GRYD Season 02 - Chapter 1 - Moving On

Early morning at Beacon Academy. In the room of Team GRYD, Glyph slept comfortably in his bed. Unbeknownst to him, it was almost time for class. Yasmine and Reyson were already gone, but Diana was still getting ready. As she finished, she noticed that Glyph was still sleeping. She made a move to go and nudge him awake, but she held back as she got closer.

An evil smile crept up on her face, "No...let's give him a proper wake-up..."

Carefully, and quietly, she unwound the whip on her arm, and with careful precision she thrust it out and cracked the whip just above Glyph's head. The sound jolted him awake, and he looked around the room as if he was under attack.

"Morning, partner."

His eyes focused in on Diana, who was failing to restrain a laugh. He growled at this, "What the heck, Diana?"

"It's almost time for class, and you still hadn't woken up. So...I took the liberty of giving you a well deserved wake-up call."

With a roll of his eyes Glyph got out of bed. He stood up and glared at Diana before teleporting away. A minute passed, then he reappeared, fully dressed and ready for class.

"There. Happy?" he asked bluntly.

"No." she answered just as bluntly, her smile and laugh vanishing.

"Diana..."

"Don't even! Not after what you pulled."

"You mean saving you?"

"You didn't have to go back! But you did!"

Glyph stood silently and watched her for a few seconds, then he shook his head sadly, "You didn't see it, did you?"

"See what?" she asked confused

"Me fading away?"

"What are you talking about?

He signed heavily, putting his hands on his hips as he had to reveal the truth, "My Semblance has limits, you know this. But what only a few people know is that until I fully materialize in a new spot? Traces of myself...and my Aura...remain where I was."

"So...?"

"Do you think you can leave a part of yourself behind? Willingly?"

The gravity of the statement hit her, "Wait, so you...were being pulled back?"

"Pretty much."

"So...you didn't want to go back, you were being forced back? Because of your Semblance?"

"...pretty much."

This seemed to calm Diana down, "Oh, wow. I didn't know. So if that didn't happen, you would've just ran away with us, right?"

"No."

"What?"

"I would've gone back to them regardless. Given you enough time to get yourselves and any others you found out of Vale."

The calmness that filled Diana fled quickly, and with great speed she made a strike at Glyph with her whip. To her surprise though, he caught the tip of the whip just before it hit his head. Seeing her stunned, he jerked the whip towards him, drawing Diana closer by default. The two were soon only inches away from one another.

But while Diana would've loved to be in this position with Glyph any other time, this was not one of them. The two glared intently at the other. Neither one backing down.

"You're a piece of work." Diana with clear intent.

Glyph scoffed, "That's saying something coming from you."

"Did you really want to die that badly?"

"No! I wanted to make sure YOU didn't die!"

Again Diana was taken back, and Glyph was the first to look away. He then took a step back and sighed.

"When I...came to Beacon. I had one person I would've died for."

"Macro." Diana said with a knowing nod.

"Yeah, but...now I have eight."

Diana began counting on her fingers and mouthing names, "Eight...?"

"Elenor."

"Oh...right. You care for her too...great."

"Get over yourself Diana, I see Elenor as a little sister."

"And how do you see me?" she asked, flirting look returning to her face.

"As someone who apparently thinks whipping me awake in the morning is a good idea."

"I didn't hit you..."

"This time."

"...this time."

The two shared a laugh, but Glyph again shook his head, "Point is. I couldn't let any of you die. So Semblance or not, I would've gone back, even if it only gave you a few seconds extra head start, it would've been worth it to me."

"But not to me! Or them! Your death would've been on our conscience! Do you realize that?! How do you think we would've felt knowing you died because of us? It would've tore us apart. Some more than others."

He smirked smally at this, "What do you want me to say, Diana?"

"That you won't do it again."

"No."

"Why not?"

"Because there may be a time when it needs to happen again!"

Diana growled in frustration and began to pace back and forth, occasionally looking back at Glyph for reasons known only to her, "You're hopeless."

"And you're stubborn."

"So what? I like being stubborn! It's gotten me this far in life, despite my mothers' interference!"

"Is that why you're mad at me? I sound like your mother?"

"Right now you do. I hated how she always said so calmly that she might not one day come home, and that "it would be ok" if she didn't. No, it wouldn't be ok! What child wants to go on without her mother?! No matter what I said, she didn't care, just like you are saying now."

Glyph looked at her as she took deep breaths as her anger fumed out of her. Then he walked slowly towards her, until she again was only a few inches away from him.

"I can't speak for your mother. But I can say this. I only did what I did, because I do care. I wanted you to be safe. If my doing that, did more harm than good? I'm sorry. I really am. But I can't have you be mad at me because I am willing to do anything to save you. You need to move on from this. Please."

He dropped his stone expression and looked at her with pleading eyes. Her own expressions melted into one of a sad smile, "Wow, never took you for the puppy dog eyes kind of guy."

