136 Chapter 136 : Fort Wars (4 – Final)
[Edward POV]
"Hello there." I muttered.
The jester looked up from the throne before pulling a lightsaber toy in his hand and replied, "General Kenobi."
I laughed a bit and my eyes went to the 5 rope knot dangling on top of the throne before asking , "So, have you fallen to the dark side?"
Abraham turned on the toy lightsaber in his hand, revealing a blue glow. "As you can see, the one who had turned to the dark side…wasn't me."
I noticed a lightsaber laid down near where I was standing, so I picked it up before turning it on. A red glow appeared on the lightsaber, in which I reacted with a chuckle.
"So, by any chance if I told you… a story… a story about tragedy… the tragedy of Darth Plagueis the Wise, would you stand by my side again?" I said while twirling the lightsaber a few times.
Abraham said angrily, "YOU RELEASED THE HOUUNNNDDDSS ON THEM!" He gritted his teeth and stood up before clashing his lightsaber with mine.
" You promised to enact peace in your rule! But now? Those who challenged your rule, fell in disrepair. You'd unleashed a tragedy, akin to a nuclear war , onto this realm. Have you no regard for others…for human life?"
My face changed from a smiling king to an evil overlord. "Don't be so dramatic. It's just… a necessary sacrifice. All for the glory of the empire."
"YOU!" Abraham retracted his saber before swinging it at me continuously, in which I blocked every single one. Then, I side-stepped and tripped him, making him fall to the cushiony floor.
"(Clicking tongue) Poor…Sad Jester. So what if you had seen my true face? You're powerless to stop it." I teased before I walked slowly to my throne. I sat there crossing my leg while looking at him coldly.
The camera-man zoomed into my face while crouching, with an excited expression as he filmed the whole thing.
…
[General POV– Hounds]
Sanjay Patel vowed to become a worthy rival to the lord of Fluffy-Shire, whether academically, or in charisma. And at the moment he was failing his ambition miserably, not to mention that right now, he had to face the consequences of challenging the throne.
"Stop releasing the hounds on my subjects!" He said angrily.
However, the citizens of his fort were currently melting as they watched a cute little corgi dog present their belly by rolling on the floor with its little dumb tongue hanging out of his mouth.
"AWWWW." The citizens – or more accurately, the girls, exclaimed as they wanted to pet the dog. But its owner, Barnes of house Troy stopped them and said, " Sir Fluffy 'Hound' Templeton the Second is a knight underneath the king, and also the official mascot of Fluffy-Shire. Unless you're a citizen of our realm, you're not permitted to pet him."
"Aww…" The girls exclaimed sadly. Troy then added while holding a piece of paper in his hand, "All that could be subverted if you just sign this contract – selling the ownership of the lands to our Charismatic Leader, King Newgate the Third. You'll keep the ownership of your fort, but you'll serve under a rightful leader if you sign this. What do you say?"
Sanjay was pressured by his group of friends, before his co-owner of the land, Haruna, pushed him away and took the contract paper from Troy. "We'll serve the king." Haruna said before signing the paper quickly, her eyes twinkling as she stared at the dog.
"NOOOO!!!" Sanjay screamed in despair as he watched everything he built was taken away from him.
"Come on 'Hound'. We need to attack 2 more encampments in front of us." Troy pulled the dog leash slowly to remove him from Haruna's embrace as they needed to finish their work.
"We have 3 hours left before school ends. I hope we can make it." Troy muttered as the short legged dog looked at him while they were walking side by side.
…
[Edward POV]
Abraham swung the lightsaber towards me again and again, but I side-stepped to avoid all of his slashes. When our lightsabers clashed, we actually stopped its momentum just before it hit each other to avoid breaking the toys.
I jumped on the throne and said, "It's OVER Abraham! I have the high ground!"
"You underestimate my power!!" Abraham said menacingly before trying to slash his saber at me, but I thrusted mine and penetrated underneath his armpit. Shocked, Abraham staggered while the saber was still sticking on him, and he slowly fell to his knees.
[Abraham's commentary]
" I was confident to fight him, after all I had practiced fencing for over three years, but I still failed in the end."
[Edward's commentary]
"Well…I had watched all the Star Wars movies…twice… So it makes sense that I won."
[Commentary ends]
With a huffing breath, he asked, "So, did my struggle even make you sweat?"
"I wish I could say it did, but I don't want to lie to you in your final moments." I said as I turned my back to him.
