Family Drama

In my dream, I was running.

Tap~ tap~ tap~ tap~

I don't quite remember exactly what it was that followed me, neither do I remember if I was following behind something. I remember being somewhere dark, a lonely place. It was cold, so cold I felt as if my legs would freeze off.

I built a large mountain out of stones, something that could reach above to a ceiling.

Smash! Smash!

It could never break through the barrier, no matter how much I smashed it with a stone, no matter how much I tried to go through it.

Huff! Huff!

I laid there, crying on the hill of stone I had built, laying in darkness alone.

And then, something broke through.

"Are you okay?"

She taught me everything I knew. Language, behavior, feelings.

Sometimes, she would tell me stories. Glorious stories that spoke of a great tower, incomprehensible in size and scale, tales of great heroes that climbed the tower.

She... sometimes told me the stories about the sky and the stars.

"Bam... do you know what's at the top of the tower?"

"I don't care." I had said.

"... you don't have any goals.

"At the top of the tower, there is something called the sky."

"Sky? What's that?"

"Um... lie down."

"Okay."

"Now close your eyes."

"I closed them."

"And imagine... The rocks above us are all gone."

"Gone? Then what's left?"

"Nothing."

"Nothing?"

"Yes. There's nothing blocking us now. There's a wide sky all above us. And at night, thousands of stars glitter in the sky.

"One day... I will go there for sure."

I couldn't speak anything. Something blocked my throat. I didn't know what to say.

"... Rachel... stop saying silly things."

"...OK."

~~~

Bam's body moved beneath the sheets, his eyes fluttering.

"Don't go... don't go, Rachel." He muttered. Khun who sat close to him stood up in surprise.

"Bam! Are you awake!"

Rak also sat right beside Khun, eating all banana without a care.

"Uhh. What happened?"

Bam tried to get up, but Khun pushed him back down seeing his sluggish movements.

"You've been unconscious for the past 5 days." Khun said with a deadpan. "Crocodile thought you were dead." He said.

"What!? Five... five days?!" Bam exclaimed. "What about the test?"

"The test... had already begun 2 days ago." Khun sighed.

"Then... did I fail the test?!" Bam asked, his pupils shaking in nervousness.

"Well..." Khun droned on.

"You didn't fail turtle." Rak said from the side, taking a bite from a banana.

"Don't you have any sense of mystery?!" Khun yelled at him.

Bam heaved a sigh of relief hearing his words.

"But... how?"

"Wel..." Khun proceeded to tell him about the way the positioning test was to be conducted, along with the fact that the wave controller teacher was to arrive 3 days late.

"So, your side of the test will start tomorrow. I was almost afraid that you weren't going to wake up." Khun smiled, heaving a sigh of relief.

"You were lucky. The other positions have already been through 2 classes, if you missed out on any of them you would've lost a lot of points."

"Fuu~ that's a relief." Bam breathed out again.

"Yeah. Wave controller might be hard, but it's good anyway."

Bam's expression turned a bit thoughtful.

"Mr. Khun." He called out, prompting Khun to look at him. "What about... um.. how's.. Rachel?" He asked.

Khun's eyes narrowed imperceptibly.

"Oh? You mean that yellow haired girl?" Seeing Bam nod, he continued. "She's fine. She even came to see you."

Bam's eyes lit up in excitement and happiness.

"However." Khun said before Bam could say anything. "Bam. She isn't who you thought she was. She doesn't know you, she even said that as she looked right at you."

Bam's eyes turned confused.

"You might have been confused, that happens." Khun explained.

With that, Khun adorned a cheerful smile on his face.

"But look on the bright side, I'm sure you'll find her somewhere along the way of climbing the tower! See! I even got you this super rare regular uniform from the Evankhell store! Even a headband too!" He exclaimed.

At that moment, Rak who had stayed quietly beside him got up.

"I've decided!" He yelled.

Khun and Bam turned to him in surprise.

"What happened?" Khun asked.

"I'm going back to the wild! Don't stop me turtle!" He yelled and dashed out of the room right through the door.

Khun and Bam stared at the exit for a couple of seconds before breaking out into a small fit of laughter.

Then, Bam stopped and sqeezed the sheets that covered him.

"Rachel..." He muttered to himself.

~~~

Winston stared at the small slip before him, his eyes turning to look up at Amon who smiled awkwardly at him. There was a small tug on Winston's lips, amused at the variety of tasks each position recieved.

"Make 10 friends huh? That surely ought to be a daunting task."

Winston also looked over towards Hatz and Shibisu who followed along.

"Yeah, its pretty strange. We've been failing constantly due to Hatz's terrible personality." Shibisu admitted without shame.

"My personality? It's their fault for being so insufferable without a hint of warrior spirit." Hatz huffed in annoyance, clicking his tongue as he did so.

Warrior... spirit? Winston looked at him with interest.

"Well... I can certainly see how he would spell trouble with some of the regulars... if not most." Winston admitted.

"Right?" Amon and Shibisu said simultaneously.

"Well, alright! I'll be your friend!" Wisnton nodded without batting an eye.

"Really!" Shibisu yelled, turning to Hatz and hugging him. "We finally made a friend!"

"Thank you." Hatz bowed while pushing Shibisu away.

