"Hazel! Hazel! Wake up!"

It was not a quiet night; even through the bleariness of the abrupt awakening, Hazel could hear screams in the distance. Some of them were human, some were something else. The room was still dark and Hazel could not tell if the lights were damaged or if his parents had deliberately left them off. He could see a woman standing over his bed, with a toddler in one arm and a spear in the other. Her black hair was worn in a ponytail, and combat armor adorned her body. Hazel looked up at her, "Mom?" he enquired, "what's going on?"

Hazel's mother hesitated, squinting to look out the bedroom window, "You have to watch your sister."

Hazel turned around, trying to see whatever his mother was looking at, but his eyes hadn't yet adjusted to the dark, "what do you mean? Where are you going? Where's dad?"

"The village, it's under attack. Your father, he's already gone out," she paused, hearing a rumbling in the distance, "he's gone to help protect the village."

Hazel sat up, he was still a student, but he knew he had a duty. He reached for his weapon sitting on his bedside, a broad longsword, far too heavy for most people to even pick up. Hazel's semblance gave him a resistance to pain, and although it suited him well for hand-to-hand combat, it often led to injury. As a result, soon after enrolling in Haven, Hazel had a tried to learn how to fight with a weapon, and so far, had made tremendous strides. He looked up at his mother again, as he got out of bed looking for his combat clothing; "What do you need me to do?"

His mother put Chestnut down on the bed, the child still in her pajamas, "watch Gretchen. I need to go out to find your father," she looked out the window again, looking off to the distance, "go to the attic, it'll be safer there."

Now fully dressed, Hazel looked over at his mother again, "I can fight! Don't go out alone!"

His mother looked at him again, "I know. That's why you need to go to attic. Protect your sister."

The teenager looked down; he knew that his sister had to be protected.

"Don't worry Hazel. You're strong, I know you'll do whatever needs to be done." his mother looked at him as she started towards the doorway, she paused, deciding at the moment to reach for the young man and to embrace him in a hug, "know Hazel, I love you. We both do. Know that we are proud of you. Watch Gretchen, make sure to keep her safe," she let go of the hug despite Hazel's subtle efforts to try to get her to linger. His mother gave him and his sister one last glance, then got up to run out the door of the bedroom. Hazel stood there for a moment longer, then reached for his little sister, still sleeping despite all the noise. He walked out of the bedroom and in the main hallway, pulled open the entrance to the attic. It was difficult to climb up with his heavy weapon sheathed and his sister in one hand, but he made it. Once in, he put his sister down in the corner of the attic, on top of some old sheets that were sitting there, and he then closed the attic entrance.

He looked out the attic window, his eyes now finally adjusted to the dark, and he almost looked away. Outside, the village was under attack. Several of the neighboring homes were on fire and small Grimm could be seen wandering the streets. Out the window, he could still hear yelling, but the human sounds were starting to grow faint. Hazel hoped that it was because people were hiding but feared the worst. Then, off in the distance, Hazel spotted his father, surrounded by several beowolves. His father was not a classically trained Huntsman, but as a strong man standing at almost 8 feet tall, he was a formidable opponent to all but the strongest of Grimm. Although unarmed, he was still fighting the Grimm off with his punches and kicks. Hazel watched as the older Rainart punched a charging beowolf, then continued his swing to hit another. To the untrained eye, the man looked unstoppable, but Hazel could see signs of fatigue on the untrained warrior.

A little closer to the house, Hazel saw his mother running towards her husband in the distance. As a former huntress, his mother was better suited for precision fighting; and while her husband was beating off Grimm through sheer force, she was defeating the Grimm on the way through calculated precision strikes. Her spear doubled as a rifle, and Hazel's mother took advantage of that fact whenever she could. With near every swing, she fired a shot into some Grimm in the distance, while continuing the swing to hit one nearby. Hazel watched as she nearly effortlessly made her way to his father in the distance. As the older Rainart man missed with his next punch, Hazel could see the fatigue starting to pile up. Fortunately, it looked like his mother would reach his father before he would totally collapse, and Hazel relaxed a little, until he heard the screech.

Both of his parents heard the screech at the same time, and Hazel was able to follow their gaze to see a large nevermore flying in, landing on a nearby house. His mother hesitated on her path towards her husband; as a former huntress, she was one of the only people in the village with a chance of taking the nevermore on. She waited for only a moment longer, then decided to continue running towards the Rainart patriarch. She knew that the Nevermore would stay for a while longer, and she wasn't sure for how much longer her love would be able to keep off the attacking beowolves.

"What's going on?" Hazel felt a tugging on his tunic. He jolted for a moment, as he had almost forgotten that his sister was there. He looked down, seeing that she was apparently awoken by the loud screech. He kneeled to look at the young child, debating on how much of the truth to tell her.

"Grimm are attacking the village. Mom and dad are outside fighting them off," he said, hoping the bare minimum would suffice.

"Really? I want to see!" the young Gretchen replied, not realizing the gravitas of the situation.

"I don't think you should," Hazel replied, sneaking back a look himself. As he looked over, he saw that their mother had almost reached their father, and he believed that everything would soon be fine. While he was distracted, Gretchen looked out the window herself and gasped. The young child retreated, scared by the situation outside. She went back to the corner of the attic and sat quietly, holding her head in her arms.

Hazel debated with himself as to whether to go back to comfort his sister, or to continue watching the situation outside. As he watched outside, he saw his father tiredly kick away at another beowolf, while his mother ran towards her husband. Hazel started turning around to comfort his sister, but then, he caught the gaze of the nearby nevermore. Hazel immediately ducked down, hoping that the beast didn't see him, but the loud sound of wings flapping confirmed that it did.

He sneaked another peak out the window, and he saw the nevermore was gone from it's old perch. He looked around, but he couldn't spot it, but he did see his mother look back, horrified. She stopped her trek towards her husband, who was finally starting to get overwhelmed by the attacking Grimm. She looked towards Hazel, then back towards her husband. Hazel could see his father yell something to his wife, as the man dropped to his knees. Hazel's mother yelled something back at him and started firing as much as she could at the Grimm surrounding him. She was too late. The Grimm slowly started overwhelming the man as almost a dozen beowolves were wrapped around his body. Hazel had to resist the urge to scream.

The younger Rainart ducked down again; he couldn't watch anymore. With so many emotions running through his head, he tried to suppress them, forcing himself to keep to the task at hand. He reached towards his sister and held her, he had to be strong for her. He hoped that she didn't see what had just happened and feared the conversation when they had to eventually tell her. Both she and Hazel were silent, a quiet understanding between them about the situation they were now in.

He looked out the window once more and saw nothing but Grimm where his father once was. He still couldn't spot the nevermore, no matter where he looked outside. He saw his mother running back towards the home, tears dripping off her face. She was fighting off the Grimm between her and the home with a newfound conviction, but Hazel could see terror in her eyes. He tried to follow her gaze, but it looked like she was looking right at him. Suddenly, the roof was ripped off the house, and Hazel could see the nevermore very clearly.

I wrote a second chapter, which is a flashback. I was planning on writing just one flashback chapter here, but I got into a groove and wrote more than I was anticipating. Again, any feedback is appreciated