With a sigh Andrew conceded the point.

"Okay, I'll admit that some people can already handle themselves to some extent but using her as an example was a low blow." Glynda smiled but there was some sadness in her eyes as she knew using his team against him was harsh move.

"I just wanted you to remember that there are some students who are much stronger than they let on so don't count them out before they've even had a chance to prove you otherwise."

"Alright, I get it. I'm still their teacher though so I do have some right to be worried about them passing this test."

"You're acting more like a farther then a teacher." The words were out of her mouth before she realised and she quickly put her hands over her face. "I'm sorry! I didn't mean to…" Andrew cut her off by quickly raising his hand

"I know." His head began to swim in unwanted memories and he force his eye closed and pushed them back to where they belong. Glynda was about to stand up so before she got to her feet he went for the door.

"Andrew, it's okay I'll leave. I've finished my break so you can…." Once again, he cut her off by raising his hand.

"I'm done here too. See you later Glynda." His voice was flat and monotone with no hint of emotion behind it. He continued walking and was relieved that she didn't follow him, he knew she meant no malicious intent in her words but hearing them aloud unhinged his mind. He didn't want to ever be a farther figure to anyone believing his past experiences with them gave him nothing to work with.

"How did it go from no one knowing to everyone and their mothers having the whole story." He said to himself. "Sometimes I wish I never said anything…. But as he's always right about everything, he was right about that too."

Years earlier.

The gym was quiet, only a few students were in there and Andrew was busy letting out his built-up frustrations on a punching bag. The sound of his fists hitting the leather of the bag louder than it needed to be. He was confused, ever since his outburst in his teams room a couple of weeks ago, he had been making amends to them. Ulysses had excepted him and hadn't changed his opinion of him, Lauren had had a chat with him and told him something very personal in an attempt to help him open up.

"Why can't I be a normal person for once!" he sped up his punches and didn't notice the pain slowly building up in his hands. They all wanted to help him but he found it so difficult to talk about it, he never wanted to experience his past again but without context to his life before they couldn't understand why it was problematic for him to explain.

Eventually he stopped attacking the bag and held onto it. He could feel the sweat pour off his head and face so just waited there for a moment while he got his breath back. He was wearing his only casual clothes he had, a plain grey t-shirt and a pair of black work out pants with two white strips down the outside of each leg. Suddenly he heard footsteps coming towards him and thought it was someone wanting to use the punching bag. He pushed himself off to see Chris standing before him wearing a more colourful shirt with some kind of creature on it he didn't know and a towel around his neck.

"Hi Andrew, how you doing? Worn yourself out yet?" Andrew took a deep breath

"Not yet, still got some energy in me."

"In that case, do you mind if I work out with you? It helps me to have a partner, makes me work harder. I make it a competition." Andrew reluctantly nodded

"Sure. Anything in mind?" Chris pointed towards the treadmills and Andrew gave an approving nod.

Once they were set on the machines they began, Chris starting at a steady jogging pace while Andrew was only walking as he hadn't done much leg training this session.

"You're not giving me much competition. You sure you want to do this?" Andrew looked over to his partner and then back to his machine and upped the speed to match. He didn't want to but he felt as though he couldn't back down from this challenge. After 10 minutes of jogging, Chris increased his speed so Andrew followed suit. After another 10 minutes Chris lowered his speed but Andrew kept his the same.

"Not a good idea to go all out. Especially if you're not prepared for it. Best to build it up slowly."

"I've done worse, trust me."

"That's the thing, I don't. Well not really. I hardly know you. None of us do." Andrew hit the stop button on his treadmill and put his hands on the side bars.

"First Lauren now you. I know you want to help me but let me deal with this in my own time." Chris stopped his treadmill but at a more gradual pace.

"Lauren told me about your chat. She also told me about how you reacted and that it's not a simple fix. I can understand that but if you don't start trusting us to help you then we'll never be able to. We want to help you." Andrew got off the treadmill and walked away, Chris followed him noting that he wasn't moving at a pace that meant he was trying to lose him, he just wanted to change the location.

