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The academy was dark… like really dark… I thought this place was meant to be lit up? Maybe it wasn’t such a smart idea to sneak around the halls this late. You never know what unknown shadows crept around each corner.
Aj paced her steps quietly. Whatever else she felt lurking beyond was never gonna hear her coming.
She ninja’d her way against the wall lying flatly to peak around the edge. Coast is clear. But before she could take another step she felt a breath creep down her neck. As she slowly turned her head to see what it was, the outline of a person entered her peripherals.
“AH!” Aj’s soul left her body as she flew the other direction.
“Woah careful!” Drift quickly grabbed her wrist before she hit the floor.
“Open book don’t do that!” Aj placed her other hand to her chest, attempting to calm her racing heart.
“Sorry, sorry,” she apologized. Truly she didn’t mean to make Aj jump that much it kind of scared her too, she won’t lie. “What are you doing wondering the halls this late anyway?” Drift questioned.
“That’s none of your business,” Aj huffed, realizing that Drift was still gripping her wrist, she ripped it out of her grasp.
“Then why are you so jumpy?” Drift now questioned in a softer voice, noticing how Aj’s eyes kept glancing from side to side as if searching for something that wasn’t there.
Was there a mosquito? Or a different house fly? Maybe a guard was coming and she just had a sixth scent. Aj didn’t answer her question. Instead she grabbed Drifts arm and started pulling her down the hall.
“Where are you taking me now?” Drift said more harsh. She hated when Aj avoided her confrontation. The decay mage still didn’t answer. She kept a tight grip, slightly digging her nails in Drifts gloves, as she gragged her from doorway to doorway. Stopping to check the coast, then continuing once it was clear.
“Aj?” Drift tried. No response. “Aj?” Again. Nothing. At some point the walls were starting to look familiar again and Aj was dragging Drift up the stairs to her dorm. Not Aj’s dorm, Drifts dorm…
Which took her a little too long to realize until she got a whiff of the strong leafy aroma caused by the surplus of greenery hanging off her walls.
“Why did you lead me to my room?” Drifts hand was finally dropped, so she shifted to crossing her arms.
“No reason,” Aj dismissed with a shoulder shrug. Immediately going to dig through Drifts chests.
This was really weird behavior. But Drifts was not good at reading people, especially those whose walls are built of titanium. She was trying to observe any shifts in AJ’s composure. Any shakes and twitches that showed signs of distress? Nothing…
Not even a second later Aj gasped grabbing Drifts attention once more. She was knelt on the ground in front of an opened chest that held random trinkets and shit. But instead of looking through the chest she was looking around the room.
Drift followed her like of sight but nothing was hidden in the corners, well not anything she could see. It was as if Aj was hallucinating? Maybe some sort of paranoia?
“What’s really happening?” Drift walked over to Aj, placing a hand on her shoulder as she stared to the floor. That’s when she felt the shorter was trembling. Her breathing was coming through rapidly but she kept trying to shove it away.
“I-I keep seeing things…” Aj shudders causing her words to come out as a studded regardless of how she tries to hide it. “I think somethings there in the corner of my eyes but when I look it’s gone and I think I’m going insane,” she starts rambling soon turning into mumbling by dropping her head into Drifts chest.
“Seeing things, like what?” Drift wrapped her arms around her girl friend. And yes that space is purposeful.
Aj took a breath before answering. “The thing from the crypt… that day I-“ Aj had made the mistake of looking into Drifts eyes the more words she spoke the softer and softer Open books features dropped, and the more her heart sunk. She let out a shiver once again.
“Are you cold?” Drift asked. The ladder was wearing her normal ripped sweater, and if she was completely honest it was kind of hot in here. The earth mage shucked off her cape and draped it around the decay.
“This is so stupid,” she mutters to herself.
“It’s really not Aj,” Drift muttered back. “That thing had tried to kill you, it’s not stupid to have trauma from it,” she said that like it was normal. Like this didn’t leave a massive scar across her hand, a constant reminder of how detrimental her past actions had been.
