Author's Notes about this Story:
Hello Everyone! [this 1st author's note is long, cause its the beginning of the story... future notes for other chapters should not be so long, lol] If you are reading this here, you might have followed one of my stories from over a decade ago, perhaps. In that case, you will know it has been some time since I wrote any fanfiction [I have written original stuff, and a little fandom stuff, but nothing I have posted in many places]. Well, the new Indie Game "Stray", has fixed that! So if you are one of the probably few people who have missed my writing, you can give your thanks to the wonderful makers of "Stray" that they have injected tons of writing inspiration and writing excitement back into my life! It didn't take long for me to be a Huge Fan of the Stray game! I have always Loved cats, which already guaranteed I would love the game. On top of that, I Love fantasy and sci-fi, including intelligent robots! Another huge Plus in Stray's favor for me! I am not a gamer, but watching YouTubers play the game had me not only falling for the game and the cat, but also for so many of the robot characters! This was so much the case that I decided to buy the game and try to play my way through it, even though I am quite bad, lol. I will say, regarding my fanfic, that if you like stories with lots of action, that follow the "plot buildup and resolution" process of lots of stories, movies, and books, then my fanfic might not be for you. I have always wished that there would be Cannon "stories after the stories" of favorite characters. I want to know what characters lives are like after the "plot" is over. Like: How do they resolve other problems? How have they grown [and continue to grow] from their experiences? How do their friend, romantic, and other relationships evolve after "the plot" is resolved? What do they do and think about each day afterwards? Etc... So this story is my interpretation/version of what happens after the game [and it's version of the story] ends. It is going to be kind of "open-ended", and it will not be a fast paced story, cause that isn't what I want to write... It's sort of more like a biography of their lives afterwards... but not written like a biography. With "past" events from the time of the game, I stayed Canon 99% of the time, but I added additional components that in my creative version, happened "in between" the gaming story scenes. In other words, I took some creative liberties, while still altering very little with the game story's past events. And I get the distinct feeling I might be in the great minority with how I "ship" one or more of my relationships, mainly with who I pair Clementine up with... But well... you gotta stay true to your Self and your Heart, right? I felt strongly about my own "ship" with Clem, and I have to stick with it. I plan on eventually having all the named [and even a few unnamed] characters that were introduced in the game be in this story. So if there are characters that you haven't found in here yet, just be patient, they will get into this story eventually. Last note, I try really hard to edit all my writing... but I am no super great editor... so hopefully I edited well enough for everyone to enjoy and understand my writing. My apologies if I failed in some places, I am only human, lol. With all that said, if you are still about to read my fanfic, than I do hope that you will enjoy! Thanks in advance for reading it! *^_^*Notes about This Chapter:
I promise the notes to this chapter will be super short, since the notes at beginning of the story were kinda long... Guardian is one of my ultimate favorite characters, in a long list of so many favorite characters. I have a hard time picking out favorite characters in many stories. I am not sure why he is a favorite, other than that he is strong, brave, and devoted, and I think that his robes, his hat, his staff, and everything else about him are super awesome and admirable! Okay, so maybe I Do know why he is a super favorite, lol! Oh, and I really love his digital voice, lol! [but you didn't hear that from me *^_^*] I hope you enjoy my interpretation of him and his history. Thanks for reading! *^_^*Part 1: Personal Reflections & New Beginnings
[Each POV Chapter starting around the time
the Roof of the City was fully 100% opened]
By: Seiya's Star
[aka in Stray Fandom as: IzaTheSoftOne]
Chapter 1: The Guardian's POV
Guardian stared with a glitching face symbol followed by a series of exclamation points, and finally into a smiley face, at the glorious rays of sunlight falling over the Slums and everywhere else. The exclamation points were after he heard the telltale sounds of exploding Zurks, a sound he was use to by now. But when he heard the sounds, it was usually after he had stabbed them with his bo staff when some of them would penetrate through the Slum defenses. This time it was hearing them explode from a huge light in the sky: both of which he never had thought existed until now.
He smiled, literally, brighter, as thoughts of the Little Outsider came to his mind. It hadn't been that long since the strange but honorable and wonderful orange creature had left for the Sewers, and yet so much had changed in such a short period of time, the Guardian reflected to himself.
For the first time in a very very long time, he was able to let his mental guard down more than he had in a very long time, a feeling that was completely alien to the protective, warrior-minded Companion. For most of his very long life, he had felt the need to be the one that protected his fellow people from the Zurks. To step up and be the leader to shoulder this grave responsibility.
