Happy Chinese New Year everyone, I'm back and finally ready to release this bonus chapter about the past and backstory of Ren and Nora that I've been working on for a very long time, and now I've finally gotten around to finishing it. I know that I'm really late in releasing this and that the canon backstory for Ren and Nora has already been revealed in the series, thus making this whole thing seem kind of pointless, but I still really want to release this version of their backstory that I had in mind. I was hoping to have this chapter finished much earlier, before Ren and Nora's canon backstory was revealed so that the mystery of their past would still remain intact. Even if this version of their backstory is not canon, I hope that you will all still enjoy my own personal take on it. Knowing some of the events from their canon backstory now, I even made a few minor tweaks and adjustments to this one so that the two versions could still somewhat fit together in a vague way and overlap with each other.
As the group of Ruby and her friends continued making their way down the road that led through the countryside of Mistral, Ren finally awoke from his unconscious state and was surprised to find himself being carried on Nora's back.
"Nora, is that you?" asked Ren, still disorientated and half asleep.
"Boop." said Nora, tapping Ren on the nose with her finger.
"It's good to see you too Nora." said Ren, smiling.
"Rise and shine sleepy head!" said Nora enthusiastically as the sun was now beginning to rise in the distance.
"I guess this means we lost to that Grimm?" asked Ren.
"Yup, we got our butts kicked." said Nora, casually. "But the others were able to beat those two Grimm Brothers in the end and chase them off."
"That's good to hear." said Ren. "Even if we did lose."
"You're finally awake Ren." said Ruby, who appeared right next to them along with Hans and Weiss. "We were beginning to wonder if your injuries were more serious than we first thought."
"It's nothing too bad." said Ren, noticing that Hans was in the same situation he was in, being carried by Ruby on her back. "My entire body is just aching all over is all."
"Is that supposed to be sarcasm?" asked Weiss. "I can never tell with you Ren."
"It's sarcasm." said Hans, answering Weiss' question. "Can't you tell?"
"Of course I can." said Weiss, who obviously could not tell, but was too embarrassed to admit it.
"That reminds me Ruby, I almost forgot to give these back to you." said Hans, reaching around to his traveling pack and pulling out a pair of stockings, and then reaching his arm over Ruby's shoulders to hand them over to her. "All the holes and tears are patched up now."
"Thanks a lot Hans." said Ruby, stopping for a moment to take off her shoes and slide the stockings onto her legs. "Now I can finally put them back on. My legs have been really cold ever since I took them off."
"Finally, it's about time you got those things fixed!" said Weiss, letting out a sigh of relief upon noticing that Ruby's stockings no longer had any tears in them. "All those holes in your stockings would always drive me nuts every time I'd see them. How did you fix them anyway?"
"I had Hans sew them up for me while we were on our way to Haven." said Ruby.
"Hans sewed them up?" asked Weiss, surprised. "I didn't know he could sew stuff."
"I can, and I'm pretty good at it too." said Hans. "One of the skills we had to learn at Signal Academy was how to repair and maintain our equipment, including how to sew up any damage that might occur to our clothes."
"I was never really any good at sewing though." said Ruby. "That's why I usually had Hans help me with it in the past when I needed my clothes fixed. He even once made me a teddy bear for my birthday with his sewing skills. I still have it laying around somewhere in my room. I'm surprised Zwei hasn't chewed it up by now."
"Aww, that's so sweet." said Nora. "I wish someone could do that for me."
"I did it because I felt bad for her." said Hans, now turning red from embarrassment. "Everyone else was able to make one in our arts and crafts class except for her."
"Where are we going now anyway Nora?" asked Ren, coming in and changing the subject, because he knew that the "someone" who Nora was referring to was most likely him. "Back to Haven?"
"Something like that." said Nora. "We're going to meet up with some of the other students and instructors from Beacon that have been gathering in Mistral. You can ask Ruby's uncle Qrow for all the details later."
"I see, that should be interesting." said Ren.
"Try to get so rest okay." said Nora. "We'll need you in tip-top shape for what's coming next."
"Anyway, I wonder what Yang is up to right about now?" asked Ruby. "It's been a while since we've heard from her. Maybe we should give her a call when we get back to Haven and see how she's doing?"
"Sounds good to me." said Hans. "I can't wait to tell her about all the things we've done since the last time we saw her."
"She'll probably be jealous that she's missing out on all the fun with everybody." said Ruby.
After traveling for some time down the road, the landscape and terrain began to change from open countryside to dense forest, with various old stone shires scattered throughout it, which Ren seemed to take notice of.
"You know, this place kind of reminds me of our old home." said Ren, reminiscing with Nora now that they were far enough away from the others to be heard.
"It sort of does feel familiar." said Nora. "But it's not like "that" place is really anything to feel nostalgic over."
"So you still have some bad memories of those times?" asked Ren, looking at an old scar on Nora's back that was partially covered by her shirt. "As much as I hate to admit it, if it had never been for "him" then we probably never would have even met in the first place."
"That's at least one good thing that came out of it." said Nora.
"I wonder what he's up to these days anyway?" said Ren. "He's probably still out there doing what he always does. I doubt he's changed at all."
"Luckily we won't ever have to see his ugly face again." said Nora, feeling somewhat uncomfortable. "Isn't that right Lie?"
"It's been a long time since you've called me that." said Ren, surprised.
"But isn't that the name your were born with?" asked Nora. "The one your clan gave you? It's a part of who you are."
"But I don't like being called by that name anymore." said Ren. "It brings back too many painful memories, and it reminds me of everything that I hated about them."
"Even so, that doesn't change the fact that they're your family, no matter how messed up they may be." said Nora. "Their blood flows inside you too."
"I can't stand the thought of it." said Ren, almost in disgust. "To think that I'm related to those demons, I'm nothing like them at all."
"You didn't forget what they did to me, did you?" asked Nora, her personality now turning uncharacteristically dark and serious. "How they killed my parents and made me their servant for all those years?"
"I haven't forgotten Nora." said Ren, mournfully. "I could never forget."
"Not to worry though, because that's all in the past now, right?" said Nora, suddenly changing back into her happy and cheery personality in an almost jarring manner. "It doesn't matter anymore because you're my only family now Ren. Because we're together-together, right?"
"Yeah, together-together." said Ren, sadly looking off into the distance as he recalled the events of his past.
Throughout the continent of Anima and the Kingdom of Mistral within, there could be found a wide variety of people from all walks of life, ranging from the good, to the bad, and somewhere in between. Among the worst of these was a group of individuals known as the Yaoguai Clan, a collection of some of the most vicious assassins, killers, bandits, and thieves. For several centuries, the Yaoguai Clan has been considered the Scourge of Mistral, plaguing those who lived in and around the Kingdom through their raiding, pillaging, and looting of whatever towns and settlements they came across. They were greatly feared by both humans and faunus alike, with some even believing them to be neither, and that they were actually demons in human form. In fact, just the mere mention of their name was often enough to make most people hide away in fear, afraid that the Yaoguai Clan would soon ride into their village and slaughter them all.
Whether it was done for hire or for sport, there was one thing that the Yaoguai Clan enjoyed above all else, killing, and they were exceptionally skilled at it and often took it to extreme lengths. They didn't care who they killed as long as they got a thrill out of it, and in recent years they've even assassinated members of both the Schnee Dust Company and the White Fang as part of the jobs they had taken on, making enemies out of both organizations. As result of their activities throughout the continent of Anima, the Yaoguai Clan eventually came to gain a substantial amount of power and influence within the areas outside the Kingdom of Mistral, and they used it to their advantage, often constructing many different fortresses and settlements from which they would base their power. At one point the leaders of the clan even attempted to build their own town where they could at last settle down, but it turned out to be a colossal failure after it came under attack by the Grimm. Despite their reputation among the people of Anima, even the clan was susceptible to Grimm attacks ever now and then. Even so, their depravity and brutality knew no bounds, which eventually led to some people believing the myth that at some point in their past, the original members of the Yaoguai Clan had done the unthinkable by consuming the flesh and blood of a living Grimm as part of some sort of forbidden black magic ritual in in the hopes of gaining their powers and abilities, which resulted in their twisted and demonic nature, as well as their characteristic trait of jet-black hair among all its members.
