Lucien lay on his bed a few hours later, relaxing under the warm golden light of his halogens, after having seen Malachi off following a subdued family dinner. It hadn’t been a negative atmosphere, merely a sober one as everyone mulled over the revelations or recollections brought up in the late afternoon discussion. His own mind had been filled with questions and musings about his father, his heritage, the nature of his gifts and the weight of the magical legacy weighing on his soul.

Over the course of the hours following the conversation he’d shifted from seeing his father’s inadvertent legacy as a gift, to seeing it like the proverbial sword of Damocles hovering over his neck. His opinion mostly weighed on the feeling of inevitable fate that the entire conversation had evoked. On one hand Olympus hadn’t been a mass murdering psychopath, but a hero who had power thrust upon him; the act itself proof of his father’s strength of character.

No logical mind could argue the fact that Arcturus Pendragon had been a man of remarkable virtue, especially when presented with the incontrovertible evidence of the faith placed in him not only by his own coven; but by several others willing and ready to trust him to not abuse the sacrifice they were to make. The argument could be made, of course, that he only heard one side of the story and from a source biased in favour of his father — but something inside of Lucien told him it was all more or less true.

Whether it was instinct, the magical inheritance he’d received through his patrilineal connection to Olympus, or simply the desperate hope of a boy; his heart told him that his godmother had been honest when speaking of his father’s personality and wide respect among Practitioners. Out of curiosity, he’d asked her if the surname ‘Pendragon’ was common among Covens, and she had informed him that while his bloodline was ostensibly the ‘premier’ Pendragon lineage, there indeed were dozens of ‘Pendragon’-bearing families scattered throughout the globe.

The revelation had soothed the sudden panic that a simple name-check would expose him as Olympus’ child, and allowed him to file away a concern that had nagged at him from the moment he’d had time to process what he’d been told. It also assuaged any worries that students at First High with connections to Practitioner families remained in the dark about him. They likely just assumed his name was an amusing coincidence, and considered him regular.

Though, after his transformation over the Summer…

Lucien’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door and turned his head. “Come in!” He called, not bothering or wanting to move from where he was lying down.

The door opened and Tiberius stepped inside, shutting the door behind him afterwards. For a moment both boys stared at each other, and then Ty broke the silence. “Wild day, huh?”

“Yeah.” Lucien said in response. “Wild’s one word for it.”

Ty cracked a grin. “Bit of an understatement I guess.”

Lucien smiled back. “Just a bit, dude.” He waved Ty in and pulled himself into a sitting position, draping his arms over his knees. “So what’s up?”

“Well, I was thinking about everything we talked about, especially that stuff about how you have the whole justice thing going on.”

Lucien felt himself tense a little bit involuntarily, a flicker of anxiety stirring in his gut. He thought back to what had happened with Jayne, and his lips pulled into a frown. “Yeah. What about it?”

Tiberius approached and threw himself into the large recliner beside Lucien’s bed, facing the wall-mounted flatscreen. He didn’t turn it on though, instead taking a moment to mull over his words. As the silence stretched out, Lucien found himself growing increasingly anxious. He didn’t say anything though, sensing that his godbrother was trying to find the words for his thoughts. Lucien could only hope the reprimand was over quickly.

“Alright.” Tiberius said. “Like ripping off a band-aid.”

Lucien braced himself with a tightening of his fingers over his legs.

“I owe you an apology.” Ty said.

Lucien froze.

“When we were listening to Malachi — my grand-uncle, how wild is that? — talking about everything with the parentals, I kind of had this smack-in-the-face realisation.” The older boy reached up to run a hand through his cropped hair, sighing. “I never really saw how much shit you were dealing with, hanging with me while we were growing up. Don’t get me wrong, I knew you didn’t like the friends I was making and I knew some shit had gone down between you and Harper, but I never really… got it.”

Lucien stared at his best friend in stunned silence, speechless with disbelief.

