Cain Montgomery's Story

The sunlight was streaming in through the open curtains of Leonardo's bedroom, the rays dancing across the skin of both himself, and the beautiful, bare woman next to him. He had been awake for some time now on this Monday morning, his hand delicately moving through Amy's long brown locks, watching her sleep so peacefully beside him. The male hadn't had a good night sleep - the anticipation of the next day keeping him up throughout most of the night. Today was the day that the Noctrem students were finally coming into the school, moving in, to live and study in the same place as his beloved Arcana students. Obviously, the thought had worried him, mixing both good and bad student in his school, but that was what he had to do - he couldn't just leave the Noctrem students in that motel.

A soft sigh escaped the male's lips as he laid there, still aimlessly running his fingers through Amy's hair, soothing himself. Without the beautiful young brunette next to him, Leo had no idea how he would be feeling right now. The sweet girl had kept him sane, kept him calm throughout the transition, and after last night, had relaxed him completely. He was so lucky to have her in his life as more than just a friend any more, than he had taken that extra step forward, and had claimed her as his own. Their last week together had been incredible; holding her in his arms, kissing her, making love to her. They had decided to keep their relationship secret, if only just for now. Leo had created rules three hundred years ago, stating that employees shouldn't be dating, and yet, here he was, breaking his own rules. If Cain ever found out... he shook his head slightly, grimacing at the idea of his "enemy" finding out that he was breaking his rules. One person already knew about it, Corentine Quellen, and that was as many people as he wanted involved.

Leo turned his head to the side, looking at his clock as he lay there. The time was 7:00 AM, the time he usually got up to get himself ready for work. Slowly, the male who had been leaning up on his elbow, bent his head down, placing a delicate kiss on the lips of his stunning girlfriend. "Amy..." He whispered softly, his lips still brushing against hers as he spoke, "you need to wake up, baby."

---

Emily Marks, a receptionist who had worked in the main office for a number of years, had been entrusted with the task of putting up the roommate list. At 7:00 AM on the dot, she had left her station, the piece of paper in her hand, and she had pinned the list to the wall, just past the main entrance to the school. An error had occurred that she had been unaware until yesterday, and by then, it had been too late to change. The Noctrem students were going to be roomed with an Arcana student, someone to help them settle in, an error that Leo hadn't liked one little bit. In fact, he had fired the head receptionist, Hannah, giving Emily a promotion in the process. Any moment now, the students from the Noctrem School would be entering Arcana Academy, no longer seeing it as just a place of study, but now, also their new home. Upon the list, is the roommate pairings, and a map of the entire school.

Cor had woken up with a minor headache. Just a tiny one. After yesterday she’d needed alcohol and she might have stolen some of Drake’s – the good stuff, of course. And so… now she was being punished. Served her right, she supposed. Things were just… one big mess. Right now she was on the bus with the others, dressed in this. After her shower at the motel she’d grabbed a shower before Drake had even woken from his slumber; she’d been sharing a room with him. Not because they couldn’t have had separate rooms, but because after the fire, Cor had sort of needed to be around someone with a level head, and who was more levelheaded than Drake in emotional situations? After getting ready, for once straightening her hair and all, Cor had grabbed her two suitcases and gone to fetch Erin. Together they’d gone to the bus waiting for them as every other morning. Except this one was bigger. Big enough to fit all of their baggage. Right now it was 7:30 AM and she was half asleep with her head on Erin’s shoulder. Her best friend was of course seated beside her and Cor wouldn’t have it any other way. Well… maybe except… if, you know… Jay could… oh no, no no no. No thinking about Jay. Off limits.

The young blonde’s eyes snapped open the second the bus stopped and it was announced over the speakers that they had arrived. She got up, rolling her shoulder before she took Erin’s hand. “C’mon, Blondie.” She said, “we need to go have lots of fun in our amazing new home.” She laced her tone with feigned eagerness, overdoing it so much that even people who didn’t know her would recognize it as deliberately fake. Honestly she wasn’t really pleased in the least, but she didn’t want to go back to Harrogate either. So there was that. Besides, all of her friends were here, and she supposed Jay’s presence at Arcana made things bearable. Somewhat. She didn’t let go of Erin’s hand until the girl was out of her seat and then Cor walked out of the bus, taking her luggage from the driver who was in the process of getting all of their belongings out of the bus for them. She waited for Erin to get hers before she moved again, this time heading for the Academy. A place she’d been many times over the last month; a place where she’d more or less had to deal with a lot of shit she hadn’t had to before. Punishment for instance. Cain always let her get away with most of her shit. Marinos didn’t. Or… at least he didn’t used to, until she’d caught him and Roerig in a preeetty compromising situation about a week ago. Now she had free reign for 4 months. Not bad.

She didn’t really pay much attention to the other students. She didn’t care much. She was more focused on who she’d have to live with. She had no idea, but she couldn’t imagine Marinos pairing her up with any of his precious little angel babies, for instance. So they were probably rooming with someone from their own schools. It didn’t make sense not to do it like that. Cor entered the reception are, glancing at Erin. “Something tells me we’re going to regret this in the end, you know.” She shook her head and looked around her. She knew there would be a list hanging here somewhere with rooms and room-numbers and all that bullshit. Ah, there it was, off to the side. Both her suitcases rolled behind her as she made her way over, looking over the list. Her eyes widened slowly. “Uh… Erin, I think you need to see this,” she said, indicating the list. “They’ve mixed us. What kind of bullshit it that? I swear, sometimes they’re just too fucking stupid.” She wasn’t angry, or annoyed, because she’d been lucky enough with L. She was alright with rooming with L. Better than most others. Then she frowned. “Loralei?” She repeated off of the list, shooting Erin a look. “You’re rooming with gypsy girl? Fuck.” Her expression went from pity of her best friend to amusement when she spotted two other names. “Oh, you’ve got to be kidding me,” she said, already laughing. “Jay and Sky? That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.” And it really was. Jay had already said that he wanted to beat up every guy she’d ever slept with, and she knew Sky hated Jay in turn. That room was going to be a war-zone.

---

The dream was beautiful; beautiful and peaceful. Just… Leo and her alone in the most beautiful meadow filled with violet flowers, the sun setting in the horizon. She couldn’t remember what they were doing there or how they’d ended up in this place. Only the happiness and tranquility of that perfect moment, until the tress on the far side began moving, becoming students and fellow teachers, walking towards them. That’s when Leo let go and pushed her away, immediately resuming his professional eyes. The ones that didn’t belong to her Leo. Eyes that shut everyone safe for a select few, out of his heart. That’s when he said her name, his soft, masculine voice emanating, but it felt weird… like it didn’t belong in a dream, then her eyes fluttered open at the contact of his lips, the soft static and the touch jolting her awake. She smiled sleepily against his lips as he whispered. She was glad he’d woken her up before her dream turned into even more of a nightmare.

She kissed him softly once more before letting his lips move away even just a little, “mmmmorning” she murmured, stretching with a soft purr before smiling more properly as the memories of their night together resurfaced and then turned around to make him lay on his back, leaning over him. She let her hands rest on his chest as she raised herself a little, not caring one bit that she was completely naked. Then, as she looked him over, she tsk’ed and shook her head, “you haven’t slept all night, have you?” She hadn’t slept much herself. Honestly she’d only had maybe two or three hours of sleep at this point, if she was lucky. They’d had sex for the first time. Not first time in the virginal sense, but she’d been holding back since that night where Cor had found them; her lying on her desk, Leo’s head and fingers between her legs. That had just been… very unfortunate, to say the least. And extremely embarrassing. She’d also just been a little insecure. How could anyone measure up in the bedroom toa guy who had been having sex for the last odd 2500 years? He hadn’t seemed unsatisfied, though, so she was feeling quite relieved.

Amy leaned down to kiss Leo’s perfect lips before smiling softly and a tad thoughtfully at him, then biting down on her lip as the smile disappeared, her dream coming back to her and she sighed, unsure of how Leo was going to react now. They hadn’t really talked about their relationship’s status as such, but after the dream, Amy was feeling even more certain that they needed to let the cat out of the bag as such. She knew he didn’t want to, but she didn’t want to be stuck in a secret relationship for whoever knew how long. “Baby?” She began, kissing his jaw softly before looking up at him again, her violet eyes worried; worried about his reaction and how this was going to go down. She was ready to take an argument if that was what they needed, “when are we going to tell people? I mean… we can’t keep this a secret forever… right? And… people are going to find out anyway. It’s just a matter of time.”

Noctrem’s former headmaster was about as keen on early mornings as most of his students. Less so, perhaps. If he hadn’t been billeting himself at the same motel as the kids, there wouldn’t have been a shot in Hell of him getting aboard the coach bus he’d hired to transport them to Arcana. He’d probably have still been in his apartment, asleep, if that were the case. He would have liked to have slept through the entire day, if he could have. Maybe the entire year. Maybe the rest of his life. Cain, he reminded himself, We’ve been over this. What you’re describing is basically suicide.

He had been in rare form for the days leading up to the move. Yes, on a rational, adult level he understood that this was a good thing. That in the most technical sense, Leo was doing him a solid allowing his misfits and miscreants to take up semi-permanent (Oh Gods he hoped it was only semi-permanent) residence at his ostentatious school. Until Noctrem was rebuilt, it was a much better option than any of the others that they’d manage to come up with, even if it was slowly withering his soul away. He hated the idea of owing Leonardo Marinos anything other than a beatdown that was hundreds of years behind schedule. He was repulsed by not having utter control over the school, never mind his classroom.

He’d taken the front, rightmost seat of the bus. A pair of dark aviators hid his bloodshot eyes from the students as they clambered aboard, and he was sipping often from a metallic thermos of… let’s call it coffee. It was at least half coffee, so, that would work. His cheeks were lined with salt-and-pepper stubble, and his hair was getting long. Too long. He needed to get it cut, he noted, as he ran a hand through it. When the bus finally rolled to a stop in front of Arcana, he rose solemnly and turned to address his students.

The pause that he waited was significant enough that they might have been expecting some sort of big speech, if they weren’t all aware of his undying hatred for big speeches. Instead, he took a gulp from his “coffee” and, with his sunglasses still in place, nodded. ”Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too.” He swung around and slunk off the bus, lighting a cigarette the instant he crossed the threshold. Many of the students would be able to get ahead of him, since he was walking slowly and chainsmoking. He left a breadcrumb trail of three crumpled cigarette butts to lead the slower ones to the entrance doors, having used the first to light the second and the second to light the third. Reeking of smoke, he made his way in, not bothering to remove his sunglasses once he was inside.

He saw a few kids already gathered around the list and ambled up himself, perverse curiosity drawing him to see what sort of arrangements Leo’s lackwits had made. When he laid eyes on it, he did finally remove his glasses, just to make sure he was seeing what he thought he was seeing. He let out a bark of laughter. ”Oh, this is fucking priceless.” His morning grumpiness and general surliness had been replaced by a Christmas morning grin. He dragged out his phone, stabbing his finger at the screen and starting a text message, only using one hand (which isn’t to say he was good at it- nope, it was laughably clumsy). He then used the option to attach a picture that Jade had shown him just after showing him how to download stupid games, and took several seconds to snap a photo that had the list legibly in frame. He hit send.

A second or so later, Leonardo Marinos would receive the following text message:

u r such a tool.
<Insert Picture of List Here>

Looking extremely self-satisfied, Cain stowed his phone, laughing again in his harsh, guttural way. He took another long gulp of his spiked coffee, not to give him strength this time, but in celebration. This, he decided, might actually be interesting. Give ‘em Hell indeed. Smirking, he sauntered off to find some breakfast.

---

”Wouldn’t it be like… totally awesome if we end up roommates? I mean, like, how cool would that be, haha?”

Colby grinned toothily over at Landon as they made their way down the hallway. The speedster brimmed over with excitement even on the most everyday sort of day, but this was something special. Something big. Nothing so big had happened since the Noctrem kids showed up in the first place after their school burned down. He’d always been an early riser (at least, if he hadn’t partied the night before), and was already bright-eyed and alert, ready to carpe the diem.

