"Where can we help?" Pyrrha's strong, compassionate voice carried over the murmuring and soft cries in the infirmary.

The head nurse immediately turned to the trio of new arrivals. "Oh, thank you so much for volunteering, we've been up to our necks with patients. You two," she nodded at the girls, "Come with me, I'll show you where to go. Young man, you can start by going down that row and checking if anyone needs their bandages changed."

Ren nodded solemnly as Pyrrha and Nora were hurried away by the nurse as she hustled to show them their work area. Ren let out a small sigh as he turned to somberly face his assignment. Better me than Nora...

Slowly he made his way down the line of beds, gently checking each patient's bandages. Most appeared to have been changed recently, likely by the few professors that were scattered amongst the isles. Ren didn't spot but a handful of teachers that appeared to have been seriously injured, the majority of patients being civilians and students that had been in the city when the attack started.

As Ren moved further down the line, he noticed a group of students huddled around one bed. After checking the patient before the group, he finally recognized the group around the bed: it was Cardin and his cronies, huddled around Sky.

"Excuse me."

Cardin twisted to look at Ren. "What do you think you're doing?"

"Just making sure he's alright."

"Of course he's alright! He's fine, can't you see?" Ren looked to the young man on the bed. Sky had scars running all over his upper body and a sickly green, black, and blue welt covering half of his face.

"I think I should check him to be-"

"NO! He's fine!" Cardin was standing now, towering over Ren.

"If you say so."

Cardin's eyes were ablaze as he stared down the quiet young man.

Ren simply walked to the next bed where a rabbit Faunus was lying on her back in very apparent pain. She looks familiar…

Cardin's booming voice derailed Ren's thoughts, and he turned back to see what the bully was saying. "She doesn't belong here. That filthy Faunus doesn't deserve any care. So why don't you go put her out in the forest where she belongs?"

The silence that followed was deafening. The entire wing of the infirmary had turned to face the commotion.

"Cardin, I know you're going through some rough times," Ren gestured towards the unconscious Sky, "but you're not the only one that is in pain right now."

"I don't give a damn what's happening, my partner is lying in that bed, and that animal is getting the medicine that he needs!"

People were beginning to rise, some concerned, some angry, but none of them welcomed the disturbance.

Dove and Russel leapt up and grabbed Cardin before anything worse could happen.

"Hey, let's go man."

"Yeah, Cardin, we should leave."

Cardin glared at Ren for a moment, then turned to the Faunus on the bed. "You don't belong here," and with that, tore his arms free from his teammates and strode out of the makeshift hospital, Dove and Russel on his heels.

Ren watched as they exited, never taking his eyes off of the trio until they rounded the corner and left through the large oaken doors. Once they were gone, he turned to the girl on the bed.

"Sorry about that." The girl's features sparked his memory, and he recognized the Faunus. "Wait… Velvet?"

Velvet was on the bed, quietly sobbing. She was different though. Her hair was cream colored, and her ears were a light chocolate brown instead of her normal brunette. She looked startled at her name, and turned to face Ren. Her normally brown eyes were now aquamarine, bright and clear.

"How…?"

She lowered her head and averted her eyes. Where is her team? And then he understood. He knelt next to her bed and grasped her hand. "I shouldn't have asked."

Velvet shook her head as she wiped the tears away with her free hand. "I know you're just trying to help." She gave him a soft smile and gestured to her hair before continuing, "This is from being so close to the explosion and surviving." Her smile faded into a frown as she remembered her fallen team. "Thank you for being here, Ren, but I think I just want to be alone right now."

"Of course," he replied before rising and moving on from her bed to continue his assignment.

He hadn't been to 2 more beds before Professor Goodwitch approached him, Nora in tow. "Lie Ren?"

"Yes?"

"I need you to come with me."

Ren nodded and followed the professor out of the infirmary and into the hallway, where she hesitated a moment before turning to the pair.

"I want both of you to know right now that the most important thing is that you two have each other, and that there was nothing you could do."

This isn't about Jaune. If it was about Jaune she would have brought Pyrrha.