Winston smiled. "Don't sweat it too much." He shook his head and signed each of their lists. They couldn't sign each other's lists as the task was to specifically make friends out of the other positions.

And with that, Winston became friends with Shibisu and Hatz.

~~~

The next day came quickly.

Everyone gathered in the cafeteria to eat, standing in the line for the food counter.

As Winston walked through the door, immediately he noticed Amon, Shibisu and Hatz sitting on one of the tables, along with that, he noticed the blue haired Khun and Bam standing in lane.

Winston smiled, pleasantly surprised that the boy had woken up.

Without a worry, Winston walked towards them, getting into the line.

Khun noticed him approaching from the back and greeted.

"Good Morning." He smiled.

Winston nodded in response, "Good morning."

Bam also realised his presence and turned around to greet him.

"So you're awake now huh? Is your head injury fine?" Winston asked.

Bam nodded with an embarrassed smile. "Actually, it still hurts a bit."

Winston chuckled. "Well, I guess blocking a metal rod with your head isn't exactly great for your health."

Bam laughed and Khun simply gave a smile.

"I heard you guys also became friends with Shibisu, Hatz and Amon."

"That's right! If possible, I wish to make many friends while I'm here!" Bam expressed.

"Well, they're annoying but manageable." Khun said tersly.

As their turn came, Winston looked over at Endorsi who stood before Bam and Khun in the line.

"One Bibimbap without any meat." She said.

At that moment, her attention was drawn to the talkative table at which Shibisu and Hatz were seated along with a variety of other regulars.

"I already have ten on my list!" Shibisu boasted

"How did you manage to get all of them?! Did you bribe them?!" One of the Scouts yelled.

Then, Laure who was seated with them spoke. "Don't forget to buy me some food tonight Shibisu." He lazily spoke.

The table continued into talking and discussing random topics.

They're hanging out a lot lately... is it okay for the rivals to be hanging out together? She thought with a thoughtful expression.

Then, she shook her head.

Khun came from behind and ordered.

"One bibimbap and one egg hamlet." Along with that, Winston also gave his own. "A bibimbap for me as well."

As they got their orders, they went ahead and got seated with their group.

Winston noticed that at some point, Endorsi had also slipped into their table, sitting between Bam and Hatz.

The group talked about how Amon and Hatz still had one and two friends left to get unto their lists, respectively.

Bam expressed his willingness to go along with them to become friends.

At that moment, Bam called out to Endorsi.

"Miss Endorsi, why don't you become friends with Mr. Amon and Mr. Hatz?" He smiled.

Endorsi looked at both Amon and Hatz who sat on the table.

"What? Are you trying to set me up on a date?" Endorsi's eyes overtook a seductive and mischievous glint.

"Well, they're certainly quite cute. This one can even be called a bit handsome." Endorsi said turning to Hatz, who in turn turned his head away from her direction.

"Yeah! He's super muscular as well!" Bam exclaimed.

"Bam... it seems as if you're selling a shady products." Shibisu droned from the side. Endorsi smiled sweetly.

"Sorry but no." She said.

"But why?" Bam asked.

"Bam, I'm not allowed to date." As her words landed, a confused stare followed along from Bam and a couple of other people on the table.

Winston shook his head, realizing where this conversation was heading. It seemed that most people on the test floor did not yet realize that they were taking the tests with not one, but two princesses of Jahad. And well, it was common knowledge that a princess was not allowed to date anyone, lest the power of Jahad were to spread.

"Really? That's one dismal household." Bam spoke.

"Right? But can't do anything about it. My father loves his daughters too much." Endorsi smiled cheerily.

"But isn't it okay to be friends?" He asked with some hope.

Winston didn't feel like stopping the conversation or taking any part in it.

"Well... I just don't belive in platonic relationships. I don't believe the fact that a man and a woman can just be friends." She expressed her blief.

Then, she turned to Bam and spoke. "To put it simply, its like buying shoes that you really like, but then you put them on display without ever wearing them or taking them off."

Bam gave her a puzzled look. "That sounds complicated."

Before the conversation could progress further, someone called out from behind Endorsi.

"What are you doing here?" The voice said. Endorsi and Bam, alongside everyone on the table save for Winston turned to look at the speaker.

There, finding the green skinned lizard girl, Anaak Jahad.

"Having fun with these guys... shame on a princess of Jahad." She said, walking past Endorsi and sitting beside Shibisu who was at the far end of the table.

With that, there was an uproar on the table.

Endorsi sighed.

"Ja-Jahad?"

"There are two princesses here?!" Regulars on the table exclaimed.

"Jahad? Does that mean you and Anaak are related?" Bam asked her.

Endorsi smiled.

"Well... we're stepsisters I guess." She stole a glance at Anaak who had started eating.

"You could say that we're luxury shoes put on display on the same shop window. The finest collection." She chuckled.

Winston looked at her from the corner of his eyes, clearly understanding the metaphor with the shoes.

He smiled.

~~~

A/N: So, I had like 9 extra chapters in a stock pile, that I was saving around for pateron, but I figured I should just upload those instead of purely taking a break for the week I'm gone.

Two birds with one stone I guess. Anyway, nine days, nine chapters. I'll try to come back in that time, but if not, bad luck. Enjoy~

Anyway, throw some stones.

Also, leave a review.