He’d turned up at his best buddies room as planned, dressed in a pair of clean jeans and a pristine white polo shirt, and simply let himself in. Modesty was fairly pointless between the two of them, so he’d dragged the covers off of Landon and chattered away a mile a minute while the other boy got ready. He’d speculated wildly about who they might have wound up rooming with. As far as they knew, Arcana students would be boarding together, and so he’d been crossing his fingers in hopes of landing Landon as his roomie. Easier quickies aside, he couldn’t imagine anyone else at the school he would rather have shared space with. They got along so well that there wouldn’t be any problems.

”I guess Izzy wouldn’t be so bad either,” he proclaimed with a wicked grin. Colby also harbored a secret, stupid little hope that, somehow, a clerical error or shortage of beds would result in him sharing a room with their headmaster. He’d related as much to Landon, in his room, and easily dodged the pillow that his friend had chucked at his face. ”I’d totally dig rooming with Izzy. Haha, Izzy is so cute.” Colby’s thoughts often tended to emerge from his mouth in a rapid stream-of-consciousness.

”I just hope it isn’t Jaysin. He’d probably like, pin me down and strangle me in my sleep.” Judging by the way Colby’s eyes glazed over, he was very likely imagining a few of Jaysin pinning him down and doing something else entirely. He shook his head, so quickly that it seemed a flesh-and-hair colored blur, then delved into his pocket for one of his high-protein breakfast bars. He usually put down about three of them every morning in addition to breakfast in order to keep his infernally fast metabolism sated. On his lazy days he ended up burning through 10,000 calories; most days, it was more in the vicinity of 15,000.

He bit into the bar, still walking along with Landon, who was no doubt fighting to get a word in edgewise, like always. Colby eyed Cain Montgomery suspiciously as the man headed past them, chewing his energy bar laboriously. When they were about thirty feet away, though, with Noctrem students flocking around the announcement, he grinned a chocolate stained smile at Landon and then… vanished. It seemed that way at least. If it weren’t for the gust that kicked up behind him, he might as well have. He was only gone for about two seconds. He blurred into the midst of the Noctrem kids, scanned the list until he found his name, frowned, took another bite of his breakfast bar, and then blurred back over to Landon to resume their walk at a more normal pace.

”Who the fuck is Drakethrean?” He asked, his brow knit up in not-at-all unfamiliar confusion. ”Did we get a new kid? I wonder if he’s hot, haha.” How the Hell was he supposed to remember a weird-ass name like that? He’d practically already forgotten it. He’d also forgotten, in typical self-absorbed fashion, to see who Landon was rooming with. Of course, he knew who Drake was. If the stupid paper had just said that, he would only have been confused by the fact that he was from Noctrem. Not recognizing his full name only compounded his lack of comprehension.

As he and Landon closed in on the group of students, he began looking for Sky. He finished unwrapping his energy bar and then ate it at super-speed, chewing and swallowing so quickly that the thing basically disappeared. He ran his tongue along his teeth in similar fashion to clean them off, then turned a bright smile on Landon. ”I’m not all like, chocolate mouth, right?” He glanced away, seeking out his best friend from Noctrem once more. His hair was very recognizable; the best hair in the school, really, so Colby looked for that. Colby had been jealous of Sky’s hair since day one. Even the most rigorous styling products didn’t hold up to moving at just shy of 400 M.P.H., so Colby was forced to wear his own hair short. Such a drag.

The taste of alcohol from the night before lingered on Addison's lips as she stretched a bit, seeing that Cor was already awake. The night before, the girls had drank a bit -- of course Drake's stuff, hopefully he wouldn't mind. Or notice. She had woken up and showered, got dressed, did her hair, make up and everything else along with it. Leaving Noctrem was like leaving home, it gave Addison this empty feeling inside. Although she loved new adventures, she also loved having a stable thing in her life. Noctrem had become one of those to her, and ever since the fire her safety zone was gone. Of course, the fire had hit everyone hard, just in different aspects, Cain was the most devastated, because that was his pride and joy. Thoughts buzzed through her head, as she mindlessly went through some old magazines she'd found in the motel lobby that morning.

Oprah's shining face was on the cover of one of them...Addison glared a bit, shaking her head, opening up to the article about Oprah's new escapade of Godliness. Oprah was helping a young couple who came from nothing, had a kid and needed money big time. She was showing them their new car, a totally new wardrobe, and a brand new house. She probably bought them the finest yacht along with all that and gave them 1,000 dollars to spare.

Addi's theories? Oprah is probably a God sent down to earth... think about it, the lady’s got everything. She’s got enough money to go build hover crafts, pay the world’s greatest scientist to make a replica of her so she could live on forever, all while we are under her rule. Not only did she have the money goin’ for her, but she had this God-given gift to take the most depressed man who has had all his dreams shattered and probably cure him with her phlegm. She was Oprah. She was perfect in the people’s eye because she came from nothing and worked her way up to the top and still admitted she had some problems.

Of course, Addi was sure Oprah wouldn't approve of using alcohol, drugs, or other harmful substances in order to cope with living circumstances. She would most likely suggest something like grabbing a pint of ice cream, and powering through it with your gal-pals...

“Kudos, Oprah.” She mumbled, throwing down the magazines on the empty seat next to her.

The girl's train of thought was suddenly lost when she felt the bus slowing down. Her eyes flickered up as she heard the bus come to a screeching halt in front of the glorified Arcana Academy. Arcana seemed nice from the pictures, and it was a bit better in person than she'd expected. Lots of forestry around the place, good places to hide and such.

With a stretch and a sigh, she stood up, following Cor and Erin off the bus, her luggage dragging behind her. She stopped outside, leaning against the wall and fumbled through her purse. She takes out a pack of cigarettes and puts it in her mouth.

"Where did that fucking lighter go?" She mutters, fishing through her purse and her fingers grasp around her white lighter. Cupping one hand over the cigarette, she flicks the lighter, lighting it and taking a long drag. It's not that Addison was really craving one, it was just stress smoking. What she was dreading the most wasn't the people or anything... But the roommate schedule. Roommates are everything at boarding schools. They're who you're living with for the rest of the year. Inhaling a long drag she slowly exhales, blowing a few smoke rings here and there, watching Cain stumble off the bus, and he took a drink of his "morning coffee". Which normally consisted of a whole lot of alcohol and a drop of coffee.

Addison wasn't one for rushing, she knew she would get things done on her own time. She listened to Cor complain, and Cain say, ”Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too.”

She watched the end of her cigarette burn, blandly staring ahead.

"Hell doesn't even cover what we're bringing to this school." She says flatly, a devious smirk flickers onto her face as she flicks the ashes from her cigarette.

Bells was sleeping curled up on her side when she woke up to her alarm going off she slammed her hand on it to turn it off without opening her eyes and sighed, she was glad that she didn‘t have a headache from last nights little party, though for some reason she didn‘t drink as much last night as she usually did. This was the day that she was hoping would never come, the day they would have to move in with the Arcana students. She laid in bed for a few minutes before getting up looking around the room, it didn’t look to neat, clothes where thrown over a chair and books where on all over the desk. She wasn’t one that didn’t keep things too clean and she knew she should of packed yesterday but she really didn’t feel like, though this morning she really wished she did. Slowly opening her eyes and swinging her legs over the bed, she was definitely not a morning person. She got up and looked around the room, grabbing her suitcases she started folding and packing her clothes, putting her books into her backpack she looked at the time knowing she will only be able to take a quick shower or she would be late which isn’t something new but she had a feeling Mr. M really wouldn’t be too happy with her being late today. She took a quick shower then got dressed in the outfit she picked out to wear today and then went to look at herself in the mirror. She knew she wouldn’t be able to straighten her mess of a hair today so she left it cury but used some mousse so it wouldn’t be frizzy, after applying some makeup she took one more look at herself in the mirror and nodded “pefect” she said out loud before she grabbed her suitcases and made her way out of the room.

She knew she was a few minutes late and made her way quickly to the bus, walking up the stairs she saw Mr.M “yeah I know im late” she said as she made her way down the aisle, seeing Jade she took a seat by her. “This is the first day of hell, lets just hope we are still going to be roommates” she said as she got settled into the seat. She then sat there quietly as the bus moved on, not making much conversation with everyone, she still needed some sort of caffeine to wake her up till she became the talkative Bells. As the bus rolled to a stop she looked to the front of the bus as Mr. M got up ”Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too.” Bells grinned and nodded, yes give them hell is exactly what she was going to do especially Izzy. When Noctrem got burnt down and they where told they where going to Arcana all she could think about is Izzy. At the time she hated that she was going to have to be in the same school as Izzy now she was having to live in the same place he was. She made it clear to Izzy the first day she was there to stay out of her way and he wouldn’t have to feel the pain she has made Izzy feel before. Since then they have hardly said two words to each other and that is the way she hopes it still going to be.

Following everyone on the bus she walked through the doors carrying her suitcases. She saw Cor and Erin enter the reception area and she followed right behind them. As she entered she caught the end of what Cor was saying “…disaster waiting to happen.” Bell’s now didn’t have such a good feeling as she walked over to the two girls “So what kind of disaster are you talking about?” she asked but before they said anything she answered her own question as she looked over the list “he just had to do it this way, fuck this” but as she said that she found her name and saw she was rooming with Beth “well I guess it won’t be so bad with Beth, could of gotten worse…” she said knowing that the relationship she had with Beth was very confusing. Some days they talked like they where good friends, some days they didn’t talk at all and then some days they would just flirt like it was natural. She took a few steps back to let the others get in and wondered where her new roommate was, though she really needed to get coffee before the people she disliked with a passion came around.

---

Izzy was already awake, he has been awake since 5:30am and had his books on his bed as he was working on his home work and some extra credit work. Most people thought Izzy was nuts for getting up so early to work on school work but for Izzy it was something he liked to do. When he finished his work it was around 6:30am and he decided he needed to get ready. He put all his books in a neatly pile on his desk and then went to his dresser where he pulled out a pair of khaki pants and a white plain shirt, then went to his closet and grabbed a green plaid button down short sleeve shirt. He neatly put them on his bed then walked into the bathroom, though he didn’t open the door he just walked through it. He got in the shower and just let himself relax, the shower took about twenty minutes. He liked taking his time in the morning, he wasn’t one to rush things at all. After he got dressed and combed out his hair, ruffling it a bit so it wasn’t so neat looking. Seeing it was 7:00 am he knew he still had sometime before he went to find his friends. He pulled out his guitar and quietly strummed some music for awhile letting his mind wander in thought.

What really didn’t make him happy about the Noctrem students now staying at Arcana was one person, Isabella. He saw her that first day they started coming here and she gave him a straight talking to. It was the last thing she said to him and that was all he wanted to hear from his cousin. He disliked a lot of the Noctrem students because of their actions and just how they held themselves. He mostly stayed out of there way, though some of the girls from there flirted with him just to get to him which he hated a lot.

When his alarm went off at 7:15 he decided it was time to go find his friends. He grabbed his books and put them in his shoulder back pack then quickly put his timberland boots on and swung his bag over his shoulder. He walked through his door and looked down the hallway wondering where Colby, Elijah, Landon, or Ellie was. He walked slowly down the hallway and stopped at Colby’s door and knocked but no one answered so he kept walking this time stopping at Ellie’s. He knocked on the girls door “Ellie are you awake” he said quietly but loud enough for her to hear. Ellie was one of Izzy’s good friends and he always liked the girls company. He knew a lot of people didn’t like to be around Ellie that much because of her power but he really didn’t mind, though he tried not to think about the feelings he started feeling for Ellie lately, he really didn’t want to cause and tension between them and he wasn’t even sure how Ellie felt so he just kept it to himself for now. He stayed there patiently waiting to see if Ellie would answer.

