Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Tom held on tightly to the backpack in his lap, adjusting his headphones slightly as he looked out the window of the helicopter. The rolling plains of inland Iceland gave way to mountains, and in the valley between the mountain range was a chasm. A fissure, a tear in the earth, so deep that Tom couldn’t possibly hope to see the bottom.

The helicopter descended right over the fissure, eventually coming to land only a hundred meters from its edge. Tom waited for the blades to stop spinning, then took off his headphones and made his way outside. 

“You didn’t have to come so soon, you know,” Olivia greeted him. Tom smiled, turning to greet his mom as he dragged his luggage across the landing pad.

“Well, you know, I couldn’t wait to see what you’ve been up to for the past few months,” Tom said. “This place is amazing. ”

He meant it, too. Just beyond the helipad was a village of concrete domes, each designed to survive the frequent earthquakes around the fissure. A pavilion with several long tables, all bolted into the ground, took up the center of the space. Closer to the edge was the largest dome, the science center, where all of the sensitive equipment was kept, and just past that was the platform built on the edge of the fissure itself. People bustled about between the domes, greeting each other as they went in the way only a very small community can. 

“It took some doing,” Olivia said. “Took us ages to figure out that only domes would survive the earthquakes. First few weeks, we had to keep rebuilding from scratch after each quake.”

“I know, Mom, you’ve told me every story a thousand times,” Tom groaned.

“Right, right. But it’s different seeing it in person, isn’t it?” 

“Yeah,” Tom said quietly, glancing back at the edge. “Yeah, it is.”

“Dr. Kullersen,” someone shouted. Tom looked past his mom’s shoulder and, after a moment of hesitation, identified him as the settlement manager, Philip Baker. He was a tall black man, with a bald head and a slight beard. He was just as intimidating as his mother described.

“Yes?” Olivia asked.

“We need you to set up the new centrifuge,” Chief Baker continued. “It just came in with the helicopter.”

“Oh, I’d better get on that,” Olivia said. “Tom, I’ve got to go, but I’m sure Chief Baker can show you around?” 

“I’m busy, but…” Chief Baker turned and shouted, “Diangelo, get over here!” 

A young boy, around Tom’s age, came running from the pavilion.

“Yeah, dad?” 

“I’m busy with the new shipment, so I need you to show Dr. Kullersen’s son around town,” he said. “Don’t miss anything important, and make sure to explain the rules. Got it?” 

“Got it. Don’t worry, Dad, I know this place like the back of my hand,” Diangelo said.

“Great. See you at dinner,” he said, and then he was gone.

Tom looked at Diangelo for a moment. He wore a green vest and thick boots, and his clothing showed signs of repair, but his boots were free of mud. His face bore a smile that said eager to please, and a part of Tom thought I can use this before he swatted it away. He was finally at the Fissure settlement, where he’d been dying to go ever since his mom took off to start her research five months prior. He wasn't going to ruin any potential at making friends here.

“Hey,” Diangleo said after a long moment, holding out a hand. “I’m Diangelo Baker.” 

“Tom Kullersen,” Tom said automatically, shaking his hand. “So, you gonna give me the run-down on this place?”

“Yeah, follow me,” Diangelo said. “I’ve been here since the start with my mom and dad, so I know my way around pretty well.”

“They let you skip school?” 

“I was already homeschooled, so it wasn't a big deal,” Diangleo shrugged. They slipped past the people carrying crates from the helicopter to the research dome, breaking free of the crowd as they entered the pavilion. “So, this is the main square. Everyone gets together for dinner here once or twice a week, and outside of that it’s a pretty fun place to hang out. We’re actually having a dinner tonight, so you got here just in time.” 

“Yeah, perfect timing,” Tom said, a bit distracted.

“Over there’s the research center, that’s the platform down to the Fissure- that’s off limits to anyone without a spelunker’s license, by the way,” Diangelo said, stopping as he turned to look at Tom seriously. “One of the amateur rock climbers broke their leg a few months ago and had to get airlifted to the hospital. We can’t treat serious injuries here, so everyone has to be really careful.” 

Tom nodded, gesturing for Diangelo to go on. He was only half-listening; he had heard all of the horror stories from his mother before, and memorized the latest community rulebook she sent him, for something to do while he was waiting. He knew the rules already, and wasn't afraid to selectively ignore them.

They kept walking.

“This is the med dome,” Diangelo said, gesturing to a medium-sized dome with a red cross painted above the door. “My mom is the town doctor, and she’s really nice, so don’t feel shy about coming here, even if you just have a paper cut or something.” 

They continued into the main settlement, walking through organized rings of dome houses. The further back they got, the more oddly sized or lopsided the domes became; Tom knew it was from the early stages of development, when they had yet to perfect the process of construction for the settlement’s iconic domes. 

Diangelo stopped in front of one of the last domes on the street, a fairly large one with a painted-over crack near the door. “This one’s yours,” he said unnecessarily, as his mother’s name was written on the plaque next to the door. 

“Right. Thanks for giving me the tour,” Tom said politely. “See you at dinner?” 

“Yep, good luck getting unpacked,” Diangelo said, and with that he took off back towards the main part of town.

Tom eased the door open, struggling a bit to get his suitcase through the opening. It was unlocked, of course; why would you lock your door in a settlement this small? Who would even want to steal anything? If someone had to barge into your house, there was probably an earthquake or other disaster going on. Leaving the door unlocked only made sense.

The inside was… familiar. Boxes were littered around the space, no doubt from his mother’s slow shipment of everything she cared about from her and Tom’s place back in Reykjavik. The house had become rather empty in the last few weeks Tom spent there alone.

Aside from the mess, it was fairly utilitarian in design, and everything was a strange mix of prefabricated and handcrafted. The cabinets and countertops were clearly sourced from local wood and stone, the countertop edge still a bit rough, and perfectly cut to fit the curve of the outer wall. The cabinets on the inner wall, on the other hand, looked like they came from Ikea. The couch had bits of plastic trapped under its feet where his mom hadn’t bothered to unwrap it completely.

Tom pushed through the mess and made his way to one of the doors on the back wall. The center door unsurprisingly led to the bathroom, and the door to the right (the one closest to the kitchen) into his mother’s room. That left the room on the left for him, and he found it rather bare but stocked with linens and a few spare pens on the desk.

He threw open the closet at the back of the room. The space was designed for maximum efficiency, the closet being a triangular shape to accommodate the outer wall of the dome. Shelves were built into the wall over the bed, and the desk extended most of the length of the outer wall, with drawers built into the outer edges, and shelves on the wall next to the closet. All of the shelving and furniture was bolted firmly into the walls, and the shelves had lips the way you might see on ships, to hold in their contents should an earthquake occur. The windows were triangular, Tom noticed as he dumped his journal on his desk; triangles were the second strongest shape after domes, after all.

Tom pulled his mind away from the architecture, tossed his suitcase on his bed, and got unpacking. 

Three hours later, Tom had not only unpacked his own things, but had also found places for the contents of the boxes littered around the living room. The plastic was removed from the couch, the cabinets were dusted and filled, and several rotting containers of leftovers were removed from the fridge. It was routine, really; almost calming, in a way. Cleaning the house had become a necessity when he was home alone for so long, and the satisfaction of seeing a clean home thanks to his effort became something he looked forward to.

It was starting to get dark, and large outdoor lights were starting to come on around the pavilion. Tom figured it was about time for dinner.

It was early summer, so Tom only threw on his light jacket as he headed for the square. The entire town was assembled, everyone gathering in various groups to chat. Tom slipped into the crowd, looking for a familiar face, and eventually spotted his mom talking to some of the other scientists.

Tom walked up to the edge of the group, standing just behind his mom and not quite within the circle of people. That was fine; he was used to being ignored, though it did sting a bit more now.

“Hey mom,” Tom interrupted when the conversation hit a lull. “How did installing the centrifuge go?”

“Oh, Tom, I didn’t see you there,” Olivia said. “It went alright, we’ve still got a lot of testing to do, but it should be in working order in a few more days.”

“That’s good! What do you need it for, anyway?”

“Oh, we’re testing some of the water samples from deeper in the fissure. We use the centrifuge to bring out the sediments.” 

“Olivia?” one of the other scientists said.

“Oh, sorry, what were you saying?” 

Tom shrank back. Clearly this wasn't a good time. 

Tom wandered through the crowd, once again looking for a familiar face. He spotted Diangelo, but he was talking to his parents, and Chief Baker sort of scared him. 

Then he spotted a purple sweater through the crowd, and his heart soared. Ducking between the much taller adults, Tom made his way across the pavilion, hoping that his suspicion was correct.

“Jun!” Tom called as he burst out from the crowd, sweeping his longtime friend into a hug.

“Tom? What are you doing here?” Jun demanded, struggling out of his grasp. “I thought you wouldn’t be here until next week!”

“Yeah, well, turns out the last day of school was a half day, so I hopped on the afternoon helicopter,” Tom explained.

Jun sighed. “Only you would rush out here literally the minute you were done with school for the year.”

“Hey, you don’t get to talk. Aren’t you taking a gap year to do ‘independent study’ here?” 

“As if I’d give up on an opportunity like this,” Jun said with a huff. She pouted for a moment, then gave up and turned on Tom with a grin. “I missed you, idiot. It’s been way too long since we saw each other in person.”

“I know, right?” Tom said. They started wandering around the edge of the pavilion, just outside the main crowd. “What was the last time, when your mom came to work with my mom on that cave expedition?”

“Oh my god, that was two years ago,” Jun groaned. “I haven’t seen my best friend in two years! It’s a tragedy!”

“Well, I’m here now,” Tom said, elbowing her lightly. “And we’ve got the whole summer to catch up, and more if I can convince my mom to let me do online school next year.”

“If there even is a settlement next year,” Jun said. “With the way the earthquakes have been going recently…”

“I thought that was all dealt with? With the domes and stuff,” Tom said.

“Yeah, the domes are fine, but all the fancy science equipment can’t take it,” Jun explained. “Everything that’s really sensitive is on suspension, but even that can’t handle really serious quakes. And they’ve been getting worse.” 

“Worse? My mom never said anything about that.”

Jun shrugged. “She probably didn’t want to worry you. Or she just didn’t notice. Don’t repeat this to anyone, but your mom can be a bit…”

“Unobservant?” Tom deadpanned. “Yeah, I know. She can get field data and run experiments without missing a single detail, but does she remember to do the dishes? Nooooo.”

Jun laughed. “Tell me about it. My mom won’t listen to a thing I say unless it’s about cave diving or rock climbing.” 

“We’ll suffer together, then.”

They fistbumped, and as they stopped walking for a moment Tom noticed someone else on the edge of the crowd. She was another kid, with two braids and glasses, and a large tablet that she held close to her face.

“Hey, who's that?” Tom asked quietly. 

“Oh, that’s Alex,” Jun said. “She doesn’t really talk to anyone. The only reason I know her name is because I had to ask her moms to fix my laptop.”

“Huh,” Tom said. He watched her for a moment; she held her tablet over her face defensively, her eyes constantly straying to the lights illuminating the pavilion. She maintained a perfect distance between the edge of the crowd and the edge of the lit area, shuffling slightly in place.

“...I think she’s just shy,” Tom said. “I’m gonna go talk to her.”

“You’re probably right,” Jun said. “If anyone can befriend her it’s you, mister ‘made friends with all the kids in class on the first day.’”

“That may have been an exaggeration, but I appreciate your encouragement,” Tom said. He took a step forward, only to stop short as a loud bell rang over the noise of the crowd, causing everyone to quiet down and start moving for the tables.

“Social hour’s over,” Jun explained at his questioning glance. “Time to eat. Don’t worry, you’ll get another chance later.”

“I hope so,” Tom said glumly as he followed Jun to the nearest table for dinner. 

Tom woke up the next morning brimming with energy. It was the first day of summer, he was finally at the Fissure settlement, and he had so much to explore!

His mother was already gone when he woke up, of course, no doubt off to some experiment that needed her attention. That was fine; he was used to it. The fridge was well stocked at least, with fresh eggs from the small coop at the edge of the settlement, and several loaves of bread in the freezer to keep longer. He found an unfrozen loaf of bread in one of the cabinets, fortunately, and made himself a breakfast of eggs and toast. He was going to have to get his hands on some seasonings, though; clearly his mom hadn’t bothered with them. 

He headed out with his phone, his trusty jacket, and a climbing harness and rope that he’d spent the last of his allowance on just before coming here. Rules be damned, he was not going to live right next to a geographic marvel and not take a look down there. 

Tom marched through town with confidence, successfully avoiding anyone questioning his intentions. He skirted around the official platform that led to the fissure, instead hiking along the length of the canyon into the nearby woods. When he’d gotten a decent distance from town, he put on his gear, secured his phone in a zippered pocket, and tied his rope securely around a tree. Then, and only then, did he venture to the edge.

…that sure was a long way down. Tom couldn’t even see anywhere near the bottom, thanks to the clouds of thick gas further down. He doubted that stuff was safe to breathe, and now all of the spelunkers tasked with getting samples for the researchers made a lot more sense. Ordinary mountain climbers wouldn’t know how to manage oxygen tanks on the lower levels, and Tom was suddenly feeling a lot more unsure about this whole thing.

But he hadn’t bought a high-quality mountain climbing harness and gear for nothing, and so he carefully backed over the edge and started rappelling down. 

It was… stone. And more stone. And occasionally an interesting rock, but mostly stone. He set down on a ledge when he had gotten through about half of his rope, and let the rope go a bit slack as he started exploring along the ledge. It was narrow in places, but the rock was sturdy; Tom figured any loose rock had long since been dislodged by the earthquakes, and what remained was solid bedrock. 

There was a cave a little ways along, Tom realized. Slowly letting out his rope, he edged towards it, eager to see what could be inside.

About three meters from the edge of the cave, Tom ran out of rope.

He stared at the harness for a while, cursing the knot tied firmly in the end of the rope. He was so close! If only he had gone a little further along the fissure before climbing down, he would have been able to see inside the cave.

He stared at the mechanism that kept him attached to the rope. Then, with all of the recklessness of a fifteen-year-old with a thirst for adventure and something to prove, he released it.

Adrenaline instantly flooded his body, Tom clinging to the side of the canyon as he edged along the ledge. It wasn't particularly narrow here, but he was cautious anyway. He slowly slipped sideways, keeping his eyes on the ground, until he felt his hand slip into empty space. He had reached the cave.

It was odd, for a cave. Most caves Tom had seen were narrow and twisting, made by underground rivers or volcanic formations. This cave was almost bubble-shaped, a domed roof with a relatively flat floor. A rock formation was stacked against the opposite wall, leading up to a narrow opening where light streamed through. A rockslide, Tom figured, probably from one of the earthquakes. It looked stable enough, though. 

Tom crossed the room, keeping an eye on the ground in case it was unstable, but for the most part it seemed intact. He approached the rock formation, intent on taking a look at where the light was coming from. Just as he reached the base of it, he caught a glimpse of movement out of the corner of his eye.

Tom froze, very slowly looking to his right, where the cave was cast in shadow. A shape moved within the darkness, two bright eyes reflecting the sunlight back at him. It was big, far too big for anything he expected in a cave like this; it was taller than he was! 

Fumbling, Tom pulled his phone out of his pocket and turned on the flashlight. He aimed it at the shadow, jumping when the creature hissed at the light. 

It was a dragon. An honest-to-god dragon, living in a cave in the Fissure, just far enough away to remain undiscovered by the scientists at the settlement. Its scales were a patchwork of black and white, with white on the underside and black on its back. Its wings were curled up against its back, but Tom guessed that its wingspan could easily exceed its considerable length, tail included.

It hissed again, lunging at him, and Tom had enough self-preservation instincts left to scramble back, away from the dragon. The light from his phone shone wildly over the cave, causing the dragon to shake its head, disoriented.

It swiped at him, causing Tom to drop his phone with a hiss of pain. He only had some light scratches on his arm, but it was certainly a warning as to how sharp those claws wore. The flashlight turned off when his phone hit the ground, the screen shattered beyond repair. 

“Heyyy…” Tom said carefully, backing away from the stalking dragon. “I don’t suppose I can just… head out? Leave you alone? That seems like a good idea for both of us.” 

The dragon growled at him, looking him up and down like it was inspecting him. Tom held his hands up non-threateningly, though he knew that gesture would mean nothing to an animal. It seemed as intelligent as a cat, at least, so hopefully something was getting through?

“Nice cave you got here,” Tom blurted out, continuing to back up. “Great lighting. Although I guess you’re not the biggest fan of it, with your eyes- you’re nocturnal, aren’t you? Your eyes look like a cat’s, built for hunting at night. But I guess you can probably adjust to daylight, just not all at once like that.”

Tom took another step back, and his foot met nothing but empty air.

He tipped backwards, feeling as if time were slowing down. He clawed at the air, but knew there was nothing to catch himself on. The fissure would swallow him whole, and he would become another cautionary tale for the kids in town, another reason not to go to the Fissure without a licensed professional. How he wished he had listened now.

Tom closed his eyes, hoping it wouldn’t hurt too much.

Tom jerked to a stop.

He cracked one eye open. The dragon had his foot in its mouth, latched on determinedly but somehow not injuring him. Tom’s head thunked against the stone, just hard enough to hurt but not really injure. Slowly, the dragon pulled him upwards, dragging him along until he was a good two meters from the edge and halfway into the mouth of the cave. Only then did it release his leg.

Tom sat up slowly, looking at the dragon. It didn’t quite look at Tom, only watching him out of the corner of its eye. 

“Uh, thanks?” Tom said cautiously. He looked at his leg; it was covered in dragon slobber, but unharmed. Wouldn’t a big predator dragon have sharp teeth?

The dragon grumbled at him, and Tom got a look at its mouth.

“No teeth? Huh, weird. I guess that’s how you saved me,” Tom said. It didn’t look agitated anymore, just sort of nervous, so he stayed put. 

The dragon hummed. Was it responding? Well, cats did that, didn’t they? Surely dragons could too.

…he was basing a lot of assumptions off of an animal that wasn't even in the same family as dragons, wasn't he.

“Again, thanks for that,” Tom said, to be on the safe side. “I think- I think I’m gonna go. I left my rope back there, so…”

Tom stood up slowly, the dragon tracking his movements but not moving to follow. He turned around, hoping it wouldn’t pounce on him while his back was turned, and started walking towards the ledge.

Then there was a dragon in front of him, wings spread to block his way.

“Hey, I know I nearly fell off, but I need to get back up,” Tom said, pointing upwards to illustrate his point. “And my rope is way over there, so the only way back to the surface is if I climb out on the ledge again.”

The dragon huffed at him, then looked down the ledge at the rope. Then past him, into the cave, and after a moment of hesitation it started walking forward, wings still spread.

“Ah, hey, c’mon-” Tom said, backing up automatically. He didn’t walk fast enough, the dragon’s head butting into his torso as it pushed him back into the cave.

“You can’t keep me here forever, you know,” Tom said. He paused just long enough to scoop up his broken phone as the dragon nudged him forward. A moment later Tom realized where the dragon was moving him: to the rock formation that led up to the gap in the ceiling. Oh, he was an idiot.

“Is that a way out?” Tom asked, pointing at the hole.

The dragon nodded.

The dragon nodded.

That wasn't normal behavior, right? Man he wished he’d paid more attention in biology. Either it had picked up mannerisms from the local humans, or it was something its species had in common with them. That was so weird.

But weird could wait, because Tom had a broken phone and needed to get back before anyone realized he was missing. So he picked up the pace and headed for the rock formation, swiftly climbing up the fairly easy slope. The opening at the top was fairly wide, but partially hidden by the rocks around it. No wonder no one had found this place.

Tom paused at the opening, turning to face the dragon again. “I’ll come back, alright?” Tom said. “Keep you company or something. I’ve gotta have something to do around here, after all.”

The dragon warbled at him, and Tom took that to mean he understood. With one final nod, Tom climbed out of the cave and back into the sunlight.

The rope was right where he left it. Pulling the whole thing up from the canyon and coiling it was a pain, as was getting out of his climbing harness, but he managed it. From there it was just a trek back to town and into his house before he could inspect the damage on his phone.

Unfortunately, Tom was not an expert on technology. His phone screen was cracked, and it refused to turn on. He worried that it was broken beyond repair, but there was only one way to find out.

Tom entered the IT building with a slight nervousness. It was fairly informal, with several tables covered in various bits of technology, and two women working on a laptop with the bottom open for access.

“Hello?” Tom said.

“Oh, good morning,” the red-haired woman said. “Welcome to IT, what’s the problem?”

“I dropped my phone,” Tom said, holding it out for her to see.

She hummed, giving his phone a cursory glance. “If you want us to fix it, you’ll have to wait until tomorrow,” she said. “We’re up to our ears in broken computers from the last earthquake.”

“Or Alex could fix it,” the other woman suggested. 

“She’s good with this kind of stuff?” Tom asked.

“We taught her everything she knows,” she confirmed. “She’ll be able to fix that right up for you. And don’t tell her I said this, but talking to someone her own age will be good for her.”

“Your secret’s safe with me,” Tom said. “So, where do I find her?” 

Alex’s house, as it turned out, was only one street over from his own. It had the same basic design as his own dome, just a bit more streamlined, as the dome was slightly newer. 

Tom knocked on the door and waited. A full minute later, there was still no response. He tried again to the same result. Well, she was known to be shy. He doubted this would be all that easy.

So Tom went around the side of the house until he got to Alex’s widow. The windows were slightly tinted, and the sun was glaring against the glass, but he managed to catch a bit of movement on the other side. Grinning, Tom knocked on the glass. A moment later, the glass slid down into the wall. 

“What do you want?” Alex asked. She had a pair of headphones on, and had both her laptop and her tablet set on the desk in front of her.

“Your moms sent me over since they were too busy to fix my phone,” Tom explained. She held out her hand, and Tom passed the phone over, watching her pry the back off and inspect it.

“You got lucky,” she informed him after a moment. “All of the internal wiring looks fine, you just knocked the battery out of place. You’ll need to get a new screen, though. I can install that for you once you’ve ordered it.” 

“Thanks,” Tom said, taking the newly fixed phone back. “I’ll get on that.”

She shut the window. Tom blinked, then shrugged. She was a bit weird, but he liked her style. Maybe they could hang out later, once she was more comfortable around him.

As he walked back home, Tom lamented that he hadn’t gotten any pictures of the dragon. Then again, his photos were automatically saved to the cloud and he wasn't sure he wanted anyone finding out about this yet. Was it the scientific find of a lifetime? Absolutely, but did Tom want anyone else encroaching on this new, awesome dragon he found? Absolutely not. Sure, dragons were usually the bad guys in stories, but this one saved his life! They couldn’t be all bad. 

So he’d go back tomorrow. Through the cave, not the fissure, because he wasn't an idiot. And he’d hang out with the dragon, maybe learn a little bit more about it, and have something of his own for the first time in… well, ever. 

It was a nice thought. 

Chapter Text

Tom learned a lot about dragons in the next week.

Well. A lot about this one specific dragon. If any others existed, he hadn’t seen them yet. 

Firstly: the dragon was protective. He never allowed Tom to leave the cave, and stood in his way if he so much as approached the exit. Tom figured that made sense, since he nearly fell that one time, so he didn’t push it too much.

Secondly, the dragon was male. That one didn’t take too long to find out; Tom felt a bit invasive taking a quick peek, but he figured the dragon wouldn’t care anyway. 

Third, the dragon was playful. Once Tom stopped trying to escape the cave, both of them got bored pretty quickly. Tom’s phone didn’t have service down in the cave, so he couldn’t play any online games to pass the time. He had a plan to acquire a small digital camera to take photos on, since that wouldn’t automatically upload to the internet, but he had yet to think of a plausible excuse for ordering one. So taking pictures were out, and all Tom had to pass the time was observing the dragon, who watched him just as intently. 

One day, entirely bored, Tom picked up a pebble and flicked it across the room. It landed next to the dragon, who looked at it for a moment before flicking it back at Tom. It turned into a halfway game of catch, neither of them moving from their spots as they tossed the pebble back and forth at each other. 

Around the eight pass, Tom started giggling. He was playing catch with a dragon! It was just so absurd. The dragon didn’t pass the pebble back then, staring at Tom intently for a moment, but Tom couldn’t stop giggling.

Then, to his shock, the dragon started laughing with him. Evidently dragons were contagious to laughter too, as both of them ended up wheezing on the floor for no apparent reason, and when Tom got his breath back he was just a bit closer to the dragon than he was before.

The dragon flicked the pebble back at him, and they kept playing until Tom had to go for lunch.

