David, now in the cafeteria holding a tray of food, roamed about looking for a place to sit. He was a bit taken aback from seeing so many of the academy students gather in one place eating after spending the past few days away from everyone. He recalled how usually when it was time to eat, he would just silently slip into the cafeteria, grab some food, turn to air, and go straight to his room to eat before slipping back into the cafeteria to return the tray.

  He did that all throughout the passing days, and now, after staying away from people for so long, he couldn't help but feel a sense of discomfort from being around them, and them staring and whispering about him did little to whisper away the ever-growing feeling of unease. David could hear it all, coming from every direction, every mumble and whisper about him and how he was Ibierana’s son and how he was destined to protect and save the world from the kind of evil that was coming. Hearing talks on how he was supposedly some kind of hero increased the level of uneasiness that was already building up from within, and it was taking every ounce of strength he could muster to fight the urge that was screaming at him to run out of the cafeteria as fast as his two legs could run. But just as he was about to give in to his urge to flee, he heard a loud, familiar, and somewhat annoying voice call out for him.

  “David, over here,” Flora’s voice boomed from the table where she, Akiri, Susan, and surprisingly Steven were seated.

  David, thankful to the heavens above to have finally spotted a familiar face, darted to the table. Once there, he opted to take a seat in-between Flora and Akiri, only for Flora to abruptly close the gap between her and Akiri, denying him the chance to sit there.

  “Sorry David, this spot’s taken, but you can take a seat over there next to Susan,” Flora said while pointing from across the table to where Susan, who greeted David with a smile that made his heart melt, sat with Steven, who sent a fierce, bone-chilling glare David’s way the moment they made eye contact.

  “Come, Flora, you can’t still be mad about what happened earlier,” David begged, knowing exactly what Flora was up to.

  “Mad? I’m not mad. Why would you think I am mad? I simply suggested you take a seat over there with Susan and Mr. Grumpy Mcgrumps over there since there’s no space over here,” Flora spoke with a devious smile while Steven simply grunted at the Mr. Grumpy comment, trying his absolute best to resist the urge to send a fireball her way to those infernal lips of hers that seemed to only be able to blurt out nonsense.

  David, upon seeing the devious little grin on his cousin’s face, turned to Akiri, hoping that he could somehow save him from her sinister ploy, but Akiri just needed to take one glance at Flora to catch a glimpse of death itself before turning back to David with an apologetic look on his face. David, seeing the helpless and frightened look from Akiri, realized that he couldn’t expect any form of help from him.

  Flora then spoke, with a devious grin still on her face, saying, “What’s wrong, David? There’s a perfectly good spot over there. If it’s because of the hothead over there, you could just sit next to Susan.”

  Flora's words alone were enough to cause a reaction between David, Susan, and Steven, with rosy red spots forming on the cheeks of the first two and an infernal rage from the last.

  “Is it getting hot in here, or is it just me?” asked Akiri, sensing his surroundings suddenly begin to heat up. It didn’t take David long, however, to spot the source of the heat as he glared at him with fierce red fiery dragon eyes and could literally see the heat dissipating from the air around him. Steven at that moment looked like a ticking time bomb that was ready to explode at any moment, and after briefly recalling an incident that happened in that very cafeteria involving a certain temperamental fire dragon warrior, David was not really keen on seeing what would happen if that bomb were to go off.

  David then gulped before shifting his gaze away from Steven and back to Flora before begging, “Come on, Flora, don’t be like that. There is a spot right there; all you have to do is move out of the way.”

  “Sorry, David, there is just no space,” said Flora with a playful smile, seemingly enjoying what she was doing to her cousin.

  David, upon hearing what Flora was saying, was about to say something to try and persuade her to see reason and not be so cruel to her cousin, but before he could, a soft voice interjected.

  “Uhm… I don’t mind David sitting next to me,” Susan spoke a bit shyly while trying to hide the fact that her cheeks had turned beet red.

  David, upon hearing what Susan said, froze up, a bit taken aback by her words, and was unable to do anything else but just stare at her up until Flora snapped her finger in front of him to bring him back to his senses.

  “What?” David blurted out as he came back to reality.

