Paladin's Path

The room he was left in was cold and clinical, a stark contrast to the chaos swirling around his mind. He had slept only a few hours before getting up and warming himself up with numerous simple exercise drills before sitting down on a plain chair, stiff-backed and tense, earlier bravado draining away as the seconds ticked by.

He couldn't help but notice how plain the walls in this spare room were, he hated it. They made him feel small and insignificant.

Corbin's hands were balled into fists, knuckles white from pressure. He kept his head down, staring at the floor trying to prepare himself.

The door creaked open and he didn't even have to look up to notice who it was, the scent of perfume was sharp on his nose and for some reason he still is not clued on it reminded him of the colour purple.

The sharp click of heels was unforgettable, in the same cadence he had always heard leaving their home to catch a flight for another tour or business trip meanwhile leaving him with some carer, this time the clacks were coming in his direction but it was for one of the only reasons he had ever even received any attention from the woman he knew as his mother.

Valerie Monet entered the room with the grace and poise of someone used to commanding attention even in the most mundane settings. She was dressed impeccably in a tailored black coat, her dark sunglasses hiding her eyes that Corbin knew all too well-cold, calculating, and seemed to loose whatever warmth they had once had.

Her presence sucked all air out of the room, leaving Corbin feeling like he was suffocating. She didn't sit down. Instead, she stood a few feet away from her son closer to the door surveying her son as if he were just another inconvenience.

"The sight of you." Her words grated his ears and he wanted so badly for her to be done with it sign the papers she needed to physically sign and leave!

"You know what you're here for right?"

"Of course my dear arrogant son, I know what I'm here for but do you? cause I certainly wasn't expecting to get a call from here in just your second week speaking on your bad behaviour."

It was funny to Corbin how she could so easily call out his arrogance when she was the same, sometimes it was just a lot more subtle and hidden behind big words that people she was speaking to wouldn't understand.

"This has got to be a record Corbin. And for fighting, how surprising. Why is it always the same with you? Why are you like this?"

There it was, he was expecting it and maybe he was self-aware enough to say that he slightly deserved it.

But does she know who it was I got in trouble fighting with? Corbin had hoped not.

"It was a training drill that they said I took too far that's it." Corbin shrugged his shoulders in defiance and kept his head down not looking up at his mother which was a mistake, he seen the heels march their ways toward him in quick succession before a harsh slap sent his head to the side.

"Look at me when speaking!" His mother spoke harshly while keeping a firm grip on her son's chin.

She fought against him pushing his head against her hand not daring to raise his hand to his own mother no matter how much he hated her.

She seemed to be looking for something before she patted some of his hair away from his ear, Corbin knew that she was glad he had kept it long enough to cover the entrance of his ears to hide the disability that she couldn't believe her son was born with.

"Your hearing aids are clearly still in so make sure you are listening clearly Corbin because I seriously do not want to be back here for nonsense..."

"...And I don't even want you back here..." Corbin whispered which earned him another slap across the cheek albeit much softer than the initial one he had received.

"I don't really care that you want to become a paladin but that doesn't mean that you don't carry the family name just because you are away from home."

This shit again!

"It doesn't matter how many times you succeed Corbin, you can't keep climbing forever, you're eventually going to fall."

Corbin heard her repeat that many times before in his past, whenever he thought she would be happy with the best grade in the class over and over again or do the best at sports he played or the classes he was forced to be in to control his damn power so he didn't activate it on accident...

But he could never rack his brain to come up with an answer that she would be alright with, 'Would you watch on in satisfaction?' 'Will you watch while eating snacks like your at the movies?' 'Would that please you?' 'Would you love me if I fall?' 'Would you forgive me for failing?'

"Whatever..." and he would always answer with a short and almost silent reply that at least told her she didn't need to take him to get a replacement pair or hearing aids.

Corbin would never bring whatever he was doing to his mother because he knew that she at the very least expected him to succeed.

'Yeah, and maybe that's why she doesn't care for how well I do in everything even now.'

Corbin understood that he was blessed in many ways, he was born to a financially well off family, could get anything he could want, and he wasn't stuck with any damn siblings older or younger that would meekly point out how bad he his at getting along with any other human leading his mother to view him as some monster of the week whenever she came back from a long trip.

But even he had to put in work at some stages of his life. Like when he broke his right arm and couldn't use his dominant hand to finish some written assignment that was part of his final grade only last year.

Corbin spent a long two weeks sat by his desk all day practicing to write with his left arm, not just a subpar understandable writing was enough for him, he kept going until he could do things with his left hand as well as his right, scrolling the internet for any tips or guidance for getting better at using your less dominant hand just so he could avoid a bad grade for his mother to spot out and ridicule him for.

