"Urgh…"
"Hey, you are waking up." A soothing, familiar gentle voice reached John's ears.
As his eyelids flicked and John's mind and sight cleared, he recognized the roof above him and the comfort mattress beneath him.
"Hope?"
"I'm here."
Moving his head, John noticed his girlfriend sitting by her desk. She was holding a mug of coffee with both of her hands and her diary laid on top of the wooden surface of the desk.
A bit of relief struck John as he saw her there, with him resting his head straight once again. "How long have I been out?"
"A few hours." She replied, taking a sip of her black coffee before putting it on the desk. "It's nighttime already."
Listening to this, John tried to sit up. "That lon–" His words were shortened while he fell back on the bed.
When his head hit the pillows once again, John's eyes instinctively moved to the part of his body which he recognized as the reason he couldn't sit up.
He studied the charcoaled skin and deformed flesh of his left arm. As he tried to move it, John couldn't feel a single part of it or anything through it. From noticing the lack of sensation and taking an inner look at the rest of his body, John knew what that meant – every nerve of his left arm was damaged or destroyed.
"I guess that's what happens when a dragon chews out your arm and incinerates it."
Hope had a puzzled look. "Your arm was chewed by the dragon?"
"Basically. For a couple minutes, I was handicapped." John said, trying to sit up with the help of his telekinesis.
However, when he moved just a little bit, he felt a force press him back on the bed.
"Would you kindly let me sit up so I can be mesmerized by your beauty?" John asked, a little bit cheekily.
"No." Hope shook her head, getting up from the chair. "I've been casting healing spells on you for the past hours, and only stopped when your physical condition stabilized. I cleaned you and gave you a shower because I know how much you detest laying on a bed after getting yourself dirt. The only moment I didn't have my eyes on you was while Josie took care of you while I took a shower." Hope approached the bed, her eyes fixed on her boyfriend all the time. "After I did all of this to take care of you, the first thing you wanna do is get up instead of properly resting?"
Under Hope's stare, which held a bit of irritation and worry – mostly the latter – John didn't even have the will in him to resist her wishes. So, he relented to them.
"Okay." John nodded slowly, his tone apologetic. " I'm sorry for worrying you and making you go through all of it."
"What you had in your mind?" Hope asked irritatedly, sitting by his side while her legs stayed outside the bed. "You know how worried I was when I found you? Most of your skin was melted, not to mention your left arm. I thought you had fallen on a bed of knives by how your back looks."
"I'm sorry, I truly am." John reached his hand out, holding hers. "I know it was imprudent and that I made you worried, but what else could I do? Someone's life was possibly in danger. I couldn't simply do nothing."
"…" Hope was momentarily in silence, but her eyes weren't saying she believed in his reasons. "Tell me you did that to protect Landon's life and not to have the opportunity to fight a dragon. And I dare you lie to me."
"Hm… a little bit of both?" John said, giving her a wide, honest smile.
Out of anger, Hope closed her eyes. Right now, she felt the urge to slap some consciousness into her boyfriend. However, thanks to her great will, she refrained from doing so.
Studying her expression, John felt guilty once again. "I'm sorry I made you worried, Hope. But I couldn't simply let that dragon take the dagger or the boy. No matter what, I had to stop that from happening."
"Why?" Hope opened her eyes at him. "What is the reason you went that far?"
Hope's question was followed by a short silence, with her believing her boyfriend wouldn't come up with an answer to it. At least not one she would be satisfied with.
However, to her surprise, the unexpected happened. And the reason for it to happen was because John himself didn't find in himself now the will to lie to her.
"It was to protect you."
Those words earned a much longer silence from Hope as she tried to understand them.
What she was having problems understanding wasn't the action itself, but why she was being protected if John himself admitted the dragon's existence possibly threatened someone else's life, not hers.
"What, what do you mean by that?" Hope stuttered, very surprised by her boyfriend's affirmation.
"I can't say it."
