Title: Guardian
Words: 4,040(4,864)
Disclaimer: I do not own Xenoblade. If I did, then Shulk and Reyn would be together.
Chapter 1- Colony Nine
I groaned, trudging through the broken forest; my head lowered, my wings dragging beside me, and my tail dragging behind me. I was hungry, I was cold, I was weak, and I was hurt… very hurt.
Bruises and cuts covered my body from nose to tail and blood pooled at my paws, leaving a dank trail from where I had come.
The metallic smell of the blood filled my senses, and I wasn't able to tell in which direction I should go or where I was. All I knew was that I had traveled somewhere on the Bionis' leg.
I could see from the corner of my eyes that a few Bunnit's and Vang's were following me. But I didn't bother with them, as they stood far from me and the bloodied trail I walked.
One brave Bunnit, a small one, hopped up to me and sniffed around. 'Y-you're hurt...!' It chirped and I stopped walking, grimacing when the small creature placed its paw on one of my scratches. It took everything I had not to snap at the poor creature.
"I'm fine..." I muttered, flicking my tail at the Bunnit and it scurried away, along with the other creatures. I sighed in slight relief before continuing to walk, hoping to find a safe place to rest for the night.
Finally, I found a small tree to rest under and I laid carefully in the grass, turning my muzzle and I lapped at one of my cuts, wincing at the slight sting and scrunching my nose up at the awful taste of my blood. I shook my head when I couldn't clean myself anymore than I had and laid my muzzle down, tired and exhausted.
"Tomorrow I will continue my search..." I murmured, yawning wide and I finally closed my eyes, succumbing to the shadows of sleep.
"Come on, Shulk!" A bright eyed, blonde haired, girl laughed as she waved back to another blonde, a boy, who was chasing after her.
"Ah, slow down, Fiora!" Shulk puffed out, pouting a little, though his eyes had a spark of happiness in them.
"Hey Fiora! Shulk! Hurry up, will you? The sun's already setting; we're going to miss it!" Another teen, with bright red hair, called to the two and they nodded, catching up with him.
"Coming Reyn!" Fiora called back, and she joined the red-head, Shulk behind her, as Reyn led them towards the tallest cliff in the Colony. "This is going to be the best show, yet!" Shulk smiled and he and Reyn nodded in agreement.
When they got there, it was already dark and the sky was filled with many stars, and the lake below them had several blue flashing dots floating above the water.
Fiora leaned against the railing while Reyn and Shulk climbed up and sat on it. They were all eagerly waiting for the show to begin, and before long, there was a loud pop heard from the village and a bright streak of white flew towards the open sky before a bang sounded and the streak blew up, shattering into a thousand pieces and Fiora's face lit up with excitement at the sight.
"Ah! It's so pretty!" She pointed up to the disappearing light and Shulk nodded in agreement while Reyn grinned wide.
Soon after the first one disappeared, two other joined it, blowing up in the sky and creating a magnificent and beautiful show of light and sparks. More joined, after the first three, and soon it was almost like a non-stop light shower that lit up the night sky with fire.
I heard, from high above, the sound of fire exploding, but I did not care to find out what it was. I was too weak, and in my sleep, I was peaceful. I did not want to wake, so I continued to lie there, dreaming, as I heard the fire explode. And then it was no more.
Fiora clapped her hands together once the loud streaks disappeared and she turned to the other two boys; Reyn was laughing and Shulk was smiling. "Oleksiy's outdone himself this year~!" She chirped and Reyn nodded.
"Yeah, he has! Who knew he'd think up this kind of thing!" Reyn grinned, turning to Fiora. "That was incredible, wasn't it, Shulk?" He asked Shulk, turning to him then and the blonde nodded.
"Yeah, it was." Shulk smiled brighter and Reyn laughed once more, over no apparent reason.
"Come on, you two, we better go tell him how it was!" Fiora said, standing up and Reyn jumped from the rail, followed by Shulk.
"You're right! Aw man, I can't wait until the next show!" Reyn said and Shulk chuckled, shaking his head before he walked back down the path. "Hey, Shulk! Wait for us!" Reyn grabbed Fiora's arm and he raced after the blonde.
It only took a few minutes to walk back down the path, but when they got there, they were greeted with an unpleasant surprise.
"Ew, what's that smell...?" Fiora questioned, scrunching up her nose and she put a hand up to block the strong smell.
Reyn and Shulk tensed when they sniffed the air and the red-head narrowed his eyes while Shulk's own widened.
"Blood." Both the boys turned to one another and Shulk frowned in worry while Reyn looked to be on edge, expecting some sort of monster to jump out and attack them.
"Reyn, look!" Reyn and Fiora both turned when Shulk shouted out, pointing in the direction of a large blood trail in the dark grass.
