The Trusted Guardian Part 6

Swift awoke in the dream-world of darkness that Piper had been in those 2 times before. Swift herself looked about 5 – just like Piper was at the start of her dream in the beginning. Short and scruffy... and confused... that was her... Everything was dark until a couple of seconds later where a blue light lit up the darkness. It's owner – a feather-winged 14 year old Piper. She approached the 5 year-old Swift slowly, bending down carefully to meet her eyes when she got to her. She brought out a hand that Swift took with slight hesitation. After that... they just talked like the previous 7-year old Piper and angel Swift did – calmly, trying to find out what was going on- Piper going on to explain that she was protecting her.

After about 15 minutes of walking through the darkness, Swift had grown into her usual 14 year old self. A few minutes later they met another couple wandering in the opposite direction – a feathered-winged Swift and a now 14 year old Piper. The two angels went and stood together and so did the two ordinary girls – them actually recognising the person of the same type – angel or human. "I told ya' it was for both of our benefits" the 'angel' Swift told the 'ordinary' Piper.
"Hang in there guys, you'll be fine" the 'angel' Piper told the two normal 14 year olds.
"'kay" the two 'normal' girls replied in unison. After that, the angels walked off together and the two normal girls were left alone.
"Well… that was brief" Piper said to Swift.
"Yeah…" Swift ended, ending the dream all together... both of them.

Swift opened her eyes to see a pair of amber eyes staring into them 5 minutes later.
"Swift?" Piper asked worriedly.
"Wh-what? P-Piper?" Swift murmured "Wait- WHAT? Y-you're alive?!" she emphasised, stopping for a minute to check that she wasn't dreaming... "Or am I dead?" she continued, checking that her body was solid.
"We're both alive Swift" Piper said again. That only signalled Swift to sit up and hug the living daylights out of Piper—and Piper to hug her back.
"How is this possible?" Swift paused "Y-your heart stopped and… I passed out… and had a weird dream..." she stuttered.
"And you've been recovering from it for the last 5 minutes" Piper replied.

"Maybe... I can shed some light onto that…" a voice replied, it sounded like it was coming from in front of them… but no one was there… for long.  A light purple mist shrouded in front of both Swift and Piper, soon gathering together to make a figure – the Oracle. The two girls looked up at her, floating in front of them. They were sitting on the floor, both of them feeling... a bit below 'Ok'... "You're role as a guardian was performed to perfection Swift, I congratulate you on that" the Oracle began.
"Wait-" Piper interrupted "Did you have something to do with this?" she asked the Oracle. After a few seconds of silence, Piper looked to Swift with a look of annoyance and confusion on her face "You rid of the darkness from my heart because she told you to?" she asked.
"Yes Piper, I told Swift to do that. But don't think that was the only reason why she did. She was very intent on ridding it from your heart when I alerted her of it- before I asked her to. Indeed she wasn't too keen on not telling Aerrow about it, but I said only she could do it and she listened to me nevertheless" the Oracle explained.
"You didn't seriously think that I protected you from it just because she told me to?" Swift asked Piper as she shrugged, embarrassed.

"Anyway, h-how can we both be here right now? Like Swift said, she passed out for no apparent reason... a-and I can remember blacking out, but I thought I was dying..." Piper stuttered.
"You were" the Oracle commented. Swift and Piper exchanged scared glances for a second, and then they looked back to the Oracle. "The two necklaces you bought on Terra Saharr before Swift's 7th birthday, Piper... you aren't aware of what they really are, are you?" the Oracle asked.
Swift's eyes widened "Wait- before I blacked out, they were reacting with each other… and glowing"
"Glowing?" Piper repeated, confused about the events that had taken place "I thought they were just raw crystals"
"I take that as a 'no' then" the Oracle said "They are in fact two of the most powerful crystals in the Atmos- when used together"

"Huh?" Swift and Piper commented together in unison.
"Indeed they may seem completely powerless on their own but when together, they can revive even the weakest of people. The green one is a Serenity stone as the blue one is a Twilight stone. The Serenity stone is powered by positive, peaceful energy and stores it in the core of the crystal. The Twilight stone however is powered by confidence and trust, and again, positive energy such as this. If one of these crystals is down on the energy it is powered by, the other one will share its energy with it providing its close. That is why they joined together when Piper was about to die. Swift's Serenity stone shared its energy with Piper's Twilight stone and continued to give most of Swift's life energy to Piper in order to save her life- because somehow it knew that she'd agree to an energy drain if it meant that Piper would live. That is why Swift blacked out when the crystals started to react and also why Piper is alive right now" the Oracle explained. "The energy the crystals get from your positive emotions will remain inside their core until it is used up in situations such as this, where they share the energy to cure or heal" she continued.
Swift and Piper understood, Swift had healed Piper with help from their crystal necklaces by sharing her life energy with her. That would also explain why Swift didn't feel so good either- there was only just energy for each of them. But still, Swift would've agreed for the crystal to share her energy with Piper.

