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As Scarlet showered him with compliments, he didn't know how to handle them at all. It scared him some and he didn't know how to handle everything that had happened to him in the last few days.
Scarlet loved on his some more and could feel his insecurity. She said "I am now your Protector. You don't need to call me Mother if you don't want to, but I promise that I will keep you safe no matter what. You are my Son same as Fuzzball." She smiled at him and knew that it would take a while to get through the trauma he had experienced.
Alex was happy that she was feeling better and noticed that there was something off with the way that Nick was acting. He calls him over to go on a scouting of the surrounding area with him. When they were a good distance from camp Alex turned to glair at Nick and said, "What is it that you are not telling us?"
Nick looked wary as he said "We are getting closer to my Home Territory. That is not something that I wanted to do anytime soon. I know that we need to go there but with the way that my people are. I Don't want to go back." Taking a breath and running a hand through his hair he leaned against the tree and just stared at his feet. After a few moments he continued "I was absolutely Nothing before her. (There was no need to guess who the HER was.) I didn't have Any Bands not One. I was tormented by everyone every day. I hid in different areas of the city to sleep every night. Hoping that I didn't get caught or I would have been Beaten and Tortured."
Taking in a shaky breath and Finished in an equally shaky voice "When the both of us met it was an accident. We the Dragons of 'Dark Rock Dragon Clan' were trying to pillage Females from the 'Green Rock Mountain City.' I found out that the Higher Ups didn't know that I knew this, but they were going to send me up through the cave First and be sacrificed. They told me some story that morning that I'm just going to be Spy or something, but they were going to throw me to the Enemy as a distraction for them to get in. I was quick and was used to running from pursuers. They knew that if I was caught then I would be killed, but they didn't care and even laughed about it."
Alex looked at Nick like he was an idiot and said "First off, you have Four Bands now. Second off, do you really think that she will let anyone get to you? Lastly, you will shame yourself and her if you are Weak there. You have defended Our Female just like all of us have. Since you have Four Bands now you need to start acting like you do. Got it?!"
Nick took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Looking up again the Weak Male that was just standing there was gone Completely, and a New Stronger Male stood in his place. "Alex was right." Nick thought to himself "I am different from back then. I'm so much stronger now and have a reason to Do better and to Be better."
As they headed back, they were met with a shocking discovery. The Skys turned Black and as both Males looked up, they were met with a shocking gaze.