The days passed as usual for the students of Haven Academy. Well, all except for one specific individual. The con-woman hiding out under the guise of a Huntress in training, Rowan Cassidy. She didn't think her time in the academy couldn't get any worse for her. But her teammates prove time and time again that things can always get worse.

Since their unreasonable request to participate in the Vytal Festival Tournament, they've followed her, bothering her non-stop to reconsider. But she never budged on her decision. She wouldn't let those morons sign her death warrant.

Going out in public, fighting in a worthless tournament televised for the whole world to see, would out her to her enemies. Rowan wanted to stay under the radar for as long as possible until news about her ex-partner in crime, Duncan Butcher, reached her ears. The bastard escaped from Atlas custody and was probably still in Haven somewhere. So, leaving the confines of the academy was out of the question for her.

Knowing Duncan as well as she did, he'd do something stupid to make him appear on Mari Gould's radar. And when he did, she'd find out what to do. Either way, her hole of problems only seemed to get bigger and bigger as the days passed.

Case and point, it was time for the students of Haven to partake in missions across the kingdoms. Most students rushed to take on the most prominent, challenging tasks they could find. Either in search of fame, prestige, or a higher grade. It didn't matter to Rowan. In her eyes, everyone looked like idiots.

How hard was it to select a mission and then move on? Pick something and go—that simple. But, of course, Rowan's teammates had to get swept up in the same category as the other idiots around her.

"C'mon, we gotta find something worth my time! How about search and destroy missions? Does anyone feel like wiping out hordes of Grimm?" Schwartz der Hund, the leader of Team SWRZ, suggested. His blood was already pumping at the thought of taking out Grimm left and right, cleansing the world of the filth known as the creatures of destruction.

"This one does not wish to taint her blade with the blood of those vile creatures," Zorina arrogantly objected to her leader's suggestion. She played her role as best as she could, but the paleness of her face, mixed with the beads of sweat, told her teammates everything they needed to know. She was terrified of the Grimm.

It was one of her main weaknesses. No team member had yet to call her out on it, figuring she would eventually overcome said fear. And as far as Schwartz was concerned, that day would be today if he had anything to say about it. No person on his team would falter before the Grimm.

"Then why become a Huntress in the first place if you don't want to fight Grimm?" Schwartz complained. It didn't make any sense to him. What kind of moron becomes a Huntsman and refuses to fight Grimm?

"Perhaps a simpler mission would suffice?" Watchet Amin offered. He looked through the missions and pointed. "How about an escort mission? An orphanage needs help moving children to Asagao village outside of Haven."

Rowan's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets when the name of the village reached her ears. If her memory served her correctly, it was the same place where Duncan's transport vehicle crash-landed. If she went to the crash site to investigate, perhaps she'd find a clue about where he disappeared.

"I'm with Watchet," All eyes moved to Rowan in response to her comment. "An escort mission would be best for us."

Zorina smiled from ear to ear and hugged her partner. "This one knew you would agree!"

"Let go! Let go!" Rowan immediately shoved her partner off of her. What was it with her teammates not understanding the concept of personal space?

"What's so fun about escorting a bunch of brats to a village?" Schwartz groaned. Nothing about the mission excited him. He saw it as a waste of his time and talents.

"Missions are not about what is fun, Schwartz. You should feel happy about providing a service to the betterment of humanity," Watchet scolded his leader for his unnecessary outburst. But Schwartz rolled his eyes in response, not giving two shits about humanity in the long run.

"It might not be a horde of Grimm, but there's no guarantee we won't come across any," Rowan said to persuade Schwartz.

Schwartz crossed his arms and gazed into the eyes of his teammates. They seemed adamant about the escorting mission. Even his rank as a team leader wouldn't persuade them otherwise. The young man surrendered to their whims and accepted the escorting assignment.

He pressed the mission tab on the holographic board and entered his team name. A confirmation notice popped up, providing a brief description of their task.

Watchet stepped forward and read the message aloud, "Children from the Carwyn Orphanage request safe passage to the village of Asagao. Teams SWRZ and ARNC have accepted the quest with licensed Huntress Lilith Hale leading the mission."

"Oh?" Schwartz arched an eyebrow and read the message himself. What a stroke of luck having one of their instructors leading the mission. Perhaps he'd get to see the woman in action. "Suddenly, I'm more interested in this mission."

"Did it not say that another team also accepted the mission?" Zorina asked.

"Team ARNC," Watchet answered.

"Never heard of them before," Schwartz shrugged his shoulders and left the grand hall with his team.

"I do not believe they are first-year students," said Watchet as he recalled the welcoming ceremony for the newly found teams. Not once did the team name of ARNC pop up.

"What does it matter what year they are? As long as they don't get in the way, I don't give a damn," Schwartz said.

