ATWN: Chapter 18

A few more hours passed by at the fairgrounds in Sunflower Shoal; the sun was starting to set on the horizon. Most of the teens from the Cul-De-Sac had already taken a bus to go back home (even Rolf's pig Wilfred was allowed on the bus for some reason).

Before the teens left to go back home, Double D asked Kevin and Nazz to look after everyone while they were gone, giving Nazz both the keys to the white door; he felt like he would not need them while he was with the other group for their journey. He told them they could visit the other world if they so wished; mainly for the Cul-De-Sac to keep in contact with the girl's family and friends. He also asked Nazz to give the other key to Amelia's grandfather, since he was the closest relative nearby, just in case an emergency ever came up in any of the three worlds, they could easily cross over to help each other out. Since Amelia's grandfather did not like strangers visiting him, Double D told them to introduce themselves as friends to Amelia and explain things from there, since the Eds had already met him and knew who they were.

Anyway, the only ones that stayed behind in Sunflower Shoal were the three Eds, the girls, Lynn, Carter, and the six older teens; and Evan because he lives here. The Kanker Sisters (or at least May and Lee) tried to mess with Ed and Eddy before they left, but they hid away for a moment so the sisters could not find them. They eventually gave up and went home with Marie and the others on the bus.

"Geez, it's about time they left!" Eddy grumbled after he and Ed came out of their hiding place, which was inside a big wooden barrel close to Evan's trailer.

"Oh, there you two are!" called out Naomi's voice to them. They saw Amelia, Naomi, and Carter coming over to them along with Ben and his friends, "We were looking for you!" Naomi stated with a smile, "Why were you hiding in that barrel?" Carter asked.

"It's because of those dumb Kankers!" Eddy replied with irritation, "I really didn't want to deal with them right now, so me and Ed had to hide from them until they left."

It was Ed who noticed a few faces that were absent in the group, "Wait, where's Double D, Lily, and Lynn?" he asked.

"Oh yeah, you two didn't hear this because you were hiding, but they had to go to Lynn's orphanage and explain to her caretakers what was going on. Hazel went with them too just in case they needed to show more proof that Lynn needed to come with us," Amelia stated, "Evan's driving them there now, so I'm not sure what time they'll come back."

"Ah, I gotcha," Eddy replied. He then looked at Ben and his companions, "So, uh… I just thought about this, but how do we even get to your world? It sounded like you didn't use a door to get here, unlike the ones we found."

"Oh, you don't need to worry about that right now," Ben replied to Eddy, "Once the others get back, we can explain that to you and how you can do it without those doors."

"Whoa, that's so cool!" Ed cheered with a big smile, "I can't wait!"

Meanwhile, back with Double D and the others, Evan was driving the three kids and Hazel to the place where Lynn lived, the local orphanage in Sunflower Shoal. Hazel was fascinated by her surroundings while they drove to where they needed to go; seeing that she was from an extremely different world compared to this one.

"Umm, does your world have cars, Hazel?" Lynn asked her, noticing the look Hazel had as she looked out the window in the front passenger seat.

"Well, not exactly like this," Hazel replied, "We do have some vehicles that serve the same purpose. Chocobo carriages, cable cabs, and even airships! But I've never seen anything like this or felt it drive this smoothly before."

"Choco… bo?" Lynn questioned in fascination, "Are those like horses or something?"

"Yes. Chocobos can run a lot faster than normal horses," Hazel explained, "They are more so used for carrying people and supplies if you pay the extra gil for the faster service."

Lynn smiled at her, "Wow, that's really cool!"

Double D looked at Lynn for a moment, smiling a little at how happy his sister seemed. He then felt Lily hold onto his left hand, surprising him for a split second.

"Hey, Double D, once we get back to the Cul-De-Sac, I need to ask you a question in private," Lily whispered to him.

Double D stared at her for a second as a small blush started to form across his face, "I-In private…?" he questioned.

"Yes," Lily replied with a nod before noticing the look on his face along with his blush, "… Wait, n-no! Not like that!" she gasped, quickly trying to hide her face in embarrassment, "I just don't want anyone else to hear what I need to ask, that's it! I-I promise!"

"O-Oh, okay…" Double D muttered, calming himself down.

Evan glanced at Double D and Lily through the backseat mirror, 'Heh, I guess Pipsqueak isn't the only one going through the motions,' he thought to himself.

