"I'm not sure we can fix this thing through the streets and I have no bloody clue how we are going to get to the Building," Jane grimaced. She would have to find a way to park the lorry in an inconspicuous place as they checked in with Aro. The last thing they needed was some low level parking inspector giving them a ticket and possibly looking inside. Humans were so annoying.

"How about we park it off somewhere while one of us runs back, gets back up to help move everyone into the Building, and then ditch the lorry, leaving the ever infallible human police to figure out why it has Romanian license plates in the middle of Tuscany with a dead hooker in the driver's cabin as it is full of blood thirsty babies and was parked by two fifteen year olds with no licenses," Alec stated frankly.

"How about you stop being a sarcastic, pessimistic bitch and I'll stay with the truck full of undead children while you run back to the Building," Jane offered.

"How about you sh-"

"Oops the walkie's batteries are dying," Jane laughed and turned off the radio and tossed it under the passenger seat. Dawn was approaching and they needed to move quickly. She glanced around the open farm fields knowing workers would be arriving soon to help tend them. Finally she spotted a large garage like shed. With the hiss of the breaks, she crept the large vehicle inside. Jane hopped down from the seat and ran to the back hatch to let Alec out. A cloud of Mist spiraled out as Alec jumped out. Jane hurried inside as the effects of Alec's gift slowly wore off. She turned her head from watching Alec sprint towards the Building and smiled at the kids who were now freaking out over their new surroundings.

"Remember me?" Jane cracked her knuckles theatrically as she mentally zapped one kid who tried to leave break the wall to get out. Oddly enough they all sat down like perfect, terrified angels after watching one kid scream in agony.

Alec could feel the weight slowly sliding off his shoulders as he step by step got closer. Things were wrapping up with this mission and the end was in sight, literally as he neared the lights of the gate. Once this was all over, he could finally have some down time at home and actually spend time with his son. Take a break from the inconsistent lifestyle of only being there occasionally before having to leave again. Life wasn't fair. That was a fact of life. But things should be better and he felt guilty for never being there. Alec had grown up human with his dad gone and he didn't want Damien to turn out like him. He needed a strong figure in his life. Maybe he could ask for some time off for just himself and Damien to go do something together just the two of them?

And like that he was at the gate.

Alec made his way keeping a steady pace. First he was going to tell Damien he was home. Then he would talk to Aro about the mission. The rest would follow. Alec silently made his way down stairs to Damien's room. The Building seemed oddly quiet, which set Alec on edge. Where was everyone?

Walking down the hallway, Alec didn't hear a heartbeat. Opening the bedroom door, he peered inside. Everything smelled like mildew and decay as if everything had been soaking wet and left to fester. No Damien. He wandered back upstairs. The receptionist desk was obviously empty since the human Joan was asleep. Still he had yet to pass someone. Normally Demetri tracked him arriving and at least said "hello". He looked in Demetri's empty office. Now he was worried. Sniffing the air, he tried to catch his son's scent tracking him the old fashioned way. He wandered down towards the spare bed rooms. There must have been a water leak in his room and logically Damien was sleeping upstairs until the room was repaired. Which somehow had yet to be fixed days after it happened? What was going on with the Guard these days? Finally he heard the rain like pitter patter of his son's sleeping heart beat.

It was that room.

Alec hated this room. A rooms of lost innocence.

He heard a slight whimper. Some stressed panting. The sound of a blanket sloshing to the floor after getting kick off. Maybe he sensed him and woke up to say hello?

"NO!" he heard Damien scream from the other side of the door. He was having a nightmare.

Taking a fortifying deep breath, he opened the door.

The boy was curled up in a ball, covered in sweat. Alec slowly, silently walked over to face him. Kneeling down, so that they were face to face. Softly he brushed the tears away from his flushed face, placing both thumbs on his cheeks.

"Damien," he whispered softly hoping to gently wake him up. It's just a dream, please wake up, Alec pleaded to himself. Damien's eyed shot open, not fully registering everything quite yet as he took several deep breaths, staring straight ahead. Alec softly brushed his cheeks again hearing Damien sigh as he calmed down.

"Damien, I'm home," Alec smiled sheepishly. Damien blinked looking down at the ground, still scared from whatever he had been dreaming about. "Was it bad?" Alec asked unsure. Damien nodded biting his lip. "The future?" Alec offered to maybe prompt a conversation to ease his sons mind.

