ASC: Chapter 3

It was now midnight here in the seaside town of Sunflower Shoal. We soon come across a car driving down a dimly lit street, heading towards a warehouse facility near the beachside. The person driving the car parked himself towards the back of the place, getting out of the car with a loud slam of the car door.

The man looked to be 23 years old. He had short, spiky dark blue hair with three tuffs of it sticking out from underneath his flat beige hat. He wore a red and black flannel jacket over a golden yellow T-shirt, a pair of baggy beige jeans, and red tennis shoes. He also had a bit of a scruffy goatee on his chin.

The man walked over to a locked door nearby, knocking on it before opening it. He could feel the presence of some harsh glares when he opened the door; there were a few rough-looking men already inside the building.

"About time you got here, newbie," stated one of the men near the blue-haired man, "The boss has been waiting for you to show up. Mr. Corvin is also here, so behave yourself."

The man nodded his head before proceeding to walk to his boss's office. It did not take him that long to arrive at his boss's room. The man opened the door, only to see two men inside; one was sitting behind a desk while the other was standing off to the side from the man sitting down.

The man sitting down in the fancy office chair was a man in his early 40s. He had short black hair that was combed back into a slick hairstyle. His eyes were closed, and his elbows were on his desk with his hands clasped in front of him now like he was contemplating something. He wore a snazzy black business suit.

The person standing next to him was a man in his late 40s. He had short gray hair that was very close to being a buzz cut and had dark brown eyes. He also wore a bit of a business suit but was not wearing the blazer for it now, only wearing his long-sleeved white undershirt.

"You wanted to speak to me about something, Mr. Fierro?" questioned the blue-haired man as he walked over to the two men in the room.

"Yes, there is a task we want you to help us with," the gray-haired man named Fierro stated to him before turning to the man sitting behind the desk, "As you know, Mr. Corvin was going to go to court soon due to the state prosecutor finally rallying a lot of support and evidence to do so. But now that troublesome Mr. Anderson and his wife are dead, thanks to us."

Mr. Corvin opened his eyes to look at the blue-haired man in front of him; his eyes were a very dark brown, almost black, "Unfortunately, it has come to our attention that there was a witness to the crime, as informed by our insider at the station," he glanced over to Mr. Fierro, gesturing him to show something to the blue-haired man, "This girl will be your target, Mr. Macintosh."

Mr. Fierro reached into his jacket pocket to take out a picture, walking over to hand the blue-haired man the picture. The man took the picture to examine it. The picture showed Alvin and Marisa Anderson standing beside their daughter in a family photo. The man could feel a chill go down his spine as he looked at the photo but did his best to keep up a good poker face from how he was currently feeling.

"The girl's name is Alice Anderson," Mr. Corvin continued to say, "She was the one who saw her parents die at the hands of Mr. Fierro here," he made a sad sigh, "It's such a shame to make a beautiful, young girl like her disappear into our side business, but she will grow up into a fine woman under our wings; over time, that is."

Mr. Corvin looked back to the blue-haired man in front of him, "We do not know where the police have her hidden, but once we find out where she is, we want you to bring her here to us, understand?"

"Of course," the man replied as he put the family photo in his pants pocket, "I won't fail you."

"Excellent," Mr. Corvin replied with a nod of his head, "You can leave now."

The man then left the room in silence, leaving behind the two men in suits.

"I also want you to help Mr. Macintosh in finding this young girl," Mr. Corvin stated to Mr. Fierro, "You never know how trustworthy newcomers can be to our family until it's too late."

Mr. Fierro only nodded his head, "Consider it done, Mr. Corvin."

The man walked out of the building and back to his car to drive away. About five minutes after he left the warehouse, he drove to an abandoned parking lot, quickly parking his car to exit it. That was when he yelled out loud in frustration from what just happened; he had to let out how upset he was.

"I freakin' KNEW they were the ones behind Mr. Anderson's death, but THIS is just… UGH!" the blue-haired man growled to himself, slamming his fist onto the roof of his car in anger.

