Max – "you can't go back and change the beginning, but you can start where you are and change the ending." – anonymous
As we step outside, I realised how bad things are.
A few hundred battered and worn people sat scattered around, drinking out of tins and murmuring at our sudden appearance.
"Follow us." says Penny, what a sour bitch.
We follow them inside a sort of an abandoned prison.
"Are we still on Fidelus world?" I ask Ryan. He nods and doesn't speak. We reach an open cell, with a couple of dying plants I supposed was to make it less jail like. I see Harlow raise their eyebrows.
"It's the best we can do. Tomorrow their will be war. There's more on our side than you think." He says and leaves us. I have no idea what he meant, but then again, I don't understand what's going on most of the time.
"Right, ok. We need a plan." I say and sit on one of the thin mattresses.
"I have an idea." Says Dara unexpectedly.
"We leave. Tomorrow, after the war, we go. Somewhere no one has been." He says. I frown.
"Where? And what about our families?"
"I know of a planet, far away. Without any technology. Not many people know about it, my dad told me once. I know where it is as well. We can go, start a new life. For those who want to stay, they can. But I'm not." He says and for some strange reason I understand. Too much has happened here, too much corruption.
"I'm in." I say and we talk all night. Secretly, I decide that I'm taking Jake with us. And maybe Luke, Mike and Jerry.
The next morning, my body buzzes with nervous energy. I grab some coffee from the canteen and sit twitching and waiting. Once the others arrive, we make our way outside and line up with the other 500 people. Ryan says that more people are coming, more will join us when the war starts but I doubt there'll be any where near the numbers the leaders have.
It's strange, the silence. I'm used to my mind being too loud. Now it's quiet. A few minutes later, the aircrafts start falling down.
I grab my dagger and see the others grab their weapons. The first soldiers file out. Some join us, the rest start opposite.
"Well. I'm sorry it's come to this." Says one of the leaders, grinning. I notice the whole of Almaland has joined us, a weird sense of emotion hit me. It must be hard to go against everything your taught.
A war cry follows, and the battle starts. I run towards the first enemy, punching and kicking and finally leaving them on the floor.
"Hey, Maxie." Says a familiar voice, I grin and fight back to back with my brother.
"Argh!" a hard kick wallops into my nose, I grab the ankle and twist it, I shove it hard and the person falls. I see Harlow and Raven, fighting together, a familiar look of determination across Raven's face, a look of unknown grit across Harlow's.
Bee and Dara are fighting as hard as they can, Bee surprisingly accurate with her aim. I notice she goes to injure, not kill.
I look around and try to spot Nakia, my heart stops when I see them. An old guy, the spitting image of Nakia stands in front of him. Wearing red and black. The new colours, showing his side. The enemies side.
I turn my attention back onto the new person in front of me, I kick hard and they fall down. I see Bee backed into a corner, I don't think, I run as fast as I can.
I knock down whoever crosses my path, an adrenaline surge hits me, and I run faster than I ever have before.
I yell as I step onto someone's back and swing down hard onto the giant of a man aiming straight at Bee.
"Thanks." She says, breathless. I heave her up and look for Dara.
"He's gone to help you!" she shouts,
"Me?" she points over my shoulder and I see my brother crouched, holding his bloody knee. Shit.
I run back, tugging Bee with me. I leave her with Raven and Harlow, leaping across bodies and fighting off enemies. For a split second, I stop. I look above and see a red and black flag, splattered with the words, "the Revolutionaries". I nearly laugh, what a stupid name. I see our flag, red and blue, saying 'the Resistance'.
I finally catch up to them and grab onto Jake's arm and I pull him to the side.
I tear off a piece from my t-shirt and wrap it round his knee. He grimaces.
"You good to fight?" I ask. He slowly shakes his head. I know it must be bad, he never refuses a fight.
"Ok, stay here." I say and hand him a gun I found on the floor. He takes it and after a second, I leave him.
I bump into Dara, who rather impressively, had been fighting solo. That boy has got some serious samurai skills. I finish off the guy who nearly managed to shoot him and see him doubled over.
"Good?" I shout over the noise. He straightens up and nods.
"I think Bee's been hit!" he yells, I look over and see Bee kneeling on the floor, guarded by Harlow and Raven.
I wipe most of the blood from my nose and heave him along. Finally, we reach them, and we stand guard over Bee.
The whole battle comes to a standstill. I look at Raven, but his face is so bloodied up it's hard to see his expression.
