"Make yourself comfortable. I mean, as much as you can with your injuries," Remi said awkwardly after helping John to her bed. Following his initial reluctance, he was surprisingly cooperative, lying down on her bed on his own.
She texted Elaine to come quickly, not specifying the reason but making it clear it was urgent. She sat in her desk chair and studied John after she made sure Elaine was on her way.
He was fidgeting around, seemingly not finding a good spot. Those students did a number on him, that much was obvious.
Still, he didn't act like other people would. At least not other low tiers. The ones she helped occasionally were all shaken, timid, and shied away from her questions. John on the other hand was openly upset, angry, and didn't sugarcoat his less-than-favorable opinion of them.
He was different. Unyielding and stubborn.
It was intriguing, to be honest.
"Why are you so different?" She found herself asking, unable to push down her curiosity.
He didn't answer immediately but shifted on the bed to look at her, his eyes telling her to elaborate.
He had very expressive eyes.
"I mean the other low tiers. Why are you so different from them?"
He arched an eyebrow and for a moment she could have sworn there was a slight amusement on his face.
"So you aren't that blind after all."
"What do you mean?" She furrowed her brows.
"You realize that different social classes act differently."
She didn't know where he was going with this.
"Well, yes... What about it?"
"Did you never stop to think why is that? Or did you think every low tier is inherently born with a meek and submissive nature?"
"Uhm..." She didn't know what to say. She never thought about this in-depth just did her best to help others when she could. Still, she tried to say something at least vaguely logical under the pressure of those scrutinizing eyes. "I guess everybody is treated differently by society, which shapes the way they act."
"Then why did you think the societal structure, the hierarchy that causes this would suddenly stop existing within the school?"
"I don't know," she sighed. "I guess I wanted to believe all my brother's work wasn't in vain and changed Wellston for the better."
And maybe that Arlo as her close friend and someone who respected Rei deeply wouldn't just undo all the improvement his predecessor achieved.
John hummed. "But you never actually looked into it."
That was indeed very stupid and negligent of her.
"How bad is it?" She asked but wasn't sure if she was ready to hear the answer.
He huffed and pushed himself up on his elbows with some difficulty. "Do you really want to know or are you hoping it's just not as bad as it seems? After sticking your head into the sand for so long I won't waste my time talking to a wall. I'm not reasoning with another high tier only to be beaten when they don't like what they hear."
"I would never-" she started to say but stopped. He didn't need some empty reassurance he wouldn't believe anyway. People hurt him time after time. He looked tired. Tired of all the garbage promises and tasteless tricks.
Even so, there was a certain, almost unnoticeable sense of eagerness in his voice. He wanted to share his experience with her, he just didn't know if it was worth the trouble.
He needed her to show her words meant something with her actions. She needed to listen, really listen this time.
"Yes, I want to know," she nodded, swallowing the thick knot in her throat.
John gave her a long and hard look searching for any signs of uncertainty but she willed her face to harden with determination.
"On the first day I came here after being all sweet and welcoming, Elaine pushed me onto the ground when she found out I'm a cripple. She said I was disgusting and was angry she even wasted her time on someone like me. Mind you she is barely an elite tier. I could probably beat her with my bare hands."
It was a good thing she exercised full control over her facial muscles right now because there was a flinch the moment she heard the name. She had no idea the two had such animosity between them. Then again she had no idea her friends, Elaine included, didn't uphold the same moral code she did.
Should she text Elaine not to come after all? But John wasn't willing to go to the infirmary and she didn't know any other healers.
'This will be awkward,' she groaned internally.
Unaware of her internal struggles John continued. "That same day I was attacked by multiple low tiers and no one bothered to help."
"Wait! Hold on! Why would other low tiers attack you?!"
He looked at her like a parent fighting for patience while talking to a clueless child.
"Remi, how does the hierarchy work? The stronger steps on the weaker."
"I get that, but you guys are literally the same tier! A low tier is barely stronger than a cripple!" She exclaimed unable to wrap her head around it.
