Trigger warning: Rape and suicide mention
Next Day in wellston
In the safe house the royals were having the safe house ready for next time. Seraphina looked like she was in deep thought so deep it's like she was at the bottom of the ocean. "Hey Seraphina" Isen tried to get her attention. "Huh?" The magenta haired girl was startled. "You look like you were thinking hard. What are you thinking about?" The orange-haired boy asked.
Seraphina was silent but then said something. "It's John" Seraphina replied. "What about him?" Isen asked. "Blyke and I went to his room to see he was there but there was nothing but dried blood and an almost empty bottle of painkillers" She said. "What?" Arlo was surprised. "Was he attacked?" Arlo asked. "We're not sure, but something bad must've happened if there was that much blood" Blyke replied "You really think someone attacked John?" Isen having a hard time believing someone had the balls to do that. "And what was with the painkillers? Did he get hurt?" Remi asked.
"I don't think so I saw him coming out of Doc's office when doc wasn't in there he had painkillers in his hand. He didn't look injured so I have no idea why he took them" Blyke replied. "John you better not have done what I think you've done" Seraphina was hoping John didn't try to end his life.
There's loud murmuring outside the room. "Hm? What's going on?" Isen wondered. The ex-royals stepped outside of the safe house and see someone walking. "Is that really him?" Isen wondered. "What the hell he has a different look from before" Blyke thought. "Why does he look like that" Arlo wondered. "Is that really you-
John?" Seraphina is shocked. The boy with obsidian hair now has dark red hair streaks and chains on his wrists and a completely different vibe from before. John had a flashback being with the gang.
Flashback
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"Guys don't you think John would look good with red streaks in his hair?" Jade asking the opinions of her friends. "Definitely" Said Cyrene. "It would suit that sexy bad boy exterior" Radite shamelessly sexualizes John.
"Keep talking and I will rip your f*cking tongue out" John clenching his fist ready to hurt Radite. "Do it with your teeth please" Radite shamelessly flirts with John. "Oh no you don't!" Cyrene smacks Radite. "Gah!" Radite falls on the floor. "John do you want to change your hair?" Ausra asked. "I'm not sure the last time I changed my hair was for a new start but I stop when things became hell" John explained
"Well if that's the case you could make another change since this is a new start for you" Said Layina. "A new start huh?" John wondered how things were going to turn out now that he's with the group and Zadok. "Let's celebrate the uprising tribulation is complete" Agni prepares wine. "I miss my room" Said Zaccai. "Wait but aren't we underage to drink wine?" John asked. "So what? We're almost legal so we might as well enjoy ourselves!" Agni exclaimed. "Partying is so overrated." Zaccai crossed him arms.
"Spoken like a true introvert" Agni says in a judgmental tone. John decided to take a glass and the taste dry bitter blackberries and the metallic taste made it worse triggering John's disgust reflex. "Bleh!" John was grossed out by the wine. "What's wrong? You didn't like it?" Layina asked. "No I didn't. It tasted weird and what's strange is I usually like blackberries but it's tastes unnatural" John explained the taste of the wine.
"Maybe it's not the right one for to try. Try this one it's called Pinot Noir" Ausra hands John a different glass. John drinks it and he is fond of the sweet taste. "It tastes dry but also sweet" John describing the taste of the wine. "That must be your flavor. Would you like more?" Agni asked and John nodded yes. As time passed majority of the group became more and more tipsy.
"Who stole my wine bottles from my cabinet?" Zadok wondering who was bold enough to take his wine. "What the-?" Zadok surprised to see the tipsy teens. "*Hic* J-John *hic did you know my brother is gay? *hic*" Agni was drunk and spitting out nonsense. "N-no idiot Radite's the gay one well technically he's bisexual anyway if one of us were to be gay it would be you *hic*" Zaccai was also drunk.
"Everyone is more lively, I guess that's only natural because they're drunk" John thought. "H-hey sexy boy why aren't you drinking more?" Radite crawls onto John with a drunk smile, eyes filled with lechery and hands revealing his desire. "Because I don't want to end up like you people. Now get off me you f*cking pervert" John slaps Radite hard. Cyrene shows up and kicks Radite's stomach. "Augh!" Radite grunts in pain.
