As the final bell rang, the students of Beacon began buzzing around campus with hours of pent up energy at the ready. Every Huntsman and Huntress in training shared the need to continuously be on the move. Honing the ability to be in constant sensory overload was essential to becoming a great warrior, so keeping one's mental health in check was of utmost importance. This was an undeniable truth, or at least it was for Frost Aurora, leader of Team FREZ. She had been the one to drag her entire team out to the courtyard after class each and every day for an hour of relaxation and meditation. While good in theory, her team was always... less than thrilled to be finished with class for the day.

Frost sat in the grass with her back against the concrete retaining wall of the path circling Beacon's courtyard. Her legs were neatly crossed over one another. A deep breath passed her lips. With her hands clasped together in her lap and her eyes closed, she spoke with an even-toned and blissful voice, "This is nice… huh?"

Rime was lying on her back on top of the wall, "Yeah… sure…" she tugged at the collar of her shirt, "but, can't I go back to the room and change for once? These uniforms are torture…"

Zero sat a few feet down the wall, under a large oak tree. His long black hair was hanging out, an uncommon sight. He held his hand over his face in an attempt to block out the sunlight from hitting him. "I second that…" he muttered quietly while pulling up a blue scarf up over his face.

A forceful, booming sigh came from the pile of muscle lying in the grass next to Frost. Everest's sleeves were ripped due to the fact that even the largest uniform that Beacon had to offer was far too small for the big guy. He spoke in a seemingly less monstrous voice than normal, "Everest. Like. Relax. It. Good."

Rime couldn't believe how much calmer Everest had become since arriving at Beacon. She associated it with how often he and Frost were forced to be around one another. "Frost? What in the world did you do to my best friend over here? Every one of my attempts to get him to calm down over the past ten years either ended up with him punching stuff or trying to eat a table or something…" She shook her head with an amazed yet confused look on her face, "What exactly are you? The caveman whisperer?" She quickly looked over to Everest, "No offense, big guy."

"NONE," he boomed back, but quickly collected himself. Another deep breath passed through him, "Everest. Relax. Now."

"My mother is a therapist, and she taught me how to, you know, quell the beast within," Frost looked at her mountain of a teammate then shut her eyes again, "Everest, sweetheart, make sure you let yourself loosen up from your head to your toes. Segment by segment."

"Yes. Frost." Everest made a divot in the ground when his head sank down into it, "Thank. Frost. Muscles. Feel. Good."

"That's great, dear," Frost opened her left eye and peered over at Rime, "By the way… how did he get approved to come to Beacon, again…?" she whispered, "I know you've told me, but…" she looked over to Everest as he began to snore loudly, "please remind me…"

Rime swung her legs around to sit up on the short wall. She leaned forward and began to play with a strand of pale blonde hair, "Something about how his battle prowess and listening skills make up for his lack in… intellect and reasoning. We also figured out that he only needed to pass the written part of the test with a forty percent or better as long as he got a perfect score on the physical portion. Apparently he got at least that after the months of studying that we did, but I can't remember the actual numbers. He ate his test scores and acceptance letter pretty soon after we got them in the mail…"

"He likes getting his fiber in, huh?" Frost examined the hulking being beside her. She still couldn't understand how he was seventeen, but Rime had confirmed on many occasions that he in fact was, "Anyway, how are you two doing on your breathing exercises?" she asked Rime and Zero.

"Well, I haven't asphyxiated, so I guess I'm still doing fine," Rime said with a bored tone, "How 'bout you, Z?"

Zero grunted under his scarf.

"Gotcha." Rime said through a loud yawn.

Frost began feeling herself get a little antsy. Now that Zero had opened up a little and began communicating with his team, she felt a little inclined to get to know him, "Zero, tell me more about what your life back home is like, please."

"Nonexistent," Zero sleepily looked over at his leader, "I came to Beacon with nothing, that's all."

Frost sighed, "That's the answer you always give me, Zero," Frost knew how touchy some life stories could be given how merciless parts of Remnant could be, "But if we want to work as a team, don't you think that maybe we should know each other? The real each other? Or do you want to end up like Team ANTE or Team ARTS?" She reflected on all of the signs she had seen over the past couple of months whenever she was around the other two first year teams. How Wells always blocked out questions with violence and anger, how Fescue had forced himself to pass himself off as human when he really wasn't, how Forté tried to ignore the events of Koruss stadium the summer before the semester had started. Of those, the Forté girl's story intrigued her most. The girl who everyone knew seemed to have the most about her past to hide.

