A Place to Call Home
By: Yuki Mizuno
Summary: The third story out of five takes place a few months after "Melancholy Time" and "The Unity of Chaos". Please go read those stories before this one, thank you!
Double D starts to become curious about learning his roots, and about who his biological mother and father were. He goes to try and find his father with the help of his adopted parents; hopefully to help him have some closure on what happened to his fiancé and unborn child 15 years ago… There are also some high school shenanigans going on around Halloween time with everyone else, but this story is mainly focused on Double D's family getting more closure about their past and what happened back then.
APtCH: Chapter 1
It was now Friday afternoon, October 26th here in Peach Creek, the season of Fall was in full swing around the small town, with Halloween coming up around the corner. In this town, we soon came across a local high school that was about to end for the day. Three, two, one… RING! The school bell rang throughout the school. All the students walked or rushed into the hallway from the classrooms they were in; not all at once, of course.
One of the last students to leave the classroom they were in was a fifteen-year-old boy, a freshman. He wore a loose brown jacket over his red-orange T-shirt, purple shorts that went to his knees, and a pair of light blue tennis shoes alongside some red socks. He also wore a black beanie over his messy, light blond hair, and his eyes were bright green in color. His name was Eddward Johnson; or Double D, as most of his friends called him, due to the extra D in his name.
Double D walked down the hallway towards the entrance of the school to meet up with his friends, trudging along with his light brown messenger backpack. The entrance outside was usually the spot they all met up at after school so they could all walk home together. Double D was the first to arrive at their usual meeting spot outside. It only took a few seconds to see one of his friends approach him with two other ones behind them.
The first friend to approach him was a tall fifteen-year-old girl. She had long, dark blond hair with a part of it covering her right eye while revealing that her left eye was a bright blue color. She wore a purple hoodie over a white shirt with a yellow star design on it, a pair of black leggings, and navy blue tennis shoes. She wore a necklace that had a beautiful silver ring with an amethyst jewel hanging from it. Her name was Zoey Wheeler.
The second friend was a very tall fifteen-year-old boy. He had red-orange hair that was in a buzzcut and hazel brown eyes; not to mention his unibrow. He wore a long-sleeved green jacket that was over his red and white striped T-shirt, navy blue jeans that seemed a bit baggy, and black tennis shoes. His name was Ed Wendell.
The third friend was a fourteen-year-old boy who had short, dark red hair that was sort of messy and all over the place; he also had dark green eyes. He wore a red jacket over his plain, light orange T-shirt, a pair of dark blue jeans, and black shoes. His name was Matthew Bishop, and he was the youngest of the group.
"Hey Double D!" Ed greeted him as the three teens approached Double D.
"Hello Ed," Double D greeted back. He looked around once again to see if any of his other friends had arrived, "I guess everyone else is running a little late?"
"Looks like it," Zoey stated with a small sigh.
Matthew looked back towards the double doors of the school, only to see three more of their friends exit the school, "Oh, here they come now!"
The first friend approaching them was a fourteen-year-old boy who was sort of short in size compared to everyone else. He had very short, spiky dark blue hair, with three tuffs of spiked hair sticking out, and dark blue eyes. He wore a yellow hoodie over his yellow shirt that had a purple collar and sleeves with a vertical red stripe going down the left side of his shirt, a pair of blue jeans with a chain for his wallet around his pocket, and red tennis shoes. His name was Eddy McGee.
The second friend approaching them was a fourteen-year-old girl who had long, bright red hair that was pulled back into a ponytail with a thick white ribbon. She wore a white hoodie over a pink T-shirt that had a horizontal white stripe in the middle of it, a pair of light-colored blue jeans, and red shoes. Her name was Serena Bishop, and she was also one of the youngest in the group, seeing that she and Matthew were twins.
The third friend coming up to them was a fifteen-year-old girl who had short blue hair with a bit of it going over her brown eyes. She wore a black leather jacket over her black tank top with long, slightly baggy green pants and black tennis shoes. Her name was Marie Kanker.
"Heeey!" Serena waved to her friends as they approached the group. She mainly went over to stand next to Ed.