The fourth thing Tom learned was that the dragon loved fish. After getting tired of having to trek back and forth for meals, he had packed himself a lunch to take to the cave, which included a tuna sandwich.

The moment Tom opened his lunchbox, the dragon immediately honed in on his food, sniffing intently. Tom, ever curious, laid out the options he had brought on the ground; the tuna sandwich, an apple, and a bag of chips. He opened the bag of chips and tossed a few on a napkin to be safe, of course.

The dragon sniffed each of them, then nudged the top piece of bread off of the sandwich and ate the tuna. He looked pleadingly at Tom, as if asking for more.

“Sorry pal, I don’t have any more,” Tom shrugged.

The dragon pouted, and went to curl up on the other side of the cave. Tom ate the rest of his lunch, minus the dragon-slobber covered bread, in peace. 

After that, he started bringing other meats to test. He found that the dragon would eat beef, pork, and chicken when offered, but wouldn’t seek it out the way he did for fish. Any kind of fish was fair game; tuna, herring, cod, you name it. The dragon would eat it all, and be very happy afterwards.

Tom started to get concerned about where the dragon was getting his food. Surely he hunted, but he never left the cave while Tom was there. Was he cutting into his hunting time? Did the dragon steal his lunches because he needed more to eat? 

Tom resolved to start bringing meals for the dragon. He might be upsetting the balance of nature just a tad, but eh, who cares about ethical study when you can have your own pet dragon? 

So he pulled all of the fish from the freezer, portioned it out, and packed himself a double lunchbox each day. His mom, of course, never even noticed. She did notice when he started ordering more fish, but he passed it off as reading something about fish having vital vitamins for growth. He’d always wanted to be a tall viking-like man, so his mom accepted this explanation easily. 

All in all, Tom was having a great time with his new dragon friend. So much so, that he forgot about his human friends back in town.

“Where have you been?” Jun demanded.

It was evening, just before sunset, and exactly a week since Tom arrived at the settlement. Another dinner was underway, everyone socializing as people arrived and set out their potluck dishes. Tom had made some potatoes, since his mom clearly wasn't going to contribute anything. 

“Ah, well-” Tom floundered, trying to think of a good excuse.

“Don’t think I haven’t noticed. Every day you run off super early into the woods, and don’t come back until sunset. What are you doing out there?” 

“...reading?” 

“In the woods?”

“I like the atmosphere?” 

“You are a terrible liar, Tom.”

“Yeah, I know,” Tom sighed. “I’ll try to be around more often, okay? I’ve just got stuff going on.”

“Stuff, huh?” 

“Very important stuff,” Tom said with false confidence, nodding his head like he was an old researcher at a presentation who thought he knew everything. He’d seen a lot of those over the years.

“Fine. If you won’t tell me what it is, then you’ll have to show me,” Jun demanded. 

“Wait, what?” 

“I’m coming with you tomorrow, whether you like it or not.”

Tom was very familiar with the look in Jun’s eyes. She got it from her mother; it was the look of someone determined to uncover the secrets of the universe, and nothing could stand in her way. 

“Okay, okay,” Tom said hurriedly. “I’ll take you. Tomorrow at nine, alright?” 

“You better not flake on me.”

“Me? Never.” 

Tom woke up at 5 o’clock on the dot, quickly silencing his alarm. For once he was up before his mom, but he didn’t have long before she’d wake up. Quietly, he got dressed and slipped out the door with his backpack, with the climbing harness and rope inside.

Navigating the woods in the early dawn light was different from what he was used to. The shadows fell differently, making him stumble over the tree roots. But he kept going, fumbling his way through the forest until he made it to the cave entrance. He slid inside, just barely fitting with his backpack, and dropped lightly onto the floor.

The dragon was curled up in the corner furthest from the light, sleeping soundly. Tom hated to wake him, but this was important. Now his plan hinged on getting the dragon to understand him, and pulling one over on Jun.

“Hey,” Tom said quietly, but the dragon didn’t stir. Tom picked up a pebble and tossed it at him, but the dragon didn’t notice. With a sigh, and a great deal of caution, Tom approached the sleeping beast and gently nudged his shoulder.

That woke the dragon right up, who immediately scrambled away from Tom. Tom stayed frozen, knowing by now that the easiest way to calm the dragon down was to let him take in the situation without adding to his stress, and that meant freezing.

“Hey,” Tom said again when the dragon seemed pretty awake. “I need you to listen to me.”

The dragon settled, turning his full attention on Tom.

“One of my friends, another human, is going to come here,” Tom said, gesturing as he went to try and illustrate what he meant. “She’s going to come later today. When that happens, you need to be out of the cave so she doesn’t see you.”

The dragon tilted his head. Why not? He seemed to ask. 

“It’s selfish, really,” Tom admitted. “I just want to keep you a secret for a little longer. I promise I’ll stay right here and I won’t go near the fissure, okay? You just need to hide for a bit and then everything will go back to normal.”

Slowly, deliberately, the dragon nodded.

Tom let out a sigh of relief. “Okay,” Tom said, standing up. “I’m going to go now, and I’ll be back with Jun in three hours. You need to be gone by then, okay?” 

The dragon warbled, as if to say don’t worry. Tom nodded, dropped his backpack in a corner, and headed back to the surface.

“So you found a secret hideout?” Jun said.

“Yeah, it’s pretty cool,” Tom said. “But it’s mine, so you can’t come here by yourself.”

“Fine, finders keepers, I get it,” Jun said. “But why all the way out here? There’s plenty of good spots in the forest further from the fissure.”

“Ah, but are those spots awesome caves with your own entrance to the fissure itself?” Tom asked. He had timed it perfectly, just then stepping into the clearing with the cave entrance. He gestured to the opening, stepping aside.

“After you.”

“Oh, you’re too kind,” Jun said mockingly. Tom tensed as she slid in; would the dragon still be there and freak her out? Hopefully not- there weren’t any screams, so it seemed like the plan worked.

Tom jumped down after her, and watched as Jun took in the place, giddy with excitement. He grabbed his backpack, just in case.

“How did you find this place?” Jun asked.

Tom shrugged. “I was wandering around in the woods and found the entrance. It’s a pretty cool hideout, right?”

“Yeah, but what do you do in here?” Jun asked.

“Watch the fissure, mostly,” Tom said. “The gas plumes are pretty cool.”

“They reach this high?”

“Not quite, but if you look from the right angle you can see them.”

“Cool,” Jun said, straying towards the exit to the fissure. Tom heard a low grumbling; a warning. The dragon hadn’t gone far, then. 

“Careful, Jun,” Tom said, hurrying to intercept her. “Don’t get too close to the edge. I nearly fell off when I first came here.”

“Tom!”

“Relax, I was fine,” Tom said, grinning at successfully distracting her. “I’m thinking of sprucing the place up a bit, maybe drag in some chairs and a table, stash some food down here, all that stuff.” 

“That would be pretty cool,” Jun said. “I bet we could get a whiteboard or something, have our own research station.”

“Oh, now we’re talking.” 

Jun hummed, looking around at the cave again. “Well, thanks for showing me, but it is a little bit boring as it is now,” Jun admitted. “I think I’ll head back. Leave you to your boredom.”

“Hey, it’s peaceful,” Tom shrugged, internally celebrating that he pulled this off. They started heading back to the exit, and Tom thought they were home free.

Then the ground started trembling beneath his feet.

“Earthquake!” Jun exclaimed. “We need to get out of here, now!” 

Tom had read about earthquakes before, watched countless documentaries and heard every story he could from his mom. But none of that prepared him for the real thing, the way the ground bucked and roiled beneath his feet, sending him off-balance with every step. He tried to get to the exit, but ended up falling, crawling the last few feet. The rock staircase didn’t seem to be in danger of falling, but the constantly shifting earth didn’t make it easy to climb; Jun, just ahead of him, got up onto the second rock before falling back onto Tom.

Above them, a stalactite that had survived the previous quakes began to shake and crack. Tom, for the second time that week, closed his eyes and hoped he would die quickly.

Darkness enveloped him, along with a warmth that couldn’t be natural. The sound of breathing made him open his eyes to find himself and Jun cocooned in dark dragon wings, protected from the earthquake by the dragon Tom had befriended. 

Slowly, the ground stopped shaking. Pebbles skittered across the ground, the sound of falling gravel persisting long after the shaking stopped. Only when the cave had fallen silent did the dragon move, dust raining off of his wings as he slowly moved back.

The cave was less of a mess than Tom had feared. Sure, there was dust and pebbles everywhere, but the walls were mostly intact. He let out a sigh of relief, instantly coughing on the dust. The dragon watched them, keeping his eyes on Jun with wary caution.

“Tom. Tom, that’s a dragon,” Jun said the moment she wasn't coughing. 

“Ah, yep, it sure is,” Tom said, cringing.

“..you don’t seem surprised about it,” Jun said, glaring at him. 

“Well…” Tom hunched in on himself, knowing he’d dug his own grave here. “I may have omitted a few things about my secret hideout.” 

Jun punched him on the arm. “Why didn’t you say anything?” 

The dragon growled at her. Jun jumped and shifted a bit further away.

“Seriously,” she continued more quietly, “this is the find of the century!” 

“Please don’t tell anyone,” Tom said tiredly, not really expecting her to listen.

“Why not?” 

“Because-” Tom gestured vaguely, trying to put it into words. “This is my thing, you know?” 

Luckily for him, Jun could read him like an open book, which made his vague answer completely understandable. Sometimes she knew him better than he knew himself, and Tom hoped that this was one of those times. He couldn’t explain his desire to keep the dragon a secret any more than he could explain why he’d tried climbing down into the fissure in the first place. 

“Okay,” Jun said. “I won’t say anything. But I swear if you get eaten by a dragon or fall down the fissure-”

“Relax, he won’t even let me leave the cave,” Tom said. “And he’s not gonna eat me, he’s saved my life twice now.”

“Twice?” Jun glared at him. Tom abruptly realized that he fucked up.

“Ummm…”

“You did fall into the fissure!” Jun accused.

“Only a little! And he caught me, so I'm fine!” 

Jun glared at him for another moment, then huffed. “No getting yourself killed, clear?” 

“Clear,” Tom echoed.

The dragon had settled down by now, evidently realizing that Jun wasn't a threat. He had curled up against the opposite wall, watching them passively but not moving.

Jun stood up, stretching and shaking the dust off of her limbs. “So, does the dragon have a name?”

“I haven’t picked one yet,” Tom admitted, getting to his feet. 

“Why not?” 

“Nothing’s jumped out at me yet.” 

“Well, if you don’t pick something soon I’m going to name him for you,” Jun said.

“Don’t,” Tom groaned. “Your names are always either ‘mr. dragon’ or some complicated name from mythology, no in-between.” 

“If you knew anything about dragon mythology, maybe you would have found a name for him already,” Jun sniffed. “And if I were going to pick a name, it would be from Norse mythology. This guy definitely doesn’t look like a European or Eastern dragon.” 

“How can you tell?” Tom asked curiously.

Jun took a few cautious steps towards the dragon, stopping when he started twitching at her. “Look at the body structure,” Jun explained. “Six-limbed dragons are always either European or Norse; some people say that the two groups are one and the same, but the Norse family has some subtle differences compared to European dragons. They’re smaller, for one; adult European dragons are usually described as being the size of a house or larger, which this guy definitely is not.” 

“Didn’t you say that Norse dragons can get that large, too?” Tom asked.

“Only a few species,” Jun said. “And it’s all speculation, anyway. Who knows how much the tales have gotten twisted over the years? It’s probably been millenia since dragons were common on the surface. I wonder how they survived underground this whole time…” 

“That’s a good question,” Tom mused. “There’s no way dragons evolved underground, not when they’re designed to fly. So they must have hidden down here for some reason thousands of years ago.” 

“I don’t know if we’ll ever figure out why,” Jun said. “But it’s a pretty cool mystery, right?”

Tom smiled. “Right.”

Jun grinned, swinging her arms back and forth. “So… have you gotten to fly yet?”

The dragon perked up at that, his ears turning to listen to them more intently.

“We’re not there yet,” Tom said. “I told you, he won’t even let me out of the cave, and there’s not much room in here.”

“Man, that sucks,” Jun pouted. “Flying would be awesome. ”

Tom shrugged. “Eh, give it time. We’ve got all summer.” 

“I guess so,” Jun said. 

She plopped down on the ground, thoroughly disappointed, and watched the dragon. Tom left them to it and strayed towards the edge of the cave, staying at the safe distance from the exit as he watched the fissure. Birds dipped down into the canyon occasionally, then rode the updrafts from the geothermal vents back up. It was pretty fun to watch, seeing them spiral up and up and up into the sky until they disappeared from view.

There was a whirring sound coming from the fissure. Frowning, Tom shuffled a bit closer to the exit, holding out a hand to assure the dragon he wasn't going to get too close. He peeked around the corner to find a drone making its way along the canyon, a 360-degree camera mounted beneath it.

“Shit,” Tom said. He turned on his heel, rushing back into the cave. “We’ve got to get out of here, there’s a drone coming.”

“A drone?” Jun echoed. “Oh, that’s not good. They’re probably surveying the damage of the quake, they’ll definitely check the caves.” 

“What do we do?” Tom hissed, looking at the dragon. He was clearly aware of their distress, but seemed rather unbothered. Almost lazily, he got up and strolled over to the exit to the fissure.

“What? No! Get back here, you’ll be seen!” Tom hissed.

The dragon resisted all attempts to get him to stop, including Tom physically grabbing his tail and pulling. That got him a tail-slap in the face and a glare, but didn’t stop the dragon. He stopped just at the edge of the cave and crouched by the wall, listening.

When the sound of the drone’s rotors was almost on top of them, the dragon hissed in a way that Tom hadn’t heard before, like it was drawing in breath for an attack. Then, just as the drone was almost close enough to see them, a wave of electricity burst from the dragon, completely destroying the drone and making Tom’s hair stand on end. It was accompanied by a small thunderclap, more like an actual clap than the low rumble of real thunder. 

“Whoa,” Jun said, blinking away the dust that the wave had kicked up.

“Thunder,” Tom said, staring at the dragon. “I’m gonna call him Thunder.”

Chapter Text

Three days after he showed Jun the cave, Thunder finally allowed Tom to look in the fissure again.

It had taken a serious amount of negotiating, and in the end Tom was only allowed out onto the ledge while wearing his climbing harness, with the other end of the rope firmly attached to Thunder. He had considered putting an anchor in the rock at the mouth of the cave, but ultimately attaching himself to a mobile dragon who was more than capable of catching him seemed like a better idea for the sake of exploration. The fact that he was essentially on a leash made him giggle once in a while at how backwards the arrangement was.

With all the preparations made, Tom ventured out onto the ledge for the first time since he nearly fell. The ledge continued on past the cave for another couple hundred meters, then tapered off as the canyon narrowed slightly. There weren’t many more caves along there, but being able to explore at all was enough of a thrill that Tom didn’t particularly care.

Thunder followed him closely, the rope brushing the ground between them. Tom had plenty of rope coiled over his shoulder, leaving only a short length between him and the dragon. He had tied the other end carefully around Thunder’s shoulders, with several sturdy knots holding the whole thing in place. He wasn't going to rely on Thunder grabbing him by the leg again if he fell.

Tom shuffled along the ledge, feeling much more confident with Thunder in tow. He took the time to look at the rock formations as he went along, now that he wasn't in a rush. Most of the rock was volcanic, of course, all of the layers fully exposed by the fissure’s abrupt opening. Geology wasn't his strong suit, but he was starting to recognise why the Fissure had become a destination for so many different scientists. 

Tom crouched down and took a photo with his new digital camera. He had prepared the argument that his phone’s camera was cracked and he didn’t want to get a new phone just for that, but ultimately he didn’t need to use it; his mom evidently wasn't paying any attention to what he ordered now. She was probably too busy with her research to pay much attention, which worked in Tom’s favor. 

Camera in hand, and attached to his wrist by a secure strap, Tom started taking photos of everything. The geothermal vents, the birds riding the air currents up and down the canyon, Thunder following grumpily behind him; everything he saw, he documented. He became so absorbed in his photography that Tom failed to notice when the ground started shaking under him.

Thunder, fortunately, was much more observant than his idiot human. Tom found himself scooped off of the ledge as gravel began to rain down, suddenly dangling in midair as Thunder launched both of them off the ledge and into the canyon proper.

Tom did not shut his eyes. He stared, wide-eyed, as the mouth of the canyon got further away, the two of them plummeting into the fissure. Thunder’s front legs were wrapped around him, Tom hurriedly clinging to the rope for purchase. He felt it the moment Thunder’s wings snapped open, when they suddenly transitioned from flying to gliding. The earth trembled around them, dust raining down and the air shuddering in turn, but Thunder was remarkably steady.

They leveled out, gliding only a dozen meters above the level of the clouds of gas. Tom carefully pulled himself up, Thunder pushing on his feet as Tom climbed onto his shoulders. Tom pulled the rope tighter, securing himself to Thunder. 

He was flying.

He was flying!

Tom laughed, holding onto the makeshift rope harness for dear life as Thunder began spiraling upwards, following the same winding route as the birds that so often dipped into the canyon. They ascended further and further, eventually clearing the top of the fissure and gliding into the trees, which were just sparse enough for Thunder to make his way through.

They set down next to the upper cave entrance, and Tom slid off of Thunder’s shoulders, giddy with adrenaline.

“That was awesome!” he exclaimed. “Oh my gosh, we have to do that again.”

Thunder huffed and nudged him towards the entrance. Tom untied himself from the dragon, still a bit high on adrenaline. By now he recognised Thunder’s annoyed nudge as fond, and he waved happily as the dragon slipped back over the edge, presumably to meet him in the cave.

This was a fantastic day.

“I can’t believe you went flying without me,” Jun pouted. Tom had invited her over for dinner, since she hadn’t come to the cave that day.

“You snooze, you lose,” Tom grinned. “But oh my god, Jun, it was amazing! We were just like, whoosh , and zoom, and-”

“I get it, I get it,” Jun grinned. “Good for you, adventure boy. But you better take me next time.”

“I doubt Thunder will let you without a harness,” Tom pointed out. “He’s very protective.” 

Jun groaned. “Dammit, I wish I could steal my mom’s, but none of them will fit me.” 

Tom sighed. “If you pay me back, I’ll order one. Mom never checks what I’m buying anymore.”

“That was quick.”

“Yeah, well, she’s busy.” 

Jun looked at him for a moment. “Yeah, I guess that works in our favor now.” 

Tom nodded, a bit glum.

“Hey, did you manage to hold on to the camera?”

“Oh, yeah,” Tom pulled it out of his pocket. “Want to see what I got?” 

Tom looked carefully over the edge, the rope firm in his hands as he lowered the folding table down the cliff face. The chairs had fit through the opening just fine, with a bit of careful angling, but the table had proved to be too bulky. So, they had liberated a second length of climbing rope from Jun’s mother, tied both Tom and the table to a tree, and had him lower it down to the ledge where Jun could drag it in. 

“Almost there!” Jun shouted from the cave below, her voice echoing slightly off of the fissure walls.

“I see it,” Tom said. He leaned a little further over the edge, surreptitiously checking to make sure his own rope was securely fastened to the harness. He slowly let the rope slide through his hands, lowering the table bit by bit until it was laying flat on the ground.

On her hands and knees—the only way Thunder would let them approach the ledge untethered—Jun crawled out of the cave and untied the table, giving Tom a thumbs up as she started dragging it inside. Tom pulled the rope back up and untied himself from the tree, coiling both ropes and hanging them on his shoulders as he went down to join Jun.

“I gotta say, this was a great idea,” Jun said. She already had the table halfway assembled, and Tom headed over to help her. Once the table was ready to go, they positioned it near the wall between the upper entrance and the opening to the fissure, and set up the chairs on either side. Theoretically, Thunder could take the empty third side. 

“Yeah, it’s starting to feel like a real clubhouse,” Tom agreed. “Once we get some games down here, maybe a snack stash, all that stuff, it’ll be awesome.” 

“I’m bringing all my dragon mythology books,” Jun said immediately. “You should really start doing some research, you know. Don’t you wanna figure out what species Thunder is?” 

“Like you can figure that out from old stories,” Tom said. “I’m doing my own research- field research. I’m probably the foremost dragon expert in the world right now.”

Jun paused at that, tilting her head as she sat down in the newly-assembled chair. “You sort of are, aren’t you.” 

“Yeah,” Tom said. “It’s kinda weird, right?”

“Definitely weird.” Jun folded her arms on the table and laid her head down, looking past Tom to watch Thunder, who was half-listening to them as usual. “I wonder if there’s more dragons down here?”

“Maybe,” Tom pondered. “I really hope they are. I don’t want Thunder to be all alone.” 

That got the dragon’s attention. He practically bounced over to their table, a far cry from the brooding sort of stalking Tom used to see. He started nudging at Tom, tugging at the ropes coiled over his shoulders.

“What- do you want to take me somewhere?” Tom asked.

Thunder nodded, then tilted his head at Jun.

Tom grinned. “Looks like you’re going to get your wish.”

Two makeshift rope harnesses and a lot of knots later, they were ready. Tom settled carefully on Thunder’s shoulders, with Jun just behind him and clinging on for dear life. For lack of a better option, they had thrown together a makeshift harness with the second length of rope and tied her to both Tom and Thunder. It wasn't the most secure thing in the world, but it was better than nothing.

With both humans secured, Thunder walked to the edge and jumped.

Tom wheezed as Jun clung to him, practically squeezing the breath out of him. Thunder dropped into the canyon, once again leveling out just above the gaseous clouds. He glided along at a brisk pace, dipping up and down as they came across warm updrafts of air. They flew further and further from the settlement, closer to the northern end of the fissure.

Eventually Thunder swooped upwards and landed on a ledge. There was a cave entrance there, much larger than the one they frequented. Thunder stalked into it, stopping when they were a good way in to let the humans down.

Tom slid down and loosened the rope, but didn’t disconnect himself entirely from the dragon. They followed Thunder deeper into the cavern, where it grew dark from the lack of sunlight. Tom put a hand on Thunder’s shoulder, trusting the dragon to guide them.

There was a high-pitched hiss, and Tom quickly removed his hand, preparing for the static shock. But it didn’t come; instead, a focused bolt of lightning shot from Thunder’s mouth, impacting the far wall in a shower of sparks. The rocks rolled back rather than crumbling, as if by design, and a golden light shone through the cracks.

A massive cavern opened on the other side of the wall. Honeycomb-like structures dotted the walls and ceiling, and crystals formed pillars arcing through the center of the space. It was quite possibly the largest underground cavern Tom had ever seen, and yet some part of him had the feeling that it was only a tiny taste of what lay further underground. It was beautiful, and awe-inspiring, in a way that Tom couldn’t quite articulate.

Then, of course, there were the dragons.

Hundreds of them, it seemed, flying in spirals around the pillars. They were all different species, flocking in somewhat chaotic unison. They were organized, Tom realized after a moment; it was almost like a dance. 

Behind them, two stubby, rock-like dragons rolled the rocks that covered the entrance back into place. Guards, Tom figured, but they didn’t seem to mind that two humans had invaded their space.

“Tom,” Jun said in quiet awe, “do you know what this means?”

“What?”

“This is the legendary home of the dragons! The hidden world, where all dragons disappeared to thousands of years ago,” Jun said. “This- this is the discovery of a lifetime!”

“I thought Thunder was the discovery of a lifetime?” 

“This is even more so,” Jun insisted. “Oh my gosh, just look at them all!”

Tom smirked. “You’re in dragon heaven right now, huh.”

“I never want to leave.”

Tom chuckled. “Well, why don’t we explore? Can’t hurt.”

“Oh, yes, absolutely,” Jun said. With a quick glance at Thunder, she untied herself from the dragon and coiled the excess rope around her middle, then took off into the cavern.

“Well, I guess we have to go after her,” Tom said, exchanging a glance with Thunder. He huffed, agreeing. Tom untied himself as well, leaving the rope with Thunder, and started climbing down to the floor of the cavern. 

Tom followed Jun as best as he could, having to change directions frequently as she flitted about from dragon to dragon, inspecting them all from increasingly dangerous distances. Tom stayed near Thunder, the two of them picking up the pace as Jun actually got close enough to pick up one of the smaller dragons. It didn’t really seem to mind, but—

Yep, there it was. The hatchling’s mother, presumably, another one of the stone-like dragons that had been at the gate. It was just slightly shorter than Jun, but undoubtedly far stronger. It swung its club-like tail, and Jun jumped back with a yelp, letting go of the hatchling. Tom started running, Thunder right beside him. Missing Jun, the dragon’s tail impacted the ground, causing cracks to spread dangerously. Thunder skidded to a stop, grabbing Tom to stop him too, and a moment later Jun had disappeared into the ground.

