Master of dreams in Naruto

Operation Strix, the mission that has taken up nearly 14 years of Twilight's life, was finally a success. WISE had tried every which way to get close to Donovan Desmond for years, their biggest hope was for a friendship between Anya and Damien, however, with the progression of their friendship, it became clear to WISE that Donovan barely even had a relationship with his family. 

Donovan was known to be a recluse due to his political positions, but it was never imagined that he wouldn't even be involved in his own children's lives. Surprisingly, the key to Operation Strix's success came through Loid's wife, Yor. Yor became good friends with Donovan's wife Melinda Desmond. This relationship between the two of them was completely unexpected, however it gave way to some openings that WISE had deemed too dangerous. Through Yor's relationship to Melinda, Loid was able to coordinate with WISE agents to quickly infiltrate the Desmond residence, however, before they are able to capture Donovan Desmond, Donovan goes missing. This is where our story begins…..

"BREAKING NEWS, CHAIRMAN OF THE NATIONAL UNITY PARTY, DONOVAN DESMOND, HAS GONE MISSING" shouts the small television from the corner of the Forger residence. 

Anya, who was sitting at their dining table trying to study for a math test that was coming up, lifts her head towards the television at the mention of Damien's father. 

" Did father do this? I thought that dad just wanted to negotiate with Mr. Desmond for world peace ?" Anya thought to herself as she got up from the table to walk closer to the tv. 

Yor walks out of the bathroom, rubbing her hair with a towel and walks over to Anya who has now moved to the couch and is looking at the tv urgently. 

"What's going on?" She asks as she sits down next to Anya who is looking quite troubled. "Mr. Desmond has gone missing." Anya mumbled just loud enough for Yor to hear. 

Yor gasps, "He's gone missing? I should call Melinda! I should check in on her and see what we can do to help!" She dashes over and grabs the phone from the table, but in her panicked rush, ends up crushing the phone in her hand. 

"WHAAAA, I'm so sorry! I'm going to use the phone down the street!" Yor puts the phone down, as gently as she could muster with her panic, grabs her coat and then runs out the door. 

Anya is still sitting on the couch, unmoving, staring at the tv but not absorbing any of the news as her mind races with the possibilities of what could have possibly happened. Unaware that Yor had broke the phone and left. 

" WISE is too careful, they wouldn't do something this public…right? Papa was gonna negotiate with Mr. Desmond, Papa wouldn't hurt anyone that he didn't have to, so is this WISE's doing? Did they do this without papa? " Anya's mind kept racing with possibilities as to what could have happened. Trying to rationalize what could've happened in her mind until she had one thought that made her mind go blank. 

" Is Damien ok ?" From what Anya had listened to from the news, there had been no mention of the rest of the Desmonds. The realization snapped Anya back to reality. She got up off the couch, grabbed the remote and turned the tv off. She walked over to the phone only to see it had been crushed. Anya sighed, "again mama?" 

The door slams open, Anya looks up to see Loid standing in the door frame, looking rattled. Loid makes eye contact with Anya, his eyes looking wild, so Anya decides to read his thoughts. 

" Did Desmond escape? How could he have known we were coming? I was sure to be as careful as possible. Is he hiding with the National Unity Party? Was he taken by another party that wants to start a war? " 

Relief immediately flooded Anya's mind as she read her fathers thoughts. Relief that he and WISE had nothing to do with Mr. Desmond's disappearance. 

Loid walks forward, grabs Anya's arm, and pulls her into an embrace. One hand holding her head and the other wrapped around her shoulders. His head dropped to rest on top of hers. Anya wrapped both her arms around her papa and they just stood there for a minute. 

Loid was the first to move back. Anya looked up to see him looking at her with a soft smile. "Sorry, I saw the news about Mr. Desmond's disappearance and needed to know you and Yor were both safe. Where is Yor?"

Anya let out a small laugh and looked at the crushed phone on the stand. "I think she's down the street trying to make a phone call, '' she said. Loid's eyes followed to where his daughter was looking, and his face dropped. 

"Again? That's the third phone this year!" he exclaimed. He pinched his nose with his fingers, trying to think of a way that he could explain to WISE as to why he once again needs a new phone. " Yor really needs to learn to control her strength " he thought as he recalled the many, MANY, things that Yor has broken and destroyed unintentionally. 

"I have some patients that I need to meet so I can't stay long" Loid looks back at Anya "but I need you to stay home for the night" he said to her. " Who knows what the disappearance of the National Unity Party's chairman will set off in the streets, I should find Yor and ask her to stay home too before checking in with WISE " he thought. 

Anya knew she couldn't just stay home with what happened today, she needed to check in with Damien and Becky. She smiled at Loid, "yes of course papa, don't worry I will stay safe tonight." Her words calmed him down enough for him to feel like he didn't need to worry about her as well. He had a lot of things to do with WISE and Yor, Anya wanted to ease some of his stress. 

" What he doesn't know won't kill him….right? " Anya thought to herself. She knew what she was planning on doing would hurt him but she needed to check on her friends. She also wanted to know what they knew too. Did Mr. Desmond go into hiding? Or was he kidnapped?

"I have to go find Yor, please stay put at least for tonight." He gave her a look before kissing her head and heading out. Anya stood there as she watched her father leave. After the door closed, the smile left her face and she sighed. She didn't like having to keep things from her parents, but she knew that she could help more by acting alone. 

Growing up, Anya always wanted to be a spy. She heavily admired both her mother and her father for their work and everything they were able to do. However Anya knew that she couldn't kill people like her mother did, and her father wouldn't want her to be in his line of work. Anya decided to strike out on her own and act independently in order to support both her parents. She calls herself Agent Chimera. 

She uses her esp talent to be in-the-know of what's going on within WISE and what's going on with mama's assignments. There was one time where mama was given a subject to take out from the National Unity Party that was trying to start a riot that would end with half the town being blown up. Mama looked for this guy for an entire week and she couldn't find him. That was the case at least until Agent Chimera conveniently dropped the mystery man in Mama's lap for her. 

She's been doing this since she had entered Eden's high school at 13. Yor and Loid have both (unknowingly) been training Anya since she was young. Anya has absorbed everything she could from her parents, from physical training to interrogation techniques. Now, being 18, she has been able to hone in and master her skills. 

Her ESP skills were also something she was able to master. As a child, all she was able to do was read the thoughts of a person that was directly in front of her. Now, she is able to read the thoughts of any person within a half mile radius, regardless of being able to see them, as long as she knows they're there. She also has developed several other abilities with time. 

Thanks to Bond, Anya was able to practice the ability of second sight, although it takes a lot of energy out of her. She typically passes out for a short time afterwards and no matter how much she practiced, that side effect seems to have stuck. She also has recently discovered that she has telekinesis. However, she hasn't really experimented much with that ability since, unlike the other two, people can see other objects floating. Kinda hard to practice since she hardly ever has any time to herself. 

Anya walked into her room, took out a piece of paper and wrote in her chicken scratch handwriting "STUDYING PLEASE DO NOT DISTURB." She then walked to her bedroom door, taped it on the outside. This is typically what Anya does when she wants to be left alone. She knows it's full-proof because it's what she does when she actually needs to study. Her parents won't bother her for hours, so she's safe to be out till around dinner. 

Anya looked at the clock that read 1:00 pm which gave her a little less than five hours to check on Becky and Damien. She tied a rope to the side of her bed, opened up her window, threw the rope out, and proceeded to slide down the outside of her building to the street. She wrapped the rope behind the pipe on the wall and headed out. 

She decided she would check in on Becky first since she wasn't even sure if she would be able to get to Damien with everything that was happening around him. She was sure that it would be difficult to get to Becky too. Her father aka CEO Blackbell was a major military manufacturer and they often go into lockdowns when anything major happens to prevent any possible riots from getting their hands on weapons. 

Still she knew it would be easier to get to Becky since she knew the Blackbell security routes like the back of her hand. She's been getting past Blackbell security for years. She walked up a few blocks before hailing a cab which took her across town towards Becky. She had the cab stop a few streets earlier and got out. From here, she made her way towards the estate. She saw that they had doubled the security (as was their protocol). 

Anya knew where her opening would be. She walked down the street to where the estate rounded the corner. She knew she had a very small window but this was the only blind spot in their security. There were four guards standing watch, so Anya being Anya, read their thoughts to see what she could do to distract them. 

" This is so excessive " thought guard 1. " They do this every time " thought guard 2. " I hope I get off duty before it gets dark " thought guard 3. " I'm so bored " thought guard 4. 

" This might be harder than I originally thought " Anya thought to herself. She decided to rely on the traditional methods, tried and true. She picked up a rock and threw it over their heads to land in the bush around the corner, luckily for her, all four went to check it out since they all seemed to be bored, and she was able to leap over the wall without being seen. 

