Chapter Two: Nick
When Nick woke up and his eyes adjusted to the dim light he could make out a face staring at him from above. Emma. Her face so close it startled him, but it was nice to know she cared enough to be right there when he woke up.
"Wha? Where. Where are we?" Nick asked trying to sit up. Spots formed behind his eyes but they soon faded and Emma was still sitting next to him and Lucas was a foot away, just beginning to sit up as well. He was still with the same people, the environment was just different.
They seemed to be on the edge of forest, there was a row of trees behind them and more behind that, and city lights gleamed not far away.
"You should now." Emma smiled, kind of mischievously, but with sadness hidden behind her beautiful eyes. "You come here everyday."
As confusion washed over Nick, realization hit Lucas. "Past." He whispered. Nick stared at him, then back at the city and the castle beyond that. As unrealistic as it seemed, he knew his friend was right, they were in their favorite video game, and as much as Nick loved to play it, he would never, ever have wished to actually be in.
"No." He mumbled. He hated to admit it, but he was scared. All the minions that lurked the streets, the Dark Queen herself. You never knew who you could trust in this place, that's why he liked the idea of being on the other side of the screen. Lucas, however, was taking it in a completely different way. He thought this was the best thing that could have happened to them.
"This is so cool!" He shouted. "No," he corrected himself, "this is beyond cool!"
"Wait," Nick started, as if something was just coming to him. "how, who, why, who are you?" He stuttered looking at Emma, like he was seeing her for the first time. He couldn't form any words. The way she'd woken up before them, if she had been knocked out at all, the way she knew how to beat the level, the way she immediately knew where they were, even if she's only played the game once.
Uneasiness settled over her and she looked so sad Nick almost regretted asking, but he knew he couldn't go on much longer, trust her much longer, if he didn't have some information.
"I'm Emma. I'm still your friend, in this world, and in Lucas's world, but I'm-"
"Wait." Nick held up his hand telling her to stop talking. "Lucas's world? What, Lucas and us aren't from the same world?"
"Well, it takes a lot of explaining, and I'm afraid I can't tell you everything, or much of everything really, it's kind of like the game, you find out more in the end…" Her voice trailed off and Lucas and Nick looked disappointed and a little bit mad. "I'm so sorry." Emma said and she truly meant it, Nick could tell.
"So, what can you tell us?" Nick asked.
"I'm not from the real world, Lucas's world, the world we all previously lived in. I was born here, as were… never mind that. Anyways, I was sent to the real world to find the people that were supposed to be our saviors and defeat the Dark Queen. I traveled everywhere and everyone who played the game, except you two, were, no offense to them, really old people. I knew you were the ones I was looking for, so I befriended you, and well, gave you the nudge you needed to get here." Emma's voice was shaky and her eyes gave away how scared she was, but they also showed the guilt that they both knew was there.
"So, you only befriended us because you had to? Because it was what your master wanted? You wanted to manipulate us, so really, you're no better than the Dark Queen yourself. You came for us so we could do your bidding for you, you're the Dark Queen and we're your minions." Nick said. He knew as soon as the words left his lips he would regret them, but the anger was there, and it was overpowering his guilt.
"No, that's not true. I-I" Emma's voice faltered as the tears that had been brewing in her eyes began to spill over and her voice shook. "I didn't know it was you guys right away, I befriended you because you guys excepted me, the new girl. I thought you were really awesome guys, it just happened to be a happy coincidence when you ended up being the ones I was looking for too."
Nick didn't know what to believe, to think that his friend, his crush for that matter, might not even have really been his friend after all, it was, unthinkable. "She's telling the truth." A voice said, coming out of the shadows.
The figure was dressed in all black so you could hardly see them make their way out of the woods.
Nick and Lucas both scrambled to their feet and fumbled with their words. "Shadow." Lucas finally settled on. "Is it really you?"
"Yes." His voice was nothing like they had imagined, it was deep and hard, but not quite cold. It was much deeper than any human voice should be, so he obviously used a voice modifier. "And you shouldn't be so hard on her, I can tell she's telling the truth, besides, maybe you aren't the ones, I thought our saviors would have more faith in their friends." Shadow said and he sounded like a disappointed parent although he appeared to be their age.
Nick and Lucas looked uncomfortable, almost like they were going to apologize but decided it would make them seem like children being scolded by a parent.
"I've got you're clothes here Emma, if you want to change." Shadow said and held up some clothes.
