Chapter 17:Forever Apart

There was nothing but silence as Edward's cold body collapsed down onto the floor. Arno and Tony struggled to get up off the floor with their sore and badly injured bodies, but they still forced themselves off the ground and walked towards the other kids who were crying and grunting on the floor. Nexo limped his way towards Snow but tripped and fell onto the ground next to her and saw her body filled with holes and leaking out blood. Nexo quickly ripped off part of his already broken down shirt and tightened it around Snow's legs, arms, and torso where the blood was leaking out of. Snow opened her eyes as she sat up a little bit and saw her blood getting sucked into the pieces of Nexo's shirt. Nexo sighed in relief and helped her sit up a little bit more.

"Snow, are you okay?"Nexo asked hugging her. Snow teared up and she put her head onto Nexo's shoulder.

"I didn't even see the attack coming...and because of that,everybody got hurt. I feel so, useless."

"None of us saw this coming in the first place, don't blame yourself."

Arno limped over to Dawn who was on her knees crying with a plain expression on her face. Arno turned to look at her wings which were now destroyed and bleeding with bite marks. Arno raised his hands to try and slightly touch them but Dawn just screamed and pushed him away. Arno laid down onto the ground and sat his head up to see Dawn with her arms covering her body and her wings which started to twitch and making her grunt in pain. "I'm sorry. Are you okay?" He asked as he got up squatting in front of Dawn's face. She didn't respond and she looked up at him only for her face to go pale as she looked behind him and saw Edward's body on the floor. Arno turned around to see what she was staring at only but once he saw his, eyes widened and his knees weakened as he fell on his knees weeping on the floor.

"This...This can't be happening." Arno said

"W-Why is this happening? Why is this happening?" Dawn said tearing up with her hand now on her eyes. Slowly all the other kids started to gain consciousness as well, as both Tony and Amber both got up from the ground with their legs both shaking intensely. Once Tony started walking to help the others he saw Edward's corpse laid down onto the floor along with Cloud who was crying on top of his body. Tony fell onto the floor and screamed, feeling like a failure for not being able to help his family against the ambush. Amber limped her way towards Tony.

"Tony, are you okay?" Amber asked limping her way towards him and coughing up a little bit of blood. As Amber walked over to Tony she looked to her left and also saw Edward's corpse on the floor. She stood strong however as she closed her eyes tightly, grunted, and continued to walk towards Tony. She reached down and kneeled next to Tony who was still yelling at the top of his lungs. Amber picked up his head and hugged him as she started to cry as well. Ellie was the last one to get up as blood started to gush from the holes in her body where she got shot from as well. Ellie made her way towards Cloud and sat next to him, putting her arms around him and crying as well. Snow, Dawn, Arno, and Nexo limped and stood around Edward's body and held each other close. Just than Tony, who was now filled with rage, got up and balled his fist as he made his way towards the rest of the group.

"CLOUD!" Tony said speed walking toward the others. Cloud looked up at Tony but was met with a big fist as Tony punched Cloud in the face with an heavy left arm. Cloud flew a few from the ground and peeked his head up as he grunted to look up at Tony. Nexo, Arno, and Viper all held Tony back as he tried to go in for another hit. "WHERE THE HELL WERE YOU WHEN WE WERE HERE BUSTING OUR ASS! HUH?!" Cloud got up off the ground.

"WHAT THE FUCK ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT?! I WAS DOWN IN TOWN TRYING TO HELP THE CIVILIANS NOT GET SLAUGHTERED!"

"WELL GREAT WORK! IF YOU WERE HERE HELPING US, EDWARD WOULD STILL BE ALIVE AND THOSE GUYS WOULD HAVE PROBABLY GOT THEIR ASS BEAT!"

"HEY! DON'T BLAME ME JUST BECAUSE YOU WERE TO WEAK TO DEFEND ANYBODY AND RUSH THOSE GUYS OFF! HAD YOU HAVE BEE STRONGER, YOU WOULDN'T HAVE NEEDED MY HELP!"

"Y-YOU BASTARD!" TONY SCREAMED. Just than Amber came holding Tony back and yelling at him.

"Tony! You don't really feel that way. Your just hurt both physically and mentally and your looking for someone to blame!" Amber said pulling Tony back.

"Stop your god damn screaming and pull yourself together man! You shouldn't be fighting eachother at a time like this! Look! Your making Snow cry even more!" Viper said tugging Tony's arm. Tony stopped struggling and looked back to see both Snow, Ellie, and Dawn crying over Edward's body. Tony stopped his screaming and his pushing and he finally calmed down.

