(Outdated) The King of Elements

The Hardships Return

He shook his head before he leaned it against her bedframe. "You know, Megumi, I had fun hanging out with you today, even though we both came close to dying more than once. And, well, I don't want something that looked like a great friendship to be a one-time thing, you know?"

She looked at him with a perplexed stare. "Where did that come from?"

"I don't know, to be honest."

Megumi giggled. "That is so lame, dude."

"Yeah," Dre said in a light chuckle, "yeah, I guess it was."

He looked up at the ceiling fan slowly spin above them. Once he really began to think about what all he'd learned today, he had tons of questions that needed answers. Why did they have to learn how to control their elemental powers? What exactly were Amians? Could he tell anyone at the school in Prescott? Not that they'd believe him or even listen. And who was that boy that was behind Principal Dixon. Wait. That dream!

"I'm assuming you have something important to say since you startled Mew-Mew," Megumi said coldly.

Dre looked up on the bed and seen that Mew-Mew was no longer in Megumi's lap. Embarrassment clouded his mind as he realized he was thinking out loud. "Sorry. I had this strange dream while I was knocked out. It looked like it was set back in the medieval ages, except everyone controlled the horses with their mind. And there was a moat filled with what looked like mercury-"

"Yeah, I'm going to just stop you there and inform you that it was just a dream. Anything can happen in them."

"No, you don't understand. I remember there was a prince and a princess in it. Prince Reiax, just like what the academy is named after."

"While this is all well and dandy," Megumi said, "what exactly makes this such a strange dream? I have dreams all the time where a demonic banana is trying to kill me, and yet I'm not gloating about it."

Dre was befuddled. "You seriously have those dreams?"

"You mind getting to the point?"

"Okay, okay. The dream was incredibly realistic, except it was like I was watching things from Prince Reiax's perspective. What if it's a sign? Like, my destiny or something?"

"Dre, remember when I said your alien theory was the stupidest conclusion I've ever heard?"

"The one that I was completely correct on?" he added.

"Not the point right now. You were unconscious and was probably hallucinating the whole thing?"

"But-"

"Hey, Ke'Undre! 8-Bit!" Joel's voice called from behind the door. "Quit making out in there and come out! His family is out here waiting on him!"

"We aren't making out, you ass!" Megumi called back, beginning to look a red in the cheeks. She sighed as Joel's steps receded back into the hallway. "Look, if you have a dream like that again, then I'd suggest you tell daddy about it, since he's the headmaster of the academy. But right now-" she swung herself off of the bed and held out a hand to let Dre up, "your family's waiting on you, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather not be accused of making out again."

So he followed Megumi out of her room, through the dark hallway, and into the living room, where both of their families stood waiting by the door, speaking happily with each other and laughing. Dre couldn't tell from Megumi's room, and was too preoccupied with thinking he was dying when he returned to the house, to notice that it was now nighttime. The chirping of crickets and cicadas could be heard from the front door, as well as the occasional car zooming by on the highway.

"Hold on," Megumi said as she grabbed his arm. "Before we get to our families, you remember what you were talking about before you started talking about that idiotic dream?"

"It wasn't idiotic," Dre said. "But, yeah, I remember."

"As long as you don't do anything stupid, it doesn't have to end. At least not yet."

Dre couldn't help himself but to smile. After all of the hell he went through today, the knowledge of him finally finding a friend his age made his heart swell. He wanted nothing more than to hug her at the moment, but Megumi's warning of "not doing anything stupid" manage to stop him.

She smirked back at him. "Well, we are on the same team, so it'd make sense for us to be friends. Come on. Your family's outside now. I think they're getting impatient."

"I suppose so. Well, I'll see you tomorrow, Megumi," he said as he waved, still beaming.

"See you later," she said, beaming.

Dre said his goodbyes to Mr. and Mrs. Gladestone, as well as Joel and Loyalty, and made his way to his parents' F-150 and got in the back seat beside an angry looking Ian. "Well, that was fun. It was good seeing them again," Abigail said as she sat in the passenger's seat.

"Easy for you to say," Raheem said as he sat behind the wheel. He looked and sounded as though he hadn't slept in weeks. "Monitoring the forest is some serious work. It's a good thing I sent Sakura to that girl early, otherwise-" Abigail shushed him as they made their way down the dark highway. Dre knew it was for his well-being since they were talking about his teammate, but he weren't paying any attention to them. He was much too happy about meeting some new friends. Raheem cleared his throat before saying, "So, you guys have Sakura as your team leader, huh? Loyalty didn't give you any kind of warnings about talking to her?"

Ian rested his head on his fist and stared out at the passing houses. "No. He was-"

"No, what?" Abigail asked with an inflection.

"No, sir. He was too busy getting drunk and high to tell me much of anything. Besides, I doubt he's too worried about me and Dre trying to take his fiancée from him." They turned right on Moncrief Street. Considering that the gas station on the side of the highway was closed, Dre figured that it was well past ten o'clock.

The rest of the conversation was tuned out as they turned towards Hall Street, heading towards their pearl-white house that paled in comparison to the Gladestone's mansion-like house.

"I call shower, first!" Dre said as they drove into the gravel driveway. He hopped out of the truck, ran into the house, quickly took his shower and brushed his teeth, and crashed on the bed with a big smile on his face, despite his soreness and exhaustion from the exams. As he drifted to sleep, he heard his phone vibrate against the wood of his bed post. He groaned as he groped the top of the head rest for his phone.

"Hello?" he mumbled into the phone.

"Hello, Dre," the young woman's voice said on the other line. All of the bliss and happiness Dre was feel was instantly depleted at the sound of her voice. He was re-introduce to his personal hell as his girlfriend, Samantha Sonata, reminded him just what kind of life he lived with the sound of her voice.