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Chapter 9: Family

Note: Just a reminder that I actually have 17 chapters on ao3 if you didn't know LOL 

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The infirmary is quiet once Hans leaves. Cale navigates the infirmary with ease since he's already familiar with the room. He cleans his face at the sink and washes away all of the blood and dirt. Then, he opens the drawer with the spare student uniforms. Once again, there are only large-sized uniforms.

Cale sighs. He really should talk to Hans about getting uniforms in his size.

He tugs off his dirty and stained uniform, kicking it into the corner. There's a fading bruise on his chest, but other than that, it seems like he'll be fine. He pulls on a clean set of uniforms and yawns loudly as he buttons his shirt. His feet are pretty sore from all the walking he did, so he decides to climb into the soft infirmary bed to take a nap.

Before he can do that though, there's something else he should settle.

The two cats are meowing softly at a crying baby dragon that's huddled up on the floor. Its no longer invisible, and its paws are pressed against its face. Tears continue to drip down onto the floor.

Lying on the cold floor isn't good for a child, so Cale scoops the dragon into his arms and brings it with him into the bed. The cats follow along, hopping nimbly onto the bed. Three pairs of eyes watch the sniffling kid.

After hesitating for a moment, Cale starts to pat the round and shaking head.

"Why are you crying?"

Was the black dragon scared because of the large boar? Was it scared by the sight of blood?

"You..." The dragon whimpers. "You... don't want me."

Cale blinks in surprise. What? His hand stops patting the dragon, but the dragon's crying begins to grow in intensity. The cats meow anxiously and start to pat the dragon's back with their paws, and at the sight of it, Cale urgently starts to do so as well.

"Don't cry. What-"

Before Cale can ask for clarification, the four-year-old dragon starts to yell, "You almost died! You can't die! I don't want to be alone, I, I—! WAHH!"

Although Cale isn't a good person, he's also not terrible enough that he won't feel bad if a young child cries because of him. He hugs the wailing dragon tightly and sighs. "Didn't I tell you? I won't die. I'm totally fine."

The dragon's cries are muffled now as its crying face is pressed into Cale's chest. "But, blood! Blood! If you die I'll destroy this world!"

Just what kind of scary threats was a four-year-old making?

"No, no, it's not all blood."

Cale contemplates putting the dragon down on the bed so he can fetch his stained uniform but decides against it. The dragon is clinging tightly to him like a baby monkey afraid of losing its mother. Keeping the dragon in his arms, Cale gets off the bed, squats down before his pile of clothes and pulls out the shirt. That cats follow along, meowing as their eyes worriedly watch the crying dragon.

"Smell it if you don't believe me."

"..." The black dragon is still crying, but he's pretty obedient. He turns his head towards the uniform clutched in Cale's hand and then blinks. "...It smells sweet."

Hans has added the sweetener into the fake blood packets after Cale's previous complaints that the fake blood packets were too bitter, but Cale hasn't gotten to taste the new ones for himself.