Facing The Truth (Truth Series 1)

7: The Reunion

Eden's POV

I smile as I glance at my two friends walking beside me.

"So it's on the other side of this forest, right?" Temperance asks again.

"Yes," Conner groans. He is getting annoyed by her constant pestering. "All we have to do is walk through this damn forest and then we'll be there."

"Really!? That's awesome! It means we're almost there!" She shouts.

I laugh as Conner exclaims, "That's what I've been saying for the last ten fucking minutes!"

"Con, you shouldn't swear!" Temperance mock scolds.

"Like you're any better! What are you, my mom?" I grimace when he says this, thinking of my own mother.

I sigh and let my gaze wander over the forest in front of us. On the other side of this forest is Craft City. That means Adam on the other side as well. Noticing that my friends are falling behind I spin on my heels to face them. I grin and shout. "Hurry up slowpokes! You ladies can argue later! I want to get to the city sometime this year!" They laugh before running to catch up to me.

Awhile later night has fallen and we sit around a campfire. I look up at the trees around us. "It's so weird being out here at night."

"Wanna know something weirder?" Temperance questions.

Conner snorts. "Everything's weird with you, Temp."

She ignores him. "I feel like we're not alone here."

My eyes widen as I stared past them. A hoard of zombies is gathering in the darkness the light of the fire doesn't reach. Scared I whisper, "That's because we're not."

Slowly they turn to look behind them. As calmly as possible Conner orders, "Grab what you can and run."

We do as he says. The groans from the zombies getting louder just before we take off. We all run in the same direction but after a while I don't hear them behind me. I glance back but no one is there, not even the zombies. I go to look in front of me again when I crash into something. What I crashed into doesn't move. The force of the crash pushes me backwards and I fall, landing on my butt. I sit there in shock for a moment before seeing what I crashed into or rather who I crashed into.

My blood runs cold as I stare at the man in fear. My father stands before me, sick grin on his face and a wooden sword in his hand. Slowly he reaches forward to grab me.

My eyes snap open and I frantically sit up looking around me. The room is dimly lit with torches. The ceiling and three of the walls are made of mossy and cracked stone bricks. While the fourth wall is made of iron bars and has an iron door in the middle. The ground is cold and hard most likely stone or obsidian. By the looks of it I'm in a dungeon.

"Hey are you okay?" A voice calls out from behind me. I jump in surprise and turn to find who had spoken. I gasp when I see him, black hair on top his head and eyes identical to mine.

"N-no way," I stutter. "A-Aden, is it- is it really you?" He smiles gently and nods. I tackle him in a hug. "I missed you so much."

"I missed you too," he replies. I can hear a hint of pain in his voice. "But could you please let go. I can't... can't breathe."

Immediately I pull away from him, panicking slightly. "I'm sorry! I didn't think I was hugging you that hard. Are you okay? Did I hurt you?"

"I'm fine," he cuts me off. "It's just..." He pauses obviously thinking of an excuse. I don't know why he bothers I've always been able to tell when he's lying. He sighs before saying, "Awhile back something happened and it bruised my ribs."

"Oh my Notch! How in the Nether can you be 'fine'!? What happened!?"

"N-nothing. It doesn't matter." He tries to shift his body backwards and winces. It looks like he is about to pass out from the movement. I make my way over to him and help him. After a few minutes Aden is leaning comfortably (well as comfortable as you can get in a dungeon cell) against the wall. I sit next to him resting my head on his shoulder. We sit there in silence for a while before Aden speaks again. "How long has it been?"

"What do you mean?"

"How long have I been here? How long has it been since I last saw you? It's hard to keep track of time down here. The last time I even saw the sun was the last time I saw you and Adam."

"Five years." I reply sullenly. "It's been five long years."

"So... I've been down here for the past five years. Where have you been?"

I point to the ceiling. "I've been up there. I was hardly ever allowed to the castle. I had to do whatever our dearest father said and if he didn't like it I paid the consequences. However I did make two friends, Conner and Temperance. A couple weeks ago they helped me escape but we got separated in a forest. I ended up collapsing and someone named Jason found me. He wears a blue space suit and his house is designed to look like a spaceship. It's really cool..." I trail off when I notice Aden looking at me weirdly. "Sorry' I got off track didn't I?"

He laughs and nods his head. "You like this Jason guy don't you?"

I blush. "I don't know what you're talking about." Aden laughs again. I roll my eyes and continued my story. "Anyways, I found out Jason is one of Adam's friends when Adam and some others came to Jason's house. Then we all ended up traveling to Craft City together. On the way there we were joined by more of Adam's friends."

"How many people were with you?" Aden interrupts.

"By the time we got to the meeting room, thirteen including me, Adam, and Jason."

"Meeting room!? What meeting room?"

"Well if you didn't interrupt me, you'd know." He glares at me. I just laugh. "After we got to the city we went to Sky Army's base. We went to the meeting room and Adam told his friends about his past. I couldn't stand him saying you were dead and ended up telling them we are half human. Not long after that one of the recruits came in and told us that squids were attacking. We all headed to the battlefield but when we got there Adam asked me to stay out of the fight and I complied. As the fight continued I got really mad and I..." I stop as I wipe the tears from my eyes. "I... I took off m-my sunglasses and ordered the squ-squids to stop. After the squids and the recruits left I ran away. I just couldn't stay there any longer." Aden wraps his arms around me trying to calm me down. I cry into his shoulder. "I-I... I'm s-sorry. They... they know about us. That we're half squid a-and that our f-fathers their k-king."

"It's alright. Everything's going to be fine. I promise." He whispers soothingly.

I calm down gradually, sniffling softly and wiping tears from my eyes. Once I calm down I look up at him and quietly ask, "Can you sing me a song?"

He nods and starts to sing. I smile at the sound although I don't recognize the song. It sounds like a love song but it doesn't always have to be Cinderella love or boyfriend girlfriend love. It could just be the love exchanged between family and friends. I can imagine a whole scene playing out based on the words, Aden and I running away from here to a place where the squids can't find us. But not just us, Adam, Jason, and their friends would be there too, along with Conner and Temperance. We'd all be there together. We would go on Bodil's parkour maps and Jason would be there with his jetpack to catch me if I fell. There wouldn't be any squids and nothing bad would happen. Everything would be perfect and more importantly we'd all be happy. But unfortunfortunately that only happens in fairy tales. As I continue to think of my perfect world, I am slowly lulled to sleep by Aden's enchanting words.

A/N: The song I imagine Aden singing at the end is Spectrum by Zedd. It's a really good song. You should listen to it!