Keats' outburst caused a hulking middle aged man to storm out of his office, directly across from Leon's. By the looks of it, he was none to happy with the loud rap of the boy's fist against the counter. This was
Officer Ashley "Breaker" Hinderson, though no one dared make fun of the behemoth of a man's first name. His alias didn't come from his large stature or his immense strength, it came from the fact that he could literally break one's bones with a mere thought. Osteokinesis, some might call it. He functioned as the leading Officer on campus and dealt with the crimes that were otherwise too senstive for the Wardens.
"You use the bell, not your fist when you come into my building." he seethed toward Keats in an ominous tone. Jay, who was supposedly the only Warden in sight, seemed completely terrified of Officer Hinderson.
Leon hurried out of his office when he heard the commotion outside, and at the sight of Lucas Farweight and Samuel Keats, he could only shake his head and sigh. Not even a minute in, and one of them was already causing problems, as if they didn't realize they were in the central hub for all of the Security Officers on campus, not just the Warden's domain. He had hoped this would be a civil affair, but this seemed like a lost cause already. No doubt they'd be more inclined to fight him then to listen and accept the responsibility for their actions. Such was the mentality of youth, he supposed.
"Mr. Farweight. Mr. Keats. In my office." he calmly spoke before retreating back to his desk. Officer Hinderson followed him in.
"This is the vandalism case, isn't it?" the giant asked his underling. The Warden gave a nod in reply.
"I'll be monitoring the situation then. I don't like the idea of leaving them alone with you." With that, Breaker leaned up against the wall, coldly watching the duo of miscreants with his beady eyes. Leon wasn't going to argue with him, even though he hadn't been alone in the first place. There was at least one other Warden in the office, unseen as he was.
Lucas had come in right after Keats. The kid had a literal skip in his steps, flaunting and spinning his phone. He loved doing that at the Wardens’ office. The amount of proof, plans and other things it held could be enough to give him detention for the rest of the year. But they couldn’t take his phone away. So right now it was as if he was holding a treasure map in front of their eyes telling them they can’t ever see it. The fact that the kid had a skip in his steps could only mean he was up to no good or did something bad and was far too happy about it. With a theatrical flair he lightly tapped the bell and beamed a smile.
“Lucas Farweight, checking in!” The wardens were a joke to him. A bunch of vigilantes that were somehow allowed to work close with security.
Unlike Keats, Lucas looked far more willing to keep it civil. The wardens might be some justice idiots to Lucas, they had a semblance of authority he preferred to abide to. For now. His ears perched up when he heard the word ‘vandalism’. He could only think of one thing: the room raiding. How did they catch him? There were no people in the hallway. Keats and he made sure to look. Suddenly far less at ease and far tenser, Lucas entered Leon’s office and threw himself in the nearby chair. Sitting like he was a bag of potatoes. Still smiling confident.
“So yeah. What’s this all about?”Keats at least looked a little more subdued after Officer Hinderson had started prowling around. His face still betrayed open hostility, but it at least seemed as though he’d have the sense not to try and hurt anyone while the officer was around. Hey, he wasn’t exactly happy about this meeting, but that didn’t make him a complete moron. It was obvious that he didn’t respect Leon, though, as he swaggered into the office like he owned the place. His expression was that of someone who knew he’d done something wrong, and didn’t give a rat’s ass what anyone had to say about it.
To his credit, he managed to keep that particular shit-eating grin on his face even when he heard the officer's mention of vandalism, although his eyes showed a brief flash of worry. All of a sudden, he was a lot less confident that he could play it off. He sat himself down in the chair, stretching and leaning back as much as he dared with Hinderson present, and spoke.
"Seriously, why’re we here anyways? Because whatever it is, I plead the fifth.”Leon rubbed his hands together, glaring at the two boys as if he had caught quite a haul. They apparently had no idea what they were being brought in for, or at least they were trying very hard to feign ignorance over the issue.
