The chatter in the dining hall dies down as the newly placed clock ticks, echoing across the guild. Silence settles onto the two tables where the newly bathed teens sit patiently, staring at the woman in metal.

Grey shuffles her feet, moving a few steps forward as the steel greaves clink against her knees. A smile pulls against her lips as she fixes her gaze onto the first table, then to the second table.

She holds up her left hand, turning her head to Rio. He hands her the paper that he has been holding since they’ve entered, his forehead was visibly sweaty which they wondered if it was just Rio being the sweaty guy that he is or he was potentially worried for the teams and their chosen Talents.

Maybe both.

She takes one glance at the paper and shoots her eyes back up to them, her face was unreadable. “You will all be divided into six teams consisting of one girl and three boys each. One will pose as the melee, the other will be long-ranged, the third will be a versatile with the last being a random pick. We—” She motioned to her and the other Commanders, “—have tried to balance out one melee, one long-ranged, and one versatile or support for the random fourth members. So, once we pick your teammates and Talents, you’re stuck with those. After all, they were from your choices.”

They all shift uncomfortably; a bit anxious at the thought of forever sticking to a Talent they weren’t really comfortable with. Then again, some of their choices really had no choice.

That and the fact that they were going to be paired up with people in their class.

Let’s just say, the remaining twenty-four that survived weren’t the closest in the class. Despite how well they ‘get along’ with each other, personally, they weren’t as fond to each other as they let on.

Though, now that their life was on the line, the only thing they could do was… wait and see.

“I’ll be calling people to come in front as I read out your name firsts, have you all in line, then state your Talents. So…” her words trail off as both Grey and Rio take a few steps to their left, making sure there was enough space for them to stand in the middle.

“The first team.” She calls out, looking over the crowd to spot the first person sitting anxiously at the right table. “Alisson.”

Alisson jumps in place, her heart races as all eyes turn to her direction. She slowly stands up, tugging loose dark chocolate hair behind her ear. Her plump rosy cheeks puffed as she quickly shuffles over in front, her head was pulled low as she forced herself to stare at this more interesting looking dirty spot in the rug than to the many eyes ogling her.

“Travis.”

The last person at the end of the first table had been leaning on his palm till he we called. He froze, raising his brows in surprise, “Me?” He whispers, a few sarcastic remarks spout out of Mason who had been sitting right in front of him, telling him to just stand up and walk. As Travis stands up, adjusting his hair ever so gracefully before walking forward, his magnetic sapphire eyes settle on Alisson as he makes his way next to her and pats her gently on the shoulder, “Hey there, Alisson.”

Alisson looks up to the fair-skinned blonde, giving a small smile, before eyeing the hand placed on her shoulder.

Travis pulls his hand back and gives a light chuckle, “Sorry.” Oh right, Travis almost forgot. She hates being touched.

“Nate.”

The next boy for their team jumps out from his seat as his wide hazel eyes sparked in excitement. His fluffy copper tinted hair was brushed in his usual quiff with an annoying loose strand bouncing against his forehead. He jogs up front and stands next to Travis, bending his body forward to look at Alisson, who’s been avoiding eye contact ever since she’s been called. “Hi Alisson. Doin’ okay?” His scruffy tone asked worriedly, a large smile plastered on his face.

She nods quickly, her dark brown eyes peered to her left to glance at Nathaniel. “Yeah. I’m fine.”

“Orlando.”

A pause.

His name was like an unspoken rule, never to be said and never to be spread. Even in the classroom, his presence was like having the literal idiom of ‘an elephant in the room’.

There were a few who pursed their lips with a dumbfounded look on their faces, some tried to look at other people’s expression in hopes of filling their own lack of reaction and others let out the breath they’ve been holding, thanking their new gods for not being teamed with Orlando.

Orlando slowly stands with an impassive look on his dark features. His thick clean-cut ash brown hair was neatly combed up, his usual steely black eyes were slightly narrowed. He walks forward with his head held high and his strong square jaw clenched tight.

He moved at a steady-pace before standing tall next to Nathaniel, who gave Orlando a surprised look and shooting a ‘WTF’ expression to Travis and Alisson, they respond with a panicked look with thin lips as they decided to just keep quiet and look back to the crowd.

