OCWaGH: Chapter 9

It was now late in the evening here in Peach Creek. The Eds had finally gotten back to the Cul-De-Sac after leaving the condos that were five minutes away. All three of them were exhausted from what happened today; the fact that they had a new job to do to help protect the town (or so Ed says) because of the monsters made both Double D and Eddy a bit on edge. However, the two of them decided to try and not complain anymore, seeing that Ed was getting used to his new role very quickly. There was no running away from it now.

After the three Eds said their goodbyes for the night, they separated to go back to their homes. We then zoomed in on Ed's house, where we could see him go into his house from his basement window; he usually went through here to avoid being noticed by his parents and his little sister Sarah in the past, but now he usually uses it just in general because it was an easier way to get to his room. Once he was inside, Ed went towards his bed to flop down on it, collapsing face first into his pillow before positioning himself to rest his chin and neck to be comfier.

The look and condition of Ed's room has improved over the years since he was twelve, thanks to Double D's help and a bit of persuasion. Everything was a lot cleaner and a little more organized, even if he had a few things still scattered about in places; mostly the dirty clothes he would eventually wash when he had the time. Ed had set up a few shelves in his room to put things on display, mostly for some Gundam models he had built a few months ago. He started to buy and make model kits after an employee at the bookstore he frequents suggested it as a hobby he could do, which was backed by Double D as an excellent idea for him. Ed has built and put together three Gundam models so far, even having Double D's help with making his first one.

Ed made a deep sigh to himself, lazily closing his eyes for a moment before reaching into his jacket pocket to take out both his cell phone and the golden medal he received this morning. Ed looked at the medal he held in his hand for a moment before focusing on his phone, checking to see if he had any messages sent to him by his two friends in their little group chat. The last message that was sent in the chat was a picture of a cute dog with some meme text on it, which he sent early yesterday morning.

Ed made a big smile at a thought he had. The girls had also registered him and his friends in their phones if they ever needed to contact them; all eight of them, 'Maybe a cute or funny image can cheer up Usagi?' He thought to himself.

Ed went over to text Usagi, only for him to stop for a second to think about something, 'Uh… What kind of image should I send? Something with a kitty? A puppy?' He thought for a few seconds before visualizing Usagi in his head; he could see her blond hair had two bobbed pigtails that went to her waist. Her pigtails kind of reminded him of very floppy rabbit ears, 'Can a picture of a bunny help her feel happy?'

Ed looked for a cute image to send, which he found very easily; it was a drawing of two cartoon-like rabbits, a white rabbit that was looking very sad was being hugged by a brown rabbit, trying to comfort their friend. He made a big smile at it, saving it to his phone before pulling up Usagi's number again. Ed typed his message to her, attaching the image in the text before hitting send.

Meanwhile, Usagi was in the room she chose in the condo that she shared with Hotaru, Haruka, and Michiru. She was currently lying on her bed, exhausted from everything that happened today, she was not underneath her sheets yet.

There were a lot of thoughts going through her mind right now; mostly about the new enemies' motives and why they were looking for Neo Queen Serenity, her future self. Usagi's mind started to wander, remembering her future daughter Chibiusa and the days she spent with her and Mamoru in Tokyo… Usagi began to tear up at the thought of Chibiusa being gone or disappearing forever because Mamoru was no longer alive; did his death have any change in the future? Would Chibiusa still be there if Usagi ever went back to visit her for any reason? She wishes she could ask Sailor Pluto, but she did not have an easy way to contact her unless it was through Haruka or Michiru; though she had a feeling her request to talk to the Guardian of Time would fall on deaf ears…

As Usagi could feel herself almost dozing off, she heard a ping coming from her phone, surprising her for a second. She went to grab her phone and unlocked it to see who had sent her a message; it was Ed, he had sent an image of two rabbits, one rabbit was comforting the other in a hug together.

"I hop u feel better Usa! Heres 2 bnuuys!" was the message that Ed wrote to her.

Usagi could only stare at the message before a small smile started to form across her face. She could tell that Ed was trying his best to make her feel better all day, probably because Mamoru asked him to do so before fully passing on his powers to him and his friends. She began to type back a message to him.

"Thanks! I luv rabbits… its very sweet of u Ed." was Usagi's message before she hit send.

