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“I know you’re unhappy about it.” Sora said, fiddling with a packet of beef jerky and pulling out a stick. He reached behind him and waved it around for a second before a silver head poked out and Riku grabbed it to munch on. “But it’s just classes and you can sleep through them.”
Taking Riku back to the academy with him had been an adjustment. So many familiars grew up perfectly ‘normal’ and attended school just like any witch would. It socialized them, just like it socialized any child.
Familiar’s like Riku were altogether different. He was feral and more or less happy to be so. He’d grown up outside, sneaking sips of magic from the earth to sustain him and stave off the geostigma from ever getting too terrible.
Riku had found out that the trick to it had been living in the magic grove harnessed by witches. It was over flowing with magic he could steal for his own but no system was perfect and over time, even he ended up sick with stigma.
Since the clinic incident he’d been all too happy to stick by Sora’s side but that had to include the parts he hated along with the parts he loved. He could really do without the academy.
For his first few days back at school, almost no one even noticed that Sora never took his hoodie off now or how his hood occasionally wiggled. Bit by bit however, sightings of his silver fox happened more and more and it was inevitable that he would get called out on it. An un-enrolled familiar was prohibited on the school grounds-technically.
The school however, could not dismiss partners and that’s what Riku was, even if they hadn’t officially bonded yet. Normally when partners were agreed upon at the academy, paperwork was involved. Applications and permissions slips and the whole thing was mind numbing. Because Riku was a feral and not a student, things unraveled rather differently. Sora needed permission from his family which Squall laughingly gave.
It was a letter Sora was happy to turn in once called in by the Head Master and Matron to discuss his unique situation.
Cid and Edea had both privately commended Sora on his rescue of his fox and were themselves stricken by his testimony of the horrible conditions of the familiar clinic. They’d been very proud of him for saving a feral, solely because it had been the right thing to do.
It did leave them at a bit of a loss as to what to actually do with Riku. Thus far, they’d been trying to get him to enroll, but Riku wouldn’t even shift to his hume form for them. He couldn’t be bothered, that form was for Sora, not them.
In the safety of Sora’s dorm room, he would shift and once Sora was done with his own homework, they would work on Riku’s. Speech and reading were first. He was good with letters and could talk if he absolutely had to. Mostly he spoke to Sora and sometimes Cloud when they were home.
He preferred to listen to Sora read to him than read himself. Sora started reading every other chapter just to get Riku to participate. Forget about numbers. Riku didn’t care about those though he seemed decent enough with them.
Like most familiars he instinctively knew his craft, and kept a very keen eye on Sora while he was doing any practical witch work.
Sora waved another beef stick at him. “Do you want me to be assigned another familiar partner for the term?”
That got him a very put out, borderline insulted growl.
“Well then you are going to have to at least poke your head out during class. I know you’re listening back there but no one else does.”
Riku was pouting now, chewing on his snack.
They couldn’t try to give him a partner if he already had one, and Head Master Kramer had evidently already called Squall about it who claimed a real bond could not be fought, school enrollment be damned.
Riku made a soft noise and tumbled around in Sora’s hood for a moment before paws found their way to Sora shoulder and a nose was pressed to his cheek. His very own fox kiss.
“I know.” Sora reached back a hand to pet him. “C’mon, Squall and Cloud came to visit today. We’ll see them there for a while.”
He knew Squall likely wouldn’t bring Cloud closer to the academy but nature was always good for familiars and a fresh spot to explore would do the wolf good. A break from renovating the garage to someday soon be Sora’s little apartment would suit the pair well too.
Unsurprisingly, they weren’t the only students in the grove. Most were fairly spread out, seeking their own quiet corner to meditate or just enjoy the peace while others were looking for specific plants, or spots to plant a future harvest. Some, like Sora and Squall, planted just to give back to the grove.
Lea was up to his forearms in dirt with Xion curled up at his side while Roxas was running around from tree to tree, smelling everything like it was his first time and looking like he was having a blast.
It wasn’t unusual. Familiars in such a magically charged place often felt an abundance of energy, but Roxas was leaning more towards fun then awareness when his path was suddenly blocked by a dog too large to be just a dog. A wolf towered over him, staring back down at him curiously.
Xion’s head whipped around at the startled noise that left her twin and in a second was bounding over, pushing herself to stand between Roxas and….oh wow. Big doggie. The two of them were both betas to Cloud’s very obvious alpha, but she wasn’t going to back down when she was all that was between him and Roxas, and growled quietly.
