Guardians 1: Ashes

Chapter 31: Faces

Adam's POV

I had went back in my room and was sitting down on my bed. I had Cory's mask in my lap. I stared at it for a while.

"How did I never catch this thief?" I muttered. "How did I never hear about the kidnappings from the orphanage?" I sighed.

"I'm a terrible guard." I said and threw myself backwords onto my bed.

And now, the founding festival is coming up  and a war is going on. If I go back to the castle now, would they execute me for leaving? Well I did leave to protect Kalá more ificiently. I left and became a guardian, they should understand why. My duties are still to the kingdom, even more now then ever. We should probaly present our selves at the festival as the new Guardians of Kalá, but would they execute Cory? He was a thief... but now, he is a guardian, a hero. Talk about changing your stars. I thought to my self.

Jin will be happy. He will finally see Aphmua again, the king's daughter. She has been a good friend to us sence we were kids, so when their romance started brewing, the king was alright with it. Although, Aphmua is sort of a wild card. She gets really over excited, and may do what ever she wants at times. Though, she is still my friend and one of my duties as a guard was to protect her causing me to get to know her even better then Jin, so I understood why she acted so oddly at times.

It would be nice to see an old friend. We were practically family, and the king acknowledged that and treated me like a son. I smiled at the thought. I then got up and began to walk outside, but Alex caught my eye. She was holding her necklace in her hand mumbling something.

"You okay?" I asked.

"Yea... just got little sleep." She said.

"Hey if you see Cory, can you give this back to him. I have a feeling he doesn't want to talk to me right now." I said then handed her the mask. She nodded and teleported. I walked on and headed to the meeting room.

When I finally arrived to the room, Red, Barney, Mitch, and Ghetto were inside.

"Red I need to talk to you." I said.

"What is it Adam?" Red asked slightly annoyed.

"We are going to go to the Founding Festival and at it, I plan on announcing the new guardians of Kalá." I said.

"That sounds likes a wonderfuls idea." Barney said.

"No, it doesn't, it puts your head's on the line, yes I know, all previous guardians were announced at one of these festivals, after the old ones had fallen, but it is a bad time." Red said.

"No it is the perfect time. Think about it, the festival is about hope and the founding of this land of good. When this place was first founded, the first Guardians were made to keep peace, and protect our lands and given the enchanted amulates. The Original 4 Guardians! It has been a tradition for over 800 years and we need to keep it. We need to show their is hope. The Guardians are a symbol of hope, and we can't take that away." I said louder then attended, and it grabbed Red's attention.

"If that is the way you feel, so be it. I will send message to the King saying, we will be attending. I just feel as if... you guys are not ready." Red said worried.

"Don't stress your self, it isn't for a couple of weeks from now." I said pating him on the back.

"I fear I may only have one week left." Red said.

Shelby's POV

I found my self by Cory's side more then usual, I don't know why, but I was drawn to him. Alex than popped up and I yelped.

"Sorry." she said with a smile. Than handed Cory his mask. "Adam wanted me to give this back to you for him." She said than vanished.

"That was... Random." Cory said. He then looked down at his mask for a bit. He then put it back on."I feel better already." He said smiling.

"You didn't like not having it?" I asked.

"Well let's just say it's something I won't be trying anytime soon." He said still smiling at me.

"But didn't it feel better? Free?" I asked with a smile.

"To be honest, it felt like something was missing." He said. My smile faded.

"Aww don't be so down, besides, you are just gonna forget in a bit anyways." Cory said.

"What do you mean?" I asked.

Cory then sat down in the grass and I sat down next to him. He came closer to me so our faces were almost touching. A grin popped up on his face.

"Describe my face." He said.

"Thats easy." I said." You- you- you.... your... Uhhhh. I don't remember." I tried to recall his face. I thought I would never forget, but I did. I tried as hard as I could, but every time I tried to picture him, he had the mask covering his face.

"Here's the thing, people don't like new things. When you get so use to one thing, and one day that pattern changes, you will still remember it the previous way.All because you have seen it a million times the same way before, your brain automatically registeres it the way you used to view it. Also you just tend to forget un necessary details. To you, my real face is an uncesaary detail, because your brain is use to my mask as my face. I wear it so much, your brain only sees that as my face and just thinks it got the identity wrong when you saw me without it." Cory said this with a smile. We were still face to face.

What he had said kinda made sence to me. I found my self slowly getting closer to him, he was actually opening up more.

"Is the reason why you kill during your battles because of what happened to you, Uni, Rex, and Nick?" I asked softly.

"Yea... That guy showed me, their is no mercy in this world, it's kill or be killed. Some people are monsters inside and out, and those people need to be put down... Some people are sick and cruel and will just take from everyone they can, doesn't matter who they are, how they act, good or bad. There are always those sickos who will take. Those are the kind of people we are up against those are the kind of people we live with. Those are the kind of people I will stop at nothing to protect Nick, Uni, Rex, and even you from." Cory said looking past me. Past the world. I could tell his mind had drifted somewhere else.

"I'm sorry Cory,  not everyone is like that though. Some people will do anything to help, and protect their friends and family. Some people will do anything to give to another no matter how much it is. Some people have hope and love for another. Some people are still good." I said looking Cory straight in the eyes.

"I know their is Shelby." Cory whispered. "You proved that to me." He gave me a bright smile. And I couldn't help my self and smiled back.