Episode 7: Dreams of the Past

"Moria, get back inside," said her father, grabbing his sword.

"Daddy, who were those men?" asked Moria.

"They were bad men, okay sweetie?" said her father, ushering her into a closet.

"Where are you going daddy?" asked Moria. "Where's Mummy?"

"Just stay here darling. I'll be back soon, just don't come out until I come to get you," said her father, closing the closet door. Moria could hear his footsteps retreating.

"Daddy? DADDY!?" cried Moria, as she heard a low snarl coming from outside…

Moria woke with a start, gasping for breath. She looked across at her alarm clock, and saw that it was 3.18 am. 'Why am I having dreams about that day?' she thought to herself, throwing herself back down onto the pillow. 'Yes, I'm upset about it, but I'm beyond it now. Aren't I?' Moria sighed quietly and tried to get back to sleep, but suspected it wouldn't come.

"Moria, are you okay?" asked Lyndal at breakfast the next day. "It looks like you didn't sleep too well."

"I'm fine," said Moria, pouring herself a third cup of coffee.

"Really?" asked Lyndal. "Because as your leader, if there's anything you want to talk about…"

"I swear, it's nothing," said Moria, starting to look more awake.

"That's good, because we have the Grimm Studies test today," said Nootau. "And since you're the brains of the group, we need you to do well so that we don't all fail."

"Nootau, we've been over this," said Montgomery. "They can expel individuals for failing if they rely on the hard work of one member too much. That's why you need to study for yourself."

"But it's hard," complained Nootau.

"Atlas wasn't built in a day," remarked Tehuti. "You want to prove yourself, you need to put in work."

"Come on, we're gonna be late," said Lyndal, grabbing her things. On her way out, Grace leaned in next to her.

"Keep an eye on Moria," whispered Grace. "I don't know what it is, but I sense she's a bit distracted by something. Something dark."

"I suspected as much," Lyndal whispered back, exiting the cafeteria.

"Good morning class," said Professor Port. "Oh ho, aren't you in for a treat today. I want to see how much of my teaching has stuck with you. Of course, I'm expecting a lot of it, since who could get bored of such stories of heroism and bravery like mine? Ahem, anyway, the test will run for an hour, after which I'll collect your papers and you can leave early…" Several students quietly cheered at this. "You will receive your results by the end of the day via your scrolls." Port looked over at a clock on the wall. "The time is now 9.05, the test will conclude at 10.05. You may begin."

Moria flipped over the paper and started reading the questions. The first half was multiple choice, followed by several short answer questions, and an essay about your most memorable Grimm fight. Moria whipped through the first part with ease, and decided to get the essay out of the way now, when she started thinking about her dream from last night. 'No, not now', she thought to herself, but her memory wouldn't be silenced.

"Daddy?" said Moria, peeking out of the closet. It had been half an hour since he'd put her in there. Surely he'd come back to check on her soon? Outside, she could hear people shouting and the sounds of guns firing. Tentatively, she walked towards the front door. As she did, she heard the growls of something unlike anything she'd ever seen before. Were these the creatures of Grimm her father told her about?

Moria reached the door and put her hand on the handle, but didn't open it. Did she want to have a look at these things? These monsters her father told her not to get close to? Before she could think about that, she heard it: something was sniffing around near the door. Could it smell her? Slowly, she backed away from the door, but didn't see the table just behind her. The table fell over, and a vase sitting on it smashed. Outside, the monster howled…

"Ten minutes remaining," announced Professor Port at the front of the classroom. Moria shook her head to clear her mind, and realised she'd only half finished the essay, and hadn't even started the short answer questions.

Moria furiously finished the paragraph she was on for her essay, then started on the short answer questions. She wasn't sure some of them were correct, but she didn't want to leave anything blank.

"Five, four, three, two, one, and pens down," said Port. "Now, not to worry students, this is for me as much as you. If I know what areas of the subject you're struggling with, I can now adjust my lessons to include more lectures on those topics."

"Oh God, please no," muttered Yang, who was just behind Moria.

"Class dismissed," said Port. "And remember, later today I'll let you know how you went. If there's any of you that need a bit of extra help, I'll let you know then."

Moria sighed, and picked up her things. Outside the classroom, she joined her teammates. "Thank God that's over," said Nootau. "Probably failed it, but at least I tried. Moria's score should keep me afloat, right Moria?" Moria's only response was to nervously giggle.

"Moria, what's wrong?" asked Lyndal.

"It…it's nothing," said Moria. "Come on, we got Tactics after lunch."

"How long do you think we have to wait for our results?" asked Nootau, lying on his bed holding his scroll. It was five o'clock that night, and they still hadn't heard anything.

"Patience," said Tehuti. "There are forty students in his class. Professor Port just has a lot of work to…" At that moment, all four of their scrolls went off.

"Finally," said Nootau, opening the new message icon. "Hey, I got 52%. Maybe I'm not so bad."

"Stop bragging. I got 64%" said Lyndal.

"85%" said Tehuti.

Nootau whistled. "Nice," he said. "Of course, Moria beat you with her score of…" Nootau turned to face Moria.

"I…gotta see Professor Port," said Moria, rushing out of the room.

"Uh oh, looks like someone only got 99%," said Nootau.

"I don't think that was it," said Lyndal, following Moria out, but she'd already disappeared around a corner.

"Now, I suppose you know why I asked you all to come here," said Professor Port, standing at the front of the room. The classroom only had himself, Moria, Jaune, Balaraj, and all of Team CRDL. "If this were an actual exam, you would have failed. I'm not sure if it was lack of studying, lack of focus, or some other problem, but I wish to inform you all know that you either pick up, or pack up."

"So that's why Moria's here," said Jaune. "You've organised for her to be a tutor to help us out."

"If only," said Professor Port. "She only scored 47%. She is currently failing this class."

"Wh…what?" stammered Jaune. "But Pyrrha's always going on about how smart she is. How could she…"

"Yes, I'd like to know that too," said Professor Port. "This isn't like you Moria. What happened?"

"She's probably realised someone as tiny as her can't hope to ever become a Huntress," said Cardin. "Honestly, I'm surprised she's lasted this long."

"I'm not," said Port. "Her scores have been fine up until this point. So Miss Chinook, I repeat, what's wrong?"

"It's…it's nothing, I swear," said Moria.

"If there's something you want to talk about in private…" started Port.

"I said I'm FINE!" yelled Moria, grabbing her things and storming out of the lecture room.

"Heh, typical woman, am I right guys?" said Cardin, eliciting a laugh from his teammates, while Jaune and Balaraj glared at them. 'I gotta do something, but what?' wondered Balaraj, as he grabbed his things and exited the room.