"All right, team,"

Lily stopped walking as Coco spun around to face her and the rest of team LLAC.

"Let's go over the mission brief again," Coco said, "Where are we going?"

"To a cave that used to be a dust mine before it had to be evacuated due to large Grimm populations," Lily replied quickly. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Astra cringe, though she wasn't sure why. Displeasure at the exploitation of faunus mine workers, maybe?

"Right. And what's the goal?"

Luna stepped up beside Lily. "To see if the Grimm population has lessened over time and clear out any that are remaining if so," She replied. She was wearing a mask of confidence that Lily would almost believe had she not grown to read her teammate so well.

Coco nodded. "Good," She turned back around and resumed walking through the forest. "Sorry again for bringing you all out here on such short notice," She added as Team LLAC hurried to follow her, "But be assured that you will be getting extra credit for it."

The mission had been intended for a different team of first-years, but when two of them had gotten sick at the last minute, Coco had called on Team LLAC for the job. Cobalt had jumped at the chance to work alongside his adoptive mother, and the rest of the team wasn't about to crush his excitement. And so, here they were, in an unfamiliar forest in northern Sanus, headed for a potentially Grimm-infested cave.

Autumn leaves crunched underneath the team's feet as they walked. If they were heading into potential danger, at least they had a pretty view on the way. Every tree was painted in gold, brown, and red, with leaves fluttering down every now and then to join their friends in deep piles on the ground. Part of Lily was resisting the urge to run up and jump into those piles, as she had as a kid, but this was probably not the right time.

Instead, she busied her mind by wondering if she could re-photosynthesize an entire tree, as she'd done with her fern. A smaller plant was easy enough, but a fully-grown tree would surely be harder. it would probably take some practice before she could heal larger plants like that, but the idea of someone stumbling across one bright green tree in the middle of a forest in autumn was certainly a funny one. Astra's sense of humour is rubbing off on me, she thought. At the start of the year, Lily never would have pictured something so silly, let alone find it so amusing. She appreciated that change, knowing how much better it was that she could view the world in a lighter way. She appreciated Astra for it, and the rest of her team. What she'd do without any of them, she wouldn't know.

"Okay everyone, here we are." Coco stopped as the team approached a large cave up against a cliff face. The entrance was a vast hole in a pile of moss-covered rocks, and the interior so dark that Lily couldn't see a thing inside it. If any Grimm were in there, they'd be well-hidden.

"The cave is big and has a lot of twists and turns, so stick close to me," Coco told the team as they approached the cave. "If you somehow get separated, just call me on your Scroll, and I should be able to track the signal." She took a deep breath, almost shakily, and Lily studied her closely. So it wasn't just Astra acting strange about this cave, then. Weird.

Before Lily could think any more about it, Coco stepped into the cave, and the team followed her. Almost in an instant, they were swallowed by darkness, the only parts of the cave visible being the small hints of dust crystals that peeked out from where they were buried in stone. The fact that those bits hadn't even been touched was evidence of just how quickly people would have had to evacuate, and Lily tried not to shiver.

Before long, the cave entrance was nothing but a speck of light in the distance. Lily glanced at Astra, who was looking back at it in a way that was almost longing.

"Astra," Coco's voice had a hint of tightness to it, "Could you use your Semblance to give us some light?"

Astra jumped. "Oh, right," She lifted her hands and conjured a ball of light big enough to wash their surroundings in a soft light, revealing abandoned mining equipment scattered about the cave. The space here was more open, but ahead, Lily could now see that it narrowed into a smaller tunnel.

"It's, uh…darker than I thought it'd be in here," Astra commented, a slight shake in her voice.

Luna stepped closer to her and grabbed her hand. "We'll be fine," she told her gently, "We've got your light."

"Are you okay?" Lily finally asked as they stumbled through the stony area.

Astra's gaze dropped to the ground, and Luna glanced at Lily, "She's fine," she told Lily in Astra's stead.

"It's okay, Luna," Astra spoke up, "They should probably know by now."

The team stopped and stared at her in curiosity. Astra shuffled her feet and brought her ball of light a little closer to her chest.

"I might be, um. Afraid of the dark," she admitted, "Just a bit."