"Don't you–"
"Hope, if I could say it, I would." John interrupted her. "I know my words might sound frustrating to you and you might even get disappointed at me because of them. But, you have to believe in me that what I did was aiming at the best for you. If my words do not sound honest to you because of how much trust I have been asking from you without giving anything else back, I will make a Magic Oath if needed."
"Are you serious?" Hope widened her eyes, surprised by John's prospect.
A Magic Oath was a recent practice that has been gaining some fame across the witch communities, and it would remain so for some time since a Magic Oath was only possible to be used by those who could control magic and channel nature's magic into their favor to intertwine with theirs to complete the Oath.
By the name of the practice, anyone could guess the Ritual/Spell's purpose. It was a means to ensure someone was truthful to something they pledged or would pledge.
And truth be told, the Oath wasn't something a witch who thought of themselves as the next Merlin could break. Due to how it was prepared, someone still needed to appear to prove themselves as capable of breaking a Magic Oath.
Hope was quiet for some time after John's words, thinking about the prospect of the Oath.
But at the end, she just shook her head. "I don't want you to take an Oath. I just…" Hope took a deep, tired sigh. "I just want to know what you know. I just want to know what these secrets of yours are. I know everyone has secrets, but now that it somehow seems connected to what is happening, I think I have the right to know what they are."
"You have that right, you always had. I'm just…" John couldn't finish his phrase.
"What?" Hope urged him, but she did so softly.
After giving some thought of what he would say, John replied to her. "I'm afraid. Afraid of what may happen when I reveal to you everything."
"Then, it doesn't need to be everything."
"It does." John said, denying her words. "Because once I say part of what I know, you will only be more curious. I would be – any person would be."
Hope shook her head, sighing exasperatedly since she didn't know what to say right now.
Neither did John, with a sort of uncomfortable silence surging between them.
But after some time, Hope suddenly sat down by his side and stared directly into his eyes. "Just clear one doubt of mine. Only one, just so I can feel at ease."
"Go on."
"Do you know what is happening?" Hope asked seriously.
John tilted his head from one side to the other before replying. "Mostly."
"Mostly?" Hope raised her eyebrows.
"To begin with, the dragon appearing was out of my expectations. It shouldn't have appeared – nothing should have appeared." John said. "Believe me, this should just be another normal school day."
"So, what happened today… were you trying to prevent it from happening?"
"Yes… There were chances of it happening, and because of it I made preparations so it wouldn't happen. But, it seems the world laughed at my face and ignored my efforts." John chuckled dryly, grunting right after as he felt a weak pain on his abdomen.
Hope once again went silent, trying to cope with the new information.
She was, to say the least, surprised and a little bit lost.
At a certain point since they met, Hope was aware her boyfriend kept some secrets hidden. And truth be told, she didn't see it as a bad thing. Every person in the world has a secret or two – even she has some.
And since he admitted to having them and that soon he would share them with her, Hope wasn't the most anxious person in the world because of it.
However, after these new revelations he just shared with her, Hope didn't know how exactly she should behave towards them. Yes, he asked her to wait and she agreed, but Hope herself didn't know how long she could contain that curiosity, even more so after what happened today.
Noticing her quietness – and even a bit of wariness in Hope's expression – John held her hand firmly, surprising her.
"No matter what, Hope. No matter what happens, at least believe in my following words: I would never – ever – do or not do something that would bring harm to you."
"I know, of course I know." Hope said slowly, her voice almost a whisper. "This is not your fault, I at least know that."
With a sigh of relief, John caressed her hand with his. "Thank you…"
"For what?"
"For your trust." John replied. "If you blamed me for what happened today, that would hurt way more than the fight with the dragon."
In response, Hope chuckled lightly. "I don't blame you, but then… who is to blame?" She asked, offering an answer right after. "Landon?"
"It would be unfair to put the blame on him. Just like everyone else, he has no idea what's happening, much less that all of that happened because of him."
Hope furrowed her eyebrows tightly. "Why did the dragon come after him?"
Faced with such an answer, John's lips thinned. "Well…"
"If you can't tell me, it's okay."
