AN: I'm running out of ways on how the thank JDUBZ for being an awesome Beta Reader...I'll just leave it like this.

Chapter 26: The Guardians

The clock tower stood tall. It barely surpassed the height of the trees, it was lucky that Ken was able to see its glowing face the night before. With newly found determination, all three members of the group made their way toward the tower.

Oki was panting after having to crawl under a large amount of branches that stood in their way, "How much...how much farther?" He stretched his back and pressed against it with his one good hand to crack it.

Rem looked at the clock face in the distance, trying to come up with an estimate time on which they would arrive, "Ummmmm….Rem wants to say 5 hours," she squinted her eyes, "but it looks more like 6."

Oki closed his eyes, "Alright, that's it. Carry me, Ken." He spread out his arms and started to fall backwards towards Ken.

"Hell no!" Ken summoned a wall of ice between them. When Oki hit the wall, he slumped down onto it, causing his neck to touch the ice.

"Coldcoldcoldcoldcold!" Oki jumped away from the wall, his neck freezing.

Rem smiled, enjoying the sight of her two friends getting along one way or another. They were different, yet they were also the same. Oki was big and muscular while Ken was small and skinny. Oki was a big softie while Ken was a man hardened in life's struggles. Oki had grown to fight, but didn't like it, Ken had also grown to fight, and got a thrill from it. Oki complimented while Ken mainly criticized. Despite all these differences, they saw true friendship in each other that Rem never thought could be possible, and it made her happy.

The two may not see each other as the bestest of friends, but in truth they trusted each other more than anyone else in the world. Oki usually did what Ken advised him to do, while Ken followed Oki, mainly to keep an eye on him to make sure he doesn't do anything stupid, and also advise him otherwise when he does do something stupid.

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Oki fell to his knees in front of the clock tower, "YES! WE MADE IT!"

Ken walked past Oki, "We're not done yet, now we gotta get inside."

The tower was roughly 300 feet tall with a square base of 60 foot sides. A clock face was located on each side, glowing slightly in the bright sun. People in Subaru's world would say it resembled the looks of the clock tower in England, Big Ben.

[AN: I've never been up close to a clock tower so don't judge me.]

Moving around the clock tower, Ken found a massive door. Mechanical gears and pistons made up the door, interlocking and packed together. Sections of the door held giant bars that kept the door shut. There was no handle on the door, but a small circular plated part of the door had a small key hole.

"We need a key." Ken looked around the door for any way to find a key on it. Surely, Subaru would've told Rem we would've need a key.

Going back around, Ken saw Rem feeding Oki bocco fruit. Oki gladly took them, eating an entire handful at once. "Hey, Rem! Did Subaru tell you about needing a key?"

Rem gave Ken a puzzled look, "No, Subaru-kun said no no such thing. Why?"

Ken put a finger up, "Umm, no reason…..I'll be right back." He went back to the entrance door. Looking intently at the door, Ken began touching parts of it they he wondered moved. A puzzle maybe? Can I move this? No. This? No. Please. No. Damn it. No, no, no. In frustration, Ken kicked the dirt beneath him, his foot rubbed against a weird material. Looking down, he saw a blue tint in the brown dirt.

Ken began digging feverishly. A blue mat was revealed as Ken removed the dirt covering it. To his surprise, it was a welcome mat. A black text was on the blue mat, saying WELCOME.

You've got to be kidding me. Ken slowly lifted the welcome mat, underneath was a key. Oh fuck me.

Slipping the key into the door, Ken turned it. The whole door moved, the gears turned and the pistons pumped. The bars keeping the door closed slowly retreated from their places and sunk into the metal door. When the parts on the door stopped moving, it swung open, revealing a dark room. Ken turned around to get Rem and Oki. Thanks to the bocco fruit Rem gave him, Oki was good as new.

"I found a way in, come on." Ken led the way to the entrance while Oki was fanning himself from the sun's heat.

Once inside the tower, Oki felt relieved, the room was surprisingly cool. The only problem was the lack of lighting in the room.

Rem looked for any candles in a corner of the room that had stacks of empty boxes, "Rem cannot find any candles. Ken, have you found any?"

Ken was at the other side of the room, looking for candles as well. However, he also came up empty handed. He resorted to searching the walls for any wall mounted candlesticks, what he found confused him.

On a small metal box, stood a small switch of some sorts. Ken saw words below and above the switch, but couldn't read it in the dark. Flipping the switch from its down position, the room they were in lit up. Strange looking lights were on the ceiling, shining brightly over the room, making everything visible.

