Helios

Helios was meant to be the golden child. The first and only of a newly wedded couple, who were both overjoyed at the thought of raising a child of their own.

Daybreak was where they resided, the Golden City. They were deeply in love, and one couldn’t have asked for a better environment to be created into.

A few weeks after Helios’ creation, though, something went horribly wrong.

Some rogue band of criminals (the Order of the Spiral, was the name whispered) set fire to the apartment complex in which Helios’ family resided. Many perished in the blaze, including Helios’ own parents.

Helios’ father spent his final moments ushering his confused child out the door, only for collapsing architecture to pin him down. The child’s mother rushed back into the depths of the blaze to try and save him.

Young Helios never saw either of them again.

Soon after, he would be transferred to one of Daybreak’s orphanages. Helios was too loud, too temperamental, too ridden with grief to have a chance at adoption. He spent his time alone, quietly fostering a bitterness in his heart.

The community – had failed him. So he pledged to not let the same happen to others like him. Never again.

Helios left the orphanage as soon as he was old enough to stand on his own two feet, the tender mental age of 18. He spent his time searching for ways he could help others get the support they needed.

He blew through many, many different types of jobs and different positions to aim for, none of them ever feeling quite right. What could he do? He didn’t know.

It was then that Helios met Viper.

Viper was a lawyer – a defense attorney, to be specific – who saw potential in Helios. Taking the young man aside to speak to him one-on-one, Viper offered to mentor Helios in law. To assist him with any necessary schooling.

It was like the stars aligned for Helios. He accepted – quickly becoming Viper’s one and only apprentice, and applying for schooling in the art of Daybreak’s laws.

This way, perhaps, Helios could have an impact on the lives of those affected by disaster.

Viper, as a mentor, was perfectly fine at first, if not a little harsh. But as time went on, he became more and more … venomous. Subtly undermining Helios’ successes, berating him for the smallest of mistakes.

It escalated as time went on. Verbal lashings. Harsh punishments for failure. Snide comments, jabs at Helios’ skills as a lawyer and a person.

It became downright abusive. Not that Helios noticed.

He stood there and took it all. Surely Viper knew better than him. Even as the verbal and emotional abuse continued to worsen further, Helios continued to take it.

And he would continue to take it until that fateful day.

Two years into Helios’ apprenticeship with Viper, things were at their worst. Helios was horrifically depressed due to Viper’s treatment of him and was failing his courses miserably.

This apparent failure only caused Viper to treat him with more hostility, twisting his perceptions and goading him into thinking that it was all his fault. Helios never objected, thinking that it must be true.

But soon enough, something came to light about Viper in the worst – and best – way possible.

He was found guilty for murder. It was brought to light in a case that he was trying to manipulate to his own whims, dragging Helios into the middle of it all, too.

Helios witnessed the evidence firsthand. Helios witnessed Viper’s mask crack and shatter firsthand.

It was then that he knew he needed to leave Viper behind. Everything began to make sense – all of the horrible things he felt, all of the things Viper said to him every day – Helios found, to his horror, that it all fit together perfectly.

He needed to get away. The community could deal with Viper, he needed to disappear for a while.

So he disappeared into the shadows for a while. Helios stayed on the downlow, one face among the hundreds of thousands in Daybreak keeping his head down.

The Retcons’ helpers offered him a place amongst their ranks more than once, twice, thrice, but he rejected them each and every time.

He needed to be alone, for a while.

It was only when Helios found the call of a lawyer looking for assistance by the name of Finch … that he came out of his hole in the ground, so to speak.

For Finch was the one. The lawyer who had been instrumental in getting Viper taken down. The one who had destroyed the cage keeping Helios trapped.

Who was he to refuse the person who had practically saved his life?

Nowadays, Helios works with Finch at their own sort of law firm. The two work as a team to dissect cases and find the whole truth of every assignment.

Often, they work with the Retcons, and have been welcomed into their communications as a result.

Helios is still healing, and Finch, being unfinished, needs Helios’ support. They work together with each other, covering for each other’s weaknesses.

They’re still a new team, though, and they’ve got some kinks to work out between them. The ride may be bumpy, but it’s nothing compared to what happened with Viper, to Helios.

He looks forward with optimism.