Hello! Thank you for deciding to click on this fanfic. I hope you like what you're about to read!
I have had these ideas banging around in my head for years, literally YEARS, and have written many, many connected short stories about the next gen. (There are some Bloodlines/TRC spoilers ahead so pls be wary of that.)

To give you a quick background, post reading Bloodlines, I personally loved it being a semi open-ending where the possibility of R&D having a baby was dangled in front of us.
This is not something I personally have seen a great deal of written in fan fictions so I thought what the hell, I'll give it a go myself.
Everything that happened in the 12 books of this universe stays as it is. I just never want this world to end and want the stories to continue, so I wrote these for myself and am now sharing it with you.
This will be a slow upload as it is not complete, and I apologise for any confusion but I am not going to post this in chronological order but will try make the timeline of each story posted clear so you know where it sits in Sophia's storyline.

I hope that makes sense? Thank you in advance for reading! Enjoy ~

First Day = Fight Day

Sophia's P.O.V.

Senior Year - September - 17 years old

All senior novices gathered in the largest training room. It was our last first day. No mucking around anymore. This was serious. Multiple outside spectators—guardians who were visiting campus with their charges—dropped by our class to watch us and sometimes gave notes when necessary.

My parents, no doubt, were a part of that group. So was Alberta and most of the guardians that joined us on the plane, dropping us off at school. They lined the walls, some took up seats in foldable chairs. Alberta was front and centre, analysing not only us but the teachers at the school. Particularly Stan, the Captain at the Academy. He took over Alberta's old position so it seemed only fair that Alberta overlooked her fellow guardian, ensuring he was producing the best outcome from his students.

First day meant Fight Day or Challenge Day. It was when novices could pick one partner to spar with in front of the crowd. It also determined the ranking of best to worst novices and how we are doing after summer break. Granted, no one was actually bad. You just had the best of the best, the best, and then the rest.

A whistle blew, cutting off conversation and chatter. "Alright, novices!" Stan barked at the front of the room. "Gather 'round. Now, you all know what today is. Challenge Day—or as some of you like to call it, Fight Day. Any novice can challenge a peer to a spar. This year, we have an incentive. A prize for the top three winners. You all know you will receive one-on-one mentoring as seniors. The first three winners will get first-pick of their mentor." Excited murmurs and gasps broke out. Stan clapped his hands, quieting us again. "So. Who's going up first?"

Many novices exchanged eyes with each other, choosing the easiest partner for them to go up against. I noted that a lot of my classmates averted their eyes from mine. I suppose I understood. After all, I was the only student to have two molnija marks amongst the seniors.

"Me and Belikov. We're up first." My head shot up. A tall figure with red-hair and a face spotted with freckles stepped up to Stan.

"Very well, Mr. Ashford." He scanned the group of young faces and paused on mine. He jerked his head to the boxing ring. "Suit up, Belikov."

I rose to my feet and traipsed to the boxing ring. I retied my ponytail and fixed black hand wraps around my hands. "Let's see what you've been up to over summer, Soph," said MJ, smiling at me with a lopsided grin. "Did you kill anymore Strigoi?"

Had it been anyone else that asked me that I would've kicked them into the wall. Since it was only MJ and I knew he was semi-joking, I let it slide. "You wish, Ashford. Nope—this year Mom and Dad practically chained me to the Palace."

"Suppose you just needed Prince Charming to come rescue you from the castle, huh?" MJ laughed. Something moved behind MJ, catching my attention.

It was Damon.

He propped his arm up against the doorframe he walked through and leaned against it. His body was so big and broad he made the door appear tiny. His head nearly hit the damn thing.

Remembering MJ was talking to me, I cleared my throat. "Yup. Just needed the perfect Prince Charming…" I murmured. My sentence trailed off as did my eyes as they wandered over to Damon again. He was leering at me intently with those bold blue eyes. What was he doing here? Wasn't he supposed to be security? Watching over the campus?

"Come on guys, we don't have all day," Chad groaned from the sidelines.

"Oh shut it, Brown. You're just mad I picked Sophia over you," said MJ as he hopped into the ring. I followed, rolling into the ring.

"On my whistle," said Stan. I sized MJ up and got into a fight stance; he did the same. Stan blew his whistle.

Neither of us moved for a second. We simply assessed the situation from all angles, waiting to see who would make a move first. We danced around for a second or two before my fist connected with his shoulder. Then, we were on.