She puffed her cheeks at the thought of being a dysfunctional team. She could not allow that, "They're not my teams, so please, just let me ask this."

"You always get worked up, Frost," Zero pulled down his scarf so that he could be heard clearly, "I am not avoiding the question when I say that I wandered Sanus for most of my life. There really isn't any more to it," he replaced his scarf, "Please don't make me make up some tragic story to satisfy you."

Frost tried to think about what her mother would say in response if a patient told her this, "Well, how about a story then?"

Zero folded his arms.

"I mean, if you've been all around Sanus, you must have at least one interesting story to tell. Like," she thought for a moment, "did you meet any interesting people? Did you do something you'll never forget? Or maybe a question Everest here might want answered, like if you've ever tried any different local foods in the villages," Always start with small easy-to-answer questions, Frost reminded herself.

"I visited a few places like Mikado Village, the one with the former Kokonatsu problem ARTS and GLXY helped fix," Zero shifted his weight back against the tree that he sat beneath, "I had a sandwich in Vacuo when I was there. Nothing interesting."

Frost was sorely disappointed with the response. "Really? That's it? You seriously didn-"

"Frost, please," Rime interrupted, "You bring us out here every day to relax, not to get interrogated." She looked over to Zero, "Some people aren't really comfortable talking about themselves and not everyone's had terribly exciting lives. I mean, that's why I'm here."

Zero gave her a thankful look for diverting Frost's focus away from him.

"You haven't talked much about your past either, Rime," Frost shifted her jaw, "Please, enlighten us on your supposedly boring life."

Rime straightened her posture, pretending to be prim and proper as Frost always was, "Well, I never knew my parents, grew up in an orphanage where I met Everest, went to the same foster home where we've been together ever since. Heard about what Huntsmen and Huntresses did from my foster father and, after lots and lots of arguing, he finally conceded and let me start my combat training. We ended up getting into Beacon Academy. There, we met lots of interesting people and were put on a team called Team FREZ along with a quiet ninja and a girl who thinks she can play psychoanalyst," she smirked, "There you go, almost eighteen years summed up in less than a minute."

"I'm glad that you've shared you and Everest's stories in greater detail today," Frost told her teammate whilst ignoring her psychoanalyst comment. She pushed her grey locks back behind her ears and began telling her own story once more, "I'm the daughter of a psychotherapist and Dust miner. We never had a lot money, but we certainly had enough to get by. My home is near the ports in Vale, a place where my father can catch his boat to Vacuo every month. I showed interest in becoming a Huntress, as well as the ability to do so. We spent most of our spare money preparing me to go to Beacon," she explained. She had done this on the first day that they were a team, but she didn't go into much detail out of sheer awkwardness, "My life hasn't been anything special, and I'm truly thankful for that. The fact that I had the natural ability to fight told me that my life needed to be special, though. I had the abilities, and I couldn't waste them in an office or a mine. I had to use the gifts that I was given to protect everyone, even those who don't want protecting."

Rime huffed and folded her arms, "Okay… so… maybe you don't exactly fall into that category of people who don't like talking about themselves…"

Frost looked off across the courtyard, "Not exactly. I don't like talking about myself because I prefer to listen to other people, but I will do so if it helps people open up to me. It's called building a rapport."

The group fell silent, except for Everest. His snoring still rattled the courtyard. Rime and Zero were both thinking that the conversation had gotten extremely awkward.

"So…" Rime began, "can we go back to the room and change out of these uncomfortable uniforms yet?" Rime was still annoyed with Frost's prying, but after she had just poured out her life story to her, she couldn't help but feel bad about insulting Frost's desire to know and listen to people when she picked that up from her mother. Rime knew how much a mother's, or at least a mother figure's, tendencies could rub off on a child. She played with the necklace hanging around her neck.

"Maybe we could go to the commons on our floor, grab some snacks and watch a movie?" Rime jumped down off of the wall, "You know, take it easy for a little bit? I mean, we're pretty much the only one's to have our essays on Grimm done for Professor McGouran already. Why not lounge back and watch people stress out?"