Sympathy washed over Lily. She could have guessed; it made sense, but it was also a little surprising that Astra, of all people, would be victim to such a fear. Such a bright light, afraid of the dark. Ironic.

Coco looked just as sympathetic as Lily felt. "Don't be ashamed, Astra," Lily noticed that she didn't refer to Astra by her last name, "You're not the only one who's nervous to be here."

Lily suddenly realized how close Cobalt was standing to Coco. Whatever her problem was, it was clearly something Cobalt was aware of. Was she afraid of the dark too?

"Since I was young, I've had a fear of tight spaces," Coco admitted, "I've had bad experiences with them in the past. What's important is that we're here anyway."

Cobalt was staring at her in surprise, and Lily figured it was more to do with the fact that cool and collected Coco was openly admitting to being afraid. It definitely surprised Lily, that was for sure.

As the team started moving again, Coco resumed speaking.

"Every Hunstman has their fears," she told the group, "Sometimes, these fears are going to be ones that will be encountered often in our line of work. Blood, heights, certain Grimm, even the dark. But if you can take on a job while feeling that fear anyway, it's a good sign of the kind of Hunstman you are. That kind of bravery is commendable."

At that, Astra seemed to relax a little. Lily agreed with Coco- it didn't matter that Astra feared the dark, or Coco tight spaces. What mattered was that they both came along anyway. This was their job, and they were committed to it. Lily admired them for that.

As they continued into the narrower tunnel of the cave, they were quiet for a while, keeping alert for any signs of Grimm. Lily noted a few rocks that had fallen out of place, but she couldn't be sure if they'd been knocked into by Grimm, or if they'd just fallen out naturally. The layout of the cave wasn't very helpful either. Several more tunnels branched out from the one the team were in, which would make it easy for any creature to sneak up and attack them at a moment's notice. So far though, the cost was clear- not that the twists and turns of the tunnel made it very easy to see ahead of them.

"Is it possible that the Grimm have left by now?" Cobalt asked. Lily wondered if he was subtly trying to encourage them to leave, for both Coco and Astra's sake.

"Its is," Coco responded, "But it's also possible that they've gotten smart enough to hide deeper in the cave. Older Grimm have been known to plan ambushes in caves and tunnels, so we need to be on our guard. If we find any, it'll be a tough battle."

Well, that wasn't encouraging. An ordinary Grimm battle was one thing, but a battle against several old and experienced Grimm, in a dark place where it wouldn't be very easy to move around properly? Yeah, that didn't sound great. Lily hunched her shoulders and moved forward to catch up with Astra and Luna, who were just behind Coco.

"You doing okay?" She asked Astra quietly.

Astra nodded stiffly. "I'm fine," she sighed. "Keeping this light up is getting tiring though." Lily felt even more concerned now, not just because it was weird to see Astra so subdued, but because she hadn't considered that using her Semblance would be taking a toll on Astra's aura.

"Hey, Coco?" She called. "Could we switch to our scroll flashlights for a while? I know they're weaker than Astra's light, but I think her aura's getting low."

Coco blinked, as if she hadn't considered it. "Right, of course," she pulled out her scroll and tapped it, sending out a beam of light. It didn't light up much, but if all five of them did the same, it would hopefully be enough to see effectively.

Astra waved her hand through her orb of light, letting out a sigh and relief and shooting Lily a grateful look. "Thanks."

Lily returned her smile. "Don't worry about it. We're all here for you."

The group of five stuck closely together, their scroll lights shining ahead into the darkness. As the tunnel opened up slightly, Lily swept her flashlight around, just in case anything was waiting to jump out. Still nothing.

Hopefully, she thought, the Grimm really had cleared out, and there was nothing to worry about, aside from maybe tripping on a rock and scraping a knee. An easy mission with extra credit sounded nice for sure. And even if it wasn't going to be that easy, even if they did run into a fearsome Alpha Beowolf or whatever other Grimm dwelled in the dark, Lily had faith in her team, and in Coco. They were team LLAC, and Coco wasn't the vice headmaster of Beacon Academy for nothing. They were strong. And whatever came, they could face it.