Chapter Text
Kel had no idea how to respond to the situation before him.
After a day of goose chasing that ended with his two old friends getting together and the mending of his friend group, Kel was hoping for an opportunity to unwind. Fate had other plans it seems as now Cris: his friend stood before him alongside a goose bearing his address
Kel and Cris stood in silence, waiting for the other to break the silence.
“Kel?”
“Um... that goose it’s...”
Kel swallowed nervously. His mind was racing with thoughts: how was Cris of all people his soulmate? She was his friend, and Kel did enjoy her company, but to go that far with someone he had known as a friend for 5 years was strange to him. Then there was the matter of trying to explain all this soulmate stuff to Cris. To the average person, it would sound insane. Magic geese, life partners, he was half concerned that Cris would call a mental institution to grab him more than he was afraid of rejection.
“Well... Um... it’s kinda funny...”
The goose waddled over behind Kel and honked loudly behind him, startling him to the point where he instinctively jumped forwards.
“Hey watch it!”
“Honk!”
“Well don’t startle m-“
“Kel you’re um... kinda close,” Cris interrupted.
It was then that Kel realized that when he jumped forwards, it had moved him closer to Cris. They were now mere inches apart. Kel’s face began to turn red.
“Oh sorry...”
Kel tried to back away but the goose refused to move.
“I’m just worried about you Kel,” she began “Wouldn’t you be a bit concerned if your friend was acting strange?”
Kel’s mind latched onto a specific word that she spoke.
Friend
“Yeah... she’s calling me a friend.” Kel thought to himself “That’s all we are, that’s all she wants: a friend,”
He smiled and put his hands in his pocket.
“Yeah, there’s no way this goose is here for me, Cris doesn’t even like me that way,” He thought.
Kel cleared his throat before continuing.
“It’s just some goose, someone probably just put my name on it as a prank,” said Kel.
“Kel that doesn’t make any sense, who would be pranking-“
Kel threw his hands up.
“I don’t know maybe Mikhael? It’s nothing!”
Kel ran away, leaving behind the goose and a confused Cris.
“Kel wait! Kel!?”
Kel didn’t stop until he reached his house. The crisis has been averted.
—-
Almost a week had passed since that day.
Kel’s daily life since then hadn’t been very exciting. Mostly housesitting with Hero until his parents returned in the middle of the week. It provided a solid excuse for him to avoid another encounter with that goose, which he hadn’t seen since that day. When his parents and sally did return, it offered Kel another brief distraction from the the goose and Cris.
At this moment in time Kel was on the house phone, having a conversation with Sunny.
“So what do you think about us going to the city for Halloween?” Kel asked
“I’m not opposed,” said Sunny “But space is going to be tight, so it would have to be you, Basil, and Aubrey at most,”
“Yeah, I can ask the others about that,” said Kel “I mean, Aubrey sure as heck isn’t going to decline,”
“Tell me how it goes with Bas- hold on a sec Kel,”
Kel heard the sounds of coins jingling from Sunny’s end as he loaded a quarter into the pay phone.
Upon Sunny’s return to the city, his mother grounded him for suddenly going off to Faraway. His cell phone was taken away for awhile, and while he still had his computer, he wouldn’t be getting the internet back for another two weeks. Sunny’s only connection to Faraway outside of an emergency was a pay phone a few blocks away from his house where he could sneak a phone call in while doing his odd jobs with whatever pocket change he had on him.
“Ok sorry about that,” Sunny apologized. “Anything else?”
“I should ask how much longer are you going to be grounded for?” Kel asked
“Maybe a week or two,” Sunny answered “I also think that I’m automatically ungrounded when I turn 18 next month anyways, at least that’s the law in every state except Ohio,”
“Oh shoot that’s coming up isn’t it,”
“Yeah if you and the others can sneak up for that I don’t think my mom would complain, grounded or not,”
“Smells like we got a scheme cooking,” said Kel “yeah we could head up to your place and do something fun like go to the bea-“
Kel stopped himself. The beach reminded him of Cris, and the awkwardness settled back in.
He didn’t know how long he was standing there in silence until Sunny’s voice snapped him out of it.
