Dragon Bond

The Academy

The next time Keith woke up, there was no sign of anyone in the room, other than some new clothes for him to put on.

"So it wasn't a dream after all...maybe I'm in a coma or something." He muttered, rubbing his head. He knew there was no use denying it anymore, this was all real and he was stuck here. At least it seemed like a better place to be than on the streets in his own world.

Keith slowly got out of the bed, the wooden flooring creaking softly underneath him as he stood. He picked up the clothes left for him, a thin, red, long sleeved shirt that fit snuggly on him, leaving little to the imagination. Some plain black pants that somehow fit him perfectly, weird. They had also left a leather vest, putting it over the shirt with strings crisscrossed over the chest. He put on his combat boots he had with him, going over to a mirror to see how he looked.

"Huh, not bad.." Keith smirked slightly to himself, suddenly wishing he hadn't left his fingerless gloves at home. Maybe he could get some from a market or whatever shops they had here. He sighed, his mind wandering. What if they wouldn't let him stay here? It's not like they'd have any use for him anyway, no one ever seemed to want anything to do with him in the first place. He would just have to return to his own world somehow and stay out of sight until he was officially eighteen.

"Hey! You almost done in there, Mullet?" Someone yelled, knocking loudly on the door. Lance.

"Oh, uh, yeah." Keith called back, smoothing his hair down slightly to try and control the wild strands, before opening the door. He glanced down slightly, meeting the bright blue eyes of Lance, who was gaping up at him.

Keith smirked, leaning against the doorway. He felt a smug satisfaction of learning he was taller than the other boy, who only came up to his chin, especially after how he'd acted towards him earlier. "Something wrong?"

"N-No! Not at all! Just because your tall and...pretty well muscled...doesn't mean you're any better than me, Mullet! You're still the newbie and a jerk." Lance huffed, turning away and crossing his arms as he led the way out. "Pidge and Hunk are waiting for us in front of the Headmasters office, so hurry up."

Keith huffed a small laugh, closing the door behind him as he followed Lance. He squinted his eyes at the bright sunlight streaming through the large windows of the hallway, stopping for a moment to look out at the Academy grounds. There were people milling about, some on dragons and some just walking. There was a group training off in a field to the right, but he couldn't see what they were doing.

"Those are a group of Archers in training, usually I'd be down there helping them but I gotta deal with you so it'll have to wait. I didn't even get to take Aqua out on her morning fly!" Lance said, pouting slightly as he came up beside Keith. "You'll get to see it all later so let's go." He shoved him slightly, getting him to move.

"Geez your so grumpy, usually I'm the grumpy and aggressive one." Keith huffed, glaring at the shorter boy.

"Yeah? Well this has got my daily routine all off so I have reason to be grumpy." Lance growled, sighing dramatically in relief when they finally arrived at the Headmasters office, Pidge and Hunk waiting for them.

"What took you two so long?!" Pidge hissed, narrowing their eyes at them.

"Mullet here kept getting distracted." Lance huffed, earning a heated glare from Keith.

"Ugh whatever, let's just get inside so you can be enrolled. Headmaster Alfor was already noted about your arrival." Pidge gestured for them to follow, opening the large office doors.

The room was pretty bare, a desk situated in the middle with papers and books piled up on it, A few bookshelves and file cabinets scattered here and there, and a glass door leading out to a small balcony. Sitting in a chair behind the desk was a much older man with long white hair and dark skin, eyes that still held their youthfulness looking up as they entered. Headmaster Alfor smiled, standing up to greet them. "You must be Keith. It was a big surprise when Shiro said he found a boy in the forest near Titans Mountain. I almost thought he had gone crazy, no one ever goes near that mountain anymore." He mused, holding out a hand for Keith to shake.

Keith smiled nervously, shaking hands with the older man. "I can't say I wasn't surprised when I ended up here. I'm still thinking it's all a dream." He huffed.

Headmaster Alfor chuckled, a kind smile taking over his features. "Well you are welcomed to stay here as long as you'd like. Pidge and Hunk told me that you were Marked though? May I see?"

Keith hesitated before nodding, holding out his arm and rolling the sleeve up the best he could, the shining red scales on his left bicep being revealed.

"Extraordinary, I've never heard of an outsider being Marked. Especially one that isn't even from this world. Well, seeing that you are Marked, you are eligible to enroll here at the Academy, to Bond with a dragon of your own and train alongside your friends here. If you'd like to that is." Headmaster Alfor said, that kind smile never leaving his face.

Keith frowned slightly, unsure of how to feel about all of this. First of all, he wouldn't really call the other three his friends, he's only known them for a few hours at most. Secondly, what if he stayed and they all got to know him, then they decide they don't like him and kick him out. Were these people homophobic? Was that a thing here? He wouldn't know unless he stayed...

"Alright, I'd like to enroll in this..uh...Academy." Keith said, standing up straight and trying to look confident.

"Splendid! Just sign your name on this paper and we'll get you situated." Headmaster Alfor, shuffles through the mound of papers on his desk before he seemed to find the right one, setting it down in front of Keith and handing him a pen.

Keith hesitated before taking the pen and writing his signature on the paper.

"Cmon Keith, lets get you an official Academy student room." Hunk smiled as the group made their way out of the office and down a different hall.

"Wait, hold up, why are we at my room?!" Lance asked, seeing the door they were going towards.

"Because every room has room for two students and seeing as your roommate finished training last year, Keith will be staying with you." Pidge said, smirking wickedly.

"Nuh uh! I did not agree to this, Headmaster Alfor never said anything of me having to share a room with the Mullet." Lance protested.

"Actually he did, while you two were taking your sweet time we had already talked with him, assuming Keith would agree to join the Academy, and Alfor said he would bunk with you." Hunk said with a small shrug, rolling his eyes as Lance groaned loudly.

"Oh you'll be fine you big baby. Now, let's go get you your Dragon, Keith." Pidge said.

Keith gulped, his Adam's apple bobbing with the movement.

"Scared, Mullet?" Lance sneered.

"First, it's not a Mullet. Second, You wish."