This Will Be Awkward

Jacob stepped from the dark gate onto the sandy island. He took another step and was ankle deep in cool crisp water. He looked back tree houses littered the very sturdy tropical trees on the island. Jacob picked out his and Stephen's easily. " Come on!" He told his newly made "friend" Zero as he rushed to the tree kicking up sand.

"I'm coming, I'm coming..." A voice muttered as Zero stepped out behind Jacob, walking into the water and glancing down at it, kicking his feet gently. Closing the portal with the wave of a hand, he stepped onto the dry sand and headed towards Jacob, taking his jacket off and tying it around his waist.
"So, why here of all places? We could go anywhere and you choose here." The nobody asked, bending over and reaching for his knees, unzipping the knees of his pants and sliding the legs off, folding them up and sticking them in his pockets. Now in shorts and a t-shirt, he felt much better in the heat and looked around the area, taking in the sights and the atmosphere.

He climbed the small ladder and entered there tree house. It was a small room not much at all but it had been there's. Toy's were sprawled all over the floor toy gunmen, boats, trucks, foam swords. Jacob bent down and picked up a dump truck and placed it on a counter on one of the walls he raced it across. He looked at crayon drawings on the far wall rushing over like he was still a kid ready to put up a new one.
If Jacob was a more emotional man he might have cried but he wasn't he did however tear up ever so slightly.
He took a single drawing from the wall and stuffed it into his back pocket " I guess you could say that out of everywhere we could go this is the only place that ever felt like home." Jacob replied looking at a normal framed photograph, himself age seven jumping onto Stephen's back for a piggy back ride and Stephen looking annoyed and trying to shrug him off.

The nobody raised an eyebrow as Jacob climbed up into the tree house, staying down and looking up the ladder. He listened to what the boy was saying, crossing his arms.
"So, you spent a lot of time here then. Understandable why would you want to come back." Zero observed, climbing up the ladder and entering the tree house. He glanced around, looking at the drawings and toys in the area. Picking up a foam sword, Zero glanced over at Jacob, giving a look that just screamed 'what the hell' before swinging it around a few times and gently placing it back down. Maybe we could have been friends if we grew up together. He thought to himself, walking back to the ladder and looking down.

Walking off the docks and onto the sand, Stephen looked around at the beach that he hadn't been at in quite some time. Stephen walked the path to his childhood tree house that he had shared with his best friend Jacob. Stephen was dressed in black shorts and a sleeveless dark gray hoodie, which showed his muscle definition quite nicely. There were a few clouds in the sky, but not to many so it still looked sunny and warm out. Stephen came within seeing distance of their tree house, when he saw an unfamiliar person in it. The person looked about his age, but Stephen had never seen him before. On that note Stephen approached cautiously and silently.

He walked over to a window that looked over some palm tree like tree tops at the back of the tree house. " Well because your a nobody you probably wouldn't understand but you never want to forget where you come from those kinds of people are terrible." He looked down and saw a reed bucket he remembered Stephen and himself would try to spit into it so he tried but missed terribly. He made a "totally meant to do that." face and looked back at Zero pointing with his thumb out the window and to the bucket.

Zero glanced back to Jacob with a sharp glare, hearing what he had to say and rolling his eyes.
"Just because I'm a nobody doesn't mean I don't remember where I come from. Why do you think I was at Radiant Garden?" He retorted with a slight edge of annoyance to his relatively neutral voice. Stepping up to the window the other boy had indicated, he looked out at the bucket, unsure of what he was supposed to do with it. Not seeing a point to the activity, the nobody turned away, looking around at the other surroundings by the treehouse. As he did, another stranger caught his eye, barely having noticed him due to how quiet he was. To Zero, the silence made the stranger a bit suspicious. He seemed to be about his age, with an athletic build shown off by the sleeveless hoody he wore.
"Is that a friend of yours?" He asked Jacob, nodding towards Stephen to indicate who he was talking about.

Noticing that he'd been spotted Stephen decided he didn't have to be quiet anymore. "Hey, what's up?" He shouted, knowing that anyone near would be able to hear him. He walked closer to the tree house but stopped about twenty feet away.

Nearby, a sleeping girl suddenly just seemed to appear on the beach. Really, she had been laying there a a long while, but her clothing made her blend in with the bright, reflective sand and there was a pile of sand in front of her that made her completely unspottable from certain angles. Her face was twisted up into a look of confusion, but it wore off as she began to stir in her sleep.