"Why waste that time when we could be working on our skills?" Frost inquired to her teammate. She still didn't look too happy, "If you don't feel like relaxing, then go train with some practice dummies. If you don't want to do that, then spar with Zero. If you don't want to do that, then crack open a textbook and start studying."

Rime couldn't believe that she had the gall to say that. "Frost, we haven't had a break from work for over two weeks. Don't you think it's time for a little goofing off?"

"You'll be without a break for a months at a time as a Huntress," Frost didn't even so much as look at Rime. She just kept her eyes closed and continued her breathing exercises, "I am preparing you for what you will experience later. You will be thankful that I put you through this."

"Frost, I don't want your blood on my hands either," Rime growled and stood up, "Zero, come on. Let's go have some fun with Team ARTS or GLXY or… literally anyone else."

Zero began to follow, but was stopped dead in his tracks when he was met with Frost's icy gaze.

She shot up and trotted right over to Rime, "I will have you know that I am very fun. You think I'm not fun? I can prove you wrong. No problem. Is that what you want, Rime? For me to make sure that we have some real fun? Maybe then you won't have to go to other teams to have fun in the future."

Rime turned to face her, but was still moving backwards away from her leader, "You know what, Frost? That would be great!" she held out her arms, "I'd love to see your idea of fun!"

"My idea of fun, huh?" Frost eyed her teammate, "Everest! Rise and shine! We're having fun," she stomped off towards the dorms without looking back.

Everest stirred, "FROST. NEED. HELP?" he boomed and clawed his way up. In the grass behind him was a man-shaped divot in the ground. The groundskeepers surely wouldn't be happy with that, "EVEREST. HELP. GOOD," he bounded off after his leader.

"Rime, do you… do you think this was a good idea?" Zero looked at his teammate sheepishly.

Rime shook her head, "I don't know, Z. I just… I just really need a break from her…" they followed quite a bit behind Frost and Everest, "We're ahead of the curriculum and she still wants us to study. That's insane."

"Right, but she does that pretty well," Zero trudged along into whatever trainwreck was coming, "I'm just scared that her idea of fun is worse than her idea of training."

.

The team arrived back to their dorm's hall as daylight began to fade.

"I'm going to show you three that I can be a fun person," Frost repeated as she unlocked their door. As soon as the door opened, a blast of cold air blew out into the hallway. Though they had their disagreements, the one thing they could all four agree on was a low room temperature.

Frost pulled a flat, rectangular box out from the underside of her bed. The front read 'Compost King', denoting it as one of the most time consuming and tedious games ever created in the world of Remnant. She began unpacking it in the floor and motioned for everyone to come sit around the board, "Okay, come on, we're playing a game now. You wanted fun. Games are fun, and we will have fun," she narrowed her frigid gaze on Rime.

Rime just stared at the board while Frost set it up. "You're kidding, right? Compost King was what they made us play at the orphanage to get us to quiet down. It always ended up with the board being thrown across the room when someone ended up stealing all of someone else's crop yield..."

"Isn't it so much fun when you actually get into it, though?" Frost asked not with a nostalgic happiness, but a sarcastic defiance, "My parents and I played it when I was young, and I always managed to come out on top. I have to warn you all that I'm really quite good at this game," then an idea struck her. One thing that she knew about Rime was that she was just a little hot headed, "Come now, Rime, don't tell me that you're scared of little old me! It's just a simple, boring little game after all."

Though Rime's memories of the game weren't her fondest, she refused to let her team's leader get to her. "Pff, like I'd be scared against you in a game where you play as farmers," she picked up a green token representing a small farmer and placed it on the board, "We've fought what normal people consider walking nightmares, I think I can handle the Compost Queen."

Finally, things were beginning to go Frost's way, "Perfect. We're going to have so much fun! Come on Zero, Everest! Have a seat! We. Are. Going. To. Have. Fun!"

"Right…" Zero mumbled and sat facing one side of the board. He hadn't played before, but he thought that he might be able to fake it long enough for things to begin going down hill.

