If Damian had known that things would turn out this way, he might not have encouraged Anya to get her vaccination so readily.

Sure, he wanted to be supportive, but if she didn't get it, then she wouldn't have come on the school trip, and then she wouldn't be -

"Where are we going again?" Anya asked for what must have been the fifth time, interrupting his spiral of thoughts.

Damian tried to ignore the way her sparkly green eyes widened with curiosity, and how close she sat next to him on the cramped school bus. It caused his mind (and his heart) to go into overdrive.

Seriously. With the fees they paid for the school, he was sure that Eden College should have been able to afford something with bigger seats so that he didn't have to suffer that his leg crushed against hers, or feeling her heat through his uniform, or being intoxicated from her usual perfume -

Damian tried to steady himself. It wouldn't be good if his mind got carried away. "We're going to the Mackintosh Estate just outside of Jortmund."

As she tried to recollect the brief, Anya pursed her lips in concentration. (He did not want to kiss them.)

"Just one night, right?"

Damian kept his eyes resolutely forward, but he could only see the back of the seat in front of him. Turning to Anya would have provided a better view (since she was in the window seat after all, and the ever-changing scenery did look fascinating, but not because she was the view, obviously), but there was no way that he would be able to look at her and not have those crazy thoughts spring to mind.

Ever since the utter fiasco in the nurse's office the week before, he hadn't quite managed to make prolonged eye contact with her, and yet she didn't act any differently with him, which was weird. How could they share a moment like that and then Anya just acts like everything is still the same as it was?

In many ways, she still infuriated him by pinching his pens, stealing his notes, and calling him that terrible nickname, but he had said so many embarrassing things to her - did she not think any of them mattered? Or did it not bother her? Did she not understand that what he did was technically a… was a …

Damian pushed the agony out of him with a suffering sigh. Was this girl really that dense?

She didn't seem any more or less relaxed or wound up around Damian, which meant that he didn't know what the heck was going through her mind at any given point. She just accepted things too easily, although if he thought about it, maybe she was always like that. She did return to normal almost immediately after the bus hijacking thing, and even after he was kidnapped. What kinds of things had she seen that she could shake off anything?

They had been briefed on the school trip weeks before, but between Anya's abduction and subsequent rescue, and Damian working himself to the bone helping her catch up with the school work, they hadn't really had a chance to go over the plans for the trip.

It was meant to be an Art History culture trip, which Damian rolled his eyes at when it was first announced. What need did they have for such a mindless trek? If they weren't going to do experiments for their science credits, and they weren't going to learn about military history then what was the point?

To his chagrin, most of the class seemed to love the idea. A whole two days and one night, with trips to museums and art exhibitions. It just spelled disaster: walking around at a leisurely pace, watching her beautiful easily entertained eyes light up at every stupid thing, admiring beautiful architecture and artistry… it was enough to make him feel sick.

That morning, he suspected that Becky had some sort of plan, from the mischievous glint in her eye as they lined up for roll call outside the school gates. The students from Wald Hall and Cecile Hall had come together for the trip, and she had very stealthily manoeuvred them to sit closer to the back of the bus.

"Oh but what's this?" she faux exclaimed under her breath to Damian. "There's only three seats left! I guess I'll sit over there with Bill and leave you two…"

Dread set in his stomach. "You wouldn't."

She grinned at him, an evil temptress. "Too late."

Even just remembering it made the humiliation rise up in him, and Damian did everything he could not to just smack his head against the seat in front of him. One day, he would kill her.

He was even more horrified when they announced that the bus ride would take about four hours - a torturous length of time, in Damian's opinion. If he had to endure Anya's magnetising distracting presence for that long, he really thought that he might combust.

Damian brought out his book, determined to keep himself busy from looking at Anya as much as possible, but he could barely concentrate on reading the sentences in front of him.

So, it took a while for Damian to notice that Anya had been nervously glancing out the window.

He nudged her with his elbow. "You alright?"

"Yeah, it's fine," Anya said in a strained voice, but she didn't turn to look at him.

