The landing bay shook slightly in time with the low rumble of the airship’s engine. It had just docked and two figures emerged. Taeyeon and Seohyun walked over to Professor BoA and started to report. A few curt nods later, the professor sent them on their way.

Yuri, Jessica and Yoona watched as the two left while Sooyoung and Hyoyeon were more focused on what Professor BoA had to say.

“Professor, are we all going somewhere?” Hyoyeon asked.

“Not everyone,” BoA replied. “Just you two.”

Sooyoung pointed to herself and then to Hyoyeon. “Us? Uh… is this our punishment for stealing the airship—”

“I’m sending both of you to the cloaked woman’s location. I sent Taeyeon and Seohyun on a surveillance mission and it looks like they found her and confirmed the intel I gathered. But it looks like she’s changing locations fast. Both of you will have to leave immediately.”

Sooyoung and Hyoyeon did a high five and were all smiles as they thanked the professor for letting them pursue the cloaked woman.

“I understand that you have a score to settle with her so take this opportunity to do just that.”

Hyoyeon clasped both hands together and snickered to her heart’s content. “Now we can finally beat her up good!”

Professor BoA raised an eyebrow as she cocked her head to the side. “I don’t remember saying that you could harm her. This is merely a retrieval mission.”

Loud gasps escaped Sooyoung and Hyoyeon, both of them ready to protest. “BUT THAT’S WHAT WE WERE LOOKING FORWARD TO!!”

Professor walked past them as if she heard nothing and left them with these words: “Then consider this restriction as punishment for stealing one of our airships.”

“I told you that it was a bad idea, Hyo!!”

“Oh shut up! It was your idea too!”

Yuri, Jessica and Yoona left the two to argue and caught up with the professor.

“Excuse me, professor,” Yuri said, raising a hand. “So why did you call us here if you weren’t going to send us?”

“Honestly, I was waiting for the three of you to argue with me. I thought you would also want to follow the cloaked woman seeing as she’s connected to your former teammate. But none of you raised this point. I’m assuming that you’re not ready to go on missions yet. I understand that.”

Yoona bowed slightly, avoiding the professor’s eyes. “Thank you for considering our feelings professor. If you’ll excuse me, I’ll go on ahead.”

Professor BoA watched Yoona leave the landing bay before turning to Yuri and Jessica. “Have either of you talked to her?”

“We’ve tried,” Jessica replied. “But she clearly doesn’t want to talk about what happened at Mountain Glenn. Yuri and I haven’t talked much about it, either. I believe you already know why.”

“Yes, I understand. I apologize if I sounded like I was prying into your affairs. There’s nothing wrong with just staying here for now. The academy still needs as much defense as it can get while the other professors aren’t around.”

“Speaking of that, I should go back to doing my patrol then,” Yuri said as she got ready to leave. “See you around, professor.”

The professor expected Jessica to follow her partner but she didn’t move an inch. “Was there something else, Jessica?”

“I…” Jessica cleared , a bit nervous about what she was about to ask. “Professor, I’ve been meaning to ask you about Yuri’s semblance.”

“The one that she swore never to use again? Has she changed her mind?”

“No, she hasn’t. I offered to help her control it but I don’t know how. I’ve tried to read up on semblances but I haven’t gotten any useful information. She said that you offered to train her after Professor Hyun Bin left. How did you plan to do that exactly?”

“By fighting her, of course.”

“You mean… letting her use it on you? But that would—”

“It would kill me. Yes.” BoA could sense the change in Jessica’s breathing after her reply. “This is how Hyun Bin trained her as well.”

“And he didn’t get killed.” Jessica seemed to perk up at the realization. “That’s amazing! It means Yuri can really control it after all!”

“That’s mainly because of Hyun Bin’s semblance. He has the ability to see a person’s strengths and weaknesses. Should Yuri’s attack be too strong to deflect with his aura, he knew exactly when to dodge it. He let her use her semblance over and over again so she could get the hang of controlling how much force to use at any given time.”

“But if that’s true then why can’t she just use less force now?”

