"I can't believe it was him!" Chloé yelled. Alya was pretty sure she was taking everything out of context. Again. After Vlad said what he said earlier, he quickly left them. Also as if he didn't want to talk to them anymore. "I can't believe Vlad got into a fight and did all this."
"Chloé. We don't know the whole story. For all we know, Vlad was just defending himself and didn't want to fight." Adrien said.
"That may be true Adrien, but we don't know that much about Vlad. He keeps to himself and doesn't want to tell anyone about himself. All we know about him is that he has mind reading abilities and he's from a place that makes even a professional paranoid." Chloé said.
"Still Chloé. We shouldn't jump to conclusions just yet. Besides we have more important things to talk about." Marinette said.
"Like where Hawk Moth is."
"More like our visions." Alya nearly choked on her breath and looked at Marinette. How did she know about Alya having visions?
"What do you mean?" Adrien asked nervously.
"Chloé and I talked about it briefly and we figured we not only should tell you what it was but ask if any of you had one." Alya felt slightly betrayed that Marinette told Chloé about her visions but not her. Marinette usually tells her everything. Well, almost everything.
"That's my vision," Nino said as he fidgets with his headphones. They all talked about each of their visions and had a feeling all the visions were a timeline. Nino first, either Chloé or Adrien, Alya next, and Marinette last. And when Adrien brought up his dream last night, it confirms that what they saw was happening right now.
"So our enemies are planning to break the barriers and cause chaos in the multiverse," Alya said.
"And Hawk Moth is part of it. Whether he wants to be or not." Adrien said as he rubbed his arm. "He's doing this for his son."
"So Hawk Moth does have a heart," Alya said as she twists her necklace around. That seems to be a new habit of hers now.
"He shouldn't be destroying Paris and the multiverse just to protect him!" Chloé yelled.
"Either way, we have to find a way to stop him and any other villains in our way," Marinette said. "We can't let them win."
Alya walked around the school grounds, hoping to stretch her legs. All this talk about visions and the enemy has her body feeling heavy. She had to get her mind off it and she knew she had to walk around.
There has to be something to do around here. Alya looked around the plaza and walked aimlessly around. There had to be somewhere she could look around. She was so lost in her thoughts she didn't notice where she was walking into.
"Hey! Watch out!!" A voiced yelled out. Alya stopped fast enough to not fall into a pool and a pretty deep one. Alya looked around to find the voice who stop her from getting soaked. She finally spotted the source of the voice, floating in the middle of the pool. His jet black damped hair hung on his face, covering his sea green eyes and his tan forehead. "That was a close one. One more step and you would be drench."
"Thank you so much! That would have been extremely embarrassed." God dang he's handsome! And look at those abs! NO ALYA!!! You're with Nino. Even tho he does look familiar. "I wasn't paying attention where I was going."
"Rookie, huh?" The boy swims over to her and rests his arms on the ledge. His tone arms were-Alya focus!!
"Y-yeah. I just started today. I'm Alya Césaire."
"Well then, welcome to Golden Hearts Academy. I'm Percy Jackson."
"Wait. You're Percy Jackson? THE Percy Jackson?"
"That depends. Are you going to kill me?" Even tho it was a joke, his tone was quite serious.
"No! No, no, no, no! I've just heard about you in the books back home."
"Books? There are books about me?"
"Yeah and your friends too!" Percy tilts his head, much like a seal. He seems like he was thinking about what Alya had said. Then he understood what she meant.
"Oh! Now I remember. In other dimensions, I'm a fictional character. I can't believe I forgot that."
"Yeah. And I hate to ask this, but are any of those stories true?"
Percy slightly sighed and rubbed his neck. "It is and it's something I'm not comfortable talking about it."
"It's fine. I just wanted to double check and make sure the facts are correct."
"Thanks for double checking with me. You won't believe how many don't believe me and my friends about what we went through."
"No problem. And I hope I don't offend you at all."
"Nah. Just be careful who you ask about their past," Percy lifted himself out of the pool and walk past her to get to the bench with a duffel bag and towel. Oh God, he's so-ALYA NO!! "Any other questions you have?"
Alya thought long and hard about what she wanted to ask Percy about. She could ask about the school and how it works but Vlad did explain a lot. Vlad...
"Well, I do have some questions about someone but he won't open up to me-"
"Vlad Tod?" Alya was shocked when Percy said that before she finished it. "Trust me. A lot of rookies and new faculty ask about Vlad. So you're not the first."
"Oh! Well, what do you know about Vlad?"
