ToL: Chapter 3
[Dreaming Still]
Author's Note: I don't think I mentioned this yet (or at all, oops), but the EEnE movie, 'The Big Picture Show' did not happen before this or my other story started; this is kind of like an alternate timeline. It's why the other teens of the Cul-De-Sac are still bitter at the Eds even in high school and why Eddy is still doing scams, even if he was doing them less often than before and at a smaller scale. Also, the Kankers eventually moved away at some point, hence why they're not around, and Eddy's brother never worked at Mondo a Go Go and stuff like that. The thing that remains true is the fact that Eddy's brother is still a jerk (seemingly). That's about it.
About five minutes passed by after Belindra's departure, and the group that was left behind reconvened back to Eddy's house. Ebony had to call her parents to tell them what happened, knowing they would be worried about her younger brothers. Shayla could not stop shaking at what happened, seeing that her mother was involved in this and had been taken away. Ed seemed to be calm, but he was very much panicking on the inside; he knew his mom and dad would not like the news that Sarah was gone, along with the rest of the teens of the Cul-De-Sac that had disappeared with her. Double D and Katrina were by Shayla's side, trying to calm her down from what happened.
Eddy stayed silent for the most part, thinking to himself about his brother and the two others who were near him; he genuinely had no idea who they were. His brother mostly kept to himself after graduating high school, never telling him how he was doing; not even his parents knew that much about his brother after he left. It made him start to wonder how much had changed with his brother since the last time he saw or spoke to him, especially his attitude.
King Mickey was resting on the couch with Kairi overlooking his injuries, he was still out of it from the previous fight against Belindra. Adam and Olivia were with Riku, who had all stepped away from the living room when Riku received a call from his gummi phone a few moments later.
"Hello Lea," Riku stated to the red-haired man on the video feed of his gummi phone, "What's with the sudden call?"
"Isa and I found a strange girl named Iris in front of the mansion outside of Twilight Town," Lea started to say, "She seems to be alright, but something about her presence feels very off, so we've all decided to try and meet up at Radiant Garden for a meeting on what's going on."
Riku made a small sigh, "Seems like a lot is going on for everyone. We also had a bad situation happen here a moment ago."
"Really? How dire was it?"
"… Very dire."
Lea groaned a little at that, "When can we expect you to arrive in Radiant Garden?"
"I'm not sure," Riku replied, "We need to expand our gummi ship so that more people can travel with us. I plan on contacting Chip and Dale so they can send some parts to us. It might take a day or two for the parts to get here; maybe three days if I had to take a guess."
"Wait, more people?" Lea asked, "Why?"
"It's a bit hard to explain right now," Riku stated, "We'll give you more details later when we meet up at Radiant Garden, okay?"
Lea only nodded his head, "I see. I'll be sure to tell Aqua about your delay."
"Thanks."
The gummi phone's screen stopped the video feed when Riku hung up, making a small sigh once again.
"I assume you're going to expand your ship for the Eds and the girls, right?" Olivia asked.
"Yeah, that's the plan," Riku replied with a nod of his head, "I could also expand it for you two if you want to come with us."
Adam and Olivia stayed silent at that, "… As much as we would love to so we can protect them, I don't think we will," Adam stated.
Riku seemed a bit surprised at his response, "Huh? Can I ask why?"
"Well, it's uh…" Adam started to say but trailed off a bit, looking towards Olivia, "Maybe it's better if you explain it."
Olivia nodded her head before turning to Riku, "When we got back from the rescue mission we told you about, I was feeling extremely ill and sick that night before realizing something; my menstrual cycle had not shown up in a while," she then reached out to grab Adam's left hand before saying, "I asked Adam to buy me a pregnancy test at the pharmacy, and… Well, it came up positive."
Riku blinked a little before concluding what she was saying, "Oh… Wait, you two are a couple?"
"Yes," Adam replied, "The two of us are engaged and have been for several months now, but a lot of times we keep our relationship private from most people for personal reasons," he made a sheepish smile at the thought, "I guess it won't be private anymore because of the sudden news."
