Chapter sixteen:
Clarity let's go of the other and takes a step back. "Ah. I'm so sorry. I didn't mean to run into you. Are you okay?" She blinks in surprise at the skeleton she sees before herself. She notices that they must be the same age, unless this skeleton is meant to be smaller, so she wonders who it is.
Eclipse brushes himself off. "Watch where you're going." He mentions before turning and looking at Clarity. He pauses upon seeing who had collided with him. "You're not a part of this world."
Clarity freezes and shifts nervously. "H-How do you know that?"
"I've explored this place enough to know for that for a fact." Eclipse crosses his arms over his chest. "Besides. You just look like a normal skeleton. Nothing different about you. So, who are you and where did you come from?"
"Oh. I'm sorry. I followed someone through a portal and ended up here. I lost track of him pretty quickly." Clarity admits realizing that the other is serious about this. "My names Clarity."
"Clarity? Huh. What an interesting name." Eclipse mentions looking over her. "My names Eclipse. Say, would you like to play with me for a bit?" He hasn't had someone his age to play with for awhile. He has tried joining in the games here with the kids... But he can't always keep up with the games they play.
Clarity's eyes brighten at the suggestion of the two playing together. "Yes! I'd love to play with you! Finally, someone my own age to play with!"
The two hurry off with Eclipse in the lead to take Clarity to the park. They arrive and look at the kids who are playing here.
There's a few places to climb, a few different types of slides, a swing set, some monkey bars, and a area to run around across platforms and bridges.
"Where should we start?" Clarity turns to look to Eclipse who smiles excitedly.
"Let us climb to victory! We won't let anything stop us." Eclipse dashes towards the spot to climb up to the platforms and bridges. He begins climbing the stairs up trying to be the first to the top.
Clarity follows after him with a smile on her face. She moves to stand beside him when they reach the top.
"Yes! We have made it up the mountain!" Eclipse throws his fisted hands into the air. He then puts his fists on his hips. He didn't think he'd enjoy this as much. "I declare myself the ruler of this land!" His chest puffed out in pride. "My own victory. This one is mine!"
"We haven't even crossed the bridges." Clarity watches the other turn to her. "I'll beat you across them." She starts running in that direction.
Eclipse spins around no longer in his stance. His arms are at his sides. "Hey! You got a head start!" He chases after Clarity who laughs and keeps running. He grabs onto the railing when trying to run across one.
The one with each plank attached to a chain to let it swing.
Eclipse jogs with a hand going along the railing gently. He makes it to the other side and looks down to ensure that he won't trip. He glances around only to spot Clarity standing by the wooden railing. He heads over to her and looks to the slight view of the park that's she's looking at.
"It's nice here." Clarity admits as her eyes sweep over the various kids that are here. "I met a great new friend after all." She turns to look to Eclipse who turns his attention to her.
Eclipse smiles softly at her and nods softly. "Yeah. My friend." He slightly glances to the park. "Let's try to go down all the slides as fast as we can!"
"I'm game!" Clarity agrees and hurries off with Eclipse down to go towards the slides. He hops up hanging off the monkey bars that he goes across. He gives a determined look when Clarity easily passes him on foot. He hops down at the end of the bars then meets Clarity at the first slide.
Clarity is already climbing up the slide ladder to get to the slide.
Eclipse heads towards the ladder and begins climbing it. He focuses on getting himself up each one. He gets to the top and Clarity slides down.
"Weee!" Clarity raises her arms as she goes down the short slide. Her face beaming in happiness. She gets up once at the bottom only to turn around. "Now you go Eclipse! It's fun."
Eclipse climbs onto the slide and goes down it. He finds it to be so much shorter than it looked. "Bigger slide!" He calls out raising his hands up.
"That one!" Clarity points to the pair of spiral slides. She supposed that those are indeed bigger slides. She just wants to go down more slides so it works out for her quite well.
"Yes!" Eclipses hands go down to be by his chest. His expression bright with excitement. "And this time we can have another race!" He runs off towards them and Clarity can only chase after him.
The two of them take steps up to the slide entrances. They move to stand each at one slide entrance. Eclipse is at the red one and Clarity is at the yellow one.
