In the bustling city of New York things move at a faster pace than in most cities around the country and that goes double for the city-like campus of Elextrian Academy. A week has blown by since Oliver first set foot on the campus and things have been going good for him as he slowly started to make it his home. It's the day before school and he's spent the better half of the week working on a new project in his room or exploring every inch of the campus. At the moment he's in the lobby of the dorm sitting off in the far corner by himself staring at his battle glasses with the mask extended looking back at him as a soft smile appears on his face. "I guess I should start working on redesigning this before people from the league recognize me out here. I really don't want to cause any unwarranted problems for anyone at this school, but who am I kidding I wouldn't be able to change anything about his mask even if I was forced to. Now that I think about it I wonder if she even remembers it."
Off in the distance loud footsteps and voices are growing closer as they eventually catch Oliver's attention causing him to look up and accidentally drop the mask on the floor with a thud. Elijah and the others are walking towards him with smiles on their faces except for Tyler who is standing next to Abigail with an annoyed look plastered on his face. Oliver looks at them as he shoots his hand down to reach for the mask but Elijah beats him to it with a smirk. "Oh what do we have here?"
Oliver nonchalantly says, "The mask I use for the bot battles, and I'm thinking of developing a new one so please give it back so you don't mess with the hardware."
Elijah looks at the mask and then at Oliver with a sly look on his face before handing it back to him as Oliver's face gets a little red and he looks away quickly. "You know something, that design looks really familiar, how did you come up with that?"
Oliver looks at the mask one more time before he retracts it back into the glasses trying to avoid eye contact with Elijah as the girl's conversation comes to an end. Abigail and Claire have smiles on their faces as they sit on the chairs next to him, and Tyler notices how close they are getting, and gives him an annoyed look as he sits down. "Uh, honestly I have no clue man. One night when I was working on the mask the design just came to me and I added it on."
Abigail looks at him and then back to the glasses as Oliver notices he begrudgingly hands them over to her. The girls study the glasses and press the button as the mask slowly extends out again. "Oh, so this is the matrix sync device you created for the robot? The crew has been going crazy taking apart the robot, but they have been wanting me to ask you why you wanted them to do that. It's concerning since the preliminary match is in two weeks and we have half a robot undone sitting in the lab."
Abigail and Claire look at him with curiosity written on their faces, causing Oliver to stir a little bit but he composes himself. He slightly smirks and pulls out a black disk with the name Broken Kingdom written on it. He places it on the coffee table as all their eyes drift to it when he double taps it causing a reddish orange figure to appear. He puts his hands on both sides of the image and stretches his fingers causing the figure to separate into each individual part. "According to the rules I'm not allowed to work in the lab until the first day of school, so I needed to make sure every member of the team had a basic understanding of my bot. The other reason was because I needed to make some changes to fit the requirements of the Interscholastic League Association." (Or the ILA for short).
Oliver takes out a second disk but it's blue and he places it on top of the other one which creates a new image. Instead of the slender and simplistic design of the original, it has a faded/chipped black coating all over its body, with orange tape wrapped from its palm up to the middle of its forearm. The body looks more rustic with less coating and the gears fully exposed on the abdomen, legs and arms. The head has a blue hood that starts from the neck and covers most of its face. "I have been working on this new design along with a few more upgrades and downgrades to make it regulation. Tomorrow when I get to the lab we will put the robot back together along with all the upgrades. I hope that is reason enough and I know you didn't invite me out of my room to talk about my plans for the robot, so Eli what is the big emergency?"
Tyler looks at Oliver as the others are focused on the figure and in an annoyed voice says, "Tonight the school is throwing a bonfire to celebrate the coming school year and they wanted to see if you would join us. I told them a loner like you would rather be in their room doing whatever, but they insisted. We don't have much time since we need to be there to help set up."
Abigail and Elijah finally look up at Oliver waiting for his response as Claire is still studying the figure. Oliver looks at them all and a small smile appears on his face. "Oh, I heard about that a few nights ago. I assumed the 4 of you would go together, so I hadn't really thought about it. I mean it does sound interesting, but I wouldn't want to intrude."
