Team SHDW Information

Short Story: The Secret Origin of Rin

"That which does not kill us makes us stronger."
~Friedrich Nietzsche
_______________________________
This wasn't a memory Rin liked remembering. She's tried to drown it out so many times in her life, but it never goes away. It's always there in her nightmares.

As a child, Rin was carefree and naive. Ebonvale was a home she felt safe in. Due to both natural and unnatural barriers, Grimm attacks were minor nuisances and any invading human force could easily be squashed. But, as with a lot of stories, it all changed one day. A Grimm attack. It was a bit larger than ones of the past, but it was nothing her fellow people couldn't handle.

That was... until they couldn't.

It was... something large. A single thing, resembling that of a man, but as Rin grew older, she knew that was no man. At least, not anymore. It was at least ten feet tall and humanoid. And in one hand, it held a long, black spear, which it used to decimate squads of their soldiers.

Her parents were in no way soldiers. They knew how to fight and had their own weapons, sure, but they certainly weren't equipped to handle this. Nobody was. So when that thing entered the compound and started wrecking shop, her family knew they had to get out or suffer the same fate as the soldiers. But it soon became clear that the entire city was surrounded by Grimm.

The details became very fuzzy at this point. She didn't remember any words her parents spoke to each other, just that they said some things before kissing goodbye and separating, with Rin's mother taking her three-day old sister, and her father grabbing Rin's hand and running in another direction.

Her father took all the hits. At every cut, every bite, he threw himself in front of Rin for everything before slaughtering whatever attacked with his sabers, cutting down so many that the blades became jagged. But it was his protectiveness that became his downfall.

He had taken so many hits that when they got out and into the nearby woods, his adrenaline rush faded. Rin watched her father collapse to the ground, his blood pooling onto the ground, the snow now stained red with blood. She was bawling at this point, but her father beckoned her to come closer. She did as she was commanded and crawled next to him.

"Rin," he had said, his breath ragged and scratchy, "I'm so sorry... I had promised your mother I would make it to Mistral with you... but it seems like that it won't be possible for me to go with you..."

"Daddy..." she sobbed, "I don't want to be alone... please don't leave me..."

"Take my blades..." he told her, managing to slowly slide his sabers over to her, "Promise me you'll make it to Mistral... tell your mother what happened."

"But-"

"Please! That's an order, Rin!"

Rin knew her father was not going to make it. All hope of survival for him was lost, and this was his final wish. Though she was young, she understood that much, and nodded.

"And remember..." he gasped, "Along the way... until you find your place in life... you must remember: There is no one you can trust. Not men, not women, not beasts..."

He pointed to the blades, "Only these can you trust."

And he breathed his last. Rin had no time to mourn. There was the sound of heavy footsteps, and she ran and hid behind a tree. The footsteps stopped and Rin peeked out and immediately regretted ever doing so. It was that thing, huddled over her father's corpse, reaching out to grab it. Rin unintentionally gasped, an action she had repeatedly hurt herself for later.

The thing froze, and it's head snapped up to look at her. It was now that she got a genuinely good look at it. It's skin was as white as the snow, had three glowing red eyes, and fangs in its mouth. The spear in its hand was blacker than a moonless night. It was just as she feared. She knew what it was. But she had dismissed it as a fairy tale. A story that her parents told her so she would keep out of trouble. No. It was here, and looking straight at her.