Abraham chuckled and said, "Maybe…if it is you…you could actually handle the burden of being a…king…" He struggled at the end before he dropped lifelessly on the soft and warm floor.
I sighed and I went to take back my lightsaber from him, but then I heard someone slow clapping from behind me. I turned and saw Mrs Henderson standing beneath the killswitch knot that I had engineered with an astonished expression on her face.
"You kids' commitment to your roles is really surprising. Too bad that it all must end now." She muttered before reaching out her hand for the knot. "It's been fun Edward." She said with a satisfied smile on her face as she untangled the knot.
But then…nothing happened…
Confused, Mrs Henderson turned to look at me as I was helping Abraham stand back up after his 'death'. Then, a banner fell from the ceiling, shocking the teacher.
[YOU LOSE!] The banner said.
"What the-" Mrs Henderson widened her eyes before turning to me again for the explanation.
"Did you really think Abraham would betray me?" I asked with a teasing smile on my face. "Although he likes Alex, it's more like a deep admiration rather than love."
"Yeah. I'm a SIMP for Alex! Did I use that right?" He whispered to me after declaring himself as a simp loudly. "Besides, I'm the one who gave everyone their roles. I'm the one who named the girls his harem members. Nice performance right?" Abraham said before he took a bow.
'Yeah actually, you could join the drama club.' I said as I nodded.
And quickly proceeded to continue teasing the teacher. "I know you were going to target one of us. Therefore, I decided to make a controllable target that you could easily reach out to."
"Why did you think my hat had bells on it? It WAS to gain your attention." Abraham added while shaking his jester hat, making some ringing noise. Both of us laughed together while Mrs Henderson kept looking at us with a scrunched face.
"Even if you had planned every second of it, Ed, you should have known that all of this was going to end when he led me to you. So why did you do it?" She asked, trying to find the answer for her confusion.
I shrugged and said, "Because…I don't need to continue this anymore. I have already achieved my goals."
A scruffy looking man in a Guiness World Book of Records t-shirt suddenly entered the room and announced, "YOU DID IT! YOU BROKE THE PREVIOUS RECORD!"
"With 652 meter square footage, you managed to surpass the previous record at Tiandle Community College. The record for the largest blanket fort in the world is now held by your school!" The officials announced.
The camera-man pumped his fist in excitement as he witnessed the whole thing before getting back to his work.
Mrs Henderson was blanking out for a bit before she muttered to herself, "Guinness… Book of Records?"
I laughed and said to her, "How did you think I convinced the principal to allow me to do this? You're slipping, teach. You're usually better than this."
"You should've told me. I would have ruined everything." She said self-deprecatingly. I comforted her by saying, "No. That would have ruined the entire purpose of today."
"And that was?" She asked with raised eyebrows as she walked to my side.
"To get on your nerves for one last time." I replied with a smirk.
…
[General POV]
"Well…if my powers hadn't been locked as a punishment, maybe I wouldn't have been able to enjoy the last game he prepared for me." Mrs Henderson muttered to herself as she followed Edward and Abraham from behind as they led her towards the true killswitch.
After her last interference in the mortal affair, her company senior had taken away her privilege until summer vacation started. For once, she had experienced a mortal struggle to understand the world around them. To her surprise, she didn't hate that feeling.
"It's…my classroom?" Mrs Henderson said in disbelief after finding out where the true killswitch was.
Edward chuckled and said, "Well…It's always darkest underneath the lamp. Besides…that's not all I had prepared."
"Huh?"
Abraham opened the door, revealing a classroom filled with balloons, snacks, and even a banner saying, [Grade 8 -Mrs Henderson Class]. A group of students suddenly shouted, "SURPRISE!! It's a farewell party!!!!"
All of Mrs Henderson's grade 8 students were waiting patiently inside the classroom for her arrival since the minute Alex and the others had been captured by Mrs Johnson, the PE teacher.
Jenna, Elsa and Jacob had to rush to the classroom after slipping away from the PE teacher to join the party together with the rest of the students.
They had already been released from the principal's office after signing the participation document for the World Book of Record, and received a t-shirt and a certificate for their involvement.
Right now, they were inside the assembly hall, distributing the t-shirts that the students would receive after getting the world record while the grade 8 students were having the farewell party inside the classroom.
