AN
Image is Vesper!
The night is young. The air is crisp and minty. Shadows cover the corridors like a thin blanket covering a child. A dark figure walks down the narrow hall, the light of the moon barely illuminating them through the large crystal windows. The figure passes a door which is cracked open only slightly. A pale hand grasps the back of the mysterious figure, and pulls them into the room, making sure to lock the door.
The figure recognizes the person instantly, "What the fuck Cas?"
Caspian, having his arms folded neatly against his chest, responds, "That's the exact thing I should be asking you Vesper. Stalking Jessica and Grey? Walking around the academy halls at night?" His suspicions about Vesper were correct.
Annoyance sparks in her eyes. "It's none of your damn business," she says, in a defensive tone.
Frowning, Caspian decides to ask her, "What is going on Vesper? This is not like you. You have been acting strange ever since Grey..." A sudden realization dawns upon the boy, "Oh God."
Vesper's mind works up what Caspian is thinking. With anger she spits out, "Shut up. Don't you even dare say it!" This week cannot get any worse for her.
Disappointment is seen in his eyes, which Vesper notices. "You two have been sleeping around haven't you?" He asks, slightly hurt.
She shouts with annoyance and frustration, "So what Cas! Maybe we did..." She realizes her fault, "...and maybe I developed feelings."
"Come on Ves..." Caspian whispers. "I told you how Jessica is. That she only likes to sleep around with girls without feelings. You know it Vesper."
With her voice dripping with hurt feelings and heart break, she says, "She's acting like none of it happened ever since Grey came into the picture."
Carefully, he analyzes the situation, "Grey is just going to be another toy for Jessica."
Vesper looks away, unable to look at him. She shakes head, "No. Have you seen how Jessica looks at her?" She resists the urge to break down in front of her friend, "For God's sake, she even called her Jess and Jessica didn't even bat an eye!"
That is why Vesper left the cafeteria. Caspian takes a deep breath, looking for more solutions to her heart break.
"Just let her go Vesper," he tries.
Vesper grunts, having enough of this. She opens the door, and storms off too quick for Caspian to follow immediately.
"Don't do anything rash!" He yells after her fading figure.
It is a miracle that Jessica has not outcasted Vesper after everything that happened. Them together, even if just for fun, seemed a bit strange and foreign to Caspian.
"Dammit," he sighs.
Having been there all along, and heard everything, Saskia decides to make her presence known to Caspian. "Boo," she whispers near his ear, to which he responds with a shiver and a small shout.
"W-What the?"
She smiles, content with her work, "Don't worry Caspian, I'll make sure she doesn't do anything rash."
Rolling his eyes, he says, "She'll slip under your radar, like always."
Pouting Saskia knows he is right. Vesper's ability made her hard to keep track of. Time for plan B."Just tell her your feelings."
Caspian's eyes widen in slight horror, "Why am I not suprised to find out that you know."
Shrugging, Saskia leans on the wall beside her, "You know I have my ways, but don't change the subject you nuthead. Tell her."
Caspian shakes his head no.
"Why not?" Saskia raises an eyebrow.
"Because..." Caspian looks away from Saskia's intense gaze. "Jasper is overprotective of me. He does not approve of Vesper as something more then friends."
Saskia nods in agreement. She knows Jasper all too well. "What a mess, our relationships."
Caspian nods, "Yeah...
~(○ ○)~
It is midnight. Jessica has lost count of the hours that Grey has taken to come back. Pacing around the house has gotten tiring, but she does not stop. She is worried. What if something happened while coming back from the Chairman's office?
That is it. She cannot take this anymore. Jessica goes to the elevator, ready to go find Grey until the elevator opens, revealing said person.
With a distant look in her eyes Grey passes by Jessica.
"Are you okay?"
She did not quite notice her before, "Oh." She smiles, "Yeah, I'm okay. Were you up waiting for me?"
Jessica looks at her skeptically, "Yeah... Grey, there's something wrong. I can see it in your eyes."
"There's nothing wrong Jess."
Grey looks into Jessica's eyes, "I promise. If something is wrong, You're going to be the first to know."
