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It had been a good couple of days. Legs had been learning to listen to Gadget's demands for “floor cuddles”, as he'd taken to calling them. He also had been doing chicken-related shenanigans with Graecie, which had the twin effects of letting Gadget see his rider light up with joy at the silly helpfulness he was doing with his friend and forcing Gadget to learn that apparently Fleece enjoyed the taste of feathers. And raw chicken. And the thrill of chasing Gadget around the infirmary courtyard covered in chicken juice and feathers.
Gross.
Thankfully there was a convenient bathtub attached to the infirmary.
This morning had been a slow, yet productive one: Legs had taken a few hours to copy down some notes from some of the newer tomes, then gathered up some seeds to go feed and check on the infirmary chickens.
After feeding the chickens and gathering a decent armload of feathers, Legs exited the infirmary with a quick peripheral glance to Gadget.
“Alright buddy, let's bring these feathers to Terry and then we can go see if Sausage and Graecie are up yet. Sound like a plan?” He asked.
Gadget simply let out a sleepy huff and curled up more comfortably in the backpack. His rider had the horrible habit of waking up just before the sun, which was (quite frankly) a rude and terrible habit that he wished to break at all costs. Who in their right mind would willingly wake up before the sun? If you're going to be an early riser, you might as well wake up with the sun like a reasonable person.
Just as Gadget was about to let himself be lulled into a comfortable and well-deserved backpack nap, he heard the distinctive calls of Graecie and Sausage.
“Legs! Legs!” Both yelled, not quite in unison but close enough.
“Oh! Good morning!” Legs replied, startled.
Gadget grumbled sleepily as his nap was interrupted. Fleece giggled from her backpack.
“How did you get down here before us?” Graecie asked, tilting her head like she always did when asking something genuinely puzzling to her.
It was Legs’ turn to become puzzled. “What do you mean? I've been here for like an hour doing…” he looked over his shoulder at the courtyard window– “nothing in particular. What's going on?”
“An hour?” Sausage asked incredulously. “Nah, we just saw you in your room.”
“What?!” Legs shrieked.
“Yeah!” Graecie replied, Graecie-ly. “You were in your room and you were just standing there and weren't saying anything when we said good morning, and then you started just running around your room so we were chasing after you calling ‘hello, Legs!’ And you just kept running all around the room and into the hallway and not saying anything, and then you went into Bubbles’ room, and then you disappeared and we couldn't find you! And then we decided to go look around and see where you went and now we're here, and you're here too so we found you!”
Well, Gadget was certainly awake now.
“It's true,” Penny piped up from Sausage's backpack. “We saw your rider, but not you. It was weird.”
“It was kinda creepy,” Fleece chimed in. “He like, wasn't quite right. Moving wrong. I didn't like it, yucky vibes.”
“Yucky, like your bugs,” Penny sniped.
“Bugs are not yucky! You take that back!” Fleece hissed, nearly falling out of her barely-latched backpack.
Graecie made a noise of surprise and twisted to secure Fleece back into the backpack. The latches were still done up wrong, though it thankfully looked slightly more secure this time.
The humans were making themselves busy looking over the chickens Graecie and Legs had spent the last couple days populating in the courtyard, but Gadget still hadn't moved on from what Graecie and Penny had just said about his rider.
“Wait,” he said, trying his best to make eye contact despite the odd angles, “you're sure? Like, an actual other person that looked just like Legs?”
Penny looked dead serious. “Yes.”
And wasn't that a scary thing, Penny being so concise and direct?
── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──
Back at the Feles dorm, Graecie and Sausage were trying to explain to Legs the route they saw ‘Legs’ take earlier that morning, the feather delivery to Professor Terry long since forgotten. As the trio made their way over to Legs’ room, Gadget spotted movement at the end of the little hallway.
Fleece gasped in fear, clearly frightened by the unexpected figure.
“Oh, hi Pyro!” Graecie greeted cheerfully with a little jingle of her bells.
Gadget giggled at his friend. “You were scared of a student?” He teased. “They're literally just standing there, Fleece.”
Penny looked horrified, staring down Pyro, who was still just standing silently by the feline student's door, not even facing the group. “Where's Cindy?” She asked, unmistakable horror creeping into her voice.
