Ring!
The metallic and resonant sound of the school's bell spread through the corridors and classrooms.
Interestingly, the sound was somewhat soft, so it wouldn't hurt the eardrums of the vampire and werewolf students.
When packing up his things to leave for class, John paused for a moment before continuing to do his things.
"What was it?" Hope asked, noticing the sudden halt of movements.
"Just Dr. Saltzman calling me to his office." John said, in a voice low enough so only Hope could hear him. "Valerie Tulle has arrived."
"Right, the Heretic." Hope muttered, remembering her boyfriend mentioning his request to Dr. Saltzman to see her. "You think looking at her will be enough to discard things?"
"That's what I hope." John said, putting backpack on his back. "See you in a few minutes?"
"I'll be waiting at the cafeteria." Hope said, giving a peck on his lips before walking out of the classroom.
Following her, but taking a different direction right after, it didn't take long for John to reach the Principal's office. He knocked slightly on the door before having been grabbed permission to enter.
"Come in."
With a slight turn on the handle, the door was opened, revealing the image of the office, with two people in it.
Besides Alaric, the other presence was a woman John had never seen before. However, she was somehow familiar to him in some way.
She had light brown hair, which under the right light looked ginger, falling on her shoulders as loose waves. Hazel green eyes that carefully looked at the person in front of her.
Her figure was slim and graceful, with a smooth and luminous skin. Her fair complexion was only highlighted by her elegant demeanor, a result from her upbringing in the 19th century.
Looking directly at her eyes, John stepped forward, stretching out his hand. "I presume you are Miss Tulle. A pleasure, I am John Neo."
With a short look at his hand, Valerie offered hers as well. "A pleasure." She said.
Instead of shaking her hand as someone from the 21st century, John took it lightly, bowing down his head slightly, but not taking the boldness to kiss the back of her hand.
"So, both of you met." Alaric said, haste in his words. "Now, can you please do your thing, John?"
Listening to Alaric, John could understand the rush of man. After all, this concerned the lives of his daughters.
When John himself confirmed the fact both of the twins missed a piece of their soul when teaching them Magical Resonance, he relayed Dr. Saltzman the information the next day.
Alaric Saltzman had two different reactions to this information. He was afraid, more than before as his search for a solution to his daughters' curse led him to understand certain aspects of the magical side of the world. A fragmented soul was one of them.
However, amidst the despair he felt, there was hope. Hope of finally having a decent lead regarding the curse which would one day coke to his daughters.
And to help the man to learn if this was related to the curse whatsoever, and satiate his own curiosity as well, John proposed the idea of inviting the only other Siphoner, now Heretic, alive to get their answers.
"Before we start. Are you sure this is completely safe?" Valerie asked, implying the fact of John taking a look at her soul.
"Completely. Relax, it's just… looking." John stated.
Before he could receive any reply from Valerie, the environment John's sight could perceive changed, with his vision going deeper into the Heretic's being, quickly finding what he wanted.
It's missing the same piece that Josie and Lizzie lack as well. John noticed, not finding it very surprising since he had already theorized about it. That answers the question. Siphoners seem to lack a certain piece of their soul, the one that produces their own magic. And at the same time, somehow, this missing piece offers them the ability to actually absorb magic with certain ease. I have to study this later. The young man thought, thinking deeply about this subject.
After a few seconds at the end of the boy's stare, Valerie fidget slightly. "Have you completed your part?"
"Yes." John nodded. He looked at Valerie's soul long enough to compare it to a witch's and vampire's later. "It seems missing a certain piece of their soul is an innate mark of all Siphoners."
"Are you sure?" Alaric asked, apprehensive.
"Yes. Unless Valerie has a hidden twin she never knew about. Chances?"
"I was an only child." Valerie said.
"Then that settles it." John said, forcing out a smile. "Now, if you don't mind, I need to have lunch with my girlfriend."
"Okay. You can go, John." Alaric said, dismissing him.
Leaving the office, John could hear from outside Alaric talking to Valerie. It seemed the Heretic was also attempting to find ways to break the curse.
Since the Gemini Coven was basically extinct, and those who remained didn't wish for its reconstruction through The Merge, it seemed the Gemini Coven would never again rise as before.
I keep wondering how this Curse came to be. Sincerely, someone should hate the Gemini Coven intensely to make the leader of the coven be someone who had to kill their brother or sister and if they died, take the whole coven with them. John thought, his steps quickly leading him to the cafeteria.
In a few moments, the young man prepared his meal and sat down with Hope, Josie, Lizzie, who started to accompany them after the events of wednesday, and MG, who had a small friendship with everyone at the table, but was mostly here because of Lizzie.
"Where did you go?" Lizzie asked, slowly returning to her high self-esteem.
"Just taking care of a few things. Nothing much." John said, dismissing the topic. And to make everyone forget it, he brought another topic. "What are your plans for the weekend?"
