Rena Rouge hopped from rooftop to rooftop, silently following Vlad. She had almost got caught as Alya but she was lucky enough to duck behind some trash cans. She transformed and continued to follow him, this time at a safer distance.
"Where are you going? The dorms only go so far." Rena said as she kept her eye on him. At least he didn't try to find her again. When she saw him stopping at a small building, she carefully watched him pressed a button and entered it.
"Must be an elevator. What floor is he going to? Maybe the elevator will say what floor he'll go." Rena jumps off the building and ran to the elevator. She looked up and waited for the numbers to stop counting.
The number landed on 9.
"Ninth floor. Might take a while to get there." Rena pressed the down button and waited for the elevator. She didn't trust Vlad at the moment and was sure he was going to help the intruder get out.
The door opened and Rena quickly entered. She looked for the correct button and just as she was about to press it, a voice called out to her.
"ALYA!!!" She looked up at see Nino running toward her, a panicked look all over his face. She quickly pressed the floor button and spam the close button. Nino's face was five feet away when the door closed. Rena pressed her back on the wall and muttered the words.
"Trixx, let's rest." In a flash of orange light, Alya appeared again. Trixx landed on her shoulders, a look of disappointment on his face.
"Alya. You shouldn't be doing this. Whatever happens with Vlad, may not be part of your business."
"But what kind of reporter would I be if I don't follow where the story goes?"
"There's a difference between being brave and being reckless. Alya. You just found out Vlad was an extremely powerful being. Would it really be wise to confront him now? We don't know what happened between him and the intruder."
"That's why I have to follow him. I want to know if I can trust him. What if he tries to let the intruder out and both of them cause more damage to the school?"
"Alya. Do you hear yourself? Vlad wouldn't do any of this. He's not an akumatized villain. Max trusts him a lot and Vlad has been nothing but kind to all of us."
"But it could be a trap. I can't be sure he's being honest with all of us."
"You sure you're not jumping to conclusions? Alya, you're taking a step back."
"What do you mean?"
"When I first met you, I saw that you were trustworthy and determined, willing to protect anyone. But you were also reckless and was willing to cross any lines to find the truth, no matter how dangerous it is. I knew you were going down a dangerous path so I tried to help you think things through and it was working. But lately, you're going back to the same path. If this continues, you'll get into a situation you won't be able to get out."
Alya let Trixx's words sink in. Was this really a big risk to follow Vlad? Should she be doing this? Is this how a journalist should get information?
Yes, no, and no.
But why was Vlad here in the first place?
"You have a point but why would Vlad be here?" She said as the elevator stopped moving. The doors open to a hallway she would see in comic books and at the end of the hallway were Vlad and the intruder. The only thing separating them was the glass door. But Alya wasn't sure that would stop any fights.
"Listen up Poe. I have a question and I want a clear answer," She could feel Vlad's eyes harden and his aura turned dark. "Where is Em?"
Poe turned his head slightly, his eyes filled with fear. He didn't say anything at first but after Vlad repeated the question with a little more force, he started talking.
"Em is in a pocket dimension with very powerful people."
"Where is the pocket dimension?"
"I don't know."
"Poe..."
"I'm telling you the truth! They wouldn't tell us where it was located or what dimensions it's close by. And there are multiple locations for this group, so I don't know if she's still in the same one."
Alya could see Poe almost cowered under Vlad's presence like an animal caught in a cage with a predator. He had no chance of getting away. Alya wasn't even sure that the glass door would hold Vlad from killing him. She wanted to move but something about Vlad stopped her. Her feet couldn't move and she felt so very weak. This must have been his powers. The Pravus power.
Poe continued to cower against the wall before noticing Alya. His stare lasted for seconds before bringing his attention back to Vlad, smirking.
"What are you smiling about?"
"I'm shocked Vlad. You didn't notice when the elevator opened and a friend of yours came in." Vlad whirled around and faced Alya. She could barely breathe. Vlad's eyes were an intense bright purple and filled with darkness she had never seen before. Her whole body couldn't move and her breathing stopped.
She wanted to scream.
She wanted to run.
But before she could, Vlad uttered one word.
"Sleep."
Vlad tensely watched as Alya's body falls to the ground, entering a temporary slumber. Well, he could deal with that later. Right now, Eddie was his concern.
