Chapter Text
The four of them - Angus, Noelle, Carey and Killian - make their way through the small chamber and down the stone stairs to start their very own Trial of Teamwork. The staircase is reasonably well lit and the four of them are in pretty high spirits after a morning of pancakes and relaxing.
“Did they really have to take our items?” Carey complains. "That's dragonist. How dare they take my horde?"
Killian smiles a little at Carey's goofs and then shrugs. “I don't think we're going to need them, personally. Did you see the inscription?”
“Yeah. Enter colleagues, exit best friends.” Carey and Killian exchange an amused glance.
They reach the end of the staircase and enter a large room that's surprisingly warm for the fact that it’s underground and… kind of shitty. Killian's been in haunted houses made my children that were spookier than this.
“Is this was dungeons are like?” Angus asks.
“They usually smell worse,” Killian replies off-handedly. She prods one of the walls and her finger goes right through it. She stares at the hole for a second before guiltily shuffling away.
Carey looks like she's dying to make an acerbic comment about the cheap props and trying-too-hard atmosphere but Killian inclines her head to where Angus is standing, a determined frown on his face and stars in his eyes. He's clearly very excited about his first dungeon experience.
Suddenly, a portcullis drops and blocks the way they just came. Killian jumps a little and then glares at her girlfriend, daring her to make a comment. A second later, a loud speaker clicks on and the – unfortunately unmistakeable – voice of Art Goodfriend rings out. “If you'll move forward, we can begin our Trial of Teamwork!How exciting!"
Almost simultaneously, the four of them - well, Noelle only in spirit - raise their eyebrows a little. Then Angus leads the way into the large adjacent chamber, the others following dutifully. He comes to a stop by the edge of a shallow pit, the bottom of which is covered in red carpet. Bridging the pit is a series of wooden planks. When all four of them have stepped towards the edge, Art explains: “For this first trial, your entire team has to get across the planks. But be careful because the floor... is lava."
They stand there in incredulous silence.
"Gosh," Noelle finally says, "I used to play this as a kid. Mind you, I was a little more... alive then."
“So it's like, figurative lava. Not literal lava.” Angus says, frowning a little. “What exactly is the point of this?”
“Let's just get this over with. Ango? You want to go first?”
Angus’ nods in reply to Killian’s question and steps onto the first plank. Step after step, he very carefully and slowly crosses over. When he’s on solid ground on the other side, he calls over: “Okay! Next person can come over now!”
Killian decides to go next and just walks like she would normally do, entirely unimpressed. When she’s standing next to Angus she frowns. “Pretty boring so far.”
Carey immediately responds with: "Hey guys! Watch this."
She judges the distance and the location of the planks, then gathers momentum and cartwheels across. It’s amazing. Killian highfives her.
Then, the three of them turn to watch the last one to go. Noelle just... floats across.
Carey scratches her head. "... Is that it?"
The loud speaker clicks on again and Art says: "Well that wasn't... really teamwork. Any of you, at all. So you're going to get a teamwork penalty."
"WHAT?" Angus sounds devastated. Killian puts a reassuring hand on his shoulder and glares up at the ceiling. "Hey now," she interjects, "we may have gotten through it alone, but we would have helped each other if we needed it."
"Besides," Carey says, "we didn't actively sabotage each other – that's got to count for something, right?"
"OK. Since you're all standing up for each other so nicely, I will take back the penalty. Now... what was that trial supposed to teach you?"
"Agility?" Killian guesses.
"Teamwork, probably." Killian elbows Carey, but can't entirely stop herself from laughing.
Art, undeterred, chimes out with: "It means that we all walk the same path in life and its easier with help from friends."
"That's sort of sweet," Noelle says, even as Carey mumbles, "Did you get that out of a fortune cookie?"
Angus blinks as he hears her say that and then straightens up. "Haha. Right. This... is kind of silly, isn't it? Like a game for little kids."
"Hey," Killian says, ruffling his hair, "we're not going to learn anything if we don't take this seriously, okay? But really, it's not an actual dungeon, so let's remember to have fun too. Feel free to goof off as much as you want."
***
Art has them walk into the next room to face the second trial, which Killian hopes is going to be a little less lame than the last one. She blinks when she sees the smooth, wooden wall, embedded into the floor and more than ten feet tall.
"Let me guess," she says, and Art interrupts her with: "You have to help each other over the wall!"
Killian eyes their new obstacle. It seems pretty sturdy, no hand holds she can see. They will have to work together on this one. Art confirms this when he says: "Make sure you don't leave your guys behind! Or, in this case, gals."
