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Chapter Text

The beautiful cover I drew.

Chapter Text

Allegiances

South Chelford High(Thunder High)

Principal: Principal Evelyn Blue - 34 year old woman with brown skin, blue eyes, and straight gray hair in a bun

Nurse: Ms. Lisa Spots - 45 year old woman with black skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair with a white streak

Daycare Attendant: Mrs. Flora Tiger née Golden - 26 year old woman with black skin, brown eyes, and curly blonde hair

Tutoring Teacher: Mrs. Hilda Frost - 47 year old woman with pale skin, blue eyes, and straight gray hair

Math Teachers:

Mr. Dereck Running - 71 year old man with tan skin, green eyes, and straight gray hair

English Teachers:

Mr. Simon White - 30 year old man with pale skin, blue eyes, and curly white hair

Ms. Meredith Mouse - 31 year old woman with brown skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair

History Teachers:

Mrs. Talia Dapple - 83 year old woman with black skin, brown eyes, and curly gray hair

Mr. Patrick Patches - 103 year old man with brown skin, brown eyes, and straight gray hair

Science Teachers:

Mrs. Patricia Willow - 46 year old woman with black skin, blue eyes, and curly gray hair

Mrs. Freya Brindle - 51 year old woman with pale skin, freckles, green eyes, and straight black hair

Seniors:

Damien Willow - 17 year old boy with black skin, yellow eyes, and curly black hair

Lucas Johnson - 17 year old boy with pale skin, green eyes, and straight blonde hair in a ponytail

Pooki Singh - 17 year old girl with pale skin, black eyes, and straight brown hair

Bloxunay Thomas - 17 year old girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and straight blonde hair in pigtails

Juniors:

Rusty Fireheart - 16 year old boy with pale skin, freckles, green eyes, and curly ginger hair

Sandy Garcia - 16 year old girl with brown skin, green eyes, and straight blonde hair

Dustin Graham - 16 year old boy with tan skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair

Grass Hopper - 16 year old kid with tan skin, orange eyes, and straight green hair

Dotty Stripe - 16 year old girl with pale skin, black eyes, and straight red hair

Smiley Stone - 16 year old kid with black skin, brown eyes, and curly black hair

Shia Lily - 16 year old girl with peach skin, hazel eyes, and straight brown hair

Sophomores:

Fern Brindle - 15 year old girl with pale skin, freckles, green eyes, and straight black hair

Timothy Darling - 15 year old boy with pale skin, brown eyes, and curly black hair

Blake Morgan - 15 year old girl with black skin, brown eyes, and straight black hair

Freshmen:

Cindy Frost - 14 year old girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and curly black hair

Daycare:

Tawny Tiger - 5 year old girl with black skin, green eyes, and curly ginger hair

Brandon Frost - 2 year old boy with brown skin, brown eyes, and straight brown hair

Brenda Frost - 2 year old girl with pale skin, blue eyes, and straight ginger hair

Thorn Frost - 2 year old boy with brown skin, brown eyes, and straight black hair

Ash Brindle - 6 month old boy with pale skin, freckles, blue eyes, and straight black hair

Cloud Fireheart - 2 month old boy with pale skin, blue eyes, and curly white hair

Swift Johnson - 2 month old boy with pale skin, green eyes, and curly black hair

Bramble Tiger - 2 month boy with black skin, brown eyes, and curly ginger hair

East Chelford High(Shadow High)

Principal: Principal Paul Night - 56 year old man with pale skin, black eyes, and straight black hair

Nurses:

Mr. Ryan News - 27 year old man with pale skin, green eyes, and straight brown hair

Math Teachers:

Mr. John Black - 37 year old man with pale skin, yellow eyes, and curly black hair

Juniors:

White Tempest - 16 year old boy with pale skin, blue eyes, and curly white hair

Cloud Plum - 16 year old boy with tan skin, brown eyes, and straight white hair

Freshmen:

Brian Bishop - 14 year old boy with brown skin, brown eyes, and straight brown hair

North Chelford High(Wind High)

Principal: Principal Manuel Tall - 73 year old man with pale skin, yellow eyes, and straight black hair

Nurse: Mr. Frederick Bark - 74 year old man with brown skin, brown eyes, and curly brown hair

Daycare Attendant: Mrs. Asha Callahan - 42 year old woman with pale skin, freckles, blue eyes, and straight black hair

Science Teachers:

Mr. Harvey Callahan - 42 year old man with pale skin, black eyes, and straight black hair

Mrs. Mona Flower - 31 year old woman with tan skin, brown eyes, and curly red hair

Juniors:

Owen Flower - 16 year old boy with pale skin, brown eyes, and straight brown hair

Marcus Mud - 16 year old boy with brown skin, brown eyes, and straight brown hair

Daycare:

Gorse Flower - 1 year old boy with tan skin, brown eyes, and curly red hair

West Chelford High(River High)

Principal: Principal Charlie Storm - 34 year old man with tan skin, green eyes, and curly brown hair