"Okay. Ready? On my count." Eclipse puts a hand on the top as does Clarity. "One, two, three, Four!" He jumps into the slide with Clarity rushing to catch up. "Hahaha!" He slightly laughs as he goes down the slide. He makes it to the bottom just about two or three seconds before Clarity.
"Aw! Eclipse! You cheated! You didn't tell me how far you'd count." Clarity playfully whines and gently nudged him with a smile.
"I won." Eclipse gloats with a grinning smirk. "Unless you wanna fight me over it!"
"Fight you?" For a moment Clarity pauses upon hearing this. Though she supposes that she doesn't know a lot about Eclipse. She guesses maybe fighting could be playing to some? She's just never been involved with play fighting.
"Yeah. Are you afraid?" Eclipse moves a step closer to Clarity who already feels tense. "Surely you can't be afraid of fighting me." He starts to take another step closer. "Are you?"
"Stop yourself right there!" Clarity flies at Eclipse as instinct takes over. She tackles the other to the ground where they lay. She looks down upon Eclipse who looks right back at her.
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Eclipse growls playfully and quickly switches the positioning. He smiles at her from above.
Clarity starts to understand the bit of fun to be had rolling around to be the winner. "You want more? Well then allow me!" She lunges up knocking Eclipse back down. She finds that she didn't quite estimate the jump. He lands on her stomach half across Eclipse and half on the ground.
The two look at each other only to start laughing together, as they lay there on the ground. They stay there for a little bit even after they calm down from their laughter.
"That was a lot of fun." Clarity admits with a happy look written all over her face.
"It was." Eclipse agrees smiling as well. "You're okay at fighting. Gotta work at it a little though."
"Maybe next time." Clarity giggles softly and Eclipse makes a sound of agreement.
"I should probably get home. Before my parents realize I'm gone. I don't want to be unable to head out when I can after all." Eclipse mentions and Clarity blinks as she realizes something.
"Oh my! I completely forgot! I followed one of my parents friends here!" Clarity gets up and looks around finding no sign of Blue.
Eclipse gets up as well. He glances around wondering who Clarity is looking for. "Well don't you know your way home?" He inquires with his eyes shifting back to her.
Clarity glances away and kicks at the ground. "Well... You see... I'm not good at making portals yet..." She admits looking down as well as to the right. "So I snuck away with one of the adults." She turns to look at Eclipse with a desperate look shining in her eyes. "You have to help me! I don't know how to get home! I don't even know where Blue is! I don't remember where in the multiverse I even came from! I'm going to be stuck here! Then my parents will find out and I'll be in so much trouble!"
"Whoa. Whoa there." Eclipse puts a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Calm down there. I can help you find the adult you're looking for. I know my way around here." He sees her relax a little in relief. "Okay. Now tell me who exactly you came here with. I know this world pretty well. I might have seen them. You're in good hands for finding your ticket back home."
"Blue. He's a skeleton with a blue bandana around his neck." Clarity tells Eclipse knowing that she really does need Blue in order to get home.
"Ah. Of course. I do believe I know who you're talking about." Eclipse nods and Clarity blinks at him.
"You do?" Clarity questions moving a step closer to her new friend.
"Yup. I've seen him plenty of times around here. He likes to come here a lot." Eclipse confirms adding a nod for extra confirmation. "I had always wondered why he does what he does when he comes here. However he is rather easy to find."
"You really do know a lot about this place." Clarity admits feeling better about being able to find her way home.
"Did you doubt me?" Eclipse teases the other who smiles softly at him.
"Oh no. How could you ever think that I'd ever have any doubt in you?" Clarity playfully responds causing them both to laugh a little.
"You're darn right you shouldn't ever doubt me! I'm the best thing ever!"
Clarity laughs a little more before she manages to calm down.
"Now come on. We have a skeleton to get to." Eclipse leads the way as the two hurry off to get to where they need to be. "If you wanna find your friend then you gotta find the kitsune. The first place to check is Muffets place. He hangs out there a lot."
"Kitsune?" Clarity tilts her head after repeating the word.
