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Pyro managed to avoid Scott for all of half a day. It wasn't easy when not only were they in the same dorm, but also the same corridor. Their doors were opposite each other, because apparently the universe hated Pyro in particular, which meant that all it took was a badly timed decision to go to the library and there Scott was. He looked exactly as he always had. Same distant, sad eyes. Same easy smile, as though he could convince everyone not to look any deeper. Same way of talking, which made it sound like he was telling you things without telling you anything. Scott loved to call Pyro the liar, the actor, but they truly were cut from the same cloth. Two sides of the same coin. Their magics, opposite yet equal, were only confirming what Pyro already knew.
He would never truly escape Scott Borealith. Their fates were intwined, their very beings the same. Pyro couldn't exist without Scott on the other side of the strings. He didn't think he ever really wanted to.
Pyro spent many days exploring the island around the academy, getting his internal compass attuned so that he could never get lost, and so that he knew all there was to know for if he needed to run. It had the added bonus of getting him away from other people, away from Scott. It gave them time to think and process and remind themself of what they were here for.
He was here to raise Cindemeare, to perfect his magic, to get strong enough to burn the corruption into ash and then worry about the next stage of his life after surviving the first three steps.
His head spun a little as he laid back in the grass, the academy a distant shadow on the horizon. They grabbed their water, watching Cindy play with a fallen leaf. They'd have to head back soon, the sun was starting to get to him and the dizziness was a very clear migraine warning sign. They were currently not in the mood to push it and suffer the consequences. So long as he headed back now and was careful he should be able to avoid a full blown migraine.
"Come on Cindemeare," they whistled, scooping the little menace into the backpack - having to pull a couple of leaves off her claws as he did so - and pulling his fingers back before she could get a love bite in. He'd hoped that some it the other baby dragons would teach her that humans didn't enjoy being bitten as much as adult dragons did, but it hadn't stuck yet.
They cast their recall spell, crossing their fingers that the magic wouldn't make their head worse and waiting to reform back in the academy. Thankfully the hall was empty for once, and other than a little bit of vertigo he managed to survive the spell without feeling any worse. He headed straight to his dorm, surprised to not run into anyone else on his way. Sometimes the halls were absolutely heaving with other students, but it was such a large place that at other times you wouldn't see anyone else at all. It would have been so easy to be in the same academy as Scott and never have to talk to him, if they'd just been put in different dorms. Pyro wondered if whoever, or whatever, made the dorm plan knew what they were doing, or if it came straight from fate itself.
Scott's door was closed, and Pyro didn't allow themself more than a second of looking at it before they swung into their own room and headed straight for the bar. Not that he was going to be drinking today, he had some self preservation instincts, despite all evidence to the contrary. Maybe it was questionable to store meds that couldn't be taken with alcohol with alcohol, but it made sense to him and his opinion was the only one that mattered when it was the inside of his own room.
Pyro shook out a couple of the pills that helped stave off his migraines, wincing at the quiet rattle of the bottle. They were running out, and hadn't managed to figure out a source of more yet. No one in the capital sold anything even close to what they needed, and there weren't exactly many bustling market towns anywhere else nearby. He was going to have to go to Nurse Violet soon, or maybe even Mr Professor. They wanted to avoid their migraines as much as possible, but having to admit weakness to the very dragon they were fighting to get respect from left a bitter taste in their mouth.
Their migraines didn't make them weak. If anything, the fact that he kept going and exploring and getting more powerful anyway should be a sign of his strength! But he knew what other people were like. He knew what they tended to think. And a dragon like Mr Professor? He didn't seem any different. He'd let students die for lesser weaknesses than chronic migraines.
He was broken out of his thoughts by sharp teeth against his neck, quiet growls coming from Cindy as though she could tell that he was thinking too much.
"Let go you absolute menace!" Pyro yelped, trying to reach behind himself to push Cindy's nose away, and then giving up and starting to swing his backpack off when he realised that he was not flexible enough for that. Cindy let go as soon as Pyro started moving the backpack, looking at him with the most innocent expression the world had ever seen. She'd learnt how to look adorable and innocent very quickly, seeing as she'd been getting into trouble since pretty much the day she hatched. Like father like dragon, Pyro supposed.
