Gabriel's POV
Tuesday, August 31, 2021 — 7:00 AM
Caliban Hall, Room 209
The coffee grounds smelled like the beans from the Weathervane—dark, rich, with that faint hint of chocolate Gabriel had learned to recognize. He measured them with the same precision Alaric had drilled into him: Control begins with consistency. Consistency prevents chaos.
It wasn't a conscious thought anymore. Just part of the motion.
He tamped the grounds into the portafilter, movements automatic. The espresso machine hissed as he locked it into place, steam curling toward the ceiling.
Xavier was already dressed, sitting on his bed with his sketchbook open. Not drawing—just watching Gabriel's morning ritual with that quiet, observant expression he wore when he was dissecting someone's mood.
"You're different this morning," Xavier said.
Gabriel glanced up. "Different how?"
"Less rigid." Xavier's pencil started moving now, quick and sure. "Your shoulders aren't trying to hold up the entire building."
'Am I?'
He checked himself—posture straight but not locked, jaw set but not clenched. Hands steady. Calm. Not the white-knuckled control he usually held over everything.
"Yesterday was..." He hesitated, searching for a word that didn't sound weak. "...Good."
"Yeah." Xavier smiled slightly. "It was."
Gabriel ran a hand through his hair—and felt it catch on something. Small. Gritty. He frowned, looking at his fingertips.
Pink and silver glitter.
Still there. Four days later and that ridiculous craft glitter from Saturday's incident with Enid refused to wash out. This morning, it didn't feel like contamination.
It felt like... a reminder.
'More days like yesterday.'
The thought settled in his chest. Not heavy like fear—warm, almost hopeful.
The espresso finished. Gabriel added honey—just a drizzle, the way Enid took hers. 'When did that start reminding him of her?' He didn't think about it too hard. Just stirred, watching the golden spiral fade into the dark.
"You ready for class?" Xavier stood, still sketching with absent focus.
Gabriel took a sip. Perfect temperature. Perfect balance. "Yeah."
They headed for the door. Gabriel grabbed his thermos—he couldn't exactly bring the espresso machine—and followed him out.
The door across the hall opened at the same time.
Ajax bounced out, green-striped beanie crooked, grin wide. "Morning! Perfect timing!"
Behind him came another figure.
Male. Roughly Gabriel's height. Athletic build. Pyro, judging by the faint smoke scent. Dark hair, sharp features, and the most intimidating resting expression Gabriel had seen outside a mirror. Not angry—just... distant. The kind of face that made people instinctively move aside.
The guy—Ajax's roommate—barely glanced at them. His gaze skimmed over Gabriel and Xavier like they were furniture.
"Later," he said, voice rough and blunt.
He turned and walked down the hallway without waiting for a reply.
People shifted out of his path. A freshman even pressed himself against the wall as he passed.
'Intimidating,' Gabriel thought. 'Deliberately, or just... naturally?'
"See you out there, man!" Ajax called, undeterred.
The guy didn't respond. Just kept walking, shoulders set, stride steady, until he turned the corner and vanished.
"Your roommate?" Gabriel asked.
"Yeah! Reid Brenner. Pyro." Ajax grinned. "He's... intense. But cool."
"He didn't acknowledge us." Gabriel's tone stayed neutral—an observation, not judgment.
"He's not super social," Ajax said, shrugging. There was an easy acceptance in his voice. "Yet. Anyway—TODAY!"
Xavier arched an eyebrow. "You're vibrating."
"Because today is SPECIAL!" Ajax's whole body seemed to buzz with excitement.
Gabriel frowned. "...It's Tuesday."
Ajax and Xavier shared a look—amused, secretive.
'They know something.'
Gabriel's awareness sharpened. "What am I missing?"
"You'll find out," Xavier said, still sketching as he walked.
"It's gonna be AWESOME!" Ajax practically bounced beside them, energy spilling over.
Gabriel looked between them—Xavier's calm, Ajax's chaos—and realized something. He wasn't bracing for disappointment or danger. He wasn't overanalyzing.
He was just... walking with them.
"Is this dangerous?" he asked carefully.
"Depends on your definition of dangerous," Xavier said, not helping at all.
Ajax laughed. "It's tradition! You're gonna love it! Or—well, at least experience it!"
'That's not reassuring.'
