The Last Scion

by savannah0707

Seventeen-year old Bellamy Pearce is a Dhampir. She also has Moroi magic-fire to be exact. The Guardian Council, along with her Guardian aunt have pushed her into training at St. Vladimir's. She is away from her friends, her home, and everything she knows. How is she ever going to survive six months of curious Guardians and students while hiding her closest secrets?

38. Those Changes That Come To Fire & Stone

WHILE I AM FINISHING UP THE FINAL CHAPTER OF "LAST SCION", I HOPE THIS WILL HELP TO SOOTHE ANY IMPATIENCE. AS I WROTE EARLIER, INSTEAD OF AN EPILOGUE, THERE ARE PIECES OF "LS" THAT I DID NOT HAVE A CHANCE TO ADDRESS, OR THAT I MUST END PROPERLY. SO, I WILL WRITE THEM AS ONE-SHOTS. THIS FIRST ONE IS HOW YURI AND BELLAMY FIRST MET, AND HOW IT WENT FROM BAD TO WORSE, TO NOT SO BAD ANYMORE. I WILL ALSO WRITE A ONE SHOT SHOWING THE START OF BELLAMY AND MASON'S RELATIONSHIP. HAPPY READING ALL! Enjoy.

THOSE CHANGES THAT COME TO FIRE AND STONE.

"Did you see?" I heard Alberta Petrov say to Dimitri as they entered the weight training room behind the Guardian gym. "She got that knee thrust down quick. She almost made contact with your ribcage that last go around."

"She did make contact with my ribs." Dimitri put a hand to his left side. "I am going to be bruised for weeks." He gave me a nod of acknowledgment, coming over to use the bench press next to me.

"Who are you talking about?" I asked the two as we trained together.

"Bellamy Pearce.' Alberta was using the free weights. "She is the new novice transfer, being trained by Belikov."

"She doesn't need as much training as Bridgette seems to think." Dimitri pointed out with an amused tone.

"Bridgette Pearce?" I questioned.

I recognized the name as soon as Dimitri said it. Clearly he and Guardian Pearce were on close personal terms, which was surprising. Dimitri never really seemed to get close and personal with anyone. Bridgette Pearce was a member of our Guardian Council. It was common knowledge that she was one of our best and well known trackers. Guardian trackers were hard to come by, requiring a skill set and special training regimen that not many dhampir possessed or chose to follow these days. Few had the patience and natural logic to become trackers, and Bridgette Pearce was undeniably the best.

"Bellamy's aunt is a Council member." I stated to the other two.

"Yes."

"Is that why she has been sent here to train?"

"The Council sent her to train." Dimitri's response was full of indignation and curiosity. "It was not Bridgette's decision.

"And you don't find that odd?" I asked, receiving a clear debate from the two. "She receives special treatment from the Council because her Aunt is a member."

"She is not receiving any sort of special treatment." Alberta stated in return.

"The Council always has their reasons for doing these types of things." Dimitri used that low perturbed growl of his. "If they've sent Bellamy here to train and finish her academics, there is good purpose to it. And it is not your concern." He said. "You are not training her."

Alberta scoffed, despite being unwilling to disagree with or interrupt Dimitri. It amazed me that even as head Guardian, Dimitri often seemed to be equal or even outrank Alberta. His opinion was usually praised and undebatable.

"Maybe you should try a session or two of hand to hand with Bellamy." Alberta suggested.

"Yes," I heard Dimitri snidely agree, "Perhaps after she gives you the concussion you deserve, you will give her a fair opinion."

A fair opinion. That was a laugh. Bellamy Pearce was a novice with too many connections and advantages. She was a rare thing: A privileged dhampir. Her Aunt was a well -respected member of the Guardian Council. Bellamy most likely got everything she asked for and was as spoiled as any royal moroi. I had not yet seen Bellamy in practice during novice classes, or during her private training with Dimitri, but the way he and Alberta spoke about her, I had no doubt that she'd already put in time training with other Council members. My interest in going hand to hand with her was non-existent.

"No thank you." I said, returning to my workout, drowning out the rest of their conversation with my headphones.