---

Spencer heard his alarm clock go off, but he paid no attention to it. It was one of those annoying bell ones that nobody could stand, but somehow Spencer was able to keep sleeping. Although for every thirty seconds that passed, the ringing got louder and louder until even Spencer couldn't sleep. Then something happened that someone from the outside would see an unusual, but anyone that knew Spencer well enough saw as normal. He took out a dark gun, but it wasn't the usual kind. You could say that Spencer, "tricked it out". It was more futuristic, but it had the same function, being a dart gun. Although it was ten times stronger than a normal one. Spencer didn't even look up from his pillow and he took the shot. The dart flew across the and hit the alarm right at the eight hour mark. The clock flew backwards and broke. It was silent for a while and Spencer once again tried to sleep. Then the alarm clock moved around as if something was inside and at last it broke apart into two pieces, with another alarm clock inside. Although this one sported mechanical legs and started to run around the room for a few minutes until it reached Spencer's bed, and finally Spencer himself. Then it spouted a hammer and started banging Spencer on the arm. This forced him to wake up and as he tried to catch it, it just jumped away. Without missing a single ring, the "alarm clock" went into hiding in Spencer's already ready suitcase.

Spencer finally gave up on the thought of sleeping. I'll just sleep on the bus he thought. He got out of him bed, fully dressed in a green t-shirt with a gaping hole on the bottom of the shirt, a torn pair of jeans, and his signature lab coat. He went to the tiny motel bathroom. There was some green slime on the bathroom mirror after he tried to create a new type of toothpaste that cleaned teeth on its own. Sadly it was unsuccessful. Then he put on his glasses and tried to settle his unruly hair, tried. Meanwhile, his alarm clack was still ringing until Spencer went to his suitcase and dismantled it. Then he took a pen from the nearby desk and took out his notepad from his pocket and mumbled to himself, Note to self: Find a better way to wake up. Or just don't wake up at all.. Spencer sighed. He liked having a room to himself, even if it was just a normal three star motel room.

Finally he decided it was time for him to get at least another ten minutes of sleep on the bus. Sparky he called to his little robot assistant. A small robot no bigger than a teacup was carrying his two big suitcases. It put them underneath the bus, where all the luggage goes then the little robot just jumped into Spencer's lab coat pocket. As he entered the bus, he saw Cor and Erin sitting next to each other. Of course, what would anyone expect anything else from them. he thought to himself. He found himself an empty spot, and the best one on the bus too. That one seat behind the back door, the one that has its own window and great leg room. Yeah, that amazing spot. Finally he could sleep, but the bus was so noisy he couldn't and that kinda pissed him off. Right as he was about to finally fall asleep, they reached Arcana. Spencer sighed once more as he got of the bus. He released Sparky once more to carry his luggage as he just started walking toward the school, mumbling to himself and taking about fifty pills that he made against headaches. He slept way to little last night. Fifteen hours just doesn't cut it. From the corner of his eye he already saw three people smoking, of course. Cain was smoking way to many, Likely due to stress Spencer thought, Addi also, but Ben was just addicted. He couldn't even go an hour without smoking and everyone at Noctrem knew that. Spencer saw Ben a drag that no right person would able to take if they needed oxygen. He then decided that its none of his business and with that thought he forgot about them all together as he mind switch to other topics. Such as, who will he room with?

As he reached the entrance of Arcana, he saw a group of students all around a list. The roommate one. Many people had dissatisfied looks on their faces while others were just neutral. Spencer scanned the list and found his name, Room Twelve with Jackson Murphy he mumbled to himself. Spencer grimiced, he wanted a room to himself, so he could experiment freely without some stupid roommate complaining. Also Jackson was notorious for his parties. Not in my room Spencer thought. He looked around the room to see if he could find Jackson, scanning the faces quickly.

---

Ben yawned as he opened his eyes, he was beat. Last night he went to some club in the city and got completely wasted. He was surprised that he somehow got to his motel room in one piece. He glanced at the clock. It read 4:45, way to early for Ben's liking, but since he's awake why not go for a early morning stroll. As he sat in the motels garden, he took out a cigarette and lit it up with his lighter. It had an orange paw print on it with the name Lucifer, for his very own cat. Since Lucifer was with his sister since the fire, he kinda missed the orange fur-ball. He took a long drag.....and then blew it out. This was his stress reliever and he couldn't quit even if he wanted to. Ben just sat outside until the sun came out and even a bit after. Then he decided that he should get ready.

Turns out Ben was longer than expected outside. When he came back to his room he only had about ten minutes until the bus left. Shit! Ben yelled as he pretty much threw everything he owned in the ginormous bag that he owned. He hurried up to get dressed in jeans and a white and black striped t-shirt. I woke up early and yet still i'm late, I don't even have enough time to find Eri and play some last minute pranks on those motel workers. Ben and Eriol were torturing the motel workers for the past two months, over ten workers have quit.

Ben ran as fast as he could to the bus. Man, Cain's gonna kill me Ben said out loud to himself. He threw his bag under the bus in the compartment and quickly boarded the bus, with two minutes to spare. Ben let out a sigh of relief, but then he noticed he was wearing his slippers. Not any slippers. His Winnie the Pooh ones. Oh great Ben thought to himself. Its not like the Noctrem students have never seen them, but Arcana haven't. Although after a while Ben just didn't really care anymore because what was done is done. Ben saw Bells come in late. At least I'm not last he thought. After that, they started the bus and they were on their way to Arcana.

When they reached Arcana, Ben was one of the last people to leave the bus. Lets say he's not that excited about the new arrangement. He was far more happier being where he was in the motel, even though the food tasted like shit. He always went to the nearby liquor store and bought tons of munchies. There can never be too much food. Hey he was hungry even now, but first things first. Ben took out another cigarette and started to smoke again. Who knows if his new roomie will be a bitch about it, but truthfully if he was, Ben didn't care. Although Ben doubted someone from Noctrem would care since half of them smoke. He saw he wan't the only one smoking, even Drake took one from Addie.

Finally he finished and just threw the bud on the floor. Ben started to walk towards Arcana and saw everyone huddled around something and from all the commotion, Ben could tell it wasn't good. He read the list, he was in room eight with Elijah. Oh great Ben said out loud. Then he saw who was in the next room, Cor. Now this is going to be hilarious.

Sitting in the bus, Drake felt like he was about to burst and he had no idea why. Today, of all days he’d scurried off to sit by himself in the bus. He’d noticed a lot of the others; his sister and Erin for instance, probably both hung-over from drinking the alcohol most of them thought he didn’t know they’d snatched. Of course Cor knew he always kept tabs on his alcohol. Those were fucking expensive drops, and a lot of the chicks liked to mix it with soda. If you wanted to mix alcohol with soda, you should buy the cheap cat-piss and leave his 20-years whiskey alone. Of course he had trouble getting through to his sister who drank like there was no tomorrow. He doubted she even enjoyed the taste of it. Just, down it goes and yay, drunkness. He sank deeper into his seat, sighing at the softness. He didn’t really have reservations about stayed at Arcana, that was fine, really, except he felt like it meant they’d never have a Noctrem again. Probably not while he still studied, anyway. Then again, he had like half a year or something left and that was only because he’d chosen to stay longer. Ah, the joys of being 19.

As the bus pulled to a stop and the announcement rang out that they were there, followed to Cain making his own kind of ‘speech’, Drake smiled wryly. It was really more of an encouragement to wreak havoc on the school then a welcome. You had to love it. This was, at the very least, going to be entertaining. He couldn’t even imagine the shit that’d go down the first week. He smiled to himself, waiting until the worst throng of people had scurried out the vehicle until he hopped down the small stairs, landing on solid ground. Much better. Maybe his unease came from driving. He hated driving when he wasn’t behind the wheel himself. Which, yes, had made this last week hell for. Especially if he hadn’t had his coffee in the morning. He took his bag from the driver who was grumbling by now. Drake just grinned at him. “Hey, at least it’s the last time you have to drive these crazy fuckers.” And with that he made his way over to the Academy’s front doors, which was where he spotted Addie with her back to him. Perfect.

Drake quietly made his way over to the gorgeous brunette, silently putting down his bag to snake his arms around her. “Morning, gorgeous,” he whispered, chuckling. His lips were right by her ear, his warm breath on her skin. “Nervous?” He then added, his voice normal again as he straightened, still holding her, and snatched her cigarette to have a drag, letting the nicotine smooth out the last bits of unease from the drive. There, much better. He let the smoke slip out through his lips. “You drink my alcohol, I smoke you cigarettes.” He merely added as an explanation. Of course he would’ve snagged it anyway, but hey. He glanced inside the reception and raised an eyebrow when he saw his sister laughing. What the hell was so funny about roommates? He’d decided to wait until the worst of the crowd had had their look and then stalk in there like a boss, but now he found himself growing curious. He took another drag of Addie’s cigarette as he mulled it over. Should he give in to temptation or not. Nah… he was quite content here. Besides, he didn’t really give a shit who his roommate was going to be. Didn’t really pay it much mind. He’d see soon enough, anyways.

Margaret Wright

Margaret applied her makeup in front of the motel bathroom mirror. Turning the tap, she frowned as a strange groaning sound that rang through the room, and grew even more agitated as a single drop of water trilled out of the nozzle. Arcana had better have finer bathrooms then these, she thought angrily, wiping her hands on the pure white towels left out for her, leaving ugly black smudges. Changing into a simple black dress, Margaret grabbed her case and walked out the room, not looking back once. She just wanted to get all of this over with. The sooner they were all settled in, the better. She had never been very good with introductions. The Noctrem fire had startled her, just as it had everyone else, but Margaret had made up her mind not to linger on the past. The only way to go was forward, and forward was Arcana.

Taking a sip from the mug of tea she had made for herself, she stepped onto the bus, and before taking her seat just opposite Cain, sent a pointed look at the barely awake students sitting behind her. She knew it wasn’t her place to make a speech, but the look she sent clearly said one thing: This is it. There’s no backing out of this, so I expect all of you to make the most of it. Well, whatever ‘make the most of it’ means to you. Giving a small nod of greeting to Cain, Margaret turned her head to the window, watching the bleary landscape pass by. She didn’t bother turning her head during Cain’s speech. It wasn’t worth it. Cain hadn’t been the same since Noctrem fell. If the man had one emotional attachment, it was to his school. And now with it gone, and him having to work for his ‘archnemisis’, excuse the exaggeration, Margaret watched him slowly fall apart. They hardly spoke anymore. He stayed locked up in his room, majority of the time. And, in all truth, Margaret didn’t really care. He was a grown man, though he often didn’t act like one. She assumed he could take care of himself. All she knew was that he’d better toughen up by the time they reach Arcana, because she did not want to see Cain make a fool of himself, or Noctrem.

Finally arriving at the school, Margaret stepped off the bus, eyeing the school in front of her passively. Nothing showed off her emotions except the slight raise of her eyebrows, giving her a cynical air. She took her time to glance around the place, taking in the subtle changes that had happened since the last time she had come to visit, before walking inside after everyone else. A small mob had formed over what she assumed was the rooming list. From what she’d heard, students from the same school would be paired up. But, as she peered over the heads of the students, she realized that wasn’t the case. Margaret couldn’t but smile. Well, this is going to be very interesting. She wouldn’t have wanted the rooming choices to have gone any other way. Now, Noctrem students will be able to have an... influence over these impudent children. My job has gotten quite a bit easier, she thought, stepping back to lean one of the room walls.

Life in a motel was not pleasant. It was quite far from it, especially when one was rooming by ones self and had no line of defense from a group of begrudging young women. Lulu Allen was a girl of few friends and many enemies, though she had never intended to wrong so many people. The blond woke to silence, the air thick and muggy as her room’s air conditioner had been broken intentionally the week they had moved in by Cor Quellen. She’d called it a welcoming gift, wandering off to room with her brother. Lulu had dealt with it. No matter how much the motel’s repairmen tried to fix it, the thing wouldn’t turn on. If it did, it blasted hot air, making her room even more unbearable. The heat had left her with little more option than to sleep in her underwear with a bucket of ice at close hand to try and cool off. On the hotter nights she’d gone without much sleep, taking to a routine she had long perfected at Noctrem. Mild insomnia would have her wander the school, make her way to the cafeteria’s kitchens where luck would have it that the chef du jour left her something edible. If things went right at Noctrem, Lulu would run into her former hallmate Drake. In the motel, however, the Quellen boy was rarely seen. If they were in class together, Lulu resigned to staying away from him and if anything doing all that she could to blend in and avoid the brewing fight that seemed to be coming.