"Well, there's still not a lot you know about me. Now please, can we move on?"

She nodded, "Yeah, we can."

"Good, now come on, let's get to class, I'm sure we're late."

With that, he made to leave. He only got as close as the door though when Diana stopped him by grabbing his arm, she looked at him with her signature flirting look before noting, "It's good to hear you verbally say that you care about me."

Glyph smiled, but also grunted, "I think that should've been obvious."

"How so?"

"Because if you didn't notice, in that battle? You were one of the first ones I made sure were safe from the Grimm."

With a shrug he broke her hold and left the room. Diana just stood there in shock for a little bit, then again broke into her classic smile, "Oh yes, you will be mine."

A bell sounded within the halls of Beacon, and classes soon broke out. GRYD and MEAL exited one classroom in deep conversation. As they made their way down a hallway, an attendant tapped Macro on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, Mr. Camof? You have a call waiting for you."

This took Macro aback for a sec, "From who?"

The attendant shook their head, "I do not know, I was told to come get you and escort you to the private area so you can take it."

Macro looked to the others, who nodded in order to say it was ok. He turned back to the attendant, "Lead the way."

With a bow, the two went away from the others, they soon entered a small room with a few monitors set up. The attendant guided Macro to one, where a screen had a bar flashing that said "call waiting".

Once Macro was situated, the attendant bowed to him, "I'll leave you to your call."

"Thank you."

He waited as the attendant left and shut the door, only then did Macro turn on the call. The screen changed, and an older man was looking at him. His hair was cut very similarly to Macro's, but his face was one of a man much more experienced, including having a few scars on it. The man also had a military-style outfit on.

Macro couldn't help but smile at seeing the man, "Hey dad."

Gunner smiled back, "Hello, son."

"I wasn't expect a call from you, why not just reach me on my cell?"

"I needed to be sure we were on a secure line, I couldn't do that via the cells, but from a computer? I know how to work some magic to make sure we're not interrupted or listened on. Speaking of which, are you clear on your end?"

Macro held up a finger to signal his father for a moment. He leaned back in his chair, then pulled back his E-Tool and flung it at the crease in the door. It became perfectly wedged in it, ensuring it couldn't open.

"We are clear, sir."

With a laugh, Gunner nodded in a very pleased well, "Glad to see your skills are just sharp as when you arrived."

"Thank you, now, what's going on? Why call me like this?"

"Is it not obvious?"

"The Heralds?"

"Among other things. Night tell you about the attack?"

"No, but he told Glyph, who told us."

Gunner was content with this response, "Good, I made sure that Night would tell you, you deserved to know. How is Glyph?"

"Fully healed, more-or-less."

"Were you mad at what he did?"

Macro thought about his answer for a bit, "At first. I know he didn't fully have a choice in the matter, but I know he would've done it regardless. You would've been proud of him. If he had gone..."

"It would've been a soldiers death. That it would have. I've always admired your loyalty to Glyph, son. Even after what happened at Signal. I'm glad to see that hasn't wavered either."

He gave a salute to his son, who returned the gesture, "Thanks, dad. But seriously, what's going on?"

"Activity, and not the good kind."

"The Heralds?"

"In a way. After the Grimm attack I thought that they would be more active. Use it as cover for something big, it was just the opposite. It's been two weeks since the attack, and no noticeable movement from them. No stolen shipments, no overt Faunus attacks or kidnappings, nothing."

"Just like you taught me dad, the worst kind of enemy is a patient one."

"Indeed. But that's not all, the attack on Vale has triggered a string of Grimm attacks all over Remnant, no major catastrophes thankfully, but our luck's bound to run out. And bandits seemed to have picked up on this. They're waiting after we help areas then come in virtually unopposed and take what they can before being chased off."

This made Macro very angry, "Opportunistic cretins."

Gunner waved him down, "Calm yourself son, save your anger for when it's needed. Not that I don't agree with that emotion. It's hard enough keep everyone safe from killer attacks to then have to fear thieves.

The two went into their thoughts, the world seemed to be spiraling out of control, and despite their efforts, it wasn't getting better.

Gunner was the first to shake himself out of his funk, "Macro, I'm telling you this report because I know you and your friends are likely going to be seeing and dealing with things in the upcoming months, and I want you in the loop. It's because of you that we caught one of the Heralds, and were able to stop the Grimm attack."

"With some help from Team KGHT." added Macro

He laughed nervously, "Yeah...they helped too. Point is, things aren't going to get better for a while. Head on a swivel son, I'll keep you apprised of anything I know, and I hope you'll do the same."

Macro smiled at the request, "Like I wouldn't report to my superior officer?"

"You would, but I'm also your father, and I know you want to do what's best even if I don't approve at times."

"Maybe, but this is much bigger than anything we've done before. I wouldn't risk keeping you in the dark if I'm able to help it."