These odd looking lights were something the group had never seen before. Rem looked in awe as she tried to touch one, but was a few feet to high above her. Oki reached up to try and pluck one, but he couldn't, they were being kept into the ceiling by something. He didn't want to break it so he gave up.

Ken was the first to speak, "What...what are they?"

After touching the strange lights, Oki determined that they were made of glass, "It's glass, you can even see something inside of it that's making the light."

"What is it?"

"I don't know."

Rem spoke with her hands to her chest, "They look like spirits, so….pretty."

Remembering his discovery, Ken flipped the switch again. The room was once again plunged into darkness, then Ken flipped the switch again, bringing back the light. He scratched his head as he looked at the switch, "I don't understand, is this magic?" He repeated his switch flipping a few more times before stopping. "If this is magic, then it's one I've never seen before." They were in the middle of a forest where a clock tower was built for no reason and in it was something the world has yet to ever see, this amazed the three. After they were done they promised to check out the lights later.

Rem peeled herself away from the light bulbs and began looking around the room. Subaru had to be somewhere, even though they were a day early. She should have figured from the beginning that Subaru was not in the room since it was so small and they would've seen him by now. However, blending into the wall, a door knob jutted out. While Oki and Ken were searching for….anything, Rem walked up to the door knob. It turned easily, but opening the door was heavy and created an extremely loud squeaking noise that rang throughout the quiet area. Looking back, Rem saw Oki and Ken, both bent down to check something, both looked at her now, because of the noise. Seeing them stare at her made her blush, "Rem…..umm Rem found something."

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Behind the door was a staircase going only one direction, up. Next to the stairs was a plague that said: 1 of 30. Oki didn't like the sound of that.

Rem could only assume that the staircase led all the way to the top of the tower, where Subaru probably was. Thinking this, she eagerly took her first step of many to make it to the top.

It was around floor 22 that Oki started to really slow down. His feet practically dragging and his body slumped forward with his arms hanging down. When he spoke, he sounded out of breath, pausing to pant, before speaking.

"Who the hell...puts 30 flights of stairs up a god damn clock tower."

Ken was slightly ahead, panting as well and mockingly saying, "Maybe the top of the tower...maybe it's made of chocolate. Hehe."

Oki didn't appreciate the joke and glanced at Ken with a questionable look.

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By the end, Rem carried Oki over her shoulder, letting him rest. Ken came up close behind, panting. Seeing the large giant being carried by the frail girl was somewhat comical, especially when she was able to ever so gently, lay him on the floor. Rem retrieved the last of the bocco fruit they packed and gave them to Ken and Oki. Ken gladly took them with a 'thank you'. Oki insisted that Rem take the ones she offered him, as he already had a bunch. Rem hugged Oki and ate the fruit.

The room they were in was less spacious than the one downstairs. Only 15 feet away from them was another door, but this one had a handle, rather than a knob. Next to the door were two metal blocks, they looked untouched, but clean.

Ken looked at the blocks. Probably some other weird thing like the glass lights downstairs.

"Subaru-kun isn't here." Rem pointed out the obvious. She didn't see Subaru now, but she looked hopefully at the door ahead of them. If Subaru was anywhere in this tower, he had to be in that room. Oki got up from the floor and cracked his knuckles, enjoying the feeling of excitement.

Now ready, Rem, Oki, and Ken walked towards the door. However, as soon as they got within 10 feet of the door, the metal blocks began to move. The cubes disassembled themselves into varying pieces of metal, all connected, and reassembled itself into something that resembled a bug with three legs. The tripods stood still, its body was small compared to its long legs that stretched out, but it was still big. One leg in back, two up front at diagonal angles. They had something that could only be a head, a small green light shined from it. After a moment, the tripods became animated and turned to face the group, all of which were in shock. The tripod's tilted their heads as they regarded the group.

Seeing this, Ken could only assume it wasn't good, and summoned a sharp piece of ice. However, as soon as the tripods caught sight of the weapon, their eyes turned red and a contraption popped up from their body's and aimed at the group. Sensing danger, Rem brought up an ice wall between them. The wall was immediately dotted with holes.

The three dropped to the floor as the rapid fire ripped through the wall of ice. Seeing their targets escape, the tripods moved to either sides of the wall.

Ken yelled, "WHAT THE HELL IS THAT?!"

