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This wasn’t supposed to happen.
This was meant to be a simple reconnaissance mission on a secret Ember meeting. Get in, listen to a few of their plans, and get out without anyone the wiser. That was the plan. That’s what was supposed to happen. So how did it all lead to this?
A fight broke out.
How it started, Sera can’t specifically remember (Isen sneezed), but now their simple recon task turned into a full out brawl.
Sera was handling these agents with little issue. Even with the multiple abilities, they couldn’t touch her. Or, they weren’t supposed to.
The next part was a blur because a cloud of red particles was being wafted in the air and all of a sudden, Sera was plagued with the desire to just lay down, find the comfiest patch of dirt, and sleep the night away.
Sera heard of this agent; Fury. The woman’s natural ability was Hypnosis. It was how they managed to capture Arlo and Blyke the first time. And now it was being used against her.
Sera fought with all her might to remain on her feet and keep her eyes open, but her vision was already becoming blurry with drowsiness. It wasn’t long before Sera fell to her knees, her head drooping to the side. A yawn threatened to escape her, but she managed to keep it in.
Standing above her with dual flaming claws was the green haired woman glaring down at her. Sera tried as hard as she could to make her legs move just a little to get out of the way, but her limbs refused to listen to her.
The blurry visage of Fury pulled back one of her claws, ready to strike her down and all Sera could think was the fact that she was never going to feel the sensation of John’s lips pressed against her own. So much time wasted.
Her eyes finally closed despite her intentions, head hanging in defeat when the muffled scream of “SERA!” ripped through the air.
It was enough for her to involuntarily open her eyes and lift her head to locate the source of the sound and Sera almost wished she didn’t.
Something had gotten between her and Fury. Something had taken the fatal blow in her place and was being internally electrocuted. Something that was growing limp and looked suspiciously like-
“JOHN!!!” Sera snapped awake at the sight of her best friend and secret love interest collapsing on the ground with sparks dancing across his body and a massive bloody hole in his chest.
“Nononononono…” Sera frantically muttered as she crawled toward his body. “You idiot, why did you do that?”
“Hmph, at least I got one of them,” Fury grumbled to herself in distaste.
Anger filled Sera’s veins at the sight of John’s injured form and she shot to her feet, all her previous fatigue gone. “AHHHH!!!” Sera let out a rage filled scream and activated her ability. The world turned grey and she rushed forward with her fist cocked back, punching her opponent right in the face.
After that was a flurry of blows that no one had any hope of keeping track. Once Sera released her grip on the world, there wasn’t a single inch of Fury’s body that was left untouched.
What was infuriating was that even as Fury’s bruised body crashed through a building and fell among the rubble, she was smirking. Her eyes drifted to Sera’s. “Is this the part where you kill me? Or will you be noble like your friends?”
Sera grit her teeth and leaned down, grabbing hold of Fury’s collar. “Don’t tempt me. You have no idea what you’ve done. And so help me…”
“Then what’s stopping you? Go ahead. End me,” Fury croaked out, her voice raspy but filled with conviction and amusement.
Sera’s nostrils flared with anger and she clenched her fists tight, wanting to let loose another barrage of attacks and finally put an end to this murderer. And she was about to-
A hand firmly gripped Sera’s shoulder. Turning around, Sera saw Remi’s distraught eyes peering into her own.
Remi’s lips trembled as her eyes filled with tears. “He doesn’t have much time left,” Remi’s voice was solemn as she tried to pull Seraphina away.
Fury just kept making that smirk, so Sera punched her once more in the face to knock her out before rushing to where she left John.
“John!” Sera shouted. She crouched down and took hold of one of John’s hands, tightly squeezing it, hoping for a response. His head was resting in Blyke’s lap with Arlo and Isen surrounding them, having finished with their own fights.
John wheezed, but it was the most beautiful sound Sera ever heard. He was okay. He was going to be okay. “Sera?”
“I’m here, John. I’m right here. Don’t worry about all this. We’re going to get you fixed up. Everything’s gonna be okay. Alright?”
“You’re okay,” John had a ridiculous smile on his face as he said that, as though she were the one bleeding out on the street.
“Of course I’m okay. You saved me. You’re always saving me. Now it’s my turn to save you. We’re gonna get you to Doc or Elaine or anybody to heal you. Just stop talking and save your strength.” Sera stood up and leaned down to pick him up, when John’s hand went slack in her own hand and fell out of her grasp. “What the…?”
Remi let out a gasping sob and turned to be embraced in Arlo’s arms with Isen patting her back.
Blyke visibly swallowed and lifted John’s head off his lap.
“What are you doing?” Sera said in shock. “He needs help. We don’t have time for this.”