"Ummm...I actually don't know that much about Vlad. But out of everyone, I do know him the most. I'm the only one he somewhat opens up to."
"Really?! Would you mind telling me more about him and what he told you?"
Percy looked away, almost looking nervous. "I'm not sure if that's my place to talk about that. I don't want to lose his trust because he barely trusts anyone here besides Headmaster Max. And even if I wanted to talk about him, I know there's so much stuff he hides from me."
Alya had a feeling that was a dead end. How could she forget that Percy was very loyal to his friends? Of course, he wouldn't release information about Vlad. At least, not important information.
"Can you at least tell me why he's here?"
"Um, the only thing I know is that he's hiding from his great-grandmother, Em."
"M? Like the letter M?"
"No. Em. E-M."
"Oh, ok-wait. I remember him telling my boyfriend that he was hiding from the President of a species on his home dimension."
"Yeah. Em is the president. She's his great-grandmother." Wait what? Alya looked at Percy with the look of shock. "He didn't say, did he?"
"No!!! That opens even more questions like why is he running from his great-grandmother and why is he scared of her?"
"I know you have more questions. But you can't tell him I told you! Vlad is very picky about who he tells his past to. He'll be very mad that I told you about him!" Percy begged. Alya knew she couldn't get more information about Vlad.
"You don't have to tell me anything else about him. Just getting a clear answer to why he's here is good enough. I know his friendship is important to you."
"Thank you, Alya. You're unlike most reporters I've meant." Percy gave her a sweet smile that could melt any girl's heart.
"No problem. Thanks for your time." Alya was about to leave when she remembered the incident. "Hey, Percy? Can you at least tell me who else was involved in the incident?"
Percy looked at her and narrowed his eyes slightly. "How do I know you won't harass her for answers?"
"Just like how I didn't keep hounding you for more information, I won't harass her. I'll just ask for her side of the side. I won't be biased since I don't know Vlad's side yet."
"Well," Percy looked at her for a few seconds before sighing. "Alright. She should be at the Dome training with her friends. And her name is Rose."
"Thanks and one more question. Have you ever heard of the Lucis?"
"No. What in the world is a Lucis?"
Alya entered the Dome and looked inside the arena. Percy was right about someone being there: two teenage boys, two teenage girls, a little girl, and an old man dressed in blue. What was his name? Luong Lao Shi? The four teenagers were fighting in pairs, the shortest boy with the blonde girl and the other boy with the dark skin girl. They looked like they were practicing their fighting style and she didn't want to interrupt them. But she had to talk to Rose. She entered the arena and walked toward Lao Shi. "Um, excuse me?"
Lao Shi looked up at her, his long white goatee slightly flying. "Hello miss. What can I help you with?"
"I was wondering if I could talk to Rose." Lao Shi narrowed his eyes and scoffed slightly. "B-but if you don't want me to, I'll leave her alone."
"I assume you want to tell her that she is in the wrong about what happened with Vladimir."
"No. I just want to know about her only. I don't even know who Vladimir is." Alya hated lying but from what she learned, no one wanted to talk about the incident between Vlad and Rose.
"I see," Lao Shi looked at the four teenagers practicing. Alya held her breath, unsure if he'll let her talk to Rose. "You seem to have the spirit of a fox. Sly yet willing to learn...You can talk to her when she's done."
"Thank you so much!"
Alya couldn't believe it! She was going to be able to talk to this Rose chick. Now she just had to wait for her to finish and based on how focus the four teenagers are, it'll probably take a while. Alya thanked Lao Shi and sat down next to the little girl. The little girl looked at her for a split second before turning her attention back to the teenagers. Alya took noticed that the little girl looked somewhat similar to the short boy: black hair, black eyes, and light skin. Alya assumed they were related, maybe siblings or cousins.
"Why do you want to talk to Rose?" The little girl finally said in an angelic voice. She was more well behaved than the twins, maybe smarter than them. "Were you sent by Vlad?"
"No. I'm here on my own. I'm learning about the students here and I want to talk to Rose."
"Are you sure you're not here because of the incident?"
"It's not that. I just want to talk to Rose."
"You know," The little girl looked at Alya with a deadpan look. "You don't have to lie to me. I'm smarter than you think and I'm from New York. I know when someone is trying to get information."
Alya was quite shocked at how this girl was so fast to see through her. But she needed to get her trust if she could talk to Rose. What would Rena Rouge do? "Is that so? Then why don't you tell me about yourself?"
The girl jumped slightly and looked at Alya for a minute. Guess she wasn't expecting me to ask her that. "I'm Haley Long. Second in line to be the American Dragon."
