Onyx was walking at a fast clip through the third tier courtyard, her mind turning over the many possible scenarios for the meeting to come. The third tier led up to the main office of the headmistress, which had an almost god's eye view of the city below and the desert beyond. There were occasional benches and a fountain in the center to allow for some rest and fun between classes, but only seniors had classes up this high. The school was cut in to the protective cliff wall in a gradation, allowing the upward walk to be hardly noticeable if you went the easy route. Some students preferred the inner stairways because it was cooler, but it took longer and was more tiring. Onyx herself had opted for the outside walkways because she had wanted to get this meeting over with as quickly as possible and return to the infirmary wing on the second tier.

As she was walking, her eyes drifted around the courtyard, barely seeing the exotic plants that were kept lush and green through irrigation. It was a luxury that only the well-off in Vacuo could enjoy because of the expenses. Even the academy itself only had two or three of these kinds of gardens, strategically placed at key outlooks to allow for the best viewing. It was a luxury that few students enjoyed, their school work and training taking over most of their time. Onyx herself had spent most of her life on or near the sands and found the view both breathtaking and boring at the same time.

It was during this survey of the courtyard and the desert behind her that her eyes fell upon a familiar cluster of people. In the center was Stav, her golden hair twitching slightly in the gentle breeze, her face contorted in a blood-thirsty rage. Surrounding Stav were four young men, each one returning her glare with contempt and icy loathing. Team WITE had found their favorite target.

Onyx didn't even wait to see what was happening; it was a scenario that had played out many times before. Just as Stav was raising her cane and the leader of team WITE was drawing his over-sized great sword, Onyx sprung into action. A flick of the wrist initiated the steady hum of the dial as her weapon activated. A soft click was barely audible to indicate that it was ready just as she landed between them. In that moment, a double blade had extended from her bracers as she raised her arm, catching Stav's cane in the fork. Her other arm sported a small shield that held his sword at bay. With an enraged cry, she forced the two of them back, pushing with all her might until they stumbled away from each other.

"WHAT IS YOUR PROBLEM!?" Onyx screamed at Weylin, the leader of the team. "You have been on our case since the first year! What did we ever do to you? Why can't you just leave us alone!?" The fight-or-flight adrenaline was pumping through her veins, causing her voice to crack as it rose in volume, her own anger and frustration finding a small outlet against a reasonable opponent. Team WITE was the top team in the school, almost always the winner in any challenge. They were the smartest, the brightest, and probably the richest—if rumors could be believed.

Weylin straightened, his rust-colored hair accentuating his grey eyes. "My problem," he snarled. "Is a team of freaks that seems to taint my vision everywhere I go." He resheathed his sword with practiced ease and crossed his arms over his chest, a sneer of disgust on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean!?" Onyx demanded, hands on hips.

"Well, just look at you," Weylin glowered. "You are part of an illegal underground organization that thumbs its nose at society. One of your team is a mangled puppet wasting our medical resources, and I don't even know where to begin with THAT thing—"and he stabbed a finger in the direction of Stav, who was reddening with her own rage. "And THEN there was that leader of yours, Ka—"

But he never got a chance to finish that sentence. In the space of a few words, Onyx had spun on her heels, using the momentum and her own weight to jam her elbow into Weylin's soft middle. The air rushed from his lungs in a loud oof as he fell backwards onto the ground. His eyes bulged in surprise as he desperately attempted to regain his breathing.

"Don't you ever even think of uttering her name, Pig," Onyx bellowed. The rest of his team had immediately gathered around him to help him, but Onyx had already turned her back on them and began stalking away.

"The headmistress will hear of this!" one his team cried after her. She whirled around, her hands clenched into tight fists and her eyes searching for the speaker.

"You're damn right she will," Onyx hissed. "I am on my way there right now." The startled look on their faces had told her everything she needed to know. They thought that they could get there first and spin a story placing Onyx and Stav as the provokers. She didn't understand how they could look so terrified, though. Weylin's father was a primary supporter of the school. Nothing would happen to him or his team.

Onyx turned on her heels and marched away, her anger smoldering like the last embers of a fire. She knew there was another reason for their aggressiveness towards her team, but she could never pinpoint what it was. At first she thought it was because her team had occasionally beaten them—something unheard of before they had come to the school. They had a lot of pride, of that she was sure. It wasn't until later that she had realized that this was not necessarily the case. Their bullying hadn't begun when they had occasionally won a match, and it seemed that their hatred was more focused on Stav than anyone else. Prior to Kale's death, Stav had mostly ignored them. Now she took the bait willingly, as if she wanted to be expelled. She couldn't recall them ever really targeting Gauri or herself unless they came to Stav's defense. She vaguely recalled an attempt on Kale and then Kale immediately receiving an apology letter the next day. She had never discovered what had prompted the apology, but team WITE had always left the room if Kale had entered. So maybe it was because Stav reacted to them.

