After the hang out with the brothers, Gust and Storm began to adamantly learn Aquatic, how to speak above-water, and how to read. Cyclone somehow became their sole teacher, although Fin would occasionally drop by to help out. His methods were sound enough and he could focus on them individually, making him a great teacher for the two.
When it came to speaking above-water, Cyclone mixed it with learning Aquatic. On a small sandbar close to the Deep Palace, Cyclone spoke while doing the Aquatic. They started with things that they already knew and moved on when the two understood it well enough. Like when it came to learning Aquatic at all, Gust picked it up instantly. Storm sometimes had to take a few tries but she learned quickly.
And when it came to reading, Cyclone once again mixed it with Aquatic, normal speech too at times. Switching sentences, Gust and Storm would read one of Coral's stories. If Cyclone wanted to challenge them, he would have them speak normally and Aquatic at the same time. Gust picked it up easily again but Storm struggled quite a bit.
Reading with Aquatic was the only thing Cyclone could assign as homework, so he did. Whenever he was out, Cyclone would always ask them to review the latest story they did. Gust tried to help Storm out as much as possible but she sometimes got too frustrated for it.
"I wish these stupid slates would just crumble to dust!" Storm whined, getting an understanding look from Gust. Their attention was grabbed away from each other and to the stone slates that did as Storm said and crumbled to dust. "What in the tides' temper?!"
Gust put it together quickly, gasping when he did. "Storm, you're an animus dragon!" Gust grinned at Storm, his excitement making him flash his scales a little more brightly than necessary.
"I'm a what dragon?" asked Storm, squinting at Gust in confusion.
"Oh right," said Gust, his grin turning a little sheepish as he remembered that she could barely get the Aquatic for their current part of the story. The story about what he was saying. "Here, I don't know if this will work but maybe since you're one, I'm one."
"What?"
"I enchant this dust to turn white and arrange itself on the floor in the word 'animus'," said Gust, his grin starting to hurt his face when the dust followed his orders.
"We're animus dragons!" shouted Storm, slightly slow on the word 'animus' but that didn't distract from her excitement. She grabbed his arm, making him yelp and quickly laugh along with her as they spun around. "We're animus dragons! We're animus dragons!"
"We're animus dragons! We're animus dragons!" Gust chanted with her, not caring that they were spreading around the dust with their ridiculous dancing.
The excitement lasted for a little while before they got tired from the dancing and sat down to think about the complications from being animi. "We should enchant one thing and one thing only after we clean up the dust," said Storm, glancing around at the mess they had made in slight amusement.
"I got it. I enchant the dust from the slates to return to their original state before Storm's enchantment," said Gust, watching with Storm in awe as the dust gathered and solidified into the story slates. "What should we enchant?"
"How about those matching bracelets Cyclone got us?" suggested Storm, getting a nod from her brother. They split off for a moment to get their bracelets before sitting down together again. "What should the enchantments be?"
"Maybe only we can take them off and only with our permission can they be enchanted?" Gust suggested, turning over the bracelet in his talons. It was a thin silver band with four evenly spread out dark blue sapphires, one of the sapphires surrounded by swirling engraving on either side of it. On the remaining lengths of silver, wavy lines were engraved there like waves.
"Oh, and they grow to fit our wrists so we don't have to get rid of them."
"I like those, I like those," said Storm, absentmindedly nodding along. "We should write these down."
"Here," said Gust, grabbing a slate and a pencil before jotting down the ideas.
"How about the sapphires become more white the more of our soul we use? And if one of us dies, the two sapphires that aren't surrounded by the same engraving turns white? Actually, if the sapphire surrounded by the waves is mine and the one surrounded by the swirls is yours, then we can keep track of each other's souls. And if one of us dies, all of our animus magic goes to the remaining bracelet and must be used up first," said Storm, more of rambling than paying attention to what she was saying.
Gust paused with the last idea, giving Storm a shocked look for it. "Are you sure you want to do the last one? Or the other one that has to do with us dying? I don't know..." Gust trailed off, thinking about it a bit more.
