• F U N N E H •
"Haha, lovely home, isn't it?"
Oh, my God. Why were they there? How did they get there? How was I supposed to explain to them? It wasn't that easy to just march up to them and say, "Oh, also Gold and I along with our friends from back home journey on life-threatening adventures where we make both friends and allies. Numerous times we've almost died but the town has hailed us as heroes before. So yeah, no biggie."
It was weird. And what I was scared of was that they would reject us like how my mother felt towards the Krew. What if they ditched Gold and I? What if they thought we were freaks? Weirdos who don't know when they've passed boundaries when venturing. I didn't want to be left because of what I loved to do. And frankly, no matter how close you are with someone, there's always a possibility that they'll judge and leave you. The Gang were my friends, but would they be willing to pass a judgement on us? To abandon us because of our unique interests?
"Funneh? What are you doing here?" Kyran asked, staring down at me while I sat up.
"Uh, visiting?" I shrugged unconvincingly, "after a hurricane. Yeah, totally visiting. Nothing's wrong at all." I stood up, flinching as all the inflictions from the fall started to pain me.
The fall had sent me tumbling but what actually hurt were the cuts and one or two bruises I had contracted during the slip. A few rips were on the cuffs of my shorts, one on the side of my shirt, three on my left glove and one on my right glove. One bruise was on my elbow and the other on my knee.
"Now we know you're lying," Kyran accused, "you voice gets even more high-pitched when you lie."
I gasped, "It does not!" I realized how my voice sounded, laughing nervously while I started to slowly back away.
"Where are we? Why are you here? Why are we here?" Aly inquired, looking at the top of my head, down to my shoes, then back up to my face, "and what are you wearing?"
I opened my mouth to speak but nothing came out as I looked down at my clothes. The clothes. Good luck explaining that one, Funneh. It was totally normal to walk around with such an odd outfit with a dagger attached to a holster around your leg and a sword just dangling from the side of your belt in its own holster. Yep. Completely normal.
"All good questions," I squeaked out, "it's actually a pretty simple answer. You see... I... uh..." I fumbled with my words.
Kyran and Aly gave me this pushy glance, waiting for my response. As for Alec and Evan, they had more confused looks than anything rather than a demand for answers. Though, it was clear they wanted those too.
"Y'know what? This is my home. I can be here and I have a reason to. What I want to know is how you guys got here and why you're here," I crossed my arms.
"Our answer can only be answered by you. We were dropped here the same way you were. When we were falling in that weird wormhole thing," Kyran frowned.
You hear that? That's me laughing. Good luck with this one, Funneh. I frowned. Curse you, self-aware subconscious of mine. I done messed up.
"Well, you see.... it's with complete honesty that I, Funneh, can say the truthful words of explanation that you're waiting to hear. Being fair, it is what you are owed and deserve. And with full closure, I will tell you what you should know—" I'm interrupted by Evan and Aly quietly laughing.
"Oh, my God," Evan laughed, shaking his head in a jokingly disapproving manner.
"Are you stalling?" Alec raised an eyebrow, laughing along slightly as did I.
"Pfft, I don't stall. I just... talk a lot. At least, that's what everyone says," I agree with a playful smile, "ever heard of strategy in a game? Distract them. Keep them busy with banter and when the time comes, bam! You're a winner. Classic."
"Joking aside, we still want answers. We're your friends, Funneh. And as your friends, we need to know what's going on. It just feels like... you're hiding something from us," Aly pried, "you can have your privacy, yeah. But this is different."
"Fine. Um, it's kind of hard to explain. And for numerous reasons, I don't like to mention it. I mean, It's just—" I was cut off by Lunar, who cautiously slid down the piles of debris and approached us.
"Sorry to crash a party, but we need you, Funneh. It's something I'm sure you'd wanna see," Lunar started to guide me, pulling my arm firmly as she walked off.
"Who are you? Funneh, you still haven't explained to us—" Lunar sighed and turned around to face them, still grasping my arm.
"This is urgent. And while I would take the time to explain, I'm lazy and socially unprepared," Lunar turned to me and scanned me up and down, "jeez, what happened to you? You look like you were in a hurricane— oh, wait. That's too soon."
