Boreas POV

"By the way, I have something to tell you in the morning." Jett said as I headed for my room.

Lately, we've barely spent any time together, but Isabella does tell me that he's growing a bit uncomfortable sleeping in his shrunken for, and since he rolls around a lot, with that wing of his, and his body now being almost the size of a horse, he's sleeping in the royal stables for comfort.

"How serious is it?"

"Not much, but enjoy your time. I'll head to sleep now, I'm tired too, bye Boreas." he replied as I patted his head before he left for his now more spacious bed.

"Why is Laurel here?"

"I don't know, but I couldn't ignore a queen's summon." Laurel replied as I shut the door of Isabella's bedroom, "But apparently, she wants me to sleep here."

"Of course." Isabella chimed in, "We don't have chances like this often, so we might as well sleep like a family."

"Family?" Laurel questioned, "Boreas and I aren't that close yet, we shared one close moment and that's it."

"Yeah, she's also way more into me than I am into her."

"Come on, it's fine, just sleep, Mari is already on the bed." Isabella insisted.

It was a weird arrangement. From my right, our sleeping order is Mari, Isabella, me, and Laurel, sleeping all in one bed. Isabella was feeling really clingy, so she was sleeping between Mari and me. And it didn't take long for them 2 to sleep with only Laurel being awake as she was a bit uncomfortable with the arrangement.

"If you're uncomfortable, you can move, Isabella wouldn't have minded if you told her no."

"If...If I do join your Harem in the future, I'm going to have to get used to it, might as well start now." she replied as I spooned her from behind, "Just for the record, I prefer men who are taller than me."

"Well, too bad."

"You're way too clingy, I let you do it once, and you're doing stuff like this already."

"You don't like it?"

"I don't mind it...if my mom sees this, she's going host an emergency wedding right in front of that room."

"Of course...besides, I don't know why you're complaining about me being clingy...why do you think I have multiple lovers?"

"Tch..."

"Are you always this cute, or is it just when I'm around?"

"I do have a reputation to maintain, you know."

"And what exactly is that reputation? Is it being the world's cutest sleeping beauty?"

"Say that to the other too..." she replied and she shifted around and turned in my direction.

"This seems like one of those moments where the mood is right for us to kiss."

"And you've ruined it, no kiss for you." she said as she turned back around, but she was closer to me than before as I slowly fell asleep.

The next morning, I woke up first to see that everyone is still awake. I got ready and went to relieve Chris, Sir Wiles, and Theo to go get their respective rest before I then met up with Jett, who brought me up to the highest point of the castle for our private conversation.

"We need to talk, man. It's about the Blood Ravens." he said.

"Figured. What about them?"

"I know you're thinking about accepting their offer, but you need to reconsider."

"You're seriously going to lecture me on this?"

"Your life is more important than whatever they're promising you. You don't need to do this for me or anyone else. That vampire king or whatever is just an excuse, if you do what they're asking you to do...you're prioritizing my life over yours, Mari, and Kai, and I'm not letting that happen."

"-"

"Just hear me out first, okay?" he cut me off before I could respond, "I was saved by you. And even if that debt has been paid several times over already...you gave me a reason to fight, to live, and to experience what life has to offer. I don't want you throwing all that away for some grand scheme that might just get you killed. I've come to terms with my life, even if it's short. I'd be content with it even if I have an unknown disease that could kill me in a year for all I know.

"I've had enough joy just being around you. The laughs, the adventures, the head pats...they mean everything to me. And one day, I want to see you with your children, to see the legacy you'll create. But that won't happen if you're not here. For both our sakes. We've made it this far together. I want to keep making memories with you, not standing over your grave...I don't need a phoenix's healing power."

"For a dragon, you're way too intelligent...but unfortunately, we're going."

"...why?"

"We need to see just how strong this demon lord is...one way or another...I always plan to run away, it's what I'm good at, figuratively and literally...once we get decent knowledge of how strong he is...we'll run away and plan on how to defeat him once and for all...I'm a hero, I can't let this world down."

"...then...if even one thing goes wrong on this infiltration mission, we're running away, okay?"

"Of course."

"Then we can go, but...if this phoenix joins our party, I'm still the favorite, got it?"

"Of course, you're my favorite dragon."

"Favorite...dragon...? You know other dragons?"

Kai POV

As I stood on the edge of the forest, gazing at the ruins of what once was the Northern Empire, a wave of conflicting emotions crashed over me. I had once fought for the demons. But here I was now, to oppose them instead in the most risky infiltration mission, to infiltrate my own kind, the very demons I had sided with, and my loyalties felt like a tangled mess. I felt conflicted again and again, and yet it feels no different today.

There's no doubt that this time...my close comrades will sense me, and they will come for me...the demons I fought until now would be nothing. But what if I do meet them...what will that think? would my former comrades accept me back? Would they even recognize me as the same person? I had changed; I was no longer the Kai they had known. I am still a demon...just not the one they know. Let's hope I don't meet them...I wouldn't be abled to see them hurt.