Mario was wrapped up in his thoughts as he walked around Divinus Magia's island. Recently he'd met all the other dragon slayers at the Grand Magic games. It had been the first time all of them were in the same room together. It lead to some... Unexpected consequences.
For whatever reason it had created some sort of bond between them all. Him, Bryan, Collin, and Mitch all felt it at the same time. Mario then noticed quickly after that he was experiencing the same kind of protective instincts he had for Kit and Kay for them.
The others felt the same thing and eventually Bryan had asked Lo'pho about it and the cat then brought them all for a meeting with the leader of Grimshade, who explained a few things.
*Flashback*
Mario scowled as he leaned against the wall in the Protectors guild. He wasn't even sure why he was there, all he knew was that Lo'pho had dragged him here and Bryan was here as well.
Glancing at the brunet Mario asked. "Do you know what this is about?"
He laughed nervously. "I may have an idea..."
"And that would be?"
"Well I sort of told Lo'pho about the weird thing that happened at the GMG's..."
Mario groaned. "So what? Is he gonna explain what it means?"
Bryan shrugged. "I dunno. He just told me to wait here."
Mario sighed and started to pace the room. He noticed his senses automatically checking the place out for any danger and groaned again, putting his face in his hands. Ever since that night anytime he's in a room with any other dragon slayer he's constantly searching for danger. Even in rooms he knows are safe!
Looking at the other he noted Bryan was doing the same. He just wasn't as good at hiding it.
"Relax. Nothing gonna attack you here."
Bryan, seemingly without thinking, blurted out. "I'm not worried about anything attacking me." Then his mind caught up with his mouth and he blushed. "I, uh, ya'know..."
Before Mario could respond there was a surge of magic and four figures stepped out of the shadows. Lo'pho, Mitch, Collin, and Michael all appeared. Michael stumbled slightly and Collin grabbed his arm to keep him steady.
"Ugh, I hate shadow traveling so many people." The guild leader huffed as he righted himself. "Oh look at that, you're both already here."
"As I said they would be." Lo'pho cut in.
"So wanna explain what is happening here?" Mitch cut in glaring at everyone. (Although Mario noticed a distinctive lack of bite as his eyes landed on Bryan and himself.)
"Well," Michael began, "I'm going to teach you four about dragon pacts."
There was silence for a moment before Collin spoke up. "So what are dragon pacts?"
Michael shot him a glare and his posture grew threatening bas he snapped. "I'm getting to that."
Mario felt the hair on the back of his neck stand up as he took a step forward holding back a glare. He vaguely felt Mitch and Bryan do the same, Mitch going as far as stepping between the two.
"Don't speak to him like that!" Bryan growled.
After a second Michael relaxed. "That is a dragon pact."
"...What?" Mario would admit he was a little lost.
"You thought Collin was in trouble, and all reacted accordingly, without even meaning to I'd bet."
Lo'pho frowned. "I didn't expect you to show them that way, but whatever works I guess."
"Okay yeah, that happened." Mitch stepped away, an embarrassed flush appearing, only visable on half his face. "But what does that mean?"
"Well in verbal terms a dragon pact is what occurs when four or more dragon slayers meet together at the same time." He hesitated before adding. "Well if they're perceived as being on the same side by all parties at any rate.
"Essentially it is a sort of sibling bond between them. It is extremely rare, especially since dragon slayers themselves are so rare."
"Wait! Are you saying that were all siblings now!?" Bryan stared between shortest in the room. "Lo'pho is being serious!?"
"Yes." The warrior admitted. "I brought Michael because he knows a lot more about this than myself."
"So what? I'm stuck being completely freaked out over these idiots well being?"
"Well, yes and no." Michael answered Mitch with a sigh. "A dragon pact is a very unique and intricate magic. Think of it as like a woven cloth. It is many layers of different magic. Most of that magic is a sort of connecting of senses. That basically means that you are sensing mainly whatever the others feel." Michael explained. "For example, if say Bryan were to be in a location or situation that lead to him being scared or uncomfortable, you all would feel that."
"So like, if one of us were jumped in a dark alley, we'd all know?" Collin asked.
"Oh, yeah. You'd all know instantly. It may be a bit before you all will be able to tell the difference between your feelings and the one's from the pact, but with the proper training it could be a near perfect way to communicate with each other."
"This sounds... Interesting." Mario admitted. "But there's no way it'll all be that good, right?"
"You are correct. There are down sides to this. The main being the amount of time and effort this will take to control. It is often spoke of as overwhelming. No to mention that the emotions of others come across as your own, making you act on them. I'm willing to bet that you've all been a bit more irritatable and angry recently, yes?"
It was silent for a moment before quiet and flustered agreements came from the group. Mario held back a flush as he remembered losing his temper at David and Inmo. Far worse than he typically would, in fact he'd bet that he would have attacked them if not for Brandon stepping in. He'd been assured that they would be talking about it later. (He was low-key terrified of that because he could never tell if Brandon meant actually talking or punishment, and Brandon's was far worse than Dodge the Lightning Bolt.)
"Right there!" Collin gasped out suddenly. "Someone is embarrassed and scared!"
"Yeah!" Bryan agreed. "I feel it too!"
Mitch nodded turning to Mario. "I presume that's you then?"
He felt even more embarrassed at being called out and didn't meet their eyes. "Uh, yeah."
They stared into him quietly for a moment before Mitch cut in again.
"Why are you scared?"
"What?"
"I said, why are you scared?"
"Well, I sort of lost my temper this morning. Two of my guild mates wouldn't stop bugging me, and I guess I sort of... Almost attacked them."
"That didn't answer the question." Collin cut in. "Why does that scare you?"