Despite her words of understanding, John still felt bad when denying her the answer. Damn, I'm too weak for situations like this. He thought, sighing. "Just know that he is special in a way. I can't say more than that without revealing too much or without making me feel worse by denying you the whole truth."
"I don't know who is suffering more from this secret of yours, me or you." Hope said humorously, smiling lightly.
"Well, my physical state speaks for itself in regards to that." John said, chuckling. "Now, changing the topic of the talk and mentioning this poor body of mine, what happened to the one that caused it? All I remember after hitting that thing with a last punch and seeing you is total darkness."
Seeing her boyfriend trying to change the topic in a very obvious manner, Hope decided to not care about it and progressed with the conversation. "It is alive, even if barely so and in a worse state than you are." She replied, but her words lacked a bit of conviction. "Well, that's what me and everyone else can tell, but our knowledge of draconian physiology doesn't go too far."
"That's fair. But after that last punch of mine, I'm surprised it is still alive." John said, knowing well what he could achieve with that punch. "Since no one tried to finish it, from what I can assume from your words, I can believe someone is watching it, right?"
"Mr. Gilbert is." Hope replied.
"Is he already back?"
"As soon as the incident was solved, Dr. Saltzman called everyone back." Hope said, wearing a bit of a worried expression. "We… might have a bigger problem than the dragon."
"Okay, I doubt that. But what exactly are we talking about?"
Instead of replying with words, Hope fetched her phone and touched its screen a few times before handing it to John. "Watch it."
Holding the device with his right hand, John saw a video playing on the screen. And after a couple seconds, it didn't take much longer for him to see what Hope referred to as the 'bigger problem'.
It was one of his clashes against the dragon, with the latter spitting enough fire to burn a portion of the woods.
Momentarily closing his eyes, John sighed. "Did I blow the cover of the supernatural world by taking the fight over the barrier?" He asked, handing her phone back.
"That's not a solid fact yet." Hope replied. "Dr. Saltzman said we – the school and some of his contacts – have ways to deal with this kind of thing. But this is a little too different from the normal incident. One thing is a body out of blood due to a rogue vampire, another one is a video of a dragon and you fighting in the air and leaving the proof that it happened."
"The burned forest." John said, knowing well that an entire part of the forest burned was harder to explain than a mauled body without blood. Even more so with the video he just watched.
Giving some thought about the situation, John imagined how things should be now if the video was recorded hours ago. "I presume it did hit some social media by now, right?"
"Yes, most of the bigger ones." Hope said, scrolling her screen. "If we put everything together, the video has been watched at least half a million times."
"God…" John muttered, not expecting it to be this widespread already. "Do you know what kind of tricks Dr. Saltzman is pulling out to deal with this?"
Hope shook her head. "No, he didn't have much time to explain things to me. He's been calling people all the time and doing other things with the help of the school staff." She explained what she knew. "However, it seems to be working. Even though the numbers are big, they could be a lot worse."
"I guess you are right." John agreed with her, but he still felt bad for putting more trouble on the school's plate.
As observant as she was, Hope easily recognized the emotions swirling behind her boyfriend's expression. But instead of offering him words of betterment, she thought of something that would work better.
She stood up to her feet and looked at him. "Since it's dinner time already, I guess you must be hungry after everything. Want me to pick something for you?"
Listening to her, John smiled faintly at her offer. "You are too good to me, you know?"
"I'm learning about that."
Taking the small verbal jab with a smile, John nodded. "Yes, I would like something to eat. Anything is good."
"Okay." Hope said, ready to leave the room.
However, just before she walked out through the door, Hope listened to her name being called once again.
"Hope?"
"Yeah?" She turned on her heels to meet his eyes.
"Thank you for everything. I love you." John said, blowing her a kiss.
Seeing this small gesture, despite the small anger and annoyance Hope had due to him constantly keeping things secret, Hope couldn't help herself but blush a little and smile affectionately.