However, not every member of the Yaoguai Clan was as vicious and blood thirsty as many people believed, and occasionally there would be some individuals born within the clan who disagreed with their violent way of life and refused to kill innocent people. Individuals such as these who refused to kill usually did not survive long within the clan, often meeting their ends in battle at the hands of the clan's numerous enemies. One of these meeker and more timid individuals who originated from the Yaoguai Clan was a boy by the name of Lie Ren. Although he was born as the son to one of the clan's leaders, Lie despised his clan's vicious and bloodthirsty ways, which often led to him being shunned by the other members of his clan, unlike his older brother Lee Ren, who had an unnatural love and talent for killing people, which he greatly enjoyed doing. Many members of the clan believed that Lee was destined to one day become its future leader, being one of their most skilled and dangerous assassins.
For as long as he could remember, Lie and his brother Lee had never gotten along, mostly because Lee was often very cruel and abusive towards him, causing Lie to form a strong resentment and dislike for his older brother. In fact, Lie absolutely despised him, and always tried to make an effort to spend as little time around him as he possibly could. Even though they were family, that didn't stop Lee from doing some truly despicable things to his younger brother. From using him as a meat shield in battle, to using him as a test dummy for his new fighting techniques, to leaving him at the bottom of a deep spike pit overnight as punishment for failure and weakness, to using him as bait to attract the Grimm by wrapping a rope around his feet and dragging him along the ground as he rode on his horse, to strapping him to a spinning target as he threw knives and darts within inches of his body for target practice, to abandoning him in dangerous Grimm infested wildness in order to see if he could survive and make his way back home. Lie had absolutely no love for his brother and hated how he treated him, but there was really nothing he could do about it, because he was weak, while Lee was strong, and the other clan members paid no attention to Lie's plight and often laughed at him and mocked him as they watched from the sidelines, simply viewing it as survival of the fittest, which was the universal law of all the people who lived outside the borders of the Kingdoms.
All Lie could do was survive by toughening his spirit and letting go of all his emotions, and with each act of torture and abuse that his twisted and deranged brother inflicted upon him, he could feel himself becoming stronger, both in mind and body, and it was almost as though this were his clan's harsh way of preparing him for the life of an assassin. Lie's parents had high hopes for Lee's future, while Lie on the other hand did not seem like he would be able to live up to their standards, but even so they still expected him to follow the family tradition and become an assassin like his brother. Even though his parents still cared for him and only wanted the best for their son, Lie had no desire whatsoever to become an assassin. Many times in the past he contemplated running away and beginning a new life, as some members of the clan had occasionally done in the past, but each time he found that he just did not have the courage to do it, and was afraid that his clan would easily be able to catch him and bring him back. This was a very likely outcome, because Lie had already been taught several of the clan's secret assassination techniques by his family, so there was no way that they would ever allow him to leave with that knowledge. Feeling hopeless and seeing no way out, Lie simply accepted that it was his fate to become an assassin who would fight and die for the clan, as was expected of him. What Lie never expected however was that on one fateful day, he would meet someone who would help set him on the path to finally leaving the life of an assassin behind and finding a new path in life, that of a Huntsman.
The day started out just as any other had for Lie Ren, with this day in particular being another one in which his clan had decided to go out raiding for food and supplies, bringing Lie along with them to help. His older brother Lee commanded the raiding party as they attacked a small village in the mountains, and as per usual they were especially bloodthirsty and took things to an extreme degree. During the raid, Lie mostly kept to the back of the group as he always did, not wanting to get caught in the front lines where it would be more dangerous for him, but he also wanted to make sure to stay as far away from his brother as possible whenever he went into his blood-lusted state during the heat of battle. After Lee and the others had already taken care of most of the enemies, Lie slowly made his way into the village as well, armed with only a kunai as he quietly snaked his way through the ruins in search of food, valuables, and other spoils of war to collect and bring back home.
As Lie carried a large bag of his findings with him, he approached the ruins of another house, and as he did so he could hear what sounded like the cries of a child. Upon turning the corner and seeing where it was coming from, he spotted a little girl with orange hair, about the same age as he was, distraught and kneeling over the dead bodies of a man and a woman who both resembled her, likely her parents who had been slain in the attack. As Lie approached, the girl immediately noticed him and dashed off in fear, hiding within the ruins of her home.
"You have nothing to fear from me." said Lie, calling out to the girl. "It's alright, I won't hurt you."
"Please don't kill me." said the girl, sobbing and afraid.
"Don't worry, I'm not like those other guys that came through here earlier." said Lie. "I'm just collecting supplies like they told me to do. You're lucky it was me you came across and not my psychopathic brother."
"Go away." said the girl, throwing rocks and pieces of debris towards Lie.
Looking at this girl in her pathetic state, Lie could not help but feel bad for her, and he began to feel some degree of sympathy. After a moment's contemplation, Lie finally responded back to the girl.
"The rest of my clan will be back any minute now once they're done taking care of everyone else here." said Lie. "If you want to live, get out of here while you still can. Now is your chance, make a break for those woods nearby."
The girl stood there for a minute, not sure of what do next, and was debating as to whether she could trust Lie's words and follow his advice, or if they might just be a trick that would lead her to her death. The girl took too long to decide however, and because of that it was now too late. Lie could hear the sound of footsteps approaching from around the corner and coming towards them, and before they even spoke Lie knew exactly who it was.
"Yo Lie, what's taking you so long?" asked his older brother Lee as he appeared from around the corner, sounding annoyed. "Did you find anything good? The others have almost finished cleaning this place out."
"I did find a few useful things we could take back with us." said Lie, turning away from the girl's direction and hoping that Lee would not see her. "I think we're done here, let's go home now."
"Alright, we'll load what you found onto the horses." said Lee.
As they started to walk away, a noise that sounded as though something had fallen over came from ruins of the nearby house, causing Lee to quickly turn around, leading to him spotting the little girl as she tried to sneak away.
"What's this now?" asked Lee, surprised. "A survivor?"
"Forget about her." said Lie. "This one isn't a threat."
The girl stood there frozen in fear, staring right at Lee, and then a look of sadness and anger began to form on her face.
"You..." said the girl, glaring at Lee with hatred in her eyes. "You killed my mommy and daddy!"
"You mean those two corpses over there?" said Lee, pointing to the two bodies from before. "What of it?"
"Why did you have to kill them?" asked the girl, tears streaming down her face. "What did they ever do to you?"
"It was nothing personal." said Lee, nonchalantly. "They were in my way, so I killed them."
Unable to control her rage, the girl quickly grabbed the closest blunt object she could find, which was her father's blacksmith hammer laying on the ground nearby, and charged towards Lee with it, swinging it wildly. Not expecting this, Lee was caught off guard as the girl slammed the hammer against his knee, causing him to fall to a kneel with one leg. Now fired up from the pain, Lee retaliated by sending the girl flying with a kick from his other leg before she could hit him again.
"You've really done it now." said Lee, angrily. "Now I'm pissed off."
"Come on Lee, let's just leave her and go." said Lie, trying to convince Lee as he began to make his way towards the girl. "She's just a child, there's no need to kill her too."
As Lee approached her, the girl slowly began to rise from the ground and charged towards him again for another swing with the hammer.