Killian flexes a little, then beckons Carey to the foot of the wall. "Come on then, best gal." She easily boosts her up and Carey jumps a little, lodging one of her daggers into the wall as a decent handhold and climbing the rest of the way up. When she's at the top, she nods down to Killian, who picks up Angus and gives him a boost too. Angus - a little hesitantly but still nimbly - uses the dagger as a foothold and then takes the hand Carey's offering and lets her pull him the rest of the way up. That's half of them up there, then. Awesome.
Before she can make her own attempt, Noelle floats up and grabs an indignant Killian under her armpits, jetpacking her to the top (Killian reaches out and plucks the dagger from the wall as she passes). As she carefully sets Killian down on the wall, Noelle comments: "Y'know, guys... I feel like these trials weren't entirely designed with floating robots in mind."
"Well, to be fair... Probably not."
Noelle laughs a little.
"Wow, you cleared that one effortlessly!" Art comments, exuberant. "I'm sure you know what this one was about."
Silence. Carey nudges Angus. "Psst. What's the answer?"
He blinks, then pushes his glasses further up his nose from where they slipped down a little. "Um... you can overcome even the biggest obstacles if you help each other?"
"Correct! You guys are really good! But can you handle... the third trial?"
***
"It's time for trust falls!"
Killian peers over the edge. "Fifteen feet... is kind of high up..."
Angus looks a li'l nervous. Carey gently pushes him aside to step up towards the ledge. "I'll go first. Kils, catch me?"
"You got it," Killian says, and makes her way down the stairs into catching position.
Gracefully, with her arms extended into a T like a cliff diver, Carey lets herself fall backwards. Killian catches her effortlessly, twirling her around in a bridal carry and then kissing her. It's very cute. From their position still up on the wall, Angus and Noelle clap.
They untangle eventually – after Art clears his throat over the speaker – and Carey stands under the wall, ready to go.
Next is Noelle, who deactivates her flotation device and drops down like a stone. Carey has to brace herself to catch her and huffs out: "A little warning, next time?"
"Sorry," Noelle says sheepishly, going back to floating and moving out of Carey's hold. Sensing it's going to be her turn soon, Killian starts to make her way up the wall.
But first, it's Angus, looking adorably determined. "You will catch me, right?"
"Of course we will, Angus."
Noelle and Carey watch him dither, hesitate on the edge and then gulp and jump off the wall. Noelle catches him easily in her mismatched robot arms and just holds him for a second. "That wasn't so bad now, was it?"
Angus blushes. "You don't have to baby me. I'm fine. I'm a big boy now!"
"Right. Sorry." She sets him down.
Killian breaks the awkward moment by calling down, "You guys ready?"
"Let's all catch her together," Carey suggests. The three of them huddle closer together under the wall, and when Killian jumps backwards they lift her up like a stage diver. She laughs. When they set her down, Carey gives their youngest team member a thoughtful look. "Y'know, Angus... Trust falls can be pretty scary. Even for adults."
“But you didn't seem scared.”
“Well, I wasn't. Because I knew Killian was going to catch me.”
Noelle's fuse lights up bright blue as she coos: “You two are such sweethearts...”
“Another trial cleared!” Art chimes in. “This is just a breeze for you, huh? What do you think this one was about?”
“Trusting your team mates,” Angus says, and grins.
***
“Congratulations!” Killian is starting to get a headache from Art's enthusiasm for everything. “You've successfully finished the first four trials! Last up is-”
“Wait,” Carey interrupts. “That was only three.”
“True, but the author couldn't think of a good way to do the fourth trial so we're skipping it. Don't think about it too much!”
Angus and Killian exchange a confused look.
“What was the fourth trial?” Noelle speaks up.
There's a moment of silence until Art cheerfully replies: “The Totem of Constructive Criticism! It's a real crowdpleaser usually, but, well. Let's move on! … Guys?”
The gang ignores him.
“Constructive criticism, huh?” Killian grimaces. “Not exactly my forte.”
“It's probably a good thing we skipped that,” Angus admits. “Merle and the others always say I don't take criticism well...”
The adults exchange solemn looks. Then Noelle floats over to Angus and gently ruffles his hair. “Y'know, Angus, those three boys can be real mean sometimes.”
“Yeah, insults aren't constructive criticism,” Carey chimes in. “In fact, I don't think Magnus and the gang have ever been constructive in their entire lives.”
“Oh, they're not insulting me!” Angus hurries to reassure. “They're just... teasing me. Like friends do.”
“Uhh...”
