A/N: Next chapter is the V4 finale. This is moving very quickly. Get ready, y'all!
Let me know what you think!
What We Call Home
Nora knew what it was like to beg.
She didn't know how she ended up off of Mantle- at least, she assumed she was born on Mantle. With no real birth certificate, it was hard to confirm anything. However, judging by the way her incredibly pale skin and bright orange hair contrasted with absolutely everyone she had ever met in Mistral, it was pretty safe to say that she didn't belong on Anima.
So, she begged.
No one wanted to take her in. Her eyes were cursed, they said. She didn't really know what 'cursed' meant- she was just hungry, after all- but her eyes, big and round and the palest blue, like the ocean in the early foggy morn, threw people off. Mistralians were superstitious folk, after all. And what was different usually meant ill-intentioned.
But she was just a child.
It was hard to find benefactors with looks like hers. The world wasn't kind to her. On the rare instance that she was taken under someone's wing, she'd obey every word, praying with all her heart that if she was good enough, maybe, just maybe, they wouldn't throw her away again.
Inevitably, they did. They all did. And she was left begging again.
The people living in the slums just outside of Kuroyuri, leeching from the waterways and the relative safety the hunters who protected the village instilled, weren't kind people. They skulked in shadows. They were quick to anger. And they sent Nora on more little 'errands' and such in town than she could even remember at the end of the day. Her teeny fingers were deft and sticky, and she was easily able to nick supplies, as long as her hood was pulled up and her eyes weren't peeking out.
She was never caught. She always did a good job. But those who took her in would beat her anyways. Life could only be lived while hungry and bruised and mottled and blue, eyes wide in terror and hair dirty and shorn short to hide its colour.
But god, did she dream. She dreamed of life being different- of being able to afford the little pastries in the cake shop rather than the moldy ones in the trash, or being able to wear the pretty clothes in the boutique windows in town rather than the rags she could find in dumpsters. She dreamed of not having to beg anyone for food, for shelter, for them to not hurt her anymore. And sometimes, when she couldn't dream, broken and tattered and praying that she'd live past that night, she beg the gods for help. She didn't know what 'gods' were, but she often heard her benefactors wish for things over the years.
She didn't know if it would work or not. But no one listened to her anyways, so it didn't hurt to try.
The one thing she never dreamt of, nor asked for, was real human connection. The heart doesn't look for what it never had.
That was why meeting Ren mattered so much to her. That night, amidst the howls and screams of the burning Kuroyuri, she had met Lie Ren, and he had given her that toy hammer, and he had held her in his arms. He had been just as frail and scared as she was. But he hadn't let her go.
He was the first person in her life who offered connection, unconditionally. And she'd never let him go, either.
I can't let him go.
Out of nowhere, red eyes and grinning teeth of white, sharpened bone appeared behind her eyelids, long, draping arms dragging behind giant equestrian hooves. Orange glowed behind those eyes, and the creature's face jerked back and forth- and then, it screamed.
With that single, gut-twisting sound burned into her mind, she opened her eyes. Birds were chirping in the trees. There were no screams filling the air.
Sitting up slowly, she sighed, running her fingers through her bedhead to smooth it out. I didn't think I even remembered what it looked like. Seeing the creature's hoof prints so recently had likely been what had brought it back from the deepest recesses of her mind. Where had she seen the prints? They were in Shion, and Ren saw them in Oniyuri-
And then, everything from the night before came rushing back, and she understood why her face felt so stiff, her eyelids puffy.
Oh, Pyrrha…
She glanced over at Ren, who sat up in his sleeping bag wearily. He looked just as exhausted as she felt. "We should probably get moving."
Jaune propped himself up at the other boy's words. "Yeah, yeah."
Nora's eyes were drawn towards a tree just past their immediate circle around the campfire. Leaning against the base of the trunk was Qrow, the man coughing louder and louder. Nora squinted- she didn't remember him coming back from his walk last night.
Then again, much of the previous night was fuzzy in her memories. All she remembered was the haunting realizations which lingered on, souring the taste in her mouth, making her feel ill.
Qrow coughed even louder. Ren and Jaune turned to look at him, and Ruby quickly scurried over to her uncle's side. After his coughs settled, Nora watched tensely as he lifted his hand away from his mouth.
