The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 28

John POV

Sera sat down on the couch and glanced over at John, frowning. "Are you sure you don't want to sleep on here?"

"It's fine," John told her. "Sleeping on the floor doesn't bother me." He didn't care so much about that then he did that he could have her here next to him.

After they'd come back, John had tried so hard to act like he was already fine, but he really hadn't been... Sera had seen through a bit of it. It must've been why she'd decided to stay. Even if she's not really supposed to be here... At least no one will care. If there was one good thing about being King, it was that. No one would stop him...

John shuddered at the thought, closing his eyes and forcing the memories back. No. Sera would stop me. She's not going to let me do something that I'd regret again. He let out a breath. That's right. She's here. He opened his eyes to see Sera staring at him.

"You alright?" She asked. He nodded, wondering just how well she could see through him. The thought terrified him as much as it comforted him. He'd started to be so afraid of someone seeing who he was on the inside, of them seeing everything that was wrong with him and turning away. He'd lost so many things... if Sera had left when she heard that his mind was all over the place, John didn't know what he would've done. She didn't leave, though. Not like Claire did. Sighing, John sat down on the floor to rearrange his sleeping bag.

He'd decided to sleep on the floor with Sera on the couch next to him, despite the fact that his own room had a bed he could've been on. There was something about the thought of being there all alone with his thoughts that made him want to stay here instead. He didn't want time to process everything. Processing would mean fully accepting the fact that he had mental illnesses, that there was something wrong with him just as he'd thought, that he needed help... Even though telling Sera about it had lifted a weight off of his shoulders, that didn't change the fact that things were still messed up. He'd still been having nightmares every night, watching himself hurt everyone over and over again.

John glanced over at Sera. She'd taken her hair extensions out and put them on the table next to her, and was flopping down on the couch. The small smile on her face brought one to his own. I'm so glad she's back. With her here, I don't need to worry so much... She had changed so much for him. He got the sudden urge to stand up and hug her, to thank her over and over so that she could see what she meant to him. Without her, he couldn't have done it.

He'd already been falling under the pressure of his uncle, Alban, asking him to start training, and then Keon had only made things worse by reminding him of everything he'd done wrong so far... he'd been all alone. His dad hadn't answered his calls. The horrible truth that he had no one at either Wellston or New Bostin had stung so much that John had to force himself to forget about it before he started to drown in his own mind. Adding on the mental illnesses had just been something else to send him under...Without Sera, he probably wouldn't have ever gotten out of bed and forced himself to go to school after that.

"John?" Sera's voice startled him from his thoughts. He realized with a jolt that his eyes were wet. Oh, shoot. He hurried to wipe the tears from them before they could fall. She definitely noticed that... Sera slid down off the couch, joining him on the floor. She reached to the hand that covered his face and pulled it away. "Hey, what happened?"

"Ah... it's nothing-" He began to answer. Then, he paused. Hiding things never works. Why can't I just tell someone how I'm feeling for once? He took a deep breath. "It's just... all of this has been a lot, and I'm just a bit lost..."

Sera's dark blue eyes had filled with worry at this. John squeezed his eyes shut and leaned back against the couch. He felt the soft pressure of her hand in his a minute later. The gesture released some of the stress inside of him.

"That's understandable. Lots of things have happened recently," Sera told him quietly. "Want to talk about it?"

John sighed. He didn't really, but if he just kept them inside of him, he felt like he would explode. He started off simple. "I don't know what to do about my uncle."

"Don't feel like you have to do something immediately," Sera told him. "It's your choice whether you decide to train with him or not."

"See, but I don't have a choice. Keon... h-he won't let me do anything if I don't accept!" John exclaimed, his voice trembling as he thought about the red-haired man. Sera squeezed his hand.

"Hey. You forget that I'm here, John," Sera told him. John bit his lip.

"He's with the authorities," He answered.

"And I'm a level 8 god-tier. I can't imagine that Headmaster Vaughn is too happy with him either, and he's pretty strong," Sera countered, grinning. "He doesn't stand a chance."

John smiled a little at her cocky attitude. "Now you sound like you did when we first met."

"Well, I'm not wrong," Sera added. They smiled at each other for a second before her expression became serious. "I think you should do the training."

"What?!" John exclaimed, jumping up from where he sat. Do the training? Does she want me to get stronger?! I don't want to learn more about my ability, I want to stop it!

"I'm not suggesting that you do it for your uncle, or so that you can satisfy the authorities' stupid little deal. Do it for you, John." He stared at her blankly. Sera sighed. "If you learn more about your ability, you can control it better. You can't just forget about it, John. You need to use it to accept it."

John avoided her eyes. She's right, but... "It's not that easy... what if I loose control?"

"You won't." Sera's voice was firm. "And if you do, I'll be there. Alban seems strong, too... I don't think he would let you run off to beat up people."

John shrugged. "True." He frowned again. "I was wondering, though... why would Alban show up now of all times? Why didn't he come to New Bostin? I wasn't exactly hiding the fact that I was King there..."

"I don't know," Sera answered. John bit his lip. He was almost suspicious about the timing... first his dad stopped answering his calls, then his uncle whom he hadn't seen for years showed up. It wasn't likely that those two things would be completely unrelated. Sighing, John sat back down by Sera. This is too complicated to think about.

"My dad hasn't been answering my calls," He told her instead. "Do you think..." He didn't know what to think. "Do you think something happened?" John's dad had written the book Unordinary, and the authorities hadn't exactly been happy about the problems it had caused... had something happened relating to that? If they hurt him, I'll- John took a deep breath. No. They wouldn't have done anything, not now of all times. Last time he'd seen his dad, he'd been fine. William was probably just busy with another book.

"He's probably just busy," Sera reassured him, mirroring John's thoughts. He wasn't sure he fully believed her or his own thoughts, but he nodded.

John frowned, glancing over at his phone. There weren't any calls or texts from his dad, but Sera was usually right... He turned it on and gasped. Sera turned towards him. "What?"

"Don't we have school tomorrow?" John asked Sera. She nodded. "Because, uh... it's 3 AM. We should really go to sleep."

They both stared at each other for a minute, questioning how they hadn't noticed that time was passing so quickly. Then, Sera nodded.

"That would be the smart thing to do," She told him, standing up and climbing onto the couch. John laid back on his sleeping bag as Sera settled in. His chest tightened at the thought of sleeping, but he was tired... it had been a long day.

"Goodnight, John," Sera whispered. John smiled at her voice.

"Goodnight."