Ava held her breath and tried to be as quiet as possible as she snuck out of her tent. She didn’t want to wake up the girls sleeping inside. She made it out of the tent and silently cheered herself on. She started sneaking off toward where Viktor and Yue were. She knew it would be awkward to flirt with Viktor when Yue was with them so she planned to just show off how she can be a devoted and useful member of the group by helping them keep watch. She was also hoping that Yue will want to just take a break for a while so she and Viktor could be alone together. 

She made it halfway through the area with the tents when a hand gripped her shoulder and she had to hold herself back from making a sound.

“Oh wow, Miss Ava sneaking out at night to try and get with the Captain, why am I not surprised?” Alejandro laughed.

Ava’s cheeks turned bright red, she didn’t know that people knew about the crush she had on Viktor.

“T-That’s not why I’m here! I just can’t sleep.” She exclaimed in a hushed whisper.

“Yeah sure,” Alejandro said and rolled his eyes.

“What about you then?” Ava glared.

“I just wanted to...uh...ask the captain a question…” Alejandro murmured and looked away.

They both stopped and stood in silence. They were initially just bantering because they were inevitably caught by each other but then they saw merit in each other’s presence.

“You can go court Miss Yue or whatever and just give me time with the Captain. There’s literally no reason for us to fight when we’re indirectly helping each other be alone with the people we like.” Ava said and looked at Alejandro seriously before continuing to walk.

Alejandro’s face burned bright red, “It’s not like that… but whatever.”  Alejandro sighed and caught up with her.

They were both planning what they were gonna say as they walked but when they got close to the area where Yue and Viktor were keeping watch they both froze. They weren’t that close but they could immediately tell what was going on.

Viktor and Yue were kissing.

Ava and Alejandro both stood there watching and for a second they wanted to reach out, hoping that it was some sort of non-consensual kiss from the party they didn’t have a crush on but it was clear that such wasn’t the case. Viktor’s hands gently holding Yue’s face made his intentions clear and as much as Alejandro wanted them to pretend they weren’t, Yue’s arms were wrapped around Viktor's back.

Ava didn’t even know why she didn’t expect this. She bit her lip to hold back her tears. It really made sense when you looked at how they acted around each other and how Mai and the other people close to them acted when she tried to flirt or seem appealing. Alejandro felt a similar type of shame, he couldn’t exactly say that he was as in Love with Yue as Ava was with Viktor, but he didn’t realize that his feelings were strong enough to make him miss how obvious they were.

Viktor smiled at very few people, just those in his little group but when you notice that Marianne and Alexius are a couple and that Mai is more like a sibling that Viktor bantered with, it was pretty clear that Yue was something more. Yue was a little different in terms of how she showed it but the way she looked at Viktor was different than the way she looked at anyone else.

Yue and Viktor pulled away from each other after a while and Yue’s face was bright red. Viktor wanted to groan he could feel the presence of 3 people watching them. He tried not to frown because Yue seemed like he hadn't noticed and he didn't want to ruin his mood when everything was going well.

Viktor was going to ignore them and kiss Yue again but Yue stopped him.

“W-Wait I have to tell you—“ Yue said in a hushed whisper. Viktor almost broke into a smile, Yue was gonna tell him! Finally! 

Of course, Viktor’s happiness was unfortunately cut short when an all too familiar person seemed to be throwing a tantrum. 

“LET ME GO! I’M GONNA KILL HER!” Elizabeth yelled as Alejandro held her back. He had only realized she had been behind him and Ava when he felt her bloodlust and saw her start running to Viktor and Yue with her sword.

Yue became pale as he realized other people saw them kiss. He looked at Ava's teary eyes and lowered his head, he realized Ava probably liked Viktor and his embarrassment turned into a much uglier feeling.

“You probably don’t want to continue...do you?” Viktor asked, hiding his bitterness from Yue.

“I...I’ll tell you...some other time...” Yue murmured. His confidence had completely disappeared, he was going to just say it, he was ready to do so after their kiss but he was ultimately reminded of how painful it would be if Viktor were to completely toss him aside when he saw how Viktor’s face immediately turned stone cold when he looked at Elizabeth. And when he saw Ava, who he thought was such a sweet girl, he couldn't help but think that he was ruining the narrative. He thought that a lovely European girl from a well off family would be better off by Viktor's side than an orphan boy in women's clothes. It hurt to think like that but he wholeheartedly believed it was true. 

Viktor wanted to curse as he saw Yue’s expression, he could tell they were going a step backward. He kissed Yue’s cheek and smiled at him as if he wasn’t unhappy about the current situation. 

“I’ll listen at any time,” Viktor said and stood to go over to Elizabeth, Alejandro and Ava.

Yue watched as Viktor walked over and knocked out Elizabeth, he didn’t say much to Alejandro and Ava. He just told them to go back to sleep and they complied. He then came back and sat down beside him again.

