Britteny stood on the balcony rigidly, staring down at the newcomers like a hawk hunting its prey. Kailee emerged from inside and noticed this immediately.
                "The hell are you doing?"
                "Whuh?" Britteny kept staring.
                Kailee waved her hands in front of Britteny's face rapidly, making her flinch. "You're fixed on them!"
                "Well, I can't help it!" Britteny exclaimed. "You know why they're here. You can't possibly tell me that you're just ignoring it."
                "What's to ignore?" Kailee asked. "They're just little newbies, that's all. Confused. Easily manipulated. Ready to explore-"
                "Wait," Britteny interrupted. "What was that last one?"
                "Confused?" Kailee said.
                "Oh. Never mind then."
                "Besides," Kailee continued. "The M.U.M. has no business with any of them. At least," she paused. "Not anymore, from what I've heard."
                "Heard from who?" Britteny turned to face her.
                "I don't know," Kailee replied.
                "You don't know?"
                "No."
                "How can you not-"
                "Girls!" Britteny and Kailee turned to see Neha standing in the half-open screen door. "What are you two doing, spying on everyone?"
                "I followed Britteny," Kailee said. "She's the one glaring."
                "Hey!" Britteny shouted. "I only want to know what the fuss is about! People are talking about these guys," she pointed over the balcony. "How do we know that these outsiders aren't going to bring trouble back to Bastiaen?"
                "Listen," Neha calmly strode towards the girl. "It is our duty as peaceful Talhaprosians to treat these new guests as our own." She smiled. "I'm sure as they begin to understand our customs and our lands you will feel more comfortable. Come!" she clapped. "Since we have the Beschützer Schatz in our possession, I figure a bit of sorting is in order."
                "You're gonna sort the newbies?" Kailee asked excitedly.
                "Yes, ma'am!" Neha answered happily. "You two interested in checking it out?"
                "I always like a good sorting," Britteny said. "But it might be interesting to see the Beschützer Schatz in action. Alright, I'll watch."
                "Same here!" Kailee said, jumpy. "Definitely!"
                "Great!" Neha exclaimed. "I've never actually sorted such a large bunch. Who knows? Perhaps I'll get a Cloud Grey out of them.
                Kailee rolled her eyes, "Good luck with that."
                Neha frowned, "We'll see, young lady. We'll see."

******************************************************************

                "Everyone!" The woman, Neha, appeared out of the large corridor doors in the front of the hall. Everyone turned to face her and listened, "If you could all follow me, I will lead you to our sorting machine."
                "Sorting machine?" Sarah mumbled aloud. "The hell are they sorting us for?"
                "I knew it," Manus said. "It's a human experiment. They're gonna place us in cryogenic boxes, and stuff our stomachs full of-"
                "Shut up, dammit," Paff hissed. "What are you, afraid of the government or something?"
                "Hey!" Manus exclaimed. "You don't get to judge me!"
                "I can judge whoever the hell I please," Paff shoved him.
                "People, calm down," Violet cut in, preventing Manus from retaliating. "Goddamn, show some self-control already. We all know that you both have problems! Now can we please get moving?"
                Neha cleared her throat loudly and repeated, louder, "If you could all follow me, please and thank you."
                Justin and Samus proceeded to walk towards the door, and Neha led them through. The others soon followed suit.
                Neha led them through a grand hallway, decorated with brilliant red and magenta carpets with golden accents. The walls were painted a vibrant shade of ocean blue, and decorated with paintings, photographs, and occasionally blank frames. Justin couldn't help but notice one painting of a woman in a torn, white dress sitting next to a young white dragon under a snowy forest. It was titled 'Ezra'.
                Soon, after more and more hallways, each decorated almost exactly the same, Neha brought them to a large trophy case in the middle of an empty room. No carpet lay on the floor; only a smooth, slate-colored tile pattern. The back wall was completely covered in frames which were primarily empty; no curtains and other fixtures hung. A bright, unlit crystalline chandelier proudly made itself noticed above. A set of grand stairs were set to the direct left of everyone, and the entire length of wall next to it was made of transparent glass that revealed the dark, cloudy sky.