The man's real name was Evan McGee. He is an undercover officer for a special task force that deals with various types of crimes, including things with the mafia and their side businesses. Since last year, his current job has been to keep an eye on the Corvin Family from a discreet location until he was trusted enough to approach them as a new member. Thankfully, his cover had not been blown yet, but now things were becoming complicated; this task had now become very personal to him. Evan groaned to himself before getting back into his car as he sat in the driver's seat to contemplate the situation.

Evan had known Mr. Anderson since he was very little; he was a friend of his parents and had spent a lot of time with him growing up. Evan was always tasked to babysit their daughter and his little brother at the time since they were the same age; the two kids were so young back then that they probably would not remember each other at all, and Alice had probably forgotten him as her babysitter. When Mr. Anderson moved away from Peach Creek to Savannah for his job, it was right when he started high school. He did not talk to Mr. Anderson much after he moved, due to him always being busy as a state prosecutor. Mr. Anderson was one of the reasons he became a member of the police force for Sunflower Shoal; even if it was for this little seaside town, he always wanted to help folks. Eventually, Evan was promoted; but he had to forcefully cut ties with his family. He DID tell his parents about his new job but could not leave them any information to contact him with if they ever needed him.

This is why the sudden appearance of his little brother, and his neighborhood friends shocked him last year; they had somehow found where he was living by pure happenstance after claiming they were running away to find him for help. Sadly, he had to act like he did not care about his brother or his friends; just for their safety and for not blowing his cover at the time. But it was thanks to him acting rude to them that they went back home without much fuss; the pain of acting that way to them (along with being hit in the face with a door) was still fresh in his mind, but he knew it had to be done. Evan wishes he could apologize to his family, but he is still undercover…

And now, an acquaintance of his was murdered, and he had a feeling he knew where Alice was right now… Back at his family's house in Peach Creek.

'I'll try to drive out there tomorrow to see if I'm right…' Evan thought to himself, 'Geez, how did it come to this?'


It was now an early Monday morning in Peach Creek. We soon zoomed in on the Cul-De-Sac, where we could see Alice exiting her new house. She was asked by Eddy if she wanted to come along with him to hang out with his friends. She declined his offer, saying she wanted to walk around and explore more of the neighborhood on her own for today.

"I'll text or call you if I need help with anything!" Alice said to Eddy as she left the house. It was a few seconds later that Eddy stepped out of his house to see which direction she was heading, just in case.

Eddy could see that Alice was walking toward the entrance of the Cul-De-Sac before turning to her right, going down the sidewalk that led to a part of town he usually did not visit often. Technically, it was not a BAD side of town, but he never really had a reason or need to go in that direction; it was just more neighborhoods in a different school district and not a proper way into town, "Guess she wanted to know what was in that direction," Eddy stated to himself before shrugging his shoulders.

Eddy was about to walk over to Ed's house first before stopping in his tracks. He remembered what his dad told him yesterday; about Alice's situation and why she moved here. He widened his eyes in horror, "Oh geez, what if some dumb goon finds her or something?! I didn't think about that!"

He pulled out his cell phone to call both Ed and Double D at the same time, "Hello, Eddy?" Double D started to say, "What's—"

"Hey, we all need to meet up at the playground, okay? ASAP!" Eddy stated to them both in a stern voice, "I need help with something!"

"Huh? Like what?" Ed asked.

"I'll explain it once you guys get here!" Eddy replied before hanging up his phone. He then dashed off towards the playground up ahead to wait for his two friends to arrive.


Meanwhile, back with Alice, she continued to walk down the sidewalk, looking around at all the trees behind the tall wooden fence along the sidewalk she was on. She took a deep breath, enjoying her time relaxing alone for a moment. She was also paying very close attention to her surroundings; she was not ignorant of the situation she found herself in days ago. Alice knew the Corvin Family were looking for her because she was a witness to a crime they committed. She was told that barely anyone knew where she was, even in the police force. But, even knowing this, she still had to be on guard, especially if she was alone anywhere. Thankfully, Alice knows some self-defense tactics, but none of that would matter if someone had, you know, a gun aimed at her. Even so, it was better than not knowing how to fight, which would make her a damsel in distress.

It was about ten minutes of walking later that she could see a road up ahead leading to another neighborhood. It seemed about the same size as the Cul-De-Sac she was living in now, if not just a little bit smaller. There were quite a few taller trees in and around this neighborhood compared to hers.

