Tense Ride

Arthur let his gaze fall back on the girl standing by the parking entrance, draped in Squad Four's orange robes.

She had curly long flowing black hair that framed her beautiful face neatly. If it not for the sneer that seemed permanent every time she addressed the prince, Arthur would have considered complimenting her.

"Miranda! Is Gray still around?" Arthur asked, ignoring her question.

The female phoenix gritted her teeth and clenched her fists for a moment before taking a deep breath. When she next spoke, a smirk flashed across her face.

"Try that again, Arthur. I might feel like speaking if you do it right. And who knows? Perhaps I could also keep quiet about the crime you were about to commit."

Arthur stared her in the face and went mute. Interacting with phoenixes of his age group had never changed.

Since he was royalty, there was nothing serious they could do to him but he knew how much they wished to see him fall and they also knew the limits within which he could retaliate.

They were stuck in a game of tag that leaned more in their favour than it did Arthur's. After all, they had managed to make him grow to love his home less than he used to as a fledgeling.

He could see it in their eyes, feel it through the flames that united their cores. The looks they gave him and the tone with which addressed him.

Numerous times, he heard what they said behind his back and knew they made sure he was listening.

Currently, Miranda was trying to get something from him, just for the location of his brother's car.

The second prince had long lost the motivation to fight them and stirred clear of them as much as he could.

He was angry… but there was nothing he could do. Partly because it would look bad if he acted on his anger.

The prince took in a deep breath and set his mind thinking.

"Oh? Are you comfortable with me not making it home?" he asked.

Miranda's smirk fell and was replaced with curiosity, "Huh? I wouldn't care less what happened to you. Don't you know how worthless you are?"

"I might be worthless to you… but you know. That's not the same way my brother or Father feels. He woke me up today morning and drove me to Alcove.

He also asked Father to get me the RuneCycle so I wouldn't have to ride with you lot on our way to and from Barthlorn. The king agreed too…

I wonder how they would take it if I showed up at the Phoenix Castle, tired and worn out three days later, starved and on the brink of death, with pale skin and cracked lips.

And I'd tell them, Miranda wouldn't show me where Gray's car was… so I got lost and wandered through the woods for three days and three nights with no food or water…

I would…"

"Fine! You've made your point. Ugh… shut up already. Follow me," Miranda growled, roughly pushing past the prince and into the parking lot.

Arthur smirked, rubbing his throbbing shoulder, 'I hadn't even gotten to the good part yet… Ouch! That's one metallic shoulder.'

The prince dutifully followed the female phoenix through the underground parking.

Most of the underground chamber was lit up by glowing stones that pulsed with light waves of magic. The lights they passed by dimmed in the presence of the magic-absorbing mana vortex but didn't go out.

Arthur noticed a section at the back of the parking was dark and had a few of the glowing RuneCrystals missing.

That wasn't all though. This part of the parking lot was entirely shrouded in shadows that even his eyes wouldn't pierce through.

He could see the grey stone everywhere else but here. The back of the underground was darker than shadows.

Something was right about it. The prince came to a stop and narrowed his eyes at the wall.

Miranda shook her head and kept walking towards the shadows. When she reached them, the wisps of darkness embraced her, wrapping around her cloaked body before she vanished behind the shadows.

Arthur's eyes widened, 'That happened…'

He carefully put his hand forward and to his surprise, it went through, untouched by anything.

'A veil of darkness…' he surmised.

Arthur then stepped through. On the other side of the darkness, the white glow of the RuneCrystals shone brilliantly, illuminating the hulking black Cadillac that belonged to the crown prince.

Arthur stared at the black vehicle and heaved a sigh of relief. The car was humming gently with a grumpy-looking 'driver' seated behind the wheel.

Arthur walked to the back door and opened the door, then sat in.

The atmosphere in the car was tense even for the apathetic second prince. Something had happened...

