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

Chapter 36 - Yet Another Nail in the Coffin

*Ruth Watson POV*

Poor Hunter.
After Rebecca had told everyone that the Mass Portal Transmitter in Uistea was nearly complete, and would be finished in the next two days, Fabian announced there would be two parties in one and that we should invite everyone we knew to celebrate. Unfortunately, Rebecca agreed with Fabian because she was in such a good mood, and (I quote) "I want to see Tommy going through the worst possible moment of his life from a safe distance." She had even agreed to let Clemency Moreno know about the party so Natalia had someone to dance with, and she would be left alone. This was all under the condition that Clemency brought the compensation for Dean and Hewitt, to cover the days she looked after Raquel, Clara and Xavier, as well as the damage Rhianna and Ruby had inflicted on the building.
The party had been set for two days time, and the Portal will be transmitted right over Micha and Oren's house the very next day. Penelope and Jarod had been put down for food duty, but I reminded Rebecca and Natalia of Dean's delicious delicacies, so Penelope was invited as a guest rather than a chef, and Jarod was allowed to have the night off.
Darren and I were all for a party, but had to invite our friends on the sly without Hunter's knowledge. He was adament the party wouldn't be going ahead in his and Raquel's honour. Instead, the party was only to celebrate our return to Secrunerth soon and he had begged us not to invite Perkins, Green, Ryder, Edwards, Sawyer, Ashdown, Dean and Hewitt. But, of course, we were always going to invite them! I had already invited Dean and Hewitt to the party and requested they make their wonderful finger buffet, but decided to leave the compensation a surprise for them.
I also had to use Rebecca's phone to invite Sandford, Meta, Fry and Wang to the party as I was without a phone. They agreed to come along, and I was hoping they'd let themselves go a bit. They were very much workaholics like Rebecca. That was why she had handed them to me when I joined FREE, releasing herself from Earth duties for other things that required her attention.
Training only took place in the afternoon after everyone had got a little carried away preparing for the party. Hunter was relieved for the distraction, but Fabian wasn't going to let him forget about it that easily.
Whenever they passed the patio in front of the kitchen, Fabian was calling out encouragement to the couple.
"THAT'S IT! THE MORE YOU BUILD UP YOUR ENERGY, THE LONGER THE NIGHTS!"
Rebecca had to give him a job of cleaning the swimming pool just to shut him up as he was distracting us all.
That evening, everyone decided to sit in the dining room that no one had yet used, so we could have dinner all together rather than individually in separate rooms like we had been doing since we first arrived at Micha and Oren's.
Of course, Rebecca sat at the head of the table, with her back to the door. Natalia was on her left, Oren next to her, Darren, me, Rhianna, and Ruby. On Rebecca's right, Jarod, Micha, Hunter, Raquel, Fabian, Clara, and Xavier. Jarod had prepared Natalia's and Rebecca's meals and everyone else had Penelope's homemade lasagne, with jacket potatoes and salad.
Just as everyone was settling down to eat, a very familiar voice that made me, Rhianna and Ruby cringe, sounded throughout the house.
"OH, NATALIAAAA!"
"CLEMENCY!" Natalia squealed, leaping out of her seat and dashing out of the dining room to meet her.
Rebecca groaned. "Well, this won't be a quiet meal now, will it?" She took the napkin off her lap and threw it beside her food as she waited for Moreno, twisting herself round in her seat to look at the door.
There was a shrill shriek from the hall and Clemency came running into the dining room.
"YOU HAD VOLLANG!!" She shrieked at Raquel and ran over to engulf her in a tight embrace.
Raquel beamed, proudly and hugged her back just as tightly. Hunter's face fell and he pushed his food away.
"Rac iai." Raquel grinned at Clemency. "He made me wait, but it finally happened. I am so happy!"
"Isn't it wonderful though? I remember the first time I had Vollang. It was with Elder Qu-"
Rebecca cleared her throat, loudly to interrupt Clemency's vollang story. Clemency looked over at Rebecca and scowled at her, folding her arms.
"Rebecca." She said coldly.
"Clemency." Rebecca said, just as sourly. "Join us. There's a seat over beside Ruby. But please, refrain from talking about vollang while we eat."
Clemency looked over at Ruby and curtly nodded at Rebecca, before walking round to sit next to a very disgruntled Ruby. As she passed me, Clemency put her hands on my shoulders and leaned in to whisper in my ear.
"I may need your help to write the perfect song for Raquel and Hunter. Can you meet up with me after dinner? I want to make it Earth style." She pecked me on the cheek and continued her way to her seat.
I froze and gulped. That was the last thing I wanted to do. I stared at Rebecca for help but she wasn't paying attention as she was more interested in her food.