                Neha brought out a large key from within a pocket in her shirt, and swiftly unlocked the case. Buried in between a large vase-like object and a sort of bronze necklace was a droplet-shaped glass object. Neha was careful to take it.
                She showed it to them, "This is our sorting machine." Suddenly, it began to glow a very eerie, yet intense grey. Everyone else stared at it in awe.
                "This," Neha started again. "Is the Beschützer Schatz."
                "The hell?" Paff mumbled.
                "Is that German?" Samus asked Neha.
                "Yes, as a matter of fact, it is," Neha nodded. "It's German for Protector's Treasure. Back a long-"
                "Protector's, as in, Protectors of Earth," Justin cut in. "Right?" Everyone turned to look at him.
                Neha looked at him with look of both astonishment and slight curiosity, like the look a child makes when he watches an adult fix a complicated machine. "Yes," she said lowly. "The Protectors."
                Justin nodded. "So what, exactly, does it do to sort us? And to what, exactly?"
                "Well," Neha started. "As you must already know from fairy tales and fantasy novels and what not, that there isn't just one scale color for dragons, correct?"
                "Clearly," Melody said.
                "How so?"
                "Well," Melody started shyly. "We've already seen, like, four different colors. I think it's safe to say that there are at least ten," she paused nervously. "Right?"
                "Actually, there are twenty-three," Neha said.
                "Twenty-three?" Samus repeated, astonished.
                "Yes, twenty-three."
                "So what other colors are there?" Manus asked.
                "Oh, there are plenty!" Neha exclaimed. "I mean, you can't expect there to be only solid colors right? I mean, there are six different shades of blue, four reds, two greens."
                "That makes sense and all," Justin crossed his arms. "But you didn't answer my question."
                Neha raised an eyebrow, "Not very patient, are you?"
                "Not at all."
                "I see."
                There was a long, awkward pause for a moment. Justin felt as if Neha was trying to read something, like there was something extremely interesting written inside his eyes that she found. He wondered what she was thinking about that she was so interested in all of a sudden.
                "Anyways," Samus broke the silence, realizing the awkwardness of Justin's position. "You were saying?"
                "Right," Neha shook her head, returning to reality. "Umm... well, I... Oh! Yes, the sorting. Well this thing," she held up the Beschützer Schatz to her face. "Many, many years ago this thing was created by the Protectors of Earth for a huge cache of Germans traveling to Talhaprös. It's used to sort individuals into their proper dragon families."
                "Dragon families?" Violet asked. "You mean colors?"
                "Yes," Neha nodded. "A dragon with a particular scale color belongs to that family. A family of Rubies, for example."
                "Ruby red?" Violet said. "Is that a color?"
                "Yes," Neha said again. "Colors are families, families are based off color."
                "That makes sense," Jasmine spoke for the first time in a while. "So that thingy there glows your color?"
                "Very good," Neha commended her. "Yes, it does. See how it glows grey in my hands? That's my dragon color, Cloud Grey."
                "Is that why you wear grey clothes?" Melody asked.
                "Yes," Neha answered. "It is necessary to wear the colors of your destined dragon, even if you don't have one. That is why we need you sorted."
                At the top of the staircase, Britteny and Kailee sat down, watching Neha talk to the crowd.
                "Any wages?" Kailee asked.
                "Nah," Britteny shook her head, still watching. "I have no cash. I'll do some friendlies, though."
                "Alright," Kailee said. "I say there's a Wheat in there."
                "Really?" Britteny raised an eyebrow. "That's rare."
                "Yup. It's just that something tells me someone there has something really rare; something exciting. What about you?"
                "I say that there are no Greys, no Whites, a Sapphire and a Rose," Britteny said.
                "Whoa, pretty specific," Kailee winced. "Although, I guess that's you."
                "Hey guys," a familiar voice sounded behind them.
                Kailee turned, "Hey, Aaron."
                The boy sat on the top step above them, "What's happening here?"
                "Neha's sorting the outsiders," Britteny told him. "We're guessing on what families they are."
