*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Earth's Knight - Ruth Watson* Part 2 - NARTHWICH

Chapter Fourteen - F.R.E.E.

As soon as we stepped out of the house, I quickly lit the lanterns on the porch so we would be able to see better in the fading light. Asuna and I walked onto the green and stopped, facing each other. I folded my arms.
"So?" I snapped. "Get on with it, then."
"Alright, but first..." She looked at the watch on her wrist and squeezed the sides. Before my very eyes, she became the same woman from the funeral. She was wearing the black suit, she had the same make up and wore black, high pencil heel shoes.
I took an automatic step back at her transformation.
"Who are you?" I whispered in wonder.
"My name is Asuna Sugo. I am the Executive Leader for a firm called the Overseers." She bowed her head to me.
"The Overseers? Who the fuck are the Overseers?" I asked in disbelief.
"Our role is to assist the FREE in finding their knights from all Realms." She explained it like she was stating the obvious.
"That made no sense, whatsoever." I said to her, shking my head.
"Ok, I will explain it to you. All I ask is you listen, and save your questions for after I am done. Understood?" She spoke with such authority, it threw me. I nodded at her and she took a deep breath.
"For decades, The Overseers have worked alongside the FREE searching for knights. These knights have been specifically chosen because they are, in fact, dopplegangers of FREE's leader, Rebecca. Rebecca started the FREE to serve and protect all Realms from a powerful organisation called The Order of Verdicts-"
I took a quick intake of breath upon hearing Order of Verdicts, and choked on my spit. Asuna raised an eyebrow at me, unimpressed that I had interrupted her story so quickly. I rolled my hand for her to continue, stifling my coughing fit.
"As I was saying. The Order of Verdicts believe that all Realms should be placed under one ruler, i.e. themselves. FREE, which stands for Fighters of the Realms, Explorers of the Entity, was founded by Rebecca for the sole purpose of putting a stop to them declaring wars with the Realms and keeping the peace. A long time ago, she discovered that she had Dopplegangers hidden in some of the Realms, and the Overseers was established to hunt these knights out and train them up ready to join FREE.
"You're probably wondering how many Realms there are, and I can confirm to you that there are ten in total. First is Neonia, this is where Rebecca originally came from. The second is Cristis, where the second Doppelganger, Ruby, came from. Third is Rulid, where Rhianna is from. Fourth is Earth, your home and, yes, you are our fourth Doppleganger. The fifth Realm is what we call a Tester Realm. Astrovia, where we are now, is the fifth Realm. Deathea is the sixth, no one goes there. Seventh is Atania, that's where the fifth and last Doppelganger is from. Her name is Raquel. Then there are the two Golden Realms. Uistea is the eighth Realm, the Overseers... Headquarters I suppose you could call it? Ninth is Secrunerth, that's FREE's Realm. The last Realm is called Lisorix. That's another Tester Realm, used only after you have become part of FREE."
My head was spinning trying to take in all this information. Is she for real?! This had to be bullshit! This type of stuff didn't exist... did it?
"Now, like I mentioned, you are the fourth Doppelganger. Each Doppelganger is gifted a special sword, designed specifically for each one. Yours is Dragonwrath. This sword basically becomes an extended part of your soul. It protects you, assists you, comforts you, strengthens you, it can even guide you-"
'That's who that voice was earlier...' my mind suddenly thought.
"Rebecca's sword, for example, is called CometFell. It is a longsword, much like yours, except it has a shorter hilt and is thinner and lighter than yours so it can be used more easily as a one handed. Ruby has a sword called WhisperSong. That's a rapier sword, thin and tapered for faster movement. Rhianna has the SpineRipper, this is a very dangerous sword, but she is the most deadly of all the Doppelgangers so far. The SpineRipper has a long hilt for use with two hands, its blade splits into two towards the end, one of the splits being longer than the other to allow her to... 'rip' her enemies-"
My stomach turned hearing that one of these supposed Doppelgangers ripped her victims apart. I hoped I would never meet her. Hang on, what am I on about?! This is all fake. A dream! It has to be a dream!
