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

Chapter 41 - A Family Affair

It took the entire three hour long car ride home for me to tell my mum the whole story like I had with Harry. Mum had sat next to me, between Harry and I, patiently listening without interrupting me, which I was so thankful for. The rest of the car had stayed entirely silent, listening to my story. Regina and Clive was very interested, but not as interested as Raquel. She had moved to sit in front of me on the floor, legs crossed as if this was story time at a nursery, her face mesmerized.
We were just coming off the M25, towards Micha and Orens when I finished and sat still, waiting for her response.
Mum looked around at all of my doppelgängers in wonder and her eyes landed on Rebecca.
"Why are you the only one who looks like they've been through the wars? Everyone else doesn't have a single scratch on them." Mum asked her, curiously.
Rebecca shuffled in her seat, preparing to tell her why, but mum read that as her taking offence to her question.
"I'm sorry!" My mum blurted out, holding out her arm in surrender. "I didn't mean it like that, I mean-"
"When I was sent to Deathea, I had no potions." Rebecca told her, shutting mum up. "I didn't know they even existed until I got to Atania."
"So, who sent the 'portal' over England?" Mum asked me.
Rebecca raised her hand. Mum stared at her for a moment before turning angry.
"Do you realise what you have done?!" Mum screamed at her, furiously. "Less than nineteen hundred of those teenagers returned home. Twelve more were found dead!"
Darren, Hunter and I grimaced at that.
"How could you do this to them?! They were just children!" Mum started to cry and looked at me. "I get my own daughter back and she's barely recognisable. She's changed so much!"
Rebecca opened her mouth to answer, but Regina cut across her.
"Small sacrifices must be made to defeat the Order. Your daughter is one of the Seven Protectors of the Seven Realms. I made it so she would be Earth's only chance of saving the Realm from the Order's rule. She wouldn't have been able to avoid this, and would have either gone through her training that way, or she would have gone through her training my way."
"And, trust me, she got it much better this way." Clive told mum, casting a sideways glance at his wife. "Rebecca was trained in this exact same way. She has continued a tradition. That's the good thing about Neonian's, they keep to what they already know."
Mum narrowed her eyes at them. "But what was the reason for picking up those two thousand others?" She asked, angrily.
"That... was a mistake." Rebecca told her. "Your daughter travelled around all over the place and it was difficult to pin point exactly where she would be. We had no choice but to roll the Portal over the entire South of England so we could be sure we picked her up. Unfortunately, it picked up the others while it did it's job."
"How could you?" Mum whispered, closing her eyes as a few tears escaped from them. "How could you do that?"
"Mum, it's not all bad. If it hadn't I wouldn't have met Darren." I said to her, taking her hand.
Mum opened her eyes and looked at Darren closely.
"Were you taken from home too?" She asked him, sorrowfully.
Rebecca shuffled uncomfortably in her seat. She was showing how guilty she was feeling but Regina seemed to be indifferent to Rebecca's way of training the doppelgängers. If anything, she was proud of the way Rebecca had done it.
Darren nodded. "Yeah, I was. I was in the bath when I was taken." He chuckled nervously, rubbing the back of his neck, trying to break the tension that was thick and hanging over everyone.
Mum frowned and furrowed her brow. "In the bath? Wait... You're Darren Hodgson!" She gasped, grabbing his shoulders and pulling him into a tight hug. "Oh, your dad will be so pleased to hear you're back! We need to call him!" She squealed, pulling away from him and rummaging in her pockets.
Darren grabbed her wrist. His eyes showed pain and suffering as he stopped her from calling his own father.
"I-I don't want to see him..." Darren lied, dejectedly, releasing his hold on my mums wrist and leaning back into his chair.
"Darren!" Mum pleaded with him, taking both of his hands and looking directly into his eyes. "Alex was heartbroken when you disappeared. When I first met him, we agreed that neither of us would rest until every single child, that ever went missing, came home. We organised the searches and posters together. For eleven years we have searched for you! You can't take this opportunity to see him away. Please?"
