Alexander awoke to a soft feeling on his fingertips. He was being licked, though he had no dog. He rolled over to the side of his bed and forced his eyes open, even while his room remained dark. It was still before sunrise.

He looked down and encountered a black dragon. A small one at that, no larger than a chihuahua.

"No way..." he muttered, beginning to stare into its deep, dark eyes, glistening like a starry night. "How the hell did you get here?!" he asked Shadowfax, almost expecting a verbal response.

She chirped at him, a relatively unusual response compared to her constant purring, before flapping her wings back and forth a bit. Her motion sent her up, right onto Alexander's bed, where she now began to lick the side of his cheek.

Alexander laughed in surprise and joy, gently wrapping his hand around the wyvern as he got up. Her ability to shift her size always confounded him, but for now, it was a beautiful advantage, one that meant she wouldn't tower over homes and draw attention from entire cities.

Despite the circumstance of delight, he had no choice but to take his mind to consider what would come next. Knowing his world, there would be something problematic and many people against the notion of the boy having a dragon in his house. Hell, Demon-Borns didn't even have human rights until a year ago.

He carried the dragon downstairs, immediately noticing the open window by the kitchen. That must have been her entrance, Alexander guessed. He set her down on the living room couch and went to fetch his phone to call the great Paladin he could trust.

By the time of his return, Shadowfax was on the floor, her head digging under the couch.

She had sensed a familiar energy and began to draw it out, finding and biting into a towel. Her sharp teeth gingerly secured a grip so as not to damage the cloth. And so, she dragged the weapon out of the shadows of the couch and brought it to Alexander's eyes.

Alexander spat out a sigh and dialed Archibald's number. He began to wait, listening to the ringing until the Paladin picked up.

"Archibald. Hey. Good morning. Um... No, I'm not calling for that. Sorry. Long story short... what is the protocol for having a dragon?"

Charles Archibald, who had decided to sleep in that day, was still in his bed. Hearing about a dragon was enough to shake the fuzziness of his sleepy mind and bring him to attention. "Alexander." He took in a deep breath before he spoke into the phone, still leaning to the side of the bed as if he expected it to be a quick call. "No hypotheticals. No jokes. Do you have a dragon right now?"

Alexander swallowed his dry saliva. "Yes sir."

An agonized groan echoed into Alexander's phone.

"It's a wyvern technically."

From there, Alexander was met with silence from the Paladin. "I'm sorry."

Within the following moment of silence, Alexander put himself in the Paladin's shoes. On Midgard and on Earth, dragons had been extinct. The magical creatures had been killed off on Earth almost completely, with a rare few being transported to Midgard in the hopes of allowing the species to live peacefully on its own.

That proved near impossible, with the carnivorous ones resorting to cannabilism and murder of the smaller subspecies of herbivorous dragons and wyverns. After that, they went after livestock and even humans.

Even while elves and dwarves and Asgardians slowly found their solutions to managing such a dangerous species, humans could never. And so, Charles Archibald burdened himself with a new problem brought to him by one of his beloved Virtues.

"How large is it?"

Alexander stared down as Shadowfax began to rub her head against Alexander's bare leg. "Uh... Very small, like a dog right now. Nothing to worry about."

"What do you mean 'right now'?" the Paladin asked as he jumped from his bed, his bare feet crashing onto the cold floor. Thankfully, his bedside device was cordless, allowing him to race to the bookshelf across the room. "Can it, by chance, shift its size and shape?"

"Yep. Well, only size," Alexander said, recalling what he lived through alongside Shadowfax. "See, this is the dragon I was with for most of the time in the UnderWorld, so... She's not unfamiliar to me, but..." He paused. "Oh, I understand now..."

In the midst of the battle between Alexander, Furcas, and the Keeper of the Doors of Life and Death, the dragon hovered above them, watching, waiting. She must have followed Alexander into the burst of light that sent him back to Midgard. Since Shadowfax had no Worldy body to tether herself to, her entire being was flung into Midgard at random. By Alexander's guess, she had been finding her way to Alexander for the past two days.

And now... Shadowfax had found her master.

She gingerly lept from side to side, flapping her small wings around, before looking up at Alexander. Her fangs may have been bared, but it was clear it was her form of a smile. After all, her eyes were lighting up with joy at her finding the sword.

Shadowfax began to unfold the wrapped towel, gently biting into it again to unfold each layer and slowly get closer to the sword.

"Please, put that down. Please."

Shadowfax didn't listen, however, and managed to continue until the sword was laying bare in the open. The rancid aura of demonic energy flooded Alexander's nostrils once again. "Archibald. I'm gonna have to call you back. Can you just... come here in a couple of hours? Like after school?"

Archibald pressed his knuckles against his forehead and took in a shallow breath. "Sure. Just don't let the dragon out of your sight."

"Thank you, Archibald." Alexander hung up.

By now, Emilia had finished her shower and made her way downstairs. She, too, was met with the dumbfounding sight of a dragon in her home. But, as soon as she processed the scenario in which the dragon was a miniature creature, one Alexander felt safe around, she knew there was nothing to fear.

