Disclaimer: I am so very sorry about the wait for this part! It was written a while ago but then I re-wrote it and re-wrote it and re-wrote it... I'm still not happy with this part and I don't know if it really works, but I think Clez was close to throttling me if I re-wrote it yet again... and I like living, oddly enough. I don't own anything connected to this story, bar my own OC's... and now, here are the Shout Outs;

Angharad:- Sorry about the long wait you had and I'm glad you are enjoying it!

Freedomfighter82:- Would I unleash hell on Tommy with only three parts to go? Me? I think not... besides, he's still got plenty of mental problems to work through yet. You... you trust me?? ::Eyes well up:: That's so sweet of you! As for what else Tom can go through, don't worry... a lot more. :)

Clez:- Indeed, that was enough compliments ::Is bright red:: What would happen if Tom dies? Wait... on second though, I don't really want to know... sorry for the wait, hope this lives up to your hopes.

Silent Bob 546:- Thanks Bob! Yeah, I know what you mean, but sadly all things must come to an end...

Graymoon74:- She is a bit creepy isn't she. I didn't think the 'Sixth' idea was that good, so thank you. Here's the next part!

Funyun:- We find out about the girl in this part, I promise you. The answer may not be what you were expecting... and damn, her being Tom's mother sounds like a really good idea, I wish I had thought of it! Ah yeah, I say something similar 'Luckily the ground broke my fall'. Yes, it is sad with the guardian, but sadly not everything can work out perfectly...

Niani:- A sequel? That is a very good idea... who knows... it is certainly open for a sequel so if I think of a good plot, who knows?

Kayma:- Thank you so much, I'm so glad that so many people are enjoying it!

Leigh S. Durron:- You have to be careful, sitting on the edge, you might fall off it...

LotRseer3350:- Now? Well, now they have to come to terms with everything that happened. Sorry you had to wait so long, I had real trouble with this part.

Lyn:- Thank you for reading and taking the time to review.

Crystal Nox:- Aww, you flatter me too much! There are many writers in this fandom who are much better than me. Yes... at first he was just in her arms, but then the image of him over her shoulder came to mind... ::Giggles::

Steffi-333:- Yep, the story is almost over now, just some loose ends to tie up... and I think Tom and Skinner need to have a talk, don't you?

Silversnow:- They just don't know when to quit, those souls... because they had him once you see, then think they should keep him. ::Takes antidote::

TARilus:- Eeeeeep! He might survive... he probably will survive.

And now...

The Bodyguard

Part Twenty-Eight: Meant to Live.

:::

"White queen to king white bishop three."

The white queen was lifted from it's position and placed in the named square, by a hand. There was a gentle laugh as the first player's opponent scanned the board. Slowly, a delicate female hand reach out and hovered over the pieces. The chess set was a completely normal, run of the mill board and pieces except for one tiny difference. The colors. Instead of white and black, it was white and red.

"Good move." The Dream girl said. She gripped a rook lightly. "Red rook to queen white five. Your turn Tom." Tom frowned down at the board, staring at the position of all the pieces. For a few seconds his fingers brushed against a knight and he looked up at the Dream girl who was watching him with a faint smile touching her lips.

"What are we doing here?" He asked, before picking up the knight. "White knight takes red king's pawn." He added, taking the red pawn as he did so.

"What does it look like? We're playing chess." The girl said, the faint smile still on her lips as she fingered the Red Queen. Tom shook his head, the frown consuming his normally cheerful face and giving him a scowling expression that sat well on brooding men.

"You know what I mean." Tom said, staring hard at the Dream girl. She shrugged, letting go of the chess piece and picking up a red pawn instead and moving it forward one square. She bent her head, the blond stands of hair falling over her shoulders and blocking her face from Tom's eyes. Tom gave a grunt, as he realized he wasn't going to get any answers out of her at the moment. Running his fingers across his hair, he scanned the board, his eyes recording the fact that one of his knights was in a dangerous place; his king was safe for the time being, he had a white pawn two squares away from the other side; his rook was in a position to take the Red Queen; her bishop was almost in a position to take his own queen...

