To Overthrow the Guardians

Chapter 37: The Found

When Matt could move again, everyone had stopped fighting. He didn't know why, but there was a certain feeling of peace in the room, an agreement that something bad had just happened because of their actions. No one fought now, just stood and stared at the people in the doorway.

Matt was at the front of the room, so he could see them clearly. There was a younger Beth, two redhead teens, and an E.A.D. behind them.

The Guardians came to stand next to Matt, just looking at the newcomers. Beth and one of the redheads looked especially beaten-up with their bruises and cuts while the other teen glowed like a child on Christmas morning.

"So," Beth began, looking at the Guardians, "I guess we've found you. You've been gone and forgotten almost since the beginning of the summer."

"Gone?" Matt said. "What do you mean 'gone'?" They hadn't been out for more than a few seconds, hadn't they?

"The Guardians just disappeared, and almost everyone forgot they existed," one of the redheads said, the non-excited one. "This place appeared in our time, and we would forget about it, too. Right now, you're in the past."

"How far in the past?" Matt asked. Had time been messed up so much that the L.E.R. building had appeared in a different time?

Beth took out her phone and showed him the date. It was about seven years ago, the summer before Matt met Haven and the others.

"It's not that long until the L.E.R. is first created, though Beth- you are her, right? You won't join for a while," Matt said.

"What about my sister and I?" the excited redhead asked. "Do we join the L.E.R.?"

"I don't recognize you guys," Matt said. "But that doesn't mean that you for sure won't." She glowed even brighter.

"We'll probably go back to our own time soon," Duran said. Matt agreed. It was probably true; now that they were unfrozen, they would likely return to normal. "We thank you for 'rescuing' or 'finding' us or whatever you did. I guess I should tell you, though, that I think you'll forget everything about the Lunar Eclipse Resistance once we return to our time, along with the fact that you saw the Guardians." Yes, it would only make sense. If they remembered, it would mess up too much. "And the building will go with us."

"I won't forget," Beth said, and she held up her bloody right arm. "We figured out this bracelet makes me remember when everyone else doesn't. And I want to ask before you go: why was Mallory trying to get in here when that was where you guys and the Guardians were?"

*/*/*/*

Beth listened to the people at the front of the room talk. She could barely see her past self from back where she was, but maybe that was a good thing. Younger Beth might freak out if she noticed her.

"Mallory Bennett?" Matt said. "He was- well, he was probably trying to kill us. Again. He can't kill the Guardians if they've 'disappeared' or us if we're with them. He's...not right in the head right now." Well, that was one way to put it. "Oh- and, Beth, I need that bracelet of yours." The bracelet. A small memory came back to Beth, one of discovering that the bracelet was what kept her from forgetting what others didn't, but she didn't spaz or anything. "I promise I'll give it back once you're in our time, where we're about to go, but I really can't have you remembering us. It could...mess up a lot."

"No!" younger Beth shrieked like a panicked child, and she tried to bolt away but fell. The E.A.D. picked her up, took her bracelet off, and handed it to Matt.

As soon as it was in his hands, younger Beth, May, and Cynthia disappeared, Cynthia's Power-Inducer falling to the floor with a clatter. The present Beth and the others were back in their own time again.

Beth came to the front of the crowd.

"I believe this is yours," Matt said, handing her the black bracelet with the white heart-on-wings charm on it. She put it on, and all at once, her memories came flooding back to her. Her friends telling her that they had something to show her that they had found, which turned out to be the L.E.R. headquarters. She and Cynthia talking while Beth tried to help her control her ability, Cynthia checking each cookie before she ate it during a snack break because of her OCD. All of Beth's forgotten memories. Her head spun for a moment, but it soon came to a stop, and she didn't fall. She was okay. She was fine.