Hector glanced over his surrounding, trying his utmost to keep his focus from the raven-haired teen before him. He took note of the discolored stains splattered across the carpet beneath his feet, of the untidied bed to his far right, of the messy but somehow organized desk of documents and empty mugs, of the aroma of freshly roasted caffeine that saturated the room, of the occasional sounds of slurping, and of the deadpan face that had been slowly analyzing his mediocre work.

Oh, for the love of Terra. You handed it in too early! He told himself once again, steeling back tears as his thoughts ran wild with the most absurd and unimaginative outcomes. He began to unconsciously tap his feet at a rhythmic pace.

James took a glance at the anxious groundskeeper, the momentary eye contact making them both flinch, before returning to the report he held in hand. He had been in quite the good mood at the moment, his brief and pleasant encounter with his younger brother brightening his morning, and it would take more than the tapping of feet to sour it.

“So, you say that you’ve failed to treat it. Why is that?” James began to question the man before him, setting the report aside in favor of holding his mug with both hands.

“I ah… no I mean that we failed to… Uhm… we were not a high enough level to revitalize the barre…” The door had been slammed open, interrupting Hector as he was about to complete his sentence.

Two guards barged into the study, casually walking past the groundskeeper before coming to a stop. One of them lazily threw a report at the boy, earning him a chop on the head from the other.

“Ow!” Blake cried, scowling at his assailant. “What was that for?”

“Oh, you know what you did.” Snow chuckled with a grin plastered on his face, a chuckle that transformed into a mad cackle after making the other flinch with a simple raising of his paw.

“Hector, you’re dismissed. For now, quarantine that section of the garden until further notice.” He gave his command as he snatched the report amidst its decent, much to the groundskeeper’s relief. A glance at his almost-empty mug gave him another idea. “Tell Sebastian to bring me some more coffee first.” He wasn’t an addict; he could easily stop whenever he pleased, the caffeine just kept him going. He would have no use for it once he had the system. In fact, he already had plans to stop after his awakening. There was nothing wrong with him enjoying his status as a late bloomer.

James began reading the report the two guards brought him, moments later the paper he held shattered into pieces. The temperature dropped and their breaths now visible. The boy’s good mood was gone.

“You what?!” He roared as he stood up to slam the desk. His deadpan expression, monotone voice, and short stature failing to display his fury.

“Master Kevin was too fast for us,” Snow said nonchalantly.

“He’s a fast boy,” Blake added on as he lightly stroked his scalp.

“Kevin is five, and you’re both ascendants of the 1st rank. How?” The temperature dropped once again, ice forming on both stone and glass.

“He’s the fastest five-year-old in the empire, maybe the fastest in all of Terra.” Snow answered as he brushed off the ice forming on the back of his paw. The two remained completely unfazed.

“Why are you even here?!” Blake, unable to recognize the rhetorical question, had been cut off before he could answer, getting a good chuckle out of his colleague. “Go! Find him!” The two guards left the room as casually as they walked in, slamming the door shut along the way.

James sighed, reaching for his mug to steady his nerves with a sip. He glanced over it before turning it over. Frozen solid. Blake and Snow. He committed their names into his memory, vowing to one day replace those sluggards.

Replacing one of the two, the pair being the only ones amongst the guards to succeed in their first ascension, was truly a trying task. Trying to replace both would be… twice as trying.

…

Ahem.