BoA pressed a finger to her chin and blinked. “I think it’s because she no longer knows what her power is for. Imagine if it were you. You can conjure ice and use it in a number of ways. You can make a small ice cube or a large boulder depending on what you need it for. Now, imagine if you didn’t know what to do with your semblance. How much of your aura would you spend to use it? If you don’t know that then you’re not in control. I think that in Yuri’s mind, her semblance can only be used to kill. And that’s why when she uses it, that’s the exact outcome.”

Jessica didn’t want to believe that Yuri only thought of using her semblance for killing. The Yuri she knew wasn’t bloodthirsty. A little reckless, yes. But not bloodthirsty at all. Then again, if she really does think that way, will she end up wanting to kill me if I let her practice using her semblance on me? “Thank you for sharing this piece of information with me, professor.”

“You’re welcome.” There was short pause as BoA’s eyes met Jessica’s in silent contemplation. “Just know that if you do decide to help her control her semblance, it will require your full commitment. And a lot of risks.”

Having nothing to reply with, Jessica nodded and excused herself.

+

Sooyoung sneezed for the nth time after she and Hyoyeon got off of the airship. She blew her nose into the sleeve of her uniform top, meriting a groan from her partner.

“Ew! Sooyoung, you’re such a slob! Don’t you have a hankie or something?”

“We’re Grimm-fighting machines! The only tools we need are our weapons! You can’t expect any of us to be carrying around something as insignificant as a hankie! Besides, it’s not my fault that this place is so… swampy. It’s like I’m inhaling the mud or something. What is the pink pig doing in Mistral anyway? It doesn’t seem like her type of place.”

Hyoyeon walked on while her partner ranted. “Whatever. Anyway… How do we capture her? Any ideas?”

“We can knock her out?”

“The professor said we can’t hurt her, remember?”

“I don’t remember agreeing to that—Ow!!”

In a swift motion, Hyoyeon’s flat palm had come into contact with Sooyoung’s cheek. “Don’t be stupid! We have to follow her orders this time or else she might punish us for real. Now stop thinking of taking revenge on the pink pig and start thinking of how we can grab her and get outta here!”

Sooyoung rubbed her cheek, her brows coming together into a deep frown. “Maybe we can lure her into a trap?”

“O-kay. That sounds decent. Lure her with what though?”

“Ooooh!” Sooyoung pointed to a nearby bush. “We can use these pink berries! We’ll place them nearby and when she stops to take a look at them, you can grab her leg with your claw and we’re outta here!”

Hyoyeon was not amused. She stifled a sigh. “That idea is so stupid that I won’t even bother commenting on it.”

“Saying it’s ‘stupid’ is a comment!”

Hyoyeon ignored the semantics. “But your trap idea isn’t bad. We just need to lure her in with something she can’t resist. Hm…”

Sooyoung released a deep, long breath. “I think we should’ve tried to gather more information before agreeing to go on this mission.”

“Gee, ya think?!” Hyoyeon was about to launch into a series of rants when she saw a glimpse of pink ahead. “Quick, hide!” She and Sooyoung dove into the bushes then peeked through the gaps. “I think she’s nearby. She could be passing this way as we speak.”

“Then this is our chance to nab her!” Sooyoung said, already rearing to jump out of cover.

Hyoyeon quickly grabbed Sooyoung’s arm and pulled her down. “And get our auras out?! No way! We have to be sneaky.”

“Sneaky how? We’re not freaking ninjas! Can’t you just use that mind control whatchamacallit that you do?”

“It’s not mind control, you idiot! I can’t use my semblance to control people like puppets. I can only focus my aura into my weapon and control it as if it was part of my body.”

“Then… can’t you, like, make her a part of your body and control her?”

“That makes no freaking sense!! Why did I get stuck with you—”

“Sshhhh! She’s here!”

Before Hyoyeon could get another word in, Sooyoung quietly summoned Suri in its tame form. “Suri-yah, sit.” The white-furred dog lowered itself to the ground in a sitting position, wagging its tail. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon kept still as the cloaked woman approached.

“Awwww! What a cute doggie!” The cloaked woman crouched down and ran a finger down Suri’s back. “Is your owner around, huh?”

