Ah yes, one of my favourite chapters. not just for the content, but also the CLIFFHANGER

Did I spill too much?

Anyway.

I only own, Cora, Emily and this plot. Everything else belongs to the rightful owners.

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Day Two of Five for the celebration break.

"What?" Edd stares at the both of us, confused and stunned by our sudden outburst, "Cora, Emily? What's going on?"

"Oh my god, oh my god!" Emily exclaims, "This makes so much sense now!"

"What is?" Tom asks.

"Eagle's Cross!" I jump about a foot in the air, "Operation: Eagle's Cross was a suicide mission with a grandfather paradox, which he saw as a saving grace! How did I not notice this before?"

"But why would I kill go back and kill myself?" Edd points out, confused, "Wasn't that clear in the Eddisode?"

"It's not you who came out to kill you, it's my dad that was after you!"

The crews' eyes widen to the size of teacups. Tord and Mark's eyes however, quickly return to normal.

"All this time… faen, how could I not think of that?"

"The rest of us are still confused, comm-"

"We'll try to explain as best we can, but bear with us if we get too hyped." Emily explains, "First of all, Cora's dad lied to you three about being Future Edd."

"But he looked exactly the same to me! Well, except for the bottom of his hair. That's more…Tord-ish, come to think of it."

"And he used it to his advantage." I pull up a selfie with dad during one of the rare better moments on my phone, "See?"

"…All down to the coat! But why didn't he mention you-hold on. He was either being an ass or didn't want his mission ruined by the thoughts of his wife and kids, right?"

"Bang on!" Em agrees, her face lighting up, "The same sort of deal is with Cora's uncles too, Matthew and Thomas, who took 'Future Matt' and 'Future Tom' respectively."

"Eh…the laser-eye thing was pretty specific though."

"Do you remember getting cancer in your eye sockets at some point?" Em deadpans.

"No, actually," Tom frowns, "But how-"

"Uncle Thomas took a laser to the face too, except his lack of eyes didn't have an infinite space like you and well, the cancer developed." I explain, "That one Zanta mission had only a single casualty and that was Uncle Thomas. Well, from what I've heard from him in the civil family meetings."

"So history repeats itself, except worse. Also, did you just-"

"Anyway, the same deal goes for Matthew IV," Em goes on, "Although we're not quite too sure on what happened to his chin and eye in the first place. And how he actually had hair too."

"Oh, thank god I don't look that old!" Matt sighs in relief, leading the rest of us to roll our eyes, "But do you know what changed in time to stop him from losing his eye, chin and hair?"

Em shrugs helplessly, "Got no idea. We never saw it in the Eddisode but I guess it still gives a pretty good point on how a minor thing in the past can make a major impact in the future, better or worse."

The crews nod with agreement, but Tord raises his hand.

"What about Red Leader? I mean, especially with him popping up in the news a lot more."

"That's Uncle Thorfrid's former police name before he said he'd quit permanently 6 years ago," I recall, "I agree, it is getting pretty freaky, but at least we can somewhat pinpoint dad's age on when he went back. If Uncle Thomas and Matthew were talking to Red Leader while going after dad, I was still a kid. Dad was pretty restless when I was younger but he seemed to relax more as I got older."

"What about the time machines?" Edd points out, "I mean, it does make more sense that they'd be coming from your time, but they seem kinda…I dunno, non-existent, from what we've found out on the internet these days…"

"They exist, but all of three that the world knows about are locked up somewhere in the London Police base. Okay, everyone knows that two time machines are in the world, but Laurie once hacked in and found the location of them and the third one existed, but swore me to secrecy about it and not tell dad. The only people I've told about this are you guys and Emily."

"Something seems kinda off though," Eduardo remarks, "Why did your dad talk about returning to our home time?"

"No idea. Maybe he'd been there before and tasted the original stuff when secret time-travelling missions were a thing back in the day, according to what Cor heard from her dad."

An email pops up on my phone. It's from Jasper, he's gotten through the firewall, but most of his info is somewhat kinda irrelevant as it only just further confirms what Em and I have been explaining to the crews.

