The town of Blairwood seemed like your run of the mill small American town; it had a mall, a couple thousand people living and was quiet most of the time. You could drive through it and not see anything too eye-catching or inspiring.
It did however, have one calling card: It was where Sam Williams, who many touted as the next Stephen King or Edgar Allen Poe, called home. His horror books were bestsellers and near universally praised and the man himself was popular in town and with readers due to his humble nature and sheer honesty with which he wrote and spoke.
Indeed, since setting up residence in town, Sam Williams was part of a great story that he would one day write. And at least part of that story ties into the one we are about to read today.
But while important, Sam is not the focus of our tale. No, our story begins with seven new arrivals moving into Blairwood, sparking a chaing of events that will be, for lack of a better word, fantastic.
ERMA
"Well boys, here's our new home."
Stepping out of a black car was a man who looked slightly older than he actually was. He had neat black hair, dark blue eyes, a slightly grown-out, unkempt beard, a black sweater, black slacks, and black shoes. He also wore nice black gloves.
Also coming out of the car were two little boys, both 6-7 years old. The first had messy black hair with bangs that covered one of his eyes, which were sky blue and he wore a long-sleeved dark grey shirt with an 8-bit sprite of Mario on it, white shorts, and red sneakers.
The other boy had a short-sleeved red hoodie, black shorts, and white sneakers. He had the same hairstyle as the other boy, but his eyes were different, being grassy green.
The man's name was Victor Xanders and the two boys were his adopted twin sons, Theo and AJ. They had been moving around a lot but now, this was their big break. This time, they had found a place they could stay in.
The sound of a moving truck was heard as the three turned to see it pull up next to the sidewalk of their new house. The movers started unpacking, with Victor offering to help out while Theo and AJ, being rambunctious little boys who weren't exactly ones for doing adult work, ran into the house to check it out.
"There's a lot more stuff here than I was expecting," Victor noted, seeing there was still so much in the moving truck.
"Yeah, turns out a few other guys had the same ideas as you, pal." One of the workers said. "We're also helping unpack their stuff too for the houses next to and across from yours."
Victor arched an eyebrow curiously at that before suddenly hearing a loud dramatic gasp as he turned to see another man close to his age there, an excited look on his face.
"Vic?"
"Wes?"
The man known as Wes had a more lively appearance compared to Victor; he wore a black t-shirt, beige khaki pants, black boots, and neck-length dark brown hair with red dye on the top. Before Victor could react, Wes had rushed over and picked him up in a hug.
"VIC!" He beamed. "It's been years! Where have you been?!"
"S-Surviving..." Vic managed, his face turning blue and his bones breaking. "Put me down, please..."
Realizing he was crushing his old friend (and that blue was not a human color), Wes nodded and put Victor down, letting him catch his breath and feel his bones were all still in order and function. Compared to his friend's slim, sleek build, Wes was slightly taller and had a bit more muscle on him, looking like he could be a firefighter or police officer of some kind.
"Man, what a coincidence we decided to move to the same place, huh?"
Victor chuckled softly. "Needed a quiet place to lay down. Especially since I have a couple of little monsters to look after."
"Hey, Dad! Who's that?"
Theo and AJ had come back outside after checking out the inside of the house to find their father talking with some stranger he seemed familiar with. Wes perked up and looked at the two little boys in surprise.
"Boys, this is an old friend of mine from when I was your age."
"Whoa! Are you some kind of firefighter?" The younger boy asked.
"Actually, I am!" Wes smiled. "Got a job here at the Blairwood Fire Department!"
"Holy crap, I don't believe it...!"
Another voice that was familiar to Victor and Wes spoke up as both men turned to see another man their age come in. He had black hair with a silver streak in it, stunning amber eyes, and a slender build with washboard abs. He wore a white t-shirt, black vest, blue jeans, and black boots.
"Ash...still as loud as ever." Victor quipped.
"And you're still as edgy and quiet as ever, Vic!" The man known as Ash laughed as he pulled his friend into a noogie before turning to Wes and bumping chests. "I can't believe I'm seeing you guys here! This is crazy!"
"I was just saying that myself!" Wes pointed out.
"HEY! Careful with that!"
The three men turned to see someone moving to help one of the workers carry something into the house across the street. He had reddish-brown hair, a white button-up shirt, black slacks, and black shoes as well as hazel eyes.
"Yo! Shaun!"
The man had finished making sure the worker was alright and carrying the luggage carefully before turning his attention to the other three men addressing him, beaming brightly as he ran over.
"Glad to see you're still as on point as ever." Ash chuckled.
Shaun gave a small nod, not speaking any words yet his friends could understand him just fine.
"Whoa...Dad has a lot of friends." Theo muttered to AJ.
"Yeah."
"But man, I feel like there's only two guys missing from making this a big damn reunion," Wes noted as he looked around.
"Yeah, Ol' Sammy and-" Ash began, only for a loud voice to interrupt him.
"HEY YOU GUUUUUUUUUUYS!"