“What happened with Jayne? Man… You must have had some seriously big anger and pain built up in you to unleash it like that, even with your intention or whatever egging you on.” Tiberius leaned back, staring at the ceiling. “I knew after I found you on the beach that you’d been suffering more than I realised, but hearing and seeing you that night…? Man, I was scared.”

Lucien winced. “Ty, I’d never hurt you.”

“What?” Tiberius said, before suddenly waving a hand rapidly. “Nonono, I never meant that. I know you’d never hurt me, man. I meant I was scared of how badly I’ve fucked up. I’m your best friend, you’re my ride or die. I was stupid to think that just telling people to leave you alone was enough. I never really wanted to see how shitty my friends acted towards you.” He sighed and relaxed into the chair again. “Hell, even when you manifested, my first thought was to make you join my world. I pushed for that stupid party, I pushed you to try to become this cocky, smarmy dudebro. I wanted you to be like me.”

Lucien didn’t know what to say, staying quiet as he listened to his godbrother.

“Truth is man, I should have been like you. I got so… wrapped up in this stupid High School political game. Got so obsessed with status and my girlfriend and parties…” Tiberius reached up to palm at his eyes, and Lucien realized a moment later — thanks to his sensitive ears and nose — that his friend was crying. “I was such a jackass to you, man. I was supposed to be the one that had your back, always. Instead I ended up enabling shitty behaviour in others and was too stupid to see what it was doing to you.”

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“It’s alright.” Lucien said, unable to handle it any longer. “Really dude. It’s not like I didn’t go out of my way to piss them off. I used to specifically drag you away or convince you to go places for the express purpose of making your clique angry. I’d talk about nerdy shit we both loved in order to make them trip.” He shrugged with a wash of guilt. “Yeah, I hated high school after mom died, but I didn’t hate the people around you. It’s not like you befriended Jason. I just… didn’t fit. A square peg in a collection of round holes.”

Ty snickered, and Lucien snorted. “Yeah yeah, sex joke, very funny.” He said to the older boy, shaking his head. “Point is man, I just… I dunno. I didn’t want to ruin your fun, and a lot of it just felt like petty, dumb shit I could ignore. When I went off at you after Jason kicked my ass in school, just before the party? That was the first time it really came boiling up.” He shrugged. “But then again, he used mom against me, so of course I lost my shit. That was more anger at Harper than anything.”

“Still.” Tiberius cut in. “I feel like I could have done more.”

“Maybe.” Lucien agreed. “But not by much. You’ve always been a good friend, Ty. I never blamed you for being a bit blind, because it wasn’t malicious. You saw — see — the best in people. That’s one of the things I admire about you.”

“Ha. Thanks, I guess.”

“I mean it man. You’re so… relentlessly optimistic. I think that’s thanks to your parents.” Lucien stared at the ceiling. “Besides, I never would’ve gotten through life if you hadn’t been there to lend me a helping hand when I fell down. I think I probably would’ve turned out a lot darker if you hadn’t been there to keep my bitterness from growing too pervasive.”

“Seems like that was kind of the plan.” Ty said with a smile. “You and me together, ride or die. Our moms planned it out.”

“I’m glad they did. I can’t imagine my life without you to keep me honest.”

“Or mine without you to keep me grounded.” Ty replied. “So… Sorry. For real.”

“Me too.” Lucien said. “For not telling you the truth, and for losing my shit.”

“Gravy?” Ty asked.

“Gravy.” Lucien agreed, reaching over to bump fists with his best friend.

The two boys shared smiles and Lucien felt himself fully relax as the pressing weight of his worry over Ty’s thoughts vanished. He hadn’t realized until that moment how concerned he’d been over his best friend’s obvious reservations. Perhaps if they hadn’t had the revelations of the earlier afternoon, the conversation might have gone differently; though it wasn’t a train of thought he wanted to dwell on too heavily. Imagining scenarios of himself and Ty arguing or, even more troubling, having legitimate damage done to their friendship only served to stir his anxiety again.