Nurse: Mr. Francis Leopard - 62 year old man with brown skin, freckles, brown eyes, and curly brown hair

P.E. Teachers:

Mr. Henry Oak - 34 year old man with brown skin, brown eyes, and a black buzzcut

Ms. Faith Leopard - 30 year old woman with brown skin, freckles, brown eyes, and straight black hair

English Teachers:

Mrs. Jessica Sunny - 38 year old woman with black skin, blue eyes, and straight blonde hair

Seniors:

Stone River - 17 year old boy with brown skin, blue eyes, and a black buzzcut

Misty River - 17 year old girl with brown skin, blue eyes, and black hair in a bun

Juniors:

Silver Storm - 16 year old girl with tan skin, blue eyes, and curly silver hair

Gray Willow - 16 year old boy with black skin, yellow eyes, and curly black hair

White Sunny - 16 year old boy with black skin, blue eyes, and curly white hair

Grass Whiskers - 16 year old girl with brown skin, green eyes, and wavy black hair

Chelford Retirement Home

Ms. Gray Pool - 93 year old woman with tan skin, blue eyes, and curly gray hair

Wythenshawe High

Barley Farmer - 17 year old boy with black skin, brown eyes, and curly white hair

Raven Williams - 17 year old boy with pale skin, purple eyes, and straight black hair

Homeschooled

Smudge Mercury - 16 year old boy with pale skin, brown eyes, and straight black hair

Princess Fireheart - 16 year old girl with pale skin, freckles, green eyes, and curly ginger hair

Other People

Ms. Fiona Yellow - 68 year old woman with black skin, yellow eyes, and curly gray hair

Chapter Text

Prologue

School Nurse Ryan News despaired. It was no use, no matter what he did, Principal Night wouldn't get any better. It was that time of year again, when the Great Sickness come out to play. Ryan would have to tend to his patients until they got better on their own, because he couldn't cure them himself. But Principal Night was getting weaker and weaker… Was there any point in caring for a man who was soon to die anyways?

Ryan headed over to his computer again. The school board had yet to transfer in the new teachers he'd requested. Shadow High needed to educate their students somehow, even if outsiders were the ones doing it. But there was no reply to his request. Ryan sagged at his desk, hanging his head low.

"Mr. News?" A voice came from the door. Ryan's head snapped up. It was Cloud Plum, a junior, accompanied by his friend White Tempest, another junior. Both of them were sick, and confined to their dorm.

"You shouldn't be out here," Ryan said wearily. "What is it?"

"How long are we gonna be sick for?" Cloud asked. "I want to get back to school. My grades are dropping."

"I don't wanna die," White added in a whisper.

"You won't die," Ryan reassured him. "And the sickness shouldn't last much longer. You are strong students, and you'll recover in no time."

"But… I don't feel good…" White sighed. "My throat hurts."

"I have some water-" Ryan was cut off by a beep from his computer. He leaned back to look at it.

Finally! A transfer request for a new teacher! And one from Chelford, too! Ryan grinned as he accepted it on the principal's behalf.

"Kids," Ryan said. "Don't worry. Shadow High is stronger than ever. We have a glorious future ahead of us."

Chapter Text

Chapter One

Mr. Tiger was close. Rusty panted as he ran, sweat rushing down his neck. The evil teacher was gaining on him. Rusty whirled around to face him, lifting up his fists to protect himself. But Mr. Tiger just slashed at him with a knife, cutting open his chest.

"GAH!" Rusty woke up with a jolt, clutching his blankets to his chest as he laid in bed. It was just a dream.

Rusty sighed. With Gray gone, he had no one to comfort him after nightmares. School was also a lot more boring. At least he had a dorm all to himself, though. That was a silver lining to the Silver situation.

Just then, there was a knock at the door. Mr. White poked his head into the dorm.

"Alright there, Mr. Fireheart?" He asked.

"Yeah. Is something wrong?" Rusty sat up.

"Oh, nothing's wrong. But we're moving Mr. Johnson into your dorm. You both don't have a dormmate anymore, and even though you're a year apart, it's only one year so we've decided to room you together."

"Johnson?" Rusty repeated, trying to remember who that was.

"Lucas. I believe you share a P.E. period?"

"I have to share a dorm with LUCAS?!" Rusty yelped.

Lucas strolled into the room, looking about as pleased as Rusty did. He had a large duffel bag at his side.

"Don't make this harder than it has to be," Lucas hissed quietly.

"I'm sure you'll get along," Mr. White continued obliviously. "Now, I have to go."

Mr. White left, leaving Lucas and Rusty staring at each other.

Turns out, it wasn't too hard to ignore Lucas. It just meant Rusty spent a lot of time outside of his dorm. Unfortunately, outside of his dorm was where the rest of the school was. Rusty popularity had never been that high, since he was homeschooled, but after Mr. Tiger got fired? He practically skyrocketed in popularity overnight. Everyone was shocked, sure, but they clung onto the one thing they knew for certain. Rusty had saved the principal.

Rusty got to his P.E. class at the end of the day feeling tense.