"Seriously Radite don't you ever learn?" Cyrene agitated with Radite. "Thanks for doing tha-AAT!" John was surprised when Cyrene jumped on John. "Radite *hic* shouldn't be the one to have fun with you *hic* it should be me" Cyrene is moving her hips on John which caught him completely off guard. "Oh sh*t she's drunk too" John is worried what she might do next.
"John y-you want to me to do a striptease?" Cyrene says that in John's ear and Radite heard it. "John say yes!" Radite begged John to say yes to Cyrene. "What the f*ck?!" John is clearly surprised and doesn't know what to do in his situation. "Cyrene, you're drunk you need to wake up you don't know what you're doing" John tries to stop the drunk girl from doing something she'll regret. "If I didn't know what I was doing would I do this" Cyrene nibbles John's right ear. "Ngh" John was again caught off guard by Cyrene.
Ausra pulls Cyrene off of John. "Everyone stop harassing John it's bad enough he has to deal with Radite now but how you're behaving you're all encouraging him!" Ausra manages to calm everyone down with her words. "What are you imbeciles doing?!" Zadok screams at them. "It was all Agni's fault he took your wine!" Zaccai points all the blame to his brother. "Zac you traitor! Remember you drank some too so you're also at fault!" Agni gets up but loses his balance showing how intoxicated he is.
"Everyone stop fighting please. Bleh what is this drink?" Jade said but her voice was higher than normal. "Why is she acting like that is she that intoxicated?!" John concerned about Jade. "Oh great Oden came out" Said Ausra. "Oden?" John was confused. "That's right you don't know. Jade was kidnapped for a year as a child and because of that trauma she developed DID known as dissociative identity disorder. Oden is a 8 year old boy who is in charge right now" Ausra explained Jade's mentality.
"So that's what she meant by alters" John remembered what Jade mumbled. "Everyone who's not drunk take the drunk ones to the bedrooms! Now!" Zadok demanded. Later that night everyone was sleeping except for John who was outside staring at the stars wondering if it will continue to brighten the dark sky or if the sky will be engulf in darkness as he was projecting his thoughts on the world. For some reason John's heart was beating like crazy so he breaths in the cool air to calm himself down.
"You're out here too huh?" Said the gray haired girl. "Oh it's you Layina" John was startled for a second. " Yeah sorry if I startled you" Layina walks beside John and puts her arms on the railing. "How do you like it hear?" Layina asked without making eye contact. "I'm not too sure yet, you guys went through some f*caked up things because of society but I'm not sure if I'm 100% okay here. Even though I feel this way some part of me feels I can rely on you guys." John replied.
"I understand I felt the same way you did when I was first here then came to accept being the gang and I couldn't be happier" Layina smiled at John which twinkled John's eyes for a second. "Anyway I usually come here to clear my head or trying to figure something out? Are you here because of those reasons?" Layina asked John. "I'm just worried because I had chance to make a new start but that went wrong so-" John gets interrupted."You're worried the next new start will go bad and that nothing will ever go good" Layina interrupted John. "Yeah that's it" John's head is down showing his gloomy aura.
"John, I know you went through so many hardships that's putting you in despondency but I'm telling you it will get better" Layina gives John solace. "How do you know?" John says in a pessimistic tone. "From experience" Layina smiled. "How did things get better for you?" John asked. Layina squeezed her hands with discomfort and John noticed. "Sorry I shouldn't have asked" John felt guilty for asking something that could've been traumatic.
"I-it's just it was too much for me to bear and very hard to speak about but I will talk about for you" Layina bit her lip and her arms were shaking then she finally said something. "I was raped" She said in a distress tone. "W-what?!" John was shocked by what Layina said. "It started when I was queen at my high school I'm only and elite tier but where I live I was one of the top ten strongest kids. I had a good life I was queen, pretty and everyone was nice to me especially the king I didn't think much of it at first until he confessed to me" Layina put her hands to her chest.
"I was shocked when he confessed his feelings for me. I didn't reciprocate his feelings so I turned him down but he wouldn't take no for an answer. He pinned me against a brick wall and told me with our status we could make it big in the world as a couple but I didn't care. He refused to listen to me so he- he started t-to strip me" Layina touched the side of her arms with fear remembering her traumatic experience.