Darren looked away from her, his eyes clenched together and his bottom lip trembling. His hands were balled up into fists and he was shaking.
"What about your mum? And your sister?" Mum continued trying to persuade him to call his dad. "Don't you want to see them? Your sister works in an office now and your mum-"
"STOP!" Darren bellowed at her, gripping her shoulders and baring his teeth, breathing heavily as he fought against his emotions. "I can't. Don't you understand? I can't see my family, because if I do, they will want to keep me here! But my place is beside Watson! Always has, always will be. We are going to see this through to the end together!"
I took a sharp intake of breath, my own emotions overwhelming me, and threw my arms around him, needing to comfort him, to help him bear his burden and be there for him. I rubbed his shoulders and kissed his forehead, comfortingly.
"Ma'am, we have arrived." The drivers voice came calling through the intercom.
"Thank you!" Regina shouted back and looked at Rebecca. "Well, this has been an interesting car ride." She mused before looking at Darren. "With regards to your family, you may think that ignoring them so you can stay focused on what you want to achieve is the best option, but take it from me... It's not. We lost contact with our family after I started putting the motions in place for my revenge on the LaCroix's."
Rebecca cocked an eyebrow in interest. "I am very much looking forward to hearing your story." She mumbled as the car slowed to a stop.
Everyone piled out of the car. Mum looked up at the house and gasped.
"This is where you've been staying?" She gaped at me in astonishment.
"Only for the past week or so." I told her as I stepped out.
Darren climbed out of the car after me, distractedly, and head into the house before anyone else.
"Mum, I need to go and talk to him. Harry?" I looked round at Harry who was looking at the house in amazement, standing next to Rhianna.
"What's up, Ruthie?" He said, looking over.
"Look after mum for a second, ok? I need to talk to Darren." I told him, jogging into the house after him.
I ran up the stairs, ignoring someone calling after me and went to our bedroom.
Darren was sitting on the bed, facing the windows, his posture slumped and depressed.
"Baby?" I called out to him, gently, shutting the door behind me and walking over to sit beside him, putting Dragonwrath on the bed as I walked past.
He didn't seem to hear me or notice I had followed him until I sat down and cupped his cheek. His eyes gazed at me, longingly, and filled with tears before he fell into my shoulder, sobbing.
"It's ok, baby. I'm here." I soothed him, stroking his hair and back, leaning my cheek against his head.
"What do I do?" He heartbreakingly sobbed into my shoulder. "I want to see them, so fucking much, but I don't think I'll be strong enough to leave them behind again."
"I know. I know how you feel. I've been worried about the same thing. Do you think your parents will understand if we stress to them the importance of going back?" I murmured, lifting my cheek off him and pulling away to look at him.
"I don't know. Danielle probably won't." He sniffed, wiping away his tears with his sleeve. "I also really want them to meet you. To get to know you. To love you like a part of our family."
I kissed his cheek and gave him a rueful smile.
Suddenly a phone rang. I frowned and pulled out my mum's phone from my pocket.
It was a facetime call with the name 'AL' showing up on the screen along with a picture. Darren saw too.
"It's my dad..." He whispered, anxiously.
I looked up at him. "I could get my mum to lie?" I offered.
Darren's dad cut the call off before we could answer. We stared at the phone for a moment.
"Watson?" Darren mumbled, looking up at me anxiously.
"Yes, baby?" I whispered back, smiling gently and cupping his face affectionately.
"I want to tell my dad everything. But... I want you to be by my side." He said, pleadingly.
"I will always be beside you, Darren. Just as you are for me." I told him, rubbing my nose against his.
He gave me a sad smile back, but his face then fell.
"I couldn't tell him over the phone, though. I need to do it face to face." He said, deflatedly.
I nodded, and took both his hands in mine. "We will invite him here. Let me deal with Rebecca." I told him, winking. "I will do the guilt trip on her and tell her that the only reason we have been put into this situation is because of her showing off her piano skills." I added, slyly.
Darren smiled, adoringly, and pulled me into a passionate kiss that made my heart flutter before melting, along with the rest of me. I felt like putty in his hands. He pulled back and looked longingly into my eyes, while I was still in a daze.
