This fanfic was written ages ago but I kinda forgot to post it😹 Sorry bout that. Well, anyway... hope you enjoy!
Disclaimer - I am NOT Lynette Noni and I DO NOT own the characters!
Secrets
The stars shone even brighter tonight than they had, in Bear's opinion. The war against Aven was over. Alex had survived and she and Kaiden were now the most popular couple at Akarnae. They were inside the food, celebrating the end of the war with the rest of the staff and students. Jordan and Dix had stayed the night at Dix's castle. Her parents had been so worried, and they wanted to keep an eye on her for a week even though Dix complained. Jordan, being the good boyfriend, went with her to keep her company.
So here he was. All alone. Sighing, Bear climbed a tree at the far end of Lake Fee. He was all alone again. He knew he shouldn't complain, having great family and friends who cared about him, whereas some people didn't. Like, look at Niyx's family! His father was a dickhead and his mother probably just as bad. Even though he hadn't personally met them, Bear had heard some interesting stories about them from Alex.
Even though Bear didn't have as bad of a life as Niyx, who was also dead by the way, he couldn't help feeling slight jealousy. No one else had seen their dad die at the hands of a murderous tyrant. No one else had to live with the memory of seeing William Ronnigan's face as a blade pierced his heart. Well, that wasn't true. Alex also had that vision stuck in her head. 'Poor Alex', Bear thought. 'You've been through so much more than me, seeing one of your closest companions die at Aven's hand, and yet… You still continued. You continued fighting even though you wished to give up and you defeated Aven. You believed in yourself.' Bear closed his eyes as he thought.
No one else was born with more than two gifts.
"What're we doin here da?" Bear's small form was barely visible behind the thick smoke emitting from a giant lake in front of him.
"Bear, this is a special place. A place of wonder. Listen carefully. Wherever you are, whoever you're with, there is a story. This lake of fire has its own story, just like you and me. Just like that plant over there", he said, pointing to a plant a few meters away. About a meter in depth around the lake of fire was burnt earth and plants. They couldn't live near the lake. Further away from the lake were a garden of plants ranging from Firefruit trees filled with the delicious yet deadly fruit to the fabled laendra. Bear looked out at the lake, channelling his thoughts.
When he opened them, the Firefruit trees and lake had disappeared. He turned in a circle, trying to figure out where he was. Not figuring it out, he started walking.
Not soon after, he heard voices. He couldn't tell how many of them there were, but he guessed around 2 or 3.
"I didn't ask for this life! I thought we'd be able to…"
"Well I didn't ask for this life either! But here we are! And there's nothing you can do about it!" There was a tree to the side and Bear hid behind it. He peeked around the edge and saw two people, a girl and boy. Both appeared to be around Bear's age, maybe younger. They were obviously arguing about something and their hands were flying wild. The male said something to his company causing her to burst into tears. Suddenly realizing his mistake, he scoped her into his arms.
"Hush, Vio. Hush. I promised I wouldn't let anything hurt you and I've kept my promise so far haven't I? Please don't cry. I'll get us out of this mess, don't worry. Hey." The boy cupped her face in his hands. "Nothing will ever hurt you beiala. Nothing." He held her close as she cried into his shirt.
All through this exchange, Bear had kept silent. He'd learnt all that he could from this and it was time to return. He repeated the process of centring his brain and closing his eyes. This time, when he opened them, he was back at the lake of fire, his father beside him. He was toasting marshmallows over the hot ground. Licking his lips, he sat next to his father. Wordlessly, his father passed him a cooked marshmallow. The outside was golden brown, and the inside was sticky and pure white. After finishing another 3 marshmallows, his father finally spoke.
"What did you learn from that story?" Bear licked his fingers, thinking.
"I learnt that people promise things. But not all promises are kept. Sometimes we break promises. But we can always try and fix it. There is never a reason why you can't attempt to fix something. It's either because you're lazy and a coward or because your dead." His father nodded.
"That is true. Ish. I think the real lesson was more that even though you might break a promise, it isn't the end of the world. What else?"
"That if you make a mistake, you can be forgived."
"Forgiven Bear. The word in forgiven."
"Right. Well, I think another lesson is that we can each forgive people and that anyone can be forgiven." His father nodded again.
"I think you're right. Any other lessons?" Bear thought.
"Yes. There's one more. No matter what you do, revenge is never the answer. Even if it's as simple as throwing someone's clothes into a swamp. Revenge is never the answer."