Damian frowned, and mentally chastised himself for being so worried about his own feelings, that he had failed to notice how Anya was doing in the moment.

The more he looked at her, the more she worried him. Anya bit the nail of her thumb as her eyes bounced around her, and she couldn't sit still. It was as if she was looking for something.

He wondered what she could be looking for, what she could be worried about, before it hit him suddenly.

Was she worried about being abducted again?

Damian risked a glance at her from the side of his eye, and she barely even noticed him. His skin prickled with unease.

She really was so brave. This was perhaps the first time that they were leaving Berlint since she was abducted. What if she was worried that they would chase her down, or even worse, threaten her school friends to try to coerce her back?

He inhaled a short breath, frustrated with himself to be catastrophizing so easily. She had every right to be worried about being abducted again - they did know almost everything about her at that point. They knew that she went to Eden, who she hung out with, they even knew who Damian was for crying out loud.

Even with the lab equipment destroyed, and the scientists in disarray, Damian knew that fear didn't just disappear so easily. After his kidnapping ordeal, he didn't sleep for weeks.

Damian thought back to the conversation that he had with the Forger's not that long ago, and to the pistol that he still kept in his school bag. If it really came down to it, Damian was sure that he would be able to use the pistol to protect her. He had that brief instruction from Mrs Froger, but he had also learned since then what kind of things Anya was up against.

He had the means to protect her now.

If he had to use it, he would.

Lost in his thoughts, Damian jumped when Anya pinched the sleeve of his uniform, so gently, but to him it felt like he had been electrocuted.

"Hey Sy-on," Anya said it so quietly, Damian almost wondered if she had even said anything at all. "Want to know a secret?"

Damian gulped, and tried to reorient his brain. "One of your secrets? It better not be crazy."

A beat.

"It's my birthday today," she said shyly, and Damian froze for a moment, before he visibly loosened his shoulders.

"Nice try," he forced out a laugh. "Isn't it in March?"

"Yeah, but I mean," she met his eyes sheepishly. "My real birthday."

The cogs in his brain turned embarrassingly slowly. "Really?"

She nodded, and pressed her lips together. "Papa found my files in the lab. So I guess I'm sixteen today."

"Huh," said Damian, and the gears in his brain creaked to life. Stupidly, the only thing he could think to say was: "You gonna do anything for it?"

Anya shook her head. "We said we would keep it in March officially, stay with the story you know."

Damian pursed his lips and leaned back again on the head rest. It would be a shame to not mark the day somehow.

The bus shuddered to a stop, and Damian woke with a start.

He had successfully fallen asleep, but from the pressure on his temple, he quickly realised that he had rested his head on top of Anya's while he slept.

Damian jerked away from her with a blush. "S-sorry," he stammered. "Was that too much?"

Anya smiled sweetly at him, but Damian had been on the receiving end of her smirks enough times to spot the signs of her subtle insubordination. "I think that's payment for when you helped me last week."

"So -" he gulped, and the next words rushed out of his mouth in a run-on sentence. "Let's just call it even then and forget all about it."

Her face twitched inexplicably, but Damian never found out what she was about to say, because just then Professor Henderson rose elegantly at the front of the bus, and coughed to demand attention from the students.

"Now students - we will be enjoying a tour at the art museum this afternoon, but before then you need to gather your things in your assigned rooms. You have thirty minutes to get your things sorted and get refreshed before we meet back at the hotel foyer."

The hotel was quite a sight to behold, and though some of the other children were used to seeing that level of grandeur before, Anya was not.

Anya flung her bag down to the marble floor and flopped down on the first bed she saw. "These beds are huge!" she exclaimed, although her voice was muffled by the enormous pillow.

"I can't believe we have to share rooms," sighed Becky. "Honestly, they couldn't get anything bigger?"

"Are you kidding me?" Anya knew that Becky was used to more lavish living arrangements, but she was about to launch into a rant about how huge and amazing everything was, when two more people entered the room.

