GRYD Season 3 Prologue - Where Did They Go?

"It hasn't been the same since they left."

At Beacon Academy, Elenor Rigby walked the halls of the school, alone. Her face laden with a sad expression.

"The attack by Primrose cost all of us more than we could ever know. It didn't just shatter our faith in what we could do, it left us wondering what else was out there waiting for us."

Some other students entered her line of sight and she saw a similar expression of sadness and fear upon them as they talked and moved past her.

"Officially, the word about what happened with GRYD and MEAL is that a modified Grimm used an unknown power and did something...well...unknown...with them. Very few know that it was Primrose behind it all. Because of the attack location, most didn't even see the fight...outside of the teachers, Rita, and me."

As she passed down another corridor she saw Night briefly as he headed up to his office. Her mind flashed back to days previous when she was in his office alongside Rita, and a bunch of adults.

"Night knew that he had to tell the truth to the parents though. He called in all the family members of GRYD and MEAL. They were all shocked at what happened. Leilani and Yasmine's parents took it the hardest."

Rita looked around at the parents and an odd expression comes across her as she does.

"I didn't notice it at first, but eventually I realized that the only family that didn't come were the Herons. Word was that they sent a message to Night for confirmation about what happened to Reyson, but nothing else. I'll admit, Reyson was never someone I connected with, but when I realized that his family didn't care enough to hear how he might have... Well, it saddened me greatly, and I felt a need to comfort him...even though I couldn't."

Elenor and Rita headed down another hallway, they didn't say anything to one another. Each lost in their own world as they tried to understand all that has happened.

"While many would agree that the real victims in this attack were GRYD and MEAL, there were others who were affected. Each in their own way."

Night and Squire talked in the headmasters' office. Night's usually composed posture was gone and his face was full of fury, Squire matched it in intensity.

"One look at Night and you could tell that he was desperate for revenge. He wouldn't tell me or Rita who he wanted to lash out at, but it wasn't hard to guess that he knew who did that...fusion...to Primrose. I would even guess he knew about this person before the attack happened, and probably regrets not dealing with him beforehand. Hindsight is 20/20 as they say."

In a classroom, Elenor watched as Barker taught his students. But his bravado that he displayed was clearly a facade. She caught him faltering in his boasts, his laughs, and all the other things that made him who he was.

"The teachers were heavily affected as well. Professor Chestnut wasn't his usually lively self. He tried to fake it, but we could all tell that he was hurt he couldn't save his students. He wasn't blamed for what happened, I knew he was frozen in place...that power of Primrose's that no one saw coming. But to him, he failed, and he couldn't bear it."

In Vixi Todd's office her once clean space was littered with books strewn and thrown around. She was in a frenzy, reading everything she could to try and understand how any of what happened was possible, and where her students were.

"Professor Tod went on a small sabbatical after the incident. She would rush out and in of the academy with more and more books. No doubt trying to research her way to an idea as to what happened, where everyone was, and why they couldn't be found."

Lochen entered her office, sad expression also upon his face. He tried to talk to Vixi but she refused to hear the words he said. They argued, and she threw a book at him, to which he willingly took the hit. He pleaded with her to stop, but she refused. She raged even more, even punching the walls, and then Lochen, until eventually she broke down in tears and fell to the ground in a heap. Lochen knelt next to her and hugged her in support. She reciprocated and cried even more. Lochen shed tears as well.

In the room of the team formerly known as PRME, Rita and Elenor sat on their own beds, and gazed at the empty ones of their fallen members.

"Finally, the other victims of the incident...were Rita and I. In one day we went from having four members to two. Sure, Primrose had left the school and Maggie was in a daze after she lost her best friend. But I honestly felt that we could've been brought back together. But instead, were shattered beyond repair."

Elenor flashed back to the moment where Primrose stabbed Maggie with her poleaxe. The look of Maggie as she choked on air reverberated in her mind.

"How Primrose could do that...I'll never know. Perhaps it really wasn't Primrose anymore. Maybe her 'Grimm side' really was the dominant part of her mind and soul in that form...I'll never know. I may not have gotten along with Maggie that much, but she didn't deserve that. She was the only one who truly cared for Primrose on a deep level. She wanted her back...and she was killed for her compassion. Not exactly the lesson we're taught when it comes to being a good friend."

Elenor flashed back to the day just after the incident was made known. In the lunch room, no one would dare sit by her or Rita. So they just sat next to one another. Together, yet alone.

"The others in Beacon didn't know how to feel about us. Night made it clear that we had nothing to do with Primrose, and that Primrose was the one to kill Maggie, which he claimed was in a rage of emotion. And that the negative that came from her brought out the Grimm. Which is not inaccurate...but obviously not the whole story. Primrose's death was claimed to be by a Grimm, which again, isn't inaccurate, but also not the whole story. Rita was very much lost in those early days after the incident. For once, I got to be her strength, it was a unique feeling to say the least."

Back in their room, Rita and Elenor continued to sit in silence, each at a loss for words, each one just trying to understand how everything could have gone so wrong, so fast, and so completely.

Eventually, Elenor broke the silence, "Rita?"

Hearing her name snapped her back to reality, "Yes, Elenor?"

"Where did they go?"

"I don't know, Elenor. I just don't know. There's a lot I don't know about anymore."

"But if you were to guess? Just...taking a stab in the dark?"

Rita sighed as she saw the clear desperation on Elenor's face, "There's only two real options, Elenor. Either they were taken by that darkness...or they're just...gone..."

"They can't be gone!" exclaimed Elenor. "That's too simple an end for them! They can't have gone out like that!"

"We don't always get the ending we deserve, Elenor. Maggie certainly didn't."

"Maggie..."

They paused and both looked at Maggie's bed. Her stuff still lay on the bed and in her dwarves as her parents hadn't come to collect it all yet.

Elenor looked away and tried to find any shred of hope in the situation, "Thinking scientifically, there was no trace of them after that attack. No shreds of their clothes, no weapons, no Dust, no ashes. The ground wasn't hurt, it's just like they...vanished into thin air."

"But that's the problem, Elenor," pointed out Rita. "If they were still around, even if they were somehow whisked away, how have we not heard from them yet? It's been almost a week. They had their phones on them. And if they didn't, they would've immediately gone to look for someone who did so they could contact their parents, or even Night! We haven't heard anything, not a peep. I know you cared for them. They were good to you. You miss them. But...we might have to accept sooner rather than later...that they aren't coming back. That whatever Primro- Whatever that monster did to them in her final act...it might have taken them away for good."

Elenor's body shook in pain and in loss and tears streamed down her cheeks. Not unlike Lochen to Vixi, Rita came over to Elenor and wrapped her arms around her to give her strength and support. It was all she could do, but for that moment, it was enough.

Far away, in a place untouched by man, the bodies of GRYD and MEAL lay prone in darkness. They were not conscious, they were simply existing in the space. Trendrils of darkness wrapped around them, keeping them there as if by some unknown force.

Then, one by one, the tendrils wrapped themselves over the bodies completely and pulled them into the darkness in full. Until eventually, the darkness was the only thing left in the space.

*credits*

Season 3 has begun at last! And you won't want to miss what happens in these early chapters!