I failed. I broke our promise….
The guilt had been eating at him for weeks. He couldn't sleep, could barely eat, and was listless throughout the day. Most people hardly noticed his silent brooding, as he rarely said anything anyways. It was just as well. He had no desire to explain to anyone what he was feeling or why, and he doubted that anyone could truly understand anyway. His dreams were haunted by the half-formed Grimm holding Nora in mid-air as he seemingly sucked the very soul from her body. Her inhuman screams woke him in a cold sweat, denying him the hope of any redemption. He had failed her.
"Lie Ren," the quiet, smooth voice brought him out of his brooding and into the present. Ozpin sat across from him, his mug in hand and a thoughtful look upon his face. Off to the side, Glynda watched him with shrewd green eyes.
"Yes, Professor Ozpin?" Ren replied in a dull, monotone voice. Ozpin sighed and took a sip from his mug, then set it down on the worn table between them.
"Guilt is an unforgiving master," Ozpin said softly after a long silence. Ren blinked at him, uncertain at what he was trying to say. "If you continue to bow your head to the guilt, Lie Ren, you will be no good to the school, to your team—but most importantly, to Nora. She still needs you. She is still fighting for her life, and you know that. You are not helping her in this current state."
The words were like a slap in the face. Ren sat up a bit straighter, clenching his hands into fists as he desperately tried to hold back the anger that was welling up within him.
"Everything you do is being affected by your guilt," Ozpin continued mercilessly. "Your grades are slipping, you have been absent from many important classes—and even your own team leader has come to see me, begging me to help him help you. The problem is—I cannot help him. I cannot help you. Only you can do that." Ozpin allowed the words to sit in the air between them for a moment, before continuing. "Think carefully about what you do from now on. Your actions may well decide the fate of your comrade." With those final words, Ozpin rose. He took hold of his mug and his cane in a practiced move and left the room. Ren sat in the silence, all feeling seeping out of him as the implication of those words finally hit him. His actions could determine Nora's fate? How? What could he possibly do? He had already failed her.
Ren rose slowly to his feet, his eyes sweeping the nearly-empty room. Glynda had apparently left with Ozpin, leaving Ren to his thoughts. Without thinking, Ren left the room and found himself eventually outside of the building without really recalling walking. It was evening already. Stars glittered overhead like cold, unforgiving eyes. Ren hurried his steps through the small courtyard and across the path with no real destination in mind. He just needed to move. After a winding, aimless path, he soon found himself before the hospital doors. The lights in the hospital were dimmed in the main areas, but several lights in private rooms shined brilliantly. Immediately, his eyes fell on the one light that mattered.
Without knowing why, he entered the hospital and made his way towards Nora's room. The hospital was eerily silent, the odd cough or sickly sound now and then breaking through only to fall silent again. His own steps sounded thunderous in his own ears. It wasn't long before he found himself standing at the foot of Nora's bed, gazing down at her sleeping face. At times, her face was peaceful as it normally was when sleeping. At other moments, the brow furrowed in puzzlement or pain, or her lips slightly parted as if she wanted to speak. Ren watched her troubled sleep silently, his own thoughts having abandoned him.
"Ren…?" Nora whispered. With a start, he realized that she had cracked her eyelids open only enough to see him. Immediately, he rushed to her side and took her hand in his. She gave it a squeeze.
"I'm here, Nora," he whispered softly as he knelt down to her eye level.
"In the forest…?" she sounded perplexed. She opened her eyes wider, frowning as if she were trying to figure out a very difficult puzzle.
"Forest?" he frowned as well.
"Red…here…so high…" Nora's voice was becoming faint. She muttered more words that he could not catch, then fell back into a slumber. Ren held her hand even tighter, lowering his forehead to it as if to beg her forgiveness. Nora gave a slight whimper, then fell silent. After several moments, her breathing became more regular and relaxed.
