[COMPLETE] [[**Sequel, The Hybrid Harold, is up!**]]
The first generation past the war has settled and the result is something no one from the past would recognize. In the United Human Alliance, the human run country that takes up much of the land m...
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Getting detention with Mr. Walton was an inherent part of life as of late. The lying teacher had a grudge against me ever since Alenia and I had our outburst. He obviously held a grudge against Alenia too, but being as they had been forced to cut the rune out of him and he could still just barely talk he decided not to attack her any more.
Coward.
Not that I could blame him, I thought as my feet carried me to the roof without any conscious thought to do so. True to the director's demands she had been behaving, but everyone knew that she was on her last chance. She had been surprised by the rush of support from our classmates but I hadn't. Alenia was a beacon of hope, and hope disturbed the rest that the school had possessed for so long.
When I stepped out onto the roof and saw Alenia on her laptop I remembered that she was meeting her brothers and father via video chat this afternoon. She was nervous, and only partially because tricking the Jones' would be no easy feat.
"Hi dad," She said. Immediately she felt a kinship with him and I couldn't help but smile. She deserved family that she loved, family that loved her.
She couldn't take her eyes off of her father, and I didn't blame her. I couldn't see very well from off to the side but he looked just like her. The same chin and nose and eyes and, as weird as it was, lips. "Alenia, you're all grown up."
"Oh well," She replied awkwardly. I didn't blame her, what could she say to that? 'Yeah, somehow, I've grown in 18 years. Magic. "So I hear you're why I can do all sorts of crazy shit."
I laughed despite the fact that I'd sat out of the way to avoid attention. This wasn't about me, and I didn't feel like confronting my sorta-future-in-laws. No one commented on it.
"Uh, yeah, I'm a harold," Sam said. "I still can't believe you inherited that." Alenia didn't answer the obvious question and he was forced to verbalize it. "So what all do you think you got from me?"
"I can make, I dunno, force fields? I don't really know what to call them, but they're really useful. I can also destroy them." Alenia said. It was clear that she was excited to share a part of her other than the flame. Her relationship with dragons was still strained, but a harold, who gave her something unique, and couldn't be blamed for how her life had gone so wrong... She was clinging to it like glue. "Other than that, I don't really know what's 'dragon' and what's 'harold'."
I listened curiously for their reply, also not sure what was what within her. It seemed that the simple fact that she had harold abilities was still overwhelming their ability to help out Alenia.
"You can destroy force fields?" One of the ginger triplets asked, and I decided right then that I didn't like her younger brother.
"Just set them on fire and they burn," Alenia said with a modest shrug. I didn't have a mirror but I was sure I smirked instinctively. She knew exactly how amazing it was that she could do that. "The trick is knowing where they start."
"You can't burn 'force fields'," Sam said, clearly confused with or without my ability to feel his emotions. "They're made by innate magic, they're the most powerful tool in any harold's arsenal."
"I've done it before," She said and I felt frustration well up in me. What the fuck did any of them know about Alenia?
"No- you just can't-" Naomi said.
"For the record, there's nothing Alenia can't burn." I snapped. I glared fiercely when Alenia turned the laptop so that they could see my features.
"And who are you?" The same triplet snapped back, glaring at me. I was sure he thought he was threatening, but even knowing exactly what the dragon blood in his veins could do I could only think of him as an irritating bug.
"Alenia's family, and you?" My tone was icy enough and it was clear that it cut the brothers in front of me. Alenia's parents, Naomi and Sam, were older and thus didn't show anything but I was sure they hadn't liked my comment.
"He's her brother, not just a classmate," The oldest brother, also ginger came to his defense. I needed to learn their names at some point, but right then I couldn't be bothered.
"He's not just my classmate," I purposely kept the smug look off of my face when Alenia corrected her brother. She wanted to get along with them, and it wasn't entirely because they were key to getting the backup we so desperately needed.
"He's her mate," Naomi spoke up and I couldn't stop the almost arrogant smile on my face. Damn straight!
"He's not my mate," Alenia corrected and I ignored the stab in my gut at her words. I knew she wasn't discounting me, knew exactly how she felt, but even still her words could hurt. "But he is my family."
The family on the laptop screen visibly recoiled at the words that silently followed hers, unlike you.
"My name is Michael," I said. Fighting was no use, I had to remember that they just didn't know, that every hair on my body was on edge in preparation for our first fight with death.
"I'm Sam, you know my wife Naomi, and these are Alenia's brothers; Daniel, and the triplets Qui, Kent, and Damon," Sam said. So the boy I didn't like was Qui, what kind of stupid name was that?
"So what is he, if not your mate?" Naomi asked. She was trying to force this on Alenia, force her to accept our bond and our fate. Alenia wasn't stupid, she knew what her birth mother was doing, but that didn't make her impervious to the attack.
"That's irrelevant and, frankly, none of your business," I spoke up. "All you need to know is that where there is Alenia there is me." I smiled for a minute, thinking of what her best friends would do to me if I forgot them. "And Christine and Margie. And most of the school, to be honest. We're family."
None of them got it, except Sam. Recognition was clear in his eyes, "I have foster brothers, I imagine the bond is similar."
"He's not my sister!" Alenia said. The outburst, combined with the tomato red blush that followed, forced a laugh out of me. I remembered when she'd been blushing not too long ago, when her friends had informed me that I'd been sister zoned.
Sam also laughed, "My brothers grew up together and they're married."
"Bale," I said with recognition. "The doctor who helped Alenia is your brother?"
"I-" Sam looked surprised by that information. "I suppose so, yeah."
"I-" The door to the roof slammed open before I could hear what Alenia was going to say. My eyes widened when I saw the director looking furious. I moved to stand up, but before I could do so I was slammed across the roof with the force of a train. Before I even registered the pain I felt Alenia's. The terror, the panic, the overwhelming helplessness- the determination. I heard her scream and forced myself to stay conscious despite the overwhelming pain of being hit with a force much stronger than I. "MICHAEL!"
