NOVEL NEXT Chapter 5: The Truth Hurts
Sera couldn't help but curl tighter into the warm embrace of John's tired and battered body, as her own finally stopped shaking. Not because the storm of emotions had stopped raging, but because she didn't have enough energy to continue. She refused to sleep in fear of the nightmares that twisted reality and forced her to see her first real friend's smiling corpse. Sera heard Elaine shuffle under the blanket her sister's lover had brought for them to share to hours after Sera's breakdown earlier, in order to continue staring silently at the two on the bed emotions flickering across tired eyes like shooting stars, mimicking the night sky outside the open window. Their heads snapped towards the door as it opened to reveal Arlo, Remi, Isen, Blyke, Cecile, and Claire quietly walking in to stare at the two on the bed, as John unconsciously pulled Sera into his chest and turned his back towards them, as if to shield her from prying eyes. The young women watching couldn't help the falter in their steps, nor the emotions swirling through them as they took in the two best friend's positions, and the other newcomers stopped to observe the unconscious young man's action in confusion before silently took a seat to continue to stare down at the two god tiers until Sera had finally had enough.
"What do you want?", she called out in monotone towards the others John had shielded from the horde of monsters three days prior.
Arlo, as if spooked, snapped his blue eyes to her for a handful of seconds before closing them and leaning back against the wall to slide down onto the ground. He seemed to be considering his words for a time before finally making some kind of decision and opening his eyes once more. "You have questions.", the former king stated as he locked eyes with the magenta haired ace of the school. "There's no more reason to not tell you everything. You holed yourself up in here and do nothing. If we want to survive, we're going to have to work together if we want to survive this. Whatever those monsters are, it seems to be happening everywhere. I've had reports from the people I put on patrol at night that the abominations only seem to come out when the sunlight can't reach them, thank god for small miracles. Our phones are down and the radio doesn't work, the only reason the school still has power is because Remi is actually contributing... unlike some people...", the barrier user replied.
Usually, such a statement would have sent Sera into a rage and Arlo would have paid the price, however she was too tired at the moment to part with John's warmth. She leaned into the aura manipulators chest as she considered what to say before asking, "What happened while I was gone for a month?". Everyone except Arlo was confused and turned towards the barrier user to ask what the time manipulator meant before Arlo quieted them with a look as he stood and began to pace around the room slowly, before stopping by the door and sliding down to sit in front of it as he deciding on a reply.
"I couldn't understand why you were so involved with a cripple.", the former king quietly admitted as he stared off into space before continuing. "When you declared yourself ace and quit turf wars, that confusion turned to contempt. So, I had a thought, if you had changed with John's interference, then what was needed for you to return to your rightful place as queen was for him to be out of the picture completely. So made a plan to separate the two of you and break him away from you and anyone else he could infect.", the blonde admitted under the confused stare of his classmates. "I ordered Elaine to inform the headmaster of you reading UnOrdinary, and had you expelled to isolate him. I needed him to trust me and rely on my protection so I spent the month of your expulsion spending time with him. We drank Woaba Boba together after school, I kept the others off of his back, and we relaxed... it was... fun.", the blonde admitted to himself as Sera stayed silent and the others in the room stared in slowly rising horror at Arlo.
"This continued until the week before you were supposed to come back. I asked John to come with me on an errand and called Ventus and Meili to come with. We went to the turf wars clearing and I had the two of them beat John into the ground over and over again until he stopped getting back up. I ordered the two to pin him down, and tried to make him see the importance of the hierarchy and your necessary place in it.", The god tier scoffed at the word under the horrified eyes of everyone in the small room. "What the hell is that going to do for us now?!", he snarled at himself under his breath. "Well, it appears that was enough to send him over the edge; he took us out one by one, brutally. Ask Elaine, I needed her to heal us to even stand on my own. The rest of what occurred here at Wellston, from what I know now, was simply a series of unfortunate scenarios that continued to propel John past any point of reason, although I will admit to not putting much effort in trying to reason with John.", he finished before closing his tired eyes and leaning back into the door frame.
...
Arlo seemed to make peace with himself under the disbelieving eyes of the people in the room as Sera kept her head buried in John's chest for a moment longer, before gently easing herself upright, showing her shadowed eyes as she turned towards the seated blonde.
...
"All of this...", she whispered to no one. "... because you couldn't let your precious order and rules go? You dragged John back into his own nightmares for your own ego? Because the world didn't change the way you wanted it to?", Sera continued as she reached out a hand to cup John's relaxed face and watched the young man slowly nuzzle into it. "I changed when I met John, I'll admit that much. But it wasn't because he made me; it was because I wanted to be more than what I was. I wanted to laugh like everyone else. I wanted to cry like everyone else. I wanted to argue, love, and express myself just like everyone else. I wanted to be free... and John showed me how to be. Don't worry, Arlo; I know that John isn't innocent in all of this. But he will answer to me, soon when he wakes up. There's too much left between all of us that we need to sort through for him not to come back to me.". The magenta haired girl's wording slipped past the men in the room, however the sharpening of the ladies eyes as they stared at Sera revealed that they had not.
