Part 1-

Jaime Reyes, a fifteen-year-old Latino, shifted and stretched with a wide yawn as he awoke. His brown eyes with specks of blue in his sclera flickered open after he rubbed them. He sat up, his back caving and giving a slight popping sound.

He stood and headed to his dresser, where he proceeded in choosing a black t-shirt, blue jeans, boxers and his favorite grey hoodie. He went to his bathroom and showered.

His head tilted back and a soft sigh left him as the burning water hit his sore skin. His eyes opened and he stared at the faucet head, the water droplets hitting his eyes had no effect. He reached over and grabbed a 2 in 1 shampoo/conditioner that smelled of ocean breeze. He ran it through his hair before using the small amount that remained in his hands as body-wash.

He winced as his delicate hands touched the bruises and healing scars. He reclosed his eyes and allowed the water to wash away the soap.

A loud banging on the door made the boy jump and his delicate feathered wings to wrap around him, protectively.

"Jai~me~!" the sweet sound of his little sister's voice allowed him to relax, "I have to pee~!"

He looked himself over, making sure there was no more shampoo before turning off the water and wrapping himself, wings included, into a towel.

"Jaime!" she sounded strained.

"Hold on, hermana!" he quickly dried off and dressed before unlocking and opening the door.

"Finally!" she raced in and he quickly left, closing the door behind him.

He returned to his room, folding his wings close to his back and finally slipping on the hoodie.

His entire family knew about the wings, his mother and sister said they were a gift while his father said that they were a curse. When they had brought him to his birth hospital after noticing them when he was a year old, their doctor ran tests and said that the wings were due to an anomaly with his genes. His father requested them removed but was shot down when the doctor explained that the wings removal would cause severe nerve, muscle and spine damage.

The wings did not like being repressed and would arch instinctively every now and then, but other than that they were fine.

Jaime proceeded in heading downstairs where his school supplies were. This was the first time hewould be at school since the whole 'Reach-Apocalypse' ordeal.

The Scarab has been silent recently, for they had learned how to speak to each other through the Scarabs vibrations and Jaime's mental speak. However, there were times when the Scarab decided to 'speak' to his Host.

The Hispanic gathered what he needed and waited for his sister to get ready. She ran downstairs with her school belongings barely five minutes later and they headed out.

Jaime dropped her off at school, kissing her forehead, before heading to Rio Grande High.

After school, Jaime went to the Zeta-Tube and teleported to the Watch Tower. The computer announced his ID and he pretended not to notice a looks the other heroes sent him.

He waited his turn for training, he stayed silent and only spoke to the others when they spoke to him first.

His Scarab pressed its wings to the base of his in a comforting motion and he pressed back. A small vibration made him smile softly. For his Scarab was telling him that it was there for him even when/if no one else was.

Part 2-

Jaime shivered as he stitched up another wound, kitchen knife, that was on his side. The Scarab was running diagnostics on the wound, letting out worried chirps every now and then.

Both of them had expected the attacker to be home later so they had let down their guard. Alberto had arrived ten minutes after Jaime and the Scarab had relaxed fully and they were doing homework, he was angry and, as per usual, took his anger out on the teenager.

The Scarab was able to form armour underneath the clothing, but wasn't fast enough and its Host's side was cut open by the man a millisecond too fast.

Jaime whimpered when he pulled the needle through his skin, blood dripped into the tub that he sat in. He ignored the pain and finished up with the stitches, he allowed the Scarab to wrap blue and black metal around his torso and chest, the metal covered the wings lightly.

Jaime was gentle when he touched the Scarabs metal.

"Hey, how are you doing?" the Latino asked softly, he instantly felt annoyance flow through their bond and rolled his eyes, "oh, here we go"

{You were injured and you ask me how I feel?} the Scarab hissed for the first time in two days, {we should eviscerate the Alberto, Jaime Reyes}

"No"

{Alberto Reyes is a threat to your health and wellbeing, why will you not take action against him}

Jaime rolled his eyes once more, "he's my father, that's why"

He felt more annoyance wade through the bond followed by distinct worry and fear.

{He will go too far one day, he will harm you and you will do nothing} the Scarab's legs attached to Jaimes spine tightened slightly, {I cannot bare to lose you, Jaime Reyes, not in such a way}

Jaime gently touched one of the longer antennae and stroked it with his thumb, "don't worry Scarab, I won't leave you anytime soon"

The grip on his spine lessened and the Scarab fully covered him in armour, only leaving his head untouched.

{Do you promise?}

"Yes, I promise"

A soft churr came from the Scarab and he receded, settling back to his 'Dormant State'.

…

Jaime stayed awake that night finishing up homework and contingency plans.

Ever since the Reach took over his mind, he had become even more of an insomniac. Before the Reach, he was able to sleep from eleven to six on a good night, now he cannot fall asleep until at least one in the morning.

The Scarab injected a small, safe dose of stimuli to keep his performance up; at times the Scarab overall took control and injected a mild sedative into the boy during school hours. He taught the boy what he needed to know anyways.

Anyway, Jaime was finishing tomorrows work, as well as the work for the next day, when his phone rang.

He picked it up and answered it without looking at the Caller ID.

"Hola?"

"Jaime, just called to remind you of the test tomorrow, so get some sleep, alright?"

"Alright Tye, I will" Jaime promised, "buenas noches, adios"

"Adios"

The phone clicked, signaling the end of the call.

The Scarab opened its elytra, bumping it against his feathers, rubbing them before lowering.

"Just have two more questions to complete" Jaime murmured, concentrating on the History questions.

History and Calc. were always his weak points, the Scarabs way of teaching him the two helped him more than the teacher's way.

Jaime silently moved his mouth along with his thought process as he wrote down the words on a scratch piece of paper, he soon came to the answer and wrote that in the answer space.

{Sleep} the Scarab demanded.

"Soon, just one more"

{You can do that in the morning}

Jaime snorted, "you know my mornings Scarab, they are agitado"

{Only because you insist on doing everything at once}

Jaime returned to his last piece of homework, ignoring the Scarab as he tried to remember the year of the American Gold Rush.

{California Gold Rush} the Scarab spoke, {sometime in the nineteenth Century}

"Nineteenth Century" the boy murmured, moving the information of the 1800's to the front of his mind and the rest to the back. He scouted his memories and the Scarabs memories for the information, finally finding it near the mid-nineteenth Century.

"Thanks Ese" Jaime wrote down the date, 1848-18552.

{Now, sleep}

"Yeah, yeah" Jaime rolled his eyes and packed up his school supplies into his backpack before crawling into bed.

He stayed up half an hour longer before drifting off, the Scarab cancelled adding more sedatives.

…

Jaime awoke and found himself heading to school, the Scarab in control. At first, he was unsettled and ready to scream, but then he relaxed at the Scarabs reassuring touches and chirrups.

He regained control after the Scarab sat him down in his Homeroom chair.

Later that day, he was at home, having been sent home early for the Scarab striking out with a self-defense mechanism when a new recruit, Scout, snuck up on him to demonstrate their sneaking ability. Apparently, the Scarab believed them to be trying to attack Jaime and wanted to protect him from more harm.

{I do not understand why the Scout is not being reprimanded while we were. I was merely protecting you from an attack.}

"The reason is that they were trying to test out a n ability, not harm us" Jaime sighed, placing down his glass of water on the table a little harder than necessary, "Scarab, you must understand, not everyone is a threat to us"

{'Us' no... they are a threat to you, I am your Scarab, your protector. I do not care for their reason of attack; I will protect you from anything and everything}

Jaime let out a harsh breath from his nose, "really, even if it is during training?"

{Especially than}