Dad named Operation: Eagle's Cross from the secret three notes that Sir Francis Haddock had sent out to his sons to tell them where the treasure lay in the Tintin comic, because dad found emotional and metaphorical connections to him hiding secrets and a sort of treasure in the basement of the house.

Confusion in the room begins to die down, now being replaced with understanding instead. But those few nervous glances around the room tells me that there's still questions to be answered. Jon speaks up first:

"Why did your dad and uncles use 'Future' before their nicknames? Not that they just looked similar to them, I guess…"

"…good point. They technically are future Edd, Tom, Matt and Tord if you wanna think over it in a certain way." Em shrugs.

"What's the deal of me, Jon and Mark in this," Eduardo asks, "If it's all about Cora's family line?"

"I think you were a witness to something Mr Gould didn't want you letting out. Maybe that's why he dragged the three of you in too."

My heart slowly starts to pound. It speeds up when Matt jumps in.

"Hold on, is there a reason from Eagle's Cross on why we're…ghosts? I mean, we walk through you and the only way you could see us in the beginning was through those mirrors."

Em and I glance at each other, mildly stunned, before I reply.

"We've got no idea. It's a really good question, but we can't answer that. But we can say that we think you're not really ghosts."

"What?"

"I mean, what kind of ghost fixes technology instead of making it go all the more haywire? How come when we walk through you or stand in you guys for too long, you pixelate? Plus, it's VERY unusual on how a ghost can hack their way through the internet like a freaking pro."

Seven jaws drop in shock.

"Plus, do you guys ever remember dying?" Em adds.

Stunned silence. Slowly, Edd shakes his head. The others follow.

"No, actually…But I do kinda remember being in some sort of room on some bed-like…thing. I tried to sit up properly, but it was like I was being held back by…something. I did manage to see that the rest of us were here and were on the same sort of bed-like things before we blacked out and well…woke up like this."

"Beyoncé reference aside, I'm kinda mad we didn't get to say goodbye to our spouses and kids…" Tom grumbles. Tord agrees before he raises his hand to ask something,

"I know that my diary pages have helped with the research, but…I don't remember writing them or hiding them in those portraits."

"Wait, wh-what?"

"I don't remember writing those diary pages or hiding them. It's like…it's like the memories are blocked off from my mind and I can't get in. Also, every time I think I'm close to remembering anything from it, I always get a headache and the buzzing in the basement grows louder before dying down."

Em and I share a worried glance as the others begin to agree about Tord's comments of blocked-off memories that they can't get through.

"Buzzing noise?" She repeats, stunned, "I don't remember hearing that!"

"Come to think of it…" I muse, "Every time we've researched in the basement, there was a weird noise coming from that secret door…"

"Are you saying that we go down there?" Matt panics, "Now? Like right now?!"

"No, not now," I reassure him, "But I have a feeling it's going to be pretty soon."

Day Five of Five for the celebration break.

The buzzing from beyond that threshold of the vault-like door is making me tremble violently. I came to try and make myself put up some confidence for when the time comes to go down, but it's difficult to glare at something I can't see, only hear.

The joints in my fingers feel tight and my knuckles are white from clenching on my hoodie pocket to try and calm my nerves.

"Cora? What the faen are you doing?"

I jump at the sound of the ancestor in red holding his old diary pages before I sigh in relief.

"Did I frighten you?"

I take deep breaths in and out, closing my eyes in an attempt to stop my heart from beating so much.

"No, it's alright."

Nothing works.

"I was kinda wondering if you could help me get through with sorting these pages in the right order so I can read them properly."

"Why?"

"It's kinda bugging me, seeing them all out of order."

"But what about the headaches?"

"I'll live."

I hope so.

Something else inside me is screaming otherwise.

"Should we do it here?"

Whatever's going on, dad's definitely hiding something down in the basement.

"Sure, why not."

I don't think it's going to be pretty.

NEXT TIME, ON THE MYSTERY OF EAGLE'S CROSS:

Mine venner, I'm sorry.

I couldn't save you.

"I feel like someone's watching..."