An End...

Previously on

A Dream?... More Like A Nightmare

The young man didn't take his eyes off his new enemy as he simply called back to them softly, "...stay low...". The lion stood back on its haunches and matched the pace of the fellow apex predator only to stop twenty feet away from each other to continue their stare down, primal rage and fear of an equal forcing its heart to beat faster as it silently prepared for the fight of its life. In a moment the aura exploded around John as he prepared for the fight. To the shock of those watching, he displayed the clear signs of using their now probably dead classmate named Zeke ability to enhance himself. Not finished, barriers came to form small parts around his body and formed white and black form fitting armor for protection. As black lightning coursed around his body and the skeleton for wings sprouted from his shoulder blades, dozens of blades made of energy formed around him to make feathers for the skeleton and he flapped himself into the air, only to continue staring at the mutant beast; the tensions continuing to rise and steal the breath from everyone else.

...

The people watching held their breath in both hope and fear for the outcome, no one wanted to be the straw that broke the camel's back of the tension between the two alphas...

The two predators...

The two monsters...

...

The young man finally reached out a hand towards the beast, as if beckoning the lion to grasp, and said one word, "Come.". The tension and desire for violence finally broke as the lions energy once more covered its body and it roared its challenge for its only equal to meet, and the two finally charged at each other to meet in a black and white explosion of aura and light.

'My range has been reduced.', the young man's golden eyes narrowed in thought as he regarded his enraged opponent and watched it yowl in pain, its baleful white energy mane rising in outrage. The two began to slowly circle each other as he continued, 'I'm using my ability in a new way, and still adjusting to mom's aura mixing with mine, there's going to be consequences. I need to finish this before it notices that my armor is already fading.'. John raised his hands to flare his aura once more as the lion growled and charged . He raced towards the mutant, to meet its charge head on before sliding down under its lunge. The young man chose to allow the beast's front claws to pierce through his right shoulder to put his own clawed hand into the lion's chest up to his shoulder, and used his whole arm to launch his attack straight into its insides, sending them flying away from each other once more.

John didn't take his eyes off the mutant as they skidded away from each other, coming to a stop in deep troughs of land their short flight had dug up in their wake. He ignored his uncooperative arm for the moment and began to heal the broken bones he'd been inflicted with from the recoil of his own attack, and stood once more only to fall to a knee as he glared into the holes on his arm to notice his flesh weakly glowing with the lion's energy.

'His energy is deadly.', the young king noted as he sent Elaine's healing power to keep it in check until he could copy Sera's power and rewind the wound, once more rising to his full height as he watched the lion stand shakily stood as well, showing off the large crater that was once it's powerful chest. Blood poured from the missing piece of the mutant's front, as bone and burnt flesh rained down onto the charred ground. It chose to stand once more and offer one last roar of power, ignoring its wounds to fight until its last moment, the proud lion refusing any other outcome than a proud death. John studied his proud opponent as the shock wave was coming towards him, allowing a small respectful grimace to grace the world for a moment before he dropped his proven useless armor completely to focus on enhancing his speed to appear before the beast once more with a lightning infused claw to pierce through its open mouth and spear through the lion's brain, finally silencing the powerful animal once and for all.

John tore his left hand free from the monster's skull to stumble out of the way from its collapsing corpse, and stared at the fallen beast once more. Choosing to leave the once mighty beast in front of the school gates as a warning to any who chose to enter his domain. With one last glance at the majestic beast, John slowly made his way back to the school turned stronghold, cradling his temporarily crippled shoulder as he sent the last of his fading aura into the wound to hold the deadly energy at bay.

Sera held her breath as she watched John tackle the beast, keeping her focus on her best friend to see things only she could see. The set of his shoulders was tense and locked straight and wide, which he only did when he was too tired to focus correctly so he could project a strong front. To fool everyone into thinking that nothing was wrong, and that he was still untouchable. She'd only noticed that habit when his eye bags began to get too deep from nightmare fueled sleep deprivation and he'd had to bluff his way out of a beat down from a couple of high tiers about a month into their friendship. His hands were so tightly clenched that his knuckles were white, which he only did when he was unsure about something, though the firm set to his mouth offset the little known sign of uncertainty. She tried to stand only to sink onto her knees once more to hold back her nauseous stomach, a sure sign of aura exhaustion; something that only happened when the body and aura was pushed far beyond their limits, leaving them weak and powerless for a time as they recovered. Something her god-like powers had convinced her she'd never experience, she noted bitterly as she watched her best friend force the lion out of school grounds, and out of sight as she turned to crawl back over to her exhausted comrades, only a few had remained conscious after John's healing, who were still staring at the gate in shock.

