Author's Note: Once Again, Thank you to my lovely beta Icelilly. I apologize in advance for the rapid-fire dialogue. Also, I do not own "Buffy the Vampire Slayer".
Chapter III
He was never one to worry. Whenever his friends got into a fight, he always let someone else make a fuss about it. Whenever his father had difficulties at work he never meddled, knowing that there would be nothing he could say or do that could change anything. Even when his mother died, he didn't fall into despair. Sure, he cried, but he would never let himself become controlled by his emotions.
At least, that's what he would tell himself every night before he went to sleep.
In reality, his emotions ruled him much more than he would care to admit, but he was excellent at keeping them in check. Being emotional made you vulnerable, and he wasn't willing to expose himself like that to anyone.
Turns out that when you bottle up your emotions like that, they find a way to manifest in some other way. He found himself with abilities he'd only heard in the bedtime stories his mother would tell him about his grandparents – stories she had also heard as a child straight from the source. The stories involved magical potions and grand adventures involving amazing creatures that couldn't possibly exist.
Except what he could do was very real, he had made sure it was, lest he lose his mind. Once he was able to determine this, he knew that he could never tell anyone, and became even more of a social oddball than he already was. Of course, all his best friends thought that it was a natural result to his mother's early death, so they never questioned it and let him sort through his own issues while they continued with their lives as they had before. He was convinced that life would continue as it had, and that entering High School wouldn't change anything.
When he saw the graffiti on the school entrance that warm September morning, the entire foundation of his life was rocked to its very core. There are others? He had thought to himself hopefully, as his friends began speculating about who could have done it.
He clutched his pendant, gripping lit like a lifeline. If there were others, why didn't they find me? Why did they leave me all alone to figure out my ability? He stared wistfully at the entrance for a moment more before continuing inside, pushing the incident as far back in his mind as he could.
It wasn't until he got to class that he realized he had accidentally ripped his pendant off, and it was nowhere to be found.
"So in the 3rd century, B.C., the Ancient Romans- Excuse me? Where do you think you're going?"
He stared blankly at the teacher, who didn't flinch and pointed back to his desk. "If you need to use the bathroom, you may request the pass. Otherwise, sit down."
"May I have the bathroom pass, then?" He responded softly, each word dragging along his throat like broken glass.
"No."
He clenched his fists as the teacher turned back to the blackboard.
"Since you so rudely interrupted my class, you can wait until the bell rings."
By the time he was able to search the entryway, the pendant was long gone – and he knew it was only a matter of time before the withdrawal symptoms began.
As in turns out, the sand in the proverbial hourglass ran out one week later.
"It wasn't me." Ivan said in his normal, frighteningly cheery voice.
"Russia, we won't be mad if it was you. We just need to know so we can prepare ourselves," Arthur said through gritted teeth. Kiku and Natalia were sitting down at the table nearby, eying the two blonds.
"I'm telling the truth," Ivan insisted, becoming visibly annoyed, and turned to Natalia, "This is unlike you. Aren't you gonna go crazy on him for confronting me?"
Natalia yawned, "I would, but I was up all night and don't have the energy. Besides, if he thinks you can get into a locked room without breaking the door down or messing with the lock, it means he's acknowledging your skill."
"Wait, how do you know all that? The announcement just said that it had been broken into," Arthur said, eying her suspiciously.
"I was bored, so I went to go take a look at it for myself." Natalia growled, staring right back, "Whoever broke in clearly did so with magic. The only reason they knew someone broke in at all, and it wasn't the janitor being lousy at his job, is because the door was open. The key needs to be in the lock in order for the door to open at all."
"That seems a bit excessive for a supply closet," Kiku commented.
"They keep paint in there, and the principal is paranoid that someone will vandalize the school with it," Ivan explained.
"Oh please. Who would go out of their way to vandalize the school with paint instead of toilet paper or something?" Arthur said rolling his eyes. The other three stared pointedly at him. "Oh yeah. I guess I would."
