Into the woods [Mission]

Joseph hadn't been particularly interested in running off to Brazil to hunt down jungle creatures. What he was particularly interested in, however, was getting money. His insurance bill was as high as a sixteen-year-old on a Friday night.

He wasn't alone in this. In total, there were four Beata students en route to South America. The group was comprised of Mason Stein, a Winter prefect, Cayden Hawke, a Winter student, and Cayden's little sister of the Summer house, Stephanie. It took two days via car to reach New York from the Academy, and from there, they hopped on a plane straight to Rio De-Janeiro, the heart of Brazil. After a day of rest, they boarded a second flight, and from there on out, they were on a boat.

Slumped against a wall nearer to the stern of the boat was Joseph, hunched over whilst resting his elbows on his knees. The Winter held a tall, metal water bottle loosely in one hand. He wasn't sure how long he'd been sitting like this, but he wasn't planning on moving out of the shady area of the boat. Brazil was hot. He'd known, of course, that it was going to be warm, but he'd never anticipated it to be so bad. He already hated summer up in the US, but it was nothing--nothing--compared to this place. Even in a tank-top, he was still a living, breathing sweat fountain. Perspiration coated his chest, his face, his belly, and the back of his neck, effectively slicking his hair down to his skin.

He watched silently as lush greenery came and went along the shoreline. Beasts weren't a problem for him. Dehydration, bleeding, and insect bites also did not pose any sort of threat to Joseph's well-being. The only thing that he had to worry about was the misery of sitting around in such excruciating heat. Joseph pulled a cloth out of his rucksack and dabbed his forehead with it. Let's hope killing these chimera things doesn't take too long.

Magic just sat out of the way on the boat. He didn't want to try to move too much to cause him to get exhausted. The heat was bad enough, he preferred to be in the cold weather that North Dakota offered, but here he was on a mission with two winter students, and a summer. Why did he agree to this? Was this just some way to get frustrations out for him? Maybe it was the money? Honestly he couldn't quite remember, and he didn't care to remember.

It was a bit suffering to be on the boat ride. All of the noises of the forest were getting to him, making him irritated. He just wanted to kill those damn things and get out of this stupid forest as soon as possible. He didn't bring his noise cancelling headphones along because he didn't want to lose them, and he didn't want to silence the sounds with his gift because he didn't want to waste his energy.

When the water was offered he didn't take it. The others could have it first. He was too busy trying to determine how long he would have to deal with these noises? There was also the fact of what the Chimera had in store, and what they could even do. It should be simple enough to kill these things right? He hoped so.

If Stephanie were ever to be honest with Cayden, she would tell him she signed up for this mission as an excuse for a vacation. Her parents were never one to travel, believing they had everything they could want or need within their hometown. The young summer never reciprocated her parent's feelings, reveling in any vacation she could get her hands on. This would be no different. Besides the deadly monsters of course. But knowing her brother would chuck her on a plane back to North Dakota at any moment, she opted to join him out of concern for her older brother's safety. At least it was semi-true.

She didn't mind the days long trip it took for the four students to arrive. It was worth the fatigue. The baking sun, the sweltering heat, the hum of bugs. Stephanie had missed it so much. With the arrival of her gift, it was almost as if she enjoyed it even more. Not a drop of sweat clung to her forehead, her throat was clear and healthy, and she couldn't help but glow in the sun. Literally. Her skin and eyes mimicked Cayden's almost exactly. He wasn't the only one soaking up the sunlight. She felt rejuvenated from her tiredness, suddenly up and hanging over the edge of the boat, smiling brightly at the rain forest.

"Can you believe we're in the Amazon?" Her eyes were plastered to her older brother now, forgetting about the danger they were about to face. All she could think about was how incredible their surroundings were.

Joseph was jolted out of his heat-induced stupor as the boat suddenly rocked. He sat upright and then stood, frowning slightly. "What the hell was that?" he asked no one in particular. The Winter stepped towards the railing, close to where Magic was reclining, and peered over into the water. Again, the boat rocked, except more violently this time. Gripping the iron rails and ignoring the burn of the hot metal, Joseph snapped his head around in the direction of their tour guide.

