"I'm still unclear as to why I can't tell my friends that we're living here and that you've made it as our rulers..." Edd frowned. He was certain his parents had their reasons but he was still not sure as they had not appropriately elaborated for his understanding.
"Don't you want your friends to treat you the same?" His mother asked, looking up from her book.
"While that would be wonderful, can't I tell Ed and Eddy?" As much as he understood retaining anonymity, he was still a teenage boy and he wanted to show off, even just a little.
"I suppose it'd be okay if you told them, but they need to be quiet about it. Your father thinks it'd be better to keep peace if less people know who we are. Besides, you have other friends yeah? And they should continue treating you the same."
The other kids from the cul-de-sac... they weren't friends really. They were mostly nasty to him, which was another reason he wanted to tell them. It was like a war in his head. Remain responsible as his parents desired or demand respect and get the bullying to stop. Hesitantly, he agreed to his mother's wishes and didn't tell anyone outside of Ed and Eddy.
Edd couldn't complain, things were better now, and with seeing his parents everyday, it didn't get so bad. To his surprise, the kids from the cul-de-sac weren't so rude to him after this global catastrophe. He assumed the impact had shaken them. At first he worried about them all, knowing they were still out there. As they slowly, one by one, came into Eden, his fears dissipated and he was just glad to see everyone alive. With the Kaide's to be the last from their home to enter Eden, he felt this weight lift off him and thus the previous conversation began.
The happiness didn't last long, though.
The problem with anonymous royalty is that you didn't keep guards, you had maybe a few close friends. So, up in the tower, it took them by surprise when Eugene and a few of his deviant friends burst in and started destroying everything. There was a loud, booming crash and one of his parents close friends came up to tell them that they were under attack. The funny thing was, no one on the outside knew or even looked like their lives had been disturbed. Edd's mother looked upset, looking at her husband and waiting for him to come up with a solution as she couldn't find any. His father had said nothing and walked out of the room briskly.
"Eddward..." The worry on his mothers face aged her and he could feel her panic rising in him as well. "Eddward hide. I don't think this is going to end well... I want you safe." She ushered him to the wardrobe on the far side of the room, he didn't have much time to protest before he was shoved in, the wooden doors closed almost completely, save a single crack. You'd think at sixteen he'd be just fine to stay with them. He wasn't a child. Yet even still his reverence for authority took hold and he stayed in place, watching the next set of events unfold.
His father was thrown back into the room, Eugene and his friends gathered around. The traditional 'what do you want' speech unfolded, with the answer being power and riches that no longer meant anything in this broken world. That's when Eugene surprised Edd and his knowledge of human thought process.
"I want the world." That may not have been the surprising part, but it definitely piqued his curiosity. "I plan to become god."
That wasn't possible... was it? Even if there was a god watching over everyone, how would Eugene plan to match that kind of power? He was only human. The man was far from godly or even heroic. Wasn't god supposed to be loving?
Before any other questions rose, he watched in horror as one of Eugene's friends raised a gun, aiming it at Eddward's father's head. The trigger was pulled without a second thought. Blood splattered and he heard his mother's anguished cry. The thin boy trembled, he couldn't breathe, his throat and mouth were dry, and his eyes pricked with tears. The gun was turned on his mother and he wanted to burst out. He didn't want her dead too...! He did rush out of the wardrobe, catching the wannabe king off guard and Edd didn't make it far before one of Eugene's friends caught him. He pleaded adamantly, but it didn't stop what happened next. Time seemed to slow as he watched the bullet leave the gun and enter his mother's head, exploding her eye socket and causing her blood to hit him, her body pitching forward and landing with a soft thunk.
"Guess it's your turn, peewee." Eugene smirked.
"Big bro-! Hang on!" The familiar voice made Edd stop, and he looked over. Eddy stood in the doorway, looking just as shaken as Edd felt himself.
"Well if it ain't the pipsqueak here to save his little girlfriend." Eugene grinned, but it fell the moment he lashed out and snagged Eddy by his arm. "What do you think you're doing here, small fry?"
"I came to see my friend, d-duh..." He swallowed, trying to compose himself. "Do you really have to kill him? I mean come on, I don't think he'll be much of a threat to you... right? Sockhead's too skinny to fight you."
"Yeah sure, but what if he tells someone? That'd be a huge problem." Eugene pointed out.
One of Eugene's friends spoke up. He had this look on his face that hinted he wasn't comfortable with killing a child. "We could just erase his memory. We got that stuff from Sid, remember?"
Eugene mulled it over a moment. "Alright fine, but only cuz I don't wanna hear pipsqueak squeal about it."
Edd, however, didn't want to forget. He didn't want to think his parents were gone forever... he wanted to remember the happiness he had with them right up to this bitter end but- his mouth was forced open, the strange, lavender liquid poured into his mouth and the world blurred and went black.
Eddward woke up with a scream.
