Chris was meditating on the top of the Tortuga. This looked like a perfect day for this. Inside his mind, the peaceful sight of a forest with a crystalline lake stood. Chris stood at the edge of the lake. All in peace.

Suddenly, a dark cloud appeared in the sky, and a cold wind blew. Visions of his friends and family blurred, all about worrying and crying.

"It's all his fault!" Ventus's voice echoed. "That monstruo!"

"He failed us," he heard Aviva's voice.

"Some leader he was to us," Mina's voice rang.

Chris felt the earth crumble behind his feet. He tried jumping to the lake, but vines and vines came from it.

"They don't like you… they don't like us..." he heard his own voice, however… deeper. As the vines wrapped around him, he shrieked in fear. "They hate us…"

"Th-that can't be true!" Chris screamed against the voice, as the vines dragged him to somewhere.

"I see it… You see it… We see it… They don't want us anymore! We have FAILED!" The vines dragged him into the crystal lake, which was pitch black under the layer. Chris could only scream in terror as he fell into the abyss.

Tania wiped the sweat off her forehead as she worked in her yard on something.

"Ah... I'll never do this right."

"Sure you will, mom," Aidan assured. "You won the Most Colorful Garden Prize for consecutive years. Why would this stop now?"

"I know, son… but the earth has been… too weak and infertile," Tania lamented. "I don't know what else I can do."

"Look… maybe you just need to take your mind off of it for a while. Take a walk, or something like that," Aidan suggested.

"Thanks, darling… But first, honestly... you really think I make enough difference?"

"You do, mom… you sure do."

Tania walked calmly to the Tortuga. She started to hear shouting coming from the ship.

"Chris?" She wondered what was exactly going on. The team was reunited around the Kratt in green, who was laid on the center table.

"W-what happened?" Tania asked in worry. "What happened to my rose button?"

"Rose button?" Clarissa questioned.

"I-it's a cute nickname I gave him. He has Earth powers and I like flowers, so..."

"Never heard that one before," Aviva commented.

"Back on topic. What happened to him?"

"Well, he was meditating as usual, but then… he screamed," Martin explained. "When we asked what was wrong..."

"No! You don't need me! I'm not sticking with you guys anymore!"

"What?! Chris, what are you-" Aviva started, but he cut her off.

"NO! Don't talk to me!" Then, he felt himself get dizzy, as he tried to get away. A few seconds later, he collapsed.

"Wow… that's really intense."

"He simply didn't seem to listen," Aviva pointed out. "We didn't get at all what was going on."

"Nightmares can feel real," Mina said. "Like the Nightmare on the Tortuga incident."

"Don't even remind me of that day," Jimmy shivered. "After that, I couldn't look at my controllers for a week."

"Uh, everyone, did no one notice Chris is at the window?" M.A.T.I. pointed out.

Chris stared at them with his eyes opened. They were toxic green. Tears were forming. Giant, thorny vines shot up from the ground outside. The ground began to shake violently. Martin caught sight of his jade earring turning black.

The Tortuga lights flickered from the shaking and it went dark for a few seconds. When they came back on, Chris looked different. His hair was flat and black, except for one pine green stripe. His clothes were a dark version of his Guardian robe.

"No…" Ventus mumbled in horror.

"Chris…?" Martin called fearfully. The corrupted brunette stared at them with toxic green eyes with dark grey sclera.

"No, Martin. It's Thorn..."

Thorn sharply turned around, and he jumped out the window. Thorny vines sprouted where his feet were as he walked away.

"That was Thorn?" David gulped.

"Oh, man, oh man, oh, man, oh, man, oh, man..." Ventus walked around the HQ. "... oh, man, oh, man! I'M FREAKING OUT!"

"Geez, VK, calm down."

"No, guys! Don't you see the trouble we're dealing with? Thorn is a menace! If Terra was the most powerful, being the Gaia Guardian despite it being for a short time, imagine what Thorn is capable of!" Ventus shrieked in Mina's ear.

"Ouch..."

"And do YOU know him?" Laura wanted to know. "From what I've heard, once they came over for the first time, you simply locked them away."

"I just did what Mom told me. She always told the best for all of us."

"Then HOW can you be sure that he's SOOOO evil?" Ventus was going to answer, but Tania interrupted him. "And don't come telling that it's because of Eris! I heard about her struggles of redemption, so I guess her Darkness isn't that mean after all, right?"

Ventus wished he could say something, he wished, but… that was so hard to logic with. He simply growled silently.

"So… what can we exactly do?" David wanted to knowknow.