She wasn’t going to tell Drift about the nightmares. The flashbacks of her past that came in pieces and never connected. Nothing ever made sense. She was not going to tell about the crash outs she’d have. The ones that were so bad she’d run into the woods at night and walk back in the morning as if nothing happened. She totally wasn’t planning that again today.
Aj kept her eyes on her hands clenching them through their bandages. Although most of her vision was blurring. She couldn’t even think straight with how much her head kept spinning as if she drunk 21 beers in ten minutes.
She started to dig her nails into her palms. She just needed to feel something. She can’t collapse right now, not here, not now, not in front of- Drift… whose gloved hands were now in hers.
“Don’t do that,” she whispers.
“You don’t understand,” the memories of the flames. “You have never lied, you told me yourself,” the heat radiating off them—the heat of Drift pressing herself closer their foreheads are now touching. “I’ve lied to you, to everyone, to those I vouched to never,” her voice cracked horrible between sobs. “I hurt people and I don’t even know why,” how would a fire spread if they had water to stop it in the dam… the dam that had broken.
“Oh Aj. It’s gonna be okay, don’t cry,” Drift kept being gentle. She didn’t need gentle—she needed to beat up and bruised beyond repair.
“This thing, the entity was right,” she honestly didn’t know why she kept talking.“This entity is just a reflection of me, of what I should become,” Each word coming out as a breathy sob.
Death. “And I deserve it,”’
“Aj if you don’t calm down you’re going to pass out, your breathing’s becoming dangerous,” Drift starts to panic, she doesn’t know what to do. Aj wasn’t going to listen again.
I should’ve stayed buried… echoed throughout her mind. Buried… in my past… Aj doesn’t know when her vision went dark. Throughout that entire monologue it had been blurry. She kept her sight down on her hands encapsulated in Drifts, digging her nails into the leather gloves. She could feel the weight of Drifts cloak sinking into her shoulders. The slight pitch of Open books voice harmonizing with the ringing in her ears but nothing was coherent.
Shapes started to become blobs and the shadows started taking over creeping in from the edges. She felt like she was sinking into the ground again, and she was going to let it encapsulate her.
“Aj? Aj!” Drift shook her violently as she started collapsing onto her. Her hyperventilating had caused her to loose consciousness. Drift had tried to get her to listen, to calm down and breathe but it just wasn’t working. Half way through she could barely make out what words Aj was saying… something about an entity? The shadow thing that keeps following her? The one she’s seeing in the corners? And the other thing was about deserving it… deserving death?!
“No no no no no, this is bad, what do I do,” Drift gathered the unconscious girl into her arms, still wrapped in her cloak, as she brought her over to the bed gently placing her down. She shucks off her gloves and starts brushing the loose strands of her hair away from her wetted cheeks wiping the tear stains as she does so. Drift looks at Aj’s face, rubbing the smudge of dirt that somehow always gets there off. She then shifts her hand over to her nose feeling the small exhale of air from the nostrils. She’s breathing. She’s calm. Drift lets out a sign of relief leaning down and placing a small kiss upon her forehead.
As Drift pulls away Aj shifts. She lets out a small grumble shifting her arm until her hand snags on a piece of Drifts clothes to pull her closer.
“Oh- Aj?” Drift is awkwardly leaning over the sleeping one. “Let me take my cape off of you and then we’ll cuddle, ok?”
Aj let out a huff, and Drift pulled away once more.
She unravels the cape off of Aj, who was quite reluctant to let go of it. Then she moved to getting rid of all her other unnecessary accessories that would make taking a nap extremely uncomfortable and tossed them into an empty basket. Drift kicked off her boots somewhere near the door and with her now socked feet slid over to the bed side and took off Aj’s boots as well.
Drift stood over the bed watching as Aj slept. The slow rise and fall of her chest, the slight twitches her legs make every so often. Even unconscious she looked as if she was still fighting a war inside her head. Then she let out another grumble.
“Ok, ok, we can cuddle,” Drift slid in next to her draping her arm over her partners middle giving her the small spoon.