It was a joy to know that the motel would no longer be their place of residence. Lulu’s face could not hide her relief as she hauled a black duffel bag on her shoulder to the bus line-up. She held a paper coffee cup in her hand and kept her head low, a dull thud prodding her temples. Having pushed her powers in the past two weeks – both in helping or harming those who cared to bug her on top of her lessons and private sessions – left her feeling hungover when she hadn’t had a drop to drink in weeks. Maybe I should, she thought lowly. Squeezing her eyes shut, she tucked her chin and watched as Cor stood near the front of the lineup to board a coach bus out. When they boarded, Lulu sat herself at the front across from Cain, pulling the hood of her black sweater over her hair and leaning her head into the window beside her, if only to drift the few minutes it took for them to arrive at Arcana. The routine was near perfected at that point. If she sat at the front, no shit would happen. Her eyes danced over Cain’s slumped figure. She didn’t need to ask about the disposable cup in his hands. She knew it was his morning concoction and she wished she could steal it for herself before she moved, closed her eyes, and kept her backpack close to her. Six weeks of little to no sleep had her struggling to stay awake.

Cain’s booming voice had her startle and wake up. "Give ‘em Hell, kids. It’s your school now too!” he cheered, his voice raspy and yet authoritative. She’d always liked it. Lulu smiled weakly at her mentor before standing and hauling herself out the steps to the curb. The school was impressive, the white marble practically sparkling for their arrival. Lulu moved to collect her bag before something happened to it, standing out of the way from Cor and Erin who moved closely together. Keeping her eyes on the ground she nearly ran into Drake as he paused to take a cigarette from Addison. Lulu watched as he leaned into the brunette’s ear, whispering sweet words before standing tall and proud while she processed his comments. When he stepped back her shoulder knocked into his and Lulu allowed herself to slid sideways, her feet arranging themselves to catch her. Swinging her bag around to her other shoulder, Lulu flushed and kept walking. It wasn’t until she was in the main foyer that she turned to look over her shoulder at him. Shaking her head at the display, she focused on in the billboard listing roommates. Her eyes scanned the list behind the shoulders of a few others. Lulu didn’t care to notice who they were, only to note where she was headed.

Room Fifteen: Alli Jackson and Luly Allen

What smile she possessed disappeared. They couldn’t even manage to spell her name right. Lulu frowned and clenched her teeth, shaking her head and turning away. It seemed like a joke, especially with how often people belittled her since arriving and her name had shown up on all the class lists as Talulah.

Being at Arcana had been a hard sell to her parents. When the fire had happened, Lulu had been immediately confronted by her mother who would rather she attend a public school in Washington over attend the ‘goody-goody’ school. It has taken a week of arguing before she’d finally won them over, telling her parents both that she wanted to stay and that Cain was still working with her and they were making progress. Of course, now she had to prove that she was making progress which meant pushing herself on little to no sleep and thus feeling as she did then – ready to throw up in a bucket, curl up in a ball, and pray she could find some peace.

As she prepared to turn away from the listing, Lulu turned back to look at it again. She spotted Drake’s name close to the top of the list, his room far beyond hers. Disappointment laced her features momentarily before she moved, hauling her bag and removing her cell phone from her bag to fire a message off to the one person who may be excited that she was finally there.

Jack, looks like we’re here to stay. Room 15 for me. Where are you? - Lulu <3

Sky Byrnes

'Get away from me. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it. Stop it.' The words swirled around in Sky's head as Tom approached him, but the words stuck in the back of his throat and would come out of his mouth. Tears ran down his cheeks as his stepfather grabbed him by his hair and threw him against a wall. He tried to scream for his mother, but everything was silent. His heart pounded in his chest as he tried to crawl away from the grown man.

"Leave me alone." He managed to beg, before recieving a kick in his ribs from Tom. "Shut up, you little fucker." Sky groaned as he rolled over on his back, looking up at man above him. "Please stop. I'll be good, I swear. I won't tell my mom. Just please, Tom, stop it." Tom just shook his head and smirked. "You don't have the balls to tell your mom." He undid his belt and threw it across the room, before getting on top of Sky and pinning his arms to the ground. "Your just a little bitch. Now shut up and stay still." Sky closed his eyes as more and more tears streamed down from them, waiting for what was to come.

Sky woke with a jump, looking around the motel room to assure him that he was back in reality. His breathing was heavy and there was sweat on his brow. Damn. His nightmares had been getting worse lately. His flashbacks too. He grunted as he looked as his alarm clock. Just a few minutes until he would have had to wake up. Whatever. He got out of the motel bed and went to the bathroom to begin his journey to perfection. After showering for twenty minutes, brushing his teeth for fifteen, and shaving/applying moisturizer/gazing at himself in the mirror for ten, he was almost ready. Now, he just had to make sure his pride and joy was ready to amaze the world.

His hands worked like machines, spreading various gels and mousses through it, and sculpting it like a fine statue. "Perfecto!" He exclaimed before spraying it with his favorite hairspray, some strange brand from Spain that his Tia Jenny got for him. He walked to a chair next to the bed, on which he set down his decided outfit the previous night. He quickly dressed, but decided to throw his beanie into his bag. He was not going to ruin his hair after all the work he just put into it. And it was time for the finishing touch. He grabbed his two diamond studs and placed them in his ears. Sky turned around and checked himself out in the mirror. "How you doing, Sexual?"

Sky grabbed all his bags and he was just going to walk out the door when "Oh shit!" He dropped his bags and raced back to the bed, sliding a large box from underneath it. "Almost forgot you." He said with a sigh of relief. This was his sacred "Party Box". The things contained in this box could transform any gathering of people into a banging party. It was heavy, but Sky could manage as he grabbed his luggage again and made his way to the bus.

He slept the way to Arcana, with his head against the window and his earbuds blaring music into his ears. Sky woke up and walked off the bus, grabbing his lucky lighter and a pack of cigarettes from his pocket. He placed one in his mouth and lit it, looking around. He noticed several other people were smoking as well, including Cain and Addi. He put the pack and the lighter back into his pockets before getting his luggage and the Party Box. The cigarette hung from his lips as he followed everyone to the list of roommates, but he couldn't hear anything because of his earphones. He set the Box down before moving through the crowd, trying to get a peep at the list. He saw Cor's amused face as she looked at the list and Sky decided to take his earbuds out, catching the end of her sentence.
"-and Sky? That’s just a disaster waiting to happen.” Sky raised an eyebrow. "Who am I rooming with?" He uttered, his cigarette still between his lips. He puffed some smoke out of the side of his mouth as he ran eyes over the list. He noticed immediately that the rooms were mixed between the Arcana and Noctrem students. He really hoped that he got roomed with Colby, but if he did, they would be very...distracted most of the time. Let's just say they wouldn't spend much time doing homework.

That's when Sky saw it. The lit end of his cigarette grew brighter and brighter, practically setting it on fire and quickly burning it down until it was nothing but a stub. He spit it out and wasted no time before saying how he felt. "Are you fucking kidding me? I'm in a fucking room with fucking Jay?" He was livid as a flurry of fast and angry Spanglish left his lips. "I can't believe they put me with that pinche cabron. Fucking pendejo. Hijo de puta." Sky muttered some other words under his breath, still obviously switching between English and Spanish as he ranted to himself. Out of all the people at Arcana, he got stuck with one of the very few people he didn't like. In fact, he disliked Jay. Maybe he even hated him a little bit. "Whatever." He said, finally coming down from his anger high.

He started to walk away from the list when he saw someone by the list for a split second. Did Arcana have a teleporter? Sky didn't think so and he spent a moment puzzled until a grin came to his face. Colby. The pyro looked around for the speedster, grabbing his bags and the Party Box. What couldn't he have gotten a room with Colbs?

(Will post for Amber and Eden soon. ^-^)

Leo couldn't stop himself from smiling as the beautiful woman next to him rose up from underneath the duvet, baring her naked body to him without a care. "Good morning." He spoke, letting himself being pushed back down onto the bed, Amy leaning over the top of him. He couldn't say that he disliked the view in front of him, and for a brief moment, the male felt himself being taken back to the night before, where the woman had been practically in this position, her breasts bare and bouncing, the first time they had made love... He was however quickly brought back into the present, when the stunning woman spoke to him, asking him about sleep. "Not true. I slept a little last night, just... not as much as I probably should have." He smiled gently, bringing up his left hand to delicately brush away a strand of hair that was falling in front of her face. He had never been so happy before, never been in a position like this where he had cared about someone so much that he let them sleep next to him in his bed. Amy was the first woman that he had loved in two and a half thousand years, and he couldn't be happier about that fact.

He let his hand cup her cheek softly as she kissed him, smiling against her lips. Every little touch between them sparked electricity into the males hands, his lips, his heart. However, then, he watched her smile disappear, and he instantly knew that something was wrong. Something that she was going to tell him, and something that he was not going to like. Leo shifted slightly in the bed, raising himself up so that his head was resting against the headboard, her lips working on his jaw. He, however, didn't enjoy it as much as he should have. Instead, he was a little worried as to what Amy was going to say, and he could see that same feeling mimicked in her own eyes.

Yup, he didn't like what she had to say at all. The male closed his eyes, taking in a deep breath as she began to speak about their relationship again. She just didn't understand; she didn't get his need to abide by all rules, and especially his own. How would he look in front of Cain, in front of everyone, when they found out that he was breaking his own rules. Leo shook his head, moving out of his position from underneath her, exiting the bed. "Really Amy?" He asked her, an exasperated tone taking over his voice. "You want to do this right now? After an amazing night, and before one of the most stressful days of my life in millenniums? Really?" He took up his mobile phone from the side, angrily pressing in the buttons, his fingers missing the keys every now and again. He really wasn't the most techno-savvy person in the world, and it took him a moment to find the send button, sending his text back to Cain.

You sir, are a grammatically challenged braggard. Yes, I know about the mistake, and I don't like it any more than you do.

Leo put his phone down on the side, and moved over to the main telephone in his room, the one that if when he pressed in a number of buttons, he was able to speak over the tannoys around the school. [u]"All students, please note that there is an assembly being held at ten o'clock in the main hall. Non-attendance will result in an immediate detention, and a loss of free periods."[/s] Then, he slammed the phone back down into it's holder, turning back to face Amy. "Look, we've got to get ready. We'll talk about this later." He sighed, before making his way into the bathroom, shutting the door behind him.

---

[font=georgia]Erin had woken up with a bright smile on her face, unlike most of the other Noctrem students that morning. She was happy that they were leaving that god-damned motel, and moving into the Arcana Academy, a place they had been going to study for the past month or so anyway. She had no feelings about the "life long battle" or whatever that was supposed to be going on between the two academies, she didn't care about it at all. In fact, she had no qualms with any of the Arcana kids, minus ones that had offended her since her schooling life there had begun - she disliked more of the Noctrem students than those from Arcana. There was one thing on the girl's mind that morning, one thing that had the smile stuck on her face for all the world to see - and that was Keirol Rancora. The one boy who had ever wriggled his way into her heart, settling himself there for the rest of time.

As she stood there, looking into the mirror, the girl took in her appearance. The one thing that caught her eye however, was the glistening sword necklace around her neck - the one that Keirol had given her a few days prior. Her hand came up to aimlessly play with the pendant, turning it around in her fingers. The smile on her face was that of a girl in love, her eyes glazing over slightly as she went back in time to that moment on the hill. A sigh escaped her lips as she day-dreamed, still turning the locket over in her fingers. Then, a banging on her door broke her out of the trance, the girl snapping her head up quickly.