Lo and behold, Cindy was not there. Not too odd, as Gadget knew Vulpes dorm tended to babysit each other's dragons on occasion.
“I don't know, maybe she's with Aurora or something? Don't you not even like Cindy that much, anyway?” Gadget tried, beyond confused as to why his friends found this situation remotely scary.
And then Pyro turned silently to face everyone. And Gadget very suddenly knew exactly what Fleece meant by whatever had looked like his rider ‘not moving right’.
That wasn't Pyro.
Everyone screamed. ‘Pyro’ lurched towards the trio of riders. Sausage punched the imposter while Legs dove in front of Graecie, knife drawn. The imposter did not react like someone that had been punched. It wasn't the lack of visible pain response or even the lack of visible anger on its face that had Gadget's scales raising.
It physically did not move like human flesh did when punched.
“Run!” Legs yelled.
No one argued. They just booked it. And because the dragonets were backpacked up, they had the unique experience of having to stare down the thing they were running from, powerless to do anything about it.
Fleece ducked fully into her bag, whimpering something Gadget couldn't fully understand. Penny was screaming. Gadget was more or less frozen in place, staring down this… creature that had taken the face of a rider he knew. He couldn't break eye contact. He didn't know why, but he just couldn't.
And then it disappeared. In the middle of a straight hallway. Gadget blinked and it was gone. There was nowhere for it to have gone.
“It's gone?!” He yelled incredulously.
“This happened last time too,” Penny confirmed. “I don't like it, it's yucky and creepy.”
“–r ‘oo shur iz g'ne?” Fleece's muffled voice asked from under whatever Graecie had stuffed in her backpack.
“Maybe?” Penny hedged. “It's as gone as it was before, so it could maybe come back again? I don't know.”
It was at this point that the trio nearly ran over a guard while taking a corner.
“Oh, a guard! Hello, guard!” Graecie greeted cheerfully as ever.
“Guard, you've gotta help us! There's a freaky thing chasing us and it's taking people's faces!” Sausage cried.
“Yeah, it took my face apparently, and then it was Pyro? But it's not actually Pyro!” Legs added, chest fluttering wildly and head filling with bees.
Gadget silently shoved his nose into his rider's neck. That should help enough for now, until someone could get rid of the freaky face-stealer.
The guard sighed in that long-suffering way that Gadget had only ever heard from Sun Guard. “Really, you three?” He replied and yep, that was definitely Sun Guard.
“Yes, really,” Sausage defended. “It's literally right behind us!”
Sun Guard pushed past the trio, ignoring the protests that he was heading straight into danger, and looked down the (very empty) hallway. He looked back at the three and, despite having a helmet that obscured all of his facial features, he looked almost disappointed. “So, there's nothing there…”
“No! There– there was, you've gotta believe us! It was right there!” Legs pleaded, desperate to be believed.
“Well, it did disappear earlier, before we found you Legs, so it could still be there!” Graecie chirped far too brightly for the situation.
Sun Guard still looked skeptical. “And you all saw this… person? And you're sure it wasn't just Legs and Pyro playing a prank?”
Sausage looked just about done with this. “Yes, and yes! Come on, man–”
“Do we really look like the kind of people to make this all up?” Legs interrupted.
“You three, four including Zam, do tend to be at the center of a lot of shenanigans around here…” Sun Guard said, looking pointedly at Legs, who still had a lot of chicken feathers poking out of his pockets.
Legs deflated a bit at that and mumbled something not even Gadget could quite catch.
“That being said,” Sun Guard continued, “you all seem rather serious about all this, and if this is all true, it should probably be brought up to Mr. Professor. I can grant you safe passage to the Royal Wing to speak with him, if you'd just follow me.”
── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──
Sun Guard led them to a small sitting area just outside the lounge on the way to the Royal Wing, told the riders to wait there while he contacted the Professor, and then promptly left.
Graecie sat down with a little flourish, taking off her backpack and trying to comfort Fleece. Sausage sat down at attention, watching both the stairs where they'd come from for threats and the stairs Sun Guard had taken for his return. Or possibly more threats, Gadget wasn't entirely sure. Legs practically collapsed into his seat, instinctively sliding off his backpack to curl around it so he wouldn't accidentally squish the dragonet inside again if he passed out.
Gadget appreciated the consideration.
