As he watched Nora shake herself out of her catatonia, as if by the hand of an unknown force, Ren could only hope that the others had enough time to get into position. He knew this is when Nora would be at her most dangerous and unpredictable state. One wrong move and someone would get killed.
Trying to appear casual so he wouldn't threaten her, he strolled toward her. She saw him, and for a moment, a smile broke her pained expression and she ran to meet him. She froze halfway to him like a startled doe, and the color drained out of her face.
"Nora, just relax." he said. "This will be over quickly."
"Ren, what's going on? What happened to you?" Her voice wavered as she shrunk away from him.
"Nora, it's okay. I'm alright. You need to calm down."
"What did you do to him?" she yelled as he saw the fury build up inside her. She bared her teeth and her muscles tensed, yet she wasn't looking at him, but behind him. Though nothing was there in reality, she was intent on killing whatever it was she saw. He saw her muscles coil, ready to strike and she reached for Magnhild.
It was no use.
"Pyrrha, now!" He yelled.
From her cover in the dense fog, Pyrrha used her semblance to snatch Magnhild before Nora could grab it, then Weiss tried to trap Nora in a wave of ice. When Nora evaded the ice, Ruby and Jaune charged at her in an attempt to distract her while Ren snuck behind her.
Ruby had the wind knocked out of her when Nora shoulder bashed her. Jaune tried his best to stall, but Nora grabbed him by the arm and hurled him like a club straight into Ren. The two smashed into each other and they both collapsed in a heap.
Damn it! Ren cursed to himself. He knelt doubled over in pain and feared he may have broken some ribs. He tried to ignore it, but had trouble shaking it off.
Blake kept Nora occupied, dashing away from her blows and tiring her out. The distraction worked, and Nora found herself trapped in another wave of Weiss' ice. Wasting no time, Blake grabbed her from behind. Ren knew there was no way Blake was strong enough to hold Nora for long. Jaune helped him up and he ran over to the two girls, but he was too late.
His blood ran cold when just like she had done with Jaune, Nora grabbed Blake and swung the faunus over her head and into the ice which shattered away under the impact. Unlike Jaune, Blake had no armor to protect her. She wasn't moving. In an instant, Weiss was at her side checking her vitals.
Yang didn't allow Nora the chance to get away again and knocked her to the ground with a fiery punch. Ren saw his opening and jumped on top of her. Just like he had done earlier that evening in their roughhousing, he grabbed her wrists and twisted them behind her back. Her skin felt like hot cinders and her pulse raced.
"Yang, grab the syringe, it's in my right pocket!" He yelled, doing his best to keep Nora restrained. Ren never thought he'd have to fight his best friend in anything outside of a mock wrestling match, but they weren't fooling around this time. He put as much strain on her joints as he could, hoping the pain might keep her from struggling. "No, Yang, the other right!"
"Oops." the blonde jumped over to his other side and fumbled to find his pocket.
"Nora, hold still." he pleaded. "I promise everything will be alright."
"Liar!" She yelled. She shot him a furious glare over her shoulder that made his stomach twist into a knot. "You're dead! You're not real!"
"Guys, we have company!" Weiss shouted. She fought with Pyrrha to hold back a hoard of Beowolves attracted by the commotion. There were too many of them, and they vastly outnumbered the students.
"Yang, hurry. We don't have time." He urged as he saw her finally get the syringe out of the box.
One of the Beowolves broke past the others and leapt right on top of Ren, loosing his grip on Nora and knocking Yang over in the process. Yang lost her grip on the syringe, and Ren watched it shatter under the beast's hind paw.
He fought to push the Beowolf's weight off of him as its massive jaws closed in. It flew away in a fiery flash and Yang helped Ren to his feet.
Nora took the opportunity to make a run for it, leaving him and Yang to fight off six of the beasts. The others all had their hands full as well. He looked at Yang.
"Go on ahead," she said. "We'll handle this; just make sure she doesn't get herself killed." She turned back to the pack of monsters and unleashed a wild flurry of blows, destroying one of the Grimm.
He ran after Nora, noting that a small group of Grimm had broken off the main pack and pursued her, leaving their tracks behind. His body shuddered when he heard her scream not too far ahead. He pushed himself harder, ignoring the strain on his muscles, his throbbing ankle, and the pain in his chest. A terrible roar led him to their position. Arming Stormflower, he fired at the beast closest to his maimed partner, who weakly propped herself against a tree.
She was bleeding profusely, and one of her arms had one too many joints where a bone protruded from the skin. Seething with anger, he lunged at the beast and decapitated it with one swipe. A few dead and disfigured Grimm already littered the ground, a testament to how dangerous and desperate Nora was. Only two remained a threat, and now they were closing in on him. Again, Nora capitalized on his distraction and ran away.
He jumped at the larger of the two and planted one of his blades between its eyes and into its brain. The other swiped at him, but he flipped out of the way and recoiled Stormflower up his sleeves. Luging at the creature with a palm strike, he unleashed an aura shockwave that demolished the beast's torso.
Nora left a trail of blood. Knowing he had no time to lose, he raced after her, hoping he would find her before it was too late. She hadn't made it far.
His heart lurched when he saw her lying motionless in the grass. In an instant, he was at her side, checking for a pulse. She took slow, shallow breaths, and her pulse was too faint to measure, but she was alive. Her chest was moving abnormally with each breath.
