"The strongest steel is not forged in fire but in purpose."
---
The next day, Jump City Tower was unusually quiet.
The Titans had seen strength before. Kryptonians, Amazons, alien warlords but none of that compared to the strength of King.
He stood in the training hall, hands folded behind his back, gaze steady. His calm was a storm contained.
"Yesterday," He said, his voice even and resonant, "you learned what happens when you fight with pride. Today, you'll learn what happens when you fight with purpose."
He stepped forward, motion fluid, every word cutting through their doubts.
"Heroes aren't born from victory. They're forged in the quiet moments. When you want to stop but don't. When the world calls you broken and you stand anyway."
His eyes lifted, catching theirs one by one. "Be better. Not for fame, not for fear. Be better because you can."
The Training
The Titans moved in formation. This time, King didn't dominate them, he guided them.
Nightwing led the charge with discipline. King adjusted his stance mid-motion with a single touch on the shoulder. "Don't chase the rhythm," He said. "Become it."
Damian attacked fiercely, blade slicing arcs of silver. King parried effortlessly.
"Control your anger, not your opponents. Rage dulls precision."
Raven conjured shadows, trying to synchronize with Starfire's radiant green energy. The two energies clashed and fizzled.
King simply stepped between them. "Harmony is not sameness." He said. "It's contrast held together by will."
And for the first time, their powers intertwined. Darkness and light spinning in unison like a star caught between day and night.
Blue Beetle held back, hesitant after yesterday's incident. King noticed.
"You doubt the scarab." King said quietly.
Jaime nodded. "After what happened… I don't know if it's really mine."
King knelt to his level. "Then teach it. Strength isn't the absence of fear. It's mastery of it."
The scarab flickered gently. Subdued, as if listening.
King smiled faintly. "Good. You're both learning."
The Quiet Hours
Later, after training, King stood outside on the tower's balcony overlooking Jump Bay. The city stretched endlessly beneath the fading sun.
One by one, the Titans came to him.
Nightwing
"You carry responsibility like a weapon." King said.
Nightwing sighed. "Comes with the job."
"Then don't let it cut you first," King replied. "A leader who bleeds in silence eventually drowns in it. Remember, you're not alone." Nightwing's gaze fell on Starfire her red hair shimmering like molten fire in the sunlight.
Starfire
"I still struggle to understand Earth's ways." She admitted softly.
King looked toward the horizon. "Then don't learn the ways, learn the hearts. The rest follows."
Damian
"You treat me like a child." Damian muttered.
"I treat you like a seed." King said. "Because I see the tree you'll become. But only if you stop trying to prove you're already grown."
Damian blinked. For once, he didn't have a retort.
Beast Boy
"Do you ever… laugh, man?" Gar asked, half-teasing.
King's lip quirked upward—just a fraction. "Once. It scared a mountain into silence."
Beast Boy blinked. "…That's both cool and terrifying."
"Balance." King said simply.
Raven
"You don't fear my darkness?" She asked quietly.
"Why should I?" King asked. "Shadows don't exist without light. And yours burns bright enough to blind lesser souls."
For the first time in a long while, Raven smiled. Small but real.
Tara
When everyone else had left, Tara remained.
She hesitated near the railing, clutching the edge like she needed it to keep standing.
"You knew, didn't you?" She asked finally. "You knew I wasn't really one of them."
King didn't turn. "I know you're torn. That's enough."
Her voice cracked. "He promised he'd fix everything… that I'd have a home again. I just wanted to belong somewhere."
King turned to face her, his gaze kind yet heavy with truth.
"Tara, belonging doesn't come from obedience. It comes from choice. You are not what they made you do."
Tears welled up but she clenched her fists. "You don't get it! He—he saved me when no one else did!"
King's tone softened. "Then repay him by saving yourself."
She looked up, trembling. "Why are you so calm about everything? Why don't you ever break?"
King looked past her, toward the sunset burning across the ocean.
"Because I already did. Once. And I decided I would never break the same way again."
The silence stretched between them, raw and sacred.
Finally, he placed a hand gently on her shoulder. "You are the earth, Tara. You can crumble, you can shake but you always endure. Remember that."
Her lips parted as if to respond but the words never came. For the first time, she didn't feel like a weapon. She felt seen.
As King walked away, Tara whispered under her breath, "Unbreakable Wheatstone…"
And somewhere deep inside her, the ground began to shift not from betrayal but from awakening.
Read 26 chapters ahead on P.A.T.R.E.O.N
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