A/N: OMG! I'm sorry it took so long! I've been kinda busy in school. I missed about a week and half in December and I just got caught up in all my classes. That and I've had mid-terms all this week. So yeah... But anyway I'm finally updating and because I took so long to upload this I decided to make the chapter long too. XP
I apologize for any spelling/grammar mistakes. There may be more mistakes than usual. Microsoft word was having issues so I had to type this on wordpad and unfortunately for me, it does not have spell check. :(
Disclaimer: I own nothing!
Eden's POV
I awoke to Aden shaking me but instead of getting up I just groaned softly and slapped his hands away. I then rolled onto my side and tried to ignore him.
"Come on, Eden. You got to wake up and get ready to go." I continued to ignore him before realization dawned on me and my eyes snapped open. Today we're supposed to be leaving to find Jason a cure to my father's poison.
I sat up quickly and asked, "What time is it?"
"A little past sunrise. Now hurry up, Adam and the others want to leave in an hour." He replied as he walked toward the door.
"Kay!" I called after him as he left the room, shutting the door behind him. Once he was gone I climbed out of my bed and changed my clothes. Then I filled my backpack with stuff for the trip, grabbed my sword, and left the room.
When I came downstairs I noticed everyone gathered in the kitchen, everyone but Jason. He is lying on the couch in the living room with the lights off and an arm covering his face.
I walked into the kitchen and joined Adam, Ty, Seto, and Aden at one end of the table. "Is he okay?" I asked glancing in Jason's direction.
"He said he has a headache," Seto replied. I nodded my head knowingly and looked at Jason again.
For the next half hour I sat at the table silently, barely paying attention to the other's conversation and stealing glances at Jason every so often. My attention was brought back to the table when Mitch, Jerome, and the others that are going back to Sky Army's base stood up.
"Alright, so we'll meet back here in ten days?" Mitch asked.
"Yeah," Seto confirmed. "That should give us enough time to find my friend's house, cure Jason, and come back here."
"Kay! See ya later doods." Mitch grinned and soon only six people remained in the house.
Adam and Ty went to rouse Jason from the couch and Seto went to his room to get his things. The only ones left in the kitchen are Aden and I. He placed a hand on my shoulder and quietly asked, "Hey, are you okay?"
"Depends on your definition of okay."
"You know what I mean."
I sighed. "I don't know. I mean I should be happy right? After five years you, Adam, and I are together again. I'm finally free from that Notch damn castle. But I'm… not."
"So, why aren't you?"
My hands formed fists as I bitterly said, "Because that so called father of ours poisoned the boy I like…" My eye's started to water and I brought a hand up to wipe stray tears off my face. "…and he could die."
"So you do like him!" Aden exclaimed with a small grin trying to cheer me up.
"Oh, shut up!" I retorted, punching his shoulder lightly.
"Hey you two coming or what?" Adam called from the living room doorway.
"Yeah sorry," I exclaimed and ran towards the door of the house. Aden shook his head in amusement before following after me.
Jason's POV
I glanced at the sky wearily. The sun is directly above us and is slowly starting to descend. I'm starting to doubt that we will make it to the border before it completely disappears. We've been walking non-stop for the past seven hours. I've actually been doing surprisingly well considering my condition. I didn't need help walking until about an hour ago. So now I'm leaning heavily on Sky. One of my arms reaches around his shoulders while one of his arms supports my waist.
I gasped as pain shot through my body and stopped in my tracks. Sky stopped along with me and worriedly asked, "Are you okay?"
"Y-yeah," I replied breathlessly. "C-can we sto-" I cut myself off with another gasp of pain before shakily continuing. "...stop for a bit?"
"Yeah," Sky said as he helped me to a nearby tree. With my back to the tree I slid down to the ground. I let out a soft sigh of relief as I settled on the forest floor. Sky smiled and sat down to the left of me. "Better?" I nodded. "Good."
A few moments later we all were sat in a small horseshoe shape. Eden sits on my right with her brother next to her. Ty sits between Sky and Seto on my left. Everyone was silent for a while until it was broken by a low growl. Ty's cheeks flushed a light pink and he mumbled, "Sorry."
