Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

To anyone else, going to school on your birthday would be the worst punishment ever.

Not to me though. 

At least, I thought it wouldn't be.

I love school. That sounds stupid, I know. It sounds stupid to me too, looking back. I wanted to spend the day with my friends in one of my favorite places, it was my 18th after all, it's supposed to be special. John wanted me to stay home, and celebrate my first day of being a real man as far away from school as possible. 

I guess not wanting to go to school on your birthday makes sense, it's boring. Like how mine was, for a little while… We had a boring anti-bullying assembly in the morning. I've been to hundreds before, they all say the same thing. “Don't bully people! It's mean!” While they turn a blind eye to the hell on earth happening in their hallways.

While they do nothing but sit back and watch. 

There was someone who wouldn't put up with it anymore. Multiple someone's. 

When Cassandra went into the stage of the auditorium, it was expected. One of the most bullied students speaks during something that claims to try and prevent it. What wasn't expected were the teachers' reactions. Like Cass wasn't supposed to be there.

I turn to my left. I was sitting with all of my friends, and Harley seemed nervous. She was trying to hide it but I could see she was shaking, her eyes locked on Cassandra, and every so often glanced at the corners of the room.

Nobody was allowed to speak during assemblies, obviously, but nobody really cared. “Hey,” I said. she turned to me, her eyes still full of terror. It made sense, she didn't exactly have good history with Cass, or any of The Goth Punks. Not anymore. “It'll be fine. They're just being dramatic.”

Me and my big mouth. 

That didn't seem to help at all, in fact, I think I made it worse. 

That's when the bombs went off. Every thought in my head halted and blurred into each other. There was nothing but screaming, and the sounds of firearms. I was frozen in place, as I stared Cassandra in the eyes. 

They stared back, smiling ear to ear. Their eyes held rage and excitement, but I could see the sorrow and pain in them too. 

There must have been some way I could have stopped this. Something I could have done, or said. Something to convince Cassandra to keep holding on so their mind wouldn't let go.

There has to be something.

Chapter Text

My eyes shot open as a spew of coughs left my mouth. I had no idea what had happened. I was sent off to some planet, “Earth”, mother called it.

I couldn't remember what I did to be sent here. I couldn't remember most things I did to earn punishments, but that didn't matter. Mother knows best, after all.

I pushed myself off the cold metal floor, and let out a quiet shriek of shock. 

I guess I had forgotten more than I thought I did. Mother forced me to read things about this “Earth” to learn about it, and before setting off, I took the form of their most common species.

That made me begin to think. Why was I sent here? The real reason? I didn't remember breaking any rules, and what kind of punishment would require homework? 

Studying an entire planet? 

That's when it hit me. “Of course,” I said out loud to myself, trying to stand back up on my small, two legs. “This is some sort of test… or project.”

What would this project be, though? I couldn't be sure at the moment. There was only one thing I could figure out for myself. My surroundings.

I glanced around the ship, quickly checking for any obvious damage, assuming I had crash landed. Thankfully, nothing seemed broken.

Until I got to the door. I quickly entered the code into the keypad for it to open, but it wouldn't budge. I rolled my eyes. Of course it was broken.

I swiftly turned around, and headed for the front of the ship. I scanned over the control panel, looking for a somewhat empty spot, and climbed up onto it. 

I pressed my fist against the glass in front of me, slowly backed it up, before bringing it forwards in a burst of energy, easily shattering the window.

I glanced at my hands. I found the earthling hands to be odd, and now it had glass shards stabbed into it. Nothing penetrated my skin, so I ignored it. 

I stepped onto the bumpy, green and brown ground. Around me there were hundreds, maybe even thousands of trees. They were much smaller than the ones back home, if I was in my natural form I'd easily demolish the wooden pillars, but nobody would be stupid enough to come to an entirely new planet without a disguise.

A small creature quickly ran past me, and I ran after it. I couldn't see it very well, as it just looked like a blur due to its speed. 