"I see, so that's the reason you'll stay behind," Riku stated, "Well, I can ask Chip and Dale to also bring me a gummi phone for you, so you can contact us whenever you need to, okay?"
"Thank you," Adam and Olivia both replied.
Meanwhile, back with the three Eds and the girls, Ebony had just finished talking with her parents on her cell phone. She glanced over to Shayla, who was still in distress about her mom. Ebony knew exactly why she was acting like this, because of Shayla's dad.
"H-Hey, Shayla," Ebony started to say to her, "You know you can always stay at my house whenever you want, right? I'm sure—"
"No, I-I can't do that!" Shayla stated to her in a panic, "He knows you're my friend and neighbor. I don't want him to bother you and your family!"
"But you know you can't go back to your house!" Ebony retorted with a bit of anger, "I know he doesn't live there, but he can still—?!"
"You think I don't know that?!" Shayla shouted a little, surprising almost everyone in the room. Shayla widened her eyes from her sudden outburst, getting up from where she sat as she did, "S-Sorry, I didn't mean to shout. I just…"
Shayla started to walk out of the living room, going to Eddy's front yard, "I need some time alone."
The room was silent for a short moment before Double D got up from where he sat, "I-I'll go check on her."
"Yeah, please do that for me," Ebony stated, "I'll also try to explain to the others the reason why she's so stressed."
Double D made a small smile at her, "Thank you."
He went towards where he saw Shayla walk off to, only to see her sitting on the ground in Eddy's front yard, she had huddled her legs to her chin in sadness. She could hear Double D approach her from behind as he sat down next to her on her left.
"Shayla, I'm sorry this happened to you," Double D started to say, "I'm sure your mother is okay, along with everyone else."
"… I-I know, she's very strong-willed," Shayla replied, "Especially after what we've both been through for years."
The two sat there for a moment in silence before Shayla spoke up, "Do you remember the night I called your cell phone by accident?"
"Yes, I do," Double D stated with a nod of his head, "That's when you mentioned that your father was a gambling addict, right?"
"Y-Yeah…" Shayla muttered, lowering her head a bit in sadness, "I… I kind of lied about that."
"… Huh?"
"The truth is, well…" she started to tear up a little before saying, "The reason my mom divorced my dad is because he started doing hard drugs; cocaine, meth, and other things like it."
Double D widened his eyes in shock at her statement, turning to her as he did.
"We tried to help him out at first, so he could overcome his addiction. But he never wanted any help, only money for himself and for the place he was doing all of this in," Shayla continued to explain, trembling as she did, "The night I called your number was the first time he threatened us with violence and not just verbally; he almost lashed out at us after we told him about filing the restraining order against him… I-I was scared."
Shayla suddenly felt herself being pulled into a hug by Double D, "I-It will be okay, Shayla," Double D started to say to her, "If you need to, you can stay at my home for a while, okay? My parents are out of town for their job at the moment."
She sat there for a second before accepting his hug back, "Thank you."
The two teens let each other out of their hug before getting back up from where they sat on the ground, "I'll go ask Adam to drive me to my house, so I can get some essential things and some clothes," Shayla stated.
Double D nodded his head, "Good idea."
Shayla started to walk back inside Eddy's house, leaving Double D outside. He made a sigh to himself, "Well then, I guess it is a good thing my parents are away on a business trip. For once."
Double D took a quick look around from where he stood, the Cul-De-Sac was now eerily quiet, probably due to his fellow neighbors being taken away by Belindra. Or it could be that everyone decided to stay indoors due to the Heartless arriving in this world. It was very unsettling, to say the least.
'Riku and Kairi explained to us that the Heartless are born from the darkness in people's hearts,' Double D thought to himself, 'I'm kind of surprised that it took so long for creatures like this to show up if I'm being honest,' he closed his eyes to think a little more, 'Then again, I remember Ed mentioning that he saw them in his past life as Seth, meaning they were around back then… Plus, all the visions mentioned black shadows as well, which must have also been the Heartless. It makes me wonder if there was a reason why they disappeared for so long before returning here.'