Onyx pushed the train of thought aside. There were more important things for her to worry about at this moment, and pathetic bullies were not one of them. She was so lost in thought that it took her a moment before she heard the heavy clunk of thickly heeled shoes approaching from behind. Onyx turned to find Stav rushing towards her, her rage so palpable that her usually flaxen face almost purple.

"Look, I know you don't like—" Onyx began.

"You stupid, ignorant, pathetic, inexcusable piece of trash!" Stav spat out. Onyx took a step back in surprise at the venom.

"Wh—what? What did I do? I just wanted to help—"

"Not that, you idiot! You brought that washed-up rat to the academy! Like some kind of stray dog! How could you be so pathetically stupid!?" Stav's golden amber eyes were wide, the words spewing from her mouth in an uncontrolled torrent.

"She…she needed help…" Onyx stuttered.

"Don't try to fool me—and don't be dumb, either," Stav snapped. "I know what you are trying. All you care about is using that girl for your own ends. You think that if you bring home a stray puppy, everyone will oooh and ahhh and everything will go back to the way it was before. Well, it won't. There is no going back. We are done. Our team is dead. Gauri is dead. I might as well be. We will be disbanded, you will return to your precious little caravan and Gauri will be shipped off to god-knows-where with her parents."

"And you…?" Onyx whispered softly.

"My fate is no concern of yours," Stav growled. "Give it up. Stop dragging others into the grave. It is over. I don't want to see that disgusting corpse. Don't bring her to our room. Don't bring her to classes-just get rid of her!"

"We gave her a bath," Onyx said feebly. "She smells much nicer now. And she could really use a new wardrobe-you…you could dress her up like you always enjoyed doing! Anything you want!"

"Don't even try," Stav sneered. "I suppose you expect me to foot the bill, too. Pay for beautifying a pile of dung. Well, the answer is no. No, no, no, no, no, NO. You're going to have to wake up some day, Onyx. It's over for us."

And with the last of her anger vented, Stav stalked away. It wasn't the stampeding exit that you expected from such a hate-filled speech. It had more of the essence of someone fleeing from something, a quick retreat back into nothingness with the hope that whatever it was she was running from would not follow. Her pace was quick and even, denying the pursuit even as she fled.

Onyx watched her for a long time in silence, and then slowly turned to continue her own journey to the headmistress' office. Her feet dragged across the ground in slow, heavy steps.

She didn't believe Stav, not for a minute, but the exchange had taken the wind from her sails and laid bare her barely thought-of plan. She had expected it to be easy: everyone saw the girl, saw her need for help, and their usual good-hearted nature would awaken to the call of someone in need. It had seemed so simple, but she was beginning to realize that it would be anything but. It would take time, and she wasn't sure she had much time left. Stav was right—a team that couldn't be a team was useless as hunters. They would be kicked out of the school, failures, all of their dreams turned to ashes.

Onyx froze in mid step. She pulled her foot back in line with the other, standing straight and tall. Her hands balled into fists, her shoulders trembling slightly as she fought for a brief moment the wave of frustration and despair. She wouldn't allow it to happen. They all had their dreams, their hopes. She wouldn't let them give up on themselves, no matter how much they begged her. Taking a deep breath, she lifted her eyes to the sky for a moment, searching. The sky was a brilliant blue yet again, as if clouds could not drift across that cerulean expanse. Onyx reached up and touched her face to be sure that it was dry, and then took off at a faster pace than before.

She hardly saw the halls pass by as she entered into the main building and climbed to the top where the office awaited. She had completely forgotten about the elevator, so engrossed in the movement of walking. Each step became faster, lighter, as if walking her away from the dark corner of her mind that held her own pessimistic worries. Run. They were all running away from that dark corner. Stav was consumed by it. Gauri was lost in it. Only Onyx seemed to be narrowly missing that seductive call.

The rest of the journey to the office had gone by in a blur, bringing Onyx to the door of the office sooner than she had expected. Mechanically, she lifted a hand and rapped gently at the large, wood door. A moment later, and the door was opened by the headmistress' assistant, Grillo. He adjusted his cat-eye glasses, his frowning face telling her that she was late and that he didn't approve. Without a word, he showed her to her customary seat and then took his own position behind the desk near the headmistress' right.

Headmistress Azura Fay was a lithe woman with pale blonde hair and pale blue eyes. She had aged gracefully, time barely touching her soft features and only accentuating her face with a wrinkle here or there, like an artist looking to perfect their work. She wore a light blue suit, fitted to her like a glove but denying her the grace of youth. The large mahogany desk was uncharacteristically cluttered with papers, files, and pictures. Among the piles, the top of a desktop screen could be seen.

"Big project?" Onyx asked casually as she adjusted her position a little. She had been in the office so often that she seemed to know more about the headmistress than she should. She hardly glanced at the frescos that wrapped around the walls of the room, telling the story of the various legends and myths of Remnant. Onyx was far more interested in the papers on the desk. A cluttered desk was a sign that something big was going on. The last time she had seen the desk that cluttered was a few days prior to Kale's passing. She had played a prank that had upset more than a few of the staff.