"Very too soon, Lunar. Very too soon. But Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall and took a great fall. In other words, I'm Humpty Dumpty and the 'wall' was a tower of rubble. Unfortunately for me—" Evan cut me off.
"Unfortunately for her, she's clumsy. Hence her taking a great big fall," he laughed.
"Shush, Evan," I pouted as Lunar nodded her head with a teasing grin. The others laughed and I pouted.
"Well, here," Lunar pointed her index finger at me and in a small puff of smoke, the injuries were gone, "there. Now, come on." She started to pull me along again.
"How did she—" Lunar turned back around with a cocky grin and answered, "Believe in magic? Sure hope you do 'cause this girl's a witch. And personal opinion, best one around."
Lunar looked at me, nodded, and instructed, "let's go." We walked off with her hand dragging me along.
Once we had climbed over a few piles of debris, I sighed a breath of relief. "I owe you, Lunar. You saved me from one messy explanation."
"What, that makes five times that you owe me now?" Lunar giggled teasingly, "maybe six. Or four, if I feel generous."
"And you owe me four. Now, what did you need me for?" I paused, my mouth forming an 'O' shape, "hey, that rhymed!"
"Don't start rapping on me. Only music I need is k-pop and j-pop. Anyway, we found something. And if we're correct, then we need to start searching," Lunar warned.
"What did you find?" I inquired, spotting the rest of the Krew. Rainbow was holding something and Draco was crouched, lifting up a plank of wood to look underneath it. Gold was avoiding all the water by staying on any solid grounding she could be on.
"This," Rainbow handed me a phone and my eyes widened. "This is my mom's phone! Where did you find it? Why was it here? How did you get it?"
Draco dropped the plank of wood and stood back up, scanning the area. He wandered off as Lunar picked up a glass bottle, inspected it, then tossed it away after I assumed she found it useless.
"We don't know. We found it over there and we knew it could be one of your parent's phone when we saw the label on the case," Rainbow pointed on the backside of the phone where a large label was on it. It read:
ITSENTERTAINMENT INCORPORATION
"This... this is my parent's business. That's their name, their logo..." my voice trailed off as I stared at the small symbol inscribed above the words. I think it's what inspired us for our logo.
It was a triangle and inside it was an 'I' connected to the 'E' and the last 'I' separated from the first two letters. The business was like an entrepreneur company, sort of like they pitched ideas and if they were successful, created a product placement to be sold out and marketed. It ranged from all sorts of ways. At least, I thought so. I've never really had the chance to ask them. Anytime I've called them, it mostly went straight to voicemail or to their assistant.
"Why is it here then?" Gold asked, slowly tiptoeing over to us, still avoiding the water. She looked at the muddy and murky water and shuddered in disgust.
"They called me. Maybe five, ten minutes ago. They said some stuff that I didn't agree with, but they said they got here and glad I wasn't when the hurricane hit. Then they started screaming and the line went dead," I explained.
"Some stuff you didn't agree with? What do you mean? I thought you left that phase of arguing with them behind," Gold crossed her arms.
"Yeah, what'd they say for you to disagree with them?" Rainbow inquired with Gold.
I sighed. "They called you guys weird. They —or rather, my mom said— that your lifestyle was dangerous. The way we go on adventures, she said it in a way that made it sound like you guys were to be blamed. And she insisted that it wasn't for me either, saying she knows me better than anyone else. I love her, but that's one thing I hate that she does. She acts like she didn't leave me alone for years and then pretends to know me better than I know myself," I explained.
"So if your mom's phone was around this general area, that means they were here. They were here when you called them. This spot is only thirty meters away from where we dropped. That means—" Rainbow was cut off by Draco's yell.
"Guys! Over here!" Draco called out, waving us over. He was ten meters away.
"I think I see something.... I'm gonna go check it out. You guys go see what he needs," Lunar excused herself, hiking away and staring at a specific spot on the ground.
Lunar stared at this one little patch of ground. It seemed little to no important at all, but she kept staring at it.
Draco was fumbling with something in his hands, rolling it around on his palm like he was inspecting it while he waited on us.
I was the first one to reach him. "Funneh, look. It's another phone with the same logo. Except this phone has bumpers and not a case," he pointed out, wiping the phone clean with his gloves.
