Eddsworld! Alter Motives

Chapter Twenty-Seven "Back to Basics"

      Edd was with Matt and Phoenix packing up some sandwiches into a cooler. They were going to be gone for a couple of days, and Tord didn’t want them to have to survive off the land, so he wanted them to pack a ton of food. Edd was bagging up the sandwiches as Phoenix made them, while Matt was putting them into the cooler neatly. 
     “How many of these do you think we have to make?” Matt asked.
     “Well, you’re not making any technically,” Phoenix joked.
     “Thanks, smartass. Let me rephrase it then,” Matt mocked, “How many sandwiches are we bringing on the trip?” 
     “Well, there are seven of you going on this trip for about three days. I’d say 21 at the least.” Phoenix said, “And you guys aren’t just getting sandwiches.
     “We have to pack more? Ughhh,” Matt groaned as they leaned on Edd, “I can’t take this, Muffin.”
     Edd rolled his eyes playfully. 
     “My Strawberry Narc, are you sure you don’t want to pack these in? Although, you could help Paul and Patryck clean the mud off one of the trucks we are using.” Edd commented.
     Matt shot back up and grabbed five wrapped sandwiches, shoving them into the cooler. 
     “On second thought, the packing doesn’t sound so bad. After all, we’re almost done!” Matt hesitantly laughed. 
     “Well, almost. We just need to pick out some ORPs and pack them in.”
     “What are ORPs?” They asked.
     “Operational Ration Packs. Imagine freeze-dried T.V. meals,” Phoenix explained, “We just need to grab three boxes for you guys.”
     “That’s a relief.”
     Phoenix went off to grab the boxes, leaving Edd and Matt alone in the kitchen. Matt looked over to Edd as they shut the cooler. They had been waiting for a while to talk about their gender identity, but they didn’t know how to properly say it to Edd. But, it was now or never, and it had been irking him ever since the night with Mark. 
     “Hey, Edd?” Matt asked.
     “What is it darling?” Edd asked as he sat up on the countertop.
     “Could I talk to you about something?” 
     “Of course. What is on your mind?”     
     “Lately, I’ve been feeling… Different.”
     “How so?”
     “I don’t exactly… Feel like a man or a woman, but I still feel like I have a gender. When we initially went to Eduardo’s house, I talked with Mark about how I felt, seeing as it’s Agender. We had a small conversation, and now I know. I’m non-binary.”
     Edd had a slight look of shock and confusion but still kept his eyes on Matt.
     “Are you happy like that?” He asked.
     “Yeah. I am. I feel better knowing who I am. I just haven’t had the time to tell you and the others with everything that’s been going on lately,” Matt replied.
     Edd nodded, “So, now that you’ve told me this, how should we all refer to you?”
     Matt replied, “Well, I wanna start using they/them pronouns.”
     Edd nodded and got off the counter and walked towards Matt, giving them a warm hug.
     “As long as you’re happy with who you are, I’m happy,” he said.
     “Thank you, Muffin,” they grinned.
     “Do you want to tell the others right now, or when we get in the car?” Edd inquired.
     “I think it’s better saying it when Tom, Tord, and us are together,” Matt responded.
     Edd smiled, “Alright, it’s your choice, Dear.”
     Matt beamed as Phoenix came back with three big boxes.
     “Okay, if you grab that cooler Matt, we can be on our way,” he said.
     Matt nodded, walking towards the cooler and grabbing the handle. Phoenix handed Edd one of the boxes, and off they went Matt and Edd followed Phoenix outside to the truck they were going to be driving in.
     “Now we just need to wait for Tom, Tord, Paul, Pat, and Yuu,” Edd stated.
     “Yeah,” Matt replied.
     …
     Tom and Tord were gathering a few weapons from the lab to take with them. Bing and Larry were helping them pull some of the stuff off the shelf. 
     “Is there anything else you plan to bring back?” Larry asked.
     “Yeah, most of the stuff actually since that location has been compromised,” Tord answered.
