ToL: Chapter 19

[Forgiven, but Not Forgotten]

Meanwhile, back in Radiant Garden, we could see Marie, who had left the dorm to go take a walk outside. She wanted to look around the new world she arrived in, "Whoa, it really does look like a fantasy place. Feels kinda surreal…"

After trekking up the cobblestone staircase that leads to the castle gates, Marie came upon a large training ground near the outskirts of the castle, which was being used to train soldiers for combat. Marie could see two people sparring against each other; it was Double D and Shayla. They were training with both their weapons and their magic against each other. Double D had his Keyblade in a fighting stance before lowering it, dismissing the blade as he did. They were both getting tired.

"Phew!" Shayla sighed as she put away her twin daggers back in their sheathes, wiping a bit of sweat off her forehead. She was about to talk to Double D when she noticed Marie was standing at the entrance behind him, "Hey there!" greeted Shayla with a small wave.

Double D turned to see who Shayla was waving to, only for his boy to freeze in fright for a few seconds, "O-Oh," he muttered as he looked around, trying to distract himself before dashing away, "I should report to the general or her captain that we're done here for today. P-Pardon me!"

The two girls watched Double D run off, much to Shayla's annoyance that he was acting that way. Shayla walked over to Marie, "Were you two sparring with each other?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, all of us arrived here yesterday, but we had some short time to train back home in Peach Creek," Shayla said, "All this is still new to us, so that's why we'll keep practicing until we go to fight Belindra."

"Cool."

There was a small pause between the two girls before Marie began to talk, "Hey, Shayla. Was all that stuff you and your friends told us actually true? About your past lives and junk like that…?"

Shayla was silent, thinking carefully about what to say in response, "Yeah, it's the same for the others. We only learned about it two weeks ago," she said, glancing down to look at the ground. Shayla could feel herself grip onto her shirt sleeve in nervousness, "Everything about it happened so fast… Kinda doesn't feel real."

She felt Marie's hand land on her shoulder, much to her surprise, "But it IS real! Aren't you happy or excited about it?" she asked.

Shayla stared at Marie in confusion, "I'm not exactly happy about my mom being taken away as leverage to fight that awful man," she dryly replied.

"Whoa, I didn't mean that part of it!" Marie told Shayla as she made a teasing smirk, "I'm talking about you and Double D! Aren't you two a couple or something now?"

That was when Shayla widened her eyes, her face slowly becoming redder, "W-Well…"

Marie laughed at her reaction, "The look on your face makes it pretty obvious!"

Shayla was silent for a moment, "I, umm… T-That doesn't matter right now!" she said, trying to regain her composure by shaking her head from side to side, "I don't have time t-to think about that. Defeating Belindra is what I need to focus on; n-nothing else!"

Marie continued to snicker, "Well, whenever you decide to take a break finally, we should talk!"

"… The both of us? Talk…?"

"Yeah!"

Shayla seemed even more nervous, "I-I suppose we could, but why?"

"Uh, why not? It's been so long since I've seen those three dorks," Marie replied, glancing toward the direction that Double D ran off to, "Besides, I had a feeling he's told you about me and my sisters. The last thing I want now is to make things more awkward, you know?"

"… You're right," Shayla said with a small smile, "I'm sorry, I was a little unsure about saying anything about that until now."

"That's nice of you, but that's water under the bridge now!" Marie said, patting Shayla on the back, "You don't need to worry about us getting out of line… Besides, I have my eye on someone else back home!"

"… Really? Y-You do?!"

"Yep! I'm not lying about that. I haven't said anything to him YET, but once I do, maybe I could introduce you to him! You know, once we can all go back home."

The two girls stood there before they both started to giggle at how silly they all had been acting. Though it was understandable, in hindsight. All their friends were teenagers in high school now; things had changed, but sometimes wires could be crossed due to a lot of factors.

"We should find and talk to Double D!" Marie laughed as she pulled Shayla by her arm in a friendly way.

Shayla yelped a little at the sudden action before deciding to follow Marie.

Meanwhile, back with Double D, he was wandering around the somewhat crowded road near the marketplace; a few stalls were lined up and down the road filled with various fruits for sale. He was trying to find either the general or the captain he met earlier today, wanting to inform them that he was done training for the day at the soldier's barracks.

As Double D was walking, he did not see the small figure that was rushing toward him until the two of them collided, "Ah!"

The two yelped in surprise as they both fell to the ground from their impact. Double D was only stunned for a split second before he regained his composure. He looked to see who had run into him, only for him to widen his eyes in shock. It was a young girl who looked like she was six years old. She had short, light brown hair and both she and her clothes looked to be very dirty, like she had been living outside for a while.

The girl looked at the person she ran into, widening her dark green eyes in terror with a few tears on the brim of them. Before Double D could say anything back, the young girl quickly got up from where she fell and ran the other way behind Double D.

"W-Wait!" Double D gasped as he got back up and turned to see which direction the young girl ran off to, only to see that she had disappeared into the crowd, "T-That girl…"

"STOP RIGHT THERE, YOU LITTLE THIEF!"