The mother dragon eyed Tom warily, but made no move to attack. Tom clung to Thunder, staring at the hole where Jun had disappeared. 

“Jun?” he called tentatively, hoping against hope that he would hear a response.

“I’m okay,” she shouted back a moment later. Tom breathed a sigh of relief. “Just a little bit stuck. Throw me your rope?” 

“Right, on it,” Tom said. He unwound the rope from THunder’s neck and dropped it down the hole, having to crawl to the edge for fear of more ground breaking. 

“I can’t reach it!”

Tom swore. “Can you like, throw your rope up and hook it on?”

“I don’t think it works like that! Don’t worry, I’ll try and stack up some rocks to reach you!”

“Alright!” Tom shouted, then glanced back up at his surroundings. The mother dragon still had her eyes on him, as if debating whether to send him to meet Jun’s fate. “...but hurry up!” 

Jun stared at the rope dangling tauntingly out of her reach. It was a good five meters up, well beyond what she could jump to. There were some loose rocks around, but stacking them up would take a considerable amount of time, and given Tom’s tone she didn’t have much of that.

Still, it was the best option she had, so she started rolling stones over to the patch of light under the hole. The cavern she had fallen into was mostly flooded, with a bioluminescent glow coming from the water, but was still much dimmer than the higher cavern. Jun huffed, lifting a stone easily half of her weight onto another one to make a stack. She climbed on top of it, finding it relatively stable, and looked upwards.

…it was going to take a long time to get to that rope. 

Come to think of it, how had she survived falling that far? If the rope didn’t reach, it was at least sixty meters down. She wasn't even bruised, despite the fact that she had nothing to cushion her fall. The landing itself was a blur of adrenaline, so she really wasn't sure. 

The answer presented itself to her when she heard a low rumbling from the water. Slowly, Jun turned towards the lake, watching as the bioluminescent algae parted to make way for something.

That something was a dragon, of course. From a distance it looked like a chinese dragon, a long serpent with blue and red scales, neither color bleeding into the other. It slithered much like a snake towards the shallow shore, Jun slowly backing away as it lifted out of the water. That was when she noticed the discrepancies; the dragon’s face was long, much more like a European dragon than a Chinese dragon. And on its back, only a short distance down its length, were two small wings. They were far too small to support its weight; the part of Jun that wasn't terrified wondered if the dragon flew with both wings and eastern magic, or if the wings were just vestigial. 

It lowered its head to her, one red eye and one blue boring into her soul.

“Six limbs,” Jun whispered. “Norse. But a serpent- Chinese. What are you?” 

It tilted its head, watching her closely.

“Well,” Jun said, “If you saved me, maybe you can help me get out of here.” 

“Sorry Jun!” Tom’s voice suddenly filtered into the cavern, bouncing off of the walls. “I’m under attack, I’ll come back for you!”

The rope was abruptly gone.

Well. Jun really only had one option, now. 

“Alright, dragon of mysterious origin,” Jun said, turning back to the serpent. “I know everything there is to know about every dragon in existence. So you are going to listen to me, and you are going to take me back up there.”

The dragon just looked at her, unimpressed. Then it huffed a cloud of steam in her face and slipped back into the water.

Jun grumbled. She stomped over to her rock pile, taking a seat. “Stupid dragon,” she huffed. “Norse dragons are supposed to listen to firm commands!” 

Well, Norse dragons weren’t known to be particularly friendly in the first place. But still! That should have worked.

Well, maybe she needed to lean more into the Chinese side of the dragon. The stories she knew said to be calm, and treat the dragon with respect. To let them come to you.

So Jun sat down on the shore and watched the water, attempting to exude an aura of calm. If the dragon was as benevolent as Chinese dragons were supposed to be, it would help her without needing to be asked.

But she waited, and waited, and the dragon did not approach her again. So doing nothing clearly wasn't working, but doing something had backfired spectacularly. What was she supposed to do?

Jun stood up and paced, going in circles around her rock pile. The dragon must be some descendant of both Chinese and Norse dragons- what specific species, she had no idea, but the evidence of both families were evident. What physical traits it had picked up from each side were obvious, but behavior-wise Jun was having a hard time finding the balance. 

She looked out at the lake again, seeing the ripples of the dragon swimming just beneath the surface. It was waiting, clearly, but for what? 

A dragon caught between worlds, between almost opposite mythologies, yet somehow existing all the same.

“Oh,” Jun said softly. “I guess we have a few things in common.” 

The dragon lifted its head above the water, listening.

“I’m sorry I was rude earlier,” Jun continued. “I think we’re a lot alike. Is that why you saved me?”

The dragon huffed; it would have saved anyone who fell. But it stayed because Jun intrigued it.

“Could you please take me back up there? I think Tom needs my help.”

The dragon snaked towards her, eventually stopping in the shallows of the lake, positioned perfectly so that she could climb onto its neck. Jun did so, looping her rope loosely around its neck to secure herself. 

“Let’s go,” she said quietly. The dragon rose smoothly out of the water, spiraling upwards in a way that couldn’t possibly make sense with the rules of physics. It slipped easily up through the hole and into the upper cavern, where Tom and Thunder were flying in circles, being chased by the same mother dragon from earlier.

“Shall we go help them?” Jun said. The dragon turned in a slow circle, moving to intercept the chase. As soon as the mother dragon saw it, she backed off and flew away. 

“Whoa, Jun! That is one awesome dragon,” Tom said, him and Thunder coming to hover beside them. 

“I know, right? I’ll need to think of an equally awesome name for him.”

“I swear, if you name him ‘Mr. Dragon-’”

“That was one time!”

They laughed and glided back to the exit, silently agreeing that they’d had enough adventure for one day. Jun expected her dragon to let her off at the entrance, but instead he kept going as soon as the way was open, and snaked out into the canyon.

“...I think he’s going to stick with us,” Jun said, surprised.

“I guess so. Sorry, Thunder, looks like your cave is going to have another occupant,” Tom said, patting Thunder’s head apologetically.

They finally made it back to the cave, Jun’s dragon curling up surprisingly small in one of the corners. She disentangled herself from the dragon and promptly lay down on the ground, utterly spent.

A soft thump alerted her to Tom’s presence on the ground beside her.

“So, how was your first dragon adventure?” Tom said.

“Eh, four out of ten,” Jun said. “Way too much almost dying for my tastes.” 

“Ah, but that’s the fun part!” 

“To you, maybe,” Jun said, blindly attempting to punch him. She connected with something, as Tom let out a wheeze.

“Point taken.” 

Jun sighed, laying her head back against the rock. Today had been exhilarating, exhausting, and far too dangerous for her liking. 

She couldn’t wait to do it all again. 

Chapter Text

April 16, 2 months before Tom arrived at the settlement.

Tom groaned, letting his head hit the desk with a light thud. His geology project would be fine, if it were anyone else turning it in, but his teachers always expected more from the son of a famous scientist. A quick paper on the formation of pumice stones wasn't going to cut it- he needed something more, something unique.

Turning to his last resort, Tom pulled out his laptop and called his mom. 

It took her a few minutes to pick up. When she did, she was clearly in the middle of eating, with a pen tucked behind her ear. 

“Hey Tom, what’s up?” Olivia asked.

“Hey Mom, I kinda need a bit of help with this project,” Tom explained. “It’s for my geology class, we’re doing volcanic rock formations. I was wondering if you had any cool new research you could send me?” 

Olivia yawned. “Let me see… we got some samples from the deeper caves, but we’re still waiting on some equipment to analyze them.” 

“Can I see it anyway?” 

“Sure, I guess,” Olivia said. She rummaged around off-screen for a moment, then held a crystal up to the camera. “It looks like normal Quartz, but it’s harder than I anticipated.”

“You managed to find quartz in a volcanic area?” Tom asked, confused.

“Well, it might not actually be Quartz,” Olivia said. “And this was a bit deeper down in the sediment. It might actually be from beneath the volcanic layers.”

“Isn’t all of Iceland a volcanic island?”

“Not all of it, technically. Once you go deep enough, you hit the really old layers.” Olivia set the maybe-quartz down and took a sip of water, washing down the last of her food. “Sorry hon, I gotta go. This crystal still needs analyzing.”

“Oh yeah, totally, I understand,” Tom said automatically. “Good luck with your research!”

Olivia hung up, and Tom was left staring at a blank screen.

Tom sighed. That was utterly useless. Maybe-quartz but maybe not? This was nowhere near concrete enough for his project. Pumice stones it was, then. Maybe he could use some fancy wording to impress his teachers…

Present

Tom scooped up one of the crystals from the ground, turning it over in his hands. It had a faint orange color to it at first, but the longer he held it, the more the color faded. It looked a lot like the not-quartz his mother had found, in fact; he wondered what happened with that investigation.

“Hey Jun, check this out,” Tom said, waving the crystal above his head. Jun looked up from where she was playing with a few small dragons- adults this time, as she had learned her lesson. She got up with a groan, hefting her coil of rope over her shoulder. They had finally gotten her a harness, fortunately, and she had taken to flying like a natural.

“What is it?” Jun asked.

“Look, I think it has some kind of camouflage ability,” Tom said. He held it up to show her the clear color, then set it back down, where it slowly changed to orange.

“Huh,” Jun said. “That’s weird. Might explain the weird colors on all the dragons, though.”

“I think they’re more like tropical birds,” Tom blurted out. “Y’know, just turning fun colors to look cool.”

“And attract mates, right?” Jun said. “I do pay attention to you occasionally, you know.”

“Yeah, that’s right,” Tom said, inwardly beaming that she remembered. He had picked up a fair amount of geology from his mom, obviously, but biology was always his best subject. “I can’t think of any other reason for single species to have so much color variation.” 

“Look at you, being all sciencey,” Jun said. “You should really start writing this stuff down, you know.”

“That’s not a bad idea,” Tom said, pondering. “I could get a field journal or something, keep it in our hideout.” 

“Then you’d really be the dragon expert,” Jun said, nudging him.

“Hey, I’m already the dragon expert, thank you very much,” Tom said. Not even bothering to look, he leaned against Thunder, who had stayed protectively by his side while he observed the dragons and took samples of the crystals. “See? Thunder agrees with me!”

Thunder huffed and moved out from under Tom’s elbow, sending him crashing to the ground.

Jun laughed. “I think Thunder has some opinions about you putting words in his mouth.”

“Speaking of which,” Tom said, taking Jun’s proffered hand, “have you named your dragon yet?”

Jun glanced back at the serpent, who was curled around several crystal pillars and watching over them with a sort of serene aura. “Not quite,” she admitted. “But I think I’m getting closer. I just want to find something that’s appropriate for them, you know? Not Chinese or Norse, but something else- or maybe both.” 

Tom smiled, understanding. “Well, that’s for you to decide,” he said. “C’mon, let’s head back to the surface. We get cell service there, so we can look up some names.”

Jun smiled gratefully. “That sounds like a great idea.” 

Tom nodded and glanced around for Thunder, who was still hovering only a few paces away. He’d relaxed slightly as Tom proved his competence, but still tended to remain close to his rider when they were outside the safety of the lair. Thunder came at Tom’s gesture, and Jun whistled for her dragon as they started heading back for the exit.

Then Thunder froze, his ears perking up and swiveling to the right. Tom automatically followed his gaze, noting his dragon’s body language out of the corner of his eye. Thunder didn’t seem defensive, but he had definitely noticed something.

“...we’re gonna have to hold off on leaving, Jun,” Tom said. “I think Thunder found something.” 

Jun nodded, falling back with her significantly larger dragon as Tom and Thunder took the lead. Tom followed beside Thunder, letting him guide them to whatever he had heard. As they trekked deeper into the cavern, Tom started to hear what Thunder had picked up on: low, wailing cries that were unmistakable signs of distress. 

They rounded a corner, and Tom paused as he caught sight of the dragon. It was a large blue dragon with a beetle-like carapace on its back, the slightest hint of shimmering insect wings peeking out from beneath it. On its head was a massive crystal-like horn, marking it as a definite native of the crystal cave. It was standing, so its legs were likely fine, but it made no move to open its wings even as it backed up defensively at their approach.

“No sudden moves, pal,” Tom said, gently patting Thunder’s neck. Thunder rumbled lowly, not loud enough for anyone else to hear. Slowly, Tom sat down, Thunder following his lead. He hoped that Jun was taking his cue, or else staying out of sight.

“Hey there,” Tom said, keeping his voice quiet and soothing. “You look hurt. I promise, we’re here to help. Is it okay if I come closer?”

The dragon did not approach him, but it did stop backing away and looked at him more closely. Tom didn’t move, Thunder remaining docile beside him. He thanked the heavens that Thunder was trusting his judgment.

Tom held out his hands, leaving them loose, palm up. The dragon settled down on the ground, but didn’t come any closer. Slowly, Tom set his hands on the ground and scooted himself closer, stopping when the injured dragon began growling warily. Evidently, it wouldn’t let him any closer than that. 

“Tom,” Jun whispered from somewhere behind him, “I don’t think either of us have the experience to deal with this.”

“I know,” Tom whispered back, not taking his eyes off of the dragon, though he did turn slightly towards Jun. “I’m hoping it’s something simple like a thorn, and not a broken wing.”

“And if it is?”

“Then… there’s not a lot we can do except protect it while it heals,” Tom said.

“Or…” Jun said, and Tom immediately knew he was going to hate this idea, “we could get help.”

“What part about secret do you not understand?”

“We don’t have to tell everyone,” Jun said. “Just one person. I heard that Diangelo wants to become a vet when he grows up. Plus, his mom is the town doctor.”

“That doesn’t mean he’ll know how to treat a dragon!” Tom hissed. “And he’s the biggest stickler for the rules you’ll ever find, he’d definitely rat us out.”

“Come on, give him a chance,” Jun said. “It worked out with me, right?”

“You’re dragon-obsessed and a rule breaker,” Tom said. “Diangelo is the exact opposite of that.”

“ Tom, ” she said, and Tom knew he had lost. 

“Fine,” Tom groaned. He slid himself back over to Thunder and got up, nodding respectfully at the dragon.

“Stay safe,” Tom said. “We’ll be back soon.”

“I could leave my dragon to watch over them,” Jun offered. “If Thunder is willing to give me a ride, that is.”

“Good thinking,” Tom said. “I don’t really want to leave them alone and vulnerable.”

He turned to Jun’s dragon, who was curled up behind her and watching intently.

“Mind staying to watch over them?” Tom asked, gesturing to the injured dragon.

The serpent nodded, slinking past Tom and Jun and settling himself between the injured dragon and the greater cavern. With that settled, Tom swung onto Thunder’s back and pulled Jun up behind him before heading out of the cavern.

It almost felt weird, being in town during the day. Tom usually only came back in the evenings for dinner, if that, since he spent most of his time in the lair. He’d even gotten used to wearing the climbing harness most of the time, since Thunder wouldn’t let him out of the cave without it.

“Okay, where are we supposed to find this kid?” Tom asked.

“He’s usually helping his mom in the infirmary,” Jun said. “If we’re lucky, he’s here and she’s not.”

“And if she is?”

“We omit the fact that it’s a dragon we’re helping and continue with the plan,” Jun said.

“What plan? Since when do we have a plan?”

Jun smirked at him, and Tom had no choice but to follow her lead. 

Jun threw open the infirmary door, strolling in like she owned the place. Tom followed nervously, though he automatically put some false bravado into his steps. 

“Hello, Jun,” Dr. Baker said, rolling out of her office. “Everything alright?”

“Oh, we’re fine, but we need Diangelo’s help,” Jun said. “He knows a lot about animals, right? We found an injured bird in the forest and we didn’t think it would be a good idea to move it.”

“Ah, an animal lover,” Dr. Baker said. “Diangelo! Your friends need your help!”

“We’re not really friends yet, mom,” Diangelo said, appearing from down the hall. “Oh, hey Jun. What’s up?”

“We found an injured bird and we’re hoping you can take a look at it,” Jun said.

Diangelo immediately shifted, his expression settling into something serious. “I’ll grab my kit,” he said, disappearing for a moment before reappearing with a bright red medical bag. He quickly ushered them out the door, and Tom breathed a sigh of relief. He couldn’t believe they had just gotten away with that.

The moment they were away from town, Jun moved in front of Diangelo, walking backwards.

“So, full disclosure, it wasn't actually a bird we found and you can’t tell anyone about this,” Jun said. 

Diangelo stopped in his tracks. “What do you mean, it’s not a bird? And why is it a secret?”

“You’ll understand when we get there, promise,” Tom said, physically pushing Diangelo to get moving. He started walking again with a huff, grip tightening on his medical bag. Tom gulped, really hoping that Jun’s gamble would work.

Jun led Diangelo into the lair entrance, and Tom immediately winced when he heard Diangelo scream. He hurriedly slipped in behind them, quickly ducking around Diangelo frozen in the middle of the staircase to get between him and Thunder, who was growling menacingly at the intruder.

“Okay, okay, I really should have gone first,” Tom said, holding out a hand placatingly to Thunder. “Thunder, this is Diangelo, he’s gonna help us with that dragon we found.”

Thunder looked at Tom for a moment, then scoffed and turned his back on the group.

“When you said it wasn't a bird, I didn’t think you meant an entire real-life dragon!” Diangelo screeched.

“Trust me, you haven’t seen anything yet,” Jun said. “The dragon you need to help is deeper in the caves. Tom, think Thunder can carry all three of us?”

“Thunder?” Tom asked, turning to his sulking dragon.

Thunder looked them over, then nodded with a huff.

“Alright, I guess we’re good,” Tom said. “Diangelo, let me tie you onto Thunder. He won’t let us fly unless we’re secured.”

“We’re going to fly on that thing?” Diangelo said. 

“Yep,” Jun chirped. “Through the fissure, even!”

Diangelo just stood there twitching for a while. Jun shrugged and started looping rope around his shoulders, which he didn’t protest.

“Do you know how many rules of conduct this breaks?” Diangelo demanded after a moment to process.

“Probably more than I can count,” Tom said.

“Thirteen! You’re breaking thirteen separate rules with this expedition!”

“Well, the rules say not to venture down the fissure without an expert, and I’m pretty sure I count as a dragon expert at this point,” Tom boasted. 

Thunder immediately tried to knock him over, but Tom saw it coming for once and jumped over his tail. He could not, however, avoid Thunder bowling him over and pinning him to the ground with his entire body weight.

“It’s been two weeks, Tom. You’re only an expert by relative standards,” Jun said.

“Oh I see, so you’re taking his side this time,” Tom said.

“Why have you not told anyone about this?” Diangelo demanded.

“C’mon, Di. If you had the opportunity to have your own dragon, would you really ruin it by telling an adult?” Jun asked.

“Yes! Because it’s dangerous!”

“If it helps,” Tom wheezed out, “Thunder is definitely safety-conscious enough for all of us.”

“Forgive me if I don’t trust a mythological animal to keep you safe,” Diangelo said, arms folded.

“Hold still,” Jun said, tying one last knot. “There, makeshift harness done. Thunder, get off of Tom so we can get going.”

Tom took a deep breath once Thunder was off of him, coughing slightly as he got to his feet. “Alright, I got the message,” Tom grumbled.

“I still have reservations about this,” Diangelo said as Jun pushed him towards Thunder.

“Injured dragon, remember? Don’t you want to be a vet?” Jun asked. “Just think of it as field work, totally par for the course.”

Tom climbed onto Thunder’s back, wrapping his own climbing rope around the dragon’s neck with practiced ease. Diangelo sat just behind him, Jun securing his rope to Tom’s harness, and then securing herself to both Diangelo and Thunder. 

“Let’s go, Thunder,” Tom said, gently nudging him. Thunder huffed, but nonetheless made his way to the edge of the cave.

“Is it too late to get off this riDE-!” Diangelo started screaming as Thunder dropped off the edge, stealing the breath from his lungs. Tom held on tight as he felt the now-familiar rush of adrenaline that came from falling, keeping his eyes on the entrance to the hidden world as they dropped into the fissure. He braced himself just in time as Thunder’s wings snapped open, bringing them into a glide at just the right level to reach the entrance. 

Rather than stopping in the entryway, Thunder blasted the doors as they glided in, and continued flying into the cavern. Jun’s dragon was easy to spot from a distance, the red and blue swirls standing out against the orange of the cavern. The injured dragon was still where they had left it, well-protected by the large serpent.

Thunder landed just behind the serpent, Tom swiftly untying everyone and hopping off.

“The little guy back there is your patient,” Tom said, leading a slightly dazed Diangelo around the large dragon. “Don’t approach too fast, let him get used to you first. Dragons are pretty intelligent, so talk to him and explain what you’re doing. It looks like his wings are hurt, but I couldn’t get close enough to tell.”

Diangelo shook himself, evidently snapping out of it. “Are they most closely related to reptiles?” he asked.

“They look like it, yeah, but we’re not really sure yet,” Tom said. “And the whole fire-breathing thing had to come from somewhere. This one looks like it has insect-like wings, though, so who knows where that came from.”

“Convergent evolution,” Diangelo said absently. Medical bag in one hand and rope coiled over his shoulder, Diangelo began cautiously approaching the downed dragon. Tom leaned back against Jun’s dragon to watch. 

“Hey there, little guy,” Diangelo said, voice soft and soothing. He approached slowly, crouched down slightly, until the dragon started showing signs of agitation. Then he took a seat on the ground, much as Tom had done, and kept talking until the dragon relaxed. Slowly, ever so slowly, he approached until the dragon allowed Diangelo to touch him and he could begin his examination.

Tom watched with mild fascination as Diangelo worked. He was thorough, carefully checking the dragon’s mouth, listening to his heartbeat, and checking his temperature. Of course, all of this wouldn’t do much without a baseline to work off of, but getting more data never hurt. Eventually, Diangelo moved on to the dragon’s wings, at which point it began to make pained sounds.

“Does that hurt?” Diangelo asked. The dragon groaned an affirmative. “Alright, this might hurt a bit, but I promise it’ll feel better soon. Ready?”

Diangelo lifted the carapace, evidently locating whatever was wrong with the wing; Tom couldn’t quite see from his angle. He pulled out some gauze, medical tape, and rubbing alcohol from his bag and got to work. The dragon hissed as Diangelo cleaned the wound, but held still. Tom smiled; Diangelo had really gained the dragon’s trust. 

“Better?” Diangelo asked when he stepped back. The dragon chirped happily, bounding in circles around him, though it didn’t try to fly just yet. Smart dragon.

“Well that went well,” Tom commented, though he didn’t move from his spot. The dragon turned towards him and approached, Tom obligingly scratching it around its horn when prompted. 

“They really do understand us, don’t they?” Diangelo marveled.

“I think they do,” Tom admitted. “Thunder seems to, anyway. You have to understand why we need to keep this a secret, right?”

“I don’t, actually,” Diangelo said, a hard edge creeping into his voice. “...but I can see that this is important to you. We’ll call it doctor-patient confidentiality for now.” 

Tom smiled. “I appreciate that.” 

“But man, I never want to fly like that again,” Diangelo sighed. “That’s way too much adrenaline for one day.”

“Trust me, that was tame,” Jun said, finally chiming in. “and you do realize you’ll have to fly back with us to get out of here?”

“And you’re definitely going to have to come back and check on your patient,” Tom added.

Diangelo groaned. “Can’t we airlift him to the hideout? It’ll be a lot easier to work there.”

“Jun?” Tom asked.

“I think Antyr can do it,” Jun said.

“Hey, you finally named him!”

“I’ve been thinking about it all day,” Jun admitted. “I think it suits him.”

“I’ll take your word for it. In that case, let’s get going. C’mon D, you’re flying with me.”

Diangelo took a step back. “You know what, I think I’ll go with Jun.”

“Trust me, she’s not any better.”

“Yeah, but I think her dragon is less likely to toss me into the Fissure.”

Thunder shot a small bolt of lightning at Diangelo’s feet. He yelped, stumbling back to hide behind the crystal-horn dragon.

“Thunder takes offense to that,” Tom translated unnecessarily.

“I got that, yeah.” 

Diangelo rode on Thunder, with them leading the way for Jun and Antyr carrying the new dragon. Antyr barely fit through the opening to the hideout as it was, so they dropped the dragon on the ledge and had them guide it in. Thunder hovered protectively the whole time, of course, and only relaxed when they were all safely within the lair and away from the ledge. 