Two Days Later:

It had not been my plan to have a run in with Bellamy Pearce when I'd traded shifts with Gabriella. I was going on four hours of sleep and had now been on duty for a total of sixteen hours straight. I was also in no mood for a condescending confrontation with an arrogant unrestrained novice. I was expected to form a fair opinion of someone who intentionally came off as entitled and overconfident? I would, if only to make the point to the other Guardians who might fall for her charming smile. She dropped a stack of books marked with the Academy insignia, obviously checked out from the library. Kneeling down to help her, I was not expecting such a cross glare. I picked up a few of the books, glancing down at the titles in surprise.

"These aren't for your classes." I kept my tone light, genuinely curious about her reading choices.

"No." She even sounded vexed by my appearance and choice to assist her. "I'm reading them for fun."

"Political Philosophy is fun for you?"

She lifted her head, smiled, hiding the contempt in her remark. "It is. Well, it is fun when you can understand it and form an opinion of your own."

Yes, she was definitely a disrespectful brat.

"Some of us like to think for ourselves rather than blindly follow the same monotonous path as others.' She stood and my eyes locked onto her.

She had a beautiful face. Even the arrogant displeasure in her eyes was captivating for a moment or two. She did very little to hide the feminine curves of her body hidden under her uniform, and her toned, tanned, and smooth legs reached all the way to…'Saints save me.' I thought, stopping myself, looking away, closing my eyes in an attempt to think of something else.

"You're welcome." I said, turning away as she readjusted her armful of literature.

"I didn't ask for your help." She replied, not surprising me with her response.

I spun around, marching back over to her.

"You are being disrespectful." I informed her.

"No," she stopped walking, "I'm being patronizing. There is a difference."

I was too tired for this shit. I was not about to put up with some novice being rude and unappreciative.

"Your patronizing comments just landed you in detention tomorrow morning."

"Tomorrow is Saturday." She complained.

That got her attention.

"Yes, tomorrow is Saturday. I will see you at noon, just outside of the Guardian housing building." I gave her my own smile, full of charm and disinterest for her complaint.

I had a strange feeling as I watched her storm off in her bad mood. I had learned something about this novice that surprised me. She was actually intelligent. She was willing to learn things outside of our culture and societies on her own. She was a brat, but she was also a smart honest brat.

Five hours of sleep. I had only had five hours of sleep, tossing and turning the remainder of the time, trying to keep the nightmares at arms- length. And now, I was rushing around my room, making sure that I had everything I needed. It was a general rule of the Academy Guardians that if you handed out a detention to any students, it was your responsibility to see it through. Detentions could not be traded or pawned off on other Guardians. This was only the third detention I had given out since my own arrival, so being prepared was the one thing I needed to be this morning. Once I finished preparing for any possible outcome with a spoiled novice, I headed downstairs, stopping at the doors. Bellamy was already waiting, showing me that she had shown up early. Her punctuality skills could not be argued against yet. She was standing with Dimitri, clearly arguing with him, using rather wide arm and hand gestures as she spoke. I had to assume that she was complaining about the detention I was making her go through this morning. Dimitri looked sympathetic towards her, putting his hand to her shoulder and saying something in return to her argument. Whatever he told her seemed to calm her temporarily, because she nodded in agreement, looking almost contrite, until I opened the door, stepping outside. Dimitri made one last comment as Bellamy rolled her eyes in response. As he walked in my direction, that stern disapproving look on his face, I had no desire to debate him over this novice. He stopped a few feet from me, keeping his voice lower than normal.

"I agree that she deserves detention today for her behavior towards you. You are a Guardian." He was in agreement with me. "But," He started, "go easy on her. You do not know the entire story."

As if I needed to be so understanding and complacent about the teenage drama of a spoiled dhampir. Dimitri could justify her behavior and excuse it, but I would not. Dimitri walked off without waiting for me to respond, as though he had made a decree and it should be followed without dispute.

Bellamy was wearing a pair of black shorts and a gray top, her hair pulled up under a dark gray baseball cap. I was going to get myself into too much trouble. Even after the sleep I had managed to get, I still found myself looking at parts of her that I shouldn't.

"So, what is my punishment?" Bellamy asked.

By God I was trying my very best not to take her attitude personally, but it was becoming increasingly hard not to.

"We are going for long run."

"That's it?"

"Yes." I said to her. "And during this time, we are going to have time to talk."