This topic immediately brought new talks to the table.
"Great that you asked!" Lizzie said. "Our mom is returning tomorrow! She said that as soon as she lands, she will take us shopping. It's been so long since we've seen her." Lizzie said, going to explain how she pretended to spend the weekend with her mom.
John, although listening to her, was also thinking about something else.
Right, Caroline. She should have returned by the end of the last month. I wonder what happened for her to not appear. John thought, remembering the words written in Penelope's book.
There were certain people John longed to meet in this world. Caroline Forbes was one of them. He wondered how it would be to personally meet the woman who was told by many that wouldn't survive as a vampire, but now was the last vampire original of Mystic Falls.
"And you, John? What are your plans for the weekend?" Lizzie asked.
"Continuing certain projects of mine." John said simply. He was still in the beginner stages of them.
"What are these projects?" Now it was Josie's turn to ask.
"A few simple things. I am studying Machine Learning and certain Programming Languages. I am trying to see if I can create an AI." John explained briefly one of his projects, which were more ways to spend his time and increase his knowledge.
Ever since his arrival in this world, which was a few years in the future compared to his, he was surprised by certain advancements in technology, and AIs were one of them.
Back in his world, AIs were already developed to a certain degree. But here, in 2030, they had progressed in certain steps that caught John's interest. Leading him to study it and even attempt to create it.
"Dude, that's cool!" MG said, his expression beaming. He was a very extroverted person. "What are your final plans? Creating a real life Cortana?" He asked, drawing out his inner nerd.
Right, Halo exists here as well. I still wonder how all of that works. John thought, thinking how exactly works that are fiction in his world, but are actually real worlds out there, could be works of fiction here as well.
He had a few theories, one of them was even known throughout the fiction communities, one he named Theory of Infinity. Basically, with an endless number of universes out there, some would create histories that are heavily familiar to real worlds. Different from how Prime Earth worked, but shared similar results in the end, with one learning what they considered fiction to be real.
Thoughts for later. John decided. "Too early to think about something like that. Even though AI's development suffered a boom in the last few years, we are still far from creating a Strong AI." He said, taking a sip out of his drink.
The rest of lunch time was spent with everyone talking about what they planned or not planned for the next two days, with the conversation changing topics here and there until the ring of the bell.
[Scene Break]
Ring!
Another sound of the bell. But this time, indicating the end of classes for today and for the week as well.
"Yours or mine?" Hope asked John, not needing to say more words for him to understand her meaning.
"Yours." He replied.
"Thought so." Hope said, starting to question why she even asked. John used more of his room as an office than a room itself. After all, ever since they started dating, he spent most of his nights sleeping with her.
"Also, I want to talk with you about certain things today. Nothing serious, before you get worried." John said.
"Okay." Hope nodded, knowing she didn't need to worry if he said it was nothing serious.
After walking a little, both reached their respective rooms, going into them to take a shower and prepare before meeting in Hope's room.
John quickly finished his bath, putting on the most comfortable clothes he could find before heading to Hope's room, opening the door without previous warning. He could still hear the water hitting the floor and the smell of soap.
Giving a quick look at the bathroom, John smirked at what he saw.
However, immediately, the sound of the water streaming down ceased and John turned his sight away before finding himself comfortable on Hope's bed.
Seconds later, Hope walked out of the bathroom. Her hair was wet and water still dripped from her intensely, leaving water marks where she passed.
But the most distinguished feature about her right now was the short towel hugging her body, with it only covering a little under her tights to the upper part of her chest. There was even a small slit that revealed the side of her toned belly.
"Liked what you saw?" Hope asked, completely revealing her legs to the world. And John got to admit, he loved those elegant and toned legs, principally those tights.
"I have no idea what you mean."
"Right…" Hope trailed off, her movements never escaping his sight.
Even when putting up her clothes, John sure enjoyed his time watching her, with Hope as well joining the play as she sometimes would "accidentally" leak one thing or two.
When done, Hope walked to the bed and sat in front of John, with her back to him, revealing her still wet hair.
"Could you?" She asked.
John got what she meant and proceeded to dry Hope's hair, doing it with care and tenderness. He enjoyed these moments.
"So, what did you want to talk about?" Hope asked, feeling the warm hands of her boyfriend drying her hair.
"To begin with. I confirmed the twins missing a piece of their soul is not related to the Gemini Curse. Probably just an effect of them not having the ability to generate their own power."
"So, back to square zero?"
"Basically." John nodded. "Hopefully, Mrs. Forbes will be able to bring us some helpful information that can help us with this situation. Actually, I have a few thoughts on how to find better answers or at least leads, but I need some time."
"What exactly did you think?"
"Well, since the Gemini Coven apparently has this curse as long as there are records of them, I was thinking of going to Europe and take a look at the Gemini Coven's home."