The quick movement had jolted Erin out of her daze, and into the reality of pain. Her head was throbbing as she walked towards the door, rubbing at her temple softly to try and rid herself of the drink-induced headache. Of course, Cor had been the one who had gotten her drunk, the one who had literally forced her to down her brother's bottle of vodka, despite the fact she despised the drink. She took in a few deep breaths before opening the door, before the whirlwind began. Cor had been there to shift her into gear, and within in the minute, the two girls were downstairs, shoving their bags into the bus and sitting down next to each other.

The bus journey to Arcana Academy had been another blur for Erin, letting her head loll softly on top of Cor's, slipping in and out of sleep. The headache was progressively getting worse, and somewhere deep down, she felt like slapping her best friend for forcing her to letting her drink so much. Soon, the bus was pulling to a stop, and the two girls were exiting, hand in hand, being one of the first to collect their bags. No-one really messed with Cor, and Erin was guilty due to association. She chuckled at the sarcasm in Cor's voice as they walked into the school, taking in a deep breath. She moved away from her blonde best friend, her eyes glancing over at the crowds of people beginning to swarm the reception. She was hoping to see Keirol, to pick him out of the crowd, but he didn't seem to be there. She spotted the speedy guy coming in to check the board, Colby, she believed his name was, and she witnessed the sickening sitaution between Drake and Addison. The girl physically grimaced as she looked upon the scene, before Cor's voice again hit her ears. Addi deserves so much better. She thought to herself, before turning around to see what had gotten her friend so het up.

There was a defnite reason, all right. As Erin's eyes scanned the list of roommates in front of her, her expression turned quizical, before turning angry. She wasn't "angry angry", but she was definitely irritated. "What the fuck?" She repeated Cor's words, her mouth hanging open slightly as she realized that the two schools had been mixed. "We're not rooming together? Well, this just turns everything on it's fucking head, doesn't it?" She sighed loudly. When she found her name, and saw that she was rooming with Loralei Evans, the gypsy girl, she shrugged. "I don't mind. It's better than say... rooming with darling little Lulu or sickly sweet Ashleigh." Erin forced a laugh, but it soon turned to a real one when she saw who Jay was rooming with. "Oh, c'mon, it's not that bad." She put her arm around her friend's shoulders, sarcasm lacing every word that escaped her lips. "Come on, they may even... become friends?" Then, the girl burst out laughing, turning to apologize to her friend "Oh, I'm sorry Cor. That's just... oh, that's going to make your life fun." She grinned.

"So," Erin spoke, the grin once again evident on her face, turning to face Cor, "what shall we do until this stupid assembly?"

---

Tears fell softly onto the bed as Jackson stood there, holding his precious baby daughter in his hands. She was the most beautiful thing that he had ever seen, the one thing that shined so brightly in his life. Holly Millicent Murphy, a little girl with a head of soft brunette locks, and the most beautiful blue eyes in the entirety of the world, inherited from her mother. Jack slowly looked up, looking over at his girlfriend, smiling with largest smile ever at her. She looked so weak, so tired, but so beautiful. He moved over to sit next to her, holding Holly in one arm, and wrapping his other around Beth. The two of them looked down at the life they had created, their smiles never falling from their faces.

However, the scene soon changed. The room turned dark, and Jackson snapped his head up, the smile falling from his face, wondering what was going on. He wasn't in the hospital any more, he was in Beth's bedroom, still in that same position, his arm wrapped around Beth, however, Holly was in her arms this time. Tears were falling down his face, but he couldn't move his lips to ask her what was wrong. He knew something bad was going to happen, something terrible, but he just couldn't think as to what it could be. Then, his daughter stopped moving. She turned a horrible shade of grey, loosing all colour in her skin, but Jackson couldn't move. All he could hear was Beth screaming, tears falling down his own face landing on his daughter's pale face. They were then in a car, him holding Holly. She was cold, and she wasn't moving; all Jack wanted to do was to touch his daughter properly, to hold her close, hug her and kiss her, but he just couldn't move. He couldn't do anything as they arrived at the hospital, and Holly was taken out of his arms. The same word was then repeated over and over again, resounding in the male's ears.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead.

Dead!

Jack's eyes snapped open, and he flung up in his bed. His breath was hard and ragged, his heart pounding at a thousand miles an hour. He hadn't had a dream about Holly and Beth for a number of months, and it took him a moment to realize why his past was coming back to haunt him once again. Beth Phillips was now a student here, or had been for the past month - and he hadn't noticed. He had only wondered about her being a student at Arcana when he had heard her name floating around in the corridors. He couldn't believe that she was here, coming back into his life, in such a place as his school. It wasn't as if he didn't want her here... well, that might not be in the case. He didn't want his ex girlfriend, and the mother of his dead child here... but there was absolutely nothing that he could do about it, was there?

He spent a maximum of ten minutes in the shower, letting the warm water wash away all of the sweat and worries from his dream. It didn't take him long to get dressed or ready either, wearing this plain, yet smart outfit, smelling like his favourite cologne, his hair styled in his usual damp mess. He wasn't much of a conformer, but he had decided to go down to the reception hall anyways this morning, to look at the roommate list that had been posted up. Just after he had left his room, he received a text. Pulling out his iPhone, Jack checked his messages, smiling as he saw Lulu's name appearing. The male made his way down to the reception hall, instantly spotting the blonde that had been his best friend through the hardest times in his life.

Instead of going to check his new roommate, he made a beeline for Lulu, wrapping his arms around her waist from behind, a bright smile on his face as he pressed his lips to her hair, a soft, friendly peck. "I'm here." He grinned, moving so that he was now standing in front of her, pulling her into a proper hug this time[u]. "It's great to see you again, Lu."

Lulu had thought herself to be one of the first in the reception hall but within minutes the place was swarming with students. Standing slightly aside, she slid her hoodie from her head, her blond hair frizzing slightly on top. Unzipping it, she revealed her outfit. She moved to smooth her hair, watching people from the corner of the room. Corentine and Erin were reading the list of roommates, with Erin cursing and rolling her eyes at the fact that they weren’t together. It didn’t please her either that she would not longer be in a single room as she had been in Noctrem, not entirely about privacy but more so about what she would likely bring with her and thus upon Alli.

The blond student was so focused on other people, she didn’t hear her friend approach her from behind. The moment Jack’s hands wrapped around her waist she tensed, her shoulders tucking into her neck and her hands immediately flying to grab his. Her toes curled in her shoes until she felt his gentle peck on the crown of her hair. "I'm here!" Jack announced. Lulu couldn’t help but smile. Her long time best friend moved to hug her properly, which of course she did. "It's great to see you again, Lu," he told her. Lulu looked at him in the eyes, seeing the tired quality to his face.

“You look as tired as I do!” she commented, rubbing a thumb on his chin while she pursed her lips. “We’ll be insomniacs together!”

As she moved, watching another girl crash into Drake – he really was a magnet for those kinds of people wasn’t he – Arcana’s headmaster suddenly made an announcement via the PA. “All students, please note that there is an assembly being held at ten o'clock in the main hall. Non-attendance will result in an immediate detention, and a loss of free periods.”

“Is it me or does he sound a little peeved?” Lulu wondered aloud, her eyebrows momentarily creasing before she shrugged away her concern. So long as Leo was agreeable when she dropped in on his office hours, she wouldn’t pick away at him. He was old and irritated, concerned with Cain – as he had expressed to her before. Lulu’s eyes wandered back over to her mentor momentarily to see him smirking at his phone. Lingering cigarette smoke made the air thick around him. She didn’t care for that part of him but he was one of the only teachers capable of really pushing her to excel, to push her powers. Unfortunately she wondered if he noticed how hungover she looked from it, their session yesterday having run rather late. Lulu could feel the heaviness in her shoulders and a tired quality to her eyes. No doubt they were bloodshot. Her head spun when she turned around too quickly to try and locate where the main hall was or where she had to go to get there. Lulu reached out to grab Jack’s shoulder. “Sorry,” she muttered. “Power hangover. Some caffeine may help,” she explained, knowing he would understand.

As soon as Leo shook his head, Amy knew this was going to be an argument instead of a quiet conversation. Every relationship had its ups and downs, right? And as she constantly had to remind herself; the best things in life always took a ton of work. Leo was the best things that had ever happened to her, but also the most difficult, so she most definitely experienced that saying in person as it was. When he got out of bed, however, she blinked a couple of times moving into sitting cross-legged, pulling the covers up around her; without his warmth, the room was getting a little chilly. His tone bothered her a little, honestly. She knew he had a point, and if it hadn’t been for the dream, Amy wouldn’t have done this now, but it was a fundamental worry to her; that the secret would drive a wedge between them. She hated that she couldn’t show how much she loved him, even just with a look, when others were around. She’d been hiding her feelings for him, for the last many years, and she hated having to hide them still now that they were actually together.

His tone, however, was one you’d take with a difficult child, and though Amy was much, much younger than Leo, she was no child, and she’d be damned if she’d let him talk to her like she was. “Yes, tha-“ she began replying to his exasperated words, but she paused, her mouth falling open when he picked up his phone and began typing. Was he texting? Seriously? While she was trying to talk to him? She was so shocked, she didn’t even know how to react right now. She blinked several times, taking in the sight. That was just not okay. Not even a little. Where the hell did he get off texting when she was talking to him? That was not only inconsiderate, but also completely disrespectful. Hell, it wasn’t like Leo at all. Then again, they’d never really argued before, and she could tell that was where this was headed. Especially since she was growing extremely aggravated with him.

She merely watched as Leo, letting anger slip through his voice, went to make a public announcement. Now, that she could understand. The texting, however, not so much. Mostly because she felt certain – due to Leo’s irritated reacted – it’d been Cain gloating about the room-situation. She could just see a self-satisfied smirk on his face as he pressed send. That man. She winced in slight shock when Leo slammed the phone back down. Truthfully he scared her a little when he was angry, but she wasn’t going to let that hold her back. She was just as angry, so he could pack that shit away, is what he could! She narrowed her eyes when he turned back only to practically dismiss her, and went into his bathroom, actually shutting the door on her. Her lips fell apart again. Who was this man?! Ugh, so damned moody! But no. No way. Not with her. He didn’t get to shut her out. Amy scooted out of bed, grabbing a short silk robe from her overnight bag practically living in Leo’s bedroom. He’d offered her some closet-space, but she hadn’t yet wanted to push herself in too much. Mostly because Leo was so… well, new to relationships and she didn’t want to over-do it this early.

She quickly slipped on the robe, tying it around her slight form and stalked right into the bathroom, irritation drawn clearly on the face, her eyes slightly narrowed. She slammed the door behind her. “You know what, Leonardo Marinos?” She snapped, “I have taken a lot of shit in my life. You should know that. And I’ll be damned if I’m taking any from you!” She stepped over to him, crossing her arms under her breasts as she glared at him. “Firstly,” she began, “don’t you ever dare talk to me like I’m some difficult child, ever again. If you’d asked, I would have told you why I felt the need to bring this up today, but you didn’t. Nope, you resorted to this.” She spread her arms, indicating the situation they were in. “Secondly, sir, next time I talk to you, there will be no texting. It’s inconsiderate and completely disrespectful. You listen, because that’s what you do in a relationship. You communicate and listen to each other. If you don’t, things fall apart, and I refuse to let you slip away because you’re a stubborn old man.”

Amy took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. It didn’t work, though, so she continued, getting it all out. “I don’t care how stressed or worried you are about the day to come – I assume that’s the only reason you reacted so poorly – I do not, and will never, tolerate you treating me like this. I deserve better, and you know it.” She shook her head, sighing as she finally fell down from her anger-high, now just feeling sort of hurt as she looked at him. “The way I see it, the only reason you want to keep us a secret, is because of your pride.” Her eyes dropped to the ground, her arms hanging limply as her sides, with the thought. It was so true, wasn’t it? And she couldn’t help but think; is his pride more important to him than me?

