Guardian

Chapter 19

"Come on, Dark, wake up." Jason gently shook me.

I slowly blinked my eyes open, hissing at the bright sunlight. I brushed Jason's hands off of me, "Alright, alright. I'm up."

A big yawn escaped as I rubbed my face to try to wake myself up. Jason waited patiently as I pushed myself onto my feet. Suddenly, a sharp pain shot through me and I was back on the ground!

"Dark!"

"I'm...fine." I mumbled through gritted teeth.

"See, I told you that you wore yourself out!" Jason scolded as he helped me stand back up.

My muscles felt tight and my sides ached, but I still forced myself to take a few steps foreward. Then, I felt dizzy and I fell to one knee. Jason was at my side in an instant with a worried expression on his face.

"Maybe I shouldn't have woken you up yet. You need more rest."

I shook my head, "No you were right to wake me up. We need to keep moving."

A low growl rose in my throat as clutched at the ground. Why am I so weak? I need to keep going!

"Hey, listen," Jason said quietly, "you've been carrying me through all this. Let me carry you this one time."

I gave him a questioning look, not sure what he was getting at. He rolled his eyes and smiled, "You just rest in my shadow while I do the walking."

A small smile sneaked onto my face as I leaned down to touch my forehead to his. "Smart, little human," I chuckled and ruffled his light brown hair.

I sat down on the ground and closed my eyes. I felt the coolness of Jason's shadow enclose me and I disappered from sight. I sighed as the tension slowly ebbed away.

"Comfortable?" Jason giggled.

"Very comfortable in fact," I replied, "Are you sure you don't mind?"

Jason shook his head, "No its fine. I can feel a slight pressure, but that's just you leaning on me isn't it? I can barely tell you're there."

"Oh really," I smirked, "what if I do this!"

I began to mercilessly tickle his sides! Jason howled with laughter and swatted at the air in a vain attempt to stop me. "D-Dark, s-stop it! I give! I give!" he surrendered.

I chuckled at his plea and stopped tickling the defenseless human. Jason soon started walking as his laughter slowly died away with a few giggles escaping now and then.

The smile never left my face as I relaxed in the safety of Jason's shadow. In this form, I will be able to have a painless rest as my wounds heal.

Jason strolled through the morning forest in the direction of the rising sun. The peacefulness of the mountain lulled me into a sleepy daze. A light breeze blew through the trees, carrying some of the brightly colored leaves with it.

I must have dozed off because I stirred to the sound ofJason humming a sootihing song to himself. I lazily glanced around and saw that there were now pine trees scattered here and there. Looking up at the sky I saw that the sun was almost overhead now. I guess I really did need to rest.

I stuck my head around Jason's shrinking shadow to get a better look at where we were. I guess Jason felt the shift in weight and stopped walking.

"Oh, Dark, are you awake?" he asked quietly.

"Yes," I replied.

Keeping my feet firmly planted in Jason's shadow, I stretched myself out so I extended from his shadow beside him. Jason smiled once he saw my 2-dimensional self attatched to his shadow.