Chapter 56: Southern Mistral - Kuroyuri

Cover Art by Mi Chumi

Eight-year-old Lie Ren's father was a hunter. Not for Grimm, oh no. Lie Ren had asked that once, and his father had explained that he was no Huntsman, but a hunter for food who brought back deer and other game. It was an important job, he had assured his son, one of many important jobs which kept the town of Kuroyuri thriving.

It was the only life that Lie had ever known. Happiness. Peace. A loving mother and father.

Which is why, when the unfamiliar sounds began that evening, he didn't understand what was happening until he heard the roars of what could only be Grimm.

He rolled over in his bed to find his mother hovering over him, her normally loving pink eyes filled with fear. "Lie, get up. We have to go!"

"Mother?" Go? Where would they go? Where was father?

His mother only grabbed his arm, pulling him up and toward the door. "Now, right now, okay? Let's go!" As they made it through the doorway and passed the kitchen, the outer door of their home burst open as his father, gasping heavily, stormed into the room. His face was pale, and his pale, golden eyes seemed swallowed by their whites.

Lie Ren listened with fear and confusion as his parents argued over what to do, where to go. His father insisted that the two of them must run ahead, while his mother demanded that they stay together, seek out the safe house.

"There is no safe house!" Li objected. "Not from this. Only a Huntsman can stop the beast that has come!"

And then the world fell on them, and Lie's vision went dark. The last thing he saw was his mother's face, full of concern changed to fear.

. . .

When he regained his wits, his world was in motion. He looked up to find his father, bleeding heavily from a wound on his forehead, was carrying him and gasping as he ran through the streets. Around them the sounds of fear and destruction filled the air.

He asked his father where his mother was, but received no answer. The strong hunter, the most powerful man Lie Ren had ever known, was gasping for breath and focused on keeping moving. All around them, people were running. Screaming. There was a shaking as if the earth itself were trying to throw them off, and his father fell to hands and knees, Lie Ren rolling out of his arms and onto his back on the ground.

"Father!" he called, as people ran past.

He watched his father's strong face fall to resignation. "Lie, you have to run."

Ren shook his head wordlessly. No. No. Father.

A huge Grimm screamed nearby, and his father, still kneeling before him, grabbed him by the shoulders. "Lie! You have to be brave. Do you understand?" He drew his hunting knife from its sheath. He placed it in Lie's hand. "You must obey me. You must go. You must… take action." His father forced himself to his feet. "Remember son, your mother and I will always love you. No matter what. Now go!"

Lie Ren hesitated only a moment as his father's attention shifted past him as he nocked an arrow and aimed it over his son's head, letting it fly. The scream of Grimm forced him to turn around. To see it for himself.

It was huge. Monstrous. Evil. Terrifying. A twisted horse-like form merged with the mockery of a rider, with clawed arms that dragged the ground and glowing red eyes.

It was death.

"Run!"

As his father continued loosing arrow after arrow at the approaching horror, Lie Ren obeyed. He ran. He ran, seeking shelter. Seeking safety. Far above him, he heard the screams of Nevermore, drawn to the fear of the fleeing and dying townsfolk.

He had to seek cover from their sight. He was only eight, but he knew that much.

Finally ducking low beside a footbridge, he was shocked to find someone else hiding beneath the elevated floor of the building across the way. A thin girl with dirty clothes and bright orange hair crouched sobbing among the building piers.

He remembered that girl. How could he forget the shame that he'd felt when his father had reproached him less than a week ago, as he'd stood by while she was bullied.

"Sometimes the worst action to take... is taking no action at all. Go home.." his father had scolded him. She'd been dirty then too, and terrified of those boys who had been teasing her. Bullying her. And Ren had done nothing but stare, until his father had arrived and made all of the bullies and the girl flee.

His father, who had just given him a knife and told him to run.

And he had run, as he had been told. And he knew, he knew that he would never see his father and mother again. He could not save them.

But the girl. The girl was here.

Sometimes the worst action to take… is taking no action at all…

He should protect her.

