Unwanteds: Fallen

Chapter 2: Wake Up

"Hey Aaron. It's been a while, hasn't it?" Alex said, a small smile on his face.

"B-but how is this possible? How are you here? Y-your supposed to be dead. Are you here to take me away!? No! I-I can't leave now. I have Kaylee and Daniel! I really miss you Alex, more than you can imagine. But I can't leave what I have here.."

"Calm down you dolt. I'm not here to take you away. I'm here to stay. If you guys want me here." Alex said, placing a sympathetic arm, reassuring his spluttering brother.

"Wait.. You mean you're gonna stay here. In Artimè. But how is that possible!? You're literally dead!- Not that I don't want you to stay. But..ugh. This must be a dream. Come on Stowe, keep it together." Aaron said, growing frustrated in himself.

"It's just like that day when you were in the university. You couldn't take in the fact that I was alive and well. Wake up you idiot, this isn't a dream. Here, it's slightly different, taken into account that I am dead, but alive in a way." Alex said, desperately trying to explain to his brother that he wasn't dreaming and that Alex truly was in front of him.

"So you really are Alex?"

"Yeah..."

Tears welled up in Aaron's eyes as he pulled the other boy into a bone-crushing hug. Aaron wanted with everything he had inside him to believe that this wasn't a figment of his imagination.

When they stopped hugging, Aaron decided he would bring Alex to meet everybody else. But first, he'd need the full story. He'd need to know how this was possible. And why it took this long for Alex to come back. 

The brothers sat next to each other on the rocks on the beach and threw pebbles into the water. They tried to see who could manage to get their pebble the farthest. They sat in silence for a little and finally Aaron broke the silence by placing the remaining pebbles he had in his left hand and turned to his twin. 

"Alex?" He said, his voice determined for information.

Alex hummed, showing he was listening.

"Could you tell me how this is possible? I mean.. where were you all this time?" Aaron said, doubting if he even wanted to know as he watched the smile slide off his identical twin's face.

"Well.. after Eagala- I mean the Revinir. Old habits die hard.. She still seems like Eagala to me. Anyway.." He said mumbling, tripping over his own words. "After she killed me. I woke up in this place. It was like a library. And there, Meghan was there. She told me that this was the world-beyond. I hung out with her in this library for quite some time. I mean I think it was a long time.. I didn't really feel time passing. It was as if I had non concept of time, as if time didn't exist in that room. Anyway, an hour couldn't passed or a whole year and I wouldn't have known. If we got hungry, a room would appear that had a kitchenette inside, similar to the one in Mr. Toda- I mean my office. And same thing with bathrooms and sleeping quarters. I would ask Meghan if there was other people as I sometimes heard people talking, listening to music from the other side of the wall. But she hushed me and told me not to worry about it. Then, one day she gave me this sort of screen that showed me what was happening down here. I saw Fife screaming and her bird coming, I saw Thisbe shooting magic out of her hands, I saw these four red dragons and Florence breaking to pieces and all this stuff. And I couldn't believe my eyes. It was basically as if I was watching a movie of you guys. We would sit for- well I'm not sure how long- but we'd sit and watch what was happening. We only saw major things or stuff that concerned us. But it was comforting seeing our loved ones. And last thing I watched was the Revinir crying in front of Mr. Today's portrait and then offing herself with a scatter clip. I watched as Lukas thanked her and then screen went blank. All the lights went off in the library and next thing I know I'm in this fully white place. A figure was talking to me. I couldn't tell who they were. Their appearance kept shifting and just looking at the figure made me dizzy and gave me a headache. The figure explained that I, and a few people would return back to Artimè because we didn't deserve the ending that was given to us. I would live amongst mortals as a normal person. Next thing I know I fall out of the sky and I see you. So, um yeah..."

Aaron was starstruck. Alex had been to a new world. It was different from Kaylee's world and.. Americo- no America. It was paradise and it seemed Alex had only seen a small part. But something irked him. "Hey Al? Why did you say mortals? Aren't you a mortal?"

Alex blinked. "Oh.. force of habit... Its what Meghan calls people in Artimè now so I just got used to it. But no. I'm fully mortal, fully capable of dying, and I do not wish to experience it again. 

"Huh..okay...." Aaron said. His head was swimming, his mind was running around the track, putting way to much thought into this. "Um.. do you wanna come see the others again?"

Alex's face lit up. "Is that even a question, you dolt!? Of course I do. Do you know how hard it is to watch you idiots on a screen, not being able to criticize you. I mean I was shouting at the screen calling you all dolts half the time. Meghan wouldn't stop laughing at me. 

Aaron chuckled which caused Alex to get a little angry. "Stop laughing! It's not funny." He said as he pushed Aaron away. Aaron's heart soared. Now this, was the bonding he wished he had everyday with his brother. He regretted the problems he created in their childhood and was happy he was able to be on the road to redemption. Even though Alex and most of Artimè forgave him, he still felt the need to prove to himself that he was a good person. As the sun started to show glimpses of existence, the brother's spoke a little more, Alex going off about how when Meghan was angry, she wasn't afraid to punch you in the face. Aaron smiled at this, remembering the time Meghan walked into his office and punched him square in the jaw. He recounted this story to his brother and they shared a good laugh. Finally, Aaron got up and Alex did the same. Alex took a deep breath. After all this time, he'd see him frien- no, his family. Artimè was his family. The brothers walked, steady paced, intent on reaching the pedestal where Simber lightly snored and Florence seemed to be fast asleep. Their footsteps getting slower as they grew near. A halt in the light snoring signified that Simber was waking up. His eyes opened and he grunted. He was seeing double. He blinked a couple times and tried to wipe the grogginess of his face. Once he felt fully awake, he looked once more. With the rising sun glowing beautiful shades of yellow, orange, and gold that reminded Alex of Sky's magnificent eyes, Simber set his eyes on the two identical figures in front of him. The one with the head mage's robe seemed shaky as he said: 

"Hey Sim. I haven't seen you in a while. H-How've you been?" 

The boy next to him nudged his shoulder, a little irritated at the other's fear. 

"Aarrron? Why on Earrrth do I see two of you? And what do you mean you haven't seen me. I saw you yesterrrday."

"Simber... My name isn't Aaron.. It's Alex." The boy in the red robe said holding up his left hand with a pencil in it. 

"Okay.. I'm definitely drrreaming. Of courrrse I am. I'm not supposed to be sleeping anyway. I'm supposed to be guarrrding the mansion." 

"Simber." The other boy, wearing jeans said. "You're not dreaming. We have to tell you something." 

The great stone winged cheetah stared a the boy in red. he felt something tug at his heart. The great beast testing the air, as he usually did and when he saw nothing was wrong, he agreed to listen to the boy's story. The boy that looked like Aaron and the boy that looked like Alex. 

(1459 words)

Sorry for not updating. Didn't think anybody read this stuff. I'm writing another chapter now. I'll try and finish it but I might have to finish it tomorrow. Just so you know, here's my update schedule from now on:

Monday- 'Control' 'When There's A Will There's A Way'

Tuesday- 'Unwanteds: Fallen

Wednesday- 'The Reed Children'

Thursday- 'Ash Silver' 'Percy Jackson Characters x reader Oneshots'

Friday- 'Unwanteds: Fallen'

Saturday- 'The Reed Children' 'Control'

Sunday- 'Unwanteds: Fallen' 'Ash Silver'

I occasionally might write a chapter for one of my books randomly so that might happen. And those other stuff on there are other books I'm in the process of writing. If ya wanna check them out you can. Anyway. Bye! -Sierra