Suddenly Drift felt Aj’s shoulders relax. She grabbed Drifts arm as if it was a teddy bear and brought it under her chin.
“Well I’m not moving for another few hours,” Drift yawned. She settled into her spot, the warmth radiating off of their connecting bodies slowly lolling her into a rest.
Bonus scene:
“Huh, I wonder where Drift is?” Shelby pointed out the brunette was missing from their quartet.
“She’s probably sleeping with Aj,” Scott remarked.
“Sleeping like-“ Megii makes a scissoring motion with her fingers, “or like actual genuine sleeping together?”
“Wait what was the motion you just did with your hands?” Graecie questioned out of innocent curiosity.
“Oh uh scissoring,” Megii answers her question.
“What’s scissoring?” Graecie comes up with another question.
“Who’s scissoring?!” Pyro interrupts.
“Aj & Drift,” Scott and Shelby respond with a shrug.
“Oh yea… that checks out,” Pyro agrees.
“Hey guys, good morning,” Legs greets.
“Good morning Legs! did you know Aj and Drift are scissoring?” Graecie spouted unexpected. The entire room went silent.
“Aj and Drift are doing what now?” Legs gives a great spit take.
“Well Shelby mentioned Drift was missing, Scott said she’s sleeping with Aj, Megii does this scissoring motion and says that’s what they were doing in their sleep, and then you walked up,” she explains.
“Graecie, do you know what scissoring means?” He’s questioning many life choices right now.
“Um, no?” She thinks on it.
“Great, so Megii will explain then,” Legs throws the woodland mage under the bus.
“Woah hey-“ she tries to defend
“Well you were the one who brought it up,” Scott targets.
“Isn’t scissoring when someone cuts up a piece of paper?” Zam comes up with what seems like a reasonable answer.
“Aj and Drift are cutting up pieces of paper in bed?!” Graecie says with a more concerned tone.
“No no, that’s not what scissoring is,” Megii is regretting waking up today.
“Well what are they doing with a pair of scissors then?” Graecie is way too innocent for this conversation…
“Doing what with a pair of scissors?” Aj has now entered the chat.
“They said you and Drift were scissoring,” Graecie has to once again inform the poor soul.
“Me and Aj were doing what?!” Drift gives another amazing spit take for the camera.
“Who said that?” Aj doesn’t even retort, she just crosses her arms scanning the crowd of dragon riders.
“Megii!” Everybody points a finger to her.
“In my defense Scott said you two were sleeping together,” she yields her hands up.
“Uhuh, did he,” Aj shifts her glare from the woodlands to the icicle.
“Well what else were you two possibly doing last night?” Scott defends himself.
“Cuddling.” Aj states simply.
“Is she good?” Shelby points at Drift who’s dead from embarrassment, curled up, head in her hands, it’s way too early for this shit.
“Ummm can someone please explain what scissoring is, I’m still confused!” Zam reminds the crowd that she in fact is from a different floating rock, Graecie however was born under a rock.
“Lesbian sex.” Aj says bluntly, no sugar coating.
“Ohhhhhh,” the blessed stars release in sync.
“So you’re pregnant?” Graecie found I new question to make the newly awoken couple explode, right then and there.
“No no no Graecie that’s not how sex works between two women,” Megii try’s to explain.
“Then how does sex work?” The lamb continues.
“It’s too early for this~” Drift groans melting into the carpet.
“Why don’t we go ask Juniper about that one,” Megii starts pushing the blessing mage away from the group so she stops asking awkward questions at 8 in the morning.
“So who do I need to be beheading for starting the rumor?” Aj is now juggling a dagger around her hand, shooting daggers at the others as she scans their faces.
“Why don’t we go get something to drink instead,” Drift grabs Aj by the shoulders and walks them towards the kitchen.
“Awww what a cute pair lesbians,” Sausage giggles.
“Where the heck did you come from?” Shelby didn’t recall him being present in the previous conversation.
“I’ve been here the entire time…” Sausage blinked. “Anyway, they totally fu-“
“Okay! Let’s go adventuring now!” Scott cut him off. End of scene. Let’s never speak of this again.