"For the love of Oum, can we not be on time for once in our time here at Beacon?!" Titus shouted as they exited the elevator and he thundered through the hall, provoking other students to move quickly out of the way as he motioned with his arms for Neela and Ilia to hurry up behind him. "I guess at this point we might as well find that piss ant, we're already going to be late as it is."

"Well yeah, but we don't even know where the hell he is or where he might be," Ilia pointed out.

"Maybe we head into the woods?" Neela offered. "That's where we found him last time, he seems to enjoy spending his free time making quick work of Grimm."

"I guess you two can go and grab him, I'm going to let Glynda know what's going…" Titus began but was abruptly interrupted by Neela's scroll ringing. She picked it up, not recognizing the number, and put it on speaker.

"You guys realize you're late, right?" Eren asked with a chuckle.

"The person you're trying to reach is currently unavailable, call back later," Neela stated. She hung up as she rushed for the great hall with Ilia and Titus close behind.

"I'm gonna kick his ass… again," Titus noted as they threw open the doors to find Glynda standing on the stage with Eren standing beside her.

"Nice of you guys to turn up," Eren called to them. "Teach and I were just discussing where I should fit into the rankings."

"For the last time, it is Headmistress Goodwitch, and yes, we were biding our time as the three of you seemed to be straggling, once again," Glynda pointed out.

"We were looking for him," Titus huffed.

"Well, here I am," Eren smirked.

"Are we ready to begin?" Glynda asked as they climbed up onto the stage.

"I was born ready!" Ilia exclaimed, hoping Team IVRY would be their mentors.

"I would like to introduce to you," Glynda stated, pausing for dramatic effect. "Team ONYX."

"Yes!" Neela declared. From the back of the stage, the first member entered the room, flashing a familiar smile as his eyes lit up.

"How serendipitous!" He declared. Orin made his way quickly across the stage and gave Neela a hug that swept her off of her feet. He set her back down, kissing her hand. "How is my favorite underclassman doing as of late? I heard that there was a mishap with Eliana. That's most unfortunate, I hope that you're doing well."

"I'm not doing too bad, thanks," Neela replied. "It's good to see you again."

"The feeling is mutual," Orin insisted. "And these must be your teammates. I've met these two in passing, though we've never been properly introduced."

"Ilia Cherny," Ilia introduced herself.

"I am humbled to be graced by such beauty," Orin replied, kissing her hand. "Orin Akos."

"She has a boyfriend," Titus informed Orin. Orin gasped and took a step back.

"Your implications wound me," Orin stated.

"Titus Prasinos," Titus spoke as he extended his hand to shake Orin's. Orin looked at it for a fleeting moment before gripping Titus harshly and kissing his cheek. Titus glared at Orin who seemed pleased with himself, moving on to Eren.

"I'm not familiar with this one, Neela," Orin stated.

"He's new," Neela explained.

"Well then, it is a pleasure to be making your acquaintance," Orin said, shaking his hand. Titus watched on in confusion.

"Nobody talks like that," Eren grumbled.

"Perhaps you might try it someday," Orin insisted. "It's both pleasant and liberating, to say the least."

"You can't say the least using those kinds of words," Eren spat. Orin smiled in delight.

"I suppose you're right," Orin agreed. "Though I am yet to catch your name."

"Eren Prince," Eren spoke. Orin grinned even larger, grappling Eren and kissing his cheek before releasing him.

"And now we have been acquainted," Orin noted as he stepped across the stage to stand opposite of Neela.

"Next on Team ONYX we have the powerhouse, Natalia Ironwood," Glynda announced. Titus shot a glance at Glynda in shock before staring towards the door, his nerves dialed up to eleven. The girl stepped out, built like a brick house, Titus felt himself instantly flush and his hands started fidgeting. She was a looker, to be sure, and Titus knew the ins and outs of Natalia like no other. Her short brown hair with blonde highlights was contained within her white bandana that was embellished with the Atlesian emblem in black and blue off center ever so slightly, in a look that was somewhere between windblown and gelled all at the same time. She wore a black softshell jacket zipped up with a matching insignia on the breast, jeans, and steel toe sneakers completing the look to starkly contrast that of Titus who was always in uniform. Her eyes met his, one deep blue, drawing him in as he paid the other no mind, a bright digital orange implant that she'd had made after the accident when she was younger. A goofy smile plastered on her face.

