Cater was racing against the clock. While he was fairly good at protecting Kalim, somehow his friend had been captured while he was away. It wasn't his fault, as someone else had been in charge of protecting the boy during family time with his siblings. Even Kalim's father had said as much and didn't blame Cater in the least.

But. Cater still felt responsible for the younger teen. He viewed Kalim in a similar way to Riddle. With Riddle, the two of them had a similar trauma that had caused them to bond almost like brothers, with Cater doting on the boy who was just as attention starved as Cater himself...if not more so.

With Kalim, it was the camaraderie of a long time friend combined with the fun of teaching the younger boy how to properly act as an adult. While Kalim still had a long way to go, it was an honest joy watching his friend mature in front of him.

Kalim was a bit more responsible regarding his finances, and while he still threw lavish feasts, he was no longer quite as crazy when it came to the spending.

Cater was pretty sure Kalim's father was secretly happy about this. Obscenely rich or not, he highly doubted Kalim's family was overly pleased with his spending habits. The only reason Kalim hadn't gone into the red regarding his personal finances was likely because Jamil was doing overtime to budget out the feasts on the side. It would explain a lot.

Still he had a secret weapon to track Kalim down. He had gotten a general direction of where Kalim was taken, and while he unable to requisition a vehicle like Jamil, he didn't need one.

Umbra was just as fast, if not faster than any car...especially on the slick sands. Besides, the wolf was thoroughly enjoying the excuse to run as fast as he wanted without any annoying buildings in the way.

Cater had learned a thing or two from Riddle when it came to riding. Since Umbra was big enough for it, and had no issue carrying his partner around, Riddle had shown Cater the finer art of riding.

He wasn't particularly fond of horses, but it certainly came in handy for times like this. He didn't need any saddle or bridle, as he held onto Umbra's special collar.

The wolf raced across the desert, following the scent of Kalim. The lupine had spent more than enough time around the other boy that he could follow the trail easily.

It was barely turning to dawn when they reached the town Kalim was being held captive in.

Umbra was barely winded, but Cater didn't want to overexert his familiar when there was almost certainly going to be a nasty fight getting out.

It was a good thing his boyfriend was such a good teacher regarding make-up and was more than happy to refine Cater's acting skills.

Kalim's family knew him as the 'serious, yet kind' teen who treated Kalim as a younger sibling who needed a bit of growing up to do. And his family was okay with this, because Kalim was learning useful life skills, especially for the heir of a merchant family. Sure, he had learned a lot of what Cater was teaching him before, but he had never put it into practice himself because of Jamil's coddling.

Cater had a dark, mischievous aura around him as he used his signature spell.

"He is me and so are we...Split Card."

Before him were seven alternate versions of himself. All of whom were wearing different dorm uniforms.

No words needed to be spoken...they were him after all. The one with Diasomnia coloring took up watch as the original Cater and Umbra napped until noon. They had been riding all night and Cater was tired.

He woke up with new information, including where Kalim was being kept. While he couldn't enter the base without attracting notice, just knowing the general area and which building his friend was in was all he really needed. After all, they would be expecting someone like Jamil or trained professionals...they wouldn't be expecting someone as unpredictable and vindictive as Cater.

And that went double for something like Umbra. Star Wolves were dangerous enough in the wilds...they were a hundred times more dangerous in an enclosed area like a town, where you had to worry about collateral damage among other things.


It said a lot about his trust in Cater that Kalim kept quiet as the clones removed him from the building...all while setting off some very impressive fireworks and causing all sorts of hell.

Cater knew he wasn't skilled enough to slip in and out with Kalim without notice, so he went the opposite route. Making as big and loud a commotion as possible to divert attention from the hostage being removed...or at least sending them all the wrong directions.

Being able to create clones was so useful sometimes, and he was used to loud and noisy thanks to his time in Heartsabyl.

To be fair, he had made a point to borrow from the massive stockpile of fireworks that was available for Kalim's personal use. Since he had been in Night Raven, there was a pretty good stash to draw from and his little pocket space was able to hold almost a third of it.

Kalim was wide eyed at the sheer amount of chaos Cater left behind. He only started laughing once they were safely away from the city.

"Where did you get all that?" he asked.

"Swiped it from the stash of fireworks your family has for when you want to throw a big show," said Cater.

Kalim laughed again.

"So...where's everyone else?" he asked. Usually, when someone came to rescue him there was a team or something.

Cater snorted.

"I didn't feel like waiting. Umbra had your scent, and while it didn't happen on my watch I still felt guilty you got captured while Jamil was away. I'd never forgive myself if something happened to one of my closest friends," said Cater.

Kalim stared at him for several moments, before he beamed at him.

It was a known fact among those close to him that while Cater might present himself with an extroverted personality, at the end of the day he was much happier around a small group of close friends just relaxing.

Kalim was among those who Cater felt safe enough to let his defenses down and just cuddle. Kalim was also a touch-heavy person, so he had no issue with this even if it bugged Jamil sometimes. He did it with Lilia as well, but it wasn't as often.

Cater looked over Kalim, deemed him in good enough condition to travel, and was about to move them when one of his clones he left behind popped and alerted him to trouble.

Rather than deal with having people chasing after them, almost certainly armed to the teeth and with guns or magic, he went another route.

He dragged Kalim to a sturdy rock outcropping, which would shield them from the worst of what he had planned.

"Umbra...let them have it," he said.

