Pathline by Kaede Lazares

was one of those people.  He didn't care about the high-level supers, they were being recruited to the government and military and had nothing to do with him; but he was a laborer and many of the top labor positions started going to mid and low level supers, mainly D efenders and R unners .   He considered them freaks, and thought it was unfair that they should take away jobs from hard working people like him.  He would drink a lot, and go on rants about how the 'freaks' were ruining the nation. 
    Then the government revealed the existence of W anderers.  You remember the outcry it first caused, I'm sure, well my father was beside himself about it.  If the other supers were freaks , then W anderers were demons .  He considered them a danger to humanity, thought they shoul d be killed off before they could breed and spread their ungodliness ; had most of the neighborhood on his side too.
    I began to develop my ability early on, but I did my best to suppress and hide it as long as possible.  When I finally acknowledged that it wasn't going to go away I decided that I should.  I ran away from home when I was still young, barely entering adolescence.  I moved from place to place, getting by however I could, until I came across news that there was a town that was willing to hide supers.  I made my way there, and the first people I met were a group of kids that were living in an abandoned building.  They were all runaways.  One of them was Rook.  Rook took me under his wing, kept me safe .  He'd learned to harness his ability early , and quickly learned how to make use of it. 
    We were inseparable back then, breaking off from the rest of the group.  Rook always found us a safe place to stay, and always made sure we had food.  He soon started to take menial jobs to make money for us, and encouraged me to fully develop my ability.  He's the reason 'Rune' exists, he brought that side out in me. We lived like that for a while. A s we got older we both started taking super jobs along with our civilian work to make ends meet .  Rook thrived in that world, but it started to wear on me.  Society had begun to warm up to t he existence of supers, if not W anderers, an d they were being put to work help ing with natural disasters and other emergencies.  They were doing good , saving lives .  I wanted to do good.  The work we did seemed pretty trivial compared to that .  Rook wouldn't hear of it, he distrusted anything to do with the government, felt they would turn against us at any moment. 
    One day when I was on a job, mediocre work in a major city , I caught a news report being broadcast in a nearby store.  The government was calling out for supers to come try out for their programs, and they were offering a hefty starting bonus for any W anderer who made it in.  They had very few W anderers then, and wanted them for 'special' assignments aiding the country.  It sounded like exactly the type of work I wanted to be doing.  I knew how Rook would feel, but I couldn't help brining up the report to him when I got home that night .  He got angry, considered it a ploy to round up W anderers, thought any that took up the offer were idiots .  I didn't bring it up again, but I met with a government recruiter soon after.  I passed the test, qualified as a high-level recruit, and got offered a position with the agency.  I didn't tell him.  We got into a fight the night I received the offer and I just left. I hadn't seen him since then.
    I wasn't lying to you before Marcus, there was never anything romantic between Rook and me, but I did love him.  For all those years he was the closest thing I had to family, and he will always have a place in my heart.  He's here now because of me, because he's always hel ped me when I've asked him to.  And t hat's my story." 
    She took a deep breath then leaned back into the bed.  Marcus had watched her carefully throughout.  He leaned in clos e and kissed her lightly.
    "I get