So this is it, The final chapter, See you at the bottom.
Out in the Open
One Month Later
Rachel leaned on her elbow, lazily doodling on her notepad as she waited for her 'History of the Races' class to start. To her left, leaning back on her chair feet on the desk, sat Chloe Price - blue-haired punk vampire, her girlfriend. She was deep in discussion with the girl sat next to her - the blonde self-proclaimed Queen Bee of Blackwell - both laughing and chatting amongst themselves. The space to her left empty, waiting for its occupant to arrive. In the next seat over was the blonde-haired empath, Kate Marsh, who was busy putting the finishing touches to a familiar rather large drawing of a nine tailed wolf.
The rest of the classroom was abuzz with chatter. Many discussed everything they had collected on this terms' project, with one or two muttered conspiracies regarding the whereabouts of their teacher, Mark Jefferson. No one had seen him since he set the project almost a month ago, Many suspected he would be here today seeing as it was the project due date. Rachel allowed herself to smile, knowing the exact opposite was true.
The noise of the class dwindled into silence as the door swung open and in walked Principle Wells, stopping momentarily as he passed a quick glance over the class before making his way to the desk. "Good afternoon class. As you're probably aware, Mr. Jefferson is still absent. So, until we can get ahold of him or a substitute, I will be filling in for him on a temporary basis."
"Guessing it will be a substitute," Chloe muttered to the young hunter with a smirk.
"As I understand it, you were left with a project, and the deadline is today." Taking a moment, he went through a list of names on his desk, mumbling them off to himself before looking back to the class. "As it happens, I have everyone's entry so far... except for Kate Marsh, Rachel Amber, Victoria Chase, Chloe Price, and Sophie Ambler... I assume you girls are working together on this." He glanced up from his papers, expectant.
"We are, sir," Rachel confirmed, the other three girls nodding in agreement.
He regarded them with a curious look, waiting for further explanation. "I also assume it's Miss. Ambler that has the report, seeing as it's not on my desk."
"Actually sir, we're going to be giving a lecture on the project. We have something... special planned," Victoria offered, giving the three girls to her right a knowing smile.
"Is that so?" He seemed to be considering this, eventually deciding to humor them. "Well, sounds better than what I had planned. As soon as..." He didn't get the chance to finish, the sound of the door opening cutting him off.
All eyes turned to the door, keen to see who was coming in late. In walked a blonde haired, brown eyed girl, wearing a white halter top, along with a knee length blue skirt, "Um, sorry I'm late," Sophie offered, as she quickly found her seat in between Kate and Rachel.
"You're late," Rachel stated with playful accusation.
"I had to change three times. Still haven't got all my clothes adjusted yet," Max whispered back. If she thought it had been a pain before, this was torture.
"I would've offered to help. Like I keep saying, it's nothing I ain't seen before," Rachel shrugged offering the girl a playful smirk.
"I might have to bite the bullet and take you up on that offer," Max mumbled, blushing slightly.
"Glad you decided to join us, Miss. Ambler. When you're ready girls, the class is yours," the Principle said, giving them a stiff nod before retiring to his seat.
Giving Victoria, Chloe, and Kate a nod, Rachel got up from her seat. With confidence, she made her way to the front of the classroom. Victoria walked over to the door, leaning against the wall, while Kate and Chloe stood on the opposite side of the classroom by the windows, waiting.
"Afternoon, everyone. At the start of the term, we were given a project. Little did we know at the time just how much this project would change our lives - the past, present, and future," Rachel began, just as rehearsed.
Victoria took over next, engaging each and every single member of her audience through eye contact to make sure they were all paying attention. "A disclaimer first, though: what we are about to tell you is not for the faint of heart. In fact, some of it... it's fairly morbid. Other parts are just brutal."
Picking up on the various flickers of emotion coming from her fellow classmates, not quite as strong as before thanks to the smoothed down shard of purple gemstone in her possession, Kate added her opening line. "But we can assure you, everything you're going to hear is completely true."
"And can be backed up by an article that is being released by the Hunters Guild in tomorrow's paper..." Chloe mentioned with a hint of pride over such a monumental find. "We kinda asked them to hold off until tomorrow so we could do this."