"Fuck's sake, I hope not," Damien shook his head before laughing nervously and sitting up. He noticed something dark staining Alec's hand. A series of hand written numbers that seemed to twist and turn and wriggle until they turned into Cyrillic letters that read "Kotsya". Noticing the awkward staring, Alec hid his hand in his pocket. Damien smiled secretly, "So you're back?"

Alec awkwardly shrugged not knowing the answer, "For now. I need to talk to Aro real quick for a check in, then I should be free. I'll see if Demetri or Felix could cover for a little bit."

"Demetri isn't here," Damien interjected. Alec looked at him confused. "He, Heidi, and Marina left, but they unfortunately are coming back," Damien explained not fully. "I feel like I'm missing something important," Alec looked warily at his son.

"Don't worry about. It won't matter anyway," Damien stood up off the bed. We're fucked either way.

The first part of the vision had just arrived. It was just a matter of time before Marina returned. They had even less time than he expected. They needed a plan now!

Alec said he was going to talk to Aro before leaving. Damien followed him out, but confused Alec when he turned the opposite way towards Tiago and Olivia's rooms.

Shaking away this sick sense of something being seriously wrong, Alec made his way to Aro's chambers. Knocking once, he was told to come in. Aro stood in front of the revealed night sky shining through the warped glass window.

"I trust that you have completed your mission," He smiled as he clasped his hands behind his back regally. Alec nodded. And just like that Aro was already reading his thoughts.

Alec waited.

Aro raised his eyebrows a bit at the smudged, sharpie written phone number with an unfamiliar area code. He had been alarmed after their last mission and these blooming thoughts of perhaps trusting these new half creatures. Now his thoughts were daring to as far as to respecting and admiring them. Before Alec had been shy about his thoughts and scared of these new rebellious whims. But now he was unafraid and out right blatant. Aro watched the twins new "friends". They were much more dangerous than the bastard rejects of New York. Wiser, stronger. And there was evidence of more like this variety.

They were a threat. Something to be destroyed before it festered further.

"You're wrong," Alec spoke up. He could tell Aro was not happy with his respect for dhampirs. His desires for fellow companions and allies. That they were something to foster, not start a war with.

"You are too young and foolish to see that the reasons why we must as a family be defensive to risks like these. There is no telling if they would honour our laws. If they are controllable. If they will turn on us. What I am doing is for you and Jane's protection. You are too valuable to lose," Aro glared down at him in an attempt to make him feel small.

"Then you will lose us in the end regardless. Maybe you need to take a look off your high horse and see what is going on in the world. We need to evolve with the times and adapt to this current world. You're right. Maybe they won't follow under your leadership. Especially since you haven't given them a good reason to. But maybe that is okay. Let them rule their kind and we continue rule ours symbiotically. Last I checked dictatorships never ended well," Alec felt his hands shaking. He had never talked back to his master before. This could be consider sedition and was a capital offence.

He winced waiting to be struck. Ready to throw his hands up both defensively and habitually.

"This is why you are still considered a child. You think as one and rationalize as one. And worse even you dream as one. Let the real adults handle this," Aro said too sweetly as if trying to dismiss him. He needed Alec to continue believing he was weak and alone on his aspirations. As long as he had Alec under his thumb, he still hand control over his guard. Alec could theoretically destroy the entire coven if he wanted to. All he would need to do was put everyone under his spell then kill everyone before they even knew what was happening. He could kick-start Jane into thinking her ridiculous passionate thoughts and trigger her as well. Alec had more sway over Damien and Donovan. The current solid four corners of the Volutri seemed a little too solid for his liking.

"There are more werewolves," Alec interrupted, "Maybe the real adults should focus on the real enemy."

The silence was so deep you could hear an earring roll off Chelsea's dresser and hit the floor like a pin dropping.

Alec left. He would let the REAL adults figure out how to get a dozen and a half newborns from the lorry to the Building. He was clocking out.

Damien had to get moving. He needed to think. There had to be some sort of plan. First step, he was going to wake up Tiago and Olivia. He would deal with them getting angry with him for waking them up at this hour. Second step, they would figure out as plan to not die. Final step, they were going to train harder than they ever imagined. This was now life or death.

