NOVEL NEXT Chapter 4: Come Home
Sera paused before John as they bathed in the morning rays of sunlight, so she could take in the mess her best friend was in. His body was a maze of dried blood covering nearly every inch of skin, his torso exposed through the school uniform that had been shredded over the course of the battle. There were cuts covering his arms and legs from where he'd had to block the monsters attacks because his own barrier had been protecting her and the rest of the royals. His legs were mostly intact save for the broken rubble and monster parts spearing through, though some had fallen out and leaving empty holes that bleed weakly. His chest were exposed as he turned towards her, leaving her breathless at the seemingly pulped ribs and torso. 'The feedback from Arlo's barrier shattering.' she numbly reasoned to herself, however the large monster claw fragment going through his chest quickly stole her attention, as she slowly looked upwards into the face of the most important person in the world to her. Dried blood greeted her, leaving only his mouth free from the substance, his eyes having been dried shut hours earlier by the blood that leaked from the cut above his forehead, given by the monster that had... killed... Mr. Doe earlier when they had frozen up from the first of the monsters to attack.
John took a half step towards her before collapsing, only to be cradled into her chest by her only in tact hand, as they both fell to their knees, tears of relief began to fall upon his crusty, blood covered scalp. She held him close as sobs threatened to pour from her heart, only to be locked away for later as she turned desperately to meet the heartbroken and terrified eyes of the healer who had already started towards them, too exhausted from the constant healing of the others to do more than walk. "Elaine!!! Please!!!", she cried out, unable to say more as she choked on suppressed feelings and the memories that flooded through her mind. Of meeting John and the stupid fight over the cake. Of being partnered together fro a project and trying to do everything by herself, only to be convinced to do it together through the persistence of the then cripple. Of continuing their interactions after the project had been finished and being shown how to finally relax and let go of her problems to move forward through the words of the brunette. Of ignoring the daily trips to the nurse due to the young mans own flippancy over his numerous wounds. Of losing her powers and the lies that began to build up; Arlo, the royals, John...the Joker. Of calling John out on them, the heartbreak that his wide eyes had shown when she had told him to get over his problems. The words he'd retaliated with while forcing his tears back had broken her own heart as they stormed away from each other. Regaining her powers through the actions of her long distanced sister and confronting him the same day. The fight that she'd passed out from before she could tell him that he wasn't a monster. Waking up and finding that he's asked the headmaster for a leave of absence to go home to his dad for three weeks. And the numbness that followed her throughout her days as he refused her calls. Of realizing that his father had brought him back to her, their return heralded by an explosion out of town, to find that his old friend had followed them to confront John about a voice mail he'd left for her. Only for the first monster to tear its way from the underground to kill and consume Mr. Doe as he took the blow meant to kill his frozen son with a smile on his face. Retreating to the school with as many survivors as they could reach and holding the line against the overgrowing horde of monsters. Of falling one by one even as John stood, all alone to fight for the seven hours they'd been forced out of commission for, and protected them with his body as the copied barrier he covered them with took hit after hit, only for the sun to mark the end of their nightmares.
The healers eyes turned wide at the first clear look of John's condition that she'd had in hours, before narrowing in determination. Everything seemed to flow together for Sera after Elaine had reached them; at some point, the school doctor, Darren had limped up to them with her sister supporting them as he'd called for them to move everyone to the infirmary, but she had no recollection of the trip. The only thing she registered was when someone had tried to pry John's broken and bloody hand from her as she snapped her head up, only to see John's old friend Claire's tired eyes as she was helped to stand by Cecile, who told her to let Isen and Blyke carry her best friend to the infirmary. Numbly she agreed and somehow had ended up seated next to his bed, both of their wounds dressed with bandages as Elaine continued to work on John. Her eyes refusing to budge form the most important person in her life that laid frighteningly still in the bed.
'This was enough.', she thought. 'I can close my eyes for a handful of seconds. It's over... right? He won't disappear on me again.' she tried to convince herself. She never got the chance to answer her own question as she went under herself, helped along by the disgusting tonic the school doctor and her sister had fed her.