“Don’t worry about Elizabeth and those two,” Viktor said and held Yue’s hand. Yue nodded and took a deep breath, he wanted to let go of Viktor's hand but Viktor intertwined their fingers and held his hand firmly.

—-

“Isn’t this taking too long?” Aylin asked with a yawn. She wasn’t even trying to fight the monsters as they went down into the Abyss of the dungeon. They weren’t very strong so she just sent simple magic attacks toward them as she went.

“Do you want to just jump in?” Elena said with a grin as she pointed off the rocky path they walked on and into the kilometer deep abyss.

“Please don’t. Everyone else won’t be able to keep up.” Elena’s maid said with a cough. You’d think she’d be used to Elena’s antics by now but they always surprised her.

Elena and Aylin sighed exaggeratedly and looked back at the rest of the mages in the raid who were trying to catch up with them. Lots of monsters from inside the abyss and outside the abyss were coming to attack them and unlike Elena and Aylin who were more than happy to deal with them, the other mages weren’t as enthusiastic.

“So? New Years?” Aylin said as she and Elena went on ahead regardless of what they were advised to do.

“I sent the invitation but I don’t know if they’ll come. They might not even know the location.” Elena said and jumped over an area of their path that was getting loose.

“Well it’s not like they’ve come to any of the other meetings, so is it really a problem if they miss this one too?” Aylin asked, jumping over the same area.

“Next year marks 30 years, the palace is going to be destroyed if they don’t come,” Elena murmured and helped her two maids cross over the loose spot in the ground.

“Can’t Andrei or Viktor do something about it?”  Aylin asked, and cut down a flying monster that approached her.

“If Viktor would actually take a moment and listen to what Andryusha tried to teach him he’d probably be able to do so but you know how he is.” Elena laughed.

“Aaaah!” A  scream made Elena and Aylin turn back to where all the other mages were. They were all rather far away at this point and one of them had stepped on the loose spot that Elena and Aylin had avoided so now they were all falling to their doom, as their heavy full armor coupled with the already loose path made the whole area collapse.

“I guess we are going down after all!” Aylin said and grinned, not even hesitating for a second as she jumped down into the abyss. Elena chuckled and looked at her maids who had cast magic on themselves in advance.

“Ready?”

They nodded and tried to be as fearless as Elena as they jumped into the Abyss.

—

Viktor was kind of glad that Yue fell asleep. It was around 1 am, a few hours after the incident and Yue had fallen asleep after feeling too awkward to say much. Viktor noticed his soft breaths and carefully pulled him close so he was resting his head on his shoulder as he slept. 

He wanted to tell Yue that he liked men but it would be a bit awkward to say that without telling Yue that he'd known he was a man this whole time. He didn’t know any way of letting him know though so he was conflicted. He also felt bad because Yue was clearly going through so much emotional turmoil because of it. The only doubt he personally had in his head about their relationship was that maybe he wasn’t a good match for him.

To him, Yue was so lovely and such a caring and heroic person but he couldn’t say the same for himself. He knew he wasn’t necessarily a good person but as bad as he felt for being dishonest or two-faced, he would feel worse if he treated Yue like he treated everyone else.  He was a rather cold person to everyone else and Yue seemed sensitive to things like that. 

Being considerate toward people who weren’t his family was completely new to him. He remembered his younger days and wondered if he could even be considered the same person anymore. The younger him wouldn't have even considered changing the way he spoke for the sake of sparing people’s feelings. He winced a little, he was reminded of his dreadful attitude when he was younger. He was glad he’d changed and he knew it was mostly because of Yue.

 

---

 

Grisha Evanoff had been taught for a long long time that the Ivanov family was full of monsters. Monsters who destroyed and killed as they pleased. Monsters who had stolen all the talent in the world and none of the mercy. 

Grisha went to a private all-boys school in Moscow and was known as the ‘mage boy’. He had expected to be popular, he thought most boys his age would be interested in magic and that they’d think he was so cool for being from a family of mages but he was sadly mistaken. His classmates did not like him at all, and they made that very clear. He was bullied relentlessly and as much as he wanted to just cast a spell to blow them all away and actually fight back against their beatings, they had all prepared for that, whether they planned to punch him before he could say the incantation or to play the victim and call the teacher, those crafty boys were very ready to do anything.

He had heard rumors about the new student who would be joining his class and he didn’t know whether to feel excited or to feel pity. It was rumored that the new student was also from a mage family and that he had never gone to an actual school before. Grisha hoped that the new student took the attention away from him but he knew it was likely that they’d just end up being bullied together.

‘At least I won’t suffer alone.’ Grisha thought silently as the door opened for the new student to come in. The whole class was a bit taken aback when he walked in. They had expected some kid with glasses like Grisha to come in with some sort of goofy smile or maybe a wand but that was not at all who walked in.

He had a baby face and looked younger than most of the 12-13-year-old boys in the class but his expression was stone cold and showed a maturity that made the teacher feel like they were defeated. Most of the boys were just shocked by his pure white hair and golden eyes.