"It's my dad's phone!" I gasped, grabbing it, "I can prove it. God, I hope he still has it." I let the phone scan my thumb print, allowing it to recognize and authorize me to unlock the phone.
"Hah, it still works! Beat that, bad luck," I gloated to no one as Draco shook his head with a quiet laugh.
I swiped through the phone and searched through the gallery. Hundreds of photos of documents and papers filled it, with little to no personal photos. Any personal photos were pictures of him and his friends at a party or with my mom. I had to scroll through albums sorted by years for a long time, but eventually I found the last photo of me, my mom, and him together. I looked at the date.
June 30, 2010 in Toronto, Canada at 5:56 PM
Seven years ago. That is the last time we took a photo together. I was nine years old in the photo. Now I'm sixteen and I can't help but miss the day the photo was taken. By then, a lot of my memories with them have faded from a lack of new ones. But this one hadn't. We had gone to a festival that day. I remembered it so vividly.
I knew I had a sullen look on my face. And it wasn't a common look I put on ever lately. When I was younger, yeah, it was my constant expression. But by this point, I was mostly smiling. It was weird how conflicted I felt with my parents.
I missed them, but I did disagree with things they did and said. There were things that I would never forgive them for. There were things they hid from me and there were things I hid from them. There were years of loneliness and there were days of arguing. There were moments where I found myself in trouble just to try and get their attention. There were things that couldn't be fixed. And as much as I loved them, those things would always stay that: damaged.
It was so easy to have so much fun and forget why I ever hurt. I was surrounded by people that made me feel loved and appreciated, by people who put me on a pedestal higher than the world and its heavens. But my parents were like a stone. A stone thrown and able to knock me down every time. But at least I knew there was always someone at the bottom to catch me.
"Take it easy, Funneh. You don't have to keep it bottled up inside," Draco placed a hand on my shoulder, "we're here for you."
I smiled bitterly as Gold and Rainbow approached. They stayed silent as they looked at the screen of my dad's phone. They realized what it was.
"Draco's right. We're here. We're your family. And we'll always be your family. We'll always be your Krew," Gold assured.
"Thanks, but I think if I try to vent, I'll only make it more depressing here than it already is," I laugh bitterly. Comedy was the best way to cope in my opinion. That's why I was probably the worst person to invite to a funeral.
The Krew had heard my sob story enough times. They knew it and they knew how it hurt. How it stung and burned, branded into my mind. And I didn't want to bother them with it again. They made me feel better anyway; it was better I didn't mention it. I didn't like always venting. In fact, I hated feeling sad. I hated venting. I hated ranting. I hated it all so much. And the rest of the Krew had their own inner demons and skeletons in their closets; I wasn't the only one hurting. I felt selfish. I was selfish. That's what I was.
"If you say so, but you know if you need to, you can tell us. Don't bottle it up. That can make a person unstable," Rainbow frowned.
I shook my head and took a few steps forward, still holding the phone landscape mode in both of my hands. "I know. But that's not important right now. What is important is that we find my parents. They're gone in this broken place of a home with only their phones being found after screaming on a call. Don't you see? What if something happened to them? What if they end up like those people? Those people from the party? Killed and discarded, burned and revealed to be accidental deaths, wrong people in the wrong place at the wrong time?"
"Your parents are not going to end up like that," Draco denied first as Rainbow and Gold agreed with him.
"Easy for anyone else to say," I mumbled, before hearing my own words and finding them awful. Especially to who I said them towards. Everyone went deathly silent. "I'm sorry, that was too far. That was uncalled for and selfish and it's just that—"
"Funneh, just breathe," Gold and Draco instructed in unison, motioning with their hands upwards to their chests, then downwards as a gesture for me to take a deep breath of air.
"It's a lot of pressure. I get it, you get it, Lunar gets it, Gold gets it, Draco gets it, we all get it. That's why we're here, Funneh. This is what's happening now. This is what's happening in our lives. And it's out of our control. It's the way that we handle it," Rainbow came up behind me and wrapped her arms around my back and rested her hands on my arms, "and it's who we have to be there for us. The company we choose matters. And you have us. We know you, Funneh. We know how you think. You don't want to bother us but it doesn't. It doesn't hurt us to console you. It hurts us more when you refuse it."