                "Well I hope that there's a Ruby shoved in there," Aaron said, brushing off his own red jacket. "It'd be nice to have more around."
                "Well anyone can hope for their own family, dammit," Kailee hissed. "You don't see me hoping for Woods!"
                "There'll be a Woods," Britteny said, nodding. "Definitely."
                "Amethyst?" Aaron suggested.
                "Probably," Kailee agreed.
                Neha announced loudly, "Who first?"
                Jasmine put up her hand swiftly.
                "Alright," Neha strode up to her, and handed it to her. "Careful, it's easily breakable."
                Jasmine held it for a moment, and studied it. Almost immediately, the grey faded away, and was replaced with a dark, intense red.
                "Rose Whisperer," Neha told her.
                "The hell?" Paff mumbled.
                "Exotic," Sarah commented.
                "It isn't exotic!" Paff exclaimed. "What are you?"
                "I was right!" Britteny exclaimed on the stairs. "I knew there'd be one."
                "Not bad," Aaron said. "I would've preferred it a little lighter."
                Jasmine nodded proudly, "That fits me, I'd say. Does it mean anything?"
                "I'm no expert," Neha told her. "I wouldn't be able to tell you everything. I'm sure you'll find someone that-"
                "Me next," Paff blurted. Jasmine turned and lightly tossed the object to her.
                "Hey, whoa!" Neha exclaimed harshly. "Don't throw it around!"
                Paff held it deep in her palm, and tapped her foot impatiently. Soon the red began to darken and lower in intensity until it was nothing but darkness. The Schatz became completely black and it seemed to absorb all the light around it, like a strange aura.
                "Dark Knight," Aaron said from above.
                "There's always one," Kailee shook her head. "You've got to admit, though, that that girl is a perfect Dark Knight."
                "She'll be a perfect bitch," Britteny smirked.
                Paff turned to the half-asleep Geoffrey, and said "Yo! You're up, man." She tossed the Schatz into his stiff arms.
                "Dammit!" Neha yelled. "Careful!"
                "They're totally gonna break it," Aaron said.
                Geoffrey stared lazily into the glass Schatz until the dark aura faded, and lightened back up to its usual intensity, and the black became a delicious-looking orange color.
                "Orange Master," Neha said.
                "Oh, man!" Britteny exclaimed. "I didn't even think of Orange!"
                "Not a very common one," Aaron said.
                "Pity," Kailee frowned. "It's a lovely color, really. Once you get used to it."
                "Orange?" Geoffrey said a little disappointed. "Really?"
                "What?" Neha asked. "You'd prefer something else? Orange is a great color! They used to be so plentiful, but now they've just stopped showing up."
                "Really?" Justin said. "That's weird."
                "You'd be surprised," Neha told him.
                "Would I?"
                "I'll go next," Melody said. "I really want to know now. It's so exciting!" Geoffrey tossed it to her, sparking more shouts from Neha. After a moment of sitting gently in Melody's hands, the bright orange dissolved and became a dark shade of green.
                "That's Woods," Neha told her. "Like the green on a pine tree... see?"
                "Yeah," Melody nodded. "That's cool."
                "Oh!" Kailee grinned. "Another Woods!"
                "I told you there'd be one," Britteny patted her on the back. "Another Woods for you to hang with, maybe?"
                "Maybe," Kailee said.
                Melody looked at Yvon, "You next?"
                "Sure, I'll go," he took it. As he waited for the natural green to subside he flipped the object skillfully in his hand.
                "What are you doing?" Paff questioned. "Get on with it!"
                "Shut up!" Yvon hissed. "Goddamn! It's not that hard." Then, the Schatz burst out brightly in a vibrant red different than before.
                "Yes!" Aaron cheered lowly above. "A Ruby."
                "Well I should've seen that coming," Kailee said. "Rubies are pretty common."
                "I know," Aaron relaxed. "But for a second there I thought there wouldn't be one.
                Neha clapped, "Ruby for you, my good sir."
                "Ruby red," Yvon nodded proudly. "Wouldn't I look sweet wearing that, eh?"