There was nothing left of the tour guide but a mess of dark, crimson liquid, dashed across the floor and the driver's seat. Joseph didn't even have the chance to shout before the boat went flying to the side, and all four students were thrust into the murky Amazon river.

Water. Water all around him. He couldn't see the surface. It was like a nightmare that had frequented Joseph's dreams as a young boy. It was his only true fear. He'd never tested if he could survive drowning, but he'd built an anxiety up around the prospect of it for many years. Frantically, he waved his arms around and groped for anything solid to hold on to. Finally, he spotted faint light filtering from above. Having located the surface, Joseph began furiously kicking his way back to it. A monster wouldn't frighten him on land, but this was in the middle of the Amazon fucking river. He could barely make out several other dark, human-shaped figures flailing around aimlessly in the cloudy water. Three of them, to be exact. Thank god he would't have to search for them.

Just as the Winter's head broke the surface and he managed to take half a breath, something clamped onto his left calf. It was like a dozen, individual daggers had jut into his leg, and before he knew it, he was being forcefully dragged back into the depths of the river. Goddamn. Don't tell me I'm going to die in this shitty place.

Somehow, in the midst of his panic, Joseph remembered with a start that he had a machete tucked into a pouch on his side. Blindly, the young man grappled around at his waist until his finger met the hard, plastic handle of the knife. Yanking it out, he twisted himself around and swung the knife as best he could in the face of whatever the creature was. Missed. Holding his breath for this long was beginning to make him light-headed, but he persisted. On the second swing, the blade met its target. It didn't dig in, but he certainly felt it cut through something soft. With a gargling roar, muffled by the water, the creature let go of Joseph and fled. He wasted no time getting back to the surface, leg injury or not. Whatever hell-beast that had just bit him would undoubtedly be back for more.

Joseph let out a strained, spluttering gasp as he was met with the warm air above once more. He clawed at the side of the capsized boat, gripped the steel ladder on the side, and lifted himself out of the river as best as he could. Looking down as he tucked his machete away, he noticed that a pool of blood had formed around his left leg, which was still in the water. Not necessarily a problem for him alone, but he was afraid that it would draw more unwanted predators to the scene. Not everyone here could get chewed up by a beast and live to tell the tale. The Winter scanned the surface for everyone else, but he spotted no one from where he was. Regardless, he shouted in a raspy voice, "There's a dangerous creature in the water!"

Magic wasn't exactly paying attention to anything. He was too focused on trying to block out the sounds. He had even shifted, and covered his ears with his hands in attempt to block out the many noises. Of course it didn't work to well, but it still blocked something. His eyes followed Joesph when they guy walked over to his side of the boat to look at something. He didn't notice the first rocking, but at soon as the second one hit the Prefect was on his way to stand up.

But it was too late, the boat had capsized, the winter prefect didn't even notice that their guide was killed. He was glad he wasn't taking a breath in when he hit the water. Mason sunk a bit in the water from being pushed in so suddenly. It took a moment for him to finally register that he was in fact in the water, and there was something in the water that caused the boat to get knocked over.

The boy try to look through the murky water to spot the others, but it was hard to see anything. The only thing he saw was the tail of something going for something else. With slight panic Magic pushed himself towards the surface. Once he broke the surface, he gasped for a breath of air. The noises of the forest hitting his ears once again. Okay he liked it under the water better. But he knew he couldn't stay.

He looked around for the others on the surface spotting Joseph, and the pool of blood he was creating in the water. "We need to get out of the water now." He told the other winter. Only hell knows what the blood in the water would attract. He made a mental note to emit sound waves from his body if anything touched him. Unless it was another person then that would be dangerous. Pushing forward he decided to swim towards the bank, trying not to panic.