He watched the woman he calls his mother go over to the desk and start signing away at the papers left in the room as he had to sign them as well earlier.

Purely to test out if the school was silly enough to leave him with the papers telling him he may be too dangerous for his classmates, Corbin when he first got a hold of them and was left alone he tried ripping them up only for them to stretch out further before going back to normal size.

"Hmmm." she read over the papers and there was some intrigue that Corbin could read from her face. Meaning that whatever the initial letter the school gave her either did not detail who it was he got in trouble fighting or she gave it to some assistant of hers to read.

"Lugh O'Hara...?"

Damnit. Corbin was hoping she would skip past it not remembering the name but how could she not when Corbin got in trouble multiple times dragging her to his previous schools where the name was mentioned many a time.

"What a small world we live in isn't that right Corbin?" she smirked only placing a short glance toward him before she went back to signing where she needed to sign.

She spoke briefly about the Reg Tag and then hammered into him one more time about how thin the line he is on is now.

"It's like they're already telling you that you'll be a blight. Hopefully this counsellor can put some sense into you since nothing I've done seems to work."

He scoffed at the memory and scratched the back of his head before it went up into his head.

Corbin wanted to slam his head against something again. He didn't know why but having to speak to a counsellor just didn't make him feel good.

The bravado from earlier didn't matter, he didn't want to deal with this. He's got the short end of the stick for the first time of his life and it feels terrible.

And his mother still had more to say... When the hell is someone going to collect the damn witch.

"You won't be able to get away with being an asshole forever. Just make sure you don't go out into the world like that now."

Finally a knock on the door was heard before someone had decided to come in. It wasn't someone Corbin was expecting. Long brown hair tied in a high ponytail this time instead of braided into a bun was seen from the teacher he remembers from his first training trial.

Ms. Wilson.

"I hope I am not interrupting anything?" she still spoke in a monotonous robotic voice that was unsettling to Corbin but it seemed the witch invited to the school didn't seem to find much fault unless she was just hiding it, he couldn't tell with his mother.

Corbin decided to answer before his mother could speak.

"Nah we're done here already. Now get rid of this witch and let me be I got studying to do." His mother didn't say anything back as a rebuttal, she couldn't and didn't care enough to.

"Yes we are finished here. I would like to return now and thank you for contacting me." Her tone of voice was completely different, still held her confidence but Corbin expected that.

He was not permitted to go back to his dorm room since he was suspended from interacting with them until now anyway. He still of course couldn't speak to Lugh but that was for obvious reasons and he didn't plan on doing so anyway.

Corbin watched on as his mother slowly walked out of the room with Ms. Wilson. His face softened as he looked like he was still searching for something that was so long lost. Turning around as the door closed Corbin went back to bed.

____________

"We could just have Ms. Wilson list out the most optimal three man teams." Bruno Hayes the ever strict man who upheld his own personal values and routines with the utmost efficacy spoke directly to Juniper Fay who was sat behind her desk slumped in her chair with her feet on the desk.

After some hounding from some of the other teachers she believed that having Corbin on the same team as Lugh may not resolve whatever unsolved issues they have so she said she would think it over which appeased many of the staff.

"Robyn has analysed the powerset of the students already so she can come up with the best teams along with who their instructors can be." Bruno spoke in a much more casual tone which was appreciated from Juniper she had enough of the worried or judging tone from Caleb.

"True but it wouldn't just be one or two variations she would come up with, it would probably be multiple with so many different reasons we don't need to go over." Juniper knows that Robyn's ability could still break even that down even further. "Also I've got a few ideas for the teams anyway."

"Which hopefully excludes that rabid dog and the timid little rabbit from being on the same team."

Juniper snorted which turned into a gleeful chuckle at the comparison at the two students that Bruno was mentioning.

"I already agreed to not place them together."

"Good, and isn't Carmen supposed to be here?" Aggression made its way through his professional attitude.

Juniper looked at the time. It was 8:42 and Carmen had agreed to show up by half since she was running late after a mission she was taking.

"You're right I almost forgot. Its fine, she'll be here soon."

Bruno brushed his hands together before resting his elbows on the arms of his chair placing his chin now on his knuckles.

"She's been on board with us for almost eight months now and as soon as she got comfortable, which mind you was literally a week she has been coming to meetings at whatever time she feels like." Bruno knew he wasn't solely speaking for himself here, he knew if more members of the team were in the room they may also voice their opinion.

"Yeah but she still knows what she's doing plus she's had a hard time recently you know." Juniper jumped to her absent colleagues defence.