“Once again, no telling anyone,” Jun stressed as Diangelo climbed the rocks. 

“I know, I know,” Diangelo said. “But I am not taking responsibility if my dad catches me sneaking out here. He has eyes like a hawk. ”

“Or like a dragon?” Tom said. He held up a fist, and to his absolute delight, Thunder bumped it with his paw.

“Ha ha, very funny,” Diangelo said. Jun was stifling a giggle.

“Make sure to come back and check on your patient!” Jun said. “And bring fish, all dragons seem to love it.” 

“Alright, I will,” Diangelo said, and then he was out the opening and gone.

“He’s going to tell everyone, isn’t he,” Tom deadpanned.

“Have a little faith,” Jun said. “He takes the whole doctor thing very seriously, you know.”

“Let’s hope that’s enough,” Tom muttered.

Later that afternoon, Tom slipped through the door to his dome, shifting his backpack off of his shoulder.

“Oh Tom, you’re back.”

Tom startled, his bag falling to the ground. Fortunately, it only had his lunchbox and water bottle in it; all of his important equipment stayed at the lair. 

“Mom? You’re home for dinner?” Tom asked, confused. “I thought you normally ate at the lab.”

“Well, I thought I should come home for once,” Olivia said. “And we were out of bread in the lab kitchen.”

Tom crossed his arms, smirking. “So you decided to come back and raid all my leftovers, is that it?”

“Well…” Olivia gestured with her fork, which had half a new potato speared on it. “Yes? Your cooking is amazing though sweetie, I should eat at home more often.”

Tom softened. “Well, eat up. I always make too much anyway.” 

Quickly dropping his bag in his room, Tom slipped into the kitchen to microwave his own leftovers and joined his mom at the counter for dinner.

Maybe things really would be better here. 

Chapter Text

Tom knocked on the tinted glass, stepping just a little too close to the window as he peeked into Alex’s room. The window slid open a moment later, Alex glaring up at him.

“Alex, hey!” Tom said, leaning on the windowsill. “My new screen finally arrived.” 

“Of course you decided to come to me for this,” Alex grumbled, but held out a hand for his phone anyway. Tom handed over his still-broken phone and the new screen, and settled in to watch her work.

“Well, you did say you would install it, so here I am,” Tom said.

“I did say that,” Alex said distractedly, focused on removing the cracked screen from the phone. “You don’t have to stand there the whole time. This’ll take about twenty minutes.” 

Tom shrugged. “Eh, it’s not like I have anywhere else to be. There’s not really much to do out here, you know?” 

That was a blatant lie, but Tom was determined to befriend Alex in some capacity and he was grasping at straws. He knew almost nothing about her aside from the fact that she was shy and good with technology, but he was going to run with it.

“Suit yourself,” Alex said.

“So, what do you do for fun around here?” Tom asked.

Alex glared at him.

“Alright, shutting up now,” Tom said. He leaned more fully against the wall, watching Alex’s hands as she worked. As time went on he relaxed a bit, and he noticed Alex getting used to him as well. She reminded him of a wild dragon, skittish around new people. Honestly, thinking about her like that eased his anxieties a little; it meant that just standing here, sharing space silently, was a step towards building trust. A small step, but a step nonetheless, and an important one too.

It was kind of nice, actually, just existing in silence for once.

“Here,” Alex said. Tom blinked, realizing his now-operational phone was being held in his face. 

“You’re done? Great!” Tom said, fumbling a bit as he took his phone back. Sure enough, the new screen worked perfectly and had restored full function. 

“If that’s all, could you get off my window?” Alex asked.

“Sure, sure, but don’t be a stranger, alright?” Tom said. “I really appreciate it.”

Alex nodded, a curious expression on her face before she shut the glass, effectively ending the conversation.

With a smile, Tom shoved his phone in his pocket and headed back to his dome. Best not to bring something with GPS tracking to the lair. 

“I can’t believe I beat you here for once,” Jun said as Tom entered the lair. 

“I know, crazy,” Tom said. “I had to go get Alex to fix my phone, that’s all. Don’t think this is a victory.”

“Trust me, I didn't think of it as one,” Jun said. “Only a crazy person would get up as early as you.”

Tom shrugged. “It runs in the family.” 

Glancing around the lair, he found Thunder napping near the exit to the fissure, and Antyr curled up on the left side of the cavern. Diangelo’s dragon, whom he’d named Plowhorn, was happily munching on loose rocks at the back of the cave. Jun was seated at the folding table with a book open in front of her, already in her harness. 

“Is Diangelo coming today?” Jun asked as Tom stalked over to his own bag of stuff.

“I think so. I saw him heading out just as I made it to the edge of town,” Tom reported. He pulled his harness out of his bag and started putting it on.

“I guess we’ll wait for him, then,” Jun said. “Who knows, maybe he’ll finally decide Plowhorn’s ready for a short flight.”

“He is pretty strict about that,” Tom said. “Speaking of flying, we probably need to get a few more harnesses. And work on making it more comfortable for the dragons, too.”

“A few, you say?” Jun asked, smirking.

“You know, just in case,” Tom defended.

“Uh huh. And you’re definitely not thinking of bringing Alex in on this whole operation?”

Tom threw up his hands in defeat. “Okay, yeah, I am. But it would be kind of weird to exclude her now, right? We’re the only kids in town.”

“I think it’s just ‘cause you’ve made her your pet project,” Jun said.

“She is not a project,” Tom hissed. “She is a person who has clearly been excluded who I am being friendly to.”

“Sure, you tell yourself that.”

Tom just shook his head. Jun knew him well, but she didn’t always get it right. Tom was the son of a scientist, sure, but he was more interested in dragons than people. Even rocks were more interesting than people, really. His social skills were born out of self-preservation more so than anything else. 

“Hey guys,” Diangelo’s voice rang through the lair as he descended the rock staircase. “Sorry I’m late.”

“You can’t be late if we never established a meeting time,” Jun pointed out. 

“Maybe we should do that, then,” Diangelo said. “So we don’t end up waiting for each other and losing time.”

“Do you honestly think we’re capable of keeping a schedule?” Jun said.

“You aren’t, maybe,” Tom said.

Jun gasped dramatically. “Who are you and what have you done with Tom Kullersen?”

“Surprise, I’m actually organized now,” Tom said. “Who would’ve thought?” 

Thunder chortled behind him, evidently having woken up from their antics.

“What happened to running to school an hour late because you forgot to set an alarm?” Jun teased.

Tom laughed, but it was brittle. “I grew up, Jun. That happens when time passes.”

Diangelo stared at them for a moment before cutting in. “Anyways- we usually get here by around eight anyway, so can we just call that our start time?” 

“Sure,” Tom immediately agreed, turning away from Jun. “So, are you letting Plowhorn fly today?”

“Gimme a minute,” Diangelo said, going to examine his dragon. Tom rolled his eyes and leaned against Thunder, who let him with a half-annoyed huff. Personally, Tom thought he was finally starting to like him.

“So, what’s the verdict doc?” Jun asked.

“Well, her bandages came off yesterday and it looks healed on the surface, but the muscle might still be damaged. She should start light exercise today,” Diangelo proclaimed.

“So, some gliding in the Fissure?” Tom suggested. 

“Yeah, that’ll do,” Diangelo decided.

With Diangelo riding with Jun, much to Thunder’s disappointment, they shadowed Plowhorn out into the fissure. Tom quietly gave up hope on visiting the Hidden World today, as Diangelo was set on monitoring Plowhorn’s recovery. He and Thunder glided around a bit higher, occasionally skimming over the top of the canyon just for the thrill of it.

“Come back down, you two, you’ll get us caught,” Jun called from below.

“Alright, alright,” Tom said, and a devious idea popped into his head. “Hey Thunder, why don’t we give them a scare?”

Catching onto his plan, Thunder chirped before twisting into a dive, rocketing right past Antyr and Plowhorn to the deeper areas of the Fissure. Tom swore his hair brushed Antyr’s scales as they dropped. They leveled out just above the gas clouds, actively struggling to stay low as the hot air buoyed them up. 

“Show-off,” Jun shouted. Tom just grinned up at her, delighted that his plan had worked.

“Don’t be jealous that Thunder’s the fastest dragon,” Tom shouted back. He fully intended to continue the banter, but paused when Thunder’s ears twitched, completely missing Jun’s response.

“What is it?” Tom asked quietly. Thunder tilted his head slightly to the left, and Tom turned to look. But he saw nothing, only heat waves from the thermals distorting the canyon walls. Thunder was slightly defensive, but not agitated; he had seen something, but it probably wasn't actively dangerous.

“...think we should head out?” Tom said.

Thunder just spread his wings and started spiraling upwards, bringing them back to the level of the others.

“We should head back,” Tom called once they were at eye level. “Plowhorn’s probably getting tired.”

Jun sent a look at him, undoubtedly seeing through the premise, but Diangelo immediately latched onto the idea and insisted that they land. Tom let them lead the way, keeping his eyes peeled for any anomalies as they glided back to the lair, but found nothing that his eyes could see.

In the end, it was fortunate that they returned early, as there was a community dinner that night. Tom returned home in the early afternoon and started cooking, deciding to make a pasta bake out of some leftovers. He really did always make too much food, so foisting it off on the community would help clear out the fridge. Maybe he should start packing lunches of leftovers for his mom, then she’d eat something other than sandwiches all the time. 

Tom paced the living room while the pasta bake was in the oven, restless for some strange reason. He felt uneasy, like something was watching him, though the feeling died down after a few minutes. Tom had spent a lot of his life alone in the woods, however, and knew that he shouldn’t ignore the signs. He’d be safe in his dome, probably, but the community dinner would leave everyone exposed. A dragon probably wouldn’t be stupid enough to show itself with so many people around, but there were no guarantees.

Tom would have to be on high alert all night. Dammit.

At half past five, the pasta bake was done. The sun was still up, though it was slowly dipping towards the horizon, the shadows lengthening. Tom grabbed some hot pads and picked up the dish, then made his way towards the pavilion.

A few streets down he paused, looking at Alex’s dome. He had no idea whether she’d left already, but for some reason he felt like knocking on her door. However, he had no hands free, so it was fortunate that he didn’t have to. Alex emerged from the dome, looking much different from the grumpy-but-confident tech whizz he’d spoken to through her window. She was hunched in on herself, her tablet held up to cover her face, and startled badly when she saw Tom standing there.

“Hey Alex!” Tom said, doing his best to act casual. “I’m uh, just on my way to dinner.”

“I can see that,” Alex said slowly, looking at the dish in his hands. “Why are you standing outside my house?”

“Well,” Tom said, fumbling for words. “I dunno? Wanna walk together?”

Alex stared at him for a moment, brows furrowed, before lowering her tablet slightly. “Sure.” 

Tom grinned, and Alex fell into step beside him as he started walking, slowly for the sake of the pasta. Alex kept glancing at him, as if trying to find something to say but coming up empty. Tom started humming slightly to fill the silence, and as a way to let Alex know that she didn’t have to say anything; he was content with the quiet.

The closer they got to the crowded pavilion, the more Alex shrunk in on herself. Tom glanced at her, then paused at the edge of the square.

“I’m gonna go put this down, be right back,” Tom said, and went to set the pasta bake on the main buffet table. True to his word, he slipped back out of the crowd to where Alex had made herself at home in a corner directly underneath one of the spotlights.

“Not a fan of crowds, huh?” Tom said. 

Alex nodded. 

“That’s cool. I used to be terrified of big crowds like this,” Tom said, gesturing widely. “When my mom started giving talks at big conferences, she had to leave me in another room instead of in the audience, I was that terrified. I think I peed my pants once.”

Alex snorted. “How old were you?”

“When I peed my pants? Like, seven,” Tom said. “When I stopped being afraid of crowds, I was around thirteen? It took awhile.” 

“What changed?” 

Tom paused, looking at the ground. “...my mom sat me down and told me I needed to grow up,” he said. “So I worked on it. First big public places like parks, where I could leave, and then stuff like movies, and then school. Eventually it stopped bothering me.”

“Exposure therapy,” Alex identified.

“Yeah, that’s the word for it,” Tom said.

“...I’m not really afraid of crowds, exactly,” Alex said. “Just the people in them.”

“On that, we can agree,” Tom said with a sigh.

Alex looked at him curiously. “You seem like the kind of person who likes people,” Alex said.

“Yeah, but I’m bad at it,” Tom groaned. “I spent my whole life basically alone with my mom doing field work, and then suddenly she gets a lab job and I have to go to school and talk to people? Worst day of my life.”

“Seems like you have it figured out now,” Alex said, drawing into herself a little.

“Kinda,” Tom shrugged. “Took me a while to figure it out. Jun helped, she’s a real natural at this stuff.” 

“And look at you now, the most popular kid in town.”

Tom snorted. “Not like I have much competition, with there only being four of us.” 

“Even so,” Alex said, looking down at her tablet. “None of us really talked to each other before you got here. Now Jun and Diangelo seem to actually be friends. And you talked to me even though I tried to make you leave me alone.”

“What, you thought I was going to fall for that?” Tom said teasingly.

“No one else would have been this persistent,” Alex pointed out.

“Yeah, well,” Tom’s expression dropped, sobering. “I know what being alone in the house all the time can do to you.”

Alex tilted her head, looking at him with concern. But she didn’t have time to question it, as the bell rang, signaling the start of dinner.

“Wanna sit with me and Jun?” Tom offered.

“No, I usually sit at the quieter end of the table,” Alex said. “It was nice talking to you.”

Tom smiled. “See you later?”

Alex just waved, walking off to her seat. Tom turned to find Jun, mulling over the conversation in his mind. He hadn’t gotten that close to opening up with anyone, not even Jun.

What was different about Alex?

Tom was pleasantly surprised to find Alex seeking him out after dinner. She was still hiding behind her tablet, but relaxed as the crowd started to thin out.

“Walk back together?” Tom asked rhetorically. Alex just nodded quietly; she looked a bit worn out. Tom spotted Alex’s moms still on the pavilion, talking with some of the scientists. Evidently they had no issue with their daughter walking home alone, and why would they? It was a small settlement, and Tom wouldn’t think twice about it either if it weren’t for Alex’s blatantly obvious anxiety.

Then again, maybe it wasn't so obvious to someone who hadn’t experienced the same thing.

They walked back in silence, neither needing to speak as they made their way through the rows of domes. As they got closer to Alex’s hut, Tom began to feel uneasy, the hairs on the back of his neck standing on-end.

Alex was clearly feeling it too, as she hugged the tablet to her chest. 

“...hey, do you mind if I use your bathroom?” Tom asked as they approached. “Our toilet is clogged and I haven’t gotten around to fixing it yet.”

“Sure,” Alex said, latching onto the excuse like a lifeline. She opened the door, allowing Tom to slip past her. He went into the bathroom- he did have to go, though he’d lied about the toilet situation. He emerged quickly to find Alex sitting in the living room, her leg bouncing up and down. The uneasy feeling hadn’t left, and Tom scrambled for an excuse to stay longer. Maybe he could stall by making small talk? No, that wouldn’t work on Alex, she was too direct.

Finally, he gave up and settled on the truth.

“You feel that too, right?” Tom said, allowing himself to show the signs of anxiety he’d long since learned to keep hidden.

“Oh good, it’s not just me,” Alex said, looking close to panic. “What is it?” 

“...usually, it means something’s tracking you,” Tom murmured. “Wild animals don’t like to come into settlements, though, so I don’t know why something would be here.”

Alex stiffened, and Tom immediately regretted his choice of words as she promptly ran into her room and slammed the door, likely about to have a panic attack. Tom bit down a swear, looking around the room for any sign of a stalking dragon. But there were no visual cues, no indicator beyond the suffocating presence of something stalking and watching. Gods, Tom wished he had Thunder right now, with his acute hearing that would undoubtedly find the intruding dragon. 

Well, if he couldn’t see it, it was either invisible or very small. Or both; camouflage worked better on a smaller scale, after all. Looking around, Tom grabbed a broom and started poking at the ceiling, searching for anything hidden in the corners. He eventually made it to the wall above the kitchen cabinets, where he heard a soft skittering, and briefly saw something akin to heat waves.

Having located the dragon, Tom kept the broom raised and returned to Alex’s door. He knocked, listening intently; Alex was breathing heavily, probably still panicking, and he felt bad for leaving her alone, but solving the immediate issue was more prevalent. He had located the dragon; that was enough.

“Alex, I’m coming in,” Tom said, and slid the door open as he backed in, keeping the broom raised to make sure the dragon didn’t follow him. He closed the door behind him, then immediately turned towards Alex, who was curled up on her bed.

“It can’t get in here,” Tom said, staying put as he knew better than to approach her. “Alex, how can I help?” 

She raised her head slightly, eyes puffy, and pointed at a folded-up blanket on her desk. Tom immediately grabbed it, doing a double take as it was heavier than he expected; a weighted blanket. He slung it over Alex’s shoulders, and she immediately burrowed into it, hiding from the world.

Tom pulled the chair over and sat in front of her, waiting. Eventually the soft beeps from her tablet started to sound out of the cocoon, and a few minutes later Alex poked her head out.

“Okay?” Tom asked.

“You’re sure it’s not in here?” Alex rasped out.

“No, it’s not,” Tom affirmed. “It’s in the living room, and too big to have followed me in.”

Alex shuddered. “What is it?”

Tom hesitated. “Okay, how open are you to seemingly crazy new information?”

“I keep an open mind but thoroughly fact-check,” Alex said.

“Great, that’s perfect, you’ll be able to see for yourself,” Tom said. “Or not see, as the case may be.”

“You haven’t answered the question.”

“Right, right,” Tom said. “It’s a dragon.”

Alex blinked. “I see the need for the question now.” 

“Yeah,” Tom said nervously. “From what I can tell it’s invisible, or at least camouflaged. I sort of saw it for a moment when I poked at it, probably because it moved, but I didn’t get a clear look.”

“A dragon,” Alex murmured, curling up a little tighter. “In my house. How big is it?”

“...do you really want to know?” Tom hedged.

Alex glared at him.

“Okay, okay, probably bigger than us,” Tom said. “That’s the best estimate I have.” 

“Whyyyyyy,” Alex groaned.

“It’s not that bad,” Tom said, ignoring Alex’s skeptical glare. “Most dragons are pretty friendly, for the most part. This one’s probably just curious.” 

“And you know this how?” 

“Technically, I am the world’s leading expert on dragons,” Tom said.

Alex blinked at him, then shifted out from under the blanket and pushed up her glasses. “Assuming I believe you, how do we make it go away?” 

“Well, it probably followed me here, so I can lead it away,” Tom proposed. 

“Will that work?”

“Ehhh…” Tom tilted his hand back and forth.

“Great,” she huffed. “Got any other ideas?”

“Hey, I’ll think of something,” Tom said defensively. He spun around in the chair, briefly considering making an escape through the window but immediately discarding the idea. It could just follow them again. 

“...I think we should call for backup,” Tom said.

“As in the other kids who always disappear with you?”

“As in them, yeah,” Tom said. “And also their dragons. Wait, no, I don’t trust either of them not to be spotted.”

“Back to square one, then,” Alex sighed. “Do we even know why it followed us here in the first place?”

“...no,” Tom said, glancing at the door. “But I can take a guess.”

He stood up, starting to pace. “I noticed something when we were out flying the other day- like heat waves. I thought it was just the Fissure, but I’m betting it was that dragon watching me and the others. And if they saw us with our dragons, maybe if they saw a kid without a dragon, they decided there was an open position.”

“You’re assigning a lot of intelligence to a supposedly mythical species of animal,” Alex said. “Are you sure it doesn’t just want to eat me?”

“Pretty sure,” Tom said. “Dragons eat fish, anyway, not people. They’ll eat other types of meat, but I’ve never seen them act predatory towards humans. Defensive, sure, but not predatory.” 

“We are going to have a very long talk about how you know all of this later,” Alex said. 

“Yeah, fair, but point is I’m not convinced that it’s dangerous,” Tom said. “I think it’s just curious.”

“And how does this help us get rid of it?” 

Well. Tom had sort of switched goals by now, but Alex was very clearly not on board with having a pet dragon, so he’d have to get there slowly. Baby steps.

“Well, maybe we can just ask it to leave,” Tom said.

“You’re kidding.”

“I’m serious! They understand human speech, for the most part. Or at least they get the gist of it.”

Alex glanced nervously at the door. “But what if it doesn’t leave?”

“Then we call in backup. Call that plan B,” Tom said confidently. “As for plan A… I’m fairly confident it’ll work, but I’m going to need your help.”

Alex tilted her head. “I have a feeling I’m not going to like this.”

“I was right, I do not like this!” Alex said, standing tense before the door.

“Relax, it’s gonna be fine,” Tom said. “I’ll be there as a buffer the whole time, and I’m practically the dragon whisperer!”

“...fine, but you go first,” Alex said, physically pulling him in front of her.

Tom shrugged. “Sure.”

He opened the door.

Silence greeted them. The living room was seemingly empty, save for the hair-raising feeling of being watched. It felt less threatening now that Tom knew what was going on, more like a gaze of curiosity than of a hunter. 

“Hello!” Tom greeted the dragon, searching for heatwaves in the corner of the ceiling. Behind him, Alex held the broom tightly in front of her, nervously glancing back and forth. 

“Now, I wouldn’t mind a dragon following me home, but you’re scaring my friend here,” Tom said. “Mind showing yourself?” 

There was a slight hissing sound, but nothing other than that.

“Not comfortable with that? I get it,” Tom said, glancing back at Alex. “Let's meet in the middle, yeah? Make some noise so we know where you are, and we can talk.”

He heard a chirp, one that sounded affirmative, and then the sound of claws clicking against the walls. Alex latched onto his arm, her grip painfully tight, as the dragon settled onto the couch. It was still invisible, but could be made out by the dips it left in the cushions.

“Oh yeah, that’s great, thanks,” Tom said, nodding slightly. “See, Alex? They listened.”

“So they’re as intelligent as a dog,” Alex said.

“More intelligent than a trained dog, you mean,” Tom said. Gently, he pried Alex’s fingers off of his arm. “You can stay over here. I wanna see what kind of dragon we’re working with.”

Approaching slowly, Tom held out a limp hand. He stopped just before the dragon, holding his hand near where he thought the head would be. There was a curious chirp, and then a scaly head was nosing at his hand, sniffing much like a dog would. 

“Yeah, hi there,” Tom said. “C’mon, Alex, they’re friendly!”

“I think I’ll stay way over here, thanks,” Alex said. When Tom turned to look at her, she was stiff as a board.

“...I know it’s scary,” Tom said quietly. “But dragons are amazing creatures, and sometimes it’s worth it to take risks.”

“Not when those risks could get your hand bitten off,” Alex fired back.

Tom shrugged. Bodily harm didn’t really scare him that much anymore, but he understood where she was coming from. Still, it seemed like there was something deeper than simple anxiety going on.

“Okay,” Tom said. “Stay there. But try talking to them.”

Tom backed away from the dragon, going to stand beside Alex. He leaned against the wall, letting her take her time.

“...hello, mysterious invisible dragon who probably doesn’t want to eat me,” Alex said. 

The dragon chirped back.

Curiously, Alex imitated the chirp. The slightest hint of a smile tugged at her lips.

The dragon warbled, a rumbling sound. Alex couldn’t really imitate that, so she responded by clicking her tongue. The dragon repeated the sound, and they continued on in this back and forth. Tom had to hold himself back from joining in; it sounded almost therapeutic.

“You’re like a parrot,” Alex said, to which the dragon responded with an indignant chirp. “But much smarter than one,” she added.

By this point, Alex had relaxed her death grip on the broom, and now she set it down by her side.

“Ready?” Tom asked.

Alex nodded, and he hung back as she approached. 

Alex chirped, and the dragon chirped back. She stopped just a pace away from the couch, and held out her hand much as Tom had done, squeezing her eyes shut and turning her head away.

Something pushed at her palm, and a moment later there was a colorful dragon sprawled over the couch.

“You really are a dragon,” Alex said in wonder. She ran her hands over the feathers sprouting from its head, then down its back. The dragon was primarily green, but carried all of the colors of the rainbow, and had patches of both scales and feathers across its body. Its back carried light, downy feathers in multitudes of color, while its wings sported a full array of flight feathers. Its tail ended in a bright puff of color, and as Tom watched the dragon deposited a bundle of shed feathers directly into Alex’s hair.

“Hey-” Alex giggled, brushing the feathers away, though she missed a few. “Feathers! Who would’ve thought you had feathers. I wonder how you camouflage with those?”

“Seems like you’re getting along,” Tom said, only a little bit smug.

