The Guardians - The Collapsing of the Wall (Book 3)

Some things happen too early, others too late, but there are things that still happen when they need to, and those things are guided by the destiny. It seems that all the things that led Lily in front of the last uninhabited Base remained standing were somehow connected, and she had saved the worlds, as it was written for her to do.

But now it’s her time to write the history, for she truly wants to change something in this world torn apart by evil and terror, where she wanted to believe that was enough space for the sparks that were going to light up her wishes. She doesn’t want tyranny, chips or total control, but she wants what she had always wanted: to be a chosen leader, one who the Guardians will love, and who will guide them to what is right. She wants to understand and to be understood in return. She wants to be all that Leonor hadn’t been, her opposite, shortly, to be herself.

The Base explodes under her look, and she enjoys the burned smell, taking a deep breath and closing her eyes.

“This is the last one”, she hears Tamara speaking over her shoulder.

“They had gathered their things and are heading now to Base R”, Artemis adds.

“You did a good thing by demolishing them all. Rebuilding and living together means everything now, and seeing how things are going, we will turn Base R in a huge Base”, says Tamara.

“Everything will change”, says Lily wiping off the dust from her costume.

They all get inside the vehicles, and they find their ways back to Base R, happy that they had managed to erase from the Guardian’s World all the Bases that were reminding them of Zoltan and Leonor’s tyranny. Lily still has on her mind Ray’s face before she killed him. His face had sent her a strange feeling of fear and, for the first time, she had known that she was going to win a battle, one way or another.

“I’m afraid to ask you”, says Tamara with half a mouth.

“Just ask”, Lily replies calmly.

“How are you still alive? You’ve been through so much… you even died in front of me a couple of times.”

“I don’t know either. All that I know is that if it wasn’t for Brook, I wouldn’t be standing here talking to you right now.”

“Maybe this will sound a little bit strange coming from me, but I really miss her.”

“You tell me?”

Artemis is looking at them in silence, sitting in front of them. She has a couple of things she wants to tell Lily, but she doesn’t know if she will get them right. What Artemis forgets is that Lily can scatter through people’s minds too, so she is caught by surprise soon.

“Ask me, because it is rude from me to give you the answer directly”, smiles Lily.

“I believe that’s inappropriate to scatter through my mind!” she says unpleased.

“Sorry. I couldn’t help myself…”

“Well, I will ask you anyway. What are your plans with Dean? I don’t want to come between your things, but I am his mother and…”

“Don’t you think they are old enough to make their own decisions?” asks Tamara trying not to laugh so loud.

“It’s good that she’s asking me because I’m waiting for a while to tell her the answer to that question”, Lily says.

Artemis is still waiting with her lifted eyebrow.

“After I almost died I realized that what really matters in this world is to have someone by your side. A soulmate who can pull your sleeve. I have many soulmates, and Dean is one of them. Brook was another, and she will always remain like that for me, and so is Isaac.”

“Dean disappointed you and broke your heart more than once. Why would you go back to someone who hurt you?”

“But why would you ask me something like this? It’s your son we’re talking about.”

“I’m thinking about him.”

“Dean is my first love, and he marked me in a way no one ever did before. With good and bad, I can’t see myself going further without him. I don’t know if this defines love, but I know that I feel it and that he is the one I want by my side from now on, no matter what.”

She smiles at Lily because she realizes that she’s looking at a future part of her family. She likes what she hears and she realizes that Lily is the perfect person for her son.

“Then I wish you all the good in the world”, says Artemis pleased, putting her hair behind her ear and leaving them to see her scar.

It’s daylight when they get back to Base R, and the view saw from outside is one that can make anyone shiver. The Guardians working hard, building a huge continuity for them to live there. There are sounds of voices, different types of machinery from the Magicians, laugher, and Lily smiles from an instinct. Now it looks like a community, and that’s what she wanted from the start.

Dean meets them at the entrance, dirty of dust and holding a box, which he passes on to a kindly Guardian.

“Your little expedition was quite long”, he says hugging Lily.

“We moved as fast as we could”, Artemis replies.

He and Lily remain outside a couple of minutes, sharing a moment of tenderness, which they had missed in the past few days.

“I restored the room”, he tells her.

“Again?”

“I made it for two”, he smiles.

A cough makes them turn around, and they can see Isaac standing behind them.

“A word with Dean, my dear sister?”

Lily nods as she smiles.

“As long as you don’t try another foolish act.”

“If I haven’t tried while you were gone, I’m pretty sure I won’t try it now”, he laughs.

She leaves the two of them alone and walks away gently. Isaac puts his hands in his pockets, and he tries to find the right words to start a conversation with Dean.

“I’ve been thinking these days about how can I talk to you, what should I say to you, but I didn’t have the guts to come and speak to you.”

“I know that we have our differences, but I want to thank you for stepping up and saving my life in the battle. Well, even though you wanted me dead a couple of minutes before that…”

“I am sorry, but you have to understand that I did those things for trying to protect her.”

“I know, and I understand it. I don’t blame you.”

“I think I’m starting to see why she loves you so much. There were some days when I wanted her to look at me like she’s looking at you now, but I know that the love she carries for me is a different kind of love, just as mine changed for her.”

“I love her, Isaac.”

“I know, and I truly hope that you won’t do to her what you did because she would forgive you a thousand times.”

“And now is the part when you tell me to take care of her because I will have to face you?” laughs Dean.

“Something like that, only you said it.”

Dean touches Isaac’s shoulder, establishing some kind of connection between them, one that Isaac feels in a surprising way.

“I promise you it will be all right”, he says and stretches out his hand.

