Chapter Text
On an early Monday morning, rare rays of sun were falling through the curtains, throwing dimmed light at a wall almost fully covered in posters or cutouts of some sorts. Strangely enough a lot of them depicted the same person. A certain boy with a crooked nose. On the other posters were cars or bloodrush players. There were shelves full of airplane models and a single bible standing out.
Ayrton Senna was awoken by a glim, that was shining right into his eyes. To wake up like this was better than being awoken by his sister or parents. It always felt like Sol himself was communicating with him, telling him to rise. And Senna being who he is liked talking to Him whether it be through the Bible or any other daily life occurrence.
As he opened his eyes his gaze fell onto a poster. A handsome boy with a crooked nose smiling and holding a trophy. It was, of course, his rival, Alain Prost. A very talented bloodrush player, the only person Ayrton considered his equal. He wondered what Prost did this summer…
His siblings, especially Viviane, were concerned with this obsession, but what do they know? It is a completely healthy rivalry. And what if they fought so much they got detention almost everyday? They could’ve just moved into the detention classroom, so often they’ve got detention last year. They might’ve even set a new school record.
Speaking of school, it’s gonna be his second year of adventuring academy. Senna awaited it with agitation. Even the fact that their wizard and his friend Gougelmin changed schools didn't make Ayrton’s excitement go away. But it was quite concerning, a party without a wizard might still be good, but only if he wasn’t there in the first place. Anyway a party with three members could still work out.
Like everyday, willing to hear a word of god, Ayrton opens the bible. Sometimes he asks a question and sometimes he just opens the book with a blank mind. Whatever line he sees first is what He tells him.
His eyes stopped on a sentence: My command is this: Love each other as I have loved you.
It was puzzling but Senna believed God, and so he believed it was meaningful. It will make sense eventualy.
After packing up his things he went to the dining room. It was empty, probably because his parents were busy and his sister was staying with her new boyfriend or whatever.
In the bus nothing special happened. Except that Piquet had somehow become more aggressive than ever. Ayrton was able to hear him from behind talking loudly. He also notices that Elio wasn't there. Maybe that’s why Piquet is so pissy. They were friends after all.
The sun rises in the sky over the beautiful dappled lawns, stone brick walls, ivy-covered trellises and statues of the Aguefort Adventuring Academy.
As Ayrton enters the school he notices a very familiar curly crown of the head. He stares at it not knowing what to say. Alain's head turns, as if he senses the gaze. The first thing Senna remarks is how tired Prost looks. His hair has become longer and messier and the eyebags are also bigger. What had happened to him?
Prost had reminded him of a sheep with all his curly hair…
The second thing Senna notices is Prost's annoyed look. To be fair he had been staring longer than expected without saying anything.
Senna smiles.
Prost stares blankly and then suddenly throws a punch at Ayrton. To say he didn’t expect it, would’ve been an understatement. He answers, of course, with a punch himself and they start fighting fiercely. None of them had used magic, only raw power. Fists fly in all directions. His heart beating fast, cheeks flushed. It makes him feel alive.
That’s when vice-principal Goldenhoard approached them.
“You two! Grow up already! I don’t want to repeat last year! Detention”, he says. Then he murmurs something like: “Honestly, at least from you two it was expected” and goes away.
“You… why do you have to make it worse?” Prost grits his teeth.
He hits him first and now he’s blaming Ayrton? What a prick.
“What are you doing? The school didn’t even start.”
Prost looked at him angrily.
As Alain opens his mouth the first bell rings, kids start running off to class. After that they hear Goldenhoard’s speech. The final bell rings and they start moving towards the hall.
They both stay quiet as they move to the assembly hall,not knowing what to say. Senna's friends are nowhere to be seen.
The silence is awkward.
While walking they encounter Piquet. As he notices Alain his face darkens.
“How’s your last day of school Prost? I’ve heard you’ve already got detention. Must be awful, you, ugly frog”, Nelson smiles gleefully.
Prost grits his teeth, but stays quiet.
“Piquet, are you dumb? Today’s the first day. Have you completely lost your mind?” Senna chimes in.
“Oh, so you don’t know yet, don't you?” asks Piquet.
What should he know? Ayrton looks at Prost inquiringly.
“Stop acting as if you do not know! News spread across this school like wildfire”, Prost snaps
Senna is even more confused now.
“How thought provoking!”, says Piquet.
“What do you want to hear? That I’m sorry for what happened to Elio? Or are you just happy that I’m leaving? The rumours, was it your doing?”
“Well no, but I think it’s true, you know…” he pauses. “With the amount of people that die or get severely injured around, you, Prost, might as well be cursed.”
Senna had got a feeling they forgot about him. To remind of himself he asked:
“But you aren’t getting expelled because of some superstitions, are you?” He wondered.
