RWBY – Remnants of Emotion: Chapter 0 Lucid Nightmare
The rattling of a train and the whistling wind, howling at me - haunting me.
I awake in bed, sweating profoundly. I'm in my room at home and I hear mom in the kitchen. Father must be outside cutting wood for our oven. I dress up and go on my way, grabbing my wooden Huntsman toy. Dad carved it in the image of one that defended our village from Grimm, swinging his sword and shield and protecting the weak. I've never been more on awe I believe. Reaching the kitchen, mom already decked out the table and was heating up the kettle for some tea.
"You slept in again Gray?", a soft but stern smile over her face, her black hair bound to a ponytail. "Didn't you want to start helping you father with the woodcutting?"
"I'm sorry. I can't even really remember why I was so tired." I say rubbing my eyes, "I'll make it up to him by cutting even more tomorrow.". I scan the table looking over the food mom had prepared my fixating on some peanut butter smeared toast. Settling down I grab some toast and as I start to eat father comes in. He carries a few chunks of wood and places his axe down at the corner.
Silently he puts the wood onto the oven as the kettle quickly begins to heat up. Hugging mom by the waist he sits down after. As we sit and eat, I feel myself getting tired again. I rub my eyes once more as the kettle begins its whistling. My eyes closed It feels like the kettle gets louder with each passing second, turning into screams and yelling. Surges of intense pain and heat surround me, I open my eyes, my hands bloody I see Grimm around me. Our Village burning, my Father dead in front of me I spy a group of Huntsmen closing in. Too late to save the people they swore to protect.
I see the Grimm slaughtering people, my friends, my father but all I can do is sit here frozen in fear and anger. My Body weak and frail I knew I should have trained more for I could have been ready. To help fend them off to buy more time but still I'm frozen. My Vision fades as I fall into the cold darkness taking the pain away.
I awake, the evening sun blinding me, my body shaking lightly as I sit up between the two train carts. Looking around I can see the City of Vale in the distance. The train should arrive soon enough. My first day at Beacon Academy is going to start tomorrow, perhaps I will find a place to sleep till then. It's been 8 years since our Village got hit and while me and my mother managed to survive, she was never the same since then, her smile never full of life again. She told me father would have been proud. That I take the mantle of responsibility and protect those weaker than me. But I can't even remember how he looked – what he was like. Perhaps he would have just wanted me to live peacefully, start a family or something. At least I was able take most of her pain away during her recovery thanks to my Semblance. Just a few more hours until I arrive. I better set an alarm to go off in 2 hours and get some more rest. I hope I won't have to relive this memory again as I have probably hundreds of times. Like a nightmare reminding me of the pain over and over again as if someone is trying to break me entirely. Perhaps School life will be distracting enough. Laying back down I close my eyes and focus on the time ahead of me. I learned to fight well enough at Pharos Academy and I look forward to what the Teachers and Professors at Beacon can show me, but do I have the time to enjoy myself while there are still people out there, Villages that could be eradicated by hordes of Grimm? There are other Huntsmen and Huntresses out there but how much could they do? Quite the cruel world, isn't it?
