Chapter Text
The announcement came halfway through first period.
Wemmbu almost missed it.
He had been staring at the same line in his notebook for long enough that the words had stopped looking like words.
The teacher was talking.
Something about ability development.
Something about practical application.
Something about assessments.
Wemmbu wasn't listening.
His pencil rested between his fingers, unmoving.
He hadn't slept much.
Again.
He had tried.
That was the important part.
He had gotten into bed. He had pulled the blanket over himself. He had closed his eyes.
Then his brain had decided that tonight was the perfect time to replay every conversation he'd had since arriving.
Spoke.
Parrot.
Theo.
Jaden.
Yungy.
The hallway.
The fights.
The way everyone kept talking about abilities as if they were the most important things a person could possibly have.
Eventually he'd stopped trying to sleep.
Then morning had happened.
Then breakfast had happened.
Technically.
He hadn't eaten.
Again.
He'd sat in the cafeteria for several minutes, stared at the food, and eventually decided that standing up was easier.
Now his stomach hurt.
He ignored it.
"Mr. Wemmbu?"
He blinked.
The classroom came back into focus.
The teacher was staring at him.
Wemmbu slowly looked up.
"Yes?"
"I asked whether you understand the upcoming assessment."
Wemmbu looked down at his notebook.
There was nothing useful written on it.
"No."
A few students laughed.
The teacher sighed.
"The ability assessment is not optional."
"I know."
"Then you need to prepare."
Wemmbu didn't answer.
The teacher turned back toward the board.
A large schedule appeared on the screen.
ABILITY ASSESSMENTS
CONTROL
OUTPUT
ADAPTABILITY
COMBAT APPLICATION
PRACTICAL APPLICATION
CONSISTENCY
Wemmbu stared at the list.
There it was again.
The same thing he'd been hearing since his first day.
Everything came back to power.
How strong were you?
How useful were you?
How dangerous could you be?
How well could you fight?
How quickly could you learn?
What could you do?
What could you become?
Nobody seemed interested in asking what he actually wanted.
Maybe because the answer was nothing.
He didn't want to be a hero.
He didn't want to be a villain.
He didn't want to be a vigilante.
He didn't even know if he wanted to use his ability at all.
The teacher continued.
"Your results will influence your training recommendations."
A student raised his hand.
"Does that mean rankings?"
"Yes."
"And the higher-ranked students get priority?"
"Priority for advanced training, specialized facilities, team placements, and certain extracurricular programs."
The room immediately became louder.
Students started whispering.
Wemmbu lowered his eyes.
Of course.
There it was.
The carrot.
Get stronger.
Get ranked.
Get opportunities.
Get stronger again.
The system practically built itself.
He could already imagine what happened to students who didn't keep up.
They got left behind.
And everyone seemed perfectly comfortable with that.
The teacher raised a hand.
The room quieted.
"One more thing. Starting this week, all students are expected to participate in supervised ability development outside their standard classes."
Wemmbu's head lifted.
"What?"
The teacher looked at him.
"Students who aren't actively developing their abilities will fall behind."
"I don't know how mine works."
"Then you should learn."
Wemmbu stared.
That answer was so simple.
So useless.
"How?"
The teacher paused.
"You have an ability, Mr. Wemmbu. It is your responsibility to understand it."
A few students nodded.
Someone whispered something.
Wemmbu couldn't make it out.
He didn't need to.
He already knew what they were thinking.
If he doesn't know how to use it, why is he here?
His fingers tightened around his pencil.
He looked back at the board.
Pain Absorption.
He knew what it did.
Technically.
He absorbed pain.
He got stronger.
But he still didn't know how to activate it on purpose.
He didn't know its limits.
He didn't know whether he could control it.
He didn't know whether he could accidentally hurt someone.
And the school wanted him to demonstrate it.
The bell rang.
Everyone immediately began packing.
Wemmbu stayed seated.
He waited until the room was almost empty.
Then he stood.
His legs felt strangely heavy.
He ignored that too.
He stepped into the hallway.
Students moved around him in groups.
Some were talking about their assessments.
Some were comparing abilities.
One group was arguing about who would get the highest ranking.
Wemmbu walked past them.
He kept his eyes down.
He almost made it to the next classroom.
Almost.
"Hey."
He stopped.
Three students were standing near the lockers.
He didn't know their names.
One of them looked him over.
"You've got an assessment coming up, right?"
Wemmbu didn't answer.
The student grinned.
"That's what I thought."
Wemmbu tried to walk past.
The student stepped into his path.
"What's your ability?"
"You already know."
"No, I don't."
"Pain Absorption."
The student blinked.
Then laughed.
"That's it?"
Wemmbu frowned.
"What?"
