Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Watching Arran write on the whiteboard, John sat with his legs spread open on the table, his feet on the chair. His eyelids fluttered again whilst watching the Jack explain a new issue, but the Queen had given up ages ago.

She didn’t even look in his direction. Leaning back with her feet resting on the desk, the chair was only half on the ground. Initially, he assumed her ability was keeping her activated, but her eyes weren’t glowing and the chair occasionally wobbled. A small round mirror with a flip off cover was held in her hand and her eyes hadn’t removed from her reflection for what felt like hours.

“Yeah, but this is our problem because?” she question, an irrelevant statement at that moment that had interrupted Arran in the middle of his sentence.

Stomping over with his tension clenched in his fists, the Jack pulled her blonde hair – designed to fall in beach waves even though she already had natural waves. Losing balance, the chair fell backwards hard onto the floor. The bang rang through the floor. Blood seeped from behind her head.

“You’re going to regret that,” he told Arran before placing a hand over his mouth to yawn and standing up.

He looked at him with a raised eyebrow with the corner of his mouth slightly turned up and an amused look in his chestnut brown eyes. Then he replied, “What are you going to do about it? You weren’t listening to me –”

Suddenly, he flew through the air for several metres before crashing into the wall, putting several thick cracks in it. Dripping from his head and back was a dark red liquid that was now smeared onto the wall and began to pool on the floor.

“Don’t freaking touch me!” Talia screamed, stomping her foot like a thunderclap on the ground.

Turning his head, John saw her standing up straight and the blood bleeding from her cracked head had mostly stopped, like an invisible hand was covering it. Her eyes glowed blue with a hint of lilac. She tightly gripped her hand-held mirror in her hand – so tight that blood dripped from her hand onto the ceramic floor.

Arran tried to break out of the invisible hand’s grip, thrashing about to escape, but it was futile. She was Queen for a reason. At 6.4, her power was still growing with the training she put in. She hadn’t inherited her position: she had fought for it.

Fire spread across the room and a flame caught on Talia’s skirt, which was quickly put out by an invisible hand.

Quickly, he went behind the desks and left the room into a corridor – where the other students shuffled away from him.

Several hours later, he saw Talia walking around with her arm in a cast. The majority of her cuts were gone. He didn’t see Arran until the next day.

It was their third fight that week.

Chapter Text

John stared up at Arlo. The initial shock of his words were muffled by a new feeling. It was as if two massive pair of hands held him in their grip, like a tight hug, but It was suffocating.

“I’m sorry,” Arlo repeated after the pause. But he couldn’t reply. It was not like he was falling for that again, but he also couldn’t speak. He couldn’t breathe.

Suddenly, he breathed, but chocked on the air. Spluttering, spit hit the floor as he curled over at his stomach and tried to breathe. But he couldn’t.

“John!” shouted a familiar voice. It was feminine and held a New Bostin accent, but that was all he note. Pretty hard to focus when you’re suffocating.

…………..

Arlo had wide eyes and was looking between them, having taken a step back by accident, but it provided him with an angle to see them clearly.

The girl had long, naturally wavy blonde hair, falling over her shoulders, which were covered by the school’s blazer. Her eyes glowed blue with a tint of lilac.

“John!” she yelled again, “it’s me, Talia.” She had come towards them and Arlo almost thought she had the facial expression of someone hugging an old friend. “You know, from New Bostin.”

By this point, she started looking wary. Some other students came in behind them along the path, which wasn’t surprising as Arlo knew he had a limited amount of time.

“I was Queen, you were King,” she continued, fiddling with her bag strap in one hand whilst the other played with a strand of hair. However, the couple behind her went wide eyed, he girl having dropped her books.

“Girl, King and Queen of the Cripple isn’t anything to be proud of!” the boy told her, yelling it across the courtyard.

Then he fell backward but didn’t hit the ground. He flew into the sky, arms pinned to his sides like he was being held by a giant invisible hand.

“Apologise!” She spat the word out, stomping over to the guy.

Hands held over her chest, she looked threatening to any mid-tier in her target line; the guy had made the simple mistake of assuming her association with John and a shared title meant she was also a cripple – or that John was a cripple at all.

Holding a handout, a yellow bubble formed around the girl and he was unsure of how she would react, but it was the only thing he could think to do. A theory he had about her ability should mean she wasn’t as powerful as she suggested; ghost hands meant normally between 4 and 6 ability level. Steadily, she sat down, and the guy was dropped from several metres in the air. The girl ran over to check on the guy after he landed with a number of sickening cracking sounds.

Sitting crossed legged, Talia looked over at them with a curious look and her eyes widened when they passed over John.

“Sorry,” she said as he collapsed to the ground choking. Her eyes no longer glowed.

“Sorry – Talia, do you even understand what you just did?” shouted John, walking towards her with heavy footing. If he had copied an earth ability, the ground would be cracking beneath his feet.

However, the girl just sat there with a small smile on her face, as if this is what she expected.

Soon enough, it was just his barrier blocking them.

“Nah not really,” she responded, barely glancing in their direction because she gave a look to the mid-tiers that screamed ‘idiots’. “I’m assuming I’ve somehow offended you though?” She looked at John now, raising her eyebrow, with pursed lips.

Any second Arlo expected that John would break the barrier and there would be a devasting fight between high-tiers. But John might not reveal his abilities in such a public location without the mask. However, Talia may have breached his remaining sanity.

“Wait.” Smiling, she stood up with her face hidden in shadows, but her eyes glowed blue with a tint of purple.

Suddenly, a pressure, like a giant hand, pushed against the shield. It shattered. Into thousands of jagged pieces. And it all vanished before it hit the ground.

Standing there, Arlo’s knees went weak. There was about to be a fight between two powerful god-tiers.

……........

A fire started in John’s mind as he pulled his arm back. His fist made contact with her stomach, causing her to stumble backwards. Then he came at her again, but she defended with her forearm – her left arm. He had forgotten she was left-handed.

However, she took the next blow – a kick to the stomach. And he could see why.

Using the force of the blow, she flew into the sky like a kite, her eyes glowing blue and purple. Before, she couldn’t do that. Now she was in the sky, her hand clutching that was likely invisible.

Invisible daggers rained down from the sky, taking a few strips from his blazer. Apparently she had bad aim. Not like he would know. She also couldn’t do that before.

A sword slashed against his side as she had rushed forward in the air with speed that didn’t come from training. Blood spurted from his side, but the guy was a healer. Within a few seconds, the wound had healed – to Talia’s wide eyes.

“You’re lucky.” She smirked and his legs were forced together as he was dragged into the air by one of her ghost hands.

But before he could combat her with her own ability, he noticed one major detail. There looked to be hundreds forming a large ring around them; Seraphina, Remi, Blyke and Isen were near the front.

They had attracted a crowd.

Chapter Text

A herd of students stomped down the corridor and Seraphina barely flattened herself against the wall in time. They all were heading in the same location, whispers spreading throughout.

“The Joker attacked someone without his mask.”

“I heard he was attacked.”

“The girl knew who he was. She went to the same Middle School as him. He was King and she was Queen.”

“She’s the new girl there were rumours about, right? Apparently she starts classes tomorrow!”

“I heard the Joker was pretending to be a cripple.”

John. She prepared to take a step to follow them when something rammed into her back. Falling forward, the realisation came that she couldn’t have been pushed by one of her bullies due to being against a wall and it had come from the entirety of her back.

“So, Isen, you say people are gathering in the courtyard? Do you think the Joker’s there?” asked a familiar female voice.

Pushing herself off the floor, she turned to see a light pink haired girl with a bow in her hair. Following Remi was Isen, of course, and Blyke was trying to see the hold up from behind them.

“Oh, sorry Sera,” said Remi when she looked down, holding her hand up. She took her hand and brushed her skirt down once she was on her feet again.

“It’s okay. I was the one standing in front of a door,” she responded. “Are you heading to the courtyard?”

“Yeah, replied Blyke, pushing between Isen and Remi to see her. “We heard the Joker was there. Isen actually saw it.” At the last part, he pointed with his thumb to Isen.

“I just saw people gathering around a fight,” interjected Isen, sweating buckets. “You decided it was the Joker.”

Walking down the corridor, they continued talking. Remi explained what they learnt from Juni, who later turned out to be the girl who wrote the article on her lack of powers. If the Joker really turned out to be someone disguised as a cripple, she kept thinking of John. The others attacked had harmed her, but she didn’t see a reason why the others were being attacked now. Or why this one was happening…

If the Joker was a cripple, it would make sense due to the violent nature of his use of his power. His ability could bring out his violent side, so the best way to hide it would be pretending it didn’t exist. But something had happened for him to lash out.

Entering the courtyard, there was immediately a massive crowd.

Remi led the way, calling out, “Queen, let us through.” Some were hesitant, but many let her through along with Blyke and Isen. However, barely anyone let her pass. She was pushed and shoved as she tried to follow until someone grabbed her wrist.

Fear passed over her, expecting to see a mid-tier, but she looked up to see Remi instead. She dragged her through the crowd, her stumbling along and occasionally bumping into people, but it had the desired effect. She made it through quicker and with the rest. Eventually, they made it to the wide space where the fight was.

Gasping, she looked up.

In front of her stood a blonde girl about her age and John! Her thought from before evaporated from her mind. The girl’s eyes were glowing blue with lilac tips and she held something in her hand. John stood with his hands clenched in fists, no glowing eyes.

Stumbling ahead, she cried, “Stop, he’s just a cripple!” Tears rolled down her cheek as Isen placed a hand on her shoulder.

“He’s not that,” he whispered in her ear.

“Right,” she replied, looking at her as she dragged out the word sarcastically. “The King at my old school was a cripple. You think that was true? And I should know, I was Queen.”

Chapter Text

Walking along the path, she glanced up at the buildings. Her new school. There weren’t many students around, and no one questioned why she was there.

She had chosen to wear her uniform: it led to less questions. A breeze travelled up her skirt, only light so it didn’t really move it, and her heart raced temporarily. It was a mini skirt and she only covered the rest of her legs with thigh high dark grey socks – there was a strip of skin between her socks and skirt. Her white blouse was untucked, and she decided to wear the school’s light grey jumper to make sure the scars on her stomach weren’t visible. The bow around her neck was tight, which made wonder how the other students dealt with it, and her dark blue blazer was slightly ruffled at the sleeves now.

After so long, she no longer curled her hair as she had realised it was unnecessary; she had naturally wavy blonde hair. It now tumbled down to just below her shoulders. The same had went for makeup. She had been obsessed with a perfect image of herself.

The buildings were all the same design: golden brown bricks in a design like a mansion, and large windows that reached floor to ceiling. There were designs made into the bricks, symmetrical, and it reminded her of a university she would like to go to – one of the top in the country.

Voices came to her ears – two boys talking, quite angrily, and she thought she recognised one. Turning the corner, she saw the boys.

A tall blond boy stood across from the other by the wall, wearing a dark blue blazer over a white shirt. His even darker tie somewhat flew around him – a high-tier, most definitely. She would guess he was the King if it was not for the other boy.

John! His scruffy black hair was almost the same as when she last saw him, except now he seemed to somewhat look after it. His gold eyes weren’t currently activated and he wore the school’s blazer, grey jumper, and tie.

The Tyrant King of New Bostin! Maybe she would go for Queen now…

Running across the courtyard, she wrapped her arms around him – a tight hug. Her feet continued to pound against the ground as she shouted, “John!”

The blond boy looked at her with wide eyes whilst glancing between the two of them. John didn’t reply, nor did he glance up from where he was bent over.

“John!” she cried again. “It’s me, Talia.” There was no response or sound from anyone. She decided to remind him. “You know, from New Bostin.”

Tilting her head, her body felt shaky. Footsteps in the distance sounded in her ears and she started fiddling with one of her backpack’s straps.

“I was Queen, you were King,” she continued, almost feeling like she was going to stammer.

Banging hit the ground!

“Girl, King and Queen of the Cripples isn’t anything to be proud of!” shouted a male voice from behind her.

Cripple. Her, a god-tier, a cripple? That’s the most ridiculous thing she has heard since Claire’s idea of Arran defeating John. He couldn’t even defeat her when she was 6.4 and his ability hadn’t grown since Elementary school. Arran was a weak bastard.

The idiot was pushed backwards. But he didn’t hit the ground. She made sure of that. As he rose into the air, she knew that the ghost hand pinned his arms tight to his sides.

Her feet stomped on the ground as she walked over to him with her arms now crossed over her chest.

“Apologise!” Spitting the word onto the ground, she glared up at him.

Suddenly, a yellow barrier formed around her. Glancing at the boys again, the blond one held his hand out and his eyes glowed blue. An activated ability.

If they thought John was a cripple, the blond boy must be King, which meant he outranked her.

Steadily, she sat down, cross-legged on the gravel, and evaporated her hand on the boy. Scanning the two high-tiers (actually, likely to be God-tiers), her eyes fell on John. His hands were at his throat and he was keeled over. Her eyes grew wide before she deactivated her ability.

“Sorry,” she replied, an attempt at an apology. John collapsed knee first onto the ground, spluttering for air as spit left his mouth.

“Sorry – Talia, do you even know what you just did?” he shouted at her. The wrath of his fury was thrown through her. Footsteps sounded loudly on the ground, like mini thunderclaps, and he must have been pretending to be a cripple for a while. No abilities copied.

A smile grew on her face.

Oh, John! No one had mentioned her and you had no clue. Now you immediately go into a fight like always with no powers. She was almost the same ability level as him now.

He came up, closer and closer to the barrier until it was the only thing separating him from her. There was a dark look in his eyes, his face almost completely shadowed. It almost reminded her of that day.

Her shoes clipped along the concrete as she held the strap of her shoulder bag in both hands even though it was over her shoulder.

She was Queen and she had nothing to be afraid of, she thought.

Just in front of her, a student was flung through the air – covered in heavily bleeding cuts and bruises – and crashed into the brick wall, leaving a foot deep human-sized dent in it.

Looking up, she saw…

No, no, no. Don’t think about that. Not the beginning. The thoughts rang off in her head, silencing the memory.

“Nah, not really,” she responded, not wanting to look at John. Instead, she looked at the two ‘idiots’ who were getting up now. She decided to look at John again and continued, “I’m assuming I’ve somehow offended you, though?” Pursing her lips, she raised one of her eyebrows at him.

His friend was white as a sheet (a natural reaction to an angry Joh) and kept looking between them with wide blue eyes. A light bulb turned on in her brain.

“Wait,” she said as she stood up straight with her head looking down at the ground. The tips of her mouth started pushing more up in an ever growing smile. Power flashed through her veins as her eyes started glowing.

Summoning a ghost hand, it rose from her back and pushed against the barrier. A ghost hand – or anything along those lines – could not be seen by anyone – not even the creators (though it could be seen by those with a very precise ability to do so and those who are invisible). But it could be told by those with ability by a fuzziness in their brain telling them where and they could only harm or touch by those who they willed it to.

It pushed harder and harder against the barrier as a cut tore down her stomach, reopening some of the most recent cuts. Not like those cuts were terribly new either. Applying more pressure, it began cracking. Thousands of yellow pieces fell. It shattered.

Almost instantly, a fist contacted with her stomach. Stumbling backwards, she almost fell over, but she placed two ghost hands to push off from the ground to stand up straight again whilst her mind raced. If she could…

She blocked the next move with her forearm. It was going to leave a bruise later. But her stomach was bleeding, and her white shirt had definitely been ruined.

A plan formed in her mind.

His next kick contacted her stomach, pushing her backwards. Spreading her ghost wings from her back, the air passed over her wings and she glided into the air.

Next, she formed a sword in her dominant hand, the only sign it was there was her grip around the hilt. Then she raised her arm in an arc as daggers formed in the air. With her mind, the daggers flew through the air towards John, but it was aimed to be around him. Unfortunately, a few daggers ripped through his blazer.

John was staring up at her with a dark look in his eyes.

She planned her next move.

The air rushed by her. Her wings pumped behind her; the air rushing up them. She had her sword out to the side and, ducking towards the ground, slashed his side at the waist.

Bending her knees, she landed hard on the ground and then spun around on her foot to face him again. John’s skin was knitting up where his jumper and shirt were ripped. One of the idiots must have had a healing ability.

“You’re lucky.”

Smirking, she summoned a new ghost hand. It grabbed his legs, forcing them together, and dragged him upside down into the air.

But then there sounded to be a riot around them. There were stomps of feet and cries and shouts. Looking around the majority of the student body seemed to have to watch the fight. Oh shit!

Quickly, she placed John on the ground feet first. Her heart thumped as he soon got his balance. How would people react to a girl starting a fight before she even started classes?

A girl stood at the front; a girl with dark pink hair and blonde highlight – the hair around her face much shorter than the rest of her hair. Her eyes were shadowed over. She wore the school’s teal blazer partially on, one shoulder not covered by it and her white shirt was crinkled and ruffled.

Originally, she was looking down at the ground, huffing and puffing, before she looked up to see them. There was an intake of breath.

Stumbling forward, she cried out, “Stop, he’s just a cripple!”

Tears rolled down her cheeks.

How had John managed this? A high-tier pretending to be a cripple? That should be ridiculous. Who would want that? It made her want to laugh. Damn, someone must have been suspicious, but it didn’t matter now. What had they done to you, John?

The boy next to her – about her age –, with floppy orange hair with short black hair underneath, placed his hand on her shoulder. Like Halloween. Her smile grew bigger. He whispered something in her ear.

“Right,” she answered her, sarcasm dripping from her voice. She hadn’t even meant to do that. And the word dragged out with a roll. “The King at my old school was a cripple.” She almost laughed. “You’d think that was true. And I should know, I was Queen!”

Chapter Text

“What?” the girl spluttered. Eye widened, Talia wondered whether she accepted it.

“Yeah, it’s true,” she told her with a condescending attitude. She crossed her arms over her chest as she continued, “I’m not sure sure what happened here, but –”

A fist collided with her chest. At least it wasn’t her stomach again.

“Hey!” she shouted at the attacker, temporarily turning her attention towards him. It was John. “Don’t attack me when I’m talking to someone.”

She went to elbow him, but he pushed her arm forward with force. There was a popping sound. The entire arm went weak. Oh, why her shoulder. In this fight.

“Why the freak did you have to do that to my left arm?” she screamed before she summoned a ghost hand and punched him in the stomach with it. He flew backwards through the air for about ten metres. However, his eyes glowed gold, so she knew that there would be no damage from it.

Then a hand pinned her arms behind her back. Turning her head, she saw no one. It was only a matter of time.

She fired two ghost swords at him. Without a bother to aim, it went into his side, but he pulled it out within five seconds and healed it.

Quickly glancing at the magenta haired girl, the pain blurred her eyesight to see her reaction, but it would be impossible to deny it now. Her arms were strained behind her back, pulled tight, and she didn’t dare to look at her shoulder.

Another ghost hand was summoned, and she pushed him backwards by about one foot. She wasn’t thinking straight.

Internally, she laughed at her own joke. It wasn’t like she was straight.

Then there was a tug on her arms from the ghost hands and it forced her backwards. She flew through the air and crashed through the wall. And then into the next wall.

She wasn’t fully certain where she was bleeding, the pain had been numbed. Her legs were weak. Now she couldn’t stand.

sounded across the courtyard. With a thumping heart, she fixed several invisible and temporary splints around her body with one ghost hand, the bones pushing and straining. Then she summoned her wings on her back and commanded them to flap. It was numb to be in the air; she couldn’t feel the wings themselves.

Her energy wavered in her body. She must have like seven hundred ghost things out undre her control. Air passed over her face and any hair in her eyes flew up before she stabilised with her wings.

John fell! Fuck.

……

“Right,” answered the blonde girl with a sarcastic tone. This girl was already on her nerves with one word. “The King at my old school was a cripple.”