"Oh, hey," said Alice Paulette nonchalantly. "So I guess we're all sharing?"

"This is SO cool!" Charlotte jumped up excitedly. "We're totally gonna have a girls' night!"

Anya tried not to grimace. Becky's version of girls' nights always involved makeup and at least a hundred episodes of Berlint in Love - but she didn't know Alice or Charlotte that well. And she didn't know how to learn about new people without sneaking into their minds and gathering intel.

If she thought about what Twilight might do, the only obvious answer was that he would try to find common ground with the targets, before moving into his area of interest.

"So, what should we do for the assignment later?" Anya wondered, and all the girls turned to her with withering stares.

And though she didn't mean to, she never meant to, their thoughts drifted out to her.

Oh that poor girl.

She really has no idea?

Becky shook her head. None of my teachings went through to her.

"What is it?" Anya swallowed dryly. "Did I miss something?"

"Anya," Becky sighed. "We're on a co-ed school trip. Do you have any idea what this means?"

"Uh," said Anya. "We get to spend more time with our friends?"

"She doesn't get it!" Alice exclaimed, frustrated, but Becky shushed her.

"Quiet! You gotta be patient with her!"

"Er," Anya said nervously. She wasn't sure if she liked being spoken about like that. "I'm right here."

Becky tsked, but she turned to Anya once more, with an intense look in her eyes. "So we get to spend more time with our friends, right? Who in particular?"

Anya's brain was starting to hurt.

"The…boys?" Anya shrunk into her shoulders.

"Right!" Becky smiled. "Which boys?"

"Erm," Anya wasn't sure if she liked this game. With all three girls staring at her, expecting her to get the correct answer, she felt completely put on the spot. Like she was back in the lab, or in front of the class. "The ones we choose for our group?"

"The boys we like!" Charlotte burst out, clearly having lost all patience. "If we get to choose our own groups, we're going to pick the boys we like!"

"Oh," said Anya, and her shoulders loosened with relief. "That doesn't sound too bad. That means I can hang out with Damian."

All three girls reeled back at once. She said it!

Anya blinked in confusion. Was she not supposed to say that?

"So it's true? You really like Damian?" Alice gasped and put her hands to her cheeks, squealing. "We finally got a confession!"

"No, you guys," Becky shook her head. She knew her friend too well to hope that Anya would just confess out of the blue like that.

"Why wouldn't I? We're friends," said Anya blankly. Why was everyone acting so weird?

"Damn it," sighed Alice, dejected. "I spoke too soon."

"Well, I bet a certain E-boy will be free for you, Charlotte," Becky waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"Stop!" Charlotte squealed, and slapped her hands to her flaming cheeks, but there was an obvious glimmer in her eye, that Anya quickly identified as excitement. "You think he would really agree to hang out with me?"

"Of course!" said Becky confidently. "He stares at you in class all the time."

"But that could mean anything-"

Anya perked her head up. "You like Ewen?"

"Ah," Charlotte blushed. "Yeah," she mumbled as she twirled her hair around her finger.

Anya thought for a moment, while the girls watched her warily, all wondering simultaneously what on earth Anya of all people had to say about it.

But although Anya was often oblivious, and didn't pay attention in class, there were sometimes snippets that came through to her. She just hoped that they wouldn't ask her how she knew certain things.

Anya cleared her throat. "I heard Ewen, um, talking about you. I think you have a good chance with him."

"Look at you, connecting the dots!" Becky playfully tapped Anya on the shoulder in a mock-slap. Now you just have to figure the rest out…

Anya blinked. Really, why did everyone always say that she was missing something?

Not for the first time, Anya wondered if her age difference had really held her back from everyone else. Anya had always assumed that Becky was the only one ahead of her in some way, but looking around the other girls in Cecile Hall, a pit formed in Anya's stomach. She was behind everyone. And she had to catch up, or who knows what would happen?

She was so busy playing catch up that she couldn't meet her own friends where they were already at. They had moved on and developed without her, and Anya was always behind, always desperate to keep up appearances so that she wouldn't ruin the mission.