"Understand that what you did was very brave, and your leader made the decision he felt was correct at the time. That decision saved countless lives, including other students."

However.

"However, I regret to inform you that the village you were originally tasked with reinforcing-"

Our home.

"-Was destroyed during the events yesterday by unrelated forces."

Unrelated forces. "What do you mean?"

Professor Goodwitch stole a lightning fast glance at Nora before answering, "A group of bandits attacked the village. There was really nothing that they could have done, they were overwhelmed."

Nora was the first to respond, "What does that mean? Did Mom and Dad make it out?"

The professor shifted her weight awkwardly, unsure of how to proceed. She cleared her throat before pressing onward, "I'm sorry, Ms. Valkyrie, but the village was razed to the ground. There were no survivors."

The world had just collapsed on Ren. Father, Mother, both gone. His jaw locked and his gaze was set. "Who?"

"...A group of ban-"

"Who?!"Ren was shouting, his ears pounding with blood as he hunted for the truth.

Professor Goodwitch was not one to back down though. "Young man, I know this is hard for you, but this is not-"

"Was it them?" he turned his finger to Nora. To the Valkyrie.

The professor's silence said it all.

Ren turned on his heel and stormed off down the hall.

Nora ran to catch up with him. "Ren, I'm not one of them! You know that, we grew up together!"

"This is your fault! We knew they would come back for you, and when they didn't find you they killed my family and slaughtered my village!" His words were the wedge that he drove between them, venom dripping on every syllable.

"They're my family too! You don't mean that!" she said as she reached for his arm.

"Don't touch me," he said, ripping his arm away from her hand. "You're one of them."

Nora stopped dead in her tracks.

"No I'm not."

Ren turned on her, ready to throw more at her, but she had already begun walking back the other way, turning her back on him.

Good. He turned and ran up a flight of stairs, headed for the roof.

Up one flight, his heart was pounding. Up another, it slammed into his ribcage with every pulse. Up one more, it was ready to explode.

Finally he burst through the door to the roof, the same one that Jaune and Pyrrha had frequented for their late night training sessions. Ren recognized it from the few times that Nora had dragged him along to spy on the pair. He moved out of the cover of the building, stepping into the gale that raged around him.

The fierce winds thrashed at his body, desperately clawing at him, as if possessed by demons. The previous day's fires had still to be put out completely, and the smoke that was billowing out of the flames caught on the air and were carried to Beacon. Ren inhaled deeply, breathing in the ashes of the battle as the sulfur burned his eyes, drawing a few tears from the sting.

The wetness in his eyes reminded him why he came up here. His anger reared its ugly head and he approached the edge of the roof, full of rage and hate. Towards Nora, towards Jaune, towards anyone that he could think of.

But there was nothing he could do. He realized that, and the maelstrom of hate inside him was replaced with soul crushing regret. He sank to his knees, his spirit breaking as he fell. It wasn't Nora's fault, yet he pushed her away. He had called her unforgivable things.

Things that she would never forget.

He reached into his shirt and pulled out the necklace that Nora had made him when they were children.

'Ren, look what I made! You see? It's a Tai… Tai…. Taiji-'

'A Taijitu, Nora."

'Yeah! That! It's a Tai- that thingy and the Sun and Moon! You'll be the Moon, I'll be the Sun!'

Ren turned the semicircular talisman in his hands. The pendant was black with small scratches for the eyes of the two-headed snake and the shape of the shattered moon. It was a simple, childish thing, but Nora had insisted that both parts fit together. It was almost all in vain, as she hadn't held onto hers for 2 weeks before she lost it.

But Ren had kept his around his neck for over a decade, tucked beneath his shirt wherever he went. He examined the pendant once more, tracing the markings with his thumb. Ren's mind stirred as the familiar image tried to resurface somewhere in his mind.

The tattoo…

That's what he saw above her towel. Nora's half of the Taijitu. She always said she wished she never lost it, and now she never could.

She will never forgive me.

The realization rocked Ren, and he sank further into the pit of despair that he found himself in. He laid there in the cold, broken and alone.