"Gideon... Gideon I know you're awake." Jace sighed, arms crossed impatiently as he looked at the large mass under the sheets of his friends bed. A groan was all that answered him as the large, stubborn mass sluggishly moved about, but made no move to actually depart from the bed. "You're going to make us late."

"What are you talking about? It's still summer, dammit, let me sleep!" Gideon moaned, voice muffled by his pile of sheets he was still huddled under. Jace rolled his eyes, grabbing at the pile of sheets and trying to yank them off of his friend, but to no avail. He had them in a tight, desperate death-grip that not even Armageddon would loosen.

"Pretending it's not a school day isn't going to make it true..." Jace groaned, stumbling back and looking to his backpack. He'd been ready half an hour ago, and now he had ten minutes to run across campus and find his first class- all for the sake of trying to force Gideon out of his impenetrable blanket fortress. He was half a step away by just taking the reigns of his mind and forcing him to go.

"Gideon, please don't make me give you a countdown- I'm not your mom." He muttered seconds before the door to their room flew open, slamming into the familiar place against the wall. It happened so often now that Jace didn't even jump- just shuddered at the thought of the damage being done to the door and the wall.

"Gods, are you two still here!?"

"No thanks to Gideon." Jace mumbled under his breath as Chandra came barging in. Despite the fact it was a school day she was still dressed like she was deciding whether she wanted to just lie around all day or go back to bed- her hair looking half done and clothes that looked like they belonged to someone a few sizes larger than her and also a man. Today's outfit consisted of a baggy jersey of a team Jace had never heard of, jean shorts that cut off right below her knee and skater shoes that had probably seen better days. That being said, she somehow managed to pull the look off in an oddball sort of way.

"Look, you probably shouldn't be late to your first day at school, so you just take your books and go. I'll drag this lazy bum out of bed." Chandra commanded, shouldering Jace out of the way before she started roughly pushing against Gideon. She'd most likely dislodge the mattress from the frame at that rate, but it would get the job done either way. "You're going to catch a lot of shit if your late."

"Are you sure-"

"I can magically set things of fire, Jace. I'm pretty sure that's good incentive to get him out of bed, so we won't be too far behind." Chandra assured him, seeming rather bothered by the fact he had to be assured at all. "So move your ass before I move it for you!"

"Alright, alright, I'm leaving!" Jace said as he turned, picked up his book bag and headed out the door into the hall- just as he heard Gideon shout in pain from any number of things Chandra could have possibly done that he didn't want to even think about. In a few steps he picked up his pace into a brisk jog, and by the time he was out of the dormitory building he broke out into a straight run. Hardly anyone else was walking to school by now, so at the very least there was no one around to witness him frantically speed towards the school building.

Panting and struggling to make it look like he hadn't run there at full speed, Jace managed to make it there before the bell- long enough for him to catch his breath, fix himself up and find the nearest person who knew the school layout much better than him. With the halls now completely crowded with people wondering and thinking and looking for their own classrooms, it hardly took any time at all for Jace to latch onto a thought and make his way through the halls as if he'd wandered them for years (just like the person of whom he'd used the thought of probably was). It was easy and seamless, and whoever it was probably didn't even pay the feeling of their thoughts being grasped any mind, but that was only the first time. Jace's power wasn't something he used conservatively.

Maybe he'd simply gotten into the habit of just mind-reading his way into getting directions and grades and sometimes even dates. He'd become reliant on it, even if he was sure he could do all of those things on his own (well, maybe not the last one, given his track record of having passable people skills). Without even a second thought, he did it in his first class, his second, his third- he knew reading lists before they were assigned, about quizzes to assess how much they knew before they were passed out, and names before anyone had even introduced themselves. And all those years of doing it, even all these people who could use their own magics and could probably pick up on when someone used their own probably only passed off Jace's mind-snooping as an itch or a breeze.

It took a toll on Jace more than it did any of them, though. The one downside to the habit he couldn't break was the insufferable headaches. The more he allowed his mind to wander to prey on the thoughts and memories of others, the more splitting they would become- but not even they could stop him. Using the thoughts of other people to get by was now a major part of how he functioned, and now, so were dealing with debilitating headaches.