"If you don't want to, we won't. It seems like a good idea as a backup," said Storm, a soft frown on her face at the thought.
"A backup? Do you think we're going to get killed or something?" said Gust, his worry plain as day.
"With how much we're hated for something we didn't do and can't control? Maybe," said Storm, getting a startled look from her brother that she brushed off. "Shall we word the spell?"
"Okay..." said Gust quietly, forcing himself to also brush off the idea of death as he wrote it out.
They held both bracelets between them, reading off of the slate in unison. "We enchant these bracelets..." all of the enchantments they discussed were applied, although the first enchantment with death had the sapphires turn black rather than white. At the end of the long-winded enchantment, both of them slipped on the bracelets with the soul-monitoring sapphires barely lightened at all.
They sat in silence after it was done, a little disheartened against continuing their homework. "Try not to die," Gust said, sadness clear in his drooping wings and glistening eyes.
"You too," said Storm, hugging her twin tightly to have him hug back just as fiercely.
And if Cyclone had peeked in to see them embracing each other like it was the last time they could ever do it, he said nothing about it and left them alone.
{(:)}
Their hatching day was chaotic, to say the least. Between the flood of gifts from their brothers, the attention from said brothers, and the small feast that was arranged in their honor, the twins barely got a chance to breathe.
And any breath they could've gotten was frozen in their chests when Coral arrived.
Her eyes passed over the rest of the princes without much emotion but they landed on the twins in clear disdain. "Why are they still around?" asked Coral, directing her question towards a stiff Cyclone and not taking her eyes off of them. While Gust shied away from her hate, Storm directed it right back at her.
"You told me to take care of them, so I did," said Cyclone, slightly slow with his Aquatic in an unintentionally condescending way.
"I'll have someone do it properly," Coral snarled, advancing towards them as the twins stumbled backward.
Before Coral could try to close the distance any more, Fin stepped in to defend the twins. "Mother, don't," said Fin, blocking the twins from her view. Several of the older princes also stepped forward, blocking any possible advances or attacks. "Leave them be."
"I'll leave them be when they aren't staining the royal name with their existence," Coral snapped, glaring at Fin with enough hatred to surprise him. "They are mistakes and shall be erased as such."
"We're not mistakes, we're disasters. Get it right," Storm sassed, startling Coral with her Aquatic. The twins took a little bit of pride in that, Storm barely hiding her smirk while Gust grew a little less timid.
"They are staying here," said Fin, glaring back at Coral to add to her surprise. The other princes started glaring as well, adding onto the unexpected rebellion against Coral.
Coral took a moment to look over her children, registering their aggression with her gaze. "Fine," said Coral, huffing before turning on her tail and stomping out of the room. Everyone's eyes followed her out, the tension leaving the room with her.
The princes collectively sighed their relief when she was gone, turning to each other to talk in small groups. Cyclone tapped the twins on the shoulder, getting their attention along with Fin's. "Follow me," said Cyclone, leading the two out along with the unexpected addition of Fin.
"Here should be good," announced Cyclone, stopping in a large empty room and turning around to look the royals.
"Good for what?" asked Storm while Gust just tilted his head. The encounter with Coral shook him more than he would like to admit, 'silence' a good alternative to freaking out.
"Battle training," said Cyclone, his morbid expression mirrored onto the twins'. Although Gust's was more nervous and Storm's was more determined.
"Why would they need battle training?!" Fin was the only surprised one out of the four, slight horror also appearing on his face.
"With that little show, I don't think the Queen is content to sit around and let them be unbothered. She will try something and I'd rather have them prepared," said Cyclone, making Fin's surprise be completely overtaken by his horror. "Gust, Storm, can either of you use frostbreath?"
"Frostbreath?" Storm repeated, her copy a lot more sloppy than what Gust could've done but it still got the point across.
