Spring

Everyone began to feel the effect of spring in late March and it was the most beautiful thing to have happened to them after all the losses they encountered. Spring had come and had driven the foul scent of death and loss hovering in the air, the feeling of pain in the hearts of the staff and students of the École de magie and welcomed the pleasant scent of growing plants, the warmth of kindness and friendship the students learned to embrace. New factions of friends were beginning to form and love continued to spread throughout the whole school, it was almost like winter never happened and those losses weren't encountered. It was a new beginning for everybody especially Claire who began to hang out more frequently with Peter. They went everywhere together alongside Alice who was looking more like a third wheel.

"It'll be spring break soon I was wondering where you guys will spend the holiday," Claire asked Peter and Alice who were munching on their pastries at their usual spot in the garden.

"There's no place we can go, with the Demon realm being a hostile territory for us we can't particularly go back there so we'll just be staying back at the school," Peter said with his mouth half full with the delicious pastry.

"Ughhh!" Claire said, "I don't think I can stay back here for that long".

"Why not? it's been pretty eventful and anything but boring" Alice said.

"Well you know with everything that happened with Professor Hugo none of us could go back for the Christmas break and when we thought things were going back to normal there was the issue with the dark wizard in February so I'd like to take this spring holiday to go see my parents and little brother," Claire said.

"Ooh, that means you're going back for the family then, and not just to escape this place?" Alice asked.

"Well, Peter's here so I would've loved to stay back and you also," Claire said smiling and pinching Peter's cheek. Alice seeing the whole thing began to feel uncomfortable as she struggled with the sight.

"I'll be headed back to the cottage now," Alice said coldly.

"Ok sure," Peter said focused on removing Claire's hands from his face. Alice left them and walked back to the cottage looking sad, she thought of both her friends and how happy they were and tried to feel happy for the both of them but she couldn't bring herself to smile.

"I wonder what she has that I don't," Alice said as she began to stroke her hair as she walked down the path. "What I'm I even saying," Alice said as she hit her forehead and smiled.

"That would be all on today's lesson on the fiery Dragon curse," Alice said as the bell rang for the end of the class. She stayed back to compile the lists of students who were excelling in her lessons so she could hand it over to the principal. With each passing day the fear that the barrier would somehow break kept rising in the heart of every member of the council and the people of the magic world, so preparations were being sped up. The exceptional students in each class were sent out to parts of the magic world in France to educate people so that everyone would be armed enough to put up a fight when the time came. Alice sat down, focused on the list till she was distracted by a knock on her desk.

"Hi," Adrien said.

"Ooh, Adrien how are you?" Alice asked.

"Well I'm standing close to you so I'm fine," he said and they both laughed.

"Do you need help with something?" Alice asked focused on her list.

"Well, I was wondering if we could have coffee at the bakery just outside school tomorrow?" Adrien said anxiously. Alice raised her head from the list she was partially focused on and began staring at him. She usually practiced with Peter and Claire on Saturdays but with the recent developments, she was sure they wouldn't notice if she wasn't there.

"Well I can't promise you anything, so tomorrow we'll see," Alice said smiling. After Adrien left she stopped what she was doing and disappeared in thought. She thought about what she was going to wear if she was going to fix her hair and if she would wear a little bit of makeup, as she got deeper in thought she just stopped and banged her head on the desk and said to herself "what are you even thinking Alice, and besides even though we're the same age I'm his teacher so isn't it going to look very weird?" she asked herself and smiled but deep down she knew it didn't mean anything and she would honor the invite.

The day had come and Alice was looking brightly dressed, more than she would look on a normal day at least.

"Hmm, Alice are you going on a date" Melissa teased.

"No it's nothing like that, I'll just be having coffee at the bakery with Adrien, he's in my class," Alice said smiling. Just then Sarah and Peter walked into the living room and saw Alice.

"Someone's looking rather stunning," Sarah said as she rushed over to adjust Alice's hair.

"Common you guys, just stop with the teasing," Alice said. She was particularly expecting Peter to compliment her but he just greeted them and left hurriedly without giving any attention to Alice.

"What's wrong with him?" Melissa asked.

"I don't know, maybe he doesn't feel too well," Sarah said. Alice who was in a really good mood became dull, she didn't respond to the compliments her mother gave her while fixing her hair and just proceeded to leave without giving her mother their traditional see you later kiss.

"Trouble in paradise?" Melissa asked.

"I don't even know with kids these days," Sarah said and they both left for the council building.