Usagi made a sigh as she lowered her phone down away from her face in tiredness, closing her eyes before drifting off to sleep, 'I hope the others don't mind if I take a nap. So tired…'

Meanwhile, Ed heard the ping on his phone. He unlocked his phone to see that Usagi had replied to him, saying it was a very sweet gesture and that she loved rabbits, thanking him for the cute picture. He made another big smile at her message, 'Did I complete the mission today? Maybe? I hope I did! Mamoru told me to help Usagi be happy!'

Ed's smile went from being happy to a more relieved look before widening his eyes a little. He could slowly feel something warm inside his chest, his heart felt like it was beating faster and faster before slowing down a second later.

Ed blinked a little in confusion after the sudden feeling passed by him, "That was weird…"

Ed then could hear some loud footsteps coming from outside his room before a loud knock was heard against his door, "Ed! It's time to eat!" Sarah called out to him, not even opening his door to say the message to his face, "Don't be late again! Mom just back from that doctor's appointment, you know!"

"I-I'll be there in a sec!" Ed called out to his sister, pocketing his medal and his phone into his jacket pocket as he got out of his bed. He walked out of his room and up the basement stairs before heading to his kitchen. He could see his sister Sarah was already there, helping their mom with a few things around the kitchen while their dad was sitting at the table, looking at his phone for a moment.

"Welcome home, dear," Ed's mom said to him with a smile as she continued to make the food in front of her, "Seems like you had a very busy day. It's 8:00 right now, but I noticed you came home just now through your window."

Ed made a smile at his mom, "It was a busy day!" Ed stated to say as he sat down at the kitchen table, "I got a neat job!"

"A job?" questioned his dad with an arched eyebrow, not looking up from his phone, "What kind of job?"

"Oh, I can't tell you! It's top secret!" Ed replied with a hushed tone.

He could hear his mother chuckle at what he said, "Must be a very important job for you to keep it a secret from us. I just hope it's nothing that will get you or your friends into trouble."

Sarah and his mom soon sat down with the food they made at the table; it looked like she made spaghetti and meatballs tonight. Ed smiled as he grabbed what he wanted with a fork and spoon, scooping it onto his plate.

Ed's relationship with both his parents and Sarah had improved over the years, right around when he turned fourteen. His parents, Jessie and Steven Wendell could see that Ed was doing better for himself thanks to his two friends (one more so than the other); all three of them were getting into less trouble than they used to. Ed's grades were improving more than they thought they would since starting high school, getting Cs to B+ in most of his subjects; even a rare A-, which made his parents super happy. Sarah, in the meantime, still acts a bit bratty toward him and his friends, but her behavior has toned down a lot over time, being more so nosey than bratty.

No one could pinpoint what exactly made Ed change, even when he still acted like his usual goofy self to everyone, "It's almost like he grew a new brain to replace his old one!" Eddy commented to Double D about him in the past, "I believe it's called 'growing up', Eddy," was Double D's reply.

A few minutes passed by at the table before anyone started to make a conversation, "Well since Ed has already said what he did for today, what did you do today?" Steven asked his daughter.

"Not much, just hung out with Jimmy and the others," Sarah stated, "Though Kevin and Nazz came by later and told us about something really weird that happened this morning."

Her parents arched their eyebrows slightly, "Something weird?"

"Yeah!" Sarah nodded her head, "Nazz told us that some weird thing attacked and knocked her out! She's better now, but Nazz and Kevin said she felt nothing until later that afternoon."

"Oh my!" Jessie gasped with shock, "It's good to hear she's alright now…"

Steven furrowed his brows further at what she said, "She was attacked, but felt nothing afterwards? That sounds very similar to what happened earlier in town today. The news mentioned something about it."

Ed was silent while they had their conversation, eating his food and listening to what they were saying.

"Oh yeah! Kevin told us that Ed and his friends met someone new this morning! A blond girl that's the same age as them!" Sarah stated, making a smirk to Ed, "What was that all about, huh?"

Ed stared at his sister before widening his eyes, "Uh…"

It was while Sarah was looking at her brother that she noticed Ed's left eye was now a very different color than his right eye, "… Hey, wait! Why's your left eye blue now?!"

"Huh?!" Both of Ed's parents yelped as they looked at their son, noticing that what Sarah said was true.

