"I told you!" Brock realized he was shouting and paused.
He never shouted. Most things rolled off his back.
Looking around at the shocked and concerned faces of his family, he sighed.
"Do you need me to..."
Brock held up his hand. "No, Mom. Just give me a minute."
Rain chewed her lip. "Do you need Blaze and me to go?"
Blaze nodded. He would do whatever his twin needed.
"I think..." Brock shut his eyes and shook his head vigorously. "No, I want you to hear this. I don't want to have to say it more than once."
"Say what, son?" Fort's gentler tone washed away the last of the boy's resolve. His shoulders slumped.
"I know I joke a lot about missing school and not doing my work. Well, this time...I've taken it too far. The day Mom came back, I was extra eager to miss because I had an exam. It was like being handed a lifeline in the darkness. But now, I am in even worse trouble. I am not going to pass. I found out I won't be able to graduate at the end of the year." Brock lowered his gaze.
Even though they had been living in the Dream Realm for years now, the family still put immense value on formal education. People from the outskirts might barely learn to read, but where they came from, not finishing school for anything other than to attend the Awakened Academy was unheard of.
"So rather than face up to the fact you might need an extra year of schooling, you wanted to enter a Nightmare?" Noble asked calmly.
"I didn't want to fail you." The earnestness in the young man's voice broke Noble's heart. She wrapped him in a hug.
Fort tapped his fingers on the chair. "Sit down, son. You come over here, too, Blaze."
The family gathered together on seats as the father gathered his thoughts.
"I want you–all of you–to know you could never fail your mother or me. That's not a thing, so put it from your mind. We love you."
Noble was glad to see Fort taking the lead. While she wanted to go and demand answers from the school, her husband was taking the level-headed approach.
"While we cannot fix every problem, especially as you get older, we are here to help. Did your teacher really give you no way to graduate on time next summer?" Fort asked his elder son.
The young man chewed his lip for a second. "I would have to double up on a couple of subjects, but if I cannot do it right now, how can I do double later?"
"I can help!" Blaze practically jumped out of his seat. "You are always pushing me to do things. Let it be my turn, please!"
Brock was taken aback for a second. "I don't think..."
Rain nudged him from the other side. "That seems to have been your problem."
The young man opened his mouth to argue before a smile broke on his face. "Do you think I can do it?"
"I know you can," Blaze tapped his brother's forehead. "Wombmates for life, remember? Together we can get it done."
"We can help you, too," Noble assured him.
"I could use a refresher on my skills." Fort tapped his chin. "My grandmother always said you are either learning or dying."
"You are too impulsive, little brother." Rain tousled her brother's head. "Surely suffering from too much love of a family willing to help you is preferable to throwing yourself into a trial with monsters wanting to gobble up your very soul."
Brock winced. "When you put it like that…"
The pot on the stove began to rattle in earnest. Smoke poured from between the lid and its container. Brock jumped to his feet.
"That's dinner!" He covered his hand with a cloth and removed the lid. More smoke was released into the cozy home. "…was dinner."
Rain waved her hand in front of her face as she coughed. "Maybe I should go see Awakened Abyss about some takeout from the restaurant."
"That would be helpful, thank you, Rain." Noble levitated the pot from the stove and replaced the lid to smother the burning food inside. The window opened, and the pot was placed outside into a cool spot in a snowbank.
"I'll go with you!" Blaze volunteered. "I need to check on my hours this week and…"
"Not so fast, little bro. If I'm going to get caught up, I have to start now." Brock's resilient nature had already brought back his usual optimism.
"I'll get the list of your shift hours for you," Rain promised as she grabbed her coat.
Blaze nodded.
"Thanks, sis. Once I get my next paycheck and the shard Mom got…"
"Is going to get!" Noble corrected him with an apologetic wince.
The younger twin frowned, but the cloud passed. "That's fine. I'm not quite ready yet anyway. The presentation isn't scheduled until the new year, so I have some time."
The mother was comforted by his words. "I'll get it soon. I promise!"
Blaze smiled.
"I know."
"I'll be right back." Rain waved as she went to the door.
"If you happen to see Sarai again today, tell her we say hi," Noble called after her daughter.
"Again?…oh…" the girl flushed. "Yes, I will."
Blaze tugged on his brother's arm. "Come on. If you are serious, we have a lot of math to cover before she gets back. I'm in charge this time. So what I say goes."
Brock smiled lazily. "Whatever you say, boss man."
The boys headed upstairs, leaving Fort and Noble alone for the first time that evening. The man leaned back in his chair, exhaling long enough that Noble wondered if he had anything left in his lungs.
"That was too close." He murmured as much to himself as his wife.
Moving behind the chair, Noble rubbed her husband's shoulders. "I'll say."
"The only reason I found out was that I overheard Nail give him a name as I caught up with them on the way home. They went silent after that, and I knew something was up. When I finally remembered the person they mentioned was the agent in charge of prospective Dreamers, Brock was partway through making dinner. He came clean and well…you saw the result." Fort rubbed his temple.
"It's fine now. He came to his senses." Noble could feel both boys' emotions.
Both were calm and focused.
"I don't know how Legacies do it." Fort sank deeper into the chair.
"Send their children into a Nightmare on purpose?" Noble tilted her head. "Well, at least now they have more control over it than before."
"I don't mean that. I mean, prepare their children to be fodder in a war." Fort's last word was inaudible, but it still felt like thunder in Noble's ears.
"Maybe most don't know." The floating Saint hoped that was true.
"Maybe." The ambassador sighed. "But all I could see was our little boy Awakening and then getting conscripted."
Now, Noble understood the man's fear. While she found it a positive that Fort believed Brock would survive the trial—that was progress—he feared a worse fate awaited him on the other side.
He was right, it was too close.
Both the war and their avoidance of it.
For now…