Chapter Text
Gyrus walked through the hallways of the school campus, of course, it was speed walking since he was about to be late on the first day of his junior year in high school. His first day, and he was going to be late. If only he hadn’t stopped to check out that nightmarish thing in the alleyway… It would be common sense to leave something like that alone, especially if it was in an alleyway, but Gyrus couldn’t focus on that when he was trying to get to class on time.
As he closed in on the classroom door, he could see someone poke their head out from the doorway--it was supposedly his US history teacher, Mr. Grant, checking for anyone else before closing the door.
"Wait! Don’t close it yet!”
"Well get in here before the bell rings!" His teacher called out.
"Right!" Gyrus said as he walked at the speed of mach one through the door just as the bell rang. He let out a small sigh of relief while he walked through the classroom and took a random empty seat--toward the back of the class since he wasn’t particularly fond of being in the range of eyesight. Unfortunately, he had picked one that was right next to a tall high schooler with a nasty scar vertically across his left eye--and with stunning cobalt blue eyes if Gyrus said so himself-- who crossed his arms and gave him a look as soon as Gyrus sat down. Gyrus gave him a shy wave when Mr. Grant quieted the class to take attendance.
Not wanting to disturb his new desk neighbor, Gyrus looked the other way toward the window.
The school parking lot lay outside, surrounded by trees and lush undergrowth. For a moment Gyrus could’ve sworn that he saw the shadows of the trees move about like inky tentacles, but when he blinked they returned to normal. Maybe I’m just tired…?
“Gyrus Axalei!” Mr. Grant called out, startling him.
“Oh, h-here!” He said, voice cracking at the worst possible time. He heard a few stifled laughs around the room. Gyrus sighed, putting his head down on his desk; he could already tell the rest of his day was going to go horribly.
Then he heard a name that stood out.
“Kodya Karevic!”
His deskmate raised a hand and said “Here,” catching Gyrus’ gaze focused on him. Gyrus quickly turned to look at something else and found his desk to be particularly interesting at that moment.
As roll call ended, Gyrus felt his right forearm burn as he reached for his backpack.
“Agh!" He yelped, startling Kodya. "What the…?!” Gyrus tried to discreetly roll up his sleeve, revealing a ragged black burn mark running up his arm.
He was never going to be able to pay attention to class while that was there. Where did this even come from? Did it appear after I ran away from that thing…? Did it do something to me? What kind of creature leaves a burn like this? He felt a tap on his shoulder from Kodya, startling him out of his thoughts.
"Uh, that's a really bad burn, you should go to the nurse," Kodya said, sounding concerned. Gyrus quickly rolled his sleeve back up, feeling his arm burn and sting in the process which made him wince. He didn’t want to make a big deal out of it, but he wasn’t going to last the whole day.
"Don't worry about it," he nervously chuckled. Unfortunately for him, the teacher seemed to notice their debate.
"Is there something more important going on, Mr. Axalei? Mr. Karevic?" Mr. Grant said with a raised eyebrow. Gyrus shook his head but winced again when he set his arm on his desk. The pains getting worse, but I'll have to deal with it later. Lunch might be a good time to call it quits-- his thoughts were cut off when Kodya stood up.
"Gyrus has an injury on his arm, could I take him to the nurse?" Kodya said while taking Gyrus' other arm with a surprisingly gentle, but firm grip--it still caught him off guard. A few murmurs went around the room.
“Alright, I’ll give you a pass,” the teacher said while he grabbed a slip and took out a pen. Gyrus protested, however, Kodya didn’t let go of his arm.
They’re going to ask me what happened, but how am I supposed to respond? Tell them that a weird creature left this on my arm after I stupidly approached it to see what it was? Anxiety swelled up in his chest as he tried to think up a quick excuse.
To Gyrus’ dismay, Kodya brought him to the front of the class. He felt everyone’s eyes on him. On both of them.
“Really, I’m ok, you don’t have to write me a pass.” Gyrus tried to wave it off, but Kodya didn’t look a single bit convinced. A drip of sweat rolled down his cheek.
“You look worse than you did just a few minutes ago, stop lying,” Kodya said as he gave Gyrus a stern look.
“Kodya, be nice now,” the teacher scolded him.
“You say that, but look at his arm, it looks seriously messed up.” Kodya reached for the burned arm, but Gyrus pulled it away from him.
“It’s fine, it just hurts a little. Mr. Grant nor the class needs to see it.” Gyrus let out a shaky exhale. Kodya let go of his other arm, making Gyrus realize how warm his hand was; he felt the warmth of it disappear immediately.
“Enough, you two. Gyrus, here’s a pass to go to the nurse. Kodya, you know your way around campus, could you walk with him?” Mr. Grant said as he put the pen back on his desk. Kodya nodded, taking Gyrus’ other arm again with the same gentle grip as before.
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As they walked along the hallways to the nurse’s office, Gyrus stumbled a few times, not realizing how tired he’d gotten. Kodya slowed to a stop in front of him, looking back at him with worried creases next to his eyebrows.
“You look awfully pale, you holding up?” Kodya said while staring at Gyrus. However, he quickly changed his focus to the window behind him. Gyrus could’ve sworn he saw a red tinge on Kodya’s cheeks, but he was unsure.
“Yeah... I’m okay, just tired…” His eyelids grew heavy the longer he stood. The stinging and aching grew worse by the minute. He let out a small grunt of pain.
“You sure…?” He sounded uncertain. Gyrus, annoyed, forced himself to keep walking. Kodya sighed and pinched his temples.
“Look, I’m just concerned. When you first saw the wound you were at least fine, but now you’re shaking and flinching whenever your right arm comes to touch anything, your breath is shaky, and you’re turning pale. I’d say those are signs that you need help,” Kodya said matter-of-factly, surprising Gyrus.
“You were paying that much attention…?”
“It’s easy to tell by how much you’re shaking.”
“Right…” He trailed off when he caught something in the corner of his eye. All of the aches and pains were forgotten. Gyrus could only feel fear.
“What? What are you looking at?” Kodya looked around, seemingly at nothing.
Can he not see it?
An inky black… thing… crawled right outside the window. It seemed to whisper to him.
“Hello, Knowledge Seeker, it’s been quite some time…”
Somehow the presence felt… familiar…? Like something from long ago…
...
“Gyrus…?”
...
“Gyrus..!”
...
“Gyrus!” A familiar voice snapped him back to reality.
His legs wobbled as he reached for a tether to keep his balance. Unfortunately, he ended up grabbing Kodya's arm--which was surprisingly firm--with both hands, making him cry out in pain. He felt hands on his shoulders. Gyrus looked up to meet the same stunning cobalt eyes from earlier. A calm wave blew over him as he relaxed his shoulders. Why do I feel so calm around you? He thought to himself.
"What?" A faint red tinge made its way to Kodya's cheeks.
"Wait,” the realization hit Gyrus, “did I say that out loud?" Gyrus said, red with embarrassment.
Before there was any further debate, another inky tendril snaked its way across the wall, its icy aura chilled him to the bone. His teeth started chattering. He squeezed his eyes shut, hoping it would be over soon.
“Gyrus?! Holy shit, you’re freezing! What the hell?!” Kodya hurriedly stripped his jacket off and wrapped it around Gyrus.
“T-T-Thank y-you…” Gyrus managed. The jacket was incredibly warm, enough to bring him back from his prior ice-cold state. When he opened his eyes, all of it was gone: both the freezing atmosphere and the inky black shadow. He frowned, unable to process what had happened nor why the presence felt so familiar.
“Yeah, I’m taking you to the nurse so we can get you home. Not even a hospital’s going to be able to figure out what just happened.”