The Prince and The Pauper

Chapter 13

~.The next day.~

Astral awoke in a tree hole high above the ground, higher than any of THEM could climb. He didn't know how he got there, but he assumed that Yuma was the cause.

He looked out of the hole, hanging on to the rim of the bark. Such a magnificent sight! From way up here, it felt like they could see the whole world! The sun barely coming up made the view a hundred times better!

He felt movement behind him. He looked back to see Yuma rousing and moving closer with a smile. He, too, seemed to like this view.

"Looks great, huh?" he sighed, resting his arms on the bark of the hole.

Astral allowed himself to smile. "Yes." He looked at Yuma again with question. "How did we get here? The branches are much too thin to support human weight."

"You probably don't remember this, but you flew us up here. There was this huge shockwave, and you must have been caught in the midst of it."

Astral nodded. He had to admit that it happened when he was a child. He would set off a huge explosion and then people would claim that he did things that he didn't remember. Black Mist would confirm this with a nod. He never lied about things like that. He smiled at the memory.

"I remember it would happen when I was a child," he confessed. "Electricity is a very dangerous thing to manipulate as well as fire."

Yuma smiled, then he realized something. When they were calm like this, Astral seemed to be more relaxed than when they traveled. He wondered why. Well, he didn't want to bring it up right now.

Astral took a deep breath. Somehow, he felt nervous around the boy. His heart would always beat faster. He couldn't place these feelings into a category.

"Yuma, I have a question," Astral started. He wondered how he should put it into words.

"Yeah?"

Oh, dear...How do I say this? He was never good with words like those he wanted to say. "I..." He had never been this tongue-tied before! He always had a way with words. "I wanted to ask you something..."

"What is it?"

He decided to just get it out. "What happens when someone feels nervous around someone relatively harmless?" he hurriedly asked.

Yuma was confused. "What do you mean?"

The prince cleared his throat. This will need more explaining than I thought... "I mean if one is by someone, and they start feeling nervous? What happens then?"

Yuma thought about that. Is he talking about crushes? Why would Astral be talking about that? "You mean when someone has a crush?"

"Crush? Isn't that something someone does in battle?" His face turned from awkward to confused. "What does that have to do with what I am trying to tell you?"

Yuma laughed. "Not that kind. What I'm talking about is when someone likes another person, but the other person doesn't know it."

Is that what it is called? Such a strange word for something like that. "Then I suppose that is what I mean." He felt his face burning at what he wanted to say next.

Yuma noticed this. "What about it?"

"W-well..." How should I put it? Will it seem odd if I admit it? "Well, I wanted to say that..." He trailed off again.

"What?"

"I think that I..." His face flushed pure red. "I think I may have that...crush..."

Yuma was surprised at this confession. It wasn't like him. "On who?"

"Pardon?"

"Who do you have a crush on?"

Oh, dear deceased father, help me! He just had to bring the subject up! It would have been better if he hadn't and just kept his mouth shut!

Astral felt heat crawling all over his face. "On...someone."

Yuma grinned. "Come on," he teased. "Who's the lucky girl?"

"I-it's not really a girl..." Oh, please let this pass soon!

"Not a girl? Then you're gay?"

"Oh, stop using words I do not understand!" Astral yelled, hiding his face in his hands.

Yuma raised his hands in a surrendering gesture. "Okay, okay. So, who's the guy?"

"Um..." He would honestly rather not say, but he had to if he wanted this subject to be dropped. "Y-you..."

Yuma's jaw dropped as he felt his own face turning red. What the hell is he saying?

As quickly as he confessed, Astral snapped. Two separate bubbles encased them. "We mustn't dawdle. We look for food, and then we keep searching."

~.Captives POV.~

Black Mist had calmed down after a long time of draining his darkness, and he was now back in the cage with his head on Akari's lap. He was too drained to say or do anything.

"Just a little more, and then we'll need something from you, missy," one of the felines purred gleefully.

"What do you even plan to do?" Akari demanded. "I don't see the point in any of this!"

Lady Shila came up behind the feline. "We plan to take over the entire human world with his energy and your inner strength." She grinned. She spoke to Black Mist. "First, we take out your big brother," she purred. "He'll be a nuisance to us." Then, she spoke to Akari. "And your brother as well. He seemed to be able to distract my bloodhounds with the prince."

Akari sneered. "If he can take down your bloodhounds, he can take you down!"

Lady Shila and her cats all busted out into meowing laughter.

"You think he can?" she laughed. "The only reason why most of them were killed was because of his brother." She pointed to Black Mist with one claw sticking out. "If not for him, he would have died."

Black Mist opened his eyes somewhat to see what was going on. His vision blurred, he made out the shape of Lady Shila casually leaning against the cage with a sly grin.

"Oh, looks like the little brother is awake," she giggled. "I'll just leave you two to your little 'planning' session." With a laugh, she slunk away.

"You're safe for the moment," Akari mumbled under her breath so that only he could hear. "Let's just hope that our brothers get here in time."

Black Mist nodded slightly, but he was starting to lose faith in his brother. Why wasn't he getting there as quick as possible? It was just like when their father punished him. Astral made no move to stop him.