"I love you too. Just recover, okay?" She said, not waiting for an answer before leaving her room.
Left alone in the dimly lit room, John listened to the light steps getting further and further away. Meanwhile, a sigh of clear exhaustion escaped his nostrils.
Oh my God… what a mess. John thought, having an imaginary headache when thinking how things turned out. Things are so fucked… Malivore knows about the dagger in our possession, which means that it's only a matter of time until it sends something else to retrieve.
Casting his eyes at the open window, giving him a view of the starry sky, John furrowed his eyebrows. What makes me anxious is not knowing what exactly that bastard will send next. This dragon was nowhere near close to that of the series, which makes sense considering how everyone else that I met seems to have suffered a buff compared to their counterparts that I know. But if every fucking creature in there is similar to their myth counterparts in regards of power and abilities… John didn't need to complete his own thoughts to know how things could be even more fucked up than he imagined.
But thinking and knowing things would just be more difficult now, John did the only thing he could now to help himself.
"I should absorb more energy. The amount my body has been passively absorbing will only get me recovered by next week." John said, flexing his soul to pull more energy towards him.
As he absorbed more energy, John felt his body recover many times faster than earlier.
"I gotta be prepared… God knows what will come next." He muttered, closing his eyes to rest a little while thinking of other things.
…
By this hour of the night, the dining hall was crowded. After problems from earlier, dinner was delayed for a few hours, explaining why there were so many students eating despite the late hour.
Among those who enjoyed their dinner, there were some whose eyes would wander to the holes in the two walls opposite to each other.
The holes were weirdly human-shaped, just like in the cartoons of old. However, when looking at them,few were the ones who thought of them as something funny.
After entering the dining hall, when Hope looked at the holes, she was one of the few who couldn't hold back from chuckling at the partial destruction.
Just after picking up two plates to put her and John's dinner, Hope noticed a familiar figure approaching.
"Hey." Josie greeted her, picking up a plate for her.
Looking at her, Hope offered a friendly smile. "Hey. Were you waiting for me?" She asked, she had seen Josie sitting by their usual table when she entered the room.
"Yes, I had my expectations for both of you showing up." Josie confirmed her thoughts. "I imagined he would be up by now, I know he doesn't like to skip dinners."
"Well, he isn't up, just awake." Hope said, putting more food on one plate than the other. "He is still just as bad as when you watched over him, so I came over to grab his dinner."
By receiving this news, Josie sighed in relief. "At least that, right? At least a good thing happened today."
"I couldn't agree more." Hope said, followed by huff. "How is everyone here? Are they still shaken by what happened or are they good?"
"Half and half. Some are still processing things while others are thrilled by the idea of dragons existing and people flying." Josie looked at the crowd in the hall. "But compared to some things I've been listening to, a bunch of teenagers wishing to go to the forest to see the dragon up close might be the smallest of the school's problems."
"What do you mean?" Hope asked.
"Well…" Josie was momentarily hesitant to speak, but decided to do so anyway. "As you know, things have been spreading. Of course, some parents were made aware of what happened. It seems some of them are wary of letting their children study here."
"Why?" Hope asked curiously. "The crisis has been solved and things have been taken care of by your father and everyone else. Also, none of the students were harmed besides John, so why make such a decision, one that seems so desperate?"
"I am not certain, I just have been listening to things, I didn't ask anyone. But, hm… how should I say it?" Josie seemed hesitant to say more.
By noticing it, Hope spoke up to soothe her worries. "Whatever you have in mind, Josie, just say it. I won't be bothered by it."
"If you say so…" Josie nodded. "From what I've heard around and based on what I know, one of the reasons might be John."
Those words raised a big question mark in Hope's mind, trying to think of the reason why her boyfriend would be the reason some parents wished to take their children out of the school.
Just when she was about to ask Josie to clarify her words, Hope quickly thought why her boyfriend might be one reason for some guardians to not wish their children in the school now.
"Let me guess, are they afraid of him?"