Sky laughed. "Well we kinda missed lunch, so how 'bout we eat now?" Everyone agreed and soon enough we were all eating. "Sho how mush lon'er until we reash the borter?" Sky asked through a mouthful of food. Eden gave him a pointed glare. Sky swallowed and grinned sheepishly before saying, "I asked how much longer until we reach the border."
Eden sighed, most likely deciding to ignore her cousin's rudeness. "At this rate another three to four hours."
"Sorry. It's my fault it's taking so long." I muttered.
"Shut up! What happened isn't your fault!" Sky exclaimed and punched my shoulder lightly.
I smiled softly. "Yeah, I guess you're right." Happy with my reply Sky went back to his food.
Out of the corner of my eye I saw Aden lean over and whisper in Eden's ear. He spoke too quietly for me to hear what he said. Eden nodded her head in reply and it was then I noticed she was on the verge of tears. Her butter-hazel eyes filled with guilt and worry. The seemingly ever present fear has completely vanished and it doesn't show any signs of coming back. 'It's about time her fear disappeared. Her eyes are a lot more beautiful without it. But what concerns me now is her worry and guilt. Although worry is evident in everyone's eyes but considering what's going on that isn't surprising. But... why does she fell guilty? It couldn't be that...'
"Hey, there's something I've been meaning to ask. Ty's voice interrupted my thoughts. He is still sitting between Sky and Seto but he's looking at Eden. "Three things actually."
Eden shrugs. "Ask away."
"Okay! First, why do you always call people by their real name?" Eden stared at him confused. "I mean, like, why don't you ever call somebody by their nickname? You know, like Fluffy or the Mudkip?"
"Um... well… when I was younger my emotional instability caused me to have some trust issues. Of course it didn't help that a lot of the kids in town were jerks. That's another reason why it was just the six of us that hung out together."
"Wait six!?" Ty interrupted.
"Yup," Eden replied popping the p.
"What do you mean six? Who are the other three?"
She smirked. "Wouldn't you like to know." Ty started stuttering, too confused to come up with something to say. "Unless you want to change one of your other two questions."
Eden laughed as her brother rolled his eyes and Sky answered Ty's question. "They're old friends."
Ty sighed in defeat. They aren't going to give him a real answer anytime soon. "Anyway back to your first question," Eden started after she stopped laughing. "For some reason I always found it easier to trust someone if I knew their real name. So when I first meet someone I use their real name but once I'm comfortable around them I will eventually end up using their nickname. Now that I'm older I also realize that some people have reasons for not wanting other people to know their real name or prefer to be called by a certain nickname and I respect that."
"Wait are you saying you aren't comfortable around us!?" Ty exclaimed confused.
"It's not like that! I trust you! It just takes a while to get used to you all. I've only known you for, like, two weeks. That and I met, like, eleven people all in one day."
"Okay point taken." Ty agreed. "Second question," He exclaimed and held up two fingers. "If the castle was so poorly guarded why didn't you escape sooner?"
Eden stared at the ground as she answered. "At first I thought he was just stressed about stuff, like the village being attacked or mom dying, and that he didn't realize what he was doing. I thought maybe he would realize that he was hurting me and stop."
"And when he didn't?" Ty asked cautiously.
Her eyes started to water. "It was too late." Tears started rolling down her face. "I was already falling apart."
"What do you mean?" This time it was Sky who spoke.
Eden slowly slipped off her leather jacket revealing several scars some created by her father and some by her. She turned her arms so that the palms of her hands were facing up. Aden and I were the only ones who weren't surprised by the vertical scars on her wrists and forearms.
"Eden… Why?" Sky asked.
"Think about it Adam. My mother had just died, my brother went missing, and you moved to Craft City. He was the only one I had left to depend on. For the longest time I thought it was my fault. I thought that I had done something wrong and he was punishing me for it. I tried to be good and do everything he said. Eventually I gave in and started this in order to distract myself from the pain."
She was now crying so hard she was starting to hiccup. If she doesn't stop soon she'll make herself sick. Aden and Sky are too shocked by what she said to do anything to calm her down. So I pulled her into a hug. She relaxed in my arms and cried into my chest. I rubbed her back soothingly."It's not your fault," I whispered in her ear. "I promise. None of it's your fault, not what he did to you or what he did me." I continued to whisper sweet nothings to her as she slowly started to calm down.
