*The Chronicles of F.R.E.E. Atania's Knight - Raquel Festow* Part 1

Chapter 19 - Theodore Goodwin

*Raquel Festow POV*

Watson burst out of the dark Tea Room door, pulling me by my arm behind her.
"Watson! Please! You're hurting me!" I begged.
Her grip was so tight on my wrist, it was almost crushing my bones. She stopped and spun round, her face livid.
"Where are they?!" She snarled.
I backed away from her, shaking my head. She took a threatening step towards me.
"Where are they?!" She repeated in the same tone.
"I d-don't know! I don't have a phone to call them that's why I went in there to get help." I said. I was beyond terrified now. Her Aura had already changed purple but it was getting darker by the minute.
Watson roared in anger and pulled out her phone. Before I could think of what I was doing, I snatched the phone away.
"Give it back Raquel!" She warned me, her bag glowing red.
"Why did you give up?" I asked her deperately, holding her phone out of her reach and starting to cry from fear and disappointment. "You were the only pure Knight and now you've turned purple. Why did you let it destroy you?"
Watson's face softened for a split second when she noticed she was scaring me but grew angry again straight away.
"Because Rebecca has fucked up more lives than she will ever realise!" She spoke with such venom in her voice, her teeth beared and her body trembling from fury. "She didn't just snatch two thousand people from my Realm and fuck them all up, she also snatched four hundred others from other Realms too. Each of those people she took created a domino effect on the people they left behind. Chris is dead because he couldn't bear the thought that I was gone and commited suicide because he wanted to be with me. People have died from her selfish obsession, Raquel! I will not let it happen again!"
Her Aura grew a little lighter when she spoke about protecting people. I grabbed hold of that opportunity.
"But you joined FREE to save millions upon millions of others, Watson. Your friends were so happy to see you when you came back, too." I reminded her desperately.
She didn't seem to hear me, instead she stepped away from me, looking behind me at someone. I turned round and saw Hunter running towards us.
"Oh thank god!" He engulfed me in a tight hug.
An overwhelming feeling of attraction and love lurched through me, and I realised his latch had connected to my Aura. He had accepted me!
"I turned around and you were gone! I'm so sorry! I thought I had lost you!" He cried into my hair, kissing my cheek. Suddenly, he tensed.
His hold on me slacked and he was looking at Watson, extremely worried.
"Watson, what's the matter?" He said, stepping round me to get to her.
Watson aburptly held up her hand to stop him.
"That's far enough, Hunter. Where are the others?" She asked him, curtly.
Hunter was taken aback by her behaviour. He looked back at me and I gave him a frightened look back. He seemed to get what I was trying to tell him, as his Aura started pulsing from concern for his friend.
"We... We got split away from them." Hunter told her. "Raquel had to help me remember what you had told us during our last evening in Narthwich so I knew where they would be heading."
Watson huffed in disbelief. "They wouldn't know where I am!" She spat at him. "Darren doesn't know my home town and I very much doubt he paid that much attention when I told them where I had come from. How did you get here so quickly? I had only just met up with Lizzie before she got a call from Harry saying Raquel had walked into the bar saying she was lost."
"We got a cab." I told her. "He said he saw you yesterday."
Watson huffed again and folded her arms. "Fucking small world this, isn't it? Even the same fucking cab driver! Right, well. You're back with Hunter. Good luck with everything. I'll see you around." She snapped and spun on her heel to walk away.
Hunter grabbed her arm and stopped her. She turned her head to him, very slowly and looked at his hand around her wrist.
"Let me go, Hunter." She warned him.
"What's the matter? Come on, let's talk about it. You look angry." He said gently.
"Because I am angry, Hunter!" She spat, flinging his arm off her. "That fucking bitch took us from our Realms to feed her addiction of collecting lookalikes. Because of her, I was taken away and my best friend killed himself because of it!"
Hunter took a sharp intake of breath and stepped back closer to me. "You don't mean...?" He started to ask.
"Yes, Hunter. Chris killed himself not long after making that video. That was basically his suicide note!" Watson's eyes started blurring up with tears. "I am done! Alright? I am so totally done, now."