"Look, he looked kinda scared when he ran away like that," Tania admitted. "Why don't we just go… I don't know, talk to him?"

"Suicidal idea! Not doing it!" Ventus pouted.

"Uh… I think I may or not have some work to do..." Aviva hesitantly said.

"Not me. Busy day," Koki assured.

"Anyone?" The team was silent. Tania groaned. "Fine, I'll go by myself."

"Wait," Martin asked. "I'll go with you… just in case."

"WHAT?!" Ventus gasped.

"Ven, it could be possible that we can get Chris out of there. I have to at least try."

"I'm telling you, it's suicide! That thing is dangerous!"

"Like what? The Black Storm thing?"

The group stood in silence. Ven didn't know how to argue back to that.

"... I'll not leave you alone, no matter how absurd a team's hypothesis is, buddy," Laura assured. Tania smiled.

"Thanks, guys," Tania commented. "I'm glad to see SOMEONE supports me here." The three of them left, leaving the team feeling bad and Ventus worried.

"*sigh* I just hope she knows what she's doing..."

The trio saw Thorn's footprints. They WERE his, for all contained deep, dark impressions. Not to mention that the black vines that were growing everywhere were a giveaway. The three followed them until they entered a certain spot in the park, where the trees seemed higher than normal. Then, the small group saw Thorn running away.

"There he is."

"Hey… wait!" Tania called for Thorn. "Where are you going?" He gasped at the sound of her voice and turned around.

"No… no..." He stepped more and more away, until he decided to create a thorny barricade of vines.

"Hey!" Laura and Martin gasped, seeing the thorny barricade.

"Don't come closer… please." The party saw Thorn on the other side of the thorny barricade. "One little slip and..." He made a signal of cut throat with his finger to them. Martin and Laura gulped.

"But… in that case, can you move them for us… please?" Martin asked, as calmly as he could.

"... Why?"

"So we can pass," Laura answered. Thorn sternly stared at her, making her understand that was NOT the reason he wanted.

"Uh, what she means… is that we just want to talk to you," Tania explained.

"Why would you want to talk to me? After I will fail everyone?" Thorn wondered.

"Fail?" Martin wondered. What was he talking about?

"... Look... we just want to help you," Tania answered.

"No one can help me. NO ONE," Thorn muttered, a small tear nearly escaping his eyes.

"Are you sure?"

Thorn stared into Tania's eyes, wanting to answer her, but… that stare… so pure and kind… like she couldn't hurt no one...

"No," he sighed. After a few moments of silence, the vines pulled away to make a path. Martin and Laura stared in awe, as Tania stepped forward. She wanted to take his hand, but Thorn stepped back. "Please… not yet."

Tania decided to agree, wondering even more about this side of her boyfriend's persona. Questions bobbled inside her mind: What caused this to happen? Which is the REAL Thorn?

"So I have a question, um, Thorn," Martin said. "What did you mean when you said you would fail everyone? You didn't do anything... at least not yet."

Thorn took a while to take a deep breath, and answer.

"... I saw it in a vision. I-I saw comments of …failure... deception… all related to… HIM."

"Chris?" Martin asked.

"The team... they blamed him. They were mad, scared. They... wanted nothing to do with him anymore." Thorn's eyes filled with tears, grasping his head. "I… I couldn't bare it anymore!" The trio saw the vines forming around him.

"Hey, hey!" Tania came close to him. "Calm down, please." She stared at the panting face that stared at her. "We're here... I'm here..."

Ventus paced around the HQ. The team just stared.

"They only left for an hour, dude. Calm down," Jimmy said.

"Every second that they are absent counts. I don't want to imagine what torture Thorn will-"

"Torture?! How do you know he'll torture them?" David asked.

"Becaus-"

"NO putting Eris in this! Or Chaos! Or any past event! You just DON'T KNOW!"

"B-but-" Elsa decided to put herself forward, before they could explode in a battle.

"W-what David means is that we know you're worried… we are too, but those three know Chris very well. They'll find a way to bring him out," Elsa comforted him.

"Or they won't… Wait, bring him out?!" An idea came to his mind. "Hang on, I might just have what we need to trap him again!" He created a portal and entered it.

"Something tells me he wasn't listening..." Mina stated.

"Reminds me of someone..." Koki replied.

"Hey!" Aviva commented, insulted.

The trio and Thorn were seated on the ground. As he breathed in and out, the thorny vines came lower and lower.

"There… all calmed down," Tania noticed. Martin and Laura noticed as well. Now under control, of his nerves anyway, Thorn was finally calm enough to explain what was going on.

"So… you were saying a vision was responsible for this… breakdown?"

