Raven's eyes locked with the holes of a full-face fox mask. One eye was obscured in shadow. Moonlight caught the other, causing the whites of the girl's narrow eye to glow eerily.

The mask was sculpted to look like the face of a fox, with a mouth, whiskers, ears, and forehead markings all painted the color of blood. Its wearer was a tall young woman, lean muscle rippling under her shoulders with each slight movement. Her body was surprisingly exposed for such a frigid night. She wore only a long, black tank top, which covered her body until halfway down her thighs. The strange garment was open at both sides, held in place by three red bands at her breasts, stomach, and waist. Her hair, the color of the night sky above, was tied back in a simple ponytail.

The mysterious, unnerving woman stood over Raven, right hand wrapped around the handle of the absurdly long blade sheathed at her opposite hip. The woman's one visible eye, dark as the night beyond her, stared into Raven's.

Raven clumsily fumbled backward after several seconds of frozen shock. She felt as if she were in a nightmare. Her feet failed to catch hold on the slippery, snow-covered ground, and her shaking arms held little strength. Raven felt the woman's blade would cut her life short any second.

"I-I'm sorry! I... I d-didn't mean to!" Raven apologized, raising her shield above her head in fear.

"Do not be afraid," the woman calmly comforted in a surprisingly gentle voice. "I am here to protect you. You are not properly rested." Raven noticed an accent as the woman spoke. She had heard accents from Eastern Mistral before, yet the woman's was somehow different, even if only slightly.

There was no doubt in Raven's mind. She was face to face with someone of a mythical tribe, only ever rumored to exist.

"Y-You... who are you? H-How do you kn-know about me?" Raven questioned anxiously.

"I have been watching," was the woman's only answer. She turned without another word, sprinting without fear at the monster Raven had charged in to fight. Raven picked herself off the ground, standing on her trembling legs. She watched in amazement as the girl ducked under a lightning fast jab from the beast's claw, cutting off one leg.

The monster screeched, jumping high into the air and shooting a ball of rope-thick web at its aggressor. The young woman slashed through the white ball effortlessly, once again charging the grimm. After ducking under another mantis-like jab from the monster's claw, she jumped up, tearing through a second leg.

"She's totally fearless..." Raven reflected, watching intently from where she stood. "I'm sure glad she's on my side."

The spider-like grimm shot a ball of web to the ground. Thick sticky cords spread throughout the snow like liquid. The woman tried dashing to to side to get a better angle on the increasingly desperate creature.

She could not move.

She looked down, seeing her feet entangled in an indissoluble knot of hardening web. The spider skittered in curious circles around her, salivating as its remaining crimson eyes seemed to glow with excitement.

Raven pulled her crossbow out, changing to fire dust. She shot several scorching bolts into the creature's eyes and head, causing the grotesque creature to flinch and turn toward Raven.

"Great, now what do I do?" Raven anxiously asked herself as the spider, the height of a two-story house, trampled angrily toward her.

"Kage no mikadzuki!" Raven heard the woman yell. Her voice seemed to echo through the night with a mystical strength. The spider suddenly paused, and fell in two clean halves as a pitch black crescent passed through it. As the creature died, it seemed to fade into the woman's sword. The blade gave off a soft, red glow as the monster's essence flowed into it.

The mysterious masked swordswoman looked over her shoulder to Raven. She then nodded once, and, with a flash, disappeared into the night.

Raven was left standing in her place, processing what she had seen. The marks in the snow, of monster and girl alike, were the only way Raven knew the whole ordeal was not a dream.

"Raven! Are you going to do this every morning!? GET! UP!" Sylvia yelled, shaking Raven violently. Raven struggled immensely to open her eyes, and even more to move. For Raven, the past two nights of sleep amounted to just shy of six hours.

Raven pushed herself up to a sitting position, raising her arms above her head in a drawn-out stretch. Just as Raven was about to remove the blankets from her lap and stand, she was met with a cold blast of water to the face.