"COM. POST…" Everest thudded down on the floor, causing the whole room to vibrate for a moment. There was no way for him to mentally form the words to articulate his disdain of Compost King, but the scowl that he gave the board seemed to convey at least some of his hatred.

Unfortunately, the game didn't last very long. On the first turn, everyone began setting up for their plans to achieve victory, and Rime kept Everest from eating the pieces. On the second, Frost, in an incredible turn of events, managed to beat both Everest and Zero simultaneously.

"So, scared now?" Frost asked Rime, who sat on the opposite side of the board.

Rime stared down at the board in disbelief, "When you said you won against your parents so much, I honestly thought that they did what every other adult does and lets the youngest win… you're actually good at this game…"

"They did let me win… when I was about five years old. Age six was when they started trying to beat me. They even looked up strategies to beat me, but they couldn't. We have played 3,948 games, and I have not lost once. The last game that we played was on family day, and they brought a guy with them to help them win. I crushed them, Rime. I crushed my parents without any show of mercy," the gaze that Frost gave Rime was of waning sanity and competitive fire, "I. Am. The. Compost. Queen."

Rime slowly reached her arm out to the dice to make her next move.

The board began to vibrate from the angry hum coming from deep within Everest. He slammed a fist down into the board, dead center. The pieces flew in every direction. An impact crater was formed when the board crumpled around his hand like a glove. He stood, hoisting the board into the air like a fresh kill, "EVEREST! STRONGEST! ONE! THERE! IS!" he threw the board against the window hard enough to shatter it, and sent the board rocketing outside. He huffed, and then began roaring louder than any animal on Remnant, "RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Frost and Zero just stared in confusion. Despite living together for a couple of months, they were still having trouble dealing with Everest's temper tantrums.

Rime, however, sat there as if she'd been through it hundreds of times before, because she had been through it hundreds of times before. "Did I mention that when the board was flipped back at the orphanage, it was usually Everest that flipped it?"

"Let's… Let's just… take a breather," Frost slowly stood, shaking from head to toe. She lightly placed a hand on Everest's shoulder, "Everest, dear, would you like to eat some snacks? Maybe watch a movie? It's okay, really. We can just relax. I'll track down as many bags of beef jerky as you can eat, or I will at least try."

"EVEREST. NO. WANT. COMPOST," Everest boomed, but began to simmer down, "BUT. EVEREST. Want. Snack. Yes…" he plopped down on his already broken twin bed and pulled the blanket, which was far too small to fully cover him, up to his shoulders.

Zero leaned over to Rime where Frost couldn't hear, "So… it took an argument and a super-sized hissy fit to do what you suggested almost four hours ago?..."

Rime watched as Frost continued to whisper to Everest in an attempt to calm him down. "Looks like it," she turned and left the room for the commons, "I'll grab popcorn and some sodas. Anything else you guys can think of?"

"Yeah…" Zero spoke up, "a movie…" He gestured around the room when Rime raised an eyebrow at him, "We don't have any to watch, Rime."

Rime smacked herself in the face for forgetting. "Oh crap…" she let out a disheartened sigh, "Can't really do a movie night with no movie…"

"You know what…? I'll just ask Sepia for a movie to watch…" Frost slumped her shoulders and began heading for the door, "I'm sorry that I screwed up…" she mumbled and began making her way down the hall.

She knocked on the Team ARTS's door, "Hey, I want to talk to Sepia. We need a movie to watch," she called into the door.

Arty began to answer, "Hold on a bit, we're in the middle of- woah! Sepia!"

A series of crashes were heard, as well as the thudding of Sepia's heels against the carpet. The door whipped open, and Sepia stood in the frame with a cheap CD case clasped firmly in her hands. Strangely, she was also wearing Roland's hat, and had Arty's backpack tossed over her shoulder.

"It's good to see you again, Se-" Frost was quickly met with Sepia's disc being shoved into her gut. She coughed and struggled to look back up at Sepia, "What has gotten into… you…" and the door slammed back closed.

She made her way back to her own dorm and walked in to see Everest piled up in his bed and Zero and Rime sitting on her bed. Neither of them seemed like they wanted to move.

"Hey… Sepia gave me this," Frost held up the disc, "Let's go downstairs and watch this. I don't know what it is, but I'm assuming that Sepia has good taste. Let's just… watch this and have fun… okay?" she looked down at her feet as she held the DVD out to Rime.