“Kelsey Rodriguez if you don’t answer me you’re going to owe me the quarter I just spent on extending this call,”
“Oh sorry Sunny, uh... maybe not the beach... how do you feel about amusement parks?”
Sunny paused for a moment.
“You’re hiding something Kel, what is it?”
“What makes you say that?” Kel asked “I’m not hiding anything,”
Sunny groaned.
“Look, Kel I don’t know what you’re going through right now and you don’t have to tell me, but whatever it is you gotta handle it, otherwise it’s just going to consume you whole,”
Kel was silent for a moment as he took Sunny’s words in.
“Sunny are you... giving me advice?”
“Yeah I know crazy right?” Sunny deadpanned.
Kel sighed and shook his head.
“I’m good man I mean it,”
“...Then why am I still worried?”
He heard coins jingling again, but Sunny did not put in a new quarter.
“Sorry but I need to save my last quarters for a phone call I have tomorrow about a college I was looking at, don’t forget what I said Kel,”
“Uh yeah, sure thing, night Sunny,”
“Good night,”
The call ended
Kel hung the phone back onto the receiver. He hopped off the counter and made his way into the room he currently shared with his brother. Once Hero officially moved out he took most of his belongings save for the bed, so his half of the room was bare save for a pair of suitcases that held his clothes and other belongings, and some sports equipment that Kel had taken to storing on the other side of the room.
Hero laid on the bed, reading over some paperwork on a clipboard.
“Thought you weren’t working till you got back home?” Said Kel
Hero sighed as he got up from his bed. He had decided to visit to help Kel watch the house while the rest of the family was on vacation, but also gave himself a few extra days to see his parents and Sally. He would be heading back to his place in two days, which also included returning to his medical job.
“The office faxed me a few things I need to look over before I got back,” said Hero. “Boring doctor stuff.”
Hero set the clipboard to the side.
“So... I haven’t seen you with Cris lately....”
“What about it?”
“Well, she is your soulmate-“
Kel held up a hand to cut hero off.
“And how are we so sure about that?”
Hero’s gaze narrowed at his brother.
“You... you never told her did you?”
“Hero I’m having trouble believing that Cris is my soulmate,”
“Trouble? Kel you were there, you saw that soulmates are real!”
“Yeah but Cris!? We’re known eachother for like what... five years? You and Mari and Sunny and Aubrey knew eachother much longer than that,”
“Kel there’s more to a soulmate than how long you’ve known eachother,”
Hero groaned as he got up from the bed.
“Everything is pointing to you and her Kel, and I’m disappointed that you haven’t followed through with it,”
Kel shivered. He’s had Hero proud of him, mad at him, but never dissapointed. It gave him a moment of pause. With that opening, Hero leaned in closer to Kel, staring him right in the eyes.
“You’re afraid aren’t you?” Hero continued, “Is that it? Are you scared of how things might change now that she’s something more than a friend?”
Kel clenched his fist.
“Well if she is my soulmate, then wheres the goose?” Said Kel as he defended himself “I haven’t seen the goose in a week so maybe it WAS a mistake!”
Hero opened his mouth to reply, but couldn’t get the words out as he was dumbstruck by Kel’s attitude towards this entire situation. Hero frowned and closed his mouth.
“No, it’s not my job to do this...”
Hero grabbed his clipboard and walked out of his room. Kel now alone, flopped onto his bed and stared at the pictures he had recently hung up on the wall. Hung right between an old picture of the group and Mari, and a photo of Kel posing with his basketball team, and one was of him and Cris from when they went to a water park a few years back.
Kel started at the photo as the memory of the day replayed itself in his mind.
—-
*
Kel and Cris were sitting along the edge of the lazy river, kicking their feet as they took a break from the water. The waterpark trip was Cris’ idea of course. All her ideas involved water, the ocean, or marine life. Kel didn’t mind, especially on a hot summer day.
“So Cris, could I ask you something?” Kel asked.
“Yeah, ask away,” said Cris.
“You loved that boarding school, why did you come back?”
Cris paused as she put together her answer.
“The big reason was money... as much as I loved the island, the tuition was expensive,”
“Ah, makes sense.”