While lying awake in bed through the hours that I could not sleep, I had time to come up with fitting consequences for Bellamy's immature and inappropriate behavior. Anything I thought of was considerably too harsh or too lenient. Going on a run out to the edges of the mountains that we were covered under seemed like a better way of teaching. Plus, Alberta had asked me the night before to take this run and look for Strigoi hiding areas. It was daylight, so I wouldn't need to worry about Strigoi coming after us. And, I could justify the long half day run as punishment to anyone who questioned it.

"There it is." Bellamy commented, following me across campus. "Your plan is to talk, to try to figure me out. You think that I was rude to you, so now you think you can determine why."

"At least you admit that you were rude."

"That's not what I said." Her arms crossed over her chest as we walked.

Maybe a half day run with her was a bad idea. I was already regretting this.

"I have no intention of trying to figure you out Miss Pearce."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?"

When I didn't answer her, she grew even more petulant.

"You don't know a thing about me."

"And I have no need to." I returned. "Stay on the path, do not stray, do not fall behind, and if you need to rest, speak up." I instructed as we reached the wards on the East side of the academy.

We were well into our run when I realized that Bellamy was still keeping up with me. Her endurance was an impressive thing. She had not said anything yet, so it would be up to me to start any discussion with her.

"Do you want to tell me why you were so antagonistic last night?"

"First I'm disrespectful, then I'm rude, and now I am antagonistic?"

I almost laughed at her ability to turn this conversation around, making herself the victim.

"I never said rude." I pointed out her mistake. "You said that."

Her left eyebrow lifted in that very same interrogating manner.

"So?" I pushed her. "Do you want to tell me why your behavior was so…"

"No." Bellamy answered before I finished my question. I wanted to pull my hair out, I wanted to shout at the top of my lungs, and I wanted to pull her to a stop and make her see reason. She was infuriating.

"Look, this day might go by faster if you…"

"I don't want to talk about it!" She nearly shouted. "Back off."

That is just fine. I did as she ordered, not given much choice, stuck to my own thoughts and ruminations for the remainder of the run, until we reached the edge of the mountains.

"Now what?" Bellamy asked, her hostile attitude still at work.

"Now we search." I looked around, scanning the area for threats. "You go a mile that way," I pointed to our right, "and I will go this way. Come straight back and meet me here. We don't want to be out here when dusk hits."

"What exactly am I searching for Guardian Tverskaya?"

"Strigoi hideouts along the mountain edge here. You will recognize them when you see them. There have been a few sightings and a few animal killings in the area that were not done by hunters over the past few days."

I saw her eyes grow wide with horror and disbelief.

"You are not serious! Is this some kind of joke? Is this how you chose to punish me for a few snarky comments?" Horror and disbelief turned to sadness. "Well, forget it." She refused. "This is low. Especially for a Guardian." Bellamy turned in the opposite direction, clearly on her way to leave the area completely.

"Where are you going?" I asked her.

"Back to the Academy. I'm not staying here and putting up with this."

She was positively outraged. I had clearly said or done something now to really set her into this fury, but I was not sure what it was.

"Miss Pearce, stop. Wait!" I commanded her as she continued storming off feet ahead of me.

She stopped as I caught up. "You have no right to be so cruel." She insisted, and I could hear the emotion ringing in her voice.

"I was not trying to be cruel to you." I took another single step forward. "Please, just tell me what I did to push you over the edge."

I watched as she spun with ire, tears in her eyes, falling down her soft cheeks, her fingers trembling as she wiped them away. Oh God how I felt so bad now. She was crying.

"Over the edge?" Bellamy shook her head, going again to walk away from me.

It hurt to see her so undone. Had I really been the cause of this? Normally, I might have simply said that she was being a bratty school girl again, but something about the moment when she turned, teary eyed to me said this was different. Bellamy Pearce was genuinely upset. She did not seem like the type of person to be affected by the small things that she could control. I followed behind her as she left, trying still to stop her, trying to gain some answers from her. We were halfway back to St. Vladimir's and I had come no further in discovering what had caused her outburst. My questions were not helping either. Bellamy was far less focused on direction and obstacle as she fell, tripping over a group of boulders, tumbling off of our path, rolling down a small hill, onto a large patch of grass

"Are you hurt?" I rushed to her, trying to determine any real injury she may have suffered in her fall.

