When Káel awoke there was something on his head again. Unfortunately, it wasn't the cold and squirming metal dragon come to nip at his nose. This thing was big, soft, and white. 

          It was his pillow.

          Káel didn't dare to move, because if his pillow was on his head, then it was on the pillow.

          His suspicions were confirmed when he felt a shifting movement, and two fluffy white paws with sharp white talons came down and gripped the stitched white edges with a restless flex. It was waiting for something, the pillow rocking as it wiggled its butt in anticipation, but what?

          Then he noticed the metal dragon, sitting on the nightstand with its tail curled around the front of its feet, and looking timidly in Káel's direction with its glinting sapphire eyes.

          Pressing the pillow down into Káel's face, the dragon leapt forwards and caught the metal dragon in its paws. However, with a short lived victory its hind legs slid off the nightstand dragging the rest of it to the ground, and leaving a couple long white scratch marks on the wood.

          The dragon gave off a warbled cry as it landed on its broken wing, squirming to get back to its feet as Káel threw the pillows off his head. He jumped out of his covers, panting in frantic relief that his face hadn't fallen victim to the feral fluffball. 

          The dragon whimpered softly, reminding Káel it was sitting by his feet still trying to get up, and drawing his gaze to meet a set of unbearably cute puppy eyes.  It reached its puffy paws out for help, melting Káel's fear into a pitying smile as he stupidly lost his fear of the creature again. With a mindless coo in response to its adorable facade, he reached down to help the dragon up, allowing it to grab onto his shoulders and nestle into his arms with a soft and innocent purr. 

          He froze at the rumbling sensation, staring at the small dragon while he worked out the fact that dragons could purr, slowly shifting his thoughts to wondering why it was being so peaceful.

          He glanced at Truvius' concerned squint. 

          "Truvius look, it's pur-" Suddenly, with a barking growl the dragon dug its claws into his shoulders, propelling itself over his head and onto his bed. Káel froze, his arms still acting like they were holding the dragon, and a dumbfounded expression on his face.

          "Truvius look, it's purring!" Phantom taunted, miming Káel's actions, and then acting as if his face was being torn off. After controlling his laughter Phantom pretended to pat him on the shoulder. "That dragon's got an unsophisticated slang. I'm surprised you even helped him."

          "You alright?" Truvius asked, after watching Káel stand silently beside his bed for awhile.

          He pulled his uniform out of his closet, and shot the dragon a warning glare. "I'm fine."

          After successfully making the black haired boy feed him, the dragon prepared for another elaborate plan to trick its new servants, but grouchily stopped when they walked out the door. 

          Oh well, they'll be back in a matter of minutes, the dragon thought, smirking at the amount of time they had given it to plot its mischievous plan.

          They didn't return.

          An hour had passed and the dragon grew impatient hiding in Káel's closet. It searched the room for clues as to why its toys had been gone for such an excruciating length of time, but found nothing. 

          Maybe they couldn't take a joke.

          The dragon snorted, giving the door a hurt squint. It's not like he bit that guy's hand too hard, and he made sure not to light the other one on fire when he tried to catch him with the blanket; it was a warning shot.

          Another hour passed, and the dragon's worry escalated. 

          Had they abandoned him? 

          He hated being abandoned.

          He didn't know why, but his friends would always disappear. Then the nasty men would come and take him away. His wing was still broken, so if the nasty men came again he would be at a larger disadvantage than usual, but they couldn't have possibly been able to follow him through the forest.

          Or could they? The dragon thought, panic over sweeping him. If they were strong enough to take on a full grown dragons, what was stopping them from coming here? Even the forest's protections could prove innefective. 

          The dragon ran up to the door and pounced on the knob, but his furry little paws couldn't turn it.

          He scratched at the door and called out as loud as he could, hoping his servants would come back. He didn't want the nasty men to take him away again. 

          Anything but the nasty men.

  —————  

          Truvius and Káel eventually returned to the room to get their combat suits, but stopped outside their door when they heard the caterwauling cries of the dragon. They both exchanged a knowing nod. 

          It was a trap. 

          Definitely a trap.