"Do your people not teach you anything about manners and etiquette?" Azura said flatly, never once lifting her eyes from the paper before her. Onyx shrugged.

"Only the important stuff," she replied. Azura let out a tired sigh and put the file down.

"All right," she said. "You know why I called you here. The Doctor came to me in a near tizzy, complaining about how you conducted a dehydrated, malnutrition, almost unconscious girl to his door. Care to explain?"

Onyx kept her report short, detailing how she found the girl and the reaction the girl had to the city she had entered. "So you see; if I wanted to help her, I needed to consider her mental well being as well. Her spirit was so stressed-to do anything else would have been worse."

Azura looked at Onyx from beneath her brows, her hands clasped before her chin as she contemplated Onyx's words. At last, she gave a loose shrug of her shoulders and leaned back in her chair.

"At this point, we can't really do anything about it," Azura informed her. "But in the future, be aware that in a physical condition such as she, the risk of stress is far more preferable to the alternative. She well could have died while they were trying to help her, or even just on the way here. You do know that, right?" The phrasing of the question indicated that Azura did not believe that she did.

"It was a gamble, I know," Onyx said offhandedly.

"Something you do far too often, Ms. Laverna," Grillo interjected. Onyx ignored the remark in favor of instituting her next plan.

"Her name is Caelestis," Onyx explained. "She really could use some help. She doesn't have anyone in the world left to her and doesn't know anything about city life or even technology…" She was making some assumptions, of course, as she hadn't heard Caelestis' full story.

"So you want to adopt her?" Azura prompted in an amused voice. "Do you really think she can save your team, Onyx?"

Onyx sat up straighter. Was she really so obvious? Her midnight eyes met the pale ones of Azura, unblinking. She took a moment to carefully consider her answer, knowing that the wrong answer would lose Caelestis the right to stay here. It was a delicate dance with much at stake. If she answered wrong, Caelestis would be back on the street and there would be no chance for either of them to fix their lives. She wanted to present Caelestis in a way that would assure that she could receive some charity from the school as well. If she played her cards right, everyone would benefit.

"I don't know," she said at last. Azura was the type of person who could see through a lie a mile away. Honesty would be the best policy for this situation. "But I do know this-she benefits. She can get food, clothing, shelter, education, and a chance at life. Her presence being a boon to my team is icing on the cake, but helping her was a request from Kale and I will stand by that."

Azura lifted an eye brow, a small smile quirking the edge of her mouth. "So you plan to take full responsibility for your guest?" Onyx nodded. While most people would have questioned Onyx's last statement, Azura had taken it in stride. It was something that Onyx appreciated. "Very well. Grillo, draw up the paperwork and prepare the basic necessities. She will need a different set of classes to get her caught up." Grillo nodded, tapping at his scroll quickly. Onyx watched him for a moment, waiting to see if he would say anything. Generally, he never spoke out against the headmistress while someone else was present. Onyx had been privy to one very interesting conversation without them knowing it, and it had resulted in changing Azura's mind about a course of action. Onyx hadn't learned what it was they were arguing of, having only witnessed the end result. Watching him now, she could not tell if he would have anything to say about this later.

"I want you to bring the girl to me as soon as she is discharged from the infirmary, do you understand?" Azura ordered.

"Yes, Headmistress," onyx replied obediently.

"And I don't mean after anything else," Azura elaborated. "No side trips, mini-quests, or other such nonsense. Bring her here immediately. The Doctor has already informed me of her release date, so I know when to expect her—including the time."

Onyx nodded, managing a small spreading across her face. Perhaps Azura knew as much about Onyx as she did about Azura. This was a time where she had to make sure she was not distracted by other ideas. It could lose her this chance.

Rising to her feet, Onyx bowed a little to the headmistress, one of the few forms of etiquette her family had instilled in her for business meetings. "Thank you, headmistress," she said with a genuine tone of appreciation.

"Be off with you then," Azura waved a hand at Onyx, dismissing her, and turned back to her pile of work. Onyx made her way to the door, turning just in time to see Grillo lean over and point out something on one of the maps that was suddenly spread out over everything else. Then the door closed behind her, blocking the scene from view.

"Well, that went better than expected," Onyx breathed in relief. She would have to see the doctor about the release date, and then see if she could at least scrounge up a spare uniform for Caelestis. Eventually, she would get Stav to take them shopping so that Caelestis could have a new wardrobe, and maybe look into a new hairstyle as well. The poor girl's hair was a mess of snarls and tangles. The one attempt to run a brush through it resulted in the brush flying out the open window. A nice, short hairstyle might be a nice change for her.

As Onyx made her way back down towards the dorms, her mind turned over various possible makeovers for Caelestis.