The six of them moved on as quickly as they could, with Qrow telling them of Yang being attacked and interrogated by Tyrian and the story of the gods along the way. With his left arm in the makeshift cast of Nora's jacket, he walked with Ruby close by. Ren and Nora, the latter fighting off poison in her veins, were not too far behind them. Jaune and Pyrrha were in the very back, apprehensive as they were terrified. Pyrrha's hands remained tainted by Tyrian's Poison Claws. She sighed in lament as Qrow finished the story.
"...That was how mankind came to be." he concluded, before holding his broken arm gingerly. He groaned in pain.
Ruby winced.
"So let me get this straight." Jaune began. "You're saying that these two unnamed gods of Light and Darkness, created humankind as a way to settle their differences, and that the maidens are connected to these powerful relics that may have something to do with said gods?"
"Pretty much."
He stopped in his tracks, blinking. "Oh God, this is crazy..."
The drunk uncle gave a dry chuckle. "Welcome to my world."
His girlfriend took his hand and led him along. He shook his head and glared at the veteran huntsman. "And you wanted to drag Pyrrha into this world without any thought of how this would affect her?! How do you sleep at night?!"
"Jaune, stop." Pyrrha pleaded. She looked at Nora's wound, Qrow's broken arm and then back at her hands. "We have greater concerns at the moment."
"She's right." Ren reminded them. "Not to mention Tyrian's still out there, waiting to strike again."
Qrow groaned. "Damn it... I was too slow. If only I arrived five seconds before..."
Ruby put her hand on his shoulder. "Uncle Qrow, please... don't blame yourself."
"How can I not? I'm a literal bad-luck magnet."
The silver-eyed warrior blinked at her chosen family member in sorrow before looking away.
I can't believe it... My sister. Attacked. Because he was after me. I should have been there. And then what? He would have captured you. Just like he did in Aletheia. But JNPR would still stop him... right?
She breathed in, wiped away small tears out of sight and tried to press on.
"By the way, how did you even get out of those chains?"
Ruby soon realized Qrow was speaking to Pyrrha. She faltered in her answer. "That's the strange part. I... I was able to use my feet. Er, foot. I stood up, placed my foot against the wall, focused my energy there and placed it down, breaking the chains and freeing myself. I never knew this was possible."
Qrow paused in speech before giving his answer. "I've heard reports of rare semblance users who can use telekinesis with their feet, tilting their head or even their mind, but not using hands requires a lot more aura to use and control properly."
The Mistralian champion grimaced. "Oh."
"If nothing else it might be good in a severe bind."
She sighed. "That's true."
At least my brother is alive. I hope he's okay... she silently thought. Where are you?
Jaune frowned as he looked at the map, which appeared to be drawn in a strange way and read at the bottom;
Map not drawn to scale
"Tell me this map is accurate and that there's another village up ahead soon."
"Well... there is one place, but..." Nora faltered.
On Jaune's Scroll, her aura bar flashed purple and dropped from 44 to 41%.
"But what? What is it?" Pyrrha asked in apprehension.
"It's... Kuroyuri."
She gasped. "Kuroyuri... But..." There was a brief pause in her words. "That village... was destroyed years ago. There's nothing left."
"Nothing, and no one..." Nora added. "Except for four people."
"Four? That can't be... Kiaran and Alva are the only ones left..." Pyrrha blinked, tears glistening from her eyes as she widened her eyes. "Wait." A soft gasp was heard, her fingers on her lips. "Ren? Nora? You're... survivors of the Nuckelavee attack on Kuroyuri?" Nora sadly nodded. Pyrrha removed her hand and stifled another sob. "Why didn't you tell us?"
"We didn't want to worry you." Nora coughed. "And... we ran from our past, in more ways than one. But now..."
"We don't have a choice, do we?" Ren asked.
"I'm afraid not." Nora answered weakly.
Everyone tensed up before turning sad.
Pyrrha looked at her long-orphaned teammates. "Nora, Ren. Please... tell me... What happened?"
Ren looked at Nora and grimaced at those around him. "It's not a pleasant story... of how the village fell."
All the while, Tyrian was on their trail.
"I can't believe this." he ranted. "I had the perfect opportunity to snatch her, and that Valkyrie took it away from me!"
He continued through the forest.
"Come now Tyrian. You don't want to lose track of your prey, do you? Or give yourself away?" He laughed to himself, singing, "You can't hide for-ever, Ruby Rose!"
