I awoke to the sound of a horn. I growled and turned over, covering my ears with my pillow.

"Adrian. Wake up; it's time to get up." Tori's foot nudged me in the side.

"Ngh... 5 more minutes..." I groaned.

"There won't be any breakfast left if you sleep all day!" Tori poked me with her foot again.

"Ok, Ok, I'm getting up..." I slowly sat up, rubbing my eyes. "Wha' time is it?" I glanced up at Tori.

"Four AM." She sat on the edge of her bed as I got up.

"That's way too early! I'm going back to sleep!" I yawned.

"No, you're coming with me for breakfast." Tori grabbed the back of my nightshirt and pulled me out the door.

"I can walk by myself!" I yelled as I was dragged down the hallways.

"Alright then walk." Tori let go of me and I stood up and brushed myself off.

"Are you always this irritable in the mornings?" I muttered under my breath as we arrived at the Mess Hall and went to sit with our classes.

"Morning guys." Aya yawned as she came to the table.

Half the Scouts nodded while trying to keep their eyes open. We had decided to get some breakfast after the other classes did. We needed to wake up a bit. We finally went to get food. Breakfast was cereal, French toast, which the Spies complained about since they were French and the toast was nothing like real French toast, and a choice of drink. I came back to the Scout table to see everyone already scarfing down their food.

I started eating and looked around as I waited for my mug of tea to cool down. I glanced at a few of the other tables. One of the Pyros had fallen asleep in their bowl of cereal. I giggled at the sight.

"Wa's so funny?" Aya asked me, half- yawning. I pointed to the sleeping Pyro.

Aya laughed and took out her camera.

"You're actually going to take a picture of them?" I asked as I missed a spoonful of cereal.

"Of course! It's hilarious!" The flash went off and Aya spun herself around so she was facing the table.

Something was up. It was too quiet. I glanced to my right. Alice wasn't in her seat. I turned to Niko who was drinking a mug of hot chocolate.

"Hey, Niko, have you seen Alice this morning?" I asked as he put the mug down and turned to me.

"Oh, good morning, Adrian, and no, I haven't seen Alice yet." He looked up at the ceiling and put his pointer finger over his mouth. "She might still be asleep..."

I looked at the clock on the wall. 4:20 AM. "Alice is lucky; she gets to sleep in..." I complained as the Mess Hall doors crashed open.

"Let go o' me, 'ya big brute! I'm awake!" All the classes turned to see a Soldier pulling a blonde girl in by the back of her nightgown.

"Maggot, what made you decide to sleep in?" The Soldier asked as he let go of Alice's nightgown.

"None o' 'ya fucking business!" Alice yelled at the Soldier, getting to her feet and walking over to the buffet table to get her breakfast. She got her food and quickly joined the rest of the Scouts, ignoring the eyes that followed her.

Niko exchanged a glance with me and I nodded. "Hey, Alice, what happened?"

Alice forced her spoon into her cereal bowl causing flakes to fly out of the bowl.

"I had a nightmare." She whispered. "I kept dreaming about something bad happening to Marisa, like she got killed or somethin'. I couldn't get back to sleep and before I knew it, it was 3 AM."

Alice squeezed the doll she was holding.

I took a closer look. The doll had yellow yarn for hair and was dressed in a black vest, a black skirt and a white blouse. A witch's hat sat on the doll's head.

"Wait... is this doll... Marisa?" I asked, finishing off my cereal and starting on my toast.

"Sort of." Alice squeezed the doll. "It was based on her."

I sipped my tea and listened to Alice ramble on and on about how she left her hometown, Gensokyo, and her neighbor, Marisa.

"So basically I was forced to come here." Alice muttered, setting the doll on the table to drink her tea. That was a bad idea.

Dakota thought it would be funny to tease Alice about the doll. He picked the doll up from the table, "Wow, I didn't know girls yer age still played with dolls."

Garrett, sitting next to Dakota, laughed.

"Give it back!" Alice yelled, as the male Scout held the doll out of her arm's length.

"Not 'til 'ya 'pologize about what ya did ta Garrett yesterday!" Dakota glared at Alice.

Alice sat back down and folded her arms. "I'm not apologizing for somethin' he deserved!" She yelled back at Dakota.

"Then 'yer not gettin' this back." Dakota smirked.

Alice looked at me, as if to say, "Adrian, help me." I sighed and stood up from my seat.

I don't know what came over me; all I wanted to do was help Alice, who was being bullied. I walked around the table where Dakota was sitting. I tapped on his back, "Hey."

"What'da want?" The Scout turned to face me.

"Give the doll back." I said in a cold voice.

"An' if I don't?" Dakota asked looking into my green eyes. "Ah, whateva! 'Ya won't do anythin', yer wimpier than Alice!" He mocked.

My right fist connected with the Scout's nose. He fell back and hit his head on the table behind him, making a large thud. All the classes cut their conversations and looked over at the Scout table.

Ignoring the stares I got, I looked at Dakota as he sat up, blood running down his face. "That's what will happen." I replied coldly, picking the doll off the floor where Dakota had dropped it. "Oh, and one more thing, don't call me a wimp." I snarled as I walked back to my seat and handed Alice her doll.

"Shit... did I actually punch one of my own teammates?" I muttered to myself as I banged my head on the table. "What the hell's wrong with me? I didn't mean to... it just happened."

"Ez eferything alright oferhere?" A Medic was walking over to our table.

I pointed to Dakota, "Can you check if his nose is OK? I don't think I broke it." I muttered not lifting my head from the table.

"Let me see." The Medic examined Dakota's nose. "Ja, you are correct, Fräulein, his nose eez not broken."

"Bhe blood ain't stoppin'" Dakota held a napkin to his nose.