"Which no one knows, apparently." Hope said "That's why you need more time?"
"Exactly, I will spend some time trying to find some clue about the origin of the Gemini Coven. For now, that's the only thing I can do to help the twins. That or trying to directly search the curse in the girls' bodies." John added, not seeing much beyond these two options right now.
"Now, that's a question I have. You can see their souls, quite literally. You told me once you could see the werewolf curse." She stated, remembering his words. "What is different here? Why can't you see their curse?"
"There are a few reasons behind that." John said. "For example, the same way I can see the scattered particles of dust in the air a few dozen meters from here, I can't see the atoms it is composed of. The same work for the soul." John explained calmly, taking his time. "I can see the general image of it. I can guess and come up with answers to certain things because I have a great number of examples around me, but that's it. To something like this curse, I would probably have to take a deeper look at their bodies and even their souls. But that itself is a bigger problem, as souls look even more complicated than physical bodies. To the point I don't dare do much but look at them." He said, changing his posture in bed slightly. "As for the reason I can see the werewolf curse, I can say it's because it is constantly present."
"I understand." Hope said, realization in her eyes. "Different from the Gemini Curse, which is apparently triggered only when they are 22, the werewolf curse is always present. Be it through the enhanced physical attributes it gives us all the time or during the full moon."
"Exactly." John nodded. "Now, I want to talk about something regarding the two of us." He put her hair down, dry and glowing, with its little flows as it streamed down.
"What is it?" Hope asked, turning around to meet John's face.
"I was thinking of establishing a telepathic connection between our minds." John said simply.
Hope, however, had a questioning expression when she heard that, tilting her head slightly. "I think I know what you mean but make sure I'm not misunderstanding anything." She asked.
"It's just what you thought, we would talk through our minds." John chuckled.
Listening to it, Hope nodded shortly, but there expression was still questioning. "Why ask something like that now? I mean, I don't see the problem with it. We would just talk without no one eavesdropping on us, right?"
"Yes…" John agreed, proceeding to continue his words. "As for why of the moment, I am just trying to follow a little of our talk from two days ago. Trying to be more practical, effective. If today, somehow, I needed to tell you something that only you were meant to hear and we couldn't leave class, I wouldn't wish to scare you if you suddenly hear a voice in your head."
"What could you possibly need to tell me under these circumstances?" Hope asked with a somewhat blank expression, not denying, but curious as she couldn't think of something like that.
Not answering immediately, John reached his hand out, with them standing at the same height of her head.
Seeing this, Hope slightly moved her head forward, letting the young man caress the side of her face with his fingers, traveling up to the side of her forehead as she closed her eyes for some reason.
At that moment, inwardly, Hope felt a touch. A soft and warm touch that seemed to connect herself with the person in front of her, because even when ignoring all her senses, she felt him there. She could feel his presence and the warmth spreading from him in her direction.
I love you…
These words emerged in her mind, and the surprise of them was so much that she even forgot to open her eyes to look at the person who said those words to her, because she could perfectly feel him there.
When she took notice, Hope's eyes snapped open, with them firstly seeing the broad and bright smile of the boy in front of her, who seemed extremely happy by the fact he said those words.
"I know our relationship is too young and we don't even know each other for too long, and this is probably not the best moment to say it, but-" Words started to come out of John's mouth in a rush, with him losing the composed behavior he normally tries to keep as he tried to explain his words. "These words were completely real, I completely meant it! I don't want you to-"
Before he could continue, the young man only felt the force of the young woman throwing herself at him, interlocking her arms around his neck and burying her head in it.
"Me too." Her words trailed off, with her voice muffled by the fact her face was pressed against his neck. Slowly, she raised her head off his neck, revealing a bright smile and a pair of eyes glimmering with happiness and ecstasy. "I love you too." She said, every word carrying deep emotions.
Looking into those blue eyes that resembled him of the moon, and her those golden sparkling eyes, they both approached each other, their lips meeting and falling into a warm and deep kiss that lost the track of time as they rolled around on the bed.
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So… I have a few things to say about this chapter. For more than half of it, I didn't know what I was writing. I was feeling a little lost, only at the end that I got to write something that told me: "Hey, that seems good." I expect this chapter to entertain you or at least make sense to you. I don't know if I rushed the last part or not even though I quite liked it, but let's see. Well, besides that, I will give you all a little spoiler. There will probably be a new chapter still this week, and this time, it will involve things about the main plot of Legacies. I think I told you before or not, anyway, but Legacies had a lot of potential, and I intend to do right by its potential, because I still love that series. Anyway, my plot will probably diverge a lot from Legacies' main plot, or not and I just will make it more "real" considering the world's standards. You will see when everything starts. Well, that's it for now. Comment on what you think of the chapter and as alway, thanks for supporting it - Author