Elijah sighs softly as he walks over and softly punches Oliver in the shoulder, "Ollie, we are asking if you want to join us not if you are going, so you wouldn't be intruding."
A somber look starts to form on Oliver's face as the 3 of them have a worried look on theirs, but he takes a deep breath and gives them a soft smile, "Sure, I wouldn't mind tagging along with you."
The girls smile as they start making their way towards the door, while he stays back and grabs Tylers attention. "You're from New York, right? I was wondering if you knew the best way to get to Litrial Academy? A friend of mine is currently enrolled there and they wanted me to visit if I was ever in town. I thought that the sooner I visit the better."
Tyler pulls his arm from Oliver's grip and looks at him slightly annoyed, "If you're as good as Eli says you are then you will get to visit the school during the Divisional round. It's always at their campus. Regardless, we should really get to the activities field to help."
Oliver watches as they all get ahead of him as he looks at his scarred hands and closes them softly and pulls out some black gloves from his pocket and slips them on. He looks at the disks on the table and smiles as he picks them up and puts them into his pocket and runs to catch up to the others. "Divisional round, huh?"
A couple minutes go by as Oliver stays a step behind everyone as they are laughing and talking to each other enjoying themselves and they eventually make it to the activities field and split up.
Claire and Abigail help hang up the banners as Elijah and Tyler are setting up the materials to be burned in the fire. Oliver finds himself alone as usual watching over the field and everyone working so hard to get it all set up and off in the distance he notices a girl alone having trouble moving the tables out. He does his best to mind his own business by looking around at the other people but when a group walks by her without even looking in her direction he instinctively gets up and makes his way over. "Uh, are you the only one doing this? I just saw those people walk by you without even glancing over. Do you need any help? I honestly don't mind."
She looks up at him softly, her face a little red and softly nods at him as she struggles to pull the table from the storage room as he lifts the other end off the ground making it easier to maneuver. "Yeah I ended up getting the short end of the stick, because everyone jumps at the chance to help Elijah and Tyler with the fire set up. I only have 5 more tables to deal with, so thank you."
Oliver smiles at her softly causing her face to get more red as they take out the last of the tables and set them up near the concession stand. Once they finish Oliver walks back over to the bench he was at and sits down watching the others finish setting up. The girls notice him all alone and look at each other like they made up a plan with their eyes and make their way over to him. They each grab one of his arms and drag him from the bench to help hang the flyers and all the other small things that are still needed. Tyler and Elijah are surrounded by girls setting up the bonfire as Claire and Abigail have a jealous look on their faces. "Look at them over there. They are loving all the attention. Ah, we can punish them later."
A few hours have gone by as everything is finished up and the party is in full swing. The students have flooded the field and they separated into their little groups laughing and joking around with each other. The chaperones are roaming the party making sure the kids aren't getting into trouble as the kids are sneakily getting into trouble. Music fills the once calm and quiet field as Oliver finds himself sitting alone as usual at the furthest table from everyone enjoying himself watching the party. "I could be back in my room working on my project, but I promised myself I would try to be normal again."
Oliver looks around at the party one last time as he runs his fingers through his white hair and reaches into his pocket pulling out his invention. Pandora's Box. He types into the small screen on one of the sides and brings out a mini tool box and his battle glasses as he begins working on them, forgetting about the party behind him. Minutes flow by in what feels like seconds as Oliver is so focused on the glasses he doesn't notice Elijah and the others walking over and sitting next to him. "Ollie, come on man we didn't invite you out so you could work. Just relax under the moonlight and enjoy yourself, bud. You have all the time in the world after the party."
Oliver looks at them sitting around him as he nods softly and slowly puts away the tools and the glasses in his coat pocket. He watches them laughing and joking around with each other as his hands start to shake slowly. He looks up at the night sky and a soft smile creeps across his face as he suddenly gets up and makes his way over to the fire. Abigail looks at him and tries to get up to stop him, but Elijah stops her and gives Claire a kiss on the forehead before making his way over to Oliver. "How are you actually holding up man? I know things have changed so suddenly it feels like you haven't had time to adjust fully but the fact that you're even here is amazing, Ollie. I hope you love it here as much as I do because I feel like my mind is clearer having my little brother around, haha. I know parties and you don't really mix well at all, but I figured it was better than sitting up in your room and working."
