The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 65

John POV

John's head was pounding when he woke up. He opened his eyes slowly, seeing a ceiling above him; shifting slightly, he found that he was laying on a couch. Doc's couch. He recognized the room from before, even if he couldn't quite remember what had happened. As he shifted into a sitting position, he caught sight of Sera. It appeared that she'd fallen asleep with her head resting against the couch. He could see the marks of bandages around her arms. John frowned. When did she get hurt...?

Sera gave a small groan at John's movement. He watched as her eyes slowly opened; she began to sit up slowly. When she noticed that he was sitting up, her eyes widened. "John!"

He opened his mouth to speak, but his head was suddenly spinning again. Memories had begun to flash through his head; Spectre, an ability disabler, using Kayden's teleportation ability... His eyes widened as he processed what happened. Before he could say anything, however, he was overwhelmed with nausea. He stumbled to his feet and ran to the bathroom, throwing up. It reminded him a lot of Sera's reaction to the disabler. Unfortunately, that connection told him that it was real; Spectre had betrayed them, and his ability had been disabled.

He closed his eyes, feeling for his aura. There was nothing left.

John splashed some water on his face before returning to the other room, feeling as if he'd been asleep for days. Sera was waiting for him. He sat down on the couch, staring at his hands as he tried to process the fact that his ability was gone. He'd hated it so much, and yet now that it was gone... he frowned. How can I ever fix anything if I'm just powerless now? He sighed.

"Are you feeling better now?" Sera asked him. "It took you long enough to wake up."

John winced, glancing over at her. "How long has it been?"

"About a day. Same as me," She told him. There was a moment of silence as she stared at him. "Is your ability really... gone?"

He nodded. Sera's eyes darkened, her hands clenching into fists. It was clear that Spectre's betrayal had hit her hard, and John's ability loss even harder... before she could say anything, however, there was the sound of a door opening and Doc entered the room, Leilah right behind him. He sighed when he saw John.

"So, are you finally going to explain what happened?" Doc asked him gruffly. "I'm tired of sick kids appearing in my house." He glared at John and Sera. John hunched down a little against the couch. Blame Spectre, not us. Leilah put a hand on Doc's arm, smiling at him before turning to John and Sera, her expression becoming more serious.

"Sera told us what she could, but... what was that, with your ability? How did you get back?" She asked him. John bit his lip. Before he'd passed out, he rememerbed telling them as much as he knew... he was just as lost as they were. He'd needed to escape, to save Sera, so he had.

He shrugged in response, much to the disappointment of everyone watching.

"I'll analyze a blood sample. That might tell us more about the disabler, or about your reaction to it," Doc finally told them, frowning and turning to leave the room.

"Do you guys need anything else?" Leilah asked John and Sera after watching him leave. Sera shrugged, looking over at John. He was a little hungry, but most of the injuries he'd gotten from the fight with Spectre were healed; it seemed that Doc had done his job well.

"We need to figure out what happened. My ability just... well, it felt like I really was copying Kayden's aura, even though he wasn't there," John told Sera. "It was almost as if my ability remembered the feel of it."

Sera frowned. "Do you think it could be some sort of stress response? You knew we could die, after all, so your ability was able to do something stronger than before?" It seemed like a good suggestion to John, although he still wasn't sure of anything else.

He'd read a lot about different abilities when trying to make his own stronger. He'd read about people activating new parts of theirs in moments of danger, or percieved danger, but usually it was more of a power-up; he wasn't sure he could repeat that moment again and copy Kayden's ability. Especially not now, when he couldn't even feel his passive. Something about his ability had been different in that moment. His ability was unique to begin with, as it was more like a combination of multiple; unfortunately, there was no one to ask about that, except-

His eyes widened as he cut his own thoughts off. Sera frowned at him. "What?"

John sighed, hating what he'd just realized. Still, he couldn't help but deny that there was at least one person who did know about an ability like his. "My uncle... we should ask him."

If there was anyone who could help John figure out his ability, or even help him get it back, it was the one person who knew exactly what it was like to have Aura Manipulation.