CHAPTER 2

Proving Yuri wrong, Jessica woke up from her nap and she took a shower after her partner finished. Though it was a quick shower, it was enough time for her to calm herself down. Yuri almost using her semblance during their practice match was one thing, but Yoona's sudden disappearance tore right through her. She knew that Yuri felt the same way, not just about today but about what happened to their team months ago. Or she probably feels worse since she's our team leader. She released a deep breath. She could only hope that Yuri would someday let her share in the blame.

Waking up from her thoughts, she found herself polishing her kotatsu. For how long she had been at it, she was no longer sure, but she decided that this was enough. She diverted her gaze toward Yuri's bed, which was across from hers, and found her partner still lying on her back. "Are you just gonna lie there all day? We have to get ready for our patrol."

"Eh..." Yuri rolled on her side and curled up into a ball, feigning ignorance.

"Yuri-yah, come on." Jessica approached her partner and lightly kicked her leg. "Now who's too lazy and wants to sleep until tomorrow, huh?"

"Probably still you..." Yuri mumbled in reply.

"Ugh! How dare you—"

"Hey, do you wanna have lunch with me?" Yuri had already sat up before Jessica could argue. She flashed that wide, toothy grin and Jessica was definitely caught off guard.

"Lunch with you?" Like a date? She internally laughed at the thought but agreed to the offer anyway. "Uh... sure. I'm a bit hungry anyway. Let's go." She held a hand out for Yuri to take and they headed out, hands clasped against one another until they reached the cafeteria.

+

Yuri was almost dragging Jessica towards the cafeteria after realizing how hungry she was. The pair went directly to the counter to get their food. While looking for a table, they spotted three friendly faces seated near the leftmost corner of the room so they decided to approach them.

“Hi, mind if we join you?” asked Yuri.

“Not at all, unnies. Please have a seat,” replied the ever-polite Seohyun. Taeyeon just nodded while Yoona flashed a smile before continuing to dig into her food.

After Yuri and Jessica settled down, Taeyeon curiously asked, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you guys supposed to be out on some mission?”

“Yeah, we were supposed to but the professor sent Sooyoung and Hyoyeon instead, saying that we’re ‘distracted’ right now.”Jessica shrugged and resumed segregating the cucumbers on her plate. “The cafeteria ladies know that I loathe cucumbers as much as I hate the Grimm. So annoying,” she said in a grumble, obviously irritated by the green abomination on her plate.

Yoona sighed as she placed down her utensils. “To be honest, I’m relieved another team was sent out instead of ours. It’s better if we just stay here in school. It’s safer. Less problems and… maybe less drama.”

Jessica and Yuri exchanged worried looks then looked at Taeyeon and Seohyun who were mirroring their expression. All of them knew that nowhere was safe in this already-broken world, not even within the confines of their school or the cafeteria where they were currently having their meals.

Who knows? Anything could happen to anyone. Anytime. Anywhere.

“Yoona, I understand where you’re coming from, but I don’t think ‘safe’ is the right word to describe the situation we’re in right now. Even when we’re resting, we should always be vigilant of our surroundings and be prepared for whatever happens,” went one of Seohyun’s infamous lectures.

“I get that, professor Seohyun. I know. It’s just that this entire situation frustrates me.”Yoona let out another sigh of exasperation.

Worried that the atmosphere would get gloomier, Yuri chirped in, “Speaking of staying on our toes, how did practice go, Yoong? Got your kicked again?”

“Again?! Of course not! As if Him Yoona can be easily defeated by—”

“Yeah right,” Taeyeon interrupted. “Says someone who almost got her face blown off,” she teased, reminding Yoona of what happened earlier. “Still reckless as ever. Just like you.”She pointed her chopsticks at Yuri with an accusatory poke.

Getting fired up from Taeyeon’s teasing, Yuri got up from her seat and challenged the former, “What did you say?! You’re asking for it, midget! Let’s take this outside! Unless you’re going to chicken out on me. Heh. I don’t mind.”