Suri barked in response. And boy was it the cutest bark that Tiffany had ever heard. She picked the snowball-of-a-dog up by the armpits and cradled it in her arms. “Since you’re so fluffy, I think I’ll call you Prince Fluffy.”

“What the hell kinda name is that?” Sooyoung muttered to herself, rolling her eyes at what she just heard.

“Calm down and get ready to grab her,” Hyoyeon instructed, getting ready to tackle the pink pig to the ground. She didn’t expect what came next—

“Suri, now!!”

In response to Sooyoung’s command, Suri grew in size while still in Tiffany’s arms. Before Tiffany realized what was going on, she was crushed underneath the hound’s weight. Sooyoung and Hyoyeon left their cover and approached their now-unconscious target. Sooyoung called Suri back into her shadow and pressed the heel of her boot against the pink pig’s leg. “She’s out cold.”

“Ugh. This better not leave any marks on her, Sooyoung. Or else we’re gonna get in trouble.”

“Pffft. She just has a few scratches from the fall. Now let’s get outta here!”

+

It was already nightfall when the airship docked for the second time on the same day. The mud that had dried on its belly fell off in chunks as Sooyoung stomped her way out of the hangar while carrying the cloaked woman over her shoulder. Hyoyeon was the one who lugged the axe around.

“Why the hell is this thing so heavy?”

“Now you know how it’s like!” Sooyoung raised her chin, feeling smug. “Think about that the next time you lecture me about using my summoning more than I use that axe!”

Hyoyeon sighed in defeat as she dragged the great axe by her feet.

Looking like she had just come from her nightly patrol of the campus grounds, Professor BoA rushed to meet them halfway along the landing bay. Sooyoung bent slightly to her side and lowered her shoulder, relieving herself of the weight she was carrying.

“OUCH!! What the hell?!”

“Whoops! Sorry about that.” Sooyoung turned her head away from the cloaked woman who had just fallen to the ground. “Not.”

“I’ll let that slip,” Professor BoA said. “The retrieval is over after all. You may hurt her now if you wish.”

“Wait! What?!” The cloaked woman attempted to drag herself farther from the group only to have her cloak messily tangle around her body.

“Meh.” Sooyoung said to the professor. “I’m too tired from carrying her to attack her now. She’s quite heavy. Much like a real pig.”

“Pink pig really suits her,” Hyoyeon added.

“Oh my god, you did not just say that!” The cloaked woman scrambled to her feet and raised a clenched fist.

“Say what? Heavy? Or pink pig?”

“YAH!!”

Professor BoA’s eyes moved from her students to the cloaked woman and back. She removed her glasses and pinched the bridge of her nose. “I think I’m getting a headache. Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, your task is done. I will handle things from here.”

“Are you sure professor?” Hyoyeon asked, secretly reaching for her weapon. “What if she suddenly drains you or something? It’s dangerous to be alone with her.”

Sooyoung grabbed her axe from Hyoyeon’s side and raised it above her head. “We can knock her out again if you want!”

“You guys are crazy!!” went a shrill cry from the cloaked woman.

Professor BoA placed a hand on the cloaked woman’s shoulder and started to lead her toward the academy. “I’ll be fine, ladies,” she told Sooyoung and Hyoyeon.

After a few more valid points from Sooyoung and Hyoyeon regarding safety, which the professor ignored, they had no choice but to let the professor and the cloaked woman go.

To BoA’s surprise, the cloaked woman didn’t put up a fight as she was led up to the faculty room. BoA asked her to sit down while she remained standing, clutching her wand behind her back. “It’s been a long time, Miyoung.”

The cloaked woman seemed to shy away at the mention of the name. “How you do you know that name? Only my parents—”

“I know. They chose that name for you even before you were born. They told me.”

The cloaked woman shifted forward in her seat. “Who are you? How do you know my parents?”

BoA relaxed her grip on her wand and set it on her desk. The cloaked woman didn’t look like she was going to cause trouble. “I met them a long time ago. In a tournament.”

“Tournament?”

