As the mercenaries continued to fix the damaged done by the horde of Grimm, Ren took Ruby into the tent which was going to be their quarters until they reached the village. Nora and Jaune were helping the mercenaries outside as well. Ren let out a sigh as he sat down cross legged. Ruby sat across from as she placed Crescent Rose next to her. "So...what did you want to tell me?" Ruby asked.

"You said that...I was acting strange ever since we met the commander. The reason behind it...it's connected to why me and Nora are orphans…," Ren replied.

Ruby put her hand over her mouth in shock. "R-ren, I...I'm sorry. I shouldn't have pried; I had no ide-"

"It's fine Ruby," Ren said, cutting her off, "I had the feeling someone would notice eventually. I'm just surprised it wasn't Nora or Jaune to ask."

"Well...I guess I just have good eyes," the silver-eyed huntress said with a slight giggle.

Ren gave a weak grin but then it vanished and he sighed. "You...you want to know the whole story don't you?"

"I don't want to pry but...I...I am curious."

"Very well then. At the time...me and Nora were living in a village, not unlike the one we're going to now. When compared to Vale, it's nothing special but it was home. Nora and I were the same age but she doesn't remember all the details. Either that...or she does and just blocks them out. No one can blame her. It was probably the most traumatic experience in our lives, what drove us to be huntsmen. Now...at first, our village didn't have many Grimm problems. Yes there were small ones, such as a Beowolf getting too close to the borders or a Boarbatusk ruining someone's crops but nothing too major. Then...they came. They called themselves Scorpio, a mercenary group comprised entirely of former Atlas military personnel. They came to the elder of our village with some terrible news. Grimm activity had spiked in the area and we were in danger. At first...the elder was hesitant to agree to paying them but...then a King Taijitu attacked. We didn't have the firepower needed to stop it and, like those heroes in the stories, the mercs came in to 'save the day' and slay the beast. The elder's mind was made up for him and he agreed to pay their incredibly high price." Ruby was already enthralled by the tale Ren was telling and Ren was doing his best to control the anger the memories brought up.

" Every time they killed a Grimm, they took as much lien as they could...greedy bastards. Ever since they showed up, more and more Grimm started attacking our village and each time they got worse. At first it was the smaller Grimm, Beowolves Ursai, Creeps, Griffons. Then came the alphas and majors and then finally, we were dealing with more King Taijitus. For every Grimm the mercs killed, they upped the price of their 'protection' and when we didn't have any lien to spare they took a share of our crops. Eventually, people started to get suspicious. We never had this much Grimm activity before; never in the history of our village have we ever faced the threat of a King Taijitu. I doubt they were even native to the area." More of Ren's anger started coming to the surface at this point.

"Sure enough, those suspicions were proven true when two of the villagers found a cage with a Creep Alpha inside with Scorpio's logo on it. They couldn't think of a believable explanation to why it was there and, since they had a 'reputation to uphold', they opted to silence everyone. They readied their rifles and drew their blades and went on a killing spree. Houses were raided and set ablaze and anyone who tried to fight back were gunned down. Among those who tried to fight back...were our parents. My father and mother were gunned down at the same time by two of the mercs...Nora's father was killed by a stab to the chest and her mother was shot. Somehow...me and Nora were able to survive as the rest of the village burned. Nora was spared from seeing all of that because she was asleep. When she woke up...I tried to tell her but….she was already crying for her mom and dad. I didn't even get a chance to try...I just tried to calm her down. It took me two more years to gather the courage needed to tell her. Once I did...she cried for hours. Keep in mind...at the time we were in an orphanage in Vale after a huntsmen found us in the ruins the day after the slaughter. Once she knew...we both made a vow; a vow to become huntsmen to make sure something like would never happen again. I know Nora seems cheerful and happy, far more so than she should be with that kind of past. She's accepted not to cling to the past so much. Remembering why we're fighting, why you search for something, is fine. When you descend into a state of pure depression and constant mourning...it's unhealthy. When we finally got into Signal, we finally had the means to keep our vows. And now...well...now we're here, about to work with mercenaries, the same kind of people who took away our home. Our families."

Ruby was holding back tears as Ren finished his story. "R-ren...I-I…" Ruby tried to say something, her voice wavering , but she couldn't manage to say the words. There was a sudden gust of wind and rose petals that seemed to materialize from nowhere. Ren's eyes widened as he realized that now...Ruby was hugging him and crying into his shoulder. "I'm so sorry Ren…" the young girl said between sobs.

"Ruby…."

"Ren...no one should have to go through that...no one. And...and believe me...I know what it's like to lose a parent...I lost my mom...but you….you lost everything...your home...your family…. N-nora too…"

Ren wasn't entirely sure what to say so he just returned her hug. Ruby eventually stopped sobbing and wiped away any remaining tears.

"I suppose...we all have something in common now. We've all lost someone close to us," Ren said with a slight sigh.

"Besides that, we all have awesome weapons, we're all first years that survived through a Grimm apocalypse back in Vale, and we're all hunting for the truth behind it," Ruby said with a smile, trying to lighten the mood.

"True," Ren said, giving a light smile of his own.

"Hey guys!" Nora pokes her head into the tent with a grin. "We're getting ready to leave! You guys coming too or what?"

"Yeah, we're coming," Ruby replied.

(A/U: And there you have it, my version of Ren and Nora's backstory. Also, I'm not shipping Ruby and Ren here cause trust me there will be Renora in this but later on. This is just team building/character building. As always, read, review and enjoy.)