“See what I mean? Not only are you reckless but you’re also hot-headed. That’s going to get you in a lot of trouble in the future, you know? And to think that having Jessica as your partner should have somehow cooled you down a bit. Tsk tsk. What a pity,” Taeyeon mockingly replied, not minding the worked-up Yuri in front of her.

“Perhaps age is catching up with you, ahjumma. Sometimes I forget you’re older than me because of your height. Or, you know, the lack thereof.”

“How dare you insult my age and height in one sentence?!”

“There, there… Calm down. It’s not good for your blood pressure. You should just take a nap after lunch and maybe – just maybe – you can still grow a few more millimetres.”

“That’s enough! Sit your butts down and eat your food N.O.W. Right now!” HellSica broke up the childish argument.

“But Sica…” Yuri whined. “Taeyeon started it! She—”

“N.O.W. Kwon Yuri. Don’t make me repeat myself,” HellSica replied. Yuri zipped as she felt the temperature around her decrease by a few degrees.

“Oh gosh, you’re so whipped. Just like a puppy.” Taeyeon, who seemed unaffected by HellSica continued to taunt PuppyYul Yuri.

“What did you say?!”Yuri barked shouted, feeling insulted.

“Okay, I’ll spell it out for you. I said: You’re. So. W-H-I-P—”

A fist landed next to Taeyeon’s plate before she could finish spelling.

“That’s it! You asked for it!” Yuri was clearly in a rage now, but before she could land a punch on Taeyeon’s face, the latter suddenly disappeared. “Stop running away, you chicken!”

“I’m not running away! You’re just too slow, just like your brain!” Taeyeon let out a cackle from the other side of the room and, weirdly enough, it did sound like an ahjumma’s laugh.

“I’m just giving you a head start before I catch you and make sure you’ll never grow up!  Ever!” Yuri, now meaning business, increased her speed to keep up with the shorter girl.

The three remaining people at the table sighed in defeat and just watched the two figures appear at one point then reappear at another, ensuing chaos in the cafeteria.

Jessica resumed eating her lunch (after successfully removing the cucumbers) while Seohyun shook her head, feeling ashamed of her childish unnies. On the other hand, Yoona, who was amused by the situation, suddenly had an idea: “Unnie, Hyunnie. How ‘bout we bet on who’s going to win? Come on, it’ll be interesting.”

Before the other the two could react, she continued, “I’m betting on Yuri unnie. She may be an idiot at times but once she gets serious, there’s no stopping her. And I believe she can keep up with Taeyeon unnie’s speed. She just has to give it everything she’s got.”

“But Yoona, Taeyeon unnie doesn’t just move, she teleports,” Seohyun pointed out. “She’s one of the fastest fighters here. So even though Yuri unnie is one of the best fighters, it’s no use if she can’t hit her target. As uncomfortable as I am with betting, because I do not support gambling, I think Taeyeon unnie will be victorious.”

“How ‘bout you, unnie?” Yoona asked Jessica.

“I think… nobody’s going to win,” went Jessica’s nonchalant reply, her eyes following Yuri and Taeyeon as they played a game of tag, destruction aside.

“Really? Why?” Yoona eagerly waited for an answer, as did Seohyun.

“You’ll know in a bit.” A smirk slowly crept along Jessica’s lips.

Unsatisfied by Jessica’s answer, Yoona and Seohyun were about to ask again until suddenly…

“Kim! Kwon! My office, now!” Professor BoA finally came in and ended the scuffle.

“And that’s why nobody wins.” Jessica was still smirking as she turned to her two dongsaengs. “Let’s go and take a rest. We still have to go on patrol later.” Jessica started to walk out of the cafeteria, leaving Yoona and Seohyun sitting with their mouths agape at what just happened.

+

"Professor, we didn't mean to—"

Professor BoA waved Taeyeon's explanation off – literally, with her wand. "Miss Kim, whatever it is, I don't care. I've had enough students having food fights, cat fights, and fight-fights in this school. In the end, I just clean up anyway. Right now, I need you two to help man the school gate."