I knelt down beside her, putting my hands over hers as she held her left ankle. Her hands were soft, and as she moved them away from under mine, I could feel…"

"I'm fine." She stated, able to appear as such, standing as best she could.

"Can you continue to the school?" I attempted to help her, my hands pushed away, unwanted in so many ways. "Let me help you up the embankment."

"I said I'm fine." Bellamy took another step forward, stumbling into my arms as I caught her before she hit the ground a second time.

"Good save."

"You're not fine." I half ignored her comment. "Please let me help you Bellamy."

"You called me Bellamy." She stared up at me.

"Yes. That is your name." I returned to her.

"Yes, but usually you insist on calling me Miss Pearce."

"Also your name."

She eyed me, determining whether or not to accept my help now.

"Fine." She now had little choice in the matter. "Please help me back up." Her arms positioned around my shoulders, and I brought her much closer than I should have as I lifted her to stand with me.

I could feel her fingers on my bicep as we walked, moving, tracing random designs, gripping harder when pain hit as we walked slowly back to the Academy. It was a major distraction, and I worried that we might both fall if she kept it up. I considered picking her up to carry her back to the school grounds, but that would have been a much more dangerous idea. My palm kept her upright, rested on her small waistline, and sometimes at her back while my arm kept her moving.

"How badly does it hurt?" I tried to ignore the feel of her touch on my skin.

"It's really not so bad anymore." She said. "My pride is more wounded that my ankle. I'm so embarrassed."

"Don't be." I kept my voice low, only because we were so close while walking together this way.

"I was being stupid. It was a stupid move. I should not have stormed off the way I did." I caught her eyes on me now, studying me, making logical attempts at figuring me out instead. "I'm sorry." She finally said. "I just lost it back there because…"

"Yuri! Bellamy!" Alberta was calling out our names as we approached the Academy gates. "Are you alright?" She tended first to Bellamy, who dropped her hands from me as the Head Guardian moved closer.

"I'm fine now." She seemed to be telling the truth. "I tripped over a few rocks and fell. I must've twisted my ankle, but it is not so bad that you need to worry."

Alberta believed the girl, moving then to question me. "Did you find anything out there?"

While I had not been given a chance to really do my job and look, I was sure I would get another chance to travel to the same area soon enough.

"No." I answered her. "But, it will take at least one more run and a check across the surrounding areas."

"Okay, well for now I have another job for you." Alberta was ready to put me back to work. "I need the new novice gym equipment brought up from the basements. If you need help, I'm sure…"

"I can help him." Bellamy voiced from beside us unexpectedly, but Alberta predictably resisted the idea.

The two stepped a good three feet away, speaking in very low voices until I saw the older Guardian nod a few times. Bellamy made one final comment and the two were in agreement. How had she managed to set Alberta Petrov at ease so effortlessly? It didn't matter. I was apparently going to have help from Bellamy Pearce. I questioned whether it was good or bad that she would be stuck assisting me.

"Get it done before curfew." Alberta commanded, and we were both off to the gym basements.

We walked quietly for the first few yards or so, both trying to find the most apposite things to say in this situation.

"I was rude to you." Bellamy spoke up first, admitting her fault out loud. "I was rude and I apologize."

I opened the gym door, letting her enter first, seeing her had turn to me as she smiled. It was a genuine smile this time.

"So, is helping me like this your way of apologizing too?"

"No." She continued. "Saying I'm sorry is my way of apologizing. I am helping you," She paused for a moment as we made our way down a flight of steps, "because I owe you for helping me."

"Thank you." I said.

I went to one side of the basement while she went to the other, both of us picking up equipment to carry. We got through five trips up and down the steps before taking a short break, sitting down in the gym after hanging new punching bags. Bellamy had been quiet for the past twenty minutes or so, and I had noticed the color in her eyes changing from its usual and striking blue-gray hues. There was something specific on her mind. I handed her a bottle of cold water sitting across from her as she started to speak again.

"I thought she was dead." Bellamy said in a quieter voice. "All of these years, that is what I have been told."

"What?" I wasn't sure if she was talking to me as she ran her index finger down the side of the cold bottle.

"It turns out that my mum is not dead in the more traditional sense." She said to me.

