"Could have been worse," Scarlet admitted.
"I'm surprised you were both cooperative. I don't know where you found Disney Monopoly," Elias confirmed.
"It's EliaseAnne's," Elias announced, approaching us with a platter of various foods while Ethan carried chips and bags of marshmallows.
"Food!" Scarlet and I said in unison.
"And they say food is the only way to a man's heart when it makes girls so happy," Christian noted.
"Right," Daniel agreed.
"Food makes everyone happy," Scarlet emphasized, rising to her feet to take some of the bag of marshmallows from Ethan who smiled.
"Thanks, love." He gave her a smile.
"So, you’re from Australia?" I asked, noticing Ethan's accent which leaked out when he thanked Scarlet, reminding me of the icebreaker game we did.
"Yup. I can usually hide my accent, but it comes out from time to time," he confessed.
"Do you have a pet kangaroo?" I asked.
"Princess, where did you get that idea from?" Kai asked, looking amused.
"In some show that Marcus let me watch; the main characters get to have a pet kangaroo for the day and he's Australian. So that means Ethan has one too, right? Cause he's Australian?" I asked.
"No, Princess. We don't get pet kangaroos because we're Australian. It would be nice though." He winked, setting the food down before he began to help set up the campfire.
"That would be cool. What are we doing now?" I asked, feeling excited as I watched Marcus help Ethan and Kai with adding more logs to the center of our soon to be campfire.
"I gotta light this bad boy up, and then we’ll have roasted marshmallows," Marcus announced.
"Exciting!" I clapped my hands.
"C'mon, Mako, let's take pictures while we let the guys do the hard stuff." She winked.
"Pictures! Yes. Can we get a group picture too? I like group pictures," I requested.
She nodded. "Whatever you like," Scarlet announced, giggling.
The guys grinned, staring at us as we began taking pictures – Moonlight and Nightmare joined in on our little photo shoot. It didn't take long till the fire burned, and we all sat around the campfire singing and laughing.
We talked about many things; each of us explaining more about our realms and giving a glimpse of our past and why we were happy to be in this moment. It soon reached my turn. I swallowed my twentieth marshmallow before clearing my throat.
"As you guys know, most of my memories of my childhood are from the facility. It wasn't all bad. Sure, there were days that I really wished I hadn't woken up that morning or times I regretted being born into a cruel world, but I think in this moment, I realized that my experience made me who I am today. Would I wish to go back and experience it all over again? No. But, if I had to choose between becoming the person I am right now, surrounded by people who care about me versus living a completely different life...I think I would relive those sixteen cycles and remind my past self that the struggle would be worth it. I truly am thankful for all of you. It basically proves that regardless of our differences in spirits that unity and peace can happen. No matter what we are, any group of individuals can set aside their differences and sit around a campfire, enjoy roasted marshmallows, and appreciate the life granted to us by the Starlight gods," I summarize, staring at the flickering flame of the campfire.
I looked up from the fire to their stunned expressions; Scarlet’s eyes already glossy with tears.
"Oops. Did I do something weird?" I asked.
"No, Firefly. We're just happy to know we had such an impact on you," Marcus whispered.
My knights nodded in agreement.
Scarlet smiled, glancing at her set of men before they turned their attention to face me.
"I know we've just met, Mako, but I'm really glad you fought hard and survived all the challenges that presented themselves. I'm thankful to have gotten to meet you and have honestly had the most exciting four days of my life. This even outranked the time I flipped off a motorcycle into the ocean." Scarlet winked at my shocked expression.
"You can flip off a motorcycle?" I asked, impressed.
"Yup. I'll show you the video next time." She winked.
Jaxson and the others shook their heads, but had amusing smiles on their lips.
"Either way, I hope you always remember, we love and care about you. Not just because you're a Princess. But because you're our friend, and we'll always come to your aid if you need us. That goes out to all of you." Scarlet glanced around the others.
My knights nodded, smiling back as they exchanged glances.
"Why don't we toast to unity and peace," I announced, lifting my glass of chocolate milk. The others grabbed their choice of drinks, raising them in the air.
"To unity and peace," we vowed.
I knew that no matter what the future held, the bonds we created during this trip wouldn't falter.
No. They would only grow.
Chapter Thirteen
Day 5 10:00 A.M.
MAKOTO
"Milkshakes!" I squealed, sitting anxiously in my seat.
EliaseAnne stared at me with a soft smile on her face as she rested her head on her crossed arms that laid on the red table.
"I don't know how you have so much energy after staying up all night," she mumbled.
"Because it's milkshakes! I've been waiting for this moment." I beamed.
Scarlet, who was next to Eli and sat across from me relaxed, smiling at my excitement. "You haven't tried a milkshake yet? It's not hard to make at home," she suggested.
"I don't know how. Maybe I should have looked in the recipe books Elias gave me. There's a bunch of stuff in there," I mumbled more to myself than Scarlet and Eli.
Scarlet turned to EliaseAnne.
"You and Elias are siblings, right?" she asked.
"Sure," Eli replied, closing her eyes.
We'd agreed to leave them in the dark about Elias and EliaseAnne until they were both ready to tell our new group of friends that they were the same person.
"Why weren't you at the campfire, EliaseAnne? We saved you marshmallows," Scarlet asked.
"I wasn't feeling well, and Marcus would have told scary stories at the campfire to freak me out," Eli replied.
"You afraid of ghosts?" Scarlet asked.
"I don't like scary stuff that lurks in the dark," she replied.
"Oh. But ghosts aren't real," Scarlet reminded.
"We live in a world with vampires. I think I can assume ghosts and zombies exists. If unicorns can exist, anything is possible," she replied.
"Eli! I will want to be introduced to the unicorn shifter!" I stressed.
She opened her eyes. "She's in school right now, far, far away in a different galaxy," Eli revealed.
Scarlet and I glanced at one another and turned our attention to Eli.
"But....there's only the realms, right?" Scarlet asked.
"Ya. In literature, it only talks about the realms in this galaxy created by the Starlight gods," I defended.