Fantasy The Search

[aaaah]

Starland. A huge imaginary plateau filled with green grass, blue skies, and clear water. Created by two imaginative kids, Eddie and Lucy. In the middle of Starland, lies a pastel pink and blue two-story home. This home belongs to Nova and Cade, two imaginary friends of Eddie and Lucy. Both have their own rooms in this house. Cade's room was downstairs while Nova's room are upstairs.

Cade was pacing in his messy room, filled with memorabilia from past battles and comic book movie posters. He checked the clock on his desk, 2:31 PM. Both Eddie and Lucy were supposed to come at 2 o' clock on the dot as they always do, but they weren't here. What's taking them?

"...They should be here by now." Cade said to himself, he looked through the window of the house and still no sign of them.

Cade exited his room and wen straight up the velvet red stairs and to Nova's room and he knocked on her door.

"Yo, Nova? Do you know where Eddie and Lucy are at? Do they have another teacher's conference or something?" Cade asked her while standing patiently at Nova's door.

 

[Bloody_Death]

Nova was laying in bed with the upper half of her body hanging off the edge as she boredly stared at the door and then to various parts of her room. Her room had a bit of a space theme going on and was filled with a bunch of random clutter she collected over the years. It was hard to navigate through sometimes but she could never bring herself to actually try and clean it up.

She glanced over to her wall clock and sighed at how late it was already. At first- she was a bit relieved they were running a bit late. It gave her a few more minutes to prepare the new trick she had come up with earlier today. But now? It seemed like they were never going to show up and she was already bored with waiting. She did a little flip off the bed and laid on the floor as she spun a few of her pillows around in the air.

Hearing the sound of someone coming up the stairs, she quickly hopped up, thinking Lucy and Eddie had finally arrived! But to her dismay, it was just Cade when she opened the door.

She gave a shrug at his question and then gave a sad sigh. "I thought you would know." She admitted before heading to her window and looking out to see if she could spot them on their way. She could not sadly.

 

[aaaah]

Cade sighed at Nova's response. "Guess were just gonna have to keep waiting."

Nova turned to the front door and saw something odd. A black envelope with a dark red seal lying under the door. Cade went downstairs to investigate the letter. He stared at the ominous letter, they never get mail in Starland since y'know, the whole place is Imaginary. Cade reached to pick it up and as he touched it a loud boom came from outside, Cade turned to the windows to see rain pouring down. Which wouldn't be strange if Starland had rain, but it never did. Cade gulped as he slowly grabbed the letter and started to analyze it.

There was no address or stamp attached to it. It was just a black envelope with the red wax seal. The seal in question had a symbol of a owl face on it. Cade didn't want to open it just yet, in fact he was a little afraid to. He didn't want to think that it had a connection to Eddie and Lucy going missing, but unfortunately, it just might. The rain and the envelope might be a clue. Cade went back upstairs to see Nova.

"Uh, we have mail." Cade said to Nova, holding the envelope.

 

[Bloody_Death]

An annoyed huff could be heard from the girl when she was told they had to wait even longer and kept looking out of the window until she noticed something at the door. She pointed it out to Cade and watched him head back downstairs before looking back outside as she waited for the other to return. As she looked out she couldn't help but notice that something was off. It seemed a bit darker than usual and the sky was starting to cloud up. It was almost like it was about to...rain. But that would be impossible. But a quick boom later and it was suddenly pouring outside.

Nova was very unsettled by this. First, their friends don't show up and now it's mysteriously raining outside. She didn't like it. She didn't like it one bit. She stuck her hand out her window to confirm that this was actually rain and her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. She flicked her hand dry and then turned back to the door when Cade came back. Tilting her head to the side. "Mail..?" She repeated and made her way over to him to inspect the black envelope he was holding.

"Are you going to open it?" She asked curiously. Even if this was a very strange letter she figured that whatever it is would have the answers the two are looking for. Even if there was a good chance they won't be too happy with what they find out.

 

[aaaah]

Cade peered at the letter. He peeled off the seal and opened the envelope in a nervous matter. The letter itself was black too, and the words were written in a dark red ink. The owl symbol was on the bottom of the letter as a stamp mark. Cade read the letter out loud:

"If you ever want to see them again. Come and fine me."

Cade paused afterward. It felt like time had stopped. He could barely believe or even comprehend what he just read. Cade became misty-eyed and it turned into full-blown tears. How can someone take Eddie away from him? Why would you even do that in the first place. His sadness evolved into anger as he started to crush the letter in his hands. Tears still rolling down his face.

"This freak thinks he can steal Eddie and get away with it? No way." Cade growled as he cried with sadness and rage. The thought of someone taking away Eddie angered him so.

 

[Bloody_Death]

Nova made her way to stand beside Cade when he pulled the letter out so she could read along as the other read aloud.

With the first and only line that they got through Nova could feel her heart sink as she let what she just found out settle in. She just kinda stared at the letter dumbfounded. Her first instinct was to ask Cade what they should do- but seeing him start crying immediately sent the girl into tears. Quite hiccups could be heard from the girl as she sobbed. She had no idea why this was happening and who would even wanna do it. She couldn't even begin to imagine a life without Lucy in it. And thinking about just made her cry harder.

