I'll be right here. -E.T.

John, or should I say, 'Arlo', was walking about the halls, 'casually' looking for Sera. She hadn't taken the usual way, which surprised him. Instead, he found her and 'John' pinned up against some lockers on an alternative route, with a ring of mid tiers surrounding them… and Zeke at the heart of it.

"Zeke, you snake!" Sera cried, in a last attempt to save them from being knocked totally unconscious. 'John' already looked like his brains had become mashed potatoes, and Sera's face was bloodied. "After kissing up to me for all these years, you finally show your true colours!"

"Hey, don't blame me!" the elite tier said in a mock tone, a malicious smile spreading on his face. "It's not my fault you can't use your ability, is it?" He raised his hands in a sweeping gesture. "Look, this isn't anything personal. I'm just taking advantage of an opportunity. Now, in front of all these witnesses, I've defeated you! The mighty Seraphina has fallen. You can call me the Godslayer."

"Zeke." 'Arlo' stepped from behind him, looking collected yet upset. Though he didn't care what Arlo would normally be doing in this circumstance, he could easily just blame it on the hierarchy. Nothing mattered; not if Sera was being harmed.

"Oh, Arlo." Zeke said, the smile quickly fading. "I… didn't expect to see you here. You're looking great as ever-"

BAM!

Zeke went flying down the hall and hit the wall a good dozen feet away. Students made an opening automatically so that 'Arlo' could walk up to Zeke and inspect the blue-haired boy's face, showing pure confusion and terror from the punch. Higher tiers would care more about their reputation than simply being punched, however. He could make Zeke beg forgiveness another time. "You're bragging about attacking Seraphina while she's a cripple? Defeating a helpless low tier gets you no bragging rights." He looked about at all the mid tiers standing around. "And all of you simply stand by, and waste your time on cripples! I won't, stand for it. You have all embarrassed yourselves, this school, and most importantly, your superiors." His eyes travelled back to Zeke, the guy who had mercilessly beaten him to a pulp and left him to rot. "You most of all. I don't ever want to see you shaming us high tiers again. Got it?" That speech should stave off everyone for a long while.

As 'Arlo' scowled down at Zeke, the mid tiers could be heard whispering things. When were they not whispering things? Whether he had or had not done a good job pretending to be Arlo, they would whisper about something. "Y- yes, Arlo. I'm sorry. I won't." Zeke stammered as he got up, keeping as close to the wall as possible.

"Get to class, everyone!" John shouted. The patience Arlo usually reserved wasn't present anymore. "Get going!"

All of the mid tiers dashed out of the hallway as fast as humanly possible, and Zeke ran past 'Arlo' in a wide circle. Before he could turn around and face Sera, John needed to make sure he wouldn't say anything out of character. The least she needed to worry about right now was why Arlo had been treating her so weirdly. Once he came to stand by her and 'John', Sera looked up from trying to support what she thought was her best friend's limp form. "Can you get him to the infirmary?"

Arlo had been beaten a few times before, sure. But he had never felt pain this tremendous previously. He presumed his ribs were broken; it was laborious to breathe. His vision had gone blurry and his head was spinning a thousand miles an hour. He felt Seraphina try to help him up, but without avail. He was too disorientated and sore to stand. Even sitting there stretched the limits of his lungs. How could John put up with this? Why did he have to put up with this? He could defend himself and Seraphina more than adequately with John's ability.

His hearing returning to- roughly- customary standards, Arlo heard Seraphina ask 'Arlo' if he could assist them. Too weak to resist, he felt John wrap his right arm around John's neck. Everything save for Seraphina sticking close to him was omitted from memory.

John was genuinely surprised that Arlo hadn't done anything when Zeke attacked them. He had been half expecting for his ability to be revealed, and bringing Arlo to the infirmary probably wouldn't make up for the "favour" Arlo had done him- at least, in the other boy's eyes. To John, Arlo was just doing as he was told to do. As he was supposed to do.

'John' had barely kept any consciousness from the attack, leaving Sera alone in the infirmary. John would have liked to stay, but didn't want to make her uncomfortable or somehow emotionally pained more. When he turned to leave, she didn't ask him to linger for even a moment longer- and though John knew Sera was unawares, it still hurt.

The first auditory cues Arlo heard upon waking were the sounds of someone weeping. As he sat up in extreme discomfort, he finally realized it was Seraphina. Wonderful. Not only was he still stuck in this condition, but he was obligated to somehow support Seraphina as well.

He sat up on the cot and hoarsely whispered to her, as that was all he could manage at the moment. "Sera? Hey, what's wrong?" he asked, whilst putting a hand along her shoulder and back. Her elbows were propped on the bed, her head supported in her hands. She didn't move from this position, but did seem to make an effort to stop crying. Not that it did any good; the tears just came back even more violently. 'John' moved his face closer to hers. "Don't let Zeke get you upset. We're both fine now, see?"

This time, she could stop enough to sit up and wiped the tears from her right cheek. 'John' wiped off some more from her left side ever so gently. "I couldn't protect us. I couldn't fight back. I couldn't do anything!" She turned her head away and refused to meet his eye.

"Everything will return to normal when you get your ability back. It just needs some more time."

"Nobody can figure out what's wrong. Not Doc. Not the hospital. Not even the authorities. The drug…"

"It can't last forever, can it?" he gave Seraphina a little smile. "We just have to wait a-"

"NO!" she whirled back around to him as more tears slid down her cheeks. "I'm tired of waiting! All I ever do is wait, and all I ever get is disappointment!" Her shoulders sagged as she sighed outwardly. "I don't want to lie to myself anymore."

What could Arlo say to that? If he told her to wait longer, she would probably just grow more dismayed, which wouldn't help anyone. But what else was there to say?

Seraphina leaned in and rested her forehead against his, reminding him of the burning in his ribs. He couldn't let her know her was in pain at the moment- even though it felt less like pain, and more like hell. 'John' put his hand on her arm and let her sob a bit more. "What am I supposed to do now? I'm powerless… there's nothing left…"

He took her shoulders and got her to stop leaning on him, even though it hadn't been uncomfortable. "Hey, not everything is lost. We can still do what we always do! Go to the roof, the mall… grab drinks, whatever! They can't stop us from having some fun. Everything will be alright."

She met his smile with her own weak one, and they decided to call it a day.