"Oh yeah!" Ed gasped a little before making a big smile, "It's a part of my secret job!"

"W-What happened to make your eye change color?!" his mom asked, "That's very worrying!"

His dad began to laugh a little, "Relax honey, I'm sure it's just one of those contact lenses that changes your eye color when you wear them. That's nothing too unusual to see nowadays. One of his friends must have given it to him."

Ed rubbed his left eye a little when they started talking about it, 'I forgot my eye changed colors when I was asleep! Why did it do that anyway?'

Sarah started to rub her chin with a thought, looking at her brother with suspicion, "Uh, you never did say who that girl was that Kevin saw with you!" she stated with a mischievous smirk, "Come on, tell us who is she!"

Ed's body froze at the question Sarah asked. Normally, he would instantly reply with who it was, but then he began to feel nervous for some reason, "U-Uh, I met someone new today! Yep! I sure did!"

"… I just said that a minute ago," Sarah replied, "I wanna know who it was!"

"Now, now, Sarah," Steven said to her, "It's not nice to pry into Ed's privacy like that. I'm sure he'll tell us all about them another time."

Sarah pouted slightly, "Aww…"

Jessie looked at her son, noticing how nervous he was acting, 'A mystery friend and a secret job… I wonder why he's being so secretive. He is usually very open about everything.'

Ed's mom made an internal sigh to herself. Her health had been getting worse lately, making her feel too weak to do anything around the house. She went to the doctor a week ago and today to do some tests on what could be wrong, 'I hope it's nothing serious… But I know it is.'

About an hour later, at Double D's house, we could see Double D in his bathroom, turning off the water to his shower head after taking his usual evening shower before bed. Naturally, he did not have his beanie on so he could wash his hair without any trouble. He reached out to grab one of the two towels he set out before exiting his shower with the towel wrapped around his waist. He then grabbed the other towel he set out to dry his arms with before drying his hair with the same towel. It was after he finished drying his hair that he reached for his brush to comb it, looking into the bathroom mirror at his reflection while doing so.

Double D could see the reason why he always wore his beanie in his reflection, something that had been there for so long. Across most of his forehead was a very deep scar; it went diagonally from above his right eyebrow to the edge of his hairline on the left side of his head. Most of his scar was slightly hidden under his light blond hair, but it was still very noticeable. He always has his scar hidden from sight under his beanie. The day he received this scar was a day he wished he could forget.

After he finished brushing his hair, putting his beanie back on, and brushing his teeth, Double D made a small sigh to himself, looking back at his reflection again in the mirror. It has been a little over a year since his mother and step-father, Wendy and Aiden Johnson, got a promotion for their job as doctors; a good-paying job at a bigger hospital that required them to work away from home a lot of the time. They would infrequently visit him from time to time to check on him and give him any spending money he needed for necessities. But lately, he had not heard from them at all. It made him begin to worry that something was wrong, especially now that he knew there were monsters out there that could hurt anyone, which included his parents.

"I do hope Mother and Father are doing well," Double D said to himself, walking over to where he set his pajamas down to put them on; a light gray T-shirt and a pair of black house pants were his go-to choices for pajamas instead of the old onesie he used to wear.

Double D proceeded to walk back and enter his room. His room had not changed much over the years compared to Ed's, minus the fact there was now a desktop computer and an additional desk for said desktop. He could see he had left it on from using it earlier. Double D went over to his computer and sat down in his chair to properly shut it down before a thought crossed his mind, "I wonder…"

He began to open a web browser to look something up, 'Sailor Moon Tokyo' was what he put into the search bar. Double D was curious to see what would come up, only to see a few results about the topic. He clicked on the articles he found, opening them in different tabs before reading them.

According to what he could find, most of the articles talked about the strange vigilante girl who wears a unique school uniform; a girl who had been at the center of many mysteries around Tokyo. Some of the articles debated if she was someone working for a special police force or just an urban legend that gained traction with the public. Some articles even said that she did not exist at all, saying she was just a figure of some kind to make the police look incompetent. Whatever the case may be, her imagery and impact on Tokyo have influenced a few merchandise companies to make plushies and other things related to her, despite not knowing who this girl was, mainly just to get in on the hype to make a few quick bucks.