"What the hell happened to John!?!?!?", the red haired laser user called out from his kneeling position, still too tired to move properly. "And why the hell can't I move?!?!?", he finished over the sound of roars and explosions as he finally lost the battle of will and fell onto his stomach in frustration.

"My ability…", Elaine trailed off as she lost focus and stared off into the distance before focusing back onto the gateway, staying seated next to the fitfully dozing Cecile, Arlo, and Remi. "I use my own energy to speed my patient's recovery… I guess John made our bodies use our own aura instead of his…", the young healer mused as she kept her eyes focused on the explosions of white and black colors brightening the night air.

"That asshole, again?! Why not use his own then?!?!", Blyke demanded as an equally tired Isen came to his side to slowly help him sit up.

Surprisingly, it was Claire who answered this time. "He's just as tired as we are. He's just woken up from a coma and his aura is fluctuating. From the moment he summoned that armor, it began to break apart. He's putting up a strong front to trick that monster into thinking he's an even bigger threat than he already is, to keep its focus on him.", the green haired psychic curtly replied as she forced herself into a wobbly stance to stare off at the opening in the wall, her glowing eyes signifying the use of her powers as she observed the battle going on outside of the wall. "Seraphina.", she called out to the magenta haired girl, who flinched in shock, knocking her out of the trance she'd been in since John had appeared. She turned towards John's oldest friend, to listen for the green haired teenager's voice. "Can you use your ability?", Claire asked impatiently as she narrowed her fiery eyes in concentration.

"No.", the time manipulator replied in defeat after another session of nausea almost forced her unconscious.

"Damn it!", Claire snarled in reply before turning towards the only healer in their group. "If she can't, then you're gonna be John's last hope if he wants to survive.", she finished as she allowed her ability to finally fade away and fall back onto her side in resignation.

Before the rest of the conscious royals could ask what she'd meant, a large explosion of black energy lanced across the sky followed by one final roar before things went silent. The teens all slowly turned towards the open gate to wait with baited breath for the victor to make their way back to them. A breath they released in relief sharing small tired grins, as they heard John's footsteps echo softly towards them. After a handful of seconds, the man himself made his way past the gates under the baleful moonlight. He appeared as if a specter, no more armor holding an open wound going through his right shoulder, as blood leaked slowly through the fading bandage of aura he'd wrapped around it with Elaine's signature healing in full effect. He took slow steps towards the group of royals, as his flickering eyes came into view. His face still as impassive as before the fight had begun, but the tension in his shoulders now banished, along with his clenched knuckles. He made his way into the bright light falling from the open school windows and doorway that suddenly came on, stopping the aura manipulator as he blinked at the large collection of people staring at him in a way that John couldn't recognize from the brief flicker of confusion that came over his face before he chose to ignore them and collapse to his knees before of the stunned Elaine and Sera.

He stayed silent and still for a moment to release a sigh of exhaustion before looking the two in the eyes before calling out quietly, "Need some help, here.". He continued to whisper to the two he kept his half lidded champagne colored eyes on, "Whatever kind of power that monster used, it wasn't aura. Too toxic to the body to be anything helpful. Can't push it out on my own. Sera?". He looked hopefully at his best friend only to stop as he took her in before pity flashed across his face. "Aura exhaustion.", he stated to their shock. "Your first case from how pale and shaky you are.", he continued as he stared at her trembling form.

"How do I help?", the tired and worried healer asked as she crawled up to the king, determination fueling her battered mind.

John locked eyes with Elaine for a small amount of time, looking for something that only he could see. Finding it by the small and savage grin of approval that sent tingles down her tired body.

'Later Elaine.', she chanted to herself on repeat as she came to a stop next to the wounded young man, ignoring the stares of the only two other conscious girls burning four holes into the side of her head.

"Mix your aura with mine around the foreign energy in my shoulder and tear it out with me, then close it as best as we can.", John laid out the simple operation as he closed his eyes to focus, missing the four others' reactions to his words.

Isen and Blyke's eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets as they stared in embarrassed horror, which tuned into absolute terror as they turned shakily to stare at Sera and Claire, both of whom had went stock still to gaze blankly at John and Elaine, negative emotions swirling in the air around the two, practically visible.

Elaine was no better, her mouth agape as a blush began to rapidly cover her face and spread throughout her body. She stared at John's half lidded eyes as he leaned closer to offer the healer his shoulder and prepare for the operation.