Even from a distance, she could see that he had coughed out almost purplish blood.
"Well," the man mused in a croaking voice, glancing up at Ruby wryly, "that's unfortunate." And just like that, his hand dropped limply to his side, and his head fell still.
"Uncle Qrow? Uncle Qrow?!" Ruby immediately dropped to her knees, shaking his shoulders. "Guys, he's sick!"
The other three were by her side immediately. Ren gingerly lifted up the man's right hand, which was still pressed into his wound. Seeping through the gauze and the bandage on top was tinted blood, almost plum-coloured in its hue.
Jaune shuddered involuntarily behind Ren, quickly looking away, while Nora could only gawp at the sight. It was completely and utterly unnatural, the colour sending chills down her spine. "What… what is going on?" she breathed.
It was jarring to see how weak and pale Qrow looked, and how terrified Ruby was growing by the second.
Ren bit his lip, looking away from the wound angrily. "I should've realized that the stinger was poisoned," he muttered. "It makes sense. All of that purple liquid that spewed out of his tail must've been something."
Ruby whispered, "Guys… what do we do? We have to save him." Her eyes grew wide, glassy, horrified. "I… I can't do this again. I can't lose Uncle Qrow, too."
"We're not going to lose him, Ruby," Jaune reassured immediately. He frowned, then nodded decisively. "Ren, Nora- set up the stretcher. Ruby and I will pack up camp. Grab something to eat while you work, you'll need your energy."
"We're going to be walking quite a while if we don't know where we're going first," Ren murmured. "Where's the map?"
Jaune sighed, jogging over to his pack. "It should be-" And then, he paused. "It- it's not here." Frantically, the boy began searching through each pocket, digging and digging and digging- but no map turned up in his pockets. Looking up at them plaintively, he cried, "I think I dropped it."
"Where?!" Ruby shrilled, growing more and more distraught. "We have to have another one, right?!"
Ren shook his head. "We only got one from that village a while back, remember? At least, only one that actually showed more updated paths. Following our original map, we'd like get even more lost looking for settlements that don't exist anymore."
"We had it until before we hit Oniyuri…"
Nora cut in, "The empty town is huge. We'll never find it!"
The despair on Ruby's face was heartbreaking. "Well… what should we do?"
Jaune groaned, ruffling his hair angrily. He picked up a sheaf of papers in his bag, then threw them angrily to the side, scattering them in the air. Then, with that out of his system, he stood up, eyes flashing with self-hatred and frustration. "We continue with the original plan," he announced. "We'll go back to the main path. We'll walk as fast as possible, and we're bound to find a rest stop somewhere."
"He needs medical attention. We have no way of figuring out what sort of anti-venom he needs," Ren pointed out.
Nora's eyes fell to the blond's gloved hands, clenching into fists so hard he trembled. "I know," Jaune whispered.
Everyone was frozen still for a moment. Nora stood, dispelling it. "What the heck are we waiting for? We have to get going!" she yelled, racing to where she had packed the stretcher away. Dangit. I can't believe this is happening. Ren quickly joined her, and soon, the stretcher was assembled, and they managed to roll Qrow onto it. The man didn't stir.
And although the night before, all Nora could focus on was her frustration towards the man, now, she just felt fear. He had gotten injured protecting them- and Ruby, her friend, his niece. He didn't deserve this pain, and neither did Ruby.
"He's burning up," Ren commented. He placed a damp compress on the older man's forehead, but Qrow didn't react.
By then, the camp had been packed up, backpacks were adjusted, and everyone was ready to go. Harbinger was tied to the bottom of Jaune's bag, and Ruby kept the first aid kit hanging off her belt so she could easily replace the gauze on Qrow's abdomen. "He's not waking up, guys," she squeaked.
"We'll make sure he's okay, Ruby," Nora murmured. She grabbed the front end of the stretcher, but Jaune stopped her.
"No, Nora. You cover the back, and Ren's in the front. Ruby and I will carry him."
