I finally finished reading The Draco Trilogy. It is, without a doubt, the best fanfiction I have read, and ever will read, in my lifetime. I highly recommend it to all. That now having been said, let us continue with our epic tale.
"You want me to what?" I asked, dumbfounded. Valik smiled pleasantly up at me from his desk.
"It makes perfect sense, Rose. I don't see the point in your being awkward, here. It's beneficial to us all here." My brow wrinkled slightly as I slumped back into the chair opposite me.
"Sensible to see you're not still standing up banging on my desk like a loony."
"I wasn't banging like a loony."
"Actually," Anton interjected, vaguely amused despite his desperate attempts to mask it. "I think you'll find you were." I glared at him, and he fell silent once more.
"So let me get this clear," I recounted slowly. "You want me to continue my physical training, because if I don't, I'll go out of shape. I have no problem with that; I was going to ask about that anyway, today." Valik nodded. "However. The next part, I'm not really sure about that. You want me to continue some sort of vague outlined education at this Academy?" He nodded again.
"It's perfectly plausible. You never graduated. This could bring you closer to that opportunity again, so that you can get your Promise Mark, one we're through with all of this."
All of this. It made me shudder, how he now seemed so casual about hunting down and facing off Strigoi Dimitri. I bit back the urge to scream at him, and instead, continued with my list.
"And then," I said, "On top of all of this, you want me to... to what? Train your Moroi warriors for their upcoming Strigoi showdowns?" Valik clapped his hands together.
"So glad you understood that. It would have been a pain to re-explain, don't you think?"
"What makes you think I'd be useful for your Moroi?" I asked. Valik shrugged.
"We at the Academy are well linked with your staff at St. Vladimir's. We heard of the damage that you and one single Moroi boy — that's two ungraduated, unqualified children — were able to do against Strigoi. We also know of your other feats with Strigoi: your first encounters with them, and how you worked with the same Moroi boy and a few others, and eventually obtained your first two Molnija marks."
I sighed.
"That was mostly luck, Valik."
"And yet your knowledge is invaluable." And then I sighed again, this time with the air of defeat.
"Fine. I accept your damned terms," I told him irritably. Valik beamed.
"I thought you would, Rose. I've got a copy of your new schedule here—" he handed me the bit of paper which I took with a reluctance and scanned wearily. "The ones that are highlighted, those are the ones you're teaching. Your blanks, those are your training sessions. You'll notice you don't actually have whole days, sometimes, which I'm sure you'll be quite glad of. Anyhow, I have business to attend to, so I suggest you take Anton and go and familiarise yourself with your classmates. You have... lunch, now, actually," he told me, glancing at his watch. Then he turned away. I rolled my eyes, infuriated the whole setup, and stalked from the room. Anton trotted after me.
I'd gotten used to him, now, I'll admit. I didn't mind his constant shadowing of me during the day. I knew he'd be present for all of my classes, since he had technically graduated a year or so earlier. He'd told me he only stuck around because Valik didn't mind, and because he wanted to work with the Moroi staff as part of their army.
"I can't believe they're making me do this," I muttered as we made our way to the canteen. "I bet you were in on this all along, too, weren't you?" Anton snorted dismissively and gave me a sideward look.
"Of course, Rose. Because I have absolutely no other want in the world than to go back to school. I seriously cannot wait," he drawled out. He slumped lazily in a chair as I slung my shoulder bag onto the floor beside me. "What've you got in there, anyway?" he nodded towards the bag.
"Books," I told him. I'd been to their library. They only had very few books written in English, but there were enough that I could easily find what I was looking for.
"Oh, so you are literate. I was beginning to wonder," he said. I scowled. "On what?"
"Sorry?"
"Books on what topic?"
"Roman mythology."
He hesitated; fixed me with a careful stare that made me feel like he was trying to read my mind. I knew it was impossible, but the look he was giving me, and the general thought of mind-reading made me shift uncomfortably.