They went to the far end of the gym where there were some sparing mats that were supposed to be used for supervised hand to hand lessons. Andrew stopped

"As I told her, it's not easy for me. You have to understand that, please." Chris gave him a warm smile and then remembered that Lauren told him that Andrew did open up a bit after their fight so had an idea.

"Tell you what then, instead of a foot race how about a friendly sparing match?" Andrew looked confused for a moment then shrugged

"Sure, bet you've been wanting to punch me for some time so let's get this out of the way." Chris slapped him on the shoulder and walked onto the mat while taking his shirt off whereas Andrew kept his on.

"Take your shirt off, it'll be better if you did."

"I'm good." Was all he replied in a tone that told Chris to drop it. They then both bowed to each other and then went into a fighting stance. With a flash, they started fighting, Chris using his tiger style martial art and Andrew sticking to his unique boxing. While they were fighting, Chris tried to talk to Andrew.

"Your good at fighting. Where did you learn, what school?" Andrew grunted

"None, picked this up back home."

"Really where's that?" Andrew was more focused on the fight so waited till one of them won a point before continuing. After he won the round he said

"Port town of Rock's Rest. Learnt it from a fighting pit champion." They then started the next round.

"Interesting. Never heard of a fighting pit. I was taught at Signal, like most people here but it shows that you can learn to fight anywhere." Andrew grunted again so Chris continued. "What's this fighting pit then, a training dojo or something?"

"It was a pit, you fight in it. You either win or you get the shit beaten out of you." Chris stepped back from the fight.

"What? Are you serious?" Andrew lunged in to continue the fight.

"Sorry but that's the truth. What's wrong school boy? Didn't think there was anything barbaric like that anywhere in Remnant." Andrew thought he had the upper hand until Chris landed a decisive point so he backed off to start the next round.

"It's just surprising that's all. Guessing that your home town doesn't follow the kingdoms rules so closely."

"It's why it's there." They then started fighting again and Chris was surprised how much he was getting out of Andrew through fighting so he asked another question.

"Was the pit champion your father?" an innocent question but one with a terrible back lash as Andrew sent a punch flying at Chris' face which he only just dodged and from the force of the air he felt from it, he could have lost a few teeth.

"What the hell! No blows above the neck jackass." Andrew looked as though there was an evil aura coming from him.

"Shut up!" Andrew shouted

"What? I was just asking."

"Well don't!" Andrew then turned away from the fight and went to walk away. Chris was annoyed because he was starting to know who his partner was at long last but all his progress was for nothing now.

"Look I'm sorry if I said something wrong but if you don't talk to me then how am I supposed to know."

"You know damn well that's not a good subject for me. Lauren told me that Ulysses had spoken to you both about my chat with him so you know that my father is a sore subject."

"All I knew was that you had problems at home and your father was a main part of that. I mean it I'm sorry, I'm just trying to find out something about you." Andrew stopped

"You don't want to know, trust me."

"There you go again, trust me! How can I trust you when I don't know you!"

"I don't know you either so we're even." Chris was determined to get Andrew to talk so decided to tell him about his dad instead.

"Fine then I'll go first. My name is Chris Lionheart, son of professor Lionheart at Haven academy and if you think you had daddy issues then you're not the only one!" Andrew turned so slowly that Chris became nervous as to what would greet him. Andrew's face showed ill-disguised contempt for what he was about to say but he was standing still and was waiting for him to continue.

"My family comes from a very long line of hunters, right back to when they were founded after the great war. We made a vow to the king of Vale that as long as we remain we will honour the hunter's oath. As a tradition, the eldest child of each generation would become a hunter."

"Wow, so your what some kind of nobility or something." Andrew was not impressed

"You could say that."

"So that's why you're here, tradition?"

"I'm here because my older brother died before he could become a hunter." Andrew didn't answer, he did however change his face to something more respectful so Chris carried on. "He was an amazing hunter, attended all the combat schools, honed his skills and was the pinnacle of what a hunter should be. My father was so proud of him that I doubt he even knew he had a second son. Then one day he got sick and just kept getting sicker until a week later he couldn't take a breath and passed away. Right after the funeral, my dad told me that I had to pick up where he left off. To become a hunter and honour our family's oath. Suddenly I was real to him but only because now he needed me, he didn't care one bit about me just our family oath which is now on my shoulders."

