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Lia frowned, still stuck on number three. Oh, what the hell...Leaning back in her chair again, she closed her eyes, delved back into memories, searching until she found something that might help her.

Little Izzy was growing up to be thin as a twig and lanky with it. She was just over three now, a dark haired, dark eyed monkey who always seemed to be grinning and falling down.

Lia sat there on a blanket in the yard under a tree, talking softly to her dolls as Izzy clammered around on the low branches of a tree, under their father's careful watch. Their mother came out of the house then, passing right by Izzy in her tree.

Excited, Izzy leaned out on the branch, waving. "Mother! Mother, look at me!" She called, and when Eleanor's eyes merely iced over as she turned her back to her youngest child, Lia's eyes flickered over to Izzy's. For a moment she saw the hurt, the rejection, in the innocent eyes of the toddler, but then the little girl bit her lip, blinked, and her eyes cleared, her grin just a tiny bit forced.

"Daddy, Daddy, catch me!" She cried, leaping from the low branch, confident that her father would scoop her out of the air. he did just that, twirling her around, his deep laugh resounding through the yard as her mother carefully lowered herself into a chair beside Lia's blanket, fanning herself with a paper fan as she pursed her lips in distaste while looking at her husband and child play.

"Really, Ophelia, you truly are my obedient little angel. The other one is so emotional." She sniffed, and Lia turned, smiled at her mother, while she thought that maybe it wouldn't be so bad to be 'the other one' every now and then.

Lia opened her eyes again, sighing. Next to number 3, she wrote 'Rejection seemed to bounce off her, but really it was absorbed, carefully tucked away, and never returned. She didn't really have it in her to mope and feel self-pity.' And that was something, Lia mused, that she thrived on. They really were like the sun and moon, after all.

As Alex strolled inside, he took the short still cherried between his fingers and pressed it to his tongue; it sizzled away at the saliva and flesh, but as he pulled it back, no mark could be seen.
"Alright, then I'll make this quick. I need you to teach me as much as you can, and before you say no at least let me tell you why. The reason I need to become stronger, is to kill my worthless father; you know him as Riser. Now look, I'm not like him. He wants something from this world, something that'll never happen in a billion years. But I'm not like him. I do what I want and when I want, and all I've ever wanted is a little recognition. I've been getting it more and more lately, and I want it from the globe. I want every person on this planet to know who I am; not for greed or hate or power or evil, I want them to know me because I'm a selfish sonofabitch. I've always been self-centered, hell it's how I survived."
Habitually he slid a cigarette between his lips, catching himself just a moment before lighting it. He placed it gently on the desk beside him and continued.
"Selfishness isn't such a bad motive. It's not a good one, but it's not bad. I'm not trying to hurt anyone besides Riser with this power, all the rest is merely recognition."
He grinned deviously at the thought of his future fame.

"Stop making assumptions. I never said I was going to do a damned thing for this planet, that's Riser. I just want them to know my name, my face. Why? You go grow up on the streets of every big city on this continent and tell me why not."
He once again had his right thumbnail in between his teeth, clacking away at it as he spoke. He speech at this point seemed rushed, almost impatient yet still well thought out. Alexander was certainly more intelligent than one could guess by his attitude or external image.
"You want proof he's my dad? Resurrect my mom or go ask the ******** yourself. But neither of those are necessary, someone as skilled as you can surely tell just from the feeling my body puts off, the 'pressure' as he puts it. And if you really need proof that I want him dead, you haven't been listening very carefully. He's a thorn in my side, his ideals and his plans for this world and this species interrupt my own goal. If people follow him, I'll never receive the recognition I want. That, is why killing my father needs to happen, why it's the greater good. Who the hell knows what he wants, but I know damned well what I want. There are more...personal reasons beyond that, but I don't know you well enough to talk about those pal. As for my odds, mom told me something about him just before she left this world; something I can use against him. I can't tell you what it is just yet, but if you train me I'll give you every single detail on how I'm going to end his endless life."
He looked to that cigarette once more, forcing himself not to press it to his lips and strike it.
"And, well, the only feasible way you could trust me with whatever you teach me is to watch me. Learn how my head works, just like you do with your other students. If you see me going astray, stop the lessons. Its that simple Professor."

He paced ever so slightly around the room, running possibilities through his head as he thought. "So, you've heard my case. Make your choice."