Conversation was kept light during dinner, thankfully, which was a feat in itself considering that half the room were Atanian's. Jarod, Micha, Oren, Natalia and Rebecca talked together in low voices. Darren and Hunter were deep in conversation about tomorrow's training plans. Raquel and Fabian were animatedly talking to Clara, Xavier and Moreno. Rhianna, Ruby and I were discussing our first plans for when we return to Secrunerth.
"I think our first duty should be to call arms and head straight to Cristis! We can't allow them to suffer anymore than they should have!" Ruby said, taking a huge mouthful of Lasagne.
"I agree. I would allow a couple of days training, to get my team back up to scratch then we hit them where it hurts." Rhianna said, stabbing into her Jacket potato viciously.
Rebecca's phone started ringing. Everyone went silent and watched Rebecca as she frowned at the number who was calling her.
"Axaczi?" She said, holding the phone to her ear. Her eyes immediately looked at me. "Ruth, it's Sharon. She sounds quite upset."
I launched out of my seat and took the phone from her, heading out to the hall to speak to Dean in private.
"Dean? Everything ok? How did you get Rebecca's number?" I asked, sitting on the bottom two steps of the stairs.
Dean sobbed down the phone. "She gave it to me in case of emergencies. Oh Watson. I'm so sorry to call you, but there's something you really need to see!"
"What? What is it?"
"Are you able to get to a TV?"
I got to my feet and looked at Micha and Oren. "You guys got a TV here?" I asked them.
Micha rose from his seat and led me to the Lounge. He pulled out a remote from the sofa cushions and pointed it at the fireplace in the centre of the room. It became a TV straight away.
"What channel?" Micha asked me.
"What channel, hun?" I asked Dean, reaching out for the remote and smiling in thanks to Micha.
"Seventy one." Dean sniffed. I could hear Hewitt in the background muttering something in a panic.
I punched in the numbers on the remote and the channel changed to a news anchor sitting at his desk with a very serious look on his face.
"... Steve and Sharon Monty, the mother and stepfather, have picked up a nationwide search for the missing girl, who disappeared eleven years ago on the fifteenth of January. The then fifteen year old was last seen in Cheam dismounting a bus, according to eyewitness accounts and local CCTV, when she suddenly disappeared while crossing the road towards the friends she was with at the time. Beth Vasley reports..."
The screen changed to show a crowd of people holding signs of teenagers faces to the camera man who had been filming them at the time, all calling out and begging for anyone with information to come forward or for their missing child to come home, while a cool, female voice narrated over them.
"Twenty Twenty became known as the worst year in history for any parent in the south of England..." Said the voice.
The scene changed to a family holding and comforting each other while each holding a framed picture of another missing child. I put the phone down on Dean and watched, frozen to the spot, a foreboding feeling growing inside me.
"Over the course of three days, two thousand teenagers, between the ages of eleven and seventeen, suddenly vanished in front of friends, family and fellow students."
Another change of scene to a mother and father sitting at long table, the mother sobbing while the father had his arms around her, trying to comfort his wife while silent tears coursed down his face.
"M-Mum? Dad?" Darren whispered, appearing beside me and taking a step towards the TV. I put my hand in his and pulled him close to me, my heart wrenched at his parents heartbreak.
"Please, come home, Darren. Your mum and I just want you home safe!" Darren's dad pleaded with the crowd around them, who were mercilessly snapping photos of them.
"For almost an entire year their disappearences brought together investigators from across the world to bring answers to those affected, and hopefully to bring them home."
The screen changed again to a fence with loads of pictures of the missing and flowers attached to it, a lump formed in my throat as I recognised some of the faces from Astrovia.
"It wasn't until eleven months later, that most of the missing suddenly reappeared with no recollection of where they had been nor what had happened to them."
The screen now showed my mum and stepdad along with a teenager who looked similar to me, walking the streets, showing my picture to everyone and anyone as they passed, begging for them to look out for me. Then my mum's face filled the entire screen.
"I just can't believe she wouldn't have come home to us by now. This is the first time we have seen our daughter in nearly twelve years!" She said, looking at my photo as she showed the tv man.
The female narrator was then shown walking slowly along the high street in Barking, talking to the camera man filming, clasping her hands together in front of her with a sober look on her face.
"Ruth Watson was just fifteen years old when she suddenly vanished in a flash, while crossing the road in front of her friends. No one knows where, no one knows why, no one knows how. But now, twelve years later, a video has gone viral of Ruth Watson playing a piano in this small music shop in Barking high street."
Then the old owner of the music shop came onto the screen, looking upset. "She was amazing. Her twin sister bought her the piano and she was just so delighted. I had no idea they were some of the missing from all those years ago, if I had known, I would have called the police!" He told the viewers desperately. "I wish I could turn the clocks back and bring them back."
"Sharon Monty led the nationwide search after the teenagers disappearance, and is desperate for some news on her daughters whereabouts."
My mum came back onto the screen, sitting at a table... In Dean's cafe of all places!