But appearances were not enough. If she was going to be a good spy, she had to make it the rest of the way there, and get the clues that everyone had been laying out for her. She wished people would just tell her directly, instead of saying vague things in her presence.

"What about you, Becky?" said Alice, breaking Anya out of her thoughts. "Are you going to pair up with Bill?"

Becky flushed, and stepped back in real surprise. "WHAT! I have no idea what you're talking about!"

Alice and Charlotte shared a look, and then giggled as one.

"You two looked cosy on the bus," Alice said playfully.

"Very cosy," added Charlotte, and both girls so clearly enjoyed the sight of Becky Blackbell looking so uncharacteristically bashful.

Anya almost laughed, too. She was so used to her best friend putting her on the defensive, that it never even occurred to her what would happen if she turned the tables on Becky.

But, she couldn't have asked for a better best friend, and really she didn't want Becky to feel more tortured than she already did.

Anya looped her arm through Becky's, and started to drag her through the door.

"Come on," said Anya forcefully. "We'd better get going or we'll be late!" And then she spared a smile towards Alice and Charlotte. "See you girls later!"

As they left the room, and made their way to the groups waiting for them downstairs, Becky cast a grateful glance to Anya, and muttered a tired "thank you" under her breath.

To no one's surprise except Anya's, the girls were right, and it seemed that most students in the class had similar ideas about the mixed-group pairings.

A small group of girls batted their eyelashes at Damian, encouraging him to go with them, but Damian barely spared them a glance. Actually, he looked actively bored that they were all trailing around him, and Ewen and Emile tried their best to shield their Bossman from their ravenous advance.

Anya crashed through the girls like a bowling ball and attached herself effortlessly to Damian's arm. "Let's go Sy-on!" she cheered, almost having no clue what she had just done. "Let's pair up with Becky and Bill!"

"Aw man, not again," said Ewen, dejectedly, and he gave Damian a mock-pleading look. "We never get to hang out anymore! Are we not your friends?"

Damian barely got a sentence out before Anya grinned at the two blond boys, and nodded towards the girls coming down the stairs. "Alice and Charlotte haven't got a group yet! Why don't you go with them?"

"Er-" stammered Ewen. Luckily, Emile got the hint, and set off with him in tow.

Becky gave a low whistle. "Anya! That was inspired! Are you actually being a wing-woman for once?"

Anya preened at the compliment, and hoped that it was a step closer to finally catching up with her peers. (She still didn't know what they meant by 'putting the pieces together', but she hoped it was a start.)

Strange that she actually knew to do that… Is she more observant than I thought? Damian's voice filtered into her mind, and Anya resisted pouting to herself.

Not him, too! Why did everyone think she was so dense?

Anya bit the inside of her cheek, and she felt the excitement coming from Becky: Hopefully we can lose them in the crowd…

Anya perked up. Lose who? Enemies?

But Becky's self-congratulatory monologue wasn't finished. Then Damian would have to confess to Anya! It's perfect!

Anya groaned inwardly. Why was Becky always saying weird stuff about Damian? It wasn't like they were friends. In fact, when Becky and Damian were together, they were almost feral. It just didn't make sense to Anya that in between the jibes and the jokes, that the two had ever managed to have a heart to heart, and certainly not about Anya.

Somewhere in the vicinity, a familiar mind lurked, and Anya tried not to tune her mind into their presence…

"As you can see here," said the guide, "this is where the Mackintosh family designed their art together, and the brothers had quite a vision for the architecture of the estate that you see around you…"

Unlike Anya, Damian was actually trying to listen. How was it that she would go through so much pain and effort to go on the trip and then have the gall to get distracted, and even worse, it almost looked like she was going to fall asleep on her feet! A deep sigh escaped her, and she swayed on her feet dangerously.

Damian suppressed a groan, but he did try to lightly tap her on the shoulder, or at least try to wake her up somehow.

Anya jerked awake, and in a rare moment of awareness she took stock of her surroundings, before closing her eyes once more and allowing herself to rest.