"I'm...sorry. I lost myself for a second there...But now I really know, this isn't no dream. Edward really is gone...We've been defeated." Tony said tearing up again. Cloud walked closer to him and hugged him. "I'm sorry too." he said crying.

Just than Edward's body started to glow a gold color and an gold aura started to appear around his body. Snow, Ellie, and Dawn gasped and screamed at the other kids to get their attention. The other kids looked at the beautiful gold aura shining in the air now and gasped in shock. Suddenly, a ghostly gold spirit started to form in the air. It was Edward himself!

"EDWARD!" They all screamed

"Hello my children."

"What happened?! I thought you were dead?" Viper said in a slight tone of relief.

"Well that's just it. I am dead. Right now I'm floating out into the universe. However, before I entirely fade away, I must explain something to you all."

"Wh-What is it?" Snow asked wiping her tears away.

"Well listen up closely because I don't have a lot of time left. That man that attacked us today goes by the name of Darkness. Maybe around 100 years ago, this man used to be one of the strongest entities in the universe, until he was defeated a long time ago."

"Defeated? How? And what does that have to do with us?" Nexo asked with his arms crossed.

"This is the difficult part to explain. for centuries there has been an society where people with powers that opposes the gods themselves are picked out by a man that goes by the name of Legend. You don't know this other being that I am going to explain but this being goes by the name Lord Zeno. This being holds control over the entire multiverse."

"What does this person Zeno have to do with Legend and Darkness? Your not really makin a lot of sense here." Arno said with a confused look on his face.

"Well that's just it. Legend is one of the strongest people that rival to Lord Xeno's power himself."

"T-That's insane!" Viper said shockingly.

"No more distractions little ones, I must finish what I have to say." Edward said as he kept floating into the air and into the sky. "Okay Edward" they all said.

"This being Legend, formed an elite "clan" I guess you can say, that he named after himself. The Legends clan had up to hundreds of people and those people split up to different teams. Long story short my team and many other legends formed an alliance together to kill Darkness and at the end, it was me and my best friend Joshua Waterson that led the final blow against Darkness, killing him, or so we thought. Darkness could live off of negative energy all over the universe so just as he died, he last secondly sucked up all the negative energy in this universe and quickly came back to life. However we knew he would do just that and so, Joshua and I used a type of forbidden magic, sending him off to a different planet and sealing him for good. Someone, must have figured out a way to break this forbidden magic and brought Darkness back to life. I thought my energy was enough to protect this village and hide my ki from any negative energy but just the other day I felt his presence and by that time, it was to late for me to take any action, for Darkness had grown stronger than I currently was."

"T-This is crazy. There's just more information that I can't take in." Cloud said with his hands on top of his head.

"I am sorry to pass this burden to you all like this but this very peace of information is important to you lot yourselves. You see, my final task ask a Legend was to find and raise nine children that have lost their way in life."

Flashback to decades ago

"What? Your telling me to find and raise a few kids? My lord Legend, I'm not sure I understand what your trying to accomplish here. I'm and old man now and I just wanted to enjoy my retirement to myself for the last remaining days that I have left, no offense to your wishes though." Edward said kneeling down in a huge white room in front of a large red throne where a white spirited man was sitting on the throne with it's left leg on top of it's right leg, as well as his face which was laying on top of it's right fist. The spirit made a slight chuckle with it's slightly demonic yet calming voice.

"The great Edward Spear is complaining over a slight babysitting job?"

"I just want to live the rest of my life on tranquility, my lord."

"These children are not your ordinary children however, Edward. These nine children I have felt out to be the reincarnations of many powerful warriors."

"Aren't we all?"

"A few of these children possess the powers of the Lightning Goddess, Flame Goddess, Fairy Queen, and the Water Goddess. Along with the other children who have the powers of the three legend elites such as the legendary arts of Gurro the Dragon Slayer, Sigil The low classed Ghoul, and Yunez the exotic Warlock. I believe you have met at least some of these people before."

"Well yeah, I guess when you say it like that it sounds important. Wait, but Yunez is still alive but she's just a child. Also you said nine children but you only listed seven."

"To answer your questions, yes Yunez is still alive however she will have put her warlock abilities inside of what will be her son in a few decades and days from today. As for the children, one of the children you will meet will be able to study the powers of a Legend Slayer."