Rime took the disc and looked it over, "'Monstrous Shadows From Solitude: The story of a runaway fighting against the odds and the creatures of darkness that plague her world'... Sounds… interesting," She stood up and followed Frost into the hall, followed closely by Zero who held a few drinks and a bag of popcorn in his arms. Where exactly he got it all from was anyone's guess. He had a way of making things… appear.

"So… Sepia told you to watch this?" Rime turned the DVD over.

Frost nodded, "Yes. Well... sort of. She kind of just… shoved it into my stomach and closed the door on me. I know she's mute and all, but she's still a weird one…"

Rime smiled, "Tell me about it. You should've seen her during the… night… Yamuna…" she stopped when she remembered the fact that Frost was pretty sore over her and Zero's involvement with that disaster, "Um, nevermind…"

The three stayed silent until they got to the lounge on the first floor of the dorm building. This late and this close to finals, it was empty.

When the disc was in the player of the TV on the back wall, Frost sat down on the couch next to Rime and Zero without a word. She just stared at the holographic screen in silence. Maybe without having her own decisions to interfere, her team would actually have fun. With Everest asleep, she had to make sure that at least Rime and Zero had fun. Keeping her word was nothing short of proving that she could be trusted as a leader.

The movie began with a shot of the deserts of Vacuo. Sand whipped around in front of a panning shot of the descending sun. The wailing winds picked up as the sky faded from orange to violet to black.

The sound of shifting sand faded in, and then a hooded figure began striding across the horizon.

"They've followed me through this gods forsaken desert for years now," a narrator began speaking as the camera zoomed in on the figure's position.

Rime perked up. Upon taking a closer look, the shape of the figure began to look familiar, but the voice was completely foreign to her. The narrator's voice certainly didn't sound refined, being a little lower and rougher than the average girl of her stature. She was petite, and when the moonlight illuminated her face beneath the hood in the next shot, Rime nearly screamed.

"So, those things caught up with me again, huh?" the woman, who was easily identifiable as Sepia in a very nice blonde wig, spoke to the horde of Grimm charging towards her from behind.

"No way…" Zero whispered in awe.

Rime held out her arms, "Woah. Woah. Woah. One: did Sepia give us a student film she did a few years ago or something? Two…: Sepia wasn't always mute…?" She looked to Frost and Zero, who still sat there stunned.

"I… I don't know," Frost stared at the TV, dumbfounded, "I'm just as surprised as you two. This doesn't look like something a student would do, though," she examined the film further, "I'm blown away. This actually looks… professional," she turned to Rime, "Can you text her and ask about her involvement in this film?"

"Yeah, sure," Rime quickly pulled out her scroll and texted Sepia:

Rime Chione: SEPIA! It might just be us, but we SWEAR that you're in this movie! Are you really an ACTRESS?!

Sepia's response came immediately after Rime pressed 'SEND':

Sepia Hughes: You'll see. Just watch it through the credits! Hope you guys enjoy! ;)

"Well," Frost asked expectantly, "what did she say?"

Rime closed her scroll and put it on the arm of the couch. "She said to just watch the movie to the end of the credits…"

.

The three sat in stunned silence for the next hour and a half, each reacting to every detail within the film. When the credits began to roll, the name 'Sepia Hughes' appeared as the lead producer, director, head of sound design, head of scene design, the lead character, five minor characters, and even as the screenwriter and the editor.

"No freakin' way…" Rime uttered through a mouthful of what was left of the popcorn.

"What is a girl like that doing here?" Zero asked aloud.

Frost tried to collect herself. The ending of the movie still had her teared up, but she had to bring herself back to reality, "She's really talented, huh…?" then she thought about another member of Team ARTS with an incredible talent, "Sepia's film is amazing, Timbre's singing is top notch, so do you two think we should check up on what Arty has been drawing and painting or whatever Roland writes? Are all of them this good?"

Zero spoke up again, "Well, then I'll re-ask my question. What are people like them doing here? How can artists fight monsters and criminals?"

"What are people like us doing this?" Frost asked, "Some girl from the suburbs, a little girl from some village, a caveman, and a wandering ninja are unlikely candidates… sort of."

