Kaldur's Pain

What Pity Does to A Man of Pride

The League along with the Team kept a close eye on him. They all looked at Kaldur from a distance with a bit of pity on their faces. Tula, Garth, Shalina, and Mera try to explain to them that showing pity to Kaldur is a bad idea. If Kaldur gets anything from Manta, it was his pride.

Pride is a big thing for Kaldur. At the Academy, Kaldur was taught loyalty, honor, duty, and he was even taught to have a sense of pride for serving his country. This soon lead up to Kaldur developing his own sense of pride. He was proud of all his accomplishments in his career as a soldier and as Aqualad. He was proud that even though everyone in his life put him down, he still rose above them.

Even before the kidnapping, the Team would basically have to force Kaldur to go to the infirmary if he was injured or even to force him to sit at the table to eat and make him go to sleep after a long mission. Kaldur could tell when people were giving him a pitiful look. Every time Kaldur walked down the hall, he could feel the pity radiating off the League. When people even talk to him, he could feel the pity in their voices. It reached the breaking point when he was at the pool trying to relax as he felt pitiful eyes staring at him while he was sitting on the edge of the pool.

"Stop it!" Kaldur shouted without turning his head to see who it was.

"What?" He heard Flash and Green Lantern ask simultaneously.

"I can feel your pity," Kaldur said as he got up angrily and walked away.

Flash wanted to go after him but Green Lantern stopped him.

Kaldur tried to keep his distance away from basically everyone for a few hours, so he went to his room. When he peaked his head out of the door of his room to see if anyone was there, he was pleased to see that the hallway was clear. He decided to go to the cafeteria to get something to eat since he refused to accept any food from anyone who offered it.

He arrived at the cafeteria and found a wrapped sandwich on the table. The entire cafeteria was empty so he finally had some peace and quiet. He took the sandwich from the table and took a seat next to the window. Before he ate the sandwich, he remember what happened to him the last time he tried to eat something. Before he took a bite of the sandwich, he wrapped it back up and went to find someone. He found Connor walking with Wolf and went to them.

"Hello Connor. May I ask you for a favor?" Kaldur asked timidly.

"Sure, what is it?" Connor asked.

"Can you see if anything abnormal is in this sandwich?" Kaldur asked trying to keep the nervousness he felt out of his voice.

"Okay," Connor agreed with a hint of confusion in his voice.

He looked at the sandwich and didn't see anything wrong with it. He couldn't detect anything that smelled odd about the sandwich either. He held it just above Wolf's nose and Wolf didn't smell anything odd about it either.

"It's fine. Kal, you okay?" Connor asked as he gave the sandwich back to him.

"I am fine. Thank you," Kaldur said as he took the sandwich back from Connor and started to walk away.

Connor didn't ask too much about that. He figured that it had to do with Kaldur being kidnapped, but he didn't think too much of it either.

Kaldur walked back to his spot in the cafeteria. He let his mind wander to life in the hole again. All he would try to do was think of who the man was that kidnapped and tormented him. As he remembered his tormentor, he remembered the uneasy presence he felt off the man. Maybe it was the way the man talk or how he stood. Maybe it was the cold stare he received from him. He simply did not know.

When he finished eating, he grazed his fingertip along his bandaged neck, causing him to flinch with a small hiss escaping from his chapped lips. He knew that the Team and the League looked at him differently because of his injuries and what ever he said during the mind session with Martian Manhunter. He tried to remember what he said but all he could remember from that session was Manhunter telling him to relax and entered his mind. He needed to talk to Annex about what happened. He went looking for his king to find him in the monitor room. He walked up behind his king and took a seat next to him.

"Hello my king," Kaldur said respectfully.

"Hello Kaldur. How are you today?" Aquaman asked.

"Besides the League watching me like hawks and giving me pitiful looks every two seconds. Besides that, I am well," Kaldur explained sarcastically.

"If you are implying that I had anything to do with that..." Aquaman said.

"I know you did. That and how you ordered the Team and the League to keep me in the dark about my case!" Kaldur retorted.

"I only want-" Aquaman started to say before he was interrupt by Kaldur.

"Wanted to protect me! I have heard that too many time this week," Kaldur said before he got up and left the room.

"Kaldur." Aquaman called out to him, but Kaldur just simply ignored him.

Kaldur just kept on walking out of the room. When he went back in his room, he found a file on his bed. He looked at it with curiosity before going to his bed to pick it up.

"Hello Kaldur," said a voice which made Kaldur jump in shock.

He turned around quickly to see that it was Secret. He stood in the corner of the room behind the door.

"You are Secret," Kaldur said as he looked at him in surprise.

"Yes. In the file is everything that the League has on your case," Secret said as he motioned his hand at the file.

"I thought you were ordered by my king to not give me any information about my case," Kaldur said in shock as he looked at the file on the bed.

"You deserve to know the truth," Secret said to him.

"I know of you Secret. You know everyone's secrets. Everyone believes that if I know the identity of my torturer, I would kill him. You would not have given me this file if you truly believed that I was going to kill him," Kaldur explained as he looked at Secret with a grateful smile.

"That is true. And Kaldur, you didn't get this from me," Secret said before he left the room.

"Secret, thank you," Kaldur said as he went to shut the door.

Kaldur went to his bed and picked up the file. He exhaled heavily as he opened the file.