“Yes. Before they retired early and put up a business, your father was a huntsman and your mother was a huntress. Very skilled ones at that. I don’t know if they ever told you this but that doesn’t concern me. Let’s just say that I see where you get your talents.” BoA waited for a reply and when none came, she continued: “Do you want to talk to them, Miyoung?”

“That depends,” Miyoung said. She gripped the end of her cloak before she spoke again: “Do they want to talk to me?”

“Well, they did call all the way from Atlas.” BoA activated the academy’s emergency direct connection to the Cross Continental Transmit System and on the screen appeared a middle-aged couple.

“We heard that you’ve been travelling with a sketchy bunch,” said the male.

The cloaked woman rose from her seat and almost tackled the screen. “You don’t get to talk to me like that, daddy! Not after you abandoned me!”

“Abandoned you? You’ve been away this entire time!”

“Only because you didn’t answer any of my calls after the Grimm invasion! How could you do that to me?”

The couple turned to each other for a second and then back at their daughter.

“We didn’t get any calls or messages, honey,” said the woman this time. “We did consider trying to reach you but we thought that would just lead to spoiling you all over again. We wanted you to learn how to handle things on your own.”

“So all this time… Even when the Grimm attacks have been getting worse and you knew I was all alone somewhere, you thought you were still just teaching me a lesson?! You might as well just say that you don’t care about me anymore!’”

“We admit that we were harsh to have left you alone like that, but we weren’t worried because you’re our daughter. You’re stronger than you look and you’ve proven that. We want you to come back if you decide that you still want to. We’re so sorry for what we put you through, honey.”

Miyoung tore her gaze away from the screen. She wasn’t about to let her parents see her cry at a time like this. “Thanks mom and dad. But I don’t want to come back yet.”

“We understand,” her father said. “We’re sorry, Miyoung. We were too hard on you.”

Miyoung faced forward again, having already blinked away the tears. “There is something that you can do to make it up to me, though.”

“What is it?”

“I want a dog!”

“Done. Once everything settles down and you’re back home.”

Miyoung waved goodbye to her parents before their image on the screen disappeared. She sat back down and BoA offered her a glass of water, which she declined.

“I think you were already expecting this, Miyoung. I’m going to ask you a few questions,” said BoA.

“Please call me ‘Tiffany.’ As you saw, ‘Miyoung’ is reserved for my parents.”

“Of course. Tiffany. Are you comfortable enough?”

Tiffany leaned back in her seat and crossed her legs. “Sure. This is better than most places I’ve been. So what do you want to know?”

“Why were you with the White Fang?” went the abrupt reply.

“Wow. You don’t bear around the bush, do you? Well, just so you know, I’m not really with them. I just encountered them while traveling.”

“But you were helping them, yes? Why was that?”

“I was promised free lodging and a paycheck. I had to do something to survive.”

“They’ve been busy attacking parts of the other continents. And then they ended up here. What were they doing here a few weeks ago? Planning an attack?”

Tiffany’s shoulders fell and out came a sigh. “I honestly don’t know. I’m not one of them. I was just following them around.”

“Then what about Sunny? You were with her at Mountain Glenn, correct?”

“Yeah. What about her?”

“Is she a member of the White Fang?”

“She’s more of leader than a member. Together with that other dude.”

BoA’s eyebrows shot up, and she swore that she felt a chill run down her spine as if something ominous had made it into the room. “What ‘other dude?’”

“I don’t know his name. He doesn’t come out of his tent that much. But sometimes I hear them talking about ‘changes’ or whatever.”

“If it’s true that you’re not with them, why did you attack Sooyoung and Hyoyeon at the border? Did this ‘other dude’ order you to do it?”

“Uh… about that.” Tiffany let out a nervous laugh. “I was in the area and I was bored. I just wanted to play with them for a while. And I also thought of stealing some of their stuff…” She trailed off, purposely avoiding BoA’s judging eyes. “Ahem. But I didn’t get anything and they managed to escape so I think we’re all good, right?”

“I think that’s up to them to decide.”

“Ugh. I was afraid you’d say that.”

BoA let a good two seconds pass before she left Tiffany’s side and sat behind her desk. “So what are you going to do now, Tiffany? Are you going back to the White Fang for free lodging and a paycheck?”