She landed in the grass, posed like a superhero with one leg outstretched and the other bent low. She dusted off her hands and snuck through the garden towards the main estate. This estate was huge, probably even bigger than Eden itself. Anya was always amazed by it no matter how many times she had seen it. The grounds had 3 large gardens that were on the East, West, and South sides of the estate. The East and West sides were made into mazes, with the walls made of bushes going up to about 15 feet high. The south garden was different though, it was a garden of flowers, so many flowers it almost resembled a field of them. 

It was Anya's favorite garden, and where she would always land when sneaking in. She skillfully snuck through the shadows of the garden to make her way towards the main house. Anya knew that Becky would be locked in her room as that was their protocol. Becky's room was on the second floor of the estate and it was huge…. Like was twice the size of Anya's entire apartment type of huge. 

Becky's room had three balconies, and one was just diagonal from a set of stairs. Anya used the stairs to jump up and grab the balcony and pulled herself up. The glass door that led to Becky's room was closed and she knew it would be locked. Before knocking, Anya looked through the glass to see Becky lying on her bed, looking very bored. Anya decided to knock gently on the glass. 

Becky popped up, looked at the door, smiled and ran over to let Anya in. "What took you so long?!? I feel like I've been waiting for you for ages!" 

Anya laughed, "Sorry about that, you probably knew about things before they were even on the news so us average people have to hear about things together on the news." This caused Becky to frown. "What is it?" Anya asked. "It's nothing" Becky mumbled before turning and walking back into her room, allowing Anya the time to peek into her thoughts. 

" Normally yes we should've been made aware before the general public but for some reason we weren't informed until we watched the news " Becky thought. That troubled Anya. The Blackbell's were always informed of any issues before anybody. So this isn't just Mr. Desmond going into hiding. Something definitely happened to him and no one wants to say that they don't know what or who has him. 

"It's so boring being in lockdown" Becky complained to try to change the subject. "Well why do you think I snuck in? It was obviously just to entertain you." Anya retorted. "Have you finished the summer homework?" Becky asked. Anya groaned "ugh most of it" as she plopped down onto Becky's bed. "I haven't even touched math though," she said. 

"Of course you haven't" Becky walked over to her desk where she picked up their math book and several papers. "UGH no Becky please don't do this! Let's just watch some movies or play some games!" Anya bargained as Becky approached the bed with the papers. 

"Now I wouldn't be your best friend if I just once again allowed you to slack off. I know you well enough that you'll leave this to the night before and you'll be struggling through the rest of the year. Think of this as me being proactive in saving both you and me stress later on in our senior year." Becky lectured. 

"But it's summer!" Anya let out her final protest as Becky sat down, giving her a pointed look. Anya groaned and rolled over onto her stomach. From there Becky and Anya started their summer math homework. 

They finished about 4 hours later. "This should be classified as a form of torture" Anya said as her brain felt like it was swollen from studying. "Ugh I know but you know Mr. Henderson would be worse with the extra lessons if you didn't do this now" Becky said. Anya looked at the clock. It read 5:00pm. 

"Shoot! It's getting late! I should get going on home" Anya said as she jumped up from the bed and started collecting her many papers. " I have to get home soon, otherwise I'll be caught " Anya thought. She knew that if she got caught sneaking out then she would never have any freedoms for a long time. 

She tucked her papers into a folder that Becky was offering her and she said goodbye and then rushed out the balcony, out the garden and all the way home. She scaled back up the side of her apartment building and into her room. She put the folder with her papers on her desk before flopping down onto her bed. 

" I can't believe that it took four hours just to do our math homework " Anya thought to herself. After about five minutes, Anya heard a soft knock on her door, and she knew that it was Yor. 

"Sorry to disturb you Anya but it's time for dinner, I ordered a pizza" She said. Even after all these years, Yor still couldn't cook anything besides her stew from her childhood. "Your father isn't back yet so it's just the two of us."

Anya got up from her bed and walked over to the door where she opened it and walked out. "Sounds great! Pizza is always a good move," Anya laughed. They both giggled and walked into the kitchen. There was a fresh pizza box sitting on the table. 

"Were you able to get ahold of Mrs. Desmond?" Anya asked Yor. She shook her head sadly. "Unfortunately no, I called several times but since it wasn't coming from the home phone that they have for us they kept denying my calls. They probably thought I was a reporter or something." Yor said. I hope that they're alright. Maybe I should try to get in contact with Shopkeeper and see if they have any information . 

Anya shivered. Of all the things she was able to find out within her parents' lives, papa's boss, WISE agents, mama's jobs and papa's missions, the one thing she has never been able to figure out was who the Shopkeeper was and what his overall goal really was. 

Anya got the creeps whenever she thought about him. It's disappointing that mama couldn't get in contact with Mrs. Desmond Anya thought to herself. I wonder if Damien is all right. 

Anya and Damien have always had a weird friendship. They would lightly tease and bully each other but once they reached the beginning of High School, the teasing definitely became more flirtatious than anything. But nothing ever really came of it, since both of them were too chicken to make the first real move. Anya felt her attraction to Damien grow throughout the years, especially compared to when they had first met. 

She also knew how he felt about her, she is a mind reader after all. And she's also not stupid. However, she also knew that there were a lot of worries and problems that would come for not only Damien but her as well if they decided to date. Which is why Anya hadn't made any moves on Damien and of course, kept her feelings from Damien. She figured that she would rather keep what they had going on at the moment then to ruin things entirely. 

After dinner, Anya went said goodnight to Yor before they both returned to their rooms for the night. Anya put her pajamas on, and crawled into bed with only one thought going through her head. 

I need to know if Damien is alright.

Chapter 2: Chapter IIChapter Text

CHAPTER II

Yor P.O.V. 

As Anya went to bed, Yor sharpened her daggers. She had called the Shopkeeper after failing to get ahold of Melinda Desmond. The Shopkeeper had said to meet her in the garden at midnight and to be prepared. 

Yor had a lot of questions that had no answers that she wanted answered and hoped that the Shopkeeper would have some answers for her. It did worry her somewhat that she was asked to come prepared. That meant there would be at least one life she would be taking tonight. 

She changed and then snuck out of the apartment, careful not to wake up Anya. 

She was worried about Melinda. The two of them had become friends over the years. She knew that Melinda was a secluded woman due to the nature of her husband's work and it led to her pushing her children away as well. 

Over the years Yor had tried to help improve Melinda's relationship with Damien by facilitating playdates with Anya and Damien. However it seemed to not really yield any helpful results as Anya and Damien almost always ended up arguing, no matter what they did. And Yor really tried. 

They tried going to tea, painting, gardening, and just having them come over to hang out. Anya and Damien would always find a way to get into a spat over something. However it gave Yor and Melinda something to chat and laugh about. They both found it adorable, and Melinda often told her that it was nice to see Damien get riled up. 

Occasionally, Melinda would invite Yor out for the day. They would go shopping and meet with Melinda's other friends for a meal afterwards. Melinda had revealed to Yor that most of her inner circle were other wives of members of the National Unity Party as well, which tugged at Yor's heart. 

She felt like their situations were similar. She and Melinda both silently do what they can for their family. When it was just her and Yuri, she took up her identity of Thorn Princess, and Melinda protects her family's image by maintaining positive relationships with the other wives. 

Yor never realized how taxing things would be for a politician's wife. To constantly be aware of one's image on top of her family's image. The pressure would definitely overwhelm her. She didn't know how Melinda did it. It was hard enough for her to be Loid's fake wife and a mother to Anya. 

She loved being a mother to Anya for all these years. It was something that she really treasured and became a real part of who she was. Being Loids wife was….also something that she enjoyed doing. She watched Loid be a father and strive to give Anya everything that she could need. 

People like Loid and Anya were the reason why she came to truly love her job. The two of them deserve to have a world free from war and death. Loid was a good man, and over the years, Yor found herself admiring him more and more. 

He was truly a great man and before she knew it, she was in love with him. Of course, she never acted on it. Being his fake wife had been for her benefit to hide her assassin identity and love would just complicate her life. If the shopkeeper knew that she had fallen for Loid, she was sure that he wouldn't allow her to keep living with them. 

So she would constantly push her feelings to the side and do what she could for him from the sidelines. 

She had finally met up with the Shopkeeper. They met in a closed off section of a public park, out of view of the public, not that there were many people in the park at 1am to begin with. 

He was sitting on a bench, with a book titled "The path to a Perfect Garden" over his face. His hands were covered with black gloves, had a gray hat that covered his face. All Yor could see was his sharp blueish gray eyes staring back at her just over the book. 

