Hazel woke up. The nightmares never ended, even as the years went by. He could never forget the day when he and Gretchen's lives changed forever; the day that they became orphans, the day that their parents died. Hazel had to drop out of school; with no other immediate family, there was no one left to take care of his sister. With their home destroyed, they had to relocate; and they moved to a small town on the outskirts of Mistral. Although their parents had left them some Lien, and the Mistral government supported them with a paltry sum; partially as an apology for their huntsmen's late arrival, Hazel still had to take up odd jobs throughout his young adulthood to support himself and his adopted sister.

As Gretchen grew, all they had was each other, and Hazel adopted to his parental role quite well. He resolved to make his sister a hearty breakfast as he rolled out of bed. Gretchen always slept much better than he did, so he was sure he still had a couple of hours before he had to go to her room to wake her himself. Hazel got himself ready and headed down the stairs into his home's kitchen.

"Hazel! You're awake!" Gretchen yelled.

Hazel looked over to his sister, sitting at a stool propped against the counter island in the kitchen. She was in the middle of quickly eating pancakes and Hazel wasn't even completely sure if she had paused to finish the food in her mouth before yelling out his name. He looked over and saw a mess in the kitchen, with far more utensils than would normally be required, strewn about the counters. He also saw an additional plate with a couple of pancakes that Gretchen must have made for him.

Hazel chuckled as he picked up the plate and joined his sister at the counter, "why are you already up? It's not even noon yet!"

Gretchen looked back at Hazel, confused, "what do you mean? I'm going to Beacon today! The ship arrives in 37 minutes!"

Glancing over at the calendar displayed on the kitchen wall, Hazel could see today's date circled with a bright red marker. He couldn't believe that it was already time, it felt like she had only received the acceptance letter yesterday, "that's today?" Hazel asked.

"Yeah! And I need to hurry. The ship departs in 36 minutes! I made you pancakes by the way! I wonder what the first day will be like?!"

"Gretchen! Slow down! The ships are never that precise. Don't worry, we'll be sure to make it in time. As for your first day, it'll probably be an orientation…" Hazel began, explaining what his first day at a Huntsmen Academy was like. Gretchen listened carefully, trying to absorb every last piece of information that she could.

As they talked, the two siblings finished eating, and headed outside. Hazel carried Gretchen's luggage, and they began walking to the ship station. Gretchen continually looked at her own watch, scared of missing the ship, and excited about the opportunity to travel to another Kingdom. Hazel meanwhile, tried to busy himself with recounting tales to his sister, hoping to avoid being with his own thoughts. As they reached the station, with only 13 minutes to spare, as Gretchen excitedly pointed out, their conversation began to sputter to an end.

For a moment, the two of them stood in silence in the station. Although Gretchen was raised mostly under Hazel's care, he felt as though the arrangement was more mutual. Hazel was broken after the death of his parents, and he doubted he could have persevered without the assistance of his adopted sibling. He feared going on without her, even if, for just a couple of months while she attended Beacon Academy. As the ship arrived in the station, he turned to his sister, "I love you."

Gretchen then jumped into Hazel's arms, embracing him in a hug that could've crushed someone outside of the Rainart clan, "I love you too!" she yelled, loud enough for the other passengers in the station to glance over and audibly aww.

As Gretchen let go and grabbed her luggage from her brother, she started walking towards the now parked ship.

"Don't forget to call!" Hazel yelled to her.

"Don't worry, I won't!" she smirked, leaving her response deliberately ambiguous.

"You won't call, or you won't forget?!" Hazel replied, cluing into the joke.

As Gretchen stepped into the ship. She turned and smiled back at her older brother. As the doors to the ship closed, she waved him goodbye. Although the Mistral ships had a slow take off procedure, this time, the procedure felt all too fast. Before he even knew it, the ship was gone.

Hazel sighed as he turned back home. For the first time since his parents' deaths, he was alone. He began his walk back, already thinking of how quiet it will be now that his sister is gone.

The trip was a long one, but after several transfers, Gretchen was finally on the last ship into Beacon Academy. Even though she was nervous, she was even more excited. She, along with all the other students on board the ship, were staring out the windows, taking in the marvels that the school had to offer; training grounds to enhance hunting skills, nearby forests to train against Grimm directly, even the cafeteria and dorms excited those students who had never ventured this far from home.

Gretchen did not know any other students, and so she decided to stick to herself for the time being, a difficult task for a woman of her stature. As she hid among the crowd, she heard a loud booming voice addressed to them all, "welcome to Beacon Academy!"

She looked over to see a dark-haired man in a double-breasted burgundy suit. As Gretchen looked up towards the man's face, she noticed more than anything, that he sported an impressive bushy mustache, "I'm Peter Port. I'm the poor TA who was put on new student escort today. I'm supposed to say something about how you guys are the future hunters and huntresses of Beacon and that we've got a duty to support you in that endeavor. I'd also like to take the opportunity to read through the school's code of conduct, starting with chapter 1, subsection A…"

As the man continued, somehow making an introduction to the coolest school in Beacon as boring as a college seminar on the practical applications of dirt, some students still gathered around, excited to learn about what the new school had to offer. Gretchen, among some others, stood back and continued to look out the window. She was excited to see where the next four years would take her.

2020-03-08 - Wrote another chapter. I've noticed my chapters are kind of short compared to some other authors here, I hope that's okay. I've got a weird problem; I write technical documentation for a living, so my job basically revolves around me fitting as much information into as few words as possible. It kind of makes it difficult to write fiction like this.