Andrew change his look again, his face showing some remorse over the fact that Chris had lost someone just like Lauren. It didn't change the way he felt about Chris' relationship with his father.

"I'm sorry for your loss but it doesn't sound like you have much in the way of dad issues. So what if he made you a hunter, you look quite at home with it."

"Only because I have to be!" Chris snapped back. "I was already living my own life, I wanted to be a musician. He didn't care what I wanted to be before but then I had to take up this oath. But comparing me to my brother, it's easy to see why my father was always disappointed with me. I did everything I could to become a hunter but I was always put up to my brothers standards and I'm no were near as good as he was." Andrew began looking at the floor as he took in several deep breaths.

"You're a disappointment to your dad you say?" the way how Andrew said it sounded as though Chris had hit something.

"That's right, everything my brother did was great. Me, it was always "you can do better". He never treated me as anything more than the spare he had to use because his masterpiece was gone." Andrew stood there silent, unmoving, Chris wasn't even sure he was still breathing. He was about to say something until Andrew took a whimpered breath.

"I would kill to have a father like yours." That was unexpected, Chris didn't think he would say that. His mind began to wonder, if his father was an improvement then what did he come from.

"Are you serious?" Chris replied, Andrew looked angry now

"AM I SERIOUS?!" he yelled and in a flash, he removed his shirt. Chris had no idea why he did that until he saw what it was hiding.

His body was covered in scars, blemishes and other marks that told of unknown punishment that he had endured. There were even marks that looked like burns which made Chris take a breath. All these old injuries were all on his torso and shoulders with it extending down past his waist and he could imagine that there were more on his back as well.

"My god…" he breathed. Andrew was still angry

"Your father was disappointed with you, well mine hated the sight of me!" now things were starting to come together.

"He did all that to you?" again Chris could hardly speak the words

"Every single damn one." There was a pause of silence and then Andrew carried on. "To him, I was a punching bag. Something to take his frustrations out on. Ever since I can remember he has been the source of all my pain, on an almost daily basis I had to receive some kind of a beating. All the time he did it he would yell at me, telling me I was worthless, a mistake and nothing but a retch. When he'd eventually leave me alone, I would lay there in silence just praying to anyone that he wouldn't come back."

"Why didn't you tell anyone?" Andrew charged up to Chris and grabbed his neck, it wasn't too hard but Chris knew Andrew wasn't going to let him go.

"This maybe difficult for you to understand but I was terrified of him. I was a prisoner there for 15 years and that kind of torture leaves marks on you that go far deeper than what's on the surface. I was afraid that no one would believe me and for drawing attention to it, he would make it worse."

Chris didn't move or try to remove Andrews hand, he just stood there taking in what his partner was saying. It all made sense to him now, why he was the way he was. Andrew had been warped by his father in a way that any social interaction led him to think that he would be attacked. As a defence, he would attack first which explained why his temper was so short and why he didn't want to be a part of a team in the first place. The quiet he coveted so much also came to light as when things were quiet he knew he was safe but when someone spoke it was taking him back there every time, thinking that he would be beaten. His mind was broken and Andrew was right, he couldn't even begin to imagine what that was like.

"I'm sorry, if I'd known I wouldn't have made you relive this." He was completely sincere in what he said and Andrew picked up on it and slowly released his grip on Chris' neck. Andrew wasn't even aware he was doing it, it was an instinctive response to him. Once again, he realised he was still trapped in the nightmare of his past. Andrew turned to walk away and picked up his shirt but then felt a hand on his shoulder.

"Don't leave. Come on let's go and find somewhere to sit down." Andrew took a while to respond but did nod eventually with a single nod. Chris then grabbed his shirts and they both left the gym, once they were outside they went to a small sitting area which functioned as a café area but being late there was no one there. They both sat down at one of the tables as Andrew put his shirt back on.