"Sounds like detention to me..."

"What was that, Kwon Yuri?

"Uh... nothing, Professor." Yuri cleared and smiled as best as she could. She swore she saw the professor's wand pointed at her and she knew what the professor could do with that thing. She needed to get out of this room for her own safety.

"Okay then. Both of you are excused. And please, please, refrain from destroying the rest of school property. There isn't much left as it is."

"Yes, professor," Yuri and Taeyeon agreed.

"Oh, and just so you don't think that this is detention, Miss Kwon, your friends have also been assigned to patrol another part of the campus. Happy?" The professor pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose and threw Yuri a smirk – one that was obviously meant to be slightly menacing.

Yuri could only fake a laugh in response.

Once she and Taeyeon were out of the faculty room, she let out a lungful of air. "Was it just me or was she totally holding back on wanting to kill us?"

Taeyeon shrugged, honestly not caring much because she knew how nice the professor was in reality. "Let's just do as we're told this time and save our energy for the real fight."

After passing by a few of their upperclassmen who had just finished their shift, they took their position in front of the school gate. As impenetrable as it looked, it was no longer as sturdy as when they first arrived at the academy. It had done its share of defending but had also taken a few beatings. Not even the glyphs set by Weiss Schnee, one of their upperclassmen who they haven't seen in the past year, could repel the attacks of a horde of Grimm should they attack the gate now.

"So... how are things with your team?" Taeyeon asked to break the silence. Yuri stared back at her like she had gone crazy. She admitted that she wasn't much of a conversationalist but time had brought about that change, and so did the feeling that they could all die tomorrow for all they knew. "Why are you staring at me like that?!"

Yuri belted out a laugh, holding her sides. "Sorry, sorry. It just got awkward for some reason. Hm... things are okay, I guess. But I did do something stupid earlier today."

"You mean, stupider than usual or--"

"I almost used my semblance."

"Oh," was all Taeyeon could say. She had seen Yuri use her semblance before, but that was only once and she remembered Yuri saying it would never happen again.

"I... I almost used it on Jessica. It was stupid. It was... Goodness, what the heck was I thinking?"

Taeyeon gave her friend a pat on the back and then ruffled her hair just because. "I'm sure she understands. You've been under a lot of pressure lately. We all are. But it's probably harder for you since you also have Yoona to worry about now."

Yuri shook her head, knowing full well that Yoona wasn't the burden she was carrying. "I like looking after her. Besides, once a teammate, always a teammate. Or maybe you don't feel that way as long as you're partners with Seohyun?"

Taeyeon shrugged. "I dunno. Maybe. I mean, she's been my friend since the beginning. Even before we both decided to go to this school. Just because they team us up with another pair here doesn't mean all four of us have to get along. I know I never learned to get along with the other two."

"Good point." Yuri leaned her head back on the gate post and closed her eyes for a second. "You're right, you know? It's hard enough to trust one person. Two or three more can be stretch. I should've been more careful."

"Don't be like that." Taeyeon inched forward and gave Yuri a hug, not minding how awkward this must be because she's rarely like this. "Stop blaming yourself. What happened isn't your fault. You don't have to fix it, either. So let's just do what we can to survive for now and beat up whatever gets in the way, okay?"

Yuri let herself fall into the hug. Taeyeon may be shorter than her but right now she felt like the tiny spec that needed protection. "Thank you for being mushy today, ahjumma."

And just like that the moment was over.

Taeyeon pushed Yuri off of her – hard – causing the back of Yuri's head to collide with the gate post. "Who are you calling a mushy ahjumma?! You wanna start a fight again, Kwon Yuri?!"

Having learned her lesson from their fight in the cafeteria, Yuri made sure she had a running start. She hadn't made it that far yet but Taeyeon already unsheathed her daggers and threw one straight at her.