"Hmph. Some school this is. Is it that you're frightened, lethargic, or that you just plain can't do it? It must be one of them Professor."
He planted his foot onto a chair and swung it around in front of him before sending it careening across the room. It hit the desk that carried his cigarette and gingerly it dropped to the seat of the chair. As if tugged by incorporeal strings, the chair returned to its assailant.
He lit the cigarette and took a long inhale before slowly approaching Leaton's desk.
"Motives: you're too terrified of Riser to aid me in his fall; you don't feel like doing a damned thing that you shouldn't have to, regardless of the fact that I have more than enough cash in my pockets to finish the repair work on this school; or you're not as amazing as you'd like others to think you are. That's it, isn't it? You know you won't be able to teach me nearly enough to kill that b*****d, and so you're not even going to try. Why, you're nothing but a coward if this is true. And do you know what happens to cowards where I grew up? They got a slug through their chest and left to rot in a storm drain in some god-forsaken alley."

"And did it ever occur to you that I already did?"
His gaze was near the floor now, he seemed rather uncomfortable on this subject.
"I've known all my life who Riser was, and what he was to me. And I've trained all my life, from meditation to savate to parkour to krav maga and every bit of arcane literature that I could get my hands on. I thought I had a shot, I really did. And that b*****d humiliated me, broke every bone in my ******** body one at a time, and left me under a tree in a field in eastern Siberia, just waiting for whatever predator would come across me."
Rather unexpectedly he placed his hands on the back of his neck, as though he were attempting to calm himself down.
"The vultures found me first. I sat there in the heat of the day in the most indescribable pain as these mangy birds began to pick me apart before my eyes, piece by bloodied piece. And before I could, completely bleed out, he returned. Told me that the experience would enlighten me, but I knew it was all crap. Then, just with no effort on his part, he restored my body. It was like another slap in the face while he screamed "I'm still better than you." in my ears... That's why I want him dead, and that's why I need your help..."

Arzol merely smiled, shrugging. "I am merely the head of Hell's Guard, disciplinary unit of Hell's realms. And Danni was a rogue. It was under my job outline to follow her and bring her in, dead or alive. But first we wanted info from her that we could only get from following her. It's as simple as that." He said, shrugging.

Kai had since left the school and went outside calmly waltzing around the grounds. everything seemed to be in order aside from the lingering feeling of depression that smothered the campus. everything stood still The forest, The grounds, even the school was surrounded an awkward calm that had long since been forgotten on the mystic fountains grounds.

Was it due to Danni's death? It was be hard to believe that one life would silence the school, but what did he know he was in enough battles to be unaffected by the threat of death. Kai's mind, however, quickly wandered to other things, more interesting things like what his daughter was going herself into next.

While Kai had been walking Chris had long since lost the silver heart, Not his fault but the heart's, it likely decided to find another hiding place, perhaps one where an over powered teenager wouldn't find it.

Lia puffed out her cheeks in a very unladylike gesture of frustration, letting out her breath in a low hiss. This was so damned hard, and it made her head hurt. With a long suffering sigh, she closed her eyes and delved back into memories she thought were best left ignored.

There was precious Little Izzy, for once quiet and serene, a taller than average three and a half year old who was sitting in a hammock their father had set up for her in the back yard since she liked to look at the sky.

Inside the house, Lia curled up carefully on a window seat, looking out at her. She wasn't sulking, as Lia had expected, though earlier she'd been scolded by their mother for refusing to sit still and patiently learn how to play the instruments her mother was so sure men would expect her to know how to play. Scolded again because she'd rather twirl around standing on her father's feet than cooperate with the dance instructor their mother had hired.

Lia sat, lost in thought, remembering what her baby sister had said, so clearly, so stubbornly when her mother had tried to mold her into a 'true Rinaldi'. She had said, in that impish, innocent voice of hers, "Why would I wanna learn things just to make men happy? Izzy wants to do only what makes Izzy happy. I don't care 'bout suckin' up to no stupid boy." She'd gotten that stubborn gleam in her eye, their father's gleam, and had in short order been banished out into the yard, where she'd gone happily enough, much to their mother's frustration.

As Lia watched, a butterfly flitted over the grass, and landed, to Lia's wide eyed amazement, on Izzy's shoulder, fluttering its wings as she turned her head slightly, smiled. It was that last look at her sister that Lia rose to go learn the instruments that would make men pleased, went to learn the dances and be molded into a true Rinaldi princess.

In her room, Lia wrote, in slow, precise lettering 'She was content simply to be, uncaring of the opinions of those around her. She would not be molded, would not be tamed, would not break, no matter how often our mother brought the heavy hammer of guilt and family duty down upon her.' And that, Lia mused, was something she couldn't say for herself, for she'd been the one to be molded, tamed, broken in a way. Which was why, she reminded herself with a blink, was why they were polar opposites.