What? How was John ever King at a school? He’s a cripple and the lowest tier she ever saw for a King or Queen was an elite tier, not a low tier. She was the strongest Royal she has ever known and she had fought enough school’s at Turf Wars, which showed she had plenty of experience.

“You think that was true? And I should now, I was Queen!”

She was probably the rudest girl she had ever met. Her blood boiled. The audacity of this girl was stupidly high. But she was no longer a god tier and this girl most definitely was a high tier, likely a god tier.

“What?” she found herself stuttering. A numb feeling spread through her. Why was this happening? Her eyes were almost coming out of her head.

“Yeah, it’s true.” Crossing her hands over her chest, she didn’t break her condescending gaze from her. “I’m not sure what happened here, but-”

John’s fist collided with her chest. Joy washed over her body in a wave. The girl was a liar; John would trick her with his strength and either run away or defeat her because he did not have an ability. That was just John. Always John. John who had no ability. John who was a cripple.

“Hey!” the girl shouted at him. Her voice rang out in a shrill across the area. Now, she turned her attention to the dark haired boy. “Don’t attack me when I’m talking to someone.”

Flinging her elbow to the side, she made an attempt to elbow him in the side. An attempt. But he held a hand and pushed forward with force and colliding with her arm. Pop! Her arm flung forward; her eyes widened. Pain. That was what her face screamed: a quivering lip, her widened eyes stung with a tear, her mouth in an ‘o’ shape.

“Why the freak did you have to do that to my left arm?” her voice screamed. Poor Her. it seemed to be her dominated arm, but that was better now for John, right? The issue with her using the rarer dominant hand was out of commission.

Then her eyes glowed blue with a tint purple. John took a non-existent hit that caused him to fly backwards about ten metres through the air. What was her ability to be able to do that? And why? How cruel was she? She, likely a god tier, must believe that he was another god tier to do this. Right?

Her eyes flickered towards John, and… Wait! What was that?

His eyes glowed gold. Any injuries from the hit vanished. He did have an ability! He had lied to her. Why?

The girl’s body then strained as her arms were forced behind her back by an invisible force. Was she using her own ability on herself? No. That was John. The Joker.

Something slashed across John’s side, sticking into him. He grabbed something, probably the hilt, and pulled it out before letting it go. There was no sound to signal that it had hit the ground. Quickly, the blood stopped flowing out the wound and staining his shirt and vest red. What was her ability to be able to cause blade like injuries without any signs, but also to be able to cause punch effects?

But then the girl glanced at her (though she didn’t really seem to register her) and her eyes were distant. Pain. That must be what she was feeling. When she looked back at John, she avoided eye line with her shoulder – likely in fear of what it could look like. It wasn’t too bad: just swollen and turning dark purple. Nothing compared to what happened to Blyke and Isen.

John kept his stance and only moved back one foot when the girl used her ability again. What was her ability? This was going to be a confusing fight to watch.

A smile grew on her face. Temporarily.

Suddenly, the girl was flung through the air by her arms (that were forced behind her back) and into a wall. And went through it. Bricks flew away from her as she crashed into the next wall in the corridor and left a human sized dent in the wall. Blood smeared the wall as she slid down it.

The girl’s eyes were open and alert, but she didn’t move. Glancing across the courtyard, she saw Arlo.

Do something, Arlo, she thought. But he just stood there. No barrier. No nothing. Still, the girl didn’t move. She could have broken her spine and he didn’t do anything.

However, John rose into the air, his legs and arms spread out as if held by massive hands whilst cries ran out across the courtyard. Though, there was no sign of anything else.

Then the girl went into the air, wavering ever so slightly, going up and down like she had wings. She fell down a few feet… and then catches her balance.

But John fell! The girl had lost focus and her ability had let go of him, probably. That or she had a limit on what she could. Maybe she was using her ability elsewhere.

Her face went pale, the blood running out of her face.

“I think that’s my new roommate,” Remi stated, shock sounding in her face.

Chapter Text

Remi glanced at Arlo. He stood with fear painted on his face in the corner alone where no one else paid any attention to him. But she saw him, and she thought Seraphina had also looked over at him at one point.

John was the Joker. That had settled in a few minutes ago whilst watching John and her new roommate fight. The violence of the fight aligned with what happened to Isen and Blyke (and also Cecile but she wasn’t fully certain she cared about her). The girl had been blasted through a wall for god’s sake.

Quietly, she lightly treaded behind Isen and Blyke, hoping everyone was distracted by the fight, and headed over to Arlo.

Lightly tapping him on the shoulder, she whispered, “Why haven’t you done anything yet?” Arlo turned to her with his shocked blue eyes. “We’re watching an innocent girl getting beaten to death whilst you could stop it.”

Hesitating for a moment, he replied, “They’re both stronger than me.”

“Is that an excuse?” she asked back. She crossed her arms over her chest and looked at him with a raised eyebrow. “Because it isn’t a good one.”

A dejected look passed over his face as he slumped against the wall. “If I use my ability, John will be able to use it against Talia.”

She blinked. Did he know that John was the Joker before this? Why hadn’t he told anyone then? This was important and she was Queen, so he should have told her. He had badly injured Blyke and Isen and he had known who the Joker was the entire time!

“You knew!”

“Wha-at?” he stuttered, falling back slightly as she roughly placed her hands on his shoulders at speed.

“You knew who the Joker was and you didn’t tell anyone? You didn’t tell me!” she shouted. Her voice wavered and broke. Looking around, she saw that everyone had turned their attention on Arlo and her. Suddenly, the fighting stopped.

Turning, she saw John glaring at them with his fists clenched at his sides whilst Talia had managed to stand up with one arm crossed over her chest. Her head was in her hand and she had a small amused smile on her face. She must have thought that they severely screwed up.

A mix of a yellow and black dome appeared over her and Arlo whilst John’s eyes glowed gold.

Suddenly, he stumbled back, dragged backwards like hands had wrapped around his waist from behind him and pulled towards them. Turning to glare at the girl, her smile grew bigger, but it didn’t reach her eyes before she made it be replaced by a frown.

“Pay attention to who your fighting!” she shouted wit the tone of a brat. She stomped her foot.

He rushed at her with his fist raised in the air when he crashed into nothing. A kick in the air showed that something was there, like Arlo’s barrier but invisible.

“If you want to fight me, why don’t you do just that?” he said, standing there with his fists clenched at his sides. His face was covered in shadow, but his smile was sinister.

“Did she break him?” questioned Remi, barely more than a whisper. Her eyes met his.

“I think so,” he whispered back. With his hands in his pockets, he continued, “The girl’s name is Talia, the new girl. She probably starts classes tomorrow. Her ability is Ghost Hands and it is a lot more powerful than normal others with that ability. She’s over 6. A lot actually. She broke my barrier.”

Her eyes widened in shock. Ghost hands made sense for all the attacks thrown about, especially saying she’s over 6 meaning that she can create anything as a ghost object as long as she held her focus well.

Also, that explained why John could use his own version of Arlo’s barrier. Though, that also meant that Arlo had lied earlier.

John’s face turned red after a few moments and his expression must have been hilarious as Talia burst out laughing. Holding her stomach, she doubled over with joyous laughter.

“You fell for that again.” Her laughter filled her voice like she had just told an inside joke.

“Oh, yeah. They used to go to the same school together too.”

……

John fell! Fuck.

Her mind wavered as she tried to not crash into the ground from 5ft above the ground. The blood rushed out of her face.

His body crashed into the ground with a bang. Guilt temporarily rushed through her for the idiotic mid-tier boy before she remembered his stupidity. But, like the idiot, he healed all his injuries. No, not healed. Regenerated. How had she not noticed before? Though, it didn’t matter. It did the same job.

Slowly, he pushed himself off the ground with his hands. Her heart thumped. A ghost hand came out of her back and flung it forward at speed towards John until it hit in the stomach.

“How does it fell to get hit in the stomach?” she questioned, a harsh maniacal tone entering her voice. Her wings pumped numbly towards the ground and she placed her feet onto the ground. She wobbled when her wings evaporated; it would be heard to walk with theses injuries, but at least she could manage to stand with the ghost splints.

Instantly, she regretted it.

A hand grabbed her arm and twisted it backwards. Her vision blurred. In response, she threw three ghost daggers towards him. Side stepping to the side, she could tell they flew pass him.

Then her eyes saw two people. The blond King leant against the stone brick wall with his hands in his pocket. He refused to look at the girl, who was very beautiful, and she found it hard to believe he could refuse to look at her. Overall, it looked like he had given up, which he likely had. No one had attempted to stop them since that one time earlier.

“You knew who the Joker was and you didn’t tell anyone? You didn’t tell me!” she shouted like she had found out that a friend knew her best friend’s romantic partner had cheated. Her shouting had attracted everyone’s attention in the courtyard, which had to be the majority of the school body. Her voice travelled different pitches throughout her yelling.

Everyone was having their own reactions:

“Arlo knew the Cripple was the Joker? Another God tier!”

“Why wouldn’t he tell anyone?”

“I bet the Cripple he has already beaten him!”

They were all reaching their own conclusions, but… Who the fuck was the Joker?! What the fuck was the Joker?! This sounded more than the card.

Her arm was free.

The pretty girl started to look over to them. Throwing a facade over her, she crossed her left arm over her chest, though she could barely feel it, and her chin was rested in her other hand. An amused smile rose onto her face, but it didn’t reach her eyes. Well, that was until she thought might happen to the Coward King.

Suddenly, a dome appeared over the two. It wasn’t the King’s: it was a mix of yellow and black, not just yellow. It was John’s. Her heart skipped. She needed to stop him. They could end up crushed with that ability.

Two new ghost hands travelled forward. A laugh sounded inside her mind. It reached up to John without his realisation, passing through the box she had already set up around him. The box would be a better version of the barrier – injury free and it can’t be broken. She had used it in a previous fight against him before. Then the arms wrapped around his waist from behind and pulled him towards her, making him stumbled backwards. The smile grew bigger on her face before she switched it to a more appropriate expression – a frown.

“Pay attention to who your fighting!” she shouted, particularly screaming, and stomped her foot for the dramatic affect.

As expected, he rushed at her with a raised fist, but he crashed into the invisible wall. Her mood lightened. His next move, a kick, confirmed it was there.

Standing straight with his hands now clenched into fists by his sides, he said to her, “If you want to fight me, why don’t you do just that?” Looking at him, she couldn’t see his eyes from the shadows left by his hair, but she could see his sinister smile.

The two royals (she assumed the girl was Queen) started whispering again. Continue as you wish then, she thought.

Then he looked up at her slowly and she saw as his eyes slowly widened with the dawning realisation. His face turned red as his lips trembled. Whatever his reaction was, it wasn’t what she expected. Her lips started trembling as she tried to hold back her laughter. The previous time, he had just nodded it off.

Suddenly, she couldn’t hold it back anymore and burst out laughing, loudly, and ended up having to hold her hands over her stomach as she doubled over with the laughter.

“You fell for that again,” she said through the laughter. However, his expression wasn’t joyful. Alarm bells rang in her head.

She no longer wanted to laugh, but she pretended to calm down gradually. During the calm off, she sent two ghost hands towards John’s head. It was time to figure out what had happened here.

At touch, she saw the blond King standing high above John (through John’s eyes) and his head then being pushed into the brown sand below him whilst his body was forced to be bent flat against the ground. Her breath became heavy and wheezy as she panicked. She couldn’t hold all her weight on her knees.

Suddenly, her breath became shorter. The world became darker and black at points around her. For a brief moment, she saw the world around her as a black and yellow tinted blue sky before she hit the ground.

Chapter Text

John’s breath quickened as he saw the magenta haired girl with blonde highlights follow Remi into the front of the crowd and went to stand by her side. He couldn’t see her eyes; she was looking at the ground.

Then she gasped…

And looked up…

She was standing next to Talia, whose confident expression had changed into one of indecision. She was probably worried about her reputation, like always. Like before.

However, Talia had activated her ability and Seraphina had noticed. But he, luckily, hadn’t. It could stay a secret still. Tanner and the female mid-tier could be threatened to keep quiet. He had Arlo and Talia with him and, even if Arlo didn’t help, Talia would help – hopefully.

Seraphina stumbled forward and cried out, “Stop, he’s just a cripple.” A tear rolled down her cheek and his heart gave out. Then Isen placed his hand gently on her shoulder and whispered in her ear. How dare he? He had to drown out the jealousy to realise what he was likely to tell her.

But it was Talia who answered before he could.

“Right,” she answered, her voice dripping in sarcasm. She had dragged out the word, giving her a condescending tone. Could she know that Seraphina had no ability? She wouldn’t have known she once did have one. “The King at my old school was a cripple.” Oh, fuck. She was going to reveal it. “You’d think that was true? And I should know, I was Queen!”

He flinched. In one strike, she had revealed that both of them were high tiers – God tiers, likely. Although, many wouldn’t believe her, no matter how scary Talia could be.

Cats out the bag.

“What?” Sera spluttered. In a moment, John regretted every lie he had told to her in the past two years. The hurt she would feel from the truth made him want to reverse the clock, so he would have never said he didn’t have an ability. And it was Talia who was making him feel this, something that made him want to throw up. He hated her then. Hated the girl who would only do what would benefit her. The girl who would walk away from an ally, a friend, in need.

He rushed towards her.

“Yeah, it’s true,” she continued in the same condescending tone. Her arms were now crossed over her chest, adding to her overall tone. “I’m not sure what happened here, but-”

His fist collided with her chest.

It managed to push her back a few steps, but, overall, she held her place. However, it managed to turn her attention towards him, not Sera. Her wrath wouldn’t be directed towards her now. Relief washed over him – temporarily.

“Hey!” she shouted at him with the same annoyance a mid-tier would have when a low-tier bumped into them. Though, that wasn’t typical for her. “Don’t attack me when I’m talking to someone.”

She turned at an angle to him and raised her elbow. Then she flung it down towards his stomach, but he held his hands out to catch it and then pushed forward with all the force he could muster. Pop! Talia’s eyes shimmered with pain. Her mouth made an ‘o’ shape. Her lip quivered. He had put her dominant arm out of action.

“Why the fuck did you do that to my left arm?” she screamed. He knew there was a plan coming up ad he turned out to be right.

A fist hit him in the stomach, one that was larger than life, but it was invisible. Talia had activated her ability. She never cared that he could use it against her. Likely, she was use to it from her older sisters. At least, for her, her youngest sister had inherited her dad’s ability.

The ghost hand hit him with force – like normal, a ghost hand had more power than a normal fist. It threw him off the ground and flung him backwards through the air for what felt like ten metres.

But he activated his ability, the one that Tanner had used, and healed the injuries that it caused.

However, that was the only thing that he did with his activated ability. Summoning his own ghost hand, he sent it towards the blonde and grabbed her arm, forcing it behind her back. Talia turned her head to see, but she saw no one. She knew what had happened.

Suddenly, something pierced his skin on his hip, but ‘pierced’ was an understanding. It stuck into him like a massive toothpick, but he was weary about taking it out; any movement meant that it might pierce something vital. However, he was forced to do that anyway and, luckily, it healed so no damage was truly done. He knew Talia wouldn’t like that. No opponent would.

Then her eyes went back onto Seraphina. Seraphina. His blood boiled. How dare she, a selfish narcissistic ungrateful asshole, look at one of the best people in his life? Claire had left him; he had forced Adrion away, and Talia had abandoned him: and now she was back. She would not take anyone else.

The ghost hands pulled tighter until he could not pull anymore without ripping her arms out. Her eyes were filled with lines. Now she was being careful about where she looked.

But she wouldn’t back down so easily. Her own ghost hand pushed him back. Not far though; about 1 foot. The pain was filling her thinking.

She smiled though.

He typed her arms backwards – differently from before. It threw her backwards through the air at speed. Crash! She went through the first wall and crashed into the next. Sliding down it, blood was smeared on the wall from her back and head. Bricks were scattered around her and there was a human sized dent where she had crashed into the wall.

However, she was still conscious. Her eyes were wide and alert, groggily dancing around to see the world around here. But she didn’t move.

A hand grabbed his arm and his other arm as well as his legs. He was lifted off the ground by the ghost hands, high above the ground. His mind flashed to Meili, who had faced a similar thing, and Tanner, who she had done a similar thing to. But he didn’t care about either of them. They were self-centred with the little bit of power they had. They never had tasted any true power that he had, especially so suddenly. Talia had. Although, she was an early bloomer, unlike him. Her entire family was made of early bloomers.

Cries rang in his ears from the onlookers. He didn’t care, though. His heart may have increased in speed, but he didn’t really have any thing to fear. All he needed to do was heal it and he would no longer have any issues.

Across the courtyard, Talia rose into the air like she had wings – like before. Her limbs were forced to be in the corrected position. She was using her ability to the limit.

So it was no surprise when the ghost hands around his wrists and ankles let go, vanished. He fell. The air rushed through his hair, rippled his torn blazer, flowed around him. Then he crashed into the ground. Pain sprouted from his back, but it quickly vanished. All the injuries healed again.

Placing his hands on the ground, he slowly raised his upper body. Then he stood up. Talia’s face was pale. Was she truly that scared of him? Talia?

Something collided with his stomach – a ghost hand. It didn’t really knock him backwards, but pain spread through him from that point temporarily.

“How does it feel to get hit in the stomach?” she asked him in a harsh maniacal tone. Apparently, she really hated getting hit in the stomach.

She wobbled in the air, like she had wings (which she did, ghost ones) and then she placed her feet on the ground with care. Then she managed to stand. The realisation hit him that he had broken bones in every part of her body. But she didn’t deserve any sympathy.

With a ghost hand, he grabbed her arm again and twisted it backwards. Then he sensed something flying towards him. It whistled towards him! Sidestepping away, it flew by him.

But then Talia stopped paying attention to him. She focused on something behind him.

“You knew who the Joker was and you didn’t tell anyone! You didn’t tell me!” shouted a familiar female voice, likely Remi. It wasn’t Seraphina, he would have recognised her voice, so Remi made the most sense. Though, he hadn’t talked to her much and he couldn’t pinpoint it exactly.

Turning, he did see that it was Remi, her hands on Arlo’s shoulders as she had a go at him. Arlo had kept his ability a secret, like he asked him too, and, even if he didn’t help him with Sera, he hadn’t told anyone who didn’t already know. But Remi had expected him to tell her. No, no, no, she wouldn’t know without his permission! Until now.

People starting talking around them about him, but he didn’t care. He let go of Talia with the ghost hands.

A yellow and black dome appeared over them. Fuck them!

Suddenly, two hands wrapped around his waist from behind him, but a glance down showed there was nothing there – expected an imprint. Then he was pulled backwards. Quite a lot, actually.

“Pay attention to who your fighting!” shouted Talia from behind him. Hypocrite. He was slightly surprised at her tone. It wasn’t like her. She used to take such care with her attitude and would even help low tiers (okay, just stop one-sided fights – the majority at least). But that vanished as soon as the opportunity for power arose for her. She stomped her foot against the ground.

As she asked, he turned his attention to the blonde girl. She stood with confidence and an amused smile that was steadily growing bigger on her face. He raised his fist and ran forward until he hit something.

Bam! He crashed into something. Then he threw a kick at it. It also didn’t pass through. Talia had set up something like a wall – an invisible wall.

Regaining his straight posture, he clenched his fists by his as he said to her, “If you want to fight, why don’t do just that?” A sinister smile appeared on his face.

Then he looked up and his eyes widened in a realisation. She had used this against him before and he had fallen for it again.

Again…

Heat rose to his face and suddenly Talia’s lip quivered. He realised he had brushed the ghost wall off a few years ago, but then she burst out laughing. She doubled over from the strong laughter with her arms over her stomach. More heat rose to her face.

“You fell for that again,” she said in between giggles, but he didn’t find it funny.

