The next few days went by with little incident. Parker had done his best to not think about Lara. Even though they’d all agreed on the conclusion that she hadn’t been actually trying to harm them, they couldn’t get over the fact that she’d killed billions of people now. She may have not truly been the enemy originally, but she was now for all they cared.
Everyone was trying to think of different ways that Parker could channel his anger to use his Space Imperial at will, but no one was getting lucky. He’d managed to use his Space Imperial once more but again; it was a time where he was exceedingly angry. Trying to figure out what they truly needed to be doing and the fact that he still couldn’t use his Imperials the way he used to had finally hit its peak.
Alexis did her best to calm him down. Taking him on walks, holding him, trying to convince him that everything would work out. No matter how hard she tried, for some reason she couldn’t get the weight off Parker’s shoulders.
Finally, after walking for several hours straight, the four of them came to a stop at the base of a waterfall. Parker stared up at it with a smile on his face. Alexis walked up next to him and grabbed his hand, squeezing tightly. “I miss school…” she whispered just loud enough for only Parker to hear. He squeezed her hand back and kissed her on the cheek.
“Me too, Lex…” They stood quietly, staring at the falls for several moments. After the jump to Earth 2, it took everyone a few days to notice the number of animals had severally dropped. Parker hadn’t seen a single one of the creatures they’d ran into when they’d gone on their quests, not that he was complaining. He’d always wondered if Lara had done that intentionally, and if she had, had she decided what animals did and didn’t make the jump?
They’d had many conversations about how Lara had pulled off what she had. How was she able to recreate everything so perfectly? Caleb guessed that she’d been studying the world for so long with this plan cooking up in her head. Parker couldn’t believe that she could’ve gotten everything so perfect, it had to have just been luck. Something else in her Imperial must’ve just done it.
“Hey,” Alexis whispered to Parker as they sat next to the falls. “Can we go back?”
Parker turned to look at her, confused. “You know we can’t go back to Earth 1. That was the original goal, remember? To turn back time to stop this from happening in the first place. But I’m not strong enough, at least not yet.”
“No,” Alexis interrupted. “I mean can we go back to Lancastre. Being out here sucks.”
Parker thought for a moment before speaking. “That’s really far back though…” His stomach sank when he saw Alexis drop her head. “But we can ask Master Sora and see what he thinks. I’m still not sure where he’s even taking us.”
They walked over to Master Sora and Caleb and explained to them what Alexis was hoping they could do. Master Sora was quiet for a while before answering them and Parker could practically hear Alexis’s heart beating from next to him. The master slowly nodded his head and said, “I’ve been thinking about going back to the castle as well. Using our Air Imperials, it shouldn’t take us too long.”
“Why were you wanting to go back?” Alexis asked.
“Let’s get going while the sun’s still up. We’ll make camp along the way.” It didn’t go unnoticed that Master Sora had ignored Alexis’s question. The master took off and they had to follow quickly before they lost him.
Parker couldn’t believe how much faster the master was than the rest of them. It took everything he had to just keep up. He wanted to talk to the others about why they thought Master Sora skirted around Alexis’s question. Was there something back at the castle that could help them that the master knew about?
-----
The next few days went by with next to no issues. They were filled with long days of running with their Air Imperials at top speeds to get to the castle as fast as possible. It must’ve been the way Lara had created Earth 2 because there weren’t any monsters, as Parker had begun to refer to them, anywhere. He thought back to how they’d run into several things back on Earth 1 when they’d gone on their quest and now there was none of it.
One night, while they were sitting next to the fire, Caleb and Master Sora had gone off to talk about something. Parker couldn’t help but be curious as to what they were always discussing but at the same time he had to appreciate all of the alone time it gave him with Alexis. They had been talking for a while and then Parker began talking about the lack of monsters and then he saw a tear run down Alexis’s cheek.
“Hey! What’s wrong?” He put his arm around her and squeezed. “Did I say something?”
She shook her head and sniffled. “I’m the worst…”
Parker was confused. “What in the world makes you say that?”
“It’s been years already and I just remembered Ava. What is wrong with me? She did so much for us!”
“She did?” Parker asked, although he had to admit that he’d also completely forgotten about her until that moment.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road. If you spot it on Amazon, please report it.
“Saved your life,” Alexis stated matter-of-factly.
Parker shook his head. “No, she didn’t. She stayed invisible the entire time Master Terra had me. She didn’t show herself until I woke up in the field.”
“Well, she helped you get back to Lancastre then!”