But Gabriel noticed he wasn't pulling away. The light through the tall windows caught the glitter in his hair—tiny sparks of pink and silver. His coffee thermos was warm in his hand. Grounding. Familiar.
'More days like yesterday.'
If today was anything like that—chaotic, unpredictable, but somehow good—he could handle it.
Even if he had no idea what "it" was.
"Come on!" Ajax called, spinning backward as he walked. "First period waits for no one! Especially not on a day like TODAY!"
"You're going to trip," Gabriel said.
"I never trip!"
"You tripped yesterday. Twice."
"That was YESTERDAY!" Ajax turned just in time to dodge a senior vampire. "See? Perfect spatial awareness!"
Xavier caught Gabriel's eye. Shared a quiet moment of amused exasperation.
And Gabriel felt that warmth again. Subtle. Steady. The fragile kind of hope that didn't yet know its name.
'Maybe today will be good too.'
He took another sip of coffee—sweet, dark, perfectly balanced—and followed his friends down the hall toward whatever "today" meant.
---
Gabriel's POV
Gabriel pushed through the heavy wooden doors and stepped into the quad.
Then froze. From pure, stunned confusion.
The quad had transformed into a war zone.
A laughing war zone.
Fire spiraled through the air in controlled burst, lighting up the morning with orange-red flames that dissipated before touching anything flammable. A siren's song echoed from somewhere near the fountain, compelling a cluster of students to perform what looked like an interpretive dance. They were laughing even as their bodies moved against their will.
And the statues.
Gray stone statues scattered across the quad like avant-garde sculptures. Students caught mid-run, mid-laugh, mid-scream. Perfectly preserved in stone. Arms raised defensively. Mouths open in surprise. One unfortunate vampire frozen in an undignified crouch, clearly caught trying to dodge.
'What—'
A girl with animated drawings chasing her sprinted past Gabriel, shrieking with laughter. The drawings—wolves made of ink and charcoal—snapped at her heels, their pencil-sketch teeth clicking together.
Xavier's work. His roommate had clearly already joined the chaos.
"PRANK DAY!" someone shouted from across the quad. "WATCH OUT!"
'Prank Day?'
Gabriel's mind raced, cataloging threats. Petrified students meant active gorgons. Fire meant pyros. Siren songs. The chaos was organized—students were laughing, not screaming. This was intentional.
'This is a tradition. This is play.'
His threat assessment recalibrated. Not an attack. A campus-wide event where powers were being used freely, creatively, harmlessly.
'Ajax and Xavier knew. That's why they were excited.'
The air smelled like smoke and ozone, sharp with heat and laughter. Students dodged and weaved, pranking and counter-pranking, the quad a blur of color and noise.
Gabriel's senses picked up movement everywhere. Too many threats that weren't actually threats. His training screamed at him to find cover, assess the situation, control the variables.
'This isn't dangerous. This is...'
"Hey Gabriel!" Ajax's voice resounded behind him.
Gabriel turned automatically, lowering his guard because it was Ajax. Friend. Safe. No threat assessment needed—
That's a fatal error.
Time slowed in that horrible way it did when Gabriel realized he'd made a tactical error. Ajax's hand pulling the green-striped fabric up and away. The snakes underneath writhing free, exposed, their scales catching morning light.
'Oh. Shi—'
Gabriel's gaze locked with the snakes' golden, slit-pupil eyes. Multiple pairs. All focused on him with predatory intensity.
The petrification hit like a wave of ice.
It started at his feet. Cold spreading through his boots, through the leather and fabric, turning everything gray. Stone gray. The sensation traveled up his legs—muscles locking, bones hardening, skin transforming from flesh to granite.
Gabriel tried to move. Couldn't. His body had stopped obeying him.
The thermos in his hand turned to stone. He felt it happen—the metal cooling impossibly fast, the coffee inside freezing solid, the entire object becoming one piece of carved rock shaped like a thermos.
His clothes stiffened. Fabric becoming stone fabric, every fold and wrinkle preserved perfectly. The indigo blazer. His shirt. His tie. All of it transforming into gray granite carved to look like clothing.
'Can't—move—'
The cold reached his chest. His lungs stopped mid-breath. Heart stopped mid-beat. Every muscle locked in place. Gabriel's fingers froze around the stone thermos, unable to let go, unable to adjust his grip.
His vision started going gray at the edges.