A comfortable silence falls upon them as they stare into eachothers eyes. Not knowing it, Jessica starts to lean in.
Grey backs away slightly, "Sorry.. I'm tired." With that, she walks away towards her room.
Sighing, Jessica runs her fingers through her hair. At least she is alright.
~The Next Day~
There is nothing better then to start the day with a delicious breakfast. It is simply pancakes with a side of scrambled eggs, but delicious nonetheless.
The smell of food stirs Grey until she opens her eyes. She sits up on her bed with groggy eyes, and tries to yawn her sleep away. She gets up with a stretch, and is about to open the door of her room when she hears the familiar rise and beep of the elevator. Who could it be?, she thinks to herself.
Jessica hears the elevator as well, and looks at the sliding doors in curiosity. It is early in the morning, so who would have the audacity to disturb her at this hour is an authentic question.
The doors slide opposite to each other, amd reveal Vesper. Her eyes meet with Jessica's which are filled with confusion.
"What are you doing here?" Jessica asks, then she notices the keys in Vesper's hands, "You still have those?"
Everything is silent as Vesper comes in, clutching the keys tightly.
All of a sudden, Vesper blurts out without giving it a second thought, "Do you love her Jessica?"
Vesper does not dare look at Jessica's face, and instead trembles slightly in the deafening silence.
Grey's room is just a few feet away, and she can hear the discussion clearly.
Pinching her nose in between her fingers, Jessica gives in to the silence, and answers, "We were never a thing Vesper, you and I."
Which is the truth. More silence falls on the two girls, but it was not a comfortable one.
Rage is building up inside Jessica. "Dammit Vesper!", she growls, "You know my story!"
Without realizing it, Jessica slams her hand on the table, emphasizing her anger towards the shorter girl. Unbeknownst to her, although, she just slammed it on a glass cup, cutting her hand. She only notices when she feels the warm, sticky liquid that is blood slightly goozing out onto the table.
Once the stentch of blood hits her, Grey gasps as if the air she breaths just got knocked right out of her.
Vesper looks at Jessica, and then at her bloody hand, "I-I am so sorry."
"Dammit," Jessica whispers, ignoring Vesper for the time being. She looks at her hand. The cut is actually not deep at all.
Vesper seems to get the drift, and she leaves.
Maybe it is the third change, maybe it is getting near, because Grey cannot stop her mouth from watering from the delicious sweet smell of a female alpha's blood. The ring hanging around her neck starts to glow with a blue light, and for a moment, Grey thinks that this is where it ends. That everything was for nothing, and that she will never be able to be the same again once it happens. The pain that starts in her chest starts to slowly spread, and Grey growls in protest.
Jessica hears her, "You okay, grey?"
The same silence from before comes back, this time between them.
Getting worried, Jessica goes up to girl's door, and knocks, "Grey..?"
Grey turns around, finding herself looking in the mirror. Tears from wholly black eyes stream down her face. Why is she like this?
One calming breath in, and another one out. With this, Grey manages to calm herself enough to be able to say, "I-I will be out in a few."
Jessica sighs slightly, "Alright, well I will go ahead today. Breakfast is going to be on the table."
Grey stays silent for a few seconds, "Okay."
Jessica leaves to the infirmary to get her hand treated. Once she is far enough, Grey's eyes go back to normal. She sighs. Her and the chairman need to have a talk soon.
\ (● ●) /
The main academic building is surrounded by green fields of grass, and a few trees here and there. Close to the tall walls that separate the academy from the rest of the world grows a large, and old blossom tree.
On the lowest branch, Caspian relaxes with his back against the main part of the tree.
"Argh its so hot out here," he complains.
"I am here after all," Jasper says with amusement, as he lays on the ground underneath the long branches of the tree.
Caspian makes a disgusted sound, "Dude stop flirting with me, I'm your adoptive brother."
Sticking his tongue out, Jasper responds, "Just pointing out the facts little bro!"
"You little! I may be short, but you're younger then me!" Caspian defended.
"Besides Jasper, the only thing hot about you is your fire," Saskia states as she reads a book titled "Death's Aprrentice".
A short silence comes in until Caspian sighs.