She glanced at Cade as he growled angrily and wiped her eyes enough so that she could see him properly. "H-How are we gonna find them...?" She managed to barely stutter out between sobs. There didn't seem to be any indication of who this kidnapper was or where they could even be at.

 

[aaaah]

Cade wiped his tears. "We gotta go find them."

Another huge boom was heard from outside, followed by multiple other booms. It was multiple strikes of lighting coming outside. Cade ran down the stairs while pressing a few buttons on his wristwatch. And immediately, his power suit formed onto his body, minus the helmet. He opened the door. Dark clouds surround the once bright, blue sky. Rain poured down while lighting struck every now and then.

Cade had to think quick, how will he and Nova go out and find their owners. And then he remembered. At the very end of the plateau was a lake and a boat. They never used it and they always assume it lead to a place outside of Starland.

"Nova, we gotta get to the boat at the end of Starland!" Cade yelled towards Nova.

He looked back outside, witnessing the storm in front of him again.

"Get ready to start running!" Cade said as he held out his hand for Nova, waiting for her to come down.

 

[Bloody_Death]

Nova only nodded at Cade's words and wiped her eyes and sniffed a bit as she calmed down a bit. Nova was startled by the sheer amount of lightning strikes that could be heard. She watched as Cade ran off before scurrying around her room to pack some necessities for herself and Cade.

She grabbed her bag and stuffed the few things she grabbed in the bag before nodding to herself. She grabbed a small hat as an attempt to try and cover herself from the rain and began running down the stairs when she heard him call out.

The boat did make sense to her. She had been almost everywhere in Starland but never ventured beyond that lake. She never needed to and was honestly quite scared of what she may find outside of their home.

She stood beside the other and grabbed his hand with a nod as she stared at the storm outside with a conflicting face. The last thing she wanted to do was have to venture out in such a nasty thunderstorm but it's what she had to do to get Lucy and Eddie back. She shook he head and nodded. "Okay...! I'm ready." She told him, holding onto the small hat on her head so it wouldn't fly off as she readied herself to run out.

 

[aaaah]

Cade immediately dashed out the door, holding Nova's hands. The storm was scary in the distance, but it was scarier being in it. You couldn't see the sun, rain clashing down along with lighting and thunder. The lighting itself trued to strike the two, but they dodged them effortlessly. Cade was fearing for his life, the current situation and the thought of losing Eddie forever made him more and more stressed.

Eventually, Cade saw the boat near a dock and the lake. He ran faster and faster to the boat while gripping Nova's hand. He stopped when the reached the dock. He jumped into the boat, it was a small, blue and pink speedboat that could barely fit four people.

"Nova, get in!" Cade as he struggled to start the boat's engine.

 

[Bloody_Death]

Nova followed suit as she ran with Cade through the furious storm. Holding onto the other like her life depended on it. Which it probably did. Who knows if they would be able to find each other should they get separated. And the idea of not knowing whether Lucy was okay or not along with being completely alone while trying to find her- was something she could possibly lose her mind over.

After a bit Nova could just barely make out the lake and soon after the boat that was sitting on the dock. As they began speeding up Nova was barely keeping up and was practically being dragged but thankfully they did stop when they arrived at the boat. She took a moment to catch her breath before climbing into the boat and making her way to the front, where he was trying to start the boat.

Nova didn't even know if this thing worked. No one ever used it so who would even know if it worked or not. "Does it work?" She yelled out slightly so she could be heard over the heavy rain and lightning strikes.

 

[aaaah]

"Let's hope it does." Cade responsed as he tried and tried to start up the boat, the engine attempts to turn on but it keep failing.

But in a moment of hope, the engine stars to whir loudly. The boat works! Cade prepares to take off with his hands on the steering wheel.

"Hold on, I have no clue how to work this thing." Cade yelled before the boat took off automatically at high speed, heading away from Starland. Cade looks back at Starland, as it gets further and further away. He turns back to the lake with an unsure look on his face. As they get further and further away, they successfully exit the storm. Both Cade and Nova are at sea with no signs of land yet, the boat slowed down a little bit. Cade still had that look on his face, he rested his head on the wheel in silence.

"What are we going to do?" Cade whimpered, unsure of what will even happen next.

 

[Bloody_Death]

Nova gave a nod and backed up a bit to give Cade some room to try and get this boat started. She gave a small pout when it seemed it wouldn't be starting off anytime soon but she was happily proved wrong when the engine finally started.

When the boat suddenly took off Nova stumbled a bit but was able to catch herself before falling and took a seat before she fell for real next time. Nova watched the outside as they zoomed away from both the storm and Starland. She eventually slumped down in her seat and looked at the sky as they continued to ride along the water to who knows where. When the boat started to slow down Nova sat up and looked to see where they were. And it appeared to be nowhere.

She gave a huff and crossed her arms before giving a sad sigh. "Where could those kidnappers even be at?" She asked before standing up and trying to spot anything around there that could give some sorta hint to where they needed to go.