Knox closed the door behind him as he left the Prefect's Office, Uby landing on his shoulder. The little draeling sensed his stress from the meeting and rubbed his head on his neck. He reached up and petted his head. Although they were students, being a prefect entailed some responsibilities like helping out the staff with various matters. As the prefect for the first-year students, he had been busy handling various matters and concerns for the start of the new semester. He loved his role, but sometimes he wished that they would remember that he was only human and not be so demanding.

He sighed and went to look for Solana and Dia, who had disappeared the moment he mentioned that the head prefect had called for a meeting. Shaking his head at his twin's behavior, he walked into the lobby where he found some students mingling about. He was about to pass a group of them but stopped when he heard their conversation.

"Did you hear about Professor Gael's brother?"

"Yeah, I heard he applied as a teaching assistant and took the written test this morning."

"Did you see him?"

"Yeah...he's...so handsome...no, beautiful is the word."

"I swooned. I also wanted to jump him and ask him to marry me."

Knox's lips twitched. The group fell silent as they stared at their friend.

"What? I'm not the only one who wants to do that."

"But nobody dares to say it aloud. You're a brave person. I don't want to be like you at all."

One friend held out a water bottle. "Here's water to calm your thirst."

"Water won't be enough."

Palming his forehead, Knox approached and cleared his throat. The moment the group of friends saw him, they fell silent. The one who said they wanted to jum—marry Alec guzzled down the water their friend gave them. He could only sigh. These were the times he wondered why he loved his role as prefect.

Before he could open his mouth to talk to them, he felt a familiar weight land on his back. Small arms wrapped around his waist and he sighed for the second time. Dia flew around them in circles, chirping a greeting at Uby.

"Knox!" Solana said. "Let's go to the lakeside battleground. Alec is taking a practical test there. Let's go cheer him on!"

The two draeling's heads snapped to attention when at the mention of Alec's name. Knox chuckled.

It was always so hard to say no to Solana when she was being so enthusiastic about something. She had only known Alec for a few days and only spent one afternoon with him, but she was already treating him like family.

So have I.

It was amazing how the two of them warmed up to Gael's brother so quickly. But it wasn't surprising when he thought about it. Gael was family, and now his family was their family too.

Also, Alec looked cold and quiet, but Knox noticed that he was just an awkward guy. Alec did not seem to know how to interact much with people, which is why he prefers to be quiet. The draes also adored Alec, to the point that he seemed a little...too abnormal. No one has been acknowledged by every drae they met before. Most draes would ignore people, and some would be hostile.

"He's like the Drae Prince!" Solana told him the night after meeting Alec.

"From that fairy tale book? The one who was raised by draes?" He had asked.

"Yes! Isn't it amazing?"

"Alec might really be just an amazingly kind person if the draes love him this much."

"Do you think he'll eventually let me hug him?"

"Quit it!"

Knox smiled and walked towards the lake, dragging Solana who still clung to his waist. "Sure, let's go see him. But refrain from asking for a hug."

Solana cheered then booed from behind him.

-------

A few feet from the lake, some students and teachers have gathered around a battleground covered by a circular dome sitting on tall pillars. Knox and Solana, with the students from the lobby behind them, looked for a spot among the bleachers to watch the test. He spotted two familiar men and went over to sit next to them.

"Professor Gael, Commander Kreis," he greeted. From behind him, Solana let go and said hello.

The two men smiled at them and nodded. "I will never get used to being addressed formally whenever I come here," Kreis shook his head.

"Then do you want us to act around you like we do back home?" Solana said.

Kreis immediately paled, his face recalling all the pranks they pulled on him when they were younger. The Ryder immediately crossed his arms in front of them and mouthed a "no."

"Stop messing with Kreis," Gael said with a laugh from the side.

"You never stop messing with Kreis though," Solana pointed out.

"As his best friend, it is my sworn duty."

Solana and Gael grinned and chuckled at each other. Kreis could only look at Knox, eyes pleading for him to make the other two people stop. Knox looked away, opting to look for Alec instead. Gael and Kreis, he can handle. Solana and Gael...the combination was a nightmare that he refused to deal with.

He soon found Alec standing in front of a pair of students. Off to the side, a man with a build and height similar to Alec served as his examiner. Knox raised a brow when he saw that the man's jacket had one empty sleeve. There was only one professor in the academy who had a missing arm. "Professor Gravis volunteered to test Alec?"

Gael stopped messing with Kreis and nodded. "The moment he heard about Alec applying for the job, he barged into my office and demanded to be the one to test Alec's qualifications. Of course, I agreed. When Alec passes the tests, no one will question the results since it's Gravis."

"Professor Gravis's methods are kind of...mean at first meetings," Knox said. He recalled their first-day last semester when they took Professor Gravis's combat class. The man managed to provoke all of them which fueled everyone to show everything they were capable of, just to gauge how he could help them improve. He apologized immediately after the first session and proceeded to work on their skills for the rest of the semester. "Did you tell Alec about that?"

Gael shook his head, a frown slowly appearing on his face. "I forgot," he said. "I'm a little worried that Alec won't take it well."

"Considering what we've seen of his personality, he refuses to take shit from anyone," Kreis said. His hand reached up to one shoulder and unconsciously rubbed it.

