Chapter Text
Once upon a time there were two young children; a young boy named Lie Ren and a young girl named Nora Valkyrie. Monsters had attacked their home and so they fled as fast as they could to get to safety. This would take a long time, and they had a long, long journey ahead.
One night however, was different: Nora and Lie Ren were lost and cold. The broken remains of the moon hung overhead as they walked through the forest, and every hoot of an owl or broken twig made them afraid. They had grown brave, they had too, but they were just children, and even with his Semblance they knew that they could be easy prey for the Grimm.
But they can't stop, not just yet… something was following them. They could feel it in much the same way a mouse feels the vibration of a cat’s paws; and just like the mouse they knew they were the prey. The best they could hope for was that it was a wild animal, which would be dangerous of course but at least it could be persuaded to look for another meal.
“W-we need to hurry! It probably already smells us…”
Lie Ren looked at his friend. “Keep it down.” he said while setting an example. “If it’s a Grimm-”
“Isn’t that what your-”
She paused, and Lie Ren noticed it too; everything had gone eerily quiet. Whatever it was that made the noise had stopped… everything had become silent.
“S-should we stop?”
Ren paused. “M-maybe?” It wasn’t right, he knew that and for years later he would look back on the decision as a bad one… but he was tired, and young.
A humble camp was set up and He had the first watch. Looking down at his father’s dagger in the light of embers of their little fire. Je was lost in thought. A lot has happened to the two of them recently, after all… The only sound was Nora snoring for a good few minutes but that didn't stop him from just processing everything that had happened.
He could kill Grimm, but not enough, he could hide others but not… not enough just him and Nora…
He had gotten so used to the quiet, then used to the snoring, that he picked out the new sound easily due to the dissonance; it was a song mumbled by a strange voice. Ren looked to Nora and tried to wake her up and she did, quickly as she headed-butted him as she shot up. “Huh? W-what who-”
Groaning he pointed to a tree and gestured to climb, and Nora heard the song too. Ren shook his head and climbed up the tree, dagger safely in the sheathe and Nora’s hammer kept… wherever she kept it. They hid as the song grew louder… it sounded like a woman’s voice, but the lyrics’ were more in the pattern of a tune. It sounded vaguely familiar to the both of them but… something was wrong.
They saw the singer enter, She was tall, dressed in a blakc cloak only the embers of the fire lit up. Rem used his semblance immediately to better hide once he saw that from behind her there were four… limbs. Covered in chitin they were long and needle sharp… and more importantly, they were black with white-bone-like tips. When she looked up at their tree, they saw the crimson eyes of a Grimm. Her face would have been beautiful, but it was too pale, and a small horn poked the cloak up and out of those eyes. It felt… wrong. For a moment Ren thought that the Grimm in the shape of a person spotted them, but she turned to look at the makeshift camp, particularly the fire.
One limb poked and prodded at it, but didn’t snuff it out… it looked around once again before She turned to where she came and left, satisfied in whatever she was looking for.
“Ren was that… a Grimm?”
“Has to be…”
“If she’s a Grimm then she probably just… wanted to kill us.”
Nora nodded, but she frowned. “She seemed kinda sad though…”
He didn’t disagree… but at the same time he knew enough to not take chances with Grimm…
They spent the rest of the night in that tree, not willing to risk going down. Their dreams were not pleasant, but it was enough for them to continue and rest. Their visitor was none the wiser, though she patrolled the area still, or at least so they thought; after all Grimm don’t need to rest.
The next day, when the sun returned, just gracing the forest slightly, the pair awoke and continued on their way. Ren and Nora had weapons at the ready, though they were more relaxed. Ren continued to try and keep up his semblance just to be safe, but Nora seemed a bit more eager that day, the bundle of energy that she was. Ren pondered if she even could get tired, but given how tired he himself was at the time…
He took a breath… he… was tired. Even with the sleep he had gotten last night he still wasn’t sure how far he could carry himself and Nora…
They came across a small river, and took the opportunity to drink, just happy to have water. Nora gulped it down quickly, and Ren could have sworn the water level seemed to dip ever-so slightly. As he drank he also noticed the quiet was back and stepped away, dagger at the ready.
He saw the gleam of a Beowulf’s eye as it came in, regarding them and beginning to circle them. His father had taught him about wolves and he knew-
A snarl on her left caught Nora’s attention, but he maintained eye contact with the one that came first; no need to drop his guard, that’s what they wanted…
The one Nora faced lunged, but Ren managed to slice its belly as it leopard, Nora smashing it a few more times just to be safe as ti dissolved.
That was when the third came for them and the first struck but a shrill, piercing sound called out as Nora pushed Ren out of the way. A hole, roughly the size of a man’s fist appear in the third’s head, Ren seeing for the first time the third one and cursing himself for it… and then realizing what happened as the second one was struck. Sliced in two by a thrown Guando…
Looking in horror, Nora and Ren saw that it wasn’t made of Metal; it was a strange, flesh-like material, mostly black with red details and bony white protrusions…
The Grimm-Woman from last night appeared from the right. The morning light did not make her look any more pleasant, but both of them were paralyzed in fear as she approached, picking up her guando before turning to the both of them. The crimson eyes gazed at them and Ren froze, the dagger shaking in his hands; looking at her face she seemed to be restraining herself.
“T-thank you?” Nora spoke, the silence broken.
The woman paused. “... You must leave. I cannot guarantee your safety for much longer…” She spoke, slowly, deliberately. She turned and with what seemed like great effort tore her gaze from them as she walked away.
—--
“- And then we sold the Goliath's tusks on the black market!” Nora finished with a smile.
Ren was mostly silent, giving corrections here and there to her fanciful tale, trying not to think too hard about that night and that morning…
“And let me guess, this ‘Grimm-lady’ just… walked away?” Pyrrha asked, smiling a bit at her friend’s antics.
Nora got serious, which surprised everyone at the table, Jaune almost spilt his drink upon seeing it. “She… She did… I don't think she wanted to hurt us, or at least most of her didn’t… Has to be hard to be a Grimm that can think…”
Pyrrha nodded. “It’s a good thing it’s not real then…”
“Oh it’s real!” Nora, back with her typical vigor said. “Ren will tell you that! I don’t know what she was but I remember her like it was yesterday!”
Ren just nodded, not wanting to speak about it before returning to his studies.
“Those Grimm aren’t real” Pyrrha insisted. “You were tired and afraid and probably assumed that some Huntswoman was a monster.”
Nora deflated. “... Maybe…”
Jaune shook his head. “I mean… I have heard stories about Grimm like them so maybe…”
And they left it at that. Pyrrha shivered at the thought… a Grimm that could speak and fight like that, if Nora was not exaggerating too much was…
Not something she hoped to meet.