Stone Hearts
“How is he?” a gentle voice asked Lightnin. Lightnin stood
up and turned around to look at Athena;
“It is too late, there is nothing you can do, he’s dead,” more tears began to
roll down Lightnin’s face as she began to leave the room. Athena was
speechless, she watched as her team mate left the room, mourning over the loss
of a friend;
“This is all my fault,” Athena quietly told herself, “I have to try at least –
there may still be a chance.” Athena walked closer to the body of Guardian, it
no longer looked the beautiful body of an Angel, it was now a dull grey statue
like figure of the man she once knew. Athena knew she had to try; she began to
gently touch Guardian’s head, it felt rough – just like stone. She then held her
hand over his chest, where he had been shot, carefully focusing her mind and
powers on healing the wound, restoring health to the lifeless body. Athena felt
a hand on her shoulder, she closed her hand tightly, her mind and powers no
longer focused on Guardian, she did not turn around, she just looked straight
forward, out of the window.
“Athena, it is no use, we are too late to help him, come and sit with us,”
Futura told her.
“Yes, you are right, I just wish I could have helped him, NO! I wish it was me
laying there not him – this is all my fault!” Athena shouted.
“No, this was not your fault, if anybody is at fault, blame Metalium, he is the
one who messed with your mind, it was not you that shot Joseph, it was the mind
he replaced yours with.”
“I understand, but that cannot stop the overwhelming guilt I feel,” Athena
turned around and walked out of the room to join the others, Futura looked at
the body of his friend before turning around and following Athena.
Butterfly lay in her bed, sketching in her note book; she
was joined by Phaser, her closest friend.
“Hey, you ok?” Phaser asked.
“Yeh, I am just great, never been better,” Butterfly sarcastically replied.
“I am sorry, I did not know how else to put it…” Phaser awkwardly told her.
“I do not understand, I feel so empty, yet I do not feel upset, it feels like my
heart has just turned to stone, like it does not feel any emotions. I do not
understand why I am not crying or at least thinking about how great he was, it
just doesn’t seem to have registered in my heart or my mind, it doesn’t feel
like he’s dead.”
“It may take time before you realise,” Phaser replied, “Don’t worry about crying
or feeling sad, it is to be expected, I will help you.”
Athena, Futura, Lightnin and Blade all sat around the
dining room table, quietly mourning the loss of their friend. Their minds were
suddenly focused on Athena as she began screaming, bright blue rays of light
began to shoot out from her eyes, she raised her arms as the rays began to fire
out from her hands. Athena’s team mates watched in horror as the bright rays of
light directed out of the room.
“What – is – happening to me?” Athena screamed, her team mates ran to help her;
Lightnin touched Athena’s shoulder but was thrown to the ground by the force of
the energy. Within a split second, the rays of light stopped, Athena held her
stomach as she tried to catch her breath back.
“Are you Ok?” Lightnin asked, Athena replied by nodding her head.
“What the hell was that,” Blade asked.
“My powers, it felt like my powers were been taken from me, I feel so drained.”
Athena replied.
“Oh my – Quick, into Guardian’s room, I think he’s alive,” Futura shouted as he
began hearing voices in his head. The four of them quickly ran into Guardian’s
room, they stared in amazement as they watched the stone body of Guardian begin
to change back into the blue skin they were all used to. His skin slowly
returned from his feet, to his legs, to his stomach, his head, until finally –
his entire body was restored.
“Oh my…” Athena whispered. Guardian opened his eyes; he looked at his friends;
“Hey, what are you all staring at?” he joked, all of his friends immediately
smiled.
“Please forgive me Joseph, I did not mean to…” Athena pleaded with Guardian.
“What? You have nothing to be sorry for, you were not responsible for this, I
would never blame you,” Guardian replied. He then turned his head towards the
window, tensing his arms and clenching his fists;
“The only person I blame is Metalium; he is the one who must pa…” Guardian
suddenly struggled to breath, his arms began to transform back into the
stone-like form, he screamed out in pain, as he clenched his fists more, rocks
began to fire from them, unlike the power he was used to, this rocks were
surrounded by flames, able to engulf hiss target in flames. Guardian suddenly
relaxed his arms, they immediately turned back into blue skin, Guardian closed
his eyes in disbelief;
“This is the second time I have ever shown such hatred for anybody or anything,
it felt awful, I felt awful,” Guardian told his friends.
“When was the first time?” Futura asked.
“A little while ago, I felt much more hatred then, uncontrollable hatred, for
Metalium – I – I felt like killing the man, do you know how bad that felt, to
think such awful thoughts.”
“Yeh – I know those kind of thoughts all too well, but they never made me feel
so awful,” Blade replied.
“But you do not understand, I am unable to feel feelings of hatred, if I do, I
will be punished as you just witnessed, as a Guardian, I am not allowed to feel
such feelings, nothing has ever made me feel so angry,” Guardian ashamedly told
the group.
“But your anger was not selfish, nor was it wrong, you were angry because of
what had happened to me, what Metalium had made me do to you,” Athena replied,
“You have lived your whole life loving and caring for people no matter who they
are or what they do, it is not wrong for you to feel such thoughts.”
“But, it must be wrong, why else would my skin painfully transform into stone
and create such awful weapons,” Guardian replied.
“Hey, look at me, I can create powerful lightning bolts which hurt people, you
aren’t the only ones with harmful powers. You have just discovered a new power
– triggered by a new feeling. In time, with all of our help, you will learn to
control it.” Lightnin replied. Guardian smiled;
“Yes I suppose, I had better keep this temper of mine under control,” Guardian
laughed, knowing that he could make sure his new power was never used again, all
he had to do was be the man he was before Metalium made him so angry.