Rem got Ken's attention and pointed to one of the approaching tripods, yelling only one word, "WALL!"

Luckily, Ken understood and brought up a wall of ice below the tripod, sending it flying across the room and falling on it's head. Ken looked at Rem and saw that she had done the same. The three cheered, Oki and Ken high fived and held their palms up to Rem. Rem was wide eyed, she looked at her hand and slowly high fived the two others.

Their celebration was cut short however, as the tripods rotated their legs to point down and pick it's body back up. Rem brought up a stronger wall that stopped the bullets of the tripods, but she knew the wall would break sooner or later. Seeing an opportunity, she shot an ice spear at the nearest tripod, but it was instantly shot to pieces when it got near. Running out of options, Rem surrounded herself with spears of ice, jumped out for a second to fire them at a tripod, them she came back behind the wall.

With its rapid firing, the tripod was able to shoot each ice spear, knocking them out of their trajectory and missing their target. Rem pulled out her morningstar, but put it back moments later. It would be of no use in this situation. The tripods would shoot her down before she would even be able to complete a single swing. It hurt her not knowing what to do. I can't die when I'm so close to getting Subaru-kun back.

Rem didn't understand why Subaru didn't tell her about the tripods. They were too fast and powerful, she saw no solution, the only thing she thought about was to run and come back more prepared, but that would mean leaving Subaru. Rem couldn't do that, she had to end this one way or another right now, but didn't know how.

Rem saw the wall was about to break, she summoned anther wall next to them, "Move now!" They all ran to the next wall as the previous one broke to pieces, a wave of bullets surging through it.

Oki observed as the tripods switched between shooting at the three, who were walking behind the wall trying to find a way to beat their opponents, "They follow whatever's closest."

Ken yelled at him over the gunfire, "WHAT?!"

"THEY'RE SHOOTING WHOEVERS CLOSEST TO THEM! AS IF THEY KNOW WHO'S GONNA BE ABLE TO REACH THEM FASTER!"

"HOW'S THAT SUPPOSED TO HELP US!?"

Oki looked at the heavy door that led to the staircase. He wanted to do something so badly, but it was dangerous. He was tired from the trip and his age wasn't helping his stamina. He looked back at his two friends, Rem was on her knees, looking hopelessly through the ice and at the tripods, their bullets hitting the wall forcefully. He could see that her mana was close to being depleted from the tired look in her eyes. He knew that at some point Rem would force herself to use her horn, Oki didn't want that, it meant she would probably try to take on the tripods alone and die.

Ken was walking around, frustrated. He felt there was nothing he could do to help. His friends and him were pinned down, he was growing weak, Rem's attacks were all countered by the tripods, and Oki only did hand to hand combat, they were doomed.

Oki said in a serious voice, "I have a plan, it's a stupid one, but it might work."

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"Are ya' an idiot?! That'll never work, you'll die within seconds!" Ken had to fill in for Rem when it came to protecting them with walls of ice so Oki could discuss his plan.

"It's our only chance, Ken!" Oki argued against Ken's interjection.

Ken looked at Rem, "It's stupid! Tell him it's stupid, Rem!"

Rem shook her head at Oki. She walk up to him a pit a small hand on his huge chest, "If Oki does this. Rem will lose her Oki." She hugged him. "Please, there must be another way."

Oki looked at the wall of ice. All the bullets were being stopped by it, but the bullets were all being targeted at Rem. Oki put a hand on her head, She looked up at him with sad eyes, eyes that reminded him of his daughter, that day when he told her to leave him behind. Oki said in a voice as if he were talking to a child, "Don't you worry, little Rem. I would never do something if it meant making you sad. I'll come back...I promise."

Rem rubbed her newly shed tears on Oki's shirt, " So many promises have been made to Rem, but none have come true." She looked back up at Oki, "What is the difference with this one?"

Oki didn't know what to say, so he stayed silent and started to shed a tear. Looking at Rem's face soothed him, because it was Sarah's. Rem was his Sarah, and he wouldn't allow anything to hurt her, even if it meant his life.

Ken spoke with a quiet voice, "Don't do this, Oki. We'll find another way."

Oki pulled himself from Rem, "There is no other way." He looked back at Rem, "Please, we have to take this chance."

Tears falling down her cheeks, Rem nodded, sealing his fate.

Oki smiled, "You guys remember what to do?" Rem and Ken nodded slowly. "Good. I'll be back, I promise."

It never occurred to anyone that Oki never pinkie swore.

