Author's Note: Hello, everyone! I sincerely doubt there's a lot of people who will be interested in this fic hahaha, but for those who are, let me give a quick breakdown.
For Euphoria fans: This takes place during the beginning of Season 2's school year, which unfortunately means most of the events during the season are going to be significantly altered. This was the only way to get the timeline to work for my premise. You can expect most major characters to make an appearance, though some will be emphasized more heavily than others.
For Myst fans: This takes place at the peak of Sirrus and Achenar's Reign of Terror. They have not trapped Atrus and Catherine or burned the Myst library yet, though those events are well on their way canonically. Neither brother is the slightest bit reformed at the start of this story, though maybe that will change; who knows? ;)
As a worn, unassuming school bus rolled gently down the road on its way to East Highland High School, two brothers seated inconspicuously at the back of the vehicle immersed themselves in quiet conversation.
"Remember, we're operating on a limited time frame," Sirrus muttered to his companion. "Father and Mother will return to Myst in precisely two weeks; if we don't find the linking book by then, we're going to have a very unpleasant situation on our hands."
Achenar scoffed at the words, mostly tuning his brother out as he set his hands to carving a deformed bear sculpture from a bar of soap. "I thought we came to this goddamn Age to plunder its riches and conquer its idiotic masses, not go on a wild goose chase for a fucking linking book."
Sirrus groaned and rubbed his hand through his dark hair, exasperated by his brother's fathomless shortsightedness. "Need I remind you that the descriptive book for this putrid Age is still on Myst? Should Father discover us missing and deduce our whereabouts, he very well could erase us from existence, you dimwitted meathead. Finding a reliable path back to Myst is a prerequisite for our more entertaining pursuits."
As the bus hit a speed bump, Achenar cut the soap too deeply and let out a curse, throwing the bar to the floor with a frustrated huff. Sirrus rolled his eyes at the miniature temper tantrum.
"Whatever," Achenar said, now looking out the window as the bus came to a stop at the curb and students begin to stand and exit. "You're sure it's here? Seems like a ridiculous place to hide the book, even by the old man's senile standards."
"Of course I'm sure," Sirrus snapped as the two stood up and followed the other students out of the bus. "Atrus' journal may be coded in insane babble, but the general location of the book was easy enough to decipher."
While the two brothers walked toward the buildings of the high school, prepared for a long day of studying and book-hunting, Sirrus left Achenar with one piece of advice. "For the love of God, keep your head down and keep up the act. We're transfer students who just want to pass our classes. That's all we are."
For the first time since he awoke that morning, Achenar gave Sirrus a devilish grin (which seldom comforted the latter.) "My dear brother, you wound me! Rest assured, I will be no more than a ghost to these stupid kids. You have my word."
As Sirrus expected, the words merely put him more on edge than ever before.
Damn it, he had to find the Myst linking book before Achenar had time to ruin everything.
…
The first epiphany Sirrus had during his school day was that tracking down the book would be much more difficult than he had anticipated: East Highland High was massive. Six buildings by Sirrus' count, and some with multiple levels.
In order to find the linking book within two weeks, the brothers were going to have to put serious effort into decoding the rest of Atrus' journal and narrowing down the location; no easy task, as the old man's code consisted of a combination of multiple ciphers, riddles, and logic puzzles.
Sirrus had managed to get the first page translated, but it only gave enough information for him to conclude that Atrus, for reasons unknown, left the book somewhere on the campus.
Damnable Atrus always making things more complicated than they needed to be.
The second epiphany Sirrus had during his school day was that he fucking despised teenagers. As he went about his day, he actively participated in his classes to try to glean knowledge about the school from his so-called "teachers"; a modest effort to streamline the book hunt.
This active participation apparently made him a target for some of the students, who snickered behind his back that he was a "freak", a "nerd", and "dressed like a grandpa." He wondered indignantly what, exactly, was the harm in wearing a respectable, formal vest with a nice pair of khakis?!
