Astral watched as Black Mist seemed to tense up and shiver. He briefly wondered what kind of dream he was having, but there was really no way to know since he couldn't just climb into people's minds. It was taboo to even learn how to do that. After all, it was a major invasion of privacy!

In all honesty, Astral never once remembered having to unlock his magic potential. He always had it unlocked, and that was thanks to his father, who unlocked it when he was just an infant as soon as the king learned his son was able to use it. He never had to face any fears, so seeing one while they were having a dream to unlock their potential was interesting.

What kind of fear does he have? Did it cause him to be foul, or is that just how he is. I wonder how it affected him...

Astral closed his eyes once more and concentrated on the calming waves. He was determined to help Black Mist through this dream no matter what!

As he ran through the forest, the small prince looked around for anyone who he could recognize, but there wasn't a soul in sight. This was even scarier than the voices he heard, and to top it all off, the people toying with him kept on blasting the ground to keep him running!

Black Mist hid behind a tree in order to catch his breath. He felt like his lungs were on fire! He made sure that nothing was going to eat him while he panted for air, but the kids who were tormenting him had other plans.

The trees around him came to life under the spell of one of them, even the tree he was hiding behind. Black Mist cried out in terror when a huge limb came down to slam into him, but he dodged just in time. Quaking with terror, the young prince scrambled to his feet and dug his feet in the dirt to push himself off.

The plants and trees kept going after him, and eventually, the fear took over his entire body. He couldn't take it anymore and collapsed to the ground, sobbing his fear without shame. The voices laughed tauntingly, and finally, the sources of the voices landed in front of him.

The leader was a Barian boy with a dark yellow body with golden, curly hair. His emerald green eyes sneered down at him as he held a knife to the neck of another Barian, this one gray in color. "You too scared? Do you want out of this bet?"

"J-just give Du-Durbe back...!" Black Mist cried just as the plants started to overtake him. He shrieked in terror, kicking away the bushes and trees as he scrambled back.

The second voice was a girl with maroon skin and straight black hair. She was of a higher family, so she had pink gems decorating her hair and body. Her pink eyes seemed to be laughing at him. Both her and the first one were teenagers. "Raey, can I play with him some?"

Raey, the first one, nodded his approval. "Do what you want, Keelie. Since he's chickening out right now, I'm gonna torture his friend!"

"NO!!!" Black Mist screamed desperately. The limb of a tree latched onto his foot, swooping him up high into the sky. Terrified, he wet himself while he cried to be let down, to set Durbe free, to just end this.

Keelie laughed and was relentless as she used the tree to slam him down to the ground and against other trees multiple times. By the time she had her fun with that, Black Mist was dizzy and already about to pass out. The "fun" was apparently only just beginning, though. She slammed him down on a rock and surrounded him by trees, all of them with their limbs outstretched. One of them held his arms and legs spread apart.

Astral looked over to Black Mist when he heard something like a whimper of distress. His eyes widened when he saw that the Number was quaking, his eyes squeezed shut, and sweat running down his body. His clawed hands were squeezing the life out of the stress ball! What in the world was happening in there!?

The Cosmic prince noticed his father coming and greeted him with a nod since he was too busy to speak.

"Is everything going well?" the king asked, although the situation was pretty self explanatory. "Is he doing well?"

A shrug came from the son. He had no way of knowing, really. Zeon decided to check for himself and placed his hand on the head of the Dark Number to check his mental state. He was riddled with fear, but there was nothing out of the ordinary. In fact, he was going to burst into magic very soon.

"Astral, come here."

Astral was surprised at his father's request, but he did as he was told. Just as he moved, there was a black aura surrounding Black Mist as his whimpers turned into growls of anger. He ripped the stress ball in two, the aura exploding and wilting every flower around him. Astral and Zeon quickly put a bubble around him so that no one would get affected.

As soon as the explosion was done, Black Mist slumped down, his breathing quickened. Zeon and Astral approached him, each of them helping quell the remains of his magic. Then, they each put a comforting arm around him as tears dripped down his cheeks.

"Would you like to see how it ends?" Zeon asked gently. He received a nod in response.

"DON'T YOU DARE TAKE ANOTHER ACTION AGAINST THEM!!" a large voice boomed all around.

Keelie quickly pulled the branches out of her victim, acting innocent. Raey put away his knife quickly.

King Pluto stormed in with an air of protectiveness and rage. "Who gave you permission to harm and violate my son!? Who gave you the right to mutilate one of his friends!?" He grew angrier when he received no response. "ANSWER ME!!!"

The kids squealed and answered that no one did, and they were very sorry.

"Go home before I make you and your families pay!!" As soon as they were out of sight, the king knelt down in front of his son and picked up his small, broken frame. He held him close, crying quietly. He didn't bother to check on Durbe; he was already dead.