As she was approaching the entrance to the neighborhood, Alice could hear a small, but loud yelp before a slam or bang sound of some kind, as if someone was punching or slamming the wooden fence with something heavy.

Against her better instincts, Alice decided to see what the noise was; she could tell it was not any sort of gunshot, so she felt like it would be safe to see where it came from. Alice dashed over to where she thought she heard the noise, only for her to widen her eyes in horror.

Up ahead of her, Alice could see three teens. An older teen girl was looming over two other teen girls; the two younger girls had pink and pale green hair. It looked like the older girl was threatening the two younger girls about something, judging by how terrified one of them looked with their backs against the wooden fence; the pale green-haired girl seemed to be knocked out.

"You two should know the rules by now," stated the older teen girl with a sneer on her face, "Anytime you pass through here, you gotta pay the toll!"

"We don't have anything for you!" the pink-haired teen yelled to the bully with a glare in their dark yellow eyes, holding onto their friend's shoulder to prop her up a little, "You already took our money yesterday. How do you expect us to get any more by now?!"

The older teen laughed at them before raising her right arm, slapping the pink-haired teen across her face, dazing them at that moment, "Well then, you know what happens when you don't have the money to pay the toll…"

Before the bully could do anything again to them, Alice ran over to help them, decking the older girl in the face with a powerful punch, "Leave them alone!" Alice shouted to the bully.

The older girl yelped at Alice for what she did as she stumbled away because of her punch, "Who the hell are you?!" she growled as she rubbed her cheek where she was punched.

"That's none of your business," Alice replied, cracking her knuckles as she turned to the bully, "I think you should leave now unless you want another punch to the face."

"You're not the boss of me, you little bitch!" shouted the bully in anger. She leaped towards Alice to attack her, but Alice took a quick sidestep away from her attacker, making her face plant into the sidewalk.

The bully incoherently grumbled as she got back up to face Alice, "Why you…!"

"NOW do you want to leave; I'm trying to spare you from getting hurt," Alice stated to the bully once again, "This is your last warning; you should stay away from them, understand?"

The bully was now red in the face from Alice's words, "Like hell if I'm gonna leave ANY of you in one piece!"


Meanwhile, several yards away from the commotion, we could see Double D dashing down the sidewalk, trying to catch up with Alice to make sure she was okay. Eddy told him and Ed what his dad said to him last night about Alice. Double D already knew that was the reason Alice moved in with Eddy's family, based on the news article he found online, but it was the first that Ed had heard about it.

"We need to find and protect Alice!" Ed shouted a moment before the three ran off to find her.

"W-Wait! I think we should split up," Double D stated to them, "That way we can cover more ground and find Alice faster."

"Sounds good to me!" Eddy replied with a nod of his head, "Let's get going!"

'Oh dear, I hope Alice is okay!' Double D thought to himself, 'I do not want to deal with Eddy and his wrath right now. Not to mention how loud he tends to get when he's angry…'

As he was running on the sidewalk, he noticed a car pass by him, heading towards the direction he was going. Double D could not see who was driving the car, but he did not think that much about it. He then saw the car suddenly stop in its tracks, hitting the brakes right in the middle of the road. It was then that Double D could see why; it looked like someone was attacking Alice and two other teens near them. Double D gasped as he was about to run over to stop what was going on… That is until he saw who exited the car that came to a halt.

'T-That's Eddy's brother!' Double D thought with terror as he hid from sight for now by jumping behind the wooden fence (struggling a bit to do so in a fast manner) and peeking his head out from there, observing what would happen next.

Evan walked over to Alice and the bully before grabbing the older teen by her wrists, lifting her slightly, "Alright, break it up, you two!"

"What the – HEY!" shouted the bully in an angry tone, "Let go of me, you fu—?!"

"Is that how you talk to an officer of the law? I'm off duty right now, but I can still hold you accountable for causing a fight," Evan told the older girl sternly, "I think you should run along now before you get into any more trouble."

The older teen glared daggers at Evan before he put her back down on her feet. She ran off without saying a word, leaving behind Alice and her victims.

Evan looked back at Alice and the two other teens who were still dazed/knocked out, "Are you alright?" he asked.