To her, this equated an excuse to approach it. Emilia's eyes widened in elation. "Alexander, it's adorable!" she exclaimed, running over to the couch and kneeling before Shadowfax.

"Her name is Shadowfax. Be careful, Emilia," Alexander quickly muttered, before kicking the sword away. He shook his head after that decision and reached for it, grabbing hold of it and lifting it with only two fingers. "I'm gonna put this in my room. Don't get hurt. Don't hurt her, either."

"I won't!" she called as Alexander raced up the stairs. Emilia had always wanted a pet of any kind, constantly begging for a dog or a cat. Waking up to find a beautiful dragon sitting on their couch was an early birthday gift. She couldn't help but giggle as she gingerly rubbed the dragon's head with her fingertips.

Alexander raced back down after hiding the demonic blade in a secure spot to find Emilia and her water magic. She had created an orb of water from her fingertips and used her magic to make it dance in the air, flow and shift and take different shapes. This was all the entertainment the young wyvern needed, her dark and starry eyes once again gleaming with excitement as she followed the sight of flowing water.

Alexander smiled at the sight. He was wholeheartedly glad about Shadowfax's arrival, and if it would improve Emilia's mood at any given time, that was a constant plus. He realized that he had forgotten that in recent times. Emilia was still young, still a child.

He gripped his bookbag from beside the couch and unzipped it open. Alexander smiled at Shadowfax and reached out to her. "Sorry, buddy," he said, gently placing her atop the dense layers of folders and books.

Alexander slightly shut the bag, leaving an open hole between the zippers for the wyvern's sake.

And so, the two siblings departed for school.

It would be worth mentioning that the clash between Keith Miller and Alexander Lane never occurred. After Keith Miller's proposition, Alexander Lane only laughed and walked away alongside his friends.

Truth be told, it was no matter of psychological warfare. Alexander was being genuine, having found humor in Keith's willingness to fight in the present moment. He simply laughed it off with the others and kept moving, even as Keith himself felt damage to his pride, leaving his heart to boil.

After all, the then-present moment was on the third floor of a wooden building, with glass windows at their side. A clash of any kind would put lives in danger.

It was later that morning that Alexander and Emilia walked through those same halls and crossed paths with Giovanna.

The first conversation she initiated was on the upcoming challenges between the branches of the Academy. She already knew that Alexander had signed up for the royale, and without a doubt in her mind, she knew he would be one of the ten selected to fight.

When Alexander asked if she knew what to pick, Giovanna smiled at the siblings. "I'm doing an individual challenge. Liam gave me the idea. I'm going to fight a teacher."

"Huh?!" the two spat out in unison.

"It's a relatively new competition. Any student can go against a teacher of their choosing. I chose a teacher from San Francisco."

Alexander froze and locked eyes with Giovanna, his obsidian glare strewn with confusion. "Dude. Giovanna. You're 15. So... what makes you think you can fight a teacher, and win? I don't mean any offense, but you gotta consider-"

"He's my brother. Giorno Belmonte."

"Oh." Emilia understood. "The prick I've been hearing about, huh?"

Giovanna nodded. "He's a Grade 2 magician. On paper, he's powerful, but I know better than anyone– he's lazy, weak, and doesn't care enough to train."

Alexander still shook his head as he heard what she had to say. She turned to her fellow Virtue and grabbed him by his shoulders, although she had to lift her arms quite high to do so. "Alexander. What do you think is the most important factor in magical combat?"

Alexander took in a sharp breath. Barring amounts and qualities of magic energy itself... "Experience," he uttered.

Proper experience shapes one's decision-making, thought process, reaction time, prowess in offense and defense, and... Well, the list would go on. Experience, both in successes and failures, breeds intelligence. Intelligence breeds capability.

"My brother has not stepped foot on a single battlefield. He's only a teacher because he specializes in herbology and botany. He's a Grade 2 not through combat ability, but book smarts."

Alexander crossed his arms. If he wasn't a combatant type, then... "Why would he accept the challenge?"

Giovanna smirked, although the curling of her lips was slowed, as if she had forced it. "Because he hates me. This might be a bit too blunt, but you guys wouldn't understand it. Coming from a powerful family of magic, only the firstborn child actually inherits anything, stands as anything, or becomes anything. That's why Lumiel and Gabriel are both only children."

"I mean..." Alexander paused. "What about Leonard?"

She crossed her arms against her chest. "The Eldars aren't really a big family, in this sense. Not even traditional, I'd say. My parents are the literal opposite. He'll inherit everything and become the set family mage in our generation."

"So–"

"So I object," Giovanna interrupted. "I've been annoying about it my whole life. I have more magic than him, more skill, better combat capabilities... and he knows it. He's afraid that one day I'll be better than him. And that if I can prove that to our parents, even if they don't want me to, I'll become head of the family. One day."

Alexander spat out a sigh, one that he had been holding in since the start of the conversation. "Alright. You can go ahead and sign up for it."

