Chapter 8: Throne of Reign

Edd's House

As Edd entered his room after taking his shower, he made way straight to his bed. He was rather tired from today and all that took place had left him exhausted. Peeling back his quilt, he laid down, pulling it back over him. Laying back with his face staring at the ceiling, he quickly found himself drifting into a slumber, as his eyes became increasingly heavy...

Edd reopened his eyes, noticing he was not in his room but in a vast field full of purple foliage, with the sun shining pleasantly above. He spun around slowly, taking in all of his surroundings and saw the exact same scenery until he came back full-circle. Then the smell hit him like a train: lilacs. It was a large filed full of them. Confused, but otherwise amused, he started walking forward, taking in the smells and curious as to where he might end up.

As he continued his slow, leisurely stroll, a faint shape started to appear in the distance directly in front of him. Stopping for a moment, Edd tried to distinguish what it could possibly be, but was to far away to get an accurate idea. As he started on his way again, the air around him was pierced by a wail only a banshee gliding amongst the moors could emanate from its jaws. Edd stopped dead in his tracks, the hairs on the back of his neck prickled up as the sound pierced down into his very core, tapping into the hidden recess of primal fears. He started to sweat profusely, eyes wide and paralyzed with terror. Off in the distance of the indistinguishable structure, he heard the scream again.

The sky suddenly turned dark; swallowing the suns welcoming glow and casting the scene into a morbid tone. Edd was on the verge of complete panic. His attention was again drawn back to the now ominous structure in the distance. It was if he couldn't tear his gaze away from it, like it held his very soul in its grasp, forcing him to look or risk losing his very mortality.

At first, he thought his eyes were tricking him, playing off the reservoir of contained terror. It seemed as if a large being of some sorts had risen to the top of whatever structure he had been staring at. This thought however was quickly crushed as it leaped off from the top and landed a ways away, sending reverberation shocks that hit Edd, making him realize that whatever it was, it was VERY real.

To his terror, and vast confusion, a very familiar face that Edd had seen hours ago was planted on the huge mass running towards him.

"I'M GONNA WRECK IT!", roared Wreck-It-Ralph.

"OH LORD!", screamed Edd in reply and immediately turned around and with surprising gusto, took off at a sprint.

Edd could hear Ralph quickly gaining ground on him. No matter how fast he pushed himself, he couldn't seem to get any sort of lead on his tormentor. All was seeing for naught, Edd was slowing down and edging closer to what he could only imagine was to be a rather heinous beating. Out of the corner of his eye, a flash of color whipped around the lilacs and moved to intercept Ralph. Edd stopped completely and turned around to see what it could possibly be. Ralph was still charging, face in an unfurled snarl, but soon this changed. Mere feet away from Edd, he stopped cold and lifted his fist towards his face. He opened it to reveal a larger, gold medal which, upon viewing, caused him to immediately swing into a state of utter euphoria.

"I WON! I GOT A MEDAL! SUCK IT FELIX!", yelled Ralph as he bounded back the direction he came.

Edd was completely dumbstruck at the...peculiar, change of events. He didn't have long to ponder on his mysterious luck. The flash that he had seen earlier reappeared, only this time, it was circling HIM instead.

"Calm down Eddward, this is only a dream! Nothing can truly hurt you!", Edd told himself with faux courage.

Standing his ground, despite his natural instinct to run as far away from danger, Edd kept his sight on this "flash" as it slowly crept closer to him.

Without even realizing it, Edd noticed he couldn't see anymore. His vision was completely dark, even though his eyes were wide open. His skin prickled upon hearing a whisper accompanied by a small wave of hot breath.

"Guess who, Oven-mitt...".

Edd awoke with a sudden jerk, coming to a complete upright position. His heart was racing and his brow was covered in sweat as he took several quick breaths to make sure he was in the realm of actual reality. He couldn't remember the last time he had such a dream, nonetheless, one that spanned great shifts in emotion as this one had. Slowly, his eyes adjusted and he looked over to his nightstand, reading the clock atop. It was only one in the morning, but it had felt like his ordeal had lasted for...well, a lot longer than a few measly hours.

Laying back down, Edd tried to relax and hopefully fall back asleep. He had planned on enjoying his Saturday finishing school assignments, hanging out with Ed and Eddy, learn to make meatballs, and whatever else the day brought for him. Close to dozing off though, his mind wandered back to the dream, especially the moment before he woke. He knew it was Marie that had saved him, obviously so from her trademark nickname for him. What made him ponder though, was how vivid it was and how it seemed almost like a foretelling of events that were to come. He didn't stick long to this train of thought though, as weariness soon came back to him.

As Edd flopped over to his side, sinking into the warmth and relaxation of his bed, he couldn't help but wonder if Marie had any sort of episode as himself. Edd quickly fell asleep, mind on Marie as he thought about how cute she looked when she blushed.

Park n' Flush...

Marie hadn't been able to fall back asleep as quickly as she hoped. She had been wide awake since she woke up from her nightmare. Before she awoke, Marie had been walking with Edd down a sidewalk, not really going anywhere. They were just enjoying the day, talking and giggling at each other. Marie was feeling beyond perfect. Her she was, walking side by side with a guy she loved with her entire being...

Although it started out innocent and loving enough, events quickly diverted directions. As they walked, Marie noticed Edd grew grim and his eyes had a distant stare. Confused, she was preparing to inquire what was on his mind, a truck came barreling down the street. It was swerving about erratically, overlapping the road and hitting the sidewalk the two were walking on. Edd didn't seem to notice as he kept walking onwards. Marie however was fully aware of the oncoming doom, and she moved to get Edd out of the trucks path. She ran up to Edd, trying to yell at him to stop but her mouth couldn't utter any words to her horror.

Edd kept walking, while Marie tried using her physical dominance to hold him back. She jerked on his arm, trying immensely to get him out of harms way or at least, warn him of the ever coming threat. She quickly fell into disarray, she couldn't stop him no matter how hard she tried pulling him away. She never did see the end result, as she woke up right before Edd was to meet a certain death.

Tears were already trailing down her as she had woken up. Her breathing was erratic and she quickly looked around her room, making sure she was indeed awake and not in that horrible place again. She looked over to her nightstand and picked up her phone, hitting the power button to see what time it could be. A mere one thirty to her surprise. Mind still in fear, she decided to text Edd, just to make for certain he was alright, even thought she knew deep down that he was.

After sending her message, she placed her phone back on the nightstand and laid back down. Pulling her covers around her, curling in a small ball attempting to bring some comfort to her nerves.

"Dammit, no more cheesy westerns for a while...", sighed Marie as she settled into bed, eagerly awaiting the coming morning.