The last things he saw clearly: Ajax's face, grinning with mischievous triumph. Xavier behind him, pencil already dancing on his sketchbook to document this. The quad chaos continuing around him like he was just another piece of scenery.
The petrification reached his face. His jaw locked. His eyes fixed in place, staring straight ahead at where Ajax had been. Even his hair—including those stubborn flecks of pink and silver glitter—turned to stone. Gray granite carved to look like dark hair with tiny sparkles.
His last thought before everything went gray and still and silent:
'...Got me.'
[Gabriel's POV ENDS - Complete Stone]
Gabriel Beoulve stood in the quad as a perfect stone statue. Caught mid-turn, facing where Ajax had been. His expression frozen between surprise and resignation—that split-second moment when he'd realized what was happening but accepted it. One hand held the stone thermos. His posture slightly defensive, weight shifted like he'd been about to move.
Even the glitter in his hair was stone now. Gray granite carved so precisely that every tiny speck was preserved, waiting to return to pink and silver when the petrification wore off.
The quad chaos continued around him. Students laughed. More pranks exploded. Fire and song and animated chaos.
Gabriel was just another statue now. Another prank victim waiting for the gorgon's power to wear off.
Ajax stood in front of his handiwork, grinning wide. "GOTCHA!"
Xavier was already sketching, his pencil moving rapidly across the page. Capturing the moment. Gabriel's frozen expression. The perfect timing. The ridiculousness of catching someone so carefully controlled in such a simple trap.
"He didn't even see it coming," Xavier said, amused.
"He TURNED TOWARD ME!" Ajax bounced on his toes. "I just said his name and he turned! Classic!"
Around them, Prank Day continued. Gabriel couldn't see it. Couldn't hear it. Couldn't feel the morning sun or smell the smoke or taste the coffee still frozen in stone inside the stone thermos.
For the next several hours Gabriel was just stone. Gray, silent, frozen in that moment of surprised resignation.
---
Enid's POV
"This is INSANE!" Enid grabbed Yoko's arm as they stepped into the quad. "The orientation packet did NOT prepare me for this!"
The quad was absolute pandemonium. Fire spiraling through the air. Siren songs compelling random dance numbers. Stone statues scattered everywhere. Students running, laughing, dodging, pranking.
Yoko, sunglasses firmly in place, sidestepped an animated charcoal wolf that skittered past. "Prank Day is always like this."
"You KNEW?!" Enid's voice went up an octave. "You knew and you didn't WARN me?!"
"I told you this morning to expect chaos." Yoko's tone was perfectly deadpan. "You said, and I quote, 'Chaos sounds AMAZING!'"
"I thought you meant normal chaos! Not—" Enid gestured wildly at everything. "—POWERS chaos! There are STONE PEOPLE, Yoko!"
"Gorgons." Yoko guided Enid to the left, avoiding a gorgon who was lifting their beanie nearby. "Don't make eye contact with exposed snakes."
"I KNOW that but—oh gosh oh gosh—" Enid ducked as an animated drawing swooped overhead. "Is that a FLYING charcoal wolf?!"
"Xavier's work, probably."
The chaos was overwhelming in the most wonderful way. Enid's werewolf senses were on overload—smoke from controlled fires, stone dust, the metallic scent of various outcast powers activating. Laughter everywhere. Shouts. Siren songs echoing off stone walls.
'This is NEVERMORE. This is what I hoped for. Outcasts just... BEING outcasts. Powers used freely. Joy everywhere.'
A massive spiral of fire erupted across the quad—orange and red flames twisting upward in elaborate patterns before dissipating harmlessly.
"WHOA!" Enid's eyes went huge. "That's AMAZING control! Who—"
"Pyro." Yoko's gaze tracked the source. "Someone skilled."
Near where the fire had been, Enid spotted Ajax and Xavier. Ajax was bouncing excitedly next to a gray stone statue. Xavier sat cross-legged on the ground, sketching.
'Wait. That statue looks...'
Enid pulled Yoko toward them, weaving through the chaos. As they got closer, the statue's shape became more recognizable. Tall. Lean. Caught mid-turn with one hand raised, holding something cylindrical—maybe a thermos? The posture was slightly defensive, weight shifted like frozen mid-step.
The facial expression—what Enid could see in the stone carving—looked surprised but resigned.
Her stomach dropped. "Oh no—is that—"
She circled the statue. The height matched. The build matched. The way he stood—controlled even when caught off-guard—that matched too.