"A Legend Slayer? You think that's a good idea?"

"It will be your duty to show that child the correct and non corrupt ways of a Legend Slayer hence why I chose you for this mission. As for the last child you will meet, I think he will bring balance great balance to this universe one day, however I can't feel or see what this child is or what he looks like. All I know is that he is part of a low class warrior race named the Saiyan's which I believe you have encountered before."

"Yeah, their not really the friendly kind. Man, I guess if it's a mission by you Lord Legend than I must obey."

"Thank You Edward. May the source of this universe bless you for eternity." Legend told Edward who was waving his hand behind him and walking off at the same time.

End of Flashback.

Edward thought in his head "This is way to much information to give them right this instant. They're just going to have to find out the truth themselves."

"It was my mission to protect and raise you all so you grow up big and strong. Now, you all will have to find your own paths and go though your own challenges to get stronger."

"Wait! Edward! Please! Don't go!" Ellie screamed trying to grab Edward's spiritual hands. All the other kids screamed as they tried to grab Edward as well but failed to do so as they're hand went right rhough him.

"Goodbye my children. Remember that I will always be with you and to stay strong until the very end. Don't ever fall to the negative energy." Edward said as his body started to disintegrate as well as his spirit itself. "And Cloud, I believe in you, We all do." Edward said as he fully disappeared.

Just like that, there was a long period of silence in the backyard of the house. "So...where do we go from her?" Dawn asked as she finally broke the silence.

"I don't know. It's almost as if a large piece of my life just got ripped out of me." Arno replied with a silent tone.

"That guy Darkness, as long as he's alive, he will continue to gain negative energy and do who know what to the world, no the universe." Snow said

Cloud smacked each side of his face with his hands and smiled. "Well what are we doing moping around here for!" He said putting his arms up in the air as well.

"Dude, in case you haven't read the room, we literally just lost everything." Viper said with a blank cartoony expression on his face.

"Yeah that's true. But we already know what we have to do! We just have to get stronger! Like way stronger than we already are! And once we're strong enough, we can get back at what Darkness had took from us!" Cloud said smiling with a bright cartoony expression on his face. the atmosphere in the air changed as it went from gloomy to hyped up.

"Yeah! Once I grow stronger, I'll show Darkness that he messed with the wrong group of kids!" Amber said summoning her lightning aura around her.

"Not till I get him first!" Cloud said clenching his fist and waving it in the air.

"No no no! Your both mistaking I'm going to be the one who kills Darkness! You heard me?!" Viper said waving his arms around in front of both of them. The rest of the kids smiled and slightly giggled as they saw the three comedically arguing.

"What about us though? Where do we all go from here?" Ellie asked. They all stopped to look at each other as there was a slight silence in the air again. "Way to make it awkward again there flame brain." Viper said with a cartoony blank expression in his face again. "Sh-Shut up Dragon Breath!" Ellie responded."

"Well I don't know about you guys but I think I might need to learn how to use my Dragon Slayer powers a little bit more. I'm thinking of actually going back to Dragon's Den to talk with Nawoku and the others. Than when I come back, I swear to you all that I'll be the one to beat Darkness!" Viper said pointing his finger at the rest of the kids. They all smiled and nodded their heads.

"I think I might want to look more into the Legends history like Edward was saying. That way I can control my powers more and study just where exactly my powers originated," Arno said looking at his down to his hand. "What about the rest of you guys?"

"I want to learn more about my bending powers. I might even pay my family a visit while I'm out learning as well." Ellie said summoning a small piece of flame out of her index finger. "Yeah, I might do the same thing. I want to learn how to master my waterbending as well. I actually thought of a kind of personal mission I might want to do before I go and do it though."

"Heeyy, I got an idea! Let me come and help you with that mission and than We can go our separate ways and learn how to master our bending techniques!" Ellie said excitingly and grabbing Snow's hand. Snow smiled as she nodded her head back at Ellie.

"Well, I can't really so anything without my wings. But I do have someone that I think can help me! We met years ago and she was the one who helped me unlock my wings in the first place. So, I'm going to adventure more into the forest all around the world and study more on the Earth." Dawn said with a kind of sad but calming and excited tone. "What about you Amber?"

Amber chuckled and made a cocky expression on her face. "I'm going to ride the lightning!" she said brushing her finger under her nose. All the kids looked at her with cartoony expressions on their faces.

