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A year after the success of Operation strix, Anya forger had to face another obstacle to world peace. Anya Forger had thought she’d seen it all. From explosions, to attempted assassinations, kidnappings, and the threat of losing her mama and papa, but she had forgotten about the most difficult type of mission yet--maintaining Sy-on boy’s friendship. They had become official friends (?) last year and he had invited her and Becky out to one of his rich sy-on parties, which lead to The Incident and blah blah the arrest of his mega evil superboss dad thanks to the combined efforts of her mama and papa!
Eden college--after the arrest of one of their main stakeholders (what does steak have to do with the school, Anya wondered) was being investigated for treason by the Ostanian and Westalis government. In order to help fix its reputation, the school organized a ball. It also served as a fundraiser for orphanages of the children affected by the Westalis-Ostanian conflict. So it was another step for world peace! Anya nodded in approval.
Of course, Sy-on, who she discovered wasn’t at all a bad person like his super-mega evil boss dad, was very sad for the entire year. His family’s ruined reputation wasn’t enough to stop him from showing up in class. In fact, he became even more determined to prove himself, which was kinda cool, Anya thought. It was like he was on his own personal mission, just like her.
As the protector of world peace, she was a stella star away from becoming an imperial scholar. But like the awesome double agent that she was, she was also a tonitrus bolt away from expulsion, but that's besides the point! Next year, if all were to go according to plan, she would stay close to Sy-on and observe him and his advisors, just in case they were being shady and plotting revenge or whatever, but she doubts Sy-on boy really cared about world domination. Not only was he a secret softie, he also seemed to only be worried about his upcoming exams and how to salvage the Desmond name to care too much about following his evil boss dad’s footsteps, which was good.
Anyway, there was the dance, and she wanted to go with him (For the mission, like papa said all the time) She turned to her best friend, and confidante in arms. Becky was picking on her world class bagel.
“Becky, I’m gunna do it” she whispered.
“Do what?”
“I’m gonna ask Sy-on to the dance.”
Becky gasped, world class cream cheese bagel forgotten. “Oh my!” she grabbed Anya’s other hand, and her face was weirdly flushed for some reason. “You can’t, y-you mustn't Anya, you’re a girl!”
Yeah she was a girl last time she checked. “What does that have to do with anything?” She was confused, all she had to do was ask Sy-on to the dance right? She asked Becky to go with her to shops all the time, what was the problem? Maybe Sy-on would give her a mean look and say something about her stubby legs, but that was business as usual.
“What do you mean?!” Becky was getting all riled up, which attracted the attention of some of her classmates. “You’re a lady Anya, Ladies deserve to be asked out first!”
“Whu-”
Becky made a noise, and she pulled out a piece of paper from her backpack. She started drawing two people holding hands with hearts surrounding them.
“Anya, my dear friend, my bestest friend ever, haven’t you seen the latest episode of Berlint Love?”
Anya has never seen an episode of Berlint love, ever. “Yeah…?” she said anyway because spies pretended to know things to get information all the time, papa called it “bluffy-ing” or something once.
“Exactly, so you’ve seen the way Gilbert asked out Monik right?” Anya opened her mouth to respond but her friend continued, “IT WAS ROMANTIC, SO SWEET, he serenaded her in the moonlight but her parents forced them apart because of their differences in class, but it only made monik want to be with him more! Monik wanted them to meet in secret. it made me cry for hours Anya you don’t understand-”
She tries to imagine the scenario, if she asked out Sy-on by serenading him in the moonlight (What’s a seruhnade anyway?) he would want to meet her in secret? Hmm.
“I don’t get it.” She bluffy-ied further. If she could get Becky to give her more details, she could find the perfect plan.
“Okay okay, here’s another example, princesses never ask to kiss princes right?” Anya nods, princess honey was always waiting for Bondman to save her, except for that one episode where she bench pressed him to the ground.
“If you really wanted to ask him out, you need to give him hints! Drop signs that you want to go to the dance with him, be-" becky paused for dramatic effect," Coquettish"
Oh that was a word Mr. Henderson used before! She should probably remember that so she can impress Sy-on with her elegant words.
