Chapter Text
After the Bloodrush battle, after the blood and the pain and the hoards of skeletons, after discovering enough evidence to disassemble an entire cult, there’s not much time for celebration for the six freshmen who have found themselves responsible for more brutality and heroism then any of them (aside from maybe Fabian) would have expected from themselves. It’s a school night, after all.
They depart to their separate homes to sleep off the injury and exhaustion, and when the next day dawns, they pick themselves up, grab books and backpacks, and head in the direction of the Auguefort Adventuring Academy.
Fig Faeth-the-Insatiable and Riz Gukgak walk together from the Strongtower Luxury Apartment. There’s a bit of a chill in the air this morning, fall finally starting to settle, and Fig tucks the hand that’s not holding a cigarette into the pocket of her leather jacket. “Did your mom ever come home last night?”
Riz shakes his head. “She texted me this morning and said she was still going through the evidence. There’s like...a lot. Even more than what we saw.”
“Cool.” Fig cracks a grin and exhales a long puff of smoke into the cloudy sky. “Go us. We solved the case.”
Riz makes a non-committal noise in the back of his throat. “Well, we still haven’t found the Palimpsest that the Harvestmen got from Biz. And we still don’t know why they were kidnapping people in the first place, or who was responsible for Coach Daybreak’s huge salary, or--”
“Oh my God, Riz,” says Fig with exasperation, “chill! Your mom’s on it! We can relax!”
“I thought you didn’t trust authority figures?”
Fig shrugs. “Sure, but I trust your mom.”
So does Riz. But he’s pretty sure he won’t relax until Penny Luckstone is standing in front of him.
He puts his hand over his breast pocket, where Edgar the rat is curiously peering around. There is not a single owl or cat in sight. That, at least, is comforting.
Aguefort’s Bloodrush field is surrounded in crime tape and “Keep Out” signs. Adaine Abernant and Gorgug Thistlespring are already there, leaning against the fence as Riz and Fig walk up.
“Look,” Adaine says, pointing. “You can still see the bloodstains.”
Gorgug wrinkles his nose. “I think that’s my blood.”
“Mine, yours, the owlbear’s, they’re all kind of mixed together.”
“Metal,” says Fig, taking another long drag from her cigarette.
“Can we stop standing here?” says Riz.
There’s a familiar engine roar from down the street, and the four of them turn around to see Fabian Seacaster, tearing toward them astride the Hangman. Fabian peels up right beside his friends and hops off his bike, patting the handlebars as he does so. The bike’s headlight flares in response.
Fabian grins at his friends. “What are we all standing around here for?”
Gorgug points wordlessly at the blood on the field. Fabian nods in appreciation. “Ah, yes. Well fought.”
“Fabian, you should really wear a helmet,” a new voice calls, and they all look over to see Kristen Applebees approaching, staff in hand and World Religions book tucked under her arm.
“What?” says Fabian. “The Hangman is a sentient vehicle, and I have proven myself more than capable of holding on to it even in the most exciting of circumstances.”
Kristen shrugs. “Suit yourself. I was just hoping not to have to mop any of you off the floor for like, a couple of days.”
All of them laugh the uncomfortable sort of laughter that comes when a joke is just a little too close to the truth, trying not to think about the feeling in the pit of your stomach when you take a hit hard enough to knock you out for good, or the golden shock of being yanked back from the brink only to hear battle still raging around you.
As the laughter fades, Riz glances around at the other Aguefort students who are streaming through the school’s doors. “Everyone’s looking at us,” he says in a low voice.
Adaine, Fabian, and Fig look around surreptitiously, while Kristen and Gorgug whip around like dogs looking for a thrown ball. Sure enough, many of the other Aguefort students are whispering together and looking over at the six of them, or gathering at other parts of the fence around the Bloodrush field and pointing at the suspicious bloodstains.
“Did you hear about Coach Daybreak?” “Ragh was there, and he is fucked up. ” “People said there was like, a portal to hell?” “I heard those weird kids ripped the coach’s heart out!” “What? Where did you hear that?”
“Oh, boy,” Riz mutters under his breath.
“It’s fine,” says Fabian dismissively. “We’re fucking heroes. Come on.”
Without the slightest hesitation in his step, he heads for the front door, and the others follow.
Adaine feels the same way she did on her first day at Auguefort: like everyone is watching her, like she doesn’t belong here, like this is a strange and violent place. She can feel the panic starting to rise in her throat, the blurring at the edge of her vision.
Kristen must see the terror in her eyes, because she gently touches Adaine’s elbow. “You good?”
Just that is enough to calm Adaine’s breathing. The school is still terrifying, the other students are still piercing her with their judgmental gaze. But this time, Adaine Abernant is not alone.