"Raquel is yet to be taken through her training, so her sword is yet to be designed." Asuna paused, scrutinising my expression. "I can see you don't believe me, and that's understandable. But this is one hundred percent true, Ruth. Otherwise, how would you explain the events here so far?"
I felt my blood start to boil. "If you're searching for Dopplegangers only, then why the fuck have you brought others here? You only need one fucking person. You picking up some others for them to have some company or something?" I was livid. All of this was because of me, and I didn't even want to be any part of this FREE bullshit. I never asked to be a Doppleganger, I never asked for a special sword, and I sure as hell didn't ask to be taken from my family, at fifteen years old, to be shoved in a world where death is practically around every fucking corner!
"Ah, yes." Asuna shifted about a little guiltily. "When we locate where a Doppleganger is located, and we are ready to transport them to Astrovia, we send out a portal beam to safely get them here. Thing is, you were particularly difficult to pin point exactly where you were. You seemed to be travelling all over the place, so we had to send a portal beam large enough to cover the whole area where you had been noted travelling to."
I thought for a moment. I did travel into London a lot, North London specifically, but I also travelled to the beach at Brighton a lot with my friends too. Then there was Margate Dreamland where I visited often with family, and Legoland in Windsor where I went with my little cousins quite often when I stayed with them during Summer holidays.
"Holy shit!" I exclaimed. "You basically sent a portal across the whole of the South of England?!"
"Pretty much, we had to be sure you were one of those picked up." Asuna nodded, still acting as if it wasn't a big deal.
"How many more were picked up?" I dreaded the answer, but I felt like I had to know the extent of the damage caused.
"Over two thousand." Asuna replied casually.
"Two thousand?!" I screeched at her.
"If it's any consolation, there's still just over nineteen hundred and twenty two still alive, meaning a loss of only seventy eight."
I laughed humorlessly. "Oh, only seventy eight teenagers, barely over the age of eighteen have lost their lives and will never return to their families. Do you have no heart whatsoever? What do you tell the families of those who died?" My eyes started to sting. Pearce, Russell, James Benson, all of them were brought forward into my mind.
"We don't tell the families anything," Asuna said indifferently. "Those who do not return home will be assumed missing."
"Assumed missing?!"
I couldn't believe what I was hearing. The information was turning round and round in my head. First, Asuna is a big arse know-it-all for a company who finds Doppelgangers for another fucked up company. Secondly, These said Doppelgangers are forced into a sick and twisted training scheme on another Realm then were sent to join FREE on a mandatory basis. Thirdly, there were ten Realms and the Orders of Verdict wanted to conquer them all under one rule. And fourth, any stowaways that died after being wrongly picked up when they found their Doppelgangers were just forgotten about and left to be placed on the missing list back at home.
"This is fucked up!" I breathed finally.
Asuna sighed. "All of this is to save billions and billions of people from a cruel and ruthless rule under the Order of Verdicts, Ruth. Necessary procedure has to be followed to prevent them from conquering the Realms. They are evil people, Ruth. Power hungry. Deathea is their prison, and it's a horrible place. Any who do the Order of Verdicts wrong, end up there."
"What is deathea like?" I ask.
Asuna shook her head. "I have never been there, so I can't say for certain. From what some have told me, it's basically a real life hell. There's a huge volcano that is constantly erupting, creating rivers and lakes of lava. There is no water, and hardly anything can live there, but the monsters there are a lot worse than here. It's a hot, baron wasteland, that really shouldn't exist. The Order is actually based there. They know no one will venture there, willingly, so use it to plot their evil plans and torture their prisoners."
"Who is in charge of the Order of Verdicts?" I was now curious about who would run such a thing.
"Her name is Tiana. I don't know much about her, I'm afraid. Rebecca will be able to fill you in on all the details when you meet her." Asuna smiled.
I made a face, like fuck I will meet this bitch. "You talk about how this cult, Order of Verdicts, as a prison that's a horrible place. Yet, you send people here to be trained up to fight them! Bit rich to be calling them evil and not yourselves, don't you think?" I growled.