“Oh, don’t think I’ve forgotten about getting answers,” Alex said. “But, maybe this whole dragon thing isn’t so bad after all.”

“Aside from the feathers?”

“Aside from the feathers,” Alex agreed.

They headed for the lair not long after that, fearing that Alex’s moms might come home at any minute. The trek through the woods felt longer than usual, since Feathers (named in fond exasperation) kept vanishing into the darkness. Alex ended up riding on her, to Tom’s delight, just to make sure she stayed nearby. 

Thunder perked up at their entrance into the cave, but seemed disinterested until the new dragon came gliding in from the Fissure entrance. Then he got up and went to investigate, entering a staring match with Feathers that lasted a solid minute before he nodded and went back to sleep.

“They really do act like people,” Alex said, watching the mismatched group of dragons all curled up along one side of the cave.

“Yeah, they do,” Tom said quietly. “Thunder- he’s the black and white one- he saved my life when I first came here. I nearly fell into the fissure, and now he won’t let me anywhere near the edge without safety gear.”

“And he’s smart enough to understand that,” Alex said. 

“I think he’s smarter than us, honestly,” Tom said. “He just can’t talk in a way we understand.”

“You seemed to understand Feathers,” Alex pointed out.

“Sure, as much as you can understand, like, a cat,” Tom said. “I’ve learned a bit about dragon vocalizations and body language.”

“You’ve only had a month at most to learn it,” Alex said. “That’s pretty impressive.”

“Not really,” Tom hedged. “I have been down here pretty much every day.”

“Figures this is where you disappear to,” Alex said. “I wonder if I can liberate an old laptop from the IT building…”

“No records that can reach the internet,” Tom reminded her. “This is a secret, remember?”

“Sure, sure,” Alex said. “I’ll remove the networking chip, don’t worry. Local storage only. That’s why I won’t just use my own tablet.”

Tom sighed, relieved. “Thanks for understanding.”

“Don’t worry, I take data security very seriously,” Alex said. “I’m going to send in a report on all of the flaws in the Icarus security systems next week, in fact. Do you know how easy it is to get into the lab servers? It’s like stealing from Hobby Lobby.”

“Which I take it is fairly easy?”

“It’s trivial,” Alex scoffed. “They have no security whatsoever.”

“Or you’re just a master hacker,” Tom said. “Take your pick.”

“I’ll take the compliment,” Alex said. She yawned; it was getting late.

“Time to head back?” Tom offered.

“Yeah,” she said. She waved at the dragons, where Feathers was already half asleep. “Bye, Feathers. See you tomorrow.”

Tom waved at Thunder, though his dragon was already asleep, or at least faking it. He didn’t bother saying goodbye, and just followed Alex back up to the forest, and began the trek back home.

Chapter Text

“Welcome to Dragon Club, Alex.”

Jun had really gone all out, Tom thought, though that mostly amounted to bringing out her snack stash and taping some streamers to the walls. All of the extra streamers had gone to the dragons, who were very happily batting them around between them. 

“Since when are we calling it Dragon Club?” Tom said. 

“Since now,” Jun said. “And now that we’ve named it, it’s official.”

“Oh come on, there are way more interesting names than ‘Dragon Club,’” Tom protested. “At least put something in the middle, like ‘Dragon Flight Club’ or something.”

“I’m not all that interested in flying at the moment, so…” Alex interjected.

“We can decide on the name later,” Diangelo said. “Right now, we’re celebrating that Alex finally joined!”

“You’re saying that like I had a choice,” Alex said. 

“I was gonna invite you eventually,” Tom said.

“Sure you were.”

“I would’ve had to get you to leave the house first.”

“You know what? You make a fair point.” 

Tom grinned. They had only really been talking for a few days, but he very much enjoyed bantering with Alex. She was the master of biting sarcasm, now that she was speaking more freely with him and the others. There were moments when they lapsed into silence too, of course, and Tom treasured those just as much. He had been the loud, sociable kid for years now; returning to his roots was nice, once in a while. 

“So! Wanna go see the hidden world?” Jun said.

“I- don’t really feel like testing my luck today,” Alex said, glancing at the cave entrance nervously.

“That’s why we have safety gear,” Tom said. “And Thunder won’t let any of us out there without it. I may or may not have taken the liberty of procuring a harness for you in advance.” 

“Feathers?” Alex asked, turning towards her dragon. Feathers turned at the sound of her name, and abandoned the game of bat-the-streamer to come stand by her rider.

“How would you feel about flying with me?” Alex asked.

Feathers glanced at the exit, perfectly mirroring her rider; Tom suppressed a giggle. Then she nodded, seeming determined.

Alex let out a shaky breath. “Okay then,” she said, turning to Jun. “I’ll give it a shot.” 

Tom had kept an eye on Alex for the entirety of the short flight to the Hidden World, but she had remained remarkably steady for her first time flying. Feathers knew what she was doing, after all, and Alex already understood to trust her dragon. It helped that she didn’t really need to give directions, since they were just following the others through the Fissure.

They landed in the Hidden World, and Tom decided to let Alex hang out more with the others while they explored. He wandered off with Thunder in tow, walking a slow route along the outer edge of the entry cavern. More caves opened up all along the sides of the cavern, with tunnels going in all directions, but Tom didn’t dare explore them yet. Maybe he could on another day, but he wanted to stay close by in case Alex ran into trouble. 

Tom ran his hand lightly along the crystal wall, skipping over the rough and sharp patches as he found them. He paused when his hand found a smooth edge, and turned to look at the tunnel beside him. It was about a meter in diameter and perfectly circular, the edges smooth as if worn by sandpaper. Tom frowned; that almost looked man-made, but that didn’t make any sense. There weren’t any signs of humans down here that he’d noticed, and besides, the hidden world wouldn’t have been accessible prior to the opening of the Fissure.

So what made this?

“Thunder?” Tom asked quietly, gesturing to the tunnel. Thunder growled lowly, eyes narrowed. Tom got the message: whatever made this tunnel was a threat.

“Maybe we should get out of here,” Tom said quietly, and started walking back towards the exit. Thunder huffed in agreement and followed him, sticking close to Tom’s side.

Suddenly, Thunder paused, his ears twitching. Tom froze, trying to listen for whatever it was that had Thunder spooked.

After a moment he heard it: a whirring sound, not unlike a drill going through soft material. It was coming from the tunnel behind them.

The moment they both realized what was coming, Tom swung himself onto Thunder’s shoulders and tightened the tether. Thunder took off not a moment too soon, clearing the ground just before a ball of spikes emerged from the tunnel.

They ascended to near the ceiling, dodging the small dragons that always seemed to be circling up there. That had to be the weirdest dragon Tom had ever seen, he thought; its body was indistinguishable from its head, and it had a massive mouth that could cover its entire profile. The whole thing was covered in spikes, including its winding tail that seemed comically narrow for the bulbous dragon. It hovered for a moment, screeching a high note that signaled several more of its type to emerge from the tunnel. They congregated for a moment, flitting about each other, and then formed a line and dove into the ground, digging a new tunnel as they went.

Tom breathed a sigh of relief once they were gone. He’d have to tell the others about this encounter once he got back to them.

“I’m getting worried about these earthquakes,” Olivia murmured over dinner.

Tom had made a habit of being home on time to make dinner, for the sake of the rare occasions where his mom came home and ate with him instead of staying late in the lab. This evening was one such occasion; he had made Swedish meatballs, complete with lingonsylt. She wasn't really paying attention to the food, though.

“There have been earthquakes as long as there’s been Icarus,” Tom pointed out. “Why worry about it now?”

“They’re getting stronger,” she said, brow furrowed. “The domes are holding, but at this rate we might have to look for more solid foundations for the lab.”

“Wouldn’t that uproot the whole settlement?”

“That’s the thing,” Olivia said. “We can’t just tear up everything we’ve built here and move somewhere else. We chose this location for a reason, it’s one of the best places right on the Fissure with enough room to build and access to clean water. Moving further away puts you in the worst of the mountains, and moving along the fissure will have the same problem with earthquakes.”

“Well…” Tom thought for a moment. “Do you know what’s causing the quakes?”

“Aftershocks from the comet impact, probably,” she said. “Though the data is strange. The epicenter of the quakes seems to move along the entire length of the fissure- not all at once, but individual quakes can cover up to ten miles just in the epicenter.”

“That’s really weird,” Tom said. An idea dawned, one that he wasn't happy about in the slightest. “Could something else be causing them?”

“Maybe,” Olivia said. “I’ll have another look at the data. Maybe we can find a way to keep them from hitting Icarus so hard, at least.”

Things were not going to plan.

When Tom first found Thunder, he’d thought his summer would be spent lounging around in the caves and maybe exploring the Fissure from time to time with his new dragon buddy. Then Jun found out, and then Diangelo, and then Alex. That hadn’t changed much; he’d sworn them all to secrecy, and figured they’d keep hanging out and flying and exploring the Hidden World sometimes. 

Then his mom decided the best solution to the earthquake problem would be to blow up the fucking fissure. 

Yeah. That was her grand plan. Tom was sure it made sense with the math and all, his mom wasn't one to run in half-cocked with something this big, but blowing it up? That could be devastating for the dragons. And it wasn't like he could just tell his mom that, because he was keeping the dragons secret, for some fucking reason that even he didn’t understand.

And if a dragon was causing the quakes like he suspected, then this whole thing got even more tricky.

So, Tom’s summer was abruptly very much not about just lazing around. Now he had a mission: find the dragon causing the quakes, stop them, and convince his mom not to blow up the fissure. 

Easy enough, right? 

Right?

Tom woke up at 3am, grabbed a pre-packed breakfast sandwich, and headed for the lair.

The entire settlement was asleep at this time of night, even the more crazy scientists having long since gone to bed. He slipped into the woods undisturbed, without any sign that he had been seen.

He reached the lair in record time, the path long since memorized. He sat down outside the entrance and ate, watching the first grayish dawn light appear on the horizon.

Tom climbed down into the cave, finding Thunder awake and alert for once. He’d known the dragon was nocturnal, but figured he adjusted to a diurnal cycle fairly easily. Evidently, that was at least partially untrue, given that he was awake at this hour.

“Hey pal,” Tom whispered, trusting that the dragon’s keen ears would catch his words. “Wanna go for a flight? There’s something I need to check.”

Thunder huffed, no doubt sensing his intentions; Tom swore that Thunder could read him even better than Jun now. With his permission acquired, Tom secured himself to Thunder with practiced ease, though like always the dragon wouldn’t let him on his back until Tom had double-checked every knot and buckle.

 They dropped into the fissure, Tom holding his breath as they glided just above the gas clouds. He kept his eyes peeled, glancing at the canyon walls as they drifted past, gliding slowly as they relied on the thermals to stay afloat. All of the openings looked like natural caves for the most part, exposed by the rupture in the earth, but if he was right-

He tugged on the rope harness, causing Thunder to stop and hover in place. On the right side of the fissure, almost directly underneath Icarus, was a tunnel. Not a cave, but a perfectly circular tunnel dug into the rock. They reminded him of the Whispering Death tunnels he’d seen in the Hidden World, just bigger. 

Whatever made this was much, much bigger than your average Whispering Death. They glided into the tunnel, Thunder having more than enough room to stretch his wings without hitting the sides. They plunged into darkness, Tom trusting Thunder to fly safely with his night vision. He wouldn’t be surprised if he had some kind of echolocation, too. 

The tunnel was quiet, only Thunder’s occasional wing flaps filling the silence. Tom felt like he was breathing too loud as he strained to see in the darkness.

There was a light up ahead. Faint, but definitely there, and one he certainly wouldn’t have noticed if he hadn’t been staring into darkness for several minutes. They kept going, Thunder following the natural curve of the tunnel as the light grew brighter. It was warm in color, as if from a fire- potentially a dragon’s fire. 

Tom wanted to say be careful, but it seemed foolish to make noise in this near-silent tunnel. He just rubbed a hand over Thunder’s scales and hoped he got the message. 

The tunnel opened out into a large cavern, the source of the light resting in the center. Tom suppressed a gasp as Thunder began gliding around the edge of the cavern. There on the ground, coiled into a spiral, was the largest dragon Tom had ever seen. Its scales were pure white, and each one was likely larger than his head. Licks of flame spilled lazily from its mouth, providing some warmth in the cold underground lair. Its eyes, which were half-lidded, were red. 

Albinism, Tom thought. With a side of uncontrollable growth. That was a genetic mutation if he’d ever seen one.

The dragon didn’t stir, which Tom thanked every god he knew of for as they glided back into the tunnel. That was a Whispering Death- a huge, albino Whispering Death, but one of them nonetheless. A dragon that large tunneling under the surface could undoubtedly cause earthquakes like Icarus had been experiencing, and they could get worse over time if it was still growing. 

As they finally emerged back into the early dawn light, Tom was at a loss for how he was going to handle this. 

“So, there’s good news and bad news,” Tom began. 

The others had assembled in the lair at 8am, per their usual schedule. They had arrived unaware that anything was amiss, only for Tom to sit them down in the folding chairs and call a meeting.

“Bad news first,” Jun said immediately.

“No, good news, I like good news,” Diangelo said.

“Bad news. No point delaying the inevitable,” Alex said. 

“Okay, bad news, my mom is going to blow up the fissure in an attempt to stop the earthquakes,” Tom said.

“She’s going to WHAT?!” Jun demanded, standing up and knocking her chair to the ground.

“Not all of it,” Tom said. “Just the bit that’s a ways under Icarus, but it’ll probably collapse the caves near there, which also means this cave and possibly the entrance to the hidden world.”

“So what’s the good news?” Diangleo asked.

“I’m getting there,” Tom said. “The thing is, her plan wouldn’t even work, because good news: I know what’s causing the earthquakes.”

“I presume that the cause isn’t just tectonic activity,” Alex said.

“Unfortunately not,” Tom said. “So I lied, it’s all bad news, the cause of the earthquake is a massive dragon. I’m open to suggestions on how to get rid of the dragon and stop my mom from blowing up the fissure.”

They stared at him for a moment. 

“Dude, just talk to her,” Diangelo said, exasperated. “This is not a situation where you keep secrets! You go up to her, tell her the plan won’t work, and then we have all of Icarus to help us figure out how to deal with the dragon!”

“That’s-” Tom faltered. “That’s a last resort.”

“What other options do we have?” Jun asked. “None of us have any idea what we’re doing here.”

“The likelihood of death if we attempt to do this ourselves is much greater than zero,” Alex added.

Tom hunched in on himself. “I’m willing to risk it,” he muttered.

“Really, Tom?” Jun said. “Keeping this a secret isn’t more important than our lives!”

“It’s important to me!” Tom blurted out. 

Silence fell for a moment. Tom looked at the ground, unable to meet their eyes.

“Why?” Alex asked quietly. 

“I don’t know, I-” 

Tom stopped. Thunder had moved behind him and shoved his head under Tom’s hand, somehow purring because of course dragons could purr, why not. 

And he thought, this is mine. Not my mother’s, not Icarus’s, not the world’s, mine. And no one else’s. 

Well. Theirs, now, but it was just the four of them. He was alright with that.

“Because,” Tom said, throwing his free hand towards the fissure, “that’s the Kullersen fissure. Because my mom predicted it,” he turned to Jun, “and your mom mapped it,” he looked at Diangelo, “and your dad established it,” he turned to Alex, “and your moms made it possible.”

He leaned against Thunder, putting an arm around his neck.

“You know what happens if we tell them?” Tom said. “It makes the headlines. Dragons Discovered in Kullersen Fissure. And you know who takes the credit?”

“They do,” Diangelo said quietly. 

“Right. They do,” Tom said, standing up straighter. “But they didn’t discover the dragons, we did. This is ours. ” He pointed at the ground, stomping his foot for emphasis. “And I am sick and tired of living in my mother’s shadow. That’s why I don’t want to tell them. Alright?” 

The three of them glanced at each other, hesitating.

“I understand that, Tom, but… this is a serious situation,” Jun said. “If we don’t do something about your mom’s plan, then the dragons could be in danger.”

“Not if we can help it,” Alex said. She stood, holding her non-networked tablet to her chest. “I can hack into the Icarus systems and delay the launch significantly. That gives us time to get down there, find that dragon, and figure out how to move it away.” 

“You can’t be serious,” Diangelo said. “You’re really on board with this? Keeping the secret even when our lives could be on the line?” 

Alex shrugged. “It’s not like they could help much anyway. We have the world’s leading dragon expert right here,” she gestured to Tom, “and the world’s only dragonriders. And besides, Tom’s right. This is ours. So let’s make it ours.” 

“You have a plan, don’t you?” Jun said.

“Oh, I have several plans,” Alex said. “Once this is all over, we’re going to make this ours, one way or another.” 

Tom grinned, unfiltered happiness bubbling up. “Alex, you are an absolute lifesaver. I don’t know what I’d do without you.”

“Die, probably,” Alex said with no hesitation.

“Jun? Are you in?” Tom asked.

“Oh, alright,” Jun said. “My mom always said I needed a taste of adventure.”

“Diangelo?” 

Diangelo sat hunched in on himself, looking worried. Tom waited, anxious; if Diangelo decided to back out, it was all over.

“I get what you mean, too,” Diangelo said finally. “I’ll go along with this, but if at any point it gets too dangerous, I’m calling in backup. Deal?”

Tom let out a breath. “Deal.” 

“Alright DiAngelo, you’re the future vet. How do you relocate a destructive animal?” Tom asked.

They had retreated to Alex’s house to plan. Alex was currently only half-listening, typing furiously on her computer as she put the first crucial step of the plan into action: delaying the probe mission to give them more time.

“That depends on the situation,” Diangelo said. “First of all, how much do we know about this dragon?”

“It’s a giant Whispering Death,” Tom said; Jun pulled out some paper and started sketching. “At least… a few hundred feet long, and the tunnels were at least thirty feet in diameter. Completely white, looks albino, with red eyes and all.” 

“You’re sure it’s a Whispering Death?” Jun asked, tilting her sketch back and forth as if it would reveal some secret.

“Positive,” Tom said. “We don’t know any other dragons that can tunnel through rock like that, and it had the characteristic spines.”

“Do we know that it’s aggressive?” Diangelo asked. “Tunneling is normal behavior for Whispering Deaths, after all.”

“No, I doubt it’s all that bothered by us,” Tom said. “But it’s still causing harm. If we can just move it further down the fissure, and keep it there, hopefully it’ll stop being a problem.”

Diangelo nodded. “Normally in this situation, you would sedate the animal and then airlift them to their new habitat. Given that our dragons almost definitely can’t carry this thing, I’d say that plan is a no-go.” 

“Maybe we can train it,” Jun suggested. “Just ask nicely, get it to follow us, and then lead it away.”

“Whispering Deaths are pretty skittish, though,” Tom said. “And they’re normally pretty social with each other, but this guy was all alone. I don’t think he’d react well to us just walking in.”

“We should still consider it,” Diangelo said. “But we need a plan B. If this guy is some kind of giant whispering death, does it have all of the same strengths and weaknesses?”

“Probably?” Tom shrugged. “It’s worth looking into.”

“Whispering deaths are sensitive to light, and have acute hearing,” Jun said. “Maybe we can use that?” 

“Exposing them to light just makes them more aggressive,” Tom pointed out. “But yeah, we could use that. Just grab a flashlight and have him chase us wherever we decide to put him.” 

“That is a terrible idea,” Diangelo said. “Call that… plan Z, or something.”

“The last resort,” Jun said. “Any other ideas?” 

“We could lure it out with food?” 

“All dragons do seem to like fish,” Diangelo pondered. “That can be plan B. Or just add it on to plan A, really.” 

“Whichever plan we use,” Alex said, finally turning away from the computer, “we’re only going to have one shot at it. If that dragon decides we’re a threat, he’ll either disappear or bring down all of Icarus with us inside.”

“That’s a bit extreme, isn’t it?” Jun said.

Alex shrugged. “I’m just being realistic. We’ll have to have every backup plan ready from the get-go.” 

“Which is why I’ll make sure we’re prepared,” Diangelo said. “Too bad we don’t know of any dragon-strength tranquilizers.”

“That’d be nice,” Jun sighed. “But we’ll work with what we’ve got.”

“Hey, at least we have a plan,” Tom said. “And I’m starting to think we can actually pull this off.” 

The plan was decidedly not simple. 

They had spent the rest of the day gathering supplies, including a truly ridiculous amount of fish. Each of them was in charge of a different backup plan; Jun would try the “asking nicely” approach, Diangelo had some tranquilizers (though they likely wouldn’t work on such a large animal), Alex had all of the fish to lure it out, and Tom carried a bright flashlight for the last resort. They gathered in the lair the next morning, ready to begin their incredibly reckless and probably stupid plan.

“D, have you figured out where we’re moving him to?” Tom asked as they geared up.

“Yep, I found the perfect place for him,” Diangelo confirmed. “There’s a fairly empty cave network a few miles south of here and a lot deeper into the earth. There’s an underwater lake with plenty of food for him, so he shouldn’t have any reason to leave.” 

“Perfect,” Tom said. 

“I don’t suppose you considered the clouds of poison gas we’d need to pass through to get much deeper?” Alex asked.

“Don’t worry, I went ahead and borrowed some gas masks from the med bay,” Diangelo said, swiftly tossing each of them a mask. “Better keep those on the whole time. If you’re in a tight spot, diving into the clouds is a quick getaway.”

“What about the dragons?” Jun asked.

“They’d have to ingest a lot more gas to be affected,” Diangelo said. “A quick pass should be fine.”

“Alright,” Tom said. “Is everyone ready?”

His teammates nodded, and with that he signaled for them to mount up. This would be their first real, serious mission, and he hoped that they were ready for it.

Tom and Thunder led the way through the tunnels, the other dragons depending on them to navigate in the pitch darkness. Diangelo had shown them their destination before the mission truly began, so they all knew the route to take on the way out. The tunnel almost felt more foreboding this time around, now that Tom knew what lay at the end of it. 

Tom heard the dragon before he saw it. It was a low, rumbling sound, accompanied by brief gusts of wind down the tunnel. Even its breathing was enough to affect the environment, and wasn't that terrifying?

They slowed down once Tom spotted the light, and Jun took the lead. Tom held his breath as Antyr spiraled down into the cave, alerting the Screaming Death to their presence. The rest of them glided in slow circles near the ceiling, ready to make a run for it.

“Hey there,” Jun said quietly, her voice echoing off the walls of the cavern. The Screaming Death stirred, lifting his head to look at her. 

“So, nice place you have here,” she said, frozen under his gaze. “But uh, how would you feel about moving somewhere nicer? Somewhere with plenty of fish where you aren’t near all the humans living topside?”

The dragon rumbled at her, tilting his head as if deciding whether it was worth it to eat her or not. 

“We have fish!” Jun said a bit desperately. “All the fish you could want, if you’ll just follow us…”

The Screaming Death shifted, and Tom tensed. Antyr dived out of the way as the screaming death snapped forward, his jaws closing on air where Jun had been just a moment prior.

“Okay, Plan B!” Jun screamed.

“Hey, hey,” Alex said, diving down to take Jun’s place. She waved a raw fish in the air, catching the Screaming Death’s attention. Tom forced himself to stay calm, tense and ready to move at a moment’s notice.

The Screaming Death’s eyes followed the fish, and he began inching closer to Alex. Alex cringed back, but held the fish as far out in front of her as she could. Feathers went invisible, leaving Alex seemingly floating in midair.

Alex threw the fish just an instant before the Screaming Death snatched it out of the air, narrowly avoiding losing a hand.

Dammit, they had been right. This was too dangerous; the dragon had barely moved, and already there were close calls. He couldn’t put them in danger because of his stupid idea.

“D, get everyone else out,” Tom said quietly. “There’s another tunnel on the other side there. Hide down there and don’t come out until I'm long gone.”

“Tom, don’t you dare do what I think you’re about to do,” Diangelo said. 

“Hey, Thunder’s the fastest,” Tom said, keeping his eyes on Alex as she and Feathers flitted around the Screaming Death. “I’ll be fine.”

“You better be,” Diangelo said. He and Plowhorn glided to the other end of the cavern, while Tom signaled Thunder to hover by the exit tunnel.

“Shield your eyes!” Tom shouted, and turned on his flashlight.

The Screaming Death immediately turned his gaze on Tom, honing in on the bright light. He growled, enraged, and Tom nudged Thunder to move as he began barreling towards them.

They took the tunnel as quickly as they dared, Tom leaning down low over Thunder’s back to hopefully reduce drag. Each turn threatened to pull him off, and Tom could only pray that the harness would hold. The rumbling growls of the Screaming Death echoed behind them, the tunnel distorting the sound so that Tom couldn’t be sure how far behind he was.