Detecting a slight smattering of interest from some of her classmates, Rachel began her dramatic opening. "This whole story starts around five hundred years ago, in a small town known as Iona, or more commonly known as Wolf Town. Before we get into that, however, let us go over the simple bits that everyone here should already know."
"How do you identify an Ahri?" Kate asked, already having a good idea of the answers she would receive.
"Two tails," Taylor said sounding bored.
"Wolf ears," Courtney added with the next obvious answer.
"Well, they're part wolf. A more accurate description would be: Ahri are generally thought of as a type of werewolf. Although not werewolves, there are similarities. Unlike werewolves though, Ahri have two tails, and while human they retain this trait, as well as a pair of wolf-like ears," Brooke recited as though reading from her own script.
"They also have a blue energy type orb, usually kept on one of their tails. This orb has been seen to change color, usually either black or white, depending on whether attacking or providing light," Courtney carried on, passing a victorious smirk toward Brooke.
Rolling her eyes, Brooke let out a sigh. "They also have an illusion charm, giving them the ability to completely change their appearance, including hiding their tails and ears. There could be an Ahri in this very room and we wouldn't even know it."
Chloe passed a side glance towards where Max was sat, both girls grinning slightly at how close Brooke had come to the truth. Not that it mattered; they would all know soon enough.
"Correct on all count's, although a word of caution... don't go calling Ahri werewolves. Some REALLY don't like it," Rachel warned, causing Kate and Max to both stifle a small snicker.
"Unlike werewolves and vampires, Ahri are female only. Also, unlike the previous two, they can't be made, only born. It's hereditary. If the mother is an Ahri, then any daughters they have are Ahri, too. Ahri also need an external source to remain human, an... Aruralite stone. Without one there, stuck in wolf form," Luke added from the back of the class.
Impressed, Rachel gave him a smile. "Very good. How did you find that out?"
Luke shrugged, not really liking being at the center of attention. "My gran. She knew an Ahri years ago, went by the name of Vanessa Caulfield."
Rachel passed Max a quick glance at the mention of her mother's name, earning a slight nod of the young Ahri before turning her attention back to Luke. "I'm afraid there's some bad news for your gran. Vanessa Caulfield was murdered."
With this announcement, the other classmates burst into hushed whispers. "Miss Amber," Principal Wells got to his feet, warning in his tone.
Ready for potential resistance, Rachel pressed ahead undeterred. "I've already stated all this is fact, sir. It can all be backed up by the Hunters' Guild, as well as an eyewitness... but it is not just Vanessa who was murdered. Both my parents and Chloe's father were also murdered all by the same person."
"And I suppose you know who," he questioned, raising an eyebrow.
"We do sir, but you're not going to like the answer," Chloe replied, kind of looking forward to the chaos the answer would bring. It would blow everyone's mind.
Taking the lead, Kate breathed a single breath before responding. "It was... our History of the Races teacher, Mark Jefferson."
The whole class erupted into raised chatter of disbelief and doubt, with Wells looking unimpressed. "That's quite enough. You can't go around throwing such baseless accusations."
"With all due respect sir, we witnessed it first hand," Rachel added. "The official report is being released tomorrow, all the proof you need will be in it. Now, you can either dismiss us from class, give us all a none grade, read the report tomorrow and then give us an apology, or let us give our report then confirm it tomorrow. We don't mind waiting until tomorrow for our grade."
The principal looked at each of the girls in turn before returning her gaze to the young Hunter. "Very well, proceed with your report, but you understand I won't be able to grade it until I see actual proof. These are... some big accusations." He sighed returning to his seat, motioning for the rest of the class to settle down.
Rachel nodded firmly. "Understood, sir, though to be perfectly honest, we're not overly interested in the grade. We just want the truth out there. What's been going on has been kept in the dark for too long; it's time to get it in the open."
"There's one more thing, one more trait Ahri have that no amount of illusion charm can hide. Anyone knows what it is?" Several confused faces started looking at each other hoping someone else had the answer, everyone coming up empty.
"If it helps, I can smell fresh toffee." Kate grinned.