"We'll just have to ask them, I guess," Zero checked the clock above the TV, "I'm going to bed. I'll see you two tomorrow," he opened a nearby window and began to crawl out of it, "Goodnight."

Rime and Frost watched Zero jump upwards and out of sight to his space outside the window of Team FREZ's room, where he had a hammock set up. He preferred sleeping outside.

"I will never get used to that," Frost sighed.

"That's one thing I've learned ever since my first day here," Rime led the way up the stairwell after throwing away empty bottles and wrappers, "Everyone here is weird, Frost. Some have such a bad temper they want to fight everyone, some can change their demeanor on the spot, and some..." they reached their dorm. Rime opened the door to the chilly room. Outside, Rime could see the black mass of Zero's hoodie in the dark blue hammock hanging in the oak tree outside through the broken window, "prefer to sleep outside." she shut the door quietly as to not wake the sleeping boys. "I guess he got used to it while wandering Sanus before coming to Beacon."

Frost didn't say anything back to Rime's observations. If she was being honest, then she would have told Rime that she wished that she were as skilled as her at learning about people holistically, rather than just looking at what goes on in their heads. The mind was something that Frost was comfortable with, but people's pasts always left her wanting more.

They got ready for bed with their backs to each other. Frost changed into a long, white nightgown while Rime donned a white t-shirt and wore black basketball shorts.

An hour or so later, Frost found herself staring up at the ceiling, lost in thought. She turned her head to face Rime, "Hey, are you awake? I can not sleep for the life of me."

Rime turned her head, her light blue eyes wide-open in the dark, "I think I drank too much soda… I'm still going on my sugar high."

"Would you go for a walk with me then? I want to talk," Frost shifted her gaze away and began getting out of bed. She picked up a black hoodie from her desk chair and pulled it on. She glanced over at Rime only to see that she looked stunned.

Frost pointed to the door, "Are you going with me, or am I going alone?"

Rime shook off her confusion, "Oh, yeah. Sure." She hopped up and pulled on her white sneakers and grey jacket.

.

The cool night air flowed through the complex of buildings that littered Beacon's campus. High above, the top of Beacon Tower glowed with a green glow from the lights within. Further up, the shattered moon cast the cloudless night in a wash of moonlight that lit up the path. If the lamp posts weren't on, Rime and Frost would have still been able to see.

The walk was fairly awkward at first as the tension that had built up from their conversations throughout the day still hung between them. Rime wanted to try to break that tension with her leader.

"So," she began sheepishly, "nice knowing we can walk around campus this late without worrying about, y'know, being mauled by a huge wolf."

"No need for small talk, Rime," Frost stared up at the moon as she walked ahead, "Look, I have been stiff since I became the leader of Team FREZ. I have honestly just been focusing on making sure that we were statistically the best team around. I got harder and harder because I saw how heavy hitting Team ANTE can be in combat practice, and how creative Team ARTS gets when it comes to… well, anything. Team GLXY is always making A's across the board, and all of the other teams are just… doing better than us in one way or another. It bugged me a lot, you know? I want us to be the best team, but I am thankful for how fantastic we already are. I am just upset that we are not perfect in every category, but I also know that we can not be," she took a deep breath, just as she worked on earlier in the day. Those breathing exercises did come in handy as it seemed, "I am sorry, Rime, for the way that I have treated all of you. I understand that it must be hard to be open with me when I have acted in the manner that I have."

Rime wasn't expecting to be apologized to, especially in the form of a long-winded speech. It threw her off guard, but as she processed what Frost said, she began to feel horrible about how Frost felt. "Frost… I'm sorry if I made you feel that way. Trust me, we want to be the best we can be, but… I think Zero, Everest and I just can't handle working 100% of the time. We're first years. We'll be able to get to the point where we'll be able to give everything to being Huntsmen and Huntresses, but right now, well…" she began to play with her necklace again, "We're still… kids. When the work in front of us is done, we want to goof off in the spare time we have until more work is put in front of us. McGouran's essay is taking everyone else weeks when you had us finish it within days of it being assigned. I understand you're trying to help, but maybe… there is such a thing of helping too much… if that makes sense."

