ability to never back down from anything. Oh yes, cole was well known for his drive and stubborn nature when it came to everything, and thankfully their parents didn't have to worry about his diet since he ate anything and everything he was given as long as it wasn't sugary and overly sweet (which made him easy to feed) but when it came to things like sports stuff he never did it, much to his father's annoyance.

"ray, it's going to be my job to some day protect people someday like mom. I gotta be strong for you both if dad leaves; men are strong right?" he asked flexing his arms trying to look buff but only looked chubby in his sister's eyes which resulted in her giggling at his display, and before cole could open his mouth she grabbed him and said "i think you've earned one of my signature 'big sis hugs' along with some of my cake since today is my birthday" she said before scooping him up and giving his a tight hug which made his cracked ribs hurt even more but he endured it for her sake as well as the light kisses she assaulted him with.

"your...crush...ing me...rayla" he said between strained breaths.

letting go she smiled and said "let's get home, mom should be back for the party by now" he smiled and took her hand to go home but the tender moment was cut short by a scream, "RUUUUN, BANDITS ARE COM-" a man screamed before his body hit the ground with ice sticking out of his neck.

rayla was quick to act as she dragged cole into the water under the overhang of grass and weeds. "don't. make. a. sound." she whispered making sure he stayed quiet by clamping her hands over their mouths.

"it's okay guys i got em, looks like no one heard dis guy" a man said holding the dead guy by the back of his shirt.

"good work, have the others search the west side for those two while i check the riverside near the east side" a woman said sternly

"it's going to be okay, just breathe" rayla said in his ear hugging him to comfort herself trying to console him too.

the other bandits ran through the gates while a single set of footsteps closed in near their spot near the water and sat down almost hitting the two in the face but thanks to the grass, weeds, and roots it didn't happen.

"idiots. im in charge of idiots that can't stay quiet." a frustrated sigh escaped her as she added "doesn't matter though, i just cant wait until i get my hands on them." the woman said before she stood up and jumped into the river.

"hope i find them before night falls" she said walking toward the other side and out of their view but stayed until they couldn't hear her.

while they hid the rest of the village burned, people were being slaughtered in the streets, kids were kidnapped, and homes were stripped of their valuables.

Then, As if by pure luck the last home was found and the leader felt it was her job to take care of it herself, and when she opened the door, out came a pissed off man swinging his ax but was easily smacked out of his hands and a sword plunged into his chest, his eyes widened as blood spilled from his wound and mouth.

raven quickly yanked her sword out and thrown to the ground on his side, the woman tried running but was stopped by a bullet to the leg and brought back to raven's feet.

when she was dragged back she scowled at raven with tears in her eyes but these weren't for her husband it was for the man he used to be.

"I'm not a huge fan of torture, so please tell me where your children are and be concise" she emphasized slamming her fist into her stomach "im on a tight schedule"

but unfortunately the woman gave her answer in the form of a glob of blood in her face and said "go fuck yourself, im not selling out my babies to a bitch and her dogs"

raven sighed as she stood up and quickly grabbed the woman by the throat, held her up and slammed her into the ground behind her which knocked the air from her lungs, raven smirked and proceeded to beat her within an inch of her life with her bare hands.

"how about now! you want to talk or should i just keep this up until i just kill you and save me the trouble."

by the time cole and rayla had snuck out of the riverside and found their way home unnoticed they came home to a horrible sight: raven choking a broken and bleeding mom and a dead dad on the porch blood pooled around him.

unfortunately they were in full view of everything while their home burned around them "RUN KIDS, GET HE-" she screamed just before she was slammed into the house wall by two bandits.

Standing there too afraid to move a single blood red bolt of lightning flashed in the sky and rain came down in bucket loads.

rayla quickly grabbed cole by his shirt threw him behind her just as she was grabbed by her arms and legs.

"cole run, get-" she screamed but one of them silenced her with a harsh knee to the gut.

"looks like i dont need you after all." raven said as her grip tightened around her swords hilt.

cole was left alone while rayla was taken into their house by two bandits while the others stood there watching.

she screamed and cried out "stop it! let me go- cole i said run!"

Cole's mind was traveling a mile a minute and began hyperventilating, his body shook with panic as moments passed in slow motion, rayla screaming and kicking, raven angrily pointing at him while insulting her men for not grabbing him too, his mom still pinned to the wall crying and screaming, his dad bleeding out in the rain washing his blood into the soil, but he couldn't comprehend why it was happening. When the bandits reached him he acted quick by punching the closest one in the groin with an uppercut but while one fell holding his broken jewels and puked the other two started beating him into the grass and mud.

His entire body was in pain from their punches and kicks but nothing was worse than the feeling underneath his flesh, it was like billions of ants biting and crawling over his skin. every inch burned and when rayla screamed out for him, his head shot towards the door of his house and the moment cole saw rayla's arms disappear into the house his body tensed, rage swelled up inside him.

"NOOOO!" he screamed as loud as his little voice allowed holding out his left hand and running towards his sister, in his desperation he had reached out with sparks violently leaping from all over his entire body a bright orange gold light enveloped him as the electricity kept building with each second it grew more intense, he screamed toward his home heavy tears falling from his eyes mixing in the rain. a flash of lightning lit up the world around him with a myriad of colors but just as the lightning came crashing down from the sky and met his own all of it was diverted straight towards raven and the others, cole's bolt rushed through the air turning into a small hand just as it got a foot from the house.

