"Get up!" The shouting made Hazel shoot upright. Gretchen did the same in her bed, just across the room. Their father was there at the door, covered in sweat and soot with a wild look in his eyes that Hazel had never seen before.

Gretchen climbed out of her bed. "What's going on?"

"We have to go." Their father said without offering any explanation. "Now. We don't have time to waste."

"But—" Gretchen started, sounding just as concerned and confused as Hazel felt. "What's—"

"We don't have time to talk." Their father grumbled, grabbing onto Gretchen's hand and pulling her along behind him. Hazel got up and ran after the two of them, afraid for what was happening.

As soon as he was out of their room he heard what was happening.

Shouting, for one. Panicked and loud and frenetic to the point where Hazel could almost feel the panic begin to set in for him as well.

"Dad?" Hazel asked, bitter fear clutching onto him and burrowing its way down into his chest so intensely that he couldn't possibly ignore it. His entire body felt cold.

They got outside of the cabin and saw that there was a gathering of people from the village there. Off in the distance, on the horizon Hazel saw the bright red glow of fire.

"Bandits." Was the only explanation given. "We have to leave now, before they find all of us."

Gretchen's eyes went wide as her gaze darted between their father and the flames, realizing just how bad things were. She stepped forward, her hands out and too confident for her own good. "Let me—"

"No!" Their father shouted. "You're going to sit down, you're going to be quiet, and you're going to get out of this with everyone else."

"I can help!" Gretchen protested. "Please, just let me—"

Hazel reached out and grabbed onto his sister to pull her back before she could continue to argue with their father.

"Gretchen," Hazel hissed into his sister's ear. "We have to stay low, and—"

"No, please—" She pulled away from him so hard that Hazel couldn't help but lose his grip on his sister. "Dad, you know I can help. You know I'm good enough!"

"It's not a good idea."

Hazel watched his sister's expression flatten into anger. "But I'm a—"

"A child." Their father said. He looked from the two of them to the crowd of villagers that had gathered. "Get into the cart. Both of you. We don't have time for this."

Hazel tugged at his sister's arm. "Come on." He grumbled for her to hear. She shot him a look of absolute betrayal and then looked from Hazel to their father instead.

"What happens then?" She was all but shouting. "We get int the cart and we go where? Vale?"

Their father didn't answer. Neither did any of the villagers.

"Shouldn't we try to fight?"

There was a moment of quiet, punctuated only by the sounds of chaos from where the village was. "The longer we're here, the more likely they are to notice us." Their father ordered. A large cracking sound rang through in the distance. "And the longer we're here, the more likely we are to have to fight the grimm."

Hazel wrapped his arms around his sister, knowing that the absolute worst thing he could have done was let go. He pulled his sister towards the cart, even as she thrashed against him. "I can save them—" Gretchen gasped as Hazel pulled her. "Come on, I can—"

"Gretchen!" Hazel snarled at his sister. "We have to focus on running, and surviving."

She glared back at him and grit her teeth before she thrashed out of Hazel's arms and began the sprint towards the village. Everyone seemed to realize what was happening all at once. The villagers came to the understanding of just what was happened, and then before Hazel could start after his sister their father was already doing the same.

Gretchen was going to get herself killed.

No, Hazel realized belatedly.

She was going to get herself and their father both killed.

All at once, Hazel realized that he only had one choice himself.

He launched himself from the cart and broke into a sprint after his sister, his heart pounding too hard in his chest and tears already beginning to well up in his eyes because the reality of what he was certain was about to happen was too heavy for him to ever be able to survive it.

One thing hadn't changed since he and Gretchen were kids. She was still fast, and agile. Their father was able to keep up with her for the most part though. Hazel, as always, struggled to keep up with his family but he had no choice but to force himself to try.

Gretchen kept looking back over her shoulder at the rest of them, like she was determined to get as far away from the rest of her family as she possibly could.

"Gretchen!" Their father shouted for her to slow down and come back, the reality of what they were running towards having been almost forgotten all at once.

Off somewhere in the distance, Hazel thought he heard a roar.

Grimm.

"Gretchen!" He called as well. "Stop!"

She turned quickly, landing on top of a log with the flaps of her coat blowing in the wind as she stood there. Her head whipped around just as their father met the same area as her.

Up ahead, Hazel saw his family.

He also saw black shadows among the treetops.

Without knowing what else he was supposed to do, Hazel shouted for his family to see what he had.

Their father was first to act, putting himself in closer to Gretchen because she was the one that was closer. He drew his bow off of his back, and Hazel felt everything in him go cold at the realization that there weren't going to be enough arrows for him to fight off a number of grimm. There weren't going to be enough arrows if the bandits noticed them either.

And Gretchen…

The grimm drew in closer and close, Hazel sprinted forward because he needed to do something, anything, he had to help somehow.

The first arrow was nocked and drawn, their father taking aim at one of the grimm that were up in the treetops.

"Get down!" The man shouted. "Both of you."

Gretchen didn't move though, she just stared up at the grimm in the treetops like she was going to fight them, even though she was only thirteen like Hazel was.

She was going to die.

They were all going to die.

Hazel sprinted towards his sister, hopeful that he'd be able to convince her to step down, to live another day, to be there with him in the morning when the time came to wake up, if they ever got to wake up.

But Gretchen's eyes began to glow, the flames licking out of the corners of them and all at once everything in that forest changed. The wind whipped around them so hard that Hazel could feel his clothing beginning to tear. He dropped his head down in an attempt to protect himself from it as the leaves began to cut like daggers, flying up, up, up into the treetops.

The amount of smoke that began to rise up from where they were was too much.

Hazel looked up to see that Gretchen was there, hovering feet off of the ground as she used her powers, whatever they were.

Their father was running towards Gretchen, even though she was above him and not seeming to pay any attention to them. But as he ran, she looked down and Hazel couldn't see anything in his sister's eyes. Her expression twisted into one of anger and then she was flying towards the village to try and save it.

"Dad?" Hazel looked over at his father.

"She can't take them." His father said, breathless. "She's going to—"

Hazel understood. "We have to go after her." He pushed himself up to his feet, as terrified as he was resolute in knowing that he had to get out to his sister. They had to save her, to stop her, to do something.

His father gave him a look, one that Hazel hadn't seen in a long time. It was the one that demanded that he be the responsible one among the twins. It was the one that said you're the one that has to lead.

"You can't fight." Their father told him.

"She's my sister." Hazel growled back, and then he was sprinting in the same direction that his sister had flown in.

It was seconds before Hazel heard his father's footsteps behind him, running in the same direction and towards the same, likely forsaken goal.