      Tom started to reach for one of the higher shelves to grab a weapon, but his fingers barely grazed the wood. Bing started to chuckle.
     “You’re a bit too small to reach that huh?” He joked.
     Tom turned to slightly glare at Bing.
     “If I was in my monster form I would grab it while breaking the shelf and smash it on your kneecaps,” He quipped back.
     “Monster form?” Bing smirked, “Would that explain your black eyes? Or is that unrelated?”
     “Unrelated. The monster form was from around four years ago. The black eyes have been with me since birth,” Tom answered.
     “Hmm…” Bing smiled.
     “Oh no. Not another one of your stupid ideas…” Larry groaned. 
     “It’s not stupid. It’s EVIL!” Bing laughed, “When you get back, would you mind showing me more about this ‘monster form’ of yours? I am very intrigued.” 
     “This better not be one of your crazy movie ideas again,” Larry sighed.
     “You can’t take the director out of the EVIL Director, Larry!”
     “No, but I can try to at least protect it from making rash decisions.”
     “I’m not making ‘rash decisions.’ I’m merely coming up with ideas this mortal plane cannot comprehend!” 
     “No, we can comprehend it, alright. It’s just stupid.”
     Bing sniffled, “Are you calling me stupid?”
     “Wha- No?!” Larry hesitated.
     “I knew it! You don’t love me!” Bing exaggerated as he leaned against the wall.
     “Oh my- Chris! You know I do love you!” Larry sighed.
     “Then prove it,” Bing smirked.
     Larry rolled his eyes. He quickly grabbed Bing’s wrists, holding them above his head. He put one hand on his waist and kissed him on the lips.
     “Get a room, you two,” Tom scoffed.
     “You’re just jealous that I haven’t done that to you yet,” Tord joked.
     “Shut up!” Tom scowled.
     “You know you want it,” Tord teased.
     Tom’s cheeks turned a light shade of purple. Tord chuckled as he gently grabbed Tom’s sides. He jokingly smiled as he picked him up and lifted him into the air.
     “Whoa! What are you doing Commie?!” Tom yelped.
     Tord brought Tom’s legs right under his arms and pressed him up against the wall. Tord smiled.
     “Geez, if I go any higher, I might as well be crushing your head with my legs,” Tom snickered.
     “...Would you?” Tord muttered.
     “WHAT?!” Tom laughed.
     Tord let Tom go, and he landed in front of him.
     “You know, maybe I can when all of this is over,” Tom remarked, “I’ll make it heaven for you.”
     Tord’s face turned a reddish pink. Tom smirked, giving Tord a little lick on the nose. Tord hugged Tom and kissed him on the neck.
     “Tord! Come on!” Tom giggled.
     Tord kept kissing all around Tom’s neck, causing him to laugh uncontrollably. Tord then stopped, looking at Tom’s face. His face was a dark shade of purple, his voids closed and small tears formed on them. He was still catching his breath.
     “By hell, Commie! You're gonna kill me before Sorilan does!" He coughed.
     Tord smiled lightly, then smacked his forehead. 
     "Damn, I got distracted! The others must be bored waiting for us!" He realised.
     By this time Bing and Larry have stopped fooling around as well. They put their weapons in the box along with one of the communicators from Ashley.
     "Well, that's everything. Good luck out there Red," Bing said.
     "As to you Chris. Try not to blow up the base while I'm gone," Tord replied.
     "That was one time and you know it," He snapped back jokingly and slugged him in the arm.
     Tom smiled at the two and grabbed the box, leaning over to Larry.
     "Dumbasses," He mumbled.
     "But we love them anyway," Larry replied. 
     Tord smirked and took Tom's hand. They waved to Bing and Larry then left the room, to see their loved ones.
     …
     Paul and Patryck were finishing fueling up the jeep.
     “Do you think Red and Tom will be here soon? Paul asked as he continued loading up the jeep.