The feathers in Lea’s hair caught in the wind slightly as he turned to look at what all the noise was about “Huh?...oh, hi Sora’s-big-brother’s-familiar.” He phrased it that way more to let his partners know what was up, though he also had a habit of referring to some people that way.
There was a long moment of Cloud watching the puppies and ignoring Lea altogether. His head was tilted to the side, watching their bravado fondly.
He leaned down, steady and slow so the twins could see him coming and ran his tongue right between Xion’s eyes. Cloud...adored puppies. Xion gave a small yelp and tried to jump back, which turned her and Roxas into a rolling mess of limbs and fur as they tried to right themselves. Lea laughed, knowing they weren’t actually scared, only flustered.
Cloud took a step forward, grabbing Xion by her scruff to set her back properly on her feet before doing the same with Roxas. Once they weren’t tripping over themselves anymore he laid down just to seem a little smaller and booped his nose against Roxas’. The dalmatians were staring with huge eyes, and another small yip left Roxas when their noses booped. Xion sat down after another long moment of looking at how Cloud had gone out of his way to seem nonthreatening. It was obvious that if he had meant any harm, he wouldn’t be acting like this.
“Where did you get off to?” Squall’s voice came a moment before they saw him. Only his dirty knees betrayed the fact that he’d been planting in the dirt too. “Ah, there you are. Where did the puppies come from?” he asked a second before spotting Lea. “Ah.”
Cloud just rumbled, alternating between licking both twins in the face. Roxas was fidgeting but seemed pleased with the attention, while his sister was sitting and basking in it. Lea gave a small wave before standing and dusting both hands on his pant legs “Hey-a Sora’s big bro. Nice wolf, I'd heard you picked a partner finally, but I guess seeing really is believing.”
Squall grunted and came closer, bending to pat Cloud’s head as he passed by. “Feathers huh?” Squall said, taking note of Lea’s hair. “Sora told me about that. Rough start.”
All three of them slumped “Yeah...I messed up. Should have had two separate mixtures instead of having all three of us together in the same ink since their fraternal twins. I...should’ve had someone look it over, total rookie mistake.” He fiddled with the end of one of the feathers. “We got off pretty lucky, all things considered. If we’d been going for a three-way bond it would have been fine, but when intention and ritual don’t match up...ya know?”
“Twins, huh?” Squall said, glancing back at the puppies that Cloud was slowly crowding. He was tucking them against him, and it would take very little for the pups to disappear in all that fur. “It’s a rampant problem. Others dictating the bond. It’s a shame you didn’t feel comfortable seeking advice on the matter.”
Cloud only growled.
“Have you strengthened the bond since the initial ritual?” Squall asked, turning back to Lea again, who shook his head in response.
“Nah...I mean, a little fortifying, but I was getting weird headaches and stuff. It’s...not totally stable. Might have something to do with the whole ‘i’m not entirely a witch anymore’ thing.” The pups seemed happy to be in a pile, and their wagging tails were the most visible part outside of Cloud’s fur.
Squall crossed his arms and nodded. “An already bonded witch could assist you. Keep things balanced while you do the work. Do the headaches happen with any other spell work?”
“Sometimes, not as bad as before. It’s...weird. Like, I already know what and how but the how is different now. Like, I used to be vanilla and now I'm peach with hazelnuts, ya know?” He gestured with his hands a lot while he talked.
Squall actually cracked a smile. “Yeah, that oddly makes sense.” He looked back at Cloud again, his own tail flicking lazily. He was looking down a rough path, watching Riku tear off between the trees, a happy fox.
They all expected to see Sora walking towards them a moment later.
“Hey, ‘ra! Look who I found!” He went to throw an arm around Squall, pointing at him with his other hand.
Squall just held up his own arm to push Lea away from him.
Sora laughed immediately. “Hey Lea! Hey Squall, Cloud. Where are your familiars?” Two noses, one half-pink with a smattering of tiny spots and the other black with a white smudge, poked up from Cloud’s fur as tails wagged in greeting.
“Hanging out with their new friend. I don’t think they’ve gotten to hang out with many other canine familiars.”
“You can’t keep them.” Squall smiled at Cloud, laughing when his wolf bared his fangs at him. “They aren’t actually babies, Cloud.”
“Daaw.” Sora cooed, distracted a second later when he watched Riku climb a tree. “How the hell…Riku.”