Fiora gasped in horror and Reyn made a small noise in disgust. "No wonder the smell is so strong...!" Reyn muttered and Shulk ran over to the trail, kneeling down and he looked around. "Shulk! What are you doing!?" Reyn questioned, confused and still alert.
"We have to follow the trail; whatever made this could be really hurt." Shulk reasoned and Fiora frowned, turning to Reyn before running over to Shulk, ready to help.
"Fine... but Dickson's not going to like this." Reyn finally agreed and Shulk nodded, before leading the other two down the trail, to hopefully where the creature was.
When they had gotten to the end of the trail, what they found was worse than Shulk had thought. Under a small tree was a very bloody, sleeping Volff-like creature.
"Oh no!" Fiora was the first to rush at the creature's side, not caring that it could wake up at any moment. Shulk was at her side within moments, while Reyn stood back, his hand on his weapon. "Shulk is it...?" Fiora looked at her friend with wide green eyes, fear and worry etched into them.
"No, he's alive, but only barely." He said, feeling the faint breath of the creature with his palm. "Fiora, go get help. We need to get this creature to the village as soon as possible." Shulk added sharply and the girl nodded before dashing off to the Colony entrance, mind set on getting help. "Reyn," he turned to his friend and frowned, "please help me try to stop some of his wounds from bleeding."
Reyn frowned as well, but he nodded after a bit of hesitance and he kneeled beside Shulk, taking the bag from his friend and he grabbed out a few clean cloths, handing some to Shulk before he pressed the cloth to a major cut to its side.
It wasn't long before blood started to cling tightly to the cloths, soaking the once white in deep bloodied red.
I tensed and flinched, in my sleep, when I felt pressure on my wounds. I tried to wake up, in case I was in any danger, but my body wouldn't let me. I whimpered and tried to fight off the sleep as the pressure became greater, but soon I stilled... I felt, for some reason, that I was not in any danger, even as I slept. So I gave up, and tried to feel for the outside world, tried to listen for what was going on, what was going to happen.
"Sleep... my Guardian. When you wake, you will know what has happened." I heard a voice call out to me in the darkness of my mind and I followed what it said, resting and falling deeper into my slumber.
And then... I felt... nothing.
"Shulk!" Fiora called out, running back towards Reyn and Shulk, and the teens turned towards her. Shulk was relieved to find that she had gone back to grab the young captain and some of the soldiers; and he was even more so when he found multiple cloths in her arms.
"Hurry," he said quickly, "we need to take him back to the Colony and patch him up. He won't last much longer like this. He's loosing blood too quickly." He instructed and the soldiers nodded, helping Reyn pick the creature up, careful of some of its major wounds. "Be careful of his wings."
He, Fiora, and Emmy stayed at the creature's sides, keeping the pressure on its wounds.
"My Guardian..."
My body felt heavy, but yet, it felt light. I didn't know where I was or what happened, yet, but I heard that voice in my head again.
"My Guardian, you may wake." There it was again... and this time it sounded clearer and I knew instantly who it was that was speaking to me.
It was the Bionis.
But what was he saying? I couldn't clear my head enough to listen. I still felt weak and drowsy and unstable.
"M... Gua...di...n... W...ke..." The voice was fading and I couldn't tell what he was saying anymore. I felt my world of darkness fading and I could feel as if something was trying to pull me to the surface of my slumber.
So, I didn't fight it... instead, I embraced it.
My eyes blinked open, before closing and I turned away from the bright light that invaded my vision. My eyes opened again, this time wide in shock as I saw beneath me a pillow and a few blankets.
"What...?" I questioned, confused, and my body ached, but there was no major pain. I lifted my head and looked at my body, my wounds covered with bloodied bandages and some were stitched up. "What is going on...?" I frowned before whipping around as I heard footsteps coming upon wood. I saw the stairs, to which led up to the room I was being kept in and my eyes widened a little when I saw a blonde haired, green eyed girl walk up them.
"Oh! You're finally awake!" She gasped, quickening her steps and she kneeled down beside me, placing her hands upon my wounds, feeling the bandages and I barely winced. "You were in such an awful state that we were afraid you'd never wake up! Poor Shulk thought you were going to die..." she frowned and my ears lowered in more confusion.
"We...? Shulk? Who's that? More importantly, who are you and what is this place?" I started to ask a lot of questions and she looked at me with wide eyes.
"Y-you can talk...?" She asked and I narrowed my eyes a little, nodding warily. She then giggled and I frowned more, still very confused. "Looks like we both have questions to ask each other." She grinned and I sighed, resting my muzzle on the pillow before perking up when I heard a soft whimper coming from another direction and I turned my head, looking towards the only bed in the room.
My eyes widened a little when I saw a boy with blonde hair and strange clothing sleeping on it, his face turned towards me. The girl noticed where I was looking and she turned towards the boy as well, smiling softly, almost in a fond, sister-kind of way.