John sighed. "God tiers step on other high tiers, high tiers step on elite tiers, elite tiers step on mid tiers, mid tiers step on low tiers. Low tiers have no one to step on normally. They just take and take. So what do you think happens when there is finally an opportunity to feel stronger than someone? They'll grab it with both hands. I can't even fault them, really."
"But still..." Remi felt a deep sadness as she considered his words. "They're like you."
"No, they're not," John let out another sigh but this time his expression was closed off and there was something... something to his words that just didn't fit into their current conversation. He seemingly realized he was getting distracted by some mysterious thoughts unknown to her and snapped out of it. "But this is beside the point. They probably wouldn't do this if not for everyone else abusing them constantly. This is just another direct consequence of the hierarchy."
"But if you guys suffer the same abuse shouldn't they feel empathy towards you instead of going for some fleeting satisfaction because they could beat someone weaker?"
John looked at her weirdly but then his body seemed to relax a bit more.
"I'll be honest with you here, you're the second student in this whole school who showed any signs of empathy and definitely the first high tier."
"Wait, wasn't the other person Seraphina? But she's also a high tier like me."
She regretted her words the second they left her mouth as John visibly flinched, the statement causing him more pain than any of his injuries.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to..."
"It's okay," John shook his head, but his voice was hoarse. "Sera... phina didn't really care about anyone else aside from me, so I wouldn't exactly call her... empathetic."
She blinked in surprise. "And you didn't lay into her the same way you did with me? You didn't seem like the type who would hold his tongue just because the two of you are friends."
John raised his hands in defense and winced promptly upon the thoughtless move. "I tried talking to her about it numerous times, but it's not easy to fundamentally change how someone views things. She has her own baggage to deal with as a god tier."
"So in a sense, she's like me?"
He scratched his chin. "No. I'd say you two are complete opposites. She knows the world is fucked, but doesn't think it can be changed while you are completely oblivious to the reality of things but have an idealistic outlook."
"And which one is better?"
It was stupid of her to ask such a question but for some reason, she wanted to be redeemable in his eyes.
"They both are equally bad," he answered with no hesitation and her face fell.
When she looked up she noticed him eyeing her again but with way less hostility now. There was even some sort of... softness in his fierce gaze.
"But I think neither of you is completely doomed. I mean, now you've finally started opening your eyes."
A smile stretched on her lips. Both because she wasn't a lost cause in his harsh eyes and because she knew he added this as a reassurance.
'He has a sweet side after all.'
Now he was averting his gaze, suddenly shying away from her. He wasn't the cheerful cripple roaming the hallways with Seraphina, but she would take this over the unfiltered disdain she experienced the first time they talked.
Sadly, they couldn't stop now however comfortable the moment was. She knew there was much he still needed to tell her, but first, there was another elephant in the room she wanted to address.
"What..." she started saying but her words faltered. Should she really ask him?
He raised an eyebrow, obviously annoyed she couldn't just say what she wanted without prompting.
She gulped and decided to ask anyway.
"What happened between you and Seraphina?"
John froze on the spot. His shoulders which were starting to relax were tense again now and his whole demeanor shifted, closing in front of her.
"Why do you ask me? Seems like your friend, Arlo, knows more than any of us," he almost spat out, his voice regaining the edge from their previous encounter.
She regretted asking but at this point, there was no going back.
"He certainly has his own version, but I don't know..."
"If you can trust him."
It wasn't a question.
"Yeah..."
"You have such nice, trustworthy friends who would never lie to you."
She wasn't ready to comment on that. The betrayal she felt when thinking about Isen and Blyke was something she wanted to deal with later with no one around.
"I'll talk to them later," she said in the end. "I want to hear you out first anyway before they can influence me."
"And why do you think you can trust my version?"
Her eyes up until now fixated on her lap snapped up to meet his.
'Again, with undermining his own credibility instead of trying to convince me... What's this guy's deal?'
"Why would you lie to me?"
"I have every reason to lie to you. If you can't see that you're blind. But then again we already knew that."
Her brows knotted together, her irritation growing. How he acted just didn't make sense to her. At all.
"Wouldn't you want to at least try to tell me your own version?"
"So you can just go to Arlo, listen to his version, and conclude I lied to you when the two don't match?"