Slowly, she stopped laughing, a false calm down. Suddenly, two hands touched either side his head – or what felt like hands. Then the fingers of the ghost hands went inside his skull.

Before him stood Arlo, high above him. His head was forced against the dirty brown sand of the ground. There was a hand against his head and another against his back as he was forced to be doubled over. He had been here before.

He shook his head violently, trying to throw off the vision. He caught a glimpse of Talia, who seemed to have gone out of it. Like she was seeing something else to the reality around them. Apparently, the ghost hand ability included entering minds. Whoever said ghost hands couldn’t go over 6 was wrong.

His own barrier appeared over Talia in yellow and black. It cut off her ghost hands, which actually got cut off as he was stronger than her (he actually doubted that for a few moments earlier).

She screamed.

It pierced through the air, ringing in his ear, stunning the crows. It was as if someone had stabbed her and then moved the blade through her internal organs without removing it.

Her body fell towards the ground, backwards. Her arms were limp and were dragged above by air resistance as she fell. Bang! She crashed into the ground.

Her eyes were now closed. Cuts covered her face. Her jumper had a growing red stain on it. She was unconscious. That bitch had tried to access his mind, his memories, and she went unconscious with only a couple of scratches.

He walked towards her.

Everyone was silent.

His barrier steadily became smaller before another yellow barrier appeared underneath it. He had forgotten the other and so it had vanished.

The other barrier pushed against his, but it was weaker. It crashed and shattered. However, he didn’t shrink his barrier anymore. Instead, he stepped inside.

As he walked closer to Talia, there was a patter of feet, but no one dared to speak. He kicked her side softly, testing, but then his barrier cracked. And shattered!

Someone was coming towards him now, but he didn’t know who. Their aura was familiar, but too powerful for anyone he knew.

There was a tap at his side…

Time froze!

Chapter Text

After the shock of Remi’s reveal, Seraphina continued watching the fight, but she was aware that Remi had headed off towards Arlo, though she wasn’t certain that anyone else was. She guessed the reveal wasn’t overly shocking as both girls were definitely high tiers.

Crash! John was on the ground. A moment of fear came to her with the memories of meeting John in the infirmary after having his arm broken, but that wouldn’t happen anymore. He had lied to her! He had lied to her…

Tears ran down her cheeks.

Slowly, he stood up because he had copied a regeneration ability somewhere, so there wouldn’t be any injuries. However, soon, he stumbled back when something hit him in the stomach.

“How does it feel to get hit in the stomach?” she questioned in her maniacal tone that was harsh. Hesitantly, the girl placed her feet on the ground and steadily stood with her fall weight on her feet. She suspected that somehow the girl had had invisible wings. At least, she wouldn’t have her focus split anymore.

Then the girl’s arm was grabbed and twisted backwards, forced behind her back. Her eyes brimmed with tears.

Fear passed through her when she recognised the look on the girl’s face. She had a plan. A small smirk rested on her face as a whistle noise travelled through the air towards John. He sidestepped. The wall behind him had three holes newly pierced into it.

“You knew who the Joker was and you didn’t tell anyone? You didn’t tell me!” shouted a familiar voice. It was Remi.

All eyes turned towards the couple in the corner. Arlo stood with his back to the wall and his hands in his pockets, slightly slouched, and he refused to look at Remi. It looked as if he had given up. But Remi’s hands were on his shoulders and the force had shaken his body.

And Arlo had lied. John had lied. It must have dated back to when Arlo had dragged John out to the Turf Wars location and beat him up. Except it was likely the other way around. He had lied again. Had he lied about everything?

But the two fighting had stopped. John had turned and glared at them whilst the girl smiled smugly with her head in one hand and the other arm crossed over her body. Something was about to happen, and she suspected John would be the cause and the girl knew that too.

Arlo’s barrier appeared over him and Remi, but it wasn’t his barrier: it was a yellowish black. Had Arlo tired to stop the fight before all the spectators had come along? If that was the case, then John would be able to copy it. Copied? Mimicked? She would need to ask John for that information later. Oh, he owed her a huge explanation. But also, did this mean that they were both stronger than Arlo? Were either of them stronger than her? Well, what she used to be.

Suddenly, John stumbled backwards – was pulled backwards. Towards the girl! What was she doing?

“Pay attention to who your fighting!” she shouted with her bratty tone before she stomped her foot against the ground. Gah! The nerve of the girl. She was probably spoiled at home for being a god tier. Perhaps the rest of her family weren’t? Whatever. No one should act like that. Maybe, just maybe, she used to act like that…

The well of guilt inside her grew when she realised the girl’s smile wasn’t all there. This was an act! She had saved Remi and Arlo from John’s attention by turning it on herself.

In the corner of her eye, she saw John rushing at the girl. Looking more directly at him, his fist was raised whilst running, but suddenly he crashed into air. Then he threw a kick at it and it had the same result. There seemed to be an invisible wall, though she wasn’t certain at how that was possible.

He quickly recovered from the crash, standing up straight with his fists clenched at his sides again.

“If you want to fight me, why don’t you do just that?” He had a point. If she challenged him, she would now be avoiding he fight, but it was a distraction. It had to be, or otherwise this girl was a hypocritical asshole.

There was silence for a few seconds. John’s eyes twinkled whilst his eyebrows furrowed, his face of concentration. Heat rose to her cheeks at the memory of staring at him whilst he chewed the tip of the pencil in concentration during his trigonometry homework. He also went red, though it was from the embarrassment of the humiliation the girl had served him. Especially as she had bursted out laughing, clutching her stomach.

No! The girl hadn’t presented a distraction, she had presented a humiliation. She was just like all the other elite tiers and high tiers she had come across since she had lost her ability: selfish, self-centred and uncaring. Maybe it wasn’t John’s fault for breaking.

“You fell for that again!” The girl continued laughing, but suddenly it turned fake. But that didn’t concern Sera. No. Instead, the girl acted like she knew him. Knew him! Now that was laughable.

Then she stopped laughing altogether and her jaw slacked whilst her smile shrunk. Her eyes misted over, a purplish-blue eyes that didn’t see the world. A tear brimmed at one of her eyes. Turning to look at John, his eyes were the same except his jaw was clenched and his fists tightly clamped. Something was happening that she couldn’t see. No one, but they could see it.

Suddenly, a scream pierced through the air. The girl collapsed on the ground, her arms above her as she fell. Unconscious. The girl was silent. As to why? A blackish yellow barrier had appeared over her and a deep cut had appeared across her face whilst blood pooled and stained her grey school vest. Other cuts covered her body too. Her eyes were closed. She didn’t move or react. She was unconscious!

What? How? She wasn’t even touching it. How had it affected her so badly?

John stepped towards her. Everyone went silent.

Her heart thumped in her chest; raced on as if she was running a marathon. Don’t John, don’t. Tears ran down her cheeks. An electricity charged through her viens.

The barrier started to shrink. No, John. Don’t do this. You are going to far. A yellow barrier appeared underneath it, pushing up against even though it gained long extended cracks. Glancing at Arlo and Remi, the barrier had gone and Arlo was covered in cuts. Arlo had intervened, finally. Finally!

But it cracked further… And now it shattered!

However, John had stopped shrinking the barrier. Now, he stepped inside it. Her feet started moving underneath her. He kicked the girl in the side softly, probably checking whether she was actually unconscious. She wouldn’t blame her for doing that.

Then she hit the barrier and her fist went through it. Rewind. It shattered.

A tap on John’s side froze him and a tap with the toe of her shoe froze the girl, so her wounds stopped bleeding. When she went to look at John, he just glared at her with no emotion. What had happened? She took a deep breath as her tears fell down.

“What happened here?” asked a voice with absolute venom. Turning, Doc stood there with his arms crossed over his chest in his white coat and a dark black and red cloud followed him.

No one answered. No one knew what to say. Well, they did, but it wasn’t their place to say.

Taking a step forward, he continued, “A fight, right? You do realise actions have consequences!” It seemed directed at both even though one was unconscious. “This will be better received when you both conscious.” The last part was said to himself although it was audible to everyone. Then he went towards the girl and picked her up with both arms. “John, go to the infirmary.”

He glared at him with his eyes glowing gold as John didn’t move an inch from the order. He stood his ground with his fists clenched at his sides. Oh, he might copy Nightmare. That probably wouldn’t be good.

“NOW!”

Chapter Text

Seraphina stood next to John, who sat with his back against the bed headboard. The sheets were crinkled around his waist and his arm was bandaged up and placed a sling. He laid against the top of his legs. No one was certain how he had done it and all the high tiers had come along with Blyke and Isen. Zeke also kept trying to get in, but Doc had drawn a line at that (which everyone was glad of).

“Let me in. You need me,” cried Zeke as he pounded on the door. “I’m the King of the Dormitories. You’ll need me!” She was surprised he even said that whilst knowing who was on the other side of the door, but a glance at Arlo meant she could see he didn’t seem to care.

“Is Lettice or Holden in here? No!” Doc replied, standing by the wall with his arms crossed. His foot tapped against the floor whilst he named the 9th and 10th strongest in the school. “Do you know John or Talia? No. You have no reason to be here!”

The pounding on the door stopped.

There was a collective sigh before they turned their attention back to John (and Talia except that she was unconscious and behind a curtain). He had a lot to explain.

“So, explain?” Sera asked, pressing her knee against the mattress of the bed. John shuffled away in from her in fear. The shock of getting her ability back was still pumping through her, but it seemed to have effected John more. Maybe it was the fact that she had stopped him earlier by overpowering him, or that she could freeze him and he would have little defence over what she acted as punishment for lying to her for so long, but, either way, she was his friend – best friend -, so he should have no reason to feel her. Her heart broke a little.

“I have an ability?” he replied, looking down at his hands. He refused to meet her eyes.

“Yes, that was obvious,” responded Remi, who was standing in the corner with Blyke and Isen. Her arm were crossed over her chest as she impatiently waited for an explanation, especially since John had beaten Blyke and Isen up so badly before.

“Why?” Seraphina demanded, lifting herself onto the bed. Doc glared at her from across the room, but didn’t make a move to stop her and she didn’t care. There were tear running down her face, staining her cheeks, as she forced him to look at her by pulling on his tie. “Why did you lie to me? Why for so long?”

Looking to the side where the blonde girl was lying behind the curtain, he replied, “I… It’s difficult to explain. “His free hand rubbed the back of his neck. She had never seen someone act so calm under threat. “I have anger issues?” He questioned his words like he knew that they weren’t correct. “I might have been diagnosed with bi-polar. I definitely have PTSD.”

Her eyes widened and she leant back, letting go of his tie.

“How do you ‘might’ have bi-polar disorder?” questioned Remi, not moving. Though, Isen did take a sidestep towards her.

“I don’t remember the diagnos.”

Everyone in the room looked at John in disbelief.

“How do you forget that?” Blyke responded, having a confident posture for a second before realising who he was talking to.

“Can they leave?” John asked, pointing at the three whilst looking at Doc. Seraphina lightly laughed into her hand as the three went wide eyed and Arlo stood with his hands in his pockets and a slightly shocked expression on his face, though he got over it quickly.

“Yes,” Doc replied, turning to glare at the three.

“What?” cried out Remi, her face falling. She had never seen Remi act like that. Why did she think that she needed to be here?

“Leave!”

Isen shuffled towards the door and Blyke went to follow, but stopped when Remi didn’t move.

“I’m the Queen. I need to know why someone was brutalising high tiers!” She stood her ground and refused to move from either Blyke and Isen’s pleas or Doc’s glares.

“The ‘they’ included Arlo,” John added, though the ‘r’ in Arlo sounded like ‘s’. Arlo didn’t object and left the room. Remi started looking back and forth between her and John and the door. Isen stepped out the door and Remi’s wide eyes stared at where he was as Blyke slowly moved towards there too.

“We should go; it’s clear this isn’t our conversation,” Blyke said before stepping out the door and waiting in the doorway. She sighed and walked to the door, the door clinking shut behind her.

“You don’t have bi-polar disorder; it’s not on your report,” Doc explained, moving closer to the bed now the others were gone. “You don’t have depression like saving, or mania episodes, you only have anger issues and crazy ideas. And PTSD.”

“Anger issues?” shouted Sera, absolutely surprised at the statement. She had never seen John angry, let alone act out in anger.

“Yeah…” John trailed off, looking up into her eyes for the first time in a while. She leant back from him, her mouth agape. “Why are you so surprised? It’s been revealed that I’m the Joker.”

Her mind spun as she remembered the detail. How had she forgotten it? Why had he done that? Why had he brutalised them?

“Why?” she asked after a long pause, the only appropriate question that came to mind. “Why attack them? Why cause such extreme injuries?”

“The injuries…” he hesitated, but she waited for him, even if it seemed he avoided the first question, “I lost control.” He took a long breath. “It was more than that, though. I wanted to hurt the person for not staying down.” His gold eyes looked up into hers. “And what they have done.”

“What did they do?” she asked, preparing herself for a ridiculous – or maybe it would make sense, it was John after all.

“Zeke…” He refused to look at her, just looked at the sheets on the bed, “he attacked you. Juni was the one who wrote and posted the report about you losing your ability. Isen, I needed his ability to find you. The mid-tier group kidnapped you. Blyke and Cecile was to destroy the hierarchy.”

She grabbed his hand and held it with both her hands. “John, you don’t have to protect me. I can do that myself.”

“I know,” he mumbled, glancing down again. “I guess it was somewhat my own revenge too.”

“What do you mean?” she asked even though she knew that the majority had likely attacked him at some point. Doc had moved out of her line of sight, probably behind the curtain.

“Zeke beat me up, Isen crushed my hand, Blyke shot a beam at my head and Cecile only wanted to help me as I was a god tier and Arlo offended her,” he explained.

“Cecile was helping you? Like as the Joker?” she asked, generally confused on what was happening there. Cecile was one of the Joker’s victims, so why was she helping him? Or, maybe, why did the Joker attack on ally? Wait, this was her friend she was talking about, why would he do that?” Also, Isen crushed your hand? That sounds rather minor compared to what I have seen others do.” He looked back up at her and she made sure to hold his eye as she said the next part. “Including you.”

“Yeah,” he replied, “but then he started acting nice to me as he found out the level I was at my old school.” Doc walked back into her line of sight.

“What was your level back then?” she asked, curious about what it could have been to make Isen act that way (probably out of fear). And he might be the closest to hers in the school. She was likely an 8.0 again with her ability back. “What are you now?”

“I was a 7.0 in New Bostin; I don’t know what I am now.”

She took an intake of breath. When was New Bostin? He joined as a second-year, so he was probably a first-year back then. Then his level would have risen due to puberty and an increase in physical strength. He had a six-pack for crying out loud and she doubted he did when he was younger. However, he pretended to be a cripple for a long time, so it was unlikely for him to be above an 8.0.

“I’m a 7.7, if that helps,” commented a disembodied voice. It took Seraphina a few moments as to recognise it as the girl, Talia -who was behind the curtain.

“You’re that powerful?” she questioned, not expecting an answer and she didn’t get on before she continued, “You only destroyed one wall and damaged another?”

But the girl didn’t get to reply. Instead, Doc growled, “And you’re lucky you didn’t. Do you know how reckless that was? A fight between two closely powered god tier. If you had your level at a non-god tier level you would be the same.” He moved towards the door only uncrossing his arms to reach for the handle. “I’m leaving for a few minutes. Someone’s been thrown out a window. John and Talia are forbidden from leaving!”

He left.

“So,” Seraphina said after a while, breaking the silence, “someone’s used your idea of throwing people out the window.” She stood up from the bed and walked over to the curtain, which she pulled back.

“Hi, I’m Seraphina,” she greeted, smiling at the girl while holding out her hand. The girl awkwardly moved her right hand and shook it.

“Talia.” She was covered in bandages, including a few on her face like plasters. Others were wrapped around her arms and stomach (which was covered by her school shirt) and one arm was even in a sling. Her blonde wavy hair hung limply by her face, supposedly having given up after the fight. “What happened after I was knocked out?”

She thought it was brave of her to ask that. What happened was pretty horrific.

“John went to injure you further. I stopped him,” she explained, expecting a look of horror to cross her face, but it didn’t.

“You’re still doing that?” the girl asked instead, directing the question towards to John. She turned her head slightly towards John and raised one of her eyebrows.

“What do you mean?” she asked and the girl turned t other again.

“He used to beat up the students at our old high school,” she said, a small smill on her face. “He even got expelled by beating up the top of the end of the class half to death.” She stopped and was silent for a moment before adding, “in one incident.”

“What?” she exclaimed, turning to face John. Was that why his dad was so concerned about her suspension?

“She’s telling the truth,” he mumbled looking down at his hands.

“They challenged him,” Talia interjected, like it was perfectly acceptable.

“Talia, don’t defend me!” he shouted at her. She stumbled back from the sudden change in mood, but Talia held her calm posture. This must have been common at their old school. Wait, he had lied to her about being home-schooled before Wellston… That doesn’t matter right now. He probably hid his ability to stop this. Since she had lost her ability, she had realised just how much power high tiers had and how it was used against the weaker ones.

“Sorry Sera,” he said to her before he stood up.

She stepped back as John pushed by her and wrapped his hand around the blonde girl’s throat. Talia could not push him off as one arm was in a cast and the other was… Actually, she didn’t seem to be trying.

“Don’t defend me,” he told her with the darkest tone she had ever heard him use. Had Arlo experienced this? “I was in the wrong. I deserved to be expelled. I shouldn’t have fought them in the first place, but I did. Not only that, but I was close to killing some of them. And you dare to defend my actions. You didn’t do that two years ago; in fact, you didn’t care two years ago! All that you cared about was that you were now the strongest in the school then! Arran was right; I was a bad king!”

Talia looked like she was about to respond, but then went silent at the name ‘Arran’.

“What? You agree, don’t you? Arran cared, but you hated him, didn’t you? The Queen and the Jack fighting multiple times a week, each week, must have been embarrassing!” he continued shouting at her, his hand going white. He didn’t notice the knock at the door. Hopefully that wasn’t Doc. “Arran’s a good person, I’m not! Live with that!”

He stopped, taking a deep breath after his almost zero breath rant, but a tear ran down Talia’s cheek. She must have Arran a lot.

“Hey, Doc Darren,” a voice said from behind the door. They all went silent. “I just came to warn you that I threw Gavin out the window.” Oh, that was the girl who threw someone out the window. She recognised the voice, but she couldn’t pinpoint it. She doubted that she was a mid-tier. “I just thought you should know.” There was no answer; they didn’t know what to say. “Doc?”

When she glanced at John, he had ignored the girl at the door and was having a glaring match with Talia, having let go of her neck.

“Oh, Arran’s a good guy. Really?” Talia shouted back in a sarcastic tone. She clearly didn’t like Arran. “That bloody asshole is a good guy! Really? Do you head what your saying? I have met lots of bad people in my life, but Arran was the worst. I am not taking any of that shit of him being a good person! You shouldn’t believe any world he was ever said!”

The door slammed against the wall.

“What is going on? Where’s Doc?” asked the voice, now louder as it was no longer muffled by the door. The shouting had been too obvious.

“Hey, don’t go in there!” Was that ISEN? Were they spying on them? Well, they would have just heard a bunch of yelling.

There was a flash of silver accompanied with a clattering of a single pair of the school shoes.

The lights went off…

Chapter Text

When Doc had left, the voices in the room had slowly grown louder in volume. Apparently, Talia was 7.7 – which made some sort of sense. Knowing that John was above 7.0 made it not overly surprising. He was a higher level than her, most likely, but Seraphina was still the strongest in the school. It felt impossible for any student of their age to be stronger than her. However, Remi and Blyke had gone white with wide eyes and their mouths were slightly agape.