That girl. Damian resisted the urge to tut and shake his head. Honestly. She was a nightmare, the actual worst.

Even worse, as they followed the guide around the estate and stopped at various intervals to admire the art and the architecture, she had started the abominable practice of leaning her head against his shoulder as she fully rested her eyes. When Anya did this for the first time, Damian made the mistake of making eye contact with Becky, who gave him the most infuriating smirk. He wished it was socially acceptable for him to slap the look right off of her.

After the second or third interval standing in front of the exhibitions, he found that he was quite helplessly just assigned as her standing-up sleep pillow for some reason.

He gripped the assignments clipboard in his hand, and did his best to resist retaliating at Becky, who was very obviously holding hands with Bill behind his back.

Honestly, Damian shook his head to himself. Those idiots. Did they really think that they were being so subtle? It was infuriating.

He glanced back at Anya, who strangely alternated between jerking awake, and looking round worriedly, or leaning back against his shoulder to rest her eyes again. Damian thought back to how she had been acting in the bus, where she had been biting her nails and looking around in agitation.

Damian wondered what it was that Anya kept noticing, and the frustration started to build in him. Why hadn't she confided in him yet? How could he even try to protect her, if she didn't tell him when she was worried?

The rest of the tour was utter torture. Damian thought that the bus ride was bad enough, but if he knew just how much pain he was about to go through, he would have appreciated it a little more.

The art itself was fine, not that he was a good judge. He took the relevant notes, carrying the work for his group as usual, and vaguely listened as the tour guide droned on, and he knew he didn't need to, it didn't really count as extra credit or assignments, but if a teacher or adult was talking then he was trained to listen. And infuriatingly, no-one else in the tour was even listening, all concerned with snuggling up to their chosen partners. (Although it did make Damian happy to see that Ewen looked slightly redder in Charlotte's company.)

And then Anya jolted up, and his gaze drifted to her instantly. "What's wrong?"

Anya pursed her lips and ignored him as she scanned the surrounding area, and Damian figured he knew what might be going on.

He dropped his voice to a low whisper. "Anya, is there someone following us?"

Anya bit her lips, and nodded slightly, before she sighed in resignation. "It's my Papa." As soon as the words left her mouth, Anya sucked in a gasp, and whirled to Damian with fearful eyes. "Wait, no! It's fine! Everything's really fine!"

Damian reeled back from her admission, and utterly ignored the way she tried to correct it. Anya was such a bad liar. "Dr Forger? He's following us?"

Anya froze, and judging by the panicked look in her eyes, Damian wondered if she had really meant to admit that out loud. But the damage was done, and she sighed in exasperation. "He's following me."

Damian craned his neck, trying to look around, but he didn't see anyone that even remotely looked like Dr Forger. He wondered if it was an elaborate prank after all. "Are you sure?"

"Sy-on," sighed Anya. "I can hear him," she said meaningfully, and tapped her temple.

Damian didn't know whether to laugh or sigh wearily. "They really don't want to let you out of their sight, huh?"

He could understand why. When she had been taken the last time, it felt like everything inside him stopped working. His heart could not beat without her, he couldn't breathe, and she even took over his entire mind. If he felt like that, he couldn't imagine how distraught her own family must have been

Anya shrugged in an effort to look nonchalant, but Damian didn't miss the crease in her brow. He bit back another teasing retort, and examined her closely. Why was Anya worried about her father being protective over her?

She sighed once again and turned to him. "He's being too protective. They could at least trust me a little bit. Besides, would you want your parents following you around the country?"

He did not. But his parents were different.

"I can't tell where he is, but he doesn't need to be so worried! It's like his mind is shouting at me, it's just a bit sore."

Damian took a very small step away from her. Better that Dr Forger thought that Damian posed no threat to his daughter at all.

A pit in his stomach started to form, and though Damian was glad that there was no actual threat he needed to protect Anya from, and that he was just overthinking the entire time, he couldn't help but feel a bit disappointed that Anya didn't need his protection after all.