He was the first to speak, "Glad you could make it, Thorn Princess." "I was glad to be summoned, Shopkeeper" She said back. 

"I have a mission for you," He said. I knew it, she thought. I wonder who it is this time.  

"Who's life is it this time?" She asked. 

"It won't be an easy task. Your mission is a man named Twilight." He said. 

Yor frowned at this. Twilight? What an unusual name. She thought. It should make the guy easier to find though. 

"If you think that this will be like your other missions, you are mistaken. The biggest problem you will be facing is the fact that no one knows this man's identity." the Shopkeeper said. 

"So is it safe to assume that the name Twilight itself is untraceable?" "yes." "face?" "He is known as a chameleon. His face changes and we can only assume that he uses skin masks to impersonate people." "I see."

Yor had her hand on her chin as she went into deep thought. How do I find a man that barely exists?  

"I know you can handle this. You are the Thorn Princess after all." The Shopkeeper said. He then stood and closed his book. Yor looked up at him, his wrinkled face looking right at her. His eyes pierced hers. 

"Of course." She said back to him. "I will have all the information we have on him sent to you soon." he said while turning away. "Don't rush this one. Take your time." He started walking away after that, leaving Yor to herself. 

She knew this would be difficult for her, but she couldn't say no to the Shopkeeper, never had. He had done so much for her and Yuri, allowing her to take up work that could support her and Yuri growing up.

She grew to love her job, there was an art form to taking a life, and she felt she had mastered it. Where she struggled however was in the reconnaissance aspect of it all and this mission would prove to be exceptionally challenging when the man had no known face!

She put her head in her hands. She hoped that the Shopkeeper's information would have something for her to at least start off with. She looked at her watch. It was almost 2am. 

I should be getting home . She thought. Oh Shoot! I forgot to ask if he had any information about what happened to the Desmonds! She looked back to see if she could still find the Shopkeeper, but he had disappeared. I guess I'll have to look into it more on my own . 

She started walking back home, taking her time when she ran into someone. She turned around to apologize.. 

"L-Loid??"

______________________________________________________________________________

Loid P.O.V. 

He was sitting with Handler, in the office headquarters. She leaned back in her chair, her long legs crossed and off to the side so she was leaning in a diagonal line. There was a desk between them with papers messily strewn about. Loid sat opposite her, his head in his hands, arms resting on his knees. 

"How can we not have any information about Donovon Desmond." He asked. 

Handler sighed. "I told you, our inside man was made two days ago, so we have very limited information." Loid leaned back in his chair, dropping his head back, and pinched the top of his nose. 

"Alright, so what do we know?" 

"We know that Donovon was under a lot of pressure from others from the National Unity Party, but we don't know what about. We know that Donovon was last seen in his home office, and after our man was exposed, he increased security around himself and his family. But that's the extent of our knowledge. We don't know anything about their disappearance, or where his family is."

Loid groaned. That's just great. He thought to himself. What the fuck are we supposed to do now?  

"So how do we proceed?" he questioned while lifting his head to look at her. "For now, we want you to lay low, keep an eye on if Melinda and Yor get in contact or if Anya hears anything from Damien. We will contact you with any and all updates." 

Loid stood up, Handler's eyes followed his movements like a hawk. He put his hands in his pockets and said, "I will do the same," turned around and started walking out

"Loid," He paused. "You should know, if we can't solve this disappearance soon, they are going to dismiss Operation Strix" She said. 

Without saying anything, he kept walking out the door. 

End Operation Strix? After all these years? Loid was dumbfounded. He knew that the higher ups were getting a bit antsy with the fact that it has talking them so long to really get to a place where they could make a significant dent in the safety of the people, but he thought that they were making solid progress with Anya and Yor's connections to Damien and Melinda. 

Would they really make us split up? He knew they would. He knew this from the beginning that their life was only temporary, but that didn't make it any less difficult for him to swallow the idea. 

Operation Strix only ends if we can't find Donovon right? So all I need to do is to find him and I can keep our lives. He resolved. I'll start with asking Anya and Yor if they have made any contact with the family. School starts back up for Anya in two days, maybe Damien will be back in school. 

Feeling confident in his next move and his resolve to protect his family, he turned the corner to a park and bumped into someone. 

"L-Loid?" he heard. He looked down in shock to see his wife standing right in front of him, also looking very surprised. It's nearly 2am, what is she doing in a park across town?

"Yor? What are you doing here? Is Anya with you?" he asked while looking around. "N-no she's at home, I think she was just really shocked from today's turn of events. She went to bed super early." 

"I see. Well today was a rollercoaster for all of us. How are you handling everything?" They started slowly walking back towards their home. 

"Honestly, I'm super worried, I tried getting in contact with Melinda and all of my calls went straight to voicemail." 

So she hasn't heard from Melinda at all. The family is either on lockdown from the disappearance or they're with Donovon in hiding. He hoped it was the former that gave the possibility that Damien would still show at school. 

"This whole situation is so strange," He said. They were walking quite slowly through the park as they were heading home. There are too many what if factors to consider here. 

He looked over to Yor, who was looking down with her hands clasped together. Is she praying? No, in all these years she has never appeared to be religious. She's probably just worried. 

"Do you think Damien will be in school when it starts back up again?" She questioned while looking up at him. Loid broke eye contact and looked forwards as they continued walking. 

"If he is or isn't, it'll give us answers either way on the situation right?" 

"You're right. I just hope for everyone's sake that they're all right either way. I guess till we know more we shouldn't assume anything." 

This caused Loid to smile. She always is hoping for the best. I've never had that luxury, I'm glad that she does. Loid and Yor continued to walk home in silence from then. Home wasn't far away. 

On the way back, Loid kept thinking of everything that has happened so far for Operation Strix, and more importantly, how he didn't want to give this up. But maybe I need to. Maybe I've grown too content in Operation Strix. But part of him wanted to be selfish and stay with their little makeshift, impromptu family they've created. 

The two of them had finally made it home, at 2:30 in the morning. 

"I'll be going to bed then, goodnight Loid." Yor said to him before turning into her room for the night. 

"Goodnight Yor." He said as he watched her go into her room. I want to check in on Anya quickly before turning in for the night. It was something that he had started doing when she entered high school. 

Anya started studying more with friends instead of depending on him and Yor to help her. He is always running extra missions for W. I.S.E, so they haven't been able to spend as much time together as they used to when she was growing up. So he started sneaking into her room late at night just to check in on her. 

I just want to make sure she's okay . He told himself. She is in my care after all, I feel bad leaving it all on Yor when she also has a job. 

Anya was fast asleep in her bed, as she always was when he would check in on her. He saw the books on her desk were still open from studying, so he walked over to her desk to close them.

He turned around to face Anya, and squatted down so he was eye level with her. He reached out his left hand and lightly placed his hand on her head. No matter how much she grew, he could only see the little girl that clung to him and looked up to him. 

He knew she was growing up though. She only has one year of school left. Will they dismantle Operation Strix then anyways? He doubted W.I.S.E. would support Anya through college, Unless Anya went to the same college as Damien? But he couldn't ask Anya to do that. Damien wants to follow in his father's footsteps and become a politician, Anya wants nothing to do with politics. 

There is one way... but he shut his thoughts down before they could go any further. He refused to even think on that one. 

I won't give in so easily, I am twilight afterall. I can keep us together. I won't let them put an end to Operation Strix. 

With his resolve strengthened, he stood up and quietly walked out of the room. He walked into his room and saw a file sitting on his desk. Frankie must've dropped that off. I'll look at them in the morning. He thought as he flopped onto his bed. 

It's been such a long day. I deserve some rest. He thought as sleep overtook him. 

______________________________________________________________________________

Anya P.O.V.

She had woken up to Loid coming into her room. She knew he had been doing this since the start of high school. It was one of her favorite things. He didn't do it all the time, but it was very special when he did come in. It felt like she was getting a glimpse at her father, not Loid or Twilight but her father. 

However, tonight her father's thoughts were bothering her. Is W.I.S.E. wanting to shut down Operation Strix? Is it because Mr. Desmond disappeared?Was mamma able to get ahold of Mrs. Desmond? What was papa's last thought about before he left?  

Her mind was spinning again about what could happen to her family, but if one thing is certain, she would do everything in her power to keep their family together. 

No one is going to take them away from me. Was her last thought before drifting back off to sleep. 

The next thing she knew she was waking up to the sun peeking through her windows and bond licking her cheek. She rolled over so the sun was out of her eyes. "Ugh Bond, five more minutes please. School starts tomorrow, I just wanna sleep in." 

"Borf" he responded, as he always did. He lifted himself up so his paws were resting on her bed and he was able to reach the back of her shirt. He bit down on the back of her shirt gently and pulled her out of bed. 