"Taengoo! You almost hit me on the head!"

The dagger fell short of Yuri's foot where it suddenly disappeared and in its place was Taeyeon holding her other dagger with the hilt aimed at Yuri's head.

BOOP

"Correction," Taeyeon said with a smirk as she stood over Yuri who had been knocked out. "I totally hit you on the head."

+

Meanwhile, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon had arrived at their destination at the edge of the country. They met the herd of Grimm at a forest clearing half a mile from where they left their airship.

“Whoever told the professor that this was just a Grimm herd—” Sooyoung quickly sidestepped and launched into a roll at the sight of a boarbatusk charging toward her. “I hope they choke on something right about now!!”

Sooyoung recovered from her roll in a heartbeat. She landed on her feet and positioned her great axe across her chest in defense. The boarbatusk was just as swift despite its size as it turned around and charged once more. The creature of Grimm – as its name suggested – resembled a boar, though slightly larger, with the tusks of a full-grown elephant. It was heavily plated save for its belly, which Sooyoung had been aiming for since this fight started.

But tactics wouldn’t do much good now. They had gotten rid of the first two waves of Grimm but the creatures just kept on coming. She and Hyoyeon were surrounded, and if they were going to stand a chance, it seemed that hacking and slashing at whatever came at them would be the only way.

“We’ll be the ones choking on our own blood if you don’t keep attacking!” went Hyoyeon’s strained reply from across the field. She was up against a trio of beowolves – werewolf-like creatures with large spikes on their arms. They towered over her and had been slashing at her with their claws while she did her best to slash back with her chained blades. “Sooyoung! A little help here?!”

“Already there!”

Sooyoung’s great axe had just come into contact with the ground, creating a huge tremor that threw the beowolves out of balance. The axe’s T-shaped head remained lodged in the point of impact and she held on tightly to the handle as she activated her semblance. A pack of large hounds emerged from her shadow, their eyes burning crimson and their growls echoing throughout the battlefield. They appeared as dark as the creatures of Grimm except for the glow of Sooyoung’s aura that surrounded them.

“Suri!!”

A white streak shot past the stunned beowolves and then back toward them like a curved bullet, causing deep gashes to appear across the creatures’ bodies as if a blade had cut through them. One of them tried to attack Sooyoung after it landed near her, but Suri was quick to slash across the deep gash on its chest with her claws to finish the job. The rest of the creature’s body crumbled and disappeared into the ether like dust on a windy day. The remaining two beowolves each let out a growl as they struggled to get back up and retaliate, but just as they were about to recover from their fall, Sooyoung issued another order: "Mori, fetch!!” The smallest of the three hounds zoomed past its master with its mouth open, its fangs protruding from what looked like the depths of hell. It landed next to one of the beowolves, sank its fangs into the dark flesh of its neck and bit off a large chunk – large enough to sever its head from its body. The last beowolf, though weak from the blows it had taken, loomed over Mori and attacked with its spiked arm, bringing it down with such force that when Hyoyeon dashed over and ducked under the arm with her blades above her head, the arm was cut clean off.

“We can take the rest!” Hyoyeon called out to Sooyoung, who was leaning on her axe for support. Bori, the biggest of her hounds, had been guarding her while the other two were attacking. “You can let them go now! You’re going to run out of aura if you keep this up!”

Just as Sooyoung was about to call her hounds back, a pack of boarbatusks appeared behind her, catching her off guard. Bori let out a throaty growl as it willed its curly fur to stiffen into spikes to defend its master. Suri and Mori charged past with their claws out, aiming for the approaching enemies. Hyoyeon followed suit, determined not to let any of the boarbatusks near the weakened Sooyoung. She spun her body around in the middle of her sprint for momentum as she held her chained blades to her sides, cutting through the stampeding creatures. A few of them got caught in the attack but she could only do so much with what little was left of her energy. The same went for Mori and Suri. She could see them blurring, which meant that Sooyoung didn’t have enough aura left to sustain their presence. “Sooyoung! Let them go! All of them!” Hyoyeon saw Sooyoung flinch at the mention of her name, but the latter didn’t do as she was told. The hounds remained, worsening in state. “Dammit, Sooyoung!”