"This could be a wonderful opportunity to learn from our upperclassmen," Watchet's eyes beamed brightly behind the safety of his shades. How could he not feel excited meeting a team of students that came before them? He anticipated learning various things from the group and incorporating their knowledge into his own.

While Schwartz, Watchet, and Zorina continued to discuss the matters of the mission, Rowan snuck away somewhere private. She set her earbud into place and called her partner in crime.

"Mari," Rowan said.

"Yeah, yeah?" Mari responded almost immediately as if she'd expected the call. "What do you need this time around?"

"The same thing as before," Rowan replied. "Do you have any information regarding Duncan?"

"Nope. He's still MIA," Mari said. "Seriously, Rowan, he could be dead."

"You know as well as I do that's not the case. I won't believe Duncan's dead until I see a body," Rowan declared. She'd made that mistake one too many times in the future. "I guess I've got no choice but to examine the crash site myself."

"How will you do that when you're at school?"

"Luckily, all Haven students are heading out on missions. I selected one that'll send me to Asagao Village." Rowan reported. "I'll complete the mission, sneak away at night, and inspect the wreckage. Hopefully, I'll find some clues to his disappearance."

"It won't be easy since Atlas personnel are all over that crash site, but I'm sure you'll manage somehow," Mari nonchalantly said before ending the call herself.

Rowan removed her earbud and set it into her coat pocket. "No going back now," She mentally steeled herself for the mission. It would be dangerous, regardless of whether she found information on Duncan. The man was hellbent on tracking her down and capturing her. He wouldn't let things go, no matter how much time passed.

There was no room for error.

Rowan eventually returned to her teammates and went with them to the Carwyn Orphanage. Luckily, the establishment's location was in the high-class section of Mistral. The last thing Rowan wanted to see was orphans in the lower parts of the kingdom. It brought up too many unpleasant memories.

"This the place?" Schwartz wondered as the group stopped in front of one of the most significant buildings in the area.

"Have trouble reading?" Rowan teased her team leader as she pointed to the sign that arched above the gates in front of them. The sign read, 'Carwyn Orphanage.' "Yes, this is the place."

Schwartz rolled his eyes and overall ignored the insulting comment. He tried to open up the gate but found it challenging. "What the hell? It's locked! Why is it locked?"

"Probably to prevent unwanted guests from entering," Watchet surmised.

"Unwanted guests? We accepted the damn mission, didn't we?" Schwartz complained.

"It's not like they knew we were coming," Rowan stated.

"Fuck it, I'm jumping the fence," Schwartz shrugged shoulders and then took a couple of steps back. His teammates persuaded him otherwise against the idea, but he ignored them as usual. He rushed forward and leaped, stopping when a chakram flew by his face.

The eyes of the students followed the weapon until a single hand reached out and grabbed it. A slender, young woman with long black hair and piercing red eyes casually walked across the top of the fence, unhindered by her dress-like tunic. Both hands held her weapons of choice, a pair of chakrams.

The woman raised her weapon at the team, "Who're you people? What're you doing here?"

"That's one hell of a way to talk to someone after nearly cutting their head off!" Schwartz returned the gesture and pointed his sword at the girl, earning a smirk in response.

"Trust me. If I wanted to cut off your head, it would've already hit the floor."

"Is that so?" Schwartz took the girl's arrogance as a challenge. He was prepared to give her one if she wanted a fight.

Fortunately, the other team members stepped forward to prevent a fight between the two. "We are students from Haven Academy! We accepted a mission to escort some children from the orphanage to Asago village!" Watchet announced.

The young woman smiled and dropped down from the gate, landing elegantly in front of the students. "Oh, you're team Sewers? Right?"

"Sewers?!" Schwartz exclaimed. Yup, the girl was trying to pick a fight with them.

"Yeah, S, W, R, Z. That could only mean sewers, right?" The girl tilted her head to the side. "Odd team name if you ask me, but what can you do? I don't make the rules for team names."

"It is Team Schwartz," Watchet corrected the girl's mistake.

"Ohhhh..." The girl acknowledged her mistake, but the look on her face gave it away that she didn't care. "Well, whatever. We're glad to have you here. Welcome to the orphanage."

"Who are you?" asked Zorina.

"Nagina Dhar, member of Team ARNC," Nagina introduced herself with a bright smile. Afterward, she leaped over the fence and unlocked it for the other students to enter. "Come on inside. The others are waiting."

"Thank you," Watchet and the others entered through the gate and approached the building, where another person stood watch.

Another young woman was wearing a full plate of armor and twin axes strapped to her back. The most notable feature Zorina noticed about the girl was the eye patch, an accessory the girl found incredibly fascinating.

"Ah, I see you too wear a limiter to suppress your tremendous power," Zorina approached the girl while tapping onto her eye patch.

