Kingdom Rivalry

Chapter 18

"I apologize for falling asleep right then and there," Astral said while their fathers talked. "And thank you for bringing me back home."

Black Mist nodded. "Of course. But when you fell asleep, were you tired at all?"

"No, not at all. I was simply getting a vision." Astral shuddered. "A haunting one, at that."

"Mind talking about it?"

"Father will have me explain things when we are at the meeting. You will have to wait until then."

Black Mist nodded, and soon, they made their way back to the meeting room, where Pluto and Zeon were talking and getting to know each other. When Zeon saw them approaching, he walked over.

"There you two are," he said. "Astral, if you would."

Astral nodded grimly and touched his own forehead. Then, he spread his arms, where a screen appeared with the scene he saw. It was the whole thing, from the beginning to the end, in great detail and in first person, just like the vision. The only thing that wasn't depicted was the great confusion and the nothingness coming from the bodies. Pluto and Zeon watched on, the Obscure king's face giving nothing away except for a little troubling spark in his eye. When it was all done, Astral gave a small sigh; it was always tiring replaying such a long dream sequence.

"Do you know if this will come to pass?" Pluto finally asked.

"My son has never had visions of the distant future before," Zeon mused. "Only ones of the past, some of the near future, and those mostly came true. As for this one? We can only assume that it will happen just like this if we ignore the warning."

"It seemed like they were constantly being remade," Astral commented. "Like some source was fueling them, allowing them to re-spawn infinitely."

Just at that moment, the moment Astral mentioned a fuel source, Black Mist gasped and fell forward, as if something was forcing itself into his mind. He stopped himself from falling completely over, clutching his head. Something was digging its way into his mind, something that was probably information, but it was so painful! What the hell is this!?

And then it was over...

"What happened?" Zeon asked worriedly. "Was it an attack?"

"No, I don't think so..." Black Mist mused. "It...wasn't hostile. Just painful." He thought for a while, something about a crystal, but what about it?

"Are you okay?" Astral touched his head, his eyes holding concern. "Did it damage anything? Here, let me see." Before letting Black Mist say anything, Astral reached over and rubbed the gems on his forehead, knowing that it would help relieve the pain.

Black Mist, shocked at first, grinned and kissed Astral on the nose, freezing the sorcerer prince in place and causing Zeon to chuckle lightly. "Thanks, sugar, but I can handle it," he chuckled.

Astral pulled his hands away quickly with a deep blush on his cheeks. He nodded, playing with his hands.

"Do you know what that sudden pain was?" Pluto, completely unfazed, asked.

"No, not at all," Black Mist replied. "But I'm sure it'll come to me later."

Pluto and Zeon later dismissed them while they talked about the vision more than when their sons were there, leaving Astral and Black Mist to spend some time together, which was when Astral decided to confront Black Mist about the little kiss.

"What was that about back there?" he asked, breaking the silence.

"What was what?"

"The...um...you know." Astral once again blushed.

Black Mist grinned. "The little kiss?" he teased; he earned a small nod from his mirror spirit. "I don't think I've ever been shy about showing you that you're cute, Astral. This is just another one of those gestures."

They made it outside of the building. The gardeners already planted a garden around the building and beyond. The garden blended seamlessly into the nature found in the Neutral Lands. The pair walked to a nearby stream, where Astral sat at the edge and Black Mist settled beside him, letting his feet dangle in the water.

"I have not been blind to your advances," Astral said. "I just do not know what to make of them."

"I hear confusion is normal in things like this." Black Mist grinned, cupping some water into his hand and splashing the Cosmic prince. 

Astral stopped the water in mid air with a small smile. "Have you? Well, hearing and experiencing are two different things."

"I know." The Number scooted closer and took his hand. 

Astral, after a moment of thought, returned his gesture with a squeeze of his own hand. "And here I thought you were a completely cold Number," he giggled. "But you just seem so soft inside."

"What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that I can feel your true nature." The Cosmic prince leaned on the Obscure prince comfortably and closed his eyes. "It does not take long to feel someone's true nature if they are close enough."

"Oh yeah? What do you think my true nature is then?"

"Like a wild animal, you are vert vicious. That is a learned trait, though, because the first impression I get from you is how deeply you care about your family and Vector." Then, he opened his eyes and sat up only to then be pulled back into a hug.

"Well, you can go ahead and add yourself to that list because I've gotten to care for you a great deal."

Astral's eyes widened, though he already guessed it. He supposed that saying it was much more different than guessing, though. It somehow had more meaning. "Do you mean what I think you mean?"

"If it means I care about you beyond friendship? Yes."

That was new. He wasn't yet of age to be courted, yet here was this Obscure Number claiming he basically loved him. It felt right, though.

Neither of them noticed Zeon watching them from afar, a smile on his face. The Cosmic king didn't disapprove of those words; he rather liked that his son had someone who cared deeply for him, and the Obscure were not known to love shallowly. The fact that Black Mist was admitting this was a very important thing to him and his son. Zeon didn't know what Pluto thought of this, but he was sure that the Obscure king wouldn't exactly be happy. Even so, there wasn't much he could do without Black Mist having a fit.

Still smiling, Zeon walked off back to talking with Pluto.

Eventually, Astral managed to free himself from Black Mist's grasp and suggested that they train with magic, which Black Mist agreed to. This time, though, they both decided that they would do something different.

"Instead of just practicing one thing like we have been doing, how about we mix both?" Astral suggested.

"Sounds good," Black Mist agreed. And so they started.

Still not used to writing romances, guys ^^" Sorry. But this is why I'm writing romances! I intend to practice this genre!