And it's here, people! This is a rewrite of my older fanfiction, under the same title. It is currently still up, so read it at your own will, but there may be some spoilers! However, not EVERYTHING is going to be the same- some events and plot lines are going to be altered. *Shivers* Been excited to post this, just decided to wait for my birthday, since it was so close! Nonetheless, enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own Guardians of Ga'hoole; Kathryn Lasky does. I only own my OCs.

Ocean water. that's what his ear slits were greeted by when he woke up. It was dead obvious that he was on a beach, though, hinted with the first clue along with the next, being that he felt himself plunged on top of a hot sandy surface, the tiny particles getting stuck between his cream-colored feathers. Though, his strength was weak, little of it felt within his hollow bones. No thoughts flooded his mind- no memories, no outside wonders, none of it. Minutes passed until he finally found the strength to stir, pressing his wings against the sand to lift himself up. As he got onto his feet, he nearly lost his balance, stumbling backwards a few steps, but his feet outraced his body to defy gravity and keep him balanced. His eyes were opening more and more, now, and he could see that it was, in fact, a beach. A gaze to his left would show the sun rising, leaving the sky an orange-ish shade… Or was it sunset, instead?

He shook his head- that didn't matter… His dark, owlish eyes were drawn to the sand again, then down to his feet as he flexed his talons out slowly, one by one. Everything started to flow into his brain. Those hues of his then widened a bit, and turned over his shoulder to look down his back, spotting a large, lengthy scar across the length of his back. That's right, he'd been killed, by… A Great Grey… What had happened, how was the wound that had killed him sealed, and yet he was still alive? The Barn Owl would open his pink beak for a second, but then closing it, not saying a word. His head snapped to the right, noticing a deep, dense forest. He'd turn his body fully in that direction, eyeing the treeline up and down, from floor to the highest leaf. Well… The only way he was going to get answers- and food- was if he searched. Shaking his body, he let the sand fall off before spreading his wings into a flight.

It was almost as if hours had passed, but the sky had been getting more blue than it was black, meaning that it was sometime around early morning. Although he hadn't been too tired, thank Glaux… But why did he feel so different than before? Not his body, but more of his mental state, he felt more calm than before, clear-minded… Off-setting, most definitely, but in a good way. The only part about it that he didn't like was the fact that there were some loopholes in his memory, as if some parts had simply been erased. None of it made sense, and he was sure as hag that he wasn't dead. Glamoura nor Hagsmire would be anything like this. That was for damn sure.

As he landed on a branch, he huffed out. Not a damn vole, rat or anything in sight. Nothing edible. Perhaps he was just too tired and unstable to find anything. Something was off about everything, he could feel it in his gizzard. Once again, a question came to him, his gaze bringing him to look up.

"Where in Glaux's name am I?"

Mere seconds after those words bounced off of his tongue, his sensitive Barn Owl ear slits caught the sound of talon on wood, mixed with the gush of wings catching wind. It was only a mere dozen wingspans from him, in fact. His head would turn to see another owl perched on a different branch- another Tyto Alba in fact. He- as the gender was determined- was unaware of the other's presence, it seemed, although perhaps he could help.

Clearing his throat, he finally spoke, "Exuse me, but do you..."

As the owl turned around, his face was recognized instantly.

"Uglamore...?"

"Your Purene-" Saying this curiously at first, Uglamore's expression suddenly changed. From shock and surprise, to anger and hate. Before the other tyto could speak, Uglamore tackled him down- talons-to-talons though theyfell, both weak, clearly. Landing a few feet from each other on the forest floor, they stumbled up to their feet, wobbling as they faced each other.

"Uglamore!"

"I'm no longer your servant, Metalbeak!"

Again, he'd open his mouth to speak, but dived to the side to avoid a charge from the other being. Either movement was pitiful, but it was clear that they were in similar shape. And once more, they'd both feebly get up, but this time he managed to speak first, panting just from the small action, "S-Stop...! I... I don't know what's wrong..."

Uglamore cocked a brow, despite his own light pants.

"I'm not... I don't feel the same- I don't feel like I am who I am anymore..." He didn't even face him as he spoke, "For Glaux's sake, am I dead in Hagsmire?"

"...We may as well be." This time, Uglamore had spoke calmly for a change, "We're both dead, aren't we?"

Once more, "Metalbeak" would would look over, his shoulder and at the scar across his spine as Uglamore looked over the bite marks of a wolf. This day was getting more and more odd.