Cris paused for a moment.
“The other was...”
She stopped herself.
“No, it’s stupid,”
“Hold up, stupid or not, I want to hear it,”
Cris sighed and hugged her knees to her body.
“I... wasn’t good at making friends before... My parents figured sending me to the school where everyone is closer together would help me open up socially,”
Kel raised an eyebrow.
“Did it help?”
“I’m here with you aren’t I?”
Kel paused for a moment, as his mind put things together.
“Oh right,”
Cris did her best not to giggle at Kel’s blunder.
“But yeah, my parents thought I got everything I needed out of boarding school,” Cris continued “My grades improved, I had better people skills... it was just time to move onto the next step,”
At that point, Cris got to her feet and gestured for Kel to follow her.
“Wanna ride the tarasque one more time?” Cris asked, referring to the largest water slide in the park.
“Yeah I’m down,”
Kel got up and followed after Cris, his mind lingering on what Cris had said.
“Time to move onto the next step huh?”
——
Kel’s thoughts were interrupted by a knock on his door. A few moments later his father opened the bedroom door and stuck his head inside.
“Hey, Kel could ya run out and grab me some things from Fix-It?” He asked.
Kel shrugged and got up.
“Sure, I could use a walk anyways...”
Kel walked out of the room, his dad handing him a couple 20 dollar bills wrapped together with a shopping list as he passed.
“There were these odd scratches on floor, like someone dragged nails across them or something,” said his Father “I’m gonna try and get rid of those this weekend but I need a few things for it,”
Kel shuttered at the memory behind those scratches.
“Must have been Hector... we really gotta trim his nails more,” said Kel nervously.
“Kinda weird that we never had that problem before...”
Kel pocketed the money and the list, making his way down a stairs and out the front door. As he left Kel took one last glance at Cris’ house before leaving.
—
Cris kicked her feet as she sat on her bed. It had been nearly a week since her meeting with Kel, since he ran off suddenly and hadn’t talked to her since. He wouldn’t even answer the phone when she called. The event had stuck with Cris for the past week, always lingering in the back of her mind.
“He hasn’t reached out to me since then...” she muttered to herself. “It’s almost like he doesn’t want to see me...”
Cris shook her head,
“Come on, this is Kel we’re talking about... maybe he’s just been busy,”
Cris nodded
“Yeah, maybe he’s just been busy spending time with his brother, or Basil or-“
Cris’ expression dropped. He was hanging out with those old friends of his again. Maybe he was done with her, now that they all made up.
“What if he really doesn’t want to see me....”
Cris clutched her chest as she felt a sharp pain in her heart. Was she just filler? A girl who was only there until something better came along? And what happens now that something has come? Her other hand moved towards her face in an attempt to hold back the tears that were beginning to form.
“Was it something I said? Did I do something wrong?”
She wrenched her eyes shut as the tears began streaking down her cheats, her breathing becoming uneven as an occasional hiccup broke the rhythm. She would have completely broken down had it not been for a loud and sudden noise interrupting her.
“Honk!”
Cris’ eyes snapped open and she turned her attention to her window.
“Honk!”
Cris slowly got up and approached the glass barrier, gasping as she saw that the Goose she had found was standing on her window-still. Behind it she saw her backyard, where the caged enclosure her father had made had been broken open, like a lab bred monster breaking containment with pieces of chicken wire and poultry fencing littered the ground. The goose simply stared at her and pecked at the window, as if it hadn’t just demolished its own enclosure.
“Wha... how?”
Cris slowly opened the window, reaching out to grab the escaped avian.
It pecked her in the face and flew off.
“H-Hey!”
Cris managed to snap out of her funk and rushed down the stairs, bolting outside in an attempt to pursue the runaway goose.
—-
A dull pop song from 3 years ago echoed throughout the Fix-It as Kel wandered down its aisles. He squinted as he read the list provided him with.
“Wood varnish, sandpaper, gorilla tape... and I’m in the...”
Kel stopped and looked around. The sevens of the aisle he was in were filled with lawn ornaments. Various gnomes, both traditional and some that were based on sci-fi characters (he made a mental note to get the Captain Spaceboy gnome for Sunny for his birthday) and some ceramic geese.