  “Susan said she is fine with you sitting next to her, so go take your seat,” said Flora.

  “Oh, alright,” said David before, without protesting in any way, going to take a seat by Susan’s side and acting in a way that made Steven so enraged that his meal was heated up due to the sheer amount of heat produced. It was taking everything he had to summon the biggest fireball ever produced by a fire dragon warrior in history and hurl it straight for David, roasting his entire body to such an extent that not even his ashes will remain.

  “Err… “Is it hot here, or is it just me?” said David with a nervous smile on his face as his body sweat, partly due to the heat but mostly because of Susan.

  “Oh really, I didn’t notice,” said Susan with a similar smile as David while also sweating for similar reasons.

  The heat didn’t really register in both David’s and Susan’s minds, more as an afterthought, as did the rest of their surroundings, a fact that Steven, the source of the heat, noticed, which only served to enrage him even more, causing him to create even more heat. David then noticed Steven and how the spoon he held was busy boiling the food on it due to the overwhelming heat emanating from it, and upon noticing that along with the sour expression on his face, he realized that Steven might be upset.

  “Er…Susan,” David whispered while gesturing to Steven, drawing her attention to her brother.

  Susan, upon spotting her brother and the fact that the spoon he held was beginning to glow red along with the annoyed look on his face, asked, “Steven, are you alright?”

  Steven, upon hearing what Susan said, turned to her, and seeing the look of worry and concern in her eyes, let out a calming sigh before saying, “I’m fine, Susan.”

  The heat disappeared as all the rage and annoyance Steven felt vanished upon seeing Susan’s face. Susan then sent a warm smile her brother’s way upon seeing that he had calmed down.

  “This feels nice,” said Susan with a smile on her face. \

  “What?” asked David.

  “This, being here with you guys having breakfast. It honestly feels like forever since we’ve gotten to do this,” said Susan.

  “Yeah, but last time, we had much nicer company,” said Flora while glaring at Steven, causing him to roll her eyes in annoyance.

  “Flora,” Susan spoke sternly, not really happy with Flora’s comment.

  Flora, upon hearing the sternness in Susan’s voice, simply scoffed before deciding to remain silent and focus on her meal.

  Susan then turned to Steven, seeing the upset and annoyed look in his eyes. She could tell that he was genuinely trying his best to be a good brother and putting in effort to fix their somewhat fractured relationship; he was even making attempts to control his rage even though Flora didn’t make it easy on him. Seeing that was enough to make her happy and put a smile on her face, but yet, despite the fact that he was trying, she couldn’t help but feel that there was still quite a large distance between them and that during the past few days Steven chose to stay away. Granted, it didn’t seem like he was outright avoiding her, but at the very same time, it seemed as though he was all too eager to spend time with her, and even though she could tell that he was trying to get close, he was still pretty distant with her, and the only time she got to really see him was when they were eating in the cafeteria when he would join them, much to Flora’s annoyance and protests against it, and even during then he didn’t really say much of anything. There were a few times she would be lucky enough to spot him roaming about the academy’s halls, but he always seemed to rush off to somewhere before she could approach him.

  But despite the fact that Steven wasn’t really there for her during the past few days, a time when she really needed someone to be there for her, she couldn’t bring herself to blame him for wanting to be alone; after all, he and she both had the unfortunate fate of having to see the lifeless remains of their parents moments after their deaths alongside Flora and Akiri. It had been easy during the passing days, and Susan was able to recall how she would try to force herself to go to bed, ignoring the hurt and immense pain in her heart, and try to have a peaceful sleep, only to be woken up right away by nightmares that reminded her that her parents were truly gone. It was during those past few days and along with the nights that followed, when she couldn’t bring herself to fall asleep, that Susan found herself thinking about her parents only to feel a wave of sorrow and pain as the painfully agonizing fact was that she never really spent that much time with them when they were alive. They were always busy with the duties as Golden Dragon Generals and didn’t really have that much time to spend with her and Steven, and so for most of their childhood Steven and Susan were without their parents. Susan, as a consequence of her grief, found herself a point, resenting her parents for never being there for both her and Steven, turning sorrow and pain over their deaths into rage, as it was easier for her to be angry at them than to miss them, but her anger and rage towards her parents didn’t really last that long, all thanks to David.