Robin couldn’t help but snort, muttering. “This is priceless.” He claps a hand on the table, snickering as he holds his mouth.

Grey gives a long sigh before reading from the paper, “Orlando, your Talent will be Archery.”

Orlando gives a side glance to Grey before nodding, his expression seeming a bit relaxed. It was obvious he was content with it.

“Not a bad pick. Orlando’s a straight up perfectionist so it’d make sense to pick that.” muttered Elijah in the back, conversing with Augustus who sat behind him.

“Ballet plus Pride, Archery. Makes sense.” Augustus snickers, eyeing Orlando who seemed too wrapped up in his thoughts to hear them.

“Nate.” started Grey again, “Your Talent will be Fighter.”

“Nice.” Nathaniel breaks into a grin, his fingers curled and balled into a tight fist as he rolls his shoulders.

The crowd nods, kind of seeing Nate as the brawler type.

“Travis, your Talent will be Gunslinger.”

“Oh!” His lips puckered, his soft features shifts into a happy expression as he claps his hands. He smiled, “I won’t let you down, guys.” He says to Nate and Alisson as he awaits the next Talent.

“Alisson, you will be having two Talents.”

Their team’s face froze for a split second before all their heads turned to Grey.

“What?” They all said in unison, unexpected at hearing Grey’s announcement.

“Grey?” Alisson called out, “Why?” She asked in a higher pitch and with a familiar feeling of slowly rising anxiety filing her gut.

Grey looks to the team, then to the crowd as she explains with a gentle look. “In each team, there’ll be someone who will take up one combat Talent and one support Talent. This is because we figured that, as a team, they’d need a support to help them when they’re doing quests and all. But as a single player, they need to have another Talent to level up. As I said with support Talents, they don’t have as much ‘umph’ to their increase of experience. Which means, they’re gonna need to have another Talent.” She shrugs in Alisson’s direction. “So the people who’re going to have two Talents, for the sake of your team, please do your best.”

Alisson’s mouth opened and closed, trying to find the right words for this obvious mistake. But before she could protest, Grey gestures them back to the table.

“You may now take your seats.”

“I wonder what we’ll be doing after this.” Travis mutters, walking ahead the flustered Alisson and worried Nathaniel.

“Hey, shouldn’t we worry about Alisson?” Nate asked Travis, looking back and forth to him and Alisson with a sense of alarm.

Travis gives a quick pout and shrug, “We can talk to her about it after we listen to everyone elses Talents and Teams. I’ll make sure to… ease some of her burdens.” Travis winks while Nathaniel cringes inwardly, patting his back to move faster to his seat.

As Travis, Nathaniel and Orlando go to their respective seats, Alisson slowly finds her way to the front and sits quietly, her hands starting to moist by habit.

Grey couldn’t help a glance at her direction, her mama-bear instincts kicking in but she managed to restrain herself. ‘Later.’ She thought, thinking it’s best to let her think about it for a while.

“The second team… Matt.”

A large thud against wood resonated across the hall as they stared at a surprised and hurting Matthias. He grinds his teeth, slowly standing up to his full height of 6 feet as he rubs his aching knee. His short dark blonde layered hair swept to his right, he pulls the side fringe lower by habit, his dark green eyes dart back and forth to the two tables as he walks quietly in between and waits in front with a sheepish smile and wave.

“Elijah.”

“Ey! Matt!” Elijah bounces off of his seat, waving at the meek giant as he makes his way over. He had his dusty golden hair pulled back into a high tight bun, properly fixed with his fingers as his makeshift comb. Friendly brown-green eyes stare back at Matthias as he wanders over to his side, giving him a loud pat on the back that echoed with a THUD.

“Next…” Grey pauses for a moment, a smile begins to itch. It was tempting, but she shakes her head and heaves out a sigh. “AvaandMason.” She speedily says before looking to the crowd, her lips drawn into a thin line.

Ava shoots up from her seat, a hand slamming against the table. “Excuse me, what?” The last time she threw a fit was when someone cat-called her across their school’s gymnasium.