While they sat in silence, Arthur massaged the rich leather fabric of his bag, allowing his thoughts to float about in his head.

No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get the feeling of being the centre of attention away from himself. The occupants of the car seemed interested in hearing what he was going to say.

Sighing, the prince looked up from the bag and locked eyes with Colton sitting beside him, "If there is something you want to tell me, go ahead."

Colton's eyes widened for a moment before he looked away, wiping the look of shock from his face, "No… nothing. Just wondering what could possibly be running through your idiotic skull."

"What was that?"

"Oh, cut the crap, Arthur. You've been drawing more and more attention to yourself. Mana Vortex? Behemoth Slayer? What in 'Phoenix Hell' are you thinking? You're probably using the Elemental.." Trevor, the one meant to drive, began stringing his complaints with no breath in between.

"Trevor, that's enough," Prince Gray tore his gaze from the driving mirror and snapped at his friend.

Trevor stared at the crown prince with a look of annoyance. The hot-tempered prince was angry and many times, impulsive but he also knew, more than anything, that defying the crown prince's direct orders was taboo and probably the worst thing he could do in this situation.

Using that moment of silence, Gray turned to the rest of the phoenixes in the car, "And the same goes for the rest of you. You are all to leave Arthur to himself, is that clear? He knows the rules."

There were a few grumbles but in the end, Gray made sure they had all affirmed his terms. "Good… Now, Trevor, drive."

Arthur stared at his brother and then at the rest of the phoenixes in the car with him. 'They really hate my guts right now, don't they?' he thought to himself.

The engine roared to life as Trevor started driving out of the parking lot.

'All of them, except for him,' Arthur stared at the back of his brother's head as the car drove out of the parking lot.

"Quit staring and focus on mapping the route you'll be using in the morning and evening," the orange-haired phoenix said calmly without sparing Arthur a glance. By now, some of his gelled hair had come undone, giving him a more natural look compared to the appearance he'd taken on earlier that morning.

"Right," the prince responded, turning his attention to the road.

He noticed how there was a tunnel in the parking lot that was illuminated by neon green RuneCrystals lighting the way out of the tunnel.

Following this route was easy, however, the prince was now starting to wonder when it was that the tunnel would break through to the surface.

Just when he thought it would never happen, sunlight filtered into the tunnel and Arthur felt the car pitch upwards as it started a steep upward climb. The tunnel continued like this until they broke through to the surface and into the forest.

The forest was close… far too close.

The prince turned around and peered through the window to try and grasp just how far they were from Barthlorn.

To his surprise, the castle was far behind them.

'When did we leave the castle that far? How long is that tunnel…' Arthur's mind spun. He couldn't tell where he was, to begin with.

Whatever way the prince tried, Arthur was not capable of determining where the exit from the tunnel had appeared. It felt like he'd been dumped into a random spot in the forest with no sense of direction.

He could not tell where the Phoenix Castle was from here at all either. Everything was far new to him.

This was not Alcove… and he doubted they would be using the route he was used to.

He would have continued panicking if it wasn't for the smirk he noticed on his brother's face, "Hey, this doesn't teach me anything."

Gray started laughing maniacally, not listening to anything his younger brother had to say to him.

"I'm serious, Gray. How am going to tell where…"

"Oh, quiet down, Snow. You'll be just fine," Gray continued laughing. Arthur sighed and turned away from his brother, setting his eyes on the forest once more.

A short minute was enough for Arthur to completely forget the odd mood in the human-built RuneCar. He had bigger things to think about. Things like:

'I just got into Barthlorn and I'm going to be a hunter. Darius is with me, too.'

Arthur nearly squealed out loud at the excitement coursing through him. Memories of the short party in the Squad Six common room flowed through his mind.

He knew from his experience at the school in Alcove that Barthlorn was nothing like the normal school. Gray had told him a few things about Barthlorn as well.

That little information, coupled with the fact that he was making so many interesting friends was enough to place him on cloud nine as its emperor.