Chapter Text
"Isen."
"HeeEEeey, Arlo! Fancy meeting you here!"
Arlo simply raised an eyebrow at him. "Well?"
Isen looked away. "... I just want to say that I'm still not happy about prying into his history."
Arlo sighed through his teeth. "I know. But it might be important."
"Ughhhh. Alright." Isen rubbed a hand across his face. "I looked into his old… uh… I'll just say they're friends."
"And?"
"I tried emailing them. One of them responded yesterday. I, uh… I basically told her that we're trying to make sure what happened at New Bostin doesn't happen again. And she…" Isen scuffed his feet on the floor. "She was pretty insistent that she hurt him . That it was her fault that he ended up the way he is."
Arlo's eyebrows shot straight up. "... How?"
"I mean—obviously John was doing a lot of beating up and all, so I suspect she might be a little biased, but she said that she knew he would become king, and planned to use him to rise through the ranks. Apparently, he was a late-bloomer, and, with her ability, he saw that he would become powerful." Isen looked out the window he was leaning on. "He… he was pretty brutal in punching the lights out of his former oppressors. The stronger he got, the more violent he got, and the more people became resentful and fearful of him. And the more discontent there was, the more John would be set off…"
Isen crossed his arms. "This person said that if she wasn't so obsessed with power at first, she could have stopped… all that. She says that she didn't mean to make a monster of him, that he didn't have to be that way, but that's what he became. And when she realized it and gathered her classmates to try to knock some sense into him…"
"He destroyed them all…" Arlo tapped his chin. "This… this makes an almost alarming amount of sense. His opposition to the hierarchy. His trust issues. If she was important to him, then maybe there's a lot of fear, as well. Fear of losing people close to him." His eyes widened. "… Shit."
Isen paled. "Ah."
Arlo covered his mouth with his hands. "I tried to make him come back to the hierarchy. I… I deceived him to force him to act. And then I go and make sure Seraphina— ugh. Somehow, I managed to hit where it hurts most every time. It's no wonder he…" He lifted his hands to cover his face, leaning back. "… I… I need to think. Isen?"
"Mm?"
"Please tell me if you find any other important information. We've mishandled the situation long enough." Arlo started walking away.
"Ah... Got it."
"It's about time we start doing something right. And…" He muttered under his breath, "It's about time he gets a break from the entire world hurting him."