          Káel quietly unlocked the door, then whipped it open as fast as he could, getting ready to dodge any obstacle the dragon had ready for him. It was sitting out of reach of the door, its mouth hanging open from the caterwaul he'd interrupted. The dragon looked silently at him, then it's ears perked up and with one swift jump it latched onto his leg like a clawed koala.

          "Aww it's hugging you!" Phantom cooed.

          A happy hug was the last thing on his mind while the dragon dug its claws into his leg to seal its position. All he could do was scream ow a number of times, and try to shake the attachment off of his captured leg, while Truvius cringed away, valuing his fingers over rescuing his friend.

          When the dragon was done hugging his leg, it jumped off and bounded onto his bed, claiming the two pillows yet again with an excited warble that the two ignored. Instead, Phantom distracted himself with giving the dragon an unsettling stare down, and it responded by growling at him for several minutes while Truvius and Káel got ready.

          After getting his combat suit on over his uniform, Truvius turned his attention to the dragon, with a sense of concern. "It's growling at nothing, must have hit its head pretty good at some point." 

          The dragon, upon hearing Truvius's side comment, gave him a pissed off scowl that Phantom snickered at.

          Truvius twisted his mouth to the side as he stared at the small creature. "I was expecting it to be a little more vicious, it hasn't tried to kill us even once."

          The dragon smirked at Truvius with an 'I can easily change that if you want' face, and spat out a tiny speck of fire to the side.

          "Maybe he's just seeing things," Káel replied plainly.

  —————  

          The two boys talked a bit, and at one point a delicious looking blue bird came in the room, and perched on blanket boy's shoulder. Then they started heading towards the door. 

          They were going to leave again. 

          The dragon narrowed its eyes and jumped off the bed, prowling after its escaping servants with a single thought on its mind. 

          Not without me they're not. 

          The dragon silently propelled forwards with a couple hopping strides, and as soon as it was in range, chomped down on the back of Káel's shoe.

          At first, Káel didn't even notice the dragon attached to his foot, but as soon as he stepped forwards to go out the door he could feel the weight of the puffy creature, and looked down questionably.

          "What? I'll feed you in an hour." Káel stepped forwards again so the dragon slid across the floor like a mop. The dragon grabbed the sides of his boot with its paws to make sure it wouldn't fall off during the ride, and looked at him expectantly. "I'm leaving, so if you're gonna cling to my shoe you can't cause any trouble, got it?"

          The dragon took its mouth off of Káel's boot and stared at the ground with a pouty expression. It grumbled in agreeance, avoiding any eye contact with him.

          "No." Káel pointed his finger sternly at the dragon. "Look at me in the eyes and swear you're not going to cause any trouble."

          The dragon grunted, painfully looking Káel in the eyes and nodding.

          "Alright," Káel sighed, grabbing for the doorknob when Truvius snatched his wrist with a firm squeeze.

          Despite having to tilt his head up a little, Truvius met Káel's confusion with a stern glare. "What do you mean by alright?" 

          Káel tried to catch on, giving the door a blank look like he was about to let his cat out. "I'm gonna let him follow me for a couple hours."

          "Káel."

          "Look at what he's doing to the door!" Káel retorted, motioning to the thick gouges and chips of paint littering the space near their feet. "That Sev guy is gonna kill us if we let it shave the thing."

          Truvius gulped nervously at the sight, pinching the flesh of his hands as the guilt for a crime he never committed washed over him. "I think he's going to kill us either way..."

          Káel pulled his hand away with a friendly smirk, popping the door open without a shred of sympathy to cradle Truvius' soaring worry.

          "This is not a good idea," Truvius and Phantom said in perfect unison.

  —————  

          The dragon pattered along, making sure its snout was the furthest thing ahead of the group. Occasionally he would stop and snarl at a whispering student or their guardian, until Káel threatened to throw him back in the room.

          Vera almost flipped out when she saw the dragon walking down the hall, and Talli's Guardian didn't take to the new guest kindly, puffing up and jumping in front of Talli with a low growl that stopped the group in their tracks.

          "Káel, why is it following you?" Vera snapped, keeping her distance from the beast with a sour glare.

          Káel shrugged. "It wouldn't let go of my shoe, so I made it promise not to cause trouble."