She awkwardly flopped onto the floor, and groaned. "Okay okay, i'll take you for a walk, just let me get dressed okay."

She quickly threw on a tank top and a pair of jeans, grabbed Bond's leash and shouted, "I'm taking Bond for a walk!" 

With Bond leading the way, they went for a morning walk. The sun was out, Anya thought it was probably around 9:30 in the morning with the way the street was crowded. They walked to the park, where Anya let him off the leash to run around for a while. 

She sat on the grass, pondering what her next move would be. 

Ugh she groaned I don't even know where to start. It's not like I have any clue where to even start. He couldn't even call me if he wanted to, since mamma broke the phone.  

She leaned back to rest on the tree that she was sitting under. The shade was nice since it was still pretty warm out. She wanted to just enjoy the day. It was her last day of summer before the start of her last year of school. 

She opened up her mind, just to listen to others. She had gotten quite skilled at controlling her ESP skills, particularly on focusing on who to listen to.

She saw a girl and a guy across the park from her. She closed her eyes and opened her mind to listen to their thoughts. 

I hope he proposes today, it's our 2 year anniversary. The girl was thinking Okay, everything is set for tonight, gosh, I'm so nervous. What if I forget the ring? THE RING, WHERE IS IT?? Anya opened one eye to see the guy frantically checking his pockets as the girl was bent over tying her shoe. She closed her eye again.

Oh there it is. She heard. She laughed to herself as she decided that she had heard enough. 

Just then, she felt a presence stand in front of her. 

Without opening her eyes, she opened her mind to listen to the thoughts of whoever was standing in front of her. 

Look at her, relaxed like that without a care in the world. How arrogant . The person thought to themselves. 

"Whoever you are, could you please move to the side, you're blocking my sun." She said, She knew who it was by the sound of their thoughts, but she was curious to know what they would do now. Plus it's not like she could let on that she knew who they were when she hadn't even looked at them yet. 

She knows someone is in front of her and she hasn't even bothered to look at me. How incredibly rude. To think I went out of my way to come find her and everything. She smirked. Her arrogance always got to them. 

"What brings you to this side of town?" She asked as she opened her eyes to look at them. 

"I'm clearly here to see you, you could at least stand up to greet me."

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Authors note:

Thank you all for reading! This is chapter 2, sorry it took me over a month to upload but I'm lazy and I write this for fun. I hope you enjoyed! Updates will be slow. Thanks! 

xxPirategall99xx 

Chapter 3: Chapter IIIChapter Text

CHAPTER III

WARNING!!!!!!! THERE ARE SOME SPOILERS IN THIS CHAPTER FROM THE ORIGINAL MANGA STORY THAT IS BEING RELEASED CURRENTLY!!!! DON'T READ IF YOU DON'T WANT A SMALL PART OF THE REAL MANGA STORY SPOILED FOR YOURSELF!!! 

Anya smiled "Hi Emile, and how was your summer?" she asked as she stood up. She dusted off the dirt from her jeans. "My summer was spent in Europe just like every other summer. I'm not here to chit chat with you." He said. 

He doesn't normally come here, at least without Damien. So maybe there's a good reason for him showing up out of the blue. She thought to herself. 

"So what brings you all the way to little old me?" She had to look up at him. He had grown up nicely. He used to be a short and fat little guy that followed Damien around all the time. Now, he was clearly at least 6 feet, a nice face, and clearly worked out. His braces had fixed the buck teeth that he had as a kid. He towered over her as Anya only stood at 5'3". 

He was dressed casually, but it was still more formal than she thought he needed to be. He was wearing navy colored jeans, and a gray button down shirt. The sleeves were rolled up, which helped to show the muscle definition in his arms. His blonde hair was loose, he definitely looked good but he didn't really look like an 18 year old guy going into his senior year. 

Still as short as ever, will she ever actually grow? He thought to himself. That annoyed Anya. At least since we aren't in our school uniforms, I can get a good look at her tits. He continued. This caused Anya to glare at him. She stepped to the side, so his view was disturbed, and called for Bond. 

"I have a message for you." He said. "A message? From who?" "Our mutual friend." Damien. She was scolding herself. Why didn't she think to ask him or Ewen earlier? Oh right, cause why would they contact me about anything having to do with Damien?

"Why for me?" she asked, genuinely curious. "He said he tried reaching you but your line was dead." She grimaced. "Yea, our phone is currently broken. What's the message?" 

Emile reached into his pocket and pulled out a piece of paper. It was a small post-it note, folded to be even smaller. He handed it to her. 

"Again?? Anyways, open that when there are no eyes around, they're in a very cautious situation right now." He said. 

"Okay, thanks." she said. Bond had finally trotted over to her, and she hooked him on her leash. Emile looked down towards Bond. That dog is still alive? He thought. Anya decided not to say anything. She was curious about it too. 

Bond clearly should be at least 14 years old going off if he was only a year old when they got him. She couldn't really go about explaining that he had had unexplainable experiments done to him and one probably extended his life span surprisingly. 

Even for an old ass dog, he still had a ton of energy. And who was she to complain about her dog living longer? 

"Is there anything else you need from me?" she asked him. "Oh um, well since I came all this way, would you want to grab lunch?" he asked. Anya looked at her watch to realize that it was now 11:30. She had spent two hours at the park.

"Sure, but I have to bring Bond home if you want to walk with me." She said as she started walking to her home. 

"Oh r-really? Cool yeah that's fine with me." he stumbled out before quickly catching up to her. 

"W-will your parents be home?" Anya knew why he was asking without even needing to peek into his mind. Those boys are obsessed with my parents. Granted, I do have really cool parents. They don't even know just how cool they were.

She smiled. There was no way she was gonna pass up the opportunity to tease him though. "Why do you ask?" She let out a gasp and turned to face him as they kept walking. "I hope you aren't planning anything inelegant sir Emile." 

His face turned beet red. This girl! What is she trying to say? If her dad is home I would love to talk to him, and it's obvious that Anya inherited her looks from her mom. She's really nice to look at. 

The trio of idiots all liked her father a lot. I think it's because

 papa actually treats them like they're young boys. Papa is like a papa to them too.

"Don't be so conceited Anya. I just wanted to be prepared to chat with your parents if they were home. As an elegant gentleman does." He said, his face still red. 

"As I recall Mr. Henderson, an elegant gentleman should be prepared for any situation regardless." She couldn't help but laugh. She always teased them, even when she was little and wasn't trying to get on their nerves, somehow it became a talent of hers. 

Her unofficial fourth ability that she had given herself was the ability to sniff out what would piss a guy off. She was so good at it that she had deemed it another ability. 

They were walking in silence. Emile was walking next to Anya, and had his hands in his pockets. Bond was walking ahead of them, on his leash, and Anya started thinking. She knew that Emile had a crush on her, and looked at her past the teenage hormone sex craze that most guys were going through at their age. 

Part of her wanted to listen to what he was thinking, but she had made it a personal rule for herself to pry about those kinds of things if she could help it. Sometimes she couldn't, as she would be listening about something else and their thoughts would slip up. 

But at that point, it's not my fault for knowing things. Like how mamma is in love with papa but won't admit it. And how papa is in love with mama but doesn't even know it himself. She laughed to herself at that thought. Papa is so smart yet so stupid sometimes.

They had finally gotten to her home. I hope Anya is okay, she's been at the park for close to three hours. She could hear mamma was home. She started walking up the stairs when she heard Emile clear his throat. 

"Should I just stay down here?" he asked, standing at the front entrance to their building. "Why would you do that? You've been to my house before." 

Emile was blushing again Yea but I've never been here alone before. Anya rolled her eyes at this. He was thinking into things too much, I should be sure to set the record straight with him. I see him as a brother more than anything else.  

Anya opened the door to their apartment. "Hi mamma! Emile's here!" She shouted into the home. Yor popped her head out from around the corner. "Oh Welcome! Its nice to see you again Emile. Please make yourself at home! Sorry Anya but I have to run to work, so I can't stay to entertain."

"That's okay mamma, we're going to grab lunch so we aren't staying, I just wanted to drop Bond off." Anya said. "Oh okay, have fun! Do you need some cash?"

"No I have some in my wallet, I just need to grab –" "Lunch is on me today so she's good." Emile cut in. 

Anya looked at him, a little surprised that he just cut in like that. "It's the gentlemanly thing to do since I invited her out." He said. "Oh that's so kind of you Emile! You two should go have fun! There's this little café and pastries shop around the corner that recently opened up, you guys should go there!" Yor suggested. 

"That's a great idea, thanks Mrs. Forger!" Emile said back. Anya let Bond off his leash into the house and said, "Alright we're off then! See ya." 