Stephanie smiled at her brother, catching the bug spray with both hands. She began shaking the can when something began to rock the boat. Her brother instinctively gripped her arm a little too tightly, and the young summer held onto the can with one hand while grabbing the side of the boat with the other. It continued to shake, but the blonde was focused on her brother. She followed his gaze to the back of the boat.

It was gruesome. A sight that would traumatize anyone. Especially a thirteen year old with no trauma at all. Stephanie stood, horrified, her eyes dilated and her body shaking uncontrollably. What was once the driver was a pile of blood and guts. She dropped the bug spray and brought her hand to her mouth, holding back the rising bile and vomit in her throat. Just as she was about to turn to throw up over the edge, the boat capsized and the four of them went under.

Thankfully for her, the Hawke's parents were more than pleased to pay for her swimming lessons. She was still in shock, her legs barely kicking to keep her from sinking to the bottom. It wasn't until she heard a muffled growling followed by a dark shadow whizzing past her that she snapped out of her daze and quickly swam towards the surface. She broke into the hot air, gasping for breath and quickly looking for her brother. It seemed he hadn't come up yet, and her worry grew. The other winters seemed fine, despite Joseph's bleeding leg. But she remembered hearing the word regeneration when he signed up for the mission, so she assumed he would be fine.

The bank was not too far away. The young blonde quickly swam over to the edge of the river, attempting to pull herself up but failing. Her arms were too weak to pull up her weight. The summer held a hand up, gripping onto the bank and staring at the shaking hand. The image of the driver popped into her mind once again, and this time she didn't resist the urge to hurl. After a minute of coughing and sputtering, she felt something shift past her leg, sending chills up her spin and forcing her up onto the bank. There was still no sign of Cayden. She tried to call out, but she had lost her voice. All that came out was a shaky cry.

As Magic began hurriedly paddling towards the shore, Joseph glanced down at his injury. He could feel the lacerations that the beast's teeth had left behind closing up swiftly. He also noticed that he was sinking further and further downwards--Or, the boat was sinking, rather. And it was sinking fast. He needed to get away from it, lest he wish to get sucked down with it and potentially trapped underneath. The Winter's eyes swept across the upturned hull, trailing over the deep gashes that the monster had scored across the steel surface. If Joseph could manage to climb up onto the boat and dive off before it sank, he would be able to make it to shore fast enough to avoid the creature and the capsized boat.

Joseph crouched down a little, reeled his arm back, and then jumped. He managed to hook his right hand around a twisted piece of metal, as planned, and began to pull himself upwards. He managed to scrabble his way to the apex of the boat's hull, and stood on wobbly legs overlooking the water. On the shore, he could see Stephanie crawling up onto the sand, Cayden and Magic not far behind. Thank God no one else seemed to have sustained any serious injuries.. As far as Joseph was aware, anyway.

Steadying himself, the Winter crouched down, sucked a deep breath in, and then sprung forward. He dashed towards the half-sunken bow of the boat, careful not to loose his footing. Once reaching the end, Joseph leapt forwards into the air and dove into the river again. For a few moments, he couldn't think of anything but the land. The water curled around him like a cold, dead hand, inviting him back onto its depths, but he pushed furiously onwards. His lungs heaved as he went, and by the time his hand brushed the muddy bank, his chest was burning with effort. Joseph clawed up onto the land and immediately collapsed down onto the grass, not caring about the dirt and grime that would surely stain his clothing.

Once he'd somewhat caught his breath again, Joseph hauled himself upwards into a hunched sitting position, soaked in blood, water, and black sludge. If one thing was for sure, he would not be swimming in a river ever again.

It didn't take that long for the winter to reach the shore, and he was glad that the others were quickly following suit. He quickly pulled himself onto the shore not caring if dirt, and stuff stuck to his soaking clothes. Well at least he would be cool for a while, but there was nothing to be done about the many noises of the forest. After taking a moment to rest, and trying to relax his heart rate a little bit, he stood up.