He couldn't remember a single minute where he wasn't constantly on guard about possible Zurk dangers. But now... He had heard the sounds of tons of terrified Zurks, off around the edges of the Slums, as they tried to run for cover. And he heard the sound of them being totally obliterated by the bright white-ish gold orb in the "sky", and it was awe inspiring.
By the Soft-One Ancestors! Just seeing that sky and that super bright orb was awe inspiring. He had never dreamed that those things were real... but now, there was no doubt, all because of that small orange creature he called the "Little Outsider" along with the great efforts from the rest of the Outsiders.
As Companion robots milled around in awe, chattering to each other and giving exclamations of awe and bewilderment and happiness, the Guardian couldn't help but reflect on things from what seemed a long time ago, but was not that long ago by Companion standards.
It was when She was still around. She being Clementine; before half of the Outsiders and a few others had left for the Sewers, in the hopes of making it to safer areas, maybe even Midtown. The time that came flooding back was when Clementine was just starting to devise her plan for getting out of the Slums, along with whoever was willing to go with her.
Thoughts of her still troubled him, not in an angry or frustrated way, but in a sorrowful, even regretful way. The two of them had known each other for a very long time, long before she had become friends with any of the other Outsiders. She and Guardian had always been very close. They had met so far back in time that neither of them could remember how they actually met. But it was their mutual, shared. unique bond of both being strong leader like types, willing to overcome any fears and do what had to be done for what they believed in, despite any odds, that had forged them into being very strong friends.
The problem that arose was that their beliefs varied so dramatically. What was important to them both was the same, but the way they perceived things was anything but alike. He had always felt protective of their people, and wanted to safeguard them, but he never believed in the "ancient myths" of a better world above the circular patterned "stars" in the City's "sky".
He was a pragmatist, and The Soft Ones only knew, their was plenty in this city life of theirs to be pragmatic about, between dwindling resources, Zurks everywhere, and horrible living conditions. It was all he could do to organize and rally the Companions of the Slums, so as to keep everyone safe and organized enough to remain that way. Protecting a city in those circumstances was no easy matter, and he had been one of the very few to step up many many years ago when things had started to go badly in the city for the Companions. Clementine had been on of the few others, but she diverged on the longer term approach to helping everyone.
Clementine had always believed in the "myth" of the Outside [which of course now he knew not to be a myth at all], where he never had. Clem felt strongly that once the Slums had been organized for maximum protection from the Zurks, that everyone should then be educated about the Outside. She thought that once everyone was educated about the Outside, and its promise of Zurk free living, that they could all work together to open the city and move Outside: living a happy life free from Zurks and squalor, and full of light and color.
He disagreed with her, thinking that even if their was an Outside, there was no reason to think it would be welcoming to them, or that it would be easy to survive there. He thought it was better to keep everyone safely in their heavily guarded Slum area, and hunt for resources whenever they got low.
She had disagreed, believing that eventually it would become impossible to survive in the Slums with the Zurks and the dwindling resources, and that they needed to access the Outside and learn to live there in order to survive as a species, as well as to be as happy as they all deserved to be. She believed she had enough reasonable evidence to prove that there was an Outside to strive for in the first place. Guardian did not.
Despite these strong disagreements their friendship was way too strong to get into huge fights and feel horrible animosity towards each other. They respected each other's strengths, personalities, and even their differing opinions, too much for that. Instead, they sadly resigned themselves that they had to part ways, ideologically as well as, eventually physically, in order to follow the paths that fate had destined for them. And deep down they realized that both of them needed to follow their path for the good of all Companions in the Slums.
They realized that not everyone was going to be able, willing, or ready to try to leave the Slums and go after a better world, whether one existed or not; and they also realized that they couldn't just abandon the ones that weren't ready yet, to a disorganized community where they would surely be taken over and eaten alive by Zurks... So the only choice was to follow their different destinies: for him to stay and make sure everyone who remained stayed safe; and for her to eventually go and discover if the Outside really existed, and if it was as much of a safe haven as she thought it was.
In the decades after Clem left with Zbaltazar and some others, it felt like a huge piece of Guardian's processor had instantly rusted and fallen out of his casing. It felt like a whole heap of Zurks were eating vital components inside his chest. Like some crucial part of his processors was removed and he wasn't quite able to work well at all without it. It was a super uncomfortable feeling for the normally strong warrior-oriented Companion, and so he did his best to stay focused elsewhere. He always tried to keep his mind on something else, which usually wasn't hard given his self-appointed duties and the constant threat of the Zurks.