"Very wise son, thank you."

With a nod, Macro made to begin the end of the call, but a worried expression crept onto his face, "Dad, um, how is the interrogation going with that Herald? He...still in Atlas?"

This made Gunner displeased, Macro could sense the tone and intent of his voice shift, "Yes, we're not getting far though to be honest. Orchid...is doing her best, but despite her...talents...he's holding strong. If he breaks, I'll tell you."

"Thank you...um...dad...you remember me mentioning Diana before, right?"

"Oh yeah, the dancer who won't stop flirting with Glyph?" he asked with a laugh

"Yeah, that's her...um...she's...she's Orchid's daughter."

With this reveal Gunner froze, absolute shock filled his face, he then leaned in, "When did you find this out?"

"When we captured the Herald."

"That was almost a month ago! Why didn't you tell me sooner?"

"Because I didn't think I needed to! I reconned the situation, she was surprised I knew her mothers' name. After what happened to Glyph, both times, she seemed to have forgotten, and I wanted to make sure I didn't bring it up in a cell chat...never know who's listening...right?"

Though still displeased, Gunner nodded, "Right. So she doesn't know I'm your father?"

Macro shook his head, "She's know my fathers' name is Gunner, it's been said around her multiple times, but I don't think she's connected the dots for one reason or another."

"Hmph, maybe Orchid never told her my name. She is notorious for her "need-to-know" mentality. It's possible her hatred of me made it so my name was never brought up."

"That's the only thing I can think of."

"...son, do you think this'll affect her when she finds out?"

"It was her uncle, I expect her to be affected."

"No, I mean...do you think her hostile? Will she blow up at this?"

Macro looked away at the screen, the truth seemed both clear, and uncertain, after a few more moments he shrugged, "You taught me never to assume when I don't have all the facts. I've seen Diana get angry, but rarely ever mention family, if at all. I'll be careful should the topic be brought up. If anything...I'll just make sure Glyph is nearby, he'll get me to safety should it come to that."

Gunner's serious disposition melted away with a hearty laugh, "Well played. Look, I have to go, thank you for telling me this."

He gave a small bow to his father, "Likewise to you, dad. Keep me in the loop."

"Same to you. Dismissed."

The call ended, and Macro sighed heavily, but then composed himself, retrieved his E-Tool and left.

Far away, in the land of Atlas, in an interrogation room, a man was chained to a chair and table. He was not disturbed by this however, he was actually very calm. This didn't change when a door opened nearby and a woman entered.

The man turned to the woman, she was very tall, and had an official military garb on. Her hair was short, and cut properly, and was a vivid shade of purple. Her eyes had a slightly darker shade of purple, which made her look very intimidating. She glared at the man as went to the opposite side of the table.

"Are we going to talk today?" asked the woman.

The man gave a hesitant smile, "If I do, I lose the pleasure of your company, Orchid. Don't know if I want that."

His smile grew as he saw that the statement annoyed her, but it quickly left as she banged her fist on the table, making him jump back a bit.

"You think I'm in the mood for jokes? You've been here nearly three weeks, and yet for some reason you're not willing to talk. What did the Heralds do to you to make you last this long? Especially against me? You could barely look at me when we first met, now you're throwing jokes? That must be some cult."

"Hmph. Cult? A typical stereotype for people whose beliefs are "outrageous" or "dangerous"..."

"Or wrong! The Faunus do not deserve to be wiped out, not now, not ever."

The man grunted in disappointment, "How the corruption has spread."

Orchid again got mad, but this time reached over the table and grabbed him by the collar and pulled him close, "Who are the Heralds to say that the Faunus aren't the rightful inheritors of this world? Were you there at the beginning when we were born? I don't do faith, or beliefs, I know what is true and fact. And here are the facts. One, the Faunus are sentient. Two, they have the same emotions that we do. Three, and this is the important one, they're willing to sacrifice their lives for ones they love, which makes them just as worthy to be alive as us. Well...some of us."

She threw him back to his original position, as he rubbed his neck to get the feeling back in it, Orchid stood and paced the room, but didn't take her eyes off of him, "It's bad enough you're attacking Faunus all over, but you've now targeted twice two Faunus who are friends with my daughter! Not to mention that the Grimm attack put my daughter at risk as well! That puts you right at the top of my "to do" list. You don't come after my family."

The man rolled his eyes and scoffed loudly, "Take your personal beef and shove it, we didn't know your daughter was part of it until much later. We didn't even notice her in the first attack, only when I got caught did they look into things, or so I would imagine given the attack. Know your enemy, and all that."

"You think that saves you? That just makes it worse! I might have given you a pass for the first attack and the train, but your group made a conscious effort to try and get revenge on my Diana, and for that, you will all suffer my wrath. Now TALK!"

