Alchemy

Broke down, nothing else left

Dan didn't immediately know anything was wrong. He had a free period, and assumed Kyle had left for a lesson, so poked around Kyle's dorm room. His mirror had a single fine crack running down its length. His desk had a small pile of things, all labeled with names, that Dan assumed were (perfectly legal) things Kyle had to trade with others. The room was dimly lit: the main bulb had blown and Kyle was too lazy to change it. Kyle's broomstick was leant in the corner of the room, floor clear around it.

Dan spent the whole hour looking around, not touching anything in case it broke. He left the dorm for his next lesson, and bumped into Woody on the way.

'You seen Kyle? He wasn't in class.' Woody asked. Dan frowned in response to Woody's question, shaking his head. Woody sighed, 'must of bunked off or something,' thanked Dan, then the pair parted ways.

Kyle bunking lessons wasn't too unusual. However, it was surprise to both Dan and Will when Charlie wasn't at their lesson.

'Charlie never bunks. Drags himself to class even when he's ill,' Will said as he took some notes Dan. 'This isn't like him. He 100% especially wouldn't bunk Meredith's lesson.'

Dan twirled his pen between his fingers, uneasy. He watched their teacher, their head teacher, stroll up and down, lecturing the class full of teens. Then it clicked. Kyle's last idea to save his ass. Dan froze, pen mid-twirl. 'Shit.'

Will raised his eyebrow at Dan. 'You alright?' Wordlessly, Dan looked at Will, grabbed him by the collar, and dragged him protesting out of the classroom, Dick's frustrated voice calling out from behind them.

When the pair were a fair distance from the door, Dan let go of a disgruntled Will.

Will opened his mouth to complain, but Dan cut him off with a half-angry, half-concerned ramble: 'Kyle's a fucking idiot, he should have told me that his plan was stupid and involved Charlie, then again he wouldn't have been able to do it if I knew that, would he? Bloody hell. They're fucking dragons for fuck's sake, two teenagers can't fend off an angry, brooding, mother dragon to pull off some insane stunt to fulfil a dodgy, illegal, black market deal. You've fucked it up Kyle. We could have just taken the phone back. We could have got help. But noooooo you had to do it all yourself and you're going to end up fucking dead, for the love of-'

Will gripped his hand across Dan's mouth to silence the scruffy haired teen, eyes full of worry and surprise as he did so.

'Slow. Down. Tell me from the start, Dan.'

Dick's voice emerged from the new silence. 'Mmm, yes, Daniel. Tell us from the beginning.'

- - - - -

Words came spilling from Dan's mouth like a river. His eyes were red: he was upset. He felt a bit betrayed by what Kyle did. Dan couldn't feel mad though, he knew why Kyle did it.

Dan finished the story and bit his lip, eyes brimming as he looked between Will and Dick. 'Fuck.'

'We can't just go rushing in after them, though,' Will said.

'I can't just leave them any longer if they're in trouble,' Dan refuted. He clenched his fists. 'Please. I have to go after them.'

Will opened his mouth to reply, but was interrupted by the voice of their headmaster: 'Go. Both of you. I'll send someone to get the last of your little gang.'

The pair nodded and ran off to get their stuff. They met Woody a few minutes later, then they caught the next train to their destination.

- - - - -

The train journey was the longest twenty minutes of Dan's life. While the other two boys were planning and speed-reading through books to look for anything to help them in case they had to face up to an angry dragon, Dan was texting Kyle like his fingers were on fire. He wanted to hear something, anything, back from Kyle.

When the train pulled into the station, Dan practically sprinted out, only not running off alone because Will caught him by the arm and reminded him to be careful. Thus the trio made their way to the sanctuary, carefully but quickly, hoping that both Kyle and Charlie would be in one piece when they all found each other. Dan led the way, being the only one of them that had visited the remote location before.

As soon as Dan spied the clearing with the sanctuary, he broke out into a run. The other two quickly followed, drawing their wands and making sure to look around for any rouge dragons. 

Dan quickly located Kyle and Charlie, both heaped on the ground. Fear overtook him and he ran faster, ignoring Woody and Will yelling his name behind him. Dan skidded to his knees to get down to the same level as the injured pair.

A weepy Kyle looked up from Charlie to Dan. 'I'm sorry, Dan... I...'

Dan slapped Kyle across the face. 'You fucking idiot!' He immediately felt bad, pulling Kyle in and kissing him to make up for it. He then looked down at Charlie. 'Is he...?'

'He's like... barely breathing,' Kyle answered as Woody and Will reached the three of them. 

Will wasted no time in scooping Charlie up bridal style. 'Let's get home.'

Kyle nodded and wiped his eyes. 'I-I'm sorry. I thought it would be ok. I thought...'

'That doesn't matter right now,' Woody said. Dan could feel a restrained anger in his voice, but said nothing. Dan got to his feet and helped Kyle to his, then entwined his fingers around the younger boy's, squeezing it in wordless comfort.