"This one is tough." said Lee. "She's got spirit, I'll give her that. But spirit can easily be broken."
With one strong glare from his eyes, a heavy pressure radiated outward from Lee and into the surrounding area, causing the girl to immediately drop the hammer and fall flat to the ground, unable to resist the power of Lee's terrifying aura. Lee now drew his blade from its sheath as walked over to the girl and stood beside her as she struggled to move, ready to finish her off.
"It's not worth it Lee." said Lie, begging him to stop. "You've already beaten her. She has no way of fighting back now."
"Even if I did let her go, it's not like she'll last too long on her own." said Lee. "Pretty soon this place will be swarming with Grimm, and she'll be their next meal. Look at her, she's pathetic. I might as well put her out of her misery now."
"Why do you always have to be so cruel?" asked Lie. "What's the point of it anyway?"
"You just don't get it Lie, do you?" said Lee. "Even if we did let her go and she were somehow able to survive on her own, she'll just become a problem for us later on down the line. What do you suppose she'll want to do next once that happen? I can't even begin to count all the stories I've heard from other clan members about how they've have spared children in the past after taking pity on them, only for those same children to later grow up and seek revenge against them by taking their heads. You know that's how it usually goes Lie. That's why we should just save ourselves the trouble of having to deal with all of that in the future by nipping it in the bud."
Lee raised his blade into up the air and got ready to strike, but before he could Lie jumped in front of him and flung his body on top of the girl.
"I won't let you!" shouted Lie, shielding the girl with his body and causing Lee to stop his blade. "We've killed enough people today!"
"You've always been too soft Lie." said Lee, scolding his brother. "This is why you'll always be weak and why our parents don't think you'll make it as an assassin."
"I don't care about being an assassin." said Lie. "Not if it means having to do something like this."
Lee stood there for a moment, looking upon his brother and the little girl with disgust and contempt, but then the look on his face quickly changed, as if he suddenly had a brilliant idea come to mind, but based on past experience Lie knew that he probably would not like it, whatever it was.
"I've got an idea." said Lee, grinning menacingly. "Our clan has been running a little short on warriors recently, so we need to gain some more. With her potential, it would be a waste to just kill her, so why don't we take her back with us? If we make her a part of the clan and train her, she'll make a fine warrior one day."
"So we're taking her back with us as a captive?" asked Lie, getting up off the ground.
"Since you seem to be so fond of her Lie, maybe she could even become your future wife." said Lee, jokingly.
"My what!?" asked Lie, flustered and embarrassed.
"Keep this in mind though, she'll be your responsibility from now on." said Lee, now taking on a more stern and serious tone. "If she starts any causing trouble for us in the future, then it'll be your problem to deal with, not mine, so don't blame me if she tries to kill you."
As Lee finished speaking, he released the hold of his aura on the girl, and she began to rise from the ground. Before she could even think of trying anything, Lee jabbed her in neck muscle with two of his fingers, a move which caused the girl to suddenly feel an overwhelming sensation of sleepiness. Before she completely lost consciousness, Lee felt a slight electric shock as he pulled his fingers away, causing him to jump back in surprise.
"What's happened Lee?" asked Lie, confused.
"It's nothing." said Lee, looking away. "I just got shocked by some static electricity is all. The weather out here is pretty cold and dry today, so that's probably why."
"That's weird." said Lie. "I didn't notice any static when I was out gathering supplies here."
"Here, take her." said Lee, handing the unconscious girl over to Lie, and in return taking the bag of spoils from his brother. "Let's get going already. The others are probably waiting for us and are ready to leave. You better not fall behind, or I'll leave you and that girl here for the Grimm."
The two brothers then started to quickly make their way out of the village and back towards the location where the rest of their clan members were waiting for them, Lie carrying the girl with him the whole time. As he carried the sleeping girl in his arms, Lie began to wonder just what exactly it was that he had gotten himself into.
Not everyone within the Yaoguai Clan was related by blood, with some of its members actually originating from the numerous other lands in which the clan operated. The practice of taking captives and prisoners after their raids was not uncommon among the clan, as they often did so in order to increase the number of their warriors and slaves, and a great many of those who they captured eventually assimilated into the clan themselves and became full members. Whenever clan members were in need of a spouse, they would often take them by force, both male and female alike, from the many towns and villages that they attacked, and many of those who were kidnapped by the clan as children would often grow up to view the clan as their only family, this now being the only way of life they now knew. Unfortunately for the little girl that Lie and his brother had captured and brought back with them, such a fate now very likely awaited her as well. After bringing her back with them, the girl awoke to find herself within a small room and some food and clothes laid out on the ground next to her. Upon getting up, see took a look around and examined the place, and noticed Lie standing by the doorway.
"Hi there." said Lie, greeting her shyly. "Sorry about what happened back at your village. I tried to help you escape, but my brother just had to show up at the worst possible time. Now I guess you're stuck with us. I know things might seem bad at, but just try to make the best of it."
Without saying anything, the girl walked up to Lie and paused, and then proceeded to punch him square in the face.
"You jerk!" yelled the girl. "It's not enough that your clan killed my family, but you had to take me prisoner too?"
"I'm sorry." said Lie, sadly. "There was nothing else I could do."
"I hate all of you!" yelled the girl, crying. "You and your entire messed up clan!"
"I know." said Lie, not moving an inch as the girl continued to pummel him with her fists. "So do I..."
Lie stood there for a while and took the girl's angry blows, feeling an immense sense of guilt within him over what he and his clan had done to her village. Lie did not try to resist her punishment, because deep down inside he knew that he deserved it just as much as everyone else in his clan did. After a while, the girl tired herself out and eventually stopped, and Lie left her alone in the room, after which the girl proceeded to cry her eyes out. From now on, the girl belonged to the Yaoguai Clan, and she would now be their servant.
Although the girl had received a room of her own within the clan's fortress, it was little more than a cell, and it was there that she lived and slept whenever she was not busy with performing menial labor for the members of Lie's clan, who all treated her like a slave. The first few weeks of her stay with the clan continued on like this as their prisoner. Even though she barely spoke to anyone there, the girl never seemed to lose her strong willed personality or the fire in her spirit, which was what kept her going despite her situation. This however was mostly a facade to hide the fact that she was actually bottling up all of her anger and hatred towards the clan during the day, which she had to occasionally let loose. The one person whom she emptied all of her rage onto was Lie, who she would often beat up and attack whenever he brought her food, realizing that he was the weakest among the clan and would be an easy target for her to exact her revenge on, no matter how small, for her current situation. Whenever she did this, Lie did not try to resist at all, always taking it instead and viewing it as a form of punishment for his clan destroying her village and killing her parents.
At night however was when things were different for the girl, because whenever she was alone in her room she would often cry herself to sleep, if she could sleep at all, and she often had terrible nightmares as a result of greatly missing her dead parents, having developed a severe separation anxiety that she kept hidden during the day. Lie saw all of this when she thought nobody was around, and he could not help but feel absolutely terrible about it, and he sometimes wondered whether he should have just let his brother kill her in order to spare her this fate. Knowing all of this, Lie tried his best to make her happy and comfortable, and gradually the little girl started to see Lie as less and less of a threat and began to realize that he was different from the rest of his clan members and treated her kindly. With each visit that Lie paid her, she started to warm up to him, and eventually started to talk to him, something which she had barely done ever since she had first arrived.
"I've brought your dinner." said Lie, entering the room with a tray of food. "Don't worry everything is safe now, so there's no need to hurt me."
"So it's you again." said the girl, emerging from behind a wooden post and quickly grabbing the tray, proceeding to devour everything on it.
"If you want, it could just be me that brings you your food." said Lie. "That way you don't have to deal with those other jerks."
"This still doesn't change the fact that I hate all of you for what you did." said the girl.