His thoughts soon trailed back to Shayla and the situation with her father, making a sad face as he did, "I certainly hope things will get better for her… But it sounds like her father is too far gone to receive any help."
Another thought then crossed his mind; 'Wait, could the Heartless potentially make her father act even more irrationally due to their presence? I certainly hope not…'
Double D could feel his chest tighten at the thought of Shayla's father turning into a Heartless to harm her. It honestly scared him that the possibility could happen.
He gripped his red-orange shirt a little, 'I don't want anything to happen to Shayla; there's already been too much going on for us to handle,' Double D thought.
"I must protect her. I am her dragoon after all."
Double D widened his eyes at the statement he made out loud, 'Wait, why did I even say that?!' he thought with a panic, shaking his head from side to side, 'Do I feel that way towards her? Or is this Dimitri's feeling towards Astra that's being projected out of me?'
"Geez, I didn't realize you felt like that for her, Sockhead."
"GAH!" Double D gasped as he turned to see both Ed and Eddy beside him, "H-How long have you two been standing there?!"
"For about five seconds," Eddy replied before making a mischievous smirk at him, "Sooo, what was that about being Shayla's dragoon? ~"
Double D could feel himself becoming embarrassed, dragging his beanie down over his eyes and face to cover up his blushing, "T-This is NOT what it appears to be, Eddy!" he replied, "That was Dimitri, not me!"
"Uh-huh, sure," Eddy snickered.
Ed blinked a little at what was going on before smiling, scooping both Double D and Eddy into one of his trademarked hugs, "D'aww, even I could have guessed that would happen!" he stated.
"Oh yeah?" Eddy started to say, his voice muffled a little from Ed's hug as he tried to squirm his way out of it, "Well, what about you and Ebony?! Seems like you two hit it off every time we meet up with them."
"… Huh? We do?"
"Yeah!" Eddy replied as he and Double D got out of Ed's hug, with Double D lifting his beanie off his face, "Don't tell me you're THAT clueless about you and her."
"Eddy, please!" Double D started to scold, "I think it's not any of our business except theirs! Stop being nosey."
"Oh, come on Double D!" Eddy rolled his eyes to him, "You gotta admit, aren't you curious about how this will play out?"
Double D made a heated sigh to Eddy, "Alright then, let me ask you a question," he started to ask, "Have either you or Katrina made any advances to each other since we got back from Atlantis?"
There was a very long awkward pause between all three of them; the other two Eds could see Eddy's entire face turning a bright red in embarrassment, "Uh…" he uttered before turning back to his house, running off towards it, "IDon'tKnowWhatYou'reTalkingAboutIGottaGoBye!" he said nervously at a very fast pace.
"I figured as much; we are all now around that age range for puberty and hormones," Double D chuckled a little before turning to Ed, "Let's go and meet back up with the others, we need to decide on what to do in finding everyone."
Ed nodded his head, "Right behind ya, Double D!"
About thirty-five minutes passed by in the Cul-De-Sac. Everyone was still in Eddy's living room, discussing their plans for what to do next. King Mickey had also recovered from his fight with Belindra. They all concluded that the three Eds and the girls would travel with Riku, Kairi, and the king to find the people taken by Belindra.
"I've already contacted Chip and Dale for the gummi ship parts we need to expand our ship," Riku stated, "Lea also contacted me earlier to tell us that a girl appeared in Twilight Town from out of nowhere. We think it might be related to what's going on here, so everyone is meeting up at Radiant Garden to talk about the situation."
"A girl?" everyone gasped, "Did they say what her name was? Was it Sarah?!" Ed asked.
"Lea did say her name, but it certainly wasn't Sarah," Riku continued to explain, "It was a girl named Iris."
"… IRIS?!" Eddy and Kartina yelled in shock, almost out of instinct, which earned them a weird glance from everyone.