From above them, the building shuddered, and Lie Ren heard the sound of a Nevermore scream. It had sensed the fear radiating off the girl. It was looking for her. Somewhere back from where he'd run, he heard the Nuckelavee roar again. It filled him with fear as well, and he struggled to stifle a sob of his own.

Struggled. And succeeded. He felt a sudden… warmth. An internal energy that washed through him, and he imagined that his skin nearly glowed with the power of it for a moment. And as it washed over him, behind it… only calm remained.

He let out a slow breath, ran across the alley, and crouching made his way to the girl, putting a hand on the terrified girl's shoulder. "Hey." He said quietly. The girl gasped and nearly cried out before realizing that it was a person, not a Grimm, that had discovered her. "We have to be brave."

Above them, the building shuddered again, and the Nevermore screamed, drawing a whimper from the girl and causing her to cling to him.

He would save her. Save them both. He took a deep breath. He could feel her fear. He exhaled, and the calm descended again, and he sensed her fear dissipate with his own at the same time she exhaled softly.

From above them, there was a moment of silence and then the Nevermore made a sound that was more confusion than challenge. Then there was the sound of distant gunfire, and the building shuddered as the Nevermore took off with a cry. From further away, he heard the Nuckelavee scream yet again, but it sounded further away. He allowed his concentration to fade, and felt emotion return.

"I'm scared..." the girl said, though he could tell it was not as strong as before.

"Me, too," he admitted. He scanned the ground nearby, spotting a wooden mallet. He reached over and picked it up, handing it too her. Then he drew the knife that his father had given him. "But it's okay. We'll keep each other safe. What's your name?"

"Nora." Her eyes were large, and very bright blue with hints of green.

"My name's Ren," he said to her, smiling. "Lie Ren. We are going to be okay. I promise."

The look of hope and trust on her face gave him strength he hadn't known he possessed.

Li Ren stood alone in the town square, final arrow nocked. He'd driven every single one home into the hated flesh of the Nuckelavee, to no avail. His simple hunting arrows were not enough to slay such a beast. No one in Kuroyuri could withstand such a horror.

But he could buy his child time. Hope, however slim, that his only son might survive. The same hope that his wife had shown, as she lay pinned beneath heavy beams.

As she'd told him to take their child and flee. To leave her there.

Hope.

The Nuckelavee screamed again, and the force of it was palpable.

Li Ren was about to die. He had one arrow left, and had given away his only other weapon. He would trade his life willingly to gain his son one additional breath.

Somewhere near the rooftops, a bird called. Not a Nevermore, but a mundane avian.

Followed moments later by an electric, tearing sound.

Movement pulled at his peripheral vision, and he saw a woman, wearing a black and red kimono top and black pleated skirt, with a truly incredible mass of unruly black hair, stroll out of the alley behind and to the right of the beast as if she had not a care in the world. In her right hand, she held a red-bladed ōdachi.

Red eyes flicked in his direction once, then locked onto the Nuckelavee. The woman's mouth split into a wide grin.

To his continued shock, she yelled at the Grimm.

"Yo bitch!"

She wove her sword before her in a complex pattern and took a guard stance.

"Let's dance…"

Li felt his final arrow slip from nerveless fingers, and his knees give way beneath him. Through the roaring in his ears, he heard the sound of savage cries rising from the alley behind the woman, as the square began to fill with…

Bandits?!

THREE WEEKS PRIOR

Wang Lin, long-time Mayor of Kuroyuri, was having a shitty shitty day. It had started fine, and then two women had come knocking on the door to his offices, demanding a meeting without an appointment. Demanding!

And they weren't even from Kuroyuri! He'd never seen them before in his life!

He'd attempted to push them off, and instead found himself, minutes later, sitting petrified with fear in his own chair, in his own office, having finally realized exactly who was sitting within arms-reach across from him, fully armed.

"But you're Raven Branwen!"

The woman, of the same name, rolled her eyes. "You've said that already. Three times."

"And you want me to do what?!"

Raven let her fingers walk across the desk, sounding put upon. "Again. We've gone over this. You pay us, and we won't raid you. And in fact, we'll help protect the town."