“There’s no way I’m paring up with Ms. Blonde Bimbo here.” Mason grunts, hissing at Ava as he stays in his place, not even bothering to turn his body to Grey’s direction.

“For once, I agree with Mason.” Ava adds, pointing to his direction with a look of distraught.

“What? That you’re a blonde bimbo?”

“Oh boy.” Elijah mutters to Matt who simply laughs nervously.

“I will cut you.” Ava glares at Mason.

“Empty threats.”

“I.will.cut.YOU.”

“Try me.”

“OKAY.” Grey yells out with wide eyes, her hands were held up. Her expression screamed stress as she points to the two of them. “This is exactly why I wanted you guys to be in the same team. I’ve already told you, I won’t change my mind.”

“Come on, please.” pleaded Ava, clapping her hands together as she bent forward in her place. “Just for me and Mason. Just this once. Come on, Grey.”

“No.”

Grey’s voice was heavy. Unlike her usual care-free tone that they’ve gotten used to in the class, the usual happy-go-lucky sound in her voice was gone. Her face was stone cold, her mouth pulled down as she lowers her hands. “You think you guys can do the same shit you’ve done with the teachers back at our school? Beg and kiss their ass? This is why we’re all so distant with each other. Why you guys don’t even bother to actually care about the other. I know, waste of time. But now that you’re here, I don’t want to hear crap from any of you anymore. You—“ She holds her index finger up, shaking, before her shoulder relaxed. She takes a step back, eyeing the ground before looking back up to them.

Grey sighs, “I’m not changing it, nor am I changing any of your Talents. Trust our judgement, please.”

Ava and Mason exchange disappointed looks from across their table, “Ladies first.” Mason sarcastically says, gesturing her to walk ahead. Her eyes fix onto him with a cold stare before huffing, stomping off to her place next to a rather uncomfortable Elijah. Mason follows, giving a snarl to Grey before standing next to Ava.

Ava tosses her long strawberry blonde hair over her shoulder, her thin tendrils directly slapping against Mason’s face. He blinks back the flash of blonde before snapping her a long hard look, which she returns whole-heartedly. His beady black eyes met with her gleaming chestnut browns. Elijah and Matthias could practically feel the tension rise from their glares alone.

Grey looks back to Mason and Ava, raising her brows with a following smile. “You two will also have the same Talent. You’re both Warriors.”

Their staring contest broke abruptly as they whipped their heads to the Commander. “What?” Mason said, holding his hands up to her.

“Wait, why are we both Warriors. That’s allowed?” Ava asked, bending over to glimpse past Mason’s blocking body.

“Yes, it is. Though, Mason.“ Grey turns to him with a thumbs up. “You’ll be having two Talents. Warrior and Cleric.”

Now all four of the people in line bent lower, glaring at Grey with a horrified look. “We’re gonna die.” Elijah muttered, the edge of his lips pulling up into a defeated smile as he smacks a hand on his forehead.

“She isn’t serious…” Matthias whispers, his mouth almost hanging open with a sense of anxiety rising in his gut. No. NO.

Matthias was never close with Mason. Not even a little bit.

They were classmates once in fifth grade and occasionally talked about what assignments Mason would forget. But that was about it.

However, Matt knew one thing about him… and that’s Mason never gives two rat fucks about anyone other than himself.

It’s a wonder how he gets good grades apart from his cooperation.

“Mason will be both your DPS and your support. So do keep in mind that you all have to work together in hopes of seeing the light of tomorrow.” Grey ends it with a passive aggressive tone and looks back to her paper.

“Elijah, you’ll take Battle Alchemy. Matthias, you’re going for Puppeteer.”

“Huh? Matt furrows his brows. “Oh… It was my third choice. Why’d you go for that?”

“Balance system.” Grey says deadpan before waving them off. “Alright, go back to your seats.”

With the second group feeling more and more stressed out after every word Grey spouts, they decide to keep quiet, walk back to their seats and share a similar look of defeat.

“At least I got the Talent I wanted.” Elijah says to himself, sitting down with a huff as Charlotte gave him a sorry look.

“The third team… Robin.” Grey flips her two fingers, beckoning the dark-haired boy by the second table. Robin merely smirks at his name being called and pops up, he stretches his arms and cracks his neck. He ran a hand through his black hair, rocking his usual stylish short crew cut with a bit of a fade. Walking over to his spot in front, Grey continues.