"But-"
He shook his head, motioning for Ruby to grab the front end of the stretcher. "You and Ren are both the fastest at dispatching groups of Grimm, and the ones who know these backroads well. We'd be emitting a lot of negative energy right now if it weren't for Ren-" he flashed the other boy a tight smile, who nodded tersely in response, and Nora noticed for the first time the pink glow which wouldn't leave Ren's hands- "so I want him to save his energy as much as possible. We can carry the stretcher."
Suddenly, Qrow's eyes blinked open, and everyone locked their gazes onto him. "Wha- what's going on?" he coughed, more purplish blood dribbling out the side of his mouth.
Ruby tenderly pulled some gauze out of the first aid kit and wiped his mouth, brushing his hair out of his eyes. "We're getting you some help, Uncle Qrow, don't worry," she whispered.
The man's eyes lifted up to meet hers, and the amount of affection on his unguarded, pained face was hard to even process. "You've done so good, you know that… Ruby? Love ya, kiddo." He blinked when Ruby gasped, choking down a sob. "You… got into Beacon so young… Oz is gonna be so impressed with you…"
The man's eyelids fluttered to a close, and he went back to a fitful slumber once more. Ren pulled Ruby away and directed her back to grabbing the stretcher. "He's hallucinating," he murmured. "We've got to get going, fast."
Nora gripped Magnhild in its grenade launcher form tightly, ready to pop off the safety by the trigger at any second. Jaune was right- they were spewing negativity. If it weren't for Ren, they'd be sitting ducks. The problem was, though, that no matter how much better Ren had gotten at using his Semblance to mask large groups for extended periods of time during their work in Vale, he was still just human. He was going to run out of his own Aura eventually.
And when that happened, she would need to defend them all.
So, they began their hike. Without a map, suddenly every twist and turn seemed ominous. Every branching path felt like a death sentence, the noose hanging around their necks growing tighter the further they walked. Qrow continued to awaken at random to babble, but as time when on, he grew more and more incomprehensible. And for the four able-bodied teens, the sound was even more painful than the tense silence between the four of them.
What could they say, when they had no real hope of saving a dying man?
Walking onwards was agonising. If it weren't for the fact that Higanbana, the last place where they had actually seen a functioning medical centre, was days and days behind them, they would've turned back in a heartbeat. However, with no way to ensure that Qrow could make the long journey- which would be exponentially slower now that they had to carry the tall man the entire time- they had no choice but to keep walking forward.
As the road carried on, Nora's grip on Magnhild grew tighter and tighter, until she knew that the lines on the metal grip were likely imprinted into her hands even through her gloves. The landscape began to reflect their growing darkness, the cloudy sky dreary and depressing. The farther along they walked, the lush greenery and thick canopies above which had outlined the majority of their journey began to fade away, replaced with withered branches and dying plant life. It was as if the land itself was fading, wasting away.
It reminded her of the remainders of Oniyuri and Shion. It reminded her of Kuroyuri.
Nora wasn't surprised, though. The farther along they went, the more Grimm tracks they found. She kept her eyes glued to the trees initially, the thick trunks more than enough to give the creatures the cover they needed- however, with how sparse the plant life became, her eyes became fixated onto the ground.
The moment they saw the tracks of the Nuckelavee, Qrow's death warrant would be signed. There was no way they could defeat it and save Qrow, too. Not when Kalian and Howl and Caelus had always steered clear of the creature-
Not when Ren was so broken.
The further along this unknown path they went, the more Ren's shoulders tensed. She could sense his agitation, his anger, his frustration at not being able to do more for the injured man lying in the stretcher. More than anything, Nora just wanted to run to the front of their convoy and hold onto Ren, because in his stooped posture, she knew that the familiarity and sense of dread was sinking into his bones, too.
They knew this road. She didn't know how, and she couldn't place why, but something about the twisting path and gnarled, barren, skeletal trees on either side clicked with something in her memories.
She didn't like it.
It must have been far worse for Ren. Unlike her, he had never truly moved past what he had lost that night in Kuroyuri. After all, while she had gained her whole world that night- him- he had lost everything he held dear.
By mid-afternoon, there was still no signs of an upcoming village. The winding path they had followed was growing darker and drearier by the second. The journey had affected all of them- Qrow's hallucinations were worsening, and Ruby and Jaune were growing fatigued as they carried the stretcher silently.