"Together?" He whispered, putting his hand on my mums phone, gently.
I mentally shook myself back to reality. "Together." I agreed, unlocking mum's phone and hitting redial.
Darren's dad picked up our returning facetime call almost immediately.
"There you are! I've be-" A male's voice started to say but abruptley stopped when he saw who was on the other end of the call. "Darren?" He asked, his voice sounding far away, like he was dreaming.
"Hi dad." Darren said, straightening himself upright as he faced his dad.
"M-My boy... Is that really you?!" Alex Hodgson said, his voice building up in excitement.
"Yeah, it's me. How you doing?" Darren smiled sadly, putting his arm around my shoulders and pulling me to him.
I smiled and leaned into him, my face coming into the video link too.
"I-I'm doing good, son! Yeah, I'm doin-" Mr Hodgson replied, dazed, then suddenly gaped at me when he realised I was there. "Is that Ruth Watson?"
Darren looked at me, smugly. "It sure is, dad. Ruth Watson, soon to become Ruth Hodgson." He grinned at his dad through the phone.
"Holy... Wha... When? HOW?" Mr Hodgson spluttered.
"It's a long story, sir. But we would love for you to come and join us so we can tell you the full story?" I smiled, warmly, at him.
Alex started jumping around, making the camera view was all over the place. He was cheering and whooping in delight.
"HONEY! HONEY! DARREN'S BACK!" He yelled to someone.
There was a scream and the sound of running. The next thing we knew, two women came into view on the phone.
"DAZZA!" Said the younger of the two. She looked a lot like Darren, but with her long, mousey brown hair pulled back into a high ponytail, a lot of makeup caked on her face and fake eyelashes casting a shadow over her sparkling blue eyes.
"Danielle! Alright, sis?" Darren beamed, his toothy smile glinting.
"Holy shit, mum! Dazza's back!" Danielle squealed, yanking his mum into a one armed hug.
His mum was the same height as his sister. Her bright, baby blue eyes were full of kindness and love, hidden behind a mass of mascara that coated her long eyelashes and thin lips that were pulled back into a beaming smile at her son through the phone. Her hair was loose, hooked over her shoulders, dead straight and looking silky smooth.
"My baby boy..." Darren's mum breathed, her eyes filling up with happy tears. "Is it really you? I'm not dreaming?"
"No, mum. It's really me. Listen, I'd love you to meet your future daughter in law, Ruth Watson." He grinned as his mum put her hands over her mouth in astonishment. "I'd also like for you to come and meet us. There's a lot I need to fill you in on, and we don't have much time left." He added, removing his arm around me and rubbing the back of his neck.
"Of course!" His mum squealed, wiping away her tears. "Name the place and we'll be there."
"I will send you the details now." I told them, smiling at them. "You must come alone, though and you must not be followed." I warned them, seriously.
Danielle snorted. "Yeah, alright, hun." She replied, sarcastically.
"You must also not tell anyone else you have seen me!" Darren stressed to them. "Only you are to know!"
Darren's mum nodded, but Danielle frowned. "What about Jenny?"
Immediately I felt Darren tense up, and he started grinding his teeth. "She can fucking die!" Darren snarled, dangerously.
Danielle's drawn on eyebrows rose, skeptically. "Right, ok. Well, she has already told people she saw you on the train to work. Course, we didn't believe her. Did you really hit her?"
"You did what?!" Darren's mum blanched, looking at Danielle and Darren in shock. "Darren, did you really hit Jenny?"
Darren made a low, angry noise and I bit my lip.
"I will send you the address now. We will all discuss it when you get here..." I said, trailing off at the end as I looked at Darren's furious face.
Darren put the phone down without saying good bye, launched to his feet and started pacing up and down.
"Baby?" I said, slowly.
Darren froze and slowly turned to face me, his expression angry, yet apologetic.
"Jenny is Danielle's best friend." He explained to me, sourly. "They've known each other since they were, like, two! That's another reason why I couldn't get away from the bitch!"
My eyebrows shot up in surprise. We were going down this route again?