Finally, they emerged into the fissure, Thunder banking left and down into the depths of the fissure. Tom twisted to watch the Screaming Death appear behind them, flying in quick spirals as it gave chase. Thunder was faster, Tom was pretty sure, but it would be close. He flashed the light at him, making sure to hit the sensitive eyes, and ducked as it screeched again. The vibrations shuddered through the air, but it was no worse than an earthquake, and Thunder continued to fly steadily.

They had covered almost half a mile of ground already, Icarus disappearing into the distance. Tom flashed the light once again, and signaled Thunder to dive into the poison clouds.

Tom held the flashlight on his shoulder as they descended, making sure the Screaming Death could follow them. He breathed harshly into his gas mask, praying that it would do its job.

They emerged below the clouds seconds later, and Tom found that the air was oppressively hot. Still, he held on; the Screaming Death was following them, and they still had a few miles to go before reaching the cave. Geysers of water, no doubt boiling-hot, seemed to appear out of nowhere as they flew further down. Tom didn’t need to warn Thunder to avoid them, the dragon easily dodging around the geysers with only inches between his wingtips and the water. 

Tom held on tight, his heart beating wildly with adrenaline. Almost there, almost there, just another mile or two-

The Screaming Death screamed, and while Thunder remained steady, the rock above them did not. Boulders began to rain down from above, a stone hitting Tom on the arm and drawing blood. He cast his gaze upwards, automatically nudging Thunder out of the way of the largest boulders. The small pebbles and dust were unavoidable, pelting the two of them like hail. Tom shielded his head as best as he could, though one pebble did hit his scalp and draw blood. He immediately slapped a hand over it as they made it past the rain, cursing as he tried to stem the flow. Head wounds always bled a lot; if he didn’t get that taken care of soon, he could be at risk to pass out from blood loss. 

Shaking his head, Tom bent low as they dove even deeper, and the cave Diangelo had scouted was in sight. Thunder waited until the last possible moment to make the turn, and in the brief moment when they were out of sight of the Screaming Death, Tom turned off the flashlight.

The cave was lit by bioluminescence, plants and algae lighting up the lake deeper in. Thunder landed on a shadowed ledge near the ceiling, crouching as far back as he could. Tom did his best to quiet his breathing, though he was panting heavily.

The Screaming Death entered the cavern, twisting wildly as he attempted to find them. Evidently, his eyes hadn’t yet adjusted, as he failed to notice them crouched in the corner. Slowly, the Screaming Death settled, turning to inspect the rest of the cavern. Tom could pinpoint the exact moment he noticed the abundance of fish in the lake, and the dragon immediately settled on the lakeshore, drinking a bit as he drifted back to sleep.

Once the Screaming Death was definitely calm, Tom began to relax, and Thunder slowly moved out of hiding. Quietly, they dropped off of the ledge and glided out of the cave without making a sound.

As soon as they were a decent distance from the cave, Tom laughed, shaking from the adrenaline crash.

“That was crazy, huh pal?” he said. 

Thunder grumbled, slapping Tom with his ear.

“Yeah, I know, it was reckless, but we did it!” Tom giggled. “And now we won’t have to worry about that guy ever again, hopefully.” 

Thunder huffed, pointedly looking straight ahead. Tom continued giggling even as he started to droop, and abruptly remembered to keep putting pressure on his head.

“Right, I’m bleeding a lot,” Tom said, rather matter-of-factly. “Think we can pick up the pace? I really don’t want to pass out up here.”

Thunder immediately banked into the nearest thermal, rising in a swift spiral until they were once again above the poison clouds. They continued on a straight route, Thunder mainly gliding and using the thermals since he was no doubt exhausted by the chase. Tom did his best to stay alert, though the combination of adrenaline crash and blood loss wasn't doing him any favors.

Finally, the lair came into view, and Thunder landed rather heavily just inside the cave. The others were waiting with their dragons, and Jun and Diangelo immediately rushed over to help him, Jun getting him untied from Thunder while Diangelo immediately pressed gauze on his head. Distantly, Tom noted that the first aid kit was already open on the table; D must have expected him to return injured. A fair assessment, really.

“Don’t you dare pass out on me, Kullersen,” Jun said, depositing him in a folding chair. Alex sat a fair distance away, with Feather’s head on her lap. Tom wouldn’t be surprised if blood made her squeamish.

“M’fine,” Tom insisted. “Got the dragon outta there. S’all good.”

“You are not allowed to do that again,” Diangelo said. “This is going to need stitches. I’m going to tape this on for now, and then we’re dragging you back to town.”

Tom nodded, then lurched as the movement made him dizzy. Diangelo’s eyes creased in concern.

“Tom, follow my finger with your eyes,” he said. Tom did so, keeping up with no trouble. His vision was a little blurry, but that was just fatigue.

Diangelo let out a sigh of relief. “Probably not a concussion,” he said.

“Duh,” Tom said. 

Jun slapped him lightly. Tom smiled tiredly. The danger was past; he’d be alright. He was just glad no one else had gotten hurt.

“You okay to start walking back?” Diangelo asked, having finished taping the gauze to his head.

Tom nodded immediately and started undoing his harness. He dragged himself to his feet as he managed to get it off without tangling, leaning on Jun a bit for support.

They started making their way towards the exit, but Tom paused as he noticed Alex hunched over her tablet. Feathers was making crooning noises at her, but she was unresponsive. 

“Hey,” he said, catching Feathers’ attention. “I think she needs a hug.”

Immediately, Feathers dropped her wing around Alex’s shoulders, and she relaxed minutely. Tom smiled, and then turned his attention to Diangelo.

“Can you look over Thunder?” he asked. “Jun can walk me back to town.”

Diangelo bit his lip. “Promise to sit down and get help if you start feeling too dizzy,” he demanded.

Tom nodded. “Promise.”

Diangelo nodded, and turned to coax Thunder closer to the table where his supplies were. Satisfied, Tom moved on out of the cave.

Jun stayed quiet on the way back, save for a quick question about a cover story. Tom figured it was a good idea to say he fell out of a tree and then rolled down a slope; it would explain the bruises on his arms and back along with his head wound. Jun accepted this, and continued dragging him all the way to the infirmary.

Diangelo’s mom was a good doctor, Tom thought. She was gentle but efficient, and he hardly felt a thing as she stitched up his head. His hair was going to be a bit mangled for awhile, but he’d been meaning to cut it anyway.

She called Olivia, of course, but she had a time-sensitive experiment that she needed to monitor. Tom told her it was fine, he was in good hands. Dr. Baker looked troubled for a moment, but in the next she was back to smiling.

Eventually she declared Tom fully treated, gave him a balm for the bruises that were already beginning to show, and asked Jun to walk him home. Tom stumbled back to his dome half-asleep, exhausted from the long day though it wasn't even noon yet, and collapsed in bed with his clothes still on. 

The moment Tom stepped into the lair, he found himself pinned under a two-thousand-pound dragon. He wheezed, laughing as Thunder stubbornly pinned him to the floor.

“Good morning to you too,” he wheezed out, patting Thunder’s head.

“Welcome back to the land of the living,” Jun said. Tom turned his head, granting him a sideways view of the other dragonriders seated around the table, evidently playing a card game while they waited for him.

“Turns out sleeping for twenty hours straight is pretty nice,” Tom said. He gently shoved Thunder off of him, and the dragon acquiesced, though he very obviously kept Tom in his line of sight at all times. Tom had a feeling he wouldn’t be allowed back into the Fissure for a while.

“Since you’re not dead,” Alex said, “I think we can consider the mission a success.”

“As long as the Screaming Death doesn’t come back,” Diangelo added.

“I don’t think he’s going to,” Tom said. “He seemed pretty content down there.”

“Well, that’s one problem solved,” Jun sighed. “As for the rest of today’s agenda… Alex, I believe you had a plan to share?”

Tom perked up as he took the last seat between Diangelo and Jun, his eyes locked on Alex as she turned her tablet to face them.

“I’ve been thinking about what Tom said,” she began. “And I agree. Tom discovered the dragons, and we’ve been interacting with them. That means we should get the credit for the discovery.”

She tapped the tablet, which then displayed a frankly incomprehensible research document. However, Tom recognised some of the names written in one column of the spreadsheet: they were well-respected scientific journals.

“What we need to do is take a scientific approach,” Alex continued. “Collect data, analyze it, and then publish it. If we’re the first to publish anything on dragons, without our parents’ help, then no one can dispute our claim to the discovery.”

“Write a research paper,” Jun echoed. “You think we can do that?”

Tom nodded slowly, a grin spreading across his face. “We absolutely can,” Tom said. Alex sat back, letting him take the lead as Tom stood up.

“Jun, you’ll be our research and writing department,” Tom said. “You know everything there is to know about mythical dragons; you’ll compare anything we find to known myths, and figure out what’s different and what’s the same. You’re also the only one of us who can write well, so you’ll do most of the final writeup of the paper.”

“I think I can do that,” Jun said.

“Diangelo, you’re our biologist and ethics department,” Tom said. “You’ll be our guide for what traits are important, what data we should be collecting, and what kinds of experiments are ethical to run.”

“Yeah, alright,” Diangelo said, nodding.

“And Alex,” Tom continued, “You’re the one managing our data. You organize everything and do the analysis we need to draw conclusions about dragons.”

“Good to know we’re on the same page,” Alex confirmed.

“And I guess that leaves me to organize and fill in the gaps,” Tom shrugged. “What do you guys think? Sound like a plan?”

“I will maintain my stance that I’ll call in reinforcements if anything really dangerous comes up,” Diangelo said. “But yeah, I’m in.”

“Oh, absolutely,” Jun said. “Who wouldn’t want the opportunity to research actual dragons?”

“Duh,” Alex said simply. “It was my idea in the first place.”

Tom grinned. “There’s so much we can find out,” he said, his mind already months in the future. “We can map the Hidden World, study every species of dragons- heck, we’ll literally write the book on dragons!”

He spun in a circle, unable to contain his excitement, “and I can’t wait to get started,” Tom concluded. 

“Not until your stitches come out,” Diangelo said, bringing him back down to earth. “Which will take at least another week.”

Tom laughed sheepishly. “I don’t think Thunder would let me out until then, anyway.”

“In the meantime,” Jun said as Tom sat back down, “We can start planning.”

“I have a list of relevant topics we need to discuss,” Alex said immediately, setting her tablet down on the table.

“Let’s start with safety codes,” Diangelo said, immediately noticing the third item on the list. “If we’re operating under our own rules out here, we need to understand what those rules are.”

“But we need to figure out what we’re likely to encounter before we write codes about it,” Jun said. “We should start by doing some research and writing down what we already know.”

“Once we have that established, new equipment is a top priority,” Alex added. “We need measuring instruments, cameras, and ideally a computer setup that can run in the lair.”

“Not to mention better equipment for the dragons,” Tom added. “We can’t keep making rope harnesses every time we need to fly. We’ll also need protective gear in case we run into hostile dragons out in the field- but that comes later,” he quickly reigned himself in. “Diangelo’s right, let’s start with establishing codes of conduct. We can worry about going forward from there.”

They nodded in agreement, and Diangelo glanced at Alex before reaching out to start writing notes on her tablet. “Alright, here’s what I was thinking…”

Chapter Text

Tom bounced his leg impatiently as he sat on the infirmary table, trying not to move his head too much as Dr. Baker carefully removed the stitches from his scalp. It was nine in the morning, right when the infirmary opened, a week and a half after Tom split his head open in the first place.

“And… you’re done,” Dr. Baker said. “Looks like you'll have a scar there. I have some cream if you want to make it less noticeable.”

“Honestly, I don’t really care,” Tom said, hopping down off the table and making a beeline for his backpack. “So, am I good to go?” 

Dr. Baker sighed. “Yes, you’re good to go. Just try not to injure yourself again too soon, alright?”

“Don’t worry,” Tom said, slinging his backpack over his shoulder. “I’ll do my best to stay out of danger from now on.”

Tom was, of course, a blatant liar.

He ran straight from the infirmary to the lair, practically skipping down the steps as he slid through the entrance. The others were already there, Tom having been slowed down by the appointment, but he was more than ready to go.

“Nice of you to join us,” Jun said teasingly as Tom slid into his seat at the table. Alex already had her tablet out in the center of the table, displaying the plan for the day.

Now that Tom had his stitches out, and since he had negotiated with Thunder to be allowed to fly again once he was healed, they were ready to start their first day of field work. 

“Yeah, yeah,” Tom said. “Pretty sure Doctor D would have my head if I skipped that appointment, so you have absolutely no right to tease me on this.”

“You’re worried about me?” Diangelo said. “Thunder would ground you for another month.”

“That’s a severe underestimation,” Alex said. “I would expect at least three months of grounding.”

“Come on, Thunder wouldn’t do that to me, would you?” Tom said, looking back at his dragon. Thunder gave him the most deadpan stare he’d ever seen from the dragon, clearly conveying that yes, he absolutely would.

Tom dropped his head on the table dramatically, smiling as he heard the others giggling over his antics. 

“Well,” Alex said slightly too loudly, “we have reached the limit on ‘shenanigans time’ before we need to start actually making progress.”

“Oh alright, let’s get started then,” Jun said with a sigh. “Tom? Mission briefing?”

“Right, right,” Tom said. “Today’s mission is observation.”

He glanced around at the others, noting that the mood had shifted. Gone was the goofy silliness, now replaced with the restrained excitement of budding scientists.

“We go to the Hidden World, take photos and make observations of as many different kinds of dragons as we can, and then head back,” Tom continued. “Di, Alex, what are we looking for?”

“Once you identify a unique species, you should gather cursory data on as many specimens as you can,” Diangelo said. “Take lots of photos, and make sure to measure length, wingspan, and weight if you can. Physical data, not behavioral data.”

“We’re looking for a general idea of each species, not specific traits,” Alex said. “Once we have more data, we’ll have a better idea of how to identify different species.”

“And write down everything,” Diangelo stressed. “We don’t want to make a mistake just because we have incomplete data.”

“Sounds like a pretty good plan,” Jun said. “It almost feels like we’re proper scientists.”

“I know, right?” Tom grinned. “Think we’re ready to go?”

“I think we should go over the safety protocols one more time,” Diangelo said.

“We all have them memorized, Di,” Jun said. “Stay with your dragon, don’t leave the main cavern, and call for help if you need it.”

“And stay tethered at all times!” Diangelo said, though it fell on deaf ears as the meeting ended. Tom chuckled quietly; he knew Diangelo cared about this stuff, but Tom also knew that Thunder would look out for them if things ever got really dangerous. They were just collecting data today, and by this point they all knew what not to do so as not to anger any dragons. Ideally, everything would be fine.

Tom hopped on Thunder’s back, entirely aware that he had likely just jinxed himself, and led the way down into the fissure.

Tom was absolutely delighted to find that the small dragons which were ever-present in the crystal cavern would land on his arm with very little prompting. He ended up with five or six of them perched on his head, shoulders, and back before he and Thunder descended back down to the floor. Maybe they had just smelled the perpetual scent of fish on him, but either way Tom wasn't complaining.

He got to work measuring each of them, noting the data down in his field notebook as he went. Once they figured out what he was doing, the little dragons actually lined up for their turn to be measured, and he rewarded each of them with some scratches under their chin. They each purred, and then went back to perching on various parts of his body. He could feel two of them fighting over who got to perch on top of his head. Little terrors, the lot of them.

With measurements and pictures done, he reluctantly stood up and started wandering, searching for another kind of dragon to measure. A few of the Terrors followed him, curious, and Tom didn’t try to dissuade them. It was fun to have some company outside of Thunder, and besides, it was definitely going to be a long day.

Tom set his sights on the far side of the cavern, near the tunnels that led deeper into the Hidden World. They had decided against exploring further, at least for now, since there were plenty of dragon species that frequented the entry cavern. They could go deeper once they had a base of knowledge to work from. Of course, just because Tom was barred from entering the deeper tunnels didn’t mean he couldn’t look . 

Tom quietly approached a group of Gronckles, keeping himself small and non-threatening. 

“Hey guys, you mind if I come over?” he said quietly. The Gronckles looked at him, conferred with each other, and then went back to ignoring him. Tom took that as permission and approached, spooling out more rope so he could step away from Thunder. Bringing a Night Light right to them wouldn’t help the non-threatening part of the plan. 

He set to work measuring and taking photos, finding himself at ease among the friendly rock-like dragons. Unlike the one Jun had encountered, these were all adult dragons with no young offspring to protect, so Tom was fairly confident in approaching them.

He hummed quietly as he worked, giggling occasionally as the Terrors swooped in and tried to “help,” tugging the tape from his hands and wrapping it around various parts of the dragons. He got it back after a brief game of tug-o-war, though he didn’t mind the interruption. They had been doing so much planning and safety discussions that Tom really needed to just get out and play with some dragons.

The time went by quicker than he would have liked, and soon enough Tom’s watch read eleven AM, the time they were supposed to reconvene. He hopped on Thunder’s back and glided back to the exit, briefly checking that the others had made it back before they returned to the lair.

The day ended a bit later than Tom would have liked, with the four of them walking home as the sun was setting. They split up as they neared the settlement, as a security measure against anyone tracking them back to the lair (not that anyone was looking, but hey, couldn’t be too careful). Tom took the long way around through the woods to his dome, dragging his feet a bit as he made his way home. It had been a long morning of data collection and then a long afternoon of data analysis and planning, and that routine would likely continue for months to come. They had gotten a good start on the data, though, so Tom was satisfied with his accomplishments. That didn’t mean he wasn't tired, though.

Nearly at the far edge of the settlement, Tom tripped on a tree root and tumbled inelegantly to the ground. He didn’t even have the energy to curse, instead dragging himself up and brushing off the dirt. He didn’t have any scrapes, which was good, but he definitely felt his jacket catch on a tree as he went down. He’d have to inspect it for damage once he had better lighting.

Tom made his way through the back streets of the settlement to his own dome, finding it empty as per usual. He hardly had the energy to eat, but he knew that he needed to, so he pulled some leftovers out of the fridge and halfheartedly nibbled at them as he retreated to his room. 

Tom spread his jacket out on his bed, frowning at the small tear in the hem. Honestly, he would’ve expected his clothes to start falling apart well before now, so this wasn't too bad. It was still annoying, though. It had already been a long day of research, and now Tom had to spend his evening sewing his jacket back together while he was exhausted.

Oh well. Better to get it done now than forget about it, Tom figured, so he went and grabbed his sewing kit from the closet. Sewing up torn clothing was a familiar activity, after months of living on an allowance that accounted for food and rent but not clothes. He pulled a needle out of his pincushion and threaded it, setting to work repairing the hem. It wouldn’t be pretty, but it would get the job done, and Tom wouldn’t need to worry about the jacket fraying further.

They had spent most of the afternoon today hashing out their goals for research, and figuring out what they would need to get it done. Jun was already researching anything she could about dragons and their history, Alex was laying down observational procedures, and Diangelo was putting together an entire book of safety codes and procedures. Tom, on the other hand, was mostly concerned with their equipment. They would need field journals, cameras, various kinds of measuring equipment, and personal safety gear, just to name a few. Some of those he could order, but the tricky thing would be improving their riding gear.

So far, they had been getting by with climbing harnesses and a lot of knots, but Tom knew that wouldn’t work forever. It couldn’t be comfortable for the dragons, and longer flights definitely weren’t comfortable for the riders. They needed something better, like saddles, though Tom had no clue where they would find those. Dragon saddles weren’t exactly something you would find on Amazon. 

Tom tied off his thread, running his hand over the hasty repair job. It wasn't perfect, but it got the job done.

…now there was an idea.

It was late, but Tom had never pretended to keep a decent sleep schedule. He put away the sewing supplies and pulled out his laptop, propping himself up in bed as he started searching for leatherworking tutorials.

Tom leaned comfortably against Thunder’s side, squinting at his sewing project as he worked by lamplight. It was late afternoon, and while the others were occupied with their own individual tasks, Tom was trying to learn the basics of leatherworking.

Really, it wasn't all that complicated.  He had already developed a knack for hand-sewing, and had even sewn entire garments out of old scrap when he grew desperate enough. Making a saddle required a certain amount of precision, sure, but once he understood the steps it was just a matter of patience and hard work. The process would go faster if he had a sewing machine, but he really didn’t know how he’d explain that one to his mom. The bulk supply of leather he had ordered was bad enough, even if she hadn’t noticed it. Olivia could be oblivious, but Tom knew his luck would eventually run out. 

Tom worked quietly, hours passing by without him noticing. Thunder fell asleep with Tom still leaning against him, as evidenced by his slow, even breathing. Tom relaxed against him, continuing the soothing motion of punching through the leather and pulling the thread through, teaching himself from printed-out PDFs and a certain amount of trial and error. He hardly noticed when the others left for dinner, just nodding automatically as they said goodbye.

The hours waned, though Tom had no indicator of the passage of time in the cave. The sun only hit the fissure opening for a few hours each morning, and the lantern Tom had been working by could stay lit for 48 hours without a charge.

His hands began to slow, the strip of leather in his hands eventually dropping onto his lap. Tom let his head tip back against Thunder’s side and, seemingly unconsciously, Thunder’s wing stretched out to cover him. He listed to the side, ending up with his head on Thunder’s front leg, just beside the dragon’s head. He fell asleep without ever realizing he had done so, feeling completely and utterly safe.

“Hey, Earth to Tom.”

Tom dragged himself out of sleep, rubbing his eyes open as he tried to remember where he was. He felt more well-rested than he had in a while, despite the fact that he had apparently slept on the hard rock floor.

“Hey, Jun,” Tom said, not bothering to sit up. He was just too comfortable under Thunder’s wing. “Morning.”

“Were you here all night?” she asked quietly, likely for Thunder’s sake.

“Guess so,” Tom said. He froze then, realizing the implications of that. “ Crap. I really hope my mom didn’t notice I was gone.”

Jun winced. “If she did, I can say you stayed over at my place?”

“She can just ask your mom, that won’t hold up,” Tom pointed out. “Ugh. She’ll believe me if I say I fell asleep in a tree or something. It’s not too far off from the truth.”

“Well, do you want to run home and change?” Jun suggested. “And probably grab some food. I don’t think our snack stash is quite sufficient for a real meal.”

“Yeahhhh,” Tom sighed, crawling his way out from under Thunder’s wing. “Sorry I’m ruining the schedule.”

“Oh, you’re fine,” Jun said. “I got here a bit early. You have half an hour before we’re supposed to meet.”

Tom let out a sigh of relief. “Great. See you in half an hour then.”

“Don’t rush too much,” Jun called after him as he climbed up the staircase and headed home.

Tom ran into his mother as she was leaving for work, and found out through careful questioning that she had not, in fact, noticed that he was gone. Tom hoped that she remained so oblivious for the rest of his time here, at least until the research paper was done.

He didn’t really mean to fall asleep in the lair again, but every once in a while it would happen. They fell into a rhythm of research, with data collection in the mornings and analysis in the afternoons, and while Alex ran statistical analysis and Diangelo talked biology and Jun compared to mythology, Tom sat with Thunder and worked on their equipment. His leatherworking skills improved rapidly, and soon he had a prototype of a saddle for Thunder. It would need rigorous testing, of course, but he could leave that to Diangelo and Alex.

Slowly, Tom’s corner of the lair accumulated stuff. First his leatherworking supplies, then more specialized tools and a folding table as he improved his skills. Then piles and piles of books, patterns and manuals; then snacks for when he wanted to stay late, and then stacks of non-perishable food for when he didn’t feel like going home at all. Then a blanket, possibly two, for when he passed out against Thunder without realizing the time, and then a few spare changes of clothes so he didn’t have to run back to town in the morning.

Slowly, Tom’s corner of the lair filled up.

After twenty-seven tests of increasingly ridiculous feats of flight, Tom’s new saddle and harness was deemed flight-worthy.

Diangelo and Alex had come up with the tests together, insisting that Tom put together a test dummy to hook up to the saddle for testing purposes. That had taken an extra three days after he finished the damn thing, but it was well worth it for the prospect of having a real saddle for Thunder. He would still be using the climbing harness, as it was pretty much the best option out there, but hooking himself up to fly would be much faster. 

The tests mostly consisted of having Thunder fly through the fissure with the test dummy on his back, Diangelo directing him to do increasingly complex maneuvers that could cause the saddle to fail. First just gliding, then turns, then corkscrews and near-vertical dives and ascents. The dummy had survived all of them, and so finally once Alex ran the probability numbers Tom was allowed to try it out himself.

