"You don't seem particularly bothered by all this."

  Al just leaned back in the chair as the school counselor spoke. Next year would be the last year of high school and they were already getting on his back about what career or university he wanted to pursue. Something that a mage like him would never even need to think about.

  With his powers money would never be a real issue. Even if the money he got in the inheritance somehow ran out he could always just seek employment with one of the countless groups in the shadows that were in need of competent mages. A job was something he wouldn't need to actually think about for a very long time.

  "It says here you were a national champion back in the day," she said as she looked over the notes in front of her, "Are international competitions something you would like to pursue in the future?"

  "If you had properly read the file, then you would know the national federation banned me for life after my last championship."

  "Al, all of your grades are hovering around C's or B's, but I know you could easily aim for A's and get into any university of your choosing if you just work harder next year."

  "You said it yourself didn't you? I just don't care all that much about all this," he muttered.

  "Won't you feel lonely when all of your friends head off to university and you're stuck doing nothing?"

  Jane was dropping out at the end of the year. She had no reason to stay in school when she could finally start living her life again. And he would most likely end up following her example. There was nothing for him in the normal world unless he decided that he wanted to live like an ordinaire for some reason.

  "You know just as well as I do that I don't really have all that many friends to begin with."

  "Wouldn't that be all the more reason for you to pursue a university education so you can develop connections with your peers?"

  Connections with ordinaires that he would one day outlive. Now that thought couldn't possibly be any less enthusing. They would be in his life for no more than a short few decades and then fade away leaving him to repeat the cycle all over again. Eventually he would outgrow all the people that looked to be his age as his mind slowly changed but his body stayed the same.

  "Well let's take your free time for example, what do you do when you're not at school?"

  There really weren't all that many good answers to that question. Practicing his magic was a terrible answer and would make him look crazy. Spending time with his family could work, but would only make the fact he had very few friends all the more apparent. Going on dates with Jane had become a frequent part of his routine, but that really wasn't something he wanted to discuss with the counselor.

  Eventually he settled on an answer she couldn't easily turn against him, "I've been spending a lot of time making sure my family is doing alright what with my father's recent passing and all."

  "Your grin tells me you're taking it better than the rest of your family did..."

  "Sorry, it's become somewhat involuntary as of late," he said as he began restraining his facial expressions once more.

  People found his smile to be somewhat off-putting at the best of times. It was a new thing in his life and he hadn't quite figured out how to do it without looking creepy. He really couldn't figure out how Jane made the fake smile that she wore in public look so convincing.

  "What about problem solving? How do you deal with obstacles that come up in your daily life?"

  The nihil would wipe away all sound letting him quietly blow a coin sized hole in her forehead with the nihilation. Then he could recast the nihil and have the nothingness devour the corpse. Finally all he would have to do is open the window, then close it behind him from the outside and use the nil to travel down to the ground three stories below them. No one would have seen him go to the counselor so he could always claim that he never went there to begin with. Once the nihil had removed all finger prints it would be a perfect locked room murder mystery that not even a master detective could solve.

  "I can see that you're deep in thought, Al, so why don't you let me in on your process?"

  "Sorry I was thinking of something else entirely and it's not all that appropriate considering the current topic."

  "Well we won't know that unless you tell me," she said as she flipped the paper in front of her.

  "That's true Teacher-Student confidentiality is a thing," he chuckled, "It's somewhat silly, but I was thinking about the optimal way to break it to my mother that I got my girlfriend pregnant."

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  The counselor's eyes went wide as he burst into laughter. It was quite funny in his mind considering the fact he and Jane had never been intimate in that sort of way. Neither of them felt ready to take that step any time soon when they had only just started going through the motions of dating.

  He barely managed to force out the words as he struggled to contain his laughter, "Damn I really didn't think it would be that easy to shock you, but seriously though I'm not even sexually active."

  "I'm really just fucking with you, you know?" he said as his laughter finally started to die down.

  "Do you often use humor or shocking remarks to avoid having to open up to people?"

  Truthfully there really wasn't all that much he could even tell her. She was ordinaire and if he did it would either make him look completely crazy or blow the situation completely out of proportion. There were countless ways he could have escaped his current situation, but just going along with it until she got tired of his responses felt like the best solution.

  "I probably got that from my father, but honestly I don't know if there's really any deeper reason for it."

