Chapter Text
“Fucking finally, summer break is here at last!” Alex laughed and whooped in excitement as he and his best friend, Mavis walked out of their homeroom, blending in with the sea of their classmates for the last time until summer ended and they entered their last year of high school. The two walked towards their lockers, opening them while shoving the last items they had inside into their backpacks while also chatting to each other.
"So what'll you and your family be doing?" Alex said, accidentally jabbing right into her breast. There was a weird noise made in response and he couldn't help but laugh as he closed and locked his locker. Mavis scoffed and said, "Hardy, har, har, asshole. Also, I heard dad talking about going to Greece or Italy."
"Are your sisters going along too?" Mavis nodded and Alex whistled in response.
"Damn. I'm surprised as hell now." They laughed and Alex watched her dig into her purse and pulled out a hip flask. "I know right?! I wonder if Lance would also being coming, since, well you know..." Mavis trailed off as she took a drink of her flask before quickly putting it away. "I mean, I would like to think your dad would allow him. Pretty sure your mom would get pissed though." They laughed and Mavis slammed shut her lockers for the last time until they return for their final year of school. Alex and Mavis chatted with each other and they weaved through the classmates, Alex waving his goodbyes to other friends as they opened the front doors and both teens laughing as they each slid down the steps railing.
Mavis was the first to reach the bottom and jogged over to Alex's mustang and hopped onto the hood, waiting for him. Alex caught up to her and sighed. "You know, sooner or later people are gonna ask me why I got a dent on my hood." Mavis scoffed, "Oh please, stop being a little bitch, AJ. My ass ain't that heavy to begin with anyway."
"Exactly. I'll just tell them that some fat ass animal-" Alex was cut off from Mavis's flying shoe that was heading towards him. He laughed while Mavis glared at him but had a similar smile to his.
"Tch, asshole."
"You love me"
"Touche."
The two bickered awhile longer before finally entering Alex's mustang, quickly buckling in and pulling out of the school lot. ”Besides, I deserve a treat since I brought you your clothes after you stupidly bolted outta the house. Which you have yet to tell me what that was about."
Alex snorted, “Y-Yeah, sorry about that.." She bumped shoulders with Alex, despite him driving. "Oh! I think I know. Dear sweet Noah caught you having a boner thinking about Layla O'Neil, didn't he?" Alex went bright red and stuttered, "Fuck off, I did not!" Mavis laughed, her head leaning close to the window with her mousy brown hair being sucked out and blowing everywhere. Alex's face was still a bright red and was glaring at his best friend before snorting and laughing along with her.
After a minutes of continuous laughter between the two, Alex stopped at a stop light. While they waited, Mavis spoke up, "I'm serious, though. Why'd you bolt? I mean, I'm not annoyed about bringing you clothes to school, it's just... I'm worried." Mavis said, looking at Alex, who was quiet.
Alex sighed as he broke the silence. "Mom left for Europe and Noah went with them again.." Mavis looked at him with a pitying yet pissed off look. "Are you fucking serious? I thought she said she was done with her work! A-And that movie, man!" He stayed quiet as he tuned out Mavis's angry ranting. A warm hand found its way onto his shoulder and the simple act was enough for Alex. A stray tear fell along his cheek as the stoplight quickly turned green. Sometimes, Alex wishes he could just disappear and never come back.
"What happened, Alex? You told me why but you didn't tell me what happened."
Alex sighed, "Fine. Well, it kinda started with a really weird dream..."
Fire swallowed the entire building as he watched him stand in front of the blaze, his back facing towards Alex.
Alex panted; he tried looking around him, however despite he could hear people around him, Alex couldn't see them at all. Not even a single silhouette from the multiple people he could tell. Looking forward, Alex saw someone or something kneeling in front of the first figure, their back facing Alex. Despite being some distance away, Alex could hear what they were saying.
'You wish to partake in this war? Have either of you remembered what you last spoken to me?'
The kneeling figured nodded and Alex assumed that if there were anyone else that he couldn't see were also nodding, he couldn't be so sure. The standing figure still faced the fire. 'Very well. But, you must know that you all must take a vow of the Ee-Matha, yes?'
'Yes.'
'Are you prepared to lay your lives down for a war that was never meant for any of you humans to partake?'
