Waking up at dawn made Dawn want to punch herself in face and knock herself out again. It was even worse considering her name and the fact that many puns were made about it, though it didn't seem like the ones responsible for the puns were all that happy about waking up at dawn themselves.

Dawn groaned, pushing the covers off of her and getting up for the day. She really wanted to go back to bed, but she had learnt by now that if she didn't, then Lexus would come bounding into her room, like the normal bundle of energy she was, and pester her repeatedly until Dawn finally got up. Why get an alarm clock when you had Lexus? How Lexus could be so energetic as such times in the morning would forever remain a mystery to Dawn. It baffled her to no ends. It was too early even for a morning person and thats saying something. Hell, it's basically still night.

Begrudgingly, Dawn forced her tired body out of bed, deciding to quit her usual angry morning rant. Though she would likely repeat it tomorrow.

Dawn moved around her room like a zombie, slowly selecting clothes for her day - not that she actually gave it much thought - and began to drag herself towards the bathroom when Lexus suddenly burst in and was probably about to scream something to wake Dawn up, when Dawn jumped and found herself screaming.

"Oh gosh, Dawn, I'm sorry! I didn't know you were already up!" Lexus quickly apologised. Dawn placed a hand to her frantically beating heart, and sucked in a few deeps breaths. The pain in her chest had vanished a day after she woke up, most likely signalling that there was no actual damage to her chest. The aching in her body had remained slightly, but that was only because of training.

There was something about being beaten repeatedly that just tired you out.

"Don't - do - that," Dawn gasped. Lexus laughed sheepishly, rubbing the back of their neck.

"Sorry Dawn! But you usually wake up quicker if I scare you awake," Lexus explained and sure enough, Dawn was now wide awake.

"Oh yeah. It also puts me on the path to a heart attack," Dawn mumbled. She sighed, calming herself down. "I'm gonna take a shower..." Lexus gave her an apologetic smile and allowed them to pass.

"See you at breakfast," they called as Dawn made her way to the bathroom.

"Right."

0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0.0 <<< I like this face.

Dawn thumped onto the chair with little precaution. She was feeling much more awake now, but that didn’t change the fact she was up at this ungodly hour.

She sent a sideways glance to Daniel, a look far too drained to be an actual glare. Jay was smashing his food together, likely trying to create something again, but he looked like his brain was malfunctioning, because he didn’t even seem to notice he had accidentally pushed half of the food to the table. It was a real mess.

“Jay, clean up your mess,” Daniel ordered, giving him a stern look. Jay looked at him, before returning to his food, muttering something completely incoherent.

“...Same,” Dawn agreed. Daniel rolled his eyes, looking as though he was already done with their bullshit. Daniel sighed, standing up just as Lexus walked in.

“I’ll be gone today too, but if something important comes up, let me know,” Daniel informed. Jay looked at him with a dead look.

“Where can we find you?” Lexus asked.

“If anything, just go to the Elder, he’ll have kept track. It should be another squad meeting, but it might change,” Daniel explained. Lexus nodded, taking in the information. At least someone was alive enough to.

“Got it, thanks.” Lexus smiled, sitting down with their breakfast. Dawn blinked, squinted at something she saw. “Hey Dawn?” Lexus called. Damn hummed, focusing on the weird thing she saw. She narrowed her eyes, analysing it as she actually woke up.

“I’ll be helping with your training today! Since Puzzle is busy on a mission, I’ll be training you,” Lexus chirped. Dawn nodded, mumbling something along the lines of “that’s cool,” before returning her attention to the thing she was staring at.

“Okay, what are you staring at?” Lexus asked, slightly annoyed at being ignored.

“Daniel, what’s that on your arm? Is it a birthmark?” Dawn asked. Daniel froze instantly, stiffening up. Lexus had opened their mouth to say something, but quickly clamped it shut. Weirdly enough, Jay snapped awake, looking alerted at Dawn’s word.s Dawn looked around, feeling put down. “I didn’t know it was such a big deal,” She mumbled dejectedly. “Sorry.”

Daniel looked down to his arm, confirming that there indeed was a red mark on his forearm. He set his plate down, and instead inspecting his forearm. A small red ‘U’ like shape was present, the skin around it appearing slightly red.

Lexus’ voice was shaky as they spoke up. “Dani, is that…?” They trailed off, but the look they gave Daniel finished their sentence for them.

“I don’t think it’s anything. Don’t worry about it,” Daniel falsely assured, but he sent a quiet look to both Lexus and Jay before picking his plate up. “I have to be at my meeting soon, so I need to go.”

“Have fun, I suppose?” Dawn tried, but it came out more of a question than anything. Daniel nodded, before walking out. Lexus and Jay shared a look, both looking concerned, only further confusing Dawn.

“Anyone wanna tell me what’s going on here?” Dawn huffed, annoyed. Why did everyone know something that she didn’t? It wasn’t fair. Jay shrugged at her.

“It’s probably nothing to worry about. Like he said, don’t worry about it,” Jay stated before shovelling his food into his mouth. Dawn cringed, looking away from him. She sighed, picking at her own breakfast. She didn’t feel hungry but with her current life, she knew she should take it while she still had it and hope not to end up throwing it up later.  