"Oh, I’m sure you two know exactly what happened last week. Vandalism, breaking and entering… I’m not sure what drugs you guys were on, but damn, did you raise some hell while I was gone.” he exclaimed to them. He felt a little unprofessional without the shirt he’d given Gianna, but nonetheless he had to make due until he could change. Behind him, the surveillance monitors flashed, and he gestured toward them, knowing they’d infer they had footage of their little adventure.
”I guess you guys didn’t care to look for cameras while you were raiding the building. Caused a bit of mayhem with a high price tag.” He swiveled his chair to face the monitors and several of the screens began playing a variety of scenes, starting with where they broke into Eliana’s room.
"You two are up shit creek without a paddle. In fact, the Headmasters are very seriously considering expelling the two of you. I, personally, think that’s a bit harsh, considering you two are still getting adjusted to life here at Mayweather.” Lucas looked at the images with a focus one would not expect from someone who was on the tapes. He didn’t really look for what he did or did not do. He looked for the angles. Where were those cams? If Leon thought he’d get Lucas twice on tape, he was horrible mistaking. After a moment of observing, feeling confident he knew where to look, he eased back into his chair. Internally he was debating whether or not to fight Leon on the subject. The evidence was hard enough and the results could be tied with them. Leon already told them he was pleading for something less than expulsion. So Lucas decided not to go up against the Warden.
“Guess detention is fair. I suggest you take that up with Mrs. Lovelace.” He said. Trying to make clear he would accept a punishment but not one handed out by Leon. He very much doubted his own Headmaster would expel them for such a harmless prank. He did take note that Leon had access to cam imagery too. Maybe a more ‘mature’, politically charged article on the Delphina Times would rouse half the student body about a very peculiar privacy problem.
But Lucas wasn’t happy. In fact, he was pretty inclined to leave. Because he felt something boiling inside. He looked at Leon, then the screens and then at the officer in the office. He would have to be excused to leave now. And if he opened his mouth it wouldn’t be to ask for it. So he suddenly raised himself up and went to sit straight in his chair. Instantly looking more serious.
“You know, Leon.” He began. Making clear something was irking him.
“What I don’t get is that you called only Delphina students. Want me to sum up what shit Sam has pulled the last few days? Oh and what about my room?” he pointed at Keats and him now.
“We just removed screws and put a knot in some clothes.” He didn’t feel he should fight Leon on this point. “But my door was… well… literally broken. My trousers were flushed. Again, literally. Oh, I bet you saw the pics of my mattress in the fountain. And I’m guessing that the fact that my laptop battery vanished is just ‘circumstantial’.” With every sentence his tone became ever more salty.
“Tell me Leon, will you investigate that shit too. Or, because it were Mayweathers who did it, are you just going to let it pass?” his words were sharp. And he looked leered at Leon with a less than happy gaze.
Keats said nothing about the accusations themselves. Negotiating that kind of stuff was more up Luke’s street than his, anyway. The fact that he hadn’t heard about the cameras pissed him off, sure, but it wasn’t like there was anything he could do about it now. The only thing that seemed to have changed with him was the disappearance of his grin, replaced with a slightly resigned expression. There really wasn’t any way for them to get out of this scot-free, far as he could tell.
When Lucas started his rant, though, Keats found himself nodding in agreement. The guy had a point, as always. Admittedly, Keats didn’t tend to think too hard about whatever Lucas said, but even if he had he would’ve found himself agreeing. Even putting his own biases aside, there was no way that there should only have been Delphina students called in here.
If he wasn’t still a little scared of the giant in the back of the room, Keats would have leapt out of his chair to shout at Leon. As it was, he was basically snarling when he backed up his friend’s argument.
”Speaking of that kind of stuff, how about Sparky?” he growled, referring to Avalon.
”Came over to my room and threatened to zap me right after this went down. Sure, I messed up her stuff, but she threatened to assault me – besides the fact that she had no way of knowing for sure I even did it in the first place.” The Warden almost laughed at Lucas’s mention of his simple punishment. No, he had a bit more in mind, considering the severity of the crimes.
