Author's Notes
Hi all! Something different here ^^ I won't spoil but you'll tell!
Aztec 13 - I'm glad you really enjoyed the chapter. There's a lot of questions that needed to be answered and I was really excited to show Scarlett's whole ordeal ^^
TheMoonIsCheese - Guess we will find out ^^
lordgemini - Thank you for the lovely review again! I'm glad you enjoyed Akio and everything was critical of how it would be viewed. I'm glad you enjoyed Scarlett's reaction.
Fodini Cyan - Gotta love them cliffhangers! The reveal not being Leshawna would've been funny yeah, but I thought having too many "official" ships cut would be a little too much lmao Glad you liked the training scenes though! Fight scenes are hard to write ^^
Guest - I'm glad you enjoy the surprises ^^
It was dark, the wind hallowed. Everything felt like a blur.
"Gh…" Scarlett groaned as she opened her eyes. She was laying on a pile of leaves.
"Hey, you alright?" She heard a male voice say. She turned her head and saw a vaguely familiar face standing there and looking down at her.
"Hey, you're… Scarlett right?" The man said, he smiled. A dark-haired man with a green T-shirt and blue jeans. He held his hand out.
Scarlett frowned. "I don't need your assistance, hmph." She got up. "You're one of those low life ridonculous race folk right? Hmmm, Devin right?"
"That's right" He smiled. "Did you just get here?"
"What do you mean?" Scarlett frowned. "We all appeared here right?"
Devin shook his head. "No… We pretty much discovered that everyone in the group came at different times."
"...we?" Scarlett blinked.
Devin smiled and looked behind him. "Hey guys, she's safe. You can come out now!"
The rustles of bushes could be heard, then two other familiar faces were seen.
A brunette man with a goatee and medium length hair wearing complete red with a red headband, jacket and trousers and a tanned woman wearing a tube top and jeans was seen walking out.
"... Tyler and Anne Maria." Scarlett blinked.
"Hey there!" Tyler smiled.
"You've… aged." Scarlett blinked.
"Yup. 5 years in fact," Tyler smirked and stroked his goatee. "Even got this sweet goatee now. How's it look?"
"Going on about that goatee again? Personally, I don't like the look." Anne maria butted in.
"Well, I was asking her anyway." Tyler rolled his eyes a little at Anne Maria.
Scarlett blinked. "I honestly don't care."
"Jeez, what's up with you?" Tyler asked.
"Oh just stuck with a bunch of morons it seems." Scarlett frowned.
Seems the evil plans that I had for the current season will have to be postponed.
"Well welcome to the team anyway," Devin said.
"Pfft, why do we have to have her anyway? Isn't she that crazy bitch." Anne Maria frowned. "She tried to blow up that island and everything."
"Hey hey now, we're friends here," Devin said lightly.
"Yeah well, I'd rather not be near that cray cray." Anne Maria frowned. "She of all people had to appear" She crossed her arms.
Scarlett just frowned. "Pfft. Don't you worry, I'm not going with you guys anyway."
Tyler blinked. "Oh? How come?"
"Why would I need you guys. I'm fine on my own. Goodbye." She started walking off.
"H-hey wait!" Devin cried out.
She simply continued to walk.
"W-well if you need to find us! From here just go east and you'll see a treehouse ok!"
Scarlett just walked off.
Pfft. I don't need anyone. All I need to rely on is me and only me hmph.
Devin looked at the two. "I'm going to head after her."
"Clearly she doesn't want to join us, I say leave her." Anne Maria said.
"Honestly, I'm afraid she's right man" Tyler agreed.
Devin shook his head. "I can see that but I just want to try one more time ok? I'll meet you guys back at the tree" He smiled and walked off in Scarlett's direction.
Scarlett just continued on, not completely sure where she was heading.
What a strange little world…
Suddenly she heard some rustling bushes.
Hm?
She looked in the direction of the sound.
She saw the bush continued to rustle, she curiously stepped over.
"Hello…?" She blinked.
"Gahrh!" Suddenly a blue woman came out, glowing eyes and drooling. "Ghh!"
"Ah! What the hell are you!" Scarlett's eyes widened, she inspected the name tag on the blue woman, it was an intern badge. "A-an intern? W-what!" She stepped back.
The blue intern stepped forward towards her.
Scarlett stepped back more, confused at the situation.
"Scarlett!" Devin's voice was heard behind her.
She looked back and saw Devin run over. "W-woah! You found one of the interns, step back."
"The hell is wrong with it?" Scarlett blinked and stepped back more.
"I'll explain later" Devin ran towards the intern.
The intern dashed towards him.
Devin grabbed them and pulled them into a headlock, he kept his place, his hands started to glow.
Scarlett rubbed her eyes as she watched.
The intern struggled and tried to claw out, Scarlett could see the intern slowly start to melt. Into liquid.