"That's Shulk," she murmured, her hands coming to rest on her lap. "He was up for three days straight, trying to nurse you back to health. He refused to sleep and he barely ate, worrying about you." She said and my ears lowered once more. I felt awful, hearing that. The kid must've been worried sick if he wouldn't eat or sleep. "He barely left your side until Reyn finally begged for him to go to sleep, and even then Shulk didn't go far from you."
"How long have I been out?" I asked her, and she sighed, shaking her head.
"Nearly four days." She answered and I lowered my head in a bow.
"I am sorry to have been so much trouble to you." I mumbled, moving to stand up, but I fell back down on my paws as soon as I did, with a bark of pain and the girl immediately pushed me back down on the blankets.
"Don't move!" She snapped, almost glaring at me. "You're wounds have yet to heal, and after so long of sleeping, you're bound to be weak and it'll only be worse if you try to move around." She added and I almost felt like I was being scolded by a mother who had found her child wandering the plains alone at night.
"...hm...?" Both my and the girl's attention was turned to the boy in the bed when we heard his voice; it was soft and tired and sounded... strange... to me.
Who exactly is this boy? I thought, my insides turning as my thoughts ran rampant and I immediately chalked it up to being hungry.
"Shulk?" The girl stood up and walked over to the bed. "How are you feeling?" She asked softly and pretty blue eyes peeled open, staring up at her.
"...I'm fine..." he murmured and then yawned, and he sat up, his gaze turning to me and his eyes widened. "He's finally awake?" He questioned before turning to the girl. "Why didn't you wake me up!?"
"Calm down, Shulk, he only just woke, like you." She chuckled and the boy seemed to calm down a little, before his stomach rumbled and I nearly barked out in laughter at the sound, as well as his childish pout and the small blush that spread across his cheeks. "I'll go grab some food for you, okay Shulk?" He nodded to the girl as she turned away and back towards the stairs.
"Do we have any leftover meat?" Shulk questioned and almost immediately I perked up at the word; the boy seemed to notice this and he smiled at me, my ears lowering a little before perking up again as the girl nodded. "Can you grab some for him? I bet he's hungry after everything that's happened."
"Alright." She smiled and walked down the stairs, leaving me alone with the boy. And somehow, I felt strange. I had a million questions in my head, but I couldn't find a single one. My blood felt warm inside my body and my insides felt weird.
We stared at one another for a few moments before the boy got out of the bed and he walked over to me, kneeling beside me and I merely tilted my head.
"I'm guessing you must have a lot of questions, huh?" He said softly and I slowly nodded. "You should probably eat first, before anything else." He added and then spoke again, "I'm curious about you as well. I've never seen a creature like you before, but then again, I haven't gotten out of the Colony much. I wonder where you're from... not even Dunban knew what you are."
He had spoken all too quickly for me to even get in a word, but even when he paused, the girl from earlier came back up, carrying a tray with a steaming bowl and a plate with a few pieces of thick meat.
My senses were immediately invaded by the smell of the meat and the stew, and I felt a sharp pain in my stomach. I ignored it as I licked my lips when she set down the tray, handing the bowl to Shulk.
"Here you go, Shulk." She smiled and he smiled back, thankful. She then set the plate down beside me and I nearly moaned with delight as I bit into the juicy meat. The girl laughed a little at this, but I didn't pay any attention to her as I ate.
When my plate was finished and the boy's soup was nearly depleted, the girl turned her attention to me.
"I almost forgot," she started, earning both my and Shulk's attention, "Dunban had wanted to see you when you awoke, both of you. He said it was important."
This time I was able to speak before the boy, which pleased me, though it shocked him to a great extent. "Who is this Dunban? I've heard him mentioned a few times now since I awoke."
"W-what...? Y-you can speak?!" Shulk asked, shocked and the girl giggled, nodding.
"I was surprised at first too," she said before smiling at me. "Dunban is my older brother and one of the Colony's prized soldiers. He was the one that allowed you to stay here, our home, to rest until you got better." She answered and I nodded my head in understanding.
"So he is the one I am to thank, aside from you, Shulk?" The boy nodded, a bit speechless now and I smirked slightly before carefully standing up, my wings folded up tightly so they wouldn't drag on the ground like they had in the forest. "Then, we shall not keep the man waiting," I continued, ruffling my feathers a little, wincing slightly at the sting that caused me.
"Um, right." Shulk said, nodding again and he stood up, grabbing both his bowl and my plate and the girl smiled, taking them from him.
"I'll take care of these. You go on and meet with Dunban." She said and Shulk nodded.
"Okay, where is he?" He asked and the girl hummed in thought before frowning.
"I think he mentioned something about going down to the shoreline when I talked to him last. You should check there first," she said and then added, "if he's not there, check OutlookPark." With that, she left down the stairs, leaving Shulk and I to go on our own.