                "Oh, get over yourself," Paff said angrily.
                "You're just jealous," Yvon rebottled.
                "Okay," Sarah jumped in. "Shut up, and let me try now."
                Justin laughed, "You two are always on each other, aren't you?"
                "This doesn't involve you!" Paff yelled; Justin laughed some more.
                "Hey, look," Melody pointed at the Schatz in Sarah's hands. The vibrant red that Yvon had left slowly dimmed in intensity but lightened back into the familiar orange.
                "Two oranges?" Aaron asked aloud. "That's extremely unlikely!"
                "Is that good?" Britteny asked.
                "Well it's not bad," Kailee answered.
                "Another Orange," Neha told the group. "That's certainly interesting."
                "Yo man," Geoffrey said to Sarah. "You and me for the win!"
                "No doubt!" Sarah exclaimed. The two proceeded to go through a series of complicated hand shakes.
                Violet took this chance to snatch away the glowing treasure from Sarah's clutches and hold it for herself.
                "What's it gonna be?" Samus asked excitedly. Justin chuckled.
                The Schatz began to lighten slowly. Jasmine blurted, "It's grey!"
                "I wish," Neha said.
                Soon, the lightening became rapid and the brightness increased exponentially until only white light remained.
                "Snow White," Neha told her. "A good one."
                "There you go!" Justin said to Violet. "Perfect for you!"
                "I love snow!" Violet exclaimed.
                "Britteny, you got owned!" Kailee punched her shoulder. "You said there'd be no Whites!"
                "Damn," Britteny cursed. "I called that all wrong."
                Aaron nodded, "Well its kinda all there, right? The basics."
                "Well there's no Sapphires yet," Britteny corrected. "And there's only three left."
                "Wait, she's giving it to that emo kid," Kailee hushed her.
                Violet handed the Schatz over to Manus, who held it closely, and he closed his eyes. Immediately, the white began to change into a light, but dull pink. Justin couldn't help but laugh.
                "Glorified Pink!" Neha exclaimed. Justin laughed harder, and so did Yvon. "Hey, Pinks are a real family. The Princess of all Dragon Masters is a Pink!"
                "Yeah, but," Justin said, gasping. "She's a girl!"
                Neha rolled her eyes. Manus simply grinned in satisfaction.
                "What?" Paff started. "You like having a girly color?"
                "It perfectly suits my lifestyle choices," Manus said calmly. "My perfect attention to detail, my psychological insight, and my-"
                "I'm sorry," Paff interrupted. "I'll have to stop you. I don't speak shit."
                Manus simply rolled his eyes, and then tossed the Schatz towards Samus, who was signaling that she wanted it next.
                "FOR GOD'S SAKE!" Neha yelled. "DON'T THROW IT!"
                "I think having a Pink is good," Britteny commented. "It adds a little diversity in their... uhh... close little group there."
                "Good call," Kailee said. "Who's next?"
                "Blondey," Aaron answered.
                "You're blonde," Britteny reminded him.
                "So?" Aaron asked. "Does that mean I can't rip on them?"
                Samus squeezed on the Schatz somewhat, hoping to cover it completely so as to make it change faster. Justin looked closely over her shoulder; she met his eye excitedly and held the object up. Soon, the pink rays coming from within it darkened slightly, and effervescence dimmed down until all that was left was a dark, but powerful purple glow.
                “What’s this?” Justin asked Neha.
                “Amethyst,” Neha answered. “A strong family.”
                “Sweet,” Samus said.
                “See, I told you, right?” Kailee said to Aaron. “An Amethyst got in there.”
                “I should’ve figured,” Britteny mumbled.
                “Yeah,” Aaron said a little coldly. “You should’ve, idiot!”
                “Alright, last one,” Neha announced. “It’s all you, big guy.”
                Justin nodded excitedly. He couldn’t help but feel a little anxious about it; nobody else was like this, but he was ecstatic. A million possibilities ran through his head. At first he wished it to be blue, then green, then purple like Samus.
                Despite his jumpiness, he calmly took the object out of Samus’ hand.