"Thanks." Emma got up and grabbed them, then she walked off towards the nearest abandoned house and changed, when she got back Nick's mouth dropped open. She was gorgeous. Her long flowing brown hair was tied back in a tight ponytail, her baggy t-shirt had been traded for a black t-shirt, her sweatpants were now black skinny jeans, her sneakers were men's work boots, and her sweatshirt was a black leather jacket. "This is so much better." She said.
"Wow." Nick said. Then in his head, Idiot. "I mean, you look good."
"Thanks." Emma said, though the comment seemed to make her feel uncomfortable.
"Do you still have your weapon?" Shadow asked her.
"Of course, never leave without it." Emma said, she went over to her backpack and took out her sketchbook and pen, she held them and Shadow nodded.
"What are you going to kill people by hitting them over the head with your sketchbook?" Lucas asked sarcastically.
"It's probably like in Percy Jackson, if she uncaps the pen it becomes a deadly weapon like a sword." Nick said.
"You're both wrong." Emma said.
"Then what does it do?" Lucas asked.
"You'll find out if we get attacked."
"We should set up camp for the night, I think everyone here knows that in the city of Past things get much much worse when darkness comes." Shadow said, still standing on the edge of the woods.
"We aren't going in there, are we?" Lucas asked.
Shadow laughed, which seemed especially creepy with his deep voice. "No, that would be suicidal, we'll go to the house Emma was just in, and we can take turns keeping guard."
"Okay, I'll take first watch." Nick said, he still didn't feel quite right in this, he wanted time to think about it.
"No way, the video game version of this place is much milder, you'd get killed here if you kept guard on your first night, I will." Emma said, and she made it sound like it was the end of the discussion. Nick found it hard to believe that this was the girl he had spent the last two years hanging out with.
"Well, glad that's settled. Let's go, shall we?" Shadow said, and led them towards the abandoned house.
Shadow and Emma both had blankets in their backpacks and so they set up camp in the main entrance room, then Emma went outside to keep watch. Nick tossed and turned for about an hour before he decided sleep was impossible, so he went outside to keep guard with Emma.
At first he thought she had abandoned them, but then he saw a light coming from the roof of the house and figured she was up there, when he got to the top she drawing in her sketchbook and didn't seem at all surprised by his appearance.
"Couldn't sleep?" She asked casually without looking up as she continued to draw.
"No." Nick said, he took a seat next to her and watched her draw for a second, she was drawing a sword with a long blade and leather wrapped handle, but just before she finished it by connecting the blade to the handle on the right side, she stopped, leaving about half an inch of space between the two. She then turned the page and started drawing something else.
"Why didn't you finish?" Nick asked.
"It's a long explanation." Emma replied simply.
"It's not like we don't have time." Nick saw a smirk tug at the corners of Emma's lips and he knew she was fighting a smile. Gosh she was pretty.
Emma stopped drawing and handed her notebook to Nick. He flipped through the pages and stared at all the drawings, none of them were finished. There was at least a half an inch left somewhere in the drawings, and he also noticed most of the drawings were of weapons, with a few exceptions. "Why didn't you connect any of them? And why do you only draw weapons?"
"I don't only draw weapons, I just mostly draw them, to prepare." Emma said, which didn't explain much. "See, well there's no easy way to explain it, so I'll show you." Nick looked confused, but the two emotions that were really fighting inside him were fear and excitement, so he sat patiently and waited.
Emma turned to the next page and paused for second, pondering what to draw. "You need a weapon, don't you?"
"Yeah, but draw whatever you want, I can get a weapon later."
"Okay, I'll draw one after this, that way you can help me design it." Emma said, but Nick was still confused as to how something she drew could possibly help him. Then her hand began to fly across the paper, drawing lines here and there and sketching. Nick soon realized what it was, a dove. After just a few minutes her drawing was nearly done, there was just that half inch left to connect.
"That's amazing." Nick said, he was staring at the best, most beautifully drawn dove he'd ever seen.
"Are you ready?" Emma asked, a mischievous smile spread across her face.
"Um, sure." Nick didn't know what to expect, but he wasn't expecting what happened next. Emma took her pen and connected the bottom of the dove's wing to it's back and then it sprang to life. The dove literally came off the paper and stood on it for a second, a pure white real live dove that began flapping it's wings. Nick glanced at Emma and saw a sparkle in her eye that he's never seen before, pure amazement and happiness at this thing she created and brought to life. She was mesmerized by her own beauty.
I looked back at the bird just as it spread it wings one last time and took to the sky, looking back once as if to say thank you.