He sent a blow right back to me which I neatly dodged. So on and so forth we went, attacking, blocking, defending. I'll admit, he managed a few good hits. Though, Damon taught me something I hadn't had the chance to use on anyone yet. When I found an opening, I launched into Damon's move which released MJ's hold on me and took him down smoothly and quickly. Having the upper hand, I slapped my hand over his chest. Stan blew his whistle instantly, declaring the fight over.

Cheers sounded from our fellow novices. MJ was smiling up at me like a fool. "You've been practicing."

We tumbled out of the boxing ring, reaching for water bottles. "Not much for the Princess to do locked away in her castle."

"Might need to join you in that castle sometime then," MJ added.

I half-smiled as way of response and took a swig of water. Unintentionally, I found my eyes drifting to Damon for the third time in this class. He was still leaning against the doorframe, as if he had nothing better to do. One corner of his lips turned up in a proud smirk.

I averted my gaze once more and sat down beside MJ with the rest of our class. "That was sick, Soph!" Chad clapped me on the back. "You made it seem so easy the way you threw MJ off your shoulder and slammed him to the ground."

"Hey!" MJ cut in. "Whose side are you on?"

Chad and I exchanged a grin and laughed.

Once we were down to the last five minutes left of class, Stan stood before us with a clipboard that probably detailed our ranking. The ranking was based on your skill set and how well you fought. Of course winning against your opponent collected more points but it wasn't the only determining factor here.

"Here we go." Everyone hushed, eager to hear who the top three were. Stan started with third. "Coming in third place, Reina Hammond." Reina was one of the other few girls in my class. She stood up from her seat and joined Stan at the front of the class. "Second, Mason Ashford Junior." I silently cheered for MJ and watched him join the other two at the front. I hoped Chad came first. "And first, Sophia Belikov."

Oh.

I rose an eyebrow at Chad who was happy I came first. I stood up and walked to the front. As I passed by my peers, I heard one of them snicker, "Of course. You wouldn't expect anything less from someone who's already killed Strigoi." Flaring my nostrils, I ignored them and pointedly stared straight ahead.

"As promised," Stan began, once I stood next to him, "you three will get to choose your mentors for the rest of your senior year. The only rules of your chosen mentor is that they must obviously be a guardian that works at the school." It goes without saying that there are several other guardians we'd die to learn from that didn't work at the school. I rummaged through the list of guardians at the school and who'd be my most ideal choice.

Stan nodded at me. "You'll pick first, Belikov."

I scanned the room—avoiding my parents—and thought hard. I could select Stan, albeit Captain of the guardians. He was the number one guardian of the school. It made logical sense he'd be the best to learn from. But…there was someone else who stored up a lot of knowledge. He had shared a fragment of that knowledge with me and I burned to learn more.

"Guardian Petrov," I blurted out.

Stan frowned. "Belikov, did I not just say the Guardian has to work at the school already? As you know, Guardian Petrov is on the Guardian Council. Not to mention mentoring a student is a bit beyond her these days." He regarded me sternly. "Choose someone else."

I refrained the urge to roll my eyes. "Not Guardian Alberta Petrov. Guardian Damon Petrov."

Stan's face went blank and my classmates broke out in hushed whispers. I bet half of them contained rumours about Damon and his past shortcomings, or Damon and me.

Stan's face turned hard. "Guardian Petrov is not available for mentoring. He is solely security for the school, nothing else. His time is already filled up with duties dedicated to the safety of the Academy." I could've punched Stan for being so dismissive of Damon. Obviously, Stan didn't like him nor think him capable of actually doing anything—except maybe perimeter control.

"You said the top three winners could choose their mentor and the only rule was that they had to be staff of the school. Guardian Petrov fits all the criteria. And I'd be more than willing to work with his schedule," I argued. The entire room had come to a standstill as they witnessed us battle it out. We could've almost been sparring.

Stan licked his lips. "That's not—-"

"I'll do it," a burly voice boomed from the side of the room. Everyone jerked their heads to him. A few of the novice girls straight away begun making eyes at him. They're not to blame, Damon is definitely easy on the eyes.

Damon strolled into the room and looked down at Stan from his lofty height. I think there was a small twinkle in my eye at witnessing Damon overpower Stan.

"She clearly wants me to mentor her and I'd be more than happy to teach her," said Damon.

Stan scoffed. "You? No guardian even knows what you can do, I certainly don't. You've had barely any experience since graduation. I don't think two years in a Tarasov jail cell counts towards much guardian experience."