They arrived at their destination a few minutes later; Evan parked his car close to the entrance and everyone (except one person) quickly got out. The only one to stay behind in the car was Evan; he did not have a reason to go in.

Lynn could feel herself becoming very nervous as the group began to walk toward the entrance of her place, 'Everyone's gonna get mad at me…' she thought, 'I broke a rule so I could sneak out and go to the fairgrounds; I-I didn't even come back home in time!'

The group entered the building, Lynn was trying to hide behind Double D so no one could see her. There was no one in the entrance area of the building right now, though they could hear a group of rowdy people in a room nearby, it was presumably some of the other kids that lived there.

"Lynn, can you tell us where the person in charge is?" Lily asked her, "They need to know you're safe…"

Lynn bit her bottom lip a little, still reluctant to say anything, "Umm…"

"… Lynn? Is that you?!"

Lynn widened her eyes in shock as everyone turned their attention to see a man coming over to them from around the corner up ahead, "Where have you been?! We were all worried about you!" stated the man in sadness before making a sigh of relief.

The man turned to see the company that was with her, "Thank you so much for finding Lynn for us," the man stated, "My name is Dennis Ashton. I'm one of the two folks in charge of this orphanage; the other being my wife who's out of town right now."

"It's nice to meet you, sir," Double D started to say as he approached him with Lynn, who was still hiding behind him, "Is there a better place that we can talk?"

Mr. Ashton looked at him with slight confusion before nodding his head, "Of course, follow me."

The group began to follow Mr. Ashton back to the break room for the employees that work there, "Today has been a slow day for everyone, so there's not too many volunteer workers here right now," Mr. Ashton said as he turned to the group and then to Lynn, "Now then, Lynn… Do you mind telling me where you ran off to? The other kids told me you snuck off early yesterday morning."

Lynn looked at her feet in nervousness before replying, "I went to the fairground near the beach, Mr. Ashton. I wanted to spend the afternoon there because it looked fun, a-and you never take us on fun trips… I was going to come right back before it got dark, but something happened that I didn't expect, so I stayed there for the night! I'm really sorry, sir!"

Mr. Ashton stared at her before making a small sigh, "You know you could have told me this. I know my wife doesn't like planning trips for the kids that often, but speaking up about wanting to go there could have prevented this problem; not to mention prevent the headache it gave everyone."

Lynn looked crestfallen from what he said before shaking her head a little, "I really am sorry, b-but it turned into a good thing!" she started to say with a big smile as she gestured to Double D, pushing him towards Mr. Ashton a little, "I-I found my big brother! Does that mean I can live with him now? Please?!"

Mr. Ashton widened his eyes a little before looking closely at Double D, "N-Now hold on a moment…"

"I met my brother at the fairground, Mr. Ashton!" Lynn explained in excitement, "He said my real name is Evelyn, and he lives back in Peach Creek! I wanna go live there!"

"Lynn, p-please calm down!" Double D began to say to her, "We need to try and explain what's going on first, okay?"

Double D turned to Mr. Ashton, "My name is Eddward Johnson, and Evelyn is my little sister. I…" he paused for a moment before he continued, "Four years ago, I was living in Lemon Brooke with my family until a fire burned down our home… Lynn had snuck inside our house to save something, and I went after her. Then the house collapsed on top of us, a-and we thought she passed away… But she's alive, and I would like for her to come home with me."

Mr. Ashton was silent about what Double D told him, having a small look of doubt across his face before making a sigh, "I see, that explains a lot," he glanced at Lynn before continuing, "Back when Lynn arrived here, the folks who brought her told us she could not remember who she was, and it looked to be true. I thought that was a bit weird how and why she lost her memory, so I asked who they were… But all they told me was that they found her walking on the side of the road, saying that her parents had died in a car accident further ahead. They didn't even tell me who they were or what town they found her in. I could tell they were lying, but I thought it was because they were making an excuse to leave their daughter behind in this place. I could see that bits of Lynn's clothes were singed, and she had soot on her as well… Honestly, I don't know why I took their word for it; I should have investigated to see if the girl was a missing child or if something bad had happened nearby… I guess I felt bad for her, so I took Lynn in without any fuss; then they left. They didn't even check back in with us to see how she was doing, unlike most other people do."

The room was filled with an awkward silence from the bombshell that Mr. Ashton told them.

"… Either way, I'm not saying you're lying about this, but I don't want to be that gullible again. I can't take your words for it without some evidence," Mr. Ashton stated, "If there's any kind of proof you have on you that proves she is your sister, you need to show it to me."