A loud voice the men all recongized, uneasy but warm smiles crossing their faces as a man with handsome effeminate features, bright blonde hair, sunny blue eyes, and the cheeriest disposition you could ever see had jumped onto Ash from behind, causing him to fall to the ground and crash.
"Well, speak of the devil..." Victor chuckled.
The blonde man almost immediately jumped up, pulling Ash back up to his feet to give him a proper hug before moving over to Victor, Wes, and Shaun to do the same for them.
"It's been so long! Like, how many years has it been?! I lost count! How have you been? How has life been treating you? Any new stories to tell?"
"Slow down, Tony." Ash begged.
Tony giggled sheepishly as he did just that, smoothing away his nice shirt that looked like it cost quite a pretty penny to get.
"I'm just...so happy to see all of you again! I thought I wouldn't know anyone here!"
"Talk about a lucky incident, huh?" Wes commented. "So, what brings you guys to Blairwood?"
"Just want a nice place for my kids to have their childhoods," Victor said as he crouched down to ruffle AJ and Theo's heads. "Boys, like I said before, these are old friends of mine from when I was your age."
"Awwwww, they are so adorable!" Tony cooed. "As for me, well, the folks wanted me to start living by myself away from the mansion and all that. Figured I could still take some of the wealth with me to spread around and paint the town."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Still a lovable rich dumbass...anyway, I just wanted to take a break from the fighting rings for a change, maybe find a nice lady, settle down..."
Shaun just gave a soft hum, using sign language to get his words across as his friends nodded.
"Ah, still traveling the world looking for the next big thing, huh?" Victor smiled. "But figured you'd want to settle down, have a base of operations."
Shaun smiled and nodded before turning to Theo and AJ, who were both curious as to why he hadn't spoken once.
"Oh, Shaun is mute. He was always the shy but brilliant type." Tony explained to the two kids.
Shaun nodded in thanks for that, then offered the two boys figuries made out abandoned nails, rubber bands and scrap metal.
Shaun smiled
"Say, if you guys don't have any plans, how about we have a reunion part at my place?" Tony suggested, pointing to the largest house on the block.
"…We could eat." Vic said after getting nods from AJ and Theo, Shaun gave a thumbs up and Ash's stomach grumbled, making him smile sheepishly.
"Give me an hour and it should all be ready." Tony promised, whipping out his phone to order everything they'd need. He then spied AJ and Theo and asked if they had any requests.
"Specifically anything mr. Grumpy here doesn't normally let you have."
"I am standing right here." Vic said, but he went ignored. Honestly though? Seeing AJ and Theo's faces light up as Tony happily added the junk they asked for to his shopping cart made him too happy to really care; it had been too long since his sons had been that happy.
ERMA
"So, what movie did you guys want to watch?" Tony asked excitedly two hours later, with everyone having a plate of food from a vertible buffet in their hands. "I've got just about every movie ever...thank my folks for that."
Ash rolled his eyes. "Obviously."
After almost a half-hour deciding what movie to watch, the five men and two boys settled down and prepared to watch...only to find static filling the TV screen.
"Huh, I could have sworn the movers set things up correctly..." Tony frowned.
Out of the blue, a black circle appeared in the center of the T.V. screen as a little girl with long black hair and wearing a white dress crawled out.
"Are we watching The Ring?" Theo asked in surprise.
"Wait, is this REAL?!" AJ gawked, quickly hiding behind Vic before pulling Theo behind him.
"Tony, did you check with the realtors if this place was HAUNTED?!" Wes demanded.
"They never said anything about the place being haunted!" Tony assured his friends.
"You could have at least checked to see if anyone had died beforehand!" Ash screamed back as he entered a stance.
Everyone watched as the girl crawled up the wall, her hair covering her face. A tense silence filled the air as if this was the part in a movie where if someone made a sudden move, the monster would jump them.
"...Hey, tiny! If you're gonna murder us, get it over with!" Ash snapped.
The little girl turned toward them before crawling onto the ceiling. It was here they were finally able to get a good look at her face and were surprised to find a very unthreatening face smiling back at them.
Shaun took the initiative, silently waving with an awkward expression at the girl, who dropped from the ceiling and landed on the couch next to Theo and AJ, the latter yelping and hugging his brother.
"Uh...H-Hi?" Theo shyly greeted the girl.
"Okay...potential horror movie scenario averted...probably." Wes sighed as he wiped some sweat off his brow.
"You're a...colorful sort." Victor calmly noted to the girl, who looked to him with a raised brow, one that she shared with Shaun. "What? She is."
Before anyone could figure out what to do with this girl, a knock on the door was heard as Shaun went to answer it. When he did, his eyes widened at who he saw.
There was a beautiful woman who looked like an adult version of the girl currently taking up residence in Tony's house. However, it was the man with her that caught Shaun's attention.
He was the same age as him and the other men with short light brown hair, glasses, and a goatee. He was slender but well-toned and wore a yellow short-sleeved jacket over a black undershirt, blue jeans, and white sneakers.
"Who's at the..." Victor's words died in his throat. "Door..."