"Or maybe it's just all a huge misunderstanding."
There was a brief silence as John apparently tried to process her words. Various emotions flashed through his face. Confusion. Shock. Doubt. Incredulity. Then anger.
"You can't be fucking serious right now."
"What? Why?"
"You seriously believe you can just clean this mess up as the result of some sort of misunderstanding and everyone lives happily ever after?"
He was on point but given how ridiculously it all sounded she couldn't just admit that.
"Well, not exactly, but isn't it possible that-"
"You cannot possibly think that everyone is blameless in this situation."
"Why not? If everybody got it all wrong and just acted with their best intention-"
"Remi," his voice was firm and serious and made her immediately stop talking. "Even if it was initially a misunderstanding do you think acting upon a baseless assumption is something that doesn't deserve blame? Especially when it resulted in the continuous torture of someone?"
She couldn't answer, but he also wasn't done yet.
"Arlo might misunderstood something, and thus felt justified in starting a witchhunt against me, but isn't it rather convenient how he didn't specify a reason? Don't you think if he had something he would at least tell the other royals like you and those two morons?"
"Well..." she thought long and hard before she answered. "Actually, no. He's a very secretive person, so he wouldn't necessarily share information with us."
"And do you think that's okay?"
She fell silent again. No, it wasn't okay, but any time she tried to raise the issue with him he dismissed her like she was a child throwing a tantrum.
"It's not, but it's obvious how he gets away with it," John let out a small, sarcastic snort. "You guys don't even need an explanation, you just follow his orders blindly, so why would he share anything?"
"We don't-" she began to say but remembered what happened earlier.
When she met his gaze again she knew that he knew he got her.
"Your friends only needed some vague accusation to beat me on the spot. Other students needed even less, they were that eager to go after me, a lowly cripple."
"What about the article?"
She thought that while it didn't exactly have evidence to back its claim at least it had some kind of sound reasoning to get so many students behind this horrible idea.
He slowly shook his head with a mocking smile. "The article only said Seraphina didn't want to be my friend anymore and put me in my place, urging others to do the same. There wasn't a single accusation in it apart from the heinous crime of being friends with the school's ace."
She didn't want to believe this was enough for so many students to torment him. But she was the one who wanted to hear his version even after he raised concerns about his own credibility. If she questioned him now the conversation would be over.
"At least your friends seemed to have some kind of story fed to them by Arlo, so they're a tad bit lower on the scum scale than the rest of the school," he snatched her attention back from her inner thoughts yet again as he leaned back against the wall. "I wonder what it's all about."
"The story Arlo told them?" She asked, curious that he brought them back to this topic when he initially was reluctant to disclose anything.
He nodded.
"Don't you have at least some sort of idea what it could be?"
"If I knew anything I might be closer to untangle this shitty mess."
"Didn't Seraphina give you a reason?"
She yet again regretted bringing up his ex-friend as he winced hearing the name.
He took a deep breath to calm himself then exhaled.
"No. One day we were hanging out, playing games and having fun as per usual, the other she didn't even want to be near me and everyone seemed to know more about it than me."
"And you have absolutely no idea what changed?"
"No."
She frowned. There were telltale signs that he wasn't telling her everything and knew way more than he let on, but at the same time, he didn't look like someone who was hiding something for self-preservation. His secrecy seemed to stem from something entirely different. It almost resembled... protectiveness.
All the conflicting signals were driving her crazy. Pulling anything out of John proved to be an impossible task so far, so forcing the issue further was definitely counterproductive.
She needed him to open up on his own, there was no other way.
But before she could come up with a feasible approach a knock sounded on her door.
"Remi, I'm here," a tentative voice called from the other side.
"Come in!" Remi answered and jumped to her feet.
Elaine walked in timidly, not knowing what to expect when she arrived. Or more like she had a very good hunch about what to expect but didn't want to think about it. Remi wasn't the type to just call her to any minor injury and they had an infirmary for a reason, so she either wanted to keep something a secret even from Doc or there was someone who refused to get their injuries treated.