Alice met Adrien at the entrance to the school building and after exchanging pleasantries they used the portal which was only open on Saturdays and left for the bakery.

"You're looking rather pale Alice, is everything alright?" Adrien asked.

"No it's nothing, I'm fine just feeling a little stressed, you know with trouble from the demon realm lurking it's hard to just focus on feeling happy sometimes" Alice answered.

"I get you and it's the same for most of us, it's actually what the students talk about sometimes at the dorm, but I guess we should try to feel happy sometimes without fear looming in our minds," Adrien said as he reached out for Alice's hand but she quickly retracted her hand and grabbed her coffee cup on the table.

"I guess you're right Adrien," Alice said sipping her coffee.

"What's it like in the demon realm?" Adrien asked.

"Well before the Demon Lord Vermont went mad, it was a nice place. there are no countries and different continents like you have here, it's just one big country with different districts" Alice responded.

"Are the people friendly like you are or is everyone just like the Demon Lord?" Asked Adrien.

"Well you've met my mom and Melissa so...., but you should know not everyone shares the same ideas with the Demon Lord," Alice said, "the people there are lovely and peacemaking but you know in society there's always bound to be conflict".

"That's such a relief. Maybe someday after everything passes, we could go for coffee in the Demon realm?" Adrien asked.

"Well I'd love that but there aren't any coffee shops in the Demon realm I must inform you," Alice said smiling.

"Then what do you guys even drink over there?" Adrien said as he giggled.

"Well, there's black tea, dragon brews, coconut mix...." Alice was still trying to explain before she got interrupted.

"Coconut mix? like you guys drink coconut water as coffee?" Adrien said laughing.

"The fact that you're not familiar with it doesn't make it weird," Alice said this time more seriously.

"I apologize I apologize," Adrien said as he tried to restrain himself from laughing. "What about the food, how's it like?"

"It's not very different from the food served here," Alice said. "I'm sure you don't know but all races were together till conflict made them split into three dimensions, so most of the stuff you see here is also in the Demon and Angelic realm".

"Wow, I didn't know that," Adrien said.

"There's so much we don't know about the three dimensions and they're better kept that way," Alice said as they continued enjoying their coffee and pastry and engaged in further discussion.

Peter got to the room in the school building used for training and he saw Claire waiting for him but she wasn't alone. A friend of hers who wanted to get to meet Peter accompanied her. They exchanged Pleasantries and began practicing on the training golems.

"I'm Marie by the way," she said to Peter who was busy with the golem.

"Ooh I'm sorry I didn't ask your name," Peter said.

"It's no problem, you're so good with the spells I wonder if you could maybe teach me more spells, not just curses," said Marie.

"Sure thing, but aren't you in Alice's class?" Peter asked.

"Yeah I am" she responded.

"Then I believe she'll be better equipped to teach you. You see she and Melissa taught me most of the things I know" Peter said.

"How did you get to meet her?" Marie asked.

"Well after my mom died last year I somehow managed to escape to the Demon realm and she was the first person I saw," Peter said. "She was so beautiful with her long brown hair and big red eyes, her smile that always manages to melt my heart anytime it comes on and her kindness and ferocity it was just so magical, I took an instant liking to her and since then we've been really good friends". While Peter was speaking his face lit red and his eyes began to become teary as he talked about Alice it was the only thing he seemed to talk about to Marie before Claire who was focused on defeating her golem cut in.

"Hey Peter, come help me out here" she bellowed from across the room.

"ooh, sure thing," Peter said and left to assist Claire. Marie who wanted to know Peter more just ended up knowing more about Alice which to her was quite frustrating.

Later that day Peter, Claire, and Marie after training were taking a stroll down the field and observing the new plants that were now filling the ground and talking about their experiences. As they walked towards the cottage they saw Alice and Adrien walking over to meet them.

"Alice!" Claire yelled excitedly and went over to hug her.

"Marie, why are you out here?" Adrien asked.

"We were training back at the practice room after we finished we decided to take a stroll," Marie said. "And you where'd you go?" she asked

"Well, Alice and I went to the bakery just outside school to get coffee" Adrien responded with a smile.

"Peter this is Adrien he's my twin brother," Marie said and Adrien went over to shake Peter's hand.

"I'm sure Mom must've made dinner, why don't you all come in and join us," Peter said.

"That'll be nice," Claire said and they all left for the cottage. Everyone was happy and jolly as they talked and enjoyed their dinner but even though Alice too was also happy and enjoyed their evening she wasn't comfortable with the fact that Peter spent the entire day with Claire.