Noctrem’s ex-headmaster was still looking delightedly smug when his phone vibrated. He finished off the last of his Irish coffee as he pulled the device from his pocket and toggled to his messages. Reading Leo’s reply, he snorted and began composing as he walked toward the cafeteria.

It’s “braggart”, you anachronistic ponce.

He slid his phone away, suspecting there would be no further texts from their illustrious headmaster that morning. He was frankly amazed that Leo had given him his phone number in the first place. It took all the fun out of getting his hands on it unconventionally and then prank-calling him, sadly.

He headed into the cafeteria fully intending to breeze in and out before there was a chance of his getting caught up in any trifling conversations. He grabbed a large blueberry muffin, an orange, and after surveying his options for a few more seconds, several pieces of bacon wrapped in some napkins. He wasn’t staying in the large eating area; that would have been like an invitation for people to intrude on his rare good mood and ruin it with their tedious comings and goings. Juggling the food items that he’d selected so far a bit, he managed to twist the top of his travel mug off. He refilled it, leaving about two ounces unaccounted for, and didn’t bother adding cream or sugar.

The orange went into one of his pockets, along with the bacon. The muffin seemed like it might explode into crumbs with the slightest provocation, so he wasn’t taking any chances. He beat a hasty retreat, quick-stepping out of the caf and then turning to head toward the classroom he made use of for Power Control. He was still very sore that Leo hadn’t managed to provide him with his own office, and as such was completely boycotting the “teacher’s workroom”, which might as well have had cubicles and Scott Adams cartoons to complete its utter lack of charm.

If he passed by any students on his escape, he had a perfectly crafted scowl at the ready for derailing any attempts at socialization. He needed solitude, so that he could think. The implications of the students being mixed were staggering. He had to wonder if Leo really had known about the list. If he had, why hadn’t he done anything to change it? It would have taken Cain all of ten seconds to correct the error. Did the immortal actually want the kids mixed? He had to, at least subconsciously. Otherwise he would have been unable to rationalize leaving it as it was. He apparently had time to exchange snarky texts, so he obviously had time to hand-write out a bunch of pairs of brats.

He shifted his coffee into the crook of his arm and fumbled in his non-food-carrying pocket for his keys. He kept the classroom locked for a variety of reasons, not least of which was the bottle of Maker’s Mark that he kept in his desk. He wouldn’t have put it past the little bastards to steal it, but really, half of them could have gotten into a locked room and a locked desk anyway. Oh well. As long as it was still there, he wouldn’t have to launch an inquisition.

He kept the lights off, preferring dimness, and used his hidden bottle of booze to top off his coffee before securing it in the drawer once more. He laid out his breakfast on the large desk, unwrapping the bacon and chewing on a piece as he pulled open yet another drawer. This one contained weeks and weeks worth of trash tabloid and celebrity magazines, and after rifling through them, he selected a copy of Life & Style.

Leaning back in his seat, he kicked his feet up on the desk. His pant legs rode up a little bit, exposing the clunky looking monitoring device that was affixed with some sort of space-age strapping to his left ankle. Eyeing the blinking green light on it crossly, he shifted so that his food was in reach and flipped open to a random page in the trashy magazine. He’d alternate between bits of this or that and sips of coffee, saving the messy orange for last, and read about Katy Perry and John Mayer. An announcement from Leo about an assembly intruded on his not-so-guilty pleasure, and he sighed, eyeing the clock on the wall.

---

He’s not new, just drop the ‘ethrean’.

Landon’s explanation helped not at all. It really only made matters worse. The exact spelling of the name he’d seen next to his had already slipped away from him, and he had to wonder, briefly, if Landon had gone nerd on him and started speaking in some kind of weird Middle Earth language. Drop the ethrean, drop the ethrean. He repeated the phrase over and over in his mind.

The riddle went unsolved. Landon had taken it upon himself to fix up Colby’s lips, wiping at the corner of the speedster’s mouth with a saliva-wet thumb. Colby didn’t mind at all. Landon’s saliva was very familiar to him, and he secretly enjoyed the way his ex-boyfriend/bestie was always looking out for him, motherly or otherwise. He wound up blinking when Landon just wandered off toward the list. Only then did it occur to him that he could have checked to see who was rooming with Lando, or Sky. Oh well, he’d figure it out eventually. Landon’s just abandoning him didn’t bother him; he’d actually been doing that more and more lately, but nothing had changed when they did hang out, so he wasn’t worried. Whenever he asked Landon where he’d gone off to, the response was always running, which… whatever, really. Just because he didn’t have any secrets didn’t mean his friends weren’t entitled to them.

Speaking of Sky, there he was. He was looking for… oh, him! Their eyes would wind up meeting, and there was another blast of displaced air as he sped on over to the shorter boy, wearing a big dopey grin as he came to a halt. He held his hands out, a silent offer to help the pyrokinetic sex-pot with his luggage. About, oh, a second or so later he just dove into conversation.

”Did you see who you’re staying with yet? I’m so totally bummed it’s not me, but like, at least we’re in the same place now, haha. I think my roommate is like, an elf or something. Drakka-whatever. Seriously, it’s like… something out of the Lord of the Rings, haha.” It should be noted that Colby didn’t really have an “inside voice”, and that Drake might very well have heard Redline’s assessment of his name if he happened to be passing by or within, say, twenty feet? Sky would, of course, have difficulty getting even a syllable in until Colby was finished. ”Hopefully neither of us get stuck with prudes. Drake-whatever- OH! DRAKE! Wait. He’s from Noctrem. Why am I roomed with someone from Noctrem? Ugh, his sister is such a bitch-skank. Well, he’s hot at least.” He started looking around for the shadow-manipulator. ”I bet-“

Sky would never find out what Colby would have bet. The announcement came over the loudspeaker. Mr. Marinos’ voice never failed to captivate Colby, and he fell silent (which almost never happened) to listen to the message. News of a mandatory assembly completely disrupted his frenetic train of thought. His idol and crush sounded pissed. Maybe the roommate thing was some kind of mistake, and they’d straighten it out at the assembly? That gave him a little hope for scoring a more preferred roomie, but when his mind went back to the living arrangements, he renewed his verbal assault on Sky.

”We should get you settled in and stuff, haha. Maybe there’ll be time to head back to my room.” His eyebrows waggled; Sky probably already knew what heading to Colby’s room meant, but the eyebrow waggling would erase any doubts. His gaze panned over the students who were buzzing around the roommate list and he spotted Landon again, standing all by himself, like he was waiting for a bus or something. ”Dude!” he called, but then stopped. What if Sky and Landon were roommates? He was somewhat aware of some hints of jealousy, mostly from Sky, regarding the two of them. For some reason, he got a really weird, bad feeling in his chest when he considered the two of them sharing living arrangements. They were both so different, but he cared about each of them way more than he was capable of expressing with his limited vocabulary and discomfort when it came to emotions.

It would all work out, he decided. It always did. They were both just friends anyway. Nothing to worry about, right? Besides, Sky had no right to be jealous. He was having sex with like, one out of every five girls in the school, it seemed like. Colby’s nose scrunched up as he thought of that. He’d grossed himself out. Shaking his head, he realized he’d kind of just been standing there not saying anything and blinked, trying to catch up with whatever Sky had started saying to him.

---

He heard quick-moving footsteps behind him and tensed; it was only Zac, false alarm. He arched a skeptical eyebrow at the other boy when he laughed and made light of the enormous duffel bag. It really was heavy. The strap of it was cutting very painfully into his shoulder, and he had brief thoughts of tossing it to him. The duffel, nearly as tall as he was and packed with everything that Theo owned, probably would have slammed Zac into the wall. That urge passed pretty quickly; instead he just shrugged, and nodded once they reached their room.

Of course, upon entering, he realized that it was actually Zac’s room. He was just a going to be taking up the extra bed. His eyes fell on the stand of drums and some arcane muscle in his left cheek, an inch or so below his eye, began to twitch. Perhaps Zac was not the best roommate after all. There were very few things that Theo could tolerate less than amateur musicians, and his understanding of that particular subculture was that drummers were the worst of the lot. His lips pressed together into an extremely thin smile as his eyes neatly quartered off the room, inspecting every inch of it. The muscle-spasm stopped a few seconds after it started, when the announcement about the assembly came on and he dutifully listened to it. He respected Marinos, the teacher, not the girl, and was curious enough about what the convocation would entail that his facial tic died away. When it was over and Zac said his piece, Theo said a single word: ”Thanks”.

He’d let Zac decide what precisely he was thanking him for. It could ostensibly be showing him to the room (which he could have found on his own). Or it could have been accepting him into the room (which he actually had no choice about). It could even have been for clearance to do what he wanted (Zac would not have liked what he wanted to do very much at all). Theo wasn’t really thanking him for anything. He was possessed of no gratitude whatsoever, at least in his current situation, but it seemed like the socially appropriate thing to say. He liked Zac well enough, but that had been when they’d only shared a few classes. Being thrust into living together would no doubt change things, but it would be better if they could get along. It wouldn’t be easy, but Theo actually did want them to have an amicable relationship, if only because anything else would probably have involved even more effort on his part.

”See you later,” he added as an afterthought when Zac took off to eat. He would, after all. It was inevitable. He’d see this boy every single day for the rest of his time at Arcana. He definitely needed to work a little harder at not disliking him as much as the drums made him want to.

He heaved his duffel onto the newer looking of the two beds, which he presumed was his. He’d contemplated heaving it into the drum kit instead, but… that would have been very noisy and troublesome, however satisfying. Rubbing at his shoulder, he moved to close and lock the door, and then settled his backpack down on the desk that was opposite his bed. He returned to the duffel bag and fought to unzip it. He’d brought all his cunning and organizational skills to bear on fitting every single article of clothing, book, and other miscellaneous item that he owned into the thing, and it was just a solid, tubular mass after being hung off his shoulder for the walk. He tugged and jerked until he’d finally managed to get the duffel open. He proceeded to somewhat solemnly pull out the neatly folded shirts, pants, and shorts, spreading them out in tidy piles on the mattress in order to decide how best to store them. Some wound up in drawers, others on hangers. It didn’t take very long, mostly because he’d managed to maintain some semblance of order with his insanely methodical packing process.

Socks and boxers wound up in his top drawer, the former balled into pairs and the latter neatly folded in half. Unlike many teenage boys, Theo did not own a single pair of comically printed underwear. His were all solid colors and extremely unflattering. He only had two extra pairs of shoes, some rundown sneakers and a pair of nice shoes that Scott had bought him for his last birthday that he’d never actually had occasion to wear. Those went on the floor of the closet.

Next came electronics. He settled his laptop on the desk and plugged in his power strip, then went about connecting a few wires. Beside that was the most expensive thing he’d ever actually bought himself: a 22 inch flat screen monitor, which he used for watching movies. He connected the single cable that would allow the video feed to transmit to the larger, high definition screen, and then set up the pair of decent-but-unremarkable speakers he’d obtained for the same purpose. Last of all were his clunky, noise-cancelling headphones. He was going to really value that descriptor by the end of the week, he realized.

He booted up the computer, his fingers flashing over the keys with terrifying speed to check his email and start up a few torrents. Hatchet 2, The Cabin in the Woods[i], and [i]Martha Marcy May Marlene. He liked having options, and by the end of the day, he suspected he’d very much need to unwind with some horror. His thoughts strayed briefly to Jade, to Drake, to Jaysin. Maybe if he was feeling sociable he’d see if one or more of them wanted to join him. Or maybe he could bond with Zac over a scary movie. They could argue about the schlockiness of Hatchet 2 easily enough, or the meta-horror-comedy elements of The Cabin in the Woods. Maybe that would be the key to their successful cohabitation: arguing. He did enjoy taking Zac on in Philosophy.