"One Man Army?!" She shouted. Neela glanced back at Titus who was pale, his legs shaking as he attempted to maintain his composure but it broke and he leapt down, rushing for the entrance.

"Mr. Prasinos!" Glynda yelled at him. Neela turned to move but Natalia was already sprinting past her.

"I got this one, Headmistress!" Natalia called back as she gained ground on Titus who had already exited the building. Neela and Ilia blinked at each other as Orin rubbed his forehead.

"She tried to warn you, you know," Orin told Glynda.

"I knew they had a history, but I never expected that reaction," Glynda defended her decision.

"Do we continue, or…" Eren asked.

"I'll give them a few minutes," Glynda decided.

"Titus," Natalia called out to him to wait up, but he was determined not to stop, moving even faster as he could hear her gaining on him. He was short on breath, his mind unwilling to accept the fact that Natalia was back, and even refusing, even more, to acknowledge that she was acting as though everything was alright between the two of them. He ignored her for the moment being, only stopping when she caught him after activating her semblance, catching his arm and stopping hard with close to enough force to pop his shoulder out of socket. He winced in pain before swinging around to look at her, his face red with anger instead of the initial regret that had overcome him. "I know you're angry…"

"You put on quite an act coming on to that stage and acting excited to see me," he told her. She released him, confusion twisting her expression.

"What? Why would I be angry at you?" She asked.

"Why would…" He stuttered before laughing abruptly. "That's rich, Natalia."

"Am I missing something?" Natalia asked him.

"You don't remember the last time that we saw each other?!" He shouted hoping to jog her memory. She stared at him for a long moment before covering her mouth and shaking her head. She sighed loudly.

"I never forgot that day," she told him. "But Winter and I talked about it quite a bit. She said that you were going through a rough patch and that it was Admon talking, not you. She said you didn't really believe that you were better off on your own, that you only said that because Admon had scared you into believing that you needed to be able to do it all on your own. I heard what happened with your new teammate, we both know you care about strength in numbers just as much as you did before Admon came around."

"I still can't forgive myself for saying those things to you," Titus told her. She reached for his hand but he backed away.

"Does it help that I forgave you?" She asked. "I knew you were struggling in it, how many nights did you wake me up, calling me before hanging up the moment I answered."

"Have you been here the whole time, or did you just transfer?" Titus questioned.

"Funny story that," she chuckled nervously. He glared at her.

"The whole time then," he growled.

"I was undercover," she replied in a hushed tone.

"Why the hell would Winter send you here to be undercover? And how the hell did you manage to avoid me for an entire year?" Titus barked, refusing to believe she was being truthful with him.

"I can't tell you that without Winter's consent, you know that," Natalia replied. "And avoiding you wasn't easy, but since the first years are so secluded I only needed to know your schedule. We were out on missions with our mentoring team most of the time, and the rest of the time I secluded myself to the weight room in the dorms. I watched you every morning when you went out for your jogs, you can't know how badly I wanted to tell you I was here before this."

"Whatever," he scoffed as he turned away from her. She chuckled.

"I see your nickname still holds up," She jested. He glanced back at her. One Man Army. It was something that he was desperately trying to get away from, but he still had a tendency of taking things on by himself, didn't he? He thought of his fight with Eren. He should have gotten a teacher or Neela involved. "Can we just try and get along at least? You and your teammates are going to be stuck with us for the year, you know?" He nodded and extended his hand.

"I guess we can shake on it," he informed her. She looked at his hand and laughed.

"Oh no," she told him. She wrapped her arms around him and lifted him up in a tight hug that caused his back to crack. 'You don't get out of this that easily."

"Please… put me down," he gasped.

"Harder?" She asked with a smirk.

"No…" he inhaled sharply. She set him back down and brushed her hands off as she began to walk back towards the great hall. He watched her on the way back to the building. It was surreal, she was right in front of him! He wasn't sure that he bought her story about being undercover just yet, convinced that she'd avoided him because she hated him and she was just really good at playing it off. His heart pounded in his chest as their footsteps thundered in his ears. He forgot what this felt like.

"Admit it, One Man Army," she teased. "You missed me."

"I'll only admit that studying was far easier without you around," he asserted with a smile.

"Ouch!" She seethed. "I see how it is."

"And you can refer to me as Gargoyle if you have to use some gaudy alias," he informed her. She looked at him surprised.

"And here I thought you hated that one," she replied.