After Qrow woke up for the nth time, groaning and shifting and weeping in his delirium, Ruby whispered, "Just hold on, Uncle Qrow."
The man seemed to hear it, but register the words, he didn't. "Tai," he gasped, "She's not... coming..." He grunted in pain, shivering and shuddering, sweat dripping down his temples as the toxin invaded his body further. "Tai." He began to cough repeatedly, then grew limp once again.
"He's getting worse," Jaune murmured grimly.
Ruby chewed her lip. "How much farther?"
Instinctively, Nora wanted to cheer her up. "We've gotta be close," she reasoned, but even she wasn't convinced.
Ren shook his head in front of the group, still stalking with hunched shoulders ahead of them all. "Without the map, there's no way of knowing. But I feel like we're close to something." With those words, Ren's footsteps slowed, and he paused. Quickly, he holstered StormFlower, alerting everyone else.
"What is it?" Ruby asked, confused.
The boy ran wordlessly ahead. Nora followed him without hesitation, hanging Magnhild in its place behind her back. Something was going on.
Ren paused at the end of the path, where it split into opposite directions. In the center of the two new roads was a signpost. Nora quickly scanned the boards as she caught up to him. Higanbana is where we came from, yup, she thought. There were two boards pointing to the right-hand path. Kuchinashi, and… Her heart leapt into her throat, joy blossoming from every pore. "Hey, hey! Mistral! We're on the right path!" She eagerly skidded to a stop next to Ren, pointing to the signboard. However, the boy simply stared at her, not sharing in her joy whatsoever.
What's… what's wrong? Quickly, she looked over to the right-hand path in question. It looked to be extremely mountainous- the exact opposite of what they'd encountered thus far, and one of the worst possible conditions through which they could carry a stretcher.
But it wasn't that which Ren fixated on. Instead, he turned away, shifting back to glance at the single left-facing sign. Nora's eyes flashed over to it, and her heart, which had been so excited just seconds before, fell into her boots. "Oh..."
Scratched out with a knife like so many names had been across the Huntsmen boards along their journey, the left signboard carried the name Kuroyuri.
No wonder this felt familiar. This… this must be the path we followed to escape back then.
A chill sank into her bones at the thought. She had never wanted to return.
As the encumbered pair drew close, Ruby called, "Does it say how close?!"
Ren sighed bleakly. "No. And it looks like the path takes us up through the mountains."
The pair set Qrow's stretcher down gently. Jaune's eyes flicked down to the unconscious man, worry etched into his brow almost permanently. "Guys, I don't know if all of us can make that climb," he admitted.
Ruby paused, then rushed up to the signpost next to Nora and Ren. Pointing at Kuroyuri's signboard, she begged, "Okay. Well, what about this place? Kuro... Kuroyuri? Can we get help there?"
Jaune jogged up to join them as Ren lowered his head, clenching his fists. Nora could only stare at his back as he stepped forward, hiding his face from the others. Ren, we can't-
"That village was destroyed years ago," he muttered.
Jaune offered, "But if it takes us around the mountains, it's the best bet we've got."
Sternly, Ren insisted, "It will take too long!"
Ruby's eyes flashed towards Nora, helpless and wide, praying for her to respond. Nora couldn't. What could she say?
Please let it drop, we can't go that way, please don't fight-
"The town would have had a doctor, right?" the younger girl maintained. "Or maybe we could scavenge for medicine!"
Nora bit her lip, watching each word add fuel to the painful, fiery memories in Ren's heart. She knew why he was fighting this.
But Jaune and Ruby didn't know, and it wasn't their fault that Jaune lit up at the idea of medicine. "Right!"
Guys, just stop, please-
That was enough. Ren shut his eyes, lowering his chin as he cried, "We're not going to find anything! We just have to press on!"
That was likely the loudest, most emotional phrase they had ever heard Ren speak. The boy didn't yell. He didn't shout. Even in combat, his words were piercing, but contained. Ruby and Jaune were stunned into silence, the former clutching her hands in front of her chest as she realized the truth- that Ren truly wasn't going to budge.