"I had no idea she was so musically talented. She loved nothing more to be with her friends, enjoying life to the fullest and bringing a smile to everyones faces. I just want her home so we can be a family again." She looked down for a moment, before lifting her head with her eyes full of tears. "She is not a twin! The only sister she has is Maria, and she was only two when she went missing. So all these accounts of her as a twin, or even a triplet, are wrong."
The screen was then switched to a close up of the cab driver who Raquel, Rebecca and I had all met the first few days on Earth.
"Taxi driver, David Bundey, was among the first to call the Missing Person's hotline after the video went viral of the missing girl."
"Yeah, they were all dressed as knights heading for a kids birthday party. She was the nice one, but her boyfriend is a bit possessive of her" I felt Darren tense. "Then there was her twin, with all scars on her face. Looked like she'd been through a hell of a time. Strange one she was. She was with a girl, I think, cause she wouldn't take her eyes off her. They were talking about weird stuff like america ignites and Aura's and that. And the third one had the longest hair I had ever seen, all braided up and that. She was funny." He chuckled. "She was amazed by traffic lights as if she'd never seen them before, but her 'boyfriend' was just like the others fella. All acting like he loved her, then when she said he was her soulmate, he blanked her. I mean what the hell, mate?!"
The screen changed back to the news reporter standing in front of the music shop.
"Ruth Watson was last seen walking along this high street heading towards Dean's Tavern here in Barking, with four others that looked just like her. While she is still yet to be found or come forward, this is giving hope to hundreds of other parents who were also affected by the disappearences over a decade ago, whose children are still yet to return. I am Beth Vasely for BBC news." She nodded at the viewers and the screen switched back to the man sitting at his desk again.
"Those who have seen Ruth Watson or have information on her whereabouts are to call the Police Emergency number or the number for Missing Persons, shown below." He said, soberly, before looking at his notes then back at the camera again, with a much gentler face. "The prime minister has announced that, for the first time in UK history, a high speed train line is in development for-"
I turned the TV off and looked at Darren, who mirrored back my horrified expression.
"Oh shit." Darren breathed.
"What are we going to do?!" I asked him, starting to panic.
"Nothing." Rebecca's voice came from behind us. Both Darren and I saw that Rebecca had come into the lounge with Natalia and Jarrod. They had shut the dining room door to give us some privacy.
"Rebecca?" I turned to face her, my eyes starting to brim with tears. "Beccs, that was my mum!"
"And what are you going to say to her, huh?" Rebecca argued back, her arms open, challenging me for an answer. "'Sorry, mother. That wasn't me, that was my idiot doppelgänger leader who didn't realise there was people always fucking watching in this Realm?' Your mother's feelings are the last thing you should be worried about! What you should be worried about is that that has just announced to every single person on this FUCKING REALM that all five of us are stuck here!"
She grabbed the remote off me and threw it at the TV/fireplace, smashing it to pieces. We all flinched.
"Isn't there anything about privacy here?!" Rebecca screamed at us, so angry she was shaking violently.
Natalia put her arms around Rebecca's neck. "It's ok, my love. We will work out a way." She told her, gently.
"No one is to leave this house!" Rebecca ordered, pointing a finger and glaring at us from around Natalia's shoulder.
I looked at Darren, torn on what I should do. My mum had begged for news on my whereabouts and I couldn't bear seeing her like that. I wanted to tell her I was ok, I was safe, but I would never be able to return home, because I had a duty to protect the Realms. Darren looked the same as me. He must be feeling the same way after seeing his own parents on the TV, also struggling to cope with the disappearance of their son. We hugged each other tightly, and I let my tears surface, letting it all out into his chest while he planted his lips on the top of my head, trembling.
I pulled myself away from Darren to look at him, but he turned his face away from me, hiding his feelings. I sighed and looked at Rebecca.
"Beccs, please?" I pleaded. "I have to let my mum know I'm ok. She's looking for me. She has been for the past ten years!"
"No, it's too risky." Rebecca said, in a final tone.
"Are you saying, that if you had known about your sons being taken away after you gave birth, you wouldn't have done everything humanly possible to get them back?" Darren asked her, glaring at her.
Rebecca's face softened and she looked at the dining room door where Micha and Oren were. She cast her head down for a moment then looked back up at Darren.
"No." Rebecca admitted, quietly. "I would have torn through every Realm to find them."
Darren let me go and faced Rebecca, folding his arms. "Then think how Watson's mum feels!" He said, sternly. "She has been searching everywhere for her on this Realm, desperate to have her family back together. Don't you remember the feeling you got when your sons finally found you and told you who they were?!" His voice steadily got more and more louder with every word and by the end, he was shouting at her.
Rebecca kept a void face, but her eyes were conflicted. She looked at Natalia, then Jarod. Jarod nodded at her, with a rueful smile on his face.
She let out a sigh. "Let me think about it." She said, looking at the floor.