"Umm… Y-Yes sir," Alice replied before glancing to the ground in embarrassment, "Sorry, I was walking down the street when I saw that girl was threatening them. I-I couldn't stand there and watch that happen…"

Evan stayed silent for a second before saying anything, "Heh, you got a strong sense of justice, just like your old man."

"Huh…?" Double D gasped as Alice widened her eyes, 'My… dad? He knew my dad?!' Alice thought to herself in shock as Evan looked over at the other girls.

"It looks like they're alright, but you should all try and stay out of trouble for now, Alice," Evan stated to her before he started to walk back to his car, waving a little goodbye to her, "I'll try to stay nearby to help you if you need it. But, uh… Don't tell anyone you saw me, okay?"

Evan got into his car and drove off, "W-Wait a minute, SIR!" Alice yelled out to him, but he had already driven away at that point.

Alice could only stand there in shock at the encounter, 'Who was that man? He said he was an off-duty police officer… But I thought most of the officers were not informed about where I was! That's REALLY suspicious.'

Double D landed his feet back to the ground once he saw Evan had driven away, trying to process what he just saw, 'That was Eddy's older brother, no doubt about it; but he was acting differently than our encounter with him last year. I thought he was an employee at the fairgrounds in Sunflower Shoal, not a police officer…'

"Hey, Alice! There you are!" called out a very loud voice nearby. Everyone turned to see Eddy and Ed running up to Alice and the two teens.

Double D made a sigh to himself, 'I'll try to think about all of this later,' he thought. He then proceeded to jump back over the wooden fence (struggling a little once again) to run over to his friends, pretending he had just arrived there.

"Eddy?" Alice questioned with surprise as the three Eds approached her and the two other teens, "Did you actually follow me?"

"Well, yeah!" Eddy replied, "You went down this way, and it made me think something was going on."

Ed nodded his head, "It's his new superpower to sense danger for family members!"

Everyone stared at Ed before his friends made a sigh, "Typical Ed behavior," Double D chuckled to himself.

Alice and Eddy turned their attention to the two teens who were dazed/knocked out, "What the heck happened here?" Eddy asked with concern.

"I saw an older girl messing with these two while I was walking down this sidewalk," Alice replied, cracking her knuckles a little, "I punched that bully in the face and made her run away! I know a bit of self-defense, so I used it to help run her off."

Eddy widened his eyes, "Whoa! Must have been a big punch!"

Double D stayed silent to that, knowing that what Alice said was only half true, 'If she's not going to mention Eddy's brother, maybe I shouldn't mention it as well; at least for now.'

It was then that Eddy noticed the two teens started to wake up. His eyes became focused on the green-haired girl, 'W-Whoa. She's, uh, really cute…' he thought to himself before shaking his head slightly, brushing off what he was feeling right now.

"Uh, are you two okay now?" Eddy began to ask as he went over to them, shaking the pale green-haired girl's shoulder slightly to get her to respond.

The pale green-haired girl groaned a little before seeing her pink-haired friend on her right, and a boy she did not know on her left. She widened her dark green eyes and gasped in surprise, "U-Umm…"

Alice and the other two Eds walked over to Eddy and the two teens to help them, "Who are you guys?" the pink-haired teen asked. They sounded a bit on edge to them, trying to keep their guard up.

"My name's Alice," Alice said to them, extending her hand to help them up, "I was walking this way when I saw that girl attack you two. Gave her a good punch to the face before she ran off."

The two teens stared at Alice for a moment, "I see, thanks for the help!" the pink-haired teen replied, taking Alice's hand to get back up along with the pale green-haired girl, who was helped up by Eddy, "She's been spotted around here a lot recently, making anyone who passes by pay a dumb toll. I only did it once to make her go away, but then she came back and attacked my friend."

Eddy made a little glare at what they said, it began to make his blood boil that someone was doing that to folks who could not pay; or the fact that it was even happening at all. It also reminded him of his old self, how he would always come up with dumb ways to make a few quick bucks for jawbreakers before realizing he had to stop. Granted, Eddy never really lashed out that harshly when someone did not pay, but that was beside the point. The last scam they did a year ago caused so much trouble for his friends, which became the final straw for everyone. He never wanted to go back to being that way again.