"Hey Rusty!" Exclaimed a guy he didn't know. "Good one!"

Rusty stared blankly at the guy as he disappeared into the crowd of Juniors. Whatever. He turned his attention to the door, which was open. Only students were passing through, however. Did Principal Blue hire a new P.E. teacher yet? Or-

Mr. White entered the room. Wasn't this meant to be his prep period? Rusty felt bad for the man. Then he remembered who had brought Lucas to his dorm and he felt less bad. Rusty spotted Lucas, speak of the devil, talking quietly to Mr. White, Damien by his side. Why were they still in this class?

But pretty soon, the two Seniors left the gym, leaving Mr. White to turn to face the crowd.

"Hello, class. Today is a free period." Mr. White then walked over to the bleachers, sat down, pulled his laptop out of a bag, and started working on something.

Rusty considered joining Grass and his friends, who were sneaking out of the gym, but then he remembered Lucas was in his dorm, and he figured he was better off staying here.

"Hey Rusty!"

"What?!" Rusty spun around, ready to snap at whoever it was trying to bother him.

"I just wanted to say hi," Sandy replied, looking upset.

"Oh- Sandy! Sorry, I'm just stressed."

"That's okay!" Sandy looked bashful for a second, then she grinned brightly. "Want to play some basketball?"

"…Sure."

They played basketball for the rest of the period. Once school ended, Rusty lingered in the gym, unsure where to go. Sandy noticed and stayed back with him.

"What's wrong?" Sandy asked.

"Uh… Lucas is my new dormmate."

"Oh." Sandy blinked. "I guess that sucks, huh?"

"Yeah. I miss Gray." Rusty sighed.

"I'd offer for us to go to my dorm, but I don't think Shia would like that," Sandy mused.

"Shia?"

"My dormmate. She's really shy."

"Ah, okay." Rusty frowned. "I think I'll go see my sister."

"Oh, cool, can I come? I haven't met her yet."

"I guess?" Rusty grabbed his backpack and pulled out his phone. "Let me text her and ask-"

"Hey Rusty!" Another kid yelled from the door. "Principal Blue wants to see you!"

"Okay!" Rusty yelled back. He turned to Sandy. "Sorry, I have to go, apparently."

"That's fine. You can't deny Principal Blue!" Sandy laughed. "I'll see you later, then. I'll be in the library."

"Got it."

Rusty then put on his backpack and headed through the building towards Principal Blue's office.

Chapter Text

Chapter Two

"Mr. Fireheart," Principal Blue greeted Rusty as he walked in. "We're short on teachers at the moment, specifically for physical education. I want your opinion on these options."

"Uh… okay?" Rusty walked around the desk to see Principal Blue's computer screen. The screen displayed the files of several possible teachers. "Um, what do you want my opinion on?"

"If they're trustworthy!" Principal Blue exclaimed. "You knew Mr. Tiger was evil."

"Evil?"

"Yes." Principal Blue nodded. "You need to help me stop that from happening again."

"Well. I don't know anything about these people…"

"Read their files, then! I'll go get some coffee." Principal Blue then stood up and left the room. Rusty stared after her for a moment, then he returned his gaze to the computer. Oh well. He sat down and started reading the files.

When Principal Blue returned, he was still no closer to figuring out how trustworthy the possible teachers were. One of them, a Mrs. Grim, was a P.E. teacher at a school in Wythenshawe, and she was transferring to Chelford because her husband got a really good job in the town so they needed to move. Nothing seemed off about her, but Rusty knew how Chelford people could get about outsiders. Still, maybe that was a good thing? It meant she wouldn't be caught up in any drama from the town yet.

Another teacher, a Mr. Green, had a small criminal record for petty theft. It didn't look like he stole anything important, just some food from a grocery. He was born and raised in Chelford, and had moved to Wythenshawe to get his teaching degree. He was ready to begin his career and moving back to Chelford soon.

In Rusty's opinion, Mrs. Grim seemed like the better choice, since she had more experience, but Mr. Green was a Chelford native, and would fit in better at the school. Although, it looked like he went to East Chelford High(Shadow High), so that would be a slight issue if anyone cared.

"So, what have you decided?" Principal Blue asked.

"Uh, these two look fine. I haven't read the other files yet."

"Okay. Let me know when you're done." Principal Blue then pulled out her phone and dialed a number. Rusty stared at her from the corner of his eye as he pulled up the next file. "Hey, Lisa, how are you?" Principal Blue asked.

Rusty tried to tune out her conversation as he read. This might take a while.

Eventually, he had read all the files, and he couldn't find fault in any of them. That didn't mean they were good people, of course, but there was no reason to suspect anything of them just from their files. It wasn't like Rusty was some master detective or something, either, he just happened to be the one Raven told about Mr. Tiger.

Rusty went to bed that night feeling confused. He could almost ignore Lucas in the bed across from him. Almost.

The next day, Rusty was pulled out of class. Principal Blue explained why on their way out to the parking lot.