     “They should be, as well as Edd and Matt,” Patryck replied.
     Right as Patryck close the fuel cap, he looked up to see Jono and Mark approaching the jeep.
     “Hey, Pat! What are you up to?” Mark asked cheerfully.
     “Oh hey, Mark! Paul and I were just preparing to leave,” Patryck remarked.
     “Where are you going? I thought your other base was destroyed,” Jon inquired.
     “Don’t tell me you guys are going out on an attack without us,” Eduardo added.
     “No, we are going to see if the old place is abandoned, and hopefully pick up some of our stuff,” Paul answered, “Stuff like Tom and Matt’s things, Edd’s cat, and some files for Red’s arm to try and use them here.”
     “Edd still has Ringo?” Jon asked.
     Eduardo responded, “Of course he does. He wouldn’t intentionally leave him.”
     “I thought Ringo was a girl?”
     “My point still stands.”
     “Yeah, we are just going to pick up some stuff. It should only take a few days,” Patryck said.
     Mark immediately jumped onto an idea.
     “Hey, could I come with?” It asked.
     Paul looked over slightly confused.
     “Are you sure you both want to? It's going to be quite crowded there and back…” He commented.
     Jono shook their head.
     “Eh, we don’t really want to go,” They said.
     Mark looked over at them surprised.
     “You don’t want to come with?’ It asked.
     “Not really no,” Eduardo said.
     “Yeah, you go have some fun outside of here. It might help you clear your mind not being cooped up in a base,” Jon added.
     “Well, if you guys are okay with it…” It answered
     Patryck smiled and he wrapped his arm around Mark’s shoulder.
     “Don’t worry Jono, we’ll make sure we keep it safe,” He said.
     Mark playfully chuckled. It was a bit worried about Jono being away from them, especially leaving them both in a new environment, but they did have a point. It did want to clear its head, and it would be a great way to bond with Patryck.
     “Yeah… Yeah, this is gonna be fun!” It said joyfully.
     The doors opened to the loading bay. Edd, Matt, Tom, Tord, Phoenix, and Yuu started to file in. Edd and Matt were carrying a large cooler, Phoenix was carrying two large boxes of ORPs, Tord and Tom were carrying boxes of weapons, and Yuu was carrying some thermal blankets and bandages. 
     “You guys have everything?” Paul asked.
     “Yeah, that should be everything,” Tord replied.
     Patryck looked over to Tord.
     “Hey Red, do we have room for one more?” He asked, “I was hoping that Mark could come along with us for the ride.”
     “Does it want to?” He asked.
     Mark nodded. Tord shrugged.
     “I don’t see why not, as long as it isn’t worried about the cramped space,” He commented.
    “That, and if it can help us load up,” Yuu added. 
    Mark gently took one of the boxes out of Phoenix hand’s and started loading up the jeep. They put the ORPs in the middle of the jeep, with the blankets and the in the back and the guns hidden in the compartments. Soon they were all ready. They all started loading up to go, but Paul and Mark stayed out of the jeep.
     “Are you sure you don’t want to come with me?” Mark asked Jono.
     “We’ll be fine. Go with them, don’t worry about us,” Jono smiled.
     Paul went over to Phoenix for a hug.
     “I’m gonna miss you, buddy,” He said, “You and your unicorns.
     “You’re not gonna be gone for long. Besides, I can rant all about unicorns till you go deaf when you get back.” Phoenix chuckled. 
     Paul slowly pulled away and went to the car. Mark and Jono shared a quick hug then walked over to the jeep with him. Paul got inside and started the car. Yuu smiled as he sat beside Paul. Edd, Tom, and Tord were in the middle, and Matt, Patryck, and Mark were sitting in the back. Paul slowly started to pull out of the base and started to head down the mountain.
     “So Mark, why did you want to join us?” Matt asked.
     “Oh, I just thought it would be nice to see a bit of the world. I never really went out after the… incident, and I thought it would be nice to actually get out of the base,” It replied.