Not only for Mrs Hendersoon's homeroom, but various teachers were also having farewell parties thrown by their students. The unexpected surprise for the teachers would soon become a tradition in the school, finally breaking down the barrier between students and teachers, albeit only slightly.
"I'll miss you teacher." Jenna said while crying as she hugged Mrs Henderson. Elsa, and a lot of the girls also hugged the teacher as they said their final goodbyes to her. The teacher was looking at them with a kind look before subtly wiping her tears away as she enjoyed the party.
"Everyone, let's count this together!" Abraham said as the teacher was standing at the killswitch knot.
"3…2…1…0!" The students counted before Mrs Henderson untangled the knot. The blanket forts all around the school started to fall, with no longer any students being inside of it.
Abraham's chin quivered as he mumbled to himself, "Fluffy-Shire…"
Jacob noticed his sadness and said, "Cheer up. After summer, we will make an even bigger better legend, only during Highschool next." Abraham nodded while holding back his tears.
Mrs Henderson walked to Edward before the party ended. "So, you're finally graduating. I don't know whether to be glad that you CAN graduate, or fear for your shenanigans in the next school."
Edward laughed before saying, "Don't worry. I'll try to tone down my shenanigans. It'll be boring if you're not there to try and stop me, plus remember I will already be starting nearly halfway to my next graduation, maybe that will keep me entertained." I said with a mischievous look
She chuckled and suddenly placed her hand on top of my head. "Hmm…You've gotten tall."
He was a bit taken aback before he relaxed and enjoyed it, "Yeah. That's what happens when a boy grows up."
"Hmm…Then, I should say that…you have grown up to be an amazing young man Edward. I'm proud of you."
Edward didn't expect the sudden attack, especially one right on 'the feels' so he just lowered his head as he nodded to her words. Suddenly, the teacher pulled him into a hug and said, "I know that you'll do amazing things in the future. Just remember, when you're always looking out for others, you also need to be taken care of. "
"I will." Edward said with his voice shaking. She rubbed his back a few times as she said, "Good. I'll trust that you'll keep that promise."
"Ed, we should go." Jacob suddenly interjected. "What for? Isn't the assembly next?" Mrs Henderson released Edward and asked.
Jacob and Edward looked at each other before Mrs Henderson sighed and said knowingly, "Ed…I thought you're done with the shenanigans?"
"Well…I haven't graduated… yet…So just bear with it for one last time?" Ed said wryly as he scratched his cheek.
…
-Assembly hall, last period of school-
The African-american, old principal stood behind the podium as he gave his final lectures before the summer vacation started.
"Use your 3 months of summer vacation properly. Do some volunteer work. Don't do dangerous things… (Bla Bla Bla)
He droned on for over 10 minutes before he said, "Give a big applause to the team of students who made today possible! Now, our school name will be eternally recorded in the World Book of Records!"
The crowd cheered for the students who made this all possible. But before the principal could continue speaking, suddenly an amplified Acoustic guitar sound reverberated throughout the hall.
"What the-" The principal wanted to ask who did it with his microphone, but he found out that his mic had been turned off. The red curtain on the stage suddenly opened, and revealed 4 figures standing on top of the stage, each holding a different instrument.
The crowd cheered and clapped as they had waited for the final performance today since the principal started speaking!
"You guys must've suffered long!" Edward joked before turning to the principal and asking politely, "Sir, I promised to sing a song for them before the school ended. Now that you have finished your inspiring speech, will you be so kind as to allow me to take over the stage?"
Although he hadn't finished speaking, the principal was too satisfied with Edward's achievement today to say anything else even if it was only a record for the largest blanket fort.
"Okay. I'll give you guys my permission." He said before he ceremoniously left the stage in Ed's hands.
Edward took a deep breath before saying, "You know, I thought a lot about what to sing on this stage today, and I'm sure that all of my band members-slash-friends did too."
"Maybe it was the thought of not coming back to this school that made me melancholic, or the fact that I'm happy that I won't need to see your faces again that made me happy-"
The crowd jeered at Edward, but with a smile on their faces as they knew he was joking.
"We all have countless memories inside this school's hallways. I'm sure some are good and some are bad, but the truth is that this school has taught us so much. We even met people who, whether we knew or not, will maybe stay in our life for a long time."
"Sometimes we didn't want to come, but then, someway, somehow it just turned out to be the best day of school we ever had. So my point is that maybe there's a silver lining in all of the suffering. Even if the day did indeed turn out bad we know that we learnt something that will be of use tomorrow even if it was just a small life lesson about commitment, persistence and resilience."
