//------------------------------// // Chapter 29 - Family Feud // Story: The Students from St. Everfree // by Morex25 //------------------------------// “So? What made the oh-so-busy Police Commissioner leave his office today, hmm? Did crime take a break? Discord asked impertinently. “Or maybe you were finally fired?” The Police Commissioner and father of the boy handcuffed in front of him ignored his son’s sass and took off his hat and placed it on the table as he took his seat opposite to his son. “What happened, Discord?” He asked with a completely serious face. “Why? Didn’t you read the arrest report?” The boy shot back brazenly. “Isn’t what you do all day? Besides sucking up to the Mayor, I mean. Oh by the way, Mayor Ivory Scroll? Total Mil….” “I thought we had a deal Discord.” Maxwell cut his son off; otherwise he would’ve continued to blabber on and on trying to get a reaction out of him. “I’ll let you borrow a police unit and equipment for your little stun and you promised you’ll behave and not get expelled.” “Undeniably! But I wasn’t misbehaving!” “Oh no? Then what do you call taking my car from the garage without telling me or asking for permission?” Not to mention his old clothes from his closet. “I figured it was better to ask forgiveness than permission.” Discord just shrugged off without a care of the situation he was in. “Besides, I thought I could take it for a ride and return it before you came back. Hell, I was even gonna replenish the gas.” Unless he wrecked the car it was a victimless misdemeanor. “You weren’t suppose to notice.” Maxwell allowed himself a mild smug tone after he searched inside one of his pockets and pulled out a cell phone. “Lucky for you, I receive a notification on my phone every time that car is driven.” “Curse you stupidly convenient App!” Seriously adults should be banned from using Apps that get their kids into trouble. “Color me surprised when the officers I sent to investigate informed me that the perpetrator was none other than my own son.” He said as he put his phone away. “Frankly I’m disappointed.” “Wouldn’t be the first time.” Discord quipped again. “This is serious Discord!” The Commissioner pressed. “I’m getting tired of dealing with the messes your attitude causes. I can’t simply sweep them under the rug and have everyone pretend nothing happened.” “Yeah, yeah, you told me already.” The boy continued to waive off his father’s words which was beginning to irritate the man. “Why did you do this Discord? And what do you want from me?” The man sighed exasperated. “If you weren’t so busy all the time you should’ve known the answer to both of your questions.” The boy responded, this time sounding a little more seriously than before. “Not this again.” Maxwell pinched the bridge of his nose. “I’m a very busy man. I’m in charge of several different precincts; I also have to deal with the District Attorney, the Mayor and The city Council. So, sorry that I can’t spend every single waking moment with you.” “If you are so busy, why are you doing here?” If he could he would’ve crossed his arms in accentuate his dissatisfaction. Not able to take much more from his son disrespect, Maxwell stood up from the chair and looked down at his son with narrowed eyes. “Indeed. Why am I even here?” “Sir! If I may be allowed to speak in private with you.” Captain Bolt interrupted preventing either of them from saying something they would regret. “Of course.” The Comissioner answered with a nod before turning to his son. “Wait here, until I figure out what to do with you.” And with that, he picked up his hat from the table, place it on his head left the room, entering into the adjacent one behind the reflective glass from where they could observe the handcuffed boy. “If I may be allowed to speak bluntly, Commissioner?” Captain Bolt asked for permission, causing his superior to sigh. “Bolt, you don’t have to ask for my permission.” The superior officer said shaking his head side to side. “We worked so many cases together, apprehended hundreds of criminals, save my life more times I can remember.”He smiled fondly at the memories of the good old times. “Not to mention you married my sister-in-law and are my son’s Godfather. You can always give it to me straight.” “In that case.” The Captain of the precinct cleared his throat. “I believe you are been too harsh with the boy, Max.” “And what do you want me to do?” Max sighed exasperated once more. He was too tired for this. “If I let him go, he’ll continue to believe he can do what he wants, whenever he wants and get away with it.” “Somehow, that reminds me of a young detective whose captain always dubbed as happy trigger loose cannon.” Bolt said with a small smile hoping to lift the mood. “One that ended up having to be paired with a no-nonsense by-the-book partner, who had to remind him not to break the law in every single case they took.” “But we always managed to capture the bad guys, you and I.” Max allowed himself to smile for a bit before he dropped it. “And see how that turned out.” He said with a grimace. “Even when everyone said you were making a mistake, you always did what was right in the end; no matter the price.” Bolt nodded in remembrance of that fateful investigation. “That made you the best of us.” “If only parenting was as easy as cracking cases, busting heads and having to deal with the old Captain.” Heck, even getting shot at wasn’t as stressful as this. “You say Discord reminds you of me, but at least I answered to the Old Ball