"There's a meeting of the school board today. We need to request more teachers." She said.

"Uh, okay." Rusty replied.

He didn't say anything as Principal Blue drove them in her car over to the building where the school board was meeting. She parked the car and led Rusty in the front door. But before they could make it to the meeting room, someone stopped them. Some sort of security, it seemed.

"IDs, please." He said.

"Here," Principal Blue showed her ID. The security guard turned to Rusty.

"Um, my ID?"

"Your school ID should work," Principal Blue prompted.

"Okay." Rusty took off his backpack and began to rummage through it, looking for his ID.

"I'm sorry, is this a student?" The guard asked.

"Yes, he's also my advisor."

"What?" Rusty looked up.

"Did I forget to mention that?" Principal Blue blinked.

"Um-"

"Sorry, but students are not allowed in the meeting room," The guard said.

"What? Why not?!" Principal Blue demanded.

"It's just not allowed. Besides, isn't it schooltime right now?"

"I've excused him for the day," Principal Blue revealed.

"Well, unexcuse him, because he's not allowed in the room."

"If he's not going, I'm not going," Principal Blue hissed.

"That's fine," The guard shrugged.

Principal Blue growled and spun around, marching for the exit. Rusty, who had just found his ID, scrambled to pack his backpack back up and race after her. She ranted about the unfairness in the car ride back to Thunder High.

When they got back, they went to her office, and Principal Blue quickly was enraged once more.

"They denied my request!" She shouted.

"What?"

"My request for more teachers! They've denied it! For Shadow High, apparently. Despicable. They're conspiring against us." Principal Blue turned off her computer, suddenly looking exhausted. "Just go back to class already."

"Okay." Rusty hurried out of the room.

Chapter Text

Chapter Three

Rusty left the building. It had been a few days since the school board meeting, and Principal Blue wouldn't stop pulling him from class to ask him for advice. Rusty was working hard to keep up with his work, though, so he hadn't fallen behind thankfully. Right now he was heading out to meet with Ms. Yellow, so they could discuss the Mr. Tiger situation. He might have been outsed from the school, but he was still in Chelford, presumably, and who knew what he was up to.

Rusty reached the gate and looked around. Ms. Yellow was nowhere in sight. Instead, however, he spotted two unknown students standing in the parking lot. They had Shadow High uniforms on, so Rusty readied himself for a fight. But that didn't happen. Instead, he realized they were sick.

"Help… please…" One of them whispered. Rusty almost reached out a hand to steady him, but he decided instead not to touch the clearly sick student.

"Do you need to see the nurse?" Rusty asked.

The students faces lit up. "Yes!" The other one said.

"Stop right there." It was Ms. Yellow. Rusty looked up at her, shocked she'd managed to sneak up on him.

"Ms. Yellow…" One of the students began, but Ms. Yellow cut him off.

"No. You go back to your own school, now. Don't infect Thunder High with your foolishness."

The students drooped, turning around and stumbling away. Ms. Yellow took Rusty's arm and dragged him back inside the gate of the school.

"Why'd you do that?" Rusty asked.

"It's that time of year again," Ms. Yellow grumbled. "Shadow High gets this terrible sickness… you can't cure it, but they'll be fine eventually. I can't imagine it would go well if a non-Shadow student got sick, though."

"Oh."

"Now, tell me about what happened."

After Rusty was done talking to Ms. Yellow, he headed inside the school building again. There was noise coming from an empty classroom, so he opened the door and peeked inside. Sitting at the desks was the two Shadow students from before, and sitting in a wheelchair in front of them was Cindy.

"Cindy!" Rusty called out. He entered the room quickly. He leaned down and quickly explained what Ms. Yellow had told him earlier. The Shadow students looked at him mournfully.

"It's fine, Rusty," Cindy interrupted. "I've been doing really well in health, I think I can cure it!"

"Ms. Yellow is an actual nurse, and she couldn't cure, why do you think that?" Rusty said in disbelief.

"Medicine has advanced since Ms. Yellow was a student," Cindy explained. "There's this new thing now, and I think it could work."

"Alright…" Rusty frowned. "But you have to be careful not to catch the sickness."

"I'm being careful!" Cindy insisted. "Come on, you should meet them."

"Uh, okay."

"This is White and Cloud," Cindy said. White and Cloud waved at Rusty.

"Oh, my son is named Cloud." Rusty mentioned.

"You have a son?" Cloud asked.

"Yeah. I have to… go now. Bye."

Rusty hurried out of the room.

Chapter Text

Chapter Four

"So…" Sandy purred, leaning on Rusty's arm. "Prom is coming up."

"Yeah," Rusty sighed. It was English class, and Mr. White hadn't shown up yet. "What about it?"

"Well," Sandy sat up straight. "You're the most popular student in school, you should have no problem getting a date, unlike the rest of us…"

"Do I have to go?" Rusty asked.

"What?" Sandy scowled. "Why would you ask that?"