Kel shook his head as he tried to ignore the false birds.
“Jeez...”
“Kel!”
Kel spun around to see Basil approaching him, clad in a Fix-It uniform. In his haze of thoughts he had forgotten that Basil worked here.
“Oh hey Basil!” Kel greeted “My Dad sent me to grab some things,”
“Ah, I can help if you find anything if you need it,” said Basil with a smile.
Kel nodded.
“I need wood varnish and goosepaper- I mean sandpaper,”
Basil raised an eyebrow.
“You have geese on the mind,” said Basil
Kel sighed.
“We haven’t talked for a few days have we?” Kel asked.
Basil nodded. He’d been busy with work and Kel had spent the past couple days with his family now that they were back, so he hadn’t had the chance to tell him about the goose.
“Yeah, it’s just... there’s another goose,”
“Wow another one? Like what Sunny had?”
Kel nodded.
“Who was it-“
Basil stopped himself as he realized the implication.
“Was it...you?”
Kel shook his head
“No it appeared with Cris...”
“Kel don’t you have a huge crush on her?”
“No! I mean... we’re just friends,”
“Well if there was a goose involved then I highly doubt that was the case,”
Kel reclined against a shelf.
“I mean, I haven’t even seen that goose for a few days so maybe it was just a fluke Ya know... there’s no way Cris would like me that way, we’re just friends,”
Basil furrowed his brow.
“Kel you’re denying it,”
“Am I denying it? Or am I accepting that maybe there’s a possibility that I’m unconnected to the goose in this instance,
Kel crossed his arms and smiled as though he had just destroyed Basil with facts. The blonde simply stood and stared at his friend with a rare look of annoyance on his face.
“This is exactly why there’s a goose for this,”
“Yeah that’s dumb even by your standards Kel,” added another voice.
Kel jumped in surprise as he heard Aubrey’s familiar voice. The girl in question was peeking in from behind an opening in the shelf of gnomes that Kel was reclining on.
“Sup,”
“Aubrey!? Why are you here!?”
“I’m working,”
“I put in a good word for her, so now she’s working here with me.” Said Basil.
“Aubrey? And retail work? Isn’t that dangerous?” Kel asked.
“Not as dangerous as you voicing that thought,” Aubrey snapped.
Aubrey circled around so that she was now standing in the same aisle as the boys instead of just peeking in.
“So why get a job now?” Kel asked. “I’ve never seen you work before,”
“I got a soulmate that I want to visit, and bus tickets aren’t cheap,” Said Aubrey, “And neither is a phone or anything else that I’m going to need to eventually get out of my house,”
She pulled a small flat rectangular object wrapped in foil out from her pocket.
“Selling garbage to that old lady in the park isn’t going to cover my expenses anymore so here I am,”
Aubrey unwrapped the object and popped the piece of nicotine gum into her mouth, wincing at the artificial lemon flavor that Hero had grabbed for her. She made a mental note to buy a different flavor sometime.
“Who knew that all she needed to start becoming more reasponsible was a boyfriend?” Said Kel “that’s actually pretty sweet,”
“Kel you are lucky that I’m on the clock or I would make you regret saying that,”
“And since you are on the clock you shouldn’t be chewing gum,” added Basil.
Aubrey responded by blowing a bubble with the deadest look she could muster on her face. Kel took a step back cautiously. Aubrey then inhaled the bubble and resumed chewing.
“Seriously though Kel, if that goose was with Cris, it means there’s something on both sides. She likes you, you like her,”
“And you keep assuming the goose was here for me,” said Kel defiantly. “It was with Cris and I haven’t seen it in a full week, so maybe it’s not even-“
“Honk!”
The three friends froze up and Aubrey nearly choked on her gum.
“You heard that too right?” Asked Basil
Aubrey nodded.
Kel stiffened and swallowed nervously.
“Crap,”
Kel looked down at the ceramic lawn geese set up behind him. Amongst them was an imposter: A goose that stood in a pose mimicking the lawn ornaments but was clearly more realistic. Kel recognized the Orange tag on its leg as the goose he had encountered days ago.