"That is very true. Revenge is never the answer. Now, tell me. What happened here? What happened to this place to make it so?" Bear thought a second.
"The two teens, they were twins. They'd been close and helped each other through everything. When the girl's heart was broken by a boy, her brother was right there to comfort her. Anyway, the two twins were being constantly abused by their father. Figuring it better if they weren't there at all, the two left.
They wandered the woods for days, not finding anything or anyone. That scene I saw was a few moments before a group of travelers found them. The group took them in with open arms and made them welcome. The two teens finished their growing up in the arms of loved ones.
One day a few years later, the boy took his girlfriend to the place where they'd been found. The sister had followed, only to see her brother kiss his girlfriend and to tell her she was more important that anything or anyone in the world. The sister, hurt by his comment, made her revenge. She killed the girlfriend but left no tracks. The brother was devastated. A few days later, the brother took his life.
His sister found his body and she wept. She wept and wept and wept, but nothing could bring her brother back. Seeing this, she killed herself in the lake. Her blood turned the lake into fire at her sacrifice, not letting anyone else die by their own hand." Bear shuddered as he finished the story. His father took his hand.
"Bear, I need to tell you something. It's about your…" He paused, searching for the right words. "It's about your… gift. I may as well call it as it is. Your gift is seeing people's stories. And learning from them. This is so you don't make the same mistake they do." Bear cocked his head, confused.
"But da! I've already got a gift. I can charmspeak. And there's never been anyone with 2 gifts before!" His father frowned, his eyes sad.
"I'm sorry, Bear. But that is the truth. You have the rare ability of having 2 gifts. That is the truth."
The tree shuddered, and Bear opened his eyes quickly. Clinging onto the tree, he held on for dear life. Finally, the shaking stopped. Looking down, he groaned internally. Ugh! Just what I need. He didn't know how much his heart could take but seeing Declan under the moonlit sky was not helping his heart. Declan Stirling. One of the best combat fighters. Cute. And extremely annoying. But still cute. Bear didn't have time for this. Jumping down on the other side of the tree, he started walking in the opposite direction of his friend.
"Bear! Wait up!" Declan ran up to his small friend. "Where are you going?" He asked. Bear didn't turn around, but he did acknowledge Declan's presence.
"I'm going somewhere." Declan walked next to Bear, thinking.
"Bit vague?" He laughed lightly. When Bear didn't join, he stopped. "What's wrong? You've been awfully quiet. Is it because Jordan isn't here to prank people with you?" Bear grimaced.
"Dec, it was one prank. One! And anyway, he deserved it. His ego was getting too big and he needed to be taught a lesson. Jordan and I only did what no one else would." Declan laughed at Bear's grumpy face.
"Oh, com'on. You know I was joking. Right?" Bear punched his shoulder lightly, now grinning. "So. I'll ask again. Where are we going?" Bear sighed. Declan could be annoying as hell if he wanted to be and as much as Bear didn't like to admit it, he missed it when his big friend wasn't there cracking jokes with Jordan.
"Somewhere where I can think without annoying boys who keep interrupting me." He said, his frown making a return. Under his breath, Bear muttered. "Stupid cute boy. Why can't he leave me alone, therefore not giving me a heart attack."
"What did you say?"
"Nothing." Bear didn't need Declan's worried glances and he certainly didn't need him to keep an eye on him constantly.
He continued walking until the school was barely visible, the only sign there was a building was the flickering lights from the food court. Once he was certain nobody had followed them, he turned around to face Declan.
"Okay, you either come with me or go back to the food court. But be warned. If you come with me, you have to do as I say. Doing one wrong move could cause your death which I really don't want…"
"Awww! That's adorable Bear! You care about me!" Declan's smirk just made Bear roll his eyes while a light blush crept onto his cheeks. He was glad it was too dark for Declan to see.
"No. If you'd let me finish what I was saying, you would've heard me say I really don't want to be responsible for your death. Kaiden would probably die inside and so Alex would kill me for making her boyfriend sad and then Dix would kill me because she wouldn't want to see her best friend kill another person and Jordan would kill me for making his girlfriend kill me and…"
"Okay, calm down mate. I get it. If I die, then you'll be killed by my roommate and his sad girlfriend and her angry best friend and her boyfriend who also happens to be your best friend. Pretty much everyone in this world will kill you. Anyway, I would prefer to see my twentieth birthday if you don't mind." Bear nodded and turned away.