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Three days later, Elaine surveyed the bandaged chest of her final patient from the horde of that disastrous night stumbled over to collapse into the chair seated next to her fitfully sleeping best friend in John's private room, the bags under Sera's eyes as pronounced as her own. She quietly tuned to stare at the same thing Seraphina refused to part with; she gazed upon the strongest person she'd ever known, now beaten and bloody, not for his lack of strength, but for others. He'd been forced to fight the endless army of monsters alone because there was no one capable of keeping up with him, as well as her own inability to heal others fast enough to help him. She closed her eyes and remembered meeting him on his first day and finding out he was a cripple. She'd always hated herself for the words she'd allowed to spill forth and mock him just the same as everyone else. Of watching him fight everyone who thought he'd be an easy target only for their strongest elite tiers to need to team up to overcome his fearsome hand to hand skills. He never once lost his positive attitude after every beating, quickly bouncing back from every injury until the day he broke through the shell Seraphina had put around herself, and helped her best friend out of her shell. Of watching them grow closer and feeling jealous of both friends for finding the strength to open up to each other, and for what she could have had if she'd been kind on the day they'd met. Until that fateful day that she'd gotten a call from Arlo and had went later on to Seraphina only to find John needed healing as well and putting the pieces together. His threat to be silent, Sera's loss of her powers later on, Joker's emergence, and his battle against the royals. John's reveal of his powers to the school and the verbal fight that he and Sera had, the screams of both still echoing through her tired mind as she closed her eyes tighter and leaned back into the chair so she could curl up into it.
The real fight the two had when Sera finally got her powers back and the words Sera had tried to tell John as he'd fought against something only he could see. Sera being unable to make it past the abilities he'd copied and strengthened even without him fighting back as he fell to his knees and Sera passed out in his arms from exhaustion. He'd carried her silently to the infirmary and left without looking at her which still stung. Hearing that he'd asked for some time off to get his head on straight had been both a relief and a curse; she could no longer even try to reach out to him as she'd allowed her heart to convince herself she could finally do however, he was allowing himself to be reached now, even if it wasn't by her. Of feeling listless until the day he was meant to come back and resolving herself to apologize to him and hope he'd accept. The battle that his return heralded and watching him put everything on the line for her and the people he'd pushed into the school... Watching him fall into Sera's arms and the panick she'd felt as she was called to finally pay back her debt to the young man, and save his life. She jumped and wildly looked around until her eyes finally caught the steady rise and fall of John's chest as she slowly relaxed back into the chair.
She called out to him in the quiet and empty room the three were in, "Why do you always pick fights you can't win?!?! Do you enjoy being hurt?! Or making Sera sad?! Or making me cry?! I can't heal you damn it!… I can't help you… Please come back to me…. Don't leave me or Sera alone.". As she closed her eyes, she could hear the doctor walk into the room which woke Sera from her short slumber as he went over what he could tell from John's injuries.
"Why hasn't he woken up yet?! It's been three days! I've rewound the wounds on his body, Elaine's given him her best, and you've forced him to drink every tonic you can make for him. So why won't he wake up?!" Sera demanded from the school nurse as she walked next to John to stare into Darren's eyes with her own desperate blue gaze as Elaine's eyes met with the doctor's.
"Seraphina, calm down, right now! Do you think throwing a tantrum will make anything change here?!… Look, he exhausted everything he had to give while protecting you all. He fights by mimicking another persons abilities and then opening his aura channels as wide as they can go, that means he can push any ability he copies up to becoming god tier themselves. However, every ability has a downside, even if you practice constantly to reduce them, and John is no different; it takes enormous amounts of physical and mental stamina to use his ability to it's fullest potential. John has been too traumatized for the last two years to even think of using his ability; he's out of practice and has been fighting high tiers and god tiers constantly for the last two months and then this happens?! Almost fourteen hours of constant combat at his best! Even though his understanding and mastery of his abilities is well beyond most adults, even if he started using it from the start of his time here at Wellston, he would still be in a coma for a day or two let alone this mess!!!", the doctor quickly rebuked her as he continued with his examination, attempting to rub the exhaustion from his own gaze.
"..please.", she whispered, her voice as marred with her despair as her eyes were with unshed tears. "Please… give him back to me...", she continued as the tears made it past her long lashes at last, which fell down onto John's own face. only to slide down his own cheeks. All three conscious people in the room snapped their heads towards the young man as he turned his face towards his best friend, waiting with baited, hopeful, breath as he continued to rest.
"…! Seraphina…. I'm sorry, but the only way for that to happen is for him to rest. There's nothing we can do but sit and wait.", he finished as he walked out of the room, closing the door with one last glance at the unresponsive boy.
The two ladies fell silent in the empty room as Elaine curled back up into chair and watched her best friend slowly slip under the covers next to the young man and bury herself into his side. Elaine crushed the rising jealousy as she watched Sera shake with repressed sobs and John slowly turn in his sleep to curl his battered arm around her.
'She's your number one priority... even asleep, huh?', she thought to herself as she slowly succumbed to the exhaustion lulling her to sleep. 'What would that feel from you; that undivided attention and silent adoration you showered her with every second of your time together?' were her last thoughts before finally resting, and returning to the nightmares inside of her own mind featuring a golden eyed boy smiling as he traded his life for hers again and again.