“Oh! Okay, that makes sense. “ If Sy-on boy were to be the one who asked her out, she wouldn’t be as suspicious. “Becky you’re so smart”
Becky beamed and petted her head, “Oh Anya, I’m sure he’ll ask you out, he’d be a fool not to!”
Said boy was sitting a few seats behind them, staring at her back. Anya could tell he was staring since she’d get thoughts about how soft her hair was or how annoying her voice would be when she talked to him. Those definitely came from Sy-on. He was so nice sometimes, too bad he had an incurable disease where every time he opened his mouth everything nice would come out mean and evil sounding. She hopes he’d get well soon so they could truly be friends.
Uh huh, she could work with this. World peace would be theirs in no time, thank you again agent Starlight.
She started laying down the mission plan, giggling to herself. Papa would be so proud.
It was after class, Damian was planning on going to the library as usual. He was finishing up his homework like a nerd, but this time, she tapped Becky on the shoulder and nodded. There weren’t that many people in the classroom. Just as planned. Becky grinned, “Oh, Anya, do you have anyone you’d wanna go to the dance with?” she said slightly louder than usual. She focused on Sy-on boy’s mind.
“The dance? What is she talking about now?” Sy-on boy thought.
Anya gasps, had he forgotten? This wouldn’t do.
“What do you meean Becky?” She cried out for dramatic effect, “Is there some super important event where people go together?” she winked at Becky.
“Anya the Eden College Charity ball, did you forget already?” Becky was such a good actor, she even acted like she was upset for reals. Anya nodded, they had Sy-on’s attention now.
“Noo, nobody would want to go with someone like me-” She wailed, like the master actress that she was. Maybe if he’d turn to look at her, she’d even add a few tears too. “I have stubby legs, and I’m too short, and too…cute-”
Come on, say you’d go with me already!
Sy-on boy was definitely thinking about it because his mind blanked, before a barrage of thoughts burst in Anya’s poor brain.
Wait, the Eden College ball! That's next week right? I have to be there as a Desmond, but Demetrius would probably be there too…I need to finish my chemistry homework, but I could get a stella star for philanthropy, wait could I- wait a minute, why do I even need a stella star again? Dad’s in jail, oh yeah, I need to prove I’m not a worthless burden! Right!-
“Anyone would be lucky to take you to the dance Anya” Becky swooned as loud as possible.
George gloomy raised a hand,
“Um, I don’t have a dat-”
Anya had to take desperate measures now. Becky did say to give out hints.
“Oh how I'd want to go with someone whose name starts with a D.”
Right, of course, Damian had to go to the dance! But first he needed to get his homework out of the way-
“-and whose name ends with an…en?”
"Hey-" Gloomy made his way to her table.
Becky sighed. “George, why are you still here? Shoo-”
“I was just trying to help…” Gloomy strutted away, she could hear him muttering about the darkness of life or whatever. Anya would feel bad, but in every mission, there had to be sacrifices, sorry George.
This was bad, Sy-on was too focused on homework and being a good student!
“Can you guys be quiet for a second?” Sy-on scowled.
"Oh Sy-on! I didn't notice you were there" Now was the moment Starlight Anya! "Are you going to the dance too?" she blinked at him, as slowly as possible. Uncle Scruffy said she had her mama and papa wrapped around her finger (whatever that meant) and that she could get anyone to do whatever she wanted if she blinked at them slowly, heh. Sy-on was doomed.
He didn’t even look at her. "Yes, now go away, I have to study for chemistry." With that, he packed his things and left. He completely forgot to ask her to the dance, what a dummy! Boys were so dumb.
"Pshoo" Anya groaned. This was gonna be a difficult mission. Becky patted her head silently.
"Don't give up Anya, I'm sure there's other boys-"
"No Becky, it has to be him. He's the only one-" (Who has contact with the super rich and can help protect world peace) Anya clenched her fist.
Becky had to fight back her tears, this was a tragedy! (Just like in Berlint Love-Precious Hearts Episode 72) All of this pain is happening to her amazing friend. Scorned in love by someone who was too aloof to realize his own feelings. But Anya always perseveres. In the end, the two main leads always fall in love and Becky was right there in the front seat watching it happen before her eyes. Becky had to hold Anya’s hand to keep her own composure, for Anya's sake! "Whatever happens, I'm rooting for your love Anya! I'll always support you."