Finally Eden had calmed down to a point where she was no longer hiccuping but tears still ran down her face. She wiped the tears from he eyes as she said, "A while ago I find out the real reason that he abused me. At first it really was just from stress and after a while he stopped. But then he started it again because... because I'm half human."
"But that doesn't make sense. His personal guards are half human too, aren't they?" Seto reasoned.
"They're more human than squid. One of they're parents were half human and half squid while the other was just squid," Aden answered.
"Yeah, but still..." Ty trailed off confused.
Eden, who had stopped crying, sighed and carefully removed herself from my grasp. "There was one thing he asked me to do and I always refused. He blamed my refusal on my human half. He said it was the emotions I got from being half human that prevented me from doing it."
"What did he want you to do?" Sky asked.
Eden stared at the ground. "I refused to kill."
We all stayed silently. We were too shocked to say or do anything at all. The silence that seemed to last forever was broken by Ty. "Ya know, this whole thing is just making me think of more questions."
Eden smiled softly. "Of course it would."
"Then why don't we start heading for the border and you can ask them as we go?" Seto suggested before looking at me and saying, "If that's okay with you?"
I nodded. "I'll be fine." With that said we all stood up. I winced slightly and leaned against the tree. I stood there for a minute willing myself to move forward but I couldn't. Finally I admitted defeat. "I need some help."
This time it's Ty who helps me. He puts one of my arms over his shoulders and puts one of his arms under mine, similar to how Sky helped me earlier. Speaking of the devil, Sky smirked. "*cough* Truelox *cough*"
I felt my cheeks heat up and glared at him. Ty just grinned back and cockily said, "Hey at least it's better than SkyMU!"
Sky gasped with a fake expression of hurt. Seto and Eden rolled their eyes. Aden on the other hand was confused and asked, "What are you talking about?"
Sky laughed before replying. "They're different pairings that recruits have made of us."
"Oh, so is that where the infamous Skylox came from?"
Sky and Ty both blushed and mumbled a begrudging, "yes".
Eden then said something none of us expected. "Okay, well you two can have your Skylox but you can't have Jason, he's mine." Shocked by her own words, Eden buried her face in her hands turning a bright red. We all stared at her surprised. All of us except Aden who laughed and whispered something in her ear. She muttered something in return and drew her elbow back sharply into Aden's chest. He gasped, slightly winded by the blow, but continued laughing.
"Okay so that happened," Ty said awkwardly.
"Can we just go?" Eden requested, her voice muffled by her hands. With that everyone continued on their way to the border in an awkward silence. This time the silence was broken by Eden sighing. "What are your other questions Ty?"
"The original ones or the new ones that keep forming?"
"Let's start with the original."
"Okay, you know how you said that jerk used the poison on you?" Eden nodded. "Well then why are you-"
"Not dead." She interrupted.
Ty grimaced. "Something like that."
"The poison won't kill me because I'm half squid but that doesn't mean I'm not effected by it. The poison won't physically hurt me but I can feel the pain and side affects as if it is."
"Oh"
"Yeah, it's not the greatest feeling."
'I couldn't agree with you more,' I thought bitterly.
Eden's POV
"Could we talk about something other than the last five years?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah, sure," Ty replied. "There's actually something I've been wondering for a while but it's more directed at Sky and Aden."
"Just ask the question and if we know the answer we'll tell you," Aden stated offhandedly.
"Okay. So from what I heard the amulet that Sky is wearing was originally yours."
Aden nodded. "Yes, it was."
"But then how does Ant have one just like it?"
"It's because Ant and I were the ones who found them."
"So you two know each other."
"Yes."
"Then why did he have no idea who you were the other?"
"Because he doesn't remember." Aden stared straight ahead as he continued explaining. "It happened a long time ago, probably a year or two before Coal Town was attacked. We had been parkouring in the trees. It would have been different if we were on a map and could respawn but we weren't so we knew we had to be extra careful. We parkoured in the forest a lot but this time we decided to try parkouring in the jungle. We stayed on the lower branches so that if we fell we wouldn't fall very far."
"Then how'd he lose his memory if you wouldn't fall that far?"
