TUoC: Chapter 10

Detective Nicolas arrived with the police, FBI, and paramedics to arrest the two mad scientists and help the ones who were injured. The police and the paramedics found Nazz, who was watching over Double D's parents. They escorted her out of the base, along with taking Aiden and Wendy to the hospital; they were still alive, but barely. The FBI found the room where the 48 missing teenagers were being kept; none of them looked to be injured or experimented on, thankfully. The other paramedics found Jennifer, Eddy, and Serena and quickly led them out of the base and to the hospital; all three were in a critical state. Everyone else with them left to go to the hospital.

Finally, Nicolas went to where Vergil and Wendy were knocked out, putting them both in handcuffs, "You two will have a lot of explaining to do when we take you down to the station," he said to them. They were still out cold.

As the group was riding to the hospital to check on their friends, Zoey began to rub her hands together in nervousness about the situation, only to notice something very odd. There was now something on her left ring finger; a silver ring with an amethyst jewel on the top of it. The ring was not on her finger when she was captured or any time before that.

"How did I get this ring…?" Zoey started to ask herself in confusion, 'It's beautiful! But I don't remember ever seeing this until now…'

It was while she was staring at the ring on her hand that she slowly widened her eyes in stunned horror. Zoey remembered earlier today that Eddy wanted to meet up with her later tonight, saying he wanted to give her something. She thought he was going to give her a jawbreaker because of what the others said yesterday; that he went to town to go to the candy store, but now she realized that was not the case.

He went to the jewelry store that was next to the candy store.

'Did… D-Did Eddy buy this ring for me…?!' Zoey thought in disbelief.

That was when Zoey's heart started to beat faster and faster in her chest, a deep blush started to form on her cheeks. Eddy had bought this promise ring to show how much he loved her, 'He must have put it on my hand b-before he… He…'

She started to tremble a little as a chill ran down her spine for a moment at the terrible memory. She then felt a hand on her left shoulder, only to see Double D trying to comfort her; he had a new pair of long-sleeved gloves on him so he could interact and help everyone properly.

"It'll be okay now, Zoey," Double D said to her, "I'm very confident Eddy will pull through. He's always been too stubborn to give up like this."

Zoey stayed silent to him for a moment, only nodding her head to him before asking, "Say, Double D… Did Eddy tell you why he went to town yesterday?"

Double D arched his eyebrow, "I remember him saying he wanted to go to the candy store, so I assumed he bought a jawbreaker," he stated, "Why do you ask?"

"I… don't think he went to the candy store at all," Zoey started to say, holding up her left hand for Double D to see the ring on her finger, "I think he went to go buy this. I just noticed it on my finger a minute ago."

Double D looked down to see the ring, widening his eyes as he did, "My goodness!" he gasped as he looked at it a little more closely, "This is… That's a genuine amethyst on this ring!" he then made a sad face, "… In all the years I've known him, I would have never expected Eddy to do anything like this, even after his attitude changed when our final scam happened in June."

"But… Where did he get the money to buy this?"

"… That's a really good question," Double D replied, thinking about it for a moment before making a sigh, "Either way, we should probably keep this a secret for now. I have a feeling he would want to share the announcement with everyone else, with you next to him."

"Y-You're right," Zoey stated with a smile, "Thanks."

Today is Tuesday, August 6th. The start of the morning had just arrived in Peach Creek. Only a day has passed after the incident at Vergil and Rita's hidden base. The news about the 48 missing teens being found quickly spread like wildfire, hitting not only the local and national news but also some international news outlets, due to Layton being involved.

The news revealed Vergil and Rita Bishop to be the culprits for the kidnappings, stating their reasons for doing all of this was because they were paid to do so by the mafia; to build a mercenary group that would send the teens they kidnapped to personal conflicts or future wars. They would have been injecting the teens with the drug they created to give them an element as an extra boost in power. If this all went according to plan like they wanted, they were going to call the mercenary group 'The Chaos Union'. This deal between them and the mafia began 15 years ago but was not put into action until recently. They also revealed how they kidnapped so many people within the span of a week; they were using a weird sound from a drone that was leading the chosen teens away to where they could be captured by the scientists while not being seen by anyone else. The sound itself was a sound that only some teens could hear, while most people could not.

Naturally, this breaking news horrified everyone.

The only piece of news not mentioned to the public was the identities of the twins or Double D and Zoey (the only teens that were injected with the dangerous drug), or that there were a few people injured from the confrontation. The ones that were taken to the hospital (Jennifer, Eddy, Serena, Aiden, and Wendy) were still out cold or in critical condition, much to everyone's sorrow.