“Martin.”

The class’ sleep-deprived red-head gives a quiet yawn, standing up with a grunt. “Great… I’m with Robin.” He rubs the back of his scalp, curly folds of red smothering his fingers.

Martin gazes from slowly opening and closing lids, he spots the ruffians’ dark chocolate eyes staring him down. Dick. Martin inwardly cusses before making his way by said Dicks’ side.

“Lemuel.”

Nick audibly scoffs, pushing his lips inward with a smile holding back in his face. Robin glares at the four-eyed nerd before turning to Grey.

“Grey.” He calls her out with wide furious eyes, she shrugs with a taunting smile.

“What are ya gonna do.” She replies before looking to the approaching class priest.

Prim and proper, he walks forward with a respectful nod to Robin, who merely nods rigidly with his eyes narrowed.

“Robin.” Lemuel greeted in a plummy tone, grinning innocently with his clear overbite smile.

“Lemuel.” He responded gravely.

Lemuel picks at his own short curled brown hair, quietly humming to himself as he ignores the slightly uncomfortable foul-mouthing heathen he stands next to.

Rio sighs next to Grey, “You had to put Lucifer and Jesus in the same group.”

“Aren’t I nice.” She whispers sarcastically before calling out the last name. “And… Lala.”

Platinum blonde locks bounce from her back as she leans on the table, light green eyes grow wide. “O-Oh. Okay.” She spoke hoarsely, biting her rosy bottom lip as she stands and walks solemnly towards her spot next to Lemuel. With a thousand yard stare, she stands silently with her left hand gripping her right arm.

Martin on the other side cocks a brow, was she still thinking about him?

Probably. It’s not like any of them could forget the others either.

“Now, team four.” Grey pats Lala by the shoulder, the shorter blonde almost jolts at the slight pressure as she continues. “Lala will be your Archer.”

“Archery…” Lemuel echoes next to her, nodding his head. “Nice choice, Lala.”

“Huh? Oh…” She gives a forced smile, scratching her cheek. “Thanks Lem.”

Martin furrows his brows, “If she can’t even pay attention to the announcement, how can she even concentrate on shooting an arrow.” He whispers, Robin’s eyes slide to his right to peer at Martin, his head still unmoving.

“Wanna give her a pep talk then, Ginger?”

Martin tsked, crossing his arms with a slowly boiling face. “No.”

“Lemuel’s Talent is Ninja.” Grey adds after removing her hand from Lala’s shoulder.

“Ooooh.” Lemuel claps his hands, “Nice…”

Matthias sighs from his seat, leaning his chin on his palm. “Was I the only one who got their third choice?” He muttered to himself with a pout.

“Martin is your Puppeteer and Robin will have two Talents.”

The two boys in the end of their line look at each other, appalled. Martin barks out his complaint first, “I swear, you’re trying to kill our group and Mason’s.”

“Ditto.” Mason calls out from the back with a clear fist balled and trembling in anger.

“How can Robin be their support? He can barely support himself.” Kaden, The short Beelzebub of their class grins, holding his chin as if wondering why the thought of Robin actually multi-tasking important roles is now a legitimate thing. Why, Commanders. Why.

Ava was sitting right behind Kaden, watching the twerp spout the insult with a look of amusement. To Ava’s thought on this, she would rather take Robin than Mason actually. But that wasn’t going to happen now, would it.

It was clear that Grey wanted to put the worst compatible people in the same team to ‘make them up’ and ‘get them to work together’. But if she really knew their class, then this kind of system never worked in class.

Robin could only growl at the insult thrown by that problem child, he grits his teeth and in a fit of anger flipped his bird. Lemuel next to him smacked his wrist with large bug eyes poking out, a disapproving look affixed on his face. “Robin.”

“Eugh.” Robin grunts, frantically scratching the back of his head with a look that says ‘Why-me’.

“Robin, you’ll be taking Fighter-“ His face lights up. “-and Bard.” His face dims.

“B-Bard?” Martin stutters next to the shorter boy, “Wait, you had Bard in your choices?”

