A/N: Hey! It's me! Sorry I'm a day late, but I was in Sydney visiting my family over the weekend. But, I still got the chapter up in reasonable time seeing as I was away for over three days, huh? Okay, enough of my stupid excuses, on with the chapter!
Oh, andthis chapter is named after my favourite song (Owl City, of course!)
Numbuh: Thanks! Although I'm not sure I'd be good enough to be a member of the TND...
Numbuh 46: Yeah, I know you know I know I love it... wait, what were we talking about again?
Now Loading...
Kids Next Door Mission...
Operation: F.O.R.G.E.T.
Fragments
Of
Recovery
Gradually
Enable
Team
Chapter 16 – Dreams and Disasters
Nigel let out a deep yawn. It was 3:30. In the morning. He and his friends were meant to have been in bed, in their sleeping bags in the lounge room three hours ago, but after Kuki's parents had arrived home, settled into their own rooms, tired from whatever it is they were doing, at around midnight, the five teens had gotten up and snuck the TV back on to finish off the two and a half DVDs they had still yet to watch. With the volume down low and voices held to a tight whisper, they had gone undetected until now, and planned to keep going with the movies for as long as another two (Kuki had raided her DVD cabinet) could stand.
Nigel had never really been up this late -or early, should it be- at all. Not even on new years'. It was a strange feeling. Almost like you were breaking some sort of rule. He wasn't sure exactly what rule, but still, it felt that way.
The movie on screen was pretty good, but there were blank patches where he guessed he'd fallen asleep.
Wally yawned deeply from somewhere next to him. His eyes were getting heavy again, and though he fought to stop it, Wally's yawn caught on, and within the next minute, Nigel was asleep, along with the other four teens in the room.
~(*)~(*)~
Nigel arose groggily. He stretcched out his back and went to rub his eyes, but was blocked by a glass lens. He felt around and pulled off a pair of black sunglasses.
'Huh?' He whispered to himself, wondering where the shades had come from. He stood up, his legs almost giving way. He stumbled, nearly fell before he caught himself. Once he had his balance, he looked around, wondering where he was. He saw... a soda bar. All that was there was a long, wooden bartop, lined with stools, a lounge furnished with couches, armchairs and coffee tables, it was a pretty nice setup, but completely empty. It was eerie, hollow, deserted. Nigel gave a shiver, it wasn't cold, but the air was so strange, isolated, like a childhood memory devoid of any life. Not that Nigel had any childhood memories. There was a big hole in that part of the film of his life.
But then, like someone had switched on a light, the soda bar was crowded with people. Some Nigel recognised, he saw Rachel, Fanny, Patton, and a few unnamed faces he had seen around, while some were completely unknown to him. But there, in the corner, sitting on the bar stools with tall glasses of root beer, were Hoagie, Kuki, Wally and Abby. No-one noticed him, as if he were a ghost. Nigel realised that the sunglasses still hung from his hand at his side. In some unconcious choice, he lifted them to examine in the light. They were nice, if a bit worn. He slipped them on, not really sure why, and suddenly the view of the sodaa bar changed again. It took a few seconds for him to notice how, but now, he realised in disbelief, he was looking at a bar full of kids. Startled, Nigel took off the glasses and blinked hard. The room was once again full of teens. Frowning, Nigel walked around, unconvinced as to the reality of this picture. Something occurred to him, something crazy, but something. He slowly brought the glasses up, placed the, over his eyes. As he half-expected, kids ruled the soda bar once more.
But not just any kids. The people he had been looking at before, the teens that were sitting there, talking, gossiping, texting, doing what teens do, were now a bunch of kids, chasing each other through the chairs and around corners, joking and laughing and yelling. But what was more, Nigel was seeing the people from before the sunglasses went on, the people he knew as kids. Rachel's hair was shorter, skimming below her cheeks instead of her shoulder, her face had a thinner covering of freckles, looked overall younger, less mature. There was patton, shorter and less muscled, who had a boyish grin on his face as he watched Fanny having a temper tantrum at a boy with dusty blonde hair. She had thinner legs, a rounder face. It was all too weird.
But what caught Nigel by surprise, caused him to do a double take, was the group of four over in the corner. Abby, Wally, Kuki, and Hoagie were there, though they looked so much different. So much different, yet he instantaneously knew who they were.