"Uh, yeah, thanks Becky! Now for plan B"
Plan B involved a lot of waiting. She needed to catch Sy-on alone, and what better way to corner him than to take one of his favorite pens. Stealing was bad, but if it's for the sake of the greater good, "The eggs would just-i-fly the mens," is what her papa would say.
Luckily Anya happened to be really good at sneaking. But she didn't have to sneak very hard because Sy-on boy was there at his usual spot in the library with a stack of books. She tiptoed near the shelves and waited until he had to go to the bathroom. Once again, Anya was super lucky because it only took 3 minutes of staring and waiting.
She snuck to his table, making sure there were no sea-see TVs around. Sy-on's golden pen was sitting right there, and all she had to do was take it and replace it with her bondman pen. Becky did say to leave hints.
She grabbed the pen and left hers before running back to her hiding spot. She had gotten really good at focusing her mind reading powers in specific directions.
"What the-" A barrage of thoughts came into Anya's mind.
This is Anya's pen! What the hell?! Where's my pen! Did she steal it? Damn it! But why would she leave her own pen behind? Is she that stupid?
Hehe, just as planned.
I should get it back if i hold this pen hostage. Damn you Forger! I can still catch up with her later after study period. I can' t believe I have to do this. Wait, maybe I can get Emile and Ewen to go with me-
Noooo, Anya willed with all her might to change his mind. If he brought friends, he’d be too shy to ask her out and her plan would fail!
No, that'd be too embarassing… its not like I'm gonna do something stupid like ask her out or anything, I'll just be getting my pen back, why am I getting so worked up over this, ugh they should turn on the air conditioning.
Sy-on boy was hopeless, but at least he followed through with her plan anyway. Anya breathed out a sigh of relief.
The second phase of plan B involved… more waiting. She sat by the grove outside the dormitories, directly as far from the line of sight as everyone else. She knew sy-on knew that she liked hanging out here while waiting for her papa and mama.
"Hey, you!" Right on cue again Sy-on boy walked up to her, his pointed finger raised against her in accusation. "You stole my pen, give it back!"
"Nuh uh." She grinned. Technically stealing could get her expelled, her last tonitrus bold and all, but she knew Sy-on was a big softie. "Not until you give me something in return-"
This was exactly like how Bondman negoshetad with the bad guys. So exciting!
The nerve of this girl, thought Sy-on. "I have your cheap ugly pen." He smirked, “If you want it back, I suggest handing over my pen.”
"Hmph, nice try, but-" she dug into her pocket for dramatic effect, "I have more of the same set Sy-on" She held out her limited edition Bondman pens, all in different shades of pink and purple. She was very proud of those pens, but sacrifices had to be made. She silently shed a tear for pen#6.
"What the-" Okay this was getting ridiculous, but he had to fight the urge to smile (no he didn't)
"I'll never give in to your demands! What do you even want anyway? Money? Homework?"
Yess, negosheshuns are a go-go. “I don’t need those kinds of things Mr. Sy-on, all I want is you.” For you to ask me to the dance so we can be best friends forever of course!
Almost instantly, Sy-on turned red all over. “Wha-what? You-” Oh look, Sy-on was getting pretty worked up over that pen huh. Anya had to go for the kill.
"Well, I'll consider giving it back if-"
"Young master Damian-" An old man came out of nowhere which startled Anya nearly half to death. Sy-on had backup! "Your brother is asking for you."
All at once, Sy-on's mood dropped. "Tsk, I'll be right there."
"B-but your pen... "
"Whatever, I can just get a new one made anyway." He stalked off, not even sparing a glance towards Anya.
Anya sat there dejected. Plan B was a failure too! All because she forgot Sy-on was a rich boy who had old men as his backup. She fought back tears, this was impossible. She looked up to see the old man staring at her.
The butler man stayed behind for a moment meeting her gaze before speaking. "Are you a friend of young master's?"