“How?” Remi asked, shuffling closer so they could hear her whisper. “How is she that strong and still got defeated by John?”

“Isn’t it obvious?” Blyke replied, both of his hands behind him as he leant against the wall. “John’s even stronger than that. He beat up half of the top end of the school, didn’t he?” He slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.

“How, though?” Remi continued. A tear ran down her cheek. “Why did he hide it? Why did he hurt your two?” More tears fell down her face before she placed her hands on her cheeks and wiped the tear residue away.

“Wouldn’t you break under that pressure? The pressure of being beat up every day,” Isen answered. He leant against the wall himself as he watched Remi’s eyebrows furrow.

“Why would he be beat up every day?” she asked.

“Like any low-tier,” he replied, glancing at his feet. He knew that Remi was rather oblivious and didn’t see the things happening around her, even if it was obvious, if it didn’t meet her ideals. And they didn’t inform her. They would take part in it. Tears were running down his face as the numb feeling filled his heart and throat. “Sorry.”

“Why are you apologising?” She tilted her head slightly as she looked up at him. “And what do you mean ‘like any low-tier?”

“Low-tiers are sent to the infirmary multiple times a week,” Blyke said, clutching one arm with the other hand (having stood up from the floor). “Sorry.”

“What do you mean?” Her lips wavered and her eyebrows seemed to somehow furrow more.

Blyke looked at his hands as he continued, “People, mid-tiers or above, pick on low-tiers for petty reasons. It gets extreme. You didn’t notice; we didn’t tell you. Sorry.”

“You don’t need to keep apologising,” she replied after a few moments. “I was the one who didn’t notice. A word was about to leave his mouth when she collapsed forward. Blyke was the first to react, rushing forward and catching her in his arms. She wrapped her arms around his neck as she silently cried into his shoulder. His heart fluttered whilst watching them. There was a sick feeling in his stomach.

He was about to say something when there was a pitter patter of feet as a flash of smooth long silver swished by. Knock. Knock. Looking towards the infirmary door, he saw a silver haired first-year standing by the door with her hair reaching her back but was a bit wiry and less together than he knew it normally would be. Her uniform was a bit scruffy, ruffled like something had happened. There was a bit of dirt on her shirt and part of her blazer was ripped, showing a new purple bruise that throbbed. How many fights were breaking out today?

John’s voice punctuated something at the end of his speech. It was like a mist was over his mind. Talia must have gone to New Bostin High School too, but that made no sense to him. She wasn’t in the class photo. Though, she could have easily been in another class. And how could she have grown so strong in two years.

Obviously, Lettice, the silver haired girl, noticed something was off by now.

“Hey, Doc Darren,” she said to the door, holding the door handle in one hand whilst the other laid flat against it. There was silence around her. “I just came to warn you that I threw Gavin out the window. I just thought you should know.” There was no response. None of them knew how to tell her Doc wasn’t there. “Doc?”

Apparently, no one cared on the other side of the door. Talia now responded to John. She seemed to really hate a guy named Arran.

He stepped closer to Lettice, trying to see what her reaction was. He didn’t talk to her much, but he knew enough. She was the 8th strongest in the school – well, now 10th – and the strongest first-year. The rest of the first-years called her ‘The Queen of the First-Years’, though she denied the name (probably in fear of a royal’s wrath). Her cousin was in the Newspaper Club and she would often meet him there. In fact, she probably fought Gavin due to her cousin – otherwise it would be out of character for her.

The door creaked. It was open a crack open by a crack. Bang. It slammed against the wall.

“What is going on? Where’s Doc?” she asked, her voice wavering and puffy. She took a step into the room.

He stumbled forward, reaching for her shoulder, whilst saying, “Hey, don’t go in there.” He didn’t reach her in time.

She ran forward, her shoes clattering against the floor, as her hair swished behind her like a flag. The only marker that she was there at all.

The lights went off.

Did she- Did she just activate her ability? Just to turn the lights off.

Then the flights flickered. Somehow, she had managed to separate John and Talia – who were barely inches apart a second ago – and placed herself in between them. Not like she would be much of a barrier. But the main detail was…

Her eyes weren’t glowing!

When did… When did she gain a passive ability?!

He had seen her use her ability to shatter lights, though normally she turned invisible or semi-transparent, so he knew it was her. She could even pass through objects, but she was still an elite tier.

“What’s – What is happening?” asked Remi with her voice going up when she entered the room from the doorway. Blyke shortly followed her and stood behind her in the room.

“I’ll tell you what’s happening,” said a voice from the doorway. Doc! The air turned tense around them as they all physically paled. “John and Talia are getting detention whilst Lettice is getting a house point.”

“We don’t have house points,” Lettice responded almost immediately, jumping back so she was no longer between the two.

“Yeah, well, we don’t have an equivalent,” he replied as he walked over to Talia’s bed. “Talia, you should be lying down. Gavin, that bed over there.” He pointed to the bed at the far end of the room, quite a bit away from John (probably a precaution). Gavin limped over to it, glaring at everyone in the room. His eyes rested on Lettice and John longer.

“Why does he suddenly have an ability?” yelled Gavin from across the room, pointing at John.

Smirking at him, John replied, “I always had it, just didn’t use it.” Gavin still glared daggers at him, but John looked away towards the floor with a small smile on his face. “Not like I needed it to defeat you.” Gavin growled under his breath.

“What is your ability, anyway?” Remi asked, walking to stand at the foot of John’s bed, which he had sat back on. Talia had also laid back on the bed, her hair out around her. She had moved the pillows behind her, so she was somewhat propped up by them. Remi had crossed her arms over her chest in an attempt to look threatening.

“Fine, fine.” John huffed, throwing his one hand up in surrender. “Aura manipulation.”

“Do all high level god-tiers have a manipulation related ability?” exclaimed Blyke, his eyes blown wide open as a strand of his red hair fell in his eyes.

“No, mine’s Ghost hands,” the blonde interjected. She smiled at Isen when she noticed him looking at her. The ability made sense with the attacks she used, although there was definitely none in John’s old class who had had that ability.

Doc’s foot tapped at the ground loudly and rapidly. “Everyone, but John, Talia and Gavin: leave!”

Chapter Text

Talia walked along the desolate corridor, the light of the moon streaming through the glass door’s behind her. She had finally been dismissed from the infirmary along with John once all their injuries were healed. Seraphina had left awhile before. She had failed to get any answers as to why he had pretended to be a cripple, but she had a year and a half as well as many reactions to figure out why.

Eventually, she came across her room, turning the doorknob. The door swung open into the dark room. Her roommate was already asleep. Phew.

A rumble came from her stomach and she headed towards the kitchen. It was filled with oak cabinets with draws above many. There were locks on some of them. They actually did it. Only her roommate could unlock it. She guessed that she would be having a ready meal that night.

Pulling out a Pot Noodle, she went to boil the kettle. Steam rolled out of the top with a rumble. She placed both her hands clasped together on the light grey counter in front of her.

Flashback

Her feet moved automatically once she locked her locker. She clasped her book to her chest as she saw the glass door coming up ahead of her. A gasped racked her body as she saw her sisters’ faces in her minds eye. She didn’t want to go home. Tears streamed down her face. Oh, why couldn’t Marilla or Francesca hang out today? Then again, it was late. Probably too late for them.

It had been another meeting with Arran and the new Jack: Jack. No matter how much she had petitioned, Arran refused to have his cousin or Marilla as the new Jack, even though they were both stronger than Jack. Apparently, having one girl as royalty was bad enough, especially since she was ‘stronger than the King’, but having two girls was too much. She thought that maybe he just didn’t want to work with his cousin. Yes, that was it. He didn’t want to work with his cousin. Nothing more.

A tear ran down her cheek.

“Hey!” shouted a voice behind her. She turned to see the brunet King running after her. “Wait up.”

“What do you want?” She snarled when he came up beside her and looked him in the eye. Her arms crossed over her chest and she learnt on one foot as she glared up at him.

“Not much, Talia.” He grinned at her like he had never done before and the way he said her name made a shiver run down her spine. They had never been friendly, nor close. In fact, she hated him. She found him bratty and bossy. It was no wonder they used to fight regularly. “I just wanted to talk to you.” His arm wrapped around her waist before she shoved him off her.

“Why?” she spat at him, her eyes throwing daggers at him. If looks could kill, he’d be dead. She took a step away from him and ended up against the wall. He placed both hands on either side of her and her heart jumped in her chest.

Her breathing fell shallow as her heart raced.

“Well, Talia,” he said, his hot breath hitting her face as he leant in towards her. Why did he say his name again? Weirdly, his breath smelt minty. Had he taken breath mints before this? “I was wondering…” He smiled at her, all teeth, and she tried to cringe away from him into the wall, but her ability was ‘ghost hands’, not ‘ghost’. “If you would join me tonight.”

The memory of the mint smell lingered in her nose.

“No,” she replied, ducking under his arm whilst pushing off the wall with one arm and the other wrapped across her chest, “I’ve had enough of you today.”

She wasn’t looking at him, but she knew he came towards her by his footsteps clanging on the floor. Her hair stood up across her neck and skin as his hot breath blew against her neck. She was taking another step forward when his hand landed on her butt cheek and squeezed.

Her heart stopped. The blood drained from her face. Suddenly, energy flashed through her veins and there was a numbness behind her: an invisible object. A snap rang through the air.

“What the hell?” he cried out, causing her to turn around to look. He was clutching his arm that had been bent at an odd angle. A smile grew on her face when she realised that she had done that. She had done that! “Why did you do that?”

“I don’t want you to touch me!” She growled at him, bearing her teeth at him, but he just grabbed her arm and yanked her towards him. She death glared up at him and tried to pull her arm back, but she failed. “You’re not allowed to touch me!” There were tears running down her face and the hope flaring up in her wanted what she thought was happening to be false.

“But, Talia,” he said, grinning at her, “we’re going to have fun.” His hand reached towards the hem of her jeans, letting go of her arm, and pulled at it, causing it to reveal her white cotton underwear.

It was like there was a mist over her mind as she panicked. Her leg went to kick him, but it was a ghost leg, so he was blasted into the wall about ten metres away from her. Then her feet were moving under her as she raced towards the glass door at the end of the corridor, past Arran. Her breathing laboured as her heart jumped out of her chest, but she managed to get past him with ease and soon was out of the building.

Behind her, there was a scream of rage and a crackle of fire. She prayed that he didn’t set the school on fire because surely he would blame it on her. And everyone would assume they had a fight. Technically, they had.

Soon, she was home. She rushed by one of her older sisters (she wasn’t sure which one, they were both blonde and idiots) and slammed the door to her room.

Finally, tears ran down her face as she removed her turquoise sweater and the t-shirt underneath. Then she was sitting on her messy bed in just her jeans and white floral bra. She focused on her breathing calming it down, but she hated herself. She didn’t deserve this; she didn’t deserve to be born to this status, to this power; she didn’t deserve to be treated like this at school; she didn’t deserve to be Queen anymore.

WHY?!

She reached for her knife and then there was blood. It trickled down her stomach, but there were many cuts so more blood joined it: mixed with tears.

……

The word on Remi’s phone screen started to fly pass her as the sobs hit her ears. They were muffled, like she was trying not to cry, plus there were walls in the way, but it still hurt her heart.

She found herself moving before she thought it through. Her feet moved towards the door and her arm reached to the door handle, which opened with a click. Then she moved in the kitchen’s direction, where the sobs were coming from.

In the kitchen, a blonde girl sat at the far end of the table with a steaming pot in front of her. Talia. Her head was clasped in her hands and her hair flowed forward, covering a large part of her face, frayed from the long day. Talia looked up at her, her eyes wide and tear stained, once she entered the kitchen.

“Hi.” The girl smiled at her, wiping her tears away, and cleared her voice.

“Are you okay?”

“No, but it’s nothing.” She walked over towards the girl and stood beside her, crouching down to be on her eyeline. “Just something that happens every so often.”

Remi took a deep breath to settle the growing panic: she didn’t have any training in dealing with panic attacks; in face, he had no clue how to help.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked, saying the only thing that she thought might help. Talking something out normally made you feel better – didn’t it? – so it could help her now?

She turned to face her an pinned her hair behind her ear on one side of her face before replying, “Just an old bad memory.” She took a long sigh and rolled her head into her hands. “Just a monster.”

Pulling out a chair, she sat down next to her as she replied, “What did he do to you?”

She carefully chose her words, avoiding anything that she thought might be a trigger.

“He… he.” She sat waiting patiently as the girl stuttered her words. “That- that self-entitled pretentious brat. That bloody bastard. What does he except? He’s weak, just like the rest of them. He thought he had a chance with me.” She laughed into her hand, and Remi thought she might be losing it. She had even described him as weak. “Wouldn’t take no for an answer. Bloody brat. He should have gotten worst.” She clenched her fist tight in front of her until it was turning white. “A measly 5.5 and he thought he could overpower me? Me! The idiot had what he got coming.”

More tears rushed down her face. Remi’s heart skipped thinking she had only made it worse. She reached out with her hand and Talia took it.

“I-I.” Suddenly, she burst into full on sobs. Remi froze. “I could have done more. I could have stopped him.”

“You can’t have done anything more,” she said, reaching behind the girl and rubbing her on the back. “It was out of your control.”

“Out of my – Out of my control!” she shouted. The chair’s back banged against the ground as Talia shot up.

ANGRY GOD TIER ALERT!!!

“I could have stopped him. I could have broken every bone in his body, but no! I didn’t.” She leant over her, but it wasn’t what was intimidating about her. Arlo had done this and he was 6ft 3 whilst she was 5ft… 5ft 3? Damn, she hadn’t notice she was shorter than her. No, it was more that this was the 3rd highest ranking in the school and her eyes were glowing. “I didn’t even report it to the police.”

The lightning that was rushing through her body died down as the girl collapsed into her arms. Her arms wrapped around her back whilst the girl wrapped her arms around her waist.

“Sorry,” Talia whispered into her ears, “I just hate him.”

Then she pulled back and waved as she took her food into her room.

Slowly, she stood up and headed to her own room, her heart fluttering in her chest. There was a soft heat in her cheeks as she got into her bed finally.

She stared up at the ceiling as a conclusion came together in her mind…

Talia was not talking about John.

Chapter Text

Talia brought her stuff into the bathroom after she had had her breakfast. The hot water flowed down her flush skin along with the foamy bubbles. Then she pulled up her thigh high socks for her school uniform and put on a slightly wrinkled grey jumper and blazer with school shirt and skirt.

Stepping out the bathroom, she saw her roommate sitting on the sofa and then quickly rushed past her to the bathroom, brushing Talia’s shoulder as she passed. However, she didn’t react and just brought out her book, ‘The Other Side’. It was similar to ‘Unordinary’ (she had had been given a copy by John’s dad before it was banned) except that it was legal to own and it was a side character who became a vigilante.

“Hi.” Talia jumped out of her skin, crashing into the sofa so she was lying on it, and looked up into red eyes. “Sorry, do you want to walk to class together?”

She nodded, accepting the hand that Remi offered, and pulled herself off the sofa, brushing down her clothes. She and Remi left their dorm room with their bags, making small talk as they went. Soon, they stopped by another dorm block (which she assumed was the boys dorms) and two boys came out, who she recognised from the previous day.

One had messy red hair and gold eyes that stood out against his messy teal blazer and crinkled white shirt. The other one was the one with light orange hair on the top of his head and black hair underneath. He had somehow managed to look more professional with only a smoother blazer and the same amount of messy shirt. They both glared at her once they saw her with Remi, causing her to take a step behind her but that was met with more glares.

“Hi,” she said softly with a small nervous smile and a small wave.

“Hello,” the red head replied before turning to Remi. This was when she remembered that she had seen him always around Remi. “Why is she here?”

“She’s my roommate,” Remi answered, looking the red haired boy dead in the eye. “I thought it would be polite to walk to class together. Right, Talia?” She looked at her with a forced smile, as if challenging her to disagree. She didn’t understand why. Maybe she had given the wrong impression?

“Yeah,” Talia responded quietly, only looking into their eyes once before looking down at the ground.

“You’re more quite than I thought you were,” Isen told her, looking down at her.

She smiled up at him, a dangerous smirk, and said, “Yesterday was a special day.”

“Yeah, you challenged the person who has been terrorising the school for the last several months,” mumbled Isen, partially covering his mouth with his hand.

“Terrorising?” she asked, raising her eyebrow at him. They had started walking towards the school and she had to turn to face him and Blyke. All three looked away from her at the ground. Then another thought hit her. “Who’s the Joker?”

There was a hesitant moment before Remi explained, “A guy put on a mask and fought a bunch of the elite-tiers and high-tiers and mid-tiers – attacked, actually – and badly injured them. One even ended up in hospital.”

“Oh.” Talia stood still for a second until Blyke almost crashed into her. She wondered exactly what happened – although she already knew it was likely John. “Who was attacked?”

“Well, this mid-tier, Juni, was left a bloody sprawl in the corridor to be found by other classmate, Zeke was sent to hospital, he broke Isen’s jaw destroyed Blyke’s back and stabbed Cecile extra times when she was clown,” Remi replied, glancing down when she talked about her friends. “I was the next in line as a target.”

No one talked for about a minute (she assumed that Blyke and Isen found it awkward to talk casually and Remi found the topic too serious to change by herself right now), but a thought kept nagging at her. What if it wasn’t John? What if it was John? The issues with the things she calculated was that she always doubted them. She didn’t know if they were correct, or not until it was confirmed – and some were never confirmed. That’s why it kept nagging at her. That’s why she had to ask. She had to ask for the truth.

“The Joker’s John, isn’t it?”

Three pairs of eyes stared at her, wide eyed in their sockets. Were they honestly not expecting her to ask?

“Well… yes,” Remi answered, alight blush on her cheeks as she looked down at the ground yet again. “How did you guess?”

“Past behaviour.” She glanced up at the Latin writing above the door. “He used to attack some of the higher tiers at our old school. Although, it sounded like he was more impulsive in the past.”

There was a pause when a voice came from behind her, “Past beahaviour? He used to do this before? Weren’t you Queen? And you didn’t stop it?”

“As a first year at 6.4, I was not messing with the 7.0 second-year who had anger issues and was a close friend,” she explained, casually looking around to see if anyone was paying attention to them. No one was. Turning to the people with her, Isen opened his mouth to say something, so she continued, “If you’re going to ask how I justified it: I didn’t really. Maybe I was it as revenge (or maybe vegance is the right word) for him. Many did beat him up when he was a low-tier and then the tables turned…” She trailed off.

After a moment, Isen cut off Blyke (who was starting a word that couldn’t be made out yet) and asked, “You were a year below John in New Bostin.”

I stopped walking as she stared at him, “I said the name of the school we both went out to? Well, I am in the year below him. Isn’t he a fourth-year?” My eyes looked at him, questioning with a suspicious look.

“No, he’s a third-year,” Remi replied, staring at her with wide eyes.

“Oh.” She took a moment to think about it. “I guess that makes sense. He did get expelled mid-year.” She twisted her hair with her fingers. She probably shouldn’t have said that.

Silence set in for a few beats and when she looked at Remi and Blyke their mouths were in an ‘o’ shapes whilst Isen masked his expressions. He looked down at the ground and shadows covered his face. Maybe he knew before this and didn’t tell anyone, but she had to assume Remi and BLyke didn’t know from their reactions.

“So,” asked Blyke after a few moments, “which class are you in?”

“I’m in 3a.”

“Oh, us to.” Remi smiled at her and her heart skipped a beat as she smiled back.

They continued walking to class and the other three went in before her. She was held back by the teacher until everyone had sat down and then introduced her to the class.

“We have a new student joining us today,” the teacher started ass she gestured with an open palm to Talia standing by the desk. Turning to her, she finished with, “Would you care to introduce yourself?”

Talia looked down for a second before saying, “I’m Talia.”

