Sticks and Stones/Skulls and Bones
Summary: Chuck Bass discovers that he is an heir to membership in a secret society. Chuck learns that things are not all they seem within the group. As he becomes more involved, he realizes that he needs the help of his friends or he will not be able to fulfill his legacy. With Blair helping him, will Chuck emerge with his heart intact? (Chuck/Blair, Serena/Nate)
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Sticks and Stones/Skulls and Bones
Disclaimer: I do not own Gossip Girl. I am just a dreamer, who wishes that Chair would happily get together.
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At an early age, Charles Bass knew he was going to grow up to become a powerful man. All he usually needed was to invoke his name and people would immediately do what he requested. He allowed friends to call him by the nickname, "Chuck", because it lessened the weight of responsibility his name carried. Even though he would never admit it aloud, Chuck thought the world revolved around him. The concepts of hard work and academic diligence were not ideas he was well acquainted with.
The past few months had been difficult for Chuck. His father died in an automobile accident, which was still under investigation. To say that Chuck did not handle the news well as an understatement. He retreated to Thailand, seeking out the comfort of call girls, drugs, and alcohol. Living in a state of oblivion was much less difficult than facing the cold hard realities of his life.
After losing his father, he could not grasp what his purpose in life was going to be. His father had been extremely influential in shaping the kind of life Chuck lived, even if he seemed to be emotionally detached from him. His father left him alone in the world with his uncle, the black sheep of the family, and his stepmother. After a few negative events, Chuck determined that he would be better off if he allowed stepmother to have custodial guardianship.
His stepmother, Lily, had been an amazing addition to his life. Once the will was settled, he was entrusted with an incredible amount of money. Most people would be satisfied, but Chuck remained restless. He had lots of material possessions, but he had alienated one of the few people who truly cared about him. Blair Waldorf, the one true love of his life, had finally removed herself him.
Blair realized that her dreams of attending Yale were becoming less tangible, since she was not focusing on her academics. She had started to invest all of her time and energy on her favorite charity, helping him. With the addition of a new teacher, one who was not Blair Waldorf's biggest fan, she needed to dedicate more time on impressing Yale's Dean of Admissions. Publicly, Chuck seemed like the was happy that she had moved on. Privately, he was nursing a broken heart.
Even though he loved Blair, he could not relate to her dilemma. When Chuck visited Yale with his friend, Nate, he was more focused on their secret societies than the academic programs. With his wealth and prowess, he did not have to worry about getting wait listed by the admissions committee. Prior to his death, his father had already secured Chuck early admission acceptance to Yale, Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia. For him, college decisions meant how much money he was going to donate and what the trustees were going to do with the additional funding.
The more he thought about the contrasts in their situation, the more he realized he should offer his help to her. She had aided him during his darkest hours; the least he could do was make a few phone calls to stop the Blair witch hunt that seemed to be reoccurring at Constance. With some crafty maneuvers, he may be able to have the Dean call Blair with a final decision regarding Yale. The anticipation of admission was making her behave desperate, which was the last word one would ever use to describe her.
In her suite, Blair wondered how Chuck was doing. She had made no attempts to get in touch with him. Recently, his attendance in school was sporadic. Dean Queller was reluctant to take any actions against him. She knew that most of this newfound restraint came from the fact that Queller was expecting him to donate a huge endowment to the academy, upon graduation.
With time, she hoped that things would be different between the two of them. He had been her friend and co-conspirator for so long. It was until recently, that she realized that she often relied upon him to devise successful plots. Chuck was Blair's military strategist in the ongoing war that was Constance Billard. If he had been at school, she never would have been expelled or received community service at the hands of Miss Carr.
Chuck was at Bass Industries, searching through his email contacts, when he noticed an alert from Gossip Girl. It had been weeks since he had attended classes; Nate and Vanessa had developed a daily routine of dropping off his coursework. If Chuck needed assistance, he would contact his instructor, who would visit the Palace. Due to this process, he was relatively out of touch with what was happening in the realm of Gossip Girl.
During his time at home, he would check the Gossip Girl blog, only reading about events that involved his friends. In this instance, she wrote about Blair's most recent run in with Dean Queller and how it seemed to have concluded. Chuck knew that Blair was probably very hurt from this scandal. This couldn't continue for the rest of senior year. Chuck knew was going to have to intervene.
Chuck began to compose an email to Dean Queller. As he started to write, he remembered the famous quote from the play Richelieu, "The pen is mightier than the sword".
Dear Dean Queller:
I am writing this correspondence to request that you and the board, desist in your attacks upon Blair Waldorf. As per our prior conversation, I am eagerly awaiting the opportunity to endow funds to both St. Judes and Constance Billard. Both the amount and type of funding, will depend on how satisfied I am with the terms of our prior agreement. If there are any additional questions regarding this letter they can be fielded through myself, as well as my guardian, Lily van der Woodsen-Bass.
Sincerely,
Charles Bass
He forwarded a copy of the email to Lily, then composed a similar email to the Dean of Admissions at Yale. Although, he wasn't initially thrilled to be attending college there, he knew his attendance would solidify the ability for Blair to attend. If they wanted him, they would have to take her. Lately, he felt like all he did was issue ultimatums.
Shortly after sending his email to the Yale Dean of Admissions, Chuck received a text message on his cell phone. It read, "Mr. Charles Bass, you have been accepted to the 2013 Class of Yale. Please expect to receive additional correspondence, shortly". Chuck hoped that anything else he received would state, in writing, that Blair was accepted. She had worked to hard to maintain an excellent transcript, while he and Serena partied. Obviously, the Dean at Yale valued notoriety over academic accomplishment. Constance often worked the same way; if a student was name dropped on Page Six, it added up to free advertising for the school.
Chuck was contemplating the implications of that thought, when there was a knock on his office door. A man, bespectacled in black hipster glasses and a William Rast suit, stepped into the room He held a black leather box. Before Chuck could question what it was, the man swiftly handed it to and departed without a word. Cautiously, Chuck opened the box. The box appeared to contain three items: a key, what appeared to be an invitation, and a black leather blindfold.
Chuck wondered, sarcastically, if he had been invited to an exclusive swingers party. After all, that would explain the blindfold. He removed the envelope, leaving the key in the box. The envelope contained an ornate invitation. The invitation read, "omnes hones et gloriae est", along an address in New Haven, and the time seven o'clock. At the top of the invitation there was a symbol, that looked like a crest or insignia.
Since it was already five o'clock, Chuck knew there would be little time to research who sent the invitation or what they could have wanted. He suspected, the senders could have been one of Yale's many secret organizations. Out of all of them, however, there was one who members reigned supreme. Before accepting the invitation, he needed to know what the phrase "omnes hones et gloriae est" meant. Knowing that he was never adept at foreign languages, he decided to enlist the help of someone who was, Blair Waldorf.