Sera either didn't notice their intense gazes or outright ignored them as she leaned back down to press her lips to the crown of John's head and offered her words to her best friend,"I'm sorry… I'm so sorry… for being blind to the pain you were in, everyone was in. That it took me losing my powers to understand how broken our world truly was. For not trying harder to understand the last few months from your point of view… for snapping at you and yelling even if you were lying to me… We both said things we can't take back… but we will get through this. We'll go forwards and understand each other better than ever after this… All you have to do is wake up… Please… I can't lose the most important person in my life… Not anymore…", as she stood to walk out of the room. "Elaine.", she called as she turned back to look at her roommate, "Let's go see how we can help out.".
The healer stood to follow follow but not before turning around and placing a kiss of her own to the sleeping powerhouse as she whispered once more,"Please come back to me…. Don't leave me or Sera alone...please.". Her words finished, the green eyed girl walked to stare her best friend in the eye as she was in turn studied by the time manipulator. What felt like hours of scrutiny was actually seconds before the magenta haired girl nodded once in approval with a tiny smile as the two girls left the room.
The rest of the inhabitants of the room seemed to all be lost in their own thought before Remi stood to talk to John once more as she suppressed tears of uncertainty."Please wake up soon… how can I thank you for protecting me if you don't?… You said that I was naive?!?! You said to stop the tears, right?!?! Well they won't stop, not for me. If you want them gone then wake yourself up and show me how I can help everyone heal! All I need is you at my side and I know I can be strong enough to save them!", the pink haired girl said aloud as she vented out her emotions no one to hear except herself, the others too lost in their own though to listen as she slowly left the room.
Blyke roused from his thoughts first as he stood to whisper to himself," I was too weak to change anything...again?!?!?!". The red head stared in rage at the unresponsive body of his once enemy, now turned martyr. "I don't get you at all! On second you act like a monster the next your fighting for all of our lives?! Make up your god damned mind! Are you my friend or my enemy?!", the energy discharge user ground out to himself as he stared off into space once more. He seemed to come to a decision as he walked away from John and said," I'll get stronger just like I promised myself and then I'll come for that rematch. I'll show you that there is worth to the people here. I will protect my friends! And then I'll finally reach out to you and show you that you're not alone…that all you have to do is keep trying.", the last part was said under his breathe as he left.
His best friend watched on stewing in his own helplessness as he looked at the man he was most scared of in the world. The reporter started to nervously tap his foot to some unheard beet before he stood to walk out as he called out behind him,"I'm sorry… for snooping around in your past, and for breaking your wrist. Even if it was on Arlo's orders, it still wasn't right…. Look where we are now, huh? Funny how the world changed again and again around me these last few months, right?… Please get up man we need you to be a king we can rely on more then ever…" the hunter/budding journalist stated as he followed Blyke's example, and left the room.
The green haired prophet was next to stand and walk over to the only friend she had left and placed a kiss to his untouched cheek to offer her own words of promise before departing," I'm sorry for being the one that broke you…For calling you a monster…. I just wanted to get through to you that you needed to stop hurting people…. You were out of control but I never wanted to lose you!!!… We have a lot of catching up to do so please wake up soon…".
The former head of Wellstons news paper crouched next to John to brush the copy cat's hair out his face as she whispered to him," You said you'd bring change to the world if I followed you, but I don't think this is what you meant…. I'm training everyday so I don't need to be protected like that again…. So you don't end up like this again…. Hurry up and get better so I can keep my part of the promise. You said you'd bring change and I said I'd follow you until the end and help you with everything I've got… so don't keep me waiting for too long… yeah?", the energy tentacle user offered before leaving the room.
All that remained was the former king still seated on the ground as he continued his stare off with nothing for a time. After a handful of minutes with only John's breathing as company, he stood to depart as well, offering his own meager words. "…Things aren't the same anymore. Not in the school, and not in the world. I can't do this alone… not anymore. Maybe I never could… I'm sorry… for everything. For being so obsessed with the hierarchy that I let myself become blind to the pain of the people I lead… For lying to you and betraying you like that. I've told Sera everything that happened, of everything I did to you… and what you did in return. It didn't paint either of us in the best light but it's time to move on from that… Please wake… I need your help to keep them all safe from this new world… and to help us all heal from the old one." the barrier user gave one last glance a the quietly resting god tier who had bested him in every way, before leaving to continue offering his help to keep the people who looked to him for assurance safe.
John was alone once more for a time, and all was peaceful as he continued to heal from overexerting himself. If anyone had stayed a little bit longer, they would have noticed the golden glow filtering through his eyelids as aura of the same color began to slowly gather to cover his skin, before sinking down towards the bones and flashing white along with the bangs of his hair before settling to repeat the process again and again, long into the night, in preparation for John to break past the final obstacle to wake up.