"I did," Titus explained passing her. She smirked.

"Well I'm gonna keep calling you One Man Army, but it's nice to see that the Gargoyle is finally coming out of his shell," she announced with a wink, nearly tripping over herself as she stumbled into the door. It swung open violently and the five students, plus Glynda, watched on.

"Ahem," Orin cleared his throat. "Talia, perhaps you can act a bit less sporadic today? We are meeting our protégés for the first time, after all."

"Yes, sorry, Orin," she replied as she marched back across the room and leapt back onto the stage, taking her place next to Orin. Titus climbed back up, looking at Neela who observed his hands fidgeting.

"Things okay between you two?" Neela asked. Titus nodded.

"For the most part," he replied. Natalia shook her head.

"They're fine," she assured them as she took a step to Neela and shook her hand. "You must be Neela Xiao Long. I heard about your actions during the White Fang attack. Impressive. I hope I can give you a few pointers to make you a better fighter." Neela smiled at her.

"That would be awesome," Neela agreed. Natalia moved on to Ilia and shook her hand.

"Ilia Cherny," Ilia introduced herself.

"You have the ability to possess people, right?" Natalia inquired.

"Putting it lightly, yeah," Ilia noted. Natalia lit up.

"That's awesome! Hope you guys are ready to kick some ass with us!" Natalia exclaimed.

"Talia!" Orin barked.

"Right, professional," she shot back at him. She cleared her throat. "A pleasure to meet you." Ilia nodded and smiled widely at Natalia. Titus ignored her.

"She's nice," Ilia whispered to him.

"Shut up," Titus murmured.

"And you must be the renegade that Titus fought," Natalia noted shaking hands with Eren.

"Yeah, that's me," Eren grumbled with an eye-roll.

"He seems thrilled to be here," Ilia muttered.

"He is the worst," Titus griped.

"Titus!" Glynda huffed under her breath.

"He'll be a team player in no time," Neela insisted.

"Thank you, Natalia," Glynda told her. Natalia gave her a thumbs up.

"No sweat," Natalia replied.

"Next, we have the team's stealth specialist, Yin Suterusu," Glynda announced. They all turned their attention towards the door that Natalia and Orin had entered through, but no one came out.

"Can he turn invisible?" Ilia asked.

"Not exactly," a voice replied standing directly behind her. She swung around out of instinct and he caught her arm, holding it in place as she calmed down. "You should see the look on your face."

"You're lucky I didn't hit you!" Ilia exclaimed.

"I was pretty confident in my ability to block," he noted, releasing Ilia and walking past her to the middle of the two teams. Yin looked as if he had been ripped right out of a tale about ninjas, wearing a black tunic with loose matching bottoms, his feet simply wrapped in bandages. An orange sash doubled as a belt that was far too large around his waist, looped through a silver ring that kept it secured, another white sash wrapped diagonally across his body, draped over his left shoulder and crossing his torso before disappearing around the right side near his stomach. His short black hair seemed a mess, despite not being long enough to be messy. "I'm present, Headmistress."

"Then perhaps you'd like to introduce yourself to Team NITE," Glynda suggested. He nodded.

"Sure," he answered, approaching Neela. "Yin Suterusu. You can just call me Yin for short. Or anything else, if you'd like, I'm not picky." He shook her hand and offered her a smile.

"Neela Xiao Long," she told him. His eyes lit up and his reserved demeanor switched gears as he pointed at her and bounced on his feet, looking at Orin.

"This is her!?" Yin shouted. Orin folded his arms and nodded. Yin looked at her again, his mouth wide in shock. "I wish I could have been there when you and Bird Boy put those upperclassmen in their place. He talks pretty highly of you, you must have some skill!"

"That was us," Neela confirmed. Yin shook his head.

"Damn," he said. He moved onto Titus, saluting him. "Sir!"

"I already told you, Yin. You don't have to do that," Natalia informed him.

"How come you never dress like this, huh?" Yin asked. Titus chuckled.

"That's none of your concern," Natalia said.

"I like him already," Titus chuckled as he saluted back before shaking his hand. "Titus Prasinos."

"Cool," he responded nodding his head. "Totally going to remember that." He looked back at Natalia and shook his head and she sighed, rolling her eyes. He moved onto Ilia. "And you look like you can handle yourself." His fiery, orange eyes held hers for a second, drawing attention away from the scar that ran along the right side of his jaw.

"I can. Ilia Cherny," she answered.