  Recalling how during a certain night when she found herself once again unable to sleep due to the overwhelming nightmares that plagued her whenever she tried to, she spotted David sneaking out of the academy’s gate and heading to the forest. At first she thought he might have been in some kind of trouble and decided to follow him, sneaking out of the academy as well, only to find David seated on the branch of a tree staring at the golden temple. Upon seeing what David was doing and figuring that he was not in any kind of trouble, she thought about leaving, thinking that he might seem to want time alone by himself, but yet she couldn’t bring herself to leave. That was the very first time she had seen him in what felt like so long, and watching him stare off into the distance like that with eyes filled with pain and sadness, Susan couldn’t bring herself to leave him.

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  “You know, if you’re just going to stare at me all night, you might as well stop hiding behind the bushes,” David spoke without even turning his head.

  Susan, upon hearing what David said, simply sighed before stepping out of the bushes where she hid.

  “You knew?” asked Susan.

  “Heightened senses, I could feel your breath through the wind,” David said without even turning to face.

  Susan, upon hearing what David said, bowed her head slightly, embarrassed and disappointed that David managed to sense her before saying, “Oh.”

  David then let out a deep sigh before saying, “You know there’s a good spot right here,” gesturing to a spot on the branch next to him, inviting Susan to come sit by his.

  “Oh,” Susan spoke once more with a blush at the sides of her cheeks before deciding to take David up on his offer and tried climbing up the tree to get to him, struggling a little and even falling a few times, causing David to chuckle a little at the amusing sight of watching Susan struggle to make her way up the tree before finally deciding to help her out by using the power of the wind to lift her up off the ground and place her on the branch next to him.

  “Hey,” David greeted with a slight smile.

  “Hey,” Susan responded with a smile and a blush.

  There was a moment of intense silence shared between the two as they both found themselves struggling to get a word out of their lips after having spent so much time apart. The intense silence shared between the two of them was, however, broken by David managing to force a few words out of his mouth.

  “So, how have you been doing?” David spoke softly while shifting his gaze to Susan.

  Susan, upon hearing David’s words, simply sighed before saying, “Honestly, I’m a mess.”

  Susan then began to tell David everything she had been doing during the past few days, nightmares keeping her up at night, along with how painful it felt to have to wake up every single day knowing that her parents were gone, and as she spoke, letting out all her anger and frustration, she didn’t realize when anger and bitterness began to mix into her words, revealing to David that it wasn’t hurt she felt towards them.

  “Why did they have to die after spending most of their lives away from us? It’s just not fair.” Susan spoke with tears in her eyes, and her voice laced with anger and bitterness along with sadness and pain.

  David, upon hearing Susan’s words and the pain, anger, sadness, and frustration within them, couldn’t help but feel as though he could relate. Recalling how his mother abandoned him in an orphanage only to die fighting against the Dark Dragon Lord. His tragic tale was somewhat similar to Susan's; like her, he too had a parent burdened by the overwhelming responsibility placed upon her as the Golden Dragon Warrior, responsibilities that ultimately forced her to leave him behind in order to fulfill them.

  “I get it; it hurts thinking that your parents abandoned you and would rather sacrifice their lives than spend them with you,” said David, mirroring the same emotions of anger, sadness, and frustration in his voice as he spoke.

  David then let out a sigh before continuing with a calm voice, “But you have to remember, everything they did, they did for you; they did it hoping that by doing so you would have a chance to live happily. Their sacrifice was never out of selfishness or because they didn’t love; they did what they did solely because they loved you and only wanted the best for you.”

  And then, right after David finished speaking, he was pulled in a warm and loving embrace by a teary-eyed Susan, who was beyond grateful to have him as a friend. And as for David, he was taken aback, not just by the hug, but by the words that left his mouth because they didn’t feel like his, and as he spoke, it felt as though he was just repeating the words someone else told him during a moment in his forgotten past when he really needed to hear them. Then an image of a familiar silver-haired girl flashed in his head, and upon seeing it, David couldn’t help but smile before hugging Susan back, pleased with the fact that something from his past that was tainted by pain, sorrow, carnage, death, and destruction could help someone he deeply cared about.