                Samus and Violet proceeded to playfully psyche him up for the revelation. Justin laughed with them, and then looked down into the Schatz. The purple light faded away, but something was wrong.
                No color replaced it. It was just blank; a droplet-shaped piece of glass in his hand. He looked up to his friends, who simply continued laughing and talking. Justin dropped his smile and stared blankly into the object. As he did, he felt the air around him get colder; he looked up again, to see everything around him start to distort in an odd way. It looked as if time had begun to freeze.
                Justin looked one last time into the Schatz, confused and afraid that something terrible was happening. He looked deep into it, knowing somehow that that was the answer. He closed his eyes.
                The next thing he knew, the right side of his face was flat on something wet, rough and extremely cold. He realized after a moment that he was laying down, that somehow he ended up on his belly without any falling sensation.
                As his eyes remained closed, many possibilities ran through his mind. He thought that perhaps he was dreaming. Perhaps the entire thing was a dream; dragons, magic, Talhaprös… all a dream?
                When he opened his eyes, a rush of feelings coursed through him. He suddenly felt excruciatingly fatigued, as if he had just fought a raging war alone. He was upset by something, but he didn’t know what, and it was weighing him down. It took him a moment to work up the strength to just lift himself off what appeared to be concrete.
                A crash of thunder roared nearby as Justin lifted himself off of what he now saw was a road. He looked around, and realized he was in the middle of an intersection; the traffic lights were blinking red at a continual pattern. Justin read the street names.
                Twenty-Third Street, and Thirty-Second Avenue.
                The sun peered just for a moment out from behind a large, grey cloud. Justin shaded his eyes from the overwhelming light with his left sleeve, which made him realize he wasn’t wearing his normal clothing.
                He was wearing jeans, like he always does, but not a pair he recognized. He noticed he was wearing a strange, light grey overcoat that hung to his ankles, and a matching t-shirt underneath. His right sleeve had been clearly cut above the elbow, and it was when he noticed that that he saw a huge, fresh scar on both sides of his forearm. Justin knew that he must’ve been stabbed through the arm to get a scar like that.
                Just then, he turned and realized that he wasn’t alone in the intersection. Three other people, two young women and a young man stood there.
                The girl closest to him was nodding slightly, and was looking at Justin proudly, as if he had just accomplished something. She was blonde, but had all kinds of different dyes in her hair. She wore a dark grey jacket overtop a white tank top, but wore a skirt that matched the jacket.
                The boy stood directly in front of Justin. He wore very fantastic, royal-looking clothes. He had his long, blonde hair in a neat ponytail behind his head that showed off his face. Justin couldn’t help but notice gold tattoos on the boys face, depicting a large dragon whose head stretched around the boy’s left eye. He wore fancy red and gold clothes with a matching golden cape. He was fit to be a king.
                The other girl was to Justin’s left. She had jet black hair and dark skin that showed her clear East Indian heritage. Her bronze colored dress was worn in a way that also spoke her heritage clearly. She wore many fancy bracelets around her right arm, and wore a fancy, exotic necklace with a large, bronze insignia hanging from it.
                Justin felt a strange feeling when looking at these people. It was like, that mystery feeling you get from meeting a stranger was gone. He felt perfectly comfortable with these people, but yet he was aware that he didn’t know them. He wondered who they were, even though he was filled with the sense that he already knew.
                Suddenly, he felt compelled to look around. An urge to take another look at his surroundings; he stared upwards, at a building towering above them. It was tall, reddish brown in color and had a roof in the shape of a gold pyramid.
                He heard his name.
                He looked swiftly to the left. As if from out of thin air, many other people seemingly around his age stood on the road, and on the sidewalks. He made a passing glance at everyone; each person wore a different color. Black, red, purple, black again, brown, yellow. He realized he had seen the young woman in yellow before, at Talhaprös castle. She stood in between a blonde boy in red, and an African-American girl wearing a brown skirt.
                His name was called again.