"I guess it is true, no one knows their true identity at all," Double D stated aloud.

It was while he was on one of these webpages for a Japanese news site (that he could now read and understand thanks to his new powers) that he noticed something that got his attention; a video interview about a 'Girl Genius' living in Tokyo that was posted quite a few months ago. Being curious, Double D clicked on the video to see what it was, only for him to widen his eyes in surprise. He could see the girl in the video was Ami, the interview was about her!

"Thank you for taking the time to talk with us, Ms. Mizuno," the interviewer began to say to Ami, "You've recently become the top student in the country, getting perfect scores on every test you've taken over the past few years! Care to share some tips for other students on how you managed to do so well for so long?"

"Certainly," Ami started to say with a nod, "For a long time, I used to study alone before I met my best friends a few years ago. Since then, I've personally found that having a dedicated study group can do wonders for yourself, both for studying and socializing; especially if it's with good friends."

"I see! A very interesting approach," the interviewer stated, "What's your overall goal after graduating from high school? What kind of profession do you want to excel in?"

"Well, my dream job is to become a doctor like my mother," Ami continued to say with a smile, "I also study a lot not just for myself, but for my friends as well. I hope to help them achieve their goals, as well as my own in following my mother's footsteps. I want all of us to have a future that we can be proud of for ourselves."

"How very inspiring!" the interviewer said with enthusiasm, "I bet there's a lot of boys that you've impressed as well! Is there anyone special in your life that you would like to give a shoutout to?"

"W-What? No!" Ami gasped before turning away a little in embarrassment, a blush came across her face, "I-I don't have time to focus on such things!"

The interviewer laughed a little at her response, "That is some major dedication to your studies! Sorry for putting you on the spot like that."

There was a small cut for a moment before the interview continued, "It seems our time here is almost up, Ms. Mizuno. Is there anything else you would like to say before leaving? Maybe some helpful words for students struggling through their school years? It can be tough for a lot of kids these days."

Ami nodded her head, "Yes, I do have some things to say," she paused for a moment to collect her thoughts, "While it is important to study, I think taking breaks with your friends is also very important. It helps your mentality to relax when you need to, or you will exhaust yourself into fatigue or burnout. I personally love going for a swim whenever I can to relax, but there are plenty of other things to do to take a break; like taking walks at the local botanical park or playing chess."

"Wow, those are motivating words, to be sure!" the interviewer stated, "Thank you for this wonderful interview, Ms. Mizuno!"

Double D quickly paused the video before it ended so it would not go to an ad. He could feel a small blush start to form across his face from what he watched, "I-I had no idea she was considered famous…"

Double D proceeded to close the window of his web browser, but only after bookmarking the page that had a link to the interview video with Ami in it. He then went to shut down his computer for the night, yawning a little as he did.

"So very tired…" he muttered as he got up from his computer chair, lazily walking over to his bed to get under his sheets.

Double D could see that he had set his cell phone down on his nightstand, as well as the blue medal he received today. He went to grab the medal to look at it closely again, recalling the words that Makoto said to him earlier when they were at the library, about how he needs to make the effort to become strong to protect everyone, as well as having the courage to talk to Ami properly; trying to get over this crush he had. He wanted to learn more about her likes and dislikes… Maybe he could ask her to hang out with him at the library or the park…?!

Double D widened his eyes in surprise, 'Wait, I-I don't think I could do s-something like that!' he thought, shaking his head from side to side. The blush from before started to form on his face once again, this time it was a much deeper red than before, "Oh dear, c-calm yourself down, Eddward!" he stuttered to himself, gripping onto the medal he had in his hand, "There's n-no need to act like this! Try to be s-strong!"

He could feel himself starting to doze off, finally calming down after making a deep sigh, 'I hope tomorrow is a good day…' Double D thought before finally drifting off to sleep, his hand still holding onto the medal as he slept; he forgot to put it back on his nightstand.

About thirty minutes later at Eddy's house, we could see Eddy was lying on his bed, looking at his cell phone for a moment to watch some music videos before going to bed. He was beginning to feel tired before realizing how dry his throat was right now, 'I should get a bottle of water.'