"That won't work one of these days," Pyro warned, getting him a yip in response which probably translated to something highly insulting. If Cindy ever learnt how to speak like Mr Professor could then Pyro would never know peace again. He'd probably also lose all respect with his peers, as Cindy would not hesitate to tell everyone about all of Pyro's embarrassing moments. It was difficult to pretend that you hadn't just tripped up the stairs when you had a dragon on your back at pretty much all times.
They'd definitely spent too much time alone today if they'd started considering Cindy ruining their reputation. Definitely time to go on a mission to find some friends around the academy. It would also give him an opportunity to share some of what he'd found. No point being useful by finding out everything there was to know about the surrounding lands if he never shared the information and proved how useful it was.
"Come on then, where do we think everyone else is hiding?" They'd not seen anyone on their way to their dorm, so presumably all their dormmates were out. The ritual room was normally a pretty strong contender to find people, though there'd not been any ominous noises or distant glowing that normally followed such a place being occupied. He'd head over there and if he was lucky he'd find some evidence of life on his way.
The academy halls had become much creepier in recent weeks, and everyone had started unconsciously moving in groups. Pyro had to fight the part of his brain that was convinced that something was behind him, blending in with the shadows or just tucked into one of the doorways. The guards had assured them endlessly that they were safe here, but with the corrupted rituals and the corruption in general, Pyro wasn't even a little bit convinced. Something wasn't right here, and until he and Cindy could burn things to the ground without blinking they weren't completely safe.
They got half way to the ritual room before the distant sound of laughter and fighting reached them. The sparring rooms had been popular in the last few days, everyone realising that learning magic wasn't enough. If they wanted to survive, they also needed to know how to fight with it.
"Sparring it is then!" Pyro cheerfully told Cindy. Truthfully, his hands were itching with the need to burn out some of his energy, so this was pretty perfect. He'd join in with whoever was there, fight until he was too tired to think, and then be free to have a nice evening with his dormmates as soon as they returned from wherever they'd gone. Maybe they'd even invite them into their dorm, pour out a few glasses, make good use of the bar they'd installed for something other than holding medicine.
It was just before reaching the first sparring room door that he recognised the laughter, and realised that his dormmates might not be so much "wherever" as "right here."
Scott and Drift were in the middle of the mat, eyes glowing with magic as they circled each other. Shelby was sat outside the ring, on top of one of the decorative trees with a bubble of wind around her to protect her from any stray spells and all three dragons draped across her shoulders. Anyone in the spar couldn't get hurt, but that didn't protect anyone outside of it from rebounds or misses.
Pyro froze in the doorway, not making any noise to announce himself or say hello. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the fight in front of him, watching Scott's confident smirk as he iced the ground and Drift's laughter as she responded by ripping boulders out the ground and shattering the ice. It was incredibly impressive, seeing the two of them leaning into their powers so naturally, like they'd had it forever. Even more so when Pyro knew how unnatural it had been for them at times.
They'd all grown so much from the first day they'd arrived, when those dragons had picked them and then promptly been lost. When they'd all been so afraid.
The spar continued, taunts and laughter interspaced by the cracking of ice and slamming of the ground. This wasn't their first round, from the sound of it, and they'd both started being able to predict what the other one would do next, their preferred order of spells and when they would attack or retreat. It was a perfectly choreographed dance and every time one of them gained an upper hand they'd lose it again the next moment.
It would probably take a big slip up for one of them to fall behind.
As though summoned by Pyro's thoughts, Pyro saw Scott's eye lashes flutter, his shoulders slumping in a way that was painfully familiar. They hadn't asked if Scott still had the same problems he'd had when they were younger, had honestly started assuming that he'd grown out of it when the other man hadn't mentioned it in any way or pulled himself away at any points for a nap.
It seemed that maybe the lack of napping was a bad sign, rather than a sign of healing.
Drift hadn't noticed Scott's distraction, or didn't know what it meant maybe, raising a large boulder and readying it to throw.
Pyro didn't consider the fact they were in a spar, that their was a veil of safety over each of them which notably didn't extend to spectators, he just acted. He ran forwards, hands ablaze, and blocked Scott with his own body. He stumbled backwards with the force of the boulder, grunting at the pain. That was definitely going to bruise. He'd been hit by Drift's boulders before, but not normally when she was actually trying to cause damage. Cindy chirped from his back, reminding him just of how stupid a move that had been.