Double D jumped at the booming voice close by; he recognized the voice as the captain he was looking for. He could also hear the captain's armor as he ran by Double D; the captain's armor being almost all pieces of an iron suit, turning him into a clanking metal noise maker whenever he was walking or running.

Double D decided to follow the captain, only to see him coming to a stop to catch his breath near one of the many stalls, "Captain Steiner?"

The man in armor turned to see Double D walking over to him, "Ah, Master Eddward! What fortunate timing for us to cross paths!" Steiner greeted with a boisterous tone before gesturing back to where the young girl from earlier ran toward, "I need some help in catching this thieving child; she's been stealing food from the stalls for the past few days, but we have yet to catch or detain her."

Double D stayed silent for only a moment before realizing something. He had seen that girl before, 'I-I couldn't be…!'

"Very well, sir. I can help you find her," Double D replied with a nod, "Is there any information you can share with me about them?"

Steiner hummed a little as he thought about it, "Well, it seems the child has been targeting the fruit stalls. They did not take much, but it is still a bad thing for this to keep happening!"

"… I understand," Double D said before making a small smile, "I would like to handle this case for now. Is that alright with you, sir?"

Steiner looked at Double D in confusion, "Why, that would help me out so much! I have other things to focus on that aren't chasing down little thieves," he began to jog off, leaving Double D behind.

Double D made a sigh of relief before walking over to one of the fruit stalls nearby, taking out the munny pouch he had to purchase a few things at the stall. Once he paid for what he needed, Double D began his search to find the girl from before. He ventured to the park that he and the others were at yesterday, looking around for any signs of the young girl.

As he was approaching the fountain that was near the playground, he could hear a small whimper coming from the woods nearby; it sounded like someone was crying. Double D quickly went over to the woods to see if the young girl was there, only to see a bunch of half-eaten fruits scattered around the trunk of a tall tree. The tree had a hole at the bottom that would be big enough for a small child to enter; that was where he heard the voice.

Double D took out a peach he had bought from the food stalls before walking over to where the child was, "Colette?"

The crying child made a small gasp when she heard his voice, "W-Who's there? How do y-you know m-my name?!" the young girl asked in fright from inside the tree.

Double D thought for a second about how to respond, "I'm a friend of your mother's," he replied to her as he held out the peach he bought earlier in his left hand, "I know you are very confused about where you are and what happened, but my friends and I can help you with finding your mother and father."

"… Are you sure? M-My Momma and Daddy always told me to not talk or follow strangers."

Double D internally chuckled; she was a smart kid, "You're correct, but I know you need help, Colette," he extended his right hand to her, gesturing for her to grab it, "Come now, I can take you to where I'm staying at. I promise to protect you from harm."

The girl was silent with him before she slowly began to crawl out of her hiding place, revealing how dirty she and her clothes were again to him.

"Here," Double D said as he handed the peach to Colette, "I also have apple juice and some cookies back at the dorm. Follow me, please."

Colette looked at him in nervousness when she took the peach, "U-Umm, I'm really sorry I took all these things," she weakly apologized, "I wanted to find my parents so they could help me pay back the people that had these fruits, b-but I haven't found them yet…"

She felt Double D's hand on her left shoulder, making her jump slightly, "Please don't worry about that, I can help pay and clean up the fruit you took. I know you're feeling guilty about it."

Colette gasped at his offer, "You will…?"

Double D nodded his head, "Yes, but we should make our way to the dorm first. I'm sure you want to clean up and freshen yourself, am I correct?"

Colette could feel herself tearing up, sniffling a little from the crying she did a moment ago, "T-Thank you, mister!"

The two walked out of the woods and began to trek back to the dorm. Colette held onto Double D's hand as she ate the peach he gave her; she was enjoying the snack she had.

Double D could not believe his luck; he had found Colette after Belindra took her and the others as an incentive to visit different worlds. But her mom and dad… His older sister Melody was still missing, along with Eddy's older brother. It was a miracle Colette had survived this long on her own, even if it forced her to start taking fruit from the food stalls when she became hungry; he also assumed she was drinking from the fountain nearby, which was why she was in the woods near it.

The two eventually came back to the dorm walking inside to see that no one was around the hangout spot now. Colette gasped in awe at the place, "This place is so big!"

Double D and Colette went up the stairs to the floor that the girls stayed on, walking over to a vacant room, "You can stay in this room for now, Colette," Double D said as she walked into the room, "I'll be right back with those snacks I mentioned, but I would like for you to try and clean yourself first, understand?"

There was a small pause before Double D realized Colette had gone straight to the bed in the room. She had fallen asleep as soon as she went to it. Double D made a small chuckle before closing the door behind him and taking a deep breath.

"I need to inform everyone about this development," Double D sighed as he took out the gummi phone he had in his back pocket, "I'm so relieved that Colette is safe, but now I'm becoming worried about everyone else who's missing."

Author's Note (October 14th, 2024): Woo!

That's it, just a small woo. Oh, and Metaphor is amazing. A 20/10 game.