She sniffed, forcing her eyes to look up as she folded her lips into themselves to stop herself from crying.
"Watson..." Hunter looked at me for guidance quickly and I nodded, encouraging him to tell her what he wanted to say. She was fragile and up for listening to us now.
"Watson, I want you to come with me." He said, twisting his head back to her with a determined look on his face.
"Why? So you can drag me back where I have no escape again?!" She said between her tears. Her emotions were becoming too much and her Aura was trying to compensate for that by growing larger, I pulled Hunter back slightly in case she had an outburst.
"No. Not at all." Hunter put his arm around himself to pat my hand, telling me he was ok around her. "I want to show you something. It's actually quite close to here. Only a bus ride away."
"What is it?" She asked, suspiciously, wiping her eyes.
"Best I leave it until we get there." Hunter said gently.
"Fine." Watson's head drooped down. "Make it quick."
Hunter smiled at her then turned and took my hand. "I am never letting your hand go again!" He whispered to me before pulling me in the direction we needed to go.
I kept silent and obediently followed them, still holding Watson's phone, as we walked back up the busy street through the flood of people. I focused on Hunter's hand in mine as Watson and Hunter walked along, looking straight ahead of them and not acknowledging each other. There was a huge red box, like size of two huts on top of each other.
"This is a bus, Raquel. It's like a train, but on wheels. It can hold a lot of people on it." Hunter smiled back at me.
I nodded apprehensively. It was overwhelming how many different ways people had of getting around on this Realm. Cars, cabs, trains, bus. How many more were there?
Hunter showed the man in a little small cabin our tickets as we stepped aboard and we went up a narrow aisle with benches on either side, before Hunter pulled me sharply to the side and up some stairs. At the top, there was another two rows of benches. Hunter went right to the back and Watson joined us. Hunter allowed me to sit by the window on a very long bench that stretched along the back and he sat close next to me. Watson sat on the bench in front of us and swung her legs up to stretch them out in front of her. Her bag was glowing silver now. I frowned.
"Why is your bag glowing silver?" I asked, leaning forward to look at it closer.
"It's Dragonwrath." She said, bluntly.
"Oh, what's Dragonwrath?" I said, leaning back into the bench.
"It's the name of my sword. Rebecca made us a sword each. She hasn't done yours yet." She explained, looking at the colourful drawings above our heads.
"What are the other names?"
She shot me an annoyed look before rolling her eyes. "Rebecca has Cometfell as you know. Rhianna has Spineripper and Ruby has Whispersong." She said, before returning back to what she was reading on the drawings.
"Who had the purple Aura in Atania?" I asked.
Watson sighed loudly. "Why all the questions?!"
"I'm just curious. When I saw you in Atania, you had a gold Aura, and then there were two who were red. One of them was Rebecca. Then there was a purple one." I replied, timidly.
Watson narrowed her eyes at me. "What do you mean 'had' a gold Aura?" She snarled.
I flinched at her tone towards me, and Hunter gripped my hand tighter. I took a deep breath. "You had a gold Aura when I first saw you. On the train you turned red. But in that room with Harry and the lady, you turned purple."
Watson's eyes widened. "My Aura's purple?" She whispered, looking worried.
"You understand about Aura's, don't you?" I asked.
She nodded. "Kind of. Rebecca briefly explained when we were in the cab on the way to you. Purple is dangerous, right?"
"It is. It means that person is filled with anger and hatred. They lose sight of everything that's good around them and it takes a lot to bring a person out of it. But with the right support and encouragement, they can overcome it to become red."
Watson nodded. "Alright. Great." She said sarcastically, shifting herself to sit up more. "I've turned into Rhianna."
She unfolded her arms and gave a defeated sigh. Her Aura shrank down and lightened slightly, but it was now more a bright, vibrant purple like the chreek fields.
"Where exactly are we going Hunter?" She said, pinching the bridge of her nose and closing her eyes.
"Croydon." He replied simply.
I looked at him and caught him staring at me. He abruptly looked out of the window behind me and I couldn't help but smile. He was now feeling what I was feeling towards him. My Aura glowed brightly in happiness.