Aubrey immediately grabbed a shovel off the nearest display and held it at the ready. Basil seeing this attempted to calm Aubrey down.
“Easy Aubrey, it’s not after you this time,” said Basil.
“Yeah but I’m not taking chances,”
Kel sighed as he looked back at his friends.
“Okay, maybe it is for me too, but there’s still no way Cris sees me like that!”
“Well if that’s what you think, just ask Cris,” said Basil
“Yeah, let her tell you what you already know,” said Aubrey
The Goose stared at Kel, stepping away from the display of lawn geese decorations.
“Fine, after I’m done shopping I’ll-“
The Goose then bit Kel’s jersey and began pulling him away with unexpected ease.
“H-Hey! Hold up!” He shouted
Despite Kel being larger and stronger (so they thought), the goose was able to pull the boy without any trouble whatsoever.
“At least let me grab the rest of the stuff on the list first!”
Basil and Aubrey simply watched as as Kel was abducted by a goose for all of Fix-It to see.
A passing cashier tried to stop the goose as it dragged Kel out of the store, but it responded by aggressively flapping its wings to ward them off as it left the store with its captive in a horrific display.
Following that incident Aubrey slowly turned to look at Basil.
“Don’t take this the wrong way Basil but I really hope you don’t have a soulmate...”
“After that I don’t think I want one...” he replied.
—
Cris had lost sight of the goose by the park, where the blue haired girl was now currently searching.
“Where did it go?”
She looked around for any sign of the runaway bird, and to her relief, A set of smaller, webbed footprints caught her attention.
“It went this way...”
Cris followed the footprints through the park, past the swings and the picnic area all the way to a blocked off trail towards the back of the park.
“The tracks keep going...”
Cris made her way past the barricades and followed the footsteps down the trail.
“I’ve never seen this path before...” Cris muttered to herself “I wonder where it leads,”
Cris didn’t need to walk for long to find an answer as she reached the end of the trail and found herself in the secret hideout. Her eyes widened at the sight of the pond, and the statue in the center of it.
“Wow! I never knew that there was someplace like this in faraway...”
Cris then noticed a worn picnic blanket in the corner of the hideaway atop a faded picnic blanket.
“But someone else sure did it seems... wonder if they don’t mind company, I’d love to take a dip in the -“
Cris shook her head, snapping back to reality.
“Goose first, swimming later,”
Cris continued looking around for any sign of the goose, Unaware that the goose was not there. It had flown away right after leaving the tracks behind for her to find. It had to grab someone else, and Cris was right where she needed to be.
—
The Goose dragged Kel into the park, only letting him go once they arrived. Kel, now freed glared at his feathered captor.
“Alright! You got me, so what do you want?” Kel demanded.
“Honk!”
The goose waddled over towards the back of the park, pausing only to make sure that Kel was following him, which the boy did reluctantly.
The goose paused in front of the entrance to a familiar trail. The hideout was this down way. Looking down, Kel noticed a set of goose footprints doing down it that looked fairly fresh. Along with a more human set of footprints that looked very recent.
“It’s just the way to the pond,” said Kel “I don’t see-“
Kel stopped himself.
This was the way to the group’s hideout. The only people familiar with it in Faraway were himself, Aubrey, Basil, Hero (but the footprints were too small to be his), and the hooligans. Basil and Aubrey were both working and he recalled that Aubrey made the hooligans promise not to go to the hideout anymore without Aubrey after some weird incident with the Maverick, Angel, and a case of instant noodles.
Someone else was down that path.
“... Someone’s down there...”
The Goose walked down the trail, and Kel instinctively followed behind.
“Maybe I’m overthinking, maybe it’s just a bum who found the trail or something.”
Kel frowned slightly as he came upon the secret hangout spot. A place that held many fond memories for the group, as well as 2.5 less fond memories of friends almost drowning. The spot was exactly how he remembered it. There was however, someone looking around the hangout. Someone Kel did not want to see. Cris was looking around for something, and before Kel could slip away, his companion made itself known.
“HONK!”
Cris quickly spun around and saw the pair.
“There you are! Wait Kel?”
Kel sighed. No use in running away if she saw him.
“Hi Cris...”