"Ah… There" Devin wiped the liquid off him. "Not too messy this time heh.."
"What.. what was that." Scarlett blinked. "How did you do that."
Devin looked at her. "I'll tell you when we get back to the tree ok?"
She frowned, "And what makes you think I'm even going to go there?"
"It's safe," Devin said bluntly.
Scarlett thought for a moment.
Eh… I guess I need somewhere to crash, especially if there are more of those weird intern things.
"Fine, let's go." She walked.
Devin smiled and lead her.
After an hour trek, the two were moving through bushes.
"Exactly how long till we get there now? You could've just explained to me everything on the journey." Scarlett scoffed a bit.
"I thought I'd make the trip a bit peaceful, and not give you the news until we are rested." Devin smiled. "Almost there, just through these bushes."
Scarlett moved branches and leaves from her as she struggled through the bushes.
Luckily this type of bush isn't poisonous.
She moved one last bush and saw an open, she scurried through.
Her eyes widened a little as she saw a massive treehouse on top of an extremely large oak tree, a ladder provided access to it. It was like a studio apartment on the tree, really well made and everything.
"Wow, did you make this?" Scarlett blinked.
Devin shook his head. "It was here when I got here, I guess some ancestors or something."
"Interesting…" She analysed all the areas.
This house is made of red oak, very strong… Whoever did this definitely wanted this place to last.
She kept eyeing the structure. Devin walked to the ladder. "You coming?"
Scarlett blinked and looked at him. "Yeah, I'm coming."
She followed him to the ladder and up to the treehouse.
The treehouse itself was just one large room, easy to fit all three in though, there was three beds, a couch and a bunch of other things like wardrobes, chests of draws, food, etc.
Scarlett saw Anne Maria was just spraying her hair, Tyler was missing currently.
"Where's the jock?" Scarlett blinked.
"Oh, he's out foraging, he'll be back soon, now come." Devin motioned her to the couch.
"How did you even get a couch in here." Scarlett frowned.
"As said, a lot of this stuff was already inside when we found it," Devin said.
"Very… odd." She said as she sat down on the couch.
"That's my spot there, missy, don't ruin the spot now with your butt shape." Anne maria said as she continued to spray.
"I won't." Scarlett just sat.
"Would you like a drink, water?" Devin asked.
"No, I'm good," Scarlett replied.
Devin nodded, walked over and sat down. "I guess I'll go through with everything I know…"
Devin went through with Scarlett about him arriving, the powers, the interns, the event and light, everything.
"And… yeah. That's really everything we know. You probably have powers too I'm guessing." Devin said.
"Interesting." Scarlett simply put.
"I know, it's probably hard to believe, but it's true," Devin said.
"I believe you. This place felt funny as soon as I arrived anyway." Scarlett blinked.
Devin blinked. "Well, that's good" He smiled. "Are you sure you don't want anything to eat?"
"I'm fine." She stood up. "I noticed there are a few books on your bed, may I see?"
"Oh sure," Devin smiled. "These are mostly just books I found in the forest, for some reason you can find a few lying around. People's trash I guess."
Scarlett walked over to the pile of books. They were pretty damaged and old but still legible. One had the title 'The Beyond' She picked it up and started reading.
Interesting that it's all in English here too...
"Don't know why you'd pick all the books up, probably icky." Anne Maria commented.
"It gets boring sometimes that's all," Devin said. "We only go to the towns occasionally so whatever we find is good enough."
"Why do we need to stay in the treehouse and not get a house there anyway?" Anna Maria asked.
"As I've said many times. We don't have the money. Remember when we tried to get even the simplest of jobs but we weren't qualified? It's very strict around here." Devin looked down. "Most of our money is just what we find laying in the forest after all."
"Oh yeah… Got me a new can of hairspray with some silver pieces I found actually" Anne Maria smiled.
"If you aren't qualified. Then why don't you get qualified?" Scarlett asked as she put a book down.
"Eh, it would take too long," Devin commented.
"Well. It looks like you have all the time in the world, how long has it been?" Scarlett asked.
"... seven years" He sighed. "Too long."
"I see…" Scarlett thought.
"So what did you think of the books? You're free to take a read of them if you want, I don't touch them much" Devin smiled.
"Oh, I finished them all," Scarlett said. "The Beyond really has some poor writing not going to lie. Dehisce is very well done though, I do recommend it. Tyranny is long but worth the length, took me a good 10 seconds more. Havoc is dark but interesting."
Devin blinked. "What?"
"Damn, she got them Sonic The Hedgehog eyes or something," Anne Maria commented.
"I… think I just discovered my power." Scarlett blinked.
"To read fast?" Devin questioned.
"Guess so," Scarlett said bluntly.
This gives me a good idea actually...
"I'm going for a stroll."
"Alright then, enjoy yourself!" Devin smiled.
Scarlett turned around. "Actually… one more question."
"Shoot." Devin said.
