Cody

On day three, I had enough.

"No! NO MORE BREAD!" I screeched when it was time to eat lunch. The kraken looked at me weirdly, but shrugged to himself. "Well, I could get carrots or potatoes if you want." They offered but I shook my head. "No dude! We have been eating bread for far too long and this is practically all you eat! I am getting us something new, a feast! When's the last time you have food that wasn't bread?" He paused, thinking on it. "I guess it's been awhile..." KrakenKid trailed off. My eyes narrowed. This kid had been eating plain bread for so long and barely even had any meat! No, not on my watch.

An idea came to mind. Though I considered just gathering up fish and stealing from the farmlands, this new thought consumed my mind until it was all I could think about. I knew the layout of Atlantis and though this was the past, it couldn't be too different which meant I knew were the shops were. I always remembered how the shops had great stuff, and if anyone deserved a meal, it was this tiny KrakenKid.

My mind was set.

"I'm going to get us dinner. You stay here, I'll be back... Hopefully by dark. If I'm not, accept I'm dead and blow something up for me."

I gave him the thumbs up, smiling before leaving.

I was starting to get used to the caves, now finally able to leave them without a guild. I knew the little gaps and edges like the back of my flipper. It was hard the first couple of times and going back was much harder than leaving but for the most part I had got it.

I snuck from under the tall blue crystals to the farm lands, taking shelter behind whatever I could. I kept to the outskirts, only using houses and other structures as hiding places. It was tough avoiding the villagers, but with the help of rocks, I distracted them and got past them. From then on, I was on the outskirts of the city, where today, no one was.

Seeing Atlantis in the past was odd. There were so many houses that hadn't even been made yet and people I would never know living in the houses in here now. I move swiftly, not letting anyone see me or if they somehow did, so they wouldn't get a good look at me. I couldn't help but let my mind drift to a thought. In this time period, was I in Atlantis? My memory of my childhood was wiped, the first thing I remember was Medical School. I don't even know if I wanted to be a surgeon and if the memory wipe forced me to be one or not. I didn't even know that Joe was my brother until they told us.

Honestly, for a while I thought they were joking about us being kings. I always wondered if the amnesia somehow created memories and I really wasn't a king. However, I never truly believed that because when I came to Atlantis, there were things that I couldn't explain.

I could never explain the feeling I got when I entered through the portal. The overwhelming familiarity of the Nexus, and the rush I got when I held the spear. There were people I felt like I knew too, like Rasmus and Professor Pikalus. When I talked to them, there was always something inside of me that trust what they said. The Sneaky Sisters pranked me for the first time way back when, I got over it pretty quick, almost like I had been pranked a thousand times before and learned to roll with it.

Then there was him. KrakenKid. The terror and shock I got when I laid eyes on him, and his eyes narrowed at the sight of me. I had seen him before, and he had seen me. The feeling wasn't as strong as some, but it was very noticeable for me. I never told anyone about it. I could never shake the feeling that I had met him before. It wasn't just that either, I also felt something else.

Something deep inside of me trying to scream an answer but drowned by all others.

The feeling that he was more than a villain, but I knew him before that.

A feeling I will never fully describe, but I hope to one day understand.

During my pondering, I had reached the market, or at least the back of it. Lucky for me, it was in the same place as it would be in the future. It was full of all sorts of people, talking, traveling and trading goods. It wasn't as packed as it would be in the future, but it still had so many people, all of which were so happy. There were miscellaneous shops and armories, but I searched for something else until I found it. The food places.

I shifted my body weight as I stalked over, keeping quiet and careful to not make a sound. The first place I came to was a butcher. The racks were filled with pork, steak, some other things I didn't recognize and most importantly, BACON. The perfect thing for KrakenKid to experience. The lady at the shop began to loudly chop up chicken meat, which was perfect. With her back turned, I peeked to see the layout, then snagged it from the shelves, also managing to grab steak and ducking back behind. I paused, waiting to see if anyone noticed before moving on.

The shop next to it sold bread, so I avoided it. I didn't need any bread, I had more than enough.

A nearby one had fruits and vegetables, so I decided on stopping by. This person was some sort of walking, talking mutated fish person who had this distorted voice. He seemed pretty kind but I stole the food anyways, getting some mangos, strawberries, blueberries, apples, three bananas and some carrots. It was a lot, all because his back was turned for a long time. Guilt plagued me but I couldn't stop now. All of this was for the poor kid and I had to go through with it. I had one last stop.

