“I’m with Hephum’s Alchemical’s…” A voice pleaded amongst the crowd lining the gates beyond the Academy grounds.

“—Four thousand a month, for life. We Just want a few photo’s a year scheduled whenever is most convenient.” Another begged while Anastasia continued past without a glance.

“Oy, you bumped me.” Boris suddenly accused after one of the more incessant voices accidentally stepped through the hologram without noticing.

“Oh… I… Did I?” The man gawked with sudden panic as the hologram suddenly created a vodka bottle from thin air. Swigging the remnants, Boris smashed the bottle on the pavement and raised up a hand clutching the sharp jagged neck.

“H…hey…I don’t want any trouble.” The man quickly retreated with arms raised, glancing around for assistance.

Barely stopping to laugh, Anastasia continued making her way past the crowd, clearly searching for a face in particular.

“Anatashia!” Rafael shouted abruptly, cutting into his own conversation as he spotted the classmate between the heads that’d surrounded him.

“It’s…” She began before giving up uncharacteristically. “Whatever it’s too late now.”

“Anatashia! This is my family, here.” Rafael motioned, dragging the woman over forcefully as the group he’d abandoned glanced over curiously.

Finally escorting her through another half-dozen obnoxiously persistent offers, Rafael pushed her towards the center of his family.

“Mi Madre,” Rafael explained, listing his relation one by one as he pointed between the people. All of course, entirely in Spanish, but Ana could piece it together with some context clues.

“I thought you said your family wouldn’t come?” Ana asked after forgetting most the names Rafael had introduced to her.

“It’s surprise to me.” Rafael nodded with a deeply moved expression. “But Mister Fint, he is generous.”

“Oh, I just did what I could.” Chaz laughed innocently while rubbing his scalp. “It’s an important event, and a family should be together, what’s a few plane tickets worth compared to a reunion like this, right?”

“¡Sí!” The small crowd roared around him while mostly only catching a bit of what he’d said through the language barrier.

“Anyways though, I’m looking for—” Ana began to explain only for Rafael to immediately understand.

“He was out way before us so he’s probably already near the port,”

“Thanks!” Ana responded, only hesitating after she’d made a couple of steps away. Twisting her face uncomfortably, Ana quickly turned back and wrapped Rafael in an unexpected, but extremely tight hug. “Seriously. Thank you for everything.”

“You’ll make me cry,” Rafael said tenderly without his usual over-acting. “It was an unforgettable time, with unforgettable friends.”

“Mhm.” Ana nodded into the side of his broad chest. Turning away quickly to hide her face from his view, Ana spoke again over her shoulder. “I expect Blini next we meet, yeah?”

“And vodka. You make wand that make vodka,” Boris added with narrowed eyes.

“Keep her safe, Boris.” Rafael reminded with a narrowed glare of his own.

“Ah, who’re’ya my mom?” Boris grumbled with a wave of his hand.

If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

“Hate that guy…” Rafael muttered under his breath before returning his attention to his family.

ᵻ◊ᵻ

“Look even if your project ended up a dud, that doesn’t mean you squandered your whole opportunity.” The prospector sixth in line was glad to have caught up with one of the few affordable graduates of the bunch, if he could get him for a good price it would be easy to fill the mans schedule with talk-show slots and promotional work.

There’s no failures out of the Academy, only fools who can’t figure out how to cash-in on their title.

Unfortunately, what the shrewd man failed to realize was that Victor wasn’t cheap, in fact he’d demanded the highest of any student, perhaps in all history. And beside that, his project had never been a dud, just the opposite actually. What had been ‘dud’s’ to Victor was the Prospectors themselves.

And he wasn’t entirely alone in that feeling.

“You were one hundred percent right dude.” The Eagle said, unaware he was interrupting the one-sided conversation. “Ohh.. sorry. I can come back later.”

“Nah, its fine, so can he.” Victor responded, glancing over to the Prospector who’d approached completely unprompted.

