*chuckles* i'm in danger [open]

There was something odd about this forest, so the locals told.

From a brief glance, it appeared just as any forest would, with the sun cracking into kaleidoscopic threads of soft gold that illuminated the verdant canopy and brimmed with the music of life all around it. Every step held a little bounce in it, boosted by the damp spongy soil where shadows eased into the air, serving as the backbone of a solace for fauna and flora alike that remained completely untouched by humans. The depths of low grown bushes and trees faded into century old trees vaulting overhead as an individual proceeded layer by layer and breached the haven.

That impression alone would not have made anyone consider it as anything more than just another forest. If it weren't for the lone winding road that filed into the forest, nobody would bat an eyelid towards the place, equating it to just another insignificant drop in the ocean.

So what was so strange about the road?

Just like the forest, it didn't look like anything special. It really shouldn't have been anything more than a mild disturbance of sickly yellow - nearly browning in color - against the vibrant green, but anyone who took the path found themselves traveling along it for what felt like an eternity. No matter how quickly they ran to cleave their way through the forest with their legs, every step carried the languid heaviness of a sloth's pace, dragging on and on and on until the environment seemed to blur and every part of the forest looked the same. Once they deemed that it was pointless to continue and turned back, they would suddenly find themselves back at the entrance in no time.

A few people were said to go insane from the whiplash they experienced, prompting a sort of urban legend that the forest was haunted and should be avoided at all costs.

Normally, such a matter would have been dismissed as merely just that - an urban legend. But lately, a few eyewitness reports mentioned seeing individuals enter the forest yet they never came back, prompting an investigation that may have coincided with the possible cases of kidnapping happening around the area.

Several simple methods of making it through the forest had proved to be a failure. Marking the trees as a checkpoint was pointless as an individual would find themselves right back at the start and never see their mark again; leaving breadcrumb trails was equally as futile. Compasses were interfered with, and local geologists mentioned that there was no plausible explanation that could've caused the needle to run haywire. Clocks and timers seemed to malfunction not moments after entering the forest, making it just as unreliable for keeping track of time as one's own distorted senses.

This time, she entered with a rather unorthodox device- a metronome. The mechanical windup shouldn't have any environmental factors that could interfere with it, and the audible click that it produced could easily be internalized like a regular heartbeat ticking away by the minute and kept her sane. As she progressed through the forest and kept a mental tally in her head, the metronome tucked neatly into her pocket, she carried a notebook in one hand and a pen to write with in the other. As she absentmindedly twirled the pen with her fingers, her attention was grabbed when her foot met thin air and she slipped down the incline.

A displeased groan fell from her lips as she reached for her cap to readjust it on top of her head, only to find her limbs caught in the neatest parcel of sticky silk woven together as a web.

Ah.

She was stuck.

And the culprit whose trap she happened to stumble upon happened to be an abnormally large spider with hues of chestnut deepening and lightening in organic orderly bands, stalking about without care a couple dozen feet away from where she was trapped. Okay... maybe her lack of sleep was finally catching up to her if she was hallucinating giant spiders out in broad daylight.

It definitely couldn't be a real spider, right? Just a figment of her imagination. That had to be it. Not that it explained why she couldn't move and was stuck in a web, but...

The metronome's needle was still winding down, sending a click! with each little tick it made. And so, eight beady eyes turned in her direction and she held her breath, mentally struggling to find a way to somehow (somehow!) get out of her current predicament.

If this was a hallucination or daydream, she would absolutely appreciate it if it she could snap back to reality right about now.

Oswyn had been running through the woods to test his current top speed (roughly 20 mph) when he dashed past what seemed like a giant spider crawling towards something caught in its web. He skidded to a stop a short distance away and stared down what the spider had trapped. A girl? All the way out in these woods? Without much of a second thought, he took off towards the spider and at the last second took a leap and vaulted the spider. He landed with a roll in the dirt right in front of the spider. Oswyn ignored the spider for the moment as he reached out to help the girl. "What are you doing out here, don't you know what are in these woods?"

Reports of an outsider had reached the guardians. The fact that it was a young woman had walked in from the outside was mildly alarming to them. As such, they had sent Dante out to investigate and see if he could lead her away before she discovered anything noteworthy. Otherwise...