     “That’s fair, it’s nice to get out every once in a while,” Yuu added.
     “Yeah,” Patryck agreed.
     Paul looked over at Yuu slightly as he drove.
    “So, did you get any new hobbies during the time you were at Sorilan?” He asked.
    “Well, I have taken up a bit of quilting, got to make do with any scraps of clothing we had for some use right?” Yuu answered.
     “You mean they didn’t give you those supplies?” Tord asked.
     “Kinda, they barely gave us anything on trips or attacks. Remember how we had that honey from that tree you knocked over Paul?”
     “More like knocked the bees nest off but yeah, why?”
     “Well, that was the only food Corey and I had. They only pack us with weapons and that is it, calling it “blitzkrieg”. Not fun for us though, since we have to suffer not having anything to support us….”
     Tord started to think.
     “Do you know if those people you were scouting with made it back to Sorilan?” He asked.
     “That is not really a question I can answer. Corey possibly, but even then he might not have known. My guess would be probably not,” Yuu answered.
     “Does that mean they could possibly-!”
     There was an immediate sound of shattering as one of the windows of the jeep broke. Mark screamed and Paul immediately pulled the car to a stop. He looked over to the group. 
     “What happened? Is everyone okay?” Paul asked.
     Tom looked down at his legs, which were showered in broken glass. Edd looked over panicked.
     “Darling! Don’t move!” He ordered.
     Tom stayed completely still as Patryck leaned over and started to carefully remove the glass while wearing his gloves. Paul looked out the window. Five soldiers started to approach the jeep, holding their guns up.
     “Red? We have company!” He said as he snapped his head back to look behind him.
     “We should keep driving! Start the car back up Paul!” Matt yelled. 
     “Wait, I have an idea,” Yuu piped up, “Paul, look at them…..”
     Paul looked closer at the people outside. They were approaching the jeep rather slowly. They looked worn down and incredibly tired. Their eyes looked hollow, like the light was drained from their eyes. Paul felt pity strike him like a bullet.
     “They’re tired. They’re hungry,” Yuu mumbled, “They wouldn’t even be able to put up a fight. We should help them.”
     “Are you sure we should? They did shoot at us….” Mark objected, “They could try to take advantage of us.”
     “They could also be too weak to fight and they could be incredibly scared,” Yuu replied.
     “Yuu is right, we should give them a chance,” Tord stated, “The question is, who will go out to talk to them first?”
     All of them raised their hands quickly, however Paul and Yuu raised their hands last.
     “Guess it’s you two,” Patryck said as he finished cleaning the glass off Tom’’s pants. 
      “Very well, have the guns at the ready just in case,” Paul replied as he opened the door to the jeep and got out.
     Yuu followed behind him as they looked out at the small group of soldiers. Paul took off his coat, as did Yuu to remove tension. They slowly raised their hands above their heads.
     “We mean no harm. We aren’t going to attack you…..” Paul started to say. 
     Two of the soldiers stepped forward. One of them had thick brown thick dark brown hair reaching his shoulders, and his chin showed very visible stubble. His skin was pale, and was sticking more to his structure rather them having muscles. He leaned on the soldier next to him for support, like he couldn’t stand for himself. He pointed his gun at Yuu’s chest, but his hand was lightly shaking.  
     “Stay… stay away from us Red Devils….” He said raspy, “We aren’t letting you take us.”
    “Take you? No no no, we are not doing that,” Yuu replied, “We want to help you. We aren’t taking you to any base. Look, you guys must be hungry. Why don’t we just relax and get you something to eat?”
    The soldier looked over to his friends. Some of them were shaking their head, while others looked at the jeep desperate for something to eat. His companion that was right beside him whispered something in his ear, to which he nodded in return. His stomach started to growl. As it did, he slowly lowered his gun. 
     “I suppose some food wouldn’t hurt….” He mumbled.
     Paul started to smile and looked back to the jeep. 
     “Matt! Break out the cooler!” He called out.