The first thing he did was push his wet hair back and out of his face so he could see better. He really needed a haircut. He liked his hair slightly long but this was getting absurd. Well luckily it would dry that way and hopefully stay out of his face for a while. He scanned the water for a moment trying to see if he could spy anything but he didn't see anything. He listened for a moment to see if he could hear anything, but the there were too many noises to separate anything out. He let out a sigh before looking at the others.

"What are we supposed to do now?" He asked. That boat was supposed to take them to where they were supposed to be, and now they didn't have that. Who knows how far up the river their destinations was? And from the looks of it, they didn't have a guide anymore.. This was just fantastic. He was hoping for an easier mission, but that wasn't ever going to happen. First the attack at the water park, then being split in half, and now this? He needed a break.

She could feel the presence of the other mission members, but didn't raise her head to look at them. She sat on her knees, her hands pressed onto the shore with force in an attempt to stop or hide the intense shaking. It help somewhat, but there was no way she could forcefully stop her body from reacting the way it was. The young blonde felt small tears form at the corner of her eyes and she brought her hands to her face, hoping to hide her obvious fear from her brother and the other two boys. It was humiliating. She had signed up for this, fully aware that they would be in the face of danger, but she hadn't expected this.

It was a mistake signing up. She should have listened to her gut and stayed home. She shouldn't have gotten onto that plane. She should have run back when she had the chance. No one would have judged her. She was only 13 after all. Cayden would have been content knowing she was safe, and no one would have to worry about protecting her. But she thought it would be a fun vacation. She just had to sign up.

Stephanie knew her face was a mess. She could feel the heat of embarrassment, and the coolness of mud, and the wetness of her tears. She was a mess. The Summer once again attempted to call out, and although her voice was shaky and barely a whisper, she managed to speak. "I-I'm an idiot... Aren't I?"

God dammit, the water bottles.

They didn't personally matter to Joseph. Though having something to drink would be nice, dehydration couldn't kill him. He'd tested it before. His team members, however, needed water in such an unforgiving environment. Normally the Winter would be the first to plunge into a perilous situation, but the problem was, this time, that perilous situation involved a body of water. To make matters worse, it was a body of water that he'd already sworn to himself that he would never swim in again. Fuck me..

Rising up off of the ground, Joseph faced the river before him once more, a thorn of dread prickling uncomfortably inside of him. "I'll go if it's absolutely impossible that anyone else can," he muttered to the rest of the assembled students.

Well that left the winter prefect. Fuck... Well it wasn't that bad it was just murky water with monsters in it. What could go wrong if he got back in the water? He never expected the girl to go, but the other two? They probably could have easily dealt with it. Magic let out a sigh, well at least he would get to be in the water again where it was slightly cooler. Without so much of a protest, the winter walked towards the water. He didn't even hesitate when he reached the waters edge. Mason could feel the water seeping through his clothes once again, as he worked his way through the water. He made sure that if anything latched onto him his gift would easily take care of it. He moved through the water until his feet couldn't push him anymore, after that he used his arms to move him through the water.

It only took him a moment to reach the water bottles. He rounded them up, and pushed them back towards the shore where the others were. He moved back towards them when he felt something latch onto his leg, the prefect let out a hiss of pain, but the creature didn't hold on long because as it soon as it latched on it got a dose of sound waves to it's internal organs. After the creature moved away from him Magic was free to make his way back to the shore, the water bottles in tow. "Here." He growled shoving the bottles over to them in reaching distance before pulling himself out of the water to look at his leg, and where it was bitten. It wasn't too deep, but it was still going to bleed. Well he knew he was going to get hurt at some point in this mission.

Stephanie was forced out of her trance, her cheeks being squished by Cayden's hands as he locked eyes with her. There was no way she could look away, to hide the embarrassment and fear she felt. She was stuck staring into the eyes that were all too familiar to her.

As much as Cayden loved to shove away his emotions, it was impossible for him to keep them away from her. His eyes were filled with pain, and from the way he favoured one of his legs, she could tell it wasn't just emotional.