"Anyway," Natalia continued, "When they said nothing was taken it was the truth - but what they failed to mention was that it was ransacked. I couldn't tell if they performed any type of spell once they got in there because of all the fumes from the paint, but I don't think they did."
"I think we can safely assume that they were looking for something and didn't find it," Kiku frowned, "Other than the keys, the only thing I can think of is that they were looking for something valuable that the staff didn't want to risk someone stealing from the lost and found."
"Well," Arthur said, the tension in the room dissipated, "Norway texted to say he wasn't coming. When I asked why he said it was too many idiots to list."
"I saw him sitting with Mikkel Denson today," Ivan snickered, "He certainly makes me want to crawl into bed with a headache."
"Yeah well," Arthur glanced around the room. Ivan seemed content, while Kiku looked bored and Natalia seemed to be on the verge of passing out, "Dear God Belarus! Why are you so tired?"
"I was trying to perfect some potions. Not the Amortentia, but some of the more useful ones like a Polyjuice Potion."
"A Polyjuice Potion?" Kiku repeated, eyebrows raised, "What do you need that for?"
"You never know. We are in a secret magic club after all. I thought it might come in handy at some point," Natalia sighed, "I need to stop by the Magic Box though. I'm fresh out of lacewing flies."
"The Magic Box?" Arthur asked incredulously, "You mean, from Buffy the Vampire Slayer?"
"Never saw the show, but I'm assuming the Magic Box was the name of some kind of one-stop shop for the magically inclined? The owner probably ripped off the name in order to capitalize on brand recognition or something."
"My, my Belarus," Ivan said, "You are speaking quite well for someone running on no sleep."
"Just you wait," Natalia smirked, "I'll pass out reciting Greek remedial spells before you know it."
"Wait, you know remedial spells?" Kiku asked, clearly surprised. Arthur silently agreed, as any skill with healing would be infinitely more useful than her strange potion-making.
"I know the words anyway," Natalia clarified, waving her hand, "I don't have a talent for it though, so I doubt I'd be able to do much. I could make you look fine I suppose…"
"Oh, I see," Kiku sighed, "After that demonstration with Norway's troll, it's become pretty clear that we need someone with a talent for healing spells."
"I could learn a few healing spells," Arthur pointed out. "You said I had broad talent remember?"
"Yeah, but you kinda suck at normal spells," Ivan chirped, "You would probably make us grow an extra head or make the wound double in size."
"Yeah, probably," Natalia agreed.
"That is the fear," Kiku conceded.
Arthur made a mental note to leave them dying on the ground somewhere should the opportunity arise.
Clearly, the store wasn't named the Magic Box simply because the owner wanted to take advantage of the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fandom.
When Arthur entered the store, he felt like he was watching the program itself. The dimensions and arrangement of the store looked almost identical to the layout of the store on the show. Except none of the characters were there - hanging out and talking about how to kill the next vampire or sneak mood stabilizers into Dawn's food without her noticing.
While he stood with Ivan and Kiku in the doorway, taking in their surroundings, Natalia rushed into the store, clearly intent on stocking up on anything else she may be missing in addition to the lacewing flies.
"I'm sorry, but could you try and keep the doorway clear? It's not too crowded now but once the sun goes down there'll be a decent amount of people here."
Arthur looked over at the counter to see an attractive older woman waving at them, and he hesitated before walking over to her. Ivan followed, while Kiku began examining some weaponry that hung on a nearby wall.
"You all wouldn't happen to be the club that Natalia mentioned on her last visit here are you?"
Arthur raised his eyebrows in shock, but then looked at it logically. Sure, membership in the magic club was a closely guarded secret, but surely telling this woman wouldn't be dangerous. After all, she was their supplier.
"Yes, I am the talented leader of this group," Arthur said triumphantly, channeling Alfred's enthusiasm.
The woman grinned, "Talented Leader, you say? Then you must be Honda Kiku. I had pictured you as Asian…"
Ivan snorted, and Arthur turned around to glare at him. "No, Kiku is over there looking at your sword collection. I'm Arthur Kirkland."