“Yeah? S-so what?” Robin loudly states with a stomp of his foot, “Got a problem with that, huh?”

“No! No, I just… Was that your first choice?”

“It was my third.” Robin confessed, crossing his arms as he proceeds to avoid eye contact with anyone. “I didn’t think it was gonna be picked.”

“Alright team three, good luck. You may now take your seats.” Grey waved them off with her paper and sighed. “Okay… Three more.”

Lala exits first, wobbling as she walked with the dazed gaze she had on the moment she stood in line. Worried, Lemuel took note of her worry and decided to talk to her about it soon. After all, he wasn’t the class’ self-proclaimed counsellor for nothing.

“Team four, Nick.”

Pushing up his glasses that almost slid down his arched nose, he stood with a sigh. “Guess it’s my turn. Please have nice people.” He silently pleaded with an anxious look.

Nick wasn’t much for attention. He had short light auburn hair and small blue eyes hidden behind thin framed glasses. But with a height of 6’1 and his unparalleled streak of being a consistent honor roll, he couldn’t help but getting a few glances of either envy, awe or both.

Following suit, Grey calls out. “Arthur.”

Meek with black hair split in the center, large black square framed glasses prompt on his small button nose. He squeaks, hearing his name being called. Wide eyes of aqua stare at Nick as he pushes himself off of his seat reluctantly, rubbing his neck.

“Hey ‘glasses buddy’.” Nick greets with a small smile, one hand rested on another as he swings back and forth in place. Arthur looks up, begrudgingly walking to his place as he adjusts his own frames.

“Hey Nick.” Arthur’s eyes droop, “Wanna bet we’ll have Kaden?”

Nick snorts, shaking his head. “I’ll bet we’ll have Seth.”

“Yikes.”

“Next…” Grey flaps the paper, eyeing the two in their place. “Evan.”

“Oh, okay.”

“Nice, another responsible person.”

As the two boys in line held their chest, grateful to have Evan in their team, they could see a bulky figure stand up from his place.

Evan stood muscular with a straight jaw clenched firm. He was a simple man with a simple style. A very… old style. He had his blond hair kept neatly parted on his right side, his icy cold blue eyes gazed at his two new teammates as he walked to Arthur’s left, towering over the smaller boy with his usual superior presence.

Before any of the two next to Evan could say anything to break the awkwardness of their group, Grey adds. “…And Hope.”

The three, yes even Evan, visibly flinched, though they managed to not look as uncomfortable as they should be.

Hope scrambles out of her seat with a squeak, keeping her head low. Her long obsidian Rapunzel like hair slaps against her back as she speed walks to her place next to Evan, puffing a loose fringe tickling her cheek.

Hope wasn’t ‘bad’ per say. She was better than Mason or Robin, to put it that way.

But they never really understood what goes through this… eerie girls’ mind.

Evan couldn’t help a peek at the odd girl as he sees her fingers play and tap against another, nervously looking up then back down to her hands, biting her lip in the process.

Grey continues, “Hope, your Talent will be Ninja.”

“How fitting, give the weirdo a sharp object.” Orlando mumbled, a finger taps against his chin. Lala broke from her dazed stare at her hands as she snapped a look to Orlando from across the table, she wanted to call him out on it but…

She looked back to her hands.

‘Not my problem.’

Hope looks to Grey with a stiff look; taking a moment to process her Talent before nodding.

“Evan, your Talent will be Lance Combat.”

Evan nods at this, noticing a few people in the crowd patting each other saying ‘Told you.’ Or the like.

“Arthur, you’re going Fighter.” Grey nods her head approvingly, “At first I thought you were joking or you didn’t have enough time to think about it… But, judging from the number of times you striked out different Talents, I’m sure you know what you’re getting into…” She leans forward to get a glance at him. “…Right?”

Robin stands from his place, pointing at him. “He’s into fighting? Like… fist fighting?! He’s smaller than me! And that’s saying something!”

“Height doesn’t matter, you Mexican oompa loompa.”

“Who said that?!” Robin whips his head and shoots the people behind him a nasty look, “Who called me an oompa loompa?! I’m gonna smack yer face with my small oompa loompa hands!”

