The following morning I awoke feeling well rested and content. I sat up in bed and stretched until my back and neck popped which only brightened my mood. I glanced over at the clock and saw that it was almost a quarter to noon. Not wanting to waste my Monday in bed being lazy; I dragged myself out of bed and lurched towards the bathroom. After a refreshing shower I walked towards the sink and started brushing my teeth with a black towel wrapped around my waist. While rinsing my mouth of toothpaste, my mirror began to glow and chime. Suddenly Stein, Marie and Lord Death were staring at me, and I looked up from the sink to see their smiling faces. "Yah! Yah! Hello Vladimir! What's up?! Good morning!" I leaped away from the sink yelping in surprise and my towel almost became undone from my abrupt action. To prevent from unintentionally flashing my onlookers, I clutched my towel and pressed it onto my body while hunching over. "You could have picked a better time to contact me! What is so urgent you couldn't wait to tell me at a better time?!" Stein merely smirked at my ire, Marie couldn't contain her imminent laughter from escaping, and Lord Death sweat dropped at my embarrassing position and muttered, "oh goodness". While turning away he mumbled something about needing to improve his timing with calling on his Meisters and their partners, Stein spoke on his behalf as I listened intently. "We called to request a more detailed report of the mission in New York from you, and also to inform you of your new assignment. Spirit stepped out sometime ago to assemble the other members of your group. Once you're fully dressed we ask that you come to the Death Room to join the others immediately. We'll be waiting." I in response made an idiotic face while saluting and speaking in a manner similar to Deputy Doofy, "Roger that!" Their image faded away and the mirror instantly returned back to normal. I wasted no more time quickly throwing on some clothes, getting in my car, and driving like a bat outta Hell towards the DWMA.

I pulled up to the school and made my way up the colossal staircase. With my hands buried in my pockets I took drags of a cigarette that hung out of my mouth. I sighed and thought to myself, "For shit's sake! You would think that for the weary or seriously injured they'd invest on converting these stairs into a damn escalator or something!" Nevertheless, I reached the top and entered the academy as several students gawked at me. I paid them no mind and kept my focus on navigating through the halls towards the Death Room. However I heard hushed whispers and faint gossiping over my shoulder which certainly caught my attention.

"No way, THAT tall creepy guy?!" He's the one who put Brad and Tyler in the hospital?!"
Tall and creepy, eh? Gee, I wonder who they could be referring to? (Insert eye roll and shaking of head here)
"Yeah all by himself. He royally kicked their asses for beating up what's his name. You know? The freak in the black dress and pink hair. Maka's friend."
"Crona?"
"That's it! I heard he's also a Death Scythe. Man! What were those two morons thinking picking a fight with that guy? I wouldn't want to get on his bad side."
They WEREN'T thinking. Hence why I did them and the DWMA a service by beating some sense into them.
"Me neither."

I stopped walking and turned to glare at the two gossipers and address them in a dark tone. "Well for starters: you can start by not being too obvious in your hushed whispering about the 'tall creepy guy'. And I'll reiterate what I told those two stupid apes: Whoever dares to mess with Crona or any of his friends: will be hunted down and crucified outside the city by my hand. So if either of you have brains in those skulls of yours, you'll refrain from attacking my pupils." The hallway fell eerily quiet until the tardy bell abruptly cut the silence and then I heard, "Come on Ox, let's get outta here." "Agreed. Hey! Dammit, wait for me Harvar!" I smirked and took another long drag of my smoke before resuming my trip towards the Death Room. Upon entering, I walked underneath the guillotine arches looking ahead and saw Lord Death, Spirit, Marie, Stein, and my group awaiting my arrival. I walked up the steps onto the platform and was greeted by Maka and the others first. "Hey guys, hope I didn't keep you all waiting too long."
"Hi again, Vlad! Great to see ya! What's up?! Thanks for coming."
"Hello again, Lord Death. So what's so urgent that it couldn't wait until I got dressed to contact me?"

Stein, Marie and the others couldn't help but snicker at my earlier predicament and I scowled at the collected group before turning again to Lord Death. "Well before we get right down to business, I would like to know how the mission in New York went? You never reported to me and I was worried something had happened." "My apologies, it went perfectly. We wiped out the entire gang that night, each weapon excluding Soul and myself collected an even 50 souls, and we rescued a group of hostages who were then returned home unharmed. No collateral damage or unnecessary casualties took place, and the owner of the establishment cooperated with us. So it was flawlessly executed." "Excellent work, Vladimir! I knew I made the right decision in appointing you as a leader for this assignment. Now then onto the real reason why I summoned all of you here." I quickly fished another smoke out from the inside pocket of my jacket, lit it and began taking drags as Lord Death cleared his throat and began to explain what our new mission involved.

"Now then, have you children ever heard of La Llorona?" Everyone gave him a blank stare indicating their complete lack of knowledge. I, on the other hand, was familiar and thus helped elaborate. "Yeah, La Llorona, also known as 'The Weeping Woman.' She's believed to be a Mexican woman who two centuries ago, in a fit of vengeful rage, drowned her children in a river after her lover scorned her and eloped with another woman. After her anger dissipated, she was overwhelmed with guilt and grief for what she'd done and drowned herself as a form of atonement. Yet she could not rest in peace, so now she allegedly wanders across the land at night aimlessly weeping and calling out for children." "You're absolutely right, Vlad. According to some daunting reports: it seems she has reappeared after being dormant all this time, and now there are disappearances and murders primarily consisting of young children that are occurring in Mexico. She lures them away from their homes or preys on those who wander out after dark only to consume the souls of her victims. Fortunately we know that all this is occurring near the Rio Grande River in the state of Tamaulipas. Witnesses claim to have seen a woman wearing a white dress and cowl wandering at night only to vanish in mist. All of the victims are slain in the same grisly manner to that of the foreboding legend." At that, everyone shuddered clearly horrified, and Soul growled through clenched teeth, "That's just sick. Who could go through with killing their own children?" I sighed and exhaled a thin cloud of smoke before answering him. "It's as the old saying goes: 'Hell hath no fury like a scorned woman.' Rage can blind people to morbid lengths that they commit the worst atrocities known to man, my friend. Regardless, these calamities cannot continue or go unpunished."