"That's interesting." He leaned back in his chair, still watching me fixedly. His eyes never moved from mine. I desperately wanted to tear my gaze away. "And why would that be?"
"Just... time killing, you know."
"No, I don't. Tell me, Rose. Why on Earth do you believe it?"
I looked at the Moroi boy completely perplexed. He was still scrutinising me, as though he knew I had something to hide.
"What are you on about?"
"You know perfectly well. Yelizaveta's crazy declarations of mythology and cultural malarkey. I know you're still thinking about it. I know you're determined to believe that she's not insane."
"Well she's not," I snapped, indignant.
"And what do you know? You've met her once, and all of a sudden, you know all about her?" His tone was brutal, harsh. I flinched, and I think it was quite visible to him, since his hard expression suddenly softened.
"I have to believe she's sane," I told him, my voice barely inaudible against the hum of background conversation. The rest of the world, at this point, though, seemed ever so far away. I felt alone, isolated, and singled out for reasons I couldn't quite understand.
"I'll help you," he said gruffly, standing up and looking away, behind him.
"What?"
"If it's important, then I'll help. But for now, I'm hungry. Try to stay put while I'm gone. It'll be terribly hard to find you if you don't." He darted off with that Moroi inhuman grace that still somewhat unnerved me, before I had a chance to question his sudden act of generosity.
*
I felt like a teacher, I suppose, when I entered the room. The massive class of Moroi students, who had been leaning across desks and talking loudly — so loudly, in fact, that I could hear them from down the corridor as Anton led me to the classroom — were now sitting dead silent, staring at me.
It was a queer sensation.
"Er. Hi," I said, vaguely. "I'm Rose.... Rose Hathaway. I'm a dhampir that trained at St. Vladimir's Academy in the US to become a guardian." There was a silent awkward pause. At the side of the room, Anton shifted uncomfortably.
"Why'd you drop out?" a Moroi boy asked me suddenly. "Why're you being trusted to train us if you dropped out?"
"Because I have more experience with the real world that every other one of my living dhampir classmates put together," I told him, fixing him with a cold stare. He shrank back in his seat. I smiled coldly, and looked around the room.
"Any other questions?" The room remained quiet. Someone at the back sneezed.
"Good. Then we can begin."
At the beginning of my talk, it was sort of slightly weird, and slightly uncomfortable. Weird, because I was teaching a bunch of kids that were pretty much my age. Uncomfortable, because they looked as terrified of me as I felt standing there talking in front of all of them at once.
Adrian's voice appeared in my mind. Typical little dhampir. Never afraid to kill the monsters, but can't handle a class of Moroi kids.
After that, I relaxed a bit. I tried a more open approach, turning the 'lesson' into more of a question and answer session. I outlined how their affinities could be useful, and was thrilled when I had something to say about water, as well as about air and fire. Earth, I explained to them, I wasn't entirely sure about since I'd never seen it manipulated — in fact, Earth tended to be an element that Moroi rarely found themselves aligned with; about four people in the entire class wielded it — but it seemed pretty obvious what they could do, given the practice. They could wield the Earth. They could build defensive walls of mud; they could make the ground disappear under the feet of Strigoi who tried to attack.
I also asked the class if anyone hadn't aligned with an element yet. No one had found this an issue. No spirit users, then.
By the end, the Moroi kids and I had gotten caught up in an animated discussion about the potential that their powers presented them with. I found that while there were a few people reluctant to partake in offensive training, most of them loved the concept.
At the end, some of them even seemed reluctant to leave. They filed out relaxed, and even happy. I watched them go. Anton was still standing by the window, staring out of it distantly. I glanced towards him as I gathered up my belongings.
"Are you alright?" I asked.
"It's crazy, what you've been through," was all he said in response.
Well. I did feel slightly bad for what seemed to be a naff previous chapter. I liked this one much better. I do expect reviews for it, people. Please and thanks. Also, quick reminder about the polls on my page. I'd be grateful if you went and answered. One of them may or may not impact the end (although what I've got in mind is pretty good. I really like it).