“I’ll give you that one.” They were quiet for a moment and then Parker gasped. “I just remembered Monty too!”
Alexis’s eyes went wide, and it looked like she was about to cry again. She let out an exasperated sigh. “Ugh! Why am I the worst?”
“Hey…” Parker said putting his arm around her again. “You’re not the worst. If anything, you’re the best.” His face glowed even more red in the campfire. He saw Alexis smile really big even though she was trying to hide it. Parker squeezed her hard again and then leaned over and kissed her on the cheek.
“Gross!” Caleb groaned at them, appearing from nowhere. “If you could, like, do that somewhere else, that’d be great.”
Parker wanted to laugh but then thought he’d get smart with him instead for a little bit of fun. “Well, maybe you shouldn’t be spying on us.”
Caleb looked shocked. “Spying? Me?” he asked, putting his hand to his chest in mock surprise.
“We were alone until you decided to butt in,” Alexis pointed out.
“I don’t even know why you two still act all shy around each other. You’ve practically been dating for like three years now. I think we should be past all the awkward shyness. Don’t you?”
The two of them turned their heads to look at each other. At the same time, they both had a huge smirk on their face, thinking the exact same thing. After a second’s pause, they leaned in and kissed. They made sure to kiss long enough to truly make Caleb uncomfortable. After a few moments they pulled away from each other. Parker’s heart was beating a thousand times a second.
“Really?” Caleb asked. “Just had to do that didn’t you?”
“You’re the one that told us not to be shy and awkward anymore. So, if anything, that’s your fault. Not ours.” Parker started to laugh at Caleb’s reaction.
Caleb laughed a little then. “No, it’s still your fault.”
“And look who’s talking about being shy,” Alexis stated. “Let’s look back at your little run in with Julie on the stairs.”
“Hey now,” Caleb defended. “I was way younger. We were what, twelve?”
Alexis laughed. “So? What’s your point?”
“I was twelve! You guys are eighteen-ish. Therefore, you should be more mature and much less awkward.”
“I don’t see you making any moves,” Parker pointed out.
Caleb looked around gesturing at the lack of people around. “Who am I supposed to be making moves on?”
It got very quiet for a moment as everyone paused and thought about Hailee. If it hadn’t happened, they all knew that her and Caleb would be together right now. She’d be with them sitting and laughing around the campfire.
“But hey, when we fix everything, you don’t ever have to worry about me being shy again.” Parker knew that Caleb was just saying this to try and make everyone feel better, but he knew that Caleb would never move on from her.
The rest of the night went by quietly as everyone began falling asleep. Parker laid next to Alexis for hours after she’d fallen asleep. He couldn’t help but stare up into the night sky, thoughts zooming through his head a million miles a second. Things were so different on Earth 2, even though it was so similar. Time moved a bit differently; days seemed a little bit longer than they were on Earth 1 but nights didn’t feel any shorter.
The sky itself was similar to the one on Earth 1 but Parker could see subtle differences. He still couldn’t believe how many differences there were between the two Earth’s.
-----
“How much longer do you think until we get to the school?” Parker asked. They sat around the campfire under the stars. It’d been three days of slow progress and very little happening. Parker’s patience was growing thin. They’d been taking time every day to practice their Imperials. He felt like his elemental Imperials were coming along just fine and had a solid grasp of them again. But the exhaustion that came with trying his Space Imperial was starting to take its toll.
Master Sora took a bite of some food and said, “If we keep moving the way we are, we should get there in about another three days. Assuming we don’t run into any complications.”
“What if we increase our pace? Could we get there in a day? Day and a half?”
Master Sora thought for a moment. Alexis and Caleb looked at him in anticipation. “I’d say we could probably do that, but I really think you need to keep practicing. You’ve improved so much, and so quickly too!”
Parker appreciated that Master Sora was trying to be optimistic but he knew he needed to take a break from practicing. Even though things could turn to the worst extremely quickly at this point, especially since Lara seemed to be planning something but going at this rate would make it so that he couldn’t do anything.
“I think if we could take a day or two of no practice and still be okay. I just really want to get to the school. Prolonging it is driving me nuts.” Alexis and Caleb nodded slightly in agreeance with his words.
Master Sora pursed his lips. “I suppose so…” Parker could tell the master didn’t feel too positive about the decision. “When we get to the castle though, if it seems that no one is there or has been there for a while, we need to stay and keep practicing. The castle will make for a very good practice grounds.”
Everyone agreed and then laid down to sleep. First thing in the morning and they’d take off at full speed for the castle.