Giving her brother a quick nod, she turned to look at the other two. All of them looked terrible, soaked to the bone, and generally frightened by the prospect of venturing back into the monster infested waters. Although she knew he was capable, it worried her that Magic was taking the task of retrieving the water bottles. It didn't seem like he was very pleased with the idea, but waded into the waters anyways.

Loosing herself in thought, she barely noticed him return until the bright red liquid run down his leg and onto the shore. A flood of panic rushed through her. All three of the Winters, her companions and protectors, were somehow injured. Joseph was slowly healing, but it wouldn't be enough. He would slow them down at the rate of his regeneration. Magic's leg was slowly oozing blood, and Cayden's limp looked rather serious.

They were depending on her. They needed her right now, but all she could do was shake. The young blonde needed to snap out of it, otherwise the situation would only become worse.

Forcing herself to catch her breath, the Summer crawled over to where her brother stood, and gently placed her hands over his injured leg. Hopefully, she could manage some sort of result in her state. Letting out a long, deep sigh, she closed her eyes and began to concentrate on the injury. Her hands glowed slightly, emitting a bright light that eventually encompassed the older Hawke's lower leg. Her breathing was still somewhat shaky. Despite that, she managed to treat the internal bruising and over-all pain. There would still be some pain and soreness, but she knew he would be okay for the remainder of the mission.

Copying the action with Joseph and Magic, she managed to close the wounds and stop the bleeding, but like her brother, they would still feel some pain. Finally done with her part, she flopped down on her back, exhausted from the effort. Her body's storage was drained of all energy. The constant sun that beat down on them helped ease the recovery process, but she still struggled to keep her heart from racing.

Stephanie approached Joseph after she finished healing her brother, but he held up a hand to stop her. "No, it's fine," he murmured. "There's no need to waste your energy on me. I have a healing gift." He rolled up the the tattered fabric clinging to his leg to display the now-unblemished skin beneath.

Joseph watched through keen, narrow eyes as Stephanie went up to Magic next. She was obviously trying to hide how frightened and tuckered out she was by keeping herself occupied, but she wasn't doing a very good job of it. He picked up the bottle that Cayden tossed at him and popped the cap off before taking a short sip, all the while keeping his attention trained on the younger of the Hawke siblings. Why had such a young student been allowed to come along on such a perilous trip? She clearly didn't look like she wanted to be here. They'd been briefed about the dangers of participating before they'd even left the academy, and yet Stephanie had still come with. He'd admired her confidence while speaking with her on the place ride the other day, but she was not cut out for this.

Sighing heftily, the Winter hoisted himself back up to his feet and stepped closer to everyone else. As exhausted as Joseph felt, he was of no use lying around on the grass. "Well, if I'm a sitting duck, then I'm the kind that can get shot by the hunter's rifle fifty times and not die." He'd sort of thrown the meaning of the 'sitting ducks' analogy out the window, but it was true. "Nothing in that forest can kill me. I don't have anything to worry about. I can go look for shelter and supplies." He tossed the water bottle back at Cayden. "You guys need this more than I do, so you keep it."

Magic just sat in silence as Stephanie healed him. Normally he would reject the kind of thing, but he needed this time if they hoped to get the mission done. He kept his eyes on her hands as the closed up the wound with her gift. It was interesting to watch, but as soon as it was done he turned his head away slightly. "Thanks." He said in a bit of a monotone to the girl. He tested the muscles where his wound was slightly trying to see what pain would come from it. It still had a slight sting, but nothing he could handle.

Magic stood, scooped up one of the clean water bottles from the ground an took a quick drink. He sealed the bottle back up, and put it back down. The prefect turned towards Joseph. "I'm coming with ya." He said not giving the boy much of a choice. He wanted something to distract him from all the noises that were filling his head. He looked back to the other two. "If you two need help, just yell. I should be able to hear ya." He could probably pick out two human voices out of the many animal and bug noises he was hearing. Yeah it shouldn't be too big of a deal. Maybe with his gift he could kill something for the for of them to eat.