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The Death Stalker had come with Pyrrha. It wasn’t her fault, and maybe it was related to Jaune being in the tree earlier. Nora wasn’t sure. All she knew was that now they were under heavy attack from it, the monster screeching out an awful sound as she hit it over the head with Magnhild. She had just shot Jaune and herself over the broken bridge to where the Death Stalker was threatening Blake, Ren, and Pyrrha. She heard the impact and grunt as Jaune landed on the stone behind her, but was more focused on the approaching stinger. She shot a grenade, launching herself away from the Death Stalker just in time to dodge the accelerating danger. She heard a soft cry and felt herself collide with someone as she slid backwards from the impact, whoever it was behind her toppling off. A quick look around proved Blake to be gone from the platform, but Nora was sure she could manage it. She soon saw Blake riding on top of the Nevermore, confirming that she was okay. Nora, meanwhile, was quickly brainstorming how to keep the giant scorpion at bay. Ren and Pyrrha were beside her, Jaune on the other side of Ren, and they were trying to see if they couldn’t get the other four to help them. However, they seemed busy on their own; the Nevermore seemed very interested in those girls.
It was waiting to see if the girls could handle the Nevermore in time that their platform began rocking. All four heads snapped forward towards the towering Death Stalker; it had plunged its stinger into the already unstable bridge and severed the piece they happened to be standing on.
“We gotta move!” Jaune yelled over the battle sounds around them. Ren, seeming to be one step ahead as always, sprinted forwards. Nora followed him, hearing Pyrrha and Jaune begin to run behind her as well. Pyrrha slid under the beast, using her shield to deflect the giant pincer aimed her way. At the same time, she slashed her spear across its face, leaving a line of bright blood. Jaune dove next, flying under the opposite claw and using his shield as a protectant, similar to the red-head. He aimed his sword but ended up backing out of the way, leaving a space for Pyrrha to try and attack the pincer. The beast dodged her hit, Pyrrha falling to the ground in a roll.
Ren ran forward as Pyrrha landed. He shot his Stormflower at the Grimm but quickly realized he was having minimal effect. However, before he could stop running, he recognized he had gone too far. He wasn’t going to escape the Death Stalker this close. He instinctively grasped the stinger as it shot towards him, swinging himself up and sitting at the base of it. He began shooting the connection of the stinger and the tail as Jaune and Pyrrha continued to attack from the ground. Nora realized suddenly that she was doing next to nothing to help; she quickly spun her weapon around as it compacted from the hammer and began shooting grenades. The first blast propelled Jaune and Pyrrha to where she was standing and shooting, Jaune tumbling with a yell but Pyrrha sliding gracefully on her feet. Pyrrha reacted quickly to the dazed monster, throwing Miló with a blast of dust into its eye.
Nora seemed to see the next movements in slow motion. The Death Stalker flailed from the direct hit, tail whipping sideways and tossing Ren like a ragdoll. He let out a short yell. Nora, running a step forward in alarm, didn’t mean to let herself get distracted by him. She really didn’t. But without meaning to, she shouted his name.
“REN!!!!” she screamed, getting no response. He hit a stone wall hard instead. He let out a noise that sounded like all the breath in his body leaving him, his back hitting the wall just before his head snapped back and crashed into it as well, a sickening thud reaching Nora’s ears. He crumpled to the dirt eight feet below his impact location, clouds of dark dirt floating around him.
Nora was holding Magnhild loosely, not entirely sure if she even cared about the Grimm anymore. It was a call of her name that startled her back into the fight; she saw the stinger sitting in the monster’s head and immediately knew what to do.
“Heads up,” she said before jumping up and onto Pyrrha’s small shield. She flew up high, peaking with her feet curled up onto her weapon before twirling around and falling. She fired once as she fell, slamming her hammer into the top of the bloodied stinger and shoving it into the Death Stalker’s head to kill it once and for all. The strong blast also sent the remaining side of the bridge up like a lever, the two standing there being sent flying over the Grimm and Nora. She shot one last grenade to get across with the two, landing on her butt beside Jaune, who was sprawled on his back. Pyrrha landed beside her on her hands and knees, but Nora was already scrambling to stand. Leaving Magnhild at her feet, she ran past Pyrrha to where Ren was still face-down in the dirt.
“Ren! REN!!!!” she yelled, but he didn’t stir. Reaching him, she dropped to her knees. “Ren? Babe? Ren, can you hear me? Please, Ren!” she said quickly, turning the taller boy around and laying his head in her lap. There was a cut across his forehead, dark blood mixed with sticky dirt running down over his left eyebrow and eye. He already had blue bruises blooming across his right cheekbone, and thin trickles of blood fell from both nostrils as well. “Ren…” Nora whispered, cupping his chin with her hand to lift his head up. She could faintly hear the battle sounds come to a stop behind her, as if the Nevermore had been defeated. She couldn’t find it in herself to even be glad for her classmates. With trembling hands, she set her boyfriend down very gently, lifting his wrist up and pushing her fingers to it. “Please, please, please,” she murmured frantically, hands trembling.
She felt Pyrrha behind her, slowly taking her hands and pulling her up to her feet, away from Ren. She didn’t fight against it, not having the energy. As soon as Pyrrha let her go, she wavered on her feet. Jaune was at her side immediately, arm around her waist, keeping her upright. She didn’t say a word as she watched the calm girl beside Ren. Setting his wrist on his stomach, Pyrrha turned to face Nora.