"I know." said Lie, looking sadly at the girl.
"Then why do you even bother treating me so nicely?" asked the girl. "It's not like it will change anything about my situation. I'm just a servant to all of you, nothing more."
"Because I refuse to be like them." said Lie. "I won't become someone who preys on the weak and innocent. I don't want to become a killer like the rest of my clan members are."
"Then why don't you just run away if you hate them so much?" asked the girl. "It should be easy for you since you aren't locked up like I am."
"Where would I even go?" asked Lie. "I don't know any other place but here. I wouldn't even survive one day out there on my own. This life here is all that I know, whether I like it or not."
"Then you're just as much of a prisoner as I am." said the girl. "You're trapped here just like me."
"I guess you're right." said Lie. "But I'm mostly trapped here because of my own weakness. I don't even have the courage to run away."
"I'm sorry I beat you up earlier." said the girl, now feeling somewhat sorry for Lie.
"Why would you be?" asked Lie. "I deserve it, both for being weak, and for what my clan did to your family."
"When we first met, I didn't realize you were just trying to help me." said the girl. "I was just so mad at the unfairness of my whole situation, and that was the only way I really knew how to express my frustration about it."
"I get some pretty rough treatment here too, even from my own family." said Lie. "But you know what they say, what doesn't kill you only makes you stronger."
"Then is surviving all we can really do at this point?" asked the girl.
"That's just how life is here outside the kingdoms, harsh and unforgiving." said Lie. "You survive, or you die. But you don't have to do it alone. If we're both in the same boat, then why fight each other? Surviving is much easier if you have a friend by your side to help you out. It makes things much more bearable."
"Does this mean you want to help me survive?" asked the girl.
"I do." said Lie. "If we work together, things will turn out better for us. We might even be able to find a way to change our situation."
"So there's a way out of this?" asked the girl, her spirit lifting and her eyes filling with hope. "If we survive together?"
"We will." said Lie. "As long as we're together, I won't let any harm come to you."
"Do you promise?" asked the girl.
"I promise." said Lie.
"Then we'll swear on it." said the girl. "Swear that we'll always stick together, no matter what."
The girl held out her pinky finger, and Lie held out his and wrapped it around hers.
"Together." said Lie.
"Together." said the girl.
"Since we can be friends now, I guess I should at least tell you my name, since I never got the chance to tell you before." said Lie. "My name is Lie Ren. So, what's your name?"
The girl sat there for a moment, not knowing what to say next.
"My name?" asked the girl, confused.
"You do have one don't you?" asked Lie. "What were you called before you came here? I want to be able to call you by your real name, not your title of servant that the others here call you."
"I'm Nora." said the girl. "Valkyrie was the last name my parents had, so I guess that makes it my last name too."
"Well Nora, it was nice to finally get to know you, even if we had a rough start." said Lie. "Anyway, I'm going to bed now. I'll see you again tomorrow."
"Wait, don't go yet." said Nora.
"What is it?" asked Lie.
"I'm scared to go to sleep." said Nora. "I'm afraid I'll have another nightmare. I've been having a lot of them ever since I came here."
"I don't know how to help you with that." said Lie.
"Whenever I'd have nightmares, my mom and dad would always stay with me until I could fall back asleep." said Nora. "Didn't your parents ever do that for you?"
"I don't really get nightmares." said Lie.
"I guess that's because you already live in one." said Nora.
"What do you want me to do?" asked Lie.
"Will you stay here with me until I fall asleep?" asked Nora. "It would make me feel better."
"Fine, I'll do it." said Lie, somewhat irked. "Since I'll be here for a while, I guess we could talk some more. We'll start with something simple. What is your favorite color?"
"My favorite color is pink." said Nora. "What about yours?"
"My favorite color is green." said Lie. "It has a nice earthy feel to it."
As the hours passed by, the two continued to chat and gradually began to learn more about each other, until eventually Nora was finally able to fall asleep. Feeling exhausted and too tired to go back to his own room, Lie fell asleep next to her.
With their promise to remain together forever and survive no matter what, Lie and the girl known as Nora quickly bonded and became good friends as the weeks passed by, and as they did, a happier and bubblier personality began to show itself in Nora. While unexpectedly jarring to Lie at first, he eventually came to find out that this was actually Nora's natural personality, as she had not been herself since being captured by Lie's clan, and was now finally starting to return to her old self. Now that Nora had a friend by her side, she found herself feeling much less bothered by her situation than she had before, and she did not really seem to mind it all that much now that Lie was with her. Lie too began to find his days feeling much brighter with Nora around, and he was surprised to find that he now actually looked forward to each and every new day that came rather than dreading them as he had done before meeting Nora. The two of them seemed very happy together, and it was as if their presences somehow completed each other by filling in a piece that the other was lacking, and from then on they were nearly inseparable, or as they called it "together-together".
A few years passed for Lie and Nora seemingly in the blink of an eye, and in that time they slowly began to train themselves and gradually improve their skills in combat in order to increase their chances of survival, and together they were both able to accomplish what they normally would not have done alone. As a result, the clan members eventually even stopped bothering Nora now that she had become too strong for them to pick on, and so they began to tolerate her presence within the clan along with that of Lie, who had also grown in strength alongside her. Now that they were perfectly capable of fending for themselves, the clan saw a greater use for Lie and Nora, and began to bring them along with them to fight with them in their raids. Although finding no joy in it, they did so begrudgingly, but unlike the other clan members they made sure to spare those who they fought against by inflicting non-fatal injuries upon them. It was in the aftermath of one of these raids that the two now found themselves, and as they were taking on the last of their opponents, Nora used her fists to send out a jolt of electricity into each of their bodies, knocking them unconscious.
"I think that was the last of them." said Nora, smiling. "Now we just collect the loot and go home."
"You definitely seem to be getting the hang of your Semblance now." said Lie, congratulating Nora. "Its strength has grown a lot in these past few months. It took me a lot longer to master mine."
"Come to think of it, what is your Semblance anyway Lie?" asked Nora, now curious. "I don't think I've ever once seen you use it before in battle."
"It's not exactly something that would be useful in a direct battle like this." said Lie. "It's great for stealth and reconnaissance and other situations where you don't want to be seen, which is why the clan always makes me do those sorts of jobs when we go out raiding.
"Is it really?" asked Nora, curious. "What does it do?"
"You've actually seen me use it before, you just didn't know it." said Lie. "My Semblance masks and erases my presence and makes me virtually invisible to all living creatures in my vicinity. The fact that you've never realized it whenever I activated it means it's doing its job, though it's not really something that I'm too proud of."
"Why is that?" asked Nora. "I thought a Semblance was something that you would be happy about? It's something that is uniquely yours."
"It's because of why I had to learn it that I don't like it." said Lie. "My Semblance is something that many people would consider to be the perfect tool for assassination and killing, just like just like the Semblances of all the other members of my clan. In fact, it's because of this that my parents first made me learn and master it when I was a child as part of my training to become an assassin. Even if it's useful for other things besides killing, the very fact that it is seen by my clan as something that should be used as a tool for taking the lives of others really bothers me. That's why I don't like to use it often, because it represents to me everything that I don't want to be."
"Maybe if you're lucky, you won't ever end up having to use it." said Nora. "If you become skilled enough by training all of your other combat skills, then you won't even have to rely on it."
"Even if that is the case, it won't change anything." said Lie. "We'll still be stuck here doing the same thing we've been doing up until now, for the rest of our lives."
"So what if we do?" asked Nora. "How else will we survive in this world? At least if we continue doing this nobody else will die because of the clan's raids."
"That's not the point Nora." said Lie.
"Then what is?" asked Nora.
