I haven't written about this fandom in like 3 years and I'm afraid it's gonna show in this, but I started rereading the Clue Hunt, and I joined a 39C discord server and uh... well now that I've practiced my writing skills I wanted to see how far I could go with these characters again.

I don't know if this will stay a single chapter or turn into a series of casual one-shots, but either way it's going to focus on Irina's and Nataliya's relationship. And yes, that ship skyrocketing up my list of priorities does have to do with me discovering I like women so uh. I got more comfortable writing about it.

Enjoy~

One million dollars.

The number echoed in Irina's head as she flipped the tiny piece of parchment between her fingers, the letters inked into it dancing across her vision. She had never been one to pay attention to money -not anymore so than what was needed for survival and a relatively smooth life. But now...

I could leave.

As a Lucian, she was quick and deft at math; all it took was a couple of seconds for her to convert the dollars into rubles in her head. She stifled a wince -the amount she reached was certainly tempting.

She stopped moving the paper around in her hand and stared it down, much alike she'd stare a poisoned cup of vodka -tempting to look at, deadly to drink. She should proceed with utmost caution, knowling that the slightest misstep would likely mean demise. But a whole million...

She could leave. Leave the Lucians -escape Isabel.

I could run away with Nataliya... never look back. We would be free -free of danger, free of the Lucians, of Isabel... free of everything.

Next to her, around her, people had already started taking action by either accepting the challenge or backing away and gaining their money. Ian and Natalie Kabra, the Holts, even old, kind and peaceful Alistair Oh, belonged to the former category. Cousin Ingrid and Cousin Jose belonged to the latter.

Was she really ready to lump herself with those two? The known cowards, the simple people that would never step out of the norm, that would rather stand by and watch everything unfold rather than moving a finger to intervene, to help?

She knew, of course, that her motives weren't the same as theirs; but everyone else didn't. Everyone else would look at her face and see a coward and a deserter. Vikram and Isabel, especially, would never let it go.

And Irina herself would never let it go, either.

She let out a barely audible huff, her head already ready to burst with the hundreds of contradicting thoughts that were running through it faster than the speed of sound. After a second, she quickly glanced around to be certain that nobody had noticed her brief slip-up. Thankfully most of the others were still preoccupied with snapping at each other about who would claim the title of 'Team One'. As if that was of any matter.

Irina looked back down on her little piece of paper one last time. The numbers and words mocked her, urged her. She thought back to Nataliya again -her endless gray eyes, her velvet black hair, her tempting crimson lips.

'Don't do anything stupid, Irina'. 'Be careful, Irina'. 'This is dangerous, Irina'. Those were Nataliya's three favourite sentences (or, well, some of them; some others she saved exclusively for 'bedtime'). Normally, she would have listened -but then again, she wasn't going to join just to take revenge on some very haughty members of the Lucian branch whose named started with the vicious letter 'K'. She had made a promise.

"One day, I'll take you out there. Once I get all the Clues, I'm sure whatever I find will be strong enough, good enough to... help. We'll see the word together -you and I. I swear on my life."

Irina gritted her teeth at the memory. That was a promise she intended to keep, but to do so she would have to break the promise of being careful.

So be it. That one wasn't as important a promise, anyway.

"Da." Irina stood up, the steel seeping back into her voice, her posture, her eyes. "I'll also play this game. I'm going to be Team Five".

Hope you liked it! I tried to keep it as canon-compliant and IC as possible. If you'd like, please R&R.~