Intertwined

“I’m telling you this idea’s brilliant.” Lionel argued as he and his companion stood in front of the old looking building,

“Are you sure, this is the right address?” Susan asked in hushed tone while Adelina eyed her husband with a raised eyebrow,

“Of course, Mr. Link.” Lionel reassured him before stepping closer and ringing the bell. The door soon opened revealing a young woman with short platinum hair,

“Good morning, sir. I assume you’re the substitute for today.” Lionel gave her a nod and she let him inside as he waved goodbye to Susan,

“I’ll see you later.” Lionel assured his big hairy friend before disappearing behind the doors.

*********

“Who do you think’s gonna substitute us?” Lenny asked Aura while they were standing beside the vending machine, waiting for Vally to choose her drink.

“I don’t care, everything’s better than Math.” The pink haired werecat replied with a shrug, her tail swishing around, she let it be summoned since there was no one around, save their little group.

“True.” Lenny agreed as Vally finally selected her Coca-Cola can and took it out.

“Let’s go.” The three of them walked down the light hallway, climbing the carpeted stairs, before stopping dead in their tracks as they spotted an unfamiliar, to two of them at least, man sitting in one of the arm chairs,

“Who’s that?” Vally asked looking at her two friends who both shrugged,

“Might be some new teacher.” Aura suggested feeling chills creeping down her spine as she noticed who Vally was talking about. Then as quickly as possible she walked to ward the class, but not before an all too familiar voice called out a question,

“Are you the class 1.A?” Lenny and Vally gave the stranger a nod while Aura had to stop herself from hyperventilating and fleeing back downstairs.

“Why do you ask, sir?” She asked in low voice, avoiding the familiar blue eyes, looking at her gloved hands instead,

“I’m your substitute for the afternoon.” That sentence made Aura’s blood run cold, with gritted teeth she gave him a forced smile and a nod before slipping into the class, sitting at her usual place and pretended nothing was happening. ‘You still got 10 minutes before the hell starts, get it together girl.’ She reprimanded herself in her thoughts.

“Do you know him?” Lenny asked noticing her friend’s unusual behavior.

“Unfortunately.” Aura grumbled a reply just as sir Lionel Frost entered the classroom,

“Good afternoon students.” He said loudly in his usual cheerful voice, his eyes travelling around the room while his fingers kept tapping on his cane. His greeting was met with silence and questioning faces, all but two.

“Who is it then?” Lenny whispered all too curious about Aura’s sudden change of behavior to pay attention to the man himself.

“He’s a myth hunter, a cryptologist.” Aura replied back in whisper, “He usually brings a sasquatch with him on his travels. As well as his girlfriend.” She added, her eyes never once leaving the invading substitute who seemed to mirror her, watched her the entire time. She felt her ears slipping down, being pinned against her head instinctively.

“How do you know so much about him?” Aura turned her head, her mouth opening for an answer, before a dull ‘thud’ came from her top hat, making her sensitive ears ring. Looking over her shoulder, she noticed Lionel watching her with quite an annoyed expression, his cane outstretched with its tip resting on her hat.

“Ladies, if you would pay attention, please.” He said in calm tone, Lenny and Aura looked at each other with Aura massaging her ears lightly to stop the ringing. Being satisfied with the silence, Lionel carried on with his introduction, but Aura tuned him out, having heard it multiple times in the past.

“Do you know what he wants here?” Lenny asked, tapping on her tablet, already bored. Aura looked at Lionel, all too interested in explaining who he is to care about her, before turning to Lenny,

“Hell, if I knew.” She whispered, shrugging,

“So, you didn’t know about this?”

“If I knew about this, I’m skipping these classes entirely.” Aura finished her reply as the cane slammed onto the desk right next to her, causing her to yelp slightly and making Lenny look up in alarm while Aura turned her head, one eyebrow raised slightly.

“Can you please focus on the class?” Lionel asked, his voice lightly stern, eyes narrowed a bit. Aura looked at Lenny who stared at the substitute with wide eyes before shrugging, fighting the urge to roll her eyes. “Alright, if you’re not sure please switch seats with, pardon what’s your name?” he asked a short girl with shoulder length brown hair,

“Julie.”

“Traitor.”

“Son.” All three girls answered, causing the rest to let out soft chuckles,

“Alright, Aura, switch places with Julie.” With a sigh Aura looked at Lenny who gave her a sad expression, pouting a bit, before shuffling her things to right, sitting down right in front of Lionel himself.

Aura turned on her laptop, fingers itching to start drawing and zone out of the terrible afternoon class when Lionel gave her a direct question: “Name one mythical creature, please.” Lionel said, pointing his cane at her, sighing softly Aura looked up at him, fighting the urge to roll her eyes,

“Good Math grade.” She answered without missing a beat, quickly returning her gaze to the small screen afterwards, earning couple of chuckles. Lionel clicked his tongue against his upper jaw,

“Come on, a better answer wouldn’t be?” Aura fought the urge to roll her eyes once more,

“A unicorn.” She stated simply finally giving her whole attention to the laptop and the art program ahead of her, tuning out Lionel’s rambling.

