The Cloak Guard

Aftermath, Part 6

Luke should be ecstatic right now. He should be over the moon. He should be jumping for joy at getting such an amazing and unparalleled win for his team.

But he couldn't. Because he knew, without a doubt, he had cheated.

They'd been playing against the Gregory Ford Chasers, a team they'd lost to the previous year. An exceptionally good team. Luke knew going in that it wasn't going to be a good match.

For the past week, he'd been struggling with what he'd done in the last game. He could have helped his team to victory, made sure that they had won. But he hadn't, instead letting them lose. He'd let everyone down because he'd been afraid of using his power.

Yes, using his power was cheating. But, it was still his. He could have used it just a little. Given them enough of an edge to win. Not enough for it to be really be unfair. But he still felt that guilt eat away at him at the thought of using it to win the game. And because of that, they'd lost badly.

He'd tried to get over it. Worked harder than he ever had before. He'd trained his ass off, trying to ensure that he would never let his team down like that again and that he wouldn't need to rely on that power of his to win. For hours a day, before and after school and throughout the weekend, he'd trained, not using his power once in the hopes that ignoring it would make him less likely to use it.

Before the match with the Chasers, his foot wouldn't stop tapping. He'd never been more nervous. He'd pushed every thought about his powers, about Swarm, about the others, about everything to do with that out of his mind, wanting to maintain his focus. This match, he was determined for it to be all him. But he still couldn't shake the image of their loss last week.

Or the idea of how he could have done more.

He'd barely heard Coach Beatriz's speech but made sure to listen to her game plan. He couldn't mess up even once. But, of course, life didn't work that way as things went wrong almost immediately. Andrew had thrown the ball and before Franklin could grab it, an opposing player intercepted and the game reset. Luke grimaced and cursed himself. He hadn't been able to do anything there but he made a promise to do more the next time.

He deeply regretted that promise.

Andrew threw the ball again, making a feint for Franklin before throwing it to Luke, something he must have hated. And judging from the player jumping to intercept, something he regretted. Except something amazing happened as the ball flew right out of the player's hands and into Luke's where he proceeded to run faster than all the others and make it to the end zone. He should have been ecstatic as the points were counted. But he'd broken his word and used his powers. He couldn't do that again.

But he did. Because every time he saw one of his teammates stumble or trip or fumble or make even the slightest mistake, that image of their failure from last week hit his mind and he knew he couldn't let his team down. So he helped them, subtly shoving the opposing players out of the way or causing them to trip or guiding the ball as it flew across the field. Every time he did it, he felt that same twinge of guilt, but he also felt joy when they were able to score points. He didn't use his power the entire time, letting the other team rack up their own points. But he did his very best to make sure they won.

And they did. By a landslide. He made the final push, running across the field. No one could touch him. He wouldn't let them. He just ran, leaping ahead of everyone else until he reached the end zone and made the touchdown. The whistle rang and the side of the Jets roared in victory.

Luke didn't hear any of it. He didn't really notice the others around him, congratulating him, because all he could see were the looks of the Chasers. Crestfallen at being handed such a humiliating defeat. By him. Using his powers.