Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

"Isaac! Wake up, we're gonna be late to drop you off at school!"

Isaac snaps awake after hearing his mom yelling to get his attention. He realizes he slept through his alarm.

"Oh, crap! Mom, what time is it?"

"It's 7:00! School starts in 45 minutes!"

"Oh, god. Hold on, I'll be out in a minute!" 

Isaac quickly changes out of his pajamas and into his normal clothes. He picks up his messenger bag and his unopened school supplies and puts them into the bag.

"Here, take this toast with some jam on it. You can eat it in the car while I drive you to school."

"Ok! Thanks, Mom! Is Dad already at work?"

"Yes, he left an hour ago. You're going to be ok at school, right?" This annoys Isaac a little bit, considering he wasn't the one who would cause problems at his old schools, but usually was on the receiving end of those things.

"Yes, Mom. You know I don't cause problems at school.", Isaac points out anxiously.

"Ok. Are you ready? We need to get going if you want to be on time."

"Yeah, let's get going." The car ride passes without much conversation between Isaac and his mother. Isaac takes the time as they leave the house to make sure he has everything he needs from the school supply list.

"Ok, Isaac! We're here! Have a good day at school! Dad will pick you up once school gets out."

"Ok, Mom! I'll see you when I get home! Love you!"

"Love you too, Isaac." As Isaac's mother pulls away from the drop-off zone, two students with brown and blonde hair, respectively, run up to him.

"Hey, are you the new student?", the brown-haired one asks.

"Yep! My name's Isaac, what's yours?"

"I'm Bethany, and this is Magdalene, but she only lets her parents call her that. Just call her Maggy."

"...Hi. Nice to meet you." Maggy seems nervous about meeting Isaac, but Isaac is just as nervous.

"Anyway, we're here to show you around the school. Follow us."

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"So, Isaac. part of my duty as Student Government President is to give new students a tour of the school.", says Bethany, without even a shred of humility.

"Wait, you're part of the student government? Bethany, that's amazing!", Isaac says.

"Uh, Beth... I have a test I need to study for later today. I know you wanted me to tag along with you, but I really need to go to homeroom.", Maggy interjects.

"Oh, you need to go? Ok, Maggy. I'll see you at lunch." Bethany waves Maggy goodbye and then proceeds to turn to Isaac. "Ok, Here's your schedule. You have homeroom with Mr. Smith in room 230."

"Thanks, Bethany. Let's go find my homeroom!" Isaac puts his schedule in the front of his binder. "Then, we can go look around."

Isaac and Bethany proceed to make some small talk on the way to homeroom, when Bethany notices someone in the hallway.

"OH! Hey, Polly, what's up?", Bethany exclaims.

"HELLO, BETHANY. HOW IS EVERYTHING GOING TODAY? WHO IS THIS WITH YOU?" Isaac is caught off guard by the clearly synthesized voice and robotic motions.

"Oh, this is Isaac! He's the new guy." Bethany turns to Isaac. "Isaac, this is Apollyon. He's a robot that one of my seniors made in the robotics class before they graduated. He's got AI and everything. Pretty advanced stuff. OH! Hey, watch this! Polly, do you have my English quiz study guide?"

"YES, I DO. ARE YOU IN NEED OF IT?"

"Yeah, can you get it for me?" Apollyon proceeds to pull Bethany's English study guide from a chest cavity that Isaac hadn't noticed before.

"Wow, that's so cool! You'll have to explain how that works to me some time, Bethany. Speaking of, I can see my homeroom just across the hall. I'm gonna go in and say hello to Mr. Smith really quick."

"Ok, Isaac. I'll see you in a couple minutes."

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"Hey, Bethany! I'm back. What did you want to show me next?"

"Oh, hey, Isaac! What's your first impression of your homeroom teacher?" 

"Well, he seems nice enough. Hopefully I'm not going to have as many problems as I did with my previous teachers."

"I'm sorry to hear that, Isaac. I hope things will be better here for you."

"Thanks, Bethany. I really appreciate that. So where to next?"

"Let's go check out the library next. We have a ton of books in there, to the point where the library is open to people who don't go here as well."