"Traditional?" I repeated. I wasn't quite sure what "traditionally" dead implied, as opposed to untraditionally.

"Strigoi." Bellamy used a word we were all too familiar with. "The Guardian Council has been lying to me and Bridgette. They told us that she was dead this whole time. Dead usually means dead. They failed to mention one small detail. Brooklyn Pearce is actually Strigoi."

I felt horrible and guilty. I had jumped to enormously wrong conclusions about this girl. Dimitri was right. I had not known the entire story. If I had, I… I was putting her outburst together now. The pieces were making sense. I never should've taken her on a Strigoi hunting mission. I would not have, if I had known. And as Bellamy went on talking, I listened. It only got worse from there. Her mother had been willingly transformed, and willing to leave her only child and adopted sister. I was stunned and astonished. I felt bad for Bellamy, but I realized in this moment how much of a stronger person Bellamy was. I had not given her near enough credit. She was not looking or sounding like the spoiled and over privileged Dhampir I had assumed she was. And son of a bitch, as I tilted my head to look up at her, I could not deny how attractive I found her. She was even more attractive now that my opinion was beginning to change.

"I'm sorry." I heard myself saying to her, apologizing not just about her mother, but also for my assumptions of her. Bellamy lifted her eyes to me and I could see all of the emotion she carried in a moment. She jumped up then, standing over me, walking slowly to the punching bags we had hung up, pulling back to swing at it.

"Nice punch." I stood, watching her, holding onto the bag as she hit it a few more times.

"Dimitri makes me hit things in the Guardian gym when I start talking about Brooklyn Pearce lately."

I let go of the bag then, moving into the center of the gym floor. "Try this." I stood, facing her, my palms facing out in front of me. "You can get your anger, frustration, or unhappiness out with me just as well as you can with Dimitri."

"With you?"

"Sure. Why not?"

She shrugged her shoulders, walking to the gym center. "Sure. Why not." She half agreed, standing in position, hitting my palms with her fists a few times.

She hit harder than I was expecting, showing me that her training was well put to use.

"Feel better?" I asked.

"Getting there." Her eyes were showing that same twinkle they had when she had smiled at me earlier.

"Come here. Turn this way." I instructed her, holding out a hand to her.

She walked over, taking my hand as I pulled her back against my chest. The move must have surprised her, because I felt her whole upper body tense up suddenly. My hands moved to her arms, positioning them into place.

"Start here and move down like this before you thrust outward." I was teaching her, and again, Alberta had been right too. Going hand to hand had changed my opinion of Bellamy as well.

As she moved into the strike I taught her, I felt her body move against mine, my hands sliding over her bare arms and onto her waist. Bellamy Pearce was going to become a different type of problem in my life from this point on. I was going on my way to becoming more and more attracted to a novice. I had not been seriously attracted to anyone in a long time. Why did it have to be a novice?

As the day finished up, and dusk settled in, the wind beginning to cool and strengthen outside, we were finally bringing up the last pieces, setting up the final equipment together, and I had actually brought up the possibility of a training schedule for me and her when the gym door opened. Bellamy beamed in a way I had not seen her do.

"Mason." She skipped over to novice Mason Ashford, in the best mood I had ever seen her show around me. She sweetly kissed the man with her, his arms wrapping around the waist of his girlfriend.

"Are you nearly finished?" I heard Mason ask her, and Bellamy looked around the room hesitantly.

Mason however had his eyes on me.

"You are finished for the day Miss Pearce." I let her off the hook for the rest of the set up. There was not much more to do anyway. The bulk of the work had been done with her help already.

"But the free weights are not set up yet, and the…"

"I can finish up. You are free for the remainder of the evening. Alberta wanted you done before curfew."

"Oh." If I had not known any better, it sounded as though she were disappointed to go.

"Okay." She took Mason's hand as he led her out to the doors. "Good night Guardian Tverskaya."

"There were better things that I could've said to her. "Practice that swing Miss Pearce." I opted to tell her.

"I will Guardian Tverskaya."

"Hey." I stopped her, giving her much more than a glance. "Call me Yuri." I offered her with a wink.

She temporarily dropped her hand from Mason's, leaning against the frame of the door. She stood, staring back at me with those charming and beguiling eyes of hers.

"Call me Bellamy." She offered in return, walking away with her novice boyfriend.