Sun Guard came back shortly with a few papers secured to a board. He held them out in front of the trio of riders along with a quill.
“I'm just going to need you three to sign this before I let you into the Royal Wing,” he said, flipping the papers to the last page and resting the quill across it.
Sausage took it without bothering to flip back to the previous pages and put the quill to the paper, beginning to sign his name before pausing. “What is this, by the way?” He asked, name already halfway signed.
“Oh, that's just a form saying that I'm not to be held responsible if you guys explode,” Sun Guard replied matter-of-factly without any signs of joking.
“WHAT?!” All three riders and dragonets exclaimed together.
“Is this some kind of sick joke?” Penny asked, trying to sound calm and not really succeeding.
“Exploding? I don't think I like exploding,” Fleece muttered, seemingly to herself.
“Out of curiosity, what would you say is the percent chance of that happening?” Legs asked nervously.
“For a friend!” Graecie cut in.
“No, for me,” Legs clarified. “I would like to know for me, actually.”
“About 20%, I'd say,” Sun Guard replied, just as seriously as before.
“Oh, that's pretty low!” Sausage said. He then finished signing his name and passed the form over to Graecie who then began signing hers.
“That seems pretty high!” Legs nervously squeaked at almost the same time.
“Out of a hundred?” Sausage questioned.
“Well I… maybe I just don't want to explode, okay?” Legs defended as Graecie passed the form over.
He signed it.
Sun Guard took the completed forms and nodded appreciatively. “Alright, now that that's in order, take this–” he handed the trio small pieces of cheese.
“Ooh, cheese! Thank you, Sun Guard!” Graecie cheered, raising her piece to her mouth.
“–and don't eat it,” Sun Guard continued pointedly, “as it will function as your hall pass into the Royal Wing. Allow me one moment to put this paperwork away and I will take you very shortly to see the Professor.”
── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──
After a brief wait, the trio were led into the Royal Wing and told to wait for the Professor to come in.
Sausage, naturally, kept attempting to wander off. The other riders (and Penny) were insistent that he stand still, which thankfully he finally did moments before Mr. Professor flew in.
“Well, what brings you three here? I heard you had a problem?” Mr. Professor said, the spoken Draconic seamlessly translating to Common in everyone's minds.
“Well, you see,” Graecie began, then the other riders started to rapidly help explain, all three frantically speaking over each other. Gadget and the other dragonets also chimed in with their own versions of events. It was really only possible to make out random snippets like “chased us down,” “really scary,” “and then disappeared!” and “yucky and bad”.
“SILENCE!” Mr. Professor boomed. “Please explain. One. At. A. Time.”
“There was something that looked like Legs, and then it disappeared, and then we found the real Legs, and then we went back and it was Pyro!” Sausage explained.
“Yeah, and then Pyro chased us, then disappeared too!” Graecie chimed in.
“It could be a ghost. Is the Feles dorm haunted?” Legs asked. “You really ought to warn us about these things, you know.”
Mr. Professor leveled Legs with a glare, and that was the only warning he got before the elder dragon blew a stream of fire at Gadget's rider, just grazing his arm.
“Do not tell me what to do,” Mr. Professor stated, then turned back to Sausage and Graecie as if nothing happened.
Legs’ chest was fluttering like crazy, and the bees were the loudest Gadget had ever felt, barely even bees at that point and closer to screaming. His rider had squeezed himself between a bookshelf and potted plant and was quietly chanting apologies.
Gadget could tell that his and his rider's friends were continuing to explain what happened to the Professor, but all he could focus on was calming his rider down. He shoved his nose back into the crook of his rider's neck, letting out quiet rumbles of comfort. This did not feel like the time or place to make a scene to get Legs to take care of himself, as Gadget did not want to risk another round of Mr. Professor's wrath.
The fluttering seemed to slow a tiny bit, though fuzziness was starting to steadily creep around the edges of the buzzing screams.
“You may go now,” Mr. Professor dismissed, and Legs did not waste any time bolting down the stairs and around the hallways until he reached the bathroom and locked himself in one of the stalls, heedless of the rest of whatever the Professor had to say or the calls of his friends.
