Power Absolute

A/N: A couple chapters of not-necessarily-relevant drama to introduce John's powers. You can skip ahead if you wish.

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I groaned as I rubbed my temples in discomfort. The headache was becoming worse as the days passed. I had hoped that it would pass soon but so far it showed no signed of going away. It all started on my eighteenth birthday two days ago. Back then, it had been only a minor annoyance as I passed the day celebrating with my friends.

The next day, it hadn’t gone away. I simply shrugged it off and continued to spend my day as usual. Only, the pain had started progressing steadily and today I could hardly concentrate in class. I was just glad to make through the day without any major incident.

“You okay there John,” asked my friend Alex as he put a hand on my shoulder.

“Yeah, this headache is just pissing me off,” I replied through gritted teeth and coughed. Oh, I also started developing a mild fever.

“You wanna go to the doctor or something?”

“Nah, I’ll just sleep it off.” Or at least I hoped I would. It hadn’t worked so far.

“If you say so,” said Alex unsurely. “Well, I was gonna ask you to hang out with me but I guess you’re in no condition. See you tomorrow?”

“Yeah, buddy. Sorry.”

I barely registered his reply and walked away. The headache was spiking and I walked in a daze to the school bus. Outside the pain, I could hardly register anything. Someone shook me as my stop came up and I got down in a daze to walk to my home.

I passed my step mom as she gave me a fake smile but I couldn’t muster any strength to greet her. I stumbled up the stairs and vaguely heard my dad call out to me.

“Not now dad, I’m tired. We’ll talk tomorrow,” I muttered just loud enough for him to hear and made it to my room.

Not bothering to change, I simply dropped my bag and unceremoniously flopped onto bed. I twisted and turned trying to get some sleep in but be pain was starting to become unbearable. I pressed a pillow to my head hoping it would provide some comfort but it did nothing. Just as I was about to call my dad to get me to the hospital, the pain suddenly spiked and I passed out.

I blinked as the light hit my eyes and I slowly woke up. Felling uncomfortable, I wiped my head and felt it damp. Looking down, I was that my clothes were soaked through and the sheets were drenched as well. Wow, I’ve never sweated that much before in my life. Sitting up, I remembered the headache and brought up my hand to my head. To my surprise, the pain was gone. I really had slept it off. There was no lingering pain or even a buzzing. My head felt clear.

“Fucking finally,” I muttered and got off my bed. I noted that I hadn’t even bothered to get my shoes off and stripped down to my boxers, throwing the dirty clothes in the basket and headed to the bathroom. My dad was well off enough that we had individual bathrooms for every room.

After taking care of business, I wiped the mirror and started shaving. Short black hair and dark eyes stared back at me, a hint of a beard growing on my face. I considered myself to be a handsome guy and was smug about the fact that girls found me quite attractive. Although I wasn’t exactly buff, the visible muscles I had helped with that. Standing at six foot two, I was pretty tall. I used to play basketball and kept myself in pretty good shape. Unfortunately, any shot I had at a career in the sport had disappeared when a nasty foul on the field had broken my shoulder at a game last year.

After I finished, I jumped into the shower and stretched lightly. I winced as pain shot through my damaged shoulder. The doctor had told me that with enough therapy the pain would go away but I could never fully raise my arms because there was a shallow spot where they had to remove some of the muscle on that shoulder. Even after a year, the pain was still there and he couldn’t actually do any physically demanding activity. Thanks to that, I had lost a considerable amount of muscle over the last year.

“God damn it! I wish it would just heal already,” I cursed loudly.

Suddenly, there was a burning sensation on my shoulder and I gripped it with my other hand until it subsided. When I took my hand off, the shoulder now seemed... normal. There was no disfiguration and it was as if the missing muscle had grown back. I gaped even as I ran my fingers along the spot where the surgical scar used to be. It was just... gone.

Experimentally, I raised that arm completely and to my wonder, I felt no pain whatsoever. I flexed and rotated my arm fully at the shoulder, something which I couldn’t do since the accident. Had my shoulder just healed automatically? How? Why?

“John! You’re gonna be late for school!”

My dad’s voice outside my room snapped me out of my stupor and I quickly finished showering. I could think about this later. I hadn’t grabbed dinner yesterday and any more delay would make dad think that something was wrong.

“Good morning dad,” I said cheerfully as I skipped down the stairs.

“You seem awfully happy,” my dad noted. Why wouldn’t I be? That annoying headache was gone and my shoulder had somehow magically healed.

“Oh I’m just excited about prom,” I lied as I sat down to eat.

“How’s your fever?” Clearly he was distracted by something. Normally he would’ve questioned me about the upcoming event.