The woman, not noticing this at first, moved over to the little girl sitting on the couch.
"Erma Williams! What have we told you about entering other people's houses uninvited?" She scolded.
The little girl, now called Erma, looked down at her feet in shame.
"I am so sorry for….Wait a…" The man started, only to lose his voice when he saw just who was in the room with him. "Victor? Wes? Ash? Shaun? Tony too?!"
There was a moment of silence as the assembled all processed what had just transpired, before great big smiles overtook the men.
"SAMMY BOY!" Tony beamed, him and Wes rushing to hug the man. Sam chuckled and returned the hug. The others snuck in hair messes and noogies before Sam released himself.
"Man, how many years has it been?" Sam started, only to hear a cough from his wife. "Oh! Sorry Emi."
The woman smiled as Sam brough her into an embrace, Erma then hugging his legs.
"Guys, this is my wife Emiko." Sam smiled. "And our daughter Erma."
Emiko gave a polite bow as Erma waved hello, her eyes focusing on the two young boys, still hiding behind Victor, although their eyes were widened and on Sam. Spying this, Victor gently pushed the two forward with a smile on his face.
"Sam? Meet my boys;AJ and Theo. Boys, this is…"
The two boys hurriedly rushed away and returned with books in their arms. Books that had had Sam's name on them and covers that clearly
"Can we get your autograph?"
"Please?" Theo added, gently nudging his brother.
While surprised at the ages of his readers, Sam smiled as he happily began to sign the books, shooting Victor a look.
"What? Its better reading material than most of the stuff they publish these days."
"This coming from Mr. 'I never read Fiction because its not pratical.'" Ash said.
"Hello pot." Victor retorted. "I seem to recall you only reading Shounen manga and comic books."
"Hey, don't go dissing Shounen!" Ash, joined by Emiko and Wesley snapped back. "I wouldn't be half the badass I am without it!"
Realizing they had all said that together, the three smiled knowingly.
"What are you guys even doing here?" Sam asked, a big smile on his face.
"Moved in, wanted to settle down with the boys." Victor said, his expression becoming distant for a moment at 'settle down'.
"Just got transferred to the Blairwood Fire Station," Wes said. "Figured they could use my help since they're pretty short-staffed."
"Needed to get away from the fighting circuit. Too much publicity for me." Ash shrugged.
Shaun took out a phone and gestured it to Sam, who nodded in understanding.
"I see...taking some computer gigs here, huh?"
"As for me, I needed to start making my own lifestyle away from Mommy and Daddy's mansion," Tony said. "Figured settling into a homely town like this was the best way."
Sam rolled his eyes. "You always were rich in dollars and poor in sense. Hopefully, life here in Blairwood will settle you in."
"Well, it's very nice to meet all of you." Emiko smiled as she cradled Erma in her arms. "Sam had told me a lot about his friends from school but I never expected some of them to actually move in and live here."
"Man, we had a lot of adventures back in the day." Wes smiled wistfully. "Boy, weren't we young and foolish?"
"Do you guys have anything planned for tonight?" Sam asked. "Because if not, we'd love to have you guys over for dinner, and catch up on old times."
"Boy, would we!" Tony beamed before looking at Ash. "Would we?"
"I see no problem with it. I don't make any plans of my own."
"I don't mind. The boys could use some socializing." Victor said as Theo and AJ waved at Erma, who waved back.
"Great, we'll see you soon!" Emiko smiled. "Welcome to Blairwood."
And so began a new chapter in the lives of these five young adult men, reuniting with each other and another of their old friends, meeting said old friend's family and settling into the anything-but-ordinary town of Blairwood. Little did they know just how crazy the adventures they'd have would be.
Knightmare Lord A/N:
Figured Mrotrax and I would return to the webcomic that played a part in bringing us together. Here, Sam has five old friends who have moved to Blairwood and reunited with him while also making friends with Erma. I'll give brief descriptions of each of them for clarity's sake.
Victor Xanders: Kinda like John Wick but with a much happier life thanks to his two adopted sons, Theo and AJ. However, he still has a dark past that will be explored as the story progresses...
Wes Davidson: Born from a decorated police officer father and a military war hero grandfather, Wes wanted to follow in their footsteps in helping innocent lives by taking up firefighting.
Ashley 'Ash' Johnson: Originally from an older Erma fic of ours that never took off the ground. Ash is an avid student of martial arts and various other fighting styles and cultures, having taken up prize fighting for a time before deciding to settle down and use his skills for more domestic pursuits.
Shaun Stokes: A brilliant but shy young man with a knack for computers and putting things together. He was born mute but is still quite expressive and knows sign language.
Anthony 'Tony' Raimi: Born from a high-class family, Tony always believed in sharing his wealth with others. He is flamboyant, optimistic, a bit childish, and generous to a fault.
Anything you'd like to say about all this, Mrotrax?
Mrotrax A/N:
First story of the new year and a return to the fandom that solified/helped spark our writing partnership and friendship! What's not to love?!
Keep safe and warm, have the grandest of new years!