"We are not just kids, though," Frost clenched her fists and stared at the ground, "Bad things happen in the world, Rime. Bad things that we can prevent. We stepped into this life, and that is not a decision that a child can make," she bit her lip, hesitant to be honest with her teammate. She would not allow herself to be a hypocrite, "When I mentioned my parents earlier, I was referring to my mother and my step-father. My biological father died in a Dust mine collapse, and my step-father worked in the same mine as him. He called in sick to work that day, and so he was not caught in all of the rubble," Frost peered up at Beacon Tower, a symbol of what they were there for, "My step-father blames himself because he believes that he could have done something to prevent the collapse or get everyone out of there, even though he probably could not have. We are here to be the ones that can prevent what may seem to be unavoidable tragedies to most. We are here to be the best for the people of Remnant because they can not fight on their own. We are adults, Rime, and we need to accept that to some extent."

Rime was having trouble processing everything Frost was telling her. "Frost… that whole thing earlier when you were trying to get Zero to talk about his life before Beacon… why didn't you tell us your story first?"

"Like I said, I want to help others. I do not care much about helping myself."

Rime stared at the grey stone beneath their feet as she contemplated her next words. "Frost. I don't know about you, but I'm a firm believer that you can't truly help others if you can't help yourself. If we're going to be dealing with the real world every day from here on out, you need to learn that you're gonna need a break from it every now and then," she gave a small smile, "Like when you played Compost King with your parents, or sitting down to watch a movie with your friends."

"I guess I can concede to that point," Frost slowed to a stop as they reached the courtyard, "Thank you for being patient with me, Rime," she looked to the girl that she was actually beginning to think of as her 'friend' rather than teammate. Not knowing entirely sure where to go, she held out her arms and wrapped Rime in a hug, "Thank you so much, from the bottom of my heart."

Rime found the embrace rather awkward, partially due to the conversation they had just had, and partially due to how Frost was almost a full foot taller than her. "No… no problem, Frost."

"So, what…" Frost slowly let go, but then kept her eyes trained on something behind Rime, "No… they can't be..."

Rime turned to where Frost's gaze was pointing. At first, she couldn't tell what she was looking at, but the slight movement gave it away. Someone in dark clothing with a hood pulled tightly over their head was hiding in the shadows just beyond the illumination of the lamp posts. From where they stood, the two girls couldn't be completely sure if it was someone they knew, but the hoodie and posture looked at least somewhat familiar.

"Zero? Is that you?" Rime called out towards the figure.

After she called out to the figure, it turned and ran further into the darkness.

"Hey! Hold up!" Rime immediately dashed off of the path and began to pursue the hooded person.

"That is not Zero." Frost sprinted past in an attempt to catch up with the figure. She and Rime were led closer and closer to Beacon Tower. They reached the base, but the figure was nowhere to be seen.

Frost looked around, "Where did they go?" her fingers clutched the sleeves of her jacket, "How could the be here…? This isn't good…"

"Frost!" Rime ran across the empty courtyard and reached down to pick something up. She returned to Frost while holding a square piece of dark blue cloth. Embroidered in white on one corner was a emblem made up of a triangle made up of three smaller shapes within a circle. "It's Zero's…"

"What…? Maybe he's nearby. He can help us find them." Frost looked around the entire courtyard, but then her eyes fell onto Beacon Tower, "That is the only place that they could have-"

"What are you two doing out so late?" a voice asked from behind the two girls.

Rime and Frost spun around to find Zero standing before them.

"Zero?!" Frost whipped around to look towards the direction where they saw 'Zero' heading last, "Did you see them? Did you see where they went?"

A look of realization came over Zero's half-hidden face, "You saw him too then?"

Fear crept over the girls.

"We did..." Frost said quietly. She reached instinctively to her wrists, but she had left her bracelets in her locker for the night. She stared at the piece of cloth that Rime still had, "Zero, how did this end up out here?"

"I saw some guy in a cloak skulking around the dorms from my hammock just a while ago. He bolted off when I got up to see what was going on. I lost him when he ran by Beacon Tower and to the buildings on the other side. It must have fallen out while I was running after him." Zero peered around like Frost and Rime had been doing, "I don't know how he lost me, though."

