Guardians 1: Ashes

Chapter 55: Loss of Hope

Jin's POV

I walked around the castle halls thinking. The team seemed shattered, however, I believe Rex will stay.

The rebuilding was going great but sadly all the orphans were taken. That got Adam in an even worse mood. Ross was the only one who was the same, Shelby seemed sad and quiet, but not as bad as Uni. Rex was just... well Rex. Fighting his inner demons I guess.

I was about to walk in my room, when Alex teleported in the hallway.

"Hi." I said waving at her.

"You g-guys r-really need to c-come back to Nero." She said stuttering looking like she was about pass out.

"Is everything okay their?" It was a dumb question but I asked it anyways.

"Shelby has to heal Mitch, the armies are weak and usually he commands them but he can't shake the poison." She said in panic.

I nodded at her and we ran outside. We looked desperately for Shelby then I saw Ross.

"Ross!" I shouted and he turned around.
"Where is Shelby?"

"In some meadow, she goes there now... to think." Ross said and I ran off with Alex close behind.

When we got to the meadow Alex waisted no time, she grabbed my hand then Shelby's and we were teleported inside an infirmary.

"Sh-shelby heal Mitch." Alex said then passed out. I picked her up and put her in one of the medical beds.

Shelby looked at Mitch with wide eyes. He was very pale, sweaty, and where he was poisoned it was turning black and spreading.

Shelby covered her mouth and stared at him.
I snapped her back to reality," Heal him!" I said and she blinked.

Then she placed her hands on his chest and her hands began to glow dimly.

"It's not working." I muttered. "It's not gonna work."

Shelby was weeping now," Why can't I do it?"

"Because your powers are linked to yours and the people around you, emotions. Those emotions right now... for all of us are in a pretty grim place." I sighed than sat down on the floor by Mitch's bed.

Shelby continued to try and heal Mitch, but failing each time. I sighed, watching her determination to save him gave me an idea.

I stood up and put my hand on her shoulder and closed my eyes.

"Think of the people you love, family, friends, and hold onto that picture. Remeber the feeling, and how they made you happy, how they made you smile... and don't let go of that image." I said quietly.

In my head, I saw Adam, the king, and Aphmua. We all were kids again, sitting, eating, laughing. But now... the image got bigger, Ross, Shelby, Nick, Cory, Uni, Rex, and Alex were in it too. They all smiled and Cory had an apologetic smile on his face and one hand around Nick and another sticking out ready to be grabbed.

Uni was smiling and looked happy. He seemed to be holding Cory's jacket. Rex did not have his mask on and seemed to stand proud. Alex was smiling too. She seemed to be laughing... maybe at something Rex had said. Shelby was smiling and holding Ross tightly. Ross looked annoyed, but happy.

This image I held onto this happy scene that I desperately wanted to see again. I felt a warm fuzzy feeling through out my body, then I heard loud coughing.

I opened my eyes quickly and Mitch was no longer pale, the black was gone, and he smiled at us.

"How long was I out for?" He asked.

Me and Shelby looked at eachother we smiled at eachother then ran out the room to find Jerome, which was easy because he was on his way to see Mitch in the infirmary.

Shelby ran straight into him when we turned a corner. Shelby almost fell but Jerome grabbed her arm and stood her normal.

"Watch where you are going next time... Hey what are you two doing here?" He said as he looked at Shelby and me.

"Mi-" was all I said when he interrupted me.

"Seems like you guys just keep popping up." Jerome said smiling at us.

"No, we came to heal Mitch. Which we did, but what do you mean by we keep popping up?"I asked suspiciously.

"Cory was here just the other day, he was acting kinda weird." Jerome said. "Did you guys tell him to come?"

I sighed, "Cory and Nick are gone... Nick was badly hurt and Cory agreed to go with the Prodótis kingdom if they healed Nick... which I am guessing they did."

"Wait... WHAT?!" Jerome said. "How did Nick get hurt, and why couldn't Shelby heal him?"

"We got under siege during the festival, a lot of us went unconscious from the blast... the only awake people really were Cory, Nick, and Uni..." I said trailing off.

"But... that doesn't make sense, what he told me would help me... It did help us." Jerome said thinking hard.

"What did he say?" Shelby asked.

"He told me Ghetto poisoned Mitch... After that, we saw Ghetto and we held him under trial, but he refused to go. We had no choice but to put him in a cell last night, but he was gone today. Nowhere to be seen." Jerome said looking at me and Shelby.

"When was this?" I asked. I thought to myself, maybe it happened before he left.

"He came yesterday. And only yesterday." Jerome said.

Shelby's eyes brightened up and a smile popped up on her face.

He is still on our side, I thought to myself.

Mitch then came strolling out the hallway.

"Hey buddy how is it going?" He asked Jerome with a big goofy grin.

Jerome looked at us and mouthed," Thank you." And left to greet Mitch.

Shelby and I left back to the infirmary, Alex was awake and sitting up.

She smiled at Shelby and gave her a thumbs up." Good job." She said.

Shelby just sighed and sat in a chair.
Alex looked at me in a questioning manner.

"Heartache?" I guessed and Alex shrugged.

"Should I get the others?" Alex asked.

I nodded and she teleported away.