     The trunk of the jeep opened up. Matt crawled out of the back with the cooler and opened it up.
     “We’re eating already?!” They asked.
     “Kinda, we want to be hospitable to our aquantiences,” Yuu replied.
    Paul looked over to Yuu cautiously.
    “Could you guys possibly drop your weapons? Just as a safety precaution?” He asked.
     The main soldier slowly turned behind them and raised his hand. The soldiers slowly lowered their guns to the ground, then meandered into a single-file line to get something to eat. Paul looked over to the soldier who was leading them, who was slowly trudging behind the rest. He seemed like he was going slower, scouting the area cautiously. 
     “Hey, do you need any help?” Yuu asked.
     The soldier shook his head. His companion, however, quietly spoke up. 
     “Could you possibly get the stuff for us? Pan is just being incredibly stubborn and stoic,” They asked.
     “Oh! Of course,” He said as he went to the cooler.
     Pan went over and sat next to a tree. As Tord and the others filed out of the truck to grab a sandwich, the other soldiers sat around in a circle starting to eat. A lot of the were eating rather quickly, but most of them were taking their time.  Tord went and sat next close to Pan.
     “So… how long have you been out here?” He asked.
     “A few days. We have been trying to live off the land while getting back to the Sorilan base, but we haven’t had much luck…” Pan replied.
     “So they didn’t give you any food to eat?” 
     “Not really no. We have been able to live off of some animals, but when we started to try and scrounge for berries, it would get one of us incredibly sick, so we had to stop that idea.”
     Yuu came over and started to give them the sandwiches. Pan’s companion went and grabbed his sandwich eagerly, but Pan reached his hand up and grabbed Yuu’s forearm. His hand slowly slid down Yuu’s arm until he touched the sandwich, then he slowly took it from his hand.
     “Thank you Yuu,” He said as he unwrapped the sandwich.
     “Um, you’re welcome. Wait, you know who I am?” 
     “Of course I do. I could recognise anyone willing to take Todd down a peg.”
     Yuu laughed. Paul looked over confused after seeing Pan’s attempt at taking the sandwich. 
     “Hey, um Pan was it? Why did you grab Yuu’s wrist?” He asked.
     “Oh, that was your wrist? Sorry pal,” Pan lightly chuckled, “I’m blind as a bat. Well, that’s not really true. Some bats have fantastic eyesight.”
     “Doesn’t make your eyesight any better. You need to learn to see that,” His companion joked.
     “Oh, don’t get me started on that Cake,” Pan replied as he started to try and wrap his arm around his companion, “I’ll be sure to kiss that sass of your mouth.”
     “Are you sure you are going to reach my mouth this time and not my chin?”
     “Oh you little-!”
     Pan pulls Cake close and kisses him. Yuu and Paul awkwardly chuckle as they watch the duo embrace. Soon Pan pulls away and slightly turns to where he thought Yuu was. 
     “But yeah, can’t really let Lochlan hear about this, or he would not be impressed and possibly send me out to one of the camps,” He reiterated.
     “You know, you don’t have to go back to Sorilan,” Edd said with his mouth slightly full.
     “Um, what do you mean?” Cake asked.
     “I mean what I said,” Edd swallowed his food, “You don’t have to go back, especially if it puts you at risk. We’ve taken in a ton of people. Hell, one of them is even here with you guys.”
     Pan sat and thought for a moment, then looked over to one of the nearby trees.
     “Sorry whoever you are, but it’s not going to be that easy. They could easily track us down and would bring hell on us if we transferred to the Red Army,” He replied snarkily.
     Cake sighed and lightly grabbed Pan’s hair, slowly turning his head to face Edd.
     “He’s right there,” He said.
     “Oh. Well, my point still stands.”
     Patryck looked up from eating his sandwich.
     “Red, don’t we have a refugee base nearby that Kim and Katya left to?” He asked.
     “Yeah, we do now that I think about it,” He said.