"Just wondering…"

Sandy huffed and turned away. Rusty sighed again. Prom. It was right before spring break, so that was fun, but having to find a partner? Less fun. Who could he even go with? Raven and Gray had left the school, Cindy was a freshman so that was weird, maybe Sandy but she seemed upset with him at the moment so she probably didn't want to go with him, uh… who else was there that he would be fine with going with? He didn't know.

After English, Rusty went to Math class. Mr. Running wasn't there yet, so the class just talked. Rusty sat lonely at the front of the room. He might be popular according to Sandy, but with Gray gone, he had noone to talk to in Math class. Eventually, it was twenty minutes past the start of class, and everyone was sort of leaving and wandering down the hall. Rusty stood up and followed the group.

Suddenly, Damien ran into the hallway from outside, panting. He looked up at the group and made eye contact with Rusty. He scowled.

"You're in Mr. Running's class, right?" He asked. "He's outside, I saw someone attack him!"

"What?" The class erupted. Everyone immediately did the smart thing and ran outside. Rusty followed them.

By the side of the road, Mr. Running's body was lying on the ground. A figure was crouched over him, shaking his shoulder. Rusty's vision went red as he recognized the person. It was that Shadow student-White! Rusty ran forwards.

"Hey!" He called out. "Get away from him!"

White looked up, scared, and stumbled backwards from Rusty. Rusty's eyes suddenly went wide as he reached out a hand.

"Wait-!"

A car slammed into White and carried him away. Rusty stood there in shock, staring after the car. The class was whispering behind him. He stumbled away from Mr. Running's body, but then, out of a nearby bush, Mr. Tiger leapt forwards.

"Thunder High will be destroyed!" Mr. Tiger hissed. He slashed a knife at Rusty, who raised his arms. His arm was hurt badly, but then the class rioted, running at Mr. Tiger to protect Rusty.

Mr. Tiger, being a grown man, quickly outran the class and sprinted away. Rusty was frozen, blood dripping from his arm.

"You should go to the nurse," Someone said.

Rusty nodded and headed inside.

Chapter Text

Chapter Five

Rusty was silent as Ms. Spots bandaged up his arm. His mind was racing. His worst fear had been realized. Mr. Tiger was still out there-and he was attacking Thunder High! He was attacking Rusty.

"Alright, come back later so I can replace the bandage," Ms. Spots said. It was like her words were coming through a tunnel. Rusty blinked.

"Okay." He said. He stood up and left the room.

Wandering down the hall, Rusty went to check on Cloud. He entered the daycare and looked around. Mrs. Tiger was tidying something up in the corner. Her son, Bramble, was playing with her daughter, Tawny, and Swift. The triplets were babbling in a circle, poking some stuffed animal, and Ash was sleeping. However, Cloud was nowhere to be seen.

"Hey, Mrs. Tiger-" Rusty started.

"Oh, Rusty!" Mrs. Tiger's expression darkened. "I'm actually Ms. Golden, now, or I will be soon. I've left… that man."

"Oh, okay. Good." Rusty winced. "I mean-"

"No, it is good. Thank you for exposing the truth." Ms. Golden's eyes locked onto Rusty's arm. "Are you okay?"

"Uh… Mr. Tiger attacked me," Rusty mumbled.

"What?!" Ms. Golden shrieked, causing the babies to startle. "Oh no, I'm so sorry."

"Where's Cloud?" Rusty asked.

"He's-" Ms. Golden looked over to the bassinets. "He was sleeping just a moment ago." She frowned. She approached the bassinets and peered into each of them. "Huh…" She scanned the room for Cloud. "I don't know." Ms. Golden's expression became even more strained. "I'm so sorry- I don't know."

"Do you think Mr. Tiger took him?" Rusty asked, his pulse racing.

"What?" Ms. Golden asked faintly. "Oh no- I hope not. I- I need to talk to Principal Blue. Excuse me." Ms. Golden pulled out her phone and dialed a number. Rusty left the room, his mind feeling like mush. What was happening?

"Rusty?"

Rusty stopped walking. He looked up. It was Cindy.

"Rusty, have you seen Cloud, I can't find him." Cindy said.

"Cloud's missing," Rusty said dully. "I think Mr. Tiger took him."

"What?" Cindy frowned. "Wait-" Her eyes widened. "Your son! He's missing! Oh no! I- I was asking about the Shadow student, Cloud, not your son-"

"The other Cloud is missing too?" Rusty asked. "You think there's a plot against the Clouds?"

"What?" Cindy squinted. "Maybe??"

"I have to go find them." Rusty muttered. He pulled out his phone and messaged Ms. Yellow.

"Rusty, are you okay?"

"I have to…"

"Rusty!"

"What?!" Rusty scowled at Cindy, who flinched.

"Rusty, as a health student, I order you to get some rest," Cindy said. "You're not well."

Rusty stared blankly at her. "Okay."

Rusty turned around and stomped to his dorm. He checked his phone. No response. He opened the door to his dorm, and spotted Lucas sitting on Gray's bed. No. Lucas's bed. Gray was gone.

