ToL: Chapter 20

[As the Dusk Sets Down]

It was now early evening here in Radiant Garden, where we could see the sun beginning to set on the town. Everyone was now back at the dorms for the day, with some of the Keyblade wielders getting their things ready for their trips tomorrow. Three separate groups would be leaving on gummi ships to track down and find the missing people from Peach Creek. Even though the Eds and the girls were not coming along like they were planning to with them, they gave the three groups a bunch of pictures and details about who they were searching for.

Double D also reached out to Captain Steiner earlier to explain to him about the 'little thief' that he had kept trying to catch for the past few days, telling him that the girl was scared and confused due to her being from a different world. He also told the captain he would personally pay back the owners of the fruit stalls for all the stolen fruit Colette took.

Thankfully, the captain understood when Double D mentioned the 'little thief' was from another world, "I am from another world as well; one that has recently made close ties with Radiant Garden. I can sympathize that the girl was confused, even though resorting to banditry is NOT the correct way to live! But I thank you for your help in finding the child and sorting things out!"

Anyway, Double D had to inform the group that he had found Colette, one of the missing people they were looking for. Colette was the youngest one that had been taken away, so it was relieving to hear she was found unharmed… Well, as safe as she could be, despite being by herself for over a week.

Colette had woken up earlier before everyone came back to the dorm. She had not come out of her assigned room yet, due to still cleaning herself to be presentable. Colette has been outside for over a week, so of course she wants to look and feel better!

While everyone was waiting for Colette to come down, Double D and Eddy were beginning to feel anxious. They both had many questions to ask Colette about her mom and dad, wanting to 100% confirm WHO her parents were.

Evan had not contacted Eddy for several years, despite giving a few rare updates to Eddy's parents, which was how they learned the names of his wife and child. Melody, on the other hand, had completely cut ties with Double D's parents… Melody might be Colette's mother, with Evan being her father.

The rest of the group was currently sitting around the rest area, hanging around and chatting until it was time to eat what was for dinner. As the minutes passed by, Double D noticed that Colette still had not come downstairs to try and talk with everyone. Becoming worried, Double D and Shayla walked over to where Eddy was sitting with Katrina, asking them to help check on Colette in her room. He also asked Shayla to bring some cookies and a box of apple juice with her to give to Colette; it had been a while since she last ate the peach he gave her.

The four teens trekked upstairs to go to Colette's room, knocking on the door first to see if she was there, "Colette?"

They could hear a bit of shuffling around in the room before Colette partially opened the door, peeking out at them from there. Her eyes were red, and her nose was a bit runny from crying.

"We wanted to talk with you, but you never came downstairs…" Double D started to say before Colette closed the door in front of them to retreat inside her room, much to their surprise.

"Ouch, I didn't think you'd get rejected this hard by a kid, Sockhead," Eddy teased his friend before turning back to the door, "Are you acting like this because we're strangers?"

"Y-Yes, mister," replied Colette's muffled voice from behind the door, "I know I followed you here; I was just really hungry then. But I don't know any of you! A-And my Momma and Daddy aren't here!" They could hear her start to cry once more, "I'm so scared!"

"Oh, the poor dear…" Double D muttered, thinking of a way to help Colette come to trust them. He took a deep breath, "We understand that you're scared, but we need you to work with us to help find your parents. A group of our friends are leaving tomorrow to go out and find them. We need more information about them before they leave…"

There was a pause between the group before Colette slowly opened the door again to look at them, "Really? You're not trying to trick me with a lie?"

"Not at all," Double D replied with a small smile, "Will you let us in? We also have a few things to tell you, alongside asking you some questions."

Shayla then showed the apple juice and cookies she brought for her, "Here, we can eat some of these while we talk; the juice is for you."

Colette looked at the food Shayla brought before slowly opening the door. Both her clothes and appearance were much better, showing how Colette looked normally to them. She stepped out of the way to let them inside, which they quickly did before she changed her mind, closing the door behind her as they did.