He paused, taking in the sound of steps.
"Footsteps. Are they the steps of a scared little girl?"
The steps came, faster and soon he saw the source; a man and a woman, in black and white respective cloaks. A breeze soon flew through, revealing them to be Kiaran and Alva.
He indignantly frowned upon seeing the thieves. "Sadly they are not!"
Kiaran raised his eyebrow at him. "And who are you?"
"I don't see how that's your concern."
The white cloaked woman looked closer and blinked. "Wait a second. You're... Tyrian Callows. You were there. In Oniyuri."
A brief flashback was shown from Alva's point of view; Tyrian running across a square in Oniyuri nearby the church.
"Yes, I was."
She looked at him, her face scrunching in confusion. "I thought you were dead, killed by Grimm or team JNPR+Ruby in the outskirts of Vale."
"Reports of my death were... greatly exaggerated."
Kiaran told him, "Uriel told us of the Scarlatti Alliance falling apart in Aletheia. You must have defected when they betrayed their cause to eliminate Pyrrha Nikos."
"Indeed I did. You must be the supreme leaders."
"Very astute." Alva complimented. "Considering our circumstances, perhaps you could join us?"
He gave them a good, sinister laugh. "I'd be glad to help you take down Ms. Nikos."
Alva glanced at her partner before glaring at him. "What do you really want?"
He turned his head. "Whatever do you mean?"
"I know a liar when I see one. You're not really wanting to kill her."
He sighed. "It would be nice to kill her, but really, I have another target. One who needs to be alive. How important is it to you that you kill Pyrrha's friends?"
"We were hoping to kill all of them, simply so that none of them will come after us. Really we only need Pyrrha dead." Kiaran confirmed.
The murder extended his hands to the criminal duo. "Let's make a deal then; you destroy Pyrrha and team JNPR, and I'll take that little fifth wheel Ruby Rose off your hands. Where she's going, no one will ever hear the truth about how they died, and you and I can go our separate ways." He grinned. "Do we have a deal?"
Alva took one of his hands, Kiaran took the other. Hands were shaken as the deal was sealed.
"Excellent. With your aid, our luck will turn around for the better."
"I hope so. Things haven't been going well." Kiaran told him.
Pretending to show sympathy, he asked, "And how so?"
"Shion has been destroyed, there are settlements that haven't bought and sold our lie, and worst of all, we haven't heard from Uriel Aaron in a long time. I'm beginning to fear that something has happened to him..." Alva answered, giving a sad sigh. "No matter. We must press on. I have a plan that will bring Pyrrha to her knees and have her beg for mercy that will never come."
"And how do you plan to stop her?"
"With this." Alva got a small little black box with a tiny needle on the left side. "A-N-D. Aura Nullification Darts. Strike one of these into an opponent's bloodstream, and their connection to their aura is completely severed, rendering them unable to use it."
Tyrian looked at the box in amazement. "Wow. Such raw power."
Like my semblance, but stronger... And more destructive.
"Quite so. Sadly there is no way to make it permanent," Tyrian frowned at this. "but it is guaranteed to last at least three hours and possibly twelve at most." Alva clarified. "Regardless of how long it lasts, it'll be more than enough time to destroy our intended targets. They're also very hard to make, and very expensive. But when you're as skilled thieves as we are, we don't have to pay. The downside is that we only have three of them. One for Pyrrha, one for Ash, and one for Hera."
"The last three remaining Nikos family members." Tyrian correctly guessed.
Alva nodded in confirmation. "We have also studied the battle strategies for team JNPR, and their friend Ruby and can counter them accordingly."
Kiaran frowned. "The only downside is that the Nuckelavee could still be out there, and if it is..."
Tyrian gave him a slightly sinister yet reassuring smile. "Don't worry about that. I have a plan if the fearsome monster shows. Now come, revenge awaits!"
The three of them made their way forward, the hunt beginning again.
A pretty waterlily in full bloom floated on an aqueduct in the town center of Kuroyuri. A younger Ren looked eagerly at it with a smile.
An Ren laughed lightly. "Why, hello, little Lie. Are we trying to catch a fish?"
Ren smiled. "I've found a flower on the water!"
His mother smiled even brighter. "Oh, I see!"
Ren rushed over to his mother. "Can we take it home and plant it in the garden?"