He practically ripped off the backpack, letting it topple to the side as he wedged himself in the corner, curling up knees to chest so that none of him was exposed to the world. His arm still stung where the Professor's fire grazed him. Gadget managed to worm out of the backpack, still feeling the fuzziness continue to take over the buzzing screams, and slowly wedged himself between his rider's knees and chest, trying to rest his head over Legs’ heart.
Legs sobbed apologies, hands shaking, yet still trying to scritch Gadget between the horns. Gadget could forgive him the clumsiness this time.
At least his breathing was finally evening out and the fluttering, fuzziness, and screaming buzz were finally receding.
Legs let out a shaky exhale and whispered a barely audible, “thanks, bud,” before putting Gadget back in the backpack. He didn't put it back on, instead choosing to hold the bag against his chest as he walked out of the bathroom.
“Legs? Le~egs?” Graecie called.
“Legs, where are you?” Sausage called out as well.
“Gadget, where'd you go?” Penny called, worry tinging her voice in a way Gadget hadn't really heard before. He hated it.
“I'm right here, guys,” Legs answered, tears still staining his face.
“Hi,” Gadget chirped.
After some reassurances and a hug from Graecie, the trio made their way to the main hall.
── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──
At the top of the grand stairs were a large clump of students all conversing with Guard Guard, including Pyro and Zam.
“Pyro?” Graecie called out.
“Yeah?” Pyro replied.
“Where's Cindy?” Legs asked at the same time that Fleece asked, “Cindy? Are you there?”
“Uh, right here,” Pyro said, confused, turning to show off their backpack with Cindy inside. “Why do you ask?”
“Yes? What's going on?” Cindy asked with only a touch less of her usual attitude.
“There's a creepy thing that looks like riders, but not their dragons, and it's really scary,” Fleece explained.
“We were really worried, because we saw your rider but not you earlier, and we wanted to make sure you were ok,” Penny added.
Cindy looked a bit shocked. “Oh, well… uh, thanks?”
Legs gasped pointing at something in the middle of the crowd. “IT'S ME, IT'S ME, IT'S ME!” He yelled, practically tripping over himself to run down the stairs and get anywhere else.
The fluttering returned, the screaming buzz not far behind. As his rider turned to flee, Gadget got a good look at what startled his rider so much.
It was… Legs. But it wasn't. And the not!Legs wore an identical backpack to his rider, complete with… himself inside of it.
And Gadget felt a strike of fear that hummed in tune with the screaming buzz from his rider and– oh. The screaming was fear.
They had to get out of here.
── ࣪˖ ࣪ ⊹ ࣪ ˖ ──
The pair hid in one of the planters near the classrooms, both desperately trying to calm the other and only forming a strange feedback loop of panic and stress. Once they both felt slightly less jittery and calm enough to go try and rejoin their friends, Legs re-backpacked Gadget and began to make his way back to the grand stairs.
And then he bumped into himself.
The not!Legs began to run, and in a sudden burst of confidence, Legs gave chase.
“Hey! You! Come back here!” He yelled.
Not!Legs ducked behind a bookshelf. Legs followed. All that was back there was a… Guard.
“Knock it off,” Legs said, voice steady and full of confidence Gadget knew was a facade.
“K̸̝͓̠̀̆̕ņ̶̣̔̎̓o̶̥̐̑c̷̰̖̭̗̾͂̕k̴̛̮̠̳̆ ̴̲͆̉͒͠ȋ̸͕͉̘ẗ̸͓̳̻͔́͗ ̸̙̮̩̝̆̚õ̸̤̤̳̜͆̊͝f̴̻͔̳͑̓͐͘f̷̧̦͂,” a warped voice replied from the not!Guard.
“Stop trying to be me,” Legs threatened, hands clenched to hide the trembling.
“S̵͚͙̹̆̇t̵͇̩̒͊ơ̷̠͙̮p̸̧̬͇͛ ̴̖͆͗͝t̶̪̘̲̽̎̊ŗ̷͚̲́͋̇y̸͈̿̋̍i̵̻͝n̵̪͒̇g̵̦̊ t̴o̴ ̸b̸e̷ me,” the warped voice echoed, voice slowly morphing into a copy of Legs’.
There was a beat where nothing happened at all, and then suddenly Legs cast repel and took off like a shot in the opposite direction, screaming practically nonsense as he tried to get any sort of attention or help.
Gadget was doing his best not to add to the screaming. Someone had to stay calm, right? He had to push down the fear.