"Pyro! What the hell are you doing!" Drift gasped, the glow leaving her eyes as she dropped her hold of her mana. "Don't just run into the middle of the spar! You could have just asked to join the next one!"
Pyro spun around, just managing to catch Scott as he crumpled to the ground. The sparring room they'd chosen wasn't the most comfortable one, not that any of these rooms were particularly built with comfort in mind. Pyro settled Scott's head into their lap, pushing Scott's hair out of the way of his face.
"Oh, is he okay?" Shelby asked, jumping out of the tree and looking thoroughly rattled by now quickly everything had just happened. Aurora jumped off their shoulders, scampering closer to her rider and snuffling at his neck. If Scott was awake he'd be pushing her nose away, complaining that it tickled. Pyro let her continue searching. "Should I get someone with healing powers? Or Nurse Violet?"
"Wait for him to wake up first. This was normal for him when we were younger, but he can tell us if he needs anyone." The words burned in Pyro's throat, having to admit that he didn't know what Scott needed anymore. He was almost as clueless as Drift and Shelby, all of his information was eight years out of date, a far fall from the boy who used to know Scott better than he knew himself.
Cindy nipped at their neck, letting go before they needed to try and pull her off. He was starting to wonder if this dragon-rider bond actually did extend to mind reading. He couldn't feel any dragon thoughts coming through, but maybe it was one sided.
"Is that why you ran in? Because you knew he was about to… pass out?" Drift asked. Her eyes glowed for a second and Pyro noticed the ground beneath Scott change slightly. He prodded it with his knuckle, finding a significantly softer surface than the rest of the room.
"Fall asleep," Pyro corrected. "But yes. I…" he didn't finish his sentence. He couldn't. Not when he'd not been thinking at the time. He'd just seen Scott with the same symptoms as the younger version of him who had been his best friend, and he had ran forward. Drift and Scott were sparring, he reminded himself again. They couldn't actually get injured, but Pyro could have been if he wasn't careful. He just… hadn't been thinking. They ignored the part of themself which would rather be hurt than see Scott hurt. It had been almost a decade since they'd been friends, and Scott had grown considerably since then, but Pyro couldn't stop seeing the small, quiet kid who was afraid of his own mind and body betraying him, who would barely leave the house without someone with him. Everyone had always worried about him falling asleep somewhere in the middle of the snow, never waking up again.
And now he was here. At a dragon academy, far from home and apparently neither using the coping mechanisms nor telling anyone about what was happening. He was so much more capable than the boy Pyro had left behind, and so much stupider too.
Pyro hoped this wouldn't get out. That Mr Professor wouldn't find out somehow. He didn't want to know what a dragon thought of someone who couldn't stay awake.
"I wonder why Scott didn't tell us, if this is normal for him," Shelby murmured, watching Scott intently as though something bad would happen if she looked away for more than blink. "I thought we were telling each other these sorts of things. We would have been able to look out for him if we'd known."
"I guess he didn't feel comfortable," Drift shrugged. "But we know now. We can ask him what he needs, what would help."
The thought is enough to nearly make Pyro burst into hysterical laughter. Scott Borealith admitting what he needs and asking for help? Chance would be a fine thing. Pyro was pretty skilled at getting information out of people, sometimes without them even realising that was what was going on, and most of it came from convincing Scott to actually talk to him when they were younger.
"Ughhh." The groan was only quiet, but it had them all going silent as they leaned in closer, watching Scott's eyes flutter open. He looked between them all slowly, confusion slowly building on his face.
"Am I on the floor?" Scott asked, doing a pretty good impression of someone who had no idea of what was going on. Because that was what it was. An impression. An act. Pyro could see it in Scott's eyes, he knew exactly what had happened. "Drift, how hard did you… hit me with that rock?"
"Sorry mate, that one won't work. The rock didn't even hit you."
"It didn't?" Scott frowned. "I could-a sworn-"
"Pyro jumped in the way." Shelby sounded like they were barely restraining themself from pinching Pyro's cheeks like some old relative. "Blocked it, then caught you when you fell."