Her voiced boomed throughout the room, and the man was visibly shaken by this. His breathing increased, and it took him a while to compose himself. Before he could speak though, a knock came at the door.

"Enter." said Orchid.

An attaché came into the room, holding a small tray that had a small plate of food and a glass of water. Orchid was displeased at this, but the man's eyes flashed towards it.

"Apologies, ma'am, but he has to eat."

"Fine, give it to him."

The attaché put the tray in front of the man, then left. The man brought the tray closer to him, then tapped glass of water. A note rang out from it. He then used his finger to circle the top of the glass. An even deeper note rang out, and he smiled.

Orchid became curious at this, "I've seen you do that before, the notes, the glass, you've never smiled before. Why now?"

"You'd be surprised what a glass can tell you," answered the man, smile still on his face, "it can tell you about the purity of the glass itself, how it was made, and at times, what's in it."

"Oh?"

"Yes. For example, it can be used to tell when something foreign is in the glass, like...a poison."

"You think I'd poison you to get answers? Even I have limits."

The man nodded, then drank the entire glass of water. This made Orchid even more confused. Once done, the man let out a noise of satisfaction, "Oh Orchid, I know poison isn't your thing. I was never afraid of that. Rather, I waiting for my...cult...to poison my drink."

Orchid went into shock at this statement, and the man began to laugh, it lasted for a few second before he started to hack and cough heavily. He began to cough up blood, and eventually keeled over on the very table he sat on.

The room went quiet, and Orchid went from shock, to anger, to rage, with bared teeth she turned to the door, "Guards!"

Two soldiers entered the room, their eyes immediately went to the dead man, but were snapped to attention by Orchid, who was still furious "Lock down the compound, we have a traitor in our midst."

A while later, at Beacon, Reyson laid against one of the support structures of the Academy, he was resting, allowing the emptiness and openness of the area to consume him. Though he wouldn't admit it, he wanted to try and calm the bloodlust within him, and this was one of the few ways he could he get that to happen to an extent.

As he rested, his phone went off, he groaned angrily and didn't look at the screen when he answered it, "Hello?"

"Hello cousin." said a female voice.

Reyson jolted upright, "Arianna?"

"Hello."

"What do you want?"

"Is that any way to treat family?"

"...do you really want me to answer that?"

"Fair enough. So, what are you up to?"

"I was resting before you called. Trying to clear my head."

She laughed at this, "Did it work?"

"No, especially not when you called."

"Must you be so hurtful to me?"

"Must you insult my intelligence? Or are you honestly going to try and tell me that your mother had nothing to do with this call?

He waited for Arianna's response, a smile grew on his face when Arianna didn't respond right away, which was followed by a nod.

Instead of adding on insult to injury, he waited for her to reply, and with a heavy sigh she did that, "She did tell me to call..."

"Ha!"

"BUT! That was a while ago. Months in fact. She said I should contact you about a week after she came to Beacon, I didn't think it was wise, so I refused, she didn't seem to mind."

"Shocking no one."

"Pretty much. But, after what I've heard the last few weeks about what happened with you in Beacon and at Vale...I decided to call."

Reyson grew irritated, "What do you want, Arianna?"

"I want to talk with my cousin!"

"Well you're talking with me now, congrats. Bye."

"Reyson!" she shouted through the phone, making him recoil at the loudness of her voice, "I'm serious, I want to talk with you, have a real conversation, like we used to. Before everything got out of hand."

"That was a long time ago Arianna."

"You call five years a long time?"

"You try being persecuted and near brainwashed for nearly five years and not consider it a long time."

"...fair enough. But I'm serious. I want to talk with you, and not over the phone, in person."

"I'm not coming home!"

"I know. So, I am offering to come to Vale. I am going to be getting a break at my school soon...and I want to spend some of my time there, and see you. If I come, will you meet me?"

Reyson lowered the phone at the request, he looked out at the grounds, not sure of what to make of it. He had always liked Arianna, and had fun with the scavenger hunts that they used to do together. But he also knew that her mother, Swann, couldn't be trusted. Would she send her daughter on a mission to try and get to him? He couldn't deny the possibility. And yet...

"if you try anything...anything at all? It won't go well for you." Reyson stated with clear intent.

"I understand. Do you know if you'll have a day during my break to go to Vale?" she asked with clear happiness.

"It depends on Headmaster Night. I'll...keep you posted. Go ahead and uh, send me the dates you're going to be off. Ok?"

"Ok. You'll have them soon."

"Alright."

A pause filled the air, both waiting for the next to make a move.

Arianna broke the silence, "Reyson? I'm glad you're giving met this chance."

"Don't blow it. Goodbye Arianna."

Before she could respond, Reyson ended the call and tossed the phone in front of him. His face became mixed with emotions. Anger, fear, uncertainty, longing, he couldn't pick which one he was truly feeling. It was in that confusion that his bloodlust boiled once again, and his whole body began to shake with the desire to kill. He did his best to contain it, and was glad he was so high up so that no one would get hurt.