This continued until John noticed no one moving and he raised a questioning eyebrow and drawled at the unresponsive group of teens, "What the hell guys? I'm bleeding out in case ya'll didn't notice."

"What the hell man?!??!?!?", Blyke finally ground out past his shock. "If you want to do that kind of shit, at least have the common courtesy to fucking take her out frist!!!!!", he leaned back into the unresponsive Isen as he huffed in greedy gulps of air after he'd finished hollering a the king of Wellston.

"...What?", came the clueless young man's response as he looked at those present for an explanation only for silence to greet John's question.

"You… don't know?", Isen finally said after a few beats of silence, staring at the now obviously miffed teenager, who turned to stare expectantly at the rat in human form, clutching tighter to his pierced shoulder as he continued to wait impatiently on Elaine to begin helping him. "How the hell do you of all people not know!?!?!?!??", the journalist began to hyperventilate after shouting out his words.

"You're a late bloomer, and were a cripple before that so I guess it would make that no one saw a point in teaching you.", Claire finally muttered in numb disbelief, staring into the morning sky as the sun slowly peeked its first rays past the horizon. "The only time you intertwine your aura with someone else's John, is when-", she was suddenly interrupted by the flustered healer.

"LATER!", Elaine managed to not stutter as she screamed out the words, "We'll tell you later. Just get over here and let me help you.". She managed to move her suddenly shaky hands to the wounds to intertwine with John's own as she turned to look Sera and Claire in the eyes, a mix of emotions greeting the two narrow eyed teenage girls. A rivalry was formed at that moment, the two staring into the giddy, happy, and slightly enamored eyes of the only healer as she offered a slight smirk at them.

Isen and Blyke sat in numb disbelief before turning away to offer some privacy to the unexpected intimate act of two souls mixing. Elaine and John both closed their eyes as they sent their auras to meet between the palm of their hands, to send towards the wounds. Elaine quickly collapsed into John's chest, overwhelmed with all she could feel from John as his energy effortlessly dominated her own.

She could feel his emotions; his grief over his father passing, his own low self esteem, the desire to be admired and accepted rather than reviled was at the forefront of the tide of emotions pouring through her, however. She felt his desire to redeem himself from his past and his hope for an answer to the black hole of pain that his heart, that John ignored had been ignoring for years. She felt his attraction to Sera, his quiet devotion and infatuation for the most important person in his life. She sighed happily and buried her head into his bare sculpted torso as she took in both his scent, marred by the blood covering him, and his attraction towards her own self.

John however, was too emotionally numb to feel much of anything at this point, silently guided the new mixture of their aura to wrap around the infected flesh in his arm along with the foreign energy. He braced himself, before ripping it all out and throwing it away from him. He allowed the mixture of auras to finish closing the wound before allowing it to unravel, ignoring how Elaine's aura clung needily to his own as he fell slightly forward to accidentally press his face into the healer's hair, and let the last of the tension filling his form slowly pass from his body. He allowed himself a minute to rest against the slight build of the blue haired young woman before forcing himself to stand once more and let go of her hand.

Elaine looked up at him, somehow blushing an even deeper red than before, and continued to kneel on the ground as if unable to stand. John reached down before picking her up to stare into her eyes as he steadied her by the shoulders. He patiently held her up until she stopped shaking before gently letting her go, and walked past her to crouch by those that had been rendered unconscious by his healing, survival instincts only at half capacity screaming at him to ignore the deceptively blank stares of Elaine and Claire boring holes into his skull as Elaine sighed forlornly and stared at her hand that he had held, drawing the gazes of the two girls as Darren finally walked out of the doorway to stare at John and the other royals.

His eyes flashed as he took in the dirty and bloody forms of those around John, noting their lack of wounds, and coming to his own conclusions as he stared passively at the large scar that now made up a five inch wide area that appeared on the other side of John's back. As well as the blood covering his arm and torso.

…

…

"I ain't cleared you…", the doctor finally stated, to the amusement of Lelilah as she walked out of the school to stand next to her boyfriend and take an appreciative glance at John's body, before grabbing Darren's hand and pressing her own against him as he continued, "...so what the hell are you doing out of bed?!?!?!?!". The doctor finally allowed himself to roar out as a black aura covered his body, striking fear into the people still watching from the school windows.

John however, had been exposed to fear all of his life. So, it wasn't surprising when he wasn't affected by the doctor's power to, literally, instill terror into people who saw him, and drawled back, "Sorry doc, there was a medical emergency.", the boy sassed as he finally allowed himself to fall onto his back next to a still Sera before curling his back into her side, too tired to care for much of anything other than resting, but too afraid to go back to sleep.