Rise of the Guardians   von Aqua111
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                    Kapitel 5: Old wounds and new abilities
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Rise of the Guardians
Chapter 05 - Old wounds and new abilities

The night had already fallen in and the rocks to both sides of their uphill path
were merely silhouettes against the moonlight but still they barely had made
stops and continued following Spectre into the unknown. Sabre noticed that Locke
was falling behind but he also felt more and more exhausted. Thunderhawk and
Sojourner might have been used to running parcours through the city day by day
and who knew what Spectre had been trained in but if they continued in that
speed they would soon lose the two youngest Brotherhood members.
"Can we ... please rest? I don't think ... we can continue much longer", Sabre
panted not daring to speak too loud in case enemies were in hearing range but
the others still had heard him in the silence of the night, first slowed down a
bit and then finally stopped.
"I think we have come far enough anyways and this looks like a good spot to
rest", Spectre said. He was heavily breathing as well but else barely showed any
sign of exhaustion. "I think we can even risk a campfire. The rocks protect us
from any sight. Still I want to keep guard - just in case."

~~~***~~~

"Do you think we can trust him?" Thunderhawk asked and stared into the
flickering campfire. He and Sabre were the only ones awake. Sojourner and Locke
were sleeping close to them while Spectre had disappeared between the rocks a
good while ago and not been seen or heard since.
"I really hope so. We are following him into terra incognita after all. But then
again why should he have been chosen by the Guardians and told to go to the
Master Emerald by the Neo Walkers if he was our enemy? He might look threatening
at first but, heck, he's Spectre after all."
The lavender furred male just slowly shook his head. "I'm still not sure what to
think of him. He seems to know awfully lot about the Dark and the Death Legion.
Is that really because he was spying on them for quite a while like he said or
is he actually one of them and was sent to lead us into a trap? Enerjak must
already have found out something that could threaten him was going on or else
there wouldn't have been so many zombies in the Chaos chamber. They clearly
weren't out for the Master Emerald. Just having a Guardian name doesn't
automatically mean that he's also a Guardian. In some villages Steppenwolf is
still well known and honoured and there are also a lot of people named after him
- still we don't have a Steppenwolf in our team."
"If he had wanted to finish us off he would have done it right in the chamber
and not fought together with us", Sabre said. "Besides where does his knowledge
of the Chaos Force come from if he wasn't chosen to be a Guardian? Edmund's
bloodline has died out and meanwhile Dimitri's as well since all of the
Grandmasters were either killed during the centuries-long battles or banned into
the Twilight Zone long time ago. If his abilities weren't inherited where else
has he gotten them? I'm sure Enerjak doesn't teach his followers how to use
Chaos based attacks. My only explanation is that he is a chosen one too."
"And still I can't deny that I have a bad feeling about him", Thunderhawk said
and looked around. "Where on Mobius is he anyways? Since we have started to rest
he has been avoiding us."
"I think he is still out on guard duty", Sabre said and stood up. "But maybe
it's better if I go out and look after him. He might be tired too."

Carefully Sabre climbed through the rocks always ready for an attack. He might
have trusted Spectre but who knew what else was lurking in the darkness.
"Who's there?" someone suddenly whispered.
Sabre spun around but then sighed in relief when he recognized the figure in the
moonlight.
"Good grief, Spectre, you startled me."
"I'm sorry but I had to make sure you weren't a Legionnaire without having to
attack", the older male said and came closer. "Why have you left the fireside?
Shouldn't you be asleep?"
"I only needed to rest a bit, not actually sleep and after a while I wondered if
you might have been tired too. Don't you want to come back to the others? I can
stay here and watch over you all for a while now."
For a moment Spectre hesitated and Sabre could read in his eyes that he really
considered going back to the fireside but then the dark Echidna shook his head.
"I'm not sure if I'm even welcomed. You might trust me - more or less - and
Locke does it for sure but the other two... Being watched with hostility is
worse than staying all alone in the darkness."
"They barely know you yet so it's no wonder they are distant", Sabre tried to
console him. "Just give them a bit more time and they will accept you too."
"They accepted you and Locke although it looks like you didn't know each other
before", Spectre said. "This isn't just the distance someone would keep to a
stranger. They are seeing a possible enemy in me. And at least in one point they
are right."
He started rolling up one of his sleeves and in the moonlight Sabre saw the cold
shine of metal.
"I am a Dark Legionnaire", Spectre calmly continued. "But I never wanted to be
one and it's making me sick when others are calling me that way. My mother had
been killed by them when I was about eight years old and they had taken me with
them. I could neither flee - where could I have gone - nor do anything against
them - it would have been me alone against an army. So I kept my head down just
for pure survival. But I could collect information about them in the hope I once
would be able to use it against them. Unlike others they forced to join their
army they never managed to break me. When I had these repeating dreams I finally
saw a flicker of hope to get out of this hell. It had to mean something if I
dreamed about being a Guardian every night although I only experienced the
terrors of the Legion by day and so I basically neglected my daily training
routine to concentrate on hidden power living inside me. That's the reason why
my attacks don't come uncontrollably most of the time unlike yours - I
concentrated on them from the beginning and didn't suddenly have to attack or
defend myself. Of course some of the others grew suspicious of me after a while
- no one calls in sick for such a long time and locks himself up in his room
without ever visiting the medical bay - but I wanted to take that risk. And when
the Neo Walkers talked to me I finally saw my chance to escape had come. The
houses of slavery are a bit outside the Legion camp and the slaves enter and
leave it through an old tunnel system - a good slave is one who stays invisible
and unhearable unless their masters want them to show themselves. Of course they
are guarded too a bit but while a Legionnaire leaving the main camp will be hold
up and asked inconvenient questions he would be widely ignored when leaving the
barrack colony because picking a slave personally isn't forbidden. The only
thing left to do after that was running and trying to be far away before they
noticed my absence."
The whole time Sabre had listened silently and with wide opened eyes. He
couldn't get rid of the feeling that Spectre still tried to hide something about
his past - not just didn't tell it because then the story would have lasted
forever but really hiding it on purpose. But then again, telling him about all
this only hours after they had learned to know each other already had been a
major act of faith.
"I'm only asking you not to tell about it to anyone else yet", Spectre said
after a while. "Locke can hear it. He will understand. But for Thunderhawk and
Sojourner it will be enough if they hear I'm a Legionnaire to stop listening and
see their theories confirmed. I still want to wait until they trust me as
well."
"I won't say a word about it to anyone else but Locke", Sabre promised and then
he added, "Are you sure you don't want to come to the fireplace and take a
rest?"
"No, not for now. Maybe I will later that night but so far I don't feel tired at
all."