"Geez, it felt like school was gonna last forever today!" Eddy stated with a stretch of his arms and a small yawn, "I'm glad it's finally the weekend."
Marie looked around the area before saying, "Is Jennifer not here yet?"
The group of teens paused for a moment before realizing she was right.
"Umm, I guess I can wait for her to get here," Double D started to say as he turned back to his friends, "You guys can go on ahead, I'll meet back up with you later."
The group looked at each other before shrugging their shoulders, and walking off toward the direction of their neighborhood as they did. Double D stood there for about thirty more seconds before he started to become a bit anxious for his friend.
It was then he saw the friend he was waiting for coming towards him from a different direction. She was a fifteen-year-old girl who had medium-length dark brown hair and thick glasses that covered her dark brown eyes. She wore a long-sleeved pale blue shirt, dark blue pants, and white tennis shoes. Her name was Jennifer Glee.
Double D gave a sigh of relief as she approached him, "There you are. I didn't expect you to leave from a different direction today."
"I know, sorry about that," Jennifer started to say, "I was, umm, kind of distracted by something, so I left from one of the side exits."
"That's quite alright," Double D replied with a smile, "The others decided to go on ahead, I told them we would meet up with them later."
The two teens started to walk away from the school and back towards their neighborhood, which usually takes about fifteen minutes for them to get there by foot. Jennifer reached out her right hand to Double D's left hand to hold it while they walked.
"So, was everything okay for you today?" Double D asked.
"Yes," Jennifer replied, "I did have a small talk with the guidance counselor, but it was just the usual checkup."
Double D smiled at her again, "I see."
It has been a few months since Jennifer moved to Peach Creek and became good friends with Double D and everyone else. She moved away from her old hometown of Sunflower Shoal after a gang of thugs from her old school attacked her for being autistic. Naturally, all the thugs were arrested and sent to juvie, but the story did not end there.
The leader of the thugs that attacked Jennifer went after her later to try and kill her for revenge, but the leader was stopped by her friends before she could get hurt… But in exchange, Double D took a hit for Jennifer that saved her life, causing him to end up in the hospital for a few days because of the attack. Thankfully, he recovered from his injuries fast; the wound did not leave a scar on his shoulder.
Sadly, that was still not the end of their troubles.
A few weeks later, there was a major incident that reached the national and a few international news outlets; 48 teenagers went missing around the area of Peach Creek and Sunflower Shoal. Double D, Zoey, and Matthew were captured by the culprits, who were two scientists working for a secret mafia, and their friends went to save them once they found out where their base was. Both Jennifer and Eddy almost died during the incident when they tried to help Double D and Zoey, but they were saved by both Matthew and Serena, due to their quick thinking and the powers they had to help them. Everyone involved in the incident survived and the culprits were arrested, much to everyone's relief.
It was also during this incident that Double D learned something about himself that he had forgotten about; the culprits that kidnapped all the teenagers during the incident were also responsible for holding him, Serena, and Matthew hostage for a long time when he was younger. He remembered calling the twins his younger siblings and the twins would call him their big brother, despite not being related at all; they were that close back then. His adoptive parents rescued him from the culprits when he was six years old but could not rescue Serena and Matthew back then, leaving them with the culprits until the incident months ago. The three kids were heavily experimented on with a very dangerous drug that temporarily gave them some sort of elemental power. Serena could quickly cure wounds using her own life force (if she used it too much, it would leave her unconscious or make her come close to dying), Matthew could control fire without any trouble, and Double D could make ice. Later, the culprits injected Zoey with a drug that gave her electrical powers, as well as a small boost to her physical strength. Strangely enough, Zoey could tell that the strength boost never went away, unlike the electric powers.
Unfortunately, Double D's power had a nasty side effect; anything he would touch, or anything that contacted his skin, would instantly freeze over and be covered in ice, both to people and many other things. Because of that, he used to wear long-sleeved gloves all the time. After he was rescued by his adoptive parents, the ice powers he had slowly went away until it was no longer a problem. They thought this power was gone from his system, but it flared back up before the major incident happened; it remained dormant inside him this whole time, which frightened Double D to death when it came back to him, along with his forgotten memories.