Oliver has a small smile on his face listening to Elijah and does his best to hide it from him as he tosses a branch into the fire. He takes a deep breath and adjusts his glasses as he rolls up his sleeves. "I'm okay I swear, but sometimes being around so many people laughing and enjoying themselves makes me think of them and it feels like my heart is being squeezed. I just needed a little moment to breathe is all, and hey don't be getting a big head because you're only a month older than me. I am happy I made the decision to come here, but I have this nagging feeling of wanting to push everyone and everything away from me, so they can't push me away in the end. I just need to accept that eventually everyone leaves."
Elijah looks at him with a heavy feeling in his heart as he wraps his arm around his neck and pulls him close as people start getting close to the fire. "Look, I know I ended up leaving when you really needed someone to stick around, but that wasn't because you were pushing me away or anything. I just felt like in order for me to grow into the person I was meant to Elextrian was the best place. Now that I have you back I am not leaving your side ever again. I can promise that those 3 won't leave you either if you show them the real you, but that's something you need to decide for yourself. Also I was wondering if I can ask you about something?"
Oliver looks over at the table and chuckles to himself as they all look away quickly trying not to get caught looking at them, "I know you didn't leave because I pushed you away, so don't worry about that. I just can't see myself being like the old me again, but you always were right about the emotional side of things. I will keep that in mind as things move forward. Also yeah I'm all ears, but there is something I was wondering about myself."
Elijah looks at Oliver and nods softly as he tosses a couple sticks into the fire. He can hear Oliver fidget around with the key that's always around his neck and smiles softly. "Did she also send you a letter?"
Elijah drops the stick he was about to toss into the fire as he loosens the grip around Oliver's neck. "As usual we're on the same page about things. I was planning on asking you if those feelings you had for her back then are still there somewhere in your mind, because you might not see it but for me it's clear as day you're starting to seem like the old you. I would ask what it said, but that look in your eyes makes it seem pretty personal. To answer your question, no she didn't write me a letter. "
Oliver's normally expressionless face starts to loosen into a genuine smile as he does his best to keep it from coming out to no avail. Elijah laughs at Oliver trying to hide his smile as he pats him on the back leaving him alone with his thoughts and heading back to the table. Oliver mutters something to himself thinking Elijah is further away than he actually was and his eyes seem brighter and more full of hope. "Yeah, they never really left my mind."
A smile creeps up on Elijah's face as his heart starts to feel a little lighter. He pretends not to hear the words and keeps walking towards his friends at the table shooting them a double thumbs up. Oliver keeps looking into the fire as the music starts to fade and the crackling of the wood fills his ears. He takes a deep breath but this one feels lighter and more full of life as he makes his way back over to the table. "Hey, I just wanted to let you all know that I am going to head back up to my room. I have something important that I need to do, but please enjoy yourselves tonight. I will be fine, so I guess I will see you all tomorrow. Also, thanks for ya know."
Oliver gives them a soft smile as he puts his hand into his coat pocket and walks away from them and shoots his hand in the air as a goodbye. They all have the urge to get up and stop him but the calmness of his voice and the look in his eyes causes them to let him go. A soft smile creeps onto his face as he slowly makes his way to the dormitory. Memories of hanging out in his parents lab with Elijah, and Riley are flooding his mind. "Dammit! Not now!"
He finally makes it up to his room as he sits at the desk and slams his hands into it as he starts crying angrily about how his life as gone since the incident. Minutes seem to move slowly as all the pain and heartache in his mind torment him until he feels the glasses in his pocket and everything slowly starts to fade.. He takes out a piece of paper from his desk and starts writing a name up at the top. -The Broken Crowned Mage- "I can't keep letting my emotions get the best of me anymore, and I need to remember why I'm here. Just like me he's no longer a King, but eventually moment by moment we will work our way back up to the crown. For the first time in a long time I see an empty path out in front of me, and for right now that's enough."