After a long moment, the teacher said, “And?” The teacher glared at her as she went quiet.

“Oh, and I like reading,” she added, glancing up to the eyeline of the rest of the students.

The teacher pushed her glasses up her nose as she grunted. “There’s a free seat over there.” She pointed in the general location, though she couldn’t see where it was (too many tall people). “Next to Elaine. Elaine put your hand up.”

A teal haired girl put her hand up and she immediately face palmed internally. It was clear that either someone of around 3 foot (who would have been moved to the front of the classroom by now) or no one did. The girl had her hair twisted down one shoulder and her bright green eyes, looked up at her as she came over. She wore a pristine grey vest below her darker teal blazer.

She sat down next to the window and sighed as the sun continued to glare down at her. The teacher, Mrs Brown, read out the register and soon enough they were packing up for their first class.

“So,” Elaine said, turning to her with a dangerous smile on her face She had a soft voice and she doubted she took part in much violence. “What kind of ability do you have?”

“Seriously, homeroom?” She stood up with her own small smile on her face. However, she noticed that everyone’s attention had turned to her. “Okay.” She sighed yet again. “It’s ghost hands. 7.7”

Immediately, she knew she shouldn’t have said that.

“7.7! But John defeated you!” shouted a voice from the back of the classroom. Really, what had John done here?

She grimaced, closing her eyes for a beat, before replying, “Oh, I don’t know why, but John apparently decided to keep his ability hidden and pretend to be a cripple.” The entire last part was directed at John, glaring at him from across the room.

Then she headed to the front of the classroom at speed, knowing all their eyes were on her. Though, she would rather they didn’t. This was a bad start to a new school.

“Still an asshole,” she heard John mutter LOUDLY!

Outside the classroom, she leant against the cool wall and tilted her head up. Her fists clenched and unclenched as she stood alone in the empty corridor. She stood there, by herself, her breathing hard and heavy until Remi came out.

Holding her hands, she told her, “Breath, Talia, breath.” And she did.

……

It was lunch and John had finally managed to lose Sera. It wasn’t that he wanted to have to lose her, but he didn’t want her to find him during this.

Cecile had texted him – spammed his phone – asking to talk. He knew where and he did not want Sera to witness it.

Soon, he arrived to the empty classroom where Cecile was waiting, leaning on one of the desks. He took his own spot, facing her with his hands in his pockets.

“What do you want?” he asked her, spitting out the words.

“Are we still continuing with the Joker now your identities out?” she replied, moving over towards him. Then she stood in front of him with the majority of the weight on one foot and her arms crossed over her chest.

“Well, I did defeat the third highest ranking in the school,” he responded with a grin. “There isn’t much more I can do.”

Cecile sighed, rolling her head to one side, and told him, “How many know that though? And it doesn’t say that Remi or Arlo couldn’t defeat you. You may not understand, but it would receive lots of doubt on your part.”

“I do understand,” he replied, “but is it still worth it?”

She looked him dead in the eyes. “You’re only saying that because Seraphina knows.”

“No.” As soon as he said that he knew that she could tell he was lying. The word squeaked when he spoke it.

“Really?” She slammed her hand on the desk he was leaning on and she leant forward to reach a few inches away from his face. “You’re going to give up on all we have worked for just because that girl knows .” She waved her hand around her. “I thought you wanted to defeat Arlo too, but let’s stop as your girlfriend disagrees.”

“She’s not my girlfriend!” he snapped. His hand moved forward, slicing the air horizontally in front of him in an arch. Quickly, she stepped back, leaning her head back further to avoid his hand. “I don’t fucking care Seraphina. I was only concerned that Sallows would help Remi – a lot. We can go with the original plan if you want.” He took a deep breath. “We’ll go ahead as planned.”

“Okay,” Cecile responded after a second, her body relaxing. “Remi at the same time still,” he nodded, “What would Talia do anyway?” She sniggered slightly at the end brining her hand to cover her mouth. “You know it’s now famous around the school that you called her an asshole behind her back this morning.”

There was a tingle at the back of his head, but it vanished so quickly that he assumed that Wenqi was running down the corridor again.

“Thought it would.” He sighed before continuing, “She managed to attract the most attention the day before she joined. Probably did it on purpose. She likes to have all eyes on her.” Her eyebrows raised up at the comment. “She’s a narcissist. She may appear like the quiet kid, but, in reality, she’s self-absorbed.” He waved his hand around as he explained. “As for what she would do, probably give some dirt to Remi. We went to the same high school before Wellston and we were King and Queen together. She knows how my ability works and can explain that to Remi. And she’ll likely do it – if Remi asks. And Remi won’t even have to try that much: Talia’s into girls.”

“I think you’re thinking to lowly of her,” she replied after giving what he said a thought. “I mean, you don’t do everything because any girl asks you.”

“You don’t know her like I do.”

“Right,” she said, a sarcastic tone to her voice. He didn’t care.

……

Talia tried to walk fast to her next class. It seemed that there were barely any singles in the previous period and she hadn’t shared the class with anyone else she knew (except Seraphina but it didn’t matter once she realised), so Remi ahd given her directions on a sheet of paper.

NO one else was walking the same way as her, and some of them must be in the same class as her for the next period. Or maybe it was due to the shouting. Shouting… Oh, fuck, that wasn’t a teacher.

As she rounded the corner, a pink haired girl with bunches was pinned by the wrists against the wall by a ravenette girl. Talia froze as the ravenette drew her shiny metal fist back and slammed it into the girl’s ribs. The girl flinched as her hands lit up in retaliation. It did nothing.

Suddenly, her ability kicked into high gear and an invisible kick was flying down the corridor. The ravenette flew down the corridor and landed on the floor, tumbling for another few metres. Damn. That must have been one of her most powerful blows she had ever used. Or it could be that she couldn’t crash into a wall. Whatever it was, she hoped it wouldn’t come back to bite her in the butt. Though, it rarely did.

“Hi.” She smiled at the pinkette. “Sorry if that hurt you.”

“Don’t worry,” the girl replied, brushing down her skirt. She was sweating and she knew she wouldn’t tell her the truth. “It didn’t hurt. Thank you.”

“As you said, don’t worry,” Talia replied, smiling other. “I’m sorry if you’re wrists were hurt – or if you were hurt at all – by my ability. It wasn’t a very thought out plan and you could have been hurt more.” The girl looked taken aback and was visibly shaking. “I’m Talia, by the way.”

“I’m Evie.” She returned her smile, though she only made one second of eye contact that was likely due to Talia being shorter than her and she didn’t want to offend her by looking down at her (or ‘down on her’).

“Well, I’ve got to head to class,” she said as she started to continue walking forward. “I’ll see you around.”

“Goodbye,” Evie replied. She turned to walk to the same direction as her.

“Do you have business studies?”

“Oh, I do,” Evie replied as they fell into step together.

“I’ve been hoping to know someone in that class.” Evie lightly laughed, but neither noticed a blue-haired boy come up at that corner and immediately turn around at what he saw.

Chapter Text

“So,” Remi started as she looked up from her exercise book. “What are you working on?”

“Maths homework,” Talia replied, looking up into her red eyes. A light heat rose in her cheeks as she realised, they had been staring at each other for moment too long. She quickly glanced at the tale and continued, “You’re doing maths too, right? What question are you on?”

“I’m on question 5,” Remi replied, tapping the pencil against her jaw. “What one are you on?”

“Oh.” Talia racked her mind to avoid the question, but she couldn’t with Remi’s growing piercing gaze. “Question 13,” she mumbled, looking down, so Remi wouldn’t feel bad.

“Really?” Her eyes seemed to glow in a non-ability way. “Can you help me?”

“Okay.” She hesitantly nodded and crossed over to look at what she was doing. She explain the method and went to her own work as Remi answered it. Then she checked over it and they compared answers. This process continued until there was a knock at the door.

“Come in,” she called out only to be quickly elbowed in the stomach.

“Don’t do that. There are some weirdos in the dorms,” she harshly whispered as leant over. Her hot breath fell against her ear. She swore she must be able to feel the heat radiating from her cheeks.

“Okay,” she replied, filing it away for later. Then the door clicked open as Blyke and Isen entered the room. She rolled her eyes as she placed her head on her hand and leant her elbow against the table. She lightly laughed and whispered back, “Weirdos, huh?”

Remi glared at her before turning her attention to her friends that had just entered the room.

“What… were you discussing?” Blyke asked, eyes flicking between the two girls.

“Nothing,” “Homework,” Remi and Talia replied at the same time. Remi jumped up from her chair and threw lightning at her. She fell off the chair as lightning crackled around her, but the sharp pain numbed as the ghost hand flung it off.

“Wha’?” she replied to the wide eyes that stared at her.

“That’s,” Blyke started. He stared down at the table where Talia’s maths book laid. “That’s the first time I’ve seen someone do that.” His gold eyes met her blue ones.

“Oh,” she replied as she stood up. Brushing down her jeans, she walked over and packed up her books.

“You sound like this isn’t the first time you’ve done something like this,” Blyke said. He looked down at her and she wondered how she could have done anything wrong.

“You think this would be?” she questioned. She rose her eyebrows at him. “John is one of the only people who I’ve lost to.”

“Really?” Isen said, his eyes sparkling with interest. “How did you two meet?”

“New Bostin?” she answered, her voice wavering. Why was he so interested in this? “I broke up a fight he was involved.”

“So, he used to start fights even back then,” Remi concluded.

Talia turned to look at her, her head tilted at an angle as she frowned at her. “No. What would he fight with? His ability to detect auras? That wouldn’t have been very useful. He definitely wouldn’t have had any chance of winning. It wasn’t like he was able to fight back either. The fight was very one-sided. Why do you think I broke it up?”

“Bu-But how?” He’s a god-tier now,” Remi stared at her with her wide red eyes. “Did you have a lot of high-level students?”

“No.” She had to let out a small laugh. New Bostin had little high-tiers, even as adults. She lived just on the edge of the catchment area and so did John. There had been barely anyone who didn’t turn to private school in that area – or home-schooled. “No, he was a low-tier back then.”

“Oh, but he was a 7.0 by the time he was expelled,” Remi said, “Didn’t you say you were in the year below him? And he was expelled in his second-year; when you were just a first year. How is that possible?”

“I don’t know.” She shrugged. She had never considered it weird. It wasn’t like it had been the only huge power jump she had seen, though it was the largest. “I mean, I watched my sister go from a 1.1 to a 4.9 in a matter of seconds. It made sense that his one happened overnight.”

“Overnight?” Her attention turned to Blyke, who stood near the doorway, leaning against it with his arms over his chest. “You really believe that?”

“What? Is it that unbelievable?” A small smirk came across her face. “I’ve grown an inch when I have been sleeping before.”

“No, you haven’t,” Blyke replied, “For the fact that you completed that maths homework so quickly and so easily and were able to explain it well, you don’t seem so bright.” He gestured in a semi-circle with his open palm. “Really? I thought everyone knew by now that you grew overtime. NOT JUST OVERNIGHT!”

Screams rang in her ears. Her eyes misted over. Flashes of power flushed through her veins: only brief, short. Not enough. She was weak. She had always been weak. Hadn’t they always said that? Why did she bother?

“Don’t underestimate me!” she yelled, slashing one hand out whilst the other was placed over her heart. “Who do you think I am?”

Blyke didn’t respond. Instead, he held out his hand, flat, with the other arm gripping it. A red light formed out of his hand, but it was obvious were he was aiming. The numb feeling of a ghost hand settled over in the direction he was aiming.”

“Blyke, don’t!” shouted a voice to her side.

The beam fired at her, but it was caught by an invisible hand. It clenched around it, pushing it back. However, soon it came forward again. The fingers wrapped around it and it flung it away and it vanished into nothing before it hit the wall.

A rush of numbers ran away from her towards Blyke. It gripped around him, rushing forward towards the wall at deadly speed. He slammed into the wall. Cracks formed from where he lay against the wall. Then he fell down, crashing into the floor. The sound rang in her ears. There was a human-sized dent in the wall from where Blyke had been. She had done it again.

“I’m sorry,” she apologised, tears running down her cheeks. She rushed past Isen, dodging out of the way of Remi’s hand. Instead, a ghost hand pushed against the wall and she raced forward at a greater speed. Her hand clamped around her door handle and she barged in.

The door slammed behind her.

Chapter Text

“Why did you do that ?” asked Remi, quieting her voice to a whisper shout. Her heart gave out as she strained her ears to hear her roommate. She heard no one.

“She’s a brat,” Blyke responded, standing up from where he landed. “She couldn’t even take me correcting her. And she doesn’t even hit that hard.”

“No,” Isen interjected. She glanced at him. He was leaning against the table with one hand resting on it. Concern was written across his face. “You need to go to the infirmary. Nd she does hit hard. She probably just held back.”

“I don’t need to go to the infirmary and she doesn’t hit hard,” he repeated back, as he walked over to the sofa.

“She held back and still hit hard!” cried Remi, pushing herself up with the table. “Look, there’s a dent in the wall.” She gestured with an open palm

“I’m not going to the infirmary,” he responded, snarling through his teeth. “Besides, it’s late. I’m not going to bother Doc.”

“You need to go to the infirmary,” she responded, forcing her voice to be firm. She walked over to him, grabbing his wrist before he could pull away. Lightning charged through her body. It raced around her body, sparking through her arm as it went into his body. His hair stood on end as he jumped away from her, jerking her hand away. “Now you will go to the infirmary.”

“Seriously?”

Isen stared wide eyed at her as she hefted his body up from under his armpits before he ran towards her and helped her life Blyke to his feet. Blyke’s arm was slung over his shoulder as he met her eyes with his glare.

“Can you take Blyke to the infirmary?” she asked before gesturing with her thumb to Talia’s room. “I’ll check on her.”

Initially, Isen looked like he was about to argue before he nodded in agreement and helped Blyke to the door, walking along slowly as he shuffled his weight to be more centre balanced.

Walking towards Talia’s room, she could genuinely hear nothing.

Racking her knuckles against the door, she asked, “Talia, are you in there?”

“Yes,” a voice groaned, dragging out the word like a sleepy teenager. Taking a deep breath, she turned the doorknob. The door softly opened, and she looked inside to see the blonde girl lying on the bed in the far right corner. Her hair flared out around her head on the foot of the bed, falling past the wooden board like a frozen waterfall of gold.

“Are you okay?” She pushed the door open further as she walked into the room. Slowly, Talia sat up, pushing herself up with both hand, and swivelled her hips around to face her.

“Shouldn’t you be worried about Blyke?”

Remi’s eye expanded as she stood frozen in her tracks. Her eyes lingered on her; her red irises in full view. Shock ran through her veins, a fluttering of her heart as her mind spouted in a muddled confusion.

“Why would you say that? Your my friend too?”

Taking a shuddering breath, she reached forward to Talia as she took the final step to the bed. A piercing glare came from the light blue eyes. If looks could kill, Talia could have slaughtered an army without any other weapons.

“Talia, I only met you a few days ago and it wasn’t in the greatest situations, but I care about you.” She sighed as she took a seat next to her. “If you want to tell me anything, you can. Whenever you’re ready.” She smiled at the girl, who looked a her with a ‘what are you doing look?’ look when someone did something out of society’s norms. She leant back from her, pushing distance between them, a few extra inches room. “In this time, I’ve seen you suffer from what I think are –.”

“Aren’t you going to ask me to apologise to Blyke?”

“Huh.” It was her turn to act shocked, turning towards her to meet her directly in the eyes. Talia’s face was dead set, her jaw tight and no smile set on her face, and her eyes were ice cold.

“You don’t want me to apologise to Blyke? He was the one who was badly injured; it was only my feelings that were hurt. I may be sensitive, I may have issues, but I need to learn to deal with it. Blyke, however, needs your support now. You don’t know how an action in the past can effect someone in the future, so supporting someone can really help them.”

Remi took a moment to think it through. It made sense what she said. And without knowing what exactly had happened to Talia in the past, this could have been directly what she needed in the past.

Smoothing her shirt down as she stood out, she offered her hand out and said, “Well, do you want to come with me then?”

……

The door clicked behind Remi and Talia. Remi walked ahead of Talia, the blonde girl hiding behind her, and stopped to stand at the end of the only bed occupied in the room. Doc glared at them from across the room, though he did nothing to stop them.

Isen sat on the bed next to Blyke, crossing his arms over his chest as he saw who entered the room.

“Oh, so you decided to come,” he said, annoyance dripping from his words. Then his eyes came across the pale hand on Remi’s shoulder. “Why is she here?!”

There was silent pause for a moment, an awkward tension building with every beat that was quiet, and the realisation came to Remi that Talia was not going to start this conversation. Stepping to the side, she looked between the two in the last flicker of hope that Talia wouldn’t need prompting. It went out. “Talia wanted to apologise.”

“What?” he snapped, his eyes flickering to the blonde. Talia ignored the daggers thrown at her and kept a blank look on her face, no hint of emotion shown through an almost perfect mask. “She wants to apologise? You’ve just brought her here to do that, didn’t you?”

The words started to form from her lips when that masked shattered.

“No, no, no!” she shouted, the words rushing from her mouth to get out as quick as possible. Her own speech froze. She took a heavy step forward and clutched her hands against the bed railing. Her knuckles were turning white. “This was my idea. I’m the one who wanted to apologise. I’m not being forced to do this! What I did was insensitive and you didn’t deserve it for only pointing out that I was wrong. The apology I gave earlier wasn’t sufficient, so I’m apologising now. I’m sorry.”

All three were left silent, gapping at her. Obviously, they weren’t expecting that.

Remi watched as Blyke smiled at Talia after a minute. Maybe she should take a leaf out of her book, though possibly not the mood swings.

“If we’re going along with the topic of apologising, I’m sorry for electrocuting you,” she said.

“What? You got electrocuted!” Talia exclaimed, jumping backwards and immediately turning to Doc. “Doc, is this true?”

“Yeah, he’s being treated for blunt trauma and electrocution,” Doc responded, nodding with his arms crossed over his chest. He leaned against a cabinet by the wall.

“Seriously, Remi?” Talia’s cold blue eyes turned to her and her heart sunk. She was not joking about this.

“He was refusing to go to the infirmary,” she justified, throwing her hands up in surrender.

“Blyke, please have more self-care than that,” Talia said as she turned to Blyke. With a glance at him, she suddenly broke into a smile that reached her eyes.

“Please say you’re not going to expect me to apologise too!” exclaimed Isen.

Chapter Text

Talia found herself smiling as she walked alongside Remi, Blyke and Isen. The emotions that pulled her down into the emotionless pit that had long been her hell and home had become helium balloons and mixed in with the light and fluffy clouds, and the pretty light blue sky. She was happy and she didn’t know if it was her medicine or not.

She found herself laughing into her hand at a joke Blyke told and it was genuine. How long had it been since that happened?

Maybe the last the fog had been cleared from her mind was when there was blood trailing down her arms – though she doubted that really blew the fog away – but it was time to get her head out of these dark thoughts. It would only bring her back there.

In form, she sat next to Elaine again, but Remi and Blyke sat behind her and Isen was sitting nearby. Pushing her hands on the table edge, she rocked her chair backwards, so she was looking into Remi’s bright red eyes before it landed back on the floor and she pushed off with the ball of her foot again.

“You’re happy today,” Remi commented as the teacher shoes clanged against the floor. Did she leave it that obvious to guess the truth?

“Yeah.” She grinned at her whilst the teacher yelled at her to keep all four chair legs on the floor. She complied…

For role call!

Remi stared at her, wide-eyed, as the chair rocked back again.

“Didn’t Miss say not to do that?”

“It’s fun.”

Remi glanced away from her smile and went to ask Blyke something, but her voice hitched when something was yelled across the room.

“Really, Talia?”