To my annoyance, the fever was still there. I still felt hot and was sweating more than usual. My excitement over my shoulder made me ignore my sore body but now that dad mentioned it, I felt it.

“Still the same. Hopefully it’ll go down soon. Where are Margaret and Dannie?”

Margaret was my step mom and Dannie was my step brother. I wasn’t exactly close with them and I always suspected that they only tolerated me in the house because of dad.

“Margaret’s already gone to work and Dannie to school.”

I nodded and continued munching on the food, my mind wandering back to what happened at the shower. Removed muscle doesn’t just grow back. It was medically impossible. It was strange, something had happened, something unusual. Did I do something to make it happen? Wait, I did. I said I wanted the shoulder to heal. Did I have some sort of power now or something? Was that what the headache was all about? I had to test this out somehow again. How though? I don’t have a missing limb I could re-grow or some random sickness I could cure. Well there was that fever.

“I am immune to all diseases,” I muttered under my breath. “All harmful germs will die when they come into contact with my body.” When I felt nothing, I snorted and shook my head. Oh well.

Suddenly, the same burning sensation came back, only this time, it was all over my body, from the tip of my hair to the soles of my feet. I caused me to freeze and sputter, not having expected it at all. It wasn’t painful or anything. I was just surprised.

“You okay there, John?” My dad had lowered the newspaper he was reading and was staring at me with a raised eyebrow. He must have noticed me freezing.

“Yeah, I just choked a bit on the food,” I lied. What could I tell him? ‘Hey dad this may sound crazy but I have a superpower that can heal my body’? Yeah right.

As crazy as that sounded it was true. The fever was completely gone. I was no longer burning up and my body no longer felt sore. Did this mean that I am now actually immune to all diseases? I actually felt a little better than before. A couple of dull aches in my body I didn’t even recognize I had were completely gone. Did I have an ailment that I didn’t know about?

“Listen son,” my dad began in an uncomfortable tone, “I need to talk to you about something.”

“Huh? Yeah sure dad. What is it?”

“I don’t know how to tell you this. It’s just well...” he took a deep breath. “I won’t be paying for your college.”

That made me completely focus on him. “What?” Maybe I didn’t hear him properly.

“I won’t be paying for your college.”

I was completely and utterly shocked. “Bu-but why?”

Now that he had broken the news to me, he didn’t seem completely nervous and gained a bit of confidence. “I’m sorry John. I just can’t afford that right now. College fee isn’t a small amount and-”

“Don’t give me that bullshit,” I shouted. Anger was slowly replacing my shock. “You told me last month you’re perfectly capable of paying. You promised.”

“I know I did,” he said and squirmed. “But things have changed. I really-“

I snorted. My dad never exactly loved me but I always thought of him as a decent man. Sure, he walked out on my mom and me when I was three and she had to raise me all alone. But after she died four years ago, he had agreed to take me in, even if he did it reluctantly. I seriously didn’t think that he would just go back on his word.

“Tell me honestly. What happened?”

He shut his mouth and sighed. “It’s Margaret. She doesn’t want me to spend any more money on you. She thinks you’re old enough to take care of yourself.”

I was stunned. I knew that the resented me ever since I stepped into this house but she hadn’t done anything to actively ruin my life, until now that is. “That- that bitch! That two faced-”

“Hey!” my dad interrupted sternly. “That’s no way to talk about your mother.”

“She is not my mother,” I shouted. I was absolutely livid. Sure I never thought of her as a mother but I never hated her. She had never been cruel been to me, just apathetic and that made her presence tolerable for me so far. “So you’re cutting me off just because she told you to? Some dad you are.”

He was fidgeting in his seat. “I know this is difficult to process John. But listen, I would pay if I could. You know I love you right?”

“Do you really?”

“What?”

“Did you know it was my birthday two days ago,” I asked with a sneer. My anger was slowly giving way to frustration and I was beginning to tear up. My dad visibly paled at what I said. He didn’t get me a present. He didn’t even wish me. He just forgot. “So do you really love me? Tell me the truth.”

I felt the same power I had rear up and I actively felt it working but I ignored it.

“No. I don’t love you.” Even he seemed shocked at that admission. Tears were freely falling down my cheeks now.

“Why did you take me in then? You could have said no.”

“Because I didn’t want to lose face in the society. I didn’t want people to think of me as the man who abandoned his son.”

That was the last straw. I slammed my hand down on the table and got up. I grabbed my bag and ran out of the house. I could hear my dad get up behind me to follow.

“John wait.”

“Leave me alone.” I felt the same faint spike of power. Instantly, I saw my dad freeze and sit back down with a frustrated look.