Chapter Text
As John walked through the airport with Zander following close behind, only one thing crossed his mind. One question that even John, who had experienced everything that had happened in the past week firsthand, couldn’t answer.
He just couldn’t figure out how he ended up here? How did he end up in Wellston, walking towards a lady he didn’t know, with only a suitcase to his name?
Despite that, if someone asked him, he could tell them how he got there. He could tell them that after the interrogation, they told him to pack a suitcase and fast. Then he could explain that he had to stay with Zander for a week before being dragged on a plane. A few hours later and here he was, walking with the same authority figure that knocked on his door on that fateful night. So yes he knew the path he was forced to take to get to the airport.
Still, it didn’t help John figure out where everything went wrong. He couldn’t wrap his brain around how the tracks had led to this moment. Was it when his dad created unordinary? Could it have been when he beat up half his class? Maybe it was when he developed his ability? Was it so far back as when John was born? He didn’t know and it was bothering him.
In truth, there were a lot of things bothering John. Things that didn’t involve answering a stupid question that didn’t matter in the long run. Things that just radiated the same energy as the stupid knocking on a certain front door at one in the morning. Things that wouldn’t stop or slow down or speed up. Things that made the teen want to pull his hair out.
And if he was being completely honest, most of what John felt was rage. He was mad. Angry. John was ready to punch someone into a wall and Zander pouring sweet words down his throat was not going to make that feeling go away.
Speaking of Zander, that dude would not shut up. All week, the man had chatted his ear off constantly. It made sense when John thought about it. He was able to knock on a stranger's door for over 30 minutes without stopping, talking someone’s ear off must be child’s play.
That was actually what the blue-haired man was currently doing. John looked over to where the older man was gesturing with his arms. “-nd that is why I think pineapple on pizza is stupid.” John heard a heavy sigh as he continued his pointless rant. “It’s just so frustrating to have to watch people eat that garbage.” Zander whipped his head towards the teen. “You agree with me right?”
Truly he couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Out of all the officials he could have been stuck with, it had to be the chatterbox. “Sure.”
“Finally! Someone agrees with me.” He made another grand gesture and then looked back over only to spot something. “Ah, there she is.”
John quickly followed his gaze and saw a tall blonde woman standing next to the exit. He didn’t recognize her, but from the way she was standing, he assumed she was some type of authority figure. Hopefully, though, she was only an escort and not his new guardian.
He spoke too soon.
When the pair finally reached the lady, Zander shook her hand and then introduced her. “John, this is Valerie, Your new guardian.”
Maybe she wasn’t an authority figure then?
“Hello John, as Zander said I am Valerie. I am a high-ranking official with the authorities.” She smiled and held out her hand.
Fuck .
He slowly shook her hand. “Hi, I’m John.”
A fuck up.
He had to hold back a glare, not wanting to offend his new guardian.
She let go of the handshake and spoke, “Well it’s nice to meet you.” Her voice was firm yet not unkind. “Now let’s get out of this airport so you can start getting settled in.”
She waited for a response, but John stayed silent.
Zander, however, “That sounds like a plan. And if you wouldn’t mind Valerie, could you drop me off at the office. I have to do some work before heading to my hotel.”
His new guardian nodded while turning towards the exit. “Of course Zander. I know the higher-ups expect a lot from you new ones.”
Ah so that’s why Zander wouldn’t shut up, he hasn’t been trained for that yet. John followed Valerie out to the car with Zander following behind him.
-
The entire car ride just radiated awkward tension. John was still pissed but chose not to yell at two adults that are part of his worst nightmare. Zander couldn’t read the room or well car and just started chatting about more stupid things and Valerie was just playing along. Both would try to bring John into the conversation, but he just either ignored them or replied with only a single word.
The ravenette just couldn’t get over his unending rage. Here are two idiots having a decent chat knowing that they had just ruined his life, and it seemed like they couldn’t give less of a shit. It was pissing John off. If only he could just jump out of the car. He couldn’t though. He couldn’t die without seeing his dad again. (They also turned the child locks on. How unfortunate.)
So John played annoyed, it was the closest thing to anger without the effect of making his new parent mad. The last thing he needed was to get sent back to the readjustment facility. It didn’t help that the lady was a high-ranking official. If he fucked up, that option was probably just a phone call away.
He just had to play nice. He had to survive. It would be fine. Fine. Totally fine.
“-ey, John? Any opinions?”