In a dark room, somewhere in Remnant, people in cloaked garb filed in and formed a circle, it was the Heralds of purity.

"Is it done?" asked a deep voiced man

"Yes," answered a woman, "we have confirmation, he is dead."

"And Orchid? Did she learn anything?"

"No, he held out. In fact, our sources say he happily took the poison, in order to not betray our cause."

"Indeed? To honor him. A moment of silence."

Every Herald in the room bowed their heads in respect for their fallen brother. After a while passed, they raised their heads once more.

"We will not forget you, brother," said the deep voiced man.

"Never." rang out the rest.

"We must move on though. Are preparations being made for our next move?"

"Yes," stated the woman from before, "as you requested, we had all operatives go dark, just in case. It hasn't been easy...there has been...interference."

"Gunner..." said the man with distaste.

"Yes, as well as Night. He seems on to us too. We'll have to be careful, but for now, no other operatives have been discovered, or captured. When you deem it time, we will be ready to move on all fronts."

"Good, we cannot lose the opportunity given to us. The Grimm attack was a means to an end, nothing more. And though our plan failed in one way, it revealed to us that there are even more threats in the world that just those children. We must be prepared for all of them, and when the work is done, and everything comes to the fruition that we have envisioned, then, and only then, will the world of Remant be what it was truly meant to be. A land of purity. A land of humans. No Grimm, no Faunus, no more abominations."

A murmur of contentment rang out through the group. The man nodded in acknowledgement of this.

"Yes! You should rejoice! We have worked hard to maintain our goal, and though we may be far away from it in one essence, we are drawing ever close. We'll start back up soon, and make even greater strides. Our plans will succeed, interference or not. The Heralds of Purity have hands in every government, on every landmass that humans roam. We are everywhere."

"We are everywhere..." the group echoed.

"They will not see us coming, and if they do, they won't be prepared for our grand plan. Now go! Return to your posts, and be ready, we must remain silent for a little while longer, but soon...we will begin again."

With a bow, the majority of the group left, save for two. The man who spoke, and the woman who conversed earlier. Once they were gone, he dropped his hood, revealing a middle-aged blonde haired man. The woman dropped her hood as well, showing that she was of similar hair color, as well as age.

"I think that went well Rowan." said the woman

"Thank you Lianna," Rowan replied with an appreciative nod, "but I could tell they weren't pleased with our retreat."

Lianna looked at him with sympathy, "It couldn't be helped. Those kids lived, KGHT reformed to help them and save the city! To do our plans with that much attention would've been an easy way for us to get outed."

Rowan sighed, "I know. But I can't help but be frustrated too. All this time, effort, planning, and for what? To be outdone by children who aren't fully Huntsman or Huntresses?

"If you recall...we were quite capable in our school days."

"That we were."

The two smiled at each other and laughed as they reminisced. Lianna though grew serious quickly, "What are we going to do about them? We can't have them interfering anymore. But we can't do another Grimm attack, especially with KGHT potentially back."

Rowan thought for a few moments about this, "There are...subtler ways, but they are more risky."

"Not if we do them right."

"Right. Come, let us lay plans for a more...personal...touch."

They again raised their hoods, and then exited the room.

Later in the day, Glyph, Yasmine, and Diana chatted in their room as they did homework. A knock came on the door and they all turned to it.

Glyph got up first, "I'll get it."

"Thanks." said Diana and Yasmine in unison, which got a small laugh after they noticed what they did.

As he opened the door, he was greeted by Leilani, who was very calm as she looked at Glyph, "Hey."

"Hey yourself. You know, you are friends with this team, you don't have to knock every time you come by, you can just come in."

"I...appreciate that, but, I'd rather be welcomed in and know I wasn't...disturbing anything."

"Appreciated. So, whom do you need to talk to Leilani?"

At the sound of her name being mentioned, Diana's head perked up and looked towards the door. Yasmine did the same, but she also reached behind her back.

"To you, actually." said Leilani, who was still calm, but behind her back, her hands were shaking.

Glyph smiled, "Oh, what can I help you with?"

"Well..we never got to finish that...conversation we had before..."

"Right, "to be continued"."

"Right..."

They shared a laugh, this really got Diana's attention, and she laid some of her books down to get up, but as she tried to, one of Yasmine's drones greeted her. When she tried to get around it, another showed up. As Diana span around she saw she was surrounded by the drones. She quickly looked to Yasmine, who wagged her finger in a way Diana was very familiar with.

"Sorry, not this time." Yasmine said with a smile

Back at the doorway, Glyph stood there looking kindly at Leilani, who was starting to fidget again as she got nervous.

"Leilani..." he said softly

"...oh, uh, yeah?" she said snapping back to.

"What were you going to ask me?"

"Oh...uh..."