Shayla handed the box of apple juice box cookies to Colette, who sat down on her bed to eat them, "Thank you, miss," she said as she began to drink her apple juice.

Everyone in the room glanced at each other; none of them knew where to begin explaining the situation.

"I think we should properly introduce ourselves to you," Double D began to say, "My name is Eddward Johnson, but my friends call me Double D since I have two Ds in my name."

"It's nice to meet you, I'm Shayla Anniston," Shayla said.

"My name is Katrina Tre – … Umm, Eragon."

Double D and Shayla looked at Katrina weirdly when she said a different last name; that was something they would have to inquire about later. Katrina had not mentioned the news about her adoption to anyone besides Eddy and Iris.

"… And my name's Eddy. Eddy McGee," Eddy finished the introductions, emphasizing his last name to see if Colette would say anything about it.

Colette looked at Eddy with confusion, "Wait… Why do you have the same last name as me?"

That statement hit Eddy like a truck, but he quickly put on a brave face by making a cocky smile, "What, didn't your dad ever tell you he has a younger brother?"

Double D, Katrina, and Shayla widened their eyes at how quickly he dropped that bombshell. Colette stared at Eddy before slowly widening her eyes; she could see the resemblance between her father and Eddy, "H-Huh…? You're my uncle?"

Eddy nodded his head, "Yep. I haven't seen my brother in years," he then gestured to Double D, "And Double D hasn't talked with his sister either. He's your mom's little brother."

"E-Eddy!" Double D gasped at how much he was revealing, "Y-You don't need to—"

"That's one of the reasons the two of us are trying to find your mom and dad," Eddy continued to say, despite Double D's interjection, "We're not gonna let anything else bad happen to you, we're all family! So… you gotta trust us, okay?"

Colette was speechless to Eddy, as well as everyone else there; they did not expect him to take the initiative in explaining why they were looking for her parents. They were planning to explain everything to her over time and not all at once.

"Eddy, don't you think that was a bit much for her to take in?" Katrina asked, "I understand she needs to know the truth, but…"

"I know, but we need to find out as much as we can before the others leave tomorrow," Eddy replied in a serious tone, "Otherwise we won't get anywhere."

Colette stayed silent until she began to smile, "Wow!" she whispered in amazement, "I-I get to meet you before Thanksgiving?! That's so cool!"

Double D and Eddy looked at Colette in confusion at her reaction, "Did your parents ever tell you about us?" Double D asked.

Colette nodded her head, mainly looking at Eddy, "Yeah! They told me about you because I heard them talking to someone over the phone. I asked who they were talking to, and they said they were talking with my grandparents! They both said they wanted to try and have Thanksgiving with my Daddy's parents this year! My daddy mentioned you too, Mr. Eddy!"

Everyone in the room was stunned at the news they had learned. It seemed like they were planning on reconnecting with Evan's side of the family for the holidays as a surprise of some kind.

"Well, isn't that something," Shayla chuckled.

Double D was silent before he began to ask, "Did your mother mention anything about wanting to contact her parents as well? Or anyone else in her family?"

Colette shook her head, "I don't think so. When I asked her why they couldn't come, Momma told me she didn't know where they were and had no way to talk to them," she glanced down to the floor, "She also said that her parents threw her out because of Daddy for some reason… She sounded really sad when she told me."

Eddy, Katrina, and Shayla looked at Double D, who only had an upset look on his face, "Wooow, I already knew your parents were jerks to you but come on… This isn't cool."

Double D flinched at Eddy's words, much to Shayla's concern, "I-I… I always had the feeling they were lying to me about Melody, and it looked like I was right. My sister didn't run away at all…"

He felt Shayla's hand on his right shoulder, "Don't worry, Double D. Once our friends find the others AND we defeat Belindra, we can all be reunited and talk with them about everything."

"… I know. Thank you, Shayla," Double D replied with a smile.

