Webber's POV

Although we, by far, outnumbered the Ancient Guardian before, it had successfully picked off just about all of them. Never before had our injured eye given us so much trouble. Without the wind drafts, we couldn't use them to find our way around, making everything so much more difficult. After doing a quick check-up on Nick, Wilson, and WX, we were relieved to see that they were still alive and fighting. Wilson had suffered a minor blow to the arm and Nick's knees were scraped, possibly from falling.

We looked over ourself. Because of our half-blindness, we had suffered the most blows. Scratches were laced up and down our whole body from hitting stalagmites and we felt bruised all over. It took us several moments to recover. The Ancient Guardian had not a single deep wound on it. It had plenty of bite marks and slices from the spiders and jagged marks from the rock lobsters, but almost all of them ceased to bleed.

This was not good. This was notgood. We were fighting back panic when the Ancient Guardian's pupil-less gaze landed on us and it charged at full speed, forcing us to scramble out of the way as fast as possible and it barely saved itself from crashing against the wall. We leaned up against the wall, panting. How long could we go like this? Erika was at our side in an instant, her soft white fur coated in old cobwebs and many blows done to her, but her pinkish red eyes were still alight with the heat of battle.

"Come on, Tyler," she urged, calling us by how she first knew us. "I know your in there somewhere. The Tyler I knew wouldn't give up this early."

"We... can't," I gasped.

"Of course you can! That's Webber talking! I want to hear my brother!"

Suddenly filled with determination, we could almost feel the brother she knew surge up inside us, and we turned to face the beast. It's eyes gleamed for a moment before charging us again, crashing roughly against a stalagmite and chipping the top of it's horn off. It roared with pain and fury, locking eyes with Nick, then rearing again to attempt to catch us on it's horn.

"Not this time!" I exclaimed in victory as it missed us by a foot.

Growling, it bucked suddenly and hit us, sending us crashing into one... two... three rocks before hitting the wall with a painful crack and an unbearable pain to our ribs. Slowly, our vision began to blur. Maybe we could just rest for a few moments...

WX-78's POV

I heard a cry of pain as the Ancient Guardian landed a hard blow on Webber, sending him skidding away. I felt an intense fury bubble up inside me, but barely managed to keep it under control. I caught sight of Erika's horrified face before it got in between her and I and prepared to charge at Wilson. Seeing my chance, I couldn't believe it as my own legs carried me over to where Webber lay unconscious. "COME ON, WEBBER. YOU CAN'T FAIL NOW," I whispered, thinking back to when he was first injured after our encounter with the tree guard.

Unaware of his surroundings and a small pool of blood forming around him, I was afraid for several moments that he was going to die of blood loss. Shaking my head in refusal, I shook him vigorously. " WEBBER! GET UP THIS INSTANT!" I exclaimed.

He stirred and blinked up at me. "WX?" He croaked, struggling to his feet.

I nodded curtly, glad to see he was fine, and looked back to the Ancient Guardian. It was scraping in vain at a ledge on which Wilson and Nick were on, who were glaring down at it and daring it to try and get them. "WX," he said more forcefully. "Is everyone okay...?"

"YES. YOU'VE ONLY BEEN OUT A FEW MOMENTS."

"And... Erika?"

"SHE'S FINE TOO."

He sighed. "What a relief. Go, we-" he cut himself off, shaking his head slowly. "No, I got this."

"GOT IT." I ran back to where I was standing before Webber was hit and grabbed my spear tightly, charging at the Ancient Guardian and managing to stick it deeply into it's back. It roared with pain and shook me off, sending error messages for a few seconds before I forced myself back to my feet. Not even fighting the dragonfly was this bad. I quickly glanced at Nick and Wilson again. Both still on their feet. Good.

Next, I turned to check on Webber. He was panting again, leaning up against a column of rock. Then I saw the Ancient Guardian's gaze drift towards him. And he charged. Time seemed to slow down, every footsteps of the rhino lasting a hundred years, every drip of blood on stone echoing for an eternity. Webber and I had fought so many times, it wasn't even funny. I knew every weak spot, every pressure point.

Although I could quite possible injure him further, I knew he could be saved.

I knew I could save him.

Closing my 'eyes', I seemed to feel such a strong pierce of emotion, it nearly brought me to my knees. I sprung over to the spider child and shoved him roughly out of the way, making him stumble to the ground several feet away. I-I'm so sorry, Webber. I thought wretchedly. I'm not going to escape with you guys.

I could've ran. I could've let the Ancient Guardian swivel to hit Webber, easily ending him at it's angle. It had it's eyes on me, though, and that I wasn't going to lose. Not feeling any fear, regret, or anything else for that matter except for a steady calmness, I raised my chin and stared it straight in the eyes. "COME AND GET ME YOU ANCIENT GOOD-FOR-NOTHING RHINO!" I snarled at it.

It hit me like a storm, and I felt myself being impaled on it's horn of ivory. Despite this, however, I felt no pain. Not even as I was flung into the air and hit the ground with a loud crash. I couldn't help a tiny smile. I did something right for once...

Webber's POV

We felt ourself being shoved off to the side roughly by cold hands. Surprised and slightly annoyed, we looked up just in time to see the Ancient Guardian's pupil-less gaze traced on us, running his horn deep into WX's torso. Before we knew what was happening, he was flung several feet in the air, smashing against the cave roof which caused nuts and bolts to shower from him, and he landed several feet away, a large, circular hole ripped out from his stomach. His gaze was fixed and remote. Glancing at the Guardian, who was being kept busy by Nick, we ran over to his side and lifted his head slightly. "WX! WX! Can you hear us?"