Jaune, on the other hand, was growing defensive, confused. Cutting between Ruby, who was close to tears again, and Ren, the boy standing firm in his bitterness, the blond exclaimed, "Ren, why are you acting-"
That was enough for Nora, too. She couldn't put Ren through this.
Cutting Jaune off, she stepped up beside Ren from where she had been watching the three of them crumble. "We can split up," she said smoothly, placing a tender hand on Ren's shoulder. The boy looked back at her at the contact, befuddled by the suggestion.
Ruby was just as confused. "Huh?"
Nora explained calmly, "Ren and I can cut through the mountains while you and Ruby take Qrow around through the village."
The alarm in Jaune's eyes was heart-wrenching. "No, we're supposed to stick together! We keep each other safe!"
God, how Nora wanted to agree. She felt the same way- how did Jaune think they had felt, watching Pyrrha and Jaune disappear during the Fall? Of course she wanted to stick together!
Ren was glaring at Jaune. She could feel him trembling under her hand.
But Qrow was dying, and Ruby didn't deserve to lose someone else. Not while they still had a chance.
"We don't have time for safe! If we make it to Mistral, we'll bring back help! If we don't, we'll at least have a better view of the land! Up there, we can see if there's somewhere else we can go!" She looked up at Ren, praying that he would look back at her.
After a moment, he did. The confusion and grief in his eyes was clear, so she shone him a simple, understanding smile. And he returned it, affection boundless. His tremors ceased. He calmed down.
She dropped her hand from his shoulder, relaxing a little. We'll be okay.
With the barest of movements, he nodded. We will.
The moment was broken as Qrow began coughing once again, even more distressingly than before. They all looked over just in time to see the man's head lift up, then loll back against the stretcher, stilled once again. Thankfully, his laboured breathing could still be heard- but he wasn't getting any better.
They needed to move.
Jaune glanced back at Ruby, then turned to Ren. Through tight lips, he whispered, "Okay." In an instant, all of the defensiveness and animosity fell away. Jaune stumbled up to Ren, and the two of them embraced one another in a tight, warm hug, Jaune clutching the slightly shorter man against him desperately. After a moment, they let go and stepped back. Through teary eyes, Jaune begged, "Just take care of each other."
Nora stepped up to stand beside Ren once again, beaming at him. "We always have," she murmured lovingly.
So, the plan was set. Ren couldn't sense any Grimm presences within the vicinity, so they were safe for the moment. Nora reached out and hugged Jaune, feeling the tall blond shiver and quake in her arms in fear and concern. She held Ruby tight, whispering, "It'll be okay, you'll see," gently into the younger girl's ear, while Ruby could only sniffle and squeeze her tightly back. But soon, Jaune and Ruby were once again holding Qrow's stretcher, standing on the left-hand road heading to Kuroyuri, with Ren and Nora on the right. Jaune looked back at them. Nora waved goodbye. Ren ran off first, and she had no choice but to follow- and with that, she said goodbye to Team JNRR once again.
You have to be safe. You have to come home, Jaune, Ruby.
Because losing Pyrrha had been unfair and cruel. This whole journey, based on the truth Qrow had revealed to them the night before, would be unfair and cruel. Nora had already met her quota of 'unfair and cruel' thrice over in her lifetime, and if she lost those two, too…
No- I can't think about this. We've gotta reach Mistral.
The path was hilly and unforgiving, but they ran along the trail as quickly as they could. No words were spoken, but every once in a while, as they climbed higher and higher along more treacherous peaks, Ren's eyes would shift over to the west- towards Kuroyuri.
Soon, the path began to circle around the mountain, and the forested area where Jaune and Ruby had been heading slipped out of view. After that, Ren's tension seemed to ease slightly, and Nora was able to relax at last.
However, as they circled higher up the mountain, the climb was growing more and more difficult. The wind whistled around the peaks, and even though they were running and jumping and keeping their heartrates high, Nora was still shivering, the chilly wind sinking into her skin, raising gooseflesh on her bared legs.