While Remi was oblivious to most of the things around her Elaine didn't share this trait. No, on the contrary, she was very perceptive. She was close to the royals and useful enough to not be on other people's radar inside the school even without a combat ability, but it didn't mean much outside. People didn't know her rank or ability out there and she didn't exactly exude a dominant energy. She couldn't help but be on guard just like anyone else below elite tier. A barely elite healing ability could only do so much for her. She could heal herself if she got hurt but she still rather opted to not get beaten in the first place.
Thanks to her perceptiveness she knew that she wasn't the only one trying to look out for Seraphina. John, while constantly getting injured, severely at that, almost never turned up in the infirmary.
At first, she thought others kept him from going but then she caught him limping out of school twice and even sneaking past the infirmary on one occasion. The conclusion was obvious. He was avoiding the place, and there could be only one explanation for that.
He realized his presence was hurting Seraphina and despite everything he decided to bear the brunt of the damage without any type of healing rather than risk causing his friend any more pain.
The other possible explanation was that he avoided Seraphina to not get his ass beaten again, but that just didn't fit with his personality, and if he knew she was in the infirmary he had to know there was something wrong with her. But instead of using this to get back at her by exposing her new weakness to the school he seemed rather eager to hide this fact and keep the attention on him and away from her.
Given all of this, she had a good idea who she was about to heal when Remi texted her.
...And she also overheard Blyke and Isen's not-so-quiet discussion on the way here.
The state Seraphina was in was already tormenting her with guilt, but the fact that John, the weakest of all, a cripple was doing his best to protect the strongest member of their school even after said member hurt him and turned her back on him hammered away on a mental wall she ket up for so long she habitually forgot about it.
The wall she hid all her doubt and resentment behind.
The hierarchy...
Elite tier was the best tier to be born in. This was an unspoken conclusion within their society no one dared to speak out loud, because it went against the notion of god tiers being the epitome of their world.
While low tiers suffered at the very bottom abused by everyone around, mid tiers had to live with constant infighting, and high tiers pushed themselves to their very limits, elite tiers led a relatively easy life. A respectable position with a good living, rarely harassed by anyone, and not many expectations to live up to. Yes, high tiers were still above them but at that level, most didn't find much joy in beating the weaker. It was even unbecoming of a high tier to lower themselves with such an action. They had more important matters to attend to after all and raising their level was only possible with strong opponents, not inferior elite tiers.
So elite tiers just needed to follow the orders of their superiors and they were set for life. That was the only rule they needed to follow. Never question high tiers, just do as you were told. Simple as that.
Then why did the world seem so... unfair?
She was barely an elite tier and a healer at that, so she was more at the mercy of others than most elite tiers, but this resentment started way before that. Even as a child she had already realized there was no saying no to a high tier. They could take and do whatever they wanted as long as they adhered to the rules of their own social class. This naturally meant that everyone lower than them had to hope that they would never receive an order that would break them.
It was a forced good faith they instilled in them from birth and one that always left a bitter taste in her mouth.
Follow the orders and don't think much about them.
Even when it's hard.
Even when it's thankless.
Even when it's morally wrong.
Morals were set by high tiers anyway, so that little voice whispering, telling, and then outright screaming louder and louder couldn't be right.
But what happened when the order didn't make sense? Or when executing it would obviously harm others? Especially someone she wanted to view as a friend?
Not to mention she was another high tier even stronger than the one who gave the orders.
But Seraphina was compromised. At least that was what Arlo kept telling her. That she lost her way as a high tier. That she should be brought back to her senses by any means. That in the end everything would fall in place if she just followed the orders as she was programmed to and stopped questioning the means when the goal was clear and just.
Yet every day her doubts kept growing. Every night she found it harder to sleep.
What happened to Seraphina was wrong. What John was going through was wrong. What Arlo did, and consequently what she did, was wrong.
Here she was, awkwardly staring at the guy who did more for Seraphina than any of them and he was a cripple.
It seemed ridiculous how people kept questioning their friendship now. Because when push came to shove he was the one doing the most to keep his friend safe, god tier or not. He and another low tier, Elaine noticed a few days ago, but was determined to keep quiet about it.
Arlo didn't need to know. Of course, he would eventually find out but not from her.