The crowd snickers at his ‘threat’ before Grey continues after a giggle or two. “Well, Arthur had it as his uh… third choice. Like you Robin. So you can’t judge his choice for wanting to do something different.”

Her words wanted to sound like she supported his decision, but a part of her was still feeling that Mama-bear side pop out for him. Especially when she can see his face drain of color. He ‘did’ pick it out… right?

‘Soon. Control yourself, Grey.’ She shakes away the thought before turning to Nick, leaning even further to see his expression harden.

“That means you’ll be getting the two Talents, Nick. You’re going to be both Mage and Cleric, seems easier since both uses Mana.”

“Mana again…” Seth said with knitted brows, not really catching the lingo of ‘Mana’. What was it again? The ‘essence of magic’ as what he remembered seeing an ad about it on his phone’s Play Store.

“Best left to me, I suppose.” Nick shrugs, before pointing to his seat for confirmation to sit back down.

“Oh yeah, right. You guys can sit back down.” Grey smiles, waving them to go back.

Evan notices Arthur’s rather pale face and hard look on his face and called Nick’s attention in a discreet matter, walking to his side.

Nick turns just in time to see Evan softly nudge Nick’s arm and gesture to Arthur’s face. “Should we speak to him?” Evan asks in a hushed tone.

“Later, if we have the time. Woah, first team meeting already?”

“We can’t leave out anyone’s thoughts to their own anymore. Not after establishing our groups.”

“Does this also include uh… Hope?” Nick’s voice got even quieter at her name as Evan shoots him a dark look.

“She’s our teammate now. We can’t change that.”

“Yeah, I know. But, should we bring her along to talk to Arthur’s Talent?”

Evan couldn’t reply. He followed Nick back to his seat and gave a small shake of his head, validating Nick’s thought on Hope.

She really wasn’t meant for talking. So, bringing her along to talk to Arthur would probably pose more problems if she wasn’t careful with her wording.

After all… This could probably be solved between guys.

Grey looks to the paper, and scans the remaining two teams with her finger. She taps on the fifth team’s name.

“Alrighty, team five. Augustus.” Grey called out his name with a merry tone, smiling in his direction as she sees her best friend wave, standing up with his luscious thick slicked back burgundy hair, his mesmerizing dark brown eyes and his straight Greek curve of his nose.

In short, he was attractive… And he knows it. An honest handsome prick, Grey couldn’t have picked a better best friend.

He gives a faint smile to Grey, nodding to her as she returns it with her own nod.

“You’re going to give me two Talents, aren’t you?” He slips in a whisper, standing in place as she looks down to her paper, her eyes brows go up as she scans the list.

“Who knows…” She trails off before looking back up to spot the short-haired ray of sunshine in the back, “Charlotte.”

The perky brunette that she is gleamed bright, waving at an excited Augustus and Grey before popping out of her seat with a following “Woop”.

She jogs in front, patting Augustus’ shoulder and finger gunned him, “Hey August.”

He smiles back in return, noticing the still vivid red under her eyes. He forced his smile to stay for a while before dropping it softly after she went next to him. He couldn’t blame her for crying. Hell, he was close to breaking down himself yesterday. But, he didn’t see it happen.

Luckily, he didn’t.

He… didn’t.

“Seth.”

Seth smirked in his seat after seeing Augustus cock a brow and turn to Grey. “Grey, you know I love you.” August pulls a finger up, “But there can only be one handsome devil in this team.”

Seth stood with his usual grace and poise, slender fingers tapped against the table before he pushed himself off and made his way to the front, a taunting grin etched on his face as his piercing pure hazel eyes narrowed at August. “Don’t be like that, Augustus. This is the first time we ever grouped up in any activity. Including back in class.”

“True.”

“We never hung out that much so why not use this opportunity, yes?”

“Yeah, I suppose so.”

“Right.”

“Yup.”

Charlotte felt the passive aggression rise, the plastic shimmer and the bad blood bolster. She could only laugh, clapping her hands together in hopes of lightening the two’s dead stares at each other.

“Then… Wynn.” Grey’s intervention at the blizzard forming around the two snapped their gaze apart as the three of them turned to the freckled boy who got a pat from Robin, who leaned across the table with a slowly growing smirk.