*********

‘Why? Why the fuck does the universe decide to go against me now? I was completely happy as it was, far away from them, with new life, new school, finally belonging somewhere and letting the past completely behind.’ She thought bitterly.

“And so, your assignment for this afternoon is to draw your very own mythical creature, it can be something that already is said to exist or you can create your own.” Lionel’s voice brought Aura back to the class from her screen.

“But sir, why should we bother with it, they’re mythical they’ve never been proven to even exist, there’s no value in them.” Maki argued from the back seats,

“There’s a value.” Lionel said after a moment of shock passed.

“What is it then?” Maki pursued on,

“Maki, please shut up before he makes us write a test including all of the world’s known myths.” Aura told her, just as Lenny opened her own mouth to say something snarky, focusing on her screen. Unnoticed to her Lionel casted a smile in her direction. Maki rolled her eyes, but kept silent.

“Why didn’t you let her argue with him?” Nayu asked Aura, leaning forward,

“If I let them, soon others would join in and he wouldn’t hesitate to grab me and drag me away, do you want that?” Aura explained, her tone a little sharper.

“I certainly wouldn’t do that, I assure you.” Lionel told her calmly. Aura looked up at him,

“Just like you wouldn’t steal from a nun?” She asked back making her classmates to look at her,

“What?!” Vally said out loud, looking from her feline friend to the strange substitute, but Aura ignored her.

“Don’t bring it up here.” Lionel dismissed her accusing question.

Feeling someone tapping onto her shoulder she turned and saw Julie turned to her,

“Got a spare pencil?” Nodding Aura pulled one from her pencase tossing it to her classmate.

“Can I have one too?” Smokie asked from behind Aura, the werecat sighed before giving one to her as well, not noticing Lionel sitting down in front of her, his eyes watching her intently.

“Adi misses you.” Lionel informed her when she was busy sketching out a unicorn,

“Really?” she looked up for a moment,

“Yes, in fact we all do.” Lionel told her, hoping for any sign of emotional reaction. Aura let out a soft sigh, unsure of what to say back, ‘Why would you?’ she wondered but decided not to word the question out loud.

“Who’s Adi?” Julie asked, shuffling closer to Aura, studying her sketch across her shoulder,

“His girlfriend.” The werecat cub answered flatly scribbling onto a piece of paper,

“Not anymore.” Lionel corrected her listening to their conversation,

“Fiancé?”

“My wife.” Lionel corrected her once again, then, smiling, he pulled off his left glove to proudly present a golden ring on his finger. Aura looked up to examine it,

“Oh. How was wedding?” Aura asked, inwardly cringing at her own curiosity, ‘Stop caring about them!’ she scolded herself.

“Great, though Adelina was quite angry you didn’t come.” Aura shrugged,

“I’ve got a feeling this won’t be the only important event I’m not present at.” She muttered to herself, quickly finishing her mediocre unicorn sketch, tossing it to Lionel before returning to her previous action.

‘We’ll see about that.’ The cryptologist thought, trying to keep his usual expression.

“You got a photo of her?” Julie asked after Aura stared good two minutes to her screen, unmoving, except the occasional twitch of her ear, waiting for inspiration.

“Maybe, let me check my gallery.” Aura replied unlocking her phone,

“You still have photos of us?” Lionel asked in surprise,

“Been too lazy to get rid of them.” Aura said without looking at him, ‘Don’t get your hopes up.’ She thought to herself, causing him to roll his eyes at her. Finally, after several minutes of browsing she tapped onto one photo and showed it to Julie,

“She’s hot.” Smokie said from behind them, also looking at the photo as did Lenny.

“She’s milf.” Julie noted,

“Well, she’s taken.” Lionel reminded them, clearly slightly unnerved by their conversation, making Aura roll her eyes, her lips twitching, fighting a small smirk to appear.

‘Dammit.’ The werecat growled inwardly, grabbing another piece of paper, staring at the screen she started sketching, familiar faces flashing in front of her eyes, Lionel watched her hand move around the paper, creating a very bright yet fantastical portrait of his loved one.

“I’m not sure she’ll be very happy you see her like that.” He pointed out with a chuckle, making Aura to finally look down at the sketch which detailly depicted Adelina with medusa’s hair of snakes and a lion’s body. Shaking her head Aura looked at the sketch she drew, ‘What the fuck?’ She thought staring at it in astonishment.

“How the fuck did you do that?!” Smokie asked aloud seeing the sketch as well. Aura shot her a ‘I have no idea’ look, at which Smokie rolled her eyes, before she felt the piece of paper slipping away from beneath her fingers, turning back she spotted Lionel looking it over.

“I’ll take it as your assignment.” Lionel said moving the picture closer to him after she tried to take it back.

“I’ve already given you one,” Aura argued,

“But you didn’t bring out your inner artist in that one.” Lionel replied back with a smirk, causing her to sigh and return back to her laptop,

“Whatever.” She grumbled, her ears twitching underneath her hat. ‘Not that it matters anyway.’

************

The rest of the lessons went on quickly as the young cub drew on her notebook, finally getting an inspiration.