"Arthur Kirkland?" The woman frowned, "Natalia never mentioned you. She said there were three boys named Kiku, Ivan, and Lukas, and some kind of annoying monkey they had as a mascot."
By this point Ivan had begun snickering openly. Kiku had overheard the conversation and looked equally amused. Arthur was about to retort when Natalia returned carrying a large glass jar filled with flies.
"Belarus! Why are you telling people I'm a monkey mascot?" Arthur snapped.
"Well, all you do is make a spectacle of yourself for no apparent reason, and you can barely do any spells, so it's not that much of a stretch," Natalia replied flatly, clearly more focused on going over her mental checklist of supplies.
"Funny, I've never seen you in action." Arthur countered, and motioned over his shoulder, "and Russia-chan here hasn't brought anything to the table at all, so who knows if he can actually do magic?"
Kiku grew somewhat pale at this observation and Natalia looked a bit more alert. Behind him, Ivan stopped laughing "Well, if you must know, I can do a little bit of the defensive stuff Japan did the other day, but not much. I also know a few spells that can manipulate water and wind. However, my specialties are charms and curses." Ivan glanced behind him, an unreadable expression on his face, "Especially curses. Isn't that right Japan?"
Kiku nodded, and pretended to be interested in the jar in Netalia's possession than clarify on what Ivan meant. Arthur shared an uneasy glance with the shopkeeper before she composed herself again. "Well, is there anything else I can help you find?"
"Actually-" Kiku started to say, before he heard a door open nearby and the sound of muffled voices.
"Oh, my son and his friends must have arrived to help move in the new stock." The Shopkeeper remarked, checking her watch.
"Your son?" Arthur asked nervously.
"Yes, I have a son about your age. I believe he and his friends attend the same school as you do, actually."
Arthur and Kiku exchanged alarmed looks, but before they could react, they heard a door open and a box hit the ground.
"Wow, clearly you guys aren't as smart as Lukas said you were if you're here in broad daylight."
The boy who spoke looked similar to Lukas, but Arthur noticed that his hair was lighter and somewhat shorter. That and his gaze seemed to betray a lot more emotion. It took Arthur a moment to realize that this must be Lukas's brother.
"Could you put that box over there on the counter?" The shopkeeper motioned to a large table at the center of the room.
Emil shrugged. "No problem Mrs. Karpusi."
"We have to hide!" Arthur hissed as Emil lifted the box again.
"Over here," Natalia hissed, setting aside her jar of flies and motioning the others over into a corner.
"What good will this do?" Arthur asked after complying. He was standing uncomfortably close to Kiku and Ivan, and the trio avoided making eye contact with one another.
"Just be quiet," Natalia whispered, and then continued to hum under her breath. Arthur was about to ask her again when the door swung open and a couple of boys Arthur didn't recognize entered the room carrying boxes.
"Heracles fell asleep again, Mrs. Karpusi," one of the boys said, clearly trying to hide his annoyance, "Frascuelo's outside trying to wake him up."
The shopkeeper sighed and exited the store. Emil seemed to be eying the corner where the trapped Magic Club stood, his puzzled expression causing Arthur to wonder what exactly was happening.
The boy who spoke earlier checked his cell phone. "If Heracles gets off his ass, we may actually have time to go to the market today after all."
"You know, Sadiq, we could just leave him here," Emil remarked, turning his attention back to his friends.
"I guess, but then he'd be a huge pain in the ass for the rest of the week," Sadiq replied, "And Heracles can be really damn annoying. Right Gupta?"
The smaller boy nodded, more interested in examining some of the more bizarre objects in the crate he had carried in.
"I can't believe people actually buy this stuff though. Must all be nutters," Emil smirked, obviously taunting the club in the corner.
"Probably," Sadiq snorted, as he picked up Natalia's jar off the counter, "But don't let Heracles' mom hear you say that. I think she really believes in this crap."
Arthur heard some screaming from outside, and saw a boy with long, curly hair stumble in carrying another crate. Mrs. Karpusi and another boy followed him in, the later carrying a crate as well.