Isaac smiles and shakes his hand strongly. He makes a strange sound, something like a weird miffed whiff, being surprised by the fact that the moment when he and Dean are finally shaking hands has arrived. He never imagined them into this posture, so the moment becomes awkward, so Isaac pulls back his hand once with Dean and he scratches his back of the neck.

Addison and Lily had seen the scene from the window, and they were laughing terribly at the too emotional moment shared by those two.

“That’s good. They didn’t start a fight”, laughs Lily.

“Oh, it was about time. Isaac was stressed for a couple of days. Now I can see why. What do you think he told him?”

“Oh, you know, brotherly things. Take care of her, don’t you ever kill her again, don’t leave with the opposite camp…”

“Yes, the usual stuff.”

Addison starts laughing loud at the tone of Lily’s voice when she’s talking about the two men. She has a nice laugh, according to Lily, who covers her mouth, but she can’t help herself and releases a snigger.

“You’ve been through so much, and look at you now. Still together. It must be a damn good feeling.”

“Believe me, it is”, whispers Lily biting her lip. “And you can blame me for it, but I knew he was the one since the first moment I kissed him.”

“I don’t blame you. You can be surprised, but I actually understand you. You felt you had a different connection with Isaac. I know it because…”

“You’ve been inside my head when I let my guard down. I realized it on the battlefield. You know everything. You always did, and you haven’t told a word to Isaac. I appreciate that you kept my secrets.”

“Well, I told him who you were when I heard you telling Dean everything…”

“Yeah. Anyway, I am grateful for what you did.”

“I think we should get along from now on”, laughs Addison.

Lily takes her serious face, and then she stretches her hand like a hit about what had happened earlier with Dean and Isaac.

“No heart feelings?” asks Lily with the same face, which she can’t hold on too long anymore.

“So be it!” laughs Addison shaking her hand.

Irene passes on the corridor, behind those two, and she surprises their moment. She makes a face without wanting to, and then she rushes to get away from there because she had the same old facial expression when she saw Lily. She was still considering her guilty because Dean didn’t choose her, even if she understood how things always were.

Addison, on the other hand, hasn’t let go entirely of her mean side, so the comments come soon enough.

“Do you see her face every time she passes by?”

“Yes, I know”, says Lily rolling her eyes.

“It’s like it is me back on the days when I couldn’t stand you.”

Lily bursts into a laugh because she had never expected such a true statement from Addison.

“I think it’s time for her to meet the real you”, she says arranging her hair on the back and getting ready to walk away.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m going to make a new friend. There was a time when people used to say that I influence everyone around me. Maybe I can make her see you how I see you now. We don’t need envy and malice among us, so this is the best way.”

“If you believe that you can accomplish this…” says Lily insecure.

“Want to bet on a personalized electric car? If I lose, I will work with the Magicians to make you one with your name on it and also the color you desire. If I win, well, you will do the same for me. Give me some time.”

“You have one month. Just because I am kind”, laughs Lily.

“Very well. I want it to be yellow”, says Addison stepping away rushed to catch Irene.

Dean and Isaac catch Lily smiling when she walks on the main hallway. She is staring at them, but she doesn’t tell them anything. She likes when she sees them like this, and she doesn’t realize she is staring at and through them a little bit, at the same time.

“Why are you looking at us like that? Haven’t you seen miracles before?” asks Isaac laughing.

“I don’t get miracles so often”, she replies.

They had never seen her smiling so much and honest, and they realize it wasn’t difficult at all to make Lily happy. All they needed to do was not to hate each other anymore, a thing that seemed impossible at the beginning. But the Universe had its own ways of arranging it all, in a way or another. For the balance needs to stay straight even in the Guardian’s World, just like it is in the other worlds, and for every moment of joy there’s one of sadness, for every battle that seems lost in a win after all, and for everyone is a soulmate, even if some are hurt In the beginning.

Some wise words from the Human’s World say that “You can’t hide from faith”, and Lily knows that she had received lessons from all the worlds she had been in and that all happened for a reason. What was the purpose? That to bring her here now, looking at something that she thought she was never going to see. She had lost family and friends, and even if those losses couldn’t be replaced or wiped away, she has been given experiences, which had grown her up and turned her into what she was now.

She had left suddenly their sides, and she was heading to Lysa and Jasmine, who were playing near the fountain which awakens her so many memories. For a second, she thought she saw Brook braiding her hair, but the reality hits her when Lysa calls her name.

“Lily! I’ve heard so much about you!”

“What have you heard?”

“That you died…” says Lysa.

“And then you came back to life”, continues Jasmine.

Lily puts a hand on her forehead.

“Oh, God. No, girls. I haven’t died. For if I died, I wouldn’t have been sitting here with you. You must know there is no such thing. If one dies, he is gone forever.”

“And then what happened?” asks Lysa.

“I was about to lose my life, but my sister saved me.”

“I didn’t know you have a sister”, says Jasmine.

“I had one.”

“And where is she? Why are you talking in the past?”

The puerile questions of the children wouldn’t stop, but Lily listens to them patiently, one she didn’t know she had.

“I will see her again when the time comes. The legends say that our souls find each other again in the Universe, by the energy, and they continue to shine there as a whole.”

And this way, Lily starts telling stories about the legends to the two girls, the stories which were told to her by her parents or the Guardians instructed to do so. Some of them she had read alone, but the truth is that she never believed anything, not until she saw with her own eyes. All that she has been believing in this whole time were the feelings, on which she had refused to give up. And she did well because now the liberty of the Guardians was finally brought through her stubbornness, a stubbornness that neither death itself could have stopped.