"But that doesn't mean I'm still not coming with you. You'll need some company and I don't really want you to die either." His cheeks were dusted a light pink. This just made Bear's cheeks become a deeper red. Clearing his throat, he continued talking.
"Well… I think we should get going. I don't know how long will take and if we're gone too long Alex and Kaiden might wonder where we are."
"Or they might think we're doing something unholy like…" Bear slapped a hand over Declan's mouth as the older boy waggled his eyebrows.
"Declan!" The younger practically screeched and Declan covered his ears.
"Dude! You have a very loud voice. Maybe don't scream at me while my ear is right next to your mouth." Mumbling an apology, Bear removed his hand from his friend's mouth.
"But you can't just say that Dec! If someone heard, you'd probably be outed to the whole school! Do you really want that now?!" Bear was almost screeching again so Declan did the only thing he thought would quiet his friend down. He slapped his hand over Bear's mouth. His small friend gave him a look and scowled.
"If you don't quiet down, people will hear you. Now, are we going to this place you wanted to go to or not? Coz if we are, we might need to go soon or people will wonder where we are." Declan removed his hand from Bear's mouth, the younger mumbling something about annoying cute boys.
He knew he couldn't hide his feelings from Declan for too much longer. But he was scared. He didn't like the thought of being rejected. He knew he was a coward for being scared, but he just was. Sometimes you couldn't control your feelings. Anyway, even if there was a tiny, weensy possibility that Declan liked him back, Bear knew he'd have to tell Declan about his second gift at some point. Better now than later.
"So… You gonna take us where you wanna go?" Bear snapped out of his thoughts.
"Ummm. Sure. You positive you still want to go though?" Declan nodded an affirmative and Bear sighed. It was time to let the truth out.
"Then let's go."
Declan's mouth was agape with shock as he looked around.
"Bear, where are we? One moment, we bubbled to Denasa and the next were in the middle of what looks like the 3rd century!" Bear shook his head.
"We aren't in the 3rd century. We're further. Before the centuries were counted. Before it was even named Denasa. I don't exactly know how to explain where and what's happened, but I just need you to trust me. Please." Bear looked at Declan, the other boy tense. When he felt the younger boy's gaze on their linked hands, he relaxed a bit.
"I trust you Bear. I trust you." The older boy gave his friend a small smile. Bear returned it. Then, pulling Declan after him, he started walking in the direction of a giant willow tree.
Bear dragged Declan to sit next to him at the base of the tree.
"Now, we don't have much time. The people will be here soon and you'll need to listen to them to understand what's going on properly. But I can give you a brief run through. So, this is when Denasa was made. It's about Denasa's past, how it was made this way and things like that. I've…" Bear licked his lips, suddenly nervous. "I've been able to do what we're doing now, going back into the past and see how places have formed, since I can remember. It's always been with me, like my charmspeak. Whatever this is," he gestured around him and Declan. "This… This is another of my gifts." He looked down in shame. His next words were spoken to the ground.
"This gift. It's… it been with me forever. I… I haven't told anyone about it. No one. Not even Jordan or Alex. Only my dad and Gammy knew about it. It's a secret and since I've told you, you have to promise me you'll keep it. You can't tell anyone. And I mean it Dec. If someone found out about it, I could get turned into a lab rat or something." Throughout his whole mini speech, Declan had been silent. Bear grimaced. 'There you go you idiot. You've blown in. Any chance you had with him has disappeared because all you wished was to be accepted for who you were. Why did you have to be so naïve? Idiot. Idiot idiot idiot…' Bear's thoughts were tumbling around his head as he mentally beat himself up. Tears started forming in his eyes as he repeated his silent chant. 'Idiot. Idiot idiot idiot…' A pair of strong arms wrapped around Bear as his body shook.
"Shhhhh. It's okay, I'm here. I'm here for ya mate. I'm here for ya." Shocked, Bear looked through tear filled eyes at a pair of warm brown eyes and relaxed. He wiped his eyes and tried to speak.
"No. If you need to cry, let it all out. I'm here for ya. Just let it all out." Declan rubbed his friend's back in a circular motion, soothing Bear as he cried. Bear cried into Declan's shirt, soaking it. He cried for his dad. For his family. For his friends. But mostly, for himself. This secret that he'd kept hidden from the world was finally out. Well, not exactly out to the whole world, just one more person.