~~~***~~~

Thunderhawk was still awake when Sabre returned. He was cutting around on a
piece of wood that looked more and more like a boomerang. "Heck, where have you
been so long?" he silently asked. "I was nearly afraid a Death Legionnaire might
have eaten you."
He lifted up his boomerang as if he wanted to try it but then decided otherwise
and lowered his hand again. Probably he was afraid to lose it somewhere in the
darkness in case it didn't come back.
Sabre sat down between the sleeping Locke and Thunderhawk again.
"I just talked to Spectre for a while. Watch duty in a silent night can really
be boring. He said he wasn't tired yet and wanted to stay out there for a bit
longer but he will return later that night."
"That's good", Thunderhawk mumbled and concentrated on his boomerang again to
see if it still needed improvement.
For a while they were sitting wrapped up in silence then Sabre said, "How did
you two come to the thieves’ gang? Locke told me some kids from the orphanage
he grew up in joined street gangs."
"I wasn't an orphan", Thunderhawk replied, "but most of the time I felt like
one. My oldies barely cared about me. They gave me a place to live and I didn't
have to starve but else I always felt that I was the unwanted child. I guess
they only didn't give me away because else the neighbours would have talked bad
about them or something like that, don't have any other explanation for it. No
wonder I always was a troublemaker. I didn't bully other kids but I never
listened to authorities and had no problems breaking rules. Soon after I dropped
out of school I joined one of the thieves’ gangs. Probably the first good
decision I had made in my life because it was the first time I learned to accept
a subordinate role to others and that some rules are there to be followed if you
don't want to get into massive trouble with your own colleagues or end your life
in a gang fight with a knife in your back."
Sabre remembered the daggers Thunderhawk had used during their fight against the
zombies. The gun control law was very strict, thank goodness or else some of the
gang wars would have gotten out of control but also other weapons could cause
deadly wounds.
"Have you been in a lot of fights already?" he asked.
"Only a few and I never killed someone - only dealt a lot of cuts. Some zombies
today were my first kills ever - if you really can kill something that's already
dead. These daggers were mainly a tool instead of a weapon. If you stick them in
small gaps between bricks you can use them as help for climbing."
With a sigh Sabre leaned back a bit and stared at the sky.
"It's somehow sad to know that all of those who have been chosen to be Guardians
are outcasts in some way."
"The original Guardians were outcasts too", Thunderhawk said. "Wielding powers
no other Echidnas possess or being seen as some sort of royalty doesn't sound
normal to me. Besides I doubt all people approved everything they did. Maybe the
Guardians chose us on purpose - because we would be different from others."
"What about Sojourner?" Sabre asked. "Why was he in the gang?"
Thunderhawk looked down on the Echidna sleeping at his side and Sabre could see
a hint of guilty feeling in his eyes.
"To be honest, it was my fault that he ended up in this mess. If I had the
ability to change the past then I would use it - even though it would mean that
we probably never would have become such close friends - just to make this crap
undone. I was already in the gang when I learned to know him and he was a kid of
maybe eight or nine years. I was a teen, burglary wasn't a full time job and the
other gang members weren't my jailers. I could do whatever I wanted with my
spare time and so I hung out with other teens in the parks a lot and also
learned to know Sojo. I don't know why I even got that stupid idea but one day I
dared him to go with me on one of my trips and steal something as well. I don't
remember what it was - just some cheap crap from a supermarket - I didn't want
him to take anything more expensive since I didn't want him to get into too big
troubles in case he was caught. Well, he was caught but I never expected what
could have followed. He was still too young to get punished by the law so the
worst he got was a lecture by the guy from the EST and he had to pay whatever he
had stolen. But obviously his family didn't see him as too young to get his butt
kicked out of the house. Unlike me he once had a family who cared about him - or
at least he believed he was loved by them - but it all ended all out of sudden
just because of some stupid dare. They didn't want to have him in their house
for any longer because he had brought dishonour over them or some similar shit
and furthermore they believed he would continue being a criminal once he had
started. Obviously their 'love' didn't go far enough to deal with a child who
committed even the smallest crime once - feeling dishonoured and getting rid of
him was an easier way. I never felt guiltier my whole life. He was just a child
and suddenly had no place to live anymore because of me. Of course I offered him
to live with me in my room - I couldn't have cared less about what my parents
said about it anyways. At first I was afraid that Sojo would also see it as my
fault and hate me for what I had done but he was just so thankful for every
little bit of help I could offer. From that time on we were inseparable. I