After a quick examination, all 48 teens who were kidnapped were sent home, including the four teens who lived in the Cul-De-Sac. Everyone was ecstatic to be back home. We could see the four teens handing out around the playground along with Kevin and Nazz, who were explaining the events that happened while they were away.

"Wow, that sounds really intense!" Jonny commented before turning to Plank, "Why didn't you try and wake me up, buddy?"

Plank stayed silent.

"… Oh right! You fell asleep too, my bad!"

"I can't believe all this happened to us…" Jimmy stated with fright.

"Well, at least it's over for good now!" Sarah stated to Jimmy, trying to calm him down, "And good riddance to those two psychos!"

Rolf began to scratch the back of his head in confusion, "Nazz-Girl mentioned twins to Rolf in this story. Are those two here now?"

Nazz shook her head, "They're both at the hospital. Serena is still out cold, and Matthew is there with her, alongside Ed."

The other four teens all had a look of confusion, "Why is he there?" Jonny asked.

"We're pretty sure that Ed has a crush on Serena," Kevin stated with a laugh, "At least that's what Nazz is thinking."

"… HUH?!"

"Are you being serious right now?!" Sarah asked in disbelief, "This is my brother you're talking about!"

"Yeah, I'm very positive about that," Nazz started to say, "Ever since the twins arrived here, Serena was always around Ed when he brought his comics over to read. I guess having a reading partner to share his interests with made him realize that he liked her."

"Aww, that's actually really sweet!" Jimmy smiled a little.

Jonny put his hand to his chin to think for a moment, "Oh! I got a neat idea!"

The others turned to him to see what he had to say.

"You guys remember that Double D's birthday is on the 8th, right?" Jonny stated, "We should throw a party for him and everyone else when they come back home! Hitting two birds with one stone!"

"Well, assuming they will recover in time, that's a great idea!" Nazz stated with a chuckle, "Even if it's passed his birthday, we can still throw a welcome-back party for everyone!"

"Rolf will handle the food!" he stated with a very big smile as everyone else stared at him with a bit of uncertainty. He was probably going to bring some sort of meat if they had to take a guess.

"Me and Jimmy will handle the sweets and drinks! We can make a cake, maybe even bake some cookies for everyone!" Sarah cheered.

"I can also help with that if you need it," Nazz stated, "But I'll stick with putting up the decorations, for the most part."

"Oh! Me and Plank can help with that too!" Jonny said with a smile.

"Heh, guess that leaves me in charge of telling everyone about the party," Kevin stated, "I'll go tell them about it when we go visit them later."

"YEAH!"

At the hospital, we could see Double D sitting next to the beds that his mom and dad were in. He also wanted to be by Jennifer's side as well, but that was not possible right now; the hospital was only allowing her parents to be with her while she recovered.

Double D made a small sigh to himself, 'I guess the reason they never contacted me while they were gone was to hide the fact that they were undercover,' he lowered his head, 'It does sting a lot that they never told any of this to me. I know they probably have good intentions and reasons to do so, but still…'

Double D then could hear a groan to his left, widening his eyes as he did, his dad was starting to wake up. Aiden turned his head to the right to see his son sitting next to him, smiling, "Eddward."

"Are you okay now, Father?" Double D asked.

"Yes. I still feel a little weak, but I'm okay," he replied, "Is your mother alright?"

Double D nodded his head, "Yes, she's in the bed to my right, still asleep. She's alive, along with everyone else involved in this mess."

Aiden made a huge sigh of relief, "Good."

A short moment passed before Aiden broke the silence between them, "There's a lot we need to explain to you, but I want to wait until your mother wakes up."

"… O-Of course."

Aiden made a sigh to his son, "We heard you were captured by Vergil and Rita while we were imprisoned, along with Matthew and someone else. Our colleagues told us about it when we arrived here… And about how your ice powers had come back to you."

Double D flinched a little at that, "I guess after so many years of not taking that awful shot, the passage of time made my ice powers go away; even the side effects to it," he stated, looking down at his right hand. He was still wearing the long-sleeved gloves from yesterday, "But the ice powers stayed dormant inside me all the time; at least, until something triggered it coming back last week."

"That does seem to be the case…" Aiden stated, "I'm sure it will go away again, but we should still be careful if it ever comes back up."

"I-I hope this dreadful power NEVER comes back!" Double D shouted to his father with anguish, "I can no longer physically reach out to anyone to comfort them; to give them help when they need it the most!" he started to tear up, "I-I even HURT someone with this power against my will! And now she's—"

"Eddward."

Double D gasped as turned to his mother; she had just woken up, "I'm so happy to see that you're safe," she said to him.