"This life we've been living up until now, aren't you starting to get tired of it?" asked Lie. "I know I am. Being forced by the clan to fight, steal, and kill just to get by. I don't want to live like this anymore. I want to do something different with my life, something better. I don't want to be a killer and a thief."
"I feel the same way." said Nora. "But what can we really do about it? This is the only way of life we know. It's a harsh and cruel world out there, and whether we like it or not the clan is the only thing that has kept us safe all this time."
"It doesn't have to stay this way for us." said Lie. "Out here it may be dangerous, but not in the Kingdoms."
"What are you getting at?" asked Nora, curious.
"We could run away." said Lie. "Far away, to the Kingdom, where the clan can never find us. We'll be much safer there than we are here, and we can start a new life, the two of us together. With our skills in combat and fighting, we could even become Huntsmen, just like the ones we would sometimes encounter and fight in our raids. Like me, I know that you've always been fascinated by them."
"It's because they all seem so free." said Nora. "Free to do whatever they want, and go wherever they want, and no one can tell them how to live their lives."
"By becoming Huntsmen, we could put our skills to good use by protecting people from the Grimm instead of hurting them. At least that way me can make up for all the bad things the clan has made us do for them."
"Even if we did try to escape, we won't make it very far." said Nora. "The clan will probably catch us before we can even come close to reaching the Kingdoms, and then they'll just bring us right back."
"That might have been the case back then, but now we're stronger and more experienced." said Lie. "They won't be able to stop us this time. I might have been too scared to try it back then, but not anymore. I think we can actually do it this time if we really put our heads together and use every bit of our strength and cunning."
"Are you sure this is what you really want Lie?" asked Nora. "Whatever it is you choose to do, just know that I'll be right there by your side to help you go through with it."
"This is what I want." said Lie. "More than anything."
"Then let's do it." said Nora, smiling. "Take me as far away from this place as you can Lie. Let's run away and never look back. I don't care where we go, as long as I'm with you I'll be fine."
"Of course." said Lie. "We'll always be together, no matter what."
"Together-together." said Nora, who now seemed very happy.
After being with the clan for so long, the two of them were quickly beginning to tire of living their lives like this, and things were only starting to look much worse for Lie and Nora. Over the years, the clan had been forced to constantly migrate from one home to another due to frequent Grimm attacks. As a result of these attacks, they often went back and forth periods of great highs where they lived the good life in a village as assassins and ninjas for hire, to periods of extreme lows where they had to resort to raiding villages in the countryside as bandits and thieves in order to survive in the harsh steppes of Anima. It was in one of these past Grimm attacks that tragedy struck and Lie lost his parents, the entire village being destroyed in a single night and the only survivors being Lie and Nora, who had managed to narrowly escape death due to the use of Lie's Semblance.
The majority of the clan's strongest members had been away at the time, including his brother Lee and their uncle, who retrieved them from the ruins afterwards and took them in as part of his branch of the clan and they began anew the process of finding a new home. They eventually found a new, more secure home high in the mountain cliffs, which was more of a fortress than anything else, and with his uncle now leading the clan it seemed like a very likely possibility that Lee would eventually take over as the new leader of the clan in the near future as his power and influence continued to grow. An outcome like this would not bode well for either of them, and after years of living with this it began to take its toll on them, and now more than ever the thought of running away from the clan began to cross their minds. Lie found himself feeling more courageous and open to the thought than he had been in his youth, because now he had something, or more specifically someone, to live for and for who he would risk his life, and after the death of his parents she was now the only person left in the clan that he cared about. However Lie planned to do it, Nora would definitely be willing to go through with it, because to her it did not matter where she went or what she did, as long as she could be together with Lie she would be happy.
The two of them began to carefully plan their escape and work out every detail as they made the necessary preparations, and when the day came at last they made a break for it, finally leaving behind their old lives to start anew by using the skills they had learned and honed to become Huntsmen. They took with then food, weapons, and everything else they would need to survive, after which they fled from the clan's fortress and ran as far away as they could, making their way through the wilderness as the other clan members inevitably pursued them in order to bring them back. However it was as Lie had anticipated, and through their skill and cunning, as well as familiarity with the clan's methods and tactics, Lie and Nora were able to avoid being found and captured by the clan members. One by one they all began to give up and turn back, certain that the two of them would surely die as they headed deeper into the Grimm infested wilderness, no longer thinking it was worth it to pursue them. Finally believing themselves to be in the clear, Lie and Nora took a moment to relax as they slowed down their pace and entered into a large, heavily forested valley, but little did they realize they were still being followed by one especially persistent individual, Lie's brother Lee Ren.
"This looks like a good place for us to rest for the time being." said Lie. "I think we've lost them, for now at least."
"I can't believe we did it!" said Nora, surprised and happy. "It actually worked! We're free now!"
"Don't celebrate just yet." said Lie. "We still have to make it out of these woods alive and survive long enough to reach civilization in the Kingdoms."
"Alright then, we'll watch each other's backs." said Nora. "I'll be sure to stay close..."
Before Nora could finish her sentence, a rattling noise could be heard as the trees behind them were suddenly sliced in half by the scythe blade of a long chain-like weapon, which passed through and struck the ground inbetween them, and then it was immediately pulled back to its source. Startled by this, Lie and Nora quickly turned around to see where the weapon had come from, and to their horror they spotted Lee Ren perched on the branch of a nearby tree, wielding the chain scythe that had almost cut them in half a moment earlier.
"Looks like I finally caught up to you Lie." said Lee, grinning menacingly. "That was quite the chase you gave us."
"Great, the one person I was hoping we wouldn't run into." said Lie, sighing.
"I didn't you'd make it this far." said Lee. "Everyone else already gave up and went home, now it's just you and me."
"You should have gone back with them." said Lie. "Just leave us alone already Lee."
"I'm afraid I can't do that." said Lee. "I've come to take you back."
"I don't want to go back." said Lie. "We're through with the clan Lee, and we're sick of your crap. We want to start a new life."
"Your weakness has always brought shame upon our clan." said Lee, disgusted. "Now you bring further shame to us by running away with that slave girl. I know we taught you better than this."
"Taught me what?" said Lie. "To become an assassin that takes the lives of others? I want no part in that. I don't care if that's what they expect of me."
"Okay then, how exactly do you plan on surviving out here once you've escaped?" asked Lee. "It's a cruel and dangerous word out there. You don't realize how good you actually have it living with us Lie. There are some real monsters out there, and I don't just mean the Grimm. The people of the Kingdoms look down on people like us who come from outside the borders. Just come back home already. Like it or not, we're the only family you've got."
"There's no home for me back there with all of you." said Lie, who then turned to Nora. "My true family is right here beside me."
"Oh really?" said Lee, laughing. "And what do you suppose you and your "family" will do once you reach the Kingdoms?"
"We'll become Huntsmen." said Lie. "We'll use our skills for a good cause, to protect innocent people from the Grimm. We'll meet all sorts of new people and maybe even make a few friends, friends who will accept me for who I am, unlike you and the rest of the clan."
"Do you really think they'll accept you out there?" asked Lee. "Admit it Lie, you're a natural born killer through and through, just like me, and you know it. They'll never accept you for who you really are. The people of the Kingdoms hate and despise our clan because of all the things we do. Once these "friends" of yours find out what you really are, they'll all just abandon you one by one, until you're all alone in the world. Assassins like us don't have friends. We don't need them. They'll just get in the way and end up dying. It's better to just save yourself the trouble that comes with them."
"That may be how you see, but not me." said Lie. "Unlike you, I don't see friends as simply tools to use for your own gain."
"You're putting me in a very difficult situation Lie." said Lee, putting his hand on his face. "Even so, you know I can't just let you walk away free like this. You possess knowledge of all our clan's secret assassination techniques. We can't afford to risk that knowledge leaking and spreading to the outside world, whether it's from you teaching it to others, or from it being tortured out of you by our enemies."