“Detention? Well, yeah, that and both of you are going to issue a public apology to everyone whose room you broke into. Your parents are probably going to be footing the bill for the damages too.” Leon calmly informed the two of his plan to talk down the Headmasters’ current mindset although he still had the possibility of reinforcing their decision if they didn’t work with him. After all, the Headmasters were much more likely to listen to him than the delinquents before him. Rubbing his temple, the Chief could feel the stress building up on him as Lucas and Keats kept on and on, bringing up more problems for him to worry about. Apparently, the school had been busy since he’d been gone on vacation.
“I didn’t know Sam or Avalon had done anything wrong since I just got back today. Still shuffling through all the reports and videos, you know? I’m willing to investigate anyone that has trampled over the rules though. My intent isn’t to bring attention just to Delphina students. It’s just you two were much more obvious. And that’s really the biggest difference: you two got caught. As for Elijah and Gianna, their thing was a whole different matter.” He honed in on the facts, subtly breaking it to them they had just been stupid and reckless whereas the others had been smarter about their decision. True to his word, Leon would be investigating these other accusations, though he would need time. He doubted he could get to it all, but he sure would try. On the matter of his own room, Leon’s visage lit up with curiosity. That, in particular, had infuriated him since one of their nice HD cameras were now caput. Whoever did that was definitely going to have to cough up some dough.
"And, you know, I was actually going to ask you about your room. At first, I thought you two had broken into your own room, but that didn’t really make sense on account of the camera in that hallway was broken. Whoever messed up your stuff was a little more cautious, something uncharacteristic of the rampage you two went on. Any enemies you might have though? I’ll look into it.”An apology? A public apology? This guy had to be kidding. What was this!? Middle school? Where you were forced to sit down with the other guy and say sorry? Nobody wins from that! Nobody gets better from it. Lucas leaned in on Leon’s desk.
“Listen, Leon. Let’s be serious here for a second. You and me both know that public apology thing is bullshit. I’m not feeling sorry for what I’ve done. The most anyone is going to get from me is some half-hearted ‘sorry’. This isn’t elementary. Shit happened, people moved on.” He leaned back into his chair, getting a little more comfortable.
“Just give me detention and some manual labor punishment for around the school. At the very least then I’m doing something useful. Because that apology will just be words and wind.” No, Lucas would not going to apologize for what he did. Nor would he feel bad for it. To him it was but a harmless prank. His parents would have to pay a few locks and get mad at him for it. But he could take that.
Lucas couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Leon didn’t know what shit Avalon and Sam pulled but he caught them on video!? Bullshit.
“We… were the obvious ones?” Lucas said in disbelief.
“So you’re telling me that…” For a second Lucas had to stifle a giggle. The entire situation was getting absolutely ridiculous.
“Okay. Okay I’ll tell you what happened.” But he first turned to Keats.
“Fill me in on what I missed, will you? I wasn’t there the entire night.” He said to his friend, after which he turned back to the warden with a face full of glee.
“Okay so where to start? Oh yeah, Sam hosting an entire freaking party on top of the dorm building! You bet there was alcohol. And you bet quite a few freshmen and sophomores got drunk. Oh, damn. Nearly forgot. It was heroes only. Still, was quite a fun party.” Why did Lucas admit attendance? Because everyone was there. Leon could hardly punish the whole school, now could he? He eased back in his chair, feeling pretty well done with rant. But then he remembered Delphina Times and jumped straight up again.
“Ah! Nearly forgot! Sam attacked Gianna. With her powers. So euhm. That comes down to: Hosting an unsanctioned event on school ground, discrimination between students, giving alcohol to minors, assault and abuse of power.” His face lit up with a wicked but viciously angry grin as he eased back into his chair.
“Yet, here we are. Two guys pulling a prank. But you missed an entire party hosted right under your nose and you needed a Delphina student to tell you it happened.” No, Lucas was less than amused about Leon’s definition of justice. How could he miss the few hundred drunk semi-adults suddenly wandering the entire dorm building? To Lucas, it was sheer incompetence.