"Deathea has got its own monsters, the monsters here come across as kittens compared to those!" Asuna complained. "The creatures here are the original habitants of this Realm. We only took it over sixty odd years ago under Rebecca's instruction. This is solely used as a temporary training base, not for people to be sent to be punished and torture."
"Wait... If Astrovia is what you call a 'Tester Realm', and it's run by your company, then there must be people who are working for you here?" I narrowed my eyes at her.
"Yes, there are." She nods, smiling that I was starting to take it all in bit by bit. "The Leaders of each town are under the assumption that they are here to monitor the subjects under their care. Subjects being the residents of their towns. They think they're here as part of an experiment to see how subjects from each Realm differ from the last with their team work and stress management. They get the subjects to pick up building their community from where the last ones left off. That's why Narthwich is so built up, but Ozryn and Swindmore are smaller." She chuckled when she spoke, seeming to find it funny that she was even pulling the wool over her own employee's eyes, hiding them from the truth.
"The leaders... So, Needham, Moreno and Atkinson all work for you?!" I realised, blood running cold. If I was being under close surveillance of the leaders, and they were all feeding the information they were getting from me back to Asuna, that would mean she knew about Stainton by now. What if Atkinson had been given his orders by Asuna to execute me after murdering him?!
"If you're wondering about what happened in Ozryn, don't. Nothing will happen because of that." She assured me. "Atkinson put in his report that you have been put down as commiting a murder, but he has yet to be given his instructions on what punishment you were meant to receive. Not that you'll be going back there, of course. I do find it interesting that he didn't mention that you had run away, though. I'll have to ask him about that when I next speak to him." She looked quite angry that Atkinson had missed such a detail from his report.
"So, did you tell Moreno to tell me the Prophecy?" I asked her.
"Prophecy?" Asuna looked bewildered. "What prophecy did she give you?"
"They have been found. When the five stand together, the Order of Verdicts will fall and peace shall reign across the Realms." I repeated Moreno's prophecy. It all made sense now. The five meaning the Dopplegangers, the Order of Verdicts, the different Realms.
Asuna rolled her eyes before closing them and pinching the bridge of her nose with her thumb and forefinger. "That woman is going to be the death of me, I swear. She came from Atania, that Realm believes in all things earthly and spiritual. I'm surprised she had heard of that, though. She wouldn't have been born at the time Rebecca sent that out to all of the Realms when the Order first appeared. Moreno is only forty."
"How old is Rebecca exactly, and how far back does this all go?"
"A lot older than she looks. I have only met her a few times and I thought I was older than her. I'm in my eighties now, and I was only ten when the message was first received by everyone. If I was to guess, I'd say she was over a hundred years old. The Order of Verdicts have been around for just over seventy years."
"You're in your eighties?!" I was surprised to hear that, I had thought Asuna was in her forties, not double the age of what she looked.
Asuna laughed. "You're very kind. It's because I jump from Realm to Realm. Because of this, the aging process stops. Unsure why and how it happens, but age hasn't caught up to me yet."
"How long have you been doing this role then?"
"This year is my sixty years of service for the Overseers and sixty fifth for FREE." She explained. "I spent five years on Secrunerth being part of FREE before moving to the Overseers."
"So it's not just Doppelgangers that can join FREE?"
"No," She shook her head, smiling a little. "There are others there, who are just normal human beings who have a passion for being part of what FREE stands for, and that's fighting for their Realms freedom. Other than the Doppelgangers, there are over hundred and fifty more wanting to protect and serve the Realms. One of them being Rebecca's wife, Natalia. She is the Co Owner of FREE alongside Rebecca. Very nice woman, so kind, but you really don't want to get on her wrong side."
"Rebecca's gay?" I blurted out.
Asuna found my reaction hilarious. "Yes, she is a lesbian. And a proud one at that. She has so much love for Natalia. You can see it whenever she looks at her, and hear it whenever she speaks of her. Natalia is her weakness though. She will go above and beyond for her wife. Why does that surprise you?"
"Just, I thought Doppelgangers were exactly the same in every way. Not just looks. Made me think back to when Hewitt thought I was in a relationship with Goodwin." I sheepishly replied.