Lily looked at Double D and Lynn with worry, 'Oh no, all the pictures of them are back at his home in Peach Creek! How can he prove she's his sister without that?!'

Double D was a bit silent before making a smile, "Of course, just give me a moment."

Double D reached into his back pocket to take out his wallet, opening it to show that he had a hidden pocket inside it with a few quarters and an old picture that he had folded up, "My best friend Eddy has always been very greedy, constantly trying to get quarters from everyone in our neighborhood. So, one day, I took the liberty to sew together a hidden pocket inside my wallet to keep a small bit of change in it, just so he could not easily find it. I also put a picture of me and my sister in this pocket as well so I could always have it with me without other people seeing it."

He took out the picture and handed it to Mr. Ashton, "I know it's bent and out of shape, but this is a real photo my parents took of us when we were little. It's all I have right now to prove she's my little sister."

Mr. Ashton took the photo to look at it more closely. He could see Double D and Lynn in the photo, playing on a swing set of some kind. Lynn looked like she did when he first met her, or at least close to it.

Mr. Ashton looked back at the two siblings before making a smile, "Well then, it looks like you two are related! Do your parents know she's here? It doesn't look like they're with you."

Everyone could see Double D visibly flinch when Mr. Asthon asked about his parents, "… T-They're currently out of town," was Double D's reply, finally opening up about his situation to everyone. He knew he could not lie about this to a caretaker like this, "They didn't tell me where they went or when they would be back; not even leaving an emergency number to contact them with," he bit his bottom lip before saying, "That was two months ago."

Both Lily and Lynn looked at him with shock, "Two months ago?!" Lily repeated with a gasp, "That's insane! Why didn't you TELL anyone about this?!"

"B-Because I didn't want to be separated from my friends!" Double D replied in an upset tone, "Besides, mother and father DO send money back home to me through a credit card for necessities! I-I…" he became quiet after he said that before looking down at the floor, "They're just not there right now."

Mr. Ashton narrowed his eyes, "That's parental negligence, you know. Even if they are still giving you money, this is very much a thing I SHOULD report to the police about."

Double D widened his eyes to Mr. Ashton in horror, "B-But sir! I-I–"

He felt Lily's hand being placed on his left shoulder, "Listen, he's right about the need to act, and I know you're scared because saying anything about it would take you away from your friends," she said before making a look of determination, "But if you need to, you and Lily can stay at my home! I won't let anyone take you away; shadow warlock OR any child services!"

Double D and Lynn looked at her in shock, "Lily, y-your home is in—"

"It doesn't matter where it is!" Lily interrupted Double D before hugging him tightly, "I don't want to lose ANY of you!"

Double D was speechless to Lily before hugging her back, "Thank you, Lily."

The two of them could feel Lynn hug them both, "It's gonna be okay, big brother! We're not staying home for long anyway, right? We have a big, super, important quest to do!"

"… What do you mean by that, Lynn?" Everyone turned to Mr. Ashton, quickly realizing he was out of the loop in their situation, "Are you planning a trip of some kind?"

"Yes, we are," Hazel stated to him as she finally stepped forward to him, she had been listening from the sidelines the whole time, "The task they need to do is hard to explain, but they need to travel with me and my friends to where we live."

Mr. Ashton looked at Hazel before realizing the clothes she had on seemed very unusual; she still had her tome and staff with her, "Uh… Did the fairgrounds have a renaissance fair yesterday?"

"No sir, I don't know what that is, but this is just my normal clothes from where I come from," Hazel began to explain as she grabbed her staff from the strap that was on her back, "I had a feeling you would need some visual proof, so that's why I came with them to talk to you…"

Her mage staff began to glow brightly before her body started covered in the same light. Once the light died down, everyone could see that her appearance had changed. She was now back to how she looked when they first met; the anime style of her world, which was her normal appearance in her world.

Mr. Ashton could only stand there, trying to process what he just saw, "… Okay. PLEASE explain to me how you did that."

"Well, I can't explain that in detail to you, but I can tell you about our task," Hazel replied to him, "Since you're Lynn's caretaker for where she lives right now, you need to know what's going on…"

Double D, Lily, and Lynn looked back toward Mr. Ashton as Hazel explained to him what was going on and why they needed to travel with her and her friends. This was going to take a while for him to process…

Author's Note (March 22nd, 2024): Woo! Another chapter is done! Can't wait to get started on writing the next one!