They’ve barely made it through the front door when they hear a familiar booming voice. “Ah, just the students I was looking for!”
Vice Principal Goldenhoard is striding towards them, wearing a wide, toothy smile. “Would the six of you please accompany me to my office?”
Fig and Riz exchange the look of two people who are both considering making a break for it, but then Fig shrugs a silent let’s see what’s going on.
There’s only one extra chair in Goldenhoard’s office and no one wants to be the only one sitting down, so all six of them wind up standing in a line in front of the desk while Goldenhoard sits behind it and steeples his large scaly hands in front of him. “So. Am I to understand that yesterday, the six of you used a spell to make a faculty member of this school violently shit his pants and then proceeded to stab him and shoot him in the back of a head with a crossbow?”
Fabian nods affirmation. “That is correct, and we--”
“AND,” booms Goldenhoard, “am I to understand that you killed a fellow student, revivified him, and then proceeded to terrorize him into being your personal protector?”
“Sir,” Adaine begins, “if I could just explain--”
“AND am I to understand that the six of you were previously responsible for crimes and misdemeanors including a dangerous street race that ended in multiple deaths, trespassing on dangerous property, beating up a group of middle schoolers, and releasing a dangerous fiend?”
“Releasing my dad, actually--”
“I JUST want to make one thing perfectly clear.” Goldenhoard leans across the desk, pointing at each of them with a single red claw. “This type of behavior is not simply tolerated here at Auguefort Adventuring Academy. It is CELEBRATED!”
There’s a moment of silence.
“So...so we’re not in trouble?” Gorgug ventures.
Goldenhoard lets out a resounding laugh. “Absolutely not! You kids have done this school proud.”
There’s a great sigh of relief, and then everyone starts talking at once.
“That’s great to hear, sir--”
“I knew there was a reason my father sent me to Auguefort--”
“Wow, Principal Goldenhoard, you don’t have to make your flirting with me so obvious--”
“Did my mom--I mean the police--tell you anything more about the investigation--”
“Did you--”
“While we’re here, do you know why Coach--”
“QUIET!” Goldenhoard roars, holding up his hand. “I don’t know anything more, I wouldn’t tell you if I did, and I am not flirting with you! I only called you all in here to let you know that the school approves of your actions, that you should feel free to take other actions of a similar nature in the future IF the situation warrants them, and that we will do our best not to let the rumor mill among the students get too out of hand, but really there’s not much I can do about that so you should just be prepared. Now get out of my office, you don’t get to be late for class just because you saved the world or whatever.”
The friends exit hastily with a chorus of thank yous. Gorgug pauses just outside the door. “Um, Vice Principal Goldenhoard? Are you my--”
Before he can finish the sentence, Fabian yanks him out of sight, and Fig throws Goldenhoard a wink as she pulls the door shut.
Goldenhoard blinks, sighs, and lets a single puff of smoke flare out of his nostrils before going back to his paperwork.
“So...great!” says Kristen, just outside the door. “We don’t have to worry about going to detention, I guess. Not that I’d mind, I love detention.”
“What do we even do now?” says Adaine. “I feel like I’ve spent all my time since getting here thinking about corn and palimpsests and graveyards, I don’t even know what to do now that it’s over.”
“Mmmm, it’s not over,” says Riz.
“Maybe not, but it will be,” says Fabian. “The police are handling it now.”
“And I guess we just go be...normal,” says Gorgug.
They consider this for a moment as the first bell rings.
“Normal,” says Fig. “I can dig it. Come on, Gorgug, we’ve got Barbarian class!” She grabs the half-orc by the back of his hoodie and drags him halfway down the hallway before he flips around to walk beside her.
“I shall see you all at lunch,” says Fabian over his shoulder as he starts off after them.
Kristen holds up her World Religions book. “Do you think anyone in my Cleric class has ever read this?”
“That seems unlikely,” says Adaine.
Kristen shrugs and grins. “Worth a try. See you guys at lunch!”
“You okay, Riz?” Adaine asks, looking down at him.
Riz sighs. “Yeah, it’s just...I just feel like we can’t relax yet.”
“Oh, me neither,” says Adaine. “There’s so much we don’t know.”
“Right? I still feel like we should have done more.”
“Hopefully that’ll go away over the next few days as we learn more about what happened.”
“Maybe. And if it doesn’t, well…”
“Well, we’ll figure it out together, won’t we?”
“Sure.”
“Great.” Adaine smiles. “I’ll see you at lunch, Riz.”
“See you at lunch.”
Riz stands alone in the hallway, staring at Goldenhoard’s closed door. Normal kid stuff. He can do normal kid stuff. Rogue class, and then lunch.
With his friends.
Maybe things will be okay after all.