"Yes… visions of comments… bad comments… all related to failure and disappointment. I-I don't want to fail everyone... I have to be a..."

"A good leader?" Martin finished. Laura stared at him. "Chris was never the best at accepting mistakes. At least his own. I remember very well how disappointed he gets when things don't go perfectly right."

"I am also a confirmer of this. I remember when he, me and Serena had our fun day ruined by Zach, Dumb-ata and Gourd-mand. He was NOT happy at all," Tania pointed out.

"Well, it is pretty understandable for a leader wanting to do things in the best way possible, but even leaders make mistakes sometimes," Laura informed. "No one's perfect."

"I'm saying this care, but I think that vision you had was just a bad dream," Tania said. Thorn sighed.

"I… I admit. I don't know what's a vision or a dream anymore. It's all mixed up in my head. Like a tornado of frustration that simply won't go away."

"So you assume everything you see will happen? That's not very smart," Martin commented.

"Well… he has been utterly worried about his own visions lately," Thorn remembered. "They just… come all of a sudden, so fast not even his mind can control it."

"That can explain why he seemed so… agitated these last days… He didn't even talk to us about it... Maybe it has something to do with Chaos' curse. On our Lionfish adventure, I lost control of my powers and my telepathy when I lost this earring."

"I must admit… the earring is a fantastic attribute." Thorn weakly smiled.

"Thanks… I guess."

"Well, I guess we made great progress," Tania said, wanting to take Thorn's hand. But he took it away again.

"N-Not yet… please." Tania smiled in acceptance.

"Say... He's not so bad, is he?"

"Yeah, Guess Ven was just… overreacting or something."

"Hm... I guess..."

"What's wrong? Wait… HE's the problem, isn't he?"

"…"

"I should have known," Martin commented. "He is hard to deal with."

"Well, guess we could try showing him our point of view… it's not like he'll go all about trapping him again… right?" Laura asked.

"Trapping him again?!" Aviva wanted to know, seeing Ventus show her a special mirror.

"Trust me, Aviva, it's the only way we can prevent something worse than Black Storm from happening."

"I'm still saying, VK, I don't think something like this is possible," David tried to make Ven reason. "That time it was YOU, and Chris and you aren't alike, and..."

"And he was in the past the most powerful of the Guardians. We can't risk it!"

"... Running out of arguments, you guys. But still believing this is not a good idea," David asked for help.

"Ven, just… wait for a little more time, okay?" Koki asked.

"... Okay..." Ven sighed, pouting.

Laura, Martin, Thorn and Tania walked together to Tania's garden, where she sighed, remembering her frustration. However, as Thorn knelt, she saw he was trying to do something. But what? Martin went a bit tense at this.

"... Vermin lack," he said. "This land needs to be fertilized."

"How did you know that?" Martin asked.

"I have his abilities, remember?"

"You mean your abilities," Tania said. "You and him… after all we saw… has to be the same person."

"You… think so?"

"WE know so," Laura said. "Whoever said or made you think that you couldn't do anything good is wrong. 'Cause if could let us get close to you without hurting us... what danger can you cause?"

"Never someone… said those things to me..." Thorn looked away.

"I know how painful it can be imagining what people think of you. Sometimes as a kid, I spent most weekends all by myself, brushing my dolls' hair," Tania admitted.

"I envy those dolls." Thorn looked away, muttering. Tania sighed, staring at the barren soil of her yard.

"It is a pretty huge yard," Thorn commented, changing the subject.

"Yeah… I planted for so long there, but nothing ever flourished here anymore since my husband's death."

"... Never thought of asking HIM for help?"

"He's always… busy… I think."

"For a girl like you? For his friends? MY friends, now? Never..." Thorn felt way better now. "Allow me."

*BG music: Bastille - Pompeii*

Deep within the underground, Thorn's vines called various worms to Tania's backyard.

"Wow, I can hear them," she commented, ear low to the ground. Worms came all over the ground, fertilizing the land. Vines grew around like in harmony. Thorn chuckled.

"Mom, is that Chris?" Aidan asked as he came into the backyard.

"For now, call him Thorn, okay?" Laura assured.

"No one ever helped Mom like this before. You're really cool!" Thorn felt praised.

"You think so?"

"Uh, Thorn..." Laura called. Thorn turned and nearly fainted from the vines that were thrashing around.

"Oh, Zeus! I-I-I-I-" he began to panic. Then, it wrapped around Tania and him, as if taking them for a ride around the yard.

"I didn't know you could do this!"

"Me neither!" The two of them chuckled as they were near each other. Laura and Martin wanted to join them too, and the Water Guardian followed the vines with his water powers.