For his rider.
Legs, to his credit, managed to crash directly into the same group from earlier, practically bouncing off of Pyro's chest.
“Legs? Are you alright?” Pyro asked, seeming completely genuine. They sort of half-ghosted their hands over Legs’ shoulders, unsure if touch would be welcomed or overwhelming.
Cindy's face poked over her rider's shoulder. “Gadget? What happened? What's happening?”
“It's– it's me, it t– took my face, it– my voice now, it got the dragons and now it can do voices–” Legs babbled panickedly, half leaning into the touch and half leaning away to look around the taller man's frame.
“Yeah, what he said,” Gadget said, voice shakier than he'd hoped it would be.
“...What?” Cindy replied, confusion painted across her face.
It was at this point that the not!Legs decided to show back up.
“NO!” Legs shrieked, immediately breaking free of Pyro's tentative hold and giving chase to the not!Legs, who was now inexplicably armored.
Pyro made some ungraceful startled noise and began to follow after as well, Scott not being far behind. The elemental duo and their dragons were trying to call out to get Legs to slow down or to get Gadget to explain, but the pair were far too focused on catching the not!Legs to listen.
The not!Legs ran down a hall and right up to where Graecie and Sausage were trying to explain what was going on to Zam while Penny and Fleece tried to catch Twilight up to speed.
“STOP IT!” Legs yelled, reaching out with his magic and freezing the not!Legs in place. “Leave my friends alone. Stop. Trying. To be. Me!” He gritted out, slowly backing up the stairs and dragging the creature with him. He managed to raise it over his head level, dropping it right on the final word.
Where the not!Legs should have fallen against the floor, only dust and smoke radiated out from the impact site. It was gone in a way that felt final.
Legs panted out a few rough breaths. So did Gadget (apparently he had subconsciously granted a new spell, which was always a bit taxing).
“I think I'm gonna pass out,” Legs said weakly from his spot 3/4 of the way up the stairs. And oh, that was definitely the fluttering and the fuzziness taking over now that the screaming fear was quiet.
Oops.
Everyone, helpfully, began talking all at once, and several of them started crowding around Gadget's rider all at once.
“Woah woah woah!” Pyro.
“Oh my god, sit down!” Scott.
“Oh! Legs–” Graecie.
“Come here, come down here!” Sausage.
“Oh noooo…” Zam.
Someone took Legs’ hands and got him to go down a couple steps before someone else gently pushed his shoulders to get him to sit. Legs started mumbling incoherently and fidgeting with his backpack, so Pyro gently removed it and held it out.
Legs looked up at Pyro pathetically, clearly unable to articulate what he wanted the older rider to do for him.
Gadget knew. His rider wanted him out of the backpack.
“Come on, Pyro, put me down! Let me out!!” Gadget squeaked and wiggled slightly, hoping to make his point without risking being dropped down the stairs.
“Why do you even want out so badly?” Cindy snarked. “You're safe in your little bag anyway, and your rider is fine.”
Scott knelt down in front of Legs. “Do you want Gadget? Like out of the bag?” He asked gently.
“Mmmm,” Legs replied, head almost entirely full of fuzz.
“Okay,” the blonde rider confirmed, standing up and undoing the straps that held Gadget safely in place. He then gently scooped the dragonet out of the bag and deposited him on the stair just next to his rider. “There you go, buddy.”
Gadget wasted no time in worming his way into his rider's grasp, making sure to sink his weight into Legs’ lap and began rumbling comforts against his chest for the second time that day.
“Hey, wait, aren't you supposed to give people space if they're gonna pass out so you don't hurt them?” Cindy chided, alarmed.
“Oh, Gadget's helping,” Twilight explained from the base of the stairs where her rider still stood, hunched.
“Yep!” Penny confirmed. “I've never seen him do it when Legs is this bad, but whatever he does seems to work! I trust Gadget, he's like, smart and stuff.”
Cindy huffed in a way that sounded annoyed, though her face softened in a way that looked like understanding.
The fluttering in Legs’ chest was slowly calming down and the fuzz was gradually receding, but Gadget knew his rider would still be a bit unsteady for a while until he could get a good meal and a solid night's rest.
He should have helped sooner.
He'd do better next time. Tomorrow would be a better and calmer day, he just knew it.