"Very nice Vlad. Didn't know you had that in you." Eddie said, slightly chuckling. Vlad's temper was rising but he knew better. He walked over to the controls and send Eddie's cell back in its spot. He couldn't risk it now that Alya is here.
"Why did you do that!?" The orange fox looking kwami yelled (Trixx was it?) as he flew around Vlad's head. Vlad ignored him and quickly pick up Alya. He pressed the floor one button and watched the doors close as Trixx continued to yell at him.
"Don't ignore me! Why did you-"
"I panicked alright!" Vlad snapped. Trixx slightly cowered away. Vlad realized what he did and took three deep breaths. "I panicked. I wasn't expecting Alya to be down here. I wasn't even expecting anyone. No one but staff and faculty are allowed down here. I was so sure I could get in and out without anyone noticing."
Trixx rested on his shoulder and rubbed his tiny body against Vlad's cheek. "Alya was scared. She wasn't sure if she could trust you. Especially after learning you are the Pravus-"
"What!?" Vlad nearly dropped Alya when he heard that sentence. Alya knew who he was. She knew what he was. But how? "How did she learn about that?"
"Headmaster Max told her, Marinette, and Chloé about you."
"Everything?"
"Not everything. But enough to ask questions." Vlad just looked at Alya's sleeping face. How much information did she and the others know about him? Did they tell Nino and Adrien about what they learned?
Are they scared of him?
The elevator doors opened and the first thing Vlad saw was Nino's fist. He was barely able to dodge it and grabbed Nino's shirt before he fell into the elevator. What was Nino doing here?
"What are you doing here?!" Nino struggled to get out of Vlad's grip but it was all in vain. Vlad moved Alya to a different position before picking up Nino and tossing him over his shoulder. Nino tried to squirm out of his grip before giving up.
"Again. What were you doing there?" Vlad asked again.
"Well. When Alya spotted you outside our dorm, she ran after you. I tried to keep up with her but by the time I got to her, she was already in the elevator. I was going to go after her but the elevator was taking a while. But what about you? What were you doing down there?"
"Speaking with an old friend," Vlad said coldly.
The ceiling was the first thing Alya woke up to. She was able to look around to find out that she was in her dorm living room. How did she get there? All she remembers is going down the elevator and Vlad saying one word.
Vlad...
Vlad!
Alya quickly sat up and tried to get out but she saw her team and Vlad standing in the kitchen. Seeing Vlad standing there, just talking with her friends and eating a cookie, it felt weird. He wasn't like he was earlier. A monster with the power to kill them.
Nino was the first to see Alya up and he ran to her. He hugged her tightly and everyone followed suit. All except Vlad. She kept her glance on him, worried about what he might do next. Why was he here?
"I'm sure you all have questions," Vlad said, keeping his distance. Everyone turned their attention to Vlad, not very amused with him. He quickly noticed and tried to explain. "You need to understand. I-"
"Couldn't tell anyone? Couldn't trust anyone? Do you honestly think we would judge you?" Chloé cut him off.
"You don't understand-"
"That your past is pretty bad? Dude! Almost everyone in this dimension has some kind of past!" This time Nino cut him off.
"Please listen-"
"And the fact that you lied to us about parts of your life to us-no to everyone-just because of one fight doesn't make it okay!" Alya said.
Vlad didn't say anything, he just looked down. Alya could have said she saw a few tears threaten to fall but all she could see was red.
"Enough!" Everyone's attention fell onto Adrien. He didn't say anything but what he was going to say, it shocked everyone.
"Did you truly trust us at all? Were we really your friends?" Hearing those questions, Alya was confused. Why did Adrien care about that?
Vlad didn't reply at first but he did look up after a minute. "I was told by my uncle, my president, to not say anything about my home. I know it might seem dumb but we are worried about the reaction of everyone else. And despite what you may think, I do see you as my friends. And that's why I don't want you to get too close."
Vlad quickly past the crew, straight to the door. Alya could feel the fear coming off of Vlad. Even if she knew Vlad's life, she could never understand the pain he went through. But that still didn't excuse the fact that he didn't trust anyone here. But maybe...
"Would you have told us if we were patient with you?" Alya said without facing him. No response. The only sound made was the door opening and closing. Guess that was Alya's answer.