"It's something that comes from your mouth and it freezes stuff," explained Cyclone, a very bad explanation but oh well. "Try it."
"Okay," Storm nodded, more determination showing on her face as she clamped her mouth shut for a moment. A few seconds later, her jaws flew open to release the cold that gathered. The frostbreath created a small ball of ice that didn't seem all that solid but it answered Cyclone's question well enough.
"Nice. We'll start with frostbreath practice and then we'll move on to close combat," said Cyclone, getting the two to nod along with his plan. Fin frowned before moving to lean against the wall, watching the trio carefully.
They started with trying to increase the power of their frostbreath, breathing the ability in a concentrated enough manner to create solid ice rather than flaky slush. When they managed that, they continued to range. With that under their belts, Cyclone advanced to physical combat.
He pointed out weak points on dragon anatomy and explained the differences that could kill rather than incapacitate. He gave them a few clues on how to use their size to their advantage and how speed could be a game-changer. At the end of every clue, he dragged each of them into a demonstration. At the end of it all, he switched between them for sparring sessions.
Storm was a lot better at fighting than Gust, mostly since she didn't hesitate to strike. Gust did so quite often, losing speed and giving Cyclone a chance to pin him down. To compensate, Gust learned how to twist out of every hold Cyclone got him into.
There was an obvious difference between the twos' fighting styles from the moment they started learning. While Storm struck quickly and left her opponent dazed, Gust figured out what made them tick and their tendencies before hitting a weak point with all his might.
By the end of their training session, Cyclone had dozens of small aches from Storm's frenzies and a few raging ones from Gust's well-aimed hits. Fin fawned over Cyclone when he finally called the training session off, making the guard chuckle and reassure the prince that no, he wasn't harmed and yes, there were no issues. The twins left with slightly aching bodies and prideful expressions, ready to peacefully sleep for the next decade.
It didn't work out that way.
Paranoia kept Gust up despite the exhaustion that settled in his bones, making him close his eyes but not fall asleep. Beside him, Storm restlessly tried to find a comfortable position. Even when she stilled, Gust didn't sleep.
That paranoia saved the twins, seeing as Gust was hyper-aware enough to notice the slight difference of lighting from the door opening. He nudged Storm as hard as he could without moving too obviously, exhaling a little bit of weak frostbreath from the corners of his mouth to cool the water around them enough for his sister to notice. It grew a little colder after a moment, reassuring Gust that Storm was awake and alert.
Dim flashes from bioluminescent scales danced beyond Gust's eyelids, making him tense up a little and force himself back to normal in the few seconds the flashes persisted. Water shifted around the twins, alerting them of the mystery dragon's closeness. A heavy talon on Gust's back jolted him into action.
Twisting without even opening his eyes, Gust loosened the attacker's grip. Keeping his eyes closed, Gust squirmed the rest of the way out of the hold as Storm darted off and away from his awareness. Her scales flared as brightly as possible, bathing the room in a blinding light that made Gust glad that he kept his eyes closed.
With his eyes open, Gust saw two dragons stumble back in their daze from Storm's flash. Storm went after the farthest one, driving him back and towards the door with quick claws and concentrated flashes. That left Gust to take care of the SeaWing who went after him first.
She recovered from Storm's surprise quickly, glaring at Gust who had a scared expression on his face. His expression tempted her to try to grab him again, missing as he darted away. So she tried again, and again, and again, only to miss every time. Meanwhile, Gust analyzed her patterns, habits, and how everything changed when she got mad.
Suddenly, she tried a much more violent approach of swatting him out of the air with her tail. It was an opportunity that Gust grasped tightly, literally.
Pain shot through the attacker as serrated claws jabbed into and hung onto her tail, that pain both masked and overtaken by a freezing burn. Using the momentum from her tail swipe, Gust rocketed towards her heels just as she spun around. To add to the pain that she was feeling, Gust bit into the Achilles' heel of the side she rested most of her weight onto.