He shifted awkwardly. He wasn't used to being grilled like this. "Well I didn't attack because I was stopped by Brandon. One of my guild masters. He said we were going to talk later about it. And I'm not sure if that meant I was going to be punished or not."
"Oooh." Bryan understood almost immediately. "Is it gonna be Dodge the Lightning Bolt?"
"Worse if I am getting punished." He groaned leaning his head against the wall.
"I'm sorry, what!?" Mitch cut in looking mildly alarmed. "Dodge the Lightning Bolt?"
Collin looked equally concerned.
"Oh well Dodge the Lightning Bolt is a game slash training exercise that Ritchie does." Bryan explained.
"Yeah well it's also punishment. If we do something that makes them angry or upset we 'play.' It's really not fun."
"Like physical punishment? Not even Michael does that!" Collin said in shock.
"Wait, "Not even," excuse me?" Michael cut in looking offended.
The four froze remembering that they weren't alone.
"Well you know you do look like the type who would-be Nevermind." Lo'pho cut himself at Michael's look.
Mitch shot Mario a look that he could only interpret as 'we'll talk about this later' before turning to Michael. "Is there anyway for this pact to break?"
Michael still looked slightly put out but continued to explain. "Any way, the only known way to break a dragons pact would be a very in depth magical unbinding by a mage who specializes in weaving magic. There's a reason I compared it to cloth earlier."
"Weaving magic? I've never heard of that." Bryan interrupted, confused.
"Weaving magic is an ancient magic that is basically a dead skill at this point. If you were able to find a mage who could do it, it would be very unlikely that they would have had the mentoring to be able to preform such a feat."
"I'm sensing there's still more." Mitch sighed sliding down the wall to sit on the floor.
"Yep, because even if you did find one who could undo the pact, it's as I said, a very in depth procedure. It would require letting this mage into not only your mind, but your very soul. Any error would leave you an incomplete person. Which in my honest opinion is a fate worse than death."
"So undoing this basically impossible is what I'm getting." At Michael's nod Mario slid down the wall a bit away from Mitch. "We're doomed."
"Hey it's not that bad!" Bryan cut in. "We can be a sort of family!"
"Look I don't know if you know this, but family isn't something I'm good at." Mitch stared up at Bryan with a frown.
"Same." Mario agreed. "I don't even know what that's like so..."
"Me too..." Collin admitted.
"I..." Bryan hesitated before quietly admitting. "I don't have a family anymore. They died. I... I wouldn't mind you guys being my family!"
It was silent before Mario sighed. "Well I guess I can give it a shot. But I've never had a family before so don't expect much."
"My... My family also died." Mitch's voice was nearly a whispered as he turned his head to not face them. "And it's been a long while since then. But I guess I'll also try." It was quiet before Mitch turned to face Collin. "What about you runt?" The nickname didn't seem insulting for once. It was instead spoken fondly.
"I don't know... I don't want to to hurt you guys..."
"Hurt us?" Bryan tilted his head confused. "Why would you hurt us?"
"I don't mean to! But no matter what, everyone around me gets hurt." Collin wrapped his arms around himself and turned away quietly. "I can't control my magic well and... It's how I lost my family..."
"Well I guess we'll work on that." Mitch smirked.
"What..?"
"Didn't you hear Michael? There's not really anything we can do about this. So guess what?"
"What?"
"You're stuck with us."
Collin only hesitated a moment before giving a small smile and nodding ever so slightly, hands fiddling with his sleeves. Bryan grinned and quickly ran over to hug his new brother. Mario and Mitch both rolled their eyes before sharing a quick smile.
Then Michael cleared his throat. "I don't mean to interrupt this touching moment, but you should be wary of informing anyone about this. It would be easier for someone to take advantage of you all if they knew."
"What about Ritchie and Brandon?" Mario asked with a frown. He didn't want to keep something this important from them.
"I'd suggest you tell them and well... I guess the only other person to inform would have been Lo'pho, but..."
"Seeing as I am right here I am already well aware."
"Yes."
"Well is their anything else we have to do?" Collin asked shifting closer to Bryan without meaning to. (Not that Bryan minded. He was perfectly content with physical contact with one of his new brothers.)
"Make sure you meet up often. At least once a week if you can. The more you're with each other the easier it will be to tell their emotions from your own. Otherwise like I said be discreet, please. I hate seeing the bonds between people being taken advantage of."
"Well, then if you do not have anymore questions, me and Michael will go and talk guild stuff. Now would be a good time to get to know each other better." Lo'pho added smiling at the group.
With that, the Leader and second in command left, leaving the dragon slayers alone.
They were quiet before Bryan, who definitely seemed to take the most initiative with this whole thing, grabbed Collin and pulled him over to the wall that Mario and sat against, the two taking up the space between them. Mitch was extremely tense at first, before he relaxed and let a small, but very genuine smile show. They sat comfortably before-
"So, Dodge the Lightning Bolt?"
Mario groaned at his impending doom.
*Flashback End*
Mario couldn't help the small smile he had as he continued his walk. Having family was nice. It's not like he didn't see Divinus Magia as family, but this was different. However, speaking of Divinus Magia, now it was time for him to go to speak to Brandon.
Oh he was dead, huh?
(He wasn't. Brandon was actually quite understanding. Maybe because he described the other dragon slayers as his brothers? He wasn't sure, but he sure was grateful.)
A/N: Ugh, this didn't end where I wanted it too. I was doing this as a request thing for AutobotLightReaver but this has already lasted longer than I thought it would so the request part will come up soon. Probably next update. This is literally just setting that up since I haven't seen that anywhere. People always start with "Boom they're borthers!" Btw this is over 2000 words and I don't think I've done that in a published thing since my first post for my Origins of Olympus book.
Also leave requests if you want. I'm out of my own creativity so starting points are appreciated! Hope you enjoyed.