     “What if we give these guys directions there and send them a message saying refugees are coming?”
     “You guys would really do that for people like us?” Cake asked.
     “Yes, we would. Even though your Sorilan soldiers, it doesn’t mean we are going to be cruel,” Tord said By the sounds of it, seems like you don’t want to be in Sorilan anymore.”
     Cake lightly squeezed Pan’s hand. Pan lightly turned his head to Cake, then slowly back to Edd and nodded.
     “Yeah, maybe getting out of this war would be good for us,” Pan said. 
     “Say no more. Lilla, could you go get the communicator that is in with the thermal blankets?” Tord asked as he turned to Matt.
     Matt nodded and they went over to go grab the communicator. 
     “Wait, could you go grab a couple of those thermal blankets for them too?” Tord asked, “Sorry I’m asking you to do so much Søtnos.”
     “Don’t worry Frosting, do you want me to make you a margarita too?” He joked.
     “Aww, do you want me to come and help you?”
     “No, no. I got it, don’t worry.”
     Matt went to the back of the car and pulled out three of the thermal blankets and the communicator, then came back over to the group. Tord took them, gave Matt a quick peck on the cheek, then handed them to Cake.
     “These are for your team’s late nights,” He said as Matt passed the communicator to Patryck.
     “We can’t thank you enough for this…. Um… What is your name?” He asked.
     “My name is Tord.”
     “Tord?” You mean the Red Leader Tord?” Cake gasped.
     “Yeah, sorry I’m not very popular around Sorilan.”
     “Not really no,” Pan replied. 
     They all sat in silence for a few minutes, until Cake stood up, helping Pan up with him.
     “Good luck to you. I hope you make it to wherever you're going successfully.” Pan said.
     “Same to you. These should help get you to the refugee base,” Patryck piped in as he handed Cake a piece of paper, “Will you be able to find the base using these?” 
      “Yeah, we can do that. We still have one of these,” Cake pulled an old GPS handheld out of his pocket.
     “You were able to have those but not find your trucks?” Mark asked.
     “Our trucks are out of gas, and they try to keep the coordinates of the Sorilan base a secret. Stupid Lochlan and his dumbass protocols.” He said. 
     “Don’t worry, we will give him a square kick in the ass when we can,” Paul affirmed.
     “Heh, hope you do. Good luck to you all,” Pan smiled as he took some of the blankets.
     “Good luck to you too, Pan. Same for you Cake,” Tord replied.
     Cake took Pan’s arm gently. Pan let out a whistle and the former Sorilan soldiers stood up. Pan started walking off into the woods with the rest of his army following behind them.
     “Do you think they will make it to the base?” Matt asked.
     “I hope so…” Yuu replied.
     Tord turned to the rest of the group.
     “Well, we have to keep going. The sooner we get back to the old base, the better.” He said.
     The rest of the group nods. Matt goes and closes up the back of the vehicle and they get inside the car. Paul gets in and starts the jeep, sending them back on their way. The sun starts to set in the trees, and Mark starts to yawn.
     “Matt, could you grab one of the thermal blankets from the back?” It asked.
     “Could you pass one up for us too?” Edd asked.
     Matt nodded and they passed up the blankets. Mark leaned against Patryck.
     “Wake me up when we get there, alright?”
     Patryck nodded. Soon enough, quiet snoring could be heard as Mark fell asleep. Edd spreads the blanket across him, Tord, and Tom and they all started to fall asleep. Matt leaned against the window and passed out, leaving Paul, Patryck, and Yuu awake. Yuu stretched and started to yawn.
     “Are you getting tired?” Paul asked.
     “A little bit…” Yuu responded.
     “Get some rest mate. You deserve it.”
     Yuu started to nod off. He slipped his seatbelt out off his shoulder and leans to his side, putting his head on Paul’s lap. Paul lightly blushed as Yuu fell asleep. He gently put one of his hands in Yuu’s hair, gently twirling it in between his fingers as he continued to drive into the night.