When Leon asked for his enemies, Lucas took a deep sigh. Was he for real?
“Okay so how many stupid questions are going to follow after this one? It’s just, I need to be mentally prepared for this amount of bullshit now.” Lucas was getting unapologetically blunt now. Because he literally was getting tired of Leon.
“You know what I do. Hell, you got my file. Read it before you ask questions! I play with Gianna on the schoolyard. So yeah, I got plenty of enemies!” His rant was becoming a toxic combination of sarcasm and feigned childishness. He was becoming more annoyed by the second. Every second wasted here was a second he could use to train or track down everyone’s powers. Yet here was, listening to an incompetent vigilante that was clearly biased. Lucas very much doubted Leon would look into the issue that much. Actually, he might, just to congratulate whatever fucker ruined his room.
Keats looked like he couldn’t believe his ears at this point. The guy was actually gonna go ahead and pretend he wasn’t biased, then say that kind of shit?
”Not going after Delphina my ass, Leon! Are you seriously pretending you don’t want to pin everything on our school? Bullshit!” His hands tightened into fists.
”You said it yourself, right? Luke’s room got broken into, and the first thought in your empty fucking skull was to blame us!” Keats paused, taking a moment to try and calm himself down. When he next spoke, his voice was filled with cold, controlled anger.
”And the only reason you dropped that was because there was no camera footage, despite the pretty crucial fact that it was his own room. Don’t sit there and pretend you’re not biased against us.”Turning his head to look at Lucas, Keats seemed at least a little more in control after his outburst.
”As for the party, I couldn’t tell you much more than you already got. I wasn’t there wherever all the drama went down,” he spoke without looking at Leon or the officer,
”But I don’t see how anyone couldn’t have noticed. I only went in at all because I couldn’t get sleep thanks to the thing. It was really difficult to miss.” The last comment was accompanied by a look of exaggerated sincerity, matched by his tone of voice as he continued,
”Really raises some questions about the integrity of our campus security, if you ask me. I’d hate to think that people were abusing their power to let their buddies off the hook.”These two were really fighting for a leg to stand on, even going so far as to mention an event that Leon had no idea about. There was no way in hell that was going to remove the “public apology” clause now, no matter how much Lucas pleaded. The fact that he even brought the punishment into question showed the boy couldn’t stand the thought of it. And they kept mentioning
bias. Why did they think he had any reason to target Delphina students? Just because he was a student of Mayweather? Though they didn’t know it, they were in presence of another powerful Delphina, who Leon was positive was simmering at their comments. Just when he thought they couldn’t be more stupid…
“Apparently you two missed the memo when I said I was not here, so obviously I’m not going to know about that. It’s kind of hard to get the scoop when I’m all the way in Mississippi. I get that you're salty as hell, but you're acting like my little brother when he doesn't get his way. Sorry I ain’t got eyes in the back of my skull.” His patience was being tried and it certainly bled into his voice. However, he did have semblance of who might know something about this party. Or rather, a couple of brothers who might. Ignoring the hot air that came from Lucas and Keats, his dark eyes diverted upward.
”Subterfuge, go get Jay and Lou.” he barked. From the ceiling, something unseen dropped onto the Chief’s desk.
As if a cloak of invisibility was removed, a tall brazen man with long dark hair and perfectly etched facial hair revealed himself. This was
Valentin “Subterfuge” Apostol, the first Delphina student to be indicted into the Wardens, though certainly not the last. As befitting of his name, he was rarely seen and not all of his abilities were accounted for.
“You two are irresponsible prats who shame the great name of Delphina. Like a wounded animal, you lash out when you know you are defeated rather than die with honor. Pathetic, mewling kittens.” Valentin spoke harshly with a heavy Eastern European accent, great pride swelling within him when he mentioned his school.