Rachel was next to provide her answer. "For me, it's apple pie."
"Bacon here," Chloe chimed in.
"Weird, I can smell hamburgers," Luke offered.
"You're all crazy, it's obviously freshly mown grass, paper, and spearmint toothpaste," Brooke stated, her eyes going wide as realization struck her. "Wait a minute, are you saying there's an Ahri on campus?"
"More like in this very room," Chloe corrected with a smirk. Again, this statement caused the classroom to erupt into chatter, each student looking at each girl with an accusatory glance.
Courtney stood up, putting a hand on her hip. "Well this is easy to figure out," she said confidently.
"Oh?" Chloe quizzed with a slight smirk, already guessing what she was going to say.
Oblivious to this, Courtney continued. "It's simple. We've already heard that Ahri need the Aruralite stones to remain human. So, who here's wearing one?"
In turn, Kate, Rachel, Victoria and Chloe all revealed their Aruralite stones hanging around their necks, earning several more hushed whispers.
"It's one of you four then!" Courtney exclaimed, sounding impressed by her own deduction.
"Oh, really?" Victoria taunted with a smirk as she took her necklace off, dropping on the desk next to her. Kate, Rachel, and Chloe swiftly followed suit. When none of them changed, Courtney slumped back into her chair looking a little defeated.
"No hard feelings, Courts. Normally you would be right, but the Ahri with us is a little different. I think we should just let you see for yourselves." Rachel nodded to Victoria, signaling for her to get this show on the road.
The blonde vampire flicked off the lights as Kate and Chloe both drew the blinds, plunging the classroom into darkness. Of course, this earned a few whispers and murmurs that were quickly silenced as a dim electric blue orb appeared at the back of the room, casting a subtle blue glow. Finally, the sound of a chair scraping along the floor was followed by several footsteps.
"I feel I should first apologize for my deception on my initial introduction, but as you will see before the end of today, it was necessary. So, from the top..." The sound of the footsteps stopped at the front of the class. "My name, is Maxine Caulfield. I'm nineteen years old."
The orb at the back of the class turned to a dim white, lighting up a little of the classroom as it moved towards the front of the class. It came to rest on a hand, steadily getting brighter revealing Max - shoulder length brunette hair; a pair of light brown furry ears and behind her, nine bushy light brown tails. The reveal elicited several gasps from her other classmates.
"I'm an Ahri, and this," she paused, glancing at Rachel, Kate, and Chloe in turn with a grin, "...this is our story."
And that's it, for this arc at least.
I won't make any promises I can't keep, but I do have a few ideas including all the mushy stuff and their relationships etc. (If I'm honest, I think Olivia was a little disappointed she didn't get to play a little more there. Just means more for the future.)
I'd like to thank:
Nothing_You_Can_Prove (Aka Olivia) Co-creator and editor. I may have had the plot, but she brought the characters to life. She's AWESOME. If you haven't read her stuff, what are you waiting for? Go read it, you won't be disappointed.
Faithceal - For the artwork, she didn't have to, but I'm REALLY thankful she did, and I'm still chuffed to bits.
And finally, to everyone who's given this a like/follow/Kudos etc. It means a lot. Particularly those that have followed from the start.
Feel free to comment, criticize, give your thoughts etc. Did the mash-up work? Anything you did or didn't like? Did you guess the plot twist? Seriously, feedback is AWESOME, it lets us make ourselves better writers and gives you more stuff to read.
Ok Just to clear a few things up, this is a mash-up between Life is strange (Obviously lol) And League of Legends (Ahri in particular) with a little Naruto thrown in, Mostly the nine-tailed fox part, but there are a few other bits that influenced this fic. Just thought I'd put this here to clear that up :D
I'll hand you over to Olivia now, if she'd like to say anything:
Hey, guys, 'tis I. I hope that you have enjoyed this fic, it's been fun lending a helping hand. It's always awesome to get more fics out there, especially from cool peeps like Civ. So yeah, keep an eye on this space 'cuz there will no doubt be more LIS stuff on the way. The brain of a fanfic writer never seems to stop. Have an amazing day, take care of yourself and see you around!
Peace out.