"WEBBER?" He croaked, sparks flying off of him. "I'M G-GLAD YOU'RE OKAY."

"WX, you're hurt!"

"THAT'S NOT IMPORTANT. A-ARE YOU HURT?"

"N-no b-but,"

"THEN I'VE DONE WHAT I SET OUT TO DO. YOU SEE, EVERYONE HAS SOMETHING THEY'RE SUPPOSED TO DO IN THIS WORLD. AND M-MY PURPOSE... WAS TO SAVE YOU. Y-YOU- GHAAA!" He let out another shower of sparks from his torn out torso. "YOU ARE MEANT TO DO GREAT THINGS, WEBBER. I-I KNOW YOU ARE."

We were at a loss for words. "Why?" I choked out. "Why did you do this?"

"I HAD NO CHOICE." He gave another weak smile. "YOU KNOW, W-WE FOUGHT BEFORE. AND I'M SORRY. I REGRET IT. I REGRET ALL OF IT." He gave a shuddering sigh. "BUT I DON'T REGRET THIS DECISION. AND YOU KNOW... IF I COULD GO BACK IN TIME, I WOULDN'T CHANGE A THING."

Slowly, we closed our eyes. Don't cry, don't cry, don't cry, no longer did I feel Webber's influence. It was just Tyler now. I'm strong. He's strong. H-He'll be fine. I won't cry. But despite my silent urging, I did the one thing I never did before.

Not when I was crippled, not when we split up and I nearly froze to death, not when I nearly died fighting the Dragonfly, or when Wilson died, or when Popsicle died, not when I was half-blinded and beaten, not when I was bitten, scratched, smacked, bruised, or slashed. I cried. When the first tears fell, I just couldn't stop.

WX just looked at me, blinking slowly then reaching out a shaking hand to wipe the tears away from my face. "DON'T CRY, WEBBER," he murmured. "YOU'VE ALWAYS BEEN SO STRONG."

"I-I don't want you to leave me," I sobbed.

He closed his eyes, and I wasn't sure if it was because he was running out of energy from the hole in his stomach or if it was willingly. But quietly, so quietly, only my sharp hearing could pick it up, I heard his faint words. "THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER WENT UP THE WATER SPOUT. DOWN CAME THE RAIN AND WASHED THE SPIDER OUT. OUT CAME THE SUN AND DRIED UP ALL THE RAIN AND THE ITSY BITSY SPIDER WENT UP THE SPOUT AGAIN," he sang. Something about the melody reminded me of when I was injured after my fight with Wilson, and I relaxed slightly. He shook his head slowly, sounding almost as though he, too, was choking back his emotions. "YOU'RE GOING TO ESCAPE, AND YOU'LL NEVER LOOK BACK."

"Not without you!" I protested.

He sighed, resting the full weight of his head on my hand. "YOU CAN'T SAVE ME. YOU COULDN'T HAVE, NO MATTER WHAT." I felt my heart twist in grief, wishing that it was me instead of him.

I nearly choked on my own tears. "I don't want you to leave me!" I repeated. "Y-you can't. Y-you're a robot. R-robot's can't die."

Giving me a weak stare that was rapidly becoming more and more empty, he shook his head. "M-MAYBE... I'M MORE HUMAN-LIKE THAN EITHER OF US THOUGHT."

I looked away. "You always hated living things. What makes me so special?"

"CAN'T YOU TELL...?" his smile faltered. "YOU'RE YOU."

"I'm not special!"

"YOU REALLY BELIEVE THAT, DON'T YOU?"

With a shuddering breath, I barely managed to keep my gaze steady. "We could've been such great friends."

He was silent for many moments. "I THOUGHT WE ALREADY WERE," he rasped. I screwed my eyes shut, failing to keep another stream of tears running down my already matted cheek fur. I couldn't stand seeing him like this, but my mind was fixed on a single thing: I'm never going to see him again.

Slowly, I opened my eyes and ran my hand around the hole, hardly daring to look at his face. I knew what I would see moments before I looked. His gaze was blank, his weight rested entirely on my hand, and sparks no longer flew from the hole in his torso. His hand was stretched out, as if to comfort me, but had fallen short of my shoulder. "WX? WX!"

No reply.

"No..." I whispered. I leaned over him, shaking him slightly. "Please..." I whimpered. "get up... don't do this..." Why must this happen to me? Why did it happen to him? Why? I've had so much grief in my life, and now, the only creature in the world that was ready to accept me for me, was gone.

I shook my head, hoping it was just a nightmare, and when I woke up again I would be back on the surface and this whole episode was just a dream, which would leave me soon, but stopped short mid-head-turn, slightly shocked. Next to me, a small, glowing white flower had grown. That wasn't there before. But with my mind so clouded with grief, I wasn't even sure any more.

Without a sound, I picked the flower and lay it on his chest, whispering farewells to the one who gave his life for mine. The light pulsed for a moment before the light dimmed, and the battle behind me crashed back into reality. Farewell, my friend. May one day, our paths cross again. That day shall be glorious, and the very Earth will sing with glee at the reunion.

In that moment of pure grief, I felt something surge up inside me, a powerful wave of rage probably brought on by Webber. Not caring anymore, we let the spider take over, and we turned, giving the Ancient Guardian a glare and expressed every emotion we felt into, "You killed my best friend! And now you're going to pay."