Although silent, her roar of pain and fury still translated well enough. Without much hesitation, Gust summoned and concentrated his frostbreath onto her scales. While where he was biting got most of the damage, ice crept along the surrounding area without much issue.
Disengaging, he darted out from under her to have a sloppy talon swipe greet him. He dodged it easily, getting into her scowling face to flare up as brightly as Storm had. It worked just as it had before, causing her to stumble away from him. This time she slapped a talon onto the wall to steady herself and it gave Gust another opportunity. Gathering his frostbreath up as he grabbed her wrist, he didn't waste much time before freezing her talon to the wall.
Before she could realize what he had done or that he was close enough to attack, Gust rushed off to help his sister. Storm was managing well against her attacker, driving him into the hall with enough speed and light to dazzle him and harm him. Still, that didn't stop Gust from finding a weak spot as the SeaWing reared up to cannonball into.
The fighters were surprised to see a small aquamarine ball of scales slam into the attacker's back/side, more accurately the wing socket. Muffled from the water, Gust still heard a small pop as the limb was dislocated. Both males were sent careening from the momentum and Gust scrambled out of the way before he was squashed under the adult.
The twins regrouped, glancing at both attackers (one frozen to the wall and the other groaning in pain on the floor) before glancing at each other. A mutual shrug later, they both hurried to Cyclone's room which was only a few doors away. They opened the door together, darting over to Cyclone to shake him awake with urgency. You couldn't blame them, how long was it until that second attacker sucked it up and ran after them? Or until the first one went crazy enough to rip their talon from the ice and run after them with no regrets?
"What?" said Cyclone, rubbing his eyes before finally looking to see the twins' scared/worried expressions. "What happened?" Cyclone was awake in an instant, getting up and out of bed to prepare for a fight.
"We were attacked. They're near our room," said Storm, Cyclone nodding before rushing out of the room. The twins followed him quickly, both relieved and nervous to see him gathering more guards to take care of the attackers. The other guards captured the two (after much head-scratching about the whole 'frozen to the wall' situation) and Cyclone herded the two into his room.
"Are we spending the rest of the night here?" she asked, a hint of hope on her face.
"I would prefer it," said Cyclone, about to say more before the door opened. Everyone froze for a second before Cyclone noticed who it was. "Fin, why are you up so late?"
"You really think I wouldn't hear about all the chaos? I wanted to see that the two were okay with my own eyes," said Fin, closing the door behind him and sitting beside Cyclone to face the twins. "So what exactly happened? I want to hear everything."
"Gust woke me up with a little signal that we created once we were in our room. So I woke up and didn't move until Gust was moving. I got out of the way while Gust got out of the attacker's hold. I flashed my scales brightly enough to blind them and went after the guy who was accompanying the one who attacked Gust.
"I drove him out of our room and into the hall when suddenly Gust came out and body-slammed him to the ground! The one who Gust was fighting was frozen to the wall so we left to get Cyclone," said Storm, excitedly retelling her tale with more extravagant motions and brighter scales than necessary.
Fin and Cyclone shared a surprised look before directing the attention to Gust who nervously fidgeted at it.
"I was a little paranoid after all of the training so I didn't really go to sleep. I was so hyper-aware of everything that I could tell when our door opened and I woke Storm up for it. I didn't do anything until one of the attackers grabbed me, so then I wormed my way out of it.
"Storm stunned them and drove the second one back while I dealt with the one who grabbed me. After freezing her in three separate places, one of those to the wall, I went to help Storm. I body slammed her opponent in just the right spot with enough force to dislocate his wing. Once that was done, we went to Cyclone."
Gust was much timider in his retelling but that didn't stop the awe or the surprise from the three. Storm was more awed while the adults were more surprised. It took a little while but eventually, the silence dissolved into a discussion over who was going to sleep where.
And if Storm had tailored the situation so Fin was the closest to Cyclone simply to see how it would go, she didn't say it and just smirked before falling asleep.
(Fin felt like he was going to have a heart attack, in all honesty.)