Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

UnOrdinary is a story about the only ability-wielding person in a world of powerless people. He used his abilities to help people, and by the end of the book, his death was something peaceful and happy. A bittersweet ending with a message of helping those beneath you and working together.

John knows what his Father was trying to tell him with the book. His power is so incredible, so marvelous, so incomparable to the rest of the world that anyone and everyone is powerless compared to him. If you combine an unstoppable ability with John’s prowess in martial arts, he’s quite literally unstoppable. A very unordinary man, as it were. If John could use his power to help others, he could do something beautiful. But that’s what John’s Dad doesn’t understand. John’s power isn’t beautiful, it’s dangerous, even without John’s weakness. And god, what a weakness it is…no matter, though! He could get by with a new strategy.

He’d just be one of the powerless! A cripple, entering Wellston and acting the part. He’s able to fight back well enough without his powers, but he gets in trouble regularly with the Doc. Luckily, John had been able to make a friend! Just one: Seraphina. Sera has always been the best friend John could hope for, someone he might actually trust with his secret.

God knows she trusted him. It’s John’s fault that Seraphina is facing suspension…or so he thought. Then Arlo dragged him out to the Turf War location. He sic’d these two psychos, Ventus and Meili, on him for the second time. Wellston’s glorious King, pulling the strings and pulling John to the brink, fucking over his own Ace for the sake of seeing what John’s actually made of, because he’s obsessed with this piece of shit system!

Fine.

You want to see New Bostin’s King, Arlo? I’ll tear your house of cards apart.

“Go nothing to say? Still processing?” Arlo smirks. “Why don’t you help him out, Meili?”

“ARLO!” John screams, enraged, and unleashes Ventus’s wind to blow his assailants back.

He doesn’t say a word in the resulting fight. He assimilates Meili’s claws and Ventus’s wind together seamlessly, and Meili and Ventus more than regret trying to protect Arlo from him as he beats them down, blasting Meili into the sky and pinning Ventus beneath him. John stands on his helpless, prone body while Ventus screams and cries for the chance to save Meili’s life.

“So…you have a heart under there after all.” John declares. “Would you have given others the same privilege, I wonder? Would you catch a low-level you saw falling? Save a cripple?”

“Please, I’m sorry!” Ventus cries. “MEILI!”

“What was the plan, Ventus? Arlo knew there was more to me, but you didn’t. What if I didn’t reveal myself? Would you have beaten me until I lost consciousness? Would you have kept going if Arlo demanded it? What would you have done if I stopped breathing?” John taunts the helpless Level 3.8 student. Ventus’s cries and whimpers become nonsensical. “Well, you’re in luck, Ventus…I’m not like you.”

John raises his hand, creating a smaller black twister that cushions Meili’s fall. The barely conscious girl looks up, weak and on the verge of passing out. John steps off of Ventus.

“Run along now, like a good pair of dogs. I have bigger fish to fry…you won’t disappoint me by foolishly continuing to fight, will you Ventus?” John questions, and Ventus rushes toward Meili.

Those two are lucky. If a few more assailants were here, I probably would have let Meili drop.

“N-no! Fuck, no!” Ventus clutches Meili. “Meili, stay with me, we’re gonna be alright…”

“That’s it?” Arlo sounds disappointed. “To think, I still need to work harder to bring out the real you…” He says and deflects a wind blade John sends after him.

“The boy you’re looking for? The one you think is the real John?” John scoffs. “You’ll need a lot more than you three to draw him out…and trust me, not even I will know how that fight would end.”

Not wasting any more time, John sends black twisters at Arlo, surrounding him with energy! Arlo stands his ground. He probably thinks that John’s simply trying to obscure his vision and goad him into activating his barrier…Arlo thinks so simply. Really, this plan was doomed to fail from the start. If Arlo was smart, he would have let more in on his plan, or at least told them the whole story. John slowly raises one clawed hand into the air, and Arlo begins to cough.

“What are you…?” Arlo coughs.

“Aw, are you failing physics, Arlo?” John smirks. “It’s called a vacuum.”

Arlo’s eyes widen. He tries to run out, but grunts in pain as he is forced back from the edge of the twister! John smirks. This entire twister is made of the wind blades John created by assimilating Ventus and Meili’s powers. Arlo grits his teeth and manifests his barrier, forcing his way out of the vacuum!

“Where’d that cocky look from before go?” John taunts Arlo. “The look that practically made fun of me for trying to bring out your ability with wind. Well, who’s laughing now?” John takes a deep breath. “You’d better pray it’s not me in a minute.”

Arlo creates a barrier around John and tries to close it in on him, but John responds by creating a barrier of his own to block Arlo’s. A few decisive strikes destroy the barrier and impact Arlo from afar! He then rushes toward Arlo and creates a barrier behind him that sprouts Meili’s blades! John beats Arlo against the barrier, propelling his attacks with Ventus’s wind. The barrier recoils against Arlo every time John beats him into it, and the blades cut into him just for being against it, doing even more damage! No matter how much the King struggles, John has an answer…like when the cocky bastard thinks grabbing John’s arm will do anything, when he just headbutts him in response. Arlo is so damn used to fighting abilities that he can’t respond to someone who actually knows how to fight.

“I hate you,” John says when he finally knocks Arlo onto his back. He plants his foot on Arlo’s face, digging his face into the dirt. “If you do anything to screw with me or anyone I care about again, I will not hesitate to dethrone you. All your precious power, everything you’ve worked for, I will take away in an instant. And if my powers ever become public knowledge… I will start using them publicly. Am I understood?” John turns to glare at Ventus and Meili.

Ventus is still hugging Meili, and the shivering girl clutches her partner tighter.

“N-no problem, John!” Ventus says nervously. “We’ll stay out of your way!”

“Good.” John leaps up, using Ventus’s powers to soar back to the train station at high speeds.

~=~

First Claire, and now Arlo… John thinks to himself when he’s close to his house. I did everything right. I thought maybe Claire was just scared in the end, but…maybe that’s just not it. Maybe everyone is just horrible. Is there no worth in this world at all?!

John throws his backpack in frustration, growling like a wild animal. He breathes. He’s still running on the fumes of those auras, that’s why he can’t think straight…he just needs to calm down, needs to wait until those three are out of his system.

“John!” a voice calls, and John gasps. He looks up in shock to see Sera, at his door, waiting for him.

“Sera…?” John wonders.

“Long time no see,” she smiles, though the worry in her eyes is evident.

Sera… John falls to his knees. Sera’s eyes widen.

“Hey!” Sera rushes over to him. “What happened to you? You’re covered in blood!”

“I…” John mutters.

Sera has always been there for me. She has her bag with her…she came here before the dorms. She came to me first. Arlo tore us apart, and yet she’s not letting me go that easily. She isn’t Claire, isn’t like anyone else in Wellston. She’s kind, and that’s a change I made. A positive impact I made in the world, without my powers…so maybe…maybe she can be a positive change I make with them.

“I have something to tell you,” John says with a determined look in his eyes.