"Gabriel?" Enid's excitement crashed into concern.
"Got him!" Ajax appeared beside them, grinning with pride. "First try! Just called his name and he turned right toward me!"
Xavier glanced up from his sketch. "Classic misdirection. He didn't even see it coming."
Enid stared at the completely gray statue. No colors. No details beyond what was carved in stone. Just smooth granite shaped like a person she recognized by posture alone.
"But he'll be okay, right?" Enid reached toward the statue, then stopped herself. 'Touching won't help.' "How long will he—"
"Few hours!" Ajax bounced. "Standard stone-gaze! Three to five hours, usually!"
'Three to FIVE hours?!'
Enid looked at the frozen stone face. Even carved in granite, she could read that expression—the surprise, the acceptance. Like he'd expected this. Expected to be targeted.
'But it's not targeting,' she realized, looking around at all the other stone statues scattered across the quad. Seniors frozen mid-laugh. Freshmen caught trying to dodge. Different species, different social groups. The gorgons were pranking everyone indiscriminately.
'This is inclusion. Ajax pranked him because he's part of the group.'
The warmth that thought brought settled in Enid's chest, pushing away the concern.
"He's going to be SO confused when he unfreezes," Enid said, giggling now despite herself.
"That's the POINT!" Ajax's enthusiasm was infectious.
Yoko stepped closer to the statue, arms crossed. "He looks resigned."
"Right?" Xavier added a shadow to his sketch. "Most people freeze looking panicked or angry. He just... accepted it."
'Like he expected to be pranked. Just accepted it as inevitable.'
That hurt Enid's heart a little. But looking around at the chaos—at all the other victims, at all the laughter, at the clear joy everyone was experiencing—she understood.
'When he unfreezes, I hope he sees this is fun. I hope he understands it's not an attack. It's participation. It's being included in the tradition.'
More fire spiraled across the quad—those same impressive controlled patterns. Whoever that pyro was, they were GOOD.
"Okay but seriously—" Enid pointed. "—that fire control is INCREDIBLE. Who is that?"
"My roommate!" Ajax pointed proudly toward a distant figure. Enid squinted but couldn't make out details from here. Tall, controlled movements, intimidating posture. "He's amazing with fire!"
A siren song suddenly swelled nearby—compelling a group of students into synchronized movements. They flailed and laughed, their bodies moving against their will into what looked like... was that the Macarena?
"Oh gosh—" Enid clamped her hand over her mouth, trying not to laugh too loud at their exaggerated movements.
"Sirens are enjoying themselves," Yoko observed dryly.
"This is AMAZING!" Enid bounced on her toes. "I want to participate! I want to DO something!"
Yoko's mouth twitched, just slightly. "Wait here."
Before Enid could ask, Yoko blurred out of sight.
"Hey—what the—!"
"That's mine!"
"Who took—HEY!"
Shouts erupted across the quad. Students stumbled and spun, prank supplies vanishing from their hands and satchels.
A second later, Yoko reappeared beside Enid, arms full of loot—paint bombs, glitter bombs, even a bag of fake spiders.
"Well," she said, dropping the pile at Enid's feet with a smug smirk, "you'll need these if you plan on really joining in."
Enid blinked. Then lit up. "You're the best!"
Ajax bounded over, eyes wide. "That's so sick! Can I have some too?!"
"You know they'll chase you after this," Xavier said without looking up, still sketching as one of his ink wolves circled playfully.
"Not unless we chase them first," Yoko said. She turned to Enid. "What do you think, Glitter Girl?"
Enid's grin turned wicked. "Oh my GOD, I'm in!"
She grabbed a glitter bomb—rainbow sparkles visible through the clear balloon exterior. Perfect. Beautiful. Chaotic.
"You're going to hit yourself with that," Yoko predicted.
"That's part of the FUN!" Enid scanned the quad for a target. Not Gabriel's statue—that felt mean while he was frozen.
There. A group of upperclassmen gorgons lounging another side of the quad, looking smug about avoiding pranks so far.
'Perfect.'
"Yoko, I'm going in!"
"I'm not stopping you." But Yoko positioned herself to watch Enid's back.
Enid crept closer, glitter bomb in hand. Her werewolf senses helped—she could hear the gorgons' conversation, could smell their distinctive scent, could time her approach.
She pulled back her arm.
Threw.