Lea shrugged, “If he wants to play parent i’m cool with it. They don’t have one right now, so…” His second shrug was more awkward.
Cloud’s growls quieted while he turned, still curled up around the twins to lick at their muzzles and ears.
“One more reason to avoid the bonding paperwork I suppose.” Squall muttered.
“Actually...was kinda hoping they’d let us.” His voice got more serious and quieter. “Their aging out of their group home, and since their ‘unbonded’, they’re up for being rehomed...separately, into gendered houses.” It was the one thing he’d take back about their bond, if it would mean a re-do could keep them together. “They don’t do co-ed past 16.”
Squall’s eye actually twitched. “Do they not see your bond as legitimate?”
“The school doesn’t recognize it since it went sideways, we’re listed as term-partners. No way is their worker gonna accept that as good enough to let them move in with me.” His shoulders slumped the rest of the way. “...Roxas is less then thrilled, but Xi’s the one who’s really upset about having to live in a ‘girl house’. She’s genderfluid.”
Squall heaved a sigh. “Why don’t we take a closer look at your bond. See if we can't stabilize it and force the schools hand at accepting it.”
“That's always annoyed you.” Sora commented, opening up his arms to catch Riku when the silly fox jump from a low branch into his arms. Riku loved the grove. “When people mess with the bond.”
“When they dictate what the bond should be.” Squall corrected. “It is different for every pair and should not be treated as less because it is different. The only thing that matters is consent. Had he been able to properly study the bond, this wouldn’t be a damn issue now.”
Cloud’s growl was low, almost dangerous but he seemed to echo Squall’s words in perfect agreement. Both pups had burrowed back in against his side for comfort, picking up enough of Lea’s words and emotion to know what he was talking about.
Lea gave a small shrug again. “If you want...couple of others have offered some advice, but my magic is...different now, and no ones really sure what to do.” He wasn’t entirely ‘witch’ anymore.
“We’ll figure it out.” Squall said, waving off the uncertainty. “We have all of the components, we’ll just be using them in an altered way.” He pulled a small notebook out of his back pocket with a pencil and started scribbling.
Sora’s lips curved into a smile while he held a fidgety fox. “My brother can’t leave something alone when he knows he can fix it or make it better.”
“Oh…uh, thanks.” He looked more then a little dumbfounded; everyone else who had seriously taken a look had pretty much shrugged and wished him well with figuring out his new normal.
Squall was muttering to himself as he scribbled his notes. As quickly as that he’d fallen into this new problem to solve which had Cloud growling at him.
“I hear you.” Squall said, getting growled at again. “I’m nowhere near a fever, relax.” It got him another huff.
“I think my brother has learned to speak wolf.” Sora commented, laughing at the entire interaction.
“Can’t be any harder then learning to speak dog.” He shrugged, knowing it wasn’t hard to pick up on communicating between tone and emotions getting sent through the bond, even if the specifics weren’t there.
“Guess so.” Sora agreed, letting Riku jump back down to the ground again. He ran over to Cloud for a moment just to knock his head against Cloud’s shoulder before prancing back off around the trees.
“It’s easier then one might think.” Squall said, almost absently. He was getting distracted with his own note taking.
Xion and Roxas glanced up at Riku’s interaction, curiosity all over their faces even as Lea reminded them, “This is Riku’s home, and he’s feral. Be nice, and remember he's skittish if you wanna play- Sora, does he play?”
Sora made a face and made a so-so gesture with his hand. “With me. A little with Cloud. I haven’t seen him show much interest in anyone else. Not witch, familiar or anything in between.” He paused. “Well, Cloud is teaching him to chase the chickens.”
Squall wasn’t distracted enough to not make a disgusted noise at that. His poor chickens.
It had Lea laughing “A fox in the hen house, huh?”
That had Sora tipping his head back and laughing and in only a split second, Riku had reappeared. He sat at Sora’s feet and seemed to genuinely love watching Sora in a good mood. Lea squatted down but didn’t move closer, hoping it would keep Sora’s wild partner at ease “Hey...I don’t think we’ve really met yet. I’m Lea. You like pepperoni?” He dug in his pocket for the bag he tried to never let empty completely.
Riku perked up, the way to any feral’s heart was food. He, however, just pressed himself harder against Sora’s legs as suspicion took over.
“Hey,” Sora said softly, kneeling down. “I know i don’t have the best track record but it’s safe. You know i wouldn’t just stand around someone who wasn’t safe.” He ran his hand down Riku’s spine who seemed to not like that at all. He threw himself against Sora’s chest as if sensing his witch was going to start apologizing again.
