"Kurt?" Trevor asked while staring at the red-haired prince who was positioned as if he had just fallen from his bed upside-down while covered in sweat.

"Ah... Hey..." the young boy replied while trying to act as naturally as one could in that situation.

"You okay? I knocked on your door a few times but you didn't answer."

Kurt hurried to stand up as the images from his strange red dream started to slowly vanish into the back of his memories one by one, much to his relief, "Y- Yeah, I'm fine... Just had a bad night..."

He glanced at Trevor for a moment and the image of a version of him made of stone being destroyed and falling into a dark abyss quickly flashed before his eyes, causing him to flinch for a moment.

"You sure nothing is wrong? Maybe we should ask your mother to call for a... Doctor..." Trevor suggested while noticing the red-haired lad looking strange.

Kurt saw his worry and began to wonder what he could say to calm him down as he had no desire to talk about what he had just seen, "Would be kinda embarrassing if we called a doctor for a dragon that can heal himself, right? Hehe..."

"But-"

"Really, don't worry. I'm fine, Trevor... Everything is fine."

"O- Okay... If you say so..." the black-haired boy finally gave up and turned towards the door, "Just came to tell you that breakfast is ready and the empress wanted me to call for you."

"I'll be right there..."

Kurt waited for Trevor to open the door but the boy simply phased through it with his talent as if he was a ghost.

Once he was finally alone, Kurt began to think back on his dream and what it could possibly mean. Seeing his friends in peril while being attacked by dangerous dragons was fairly obvious, but that last scene of a red-scaled version of himself talking about how his turn was about to come really put him on edge.

his whisper echoed in his mind.

"The dragon..." Kurt mumbled while staring at his own still human hand. No traces of red scales anywhere so far.

At least, not yet...

***

To Kurt's surprise, his mother had set up an outdoor breakfast in the garden where all of the students that were rescued from Hugh's dangerous survival game were cheerfully filling their bellies with the most expensive dishes they could possibly ask from the mansion's chefs.

He wasn't sure why his mother would do that, but his best guess is that she didn't want to run the risk of a bunch of wild kids suddenly using their talents by accident and breaking her home's walls.

The two girls that fought against Gaby were sitting on the end of the table, and considering how absurdly large that table was, it made it look like they were trying their best to keep a distance from everyone.

Trevor and Leon were eating together a couple of chairs away from them with Saramin and Nala right after the two. Trevor still seemed a little down from the events of yesterday but he appeared to be trying to cheer himself up by keeping company to Leon, who himself was looking like he was with his head on the clouds while stuffing his face with all that food. The boy probably assumed he would never get another chance to eat anything like this so he was making it count.

As for Saramin, she would occasionally throw a discrete glare at Leon. She probably still holds a grudge over the fact that all the events that led to that deathmatch happened because of him, on top of him ending up being her opponent after being mind-controlled by Evans and severely injuring her in the process.

Nala on the other hand seemed indifferent to everyone and just kept eating quietly in her corner. For some reason, Kurt felt like she and Sarah could get along really well. These two, much like Gaby, had really strong personalities.

When he thought about it, Kurt realized that he wasn't seeing Gaby or Dorothy anywhere so he assumed they still hadn't woken up.

He began to think about that strange thing she said about her family being lost in some kind of forest. He was really curious about what all that was about but at the same time, he didn't want to force her to talk about it if she was uncomfortable with it. It would be very hypocritical of him to ask that considering how he also didn't want to talk about his own nightmare.

Finally, there was Sabiri, holding a very tired expression as she took a few sips of tea from her cup while keeping watch of all of the children. Her eyes were practically screaming 'Please don't break anything and just go away...'

"Morning, everyone..." Kurt greeted as he approached the table.

His friends and family simply smiled at his presence and welcomed him to the table as he decided what he was going to pick up to eat.

"Have you rested well, Kurt?" Sabiri asked.

"So well that I needed Trevor's help to wake me up, haha..."

Trevor raised an eyebrow at the prince but refrained from saying anything.

"I'm glad to hear. Also, no need to worry about getting ready for school, just enjoy your meal at peace" the empress continued, "Thanks to your little stunt from yesterday, half of the academy is in shambles so you all probably won't have any lessons today."

