Chapter Text
Percy arrived outside Keyleth’s house right on time, Keyleth waiting on the steps of the cottage she shared with her Father, as always, because even weeks of summer couldn’t seem to get them out of their careful routine. Only now, the slight difference was he had a car. Percy’s car wasn’t much, it was a beaten-up old thing, a “chunk of metal on wheels” Cassandra had once graciously described it when he had first brought it to their flat, but she was smiling.
Finally .
Keyleth knew these past years hadn’t been easy for either of them, the rest of the family, including their parents, had died in an accident when Percy was 15, Cassandra only 12. Given that they had no other living relatives, they had passed down to Sillias and Delilah Briarwood, and they had been…Difficult people to work with and worse parents. Most nights in those early years had been spent at Keyleth and her Father’s house, treating injuries or watching disney movies, Cassandra curled under a blanket with Minxie and Percy being the last one to sleep.
Over the summer, Percy had finally turned 18, and finally gotten his rightful inheritance to their family fortune. He’d taken Cassandra, used his portion of the inheritance to buy his own apartment for him and her, and gotten into a university not that far from the town. Keyleth, and the rest of the group had never seen him so happy.
“Percy, Cassandra.” She greeted, climbing into the backseat. “Ready for Freshman year Cass?” She asked, Cassandra pushing a take-out tea cup into her hands and nodding, playing with her own hands in her lap. “Hey,” Keyleth dropped her voice to a whisper, “there’s nothing to be worried about. You’re in a few of Grog’s classes, right? It’s gonna be ok.” She didn’t look like she wanted to be touched, so Keyleth retreated.
“Grog’s a bit like us,” Percy began to explain.
“An orphan?” Cass guessed, forcing a chuckle from her brother and Keyleth.
“His mind functions differently. He is smart, but not in school. He’s an athlete though, like Vax, you know Vax?” Cassandra nodded as Percy spoke, “So you’ll be ok. Try and sit next to him.”
“Are we picking up the twins?” Cass asked, and Percy sighed.
“They had to move.” Keyleth’s stomach rolled uncomfortably, all Cass knew was the twins moved around a lot because of family issues, but they’d kept most of what happened to them far from her, to stop her from getting triggered. “They’ll meet us at school.” Percy met Keyleth’s eyes, and they didn’t need words to communicate what he meant by the entire statement. And Keyleth’s heart shattered.
Vex and Vax lived out of a hotel room. It wasn’t the best, but they made the best of a bad situation. When their hotel was sick of them and kicked them out, they’d find a new hotel, or a friends, or a homeless shelter. The difficult thing was turning up to school every day and telling their classmates that nothing was wrong, which hadn’t been an issue until they’d met ‘Vox Machina’ in detention when Vex tried to steal food from the teachers lounge and Vax was with her.
Keyleth, Percy, Pike, Grog, and Scanlan were all social outcasts in their own way, in some shape or form, and the twins had been happy being wallflowers and staying on the down low until graduation, until they could get out of that fucking school their Father had thought best, and then their lives had been completely flipped upside down. Now college looked like a possibility. Now college life seemed within reach. “Did you take my hairbrush?” Vex yelled from the bathroom, and Vax picked it up.
“We’ve only got one hairbrush.” He yelled back. “And what's the magic word?”
“Fuck you?” Vex tried. Vax rolled his eyes and tossed the brush into the bathroom, catching himself in the mirror as he did.
His long black hair was still damp from his shower, so he threw it up in a half-ponytail for the day. “When do we need to leave for the train?” Vex yelled again. Vax checked his phone for the time.
“In ten minutes.” He yelled back, and was distracted by a text from someone saved in his phone as Kiki.
‘ Percy said you had to move. You ok?’ Vax sighed. People caring about the twins, and asking if they were ok, was still very new to them, and still Vax had the urge to push her away and be ice-cold at every given opportunity, and something about her made Vax’s heart leap.
Keyleth had been through too much too soon, they all had been, and she hadn’t, unlike most of the rest of them, let it turn her into a being of chaos and destruction, or a depressed person who sat in her room all day. She had turned into a complete and utter ray of sunshine, bright ginger hair and green eyes to match. She was also very much Vax’s type, which was a problem.
When they were both younger, he had confessed his feelings to her, and had been rejected. She had said she was not ready to date him yet, and Vax had completely respected that and left her alone. That was towards the end of their Freshman year. In their Sophomore year, she had dated classmate Kash for a while, and then Vax very quickly realised good god, he was not over Keyleth. When they had broken up, Vax tried not to look too happy in front of Keyleth.
