The Birthday

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

In the underground level of the estate, many people dressed in white coats were running about, it was safe to assuming that these were scientist…from the clipboards they had in their hands it looked like they were in the middle of a research and high above them standing on a platform was Darius.

He looked down on the people with his arms crossed behind his back, besides him stood the senior researcher.

"and how is the door? Daichi?" darius questioned the man as he continued to look down on the operation.

"so far, the door seems to be stabilizing…but…" the man named Daichi slightly quivered as he continued to maintain a safe distance from his cruel employer.

Upon the statement, Darius slightly moved his gaze without turning his head as he glanced down at the small man with a bed of snow on his head.

"but?"

"th…there's the possibility that the door might not be stable enough during the blood moon…i…I'm afraid there won't be enough time…" he spoke as though he were being chased by a beast.

Who could blame him, the man that stood before him right now was nothing less to a beast.

"then work faster…" Darius had fully turned his body now to face Daichi. As he took a step forward, the small man took a bigger step backwards.

"B…but master, t…that's not poss-"

"need I remind you of what happens to those how are incompetent to their works?" he subtly threatened the man.

Although his voice was calm the look in his eyes said otherwise. If it were even possible Daichi would have prayed that the ground would break apart for him to fall into it. Because frankly speaking, hell would be better than being here right now.

Out of fear, he kept his thoughts to himself and Darius added;

"you have four days….do not disappoint me…" he walked past the man and he flinched. The aura Darius radiated was enough to shrivel up whatever confidence a man had, just as Daichi was about to sigh a breath of relief, Darius stopped.

"I hear your daughter just got married…"

At the mention of his only child, Daichi tensed up as he started sweating bullets. How could he have such trivial information at hand? Daichi thought.

"send my greetings…" remarked Darius before stepping out of the underground lab.

Even if it had just been a simple greeting to the inexperienced man, Daichi had worked long enough with the Lamont's to be able to pick up on the smallest of warnings.

Mess up and your dear child will pay the price for your incompetence. This was the underlying meaning to Darius' words earlier.

'four days that's how long they had until the blood moon'

During this once a lifetime moment, a gate would be unlocked by the chosen one. He was so close to finally being able to have ultimate power that he could practically taste it.

The next day at PSA the students were all abuzz in class, chatting and laughing amongst themselves.

"okay settle down runts…" Seagraves who as usual had heavy eye bags under his eyes walked into the classroom, making everyone settled down.

"now, as you all should know by now, your midterm exams are by the corner… " he started only to receive a few discontented groans from the students to which he ignored.

"we will be doing a little revision on what we've learnt so far…and also do keep in mind that the exams will cover everything you've learnt so far" he picked up a chalk and wrote on the black board. 'hero course 101'

"now, how do you defeat an enemy?" seagarve turned to the class, waiting for an answer to this simple question.

His eyes lazily scanned the students until someone finally worked up the courage to answer him.

"yes, keiko…"

"well, everyone knows you need to be powerful to take down a villain…" he remarked with an air of confidence shrouding him as he spoke.

"obviously dipshit…" remarked xerxes as he slouched back into his seat. The class broke out in low chuckles, hurting keiko's pride.

"Hatsumi…" Cullen Seagraves gingerly warned Xerxes and the class settled down. "thank you keiko, you may be seated now…" he dismissed him and continued

"yes, one must indeed hold a certain level of power to be able to restrain a villain, but strength shouldn't be the only thing you rely on in combat. Know thy enemy…"

….

The class was soon over and everyone was pretty much exhausted. The sooner they began their preparations for the exams, the sooner they can put it to rest.

"vivi?" Charlie who had walked out of the class with ivy stopped in her tracks. Xerxes on the other hand decided to go ahead and save a table in the lunch room for them, sensing they had something to talk about.

"everything okay, Charles?" ivy had a worried look on her face as she noticed her brows creasing together. She sighed

"now that you and xerxes are a thing…does that mean, you won't have any more time for me?" she spoke in a solemn tone and for a moment ivy felt the words to be alien. She let out a chuckle and stepped closer to her, trapping her in a tight hug.

"why would you even think of something like that?" ivy scolded her.

"well, it's like I rarely see you these days, you know…" Charlie had her lips set in a thin line as she freed herself from the embrace.

"you're the one who's always running around these days…are you hiding something from me?" questioned ivy with narrowed gaze. She had intentionally asked the question, because she clearly knew this sneaky best friend of hers was up to something. After all tomorrow is her birthday.

Hearing ivy bring up such a sensitive topic turned her worried. Did she accidentally give herself up? No, but she's been carefully all this time. Fidgeting innocence, Charlie pretended to not know what ivy was talking about.

"I would never hide anything from you vivi…we're best friends, aren't we?" she asked, putting up the sweetest smile she could muster up at the moment.

Letting out another chuckle, ivy stepped back a little and held Charlie's hands in hers. Returning the smile back with a smile of her own.

"off course we are…"

Although there was a kind smile on her face, ivy felt something to be very off about Charlie. How she knew this was because of her hands, for some reason, these hands in hers felt…different.

Sensing ivy's gaze subtly shift, Charlie pulled her hands back to her side and smiled.

"let's go before your boyfriend gets upset for keeping you away from him…" she joked as she began to walk. Ivy's gaze narrowed a bit as she watched her back, feeling her friend still standing in the same spot, she turned around.

"aren't you coming?"

"right, let's go…"

…

"I'll catch up with you later vivi…" these were charlie's words before she waved ivy and xerxes off.

At the moment, xerxes had brought ivy up to the roof to watch the sunset. They sat over the edge with their feet dangling downwards.

"you know I've never really thought about it, but you kinda have a really cool name, chuckles…"

"I do?"

"mmhm…" she nodded before going to add. "yeah…xerxes Hatsumi…you know, in the initial years when I first got my name, it took me some getting used to identify as Ivy scarrow…"

"it was pretty weird whenever it took you more than a minute to answer yor name during role call…" xerxes joked and ivy laughed, remembering those memories.

"and you were always so jumpy and brooding…I guess that could happen when you're the kid of a villain…"

"yeah…hmm…" the smile on her face dropped as she stared into the horizon.

"what's the matter?"

"I wonder if I'll ever change my name again…" she voiced out her thoughts on the matter. Xerxes moved closer and hung his arm over her shoulder.

"you could always share mine, since you like it so much…" there was a neutral look on his face as he too looked into the horizon, avoiding her gaze that now shifted to look at him.

"maybe…" she grinned as her arms wrapped around his torso. There was also a smile on his face as he leaned forward, leaving a kiss on her head.

"what do you want to do for your birthday tomorrow?" he asked her suddenly and she looked up without letting him go.

"honestly, I wouldn't mind spending it with you…but then again, I'm looking forward to going to the concert with you!!!" xerxes could feel the excitement coursing through her veins. She was like a child who had been promised a trip to the water park.

"hah…whatever you want, after all tomorrow will be all about you" saying that, he tilted her chin up and kissed her and she in turn kissed him back, matching his enthusiasm.

"and what would you like to do for your birthday?" Ivy pulled back from the kiss as she questioned a reluctant xerxes who looked like he didn't want to stop making out with her.

But to avoid being rude, he said;

"my birthday won't be around for a couple more months, don't worry, we have time…"

"mm-"

He pulled her closer and began to devour her lips.

"happy birthday vivi…"

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A/N: weekends are my resting days

-sigh- I doubt I'd make the deadline for this contest.

nevertheless thanks for your support ( ◜‿◝ )♡