A friend? Friends were people who'd stick up for you and the people you have fun with. Sy-on always said they couldn’t be friends because he was super rich and she was only kinda-rich (there was a difference) She didn't really know Sy-on all that well, but-
"Yep." He may not see her as a friend (yet) and was a meanie sometimes, but he definitely was a friend where it counts. Like when he protected her from that deadly dodgeball, or when he invited her to the Sy-on party, or like how he was still talking to her even though he started talking to less people nowadays.
"I see." The man clears his throat. "Well, regardless, I would ask you to go easy on him. The young master has… a heavy burden to bear on his shoulders. I would have wished for him to at least enjoy his time here at Eden but alas."
Anya didn't know what to say. She remembered all the times Sy-on talked about his brother and father. About his mission to become an imperial scholar as quickly as possible to get his dad to treat him like his son. The way he would stay in the library alone and how those hours became longer and longer with each passing month. He always had Ewen and Emile to support him, but now he was withdrawing from them too. And apart from the time he invited them to the Desmond manor, she had never seen him as carefree before.
"If I don't become an imperial scholar, my dad would never give me the time of day, and I'll never-"
"I'm gonna ask him to the ball mister butler." Her heart swelled with determination. Plan B may be a bust, or maybe the whole mission had to be scrapped anyway. She had more important things to worry about, like sy-on boy's future. "We're gonna have fun if its the last thing we do!"
Plus, if Sy-on boy was happy, he wouldn't think about unnecessary things, like world domination. So sy-on happy=world happy. Which meant Anya was happy too! "I'm gonna make Sy-on boy happy forever!"
Mister butler stared at her, his eyes widened. What amazing resolve, he thought. As expected of the girl the young master speaks of so favorably.
Anya thanked him and set off to find Sy-on.
The only problem was… she didn't really know where to find him. Mister butler said his brother was looking for him, and since his brother was staying at the dorms, she needed to go there too? But girls weren't allowed in the boys dormi-toey.
Wait, she remembered what Ewen had said about Damian living on the second floor overlooking the garden. Maybe she could do something to encourage him to ask her out. The best hint ever.
She still had to prepare a few things though, still! Operation: Sy-on boy’s happiness was a go-go.
*
Meanwhile, Damian was having a really bad day. Not only did he bomb his own chemistry revision plans, Demetrius also decided to be a jerk and ruin his day by talking to him directly instead of pretending like he didn’t exist.
"How are you Damian?"
"You see me literally every day, what do you think?" That’s a lie, Demetrius rarely had any free time to talk to his shadow of a little brother.
Demetrius sighed, "I'm worried about you, you know? Housemaster says you barely leave your room anymore." Demetrius was looking at him with what definitely was pity, Damian didn't bother checking because he wouldn't be able to tell for sure anyway. Demetrius was just unreadable like that.
"Damian, you-" Demetrius sighed, "You don't have to try so hard anymore-"
"Look, I'm fine" His face burned with shame, he didn't need Demetrius to see how hard he'd been pushing himself just so he could get scraps of recognition.
Demetrius was silent again. He hated that even more. "The Eden charity ball is next friday." Demetrius changed the topic, just like he always does when things get too uncomfortable. Damian wanted this conversation over with already.
"Yeah."
"Alright, we can go together as the Desmonds."
Wait what? "You can't be serious"
"Damian"
If he went with Demetrius, that would be a surefire way to get shunted into the sidelines like a piece of broken porcelain. It was always like this. People would see Demetrius and only Demetrius. And now that his father was in custody, people would look at both of them in pity. But since Demetrius was perfect at everything, Damian would be the only one getting all the pitiful stares.
"No, I'm going with someone else."
"Damian, you'd need a legal guardian with you."
"Yeah, that's why I have Jeeves. Besides, I have a date Demetrius, don't use me as a coverup just because you can't get one."
There was silence, and he dared to meet his brother's eyes, only to find him… smiling?
"Alright alright, you didn't need to resort to insults, little brother."
"Ugh, can I go now?"
"Kids these days are so fickle,"
"Demetrius, you're literally sixteen, shut up." He was being disrespectful for sure, but Damian was really really tired.