After the major incident, Double D and Jennifer became a couple, which both of their parents approved their support for. They both considered themselves very lucky to have met, despite the pain they both went through to get to this point. The same thing happened to Eddy and Zoey, even if it was already established that they were a couple before the major incident; they just cemented the fact even further afterward.
"Say, what are you planning to do over the weekend?" Jennifer asked.
"Well, besides the usual homework and house chores… I was thinking about finally asking my parents to help me with something very personal," Double D started to say, making a big sigh as he did, "I want to try and find my biological father. I want to know more about them if that is at all possible."
Jennifer widened her eyes a little, glancing at him for a moment. She could see that he was being serious when he said that statement.
"I also wanted to talk to him about my real mother," Double D continued to say, "All I know about her is that she… She's—"
He could feel Jennifer latch onto his arm a little, trying to comfort him as they walked, "I understand. You don't need to finish that sentence."
Double D smiled back at her, "Thank you."
A few more minutes passed by between the two teens as they were getting very close to their neighborhood, "Umm…"
"Hmm?" Double D turned to Jennifer, "What's the matter?" He asked.
Jennifer looked away from him a little before asking, "Umm… When you do find out anything about your real dad… C-Can I come with you to meet him?"
Double D looked at her in surprise but masked it away with a warm smile, "Of course. I don't see any problems with that."
"Okay…"
The two teens finally arrived at their neighborhood, heading towards the playground that everyone usually hangs around at after school. They could see their six friends sitting around, talking loudly to one another.
It was Eddy who noticed Double D and Jennifer approaching the group, "About time you two lovebirds got here," Eddy stated.
"Sorry about that," Jennifer started to say to the group as they came up to their side, "I was running a bit behind and was distracted by something."
"That's alright," Zoey chuckled to her, "We haven't been sitting here for long anyway."
"Oh yeah!" Ed gasped a little as he turned to Eddy, "Isn't it your birthday soon, Eddy?"
Eddy made a big smile, "Yep! I'll finally be fifteen, just like the rest of you!"
"Well, besides me and Serena," Matthew chimed in, "Our birthday is next month."
"Eh, let's not get technical on that," Eddy stated, "The point is that I'll be one step closer to getting a permit to drive! And then, when I turn sixteen, I'll get my license!"
Double D chuckled at his enthusiasm, "Eager to go on long trips, aren't you?"
"Yeah, I am!" Eddy replied to him, "I won't try to leave far from here when I get my permit, but once I get my license, you bet I'll be driving and taking trips to places during the summer!" he then stood up and looked to his friends in excitement, "And all of you will be going with me!"
"I like how you're assuming all of our parents would even agree to a trip like that," Zoey rolled her eyes a little, "If anything, we should try to plan a trip like that once we graduate high school."
"What?! But that's so far away from now!" Eddy yelped to Zoey before making a sigh, "You're right though, there's no need to rush things."
"Wow, what a way to shoot down his enthusiasm," Marie laughed a little before turning to Eddy, "So, what do you have planned for your birthday anyway? Anything cool or special?"
Eddy shrugged his shoulders, "I haven't decided yet," he stated, "But I'll be sure to tell you guys when I think of something."
"Cool! Thanks for letting us know," Serena smiled.
About ten minutes passed by before everyone departed for their homes for the day; Serena and Matthew decided to hang out with Ed a little longer at his house instead of going back home with Double D, "We'll come back home before it gets too dark! Is that okay, big brother?" Serena asked.
Double D chuckled to the twins, "Yes, of course you can."
He then saw the three teens walk off to Ed's house before turning and walking towards his house. Once Double D arrived back home, he could hear his parents close by in the kitchen. Before he could go talk to them, he heard a ping from his pocket. He took out his cell phone to see what the notification was. It was just Ed sending a meme picture of a dog to their Discord server's general chat, 'I should really mute the server when someone tries to ping me, I keep forgetting to do that,' Double D thought to himself with a chuckle.