"Get up already, damn it! Don't make us late!" Sylvia loudly commanded. Raven stopped, shivering and watching the unpleasantly cold drops fall into her lap and onto her bed.

"I-I'm sorry, I'll... get up..." Raven stammered. Sylvia left the room impatiently as Raven wiped her face. She decided to stand up and change before Sylvia could return with more water.

Thirty minutes later, Dunder, Sylvia, Kurai, Mikado, and Raven all gathered at the door, prepared for their second of several searches. The group had not found much of anything on the hike North, and so they had decided to head East.

Kurai looked at Dunder curiously. Dunder nodded once, and Kurai tried his hardest to suppress a devilish grin.

"Hey, Mikado?" Dunder asked, feigning politeness. "Last night, I heard some noises in the forest around the base. Maybe it would be best if you stick around here?"

Mikado gave an exaggerated expression of thinking, then nodded. "Good idea. Perhaps it would be best for me to watch base. It would be a shame to come back to a beowolf in my bed!"

Dunder faked a laugh. "There's no need to worry about us. We'll be just fine," he assured. Apprehension creeped into Raven's mind.

"You'll be fine," she assured herself. "You're strong. You can fight."

Team DARK was even quieter than usual on their expedition deep into the frozen forest. The tension Raven sensed within her team increased with every step. She tried to take her mind off everything by looking at the decidedly beautiful scenery. Team DARK walked along the edge of a river, which had frozen at its edges. The ground beneath their feet was mostly bare, the falling snow intercepted by the canopy of the old pine trees above. The forest was live with the sound of birds, mice, and the first, adventurous insects of the year.

The four walked onward, seeing nothing out of the ordinary. They came to the base of a sheer cliff, its jagged face raising dozens of feet out of the ground. Scraggly evergreen bushes jutted out from between the crags, their roots covered by moss.

The clearing before the cliff was bare, even lacking snow. The dirt was outlined by five mossy boulders, each casting its own threatening shadow. The songbirds, insects, and mice had all fallen silent. Raven heard a

weapon being adjusted behind her, but thought nothing of it.

Suddenly, she heard a crack as an intense blow collided brutally with the back of her head. She crumpled limply to the ground, rolling onto her side.

Dunder stood over Raven with weapon slung over his shoulder and a satisfied smirk on his face. "Was that hard enough?" he asked.

"Oh, it was beautiful," Kurai affirmed with a sinister chuckle.

With eyes struggling to stay open, Raven saw hundreds of tiny black arms stretching from the shadows. They grasped at her arms and legs, pulling her forcefully into a spread-eagle stand.

Raven could feel her heartbeat in her brain. It was increasing, and the pulsating pain at the back of her skull was nearly unbearable. Dunder looked Raven in the eyes.

"This is what you get," Dunder threatened. "And this is what's going to happen to the rest of your little friends. No one is going to save you out here."

Kurai laughed. "She's so afraid," he commented. "It's pathetic, but hilarious."

"Oh, let her be. It'll make the grimm come faster," Dunder said. "Come on, let's get out of here before they do arrive."

Raven could have sworn she saw the slightest hint of remorse trying to break through the smug mask Sylvia wore before she turned around and walked back to base with the rest of her team.

A minute later, Raven began to hear a noise. Something was being dragged through the dirt just beyond one of the boulders. Her heart sank as she saw what it was.

A king taijitu, thick as a barrel and several times as long, dragged itself over the top of the boulder. Raven stared down the beast she knew would kill her.

"No one will ever find my body," Raven thought. "I'm going to die here, and that will be that. I wonder what happens after death..."

The immense snake slithered even closer, bringing its whole body into the clearing. It looked at Raven with hungry eyes.

"Rusty... the others... they'll miss me, right? I'll never see mom again. I'm so sorry. So sorry to everyone." Raven looked up. "Just as I start to enjoy life, it's taken from me, huh?"

Raven gave a tired, defeated smile as the king taijitu lunged at her, jaws unhinged.

"How ironic."