"So for those of you who have doubts that one day, your life might not be better. I will say that I can assure you, from the bottom of my heart that it will be if you only take that step forward and follow your dreams and never give up while learning as much as you can along the way. I can vouch for that." Edward said while glancing at his group of friends below the stage and around him.
"Alright, enough chit-chat. For my last present for you guys today, I will sing an 'Edward Newgate signature' original song, and I hope you guys will love it."
The crowd cheered again while Edward took a deep breath to calm himself down. The song he was singing wasn't something that he had heard in his previous life, but it was something that he decided to make as he got the inspiration.
Not knowing how people would react to the song, he was feeling quite nervous for the entire day. But as he watched his group of friends face their own fears, he knew he had to do the same thing.
[Ed Sheeran- Celestial]
Edward strummed his electric acoustic guitar as he sang, "♫♪You see, tonight, it could go either way…Hearts balanced on a razor blade♫♪"
The band members were a bit astonished as they heard Edward's way of singing, but Alex, who had heard the song photograph before, smiled widely as she played the cello with her fingers.
"♫♪We are designed to love and break
And to rinse and repeat it all again♫♪"
The crowd swayed their body gently to the song as he sang. Jenna suddenly teared up from the thought of saying goodbyes, causing Elsa to hug her on the back to comfort her.
"♫♪I get stuck when the world's too loud
And things don't look up when you're goin' down♫♪"
Edward remembered the days when he felt lost, and didn't know what to do.
"♫♪I know your arms are reachin' out
From somewhere beyond the clouds♫♪"
He paused the music, looked at the sky before closing his eyes, and then hastened the rhythms for the chorus while reminiscing. Mrs Henderson nodded in understanding when a soft wind suddenly blew inside the assembly hall.
"♫♪You make me feel
Like my troubled heart is a million miles away♫♪"
"♫♪You make me feel
Like I'm drunk on stars and we're dancing out into space♫♪"
"Hmm? Drunk on stars…or star?" Enid sniggered as an image of a blonde artist came to her mind.
"♫♪Celestial!!♫♪" Edward took a step back as he heard Alex and Billie sing the backup vocals and focused on the guitar before singing again, "Celestial~♫♪"
The crowd cheered. Jacob wiped his tears slowly as he fixed his gaze on Edward, not wanting to miss even a second of his friend's performance.
"♫♪I see the light shinin' through the rain
A thousand colors in a brighter shade♫♪"
"♫♪Needed to rise from the lowest place
There's a silver lining that surrounds the grey♫♪"
Ed unknowingly activated his [Soul Voice] as he sang from the heart, making all those who listened to him relate strongly to the song.
"♫♪When I get lost, will it come back around?
Things don't look up when you're goin' down♫♪"
The happy and bad memories that they had reappeared inside their mind, and the figure of those who always stood with them became clearer.
"♫♪I know your arms, they are reachin' out
From somewhere beyond the clouds♫♪"
"♫♪You make me feel
Like my troubled heart is a million miles away♫♪"
"♫♪You make me feel
Like I'm drunk on stars and we're dancing out into space♫♪"
"EDWARDDD!" Jenna shouted in encouragement before the chorus.
"♫♪ Celestial
Celestial, oh-oh♫♪"
"♫♪We were made to be, Nothin' more than this, Finding magic in all the smallest things♫♪"
"♫♪The way we notice, that's what really matters, Let's make tonight go on and on and on~♫♪"
Edward sang, "♫♪You make me feel♫♪", and was continued by his friends.
(Alex and Finneas: We were made to be nothing more than this. Finding magic in all the smallest things)
"♫♪You make me feel♫♪"
(Alex and Finneas: The way we notice, that's what really matters. Let's make tonight go on and on and on)
"♫♪ You make me feel
Like my troubled heart is a million miles away♫♪"
The corgi who hadn't gotten home yet also swayed his tiny tail as he heard the song.
"♫♪You make me feel
Like I'm drunk on stars and we're dancing out into space♫♪"
"♫♪Celestial, oh-oh♫♪
♫♪Celestial, oh-oh♫♪
♫♪Celestial♫♪"
"♫♪We were made to be
Nothing more than this (oh-oh)
Finding magic in all the smallest things (celestial)
The way we notice, that's what really matters (oh-oh)
Let's make tonight go on and on and on
Celestial♫♪"
…
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