As she was closing the door she heard her mom shriek and yell, "Oh gosh I'm going to be late!" 

Emile laughed, "I see your mom is still the same as ever." "Of course she is, now let's head over to that shop, I've been dying to try their peanut butter chocolate bark."

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They had finally settled down at the shop, Anya had her peanut butter chocolate bark, and Emile sat across from her with a tiny espresso cup. Anya was itching to ask if he knew anything about Damien's situation. 

The shop was cute, it was called La Pâtisserie. It had a bunch of outdoor seating, which was perfect for the summer and autumn warmer days. They had cute little green tables and chairs that curled at the ends like vines. Above them was ivy that stretched across the entire top of the seating area, acting as if it was a ceiling.

It's so pretty, I wish I could stay here forever. Anya thought to herself. She picked up her peanut butter chocolate bark and bit down on it. Oh My God this is heaven in my hands. 

She leaned back in her chair and closed her eyes, savoring the delicious taste for as long as she could. Emile laughed at her. "I take it that it's good?" "So good I think I just experienced heaven." 

She sat back up and looked at Emile. "So, I've been meaning to ask, have you heard anything from our mutual friend?" She didn't want to say his name. We're in public and people could be listening or following us. People followed the happeningings at Eden very closely. It was widely known that she and Damien had a tense relationship, and that Emile was one of his best friends. I don't think I'm being followed, but I am pretty sure that Emile is on several people's radars. 

Emile tensed up. So he knows it too. She thought. "No, I haven't heard anything." He slipped his espresso. "Oh wow, this is really good." He said. I can't say anything here, but she just has to look at the note I gave her earlier. Damien tried getting in contact with her directly but had trouble reaching her, that's the whole reason I'm even here, he thought. 

Anya decided to drop the conversation. Hearing that Damien tried to get in contact with her himself made her feel good. Not many people knew their true relationship, there wasn't any official one since there wasn't one to report besides their fighting. However, there was a special level of respect that Damien and Anya had cultivated throughout the years. 

It feels good to know that he thought of me.  

"Are you ready for school to start up again?" Emile asked. "Ugh, don't remind me. You and Becky both have to remind me about that." she said. "Have you at least done the summer work?" "Becky and I did it together yesterday, it took us hours. It was terrible." She complained.

"Its astonishing that you're somehow an imperial scholar still." "What can I say, I've done great deeds." She boasted to him. "Nah you're just insane. That was proven to the whole class when we were held hostage back in our first year."

"Oh wow yea! I remember that, that feels like a lifetime ago." "I remember Damien was so pissed having to watch you receive your second Stella Star when he only had one." "What can I say, I'm an overachieving people-saver." She laughed while remembering that event. 

I had been called up in front of the entire school to receive my Stella Star from Mr. Henderson, who had seen the second half of the events go down personally. Papa and mamma were there watching the whole thing, along with many other parents from their class. However, Donovon Desmond hadn't been there, which was the first time he had really pissed me off. If there were a second Stella Star to have been given out, Damien should've received it without a doubt. 

Damien had been very brave that day, the only reason I was considered 'braver' than him was because I had more information than people knew of. I knew the bomb was fake, so that didn't scare me, Damien was brave while thinking the bomb was real. That's so much more impressive in my opinion. 

When I was receiving my Stella Star, so many people were clapping and cheering for me, It was the first time I felt like a real hero. It showed me that I could make a big difference in this war and people's lives. However, Damien didn't cheer for me. I remember feeling like there was this growing, burning hole in the side of my head from his unending stare.

Truth-be-told, she didn't blame him for being pissed off. She would've been too, she had just barely been braver than Damien, and it seemed like his father didn't care at all about the entire situation since he hadn't received a Stella Star. 

I remember how pissed Damien was, everyone else was so happy that we had all made it out of the situation safe. 

"Damien should've been nicer to you that day, it wasn't your fault his father was angry with him." That comment surprised her. "His father was mad at him? For what? Surviving the whole incident?" She questioned. "Nah, it was because he threw out the Desmond name to the kidnappers and the entire class and THEN didn't receive a Stella Star." 

Anya rolled her eyes, She knew that Donovon was always difficult when it came to his sons, No room for weaknesses was a thought that came to her head. It wasn't originally hers though, it was a thought that she had heard Damien think to himself thousands of times over their time at school. 

He is always under so much pressure. Anya had finished her pastry and Emile had finished his drink. Anya at this point was sure that she wasn't getting any more information out of him about Damien, so she wanted to finish up and head home so she could look at the little post-it note that was sitting in her pocket. 

"Thanks for this, but I'm gonna head home now. I'll see you tomorrow at school." She got up and grabbed her plate to take inside. 

"Oh yea of course, I can walk you home too." He offered while also standing up. "That's okay, it's the middle of the day and I'm just around the block, I can walk myself home. Thank you though." She smiled at him as they walked into the shop to drop off their plates and cup. They walked to the front of the store. 

"Well, see ya for the opening ceremony bright and early tomorrow!" She said to him as she started walking home. She could feel him watching her as she walked away. 

"She's so pretty, I wish she would notice me. The only difference between me and Damien is just the fact that he's more powerful." She heard him think as she walked away. 

This made her feel slightly guilty. It's not the power status that his family holds, it's Operation Strix and the fact that I need to get closer to him to have world peace. It's nothing like what Emile thinks.  

She felt like on some level what she was telling herself was wrong though. She knew she cared for Damien more than the average person, but she just chalked it up to them just being closer friends, but sometimes it felt like there was more. 

She definitely knew that Damien had more than friendship feelings towards her, but nothing more than compared to the average guy, Okay maybe slightly more. But that also involves their argumentative relationship! 

She stuck her hand into her pocket to finger the post-it note. She was wondering what was on the note, since she couldn't figure out what was on it, she was itching to open it. 

I'm too out in the open to read it now though, She thought to herself. Fortunately, she had just walked up to the front of her building. She ran up the stairs, and entered her home. 

Mamma must've left by now, she thought as she looked at the clock that now read 4:30pm. It seems like Papa is home yet. Anya took off her shoes before heading into her room. She was worried sometimes that Loid bugged the apartment living room, or that W.I.S.E. had. However she continuously checks her bedroom and has never found any bugs of the sort (besides the occasional roach coming for her peanuts). 

She flopped onto her bed and pulled out the note and finally opened it. In looking at it, she frowned and tilted her head to the side. The note said "Try Me" and was just a bunch of numbers. 

It's definitely from Damien, She thought to herself. It was something they did quite frequently together. Anya has always loved puzzles and so did Damien. They used puzzles to challenge each other all the time. 

Well a series of numbers this short has to be a phone number. But there's so many combinations….This is going to be such a pain in the ass. She rolled out of bed and sat down at her desk to start with the many combinations of numbers that it could be. 

Okay… so with the numbers I have, there's two possible area codes, which doubles the amount of numbers. This asshole chose this number on purpose. By the time she finished writing down all the possible combinations, the clock read 6:30pm. 

Ugh, that seriously took way too long. When I get a hold on him, he's gonna get an earful. She had written the combinations down on a piece of paper, which she folded and stuck into her pocket. 

No one had come home yet. Mamma will probably be home in a few hours, but there's no telling when papa will be home. I should leave a note that I'm preparing for tomorrow and I don't want to be disturbed. 

After leaving the note, she hopped out the window and climbed down. She made it to a nearby store that was selling disposable phones and bought one. She didn't want to use the pay phone in case the pay phone was tapped. 

She also didn't want to pay the fee of having to call so many numbers. 

She walked over to her 'private place' as she liked to call it. No one knew of this place, as it had become her own secret hideout. It was a small, one room apartment across town, and it was where she did her reconnaissance and everything she wanted to keep from others. 

She even had the name of the place listed under the pseudonym of Yana. Granted it wasn't a super clever pseudonym but it was the best she could come up with when she was 13 and claimed she was renting the place for her parents to work out of. 

It was a part of a small apartment building, very close to the outside of town. The landlord was this little old lady that was super sweet and hard of hearing and had terrible eyesight. Anya would also check in on her from time to time and as she got older, the landlady started calling her Yana. 

She got to her place and inside she saw everything the way she had left it. There were bags of peanuts on a shelf against one wall. There was a desk with a chair facing the window at the end of the room. The window let in tons of light as it took up most of the back wall. 

The light from the window showed that there was also an old looking couch with a blanket and pillow. It was where Anya would sleep on occasion. The window itself looked out into the small garden that the landlady cultivated herself. 

Anya sat down on the couch and whipped out the burner she got and the paper with the numbers and started calling. 

She had gotten down the majority of the numbers and she was getting tired. Several of these numbers already belonged to others, which led to some awkward "sorry wrong number" conversations. 