A gasp slipped out of her lips as her chair fell backwards, past the point of no return as her brain thought stumbled over John’s words. It wasn’t even swear words or insults this time, just a simple question… in a rude tone. Why was she like this? She wanted to bury her face in her palms.

In the centre of her back was a hand, ug in flat. Remi’s attempted at stopping her from falling was unnecessary, though. Two hands sprouted from her lower back, light passing through like nothing was thee, and pushed up from the floor. Her legs stayed up in the air, hanging like she was still sitting on a chair.

“I didn’t need to help you, did I?” Remi asked, a light smile on her face as she joked.

“Nope,” she replied, flashing a smile back. “I’ve had practice.”

“You’re okay with what John said?” she asked. Her hands clasped together in front of her, her face was pinched in worry. Why did she always appear weak?

“Yeah,” she responded, “he’s a different person to who I used to know, and maybe that’s a good thing. I just wish I could talk to him like we did in the infirmary, but I can’t. I don’t know why he’s like this.” A smile that didn’t mean her eyes was placed on her face.

She didn’t know who he was lying to. Or if she was lying at all.

……

Talia found herself wandering down the corridor during the time at lunch when the dinning room was empty. She had lost Remi and her friends at one point, separating to go to her locker. She couldn’t keep everything in her pockets, could she?

A grunt came from around the corner that she was about to turn, trios of royal blue lockers decorating the wall that didn’t have windows. Shuffling of feet filled the air as a light cry was let out before it was snuffled out. A sign left her mouth. This seemed to be typical of this school, which wouldn’t have stopped her from choosing the school as she truly chose it for how it would look on her CV and her personal statement, but it was such a high amount. It was the third fight that she had come across this week and this was her second day. And she wasn’t counting her fight with John. That one was bound to happen.

Maybe New Bostin had a low bullying rate after John had been expelled. Of course, she had also been a part of that; a Queen like her was bound to have an effect.

Humming started as she flickered her eyes closed, turning the corner. She stepped to the beat of ‘The Phoenix’, tapping the toe of her shoe as it landed on the ground. Silence lay before her as she walked, praying for nothing.

Silence lay before her…

Her eyes snapped open onto the scene before her. A boy with dark blond hair stood over a brunet boy, lanky in the limbs but not abnormal in any other way. The brunet boy leaned against the lockers, tilting his legs so he was looking up at him in the other’s fierce orange eyes – a sign of submission. However, the other boy, a high mid-tier most likely, didn’t see the sign. He was too caught up in his own head. Just like the rest.

They hadn’t noticed her, probably because there was no one else around. Which was weird as it wasn’t like they had anywhere specific to go at lunch. Though, it was warm outside.

She couldn’t tell what their abilities where, but the mid-tier’s was close-range with the way he attacked. He wasn’t using it right that minute, so she could be wrong but nothing inside doubted her.

Though, there was the numb feeling that came from invisibility. It had to be nothing, however, right?

“Excuse me.” She coughed into her hand, drawing all eyes too her.

The mid-tier turned to look at her, his eyes roaming up and down before meeting her eyes. He stepped back, his hand against the locker on one side of the boy’s head.

“You’re the new girl, right?” he asked, a law accent to his voice. “This fucker bumped into me in this empty corridor. Can you believe it?”

“Ehh,” why is he already treating me like a High-tier? “And that’s why he deserves a beating? Seriously, you’re wasting both of your times.” She raised an eyebrow at him as their eyes locked together.

“Wasting my time!” shouted the mid-tier, his upper lip lifted as his teeth gnashed and snarled at her and his hand crashed down in a fist on the otherside of the boy’s head, crumpling the metal underneath. A strength ability, it must be. “I think this perfectly a good way to spend my time!”

“Okay, you’ve got weird priorities.”

Sighing the boy’s eyes drilled into her as she swivelled around on the ball of her foot, pushing with the heel of her other foot. A blonde curtain shielded her as the numb buzz rang in her mind.

“Aaah! What are you going?!!!”

A cluttering crash screeched out from behind her. Swishing her hair behind her shoulder with her left hand, a small, sweet smile lit her face as the blue tinted purple glow switched out around her eyes. Her smile seemed to grow larger as her eyes landed on the idiot curled up on the floor. He laid at the foot of a group of dented and crumpled lockers who users obviously didn’t get their lockers destroyed regularly as pens and books surrounded him in a blast zone. Blood trickled down his forehead and puddled onto the cream ceramic floor. On his arm where his white sleeves were rolled up to his elbows with the cuff like sport car wings, was a bright red mark left by a giant’s hand.

Her flats clicked on the floor as she walked towards where the blond lay 20ft away, the lanky brunet running off in the other direction. A mental buzz left her mind.

Over the mid-tier, she stood, a sinister shadow-hidden statue that loomed over the city skyline. The tips of her mouth rose up as the glassy red eyes stared up to her – wide until all the white of his eyes were wet and shimmering with the ice of fear.

Her foot drew back, scraping against the floor, heat flaring. It rammed hard into his ribcage until it gave way to the point of her leather black shoe and then it was drawn back. Dark blood covered the toe, now crushed inward so there was a lack of space for what had originally been there. Hopping once, she shuffled over to lean on her right-foot with as much of her weight as she could and the boy started to float.

Dribbling out of his mouth was blood: running down his chin and cheek and off into the air before splashing into the puddle already formed on the floor. He was floating up shakily as the pain was spiking through every part and soul of his body. Could he keep it up forever? It was a single thought that bought a spark to her mind.

Of course, he couldn’t keep it up forever. He was already shaking; she was already shaking .The hands wouldn’t keep up forever. She couldn’t, she couldn’t. A crushed foot was not like a clear break. “This is not a waste of time! Totally not a waste of time,” she out cried, waving her hands about dramatically around her face, fanning herself. The invisible hands pushed the boy up until he was no longer lying on an invisible platform but as if he was leaning against a wall with a deadly wound. “Not a waste of my time! Oh, totally not. I don’t care. Totally don’t care about you wasting my bloody time!”

Hastily, a ghost cane was pressed against her facing down flat palm, placing as much weight into it as she could. Bending at the knees, she was able to reach his height, leaning forward to his ear.

“You know, this hierarchy may be stupid, but technically, I’m above you,” she whispered into his ear, a shadowed twinge to her voice. “It was a very bad idea to piss me off.”

His red eyes flickered open for a moment, exhaustion blearing his eyes. Aww, he was in pain. She didn’t care.

She didn’t care. She didn’t.

A bone snapped under force, twisted flesh around a bone. The eyes fluttered shut: a screwed mouth, a blood splattered nose, lips chapped and drenched in blood.

Why should she care? Had this world ever been good to her?

Remi… Remi was not even worth thinking about.

The boy was yanked forward. A pop rang down the corricor. Marks of hands belonging to giants trashed his legs.

Suddenly, he flew forward and away from her, out across the corridor. His body was limp like a leaf, but flying upwards in a sudden gust of wind into and smashed into the ceiling. Then he fell.

A dark shadowed hole was left in a shape of a body in the panelled ceiling. At somepoint, the boy had crashed into the ground, but the sharp ringing had just died out of her ears. How long did she just stand there like a fool? How long? How long?! Rage rushed through her veins as now the boy was a bloody mess on the floor, alerting to her to how long ago it had been since she had seen something like this happen: a body unconscious in front of her and she would do nothing.

Sirens rang throughout the school building, ranging from the school’s car park to the now closed road outside. Pressing her face up against the glass window, she had gained the front row seat with Francesca and Marilla. Being friends of the school’s Queen must have it’s perks, right? It did. Everyone had let them through.

The police were outside the school. Something had happened that day. She and John (and Arran) would be having a meeting about it later, to see how it would affect the school. Though, it would just consist of Arran being an idiot as always. Seriously, who thought the way he did? They had the power because they were born this way. Others didn’t deserve it like they did. She had seen those people firsthand. Others did things to victims. They didn’t. This school didn’t deserve their care. It had spawned her destruction.

But her little sister, Cari, would ask. She would tell her. She would do anything for the smile upon her face. Isn’t that what you want with little kids?

Then her parents might ask about what happened at school for once. They never seemed to do that. She had seen them ask her siblings when she was younger but they had never asked her.

That was when she saw him: John being dragged out in cuffs. Earlier that day, she had walked past him in a massive fight. A lot of people from his year were fighting him and getting beaten badly. It was their fault though. John never took on more than one person unless his hands were tied, so they started the fight.

Why was he taken away though? It was their fault? What if she stopped then?

Arran’s explanation later was that John had snapped. Him and Claire had gotten into a fight and a monster had shown its true face. But it was Arran; it had taken years for her to believe him.

What had she just done? Her thoughts raced as she limped away.

What had happened to her?

Chapter Text

Talia was able to avoid people in the corridors. Which was good: she didn’t want rumours flying around about how easily she could be injured.

Doc grumbled as she entered the infirmary, but he still pointed her to a bed. He was able to give her the healing elixir fairly quickly for that someone like her shouldn’t be there at all. But she had been there a few days before, for herself and not someone else.

“Your minor injuries will be healed well into the next few hours, but your foot will need a healer or a trip to the hospital,” Doc said as she pushed herself up and prepared to swing off the bed.

“I am not going to a hospital!” she seethed through her teeth.

Doc sighed as he glanced at her foot. “I get it. You don’t want to go, but I doubt you want me to get one of your classmates.”

Turning away from him, her hair hid her face. “I am not going to a hospital and no one else is coming. No one else will find out about this.” Her voice was barely above whisper, but venom leaked from her voice.

“You’ve activated your ability, haven’t you?”

“What? NO. No, I haven’t,” she hastily replied, turning to face him as the glow around her eyes faded. “Healing my foot would be easier now, anyway. The wound is clean and a cleaner break, so I can fix it, so no one else is needed.” Her eyes flashed blue before the aura fully stated around her eyes and she moved her legs in preparation to stand.

“That’s not how your ability works.”

Still, she continued to stand up with her hand curled, her back slightly leant forward as she removed her weight from the bed. Taking a step forward, he scowled at the wide smile on her face when she was able to take a painless step forward.

“So, my foot seems to be fine.”

She smirked up at him as she straightened her back forward, even though her face spiked out of her façade for a miniscule of a second. However, it dawned on him that he shouldn’t argue with her. Letting a teenage God-tier walk over authority was a bad decision (though an early bloomer was less likely to take advantage of it), he did not want to see the state of whom Talia fought. And there was a bigger issue than that. Talia did not look to be in a stable mental state. He had read her report; she was a sensible minded young woman. There was no reason for her to deny a visit to the hospital.

He did not want to have her and her victim in the same room.

Sighing, he asked, “You’re going to cause problems if you stay here, right?”glanced at her, her mouth stood agape, her eyes larger than they had been from the previous squints. “You don’t have to go to classes for the rest of the day. Just find Elaine to heal your foot or come back here before 6pm. This place is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.”

“Thank you,” she mumbled, glancing down at the floor before she walked towards the door. She clutched something in her hand as she waved with the other hand and then slipped out the door.

Damn, what happened to break the girl with the perfect report card?

……

Holden was running late. His lungs were flaming red, puffing in and out, as he ran along the corridors, eyes searching for that one person in the crowd. Barging past people, relief rushed over with every heartbeat that he was the tenth – wait, no, eleventh – strongest in the school. Nobody dared to stop him.

But she was nowhere to be seen. Of course, telekinesis wasn’t an ability that helped when searching for something; he was barely able to lift one person, so how would he be able to search for a person that way. Often, he couldn’t even find objects that way. It was pretty easy to glance past an object in that type of search.

Suddenly, he found himself face first in the ground.

“Holden, you know you shouldn’t run about without looking where you are going,” he heard a male voice say – the one person he did not want to or expect to hear. Actually, he probably should have been concerned about everyone at the current state of things. “You never who you will run into.”

He attempted to push himself up, but a foot started imprinting on his back. Pushing up, Zeke’s weight did not budge for him to be able to get up off the floor.

“Zeke, you don’t know whose orders I am following,” he grumbled, voice strained from effect to get Zeke off him.

“Orders? No one’s giving orders anymore,” Zeke said, snarling but removing his foot from Holden’s back. He pushed himself up to standing and reached Zeke’s green eyes. “A cripple turned out to be a God-tier. Said God-tier beat up someone stronger than Arlo. Whose to say Arlo’s even King anymore? It’s clear he has had a fight with John and lost.”

“You’re assuming that Arlo fought John?” he questioned. They side-stepped in time together as Zeke became the wall that he could not get passed.

“What? Are you no longer Arlo’s confidant?” Zeke laughed into his hand, stepping forward as he stepped back. “Didn’t Arlo act weird after a little while? Perhaps after a few weeks of investigating John? I mean, recently before we got the new student, Arlo’s been defending John. Suspicious, isn’t it?”

Gulping repeatedly stepping away from Zeke had caused bumping into other students and those students created a purposeful path for him to take. Soon he found the wall against his back as Zeke continued forward. No one cared though. The school had turned against the powerful.

“See, after John and the Sallow Girl’s fight, it was obvious to me that they knew each other in the past. Sallows was pretty open about coming from New Bostin High School, but John said he was home-schooled, which was easily disproven along with the claim that John was a cripple. Oddly enough, Doe was expelled from New Bostin High School three years ago. Who knew that Johnny boy was a year older than the rest of us third-years? Though, I doubt you care as a fourth-year. Seraphina, however, may; her cripple boyfriend not only turned out to be a God-tier nearly as powerful but is also ten months older instead of two months younger.

“You wouldn’t believe it either, but looking at his old report, I found that John’s being Joker made absolute sense. I mean, it made the most sense as he was the only guy that no one had seen use his ability and no one had seen anyone use his copying ability before, but who would have guessed that he had a violent history? That’s how he got expelled at his old school. Beat half his class half to death in one fight. There is no other possibility for Joke when you look at it like that.”

Holder quickly nodded vigorously after a pause of silence and a deathly look from Zeke. He had seen Arlo talking to Isen, even reported Isen stalking Arlo/John, and he knew that Arlo had gotten Isen to do something for him (probably research as it was Isen’s speciality), but he guessed this. He doubted Arlo did any research himself.

“You researched him yourself? That doesn’t seem like you,” he replied. Zeke tilted his chin upward, pulling his lip back in a snarl. Did not notice the moment that Holden’s aura showing, nor the book above his head.

“I’m not Arlo getting other to do my dirty work,” Zeke responded. “I know, Isen researched it for him. That’s why the school newspaper didn’t report on the Joker once Isen became the head. Isen knew to fear John.”

Across the conversation, the low- and mid-tier had started spreading out, leaving an easy to access path for an escape or fight (he was sure they meant it for a fight), after he started moving a book from a nearby low-tier’s hands and it floated to over Zeke’s head.

Then it dropped.

The force of the heavy textbook unbalanced the blunet, sending his head forward towards him. He slid to the left ahead by a few seconds due to preparation. Activating his ability again, his running kicked into speed as weight was removed from his shoes and rest of his body.

“Hey! Stop! I was talking to you!” shouted Zeke, his voice raw. He flinched from the rumours already being spread.

Holden did not stop. He kept running until all the corridors he ran through were completely empty. The last sound he heard of another student (or human) was the patter of footsteps belonging to nobody. Likely a low-/mid-tier running away from a charging elite-tier.

The next corner he turned he found himself on his back. Red slapped pain stung his from the cold hard cream ceramic floor.

Groaning, he pushed himself up. He must have lost Zeke by now, so he could continue looking for Talia, like Arlo asked him to. Standing up, he unwrinkled his shirt and checked his phone wasn’t cracked before preparing to continue forward.

There was a damp patch on his back. His hand crawled towards his back, but was stopped when his eyes landed on the corpse in front of him.

Above the body was a similar size hole in the ceiling, which could collapse any moment, but a glance at the bloody patch behind him revealed that it hadn’t for at least 15-30 minutes. The patch was wet in the centre but drying at the edges: crusty, dark red and blotchy.

He rushed forward to the side of the corpse and tried to get his consciousness. He got it.

The boy started coughing before giving up and looked at him with pleading eyes, shiny wet with tears. He recognised the boy then. He was a second-year elite-tier who was known for going after those slightly stronger than him and succeeding as his level grew.

Along the corridor, there were many dents, many impossibly larger than any human hand but clearly a hand: a dent in the lockers about head height, a group of crumpled lockers at near the floor with the imprint of a body and objects tipped out. Then there was the human-sized hole in the ceiling above Callum. He had found where Talia had been.

Flicking his ability on, he lifted Callum off as flat as he could and strained to keep it up whilst navigating the school corridors to find the school’s infirmary.

Once he entered the infirmary, Doc gestured for him to lay the boy on one of the clean beds, saying at least was unmade and had blood stains. Carefully, he made sure to not adjust Callum’s body as he was placed on the bed before collapsing onto the floor.

“Thanks for bringing him here. I know you don’t know him well. Or normally do this,” doc said and then went on to grumble something under his breath. “Was he the person who fought Talia?”

“‘Fought’ I think would be the wrong word, though I wasn’t there when he received his injuries.” He huffed, out of breath, as he slowly pushed himself off the floor. “How did you know it was Talia? I’ve watched her fight (or breakup fights, I guess) over the last few days, but how would you know?”

“I didn’t,” he replied, “Talia came in with a few cuts and bruises as well as a crushed foot. I doubt she got those from falling down the stairs.”

“A crushed foot? She’s a God-tier. How?” he questioned only to see the look in Doc’s eyes.

“For a God-tier, Talia’s ability has made her body more fragile, especially at such a high level that her ability doesn’t normally reach so high with others,” he said before he turned to his equipment. “One explanation for it is that the recovery factor of her ability cancels out most of the damage factor.”

“Fragile?” he asked, but Doc did not say anymore. “I’m going to see Arlo. Thank you. Goodbye.”

He left the room, the door cluttering shut behind him, as he walked through corridors and went up floors until he reached the rooftop and opened the door. Stepping outside, he met the blue eyes of the King.

……

At one point, the world was flat: a smooth plain that one could have no issue navigating, but then the shaking started. A smile thing, like an argument or a sleepless night of tossing and turns or a death, would start the first, small and sharp shake, but that was never the end of it – only the beginning. Rifts in the mind caused cliffs that jutted out miles above the ground below torn apart forests on both sides, flames escaping and burning civilisations. Rivers would turn dark red with blood and slowly became thicker and thicker because blood is thicker than water, even when the oil of betrayal was mixed in.

Nothing could fix that damage. Only the force of the Earth, the Sphere of the Heavens, could change it and that couldn’t reverse is so till there was no evidence left behind; there was always evidence left behind. Those were friends who would remember one cry, family members who were confided in, the counsellors that had visitations and the knives coated in blood stains; the cuts of scars covering arms from deep wounds, so only long sleeves that reached the wrists could be warn so no eyes would stare, but one would have to give up the feeling of comfortability.

There was a picture that she hung up on her bedroom’s wall – two, in fact. Both by a younger Talia Sallows, the signature in the bottom right corner of each. One was girl with dark red hair that contained her dark brown highlights within standing in a blazing orange fire in a pitch black night. Ropes wrapped around her waist and arms, tying them to her back and the wooden pole behind her. A dress of yellow, orange and red went down from her knee and up to the V-neck that dipped far int other almost flat bust. The skirt lifted up at the edges into bright orange and yellow flames. Her dress was the bonfire that burned her alive.

Her eyes smiled bright with flames that grew in her eyes. The fact of a traitor. Someone who did not truly care.

Then the other painting was of a semi-transparent blonde girl with wavy hair that hid the right side of her fire so only one eye of blue glimmering with lilac was visible with the rest of her moon pale face. Hanging loosely on her skinny frame was a bone white dress, folded and curved with defining shadows, bellowed out from her hips. Then it split out from her waist upwards like one piece of a bow with a sweetheart neckline with a straight line that went around her should, blooming out in a small rose before closely following her arms till it flowed out to her thumbs, and had a parallel one on the other side. Her feet were bare and unscarred on the cold, grey stone bricks, smooth but chipped and covered with moss. A glassless window in a small arch shape was behind, bleeding the moonlight through from the navy night sky.

