An awkward silence followed after William slammed the door shut and left. Everyone was too shocked to speak, and they were lost in their own thoughts. However, Noah snorted and headed back to his seat, sat down, and began to think about what just happened. He wondered why he got so angry over being called a coward.
While Noah was wondering, Sean snapped out of his shock, got up and said, "I'll go after him." After he finished he began to head towards the door.
This seemed to jolt the other board members out of their shock as Philip said, "Wait Sean."
"Why? Shouldn't we go get him?" Sean asked, confused.
"That kid may have what it takes to actually kill Nightmare." Philip responded.
"How so?" Sean asked, still confused.
"That kid was the motivation to kill Nightmare and not let anyone stop him." Philip responded, "Like it or not, that kid is the best shot we have at killing Nightmare." He looked at Owen when he finished.
"But shouldn't we have made a group of elite guards to do the job?" Sean asked.
"The issue there is time." Philip responded while looking back at Sean, "We both know it would take time to get together a group of elite guards, not to mention find those who are willing to try to kill Nightmare. That kid already has the motivation to go kill Nightmare, and he is already on his way to do that right now."
"But that kid is just running in there without a plan. I'm afraid he's gonna get himself killed." Sean said, and looked at Owen.
"If he gets himself killed then at least it gives us time to set up your group." Philip responded.
"There isn't anything we can do about it now. He's probably already at one of the gates." Owen said before Sean could speak.
"We can still probably catch up to him." Sean pleaded.
"You didn't have a problem with sending your son to go kill Nightmare. Why do you have a problem with sending that kid" Philip said and Sean looked back at him.
"I wouldn't have a problem with it if he didn't just go without a plan!" Sean said, his voice getting louder. "I'm even more concerned about the fact he has a short temper, and that he might to something stupid and get himself killed because of it! Right now he's just blind with anger! You've heard Noah's report! It's just going to get him killed!"
"That anger is what will drive him to kill Nightmare, and I've already told you what we can do if he does get killed." Philip calmly responded.
"And considering the anger he has, he's probably going the most direct way to Spearhead. Everyone here knows that area is mostly open fields, so it is likely that Nightmare would see you going after that kid. I'm sure he would have a lot of questions for the two of you if he saw that, and, knowing that he has a temper, he would probably go straight to attacking Nightmare. Which will cause him to head straight to here once he has killed the both of you." Owen said with a serious look on his face, "Don't go after that kid. This is a direct order, you understand?"
Sean sighed deeply before responding, "Alright then. Noah let's go." This jolted Noah out of his thoughts, and after a moment of confusion, he got up and walked over to his father. Once he got to Sean's side, he nodded at him to signal that he was ready to go. Sean started to walk towards the door with the rest of the people in there being silent and just watching what was going on. Noah followed closely behind him. Sean opened the door and held it for Noah. Once Noah passed through the door, Sean followed suit and closed the door softly behind him. They began to walk down the hall towards the exit.
"So, do you want to head home?" Sean asked after they got halfway down the hallway.
"Yeah, that sounds nice." Noah responded, exhausted.
"I'm glad you said that. We both could use a rest as it has been a tiring day." Sean responded, also exhausted. He had a serious and concerned look on his face, and he looked like he was thinking about something. Noah sighed and looked at his father's hands. Noah and his father shared the habit of clenching their hands into fists when they were stressed or worried about something. And, sure enough, Noah saw that his father had his hands clenched. It was easy for Noah to guess that his father was worried about William.
Noah sighed before saying, "It's no use worrying about William. I feel like he was looking for an excuse to go after Nightmare. We both know what happened to his father."
"It's more than that." Sean responded. "When his father died, I made a promise to myself that I would make sure that his son would survive." It was quiet for a moment as Noah thought about what his father just said.
After a small bit, the pair reached the door to the lobby and Sean said, "If you still want to talk about this, let's wait until we get back home."
"Alright let's do that." Noah responded, nodding. Sean nodded back and then opened the lobby door.
* * *
Sean opened the door to his and Noah's house and held it open for Noah. Noah entered the house and Sean followed behind him. They entered the living room as Lucia was walking down the stairs. She froze about halfway down the stairs once she saw Noah, gasped, and said, "Noah?"
Noah looked down and sighed for a moment before locking back up and saying, "I'm back." After he finished, Lucia ran down the rest of the stairs and towards Noah, and then tightly hugged him. Noah froze in shock for a moment before returning the hug. Sean stood beside Noah, watching and smiling.
Lucia began to cry, looked up at him, and said, "I'm so glad you're back here safe. I was so scared you would get killed."
"Well you don't have to worry anymore. I'm here now, safe and sound." Noah responded, meeting his mother's gaze.
"Yeah, you are and that's all that matters." Lucia said and stopped crying, "I'm just really, really happy that you're safe. I'll get going on making dinner now. I take it you two are probably very hungry right now." She finished with a smile and then headed to the kitchen.
After Lucia entered the kitchen to make dinner, Sean said, "So do you wanna talk now or after dinner?"
"After dinner." Noah responded, "I don't want Mom to hear this."
"That's fair, I don't want your Mom to hear it either." Sean responded.
"I'm going up to my room to set my things down." Noah said, and then began to head up the stairs to his room.
Once he got into his room, he was overcome with nostalgia. Even though he was only gone for about a week or two, he felt like he was gone for a lot longer. He set his bag down next to his bed, and then he laid down on it to think. He didn't bother with taking off his clothes as he was going to take them off after he ate dinner when he was going to take a bath. He was going through his journey in his head, and spent quite a bit of time thinking about the people he met on it. Specifically, he spent time thinking about their hatred of Nightmare and wondering if running away was the right thing to do. He even thought about William and what happened in Owen's office. He also thought about all the resources he had, and reached down to his bag and grabbed his book on dragon anatomy. He began to flip through the pages. He stopped flipping through the pages once he heard his father call him down for dinner. He set his book down next to him with the pages open to the myth of Tyrant dragons.
Noah sat down at the table and began to wolf the stew that his mom prepared for him. He hadn't eaten for a while and the events of the board meeting took a lot out of him. He didn't realize how hungry he was until he had food right in front of him. His father was similar, not eating as fast as Noah, but still eating pretty quickly. Noah's mother chuckled watching the pair and said, "Don't eat too quickly, you both will get sick. But I made enough for seconds, so you two don't have to worry."
Noah was too busy shoving his face full of food, so Sean said, "Thank you, but don't worry about us too much. Do you have enough to eat?"
"I do, thank you" Lucia quickly responded, "I wasn't that hungry to begin with." Sean nodded in response.
After everyone finished their food, Lucia got up from the table, grabbed the dishes, and headed outside to wash them. After she exited the house, Noah said to Sean, "I want to go take a bath, is it alright if we talk after I'm done?"
"Yeah, that's fine. I'm going to head outside as well to make sure you both are safe then. It is quite late." Sean responded.
"Thank you." Noah said, and then he headed out to go take his bath.