Everyone turned their attention back to Colette, "We're so sorry that you're confused about this. Let's take everything one step at a time," Katrina said to the young girl.

Colette slowly nodded her head, "Okay…"

Meanwhile, back at Hollow Bastion, we could see Iris resting once more. Iris was still in her dragon form, much to her sadness. Jasper was also there with her, resting his back up against the wall as he was sitting close by.

Jasper began to open his eyes to look back at the dragon near him, 'Hmm… Iris said she was 11, about the same age as me… I kinda wonder what she usually looks like. I bet she's cute!'

The tailed boy started to stand up from where he sat before walking over to the door and opening it to check on things in the castle hallway. He could see it was still eerily quiet; not even the Heartless from earlier had come into this room to bother them. Those creatures could easily come in here if they wanted to, but they have not.

Jasper also noticed that the sun was almost gone for the day, telling him it was nighttime. He made a sigh to himself as he closed the door back. As he turned to go back to where he was sitting, Jasper could see Iris's body glowing in a low, white light, "Uh…?"

Suddenly, the light that was around Iris began to shine even brighter, blinding Jasper for a moment, "What the heck?!" he yelped before noticing the light dying down.

Jasper looked to see that Iris was no longer the snow-white dragon, she was back to being human. She was currently sleeping in the same position as her dragon form before collapsing completely to the ground, which made Iris wake up, startling herself, "AH!"

Iris quickly scrambled to get up off the floor, rising to her feet to examine herself; thankfully, all of her clothes were still on her, "I-I'm back to normal?!" she gasped in disbelief before smiling, "How…?!"

She looked to see that Jasper was also awake, looking at her with wide eyes, "Umm, I'm not dreaming this am I?" Iris asked.

Jasper shook his head, "No, because I'm pretty sure I'm awake, so you're not dreaming any of this; the curse you had went away on its own!" He gestured toward the hole in the ceiling that she made when she entered the place, "Maybe it has something to do with the time of day? The sun just went down…"

Iris began to tear up as she hugged herself, feeling overwhelmed that she was back to normal. Jasper rushed over to Iris when he noticed she started trembling, "Hey, take it easy, okay?"

There was a pause between them before Iris finally spoke again, "S-Sorry, I'm just happy that I'm not a dragon anymore," she glanced away in sadness at a thought, "But I don't know if I can stay this way or not! It… k-kind of makes me scared."

Iris felt Jasper patting her on the head in a teasing manner, "Why would that matter anyway?" Jasper asked.

Iris looked at him in confusion, "I don't want t-to hurt anyone by accident!" she replied with a sniffle afterward.

Jasper took a deep breath, "Hey, listen… I don't think you should try and worry about the 'what ifs'. We should try and leave for now."

Iris stared at Jasper before making a quivering smile, trying to compose herself, "R-Really?"

"Yeah!" Jasper replied with a big smile, "Besides, we won't know for sure if it'll happen again anyway. And if it does, then we'll all try and deal with it!"

He then looked at the door he opened before, "I know the sun went down, but we should try and go back to Radiant Garden before it gets any later."

Both he and Iris walked over to where Jasper sat down his satchel on the ground. Jasper picked up his bag to take out a flashlight, handing it over to Iris, "Here, take this so we can see what's ahead of us while we walk back."

Iris looked at the flashing with fascination, "Oh, this thing is cool!" she commented before accidentally blinding herself by pointing the light to her face, "AH! THAT'S REALLY BRIGHT!" she yelped as she almost dropped the flashlight she was holding.

Jasper laughed a little at her reaction, "Come on, let's get out of here. I'll protect you from any stray Heartless that come by, okay? It's why I'm having you hold the flashlight instead of me."

Iris could only nod her head as she walked next to Jasper to finally leave the room, pointing the light of the flashlight in front of them, "Just follow me, Iris!" Jasper cheered as they began to walk down the dark hallway.

Author's Note (October 22nd, 2024): Nice! I got this done soon after the last chapter. Maybe I can try and get back on track with everything.