  After that night Susan began to cultivate the habit of meeting David at the exact same spot to talk about everything that had happened, and they found themselves growing closer in the process. During that time they spent in the shadow of the night sky, seated on a tree branch, Susan was able to see a part of David that he was reluctant to show to anybody, a scared, frightened, and uncertain side of himself, a glaring contrast to the helpful, na?ve, and charming boy she met at the academy days ago. David didn’t really talk much about himself and what he was going through, saying nothing about the nightmares he had been having constantly each night, not wanting to bother and trouble Susan with his problems. And Susan, even though she wished he would share everything with her, understood that there were some things that David had to keep to himself and he could only reveal them to her when he was ready. That, however, didn’t mean she didn’t pester him or try to get him to spill out what was bothering him every now and then, something she would succeed in getting him to do, revealing something that helped her understand his pain, conveying not directly but through his words and the way he spoke about life everything that had happened during his time at the academy, and perceiving his pain, sorrow, and regret in his words.

  Susan let out a deep sigh as she recalled those moments she shared with David during the past nights while glancing at Steven. Susan then thought about how, if you look past their grumpy and cold attitudes, Steven and David were actually kind of similar, after all. They both had the habit of keeping their pain to themselves and refused to share it with those closest to them because they didn’t want to bother anyone, a trait that Susan couldn’t help but find incredibly sweet and immensely annoying. Apart from that, however, there was another thing: both David and Steven had income, and that was the fact they were more than willing to do anything to keep those they care about safe, recalling how Steven, albeit begrudgingly, followed them to the dark dragon warriors, Sky Dragon, to save David.

  Susan couldn’t help but smile at her brother as she thought of how much alike she and David were, but at the same time she couldn’t overlook one glaring difference between David and Steven, the one thing that set them apart from each other and the trait she found most annoying, and that was the fact that he always stayed away and kept his distance. Sure had made attempts to get close to her, but even so, she couldn’t help but feel that despite the fact that they were closer than they were before, she couldn’t help but feel like there was still some kind of impenetrable wall between her and him, a wall keeping them apart despite being so close. David, by contrast, felt more open; around him she felt as though she could be herself and let out everything she had kept hidden away underneath a warm smile. But Susan, looking at her brother, wanted nothing more than to break down the wall keeping both of them apart, but she knew that wall would only come down when Steven himself chooses to bring it down and open up to her, but until then.

  “Hey Steven,” Susan called out to Steven with a warm smile on her face.

  Steven, upon hearing Susan call him, almost choked on his food out of shock before turning.

  “What?” asked Steven.

  “What have you been up to? You were almost as rare as David during the past few days,” said Susan with a playful smile.

  “Not rare enough if you ask me,” whispered Flora softly, much to Steven’s annoyance.

  “I’ve been so busy,” said Steven with a low voice and his head bent down low.

  David, upon hearing what Steven said, remembered what he saw the night before: Steven training with a bow and arrow in the training so late at night when the entire academy was asleep. David then let out a deep sigh, thinking that doing that must be his way of coping with everything that had happened over the past days.

  “Doing what exactly?” asked Susan.

  Steven, upon hearing what Susan said, paused for a moment, raised his head to look at her, and moved his lips ever so slightly as though he was about to say something, only for him to divert his gaze away from her and back to his meal before saying, “It’s nothing.”

  “Oh,” Susan spoke softly with her head bowed down in sadness and disappointment.

  David, upon seeing the sad look on Susan’s face, extended his hand to hers. Susan, upon feeling the warmth of David’s arm on hers, turned to look at him and then saw a warm and consoling smile on his face. And upon spotting that smile on David’s face, she felt her sadness fade away and soon sent a warm smile his way.

  Steven watched as David consoled his sister, easily making her smile after he made her bow her head in sadness, and couldn’t help but feel a sense of shame and disgust in himself for not being able to make his sister smile like David. Steven then let out a deep sigh before shifting his attention to his meal.

  “So David, why didn’t the headmaster want to see you?” asked Flora, a question that almost made David choke on his food upon hearing it.