Giovanna let out a quick squeal of excitement. "I'm already signed up, by the way," she said with a giggle. "Liam did it for me before I saw you."

"Huh? So why'd you ask me about this?"

"Well... You're smart. And I trust you. So I was thinking that if you would actually end up encouraging me, then it would mean I'm on the right path."

"Right..." Alexander let out another sigh. He would never have expected Giovanna to be the one to go behind others' backs to do what she wanted. "I think you're hanging out too much with Leonard."

She laughed. "You kidding? This is exactly the sort of thing you'd do!"

Alexander turned and stared at his side. Emilia only nodded in response. "She has a point."

Another sigh from Alexander's lips. "I never knew I was the bad influence."

Giovanna chuckled at that sentence and moved along to her friend, asking for what competition she intended on choosing.

Emilia scratched the side of her cheek. "The specifics haven't been declared yet, but... It's basically a healing thing. A whole bunch of healers face off to see who can do what the best, I guess."

Then, the bell rang, a prolonged and high-pitched beep erupted into each classroom, corridor, and office.

Alexander ruffled Emilia's hair and smiled. "Sounds good. You're gonna do great in that case."

Emilia smacked his hand down and turned to Giovanna. "You going downstairs?" she asked.

The young Virtue nodded and the two departed.

- - - - -

It was very much later in the day that Charles Archibald arrived at their house. Approximately four hours after they had returned from the Academy, the Paladin knocked on their door wearing a pair of pale gloves. "Where is the beast?" he asked, holding his wooden cane in one hand. No matter the time or place or weather, the ruby gem, connected to the wood by an ornate golden band, would always glimmer, gleam as Alexander laid his eyes on it.

Its beauty was distracting, to say the least, even as he knew that the gem wasn't placed there for that purpose. It exuded a warm, bright energy, one that Alexander knew was under the control of Archibald alone.

"Already next to you."

The Paladin's eyes widened. However, it was nothing that he had expected, nothing like a beast of legend and only a small, black creature approximately four apples tall.

The small creature bared its fangs with an open mouth, likely in an attempt to roar or screech.

Archibald knelt next to Shadowfax and smiled, the sides of his eyes wrinkling. "Aw, she's cute," he said, patting the dragon's head.

"Right?" Emilia asked. She crouched down beside the Paladin and smiled at the sight. "Do you have any idea what to feed it? Alexander gave him some beans and ground beef."

"In hindsight, it seemed like a good idea," Alexander said, shutting the door behind the Paladin and rushing back to the kitchen, where steam and the smell of well-seasoned chicken filled the air. "Y'know, plant protein and animal protein. It works, doesn't it?"

"It's from the UnderWorld, isn't it?" Archibald asked, pushing himself up by his knees with a slight groan.

Alexander fell silent, leaving only a sizzling pan to ring out in the house. "...Yeah. Furcas, the demon... He had a whole... dragon farm, I guess. Shadowfax hopped through the Doors of Life and Death with me. That's how she got here."

The Paladin headed over to the kitchen and approached Alexander. They hadn't met since the day when Alexander was revived.

"Fish," he declared, his voice steady and still, without a hint of humor. "Dragons of all realms and periods have enjoyed fish."

Emilia turned her head in confusion. "That can't be right."

"Well, only partially, at least," he said, turning back to the girl and pressing both his palms onto his cane. "They prefer the raw meats of goats, cows, bulls, humans. Stuff like that. I personally advise of those foods, however. Fish, cooked and uncooked, will be enough for your wyvern."

Alexander spat out a dense, heavy breath. He told himself, "Okay... Fish... Easy."

Before he reached into the freezer once again and began a new set of culinary work, Archibald's lips curled and spread into a grin. He spoke a blessing: "You can keep the dragon. Just don't let it out of the house."

"But what if she needs to go on a walk? Or fly around?" Emilia interjected.

"Well..." He paused with a purse of his lips. "Alright. Don't let it out in its full size."

"Full size?" Emilia asked, turning to her new pet.

Alexander cleared his throat. "She'd crash through the ceiling if she did. But on the bright side, she's big enough to carry two people in that state. Maybe even three if she's feeling up for it."

Emilia's eyes widened in surprise, her closed-lip smile widening.

"Keep them both out of mischief, will you?" Archibald asked Alexander.

The Demon-Born smiled. "I promise I will. At least..." he said after a pause. "I'll try my best." He stared up and to the side, where he could still sense the leaking demonic presence given off by a mere weapon.

It was his personal doubt that Adam would tell Archibald about the sword. A mere weapon, he repeated to himself. Archibald had no reason to know of such a thing. The Paladin definitively had far more important issues to handle.

The Paladin's smile slowly faded away. "Sometimes in life..." the Paladin said. "...you must endure what you hate– be it that it hurts or even if you simply find it disgusting. That is the path to becoming strong. Well, stronger." He locked eyes with the boy. "I'm sure you understand what I mean, my boy."

Alexander remained quiet.