Someone was talking. “Huh?”
It was Zander. Of course, it was. “Do you think socks have sizes? I don’t think so. It’s basically just one size fits all.”
“Don’t be an idiot, Zander.” And there was Valerie “They do have sizing even if only vague. Now we are almost to the office, so please try to get these idiotic arguments out of your head and think about bigger issues.” Valerie spoke with an almost motherly voice. Like she was scolding a child.
He heard a sigh and then Zander spoke up again. “Yeah yeah, you're right. Still, you guys needed something to fill that unbearable silence.” He didn’t speak up after that.
And in John’s personal opinion, the silence was fine. It was much better than hearing about all of Zander’s dumb-as-hell thoughts.
Eventually, after dropping off the now-silent Zander, the pair made their way home in blissful silence.
___________________________________
Valerie's home was best described as a basic one-story suburban home. It wasn’t really what John had expected, he kind of just assumed all pompous high-tiers had expensive mansions, but it was still nice. A much better place than his dad’s apartment.
Still, the cozy house hit way too close to home, and John was left with an unending want for his dad. He really missed the guy.
He glanced over at Valerie who was getting his suitcase out of the car. She seemed to lift it with ease like the 40-pound bag had weighed nothing. After putting it on the ground she looked back at John and smiled.
“So John, where's the rest of your stuff?” She started to walk to the door, pulling his suitcase behind her.
“They only let me pack one bag, nothing else.” Why she wasn’t already aware of that, John didn’t know.
She hummed and then went to unlock the door. “That's unfortunate. I guess it makes sense though. They probably didn’t want any remaining influence from your father to remain.” She opened the door as John fumed behind her.
They wanted to cut dad’s influence. Why? John couldn’t figure out what his dad had done that was so wrong. Still, he couldn’t break down now, so John played it cool and followed his new guardian inside.
The whole place was nice but very clean. It was almost too clean, like all of life had been sucked out of it. There was nothing to prove that someone regularly lived here. There were no shoes next to the door, no plants or decorations out of place. There wasn't that feeling that someone had lived here. There was no feeling of how things worked, it was just empty.
Valerie snapped him out of his thoughts as she told him she was going to give him a tour and then share the house rules. She first led him to his new room, which was decently sized with a queen bed on the back of one of the walls. It had a desk and a bookcase on one wall with two doors on another. Overall it was a nice room, much bigger than the one he had at the apartment. Still, it just didn’t feel like home.
“Hopefully you can gather some decor to make it homier for you, but for now this should do.” Valerie's voice echoed behind him as she then proceeded to lead him through the rest of her house.
It was only one story with an office, kitchen, two more bedrooms, and an open living room. He was forbidden from entering her room and office without knocking and he was expected to keep clean. Both he could easily do. She then led him back to the living room and asked him to sit. She proceeded to sit opposite him.
“So John, before we go over all of the rules, I want to ask how you are doing with all of the changes. I know it can be hard-” She started to speak with that motherly tone that she had early and John did not want to hear it.
“Fine.” Of course, he wasn’t fine with any of it, but it's not like she would care anyway.
She kept her cool and smiled pleasantly. “Well then let’s get on with the house rules.” She got up and went to the kitchen.
John wondered what she was getting. He tried to peer into the kitchen, but before long she returned with a stack of papers. She set them on the table and he glanced at them.
He grimaced as he scanned the first page. It was all of his info. John had to bet that all of his incidents were there too. All of his plights, incidents, the info regarding his expulsion. He was starting to get scared. Was she going to blackmail him into behaving?
“John, I know you are probably wondering why I have all of your info.” Yeah, no shit. “It's because I want you to be aware that I have this information. I understand how all of this is difficult and I have made my rules to reflect this.”
He looked up to see Valerie staring at him. “Ok?” He was starting to get confused. Was she not going to blackmail him?
Apparently, his face showed all as she looked at him and went to explain further. “John, all I expect is for you to keep your room clean, get good grades, and try. Just try to have a better attitude and hope more. I know things are rocky right now, but I want it to get better.”
To this day, the teen couldn’t figure out why that was what broke him. Maybe it was because John overestimated himself, maybe it was because he had been dealing with Zander all week, but John couldn’t take it anymore. He didn’t want to listen to her cherry words and get even more confused. He was tired. He was really tired.
“Why?” His voice was quiet. Only a whisper as his brain desperately sought for answers.
“John?”