Tiberius had been the constant safe point in his life since his infancy. He saw the other boy as his brother in every single way that mattered, and in a way perceived Ty as a living conscience to keep his darker impulses in check. The fact those darker impulses even existed was, obviously, a point of further concern — but after a lifetime of being treated like an unwanted wart attached to his far more likable godbrother, a bit of resentment and bitterness were inevitable. At least, that’s what he told himself.

“I do have to ask, though…” Ty said slowly, turning to Lucien. “Why Aquila?”

Lucien blinked at him for a moment, and then laughed in embarrassment as he recalled asking himself the exact same question more than once. He mulled over a few different explanations, before deciding to just go for the most simple and direct one.

“I like the subtle links back to Ancient Rome. You know I’ve always loved that part of human history, and… Hell man, it’s a double-headed eagle.” He grinned. “Why not, right?”

Tiberius blinked at him in surprise, and then laughed back with a shake of the head. “Man. Wow.” The other boy fell back into the recliner with another laugh. “Well it’s your moniker, I guess. Whatever makes you happy, brutha.”

“Though speaking of my alter-ego, we need to discuss the fact that I’m apparently going to start feeling the weight of my inherited intention more and more.” Lucien lay back on the bed, staring up at the roof. “That means that if I go out there, there may end up being more cases of me getting a little wild. Now that I know what’s causing it, hopefully I can control it, but…” He lifted his hands to stare at them, falling silent as he recalled what happened with Jayne.

“What’s it like?” Ty asked, turning his head against the soft padding of the recliner to look towards him. “When it happened, what did it feel like?”

“Hmm…” Lucien took a moment to consider how to put it into words, aware that how he described it would be important for Ty’s understanding. “It felt like pressure. You know how when you hold your breath for a long time, you can feel the pressure in your chest?”

“Yeah, it sucks when I’m doing breath training for swim competitions.”

“And you know how when you finally surface, it’s like… woah. Like you get this huge surge of relief?”

“Yeah.”

“It was kind of like that. It felt like this… pressure welling up in my chest, like I’d been holding my breath for years and suddenly it just…” He made an exploding gesture with his hands. “Letting it loose was like taking in air after suffocating. It made me feel like I was… free. Maybe even like I wasn’t just alive, I was living. I dunno how else to explain it.”

“That’s heavy.” Ty said without judgment, turning back to the ceiling. “I sort of get it, but… Also not really. I can’t imagine taking pleasure from… you know.”

“I get it.” Lucien said without concern, knowing that Ty wasn’t judging him. “It’s hard to explain. Don’t get me wrong, it’s not like I necessarily enjoyed it… It just felt liberating. It felt like I didn’t have to pretend anymore. Didn’t have to just take shit anymore, I guess.”

“I see.” His godbrother said, still staring at the ceiling. “Well at least you vented on someone who could take it.”

“As opposed to, say, a certain blond polo player?” Lucien asked slyly.

“Yeah.” Ty said with a wry tone. “As much as I’m sure you’d enjoy getting some revenge…”

“It’d be wrong.” Lucien agreed. “I know. I’d be the exact mirror of what he used to do to me, but worse.”

Ty was silent for a moment, before he sighed quietly. “Yeah. Exactly.”

“You alright?” Lucien asked as he glanced over.

“Yeah, man.” Ty said wearily. “Just still kinda bummed about how blind I was. Also, baffled by how Jason can be such a monumental dick.”

“He’s a scientific marvel.” Lucien responded glibly, and caused both of them to laugh.

“Alright.” Ty said while he pushed himself up. “I’m gonna go get some sleep. School tomorrow.”

“This is gonna sound weird… but I’m glad we have something as normal as school to deal with, after everything.”

“I agree.” Tiberius said as he made his way to the door. “Beats having to worry about supervillains and crazy magical inheritances.”

“True that.” Lucien concurred.

Ty opened the door to leave, and then hesitated on the cusp, turning back to face Lucien. “Hey Luc?”

“Yeah Ty?”

“Love you, man.”

Lucien smiled.

“Love you too, brother.”

Ty turned off the lights and closed the door, and Lucien closed his eyes.