"Do you think you know everything, little kittens? What about the case of Rita Umbra, a Delphina who was nearly tortured to death by a Mayweather? Leon and I saved her and, together, we caught the perpetrator. In fact, it was Leon who pushed for the harshest sentence available. The worst part? Rita, a Delphina, was one of Leon's best friends. He'd go out of his way for anyone that needed it, no matter their allegiance. So do not dare call him biased, you impetulant fools." His eyes, empty like the void, downcast on them with disgust.
"Leon's relationship with our poor Rita is much like Eliana Lovelace's relationship with Mitchell Danford. Do you understand that not everyone simply judges based on alignment? Or will you continue to live in your own sad, ignorant bubble?" The Senior questioned the two of them, hoping they would get it through those thick skulls of theirs. Some could say Subterfuge was a bit of a fanatic when it came to Headmaster Logan Danford and the past Headmasters of Delphina, but he was nonetheless a great asset to the Wardens. Unlike Keats and Lucas, he was understanding, and at least they knew where his loyalties lay.
Valentin’s visage distorted and his entire silhouette followed suit in a strange, glitchy pattern as he vanished from sight once more. Their whole bias angle was looking a lot more farfetched now, considering Valentin was more or less everything that embodied Delphina and Leon obviously trusted his life with him. The Chief didn’t make any moves to rub salt in that wound though. He was bigger than whatever games Lucas and Keats were trying to play. Not a moment later, Subterfuge was back with the Dewey brothers, both bound with sinister, eldritch bindings. Apparently the dark and mysterious man had decided to go the easy route and just kidnap the brothers… They both looked terrified, struggling against the coils that kept them from moving.
“Jay. Lou. What the hell do you guys know about Sam’s party? Apparently I was kept out of the dark.”Louis Dewey apologetically bowed, "
I put the report in yesterday... it was vacation, Leon. I know, I know we're suppose to report these things near immediately but I have a lot on my plate being the Vice President and all. I would give it to Jay but..." As much as Leon wanted a perfect Warden staff, that was hardly plausible since they all were still college students, but that doesn't mean the Dewey boys were complete bitch boys to Sam. When it came to their duties, they never failed to do them, even if it wasn't in a timely manner. Why blame them? It was October vacation, who in their bright mind does work during vacation? Things were meant to be saved for the last day, like homework.
The youngest Dewey, who although was book smart, wasn't the most clever, looked down at his shoes in shame and muttered, "
I had to leave for the MAA conference because the Algorithm Olympics is just around the corner." The only reason why Jay was in the Wardens was because he and his brother were a package deal when it came to their possible use of their abilities. His priorities were more toward his passion than anything else.
The eldest Dewey stepped in front of his brother in a protective manner, "
I'll take the full blame on this one since I was still on campus. I should have just given you a call. If Valentin unshackles me, I can get you the report." There was no doubt that the Dewey brothers were still very much college students, hence why they didn't guard the door at the party for as long as Samantha and Avalon wanted them to.
Leon was shaking his head. He liked having Lou on his roster, but Jay? The boy was damn near worthless when it came to important matters. There was a reason the only duty he had was to watch the counter.
"God damn, you two are stupid as hell. You have one fucking job, and you two have been part of the Wardens for a good while now. I expect a lot more. Valentin just god damn joined a couple months ago and he's already doing a hell of a lot more than you two. I bet Kayla Styles, who just joined today, is doing a better job too. You guys are in some real hot water now. One more fuck up like this and you're out." he angrily reprimanded the brothers before giving Valentin the signal to let them go.
"And here I was hoping to crush the buffoons to death..." Leon shot Subterfuge a glare before letting Lou do whatever he needed to do.