Leilani closed her eyes and took a deep breath, then looked back at Glyph with as much confidence as she could project.

"The next time we go to Vale, want to get some ice cream? Together?"

Glyph smiled knowingly, but felt the urge to ask something, "Are you asking me out, Leilani?"

"...yes."

"...then I'd be happy to."

This took her aback, "Really?"

"Yeah, really."

"Uh, great, thank you. Um...we'll uh, work something out when we know when we're going there next...cool?"

"Cool."

Leilani really began to fidget, but in a more pleasant way, Glyph held back a laugh. She composed herself and bowed slightly to him, "I'll just...see you later, Glyph."

"I look forward to it."

She again bowed her head and slowly walked down the hallway. Glyph watched her for a bit then closed the door. When Leilani heard the door close she bounced around in joy, pumping her arms in the air and doing small screams at what she had finally done. After a while she calmed down and skipped down the hallway.

Back in the room of GRYD, Glyph laughed as he turned around, but when he did, he saw that Diana was not only mad, but was still surrounded by drones. All the while, Yasmine was looking quite happily at Glyph.

Glyph however was perplexed, "What the heck happened?"

Yasmine smiled widely, "Looking out for my sister."

"Ah, Diana tried to interrupt again?"

"Pretty much."

To both Yasmine and Diana's surprise, Glyph did a very Diana-like finger wag at her, "That wasn't very nice."

Diana's eyes bulged at this, while Yasmine bowled over in laughter. Diana however wasn't amused, "Fine! Whatever! It's over! WILL YOU GET YOUR PETS AWAY FROM ME!?"

Still laughing, Yasmine called down her drones. Now free, Diana plopped herself angrily on her bed, and buried herself in her books. Glyph sat back on his bed too, and also continued his homework. Yasmine followed suit as well.

A minute passed, and Diana couldn't help but gaze back over at Glyph numerous times, "So...what did Leilani want?"

Yasmine snorted, which caught them all offguard, even herself, "Sorry."

Glyph shook his head at both of them, "Wow, and, I think you know."

"She...asked you out?" she tried to ask as calmly as she could

"She did."

"And...?"

"And what?"

"Did you say 'yes'?"

Glyph rolled his eyes, "Does it matter?"

This fired up Diana, "You know darn well it does!"

Yasmine went back into a laughing state, but more quietly as she wanted to hear what would happen next.

Glyph lowered his book and looked directly at Diana, who was still fuming, "Yes, I did."

Diana's expression went to one of stone, "Nice, where are you to going on your "date"?"

At this Glyph's laughter filled up the room, both Diana and Yasmine were surprised at this response, he never had laughed this heartily before.

"What's so funny?" asked Yasmine

"Isn't it obvious? She's trying to "interrupt" again. But on a grander scale. Not on your life Diana."

"Hmph." grunted Diana before going back to her book.

Yasmine laughed softly at this, then turned to Glyph and gave a bow of appreciation. To which Glyph returned the gesture before both returning to their studies.

The next morning, when the sun was barely rising into the sky, and no one was on the grounds of Beacon Academy. Yet, a slight humming sound permeated the area. It was The Lovers, Aaron and Erin, who were gladly walking the area together, happy to be in each others' company.

Their humming continued as they wandered the grounds, they didn't care if they were heard, or looked on weirdly had someone been there. For them, the joy was just being next to the other. As their song started to wind down, Aaron spun Erin around in a dancing move, then pulled her in close once more. The two smiled at each other lovingly.

"We must do this more often," Aaron said in his usual tone.

"Yes, we should. It's surprising that we haven't done it before." Erin said thinking about it.

"Not really."

"Oh?"

"Think about it. Things have been...tense, unsettling even. Even on our more relaxing days things never seemed to line up just right for us to do things like this. But now...we have! And we shall not forget the experience!

Erin giggled at his monologue, "You always have a way with words."

Aaron bowed to her, "It is a gift."

After a short laugh, they locked arms again and walked along the grounds. The silence this time was absolute, which made Erin's expression grow sad, "Aaron?"

"Yes darling?" he asked turning to her

"Do you...do you think what's happened to us...all of us...was fate?"

"Hmm, I won't lie, I have pondered such things. For while a singular incident may be explainable within the grand scheme of our world, several, are not."

"So why does fate have it out for us? For GRYD, and for MEAL?"

"I do not know."

"Does it...scare you?"

"You know it does."

"Do I?"

She stopped and tugged his arm so that he faced her fully, Erin looked at him with an odd expression, to which he returned the look, "I'm an open book my dear, if you have a question, ask it."

"Are you scared? Cause you don't show it. You never do."

Aaron filled the air with his pompous-style laughter, which made Erin smile a bit, though he eventually stopped and looked at her, "Oh Erin, we all have roles that we must play. I may play the confident, elegant, and...pompous man, but it does not mean I don't have the other feelings. I've just gotten used to my part in all this."

