~.Astral/Nova.~

The ninja carries me to the back exit of the town to avoid the other people he must have passed on the way here while he holds me firmly. Under the hood, I relax against his steady breathing and strong pulse.

"By the way," he murmurs so that only I can hear him, "my name is Number 12 Crimson Shadow Armor Ninja. You may call me Crimson for short."

I nod. "In the letter Blackie first sent me, he addressed it to Number 100 Red Nova Sorcerer. Why? I know for sure that I'm not a Number."

Crimson doesn't answer my question until we're well out of the town. Then, he loops around to walk beside it in the safety of the forest, where a strange pull seems to be guiding him.

"Of course you are a Number, and that is your Number name. He always called you Nova to shorten it. In fact, all Number names are shortened since they are normally long," he explains.

A cold wind hits us. My body immediately trembles violently, which causes Crimson, who's also shaking slightly due to the cold, to hold me closer.

"The wind bites like Freezerdon's attacks," he chuckles. "You would not want to get into a battle with him without the proper way to counter his freezing attacks."

I can't help but laugh a little. Even though I don't know who Freezerdon is, I imagine that he's a Number who solely conjures up freezing attacks and may even play tricks on people with those attacks.

"Well, we have to hustle." Crimson quickens his pace to a trot. "I'm fairly sure this is his doing. It may be a prank or something."

~.Black Mist.~

I pace around my room anxiously, searching for Crimson and Nova's energy throughout my range of sense. There hasn't been a word from Crimson yet, which worries the crap out of me. What if they got caught? What if he failed to find my brother? What if...?

I shake my head and stop pacing. I can't be thinking like that if I want to stay calm! Just keep it in. No need to worry over a simple matter like this. I'm sure Crimson can handle this.

From the balcony, biting wind slaps me. I shiver and curse Freezerdon, crossing my arms tightly. He always does this in the middle of fall or winter! Shivering intensely, I make my way to the balcony doors and close them. Their insulation helps keep the warmth in.

I sigh, sit at my study, and prepare to wait for the possible days, weeks, months, years, decades, centuries...

~.Crimson.~

Even with the insulation of the cloak, little Astral still shivers violently. We carry on across the now freezing plains toward a forest that may provide some cover from the wind. Night falls fast, dropping the temperature, and as the night becomes ever darker, Astral seems to shrink away from it, as if it scares him. I wonder why. Oh, well. Whatever it is, it is none of my business.

I soon find a tree with a hollow that faces away from the wind. Surely, it will provide enough protection from the excess cold and winds, which it does as soon as we enter.

I take off my cloak, wrap it solely around Astral, and set him down on the soft, flimsy grass with the warmth. After that's done, I set to work making a wall to block the cold out of the hollow. I expertly weave leaves into each other and hold them together with ropes and sticks. Since they are tightly woven, it will not be a bad place here to rest.

"Crimson?" Astral's small voice rings out in the howling silence.

"Yes?"

"Is the reason that I'm a Number why everyone hates me?"

I debate whether I should tell him. Best to let his brother explain the details... "Astral, Prince Black Mist requested that I give you this." I hand over a blank piece of paper and a pen. "Why don't you ask him yourself?"

~.Astral/Nova.~

I take the pen and paper cautiously. Is it really alright to write back? After the incident with Momma, Amber, and Bura, I feel scared to write.

Crimson catches my hesitation. "Go ahead. I promise that whatever you write will be seen by only you and him. I will be finishing the wall."

I nod.

"Dear Blackie,

Thank you so much for sending Crimson over! I don't think I would have been able to survive another day with them locked in my room like that. Amber, Bura, and Momma got their hands on the previous letters you've sent to me, and Momma got mad when she saw that you were sending help. When they started reading them, something weird happened. My hands turned red and burned Momma's hand when she was leading me away! Also, one question. Crimson told me that I'm a Number. Is that reason why everyone hated me?

-Astral."

As usual, the blue and white envelops appears in front of me as soon as I finish writing. I tuck in the envelope, tap it, and it's gone. I look at Crimson, who has finished the wall. The hollow now feels considerably warmer than before.

"Alright, we rest for now," Crimson sighs, his voice going back to that slow, mellow tone.

I feel a sharp pang in my stomach, and I realize for the first time since the struggle with Momma that I'm starving! "Can we please eat first?" I beg. "Momma didn't let me out all day today, and I'm hungry..."

Crimson nods. "Of course. The prince has given me the task of making sure that all of your needs are fulfilled during this journey. Wait here." With that, he slips through the wall and is gone for the longest time.

He comes back later with berries, roots, nuts, edible leaves, branches, and other leaves that don't look that tasty.

"Stay back while I get a fire started."

For a few moments, Crimson tries to coax a fire out of the branches he brought. With a blinding flare, the fire sprouts out tall, eventually shrinking to a comfortable height. Crimson somehow manipulates it to a small ember to roast the roots and nuts.

"It was too ricky to hunt, so I could not bring back any meat," he explains, adding branches here and there to keep the fire going as well as some leaves. "We will have to survive like this. I hope this is alright."

"It's fine. As long as I have something to eat, anything's fine." Then, something comes to mind. "Hey, Crimson, how did you get here?"

"A skill I can only use when I travel alone. Now that I have you, we must travel by foot. Don't worry, though. It is not too far away."

Once the roots and nuts are ready, Crimson gives some to me along with berries and edible leaves. I eat them eagerly and hungrily. I see Crimson slip off his mask and set it on the floor before eating. I guess he didn't eat on the way here.

We leave some leftover food for the morning. Crimson places them carefully in a pouch, which he hang on the wall of of the inside of the tree. I lay down in the grass as he kicks dirt into the fire, dousing it. Then, we go to sleep.

~.Sapphire.~

With a groan, I come to. Night has long since fallen. I look around to see Amber and Bura rousing from their sleep as well. I curse. What the hell happened?

Then, I notice darts on the ground. I narrow my eyes as I pick one up. This must have been that little brat's doing! He's got some nerve to do this!

"Momma?" Amber groans. "What happened, Momma?"

I show her the dart. "This! It must have had some kind of poison to put us to sleep!" I spit.

"Hey, where did Astral go?" Bura asks, looking around sleepily.

Realizing this, I get up and scan the house quickly. Nowhere! He's nowhere in the house! Where could that brat have gone!?

"Amber, sweetie, did you see someone before you fell asleep?" I ask me child.

"No, Momma. I didn't see anyone. Astral must have been the one to fire those and escaped."

I know she's telling the truth. My two sweet children would never lie to me. "Well, I guess we'd better look for him, then, and give him a proper punishment."

"Okay, Momma."

"Get some rest. In the morning, we'll go look for him."

Hey~! Merry Christmas~! :D