“He’s alive. His pulse seems weak but he’s definitely alive. We’ll have to stay here until he awakens, however; I don’t believe any of us are strong or tall enough to carry him without hurting him further. Nora, come sit down. Jaune, we should leave them alone.”
Nora fell to her knees next to Ren for a second time. She considered calling to the others to ask if they had anything to clean him up with, but decided against it. She did move him again so his head rested in her lap, however. The four others came by after around 15 minutes; Ruby had blood coating her side but quickly noted that it was the Nevermore’s and no one was seriously injured. Nora asked if any of them had anything to clean the now-dry blood from Ren’s face, but none of them did. Yang suggested using Blake’s bow, but she responded with a slightly startled refusal before Yang even finished her sentence. The four of them eventually moved on, saying they should go to the cliffs before the smell of the blood soaking Ruby attracted any more creatures. Weiss mentioned that Pyrrha and Jaune had heard some Ursi on the way and they led them the opposite direction before they headed for the cliffs, and that Nora and Ren were probably the only two still out, assuming no one actually died. Nora nodded, letting them go on their way, beginning to absent-mindedly braid Ren’s dark hair. She was halfway down the ponytail when he coughed and blinked his eyes open slowly.
“REN!” Nora screamed for the third time that day, but not in fear this time. He looked up at her in confusion.
“N-Nora? Is that you?” He squinted up at her, frowning. Nora brought her hands to her mouth in an attempt to contain her sobs of relief, nodding. Ren’s eyes squinted at her more before opening wide in sudden alarm. He seemed to wake up very suddenly, staring at Nora. “Nora? Yeah, that’s – why is there blood on your hands? Is that yours?” Nora quickly brought her hands away from her face, looking at them. They were in fact stained with thick, clumpy blood. Nora took a moment to think but when realization hit her, she panicked slightly.
“Ren, no, RenRenRenRenRenRenRenRenRenRen nonononononononononoNO!” she said under her breath, Ren looking at her with what was now strong alarm.
“Nora! What’s happening? Let me know, Nora, what-”
“Ren please stop moving around so much right now it’s important you do this right now I think the blood is yours Ren are you okay oh god is that coming from the back of your head have you seriously been bleeding from your head for an hour now oh my god Ren no no no this can’t be happening to us – REN!” Nora scolded as Ren made to stand up. Putting a forceful yet gentle hand on his shoulder, Nora guided the boy to a sitting position. Sighing, he crossed his legs. Nora moved the hand from the boy’s wrist to the back of his head, lightly probing the hair and skin. Ren instantly winced and Nora pulled her hands back faster than she knew she could. Fresh, wet blood pooled on her fingers over the drier blood from earlier. She felt panic creeping into the edges of her mind and pushed it back, tears pricking her eyes for surprisingly the first time of this whole ordeal. “Ren, we’re going to the cliffs right now this instant and getting you to the nurse you’re bleeding a lot do we have anything we can put pressure on it with we need to see if we can’t stop the blee- THE BOW!” Nora exclaimed suddenly. She began scrabbling with the powder blue bow attached to the top of her skirt, untying the knot quickly and leaving herself with a long, thick ribbon. She quickly began winding it tightly around Ren’s head, making sure it wasn’t in his face and it had sufficient pressure put on it before helping him stand up and heading towards the cliffs slowly, with him slightly leaning on Nora.
They were almost halfway to the cliffs when Ren started slowing down and falling behind. Nora, still holding back panic, was trying her best to encourage him to be quick but there’s only so much that one short panicky girlfriend can do. She could see the blood soaking all the way through the ribbon and she started moving faster, Ren following along with slightly glassy eyes and a very loose grip on Nora’s hand. The cliffs with students milling around on top was in sight when Ren collapsed beside her with next to no warning.
Nora shrieked as she fell backwards, the tight grip she had on Ren’s slippery hand dragging her down with him. She flipped from her back to her knees immediately, sitting Ren up. He was completely immobile, eyes still open and extremely glassy. Nora grabbed at his wrist a second time, hands steady enough that she could have picked up a pulse this time. Except she couldn’t. She moved her fingers to his neck, but there was nothing. No pulse to speak of. His face was paler than a face should ever be, and Nora reprimanded herself for not noticing before. This was when the panic finally set in, and before she knew what was happened, Nora found herself sobbing and screaming. She heard quiet landings behind her as what sounded like several people dropped from the cliffs to get her and her teammate. There were some immediate gasps from behind her, one most definitely being Jaune’s and another possibly Ruby’s. Strong hands lifted Nora’s limp, sobbing form from Ren and carried her away, bridal-style. She was carried to what she assumed to be the top of the cliff before she was set gently on the ground and immediately crowded with babbling students. For once, Nora didn’t want to talk. Nora didn’t want to do anything. Nora just wanted to be with Ren.
Three days later, Nora sat alone on her bed. She didn’t know where Pyrrha and Jaune were, and she didn’t care much. She didn’t care much about anything anymore. She mainly just slept. The ceremony where each team got their name was rough; the three of them had still been named Team JNPR, despite the fact that they didn’t have an R. There was close to no mention of the fact that Ren was gone. Nora still couldn’t bring herself to say it. He was gone, he wasn’t there, he was away… Never the d-word. Nora couldn’t. That was how she had felt about everything for the past two days; she just couldn’t do any of it. She wished she had kissed him one more time, told him she loved him one last time. She had never seen that much blood before. Never.
She doesn’t want to again.