"I know you call yourself an actor, but you don't have to be that way all the time. Weren't you the one who encouraged me to break my bonds?"

"I was. But that's different. You were being forced into a role by your family. I, on the other hand, became a role to help my family. I'm not betraying who I am, I'm just amplifying it a bit."

"A bit?" she asked teasingly.

"Ok, maybe a lot, but it's fun!" he said with a laugh, but then he got closer to her, "But rest assured, no matter how I convey myself in front of the others, I never act when I'm alone with you. You know that, right?"

"Yeah, I know."

The two smiled, and then they kissed. Once done, they interlocked their arms and continued their stroll. The silence again enveloped them, and again, Erin grew weary.

"Aaron?"

"Yes?"

"Are you afraid of what's coming next?"

"Yes, we're not out of this by a longshot. But I do know one thing."

"What's that?"

"No matter what comes, I'm going to protect you, with all I have. That's the promise I made to you once, and that's the promise I'm keeping above all others."

This seemed to calm her worry, and she laid her head on his shoulder as they continued their walk.

In the room of Team PRME, early in the morning, Primrose was writing in a journal. Her eyes flared as she continued to write stuff down. In the beds adjacent to her were the rest of her team. During a pause in her writing she surveyed them all, but then returned to her writing.

Minutes passed, and a groan caught Primrose's ears, she turned to see her partner, Maggie Mae, rising up to embrace the day. She stretched out a bit before turning and seeing Primrose looking at her, "Morning, Primrose."

Primrose nodded then turned back to her journal, "Morning Mags."

Maggie rolled her eyes, "Must you call me that? You know I hate that nickname of yours."

"That's why I only call you it in private."

Upon hearing this, Maggie reflected on the statement, and nodded contently, "I guess you do, thanks."

"No problem."

With that, Maggie, fully got out of bed, and began to ready herself for the day. As she combed her hair, she again turned to Primrose, who was still writing intensely in her journal. Curious, Maggie got up and went to her bed, and leaned in to see what she was writing.

Her eyes went wide as she saw the pages, on it was a "To-Do" list, and much of it was hateful and harmful things aimed at GRYD and MEAL, with the majority being focused on Glyph and Macro.

"Primrose..." Maggie said concerned

Primrose scoffed at her concern, "It's not nice to ready over someone's shoulder."

"I wouldn't have to if I wasn't concerned that your obsession was continuing through your writings! Seriously, how many pages have you dedicated to writing about your frustrations with Glyph and Macro?"

"...I lost count."

"Exactly! You let them get to you! You let them get into your head so much that you're up before everyone else writing about how much you hate them! You've been doing that since Signal, and Beacon has only made it worse! You've got to let this go."

Rage filled Primrose's eyes as she turned to Maggie, "Why? Why should I? It's all justified! You know what we went through at Signal! You, me, and Rita were the top females in our class, and top 5 in the class overall. But all anyone could talk about was Macro and Glyph. The prized students. The 2nd generation soldier and the silent warrior. Gag."

"I know you wanted to be #1, or, you know, #2, because I would've been #1..."

She made a funny expression to see if it got through, sure enough, Primrose laughed softly and shook her head, "You wish."

Maggie nodded, "Yeah, I do, and I would've been fine being your #2. But it didn't happen. And I know it doesn't mean anything, but what we did was more impressive than them! Macro had training from his father before he made it to Signal. He was already a wizard what...uh...what does he call it? That shovel thing?"

"Does it look like I care?"

"Good point. Anyway, he had training. And when Glyph came along? That was him passing part of that training to him. Admittedly...he did learn everything pretty fast, but that Semblance was his trump card against everyone, so it likely wouldn't have mattered either way. But us? You, me, Rita? We had to earn our rank, and we did it. #3-#5 was us, all the way. They can't take that from us."

This didn't alleviate Primrose's feelings, it just made them stronger, "Maybe, but what about here? They're on separate teams, with fools and misfits, and Faunus! Yet they still are outshining us! We barely even get mentioned in helping save Vale from that Grimm attack, when it was us who came in despite them telling us to stay back! Where's our praise and adulation? Oh, a "thank you" from Night? Right, that makes it all worth it. And what's worse? I'm starting to lose faith in Rita's friendship."

She made a motion to Rita, who was still asleep, Maggie looked at her sadly at the mention of her name, "She has been acting differently recently."

"Exactly! At first, I thought it was because of Elenor, partners and all that. But then I saw her and Elenor talking to Glyph one day in the hallway, and she was laughing with him! Are you kidding me?"

She growled and scribbled once more in her notebook. Maggie looked at her sadly for a while, then put her hand on Primrose's wrist, stopping her from writing, "Look at me."