“Seraphina, it’s too late,” Arlo said with his arms filled with Remi. “I’m so sorry.”
“No! You don’t know what you’re talking about! John is fine. He’s just unconscious. We’ll get him healed and everything will be okay!” Sera shouted in defiance.
“Seraphina…” Blyke was promptly ignored as Sera placed her fingers against John’s neck to check his pulse. There wasn’t any sensation but that didn’t mean anything. His pulse was just irregular, he did just get stabbed. That happens.
“Come on, John. You just need to wake up.” Sera slapped his face and felt for any puff of air coming from his mouth or nose. Still nothing. Maybe some blood was clogging up his airways.
“Seraphina, no.” Isen tried to pick her up from the ground but was harshly slapped away.
“If you’re not going to help, just get out of my way!” Sera screamed at him. She started pumping John’s chest, trying to get some sort of reaction out of him. “Come on, John. Don’t do this to me. You can’t do this to me.”
“Seraphina, just stop. It’s too late. I know how you feel. John means a lot to me too,” Remi, the liar, spoke. “But even with your powers, you can’t rewind death.”
“Shut up. You have no idea how I’m feeling! He’s not dead! Stop lying! He’s going to be fine!”
Sera forcibly opened John’s mouth and placed her own against his, trying to breathe some life back into him.
Sera had fantasized so many times about what it would be like to feel John’s lips against her own. How John would softly press his lips to hers, how warm and firm they’d feel as they moved together like a dance. The sounds in the background would fade away and all she’d be able to hear was the beating of her own heart. And maybe, if she was very lucky, it could lead to more.
This was nothing like how she imagined. His lips were cold and slack. There was no response to her actions as her misery made the world darken and everything became too loud. Her heart felt like it was going to pump out of her chest as her hands desperately felt for his chest and sensed nothing behind his own.
Sera released him and went back to her chest compressions, sobbing with every downward thrust. “Please John. Don’t go. I need you. I need you to stay with me.”
Tears fell from her eyes and went leaned back down to apply mouth to mouth. Sera had to ignore the stab of pain in her own chest when she finally had what she wanted but it wasn’t how it was supposed to be.
Chest compressions. “You said you were always gonna be there for me. Don’t be an idiot and leave me now. There’s still so much for you to do here. Please come back to me.”
At this point, Sera was beating John’s chest with her fists, denying everything that John wasn’t anything but the epitome of being lazy like always. He was going to wake up and prove the others wrong. He had to. Sera didn’t want to imagine a world where he wasn’t in it.
“John, listen to me.” Sera angled his face towards her own as her tears fell on his head. “I’m sorry. About everything. I should never have left you on your own when you needed me. All that time we spent apart and all I could think about was you and how much I love you. Do you hear me? I love you, John. Please don’t leave me.”
Sera broke down in tears, her head nestled in John’s chest, not caring about the blood getting in her hair. Her eyes squeezed tight as her ugly sobs finally broke through for everyone to hear as she cried over the body of the most wonderful and strongest person she’d ever known.
Maybe if Sera had her eyes open, she would have noticed the faint blue glow emanating from beneath John’s clothes.
There were silent gasps coming behind her, but she paid them no heed. They didn’t matter. Nothing mattered anymore. The world was lifeless and grey and there was just no point to anything.
Again, if Sera had her eyes open, she’d have noticed the purple aura encapsulating John, seen the pool of blood surrounding John’s body slowly receding back into him. The gaping wound in his chest slowly knitted itself back together, hardly leaving a scar.
Sera thought she felt something rumbling beneath her fingers but she didn’t want to give herself false hope. The reality of it all was finally sinking in. John was dea-
A sudden gasp interrupted her thoughts and she felt the body in her arms start to warm up and move. “Wha-what’s going on?”
“John?” Sera said in a small voice. She sounded so vulnerable, even to her ears, but she almost refused to believe.
“Sera. I’m so glad to see you’re okay. What happened?” John asked her as though he wasn’t just dead a second ago.
Sera didn’t care. She didn’t care how he was back or what caused any of this to happen. It was a damn miracle, was what. She threw her arms around him and cried even harder than before. “I thought I lost you.”
His movements were slow, but they were there, ensuring her that he was back in her arms and wasn’t a cold lifeless husk. John pulled her into a hug. “It’s okay. I’m right here. I’ll always be here.”
Sera sensed the others wanted to join in, to let out their own cries of relief that their friend was back and he was okay, but she chose to be selfish just this once and kept him all to herself.
She didn’t even notice when she passed out from exhaustion. All she knew was that John was in her arms, alive and well. And that she wouldn’t be able to handle losing him a second time. That would break her beyond repair.