"Well, have fun with your date!" He chirped. What a weirdo. Damian could never read his mood, one second he sounded like his father, now he sounded like a normal older brother again. Why was his brother better than him in every aspect anyway, who gave him the right? He stalked off to his dorms.
"Oh, and Damian,"
Despite himself, he stopped. "What?"
"I meant it, yeah? Don't be too harsh on yourself anymore. Big bro's got it all under control." That was a lie. Demetrius wasn’t doing too well himself. Damian knew how difficult it was managing things after his father’s scandal.
What he didn't know was that it was that specific sentiment that left Damian feeling utterly helpless and useless.
"Okay."
Damian was exhausted. All he wanted to do was lie down. Preferably in a bed, or any horizontal surface really. Maybe he could think about the implications of saying that he had a date before realizing that said date did not in fact exist.
But man, he was tired. So tired that he didn't even notice the blur of pink rushing towards him before it was too late.
"Ow! What's your problem!" This was the second time in his lifetime that he'd collided with Forger in a painful way, but he was honestly too tired to care anymore. Was seven years old too early for coffee? He pushed off the ground.
"Sy-on!" her cheeks were red and, wait, was she angry at him? The audacity of this girl, he should be the one angry at her for bumping into him. But again, he was too tired to care. Then he remembered the big issue and decided to solve both problems as fast as possible.
"Say Anya, you can keep the pen if you go as my partner to the ball."
"Wha?" For once, Anya forger was speechless. Damian wanted to laugh, but his eyes were barely keeping it together. Just get this over with and deal with it in the morning.
"Yeah, so do you wanna go or not?"
There were precious few seconds before the girl spoke up again. If Damian were more conscious he’d probably be happy to see her signature grin.
"Yep, I get peanuts too, right?"
"Sure, whatever."
"And we can ride in a fancy white carriage?"
"Uh huh."
*
Hehe mission accomplished, Anya was super proud of her achievement. Sy-on boy actually asked her out! And that made something in her chest flutter for some reason. Especially when he smiled at her when he walked away. Sy-on had a really nice smile.Her stomach felt jittery which meant she was probably starving now. She skipped ahead to the waiting area. When she gets home, she's gonna treat herself to a jar of peanut butter and papa's cookies as a job well done.
He must have really liked her work for him to ask her out instantly. Maybe she should consider a career as an artist.
*
When Damian woke up, he felt refreshed. Surprisingly more like himself than usual. Why was he so happy and fluttery? His chest felt tight and he could burst from excitement? He thought idly while stretching out the sleepiness. He went out to get some water and in the corner of his eye, he could see everyone smiling at him. Some people-Ivan Berlinksy? patted his back for some reason.
Well, whatever the case, he needed to clear some things up with Demet-
Wait, why was everyone looking at him funny? He decided to open the blinds from his windows to see-
A hideous cardboard drawing of two people (wait, is that supposed to be me or a tree?) holding hands. He recognized the other person with the signature pink hair and horns and the horror dawned on him.
HE ASKED FORGER OUT TO THE BALL, HE TOLD DEMETRIUS HE WAS GOING TO THE BALL AND NOW HE WAS GOING WITH FORGER AAA
But despite this, he couldn't find it in him to muster up anger, or even embarrassment. He was going with Anya, which made his chest hurt and made him feel like his stomach was about to burst open. Anya drew this for him to remind him? like he would ever forget (Nevermind the fact that he did a few minutes ago) She was so.. so cute.
Nevertheless, he ran to the yard and smuggled the monstrosity to his bedroom as fast as possible before anyone else saw. Sure he could throw the cursed object to the incinerator, or he could hold it over Anya's head that his art skills were way superior. It wasn't like he wanted to take a closer look, not at all!
*
"HE DID WHAT?!" Becky squealed as loud as possible, "Anya, you really are amazing!"
Anya huffed her chest. "Yeah Becky." She was just done reporting to Becky about how she won over sy-on with her stellar (hehe stella-r) artwork. Starlight Anya strikes again.
"Please let me help you with your dress! Oh we can match you with his suit! But it shouldn't be too gaudy, you have to dance after all."
"Wait, dresses and suits?" Anya's head was spinning, "I thought we were going in our uniforms?"