Anyway, John was true to his friendship with Seraphina even when there was nothing for him to gain from it. She couldn't help herself but find it touching. Even admirable.
It was a shame their friendship could never be regained.
"Elaine?" Remi's voice dragged her back to reality.
"Ah, sorry," she said walking up to the bed from where John was eyeing her with contempt.
She tried to hold his gaze but just couldn't look at him without drowning in guilt. She could feel his gaze burning a hole into her and she stiffly cleared her throat.
"Can I... can I heal you?"
John still kept staring at her for a long moment but then he averted his eyes releasing her from under their pressure. He didn't say anything but it was a good enough answer to her. She knelt down and started the healing process.
A frown crept onto her face as she inspected his body.
"He has some very severe injuries. A lot of them are unhealed or half-healed and at least a day old so it will probably take longer than usual."
"Just do your best to heal all of them please," Remi said and she could tell she was deeply upset by the condition he was in.
"I will," she answered firmly and she meant it.
Most of the healing was done in silence, with all parties refusing to speak. The quiet of the room just gave her brain more opportunities to dwell on her regrets. Especially last night.
Seraphina, sickly pale and barely conscious, was pinning her to the floor with furious, glowing eyes. She knew what she wanted. But she also knew she couldn't tell her everything. The coldness of the bathroom tiles reminded her of Arlo's eyes looking down at her. They held a cold fury, displeased with her obvious resistance.
"Tell me," Seraphina commanded her again, and she felt petrified. "Who is this John to me?"
Unfortunately for Seraphina, the mere name was still enough to hurt her. Her whole body was stricken by pain and her hold faltered.
"Seraphina!" Elaine tried reaching for her hand, but her arms were still pinned against her sides by Seraphina's legs.
She could have used this opportunity to slip away from her, but what was the point really? She would keep bringing it up over and over again until one of them inevitably broke.
And she didn't want that one to be Seraphina.
"Just focus on finally telling me the truth!" Pushing through the pain Seraphina snapped at her and by sheer will stabilized herself on top of Elaine. At least enough to keep herself upright.
"You should ask Arlo," Elaine said while not looking her in the eyes. "He knows more than me."
"I'm not asking Arlo, I'm asking you."
Elaine couldn't really fault her. She was obviously a better target for questioning. She still hated being put into this position. She just wanted to tell her everything. Spill out the whole story. But she couldn't. Not when Arlo's words still rang in her ears loud and clear.
"Don't tell her anything."
"Seraphina..."
"Just fucking tell me!" She shouted and Elaine noticed unshed tears in her eyes.
It didn't matter really. Tomorrow, or the day after, or the day after that she would have to tell her something anyway. Of course, Arlo was fully prepared for this event too.
"If she insists let her talk and ask questions."
"What do you want to know?"
"What's the relationship between John and me? What was he to me?"
"Only answer harmless questions, stick to partial truths, and keep everything as vague as possible."
"I don't know what the two of you were exactly. I only know that you were close, but don't know exactly how close."
It was the truth. While she didn't want to give any credit to the rumors claiming them to be secret lovers, offended by such an idea on behalf of Seraphina, she really didn't know what the two did together. They spent an awfully lot of time together and she caught them being closer than most friends would feel comfortable with. Even so, she never saw them being handsy with each other, kissing, or calling the other pet names. Friends or more, the gossip mill was going wild with theories.
In a paradoxical way, Seraphina seemed both relieved and livid hearing this.
"Why did you lie to me? Why did you tell me he was my stalker?"
"If there is a question with an obvious answer, then you should answer truthfully."
"Arlo wanted you back into the hierarchy and saw John as an obstacle so he took the opportunity the separate you two. You're in pain just hearing his name, so he was going to keep you two separated anyway."
Elaine wanted to believe it was an unintended consequence of Arlo's plan, but her belief in their king disintegrated further and further with each day.
She felt the air being forced out of her lungs as Seraphina pushed down on her chest with her knee.
"It wasn't your call."
Her voice was dripping with unconcealed rage. Elaine could tell she wanted to hurt her, badly so, but wanted answers even more.
"What about my room and my phone? I assume it wasn't this empty before."