The opposing side falls into lines and walk into the aircrafts. I look around, confused and see most of our side is either dead, injured or barely fighting. However, it looks as if the other side lost more people than we did.
Nakia joins us quietly and I can tell something bad has happened.
"Well, well, well." Grins one of the leaders. I recognise him from Joyaland, I think his name is Marco.
"We'll end this now. We can have an old fashioned duel!" he cackles. Something is seriously wrong with this guy.
"Why would we do that?" spits Raven. Marco cackles again.
"So, you must be Raven. Of course. If you don't, we'll just have to... kill them." He grins. My heart drops as the other leaders each pull out a person. I recognise Jake instantly, Nakia's Mom, Bee's Dad, and with a heavy thud, no one for Raven, what looks to be Harlow's brother, and Dara's mom. Each one of my friends grit their teeth and straighten up, even Bee who unsteadily stands up. Briefly, I pull my attention from Marco and quickly give Bee a piece of my t shirt which she takes and wraps it over the wound in her leg.
"Fine. But only one of us fights, and it'll be me." I say, I can't let anyone else die. Marco's annoying eyebrows flick up and he smirks.
"Very well. But no cheating, hand to hand combat only. And you'll be fighting… him." He pulls over a 6ft something giant, with muscles the size of my head. I start walking over to the middle when Raven stops me.
"Don't, let me. You have your brother-" I tug my arm free and keep walking. I drop my dagger which clatters to the floor. I can't let Raven die.
"If I win, you let them go and give up leadership." I say, clenching my fists to stop my voice shaking.
"That's a very big if. But I agree, however if he wins, we kill all of you and we will run this system as a dictatorship and believe me. We will win." The giant smirks and fear that I hadn't known before hits me. This is it.
I throw the first punch, hitting him squarely in his abdomen with all my might. He barely flinches.
I block his next punch, making my forearm ache. I kick hard on his kneecaps and he buckles. I swing one leg over his shoulders and flip him over with every strength I have onto his back. I punch at his face, I'm winning!
He grabs my wrists and with an angry grunt throws me off him. I go sailing and hit the ground hard. I wipe blood and spit off my face and stand up.
He runs at me and at the last second, I dive to the right. I chuckle as he falls to the floor.
He gets up quickly, I can tell how mad I've made him.
He comes at me again, swiping at whatever he can hit. Finally, he smacks me straight in the face, I feel the world darken and I fall…
Sometime later, I wake up to the taste of dirt in my mouth. I see Raven's concerned face as I struggle to stand up. My head swims but I will not give in. I can't. I have to, for Jake… for Raven.
I move so I stand in front of the giant, arms ready. Just as the giant moves towards me, a sound above us makes us stop. I look up and see hundreds of thousands of aircrafts, my heart swells as I realise, they're all from different universes from across the galaxy, all here to help us.
A manic cry of hope sounds from my side. In shock, Marco and the leaders let go of their captors and I lunge to grab onto whoever I can find and drag them over to our side. I help Jake hobble over and Bee's dad and Harlow's brother help him over to sit somewhere out of sight.
The aircrafts start dropping people out and pointing their guns at the 'revolutionaries'.
At a sound of a horn, they open fire. I duck and drag Bee to her father and yell at them to wait.
I gather the remaining soldiers on our side, and we stand together, ready. They charge.
This time, we are clearly winning. The other side drop like flies and we make our way through them, most flee.
Marco and the leaders cower as our side storms through his protective layer of people.
As Raven is about to open fire on them, I stop him.
"Handcuff them. No point in killing if we don't have too. They deserve to pay for their crimes." Clearly surprised, he drops his weapon and starts tying them up.
We've won. We finally-
I hear a cry and I whip my head round. Jake. His eyes widen as I run towards him, his arm clutching at his stomach. I catch him as he falls and hold him. Hot tears fall as I realise what had happened.
"It's ok. You're ok. Just… just don't move. Your fine!" I say between sniffles. He looks up, glassy eyed. The man who helped me through everything. The boy who smuggled a birthday cake onto a train for me. The man who helped me train for hours. The boy who cried when he first watched the notebook. The man who scolded Luke after he got me drunk for the first time when I was 16.
"It's ok. You did good kiddo. You're gonna be ok. The fight is over now, and we'll see each other again. Just promise me something?" he says, weakly. My heart feels like it's about to explode but I nod.