One thing that I find annoying about my ability is that it doesn't work on people over the phone! She thought to herself, which was why she disliked getting in touch with people via calling. She preferred in person conversations. 

I'm down to the last two numbers, of course it would take me till the end to get here. She thought as she typed in the second to last phone number. 

It rang and rang four times, I don't think anyone's gonna pick up this line either… She was about to hang up and try the last number when she didn't hear the fifth ring. She looked down at the phone to see that someone had answered the phone. 

Quickly, she put the phone to her ear and spoke. "Hello" She heard a deep sigh from the other side of the line. Hope started growing inside her. The person hadn't asked who she was or told her that she had the wrong number. 

A deep voice that she knew like the back of her hand spoke back "well it took you long enough, pipsqueak." Relief instantly flooded Anya's whole body. He sounds okay if he's joking with me.

She sat back so her back was resting on her couch and crossed her legs. "Sorry it took me a minute to figure out the number when there were roughly oh i don't know, maybe four hundred different possibilities." she sassed back to him. 

"What would be the fun in making it easy for you?" He half laughed back at her. "But didn't emile get this to you in the morning?" he questioned. 

"He got it to me around like noon." 

"Still, it took you half the day?" 

"Nah, we spent some time at a café just chatting and catching up too." She nonchalantly mentioned. 

Damien didn't say anything back to that for a minute. She had worried that the line was dropped before she could actually ask him anything. 

"Damien? Are ya still there?" 

"What? Oh yea, sorry about that." 

"Are you okay?" She asked. 

There was a pause. "I can't really tell you anything right now, for your own safety."

"Oh. I see." 

"But, You'll see me at school tomorrow." This surprised Anya. "Seriously? Is it safe for you to attend school?"

"I'm arranging with the school to have extensive security measures in place, so I literally will never be alone and there won't be any openings for anything to happen to me." 

"Okay, well if you feel like you'll be safe coming to school, I'm going to act like everything is the same then and you're all good."

She heard him laugh on the other side of the phone. "I would greatly appreciate that, thank you." He said. 

"Alright, then I'll save my questions for you for tomorrow. See you then, don't forget about our summer work." She said to him. 

"Shouldn't I be the one reminding you of the summer work?" He asked. "Psh, please, I have all the work in the bag. Completely done with it all." She said. 

"Uh-huh, and how is our friend Becky doing then?" She could feel his smugness through the phone. 

"Becky is doing just fine. Currently on lockdown though because of everything that's happened though." 

"Yea that's not a big surprise. You know how overprotective her dad is with her."

They both laughed over the phone thinking about Mr. Blackbell fretting over his daughter. It's sweet though that he can be like that with her. Anya thought to herself. 

"Can…Can I use this number to contact you in the future?" He asked.

"Yea, this is a burner phone with only the numbers that i've tried to call you with, I already blocked the ones that weren't you. If you need to get a hold of me you can call this phone anytime." She said. 

"Yea, this number is a burner too, with just your number so ditto with me on contacting me with it." He said. 

Anya's cheeks grew red at the thought that they had their own private way of contacting each other now. 

"Cool, well see you tomorrow sy-on boy." 

"See ya pipsqueak." He said back before they both hung up. 

Anya looked at the clock to see it was fifteen minutes to midnight. Ah shit, and I have to get up early for the opening ceremony tomorrow. However, she was more excited than previously about the opening ceremony because she knew one thing that no one else seemed to know. 

Damien is safe and he's coming to school tomorrow. With that thought in mind, she left her little apartment, made it home, and went to bed. 

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Author's Note

Happy New Year everyone! I've had a lot more time to write recently so I wanted to get Chapter Three out as a belated holiday's and NYE surprise! 

I hope you all are enjoying the story! With just two chapters (not counting this one) I've had almost 800 readers and I just wanna say thank you! The idea that almost 800 people have read this is a little intimidating but also super motivating as it makes me want to write more for you all to read! 

Happy Holidays and Happy New Year to you all! xxPirategall99xx 

Chapter 4: Chapter IVChapter Text

CHAPTER IV

Anya had woken up to the sun streaming through her open curtains. She turned over to look at the clock that read 5:30 AM in red letters. Ugh, it's so early, why did I forget to close my curtains last night. 

She closed her eyes and rolled over to face the wall so the sun was out of her eyes. She laid there for a moment before sitting straight up. I'll get to see Damien today. She swung her legs off the side of the bed before getting up and starting to get ready for their opening ceremony. 

She threw on a bit of light makeup and curled her hair. She opened up her closet and pulled out her uniform. It was the same uniform every year. The black dress with gold trimming around the ends was always so pretty to her, no matter how much she wore it. She stood in front of the mirror and frowned. Did I grow? She tugged at the hem as it felt a little on the short side. 

They do physical assessments after the opening ceremony so I guess I'll find out. She reached back into her closet and pulled out her cape. I still can't believe that I'm an imperial scholar. She was the first in their class to become an imperial scholar, followed closely by Damien. We're complete opposite scholars. She was thinking of Damien and her. She became an imperial scholar based solely on her heroic efforts. 

She has saved the lives of many people ever since entering Eden. Damien however, received all of his stella stars from his academic skills. The dude is wicked smart. It's almost unfair. Eden also ranks the imperial scholars based on overall standings in the school as well. Anya was the first to become an imperial scholar, but overall she is ranked 2nd due to the fact that she never received a stella star for academic performance, and her grades themselves were quite poor. 

Eden values academics over anything, so Damien very quickly became the top of their class. Anya didn't mind though, she knew that the top spot was more important to him than her. Still, when he teases me about being second to him, it gets on my nerves.

She was itching to get to school. She got on her 7am bus and got to school. As an imperial scholar, she had to leave before her parents. Normally her parents and her left in their car every year for the opening ceremony and they would sit together until she was called to go to her class. 

This year however, Anya was doing more than just sitting. She had a speech to give for the opening ceremony. She had already written her speech. It's kinda short, but I'm sure Damien wrote out a long one so mine will be nice and brief.  

She walked into the hall to see professors, students, and some parents helping to set up the stage and chairs. The hall was the same every year, just like her uniform. It's funny, no matter how much our lives change, Eden seems to be unmoving. 

The hall was shaped like a Roman Theater, where the stage is at the bottom and the audience seats rise up and out. Everything was either brown or gold. The seats were all deep brown wood, along with the flooring of the stage. The seats on the stage, where the professors and imperial scholars sit, were gold, along with a gold stand where there was a microphone at center stage. 

While Anya was still looking around, zoned out, she failed to notice Becky, Ewen, and Emilie approaching her. It was Emilie clearing his throat that caught her attention. 

"Earth to Anya" Becky said, snapping Anya back to reality. She looked up and smiled at them. "Hey guys." Ewen let out a half laugh, "Glad to see you make it on time for something for once."

"For your information, I have never been late for the opening ceremony day thank you very much." "You're right, you're just late to everything else." Emile chimed in. 

"Okay guys, it's too early for this, I haven't even finished my coffee yet so please don't start." 

Becky complained. Anya put her arm around Becky and smiled, "Of course Becky, anything for you my darling." 

The boys rolled their eyes, "Okay guys, lets get back to setting up." Becky said while leading everyone over to the chairs that were waiting to be set up. Anya kept looking around. Is Damien not here yet? He said he would be back today, surely he wouldn't miss out on giving his speech?  

She recalled seeing him before break. He had already begun writing his speech for today. It was cute how excited he would get while writing it. This was the moment he had been working towards, because his father told him he would come to see him give his speech. The only other time Mr. Desmond had come to the opening ceremony was for Demetrius's opening speech. But the man left right after the speech finished. 

Damien will be here. He won't miss out on the day, I'll even have mama and papa record his speech and we can give it to Damien to give to his father later. She quickly sent a text to papa asking him to bring a recording camera for the speeches today, and she had received a thumbs up emoji from him. 

Content with this, she moved on to help set up the stage. 

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It was now thirty minutes till the opening ceremony was to begin and Anya was getting nervous. There was still no sign of Damien, and no one was even saying anything about his absence. It was almost like an unspoken vow of silence.

It feels like everyone is just acting like everything is normal, not like we're all anxiously waiting to see if he would show. He told me he would come, so he's gonna make it. She wouldn't entertain any other option. Damien is and always has been a man of his word, He's not gonna stop now.  

The clock tower bell rang, symbolizing that the doors for the opening ceremony were now closing and for everyone to take their seats. Anya, Becky, Emile, and Ewen were all standing in line behind a curtain next to the stage waiting to go on. They go on in order of their rank, so while Anya is #2, Becky is a close 3rd and Emile and Ewen are 4th and 5th.  