Neona Aysel huffed and cracked her eyes open slightly. The bright sun hurt her eyes a bit, but she was actually rather used to the blinding glare at this point. These jumps from the Sleeping Worlds to the worlds she called home often left her a bit disoriented, but it was nothing that couldn't be easily shaken off.

Neona pushed herself off the ground and immediately noticed how familiar her blurry surroundings were, despite how she couldn't quite make them out. Had... had she even left the Sleeping Worlds? Not too far away at that, she noticed a blurry treehouse that was possibly inhabited by one or two blurry figures, give or take. Neona's eyes shifted over and caught a glance of yet another, familiar figure standing out in the sunlight, but Neona's eyes were so full of sleep she just couldn't make out exactly why the figure was so familiar. She reached up and rubbed her eyes in an honest attempt to wake herself up more.

Jacob stuck his tongue out at Zero as he objected to his little game. He didn't mind much if Zero was going to be a spoiled sport after he had more or less dragged him along to the tree house of his memories. He looked to the sign Jacob and Stephen had made just over the window that Zero was looking out of. Fort Bernicky was sprawled in Jacob's sloppy old hand writing.

As he had been absorbed in memories of his childhood he had neglected to pay attention to Zero asking him about the boy approaching the tree house. But the voice of his very best friend the one who had been there in his memories of this place his voice broke Jacob out of his reverie. He dashed to the window and leaned out to yell back to him. " Stephen! Hey Stephen!"

Looking down at the stranger that Jacob seemed to confirm as somebody named Stephen, the nobody silently waved his hand, offering that as his only greeting. As he heard Jacob call out to him, another shape seemed to come into view on the beach. She seemed to be a strange looking girl, wearing odd apparel for someone who was on a beach. Something that looked like either a dress or a skirt with some sort of shirt or corset, to be honest Zero couldn't really figure out how to describe it. After a few seconds of looking at the clothing, he finally noticed her face and froze, tensing up slightly.
Neona? There was no doubt about it, it was Neona, one of his closer friends before he had become a nobody and the one person he wasn't looking to run into again. Seeing her for the first time in a while, there was an urge, some strong feeling he couldn't place anymore...That's not you thinking, that's Tyler. Neither of you are good for each other, you're better off. Don't let her see you... Zero immediately dashed to the ladder, jumping down onto the ground beneath the tree house, wanting to get out.

Stephen gave Zero a confused look and then proceeded to look around. He made out the outline of a girl; now focused on her. She looked familiar, and she had this bright aura about her. After a few seconds Stephen realized it was Neona. His heart did a thing that made him happy. He kept that emotion hidden though. Stephen simply started walking over to her. "I'm gonna go check if she's ok." Stephen called back to the group.

Neona noticed a familiar face and stopped, a shadow crossing over her face. It was all flooding back to her; horrifying memories repressed far into her heart by her brain... things that only haunted her in her dreams and hallucinations now tormented her again in real time. But now, none of that mattered. Neona felt as if she was going to explode because there was Tyler Mathison; there he was. Right. There. She crouched over, steadying herself, and then lAUNCHED herself right at the other blonde kid at blinding speed, rushing just past Stephen before he could even take a step and pegging Tyler/Zerox right in the back with an affectionate, teary, wide-armed smack-down hug. She peaked up at Stephen and waved cheerily, happy tears streaming down her face.

Oh, what a joyous moment it was.

Jacob looked confused as Stephen decided to walk off to check out this girl that had suddenly washed up on the beach it seemed like. The way he talked Jacob could tell he knew her he couldn't tell how though or what this chick might mean to him but he had a pretty good idea as she rushed by him and tackled his (friend?) acquaintance Zero. He could tell by the way Stephen's shoulders set and the tiny was his face scrunch he didn't like them close.

Zero paused a moment, freezing in place as Neona launched herself into a hug. Well, so much for going off unseen... He thought to himself, frowning as he tried to think about what to do. There was no reason for him to keep any loose ends from his time as a person around, he was convinced that would only bring trouble. This was a great chance for him to start over without anything else, but if she was going to try and stick around, he had to make a decision.
"What are you talking about?" He asked bluntly, shrugging his shoulders. "You must have the wrong guy. I don't even know you." The nobody continued apathetically, taking a step forward and pulling away from her, turning around to look back at the others.

Stephen's half jealous expression changed to a more confused look. why would she hug someone she didn't know? He thought to himself as Zero backed away. Calmly Stephen spat at the bucket and it barely missed. Stephen rolled his eyes and looked back at Zero.