“T-This is Viktor.” The teacher said and had Viktor walk to his seat. 

A student had already gotten over staring at Viktor’s face and snapped back to the original plan of bullying him. Just as Viktor was going to walk past his seat he stuck out his foot and tried to trip him. Viktor didn’t even look down, he just stepped on his foot with no mercy, not losing his balance at all. The student was just mildly annoyed that it didn’t work, it wasn’t like Viktor was very heavy.

‘No...it couldn’t be...why would someone from that family come to a normal school like this?’ Grisha thought to himself to try and get rid of his worries after seeing Viktor.

It didn’t take very long for Viktor and Grisha to both be cornered together. Viktor didn’t even look at him as they were surrounded by the usual bullies. He just looked forward at the path he was supposed to be taking.

“You don’t seem to know how things work around here, Vik.” The boy who had tried to trip Viktor said and grabbed Viktor’s collar, messing up his tie as he pulled him closer. Viktor wanted to gag as he heard him call him Vik. He rolled his eyes and glared.

“You’re just like Evanoff was in the beginning.” The bully laughed and moved his head in the direction of Grisha, signaling for his friends to surround him.  Viktor was a bit taken aback and the bully just grinned, thinking that he had made Viktor realize the reality of the situation.

“You think your little mage family matters to anyone at this school when you’re about as important as commoners from the slums,” The bully continued, “What’s your family name, Vik? Let’s see if you’re worth—”

Grisha and all of the bullies froze, in seconds the bully was suddenly on the ground with his nose gushing out blood.

“Gross.” Viktor chuckled and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket and wiped the blood from his fists.

Everyone was frozen, and the bully was silently staring at Viktor with a kind of terror that couldn’t be described with words.

“It’s Ivanov by the way. My family name.”  Viktor murmured and dropped his dirty handkerchief, letting it fall on the floor.

The other students didn’t really react to what he said but Grisha started trembling. Another one of the students seemed to know as well but he didn’t have as big of a reaction.

“D-Don’t the Ivanovs own the remains of Belarus…? The land that was expected to sell for 9 Billion just a few years ago?” He whispered and took a bit of a step backward.

The other students took a step backward as well, even if it was a ruined country, owning that much land when you’re just a small family was a definite red flag. They could tell the Ivanovs were powerful.

“I guess I should help you out, Evanoff. We are family after all.” Viktor said with a smile as he turned and faced Grisha.

Besides the few that managed to run away, Viktor beat up the bullies around him within a few minutes. He used magic to clean himself off and watched Grisha’s trembling figure with a smile.

“Let’s get along well, dear cousin,” Viktor said and put his hand on Grisha’s shoulder before leaving.

‘I have to leave this school. I have to leave this school.’ Grisha repeated in his head and dashed through the halls to the exit.

He and Viktor weren’t actually cousins. It had been so many hundreds of years that they could barely be considered relatives but the founder of the Ivanov family was a part of the Evanoff family until he was considered dead after being trapped in a dungeon. A lot of people didn’t understand the inner workings of the two families and most people don’t even realize the Evanoff family exists, much less that they’re related to the Ivanov family.

A lot of their history is buried but within the two families, the common consensus is that the founder of the Ivanov family, who was formerly the heir to the Evanoff family, was wronged by the Evanoff to the extent that he killed every single person in the family save for his 10-year-old brother (Whom he killed years later for separate wrongdoings).

As merciless as it is, the Ivanovs’ grudge has stayed the same for generations with Evanoff family members who feel they shouldn’t cower in fear of the Ivanovs only causing more problems between the two families. In the past couple of years the Evanoffs had begun to actually admit their guilt and despite not formally accepting any apologies Viktor’s father had made steps to allow the Evanoffs to breathe in their direction so it became less tense between them. The Evanoffs had still instilled fear into their children about the Ivanovs, describing them as if they were ghost stories meant to scare them into being good kids.

Grisha didn’t come back to the academy and Viktor wasn’t even surprised, he had meant it literally, he didn’t plan on bullying him or anything, but he supposed that sounded quite terrifying coming from him. Probably condescending as well but he didn’t think that Grisha would just drop out.

Viktor’s mother was called about him beating up the bullies, apparently, he had broken at least one bone on each of the bullies he fought.

“...You should’ve held back...your hands must hurt now,” Elena said and held Viktor’s hand as the teachers looked at them incredulously. He almost wanted to protest that Viktor should be scolded but Elena clearly didn’t plan on listening as she walked out the door with Viktor.

“I met an Evanoff at this school yesterday,” Viktor said and Elena stopped, intrigued.

“What did you do?”

“I beat up the people he was being bullied by and said that we should get along,” Viktor said and innocently walked over on his way to the carriage.

“You said it didn’t you? What Tasha said to the Evanoff girl she met at a party once… 'Dear cousin’.” Elena laughed and got into the carriage with Viktor.

“Perhaps I did.” Viktor giggled.

“You two need to learn to hold your tongues.” Elena laughed and pinched Viktor’s cheek.