"Celebrate my birthday for me. Go to the train in Rosaland, with our friends." He croaks. His head drops and I feel his shallow breathing stop. The pain in my chest, stomach and every bone explodes as I sob into his shoulder. He can't… he… I can't…
"Come on." Says a soft voice. I look up and realise Raven is standing above me. I shake my head fiercely.
He puts his hand on my shoulder and I feel myself standing up. I don't want to leave him, but I know my home now belongs with Raven.
I follow Raven through the silent crowd, and I realise we've won. It doesn't feel right. Jake should be here. The crowd begins to head inside, shouting and cheering. I'm left in the pouring rain, sitting in the dirt.
"Here." Says a familiar voice, I look up and see Bee hobbling over with a freshly bandaged leg, handing me a mug of steaming tea. I take it, feeling sick to my stomach. She sits next to me and I realise I no longer found her annoying. Her Dad follows closely behind.
Nakia sits next their mom and next to Bee, talking distantly about his father being arrested. I don't have the energy to be all leaderish at the moment.
Dara sits next to his mum, scared to let her out of his sight, Harlow and her brother sit across from me.
A few hours pass and I can't really feel anything. Not even the cold.
Somehow, I end up in the hospital wing, in a bed and with the light off.
I leap up, knocking over the lamp next to my bed and run across the halls. Finally, after waking several angry people up, I find Raven. He's sat on the edge of the bed, head in hands. The others stand around the room, they all snap up when they hear me.
"Max! what's wrong?" asks Dara.
"We should go. To the planet." I say before thinking. Raven's about to tell me no when Bee pipes up.
"I agree. I'll miss my dad, but I think we need to do this." I'm surprised but grateful. Even more surprising, the rest nod.
"Let's go then." Grins Raven.
"Wait! What time is it?" I can't believe I had nearly forgotten.
"It's 1:15am, why?" asks Dara.
"We need to make a quick stop first."
After a while, and after waking up several more angry people, we find Luke.
"Luke! Where's Jerry and Mike?" I ask, breathless. The others catch up, looking dazed and slightly worried.
"Max! They're here." He says and points to the two people against the wall. I sigh with relief, if we wake up anymore people, we may get kicked out.
"Ok, come in." I say to the others and shut the door. I briefly explain what Jake wanted, and after Mike, Jerry and Luke had cried, they agree.
"Is it his birthday today?" Harlow asks quietly. I nod.
We run to the portal, no one was guarding it. We leap through it and land in the silent underground area. Without speaking, we walk through the cold corridors until I find my dorm. With tears falling, I pick up my boxing gloves I had left here when we fled. Dara picks up a book but leaves the rest. Harlow chuckles as they hug their pink pyjamas. Nakia doesn't touch anything. Raven picks up one of his old raggedy t-shirts, balls it up and shoves it in his hoodie pocket. Bee just stands by her bed, finally picking up her framed photo of her and her parents. I feel a weird sense of pride, Bee had come a long way from the chirpy kid to now. I suddenly remember the bracelet and throw everything off my table until I find it. I see Bee smiling sadly as she ties it onto my wrist.
My heart beats heavily as I go into my brother's dorm. I hadn't been their many times before. He had a photo of us two on his bedside table and all his stuff thrown across the room. I pick up his favourite jumper and carry it tightly as we leave. We go up to the train tracks and wait.
We wait so long, I begin to think it won't come, when finally, I hear the roar of the engine and I start jogging along with it.
I haul myself in, Raven follows, and we help the others.
The others let Luke, Jerry, Mike and I go into a different carriage to say happy birthday.
We stare out the open door, eyes stinging.
"You're going away, aren't you?" says Jerry quietly. I remember how we used to play tag when we were kids. I nod slowly.
"You guys can come."
"No, we have to help rebuild here. You've done your bit." Says Jerry sadly. I flash back to when Jake said about my fight being over, I think I finally understand what he meant.
"I'll come back though. Once a year. On… on his birthday." I say and my voice wobbles. The three boys pull me into a hug, and I wipe my tears.
"And ours, and yours." Says Luke and nudges me. I nod.
"Happy birthday, too you." Mike sings through tears. We chuckle, Jake would've loved this.
"Happy birthday too you." I join in,
"Happy birthday, Dear Jakey," we sing as Luke and jerry joins in.
"HAPPY BIRTHDAY, TOOOOO YOUUUUU!" we shout and laugh.
Jake really would have loved this.
As Luke, Jerry and Mike jump off the train, I whisper a last goodbye as I join the others.
Once we arrived at the pod, the others were basically asleep. We all pile into one and leave.
This time the pod doesn't break, and we're free.