"Where is the nearest town." She asked.
"About two hours north, straight path." Devin answered.
"Great" Scarlett walked out of the treehouse and headed off.
Anne Maria looked at the couch. "Goddamn, what did I say about the spotttt!" She complained.
Devin smiled awkwardly. "Don't worry you can fix it."
"Damn right I will." She stomped over and sat on it. "Ah…"
Scarlett roamed the forest.
A lot to process here.
She looked at the night sky.
Hmm, so it seems we are somewhere different in space. Those aren't our usual constellations…
She continued thinking.
It's either we moved in space… or moved in time… either would explain the constellations being different… Or maybe it's both.
She looked forward and inspected a few tree branches.
It's odd. These trees indicate an earth-like world. Surely if this was a different planet in a completely different part of the universe that the trees would be different and probably evolved differently, this would support the time theory… or maybe life grows similarly no matter where you are.
She started walking again, she took a sharp turn and suddenly bumped into something.
"Gah!" She almost fell down. "What the…"
"Oh!" Tyler was there, holding a few buckets of berries. "Hey there Scarlett, what brings you out here?"
"I just wanted to go for a walk…" She blinked.
"Ohhh you're trying to process everything Devin told ya huh? Don't worry, took me months to fully believe him. Crazy isn't it? We might be in a completely different world." He placed the buckets down.
"For a guy like him, I'm surprised he managed to figure this much out, always came off as rather unintelligent on the show." She scoffed.
"He's a good leader" Tyler smiled. "I think what keeps him going is the need to see Carrie again, I'm sure she misses him and is wondering where we are right now."
Scarlett frowned. "You think they are back on earth?"
"Oh yeah, if they weren't we would've seen them by now right?" Tyler smiled.
She blinked. "I doubt it. I'm pretty sure it was everyone who was on that island at the time."
"Well if that's the case, then why can't we find anyone else? We've roamed the areas and towns for ages now." Tyler frowned.
"... You said you were here for 5 years right?" Scarlett asked.
Tyler nodded. "Yeah, It's been so long, I'm almost forgetting what Lindsay looks like, to be honest…" He looked down. "I feel like she might've moved on… She can barely remember me half the time as it is you know? Now think 5 years."
"Mhm…" She decidedly just blanked out his worries. "I just got here. So. Maybe they just haven't arrived yet."
"Eh?" Tyler looked confused.
"Basically. We came here at different times. So, they probably will to eventually, they just haven't come yet." Scarlett blinked.
"Uh… that doesn't make sense." Tyler blinked. "The light hit us all at the same time, how can we be here differently?" He tilted his head.
"I don't know, that's my theory though," Scarlett said.
"Huh…" Tyler blinked.
"Anyway, I should continue to go, I need to do more thinking." Scarlett started walking.
"Oh! Wait!" Tyler grabbed one of the buckets and lifted it towards her. "Take some of these berries, you must be hungry!"
She stopped and looked at the berries.
"Eh… I'm good for now." Scarlett blinked, suddenly her stomach growled.
"Well, your stomach tells me otherwise." Tyler chuckled. "Come on, accept it, this is a matter of just staying alive after all" He smiled.
She sighed. "... fine." She pulled up her sleeve and grabbed a few of the berries. She ate a few. "Not bad." She blinked.
"Good huh? There's a couple of bushes that bloom this season, luckily it's spring currently." he grabbed a few himself to eat.
"How do you know they aren't poisonous?" She asked.
"Well… had a few accidents" Tyler laughed. "I was always the taste tester" He chuckled.
"Is that your power?" She blinked.
Tyler shook his head. "Oh no, I'm just lucky I survived" He grinned. "My power is having unlimited stamina, hence why I go on all the travels."
"Interesting." Scarlett thought.
"Did you discover yours yet?" he perked up a bit.
"Eh… nothing special. I can read really fast. I went through all the books in the treehouse already." She said.
"Woah! That's cool!" He smiled. "I haven't actually gone through the books yet… I can't really concentrate when reading, sucks really." He continued on, babbling about his life.
Scarlett started looking a little frustrated. "Well. I should get going." She started to walk.
"Oh! Well, see ya then!" He smiled.
She continued her trek but then stopped and looked back. "Hey."
"Hm?" Tyler looked back at her. "What's up?"
"Thanks for the berries." She gave a small smile and walked.
"No problemo!" He grinned.
She strolled along in the forest. After an hour she noticed a dirt road. She decided to follow it.
It seems more urbanised than I thought around here.
She saw a sign situated next to the dirt road, it pointed ahead. She walked over and read it.
Aendrikard… interesting.
This is all… very very interesting.
"Ah… finally, my butt is comfortable again" Anne Maria smiled.
"Well, I'm happy you're all happy again" Devin laughed.
Outside of the treehouse, hiding somewhere unknown, someone was simply watching.
"..."
Heavy breathing.
"... soon."