Eclipse nods his head. "Yeah. One of the creatures that lives in this world. A fox like one who is a trickster. He can change his form to whatever or whoever he wants. The colour of his magic stays the same though he can look very different."
"I see. Then I suppose that might explain why he hangs out with the kitsune." Clarity remembers her father assuring her that Blue is just upset because he lost someone special. She wonders if the kitsune is given money to change into the lost one.
"Well I wouldn't call it hanging out." Eclipse tells Clarity who turns to look at him confused.
"What do you mean by that?" Clarity wonders what else Blue could be doing if he isn't hanging out with the kitsune.
"Why not look for yourself?" Eclipse stops as does Clarity who looks to what is ahead.
Clarity finds that they've gone around to a side door that is open.
Blue can be seen slightly peering around the doorframe to look inside of the building. His hands on the frame as he leans his body to look. He seems to be concentrating on something or someone inside.
Someone who probably has no knowledge of what's going on.
"Thank you. I'll see you." Clarity turns to look to Eclipse unable to hide her worry for what Blues doing. She is about to turn to walk over to Blue when Eclipse speaks.
"Maybe we can play again sometime? It was fun playing with you. And id like to do it more." Eclipse admits then playfully elbows her side. "Besides. You gotta work on those fighting skills. You'd just fall flat on your face if someone did try to fight you."
Clarity flashes a small smile of thanks for the slight cheering up. "I'll see if I can. Maybe Blue can take me with him the next time he goes."
"See you around. If I see you I'll come say hi." Eclipse nods and heads off away, with Clarity watching for a few moments.
Clarity turns away and heads over to Blue. Her footsteps heard approaching making the other jump. She blinks innocently as Blue looks at her to see who is approaching.
Blue lets out a heavy relieved sigh that it's just Clarity. "How did you get here? What are you doing here?" He demands trying to be more strict with her.
"I followed you through the portal. I played with another kid and he showed me where he sees you." Clarity informs Blue and looks down to the ground. "Am I in trouble?"
Blue sighs softly as his eyes close just as softly. "Clarity. You could have gotten lost or hurt." He opens his eyes to look at her. His eyes meeting hers as she looks up at him. "You shouldn't be sneaking after us when we go through portals. What if I had left and you were stuck here? Do you have any idea how big the multiverse is?" He pauses for a moment as Clarity looks away a bit tearfully. "Clarity... I know it's not the happiest words to hear that you're in trouble. However you should face what you did."
"Please don't tell my parents! I'll be good I promise!" Clarity holds back her worried tears of how much trouble she'll be in. "By the wayWhat were you doing here?" She looks back to Blue as his last sentence got her wondering. She wanted to know what exactly is going on here. "My new friend said that you were staying around a kitsune. Who can change into anything or anyone."
Blue clenches his teeth. For a moment his eyes dart back to where he had been watching. He closes his eyes again only long enough to sigh. His eyes turning back to Clarity who is waiting for an answer. "I was just watching. That's all."
"Why?"
Blue almost wants to groan. He holds back knowing that Clarity is still young. He knows that she doesn't understand, the concept of, prying for information.
She just does it as a curious child.
"It's not easy to explain Clarity." Blue tries to figure out what he could do or say to her. He needs to come up with a way. "Adults sometimes do things that children won't understand okay?" He huffs slightly. "Okay. You know what? How about this? You leave this alone. You don't tell your parents what happened here or that I was here. And I won't tell them that you snuck in. Also I'll let you come so you can play with your friend. If you both stay close."
"I'm sure my friend won't mind. He's really nice." Clarity tilts her head up at Blue with a wide grin on her face. "Thank you Blue!"
"It's no problem. We'll be here once a week unless something comes up." Blue assures Clarify gently rubbing the top of her skull. "As long as you stay where I know where you are, and can easily check on you, then there won't be a problem. I won't let you end up like my brother, dead and gone."
Clarity reaches her hands up placing them around Blues arm. "It's okay Blue. I know I'm safe with you."
Blue pauses for a moment and the smallest of smiles appeared on his face. "Thanks Clarity. Now let's get you home before your parents worry." He opens up a portal in which the two head through.