"Skipping class?" Lucas asked snidly. Then his eyes widened as he noticed Rusty's bandaged arm. "What happened?"

"Nothing," Rusty snapped. He went to his bed and took off his shoes.

"Are you-"

"Shut up." Rusty hissed. He crawled into bed and hugged his phone to his chest so he would wake up if someone messaged him.

"Whatever," Lucas huffed.

Rusty's eyes fluttered shut.

RING! RING!

Rusty jolted awake. Someone was calling him! Sitting up in bed, Rusty answered the call. He glanced across the room. Lucas was gone. Good.

"Rusty! Are you visiting again?" It was Raven.

"No," Rusty said. "Why?"

"Well, I thought I saw a baby with curly white hair, someone was carrying him by the school- um, probably just a coincidence, but he looked like your pictures, and-"

"I'm on my way." Rusty quickly put on his shoes and grabbed his backpack.

"What?"

Rusty hung up the call and hurried out of the room. Rusty made his way to the train station, taking the metro to get there faster. Just as he was about to buy a ticket, someone grabbed his arm.

"What?!" Rusty spun around.

"Jeez, it's me, Sandy!" Sandy exclaimed.

Rusty blinked at her. "What are you doing here?"

"I saw you leaving, uh, is your arm okay? Why are you-"

"Cloud's missing," Rusty interrupted.

"What?"

"My son. Is missing." Rusty said lowly. "Mr. Tiger attacked me. He probably took Cloud. Raven saw Cloud in Wythenshawe."

"Oh… I'm sorry," Sandy said. "I'm coming with you, then, let's go save him."

"Okay." Rusty agreed.

They got on the train together and rode to Wythenshawe. The whole ride there, Sandy tried to spark a conversation, but Rusty felt slow and sluggish.

"You should rest when we get back," Sandy said at some point.

"Okay." Rusty agreed.

When they got there, Rusty headed to Wythenshawe High to meet up with Raven. Raven and Barley were sitting outside.

"Hey, Raven," Sandy greeted.

"Hi Sandy," Raven said. He looked at Rusty. "What brings you here?"

"Cloud is missing," Rusty said. "Where did you see him?"

"Your kid is missing?" Barley asked, looking shocked.

"Yeah."

"I'll help you find him, then," Barley said.

"Uh, I saw the kid that looked like Cloud over there," Raven pointed to the far side of campus. "Past the gate."

"Let's go, then," Sandy said.

And so they began to search.

Chapter Text

Chapter Six

They ended up in an alleyway. Several people mentioned seeing a white haired boy carrying a white haired baby. Which meant it wasn't Mr. Tiger. But that didn't prepare Rusty for seeing who it was…

Cloud, the Shadow student, was crouched in the alleyway holding Cloud, Rusty's son. Shadow Cloud looked up, eyes wide when he saw Rusty.

"You lived!" He gasped.

"What the HELL are you doing with my son?" Rusty spat.

"I-I- I thought you were dead! I saw White get h-hit by the car, and then that man attacked you, so I- I stowed away on the train with your son, so we could escape Chelford!"

"How'd you manage to steal him?" Sandy asked.

"Steal? I just- I just walked in and took him! It wasn't stealing!" Shadow Cloud rose to his feet shakily. He flinched as Rusty harshly took baby Cloud away from him.

"Don't touch my son," Rusty said.

"It's too dangerous for a baby in Chelford!" Shadow Cloud wailed.

"I don't care!" Rusty snapped. He turned and stormed away.

Sandy, Barley and Raven hurried to catch up with him. Rusty's mind was a mess as he boarded the train back to Chelford, but something about the baby in his arms cleared his thoughts. His son. Technically his nephew. But still his son. Sandy sat next to him, cooing over Cloud.

"Is it…" Rusty trailed off.

"What?" Sandy looked up.

"Is it really too dangerous for a baby in Chelford?" Rusty asked hesitantly.

"No way," Sandy said, "I grew up in Chelford, and I turned out fine."

"Yeah, you did." Rusty agreed. Sandy was the perfect example of someone who grew up in Chelford and who turned out fine… better than fine. "You're awesome," Rusty muttered.

Sandy grinned. "Thanks."

Rusty stared at her for a moment. "You know… Cloud isn't actually my kid."

"He… isn't?" Sandy blinked.

"He's my nephew. My sister didn't want to keep him, so I pretended he was mine."

"Oh. So there was no secret girlfriend after all?" Sandy asked.

"Yeah."

"Cool!" Sandy grinned. "I mean- it's cool that you did that for your sister."

"Yeah."

Chapter Text

Chapter Seven

On the walk back to Thunder High, Rusty and Sandy passed by Sun Park. A single look inside told them that there was some kind of River High field trip happening. Gray was lingering by the entrance, so Rusty walked in to talk to him. Sandy followed hesitantly.

"Hey Gray!" Rusty called out.

Gray looked up, his expression brightening immediately. "Hey Rusty!" Gray said. He looked at Cloud. "What's the kid doing here?"

"Some Shadow High student kidnapped him, we had to go to Wythenshawe to get him back," Rusty explained.

