My eye locks on the pair of men lingering on the threshold of the door into the dingy motel room. I am aware of the three others — William propping his head up on his curled fist, and the pair of women by my bed showering Clio with affection, however, my gaze does not waver. Shawn, brute that he is, blocks out all light of the burgeoning morning that should be trickling in, and behind him...

“Mark? What are you doing here?”

My brother. He wore a leather strapped jerkin over his chest, and I could see the feathers of an archer’s quiver poking out from behind his waist. He meets my eyes and furls his brows.

“Lawrence?” He turns towards Shawn. “Is he the one you said was recovering?”

“He is,” Shawn says. “Really good mage, I promise. Do you know him?”

Mark nods.

“He’s my brother.” He said with a sigh. “God dammit.” He ran a hand through his thick hair.

At that, the woman who held Clio turned her attention to Mark.

“Ah! You’re that asshole that called a couple of days ago?”

“I talked to my wife about it. She said she was just upset with the way Lawrence was treating our family.”

“The way I’ve been treating our family?”

“Yeah,” Mark pushes past Shawn in an attempt to get into the room, “You’re a leech. I bet you’ve been leeching off of everyone else here as well, hasn’t he?” He glances around the room for approval.

Before he could step any further in, Shawn stops him and people begin to voice their complaints. I speak up.

“It’s true, I was a leech in the past, Mark. But I’m holding my weight here.” I say after some breaths to steady my bubbling rage.

“Yeah, right. How long have you been, ‘recuperating,’ huh? What was it, 10 days?”

“Okay, that’s enough,” Shawn says. “We didn’t come here to antagonize Lawrence, Mark. We came here to have him meet the squad, okay?”

“Yes sir.”

“Good.”

The woman who had called Mark an asshole spun around on her heel; the sheathed basket hilt saber hanging at her waist slapping against her thigh as she did so. As she faces me, the world seems to come to a halt. Her long, black hair flutters like the wings of a blackbird coming down to roost, and her eyes were as bright as a candle-lit emerald and as deep as the seas. My heart skips a beat as her eyes rest upon me, and a rush of heat surges through my entire body. If beauty could take a human form, it would be her. I feel as if I were a boy who had just realized his first crush.

“You’re Lawrence, right? Nice to meet you, I’m Monica, William’s sister. So I have a question; several questions, actually, can you answer them?”

She speaks so fast that it’s hard to follow. She closes the distance between us in a second.

“Monica, you’re scaring him!” Shawn spoke up. “Look, he’s blushing.”

He and my brother chuckle, and now I do feel the blush taking to my cheeks. I take a breath and slow my thumping heart.

“Ah, sorry.” She backs away. Her freckled face fades from view as she steps off to my left.

“I’m Janet. How are you adjusting to the, uh...” This voice came from the other woman. A tanned woman with deep chestnut hair, and dark eyes. She holds her hand over her own left eye. Unconsciously, I move my hand over my own eye.

“Ah, well I—”

“How could he be adjusting? He just woke up.” Shawn spoke up again.

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Once more he laughed, and my brother joins in with a soft chuckle.

“I’m adjusting fine,” I say. “It took some time.”

“You don’t need to play strong, Lawrence.” Shawn says, “It’s okay.”

I breathe out a long stream of air through my nostrils.

Was this bullying?

“William, how about you introduce yourself as well?”

“I’m William.” The man leaning on his propped arm says with a yawn.

“Well, that’s everyone.” Shawn claps. “Good to have you back, Lawrence. Sorry about your eye.”

Something snaps inside of my head, and the rage that I had been quietly suppressing oozes out like pus from a lanced boil.

“Really? ‘Sorry for your eye,’ that’s all you're going to say?” I say after some length, “Who’s idiotic machinations got us into a position where I had to do that?”

Shawn presses his finger to his lip to hush me. All this

“No, Shawn. What was that? I’ve half a mind to lay you out right now, you know? And you keep condescending to me, for what?”

“I thought you needed the confidence boost, Lawrence. I’m sorry, but...” He presses his finger to his lips once more, all this manages to do is to bring out more of my anger.