"Mother!" Double D smiled with relief when he saw his mother was awake, as did her husband, "Are you feeling alright, Wendy?"

Wendy smiled at them, "Yes, I feel a lot better."

Everyone in the room took in a deep breath, sighing in relief that everything was alright now, for the most part.

Double D sat back down in the chair next to his parents, "Mother, Father… Please. Tell me everything about what you've been hiding from me."

"Don't worry, we will," Wendy started to say to her son, "As you heard already… You are not really our son. We adopted you after saving you from Vergil and Rita when you were six. We also tried to save Serena and Matthew that day, but their parents were in our way, and we had to leave them behind so none of you would get hurt…" she made a sad sigh, "You were so distraught when we could not get to them, even calling them your younger siblings while we ran away… It broke out hearts to see."

"At first, you never wanted to leave your room due to being separated from the twins and from your unstable ice powers," Aiden stated to him, "You also did not want to leave because of the scar on your forehead; you feared what others would think about it. So, we bought you the beanie you always wear; to help you interact with others and come out of your shell more and more."

"A few weeks after we rescued you, we both noticed that your unstable ice powers had gone away on their own; you no longer needed to keep wearing any sort of gloves," his mom continued to say, "It seemed like the shots they were giving you for your powers were only temporary, but they both kept doing it; to help you keep those powers, even when your body was unstable with it… They are both inhumane and sick in the head."

"A few months later, we moved to Peach Creek, into the neighborhood that was near the base that we first found Vergil and Rita at," his dad stated, "Unfortunately, they moved to another location to make us get off their trail. Since then, your mother and I have both been tracking them down. Even when we retired from our job full time to raise you, we kept in contact with the FBI to help them find these mad scientists; it became very personal to us to find and arrest them… And to save those twins."

There was a moment of awkward silence between everyone after their explanation was done.

"Eddward, we want to apologize to you for not mentioning this when we left for London. We both needed to stay quiet about where we were, so we could never call you," Aiden started to say, "We both knew you had forgotten about those awful times; we wanted you to keep your normal life with your friends… As rambunctious as those two are, we cannot think of any better friends for you to have."

Double D smiled at his father's words, "It's okay, I forgive you both."

"… Oh, that reminds me," Wendy stated with a small gasp, "Our colleagues told us that we're not the only ones here in the hospital because of what happened. Can you tell us who else was hurt?"

Double D looked at his mom with surprise before making a sad face, "W-Well, one of them was Eddy, he—"

"Oh, he's your short and loud friend, right?"

"… Yes," Double D nodded his head to his dad, "He… H-He almost died, trying to help someone come back to their senses."

His parents were stunned to hear that from him, "But he's better now, right?!" Wendy asked.

"Eddy is still unconscious, but he's alive, thankfully," Double D stated with a sigh, "Serena helped Eddy recover from a bad injury, but she also fell unconscious afterward. She's doing okay now, she's just resting. And, according to Matthew, whenever she heals anyone with her power, she uses her own life to do so; that's why she passed out."

"Oh, my word! Poor Serena…" Aiden sighed in sadness.

Double D glanced to the floor before continuing, "The last person who was hurt was…" his parents noticed how nervous he was acting, "Her name is Jennifer. S-She moved into one of the houses that were built next to the Cul-De-Sac, a-and…" he could feel himself starting to blush, pulling his beanie down over his eyes and face to hide from his parents, "S-She became a dear friend to me in a way I never expected. I love her."

Both his parents widened their eyes at their son, "Eddward…"

Double D's body began to tremble, "B-But I was the one who hurt her, against my will! She's suffering from hypothermia because of me!" He shouted to them in sadness, they could see a few tears starting to fall from his eyes underneath his beanie, "Jennifer has been through too much already… She did not need this pain."

He made a sigh at what he was going to say next, "Two months ago, she was attacked by a gang in her old hometown because she is on the higher end of the spectrum. She and her family then moved to Peach Creek a few weeks ago to start anew. The others and I became her friends very quickly… I could see how happy she was with us, a-and it made me start to realize how much she meant to me. But then…" Double D looked towards the floor, lifting his beanie from his face and eyes as he did, "B-But then the leader of the gang that attacked her came after her again, she was going to kill her out of revenge for what happened with her gang members that were arrested."

He started to hold onto his right shoulder, remembering what happened that day, "The leader had a gun with her, and… She shot me in the back when she was aiming for Jennifer, I shielded her from getting hurt."

That was when his parents both jolted up to look at their son in shock, "My god, Eddward!" They both got out of their beds to hug their son, "We're so sorry!" His mom started to say, crying to him, "We should have been there for you, but we were so far away because of our mission!"