He strode into he forest with purpose, hiding along with the shadows, barely making enough noise to alarm the squirrels who watched him go by, acorn in their grasp. The guardian noticed one of the speedster students running past him. How much did this boy know? With knitted brows, Dante continued after him, trying to keep pace in the shadows. As he broke out into the clearing and watching the speedster leap over the spider, and reach for the intruder-- Dante's gaze turned to the spider. He willed the attention from the intruder to himself and waited for the spider to turn to him. With little fanfare, the dark-haired young man slid the gun from the hidden holster in his jacket and leveled it at the spider.

Bang. Bang. Bang. Three shots and he waited for the spider to die.

She must have been really tired if she just saw a young boy who must've been no older than a teenager dash through the trees so quickly that he left behind a blurred trail of color like in cartoons. It could've been chocked down to the forest finally destroying her perception of time and sending her down the steep slope of insanity if it weren't for the fact that said boy leapt over the spider that had to be at least three to five times her size and that the metronome was still reliably keeping track of the passing seconds.

Hallucinations? Daydreaming? The faint border between reality and fiction was starting to blur too much. Every sensation - from the rich fragrance of the air dipped in leaves and loam to the undeniable stickiness of cool silk threads holding her back - felt too real.

Lips pursed into a thin line, she warily dropped her gaze to the boy's offered hand and immediately perked up at his words. Before she could say anything, a loud succession of bangs! in the background grabbed her attention, and she winced watching the spider writhe in agony before all of its legs went still and its large body collapsed in an unceremonious heap.

Someone else was there?

Tired eyes flicked back to the young boy. She'd questioned as many people as she could about the forest and reaped lackluster answers, yet the way he spoke made it sound like the fact that a giant spider roamed the place was supposed to be extremely common knowledge. Instead of asking any further, she lamely mumbled in a low voice, "I appreciate your assistance, but..."

She couldn't exactly take his hand when her arms were just as stuck on the web as the rest of her body and allowed her eyes to roam in slight shame at being found in such a ridiculous situation, looking past the boy to search for whoever had shot the gun.

Oswyn was about to grab the girl and start pulling but the gunshots caused him to jump away, almost getting caught in the web himself. "What the heck. Who has a freaking gun out here?" he said as he moved towards the girl again. Mentally switching his Enhanced Physicals from speed to strength, he grabbed onto the girl's arms. Careful not to get himself stuck, he started pulling harder than a boy his size should be able to, but not hard enough to hurt the girl.

"What is a student doing so far out here?" Dante countered, approaching the dead spider with little emotion. He eyed it for a long moment, then put his gun back in its holster. Dante then pulled a short sword from his side and sliced at the web, beginning to cut it down, standing within eyesight of the young woman. As soon as he got to her, he helped the student lift her arm, and he sliced his way through the web, separating her from the web. Dante watched her carefully, narrowing his eyes at the pen and paper in hand. "What are you doing out here?"

What a tight grip...

The fingers practically yanked her arm off the web, and soon enough, she was freed from the trap by a metal blade glinting coldly against the sunlight. Actually, who in the world carried around a sword in this era?! An inquisitive gaze swept between the two in front of her, scanning over their appearances as she stood upright.

The younger of the two - who had been referred to as a student - had dark green hair that matched the forest backdrop around them with an even brighter pair of emerald eyes; he was a few inches taller than her but had the undeniable spark of youth plastered all across his features. As for the young man that shot the gun - which shouldn't be _that_ peculiar around these parts, right? -, he seemed rather unassuming and ordinary, save for his piercing gaze that looked as though it could penetrate through her very core, peel layer after layer off with ease.

Cold and standoffish, only bolstered by the fact that he towered over her a bit.

They clearly knew more than she did. Who were these people?

"There are cases of missing persons that may be linked to this forest. Though..." Her voice was surprisingly lower for a girl of her stature, a slow cautious air lingering in her words. She bowed her head to the both of them before focusing on looking at the younger boy (only because the other person was hard to meet the gaze of...). "You're quite strong for your age. I'm grateful for the help from you both."

Oswyn nodded his thanks as the older boy came and helped the girl out of the massive web. Missing persons? This was news to the boy as Kaoru responded to Dante. "I was going for a run." he said simply, not wanting to raise an argument with the older boy. "Thanks, I, uh, get that a lot." He didn't recognize this girl so he was careful what he said in regards to his gift, especially this far out into the forest.