Wait...

Slowly, almost as if he was afraid that she would notice before he could take the piece and somehow stop him, Tom picked up his white rook and stared down at it as if he had never seen a chess piece before. Tom raised his eyes to look at the bowed head of the Dream girl, only to find that her eyes had also raised to meet his own. For what seemed like an entity the two pairs of eyes gazed steadily into each other.

Galaxies were formed and died, the tides washed away the sand before giving it back to the earth. It seemed as if there was a continuous cycle of birth and death in those two blue eyes and the girl herself seemed to embody that. She appeared to have lived longer than her young body suggested, a fact picked up from the way she held herself and a terrible sadness in her eyes. Yet, at the same time, she appeared to almost shine with the innocence of youth. The two conflicting views could not, of course, both be true and yet both seemed to. But, curiously enough, none of this came to Tom until later and he was able to remember the sight of the startling blue eyes and the way they seemed to convey all this and more. At the time, the only thought that came to Tom's mind was simply;

She's letting me take it... but why?

suspicious, Tom broke the timeless gaze and looked down at the board. Later, when he thought back on it, Tom would slowly come to the conclusion that the gaze had been held for a time so short, that neither had needed to blink once. No matter how hard he looked, there seemed no reason why she would let him take the piece. There was nothing he was leaving unprotected by taking the Red Queen, well, no piece that could warrant sacrificing the best piece on the board for. There was nothing in danger that he needed to move and his King was nowhere near even becoming in check. Slowly the girl blinked, her pale eyelids covering the large, limpid blue eyes. Tom placed the white rook in the same square as the Red Queen and took it, saying quietly.

"Queen's white rook takes Red Queen." He placed the piece by the board and the girl smiled, clapping her hands together. It was not a mocking hand clap, and the smile was not one of someone who could now win.

"By taking the Red Queen out of the game, you change the dynamites. Now the king doesn't seem as strong as before, though his knight is still in the way." She said, waving a hand down at the board below them. Tom followed the movement with his eyes and jumped slightly, staring at the pieces in shock. For just a second, instead of the normal blank face of the red king, it was Mr. Big who was looking out of the face of the king. With an oath, Tom sprung backwards from the board, his whole body trembling slightly. As he looked, the faces of the other pieces of the set changed and the knight in front of the red king became Smith. The second knight had the face of Tom, but so did the white king.

"This..." Tom started, the words dying in his throat. Silently the girl stared down at the board, offering him no help. Tom took a deep breath and pushed on. "This game we are playing... it's... it's what happened out there isn't it... you... I'm right, aren't I." Tom stuttered. The girl lifted her head to look at him for a moment, regret and sorrow in her eyes. Then she bowed her head again, in a nod.

"Who. Are. You?"

"Tom... I wasn't being totally truthful with you." the dream girl said, not looking at Tom. "You thought I was just a dream, a memory or idea from your own mind. I'm not. I am really one of the souls from the Well. In fact... now I am the new guardian of the Well."

"What? How?" Tom answered, his mouth dropping open a little in surprise. The girl squirmed in her seat, her eyes still not lifting to meet Tom's gaze. To delay answering his questions, she pushed one of her pawns forward one space, muttering quietly as she did so. Automatically Tom sat back down in front of the board and looked at it. He was still unable to directly attack the red king, even with the Queen taken. There was really very little for him to do, except to move one of his own pawns forward and he did. Sighing, the girl carried on.

"The drug you were given by Smith... the one that controlled you. It creates a link to the Well and to the souls inside. The idea is to help ready the mind of the sacrifice to the joining. It was supposed to link you to everyone in the Well... but I cut them off from you, so the only soul you felt was me." Without looking at the board she picked up a knight and moved it. Tom carried on staring at her, his expression still one of utter confusion.

"Why would you do something like that? I mean... you were part of the souls, so you were a collective, why would you even want to separate yourself?"

"We all are who we are and we all do what we must." She said lightly, giving him a crooked smile.