"You… Raven Branwen… will protect Kuroyuri…"

"Damn right. Me and my people."

"Branwen Tribe." He couldn't keep the near hysterical tone out of his voice. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.

"Well, we're looking into a rebrand. But basically yeah," Raven said, eyeballing him again.

He raised a shaking hand, pointing at her. "You… you robbed us three years ago! And you ambushed the spring supply train two years ago! It took us months to recover!"

"Bygones. Old news. Turning over a new leaf." She steepled her hands, then locked her fingers together and looked over them at him. "Look shithead, this is a sweet deal for you."

"You expect me to believe that!?" He searched for sanity. "I give you lien, right? And you leave the town alone? We both know that if I pay you, you're just going to come back tomorrow and demand more!"

Raven's red eyes narrowed. "You calling me a fucking cheat?"

Mayor Lin's face paled, hands gripping the arms of his chair until his knuckles turned white. "N—N—No! Absolutely not!"

She relaxed slightly. She understood why the Mayor of Kuroyuri was having a hard time. But she wasn't gonna take being insulted. Besides, she had at least four other towns to visit this week afterward.

Dear gods, please tell me they're not all gonna be this much of a pain in the ass.

"Didn't think so." She tried again. "How about this." She pulled a folded, printed sheet out of the pouch at her waist and opened it up. "You sign this. It's a contract I had some friends of mine draw up. An agreement that you'll pay us 60,000 lien per year as a retainer, and 50,000 extra in the event of attack to cover wear and tear and medical care." She smirked. Taiyang would have loved that one.

"You… you're insane."

She waved the hand holding the paper dismissively. "Never felt more sane. And I'm still getting the hang of this whole negotiation thing. How about this to sweeten the pot." She slammed the paper down on the desk, and put her hand on the hilt of Omen. "Fucking sign it, and I won't cut your fucking throat."

When you put it that way.

The mayor grabbed the paper, scribbled his name in the general vicinity of the bottom, and pushed it back toward her. She stared at him for a few seconds, and then sighed when he didn't move. "The money…"

He paled again. "I don't have 60,000 lien available…"

She rolled her eyes. "Not all at once, you dumbass. It's 5,000 lien for the first month."

There was a long pause, and finally he swallowed and turned halfway around to dial open the obvious safe behind him. His shoulder blades itched the entire time.

He didn't even bother to hide the combination from her. This was Raven Branwen, for the Gods' sakes. If she wanted what was in it, she'd just take it. He kept glancing back as he worked.

But she just sat there, looking bored. She wasn't even paying attention. Not even stabbing him when the safe was open!

He pulled out 5000 lien, counted it, and slid it across the table like it was made of high explosive. "Look… I don't know what you're playing…"

"No games. Just business." Raven said matter-of-factly. "Vernal!"

"Yeah boss," the young girl called from the next room.

"Bring the bird."

When the girl entered his office carrying, of all things, a birdcage containing one, small, gray bird, his confusion increased.

"Wha—wha—wha—"

"This little guy," Raven continued, "is your 'oh shit' alarm. You run into trouble. Serious trouble..." She glared at him, "not some namby pamby bullshit. Serious trouble, you open this cage, and little Georgie here gets his feathered ass home as fast as his little wings can carry him. Got it? You gotta take care of him, feed him, though. If he fucking dies cause you're too stupid to keep an eye on him, it's not my fault. Later on, we'll do something better. I've got plans."

"Wha—"

"Its in the fucking contract you signed," Raven sighed. "Seriously, it's like nobody listens."

. . .

It was only after she left that Mayor Lin realized he'd pissed himself.

The bird just watched him, head tilted, as he sat in his damp leather chair, crying.

Thus it was that when little Georgie arrived, little birdie heart going five thousand beats per minute, and alit in the darkness at Branwen Camp, it was Vernal who'd raised the alarm, and, amazingly, everyone did their jobs.

It helped that over the past month, Raven had drilled them on this several times per week. By now they had it down. She didn't even need to stick around to watch any more.

