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

Chapter 45 - Caught in the Act

*Ruth Watson POV*

When I returned to the group, Raquel was animatedly speaking to her parents, Clara and Xavier in Atanian. Mum, Steve and Maria were standing with Darren's parents while they listened to Dean and Hewitt talking about what Darren and I had been like during Astrovia. Hunter and Darren were standing away from the group slightly, with Rhianna and Harry. I decided I would be best standing with my family.
"What you saying about me?" I asked, snidely, at Dean and Hewitt.
"We were just telling them about when you teased the boys when they arrived in Narthwich." Hewitt giggled.
I opened my mouth and tilted my head back, before nodding and giggling. "Ahhhhh, yes. Loved doing that trick. Can't do that anymore, thanks to miss Sixth Sense over there." I cast a sideways glance at Raquel. "But, as Regina said, we can sort it out next time we get to the forge, and I'll be going straight back to doing that!" I grinned widely.
"Can I have a go at it?" Maria asked, eagerly.
"Absolutely not!" Mum cut in, putting a protective arm across her to stop her going towards me. "No daughter of mine is going to be using a sword!"
"Er, mum. One daughter of yours is already using a sword." I pointed out, smugly, withdrawing Dragonwrath and spinning it around.
"Don't you dare let her have a go with it." Mum snapped, looking at me angrily. "She will cut her bloody arm off!"
"Don't swear. It's not very ladylike." I mocked, poking my tongue out. I looked at Maria and shrugged. "Sorry, Creep. What mum says goes. But..." I had a thought and turned to Rhianna. "RHIANNA!"
"What?" Rhianna called back, leaning behind Harry to look at me.
"Spar me!" I called back.
Rhianna's face immediately split into a wide grin and she unsheathed SpineRipper as she made her way over.
"What are you doing?" Mum hissed at me.
"Showing Creep how to duel?" I replied, in a 'duh' tone.
"No. Stop this right now. I don't want you getting hurt." Mum put a hand on the wrist that held Dragonwrath.
"Mum, as I said before, Doppelgängers only duel amongst themselves, because if we get hurt, we all feel it." I reminded her.
"That reminds me..." Rhianna said as she reached us, stabbing her blade tip into the floor and leaning against the hilt. "When you were in Astrovia, we were out of it for two weeks because something happened to you. What happened?"
I blinked at her. "You're going to have to be a little more specific than that." I told her, chuckling.
"You had been there for about nine months and-"
"Next thing we knew, we were all waking up in the infirmary a couple of weeks later." Rebecca chimed in, making us jump.
"Are you enjoying sneaking up on us at the moment?" I snapped at her, gripping my chest.
Rebecca threw her head back and laughed. "You're just not paying attention." She mocked. "So what happened?"
I looked at Dean and Hewitt, thinking back.
"Nine months...?" I repeated.
Dean suddenly snapped her fingers. "The Razorsnare!" She cried out. "That must have been it! If they were out for two weeks, you would have been in the infirmary in Narthwich by then." Her face suddenly fell. "That was the worst watching you go through that."
I winced. "Yeah, it must have been. But it could have been the time I got hit by the mace in Ashdown's shop."
"No, it wasn't then. Needham told Sugo about that incident and she told me. It wasn't in a life threatening situation, so it wouldn't have affected us." Rebecca said, shaking her head and folding her arms.
"Er, I think you'll find a Mournestrike going through the town was actually a very life threatening situation!" I corrected her, jabbing her with my finger. I thought for a moment. "I think you're right. It must have been when I saved Asuna from the Razorsnare and got stabbed by it's tail."
"Ohhhhh." Rhianna cringed. "That's fucking nasty when that happens! I remember it happening to me, and they gave me the potion straight away. Felt like my entire body was on fire."
I nodded, wincing again at the memory. "I wasn't given the potion straight away. I thought I had actually died."
"Can you stop please?" Mum said, looking pained. "I don't want to hear about you getting into life threatening situations, thank you very much. Otherwise I will not be allowing you to leave!"
"I'm sorry, but you'll have no choice." Rebecca told her, bluntly. "She's needed to protect and serve the Realms, she'll be coming back with us regardless."
"Rebecca!" I spat, pushing her. "Don't talk to my mum like that!"
Rebecca started to push back, but was interrupted by the doorbell going.
"That would be Sawyer and Ashdown." I said, looking round to Dean and Hewitt.
"Excellent!" Rebecca exclaimed, clapping her hands together. "I have big plans for Jane! She's going to be helping me redesign the swords."
"Really?" I cried, excitedly. "Oh, she will love that!"
"I swear these two are bipolar!" I heard Alex Hodgson say behind me.
"This happens a lot. One minute they're pals, the next they're fighting. One extreme to the other. You get used to it though." Darren told him, grinning at me.
I poked my tongue out and looked back at the house, waiting for Ashdown and Sawyer to emerge. Ashdown came bursting through the kitchen door towards us.
"It's so good to see you, again!" She cried, flinging her arms around me and holding me tightly.
I laughed. "Good to see you too, Ashdown."
She pulled back and looked at my armour. "God I love that you still wear it."
"You'll be doing a lot more than that when we get to Astrovia, Jane." Rebecca told her, proudly. "Your first job will be to remake all the Doppelgänger swords."
Ashdown gaped at her. "Really? In my old forge?"
Rebecca nodded, grinning widely at her. "Indeed. Raquel removed my Aura from the swords, meaning they don't have the same... feel to them anymore." She said, looking at Cometfell with a slightly disappointed look on her face. "So, I want you to redesign them. You will need to speak to Regina on how to make them like they-"
"Who?" Ashdown asked, confused.