The ghost of a girl; the girl who did not care. She needed new paintings.

Maybe Remi. She was pretty: a soft round face often worn with a light blush on her cheeks .Her light pink pastel bangs framed her face along with her long hair that reached past her chest, held back by a dark blue bow, and red eyes that smiled and glimmered.

She slammed her head against her pillow repeatedly for a few seconds until she heard a door slam. She would ask to paint her later, but now she needed someone to heal her foot before Remi saw.

Her door clicked open.

“Remi?” she asked, heart beating hard in her chest, as she looked up to see a figure with dark pink hair with patches of gold weaved in that fell to her waist.

Chapter Text

The girl with dark pink hair with stranded patches of gold throughout and fell to her waist stepped into her room before she could say anything to stop her. She briskly walked across the room in the short skirt of her school uniform, head held high as she waked with her arms crossed over her chest.

“Seraphina?” she asked, attempting to blink the white blurry spots out of her eyes. “What are you doing here?”

“You and John went to the same high school, right?” she asked as she sat down next to her. Quickly, she had her foot stuffed under a fluffy cushion, her legs fully stretched out in front of her, as Seraphina swung her legs over her own.

“Yeah, I think he was home-schooled before that,” she replied, trying to stop her legs from quivering under the God-tier’s legs and eyes.

“Why do you think that?” she questioned, her voice a hairpin in a lock.

“We lived on the same street, a few houses from each other, but I hadn’t met him before then,” she explained, watching her feet.

“Oh,” Seraphina responded and a deep unsettling feeling settled in Talia’s stomach at the questioning tone. “And you were King and Queen together?”

“Yeah,” she answered, not making eye contact. “When he became the strongest in the School his friend suggested overthrowing the royals (actually that might have been his idea) and at somepoint, we started conspiring together – forget how but I was the fourth or third strongest in the school – and then we defeated the Royals together and chose our own Jack, who I regret choosing. The second strongest in John’s yar, an absolute asshole.”

“Is that Ar- Why did John leave?”

She looked straight up into her eyes.

“He was expelled.”

……

“He was expelled.”

Seraphina’s mind whirled with the information. How could the smiley boy she used to know have been expelled not that long ago? Even the John that existed now didn’t seem like someone who had been expelled.

“I think I told you this a few days ago,” Talia said after a pause.

“Oh,” she mumbled as she remembered the conversation in the infirmary a few days ago. “So, why did he get expelled for that?”

“Beat his class close to death,” she replied and then mumbled, “Probably didn’t stop either without intervention.”

“Yeah, that sounds like the John I’ve known recently,” Seraphina replied.

“What’s he like?” she asked, suddenly meeting her eyes with a blood freezing winter. The confidence from the cowardly girl a few seconds before was striking. How different had John been back then? She doubted she had ever known a John with a genuine smile of an innocent happiness and helmet hair-gelled hair. But had John ever had a genuine smile back then?

“He was funny and playful. We would play games on our phones together, and he would complain that I would use my ability to get impossibly high scores. I mean, who wouldn’t use their ability when it put them above the rest in something? Or everything. He would even refuse to use glass to compete a game you were supposed to use glass in. And he also would wear this hair gel in his hair, so he had this greasy helmet of hair. Really made him look submissive. It probably got under people’s nerves when he stood up to them,” she said, finding a tear running down her cheek.

“I found it cute how he would stand up for others and didn’t believe in the hierarchy. I never helped him unless it was right in front of me, often an insult to me. I often dragged him to the mall and one time he brought a t-shirt that he thought said ‘La me’, but in reality said ‘lame’. Then he used the t-shirt to hsow where someone using an invisibility ability, who was following us – I guess he knew that they were there with his passive ability.

“Another time, I spotted Unordinary, you know that banned book his dad wrote, and he lent it to me. My roommate found it and she eventually told and I was suspended for a month, but I came home a week early. I don’t get along with my parents. My sister ran away from them when I was younger. I found him in a bad state. Mentally – a bad state. I think he had a fight with Arlo, but I didn’t know at the time. I stayed with him for the week. However, during the last few days of my suspension, something happened – I was injected with something and stabbed – and I lost my ability until a few days ago. I didn’t know what it was but most drugs should have been out of my system by a week but it didn’t leave. He had called Arlo and Elaine over (Elaine’s the Royal Healer) and he lied why Arlo was there. He actually needed to call Arlo to get Elaine to come over. I still don’t know why.

“He told me everything would be okay, even after I was kidnapped by a group of mid-tiers. Would you guess that people turn against the powerful when they become weak?”

Tears streaked down her face as heavy sobs racked her body and sh eofund herself falling into the blonde’s open arms.

“I know and it works in reverse too,” the girl whispered into her hair, so barely audible that she wondered if she was supposed to hear it all. The girl had been through something herself, though she didn’t admit it.

“The Joker had appeared by this point. He first attacked Zeke, a big-headed elite-tier, though that hasn’t been confirmed to have been him (I’m assuming that you know that John was Joker – I would be surprised if Remi hadn’t mentioned it yet); then there was Juni, the only mid-tier that would be attacked; then Isen, Blyke and Cecile – the only high-tier who isn’t royalty. Well, there’s John too.

“Goddammit, we first met properly through an English project. Before that, he had asked me for help when two mid-tiers (that’s an estimate) were fighting him, had him against a wall. In the project, I thought he would be good, intelligent, as he got into Wellston as a cripple, but he was absolutely terrible. He got everything wrong. I had to tutor him on books to get above Bs. It was the lowest grade I have ever had. Then, after the project, he stood up for me against these rumours that used to fly around about me. Aren’t God-tiers supposed to be smart? Did he even fake that?”

“No, he always was terrible at English,” Talia responded. She leant back from her to look into her blue eyes. Or classwork. He was only really good at Physics and you probably know that isn’t the Maths side of Physics, but he always could explain it really well.” She turned her head to look at the floor with a small smile on her face, her blonde hair falling across it. “However, he was the best at battle strategy – on the spot battle strategy. He would be able to counter someone’s moves so easily, the best I had ever seen. The only ones he didn’t always counter was the first move.”

Seraphina found herself interpreting the information. To be fair, she never needed to help him with Physics, even the equations. Though, sometimes he would stumble over some of the more complicated equations but would refuse her help. Probably wanted to be good at something academic.

“What was he like in New Bostin?”

“Oh, he,” she started, breaking the temporary eye contact she had started again. “He was violent. He would use any excuse to beat up those he wasn’t friends with, but it wasn’t like they wouldn’t do that to him a little bit before that, or others. And he was brilliant at Turf Wars. They never saw it coming.” She spole with a sigh of admiration, leaning her head back to look at the ceiling with her hands rested out to support her. “I first met him at the beginning of that school year. I’ve never believed in hierarchy, at least not the way it is currently used. Maybe if it was a sport, I would think that it’s a good thing, but it isn’t It controls society. No one deserves to be in charge from simple chance of birth. It’s like if we put people on a pedestal on the bias of hair colour. It’s not fiar and doesn’t choose good leaders (though some can be good leaders). That’s why I tend to break up fights that I pass by and so that is what I was doing that day. It was when John was still a low-tier – ”

“John used to be a low-tier in high school?” she exclaimed, suddenly jumping back and causing Talia to flinch. Did that even make sense?

“Yeah, he was a low-tier up until later that year,” she replied, unusually calm at the oddity of what she said. “In fact, extremely low at 1.2.”

Seraphina found her jaw hanging. She had never known anyone with so little of an ability without not having an ability (she wsn’t counting John or Will due to the lies and change of lies). And how was John a God-tier now if his ability was that weak in the first-year of high school.

“I didn’t meet him again until he was a God-tier. By this point, he had met Claire
-”

“Wait, he jumped from a 1.2 to above a 6?” she interrupted, cutting the blonde off to her startled blue eyes, wide with shock. “How is that possible?”

“I initially assumed it had happened overnight, but I’ve been thinking it over and there’s a change he had been training to get it higher,” she explained, taking a breather before continuing, “It was an odd mix of genetics that made it possible.”

“What do you mean?” An odd mid of genetics wasn’t very specific; it cold be hair colour, height, or, what was most likely, abilities.

“His dad was a cripple; his mum was the direct opposite,” she said. “A ten.”

“How… How did they even do that?” she questioned, her voice barely above a whisper. She had only heard about the ideas against the hierarchy in recent years, no where near at least seventeen years ago.

“I Don’t know how they got together, but I guess they didn’t mention their abilities at first and didn’t care when it came out later,” she explained, pushing a strand of hair out of her face. “All I know is that mentioning their mother is now a taboo thing in their household.”

Cogs turned in her mind. John had never mentioned having a mother, though one definitely existed at one point, but he hadn’t talked about his family at all. Heck, she didn’t know if he had any siblings. She only knew about his dad due to him coming to see John. However, Will did seem to not struggle for money for being a cripple, a single dad, having a soon in an expensive private school and he was a writer, which isn’t a wealthy career and she doubted he made much money off Unordinary.

“Anyway, where was I,” Talia continued, relaxing by leaning back, “He had already met Claire and I think Adrion, though he might have come in later. He was the strongest healer in the school at the time, so he was always involved in some way. Claire was really the one who encouraged him to overthrow the current Royals when the idea came about, but Claire was a mid-tier at the time so would quickly get dethroned. That’s why they wanted me to join them.

“Honestly, at the time, I had started idolising John. I’d seen him fight by this point, and it seemed impossible that he had been one of the weakest in the school a few weeks before. I would pretend there was nothing wrong with what he did, even though they directly conflicted with my morals and I would normally act up with others for the same actions. It came as a shock later to hear that the Old Queen that we dethroned was his older sister. Mary had the air about her which made it seem impossible that her level had been below a 5 for a long time. It was the direct opposite of John. Then there was the fact that John was the one who planned her dethroning. I guess it didn’t seem like something a good siblings would do and Mary never held anything against John for it.

“I became a friend of his, not as close as Claire or Adrion, but I also didn’t see the responsibilities that came with Queen, being a first-year and all. I’m not sure where Claire got the idea of putting a first-year as Queen, and I doubt John realised that the Royals had responsibilities at that point. That, or he didn’t care.

“As I aid before, John was violent. Eventually, Claire realised her mistake and assemble a group of the more powerful second-years to fight John. I passed by when it happened and it didn’t look to be going to well on John’s part, but I think I’m bias as John beat them with barely a scratch and the authorities had to actually step in. The incident led to John getting expelled and put him out of schooling for a while. I’d say about a year as John used to be in the year above.”

“Wait,” Seraphina replied once Talia stopped, pausing as her brain stuttered. “John’s … ten months older than me instead of two months younger. He never told me that.”

“That’s what you picked out from that,” she grumbled. “Not that something clearly happened in that year. Or my irresponsibility. Or that Claire’s a gold-digging bitch. Trust me, she is. Or how I was the second strongest as a God-tier. Or ask why John said what he did. No, just something else a liar lied about.”

Pondering her words, she exclaimed, “You knew what John said?! Why didn’t you start with that?!! Do you know why he said that?”

“I guessed,” she said ever so calmly like this happened daily. “You guys seemed very happy in the infirmary the other day, so I assumed something happened between you. I probably would have heard about it if it was physical and it had to have happened in public.”

“Well, you talked about Claire, so maybe John likes to scheme with other girls, but I overheard him talking with Cecile,” she explained as the blonde looked on keenly, a spark of curiosity on her face. “I found out that John had been working with Cecile for the Joker attacks. She even fought him as Joker to hide it. When I was listening in, they were talking about his plans as Joker, and somehow, I was brought up in to the conversation. John said – John said.” She found tears streaming down her face as heavy sobs racked her body whilst she clutched her arms to her chest. “He said he didn’t care about me.”

Talia glanced to the side. “I say you need to talk to him. John’s known for lying, extreme lies. Neither of us known the relationship dynamic between them.” She breathed deeply, pausing. “I feel like I’m giving out bad advice.”

“I know.”

“Who’s Cecile?” Talia asked suddenly after a long pause of silence. She was starting to question why she had gone to someone as mentally unstable as Talia, but no one would have shown the other side like did. Everyone was bias against John except Talia, who was bias to the other side.

“A high-tier in fourth-year. Arlo recently removed her from the Head of School’s newspaper position,” she said, explaining it with what she thought would be relevant. “She’s a pretty sneaky person.”

“Oh,” she responded, her moths moving to say something before the door clicked open.

“Hi, I didn’t see you this after – Oh, hi Seraphina,” greeted a girl in what she found to be a very singsong voice. She looked up towards the door to meet Remi’s bright red eyes, creased with a smile.

Suddenly, Talia stood up and took a step towards Remi as the cushion that was on her foot fell to the floor. Unsurprisingly, she tripped over on the cushion and landed face first on the floor with a loud thump.

“What’s up with your foot?”

Chapter Text

“What’s up with your foot?” asked Remi, her voice wavering from the previous high with tears of the sea. When Talia was able to push herself up from the floor, she looked up to see her face creased in worry. Her heart fluttered before sinking as her face went blood red.

“Oh, nothing,” she replied as she stood up and pulled her skirt down only to flinch as her weight came down on her foot. “Just sprained it earlier.”

“That looks like more than just a sprain,” said Seraphina, her arms crossed. She sent a hard glare towards her from where she sat on Talia’s bed. A very different look from the ones shared moments before.

“Couldn’t Doc heal it?” Remi questioned as she quickly moved to the blonde’s side.

“Oh, he wasn’t able to,” she explained before thinking of the possible consequences. “I was supposed to go to see Elaine before 6.”

“Shouldn’t you go to hospital, though?”
“We’re going now.”

Both of the girls started at the same time, talking over each other, until they were interrupted by a cough.

“Seraphina,” said a voice from the doorway. Turning, the aqua blue hair of Elaine twirled over her blazer shoulder. Her bright green eyes pierced out into the room.

“Hey, Elaine. Great timing,” Remi said, walking over to Elaine. Talia limped behind her, her face a flushed pink across her cheeks, as she tried to place her hand on the pinkette’s shoulder. “Talia’s injured –”

Talia’s hand finally caught onto Remi’s shoulder as she whispered in her ear, “You don’t have to do that for me.”

Then she looked into Elaine’s eyes and asked, “Please can you heal me? I injured my foot.”

“Okay,” she replied as she rolled her eyes and walked over to her side. Her eyes emitted a green glow as she touched her arm only to gesture to her to sit down on the bed behind her and touched her foot. “That’s as much as I can do.”

“Thank you.” She stood up and there was a twinge of pain in her foot, but she had developed a high pain tolerance over the years, so her smile didn’t falter.

“Don’t worry,” she answered, “I do this regularly.” Her voice remained monotoned throughout her speech. It must get annoying if she was asked to do this regularly, but then healing abilities were quite rare for how useful they were.

“So, why was your foot injured?” asked Remi, coming to sit down next to her after she sat down again.

Admittedly, Talia jumped down the rabbit hole with her immediate long silence. When she attempted to say that she had fallen down some stairs, she was cut off by three different pairs of glares.

“You definitely didn’t cause that injury by tripping down the stairs,” Elaine said. She must have experience in the area, Talia concluded, for to her it seemed entirely possible. “The stairs would have been cornered off by now. It wouldn’t have been the first time either.”

“Okay,” she answered. She searched through her mind for an answer. Her heart was torn and pulled in two directions. She didn’t want to admit it in front of Remi, but everyone’s eyes were on her and they would know when she lied. “I got into a fight.”

“How? How did you crush your foot into a fight?” Seraphina questioned, shuffling closer to her as her heart jumped. “Did something get dropped on it?”

“No, I did it by kicking him,” she admitted, refusing to make eye contact as she looked down.

“A kick! A kick did that,” Remi responded, gesturing with a glance towards the blonde’s foot to the now healed injury.

“All abilities have weaknesses,” she explained after a pause of consideration, drawing her hands into her lap and clasping them together. “Especially when they get powerful. Mine just so happens to be brittle bones.

“Damn,” Remi replied after her own pause, her red eyes of amber looking up at the blank ceiling. “I don’t even know it I have a major weakness like that?”

“I’ve seen you fight, that’s more of a major setback than a weakness,” Seraphina said.

Holding her hand flat to her chest, she leant back, faking offense, only to bump into Remi behind her. “You haven’t been in my head during a fight. Do you know how hard it is to focus on multiple invisible objects that can’t see whilst having the possibility for it just being a fragment of my imagination as I can’t see it and there’s pain from a broken bone tugging my concentration away?”

“You can’t sense your own invisible objects?” Remi asked, “I thought that you would be able to.”

“Oh, I can,” she replied, turning to see Remi’s wide eyes. “It’s just I don’t always know it is the real thing. It’s my passive ability, but it isn’t needed to be used regularly. How many people have invisibility related ability? So my anxiety skyrocketed after I found out someone with an invisibility ability had spied on me. I saw it everywhere and it even affected when I used my ability. I still suffer from it.”

Remi nodded and that conversation ended. Other topics were pulled forward until that one moment where something sparkled in Seraphina’s eyes.

“I overhead John talking with Cecile,” she started, her teeth grinding together.

“They know each other?” Remi questioned and got a laugh out of Elaine that pulled her along to laugh until they both saw the looks that Seraphina and Talia wore on their faces.

“Yeah. Yeah, they do,” Seraphina answered before continuing, “They worked together to coordinate the Joker’s attacks.” Remi went to interrupt, but Seraphina cut her off. “I don’t know how and why and why they went to extremes they did. But I do know they are climbing up the level list and they are continuing. They have a set time for you, Remi.”

Their eyes met at the end and the eye contact didn’t break.

“He is?” she whispered, her eyes slowly growing larger as her face grew white. Seraphina nodded and then turned to meet her blue eyes. “Can I train with you?”

……

Claire smiled passing the crowds of her school. Tight braids pulled back from her forehead and bursted out in her pastel green hair like two high bunches at the back of her head. Green hair flowed down in waves from around the braids, dark green highlights twisting throughout. Bright red eyes looked out on her subjects, all eyes on her in her grey wool dress that reached her mid-thigh and covered her up to her wrists. A belt pinched in her waist and black boots reached up to just above her knees.

She stepped into her classroom with Arran on her heels. Turning around wit ha smile, he froze with his hand about to reach out to her butt. She was starting to predict these moments without her ability.

“You’ve been such a better Queen than Talia,” he told her, trying to cover up her actions. “And it’s only been a few days.”

“Well, I hope she’s doing well with that boarding school she got into,” she replied, keeping a casual smile on her face. Did she have to deal with this to?

“I hope she’s doing terribly.” He smirked, stretching his arms. “She was a whore. She would deserve it.”

Initially, she planned to respond, but she couldn’t find words. However, her mind was cheering at how she was now a high-tier. It had taken so long (it wasn’t as natural to her as John), but she had helped John get strong so she could help herself get strong. Plus, everyone liked her since her plan three years ago.

Then the door clicked open again. She turned to expecting to see Adrion or Jack, but instead a black haired girl stood in front of the now closed door.

“Hi,” she greeted to the girl with the oddly familiar dark brown eyes. She had definitely seen her somewhere before.

“Hello,” she replied in a calm, sweet tone that had an underlying venom. “Is this where you come to speak to the royals?”

“Well, I guess,” Arran said, scratching the back of his neck. “We weren’t really accepting those who want to talk to us. Were you sent by the Headmaster? Like, you’re a high levelled first-year?”