I sighed. "I-you know how I feel about that. We won't bring up what happened before Astrovia, as that doesn't concern us as a couple. We will only focus on what has happened since th-"
There was a soft knocking on the door. I furrowed my brow, annoyed at anyone who was interrupting, and got up to answer the door. It was Rebecca with my mum.
"We need to talk." Rebecca said, bluntly.
"Beccs, now isn't a good time." I told her, exhaustedly. "Just give us five more minutes and I'll come and find you."
Rebecca completely ignored me and walked into the room. "Darren? Can you call your parents and invite them over for dinner tonight, please? Tommy will be inviting his mother too."
"Wow... what?" I said, unsure I had heard her right.
"We have decided to hold a Realms Gathering tonight, as we're all here. Regina will be telling us her story, along with telling us Rosalie's story." Rebecca sounded excited. "I know what Realm Rosalie is from now, and it's Secrunerth."
"Secrunerth?" I repeated, confused. "But Secrunerth is a Golden Realm."
Rebecca nodded. "Has been since nineteen thirty seven, but before then, it was a realm full of people." She reminded me. "It was only because the war caused so much damage to their population, that we decided to keep it as FREE's Headquarters."
I made an 'o' shape with my mouth and nodded. "And you want our parents to be there?"
"Yes." Rebecca said, grinning. "This is going to be a much easier way of explaining how important it is that you continue with FREE until we have completely destroyed the Order."
Mum was standing there looking between the two of us, nervously. I looked at her and smiled.
"We've already spoken to Darren's dad." I told mum, as well as Rebecca without glancing her way. "We already invited him round to tell him what's been going on the past ten years, along with his mum and sister."
Mum beamed at us. "Thank you. I know he will be overjoyed at seeing you." She said, happily. "Steve is coming over too, along with Maria."
"Creep is coming?!" I blanched, excitedly, bouncing on the spot.
"Whoa, ok there, Raquel." Rebecca teased, nudging me. "You mean to say you already invited over Darren's family before you got my go ahead?"
I shrugged and grinned at her. "Love me, feed me, never ever leave me." I retorted, cheekily.
Mum laughed. "She used to use that one on me all the time!"
Rebecca raised an amused eyebrow. "Yes, well. You're lucky this time. Come downstairs. Natalia said she wants to meet your mother properly, but I kept her out of the way until you could introduce her so she didn't... overwhelm her." Rebecca grimaced a little.
I burst out laughing. "Yeah, I don't want to miss that show. Thanks, Beccs. Right, mum. We used your phone to call Darren's dad as he was calling you."
Mum nodded. "I knew he would. I called him to let him know I was on my way to pick you up. He told me to call him as soon as we got you home."
"I just need to send him a message and finish off and I'll be right down." I nodded to Rebecca and mum.
Mum smiled and turned to wait outside. Rebecca opened her mouth as if to ask something, but then thought better of it.
"I'll wait for you outside." She said, as she left the room, closing the door behind her.
I turned back to Darren. "Well, that was a happy turn of events then, wasn't it?"
Darren smiled, awkwardly. "I'm so nervous. I haven't been this nervous since I proposed to you." He admitted, wringing his hands.
I ran over and engulfed him in a tight hug.
"I'll be right beside you. Now, lets send that text."
I used my mums phone to send Alex Hodgson a text with the details, reminding him that only the three of them were to attend and to be sure they weren't followed.
I then cast my attention back to Darren.
"Are you ok?" I asked him.
Darren smirked at me. "I'm about to tell my parents and twin sister what's been happening the past ten years. I'm shitting myself. What about you?"
I shrugged, wrapping my arms around myself, suddenly feeling worried. "I'm about to see my sister Creep. She was only two when I disappeared. I doubt she even remembers me..."
Darren gripped me in a hug and lifted my chin with his hand to give me that meltingly good kiss. He pulled back and gave me a seductive smirk. I remained dazed again for a moment before suddenly realising something.
"And I have to introduce my mum to Natalia..." I murmured in dread.
Darren burst out laughing. "Let's get that hurdle resolved first then."