Ren finally slowed upon a stone outcropping, where the walking path had dwindled to naught but the faintest traces of footprints of the past. Nora sighed in relief, seeing his stillness- slowing down, she tottered up to him, letting her head and arms hang limply in front of her. When she finally reached his side, he commented, "We never get the easy path, do we?" He wasn't bitter, though- now that he had gained enough distance from the prospect of visiting Kuroyuri, he had calmed down immensely.
Nora stretched her arms, resting them behind her head. The wind rustled her orange hair, pushing it off her shoulders behind her. An idle thought popped into her mind- It's never been this long before. Verbally, she chuckled, "Easy's no fun anyway." Dropping her arms to her side, she turned to him, voice gentle. "You okay?"
With a quick nod, Ren hummed. "And you?"
She clasped her hands behind her back, taking a moment to study him. You're okay. We're both okay. And Qrow and Ruby and Jaune are gonna be okay, too. With a small, earnest smile, she murmured, "I've got you here, don't I?"
Bewilderment flashed in Ren's eyes at her sudden tenderness. She didn't mind. Stepping past him with a wave, she walked over to where the beaten path naturally ended up- a jagged cave opening a way's down. "Come on," she admonished playfully. "There's more than one way up a mountain."
Thunder rumbled in the distance, and Nora grinned. Hopefully the storm would hold off in their area until they made it somewhere safe. She could storm-dive later.
By the time she reached the cave's entrance, however, Ren had barely moved. She rolled her eyes, pausing in front of the rocky formation. To her surprise, a stiff breeze swept through the entrance, flying out at her from somewhere. Tiny leaves and bits of debris and dirt rode the wind, and she had to dodge light branches more than once. Turning around, she pointed at the opening. "Hey! There's wind blowing out of this cave!" Ren quickly caught up with her, and she asked, "Think it might lead to the peak?"
Ren paused, scrutinizing the entrance. "I suppose there's only one way to find ou—ah!" He staggered back as a large piece of fabric suddenly flew out of the cave and covered his face. Nora stepped back, giggling into her hands gleefully- and suddenly, any last bits of worry or concern floated away on the wind behind them, replaced by the confidence that Ren's presence always created in her heart.
As Ren spluttered and pulled the large strip of yellow fabric off of him, draping it over his open hands, he muttered, "Yes, yes. Very funny." But as his eyes fell to the fabric itself, he stilled, expression clouding instantly, tense posture returning.
She frowned, stepping closer to him. "Hey," she coaxed, "what's wrong?"
"This is the symbol for Shion Village."
"Shion?" She leaned in, taking a closer look. Indeed, there was a flower symbol upon the edge of the banner- one she faintly recognized hanging in front of Shion. "But that's... that's the village where we found the Huntsman. It's weeks away from here!" Suddenly, the boy dropped the banner and hurried into the cave. She threw her arm out, but she couldn't grab hold of him in time as she cried, "Ren, wait!"
Immediately, she jogged after him. Thankfully, the interior of the cave was fairly wide and tall, and it was very easy to follow his pounding footsteps through the dank, windy cavern.
She found him paused in a circular room at the center of the cave. On the other side of the cavern was the source of the wind flow- an exit west, nearest to Kuroyuri. But Nora's attention was captured by something else within the cavern entirely.
The entirety of the large, hollow cave was filled with more than a hundred bloodied, broken weapons. Swords snapped to pieces, jagged and glinting in the faint light, littered the ground; arrowheads and polearms were stabbed into the dirt layer at the base of the cavern's wall; lances and shields were strewn about, dented and broken. Banners lay across the ground, tattered and torn, almost like discarded trophies of tribes conquered.
And, near the very back of the round room, was a giant pile of corpses in various stages of decomposition- some were skeletal, and others were still purple and bloated, flies buzzing about. Pools of congealed blood dripped into the pocks in the ground. The stench was horrifying.
She covered her mouth and nose with a hand and tried her best not to gag. She had seen a lot of horrible things in her life, but nothing quite like this. "Oh my gosh…" She caught Ren's eye, the boy's dark eyes wide and alarmed. He quickly stepped forward, retrieving an arrow which lay upon the ground in front of them. Nora could see what he was confused about- the arrow wasn't covered in blood. However, it did smell like rot and decay- like the Grimm.
As she walked up to him, her footsteps dragged to a halt. Ren had been so fixated on the arrow that he hadn't seen the far more terrifying thing just a few feet away.