  "From what I can tell by looking at your file it seems you never talk about the man," she said as she skimmed the page in front of her.

  "What can I say," he mumbled before speaking up more clearly, "He was a very conflicting figure in my life, but in the end I think it ended on as good of a note as it possibly could have."

  "Were the two of you often at odds?"

  "It was getting better towards the end, but what it could have turned into can really only be guessed at now that he's gone."

  "What do you think caused the most problems when it came to your relationship with your father?" she asked him as he put on the headphones and turned the volume down just enough so that he could still hear her.

  "We were way too similar and people like us rarely function well when we're in close proximity to others like us."

  They were both antisocial and his father's many attempts to curb his behaviors throughout his life had all backfired horribly, but at the same time he could understand why Pietro had made those choices since he would have most likely made them as well had their positions in life been reversed.

  His father's death and the choices it had forced him to make was what had finally let him outgrow some of his flaws. He was the only one that could carry Pietro's dark legacy and that was the way it was meant to be. No one else was strong enough to shoulder that burden. It was the only way to ensure he would be able to realize his father's dream for a happy family.

  "What about your mother?"

  Morgan would die by his hand. When the time came he would wring the life from her while smiling ear to ear. No one would be able to stop him when he started his next rampage. All they would be able to do was shiver in fear as nothingness incarnate unleashed its fury upon them.

  "Al, are you just going to sit there or will you tell me what's going through your head?"

  "Right, my mother..."

  "I'm just trying to do my best to make sure I'm there for her during her struggle, but really we're all doing what we can to make sure she gets through it."

  Why had he started thinking about his birth mother when the counselor wouldn't even know she existed? As far as the world was concerned the woman that raised him was his biological mother and honestly she was the only person he would ever recognize as his mom. She had been the one he had called mother all his life and he wasn't going to stop now.

  "Do you ever think of walking in your parents' footsteps when you think of your future career?"

  The mage equivalent of a detective, an ancient witch ruling their clan with an iron fist, or a somewhat famous painter. It sounded completely crazy just thinking about it. How would he even explain to a school counselor that he's simultaneously terrible at painting, has no interest in working in law enforcement, or that as a male he can't actually become the head of a witch clan.

  "Don't think there's any chance of me walking in their footsteps," he muttered.

  "How come?"

  "It's just not all that likely seeing as my life has taken an interesting direction as of late."

  The music on the cassette player switched as he began sorting his thoughts. It had decided that now was the time for the greatest rock hits of the seventies and honestly he didn't mind that one bit. There were signs of magic within the cassette player, but he had chosen not to look into it any further and just let it be. It served its purpose and hadn't ever forced him to listen to a song he didn't want to hear.

  "Would you look at that? Seems like your time is running out," he said with a big grin as he glanced at the clock on the wall.

  "Will you please just tell me what you want to do with your life?" she asked him as he got up and began walking towards the door.

  "I already have everything I want and I'm going to take the chance to enjoy it while I still can."

  Once he had closed the door behind him, he immediately began walking towards the roof. Soon the bell would ring and the school day would be over. When it rang it meant his weekend had begun and he would spend every waking moment of it with those he cherished.

  He leaned against the railing and looked out over the city as he lit a cigarette. It was the last one in the pack and would most likely be his last for a very long time. Hidden in breast pocket it had followed him through all of it, but now was the time to finally put it to rest just like he had done with the person he used to be.

  "Guess you got a front row seat to the entire thing?" he said while looked at the empty packet in his hand.

  "Looks like it's the end of the line for you, but don't think for a second I didn't appreciate everything you did for me."

  Tears were running down the side of his face. Why was it so hard to just throw away a useless piece of cardboard when it had served its purpose?

  "You probably hurt me far more than you ever helped me, but I'm still grateful for those times you were by my side..."

  "I'm going to miss you even if I probably shouldn't, but I guess it just goes to show how weak I really am."

  The moment he let go of it the wind picked it up and carried it away across the city. He had never been so reluctant to let go of something that had served its purpose before, but something inside had screamed for him to keep it no matter what.

  "I guess that was the last thing tying us together."

  He just stood there watching the sun until the bell rang. Quickly he wiped the tears away as he made his way down the stairs and left the building.

  Jane was waiting for him by the school gate and the moment he saw her smile he couldn't help but smile as well.

  "Guess we've got a whole weekend ahead of us," he said as he took her hand and then began walking towards the train station together with her.