"I'm not that weak to let something like that happen to me." said Lie. "I've grown much stronger over these past few years. I don't even need those techniques they taught me, nor do I have any intention of using them ever again. I'll rely on my own strength from now on."
"Don't make me kill you." said Lee, his voice now suddenly taking on a more stern and serious tone. "I really don't want to do this, but you leave me no choice Lie."
With that Lee had enough and threw the chain scythe towards Lie, who barely dodged it in time as it smashed into the ground. After jumping back to where Nora was, Lie drew his sword and Nora pulled out her axe, both of them now ready to do battle with Lee.
"Fine then, I guess we'll do this the hard way!" said Lee, now losing his patience. "I'm going to enjoy wiping the slate clean by eliminating a weakling like you from our clan. This is something I should have done this a long time ago."
Lie knew that once Lee got into his blood lusted state that there would be almost no stopping him until he calmed down, so now they had no choice but to fight their way past him in order to escape. Lee clashed with Lie and Nora, exchanging blows with the pair as he wildly slashed at them with the scythe blade of his weapon, as well attacking them with its chain in an attempt to throw them off balance. They tried their best to avoid Lee's attacks, but were unable to get close enough to even attempt a counterattack due to the wide range of the chain. All they could really do was dodge and evade the attacks of Lee's weapons while putting some distance between themselves. They were not in a good position, as their current weapons were only capable of close combat, while Lee's weapon could attack over a much larger range, a fact which Lee was likely well aware of and had planned from the start.
"Stay back Nora." said Lie. "I'll handle him. This fight is between me and him."
"But he's too strong." said Nora. "Let me help you."
"Trust me, you need to stay back." said Lie. "For your own good, it'll be safer this way."
"Hey Lie, I'll tell you what." said Lie, having an idea and stopping his attacks for a moment to speak. "If you really want to leave that badly, then here's what I'll do. If you can defeat me here in battle, then I'll let you go, but if I defeat you, then you have to come back home with me to the clan. How does that sound?"
"As if I could trust a promise like that coming from you." said Lie. "How do I know you'll even keep your word? You're probably planning something."
"Your right, it does sound too good to be true." said Lee, grinning. "Because there's no way you'll ever be able to beat me."
Lee then headed straight for Lie and resumed his attack, well aware of what his brother was going to do next. This time Lee proceeded to activate his Semblance, and by thrusting the palm of his hand forward he sent out an invisible shock wave that Lie barely dodged in time before it reached him, which caused the trunk of the tree behind him to explode. The air around Lie and Nora began to feel much heavier than before, as if some great force was weighing them down and attempting to force them to the ground. The two tried their best to resist the effects of Lee's Semblance of Subjugation and contained to push forward, avoiding the attacks of Lee's weapon, which created deep impact creators wherever they struck, no doubt the result of Lee channeling the power of his Semblance through his weapon. Lie evaded as best as he could, but the scythe blade of Lee's weapon still managed to slash him several times as it grazed by him, all the while Nora stood back, watching and waiting for an opportunity to strike.
"I know what game you're playing at Lee." said Lie. "The only reason you're doing this is because you're hoping that I'll "accidentally" die in the process. You know that if I die here, then it'll mean that you'll finally be able to take over as clan leader, because all potential rivals to your claim to power will either be dead or on your side."
"That's very perceptive of you Lie." said Lee, with a guilty smile. "You're the one loose end that I have left to take care of."
"I bet you were ecstatic when mom and dad died." said Lie. "You and the rest of the clan could have easily come to help when that Grimm attacked our village, and they'd still be alive today, but you happened to conventionally show up only after everyone else was already dead. That's no coincidence. You took advantage of the situation to further your own goals."
"You've got me." said Lee, unapologetic. "When we heard the that village was under attack, I immediately rushed back home, but then once I got there all I could do was just stand watch from on top of the cliffs. It wasn't because I was too afraid to do anything, or that I just didn't care, but..."
"Then why did you do it?" asked Lie. "Why did you let the whole village get destroyed when you could have done something?"
"You want to know why I just stood there and watched?" said Lee. "Seeing all that death and destruction going on, watching all those people dying and get devoured by the Grimm... it made me so hard! The whole time it turned me on!"
"You deranged psychopath!" shouted Lie, shocked and angered. "I always knew you were crazy, but you're out of your mind! I can't believe that the two of us are actually brothers!"
"We may have different fathers, but we still have the same mother, so we are indeed brothers." said Lee. "Even if my birth was the result of her being..."
"That's enough out of you!" shouted Lie, enraged.
"Did I hit a nerve?" asked Lee, mockingly. "What, can't bear to hear the truth about dear old mommy?"
"Shut up!" yelled Lie.
"Why was it always you!" asked Lee, enraged. "What is it about you that makes you so special? Why is it that despite how weak pitiful you are our parents always showed you such love and praise? They never showed me the same love and praise. Instead they only showed me scorn and disdain. Was I not worthy of their love? Was it because of the origin of my birth? Was it because they just didn't want me and wished that I wasn't their child?"
This time it was Lie who charged forward for an attack, wildly slashing at Lee's defenses. This was not good for Lie, because Lee now had him flustered and angry, which was likely his intent, and now he was more likely to slip up and make a mistake. For the time being Lee seemed to have the upper hand, being more skilled and experienced, and he was slowly beginning to wear Lie down, and when he finally saw an opportunity Lee wrapped the chain of his weapon around Lie's legs, throwing him off balance and causing him to trip and fall to the ground.
"Looks like you've lost this battle Lie." said Lee, mocking Lie, who then began to walk over to Lie with the blade of his weapon raised and ready to strike. "I guess I'm taking you back now after all. Maybe I should cut the tendons in your ankles first. That way you won't be able to run away for a while."
As Nora watched, she could see no other course of action, and so she immediately rushed over to save Lie. It was no use however, because as Lee turned his attention towards Nora he sent the chain of his weapon towards her and managed to wrap it around the handle of her axe, yanking it out of her hands and sending it flying away where it embedded itself into the side of a tree.
"You, I should have killed you when I had the chance." said Lee, pointing the blade of his weapon towards Nora. "That's a mistake that I'm about to fix right now. This is all your fault! You've corrupted my little brother by putting him under your spell."
Now defenseless, all Nora could do was attempt to block Lee's attacks with her arms as the blade of his weapon continued to slash at her, cutting her in several places on her body, including her back where it left a huge gash. Despite all of this, Nora stood there strong and resolute, firmly refusing to move from that spot as she protected Lie and shielded him with her body, preventing Lee from taking a single step closer.
"How do you still have the strength to keep standing there?" asked Lee, now beginning to sound frustrated. "Why do you refuse to flee and save yourself, even when it would be so much easier to just run away?"
"It's because I have something much more important than my life that I want to protect." said Nora. "Lie once did the same thing for me when he stopped you from killing me all those years ago. There's no way I'll abandon him here and just let you take him back to that place that's caused him so much pain and misery. He's suffered enough already. I won't let you take him away from me like you did my parents. I'm getting him out of here no matter what, to someplace where you can't hurt him anymore!"
"My, you're a brave little one aren't you?" said Lee, his face now contorting with anger. "Just try it then, be my guest!"
Lee resumed his attacks with a savage ferocity comparable to that of a demon. His anger was now starting to get the better of him, and he was beginning to slip up with his attacks. This was just the opportunity that Nora was waiting for, but she would only have one shot at this if she wanted to save Lie. She began to run straight at Lee, forcing him to swing his weapon towards her for an attack. Right as the chain approached her, Nora reached out with her hand and grabbed the chain tightly as it wrapped around her arm. Now that she had his weapon firmly in her grasp, Nora wasted no time and immediately activated her Semblance, channeling electricity through the chain of the weapon towards Lee. As it reached him, Lee was zapped with a painful jolt of electricity, but he managed to drop his weapon to the ground just in time before it caused his muscles to lock up and knock him unconscious.