"Just because you're a Doppelganger, doesn't necessarily mean you're exactly the same in every single detail. You're your own person, at the end of the day. If you were the same person, you'd all be given the same swords." She was still chortling a little.
"I suppose..." I looked around and noticed it had become very dark now. Night was definitely here, and I could see my friend's shadows moving around behind the drawn curtains in the windows.
"Do you have any more questions?" Asuna asked. "I know it's a lot to take in."
"Oh, I have loads." I admitted. "But right now, I need to get my head around what I've been told so far. I want to be able to access you whenever I need to though, so I can ask you the questions again when I'm ready."
"Of course," She said, nodding. "Take this." She handed me a watch. "It has a radio built into it. Push this button here" she pointed to the little dial on the right hand side, "when you wish to see me, and I'll come to you. I'm afraid you're not quite ready for Realm Jumping just yet, but you will be in due course."
"Is this how you speak to the Leaders?" I asked.
"No, I call them usually. We have technological advantages working alongside FREE. We have phones that are way before their time and we're able to call each other in different Realms."
"Why can't I have a phone, then?" I hopefully asked.
"Do I look stupid? The first thing you'll do is call your mother and tell her the whole story. I'm sorry, Ruth. That isn't going to happen!"
"Worth a try," I shrugged then my heart sunk. "Will I ever see my mum again?"
Asuna gave me a sympathetic glance that lasted only for a few seconds, before she turned to look towards the house. "I don't know. After the Doppelgangers have moved on to officially join FREE, I don't know if they visit their families or not..."
"What about the others?" I said, following her gaze to the house and my friends silhouettes.
"They will have the choice of returning home or joining FREE. If they decide to go home, their memories will be erased and they will return to their families with no memory of what happened here." Asuna said, quietly.
"But Dean and Hewitt have been talking about meeting each others parents, Ashdown and Sawyer are about to get married! You can't let them find love and then remove all that from them."
"Is it really love though?" Asuna asked me bluntly. "Do you really think teenagers find love at such a young age?"
"Yes, I do!" I said, defiantly. "You have put them in a world that has forced them to grow up and become more independent way before they are ready. Therefore, love is the only thing that they can control here. You can't rip that away from them, I won't let you!"
"We can only see." Asuna sighed. "It won't be long now until you move on to complete your training elsewhere. You still have a few weaknesses to rectify and then you'll be on your way."
"What if I refuse?" I gritted my teeth.
"You won't." Asuna said, indifferently. "You'll accept it as your fate soon. They always do." She almost sounded bored with it all.
I huffed. "I think that will do, for now. I need to sleep. Big day avoiding beasts and death tomorrow."
"Ruth, I will say, be careful who you tell this information to. Although, it will make sense to you, some won't take to it kindly."
"You think I take to it kindly?!" I snapped. "All of this happened because you need me to join a cult. Well, congratulations, I'm here! Apologies you fucked up and brought some stragglers along for the ride, but hey, the more the merrier right?" While I sarcastically retorted back to her, my eyes started to sting with the overwhelming information I had just been given. My emotions were changing at such a rapid rate, it was difficult to keep it all under control.
She cocked her eyebrow at my sarcasm. "I won't be staying in Narthwich for much longer, Needham and the others will start to notice my absence soon. I will stay until you have asked all your questions and then leave you to it. I will still be contactable by your watch after I leave, though."
I nodded once. I had many more burning questions, but I was feeling so tired now. Asuna gave me an empathetic smile.
"Until we next speak, Ruth. See you soon." She said before turning and walking towards the town.
I breathed a heavy sigh and stood still on the green for a moment. What and how was I going to share this all with the others? They were expecting me to fill them in, but I really didn't have the strength to do so right now.
I mustered the strength and went up to the door.
"You're back!" Green squealed, jumping up from her armchair.
"Why didn't you tell us that you saw a woman at the funeral?" Goodwin asked me from the other armchair, looking like she felt left out.
"I was planning to but we got distracted." I said, folding my arms.
"So, what did she say?" Dean was sitting on the sofa, her arm around Hewitt. Sawyer sat next to her with Ashdown sitting on his lap.
