Sorry if it's rushed!
Warning: bad language
***
Life or death situations tend to change people. Life or death situations where your friends die and you don't really change people. People like Aiden specifically, who barely survived a hellish night in the 1950s that was jam packed of supernatural bullshit, and then had to go back to the real world and act like it never happened. Aiden wanted to tell everyone what that sick bitch Justine did to his friends, he's positive Sam wants to as well. But he knows that if he tries to tell anyone the truth, they won't believe him and they'll throw him in a mental hospital. So for once, Aiden swallows his pride. He attends his friends' funerals, all with painfully empty coffins. He mourned, he cried, he screamed, he punched someone once, but now he lives life to the fullest. He learned to cherish every moment he has on this damned planet, because you never know when death will decide to knock on your door.
Aiden has moved on. Well, he's trying to move on. Between his shows as Luna Eclipse and getting back into YouTube, every once in awhile he'll find something that brings up memories he'd rather let wither and die. Once Aiden walked past a music store advertising a fancy violin and he almost broke down right then and there. Another time he was at the mall with his friends but he had to leave because for a second he thought he saw a certain dancer. But the pain is slowly going away, he's going forward and that's good. It's what they would've wanted.
Another thing that Aiden has started to do was going out and visiting all sorts of places he would never go to before. Mainly parks, where the memories of screams of agony were drowned out by children's laughter and singing birds. The challenge was not to get out alive but to get out without being lost, and the worst monster you could face was a Chatholic grandma. Aiden was surprised at how much he liked the quiet peacefulness of it all. He was even more surprised when he found out the nightmares were actually going away. He was actually healing.
One day at one particular park, he walked down the path and found something life changing. At the center of the park was a fountain with the cleanest water Aiden has ever seen. Vines were wrapped around the centerpiece, a statue of a tall man with pointed ears, drawing a bow like he was in battle. The vines came from strong trees with leaves the color of a sunset, and stars sewn into the bark. The path itself was decorated with all sorts of flowers no human has ever seen before. It was beautiful. To add to it, a young man with long dark hair faced the fountain, a violin in his hands. As he played, Aiden couldn't help but notice how familiar he looked. Maybe- 'No', he scolded, 'he's dead. He's long dead. It isn't him. Don't get your hopes up, he's never coming back. Neither is she'. But he still raised his voice and hesitantly called out, "B-Bat?"
The music stopped. The hand holding the violin bow lowered. The figure turned around, revealing brown eyes on a far too familiar face. It couldn't be.
"Luna?", the figure asked. Right, Bat never learned Aiden's real name. He knew him as "Luna" when they met right until the moment he...died.
"I'm dreaming", Aiden said, "I have to be. Or I'm going crazy, because this is impossible".
The thing who looked liked his fallen friend chuckled, "After everything you've been through, you call this impossible?"
"You're not real!" tears threatened to fall down the vietnamese's face, but he refused to let them fall in front of this imposter. This monster who had the audacity to wear Bat's face.
"I am real, and you know it"
"Screw you", but he did know it. Deep down, Aiden knew that somehow, the person before him what in fact Bat Branwell, the musician with a heart of gold that left the world too soon in a way he did not deserve.
"Love you too, Luna", Bat held out his hand, "come on, I'll explain everything"
Aiden hesitated. What if this really was a dream? What if the moment he takes Bat's hand, he'll disappear? Forever this time. But he was known for his bravery, so he took his friend's hand, and to his relief, it didn't fade away. He let Bat lead him to the fountain, and they sat down.
"How", Aiden immediately demanded, "How are you here? How are you alive? You died!"
"I'm still dead", Bat replied.
"What?"
So he told him everything. His faerie-hating birth parents, his unique adoption, growing up in Faerie next to the Wander Woods, even about Amara, who taught him to treat all creatures under the sun and moon equally.
"After I died, I found my way back to Faerie", Bat concluded, "the veil between the living and the dead is much thinner there. But because I was dead, I couldn't leave. This park is the closest I'll ever get to the human world", he went silent, waiting for a response. Maybe a hug or a punch to the face.
Instead, Aiden just said, "Why didn't you tell me? Or Tammy for that matter?", he was angry, it was obvious from the tone of his voice.
Bat replied calmly, "Can you blame me? The only humans I knew of that were aware of fairies' existence were my parents, and I told you how terrible they were. I'm not saying I thought you would be like them it's just that...I was afraid you'd hate me. Think I'm some sort of freak". At this, Aiden's gaze softened and without words, hugged his friend.
"You are a freak,'' he said, "but that's a good thing. I wouldn't have become friends with you if you weren't".
Bat hugged back, smiling, "Thank you, Luna"
"Aiden"
"Huh?"
"My real name's Aiden"
"Oh. In that case, thank you Aiden"