"What's that?"
"Well, my brother and I are actually dragons and we protect the magical world in our dimension."
"Really? You don't look like dragons."
"We're in our human forms. We can go into our dragon forms if we want to."
"I see. So you transform into dragons. What kind of dragon? European, Chinese, Wyvern, etc.?"
"Chinese and a bit of European in there."
"That's really cool. Are you guys able to sense magical creatures?"
"No. We have to hear news about the magical world. And you won't believe how many accidents are caused by magical creatures daily. Even here."
"What do you mean?"
"Some of the students and faculty are different from home yet the same. They have the same behavior but act differently. While others have the same feeling as magical creatures. Like Vlad."
"What do you mean?"
Haley looked down, making it impossible for Alya to read her. "He has this feeling that I only felt once or twice. This dark feeling. But at the same time, he has this warm feeling you can trust."
"So what makes Vlad scary?"
"This dark feeling... it feels like a dark cloud is hovering him and he's fighting it every second. And if he lets it win..." Haley trailed off. Alya was now concern about the little girl. What made Vlad so scary that a little girl could be nervous just by talking about him.
"Yo, Haley! Who is that you're talking to?" Alya looked away from Haley to see the four teenagers finishing up and walking toward them. The short boy waved his hand, indicating Alya that he was the one who called to them. He was not much taller than Haley but his voice sounded a bit older. His black hair was spiked up and had green bordering the tips. His style reminded her of the street clothes in Paris and his accent confirms it. And two of the teenagers dress in the same style while the other girl dress in a super agent like clothing.
"Hi Jake! This is..."
"I'm Alya. One of the new students here and I'm going around school to get to know everybody here.."
"That's soooo cool! Where are you from?" The other boy said, his tone showing his laid-back nature.
"Paris, France."
"Girl, no way. That sounds amazing! Is it true Paris has three giant skateparks almost next to each other?" The dark skin girl said.
"Totally true."
"Aww, yeah baby!"
"That is so cool!" Both guys said. The tall girl just giggled and Alya did get the chance to look at her. Her long blonde hair was braided, pulled back and out of her bright blue eyes. And even tho she was wearing a leather jacket and gloves, Alya could see a reddish tan spot on her right wrist.
"Yeah. And who are you guys?"
"I'm Jake Long, the American Dragon, and Haley's older brother."
"Trixie Carter."
"Arthur P. Spundinski, but call me Spud."
"And I'm Rose."
"No last name?"
"Sorry. Confidential."
"Fair enough. And what can you five tell me about you?"
For the next hour, Alya had been talking with the AmDrag team (Jake being the leader so he chose the name) and learned so much about them. Like how Jake and Haley were from a long line of protectors. Or that Spud is extremely smart but rather be lazy about it. Or that Trixie was a cheerleader to help stop the Gorgon sisters from taking over their world. Or how Rose-
"What do you mean you have trouble with your memories?"
"Well," Rose pulled off her glove to reveal a dragon birthmark swirled on her hand. "This birthmark symbolizes that I was born to slay dragons and be part of a slayer clan called the Huntsclan. But one night, when they were about to make a wish to remove magical creatures from existence, I swoop in and made the wish to remove Huntsclan instead."
"But how-"
"Before Rose was wiped out of history, I wished for her to never be taken from the Huntsclan. At that moment I wasn't sure if she was safe but the next day when I saw her, I was happy she was alive. But when I talked to her, she didn't remember who I was or what we did together. And that she was leaving because of her father's job."
"It would be a few months later until we meet again. I was living in Hong Kong and Jake was there for a family trip. When we met again, I didn't trust or believe Jake. My family called the police on him."
"What made you believe in Jake then?"
"A picture from a dance we went together. Looking at it reminded me parts of my old life. I'm still learning more about my other life and I still get nervous around certain students."
"Why would you say that?"
"Whenever I'm near magical creatures, I get this weird feeling. Like I'm being attacked by thousands of ants. Then I slightly blackout."
"Blackout?"
"My body goes into auto mode and I start to remember my...training. The only ones I don't attack are Jake, Haley and their grandfather."
"I see. At least no one was harm."
"There was one moment I almost-"
"Rose, don't. You don't have to explain yourself."
"Jake..."
"Jake is right. You don't have to explain it."