"I kept telling him to stop but he would so he r-raped me. I was frozen it's as if I was dead I couldn't move a limb then he finished inside me and left without saying a word. Ever since I felt numb inside I couldn't feel anything until I saw his face again and I felt a wave of horror and anguish. Ever since I fell into deep depression my parents were worried about me and kept asking what's wrong but I couldn't speak." Layina telling her backstory
"When I saw him treating a girl like sh*t I couldn't take it anymore! I told my parents and they stood by me and we charged him for sexual assault and went to trial but he was able to get away with it and his lawyer made it seem like it was my fault! I part of me did feel like it was my fault because I didn't fight despite my inability to do so I could not be around people like I used to before and I would get triggered everytime someone touched me. I didn't think I could be happy and I often had panic attacks. One day I finally had enough of it and I tried to commit suicide by swallowing a whole bottle of pills" Layina was in anguish and had tears in her eyes.
"How could he do that to you?! What for more power?! Status?! He ruined your life for something so trivial!" John was very angry how someone did that to her and the reason for it was something he was against most of his life. "I should find that man and kill him!" John was disgusted and wanted to hurt the person who hurt Layina. "Don't worry John he's already been taken care of." Layina said in a bone-chilling tone. "What does she mean by that?" John wondered. "After that Zadok found me and offered to help me. I didn't trust him at first because at the time I thought all higher tier men were awful to the core." Layina said
"Despite all my efforts to keep him away from me he still wanted to help me. I thought if I just did his little test he'll leave me alone so I did then I met the gang. It was hard to accept being around them especially Radite who shamelessly touches people and I hated him for it but when he found out what happened to me he decided to not do anything that would upset me. That's when I realize that he wasn't entirely insensitive the more time I spent with them the better I got and I realized I felt happy again" Layina smiled again.
Layina grabs John's hand and placed it on her bare stomach. John was both surprised and flustered. "W-what are you doing?" John was bright red. "See you're touching me and I'm not afraid. I'm telling you if I can recover from my past so can you." Layina grabs John's face. "John you can have as many new starts as you need to all you need to know is if you feel like you're falling remember we're here to catch you" John's heart went soft then Layina hugged him. "Things will get better?" John asked. "Yes things will get better" Layina replied.
John hugged Layina back they hugged for a few minutes then John realized Layina fell asleep. He chuckled a bit and carried her to her bed and put her down. He went to the bathroom and looked at the red hair dye. "A new start huh?" John thought
Flashback ends
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Seraphina rushes up to him "John!" trying to get his attention. "John where have you been you've been gone for four weeks now? What happened to you? Where did you go?" Seraphina demanded answers from John but he remained silent and continued walking.
"What's with him? That feeling I had when he passed by me it wasn't the same John who recklessly attacks people the second he's provoked. Actually he looks calm I haven't seen him like for a long time but he seems colder and more unnerving" Seraphina thought.
"He changed his hair and he's wearing chains on his wrists but why? Something tells me big things are going to happen." Seraphina thought. As John was walking he noticed the royals staring at him. "What?" John said in a very cold tone. "His voice it's sounds so cold as if he's capable to kill!" Isen thought as he was intimidated by John. "You sure took awhile to come back to school" Said Arlo. " I just had a life changing experience is all" John glared at him.
"What does he mean by that?" Arlo wondered. "If you have nothing else to say then shut up" John still spoke in a cold tone. "This asshole!" Blyke thought. "Good leave it's not we would want a full conversation with you" Blyke said angrily. John turned his head to Blyke. "I also don't want a conversation with dumbasses who can't see their safe house will fail" John insulted them. Blyke grabs John's collar "I'm sick you always saying that! I can't wait for you to eat your words" Blyke had enough of John.
"What do you think you're doing? Are you seriously asking for another beating?" John was annoyed but he still kept a poker face. Seraphina was going to try to stop them but someone already did. "What do you think you're doing?" It was Ausra and she was holding Blyke's arm. "Who are you?" Blyke asked. "Who are you to be messing with John?" Ausra activates her ability, burning Blyke's skin to a high degree. "AUGH!" Blyke pulls his arm away in pain. "Blyke!" Remi hold Blyke as he lost his balance and fell. "Ausra what are you doing here?" John asked.