‘ Yes, we’re ok. Dad almost found out where we are.’ He sent back.
‘You sure he won’t come into the school?’ She messaged back.
‘He’s banned from the school grounds, we checked with Principle Uriel the other day.’ He smiled at the phone. ‘See you soon.’ He said.
‘See you soon x’ She sent back, and Vax bit the inside of his cheek so he could refocus on the day ahead of him.
“Ready now.” Vex said, coming out of the bathroom. She was in one of the shirts she had worn the other day, and the same pair of jeans. Her shoes were messy and muddy from climbing and the only clean thing on her was the feather in her hair. “Let’s go. I need to go to the laundromat after school today, ok?” Vax nodded. They both needed to go.
“Sure.” Vax took one last drink of the juice he stole from breakfast that morning, pressed down his shirt and left.
Cassandra was playing with her locker key, which was hanging around her neck like a necklace. “Cass.” Keyleth said, bending down to her height in the middle of the hallway. She was also shaking like a leaf. “It’s gonna be ok. Hey, look at me.” Percy watched Keyleth with his little sister, working her way through every technique she knew. “Take a deep breath. You’re gonna get a locker,” She also picked up the key around her own neck, wearing it the same way Cassandra was, “and it’s going to be so cool, ok? Come find me at lunch.” Keyleth squeezed Cassandra’s shoulder. “Any questions?”
“Where’s P1.23?” She asked, and Keyleth looked at Percy.
“Performance, first floor, room 23. There are signs everywhere. You’ll be ok.” He said. Cassandra smiled, and the bell rang, and Keyleth put her hand on Percy’s arm to reassure him as they watched her leave. “She’ll be fine.” He said, mostly to himself than to Keyleth. “She’ll be fine .” He was cringing as he said the words, but he was learning to let her go.
“What lesson do you have first?” Keyleth asked, pointing at the folded piece of paper in his hands, his timetable for everything, his classes and clubs, a routine he got to stick to for the rest of the year.
“Biology, then maths, then English Literature, then chemistry, then Design Technology.” Keyleth shuddered.
“Brutal.” She said, speeding towards her locker. Percy didn’t need to run to catch up with her, just increase his walking pace ever so slightly, but Keyleth only had little legs.
“What about you?” He asked, calm as ever. Keyleth thought for a moment, paused in front of her locker, unlocked it, and shoved her backpack inside after taking out a smaller bag.
“Dance, then maths and English lit with my favourite rich boy,” she elbowed him in the side, and he laughed, “then home ec then business.” Percy cringed.
“And you said my day was brutal. You can barely walk in a straight line, why are you taking dance?” Keyleth shrugged.
“I’m good at it, and it’s fun.” She said, taking a bobble from her wrist and making to tie her hair back. “Besides, I don’t want to go into it. My plan is to work at our flower shop when I leave highschool. I've been doing it my entire life anyway…why can’t I tie my damn hair?”
“Come here.” Percy took the hair bobble and started working on Keyleth’s hair, tying it in a neat braid at the side of her face. Percy was one of the only people Keyleth let touch her hair, and Keyleth was one of the only people Percy could be this close to without freaking out. “It’d be a waste for you not to go to university.” He said.
“Per, I can barely make it through all my coursework without crying. How am I meant to cope at university? You know what I am good at though.”
“Flower arranging.” They said at the same time. Keyleth had always been good at it, she had brought Percy and Cassandra flowers when their parents passed, and got fake ones for Cass when she had been in the hospital. “There.” Percy finished tying her hair backwards and backed off, smiling. “See you in maths?” Keyleth laughed at him phrasing it like a question.
“You have no choice.”
Percy slid into his biology chair, next to Vex and Pike, three seconds before the bell rang. Pike leaned over Vex and raised an eyebrow, her white hair falling thick over her eyes with how far she leaned. “Cass ok?” She asked. Percy rolled his eyes.
“Good to see you too, Pike. I’m fine, thank you.” It was Pike’s turn to roll her eyes, and she elbowed Vex in the ribs as the teacher walked in and started drowning on about something that they already knew, a recap from last year's final examination.
“De Rolo, Vessar,” Their teacher said, and Percy and Vex’s heads snapped up at their names, “see me after class.” The trio at the back of the classroom looked at each other as a childish ‘ooo’ rang up from around the room. Percy pretended not to notice Vex texting the group chat underneath the table.
