Chapter: Ren

'I'm scared…'

The words remind him that his smiling, joyful, best friend still has moments of weakness. That, no matter how many Grimm she ends up riding just to annoy him, she wasn't always this way.

The words may look rounded, but they are sharp. They puff out, but keep his hands from sliding forwards on the weapon. On the underside of StormFlower's barrel, Nora's first words to him are what keep him steady.

Lie Ren's heart tugs every time he sits down and traces the words.

"Come on, Ren," Nora groans plopping down on the bed beside him. She nudges him with her elbow. He smiles and raises an eyebrow at her. "Ugh. We're going to be late! What's got you like this?"

"Nothing," Ren answers with a small laugh. He deactivates StormFlower, sliding it back into place. His second soul mark is the reason it fits so well. He doesn't need to worry about it falling because of the determined, indented word.

'Right.'

"Let's not keep Ruby waiting," Ren continues, letting Nora pull him up.

The orange haired teen starts to ramble excitedly as they exit their dorm.

He's excited too.

It's one thing to have different soul marks. Common, even. But the rare impossibility that happened is enough to keep him smiling every time he glances at StormFlower.

One soul mark for Nora.

One soul mark for Ruby.

And, once he told his best friend, Magnhild's base gained a second soul mark.

Ruby explained her multiple marks, and how she guessed but didn't want to say anything.

Ren couldn't have asked for anything better.

"Hey!" Ruby shouts, waving at them from down the hall. "Come on you guys! The movie starts in half an hour!"

"We're coming, geesh!" Nora says, dragging Ren forwards. "Someone was taking forever to get ready."

Ren smiles at his soulmates. "I'm not the one smuggling food into the theater."

Nora gasps in mock outrage while Ruby laughs. The red haired girl chuckles out a, "Don't worry." Ruby hooks an arm through Nora's and leads the way. She leans in and whispers conspicuously. "I've got the drinks." Ruby winks.

Ren chuckles while Nora cheers, "thata girl!"

He truly couldn't have asked for anything better.

A/N: Thanks for reading!

Thank you, Littlest1, for your review! Hope I did right by them. Thank you for reading and reviewing! I hope you enjoyed the chapter!

Thank you, aRabidHobo, for your review! Glad you're enjoying both this one, and Out of Order. I hope you enjoyed the chapter, and thank you again for reading and reviewing!

So, that's JNPR. Next week will have a set-up chapter, as well as a soul mark chapter. The question I have… who would you rather the soul mark chapter be for?

Options are: Penny, Cinder, or Coco. If Penny or Cinder is chosen, they are followed by another set-up chapter. If Coco is chosen, then the following chapters are for the rest of Team CFVY.

Have a great week, everyone