Chapter Text
“So I did all this work to fix the mechanism, and then the doors snap closed out of nowhere! And then who do I see? Bennett.”
Sometimes a part of Bennett’s bad luck was overhearing conversations he wasn’t meant to. He rubbed his arm and stood next to the wall, knowing Royce and Jack were discussing him just around the corner.
“We were trapped in there for hours waiting for help.” Royce groaned. “We did get out, which is better than it could have ended up, but after all that time and effort we left with nothing and I know who’s to blame.”
Bennett winced.
“But do you want to know the worst thing about being around Bennett?”
Royce’s snarl made Bennett’s chest twist. He should walk away but his feet stayed glued to the ground and his ear close to the corner. His morbid curiosity wanted to know how much worse it could get. He scrunched his eyes closed, ready for whatever Royce said.
“I know that he’s got it worse.”
Bennett opened his eyes and touched his chest.
“The Honorary Knight pointed out that his bad luck isn’t his fault, and they were right,” Royce said, sighing. “Bennett has to live with that bad luck. There’s no escape from Benny’s Adventure Team for him.”
Bennett didn’t want to escape.
He wanted his Team to work.
“Did you know he was happy to see me?” Royce asked. Bennett wanted to round the corner so badly to see his face, but he knew better than to interrupt or bring his bad luck closer. “I literally left his team without telling him. I stopped showing up to commissions, knowing full well he’d be stuck going alone into dangerous situations, and he still thought we were friends.”
“Bennett does have a bad habit of being overly optimistic to compensate,” Jack said. “Well, it’s either optimism or serious denial.”
“It was hard to tell, but he sounded sincere enough that I felt bad for leaving his team,” Royce said. A thump and the sound of clinking metal meant he’d taken off his pack. “He even shared his food to try and make amends, but his bad luck struck again and I passed out from food poisoning. There’s no winning.”
Bennett needed to apologize about that, too. The Traveler had tried to tell him something was wrong with his provisions, but Bennett hadn’t believed him. His bad luck almost always left his food alone, save for a burn here or there! Bennett’s cooking was one of his strong points! Everyone loved his eggs and Razor ate everything he made.
“Look out!”
Bennett turned his head up in time to see Amber crash into the stand next to him. Her glider smacked him in the chest, knocking him over. He tumbled around the corner and landed on his back with his head at Royce and Jack’s feet.
“Bennett?” Royce’s face twisted in guilt. “Were you listening?”
His bad luck struck again.
“Oh, no! Are you okay?” Amber asked. She picked up the pieces of her broken glider and held out her hand to help Bennett off the ground. “I don’t know what happened! One minute I was fine and the next one of my glider wings had snapped off.”
Twice.
Bennett’s bad luck had struck twice at the same time—possibly three times if he counted overhearing the conversation to start with. That might be a new record for him.
“It’s okay,” Bennett said. “Accidents happen.”
“If you’re sure.”
The Outrider frowned at her broken glider and held the pieces under her arm as she walked toward the Knights of Favonius Headquarters. Bennett made a mental note to himself to slip her some Mora later to help cover the cost to fix it.
“We should go inside and get that looked at,” Royce said. Bennett sent him a questioning look and Royce pointed at his arm. “You’re bleeding.”
So he was.
“I didn’t even notice,” Bennett said. He laughed and inspected the small cut on his upper arm. He really hadn’t noticed it and could barely feel a sting. “That is one benefit to my bad luck! My pain tolerance is super high.”
“That isn’t a good thing,” Jack said under his breath. Bennett heard him, of course, but pretended that he didn’t. Jack spoke up louder and fixed his pack. “I’ll leave you two to it. I need to meet up with Stanley at the Angel’s Share.”
“Bye!” Bennett said, waving. Once the other adventurer left, he turned to Royce. “Thanks for offering to help, but I can take care of a little scrape like this myself. I’m pretty sure I’ve got bandages leftover from the last time I saw Barbara.”
“No, I’ll help,” Royce said. His shoulders were low and his smile looked…odd. It was a weird mix of fond and sad, and Bennett wasn’t sure how he felt about it. “I wanted to talk with you, anyway.”
“You did?”
“I really shouldn’t and I’ll probably regret it,” Royce said, forcing a brighter smile. “But I did have something to tell you.”
“Okay then!”
Bennett followed Royce inside the guild’s main building, wary but he still clung to a spark of hope.
“Razor!” Bennet crashed into Razor’s cave, tripping as he rushed inside. The boy fell on his chest with a small cry, but got up just as quickly. Razor had gotten used to his human friend’s clumsiness in the time that he’d known him. Bennett grinned so bright that Razor’s mouth hurt looking at him. “You won’t believe it!”
