Pancakes (A Renora Fanfiction)

Ren: Passage

When they were on the road again, Nora seemed energetic as usual, with no indication that anything had ever been wrong. 

Her hand, which had never left her side the first day on the road, had joined the other in swinging aimlessly back and forth as she walked.

The road signs were now directing them straight to Atlas, and Ren noticed that every time one came up, Weiss would do everything in her power to not look at it.

They continued in complete silence, and the tension between everyone only increased the closer they got.

When they stopped for the night, Ruby fell asleep before they even assigned watches, much to the amusement of everyone else.

Nora's hand shot up in the air, and she glanced around at everyone else, almost daring them to challenge her watch duties.

Ren chuckled as Yang volunteered for the second watch, and Weiss sighed in exasperation. "The two of you had better let the rest of us continue sleeping when you transition."

Yang winked in her direction. "Aw, don't worry, Weiss, we'll be quiet as a mouse!"

Weiss rolled her eyes, but a smile spread across her face nonetheless. "Well, I'm going to bed."

Nora swung herself up into a nearby tree, and the rest of them went to sleep as soon as they could.

After what seemed like only a few minutes of him being asleep, Ren felt Nora's hand on his shoulder, slowly shaking him awake.

"Ren." Her voice was a whisper, and when he rolled over to see her, he was shocked to see fear in her eyes.

"What is it?" He sat up, and she took a deep, shaky breath.

"Okay, so I know I wasn't supposed to but I fell asleep, and I had a really weird dream and it scared me awake and I didn't know what to do about it so I woke you up and..."

Ren squeezed her hand. "Nora. Let's go over to the tree so we don't wake the others up."

She nodded rapidly and jumped to her feet immediately. "Okay."

When they reached the tree, Nora's hand found his again as he spoke. "What was the dream?"

"You aren't mad I fell asleep?" She smiled, but it faded after he shook his head.

"Ren...I dreamed about...Pyrrha."

His eyes widened. "What do you mean?"

"I just...I guess it was a memory more than anything. We were back in our dorm at Beacon, and everything seemed normal, but Pyrrha seemed...sad." Nora's foot absentmindedly uprooted a rock from the ground.

"I asked her what was wrong, and she looked at me with her sad smile...and then she changed."

She shuddered, and Ren took her other hand to steady her. "Changed?"

"Into...that thing that we saw at Haven. Salem." Nora inhaled shakily, and her hand left his to brush tears from her eyes.

"Nora..." Ren sighed, doing his best not to bring the image into his own mind. "It was just a dream."

She nodded. "I know. I hope...I hope it, or she, isn't real."

His arms wrapped around her as she leaned into him, and he smiled faintly. "If she is, we'll face her together."

Nora laughed softly. "We always have, haven't we?"

"Yes." Ren kissed the top of her head, and her arms wrapped around his stomach as a source of comfort. "That much won't change."

"Good." They stayed there for a long moment before Nora pulled back suddenly with a shocked look on her face.

"Oh! I forgot to wake Yang!"

She darted over to where the blonde Huntress slept and shook her shoulder to wake her up. Ren chuckled, returning to his sleeping bag as soon as she did and Yang was sitting on watch.

In the morning, they set off as quickly as they could due to a Grimm warning from Yang. They had woken up to a shot from her gauntlets and the disintegrating corpse of a Creep mid-jump.

As a result of that, tension was high and everyone seemed to be walking as fast as they could towards Atlas.

When the city came into sight, the road seemed to smooth out and the mood lightened as it did. Ren even heard a couple laughs scattered throughout conversations.

When the road became paved, a low growl echoed through the forest around them. Everyone stopped, and the mood crashed to a halt as they drew their weapons.

Qrow stepped out in front of the group, looking into the trees but apparently seeing nothing. "What was that?"

Ren closed his eyes, trying to detect movement, and he felt Nora's hand rest on his arm for a moment before it left and the sound of her hammer unfolding replaced it.

The bushes nearby rustled, and the rustling continued after Ren opened his eyes and aimed Stormflower towards the sound.

It got louder and bigger as it got closer, and Ren could tell that it was either multiple Grimm or one that he hadn't seen before.

One option was immediately eliminated as the trees crashed aside to reveal a horde of Creeps, all with their sights set on attacking the group.

They pounced almost immediately, and Jaune darted in front of Ruby to block one with his shield. Ren immediately darted at one, slicing its head off as everyone else found a Grimm for themselves.

Nora gasped in pain from behind him, and when he looked back, she was fending off the Creep attacking her with her hammer, but one arm was back at her side.

He shot the Grimm in the head, and she launched another with her hammer one-handed before stopping to catch her breath.

Ren joined her, worry taking over again. "It's still bothering you?"

She huffed, obviously annoyed. "Yeah. I thought I could fight like normal, but I guess I can't yet."

He smiled. "Well, at least you can fight."

"One-handed is so hard though!" Nora smiled, and Ren shot down a couple more Creeps as the battle wrapped up.

Jaune joined them as everyone started walking again, and the look on his face was more tense than Ren had ever seen.

It only relaxed when the borders of Atlas came into sight, and they found an inn to stay in for the night.

Nora fell asleep almost immediately after getting into their room, and Ren followed closely behind.

Such a filler chapter xD oh well, no way to avoid it. I hope you guys enjoyed, and I'll see you Bookworms in the next chapter!