Locked Away/ My OoO AU

Change In Scenery

Artemis' POV

Apparently after the event with Kol during the most recent exam wasn't the only bad thing that happened that day, Flex apparently didn't get along well with his teammate either which Avian saw as an issue.

Avian decided that because he would need to rebuild the teamwork between his students, so he came up with an idea.

Each of the students were given a week to prepare enough stuff to last them a month of working in the heat along with basic necessities, that was the only information they were given so they just had to work with what they were given.

Once the week for preparations was over, they ended up leaving for what they were told was going to be a month long teamwork exercise.

They were all just conversating about where they could be going and what it could be they would be doing to improve their teamwork.

"We're getting closer to the country side, Atlas, any chance you know any nearby farms we could hang out at when we have down time" [Artemis]

"Well, based on what's around this area, my families farm would be a good place to hang out, as long as we aren't farther than an hour out it should be ok" [Atlas]

"You could give us a tour! as long as were able to go, but I'd love to see it if were able to go there" [Rikku]

They kept talking about Atlas' farm for the next few minutes, until Atlas noticed they drove down a familiar path.

The bus finally stopped and the students got out but it was clear Atlas was excited about something.

Shortly after they each got their stuff out of the bus, 2 dogs came running from one side of the house and were headed straight towards Atlas.

Atlas fell and everyone started to panic, until they noticed that they were licking him and Atlas was laughing.

Someone called out and the dogs ran over to where the voice was while Atlas stood up.

A girl camp from the side of he house, she had white hair that faded to black and some kind of dog like ears and tails, she was wearing a plaid catagen and blue jeans, but it was clear she had been doing something before they got there.

Atlas ran right over to her and gave her a hug before she decided to introduce herself.

"Hello class 1-b, I'm Crystal and I'm the owner of the farm" [Crystal]

"I have to thank you once again for letting us stay here on such short notice, I just didn't have any other ideas on how to fix the issue my students currently have with each other" [Avian]

"It really isn't a problem, only issue I would have had was being a room short, but my brother can still stay in his room so we have nothing to worry about on our end" [Crystal]

The dogs ran from Crystal's side to investigating the students out of curiosity, it made Artemis almost fascinated that an animal that looked similar to the one that attacked his friend almost a week ago was being so friendly towards him.

One of the dogs walked over to Artemis and just sat in front of him which seemed to catch Crystal's attention while Artemis was trying to pet the pupper.

"I see Phoenix has already taken a liking to you" [Crystal]

"Is that a good thing or a bad thing?" [Artemis]

"Well, considering that it takes her a good amount of time to just warm up to a person I'd say its a good thing" [Atlas]

Crystal had each of the students introduce themselves then told them to put their stuff away in their rooms which were labeled in the cabin and put them in groups with each group having a different chore that needed to get done.

Artemis was paired with Atlas so he knew he had to just put his stuff down and start helping due to the fact Atlas knew what he was doing.

They were told to take care of the animals which Crystal was hesitant to put them on, but due to Phoenix warming up to Artemis so fast, she decided it would be the best bet.

Atlas took the lead, but Artemis did his best to help so after they finished, they decided to watch over some of the other fields where the others who lived on the farm were working.

"Once upon a time I would have hated being done with chores early"

"Really? you seem like the type of person who would rush your chores"

"I do now, but we first moved here, I'd take forever on my chores because once I finished I'd go back to sulking because of a few things that happened before we moved"

"Yeah, I can understand that, if something bad happened to me then I left, I'd have something to distract me too"

"Hey, it was either doing chores, or people watching in the nearby town"

"We should do that when we have free time, sounds like it would be fun"

"I'd rather watch the other men on the farm before I go into town and people watch"

They were both laughing at the thought and kept finding funny things to add to the conversation that kept them laughing until they heard the dogs coming closer towards them.

They turned around and saw Crystal heading towards them in a seemingly good mood, Atlas reached down and pet Shade who had walked over to him while Artemis watched him.

"If you're both done with your chores, mind helping me set up the picnic tables along with helping with dinner, since there are more people then usual, I could use the help" [Crystal]

"Sure, that doesn't seem too hard" [Artemis]

The 3 of them quickly went to the front of the house and started preparing for dinner, they had 2 long picnic tables that they used for meals because they had enough room for everyone plus whatever food they had to put on the tables.

The dogs were sitting on the porch just watching each of them as they prepared and once it was clear they were setting up for dinner, both dogs let out a howl that told everyone on the property that food would be ready soon and soon enough, everyone who was working quickly came to the house.

Once food was ready and everyone was at the table, the students started to grab food while it was clear everyone who lived there already was taking a moment of silence before they started to take food.

Artemis was watching the forest as he ate because he felt as if something was watching him.

He tried to ignore the feeling, but it was strange, Artemis never felt like he was being watched before, so what was watching him now?

The feeling slowly went away and Artemis just went to bed, hoping that the feeling was just his mind adapting to the new environment.

???'s POV

"The boss said that the jackal managed to bite one of the boys, yet both boys are back on the farm now, how mad do you think he'll be if they get closer to figuring out the truth?"

"Oh, boss will be pissed, we could always try to grab any of the brats on that damn farm and have a good chance we lure the rest in"

"Let's wait, if they get too close to finding the information, then we use that plan, but for now we should just wait for bosses signal"