"The crystal's energy will also be lost if any emotion is shown that is opposite to the emotional energy that powers it. So energy will be lost from the Serenity stone if anger, rage or frustration would be shown, and the same for the Twilight stone if rejection or fear would be shown" the Oracle ended.
"So that's why you told me to be calm about it? During the time that Piper slept, she was beating the darkness herself because of the calm energy that she got by my calm reaction?" Swift asked.
"Partly" the Oracle said "Yes Piper was able to beat the darkness by herself while she was sleeping, but it was because she also gained confident energy through your loyalty that you showed"
"And that's also why you told me not to call Aerrow – he wouldn't be able to revive Piper?" Swift asked, the Oracle nodded. "The feeling you said you got where you were next to me…you said you felt stronger…" Swift began to Piper "Is that because of the crystals?" she asked, turning back to the Oracle.
"No" she replied "You both have a strong connection with each other, necklace crystals or not- feeling strong together is a usual feeling to get between friends with your level of trust in each other" she finished "And let me say that I've only ever met one other pair of friends with that in common".

"So... that pretty much clears up everything?" Swift asked, still sitting up on the floor next to Piper who was still in the dressing gown.
"I guess it is" the Oracle said "I recommend to both of you to get back to the Condor before Aerrow catches on to the real reason why your were absent most of yesterday and this morning" she said finally.
"Gotcha'" Swift said.
"But wait-" Piper interrupted "The darkness is gone right? All of it?"
"Yes, all of it" the Oracle answered. "And I know you've been doing it a lot lately..." she said as the first half of her last sentence "but you may want to rest once you get back. You've both had a hard 24 hours" the Oracle continued before she faded from both of Piper's and Swift's sight.

"Hey Piper?" Swift asked her finally.
"Yeah?" Piper answered.
"We haven't got a skimmer..." Swift continued, trying not to laugh.
"Oh..." she began.

In the end, they called up Aerrow 'admitting' that 'they'd had a sleep over with Perry ON Terra Amazonia' and had forgotten that 'they'd left their skimmers outside during a weird snow-storm...' and also, 'Perry said 'Hi''. So when Aerrow asked 'how Perry got from her skimmer-less Terra to Terra Amazonia', Piper said they went and got her... The weird thing was, he believed them and came over with the Condor to pick them both up.

During lunch on the Condor, Finn was asking for all of the details of the 'sleep over' as he knew how gossipy girls were in them. They told him it was none of his business and after that, they just went to bed for the rest of the day. Radarr made sure that no one woke them up as he knew partly of what was going on.
"Why are they sleeping? They had a sleep over!" Finn moaned to Aerrow.
"Exactly" Aerrow told him. "Girls only talk and giggle for the whole of a sleepover, if ever they only get to sleep at about 3 in the morning. You know girls Finn, they're unpredictable..." he tried to explain whilst Piper and Swift lay in their own beds, both of them in a dreamless sleep for the first time in about 28 hours.

Swift's POV
I'm guessing we both woke up at about 7PM; I just woke to the light sound of footsteps coming closer and closer to my room. My senses still hadn't died down from when I was trying to sense any auras coming- basically trying to sense if Cyclonis was close by. As you already know, I totally failed in that. My head glanced upward from my pillow and I gazed at the figure standing in the doorway.
"Hey" she said quietly.
"Hey" I greeted back, tired and ready to get back to sleep.
"You know I am truly grateful for what you did…" she began but I stopped her.
"I know Piper; you don't have to thank me. I was just doing my job…"
"Your job is to protect me?" she asked calmly
"Well..." I paused "If it were, I wouldn't mind one bit…" I said as Piper came down and sat on the end of my bed. "But the point is that… we both know that we don't want to lose each other again… That's the main thing right? That's why we protect each other, that's why we'd protect the boys or anyone we loved, because we know what losing someone you're close to feels like…"

"Yeah" Piper agreed.
"So…" I began as I sat up from my bed, "What's up?"
"Well… its kinda' awkward now" Piper paused, rubbing the back of her neck "I don't want to bother you if you're still tired"
"No, no, what is it?" I persisted.
"Well… I was thinking…could I have that back-rub now please?" she asked me. I smiled, trying not to laugh.
"Sure" I said, starting to click my finger joints.

Lock's POV
Yeah, Terra Ray for me was a disaster. Knux sunbathed, Kagu worked the barbeque and Manx splashed about in the water like the little 17 year old he is while I read a good book. Sure it may sound harmless but it all started at the beginning of lunch. 1st I burnt my tongue, 2nd Manx splashed me with water to apparently 'try to cool me down' and then we got into practically murdering each other afterwards in the water. I was soaked... as was Manx and his black eye. I guess I wouldn't have been so uptight if Swift was here... I get worried about her sometimes. I know what she's like- anxious. If she heard about the Terra then she'd come to check on us, why? Because Manx apparently doesn't know how to U.P.C.H.U.C... which he obviously doesn't.

The ride back to the Terra was unbearably silent. Manx was annoyed that I – the apparent weak boy in the group- managed to give him a black eye. Knux as usual didn't say anything to help but Kagu was nice in supporting me that I acted the way I did because I missed Swift… But hey, it was sweet righteousness when I saw the piece of paper I had left on the door leading to the corridor from the hanger. It had been written on... After what I'd written, it went on to say other stuff –'A, Manx, you idiot. B, stop fiddling with my old stuff, you could get hurt. C, have a nice time on Terra Ray. D, if you didn't it's probably Manx's fault... E, yeah, I saw and I'm sorry I couldn't stay. And F, you may want to get a better toaster… I think I broke it…" Then at the end, it was signed by her – 'Swift' it said on the line I had left for her. Maybe... she's not the incapable girl she left here as. Yes… I can see that now. Her being with the Storm Hawks… it's making her a better person… somewhat… more confident. I can see that now.