introduced him to the gang and taught him how to survive on the streets. Soon we
were known as 'the twins' since we only existed as a duo."
Thunderhawk leaned back to look at the stars as well.
"I can't say that Sojo and I didn't have loads of fun together but sometimes I
wonder if he couldn't have had a much better life, far away from the streets, if
it hadn't been for me."
"Or he would have ended up in a boring office job, longing for more adventure
his whole life long and you are actually his saviour", Sabre replied.
Thunderhawk laughed. "Yes, or that." He turned around so he could face Sabre.
"And what about you and Locke? What makes you the outcasts and how did you learn
to know each other?"
"Actually the story of my own life wouldn't even be that interesting", Sabre
said. After hearing Spectre's, Thunderhawk's and Sojourner's stories he felt
like an outcast among the outcasts - they all had their sad stories while his
own life wasn't that much different from most other Echidnas.
"Doesn't matter as long as I know you a bit better afterwards", Thunderhawk
replied.
And so the younger Guardian started telling.

~~~***~~~

Sabre slowly opened his eyes and tried to blink the bright daylight away. Beside
him Thunderhawk was still fast asleep. Damn, had they really dozed off without
waking up any of the others to take over their guard shift? But at least they
now knew how far they could trust Spectre since they all were still alive.
"Has the first Sleeping Beauty finally woken up?" he heard a voice over his
head.
He looked up and his mouth opened in surprise.
"Spectre! How in Edmund's name did you get up there? I didn't know you could
levitate."
The dark furred Echidna was sitting in empty air several feet above their
heads.
"Me neither", Spectre replied, "at least not until I jumped off one of the
higher cliffs."
"You did what? Have you gone insane?"
Now the others had woken up as well and gave the oldest Guardian astounded looks
too.
Carefully Spectre landed between them but instead of an answer he signalled them
to follow him. They climbed up a small path between the rocks that ended
abruptly at the edge of a higher cliff - not high enough to kill someone who
fell down there but still hitting the bottom might have resulted in a few broken
bones. Spectre held out a hand towards Sojourner.
"Do you trust me?" he asked.
The younger Echidna gave him a sceptical look.
"Well ... not really."
"That's even better."
Before Sojourner or anyone else could react Spectre had grabbed his hand and
dragged him down the cliff.
Sojourner cried out and squeezed his eyes shut but when the expected impact
failed to appear he risked a gaze and his eyes widened when he saw they were
gliding through the cliffs of the rocky hills. Spectre still held his hand but
he either did it to help Sojourner navigate or just in case the younger Guardian
could drop after all and didn't carry him. It was the Chaos Force inside his own
body that held him in the air. He let out a loud laugh.
Spectre turned his head and smiled at him. "A great feeling, isn't it? But I
advise you not to think about what you're doing or how you're doing it too much
- at least not before you are able to control the Chaos Force a bit better."

When they landed again Sojourner stood a bit shakily at first and had to be
supported by Thunderhawk but the grin still hadn't disappeared from his face.
"You know this also could have failed", the lavender furred male said with a
hint of reproach in his voice.
"I know but I had to take the risk", Spectre said and when Thunderhawk glared at
him he quickly added, "Listen, in the worst case I still could have caught him
but I had to take one of you by surprise to confirm my theory. I thought about
it the whole night. We have to find a very quick way how we can learn to unleash
and control our powers. Everything I know I learned by myself too but I needed
several days for it and we don't have that time. And then I remembered our
battle in the Chaos chamber. We used attacks we never had used before simply
because we had it in us the whole time."
He suddenly turned around and shot a small Chaos blast at Sabre. It was only a
very weak attack and he would barely have felt it if it had touched him but
instinctively he activated his shield.
"You see?" Spectre continued. "Drop a baby into water and it will start making
swimming movements without ever having learned it. So I dropped myself off a
cliff and the Chaos Force caught me. Our instincts help us unleash our powers
and if we concentrate and remember the feeling we will also be able to control
them soon. You can try that right now if you want to, Sabre. Just close your
eyes and ... feel."
Sabre closed his eyes and tried to concentrate on something although he wasn't
even sure what. What had the Chaos Force felt like? He imagined another attack
and tried to defend himself against it. His skin tingled lightly as if sparks of
electricity were dancing over his fur.
"It really works", he heard Locke whisper.
Sabre opened his eyes and found himself surrounded by a faint green glow. That
shield was so weak it would have been destroyed if a butterfly crashed against
it but it was something he had created with his own will and he knew he could
also make it last as long as he wanted. He looked around and caught Spectre's
eyes. A smirk curled the dark furred Echidna's lips.
"It's a beginning", he said.