“Okay, okay.” Sora squeezed him into a tight hug. “We’re good, right?”
Riku made a sound like a cry but slowly calmed, twisting slowly to look at Lea again, who hadn’t moved since the fox had started to seem uneasy. He pulled the bag out slowly and ate a piece himself to demonstrate it was safe. “Would it be better if I handed you the bag first?” He asked Sora quietly.
“Mm..” Sora inched over and sat a little closer to Lea before setting Riku down again. “He’s just wary of people. I just want him to be able to identify his friends.”
Riku gnawed on Sora’s pants for a moment, biting a little harder at his knee before pulling away and sniffing towards the bag. Lea reopening the bag got his own partners’ attention as well. “Easy guys...play it cool.” He reminded them as they went from a brief sprint to moving very slowly as they approached. “You guys wanna make friends with him too, right?” He and Sora might not hang out very often, but Roxas and Xion had been friendly with him and now that they were all in the same class since Lea got moved down to their grade, he had no problem seeing why they liked the kid.
He carefully held out a few pieces to Riku while keeping his hand very flat, he’d caught a glimpse of those teeth as he chewed on Sora.
“Riku.” Most of them jumped at the new voice. None of them had even seen Cloud shift back into his human form. He walked towards Squall and snatched the notebook from his hands, getting only a mild complaint in response. The wolf however was still watching the fox. “I’m watching, Riku.” he said vaguely. A reminder that it was safe while Cloud was there to protect them.
Riku made that chittering noise again, getting closer on his own to snag a piece of pepperoni and dash back to Sora’s lap. Lea almost didn’t notice, too distracted by seeing the wolf’s hume form “Your...blonde.” He looked just like-
Roxas and Xion changed as well, though much more slowly. Still sitting on the ground next to their witch, they each reached out and gripped an arm apiece. “...you look like my brother.” Xion said quietly.
“He does a bit.” Squall muttered, looking over at them now that his project was taken away.
Cloud looked at them and snorted. “Possible relation.” He shrugged, the idea seemed plausible.
Sora chuckled, petting Riku to relax him. “Even though they’re dogs? Well, i guess that wouldn’t matter. Familiar's can be born with all kinds of different animal sides.”
Cloud just grunted. “Wolves.”
“Huh? No, their dalmatians…” Lea looked thoroughly confused while the twins seemed surprised.
“Wolves.” Cloud repeated, his tone not accepting any arguments.
“A...about a quarter, yeah.” Roxas said slowly, getting everyone’s attention. Lea’s jaw dropped open “What?!”
Xion shrugged “We’ve always been told to advertise ourselves as just dogs. It’s...more mainstream, and really, didn’t you notice we’re too big even for dalmatians?”
“Huh, just one more time Cloud seems to know what he’s talking about.” Sora smiled a little.
Cloud didn’t often move away from Squall while in his human form but he approached the twins and pet both of them. “Wolf is wolf.”
“Mainstream is overrated.” Squall added, itching to write more down. He couldn’t help but wonder if Lea not knowing they were part wolf had any bearing on the ritual. It wasn’t likely but it was interesting all the same.
Xion placed both hands on top of Cloud’s looking shyly pleased with the attention. Roxas had tilted his neck a bit to lean into the casual acceptance before glancing over at Squall “...we’re orphans. It’s easier to follow house rules, and they prefer not to have more than a certain number of predators. Besides, we are more dog than wolf.”
Cloud crouched down, eye level with the twins. “Wolves.” he said firmly, still petting them. “Wolves don’t have orphans. Only pack.”
“We don’t have one.” Both of them seemed to deflate slightly as Xion spoke. “We...don’t know anyone else.” They’d been alone for a long, long time before Lea.
Cloud frowned hard, his own hackles rising but not out of anger. He knew a thing or two about being alone. He held both twins by the back of their necks and drew them closer to him until his forehead touched both of theirs. “Mine then.”
“Oh dear.” Squall sighed but didn’t look the least bit surprised.
The same couldn’t be said for Lea. “Fucking excuse me?” His familiars were all wide eyes and open mouths, seeming unsure how to respond to Cloud’s words.
“Wolves need pack.” Cloud said simply, rough voice answering in as few words as possible. “Mine now.”