"I guess we should get going, then." The boy smiled at me and I nodded before following him downstairs and out of the home. To my surprise, the home was right near the entrance to the village I was in. I followed Shulk, wary of the stares from the residents of the colony. "It's almost noon, so my guess is that Dunban will be at OutlookPark. He usually is at this time of day." Shulk said and I nodded absently, though only for show.
"And where is this OutlookPark?" I asked and he nodded in a direction towards stairs. "Oh."
We walked up the stairs, my paws aching slightly, but I paid no mind to it. I never did well resting in one place for too long, as I usually always felt like a caged Vang. I itched to use my wings, but I knew that I was too weak to carry my own weight through the air.
After a minute or two of walking, we came to an open area with a few trees and benches. I gasped slightly as saw that this place overlooked the entire area. Below there was a lake, and the colony, and even the forest from which I had traveled from.
I padded over to the fence and peered over the edge, fascinated with the view.
"Beautiful, isn't it?" My attention snapped over to a man sitting on a bench, not far from where I stood and I realized that this man was Dunban.
"Your home is, yes." I smiled politely and he didn't look the least bit surprised that I was able to speak, unlike the others.
"Thank you," he said back and I padded over to him, just as Shulk sat on the bench beside the man.
"You wanted to see us, Dunban?" Shulk questioned and the man nodded.
"I'm glad to hear and see that you are alive and well," the man smiled, sitting up and I tilted my head, sitting down, curling my tail around myself a few times. "You had given us quite the scare when the others had brought you to the Colony. You were barely breathing and you'd bled all over the place." He chuckled. "Made quite a mess, but I'm pleased to see you're wounds are healing well."
"Thank you, for taking care of me." The man nodded before a small silence fell over the three of us.
"Well, you must have quite a lot of questions on your mind. You can ask them, if you'd like." Dunban said, finally, and I looked back over the fence, my ears twitching and I noticed from the corner of my eye that Shulk had turned his full attention to me; no doubt eager to hear what I have to ask.
"What is this place?" I asked, first, curious as to where I had been taken.
"Colony 9, our home." Shulk answered, before Dunban could have a chance to speak.
"I have never heard of a settlement being so far down the Bionis." I said lightly and Dunban chuckled.
"And so, you must be from higher regions, am I correct?" I nodded to this, turning to the man.
"My home is on the top of the Bionis, at the highest peaks of his head. It is where most of my kind dwells." I answered and he hummed in thought.
"How come you've traveled down here?" Shulk asked and I looked to him.
"I've come in search of something." I said and the boy tilted his head in confusion.
"What are you looking for?" He questioned and Dunban smirked then, catching my attention.
"Not what, but who, yes?" I nodded, slowly, at this and he chuckled. "Well, I'll be damned. It is true."
"What is?" I stayed quiet, for the moment, while Dunban spoke.
"I had heard once, long ago, from an old friend of mine about these creatures that travel the land of the Bionis, protecting it and its life forms. But I never thought it to be true, until now." He closed his eyes for a moment before opening them and he looked straight at me. "You're a Guardian, aren't you?"
To say I was shocked would be an understatement. I was truly amazed that this man had heard of the Guardians. I nodded at this and stood up. "I am. Though, how you knew about us, is beyond me." I said.
"When you said you were searching for something, you meant the human you are to protect?" I nodded again and Shulk looked back and forth between me and Dunban.
"So... you're like... an angel?" I almost laughed when I heard that and shook my head.
"No, I am not an angel. Those creatures are merely fairy tale. I assure you, however, that I am real. The Bionis gave me a mission, to protect someone that lives upon him. But, he did not tell me who, so I have searched every part of the Bionis in hopes to find the one I am to protect." I said.
"May I ask," Shulk started, tilting his head a little, and I twitched my ears in response, waiting patiently for him to continue, "What is your name?"
"My name?" I questioned and he nodded. I smiled then, "My name is Anaitus."
"Anaitus..." Shulk hummed and my smile grew. "It's nice to meet you, Anai." I chuckled and shook my head.
"You as well," Somehow, I was strangely okay with the little nickname he had given me. "Shulk."
Anai...? Hm... I suppose it does have a nice ring to it. I thought to myself.
"Well then, Anaitus, Guardian of the Bionis," Dunban started and I looked to him once more, "let me be the first to welcome you to our home." He smiled, and I did as well. "You are welcome to stay here for as long as you would like."
"Yeah." Shulk nodded in agreement, smiling at me.
I chuckled once more, bowing my head in thanks.
"Thank you," I said.
Like? Let me know~! I may just end up continuing it...
Review's are loved~ ne~!
~The White Wolf, Zero
P.S. How'd you like Anaitus? Is he okay? Yes, no? Okay... I'll shut up now.