White flooded his eyes as the world around him erupted like a ton of TNT and quickly switched to black just before his body hit the ground hard.

his body had so much energy pass through him that steam and smoke began to rise from every inch of him. vein-like patterns burned into part of his face, arms, chest, back, neck, and shoulders. after the shower of lightning ended everyone was either a burnt corpses, wet ash, or running away from the area missing a limb or parts of their skin.

"ray…la, please…" he muttered.

when he tried to take a few steps towards his home before dropping to the ground exhausted, before his body hit the wet ground he quickly realized his entire body hurt, lungs burned, eyes stung, and legs felt like jelly shaking and trembling with every step.

The more he moved the more his skin felt like millions of needles stabbing him, and in that moment the rainbow shine in the electricity settled on an orange gold hue and a bit of blue flecks here and there. taking one more step he fell down just shy of the porch of his home.

'don't worry mom, rayla and I are coming' he thought letting the darkness take him again, hopefully permanently.

after a few hours the rain had just begun to lessen, the fires were mostly out, and cole had woken up in a lot of pain but the pain was all but nonexistent when his need to find his mom and sister pushed him to get up and limped toward what was left of his home. "what a weird dream" he said to himself. getting back to his shaking feet he took in the surroundings and froze at the sight of his home.

Stumbling and falling down a few times he ran into what once was his home and moved what he could out of the way searching for his family he couldn't believe his eyes when he not only didn't see rayla or his mom, he couldn't find their bodies either "n-no, this isn't- They can't be gone- It can't…" he breathed out running towards the debris of other houses but found that no one was left alive in any of the hoses "last night- it…really did happen" he choked out making his way slowly back to his destroyed home.

When he got back he was digging through what remained of his home in desperation and a sense of dread. After an hour of lifting things out of the way, digging through the ash and dirt, and pushing the furniture out of the way but found nothing but more of what he saw. The feeling in his chest was the same as the feeling of being stabbed in the heart, at first he was gasping for breath hyperventilating and that turned into tears and flowed freely from his eyes like rivers of anguish. falling to knees and hugging himself he hunched over and cried as hard as he could over his family but soon the pain he'd been letting out brought grimm around him and in that moment his sadness and despair got the better of him and turned to bitterness and hate.

Angry for being so weak.

Devastated his world died with his family.

Terror towards the woman who took it from him.

Pure distain and pain like he'd never experienced spread in his heart and grew until the same energy from earlier enveloped him and blew out and fried the grimm closest to him and pushed the rest to run off afraid of the boy.

crawled under the wall and cried for hours before just lying there too tired to sleep and too sad to keep crying.

Not far off from the entire scene was a man kneeling in a tree, he wore tights, plated leather armor, and a black cloak. When cole's ionic repulse blew, a jolt of blood red lightning flared as cole's energy hit his, a crooked smile crept up his aged features "energy burst from such a young man…volatile emotional trauma…very good, looks like this was successful after all" he smirked as he jumped down and examined the boy. "you have a lot of time and potential to prepare…don't fail remnant" a woman's voice rang out through his mind like it was a heart wrenching memory. "I wont fail this time" he muttered to no one in particular.

Placing an old picture in his pocket the man stood up and guarded cole until he woke up, but by then he'd already been long gone.

ten years passed since that day and cole noticed his body drastically change, and it was only because people would point it out to others when he passed by but he never let it bother him seeing as he was just another person to gossip about since they had nothing better to do when he walked around anyone.

his newfound power was constantly out of control and unpredictable; he couldn't even properly use it until he was 14 and even then he only had enough time to learn how to shoot it from his hands and draining it from the dust crystals He learned he was able to create electromagnetic shockwaves, as well as releasing a blast of lightning that disintegrated everything in a twenty foot radius but only when his emotional state was at its peak.

first thing he'd noticed was his once black hair had turned as white as the Atlesian snow peaks and grew so long it reached the middle of his back so chose to have it tied back in a ponytail but began braiding it for convenience. scars had formed on his arms from the lightning storm and darkened over time till they appeared grey and were assumed to have been tattoos, his left eye turned blue while his right eye stayed green, his body became perfectly toned. over the years he got miltiple scars from stabbings, muggings, fights, and a few times he'd been impaled by grimm and people alike, and lastly a hideous scar that covered the entire right side of his face he hid behind a mask he made from stitched up cloth he had lying around.

Ten years, ten years he wandered the world doing anything to survive, he fought people he knew he'd lose to but in a way won due to his pickpocketing he had no choice but to join groups of kids his age to survive but chose to abandon the cities as often as possibly since it was easier for him to feel safe when he bathed, ate, and slept, somehow it was just safer to do that than live in alleyways and the like.

thats gonna be it for my first chapter.

im not a good writer but i hope its good enough for y'all's standards for this fandom. with love and prayers for you all to be kind and not be too harsh bout my story.

i'll be releasing chapters in increments of 4k or more words every week...or if i feel like it