"Oh." Scott seemed to realise where he was, pushing himself up on trembling arms until he was sitting on his own, only slightly unsteady. He glanced at Pyro's lap for a long, considering second, before his attention turned to the rest of them.
Pyro wasn't sure how he was going to survive the look in Scott's eyes. The understanding, the gratitude, the steadily growing anger. Because of course. OF COURSE! Scott was going to get pissed off at him for showing his hand. Pyro knew something was wrong which meant something was wrong, and Scott was mad at them for not just letting him get smacked by a rock and crumple to the ground with a concussion. Because a head injury was sure to make his head issues better!
"They said this was normal for you? Or it had been, when you knew each other."
"They did, did they?" Scott glared. Pyro refused to be cowed.
"Shelby was going to get the nurse. If you'd have rather she took a look at you, and then told Mr Professor, then by all means be mad at me. I just thought you might be less bothered by your closest friends knowing instead."
Scott didn't argue, his eyes dropping to the ground, the closest thing to an agreement that Pyro was right that they could expect to get at the moment. Scott was stubborn, but he wasn't an idiot. He was probably just as aware as Pyro was of the risks of a dragon finding weaknesses. Aurora crawled her way up Scott's side, curling around his shoulders and making quiet chirping noises. Scott happily took the distraction to coo over his dragon, not looking at anyone else in the room.
"So it is normal?" Drift prompted. Her arms were crossed over her chest, resolve clear in her eyes. She didn't want to force Scott, didn't want to push him too far, but she wanted answers.
"Yes. I have narcolepsy."
It wasn't a name Pyro had heard before, and he'd heard many. Any time they stopped off in a village with better than normal medical supplies they would ask if they'd ever heard of something that matched Scott's symptoms, and if they had any solutions for it. Many of them never had. Those which had all had different names for it, nothing consistent either. No cure all, just naps and staying away from stress, things Pyro knew Scott already did. He had better luck with his migraines, though only slightly. Always under different names, he clung to the name Tegrith had given it, offering pills of different effectiveness. The one he was currently using worked very well, there was no certainty that the next one would. If they ever found the courage to ask Nurse Violet about it.
"Narcolepsy?"
"My… my brain can't figure out when I'm supposed to be awake and when I'm supposed to be asleep? So sometimes, especially when I'm more stressed, I just… fall asleep. Against my will. Other times my body just… freezes up."
"That sounds… scary," Shelby whispered, shuffling closer so that she was pressed against Scott's side.
"It was, when I was younger," Scott agreed. "Tegrith isn't a particularly easy place to live even when you're not at risk of passing out in the snow. No one knew what was going on. Could be genetic, we wouldn't know."
Pyro caught the look that Drift and Shelby exchanged. It seemed that they didn't know that Scott was adopted either, not that Pyro was really surprised about that. It didn't come up much. Scott's parents were his parents, even if they didn't share blood. It wasn't like he remembered, or wanted, anything else.
"Is it treatable?"
"Not really. Manageable, most of the time. Naps, avoiding stress."
"Oh great. Things that are very easy when in a dragon academy with the weight of the known world on your shoulders then."
"I had some pills that help a bit too," Scott offered. He sounded scared, like he needed to prove that he was not a liability. He hid it well, but Pyro could recognise the slight shake that underlined his words, the way he spoke slower to try and hide it. He'd spoken in the same tone to Pyro countless times after he first started experiencing difficulties.
Pyro had almost been glad when their own migraines had started getting worse. Scott didn't feel so alone. It had always been the two of them against the world but now it was also the two of them proving that they were still as capable as they'd always been. They'd go out on adventures together and it didn't matter if Scott fell asleep or Pyro started getting an aura over his vision, because they looked after each other.
"You had?" Shelby asked.
"I'm running out. I don't know where to get them. A travelling healer, the one who recognised my issues as narcolepsy, taught our village healers how to make them from herbs which we could trade for in local villages." He sighed. "I tried to learn, but never managed to perfect the extraction process on my own. They could only make a small batch at a time, so I couldn't really stockpile before leaving."
"How worried do we need to be about you running out?"
"Not… massively? They stop me from being quite so drowsy during the day, but don't make a massive difference to the actual… staying awake part."