I chuckled. "There's seven of us, Ashdown. Seven Protectors of the Seven Realms."
"Fuck off!" Sawyer grunted as he reached us. "I thought five of you was bad enough."
"Watch it, you." Rhianna snarled, standing up straight with her hand on SpineRipper, ready.
"You do realise how sexy you are when you stand like that, don't you?" I heard Harry say to her.
"Dude!" I exclaimed, spinning around to stare at him. "Hold off on the flirting until I'm far enough away so I can't hear you, please!"
Rhianna laughed. "Jealous, Watson?"
"Like fuck!" I spat at her, rolling my eyes and shaking my head incredulously. "I prefer mine big, but not in the belly region, thank you very much."
"Ruth Watson!" Mum cried out, surprised at me.
"He didn't look that small to me."
"Rhianna!" Mum stared at her, even more shocked.
"You actually saw it? Harry, have you been flashing people again?"
Harry was beetroot red, shuffling on his feet and avoiding my stare, while Darren and Hunter were falling about laughing.
"He was not flashing people!" Rhianna roared, yanking SpineRipper out of the ground.
"Then how the fuck do you know how big he is then?!" I laughed.
"LADIES! THAT IS ENOUGH!" Mum bellowed over us, standing in between. "Both of you, I have never heard such crude language. There are children present!"
"Mum! Don't drag me into it!" Maria whined.
"You tell her, Creep. Mum, you should never bring an eleven year old into a conversation about vollang!" I folded my arms and nodded my head at mum, as if to say 'that told you'.
"I'm thirteen!"
"Whatever, child." I waved my hand at her dismissively.
"What's vollang?" Fiona asked Darren.
"Sex, mum." He replied, nonchalantly.
"Why does she call it that?"
"It's what we call it in Atania." Raquel explained, cheerfully. "Have you been invited to the party for Hunter and my Vollang tomorrow?"
I literally fell to the floor at Alex and Fiona's face when Raquel asked them. Hunter had stopped laughing and cringed with his hands over his face, his mum, Veronica, looking at him with a concerned look. Darren was the same as me, laughing and rolling around, unable to control himself.
"Y-Y-Your Vollang party?" Alex asked, dreading the answer.
"We celebrate every important milestone in our fazeebs relationship as part of our traditions." Natalia explained, coming over to stand beside Rebecca, who slipped her arm around her. "We had the whole of Alzicante and Wacchica at ours, didn't we, my love?"
"Whoa! That was uncalled for, darling!" Rebecca complained, removing her hand from her waist straight away.
"Weren't we here to hear your story next, Rebecca?" Regina called over, smirking as she tried to hold back her laughter from the scene before her. Clive was hiding behind her shoulder, his arm clutched around his stomach from too much laughing.
"Yes. Please, Rebecca. Let's hear your story!" Mum said, giving me a worried look.
"What?" I asked her, pouting slightly.
"I never thought I would ever hear you talk about your bedroom life like that!" She stated, shaking her head.
"Oh, don't you worry. You'll be bound to hear Raquel and Hunter's bedroom life later on." I smirked.
"Fuck off Watson!" Hunter bellowed.
"Actually, I have a question." Darren said, stepping forward and looking at Sawyer.
Sawyer looked alarmed. "What?" He grunted.
Darren smirked and folded his arms. Everyone watched him carefully, wondering what he was going to ask.
"You still have the necklace Moreno gave you in Swindmore?"
Hunter and I burst out laughing, bending forward and wheezing.
Sawyer's eyes widened. "How...?"
"Raquel showed us Goodwin's memory." My mum explained to him. "Of when you had arrived in Swindmore?"
Clemency squealed and ran over, bouncing excitedly. "Can I see it?"
"If it's alright, Clemency, I would like to hear Rebecca's story first." Raquel said, sheepishly.
Moreno slapped herself on her forehead and nodded. "Oh iez. I'd like to hear it too. Afterwards?"
Raquel looked at me, narrowing her eyes. "Maybe." She responded before plonking herself on the floor and looking at Rebecca, expectantly.
Rebecca, however, was in a heated whispered argument with Natalia, most likely about Natalia telling our families that they had had the entire of Alzicante and Wacchica present at their Vollang party. Everyone exchanged awkward glances before Rebecca seemed to lose it.
"Over my dead BODY!" She roared, marching away towards the house.
"Why do you always have to ruin everything?" Natalia shrieked after her.
Rebecca froze before turning back to her, looking livid. "I do not ruin everything! I'm telling you that a mass Emotional Release is not fucking HAPPENING!"
"Tonight is about sharing each others traditions and beliefs. You did one at the last gathering we did!"
"I WAS DRUNK!" Rebecca bellowed incredulously. "No one here want's to stand in a fucking circle, kicking and screaming at each other for a fucking hour!"
There was a collective grumbling from the rest of us. Those who weren't from Atania, were agreeing with Rebecca, while those from Atania sided with Natalia. Clemency came to Natalia's side.
"Come on, fazeeb. Let's leave her to her negativity." She said, sourly, glaring daggers at Rebecca.
"Don't get me started on you!" Rebecca snarled.
The ones from Atania moved towards the back of the garden, muttering amongst themselves and shooting angry glances back at Rebecca. Raquel seemed unsure for a moment on who she should go with, before running after her friends and family.
Rebecca watched them go, breathing heavily with her fists clenched. Regina placed a hand on her shoulder.
"So much for being a gathering, Rebecca." She said, flatly. "Are you alright?"
"I have to deal with this shit every fucking day, I'm fine!" Rebecca snapped, spinning on her heel and marching back into the house.
Micha and Oren ran after her, but Jarod told them to come back to the group and he would go.
"She needs someone who knew her before all this happened, boys. Don't worry. Your viaxaw will be fine. This happens a lot." He explained to them, before running after Rebecca.