"… It's alright now, Mother," Double D started to say, accepting their hug back as best as he could, "Everything worked out in the end. Everyone I care for is still alive."

"You're right," his dad replied as he let Double D out of his hug, his wife still holding onto her son in support, "Both you and all your friends have grown so much. I'm proud of you."

Double D could only smile at his mom and dad in happiness.

Meanwhile, in another hospital room nearby, we could see Ed and Matthew sitting around the room where Serena was resting, both patiently waiting for her to wake back up. She had woken up earlier to talk to the doctors but fell back asleep before she could see and talk to her younger brother. Ed decided to tag along with Matthew to see her as well.

Matthew kept looking at Ed from time to time, noticing how worried he was for his sister, "… Hey Ed."

Ed perked his head up to Matthew, "Yeah Matt?"

"Why are you here right now?" Matthew asked.

Ed stared at him for a second before realizing why he asked that, blushing a little with a nervous smile, "Uh… N-No reason?"

Matthew only chuckled at that, "No reason, huh?" he teased, "I didn't think you would be a bad liar."

Ed stayed silent for a moment before replying, "Well, the new edition of Evil Tim is coming out soon! I, uh… wanted to ask Serena if she wanted to go with me to go get it."

"I see," Matthew stated to him. He could see Serena's fingers start to twitch a little; she was waking up. Matthew got up from where he sat, "Well, I wish you luck on that!"

Ed noticed Matthew started to walk towards the door, "Huh? Where are you going?" He asked.

"I'm going to go get breakfast at the cafeteria, I'm getting hungry," Matthew replied with a big smile before leaving the room, "I'll be back later, okay?"

Ed sat there for a second in confusion before he saw Serena starting to fully wake back up, "Serena?"

Serena opened her eyes to look to see who was at her bedside, "Oh, hey Ed," she greeted with a smile as she sat up from the bed she was on, sitting on the side of it as she did.

"Are you feeling better now?" Ed asked.

Serena nodded her head before looking around the room, "Isn't Matt here?"

"Matt said he was going to the cafeteria for breakfast," Ed replied, "He just walked out before you woke up."

"Oh, okay."

The two teens sat there for a moment in silence.

'Uh… How do I ask her about the trip to the comic bookstore?' Ed thought to himself, scratching the back of his head, 'What would Eddy do? Or what would Double D say? They would know more about this than me.'

"… Say, Ed?"

Ed perked his head up to Serena, "Yeah?"

"Are you doing anything Thursday night?" she asked him, "I saw on the news that there's gonna be a full moon that night, and I want to see it!"

"… A full moon?"

"Yeah!" Serena nodded her head, "When my memories came back, I remembered there was a book I used to read all the time that was all about space; there was a really pretty picture of the full moon and all the stars around it!" she lowered her head a little, "Matt and I were always trapped, never allowed to leave or even go outside," she then looked back at Ed with a smile, "But, now that we're free, I can go see the stars whenever I want! And I want to go see my first full moon!"

Ed blinked at Serena in disbelief as the blush from before came back to his face, "U-Umm, sure! I can do that!"

Serena's smile grew bigger to him, "Yay!" she hopped up from where she was sitting on the bed to go over to Ed, hugging him as she did, "Thank you so much, Ed!" Serena started to say, hugging him tighter, "Besides my brothers, you're my first best friend!"

The blush on Ed's face grew even redder than before at what Serena said. He could only tightly hug her back; his heart was beating faster and faster than before.

As they were hugging, we could see Matthew peeking at them through a crack in the door, sighing a little in relief at them.

"Kinda rude to eavesdrop on people like that, you know."

"Ah!" Matthew yelped a little in surprise. He turned to see Marie standing behind him, "I was only checking on them. Didn't want to ruin their moment."

Marie chuckled at him, "I had the feeling you were, but they'll be fine, trust me."

"I know," Matthew replied.

"… Hey, wanna grab something to eat at the cafeteria?" Marie asked, "I haven't eaten much since yesterday, and neither have you if I had to take a guess."

Matthew stared at her for a few seconds before replying, "S-Sure! I was going to go there soon anyway."

"Sweet," Marie stated as she started to walk towards the area where the cafeteria was with Matthew nervously following behind her.

Author's Note (September 25th, 2023): Yay! One more chapter down, a few more to go! Oh yeah, I felt like mentioning that there is one more story after this one is over, but it will be a lot shorter than this one, and it won't be a crossover or any kind. It's more like an epilogue story to tie up some loose ends. So, keep an eye out for that story whenever this one is finished!

Chapter 10's Song Title: "No More What Ifs" - Persona 5 Royal