Isaac is caught off guard by that statement. "So they just let anyone waltz in there and check out books? That's impressive, not to mention risky."

"Yeah, I've heard some other students complaining about it. I've dealt with the book I wanted to read being checked out by some adult or something that doesn't even go here anymore, but I never really said anything."

After going through the library and finding a couple of books to give him ideas for a story to write, Isaac checks the books out. However, just as he's about to leave to go back to homeroom, the bell rings.

"Aw, crud. Bethany, can you show me where my first class is?"

"Yeah, I can do that. Show me your schedule really quick." Bethany and Isaac look over the schedule together, after which Bethany leads him to his first class of the day, Geometry II.

"Thanks, Bethany!", Isaac says nervously.

"No problem, Isaac. Hey, would you like to sit with me and Maggy at lunch? I think you two would get along splendidly."

"Sure! Thanks for that too, by the way." Isaac proceeds to enter the classroom, and is then greeted by his teacher.

"Oh, are you the new kid? I've been expecting you.", the teacher says in a welcoming tone of voice.

"Yeah, that's me. The name's Isaac. Nice to meet you!"

"Nice to meet you, Isaac. I'm Mr. Stewart. Now, we don't have assigned seating in this class, but we've only got one seat left. Could you go sit by Eve and Cain? Eve's the one with the black hair, and Cain's the one with the prosthetic on the other side of your desk."

"OI, MR. STEWART! I TOLD YOU NOT TO CALL ATTENTION TO MY PROSTHETIC!", Cain yells from the back of the classroom. Eve replies to him with a shushing noise.

"Sorry, Cain, but that's the one thing about you that stands out. You dress like just about every single 'Eden' in this school." 

"Y'know what? Point taken. Sorry, Mr. Stewart."

"Apology accepted, Cain. Please sit down, Isaac."

"Yes, sir." Isaac goes to his desk, as Mr. Stewart begins his lesson for the day. Isaac turns to his peer that he presumes is Eve. "Uh, Eve, was it?"

"Yeah, what's up?"

"Uh... I don't know how to say this without being rude, but why does seven-eighths of the class have the name 'Eden' along with white hair in various hairstyles?"

"Oh, there's a pretty good reason for that. They're all honoring a previous student of this school. None of their names are actually Eden, but they all just go by that to mess with the teachers. The original Eden was the person that built Apollyon, and graduated a few years back. He had a really strange genetic disorder that made his hair white. Everyone else's is dyed."

"That Eden's dead, by the way," Cain interjects. "Same genetic disorder took his life a year a-"

"Cain, SHUT UP. That's not true and you know it. Stop messing with the new kids." Eve turns back to Isaac. "You'll get used to his antics soon enough. He loves messing with new students. He's lucky he doesn't take it any further than this, otherwise he'd be in trouble for hazing."

"Dang, I almost believed him for a minute."

"You see, that's how he gets you. He acts so damn genuine about everything that it can catch you off guard. He calls it his 'Scottish charm'."

"Wait, he's Scottish? Well, that explains the accent."

"Yeah. Listen, we can talk more later, but I need to focus on this lesson. I'm not doing the best in this class, to be honest."

"Well, if you need help, I'd be happy to help you! I'm pretty good at math."

"Thanks. Isaac, was it? I'll put in a good word for you. Nothing bad is gonna happen to you on my watch. You and Cain are some of the few people who actually don't give me glares when they see me. I guess that's because of my sister, who was in the same grad year as Eden. She was a bit of a troublemaker."

"Yeah, most of the teachers called her sister Babs, as sort of a derogatory nickname.", Cain says. "I'd say more, but you should focus on the class, too. Eve could really use the help, and I'm not good at explaining things."

Isaac proceeds to start focusing more on the lesson.

Chapter Text

As Isaac gets into the line for lunch, he runs into Eve.

"Oh, hey, Eve! You got any idea what's for lunch today?", Isaac says excitedly.

"What's up, man?", Eve asks in response. "Oh, you're wondering what's for lunch? I think it's grilled cheese with tomato soup. It comes with french fries too. They're pretty good."

"Oh. That's alright with me. I'm not really a fan of grilled cheese, but I'll take what I can get."

