The return.

"Ronald, my son."

It was the king who was speaking.

"Good evening, my lord. Any leads from your side?" Ronald got straight to the point, the cousins duo sitting comfortably close to the elemental and hearing the conversation through their sensitive ears.

"Ah...nothing except for a few criminals and black magic offenders but that's just it. You sound like you've found something precious." The king noticed the tone in the elemental's voice, mentioning it before the old man forgets about it.

"You're right, my lord. We've found a jade pot. Pretty nasty and filled with dark magic, we observed." He could hear a few more gasps from the other side of the line and before the king could respond to anything else, the head of security took the phone from his hands respectfully and said,

"We all will head back to the palace. This instant. My boy, that's no ordinary pot you've just found. And don't you dare let the soil or earth touch it. It's a dooms call." The head of security of the country strained his voice at the ending, expressing how critical the situation is.

"Yes, sir. The pot has already 'whispered' that to me." He answered, hiding the smile in his voice with great difficulty.

Now when he looked back at the day's events, he found it amusing.

His powers proved useless for a while, he got an 'upgrade' in his elemental form, though he doesn't want that event to coin it as his evolutionary process. Upside down landslide of rocks and boulders, crazy whispers of an inanimate thing filled with dark magic of sorts.

The list was nice and long, all the while a memory to which the elemental will share a good laugh while speaking about it to his successors.

"That's weird enough. I almost forgot you can control over dark magic too."

"Just a part of it, sir. I'm no wizard yet."

"Right." The conversation cuts short and Ronald made a silly face at the sound of beep in the device next to his ear.

"The head of security is such an old dufus." His playful attitude was back on track once he regained his lost energy. Thanks to the bowl full of fruits.

"I know right." His princess said, proceeding to sit by his side and hug his muscular arm close to herself, looking like a lovesick pupper.

"I'm still here, love birds. And by the way Ronald, he is the head of security for the whole nation with maximum population of werewolves than humans because he does his job right. You have no right be his critique—"

"Oh please stop!" The elemental whined at the man who shut up instantly, turning his face away as the couple giggled at something only God knew about.

"He was almost about to give me an earful when I have already been said that many times in my ears by the pot's voice. Ridiculous...but please, I don't need another voice trying to eat up my brain just for the sake of delivering a set of instructions I've already been known about." Gerald shook his head side to side at the elemental's wrongness.

"You're being so childish right now." The royal alpha male commented, right before he got up, turned on his heel and left the tent for themselves.

"Great. He's on his man periods."

"Hey! That's my cousin!"

"Soon to be my relative too." The elemental said, shushing her up once and for all as her mind's gears stopped working for a second.

"Okay. I'll have to do something...now." Ronald excused himself from his mate, Jane getting up to kiss his face and admire his body once before she finally goes to sleep.

Ronald walked out of the tent, zipping the entrance up slowly behind him. He walked towards Gerald's tent.

"Peep peep." The men tried to be childish amidst the chaos of the world.

"Gerald residence." The alpha royal chuckled as he said and opened the tent from the inside, allowing the other alpha to enter. Ronald took a deep breath in and looked around, finding everything neat and clean unlike their tent.

"You're a clean freak, I see."

"Hmm, maybe. But what brings you here, oh great one?" Ronald chuckled, fielding with the small pot on the dresser, turning around to find the man looking at the mysterious jade pot on the table.

"We're going back to the palace tomorrow." The elemental had said, suddenly getting serious.

"Sure. Can't wait to get out of this place any sooner. But...I feel like you're not ready for something. Is anything bothering you?" Gerald asked him, taking a seat down on his bed.

Ronald widened his eyes and slowly nodded his head, confirming to the man that something was indeed running circles in his mind and potentially bothering him.

"You can always talk to me, Ronald." Ronald's eyes widened even more when he said that.

Thinking about how they both started as bitter arch nemesis, the fact that Gerald and him have come to good terms amidst this evil chaos and helping each other in tasks may have knit them together for Gerald to say those words.

They were on good terms, yes, but Ronald can never forget what happened between them and honestly, he felt petty.

"I- I don't know..." Ronald sighed, sitting directly on the floor like a baby. Gerald scoffed to himself, understanding what the elemental was thinking through at the moment. He kneeled down to his height, patting his shoulder like a brother giving strength and assurance to his younger man.

"Everything is going to be just fine, Ronald. Believe in yourself."

Believe in yourself...

How many times exactly did he hear those words and from how many? The answer is...too many times and from too many people.