Unfortunately, once Damian realised that they were actually safe (or they must be if Dr Forger was keeping an eye out), then they actually faced an entirely different problem.

While he and Anya talked, it seemed that the entire Eden crowd had moved as one and left them behind. They were nowhere to be seen.

All he could do was exhale with a weary sigh. Obviously the moment that he and Anya were distracted, that was when the rest of the class would leave them behind.

"Anya," said Damian carefully, "where did everyone go?"

"Ah-" Anya spun round, and gave the room a quick once-over, before suddenly seeing the same thing as Damian. "Oh. That's weird."

They had all fucking disappeared and left them alone, and embarassment rose in him as he realised that everyone must have known that talking to Anya was enough to distract him completely. Damian had a bad feeling that Becky might have had something to do with the sudden disappearance of the entire class, purely just to leave them alone together.

Damian facepalmed and groaned aloud. "They've left us behind on purpose!" He didn't even have the energy to be angry - just inconveniently annoyed.

He expected Anya to be a little more distressed, or even suggest that they should run and catch up to everyone, but she seemed quietly thoughtful. It made him nervous when she did that.

Damian's Imperial Scholar brain kicked into gear, and he tried to think of what to do. They should try to find a teacher, or find a guide, or maybe even get a member of staff - but his brain did not let him get to a decision before Anya reached out and grabbed his sleeve, gently holding him back.

"It's too crowded over there," she whispered hoarsely. "Can we just… take our time?"

His chest constricted as her eyes began to water dangerously. How was it fair that her eyes could get so big and bend him completely to her will?

Damian stopped, and stared at her incredulously. He couldn't get a read on Anya at all. One minute she was agitated, then exhausted, and now she was just in pain, and apparently fine with letting the class run ahead without them. Either way, it seemed that it was up to him to look after her, again.

(Not that he minded one bit.)

"Maybe we could sneak off," she suggested, and Damian nearly turned to stone. He did have his limits after all.

What is this girl trying to do?

Damian cast his eyes about for somewhere that he could take her to sit down, or even look for the exit, but the milling crowds blocked far too much of his view. Her grip still held him back, but he could tell from her pale complexion and faraway gaze that Anya was quickly wearing out. Damian felt the panic rise within him. He had seen her reach her limits before, and he desperately wanted to avoid that if at all possible.

First they lost the group, now Anya looked ill, and Damian had no idea where Dr Forger could be - if he was indeed keeping an eye on them, as Anya had said. How did it end up like this?

In the corner of his eye, he noticed a shadowed door, and from within there pulsed an array of coloured lights. Damian peered closer at the sign next to the door.

Enchanted Forest Illumination Installation & Experience

Yeah. That would do.

It was relatively out of sight, and it looked shiny enough to hopefully keep Anya's interest, and maybe keep her distracted from the thoughts around her. (Especially the increasingly worried thoughts of her father following her).

Wordlessly, Damian took Anya's hand and started to lead her towards it, and he brushed her thumb with his.

Hopefully it's quieter in here, he hoped she could hear him through the rabble in her brain. And if you don't like it, just tell me, and we can leave. Okay?

Anya nodded mutely, but her eyes widened as they got close to the cordoned entrance, and Damian brought out his wallet for the attendant.

"Wait, it's okay, you don't have to-"

Damian cut her off with a wave of his hand. "It's your birthday right? My treat," he said with finality, and exchanged a couple of notes for the tickets. "Let's go."

At least the dim lighting would hide his reddened face.

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Loid following them will be very relevant soon, and please dont think I've forgotten the previous arc of the story. The consequences of Anya's rescue are still unfolding, but I wanted to take a moment to slow down and focus on these two dorks again before it gets more difficult for them. (And writing the other Eden kids is really fun)

In case it wasn't already clear, my aim is for each arc to focus on a different secret of Anya's - and let's say this arc will reveal one secret that not even Anya is aware of yet...

Next chapter, they are going to go on another "Not-a-date" lol