The kneeling spoke, 'I, Ronin, is ready to-'
Alex gasped but groaned as the rising suns' rays filtered through his bedroom curtains. He huffed in annoyance and rolled onto his back as he stared up at his ceiling, his blanket thrown halfway off. He felt the familiar feeling of another headache coming forth. Alex tried to fall back to sleep but found it pointless as the suns rays kept getting brighter and his headache quickly becoming a migraine. Glancing over, Alex looked at his alarm clock and saw it was only just after 5:32 AM.
It was the last day of school, doesn't in about two hours. Regardless, Alex sat up albeit too fast and was slightly dizzy as he swung his legs out of bed. Alex groaned, one of hands clutching his head as he opened his bedroom door as quietly as he could and walked through the hall. Walking inside the bathroom, Alex rummaged through it and found ibuprofen, taking it in one gulp. A sudden THUD nearly made his heart stop. 'What the hell was that?!' Flicking the lights off and shutting the bathroom door, Alex tiptoed towards the stairs and saw his mom walking by, not even noticing her son at the top of the stairs.
Alex glanced over and saw that his twin brother wasn't in his room as his door was open. As silently as he could managed, Alex made his way downstairs and hid behind a wall near the kitchen and listened. He heard his mom talking, "Your aunt should be here any moment so be ready, okay?"
“Alright.” There was a awkward silence before he spoke again, but paused, "Hey, uh, mom?" She hummed, the sounds of glass being placed into the sink almost made it hard to concentrate. "Yes, Lukas?"
Lukas seemed to hesitate whatever he was going to say but nonetheless asked, "Is it a good idea not telling Alex about this?"
It was silent, before she spoke quietly, "Lukas, you know how he reacts to, well, me leaving and now you coming along... he just gets so lonely and he doesn't understand what we are trying to find and I don't wanna force him to come-"
"Mom! Calm down, please, you need to breathe." The sound of the kitchen stool screeching against the floor made Alex jump. He could hear her breathing slightly heavily for quite some time before finally calming down enough. Before anything else was said, the front suddenly flew open, startling the family of three. Natalie glared at her sister. "Becca, for the last time, stop slamming open my front door. I will make you pay for a new if you don't stop."
His aunt Becca snorted. "Oh, please, Natalie! Me slamming it open is like some beginning teenage angst. Besides, you didn't even hear what I going to say anyway!" Becca called out, like she was accused of a crime. Natalie raised an eyebrow, crossing her arms in response.
Alex peeked around the corner and saw that his mom and aunt staring at each other until his aunt sighed, her arms flying up in the air. "Oh alright, fine ya caught me. So, do you remember that ancient graveyard-thingy I was talking about while we were in Turkey?"
Natalie thought for a moment and said, “Well, yeah. Pretty hard to get it out of my memories when you kept shouting it every hour. Why do you ask?" Becca scoffed. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear anything about my drinking rambles. Anyway, they called in last night and apparently they found something completely unheard of before.”
Natalie glared at her sister. “Becca. Tell me you didn't accept it. You promised me that we would be finishing up our research here in the States.” Becca only gave a nervous chuckle. It was then that Lukas spoke. “Mom. If auntie is on to something, then it would mean that grandpa Noah's research might actually be right."
Natalie could glare at her son and Becca before turning swiftly away from both. It looked like she was ready to leave the two alone until Becca spoke again, making everyone but her to freeze. “Nat, this could also be the final clue towards Mikhail's disappearance, too.” Becca said, ever so quietly so that Alex almost didn't hear, but he did anyway and Alex felt anger bubbling up from within him. It was quiet and Alex almost thought they all left until he heard his mom’s voice.
So, so quiet and almost... scared?
"...What time does the plane leave?"
His aunt's shoulder loosened in absolute relief while his brother looked uncomfortable but so excited by her response. Becca calming said, "The earliest we can leave is around eight in the morning. Today."
“Alright. Let me just-.” Alex nearly tripped over his feet as he bolted around the corner he was hiding and into the kitchen. "Are you fucking serious?! You both were just going to leave me behind in the dust without even telling me?!"
Natalie, Lukas and Becca were all surprised and shocked by his sudden appearance. "Alex, baby, how long were you hiding there?"
"Oh, long enough to know that none of you cared to ask or even leave a message or something for me !" Alex had never raised his voice to his mom with such venom in his voice. The slamming of his hands onto the counter-top definitely made it more pronounced. The silence was deafening until Alex broke it by walking down the stairs and waltzing into the kitchen.
"Whatever then, just fucking go then."