"Croydon? Why Croydon?" Watson asked, frowning at him.
"You'll see." He said, cryptically.
Suddenly, Watson's phone started ringing, making me jump violently. I looked down but the squiggles on the phone I didn't understand.
"It's Rebecca." Hunter said, looking at the phone.
"I don't want to speak to her." Watson said flatly.
"We should still let her know you're safe." I implored.
Watson rolled her eyes and swung her legs down to the ground so her back was to us. "Whatever." She grumbled.
Hunter tapped the green circle and nodded at me to speak to her. Before I even said anything, Rebecca's voice came through the phone, shrill with worry.
"Where are you?!" She shrieked. "We've been looking fucking everywhere! Your fiance is going fucking crazy. Natalia and Clara are beside themselves. Xavier is driving me fucking mental. And to top it all off, Raquel and Tommy have gone missing without a phone between them!"
"Relxa, Rebecca." I said.
There was a moment's pause. "Oh thank fuck for that! You're with her." Rebecca breathed. There was a rustling sound and then a sniff. "Where's Ruth?" She asked quietly.
"She's right here. We're on a bus." I told her.
"A bus? What's a- you know what, never mind." She sighed as there was another rustling. "Is Tommy there with you?"
"Iez." I replied.
"Ezerz eento qai saltazeeb?" She asked me.
I looked at Hunter, and smiled widely. "Iez. Ezerez eento saltazeeb."
He knows he's my soulmate, and he's accepted me. I am beyond happy. I feel like I could fly, I feel so elated.
Rebecca hummed. "Can I speak to Ruth?"
I looked at the back of Watson's head.
"Watson, Rebecca wants to speak to you." I said, holding the phone to her. She shook her head so I took it back and put the phone to my ear. "She won't speak to you right now."
Rebecca growled. "Put me on speaker phone."
I blinked and looked at Hunter. I held the phone to him. "What's a speaker phone? Rebecca wants to be put on it."
Hunter sniggered and tapped the phone.
"Alright, Rebecca, she can hear you. But remember, so can everyone else." He said to the phone.
"Ruth, are you ok? Listen, I've had a word with Darren. He's really upset. I mean, I'm not used to men crying into my shoulder..." She let out a weak chuckle but there was no reaction from Watson. "Natalia is really worried about you, Ruth. So am I. I haven't seen you that angry for a while. Last time I saw you get that angry at someone, we were in Mournstead." She paused again, but there was still nothing from Watson. We heard her sigh. "What do I have to do to get you to speak to me?"
Watson spun round in her seat and snatched the phone off me. "You can fucking DIE!" She screamed into the phone before tapping the screen, holding her finger on the side and then throwing it into her bag. She folded her arms and faced forward again.
I felt so bad for Rebecca. She had only been trying to help. But Watson was now in an Aura that stops her from seeing any good in anyone. She could only focus on her hatred and fury. I just hoped she didn't have an emotional outburst.
Hunter put his arm around me and pulled me to him. He was breathing heavily and, judging by the way his Aura was pulsing, he was worried about Watson just as much as I was. He suddenly half stood up and pressed a red square on a pole. There was a faint ding of a bell and he removed his arm and held my hand as he rose to his feet.
Watson saw him get up and got up too, pulling her bag over her head and avoiding looking at us. We stepped off the bus and headed through a high metal gate in the middle of thick, stone walls. Inside was a beautiful large green surrounded by flowers and plants of all colours. Trees grew tall and framed the green and flowers very neatly.
I couldn't help but squeal and run towards it. I kicked my shoes off before stepping onto the grass, wanting to become part of the ground below my feet. This had been the first time since arriving here that I had been able to see and feel the wonderful growths of Earth, and they were beautiful. So bright and colourful.
Hunter and Ruth came over and went to step on the grass with their shoes still on.
"STOP!" I cried out to them, raising my arm towards them to stop them in their tracks.
They stopped dead and looked at each other. I jogged back over to them.
"You need to feel the grass between you toes." I explained, bending to take Watson's shoes off.