The glitter bomb sailed through the air in a perfect arc. Hit the cobblestones right in the center of the gorgon group.
EXPLODED.
Rainbow glitter EVERYWHERE. The gorgons shrieked—one jumped, but still got covered. Another tried to speed away but just spread the glitter further. All of them were suddenly coated in sparkling rainbow chaos.
"DIRECT HIT!" Enid pumped her fist in the air.
One of the gorgons—still sparkling—pointed at Enid. "You're DEAD, freshman!"
"Gotta catch me first!" Enid sprinted back toward the supply loot, laughing the whole way.
'I DID IT! I actually PRANKED someone! On PRANK DAY!!'
The joy was overwhelming. Pure. Uncomplicated. She was part of the tradition now. Actually ENGAGING with the chaos.
Yoko appeared beside her at the supply table. "Three gorgons are now hunting you."
"Worth it!" Enid grabbed two more glitter bombs and a paint bomb for good measure. "Did you SEE how much glitter—"
"Everyone saw." Yoko's mouth was definitely twitching now. "You're completely unsubtle."
"Subtlety is BORING!" Enid spotted another target—another gorgon who'd been stone-gazing people left and right. "Besides, they're ALSO playing! That's the POINT!"
She threw another glitter bomb. Missed. It exploded harmlessly against a wall, leaving a pink sparkle stain.
"Your aim needs work," Yoko observed.
"My ENTHUSIASM makes up for it!"
Everyone was laughing. Even the gorgons she'd hit were grinning now, plotting revenge but enjoying the game. The gorgon she'd missed was laughing too, adjusting their beanie.
'This is what Nevermore is supposed to be. Not hiding. Not suppressing. Just... BEING. Using whatever we have—powers or paint bombs or pure enthusiasm—to create joy.'
Enid glanced back toward Gabriel's statue one more time. Still frozen. Still gray. Still locked in that moment of surprised acceptance.
And despite knowing he'd be stuck for hours, Enid felt hope.
'When he unfreezes, maybe he'll see the joy in this. Maybe he'll participate—throw a paint bomb, set up a prank, SOMETHING. Maybe he'll see this is inclusion.'
Because Gabriel deserved this. Deserved to experience the joy of tradition. Deserved to be part of the chaos instead of just enduring it.
A paint bomb exploded near Enid's feet—purple splatter everywhere. One of the gorgons had gotten revenge.
Enid looked down at her purple-covered shoes and paint-splattered uniform.
Then laughed. Pure, delighted, uncontrollable laughter.
"You're covered in paint," Yoko said.
"I KNOW!" Enid grabbed another glitter bomb. "Isn't it PERFECT?!"
She threw herself back into the chaos—throwing bombs, dodging pranks, getting hit, laughing the whole time. Paint and glitter accumulating on her clothes and hair and skin.
This was her first Prank Day at Nevermore.
---
Ajax's POV
Ajax was having the BEST day.
Prank Day! His first real Prank Day at an actual outcast school! He'd read about it in the orientation packet, but LIVING it was so much better. He'd stone-gazed three people so far—three!—and everyone could only accept their fate without fear. This was AMAZING.
Gabriel's statue stood exactly where Ajax had left it—gray granite frozen mid-turn, one hand clutching that stone thermos. The expression carved in stone looked surprised but resigned.
'I got him so good,' Ajax thought with satisfaction. He was sitting on the quad grass nearby, watching Reid coordinate fire pranks with some other pyros. Xavier was beside him, sketchbook open, drawing Gabriel's frozen form.
"You think he'll be mad when he unfreezes?" Ajax asked.
"Probably." Xavier didn't look up from his sketch. "But he'll get over it."
"It's tradition! He can't be mad about tradition!"
Crack.
The sound was quiet. Almost missable under the quad chaos. But Ajax's head snapped toward Gabriel's statue instinctively.
'Did that come from—'
CRACK.
Louder this time. Definite. A thin dark line appeared across Gabriel's stone chest. A fracture. Spreading slowly like ice cracking under pressure.
Ajax's stomach dropped. "Uh. Xavier?"
"I heard it." Xavier was already standing, sketchbook falling from his hands.
CRACK. CRACK. CRACK.
More lines. Spreading faster now. Across Gabriel's torso. Down his arms. Up his neck toward his face. The gray stone splitting apart like something inside was trying to break free.