The light that was shining in Anya's face was suddenly replaced by a black coat and a red hood. She looked up to see a broad back, and the back of a head covered in black. Anya held her breath, afraid that if she let it out, she would just realize it was a delusion and that he wasn't standing in front of her. 

"Damien? Is that you?" She heard Ewen ask. Anya watched, and it almost felt like it happened in slow motion for her as her anxiety grew to see his face. 

When he finally fully turned around, Anya finally exhaled. 

Damien. He's here. Relief flooded Anya's body again. He was looking at her and had a cocky smile on his face. "Of course it's me, who else could be this handsome?" He said before leaning down towards Anya. 

"I told you I'd come." He whispered in her ear, causing Anya's cheeks to turn red. Before she could respond to him, he turned around. Anya took the moment to read his mind 

Oh my god, she totally grew over the summer. This confused Anya, she has been the same height since they entered High School at a whopping 5'3". If anything, he grew. She thought while looking at him. Last time she saw him he stood close to 6'2" but now it seems closer to 6'3". 

Anya decided to keep listening to his thoughts. Her dress seems shorter, she's showing quite a bit more thigh than usual. I wasn't prepared for that. Anya remembered this morning that she felt like her dress felt a little short. Is it that noticeable? She thought while looking down at her dress. 

But no teachers have said anything to me so it can't be that bad. Just then she realized what Damien meant by 'growth.' Is he talking about my boobs?

Before she had her chance to read his mind again, the Eden Academy song started up, symbolizing that it was time to walk on stage. Holding her head up high, she followed right after Damien onto the stage. 

They sat down in the front row, behind them their professors sat in their official robes that always reminded anya of mushrooms. She let out a little giggle that was covered by the music. Once the song ended, everyone (audience included) sat down.

Mr. Henderson, their class head professor, walked up to the podium and started to give his speech on elegance and the school. Anya was glad to see him being the head of the class again, normally, professors stick to one or two grade years at Eden but Mr. Henderson was given special permission to stick with their class all these years since he used to be a headmaster of the school itself. 

Anya scanned the crowd till she found Loid and Yor sitting together smiling at her. Yor gave Anya a little wave and Loid smiled at her, a camera sitting on his lap. 

Mr. Henderson had finished up his speech and the room filled with applause. This was Damien's signal to stand for his speech. As he walked towards the podium, Anya could tell he was disappointed that his father wasn't there to hear his speech. 

It's okay Damien, Papa's filming the whole thing for you.  She then realized that she had never gotten the chance to tell Damien about her plan to film. Oh well, guess it'll be an afterwards surprise.  

Damien's speech was in fact as long as she had predicted, maybe even a little longer. His speech was almost fifteen minutes long. I mean he did have some good things to say, but come on, remember that it's insanely early in the morning bro. 

The applause filled the room once again as Damien finished his speech. Oh boy, its my turn. She thought while getting up. She walked past Damien and he gave her a little smile before sitting down. 

She walked up to the podium and smiled. 

"Good morning everyone, I'm sure you're all eager to receive your classroom assignments and move onto the next year of schooling so I just have one thing to say to you all." She paused for dramatic effect. 

"Do your best!" silence filled the room as the audience seemed to be waiting for more. After about fifteen seconds of silence, the audience erupted in cheers and applause. It was much more rowdy than any other applause she had seen before. 

She smiled and waved at the crowd for a second before turning around to allow Mr. Henderson to begin calling out the class assignments. 

Once the ceremony ended, everyone hung back to chat, and a lot of people had questions for Damien. However, before anyone could approach him, he was surrounded by 6 bodyguards.

Damn, how am I supposed to even talk to him when he's surrounded like that! 

"Oh come on guys, just let me talk to my classmates" Damien said to his bodyguards. 

"Sorry Mr. Desmond, but we have our strict orders from your father to not leave you unprotected and vulnerable." said the bodyguard to his left. Anya assumed that was his head guard that he has had with him his whole life. 

She had seen him all over, following them from a distance for quite some time, probably around middle school when she had first noticed the guy. She didn't even know the guy's name or anything about him since whenever she read his mind, it was all about her being near Damien. 

"I guess we'll just catch you in classes later Damien!" she said while turning to leave. She wanted to catch up with her parents before they left. This year, she will be living on campus in the imperial scholars dorm. 

It was a special and private dorm that was reserved specially for the imperial scholars. She had been given the option of living there before but she had refused because she wanted to live with her family. However this year, it was required of her since she was a senior and had many responsibilities this year. 

What made this dorm different from the others was that it was reserved for the imperial scholars of each class. Middle schoolers had an imperial scholar dorm and the high schoolers also had their own imperial scholar dorm. 

Each floor had a total of five bedrooms, each with their own private bathroom. There is also a common room as the 6th room for guests to be entertained in. At the end of each floor as a 7th room is a dining room and kitchen. 

One thing that Anya was nervous about was that all five of them would be on one floor. I'm practically going to be living with Damien!  

She found her mama and papa waiting for her outside the building. "That was a great speech honey!" Yor said while hugging her. "Thanks mama" She turned to Loid who gave her a smile and said "You were fantastic." and hugged her. "Oh also, here is the recording of Damien's speech. Why did you ask me to record that?" 

She took the recording and said "He was really looking forward to his father hearing his speech, I thought maybe he could get this to his dad to watch the recording." 

"That's so sweet of you honey." Yor said to her. I should put a tracker on the recording . She heard her father think. That's probably a good idea, why didn't I think of that? She thought to herself. 

"Okay hunny, lets go help you move into your dorm now. We have all your stuff in the car so lets unpack." Yor says while pushing her towards the car. "The three of us won't fit with all the stuff, so I'll walk over and meet you guys there." She said to her parents. 

She was casually strolling over to the dorm enjoying her walk when she felt a presence behind her. She turned around while continuing to walk in the same direction to see Damien walking behind her. 

"Are you following me?" she teased him. "Of course not, I'm just heading to the dorm," he said back. His ears were turning a bit red though, That's so cute she thought to herself. She loved embarrassing him. 

She turned to face forward and they were walking side by side. "What happened to your mini army?" she asked. His face turned into a grimace. "Yea sorry about them, it's just with everything going on security is put to the max. It's kinda annoying having absolutely no privacy and time to myself." 

"Yea that would bother me too if I had no privacy, but it's only temporary right?" to that he had nothing to say. How can I admit out loud that I'm just as clueless as she is when it comes to my dad's situation.  

That caused a pit to drop in Anya's stomach. If Damien doesn't even know what's going on, they are being incredibly tight lipped about their situation.

"By the way" Anya said while turning to face him. She stuck her hand into her pocket and grabbed hold of the recording. He turned to face her and she pulled out the recording. "My dad filmed it for you." She grabbed his hand with her free one and placed the recording inside his hand. 

He looked surprised while looking down at the recording that was now in his hand. "Why?" he asked while still looking at the recording. Anya turned to face forward, their new home was quickly approaching them. 

"I knew how excited you were for your father to see you give your big speech, and I figured since he couldn't come in person, a video tape would be the next best thing." 

He was still quiet. "Thank you." he mumbled. "Yep no biggie, just helping out a friend." She said casually before skipping ahead to her parents who were waiting for her. 

They brought her stuff up to the top floor, where their doors were lined with their numbers. They took the elevator up, which opened up to the guest entertainment room. It had tables and couches throughout the room and a tea set on one wall and a huge fireplace on the other side. The room was quite rectangular. 

They exited the guest room to the hallway to see several doors numbered 3-5 on them. They turned to look down the hall where in the distance they could see the kitchen and dining room area. Looking to the other side, they saw rooms numbered 1 and 2 next to each other. 

Anya entered room number two and was welcomed with a huge room, probably the size of her entire apartment back home. She had a queen sized mattress, a bathroom with a shower and tub (separate!) and a full on walk in closet! There was one door that had a lock on it that was on the wall that Anya and Damien would share. 

This doesn't lead to his room….right? She thought to herself while reaching for the doorknob. She pulled the door open only to face another door. This one however, did not have a door knob to it. That's just like the other side of my door?

As she was going to close the door, she heard the closed door in front of her start to open. And in that moment, she came face to face (more like face to chest) with her new neighbor Damien Desmond. 

Author's Note: 

Hi my lovely readers! I hope you all are enjoying the story so far! I would love to hear your thoughts in my comments so please don't be afraid to comment! Thank you to everyone that has left Kudos for me! They are all very encouraging, and I also love to see my number of Hits going up! (1330 at the time of writing this!) I am ecstatic that it has reached so many people already and I hope I don't disappoint you guys! 

I was originally worried that I would end up dropping this project early on but it turns out that I have been having a lot of fun writing this so I definitely plan to keep on writing. 