  “Well, um… You see, um…” David struggled to put his words together, not knowing how to tell them exactly what happened between him and the headmaster.

  “David,” the warm and angelic voice Susan called out to him, with a warm smile on her face that made her look immensely beautiful in David’s eyes.

  “Yes,” David said with rosy red spots on his cheeks.

  “Tell us what the headmaster said,” said Susan, curious to know, as were the rest of them, even Steven, just exactly what the headmaster wanted to talk to him about.

  David, upon hearing what Susan said, cleared his throat before saying, “Well, you see…” David then proceeded to tell them what the headmaster told him about how he would be attending a different class apart from the other students, which was news Flora didn’t take very well.

  “WHAT!!!!!” Flora yelled out in rage, yelling so loud that her voice could be mistaken for a ravenous beast.

  “You heard me, I’ll be attending a different class,” said David with his finger in his ear, trying to make the ringing stop.

  “I mean, it does make sense when you think about it,” said Akiri, not completely shocked by the news, as he had expected the headmaster to take such an action, especially after knowing that David was Ibierana’s son.

  “What, are you serious?” said Flora with fury in her eyes, fury aimed at Akiri.

  “I’m just saying, David’s the son of Ibierana and the next Golden Dragon Warrior. It makes sense that the headmaster would give him a special class,” said Akiri with fear in his voice while crouched away from Flora defensively.

  David, upon hearing what Akiri said, couldn’t help but internalize the words ‘next Golden Dragon Warrior’ and ‘Ibierana’s son’ before bowing down his head and saying, “Yeah, it makes perfect sense.”

  Susan, upon seeing David's head bowed down low, knew that something was bothering him. Before she could reach out to try and console him, she heard the sound of someone getting up from their seat.

  “I’ve lost my appetite,” said Steven with a cold and bitter voice before walking away.

  “What’s his problem?” asked Flora.

  Susan, upon seeing the way Steven just left, couldn’t help but feel a wave of sadness wash over her, wondering to herself, why was her brother that way, distant and cold, to everyone, even her? Susan clenched her hands tightly on her lap and bowed down while trying desperately not to shed a tear, and then a familiar hand grabbed hold of hers, and it did. The tightly clutched hand began to soften and open up.

  Susan then raised her head to see David right by her side consoling her with a comforting smile. Susan, upon her gaze meeting his warm and thoughtful smile, couldn’t help but feel the sadness in her heart over Steven leaving slowly begin to fade away. Susan then let out a deep sigh before letting go of all her sadness Steven’s cold and distant attitude brought her, knowing that no matter how much she wished he’d change and be more open, he would always choose to keep his distance and stay away from everyone, including her. Susan then shifted her attention to David, knowing that at the very least she could confide in him and he would always be there for her to lend an ear or a shoulder to lean on, and knowing that was enough to put a smile on her face.

  David was pleased to see a smile on Susan’s face, knowing just how much she wished that Steven would open up to and confide in her as his sister, even if it was only a little. David then let out a deep breath before shifting his gaze away from Susan and onto Steven as he made his way out of the cafeteria, wondering why he had to be so unbearably stubborn and refuse to let anyone get too close, not even his own sister.

  David’s thoughts were brought to an abrupt end by the loud sound of Akiri letting out a massive burp.

  “That’s disgusting; warn someone next time,” said Flora, who had the unfortunate fate of being seated right next to Akiri while he let out what she believed to be toxic fumes out of his mouth.

  “Sor-*burp*ry” Akiri spoke in between another burp.

  Susan then let out a small giggle at the hilarious sight, followed by David, who couldn’t stop himself from laughing as well, then Flora, who, although initially enraged by the act, couldn’t stop herself from bursting into laughter as well, and then finally Akiri joined in. As they laughed together, David couldn’t help but take a moment to look at his friends, the look of joy and happiness on their faces, as well as the feeling of happiness of being there with them sharing that moment with them. David sincerely couldn’t remember the last time he had felt that way, happy in the company of people he loved and cherished with all his heart. It was a feeling that was somewhat alien to David but a good feeling nevertheless, one he hoped would last forever.