Frost tapped her lips as she thought, her brows furrowed, "This is bad..." she collected herself. Maybe it wasn't a worst case-scenario. Maybe this was just a student playing a prank, "Did you get a good look at the cloak?"

"Black with red trim and bright red lines all over, like cracks. Why?"

"Just like the ones that appeared at Koruss…" a shiver shot down her spine, "The Grimm Brotherhood's cloaks have that same look about them, but what are they doing here…?"

"The Grimm what now?" Rime asked.

"I'll explain in the morning," Frost motioned for Rime and Zero to follow her back to the dorms, "I will report this to Professor Alabaster first thing in the morning. For now, we sleep and get rested."

Rime was confused as to why Frost seemed so anxious, but she did know a stranger on campus couldn't be a good thing. She went to mess with her necklace again when she realized that she still had Zero's handkerchief. "Oh! Zero!" She handed it to him. "I'm sure that you want this back."

Zero snatched it from her and shoved it into his pocket, "Thanks, Rime." he kept close behind the two.

When they reached the dorms, he began making his way back up to his hammock, "I'll keep a lookout and let you two know if they come around again. Sleep well."

"You too, Zero," Frost didn't even look at him as she pulled Rime into the dorms with her.

"Frost, what is going on?" Rime questioned as Frost climbed into her bed, facing the wall as she pulled the covers over herself.

"Just wait until tomorrow. It can wait until the morning. Go to sleep," Frost rolled over on her side and adjusted her blanket, "Goodnight."

Rime felt annoyed, but after the conversation they had had before seeing the mysterious figure, she realized maybe that she couldn't always disagree with Frost's decisions. "Okay… fine."

She crawled under her sheets and, as she lay her head on her pillow, she gripped the crystal on her necklace tightly. "Goodnight, Frost…" Dozens of questions spun in her head until she finally fell asleep.

"You idiot!" a figure in a black cloak drove a fist into one of the columns in the Beacon courtyard. Their stark white mask resembled the skull of a kangaroo, and red lines glowed and pulsed with crimson hatred. Molten eyes glowed in their sockets.

Oro dug their hand out from the crater left in the side of the column, "Damn it, now I left evidence… great…" Thankfully, they were out of the range of Beacon's security cameras. It would likely go unnoticed for the time being, or assumed to be an accident by a student.

They stood with another figure, one in an identical black cloak with red cracks streaking down its length. They also wore a mask, but theirs was fashioned to look like a big cat's skull. A cheetah, perhaps. Red cracks and molten eyes glowed on their mask as well, but it was notably dimmer than Oro's.

"Look, it only matters that I got away. They saw me, but that doesn't change the objective, right?" the figure turned their head towards the tower, "I can get up as long as Echo cuts the cameras. I might have gone unseen if he just did his job…"

"You work too fast... Speeder… yeah, actually, that's to be expected…" Oro chuckled, "Looks like your namesake fits you a bit too well, eh, rookie?" They clicked the communications device in their ear, "Echo, give me a status on Beacon Tower's cameras."

Computers hummed in the background of the radio. "Tell Speeder to head over there. I will have them down in three… two… one… and there. He has thirty minutes." Echo said from the other end.

"Right," Oro turned to Speeder, "Thirty minutes. You shouldn't have a problem getting into the CCT," they threw a bag to him, "Make sure the goods get in there in one piece, m'kay?

Speeder caught the bag and clutched it to his chest.

Oro smiled underneath their mask, "Oh, almost forgot to tell you that those ASHS idiots busted the lock on the maintenance hatch a while back, and it doesn't seem like they've gone through the trouble of putting a new one on. Not like you could've broken it yourself, but it's nice to have someone to pin it on when we make our move. Have fun, and try not to get seen this time!"

Speeder ran off for the tower without another word, leaving Oro all alone.

"This is going wonderfully…" Oro began walking towards the cliff, "The devices are coming along great, this whole deal with the CCT is much easier than we expected, and our favorite students are well on their way to becoming little warriors. Tell me, Echo, isn't this all just lovely?"

No response.

"Right. You're busy. I get it." Oro stepped right off the cliff. Instead of falling to the water below, they dropped down to a pitch black airship. With one final look at Beacon, Oro opened the hatch, "I look forward to meeting our favorite students soon… My little sweetheart needs to stretch her legs."