Isaac waved good bye to the club before cutting through the woods to the Slanted Manse. When he got there, instead of going through the door, he climbed up the side of the wall, using the small holes and window frames to get up all the way to the roof. The roof was slightly interlaced with the trees, enough so that the branches held Isaac up without him needing to hold onto anything. Up there as long as he wasn't too loud Doorman and Nin wouldn't hear him, he was removed from the world. It was there that he broke down crying. He let it all out, the pent up frustration of school going horribly wrong, of never being able to make a friend he could trust, of Mr. Spender hiding info from him that would be told to anyone else.
He was all alone in the branches, and that's how he truly felt, no matter how many people surrounded him. Of course he appreciated Isabel telling him about the Consortium, yet he couldn't help but feel she did it to help her more than him. To make sure he stayed in the club and didn't go off and do something unbelievably stupid on his own. After all, he'd already badly messed up with Dimitri, and it's not like he could control his powers that much better, even after all the time that had passed. He was simply a mess of a human being, too many troubles weighing down on his shoulders. That was when he heard a grunt from the side of the Manse. It sounded human, and as Isaac looked over the edge he saw Max attempting to climb up the side one handed. Somehow Max could sense Isaac was there and looked up.
"Do you think you could give me a hand here?" he asked, maneuvering his cast onto another windowsill.
"What are you doing? You could get hurt." Isaac shimmied down the side with the ease of practice and helped Max get back onto solid ground.
Max shrugged, "You didn't look ok, so I can to check on you, and I saw you climb up the side of the building. I spent a bit wondering how to get up when I heard you start to cry, and after that I started climbing because no one should climb alone. I ran into a bit of trouble, and then you found me."
Isaac frowned, "I wasn't crying."
Max gave him a look, in which Isaac wilted, mumbling the he guessed he had been crying in a quiet voice. Despite Max's attempts at assuring him it was normal to cry Isaac still looked ashamed. Internally Max sighed but he wrapped Isaac up in a hug. At first Isaac straightened out, as unsure as Max about the hug. It didn't take long before he practically melted onto Max, head nestling in his shoulder. Max would have thought Isaac would have run out of tears, and yet more of them came out, soaking Max's shoulder. The two of them stood there until all of Isaac's tears had dried up, their breaths starting to synchronize.
"You're not alone," Max whispered, as the wind blew around them, almost as if they were carrying away Isaac's worries.