Blood loss caused the fever he had felt earlier to dissipate, and now she seemed ice cod in comparison. Blinking tears away, he took off his jacket and tied it around her mangled arm. Next, he wound his black undershirt around the seeping bite wound on her leg. Trying not to aggravate her vicious wounds, he gingerly lifted her onto his lap to get her off of the cold ground. Hot, sticky blood seeped from her back onto his trousers and more blood drizzled out her mouth and nose. He held her close, trying to keep her warm.
A flourish of rose petals startled him. He looked up at Ruby.
"I got here as fast as I could. What happened?" The girl in red asked, jaw agape at the appalling condition Nora was in.
"She tried to fight the Beowolves bare-handed. They ripped her apart. She's weak, but she's alive."
Ruby took off her cape and draped it over Nora.
"How's Blake?"
"She's awake, and in rough shape, but she'll be okay. I'm going back to get help. Hang tight."
"Ruby," he looked up at the prodigy, his voice trembling. "I'm counting on you."
She smiled and nodded before disappearing in a haze of rose petals. Something about her expression made him want to have hope. There was nothing else he could do to help Nora except wait for Ruby to bring help. He looked down at his unconscious friend.
"Why do you have to be so damned stubborn?" He choked as salty tears broke loose and trickled down his nose and cheeks. "Come on, Nora. Please, you can't give up now. Not after how hard you've been fighting. If not for yourself, then do it for me. You know I can't do this without you. We tried that once, remember? It didn't go so well."
A pathetic laugh broke his cries at the memory. "I was a total wreck and you were an unstoppable maniac." he sniffled. "Sounds like the last few hours, huh? Maybe this time we both won't wind up locked in the hospital for a month." Trembling under the influence of the intense feeling of dread, he hung his head and cried, letting his tears fall onto her chest. She lay still, neither alive nor completely dead.
"Nora." He pleaded, tightly closing his eyes, wishing this wasn't happening. After a few moments, he opened his eyes again, fearing what he'd see. Maybe the tears were interfering with his vision, but he thought he saw her face twitch. He held his breath, unwilling to move lest he miss the smallest sign of life. A long moment later, she winced, and dazed, turquoise eyes fought to open.
"Nora, please." He urged as he carefully cupped her cheek. Finally her eyes focused on his. She made it back from the edge. "Nora, I'm sorry," he whispered. "I promise I'm going to make everything all right again. Please stay with me."
"Nora." a voice echoed from the nothingness that cradled her. She opened her eyes, and an image fought to form out of the blurred blotches of color. Gentle arms held her in a warm embrace. Was this the Void?
"Nora, please." The colors before her fell into their rightful place. She was looking up into magenta eyes, wet with tears. Ren? He's alive? Then I must be. . .
"Nora, I'm sorry," he whispered, the soft touch of his hand caressing her cheek. "I promise I'm going to make everything all right again. Please stay with me."
Unsure of what was going on, she weakly looked around. She was still in the forest, the darkness had retreated, and the monsters were gone.
Slowly, she turned her head so she once again faced Ren. A white figure stood, hovering over his shoulder; she hadn't seen her there before. She looked up to a familiar face smiling down at her.
"It's going to be all right now, Nora." Hazel looked different this time. The bruises were gone, as well as the blood stains on her gown, and her voice resonated when she spoke. "I want you to tell Ren something for me, can you do that?"
Nora weakly gave a nod as her sister leaned down and whispered the message into her ear. "Ren?" She asked with barely a whisper.
"Don't talk, Nora, you need to rest." His voice shook as if he was trying to keep each word from falling apart.
"Hazel's here. . . She wants me. . . to tell you something." She whispered between shallow breaths.
"Nora, please, save your strength. Help will be here soon."
"She says thank you. . . for being there for me when she couldn't."
With her message delivered, Hazel slowly began to dissipate. As she leaned forward to kiss her little sister on the forehead, her sweet voice resonated one last time. "I love you, Nora." With the last word, she was no more. Nora watched her dusty remnants rise into the sky, joining the moonlight watching over them.
Ren assumed Nora was hallucinating again. She still felt cold and her breathing was becoming more laborious with each passing minute. Despite being conscious and able to speak, she could take a turn for the worst at any moment. He tried not to let his worry impact him, but precious moments were slipping away and the cavalry was nowhere in sight. He wasn't prepared to have his best friend die in his arms. He shut his eyes, trying to keep his tears from escaping.
He felt Nora give him a feeble nudge in his chest with her nose, and he opened his eyes again. A fragile smile adorned her pale face. Though he did his best to smile back to her, stray tears betrayed him. She shifted under the red fabric of Ruby's cloak, loosing her good arm. She reached up to him and wiped away the drops from his face with her thumb.
"Nora," he said, tenderly grabbing her hand and pushing it back down. "I told you to rest. You're too weak."
Playfully, she pushed back at him and squeezed his hand. Though it was nothing compared to the brute force she exhibited short while ago, she surprised him with the strength she still had.
"You really are stubborn, aren't you?" He mused, returning the squeeze.
She giggled, only for her giggles to turn into coughs and wheezes, and she spat up more blood. She took quick, gasping breaths, grimacing in pain.
Ren could only watch her suffer, all because she was trying to cheer him up.
Finally, jet engines roared from the distance as a Bullhead approached their location. Ren recognized Beacon's symbol adorning the machine. Maneuvering around outstretched tree branches, the aircraft descended to the ground. The moment it came to rest, medical personnel exited the craft, stretcher in tow, and in a matter of seconds, they were airborne.