Gael nodded. "True. Alec did not hesitate to fight back and injure your shoulder when you first provoked him."

"For the love of Kosmos, let it go! How long are you going to keep bringing this up?"

Solana and Knox raised a brow at what they heard. From the side, the students eavesdropping on the two men's conversation had the same expressions.

Knox tried to reconcile the image of Alec fighting against Kreis and the Alec he spent the afternoon with a few days ago. Socially awkward Alec, who would grin and fondly hug every drae that wanted his attention and would blush every time Solana called him handsome. That Alec could go toe to toe with a Ryder Commander with Kreis's capabilities?

The two men were oblivious to the confusion they caused and continued their conversation. "I'm a little worried."

"You're acting more like a parent than his brother, right now."

"So what if I am?" Gael crossed his arms. "I meant I'm worried for Gravis."

Knox turned his head to look back at Alec. He had just finished demonstrating the proper way of using a bow and was correcting the posture of the two students. When the arrows landed on the dummy, but were far away from the highlighted target the two students worriedly looked to Alec for comments. He did not hear what he said, but it caused their faces to light up and try again. They continued shooting at their targets, each attempt getting closer to their goal. Alec then nodded and said something. The two students grinned and bowed their hands as thanks.

Professor Gravis stood to the side, watching Alec closely. He nodded and said something to his teaching assistant taking notes from him next to him. The teaching assistant began scribbling on the notebook. Knox was a bit surprised when Professor Gravis walked to the center of the battleground and motioned for Alec to follow. He guessed that it was for the final practical test. Every teacher in the Combat Department, and even the assistants, had gone through a sparring session at least once before they managed to enter. It was made into a requirement so people who applied would never dare forge their experience and qualifications as many did in the past.

Kreis and Gael moved closer so they stood just near the boundaries of the stone sparing platform. Knox and Solana followed close behind and others moved forward as well. Their proximity was enough for Knox to finally hear Professor Gravis.

"Good job on passing the first two tests so far," he said. Knox watched as Alec maintained a neutral face and bowed his head.

"Thank you, sir," he said.

"You're honestly not how I imagined you to be when I heard you were Gael's brother," he said.

Professor Gravis is starting his provocation session. Knox wanted to palm his forehead. After hearing Gael and Kreis's conversation, he was a little concerned about how all of this will end.

"What do you mean, sir?"

"Well, for starters, I never expected that you'd look like a runt who just finished drinking his mother's milk," he said. The silence thickened in the air. Alec's face remained neutral.

From the side, he heard Gael say that kind of insult won't work on Alec. Professor Gravis must have realized that two which was why he continued.

"Second, you look weak, so I wonder why the Ryder Commander of the of the 1st Regiment, would even bother writing a recommendation." This time, gasps and whispers filled the air, as his classmates looked at him with widened eyes. Alec also looked surprised and looked towards Kreis. The Ryder crossed his arms and shrugged.

With the distraction, Alec failed to dodge the fist that landed on his torso, and he stumbled back. Clutching his stomach, Alec clenched his jaw to prevent a sound from escaping his lips.

Gravis clucked his tongue. "You can't even dodge and take in one of my weak punches. Whoever taught you how to fight, assuming you can, must have neglected to teach you how to dodge and improve your reflexes."

"My brother had taught me well," Alec said, as he straightened.

"Your brother, you say? Looking at you, he would be very embarrassed and disappointed," the burly professor said, looking towards Gael's direction. "Or maybe he was just pathetic himself."

Knox saw how Alec froze, clenching his fists so hard that they turned red. He noted how Alec's light blue eyes darkened as well. The atmosphere around him changed, similar to how a sleeping wild beast opened its eyes for a hunt.

It was then that Knox reconciled the image of the Alec he met and the one Kreis talked about. This is what they meant.

"What in Blazen?" Gael tried to move forward. He paused when as quick as lighting, Professor Gravis appeared in front of Alec and kicked him in the stomach.

In the next moment, Alec flew through the air. He landed on the ground, his body rolling to the edge of the lake. With a splash, he fell into the clear blue water. Professor Gravis's eyes widened seeing what happened. To Knox, it seemed that he did not expect that Alec would allow himself to be hit a second time.

"Gravis, do you know what you've just done?" Gael shouted.

"I didn't think he'd be affected if I insulted you."

"I'm not the brother you just insulted!"

The shrill roars of the draelings caused them all to cover their ears. The draelings' loud screeches filled the air and they thrashed about in their Draeyers' hold. He watched as all of them escaped, including Uby and Dia, and surrounded Gravis. Their retracted teeth now filled their mouths as they growled at Gravis.

"What in the bloody Blazen?"

In an instant, the draelings stopped their growling and turned to the direction of the lake. Knox followed their gaze and saw Alec stepping onto the lakeshore. Water dripped down his body while his wet hair hung low and covered his eyes from view. They all fell silent as Alec's boots made wet sounds as he crossed over the grass to the stone fighting ground.

Knox felt a chill run up his spine.

-----

Alec: *stand menacingly*

Me: *slowly...very slowly...moves out the door and closes it quietly*

Me: *sighs in relief*