"No no no—" Ajax scrambled to his feet, his heart suddenly pounding. "That's not—stone-gaze doesn't—"
The cracks spread wider. Deeper. Chunks of stone shifted slightly with horrible grinding sounds.
'Oh god. Oh GOD. He's breaking. The statue is BREAKING. Gabriel's—'
"Ajax, what's happening?!" Xavier's voice was high. Panicked. "Is he—"
"I don't KNOW!" Ajax's hands flew to his beanie, gripping it. His snakes were writhing underneath, agitated by his panic. "He's—the statue's cracking! Stone doesn't DO this! Stone-gaze doesn't CRACK like this!"
CRACK.
A major fracture line split down Gabriel's face. His frozen expression divided by the spreading crack. Pieces of stone shifted, grinding against each other.
Ajax felt like he couldn't breathe.
'I did this. My stone-gaze did this. I looked at him and now he's—he's breaking apart. What if he DIES? What if when the stone breaks he's just—he's GONE—'
"Should we—" Ajax's voice cracked. "Should we get help?! A teacher?! The nurse?! I don't—"
His hands were shaking. Actually shaking. He'd never hurt anyone before. Never. His parents always said gorgons had to be CAREFUL, had to make sure they never, ever hurt someone accidentally.
And he'd been so PROUD of getting Gabriel. So satisfied. And now—
'I killed him. Oh god, I killed my friend. This is my fault. This is—'
"Ajax—" Xavier grabbed his shoulder. "Ajax, look—"
The cracks stopped spreading.
For one horrible second, everything was still.
Gabriel's statue covered in fracture lines, looking like it might collapse into rubble any moment.
Then the stone texture started... changing.
Not shattering. Not crumbling. The gray granite surface was losing its solidity. The color shifting from solid gray to something lighter. The texture becoming less stone-like, more—
'What—'
The stone dissolved.
That was the only word for it. Like mist burning away. Starting at the cracks and spreading outward. Gray granite becoming pale skin. Stone clothes becoming actual fabric—indigo blazer, white shirt, tie. Stone hair becoming real hair with tiny flecks of pink and silver glitter visible again.
The thermos in Gabriel's hand shifted from stone to metal.
"What—" Ajax breathed. "What is—"
Gabriel gasped.
A huge, desperate inhale like he'd been underwater. His chest heaved. His eyes moved—actually MOVED—blinking rapidly, confused and disoriented.
His fingers flexed around the thermos.
He stumbled forward.
"GABRIEL!" Ajax lunged, hands out to catch him. "Oh god—are you—"
Gabriel caught himself. Steadied on his feet. Breathing hard. Looking around like he didn't know where he was.
"What—" His voice was rough. Hoarse. "How long was I—"
Ajax's hands trembled, his whole body vibrating with it. The terror hadn't faded—Gabriel was MOVING, was BREATHING, but Ajax had just watched him CRACK APART and he'd thought—
"Thirty minutes," Xavier said. His voice was weird. Too high. "Maybe less."
"That's..." Gabriel frowned, testing his limbs. "Normal?"
"NO!" The word burst out of Ajax. "It's not—you shouldn't—stone-gaze lasts HOURS! Three to five hours! You should be FROZEN still!"
'And you were CRACKING. You were breaking apart. I watched the stone split and I thought you were DYING.'
Gabriel looked down at himself. At his hands. At the thermos. "I feel... fine."
"You were CRACKING!" Ajax's voice broke. "The statue was BREAKING! I heard it and I saw it and I thought—"
He couldn't finish. Couldn't say it out loud. 'I thought I killed you.'
His eyes were burning. Actually burning. Ajax blinked hard.
'Don't cry. Don't cry in the middle of the quad. Don't—'
"Ajax." Gabriel's voice was quiet. Careful. "I'm okay."
"You were BREAKING APART!"
"But I'm okay now." Gabriel said it patiently. Steady. "Look at me. I'm fine."
Ajax looked. Gabriel was standing normally. Breathing normally. Alert. His posture controlled. The thermos in his hand was definitely liquid coffee again—Ajax could hear it splash around.
Not broken. Not crumbling. Not dead.
Just... fine.
'He's fine. He's okay. He's breathing and moving and fine.'
But Ajax couldn't shake the sound of that cracking. The sight of stone fractures spreading across Gabriel's face. The horrible, sick certainty that he'd killed his friend with his own power.
"I thought I hurt you," Ajax said. His voice came out small. Shaky. "Really hurt you. Like... permanently."