"Still fucking miss Visha though," she muttered. "That old woman knows how to stir 'em up."

But it was too late to complain about that kinda shit, and no one would listen, because she was already flying at maximum speed toward Kuroyuri. She didn't know what she'd find there, but she knew one thing.

It better be serious, or they're gonna need a new fucking mayor.

. . .

It was serious. And it sucked, she decided when she arrived over the town.

Something big had breached the main gates, which lay broken from their hinges on the ground. And from the bodies she'd seen, it had slaughtered a chunk of the town militia in the process.

The resulting terror had already been drawing other Grimm. She'd spotted packs of Beowolves converging as she'd flown in, and could see a half-dozen Nevermore of various sizes circling above the city and even perched on buildings, destroying the structures as they sought out the fear-scents that the town must reek of by now. In several places, buildings were on fire from overturned lanterns and damaged stoves.

One small raven was not nearly enough to get their attention.

What got her attention was the Nuckelavee, a one-Grimm terror campaign, standing in the town square facing off against… a single human archer. The only man who had the balls, or the stupidity, or both, to face the damn thing.

As she descended quickly, she heard it scream at him, and he pulled his bow back driving an arrow into the thing's chest. To no result, if the number of them already pincushioning the damn thing was any indication. He's persistent if nothing else.

Raven frowned. A Nuckelavee was nothing to sneeze at. Even for her. And it would take the Tribe hours to get here by vehicle or horseback, longer on foot.

Which is why it's a good thing neither of those are needed, she thought as she landed in the alley slightly behind and to the right of the cursed thing. She took a moment to pull out her scroll, punched a few buttons and hit send, and then drew Omen.

With a gesture and a tearing electrical sound, a portal formed in the deeper darkness between the buildings.

Out from her portal poured the seasoned and bloodthirsty fighters of Branwen Tribe, the terror of townsfolk and traders throughout southern Mistral. Her few Aura users stood in front. Dozens of others armed with firearms filtered out behind them. Her lieutenant, a grizzled veteran who'd stuck with her through the recent upheavals, took the scene in. Beside him stood Vernal, dual weapons drawn.

"Holy shit, boss. That's…."

"A big fucker. Yeah. You know the drill. Your job is to stay alive, watch my back, and then, if you can spare it, save anybody else you can and kill anything that looks like a Grimm. Got it?" She eyed Vernal. "Got it?!"

Vernal nodded. "Got it, Chief. Can… can you take that thing?"

"Probably not," Raven smirked, as she strolled out of the alley. "You let me worry about that."

. . .

"Yo bitch!" Raven called as she wove a complex pattern in the air before her with Omen. "Let's dance."

Behind her, Branwen Tribe roared, and the Nuckelavee was peppered with gunfire, causing it to turn away from the man who then fell to his knees, dazed, in the street.

And as expected, the Nuckelavee's humanoid head screamed at her in a cloud of black exhalation smoke. Its glowing red eyes glared. Behind her, the Tribe paused. She could feel their hesitation. This was the moment of truth.

"Not. Impressed," Raven said flatly, and stalked forward to meet it.

That got its attention. The horse portion's hooves shuffled as it turned fully to face her, humanoid arms dragging. And then one of those unbelievably long appendages lashed out, tripling in length lightning fast, claws poised to tear her in half or fling her into the nearest wall.

Raven instead shifted almost as fast, so that she felt the wind of its passing as the arm whispered past her head, causing the clawed hand to miss and slam into the building to her right. Eyes alight, she slid her foot to the right as she brought her two-handed grip down and around, bearing Omen in a deadly strike that would sever the hateful appendage…

Had it still been there.

With a yank and a scream, the clawed hand came flying back toward her, and Raven was forced to redirect her strike into a blocking blow with the flat of Omen, knocking the razor-sharp claws away.

Fuck, that thing is fast.

But I am fucking Raven Branwen.

"What's the matter, fucker, never met a real fighter before?" She adjusted her stance, pulling Omen back into a guard position. "Been getting fat and stupid on helpless civies?" She removed one hand from the hilt of the sword, and made a come-hither gesture. "Bring it!"