“A…Yesh.” The prospector nodded, biting his tongue as he fell under the dangerous glare of The Eagle’s human form.

“You were saying?” Victor asked once the unwelcomed guest had scurried away.

“You were right, none of them listened.” The Eagle explained, briefly summarizing the assortment of responses he’d gotten during his round of demos. “The monk, and the last three were close. But they failed to reach my goal. So… If you are serious about…”

“Well let’s hold off a sec,” Victor said with a raised hand. “At this point I’m still just a Graduate with a ‘dud project’ so be patient a few days until the loose ends are tied up.”

“Mm.” The Eagle responded with a stoic nod. “Then until the ends are tied, you know how to reach me.”

“Fly safe,” Victor waved with a nod.

A small crowd that’d followed after The Eagle gasped in awe as they watched the man loosen his trousers before leaping into the air with wide open wings.

“Dumbass…” Victor groaned as he leaned over to collect the man’s left-over clothes and cellphone.

The moment he righted himself a flash again appeared and the phone was cleanly plucked from out his right hand with sharp talons.

“Almost lost a finger…” Victor again muttered shaking his head as the clothes held in his hand disappeared with a flick of his wrist.

“Why’d you have to run off?” Another voice mixed into the curious crowd who’d begun spinning quiet rumors amongst themselves after overhearing parts of the conversation.

“You know I hate crowds.” Victor shrugged without glancing over to the pair of new arrivals. “And besides, I shouldn’t push my luck with the headmaster any more than I already have. I’m sure he wants me off the island as soon as possible.”

Again the rumors mill spun faster, especially with the arrival of the pair.

“Well, how’s my offer?” Victor asked, glancing over to the man he’d rested his life on.

“…” Carter didn’t speak immediately, despite knowing he’d been the intended recipient to the question.

“A dud’s a dud kid.” Juan Rizal, who’d caught the conversation in passing joked with a shake of his head.

“Who dare’s call boss-boss a dud!?” A thick accented voice asked as the sound a shattering glass came from a few dozen feet away from the small group of onlookers.

“It’s a shame you couldn’t have more time to learn the strength of this body granted to you by Li-Shifu” Another spoke in an almost whisper from behind the back of Juan’s head. “Speaking Ill of Master is equal to death.”

“It’s fine Haruto, relax.” Victor placated with a wave of his hand. “You too Boris, these poor groundskeepers are going to be cleaning up holographic shards of glass for the next month.”

“Haruto’s right, Vincenzo,” Another infuriated voice shouted while his flock of family members raced after his steps. “Blind idiots who don’t know a thing about anything!”

“Present company, hopefully excluded. Hah…” Chaz awkwardly stammered with shortened breath from the brisk pace.

“Eee…” Rafael said uncertainly, glancing at Victor to see his reaction. “Ah, Mister Fint, our bet, you remember.”

“Ye… yeah.” Chaz stuttered inadvertently as he recalled the outrageous offer.

“And?” Rafael asked curiously.

“I admit, I couldn’t see it.” Chaz admitted with a nod, understanding Rafael at least well enough to know he’d appreciate the honesty rather than attempting to say what he wanted to hear.

“I know.” Rafael nodded, patting the man’s shoulder reassuringly before turning back to the crowd. “Since they won’t, I’ll tell you. Every one of us stole our development from Victor, without him, we would have nothing! You understand that!?”

Carter’s face grew white as he heard the huge accusation and he immediately looked to his daughter to silently confirm the man’s claim.

“Mhm.” Katie nodded quietly at her dad glance.

“I see.” Carter sighed, taking a heavy breath before stepping around his daughter to reach closer to the self-proclaimed thief. “I’ll do it. I’ll agree to your demands.”

“Good choice.” Victor agreed, extending a hand towards the man to shake.

“I hope so.” Carter said, gripping the extended hand with his own.