“Go get ‘em tiger.” Robin teased before pushing the brunet off the seat, which almost made the scrawny boy lose his footing.

Wynn stumbles forward with a wobbly walk, “Well… This just got peachy.” He quavers, clearing his throat before inching to his place next to the last person he wanted to be teammates with.

Seth. The epitome of beauty, grace and ladies on his face. Mr. Out-Of-Your-League.

In comparison to Wynn, who was literally just a year older than Seth. Wynn’s voice was a pre-pubescent carwreck in comparison to Seth’s buttery Godsent voice that was literally created to seduce women (and men).

Okay, he was getting a bit too exaggerated. But Wynn’s thought process on even the smallest things could overload in his brain. He was an over thinker, and this group of peppy, attractive and talented populars just won’t help his self-esteem. He was like their pedestal or something, he couldn’t help a frown.

“Now Wynn, you’ll be taking Close combat.”

As if the whole ordeal of his mental worrying back and forth in his brain NEVER happened, his eyes glinted in excitement as his shoulders slowly rose.

“O-okay!” He croaked out, trying to sound determined. Luckily, he was able to get his first choice.

“We’ll be counting on you, Wynn!” Charlotte cheered, pumping her fists at him with an exaggerated look of fiery exhilaration.

Wynn flushes at her, ‘Pretty and energetic as always.’ He smiles back with a thumbs up, “S-sure, Charlotte. Don’t worry.”

“Awesome!”

“Yeah, do your best Wynn.” Seth adds in a low tone, crossing his arms as he leans to Wynn’s side, a cocky smirk tugs at his lips with his eyes narrowed down on Wynn’s freckled face.

“Yeah… Alright.”

“Seth, you’ll be taking Ninja.”

“Good.” The tall boy’s lips turned upwards, content with his Talent.

“Tall, dark and mysterious… And a Ninja.” Nick whispered to Alisson from across the table, “Pretty sure he isn’t human.”

“Pretty sure we’ve theorized about that too.” Alisson says with a playful smile pulling on her lips.

“Charlotte, your Talent will be Gunslinger.”

She hums with pleased tone, nodding her head before giving a salute with two fingers and puckering her lips. “Gotcha.”

“Then that means…” Grey turns to August who was already waiting in anticipation. “Yeah, you’re getting two Talents.”

“Called it.”

“You’ll be their Mage and Cleric. I know how you love your magic games.”

“Yes. I. Do.” He emphasizes with a clap per syllable, leaning forward as he gives a grateful smile. “Thanks.”

“Yeah, well that were your choices. Anyway… You may now go back to your seat and those who didn’t get called are the last people to be teamed up with.”

As Grey waves for the next people to join in, Four figures stand in unison.

“Oh hey, Vallerie.” The taller blonde greeted the shorter girl, she waves to him as she makes her way to her line. She was glad to have Caine over at her team, more or less someone independent. She couldn’t hold a candle in comparison to him.

Well, both Evan in the other team and Caine were pretty much the dads of their class. She pauses to think about it.

Faint widow’s peak, deep green eyes, charming smile and fit bod? It’s a wonder how he can incorporate his golden heart to his golden looks.

“Oh hey, Caine! We have…” Vallerie’s dull green eyes skim the other tables to see Ian, Mr. Bowl haircut and Happy-go-lucky.

“Oh~ Hello Val! Hello Caine! Hello…” Ian’s high pitched voice seemed to slowly trail off, his hand that had been waving high up suddenly lowered, his slanted brown eyes seemed to dim as he sees the last person walk to their line.

A short boy stands mischievously across the line, giving his infamous Cheshire smile to them as he grazes his fingers across the fringe of his messy spiked hair. His eyes glowed a fiery amber as his gaze locks onto the three of them.

“Hello teammates.” Kaden’s greeting came off as malicious, with the hungry look he’s giving to his new playthings for teammates, they could only gulp.

“Guess every team has some kind of person they’re not too fond of.” Ava mentions quietly which caught Mason’s attention; he snorts low and leans to her direction from across the table.

“You’re one to talk.”

