UnOrdinarily Heroic // UnOrdinary Fanfiction

Chapter 7: In Memoriam

Two Days After the Disappearance
Walking into Wellston, Arlo put his hand over his mouth to stifle yet another deep yawn. This was an unfortunate habit he developed that only ever happened if he were to think too deeply about Remi or John, as if to happily taunt him about all the sleep he lost over the two's disappearance.

Taking his hand off his mouth and opening his eyes from relief, the blonde took in his surroundings, or the... lack of surroundings? All the way up and down the hall, there wasn't a single student in sight. 'Hm?' Arlo thought to himself, before taking out his phone to check the date, 'It's only Thursday, where is everyone?'

As if to answer his question, Holden suddenly whips around the corner, clutching a paper in his hands. "Arlo!" the bluenette shouts as he marches over to the blonde, "You need to see this!"

After thrusting the paper into a rather confused Arlo's hands, Holden began to explain, "It's the news article that was just posted across the school." The boy looked down, clutching his fists and squeezing his eyes shut out of worry, "Is... was Isen telling the truth?"

The King hurriedly opened the newspaper, his eyes widening in shock as he read the title:

"In Memoriam: Remi and John - By Isen."

Arlo clutched the wrinkled paper as he continued. The article in question was no doubt well put together, and confirmed many things about the last few days: John having an ability and being Joker, why the Joker was attacking the Royals in the first place ("Leave it to Isen to throw you under the bus," Holden grumbled), and a collection of eyewitness accounts about the disappearance, all of them having  the same detail of a bright blue light in common.

Eyes blazing with shock and frustration, the King marched off to find the orange-haired teen. Upon doing so, he saw many faces of the student body sharing the same exact look as him inside the press room, demanding the same exact answers from a very flustered-looking Isen.

Upon seeing them, Arlo quickly sobered up, and as calmly as he could, parted the crowd with one simple word, "Move." The students obliged, out of either fear or respect, "I need to ask our noble press leader a few questions, get away from here," and just like that, all of the students begrudgingly went about their own business, leaving the King and a terrified Isen alone.

"So, Isen," Arlo glared, sending a shiver down the orange-haired teen's spine, "Why did you feel it was appropriate to publish this article?"

'Aw $#!%,' Isen thought to himself, secretly hoping he had more time to come up with a better answer than... well, "I just thought the student body deserves an explanation."

Explanation of what, exactly?"

"Oh c'mon Arlo!" Isen reasoned loudly, gaining confidence in his answer, "You know what I mean! Even if John and Remi never got abducted by aliens or... died or whatever, we would've had to deal with an even worse way of explaining the Joker situation! This was the best time put all of this out there without getting my a$$ beaten in the school courtyard for doing so."

Arlo's eyes continued to bore into Isen, but nothing the press leader said was wrong. The growing idea that John was indeed Joker became a popular theory due the noirette's repeated absences, and this article only confirmed it even more. So, instead of fighting Isen on his decision, the King released the boy from his gaze, and held his head in frustration.

"Ugh. Well, what's done is done, I guess." Arlo began, as he pulled his phone, typing in a rather familiar number, "I need you to call Blyke."