"Look, Uglamore..." He'd grab his attention, "Neither of us can fight, clearly- we're starving and shaken. We... We need to work together and figure out what's going on..."

Silence passed.

"Fine, I... I'll trust you for now, Metalbeak..."

"Call me Kludd, Uglamore." Although it was at that moment, Kludd realized, "Metalbeak" didn't even fit anymore: His beak was real and organic again. It even made him smile a little, before he looked to Uglamore again, but the other Tyto beat him to the words.

"We need to find shelter, a hollow maybe. If we can't find food, then we at least need a place to sleep."

"Assuming you won't cut my throat if we do sleep..."

"Hey!" His voice was just above a whisper, "I'm putting my trust in you, and I have no real positive gain in killing you, when I may even get myself killed as well. Let's not get so hateful, now."

Kludd sighed and nodded slowly. He was right; they weren't getting anywhere with such negativity towards each other. Yet one problem still remained, "Where do we start looking, then?"

"Don't think I've ever seen owls preferring to sit at the floor of a forest before."

It was a female voice, and definitely caught both of them off guard. They'd turn their heads upwards, catching the sight of another duo of owls perched above them. One- who seemed to be the female that spoke- was a snowy owl with considerably large amount of black over her feathers, and the other had been a young, simple spotted owl, the pair staring down curiously at the two Barn Owls. After the silence was brought to an end, Uglamore and Kludd had both flown up to perch next to then when branches of two different trees intersected.

"Apologies for that, there was just a bit of an... Incident." It was Uglamore who'd explain this, and Kludd would just nod with a roll of his eyes at this, not caring to say much. It was clear they had just landed when she spoke, though.

The Snowy owl would just nod, eyeing between them cautiously, "Mhmm... And I don't suppose you know where we are?"

Kludd and Uglamore shook their heads. All four gained different but similar expressions of mixed confusion or even distrust.

"Then I guess you're in the same mess we are?" It was Kludd who said that, shifting on his perch.

The Snowy Owl cocked a brow, "If you remember dying and then woke up here, then yes, we are."

Silence fell upon them, hearing nothing but the leaves rustling faintly to the light winds. They'd each take uneasy glances at their surroundings, eyeing the ground and branches as they searched for signs of life, until one spoke up.

"I'm Uglamore." The three other heads snapped to him. "If we're going to be around each other, we should at least all know each other's names."

A nod of agreement came from the other former member of the Pure Ones, "Kludd."

"C-Claymore." That was the first time the Spotted Owl had spoken up, and he seemed to be growing a bit more confidence. "My name's Claymore. Just Clay, for short..."

"A pleasure, Clay." Uglamore nodded. Now the turn to be looked over came to the snowy owl. "And you are...?"

"I prefer to keep my name to myself." She'd narrow her eyes slightly, "You can call me the Roguesmith, for now."

A frown came to Uglamore, but he nodded, easing up a bit. "We need to figure out what's going on..."

"I'm pretty sure we're dead." That was Clay, fidgeting on his perch, "I'm certain I died when I crashed into a rock, I remember the momentary pain and then just... Black."

"The kid's got a point." A snort went off from the Roguesmith, leaning back a bit, "We all remember dying, and we ended up here. I got pushed into my own forge, he rammed himself face-first into a boulder, and..." She'd grove a shrug of her wings at Uglamore and Kludd, "And whatever happened to you two." Say, that barn owl with the scar across his spine seemed familiar...

Kludd thought something similar of her. Where had he seen her before...? Roguesmith, maybe somewhere in... Silverveil? His memory was still a bit dead, but no matter, he spoke up now, "But do any of you remember anything before we woke up and after we each died?"

"Nope."

"Not a thing."

"Don't think so."

This time it was Kludd that frowned at the responses, but he nodded. "No clues on that note..."

"Honestly, there's no other explanation." Once again the Roguesmith spoke up. "We're dead, let's face it. This is either Glamoura or Hagsmire."

"Oh, for Glaux's sake, stop all of the frinkin' 'we're dead' racdrops."

Now that was a new voice. All eyes turned outward and up to a branch a tree away and a foot or so higher. It was another owl, this one having grey and blueish-grey feathers and a change of hue across different points of his body, black talons gripped to his perch firmly. His wings had black patterns across them, with darkened areas at the ends of them. The disk of his face held dark spots across it, all the same shade but different and darker than the actual face itself. What was even more off-setting, was the fact that his eyes were a faintly glowing light blue.