"Hey, do you want to sit with me and Cain today? Jacob and Esau aren't here today, so we don't really have anyone to sit with."

"Uh, sorry, I'm already sitting with Bethany and Maggy. Do you want me to ask if you and Cain can come sit with us?"

"Sure, but I doubt Bethany will let us. We're not exactly the best behaved students here."

"Uh... I'll see what I can do."

Isaac gets his lunch and sits down with Bethany and Maggy.

"Hey, guys, is it ok if Eve and Cain sit over here with us? I made friends with them in my second class today, and Jacob and Esau are out today, so they don't have anyone else to sit with." Just as Bethany is about to say something, Maggy interrupts her.

"Of course! I don't mind at all."

"Wait, Maggy, are you sure? Their reputations are a bit... lackluster."

"Yes, I know that, Beth. But it would look better for us if we let them sit here." Isaac can tell that Maggy is not exactly being honest about her reasoning.

"Ok, I'll go to their table and get them."

Isaac returns back to the table with Eve and Cain in tow.

"Here we are!"

"Hey, Eve!", says Maggy. "How's it going?"

"Uh... Hey, Maggy. It's going pretty ok today." As Eve says this, Cain and Bethany look on in disbelief.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, you two know each other?!", they both exclaim simultaneously.

"Yeah, we were best friends as kids. It's been a while since we talked, though.", says Maggy. "It's nice to catch up with you."

"Well, if you and Eve know each other, I clearly misjudged those two." Bethany turns to Cain and Eve. "My earnest apologies. You can sit over here whenever you guys want, and don't be afraid to bring Jacob and Esau with you whenever they come back."

"Aww, thanks. And we accept your apology.", Eve says.

"Um..." Isaac begins to say something.  "I'm not sure if anyone here is into tabletop games, but would you all like it if I started a Dungeons and Dragons club?"

"Well, I'd certainly be in for it," Cain says.

"Me, too. I need something to do around here, anyways.", Eve replies.

"Well... I'm enrolled in a lot of clubs at the moment, but I'm pretty sure I can make time for it.", Bethany arrogantly states.

"Count me in," Maggy says. "I've been looking for an opportunity to reconnect with Eve for years, so I'll join."

"Well, I'm certainly surprised by the amount of interest, but I'll take it.", Isaac exclaims. "Consider us the starting group."

Chapter Text

      As the final school bell for the day rings out, Isaac begins packing his things to get ready to head home. But first, he needs to start looking for a teacher to sponsor the club. Luckily, he had another class with Mr. Stewart right before the final bell, so he decides to start by asking him.

"Hey, Mr. Stewart, I have a question for you."

"Sure, Isaac! What is it?"

"Uh, I know this is a bit of a tall favor to ask on my first day, but I was wanting to start a club and I need someone to sponsor it. Would you be interested in running a Dungeons and Dragons club? I've already got a few people interested."

"Oh, Isaac, I love Dungeons and Dragons! I used to play it with my classmates after school, too! I'd be happy to sponsor it! You have a list of the names of the people who are interested, right?"

"Um, yeah... Here, let me pull out the list from my bookbag." Mr. Stewart looks over the list, and is mildly surprised at who he sees on it.

"Wow, Bethany and Magdalene are interested? I wouldn't expect that from Bethany, considering she tries to keep up her good image so much. I know exactly why Maggy wants in, though, considering Eve is going to be there. Isaac, let me tell you something. Maggy acts like she's completely unreadable, but she's absolutely the opposite. I get the feeling you've noticed it too, huh?" Isaac's mind immediately makes the connection.

"Yeah, I'm pretty sure I get it, but that's not really my business, Mr. Stewart."

"Ok. Glad you understand what I'm getting at here. Anyway, I actually have all of the DND 5e handbooks at home, so I can bring them in and make PDFs for anyone who wants to build a character."

"Thanks, Mr. Stewart. I really appreciate that." Just as Isaac finishes his sentence, he receives a text on his phone from his father. "Oh, it looks like my dad is here to pick me up. I should get going."

"Ok, Isaac. Good luck out there! I'm rooting for you!" Isaac waves good-bye to Mr. Stewart, and makes his way towards the front doors of the school.