“Do you even want to get out of this… ‘Everoe’ place?” She snaps with gritting teeth, her nails clawed against the tablecloth as she narrows her look to him.

“Duh, of course. That’s the reason why we’re here—“

“Then stop pissing people off and actually try to be nice. Cooperate. And shut up.”

“Who made you Boss?”

“A self-proclaimed title that I’d like to keep. Deal with it.”

At the two’s quiet banter, Matthias and Elijah could only sigh in their seats. Guess they’ve got a ways to go.

“Alright, Now…” Grey points to the brunette in line, “Vallerie, you’ll take Battle Alchemy. Judging from your Chemistry grade for the past two semesters, I’m sure this’ll be a cake walk.”

Vallerie nods, pursing her lips. From her blank expression, it seemed like it was her second option. Caine noticed it and cocked a brow, what was her first then?

“Caine.” The tall blonde’s eyes snapped wider as his train of thought broke, he turns to Grey with a smile, the sides of his cheek dip into soft dimples.

“Ah, yeah?”

She stared for a moment, before clearing her throat. “Ahm… Lance combat.”

“Oh… Oh yeah, okay.” His first choice. That was good.

“Ian, buddy. Your Talent is Puppetry.”

“Yes yes!” The plump boy pokes his rosy cheeks, “My third choice!”

“Why’s he so excited for that?” Rio whispered to Grey who received a small ‘dunno’ and a shrug.

“Lastly… Yes, Kaden. You’re the same with August.” Grey could see her bff’s expression from where she stood, she ignored it. “Mage and Cleric.”

“Oh good, I like playing the support roles in games.” Kaden pinched his bottom lip with a look of anticipation. “I’ll be doing my best from now on…”His voice echoes eerily before he turns to the other three. “…Alright?”

The three of them make hesitant signs of agreement before turning back to Grey with a look that says ‘Let us sit, please’.

Grey could only feel guilt for the teams she created, but it was the only choice they had considering their Talents that placed on their paper.

“Okay… You may all sit down.” Grey says with a more serious tone to it, she waves them off watching their backs move and find their respective seats.

The guild hall was quiet for a second before Grey snapped away the list of paper in a flourish of blue, she crosses her arms over her chest plate, it creaks of a metal grinding.

“Six teams. Four members.” She started, “This will forever be your team until we get out of here, for the sake of making sure you all complement each other.” She holds a hand up, seeing their mouths open to say something witty. “Up. I know, ironic. People who you don’t really know are people who you can lean on to. But since you guys had the choices, I might as well say that maybe it was fate that lead to this… odd teammates.”

She could see them cringe at the word ‘fate’ and continues, “Right, anyway. Enough of that bullcrap, I’ll get to the juicy bits.” She starts to pace to the right, her hands now falling and hooking behind her, she looks up to the orange tinted ceiling where the chandelier swung quietly. “Tomorrow is Sunday, where me and the other Commanders will be busy for the whole day prepping for Monday. You will receive schedules tomorrow and by around…” She turns her head slightly to the clock in the back, the paces back and forth again slowly. “…Eight or so, you’ll all come down here after exploring the place a bit. You can’t leave, so that’s one. You may talk to your teammates, go looking through the library and researching. The library is the only place that’s accessible at the moment, so please be patient till we give explanations.”

She stops after the sixth pace, her foot trudged against the thick rug as she turns to them with a sad look. “I…” She pauses, deliberating whether or not to say what she wanted to before shaking her head and smiling. “I’ll get the food ready. Noah and Josh should be finished with it.”

Augustus shifts in his seat, squinting at Grey’s total plastic façade. He might need a word with her later, if he would be allowed to.

“Well, after your meal. Do go to your chambers, I’ll be seeing you tomorrow night.” With that, she pats Rio on the shoulder and nods.

“Get those two, It’s my turn to take watch.”

“On it.”

With that, Rio waves to the two tables with a faint smile. “Stay here, I’ll get the food.”

They turn to see Rio jogging off to the entrance of their guild and notice Grey leaving out the back door, pushing the large double doors of the back and stepping into the darkness of the night.

SLAM

For the moment, they were left with silence and a slowly growing understanding of the predicament they were forever going to be stuck with. Their teammates.