“Confidence boost? No, my confidence was already being elevated, Shawn. So you took me in as a pet project, and almost got me killed? I’m not something broken that needs to be fixed. I’m not a child meant to be tested, and I’m not some fragile piece of china teetering on the edge of a countertop, do you understand? I lost an eye. You can’t sorry that away.”

Once more he presses his finger to his lip. All eyes in the room are shifting between me and Shawn, and a wave of shame washes through me.

I breathe out another long stream of air.

“Sorry...I apparently had to get that off my ch—”

“Excuse me?” Janet speaks; she brushes a strand of dark hair out of her face, “You're being insubordinate, you know? Your superior told you to stop talking.”

“My what now?”

“Oh. Did you not fill him in, Private Carol?”

She looks at William.

“I called, and then he went into the shower. No time.”

“Excuses, excuses.” She turns her attention back to me. Monica shrinks and goes back to petting Clio, and William turns away. “See, things have changed since you’ve been out; Private Able.”

“Private?”

“Yes.” Shawn speaks up, “The Icarian Corps has merged with the Marines.”

“And?”

“Well, there are some new rules.”

“Like? Stop beating around the bush.”

“Ranks.” Janet says, “All those granted powers by a God or Divine Being were given officer ranks, while all you Shard holders.” She points at everyone in the room beside her and Shawn, “Were given the rank of Private; with the opportunity to progress up the ranks.”

“But why?”

“Because we clearly outclass you?” Janet says with a scoff in her voice. “You got injured in a door that Shawn managed to close all on his own. Without your help.”

“Without my help? Is that what he told you?”

“Regardless. If you keep up with your mouthiness you will be kicked from the corps, and you will be forced to cease closing Doors permanently.”

“Oh is that so?”

"It is. We're in a war. The upholding of hierarchy is important in war; or else everything goes to chaos.” She taps her finger against her thigh. "At the very least, you'll be imprisoned."

“There seemed to be a live and let live attitude about it when it started.” I say, “What changed?”

“A video surfaced of a Chosen shattering a man’s jaw in an All-Mart. That man almost died.” She glares at me.

“He shot me!” I protest, “And he was beating his kid!”

“Oh? So it was you? I thought you looked familiar.” She chuckles, “Regardless, that should be something you left to the police. The Corps protested heavily, and they decided to implement certain changes to ensure that we’re not just a lawless bunch of outlaws.”

She walks over to me and sets her hands on my shoulders.

“So, Private Able, do you have something you want to say to Captain O’leary over there? If you don’t, I might have to report you to the higher-ups about your insurrection-like behavior.”

If push comes to shove, I'd just leave town. There were still over a trillion doors left to close. Would they really stop someone from closing them over a words? I doubt it. I'll call her bluff.

“No, I do not.” I pull away from her claws. “I said my piece, and if they deem my justifiable anger worthy of expulsion from the corps, then so be it."

Janet clicks her tongue.

“I’ll let you go this time.” She lowers her arms, “But any more outbursts like that and I’ll have to report you.”

“Leave him alone, Lieutenant.” Shawn says, “You’re scaring him.”

“Good. These types of people only respect fear. You understand?” She winks at him.

Shawn rolls his eyes.

“Yeah...so,” he sighs, “Well, it’s good to see you up, Lawrence, but I can’t stick around. I’m shadowing Mark until he’s caught up to the rest of us. You’re going to be working with them,” he motions to the rest of the people in the room, “from today on, alright? Make sure you follow the Lieutenant’s orders. Ah, right. Most of your stuff has been taken to your living quarters across town. Can you guys show him the way there after you’re done today?”

“Of course, Captain,” Janet responded. “Goodbye! Don’t let the Shard hold you back!” With that Shawn and my brother leave the room. “Do you know that he got to Rank 5 in the world this last week? All because you weren’t here to hold him back! Amazing, huh?”

She slams her finger into my chest.

“Now get ready. We’ll be back in ten minutes, and you will be ready by then, okay? Okay. Let’s go, twins.”

She motions for the two others to follow after her. Monica mouths the word, ‘sorry,’ as she leaves, and William casts me a sad forced smile. I sigh. What trouble.