"A lot..." I rubbed my forehead, I was starting to get a headache.
"Is that right..." Dean said sarcastically, getting impatient.
"Well... how do I break it down easier?" I thought aloud. "Basically, I know what the prophecy means now. This is apparently a Tester Realm, and I know why Dragonwrath glows."
You could cut through the silence with a knife, it was so thick. I looked up and saw everyone looking back at me with curious and bewildered faces.
"How about you start breaking down the prophecy then?" Goodwin said.
"They have been found. When the five stand together... That means all five Dopplegangers have been found. I... I am apparently one of them..."
All of my friends didn't respond, it seemed to have just caused more confusion.
I slid my hand down my face, "Oh how am I going to explain all of this to you..." I wondered aloud. "It's going to be a long night." I warned them and perched myself on the coffee table so I could sit and see them all.
"Ok, I'll go over what I have found out, but let me ramble then ask questions at the end..." I quoted Asuna, and that made me cringe inwardly.
They nodded and I began.

"So we're all here by accident and you're meant to be in training?" Sawyer spoke slowly, looking at the ground and leaning on his knees. Ashdown sat on the arm of the sofa, her expression void.
"Um... yeah... Of course, I had no say." I quickly tried to push the blame away from me. I didn't want them thinking that I was associated with this in anyway.
"No, but it's all to get you ready to join FREE." Sawyer grunted, not moving.
"I-I-I'm sorry..." I whispered, bowing my head feeling responsible for everything.
"Don't be sorry," Dean murmured.
I snapped my head up to look at her, surprised.
"If they hadn't have fucked up and widened the portal, like you said, I never would have met Hewitt." Dean smiled sadly. "Yes, I may have been taken away from my mum who needs me, and for that I hate them. But I now have someone who I feel is my soulmate." She looked at Hewitt with such emotion and Hewitt let slip a small sob before engulfing her in a tight embrace.
"I agree," Ashdown said. "I'm about to marry Sawyer. I never thought that would happen."
"And I have Perkins." Green whispered her input.
It didn't make me feel any better though, it made me feel worse. When the time came for home, they would be sent back with no memory of ever meeting each other. I hadn't shared that information with them yet, feeling it was best left until they had processed why we were actually here in the first place. I decided to deal with that hurdle when the time came.
"So, at least we know what Moreno meant with her prophecy." Goodwin clarified.
"What are we going to do now?" Green asked, worried.
"We're going to find the boys." I said determined. "I want to get them, and find a way of getting out of here together. I feel this watch is more than just a radio and disguise... It might be our ticket out of here!"
I had been hatching the plan while I told them everything Asuna had told me. I was not going to tell Needham anything, I was going to find the boys, then the lot of us were going to figure out a way of getting home without the Overseers knowing anything.
Goodwin nodded. "That's what I was thinking."
"Great minds think alike," I smirked. "Let's take a couple of days to prepare and we will head out to find them."
My friends all nodded. I knew they didn't accept my story, just like I didn't accept it, but what else were we going to do about it? We had to find a way of getting all of us back home, and soon.
We all seperated to head to bed. Ashdown and Sawyer went back to Ashdown's shop, while the rest went upstairs. I went into my bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, thinking over everything that had happened today.
My mind wandered to Alpin and a red hot anger sparked in my stomach and spread through my body. I have never hated someone so much before I came here. First Stainton, now Alpin. The fuck was wrong with the both of them?! How did they ever think they were going to get away with that?!
I reminded myself of the red haired girl, Ryder I think Ashdown called her. I made a mental note to visit her tomorrow to see if she was ok.
Yawning, I removed Dragonwrath, pulled off my clothes and got into bed, shivering slightly as the cold atmosphere touched my skin. Reaching over to the dresser, I yanked a drawer open and pulled out the cloak Ashdown had given me. Laying over myself I fell into a deep sleep.

The bright sunshine streaming through my tiny window blinded me. It was shining right into my face. I groaned and covered my eyes with my arms. A knock on my door made me groan louder.
"What?" I shouted out.
"Watson," Dean called through the door. "Needham is here to see you."