"Fuck off! This is Croydon! You don't go walking around in bare feet in Croydon! Put your fucking shoes on before you step on a needle." She snapped at me, picking up my shoes.
"You have needles here? Oh excellent!" I squealed in delight and spun round to look around at the plants before I felt someone put their arms around my waist and pick me up.
I started screaming and thrashing, wanting the person to put me down. Watson dropped me on the ground and pinned my legs down, forcing my shoes back onto my feet.
"No! NO! I want to feel the grass! I NEED TO!" I screamed, desperate to connect myself with Earth and become part of their Realm.
"Raquel, stop struggling. I didn't mean those type of needles. These needles hurt you. They're bad things." She explained.
I leant up on my elbows and saw her Aura had brightened a few shades because she was acting to protect me. This made me think. If she kept doing things to help people, she would return to red in no time. Maybe even gold! The plan was in place, I just needed to find enough ways to get her to help me.
Hunter was watching us with his arms folded and an amused look on his face. He noticed me looking and grinned. I stuck my tongue out back to him and he laughed.
"Right. Don't do anything stupid." Watson snapped as she got to her feet.
I stayed on the ground, wanting her to help me up but Hunter came over and hoisted me back to my feet gently. I gave him a polite smile, but felt a little annoyed he interrupted my plan.
I quickly shrugged it off and skipped along, following the path. I felt relaxed and at peace in such a beautiful place. Clara would love it here, and so would Xavier.
Something reflected the sun into my eyes from the wall and I dashed over to inspect what it was. It was a metal plate. Actually, it was loads of metal plates. Each of the plates had the squiggles of Earth writing on them and I couldn't understand it.
"Hunter? Watson? Come and look at these!" I cried over to them.
Watson and Hunter walked over towards me. When they got closer to the wall, Watson stopped dead while Hunter kept walking until he reached me.
"Can you read them to me?" I asked excitedly.
"Sure. They're not as exciting as you think. This one says 'Hazel Gladis Jones. 1901 to 1984.'" He said.
"What is it?" I asked.
"It's a memory plaque, they all are. For example, this one says 'Victoria Bashley. 1925 to 1991.'"
"Oh. Is she the Victoria who made the cake?" I asked, looking at the plaque and tracing my fingers over the writing.
"Hunter..." Watson's voice cracked.
We turned to look at her and I could see her Aura wavering. She was scared. Why was she scared?
"Hunter..." She repeated, her voice barely a whisper. "Why are we here?"
Hunter gave her a sad smile and walked past me to a shinier plaque. He gave it a quick wipe over with his sleeve and then did what I had done and traced his fingers over the writing. Goodwin's Aura glowed, blindingly bright.
"Oh! It's Goodwin!" I cried out, rushing over to look. I put my hand on the plaque. "Relxa, Goodwin! My name's Raquel." I looked to her Aura, just over Hunter's shoulder, and she flashed at me. I grinned back.
Watson hadn't moved. She was just staring at the plaque, her eyes glazed over, her lips were slightly parted and her Aura was pulsing very weakly. She was overwhelmed with sadness.
I walked over to her and tenderly took her hand before leading her over.
"Goodwin wouldn't want you to be sad, Watson. She wants you to be happy. To be pure again. Just like everyone else. Even Rebecca." I said, softly.
"Can you just... stop talking as if she's here?" She said through gritted teeth, her eyes closed.
"But she is here."
"JUST STOP!" Watson roared at me.
"Look, I'll prove it!" I said, defensively. "Goodwin, show me your favourite memory of Watson, pleize." I said, looking at Goodwin's Aura.
'Please be a happy one' I begged her and closed my eyes.
She showed me a vision. Watson was wearing a dark red skirt and a tie neck top, she leapt onto a bench and crashed right through. I burst out laughing.
"The fuck you laughing at?!" She screamed at me. I opened my eyes and she was looking furiously at me.
"I'm laughing at when you broke the bench. You were wearing a dark red skirt, and a tie neck top. Goodwin was sitting in an armchair next to it and was thoroughly enjoying watching you getting stuck." I chuckled, grinning at her.
She gaped back at me, completely frozen. Hunter snorted, but just closed his eyes and shook his head.