"You shouldn't have let your routine fall apart. None of the lessons here have been important enough to push it, and it isn't like anything has to be done at a certain time anyway." Pyro commented. Reading between the lines of what Scott was saying, it was the routine that actually helped, even now, which meant that letting it fall apart was even more concerning. "Most of what we've been doing is own research, the kind of thing you could have taken breaks from." Scott was so desperate to raise Aurora well, to know everything the academy wanted to teach him, it was no wonder he'd not been willing to disappear off for a nap during the day, even though he needed it.
"Oh you're one to talk." Scott rolled his eyes. "I've seen you when people start flashing their magic around. You don't leave, or ask them to cool it, you just stay and let it happen."
"That's not comparable at all!" Pyro threw their arms up. Scott could be absolutely ridiculous when he was feeling stubborn. "I'm not suggesting you completely avoid anything that could set your- narcolepsy did you say?- Your narcolepsy off. I'm just telling you to look after yourself. Only you would get offended at that!"
"The lights?" Drift questioned, catching on the least important part of the conversation. She and Shelby had actually seen Pyro at the start of a migraine before, but he'd doubted they'd know the name and had been too desperate to get to a dark room to explain it, so he'd just said he was feeling sick.
"I get migraines. It's like… a bad headache but however bad you're thinking, multiply it by a thousand." Drift and Shelby both nodded, seemingly understanding or recognising the description, if not the name. "Bright lights can set them off and casting magic is close enough to be a risk. I know how to not push myself though, and I've been trying to stick to what works since coming here, rather than just abandoning it and seeing how long until I crack like some people."
"Pyro, that last bit wasn't necessary," Shelby frowned at them. "Anyway, both of you deserve to have what you need. Which from the sound of it right now is to slightly change your routines and then talk to Mr Professor about where to get more of Scott's meds from."
"I also am running out of meds," Pyro admitted with a wry grin. "The good ones stop a migraine if I'm careful after taking them. I generally just take whatever the most recent healer I've seen has in stock, and the stuff I've had recently has been working pretty well."
"Okay, change of plan," Drift sighed. "We get you both more meds. And… some sunglasses? Would that help?"
"Maybe. Depends on if Scott tells me I look like an arsehole if I wear them."
"I wouldn't." Scott rolled his eyes. "You know I wouldn't."
"Yeah. I know." Pyro couldn't have stopped the softness in his voice even if he'd tried. For all that Scott had changed in their time apart - and boy had he changed. Pyro's eyes had almost bugged out their face when they first saw him. The twig he'd been best friends with had grown into one hell of a tree - he was still the same Scott inside. Sarcastic, cold, sharp, desperate to help everyone around him as though he would be able to solve all their problems.
"Right. So, a shopping trip later! We'll see what the capital has. I'm sure there's a shop there that sells accessories, though I can't promise they have a wide range of options for you to choose from."
"That's fine, I can make it work." They flicked their hair over their shoulder, getting a snigger from Shelby in response. "I won't need to wear them all the time anyway. Just when people start showing off.
Scott muttered something under his breath which Pyro didn't catch most of, but which sounded along the lines of "other people showing off" so they could guess what his issue was. Honestly, the fact that he'd said it under his breath rather than yelling it for all to hear was probably an improvement. Maybe Pyro had managed to get back in his good books, just a little.
Maybe Pyro had never truly left his good books. Not really.
"Are you up for walking, Scott?" Shelby asked. "Or do you need a bit longer?"
Scott pushed himself to his feet instead of answering. He wavered a little bit, but managed to stay standing. "I'll be fine, but might not be as quick moving as normal."
"You can't seriously think that taking this to Mr Professor is a good idea. He'll fry us where we stand!" Pyro subtly glanced at Scott. Truthfully, he wasn't that worried about himself. He was practically made out of fire, and had plenty of movement abilities. He also wasn't that attached to this place. If Mr Professor got too judgy or aggressive then they would just take Cindemeare and leave.
Scott… well, they had their doubts. He was after all, notoriously bad at leaving places, even when he would be better away from them. And while he currently had some very impressive attack spells, he was only as fast as he could run and that was definitely slower than a dragon.
"He's gained respect for you, you've both proved yourselves in so many ways." Drift didn't sound like she was willing to be swayed. "If that's still not enough. Well Shelby and I will be there." Shelby went wide eyed at the implication, but she didn't argue. From what Pyro had seen, it seemed more likely that Shelby was going to run away so the Professor continued to forget about her entire existence than argue wirh him, but they weren't going to be the one to bring that up.