Behind her the Tribe roared and gunfire opened up again as she readied herself for the creature's next strike.

Just gotta buy time, Raven. Just buy time.

Behind her, she could hear the continued yells of her Tribe. They'd seen her stand up to that thing. Insult it. Challenge it. And survive. They were drinking from the keg of Branwen Arrogance, and it was a heady brew. All hoppy and shit.

Behind that, she could hear the growing cries of relief from scattered residents of the town. Further away, she caught other sounds of gunfire, probably from the remnants of the town militia, trying to rally themselves as well.

I fucking hate you, Summer, she thought. But the look on her face was one of satisfaction.

. . .

What followed was a deadly dance. The Nuckelavee sought to grapple Raven, to pin her down or impale her so it could bring its horse hooves to bear on her, to shatter her Aura and destroy her.

The most it managed was glancing blows. Blows that depleted her Aura bit by bit, but not blows that could bring her down.

Raven sought to sever the hated thing's extensible limbs so that she could get in close, and cut its damned throat.

So far, the most she'd managed was to clip one of its clawed fingers off. That had pissed it off, and nearly knocked her off her feet.

This fucker is tough, she thought, gritting her teeth. Woulda been easier if it wasn't just me taking it on. Hell, even Vernal woulda been helpful. But Vernal was back with the Tribe's Aura users, and they were all busy fending off the smaller Grimm, making a safe rally point, and distracting the damn thing from time to time with cover fire.

And you don't gotta kill it. You just gotta keep it busy and not fucking die in the process.

It felt like hours, but was probably only minutes when the moment of truth came. "Raven!" her lieutenant yelled. "Green!"

"Thank the fucking Gods!" Raven growled. And charged…

…away from the Nuckelavee and down the closest alley that lay opposite from where her Tribe was posted up.

"Come on you fucker!" she yelled as she rounded a corner and had the satisfaction of seeing one of its clawed hands fly past her head and slam into the building opposite. "That's right! I'm your number one fan! Party's this way!"

. . .

Raven leaned against the wall of a building, panting. She was not having a good time.

She wasn't dead yet, either.

The Nuckelavee had been chasing her for a good two minutes as she tried to gain just the right distance at the right location without letting it get distracted by anyone else it might encounter. And the damn thing did, following her at its freakishly leisurely and yet ground-chewing pace.

But as long as it was focused on her, it wasn't slaughtering the town's citizens either. She'd managed to catch enough glimpses, as she'd led it on this merry chase, of her Tribe to see that they were making a difference too. The remnants of the city militia had rallied to them, bolstering their numbers, and together they'd managed to create somewhat of a safe haven around the town school, where anyone who could had apparently taken shelter.

That didn't mean they were winning. It just meant they were losing slowly enough for it to fucking matter.

"Can't believe I let you talk me into this…"

It was time.

With a grunt, she pushed away from the wall, and gestured with Omen in a now-familier pattern.

. . .

The first moment the Nuckelavee knew that the situation had changed dramatically, was when it turned the corner and a half-dozen high-powered, deep-piercing dust rounds slammed into both humanoid and equine portions and exploded.

It screamed its outrage and defiance and flung both arms forward, toward where the shots had originated.

And then they were on it. A muscular blue-eyed, blonde-haired Huntsman whose punches nearly broke its left arm, diverting the clawed strike into a building on that side. A lean dark-haired Huntsman sporting a red cloak and wielding an enormous scythe cut deeply into its right arm at almost the same time, rendering it useless.

And behind those two, a small group of humans knelt in the middle of the alley. A dark-haired woman with an eye-patch held a rather large rifle that continued sending round after round slamming into its chest. To her left knelt two others, a woman with straight black hair and an older man with salt and pepper gray hair, both dressed in dark military fatigues, doing the same.

"I may not have depth perception," Summer laughed to Crystal next to her, keeping her silver eye locked on target, "but I can still aim in a straight freaking line!"

There was a roar of challenge from a second floor to the right, and the Nuckelavee had just a moment to notice yet another Huntsman, this one with tawney ears and spots running up his neck, only for the man to crouch and then blink out.