He cut her off. “Why? Why are you being so nice? Why are you acting as if you care?” At that moment there was a sort of fragileness to his voice, the edges of his shattered soul breaking, tiny pieces falling into the abyss of his mind.
She looked taken back, “John of course I care. I know how difficult it can be.” She sounded so sincere, calm, but he wouldn’t fall for it.
“No, you don’t.”
“John, why don't you think I c-”
He cut her off again. “HOW COULD YOU WHEN YOU-” When did he start standing? “When you were the ones to take my dad away.” His face felt wet as he said that.
And he continued. “I-I just don't understand. You-you can’t care for me or understand.” He sat back on the couch, putting his head in his hands. “You can't sit there all innocently when you were the one to take away the only one who believed in me.” His voice sounded so broken. Shattered like his soul.
He felt someone sit next to him. Someone warm like his dad. He knew who it was though. “John, please look at me.”
After a minute of sitting there, John slowly lifted his head up, and he turned to look at Valerie sitting there. Her posture is still calm and collected.
She gently grabbed his hands and looked at him. “John I know you don’t understand a lot of what's going on and I was told to wait before I told you, but I think you deserve to know.”
What? What didn’t John know?
Valerie continued. “Your dad, he wasn’t as amazing as you thought he was. He was manipulating you.”
She was lying. “You’re wrong. All he wanted was for me to be happy.” Even after all of the shit John pulled, his dad was always there.
“I know it may seem that way, but John, he was lying to you. Why do you think he never helped you with your ability?” She so sounded desperate, but not. Still, her grasp was warm.
The question confused him though. “H-he was a cripple, what was he going to do?”
Valerie gave him a pitied look like she felt bad for him. “Did you ever think about where your ability came from?”
Huh? “No? Why does that matter?” He tried looking into her eyes, wanting to know what she was getting at.
“Your ability came from your mom and John, your dad knew that. He could have told you and helped you understand what it was. He probably knew all about her ability.”
No way. She’s lying. John went wide-eyed. She couldn’t be telling the truth. If his dad knew anything to help him, he would tell. Right?
Valerie started to speak again. “I am so sorry you had to find out this way. You didn’t deserve to be kept in the dark.”
He turned to look at the documents on the table. “Is that why they took me away?”
He saw her smile out of the corner of his eye. “Yes, it is. They knew something was wrong when you went on a rampage. That just wasn’t normal and it meant there was something wrong. When your dad released his new book, it alerted the higher-ups and they just knew they had to take you out of that situation. I truly am sorry.”
He finally took his hands out of her grip and stared at them for a bit. This couldn’t be right. It didn’t make any sense. “I’m going to head to bed. I need to think.”
She nodded before opening her mouth. “What about dinner?”
He had already gotten up and started to make his way down the hall. “I’m not really hungry.” And it was true. He had lost his appetite.
The walk back to his room only made it worse.
-
As John sat on the bed that was gifted to him, he couldn’t stop thinking about that damn conversation and by extension Valerie. His new guardian confused him. When he heard she was an authority figure, he assumed she was going to be strict and cruel. He thought she was going to be similar to Keon. He never expected her to be nice and willing to explain things to him when he had just yelled at her.
And he couldn’t even begin to comprehend the allegations she had thrown at his dad. She just accused him of manipulation. How was John even supposed to approach that? All of his life, he thought he knew his dad, inside and out. Now he was just supposed to take the word of a stranger.
Fuck no.
John couldn’t just block out the accusations though. There was a reason he was taken away, so he had to keep an open mind. He had to think carefully about all of this.
He sat there before thinking about all of the emotions that he had been feeling. He still felt the same anger, rage, at the authorities, but now it was more complex. There was a sort of sadness and longing that was mixed in. And then there was the fear. A lot of fear. Fear towards the unknown, towards his dad, actually being a terrible person, towards the unsteady future that he was forced to pursue. There were so many negative emotions just swirling about. One emotion he lacked, however, was happiest. He hadn’t felt that in a long, long time. At this point, it felt more like a distant friend or cousin. Even thinking about it made the teen more upset. He just couldn’t win.
John sighed as he snapped out of his tangled thoughts. Slowly glancing around the room one last time, his new closet caught his eye. The memory of all the fancy polos and sweaters hanging up. He also remembered Valerie telling him that she got the clothes for him from her nephew. Apparently, they were the same age. Great.
John flipped over on his right side and closed his eyes. These next few years were going to be long.
And he was dreading them.