Sighing to himself, Lou wondered why did he accept this position anyways? Oh, yeah. Mrs. Dunn wanted someone in the council to be actively involved in the Wardens' endeavors. Did Leon not understand that his job was ten times worse than his? Where Leon was the police, Louis was the government of the school trying to appease the wants of both Mayweather and Delphina minds alike, all the while regulating everything that happened on school grounds. That included the establishment of the Wardens. If Lou didn't agree with what the Wardens were accomplishing, he could request to shut them down, but he wasn't that stupid. The Wardens were nearly as important as the Student Council because of how much they helped with monitoring student activity. Fulton was an exceptional man and a better leader. His main problem was he didn't understand more than half of the student body thought like the Dewey brothers did. Everyone was still in college, after all. At the end of the day, Louis was to report to Winona, not Leon. Going to the hanging file system by Leon's door, Lou grabbed a stack of papers and began to rummage through them to find the report on the party.
"Well there you have it, boys. I'll be investigating this matter with Sam and Avalon. In the meantime, you can leave. You have an appointment with the Headmasters at 8:30 tomorrow morning. Put your best clothes on and don't get into anymore trouble. Otherwise, anything I say to them will be completely moot, which would just be bad news bears for you." Leon expressed diligently, gesturing behind them. Officer Hinderson opened the door for them and waited for the two kids to file out, while Valentin silently stood there with his arms crossed, leering daggers at Jay. Man, today was just one of those damned days, Leon thought to himself, contemplating on everything he had to get through by the end of the day. What a god damn mess.
Lucas sat rather defiantly eying the supposed ‘Delphina’ student. To Lucas he was nothing but a traitor. Someone now licking Delphina’s boots. A Delphina got tortured nearly to death? Well that was news. And also a terrible mistake coming from Valentin.
“I hope the fucker got killed instead.” He spat. One thing nobody could disagree on was that Lucas loved his fellow Delphina students by default. Of course, there were idiots who went up against him. Or traitors like Valentin. But if you haven’t given him a reason to dislike you, he’ll defend you without even knowing you. So when he heard about this Rita person, he was definitely pissed off. Not at Leon, though he’d definitely wouldn’t thank him. But at himself and the person who harmed a Delphina and could make that fact slip his own nets. For whomever tortured Rita’s sake, he hoped the Mayweather kid was already expelled or it would get messy.
But Lucas got visibly shocked when Valentin mentioned Mitch and Eliana’s relation. This was… More than news! He suddenly looked like a slapped puppy. As if not a bombshell, but a nuke, got dropped straight on top of him. For a second he couldn’t process the information. Mitch!? His Mitch? His mate? Knew his arch-enemy? Knew her well!? His first reaction was grabbing his phone. But he kept himself under control. Just for now. Suddenly the punishments didn’t matter. Hell, Leon didn’t matter! Lucas got visibly anxious. The punishments didn’t faze him, nor Leon’s lack of patience in his voice. But something had, would Leon realize what it was?
He couldn’t even feel satisfied that the Dewey brothers got into trouble over the party. What did it matter!? When Leon said they could go, Lucas jumped out of his chair and sped outside. Barely hearing he had a meeting with the headmasters tomorrow. Great, even more stuff to attend. The day after a Delirium party! Well, hangover cures would have to be looked up. Because he wasn’t about to miss the greatest party of the month. Still, at the same rate he now had to think about how he would defend himself against the headmasters. Did he believe he should be punished? Sure. He got caught. He’d accept any form of detention, or having to help out around the school after hours. But the apology wouldn’t float. Not with him. If they forced him, he’d do it so half-hearty that it could be perceived more as an insult than an apology.
Upon getting outside he grabbed his phone and called Gianna. Texting would go too slow. Sadly, it went straight to voicemail:
Gianna, I- We got shit. We got some deep shit. Do me a favor. Look up Rita Umbra. She’s Delphina. Some shit went down with her. Wardens claim to have settled it. Probably not well enough. Also, blacklist Apostol. Asshole works for the Wardens. Oh and Mitch.. Fuck Mitch is… Ugh fuck, I can’t do this in a voicemail. Call me when you get this. Oh shit! Nearly forgot. Tonight you gotta tell me everything about the headmasters! K, bye!