Followed by the sudden sense of a presence below it, between its own equine legs, and a deep, unnatural and above all sharp pain deep in its chest that caused it to jerk backward, trying to extract itself from the strike that had driven deeply into it.

But none of that would be enough to kill it. Nuckelavee were tough.

The very last thing it saw was the hated woman who it had been chasing only minutes before, her eyes blazing red and Omen sweeping forward in a smooth arc as she flung herself straight towards its humanoid head.

"Say hi to Team STRQ, fucker!" Raven crowed.

Lie Ren and Nora had stayed under the house, listening as the sounds of Grimm and the screams of their neighbors slowly gave way to something… different. Instead of screams of fear, they began to sound more like yells of rage and triumph. Instead of the roars of Grimm, they more often heard the sounds of gunfire.

"What's happening, Ren?" Nora finally asked, blinking at him.

"I don't know…" He thought about correcting her regarding his name, but decided he liked the way she said his surname. He looked around. "Should I... go look?"

"No!" Her aqua-colored eyes widened in sudden distress. "Don't leave me! You said… you said we'll stay together!"

He nodded. "Yes. I did." He looked around. "Then let's go see together."

Creeping slowly forward, his father's hunting knife gripped tightly in one hand, he felt his heart hammering in his chest. Beside him, Nora clutched the wooden hammer as if she were prepared to destroy any interloping Grimm with it.

"We should… get you a better weapon."

Nora glanced at the thing in her hand. "I… kinda like it. It feels… right." She glanced up at him. "Maybe if it was a little bigger though."

He couldn't help but smile. Yes. That was probably true.

As they reached the edge of the house's foundation and peeked out, the worst thing imaginable happened.

There was the crack of a rifle, and then a beowolf that had apparently been prowling somewhere above fell howling to the ground right in front of them with a yelp, and turned glowing red eyes onto Ren with a snarl as it clambered to its feet. Lie Ren stood there for one long moment.

And then it leapt, or tried to. There was something wrong with its back leg.

Sometimes the worst action to take… is taking no action at all…

Lie Ren, his father's hunting knife in hand, snarled and leapt onto the back of the beast, even as Nora attacked its rear legs with her ridiculous wooden mallet.

"For my mother!" Lie Ren screamed as his father's knife plunged deep into unnatural flesh. The beast howled and tried to throw him off, but now neither of its back legs appeared to work. He wrenched the knife free and stabbed it again near the base of its neck. "For my father!"

From behind him, he heard the hollow sounds of wood striking Grimm flesh, accompanied by cackling. "For us!" Nora yelled.

Ren wrenched the blade free again. And there was the sound of another rifle crack, and the beast shuddered and collapsed. Slowly it began to dissolve under him. He turned to meet Nora's wide aquamarine eyes.

"I… I think I broke its legs…" she whispered in awe, gaze flicking between her wooden weapon and Ren's violet eyes. "Whoah..."

We killed a Beowolf, eight-year-old Ren realized. We are going to live... He felt like laughing and hugging Nora and crying all at once.

And so he did.

Mop up took minutes or hours, depending on how you define it.

As soon as the Nuckelavee was dealt with, Raven's little ambush fanned out in pairs and threes. Raven and Summer. Tai and Qrow. Garek with Reggie and Crystal. Under the combined mass of trained Huntsmen, paramilitary, and bandit fire, the Nevermore who'd been held at bay by the Tribe were quickly dealt with. And as the victories mounted, the levels of fear in Kuroyuri faded even more quickly, replaced by a growing sense of grim hope, which slowed the flow of Grimm toward and through the town's broken gates.

Within a half hour, Reggie, Crystal, and Garek were posted at those gates, along with a half dozen of the Tribe and a handful of surviving town militia, picking off any Grimm that dared approach while others began assembling a makeshift barricade. Meanwhile the rest of the fighters dispersed in small groups throughout the town, dispatching any remaining Grimm there and searching for survivors. Behind them handfuls of townsfolk, those well enough and stable enough to do so, began tending to wounded and covering the dead.