"You're going to fight a dragon for us?" Scott asked, sounding dubious. They'd both seen Drift start arguing with Mr Professor at any given opportunity, but she normally fell back fairly quickly. It was hard to hold onto bluster when faced with a mouthful of sharp teeth the size of your fingers.
"If he's being unreasonable then yes, we will. I very much doubt it'll come to that though."
"Like Drift said, you've proven yourselves. You're getting more powerful and raising your dragons and only very occasionally causing problems." Shelby offered.
"That was actually helping until the last bit." Scott's tone lifted teasingly, but the corners of his eyes crinkled in worry. He wasn't entirely confident, which meant that it was Pyro who had to be.
"It'll be fine." Shelby tried again. "We're bonded with our dragons, remember? He won't want to lose Aurora and Cindy, even if he doesn't care about you two."
"You're making it worse Shelby," Drift fake whispered, bumping their shoulders together. "No one has been killed by a dragon since the first day. We've proven ourselves. And if you two want to continue getting stronger, you need to be looking after yourselves!"
"When I get turned into a pile of ash, I want to be scattered as far away from this academy as you can get without Mr Professor getting twitchy," Pyro finally sighed. It earned him a snort of laughter from Scott, a noise so familiar and yet so far from his past that it made Pyro's head spin. The possibility of being cooked alive was almost worth it.
"Let's go! I'm fairly sure Mr Professor was in the grand hall earlier."
They fell into line, Drift and Shelby striding ahead while Pyro matched Scott's slightly more uncertain pace. They walked side by side, their hands mere inches apart in a way Pyro couldn't stop him brain from obsessing over. The halls were still pretty much empty, and they were left in uncomfortable silence, except from the distant whispering of the girls, for almost a full minute before Pyro couldn't hold themself back any more.
"I'd like to hear more about these pills you had. What was in them?" Pyro asked. Medicine wasn't normally their topic of choice, but knowledge was knowledge at the end of the day. Besides, after all this stuff with magic and dragons, they were getting quite used to learning things outside of their comfort zone. "None of the healers I spoke to had anything, so I'm fascinated to hear that someone had medication that worked, and used simple enough ingredients that they could be traded for around Tegrith of all places."
"The healers you spoke to?"
"Most of them had never even heard of someone struggling to stay awake like that - they suggested iron deficiency or suggested that you were simply not sleeping enough at night. Or ghosts. Quite a few of them were sure that you'd been infected by the exhaustion of the dead - so clearly you're very original. Anyway, even those who did have a word for it rarely had any treatment options. Or any treatment options which weren't an obvious scam anyway. The nerve of some of those healers, they make me look like a saint."
"You were asking healers about my narcolepsy?"
"Sure, I was generally in there for my migraines anyway, might as well make the most of the trip." Not always true, but he didn't want to embarrass the other man. He'd always hated the idea of people going out of their way to help him.
"You were trying to find some answers?"
"That was always the plan." Pyro didn't understand why Scott was staring at him like he was speaking a different language all of a sudden. "Go out into the world, discover new knowledge that no one was going to gain by staying on the same mountain for the rest of their lives. Find answers."
"Well clearly we were," Scott muttered, looking irritated for a second before it smoothed back out. "I know that's what you said, but I didn't- I didn't realise that I was included in the answers you were seeking."
"Course you were." They'd never stopped asking, even as recently as two months ago they'd asked a healer about it. Even as time stretched on and he became less and less able to convince himself that he'd be going back soon, he couldn't leave Tegrith behind completely. He couldn't leave Scott behind completely.
"How about this, if we survive this meeting with Mr Professor we can go back to my room. I can teach you, just like a new ritual. I know the ingredients and the steps, I just never managed to do it properly. Maybe now I've had all this practice with rituals I will manage it."
"That… that sounds nice," Pyro agreed, his chest feeling suspiciously tight.
"Great! Just need to survive a… prideful and somewhat uncaring dragon first!"
"Easy stuff for us."
After everything they'd already done, hatching their dragons, awakening their magic, surviving their reunion and somehow still being on speaking terms even after the history which stretched between them further than the horizon, this was basically nothing.