So, I'm gonna explain the hand colors here for Astral's powers!

Red: Standard/fire

Ice blue: Ice

Royal blue: Water

Yellow: Lightning

Brown: Ground

Purple: Psychological powers in use

That should help you understand because I use colors like this :3 I'm a color person!

I bump into someone, falling back on my rear end. I quickly scramble back on my feet to get a look at who it is.

It's a man with white skin and pale yellow eyes. His hair is highlighted in black and white. He's clad in black, lightweight armor, and at his hip rests a sword of black and white as well. Patches of his skin are black, and his hair reaches to his shoulders.

"What are you doing here, boy?" he demands roughly. "If you want to pass over the border, tough luck!"

I look behind me to see a shadow quickly approaching. I look up at the man with terrified eyes. "P-please, sir," I plead. "M-my bro-brother said-"

"I don't care! Go, now!"

~.Black Mist.~

I walk carefree to the border by myself. I would normally have my guards flocking all over me, but I've gotten bored of them always being there and given them the slip! That would be the fifteenth time! Heh heh heh!

I hear a commotion by the border the closer I get. It's like a buzzing in the ear. To get the buzzing to stop, I have to dig around and find the cause, so I keep walking forward.

I see a child begging the guard to let him pass. He keeps looking behind him, as if there's something pursuing him. The guard keeps pushing him away angrily. Under normal circumstances, I would be annoyed at the kid for trying to cross over; however, upon hearing his voice, I'm frozen.

Is that him?

~.Astral/Nova.~

"Please, let me through!" I beg. I keep my distance from him because I don't want to be pushed away again. I wipe tears away from my eyes. "Please...?"

"Absolutely not!"

An arrow hits my shoulder, and I yelp in pain, clutching the spot where the arrow hit. The end of the arrow is poking right through! I look behind me to see the shadow with a loaded bow approaching me little by little with two smaller shadows accompanying it.

"No, no, no!" I shake my head quickly and hiss in pain. I look back to the man with pleading eyes. "Please, please let me through!" I beg through tears.

"As I said-"

"Just shut up and let him through!" an irritated voice commands. "I told him we'd welcome him with open arms, and that's exactly what we'll do!"

"No, I cannot allow that. My job is-"

A boy with a black cloak steps out. With some kind of thin, gooey rope, he wraps it around the man's neck and pulls him down to his height. I can see through the hood that he's glaring. "Let. Him. Through. NOW!" he growls.

The man nods quickly. The boy lets him go and looks behind me. Then, he holds his hand (MORE ALLITERATION!!) out to me.

"Better to get away from them, Nova," he says with a smile.

I tentatively take his hand, and he pulls me through. On the other side, everything seems to change. I feel more comfortable here, as if this is my home. He looks behind me and sticks his tongue out at Amber, Bura, and Momma. He chuckles.

"You can go back to blocking people from coming through," he says, pulling out the arrow from my shoulder. I whimper in pain.

The man nods. I look at the hand that isn't clutching the wound to see that it's now red again, but I haven't caused harm yet.

"I'm Number 96 Black Mist," the boy says. He doesn't let go of my hand. "Your Number name is Number 100 Red Nova Sorcerer."

"Blackie?" I whisper, my breaths coming in as hiccups because I've been crying.

"Yeah. Welcome home."

~.Black Mist.~

I don't let go of Nova's hand for fear of losing him again. I lead him to the castle first; his feet are stumbling, and his grip on my hand is weakening, so he has to rest first. Besides, night is falling. I simply cannot give him a tour when night blankets the Number Realm.

I knock on the glass door. Almost immediately, my guards open it with worried expressions.

"My prince! Where have you been!?"

"We were worried sick!"

I wave them off. "I'll explain later. Get one of the maids to take care of Nova while I get the room ready. Also, give him some medical attention. His mother's been neglecting him."

He nods, and I go to my room to fix the bed. It's much too big for me, but the both of us can fit comfortably. That room was intended for that purpose, after all.

~.Astral/Nova.~

One of the guards calls a maid over while the others take off my cloak and pouch of food. They assure me that nothing in there will be read. I trust them, so I'm not worried about that.

The maid comes over. "Yes?"

"The prince has asked us to tell you to take care of the prince while he gets the room ready himself."

She smiles. "Gladly!" She holds out her hand. "Come with me, young prince."

I nod and take her hand. As she takes me around the place, I look around in awe. This is all so overwhelming. She leads me to a door upstairs and opens it. Inside, there's a fancy tub with a curtain and a sink. I look around the room. She goes inside with me and turns the knob, releasing the water.

I watch her adjust the knob, feeling the water with her fingers. I wonder what she's doing...

After a while, she's satisfied with the water temperature and plugs it up. I watch the water level rise and rise. While I watch, she eases off my earrings and places them in a container. I don't really notice because I'm too busy watching the water.

The maid picks me up gently. "Alright, I'm going to set you in the water now."

I nod. She lowers me into the warm water. I relax eventually. Momma never did this...

I play with the water and splash it while she gets the grime off me and washes the blood off.

~.~.~

She carries me out with a towel around me. I lay my head on her chest and yawn.

"Did your journey tire you out?" she asks.

I nod. "Did Crimson come back...?"

"You are worried about him, I see," she chuckles. "He'll come back while you sleep. Don't worry."

"Okay..."

We make one more stop to an infirmary. There, I barely notice him cleaning my wounds and wrapping them. I still feel a sense of safety and trust since they're doing things that Momma would have never done. I hear them talking.

One clicks his tongue. "My, my. Did this mother not take care of his wounds?"

"Apparently not." This one is a woman. "What kind of mother doesn't take care of her children? I don't care if he's a half Number; he's still a child."

Hearing these words comforts me. Soon, I find myself nodding off to sleep as I'm set down on an incredibly soft surface, softer than anything I've felt before.