"What are you talking about?" Nexo asked. "Well, I want to master my lightning abilities so In order to do that I need to go and learn how to master control lightning itself. So in order to do that I'm just going to go wherever the weather takes me."

"That's gonna be tough yuh know." Viper said

"Yeah, but I'll make something happen. What about you Nexo, what are you going to do with your time you human element?"

"I guess I want to travel into space."

"WHAAA?" All the kid screamed

"Well, I mean I don't think it's impossible, especially coming from Nexo himself. He is super talented at engineering." Tony said smiling.

"Yeah, my mom and dad used to be guardians so I want to learn more about their past and powers that way I can learn how to master them and make it my own. I also want to learn how to make bigger guns other than these little hand cannons." Nexo said smiling and holding his dual wield pistols.

"I think I'm going to take a visit to Japan. I heard there are many ghouls over there so I want to learn how to fully master my ghoul power so I don't hurt anyone anymore." Tony said smiling and clenching his fist. All the kids looked at each other and looked right back at him.

"You sure that's okay? You want one of us to come with you?" Amber said as she stood closer to him. Tony kissed her forehead and looked at everybody else, smiling with his eyes closed. "Don't worry about me. I'll be fine, I can handle myself." They all smiled and nodded their heads until they finally turned their heads and looked at Cloud.

"What about you Cloud? What are you going to do?" Arno asked. Cloud stood quietly.

"Hell if I know!" Cloud yelled with a cartoony expression on his face. All the other kids yelled in a cartoony expression as they got on his face.

"It's like talking to a brick wall!" Viper said

"This whole time we're bonding and all you can say is I don't know?!" Ellie said

"Man, your hopeless Cloud!" Amber said. Cloud started to laugh as the kids now started to back up.

"All I know is that I'm going to unlock my abilities and get stronger! And once I get stronger, Darkness won't know what hit him! And if I'm still to weak, I'll just continue to go past my limits and break free!" Cloud said raising his arm super high in the sky. The other kids stood shocked for a few seconds and followed his routine.

"YEAH!" They all screamed. All nine of the kids formed a tight circle and put their fists in the middle.

"Let's make a promise. No matter how long it takes to get strong, whether it a few days, weeks, or months, we'll all meet up once again some day. And if we ever need each other's help, we will rush and come to the rescue!" Cloud said. All the kids nodded their heads. "For Edward you guys."

"FOR EDWARD!" They all screamed as they tossed their arms high into the air and screaming. They all hugged each other and cried as they said their goodbye's, and just like that all the kid's left to achieve their goals. The only one that was left standing in the backyard was Cloud who's smiled quickly faded as the other kids left. Tears started to fly out of his eyes but he wiped them all off as soon as they came out.

Suddenly Polaris came flying from the skies and glide downwards towards Cloud who was still trying to stop his tears from coming out of his eyes. "Cloud, are you okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine."

"Where's Edward?"

Cloud was quiet at first as he looked up at him. "In a better place now probably."

"I-I'm so sorry."

"No no, it's fine, Don't worry about it."

Polaris stood in front of Cloud quietly."Where did everyone else just go? I saw them all leaving when I was flying by."

"We're all going to fulfill our own destinies. Just like them I'm going to go and leave this town, and I'm going to get way stronger!" Cloud said screaming with a smile. Polaris smiled back at him.

"Well, I can't have my rival getting stronger while I kick back doing nothing! I'll do the same thing. I promise you Cloud, the next time we meet I'll be as strong as you!" Polaris said holding his fist out. Cloud nodded his head and put his fist out, fist bumping Polaris. "Well than, till next time best buddy."

"Yeah, till next time." Cloud said waving him off

"You know, I know now isn't the best time to say this but standing around beating yourself up isn't going to make you feel better. I know it's not my place but I think Edward would love to see your progress as you get stronger." Polaris said as he kept walking, and talking to Cloud. Cloud gasped but than smiled at the Polaris's back. Than his face turned cartoony as he remembered something important.

"Wait Polaris! Tell Violet that I'm leaving okay?!" He screamed. Polaris just kept waving his hand as he kept walking away as well. Cloud turned away and walked into the broken down house, where he grabbed his most valuable possessions such as clothes, food, and childhood memories such as his goggles that he used to wear as a child, and placed them in a bookbag. And just like that, Cloud flew out of the Legend house and his true adventure was just about to begin.

"Darkness. Just you wait! I promise you that I'll put an end to your despair! Once and for all!"