VOX MACHINA
V, V, Kiki, Freddie, Grog, Pickle, The Meat Man
V: Me and Percy are in trouble lol
V: What. Why?
V: No CLUE.
Kiki: Both of you? Why?
V: Did your grades dip?
V: Aren’t you meant to be in class?
V: Aren’t you?
Vax tucked his phone into his bag and sighed. “Did they? Grades fall?” Scanlan asked, reading Vax’s texts over his shoulder, standing on the bench to get a better look. Vax bit his lip and sighed.
“I don’t know, I mean we try and keep them up, but sometimes things happen and they fall.” Vax swept his long hair up into a low hanging bun and left their changing room. “End of last year, where were we the end of last year?” Scanlan watched Vax’s eyes slowly drift over, quickly becoming hazy with thoughts he’d rather not have. Who knew what thoughts they were, the twins normally had each other when they got like this.
“Stay with me, man.” Scanlan said, tugging on his friend's shirt. “It’s probably nothing, you know? Teachers always ask to see you about some bullshit or the other, failing one test isn’t gonna get her kicked off the course.” Vax smiled and turned his entire body to face Scanlan. Scanlan knew this helped sometimes, so he didn’t protest. Sometimes the twins would stare at you so intensely you’d wonder if they hated you, but no. It meant they loved you.
“Don’t look now,” Scanlan said, “Keyleth’s looking at you.”
VOX MACHINA
V, V, Kiki, Freddie, Grog, Pickle, The Meat Man
GROG: 1 Image attached.
A picture of Grog, a 6’3” football player, sat on the desk next to Cassandra, who is smiling and throwing up a peace sign.
FREDDIE: She’s ok?
GROG: She’s my learning buddie!! You didn’t tell me she was smart!!
FREDDIE: My sister is very smart.
GROG: And helpfull
PICKLE: I thought I was your learning buddie? :(
GROG: You’re my best buddie!
THE MEAT MAN: Bro :(
Percy and Vex stood up from their seats, sending off quick messages to the group, and promised Pike they’d meet her outside to walk to maths together, given that most of Vox Machina (aside from Grog and Scanlan) were in the same maths class. “You guys ok?” They heard someone ask behind them. Derrig, who sat next to Keyleth in maths and across from them in science, was standing there, wearing his signature slightly-dishevelled look.
“Airrington do not worry, Trickfoot move along now.” Their teacher called. Derrig bit his lip and smiled, and Pike sighed rather loudly and moved out.
“Good luck.” Derrig said, “I’ll tell them where you are.”
“Thanks.” Vex said through gritted teeth. Derrig was nice enough, she supposed, all smiles, a little dishevelled but who wasn’t, and he had a permanently tired look about him. He smiled, and then he was gone. Their teacher was looking at them like he was waiting for a smart-ass comment or something.
“Last year's end-of-year test,” He said, placing their papers on the desk in front of them. Vex’s had a D, and Percy’s had an E. “Vessar,”
“Don’t call me that.” Vex spat, “Call me Vex. Vex’ahlia, if you need to be formal.”
“Vex’ahlia, then, you were one mark off of an E and De Rolo you were one mark off of completely failing.” Their teacher looked both of them up and down, “If it was not you two, I would request you be taken out of my class. What happened when you took the test last year? Both of you.” Vex and Percy shared a look. Vex nodded.
“I was sorting out finances, I was getting my sister under my custody and hiring lawyers and I was finding me and my sister a safe place to live.” Percy stated all the facts, things about his life he had wanted to keep close, but at risk of getting kicked out, completely divulged all his secrets to his Biology teacher, who nodded.
“Vex’ahlia, yourself?” He asked, and Vex rolled her eyes. “Vex’ahlia. I’m offering you a chance to explain yourself, you don’t have to tell me everything but if there is something you aren’t saying I will have to safeguard you.”
“What would that involve?” She asked. Their teacher typed a little bit, very quickly looked at Vex, and sighed.
“Calling your brother.”
“Well you’ll have to call him then.”
VOX MACHINA
The Meat Man, Grog, Pickle, Freddie, Kiki, V, V
FREDDIE: Vex got safeguarded again.
V: It was not my fault
V: You fail one test and suddenly its an issue
FREDDIE: It is when you’re regularly a straight A student
V: We need an adult.
V: We are adults.
V: Well shit.