Work Text:
„Are you sure this is a good idea?“ Call was sitting on one of the damp rocks near one of the many lakes of the caves, his bare feet dangling in the cool water. His stiff leg was grateful for the coolness after the long march down the tunnels.
Aaron, who was mirroring his position on a nearby rock, nodded grimly. He was currently busy trying to form a huge ball of water that he could levitate out of the lake. Havoc would have loved this. He had been sleeping on their couch though and Aaron had convinced him it might be better if they got in some practice without a giant chaos ridden wolf prancing merrily between their legs. Now Call watched with a skeptical look as the water bubbles kept busting again and again. He had seldom seen Aaron look so disheveled. His cheeks and neck were flushed from the exertion and a few strands of his too long hair were stuck to his sweaty forehead.
“We need to practice the other elements as well.” Aaron wiped at his forehead with his sleeve, fixing Call with a sincerity he rarely showed to anyone else. “We’ve been doing nothing but Makar training lately. I saw Tamara do this yesterday to annoy Jasper. It didn’t look difficult, but we still haven’t practiced much with water. I don’t want to fall behind the others just because I happen to be able to wield chaos magic.”
Call nodded gravely at his friend, or at least tried to, but the thought of a soaked Jasper stomping past them on their way back to their rooms the day before made it hard to suppress a smile. “Remind me to thank Tamara later!”
Aaron shot him a look that was half amused half exasperated. “When will you bury the hatchet?”
Call pouted. “After I buried him!”
Aaron looked at him strangely and Call winced inwardly and added another point to his evil overlord column. “Sorry, that came out wrong.”
His best friend merely shook his head at him and made another attempt at the water bubble. It kept drizzling, so Call tried to stabilize it, adding his own magic to Aaron’s. Their eyes met and Call thought he saw surprise there and gratitude. He felt somehow more stable, more relaxed than he had in days. Only Aaron had that effect on him. Where Tamara challenged him to test and overcome his own limits, Aaron grounded him. Master Rufus had been right when he explained that he chose them as a team. Together they outbalanced each other. Call had never before in his life felt that kind of security when Aaron and Tamara were with him.
They should have waited for her when their Makar training with Master Rufus had been cut short due to an urgent meeting. Call was about to open his mouth and voice his thoughts when he felt something drip on his hair. “What…”
“BOOOOH!”
He looked up just as a second water bubble burst over his head and sprayed him with water. Startled, he lost his balance on the rock and crashed headlong into the lake. He distantly heard Tamara’s laughter as he went under. She must have snuck up behind him. His head connected with something solid and his vision turned black.
“Call! Call? CALL!”
Call’s last thought was that he might have a bit more sympathy for Jasper now.
***
“Tamara!” Aaron’s concentration slipped when he heard her shout and his water bubble turned into a bucket full of cold water soaking his uniform. He almost missed Call’s head dive into the lake. A loud splash alerted him to his friend’s misery.
Tamara stood behind the rock Call had sat on only seconds before, roaring with laughter. Her pretty dark eyes sparked with mischief. He shot her a look of reproach. “That was mean, you know?”
The girl in question raised an eye brow. “So was going off without me… unless you had planned to tell Call something?” She wriggled her eye brows and Aaron felt his face flush. “That’s not what I…” he paused, bemused when he noted that Call hadn’t come up again. “Call!” He leaned over the surface of the water, squinting to see something in the darkness below.
Tamara’s expression had lost any humor as she joined him at the edge of the lake. “Call?” Her voice echoed slightly in the silence of the cave and they stared at each other in panic as the seriousness of the situation sank in.
“CALL!”
Aaron wasted no time and jumped in after him, feet first, as he had been taught in elementary school. The lake was deep and he could barely see anything. Then out of nowhere a ball of light flamed up next to him and Aaron risked a short glance up where he could see Tamara’s outlines on the edge. He was grateful to have someone like Tamara in their group. She was the most level headed out of all of them and always seemed to have some useful magic trick up her sleeve.
He dived after the light ball, looking around and growing more and more alarmed the longer he searched. Finally he spotted a dim glow in the shadows under him - one of the gems in Call’s bracelet. He could have cried from relief! Aaron felt around until he got hold of an arm, pulling his friend towards him. Call was limp in his arms and Aaron hurried to get them both back to the surface, the relief from before crushed by a new wave of fear. “Please don’t be dead,” Aaron prayed mentally as they broke the surface and he dragged his unconscious companion to the shore.
Tamara was there in an instant, checking Call’s state. She shot him a troubled look. “He’s not breathing!” Aaron’s heart felt ready to burst out of his chest. “Tamara!”
Proving her efficiency once more, Tamara wasted no other second and immediately began to perform CPR. Aaron hovered uncertainly next to his friends, watching anxiously as Tamara first performed chest compression and then switched to artificial ventilation. He felt a pang in his chest when he saw her press her lips on Call’s mouth and wondered what the hell was wrong with him. Time seemed to have frozen and then, finally, Call started to breathe on his own, only to quickly roll over and choke up lake water. He met Tamara’s glum expression. She didn’t have to say she was sorry for playing a prank on them. It was written all over her face.
Call had finally stopped coughing and clutched his head instead. He was clearly in pain.
“Let me see!” Aaron took hold of one of Call’s hands and tenderly pulled it away from its place, swallowing hard when he spotted the blood on it. Now Aaron was actually grateful for the hours of sand sorting. He lightly rested his hand on Call’s black curls, calling up earth magic to heal him. The wound sealed itself up slowly.
Call lay slumped on the ground and Aaron simply joined him there, feeling exhausted. His fist fastened on the material of Call’s sleeve. “It’s alright now, Call. Everything’s alright. We got you.”
Tamara had etched closer as well, her fingers lightly sifting through Call’s damp curls. “I’m so sorry.”
“Tamara?” Call croaked.
“Yes?”
“I really do feel bad for Jasper right now.”
Aaron made a noise somewhere between a laugh and a cry. Tamara rolled her eyes, the corner of her mouth twitching up. “You are impossible!”
They made their way back to their rooms slowly, Havoc stopping them halfway there and almost licking Call to death.
When they finally reached their rooms, Master Rufus was waiting for them. He took in their damp appearance and raised one single bushy eye brow. “I see you already practiced for tomorrow’s lesson then. Very well.”
The trio looked at each other, a sense of foreboding hanging in the air. “Tomorrow’s lesson?” Aaron dared to ask. He wasn’t sure, but he thought Master Rufus brow went up another millimeter.
“Yes Aaron, tomorrow the three of you will practice your control on the element of water.”
They groaned in unison and Aaron could swear he heard Call mutter “I quit,” under his breath.
Tomorrow was going to be a long day.
*End*