It's been a full two weeks since being kidnapped by Lambros and Nicholas finally has the conversation with his parents about going back to the floating island even though they're both quite pointedly not bringing it up.

"It's School Certificate exams soon," Nicholas insists, flopped over the couch arm to paw at Vinaya's book with the hopes of annoying her into throwing him out. "I am not repeating a year."

Nicholas is also quite frankly in desperate need of being with his friends, getting distracted by dumb things and reminding himself he’s in full control of his life even if that is just in school playing a game of Loops.

Vinaya, unable to read from Nicholas batting at the pages, is still pretending to read anyway. Jordan is playing a game of chess with Luca, sitting on the three-seater couch opposite Nicholas, both of them staying out of it.

"Mum," Nicholas says. "Ma. Maata. Muuuuum."

Vinaya snaps the book shut, almost catching Nicholas' fingers in it. "Isn't the Loops final being played in two days?" Vinaya narrows her eyes. "You want to go back just so you can play, completely ignoring the fact that you were kidnapped from the property -after a first attempt- and High Mage Xia is still watching you. What, none of that matters?"

"I got kidnapped because Lambros cheated," Nicholas whines. "I won't fall for that again – and you know the citadel has wards to keep people with killing intent out-"

Luca chokes on an inhale and starts coughing, incredulous. “I’ve never seen these mystical protective wards work.”

"-so really he's not a problem," Nicholas continues, louder now over Luca. "And Rafael will protect me anyway."

"Just because he's a werewolf doesn't mean he can take on everyone you piss off," Vinaya criticises.

"But then what's the point in being a werewolf?" Nicholas says like that's a good argument.

"There is no point in – that's not how it-" Vinaya sighs.

Nicholas switches tracks, turning to Luca. He’s adamant he’ll convince them without having to admit there’s a problem here so he plays it up a bit. "Have you finished school? You should come to the citadel with me!"

"I didn't finish year twelve," Luca admits.

Nicholas gasps, flailing his hands in genuine delight. "We can do Loops together! Oh, and explore the island and-and we can-!" Nicholas gets himself so excited he can't talk properly.

Luca gets such a warm, intense feeling in his chest it actually hurts. "Yes! Yeah, we can…" Luca trails off and grimaces. "Ah, actually I have something I should do. I'll be super fast though – I know where they all are."

Nicholas blinks. "Okay? Need any help collecting…things?"

"I've done it once, shouldn't be too hard," Luca reassures him and doesn’t say anything more on the matter.

Nicholas switches back. "Mum-"

"Ask your father."

"Dad-"

"Ask your mother," Jordan says, throwing it straight back.

"Mum-"

"Ask Luca."

Nicholas sits up, satisfied.

Luca stares very intently at the chess set and says nothing.

"Luca?" Nicholas asks. "Where's my enthusiastic hell yes?" He pauses, with mounting horror. "You're on their side!"

"I just think, that with Xia," Luca begins.

"Lucaaaaa," Nicholas wheedles, flopping over the other side of the couch to get closer. "Come on, you can't honestly expect me to just skip the Loops finals.” There are rumours about Nicholas getting captain and while he doesn’t actually care, now it’d be insulting if he didn’t get picked.

Unauthorized use of content: if you find this story on Amazon, report the violation.

"Loops or Haochen Xia," Luca says and lifts both hands, measuring them up like weight scales.

"Loops!" Nicholas cries and shoves the Loops hand down.

"Okay, maybe I'm being unfair and slightly hypocritical," Luca allows. "But I think, because Xia has killed you once before, that he's perhaps more of a threat."

"He didn't kill me, he killed other me," Nicholas tries. "Luca, don't you love me?"

Luca takes a blow straight to the heart.

"Stay strong, darling," Vinaya whispers. "It gets worse."

Nicholas pouts and blinks his big chocolate eyes, crocodile tears forming.

----------------------------------------

So Nicholas takes the Transverse network back to the floating island in time for the Loops game – along with his parents and Luca as guards to satisfy them even if it is just for the day. They head over to the seating towers surrounding the massive Loops course while Nicholas sprints up to the InCore tower to get his stuff and pauses, realising there's a bed missing.

They removed Adam's bed.

