Chapter Text
The kids were the first to come back to normal.
Astra had just put them to bed when she heard a panicked yelp.
She had never moved faster as she bolted into the room to see Ana hiding behind the twin-cot she and Jake had just been in, covering her eyes as Jake lay sprawled on the ground, staring at the ceiling.
“Uh, you two okay?”
“PUT SOME PANTS ON.” Ana hissed, hand still clasped tightly over her eyes as she held a blanket around herself.
“I was a baby.”
“You were.” Astra confirmed.
“I threw up on Mara.”
“You did.”
“I shat on Alexis.”
“You did.”
Jake’s face finally broke from the concerning blankness into an expression of anguish. He threw one arm over his eyes, the other remaining on his stomach, hand holding a baby blanket over his privates.
“Just end me now…” He groaned, face bright red wherever his arm failed to cover. Oh wow, it was spreading down his neck to his shoulders, Astra was slightly concerned about the health of his extremities. Surely that amount of blood in one place deprived other areas?
“Would you like some clothes?”
“Yes he would.” Ana turned to, presumably, glare, at just above Jake, hand still blocking her sight. “And I would too.”
“Gimme a sec.” Astra backed out of the room and hurried toward the kids’ rooms, suppressing cackles the entire way.
- - - - - - -
The next morning, on day three of the whole shrinking fiasco, Kayla and Heath both walked into the common room like nothing was amiss. Astra glared suspiciously at them, only to receive an embarrassed wave from Heath and a shit-eating grin from Kayla.
Oh she definitely remembered.
- - - - - - -
As the day continued, more of their friends began to grow.
Tayrun reverted while in the cat room with Kayla, resulting in a brilliantly red-faced Kayla stumbling from the room to grab his clothes, hissing at Astra to not look in. So of course, she did. Tayrun waved shyly from where he had a pillow on his lap and three very pleased cats brushing against his bare chest and stomach. Astra just smirked, waved back and continued on her way to the kitchen.
Kate just showed up as an adult at some point and refused to elaborate on when she’d reverted. When Alexis tried to press, she got a jelly pack thrown in her face for her troubles. Then, the pinkette had grabbed Mara by the arm and dragged her toward the ice baths.
Sterling reverted near dinner, having woke from a nap back in his adult body. He’d hoped to just run to his room (it was a few steps away for goodness sake!), but, unfortunately found himself face to face with Mara and Kate, who just stared at him as he quickly covered himself with the door. With a shake of her head, Kate pulled Mara back around the corner they’d just walked past and let Sterling duck across the hall to get into his room.
“Why was he napping in Alexis’ room?”
Kate shrugged in response, continuing toward the kitchen, hand still intertwined with Mara’s as they walked.
Vasilia reverted that night. Astra found this out by grabbing a drink from the kitchen and turning to find two pinpricks staring at her from across the table. Slowly, she opened her soda and took a sip. Vasilia bit into the sandwich she’d made herself. They backed away into opposite halls, maintaining eye contact until the dark pulled them from each other’s sights.
Vasilia went to bed wondering why the hell Astra’s eyes glow in the dark.
- - - - - -
“You tried to bite my fucking arm off!”
“I was trying to return to canon!”
“YOU TRIED TO BITE MY FUCKING ARM OFF!”
Astra just left a set of Champagne’s clothes outside Benny’s door and quietly backed away.
- - - - - - -
Dresden still wasn’t back to normal a week later.
He had at least calmed down, but was definitely getting antsy. So, obviously, he decided to take matters into his own seven-year-old hands.
“I wanna go back to normal.”
“Don’t we all.” He glared at the overseer across from him.
“Please turn me back.” The overseer just grinned at him.
“No can do kiddo. You’re return is totally based on your age. How old were you? Seventy? That sounds right given you’re seven right now… or maybe older?” A dark grin spread across their face. “I wonder how long it takes for immortals to revert?”
Dresden knocked his chair over as he stormed out.