Hyoyeon had no choice. She sent her blades flying hilt-first toward Sooyoung’s axe. The axe fell over and so did Sooyoung, who was still leaning on it for support. Having lost her focus, Sooyoung lost connection with her hounds and they disappeared into her shadow, leaving Hyoyeon to fend off the rest of the boarbatusks.

Activating her semblance, Hyoyeon gestured for her weapon to come back toward her and once it arrived, she let it stay in her place while she rushed toward her partner. Thanks to Sooyoung’s hounds, the number of enemies had gone down, but they weren’t safe yet. She stood in front of her weakened partner and made use of her semblance once more to which her weapon responded. She focused her movement on her blades, willing them to move in rhythm with her body.

When she popped her chest, the chained blades came together and into a charging boarbatusk, ripping right through it and then through the one running right behind it. When she stepped forward with one foot and spread her arms, the blades came apart as far as the chain would let them, and when she swung her right arm forward followed by her left, the blades sliced an X through a third one. “Sooyoung, are you still with me?” she asked as she looked over her shoulder and then forward again at the creatures that surrounded them. She saw movement from the corner of her eye but Sooyoung only coughed in response. She wanted to take a moment to catch her breath but there were still a few more coming at them, and Sooyoung was in no shape to wield her axe anymore. “You better be okay once I get back, you hear me?”

Sooyoung let out another cough, but she managed to reply this time: “Just go and be totally cool already...”

Hyoyeon smirked at the remark before she broke into a sprint. Her blades, still far apart by the chain, flew in time with her steps, leaving a few cuts on some of the creatures that leapt to pounce on her. Once she caught her weapon by the chain, she pulled at the middle and the blades came together with a click. The hilt of each of the blades extended toward her forearm, fitting themselves around it like a glove while the blades curved at the tips like dragon fangs. She threw a punch straight at a boarbatusk, trapping its head in between the curved blades, and brought her arm down, taking the head with it. Sensing another one coming from her side, she leapt back and threw another punch, but this time she released part of the chain and sent her now-claw-like weapon flying just as the boarbatusk leapt in her direction. As timing would have it, the claw pierced through the boarbatusk's exposed belly, and Hyoyeon tugged hard on the chain to send the creature toward her before she kicked off of the ground and used her weight to punch through it.

She barely landed on her feet after that.

She stumbled forward in a fit of coughs. A tree was all that she could lean on for support. She slumped against it and caught her breath. There didn't seem to be another wave of Grimm coming, but she didn't want to jinx it.

"Sooyoung-ah! Are you okay?" She called out to her partner who had finally managed to stand up with her axe in hand.

"Just a bit hungry!" Sooyoung yelled in reply. She lazily walked over to where Hyoyeon was resting and immediately scanned the area for their knapsacks.

Hyoyeon, who knew all too well how her partner's brain worked, made things easier for the latter. "I tossed the packs behind that bush over there. Knock yourself out."

Sooyoung flashed a wide grin and happily skipped toward the bushes Hyoyeon pointed out as if they had not been attacked only moments ago. She opened the knapsacks and greedily scoured them for food. "Hyo! Didn't you pack the sandwiches I told you to pack?"

Hyoyeon was still catching her breath when Sooyoung came over to her with the complaint. "Sandwiches? Those weren't sandwiches! Those were steaks!" She made a tiny growling sound that resembled a groan. "Big, hefty grilled steaks that are way heavier than I am! How was I supposed to bring them?"

Deaf to her partner's argument, Sooyoung started to munch on a rice ball. "You could've at least brought one of them. You know how much I need to refuel."

A sigh escaped Hyoyeon as she stood up and leaned on the tree trunk for support. "Look, you don't have to summon your dogs all the time, you know? You can fight with that big- axe just fine. You're just too lazy to use it."