"Ah, how could I forget." said Lee, now remembering. "The wasp has a stinger. It doesn't matter, I don't need a weapon to kill you anyway. I'm a skilled assassin after all, so my hands will do just fine."
Lee rushed towards Nora, extending his arm outwards and straightening the fingers of his hand into the shape of a knife. He began to channel his aura into the tips of his fingers and aimed them right at Nora's throat. With the things Lee was capable of doing with his aura, they would almost certainly cut right through the veins of Nora's neck and kill her. Nora' attack had failed halfway through, and she was now out of options to fight back. She would not be able to dodge Lee's attack in time, and if she tried to move he would still be able to reach her, so all she could do now was brace herself for an attack that would most likely kill her. About to close her eyes and embrace the end, Nora was surprised to see that at the very last moment Lie had suddenly appeared in the corner of her vision, seemingly out of nowhere, and came straight at Lee from the side with his sword, slashing him right down the right side of the face. Lee immediately jumped back from Nora, crying out in pain and cursing Lie, having failed to notice Lie approaching because he had used his Semblance to mask his presence. The injury that Lee had just received from Lie was a deep one, and it would mostly likely leave a nasty permanent scar once it healed up.
"Damn you Lie, you bastard!" screamed Lee. "You're a back stabbing traitor!"
Lee then turned to Lie and tried to stab him with his fingers, but before he could, Nora activated her Semblance again and punched Lee right in the gut with an electrically charged fist, sending him flying back into the trunk of a tree.
"Now's our chance Nora!" said Lie. "Run! Let's get out of here while we still can!"
The two of them immediately began to dash off in the opposite direction from Lee, running as far away as they possibly could before he got back up, Nora collecting her axe in the process before they left. As they were running and had made it a good distance away, Lie could still hear Lee's voicing yelling out to him before they were too far away to hear it.
"This isn't over Lie!" yelled Lee. "I won't forget this, none of us will! You've disgraced our clan and brought humiliation upon us. I'll get you back for this, just you wait! It doesn't matter where you go or where you hide! Someday, somehow I'll find you and take my revenge..."
Lie and Nora were now too far away for Lee to be able to follow in his injured state, and they finally slowed their pace, the adrenaline just beginning to wear off.
"We did it Lie, for real this time." said Nora, smiling weakly. "Now we can start a new life in the Kingdoms, together-together..."
As Nora's pace slowed down, she was overcome by a sudden sense of weakness all over her body as she tried to make her way to Lie. She took a few more steps and then finally felt her legs give out and she fell to the ground, her injuries now starting to ache.
"Nora, are you alright?" asked Lie, rushing over to Nora as she lay on the ground.
"I can't move my body." said Nora, barely able to speak as her speech started to slur. "My injuries are starting to hurt now that we've gotten away."
"Oh no, this isn't good." said Lie, finally realizing what was going on.
"What's happening to me Lie?" asked Nora.
"This is why I told you stay back when I was fighting Lee." said Lie. "The blade of his weapon had poison on it, and he cut you with it so many times. He was probably hoping this would happen."
"It was poisoned?" asked Nora, confused, her body now starting to shiver. "But how can that be? You were cut just as many times as I was, but you're perfectly fine."
"It's because the poison has no effect on me." said Lie. "I'm immune to it, just like my brother is. Part of our training to become assassins was to slowly build up an immunity to all sorts of poisons that we might encounter during our missions. We did it by ingesting small quantities of each poison over time so that our bodies would slowly create antibodies for them. I guess that's one thing I can thank assassin training for."
"Am I going to die?" asked Nora, sounding worried. "It's not fair. Right when we finally get our freedom this has to happen."
"You're not going to die." said Lie, reassuring her. "I won't let you die now, not after everything we've already been through."
"Please help me." said Nora, starting to cry. "My whole body feels like it's on fire."
"I think know which poison Lee used." said Lie. "It's the venom of a very deadly and nasty type of King Taijitu Grimm."
"Is there an antidote for it?" asked Nora, now in severe pain."
"Yes, there is, and I already have it right here with me." said Lie, smiling. "It might be painful at first, but if want to survive you'll have to stay strong and survive long enough for it to start working. You'll have to be brave Nora."
Lie then held his hand out over Nora and proceeded to pull out a dagger from the sheath on his belt, the same one his father had given to him before he died. Pausing for a moment, he then used the dagger to make a large cut across his palm, waiting until the blood started to flow out.
The next few days were some of the worst that Nora had ever experienced in her life due to the high fever and constant pain she was in, her entire body switching back and forth between sensations of extreme heat and extreme cold. The two of them were now camped out inside of a cave that Lie had found within the forest, and after carrying Nora into it he had been caring for her there in the hopes that she would recover. In order for her survive the poison's effects and live, Lie had slowly been giving Nora small doses of his own blood to drink in order help her gradually build up an immunity to the poison, hoping that the introduction of his antibodies would help Nora's body to start creating some of its own to combat the poison and eliminate it. Throughout the whole ordeal, Lie never left Nora's side even once, holding her hand as she screamed out in pain during the day, and holding her close to him as she shivered during the night in order to keep her body warm and prevent her from getting hypothermia as a result of all the body heat she lost. Lie was determined to make sure that Nora would not die, and he did everything he could to make sure of it. The two of them had finally gained their freedom from the clan, and Lie was not about to let this become the price they would have to pay for it.
After several grueling days of caring for Nora and tending to all of her injuries, she finally began to show signs of healing and started to make a full recovery, the only remnant of her painful ordeal now being the scar on her back from Lee's blade. After continuing to drink the antidote created from Lie's blood, her body was eventually able to develop a sufficient enough immunity to the poison and eliminate it. Deciding to take a break, Lie now found himself at the edge of as stream by the cave, washing his face in the water. Mesmerized by how crystal-clear it was, he took a moment to study his reflection in the water, examining the pink streak in his hair. As he sat there, he was too distracted to notice that Nora had gotten up and was now making her way towards him, and upon reaching him she leaned down and wrapped her arms around Lie from behind, resting her head on his shoulders.
"Boop." said Nora excitedly, reaching around and poking Lie on the nose.
"I'm glad to see you're finally up." said Lie, smiling.
"What are you doing?" asked Nora.
"Just looking at my reflection." said Lie. "I never realized up until now how noticeable this pink streak in my hair is."
"You think so?" asked Nora. "But that's always been there, hasn't it?"
"Not always." said Lie. "I wasn't born with it, but it never seems to go away no matter how much I try to wash it out or cut it off."
"Where did it come from then?" asked Nora, curious.
"It first appeared after I had gone through my special training to become immune to poisons by drinking small amounts of them in order to develop antibodies." said Lie. "I think it was probably the result my aura reacting with all the poisons, because ever since then it's been there. Nobody else in my clan has one, they all have pure jet black hair. I kind of like it, because it makes me feel a little different from everyone else in my clan."
"Don't feel ashamed of your roots." said Nora. "You may not have liked the thought of being trained as an assassin, but something good did come out of it in the end."
"What do you mean?" asked Lie. "How could anything good have come out of that life?"
"That very same blood that flows inside your veins, the blood of your clan that you hate so much, that's what saved me." said Nora. "If not for that, I would be dead right now. It's pretty ironic now that you think about it. Something that was originally meant to help you in your job of killing people ended up saving a life instead."
"I never thought of it like that." said Lie, surprised by the thought.
"I really like the color." said Nora. "Now every time you see it, you can think of me and how you saved me from the poison, instead of being reminded of your clan."