"If you boys could help me unpack this stuff before you go that would be great," Mrs. Karpusi remarked cheerfully. Emil coughed, and motioned towards the corner. A look of understanding seemed to appear on the shopkeeper's face, but before she could say anything, Arthur noticed the other boys following Emil's gaze.
"Holy crap!" Sadiq exclaimed, strutted over towards them. Arthur felt himself tense, ready to make a run for it, when he felt Natalia grip his arm and give him a hard look.
"This is amazing!" Arthur turned and saw that Sadiq had walked right past them, and was examining the weaponry display that Kiku had been looking at earlier. He turned back to his friends, grinning. "Hey, Mrs. Karpusi, do you think that I could-"
"Absolutely not," Mrs. Karpusi interrupted, crossing her arms. "Those are way too dangerous." Sadiq looked disappointed, while the other boys were visibly relieved. "Anyway," Mrs. Karpusi motioned to the boxes, "You guys can help me with these tomorrow. Go off and have fun."
"Sweet," Frascuelo said, speaking for the first time. Arthur felt Kiku fidget a bit next to him, likely fighting the desire to jump out and make both sides of his haircut the same length.
Sadiq practically dragged Emil and Gupta out the door while Frascuelo persuaded a sleepy Heracles to follow them out.
"Finally!" Ivan exhaled, breaking away from the group once they had gone.
"What just happened?" Arthur asked Natalia, who had picked up her jar of flies and was examining it for damage.
"I can do illusions remember?" Natalia stated, seemingly content that the product was still in good shape, "I made it so all they saw there was a radiator."
"I apologize for that. I had forgotten that you were a secret club," Mrs. Karpusi said, making a zipping motion with her fingers. "I only had Heracles and his friends help because my back has been acting up. None of them have actually been in here before, now that I think about it."
"It's okay, but please do give us fair warning next time," Kiku said as he brushed himself off.
"Anyway, I had come back to ask you," Natalia interrupted, holding up the jar, "How much for the flies?"
By the time Arthur returned to the school, clubs were starting to let out. At the same time, some sports teams began their practices and the street was lined with students carrying their equipment from home, and Arthur silently thanked a nameless deity that none of them had been crowding the subway car they had taken back.
"I'll see you tomorrow, you guys!" Kiku waved, before going into the line of sight of the other students, "I have soccer practice and I don't want to be late for the first meeting."
"You're on the soccer team?" the other three said in unison, surprised that Kiku, who was admittedly strong but small in size, would be participating in such a physically demanding sport.
"Yeah, our first game is on Friday, so we need to work fast!" Kiku shouted back, before running inside to meet the rest of the team. When the trio walked inside a moment later, Arthur recognized a few of the players from his junior high soccer team amongst the group that Kiku was standing with.
Arthur glanced at Ivan and Natalia, "Do either of you guys play sports?"
Natalia shook her head, while Ivan grinned, "I play hockey. My favorite part is when I punch one of those dirty players in the face."
"Charming," Arthur deadpanned as they rounded the corner and entered the deserted portion of the school. "So do either of you have any theories about who broke into that closet?"
"It'll probably happen again," Ivan observed, "If they're using magic to break into something as simple as a storage closet, they must be planning to do something else or they wouldn't have showed their hand to us like they did."
"I agree," Natalia said, "and this way, we get the blame for everything they do."
Arthur frowned, "I wonder who it is though. I mean, there can't be that many people with magical abilities here."
"Actually, people with magical potential do have a habit of gravitating towards each other," Natalia said with a bit more feeling than necessary, causing Ivan to speed up and walk next to Arthur.
"Well, I don't think any of my friends aside from Nat have any abilities."
Natalia kicked him in the back of the shin, "Hey dumbass, you used my real name."
"Yeah but I think club is basically over now. We just need to put your supplies in the classroom and lock up," Arthur pointed out, and then turned back to Ivan, "and that would consist of?"