Kalim stared at Cater. Umbra bounded out of his shadow, jumping to the top of the rocks and within moments tripled in size.

A star wolf was not a small creature. In fact the average one could reach the size of a horse easily with proper feeding. Umbra often went hunting with Rook and Cater and would eat the bigger prey they caught, since there wasn't that much room to store things like an entire deer.

Well...that and Vil would have both their heads for bringing that much meat into the dorm, even if it was fresh. He tolerated the smaller game, since Cater and Rook knew how to prep it for human consumption, but had staunchly drawn the line at them bringing anything bigger than a small pig in.

Umbra had quadrupled in size, easily dwarfing the smallest house on the outskirt of the town they had been hiding in.

Needless to say the mercenaries took one look at the wolf and immediately paused.

"You might want to cover your ears. I have the feeling this is going to be loud," advised Cater.

Kalim did so, but the two were also watching things safely from the rocks below, as there was a bit of a gap to observe the area Umbra was facing. Not enough for them to get hit with any of the resulting damage, but enough to give them a clear line of sight of it.

Umbra drew upon his internal magic and a bit of Cater's own reserves...and howled.

Cater had wisely restricted Umbra from ever going full out on Sage's Island as he didn't want to hear Crowley bitch about the inevitable damage. He had learned fairly quickly how much damage could be caused by his familiar wagging his tail.

Umbra created massive whirlwinds that would strip a man's flesh from his body in seconds if they didn't duck for cover. Thick bolts of lightning as big as a man's arm slammed down and destroyed the convoys they had been planning to use to catch up to the teens. Winds howled around them in a fury.

Cater and Kalim's eyes were wide as saucers seeing this devastation. While they were mostly safe under the rocks (and because Umbra wasn't aiming in their general direction) the mercenaries were not.

In fact, there wasn't much left to chase after them at all.

Umbra came down from the rocks, and Cater had to blink.

"...Did you just grow a second horn?" he asked.

Umbra initially only had the one horn on his head. But now he bore a strong resemblance to his mother.

"I guess you evolved, huh? Good job with those creeps."

"Thank you, master!"

Kalim and Cater stared in shock. Normally Umbra used the limited empathetic link he had with Cater to communicate. It seemed evolving had given him enough of a boost to his mental abilities that he could speak properly.

Since no one was likely to bitch about the damage caused by the odd wind gusts his tail would create, Kalim and Cater gave the wolf a well deserved belly rub. He had more than earned it and who was going to care about the sudden sandstorm when there was an even bigger mess to clean up?

"So...how are we getting back?" asked Kalim.

"Hey Umbra, feel like another long run?" asked Cater grinning. Umbra barked in agreement.


Jamil was present for the very entertaining show of Kalim's safe return.

He had told Kalim's parents of the fact Cater had a trained wolf who was magical enough to hide in his shadow. He had neglected to warn them of the breed, just that it was a rare one and was fully trained.

So when he heard the guards all panicking and gearing up for a massive fight against a disaster class beast heading their way and showing no signs of changing course or stopping, he barely withheld his cackling.

All he had to hear was the fact it was a 'wolf with horns' before he knew exactly who and what was heading their way. It didn't help that the men the Al Asim had sent had also seen a massive Tempest Star Wolf lay waste to the same mercenaries that had kidnapped Kalim.

Someone had managed to retrieve him, but his whereabouts were unknown because the lightning the wolf summoned had fried the devices on Kalim to track his whereabouts, even if they had confirmed Kalim was not a victim of the wolf's short but memorable rampage.

Rather than freak out, Jamil got into position to watch the show.

He was not disappointed. From his spot on the roof and with his binoculars. He almost laughed at the comical way the guards nearly panicked as the wolf leaped over their attempt to barricade the city from the wolf. Umbra was huge, easily jumping over the convoys and not stopping on his way to the city.

Jamil could see Kalim being held by Cater, both of them laughing like idiots and enjoying every second of it.

Umbra shrank down before he reached the city, as his bigger size would make it near impossible to maneuver in the streets.

Jamil eagerly followed them to see what would happen next, as this was hilarious. The guards were already scrambling to catch up as the electricity Umbra had let off had fried their vehicles and made it impossible for them to start. None of them had brooms on them, and no horse or camel would go near a disaster class creature for fear of being made dinner.

He heard the loud yelp from Cater and Kalim, and only caught the tail end of Umbra 'slamming on the brakes' as it were, which sent the two cackling idiots flying into the canal. Umbra ignored them completely as he drank deeply from the water. To be fair, he wasn't used to desert conditions and had been running for a while, so it made perfect sense he'd be thirsty.

Once he had his fill, he let out a cheerful bark.

"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up you overgrown furball. It's bad enough I'm going to have to brush all that sand out of your fur later," said Cater.

Kalim just laughed like the idiot he was.

"That was fun. Did you see their faces when Umbra jumped over them?"

Cater snorted, as Umbra reached in and helped both out of the water.

"You two seem to be having fun," said Jamil dryly.

Kalim's eyes widened, before he beamed brightly.

"Jamil! You're back!"

"Don't you dare hug me you idiot! You're soaking wet!" said Jamil, doing his best to avoid being glomped.

By this point the city guards had arrived and they were not happy.

Cater was more than happy to let Jamil do the talking, as he was exhausted from using all that magic, holding onto Kalim while Umbra raced along the sands all night, and having no sleep to work with.