The Trusted Guardian Part 5

Glancing at Piper once more before she went away, she looked back at Swift and said, hating to admit defeat – "Fine". "But" she began yet again, beginning to turn around "You know where to find me if you change your mind..." she said, looking straight at Piper. Then, she wandered back into the darkness... again. After about 20 seconds, when she was sure that Cyclonis was completely gone, Piper spoke- "That girl before her... Was—was that ... me?". Swift sighed, finally trying to get over her anger from her previous conversation. "It was" she began "But it's not anymore". "But... how could that have been... me?" Piper asked, scared but mostly confused. "That girl just there, what feeling did you get from her?" Swift asked her "It wasn't good if that's the sort of answer you're looking for" Piper replied. "Exactly, she wants you to turn into that. But you're not going to, she can't accept that- which's why I'm here" Swift continued, beckoning Piper to continue walking with her. "Thanks..." Piper said after a brief few minutes of silence and walking. "Heh, for what?" Swift asked. "Not many people would defend me like that" "If you looked hard enough, I'm sure there're be loads" Swift ended, ending the dream with the fading of darkness into white light.

As Piper woke up again, she saw Swift awake next to her. Swift had jolted awake a few seconds ago which must've caused her to wake too. Still tired and needing of more rest, Piper closed her eyes again "What is it?" she asked in a tired and mumbling voice. "A bladder emergency I think" Swift whispered quickly, sounding desperate. "I'll be just a minute" she said. As she did, Piper retracted her head from her side for Swift to get up. She did so quickly and got a pillow for Piper to put her head down on for the 'brief few minutes' she would be away. Truth was, Swift didn't have a 'bladder emergency', she'd felt a different aura on the premises while she was asleep – causing her to wake. She walked quickly out of the lounge to the corridor where she met the aura's owner's face at the end of it. "Radarr?!" Swift whispered, in a hard voice. He folded his arms and stared at her with a grumpy face, starting to tap his foot against the metal floor.

"Radarr? Why-how-what... oh lord, what are you doing here?!" Swift whispered hardly again, confused. She was expecting it to be Master Cyclonis, due to what the Oracle had said… but Radarr? He pointed at her with one of his fingers, the grumpiness still on his face. "What?" she began, he was accusing her of... well that she could only just tell... "Well... yeah, I know I told Aerrow that we were at Perry's but... oh crap, he isn't here is he?" Swift burst out, but still in her whisper. Radarr shook his head and tried to signal for an explanation... but Swift was gonna' do that anyway. "Radarr, it's ok. Just follow me alright?" Swift calmed down for about the 4th time in that day. She walked back into the lounge with Radarr behind her, once he saw Piper on the sofa, his angry attitude changed to a worried one. "Hey Piper, you got a visitor..." Swift said softly to her. A few seconds later, she opened her eyes slightly to see Radarr behind Swift. "Oh, Radarr" she mumbled again, reaching out to pat him on the head. He still looked at her with worry on his face. "It's 'the Binding' again buddy" Swift looked back at him. "Don't worry about me though Radarr, Swift's got it covered" Piper mumbled tiredly, her eyes closing again. Swift looked back at Radarr, his face still quite worried. "Seriously bud, we'll be back tomorrow. She's getting better as she rests so she'll be ok in the mourning "she told him. He smiled a small smile and nodded. "Did you want to stay a while or did you want to get back to Aerrow?" she asked in a whisper. He held up a thumb over his shoulder to signal he should get back. She smiled and nodded, scratching him on the head slowly. "Piper, Radarr's gonna go now ok?" she whispered back to the dozing girl. "Ok..." she mumbled back "Bye Radarr". "Aarch" Radarr chirped as he walked back to the hanger with Swift.

She waved Radarr off as he flew out of the hanger with Finn's spare skimmer and off to wherever the Condor was in the quadrant. Swift came back to find Piper in the same position as before – her head resting on a pillow. "Bladder emergency?" Piper mumbled mockingly. "What? It could happen" Swift chuckled back. Piper leant back up so Swift could get back into her position on the sofa. Once she'd sat down, Piper dropped her head back into Swift's side. And yet again, they both fell asleep for another couple of hours.

It turned out that the couple of hours translated back into something around 10. As the early morning sun arose on the Terra, its rays shone upon the base. Standing on the balcony in awe of those rays was Swift; most of the snow had melted in the early hours of the mourning so she was able to walk on it without slipping over or getting an extreme chill. A few minutes later, she heard quiet, small footsteps coming closer and closer towards her. "Hey" Swift greeted their owner. "Mourning" she replied. "I take it you're feeling better then?" she said as she turned to see Piper in her dressing gown, standing with nothing to support her. "More than" Piper replied. "Of all the questions I want to ask—my first one would probably be 'how'?" "How what?" Swift asked "How did you stop it?" Piper persisted. "You know, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you" Swift chuckled. "Well however you did it, thanks for not giving up on me" Piper said, turning to Swift, her amber eyes as healthy as before. "No matter how scared you'd be Piper, I know you'd come through for me if the positions were reversed". "Wanna' bet on that?" a voice came from behind, Piper turned around quickly to meet Cyclonis with her staff. "Look out!" Piper yelled to Swift as she took a step in front of her, blocking her from the bolt that Cyclonis just shot from her staff. Piper flew across the balcony, landing near the corner of it, the railings stopping her from going any further. "Piper!" Swift cried as she was hit by the single bolt. She turned back to Cyclonis with mixed emotion of anger and worry. She looked back to Piper who she heard a small groan from, followed by slow painful movements and the weak blinking of eyes.