Primrose resisted at first, but then did look at Maggie, "I can't speak for Rita, but I can speak for me. I have been your friend since childhood. We freaked when our parents allowed us to go to Signal. I was your best friend then, and I was with you 100% through those years. We made sure that we found each other in the forest when we came to Beacon so that we could be partners. My loyalty to you is absolute, it always has been, and it always will be. You want to go to war with GRYD and MEAL? I'm in, I'll back whatever play you make, because I am your friend, and I care for you deeply. But win or lose, this journal stuff? It needs to stop. Please."

Her eyes filled up with various emotions, all of which Primrose could read as she looked into them. Primrose closed the journal, and put it on her nearby endtable before focusing back on Maggie, "Deal. Thank you..."

Maggie smiled and nodded, then made her way back to her bed.

"...Mags."

The two looked at each other and laughed, then started getting ready for the day. Unbeknownst to them, in the fourth bed in the room, Elenor was awake, and she heard every word of their conversation. Her face was filled with uncertainty and fear as she tried to figure out what to do.

At breakfast, Leilani was enjoying her meal, and Yasmine soon joined her, "Hey Leilani."

"Hey sis," Leliani responded with a smile at her sisters appearance, she then looked at her food tray, which was filled with various foods, including eggs, "I've been meaning to ask you, do these eggs remind you of mom's?"

Yasmine looked at her own tray, which also had eggs, she thought about it for a bit, "Hmm, now that you mention it, they kind of do."

"Mom's are better of course, but...they are the only good thing she can make."

The two snickered as they thought about it, Yasmine couldn't help but shake her head, "Oh mother, you try so hard...and yet burn so much food."

"Thank goodness for dad, right?"

"Oh yes, we'd be a lot thinner without him."

"No we wouldn't."

"Oh?"

"Think about it sis, even if dad was worse than mom, and she cooked all our food, we wouldn't have been hungry. Because..."

"She would've made us eat it anyway." they said in unison, then burst out laughing.

This continued for a while, then Yasmine got a calm expression as she again looked at her sister, "How long has it been since we talked about them? Just you and me?"

Leilani strummed her rabbit ears as she thought about it, "First night? No! First day, the luggage thing. Mom messing with your system."

"That long huh? Been a while."

"Yeah. I miss them."

"I do too. To be honest, I was expecting a letter from them by now."

"That's probably dad, wanting us to grow beyond what we know. He was so supportive of us coming here instead of staying in Minstrel."

"That he was. He...didn't like us working in shop, not at first anyway."

Leilani put on a very serious expression, and folded her arms to add to the effect, then said in a deep voice "Children should be children, not worrying about adult matters."

Yasmine laughed and clapped at the expression, "Very good, been practicing that?"

"Off and on. Couldn't help it sometimes."

"The sad part is that...we never could be children, not after a while. When we could tell how things were in our world. The shop and house were our only sanctuary."

She grew sad at this, Leilani grabbed her hand in support, "We made it through, and look where we are now? We're at Beacon, and have true friends. Mom and dad would be happy."

"That they would, especially of you Leilani...finally asking Glyph out."

Leilani froze for a sec, and her eyes went wide, "He told you?"

Yasmine laughed at her sisters reaction, "He did, but once I heard you were at the door, I knew you were going to try again. You should've seen Diana's reaction."

"She was in the room too? Why didn't she interfere?"

"She was busy."

"With what?"

"Fearing my drones."

Leilani looked at Yasmine confused, who in return just smiled, "I told you I would distract her, so I did. And...it looks like you made the most of it. I'm proud of you."

"Thanks sis, I still can't believe I did it, and that he said 'yes'."

"Maybe he likes you as much as you like him."

"I wish."

"Oh Leilani...moving on, where will you go on your date?"

"Nothing special, just ice cream, walk around Vale. Talk."

"How simple. I approve."

"With Glyph, isn't that the only option?" she said with a smirk

"Very true. I hope Night gives us a day off soon so you can enjoy your date. You deserve it."

"Thanks sis."

With a smile and a nod, Yasmine went to eating her food. Leilani continued to look at her sister with appreciation before returning to her meal.

In a lab, Wizzer looked at his experiments with glee. There were more Grimm than ever before, and what's more, just about every single one of them looked different than their original counterparts. Wizzer went from one to another, reading text on computers to see how his experiments were coming along.

As he continued on, one in particular got his attention, it was a Nevermore, but one that was all white. Despite the very large container, the Nevermore seemed particularly trapped in it. The Grimm tried to wriggle free, but couldn't.

Wizzer saw the struggle and looked at it with sympathy,

"I know it's a tight fit, I still can't believe I got you in there without a scratch. Fear not though, you won't be contained much longer. You're going to be a star in my plan. Won't be long, after all...soon..."

He patted the container and walked away, and went over to a chalkboard of sorts. On it were diagrams of humans, Faunus, and Grimm. Wizzer looked at it with deep contemplation, "...I'll be moving on...to phase two."

*credits*