“I mean…” Sora said after a beat. “Would it be so different from the way Cloud kind of adopted Riku?” Said fox was more concerned about pepperoni than drama, and it seemed Lea had all but forgotten about the open bag in his hand as he tried not to freak out. “H-hey!...their mine.” In perfect sync each twin moved a hand out and back without looking to grab on his shirt.
“We can have both...just like you're still your mom’s, and you’re ours.” Xion reminded him quietly.
“Familiars run towards paternal, Lea.” Squall said, not the least bit phased. “If they had the means, most familiars would empty out the orphanages of familiar babes to take care of. It’s just not that simple or realistic. You tell my wolf that two wolf babies are orphaned with no pack and his solution is to coddle them and pull them into his pack. Them having a witch isn’t a factor.”
“You’re not being replaced.” Sora added. “Like i said, he adopted Riku too and he’s not even a wolf. He’s still mine.”
Riku had taken the bag of pepperoni right out of Lea’s hand, who barely noticed, all his attention on the two hands holding onto him “...well, I mean, I guess so.”
“Least there’s some fight in you.” Squall commented. “That’s the same attitude i want to see when some prick doesn't acknowledge your bond.”
Lea’s eyebrow twitched. “Not like I haven’t argued, but I don’t want to make shit worse, ya know? Least their allowed to stay in my dorm with me most of the time, and we’re in the same classes now too.” He didn’t want to make too big of a fuss and risk them not even getting term-partner benefits.
“It’s not you, Lea.” Sora smiled faintly. “I think you’re prioritizing them first and that's the best you can do. Squall just has absolutely no concept of the word ‘limitations’. He’s always just done what he wanted.”
Squall just shrugged. “Possibly true. I’m still sure there are several things we could possibly try to strengthen your bond.”
All three of them looked uneasy. Roxas sounded a bit defensive as he mumbled “I like it the way it is…’s ours.”
Cloud leaned closer, rubbing his cheek against Roxas’ hair.
“I don’t want to change it.” Squall said. “Merely make sure it is stable. I don’t want some asshole thinking that attempting to break it is ever a viable option.”
That comment got him a lot of shudders, and Lea was positively radiating protectiveness “I’ll hex anyone that even thinks about it.”
“Good, that’s what i like to hear.” Squall mused.
“Riku, enough.” Sora said, taking the bag of pepperoni from him. “Were you guys planting before Cloud adopted dalmatian-wolves?”
Squall nodded once. He’d been planting things in this grove since he was a kid. It was huge and stretched out a little further every year. Lea also nodded “Yeah, noticed I'd been taking a fair bit more than I was planting this term. And since this place took care of your fox before you found him, felt like I should say thanks, you know?”
Sora blinked in surprise, momentarily overcome by the kind gesture. “Thank you. The grove does provide.” He had quite a bit he planned on replanting too.
Riku also proved he’d been listening by giving Lea a long considering look. He loved being with Sora, but he was never going to forget the grove he grew up in.
“I mean, it's only right anyways. It's alive and all of us enjoy it, so we should take care of it.” Even the students who didn’t harvest liked to come here for the calm.
“There’s hope for future generations yet.” Squall said, “C’mon Sora, I brought plenty, you can plant some too.”
“Yeah.” Sora agreed easily, petting Riku so he could go play again around his trees but he chose to stay close to Sora this time. Xion and Roxas seemed content to stay close to Cloud, and no one was commenting on how odd it was he’d stayed in his hume form. Lea moved to follow after Sora after he’d squeezed each of his familiar’s hands. “I’ve got a few more too, i’ll join ya.”
Xion and Roxas gave Cloud a quick hug before telling him, “Be right back,” And turning to follow after their witch. “Hey, wait up!...you always pick spots that are too sunny!”
Sora laughed and watched as Riku took a hesitant step after the twins before really racing after them.
“Kids.” Squall muttered as if he were actually old and not in his mid twenties. He walked to Cloud and offered him a hand up. “C’mon. Let’s look after them.”
Cloud grunted once he got to his feet and he leaned closer to brush a kiss against Squall’s mouth. “S’nice.” he muttered.
“Mm?” Squall pushed stray hairs out of Cloud’s face.
Cloud glanced back towards where the group had wandered off to. Face soft. “I miss...my dad.” he finished softly.
Squall didn’t know if that was what he meant to say originally but given how his mouth trembled slightly, it was probably still true. Cloud had never mentioned a family.
Squall took his hand, lacing their fingers together. Their family was growing.