One person that, if Bear was being completely honest, he'd had a crush on since year 3. Yes, he'd told Jordan that he'd had a crush on a girl in their year, but it had actually been Declan. Ever since the delta combat students had swapped their equestrian skills class to watch the epsilon combat kids. It was a one off, getting combat tips and neat tricks to try. For the rest of the week their timetable had been a bit stuffed up because they all were in different core classes, but it was worth it. He'd been able to see Declan fight and it was, in Bear's opinion, the best day of his life. Even seeing Meya for the first time couldn't compare.
"Bear, I... I have to tell you something." 'Maybe's he's about to admit his undying love for me. No. He wouldn't, stupid idiot. Be realistic here.' Bear snapped out of his thoughts and shook his head, trying to clear his thoughts.
"What is it?" Declan looked away and Bear could tell it was something that he was nervous to admit. Bear tilted Declan's head so their eyes met. "Whatever it is, I can handle it. You can tell me anything, you know that right?" Declan nodded and took a deep breath.
"I…" he looked to the side, nervous. "I… Ihaveacrushonyou." Bear shook his head.
"Sorry, what?"
"I have a crush on you." Bear gaped at him, not sure how he should respond. 'Well, guess what? I also have a crush on you. So, why don't we just make out right here and adopt a child now.'
"Please don't hate me Bear. I've wanted to tell you for some time and I… well, to be honest, I've never had the courage until now. Please don't hate me though!" Declan looked so lost as Bear continued to gape at him. He couldn't make a word come out of his mouth and was mentally kicking himself for letting Declan feel bad about his crush. Declan looked away, ashamed. Bear's heart dropped to his stomach and he licked his lips.
"Dec, I ummm…." His lips were dry and he couldn't find the words he needed. He decided to be quick and just state the fact. "Dec, I like you too." Declan's head whipped around so fast that Bear couldn't believe he didn't get whiplash.
"Do you mean it? Do you really mean it? And if you do, say it again. Please say it again." His voice was full of longing and cracked as he spoke.
"To answer your first question. Yes, I mean it. I really mean it. I love you Dec, and I have since 3rd grade." Declan's eyes filled with tears and he made a weird sobbing noise.
"I've dreamed about you saying those lines. I never imagined you'd like me back though and I always hid my feelings from you because of this. Until Alex arrived and became friends with Kaid, then automatically with me, I'd never imagined you could've even known about me." Bear's laugh was raspy. 'Man, I really need to get a hold of my feelings.' But he was too happy to care if Declan saw him crying.
"Dec, I noticed you immediately when our classes were given that lovely show. I even remember Nick beating the crap out of you that day." They laughed together, remembering the day when their love started to bloom. They cuddled close as they reminisced together, both telling each other their happy memories.
"We should go now. People will start to wonder where we are. Can you get us out of here?" Bear didn't want to go. Not yet. But he didn't want to disrespect Declan's wishes so he nodded.
"Just close your eyes and hold my hand." He wasn't ashamed when Declan took his hand and his face had a light dusting of pink on it. Making sure Declan's eyes were closed, he closed his and took them out of the past.
"It was really cool of you to show me this. Maybe…" Declan rubbed the back of his neck and his cheeks turned a bright pink. "Maybe we could hang out more?" Bear smiled, nodding.
"Definitely."
"Okay. So… Ummm… See ya later I guess."
"Yeah, see ya later." Declan started to walk toward his dorm and Bear turned toward his. Suddenly, Declan called out;
"Wait up!" Bear turned around just as the older boy wrapped his arms round Bear's figure. His back was against Declan's chest with the taller boy's arms around Bear's neck. Bear smiled up at his friend and Declan returned it. Letting go, Declan turned Bear so they were facing eachother. Bear was glad it was dark and no one could see them.
"I love you Bear." Declan nuzzled his nose against Bear's neck. His whispered response was met with giggles.
"I love you too Dec. But we should really go before people start to get ideas. We go to a school full of teens after all. I swear the hormones around here are driving the teaches crazy."
"Fine. We can part." Declan pulled away. Bear smiled and they parted ways again.
That night as Bear lay awake, he replayed the day through his head. He was glad that he'd confessed to Declan but also nervous. What did that make them? Boyfriends? Still just friends? He knew they weren't just acquaintances anymore and they certainly weren't just classmates. But he didn't let himself worry over what they were. He was too tired and happy with how things had turned out that he fell promptly to sleep with the memory of Declan's arms around him as they told each other secrets.
This font was present tense story.
This font was Bear's memory of the past.
This font was Bear watching a story within the past.
And... That's that. Hope you enjoyed! More stories coming... very soon!