"I can see why people make you uncomfortable. With your only human interaction being that it's not hard to see why you are the man you are. Wasn't there anyone else you could go to? Speak with?"

"It was a small town and the people there all had similar characteristics."

"What about the pit fighter?" Andrew rested his head in his hands before he answered.

"He was not a friend in any stretch of the imagination. Just the man who taught me how to fight. I only entered the arena in a desperate attempt to commit suicide." Chris took a deep breath at this omission.

"My god." Andrew didn't move or respond. "But you didn't die. I'm guessing you decided to fight back?"

"Only because I was too scared to die. I barely got out of that fight in one piece. The pit fighter saw me and said I was pathetic so he taught me how to fight properly."

"He sure did, you can definitely hold your own in a fight."

"I didn't want to fight in the pit but it made me stronger. After that his beatings would have less impact, i hoped."

"So, by inflicting pain on yourself in a controlled manner, the pain you received from him wasn't as bad. That was your logic?"

"It's what I intended but it acted more like the other way around. Eventually I started to go numb to it all." Chris looked him over and thought that it wasn't just the pain he became numb to but his humanity as well. All he did was fight, receiving and inflicting pain making him a rather pathetic person to the rest of the world.

"You're here now though. How did you get out of that place?" Andrew paused then answered

"I snapped, couldn't take the beatings from him anymore." There was a tremble in his voice as he spoke. "I fought back and I …. Almost beat him to death. A rage took over and I just kept hitting him and hitting him until my hands were bruised and covered in blood." Chris sighed and then said

"It's not your fault, he made you do that. Anyone else would have done the same thing, years of abuse forced you to act."

"I wanted him to just stop."

"What happened afterwards, did anyone find out before you left?"

"I didn't care, I had no feelings for him nor anyone in that place. As soon as I realised what I had done, I left. Grabbed a few things and was gone." Chris leaned back in his seat looking at the man before him, I broken boy in a man's body who even though had escape his tormentor was still suck in a hell of his own minds creation.

"It can't have been easy for you to talk about this and again, I'm sorry. However now I know what I'm going to do with you." Andrew looked up puzzled.

"What?"

"Me, Ulysses and Lauren are going to do what your father never did, what he should have done. We are going to make you the man that you were supposed to be."

"Again what?"

"Everything you suffered, everything you went through. It's over now, from this moment on we are going to help you come back to your humanity. You won't be numb anymore."

"You've all said this to me now. You want to fix me but I don't think it's something that can be done." Chris shook his head

"This is not some idle remark. It's a promise from your teammates, we want to help you. After you chose to change your ways we all made that promise so you'd never be like that again. This team is going to be your new family." Andrew scoffed, not because he didn't believe Chris but that a team could be his family.

"You've all got someone to go back to, once we graduate then I'll be alone again. What's the point of having a family only for it to disappear again?" Chris leaned forward now

"That's never going to happen. We will still be together and always be there for you. As your partner, I can safely say that I'll never abandon you, from here on out we are going to be brothers. I'll carry you all the way if I must but I'm never leaving you behind. Promise."

Chris then offered out his hand to Andrew to seal the promise. Andrew felt strange, the last few weeks had been something he'd never experience. He was with people who he was beginning to care about, even Lauren who still annoyed the hell out of him. Suddenly the words Chris said had some force behind them and he was starting to trust others. If they did care about him then it was something he couldn't understand however he wanted to try. The prospect of a family, even a family of teenagers was enough for him to want it. He reached out his hand wand clasped it in Chris'

"Fair enough, brother." He hardly got the words out before he felt tears well up and wiped his face to stop them. Chris laughed

"It's O.K. to cry tears of happiness if that's what they are."

"I'm sorry, I just don't know what to do in this situation." Chris smiled

"That's what we're here for now Andrew, to help you. No matter what it is." The pair stood up and began their walk back to their room with a renewed respect for each other.

Maybe I'll be alright after all Andrew thought to himself with the biggest smile on his face, something he never knew he possessed.