Once his downloads were underway he finished up. There were his school books and supplies, which found their ways to shelves or drawers respectively. The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay, the book he was slowly working his way through when he didn’t just feel like dreaming, ended up on his night stand, along with his very basic alarm clock and the charger for his phone. He plugged both in, checked his phone in order to set the blinking red 12:00 12:00 12:00 of the alarm clock to the current time. After that, there was nothing more to do than roll up the empty duffel bag and stow it in the closet.

He didn’t have any truly personal effects. Some of the content of his laptop’s hardrive might qualify, but that was as close as he came. No posters, no knick-knacks or tchotchkes, no photographs framed or otherwise. If it weren’t for his desk and school books, Zac might have wandered in later and thought Theo had decided to move into a broom closet instead. There was absolutely nothing he owned that would give any insight into who he was save for the single pair of shoes that he’d probably never wear. Even then, the meaning behind them would probably be lost on anyone who thought to question their existence. Everything else was utilitarian in nature, things that he used every day.

Unpacking hadn’t taken him very long at all. He hazarded a glance toward the locked door of the room. Did he want to go get breakfast too? Trying to recall the last time he’d eaten proved as useless as ever. His naps and dreaming made time blur together, and so he resorted to patting his flat stomach to see how angry it seemed with him. Mildly, it turned out. He forged a quick plan: light breakfast, running, a quick shower, and then the assembly. He pulled open the drawer he’d assigned his athletic wear too and briskly changed into a pair of meshy black shorts and a white tanktop, which he pulled his t-shirt back over. He trod to the closet, switching out his school sneakers for his running sneakers, and stooped to lace them up tight. He gave one last look around the room, then headed out.

Sighing, he unlocked the door and made his way into the hall, then toward the cafeteria.

To say that she wasAn arm was thrown across her shoulder and Addi smirks when she hears her best friend's -- Jade-- voice.

"Hey there sexy... We ready to raise a little hell?"

Addi lets out a bark of a laugh, "Hey baby," She winks, wrapping her free arm around Jade's waist and she takes a long drag of her cigarette, offering it to Jade, as she exhales slowly, "And a little!? Shit, it will be raining fire soon, Hell won't even begin to cover what we're doing this goddamn school."

Addi liked Jade, she could joke around and have fun with her. They had become good friends ever since they both made it onto campus. Jade and Addison were like a package deal for the most part, you could always bet one was close to the other. Cain learned to live with that after a bit, if Addi got sent to the office, Jade would come too. And vise versa. They practically were conjoined by the hip. For the most part. Though, they never roomed together, they would probably kill each other if they did that. For as much as Addison loved Jade, sometimes best friends needed to be smacked around a bit too.

"Wasn't it your idea to drink our weight's worth in alcohol last night? If so, I'm shunning you."

Addi turned her, blinking, giving the epitome of an innocent face, lips pursed into a perfect, soft 'O' and eyes blinking, "What? Me, drink? Jade, how could you think I would do such a thing? Alcohol kills your liver, sweetie and intervenes with thinking clearly."

Her innocent face fades and smirks a bit. Of course, it was Cor's idea to steal Drake's booze and drink the shit out of themselves. Addi just kind of agreed and went along with it. Luckily, Addison didn't get hangovers like she used to, she'd learned to cope, by drinking more in the morning. It normally made her feel better. You could say Addison was relevant to a functioning addict. She could down a bottle of vodka and still be able to have a decent head on her shoulders, even if black out drunk.

"So...should we head in through the gates of hell now? Or...wait it out and push off our impending, completely undeserved punishment until later?"

A devilish smirk flashes across Addi's face and she places a bag of weed in Jade's hand, "I was thinking of jammin' on a Jerry before we head to the assembly. Take a walk, smoke a J, come back for the assembly blazed up... Make things a bit more interesting... Hmm?" She raises an eyebrow towards Jade with a smirk. Jade was her smoking buddy for the most part, and they always had the best weed in the school. Sometimes even Cain would take some for himself.

Which was funny, in a way, the guy was a teenager wearing his forties badly. Addison smirks, flicking the ashes of her cigarette and giving Jade's waist a bit of a squeeze.

"Should we go find the girls?" She asked, tilting her head to the side.

Leo wasn't entirely sure why he had gotten so angry with Amy's comment, but he just was. He couldn't believe that it had been one of the first things out of her mouth since waking up - did she want to start an argument up so soon after rising? Did she instantly want to piss him off, to make him angry so early in the morning? The male was all ready extremely stressed out, angered from the text from Cain, and worried about his students, and now on top of that, he had to deal with an irritated girlfriend, who wanted their relationship to go public? She knew he didn't like talking about it, and she thought now would be the best time? The immortal gently ran his hand through his hair, a long sigh escaping his lips. He knew he wouldn't have long on his own, to calm himself down, and he was sure that she was going to be in the bathroom any moment now.

And he was right.

Within a minute, Amy was barging through the bathroom door, the male having to quickly jump out of the way to avoid being smacked in the face by the door's momentum. Okay, she was pissed. Her short little dressing gown was moving with every one of her movements, showing off her beautiful skin; however, Leo's mind wasn't on that any more. His eyes flitted there, yes, but his main focus was on her face, returning her angry glare. The slam of the door resounded around the apartment, echoing down the hall, most likely. He moved as she spoke, grabbing a towel from his towel rack, wrapping it around his bare waist, keeping his own private area covered. His arms then moved to mimic her own movements, raising his chin up slightly, authoritatively. Soon, she was coming to the end of her rant, and his arms fell down to his sides, sighing in regret.

"I'm sorry, baby." He spoke quietly, moving forward to gently entwine his fingers with hers, squeezing her hand lightly when he had done so. "I didn't mean to react so badly. I just... I don't know what to even think right now, okay?" With his other hand, he delicately lifted her head up by her chin, bringing her gaze back to his. "You do deserve better, I know you do, and I hope you can forgive me for snapping." Leo brought his head down to her height, pressing his lips to her forehead in a soft kiss. "I know you want to make our relationship public, but with everything going on right now, I just... I can't see it going down well. It's nothing to do with pride, but more to do with... teaching. If I break my own rules, how will the other teachers, and students see it? I know it's not the best reason for holding back but... it's my reason." He shook her head softly, pulling her slowly into his arms, holding her close to his chest, his hand resting on the back of her head now.

As he held her there, a soft smile came onto his face, and he moved his head back ever so slightly, looking into her eyes with a playful glint appearing in them. "Did you call me a stubborn old man?"

---

Posting for Jackson/(Ellie if needed) tomorrow :D

Elijah stopped walking and he looked around the school grounds. His greyish-blue eyes took in with contentment, every detail he can come across. It was still dark but he didn’t care that he actually had to squint a little in order to see things clearer. He loved taking walks every morning. He would start the trek from his room going towards the school grounds and then normally continuing the rest on the forest nearby, somewhat walking aimlessly until he get tired. Sometimes he even met with Ashy especially when he would wake later than usual.

Today was different though. Despite all his preparations the past few days, Elijah was still edgy with this particular day. Mr. Marinos had informed them beforehand that they needed to share rooms with other students. Due to a misfortunate incident where Noctrem Academy had been set to fire, Mr. Montgomery along with his students was forced to take temporary refuge in Arcana. They had been staying here for the past months; at least until their school was rebuilt again- that was what he had gathered from others, and he was still not that comfortable with the current situation. What had happened to Noctrem Academy was very saddening. Nobody knew who the perpetrator was. But according to the gossips floating around the campus it was during the middle of the night when someone had started fire on the said campus. This fire had caused the death of a teacher and two of the students. It was devastating. No matter how many disturbing things he had heard about the school’s reputation, Elijah would not dare wish ill to anyone else. He hoped that they would be able to rebuild the school and find the suspect as soon as they could.

Because of the increase in numbers, both in students and faculty members, he figured that Arcana Academy was bound to be busier. Which was why he found himself taking his routinely walk earlier than what was usual. He remembered cleaning every corners of his room until he finally decided that it was acceptable enough for the arrival of his roommate-to-be. Elijah was not a slob or anything near of sorts but he had spent the last few days cleaning his room. In between attending classes and teaching at the nearest orphanage; he had boxed some of extra stuffs, changed both the bed sheets and the curtains, and rearranged his small collections of neatly stacked books on the corner. Elijah didn’t know who his roommate would be but he actually was not that selective. Though he only figured that his roommate might not appreciate a messy room and because of this he had decided to clean the already organized room. Yes, organized because it was rare that he stay at his quarters during the day after all. He could either found at library or at the forest when he is at the school grounds and he mostly visited the nearby orphanage every chance that he could get.

He loved teaching there and having the knowledge that he was helping the children gave him great joy. Speaking of the orphanage, it had been days since he last visited and Ms. Katherine had asked him to share a lesson for the older children there. He was thinking that it was time to teach them the basics about self-defense. Elijah was not your next-guy martial arts specialist or all around buffed up man but he knew self-defense and he always tried to share his knowledge to others if he could. Sure, with today’s advanced technology and the existence of special abilities such like his, this idea would sound laughable but the Irish-bred lad didn’t really care for society’s standards. He knew that learning these things would be helpful, especially in dire cases. Not a moment later, he then thought it would be best to ask Mr. Vincent for an advice. The older man was someone he usually confided in for situations such as these and though he commonly would try to be less of a bother to others, he decided that for the sake of the next sharing he might as well ask help.

It was minutes after when the sun had fully risen that he finally noticed the time. Sparing his wristwatch a glance, he was surprised to see that it was already past 7. The list for the roommates would probably posted by this time. He might as well go now. He didn’t know where Izzy or Elle was but they were typically together during these stuffs and he planned on looking for them once he saw the list. Elijah then walked out the forest and into the familiar path towards the receptionist area. He noticed familiar faces and smiled at those who looked in his direction. He only stopped when he reached the board for the rooming list and started looking for his name. Room Eight: Elijah Claymore and Benjamin Hershkovitz

…Oh, Ben.

He blankly stared at the paper in front and it took him a moment’s deliberation before he stepped out of the way and stayed on the side. He didn’t knew that Mr. Marinos would pair them with the students from Noctrem… it was more logical to assume that they would be rooming with the Arcana ones. To be frank this would be a little awkward. He didn’t know Benjamin. He was loud and talkative that was as far as he knew and Elijah was never the one to judge that deeply. Would they get along? Thankfully, he wasn’t always around so maybe Benjamin would not be that bothered with his presence. He hoped that he wouldn’t inconvenience the boy in any other way or form. The last thing that he wanted was someone to hate him for being troublesome. Looking around, he searched for his new roommate. He already had a duplicate for the room’s key. He was planning to give it to him and show him the room.



'Goodbye, stupid motel and all the stupid people supposedly working in it!’

As he rode in a quickly moving ambulance, complete with emergency alarm blaring above, Eriol watched the scene outside the window with a faint degree of amusement. He recalled the latest and preferably the last prank he would ever do on the three-star motel that he just left. The said cheap motel had been his- along with the other students’ house for the past month ever since Noctrem Academy was burned down. Because of his utter annoyance with the poor and improper service conducted at the establishment, he and Ben had been pestering the motel personnel with several perfectly laid out pranks. Both he and his best pranking buddy had spread mayhem and mischief on the said place every chance that they possibly could.

The motel was nothing. It was a poor excuse of an area where weary and currently homeless people like him could not find any semblance of comfort. The service was cheap: some of the air conditioners and showers were broken, and even the decorations of the said place looked bleak. The personnel were all incompetent and even the manager was wimpy and undoubtedly an asshole more than anything else. It was because of his recent experiences that he found himself invariably murdering over and over in his mind whoever had schemed and unfortunately succeeded to burn Noctrem. He really wished that they would find the bastard who caused all of this sooner than they could… Or else he might get insane with the continuing absurdity happening around him. He was not a little bit concerned with the deaths caused by the fire but he’d be damned if he would never get to know who dared to burn the only thing he could call his humble abode into ashes. If only he knew how to travel back to the past this time around, Eriol Adelart would surely do his best to discover whoever the suspect was without a heartbeat’s hesitation. As he got lost in his musings, he could not help but think of several scenarios he would do to the suspect once given the chance. The conclusion? All of which were never less pass borderline mildly sadistic in nature.

