Serendipity (Karlnapity Fantasy AU)

Chapter 2

Two whole days had passed and they were still stuck in their room. Quackity felt his body crying out for the sky, the wind, and the scent of nature. Sometimes, when the tingling from his wings became unbearable since he didn't use them often, he would jump out the window at night. He sailed through the air to land on the campus lawn and in those brief moments he was free and satisfied.

Sapnap was lying on his bed, a book about fighting styles in his hand, and engrossed in his book, he was rocking his feet back and forth.
"Why are you so nervous?" asked Sapnap after a while.

Quackity lay on his bed. Mindlessly brushing his fingers through his wings, which he held above his head like a parasol. Sapnap must have noticed that he was nervous because he rarely did this. Generally, he didn't like to show his wings to other people, but after 2 days, they hurt him jammed under his clothes.

When he did not answer, Sapnap turned to him, the book lying open on his chest. Quackity lowered the wing that had previously obscured his view of Sapnap and looked at him with a put-on smile. Sapnap straightened up on the edge of the bed, eyed him for some time, and then sighed. He hung his head so that his black hair fell into his face.

"Are you thinking about your wings again? Everyone knows your wings and I love your wings and yet you hide them...", Sapnap rambled on and Quackity let it all wash over him and didn't contradict, knowing that it was useless on this subject. He turned his gaze away from Sapnap and to his wings, which looked even more golden than usual due to the sunlight shining into the room.

He hated them because apart from looking small and puny, they could do nothing else. Carefully, his hand slid through the fluffy feathers, ignoring the urge to pluck them all out. After years he had learned to glide with them at all, but they were too weak for flying. Let alone carrying another person in flight was impossible for Quackity. He was too weak and too small. He was not a snow owl like Wilbur or a crow like Professor Philza.

What were wings worth if you couldn't fly?

Suddenly, a feather fell from the wing, sailing gently onto Quackity's nose. A startled gasp could be heard from the other end of the room. Sapnap had risen from his bed and sat down in front of Quackity's bed. Sitting cross-legged with one arm propped on the edge of the bed, he silently watched Quackity. The latter, irritated, took the feather from his face and turned to Sapnap. He held the small golden feather gently between his fingers.

"What?" he asked. Sapnap pointed at the feather.
"Didn't that hurt?" asked Sapnap, making Quackity laugh.
"What? That's not funny!" pouted Sapnap, and when Quackity calmed down, he sat up in his bed, waving the feather around in his hand.

"It's like a hair that falls out when you brush your hair," he explained, noticing how fascinated Sapnap was about his feather. His gaze shifted uncertainly from Sapnap to the feather and back again. Quackity was unsure about giving it to him. It would end up in the trash anyway, but maybe it was a weird question to ask. Was Sapnap really fascinated or disgusted?

"Can I have it?" Sapnap's question snapped him out of his thoughts, and Quackity nodded in gratitude. Sapnap gave a small happy whoop before snatching the feather from his hand and waving it back and forth in front of his face.

"Thank you Quackity! I really like your wings and especially your feathers. You can show them off more often," Sapnap said before standing up and turning to his desk, humming. The feather landed gently in an empty pencil cup and Quackity frowned.

There were too many emotions acting on each other at the same time, but worst of all was the dark red color that crept into his face and had to be suppressed at all costs. However, before sapnap could turn to a flushed quackity, there was a pounding on the door.

"I am supposed to take you to Philza," called a familiar voice at the door. Quackity, who was no longer so blushing, looked at Sapnap, who only returned the confused look.

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Karl was lying in a small bed in a room painted light blue. Even the floor was the same color as the wall. Every movement his body made, even moving his little finger, hurt. His whole body felt sore and aching. From outside he heard muffled voices that had roused him from a nap.

When he first woke up here, Karl still believed that he had really woken up in the hospital. This belief was shattered when people spoke to him in a strange language, wired him everywhere, and shot lightning from their fingers, which they held to his body.
Is the military performing experiments on me now? he thought.

But finally, Karl was convinced that he was in a coma and dreaming when a tall man with huge crow wings entered the room and asked him about the last things he could remember. Apparently, he understood these people now. It had only taken a few wires and flashes.

He knew that people dreamed strange things while in a coma, but this was different. Intrigued by his dream, he had talked honestly with the man and learned his name. Even though he possessed a threatening aura, Karl was not afraid of Philza. Shortly before the man left the room, Karl had had the courage to pull on the wings to check the authenticity. In retrospect, that had been a very stupid idea, because a slap through a crow's wing hurt even in a coma.

Now Karl was lying in his hospital bed, his whole body under tension and in pain. He wanted to scream and writhe in bed when his blue door slammed open. Three boys entered the room and if Karl hadn't already had his mouth open, it would have fallen open now.

The biggest of them had the same threatening aura as the crow man and big white wings. His gaze switched between Karl, the ground, and the other boys. The second had no wings, was much smaller than the other, and had a white bandana tied around his forehead. His black hair fell in gentle waves over some parts of the bandana. The last and smallest had an uncertain expression, his black hair was partially covered by his beanie and two golden smaller wings made a nice contrast to the almost black school uniform.

The four boys studied each other in silence for a while. The tallest of them was finally too impatient to stand around and remain silent.
"Do you understand us?" he asked while brushing his brown curly hair out of his face. He was a bit nervous, his look was not deprecating but had something analyzing about it. Karl had the feeling of standing in front of an X-ray machine.

"Yes. I understand you," Karl looked past the three of them. It made him nervous that they were all staring at him. The expressions of the other two brightened automatically when they heard his voice.
"What are you?" the smallest asked, moving closer to Karl.
"A boy? I think?", Karl was confused.

"We mean what species you are," replied the one with the bandana, standing next to the bed as well. Now he was even more confused.
"A human."

The reactions of the others were mixed. The one with the big wings brooded to himself and the two boys next to his bed gave each other looks that only they understood among themselves.
"What's your name?" the taller one asked, smiling warmly. Now that he was so close, Karl realized that the tips of his black hair had a slight reddish glow.
"My name is Karl...and what are your names?" he returned the smile.

"I'm Sapnap and this is Quackity," Sapnap said, to which Quackity gave Karl a slight wave. The two seemed just as nervous and excited as Karl, which relieved him. Karl had to laugh slightly at their names, which increased the pain in his chest. His laughter broke off with a pained gasp and immediately everyone present was concerned.

"Are you still in pain?" the boy at the door asked. Karl nodded in response.
"I'll go find someone to give you more painkillers. "
Before the boy had gone out the door, however, he turned to Karl again.
"I'm Wilbur, by the way."

After Wilbur left the room, Quackity turned to Karl.
"Wilbur is the son of our principal Philza. You know him, don't you?" asked Quackity.
"Yes. Philza is very nice," Karl replied, and in response Sapnap huffed.
"Nice until you accidentally set something on fire," he said, and Karl and Quackity started laughing.

"We have to tell him the story," Quackity said, and so they began to tell Karl all their stories. Karl did not understand everything, but with each word more, he realized more about his dream. This world was much more complicated than his. Here were students at a huge academy who had powers. He still believed that this was a dream, but it seemed to be crazier and more complicated than he thought.