"Wait, do you two know the girl he's talking about?" Olivia asked.
"No, of course not!" Katrina replied, "I don't know why I yelled like that. It just… happened."
Eddy stayed silent after his outburst, clutching his head a little as he did, 'Why did I even blurt that out?! I don't know anyone named Iris!' He started to think to himself before realizing his heart was beating faster and faster; this feeling he had felt familiar. Another thought then crossed his mind, the flashback he had earlier.
Eddy widened his eyes in disbelief, "No way. H-How the… It can't be that!"
"Huh?"
"I-I gotta go!" Eddy yelped as he jolted up from where he was sitting, running toward his room as he did. Everyone could see his face had turned a bright red before he left.
"Eddy?!" both Ed and Double D questioned in confusion.
Katrina got up from where she sat, "Something feels off," she started to say with a bit of worry, "I'll go talk to him."
Meanwhile, back with Eddy, we could see him enter his room in a panic, closing the door behind him.
"Okay, okay! You gotta calm down!" Eddy stated to himself, pacing back and forth and breathing deeply in and out as he did to calm himself, 'You KNOW that can't be Alex and Irene's kid. There's NO freaking WAY!'
He then heard a knock on the other side of his door, "Eddy?" Katrina called out to him from the other side, "Are you okay?"
"… Y-Yeah! I'm fine!" Eddy lied, trying to cover up the fact he was panicking, "There's nothing wrong!"
Katrina then opened Eddy's door to come inside his room, "You know, I didn't expect you to be this bad of a liar," she stated with a small smile, closing his door behind her. Katrina looked back at him with worry, "Please, can you tell me what's wrong?"
Eddy stayed quiet for a moment before making a heavy sigh, "Alright, I'll tell you," He then glanced to his bed, "You, uh, might need to sit down for this."
Katrina arched her eyebrow at the gesture but went over to sit on his bed anyway. Eddy then sat next to her on her right.
Eddy made another heavy sigh, "When I blacked out earlier, I told everyone about that weird guy in the black cloak talking to Alex, remember?"
"Yes, I remember," Katrina stated with a nod of her head, "What about it?"
"I, umm… I left out a detail about it," Eddy started to explain, lowering his head a little, turning away from her, "After the cloaked guy walked away, Irene came up to Alex, and… And her stomach. She…" he could feel himself becoming redder in the face; he lifted his hands to hide his face from Katrina, "I-I could tell she was going to have a kid soon."
Katrina stared at Eddy for a moment before she turned her head away from him, a blush came across her face, "Oh."
The two teens sat there for a moment in an awkward silence before one of them spoke again, "Are you thinking the girl that Riku's friend found is related to Alex and Irene?" Katrina asked.
"I-I don't freaking know!" Eddy replied with a shake of his head, "That was my first thought, but I don't know how or why! All of that happened 3000 years ago, so there's no way it could be that!"
"But we both had a visceral reaction to her name…" Katrina started to say before sighing, "Maybe we can find out more once we get to the Radiant Garden place they were talking about."
"Oh, r-right!" Eddy nodded his head.
The two teens got up from where they sat on the bed, walking out of Eddy's room and back towards everyone else in the living room.
"Welcome back, you two," Adam greeted them, "Do you mind telling us why you ran off, Eddy?"
"… Nope, I'm not saying!" Eddy replied stubbornly.
Everyone who knew him groaned a little at that.
"W-We can try to tell you later, but not right now, okay?" Katrina stated with a bit of nervousness.
Author's Note (August 14th, 2023): I didn't expect to finish this chapter this fast. I thought it was going to go at the speed of a snail. Hopefully, this is a good sign that I can keep up this pace!
Also, the next few chapters might be considered 'filler', but I consider them important for building up things before they leave on their journey. I have the worlds they will visit all planned out as well; all eight of them (not counting Peach Creek/Atlantis or Radiant Garden)! It's a mixed bag of worlds that I'm not going to spoil! You'll just have to wait and see, sorry!