"When Zadok told us our destination was Wellston we thought why not explore the school." Ausra replied. "Who is we?" John asked again? "Don't forget me? Radite showed up. "You brought Rad here too?" John wasn't keen on Radite being here at school. "Relax John it's only us two here everyone else is with Zadok coming up with a plan for our next move" Said Radite.
"Who are these guys and how does John know them? Did he meet them during his disappearance?" Seraphina wondered. "You b*tch! Look what you did to my arm?!" Blyke was angry at Ausra for burning his arm. "Maybe you shouldn't have touched my friend like that." Ausra said calmly. "Why are you friends with someone like him? He's just going to treat you like sh*t like he does to everybody else!" Blyke exclaimed. "So you're mad at him treating you like the piece of sh*t you are?" Ausra kept her poker face.
"Grr! Why you?!-" Blyke was stopped by Remi. "Blyke no, you need to go to the infirmary. Isen is trying to hold back his laughter from what What Ausra said to Blyke. "Come on Seraphina" Arlo believed it was best for Sera to come with them to take Blyke to the infirmary. Seraphina reluctantly went with them due to not being able to decide whether to stay with John or help Blyke.
"Who is she?" Radite stared at Seraphina. "Don't worry about her and don't get any ideas, Rad." John said. "Aren't you going to show us around?" Ausra asked. "Fine" John decided to show them around.
15 minutes later
"This is the rooftop I come here to clear my head and stay away from everyone." John said. "This place has a beautiful view" Ausra said. "It is amazing I can imagine coming here to chill." Radite laid on the floor. "I have questions what are our plans as the uprising tribulation?" John wanted answers. "All of us in the gang and Zadok know what the authorities are capable of so we track down all their secret bases and find out their plans and stop them" Radite explained.
"Our true goal is to begin anarchy and find powerful victims to help us change society. It's crucial we bring justice to those that suffered because of this system and it will be all thanks to Zadok" Ausra said in her usual serious tone. "Is that so? I can handle that." John said nonchalantly.
"Good, things should be easier now that we have someone as powerful as you" Radite smiled. "You're right, Rad. Before John, Radite and I were the strongest teenagers in the group but we did struggle with our missions with you our success rate will increase by at least 25%." Ausra said.
"When does the next mission start?" John asked. "The next mission will start in four days. We're going to branish there's some criminal activity going and it's like that the authorities have something to do with it" Ausra replied. "Okay." John said. "John, this is new for you so we understand if you have a hard time during the mission." Ausra tries to make sure John doesn't worry too much.
"Don't worry I'll be fine. Cmon I'm hungry." John walks back in the building and Ausra and Radite follow him. When they get inside the AP system calls John to the headmaster's office. "I'll be back guys" John waved at them.
John enters the headmaster's office. "Hello John long time, no see please sit down." Vaughn stared at John. "Hello headmaster" John sits down in a chair. "I've noticed you changed your hair and you have chains on your wrist." Vaughn pointed out. "The changes are necessary." John said. "Anyway enough about that, tell me where have you've been this past month?" Vaughn asked. "I'm not sure if I can I can tell you that" John was uneasy.
"John, it's crucial you tell me what happened? It's important that I know if my students are safe or not. Explain now." Vaughn demanded an answer. "I was having a hard time so walked off to cool off I got into and accident and no one else was around but someone showed and they helped me. They weren't around from here and didn't know Wellston that well so they took me to their home and take care of my injuries." John was trying to make his lie realistic and believable as he can.
"They listened to me and took me to see people my age and they were also hurt but still helped me." John was worried getting caught lying to the headmaster. There was silence then Vaughn said something. "If that's the case I'm sorry you went through that. Can I see the person who helped you? Vaughn asked. "No you can't he's out of town" John replied. "He?" Vaughn was curious. "Dammit!" John thought as he accidentally revealed Zadok's pronoun.
"In that case, you're free to go." Vaughn dismissed John. John left the room hoping the headmaster bought what he told him.
In the headmaster's office
"He's here isn't he? Zadok's is in Wellston" Vaughn thought
Chapter 5 end