          "Oh, okay." The sarcasm was practically dripping off her smile as she nodded. "Because you can totally trust the word of a random dragon you picked up yesterday, right?"

          Káel looked down at the dragon, its tufted tail slowly flicking as it glared at Vera. "Well, he hasn't done anything bad yet."

          "Yet. That's the key word. It's a Nomad some dragon hunters snatched out of a snow mound. Savage or not, dragons are incredibly smart, he'll just light you on fire when he's fully recovered!"

          Káel looked to Truvius for assistance, but received the opposite. "Sorry, I'll have to agree with Vera on this... The dragons around here aren't exactly Lumer friendly..."

          The dragon hissed at Vera when she took a step towards him, spiking up the fur on his back in a cute attempt at intimidation. 

          "It's alright they're not gonna hurt you," Káel reassured, reaching out to pet the dragon's head, but he took the sudden movement as an attack, and barely missed snapping his jaws shut on it for a second time.

          Vera smiled triumphantly at the show of violence. "See? They're dangerous."

          "Is this your guardian boy?" Mr. Mudelin said, his monotonous tone giving Truvius a fright when he saw the teacher standing right beside him. The dragon scoffed at the question, not even shying away from giving the intimidating teacher a sass ridden look of overwhelming disappointment.

          Great, now he's here too. Káel thought with a soft sigh. "No sir, I'm helping him get better, and then I'll put him back in the forest."

          "Pity, I thought you had befriended the creature," Mr. Mudelin replied, his dry glare travelling to Vera. "As for you Ms. Strylaz, I would recommend biting your tongue before you make any accusations. You of all people should know that not all dragons have an indiscriminate hate for Lumers."

          The fire in her eyes withered at the phrase, replaced with a blush of surprised embarrassment as she dropped her head shamefully. "Yes sir."

          "You think he's got a thing for dragons?" Phantom whispered, causing Káel to snort out a choked laugh and pass it off as a sneeze.

          Mr. Mudelin's Guardian suddenly appeared on his shoulder and slowly turned its head to Phantom, staring at him with its motionless cloudy eyes as it chittered in the teacher's ear. Mr. Mudelin turned his gaze to where his Guardian was looking, beholding what he saw as an empty space with a tired frown.

          A passive grunt escaped his lips, and he strolled past the group of students, barely glancing over his shoulder at the still teens. "You should focus on getting to class, I won't excuse you if you're late."

          He swiftly made his leave, his Guardian still staring intently at the spot where Phantom was standing until its view was completely cut off by the corner Mr. Mudelin rounded. Finally allowing Káel to release his breath and wiggle as the chills crawled up his spine.

          "Creeeeeepy," Phantom sang, looking behind him at the bare wall to make sure a picture hadn't distracted the creature.

          Káel looked at Phantom with confusion. "Could it see you?"

          "No, but it could sense me. Perhaps it uses magic."

          "What?" Truvius looked at Káel in utter confusion, Talli and Vera following suite as they gave him confused frowns.

          Káel looked at Truvius blankly. "What?"

         As his roommate pressed his eyebrows down into an unconvinced squint, Káel's puzzlement was solved with a hiked gasp and red-handed stare. 

          "I said we should get going," Káel lied, squeezing his fist instead of hitting himself at his own stupidity. Phantom was invisible, and unless he wanted to blurt out his existence to them, he'd have to give his words a little more thought from now on.

          He glanced at the featureless man and nibbled at his cheek in escalating concern. He looked like trouble, so without the right amount of information snitching to someone was out of the question. He wanted to avoid as many fusses on this planet as he could after his lacklustre performance in laying low.

          A sharp squeak piped up, dragging Káel's attention to Talli's flushed face as she ripped her gaze away from staring at him. "No... Y-You just said could it see you."

          Káel caught Vera's nod as she lingered in the corner of his vision, sliding his hands in his pockets as his gaze begged the ground for inspiration. "Maybe it was a mess up with our translators or something."

          An unreadable smile curved across Vera's soft cheeks. "Or something..."

          "We should get going though," Truvius cut in, staring at his sender while a bit of colour ebbed from his face. For once his roommate's panic in getting to class early had proved useful, and he dragged Káel off by the arm like a mother duckling come to save its scheming chick.

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5/13/2018