Back in Isaac's hometown, a black-haired boy gets ready for his first day of school... At Isaac's high school, in fact.

"Sweetie, do you have everything packed for class tomorrow?"

"Yes, Auntie. I've got everything ready."

"Ok! I'm going to have a lunch packed for you tomorrow. I know you don't want to have to run to the bathroom halfway through lunch to throw up because the food's messing with you, especially on your first day. Not to mention what that would do to the toilet."

"Yeah, I know, Auntie. Thanks for handling that for me." The black-haired boy's uncle enters the room.

"Good luck at school tomorrow, kid.", the boy's uncle says, patting him on the back. This elicits a very animal-like noise from the boy, to the uncle's slight annoyance. "Kid, I know you can't help it with that when someone surprises you sometimes, but you're gonna catch some people off guard with that."

"Yeah, I know... It's just so hard not to do that sometimes."

"Speaking of school, it's almost 10pm. I know you don't sleep much, but you should at least get some rest. I know you're going to be a lot more anxious if you don't." The boy's aunt shuts off the lights, and the boy changes into his pajamas.

"Goodnight, Auntie. Goodnight, Uncle." His guardians reply back, and the boy gets under the covers to go to sleep. It's a really comfy bed, but he seems to shift around a lot. "Shit. I almost forgot to set my alarm. Better do that real quick."

Chapter Text

As Isaac sits down for his U.S. History class, the teacher begins an announcement.

"Hello, class. I know we just got a transfer student yesterday, but I've been informed that we have another one coming in today." The teacher motions to someone outside the door. "You can come in now." The new student enters. "Please, introduce yourself."

"Hey... My name is Azazel. Nice to meet y'all." The Edens in the class begin whispering amongst themselves.

"Azazel's his name? That sounds more than a little like bad news.", one Eden says. 

"Hey, just because he's named after a demon doesn't mean you can say that!", says another to the first. Isaac notes the tension in the room between all of the Edens.

A voice Isaac hasn't heard before speaks up from a seat over. Isaac realizes this student wasn't in class yesterday, which made it more obvious due to the student not having white hair like all of the Edens.

"Uh, Azazel can sit here, next to me. There's an empty spot." 

"Thank you, Jacob." The teacher turns their attention to Isaac. "Isaac, are you ok with Azazel sitting beside you and Jacob?"

"Yes, sir.", says Isaac.

As the class continues on, Jacob turns to Isaac while they're watching a video on the Korean War.

"Hey, you must be Isaac, right?"

"Uh, yes. You're clearly Jacob, then. Eve told me about you."

"Oh, you know Eve? Interesting. She was messaging me about how nice you were to her and Cain yesterday. She's really nice to people she has stuff in common with."

"Oh, really? I didn't know she talked to you that often. All I knew about was that you and Esau sit with her at lunch." Isaac pauses for a moment. "Where is Esau, anyway?"

"Oh, he's in another class. The admins refused to put us in the same room. Not because we're twins, but because we would pretend to be each other and use that to cheat on tests back in middle school."

Isaac desperately tries to hold back a chuckle. "You know, I would have done something like that in middle school if I had a twin." Jacob ends up chuckling, and that nearly sets Isaac off into a full-blown laugh. Just before the teacher can tell them to lower their voices, Azazel stops them.

"Hey, can the both of y'all be quieter? I never got to learn this in school." 

"Oh, sorry, dude.", Jacob says, embarrassed.

The rest of the class passes by without incident.

Towards the end of the day, after lunch, Isaac has an art class with Azazel. The assignment of the day is to practice face profiles, and Isaac gets paired up with Azazel, who Isaac can tell is looking a bit nauseous.

"Uh, hey, Teacher. Can I go use the bathroom? I know it's the middle of class, but I really need to go.", Azazel nervously exclaims.

"Sure, go ahead. Just be back before the end of class."

"Thank you. I'll be back as quick as possible."

As Isaac waits for Azazel to get back, a kid with orange hair who is next to Isaac's group starts talking to him and immediately moves to cover their mouth.