He wondered many times however, if Clem ever found it painful thinking about him, the way he found it painful thinking about her. Did she ever wish she could see him, the way he frequently wished he could see her?
When the orange Little Outsider arrived... oddly enough, he always thought of Clem, as he had warmly called her during so many hundreds upon hundreds of years being friends with her. The Little Outsider was very brave, very quick, very strong and warrior-like, and very strong willed. It never seemed to let fear get in the way of its decisions, even around tons of Zurks, and it was amazingly goal oriented for a creature that had to have a small droid translate everything for it and couldn't communicate back.
All of those characteristics were so much like Clementine that The Guardian couldn't help but think of his dear friend every time he saw the small orange creature. Because of this reminding, as well as its own fierce but caring strength, and how much it also resembled the personality of Guardian itself, the red robed Companion deeply respected, and cared very much for, the little newest Outsider, even before the little cat, with his droid companion, had managed to open the city to the Outside.
Guardian's processor mind then shifted fully to the Little Outsider itself, whom Momo had very recently started to refer to as LO [Little Outsider] especially since it resembled Momo's own name in sound and simplicity. It had caught on with most of the residents of the Slums now, especially since someone had pointed out that an ancient word of the Soft One Ancestors was the word: low, and it had meant down closer to the ground, which of course the cat was in comparison to all the Companions. [That Companion that made that discovery had found an ancient dictionary in a long abandoned flat near the Big Wall]
LO, the cat in itself was something that gave the Outsider much consideration and affectionate thought. LO had risked its life so much for all of them, and shown such admirable courage and fortitude.
LO had even put the lives and well-being of the bots of the Slums above its own life and well-being. It did so many dangerous quests and in-town tasks, that its meager diet couldn't keep up with its activity level. LO had been trying to make do with the insects it had seen flying around, and with the occasional rat it was able to find and catch, in between the different requests and quests it had been doing for the Companions, but it wasn't enough to fuel him through all the running and jumping and planning it needed to do.
The Guardian's screen monitor face switched to a smiley face, and then a heart, thinking of how everyone in the Slums had come together to gather food that the little LO could eat and that would be pleasing to it, as a way of thanking it for everything it was doing for them, and also to keep it alive and happy. All the teamwork, all of the awesome morale and problem solving...
Guardian was so proud of all of them for coming together like that for something so important. He hadn't seen them have that much morale for so very long.
He thought that the last time he had seen them have morale like that might have been before the last major Zurk invasion over 100 years ago. That invasion had been so fierce that the defenses of the Slums had totally buckled. Guardian and the citizens of the Slums had needed to draw in the borders of the Slums by 10 Kilometers in many areas. It had taken a lot of cooperation to keep the whole community from being overrun. But since then... the morale of his people had been gradually faltering in a way he found sadly hard to strengthen back again.
But that one small little cat had inspired that much motivation and morale and teamwork from everyone. Given everyone a new kind of energy that would have probably amazed even Clem... That little cat was as motivational as Clem herself had been when she was still here...
The Guardian had to pause for a minute... thinking about both Clem and LO together at the same time, when he had no idea where either of them were or how they were doing, and if they were okay, made his processors become sluggish in an unpleasant way, as if something inside him were very … wrong. It was similar to when he thought too much about Clementine and had to refocus. He wondered if this feeling was anything like what the Soft Ones had felt like when they "missed" the company of ones they cared about and respected. He wished he could ask one right now...
He realized that just because the city had been opened, that still didn't mean that Clementine or LO the cat were okay. They could have sustained life threatening injuries that were even now taking either of their lives as they started to open the city. Even right now... they might be having their last moments of life... Guardian had to stop this line of thought... it was very painful to him, and it was equally as possible that both incredible Outsiders were doing just fine.
When companions started coming up to him and asking about all the light and the sky and if this was because of the Little Outsider and/or Clementine, he was glad to have their distraction. The next several hours of his time was spent rallying up companions to check the different borders of the Slums to see if there were any signs of living Zurks [which there wasn't], and finding Momo, to see about using the Transceiver again to connect with everyone else throughout the city.
A couple hours later, other tasks completed, Guardian found Momo already at the bar, doing that very same thing: tuning into the transceiver on the big monitor in the bar, to see if he could re-establish communication with Zbaltazar, and/or even Clementine, and find out how the rest of the city was dealing with everything now. Surprisingly enough, he also found Swanito sitting next to him. He suspected the two were friends, but Guardian couldn't help but wonder if there might be something more going on there...
Guardian smiled at the two of them, and nodded respectfully to Jacob while taking a seat at the bar, in a stool that was closest to the duo working the transceiver.
