There's blood all over his hands and the body is just too heavy for him to carry. When the Grimm had left, apparently sated, he'd meant to come back and give everyone a proper burial. But even working together, there's no way they could do that.

At the very least, he wanted to bury his father. At least he thinks this body is his. There's no way to be sure, since it's missing most of the head and torso. He would have liked to bury his mother too, but he can't move the rubble covering her.

He can't really do anything after all. Dimly, he knows he's acting far too calm about all of this.

Probably because it's a dream.

Life on the move is starting to get to him.


Ren and Nora used to live like this, moving from village to village, scavenging whatever they could find, until they were able to enter a low level Huntsman Academy. Since then, they'd just lived in the dorms, off any scholarships they were able to get. He'd thought he'd moved past the nightmares and the paranoia, but a few nights sleeping in the open was driving him crazy. At least internally. He's usually very good at keeping calm.

Ruby is doing her best. But there's an awkwardness around the four of them. She hangs around their outskirts, falling silent when they slip into their familiar conversations. She's not really a part of Team JNPR, and they're not really a part of Team RWBY. Part of him wonders if she was hoping to use them as temporary replacements for her team, maybe not consciously. He could probably pull off a Blake impression if he tried, but they never really talked. They exchanged books a few times, and he felt like they had an understanding. That is, they understood that both of them weren't all that talkative around other people and maintained a comfortable silence.

Ren didn't think anyone on JNPR was even thinking of Ruby replacing Pyrrha. It would be impossible. Her gentle smile, her constructive criticism, how ruthless she got during late night board games… It was unfair to expect anyone to replace her. Still, sometimes it was hard, seeing a flash of red cloth out of the corner of his eyes. He almost slips up, sometimes, when he's absentmindedly cooking breakfast. He's never been a morning person, and he's been sleeping worse and worse the closer they get to Mistral.

At night they've been sleeping in a circle around the fire, and the nights seem so cold.


They hit their first village a week in, trying to find an airship that will take them across the ocean. The inn offers them a free room in exchange for ridding the area of a pack of Beowolves. It's easy work. Or at least it should be.

They've barely had a chance to discuss their strategy when Ruby vanishes, rose petals wafting around them. Panic immediately bursts in his chest, and he takes off running, Nora and Jaune alongside of him. He can see the fear in their eyes.

By the time they catch up, she's killed most of them. The three of them work fast, Nora leaping into the air and springing off Jaune's shield- they do not have to talk. Ren is already in the trees leaping from branch to branch providing cover fire. Ruby flashes them a victory sign, and Ren's pretty sure Jaune is about to explode.

Nora intervenes before he can start yelling.

"Ruby, come on. Can you at least tell us before you run off?" Her voice is cheerful but Ren knows her- she's pissed.

Jaune is trembling, and Ren slips down from the treetops and puts an arm around him.

"Oh, uh, sorry-" Ruby says, noticing their pale faces, and the fear in their eyes. "It's just with RWBY, I'm the fastest so I'm used to scouting ahead. I didn't think."

Jaune swallows his anger like nasty medicine and sighs.

"No, it's okay. Just- look, communication is really important to us. We haven't been fighting together, so we're not used to each other's strategies. We'll just have to keep working at it, okay?"

And he flashes a smile that bright and cheerful and cute and almost like the old Jaune but not really.

Ren guesses that might be as close as he'll ever get back to normal.


The inn is warm and homey, and sleeping in an actual bed is, according to Nora, like, pretty much the best thing ever, and Ren agrees. The innkeeper puts them across the hall from each other, luckily, and the rooms are pretty nice. It reminds him a little bit of Beacon, but without all of their posters and Jaune whimpers in his sleep. He never used to do that.

The room is silent for a long time before he speaks up.

"Are you okay over there?" He asks, and Jaune just covers his face with a pillow and sighs.

"It's weird without Nora here," he admits. "I've gotten used to her." That's not entirely true, Ren knows. Someone else is missing too.

"Jaune, you don't have to pretend. You haven't slept well in a long time." None of them had, really.

"Yeah, I know. I just- Man, everything's just wrong." And Ren can relate. He's never been very good at reading the mood, and he's bad at understanding people besides Nora, but he thinks he understands Jaune.

"Would you like me to come over there?" He asks, not entirely sure of what he's hoping to accomplish with this. Jaune is quiet.

"Yeah, actually, that would be nice," he says, scooting over to make room. Ren slips out of the covers and pads silently across the floor. The beds are probably a little small for the two of them, but it's fine. He awkwardly wraps his arm around Jaune, and Jaune snuggles a little closer. He can feel his heart beating, and it's comforting. He guesses Jaune must feel the same way, because he drifts off to sleep a few minutes later.

He understands the feeling, and even after all these years he still doesn't like being alone at night. It's too quiet, too dark, and too isolating. Sometimes, he thinks as he drifts off to sleep, you just need to know that someone else is alive.