Buster.” Ah! He would never forgive the nickname for their old captain. “If anything he is like his mother.” “He does take a lot after Eris.” Bolt conceded. “But the one he looked up to the most is you.” “Then I guess those days are over.” The commissioner crossed his arms and closed his eyes resigned. “I wouldn’t be so sure about that.” Bolt turned his head to look through the glass at Discord. “What that boy craves is approval, YOUR approval.” “Then he has a strange way of asking for it.” “That also reminds me of you trying to get the Old Ball Buster’s approval.” Bolt said with a laugh. “How many times did you two butted heads just because you wanted to prove yourself to him by doing things YOUR way, instead of listening to him?” When his old partner remained silent, he knew he hit the nail. “All you ever wanted was for him to say: ‘Good job, Maxwell! You’re a great detective.' and a pat on the back.” This caused his friend to laugh. “As if the old grump could ever speak to me without yelling.” Heck, it worried him more when the Captain didn't yelled at him. “All of Discord’s actions and troubles he gets into are a cry for attention.” Bolt said getting back to the topic at hand. “I’m not saying he doesn’t need discipline for his actions, but what he needs right now it’s his father, not the Police Commissioner.” “As always you seem to have all the answers.” Maxwell let out a small chuckle. “Remind me why I’m the one who has to wear these badges and this stupid hat.” “Because when you ask me to take the job for you I said no.” “Oh right.” Suddenly their small moment was interrupted by a knock on the door. “Excuse me, Sir?” It was Sgt. Falcon who entered the room. “I didn’t mean to interrupt but we have a … situation.” “What sort of situation?/ What sort of situation?” Both the Commissioner and the Captain asked at the same time. And Maxwell had to remain composed and faked a cough to avoid yelling “Jinx” like he had done so many times in the past to his long-time partner. “Sorry, what is it Sergeant?” “We have someone here who wants to see …the detainee.” The man avoided the use of the words “your son” since he was told the Commissioner visit was ‘all business’. “Did Discord already have his “One phone call”? Maxwell asking giving his old partner a sideway glance. “We stopped giving him those since he used his last call for a stripper and twenty boxes of pizza.” Who knew there was actually a place called “Strippers & Pizza” where you could call to order both? “He charged it to the precinct and it was non-refundable, so inadvertently ended up having a party. Lucky for us we all forgotten about Detective Coffee Run’s birthday so we pretended it was for him.” “So then, who is looking for my son, Sergeant?” “Well, you see…” [x-x-x] “Look there he is.” Sweetie Belle said looking at a figure walking slowly away. “This is your chance, Scorpan!” “I-I don’t really know…” The boy gulped audibly. “Maybe we can postpone this for a later day?” He suggested hoping to get away from this. “The more you postpone it the harder it will get.” Applebloom pulled out one of those classic sayings to convince him otherwise. “Come on Scorpan, what else is there to lose?” Thinking about it, he was already at the bottom of the barrel so the only place to go was up. “Yes, but…” “Stop being a scaredy-cat and go.” Scotaloo who was running out of patience, give Scorpan a “friendly” push in the right direction. Scorpan stumbled a few feet forward and when he turned towards the Crusaders, he found out the girls had scurried away around a corner leaving him with a little bit of “privacy”, but not far enough as to keep an eye on him. Sighing in defeat, the boy accepted his fate and convinced himself one last time to not back down. With a decisive step forward and a big breath, Scropan was ready. “Brother!” [x-x-x] After his “fateful” encounter with that Rainbow haired girl who professed to him her desire to “put a stop to him”, Tirek spent his time in his empty classroom, resting and recovering from his withdrawal. Now he felt much better than he did in the morning, but he still felt crappy. But hey, at least the body spasms were gone and taking a step didn’t felt like hundred of needles piercing his body. He ought to thank the old lady for that cider, and probably ask for more. Speaking of which, after his well deserved rest, Tirek finally left Room E-5 and made his way towards the old lady’s house to keep his word from yesterday. And after seeing whatever was it the old woman wanted to show him, he could finally decline her work offer and never had to deal with her nonsense again. Tirek walked the hallways towards the front entrance, thankfully by now it looked like everyone was already gone and even if they remained, the probability of encountering one was low, and much less someone who would actually stand in his way. And soon after, his momentarily peaceful walk was interrupted by a very familiar voice. “Brother!” Turning around, he found Scorpan walking up to him. It seemed that his “smart” little brother still didn’t get his previous message. “I told you to never call me that.” He reminded ominously. But it seemed that his cold tone didn’t work this time, because Scorpan continued his approach. And once he was right before of him, Scorpan pulled out a colorful piece of folded paper and held it in front of him. “Please Tirek, accept this.” Tirek could’ve blown him off right there and then, but even he wasn’t that above the desire known as human curiosity. “What