"You're favorite color always was pink." said Lie, laughing.
"Do you know what else saving me with your blood means?" asked Nora, sitting down next to Lie.
"No." said Lie. "What does it mean?"
"Something very special." said Nora. "Among the people of the land where I came from, it is believed that when two friends share their blood like we did, a blood pact is formed between them for life and they are from then on considered to be family. If that's true, and you gave me your blood to drink, then that makes the two of us sworn family now."
"Family huh?" said Lie, looking down at the healed cut on his palm.
"We'll start a new life together now, as family." said Nora. "Today is a new beginning for us."
Nora then pulled out the pin that held up her long orange hair tied into a bun and let it all fall down to her back. Grabbing hold of her hair, she held it in her hands as she picked up Lie's dagger and used it to cut it off into shorter length, after which she dropped the severed locks of her hair into the water and watched them float away.
"It's a promise then." said Lie. "We'll leave the past behind and move on. From now on, I promise to never use the assassination techniques my clan taught me ever again. Maybe I'll use them on the Grimm, but never on people. Also, if we're going to start fresh, you don't have to call me by my first name anymore, just Ren is fine."
"Now we can finally fulfill our dreams of becoming Huntsmen." said Nora. "We'll join one of the Huntsmen academies, together."
"Yes, we'll do it together." said Ren, grabbing hold of Nora's hand.
"Together-together." said Ren and Nora.
With that, Ren and Nora's servitude to the Yaoguai Clan ended for good and they finally gained their freedom. Afterwards, the two of them set out into the Kingdoms to start on their goal of becoming Huntsmen, training themselves day by day in preparation for this goal and eventually creating the weapons that they would use in their careers as Huntsmen. In the meantime, they found themselves living in a small village in Vale with an elderly couple who had taken them in, seeing as they lacked a home to call their own. They treated Ren and Nora like their own children and in turn they were grateful to them, and the days they spent living together in that village were some of the happiest they had ever experienced in their lives. A few years passed, and the time came when the two of them finally applied for Beacon Academy, the place where they would form Team JNPR and meet Team RWBY, and where their true adventures would begin. Their days were now peaceful, and the painful past that the two of them shared had now become a distant and forgotten memory, however one thing still bothered Ren despite all of this.
In the very back of his mind, Ren always remembered his brother's final words to him before he escaped, that he would one day find him and take his revenge on them. Ren never forgot his words, and always wondered whether he might suddenly pop back into his life when he least expected it, a prospect that sometimes worried Ren. Nora on the other hand thought that Ren was simply being paranoid and that there was nothing for him to worry about because they were now safe in the Kingdoms, and seeing as the clan had completely given up on chasing after them and they had not heard from them since, they likely no longer cared. Even so, Ren still held some degree of doubt in his mind, because he knew Lee better than anyone else, and he knew just how crazy, psychopathic, and obsessive his older brother could be when it came to killing and the thrill of the hunt, and he would not put it past Lee to one day to try and get back at them in some way.
There you have it, the long awaited backstory of Ren and Nora that I had been planning since I first started writing this story. This has probably been the most challenging and difficult chapter of this fan fiction that I have had to write, mostly because of how unique and different it is from all the previous chapters. I put a lot of thought into the making of this in order to properly explain and show why Ren and Nora are the way that they are now. To tell you all the truth, I think this might be the last chapter of this fan fiction that I release, at least for a very long time. I only had enough ideas for this story up until this point, and while I do have a few cool ides for things I could possibly try (like maybe having Team GALE do something awesome), they still are not enough to make anything concrete. This story is effectively complete at this point, but that does not necessarily mean that it will stay that way forever. The possibility is definitely open that I could one day revisit this story and add more to it, though I would have to change and tweak a lot of things for it to work and fit within the canon of RWBY. Maybe once Volume 4 finishes some new ideas might come to me, but don't hold your breath. I already had to change and tweak quite a few things about this chapter, mostly by adding in the bit about Lie's parents dying when his village was attacked by Grimm, so that the differences between the two versions of his backstory would not be so jarring and contradictory that it distracts from the narrative.
This chapter also had a whole lot of interesting references and allusions that a lot of you might not have noticed. Starting with Ren and Nora, the whole scene around Lie having to save her from the poison is a direct reference to the deaths of Hua Mulan and Thor, who Ren and Nora are based on (it's also pretty ironic that in the actual Volume 4 Qrow ends up getting poisoned in a similar way and by a character very similar to Lee, but that's just a coincidence and I had this plot point in mind way before that episode came out). First off, the reference to Thor's death is much more obvious, because in Norse mythology Thor meets his end during Ragnarok when he finally defeats and kills the Midgard Serpent Jormungand, but at a heavy cost, as Thor is only able to take a few steps afterwards before collapsing and dying from Jormungand's poison.
Moving on to the reference to Hua Mulan's death, this one is much less obvious. In many versions of her story, Hua Mulan dies by committing suicide, choosing to die rather than become a concubine to the Mongol ruler who invaded China and took over the throne. The way in which she committed suicide is in debate though, with the various versions of the story all saying something different, but the one that appears most commonly is that Hua Mulan drank poison to end her life, which is referenced by the fact that Ren drank all sorts of poisons as a child in order to build up an immunity to them. This practice of drinking small doses of poison over a period time in order to develop immunity through antibodies is actually a thing in real life that is known as mithridatism. Throughout history, mithridatism has been employed by many people, from royals who feared being poisoned by rivals to the throne, to shinobi trying to get an extra edge over their enemies in battle. The blood of those who have developed antibodies to various poisons through the use mithridatism can also be a very potent antidote to those poisons, and their blood can be used in emergencies to help someone who has been bitten by a venomous creature when no anti-venom is readily available to use.
Going off of that, Nora's statement about her and Ren now being family because they shared blood with each other may be confusing to some, but it actually has a basis in some real world ancient cultural practices. Among the Vikings and Norsemen of Scandinavia, there was something known as a blood oath, where in which two warriors would perform a ritual in which they would make cuts on their hands and shake them, allowing their blood to mix together, and from then on they become blood brothers and were considered family. Similarly, there was also a superstition among the Celts that if the blood of someone unrelated to you were to touch your lips, then from that point on that person was considered to be related to you by blood. In fact if I remember correctly, there was one Celtic story in which a druid woman who was in love with a man and wanted stop him from marrying someone else so that she could have him all to herself, but after accidentally wounding him she had to suck the poison out of his injury to save him, but to her shock she then realized that because of what she had done, she could no longer marry him because he was now related to her by blood and it would be considered incest to do so (someone please tell me what the name of this story is, because I forgot the name of the characters).
As for the last of the references, the name of Ren's clan is the Yaoguai clan, and in Chinese Yaoguai is word that generally means demon, which is very fitting considering how his clan are viewed as demons by the people of Mistral that they preyed on. I also partially based the Yaoguai clan on the Mongols of Genghis Khan, who were a group of horse riding nomads that were especially feared for their brutality and nearly conquered all of the civilized world through their raids and campaigns. On another note, now that I look back on this little backstory, I'm actually of surprised to see how similar to Tyrian that Ren's brother Lee turned out to be, and this was before Tyrian was even revealed at the start of Volume 4. Lee and Tyrian have very similar personalities and attitudes to each other, both love fighting and killing, and even look kind of similar, but Lee is probably not as unhinged as Tyrian is, though he does occasionally have some psychotic episodes. After meeting Tyrian, Ren would probably have a strong dislike for him because of how much he reminds him of his older brother. Also, a fight between Lee and Raven would probably make for a very interesting battle, since the two of them are both now the leaders of their respective clans from outside the Kingdoms, and they would probably end up becoming fierce rivals as the two of them would inevitably clash and compete for power and territory as they encountered each other while out raiding towns and villages.