"You absorb pain."
"Yes."
"So..."
The student shrugged.
"How does that help you?"
Wemmbu said nothing.
"Do you have to get hurt?"
"I don't know."
The other students laughed.
"You don't even know?"
Wemmbu's jaw tightened.
"No."
The first student looked at his wings.
"Can you at least fly?"
Wemmbu's stomach dropped.
He instinctively folded his wings tighter against himself.
The student noticed.
"What's wrong?"
"Nothing."
"You don't like people touching them?"
Wemmbu took a step backward.
The student smiled.
Then reached toward one of his wings.
Wemmbu flinched away.
"Don't."
The student laughed.
"Why?"
"Just don't."
Another hand reached out.
Fingers caught the edge of his wing.
Wemmbu froze.
His entire body locked.
"Come on," the student said. "They're just wings."
The words hit harder than they should have.
Just wings.
To him, they weren't.
They were something he didn't understand.
Something he had never been taught how to care for.
Something that had caused him problems for years.
Something people stared at.
Something people grabbed.
Something he wanted to hide.
The student tugged again.
Wemmbu jerked backward.
"Stop."
"Make me."
Wemmbu stared at him.
His claws appeared before he consciously noticed them.
The other student laughed.
"There we go."
He stepped closer.
"You gonna use your big scary power?"
Wemmbu's heart hammered.
He hated this.
He hated the feeling.
He hated being cornered.
He hated that his first instinct was always to freeze.
And he hated that the school expected him to become stronger while never teaching him how to feel safe enough to learn.
The student reached for his wing again.
A hand caught the student's wrist.
Hard.
"Take your hand off him."
Everything stopped.
Wemmbu looked over.
Theo stood there.
His expression wasn't angry.
That somehow made it worse.
The student looked at Theo.
"Why?"
Theo didn't let go.
"Because I asked."
The student scoffed.
"Who are you supposed to be?"
Theo's eyes narrowed.
"You really want to find out?"
The student looked around.
Several people had stopped to watch.
Everyone knew Theo.
Everyone knew Parrot.
Everyone knew the Vortex.
And everyone knew that picking a fight with one of them was a terrible idea.
The student pulled his wrist away.
"Whatever."
Theo stepped forward.
The student backed up.
"Just stay out of it."
Theo smiled.
"No."
The student stared at him.
Theo didn't move.
Eventually, the three students turned and walked away.
Wemmbu remained completely still.
His wings were still folded tightly against his back.
Theo looked at him.
"You okay?"
Wemmbu nodded.
Theo waited.
Wemmbu nodded again.
"I'm fine."
Theo glanced toward the direction the students had gone.
Then back at Wemmbu.
"They shouldn't have touched your wings."
Wemmbu looked down.
"People do."
Theo frowned.
"What?"
"They just..."
Wemmbu shrugged.
"They do."
Theo stared at him for a moment.
Then his expression softened.
"They shouldn't."
Wemmbu didn't know what to say to that.
Theo adjusted his bag.
"Come on."
"Where?"
"Class."
Wemmbu followed.
They walked for a while in silence.
Eventually, Wemmbu spoke.
"Why did you do that?"
Theo looked at him.
"Do what?"
"Help me."
Theo seemed confused by the question.
"Because they were bothering you."
"You didn't have to."
"I know."
Wemmbu looked at him.
Theo shrugged.
"Still wanted to."
That answer stayed in Wemmbu's head.
He didn't understand it.
People didn't usually do things for no reason.
There was always something.
A favor.
A debt.
An expectation.
A price.
Theo didn't ask for anything.
He simply kept walking beside him.
Neither of them said anything else.
The next class was ability development.
Wemmbu hated it immediately.
The teacher stood in the center of the training room while students gathered around the marked practice zones.
"Today's exercise is simple."
Wemmbu already knew he wouldn't like the word simple.
"You will demonstrate your ability's primary function."
Students started moving into position.
Wemmbu stayed where he was.
The teacher noticed.
"Mr. Wemmbu."
He looked up.
"Yes?"
"Your turn."
Wemmbu walked forward.
Every eye followed him.
He stepped into the training zone.
The teacher folded his arms.
"Activate your ability."
Wemmbu stared at him.
"I don't know how."
A few students laughed.
Again.
The teacher didn't.
"Then we'll find the activation condition."
"How?"
"Controlled stimulation."
Wemmbu frowned.
"What does that mean?"
"We test different variables."
The teacher gestured toward another student.
"You'll work together."
The student walked over.
Wemmbu immediately stepped backward.
"No."
The teacher raised an eyebrow.
"No?"
"I don't want to."
"This is a supervised exercise."
"I know."
"Then participate."
Wemmbu stared at the other student.
Then at the teacher.