"Nora…" Ren lifted his eyes to her now-peaceful sleep. "What can I do? Please…" he stopped abruptly. Slowly he rose to his feet. Something about those words…he crossed his arms, using one hand to stroke his chin in thought as he turned over the recent event in her mind, but the conclusion was one he wasn't sure he could believe. It was a wild possibility. If it was true…
Gently, Ren shook Nora's shoulder until one of her eyes cracked open. "Nora…Nora, you gotta tell me what you see. Tell me!" Her eyes fluttered as if to shut again, but then stayed slightly open.
"Forest…red….high up….could touch the moon…" she whispered.
"What else! This is important, Nora!" Ren pleaded desperately. It was obviously a challenge for her to remain focused and awake. She squeezed her eyes shut as if to focus better.
"Cold…so cold..hungry…want more…" she moaned. "Help me, Ren…please…." Her voice became a soft wail of pain with each word, rising louder and louder until she was finally shouting. "LET GO! LET GO! HELP ME, REEEEN! I DON'T LIKE IT IN HERE!"
Ren immediately drew her into a gentle embrace and cooed soft, encouraging words until she fell silent. A member of the staff had come, but he had waved the nurse away with a quick word of a nightmare. The nurse had left reluctantly, doing so only because everyone knew who he was and why he was there.
After Nora had fallen into another slumber, he tucked her in gently and stood. His choice was now clear: if he wanted to save Nora, he would have to kill that Grimm. With this thought in mind, he turned to leave as quickly as possible. It was a small, quite guttural sound that made him pause at the door. Nora was trying to sit up in the bed, fully awake and staring right at him.
"Nora, lay down," Ren said, perhaps more forcefully than he had intended.
"You're going, aren't you?" she asked simply. Ren nodded. "I'm coming, too."
"You can't even stand," Ren turned fully to face her. "You're place is here. You need to rest and get better."
"You need me!" Nora shook her head violently.
"You can't even lift your own arm, let alone Magnehild. How do you intend to help? You stay here and rest. I will take care of this."
Without waiting for a response, Ren turned and walked through the door quickly, pulling it shut behind him. It was all he could do to keep himself from running. He had little time. He had to do this quickly, and at all costs. Somehow, that Grimm still had Nora. He was going to make sure it let her go, and make it regret ever setting its hellish eyes upon her.
"And just where do you think you're going, brother?" the familiar voice stopped Ren in his tracks, the emphasis on "brother" causing him to cringe like a kid caught with his hand in the cookie jar.
Jaune stepped out from behind a tree, then leaned against it casually. His eyes flashed angrily as he took in Ren's travel-ready appearance. Ren straightened his posture a little and met the gaze without flinching.
"There's something I must do," Ren managed to reply. He had never seen such fierce anger in Jaune's eyes before. It was like he was seeing a completely different person. Jaune pushed himself away from the tree and walked over to Ren with strong, even strides. He stopped less than an arm's length from him, bristling.
"There's something you must do?" Jaune repeated. "Really? You were just going to…going to walk out of here without telling anyone? Without telling your team? Without telling your leader?" Ren involuntarily took a step back.
"This…doesn't concern you…" Ren scowled at his own quivering voice.
"Oh...I see," Jaune said with an almost relaxed wave of his hand. "This doesn't concern me…I get it…."
Without warning, Jaune's fist pulled back and flew, connecting perfectly with Ren's jaw. Ren was lifted up slightly by the blow and knocked back several paces, landing flat on his back. He stared up at the stars in a daze.
"Not my concern!? My teammate is laying half-dead in the hospital, and the other is planning on running away and you say it is not my concern? Did you ever stop to think about how the rest of us are feeling about this? Do you think you are the only one feeling remorse and guilty over what happened?"
"What could you possibly-!?" But Jaune wouldn't let Ren finish the question.
