"You aren't actually about to do this are you?"
Poppy whispered the words frantically from closely behind Chase, as he sped up his pace toward where he could faintly see a large bronze bowl filled with a sugary red liquid.
"Why not!"
He exclaimed proudly, as he remembered the potion that he had gotten as reward for defeating the Imperial.
"I don't know, maybe because you are about to poison the academy's punch?"
Chase bit back a strange laugh, as he kept the bottle tucked inside of his fine silk pants.
"It's not like it's gonna kill anyone."
"It could."
"How?"
"I don't know."
"Exactly."
"But it's still stupid, imagine the amount of trouble you will get in, when you're caught."
"If I'm caught."
The two then stood in the back of a small line, as they acted out grabbing each a silver plate, and putting random bits of food on said plates.
"Why did he ask us too do this?"
"Do what?"
Chase said, trying to get a reaction out of the girl.
"Cause a distraction. Is what he said, doesn't that sound a bit strange?"
He shrugged.
"Dorian's a good guy... For the most part."
"For the most part?!"
She outraged, followed by a light punch into the boy's shoulder.
Even though the girl appeared quite against the idea, she continued along with him, as they drew closer too the punch bowl.
"You have playoffs soon, you can't get in trouble with the school..."
Chase hesitated, as he set a piece of what looked like dragon meet, on his silver platter.
"Why do you care?"
For once, the royal bastard stopped herself from saying anything, as her face turned a bright shade of pink.
"Plus, it's not like I'm the one tainting the punch."
He smirked.
She put her free hand out in front of her.
"Absolutely not! I am not doing it for you."
"What could you possibly be talking about?"
His smirk grew wider, as he sent a quick mental note into the dark shadowy crevice of his energy catalyst.
A silent ruffle of claws clattering across the floor from underneath the table could then be heard only seconds later.
Poppy raised an eyebrow and tilted her head, but Chase paid it no mind.
'Sparky, take the bottle, and burn a hole into the bottom of the punch when I say "Damnit"'
A distant understanding growl echoed inside of the walls of Chase's brain.
"Just trust me."
Holding back the large group of people behind her, Poppy stood still with squinted eyes, as she probably was cursing the boy mentally.
When the two made it too the bronze bowl, Chase put one of the cups in as an effort to get some of his own drink.
"Poppy put the bottle under the table."
"Huh?"
"Do it."
She quickly did as he asked, glancing around the room nervously making sure that she wasn't seen.
Then as the clumsy Stray that he was supposed too be, he bumped his cup against the side of the bowl with a strangely powerful amount of force.
Red liquid rushed over the table in mere seconds, as the bowl flipped too it's side.
"Damnit!"
He yelled, quickly pushing the bowl with little punch left in it, back into it's original spot.
Several of the servers ran over with napkins and towels, each yelling things such as "Oh no!" and "You idiot!".
As the sizzling sounded from the underside of the table, Chase threw himself too his knees, and pleaded for forgiveness from the several servers trying too get past him.
"Move you damn peasant!"
The gruff older male, growled at him.
"No, it was my fault sir..."
Poppy quickly stepped in front of him, putting her hands up in a pleading gesture.
"I didn't mean too push him so hard, please don't blame him."
Several students and professors behind them stifled laughter, and others didn't try much as too hide it.
"Just move, I don't care who did it."
The younger girl said, who wore a tired and completely overwhelmed expression on her face.
Then once, a familiar warmth radiated too life once more within his core, Chase stood up and quietly walked away.
Which of course, Poppy quickly followed behind in a more awkward manner.
"What the hell was that?!"
She yelled, once she caught up to him.
"Just a little distraction, anyway I'm pretty tired, and probably gonna call it a night early."
He said, as he made his way toward the entrance to the grand academy stairs.
"That's it? You're not even going to tell me what just happened?"
"You'll figure it out, just give the gala about fifteen or so minutes, and it'll be pretty damn obvious."
The two continued on, walking past several strange costumes, including that of someone impersonating a giant phoenix.
"What about the reward?"
"I'm sure Dorian will show up eventually, I didn't really care about the reward much though."
"Then why were you so set on "That"?"
"For fun."
He stated, with a completely straight face, and a simple shrug.
Poppy stood there on the lowest step, looking up at the boy with a completely dumbfounded look, as if she could not believe that he had just uttered those very words.
Turning his back, he made his way up the stairs.
"Night."
"Good night..."
She whispered with complete confusion.
As Chase walked back into his cozy dorm room, he heard the laughter of the halls grow louder and more idiotic as time passed.
He lie in his bed, with the ancient book of Vivian's father resting gently on his lap, as a small smile couldn't help but make itself known on his face.
Dorian of The House of Graves...
Standing on the edge of a towering balcony, Dorian gently snuffed out the last flame of a dying candle.
The smell of blood and wine filled the air, as he pondered his thoughts over the beautiful valley of The Phoenix below him.
"My little Phoenix... Oooh, how time tends too decay us..."
His voice sounded like that of a snake that had whispered a curse into the lands of the living.
With a quick glance at the deed that he had just committed, he shuttered.
"My my my, evil does truly plant its seeds in the most lovely places."
Lying with a hand limply hung over the bedframe, and his head dangling off the edge of the mattress, the plump elderly man once lined with a sharp white tuxedo rested eternally with open eyes.
His once sharp suit, was stained red from not only the wine that he had spilled only moments ago from some strange sense of panic, but also the blood from the open dagger wound that continued too pour out from his throat.
A comforting voice spoke out from the dorm's shadows.
"I wanted it done cleanly. This is an academy for the god's sakes."
"My dear friend Le'ander, this man was here too assassinate two very rare types of children with the upmost brightest of futures in their own school..."
The Headmaster did not speak, as Dorian let out a quiet sigh.
"He deserved a beheading in the grand hall, not a swift death in the silence of the guest dorm room..."
Somber thoughts kept tension in the air, as the two men remained noiseless.
"And, It's only fair that the targets got too help with the murder of an unknown enemy."
With Dorian's laughter, the room felt truly empty. Le'ander had vanished, now that the deed had been completed.