"Well, ja, the Fräulein did break a few blood tissues." The Medic turned to me and Alice, "Leets try not to get into any more fights veeth our teammates, ja?" He smiled.

"Sorry doc..." Both Alice and I replied at the same time.

Breakfast ended shortly after that event. It was around 5 AM, this was the time we had to prepare for the upcoming war. I figured I would take a shower since I didn't take one last night. I got my toiletries out of my bag that was in Tori's room and made my way to the locker room.

I was walking out of Tori's room and down a few hallways. Then I bumped into Aya. "Hi! What're you up to?" She greeted me with a smile.

"Oh, I was just going to take a shower since I didn't take one last night." I replied.

"Ah, I see, by the way, if you go into the locker room, you'll see that there are stalls with showers in them. And that's not the best part!" She held up her pointer finger and smiled, "There's also curtains that you can use to block the entrance of the stall. It's strange though, we didn't have them before that Spy and you arrived..." Aya looked up as if she was deep in thought. "Well, I have to go get ready, but I'll see you during the meeting, Adrian!" With that, she ran down the hallway.

When I arrived at the locker room, no one was around. That was a relief. It would of been extremely awkward if someone had walked in while I was changing out of my night shirt.

I stepped into a shower stall and closed the curtain. At least there were curtains. I wondered when those were added in since they weren't there before I came, according to Aya.

I turned on the water and stuck my face into the shower. Gah! Cold! I turned off the water and shook the water off my face. Then it dawned on me. We were at a rocky terrain in the desert; there wouldn't be any hot water for the showers.

I growled. I hated cold water, but what choice did I have? It was either take a cold shower or not take one all day and I needed one. So I decided to take a quick shower. After rinsing my hair a few times, I turned the water off and grabbed the towel I left hanging over the curtain. I immediately wrapped my body in it and fetched my belongings and made my way back to Tori's room where I could change. I came out of the room 15 minutes later, fully dressed. My respawn timer was around my wrist. I checked the time with it. 5:45 AM. I know Aya mentioned something about a meeting, but where was it located?

"Where the hell am I supposed to go?" I muttered to myself as I walked down the hallways. I turned the corner and saw a door with the words "Meeting Room" written on it.

I looked at it and face palmed. If I knew it was right there, I wouldn't have to question myself. "Alright, Adrian, here we go." I walked over to the door and pushed it. Nothing happened and I looked at my watch. 5:50 AM, the battle would begin in 10 minutes and I couldn't even get into the stupid meeting room.

"ALRIGHT YOU FUCKING DOOR, OPEN!" I yelled, throwing all my weight at the door, in attempt to get it open. Instantly the door swung open and I fell forward, face flat on the meeting room floor.

I looked up to see a few members of each class look at me. I stood up as one of the Soldiers started barking at me.

"MAGGOT! Why are you so LATE?" A Soldier looked at me and pushed his helmet up so he could look me in the eyes.

"I-I'm sorry! I got lost and-" I was cut off by the same soldier.

"No EXCUSES! Take your SEAT!" He yelled and pointed to an empty seat next to a Sniper. I moved quickly and instantly sat down, my face red with embarrassment.

"Maggots!" Another Soldier's voice boomed thorough the room. "As you know, this is a very important battle for RED. We are to capture BLU's intelligence and bring it back here, do you hear me?" The Soldier continued to yell while the other classes nodded, some rolled their eyes. Barely any of the eyes rolling came from the Demomen, since they could only roll one eye.

"Dismissed!"

The classes stood up and exited the room. I saw Alice and Niko leave, and tried to wave to them, but they slipped out the door before I got the chance.

I followed a few Pyros until I got to a glass door. It instantly swung open, causing me to jump and accidentally step on the foot of a Sniper.

"Oi, watch where you're going there, Shelia." The Sniper turned to me.

"S-sorry!" I stammered, looking at the Sniper's rifle that was across his back.

"It's fine, I'm a little nervous too, mate, this being the first battle in over a month." The Sniper smiled warmly.

Over a month? Has it been that long since RED got to fight? I thought to myself as a Scout ran past us.

"Watch out 'fer Spies!" He yelled, rushing into the room on the other side of the door.

"Spies..." The Sniper muttered.

"Hm? Did you say something?" I asked the Sniper who looked like he was staring into space.

"Nothing important, Shelia, well, the match is about to start and I have to get ready." He dashed into the room that the Scout had entered.

"That was really weird..." I muttered to myself as I made my way into the room. There was a large white bench and a few supply cabinets. The room itself was painted white and red. It had that hospital look to it.

"Mph Ryro's m msy!" I heard one Pyro muffle to another. A third Pyro was listening in on the two and face palmed.

I made my way over to the bench where a few Heavies were munching on some sandviches.

"Mission begins in thirty seconds." A woman's voice called out over the intercom when I sat down.

"Outta the way, I'm moving this!" An Engineer carrying a red toolbox passed by me and walked out the door. A few other Engineers did the same and a few Snipers followed them.

I watched them and didn't pay attention when someone tapped on my shoulder.

I jumped in my seat and turned to see Alice sitting next to me.

"Hey. How's it going?" I asked the blonde girl who was bending over clutching her "Marisa" doll.

She looked up at me with small tears in her eyes. "Adrian, I'm scared. What if I die? What will happen to Marisa?" Tears started to spill out of Alice's eyes.

I patted her on the back, unable to say anything.

"Mission begins in ten seconds." The announcer's voice rang out once more.

Alice sat up and rubbed her eyes. "Mmh, well, I guess I should get my equipment..." She stood up and moved to the supply cabinets where she pulled out a scatter gun, a Sandman, and a few cans of Bonk! She came back over to me.

"Alright, I'm ready..." Alice nodded.

"Mission begins in five... four... three... two... ONE!" A buzzer went off, signaling the start of the battle.