"It's a good thing you got rid of everything. It'll delay them from reconnecting even if she finds out about their friendship. Without an incentive, she would be less inclined to seek out someone who equals instant pain to her. By the time her condition normalizes, I'll remove the cripple from the equation once and for all."
While Arlo was clearly satisfied with his forethought in her memory, she knew there was one problem with his statement. Namely, she couldn't bring herself to follow this one order.
And now it might just gave her the perfect opportunity to go against his plan.
"I took those because I feared they would trigger you the moment you woke up. Arlo also didn't want you to have any sort of reminder in your room."
Was this painting her in a better light than reality? Yes. But she was already stuck between two furious god tiers, and it was true in a way. Seeing any of those things on the first day would have caused unthinkable damage to the freshly locked mind of an unsuspecting Seraphina.
Truthfully, she was doubtful it was a good idea to hand those things back to her even now. The reaction was still adverse.
"You want me to believe it was all for my own good?" Seraphina snarled, clearly skeptical.
Elaine couldn't blame her. She was one of the main culprits dooming Seraphina to this fate.
She met her gaze. Her sky-blue eyes were tired and unfocused as she glared down at her. She certainly wanted to probe her for lying but simply didn't have the strength. Elaine was surprised she didn't fall over yet.
"Give me my stuff back," Seraphina demanded at last.
Elaine waited for her to release her and then scrambled to her feet. She quickly marched to her room and back, swiftly retrieving the box she had been hiding in the depths of her closet. She put it on the floor beside Seraphina who at this point was leaning against the wall for support.
She was weak, her hands shaky, but she still immediately reached for the box like a starving castaway for the last piece of bread. She pulled it into her lap and took off the lid revealing her phone and other belongings.
But as Elaine expected not a second later she pushed the box away and threw up into the toilet. She didn't have anything left in her stomach so most of it was just gagging and dry heaving.
Elaine jumped to her side and stroked her back to comfort her.
"Take it easy. You can look at the content tomorrow after you had a good night's rest. Just take your meds and sleep."
She glanced at her, her eyes holding unmistakable hatred mixed with plain desperation. She didn't say anything as she got hold of the box again, carefully placing the lid back on top. Elaine tried to help but she swatted away her hand with no hesitation.
The box was not to be touched.
Still, even if she couldn't help with the box she still wanted to help her in other ways. Luckily, Seraphina also realized she needed assistance so while keeping the box outside of Elaine's reach she let her aid her while washing up and support her as she walked to her room.
Elaine then brought her water to have something to take her meds with. Instead of putting it on the desk, floor, or nightstand, Seraphina placed the box between her and the wall. It wasn't like she could actually protect it while unconscious but Elaine wasn't about to point this out. She didn't want to take away this last semblance of comfort.
Seraphina took the water and downed her pill with it. The effect was quick to set in so she had only a few more minutes of pain before she was dragged away into dreamland.
Being relieved the other took her meds and was about to feel better Elaine made her way to the door but just as she was about to step out Seraphina spoke.
"Was this just an opportunistic ploy from Arlo or does he have something to do with my memory loss?"
She froze on the spot. The truth was swirling inside of her threatening to burst out. She wanted nothing more than just to tell her what happened. The guilt was simply too much.
But...
"Ah, and don't even entertain the idea of telling Seraphina about the memory lock. Remember what Yeanna told us what happens when someone with an active memory lock finds out about it. You don't want that to happen, do you?"
Elaine shuddered. She couldn't possibly risk that.
Gulping, she swallowed down any remnants of her defiance. It was a lie. But it was not for her sake or Arlo's this time.
It was for Seraphina's.
"It was just a coincidence. We know nothing about the cause."
With that, she left, just as Seraphina drifted to sleep.
~~~oOo~~~
"Why did you text me all of a sudden?" Arlo demanded as soon as Isen tumbled into the empty classroom. All he received from him were a few vague words saying it was urgent. He didn't appreciate the lack of informativeness.
"There is a huge problem!" Isen was out of breath and visibly nervous.
"Out with it, I don't have all day!" Arlo couldn't help but be irritated. With all the things not going his way he was beyond frustrated.