"Oops" Cyclonis mocked "My bad" she gloated. Looking back at Cyclonis, her worry turned to fury, anger and rage. After accomplishing good health, how could she let Piper get back into a bad condition? Swift walked towards Cyclonis angrily, rolling up her sleeves on the way there to reveal her bare arms. Cyclonis held up her staff in defence only to get it pried out of her hands, bent in two and thrown over her shoulder. Cyclonis looked up to Swift with a smirk on her face. "You think this is funny?" Swift asked her, she clenched her teeth, showing her razor canines again. "Why of course" Cyclonis replied. "Wrong answer..." Swift whispered vigorously, taking back her fist and bringing it back to impact with Cyclonis' face. 4 seconds after she got her face punched in, Cyclonis flinched back. Swift rushed at her, taking her by the throat and ramming her into the wall opposite the great view of the Terra that the balcony provided. "I'm sure the Dark Ace'll wonder why his 'powerful' master has a black eye, now if you value your other eye and don't wish it to get black like the other one will, I suggest you leave NOW" Swift growled in her face. A few seconds of silence went by and Cyclonis was still debating on what to do. Usually she'd know Swift's next move... but she was way past angry and she'd never dealt with her like that before. "Forget it, you deserve it anyway" Swift said, bringing back her fist for another upper-cut on Cyclonis' face. "Fine" Cyclonis said when Swift was just about to punch her again. Swift stopped her fist that was half-way in mid-air and making its way towards Cyclonis' face. Cyclonis took a crystal out of her pocket and activated it. Swift stepped back to watch Cyclonis fade from the scene, to teleport back to Cyclonia. Both of them staring angrily into each other's eyes.

Once Cyclonis had fully disappeared, Swift looked back to Piper who was still sprawled out in the corner of the balcony. "Piper?" Swift nudged her slightly. She was replied with a weak moan. Trying to collect her courage, Swift picked Piper up and ran on inside, setting her down on the lounge floor where she had room. She checked Piper's breathing pattern – it was laboured- and her heart-rate –which was slow. "Come on Piper!" she yelled, "Come on! You gotta' make it through this! We got through 'the Binding' we can get through this too!". Piper opened her eyes half-way and managed to speak, but her voice was weak- "Swift…I-I'm sorry…I-I had to protect you… you would've done…" "I know, I know! But just hold on ok! We're gonna' fix this! We'll get you back to normal again" Swift yelled in a fluster, this time she couldn't calm down. She felt the tears roll down her face in large numbers. "N-no… I'm sorry… Sw-Swift…I-It's over for me" Piper breathed heavily, tears starting to roll down her face too. "T-tell Aerrow I-I'm sorry… I-I never told him…how… how I really felt about him… Finn…to k-keep practising with that guitar… Junko…t-to share out the sandcakes... Stork… not to worry about the mind worms... Radarr…to k-keep Aerrow safe…" she said with her last few breaths. "P-Piper I-" Swift sniffed, the tears filling up her eyes. "A-and you Swift… I-I'm lucky to have met you… G-go back to the Condor and t-tell everyone… t-that I'm sorry… K-keep them all safe… and d-don't worry about me…"

"Piper..." Swift only just managed over her tears that were flooding out of her eyes. "I'm sorry... I'm so sorry…" "Don't be…" Piper managed her last words before she closed her eyes, and no doubt that the colour faded from them. "NO!" Swift yelled, not willing to let her friend go. She started to thump at her ribcage in hope to get her heart started again... but she had no such luck. "Piper!" she shouted…nothing…All she did then on… was clench Piper closely to her…blaming everything that had happened on herself. She cried her eyes out, forced them shut to convince herself that this was a dream, a nightmare... but again, no such luck. "Piper..." she whimpered "I'm sorry..."

As she whimpered and cradled her friend's body, she suddenly heard a noise – like a click. She flinched back, wondering if she'd accidentally broken anything of Piper's through all the tight bear-hugging. But no, her and Piper's diamond necklaces had joined at the bottom tip. "Wh-what?" she said to herself, tears still in her eyes. The two connected necklaces started to glow, Swift's a lighter green and Piper's a deeper blue. Suddenly after that, Swift began to feel... light headed… weaker… whoa… "P-Piper?" Swift stuttered, feeling like she was about to topple backwards for her head to hit the metal floor. All she remembered before she slumped the rest of her body to the floor and blacked out was the single image of Piper - her eyes closed, mouth a thin, short, blank line... and both of their necklaces joined together and glowing.

To be continued...