"What? I don't understand." Tom pleaded, pushing his pawn forward again. With this move it had reached the other side and the girl smiled, her eyes overly bright as she picked up the Red Queen and replaced it for his pawn. Tom frowned but didn't say anything. He wasn't sure how he suddenly knew the rules of chess, only that he did and he knew that when a pawn reached the opposite side it could be switched for any piece.

"You see? Now you have the Red Queen on your side and now, maybe you can win." She said, a shade too brightly. A tear ran down her check, having broken free of her eyes.

"I was one of the victims of 'Mr. Big'. I suppose you could say that my individuality was still being merged into the Well. Even so, when I felt your presence I was nothing more than part of one person... but after feeling you fight against Big after hearing some of your thoughts... suddenly there was a 'me' again, instead of just an 'us'. I was myself for the first time since my death. You made me want to fight and I worked to free myself from the Well. It wasn't possible of course, but I found by holding onto to your mind, I could almost pull myself free. So I admit it, at first, I was only helping myself."

"And then?" Tom asked, his mind still trying to catch up and understand everything that she was telling him. The girl who had helped him, who had been the one that stopped him giving up, the one who had told him – in cryptic form – how to stop Big... she was part of the Well and in effect, part of something that had wanted to kill him.

"I wanted you to escape. I wanted you to live, to be free... you didn't deserve what Big was trying to do to you." The Dream girl told him. While they had been talking, the two had still been playing chess, moving the pieces around the board. The girl looked down, staring at her red king, as Tom pushed the Red Queen to a space near it.

"Check... mate." Tom said. The girl flicked at the king, sending it crashing to the board, face first. The area around where they were sitting began to grow light and for the first time, Tom was able to take stock of his surroundings. It was the cavern that held the Well, yet the whole area looked different now and it took Tom a few seconds to work out why. There were large rocks on the ground, with cracks running through the rocks. The entrance and exit to the cavern was completely blocked up.

"What happens now?" Tom asked her. She shrugged lightly.

"You wake up and carry on living. The effects of the drug are fading, I do not think we shall see each other again after this. The whole maze and all the caverns are sealed off, and no mortal shall ever interfere with them again."

"And you?"

"Me? I am the guardian. I must remain here, watching over both the Well... and Mr. Big. It is his curse to be trapped here for all time..." She paused and looked away for a moment before looking back at him, as if she had suddenly realized something.

"Don't give up Tom." She warned. He started to protest, to feign ignorance but she laughed, tapping the side of her head with a finger. "I've been in your head Tom, I know how you think. You must not let this... incident... interfere with your life."

"But how can I not? What they did to me... how am I supposed to just move past that?" Tom asked her. In answer the girl leaned over and gently planted a light kiss on his cheek. She drew back and smiled, a blush tinging her face.

"Our memories of yesterday tell us who we are today, while the events of today, shape who will be tomorrow. Goodbye Tom and good luck." She spoke quiet calmly. Tom nodded mutely and she reached up, clasping his hand in her own. Something cool was pressed into his hand and he opened his mouth, only for her finger to cover his lips. The two gazed into each other's eyes, Tom's own breathing coming in short, un-even breaths. For a long moment it seemed as if the two would kiss on the lips before the girl smiled sadly, tears running down her face again. She shook her head and turned to go. At that moment, Tom remember that he still didn't know her name and moved after her. She began to fade from view, as if she was just a memory and an old one at that.

"Your name? Please, tell me." Tom begged, the dream girl's body fading rapidly away. She turned her head to look at him, the blue eye staring steadily at him. Just before her form vanished completely from view she opened her mouth and spoke her name.

"Alice."

Tom was now alone, the darkness descending until only himself and the immediate area around him was illuminated. He peered around vainly for a few moments then lowered his gaze, staring at his tightly clenched fist, feeling the cool metal press against his warm skin. Curiously, he peeled back his fingers and stared down at the silver pendant she had given him. In wonderment, he traced the branches, feeling the way the top curled round in a loop and the fact that the bottom one was longer than the others. Tom stared at the Ankh he had been given as he wandered along his own path, still in the almost darkness.

TBC...

Just two more part left! Hope you all liked this part and sorry again for the wait!

-Sethoz