A scowl crept along Sooyoung's face in response. "It's a heavy axe!" She argued, bits of rice flying from in between her teeth and toward Hyoyeon's face.

"Well, why did you choose it?!"

"My dad made it for me!"

"Why the heck would your dad give a skinny girl like you a big- axe?!"

"Are you making fun of my dad?!"

"No! I'm making fun of you!"

While the two partners were exchanging words and bits of rice were flying back and forth, a third party had joined them just atop one of the tree branches above them, catching them unawares. "My oh my... Kids like you shouldn't be playing in the middle of a secluded, Grimm-infested forest all alone."

Still caught up in their argument, Sooyoung and Hyoyeon could care less about what they just heard. Both of them turned their heads toward the voice and replied in unison: "STAY OUT OF THIS!"

It took them a few seconds to realize that they should draw their weapons and it wasn't until they heard the crack of a whip against their feet that they sensed the danger they were in.

"Run!" Hyoyeon told Sooyoung before she her heels and made a break for it. She swore that Sooyoung was right behind her until she did a double take and found that her partner wasn't following her anymore. "Tsk. Sooyoung! We have to go while we can!"

Sooyoung had deliberately fallen behind and was now engaged in battle with the figure from the tree branch – or rather, playing cat and mouse with her. The unfamiliar woman in a hot pink cloak, the hood of which covered most of her face, had difficulty dodging Sooyoung's strikes, which made her look like a fish out of water.

"Or kinda like a terribly un-coordinated dancer in a girl group," Hyoyeon mumbled to herself. Seeing as their opponent didn't seem like much of a threat, Hyoyeon decided to let Sooyoung handle it. She was still recovering from their earlier encounter with the Grimm.

"Why are you attacking us?!" Sooyoung called out to the hot pink-clad stranger. "And what is up with your get-up? Who the heck wears pink all over?" She swung her axe over her head and missed the hot pink cloak by a few centimeters. She brought her weapon up again in preparation for another strike. "Like, seriously, you made me miss 'cause your outfit is an eye-sore!"

A loud scream echoed through the forest in response to Sooyoung's remark, startling her and even Hyoyeon who was farther away from the fight. It came from the cloaked woman before her.

"Oh, did I hit a nerve—"

But before Sooyoung could finish her insult, a thin veil of light suddenly hovered above her and then disappeared just as fast. She took a step back with her axe slanted to her side, ready to swing it upward should the unidentified object appear again. Her eyes flew to the cloaked woman but she saw nothing unusual, not even the whip that the woman used as a weapon. She was about to charge toward the woman when her axe suddenly fell out of her grip. Confused, she scrambled to pick it up but found no energy left to stand, much less reach for her weapon. "What the hell..."

"Sooyoung! Get away from her!"

Hyoyeon ran as fast as she could to get to her partner. She saw the light that their opponent conjured, though it was more like a translucent dome with their opponent in the middle, like a force field. She had no idea what it was for but if it made Sooyoung lose her balance and drop her weapon then it was definitely something bad for their health.

"Take this, you pink pig!!" Hyoyeon hurled her weapon, which had switched back to chained blades, toward the cloaked woman while she scooped Sooyoung up and they made a run for their airship. Once they covered a bit of distance, she called her weapon back and caught it by the chain with her free hand, the other holding Sooyoung up as they moved. "Damn your big- axe! If it was just you, I could carry you bridal style--"

"Hyo... I can't... breathe..."

"Wait, what?" Hyoyeon turned to her partner and saw that she was clutching at her chest. "Don't die on me, you idiot! We're almost there!"

Hyoyeon thought of looking over her shoulder to check if the cloaked woman was following them, but Sooyoung's safety had to come first and that meant getting to the airship and flying out of here. She laid Sooyoung down on the ship's floor the moment they set foot in the hangar and almost dropped dead herself from exhaustion.

The last thing she heard was the pilot calling their situation in over the radio.