Suffice it to say, by the time Sirrus got to Junior English (his last class before the lunch period), he was in a thoroughly rotten mood.
Sitting down at his desk with a huff, he was accosted by a girl sitting next to him while he removed his notebooks and school text from his bag.
"Yo, man...you just come from a funeral or something?" a lazy, somewhat mumbling voice asked him.
Turning abruptly to face his attacker and give her a piece of his mind, Sirrus held his tongue as he observed the girl. Beneath her bemused expression he saw the glazed, puffy eyes of a fellow opiate addict.
Perhaps today wouldn't be a bust after all.
"I don't understand why looking your best is a negative," Sirrus muttered with an irritated sigh.
At this, the girl let out a small laugh. "Chill dude, kids just don't usually wear, like, their church clothes to fucking school. Makes you stick out like a sore thumb."
She slovenly extended her hand to Sirrus. "I'm Rue."
"My name is Sirrus," he said as he shook her hand. Had he finally made an ally? This could come in handy.
"Yeah man, I know," she chuckled as she leaned back into her chair, seeming on the verge of falling asleep. "You and your fucking brother have been making some waves. Apparently he got into a big thing with Nate Jacobs or some shit. Where'd you guys transfer from anyway?"
Damn it, Achenar! Not even a full day and he was already causing problems. Sirrus would have to nip this in the bud at lunch or things were going to get way out of hand.
"We're from out of state," Sirrus answered absently. By the Maker he needed something to take the edge off this horrid day. Speaking of…
"Who is your opiate supplier?" he suddenly inquired of Rue.
Jerking up suddenly with a shocked expression, the girl looked around hastily to make sure no one was eavesdropping before dropping into a hushed tone. "The fuck you talking about? Did someone put you up to this?"
Sirrus waved away the foolish girl's paranoia. "Of course not, I just know a fellow enthusiast when I see one. Just point me in the right direction; it's been a while since I had a quality fix."
Rue looked him up and down in evident skepticism. "You...you do heroin?"
Heroin? Must be this Age's street lingo for opium. Sirrus nodded impatiently. "Yes, yes, the good boy likes to indulge in bad habits, are you going to help me or not?"
Looking Sirrus up and down in shock for a few moments, Rue suddenly broke into a wide grin. "Sirrus...I think you may have just become my new favorite person."
…
Lexi had more than a few troubling things on her mind during her first day at school. Like, for example, what she was going to do about her new and increasingly distracting infatuation with Fezco. Or what the hell was going on with Cassie. Or how she was possibly going to get good grades this year with so much drama around her.
And now, to top it all off, she had to wonder who the fuck these two "transfer student" brothers were and why they were so extraordinarily weird.
Like, the older brother (Achenar, was it?) she could write off as intellectually disabled. At least that would explain his aggressive behavior toward…everyone, and why he angrily rambled to himself incoherently while roaming the hallways.
But the younger brother, Sirrus, was a different story. He was a junior like Lexi so she had already shared a couple classes with him that morning. Her first impression of him was that he was a snobby rich kid, possibly of English descent.
But, there was no denying his towering intelligence. It was apparent in his ferocious arguments with their teacher about the "proper" Economics terminology (in Spanish class!), as well as his seemingly insatiable curiosity about the entire history of East Highland High School, its architecture, and its staff.
Lexi had to admit to herself that it was actually pretty refreshing to see another student who gave her a run for her money in the intelligence department. And, though she would never admit this out loud, he was actually pretty cute in a preppy sort of way.
But it was abundantly clear that neither brother was telling the full truth about where they came from (seriously, "out of state"? Why the fuck were they so vague?) or why they came to the school.
And Lexi resolved to get to the bottom of it. She'd meet the two at lunch, figure out the irritating puzzle that was their existence, and then get back to focusing on more important matters.
Like how she was ever gonna work up the nerve to ask out Fezco.