Ever since the major incident, all the teens in the Cul-De-Sac finally got cell phones for themselves; the only teen who had a cell phone beforehand was Jennifer. Since then, Jennifer recommended her friends sign up and download an app called Discord. She said the app was originally used as a chat client on desktop for gaming but then branched out for it to be used as a general usage chat client for other people and services. Jennifer then made a group server for just the eight of them to use, to have any conversations whenever they could not meet up, as well as separate chats for various other topics.
Double D glanced back to his phone's screen for a second, looking at the picture he had set for his lock screen, smiling a little as he did. It was a picture of him and Jennifer standing close to each other, smiling; she was holding the ice flower he made with the last bit of ice powers he had left months ago; the ice flower itself was a replica of a fictional flower from a game Jennifer plays a lot, called an Elips Bloom. He made it and gave it to Jennifer that night, along with asking her to be his girlfriend. This picture was taken the next day with Jennifer's cell phone, Zoey suggested doing that so everyone could remember the flower and what it looked like before it melted away. Surprisingly, it took about two days for the ice to fully melt away.
Double D puts his cell phone back in his pocket before walking into his kitchen, where he can see his parents doing some house chores, "Hello!"
"Oh!" His parents perked their heads up to see their son had come home, "Welcome home, Eddward," Aiden greeted his son with a smile before noticing that Serena and Matthew were not with him, "I'm guessing the twins went over to a friends house?"
"Yes, they went to Ed's house," Double D nodded his head, "Serena told me they would be back before nighttime."
"I see," Wendy chuckled to her son, "That's good to know. I was going to make dinner soon, but I guess I'll try to wait until they get back."
Double D smiled, "That's fair. Is there anything you need me to do before then?"
"No, not at the moment," his dad replied as he turned back to wash some dishes that were in the sink, "It's the weekend now! You should hang out with your friends if you want. Or do your homework before Monday, there's no pressure."
It was his mom who noticed Double D was fidgeting with his hands a little bit, "Is there something wrong?" She asked.
"Well, umm… I wanted to ask you both something that's been on my mind lately," Double D started to say to them, looking away from them a little, "Is there any chance I could meet my real — I-I mean, my biological father one day?"
Aiden and Wendy looked at their son before glancing at each other. When they both used to work for the FBI, they looked into and found out who his real mother and father were shortly after they saved him. His real mother, who was Vergil and Rita's lab assistant (AKA: The two culprits to the case months ago, and Serena and Matthew's real parents), went missing fifteen years ago when she was seven months pregnant with Eddward and had presumably died shortly after he was born, while his father spent years trying to find them both, but could never find a trace of them. Both Aiden and Wendy thought about contacting his real father many times in the past, but stopped themselves from doing so; they did not want to overwhelm their son when they noticed that he started to forget about the awful place he grew up in. But now that he knows and remembers everything, it did not surprise them that he wanted to know more about his roots.
"Of course you can, Eddward," his mom replied with a smile, "It's been a while since we last checked, but your real father is living in a town further away from here called Oak Valley. It's a town that's two hours north of here."
Double D widened his eyes, "Huh? R-Really…?"
"Yes," his dad nodded his head to him, "If you want us to, we can try to ask him to drive out here about the case fifteen years ago. I'm sure he would want some closure as well to what happened to both you and his fiancé."
"We should try and contact Mr. Wells at the police station as well," his mom started to say to her husband, "Did you even jot down his personal number?"
"I did," he replied as he sat down the cleaning rag he was holding to take out his cell phone, "I'll call him right now before it gets any later and tell him about the request."
Double D was a bit stunned, he did not think his parents would act this fast to try and help him contact his real father.
Wendy turned to her son, noticing how baffled he looked, "You can leave this to us, Eddward. You should go and hang out with your friends until dinner time comes around. We'll tell you if we find out anything, okay?"
"I-I see… Thank you, mother," Double D muttered with a bit of nervousness before walking away, making a sigh of relief to himself.
Author's Note (October 14th, 2023): Hello again! This is the third story in this series of stories I've been posting over the course of this year. I've come up with two other stories right after this one is finished, so be on the lookout for those once this story is done! This and the fourth story as actually really short compared to the first two, and the fifth and final story will be a little longer, but I'm not sure by how much.