Rose looked at Alya and twisted her glove. But after a minute, she sighed. "No, it's fine. It was around halfway through last semester and we were told we were going to have a new roommate. We didn't mind at all, even if it was last minute. When we first met him, I felt a slight change in the air but I assume it was because we were meeting someone new. We all were good friends for a week until he and I were left alone. That's when I felt it. A dark feeling from him. And he...oh God. He wasn't doing anything bad. He was just reading when I attack him and I could have-"
"Rose stop." Alya couldn't take it anymore. Rose already had a hard life and readjusting to it again was hard for her. Alya couldn't bear to bring up bad memories. "It was an accident. You didn't mean it. And I'm sure Vlad feels the same way. And I'm sure Vlad was doing everything he could to defend himself."
"Ayla is right, Rosie. You couldn't predict you were going to attack Vlad. Maybe he still had a magical creatures scent on him that threw you off." Trixie said as she placed her hand on Rose's shoulder.
"I'm not sure. It felt like it was coming straight from him." Rose shook her head. "And I swear I saw something that I can't explain."
"What was it."
"Vlad had fangs."
Alya sat in the library, moping about the information she had. After talking to AmDrag team, she started talking to other students. From powerful little girls to a robot teenager to Vikings with dragons to a half ghost kid, they all had nothing. While everyone was willing to talk about themselves and their homes, no one knew about Vlad. All Alya knew about him was that he came halfway through last semester because he was hiding from his great-grandmother Em, he got into a fight with Rose on accident, he had a weapon called the Lucis, and he was an intern for Headmaster Max before becoming a student this semester. The only thing that really bugged Alya was Em. Vlad told Nino that he was hiding from a creature president but Percy said Em was the leader. Was Em a creature? If so, what does that make Vlad? And when Rose said he had fangs, Alya tried to reassure Rose that everyone had some type of fangs. But Rose corrected her.
When I jumped him, two fangs popped out of his mouth. I don't think humans can do that at all.
Alya started to rub her temples, trying to get rid of her headache. With no one knowing or willing to give information, Alya had one major question. Who or what was Vladimir Tod?
"Hey. Excuse me. The library is about to close in thirty minutes." Alya looked up to see who the voice belong to. A pretty blonde California girl with intense stormy grey eyes that could easily kill you. Someone Alya wouldn't want to fight head on.
"Sorry. I was lost in thought. I'll be on my way. Um, do you anything about Vlad Tod or the Lucis?"
"Sorry, I don't know Vlad at all. And I've never heard of the Lucis. Now please leave."
Alya quickly grabbed her bag and quickly left the building. "Note to self: never get into a fight with her."
Alya was on her way home when she noticed something. Vlad with a large blood bag container and walking in between the dorms. Alya took cover and slowly followed Vlad. She assumes he was doing some errand for Headmaster Max but that quickly dissolve when Vlad reached into it. He pulled out a blood bag and sniffed it. Alya could smell the metallic scent from where she was hiding. It had that same smell like his lunch from earlier. Vlad licked his lips and was about to open his mouth when Alya accidentally pushed a trash bin down. Vlad whipped around but Alya quickly hides behind a mountain of boxes and trash bins, not making a sound. She could hear Vlad walking toward her hiding spot and she covered her mouth, hoping he wouldn't hear her breathing. Praying to any God to protect her and cursing herself for not bring Trixx with her. She could feel Vlad almost right next to her. His hand slowly reaching toward her...
"Vlad? Are you there?" Headmaster Max's voice rang out. Vlad paused and Alya could tell he was deciding what to do.
"Yeah. I'm here."
"Well, get going. You need to get the blood bags in your dorm before anyone sees you with it."
"I know. I just heard something."
"I'll check it out later. For now, let's get them inside before they go bad." Alya heard two separate footsteps faded away, giving her the chance to book it. Alya ran as fast as she could back to the house, not looking back. She dashed through the door, ignoring everyone, and ran right up to her room. She didn't care if she ran up a flight of stairs. She didn't care if she skips dinner. She didn't even care she smelled like fish and rotten fruit. She had a feeling she knew what Vlad was.
"Alya. What's wrong?" Trixx asked, floating around with a piece of chocolate. "And why do you smell like that?"
Alya didn't answer at first. She dropped to the floor and whispered, "I think Vlad is a vampire."
A/N: Hey guys!!
Oh my god! This was the longest chapter I've written so far. Usually, the chapters reach seven pages but this was eight pages long! And I have a feeling that it will only get longer from here.
So question: how many character easter eggs did you see? Leave a comment on how many you found.
Also, thank you guys for over 130 reads. To be honest, I didn't expect to get there until August. So thank you guys soooo much! I hope to get to 300 reads in August!
See you guys later this month or May!