Where do I start? Well.. The last time I updated this story was two years ago. Yeah. Two. Being busy got the best of me, but now I am determined to finish the story! The hiatus is over, I promise! Please accept this chapter and the next ones as my apology to all of my followers!

I know it's odd to start off with a rather dark chapter.. but here it is! Enjoy!

Midnight.

I threw the bed sheets off of my body and swung my feet over the edge of the bed and onto the cold flooring.

I let out a scarce breath of air as I recalled today's events. I saw Tamako earlier.. but she really didn't seem like herself. I slammed my fist against my unstable dresser, which shook as if it were shivering. I'm never this angry. I just don't know what is going on. It's all been too much. But I won't stop here.

I quickly fixed my dark hair into a braid, which draped over my left shoulder. My hair had grown long since spring.

I looked into my own eyes through the large mirror in the corner of my room. They seemed like timid brown pools in the dark, but at the same time they seemed to be burning. Burning with something I did not yet understand. My face had matured greatly in the past few months and was much more defined now. I no longer had that contempt look written across my face like I used to. It was now full of mixed and bittersweet emotions.

I closed my eyes, and opened them to see the Mayou in front of me.

He looked happy at first, but then his expression quickly changed once he saw my face. "What's the problem?" He asked as he advanced towards me and placed his hand of my shoulder.

"T-Tamako," I stammered in a whisper, and gently removed his hand. He raised an eyebrow as if he was confused. "What? Tamako?"
I nodded and widened my eyes. "Yes. I saw Tamako today!" I exclaimed.

He opened his mouth and grinned. "That's great! So she's back, is she?" I shook my head vigorously. "No, it's not like that." Mayou took a step backward and I straighted up. "I saw her today at the air temple. She was not herself at all!" I put my arms in the air. "She's crazy, Mayou!"

He looked at me strangely. "Are you sure?"

I stamped my foot. "I may have only known her for a short while, but I know she was acting strange for herself. She was in the floor, with her red necklace clutched in her hand." I paused to think. "She took her necklace off, Mayou. She took it off and it burnt her hand, but she didn't act like it hurt. She didn't care." I looked into his blue eyes. "Something's really wrong here."

His expression told me that he was as worried as I was, but there was a hint of disbelief on his face.

I grabbed his hand in both of mine and stood close to him. "Please believe me!"

"I believe you, Jin," He whispered. His voice was steady and calming. He slowly pulled his hand away. "I have to tell my mother. We weren't the only ones worried about her disappearance."

I nodded as he turned around and walked into the guardian base.

I dropped to the ground with my legs folded underneath me on the soft grass, red in the moonlight. It is red tonight, as if to foreshadow something awful. I looked at it above me and whispered, "Yue, what's going on here?"

No answer, of course. I didn't expect one. We haven't spoken for months.

I felt myself weakening as I thought about Tamako, Mayou, and the guardians. Just then, I jumped to my feet.

No. I will not just sit around. I have to get to the bottom of this. Something strange is going on, and I'm going to find out what.

"Jinora!" I heard Mayou's desperate yell growing closer from inside the base. My eyes shot towards the entrance before he ran out of the door and abruptly stopped in front of me. He had a panicked look on his face, one that I've never seen before.

"It's my mother! She's not breathing- she's unconscious!"

My eyes widened and I followed him as we ran into the base, and down the hallway. There wasn't a single sound as we hurried past everyone. They all looked worried, with their eyebrows upturned.

The doors to her large council room were left open. As soon as I saw her slumped over on her desk, I sprinted to her side.

"Rowena!" I called to her, but there was no response. Not a frail breath of air or even a slight movement of her thin, bony fingers. I now noticed how much weaker she had seemed than just a night before. She looked.. dead.. but could she really be? She is the head of all guardians, she can't die! She has a duty, and without her, what would happen to everyone?

Her whole body was gray, and growing colder by the second. Her luminous glow had vanished. It was as if all of her radiant energy had vanished. I grabbed her hand in mine and pressed my thumb down on her wrist.

There wasn't a pulse.

I didn't understand. She was so young! What could have caused something so awful to happen all of a sudden?

It wasn't suddenly. I watched as she grew weaker and weaker each day and didn't pay any attention to it. What kind of guardian am I if I can't even protect my leader?

I reluctantly turned my head to Mayou, who was watching behind me in horror. The look I gave him must have said it all, because a silvery blue tear escaped his left eye. He slowly walked over to be with his mother, but he didn't touch her. He just stood, staring at her corpse.

I was surprised to seem him crying, because he had never really been close to her. But then again, she was his only family he had.

Another tear escaped as he looked straight at me. It was hard to hold my own tears in at the sight of him crying over his deceased mother.

The tear had a glow to it. The same blue, iridescent glow Rowena had when she was alive.

"Your tears.." I began.

A female official spoke from behind us. "Today is a terrible day. She will never be forgotten."

Seven more officials entered and carried her body away.

The official spoke again. "She will be buried respectively, at the top of the spirit hill. Things have changed for the worse. We must prepare."

Spirit hill. I guessed that it was the same hill I had been to many times.

I turned to Mayou, and put my arm around him. "Let's go outside," I said softly.

His feet moved with mine as we headed outside.

"We should go to the air temple. The garden is always very soothing."

He did not reply, but he did not object either. I held his hand in mine and transported us to the garden.

The eerie moonlight made the water in the fountains appear to look like blood, and the flowers had a darker tinge than usual.

Today I saw my closest friend cry for the first time and I saw an acquaintance turned so morbid. Whatever was going on, I was going to find out.

Thirty minutes of silence had passed in the garden. Thirty minutes of painstaking silence.

I wanted to say something to him. I wanted to cheer him up, but I'm too choked up to say anything to him. I just don't know what to do.

"It was me," Mayou said, with his eyes downcast.

I looked at him with confusion. What is he talking about?

He spoke again. "It was all me."

"Mayou, what are you tal-" He cut me off.

"My mother!" He yelled, and clawed at his face. "Everything is my fault! And I knew it was happening, but I couldn't do anything to stop it, Jinora. I knew!"
I have never seen him so upset.

His red-stained eyes welled up again, and plump, iridescent tears dropped from his cheeks.

"I had a strange dream - no - it was more of a nightmare, actually."

Those are never good.

"All I can remember is standing over my mother and being filled with this immense rage and... hatred." He blinked his eyes as tears formed. "What happened next- I- I don't know why, but-"

He burst into tears and leaned against me, sobbing. "I did it! I did it, Jinora!" He yelled at the top of his lungs. "I killed her with my bare hands!" Tears streamed down his face and he gripped my arms. "I don't know why I did what I did!" He looked straight into my eyes. "You've got to believe me, I had no control over anything that happened! I thought it was all a dream." His voice was hoarse.

"I got out of bed like I do every day and did what I do every day like nothing happened, because I truly believed it to just be a nightmare! Nothing seemed out-of-place, and all was normal at the base.."

"Mayou.." I managed to say.

He continued, "I never thought to check on her or anything.. I hardly ever talk to her, so it's not like I'm around her all the time! But when I finally went to see her today.. surely enough, she had bruises where I had harmed her. Me! Her own son.. I took the life of the woman who gave me mine."

Thanks for reading! I have big plans for this story! Please review and tell me what you think!

Updates every Thursday!