Please feel free to leave your thoughts and comments in the comments section! (also please call me out if there are any plot holes, I am trying my very best not to lose plot focus but I am scatterbrained sometimes) 

xxPirategall99xx

Chapter 5: CHAPTER VChapter Text

Chapter V

Anya P.O.V.

Anya woke up to Becky slamming on her door and screaming "WAKE UP NOW BEFORE I BUST DOWN THE DOOR. YOU'RE GONNA BE LATE FOR THE ENTRANCE CEREMONY DUMBASS."

Anya scrambled out of bed. Shit. I still haven't set my alarm clock up. "THANKS BECKS, I'LL MEET YOU OUTSIDE IN TEN" she shouted back. She scrambled to put on her uniform, grabbed her scholar coat, backpack and ran to meet Becky who was impatiently waiting for Anya at the front of their building.

"How have you survived till now? Nevertheless as an imperial scholar at Eden." "Sorry, I still haven't properly set my alarm." she said sheepishly. "You had a full week to set that all up!" Becky exclaimed. Honestly though, at least school is a five minute walk from here.

"Really though, I don't know how we are gonna live with these boys. Ewen and Emile are such slobs!" Becky complained as they walked about their first week living with the boys. Well she isn't wrong. Anya recalled the kitchen after the two boys had stayed up playing video games in the living room for three nights straight.

"Although, Damien barely left his room the whole week." "He was probably busy preparing for the school year" not like he needs to. Anya added silently.

They had finally arrived at the main school building where the entrance ceremony would be held and Anya looked at the time. "BECKY IT'S 7AM WHY ARE WE HERE AN HOUR BEFORE THE CEREMONY." She shouted.

Becky was picking at her nails "Well, you would've been late anyways, I just made sure you didn't embarrass our entire class this time."

Anya grumbled away at this, she knew that Becky was right. There was a lot riding on their performances today. I can't embarrass the school, or Damien. Luckily, Damien has the big speech, I just have to give a brief– Anya stopped her thought mid way, and immediately started patting down her pockets and looking in her bag.

"Something wrong?" Beckey asked. Anya looked up with a sheepish grin, "It seems I may have, very possibly, misplaced my speech?" Becky groaned just as Damien started approaching them. He walked straight up to the two girls, and without even looking at her, handed Anya a piece of paper.

"What is this?" she asked while looking at the paper. "Did you prepare a speech for me? I wrote one myself!" She was infuriated by the fact that he had gone this far to prepare things, Writing my Speech for me?!? What an arrogant asshole. She thought to herself while looking over the speech.

"We all know you, and I just heard you tell Becky you forgot yours." He hadn't even bothered looking up from the clipboard he had been staring at. "Just read that instead, no one is going to trust you to head back to the dorms and be back here on time." with that, he finally looked up, and gave her a pointed look before walking away.

Anya knew he was completely right inside, but to hell with agreeing with him, she really wanted to prove him wrong. She looked over the speech and realized that it was mostly the speech she had already written herself, with a few adjustments and wording changes.

I never practiced out loud? How did he know what I wrote? Shaking off her feelings, she did as asked and helped out with setting up for the speeches and looked over hers.

Finally the time had come. Students of all ages flocked to the auditorium and the whole event went off without a hitch. The speeches were perfect, smiles were shared all around, and encouragement was given to the students, parents, and teachers for the upcoming year.

After all the socializing, the smiles, and the handshakes. The imperial scholars were expected to clean up the auditorium.

Anya was putting away some chairs in the storage room and was grumbling about how did things make sense that they were the top of the school, while still being expected to do all the grunt work, when Damien walked by with a female underclassman.

Curious, Anya pressed her back against the wall and leaned as far as she could to listen in.

"So, what is it that you need?" Damien asked, sounding slightly impatient.

"Oh um…I-I was wondering…u-um if you w-would be in-interested in maybe…" The girl stuttered, clearly struggling to talk to him. I get it girl, he is suuuper intimidating to talk to. Anya thought in solidarity.

"Are you looking for speech lessons? I can recommend some great teachers for your stutter." Damien deadpans while simultaneously cutting the poor girl off and insulting her.

"O-oh no, my s-stutter only comes o-out when im n-nervous." She says.

"What are you nervous about?" Damien asks sounding more irritable at this point.

This poor girl, I can't take this anymore. At this point, Anya emerged from the storage room and cleared her throat. Damien just turned his head to look at her while the underclassman jumped at the noise.

When the girl made eye contact with Anya, the girl turned beet red at the embarrassment of being caught trying to ask Damien out, knowing that Anya probably heard everything.

There were always rumors going around school about Anya and Damien, and the underclassman had clearly heard them after the way she started shifting her weight back and forth.

"What are you two doing back here?" Anya asked with a mischievous little smile. It's too much to ask me not to play around with them.

"Dana was just-" "IT'S NOTHING!" the underclassman – Dana shouts before sprinting out and away from the situation, leaving Anya with a full blown smile and Damien just standing there looking confused.

"Don't people know how rude it is to leave a conversation like that?" he huffs. "Don't you realize the poor girl was trying to ask you out?" Anya half laughs half scoffs at him out of amusement.

"Ask me out? There's no way she thought she had a chance with me." He responded haughtily "I am the top imperial scholar afterall."

This brought about some irritation within Anya. After all this time, who the hell does he think he is? There was a small part of Anya that understood where Damien's arrogance came from, being the second son of Donovan Desmond, it's practically a miracle he is as humble as he is.

This didn't change the fact that his words still irritated the shit out of Anya for some reason unbeknownst to her.

"Right, your status puts you in a position where we, your underlings, are nothing but stepping stones to you. Anyone lower in status than you isn't even worth understanding." With a huff, she crosses one foot behind her other, spins around and walks out to continue putting away chairs.

She heard Damien sigh in the distance, "Anya! You know that isn't what I meant!" but Anya didn't want to turn around to face him.

The rest of the day went by without a hitch. It was a half day since it was opening ceremonies, which is mainly meant to get to know incoming students and their parents.

With Eden maintaining such a high education level, there was rarely ever any transfer students into classes, so most of the new people were always the incoming first grade class.

Papa and Mama had come, though, to hear Anya's speech. They had picked her up after she finished with the auditorium to go to dinner. Becky had gone with her father and all three boys had gone back to the dorms.

At dinner, Anya caught up with her parents, after all it had been a full week since she had seen them.

By the time that Anya got back to the dorms, she collapsed on her bed in utter exhaustion. Ugh such a long day.

Just as she was starting to doze off, she heard a knock. She opened her door only to see no one in the hallway, then she heard another knock and realized it was coming from the private door between their rooms.

She walked over and opened the door only to come face to face with Damien in pajamas.

"What?" She asked, still slightly annoyed by their earlier conversation. "I wanted to check in with you, and to remind you to put out your clothes for tomorrow. You look like you're already planning on sleeping in."

Anya snorted and walked away from the door, but left it open for him to continue the conversation. "Unless you have suddenly lost your eyesight, you could see that I in fact am still fully dressed, mom." She said while sitting down on her bed and taking off her kneehigh socks.

"It's been a long day, so I'll let the mom comment slide." He said sitting down at her desk chair, straddling it and resting his arms on the back.

It was still warm out, as the winter months had yet to come around, so his pajamas consisted of a short sleeved muscle shirt and sleep shorts. The shirt hugged all the right places where his muscles had been built. Oooh that shirt does absolute wonders for those arms she thought to herself.

The shorts didn't help either with the way he was sitting. With his legs straddling the chair, the fabric rode up, exposing his very fit, and muscular thighs.

He really…grew up, she thought to herself while taking her time enjoying her own private view.

"You done checking me out? He asked, snapping anya out of her ogling and causing a blush to flame across her face.

"Is there something you need?" she asked, standing up again and heading towards her closet, pulling out her own pajamas, consisting of a blue camisole and shorts set.

Without waiting for his response, she headed into her own private bathroom.

"I just wanted to say you did well today, during the Opening Ceremonies." He said from the other side of the bathroom door.

"Thanks! I still can't believe the whole thing with the speech. Did you find mine lying somewhere?" She asked while slipping into her clothes.

"No? Why?"

"Well, it was honestly very similar to how mine was originally written."

"I guess I just know you—" Damien didn't finish his sentence as Anya opened the door, revealing herself in her pajamas set.

Now, it was Damien's turn to ogle, at all the skin she was revealing. Her long, slender, toned legs no longer seemed short and stubby. The tank top she wore revealed just how grown she had become.

Anya watched as Damien's face grew redder as they stood there in silence. Here comes the lecture about getting myself properly prepared….

But it never came. Instead Damien surprised Anya by letting out a small laugh, shaking his head, and then turned around and left, the door closing behind him.