Tracing the ground in clotted, bloodied dirt, was the indentation of the cloven hoof of the Nuckelavee.
This must be its lair. Now that she knew that, she spun around, the dread and anxiety creeping up within her. Her fingers twitched, ready to grab Magnhild at the slightest movement. Yet, it was clear that the freshest prints, made in yet-to-congeal blood, were heading undeniably in the direction of the second exit.
Towards… Kuroyuri!
Quickly, Nora bolted towards that other exit, Ren hot on her heels. The exit ended in a ledge overlooking the forest below, with no discernable footpath to go down into the forest. As they stood at the mouth of the cave, however, they could see the treetops rustling below them, heading off west- straight to the village. Flocks of birds sprang into flight as the trees rustled along, the warning howls of numerous animals- and, if she focused, some Grimm, too- filled the air.
In the distance, they could see Kuroyuri's empty shell.
Without Ren blocking their negative energy, it must've picked up their scent, especially with Qrow in the mix.
Ruby and Jaune and Qrow were in danger.
Ren shook his head, eyes impossibly wide. "No…" he breathed, unable to tear his gaze away from the determined swaying of the treetops below.
Nora reached out her hand and gripped his tightly. After a moment, he returned the hold with even more fervour, his muscles locking up around her fingers.
Before she could say anything, an ear-splitting, haunting scream echoed through the air, almost sounding like four voices layered on top of one another, howling in agony. Whatever animals had not fled earlier made their move then, escaping the warpath of the formidable Grimm.
"We're going to save them," Nora stated firmly.
"It's going to-"
"And we're stronger than back then. We're going to save Ruby and Jaune, and then we're going to get Qrow out of here."
"Nora-"
"Ren, I am not going to watch my teammates die again!"
Those words shook the boy to the core, and he stared down at her, utterly shocked.
She softened, reaching up to cup his cheek lightly. "We'll look out for each other," she murmured, repeating the sentiment that Jaune had insisted upon before their separation- the sentiment that Ren had shared with her that night in Kuroyuri.
That seemed to break the boy's stupor. "That monster won't take away anything else from us," Ren hissed. He released her hand, and Nora grabbed Magnhild. They didn't have time to find a nice way down, so there was only one real option.
A part of her almost laughed. I guess this is what landing strategies are all about, huh, Professor Ozpin?
She extended the hammer's grip, then placed the hammerhead on the ground, pointing the barrel of the grenade launcher back into the cave. Stepping onto the hammerhead, she left enough room for Ren to join her. Silently, the boy walked onto Magnhild's hammerhead, looping one arm around the hammer's shaft and the other around Nora's waist. She grabbed hold of the arm around her waist, cinching it closer, thanking the heavens for her strength- even though Ren absolutely hated leaping on her hammer, at least she was strong enough to anchor him onto it with ease.
"Let's go."
With that, she pulled the trigger, shooting out an explosive force through Magnhild which sent them flying in a graceful arc through the air straight towards the forest line near the town. The wind whipped past them, their hair and jackets flying back with the sheer acceleration. This was comfortable for Nora. She knew exactly when to step off the hammer and land gracefully. She just had to tell Ren when the best moment to let go of her was, too.
With barely any seconds to spare in their fall, she looked up at Ren. The boy's expression held a mixture of fear, loathing, denial, and pure, unadulterated anger. It was an expression she had never seen from him. Even during the attack on Kuroyuri back when they were children, Ren's smile and calm demeanor was what had helped keep her sane. But this? This wasn't Ren. His eyes glinted manically in the waning afternoon sunlight peeking through the grey, foreboding clouds, and Nora wanted to weep. He looked as if he were ready for vengeance. He looked like a child who had let a wound fester for far too long.
The trepidation in her stomach only grew, and grew, and grew.
She couldn't lose him- she couldn't.
So, Nora begged once again. If there really were two gods who had created Remnant once upon a time, she begged for them to be kind to her for once. She begged them to not take Ren away.
But if they didn't answer, it was up to her to protect Ren. Her grip tightened on Magnhild's handle, heart growing cold, eyes steely with determination. And I won't let him down.