"I'm the leader, remember? I have everything to feel guilt for! It was my decision to split is up; my choice to go in that direction while you went in the other. If I had kept us together…if I had been closer…maybe, just maybe…." Jaune was trembling with his own anger and pain, his eyes squeeze shut as if to block out the thoughts. Then all at once, the anger went out of him and his body relaxed. "But what ifs are just that. We can't change the past. We just have to accept it and do our best in the future." Jaune sighed and extended a hand to Ren. After a moment, Ren took the hand and was hauled to his feet. He rubbed at his jaw a bit to make sure it was still in place.
"He's right, you know," Pyrrha came out of the shadows. "We can't change the past, but we can do all that we can." In her hands, she was carrying Stormflower. She tossed them to him with a small smile. "Really, off to fight Grimm without your weapons or your team? You're slipping, Ren." She winked at him to let him know she was teasing. Ren sheathed his weapons, trying to hide his embarrassment.
"You...you don't know this thing…it is incredibly powerful," Ren pressed.
"All the more reason to go with you," Jaune replied easily.
"I don't even know if it will really help Nora," Ren tried again, trying to hide his desperation. He didn't want to see anyone else on his team get hurt, not like that. The image of Jaune and Pyrrha being sucked into that horribly twisted creature terrified him.
"And I can tell you that you most likely are," Pyrrha responded with confidence. "Weiss and I were discussing some the peculiarities of Nora's talking and behavior and the fact that her aura refuses to replenish. We both believe that the creature feeds on aura and it is trying to drain hers. For some reason, something happened during that process that connected them and kept Nora alive. We think it might have something to do with how her semblance works and the attack the creature used."
Ren sighed his defeat and nodded.
Jaune put his hands on his hips and stood as tall and proud as any knight in armor. "Then we're off to kill the biggest, baddest Grimm of all time!" He turned his impish smile on Ren. "Oh, and…sorry about clocking you in the head like that…" Ren shrugged it off.
"It'll be faster if we take one of the aircrafts," Pyrrha put in.
"None of us can fly those things, though," Jaune frowned. Pyrrha shook her head with a smile.
"No problem. Ozpin already gave us clearance to take one out," she waved a small piece of paper before them. "Seems he anticipated our course of action and decided to help us rather than stop us."
"Well then…let's go!" Jaune stammered out, a little thrown off. The three of them headed off towards the field together at a fast clip. It wasn't what Ren wanted. He wanted his team to stay here at beacon, safe. He wanted the comfort of knowing that Nora would not be left alone. The mission itself was suicide. Most likely, none of them would return and then Nora would be isolated and alone. She might fall in to depression or…Stop that, Ren snapped at himself. Focus on the mission. That is all that she is safe, you can worry about those other things.
"You wanted to see us, Professor Ozpin?" Ruby stood with Weiss, Yang, and Blake before Ozpin's desk in his office. He was staring intently at something on his large scroll, his eyes flicking about at whatever was moving on the screen. After a moment, he finally spoke.
"Yes, I have a special mission for you," he said curtly. "You are to shadow team JNPR. Make sure they do not know you are following them and only break your cover when they are in need of assistance."
"That's it?" Blake asked, baffled.
"Yes. They are heading towards the airfield now. You had better get going." Ozpin returned his gaze to the scroll, a clear sign of dismissal. The four girls edged towards the elevator and rode it down in relative silence.
"Well…this is weird…why are we following them?" Yang wondered aloud.
"Yeah, it's not like they need a babysitter," Blake added.
"Well...most of them, at least," Weiss interjected.
"Who cares?" Ruby piped. "We're going on a mission AND we get to leave the campus! This will be great! We might even get to kill some Grimm!" She grinned at the others. Yang rolled her eyes in mock exasperation. As they chattered about the mission quietly amongst themselves, they made their way quickly through the court yard and towards the airfield. It was a chance wind that knocked Yang's hair into her eyes, forcing her to shift her head and look towards the infirmary.
"Hey…maybe we should stop by Nora real quick…" she said suddenly. The other's stopped and followed her gaze.