I reached down to grab a branch on the ground, and threw it in the creature's direction. It got startled enough to stop in its tracks to examine the branch.

I slowly approached it. I remembered seeing something in the books about Earth about it. The Earthlings had called it a “Dog”, or a “Canine.” It stayed to smell the branch, before looking at me. 

What an idiotic creature. Why wouldn't it run away at the sight of a creature so much larger than it? Why didn't it run at something being thrown at it? The canine wasn't much larger than my lap, it was probably very young.

“I guess both of our parents left us here to take care of something, huh?” I asked. It simply looked at me. I guess it's not much for conversation. That didn't matter to me, I wasn't a small talk person either. 

I shrugged, thinking I saw all I needed to for a bit, and turned to walk back to the ship.

As I walked, I thought. The more I did, the more it made sense I was sent here for a reason. Damien had never been very skilled with his abilities. He could barely even swim, there was no way he'd be able to survive here all alone.

When I climbed back into the ship, I dashed over to one of the shelves, and pulled out a small book, except it wasn't really a book. It had no words. You were supposed to write them yourself, thankfully I had found a writing utensil in the book.

No ice. 

Short trees. 

Unaware animals. 

Destroyed ship. 

I'm alone. 

I stopped writing, staring at the page as my mind drifted from itself, before being snapped out of it by a noise. I walked back over to the control panel, examining the sea of trees outside, before looking down. 

It was the small canine from earlier. It couldn't come inside. I don't know what compelled me to do it, but I reached over, and grabbed it. Carrying it into the sleeping g quarters of the ship, and carefully placing it down.

It started to run around, trying to figure out where I had put it, as I left the room. Animals probably couldn't stand their own environment. I felt right at home with the temperature of Earth. It's easy to get used to ice cold climates when it's all you've known. The creatures on earth are fragile, even temperature could likely kill them. 

I had read about Earth's climate changing depending on how far along they were with their moon cycle. I didn't know anything like that. Home always stayed the same. Boring ice, and boring ice cold waters. I could never feel it, though. We can't feel anything of the sort. 

I couldn't let an animal die and attract larger ones. I reasoned.

Who was I trying to argue with?

I opened the book back up.

No ice.

Short trees.  

Unaware animals . 

Destroyed ship.

I'm alone.

Chapter Text

Pico was adjusting his bowtie in the mirror. He had to look perfect. It was his first day of sophomore year, after all. He had on a white dress shirt, with a green sweater-vest over it, his favorite color. He paired that with the first pair of khakis he pulled out of his closet. He wanted to wear dress shoes, but his mother preferred him wearing his new sneakers.

His actions came to a sharp halt as a car horn went off outside. He rushed over to his window in a panic, looking at the silver car parked outside his house. “I'll be out in a minute!” He called out to the pink haired boy in the passenger seat, who gave a thumbs up.

Pico sighed, knowing he'd have to ignore his bowtie. He left his room, stopping for a moment to look at the door across the hallway. It was plastered with multiple signs, the biggest of which saying “KEEP OUT”. The ginger rolled his eyes, but smiled.

As if on cue, a larger guy came out of the door. He had on a studded leather jacket, ripped jeans, and too many belts for his own good. The most notable thing though, was his large black mohawk. “Hey Cy!” Pico waved to brother. Cyril scoffed, and ruffled the shorter mans hair. He let out an unintelligible noise, but it was angry. Cyril laughed at that. “I'm going to SHOOT you.” Pico said, pushing his brother away from his even messier hair, trying to fix it as fast as possible.

He shot the larger man a death glare, before running down the hallway, and the stairs. He grabbed his backpack, before turning around. “WE'RE LEAVING!” He shouted, hoping his mom and dad would hear him.

Cyril ran past him. “Too slow!” he exclaimed, running to the driveway. Pico rolled his eyes before following his brother, and locking the door behind him.

“Jeez, not even a goodbye?” Pico said to Cyril, who couldn't hear him since he was already halfway down the street on his bike. Despite this, he took a long deep breath. It was nice out, only a bit chilly. He didn't mind, he was too excited for school, it was his favorite thing in the world. It was a little rough around the edges, but it was manageable. It's not like he was there to make friends anyways. 

