No More Secrets

Discussion

A/N: Happy Valentine's Day everyone! I hope you guys enjoy this chapter! Updates will be less regular as I have college work to get done, along with other stuff. However, I will not drop the story, I promise! <3

Seraphina smiled at a text she received from John. She had just sent out a reply when someone knocked on her bedroom door. "Come in!" She called out. Blyke and Remi entered her room, nervousness apparent on their faces. "Blyke? Remi? What's wrong?" the former Ace asked, putting away her phone.

Remi spoke up. "I think we know who Joker is."

Seraphina raised an eyebrow in question. "What about him? How does his identity concern me?"

"Well... I think he's John." Blyke replied.

Uh oh, Seraphina thought. What should I say? I can't lie as well as John! "So..." she started slowly, "What makes you think John is Joker?"

"Well, Joker copies abilities, right? I was thinking that if Joker didn't have any abilities copied, wouldn't that make him powerless? And John is a cripple," Blyke explained. "Also, you know how the color of our abilities take on the color of our hair or eye color? Joker's abilities are black, and John is the only person in this school with black hair. Lastly, both John and Joker are trained in hand-to-hand combat."

He's really intuitive, Seraphina thought in concern. I know I can't lie to them about this. I'll have to tell them. She sighed. "You're right. John is Joker."

Blyke and Remi looked shocked. "You already knew?" Remi asked, dumbfounded.

"Yes. I promised him not to tell anyone, but you two already figured it out." Seraphina then snorted. "I'm shocked Isen hasn't told you two already."

"WAIT WHAT?" Blyke yelled, "You're telling me Isen knew John was a high-tier this whole time and never told us?"

"Yeah, but he didn't withhold the truth from you for no reason. Long story short, Arlo asked Isen to research John's background and found out he is a high-tier. John told him to not tell anyone, including you guys."

"Do you know why John is doing all of this?" Remi asked.

"You can thank Arlo for that one," Seraphina replied. "He's the one who started all of this."

"Wait what? What do you mean Arlo started all of this? Did he do something to John?"

Seraphina explained how Arlo tricked John into using his ability. "Arlo had me suspended to pry into John's past. He didn't like how John wasn't 'acting his rank.' Arlo pretended to befriend him to gain his trust, then lured him to the turf war area and ambushed him with Ventus and Melli to reveal his ability."

Remi and Blyke were shocked. "Arlo started all of this because John wasn't acting like an actual cripple?" Blyke exclaimed.

"Exactly," Seraphina said. "He was angry that John was avoiding the hierarchy and wanted to force him back into it. However, he neglected to think about why John was hiding his powers. I can't tell you specifically why John is pretending to be a cripple, but I can tell you he's a late-bloomer and has had a rough past. Arlo mentally screwed up John and destroyed his ability to trust anyone else, which is why he is more hostile than normal."

Remi looked pissed. Her eyes were glowing, and her fists were clenched. "WHAT? You're telling me Arlo hurt John only because he didn't fit into his stupid hierarchy?"

"Yep. Even after he got defeated, Arlo continued to try to drag John back into the hierarchy, and called him a coward for hiding his ability amongst other things. Which is why John is currently making his way up the rankings by pretending to be Joker."