"The professor said they were already near the airfield. We might lose them," Blake said skeptically. Ruby was staring at the hospital as well, the wheels visibly turning in her head. After a moment, she nodded.
"Yang's right," she said. "We are supposed to follow team JNPR and part of that team is there. We should stop by real quick. She might know where they are headed, too, or something." Blake and Weiss exchanged looks, then shrugged and agreed.
In a sudden burst of petals, Ruby was off, leaving her team to run to catch up behind her. Weiss couldn't help but voice her complaints about how unfair it was that Ruby would leave her team behind like that, but had a good-humored smile upon her lips.
Warmth…cold…warmth again. Lights flitting and flashing across her eyelids like stars at night. Clouds of red pooling around her feet. Warmth and cold coming and going like rivers flowing against each other. She could see far to the horizon. Hundreds of red clouds billowing around her and vanishing into the distance.
Ren. He was standing before her, bathed in light. It wasn't sun light. Some part of her knew it was a lamp, a light in the hospital, but it gave him an angelic glow. Then he was gone and she was alone in the darkness. Floating and falling. A vast hunger gnawing at her stomach, pulling at her conscious. She knew she must not eat, not that. But she was so hungry and there was so much so close. Glowing brightly like the stars. Dotting the horizon. A promise of a feast.
But that's not me! She thought wildly. She knew who she was. She was Nora Valkyrie! But sometimes she forgot and she was not Nora, but something cold, fully of hatred, and hungry. She would close her eyes only to find them still open. She would open them to find them closed. It was a strange distortion of reality. Sometimes she saw two things—the red clouds and the hospital room. They blended together like a painting smeared over another. She was sure that this time, her eyes were open, so she closed them in the hopes of seeing the warmth and the hospital again. Her vision swam and settled briefly, relief flooding her as she saw mostly hospital and blobs of color that eventually resolved themselves into four girls: Yang, Weiss, Ruby, and Blake. She almost cried with joy.
"Hey, she's awake!" Yang grinned as she waved.
"We just wanted to check in on you before we left," Ruby explained. "We have to find your team right now—seems they are off on a private mission…" Weiss suddenly elbowed Ruby in the ribs to silence her, but Nora hadn't comprehended the words they were speaking. Focusing all her strength into her arms, she threw off the covers and managed to pull out a couple of tubes stuck in her arm.
"What are you doing?!" Yang ran over to try and force her back into bed. Nora fell forward on her knees and managed to crawl a little before Yang grabbed her.
"I'm going," Nora growled. "I must go…" The four girls exchanged confused glances.
"But…how? You can't walk…" Blake reasoned.
"I must…it will eat them…" Nora managed another inch before Yang hauled her to her feet. She looked at the others for direction. Weiss was staring thoughtfully at Nora, her arms crossed over her chest.
"Well," she said finally. "She might have a point."
"Wha!?" the others exclaimed. Weiss lowered her arms and assumed a tone as if she were a teacher with somewhat dense students.
"The Grimm has her aura, so it stands to reason that she should be there when it falls. Proximity might actually play an important role in this," she explained patiently. "Think you can carry her, Yang?" Yang shifted Nora in her arms, then lifted her princess-style.
"Shouldn't be too difficult," Yang replied.
"Weiss, are you sure about this?" Ruby asked skeptically. Weiss shrugged.
"No one is sure about any of this—nothing like this has ever happened. Wouldn't you say it's better to be safe than sorry?" she replied.
"She might have a point," Blake added. Many of the books I read have a similar theme and they often have the same requirement. The authors had to have gotten the idea from somewhere…"
"Then it's decided! Our new mission is to get Nora to her teammates!" Ruby exclaimed excitedly. Yang shifted Nora until she could carry her comfortably, and the four girls set off with their burden towards the airfield. Nora held on to Yang weakly, struggling with all her might to keep herself focused and in the here and now. She didn't want to go back to that cold, dark, hungry place. She wanted to stay here, where it was light and warm and the strength of her friends surrounded her. She had to hang on. Just a little longer…