My jaw nearly dropped open at Stan's low blow. I dared to peek at my classmates faces. To some of them, Damon being in jail was clearly news. Not sure whether that was the wisest thing for Stan to disclose.

Damon smirked, dusting off Stan's comment, he replied, "Yeah and neither do those guys securing the prison. Not much practice with fighting or fending off Strigoi, not with the mental patients scaling the walls and the Moroi half-dead in there." Damon paced away from Stan. "I tell you though, they sure would make the best team for securing a place. I suppose that's why you brought me in, isn't it?"

"We're getting off-topic," Stan said hotly. "You are not going to be anyone's mentor."

"Spar with her," a strong, authoritative voice joined the conversation.

Damon spun around and met his great-aunt's eyes. "What?"

Alberta stood up and directed her focus on Stan. "If you aren't certain of Damon's skillset and abilities, allow the two of them to spar so he can show you. It'll also give you a chance to see if he's fit for him to mentor Sophia."

"Excellent idea, Guardian Petrov," Stan said grudgingly. "Get into the ring, you two."

Damon shed his outer jacket and the array of guns and stakes holstered on his body. As he stripped down to a single black t-shirt, exposing his tattoos and huge biceps, the girls in my class eyed him harder.

"Ready," Stan counted down, "set—"

Stan didn't get a chance to blow his whistle because Damon cleverly grabbed me and put me in the tightest chokehold of my life. His thick arms swarmed my neck. I was struggling to get out of his grip. Bad. Had he been a Strigoi, I'd be dead—this was probably the point he was making.

"Rule number one: don't wait for a whistle to blow, or someone to say 'go'. There are no intermissions or breaks in the real world. You must always be ready." I wasn't quite sure if he was talking to me, Stan, or the class. Perhaps all three.

"Damon," I growled.

"Damon, what the hell are you doing? You're going to annihilate her!" Alberta was by the ring now shouting at her great-nephew.

"I'm not going to annihilate her," he said nonchalantly. "But she needs to learn." The next time he spoke, his breath was closer to me. "You want me to be your mentor, Soph? Get out of the chokehold."

I tried everything I knew but Damon was so heavy and large, my tactics weren't phasing him. I needed the element of surprise.

"Damon," Alberta warned.

"Come on," he coaxed. "I know you can fight me."

His talking was a distraction so I used it to my advantage and threw my weight against him, flipping him over onto the ground. People in the room cheered and I noticed in the corner of my eye the room becoming fuller. We had gone into the next period and students for the next class were piling in. It was a group of juniors.

Damon was up in a second. My attention drew back to the fight. The two of us really sparred now. I landed what felt like a million blows on him but Damon being Damon, it didn't faze him. It was like fighting with my Dad—except, worse.

An idea struck me so hard, I didn't pause to analyse it. I simply waited till my next opening and made my move. He had the upper hand and I had a feeling he was about to throw me against the ropes. I couldn't let that happen so once he grabbed the part of my body where my neck and upper back connect, I wrapped my arms around his shoulders like a hug. I was pretty light, so tossing myself around was kind of easy. Using the momentum and grip on his broad shoulders, I kicked my legs in the air and swung around his body, folding him down to the ground.

We'd probably sparred enough because Stan blew his whistle, drawing us out of our battle.

I was hovering above Damon, my ponytail loose and hair probably frizzy. His eyes shone with pride. He winked. "Good girl."

I chuckled and stood up, practically bouncing out of the ring. My adrenaline was running so high, I felt like flying.

"Your request has been granted," Stan told me coldly. He nodded once and left to attend to the rest of the student body.

Beaming with happiness, I looked up at Damon. "See you at after-school practice, Guardian Petrov."

I spun away to gather my things and head off to my next class. My intention was halted as a warm hand wrapped around my forearm and turned me back around.

"Why did you choose me?" asked Damon.

"What?"

"You could've had any guardian at the school. All of them are spectacular. But you requested me. Why?"

I flicked my eyes back and forth between each of his blue ones. "Isn't it obvious? You taught me that move that made me win against MJ. There's a lot I could learn from you, Damon."

I stepped backwards and he let go of my arm. "I have to get to class."

Thanks for reading! This particular story had a small influence from the tv show (yes, I wrote this story THAT long ago) where Mason and Rose sparred in the first ep (P.S. I LOVED the action scenes in the show, it was really well done imo). That is where I got the idea but to be clear there is no top 10 'scoreboard' in these fanfics like the show had. Thanks again! :)