~~~***~~~

Another time Locke's chest was hit by a Chaos blast. It was just a very weak one
but still it made him stumble and fall. This time he remained sitting on the
ground.
"There's not use in continuing this training", he bleakly said. "I will never
learn it."
Sabre who had been his training partner for the past few hours knelt beside him
and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Don't give yourself such a hard time. Not even you can learn everything at the
speed of light. We're all beginners. Just look at me. I would barely stand a
chance if a goldfish attacked me."
He had hoped to cheer Locke up a bit but the boy only gave him a saddened look
and said, "But at least you have already used the Chaos Force several times and
I don't even want to mention how much Sojourner and Thunderhawk have improved."
Sabre watched the other training battle and had to admit Locke was right. The
'brothers' were still lacking strength but they compensated it with speed and
knowledge how to attack as a duo without having to exchange words to let the
other know what to do next. Spectre had a hard time blocking all their attacks.
"Maybe it's also because of me that you haven't been able to use Chaos based
abilities yet", Sabre said. "I simply don't look threatening enough. When I
attack your instincts don't tell you to defend yourself because I look as if I
wouldn't even harm a fly."

"Time out!" Spectre called and walked over to the two youngest Guardians.
"What's the matter?"
"He's a bit down because he wasn't able to do any Chaos attacks yet", Sabre
answered.
"I'm a lost cause", Locke mumbled.
"No one is a lost cause until I say so", Spectre answered.
"But it's true. I have learned so many things about the Guardians and the Chaos
Force and now I feel like I know nothing at all. Everyone is able to use at
least light attack or shielding abilities on his own and I couldn't even do
anything when the desert mummies attacked me. And you ... you seem to know
absolutely everything. You have learned it all on your own and now even are
skilled enough to teach others. I can never be that good."
"No one expects you to catch up with someone who had several more training hours
than you on your very first lesson. Besides I also have some major lacks in my
knowledge about the Chaos Force. For example I'm a total dead loss at shielding.
I can counter attacks with own attacks but that's not the same and won't defend
me as good as a real shield. Now please get up again."
Locke sighed deeply but followed his wish.
"And now give me your hands. Don't worry; I won't drag you down a cliff until
you want me to."
If that had been an attempt to cheer the boy up Spectre had failed as much as
Sabre.
"Getting pushed into a threatening looking situation is just one way to learn. I
used another one by remembering how it felt to use Chaos energy in my dreams and
recalling that feeling during my wake hours. Or maybe a combination of both
might help you too. If you have forgotten how it felt in your dreams I can help
you remembering it."
A faint glow appeared around their hands. Locke closed his eyes so he could
better concentrate on it. A good minute later Spectre slowly went back a few
steps and let Locke's hands slip out of his.
"I will let go now but keep that feeling memorized and your eyes shut for a
little longer."
The dark Echidna went back a few more steps then he lifted up a hand and shot a
blast towards the youngest Guardian. Locke's hand moved up fast. Before even his
eyelids had fully snapped open he had countered with an own attack. The two
Chaos forces contacted and bounced off in different directions.
"Congratulations", Spectre said with a smirk.
Sabre punched the air. "You did it!" he called and his reaction caused Sojourner
and Thunderhawk to exchange amused looks.
The corners of Locke's mouth twitched and he showed one of his rare little
smiles.

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