"What?" Gray asked. "Did you just say someone KIDNAPPED him?"

"Yeah."

Sandy nudged Rusty, who turned to see Stone approaching.

"You two can't be here," Stone said. "River High only."

"Alright," Sandy said, dragging Rusty away. Rusty waved bye to Gray, and then left with Sandy.

They returned to Thunder High quickly after that, and landed in the middle of a huge commotion in the daycare. Principal Blue was shrieking, Ms. Golden was shrieking, the babies were shrieking, and Rusty cleared his throat when he entered the room. They all looked at him.

"I found Cloud," Rusty said.

"Oh thank goodness," Ms. Golden said, rushing over to take him.

"What happened?" Principal Blue asked.

"A Shadow High student took him," Rusty said grimly.

Principal Blue's expression hardened. "Really?" She stalked out of the room, headed for her office. Rusty didn't follow, even though she probably wanted him to. He needed to rest.

The next day, there was a basketball game between Thunder High and Shadow High. Rusty watched it silently. He felt better after resting, but his usual enthusiasm towards basketball hadn't come back yet. Whatever.

Chapter Text

Chapter Eight

"So that's what happened," Rusty finished explaining. Cindy looked at him in horror.

"I'm so sorry! I didn't think Cloud would do something like that-"

"It's not your fault, you did the right thing," Rusty interrupted.

"Still…" Cindy sighed. "I can't believe White died like that."

Rusty winced, remembering how White and Cindy were both hit by a car. Cindy survived getting her leg run over, but White was carried away and didn't survive.

Mr. Lion was finally back from the hospital, teaching math again. Good thing, too, because with Mr. Running gone, there was no one else to teach the subject to them. Rusty reflected that Gray would probably love to hear that Mr. Lion was back.

After school, Rusty texted Gray to let him know. Sandy came to sit next to him in the library, and they did their homework quietly. Well, quietly up until Sandy started talking.

"So… Rusty. Have you asked anyone to prom yet?" Sandy asked.

"Um. No." Rusty had been a little busy.

"Is there anyone you want to ask to prom?" Sandy prompted.

Rusty stared at her. He felt like there was something he was missing. "Uh… I don't know." He said lamely.

Sandy sighed. "Alright, so I'll do it then." She took a deep breath. "Rusty, will you go to prom with me?"

"H-huh?!" Rusty jolted, dropping his pencil.

Sandy looked at him expectantly.

"I- I mean… Yes!"

Chapter Text

Chapter Nine

Rusty was sitting in class like normal, when out of the blue the fire alarm started going off. The class quickly left the building, lining up outside on the field. Rusty followed them hesitantly, unsure what the proper protocol was for this kind of thing, since he'd never been there for a fire drill before. He looked around for the kids. Ms. Golden was holding a baby nearby, with several other babies in the arms of adults surrounding her. Thankfully, Cloud was there. Rusty sighed in relief.

"Where's Bramble?" Ms. Golden was asking. Rusty tensed up.

"I don't know," Someone responded. "Didn't you take him when you left?"

Rusty turned back towards the building. A fire was roaring somewhere near the cafeteria, smoke billowing out of the windows. There was a baby in there? Before Rusty knew it, his legs were carrying him back into the building. He ran down the hall towards the daycare. He opened the door and spotted the baby at once.

The fire was licking the ground in the daycare, and a small boy was crying next to it.

"Mama!" Bramble cried out. Rusty was frozen. This kid looked just like Mr. Tiger. How could he have forgotton? This is Mr. Tiger's son. Rusty shook away the thought and leapt into action. He grabbed Bramble and turned to run back out of the building.

Once outside, Rusty handed Bramble to a crying Ms. Golden, who thanked him profusely. Principal Blue was also there, clapping Rusty on the shoulder and saying something about heroics and bravery. Rusty was distracted by the fleet of buses that was pulling into the parking lot.

He saw Ms. Leopard get out of the first bus, Gray next to her. Ms. Leopard walked over to Principal Blue.

"Principal Storm sent these buses to help you evacuate," Ms. Leopard said.

Prinicpal Blue smiled. "Thank you, Faith." She said. Ms. Leopard made a face at the mention of what must have been her first name.

"Gray, what's going on," Rusty whispered.

"I got the notification for the fire," Gray said. "I forgot to change my notifs from Thunder to River. So I told Ms. Leopard about the fire and she convinced the principal to send a bunch of buses."

Chapter Text

Chapter Ten

Rusty brightened up, seeing Ms. Yellow appear in the doorway. He was at the donut shop again.

"Hey kid," Ms. Yellow said, sitting down across from him.

"Ms. Yellow! Did you find anything else out about Mr. Tiger?" Rusty leaned forwards.

"Not yet, but I do have an important job coming up. Unfortunately, it involves me going deep undercover. We won't be able to meet up again for the foreseeable future. I've deleted your number from my phone, and I'd like to ask you not to call or message me until I've found you again after everything's over."

Rusty blinked. "You… you're going away?"