Dante frowned and nodded towards the two of them. "Follow me back. No running off. Both of you." He pointed down the road. "There is a lot we need to discuss." Dante waited for them to start walking, aiming at following behind. With a blank face, Dante pulled out his phone and sent a text off informing his higher-ups. As he finished, the dark-haired gifted blinked back at the two. "Well? Go on."

The young man in front of her shouldn’t be too much older than her - around the same age, if anything - and yet, he spoke with a glacial tone filled with authority, as if there was no leeway to talk back or say anything of the sort that could demean his words. Her index finger reached up to her cheek and subconsciously traced lines across it, a contemplative expression washing over her features.

Considering the guy had a gun (and... a sword) and the student definitely displayed physical feats that belonged in an action flick, she had no means of feasibly running if she really wanted to. Not to mention her backpack was heavy, stuffed with more than any reasonable person would bother carrying around, and both of them had a better idea of the situation than she did.

”I’ll do as you ask,” a tired defeated sigh passed her lip. As she slowly started down the road, she was beginning to think she definitely saw things she wasn’t supposed to see in this messed up forest.

Oswyn nodded silently as he started to walk towards where Dante had been leading him and the girl beside him. "I'm Oswyn, by the way. It's nice to meet you, even if the circumstances are a little wack." he said to Kaoru quietly. He wasn't trying to make sure the other boy wouldn't hear them, he was just nervous and he didn't want to overstep any more than he apparently already had.

A warning glance was sent Oswyn's way. Though Dante's gaze gravitated the woman's way. The guardians were never truly worried about someone coming through the forest. They never went too far. Even if they did, the monsters got them. It was a wonder she got as far as she did. Especially for how small she was in comparison to himself. Had it not been for Oswyn showing off his power to save her, Dante could have possibly sent her back with vague memories of a tall dark-haired man. But it didn't seem like that was the case, and he had trouble to deal with. However, she must have been fairly intelligent to get as far as she had.

Dante let out a miffed laugh at the thought of explaining what happened to the Headmaster.

When the boy introduced himself to her with a voice no louder than a whisper, easily scattered by the wind, she turned her head in his direction and blinked. Right, names. Something so simple and basic to give upon first meetings, strange circumstances or not. "Oh, I've forgotten my manners." A burning gaze bore right into the back of her head, but she ignored it to return the favor to Oswyn instead, "It's nice to meet you too. You can call me Kaoru." Just as she finished speaking, the young man behind them let out a laugh, so she gave him a glance over her shoulder.

"Is something the matter?"

Oswyn continued walking through the forest with his hands firmly planted in his pockets. He knew he had done something he shouldn't have. He hoped he wouldn't be kicked out of the school for this. He shot a warning glance at the girl as she asked Dante if something was wrong. She shouldn't be pushing it with the dude that has a sword and a gun. As he continued walking alongside Kaoru, his foot caught the root of a tree and he stumbled forward, unable to pull his hands from his pockets in time to stop himself from falling. "..Sorry." he mumbled, the breath knocked out of him, as he stood up and brushed himself off.

Kaoru? Okay, good. One less question to ask later. He let out a sigh and waved them both on. "Oswyn, it would be in your best interest to shut up." Dante told him warningly. In reality, it would be in Dante's best interest if Oswyn shut up, but he wasn't about to tell this kid that. "I am merely frustrated, do not mind me." He answered stoically.

It took a while, but soon they reached the far side of Beata Academy. The brick mansion overlooking the small town below. They climbed the sidewalk leading up the hill, Dante's gaze lingered on the two of them, having seen the view many times before.

A warning edge no less sharp and cold than the blade by the young man's side seeped into his tone, eliciting her eyebrow to taut in slight questioning. All the kid had done was introduce himself, extending a common courtesy and sense of formality that the other didn't care to offer. To put it simply, it was a little rude, but Kaoru didn't try to press on it as it was as clear as day that the other man was troubled by something- or rather, someone, with that someone being her.

"Very well then."

Atop the hills loomed a proud and tall mansion flanked by iron gates. A timeless road in the forest, giant spiders, people casually carrying around swords like it was the middle ages, a mansion hidden in the middle of nowhere as it stood above a humble idyllic town... what a strange place. All of this might as well have been pulled from a movie or book; it seemed too unreal. Though she'd spent a little bit of time to glance at her surroundings, she didn't linger on it too long or try to enjoy the view, instead focusing back on her thoughts as she tried to work everything out in her head. Somehow.