Eddie
Disclaimers: I don't own "Once Upon a Time." Also this is a spin – off of the original "Thicker than Water" written by La Lisboa.
This takes place during chapter 34, when the boys take Henry's new sword to the park with David.
All three of the boys eagerly headed for the park. Eddie couldn't believe Henry's uncle had made a sword for him. He thought having his own baseball glove was great but a sword was even better. He did agree with Henry; it would have been better if it were a real sword. But the one Henry had looked like it would be fun to use, too. It was long, after all, not like one of those little plastic swords the department stores sold sometimes. It looked very realistic for a sword made of wood.
"Can we start right here?" Henry asked his uncle, standing on part of the park without the playground equipment. It was the same place that they used to play baseball.
Henry's uncle looked around for a second. "Yes, this should be fine for now. But if someone comes to use the field, we'll have to live. When you practice sword fighting, you have to make sure you don't hit anyone. Do you understand, Henry?" He sounded very serious. Honestly, Eddie thought he might be over doing it, a bit. It was a wooden sword, not a real one, after all.
But Henry nodded eagerly. "Yes, Gr – Uncle David. I understand." Henry was always doing that when he talked to his uncle, Eddie had noticed. For some reason, he always started to call him something else before he switched to "Uncle David." Eddie could never understand what Henry started to say, or why he would call his uncle anything besides, "Uncle David." But it didn't really matter, Eddie supposed.
"You also have to make sure you don't point the end at anyone." Henry's uncle continued. "After all you're the only one with a sword. No one here can fight back."
Henry nodded again, but finally voiced what Eddie had been wondering. "But this is just a wooden sword! It's not like I'm actually going to hurt anyone, Gr – Uncle David!"
Eddie nodded in agreement.
"I was wondering that, too, actually," Teddy added.
David nodded but still looked serious. "That's true, Henry. It is a wooden sword. So you won't be able to kill anyone with it. But it is still possible to hurt someone with it, if you're not careful. Feel the tip, for example."
Henry did so, and jerked back his finger in surprise.
"It's pretty sharp, isn't it?"
Henry nodded.
"So could you imagine hurting someone with the tip if you're not careful?" Henry's uncle continued.
"Yeah."
Teddy and Eddie nodded in understanding as well.
"Plus, if you hit someone with something with a lot of force, it will hurt them pretty badly, too." David added.
Eddie nodded. That made sense.
"Yeah, we've been warned about that with our baseball bats," Teddy told David.
David nodded, as if that comparison would not have occurred to him. "Good. Besides that, you should treat a wooden sword like a real sword anyway. Because you never know when you might end up having to use a real one. So you all understand about safety?"
All three boys nodded, although Eddie wasn't sure why he'd ever have to use a real sword. Unless Henry's uncle was trying to say he'd buy him a real sword someday. That would be cool.
"Okay, Henry so you stand like this," David squared his feet so they were right under his shoulders. "And you hold the sword out and swing it around. Remember, stay far enough away so you won't hit anyone."
Henry backed up again and squared his feet again. Then he began swinging his sword around in the air.
"That's not bad, Henry." David nodded, obviously impressed. "It's very good, actually."
"Can I try?" Teddy asked, holding his hand out to Henry.
"Can I try after him?" Eddie asked as well.
"Sure," Henry replied, shrugging. He handed the sword to Teddy.
Teddy backed away from the others and put his feet about the way he was supposed to. Then he swung the sword in the air a few minutes. He looked okay, Eddie supposed.
Then Teddy handed the sword to Eddie. He backed away from the others and tried to put his feet in the right position. Then Eddie swung the sword around a few minutes. "How was that?" he asked the others.
They shrugged. "It wasn't bad," David replied.
"It was alright," Henry agreed, nodding.
"You should keep your arm up a little more. Usually the places you want to hit are up here." Henry's uncle gestured to his torso region. "Not down there." He gestured to his feet.
Eddie nodded. "Oh."
"Can you show us, Gr – Uncle David?" Henry asked.
David shrugged. "I'm a little out of practice, Henry. It's been a while since I've picked up a sword."
"But you've used one before. That's more than any of us have," Henry protested. Eddie supposed it made sense that Henry's uncle had used a sword before. Why else would he know so much about them?
"Okay," David finally agreed. He took the sword, and stepped backwards a few feet. Then he squared his feet and began whipping the sword around so fast, Eddie could barely see it. He flipped himself around several times, altering his position.
"If that's 'out of practice,' what do you look like when you have practiced?" Eddie couldn't stop himself from asking, when David finally stopped.
David shrugged.
"Were you on, like, a fencing team in school, or something?" Teddy asked, awed.
"Something like that," David replied. He and Henry shared a look. Eddie wondered what that meant. Did it have anything to do with the name Henry kept almost calling him? It was no matter. Henry's Uncle David was really cool. Eddie wondered if he asked him, if he'd make Eddie a sword like Henry's. Maybe if he offered to pay him for it? He'd have to ask his mom, first of course.
Thank you for reading. Hope you enjoyed reading about Eddie. I'd love some more reviews, if possible.
Fangirl: Thank you for the review for the last chapter. (Seriously, I think you review as much as I do. That's a good thing, by the way. I love having a discussion partner for this stuff.) I'm glad you liked reading more about Justin. Hope you enjoy reading about Eddie and the sword fighting.