#notcanon but I need to write more about Forest and Emilia goddamn

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It had been exactly thirteen days since Emilia Luisa Valderez Blackwood had seemingly vanished out of thin air. It'd been exactly twelve days since the news was brought to Forest Daniels. It had been exactly ten days since Forest walked to the police station, about to tell them he knew exactly who did it, before turning around, knowing they wouldn't believe him. It had been exactly eight days since Forest noticed EJ's new girlfriend, a blonde chick not that much older than Nova. It had been exactly seven days since Forest decided he needed to take justice into his own hands.

Forest and Emilia had been friends since they were in first grade. They became best friends in the blink of an eye after Emilia defended Forest, at the time known as Allison, from some bullies. They promised one another they'd be sisters forever. When they were teenagers, they promised to be siblings forever. This is exactly what siblings did. Forest would do the same for Nova, no doubt in his mind.

As the ginger walked down main street, he saw the missing posters that were posted everywhere, as if people wouldn't recognize the wife of the Blackwood heir. As if the people of Mary's Field, Virginia wouldn't recognize one of their own.

Forest, in all honesty, wasn't entire sure who to go to. They considered Nova, but he didn't want his little sister dealing with that. He considered the Blackwoods, but he knew they didn't need this right now. He considered the Moore twins and the Thompson twins but neither of them sounded like very good options. Even now, after all he'd been through with his mother, Forest still had a hard time trusting adults.

The Willows? Absolutely not. The Belmonts? Maybe. Only one more person came to mind, the girlfriend of a Blackwood; Freya Clara Boe. Forest knew Freya good enough. Freya and Emilia were very close with one another. Freya was essentially a Blackwood. Freya would keep this secret.

So, he went up to her house and knocked on the door. She answered.

"Forest, hey. What's up?"

"Freya, I need to ask you a favor. Can I com in please?"

"Uh, yeah, sure."

The girl and the boy walked inside. "Make yourself comfy. You want a drink or a snack? Some tea. I have crackers." Freya offered, hospitable as ever. "There's no need for any of that. Just let me ask you the favor, please." He gestured to he couch and Freya took a seat. 

Before he could even say the favor, she said "It has some to do with Emilia, doesn't it?"

He nodded. "If anyone asks, I was here. I mean, it is true. I stopped by at-" He pulled out his phone. The time was 8:26. "Around 8:30." He set his phone on her coffee table and reminded himself to come back for it.

"Forest, what are you going to do?"

"Freya, you know exactly what happened to Emilia. Don't act like you don't know."

Freya knew. She knew, but she didn't. She had spent so many moments around EJ and Emilia. She'd talked to Emilia, they'd been friends, practically sisters. Freya knew EJ had done something to her. So, she nodded, walked him to the door and shut it. She supposed the only downside to losing EJ would be that she wouldn't get to annoy him by speaking Danish around him anymore.

Everyone knew the not-really-famous-but-locally-famous river of Mary's River. Everything in this town either had an actually original name or was called Mary's insertsomethinghere. Forest had talked to Claire Lowe a couple of times. When he brought up concern about EJ and Emilia's relationship, she'd given him criminal psychology tips. And one of them was that, if EJ had actually killed Emilia, he'd return to the scene of the crime.

And that's exactly what happened. 8:46, on a warm Saturday night, was Edward Blackwood Junior staring down at the river. And there was Forest Daniels, a small gun in a gloved hand. Forest had never been so happy to live in rural Virginia, a place of constant hunting which meant constant gunfire. This shot would be lost amongst the redneck fray.

At ten that night, Forest went back for his phone. At 10:11 that night, Forest went home.

He slept well that night.