"It seems so. These students are from some very conservative or isolated covens or are new to all of… this." Josie said, referring to the supernatural as a whole. "You – better than everyone else – know how they are when leading with new things."
"How could I not? I know some of them tried to talk to Dr. Saltzman to expel me." Hope commented flatly, trying to not show any emotion regarding the matter. "But John… he is not like me. He didn't break any 'Laws of Nature' when he was born. If he did, his birth would be like mine and alert all witches with a powerful connection to Nature. If it so happened, they would know about him way earlier."
"Hmph, try to explain that to a bunch of old witches who just learned about a boy who can fight a dragon that burned a portion of the forest half the size of Mystic Falls." Josie huffed. "They are probably shit scared of what he can do and the fact he is no witch, werewolf or vampire."
"Tsk…" Hope clicked her tongue, imagining the headache that might be.
Or I might be worrying for nothing. Now that I think about it, I'm sure that he won't give a fuck about it. Hope thought, already imagining her boyfriend's unconcerned face when listening to this news. "What about everyone else here? How are they coping by learning John can do everything that he did?"
"The same as earlier when you were taking him up to your room, looking at him like he was Superman." Hope commented, chuckling. "Almost everyone is surprised in a good way, and those who seem wary don't demonstrate much."
"That's good…" Hope muttered, moving along the line.
After putting some normal amount of food on her plate and triple of that on the other one, Hope turned to Josie.
"I'm going back to my room to eat. If you want, you could come."
"Really?" Josie asked in surprise.
"Yeah, I bet he'd like the company. I would too."
Thinking of the offer, Joise thought of accepting it. However, despite wishing so, she shook her head. "Nah, I think it's better if you two just stay together. Besides, I think Lizzie will kill me if I leave her alone when she gets here."
Hope chuckled. "Okay, then. I'll see you later." She said, spinning on her heels.
Then, after leaving the dining hall, Hope walked through the corridors and climbed up the twisted wooden ladders.
Just a couple minutes later, she was back to face her room's door.
When listening to the creaks of the door's hinges, John opened up his eyes just in time to see Hope walking in.
"Hey." He greeted her back, trying to sit up.
Seeing him trying to put some effort, Hope sighed. "Could you please stay still and just lay down?"
"If I do so, how am I gonna eat?" John asked her.
To that, Hope dragged her chair to the side of the bed and sat down on it. "My thoughts were to feed you."
"You don't need to do that, I can at least feed myself." John said, a bit bashful by the idea.
However, when he saw the look in Hope's eyes, he knew he couldn't escape it.
"Can I at least rest my back on the bed's headframe?" He asked her, earning a nod of approval.
After positioning himself, John watched as Hope approached his mouth with a fork with a piece of beet on it.
Snorting, John opened his mouth and welcomed the food.
While he chewed on his food, Hope ate her meal. Since it was considerably less food than she prepared for him, she would end it way earlier than him.
After Hope gave him some rice on the fork, John thought of something. "I think I've never felt so useless than now. I mean, no one has fed me ever since I was a baby."
"Consider it a lesson before carelessly jumping right into the battle." Hope commented.
"I will."
"Making others worried, hurting yourself to the point where you can barely keep yourself up…"
"Bad idea, right?" John asked.
"The worst idea, you idiot." Hope said, her voice shaking. Her hands suffered the same. "Do you have any idea how scared I was when you and that thing fell on the ground so fast?" She asked, holding the tears that threatened to roll down.
Seeing her like this, John felt a sting on his chest. "I'm sorry."
"You stupid, I thought I had lost you!" Hope said, her voice slightly elevated. "What do you think would happen if you had lost?! Why not let us – me help?!"
Slowly, John took the plates off Hope's hands and nap and put them aside. Then, he dragged her to the bed by holding her hand.
Half-way through, she would hit him with punches that wouldn't hurt even a fly. But even if they could shatter stones, John would say nothing.
For now and how much longer it lasted, John would let her cry her worries and listen to whatever she wished to say. That was the very minimum he could do for her now for what he put her through.
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