He didn't bother with knocking. He walked into Tiago's room and starting tapping him on the shoulder until he got a grumbled grown from him. "Why?" was all he said. "Had a vision that we all die in the end. You up for a couple more years of living and breathing?" Damien snapped, "Plus, I need back up for waking up Olivia."

"Is the vision Olivia kills us for messing up her beauty sleep?"

"No, but close."

Tiago was not enough back up.

But alas, all three eventually regrouped in the training room where no one could hear them.

"Okay, so Aro is planning on some sick colosseum level shit. They won't let us bring anything but the clothes we are wearing and they will be searching us before the event. Alec will be used to create a ring so we can't escape and risk getting trapped in the Mist."

"Does Marina survive?" Tiago asked very concerned for his friend.

"No, we'll know it's getting close to show time because she return in time to die with us," Damien explained.

"So you woke us up because you had a bad dream like a little kid?" Olivia glared with dark sleepless circles under her yes and messy hair.

"Let me finish," Damien pursed his lips frustrated," They will give us a countdown before the Mist is dropped and we get swarmed. In the dream we all split up and get picked off one by one. If we want to make it to Next Christmas, I suggest that we think of a plan together and stick to it."

"So stay together. Congrats mystery solved. Let's go back to sleep," Olivia yawned.

Damien froze. Someone was coming. "Start doing random exercises like we came down to do extra training," Damien barely breathed before all three started doing push-ups together.

Caius walked in crossing his arms, "You three should be in bed. You are not permitted to be here at this time without supervision. It's dangerous to be hiding in here like rats. Someone could come in here an accidently-"

Caius stepped on Damien's back as he came up from a push up. He smiled hearing a crunch as the other two winced.

-"Step on you." Damien grit his teeth not making a sound. He felt a couple of his ribs were now out of place and his shoulder felt like it was on fire, but his spine was fine. He would heal. The other two shouldn't have reacted. That was what Caius wanted. It was a game to see who would flinch first. That's all.

Caius was now understanding why Aro was now getting apprehensive about these children.

"We were just doing some extra late night training," Tiago squeaked bravely.

"Likely," Caius smiled coldly noticing all three of them pausing to look at him, "Did I say you could stop?"

They quickly continued. Damien had to bite back a scream as he put weight on his shoulder and feeling his lunges breath against his ribs as his muscles clenched around the broken bones. But he was also worried what would happen if any of them stopped. For the first couple dozen he had to do them on one hand to keep himself from physically collapsing

Caius waited.

Their arms eventually began shaking. Their hips dipped as the strain forced poor form and even poorer results. The thought of dropping to continue them on their knees to give their backs and shoulders a little help was a torturous one.

Dawn had broken and yet neither of them dared to.

Eventually Alec came down to see where Damien was since Felix had gone to help Jane herd the children back to the Building. He was horrified finding Caius smirking cruelly as all three children continued through the pain. Alec quickly ended Caius' easy entertainment by wrapping the kids in Mist for a split second to let them catch their breath and let their muscles relax.

"What is going on here?" Alec could not think this night could get worse.

"They were caught sneaking out of bed and I saw to correct their behaviour since you have been skipping out on your duties to discipline. I think that sore muscles will serve as good reminder in case they happen to forget the rules again," Caius sneered before whispering in his ear, "Also, Aro mentioned your little tantrum. I would like to remind you as well that even if you see no consequence to your careless thoughts, we can easily find ways for you to cooperate. It's a real shame Damien's all healed up by now."

"Leave my son out of any disagreements I have. He should not suffer for my actions," the shaking had spread from his hands to his entire body. He couldn't stop shaking. He was livid.

"That's why it's called a punishment, Alexander. It's meant to be painful," Caius teased, "Now be a good little boy and turn the Mist off."

Alec sucked in a deep breath, giving Caius one more venomous look. Then dropped the Mist.

All three were flopped on the floor gasped with their muscles twitching from hours of strain.

Damien noticed Alec's normal calm demeanour of a softer blue aura had been replaced with a glowing red, angry one. But he was not angry at them. Good, he's realizing what's going on behind the scenes.

"From now on, no child is permitted to meet with another unless supervised by an adult," Caius announced.

"That's not fair to them," Alec snapped.

"Them? Notice how I said child, not half-vampire," Caius was quite pleased with himself, "Sibling or otherwise." Aro was going to be pleased with this new rule change.