"That's so mean!" Ed gasped out loud in sadness before making a small pouty face, "But you're okay now, right?"

"Yeah, we're fine now!" the pink-haired teen replied with a smile, "My name's Reese, by the way," they then gestured to their friend beside them, "And this is my best friend, Jade!"

Jade lowered her head in embarrassment, "Hello…" she said in a quiet voice. Jade then noticed that Eddy had not let his right hand off her left shoulder when he helped her back up, "Uh…?"

"… Oh, geez!" Eddy yelped once he realized his hand was still there, "I didn't even notice, my bad!"

Jade stayed silent to him before saying anything, "I-It's okay," she replied, looking away from him a little.

Double D made a sigh of relief, "Well, it's good to see everyone is alright," he made a smile at the two teens, "My name is Eddward, but everyone calls me Double D as a nickname."

"I am Ed!" Ed greeted with a wave to them.

Eddy brushed back a bit of his spiked hair to be more presentable, "And I'm Eddy," he finished off the introductions, "It's, uh, cool to meet new kids around here!"

Alice smiled at everyone near her, 'It's nice to make new friends,' she thought to herself, 'I didn't have any long-time friends back in Savannah, so maybe moving here was a sign of change for me…'

Double D glanced at Alice, noticing her smile. He could also feel himself smiling at her, seeing how happy she looked made him feel at ease. That was when he could feel his heart starting to beat slightly faster, 'Strange… I haven't felt like this in such a long time. I guess it has been a long time since any of us have made any new friends.'

"So, do you two live nearby or something?" Eddy asked.

Reese nodded their head, "Yeah, our neighborhood is right around the corner. We were both heading toward the candy store—"

"Candy store?!" Ed interjected in happiness, catching the two teens off guard at his outburst. He turned to his friends, "Can we go too?!"

"W-Wait a moment!" Double D gasped, "We don't have any allowance money right now, remember?"

"… I-I have some money I can give you."

Everyone widened their eyes as they turned to Jade, "I told that bully I didn't have any, but I lied because I didn't want her to have it, even though it's not much…" Jade continued to say as she took out a few of the quarters she had with her, "B-But… all of you helped me out, s-so I, umm…"

"Oh, you don't have to do that for us!" Alice stated to Jade, "I appreciate it, but—"

"Y-You can have it!" Jade suddenly exclaimed before putting what money she had into the nearest person's hands.

Eddy widened his eyes when Jade shoved the quarters into his hands, looking back at her in shock. Jade ran toward Reese to hide behind them as if she was scared.

"Jade!" Reese yelped in surprise before making a sigh, "Sorry, she can be extremely shy. The only person she openly talks to is me."

"… It's cool, don't worry about it," was Eddy's reply, "Uh, why don't we all go? I'm not gonna take all your money like this, so maybe we can split it instead?"

Ed and Double D widened their eyes in shock at Eddy. This was the first time that Eddy ever decided to do a split payment or return most of the money he'd gotten for probably anything ever!

"That's a good idea," Alice stated to her brother with a laugh, "I also have some spare change with me, so I'll pitch in on paying for it as well," she turned to the two teens, "You two can come with us!"

Jade and Reese stood there for a moment before nodding their heads, "Okay…" Jade replied, "We can, umm, walk there?"

Reese smiled at Jade, "That's the spirit!" they cheered for their shy friend, "Let's journey ahead to the candy store!"

"Yay!" Ed cheered with excitement as the group of six teens began to walk back towards the Cul-De-Sac and in the direction of town, which was now twenty minutes away on foot from where they were now.


Author's Note (March 2nd, 2024): AHHHHHHHHHHHHHH Final Fantasy VII Rebirth is AMAZING! I love it so much, almost like a dream coming true, but very slowly! XD

Anyway, this chapter is done now. If you're wondering why Evan didn't say anything to Alice about how he knows her, it's because he's undercover. Additionally, he also does not know that Alice is his younger half-sister if that is not obvious enough with him reminiscing about Mr. Anderson; he was nine when she and Eddy were born, so he does not remember this fact. Thought I should mention it now before the next chapter.