Lunch couldn't have come soon enough. He could have possibly searched for Gideon and Chandra, or for the Lunchroom or quite possibly the infirmary, but his head hurt so much, he could only wildly reach for one thought and hope it took him somewhere where he wouldn't be bothered to read the minds of anyone. Luckily for him, he just so happened to pry the location of the school's library from the mind of a passerby. He could go without eating- the headache had gotten so bad that it took precedence over feeling the slightest bit of hunger anyway.

A large portion of the school building had been devoted to the library, it seemed. The main entry way opened up to as domed, glass ceiling, shedding soft, natural light down onto the ground and books that lined the walls. In fact, there were books everywhere- a lot more old and tattered than new. And one thing was for sure- it was calm, quiet, and hardly anyone was there. Everyone who was were simply devoting themselves to quietly reading or working, and Jace could hardly care about what.

What he did care about was what he saw near the far reaches of the main room, and in an instant, he forgot all about his headache.

There was a gathering of round tables situated to one side of the room, where the light from the sun drifting in from the windows above hardly managed to reach. There were a few groups of students, huddled around their books and silently whispering to one another, but they all had arranged themselves on the very outer tables that made up the cluster. Only one of the tables nearest the center was occupied, and only by one person, her nose buried in her book and a medium-sized black canteen by her side.

"Liliana?" Jace spoke softly, but it was quiet enough in the library that everyone managed to hear. Even though they hadn't been called, everyone was quick to look up from their books and papers and laptops and stare at him- no, glare at him. A simple, regular gaze wouldn't sting this bad or make him feel this uncomfortable and unwelcome. They followed him with every little step, and Jace could feel them there. But, despite that, he forced himself to move toward the one person who hardn't reacted to his speaking: the owner of the name. She simply continued reading, chin rested in an upturned palm as she casually flipped through the pages of her book- like she had no care in the world.

She was dressed a little more conservatively this time, though blacks and deep, dark purples were still a theme that made up her wardrobe. She wore a black tee-shirt with sleeves that covered her arms, but were sheer enough that Jace could see every inch of skin beneath them. The shirt itself was just a bit too small and a small portion of her midriff peeped through- a pale stripe across her otherwise dark clothing.

Jace cleared his throat nervously, but Liliana only responded by turning a page in her book, as if he still had yet to exist.

"L-Liliana?" He repeated, trying his hardest to ignore the feeling of eyes still marring his back. Finally she looked up, her look of indifference shifting into a softer, welcoming one.

"Well, if it isn't Bace Jeleren." She spoke jokingly, her lips curling upwards in a smirk.

"I-It's Jace-"

"I'm just joking with you, I know your name." She rolled her eyes before returning to gazing down at her book. "First day treating you alright."

"Yeah, I'm just taking a break in here." Jace chuckled weakly, trying to ignore everyone else around him. He didn't want to, but out of habit he opened his mind up just enough to listen to their outermost thoughts. None of them were good, and they were all directed at him and Liliana. "...Homework?" He motioned to her reading material. Without even looking up she held it up for him to see: a book of necromancy and other forms of black magic.

"Personal interest." She responded simply. "It's interesting, but I'm not learning anything new."

"Necromancy, huh?" Jace questioned, trying to force plesantries and not seem at all bothered. Their thoughts were getting worse- louder, angrier. They had no idea who he was, but they certainly weren't fans of him. "Is that... something you practice?"

"Is masochism something of yours?" She responded coldly, closing her book and reaching over to cap her canteen. She stood swiftly, pushing back her chair with a loud screech.

"W-what?"

"You've hardly been here a week, but I really doubt, given the people you associate yourself with, that you haven't heard about me by now." Liliana grumbled, tucking her canteen into her bag that she slung over her shoulder before pressing her book to her person like a security blanket. "I can tell by your face that your forcing yourself, and let me tell you right now that you can just stop. I don't need you to hang around and be nice to me because you think I'm pretty- or whatever. I really don't need anyone, so could you not..." She paused, taking a deep breath and holding it for several, painful seconds.

"Don't sacrifice your social life just so you can try and score." She muttered.

"But I'm not-!" Jace began to defend himself before she rudely pushed passed him, her shoulder knocking against his arm as she bulldozed her way by him and toward the exit. The cruel, angry eyes that had been digging into Jace followed her all the way out before settling back on their books.

Jace groaned in pain, holding his head in his hand.

The headache had returned much worse than before.