Damien had no idea how they were going to make a plan know. He knew that the second that someone overheard what they were planning, a rule would be added to make it impossible to work around. At least hopefully the little glip of telling everyone to stay together when the test came would help. They still had time. Marina wasn't back yet. In the vision Alec seemed less aware and more complacent to follow Aro's order, which unfortunately meant that something would have to happen to sway him to be a part of everything. Currently Alec was wilder and less predictable than Damien had ever seen, which might be a good thing.

Marcus and Joan both volunteered to help substitute the children's schooling until Demetri returned. Marcus went over history and language as Joan helped with math and science. She enjoyed giving the children a small introduction to psychology to extend beyond the normal laboratory sciences. Damien waited until Joan was teaching to continue thinking of a plan with the others. He felt bad tricking her slow human eyes as they passed notes back and forth with in human speed. Damien tried the trick of trying to sense the movements of the pencil writing on the pieces of paper, letting his ability take over as he felt the need to trace certain shapes and letter. Sometimes it would be in poorly written chicken scrawl sometimes feminine hinting who the original writers were.

Tiago had the idea to have all of them circle back to back to make sure they could help each other and be aware. Olivia wanted to sneak to where the Immortal children were being kept and kill as many before anyone noticed. Damien knew that they would be guarded and it would be obvious they did it. He didn't want them getting punished anymore. They had to fake not knowing anything as long as possible so that rules would not be added to make things harder.

"I can beg daddy to let us do combat training outside. That way we can assess everything and see what we can work with," Olivia wrote. Damien sighed in relief. Finally a good plan.

They each took turns glancing away, scanning the terrain. "Have they spoken of anything?" Caius asked Felix to add to the supervision. "No, sir. In fact they have barely spoken at all. No one has heard them mutter a word," Felix reported. It was unsettling him. Aside from Olivia asking to go outside, it had been deafening with how solemn and silent all of them were. They didn't make eye contact ever. Their expressions stayed robotic and stony. They seemed to age overnight. He had never seen his kids so serious. All of them seemed to be training harder than he had ever seen before despite all of them still being painfully fatigued and worn out from their pleasant morning with Caius. He felt proud and unnerved at the exact same time.

That evening, a knock at the door had everyone out of their seats. Joan opened the door to find Demetri, Marina, and Heidi with resolved faces. They had returned. A big mistake. As Tiago gave his best friend a big hug, Damien tapped his ear twice which made Marina scrunch her face in confusion. She traced Damien tapping his left hand twice at his side. Now she was even more confused. Her ability focus on him tracing shapes on his thigh.

V-I-S-I-O-N

She nodded.

W-E-D-I-E—N-E-E-D—P-L-A-N

She nodded again keeping her face blank since Aro and Caius were watching them.

That night Damien did the same thing explaining everything to her. That morning in class the now four continued planning with passing notes and having Damien AND now Marina tracing the letters of the others as they rushed to collaborate. They could wake up any morning now ready for the slaughter.

"What if we hid weapons and lighters a head of time. We still have the advantage of them not knowing we know. Technically Aro will say we cannot have weapons ON us as we enter," Marina suggested. If Tiago didn't have a crush on Marina, he would have kissed her. The plan was genius.

"Then we can use the head start time to find them and get in a formation," Damien continued the idea.

"What if instead of a circle, we assembly line everything," Marina jumped in, making sure her father did not notice her note being written, "Olivia can take away their strength, Tiago rips them apart, Damien lights them on fire, and I can provide additional cover with my bow and works as radar to detect how many and where they are."

This could work. They spent combat training figuring out where they could stash items as they sprinted laps around the perimeter. Afterwards they stayed even later. All three ran in to grab weapons to stash as Tiago ran in and grabbed a ball. They pretended to be playing some sort of game as they practised passing it, acting out how they would stand when the time came until it was second nature. They would use the cover of the bushes to disguise themselves stashing items as they made sure to not break stride. Now Caius and Aro were both watching the four of them. "Why aren't they talking?" Caius hissed. Children should be seen, but not heard. Yet this was a little excessive. "I think you might have scared them too much," Aro suggested, "But no worries. We will continue the exam out tomorrow as planned. I have made sure the newborns are starved beyond the point of sanity. I know they will love a warm blooded breakfast in the morning."