“No, I’m a second-year,” she replied, stepping forward. It was obvious, though. Her face was more defined than most first-years and she wore a dark blue sweatshirt with orange writing on which wasn’t in style for the first-year. A black cord of a necklace was visible just beyond the colour of the jumper. Her black hair tumbled down her shoulders and her dark brown eyes pierced their souls. “And this isn’t about levels.”

Arran’s eyes followed the curve of the girl’s legs in her fitted closely blue jeans. She would have stopped him, but those sark brown eyes were too familiar.

“I mean, I wouldn’t know why I would care about that.” Oh, great. An anti-hierarchy person. “Talia was a better Queen anyway.”

“Shut up! She was a whore! You’re a slut!” Arran shouted, causing a flinch from the dark brown eyed girl. Why did she ever support this guy?

She huffed, anger rising in the girl’s face as it grew red. “You’re the slut.”

“No, guy’s can’t be sluts.”

The girl decided to ignore him, muttering something like “Man-whore” as her dark brown eyes decided to meet hers and only her. Something clicked.

“What’s your name?” she asked, praying it wasn’t true.

“Ella,” she answered, stepping forward so she was only a foot away from her face. She smiled and finished, “Ella Doe.”

The world fractured: Arran’s face fell, her prays stopped as a clock would top and the girl tugged at the cord on her neck as she smiled. She pulled the charm out from under her jumper, a small black grenade.

She unclasped it and threw it at them, an explosion blowing out the windows.

Chapter Text

A few days ago

With her head held high, a woman with long lilac hair walked along the corridors in strides. No one dared give her a second glance as she passed through: confidence radiated from her.

So, no one questioned when she entered a restricted room – even if no one but the Supreme Boss and her boyfriend (?) would enter it.

In reality, the woman had no authority to be there. She was one of the researchers of the facility – a God-tier, to all the other researchers’ surprise. Maybe she was doing more research in that area, was the thought process of one of the low-tiers, for Volcan must trust her more than the other researchers as another God-tier.

However, a name kept ringing in her head since her last date. Darren had mentioned the name of her student who had had her ability taken away; he had wanted her help in finding out how to bring it back as it was something her company did, but little did he know that they were working with removing abilities from the body.

Or that was the eventual idea. Currently, they were working on an ability blocker. It would work well on dangerous prisoners who would be released eventually. That’s why many of their test subjects were prisoners with long sentences. The Government was backing them up for their research and products.

It was not for current public use. And it would be unlikely to ever be.

Which made it surprising that a girl called Seraphina, the name her sister shared, had lost her ability to a drug. Easily the same kind of drugs they created.

And that’s how Leilah found herself in the forbidden room, passing control panels with names engraved on. Her heart froze for a moment as every panel walked past, looking at the names of vigilantes except for three labels.

X-Static. Lightning was one that stood out to her. She had come across the guy once when on a business trip, but she scoffed and turned her head away to fain ignorance. He had died later that day.

Near the end of the room was the one she was looking for. ‘Seraphina, time manipulation’. The same spelling; the same ability. Her finger pressed down on the off button. The small green light on the side of the word ‘Blocker’ switched to a bright red colour.

Hastily, she pulled herself together and headed towards the door she came in whilst attempting to maintain her previous composure.

Her lips were shaking. Drawing in a deep breath, she held and exhaled as the trembling died down. It was all under control when she reached for the door handle.

Opening the door with a click under her fingers, false confidence radiated out of her as she walked down the corridor with her head held high.

Soon, she was inside the laboratories again, by her desk where she had left her phone. There were still a few minutes before her break ended, so her smile slowly lifted her face as she clicked on the text message she hadn’t answered since she received it a few days ago. She accepted.

Current Time

Volcan’s heels clicked against the floor as she paced back and forth across the white metal platform at the front of the forum. Leilah snuck away from the building’s entrance and towards her workspace, wanting to avoid her boss’s wrath.

“I can’t believe it, Will,” complained Volcan to who she was certain was her boy toy (or her boyfriend, if one wanted to be polite). “How could it have never been on?” From the report those mid-tiers gave, she needed her other high-tier friends to protect her. That was the only reason she escaped their grasp. She was even unconscious!”

“She was unconscious due to the stab wound, not the drug,” replied Will, standing perfectly calm at the end of the platform. “It could have never taken effect.”

“They also reported,” started Volcan, her heels slamming against the metal, “that she stopped being able to use her ability in the initial attack.”

Leilah placed her handbag on her desk, pressing the switch to boot on her computer. Flicking through the objects in her purse, she pulled out her pen as she avoided the eyeline of the couple whilst trying to hear all that was said. Her fingers fumbled over the pen.

“She had to lose her ability. The blocker worked, so why is it no longer working?” Volcan went on and on, her voice rambling in her ears. Will was subject to listen. She almost felt bad for him. “What do you say?”

“Fast metabolism?” Will’s voice rose in pitch, throwing out a random guess. She glanced up from the silence to find that the long straight honey blonde hair, falling round over her forehead. Her eyebrows raised at him, her mouth straight. “Okay, maybe not. But I don’t know how the drug works, do I?”

“Maybe you should look into it.” Volcan sighed, bringing her hand to her forehead. After a moment, she looked back up to him and something glimmered in her eyes as she turned to look across the room.

“Leilah!” she called out into the room; her eyes already looked onto her. “What is your opinion of this?”

“Well, it sounds like someone’s blocker went off quicker than expected,” she inputted after a moment of deliberation. She needed to be careful as she knew what they were talking about when she shouldn’t. If Volcan realised it. “It possibly is something like a faster metabolism. The drug is supposed to fade and it fades quicker on some more than others. We’ve found that the ability, especially in the speed section, can affect the speed. Seraphina’s ability revolves around –”

“Wait,” Will interrupted, stepping forward to be more able to see her. “How did you know her name?”

His voice reverberated throughout the room. Silence overwhelmed her for a second before she saw the greyscale around her. Panic flooded through her system. Her hand grabbed the leather strap of her handbag as her feet moved under her, preparing for the dash towards the door.

And then she ran…

……

Talia stood in the centre of the field, her eyes closed. The others whispered around her. She could pinpoint where Elaine and Seraphina were standing. Remi was a different matter.

The world around her was almost nothing – nothing but the whispering – until a flash of lightning. The particles clashed together, electrons charging the electricity through. It was not visible. Apparently, that counted as invisible?

She quickly backstepped, air rushing past her. There was a grunt as something hit the floor. Or someone.

Immediately, the power rushed through her as her eyes glowed beneath her eyelids. A ghost hand pushed up off the ground, her feet placed on her knees as she rose up into the air. Patiently, she waited for the clicks of feet against the ground, but they never came. Instead, the numb feeling came again.

The hand pushed her to the side, another gust of moving air passed by her. Lightning cackled. Another bump into the ground. A silent sigh left her lips as the hands bursted out of his back, invisible and silent.

Feet bounced across the dirt, producing scuffing sounds, as the girl leaped over the oddly predicted ghost limbs. At least, that was the assumption. There was a lot you couldn’t do without light.

“Your actions are imaginative but predictable when you’ve thought enough people,” she told her, a smirk slowly growing on her face, “which John has.”

Suddenly, a hand grasped her shirt, pulling it forward off her chest. Heat rushed to her cheeks until she felt it. The sharp piercing across her skin zapped across her body and pain snapped through.

Ghost hands grabbed onto something far away and pulled her away and out of her grip.

“Okay, okay. Didn’t see that coming?” she commented, waving her hands up in surrender before the lightning cackled in gaining volume again.

She predicted that she was running at her. In theory, Remi’s ability would allow her to jump far, and this was what she thought she would do. But the static was above her. How?

Blood coughed out of her mouth as she stumbled back, the static filling her ears. Sharp pain covered her body. The ghost arm limped out of her body and it morphed into a sword as it rushed forward, stabbing out into the air at nothing.

“What are you doing?” questioned Remi, which allowed her to pinpoint her location. She was to the side of her, diagonally from her.

“Well, I didn’t know where you were before.” The tips of her mouth rose up as she swivelled on her feet from where she stood on the ground and another ghost hand rushed forward.

A gasp was let out into the air, the air whistling.

“What the f, Talia!” shouted a voice, Seraphina. Feet were rushing over the ground, towards her, and her eyes blinked open. The sunlight initially blinded her, but it was blinked away.

About ten feet away, a pastel pink haired girl laid motionless on the ground.

“Oh my God! Why did I ever agree to do this with my eyes closed?” she cried out as she rushed over, only to be blocked by Seraphina, who suddenly appeared in front of her as her body froze in motion. “What are you doing?”

“You’re too much like John,” she spat out before running off to the limp girl’s side.

“What the fuck!” she yelled out as she tried to struggle against the frozen time. “I misjudge the force. Why would I do this willingly?”

“I don’t know, why would John do what he has done?” she sneered as Elaine’s hands glowed across Remi’s body. “Why did I ever trust you?”

“Because,” she stuttered, tears forming at the corner of her eyes, “You trusted me.”

……

Talia hugged her knees to her chest as she rocked on her bed duvet. Tears stained across her face; her eyes dried from hours ago. Why did this always happen to her?

The door finally shut to the dorm and she shakily stood up and air filled her lungs. Her feet moved under her with barely a thought, heading into the hallway and the other door in her dorm room. Cold under her touch, it clicked under her fingers.

Her eyes scanned the room, very different from her own. The only thing similar was the bed and the desk. The bed was in the corner like hers, but the covers were neater, covering the body of the girl the room belonged to.

“Hi,” she greeted as she walked over to her. “How are you feeling now?”

Quickly smiling up, she replied, “Better.” She glanced down at her hands in thought. “I’m sorry about them. It was my fault: I should have predicted that something like that would happen. I’ve seen you fight; you don’t really hold back.”

“I should have held back, though,” she responded at a speed that even surprised herself. “I was fighting for training, not something else.”

Remi was still smiling up at her and heat was starting to cover her neck. “On the other hand, though, it was clearly an accident. I’m not even sure how they quickly jumped to that conclusion. We had a perfectly fine conversation earlier today.” She pulled her hand through the loose strands of her hair. “You really defended yourself over nothing, but I don’t get how they reached that. You’re such a nice person.”

“I’m not sure I would agree with that,” she admitted but Remi just scoffed.

“Anyway, what were your notes for today?” she asked as she changed the topic with that sweet smile on her face.

“Your moves were predictable in the beginning,” she explained, taking a seat on the bed whilst turning to face her. “But I didn’t see your last few coming. Apparently, the creation of lightning counts as invisible as I could detect where it was and I say that is similar to John’s passive ability. He can detect activated abilities within a certain distance of him. Overall, that’s a tougher fight than many I have fought have put up.”

Maybe they give up quicker when they can guess that I’m a God-tier, she thought, trying to justify why that get happening. Remi was an average level for a Queen, if not slightly higher or lower. Remi can’t just be stronger than all of them.

“Oh,” she replied, her eyes glancing to the side for a moment. “Can you help me with training tomorrow, please?” She pouted her lips in a cute expression.

“Yes, though please don’t invite Seraphina and Elaine. I think the issue isn’t going to be resolved in a day,” she answered.

Remi grabbed her hands, pulling them towards her. “Thank you.” She smiled again, and she found herself smiling back with a blush. “But they will come to see that they are wrong. I swear on that.”

She found that she gazed into her glimmering red eyes for longer, but Remi did not protest. When she tried to remove her hand, they would not budge.

“Remi, it’s like ten,” she said, “I like my sleep schedule.”

“Seriously, you’re one of those seventeen year olds who goes to bed before midnight.” Her hands were released, but she missed the heat around her hands. She wished she could stay there forever, but there was just tiredness.

“Yes, but you should care about the amount of sleep you get too,” she answered as she wandered towards the door. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

Chapter Text

Pain was under Talia’s eyelids. Pain blared up her arms. Her joints were icy cold. She could not lift her fingers an inch.

The larger duvet over her slim body did not trap enough heat even when puffed up in the heatless room. Her legs wanted to be drawn up to her chest and huddle in a ball, but her legs were screaming and numb to the touch. The ringing – blaring siren – alarm clock blinded her ears, silence in her mind.

“Talia,” whispered a voice, reverberating in her mind. “Your alarm clock has been ringing for the last five minutes.”

“I don’t want to move,” the blonde whispered back. However, she pushed up out of the sheets to those beautiful bright red eyes.

Remi giggled, her fluffy laugh filling Talia’s ears. She basked in the pinkette’s presence. How was anyone so nice? How was anyone like her able to exist in this dull grey world?

“I’ll make toast before we go to school,” Remi said, walking out the room as Talia swivelled her legs out of the bed. It was a good idea. All the knife draws were locked from Talia’s access.

She stumbled the instant she got out of bed. Her wrists screamed as she landed on them to catch her fall. The crash was minimal.

She should be more worried about her weight, she realised. She hadn’t been able to make enough of a sound to even create a concern out of Remi, who was very much one to be concerned.

She glanced at the clock. She had meant to change the alarm. Sleeping was difficult. Now it was a lot closer to her first class than she would have wanted.

She pulled her uniform out of the wardrobe as quickly as she could in the rush of minutes and pulled the skirt and socks up to her hips and thighs respectively. Why was the school skirt so short? It was the official skirt too! She thought schools that had uniform liked to have them reach further down ‘so they didn’t distract boys’ or something. It wasn’t like any of that worked anyway.

New Bostin had had that rule even without uniform. She guessed it was more irritating with non-uniform, though, as you chose your clothes and they could break so many rules easily whilst with the uniform it would only be the headmaster’s fault that the rules were broken. The only thing that a person could do would be to roll up their skirt and who would want to do that with such short skirts already?

“Are you okay?” Remi called out from their dorm’s kitchen. So she had heard. Maybe she had been improving.

“Yes, just tripped,” she replied before she turned back to the school shirt.

She walked out of the bedroom and smiled as she saw Remi standing expectantly. How had she been blessed with such a pretty roommate?

Maybe the world wasn’t so bad. It wasn’t New Bostin again.

She sat down next to Remi at the table, taking a bite out of a piece of toast on the white plate in front of her. She glanced up into Remi’s eyes. She could stay there forever if only Remi was there.

“Why aren’t you allowed to have access to the knives?” Remi asked, curiously. She continued the eye contact, tilting her head to look at her expectantly.

Talia glanced away. “I don’t like to talk about it.”

The bare skin of her arm and her stomach were obvious in her sight. The white bra holding what little breasts she had made the pale skin look sickly under the yellow light of her bedroom.

There was little to the skin apart from that. Maybe it drew closely over the bones of her ribs. She didn’t find food interesting; she didn’t like to eat much.

The knife in her hands glimmered excitedly and a smile took over her lips. She dragged the edge over the skin of her arm. It barely hurt. It barely scarred.

She went again. Deeper this time. Blood dripped down the skin and onto the rug beneath her feet. Then again. Another line replacing the old scars. It had been awhile.

Again and again, more blood clumped onto the white skin, running down in shining red. More drops fell to the floor.

The door clicked.

“Talia!” cried out a voice of a young girl. She turned, heart stopping in the icy fright, and met Candace’s dark pink eyes, wide with shock. A tear ran down the pink hinted cheek of the girl. Her dark brown hair tumbled thickly around her face.

“Talia!” she cried out again. Instead of the initial excitement in the girl’s voice, it had been replaced by the fear of the sight in front of her. Blood dripping from sister’s arms. Wounds caused by the knife in her hair.

“Candace?” her mother’s voice called up the stairs, questioning the odd sudden switch in her youngest’s voice.

Candance did not respond.

There was a sudden rush of footsteps up the stairs. Two sets. It was both of them.

“Talia!” her mother shouted as she stood in the doorway. The tall brunette lady stood frozen in place.

Then she burst forward, shoving the young preteen girl to the side as she rushed into the room. She gripped Talia’s shoulders, forcing her back onto the bed next to her.

Talia’s blue eyes stared at her arm.

“Why would you do that?” her mother continued to shout, her voice now next to her ear as she screeched. “Why would you harm yourself? Why would you betray our trust like that?”

Her father handed her mother a wrap of bandages. She wasn’t paying attention though. The thin fabric was wrapped around her right arm again and again to cover the cut, catching the blood as it seeped out of the cuts.

She didn’t respond to her mother’s questions. Who could ever own up to this?

“Raymond, remove her door,” her mother ordered whilst she continued to ignore her. Talia’s sight was locked onto her feet.

“Isn’t that a bit extreme?” he replied, staring at the woman with wide eyes.

“How can we trust her not to do this again?” she answered and the man nodded.

Talia continued to ignore them as the knife was removed from her hand and the door was removed from the frame. She laid down onto the bed, staring up at the ceiling. Everyone left her alone as she continued to not talk.

“You can tell me,” Remi continued to pry with that small smile on her face.

“I…” She hesitated. What could she even say?

“It’s a personal matter.”

Remi’s face fell for a second, but she quickly replaced it with a smile that didn’t reach their eyes. They both continued to get ready and then they headed to school together.

Blyke and Isen stared at her as they came to their usual meeting spot in the morning.

Chapter Text

I want to discontinue this story, but I know that there are a number of readers who still want to read this story. Hence, I will leave this out for the readers to decide.

 I didn't start writing this story with much of a plan. I have a plan set out in my head but it has changed several times and it has been almost a year since I have seriously written for this story.

I don't remember if I initially planned to include self-harm, but it did end up including self harm. I think I did always plan for Talia to have self-harmed in the past, but I don't think I was going to describe it in detail. It was more a mention thing, but then I did include.

I don't know when these scenes were written but it was likely in a time where I self-harmed. I never self-harmed regularly and it was probably before the time when I did it more seriously too, as I remember stopping writing around Christmas for the final. I wasn't in the right place mentally and there are a few other scenes that I regret including as it wasn't necessary and were more included as dubcon is likely a kink of mine.

There are other details about the character Talia. I guess you could consider her a self insert, though I don't view it that way, as we share the same hair, eye colour and a similar height, similar dreams for the future and I wrote some scenes as a possible vent (I actually don't think I did, but I don't remember exactly what I was thinking when I wrote each chapter so I don't know). I don't consider her a self insert character due to other characteristics in her character that I don't have and absolutely hate in other people (if you're looking for a more self-insert character I have written, look at Katelyn from my story 'There' which is on wattpad and quotev).

I have also lost interested in the idea of this story. I still know how I plan to end it, but the only thing I have much interest in anymore is Remi and Talia's relationship, which is mostly because its the only lesbian relationship in all of my stories for whatever reason I made all the others straight in the other books. I'm bi (and thought I was lesbian at one point) and I'm always surprised how I managed to do this for the other works.

Another reason why I don't post much to this story anymore is that I'm writing Golden Child. You may have noticed if you read Golden Child, but it is really long. Like, I've written in authors notes that it is going to be over 100 chapters long (which is really funny as when I first wrote a plan before I scraped it, I planned for it to be a mini piece only 30 chapters long to this ones probably 40 chapters, and Maeve's character was original thought of for a 5 five chapter long book that I never ended up writing). With my only writing 2 chapters or less a week of Golden Child, it is really frustrating as I want to be able to get Golden Child finished and then write and finish my other unOrdinary fanfics. That is not happening anytime soon as I'm currently stuck on the first page of Chapter 56 for Golden Child.

Anyway, as I reach the end of this note, I want to ask you, the reader, whether you want me to continue this story.

Also, if anyone wants to take over this work, contact me in messages for wattpad and quotev, and comments unless you can find another way on ao3. It might take awhile to respond on quotev or ao3 (possibly a week for quotev) but if there's a wattpad message, my only limitation will be timezone and if I'm doing something else at a time. I'll message you the plot that I had in mind that I remember and details about characters that are relevant to the story. The only requirement is that you send me some work if you don't have any work on your profile or if none of your work is recent, you can also send me some. There might be an issue with posting on all three sites that it is currently on, but I'm fairly certain no one reads this on quotev, at least not seriously.