"Rainbow's right, Funneh. We know you don't like to talk about it all the time. And you have every right to not, we know it hurts. It sent you spiraling out of control in one point of your life. And we know you don't want to talk about it because you feel selfish when you do. But you shouldn't bottle up your emotions for the sake of us. Everyone has demons inside their heads, in their hearts, in their bodies. And when we were down, you brought us up. That's what friends are for. They're with you during your highs and lows, they pull you up when you're dragging yourself down, they rescue you when you're drowning. You were always there for us when we needed it. Let us do the same for you," Draco pleaded as he approached my right with Rainbow on my left.
"Funneh, we'll be here for you. We always will. And we mean it when we say it. We're a team, a group, a Krew. But we can't help you. At least, not until you allow us to," Gold approached me on my left side beside Rainbow.
"I know, I know, I know. Let's just talk about this another time. Right now, I want to find my parents," I looked down at the screen, the photo of my young self with my parents during a period of simpler times.
"That's fine. Come on, let's start searching—" Gold was interrupted by Lunar's voice in the distance. Lunar marched up to my right side, beside Draco.
"Guys, I need help. If I'm correct, then we can use it to stay here if you want. Follow me, I'll show you what I mean," Lunar guided, wandering back to where she was previously standing.
I cleared my throat and nodded at the others, bitterly smiling at them assuringly. I meant the smile. They cared. They knew me. And I was so grateful for it. But I didn't want to vent. Not then. Not to them. They told me they didn't mind but I still felt selfish. They said not to bottle up my emotions but the last time I didn't and expressed them, it landed me in much more trouble than anything. And it wasn't a phase of my life that I was proud of.
We hiked over with Lunar leading us. She managed to avoid the water, trudging over any way to escape the flood. "You're like a cat," I laughed, "moody and afraid of water."
"One is not simply 'moody and afraid of water', my child. No, it's called wet stockings. And you know what those are? NOT FUN," Lunar exclaimed, earning a laugh from us, "they're like the equivalent of wet socks, but worse because they're up almost all of your legs. Soggy stockings." She shuddered, jumping down onto a small crate.
"They say pets are like their owners. I wonder which cat of yours is more similar to you," Draco chuckled. Lunar mimicked his voice in a salty manner before she looked back down at the same spot she was inspecting earlier.
"Help me lift this up," Lunar ordered, grabbing a metal bar that was wedged in the pile. We all grabbed it, pulling and yanking. It wouldn't budge.
"Rainbow, come up here with me. Draco, Lunar, you pull from down there. Gold, you pull that plank of wood from underneath that large scrap piece of metal," I instructed, climbing up the large pile with Rainbow.
Draco and Lunar pressed all of their weight onto the bar to the point where they had their stomachs slumped over it and their feet weren't even touching the ground. Lunar kept swinging her feet around as she held tightly onto the bar. Draco tried, but wasn't acting frantic like Lunar.
I sat down on the pile and pushed the large scrap piece of metal with my feet as Rainbow did the same. It was stuck, wedged and held together by the plank of wood Gold was told to move. We kept pushing, trying not to slip and fall like I did earlier.
Gold was pulling on the plank of wood, yanking it with all of her might. But it wouldn't budge. She grasped it by its edges and pressed her feet against the solid piece of debris she was standing on.
"Okay, wait. On the count of three, we all push and pull at the same time. Ready?" I instructed, watching as all of the Krew nodded. "One... two... three!"
Draco and Lunar pushed down with a strong force as Gold yanked with all her might while Rainbow and I pushed with all of our strength. Draco and Lunar pressing down managed to lift the scrap metal up, allowing the plank of wood to maneuver around. Gold yanked it out and with the plank loosening its position, the scrap metal tumbled down and plopped into the water with a splash.
With all of the debris gone, a small trap door was revealed. Lunar quickly grabbed a few boards and shoved them around, forming a small border around the trapdoor. Lunar opened it and all the water in the contained area flowed down into the passageway. But the borders around it managed to keep majority of the water from flowing in. Some little spills managed to sneak their way through.