"I'm sorry, Jace, dear, I should have warned you a little more." Emmara signed heavily, easing into the chair next to her desk in the infirmary. She looked down at her teacup guiltily, steam rising up and brushing against her face. "Liliana... isn't the easiest person to get close to, especially now."

"I noticed." Jace responded bitterly, knocking back a second pain pill and washing it down with his own cup of tea. When he'd arrived, stumbling through the door with a headache that was practically blinding him, Emmara had an entire pot freshly made, as if she had been waiting for someone to stop by. Part of him had hoped it had been Liliana, and he'd be able to straighten things out with her, but the lunch period had come and gone, and no one else had joined them. "She pretty much turned me down almost right away."

"It has nothing to do with you personally, I promise, so I really must implore you not to take offense..." Emmara pleaded, looking up at Jace. "What happened to her sort of has caused her to form the habit of keeping anyone at a distance."

"Why didn't you tell me before- about what happened last year with her and Chandra's brother?" Jace asked, trying and failing not to don a sharp tone as he spoke. Emmara shrunk back, her shoulders hunched.

"I figured you'd find out on your own... and I feared my own account of things would lead me to share things with you that Liliana would rather I not talk about. She has her own secrets, and it's not my right to tell them." Emmara explained herself. "Azorius simply made her an offer she couldn't refuse, and unfortunately it came at the cost of betraying the trust of her friends."

"What sort of offer would make someone do that?" Jace inquired, staring Emmara down. It took every inch of his own will not to simply dig into her mind and find out himself.

"Like I told you before, Liliana has a lot of... debts. I'll admit, she was a fool to get in as deep as she is now in the first place, but what's done is done and at least she knows now that she did wrong and is trying to free herself." Emmara paused, taking a quick sip of her tea. "It all just comes down to her not being able to make good choices. I'm the only one who she's confided in about her problem, so maybe that's why. Maybe she just needs someone else who she can open up to who could help her."

"Why not you? Why couldn't you help her!?" Jace found himself snapping.

"It's not that simple!" Much to both their surprises, Emmara snapped back. Apologetically, she drew away, lowering her voice substantially and averting her gaze in shame. "I'm a part of a guild myself, Jace. As a member of Selesnya, I can't interfere with the actions taken by the other guilds unless I'm ordered to. Azorius' dealings with Chandra's brother were something I detested, but there was nothing I could do to stop them- both from taking action and using Liliana to get what they wanted. It was out of my jurisdiction, despite my being her friend. If I were to speak out against their methods, or try to sway Liliana to reconsider, I would have been punished."

"So even staff members like you can be guild members?" Jace questioned, cocking an eyebrow.

"I was a member of Selesnya when I was a student here, and when I graduated they got me a job working as the school nurse under the condition that I remain aligned with them." Emmara said, sounding exhausted and heaved a sigh that dissipated the steam rising from her cup. "If you're an important enough member to a guild, they'll do anything in their power to keep you. And let's face it, it's pretty hard for elves to get jobs anywhere outside of Ravnica. I hardly had a choice, and they ensure I'm paid well." She shook her head, a single, sad chuckle escaping her lips.

"Look, what I'm getting at is that Liliana needs someone who isn't associated with the guilds and their nonsense. She needs someone who can stop her from making stupid decisions, and someone who's willing to." She continued. "I'm sorry... Maybe I'm asking too much of you."

"No, you're not. I just wasn't prepared for what happened, that's all." Jace shook his head. "I'm sorry for getting angry."

"And I'm sorry for needing to ask this, but... I need you to really consider what your feelings for Liliana are." Emmara spoke, her face now stone-cold serious. "I've lived long enough to know that love at first sight isn't just stuff of fairy tales, but that it's rare and easily confused with other feelings- lust and longing. I need you to think on your feelings before approaching Liliana again."

"R-Right..." Jace slowly nodded, looking down to his reflection in the brown-tinted liquid in his cup.

"If it's really love you feel, then it will be as they say..." Emmara said wisely, lifting her tea cup to her lips. "Love conquers all."


After the general hustle and bustle of returning back to the dorms, the small talk about what had happened that day, Gideon sharing the burn marks he'd earned that morning from Chandra, dinner in the dorm dining hall, having to struggle through Gideon testing out his speakers again and a long discussion about mermaids that got a little too intimate for Jace's liking, finally there was a moment of peace. Jace sat at his desk, looking over homework he'd miraculously been assigned on the first day and Gideon lay on his bed, text book he'd been reading now just lying uselessly over his face. Chances were he was asleep and had hardly read the first few pages. It didn't matter to Jace, though, since now he finally had time to actually think.