“You ready to go, pal?” Tom asked once he had the harness on. Thunder huffed, feigning disinterest, though Tom could see his excitement in the twitching of his ears and tail. That and the fact that as soon as Tom approached, Thunder lowered himself down so Tom could easily sit down on the saddle and hook himself up. The tether mechanism now had two lines; one long line that could be used for an on-ground tether as well, and one short line that was just for flying. The design had been altered such that the extra rope for the long line was stored in a saddlebag, rather than looped on Tom’s shoulder. There were also side straps for his legs, though those were experimental and not strictly necessary for safety.

The moment Tom was hooked up, Thunder practically bounded to the edge of the Fissure, and Tom barely had time to brace himself before they were plummeting into the depths. Tom let out a startled yell, grabbing the saddle’s handles as they dove to just above the poisonous clouds. Tom could immediately feel the difference in Thunder’s flying, and began to realize just how much he had been holding back for Tom’s sake.

“Well alright then,” Tom laughed when he got his breath back. “Why don’t we see how fast you can go?”

Thunder warbled in agreement, and then they were practically screaming through the fissure, kicking up wind behind them as they wove around the geysers. Tom felt the last vestiges of his fear disappear as they soared, placing his complete trust in Thunder to take them wherever they wished to go. 

Thunder warbled a warning, and then they spun into a corkscrew, Tom holding on tight and grinning like a madman. They leveled out, and Tom noticed a few Terrible Terrors flying beside them, flapping their little wings madly to keep up. Tom laughed, reaching out to let one of them land on his arm briefly before it rejoined the flock. The Terrors soon fell behind, unable to keep up with Thunder’s speed.

Thunder purred happily, Tom echoing the sentiment, though he noticed a moment later that the dragon sounded almost… mischievous.

“What are you planning now?” Tom said, leaning forward to look him in the eye.

Thunder practically smirked at him, then turned just slightly to catch the nearest thermal, shooting them upwards and outwards until they were well above the edge of the fissure.

“Thunder-!” Tom exclaimed, glancing wildly back along the fissure towards Icarus. But… he couldn’t see it. They had flown far enough that it was all but invisible, only the barest hints of the wind turbines visible in the distance.

“Huh,” Tom said. “Sorry for doubting you.”

Thunder responded by banking into a turn, catching the wind in a way that felt different from riding the thermals in the fissure. The wind blew through Tom’s hair, his jacket rippling behind him. If Tom thought he’d loved flying before, this was a level beyond love- this was pure freedom, almost a calling, like the sky was where he’d always belonged.

But Tom was human, and he had work to do to ensure that he could keep flying even when the rest of the world found out about dragons. They dipped back down into the fissure, Tom casting one last glance at the blue sky before it all but disappeared behind the canyon walls. 

“I still don’t think our reckless leader should be leading the charge here,” Diangelo said.

They were standing at the entrance to one of the tunnels, finally ready to venture further into the Hidden World after two weeks spent documenting every species of dragon they could find in the crystal cavern. Alex had her tablet ready to make a map, and Jun had her notebook out to make a paper backup in case the tablet died. They would be leaving markers all along the path, but it was always better to be prepared.

“Unfortunately, you were outvoted,” Jun told Diangelo.

“C’mon D, when have I ever steered us wrong?” Tom said, grinning at him from Thunder’s back.

“You’re still missing half your hair from when you were almost killed by the Screaming Death!” Diangelo exclaimed.

“Tom’s chances of survival in extreme situations are improbably higher than average,” Alex pointed out.

“See? Alex has my back!” Tom said.

“This is going to go horribly wrong,” Diangelo groaned.

“Relax, we’re following all of your safety protocols,” Tom said. “Now c’mon, we can’t just stand here all day.”

With that, Tom nudged Thunder, and he started walking into the tunnel. It was large enough to fly through, but they didn’t know if it would get narrower further in, and they were trying to document their findings anyway. Tom would have just walked as well, but Diangelo’s safety protocol for exploration involved staying seated on their dragons at all times while in unfamiliar territory in case they needed to flee quickly. Tom figured the dragons would give them enough warning, but given how many times Thunder had barely saved his ass, he’d let Diangelo have this one. 

The tunnel wasn't all that different from the main cavern. Crystals lined the walls, though they didn’t shine as brightly as the ones behind them. The light was just enough to see by, though it was difficult to make out different colors in the dim monochrome glow. It was hard to tell, but Tom thought the crystals were taking on a cooler color, changing from orange to blue. 

“How far in are we?” Tom asked, directing his question back at Alex.

“Two hundred meters in,” Alex said. “Tunnel appears to be sloping downwards slightly. The temperature has dropped slightly, too.”

“Oh good, it’s not just me,” Jun said, shivering. “Think it’s just because we’re deeper underground?”

“That remains to be determined,” Alex said.

“Well, hopefully we’ll find out eventually,” Tom said.

Something skittered across the floor.

Thunder stopped, poking curiously at the stray object. Tom leaned over, trying to get a good look at it in the dim light. It didn’t sound like a chunk of crystal; Tom had plenty of experience with that. No, it sounded more like something metal.

“Why are we stopping?” Diangelo said nervously.

“We’re fine. Just something on the ground,” Tom said. “Hang on.”

He unhooked himself from Thunder’s saddle and dropped to the ground. He knelt down just in front of the dragon, feeling along the ground until he found the mysterious object.

“What is it?” Jun asked as he stood up.

“...an arrowhead,” Tom said, running his fingers over the edges. 

“Are you absolutely certain?” Alex said, a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Pretty sure,” Tom said. “It feels like metal, and it’s the right shape and size.”

“That means humans have been down here before,” Diangelo realized.

“Yeah,” Tom said slowly. “I guess it does.”

“...do we have a plan for this situation?” Jun asked. “Do we just head back and examine it or keep going with the mission?”

Tom turned the arrowhead over in his hand for a moment, then made a decision. “We keep going,” he said.

“Seriously?” Diangelo said. “This is a huge discovery!”

“And there might be more evidence up ahead,” Tom pointed out. “Besides, this thing’s survived however long it’s been underground. It’ll survive sitting in my pocket for a few hours.”

“That really isn’t how you’re supposed to treat historical artifacts,” Jun pointed out.

“There’s no rust on it,” Tom said. “So either it’s fairly recent or very well made. Either way it’ll survive.”

“Can we keep going now?” Alex said. “Revelations or not, we have a tunnel to explore.”

“Absolutely,” Tom said, hopping back into the saddle. 

Diangelo sighed, but they kept moving, and just as Tom hoped there was light up ahead. The tunnel opened up into a wider cavern, one made mostly of stone with crystals dotting the walls. It was colder than the entry cavern, and Jun was definitely shivering. Tom was grateful that he always wore his jacket, as it was just enough to keep him warm.

Just at a glance Tom could see three new species of dragon, all of which seemed more suited to the cooler, deeper environment. One looked like a massive version of the Gronckles, though it nearly blended in with the stone with its gray hide. There were several small, black dragons flying around or perched along the walls that were about the same size as Terrible Terrors. There was one albino dragon, Tom noticed, though it was lounging with its fellows and looked quite content, so Tom didn’t think it would give them any trouble the way that the Screaming Death had.

“Looks like we found what we were looking for,” Tom said, and gestured for Diangelo to take the lead.

“Usual procedure, I guess,” Diangelo said. “Track down the new species, take photos and measurements, and write down everything you can.”

“Doesn’t look like there’s too many of them,” Jun said, dismounting from Antyr. “We can probably record them all and head back in time for lunch.”

“You go ahead and do that,” Alex said. “I want a good look at this arrowhead.”

“Sure thing,” Tom said. The group split in half, Diangelo and Jun going to observe the new dragons while Tom and Alex took a spot near the tunnel to examine his find.

Tom pulled the arrowhead out of his jacket pocket and examined it in the light, finding that his initial assumptions had mostly held true. It was dull with age, but there was no hint of rust on it, implying that it must be made out of stainless steel, or another metal that didn’t rust. He held it while Alex took some photos, and then turned it over to let her examine the other side.

Tom froze when he saw the symbol on the other side of the arrowhead. It was slightly sunken into the material, though Tom guessed that it had been painted over at some point in time. It looked like a stylized dragon, its body forming a circular design. That alone would have been cause for intrigue, but Tom recognised this symbol. 

“Tom? Hello? You froze up,” Alex said, waving a hand just within his vision. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Tom responded automatically. He was still staring at the arrowhead, trying to understand what it was supposed to mean.

“Are you sure?”

“...no,” Tom said. 

“What exactly is going on?” Alex said.

Tom tilted the arrowhead towards her, running his thumb along the dull edge. “I recognise this symbol,” he said plainly. “It’s on a family heirloom in my dome. An ancient Viking helmet.”

“Interesting,” Alex said. “Then by that connection we can extrapolate that either the Vikings explored the Hidden World, or this symbol somehow spread to whichever people did.”

“Right,” Tom said quietly.

Alex paused, looking at him like he was a puzzle to decipher. Then she looked over his shoulder and gestured, and a moment later Thunder was nudging at his shoulder.

“Hey, pal,” Tom said, leaning against Thunder’s side as he curled up behind Tom. “What do you make of this?” 

He showed Thunder the symbol, and his ears immediately perked up. Thunder tilted his head every which way, squinting as if making sure that he really was seeing what he was seeing. After a moment of intense scrutiny, he chirped happily, and then made a whining sound that Tom recognised as him charging up his lightning.

The lightning bold impacted a rock a few meters away, leaving a scorch mark in the exact same shape as the symbol on its face. Tom stared at it, utterly speechless, as did Alex. She was the first of the two of them to move, slowly raising her tablet to take a photo of the mark. 

Tom held out the arrowhead towards her, still feeling rather numb with shock. “Comparison photos,” he said, and Alex nodded decisively and got up to do just that. 

Tom leaned back against Thunder, running his hand lightly over his paw to let the dragon know he wasn't completely out of it. Thunder chirped soothingly at him, seeming much more happy than normal. How exactly had Thunder known about the symbol? Had he just seen the arrowhead and decided to recreate it? No, that wouldn’t explain his initial reaction to it. Thunder recognised that symbol, somehow, just as Tom had recognised it, and knew it well enough to be able to sear it into rock with a single bolt of lightning. 

However he knew, Tom understood one crucial thing: he and Thunder were connected by that symbol, and wherever it came from was an origin that was shared between them. Whether it was Vikings, another ancient civilization, or more modern humans that had once ventured into these caverns, Tom would find out who they were, and how they connected him to Thunder.

Chapter Text

Tom carefully set the ancient Viking helmet down on the table, handling it carefully despite its strong design. It was a thousand-year-old artifact, after all, though much like the arrowhead it hardly showed its age.

“Okay, this one is a bit more clear,” Jun said, leaning in close to get a good look at the symbol engraved on the front of the helmet. “I’ll still need to do some more research to find out what it means, though.”

“Anything you can find would be great,” Tom said. He had both hands on the folding table on one side of the lair, leaning over Jun’s shoulder as she examined the helmet and the arrowhead. The artifacts now took up a decent chunk of their planning table; they might need to bring in more workspace soon.

“With carbon dating we could find a more accurate estimate on their age,” Alex said, not looking up from her tablet as usual. “But, we don’t have the equipment.”

“Even if we did, we could only date the helmet, not the arrowhead,” Diangelo pointed out. “Metal objects don’t have the same traces of carbon-14 that formerly living ones do.”

“We should still try,” Tom said. “If we can date the helmet, we can make sure it’s as old as I think it is, and get a better sense of what the Vikings were actually capable of.”

“Don’t we have records of this?” Jun said. “I mean, plenty of Viking artifacts and stories survived to this day.”

“Yeah, but we don’t have anything about the dragons,” Tom pointed out. “No records, just legends, and none that involved the Hidden World.”

“Which means there either weren’t any records, or they were destroyed,” Alex said. 

“Or lost to time in a variety of ways, yeah, I get it,” Jun said with a sigh. “I guess I’ll work on that research at home where I have internet access.”

“I think it’s about time we took a day off from field work anyway,” Diangelo said. “We have a lot of good data to work with, right Alex?”

“Agreed,” she said. “I think today I’ll scrounge up some parts from the computer lab and put together a setup down here.”

“How are we supposed to power it?” Tom wondered. “I don’t think there are any solar panels just lying around for us to borrow.”

“Leave that to me,” Alex said, smiling as she leaned against Feathers. Tom took a step back and nodded, wisely resolving to never question what exactly she was going to do. Ever since coming out of her shell, Alex could be… scary.

“Right. Go right ahead,” Tom said. Everyone else also wisely did not protest, even rule-abiding Diangelo. 

“While you’re doing that, I’m going to do a check-up on all of our dragons,” Diangelo said. “We’ve been pushing them pretty hard to do all this field research.”

“No offense, but I get the feeling that the dragons could go a lot further before running out of stamina,” Tom said. That was, if what he had seen of Thunder’s flying was any indication. “A checkup is still a good idea, though.”

“What about you, Tom?” Jun asked.

“I’ll probably hang out here and keep working on our equipment,” Tom said. “Di, since you’ll be around, I’ll get started on a saddle for Plowhorn.”

“Oh, nice,” Diangelo said, visibly pleased.

“Hey, how come I don’t get a saddle?” Jun said. “I’m your oldest friend, shouldn’t I get preferential treatment?”

“I’m just working logically,” Tom said, holding up his hands in surrender.

“I am curious how you plan to solve the problem of Feathers’ camouflage being useless with a rider or equipment,” Alex added.

“We’ll cross that bridge when we come to it,” Tom replied, though his mind was already spinning with ideas. “Anyway! Pretty sure that’s all we needed to discuss today, so let’s call this meeting adjourned, yeah?”

The others nodded and moved away from the table, though Jun gave him a “keeping my eyes on you” gesture as she left. Tom rolled his eyes and stood up, heading to his corner to get started on Plowhorn’s saddle design.

“Hey, mom?” Tom said cautiously.

He’d timed things very carefully to catch his mother during dinner, before she went back to work. They hadn’t crossed paths much recently, despite Olivia coming home for dinner more often, since Tom tended to stay late in the lair. Tom figured that the less they interacted, the less chances there were for him to slip up and have her find out about the dragons. Unfortunately, this particular interaction was undeniably necessary. 

“Do you know anything about that old Viking helmet we have?” Tom continued casually, sticking his head in the fridge to avoid giving anything away with his expression.

“Not much,” Olivia said thoughtfully. “I inherited it from my paternal grandfather, and I know he inherited it from his mother, but that’s as much as I can remember. Why?”

“I showed it to Jun the other day and she was curious about where it came from,” Tom said, pulling a container out of the fridge and making a beeline for the microwave. He kept his eyes on the slowly rotating plate, listening intently.

“That does sound like her,” Olivia said. “I don’t really know much. Maybe ask one of the archaeologists, honey. They might be able to tell you more about it.”

“Okay,” Tom said, taking his food out of the microwave. “I’ll do that.”

He sat down to eat, and casually turned the conversation to other things.

When Tom returned to the lair the next day, there were several computers, at least five monitors, and a radioscopy machine in Alex’s corner of the lair.

Nope, Tom thought, and immediately turned 180 degrees and made a beeline for Thunder. The lazy dragon was lounging against Tom’s slowly growing stack of blankets, thoroughly content and fast asleep. Tom didn’t wake him as he settled against his side, liberating a single blanket from the pile for his own comfort as he started working on Plowhorn’s saddle. 

“You’re not even going to ask?” Alex called from across the lair.

“Nope,” Tom said without looking up. “I don’t wanna know.”

“You are wiser than you look,” Alex said. “But seriously, you’ll probably want to see the results of the carbon dating on the helmet.”

Tom sighed. “Fine,” he said, setting the beginnings of the saddle aside. He wrapped the blanket around his shoulders and walked across the lair, stopping beside Alex to look over her shoulder.

“So the data we got back places this at about a thousand years old,” Alex said, gesturing at the charts on screen. “Which is about what we expected. But, the radioscopy also gave us some information on the material of both the arrowhead and the helmet.”

“And?” Tom asked.

“From what we can tell, they’re both some kind of stainless steel alloy,” Alex said. “But what alloy exactly isn’t something I can find a match for in any database. There are traces of calcium hydroxide, which really doesn’t make any sense for a long-lasting stainless alloy like this, but it’s what the data says.”

“Calcium hydroxide,” Tom echoed. “That’s… lime? You’re right, that doesn’t make any sense, but somehow it works.”

“I’m not a materials scientist,” Alex said. “That’s more your domain. We have the date, and we have the chemical composition. Now this mystery is up to you.”

“Gee, thanks,” Tom said sarcastically. He picked up the arrowhead, turning it over in his hands as Alex returned to typing. Why would anyone use lime to make an arrowhead? It would only create impurities, wouldn’t it?

Maybe Jun would have an answer for this.

“Hey, Jun-”

“I overheard, and I’m just as confused,” Jun said before he could even finish asking the question. She was sitting in a purple bean bag in her own corner, deep in a book on dragon mythology.

“You don’t have any idea why the Vikings would make arrowheads like this?” Tom asked. “No revelations about ancient forging techniques or myths referring to perfect metals?”

“Nope,” Jun said. “Vikings weren’t really known for their metalworking. Whichever small segment had contact with dragons were definitely outliers.”

“Great,” Tom sighed. “Did you at least find anything about that symbol?”

“Nope,” Jun said. “Zip, zilch, nada.”

“I have to do all the work around here,” Tom complained dramatically.

“I resent that!” Diangelo shouted from across the cave.

“Hey, you’re a vet, not a blacksmith,” Tom shouted back. “I doubt you have anything to add.”

“Hey! I totally do!” Diangelo said.

“Really? Like what?”

“Like- uh, lime comes from limestone, and Gronckles love eating limestone!” Diangelo said, clearly just blurting out whatever came to mind.

“Uh huh,” Tom said, turning back to his own corner. A moment later, what Diangelo had actually said set in.

“Wait, wait, hold on a minute,” Tom said, abruptly completing a 360-degree turn to face the rest of the lair again. “Alex, what were those components again?”

“Stainless steel and traces of calcium hydroxide,” Alex said. “Why?” 

“Di, do we have data on how hot a Gronckle’s lava is yet?” Tom continued.

“Not yet, but we can get it,” Diangelo said, grinning smugly. “Think I might have something to contribute after all?”

“Yes, you’re amazing, I love you,” Tom said distractedly. “We need a laser thermometer, right? Alex, did you happen to steal-”

Tom was cut off by a handheld laser thermometer flying across the room into his hand. Alex fistbumped Feathers’ wing, having tossed the thermometer to her dragon to send it to Tom.

“Right, thanks,” Tom said. “Jun, do you know-”

“Stainless steel is made at temperatures of 1,400 C, minimum,” Jun said without looking up. “1,530 to be safe.”

“Thanks, you’re a lifesaver,” Tom said. “Thunder-”

His harness, Thunder’s saddle, and the safety rope fell at his feet.

“Thanks bud,” he said.

“You don’t have Plowhorn’s saddle ready yet, do you?” Diangelo asked, already packing up his field-research kit and medical bag.

“Not yet, sorry,” Tom said, swiftly putting on his safety harness and reflexively double-checking the straps. He got to work saddling Thunder, adrenaline coursing through his veins at the possibility of finally finding another link between the ancient Vikings and the dragons.

“You two have fun,” Jun called as Tom grabbed his own research kit.

“What, you’re not coming?” Tom asked.

“Hey, you’re the one who falls asleep in the lair all the time,” Jun said. “It’s my turn to take a nap.”

“Alex?” Tom tried.

“Can’t. Analyzing.”

“Guess it’s a guys-only mission, then,” Diangelo said. “You ready?”

“Yeah,” Tom said after a moment, having checked the buckles on Thunder’s saddle one final time. Thunder practically shoved him towards the Fissure, having caught Tom’s excitement.

Tom barely had time to get himself secured in the saddle before they were diving into the depths, dipping down dangerously close to the gas clouds before catching a thermal to glide up to the Hidden World’s entrance.

“You could’ve waited two seconds, you know,” Diangelo said as he and Plowhorn landed on the ledge behind them.

“Sorry,” Tom said sheepishly. 

“It’s fine,” Diangelo waved off his concerns. “Just chill out for a sec, yeah? Let’s go get that data.”

“Right,” Tom said. Thunder took his cue to blast open the door, and they marched into the Crystal Cavern to find some Gronckles.

Fortunately, Gronckles were among the most common dragons in the cavern. Two guarded the door constantly, but Tom didn’t really want to bother them, so it was fortunate that there were plenty more to choose from. 

He set his sights on a group of adolescent Gronckles near the center of the cavern, figuring they would be amenable to doing some tests in exchange for scratches and food. Thunder followed after him, no doubt amused by Tom’s excitement. Tom approached the group of Gronckles with ease, quickly finding the most friendly one and introducing himself. After a quick sniff, the Gronckle seemed to decide that Tom was alright to hang around.

“Wonderful,” Tom said, still smiling to the point where his cheeks hurt. “Think you can spew some lava for us? It’s for science, you know. And then I’ll scratch that spot on your back that’s always hard to reach.”

The Gronckle seemed to think on it for a moment, then agreed by spitting a pool of lava at Tom’s feet. He quickly pointed the thermometer at it, reading a temperature of 1,200C before it began rapidly cooling.

“Too low,” Tom muttered. It was still within the realm of possibility, though. 

“Tom, toss me the thermometer,” Diangelo called. Tom looked up, finding him with another young Gronckle, currently examining the inside of its mouth.

“Sure,” Tom said, and tossed it over to him. Diangelo caught the thermometer and pointed it into the Gronckle’s throat. Curious, Tom got up and went to look at the results.

“1,600,” Diangelo said, showing the reading to Tom with a grin. “I think we’re in business.”

“Heck yeah,” Tom said. “We still need more data, though, or Alex will murder us.”

“True,” Diangelo said. “I’ll measure, you record?”

“Sure,” Tom said.

They settled into a rhythm, with Tom coaxing a Gronckle over, Diangelo taking its temperature, and Tom quickly writing down the reading before doing it over again. They got through about 20 unique Gronckles, and took multiple readings on each, before they decided they had enough data for now. 

Thunder nudged Tom the minute he noticed they were done, tired now that the excitement had worn off.

“Yeah, I hear ya,” Tom said, tucking his research notebook back into his kit. “Let’s head back and get Alex to run the numbers on this.”

“Man, what a way to start the week,” Diangelo groaned. “We’re gonna need more vacation days if we keep this up.”

“Oh come on, this was easy compared to exploring deeper in the tunnels,” Tom said, swinging onto Thunder’s back. “Plus, now the Gronckles love you.”

“I think they love me a little too much,” Diangelo griped as Plowhorn gently shoved one of the more friendly Gronckles away.

“Think of it this way, it’ll be easier to work with them next time,” Tom said.

Diangelo just groaned, and Plowhorn took off for the exit. Tom shook his head, nudging Thunder to follow them.

“Your hypothesis is starting to look more sound,” Alex said. She gestured to a series of graphs behind her, none of which Tom understood. “The median temperature reading on the Gronckles was 1,500, which is within the range to forge stainless steel. Thus, Vikings may have used Gronckles to create metal alloys.”

It had only taken Alex half an hour to run the numbers on their data, and most of that time was just manually entering everything that Tom had written down. 

“That’s interesting,” Jun said. “Maybe we could start looking at geography? Like which areas had the materials necessary for making stainless steel?”

“So limestone and iron deposits,” Diangelo said.

“That’s a good place to start,” Tom said slowly, though internally he was vibrating with excitement. “Jun, do you think you can make some headway on the historical research front?”

“I can try,” she said. “How far should I look? We know they were Vikings, and we have an approximate time period, but vikings roamed all over the northern sea.”

“As far as you reasonably can,” Tom said. “Iceland, Norway, Sweden, and all the islands in-between.”

“Roger that,” Jun said cheekily.

“If you can find the data, I’ll crunch the numbers to find the most likely location,” Alex said.

“And then what?” Diangelo asked. “It’s not like we can go there and investigate.”

“No, but we can do more research with the resources we have,” Jun pointed out. 

“Well,” Tom said, “we can’t go investigate now. ”

All eyes turned to him. Tom shuffled in place, his grin betraying his excitement.

“Once we’re done with the research paper, we’ll be able to fly wherever we want,” Tom said. “Then we can check out whatever island these Vikings lived on, and learn more about their connection to dragons.”

“Realistically, that’s not going to happen,” Alex said, not looking up from her tablet. “Once word about dragons gets out, there’s going to be a rush to study them and establish laws about using them to travel.”