Stavros bursts through the door, panting. "Nicholas, I - I didn't know you were coming back, I would have…warned you."

Nicholas stares at the empty space for a long moment and then turns to Stavros with a smile. "It's okay."

----------------------------------------

Nicholas dives off the middle of a Mobius strip, a RitCast’s hands grasping at his feet as he sails over the other boy and falls, landing with a roll on another ring, popping back to his feet and swerving to the side at the last possible second, hooking the ball around a defence’s outstretched hand. It hits, the bright goal blinking out and reappearing on the base of the seventh ring.

He dodges around another InCore striker on the precariously narrow strip, just in time to screen the RitCast flanker so Stavros can fall past and flying kick another RitCast right off the rings where she falls onto the sandy ground below, taking the second ball out of play with her. Nicholas hi-fives Stavros with a mad laugh as they pass by each other on different loops, Nicholas sprinting up the ring to the top.

Stavros turns to watch him go, a worried frown on his face.

Nicholas is fine. Nicholas is perfectly in control, precisely aware of his very quickly deteriorating mental state, and doesn't give a fuck because he's been through so much shit that he needs this. He needs a win.

Three nice days with Luca, pretending everything is okay, isn't enough. Lambros is still running around and who know what he's going to do with Luca here now, fucking Haochen Xia wants to play house, and they moved Adam's bed. Nicholas needs to have something good otherwise he's just going to fucking lie down and never get up again.

RitCast are trying desperately to end the game by hitting a goal with both balls at the same time but Nicholas isn’t done yet. If he can still stand, he can still play and everyone has to play with him. He scores again, and again, and again and he has both RitCast flankers on him at all times trying to shove him off the loops, now with the strikers trying to crowd him out too.

Nicholas gets shouldered right in the sternum and hurled off the rings with a scream of rage, freefalling for only a brief second until Stavros tackles him mid-air from the side and both of them land with a mess of limbs and scrambling hands onto the middle of a ring, Nicholas still holding a ball to his side.

Nicholas snarls and shoves himself off Stavros, diving off into the open air between all the loops, bouncing the ball off a RitCast player with enough force to throw the guy to another ring, and catches the rebound. Nicholas flips through the air and throws the ball so hard the RitCast defence’s hand is blown back when she tries to catch it and Nicholas scores, landing on the bottom of a ring and running right back up.

And he doesn't stop.

Not once, not when the teams switch out for reserve players because the front bench just can't keep going this long, not when InCore gets 300 points ahead of RitCast only to streak straight past.

Nicholas only stops to watch two RitCast strikers throw their balls at the same goal to end the game because he's laughing so hard he can't breathe, head thrown back, so exhausted he's lightheaded.

A normal school Loops game is made of seven rings and fourteen players, lasting forty minutes but this one lasted three whole hours because Nicholas refused to let it end.

RitCast ends the game, not because they’re ahead but because they give up. InCore wins by 580 points. Of the total 930 points, Nicholas scored 780 of them. Nicholas alone could have won the game and everyone here fucking knows it.

Nicholas is standing on the top of a ring, not upside down but on the outside of the Mobius strip, on top of the entire sphere of rotating rings as he throws out his arms, roars into the tall stands filled with audience on all levels and they scream back, damn near hysterical.

The audience is gripping the edge of the stands and surging back and forth, the seating towers are swaying from the force, they're chanting his name, screaming it, so loud the people still in the citadel can hear it.

Nicholas sits up on his throne, thirty meters in the air, basking in the roar of a worshipping crowd. Even the RitCast students are cheering for him because they can't stop themselves.

Fuck Lambros and fuck Haochen, this is Nicholas' citadel. These are his people, screaming his name because he fucking deserves it, shaking apart the stands in their manic energy.

And Nicholas wants more. He demands more. He is owed it.

"Come on!" Nicholas yells, his voice hoarse, not that anyone can possibly hear over the cheering. "Show me how much you love me!"

Margaret, the InCore captain, jogs up the outside of another Mobius strip spinning to meet Nicholas’ and leans in close to be heard over the screaming, a grin splitting her face. "I was going to wait but fuck it - congratulations on making team captain for next year!"

And Nicholas almost laughs himself off the rings.