Neona's eyes were suddenly filled with upset panic, but her lips drew themselves into a smile. "You're... You're jo-king, right Tyler? Ha ha! Fun-ny! But you won't g-et me this time! I'm a lot smarter, I bet I can catch on to all your jo-kes now!" she signed out forlornly with her hands, tripping up over some of her words. A few unshed tears clouded up her vision. "C'mon, d-on't you remember when m-y tongue got froz-en to a pole? You rea-lly helped me out of a tight spot! I ne-ver would have escaped if it weren't f-or you!"

She looked around at Stephen, the other boy, and then back to "Tyler" as if to plead for help. A single tear slid down her cheek.

Jacob stood confused at this he felt like the out man in a bad soap opera. The one that comes in latter so they can explain the convoluted plot. Stephen seemed jealous for an instant of this guy but now he's confused too. Jacob could pick up that the new girl was mute by her signing Jacob knew letters in sign language but not actual normal words. "Zero is she one of your friends from before when you weren't a nobody? Did you lose memory of them when you became a nobody?" Jacob speculated, he didn't like seeing any girl almost in tears like now even if he only had just seen her 10 seconds ago.

Jacob could feel a squeeze on his heart as she looked desperately at himself and Stephen and then finally shed a single tear.

"Look, I told you." Zero sighed, shaking his head calmly and looking over at Jacob. "I remember everything from before. I don't remember her though." He turned back to Neona, frowning slightly.
"I'm sorry, alright? But I don't know who you're talking about. Maybe you're thinking of someone who looks like me." He offered up as an explanation, unsure of what else to do at the moment. Great...now what? He had told himself if he saw her again, this was how he would take care of things. But now that the moment was here, he didn't know if he could keep it from her. Making a decision, he brought his hands up and began to sign to her. "That's not me anymore. I'm sorry." After he signed, he glanced back up at the other two, noticing Stephen's confused look.
"Do you two know each other?" The nobody asked curiously.

Stephen nodded, "Yeah, we met up somewhere a little bit ago." The skies began to shift from blue to a murky gray color. Stephen looked at the sky as a gust of wind blew by. "Well. Now what?" Stephen said out loud not knowing what to say next. Here he was, with his best friend, a girl he was starting to like, and a guy who he didn't really know. Not to mention things were starting to get awkward.

Neona sank to her knees and looked wearily at her hands. She felt like she had found everything, and then lost it all in one fell swoop. "So... w-e can't be friends? At all?" she signed slowly, refusing to look at the nobody at all. She wiped a few more tears from her face. She looked desperately for a friendly face, her eyes falling on Stephen. Her face seemed to ask, "What should I do?" She knew he probably didn't have the answer, but she needed some kind of support. She was lost and upset; the horrible memories all flooding back to her.

Jacob buried his hands into his pocket, he could feel this girl's abandonment the feeling was akin to his own when he was sent to his years worth of sleep left by his parents to be rescued by Stephen but this was different because Jacob had had his friend but she was having her friend turn his back on her and that was simply tragic to Jacob. He felt a gust of a breeze tussle his hair and looked off to clouds in the distance. " I think a storm may be coming we may want to move this to the tree house." Jacob muttered

Zero winced somewhat, watching Neona react. Well, that was great. Everything was just getting more and more complicated for him. To be honest, he had been enjoying the lack of complications. Being relatively impervious to feelings sort of helped that. "Look, it's just-well..." He began to sign and shake his head. "I don't know, alright? It's complicated now. Things are a bit different. The nobody finished, before turning to Jacob and Stephen.
"Maybe that is a good idea." He agreed, nodding.

Stephen kept silent as he could see the pain in Neona's eyes. All he could do was shrug and look back to the rather shoddy tree house. Stephen turned to Jacob and Zero. "You guys can head back, I'm just gonna stay out here for a little bit." He told them. He looked at Neona for a long moment and then walked a towards the shore line. The waves were a little rough, sending a few white caps further towards the beach. The sun was now hidden behind the gray skies, but light still shone through. Stephen let out a hushed sigh and looked out at the ocean.

Neona went back to looking at her hands for quite a bit before she decided she didn't want to be there anymore. She still couldn't bring herself to look at the nobody; she got up on her feet with her head still hanging low and paced away slowly. She grabbed her arm and clung to it like it was the last safe place on Earth. She eventually found her way to the shoreline as well; a little ways off from Stephen. She had every intention of waiting there for the moon, her only best friend now, to rise into the sky. Even is she couldn't completely see it there, she would know.