He got up from his bed and walked out of his room to go to his kitchen, only to see a single lamp in his living room was still on; with his parents still awake in his living room for some reason, they did not even have to TV on, 'What are they doing up?' he thought to himself as he peeked around the corner to see them.

"Luis, are you sure this is the right call to make?" Eddy's mom started to ask her husband with a bit of worry in her voice, "You do remember what happened in the past, right?"

"Of course," Luis replied with a stern voice, "I know it's a big risk, but he needs help with what's going on, Daisy. And I think letting him temporarily stay here when he gets out of rehab will be good, as long as we help keep things on track for him."

Eddy could feel a sudden sense of dread wash over him, quickly realizing who they were talking about.

"But… What about Eddy?" Daisy asked, "He and his friends have been doing so well lately! I-I don't want them to be influenced—"

"Don't worry, I'm sure Eddy knows better than to not get involved with that sort of thing; peer pressure or not," Luis stated with a sigh, "Either way, we need to tell Eddy that Evan is going to stay with us for a few months, just until he can get back on his feet for good."

Eddy's face grew pale at what his father said as he began to put both of his hands to his head as if he were shielding himself. He was beginning to panic, 'Oh god, WHY did this have to happen now?!'

Eddy could feel himself getting a bit weak in his knees as he ran back to his room, closing his door behind him and collapsing on his bed. The news of his brother's return was not sitting well with him.

Despite the many years of bragging about him, Eddy never told anyone the truth about his older brother. Evan USED to be a good brother to him until his Senior year of high school. That was when Evan started to develop anger issues due to peer pressure. At the same time, their father developed a drinking habit before stopping himself. Evan slowly began to drink alcohol despite being too underage to do so, getting what he could from behind his dad's back. Eddy was very young at the time, so when Evan's attitude changed for the worse, there was nowhere for him to go but to just take the hits that Evan threw at him when he became an angry drunk. Once they learned what was happening with their older son and how he was taking his anger out on Eddy, Evan was thrown out of the house right after graduating high school by his parents, telling him never to come back until he could get his drinking problem under control; despite his father being a small factor in why this all started.

Unfortunately, that was the wrong decision for them to make.

It was about a year ago that they heard that Evan had gotten into the drug scene, which horrified them to no end. They realized then that what they did was wrong by shunning him from what he did, but there was no good way to help their older son out at this point. But then, about a few months ago, Evan had booked himself into a rehab clinic to try and make himself better; his parents did not influence him at all to do this, so it looked like he genuinely wanted to get better from his addictions. And now it seems like he was leaving rehab, but needed some help to get back to normal still.

'This is the freaking WORST time for this!' Eddy thought to himself in a panic, 'If Evan's gonna be staying, that means everyone in the Cul-De-Sac will find out that I was lying about him back then!' he could feel his hands start to shake slightly as he closed his eyes, 'And now that those dumb monsters have shown up in town, things might get even worse!'

Eddy suddenly gasped at a thought he had, opening his eyes, and jolting up to sit on his bed, 'Oh no, what if REI finds out about my brother?! What if they somehow meet each other…?! He's going to ruin EVERYTHING!'

He began to grip his shirt around his chest in a panic before he finally managed to calm down. He could still feel himself shaking slightly, but now the initial shock of the news had finally passed. Before he could think about what he was doing, Eddy grabbed his phone to unlock it, going to the group chat that he and his friends used.

"I need to talk to u 2 about some thing tomrrow! Meet up w/me at the playground ok? Its important!" was the message he typed to his friends before hitting send, "I have to tell them the truth about my brother… Geez, this is gonna be awful."

Eddy sat his phone back down on his nightstand before flopping down his head to his pillow, exhausted from everything that happened today and what will happen in the future.

Author's Note (January 30th, 2024): AHHH! PERSONA 3 RELOAD IS SO CLOSE TO COMING OUT AND FINAL FANTASY VII REBIRTH IS LESS THAN A MONTH AWAY NOW! I'M SO HYPED!

Anyway, uh... Here's this chapter! I'll try to work on other stories alongside this one, it's been a while since I've written anything for some of them. Oops!

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention this at the beginning of this story, but this takes place in a timeline where the TV movie, the Big Picture Show, never happened. It's why no one in the Cul-De-Sac knows the truth about Eddy's older brother being a jerk to him (Or a drug user, in this case).