Hyperion

"There comes a time when a man must pay for his sins. When he must face the overwhelming consequences of his actions," diverting his eyes from the clouds, he looked back down towards us as he continued, "That time, comes for every man, someday." Placing his hand on Jack's shoulder who was almost as tall as him, "Your day of reckoning however, has been postponed because out of all the staff, I'm the one who caught you."

The Merciful Deity. The universal name... er, sorry nickname for the teacher that interrupted our introduction ceremony at the rooftop.

He was called so for obvious reasons but for the sake of the 1% that might not read in between the lines he was the saving grace for many who had committed violations against the school's code of conduct.

He did not believe in students getting suspended or expelled so he usually handled the issues himself by giving the offenders punishments.

I know, it doesn't seem like enough to obtain such a divine title but considering some of the violations the students were involved in, the title sometimes pales in comparison to the man.

I had never had the chance to interact with this teacher considering I'm usually keeping a low profile but it seemed Jack and him were well acquainted.

Having dragged us outside towards the school compound he issued our punishment. Picking leaves. Considering the size of the compound I kept wondering whether he was a teacher or the gardener because we wouldn't be able to finish in time for any class.

I could just find a nice tree and...

That's probably not a good idea anyway.

The stare that was brazenly itching the back of my neck finally got me to turn around and as I had thought, this Jack fellow seemed to have a problem with his eyes.

Taunting him, "What? You gonna ask me out?"

His eyes bulging in surprise and then quickly squinting in frustration, "Yeah sure, like what you doin' later? Wanna go slit our wrists in a pool of water?"

Breathing out slowly in exhaustion, "You still think I was trying to jump, don't you?"

Bending down he started to pick the leaves as he said, "Well, you sure as hell weren't gonna fly."

Before I could answer, he sat down with a bunch of leaves in his hand and pointing towards me continued, "You know what's worse than death? Life. Nothing as certain as death. Nothing as uncertain as life. You think, nothing will get better and then the next day nothing gets better and then the day after that but you see, life is uncertain, so it could... get better. And then again it could get worse so, there's that."

Dropping the leaves he had just picked he said, "I can bet you anything, these leaves would have wanted nothing more than more time, on that tree. Looking at them all shrivelled and crumbly, I can tell, and so can you."

Shaking my head, "For the last time I was not-" waving his hand really quickly he said we should drop it and as I was about to comply he said that's all I would get for free.

"Ah, Afro baby!" Pausing for a second, I said it again and there was a prolonged silence. I said it the third time and a facial feature to the side of his nose started to twitch. Anatomy wasn't my thing.

As soon as the twitching started I snapped my fingers and pointed at him, "That's it right?" Snapping my fingers in frustration now, "Took me so damn long."

After this was a brief silence. A silence that I had begun to penetrate with a slight giggle that dramatically increased in sync with his twitching face. The giggle gradually metamorphosed into laughter, glorious laughter rarely found anywhere other than the halls of a king that has checkmated his enemies.

Jack was not my enemy, he was just a pawn that had overplayed his hand and granted, some of it was my fault to begin with but...

"Don't," he said while anticipating I would say it again, "Don't you dare," shaking his head to warn me of the repercussions of continuing this course of action.

Usually it would have played out this way. I say the name he doesn't want to hear and I run for the hills while he chases me cursing at my heels. I'm sure that's where your mind was off to as well. You know that buzzer that goes off at the end of a basketball game, imagine it going off in your head right now because that's not what happened.

Mainly because I, the benevolent king in this scenario chose to bestow him with royal pardon, this being our first meeting and his first offence, I figured it'd be best to keep things civil.

He looked pretty fast as well and I'm not one to play a losing game so.

Having reached an understanding we resumed our punishment like the strangers we were.

I went on ahead a bit so I could talk to myself. It's my favourite pastime.

And even though alot of people act like they don't, they all do. I just do it out loud.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Xavier having no luck with gathering additional information, went back to the mental institution to check on the patient he had brought the previous night.

This was not the first time he was here since all the nurses he met seemed to be on friendly terms with the good officer already.

Entering a certain office, he removed his cape and the British lady who was on a phone call beckoned for him to come in.

He took a seat as she wrapped up her call that seemed a bit too personal to be taken with the office line.

This fact however escaped the worried officer who had only hoped there had been some progress with the boy he had brought to them.

Placing the phone down, she smiled and this began a series of questions from both ends about health, family and the sort which both were not interested in and yet carried out so well it was almost convincing that they were.

After the foreplay was done, "So Dr. Hybock, is there anything you can tell me?"

Smiling slightly she said, "Please, call me Gladice, " getting up, she began to walk out of the office as he followed, "As for the boy, we had to keep him sedated because he lashes out every chance he gets."

Looking to the side she noticed his countenance fall into desperation and as always she was impressed with how attached Xavier was to anyone he had decided to help.

"We do have one thing however," his eyes lighting up once more, "It's not necessarily a good thing but it's progress I suppose."

Impatient, "Will you tell me already Dr. Hybock??" Looking at him intently for a bit he then said, "Gladice?" As he scratched the back of his head in embarrassment.

"When he woke up today, he tried to get out of his room. When I sent some of the nurses to restrain him he finally spoke. He shouted 'Hyperion,' 'Hyperion,' 'Hyperion.' Right until he was put to sleep that is all he said."

Reaching his room, she held him back so he wouldn't enter and as he looked back he asked, "What do you think it means?"

Letting his arm go, she gently pushed back her glasses, "It could mean a number of things to be honest. From all I've seen however, for a case like this, it could possibly have almost no bearing to the real problem.

I intend to watch how he behaves for a few days before I prod into this issue further. It is easy to miss the subtleties all because you are preoccupied with what seems to be the clincher. Isn't that right? Mr. Xavier?" Totally omitting the 'h' which somewhat bothered the good officer a little but not enough to show outwardly.

With a smile that showed he was holding back more than he was going to say, "That's, that's why you're the expert ma'am, er, I mean, Gladice."