"How do I feel about Liliana?" He thought to himself, biting on the eraser of his pencil. He remembered how his stomach flipped when he first saw her, how his heart raced like he'd just run for miles, and how he'd lost all ability to form words when they came so easily to him. She'd been beautiful, yes, and she had put on a teasing display (albeit at his expense), and at first, he worried he had simply succumbed to some sort of shallow attraction. For a good, long hour he doubted himself- panicked that the first time he felt love for someone might not have even been love at all.

But, thinking back, when he first saw her, sitting up in the infirmary bed, hair tussled and eyes half open, her appearance had been merely a secondary thought- a louder thought, but not the first thing on his mind. It had simply been that she was there. There sat someone that Jace never thought would ever exist. She could have been anyone- looked like anything. She just happened to be Liliana. She'd triggered something deep inside of him- a longing to be close to her, to speak to her and to hear her speak back.

It only occurred to him then that he couldn't hear her thoughts. In the infirmary and especially in the library, when he's read every thought of every person in the room but hers. On the inside, she'd been completely quiet- her only thoughts matching the words she spoke. There was no doubt, no suspicion. She was the silence he'd wished for, for a very long time.

"Gideon..." Jace called over his shoulder. He only got a snore in return, so he turned around to face his roommate and called his name again, a bit louder this time. "Gideon!"

"I'm up, I'm up! Just don't burn me again!" Gideon shouted, sitting up as the textbook that had rested on his face flew through the air. He took a quick, sharp breath before he realized it was Jace who had roused him from slumber, and Chandra wasn't scalding his backside to get him out of bed. "Oh, it's just you, Jace."

"Hey... you like Chandra, right?" Jace pried. The calm on Gideon's face escalated to that of panic again as his eyes bugged out.

"Wh- Jace! I..." He stammered, eyes looking in all directions as he feebly searched for words. "That's... why are you-!?"

"I can kind of read minds, Gideon, so even if it wasn't completely obvious I'd be able to find out." Jace sighed. "The very first time I asked if you two were dating, you looked like she'd kicked you in the ribs."

"You..." Gideon muttered, looking a combination of angry, embarrassed and defeated. "...This better not leave the dorm room, understand?"

"So you do like her?" Jace raised and eyebrow and allowed himself to victoriously grin.

"So what if I do? Is that a problem?" Gideon mumbled. "I've gotten to know her since she was little- know her better than anyone else. I don't think I'd be able to be as close to another person as I am with her. So yeah, I do!" As he spoke, he began to grow more and more defensive.

"And you'd feel this way no matter what?" Jace continued to ask. "I mean, even if everyone was against her, you'd still feel that way about her? Would you still stay with her?"

"Of course, what kind of dumb question is that?" Gideon grunted. "Unless this is your way of trying to tell me you like her, too, in which case I think we might have to fight to the death."

"No, no, nothing like that." Jace assured him, not sure if the larger of the two of them was kidding or not. "I was just checking something."

"...Checking what?"

"Nothing, don't worry about it." Jace said, turning back around to hide his smile. "Just go back to sleep, Gideon."


Harsh whispers and quiet jeers permeated the silence of the library. Liliana didn't have to even look up from her book to know who had just arrived. Instead she continued to read, keeping her eyes on the words printed in the aged tome in her hands as she spoke.

"Like I told you yesterday..." She heavily sighed, glaring back at the pages as if they were the intruder himself.

"I'm not leaving." The sternness in his voice surprised her as she finally bothered to look up from her book. There was Jace Beleren, a few of his own books in hand, clearly there for the long haul. More so than that, he didn't seem to care about the whispers and glares being aimed at his back like he had the day before. He seemed awfully determined- even if it was over something as simple as sitting and reading with her. And if it was one thing Liliana respected, it was determination.

"Fine, sit down then instead of just looming over me like that." She told him, trying very, very hard not to smile as she turned back to her book, but kept Jace in her peripheral. Him simply sitting beside her without looking like he was forcing herself made her feel something inside she hadn't felt in what seemed like an eternity.

Just having him sit beside her made Liliana incredibly happy.