Hey just a few things first. This is a totally original story that I made up on my own. I own the characters because I came up with them myself. Hope you like it!


I always believed there was something out there. Calling the shots, gambling our lives. But I never thought, it would be what it really is. They hide in plain sight, and you'll be unhappy you never guessed it. Hey, I'm Terri, Terri Longstain. This is the story, of how I found the Guardians.

About 2 weeks ago, I decided to explore the woods behind my house, and, though I thought it was original at the time, I found out otherwise. When I first heard him, he sounded faint, and hesitant, like he wasn't sure on what he should be doing. His voice was quite but I still froze dead in my path. Turned around to say 'sorry won't happen again.' But when I saw him I had to blink and rub my eyes. He was tall and old, in a black coat, gray sweater, and boots. Even his face and hands were gray.

"Hello, Terri." He repeated. His eyes were scared and I was sure I was hallucinating. But since this long week end was boring me to death, I decided to play along.

"Hello, Gray man. What your girlfriend dump you?" I asked with a little laugh. Was standing in a patch of sunlight, and it was burning my back so I stepped to the left, and the man disappeared. I was sullen, he hadn't even gotten to answer me, and I wanted to know what his girlfriend was like.

*Oh, she was wonderful, I painted a picture of her, you may have heard of it. The, Mona Lisa.* Hearing gray man's voice inside my head only added to me hallucinating. But I still jumped and grabbed the nearest branch, swinging it around wildly. *That won't do anything to me, I'm already dead.* Came his voice again. This time it seemed like he was whispering into my ear of something. *I knew you were ready. Now step back into the light.*

I did what he said and side stepped into the path of sun, for a moment I looked at my feet, but when I looked up, saw the man again. "Hello oh again. Who are you?" I asked curiously, he looked familiar, but at the same time, alien.

*I am Leonardo, your shadow character.* He bowed slightly. I had been confused and I questioned him. He didn't seem to mind and he spent about a half hour explaining to me what a Shadow Guardian is and why it's used. By the time I returned home from my exploration, I half understood what he was.

*HEY LEO!* I put all my force into the thought and sent it to my chara.

*Oh, uh yes Terri? What is it* I felt rather than saw him turn his head to look at me.

*What do I call you I mean like what White Demon, Fallen Angle, Guardian,…What?* Terri had become aware of him laughing at her.

* Call me Leo or Leonardo. Shadows are sent here from heaven, They look like themselves, unless they change their appearance-which many of us do- but they have a hard gray shadow cast over them, they look sad, when actually, I'm very happy. When you die you will become a shadow, then spend a year in heaven, then you get a choice between heaven and Shadow-work. I choose Shadow-work, as you can see, but you are, only the second person I've revealed to. The others were shaped by the hands of hell and grew up like it too, so, they went to hell.*

So now that you've caught up with reality, let's continue.

*Terri, as I can control you, you can just as easily control I.* Leo stated plainly.

*Me.* I corrected half mindedly. He had been on Shadow-duty for 300 hundred years and had never updated his grammar rules, jeez.

*Excuse me?* He said, his face blank and expressionless.* Of course you can control I-*

*Me. Oh no, I know I can control you, but you said 'You can control I' and that was supposed to be 'You can control me.'* I said via mind thought .

*Oh, well…any why as I said you- No.*Leo stopped me in my tracks.

"No what?" I yelled. I blushed when I realized I had actually yelled it.

* No, you can't tell your friend Em you have a guardian Shadow.* Leo said sternly.

* Why?* replied getting weird looks due to my confused expression. Leo had sounded so final about what he said.

* Because, it is up to her guardian to decide when she is ready to find out about the Shadow world.* Leo explained, * you can't go around telling people who don't already know.*

Some real downers on this whole outer-knowledge thing.