"Guys. Are we really letting Vlad go like this? Even with the life he had?"
"He lied to us! He kept secrets from us! How can we trust him after that?!" Alya couldn't believe her best friend was trying to defend Vlad. He lied and kept secrets from people he could have trusted. So why should they care about him?
"And we didn't do any of that?" Marinette said calmly. "We did the same things he did and some of us even caused akumas. Even if Vlad kept secrets from us, we shouldn't shame him for doing that. If anything, we should have listened to Vlad's story."
Marinette started walking to the door quickly. Alya let her words sink in. Looking back, they really didn't know much about Vlad's life prior and they did keep cutting Vlad off.
Were they really in the right?
Vlad was only two steps away from his dorm door when he was stopped by one of the teachers.
"Vlad?" The one teacher he was always on edge with. Oliver Queen. Just being near him sent fear up Vlad's back. He was the only human here that could try to kill Vlad without a second thought. But why was here?
"Mr. Queen. What are you doing here?" Oliver took a step forward and removed his hands out of his jacket pockets. Vlad tensed up but kept calm. One wrong move and he could harm him. Or worse.
"I just wanted to see how you're holding up. Especially after seeing someone from your past being here."
"I'm holding up Mr. Queen." Vlad looked everywhere except Oliver's eyes.
"I see. Have you seen the kid? Pretty small to be a threat. Let alone a monster. Not sure why we need to put him in the cell unit."
"Monsters can come in all sizes. Besides, with the condition I saw him before he went down there, he's in no condition to do anything." Oliver took a step closer to Vlad. He tried to stand his ground. Oliver was good at taking information out of anybody just by looking at them.
"And you wouldn't happen to know the kid yourself?"
Vlad scoffed. "My dimension is like your dimension. Planet Earth with the same number of people on it. Me knowing that one kid is one in a million."
"Yet the kid was asking for you like you two already knew each other."
"I would have remembered a kid like him. But he might have a connection to the person I'm hunting down."
"Em?" Vlad tensed up. He didn't remember telling anyone outside of Max and his allies about her. So how did Oliver know her name?
"How did you-"
"You really should pay more attention to areas that are off-limits. You never know if there is a hidden alarm or camera." Oliver grabbed Vlad's arm and started to drag him. "Headmaster Max wants to talk to you."
Crap.
"I trusted you would have waited until I gave the all-clear. But instead, you went behind my back to see this person, who is in the holding cells that are off-limits to students and tried to threaten said prisoner. And not only that, you got a student to go into the same area and nearly got her in trouble." Headmaster Max scolded Vlad as he tapped on his desk. Vlad could only look down and let Max yell at him. There was no way Vlad could ease the old man's anger and he could only blame himself. Right?
"How should we handle this?" One of the counselors asked, adjusting her glasses. Vlad didn't expect the three counselors and Dr. Wakeman to be there. Back home, it would just be a talk with the principle. But this was not home.
The rules were different.
"We should let him go back home and make sure he stays there." The short dean said as she stuck her pointy nose up in the air.
"What?! After all he did for us, Vladdie should stay. He helped us find students and where the hole thingys are." The second counselor said, stomping her foot like a child.
"But should we condone this behavior? Mr. Tod doesn't seem to remember where he stands right now."
"Dr. Wakeman," the short male counselor said. "Should we punish him by expelling him? Or should we keep him here and keep an eye on him?"
"Vlad," Headmaster Max cuts everyone off. Vlad looked up at Headmaster Max, afraid of what he would say next. "Until we can come with a suitable punishment, you will be sent home."
"What?! But what about-"
"All your duties will be taken over by X-J9." Dr. Wakeman said. "And you will be denied access into your 'office' starting now."
"All my files will be accessed by Jenny?"
"Correct. And you will not do anything to stop her." Vlad couldn't believe what he was hearing. He was being restricted like a child again and he wasn't even sure if he could do anything about it.
So he just kept his head down and said, "When do I leave?"
Oh my god!
I'm so sorry I left you guys! Life was just killing me and then I started on a new project because I'm a workaholic. But I promise that I will try to get more chapters out there.
Also, thank you for over 1.4K views. I was going to say something at 1K but again life.
But for now, hope you enjoyed and I'll have the next chapter out after chapter 4 in Miraculous Rock is finished.
Rainy