"What about another?" I asked her, and grinned when I shut my eyes, looking forward to seeing another.
Another vision, Goodwin and Watson were fighting each other. She flips backwards and Watson is stunned before being hit so hard, she flies backwards. I couldn't help but groan as she lands on her back and Goodwin jumps on her with her sword on her throat. Watson has a small discussion and gets off the floor to sit on a balcony swing that breaks as soon as she sits on it. Again I burst out laughing.
"Goodwin kicked your rear end something good, Watson!" I jeered at her and bending over laughing. "Then breaking the swing afterwards..." I keeled over backwards to the floor, rolling around from laughing so much.
Watson had started to react, she was laughing but sobbing at the same time. Her Aura was turning brighter, she was almost a violet colour. It was working.
Hunter was laughing too. Holding his stomach and leaning back, his head tilted back, laughing at the sky.
"One more?" I asked her, but didn't bother waiting for an answer.
As soon as the new vision started, I couldn't help but cry out.
"Oh! She knew Moreno!"
A loud, howling laughter reached my ears and I had to open my eyes. Watson was bent over so much from laughing, her hair was dangling to the floor. She was struggling to breathe from laughing so much.
"I guess you knew what happened there then?" I smirked, enjoying hearing her laugh at the memories of her friend.
Watson nodded, still howling before stretching her back out and crying out. "Where we've all gone a bit barmy." Before falling backwards like I had and rolling around on the floor.
I was confused by what she had said, as I hadn't watched the vision, but felt euphoric, watching her Aura turn rich red and it was getting lighter. Hunter and I may not have known what had happened to send Watson into a laughing fit, but we couldn't help but chortle along.
Watson finally started to slow down, mainly from lack of oxygen. She lay on the floor, spread out from exhaustion, looking at the sky between the tree's leaves above us.
"Oh, fuck. That was funny!" She sighed, before giggling a silly laugh. "That was the funniest day ever!"
"Please tell me what happened." Hunter begged.
"I suggest you ask Raquel to show it to you if she can. You gotta see that shit to believe it." She giggled, leaning up on her elbows and grinning up at us. She literally flipped herself to her feet before taking a step forward to place her hand on Goodwin's memorial plaque. "God I miss you." She whispered to it, before tears flooded her eyes.
Hunter put his arm around my shoulders.
"Thank you." He whispered into my ear.
I looked at him. "For what?"
"For keeping the good memories of Goodwin alive in all of us." He said, quietly, smiling warmly at me.
Watson turned to me and hugged me.
"Thank you! I needed to be reminded of those memories." She broke away from me, smiling widely then made a false annoyed voice. "Hang on, why were they all at my expense again?"
Hunter burst out laughing again. "Please, no more! My abs can't take it any more!" He chortled, digging his fist into his side.
"HEY, BRUV!" Came a boys voice, calling out to us.
We turned round to see a dark skinned boy, not much older than us, coming off the path towards us. Hunter raised his arm in greeting.
"Hey! What's up, Theo?" Hunter asked him, grinning widely.
The two boys gave brief hugs to one another, patting each others back before they broke apart and Theo gave us a dazzling smile. He had tightly curled, black hair that was so close to his head, a broad nose, and his teeth were as white as snow. He wore a baggy dress type shirt and green trousers that were too short for him and stopped jsut below his knee. He had brilliant white shoes to match his teeth and they had a black scrape across the sides of them.
"Ladies, this is Theodore Goodwin, but everyone calls him Theo." Hunter introduced him, putting a hand on his shoulder and grinning widely at him.
Theo made a high pitched noise and pulled a face while leaning back away from us. "Oooooweeee, you picked some sorts there, bruv. Dayum." He straightened himself up and grinned at Hunter. "Twins too!"
Hunter shook his head, chuckling. "Nah, mate. Just one. This is Raquel." I gave him a big smile and waved energetically. "And this is Watson."
Theo gaped. "Hold up, cuz. THE Watson? The one from your stories?"
Hunter nodded. "The one and only."
"Don't say that. You sound like Rebecca." She stepped forward and gave Theo a friendly smile. I beamed with pride at her. "It's lovely to meet you, Theo."