"Uh, *cough* hi... The name's Lazarus... *cough*" Sorry, I have asthma, that's why I'm still wearing a face mask even though everyone here's vaccinated."

"Oh, hello. My name's Isaac. Nice to meet you! Don't worry about your asthma, I understand."

"Believe it or not, I used to be on the track team, before it really got out of hand."

"Oh, really now? That's neat!"

"Yeah, I used to be friends with this other kid named Samson, but ever since I left the track team, it seems like he kind of hates me."

"Oh, I'm sorry... That must really suck. Have you talked to him about it?"

"Well, no... He's a lot more physically imposing than me, and I'm honestly kind of scared of him." 

Isaac thinks to himself, "That's not surprising. I can't say that talking to a person who hates you really helps fix a problem. I should have remembered that." Before Isaac can say any more to Lazarus, the teacher says something.

"Isaac, can you go check on Azazel? He should have been back by now if he's completely fine."

"Uh, sure! I need to get this assignment done, anyway."

As Isaac heads towards the bathroom, he hears the sound of loud retching. Knowing something's wrong, Isaac runs inside.

"Hey, Azazel! Are you OK in there?"

... No response. Isaac notices the temperature in the room has increased exponentially, and the heat is coming from the direction of the stall Azazel's in.

"Azazel, do I need to go get the nurse? It won't take me that long, she's just around the corner from here."

Azazel finally speaks up. "Nononononono, I'm OK! I'm just really anxious right now. This happens sometimes. Just give me a second and I'll be on my way back."

Isaac waits a minute or two, and then Azazel opens the stall and goes to wash his hands. Isaac looks into the stall and sees that the toilet appears slightly melted, somehow.

"Dude, How the hell did you melt the toilet?"

"Oh, that's normal with me. Don't worry about it."

"Azazel, vomit doesn't have the ability to melt toilets!"

"I said don't worry about it. It's still working, is it not?"

"You know what? I'm not gonna question it. There's a robot here with a chest cavity that can fit more than what should fit in a space that small, and I feel like that statue at the entrance is watching me all the time. Let's just go back to class and get this assignment done."

"Sounds good.", says Azazel.

Chapter Text

(alt link https://imgur.com/gallery/7vSF4bi)

Chapter Text

Isaac and Azazel make it back to class. As soon as they get in, the teacher asks Azazel a question.

"Azazel, what took you so long? You were in there for quite a while."

"Don't worry, Teach, I'm OK." Isaac shoots him a glare from across the table. Actually, upon further inspection from Isaac, as he does his assignment, Azazel seems pretty pale. Was he looking like this earlier? Isaac decides to ask Azazel if he's okay just one more time.

"Azazel, are you sure you're alright? You seem really pale. I don't think I've ever seen someone look that pale before." 

Azazel sighs, and begins whispering to Isaac. "Don't tell the teacher this, but what you saw in there was... well, for lack of better terms, bad. I don't exactly want to go into details about what was going on, but I'll be okay in a few hours..."

"And the... melted toilet has something to do with that?"

"I don't want to talk about it."

"...Alright, then. I'm not going to press it further."

And just like that, the day continues. At dismissal time, Isaac runs into Azazel again.

"Hey, Isaac." He's not as pale as he was earlier.

"Oh, glad to see you're feeling better!"

"Yeah, I found some apple juice, it helped a lot... Sorry to worry you earlier. I know that wasn't exactly something normal..."

"Yeah, what was that about?"

"Well, it's... Uh... Sorry, my auntie told me not to talk about it unless I trust whoever I tell to not go spouting stuff about it."

"...Honestly? That's fair, if it's that big a deal, I can understand why. Chronic illness sucks. My mom doesn't like me talking about mine, either."

"Wait, really? What's going on with- Wait. No, I don't think I should pry. Would make me a hypocrite."

"Thanks."

"Isaac! How long are you gonna stand there?"

"Oh! Looks like my ride's here. Gotta go, sorry!"

"Isaac, I don't want to keep you any longer, but... Can I get your phone number? I had a couple of questions to ask you."

"Yeah, sure."

Isaac gives Azazel his phone number, and begins to head home. Tomorrow is the weekend.