"Well, there's Raivis Galante, Eduard Von Bock, my sister Irina, and-" Ivan cast his gaze downward, "Toris Lorinatis and Tino Väinämöinen."
"That's a mouthful. It's like no one around here can have a normal name," Arthur paused, then asked quietly, "What happened there anyway?"
"None of your damn business," Natalie yowled, causing the two boys to jump.
"It's… complicated." Ivan said, downcast, "Let's just say I don't always know how to connect with people."
No kidding. Arthur thought to himself. He felt a bit bad for the guy though, after all there's bound to be some mental scarring with Natalia as a sister.
"None of my friends have any abilities, at least from what I can tell," Arthur remarked, getting back on subject, "That includes Michelle St. Ange, Alfred Jones, Leon whatever-his-name-is, and… oh god I feel like I'm forgetting someone."
"Toris?" Ivan said the name sadly and Natalia sent Arthur a glare so deadly he was surprised his clothes hadn't burst into flames.
"No, um, that bloke Williams. What was his name? Anyway, none of them have magic potential as far as I can tell."
"What about that Heracles kid?" Natalia thought out loud, "His mother owns the Magic Box so she probably has abilities."
"But abilities aren't always inherited," Arthur pointed out, "None of my brothers can use magic, and you guys said your sister can't either."
"-and I don't think Lukas's brother can either," Ivan added, recovered from his previous distress.
"Though I still think one of them may have an ability that's never been triggered," Arthur looked at the others and shrugged, "Doesn't matter though, since we're looking for someone who has triggered their abilities."
"And we're assuming they have control of them," Ivan said in a tone that sent shivers up Arthur's spine, "The year after I discovered my abilities I had a difficult time keeping myself from doing magic by accident."
"Swell. That means we could go into class one day and the roof could cave in," Arthur groaned.
"Well, if that's the case then they'll likely be tell-tale signs around them. We should keep our eyes peeled." Natalia said as they entered the room. She put her flies into a cabinet and began unloading all her other potion-making materials as well. Kiku's equipment was already stored inside on a higher shelf.
"Yeah, I lucked out in that things just broke around me, so everyone thought I was clumsy," Arthur said, grabbing his spellbook off the table as Ivan did the same.
"For me, let's just say it didn't particularly matter who saw," Natalia said as she finished up. Arthur realized that he didn't feel any urgency to learn their family history. After all, he didn't particularly like having nightmares.
When the door swung open, he realized that the effects had begun. Without that charm, this would happen a lot.
Rifling through the contents of the closet, the boy huffed, it's not here. He stared blankly at the door, unsure of how to reverse the spell to close and lock it. He couldn't exactly take the key, they'd know it was missing. Well, it's not like I knew the spell to open the damn door in the first place.
The door had swung open as he was headed down the deserted hallway to meet his friends, who would probably be worrying where he was by now.
And that girl had been following him again. He doubted that she was doing it intentionally, but he could sense her body doing it on instinct. Hunter. He thought to himself, shivering. Lucky for him, it didn't appear that she had been triggered, so he had the solace that she wouldn't bother him unless something major happened and her ability became active.
Screw it, he said, and shut the door before racing down the hallway to meet his friends, The Janitor will just think that he forgot to lock the door. No one will notice.
When he reached the door, he saw his friends waving him over. As he was about to go over to meet them, he felt a jolt as another student brushed up against his shoulder on their way out of the building.
Arthur Kirkland. The boy thought to himself. He or one of his little friends may have taken it. I should check it out on Friday. He gave the normal greeting to his friends as they headed off for their usual afternoon gathering, groaning inwardly at their insistence at taking in the sights of the city. After all, that's the only day these guys don't have scheduled out for me.
Author's Note: Thanks for reading this far! Feedback is appreciated, even negative feedback!
Not all the characters have assigned names so I had to look up common names for each language or country. Ukraine is Irina Braginski.
For those of you unfamiliar with "Buffy the Vampire Slayer", Dawn is the little sister character well known for being extremely high maintenance and being the living embodiment of every over-the-top angst-ridden-teen story ever told.