An answered, "Oh no, sweetheart, that flower lives here." Ren looks down dejectedly and An rubs his head. "But I'll tell you what you can do." She handed him some Lien. "Take this Lien and find something nice for your father's return. He's been hunting for quite some time. I bet that the journey's been very tiring, don't you?"
Ren took the money. "Yes."
"Do you think you know what he wants?"
"I think... he wants a water flower in the garden!"
An chuckled. "Why did you have to inherit my sass?"
She gave her son a playful nudge on his bottom as Ren turned away on his new mission to find a gift for his father. He crosses the planks that serve as a bridge over the aqueduct. An watched him go with a smile.
A wide shot of Kuroyuri shows a prosperous and peaceful town. A montage was shown of Ren rushing up to a weapons stand, only to be offered two wooden toy weapons; a sword reminiscent of Crocea Mors and a hammer reminiscent of Magnhild.
Ren deflated in disappointment at being unable to buy a new weapon for his father.
He next waits in line at a liquor merchant before pointing at a bottle of apple sake. The wine merchant gave him a bemused look, and with a sigh, shook his head. Ren groaned, a little frustrated.
The montage ended as he stopped to look in a bakery window. There were several treats, including slices of lemon meringue pie, frosted cupcakes, multi-layered cakes with frosted waterlilies atop them, and a shelf of kitten-shaped bread.
Ren was excited but turned away upon hearing a voice.
"Hey, get back here!"
He looked around the corner of the bakery, following the sound of a group of kids laughing and mocking someone. Three boys stood in a semicircle around a dirty looking girl crouched on the ground and clutching a loaf of bread. It was a younger Nora Valkyrie.
The tallest one asked her, "Where'd you get that bread? I didn't see you pay for it, thief!"
Another one, considerably smaller, cried out, "No, look, it's all moldy!"
"I think she got it from the trash!
The medium-sized one was intrigued. "Lemme see!" Nora bit his finger in retaliation. "Ow! She bit me!"
The tall one looked at his friend's hand in horror before the latter pushed Nora back onto the ground. Nora whimpered for a second but got up and grabbed her bread off the ground. She took a few more steps back, trying to put some distance between her and her attackers.
The small boy asked, "Where'd she come from?" Ren watched as he took a few uncertain steps forward. "She's dressed all weird!"
"I bet she's abandoned! Like a dog or something!"
"Does that mean I have rabies?"
All three of them chuckled meanly. Nora saw Ren getting closer and looked at him with big, blinking eyes. The bullies noticed her focus changed to someone behind them and they turned to look. Ren panicked at having their focus and he turned to run, only to immediately bump into the legs of his father, Li Ren. He fell back and looked up at him.
"Father?"
Li glared at the children. "What is happening here?"
The three bullies panicked and looked around. The three of them ran away. Nora, seeing this as her opening, ran off with her bread.
Li addressed his son. "Do you wish to run with the rest of them?"
Ren lowered his face in response.
The hunter put his hand on his son's shoulder and lowered to one knee. "Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all. Now go home. I need to speak with the mayor."
With this, Li left the area. Ren watched briefly and turned away in sad thought.
I should help her, he thought. I should have helped her. Why didn't I?
An hour or so later, in the late afternoon, Nora was shown sitting against a wall, her knees curled to her chest. Her bread loaf had been devoured and she took a few sips of water from an open rain collector tube, using both hands to steady it. She leaned the plastic tube against the wall.
"Mom... Where are you? Why do I know you, but have never seen you? Only a name. Joro Valkyrie... Mom... Why did you leave me?"
No mother, no father... I have no one.
She thought back to those who teased her.
Those kids were mean to me. And that boy... why didn't he do anything? Why did he try to run? It doesn't matter.
Not too long thereafter, her stomach growled again.
I'm still hungry. I'm always hungry. I wish I had food. I wish I knew why I'm an orphan. I wish I had a place to stay. I wish I had a friend.
"Hey, what are you doing here?"
She soon noticed an angry woman glared at her, holding a wrench in her hand. The woman had pale skin and long black silky hair.
"Get away from my water tube, you cretin!"
The woman threw the wrench at her, only to miss by a few inches.
Unsure what to do, Nora ran, taking the tube with her, spilling some water as she fled.
"Get back here!"
The orphaned thief ran away, sticking to alleyways as she tried to make her escape.
I don't want to steal, but what choice do I have?