"Hey, don't forget me!" Aidan called.

"Does anyone else hear that?" Mina asked, ear to the sky.

"It sounds like screaming," Aviva confirmed.

"Panic?" Ven questioned.

"No… sounds more like… happiness?" Then, they saw he had already left. "VENTUS!"

"I knew I shouldn't have left them alone!"

"Ventus, come back here!" Koki called.

"Oh, no..." David sighed. The team rushed after him, fearing that his impulsive attitude could cause something bad.

Thorn had never laughed so hard. He and his friends had a thrill on the vine ride and were now laying on the grass.

"That was… amazing!" Aidan exclaimed.

"It was fun," Thorn breathed in and out. "More fun than I ever could expect."

"It was great. Especially with you by our side, Laura said. "See? All that fear for absolutely no reason."

"That's my rose button," Tania commented. Thorn blushed a little and he sat up.

"You let him in your house?!" Ventus screeched, coming in flying with his wind wings. Thorn cowered behind Tania.

"Oh, no..."

"How could you let him do this mess?!"

"Mess? Are you kidding? We were having lots of fun," Martin said, appalled by his attitude.

"Oh, so you're letting him get to you?!" Ventus stepped firmly on the floor. He was obviously furious. "You're overreacting to him!"

"No, we're not! We're fine, see?" Laura argued. "No wounds, no bruises, and no problem." The team arrived seeing the situation.

"Uh… should I point th-"

"Unneeded. We saw everything," Aviva commented.

"That's it! If YOU'RE not listening to me, I'll have to make the best measure MYSELF!" Ventus wanted to trap Thorn, no matter the cost. "Sorry, Chris..."

"What?!" Martin gasped. He couldn't be possibly... no…

"Ventus?" Aviva gasped. She also guessed what Ventus was planning to do, and it was nothing the team would approve of.

"NO! He didn't do anything!" Tania snapped.

"Move away, Tania! I gotta finish this NOW!" Ven shrieked in a military way. Tania could feel Thorn shiver.

"You're not touching him." Laura stepped forward, with Martin by her side. "She led perfectly well with him by herself. The only one that seems to be overreacting here is YOU!"

Ventus shrieked in anger, throwing the mirror in Thorn's direction. He gasped in fear for the worst, but Martin defended him with an ice shield.

"He didn't do anything bad!" Martin snapped. "He had been nothing but nice to us. He even helped Tania with her garden."

Ventus wanted to shriek more, but he was very exhausted. That anger outburst costed him very much. The team, seeing Martin and Laura were right after all, stepped up to defend Thorn.

"Chris knows that ALL life deserves protection. Even his darkest side. A side that is not made of evil… but of fear. Fear that he will fail his friends and family," Martin pointed out.

"He's a very wise leader… and a very good friend," Jimmy said, stepping forward.

"We all care for him as much as he cares for us," Clarissa added.

"We love him very much, and we don't want to see him suffer. He can always count on us for this," Aviva said.

"I need my rose button by my side… we all need you by our side. We all need you, Chris," Tania proclaimed. Thorn smiled as she embraced him in assurance of the team's positivity. In answer to it, he finally held Tania's hand.

Green sparkles came off the Earth Guardian as he returned to normal, his robe and hair now in its original state, save the black stripe. Chris felt his legs shake and he fell to his knees in exhaustion.

"But-but..." Ventus simply stammered, wordless by seeing he was proven wrong. The team reunited around Chris.

"Guys… you really think so?" the Earth Guardian asked. His hazel eyes were filled with tears.

"We do, Chris. You don't have to be a perfect leader… Just be our leader," Aviva stated. The team celebrated around the happy couple reunited, and Martin called Ventus' attention.

"If you ever try that again…" he threatened, not liking at all his big brother's attitude toward Chris. Ventus gulped in fear, never seeing Martin so angry. "Fates know what will happen."

The next day, really early in the morning, Chris called for Tania in the garden. "Tawny? Are you home?"

"Good mornin', Chris. Slept well?" Tania opened the window, rubbing her eyes.

"Better than you think…" Then, he climbed upon a vine he made, giving her a black rose. "A little "thank you gift" from someone that loves you even more now."

"Oh, Chris…"

"Thanks… for making me and him see the light again." He pointed out to the floor, a sight calling her. Tania came down the stairs, and was surprised by the sight of a wonderful new garden, with roses of all kinds.

Tania smiled, tears in her eyes. She hugged her boyfriend lovingly. A new black rose flourished nearby, unknowing to them. Chris's shadow seemed to smile softly.