"What?" The girl didn't know how to respond to the stranger.

"She likes your eye patch," Rowan translated.

"Thank you? I guess," The eye patch girl awkwardly responded to the compliment. "Hers looks...decorative?"

"Are you a student from Haven as well?" Watchet inquired.

"Yeah, I'm Cerise Bonnet." Cerise introduced herself. "You guys must be the second team. I see that you guys met Nagina."

"I almost cut the guy's head off," Nagina proudly boasted, giggling afterward.

"You shouldn't throw your weapon around like that, Nagina, especially since we're at an orphanage!" Cerise immediately punched her partner on the head. "What would you have done if you accidentally hit a child?!"

"Ow! I'm sorry, okay?!" Nagina whined and rubbed the bump on her head.

"I apologize for my partner's reckless behavior. She takes her guarding duty a little too seriously," Cerise said.

"We understand completely," Watchet, Rowan, and Zorina said in unison, shooting a glance in the direction of their leader. All three of them saw similarities between the two.

"Feel free to step inside and meet with the others. We're standing watch until Professor Hale arrives." Cerise informed them before she stepped aside and gestured toward the entrance to the orphanage. Schwartz and the others wasted no time accepting the invitation, casually entering the orphanage.

It was chaos at first sight.

Immediately upon entry, dozens of children ran through the establishment halls, yelling and screaming their heads off, making a complete mess of the place. The orphanage staff members tried to keep the children calm, but nothing stopped the little monsters from wreaking havoc.

"We've wandered into a warzone," Zorina commented.

"Seems like it," Schwartz and Rowan agreed.

"Excuse me," Watchet called out to one of the staff. "We're students from Haven and--"

"Backyard..." The worn-down staff member pointed before he went on with his chase after the rowdy children.

The team walked through the building and stepped outside into the backyard, immediately finding it more peaceful than the establishment inside. A handful of children sat around in a circle, cheering and clapping as a dark young woman with jaw-length black hair and sparkling blue eyes skillfully juggled eight daggers. The girl complimented the performance with her dancer-like outfit.

"The hell is up with this place?" Schwartz asked. It was one thing after another within the orphanage. He'd encountered one too many weirdos than he would've liked.

"Try and watch your language, Schwartz," Watchet suggested. "We are in the presence of children."

"That girl can wear a revealing outfit, but I can't swear?" Schwartz complained.

The dancing girl spotted the sudden increase in audience volume and smirked, deciding to end her performance. She tossed all eight daggers into the air and closed her eyes. As the weapons descended, she spun around and captured them all within the leather sheathes on her waist. All the children jumped up and cheered, chanting the name of the beautiful performer.

"Amani! Amani! Amani!" The children chanted.

"Thank you! Thank you! You're all too kind!" Amani soaked in all the cheers and stares from her wonderful audience, basking in the glory. "I'll be sure to return and provide another performance soon!"

"She's quite something..." Schwartz noted.

"I'd avoid her at all costs if I were you," A low, gruff voice reached the ears of Team SWRZ. The students turned around and spotted a large, well-dressed thickset young man towering over them. "That girl's nothing but trouble."

"You know that because?" Schwartz trailed off.

"I'm her partner," The man revealed. "The name's Edward Regalia. And that over there is Amani Almas. You're Team SWRZ, right?"

"We are," Watchet nodded his head.

"Glad you made it," Edward folded his arms across his broad chest. "I apologize if any of my team members caused you trouble."

"Nothing that we can't handle," Schwartz boasted.

"You're confident. I'll give you that. Don't let it become arrogance," Edward sternly advised.

"Too late for that," Rowan sighed.

Before Schwartz could retort, Amani finally managed to escape her adoring fans. She approached the group with a broad smile. "Eddy, are these the freshmen?" She asked with a playful tilt of her head.

"Yes," Edward answered.

"Excellent!" Amani clasped her hands together, her eyes beaming with enthusiasm as she continued, "Your team is lucky to have the opportunity to pair up with the best team in all of Haven! Led by the one and only Amani Almas! Yes, that's right, the Amani Almas! I'm sure you've heard of me!"

"No," Team SWRZ shook their head.

Veins protruded on Amani's forehead as she forced a smile. "Now isn't the time for jokes, first-year students! How could you not have heard about perhaps the greatest treasure in all of Remnant?!"

"That's enough, Amani," Edward set his hands on the girl's shoulders, trying to settle her down. The last thing he needed was a fight to break out between the two teams. "Save it for later. Right now, Mother Carwyn would like to meet with us."

"Yeah, yeah, fine," Amani brushed her partner's hands off and entered the orphanage.

"Come along," Edward guided Team SWRZ and the children back inside the orphanage, leading them upstairs to meet with the establishment's owner.