                Justin turned completely to the right, looking for who called the name. More people crowded the area again. He scanned each an every one of them. He saw two people making out behind the pillar of a building, a girl in a pink dress crying, and a lone girl wearing a wheat-like dress standing alone on a staircase. He also recognized Paff and Yvon standing together behind another pillar, wearing the colors that they had been sorted into just minutes prior. Justin also thought he saw Sora, sitting quietly on a bench, wearing a blue jacket and jeans. He thought about calling her over-
                Justin heard his name once more through his thoughts, behind him. He turned and saw who it was.
                Violet was wearing a long, slender white dress. She was calling for him, but she was being held back by someone Justin had never seen. He was a tall young man, wearing a light green overcoat almost the same style as Justin’s silver one. Violet turned, and forced the man to unhand her, and she ran towards Justin.
                When she reached him, she grabbed his right hand, and looked at him in the eyes. The look she gave him reached into his very soul; it was one of both relief and sorrow. Justin could not comprehend what would make Violet seem so conflicted, so uneasy. He stared down at her, and she closed her eyes and started to back away. Justin truly wanted to go back to her, but he couldn’t; he knew it.
                All the people around started to move away from him, but he didn’t take notice. He didn’t care. All he wanted was to know what happened, and why, but he felt as if everything was taken care of. That everything was going to be okay, and all his problems have melted away into nothingness. Everything was fine.
                He had succeeded.
                “What color is it?” Violet’s voice was warm and happy.
                “Are you gonna look, or what?” Paff asked grumpily. “I want to go to bed.”
                “You’re the laziest girl on Earth, you know that?” Yvon told her.
                “Yeah, well you’re the shittiest guy on Earth,” Paff retorted.
                Justin opened his eyes. He realized that he was back in that empty room, surrounded by Samus and Violet and everyone else. He looked at Neha, who stood in front of him, staring at the Schatz, held tightly in his grip.
                Samus eyed Justin suspiciously, “Are you alright, man?”
                Justin didn’t look at her. He simply muttered, “Yeah… yeah, I’ll be alright.”
                “It’s taking forever,” Geoffrey commented. “How do we know he doesn’t have a color at all?”
                “Everyone has a color, moron,” Paff said.
                “Are you sure?” Geoffrey asked. “How do you even know?”
                “Wait!” Jasmine exclaimed. “Something’s coming!”
                Justin held the Schatz low as a light began to appear. At first it was white, but then it darkened slightly, and its brightness diminished to make it greyer. But it wasn’t just a simple grey; it was a wispy grey, unlike any of the other colors the Schatz produced.
                Justin’s pulse was fast and strong, causing him to breathe a little deeper. The eerie glow of the Schatz stayed consistent, and the color was revealed.
                Aaron couldn’t help but stand up in awe, “That’s impossible!”
                Britteny turned to Kailee with a very pale face, “Are you seeing this?”
                “Am I?” was all Kailee could say. “That’s…” she gulped. “Definitely… rare…”
                Justin kept staring at the Schatz, questions jabbing at him from seemingly all directions. The silver lengths stretched up and touched his face. A few sounds of curiosity came from the crowd of newly-sorted teens. When Justin finally looked up from the glowing object, he looked at Neha, her formerly bright face now flushed with what seemed like fear.
                Samus asked aloud, “Grey? Is it grey?”
                “What a weird glow,” Jasmine commented. “That’s normal, right?”
                Neha could only say, “It’s not grey, and it’s not normal.” Everyone went silent; even the three on the staircase above. “I want you all to go upstairs and find a Mr. Aries. He will show you to fitting. Please, give me the Schatz, and hurry.”
                At first, nobody moved, but Paff angrily broke the awkwardness by abruptly turning and leaving through the corridor they arrived in. Jasmine followed; then Geoffrey, and then everyone else.
                Justin, however, stood still for a moment. He handed the Schatz shakily back to Neha, and the wisps subsided and darkened to a more natural grey tone. Without saying a word, Neha placed the Schatz back into the trophy case, locked it, and walked out of the room via the staircase, shooing Aaron, Britteny and Kailee away as she did.
                Justin pondered everything he saw one last time before exiting and catching up with his friends.