"Nice to make your acquaintance," Yin informed her. He slid over to Eren. "And you are?"

"Eren Prince," he replied, unfolding his arms to shake hands.

"You need to relax, huh?" Yin asked.

"What do you mean?" Eren inquired.

"If there was any more negativity coming off you, I'd guess that it was your semblance," Yin noted. He patted him on the shoulder and moved next to Natalia. "How'd I do?"

"That's probably the most restrained we've ever seen you around new people," Orin interjected for her.

"Phew, what a relief," Yin exhaled.

"And lastly, we have Team ONYX's brawler, Xavier Nudara," Glynda stated as they all shifted to face the entrance one last time.

"Well, I'm here on time and under my own free will, and that's probably the most that anyone could possibly ask of me" He flashed a smile at Glynda. "I am here on time, right?"

"Surprisingly, yes, but we're short on time so if we could continue to move things along..." Glynda requested. He smiled and nodded repeatedly, his bright green eyes lighting up.

"Sure, yeah, no problem." He agreed. He approached Neela who looked him over. He was always bouncing on his feet, he appeared to wear some kind of specially designed shoe and track pants with a bright gold stripe that ran up the sides, matching his black sleeveless sports vest with gold detailing that ran along the seams, as well as made up his emblem across his back, which resembled a blade being swiped horizontally. Neela noted that he wore bracers that appeared to have extendable blades that she assumed were made of some kind of Dust alloy, with the Vacuo kingdom emblem tattooed at the top of his right arm. His Dreadlocks bounced with his movements, gold beads capping the ends of most of them. "I like your style, what's your name?"

"Neela Xiao Long," Neela stated, still trying to read him. His eyes grew wide and he took a step back.

"No. No way!" He declared. He looked back at Orin who nodded. "You and Orin tore it up! It's too bad we had to miss it. Glad we get to train together." He slid over to Titus and sized him up. "Who are you, man?"

"Titus Prasinos," Titus answered with his chest out.

"Oh, you're the one that Nat's got the hots for," Xavier noted. Natalia turned away, hiding behind Orin.

"What did you expect when you told that to the two of them?" Orin questioned.

"That so?" Titus asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Hell yeah," Xavier declared. "Unless I've got the wrong Titus."

"I'm the real deal," Titus assured him.

"Nice," Xavier stated. He moved to Ilia.

"I see you're from Vacuo," Ilia noted.

"What of it?" Xavier asked.

"I am too," she explained.

"Awesome!" He shouted. "We've already got something in common and I don't even know your name yet."

"Ilia Cherny," she told him.

"Good name," He replied, staring at her and spacing out.

"She's got a boyfriend," Titus coughed. Xavier glanced at Titus and then back at Ilia, putting his hands up and taking a step back.

"What? No, I didn't…" He stuttered. He turned to Ilia. "I'm sorry if I came off that way, I did not mean it like that at all."

"You okay?" Titus leaned over and asked Neela.

"Why wouldn't I be?" Neela questioned.

"Ilia's getting all the attention," Titus chuckled. Neela shoved him.

"I'd only be interested in one of them, and it sounds like 'she's got the hots for you, man'," Neela mimicked.

"I'm not so sure," Titus replied.

"The way she chased you down would suggest otherwise," Neela pointed out.

"We're just good friends," Titus assured Neela. Neela shook her head.

"Like Eliana and I were?" Neela asked coyly. Titus smirked and crossed his arms.

"You know, as much as I love seeing you out of the doldrums, you're being quite smug as of late," Titus told her. She waved him off.

"Me? Pfft… no…" Neela insisted.

"That's everyone then," Glynda interrupted Neela. "I hope you all spend the rest of the day becoming acquainted, Coco will have a Field Instructor and Mission picked out for both of you tomorrow. I trust that Team NITE will learn a lot from Team ONYX."

They seem like quite the crew for NITE to work with. Next week, Chapter 12: Prayer!

A big thank you to AG_Nonsuch, Helihi, Cadhla182, Carlomontie, Nliast, Y8ay8a, Sa-Dui, Diyaru4500, Demize00Zero, TheCipherNine, SketchHungry, Ookaminoki, Lightning-in-my-Hand, and Dishwasher1910. The artwork can be found at Deviantart, you can search Silent-Celica and under my favorites tab, I have a collection for NITE.

Until next week, stay safe, stay healthy, and stay classy!