"Do you think Vesper will do something rash?"
Jasper shrugs, "We haven't seen her, nor Jessica or Grey."
Saskia closes her book, "Lets go check up on them"
"There's no need for that Saskia!" Grey says out of no where, earning frightened reactions from the three.
She apologizes, and explains, "I saw you guys just hanging out over here so I wanted to join."
Caspian looks down at her in amusement. "Where's your guardian?", he asks.
She rolls her eyes in response. "Please, stop calling your friend that."
He takes an intake of breath and grunts, "Fine, let me rephrase it."
"Where's your girlfriend?"
Grey fetches her eraser from her front pocket, and with deadly accuracy she hits Caspian square in the head making him fall down from branch with a thump.
Actually amazed, Saskia muses, "That is some dangerous accuracy you have there."
Jasper finds his opportunity to join in while ignoring Caspian who is grunting besides him, "You may have good accuracy, but I heard you suck at art."
Taking her pencil out of her pocket, Grey responds with, "Do not make me throw my pencil at you Jasper, because I will."
They all laugh in unision.
"Now that we are talking about that, whatt are your talents Grey?" Caspian asks as he finishes dusting himself off from the fall.
She shrugs, "I don't know, fighting?"
Then she suddenly remembers all of the times she has gone to olay with her clan. Those were very happy and peaceful times for her. "Oh paintball! Yess, we play that a lot in my clan."
Caspian nods, finding it oddly interesting, "Nice."
Bored out of his mind, Jasper grunts, "Thats not a talent though."
Saskia eyes the tall boy, "Come on Jasper."
Grey chuckles. It is so nice to see them all like this. She has not had a normal school life much less normal school friends... Although this is the most normal it can ever get for her.
"No it's true," she starts.
Her friends, which she bonded quickly with, look at her, all with a questioning gaze.
She smirks, already knowing what will happened next.
"Hmm maybe I'm good at kissing? Who wants to test that theory?"
In a second, an ominous presence is felt behind grey, and glowing orange eyes stare at everyone from the shadows.
Grey looks at each of her friends, and then stops at one of them, "How about you Jasper?"
Visibly shaken up, he shakes his head while he gulps, "N-No thanks."
Grey closes her eyes as a beaming smile overtakes her facial fetaures, "See Jess? If even your friends are afraid of you, no one will mess with me."
Jessica steps out from behing Grey. "You have a point, but mine still stands," she retorts.
"Whats your point?" Saskia asks her.
Crossing her arms, Jessica answers, "That she may run into danger if I am not with her."
"Care to explain in detail dumbass," Jasper says, a little agitated at the thought of someone hurting Grey.
She glares at him for a moment, but continues with her explanation, "I have been noticing a group of students following us. A few have bumped into Grey roughly obviously on purpose."
"I see," Caspian whispers, more to himself them to the rest of his friends. He has been noticing that as well, but who would even dare try to get in Jessica's way? The seniors are not at school because of their job and university trips, so who? Could some of them have stayed... or?
"Do you think?" He starts, although what he does not believe what he has in mind.
"No, Vesper would never do that," Grey counters, as if she had read his mind.
A deadly silence befalls them.
"Jessica. No, she wouldn't," Grey says in confidence, as if she knows what Jessica is thinking, but in a sense she does know. It is more of a feeling then actually knowing, but as they say, trust your gut feelings.
"She better fucking not," Jessica growls.
An annoyed voice of a certain brunnette is heard from not too far away, "I'm right here hothead."
Vesper walks up to them. She makes sure to not look at Jessica, and the vice versa.
Grey sighs, feeling the tension in the air, and getting annoyed.
"Apologize Jess."
Her friend growls, not wanting. Why should she? Vesper should be apologizing to her, not the other way around.
"Jess," Grey says sternly.
At last, she gives in. "I apologize, Vesper."
"Good," Grey says, triumphant in her pose.
Caspian looks on in amusement, "So, she already has you on a leash?"
"Do you want to die caspian?"
He rolls his eyes knowing that Jessica would never actually kill him. Or would she? Well, unless he does something to Grey, which he would never, he will not know.