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Rem summoned her horn, filling her with an excessive amount of mana. She took a deep breath before throwing herself in front of the tripods. They locked onto her and started to shoot. Rem held out her hand and used her shield magic to block the incoming bullets. The caps hit the shield and crumpled to the floor. The force of two unending waves of bullets pushed her back, but she met them with equal force to hold her place.

With the tripods focused on Rem. Oki ran to the stairway door. He grabbed it and pulled it off it's hinges. The door was about the size of his body, making it an ideal size for a shield. He held the top of it with his one hand letting it hang in front of him. Oki turned to meet Ken's eyes, Oki nodded.

Ken concentrated what little mana he had left into his hands. Two blue orbs hovered in his palms, meaning he was ready. He planted his hands to the ground, creating a crack which spread towards an unsuspecting tripod. As the crack spread, a blue glow came from within, following where it went. Just as the crack reached underneath the tripod, a giant stalagmite erupted from the ground. The sharp point penetrated the metal belly of the tripod, ripping apart its circuits and wiring. Sparks flew as the tripod began to spasm and shut down. Ken fell in exhaustion, the last of his mana having been used.

With one down, Oki charged the last tripod with the door in front of him. When he got close enough, the tripod switched targets and started to shot at Oki, the bullets hitting the metal door in front of him. As he got closer the bullets started feel like they were firing faster. When Oki reached the tripod, he knocked it over with the door. It fell to it's side unable to shoot Oki because it couldn't shoot him where he stood. Oki wobbled before smashing the bottom of the door onto the head of the tripod, destroying it in a shower of sparks.

Rem put her hand down. She watched as Oki fell to his back, dozens of holes in his body. The door fell to the floor beside him, dented and ripped open by bullets.

"OKI!" Rem ran to his side, Ken came next. Oki's body was bleeding nonstop, a pool of blood already forming around him.

Ken dropped to the opposite side of Rem, a horrified look on his face, "Ya' idiot! I told ya' this would happen!" He wanted to yell at Oki more, curse him for doing it, but Ken knew he was to blame. He let Oki go about his plan, he let Oki get shot at, he let Oki take one for the team….he let Oki die. The only reason he came along this ride with Rem and Oki was to keep him safe, but he failed and couldn't help but feel he was fully responsible.

Oki had a faraway look in his eyes, he looked at the Ken and then at his wounds, he said in a slow weak voice, "It's not that bad is it?"

Ken feigned a smile as he looked at Oki, he said in a shaken voice, "Yeah, buddy. Rem will fix ya' up and you'll be right as rain, OK?" Hearing this, Rem immediately started to heal his wounds, but he was bleeding too fast. By the time Oki's wounds healed, he would die of blood lose.

Oki sighed, "That's good to hear. I thought it was gonna be worse." He started to shut his eyes.

Ken lightly started to slap Oki's face, "Nonononono, don't sleep, OK? We need ya' right now. We need you to stay awake." Oki opened his unfocused eyes again.

"Oh, OK, OK, it's just so hard….and I'm so sleepy."

Ken started to cry, "I know, Oki, I know, but don't worry we'll leave real soon." In an attempt to keep Oki conscious, Ken kept talking to him, "Hey, Oki?"

Oki looked at the ceiling, "Yeah?"

"Ya' know how ya' would always complain about my pub not havin' food?"

Oki chuckled, but then coughed, "Hell yeah I do. You better get that done."

Ken smiled, his tears curving around his lips, "Well, I wanted to know if ya' could be my cook. I..I could set up something for ya' next to...next to me and ya' can serve food. What do ya' say?"

Oki looked at Ken, a smile on his pale face, "You have no idea how long I've been waiting for you to ask me that." Ken couldn't help but laugh with happiness and sadness.

Oki's eye began to clear up, he looked at Ken. He was crying, holding his hand, gripping it has hard as he could. This warmed his heart. Oki then looked at his chest, the wounds were nasty, holes were gushing blood. Despite all the blood and wounds, he felt no pain, it was a blessing to not feel the pain.

Rem was using her healing magic to mend Oki's wounds, but she was crying because she knew the wounds were too much. Oki lifted an arm to push Rem's hands away from his wounds, preventing her from healing him. Rem looked up at him with a shocked expression.

Oki returned it with a weak smile, "Please...Rem..I..I want this."

"Oki...no."