His thoughts were then interrupted by a hug. Pico flinched at the sudden touch, but calmed once he realized who it was.

“Hey Cam!” He said, putting an arm around the short, pink haired boy. “Hi!” He tried his best not to shout in Pico's face. “What are you doing here? We don't go to the same school!” Pico asked. “I wanted to see you before you left!” He said, putting on his best to put on a happy smile. It sucked that they weren't in the same school. “It's not like I'm moving out of state! It's just school, and besides…I'll still try to see you at lunchtime.” Despite Cam's private school being on the other side of town, it never stopped them from trying to meet during school hours.

“Hurry up! You'll be late for school!” Cameron's mom shouted from within the silver car. “Shit! I'll talk to you later!” He said, giving Pico a small peck on the cheek leaving the ginger red in the face as he ran into the car. “Cya!”

“Aww.” Someone said, Pico quickly panicked, before realizing it was only Darnell. “Shit dude, you scared the hell out of me!” Pico rolled his eyes, rushing over to walk beside his friend. “Oh come on, there's no way you're that jumpy.” Darnell teased, “That's not what I meant!” Pico scoffed. His relationship with Cameron had been his best kept secret and he'd do anything to keep it that way, especially knowing his peers. “I know, I know.” Darnell reassured.

Darnell, Pico's best friend since 2nd grade. They met in a sandbox at recess and were inseparable ever since. “Where's Nene?” He asked, looking around for the bratty black haired girl. “The bus. Needed to be with her prissy friends.” He shrugged. “If you ask me, she didn't want to be seen with you in…that.” He said, looking Pico up and down, earning him an offended look. “Hey! What's wrong with my outfit?” He asked, a lot louder, and defensive, than he meant to.

“A bowtie? You know I love ya man but…” He grimaced. Pico rolled his eyes. “You can't talk! You look like you slept in that!” He argued. Darnell was wearing a blue long sleeved shirt and sweatpants. “That's because I did. It's just the first day of school. Who cares?” He shrugged.

“People who care about school!” Pico sulked.

“Nerd.” Darnell laughed. “You're in honors classes! How am I the nerd?!” The two boys rolled their eyes. They were as close as brothers, and bickered like them too.

The rest of the walk was mostly silent. Nene was the one who kept their conversations going, she somehow always had a new topic to bring up. Pico figured that's why she hung out with her other friends on the bus. She had a lot of friends, she's been the most popular girl in their school district since middle school, which was ironically when the two boys met her.

Pico's mind began to wander to a darker place. He looked down at the sidewalk, and counted each of his steps to keep his head at bay. He always wondered if Nene was only pretending to be their friend. After all, why would the most popular girl in school like losers like them?

Darnell gave him a swift punch in the arm to snap him out of his thoughts, it was obvious his expression was faltering. He wasn't going to let his best friend be sad on his first day of school. Pico rubbed his arm with a frustrated look, but let out a laugh anyways.

Finally, they made it to Eastburg High School, swiftly examining the groups of kids, and the buses, trying to find Nene. Luckily, they didn't have to. “Boys!” Pico and Darnell heard a familiar voice call out, snapping their attention to the direction of the noise. It was Nene standing with a group filled with familiar and unfamiliar faces.

It seemed like she had a new friend every day. He wanted to try and make new friends too, but his anxiety could never let him. He looked around anyway, hoping to see a new face he could go up to.

He did. He froze in his tracks. He hadn't seen anyone like that before. Their hair was shaped into horns, and their style was a lot more edgy than most people he's seen before. He figured they were one of Cyril's friends.

Then, they locked eyes. Even those were strange about this new person. The brightest amber he'd ever seen, and the pupils looked white. He couldn't make out why it looked that way, because they quickly shot him a nasty glare and turned away. Pico only made a puzzled face in response, even if the mystery person couldn't see it.