“I’m not stupid. If I go back there, you guys would obviously hunt me down again.”

“So you’re staying here with us then?”

“That depends.” Tiffany leaned forward, narrowing her eyes at the professor. “Are you going to lock me up for the things I did?”

“We could do that.” BoA saw a hint of Tiffany’s semblance starting to take effect. It felt exactly as she remembered. Just like her mother, I see. “We can lock you up but we won’t. You don’t have to use your semblance on me tonight.”

“How did you—”

“That doesn’t matter right now. I have a few more questions. You mentioned that you heard them talking about ‘changes.’ What kind of changes?”

“I don’t know. The only person I could have a decent conversation with over there was Sunny and she didn’t tell me anything about that. All she told me was that she wanted to see her friends so she lured them to that underground tunnel.”

“And you helped her?”

“Yes, but I didn’t know that that was what she was trying to do. I went with her because she asked me to and I was just waiting for her next order.”

“And if it was an order to kill my students?”

“I would never agree to that! And Sunny wouldn’t want that anyway. She just wanted to see her friends. She’s not a bad person.”

“That depends on what she plans to do next.” BoA stood up again. She grabbed her wand and headed for the door. She poked the space above the door knob with her wand and out came a fizzle sound.

“Uh, what was that?” Tiffany had already left her seat and was then standing by BoA’s side.

“You’re about to find out. Let me show you to your room, Tiffany.”

BoA led Tiffany to the opposite wing of the academy where the dorm rooms were. They passed the students who had the night shift and one of them happened to be Yuri.

“Evening, professor! And, uh… Oh man, it’s you.”

Tiffany flashed a smile. “I remember you, too. We didn’t do much talking last time, though.”

“Uh, right.” Yuri turned to the professor who merely nodded. “Okay. So where are you two headed?”

“I’m showing Tiffany to her new quarters. You can come along if you want, Yuri.”

“Okay, sure.” Yuri followed closely behind the two while she typed a message quickly on her scroll and pressed send.

They stopped at the first room after the second bend in the hallway. Yuri almost burst out laughing when she realized where the professor intended for Tiffany to stay. The door opened after BoA knocked.

“It’s my fault, professor! I told her to use it!”

At the doorway was Taeyeon in a deep bow.

“I’m so sorry, professor. We weren’t thinking,” Seohyun added.

“Let’s get inside first—”

“But we haven’t cleaned up yet—”

“That’s fine, Seohyun. Also, I know all of your friends are in there. I can hear them talking.”

Taeyeon and Seohyun stepped aside, revealing Sooyoung, Hyoyeon, Yoona and Jessica huddled in a corner.

“Well, since everyone is here, this will save me some time,” said BoA.

“I’m sorry again, professor,” Taeyeon said. “I’m the one who told Seohyun to use her scout to eavesdrop.”

“Regardless, you all heard our conversation. I chose to talk to Tiffany alone because I wanted to confirm the information she had before relaying it to you all. But now that you heard what she had to say, I advise all of you not to trust every bit of it.”

“What?” Tiffany was obviously offended. “Are you calling me a liar?”

“I said no such thing. We don’t know you and you don’t know us. The first thing we have to do is establish trust between and among us here. That’s how it works here in Beacon. Thus, the partner and team system. Speaking of such, Taeyeon and Seohyun will accompany you from now on.”

“But I don’t wanna be with that !” Tiffany pointed an accusatory finger at Taeyeon, being careful not to get too close.

“I’m not a !”

BoA felt another headache coming on. “Tiffany…”

“Can’t I just be with them instead?” Tiffany walked over to where Yuri, Yoona and Jessica were standing then clung to Yuri’s arm. “I work better with people who are my type. You know, like tall and tanned…”

“Tiffany, that’s…” BoA felt another chill but this time she knew where it was coming from, and so did everyone else.

Except Tiffany.

“Is it just me or did it suddenly get colder?” Tiffany tightened her hold on Yuri’s arm and pressed her body closer against the latter.

“Uh, I think,” Yuri took a step back from Tiffany but couldn’t get rid of the grip on her arm, “it would be best if you follow what the professor says.”