"Same excuse as always, its unfortunate what she has went through but many have similar sob stories and choose to straighten out." Bruno regretted that, he shouldn't have said that because it was stupid and nonsensical.

And Juniper Fay didn't play fair, she noticed his internal dilemma even though his face had barely shown any emotion.

"But people process and go through things in completely different ways Bruno, you know this." Juniper was smiling and waving her finger pointedly in a mock expression of a teacher in a classroom.

Bruno rested his head back and sighed deeply. He continued to stay quiet knowing he wouldn't get anywhere when it came to the reprimanding of jarring habits, habits were all they were in the end of the day. Habits that even though slightly annoying helped others get through their own issues.

"Oh yeah..." Bruno's head slowly came back to position to listen... "... That intruder the other day did actually get in through teleportation, he got out the same way too."

Bruno was not impressed. "Wasn't that what everyone was speculating anyway?"

Juniper smiled and stuck her tongue out. "Yeah but the silence was getting too awkward." She waved her hand at him and continued on. "They found traces of Od where they believe they teleported in from near that one neighbourhood closest to the shopping district."

Traces of Od could be spotted to help one find clues of who may have been in certain areas as well as how long ago they were there, those who could finely control their Od though could move properly without leaving traces.

"...So a newly awakened then?" Bruno was somewhat surprised because from the video footage as well as the accounts from both Ms. Wilson and Mr. Adams made it seem like Charlie Liber was incredibly skilled but then again awakening an Ego tool is very different from awakening a general power.

Plus having a teleporter on hand is always going to be useful, they're rare maybe as much as healers are.

"We thought so." Juniper answered. "But we've checked the records from the past three to even seven years and could find no spatial abilities that would put said person on our radar. None in the country anyway."

That didn't sound right. True it was hard to just get newly awakened people to just register themselves on the BPA's website but that didn't mean they actually went unnoticed, they were just allowed to play under the allure of flying under the radar.

"And what about Charlie Liber?" Bruno asked with more intrigue almost forgetting the missing person that should be there. "There still nothing on him." Bruno remembers the still frames of the blue haired man. He was still young for sure, if he had to guess then Charlie Liber was the age of a new graduate maybe a year older so he was expecting more information to be found about him.

"Yes there was enough info to say that he was a person that existed at least. But that was almost eight years ago." Bruno raised his eyes at that. "He got sent to a behavioural modification program when he was eight and then just disappeared off the radar."

"I find that hard to believe, what about parents, did they not have anything to say about their missing boy?"

The answer that came only brought forth more questions than answers.

"They were found dead in their home two years later so nope."

Questions were swirling in motion in Bruno's mind which brought him to a realization a realization that seemed to bounce off his mind into Juniper's.

"Something catastrophic is being hidden!"

The door rattled open which nearly even caught the ever casual Bruno off guard. Coming through the door was the ditzy girl that Bruno believed should be taken for a very thorough psych evaluation.

Carmen Ford came in with a very big eyed expression...

"Hey guy's did I miss anything important?"

____________________

The start of a new week usually brings on a low mood for many people, students and workers alike, Theon was certainly not excluded from this equation no matter how strange he was.

Classes just went on and on but they did seem more quiet than usual.

Reason obviously pointing to the fact that Corbin was missing, suspended we were all told. Even though he only spoke clear and concise points a majority of the time he still carried some loud energy that when missing was noticed within the atmosphere of the classes.

Lugh was also missing, still in the hospital but stuck in bed from exhaustion, visits were permitted from classmates and some did say they would go, Theon remembers being asked by Robin and Ava if he would go which he declined.

"Why'd you not go visit that guy?" Jon asked, right now both he and Theon were walking through the shopping district for the students and noticed some of the older students and some older figures that were probably just other fully qualified paladins.

"Same reason as you probably, I don't really know the guy."

"Yeah but that made me question why the girls decided to go check in on him." Theon could only make a formulative guess but truly he didn't know why or care for why they decided to visit Lugh.

"Well Robin's kind of looked at as some class leader so there's probably some kind of obligation there, she just went to ask around the class as some form of curtsey or something like that."

Jon nodded his head and continued looking around the area and pointed out to something or rather someone ducking into a shop that sold posters and other stationary things, but posters looked to be the main attraction.

It was Bell, her striking silver hair was hard to miss as she bounced with each step into the store.

"You ever wonder what she ever gets up to when not in class? she usually doesn't have the time of day for anyone."

Honest answer for Theon was... "Nope."

"Well I kind of do..."

Theon gave him an odd stare which made Jon pause briefly before he corrected himself.

"Its just force of habit to know the environment and people I'm dealing with you know, past experiences that are hard to get rid of."