“Elio has died, which means our party no longer has enough participants, which means we need to enter another one.” Alain stated.
Elio de Angelis is dead. He was the nicest person ever. He was friends even with Piquet. He died? It took some time for Ayrton to process it.
“But it’s not like no one will take you in.” That would’ve been ridiculous.
The silence answered all his questions.
The shit eating grin on Piquet’s face made Senna angry.
As they had entered the assembly hall, they see the principle. He gives his usual speech about adventuring. After Augerford announces Elio’s death they sit still for a minute of silence, to honour the deceased.
Death doesn't happen at school that often, the year before no one had died. Some years were an exception, like that accident with Villneuve and Didier two years prior. At that time Ayrton wasn't at the adventuring academy, but the sad news spread everywhere.
Death… Senna thought about it from time to time, being an adventurer. How it can be so sudden. One day you know someone, and the next day they’re dead. Nigel is probably devastated.
And Prost… Ayrton feels pretty happy, to be frank. He leaves the school, and probably will go to the wizarding tower where he won’t see daylight until his hundreds. His life will be miserable. Absolute defeat. No more Prost. Sounds like heaven.
Yet there was a part of him that wasn’t satisfied. He put that dissatisfaction deep down, ignoring it.
While leaving the hall he notices Prost sneaking into the library direction. Ayrton assumes Prost isn’t going to the tryouts. Thre's no need.
At the field he sees some new faces. There’s a guy that is particularly good, but he’s not as good of a teamplayer, which means Daybreak probably wouldn’t take him in.
As the game goes on Senna feels like it is getting boring. Who is he supposed to compete against? Piquet?
And no one mentions him. How dare they? He was a good player and they don’t even miss him. Even the coach didn’t say anything! It enraged him. Prost is a thousand times better than Ragh. Yet somehow Ragh is the one staying.
It’s too boring. It can’t go on like that. There’s no fire. He cannot pick fights anymore, or better said he can, it's just not as stunning as competing with Alain, he was smart and strategic, whereas most of the players operate on brute force alone.
That’s when the understanding hit him. He’ll never see Prost again. At all. They’ll never compete with each other. No more fights or arguments. Was it going to allways be like that? The game is still fun, it just doesn't light him up like it used to. He is already better than all the players and the one to challenge him on equal terms is not there anymore.
As the day goes on the realization strikes him more and more. Ayrton tries to get distracted, he hangs out with Berger and Alesi. They pull up some pranks onto each other, make fun of freshman. It works for a while.
When the time for the detention comes the first thing he sees in the room is Prost reading a book. Light falls right into his direction making the curls shine. If looks equaled personality, the guy would’ve been an angel.
Ayrton comes in and sits on a desk nearby. It looks like there's a bunch of other kids who've got detention too.
Goldenhoard starts his tirade anew about behaviour and guilt. He heard all of the variations of it. He could recite them all in the middle of the night. After that professor Gibbons starts his usual questions. As if it would change something. When professor mentions family Prost flinches. While others talk, Senna catches Prost sneaking out of the classroom without anyone noticing, seems they’re too occupied. The newbies seem to actually feel guilty. Little innocent souls.
Curious, Ayrton follows Alain. As they move down the corridor he recognizes the library entry. The school is empty, no one to be seen.
Prost stops near a shelf holding an ugly yellow book he had been reading earlier. Something about glue and wax spells. Who even wrote that? No sane person would read it. Design was screaming cheap. What was this book doing in the library in the first place? Did the writer even get money for that?
Prost stays there staring at the book. Eyes full of sadness. Looking like a kitten that've been kicked mulriple times. What is he thinking about, Senna was wondering. Maybe it’s the last time Alain visits the school library. Or the school at all. Senna understands. This book is probably the last thing tying prost to the academy. When he leaves it it will be over.
And Senna came to a shoking realization, that he will miss Prost. Not because they were friends, but because it was fun to fight him, to compete against him, to have him beside on a podium everytime their team had won the bloodrush game. It was Prost, who inspired him to get better at the game. Alain is Senna's goal, to get better than him, to defeat him, that were things that motivated Ayrton since the beginning.
“I know you were following me”.
Makes sense, he’s a magical prodigy afterall. This school will be in shambles if the guy leaves. They were a bunch of morons not seeing the bigger picture.
“ You're probably happy, no? With me leaving...I don’t want to go, you know… To spend all my time in a tower...
Sounds like a nightmare. It isn’t fair, no one seems to care enough to do something. Even the principal. Can't he just make a party take him in? He's like the strongest guy out there.
That’s when they hear a scream. Both flinch. Prost leaves the book and starts running in the direction of the scream. Ayrton, not thinking long, grabs the book, hides it in his backpack and follows Alain.