“But we’ll be right there!” Tom said. “We’ll be the first to publish research on dragons, and any other researchers will have to turn to us for guidance. We’ll have- influence, and power, and if we decided to fly to the other side of the world, who could stop us?”

“The military, probably,” Jun said. “But I get what you’re saying. We have a lot more work ahead of us than just finishing the book, huh?”

“Maybe we should just go one step at a time,” Diangelo said. “Tom, I know finding out more about the vikings is important to you, but if we can’t continue the research without leaving the Fissure, then we should focus on our actual research.”

“Yeah, yeah, I know,” Tom sighed. “I still think we should check it out, even if we can’t get all the details yet. So, Jun?”

“Yeah, I’m on it,” she said.

“Then the plan remains unchanged,” Alex said. “In spite of all these new revelations, we continue gathering data in preparation for publication.”

“Absolutely,” Tom said. “Let’s get back to work.”

Getting back to work, as it turned out, meant mostly a lot of mornings in the Hidden World and afternoons in the lair. With the mystery of the Viking symbol mostly on hold, Tom spent most of his time working on saddles, first for Plowhorn, then Antyr, then Feathers. Weeks ticked by, and the pile of blankets in the corner slowly morphed into a full-on nest, which Thunder occupied more often than not. Tom would work there, leaning against Thunder’s side, during the lazy evenings when he couldn’t be bothered to go home for the night.

Of the four of them, only Alex stayed in the lair as late as Tom often did. While Jun and Diangelo often left in the afternoon once the field work for the day was done, Alex would stay at her ever-growing computer setup well into the evening, though even she would leave once it was time for dinner. There were many, many hours between them spent in silence, Tom at his workbench and Alex at her computer, each continuing their research one step at a time. It was nice, existing in silence with another person, especially with how busy the days had gotten recently.

Honestly, Tom couldn’t have imagined himself ever being this comfortable around people his own age before he came here. Sure, he was popular in school, but that was after a very steep learning curve and two years of scientifically-rigorous observation of his peers in middle school. Once he started high school and got a fresh start, then he was popular, but he couldn’t say he was comfortable in that role.

Here, though? Here he didn’t feel like he needed to use all of that carefully conducted research to get along with his friends. Here he could geek out about dragons or geology or leatherworking and have someone who listened, and actually heard what he was saying. Jun had always been willing to put up with his wild ideas even when no one else would, but now he had Diangelo and Alex to listen to him too, and he could listen to them in turn. 

They grew around each other, each finding their place in the lair, whether that was a physical place or a metaphorical one. Tom had his corner with his workbench and nest, Alex had her computer, Jun had her reading nook with her beanbag and stacks of mythology texts, and Diangelo had his makeshift vet’s office. It was no wonder that he found himself nodding off against Thunder’s side more often than not, these days, nor was it surprising that the others started bringing him food to replenish his stocks. They all just fit together, like a well-oiled machine, living and working together towards a common goal, and still finding time to enjoy themselves along the way.

Ultimately, Tom couldn’t be happier that he’d decided to explore the fissure just a few months ago. Even if he almost died, it led to him meeting Thunder, and making friends he never would have found back home, and he’d never regret that. Really, he couldn’t imagine himself leaving for anything in the world.

“Tom, we need to start thinking about sending you home for school in a few weeks,” Olivia said.

It was the weekly community dinner, an event that the dragonriders never missed. These days, it was one of the few times Tom returned to town aside from supply runs. It had been a while since he ran into his mom, and she generally didn’t bother talking to him even when they were both at the event, so this was a surprise.

“Sorry, what?” Tom said, having not fully registered what she just said.

“Well, school starts up again in three weeks, and you need to start figuring out what to pack,” she said, as if the decision was entirely final.

Dinner was already wrapping up, the residents of Icarus slowly dispersing back to their homes. The two of them stood at the edge of the lit area, Tom holding a dirty dish that once held mashed potatoes, having been about to take it back to the dome to wash. 

“Wh- I’m not going back to school,” Tom said. He’d thought that was obvious.

“Of course you’re going back to school,” Olivia said sternly. “We agreed that you’d stay in Reykjavik during the school year, and come here for the summer.”

“That was just for last year!” Tom said. “I can do online school this year, there’s no reason to send me back.”

Olivia sighed. “Tom, please. I’m not willing to negotiate on this.”

Tom stood his ground, glaring up at her. “I’m not willing to negotiate, either. I already told the school I wasn't coming back, and I found some online schooling options that I can do from here. Heck, I’m getting a better firsthand education experience here than I ever could in the city!”

“I’m sure you are,” Olivia said. “But honey, I remember how much of a hard time you had when you started school, and I don’t want to take you away from your friends there.”

“I have friends here!”

“Not enough to have real social development,” she said, and Tom knew she must have quoted that from a child psychology textbook. “I just don’t want you to fall behind. So you’ll head back, and that’s final.”

Tom shook his head. He couldn’t leave. There was too much work to do- they weren’t anywhere near done with the research paper, maybe a third of the way through if he’s being generous, and he didn’t want to leave Thunder either. Or his human friends, or all the dragons he’d befriended down in the Hidden World, or the space he’d made for himself in the lair.

“You want to talk about social development?” Tom demanded, setting the empty dish aside to free up his hands. “I don’t think leaving your kid alone in an empty house for six months is conducive to proper social development! And neither is leaving me to do all the cleaning and cooking while you’re working all the time! You don’t get to say shit about social development!”

Olivia took a step back, as if struck. “You said you’d be fine on your own,” she said almost meekly.

“I wanted to come with you!” Tom exploded. “But no, you insisted that I had to stay and finish the school year, and I agreed! But I am not, under any circumstances, going back!”

“ Tom, ” she said sternly, “You are going to pack your things, and three weeks from now you’re going to get on the helicopter and go home, and that’s final. ”

“You can’t make me,” Tom said defiantly. “You don’t have any right to tell me what to do with my life anymore. And you can’t make me get on that helicopter.”

“Tom!” Olivia sighed, pinching her brow. “Go home, and go to your room. You’re grounded.”

“As if you’ll be around often enough to enforce that,” Tom shot back. Still, he picked up the dirty dish and started marching for his dome, though for a different reason than Olivia was likely thinking. She most likely thought she’d won, but Tom was far more stubborn than she thought. There was a reason he’d managed to survive those six months alone when anyone else his age would have struggled far more.

Tom kicked the front door open, dumped the dish in the sink, and marched into his room. He locked the door behind him and started packing, stripping everything he had left that wasn't already in the lair. He heard Olivia enter behind him and go into her room; perfect. Tom left the half-packed suitcase on his (stripped) bed and marched into the kitchen, where he started taking all of the non-perishable food out of the cabinets, along with all of their cooking utensils. He dug a large cooler out of the hall closet, filled it with ice, and then dumped in all of the fish in the freezer; he figured he could feed it all to the dragons before it spoiled. That done, he packed the kitchen supplies into his suitcase, zipped it shut, and took both the suitcase and the cooler out the door with him.

By the time Olivia realized he was gone, Tom was already dragging his luggage into the lair. 

Chapter Text

“So let me get this straight,” Jun said. “Your mom wanted to send you back to school at the end of the summer, so you decided to run away and live at the lair full-time?”

“Yeah, pretty much,” Tom said. He was currently sitting at his workbench, organizing the kitchen supplies he’d liberated from his mom’s dome. He hadn’t managed to liberate a camping stove, so he’d either have to go back for a supply run or just make do without.

“You know how insane that is, right?” Jun said.

Tom shrugged, trying not to seem affected. “I was already here more often than not,” he pointed out. “And I spent six months taking care of myself, this won’t be much harder.”

Jun’s face twisted up into a pained expression. She sat down on the edge of his workbench, precariously balanced between stacks of leather scraps and half-finished patterns, and gave him a concerned look.

“I think we need to talk about that,” Jun said honestly. “I didn’t want to bring it up, but you seem really different than you were the last time we hung out.”

Tom looked away, keeping his eyes on the pans he was stacking. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

Jun sighed. “I’m not… I don’t want to… just, talk to someone, okay?”

Tom shrugged. “Maybe.”

“I guess that’s the best I’ll get out of you,” Jun murmured. Louder, she continued: “So, what now?”

“Like I said, it’s not like it’s hard to live here,” Tom said. “I’ve done plenty of camping before, I can set up an outdoor kitchen topside.”

“Won’t the smoke lead people right to us?” Jun pointed out, quite sensibly.

Tom groaned. “I hate it when you’re logical,” he said. “I guess I’ll just cook at night. Or set up a hood down here and vent the smoke into the fissure instead.”

“You’ve really thought this out.”

“Of course I have,” Tom admitted. “I figured we’d be spending more time down here eventually, especially if we want to go on longer exploration missions. We need a fully operational home base.”

“Sounds like it’s more home and less base, at this point,” Jun said. 

Tom rolled his eyes, pushing himself away from the workbench and standing up. “Are you going to stop me?”

“Of course not,” Jun said emphatically. “I mean, I feel like this is pretty extreme, but you’re in the right here. We’ll keep doing supply runs, just more often than we have been doing before now.”

Tom smiled, finally relaxing. “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Jun said. “Although, you might want to build yourself a proper bed at this point, too.”

Tom glanced back at his frankly absurd nest of blankets, where Thunder was happily napping. “Nah,” he said. “I think this is just fine.”

Talk to someone, Jun had said.

Yeah, Tom was never great at that. At least now that he was living in the lair, he didn’t have to worry about making small talk with his neighbors in Icarus. The other dragonriders didn’t really count as people, at this point, and neither did the dragons (and he meant that as a compliment, really). Though he did miss central heating and having an actual kitchen, the lair felt more comfortable than he’d ever been at home. 

It was three days after he moved into the lair, and not much had changed. The others had just arrived for the morning meeting, still bleary-eyed but raring to go, while Tom was as well-rested as he’d ever been.

“Same as usual?” Jun asked, stretching as she let out a yawn. 

“Pretty much,” Tom said, glancing over his shoulder at her. He was currently saddling Thunder, while the others were doing the same with their dragons. As Alex had predicted, making a saddle for Feathers had proven to be a challenge, which Tom had solved by weaving her shed feathers into a sort of cloth that covered the leather. It wasn't perfect, and wore out easily, but it did camouflage with her. Now he just had to make an entire outfit of the stuff for Alex.

“I’ll be honest, this is starting to get a bit boring,” Diangelo said.

“Whoa, if you’re saying that then it’s really dire,” Jun said.

“We’re still getting good data,” Alex reminded them. “The quantity of data needed for the research paper is projected to be approximately twice that which we already have.”

“So we need to spend another two months on this?” Tom guessed, moving on to double-checking his own riding harness.

“I don’t know if that’s more or less than I expected,” Diangelo said.

“No, it’ll be less than two months,” Alex said, swinging onto Feathers’ back. “We have more efficient data collection methods now. But, we also have to take into account the time to organize the data and write the final paper.”

“I should really get started on that, huh,” Jun said. 

“It’s pretty hard to start writing a paper when we don’t have all the data yet,” Diangelo pointed out.

“Guys, are we ready to go?” Tom asked pointedly, now secure on Thunder’s back.

“Yeah, we’re good to go,” Jun said, glancing at the others to make sure they were the same. Tom nodded, and they hopped out into the fissure, the glide down to the Hidden World no longer nearly as thrill-inducing as it had once been. At this point, it was entirely routine.

“I still think I should at least start practicing my writing skills,” Jun continued once they had landed. 

“True, that would be beneficial,” Alex said. 

“Shouldn’t we all do some of the writing?” Diangelo said. “I mean, I doubt the rest of us understand any of the data analysis Alex has been doing.”

“Good point,” Tom said, raising his hand to let a few Terrors land on his arm. “We should all write the portions of the paper that we have the most experience in, and then Jun can edit it all together.”

“That will be much more complicated,” Alex pointed out.

“But it makes sense,” Jun said. She hopped down to the ground, pulling out her field journal. “We all have our roles here, and I won’t be able to write everything perfectly without outside input.”

“Sounds like a plan, then,” Diangelo said. 

“Annnnd I think it’s time to split up and get to work,” Tom said. 

“You ruin all the fun,” Jun said teasingly, but still obliged. The dragonriders split off throughout the cavern, each approaching a different species of dragon. Tom sighed and relaxed a bit, settling down to take some more measurements of the Terrors.

Turning the Lair into a habitable place was hard, and yet not.

Tom was happy with his nest of blankets and his workbench, so those needed no further changes. The kitchen, on the other hand, was a project in and of itself.

Despite Jun’s concerns about the smoke, Tom decided to build an open-air kitchen above the lair. The wind along the fissure was enough to dissipate the smoke fairly quickly, and plumes of gas erupted from the fissure often enough that his little campfire could be easily mistaken for one of them. He dug a fire pit as close to the edge of the fissure as he dared, and built a makeshift stove over top of it. It wasn't pretty, just green sticks in a grid over the fire, but it would do. Hopefully one of the others could find him some better equipment eventually.

There wasn't much else to worry about. Tom was already well used to taking care of himself; he could keep the lair clean, cook his own meals, and even do laundry by hand when he started smelling bad. Clean water could have been an issue, but there were plenty of small creeks running through the woods, and thanks to Diangelo raiding the infirmary he now had an endless supply of chlorine capsules. Not to mention the many resources available in the caves along the fissure, which he was nowhere near done mapping out. 

Food wasn't an issue for Tom, but it did become an issue for the dragons. Tom had been using his mom’s money to order truly obscene amounts of fish for weeks, to ensure the dragons were well fed since they wouldn’t have time to hunt while helping their riders. Now, without access to his mom’s funding or the ability to pick up shipments, Tom had to resort to other measures. 

The other dragonriders did start picking up the slack, by ordering fish through their own parents, but they didn’t have nearly as much leeway as Tom had. Diangelo managed to bring in the most, since his mom was perfectly willing to indulge his “diet experimentation,” but it still wasn't enough to feed all of the dragons consistently.

Fortunately, Tom had spent the first ten years of his life doing field work with his mom, and he’d picked up some skills in that time. Making basic snares and traps in the forest was easy, once he had Jun pick up some snare wire from the small general store in town. He started checking the traps at dawn, though he rarely caught more than squirrels or mice; once in a while, he’d catch a rabbit, but they were few and far between. Even with the traps, the dragons would still go hungry. 

The dragons could fend for themselves, at least somewhat. Once they understood the situation, Thunder started leading the other dragons out of the lair in the afternoons, when data collection was done for the day. Tom came along once or twice, observing the dragons hunting in various caves with underground lakes; they worked together well, with Thunder shocking the water to kill some fish and the others scooping them up. Sometimes, in larger lakes, the other dragons would herd the fish into one spot for Thunder to shock. 

Between these methods, the dragons were getting fed. Satisfied that they were doing alright, Tom stopped coming along when the dragons went hunting; he’d only get in the way. 

The upside- and downside, depending on one’s perspective- of the dragons going hunting was that the riders had the lair to themselves in the afternoon. It was quieter, without the dragons lounging around keeping them company. Alex started putting on music from her tablet, filling the lair with soft instrumental tunes while they worked. Tom stayed at his workbench for most of the afternoons, maintaining the saddles and other equipment. He started keeping ledgers, keeping track of what they used and which things needed to be replaced or added to the repertoire; a new buckle for Plowhorn’s saddle, a measuring tape to replace one that a Terror stole, a bigger scale to weigh medium-sized dragons (large ones were impossible at this point), and lots of other things.

In the evenings, when the dragons returned and the riders left, Tom did chores. He tidied up the lair, tossing empty snack bags and detritus into a trash bag for the others to take out at the end of the week; he swept up loose dragon scales and droppings (though they were getting better about going outside to do their business) and gave all of the dragons a quick wipe-down with a wet rag. Then, as the sun started to set, he’d move outside and start up his makeshift stove, cooking up vegetables and canned meats that the others brought him regularly. He had a little chest of supplies up there, with a sturdy lock and scent-proof insulation, to store his spices and cooking utensils. 

Being out there, cooking under the slowly-darkening sky with nothing but himself and a fire… it honestly felt like coming home.

“Jun!”

Jun paused, turning around slowly with a hint of dread. She recognised the voice calling out to her, and while she had expected this interaction to happen eventually, she didn’t exactly feel prepared for it.

Olivia Kullersen ran up to her, out of breath. Her hair was undone, her clothes even more rumpled than usual; she had bags under her eyes, as if she hadn’t slept in days.

“Have you seen Tom?” she asked.

Jun considered her answer. She could lie, and say she hadn’t seen him, but then Olivia might think he was really in trouble and get a search party organized. Or, she could tell the truth, but refuse to reveal his location; but that, too, could lead to further persistence on Olivia’s part.

Even so, Olivia really did not look good. Jun couldn’t in good conscience let her think that her son was alone right now.

“Yes,” Jun said succinctly.

Olivia visibly sagged. “Thank goodness. Where is he? Is he safe?”

“He’s doing alright,” Jun said, still hesitant to reveal anything. “I’ve seen him a couple of times. I… don’t think he’d want me to tell you where he is.”

Olivia nodded glumly, running a hand through her hair. “That’s… that sounds like Tom. Could you take a message? I don’t… I need to talk to him again.”

“About what?” Jun asked carefully.

“Did he tell you what we fought about?” Olivia asked; Jun nodded. “I didn’t realize how important staying here was to him. It’s been weeks, and I just… Tell him that he can stay, okay? He doesn’t need to go back to Reykjavik. He can do online school, we can work something out. I just want to make sure he’s safe.”

Jun nodded. That was… more than she’d been hoping for, from Olivia. “I’ll tell him,” she promised. “And I’ll ask if he wants to talk to you. But Tom… he’s really independent, you know? I don’t know if he’ll want to come back, even if he knows he can.”

“Does he have everything he needs, out there?” Olivia asked. “I know he isn’t in the settlement, I’ve knocked on every door at least twice…”

“He does,” Jun said. She figured letting her know a bit about Tom’s setup wouldn't hurt anything, so… “He’s got a good setup. A safe place to sleep, an outdoor kitchen, fresh water and everything. Me and the others bring him food and supplies, too. So… you don’t have to worry about him, right now.”

“Okay,” Olivia said tiredly. “Let me know what he says, alright? And tell him I want to talk, if he’s willing.”

“I will,” Jun said, and waited a moment as Olivia went on her way. Then, only once she was out of sight did Jun continue on her way to the lair.

“...Seriously?” Tom said.

“She sounded like she meant it,” Jun said. “That you could stay here, and not have to go to school in Reykjavik.”

“I can sort of believe that,” Tom said. “But it doesn’t make up for everything else.”

He leaned back against Thunder, comfortably seated in his sleeping nest. Jun was seated cross-legged on the stone floor across from him, nearly bumping into his workbench in the tight corner. She’d just brought the news of his mom’s message, and… 

Tom didn’t really know how to feel about it. School really shouldn’t be that big of a deal, and he could believe that she’d back down about that after he ran off like this, but… that wasn't all that the fight was about. And Jun had told him to talk to someone, though Tom had been staunchly avoiding it; he’d even avoided so much as thinking about the situation, because every time he did think about it, he just made himself angry and depressed.

“I know,” Jun said. “You don’t have to talk to her if you don’t want to. And if you do, one of us- or all of us, I guess, can come and back you up.”

Tom rolled his eyes. “Thanks,” he said, “for the backup thing. But you’re lying about the first bit.”

Jun winced. “Yeah, a little bit,” she admitted. “I just… I know you’re doing okay out here, but I worry about you too. I think it’d be good if you could come back to Icarus once in a while.”

“Things wouldn’t be the same,” Tom muttered. He pushed thoughts of his mom out of his mind, and focused on the practical; he’d be under much more scrutiny, after running away, and he wouldn’t be able to get away with ordering food and supplies for the dragons anymore, not unless he somehow guilted Olivia into giving him free reign. He wouldn’t be able to sleep in the lair without incurring parental wrath, or at least worry and disappointment, and Tom wasn't willing to give that up. He did like it here, for all that it was missing a lot of modern amenities, and risking that went against all of his instincts.

“Of course not,” Jun said quietly. “But don’t you owe it to yourself to try?”

Tom huffed and curled in on himself, turning away from her. He really didn’t want to think about this right now.

In the corner of his eye, Tom saw Jun sigh and stand up. A few moments later, Alex took her place.

“For the record, I think asking me to provide emotional support was a terrible idea,” Alex said. 

Tom snorted, turning a bit to face her; Thunder had placed his tail over Tom’s lap, so he was a bit stuck. “Yeah, I don’t know what she was thinking.”

“Maybe I can brute force my way into making you talk about your problems,” Alex suggested. Behind her, Feathers wandered over and plopped down beside her rider; Alex began stroking her tail-feathers absently. Just slightly, Tom began to relax.

“In your dreams,” Tom said. “Jun’s known me since we were babies and she can’t get anything out of me.”

Alex shrugged. “Yeah, I figured,” she said. “You did talk to me before, though.”

Tom blinked, trying to remember. “When?”

“When we first met,” Alex clarified. “Well, sort of. Right before we met Feathers, I guess. You told me how you’re afraid of crowds.”

“That’s normal, though,” Tom said. “I grew up doing field work, I never had the chance to socialize properly.”

“What about after that?” Alex prompted. “You said, and I quote, ‘I know what being alone in the house all the time can do to you’.”

Tom winced; he had said that. 

“I don’t want to talk about it,” he muttered.

Alex shrugged. “Fine, don’t,” she said. “I’ll talk instead. It’s easier when you can talk about things objectively. Do you remember when Feathers followed us into my house, and I was terrified?”

“Yeah?” Tom said, confused.

“I had a panic attack,” she said bluntly. “Want to know why?”

Unable to help himself, Tom nodded.

“When I was little, I went outside with my moms,” Alex began. “We were just walking around the neighborhood, and a big dog started following us- following me, really. I got scared, but my moms told me the dog just liked me, that I should pet it. And it was bigger than I was!”

She gripped her own arm tightly, tense; Feather curled around her more firmly. “So I did pet it. And it bit me. Really hard, and it broke the skin, and my moms had to rush me to the hospital to get a rabies shot, and it was horrible. And since then I’ve been terrified of large animals, and going outside, so I just stayed in with my tablet where nothing could hurt me.”

“Oh,” Tom said quietly. 

“You helped me move past that,” Alex said, with such certainty that Tom couldn’t help but hang onto her every word. “You understand what it means to be afraid, and you spent your whole life facing those fears and conquering them. You showed me that Feathers really wasn't scary, and she helped me be more comfortable with going outside and exploring. And now we meet new dragons almost every day, and sometimes I’m still scared, but I can still do it. And that’s because of you.”

“You’re going to turn this back on me, aren’t you,” Tom groaned.

“Yes,” Alex said bluntly. “You’re scared of talking to your mom again, and you’re scared to confront how she neglected you. But it has to happen eventually; you can’t hide here forever.”

“Sure I can,” Tom said, though it sounded weak even to him.

Alex raised an eyebrow. “You can wait until you’re ready,” she said. “But when you are, I’ll go with you to talk to her.”

“What happens if she finds out?” Tom blurted out. “About all this, about the dragons- we’re not ready yet!”

“She won’t,” Alex said. “And if she does, we’ll deal with it.”

“How?” Tom asked desperately.

“Well, I have a protocol for this,” Alex said, her tablet seemingly materializing out of nowhere. “If an adult finds out about the dragons before we’re ready, we first try to swear them to secrecy; then, if that doesn’t work, we recruit them to assist in our work, under the caveat that they aren’t listed on the final paper, and use that as bribery to keep them from telling anyone else. In extreme cases, we can kidnap them, or hijack the Icarus internet connection to prevent word from escaping the settlement. If word does somehow get out, we publish a rushed version of the paper early, with what data we already have, just to get the discovery rights set in stone.”

“...You really have thought about this,” Tom said.

“Of course,” Alex sniffed. “Someone has to. I’m not just crunching numbers all day, you know; we don’t get that much data in each session.”

“That does make me feel better,” Tom admitted. Knowing that she had a plan, that even if things went south with Olivia the dragons would still be safe… that made him feel a little braver.

“Good,” Alex said. “That was my goal.”

“Alright, alright,” Tom laughed a bit at her bluntness. “I’ll talk to her. Tomorrow. We can meet in town at eight instead of at the lair. All of us. And… I want to make a plan first. So I know what to say.”

Alex held out her tablet, already open to a blank text document. “Let’s make a plan, then.”

Tom smiled and took the tablet. Jun was right, after all; it did help to talk about it.