"Oh..." Kurt mumbled as he recalled the promise he made with Trevor to have their study group today. Sometimes it felt like the universe was conspiring for this group session to ever happen.

"It's okay Kurt, we can do it another time" Trevor reassured.

The prince nodded at him and took a seat next to his mother while observing the two girls at the end of the table, "By the way... Why are they still here?"

Saramin finished eating her dish and began to clean herself up with a napkin, "They sided with Hugh against a prince and lost. They are probably waiting for some kind of punishment and were too afraid to just leave in case it might make things worse for them."

"Oh..." Kurt mumbled, "So... What do we do? Do we let them go or... What?"

Sarah shrugged at him, "I don't really care... Gaby is the one that has a problem with them, not us. I'm waiting for her to come and decide for herself. They did gang up on her on a two-on-one battle and played a couple of pranks on her at the school, so I'm expecting each to receive a lighting bolt to the face."

"Didn't you gang up and pulled pranks on her as well?" Kurt reminded her.

She glared at him, "Yes... And I took a lightning bolt to the face for that, remember? If I got punished, so should they..."

"Ah... Ex- Excuse me..." Leon suddenly barged into the conversation, "I- I just want to apologize again for everything..."

The group began to stare at him after hearing his words.

"It's okay, Leon" Kurt reassured, "It wasn't your fault."

"Yeah, it's all good. You were just kidnapped, turned into a hostage to stop us from running away, placed under mind-control, and nearly killed me while acting like a zombie puppet... No biggie! Happens to everyone" Saramin commented.

"Sarah..." Kurt aimed a small glare at her.

"Oh! I'm not being sarcastic. This is actually the third time I've been put in this kind of situation, so I'm kinda used to it by now, to be honest!"

"Wait, what...?"

"Still..." Leon began to speak again, "You all got hurt because of me... Just because I couldn't escape from Hugh on my own and you had to save me... I'm truly sorry for that."

Kurt and Trevor smiled at him, "Don't worry about it, Leon. That's what friends are for."

"Friends...?" the boy repeated, "Even after the way I treated you?"

Kurt recalled the event he was talking about. On the day he was revealed as a son of the emperor, Leon acted terrified of him after what he did to Hugh when he lost control of his rage, "Anyone would have acted that way in that situation. You didn't do anything strange..."

"But still..."

"I just wanna point out, but the way..." Saramin suddenly interrupted their moment while raising her hand with a blank expression, "I wasn't fighting for you at all..."

""Eh...?"" both Kurt and Leon reacted.

"I just went through that nonsense because of Kurt. Don't think too highly of yourself. I would never risk breaking all of my bones for some stranger that I never met..."

"We... We actually met before..." Leon corrected, "On the roof, you and Gaby-"

"Don't remember nor do I care... So stop acting like the tormented victim of some sort of drama. You're not that special."

"I... I see..."

Kurt noticed Leon holding a perplexed expression. Was this Saramin's way of riding him of his guilt from being captured? If it was, Kurt couldn't help but feel it was kinda harsh on him. Maybe she was still holding a grudge after all.

"I also don't really care about you..." Nala commented next.

"Ah... Wh- What?"

"I just stayed there because it was my job to guard the prince. Your safety was never a priority to me."

"Oh... I... I see..."

Trevor and Kurt noticed the boy starting to look depressed. A part of him must have felt flattered that everyone had gone to such great lengths to rescue him, but now hearing they all had their own personal objective in mind was starting to break his delusion a little too fast.

"I assume Gaby also had her own goals in mind..." Leon murmured.

Saramin glanced at the two girls at the end of the table, "Pretty sure she just wanted to clobber those two..."

Gabriella and her friend suddenly twitched once they noticed they were talking about and began to avert their gazes.

"I see..." Leon commented again, "I guess it makes sense... Not like we were ever really that close anyway..."

"That's not-" Kurt tried to correct him but looking at his expression it seemed like nothing he said was going to affect him, "Sarah! Nala! Why are you being so harsh on him?"

"Me? I'm not being harsh. I'm just saying the truth" Saramin stated, "He thinks we did all that for him but this was between us and Hugh. He was just the guy that got caught. It could have been anyone in his place."

"I'm also being honest." Nala spoke next, "I sincerely even forgot he was the cause of all this at certain points..."