"You're alive. I can tell you that's for damn sure. Otherwise you wouldn't be starving, confused, and, well... You'd be in a bit different of a scenario."

The four seemed dumbstruck, staring at him as they remained in place. It was hard to find the words to say, until- as usual- Uglamore was the first to speak up. "Who are you?"

"I can tell you later. Right now, I want you four to come with me."

"Now..." The Roguesmith spoke up, grabbing this unknown owl's attention. "Why should we trust you when we don't even know who you are, or what's going on?"

He cocked a brow momentarily. "You're not saying your name, either." Shaking his head, his gaze went to all of them. "Why should you come with me? Because I have food, shelter, and answers. So if you want to come with me, fly in behind me. If not... Then a bloody waste, you made of yourself." He turned his back, looking over his shoulder. "For Glaux's sake, I didn't bring you back from the dead just to torture you or kill you again."

At this, he spread his wings and was off, flying straight through the trees. Seconds passed after his departure when Claymore took off after him. Uglamore glanced at the other two still with him before following suit, not far behind the spotted owl. That left Kludd and the Roguesmith. A second after Uglamore, Kludd took air and flew a couple of yards forwards before turning around to face the Roguesmith. "You coming?"

She grumbled something under her breath, then rolled her eyes before signing and lifting off, in which Kludd had turned and continued flying, knowing she'd follow.

As Kludd made his way into the hollow, he caught sight of Clay and Uglamore settling down near a dark steel bowl, filled with burning coals and embers that warmed up the hollow as a fire burned up within that bowl. Not only that, but a line of voles and mice were hanging from a bar propped up over the heat source. When entering completely, he could hear the Roguesmith's steps behind him to make her way in with them. Over in the far side of the hollow, the strange grey owl was writing along some parchment, rather quickly before drying off the talon he'd use to write.

"Help yourself to the food."

That was enough for them, as they'd all work to get a cooked rodent, each of them working on their food hungrily. The stranger didn't even turn back to look at them as he worked, hauling items and bags around effortlessly and silently. And at last, he'd finish up, sighing gently as he stood, moving to the fire, across from the four.

"I apologize for this. I figured it was better for me to let you all find each other before I came along." He'd explain, giving a light flap of his wings before folding them, causing the fire to surprisingly die out a bit. "The food satisfy your hunger?"

Once more had silence came, despite the tearing of the meat by beak and talon. Clay slowly nodded, "Yeah, it... It's good." He said silently, before the blue-eyed owl churred gently.

"Well, the food was one reason you came here, the other was shelter, so third... I owe some answers, don't I?"

Now Kludd spoke, "You do, but... Can you tell us who you are?"

"That I can."

Giving a gust of his wings again, he put out the fire completely, making sure it was gone completely.

"Zarko Elkholm. That's my name." He folded his wings as he said this, taking his eyes off of where the fire used to be. "I don't have a defined species of owls, as I'm not truly an owl. I just took the form of one. Don't ask what I am, because I can't answer that."

That was rather blunt of him. None of the four new what say to him. Kludd ground his beak together a bit. 'Not truly an owl? Well... That would explain the eyes and feather color...' Shaking his head, he perked up a bit, "What happened to us?"

"The four of you died. And I brought you back."

"...How?" Was the response of four voices in unison, speaking silently and confused. This cracked a slight smirk to the edges of Zarko's beak.

"Glaux let me. He used up his own power to bring you- of my own choice- back and help us." He straightened his stance. "Yes, Glaux himself brought you back. Don't mistake me for some insanely devoted believer, because I'm not." Grumbling at this, he walked around them, sighing silently. "I'll be honest with you: I brought you back to train you and fight, but in the end, you can see and live with your families and friends. All of you."

He started to name them off as he stopped at each one.

"Kludd. Some might call you Metalbeak, but Metalbeak and Kludd are two different owls. Kludd is the older brother of Soren, one of the best guardians in Ga'Hoole. Metalbeak is the shattered mind of Kludd as an egg and helped lead the Pure Ones, waging war towards the Great Tree of Ga'Hoole in the philosophy that only Tytos were "Glaux's favorite". Kludd never lived, but that'll change."

The news was quite surprising to the group, especially Kludd himself. 'I was... Shattered?' That made a bit of sense... As to why his mind felt a bit more free-focused. Why he felt so much more normal... But at that point, Zarko was already up to Uglamore.