She ducked behind a dumpster, crouching and hiding from her pursuer. The woman looked around and grumbled as she searched the area. At that moment, the stench of the dumpster hit the poor girl's nose.
"Oh."
She softly gagged, hoping that the woman didn't hear her. The woman gave a slight "Hmm" and turned around, looking for her target.
At that moment, a dog started barking.
"Oh that blasted dog. It's just me, Krause Parker!"
The woman disappeared, presumably to soothe the dog and Nora breathed a sigh of relief. She looked at the tube and saw that about two thirds of its rainwater was gone. She sighed.
She put the lid back on and snuck away from the scene.
Hours later, as the sun was setting, Nora was shown with an empty tube of water nearby the city limits.
"I have nothing, I have no one. This town is cruel."
Tears formed and fell from her eyes as she sat underneath a tree.
She sobbed continuously, and screamed out, "Why, Joro?! Why?!"
Succumbing to anger and tears blurring her vision, she punched the tree. She screamed in pain as she punched the tree repetitively.
Night had fallen and soon a monstrous roar was heard in the distance. She wiped away her tears as fear awakened. "What was that?"
She gasped upon seeing a Grimm horse-like creature with an equine main body and a skinless humanoid creature fused with it.
"No..."
The Nucklavee roared and swung towards her. Nora leapt out of the way and ran into the city.
"No, please! Leave me alone!"
Nora ran and ran, the creature chasing her, screaming until others started to notice and fear compounded. Other Grimm started to enter the area.
Screams filled the air, and the little Valkyrie hid under a porch as the chaos began.
The scene changed to a framed picture of the Ren family. Young Ren was sleeping until the sound of Grimm awakened him.
An rushed in, nudging his shoulder. "Lie, get up. We have to go."
Ren, still trying to shake off weariness, asked, "Mother?"
An grabbed his arm and pulled him up. "Now, right now, okay? Let's go!"
In the kitchen beyond Ren's bedroom, the outer door bursts inward as a heavily-breathing Li enters. "Li!"
Li looked at his wife and son in fear. "An, what are you doing?! We need to hurry!"
"We can go to the safehouse!" she suggested.
"No," he countered. "I saw the beast. We need a huntsman or huntress. And you two need to leave."
"What?"
The creature sounded loud and ominous, causing all three to look up at the ceiling and walls in alarm.
Ren was still scared and confused. "Mother?"
An geot down to her knees to make eye contact with Ren. "It's OK, darling. Everything's OK."
Suddenly, the roof broke above her head and the screen cut to black.
Boards crashing and faint screams were heard. They were soon followed by the muffled screams of many and loud footsteps accompanied by Li's heavy breathing. Ren came to his senses gradually, held by his running father. Flaming sparks speckled the air. "Father? What... what's happening? Where's Mother?!"
Li was bleeding profusely from above his left eye. A woman nearby screamed as a Nevermore scooped her up in its claws.
"Father?"
Villagers ran away in panic, and black specks of ash floated in the air with the sparks. Some of the sparks fell down and decayed, while others drifted to buildings and set them ablaze.
In the background, Kiaran and Alva were trying to escape.
"Crap, this is bad..." Kiaran faintly spoke.
Alva took his hand, squeezing it as they ran. "We need to move! Quickly, this way!"
The ground shook and Li fell, dropping Ren and landing on his back.
"Father!"
Everyone ran past them as Li pushed himself up slightly.
Li warned him, "Lie, you have to run."
Ren moved towards his father. "No. Don't. Please. Get up!"
He looked up upon hearing the Grimm roaring noise again. Behind them, scared civilians ran while a silhouetted image slowly moved in a cloud of smoke. The smoke clears to reveal the Nuckelavee Grimm, a horse-shaped creature with a human torso growing out of its back.
Li looked at his son with urgency. "Listen to me, son. You have to be brave now. Do you understand?"
Ren shook. "No, please. Please, I can't!"
Li withdrew a knife from its sheath on his hip. "Yes, you can!" He put the knife in Ren's hand and pushed him away before falling back with a groan. Ren looked at the knife. "Take action, son." Getting to his feet, Li looks down at his son. "Your mother and I love you."
Lie gripped the knife tighter and fought back tears. "Father..."
The Nuckelavee stomped on the ground behind them. Li turned to face the monster, and readying his bow.
Li coughed, "Go!" He notched an arrow and pulled it back. He shouted one more time as he released the arrow. "Run!"
