Before

Blaze

CW: High expectations, sibling fights and toxic friends

Blaze had been born a twin. His twin, Via, was the admin to his watcher. He knew that she loved to spend time with him, but sometimes he just wished that she would leave him alone so he could make more friends. He preferred sitting at the back of the classroom but his sister being the good student she was, wanted to sit in the front. He was hoping that it would be an opportunity for him to make new friends but his sister came up with the idea to spend half of the time sitting up the front and the other half sitting up the back. He didn't feel like he could say no, it was a compromise on both sides and as much as he wanted to make new friends he didn't want to upset his sister either.

In their classes, he always felt like he wasn't good enough. His sister always got the best grades in whatever class they were in while he was stuck being slightly below average. He could see how his sister got praised by their parents for each amazing grade that she got. They praised him as well for each test that he passed, but to him, it was just pity. His teachers always mentioned his sister whenever they talked about his grades. Since she did so well they expected him to do as well, they weren't the same person but it seemed that the teachers expected him to be just as great as Via. He was jealous of how well she did, but he was also angry at her for doing so well. Maybe if she did worse he wouldn't be expected to be better by his teachers or get pity from his parents. He could feel his sister looking down on him, asking him each time if he was happy with his grade, he never was but he said yes either way.

- - - - - -

Going to an academy was one of the best things that could have happened with Blaze. It made him glad that he was a watcher instead of an admin like Via. He was going to his very own watcher academy, meanwhile, Via was going to an admin one. They weren't far apart, only a 20-minute walk away from each other, but he would be having classes without his sister for the first time in his life. He would have a roommate who wasn't his sister, he would make friends who weren't his sister, the teacher here wouldn't know his sister, and if they did they had a different curriculum anyway. This was his chance to live his life the way that he wanted to.

He wasn't paying attention to orientation, normally it was just a welcome and explaining things that would be repeated in the first classes anyway. As soon as it was done he went over to the dormitory building, he was in room 2 and based on the sign it was down the far end. He made his way down as fast as he could and found his dorm; it had his name on the front alongside the name Hermes Fierithan. He was going to head over to the right side of the room, it was the side he always had when sharing with Via, but he paused before heading over to the left side of the room, the side Via always chose. He wanted to try something different.

He heard the door open and his roommate called out, "Hello, roomy! You have the pleasure of rooming with me, the great wonderful Hermes Fierithan. Hold the applause,"

"Well, the great wonderful Hermes Fierithan, I am the fantastic spectacular Blaze Celrinine. You also have the pleasure of rooming with me," Blaze said, he was going to like his new roommate.
"Good to know the watcher I'm going to be stuck with for the next five years isn't some boring know-it-all," Hermes said, placing his stuff over on the right side of the room.
"Same. I've had enough of a know-it-all in my life to last for 50 more lifetimes," Blaze said.

- - - - - -

The next five years were great for Blaze, he made so many new friends. His closest remained Hermes as well as the two watchers that roomed in room 1, Nexin and Cortus. The four boys had so much fun during their time at school, they weren't the best of students barely passing their classes but they were having fun. Via had tried to meet up with him during the weekends that the academies were allowed to mix, but he was enjoying the new life that he was having now, the one without his sister. Part of him missed her, but more of him wanted to spend those free days with his friends. The four of them weren't the teachers' favourites, not by a long shot, his friends often wanted to disrupt the class and cause trouble so he followed along, but Blaze didn't care what the teachers thought. He was feeling better than he had about himself than he had for years.