"Still! Don't you two feel sorry for him? He was-"

"Feel sorry...?" Leon mumbled while staring at Kurt.

"N- No... I-"

"I see how it is... None of you really cared about me. You did all of this because Kurt wanted to... And you, Kurt... You just did this because you think I'm pathetic, right?" the boy replied while standing from his seat, bowing to the empress and moving away from all of them.

"Leon! Wait!! I didn't mean-" Kurt shouted while watching the lad continuing to distance himself and returning to the mansion, "Sarah! Nala! What was that?? Why did you two say all those things??"

The prince was filled with fury over how rude his sister and his bodyguard behaved, but the moment he looked at them, both girls were acting like they had just seen a ghost while holding their mouths with panic in their eyes.

"What the hell was that...?" Saramin commented while moving her palms.

"I... I don't know!!" Nala added, "Did you feel it too? It was as if my body was incapable of keeping anything in for some reason!!"

Trevor watched the situation and began to put together what was going on, "Of course... Leon is the last number! How did I forget about it??"

"""The last number?""" Kurt, Sarah, and Nala all said at once.

"He's the lowest number in the rankings of our class..." Trevor continued, "The dragon with the weakest psychic talent. The ability to make others incapable of lying."

"Make them incapable of lying...?" Kurt repeated.

"Basically, dragons are unable to keep secrets from Leon. Very useful for interrogation, but very pointless in combat."

"I can't believe it... Is that why he is always alone in class?" Kurt mumbled, "I gotta go find him! I can't just let things end like this after all we went through to help him!"

The prince then dashed out from his seat and went towards the mansion as well. He assumed it was going to be difficult to catch up with the boy but to his luck he was standing still right in front of the hallways staring at someone.

It was a short girl with glasses and short purple hair carrying a grey owl above her head.

Kurt's entire body suddenly stopped moving once he saw her. For some reason the way she looked right now made her seem a lot more dazzling than usual, even though there wasn't that much different about her visual.

"Oh... Hello..." Leon spoke after seeing her, "A- Are you feeling better?"

"A little bit, yeah!" Gaby replied while smiling at him.

Kurt felt a sense of relief upon seeing her healthy and safe, but that feeling soon began to vanish as he noticed the way Leon was staring at her. He had a cold gaze as if he also wanted to put her to the test and hear what she had to say about him.

"Say... Do you know who I am?"

"Eh...?" Gaby simply tilted her head, "Aren't you Kurt's friend? The one that got captured by Hugh?"

"'Kurt's friend...'" Leon continued to hold his cold stare, "Do you at least know my name?"

Gaby noticed the strange way he was looking at her and began to feel pressured with her answer, "Eh... Was it 'Leo', I think? Sorry... I'm not really good with names. I kinda have this habit of just grouping others together into one big ball until one of them does something that's worth remembering to me."

He couldn't tell if Gaby was under the effect of his talent or if she was just being her usual bluntly honest.

"I see..." Leon commented while turning around and staring at Kurt, "But you do know who he is, right?"

The lass with a bird on her head finally noticed the prince and began to blush while forming the biggest grin on her face, causing Kurt's heart to skip a beat.

"Of course I do! That's my silly little boyfriend after all!" she answered while walking towards him, "Good morning, apple head!"

"M- Morning... G- Gaby..." Kurt felt like he was going to melt from the way she was looking at him. Just when exactly did he start to view her as such a pretty girl he wondered.

'Sup!' Dorothy also greeted while waving her wing.

He then came back to reality and gazed at Leon again, but the young lad was already gone by the time he raised his eyes.

"Ah..." he whispered.

Kurt wasn't sure but he could swear the moment Gaby shifted her focus from Leon to him, he could sense a small sense of intimidation coming from the boy.

"Apple head? What's wrong?" Gaby wondered while noticing his wavering gaze.

"It's... It's nothing..." he responded, "Let's go eat with the others."

"Okay!"

The two of them began to make their way towards the garden while the boy looked back one more time and briefly asked himself if it was okay to just let Leon go like this.

But before he could further think about it, Gaby grabbed his hand and stared directly into his eyes, and for some reason, gazing at her face just made every other worry go away, "You sure nothing is wrong?"

"Yeah... I'm sure. Don't worry. Everything is fine!"