Razor waited for Bennett to keep talking.
“Benny’s Adventure Team is back up to two members!” Bennett threw his fist in the air and jumped. “Officially! It’s on the books and everything!”
“That is good,” Razor said, judging by Bennett’s excitement. “Yes?”
“It’s awesome!” Bennett exclaimed. “And best of all, it’s not even a stranger or a rookie! It’s one of my old teammates! He came back!”
Razor nodded as a reply. He knew very little about Bennett’s associations with the Adventurers’ Guild, outside that he was a member and they left him alone a lot. It was easier to agree with what he said concerning them than to ask questions.
Some human things were far too complicated.
“I want you to meet him!” Bennett said, putting his hands on his hips with another bright grin. It crinkled the skin around his eyes, drawing more attention to the pretty green irises. “It’ll be good for you two to know each other in case we go an on an adventure together!”
“Okay.”
Andrius wanted Razor to make more human friends, so he could start there.
“Great!” Bennett walked backwards to the cave entrance. “I’ll go get him! Wait right there.”
Bennett left in a flash, sliding down the mount that led up to Razor’s home. He weaved through the Wolvendom trees, only tripping twice, before he stopped at the bottom of the hill. A man waited in the green outfit he saw many travelers wear and greeted Razor’s friend when he stopped. He followed Bennett up the hill, giving Razor a better look at the new stranger.
The man was older and taller than Bennett with brown hair. He looked like a nervous rabbit the way he glanced around the trees as they walked. The worried frown did not look pleased, but the man only wore it when Bennett wasn’t looking at him.
The two met Razor at his cave entrance and he sniffed. The stranger smelled like Bennett.
“Razor, this is Royce! Royce, this is Razor!” Bennett introduced the two and then laughed. He crossed his arms and held his head up. “How about that! Both of your names start with R! I didn’t even realize before now.”
“It’s nice to meet you,” Royce said. His eyes looked scared, but he sounded polite enough. The smile was forced. “Bennett has told me a lot about you.”
“Bennett talks a lot,” Razor confirmed. He paused—oh, he was supposed to say something else first. “Hello.”
“This is going to be so cool,” Bennett said, hooking his elbows with Razor and Royce’s arms. “We are going to have the best adventures! They’re going to be so good not even my bad luck is going to mess with them!”
Royce shook his head, but he did smile a little at Bennett.
“I mean it!” Bennett said, letting go of Razor’s arm. He turned to Royce and hugged him, squeezing tight enough that he lifted the larger man off the ground. “I am so happy you came back!”
“Oof!” Royce said, patting Bennet’s arms. He wriggled, but couldn’t dislodge himself from Bennet’s encompassing hold. A scared weakling. Royce huffed. “Easy there. You’re stronger than you look, you know?”
Bennett giggled and set Royce down. He didn’t let go, though and held Royce’s waist. “Oops. Sorry!”
Is that why the stranger smelled like Bennett?
Razor watched Bennett chat with Royce, the other nodded and saying short words to keep the conversation going. Bennett continued to smile and wave his arms, talking about all the things they would do together in the Adventurers’ Guild.
With or without Razor.
A weird feeling grew in his chest, like a sharp tugging. The last time he’d felt it, Razor had watched his Lupical snuggling together in a way that he couldn’t. They had a bond that he could not experience being only half wolf.
Would Bennett and Royce have something he couldn’t because he was only half human?
“I think we should celebrate!” Bennett exclaimed. He gave Razor a thumb’s up and put his hand on his hip. “What do you think about camping out tonight? I brought enough eggs for everyone!”
Razor nodded. “Like Bennett’s cooking.”
“I hope you don’t mind if I make my own,” Royce said, his hands over his stomach. “I’m not sure I’ve completely recovered from the last time.”
“No worries!” Bennett said, scratching the back of his hair. “I get it.”
“That’s a relief.” Royce glanced at Razor and grabbed the straps of his backpack. “I guess it’s the three of us then.”
“Yeah!” Bennett turned and ran down the hill again by himself, leaving Razor and Royce alone on the hill. “I’ll find us a great spot! You guys get some wolfhooks for juice!”
“I have no idea where he gets his energy,” Royce said, exhaling. He looked at Razor and asked, “Is he like this all the time with you, too?”
Razor didn’t answer and followed Bennett down the hill. It was rude, but he didn’t feel like talking to Royce for some reason. He did not need him as a friend.
He’d be fine with just Bennett.
“Okay then,” Royce said behind him. “Looks like it’s going to be a long night.”
Razor agreed.