In the midst of this, a man stumbled, calling a name. He had a makeshift bandage across his forehead, an empty quiver across his back, and an expression of hope and despair.

"Lie! Lie Ren!" He called. He began accosting people as they passed, many of them appearing too shocked or injured to respond. "Please… have you seen my son? He is young. Dark hair. Pink eyes." Please be safe. Please have made it.

He felt a hand on his shoulder, "Oy! Did this kid have on a green shirt, purplish-red shoulders? Big fucking hunting knife?" The man who had halted him had a rifle slung over his shoulder and was dressed like… like a bandit. He had a long scar down the right cheek and smelled like booze.

"Yes! Yes! You saw him?!"

The man laughed. "Damn right I saw him. Him and this little orange haired street rat were beatin' the shit outta a Beowolf I shot." He grinned. "I won't say they didn't get some good licks in, but that thing was on its last legs already." He eyed Li Ren. "You should be proud. That kid woulda done well in the Tribe."

Li felt himself starting to object. His son. A bandit?!

And then he stopped himself. No. No. This man. Whatever he was, had likely saved his son's life. His son. "Where did you see him? Did you see where he went?!"

The bandit nodded and pointed back toward where the Ren home was. Had been. "Him and that girl headed back that way." He laughed again. "She's quite a one too, twirling that wooden hammer around like it was the Gods' own Grimm-Smiter."

"Thank you!" Lie Ren cried. "I will not forget your aid," he finished as he began to run back toward his home. He knew what his son sought. And what he feared to find.

Behind him the bandit, scourge of southern Mistral, marveled at the novelty of being thanked by a soft city dweller. One that had just turned his back on him and trusted not to get a knife in the back.

A man could get used to that.

. . .

As Li Ren neared their shattered home, he could not see his son, nor the girl, for the people who were crowded around the remains of the front door. The roof was a wreck of beams, panels, and tiles at odd angles where something, likely a Nevermore, had torn through it. "Please! This is my home! I must pass!" he cried as he forced his way through those at the entrance.

"Father!" a young voice called from within, and his heart soared.

"Lie! I'm coming!" People, both townsfolk and others, parted before him, and he came upon the scene. Before him, the local blacksmith and carpenter, both burly men, were working with several similarly large strangers, carefully lifting and bracing broken and fallen beams from the tangled mass on the floor of their home. And past them he could see…

Ren, his son, knelt on the floor looking back at him with tear-filled eyes. Beside him was the thin homeless girl from last week. She held one of his hands. Lie's other hand was held by…

His wife. An. She was there, still pinned beneath the fallen debris. Her face was pale, but she lived, and she held her son's hand. Her eyes met his, twisted by pain but with a glimmer of something else.

"An…"

He rushed forward, only to be caught by one of the other men who were standing nearby. It was.. Mayor Lin. "Li, she's badly hurt. They're trying to be careful." He leaned in. "She can't feel her legs, Li."

Li stared at the man who'd held the office of mayor for years, as if he'd never known him. "I must tend to my wife."

"Right. Just… don't…" the mayor sighed, "They're doing the best they can."

Cinder had gone to her room in a huff two hours ago, hurt and frustrated because she had not been allowed to accompany Garek and the two BAST marksmen on "The Mission". They'd held firm. This was not a Combat School exercise. This was likely a life or death situation, and they were not putting their young ward in harm's way on purpose.

Which was also why Selene was not allowed to go, either. It was one thing for her to place herself in harms way when there was no other choice. But to do so when other options were available, to risk increased talk of her supposed Semblance… that was too much.

And the inability to do something, the lack of knowledge of what was happening half a continent away was maddening.

"Selene, stop fretting," Visha scolded. Her presence the last few weeks had been welcome, and their old dynamic of treating Selene as her responsibility had reasserted itself. "I'm sure they have their hands full. Garek will contact you as soon as he can."

"I am… I am…" she threw up her hands. "Fine. Yes. You are correct. But I—" suddenly her scroll buzzed, and she scrambled to answer it, nearly dropping it in the process. "Garek!"

