Work Text:
It sort of sucked being told to stay put when all Gadget wanted to do since growing up was run and fly. But his rider asked him to stay and had seemed pretty serious about it. And besides, he wasn't alone. He had Orchid, Pinecone, Princess and Luci to keep him company.
…Some were being better company than others.
He didn't know Luci very well, and she seemed to keep to herself well enough. Princess was pretty insistent on running laps in the field the 5 dragonlings were left in, and Orchid was more than happy to mediate any races he managed to initiate. Pinecone, since growing up, had seemingly never stopped moving. He was currently ripping up (and somehow also overgrowing) all the scarce wheat left in this random field, chanting some nonsense under his breath.
Gadget sort of missed when Pinecone was his one chill and quiet buddy. He was honestly still pretty wiped out from the growing ceremony last week. He just wanted to nap peacefully with his friend. Was that too much to ask?
Gadget sort of flopped over next to Orchid, head resting on her wing. “What do you think our riders are doing over there?” He asked, hoping to hear anything other than race requests or weird chants about plants and worms.
Orchid huffed a laugh. “Probably fighting. Can't you hear it? They aren't exactly being subtle down there,” she replied.
Gadget sighed tiredly. “I'm tired of fighting. Can't we have a nice chill day where we just get to nap in the sun and not have to deal with everyone's problems forever?”
“I wish!” Princess chimed in, skidding to a halt right in front of the pair, spraying them both with dirt. “Although maybe we keep my rider out of the sun? I really hate feeling her burning,” he added softly, with a slight frown.
Orchid giggled. Pinecone bounded over. They both started talking at the same time, but none of what they said registered because
F E A R
suddenly struck through Gadget, taking his breath away.
Not the sort of fear that spiked when the doppelganger came, or when poison rot spread through the school, or even when Zam's crystal broke. No, it was far closer to the fear his rider felt when backed into corners and yelled at, or faced with a rope.
Gadget gasped desperately for air, his rider's fear so overwhelming that he felt like he was drowning in it with him.
It took a few moments for him to realize that the muffled sounds around him were the voices of his friends, that the sensation over his back was someone's wing, and the pressure by the base of his neck was someone's nose.
“Gadget?” Orchid prompted gently. “Are you alright? What's going on?”
He wanted to answer, wanted to assure his friends that he was fine, but he couldn't. It was all he could do to keep breathing.
He shook his head, not even sure what he was disagreeing with, but the motion seemed to help clear his mind a fraction.
Orchid shifted her wing to cover him better, her other wing starting to wrap around to give him some sort of privacy. The pressure by his neck increased, and Pinecone's voice started humming one of the lullabies Juniper would hum when the pair would get anxious or restless.
His rider's chest was a fluttering mess, his mind screaming with fear. Something was wrong. The fear would settle to resolve and warp back to fear. Back and forth, and back again it would go. Finally, after several long minutes, Gadget managed to get himself settled enough to talk.
Whatever deflections he opened his mouth to give were washed away as some unnamable emotion suddenly took over his whole body like a chemical spill.
“Something's wrong,” he said. And then he screamed in time with the explosions that rocked the entire village.
It wasn't quite pain, but it wasn't not. It was fast, but slow. It was breaking, yet mending. It was horror and comfort, fear and relief. It was nothing like anything Gadget had ever felt in his scant 5 months of life.
“Give him room, let him have space,” Luci's voice instructed (from where? He couldn't see her or his friends, all he could see were colors that didn't belong. Red and blue and silver and red and red and–)
“–et? Gadget! Can you hear me now?” Who was–
(He couldn't feel Orchid anymore. Pinecone was gone. Something was wrong, something was wrong, he needed to fly, he wasn't allowed. He needed to fly, he wasn't allowed. He needed to FLY, HE WASN'T–)
“You need to breathe. Can you breathe for me? In… and out. I promise you can do it, Gadget.” No. Who even are you?
“LEGS–” he cried, unable to form anything more coherent than that.
“He will be ok, I promise. But you can't help him unless you breathe, alright?” (Luci, it was Luci's voice, he dimly recognized.)
(He needed to fly.)
He needed to breathe.
After a few shaky breaths, he turned to where Luci's voice was coming from. “What– what happened? Why can't I see right? Everything feels wrong, I'm scared, Luci,” he practically sobbed.
“Your rider died,” she replied bluntly, but kindly. “I know it's scary, but you're seeing his soul. You need to hold onto it and push it back into his body, and he'll regenerate. It's not pleasant, but it's necessary.”
“How do I know? I– How do I even–”
“You can feel him through your bond, right? Just send it back to where you felt him last and he should revive somewhere he finds safe, usually wherever he last rested. Can you do that, Gadget?” Luci coached.
And he tried. Oh, he tried. But something was blocking him. He was finally able to clear his vision enough to see his friends in front of him, but the streaky soul colors still blocked out most of the world. Everyone looked concerned, and Pinecone was pacing restlessly, wheat and weeds taking over the path he walked.
“Luci, it's not… I'm trying but he's stuck, I can't find him. Luci, why can't I find him?!?”
Luci looked scared, but like she was trying to hide it. “I don't know,” she replied softly. “Keep trying.”
It wasn't long before the other riders came back for their dragons, tears streaking their faces and soot staining their clothes.
Juniper was the one to approach Gadget, holding out an armful of bones. She looked a wreck.
“Hey, Gadget,” she tried, voice shaking like she was holding back sobs. “I think this is him, maybe. Can you work with this? Can you bring him back?” They begged, eyes brimming with fresh tears.
And Gadget tried the push again, this time focusing on the bones in front of him (don't think about whose bones they were, don't think about it, just fix him). This time, the soul colors slid comfortably out of his visions and curled around the bones, wrapping them in magic and mana and part of Gadget's love.
He knew it wouldn't be immediate. He knew instinctively that his rider wouldn't be ready to come back for another week yet. But it hurt to see Juniper take the bones of his rider (her brother) and bring them somewhere he could not follow.
(He needed to fly. He wasn't allowed to.)
As all the riders made their way to their dragons and took off to who knows where, Gadget heard one of them say, “He seems to be taking it so well,” before flying out of earshot.
He wasn't.
He was falling apart. He wanted his rider. He wanted his sister. He wanted his mother. Wanted to be wrapped in large wings and hushed to sleep and fed promises of kinder tomorrows.
Maybe tomorrow he could fly. Maybe tomorrow he could sit by Pinecone's side and watch Juniper fuss over Legs and listen to them hum lullabies. Maybe tomorrow he would be ok.
Maybe.