"I...I want to….I want to see Sarah again." Oki held Rem's hands in his one hand. "Thank you...Rem. Find Subaru….and kick his ass...for me." Rem didn't smile. She cried into his hand. Oki looked at Ken. "Kenny, take….care of Rem...until then." His breathing slowed down rapidly, his face was paler and his skin started to feel cold.

Ken nodded at his friend, "I will."

"Thank you." Oki looked back at the ceiling, closed his eyes, and said his last word, "Sarah….."

Rem choked as she felt Oki's grip loosen around her hands. Ken grabbed Oki's shirt and shook him, "Wake up." He didn't want to believe that Oki was dead. "WAKE UP! PLEASE!" But Oki's cold body refused to respond.

Thus, ended the life of the gentle giant, Oki.

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A great pile of rocks stood before Rem and Ken, both of their pants were stained with Oki's blood. Neither could find a shovel or anything to dig a grave, so they settled with stones they found scattered throughout the forest.

Ken was kneeling next to Oki's grave, shifting the rocks around. He had no more tears to shed, all of them had left him when Rem had to carry Oki's body down the stairs.

Rem looked at the sky, it was dark. The first stars started to show themselves among the black sky. Rem wondered if Oki was among them. It was a pleasant thought.

"Ken….we must go back inside. It is late."

Ken said nothing so Rem kneeled next to him, putting an arm around him while looking at the grave.

"I'm going to kill him."

Rem looked at Ken, his remark getting her attention. "What?"

Ken looked at Rem, his eyes bloodshot and angry. "Subaru...I'm going to kill that son of a bitch."

Rem unwrapped her arm from Ken and backed away, looking at him confused, "But Subaru-kun had had nothing to do with Oki's death."

Ken never rose his voice, but it did become fiercer, "He never told us about those…...things." Ken pointed up at the tower. "If your Subaru-kun is some hero, why didn't he tell us about them? Why? If we've known, Oki wouldn't be dead right now. He'd be breathing, eating, talking, laughing, doing something stupid again, I don't know, but I do know he wouldn't be that." He pointed at the grave. "He didn't deserve this, someone like him deserved a better life."

Rem didn't want to fight with Ken because she didn't want to lose him, she knew that she was all Ken had left. She sadly knew that with Oki gone, Ken had no one else to turn to. "Subaru-kun didn't have time to tell. Maybe Subaru-kun just didn't know."

Ken created an ice crystal in his hand and plunged it into the dirt, "Bullshit. How can you not tell someone that you have deadly weaponry that can fire on its fucking own in your fucking tower. That's not a goddamn thing you forget to tell someone."

Rem made Ken look at her, her face was stern, "Rem likes you Ken, but if you decide to hurt my Subaru-kun," she looked away, "then Rem will protect him by any means necessary."

Ken got his feet, he was angrier, but also scared, "Is that a threat!?" He spat at Rem.

Rem frowned at Ken, "No, merely a warning."

An icicle slowly formed in Ken's hand, sharp, deadly. Rem, with a sad face, summoned spears of ice around her. She said slowly, "Kenny…..please."

"Don't you dare call me that! Only Oki could call me that, you bitch!"

Rem was shocked, her expression told Ken that she was hurt. He started to feel guilty. From his head, Oki's last words rang out to Ken.

Kenny, take care of Rem until then.

Ken dissipated his icicle, Rem did the same. He looked at her, his expression was no longer sad, but lost, "I...I'm sorry."

Rem's expression, however, didn't soften. Ken had threatened the life of Subaru, that was something she couldn't forget. "Rem will go inside, Ken. I hope you do the same."

After a few more minutes of looking at Oki's grave, Ken removed himself and retreated back into the clock tower...to see what was behind the door the guardians were protecting and what Oki died for.

"A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time. A man does not die of love or his liver or even of old age; he dies of being a man."

-Percival Arland Ussher

AN: I really love L4D2 so I hope you guys/gals noticed the reference I put in this chapter. Also, there's a chance I may combine the last two chapters into one because after going over the plan, they may not reach my chapter goal of 3,000 words a chapter individually. I'll see how it goes, I'll write Ch27 and see if I want to add Ch28 too or try to make it longer. The only problem with forcing myself into making it longer is that then it becomes something tedious. However, I have had my moments of making short encounters into long chapters. Like the Regulus chapter, I thought it was going to be at most 5,000 words, but nope, it grew to 7,000.

Anyways, this has been an awesome month and 6 days, but this story is finally starting to come to an end. I am both sad and happy. I haven't said this in a long time, but... See ya'll in the next chapter! :P