I rolled out of the bed reluctantly. I didn't want to see him. Not after what I had found out about him yesterday. Him being a part of this fucked up company made me dislike him, even though I had no real reason to.
After I had got myself dressed, choosing a long sleeved top to hide the watch, I slouched my way out of the room. I took in the scene before me.
Dean, Hewitt, Goodwin and Green were all standing by the dining table, arms folded and glaring at Needham. Needham was looking very uncomfortable at their attitude towards him, probably wondering what he had done wrong to receive such an unwelcome reception.
"Needham," I grunted at him, coldly.
"Oh, er, morning Watson." He waved slightly. "Er, I'm sorry I woke you."
I shrugged, making my way to the sofa to sit down. "I overslept. It was about time I needed to wake up anyway. What do you want?"
His face gave away that he was hurt that I was acting this way too, but I couldn't help it. He was one of them.
"I wanted to update you on what has been decided with Alpin." He came round the sofa and sat in the armchair.
"Hmmm?" I didn't look at him, just folded my arms and glared at the coffee table.
"He has been given six weeks in the dungeons with the bare minimum required to keep him alive, followed by intense community service for the foreseeable future. I was thinking of getting him to plough a field by himself, with no assistance, but I may reconsider that nearer the time." He mumbled, staring intently at me.
"Not good enough," I snapped.
"No it's not," Needham nodded agreeing. "But I'm not going to resort to medieval methods of torture, although that is what he deserves..." Needham's eyes flashed with anger.
"Is that all?" I asked him nonchalantly.
"Um, well. I was hoping you would come with me to visit the girl who had the misfortune to be his victim." Needham gave me a slight, wishful smile.
"Ok, fine." I agreed, standing. "Let me get my sword."
"Thank you," He stood too, and looked to the girls still standing at the kitchen table listening to what we were saying, still with their arms folded and scowling at him. "I'll, er, wait outside..." He mumbled and quickly left the house.
I rolled my eyes. "He should let the guards beat that fucker up until he's barely alive." I snarled, glaring at the door Needham had just exited through.
"Or worse." Green added. She sighed. "I can't look at him the same now after what you told us yesterday."
"Me neither," Dean, Hewitt and Goodwin said in unison.
"No, I can't either. But do try to remember that he just thinks he's running an experiment, not part of a scouting mission." I rubbed my head, the headache from yesterday making it's return. "He hasn't been anything but nice to us so far.. I'm actually starting to feel sorry for him a little."
"Pfft, I don't!" Goodwin scoffed. "He shouldn't have taken on the role!"
"Anyway, I'll go and see Ryder with him," I said reluctantly. "I won't be long. Get a list together of what we will need to take with us to Ozryn, ok?"
The girls nodded and I quickly put Dragonwrath on, before leaving the house and meeting Needham on the porch.
He smiled at me as I came through the door, I kept my face void and started heading towards the town without waiting for him.
"Have I done something to upset you?" Needham asked, jogging to catch me up.
"Dunno, have you?" I asked him back, staring dead ahead.
He put his hand on my left wrist and gasped as his hand closed around the watch.
"You-you have a watch?!" His eyes widened in fear and realisation as he lifted my sleeve to look at it.
"Does that answer your question?" I snapped at him.
"H-how?" He wouldn't take his eyes off my wrist, his face scrunched up as he tried to work it out for himself.
"I met Asuna," I said simply and he immediately let me go and backed away.
"You've met... You actually met her?!" He whispered, his face terrified that he had been found out.
"Of course I actually met her! My question to you is, why did you pretend to know nothing about her when I asked you about it?!" I spat at him.
"What?" He now looked very confused. "You asked me about what? I have never met Asuna myself!"
"Bollocks!" I spun round and started striding to the town. "I asked you where she said she had travelled from and you said you didn't know! I asked her what job she had done before, and you lied and told me apothecary!"
"Wait... She's Sugo?!" Needham was frozen to the spot, he was starting to panic. I stopped and looked at him again, turning myself round to face him properly.
"You mean to say, you didn't actually know that was her?" I asked slowly.
"No! It didn't-didn't even register that was ever possible..." He whispered. Sweat was starting to break out on his forehead, and he was breathing heavily.