Made sense but Jon's quick turn to the other way to avert his face from Theon made him think there was something more. Jon started walking off anyway with Theon following.

As they entered the store there was a scent that reminded Theon of blank papers that can be found in a printer or even a new pack bought and ripped open.

Theon couldn't see Bell but wasn't really concerned with that and instead walked to another section in the store that had a plentiful amount of posters with Jon following his back this time.

Everything was anime themed. Theon indulged in the medium quite frequently, he didn't have many hobbies only two came to his mind if someone were to ask what they were and he never really thought that "Watching anime" was an answer.

Art was the other one. He liked to draw and had sketchbooks filled to the brim back in his apartment where he lives, he couldn't pinpoint exactly why he likes it so much but there was a calming feeling he received from it.

"You into this stuff?" Jon asked with intrigue and some slight disinterest.

"Yeah a bit actually." The poster they were looking at now was of a main character who was ostracized in his village until he was eventually loved by everyone for saving the village that once hated him.

Even Jon knew of it, he had some bad things to say about it but Theon ignored it and grabbed one of the posters, one with a picture of the main character of the story with half his form coloured in his golden orange form.

Theon looked around some more looking at what the shop had to offer and grabbed some miniscule stuff like pens and a sketchbook as well as a miniature sculpture of an elephant that he felt like having.

After quickly paying he noticed that Jon hadn't gotten anything.

"You not getting anything?"

"Nope, I'm still surviving on emergency funds. Waiting for the pay check from missions that we should be getting."

Theon almost forgot about that, he usually received a monthly allowance from Victor that he rarely spends so he forgot about the mission pay-outs they would receive.

*Maybe that's why there haven't been more of out classmates out here for anything but bare essentials then.*

"Get whatever you want I don't mind paying."

Jon was still at Theon's back so he was just waiting for an answer that never came forcing him to look back to see his friend paralysed staring at his phone with a stupefied look on his face.

Theon felt something in his heart jump when Jon looked up at him with a deadly gaze which then turned soft and apologetic as he took in his surroundings again.

"What's wrong?" Theon whispered quietly so nobody could overhear them. Jon didn't answer right away and instead walked past Theon and whispered "Follow."

Theon wasn't one to get surprised easily and he had already came up with the only reason that Jon could be acting like this. A reason for a conversation he was avoiding not wanting to feel what he had felt or reminisce on a past all to similar again.

Once they got to a place outside that was away from any monitoring devices and were backed up to a wall Jon brought out his phone to show the message he had just received.

There was a video under text that said [I know your past Jon Sinclair.]

The text was anonymous as there was no number attached to it, Jon then clicked on the audio file attached to the text.

And what was heard even surprised Theon. It was his voice asking Jon if he were an assassin? It was of Jon's voice confirming and telling him that he had killed people and listening back to it you could clearly hear the broken tone of Jon's voice.

Theon's jaw dropped, *How did I not notice someone not only listening to our conversation but also recording.*

His ignorance is what led to this situation that's what Theon was left to believe, someone as capable as himself shouldn't be making mistakes like this.

"This is bad!" understatement but Theon couldn't think of anything else to say.

"No shit." Jon turned off his phone and squeezed it in his hand with so much force that Theon thought it would break, if it weren't issued from the school and were a normal one he was certain that it would have folded under the pressure.

Jon spoke again this time more controlled instead of the growing panic that Theon was noticing.

"That's a mistake on my part. Sorry Theon." Theon raised an eyebrow at that confused why he would be apologizing to him. "You should go to the overseer and tell her first before whoever this bastard is does and gets us both expelled."

Theon tilted his head, that was certainly not what he was going to do.

"No." Jon looked to him looking ready to drag him to Juniper Fay herself. "Whoever this person is wouldn't let that happen, better or us to play their game until they leave an opening for us to figure them out and silence them."

"Do you hear what you're saying?"

"I'm not saying we kill them or anything, but we can at least find out why they're doing this and see if we can compromise."

"You'll only get yourself in more trouble when you can take the chance to get out of it now."

Theon shrugged his shoulders and sighed as they dropped.

"How can you even stay so calm during this situation?" Jon asked after relenting thinking that his new friend would coolly not change his stance on this.

Theon averted his gaze from Jon and looked up at the sky that was growing dimmer with the changing season.

'Detachment.'

It helped, he would be the first to admit that, it helped him to not feel as surprised or disappointed from the apathy that was so common in so many people.

Theon, in his weariness, found himself numb to his existence. He attempted to display more emotion, to suppress his self-awareness, but ultimately, numbness served as a shield to his dreary and pitiful life.