“Alright.”

--------

“Attack when you feel necessary. Just make sure it’s soon.”

------

“Hey! Asshole! Stop grouching and get down here!” A girl called, her hands on her hips. The boy lying in the tree rolled his eyes, ignoring her presence and closed his eyes again.

“Don’t ignore me!” She continued.

“Fuck off!” He yelled back. Technically speaking, he wasn’t ignoring her anymore.

“Calm down, Aurora,” Rubrum laughed as she approached. Aurora rolled her eyes.

“But he never moves until someone quits,” Aurora huffed.

“That ‘someone’ is gonna be you!” Games yelled back, briefly opening his eyes before closing them again. Just as Aurora opened her mouth to yell something back, Lorem walked up to them, smiling.

“Seriously? Again?” He laughed, the small smile still on his face.

“I can’t help it that he’s being an asshole,” Aurora muttered.

“I’m pretty sure that’s just because you two don’t get along. Your views are always different,” Lorem offered. He heard Games scoff from his position in the tree.

“That’s because Aurora lives in a fantasy world, and I live in reality.”

“I do not!” Aurora snapped. Rubrum sighed.

"You deserve a gold sticker then. Oh shit, I'm all out. JUST LIKE I'M OUT OF PATIENCE FOR YOUR BULLSHIT, GO AWAY," Games yelled. Aurora was about to angrily retort but Rubrum cut her off before she could.

“Just once, can you two not argue please?” Rubrum muttered, rolling her eyes. Lorem nodded in agreement.

“Just today? You have the rest of your lives to argue,” Lorem asked. Games’ eyes snapped open and he rolled to the side, careful not to fall off the branch he was currently resting on.

“And what exactly do you mean by that?” Games hissed, glaring at his best friend. Lorem looked up, grinning, mischief sparkling in the part of his eyes that weren’t blocked from sight by his bangs.

“Oh? Who said that had another meaning?” Lorem challenged, still grinning. Rubrum snickered, covering her mouth with her hand.

“He’s got a point. I’m pretty sure he was only asking for you to not argue today, since you have many, many, many years to argue amongst yourselves,” Rubrum snickered. Aurora looked horrified at what the two were implying.

“You two are clearly implying something here, don’t even try that bullshit,” Games growled. “I can see straight through you.”

“Oh yeah?”

“Yes, now shut the fuck up,” Games snapped.

“Then why don’t you make me?” Lorem continued. Games narrowed his eyes before jumping down, landing easily despite the height he dropped from. Games stood up, glaring daggers at Lorem, about to say something more when Lorem spoke up, a wide grin stretched across his face.

“Great, now that you’re down-,”

“Fuck.”

“-we can go,” Lorem continued with a smile. Rubrum rolled her eyes while Aurora scoffed.

“Finally,” Aurora muttered, turning around. Games decided to ignore her.

“It’s great how Lorem can always get you to do things without even trying. If I didn’t know any better, I’d say you have something for him,” Rubrum teases. Games’ face immediately turned red.

“I-I don’t!” He stammered. Rubrum slowed, before stopping entirely.

“Oh wait. You actually do?” Rubrum asked, entirely serious as she stared at his red face. Lorem stopped too, turning around to face the two. Games’ eyes snapped down to the ground, not daring to make eye contact with either of them.

“I don’t!” He repeated, this time louder.

“You totally do,” Rubrum laughed, and then turned to Lorem. “Hear that, Lorem? You’ve got the best chance you could possibly hope for!” Lorem was quick to spin around, not allowing his own red face to be seen.

"Shut up," he murmured, quickly walking away.

~~~~~~~

Dawn stared up at the clouds as they passed by, thinking. She was somewhat grateful for the training, but of course she was still suspicious. But despite that, she decided it may be best if she didn’t think about it. No one was telling her anything and she wouldn’t be able to put anything together as everyone refused to tell her anything.

Dawn sighed. At least she had time for herself. She hasn’t relaxed for a while. She was anxious about not training, since it was desperately needed, but Jay had something about not pushing too far and perhaps she should take a break. Dawn wasn’t an idiot, it was clear something else was happening, but of course, no answers.

Dawn continued to stare up at the sky. Eventually, she closed her eyes and began to doze off…

---

Dawn felt disorientated when she woke up. She could vaguely hear something in the distant. Blinking away the tiredness in her eyes, she lifted herself up, waking up properly. She strained her eyes for a second before the sound finally hit her and she could hear it clearly.

Crackling.

Dawn blinked, standing up.

Screaming.

Dawn’s eyes widened, gasping. She could see the red glow now, she could hear the screams of fear and fighting nearby. Forcing herself to move, Dawn sprinted towards the village.

She stopped at the edge of the village, eyes widening in terror at the sight before her. The village was burning. The smelling of fire and burning flesh hit her nose, suffocating her and making her feel sick. People were running around frantically, screaming. Squad leaders and members were fighting the virus’ as best as they could. Everywhere Dawn looked, there as fighting, blood.

Dawn stared on in chaos, for a few seconds before desperately running into the chaos.

~~~
Finally, I can get this shit started. ;")