is this?” he asked as he snatched the paper out of his brother’s hands. “It’s an apology letter.” Scorpan answered bashfully, slightly embarrassed by the deed. “I thought about what you said before and… I thought that maybe you’ve been angry with me…” He confessed. “Maybe I did or say something that made you not want to talk to me anymore and… if that’s true then I want to apologize for whatever I did that made you mad at me!” Tirek looked down at the piece of paper in his hands and he could see how much it was decorated and how neatly his brother’s handwriting was in his written apology. “Even if I don’t remember exactly what I did, there’s no excuse for my actions! I want to apologize and let you know I make up to you! Whatever you want! I’ll do it!” “Whatever I want…?” Tirek repeated softly. “Yes! I’ll do anything for you!” Scorpan exclaimed happily thinking that he was finally making some progress in repairing his relationship with his brother. After a few seconds of deep silence, Tirek finally responded. “There’s something you can do…” He say in a very low tone. “Anything! No matter what, I’ll do it!” Even if he ended up embarrassing himself in front of the school forever, he would do anything to finally get his big brother back and be a family again. “The first thing you can do is stop calling me brother!” Tirek declared with a scowl and then tore his brother’s letter in half right in front of his face. “The second thing, if for you to forget about pulling any more of these stupid things. I don’t need your apologies.” “B-but…” Scorpan tried to object but the words didn’t come out as he felt as if someone had made knot inside his throat. “We may live in the same house, go to the same school and share the same class… but that doesn’t mean we are anything to each other.” “B…But mom and…” “Just because my father married your mother doesn’t mean you should be worth anything to me.” Tirek silenced Scorpan with his cold unfeeling words. “Just like she isn’t my real mother, I am not your...” “NO!” Scorpan managed to cry before he did the unthinkable, he threw a punch towards his brother. It was a shame that despite what he was feeling his emotionally packed punch was easily caught in one of Tirek’s massive hands. “Useless.” He mocked. “It really shows the difference between you and I.” then he also did something he had never done before. He grabbed Scorpan by the neck of his shirt and picked him up, lifting him a feet in the air. “Had it been anyone else who did what you just did, I would’ve turned them into a smear in the ground.” He growled menacingly. “But you? You are not even someone who deserves it.” “T-T-Ti…rek…w-why…?” “Get it through that head of yours!” He scowled some more. “I don’t want you involved in my life anymore!” Then Tirek thoughtlessly dropped him unto the ground where he landed unceremoniously on his rear end. “The sooner you accept this, the better." And with that he turned around and left, leaving Scorpan behind with nothing but the tore pieces of his apology. "Stay they hell away from me." were his last words before his disappeared through the front entrance. By now, tears were already flowing like cascades from his eyes, but he tried his best to not let out any sobs. Scorpan then tried to stand up and regain some of the dignity he had left, but he found out to late that his legs decided to turn into jelly and made him fall down again, this time to his knees and his hands unto the floor. With his head down, Scorpan couldn’t help but stare at the tore pieces of the later he painstakingly wrote to properly express his sense of regret towards his br…towards Tirek. And what did he get from his effort? Just a torn piece of paper and an equally torn heart. Looking at the destroyed pieces of his hard work brought not even more even more sadness and tears but a feeling of anger, directed not at his brother but towards himself, which soon turned into a feeling of deep shame. Shame for how stupid and pathetic he was. All this sadness, this anger, this shame; it was too much for him to handle let alone hold back. So no more control over his emotions, Scorpan let out a scream for the excruciating pain he was feeling. “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!” Yet unleashing the vocals for his pain was not enough, so then with all the strength he could muster, he punched the floor sending a torrent of pain from his knuckles thorough his entire arm. But even then, the pain in his hand couldn’t compare with the pain in his chest, so he continued punching the floor with his fist again and again as hard as he could. As he did this, Scorpan realized the more pain he felt in his hand, the lesser the ache in his heart became, so he continued punching the floor with reckless abandon. “SCORPAN STOP!” A feminine voice called out for him and grabbed him from behind trying to pull him away, but he didn’t stop he pushed himself away from their hold and continue inflicting pain upon his hand. “STOP! YOU'RE HURTING YOURSELF!” Another girlish voice called out, and this person also took hold of him, this time by the arm to prevent him from continuing. Scorpan wanted to tell the voices to leave him be, but only more pained cries came out of his lumped throat. “THIS IS FOR YOUR OWN GOOD!” yelled a third and final voice. Scorpan tried to struggle even more but then an intense pain on the back of his head made him loose consciousness and was transported to a cold dark place. But at least, the pain was gone. [x-x-x]