Cake shop. A couple was working this shop and happily made all sorts of treats. The ladies smiled and continued their business as I inspected it from the shadows. Everything there was mouthwatering, but the Cherry Cheesecake is what I had my sights on. I patiently waited as the pair of females started to get into a romantic mood, and swiped it from under their noses.

Hastily, I swam away and as the sight got farther away, I slowed myself, sighing. I can't believe I did that. I shook my head, but a smile came back when I thought of how happy KrakenKid would be when I got back.

I forgot to check if anyone was following behind me, and got an unexpected visitor.

"Don't you know stealing is bad?"

Two things made my heart stop. One, this was someone who had clearly saw me and now confronted me. They now know what I looked like and could very well put me behind bars with a single call from the guards. The other?

I knew that voice all too well.

I inched around and faced who was talking. I was right, it was him. Even now, seeing him was like shocking my soul and splitting my mind in half. There he was, in all of is glory, just much younger, but him all the same.

A chicken with white fluffy feathers and wearing PJ's stared at me with those eyes that haunted me. So he was here. Neither of us spoke for a while. "What?" I croaked out, still trying to get through this. "I saw you take the cheesecake! Don't you know stealing is bad?" He squeaked again. I paused, my mind racing and trying to find an answer. One came to me suddenly. "I needed to." I blurted out. The younger version of my best friend blinked, tilting his head.

"You needed to? What did you need to get it for?" The innocent childlike eyes stared right into my soul. "Well, I have this friend who has never tasted a cheesecake and since he's poor, I thought I'd help him out. Think of it like I'm Robin Hood!" I nodded along with my story, starting to feel better now that I compared what I was doing to a hero.

Soon, the eyes turned from confused, to pure awe. The eyes sparked and his grin became wider and more apparent. "Really? That's so cool! Can you like, shoot people with a bow and stuff? Or at least shoot near them scare them because I have someone who bothers me sometimes and I just want to prank them!" I snicker at his idea. "Maybe... Who are you talking about anyways?"

"Joe? JOE! WHERE DID YOU GO?"

A loud voice boomed from the market place. The chicken glanced back, giggling to himself. "Speak of the devil himself! That must be my great uncle, Rasmus. He's uptight and I just want to see his feathers ruffled up sometimes because he's funny when he's freaked out, but he's still pretty cool. He always keeps me safe and entertained you know? I have to go but think about what I said! It was so cool to meet you Robin Hood! Byeeeee!" He waved wildly and bolted back to the market place.

And I was left speechless, only able to watch him leave my life once again.

Like expected, I had made it to the tunnels as the light started to fade. It was a lot later than I thought but I still made it. I took twists and turns, but started to slow down as I did.

Doubt filled my mind as I waited at a turn. "I think it's left?" I peered over then shook my head. "No, no. It's right. The opening is to the right." Strolling over, someone interrupted me. "You had it right the first time buddy." I sighed, whipping around at the face of KrakenKid, smugly smiling. I just shook my head. "One of these days, I'll get it right." I mumbled loud enough so he could hear. The purple being snickered at me, then lead back to where my current home was.

"Guess what I got?" I wiggled my eyebrows. Across from me, the kraken sat and stared at me expectantly. "I have no idea... What?" One by one, I pulled out all the items and watched his face light up. The child didn't say a word for a while but joy was written all over his face. "WOW!" He exclaimed. "WHAT IS THIS?"

I didn't stop him as he started to bite into all the foods, trying them out.

The kid seemed to like all of them, and if he didn't then he sure didn't show it. I suppose that after eating mostly bread, everything else must have tasted like heaven. The look I had dreamed about the whole time was worth it as he showed it and I watched him gladly eat the food I had stolen. When I showed off the dessert and let him try it, he was doing his best not to eat it all. He really liked the Cherry Cheesecake, almost as much as I did. Even though I felt bad for it, I still forgave myself in the end. Not only did I still feel better about the Robin Hood thing and seeing Joe again, but nothing was quite as great as seeing him like this.

I had never made the KrakenKid from my time this happy, and doing it now was strange, but the good kind of strange. The kind where this is all you wanted for the rest of your life.

"Thank you!" He repeated the phrase over and over again, but it still never lost it's meaning. His eyes screamed how grateful he was and I couldn't help but feel content. Maybe good can come out of bad things. Maybe the KrakenKid I knew wasn't really all that bad.

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Woo! I liked doing this chapter! At first, I didn't think about adding Joe in until I started writing it and it just sorta happened! It worked with the story too so, it was perfect!

Hope y'all enjoyed this chapter! Be sure to comment on how you think I did with this! Goodbye, and prepare yourselves, because sweet things don't last forever... ;)

--JustAnAtlantisWriter