“And I guess sometimes they hurt my feelings but that's okay. They don't mean anything by it, right?”
“Ango,” Killian says, crouching down so she's eyelevel with him. “You're-” still a little kid, she thinks, but considering how much pride Angus takes in being all grown up that's probably not what he wants to hear, “-their coworker. And there's all sorts of HR regulations, not to mention basic human decency, about treating your coworkers right.”
“That's true.” Angus says, sounding thoughtful.
Killian gets back up and Carey casually puts an arm around her waist. “Good thing you didn't have to do me,” she jokes, “since I can imagine how that would go. I don't know what to say babe you're literally perfect.”
“Hey,” Killian says, mock-offended. Carey ignores her and rolls her eyes. “God you're a sap.”
“I'll stop being sappy when you stop being perfect,” Killian shoots back, giving Carey a light shove.
Carey shoves back. “I'll stop being perfect when you stop being a poopyhead.”
“Well I-”
Art interrupts, sounding resigned: “Guys, guys. That's a teamwork penalty, I'm afraid.”
Carey's jaw drops. "For flirting?!"
Killian glares at the ceiling. “That's- you know what? I don't even care. What's next?” She huffs.
Angus, looking serious all of a sudden, speaks up: "Wait, sirs. What is the penalty?"
“Guess you'll find out soon!” Art says, sounding only slightly strained. “If you'll move on to the final trial? … Please?”
***
The wall Art directs them to is large and seemingly made of cobblestone, with a round wooden door. Above the door is a crudely painted sign with the word "ARENA" on it.
“So a fight, huh?” Killian says, cracking her knuckles.
“That's right! You'll be facing a deadly opponent – it's up to you to protect each other and work together to take him down. Don't go overboard though. Please? No killing or maiming.”
Carey shrugs and kicks open the door. The four of them walk through it into the large, circular 'Arena' – which looks more like a playground, covered in foam cubes and triangles and surrounded by a thick styrofoam wall.
Killian nudges one of the shapes with her foot lightly. It goes flying.
Suddenly, they're interrupted by a roar. Not a very fearsome one, though. Carey does better ones when she yawns in the mornings.
A man wearing a – shitty – skeleton costume and a dragon mask is standing in the middle of the arena. When he sees that he has their full attention, he calls out: “Roar! I'm Skelly the skeleton dragon! I can only be defeated by-”
“Guys!” Angus interrupts excitedly, “I've got this!” And he casts magic missile.
The three adults just watch as every single magical arrow impacts with the 'dragon'. The guy in the costume collapses in a heap.
“Uh... Great job, Angus.” Killian says, and Carey ruffles his hair affectionately. “Our little monster.”
“Y'all,” Noelle calls out, “check out these... fire balls.”
She's floating above Skelly – ostensibly to check if he's still breathing – but clearly got distracted by the nearby bucket. She tips it over and several red and orange foam balls roll out.
“This is kind of... low budget, huh? I'm not sure why the Director was so emotional.”
“It's not quite over yet! Please move on to the final chamber. Also, is he dead?”
“... No?” Carey answers. “Probably not.”
“I'll send in a healer. So if you could make your way up the stairs-”
The four of them – Noelle trailing behind with a foam ball in hand – leave through the door that just opened up.
'The final chamber' turns out to be a small but well-lit room with a treasure chest.
“Not all dungeons are this literal about the treasure,” Carey notes wrily. “Also, I think I got one of these boxes for my eighth birthday. What's it made of, cardboard?”
“It's what's inside that matters,” Angus says.
“God, it's contagious. Soon you'll be Art 2.0.” Carey smiles at him to show she's just teasing.
Angus looks over at the box, then back to his team mates. “You're not a tiny bit curious what's inside?”
“Open it,” Noelle encourages. The four of them crowd around the chest as Angus carefully pushes the lid open. He's rewarded by confetti and a scroll springing out of it. He catches the scroll and unrolls it far enough that he can see the word 'Friendship' emblazoned on it.
“... Huh.”
“Is that it?”
“What's the matter, guys? You don't seem to be having much fun. Is there a problem?”
“Well... No... but it's just...” Carey says, trying to be diplomatic. “So far it's been-”
“Boring,” Killian interrupts. “I was expecting more actual valuable life lessons and less of a preschooler's birthday party meets cheap haunted house.”
“Oh my. So you think the Trial of Teamwork is boring?”
Carey shrugs. “To be fair, it was really easy...”
“Easy, huh? You should have said so!”
They have enough time to exchange a confused glance before the floor vanishes beneath them.