Zeke didn't know how long his mother was holding him but he didn't mind. When she finally let go, she spoke while sobbing
"Zeke, don't go worrying me like that ever again!: I thought I lost you?"
Seeing her in this state caused his heart to ache.
"I'm sorry, but we're finally back together now. Just know... I love you guys more than anything.!"
He turned his head to look at his little sister. He had missed spoiling her, or playing games with her when he could.
"Nebula... been a while sis. How have you been with your annoying brother gone for so long?"
"Stop joking, everyone missed you.. even me."
She mumbled the last part which caused him to smirk slightly.
"Hey Zeke, welcome back home." Heturned his head to see his father and a warm smiled appeared on his face.
"Hey dad, it's been a while hasn't it?"
Chuckling at his words, his father patted his head for a while.
"Let's make Zeke a feast, I'm sure he'll enjoy that."
"Surely not, I'm not worth all of that. I'm fully content with just getting home."
He tried to talk his way out of it but the moment he noticed the passion in his mother's voice, he knew there was no room to argue.
...
Later, everyone was eating at the table as different delicacies adorned the table.
Zeke had some salad with grilled meat on the side. He was almost in tears with how much he had missed his mother's cooking.
Hector wasn't bad at cooking but rather he preferred to not cook most of the time and focus on his research.
He would be forced to eat one of the nutrition packs Hector always carried when he was hungry because of this.
He didn't know how to cook and Hector didn't care to teach him, so he really did miss flavoured food.
"So let me get this right.. you were in Northern Alteria for 6 years?"
Nebula asked with genuine curiosity on her face. Her parents however were less shocked.
They had expected him to be in a nightmare zone since they couldn't find a trace of him for so long.
The biggest issue was which one because exploring a nightmare zone required extreme preparation.
These zones required a party of dreamknights with at least a Marquise stage knight.
This would leave a good chunk of Everheart's army vulnerable.Without knowledge of the target, they might wander into a nightmare they can't deal with.
So these past 6 years, the duo focused all their efforts into scouting the nightmare zones.
However, their son had fortunately returned and there was no need for all of that anymore.
Zeke ate oblivious to the sacrifices his family were prepared to make the moment they found him.
He was sure that they would do something drastic to find him, or at the very least wanted to believe that.
He answered Nebula's question once more before adding his own.
"So Nebula, how was the heir's conference you attended back then?. I'm sure you stood out much more than anyone else there"
"It would have been great if you attended, it is your birthright after all."
He found it nice how she kept trying to include him into all these social gatherings like he wasn't going to be cast out.
"Maybe." After finishing his meal, he planned to go and sleep in his old room, however he was told to wait.
His parents had left it untouched since he disappeared and Nebula didn't want to go in either.
Because of this, it was filled with dust and cobwebs so he had to wait for it to be cleaned by the servants.
"I'm leaving now, you should wanderer around the castle like you use to. You'll probably find something new that you might like."
His father stood up and began walking towards the door.
"Can't you just reschedule it?"
His mother tried to convince him to stay but he was pretty determined to do whatever he was planning.
"Hey, let's go outside. I'm way stronger than you now."
Nebula made her own suggestion and before he could even argue, she grabbed his arm and dragged him outside.
Anastasia was left sitting all alone. She couldn't help but sigh at how her family acted.
Despite this.. she smiled because she'd have it no other way.
...
At the back of the castle, on its training grounds were the two siblings facing each other.
The two had a 5 meter distance separating them as they prepared to face each other.
"When you lose,.try not to cry ok. I don't need you burning your face right after arriving.. ok?"
"Not planning too, same goes for you though. Can't have you soiling all that unnecessary make up."
She felt extremely offended, there was no doubt now.. her brother was truly back.
"On three then."
"Ok."
The countdown shortly began with both siblings focussing fully on their opponent.
'One!'
The two immediately disappeared from where they where standing and appeared in the middle of the field.
"Bang!!!"
The two clashed mid air with Zeke's fist clashing with Nebula's kick. This caused a shockwave that blew dust in all directions.
The guards keeping watch couldn't help but sweat from how ridiculously strong these teens were for their age.
They pushed each other back and slid on the ground for a few seconds from the sheer force they took head on as they tried to stabilise their feet.
Nebula was the first to react the moment she stabilised herself. She immediately ran and closed the distance between them.
"Bang!"
She kicked him in the chest, forcing him to use both hands to defend himself from the blow pushing him back a bit.
Seeing she failed, she used the force of the kick to push herself into the air before back flipping onto the ground.
Zeke immediately leaped into the air and aimed his own kick for the side of her head.
She crouched on the ground, letting the kick go over her head.
She took the moment to go on her hands, using her legs, which were where her head used to be, to kick him in the square in the chest.
"Bang!"
Unable to dodge the blow, Zeke took on the full force of the strike and was sent flying to the other side of the field.
"Is that really all you can do?"
She taunted him as she flipped back onto her feet. He shook off the hit as he stood back up after landing on his back.
He smiled as he thought of how much fun this was.He had never fought her before so he thought it was a game, but now he knew she meant it as more than just a game.
"Fine, let's really fight then!"
He smiled as purple sparks started appearing on his skin.
Nebula started radiating a pink aura on the surface of her own skin.
The two locked eyes with equal enthusiasm as they moved towards each other.
And then it was just chaos.