His voice was more serious than ever. He straight up skipped the playful talks and went straight to business. Which was already odd for him. The information provided, well Lucas wasn’t sure how much Gianna already knew. Probably about Apostol. Though he had his doubts about the Umbra situation. Now the Wardens would probably have suspended the Mayweather student and thought it was done. But that’s not how villains handled things, according to Lucas. He had to send a message. He had to show the school that to screw with Delphina was screw with him. And nobody screwed with him and got away with it.
Next up was a text towards Mitch. It didn’t add up. If Mitch knew Eliana, he would have told Lucas. Why didn’t he say anything!? If it was to protect her, then he clearly failed at it. Lucas had become her bane. What was his friend up to?
To: Mitch
We gotta talk. For real. Idc where you are, meet me at the stump.
Lucas had more stashes than one. The stump was a place in the forest where he kept some other liquor hiding in a broken tree. Mitch and he would sometimes head out there, just to be away from it all. Though most of the time they’d hit the Big Apple. Lucas went straight towards the forest. While reading Mrs. Lovelace’s mail. It came over as a bit of a surprise. “It’s just one of those days.” She wasn’t kidding. Lucas was feeling more drained by the minute. The day had started out so good. With a Delerium night at the horizon. Yet here he stood. Feeling rather exhausted after the verbal fencing with Leon. He wouldn’t win from the Warden. He kept too tight to his own rule book. But maybe that could be used against him? Worries for later, for now, he had to work out different problems.
To:
Lovelace, CeciliaSubject: RE: Requesting a Meeting
Date: Oct 11, 2016 4:52 PM EST
Dear Mrs. Lovelace
With your permission, I’d come over for your meeting at 11AM tomorrow. Today seems to have taken quite a toll on me and I’m afraid I have different plans I am obligated to attend to.
Lucas Farweight.
And another meeting tomorrow. Fate really just couldn’t leave him alone, could it? He needed a drink. Just to feel his muscle tension lesson.
Keats actually looked kind of sorry about what he’d said to Leon after Valentin’s lecture, looking down at the ground and avoiding any sort of eye contact. Hey, he hadn’t known about any of that stuff! He was just thinking based off of most of the other Mayweathers he’d had to deal with since the year started. That and the fire, which one of them had to be responsible for. Still, he didn’t have any comeback to Valentin’s lecture, except to stay silent, and nod when they told him to leave.
As he walked out of the office, Keats looked conflicted and frustrated. It wasn’t like he wanted to sit there and fight people all the time, believe it or not. Honestly, Keats liked a bit of peace and quiet now and again, but there was so much fighting and drama in the school nowadays that you just couldn’t get any rest. He had to keep face – he was always seen as the second-best sibling anyway, and if he didn’t even stand up for his school, what good was he to anyone then?
But at the same time, he was tired of it. Tired of the drama, the infighting, the whole damn feud. For all his blustering and anti-Mayweather speak, it wasn’t like he was getting anywhere. Looking for someone to blame the whole time was starting to wear him down. Maybe it really was time to bury the hatchet.
No, what the hell was he thinking? He was a Delphina, not some whiny little hero kid who couldn’t deal with other people being upset! There wasn’t any point thinking about this stuff. It wasn’t as though he could dig any deeper than he already had about the case. Other information had to be out there, but none of the staff or security would trust him enough to say anything. Unless he did something to change that – no. No, he didn’t have to. He could stand on his own, figure things out on his own.
As he exited the building, it took a lot of self-control for Keats not to punch something. The meeting wasn’t even what was getting to him, not really. It was the fact that he was still letting himself be conflicted over what he was doing, feeling bad about it. He didn’t know why he couldn’t just suck it up and move on.
Hopefully he’d have sorted himself out before meeting the Headmasters in the morning. It wasn’t like any of that stuff actually mattered that much to him, right? He was a villain, he didn’t have to care about people getting hurt, or worry about doing the right thing. That wasn’t his job.
Sometimes Keats just really wanted to stop thinking.
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