"Uglamore. Formerly known as Bartholomew. As a hatchling, you envied the Tytonic Union and became a part of them when the High Tyto named you Uglamore. As Nyroc- now known as Coryn, Embered Monarch of the Great Tree- grew up, you became like an uncle to him as he lived with the remnants of the Pure Ones. When he ran away, you followed him with the rest of the Pure Ones, only to save his life and allow for him to become the king of the great tree. You even went as far as to sacrifice your own life for him by taking a bite from a diseased wolf. Without you, Coryn would not be alive."

The only thing that caught Uglamore off guard was the mention of his hatch name. Other than that, he seem to be lost in thought, remembering what had happened. Already, the elder owl was off to the next in line.

"The Roguesmith of Silverveil." Zarko seemed to narrow his eyes. She was looking at him, unlike Kludd and Uglamore had been. "Your real name is Thora Plonk, sister of Madam Plonk in the Great Tree." And at that, she seemed to wince a little, but Zarko smiled- not in a teasing or evil manner, but more of a reassuring one. "When you and your sister parted ways, you traveled as a roguesmith as one normally would. You met Soren and his friends when they were younger, easily looped through helping the Pure Ones with their assault on the Great Tree, and after the death of Metalbeak, you continued your work. Although, you, with another roguesmith, kept thought and mention on Nyroc- once again, now named Coryn- during his time in hiding with the Pure Ones. However, before he retrieved the Ember from the Beyond, you were shoved into your own forge by Nyra. Yet there is so much more I have in store for you."

The Roguesmith's eyes- or, Thora's eyes, rather, had drifted downwards as this was said, eventually staring at his feet, though he merely reached a talon upwards against her beak, making her face him before he'd smile once again and nod, before moving to the last owl.

"Claymore of Firthmore. There's not much explaining that needs to be done- you're the older brother of Cleve. According to sources, you were supposed to be the prince that was promised. Although, it was mistaken that by bigger it meant size, not age. You may have been not as brilliant as Cleve, or have claimed the destiny of prince, but I'm going to turn you into something so much better."

This owl grinned at Clay, nodding his head before looking to the rest, walking around.

"What lies ahead for the owl kingdoms is death and doom, right after a spark of peace. A war is coming between the kingdoms and the Pure Ones, and the Guardians with the help of the kingdoms will succeed... But at the cost of Coryn's life." A sigh left his beak, before turning to them, wings folded tight against his sides. "It weakens those of the Great Tree, a perfect time for the true enemy to strike."

"The... True enemy?" Uglamore had mumbled in a light voice. He was confused rather than intimidated.

"The Pure Ones... They're merely Nyra's cover-up. A bunch of arrogant Tytos? A joke. Once they fall, something much, much worse will strike at the least expected of times. When the Great Tree is weak, something much worse will come, and it'll be the end of it all. We're going to change that. Re-write history."

"And how do you know all of this?" Thora inquired, standing a bit.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is, your families and ones you care about are in danger. And we're going to do what we can by saving as many as possible."

Zarko sighed, shaking his head once more before turning around, moving to his parchment.

"I'm going to train you four. That's something I usually wouldn't do, but if I'm bringing you back to life, then you might as well learn to fight."

"Zarko, sir or whatever..." Once more Uglamore used his voice, now standing above the others. "I already know to fight, I'm a soldier."

"I'm not training you to fight like a soldier." The grey one spoke without even turning his head back to them. "I'm going to train you to fight like me, or yourselves. A soldier is as good as the next. With you four, you'll need to be better."

Again he wiped off his talon, walking to them as he hopped down to their level.

"We start in a day or two. For now I want you to get settled in and comprehend what's going on, get to know each other. You can find hollows not far from here, find one and make it your home. I don't care if you all sleep in the same one or different. This isn't a school and nor is it an academy, there's no rules, just don't kill each other nor run off. I'll tell you more about what's going on another time. Got it?"

A few delayed nods and words of acknowledgement came from them as they stood. Smiling, a returning no came from Zarko before he looked to Clay. He moved off to the side and grabbed a bag, then handing it to the young spotted owl. "What's this?

As he took it, Zarko explained, "A few books, history you should catch up on since you passed earlier than the rest. Things are different." Clay put the bag over his back evenly between his wings, Zarko gave one more glance to the others that were leaving. "I won't require you to come back here for a few days, but you can if you want. I'll be here. Just don't try and leave."

In response, they again gave their approval before exiting the hollow.

Kludd spread his wings, flying off with a hard-hitting headache. The early day sky shone above him as he made his way to find a hollow. One last thought hit him, though:

'What have I gotten into?'