Ren ran away and Li let loose arrow after arrow at the towering Grimm until the last one was fired.
Under an arch and jumping sideways down to a landing beside some steps, Ren crouched down, panicking.
The cries of Nevermores overhead caused him to look up. He heard sobbing from across the way and discovered Nora crouching beneath a building. A Nevermore flapped its wings loudly and landed on the roof of a building near to the girl. It let out a loud, dangerous cry.
The Nuckelavee stomped through the center of town releasing its own roar.
Ren realized that his parents were both dead and cried softly. Behind him, the waterlily for the aqueduct floated in the water untarnished. Another Nevermore cry pierced the air as Ren continued to sob. He grew still and his aura shimmered over him, graying out his appearance.
Ren let out a calm breath as his color returned.
The next shot showed him running toward Nora, and he moved under the building to where she was hiding.
Ren put his hand on her shoulder. "Hey!" Nora gasped and flinched back, but calmed herself and remained still when she saw that he meant her no harm. "We have to be brave."
The Nevermore cried above them, leaning down its head closer to the ground.
Nora whimpered and then threw her arms around Ren. His eyes and arms went wide before he accepted the gesture. Putting his arms around her the shimmer happened again and both of them lost their color vivacity in their appearance.
The Nevermore, now shown to be dangerously close to where the two children crouch, turned its head and let out a confused cry. Smoke rose from its body as it turned and cried again before launching into the air.
The sounds of heavy steps were nearby. Ren watched the Nuckelavee come closer. Nora turned and together they watched and waited as it paused next to where they hid before the creature moved on.
With this, he released his semblance.
She softly whimpered out, "I'm scared..."
"Me, too." he confessed.
The shot pulled back to show the wooden hammer on the ground. Ren moves to retrieve it but Nora clutches his arm, afraid. "It's OK."
With another whimper, Nora let him go and watched with big eyes as he crawled away. Ren grabbed the wooden hammer and returned to her. "We'll keep each other safe."
He offered her the hammer. She looked down emotionally before she took it from him.
"What's your name?" he asked.
"Nora. Nora Valkyrie."
"My name's Lie Ren."
He smiled at her, blinking.
Several hours passed, and the Grimm were gone. The two children came from under the building they hid, which behind them, was burned half-away down.
"Oh no..." Nora whispered.
The village was destroyed.
"We should take what we can find." Ren advised.
The two were shown in the bakery, taking the loaves of kitten shaped bread and a few other things from other places, including two backpacks, one purple and pink and another one black and green.
He zipped up Nora's backpack. "Are we really the only ones left?"
Lie nodded. "I believe so. We need to leave. Maybe we can find a shelter."
Ren took Nora's hand as they sadly left the village behind.
As he returned to the present, Ren saw the village in its present, desolated state.
Nora blinked in sorrow. "Kuroyuri..." She held her stomach, the Scroll, turned on and in her pocket, showed her aura bar flashing purple; going from 35 to 32%.
Ruby let down her hood in respect. "Nora, Ren... I'm so sorry. We all are."
"I appreciate the thought, but you can express sympathies later." Ren told them. "We need to get to a pharmacy or an apothecary."
"What sort of medicine would we even...?"
From afar, Alva, Kiaran and Tyrian stood on top of a rooftop, with the black cloaked woman preparing a bow as the heroes spoke amongst themselves.
Pyrrha sighed.
How long will this last?
Ruby was shown digging through a pile of rubble as Alva got out the A-N-D and pulled the string back.
I miss my brother. Pyrrha thought. I hope he's okay...
Alva released her hold on the string, shooting the aura nullification dart towards her target. Pyrrha felt a shiver crawl upon her, only for the dart to hit her right shoulder.
"Ow! Ohh!"
A flash of red was seen before disappearing; her aura was gone.
Jaune looked up in alarm. "Pyrrha? What's wrong?!"
"I don't know, I don't feel my aura! At all!"
"That can't be right. Tyrian isn't anywhere near us." Ren reasoned. "There's no way he could've..."
Alva's laughter was heard from afar.
"Oh such foolish heroes." she began.
"Nothing more than cogs in the system," Kiaran added.
"Playing a game you can not hope to win." Tyrian finished.
A cloud of smoke manifested, clearing to reveal Tyrian, along with two cloaked fiends.
"It's the end of the road, heroes."