“Bye Lenny!” She waved to her friend who was too busy chatting with their other classmates, especially Nayu to pay her any attention. “Bye Julie.” She said with small smile, clearly fighting the hurt Lenny’s ignorance caused her. Sighing she turned off her notebook before slowly packing it up and zipping it into her bag.

“Want a ride home?” Lionel asked her seeing her masked hurt,

“Not really.” Aura muttered to him waiting for everyone else to leave, flinching under the stares they were giving her.

“It’s going to rain.” He informed her caringly, Aura shook her head,

“I don’t mind getting wet, at least the raindrops can cover up tears.” She shut her mouth tightly after realizing what she’d just said. Lionel looked directly at her with warm, caring expression.

“Let’s get you home then.” He extended his hand toward her to help her stand up, gritting her teeth, she awkwardly accepted it, standing up and pulling her bag onto one shoulder. She was glad they were the last ones to leave the classroom.

Her fur bushed up a little when they exited the school building making Lionel chuckle a little. She let it slide and carried on walking down, being led toward his car.

***********

“Why?” She piped up once they left the city behind. Lionel looked at her for brief moment,

“’Why’ what?” He asked back, urging her to open up,

“Why doing all of this? Coming here, infiltrating the school, tracking me down.” She started to name all of the things before stopping abruptly as she realized it was pointless.

“To get you back home.” Lionel sighed, running one hand across his face. They drove for another few miles in complete silence. Not even the radio was on. Aura turned her head toward the window, staring out of it.

“Did Matthew send you?” That question caught him off guard. He shook his head at the name of her brother,

“No one sent us. We came to investigate a strange shapeshifting creature said to be residing around here. It turned into rescue mission after Matthew slipped out you’ve stayed here previously.”

“The ‘rescue’ mission wasn’t needed you know.” Aura informed him, making air quotes as she spoke. “I’m completely happy here.” She stated trying to look brightly, but failing.

“Yeah I can see it.” He replied, clearly unconvinced. Aura sighed softly, curling in on herself,

“Fine I had a few rough days in a row.” She admitted without Lionel actually expecting her to. “But that’s what to be expected, right? I mean they’re all younger than me by three, four years.” She shrugged, becoming quiet again,

“You mean your classmates?” Lionel asked in deep disbelief, Aura gave him a reluctant nod.

“I admit we had rough weeks lately.” Aura murmured as they neared her current home. “It wasn’t the nicest time for me.” Lionel turned to look at her, but remained silent, “I was surprised Lenny even talked to me let alone sat down beside me today. She acted like bitch to me for weeks.” She admitted, wrapping her tail around her legs. “Evie too, but she’s so temperamental it’s hard to keep her in friendly mood. Vally’s okay, but she can be rude too, I’ve learned that the hard way.” A soft sigh left her mouth.

“What about Julie? She seemed nice.” Lionel asked casting her a slightly worried glance after she went silent again.

“Julie’s fine, she gets along with anyone.” The werecat cub shrugged. “We’re here.” She noted gazing out of the window, “You can drop me under the hill, I’ll climb up no problem.” She said looking at him for the first time.

“Nonsense.” Lionel waved off her suggestion, “I drove you this far, few more meter ain’t gonna kill me.” He added making her roll her eyes.

“Do you wanna go in? For a tea maybe?” Aura asked sarcastically jumping out of the vechicle.

“Sure.” Lionel gave her a casual shrug ignoring the sarcastic tone.

“Why do I even bother.” Aura grumbled to herself padding towards the main door. She unlocked them and walked in, Lionel following close by.

“Nice nest.” He complimented, Aura shot him a disbelieving look shaking her head,

“My family hadn’t use it for ages, I’m surprised it’s still standing.” She replied walking upstairs, “I’m not using the downstair floor that much, just as an art atelier.” She explained noticing his puzzled look.

Few moments later they were both sitting at her kitchen table a steaming cups of tea in front of them. “Why did you bother with that ‘art challenge’?” Aura asked, playing with her cup.

“What do you mean?” Aura let out a soft snort,

“You coming here week ago, trying to persuade me to return and now you at my school as an art teacher offering a trip to USA?” She raised her eyebrow at him, “How far are you willing to go just to get one measely worthless existence back?” She quickly averted her eyes away from him after voicing the words out loud.

“Worthless? Is that how you view yourself?” Lionel asked in complete astonishment,

“Mayhaps?” Aura shrugged, “Anyway you still didn’t answer my question.” She retorted a bit sharper in tone.

“Anything it takes, all of us would do anything it takes to have you back.” He replied without a moment of hesitation. Aura twitched her ear as a reply, remaining silent.

“And the offer? Will you really take the best of the class?” She questioned with glistening eyes,

“Yes, whoever the five best are, alongside you.” She rolled her eyes at the answer.

“You mean me and four closest to me, don’t you?” She looked directly at him,

“More or less.” He admitted rubbing the back of his neck.

“Then choose Smokie and Maki, I don’t really care about the rest.”

She waved to him when came time for Lionel to leave. “It was great.” He told her, “To talk to you again, to have you open up like that.” Aura let out a dry chuckle.

“Just don’t get used to it.” She closed the door on him afterwards.