I furrowed my brow, half believing him but half thinking he was putting on an act. After all, he was pretending to be a teenager. A thought struck into my head.
"Who are you really?" I demanded. "Asuna was able to disguise herself as one of us, which means you're doing the same."
He looked me straight in the eye, looking disappointed with himself. "I am. Watson, I'm so sorry. I never wanted to be part of an organisation like this, it's inhumane. I know that now. But it's my job... I have tried everything to-"
"Shut the fuck up and be who you really are!" I shouted.
He sighed and pressed the sides of his watch. Within seconds, his height grew by at least another foot, his chubby appearance melted away to a sculptured, muscly body, his hair shrank back into a short buzz cut style and streaks of grey appeared in it. His round face morphed into one that was thin and chiseled, thick dark stubble lined his chin. He was completely different from his teenage version of himself, the only recognisable part of him, being his kind, jolly eyes.
My mouth gaped open. The adult Needham shifted awkwardly.
"I never liked being the teenage version of me anyway..." He made a weak joke.
"How old are you?" I asked him.
"I am fifty five years old. I've been working for the Overseers for thirty years." He admitted, folding his muscular arms. His voice was much lower and rougher. Genes had obviously worked in his favour. "Of course, I like to think I still look about thirty." He added off handedly.
"With that grey hair?" I scoffed at him, smirking in spite of myself. He belted out a mighty laugh at that.
"Hey, leave the grey hair alone, alright?" He joked back.
I cast my eyes over him and took in his new appearance. He was very good looking, and reminded me of a History teached in my school. All the girls swooned over him and kept flirting sickeningly with him. It had made me feel uncomfortable when he had been trying to talk about how important Penicillin had been throughout History, while the girls were more interested in finding out if he was married or had a girlfriend.
"So, er, what Realm are you from?" I asked him awkwardly.
"Rulid." He replied. "That's-"
"Realm three..." I said making his eyes widen.
"Wow, you have been told a lot then." He looked impressed.
"Does that mean you know Rhianna?" I asked him and his expression changed back to confusion.
"Who?"
"Doesn't matter." I waved my hand dismissively. "What's Rulid like?"
He thought for a moment. "Not much different from here, to be honest. I feel very nostalgic when I look down on the town every morning. It looks like my home." He smiled at the memories. "It's riddled with wars though. Rulid is split up into so many continents with each of them having a different king, it causes a lot of conflict. That's why I was happy when they offered me this job. Believe it or not, here is actually safer than my home town."
Sadness crossed over his face. I fought the urge to comfort him, and made my face harden.
"Why did you accept the job?" I narrowed my eyes to hide my empathy for him.
"Well, safer like I said. The money was very tempting. When all this is over I will be able to comfortably retire and never have to work another day in my life. I was hand picked by a lady who was in Rulid at the time, so it kind of made me feel... special, I suppose." He shrugged. "I was also very intrigued at how all the Realms differed from each other when faced with life changing situations. It's been a very interesting journey, let me tell you. But I have recently started to doubt their ways of finding this information out. There are more humane ways of doing these experiments. I think this will be my final one."
I nodded to show him I understood. I looked up the path towards the town and realised that we were almost in view of the Restaurant. I could see people bustling around.
"You better switch back." I said, quickly. "Someone may see you, and if they do, I'll be leaving you to explain everything. We also need to see Ryder."
He quickly pressed the sides of his watch and changed back to young, jolly, chubby Needham. I shook my head, smiling at how much he had changed when growing up.
"Being like this is the worst part of the job." He moaned in the squeaky voice I knew too well. I laughed.
"Hey, seeing how much you changed, gives hope for the rest of us." I quipped.
He made a squeaky laugh before cringing at the sound of it and muttering "fuck sake" under his breath. I tipped my head back and laughed, setting off towards the town again.

A/N - hi guys! Well, the secret is now out! Nothing is going to be the same for Watson now, is it? I hope you enjoyed this chapter. Don't worry, there'll be more information on F.R.E.E. In the next book Part 3 Mournstead so keep your eyes peeled 😘