"What is this, Lunar?" Gold inquired as we all gathered around the small hole in the ground, "and won't it be filled with water?"
"It's sealed airtight with a special sealer that I managed to create. Nothing gets in and nothing gets out unless you're me or any of you guys. It dissolves when it makes contact with any of our body parts and regrows shortly after you've touched it," Lunar explained.
"How did you even tell that this was right here?" Draco questioned, watching as the seal slowly dissolved as Draco pulled open the trapdoor using the handle.
"This is where my house used to be before the hurricane hit. Just like all of yours are there, there, there, and there," Lunar pointed around to specific spots in a row, "mine was right here. And this was where I had my new shed. This is where I kept the wyvern for a while. Then, of course, I was done with it and set it free back in its own dimension."
"So this is where your old shed used to be?" I inquired, starting to climb down the steps of the passageway.
"Dare to venture into the Cave Of Wonders?" Lunar smirked, humming the infamous song, "Friend Like Me," by the legend, Robin Williams. She sighed and promptly said, "Bless that man's soul," as she followed behind me into the bunker-like room.
(Robin Williams was such a legend)
"Well, where's my three wishes?" I asked, stepping down the last step of the staircase and scanning the room with my eyes.
"What would you do with three wishes?" Lunar hummed, wandering off to the corner where a large painting of the alchemy symbol resided on the wall.
"Oh, trust me. There's a whole lotta' things you can fix with only three wishes," I sighed, crouching down and opening a small box filled with photos like my old home-sick box. Except, I still hadn't found mine yet.
"Aw, you've still got these?" Rainbow asked as she sat down beside me, pulling out a few photos.
"If any of my stuff had to be protected, I'd rather have it be those than anything else," Lunar shrugged, taking off the painting to reveal a small hole in the wall, "well, those and this thing right here."
Lunar pulled out a large book filled with aged and yellowed paper. The cover was leather and old, weathered down from its former glory over time. On the front were words inscribed in a shiny gold lettering in a language I didn't recognize.
"This is what I use to learn any type of alchemy or any mythical forces or entities," she explained, flipping through the pages.
"Is there something you can use to help us find my parents?" I asked her, cycling through the photos.
"Possibly. I'd just have to look," Lunar sighed, continuing to flip through the pages. I nodded.
"Oh, and Funneh?" Lunar grabbed my attention, shifting her eyes from the book to look at me, "you might wanna get back to your other friends."
Oh, yeah, that was right.
Good thing I'm not socially awkward, hey? Oh, wait...
"Oh, yeah... Ahah... that's still a problem," I nervously laughed, "someone come with me."
"I would but I feel like if the both of us went, it would be even more awkward," Gold reasoned, searching a desk with bottles and beakers, a vile or two and a measuring up on top of it.
"Fair point," I groaned, turning to Draco, "you dare to come with me?"
He shook his head as he lingered on the side of the room, arms crossed as he leaned against the wall. "Hm, nah."
"You, Rainbow?" I turned to her, who was sitting on the ground as she shuffled through the photos. She shrugged, "Sure."
"I'll go too," Lunar added, shoving the book into Draco's chest. He shrieked with a puff of air at the sudden force she used to give him the book, "you look through it for me."
"Fine," he wheezed, "crazy woman." He mumbled the last two words quietly but I heard them. I hid my laughter and the three of us walked upstairs.
As we entered atop, Lunar gasped slightly and snapped her fingers like she realized something. And she did. "I need another ender pearl!"
"Do you have some down there?" I asked her, and she nodded, replying, "I always kept extra materials in there for safe keeping and in cases of emergency. Rainbow, can you grab one for me? Actually, just grab the whole box in the corner of the room. It has the other ingredients I need."
Rainbow hummed in agreement and hurried back down, leaving Lunar to ask, "So how ya' gonna break the news to your friends?"
"I didn't plan for a long time to ever tell them at first. Fear of being judged, I suppose. But I knew I couldn't keep it a secret forever. Eventually I would tell them. In fact, I had considered telling them later this year when we would come back from summer vacation. But you can see how that turned out," I explained, motioning to the scene around us.
"Well, I can understand if they ever got suspicious when you hid this part of your life. Kinda odd for someone like you to keep a secret. But nonetheless, even if they get suspicious, it's how they react that counts," Lunar shrugged.
"Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyway, I wanted to ask you something," I told her as she motioned for me to ask away.
"The Gang is here, but how? They said they got here because we teleported here but they don't have any special objects combined into the pearl. How's that possible?" I inquired.
"There are a few flaws and quirks to these types of things. Though, there are two major factors that allow this to happen. First factor is that they had to be within the vicinity of us, around our area. Second factor is that someone has to think about them as you're using the pearl. If those two factors align, they can be teleported with us. Only flaw to this method? It makes the pearl unstable. Do it too many times and the pearl will just... go poof. One time alone is already too much. I've never been told what happens to the objects the pearl had combined with it, though," Lunar explained.
"Huh, well, that's just fun," I laugh softly, placing my hands on my hips as Lunar laughs along.
"Got it. Here you go," Rainbow handed over the box and bit her lip as she stood on the last step of the stairway, "I think I change my mind. You don't mind if I stay down here with Gold and Draco, do you?"
I shrugged and she nodded, wished us luck, and disappeared back down into the bunker. I breathed out a sigh of fear as we made our way to where I last saw the Gang. They weren't there. But they didn't make it very far, either. We spotted them about another twenty meters away.
"Guess who's back?" I laughed nervously, waving my hands in a "jazz-hands" gesture to try and ease up the tension I felt even if no one else felt it.
Lunar inhaled sharply and I covered her mouth, retorting with, "Lunar, I swear if you start singing 'Mr. Brightside' again for three days straight, I will seriously lose my mind."
"That's irrelevant—" she pouted as I sighed, "maybe, but anytime someone says that, you just sing it and I will never get it out of my head. It haunts me now." Lunar giggled deviously.
(Little reference to when Misa wouldn't stop singing Mr. Brightside and I would say, "Guess who's back?" before she would scream, "BACK AGAIN—" and start singing Mr. Brightside. And yes, the song does haunt me now)
"Whatever. Anyway, don't ask questions, just trust me. I need an object from each of you that you hold dear to your hearts," Lunar immediately explained, looking at the Gang. She saw their confused faces and sighed, "Fine, you get one question."
"Why only one question?" Kyran whined, crossing his arms and Lunar retaliated with, "that was your one question. Now, I need an object from all of you. Something you cherish."
"But—" they all started to protest until Lunar held up her index finger, wagged it side to side, and said, "you got one question. Now, if you want to go home, I need an object."
"Just trust her. I can assure you, she's got good intentions," I shifted my eyes to her, "though, she certainly sounds LIKE A VILLAIN."
Lunar shrugged as each of the Gang reluctantly handed over a small trinket of their own. She inspected all of them and nodded, shooing them away with her hands. "This will only take a minute."
I stepped back and we all watched as she sat on the ground, spreading out the ingredients around her. It was almost surreal to watch as she combined each object, whispering words under her breath.
The pearl was finished and it looked almost identical to ours, except it was a teal color with white. Same design as ours, same everything else too except for the color. Lunar stood up and slowly handed the pearl over to the closest person, Alec.
He held it as the others all gathered around, watching it closely. "It's a teleporting pearl. Anyone who uses it must have an object they cherish combined with it for them to use it with some faulty exceptions. In order to use it, you have to be touching it. Then while continuing to touch it, you must imagine where you want to go. You cannot think about anything else. You can only think about your destination," Lunar explained.
"You can use it to... go back home," I added, smiling weakly.
"What about you?" they all asked me, holding the orb forward towards me.
"This is my home. For now, at least. Something happened and I have to stay and fix it. I'll be fine. You guys go and help find Evelyn. I'll be here finding other people," I sighed.
They gave me this look like they wanted to hear more, like I owed an explanation. And frankly, I did owe them one. They deserved to know but I was scared. So all I did was nod and smile reassuringly.
"We're on a collision course; we'll be meeting again soon. Hopefully, soon at least."
And with my words, they disappeared.
-/•\-
It's currently Christmas Eve when I'm publishing this so if you celebrate Christmas, I want you all to eat a whole lotta' food, open a lot of presents, and most importantly, spend time with your families and loved ones :)
Merry Christmas💕
L U N A is typing....💬