Grey looks over her group of friends, "All of you are so rough. Except Saskia, she's soft and nice."
Jessica pouts, feeling jealous while everyone else looks at a slightly blushing Saskia.
Caspian gets up, and raises his hands over his head as if he were surrendering, "Wow. I'm leaving. The impossible is happening. Next thing you know Jasper stops flirting!"
Everyone laughs, and as the laughter subsided, Saskia notices Jasper's hurt hand.
"Jessica, what happened to your hand?"
Everyone's gaze turns to Jessica's bandaged hand.
She looks at Vesper, "I cut myself while making breakfast, but it wasnt deep. Stopped bleeding when I got to the infirmary."
Grey gets uncomfortable, at the mention of it. She thought she forgot about that already, but apparently not.
A few petals fall from the blossom tree as the wind blows, and Jasper smiles, feeling nice and comfortable. "This is nice."
A realization dawns on Grey, "Shouldn't we be in class?"
An awkward silence follows up Grey's sudden question which was more of a statement, then an actual question.
Before any of them knew it, they all run off cursing.
Saskia and Grey stay behind the rest of their friends.
"So.." Saskia starts.
"So?" Grey looks up at Saskia in curiosity.
She stops, and turns around towards Grey.
"We're your friends now, Grey. I have been noticing that sometimes you get this distant look in your eyes. I just want you to know, that I am here for you. We all are. Don't be afraid to open up to us."
Grey's mouth gapes slightly. Is her facade failing? Even if it is, Saskia is right. Their her friends now, and she has to learn to trust them. "You're right Saskia, thank you."
~( ○-○)~ ~(○-○ )~
"She's so cute while sleeping", Jessica thinks to herself as she draws Grey who fell asleep during art class.
The bell rings, but Grey does not budge. It pains Jessica to have to wake her up from her peaceful sleep.
She nudges Grey's shoulder, who in turn mumbles, "Don't touch me".
Confused, Jessica nudges her again.
"Don't"
"Grey, it is just a dream," Jessica whispers near her ear.
"Stop!" Grey shouts, as she wakes up with a jolt.
"Hey hey, it's okay, are you alright?" Jessica asks, comforting her.
Grey nods, "I guess I just had a nightmare, but now I don't remember what it was about."
"Well, we should go"
She stretches, "Yeah. I wonder what we're going to do in training today."
Smirking, Jessica says, "As much as I want to kick that ass of yours, we're probably going to do regular exercise today."
Grey lets out a bummed sigh, and rhen her eyes see Vesper alone, walking towards the same direction.
"Oh hey Vesper! Want to walk with us to the facility?"
Vesper looks over at Grey, and then at Jessica.
"Sure," she says with a shrug.
While walking towards the training facility, Grey and Vesper talk while Jessica is tryinf to ignore Vesper. She notices this, and starts to regret how she has been acting recently.
As the trio enters the facility, they are almost scorched by a ball of fire.
"Woah," Grey says, in slight shock. Jessica looks at the person responsible to find that it is Jasper.
"Today is endurance Jasper and Saskia!" Carmilla shouts, silencing whatever chit chat the other students were doing.
Endurance is something that Grey is good at, so today may have been exhausting, but it felt good.
"Hey Grey, I'm going to help Carmilla with a few students on the top floor, so you can go on ahead to our dorm or pass the evening with our friends."
Grey smiles, "Alright, I'm going to go change quickly, and then I'll see what I do."
Jessica nods, and goes with Carmilla to the top floor of the facility.
Everyone has already left, which means that Grey has the locker room to herself. She opens her locker to get her change of clothes. As she does, she feels a presence behind her.
Vesper mumbles a quick apology as she shoves Grey in the locker and locks her up. After she does, she morphs into her.
She pounds on the metal of the locker, but to no avail. "No..." she tries again to get out, "Vesper!!"
AN;
I was supposed to update on Friday, but I didn't because I had to rewrite a scene a few times, and yet I'm still not quite happy with this chapter.
I want to tell you, reader, that you are amazing! And I thank you for sticking with me, and I hope you stick until the end.
So, what is Vesper thinking? Comment your thoughts, and vote if you liked!