Then at his own hands.
Something about the whole thing felt wrong.
The teacher was treating his ability like a machine.
Press this.
Change that.
See what happens.
But his power wasn't a machine.
It involved pain.
Someone else had to feel it.
And Wemmbu couldn't make himself accept that.
"I can't."
The teacher's expression hardened.
"You're going to have to learn eventually."
Wemmbu said nothing.
The teacher dismissed him.
"Step out."
Wemmbu did.
He sat on the edge of the training area.
The rest of the class continued.
He didn't watch.
He stared at the floor.
The school wanted him to become stronger.
The students wanted him to become stronger.
The rankings wanted him to become stronger.
Everyone kept talking about his potential.
Nobody seemed to care whether he actually wanted any of it.
By lunch, Wemmbu was exhausted.
He sat with the Vortex because Spoke had apparently decided that was simply what happened now.
The table was loud.
Mapicc was arguing with Ashswag.
Clown was laughing at something Branzy had said.
Jumper was threatening Spoke over something that had apparently happened five minutes earlier.
Wato was eating.
Nobody knew where Wato had gotten his food.
Nobody questioned it.
Wemmbu barely touched his.
Theo noticed.
So did Mane.
Flame noticed too.
Flame frowned.
"You haven't eaten."
Wemmbu looked at him.
"I'm not hungry."
Flame stared.
"That's a lie."
Wemmbu didn't answer.
Spoke leaned across the table.
"Maybe he just doesn't like cafeteria food."
Wemmbu glanced at him.
"I don't."
Spoke nodded seriously.
"See? Solved it."
Jumper stared at him.
"That is not how that works."
"It could be."
"No."
"Could."
"No."
"Could."
"Spoke."
"Okay."
Wemmbu almost smiled.
Almost.
Then he looked down again.
He didn't notice Theo watching him.
Didn't notice Mane.
Didn't notice Flame.
But they noticed.
They noticed everything.
And that was becoming a problem.
After lunch, Wemmbu found his assessment results.
They were posted on the central display.
Students crowded around it.
Names.
Scores.
Rankings.
Wemmbu approached slowly.
He didn't expect anything good.
He was right.
He found his name near the bottom.
He read.
Then read it again.
WEMMBU
ABILITY: PAIN ABSORPTION
CONTROL: INSUFFICIENT DATA
OUTPUT: INSUFFICIENT DATA
ADAPTABILITY: UNASSESSED
COMBAT APPLICATION: LOW
PRACTICAL APPLICATION: LOW
CONSISTENCY: INSUFFICIENT DATA
Then the final line.
OVERALL RANKING: UNASSESSED
And beneath it:
RECOMMENDATION: REMEDIAL ABILITY TRAINING
Wemmbu stared at the words.
Around him, students celebrated their rankings.
Someone cheered.
Someone complained about dropping three places.
Someone else was already comparing scores.
Wemmbu couldn't hear any of it.
He stared at his own name.
Unassessed.
Remedial.
Low.
Insufficient.
The words blurred together.
For some reason, he thought about Theo.
They shouldn't.
He thought about Spoke dragging him to lunch.
Parrot helping him pick up his things.
Jaden sitting beside him on the roof.
Squiddo talking to him like he was normal.
He thought about all the people who had somehow decided he belonged near them.
And then he looked at the screen again.
The school didn't know any of that.
The school only knew what his power could do.
Or rather, what it couldn't prove.
His claws curled slightly.
Pain Absorption.
A power that became stronger when someone suffered.
A power that activated when he was surrounded by pain.
A power that made him stronger through something awful.
He hated it.
It felt wrong.
Villainous.
Like the kind of ability that belonged to someone standing on the wrong side of a city while heroes shouted at them to surrender.
But he didn't want to be a villain.
He didn't want to be a hero either.
He didn't want to spend his life fighting people.
He didn't want to join LAW.
He didn't want to become some masked vigilante.
He didn't want any of it.
So what did he want?
Wemmbu stared at the screen.
He had no answer.
And for the first time since arriving at the academy, that frightened him more than being weak.
Because everyone else seemed to have somewhere they were going.
Heroes.
Villains.
Vigilantes.
LAW.
Rankings.
Careers.
Paths.
Goals.
Wemmbu had nothing.
He turned away from the display.
Behind him, someone whispered.
"That's the End kid."
Another voice answered.
"Yeah."
"He's ranked that low?"
"I heard he can't even control his ability."
Wemmbu kept walking.
He didn't turn around.
He didn't need to.
He already knew what they thought.
Weak.
Strange.
Useless.
He walked down the hallway alone.
And somewhere behind him, the Vortex had already noticed his name on the board.
They were going to have questions.
Lots of them.