Everyone else seemed to be glued to their spot, hesitant to join in the conversation. BoA seemed to be the only one who could brave the cold.

“Tiffany, you’re staying with Taeyeon and Seohyun. That’s final. This is to avoid trouble.”

“Trouble? I haven’t done anything!” Tiffany protested, her lips pursed in annoyance. “Yet.” She still hadn’t left Yuri’s side and was oblivious to the ice that had begun to form on her cloak.

“Don’t worry, professor. I got this!” Without so much as a proper warning, Taeyeon rushed in between Tiffany and Yuri, grabbed Tiffany’s hand and zoomed out of the room, leaving a few sparks in the air.

“I’ll take care of it, professor!” Seohyun said as she bowed. After she left the room, everyone seemed to be able to breathe again.

“Remind me to give you all detention,” BoA announced before she left, clutching the side of her head.

The room was still freezing cold until Sooyoung threw a pillow at Jessica’s face.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Sica?!!”

“Yeah, Sica.” Yuri ran a hand down her partner’s back. “You don’t usually lose control like that. Were you upset because you found out that the pink pig is gonna be staying here?”

“That’s obviously not—”

“Of course that’s it,” Jessica was quick to cut Sooyoung off. She smiled at Yuri then excused herself. “It’s late. I’m going back to our room.”

Yuri left not long after to continue her patrol, leaving Sooyoung, Hyoyeon and Yoona in the room, which had gone back to being toasty warm.

“’Upset about the pink pig’ my !” Hyoyeon strangled the pillow that Sooyoung threw at Jessica earlier. “She almost froze people!!”

“That pink pig is trouble even when she’s not in a fight,” said Sooyoung. “Can someone please go and explain to her that Yuri is, uh, what’s the term? Taken? No, that’s not right. Unavailable?”

“Property of the ice princess?” Hyoyeon added.

Sooyoung laughed hard at that one. “That sounds so accurate! Okay, someone go tell her that.”

“I’ll go,” said Yoona, meriting loud gasps from Sooyoung and Hyoyeon. “I’ll go tell Seohyun to tell the pink pig! Duh. No way am I getting mixed up in this mess. And besides, Seohyun is the pink pig’s leader now. She’ll have to follow orders.”

+

The upperclassmen rushed to the dorm entrance after they heard a commotion. Weapons at the ready, they expected a flock of nevermores to be waiting for them, only to find two figures arguing. “Get a room!!” one of them yelled before they went back to their posts.

Neither of the two seemed to have heard anything.

“You ! What was that for?!”

“Desperate times, desperate measures. You’ll feel fine after you throw up.”

Tiffany did feel like throwing up but she kept swallowing whatever threatened to come up . “What does that mean? Was there a threat in the room or something?”

“It means,” went a voice from behind them, “you shouldn’t do things like that with Yuri unnie.” It was Seohyun, who was already slightly fed up with everyone’s shenanigans. She needed her nine hours of sleep. She was only doing this because Yoona had asked her to.

“Why not? I was just flirting a bit. She’s not taken is she?”

“No—”

“Then there’s nothing wrong—”

“Yuri unnie already has someone that she cares about deeply. And that someone cares about Yuri unnie just as much.” Seohyun was too tired to come up with a better explanation. “We just don’t think they want to admit it yet.”

Tiffany let out a few laughs. “That’s so pathetic that it’s almost cute.”

“You won’t find it so pathetic or cute when you’re frozen in your sleep,” said Taeyeon.

Tiffany seemed to understand the situation now. “Ah. So it’s that girl. Was I seriously going to get frozen back there?”

“You and everyone else! That’s how she gets when she acts out.”

“Hm… that’s too bad. Yuwree is totally my type. But it looks like she has some drama baggage so no thanks. I guess I’ll have to settle for you two.”

The three of them started to walk back to their room and when they arrived, Taeyeon and Seohyun went to their respective beds, leaving Tiffany to choose from the two other ones. No one spoke after Seohyun turned the lights off. Tiffany got under the covers and relished the feeling of lying on an actual bed again, with a real pillow under her head and four walls surrounding her. But some things hadn’t changed. Even here, I’m still all alone.