Abby was wearing what looked like only a shirt, that went down to just above her knees, white sandles and her red hat. Nigel found himself smiling in a 'typical Abby' way, but stopped as he realised he couldn't know the typical Abby. She was sipping on what looked like an iced chocolate, times five. It was piled way past the brim with whipped cream and chocolate syrup.
Hoagie, well Hoagie was... a lot rounder than Nigel remembered, wearing some kind of aviator's cap and goggles with a blue T-shirt instead of his usual white polo and overshirt. He was chugging down his fourth vanilla milkshake, with two of the bartenders -who, strangely, also seemed to be children- watched as if something was riding on the outcome. Hoagie finished the the shake and slapped the glass down on the bartop, demanding another, while one of the bartenders, head dropping, handed over not money, but a card, one Nigel vaguely remembered some kids in the street talking about, yapper or something like that. Funny, kids wagering over how many milkshakes the tubby little boy could chug.
Wally watched the betting from the seat next to Hoagie, with his own root beer in front of him, looking so much shorter that Nigel had to laugh, but the way his fringe covered his eyes in shadow was exactly the same. Kuki still had the ever-present beam on her face still bright as ever. She held a dainty little glass of pink lemonade with a cocktail umbrella in the side. She had on a sweater that was at least ten sizes too big, black leggings and was giggling like she'd just heard the funniest joke in the world.
Looking down at himself, he realised that he, too, had changed. His brown pants were now shorts, an his red Tee and black jacket had been replaced by a long red sweater.
Suddenly, he was noticed. By Rachel.
'Nigel! How's it going?' She called, waving cheerily. Nigel waved back hesitantly. Rachel gestured for him to come over, so he did.
'What is up, my friend? Long time no see!'
'Uhm, not much, I guess.' Nigel was fairly sure this was a dream, but it was still uncomfortable being in this situation with his crush, who he had only actually talked to about twice.
'So, seriously though, where have you been? It's been, what, a year and a bit?'
Nigel was suddenly, unexplainedly, nervous about answering, and felt that there was something she wasn't supposed to know.
'Well, y'know, just stuff, I guess...' he found himself saying, but the girl opposite him didn't seem convinced.
She looked him over, as if trying to see what was happening in his head.
'There's something you're not telling me, isn't there?' She deadpanned. Nigel felt something inside himself cave in, something he couldn't control. Without thinking, he grabbed Rachel's arm, uncomfortable with the meer action, and began to drag her towards a janitor's closet.
He pulled the door open, walked the two of them in, and closed the door behind them.
'Okay, I'll tell you where I've been, but you have to promise me one thing,' he said, the words not his own. Rachel looked startled, but not afraid. She swallowed, then nodded solemnly. And Nigel's mouth just kept going, kept on as if someone had gotten their hands on his remote control.
'This is top secret, Rachel, top secret,' he whispered, 'if any of this got out to the Teens, the Adults, I hate to think what it would mean.' A deep, steadying breath.
'I- We- The Kids Next Door, I mean...-' a sigh- 'the GKND. Galactic Kids Next Door. That's where I've been.'
Rachel held a look of confusion, waiting for more.
'What- I mean, I don't understand. The Galactic... what does that mean?' She stumbled.
'Well, I'm going to put this bluntly. Adulthood- it isn't- it isn't natural. It's like a, a sort of disease. And it's affected a lot of planets. Not just ours. And to stop it, they - anddon't ask me who 'they' is, I have no idea- started the GKND. One kid from every planet, goes out there to join the organisation. And-' Nigel tried to say it without sounding in the least bit like he was bragging- 'I was Earth's representative.' He took another deep breath.
'I- don't believe it,' Rachel breathed. She had a far-off look in her eyes. Nigel managed a small smirk.
'What, I'm not that bad, am I?' he joked, one eyebrow raised. Rachel snapped out of her phase and shoved him playfully; 'You know what I mean.'
'But, well, there's one more thing,' Nigel said, ending the joke. 'Once you leave your planet, you're not really meant to come back.'
'...I don't understand. I mean- you're here right now.'
'I- Well, I was looking through some files one day, when I stumbled upon a bugged conversation recording labelled; 'Earth Operations.' Of course, that was the first that I'd heard of my own planet in a couple months, so I boot up the computer and sit down.' He looked up to find Rachel staring intently at him.
