Why, hello there! What's this? Sapphire actually posting something? Yeah, well don't get used to it.

Today, I decided to write a quick one-shot about why Gale was transferred out of Soupcan Academy. I've always wanted to explore Gale's family [y'know, considering he's of mafia blood], so this was how I did it. Enjoy!

Gale Tormenta had never really had friends. Being the only son of an esteemed member of the Tormenta crime family, he was never able to stay in one place for too long. From as far back as he could remember, Gale had never really been around kids his age. Sure, his cousins would visit sometimes and there was the occasional kid of the person who has hired by Gale's father [the latter group of which, Gale thought, were all snot-nosed little assholes], but dear old dad wasn't keen on his son being out of his sight, even with how much they traveled.

Recently, Gale had actually been around some kids his age. His father gave in to Gale's dream of wanting to be a hero, so he was sent off to Soupcan Academy in British Columbia just a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, during his time there, Gale set off a flashbang in his own face, causing major damage to his eyes and ears.

Now, Gale was in a hospital in New York. Ever since his father had brought him back to where he was currently situated, Gale had gone under a variety of operations to recover his eyesight and hearing. At the moment, his hearing was recovering steadily, though his eyes were still healing from a more recent surgery. Gale moved his paw across the bandages covering his eyes, watching the vague dark shape of his hand move, contrasting against the the dim amounts of light seeping in. It wasn't great entertainment, but hey, it was something until he finally got to take these damn bandages off. He could hear the door to his room open, followed by a pair of high heels tapping against the tiled floor.

"Ya enjoying yourself, Gale?" Asked the nurse.

"Ah, you know us cats, Dot." Gale jokingly said. "Entertained by the simplest things."

Dot was an old friend of the Tormenta family. Back in the family's more prolific days, they had a large presence in New York, and Dot was a go-to if you needed medical assistance without asking too many questions. She'd known Gale from any time he was living in New York, and was someone Gale's father trusted deeply.

"So, how were things in Canada?" Dot asked. "Ya know, before you went and Helen Kellered yourself."

"Good. Great, actually." Gale explained. "I made some friends, I got to use my powers a whole lot-"

"That sounds nice." Dot said. "By the way, what part of your school handbook instructed you to set off a flashbang in ya damn face?"

"Well, I was fighting some guy in an underground laboratory, and needed to get him out of my way quickly." Gale explained, followed by several seconds of awkward silence. "Are you still there? I expected you to say something snarky."

"No, I'm just trying to figure out if it's the pain meds talking." Dot quipped. Gale couldn't help at chuckle a little at how ridiculous it sounded. "What the hell brought ya to an underground lab?"

"Honestly, I don't think you would believe me if I told you." Gale said, trying in his head to even recount what started that whole ordeal.

"Gale, I work for a mafia made up of cat people. You could say a talking pigeon did it and I would believe you." Dot told him.

Honestly, Gale just didn't want to talk about the fun times he had at Soupcan. His father transferred him out so quickly he never even got a chance to say goodbye to his friends. He missed the lot of them; his roommate Briny, his buddy Tor, Guy and Ernis and their amazing cooking, even that asshole Hansen. It was only a few weeks, but he had the time of his life.

Gale's thoughts of his good times with his friends were interrupted as he heard a knock at the door. "I'll get that." Dot told him. As she stood up, the door swung open as a familiar voice filled the room.

"Hello, Dot." Mr. Tormenta greeted the woman. "I hope you've been taking good care of my boy."

"Hello, Hunter. He's been doing well, telling me about that weird-ass school you sent him to." Dot explained as the feline-like man entered the room.

Hunter pulled up a chair and sat next to his son's bed. "Dot, would you mind giving us a moment alone?"

"Of course." She said before exiting the room.

Gale turned his head to the vague shape that he assumed was his father. "Hey, dad."

"Hello, Gale. Glad to hear you're doing better." Hunter said. "Listen, I know you're probably still upset about leaving the school."

"Oh really, what gave you that idea?" Gale asked sarcastically. "Was it the fact that I tried to scratch you to shit the moment you told me?"

Hunter sighed deeply, knowing this would be a hard conversation to have."Son, you have to understand that it was a huge risk at all to send you there alone. I didn't want to, but you always wanted to be a hero, so I took a chance and let you go."

"Oh yeah, "let me go", is that right?" Gale asked him. "So it was just a coincidence that Marbles happened to be working at the school store?"

"I…" Hunter was choking on his words for a second. "I didn't know about that. Your cousin must've just been in the area."

Gale was starting to get annoyed. "Dad, he lives in Baltimore. Why else would Marbles be in Forgotten Falls unless he was there for me? Y'know, like someone wanted to keep an eye on me?"

"Okay, that is bullshit and you know it." Hunter snapped back. "Why do you even care about that school so much?"

"Not the school, the people." Gale corrected him. "I made some actual friends at Soupcan, unlike when I was with your ever-travelling ass."

"Excuse me?" Hunter was starting to notice he was yelling, but he didn't care. "We only had each other back then, Gale! We were the only people we could trust! Wasn't it enough that I was with you every moment I could be?"

"Yeah, the thing is the "could be" part." Gale explained. "Do you really know what my childhood was like, Dad? Because I can only remember "Hey Gale, I have a job tonight. Stay in the motel room. There's some leftover pizza in the fridge. If you hear gunshots, hide under the bed." THAT was my childhood, Dad. The only thing that ever changed was the motel room!"

"I was risking my goddamn life every night to- !" Hunter stopped mid-sentence. He realized he could only make things worse by yelling, so he tried to de-escalate for once. "Look, I'm sorry you had to leave behind your friends. Once you get better, we'll figure something out with another hero school."

"Well, why the hell can't I just go back to Soupcan?"' Gale asked, still very angry.

"Because I don't trust Soupcan anymore!"'Hunter exclaimed, walking towards the door. "We'll talk about this when you get better. For now, I think you need some time alone." Before Gale could even respond, he heard a door slam shut.

"Dad? Dad, you better not have fucking left!" Gale shouted. "You piece of shit, come back here!" Gale heard the door open again, but he could tell it wasn't his dad as soon as they spoke.

"Gale, calm down." Dot told him. "Jesus, I'm sorry your old man's such a prick." She sat down where Hunter was a moment ago, and Gale could see through the bandages that she had something in her hands.

"What are you holding?" Gale asked, sounding bitter from his failed argument.

"Someone sent flowers for you." Dot explained. "They attached a picture with the message "Get well soon, Gale!", so I'm assuming these are your friends."

"Wait, really?" Gale said, his voice turning from bitter anguish to hopeful curiosity. "What's the picture of?"

"Well, I'm assuming these are your friends." Dot said, looking down at the photo. "There's some scrawny redhead kid, some chick with blue hair, a blonde guy with a strangely long neck-"

"A muscular, brown-skinned guy and a kid wearing a utility belt?" Gale excitedly asked.

Dot looked back down at the picture. "Uh, yeah. Well, I don't see a utility belt, but the last kid has a shit ton of pockets on his uniform that I don't think were always there."

"Dot, can you do something for me?"

"That's all I've been doing since you got here, kid. Fire away."

"When I get these bandages off in a couple days… can you show me that picture the moment they're off?"

Dot smiled a little. "Sure, kid."

Thanks for reading! So, I wrote this whole thing in one day based off of an idea I'd been brewing. I probably won't be coming back to this storyline much, but I thought it would be a nice little something to hold y'all over before Chapter 2 of I'll Be Your Wings. See ya around!