Something in Gabriel's expression shifted. Softened slightly. "You didn't."
"But the cracking—"
"Didn't hurt." Gabriel took a breath. "I couldn't feel anything while I was stone. Then I could feel again. That's all."
"That's ALL?!" Ajax's voice jumped up again. "You were STONE and then you were CRACKING and then the stone DISSOLVED and that's ALL?!"
"Ajax—" Xavier's hand was still on his shoulder. Grounding. "He's okay. Look at him. He's standing. He's fine."
But Xavier's voice was shaking too. Ajax could hear it. Xavier had been scared too. Had watched their friend's statue crack apart and thought—
'We both thought we were watching him die.'
"Thirty minutes." Xavier repeated it like he was trying to make it make sense. "You should still be frozen for hours."
"Maybe..." Gabriel paused. Choosing words carefully. "Maybe it works differently on me."
"Why?" Ajax demanded. "Why would it work differently? Stone-gaze is stone-gaze! It turns people to stone! For HOURS! You don't just—people don't just RESIST it!"
"I don't know why." Gabriel's tone was honest. Not hiding. "I don't know. I just know I'm okay now."
Ajax's hands were still shaking. He clenched them into fists, trying to stop it.
"You're weird," he said. It came out wrong. Not affectionate like he meant it. Just... shaken. "You're really, really weird."
"I know." Gabriel's voice was quiet.
"No, like—" Ajax gestured helplessly. "You shouldn't be ABLE to do that. Whatever you just did. That's not—that's not POSSIBLE."
"I didn't do anything. It just... happened."
"That's NOT BETTER!" Ajax's voice cracked again. "That's WORSE! You don't even know WHY!"
The quad chaos continued around them. Pranks and laughter and joy. But their little circle felt frozen—everyone trying to process what just happened.
Ajax kept seeing it. The cracks spreading. The stone splitting apart. The horrible certainty that when it broke, Gabriel would be gone.
His snakes writhed under his beanie. Agitated. Responding to Ajax's lingering panic.
"I'm sorry," Gabriel said suddenly.
Ajax blinked. "What?"
"For scaring you." Gabriel's expression was careful. Controlled. But something genuine underneath. "I didn't mean to."
"You—" Ajax laughed. It came out wrong. Too high. Almost hysterical. "You're apologizing? YOU'RE apologizing?! I'm the one who stone-gazed you!"
"You were participating in tradition. I turned toward you. Not your fault."
"But you CRACKED—"
"And I'm fine." Gabriel said it firmly. Final. "I'm okay, Ajax. You didn't hurt me."
Ajax wanted to believe that. Wanted the terror to fade. But he kept hearing those cracks. Kept seeing stone fractures spreading across his friend's face.
'What if next time it doesn't dissolve? What if next time he actually breaks?'
"Maybe..." Ajax's voice wavered. "Maybe I shouldn't stone-gaze you anymore."
"If you want." Gabriel's tone was neutral. Not hurt. Just accepting.
"I just—" Ajax swallowed hard. "I don't want to hurt you."
"You won't." Gabriel said it with certainty. Like he knew. "You didn't this time. You won't next time."
"How do you KNOW that?!"
"I don't." Gabriel admitted. "But I trust you anyway."
That shouldn't have helped. But somehow it did. Just slightly.
Ajax took a breath. Another. Trying to calm down. Trying to let go of the panic.
'He's okay. He's standing here. He's fine. He trusts me.'
But the fear didn't fully fade. The memory of those cracks wouldn't go away.
Xavier picked up his fallen sketchbook, looking at his half-finished drawing of the statue. His hands were shaking slightly too.
"That was..." Xavier trailed off. "I don't have words for what that was."
"Weird," Ajax supplied. His voice was still shaky. "Really, really weird."
"Yeah." Xavier looked at Gabriel. "You're concerning."
"I know."
Around them, Prank Day continued. But Ajax couldn't quite engage with it anymore. The joy had drained away, replaced by lingering unease.
'Gabriel's weird. Something's different about him. Something that makes stone-gaze work differently. Something that makes statues CRACK before dissolving.'
Ajax didn't understand it. And not understanding made him nervous.
But Gabriel was okay. Standing there. Drinking coffee. Still his friend.
That had to be enough.
Even if Ajax couldn't quite shake the sound of stone cracking apart.