"It's about Remi!"
Now this made him alert.
"We kept her away from all this drama for more than a week now! You can't even fathom how hard it was! Dragging her away every time the cripple or Seraphina was around, keeping her away from all the fights, lying about the article so she wouldn't look... it was driving us insane but we did our best!"
"Isen," at Arlo's words isen stopped rambling.
The king was serious.
"Get to the point."
Isen gulped and took a step back suddenly way less eager to talk.
"Don't make me repeat myself."
He shrank under Arlo's threatening gaze.
"Remi stumbled upon some students beating John and she wanted to help."
"And you didn't keep her away?!" Arlo shouted this time. He couldn't believe how incompetent those two morons were.
First, Seraphina was not doing any better. Yes, while he told Elaine that Seraphina must be doing better if she was coming to school it was mainly to calm Elaine down. He wasn't blind to the situation but he wasn't about to acknowledge he grossly underestimated the role the cripple held in the ace's life.
Then meek little healer Elaine dared to defy him, a god tier and her king. He never would have thought the day would come.
And now this?
"We tried, but she zapped us!"
"And you couldn't deal with some warning shots?!"
"They weren't warning shots! She properly electrocuted us when we refused to back down!"
"She did what?!"
Arlo was more shocked than angry this time. Remi sometimes used her ability on her friends to de-escalate a situation, but never to the point it could be considered a proper attack.
"She was really angry after we attacked the cripple. Especially after she learned about everything."
"What do you mean by everything?" Arlo honestly wanted to strangle Isen for being so unclear. He expected more from a reporter like him. No matter, he deserved some punishment later just for his unprompted vagueness.
"How we were told the cripple did something to Seraphina. How you ordered students to attack him. How the article made people come after him."
"You had one job, Isen," Arlo hissed.
"It just wasn't possible to keep Remi in the dark forever! It has been more than a week already!" Isen said defensively.
Arlo knew he was right and while Remi was oblivious they couldn't hide something so apparent from her forever. If things had gone according to his plan Seraphina would have been okay by now and determined to stay away from her stalker or even get him kicked out of the school. And the cripple should have already broken under the pressure and stayed home until he could transfer somewhere else.
He didn't know how Vaughn could let a cripple like him attend their prestigious institute in the first place. He wasn't even academically gifted as far as Arlo knew like the other low tiers here. It didn't make sense. Thus it only seemed natural that at the first sight of trouble the headmaster would remove him or he would have the brain to just give up and get out.
But nothing went according to his plan.
Nothing.
Why was everything and everyone against him?
Seraphina, Elaine, the cripple, the headmaster, those two morons, and now even Remi...
They all acted differently than he expected messing with his carefully crafted scheme.
"What happened after?" Arlo asked.
Isen looked away. "I don't know. Remi sent us away."
"So she was left alone with the cripple?" Arlo needed every ounce of his willpower not to just crush Isen in his anger.
He would question why would she even want to help a cripple but she was just as much of a good-willing fool as her brother. Such a waste of good talent.
"We couldn't do much against her. She's a high tier and Blyke was pretty broken by her words."
Arlo didn't care much about their friendship. It was not his problem and Remi wasn't known for being able to hold a grudge anyway.
"So it's safe to assume she's with the cripple right now."
Isen grimaced. "I guess."
"Just wonderful. Who knows what nonsense he was filling her head with as we speak."
There was a long pause while only Isen's nervous fidgeting could be heard. He couldn't stand the tense silence anymore and spoke.
"What now?"
Right. What now. Arlo needed to think. He had to readjust his plan according to these new, unexpected factors.
"Purge the article from everywhere. I don't want any trace of it left. Inform Cecile about the change of plans. I'll deal with the Remi problem."
"Understood."
Isen grabbed this opportunity to duck out of the classroom and save himself from punishment.
He couldn't run forever, and Arlo wasn't as forgiving as Remi which Isen surely knew. But now he had more pressing matters at hand.
He needed to revise his plan. He could still make this work.
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I'm back and finally healed. At least physically. The burnout is still killing me.
Anyway, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, but even if not I'm open to any feedback. As always comments are greatly appreciated!