It was nothing serious.

The nurse tended to the smaller guy. She covered his head in bandages and told him to stay there for a bit. So I stayed too. We didn’t talk. Not for a bit at least. The guy–whose name I still didn’t know–was out of it. Mostly groaning and muttering to himself.

I had to carry him all the way to the nearest infirmary. Make sure he was alright.

A few minutes later, he turned to me. Focused for the first time.

“Who are you?” he asked groggily.

“An eighty seven year old man inside a nineteen year old’s body.”

He stared at me. I stared back. And then started laughing. My life had been ridiculous. He was still confused though, so I decided to be straight with him. I extended my hand.

“Alex Adamos.”

“Amir Saidi.” He shook my hand. “What happened? Why are we here?”

“You were fighting. Well, more like, getting beat up.”

“Yeah, yeah!” His eyes widened and he looked around the room. “Where’s John? You didn’t–didn’t kill him, did you?”

I clenched my fists. Of course not. This was a college for heroes. What kind of a hero would I be if I did that? I didn’t say any of that of course. I thought back to Alpha Surge. What would he say in a situation like this?

“Of course not. But what that guy–what John–did to you wasn’t right.”

“What would you know? I need this. Not that it’s any of your business, but I barely managed to get in. I need to get stronger. My family bled to get this chance. I won’t waste it by being useless. I’ll do this. And I’ll do it the right way.”

I’ll do this the right way.

I’d said those words to myself more often than I would like. I’d accepted Jacob as a part of myself. But I didn’t want to end up like him. I had seen the darkness that had consumed him. And I wouldn’t let myself be consumed by it too.

In a very roundabout way I could understand him. Understand the pressures he was facing.

“You don’t have to torture yourself. You made it. You’re here. You’re in. John, and the people like John, they don’t care about helping you. I saw it in his eyes. Besides, you don’t need help.”

He didn’t say anything. He was looking at the ceiling, not even acknowledging my presence anymore. I sighed. First time I tried to help someone myself I failed so miserably that he probably would end up back here tomorrow.

I got up to leave. As I did I talked to the nurse that was watching over Amir.

Asked her to give him my room number in case he ever needed help. I looked at him one last time. And I left. I tried not to think about it too much. Tried to convince myself that he would reach out eventually. And I’d be able to help him.

My phone buzzed in my pocket. Two unread messages. One was from Birgit.

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I’m in your mansion. Get here quickly. It’s my parents. It was sent half an hour ago.

The other was an email from Kent Smith. An email titled September First.

Before I could read it, Birgit called me.

“Hello?”

“Where in the everloving hell are you, kæreste?” It was safe to say she was a little mad. “You said you’d go back to your room. I’ve been here for forty minutes. I’ve had to endure a whole conversation with Sadid! Sadid! At least he’s gone now.”

“You didn't, uh, freeze his genitals off, did you?”

“No, he just had a date. Poor person.”

“Come on, Miss Hugaholic. He’s not that bad.” I was smirking, even though she couldn’t see it. It wasn’t often that I had the chance to tease Birgit. So I treasured every single one of them I got.

“No, but I didn’t come looking for him, did I? I need-I need-you know what I need.”

And like that, my smirk was gone. “What happened? Is it your parents?”

“Of course it is, you idiot. No matter what I do they’re always there. They’re going to be coming for the Inter School tournament.”

Not five minutes later I was at my dorm, looking at Birgit in the eye. Or at least I tried to. She wasn’t looking at me. She was looking at everything around me, not saying a word. I didn’t say anything either. I knew better than most that there were some things you couldn’t just say.

“There’s something I have to tell you, kæreste,” she said, taking a deep breath. “But I don’t know how to. And my parents are coming. I’ll need to be their perfect little girl again. But I don’t know if I can do that.”

“You’ve been having too much fun being their overly competitive, foul mouthed girl, huh?”

“Shut up, idiot!” Of course, the words didn’t really have much impact when they were surrounded by her giggling. “You’re not making this any easier, making me laugh like this.”

“Yeah, well, revealing your deepest darkest secrets isn’t fun. I should know. I’ve had to do it more often than I should!”

“I’m sorry about that.”

“Not your fault. If anyone’s to blame, it’s me. I should have been more careful around Charles.”

“Is it too soon to call you an idiot again? Because I think it fits right about now.” I stared at her, and she stared back. “Anyway, imnotsureiwanttobeahero”

“What?”

“I’m not sure I want to be a hero.” She let out a sigh. A heavy sigh, I could almost feel it myself. Her voice was small. “I didn’t know how to tell you. And I definitely don’t know how to tell them. Because it’s hard enough seeing them now. How they act towards me and Will–even if he is a prick. I don’t like it.”

“Do you know what you want to do?”

“Be a WPW fighter.” She had a small smile talking about it. “I trained a bit during summer. And I know they’ll be hosting a match here. I just-I can’t stop picturing myself holding up that belt! The crowds! The ridiculous moves!”

She was excited. More excited than I’d seen her ever since we reconnected.

“When are your parents coming?”

“Three AM, in two weeks.”

“Good. Then we’ll be there.” She opened her mouth, but I didn’t let her protest. “No. I’ll be there. Okay?”

She nodded. We talked for a bit and then she left. I was alone. I remembered Kent Smith’s message. I looked down at my phone. The mail was…off. Vague. Some words were replaced with gibberish. Like he had a stroke. Or like someone tampered with it.

If you’re reading this, consider me MIA. And Alpha Surge is dead.

I’m sorry I won’t be able to help. I’m sorry. Even this message is not completely safe, but I can safely say: Don’t trust him. qwer tyuiopa sdfghjklzxcv bnmqwertyuiop asdfghjklzxcvbn mqwer

To find your way, you have to remember the first hero. And don’t let them get away with it. If they do, all we did was for nothing.

But Kent Smith had never been off. And Alpha Surge was dead.

It looked like I couldn't have a normal year at Atlantis.