"Not away, undercover."

"Aw. Well, that's kind of cool, I guess."

Ms. Yellow laughed, and that was that.

Thunder High was charred, but still salvageable. Rusty was witness to Principal Blue bemoaning the loss of some expensive equipment to the fire, but for the most part the school was untouched. The dorms were fine, for example, as were most of the classrooms. It was really just the cafeteria and the nearby rooms that were hit by the flames.

Rusty finished up the last of his winter classes, and he was looking forwards to spring break. Maybe he would finally get a chance to practice enough to join the basketball team!

Chapter Text

Chapter Eleven

It was time for prom. Rusty adjusted his suit nervously. The school provided outfits for everyone, so it wasn't his, but he still wanted to look nice. After a little bit of fidgeting around, he sighed and left his dorm. Sandy was waiting for him in the cafeteria. All the tables had been moved out of the room, and moody lighting was shining from the ceiling.

The room was still pretty burnt up from the fire, but that didn't mean prom was ruined. Sandy extended a hand to Rusty, and he took it hesitantly. They moved to the dance floor, where everyone was stumbling over their own feet. Rusty was perhaps the worst dancer there, but Sandy didn't seem to mind.

They moved to the snack bar after a bit, and Rusty eyed a bowl full of m&m's.

"This is nice, huh?" Sandy said, barely audible over the music.

"Hmm? Yeah." Rusty swallowed a handful of candy. "It's really nice."

Sandy smiled at him, and Rusty smiled back. When she turned to her food, he let his gaze drift over the room. Dustin was there, dancing with a girl named Fern. Baby Ash's older sister, if Rusty remembered correctly. Lucas and Damien also had dates. Pooki and Bloxunay? Whatever, Rusty didn't know those girls, he'd just heard of them briefly. Grass was dancing with Shia, and Dotty was dancing with Smiley. A pair of sophomores named Timothy and Blake were dancing together, and Cindy was wheeling around the dance floor, waving her arms to the music. Did she not get a date? That was sad.

"Come on Rusty," Sandy whispered. They moved back to the dance floor.

Soon enough, it was late at night, and everyone was leaving, laughing with their dates as they told jokes and poked each other.

Sandy led Rusty to the dorms, and Rusty had a great idea.

"Hey, Lucas said he was going to be away tonight, want to hang out in my dorm?"

And so they did.

Chapter Text

Chapter Twelve

Everyone was eating in the cafeteria. The tables had been put back into place after prom, so it was normal again. Well, normal except for the scorch marks on the walls, floor and ceiling. Sandy was grinning at Rusty, who grinned back while they ate pancakes.

"Tonight's the gathering," Sandy mentioned.

"Yeah!" Rusty replied. "I wonder what the other schools have been up to."

Principal Blue then stalked into the room, marching right up to Rusty. Rusty quickly finished eating and turned to look at her.

"Hi, Principal-"

"Mr. Fireheart, come with me." She demanded. She then turned around and marched back out of the room. Rusty gave an apologetic glance to Sandy and went to follow the principal.

Once in her office, Principal Blue let out a sigh. "This is a disaster," She said.

"What is?"

"The fire! Everything is so expensive, and we need to replace so much equipment-" Principal Blue sunk into her seat. "I need to work on this more. I don't have time to go to the gathering tonight. Can you lead it instead?"

"What?" Rusty blinked. "I'm just a student."

"You're not just a student, you're the student that saved me from Mr. Tiger. You knew the truth before anyone else."

Rusty opened his mouth to protest, but she cut him off.

"You're the only option, Rusty. You have to do this. Dismissed."

"Um, okay." Rusty left the room and headed back to the cafeteria.

"What did Principal Blue want?" Sandy asked.

"Uh, she wants me to lead the gathering in her place."

"Huh?!" Sandy gaped. "But you're a student!"

"I know!" Rusty griped. "I have no idea what to do."

"Did you say you're leading the gathering?" Grass asked from the next table over.

"Oh great, a home-schooled kid leading the gathering," Dustin muttered.

"You'll do great," Sandy amended, clapping Rusty on the shoulder.

"Oh joy," Rusty muttered.

That night, Rusty led the school out to the buses. Mr. White took charge in talking to the bus drivers, which Rusty was thankful for, but once they'd driven to Chelford Park, Rusty had to lead the school from the parking lot to the park itself.

Sandy gave him a thumbs up and went to find a seat. Rusty gulped and approached the stage. He stepped up onto it, shrinking back from the judgemental gazes of Principal Tall and Principal Storm.

"What are you doing?" Principal Tall asked.

"Um, Principal Blue said I needed to lead the gathering in her place," Rusty explained.

"Did she now?" Principal Tall narrowed his eyes.

"Where's Principal Night?" Rusty asked, looking around.

"I think he died from the Shadow High sickness," Principal Storm said casually. Rusty stared at him.

"He died?" Rusty's throat felt dry at the thought. "Then who's the new principal?"

"That would be me." Came the voice. Mr. Tiger stepped up onto the stage.