"Sup, girl?" Theo jerked his head up in greeting. "Heard a lot about you. Hunter told me all the stories."
"Oh, he did, did he?" Watson folded her arms and pretended to give Hunter a stern look, but was unable to hide her smirk.
Hunter shrugged. "He's her Brother, Watson. He deserved to know how brave his sister was."
Watson nodded. "I agree. Don't tell Rebecca for fuck sake!"
"Ey, I ain't telling no one, fam. You can trust me." He stepped past us and tucked a flower behind the plaque.
He took a step back, looked at it for a while then turned. "Thanks for getting her back to us."
"Oh, that wasn't me, that was..." She trailed off, looking horrified. She suddenly pulled her bag off her shoulder and yanked it open, reaching in and pulling out her phone. "Excuse me for a second." She murmured tapping on the phone and raising it to her ear before turning and heading to the path.
"What's she doing?" Theo asked, confused.
"Apologising." I said before skipping over to him and linking my arm in his, beaming at him. "So do you have any funny memories of Goodwin?"
Theo tensed and looked at Hunter as if asking for help. "Err. Y-Yeah I got some good memories. Thing is, I was six when she disappeared, so..."
"Ohhh, you're the same age as Xavier then? He'd loved to meet you. You should come back with us and see everyone." I squealed excitedly.
Hunter smirked and took a step forward. "Babe, he's already met everyone. Well, except Xavier, Hodgson, Natalia, Clara and Rebecca. But I think that's for the best, don't you?"
I pouted at him. "But we can share memories together. I enjoyed seeing those memories of Watson breaking things."
Theo was staring at me. Hunter came over and gently unlinked my arm from his and put his arm around me. "She's new here, mate." He explained.
"Uh huh..." Theo said, giving me a very strange look.
I looked round to Watson who was sitting on the grass.
"Oh I want to do that!" I cried out and ducked under Hunter's arm and ran to Watson, flopping down on the grass next to her.
She looked up at me, a very serious look on her face and was humming. Her Aura was pulsing slowly. She was feeling guilty.
I frowned at her, but then smiled and rolled over to my front, smiling at her and kicking my legs behind me. She couldn't help the smile that crept across her face as she shook her head.
"Ok, Darren. I'll speak to you later then. Let me know if you hear from her, ok?" She took the phone away from her ear and gave a long sigh.
"What's the matter?" I asked, hoisting myself up to sit, cross legged, on the grass.
"Rebecca isn't answering her phone to anyone. I've fucked up, Raquel." Her face fell as she lifted her hand and buried her face in them. "I feel so guilty!" She talked through her hands.
"Where is she?" I asked.
"Fuck knows. Apparently she went back to the hotel." Watson took her face out of her hands and gave me a guilty look. "She won't even answer the phone to Natalia."
I frowned. "I hope she hasn't turned purple." I muttered.
Hunter and Theo came over and sat with us.
"Sorry about that, Theo." Watson gave hims a sad smile. "Had to try and get hold of someone, but it seems they have disappeared off the planet. But not literally this time."
"Who?" Hunter asked, looking worried.
"Rebecca. No one can get hold of her."
"Shit." Hunter whispered. "She can't have gone far. Have you spoken to Hodgson?"
Watson nodded. "I have. We've made up. He just... Hearing him say that just made me think of Alpin." She muttered, looking upset. "And I knew how it felt to be that girl, Jenny. So I just... flipped."
Hunter nodded. "I told him he should have worded it better."
Watson hummed. "He said they didn't get a cab out from where you guys had got off the train. He was surprised that you and Raquel managed to make it to Carshalton."
"All thanks to Raquel." Hunter grinned at me.
I opened my mouth to answer when I felt a pain across my chest, like it had been hit with something very heavy and very hard. It winded me and my chest felt like it was caving in on itself. Watson looked like she felt it too. She had her mouth open in pain and a hand to her chest.
I started to see black spots in my vision and fought to stay concious.
"Raquel? Watson?!" Hunter sounded far away.
I felt my eyes roll back into my head before I succumbed to the darkness.