That fire had been the source of all the misery and discomfort that he was currently experiencing. If it weren’t for that bastard he would not be here, riding in this blasted ambulance making his way towards the stupid school that idiotic Marinos manages. Instead of basking himself in the privacy of his own quarters, Eriol would be forced to share with others. It was stupid and unless his roommate was Ben, he was very determined to cause havoc to the unlucky one who would dare share room with him. ‘Let them dare pair me up with that moronic Theodore and they would see how fascinating my ability matched with my personality would certainly be.’ He darkly thought, waiting with impatience as he watched out for the shadows of the familiar gates of Arcana Academy on the passing sidewalks.

Speaking of that blasted school; after fifteen minutes or so he was finally able to see it from his position at the van. Eriol focused all of his attention and willpower on concentrating hard to activate his ability until he was able to stop time-just like he planned. He watched with nonchalance as things moved in slow motion before totally stopping as he felt the full effect of his power taking over everything. During this, all existing objects were stagnant: the swaying of the leaves ceased mid-air, the wheels almost comically stopped and every movement was frozen in time much like those usual happenings at every poorly-executed and yet bizarre time travelling movies people could come across.

This was not strange for the sixteen-year old boy though. Ever since he had been enrolled to Noctrem, he had grown used to several sights that would make normal human gape and goggle-eyed. Telekinetic and air-manipulating girls? These were only several of the other abilities that could be found at the said Academy. Noctrem Academy was specially designed to teach and hone teenagers like him, in order to use their power the best that they could for the greater bad. In fact, undeniably such was also the reason for the existence of Arcana Academy. A school contrary to his Alma Mater; Leonardo Marinos had decided to teach his little angels to use their abilities for good. Imagine how boring was that? Using your space and time manipulating skills to help those other worthless humans? For what? Few alms and praises of recognition which would fall dead to the masses' ears once you so as much try to make one measly mistake? Eriol Locke was not an idiot and he would never be foolish enough to live in the same ideals Leonardo wanted to instill. It was laughable and petty. Truly idealistic and he knew full well that if he was older than he was right now, he would have demanded that phony to retire and be thrown off his office. Off with his unbecoming brigades.

After glancing at the bus on the side, he grabbed hold of his large backpack-the only thing he had, and opened the back door of the van. The ambulance had served its purpose and that was to take him to the academy. He didn’t have the enthusiasm to conduct another prank and so he decided that calling 911 and asking to be delivered in a nonexistent emergency accident was rather enough to satisfy his daily craving of sadistic/mischievous exercises.

He had actually missed the bus. He had spent most of his evenings making arrangements and several phone calls to different department stores and repair services as a gift to subtly help the three-star motel improve their business. He used the name of the owner—something that took him a day of stalking and ordered for decorations, maintenance and help to his heart’s content. He had actually been anticipating the rapidly ballooning expenses that were sure to be billed to the administration. That would be a joy! The prank was executed as his sign of vengeance for the torment he had experienced while living at the place and he slept the night excited for the day that was to come.

The next day after his thorough planning however, he regretfully woke up late—later than the allotted time which caused him to miss the bus that was supposed to take them to Arcana. Forced to commute and left with no other option to contact Cain or Ms. Wright, Eriol had then decided look for his own mode of transportation except the use of his ability. He decided that there’s no novelty in travelling the usual way he normally did. It was because of this where his ingenious idea of calling for emergency ambulance in excuse of cardiac arrest came forth. And after that the rest was history, here he was walking towards the school grounds where he noticed other students loitering around the academy from the corner of his eyes.

Everything was still suspended in space and he concentrated on keeping up with this at least until he reached the roommates listing. He had no mood for company and he would rather get settled first before functioning as he normally did: Charming and impeccable to fellow students. Arcana Academy was undeniably a new territory. While they had been studying here for the past month or so, it would be a thoughtless move for Eriol to be not wary and less calculating of his actions.

Donned in his mask of indifference, he walked passing by Sky and gaped incredulously at the list that he saw. Room Ten: Landon Hirst and Eriol Adelart Who the hell was Landon Hirst? He didn't know any Noctrem student by that name and so it was logical to think he is from Arcana. But heck, he wasn't familiar with a student by that name. Was he one of those idiots he tend to avoid? Eriol shook his head and walked several paces away from the receptionist area and stood at the first shaded tree he could come across. He let go of his control over his ability and busied himself with recalling the face associated with the name. After few minutes of futilely trying he then decided to go to the room himself. He was bound to remember the person and he would rather look less like an idiot waiting on their damned room instead of staying here acting every inch like he was lost. Which he was not apparently, mind you. Besides as he heard the recent announcement where Leo had already informed them via PA for an assembly later, he might as well make himself presentable.

'Passed the large tree and down into the rabbit hole,'

Margaret Wright

Margaret watched in quiet amusement as more and more students began to fill up the reception area. This was going to be more fun than she imagined, judging by the... intense student feedback. Although most of the chatter was incomprehensible, she did hear the louder outbursts quite well.

“Who the fuck is Drakethrean?” Came the unmistakable voice of one Colby Haskins. “What is this bullshit?” “Well, this just turns everything on its fucking head, doesn’t it?” Went along with the symphony, along with some angry Spanish ramblings.

The teacher knew things were going to have a rough start. That much was clear from the beginning. But... perhaps this could be just what this school needs... She still hadn’t revealed her plans to anyone. They were more like speculation, half formed theories of ’What Ifs’ that just might have been given a foundation. If she was to tell someone, it would probably be Cain, since he was the only one who would probably see eye to eye with her in the first place. She caught a glimpse of him walking through the cafeteria. He seemed in a surprisingly good mood. Margaret frowned. What could he have done to Mr. Marinos so early on in the day?
Leo’s voice suddenly filled the room, announcing the assembly at 10 o’ clock. The man didn’t sound too pleased. It was obvious that he wasn’t happy with mixing up the students, and Margaret was curious as to why he decided to do it in the first place. He might just have a looser grip on this school than the teacher imagined. If she was headmistress, such an error wouldn’t possibly be overlooked. Or maybe he was just distracted... Margaret had her suspicions of what was going on with him and a certain teacher. Margaret could know in an instant, just asking the question, seeing the response, even if it wasn’t verbal. But she didn’t. She needed Leo’s trust, and she wanted to show him that she did have some moral guidelines, as forced as they were.

Margaret checked her watch, noticing she did have some time to spare before having to head down to the Main Hall. Not in the mood to stand in a cafeteria of racous teens, she was about to head to her own room, which she had the opportunity to look over previously, when a familiar voice caused her to turn her head.

“Mr. Marinos really doesn’t know what the hell he just started with bunking us with the fucking goody students...” Margaret heard Bells say. Her lip twitched up a bit, amused. Bells was an... interesting girl. Margaret had somehow gotten to the point where she considered the girl her friend. “So, how is Ms. Wright and what are your thoughts on this?” The girl continued, “I know for sure I am going to have some fun messing with the angels, especially the ones that cower, including my cousin.”

Margaret had a small smile on her lips as she began to reply, “I imagine most of us are thinking the exact same thing.” She hoped Bells didn’t miss the fact that she said ‘us’. It was obvious that she meant the people coming from Noctrem. “If everything goes the way I think they will, things will turn out for the best. For their sake, I hope they accept the fact that things are going to be quite different around here from now on. Oh, and I’m assuming you’ll be passing up this charming assembly?” She asked, eyebrows raised mockinigly as she looked Bells in the eye.

Kali Rickerson

As Kali was sitting there she ran her hands through the grass and looked at the other two girls. She was lost in thought about her past, thinking of the only two people that she considered them her parents. She then started thinking about what she could do for her next crazy stunt. Her conversation with L the other day got her thinking. They talked about climbing to the roof of the school, which may be a possibility, she definitely needed to converse with L about this, she was thinking L musta slept in or misplaced her phone somewhere because L usually was right by her side most of the time, they had been inseparable since the day the met and became very close friends.

She felt her phone buzz but then got distracted because she heard someone coming closer “Hey girls” Kali looked behind her and saw Julie and smiled “hey you whats up?” she asked the girl. The looked down to her phone remembering she got a text:

Hey Kali. Overslept lol. Nothing unusual. Mary and I are going to see the roommate list. Wonder who I'll get.... Talk to ya soon J

Kali laughed to herself and texted back to Eden:

Ok sounds good. Can you see who I got for a roommate, I have yet to check, I went for my morning run and then ran into Kenna.

After she sent the text she heard Kenna pipe up "Oh well, what doesn't kill you makes you stronger. Maybe they'll be out partying so much they wont' even notice who their roommates are.... Hopefully.. If anything happens though, I won't be afraid to try to talk to him..." Kali nodded in agreement “That is true, some of them aren’t as bad as lets say ‘the fearsome five’ but this is still our school…. We shouldn‘t let that change just because they will be staying here for a bit…hopefully not too long…” as she was about to continue she heard her ringtone for Eden go off “sorry its Eden…excuse me for a few minutes” she then got up and just stepped a few feet away and answered her phone.

Before she could even get a hello in she heard Eden go off "Heeeeeeey Kali. Where are you? I'm being to lazy to look around.. “Hey Eden…you should know whenever looking for me I most likely will be outside but I guess I can help you out…I am out back of the school, come find me. Oh did you get my last text? If your still near the list can you take a look at who my roommate is? I haven’t been over that way yet to take a look. Who did you get?” she was smiling as she talked to Eden, something about him always made her happy and she always enjoyed his company. She wasn’t one that had many guys that where close friends but Eden somehow made his way in to her life.

---

Bells Dorson

As Bells was waiting for Ms.Wright to talk she felt her phone go off, she took it out of her pocket and looked down, she noticed it was from Benz. She grinned to herself and opened the messaged though she was still focused on Ms. Wright in a way

On my way to get a bite to eat. Om Nom Nom. Maybe even find my roomie on the way. No way in hell we're going to that dumb assembly right?

Bells chuckled, she loved Benz but only in a friendly way, she couldn’t see him any other way then that, her fingers touched the buttons on her iphone, quickly typing back:

fuck the assembly. I don’t want to listen to Marinos voice if I don’t need too. I will meet you in the cafeteria, I have yet to get my morning coffee >< but I am talking to Ms.Wright at the moment. C ya soon

As she sent the text she heard Ms. Wright “I imagine most of us are thinking the exact same thing.If everything goes the way I think they will, things will turn out for the best. For their sake, I hope they accept the fact that things are going to be quite different around here from now on. Oh, and I’m assuming you’ll be passing up this charming assembly?”

Bells grinned just a little as she noticed Ms.Wright look right into her eyes near the end “Well lets just say they will have a few choices to make while we are here. One, they are going to go through hell while we are here. Or two, they will join us and know what its like to have a good time” she smirked a bit then thought for a few minutes before she continued to answer Ms.Wright’s last question.

Ever since the first time she got sent to Ms.Wright’s office she knew that she could not lie to the teacher, but for some reason she really didn’t feel the need to lie. She was not a fan of most teachers just because they really thought she was a trouble maker, that she was lazy with her school work, and she can be really cruel. But for Ms.Wright’s class she actually did pay attention and did the work, she found Ms.Wright’s class interesting “Yup I am definitely not in the mood to spend my morning listening to someone that really dislikes me. I plan on doing something fun, not sure what that will be yet. Since there is no classes today I surely am going to take that to my advantage. I am not going to change my way of things just because we are staying in this school. I will be the same Bells everyone knows and loves or to most of the angel students here, hate. And maybe if I am lucky I will get sent you but most likely be sent to Mr. M because they did mention detention. I feel like that is going to be my new home while I am here” she let out a laugh then looked down to her phone to find out what time it was, knowing she would need to go meet Benz soon.