'Anyway, I start listening, and I hear, guess who? Father, Cree, the Delightful Children, teen ninjas, ice-cream men, every villain you could name, all in one place. Now-' he gave a small, inward laugh- 'although it was a bit of a "blast from the past" to hear them all again, even if it was an enemy's voice, I figure out what they're talking about.
... The adults are planning an attack. Three weeks from now.'
'What?!' Rachel made no hesitation in her shock.
'Sh-sh-sh-shush!' Nigel hushed, eyeing the door nervously.
'What?' Rachel said, more quietly this time.
'I- Oh my gosh, Nigel, we-we have to do something! We can't, we have to- we gotta tell someone!' Rachel ranted, breathing becoming shallow and quicker.
'Woah, woah, calm down, hyperventilating will get us nowhere. You need a paper bag there?' Nigel tried to get Rachel to a sane point again, his hand on her back.
'Look, I agree, we do have to do something about this, but we have three weeks, and today's not a day to be worrying about this, it's meant to be a celebration, right? Patton's twelvth birthday, right?' Nigel suddenly regretted telling her anything.
But she seemed to calm down a little. Seemed to hold it back.
'You're- I guess you're right. Let's go out there before we miss out on cake.'
She turned to open the door, but Nigel, still under the control of his new, kid body, stopped her.
'Wait, Rachel. Are you okay? You know we'll get through this. We always do. It'll be fine.' She nodded with a head hung low.
'And another thing? I'm- I'm not really supposed to be here. I'm actually "forbidden" from leaving the space station. I just - I was barely coping with the pain of not being here. I missed the team, I missed all of them, the missions too. I missed actually knowing whatthe laws of physics were for where I was, because let me tell you, there are some strange things out there, really strange. But most of all, I kept thinking about what you were thinking. I didn't know what you thought about me not being there. I-' he could feel himself blushing. He knew what he was about to do, and he was dreading it, but he had said too much to think there was any way he could stop it.
'I missed- I missed you.'
Rachel stopped. Just stood there, not doing anything, taking forever to process what he'd said. And, it was then that Nigel finally felt the dread kick in. What had he done? e coud have just ruined an amazing friendship, and even though he was now 99% sure that he was dreaming, he still felt it, still wondered 'what friendship?'
'I- that's- so sweet, Nigel. I didn't know you felt that way.'
'Well, I-' Nigel wasa cut off.
'I do too.'
'Say what?'
'I-' Rachel hesitated, blushing and rubbing the back of her neck. 'I- l-like you too.'
After that, neither was really sure what to do. They sat there, both feeling awkward, but both feeling joy welling in their chest.
'Well, now I wouln't be surprised if we really had missed cake,' Rachel finally said, smiling in that way that caught Nigel every time. That there was what he'd been craving for the year-and-a-half he'd been away. Just that smile.
Rachel got up, kissed Nigel on the cheek quickly, like it was no big deal -but, she had done it, hadn't she? She had actually done it, it wasn't just his imagination?- Hang on, this is a dream! Nigel's heart sank as he realised that none of this was real. But, he still had no control over what he was doing, so remained as happy as if it was all one hundred per cent real.
And he left the closet.
Hoagie, Kuki, Wally and Abby greeted him as he walked out into the noise of the children in the soda bar. They had saved him a seat. He gladly took it, realising that somehow he was in control again, he knew what he was doing.
He ordered a caramel milkshake and sighed deeply.
'What were you doing in the closet, number 1?' Kuki asked, her voice naïve and overall airhead-ish.
Number 1. Number 1. It was not so much a numeral, as a name. Not a number, a numbuh.
'What were you doing in the closet numbuh 1.' That was right.
~(*)~(*)~
'Nigel. Niii-gel. ... Nigel!' Suddenly, Nigel found himself wakened, with Abby and Hoagie leaning over him.
Awake again.
Reality again.
Yet somehow, that dream felt like a concious memory, even if it was already starting to fade.
A/N: Yeah, I couldn't resist the whole Nigel/Rachel thing. I'm a sucker for the couples.
**Soapbox moment** Ladies and Gentlemen, I am thrilled to announce that we have broken FIFTY reviews! Woo-yeah! I'd like to thank Fanfiction, for giving me the chance to express my obsession in ways other than the classic fangirl squeal, and a huge thanks to Mr. Warburton, without whom none of us would be in this fanfiction site today. I am so honoured, I just feel so happy- **dragged off by one of those big hooky thingys** Nah, I'm just joking! ;)
But seriously. Thanks.