"There's a reason that jungle's known as Dead Man's Cliff." Aden replied irritated by the interuption. "In the middle of the biome is a cliff with a gaint hollow opening beneath it. At the bottom of the opening is a large pit where a lake used to be. It's a shear drop from the cliff to the bottom of the pit that expands over fifty blocks."
"Wow," Jason muttered. He cast me a sideways glance. "It's no wonder you're afraid of falling."
I shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so." Noticing that Aden was zoning out, I poked him arm playfully. "You were saying?"
"Huh? Oh, yeah! Um... where did I leave off?"
"You and Ant were parkouring near Dead Man's cliff."
"Thanks. So we decided to turn back when the trees near the edge of the cliff. We were going to race back to the village but before we could even start Ant slipped and fell. He got lucky and landed on the edge of the cliff, although he still fell from a pretty good height. Somehow I managed to get him back to the village. He was in a coma for three days and when he woke up he had no memory."
"Dude that must rough." Ty exclaimed.
"What happened after he woke up?" Seto asked.
"What do you mean?" Aden looked confused.
"Well if he had stayed in Coal Town he would've known who you are?"
Adam was the one who answered. "He moved to Craft City with his parents."
"Wouldn't it have been better if he stayed in Coal Town? Then he could've worked on getting his memory back."
"His parents were okay with him losing his memory. They thought we were dangerous to be around. So they used his memory loss as an excuse to move to the city. I don't see how it made much of a difference, he still loves parkour."
"So is Ant one of the six mentioned before?" Jason FINALLY said something. 'I like hearing his voice. It makes me all warm and fuzzy inside.'
"Yes," I replied immediately.
"So who were the others?" He asked the same question Ty asked before.
"Dawn was one off them." Sky said nonchalantly.
"Speaking of Dawn, where is she?"
Adam grimaced. "I don't know. We were engaged for a while but we broke up."
"Oh, sorry I asked."
"No, it's fine."
Everyone was silent for a while after that. However I quickly got bored of the silence but I was also bored of just talking. So instead of trying to spark up another conversation I decided to sing. I started out on a soft hum then I added words. "I remember when we used to laugh about nothing at all. It was better than going mad from trying to solve all the problems we're going through. Forget'em all cause all those nights we would stand and never fall. Together we faced it all."
Having recognized what I'm singing Adam and Aden joined in. "Remember when we'd stay up late and we parkour all night in the dark sky lit by a bright moonlight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Listen to each other talk all night. Didn't wanna go home to hear them fight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
oh-o oh-o
I remember when we used to go anywhere but home. As long we forget our lives. We were so young and confused that we didn't know to laugh or cry. Those nights were ours. They will live and never die. Together we'd stand forever.
Remember when we'd stay up late and we parkour all night in the dark sky lit by a bright moonlight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Listen to each other talk all night. Didn't wanna go home to hear them fight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Oh-o oh-o
Those nights belong to us.
Oh-o oh-o
There's nothing wrong with us.
Oh-o oh-o
Those nights belong to us.
Oh-o oh-o
I remember when we used to laugh and now I wish those nights would last.
Stay up late and we parkour all night in the dark sky lit by a bright moonlight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Listen to each other talk all night. Didn't wanna go home to hear them fight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Stay up late and we parkour all night in the dark sky lit by a bright moonlight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Listen to each other talk all night. Didn't wanna go home to hear them fight. Of all the dark times in my life, those nights kept me alive.
Oh-o oh-o
Those nights belong to us.
Oh-o oh-o
There's nothing wrong."
"Um, I don't mean to interrupt your song but has a city always been here?" Jason asked timidly.
"It's fine, The song was over," I reassured him. "As for this place, yes, it has always been here. And it's not a city. It's a town. Border Town to be exact."
"We should probably stay here for the night." Seto suggested. "Unless you want to spend the night fending of monsters."
Ty laughed. "Knowing our luck, we get wrecked in seconds."
I rolled my eyes and looked around the town. I smiled when I recognized some familiar places in the town from frequent visits in the past. My smile grew when I heard a familiar voice call out from behind us. "Adam!? Is that you!?"
A/N: Can any of you guess who this mystery person is? I bet you can't. :3
The song that the 3 of them sang was 'Those Nights' by Skillet but I changed some of the lyrics.