I looked to Lord Death and asked, "Do we have your permission to leave as soon as possible?" He remained silent but nodded once. With his consent I addressed everyone in my group: "Let's make preparations immediately, that way by tomorrow afternoon: we'll be on the other side in Mexico. Anybody have any questions?" Patty wasted no time in hopping up and down with her hand raised high yelling loudly, "Ooh! Ooh! Me me me! I have a question!" I was baffled at how quickly Patty could change the mood in the room from serious and ominous to silly and comical. I took one last drag of my cigarette before saying, "Alright then? What is it, Patty?" All of her enthusiasm abruptly disappeared as she looked down at her feet and fidgeted bashfully while trying to pick her words carefully. Kid sighed, looked to me, and said, "She normally does this whenever she's done something bad, or when she really wants something and doesn't know how to ask." She then leaned in and whispered in Liz's ear who then looked to me and asked on her younger sister's behalf, "Patty wanted to ask, if after the mission, we could spend some time down there to relax since we didn't get to do anything fun in New York."

Before I could answer, Maka beamed at the idea and turned to me with her hands clutched together in a pleading manner. "Yeah! Come on, Vlad! Please?! Can we stay down there for awhile?" Soon enough everyone, even boisterous, vulgar and obnoxious Ragnarok, joined in and began to bombard me with arguments and reasons for why I should seriously consider the idea. Arguments ranged from the shopping they wanted to do, to marveling at the art and symmetrical architecture, the food, the culture, and the señoritas. The last one irked Maka who wasted no time Maka Chopping Ragnarok ferociously until he melted back into Crona's back. I looked to Lord Death feeling overwhelmed and he merely put his hands out and said, "It's your decision to make, Vladimir. You're the leader, you decide what's best. I won't take part in this debate. Besides, most of these missions are taking place mainly in Europe, Asia and Africa and are already being taken care of. So unless another Kishiin Egg appears, you're free to do as you please." My right eye twitched in slight irritation, I sighed and said as patiently as I could to the others, "We'll see. But for now, I'd advise taking at least three weeks' worth of clothing just in case the mission takes a little longer than necessary. Let's agree to start packing at once and then we'll meet up at Deathbucks to form a plan for our mission, yes?" Everyone nodded in silent agreement and we all parted ways.

I drove back home and wasted no time in packing upon arrival. I hauled my black suitcase out of my closet, grabbed as much clothing as necessary and packed everything neatly inside. I also grabbed deodorant, a toothbrush, black and gray plaid swimming trunks, my green and white-striped bucket hat, and a small treasure chest looking box that sat atop my nightstand and packed those as well. Lastly, I walked into my closet, punched in a combination to a safe that sat atop a shelf, and retrieved bundles of pesos and a Ziploc bag full of coins. I then sent everyone a text message that read: [Hey everybody, be sure to bring swimwear for this trip. Just in case.] I finished packing by 2 PM, and decided to clean out my fridge and pantry so nothing went to waste in the time I'd be gone. Once all perishable items were loaded in cardboard boxes, I loaded everything into my car and drove back towards Death City. I dropped off all the food at a local food bank before heading to Deathbucks to wait for the others.

Soon enough, Maka and Soul walked in with Black-Star, Tsubaki, Crona, Kid and the Thompsons in tow. We all found a booth to sit at after we ordered 10 coffees which arrived within ten minutes. Ragnarok appeared briefly only to chug his, let out a revoltingly loud belch before returning to sleep. Everyone settled in, sipping on their coffee and looked on at me attentively as I addressed them. "Alright guys, here's the plan: tomorrow morning we'll catch a flight to McAllen, Texas. It's a city that's about twenty minutes away from the border, so we won't be too far away from our destination. We should arrive in the afternoon, we'll stop and get lunch, and then head down to the border. From there, We'll head to a city called Rio Bravo, find a hotel to leave our belongings and rest awhile until nightfall. When that happens, we'll be on patrol alongside the river and see if we can take care of the mission as soon as possible. Now here's something very important I want you all to always remember." At my last statement, they leaned in to listen to what I was about to say. "We're going to a different country, so even though you all are old and responsible enough, I still must emphasize: please don't do anything stupid to draw negative attention to yourselves. Not only for the sake of avoiding trouble with the law, but especially to not give people a bad impression of the DWMA. Aside from that, let's try to get the job done efficiently so we can try and enjoy some leisure time down there while we're at it." Just like when we first met in the library, I stood up again with my coffee raised in my right hand hovering in the center of the table. "Cheers to another successful mission and exciting trip to Mexico." Everyone joined in mimicking my gesture ecstatically shouting positive affirmations.

We paid the tab for our drinks and got up to leave. Kid, Liz and Patty left with their Meister mumbling something about making sure all the paintings and furniture in his home are absolutely symmetrical before the trip. The younger sister laughed while the other groaned. Black-Star and Tsubaki left with the latter admitting he still needed to pack as his partner sighed in annoyance at his irresponsibility. Crona walked out timidly with Ragnarok perched on his head. He pestered his Meister over whether he was seriously gonna go to Mexico wearing only that outfit while tugging at his hair. Maka stayed put after whispering something to Soul who merely shrugged and walked out with his hands buried in his pockets. She made direct eye contact with me as she asked, "Hey Vlad, can I talk to you?"