The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 27

Sera POV

When John had finally come to talk to her, she'd been surprised at just how much he'd been struggling. She'd known things weren't going well, but to learn he had mental illnesses... it just made her feel even worse about not having been there for him the entire time. I'm here now, though, and I don't intend to leave. She'd meant what she'd said to John; she would make sure he turned out okay in the end. Maybe he could help her out with Spectre, too, once he figured out his own problems.

She'd asked Leilah to miss work at Spectre so that she could go to the hospital with John. Luckily, now that the teams were working together again, Sera wasn't needed for things that were too serious. That would most definitely change soon enough, but for now, she was able to focus on John and helping him out.

Sera had also become less stressed with things. At first, she'd been worried that the different teams at Spectre would fight and chaos would ensure. However, Leilah seemed to be keeping things together pretty well... there'd been arguments, but they weren't too bad. Worry for John had distracted Sera from her previous concerns. The other groups haven't turned on us yet, despite being problematic before. Maybe they really aren't trying to fight. She still wasn't sure how to view them, but as long as they stayed peaceful it wouldn't be a problem.

The results at the hospital had been the same as the ones at school, the ones that John had told her about. When the doctor came in to tell him, Sera could tell by John's reaction that he'd already figured it would be that way. She'd watched him carefully to see if he would become stressed again, but he'd been okay in the end...

Now, Sera walked with John back to his dorm room. They'd taken a cab back to Wellston together, but John hadn't spoken the whole time... She would've been worried, but when she'd squeezed his hand he'd given her a small, reassuring smile. He could've been acting, but after everything that had happened, Sera felt that this was genuine. At the very least, he was managing to keep things together at the moment.

"Sera?" John asked, distracting her from her thoughts. She looked up at him. He'd opened the door to his dorm and held it for her. "Are you going to come inside?"

She took a step forwards, then paused. I think Leilah told me I didn't have to come to the Spectre building at all today, but should I check just in case? I might have to do something else for them... She bit her lip. "Well, it's getting later in the day." They'd left after school for the hospital, but it was now nearing evening. Sera would have to leave for her dorm soon even if she stayed longer.

John's expression faltered, a brief flash of fear crossing his face. Did I say something wrong? He let go of the door, still leaning against it to keep it open. Sera watched him carefully. He'd looked away from her, but she could tell he had more to say.

After a minute of John biting his lip and twiddling his thumbs, he finally spoke. "Do you think you could stay? J-just for a bit," He asked, adding the last part abruptly as if worried she would disagree.

Sera waited for him to look back up at her before nodding. She watched as relief filled his amber eyes. He seemed to relax as Sera stepped inside of the dorm and he shut the door behind her, as if something about her presence there made things better. Maybe he just doesn't want to be alone after today. After all, he was trying to deal with his uncle and Keon all by himself before and that didn't go well... She sighed to think of how tired he'd seemed then. She didn't want to let him revert back to that, not now that he was finally acting a little normal again.

John went into the kitchen and rummaged around in the cabinets as Sera sat down on the room's couch. John approached her a second later. "Hey, do you want some ramen?"

"No... I'll have to leave soon," Sera told him. She didn't want to bring it up, but she didn't want him to be confused when she suddenly left... she wasn't supposed to stay in the boy's dorm after a certain time, after all.

John sat down on the couch next to her, throwing the packet of ramen he'd been holding on the small table in front of them. Sera saw that there was sadness in his amber eyes again, as if he was already dreading when she would have to leave. She bit her lip. "Are you going to be okay here by yourself?"

"I-I'll be fine," John told her, but there was a slight stutter to his voice. She could tell that she was lying. When she looked over at him, she saw that his hands were shaking. She reached out to touch one.

"John." He looked at her. "What is it?"

"I just..." John paused, taking a deep breath before continuing. His voice was little more than a shaky whisper. "I'm scared, Sera. I know that you're here now, but when you leave, I'll have to start thinking about everything again, and then I know the nightmares will come back..."

Sera hated seeing him like this, so terrified and alone. She grabbed his hand and squeezed it. "I'll stay." He looked up at her in confusion. "I'm not really supposed to, but you don't currently have a roommate and no one's going to care too much... I doubt they'll even notice."

John's face instantly broke into a grin. "Really?" She could hear the words behind it, the part he wasn't saying. So I don't have to be alone?

"I can't do this every night, though," Sera reminded him. John sighed.

"I know. I'll figure something out."

She stared at him. Being alone didn't seem to work so well for him... he needed someone else. She couldn't stay here permanently, but maybe a different person could. He did have Blyke as his roommate before. I wonder if he would want to move back. Blyke and John had been very conflicted with each other for a long time, but maybe if she talked to both of them they could make it work. Even if they didn't talk much, the company would do John good. I'll have to ask Blyke about it tomorrow.

If he really was unwilling to give John another chance, she could always bring in Remi. Blyke seemed to listen to her more than he would to anyone else. Though, John's a bit like that with me... The thought made Sera's face warm up. She didn't want to think about what any of it could mean right now. What was important was making sure John was okay.

When John brought in ramen for them to eat while watching a show and they played several rounds of Slappy Pig (that Sera won, of course) it began to feel just like old times. She'd missed this dynamic between them. It was nice to feel like this again, like there were no problems and they could just hang out. She hadn't realized how much she'd missed it with all of the complications going on...

For once, it was nice to just nice to relax.