Tyler pulled his jacket tighter to him, glaring up at the spitting sky. Fucking New England. Fucking weather. Fucking fuck. He climbed the steps to his class with unnecessary intensity, contemplating how every fiber of his being went against it. Stupid fucking class.

He pushed roughly against the door into the building, his glare sweeping across the hallway mercilessly. Everyone looked miserable here. What did they have to be miserable about? Tyler hated them, too. He bumped against a girl walking through the hallway, tucking notes away into a notebook. She winced at the contact, but Tyler ignored her, not even apologizing. Not today. Today, the world owed him for that stupid dream waking him up at four in the morning.

"Watch it, ass hole!" The girl muttered. Tyler's jaw flexed, but he kept going holding on to his tenuous temper. Since Glenn's death his fuse had been significantly shorter, more so after ascending.

He somehow managed to make it through class, not paying any attention but also not ripping anyone to shreds. He counted that as a victory, all things considered.

He made it all the way to lunch without an outburst, but when the middle-aged white woman pulled out the other chair at his table and slid into it with a concerned look in her eye, Tyler knew nothing good could possibly come from the day.

"Hi, Tyler. My name's Mary Klein. I'm one of the councilors here, and I just wanted to check up on you, see how you're doing with everything." Her forehead crinkled above her nose in a concerned expression meant to look like she was really listening. Tyler hated her, too. He felt himself flushing with embarrassment and anger.

"I'm fine." He ground out, glaring stoically at the clunky, ugly turquoise necklace lying on her chest, unable to look her in the eye.

"Tyler, people deal with loss differently, but that doesn't mean –" He interrupted her as she gently reached a hand across the table to take one of his.

"I don't need a shrink. I don't need help. I'm fine. Don't you get that? I'M. FINE." He stood abruptly, feeling the siren call of his powers, aching to Use to show this woman that Tyler Simms could deal with anything, could do anything he wanted and that her stupid forehead wrinkle meant nothing to him.

"That's anger. It's normal." He didn't realize he'd stood up until he noticed he was looking down on her where she sat calmly, her hands folded gracefully in her lap.

"Stop SHRINKING me! I'm not a fucking experiment! Leave me ALONE!" He stormed out, not even bothering to clean up his tray or grab his bag. Reid could give it back to him later since it seemed he was so close with that woman to tell her all of his secrets.

It was cold outside, but Tyler didn't feel it. His blood pumped through his veins, singing in a chorus of rage. What right did Reid have to talk to that woman about him? His father's death was private, and it was no one's business how or if he was dealing with it. It was years ago. He was over it.

A few minutes later, after running through all these thoughts (and a few more about how it would be to approach Reid about the situation, most of them involving a baseball bat to the face), Tyler's anger finally slowed to a trickle and he stopped, sinking down on a campus bench and holding his head in his hands. How did this happen? How did he become the guy his friends had to call a shrink on?

I have to do better. Tyler thought, I have to show them I'm okay.

Tyler's phone went off, vibrating quietly against in his pocket. He fished it out, turning off the alarm. Swim practice.

Tyler stood and stretched. Swimming would be good. It would let him work out some of his frustrations, clear his mind a little bit. Swimming had that effect on him. No matter how upset he was diving in, by the end of the work out he was tired enough and had had enough time to think that problems seemed manageable and a good night's sleep inevitable.

Tyler cried in the shower. He was completely silent, and it didn't interfere or slow him down in getting cleaned up, but somehow Reid seemed to know, judging by the looks he kept shooting his silent brother on the short walk back to their room.

"Dude, you okay?" He asked cautiously as Tyler stuck his key in the door. Tyler froze, his shoulders tensing.

"Why wouldn't I be? Your shrink should have made me all better, shouldn't she have?" Tyler shot back viciously. Reid's eyebrows shot up.

"What?" He asked, looking genuinely surprised.

"You know, Mary King or whatever." Tyler glared, readjusting his swimming bag angrily, jimmying his keys in the lock with more force than strictly necessary.

"Dude, I have no idea what you're talking about." Reid said, baffled.

"Don't even lie." Tyler's disgust was evident as he banged open the door. "It's none of your fucking business how I deal with shit in my life. Just butt the fuck out!"

"Dude, I didn't DO anything. I have no idea what you're talking about!" Reid defended himself, his own notorious temper flaring up.

"Don't fucking stand there and lie to my fucking face!" Tyler shouted, throwing his bag savagely across the room where it hit his desk, sending a rain of pens and papers down to the floor. It was then that Tyler finally brought his furious black gaze up to Reid's only to see his brother's own anger, but no guilt, and Reid wasn't that good of a liar.

"I'm not fucking lying, you stupid dick!" Reid shouted back, eyes glazing black as he sent a textbook flying at Tyler's head. Tyler blocked it with his own textbook, then they were fighting, an all-out war that left them panting with the effort. It only took a minute or two for their phones to start buzzing with calls from Caleb and Pogue.

"Stop. Just stop." Reid commanded, reaching for his phone without looking, his eyes still black as he answered. "Yeah, Caleb, I'm using! Ty is too. If I weren't using he'd have killed me."

Tyler glared at him, letting his own voice go to voicemail. Fuck Pogue.

"Caleb, I'll stop when he does." Reid said into the phone, his oily black eyes still on Tyler. He gave it another moment, then let his usual baby blues shine cautiously through. "Ty, you gonna try to kill me again?"

Tyler ignored him, brushing past and out of the room, letting the Power slip away. Reid could deal with Caleb's guilt trip by himself. Tyler was done.

He pulled the collar of his coat up and headed out, walking wherever his feet took him, ignoring the drizzling rain. Eventually he ended up in the Hummer, then somehow found himself sitting at the edge of a lake, perched on an enormous rock and watching the fog cling to the water's surface, the entire scene bathed in the obscured glow of the moon. It was still and quiet, and Tyler laid back against the cool rock face, completely drained.

It was peaceful to lay back on the cold stone, his face up and open to the rain and fog, vaguely watching for the concealed moon and not thinking. Not feeling. Now that he was finally alone, things were a little easier to deal with. He could breathe a little bit, outside of school and Reid's coddling and Caleb's bullshit lectures.

Tyler was officially done.