"Selene! We're all okay but we've got a lot of seriously injured people. I need you to call Argus Emergency Services now and get—" there was hurried discussion, "at least four ambulances headed your way. More if you can manage it. Got it? And tell Visha to get her butt out into the sidewalks in front of the apartment. Things are about to get messy!" Her lover looked sweaty and disheveled, but there was no sign of wounds.

"Yes Garek! She is already moving! I will… I will call Sarah's parents as well, to get Officer Tourmaline's assistance."

"Good thinking, love. See you soon," he grinned, and the call ended.

It was less than five minutes later, as the first of the sirens approached the Grae apartment, that a portal opened near Visha, and stretchers bearing the most seriously wounded began pouring through it.

Among those, unconscious but breathing and accompanied by her husband, son, and one inseparable orange-haired girl, was An Ren.

[A/N] Special thanks to recent reviewer Rookie80 and MercenaryGrok. If you enjoyed the surprise appearance of the White Fang last chapter, I hope you also loved the suprise appearance of Ren and Nora, not to mention the butterfly effect of Summer's impact on Raven and The Tribe's intervention in Kuroyuri!

Shadowstorm-Vash, I hope you're well. Haven't heard from you in a minute!

I would like to recommend another story as well by Flairindalin called "RWBY Volume 10, One Man's Ending". They've done a really neat follow-up to Volume 9 and I'm really enjoying it!

For the record, I did not intend to even write this chapter.

I intended to just skip over anything to do with young Nora and Ren, and pick up their story much later. But a reader made an off-hand remark, completely innocently, that we had seen all of Teams RWBY and JNPR by now… except for Ren and Nora.

And then I checked the "calendar" of my story, and realized where we were in the timeline, and what was about to happen in canon (or had just happened), and what the status of a certain former Bandit Tribe was.

And things just kinda fell into place once I set those pieces on the board. I just had to figure out how Raven would learn of a threat in time to actually do something about it. And from that, the way I used her Semblance was a stupidly obvious choice. Of COURSE she would arrange to have links at key locations. Of COURSE she would have some sort of protocol set up ahead of time in the event of an emergency that her Tribe couldn't handle alone. In case it wasn't clear, that was the message she sent out by scroll as soon as she arrived in Kuroyuri and saw how screwed they were. The "buying time" she did was specifically to allow Team STRQ and The Lone Huntsmen (those who made sense) to gear up and assemble for insertion into the fire sack via portal.

And yes, I know Raven is tough, but taking on a Nuckelavee single-handed without Maiden Powers, even with bandit backup is not something I felt Raven would manage. On the other hand, where Team RWBY barely managed it, I fully expect that a veteran Team STRQ + Garek/Reggie/Crystal should be more than a match for a surprised Nuckelavee that they have the drop on.

I waffled a little over using Vernal as the Argus link vs Visha, and decided in the end that having Vernal stay with Garek and Selene was just too problematic, whereas the idea that Raven would form an emotional bond with Visha over the prior six months wasn't totally unreasonable considering their common bond over Summer Rose. That old lady grows on you. Just ask Summer.

And once I did all that… like I said, the story just flowed from my fingers like water. I hope you found it as satisfying as I did.

And no, little 8-year-old Ren and Nora did not single-handedly kill a Beowolf with a hunting knife and a wooden mallet, even if Ren did just unlock his Aura. That's just silly. If that bandit hadn't popped it (twice) they would have gotten seriously hurt. But Nora did get some good whacks in with that hammer. Maybe she did break one of its legs...

Does this change canon for Renora going forward? I don't think it does much, other than maybe reducing his trauma a little. If anything, Ren will remember his father's words. "We need a Huntsman." He will feel pride in what he accomplished, protecting himself and Nora with his father's knife. The desire to continue to do so, with training, will likely be strong. Perhaps he'll be a little more confident as he grows up, compared to canon, but I think he will still be the Ren we know and love. And Nora… I think you can see she can only be our beloved Nora. And in case it's not obvious, she just gained a family.

Break a leg, kids.