Guardian

Chapter 29

"Jason, don't you want Dark to get better?" Steros asked as he walked towards me.

I didn't answer and instead stepped back two steps for every one of his. I kept my eyes on the thing in his hand. I couldn't really tell what it was, but I knew it couldn't be good.

Suddenly, Steros lunged at me and pinned me against the glass cage! I yelped in fright and struggled to get out of his grasp.

"What did I tell you," he sneered, "you do what I say."

He clicked a button on the device and before I could do anything, a small shock jolted through my arm.

"Ow! Why'd you do that?"

"To test my theory," he replied, and shocked me again.

This one was much more powerful, coursing through my whole body. Steros wasn't looking at me, but instead past me and into the cage. I was still reeling from the second jolt, when I heard another click.

"This will be a very interesting experiment." I heard Steros say, as my world went black.

When I woke up, I was in one of those white cells. For some reason it was hard to swallow, but when I felt my neck I figured out why. A thick band of cold metal was clamped around my neck. I scrambled upright, pulling on the collar, my panic rising with each rapid breath. Suddenly, a small shock jolted my body and made me let go of the collar!

"You're not strong enough to pull that collar off," I heard Steros say, "so there's no use trying."

A new level of despair washed over me, "Why?"

"Well those collars were made for things twenty times stronger than you," I heard him sarcasticaly reply.

"Jason...?" I heard a very familiar voice whisper.

"Dark," I called, scrambling upright, "Dark, is that you?"

"Jason!"

I whipped around and watched as one of the walls retreated into an opening. A pane of glass was now inbetween me and the next room. Kneeling on the ground was Dark, chains wrapped around his wrists. I sprinted towards the glass, then suddenly a strong electric current coursed through my body!

I screamed in pain, and fell to the ground! In my blurry sight, I saw the black figure of Dark laying on the ground as well. As my world slowly stopped spinning, I heard the low pained growls of Dark. He was mumbling something, but I couldn't make out what it was.

I slowly crawled closer to the glass, my hands shaking and muscles twitching in pain. My hand hovered over the glass, afraid to touch it.

"I'm so sorry, Jason," Dark mumbled, "I'm sorry..."

"I-It's okay, Dark," I replied as I struggled to sit up, "it's n-n-not your f-fault..."

"It is, Jason," he replied, opening his white eyes.

"It's...not."

Dark was silent, pain and regret glazed his eyes. I touched my hand to the cool glass, a smaller shock jolted my body, and I saw Dark's body twitch too. Finally, I put two and two together.

"Dark, why would you do that? How?"

Slowly, Dark sat up, looking down at me with an unreadable expression. I stared back at him, looking for the message he was trying to send me. A wave of love for my friend washed over me, he thought he would be able to protect me, he thought he would be able to take care of me.

"Dark..."

He looked over at one of the walls, where I guess Steros was watching. I sat back on my heels as my stomach growled, unhappy, but I was used to it at this point. Dark must have felt my discomfort because he looked back down at me with a sort of sympathy in his eyes.

I sighed, putting a hand on my collar. Suddenly, a large door opened on my side of the glass! I stared at what was brought into the room. A huge black box was wheeled into the room by two scientists, with Steros right behind them. The two scientists didn't look at me directly.

Steros stood in front of the black box, facing us. "Do you know what this is?"

"No," I replied.

A hard glare was sent my way, "I was not talking to you."

I shrunk into myself, fear holding me in place.

"It's a core..." Dark lowly growled.

"Correct," Steros said, "but it's not the core of a shadow dog. It's the core of Subject 201, but since you named yourself, I have decided to name this one...Diana.

"She's been difficult, we can't get her to stay in her physical form for long. We've been treating her with shock therepy, trying to disipline her in the early stages so she won't grow to be as...rebellious as you," Steros glared at Dark.

"Sir, it's at full power," one of the men informed.

"Good," Steros replied, "let's show them."

With the flip of a switch, the horrifying light show began. Immediatly, the blackness condensed into humanoid form. There was no defining features, but the profile looked a lot like Dark except smaller and sleeker.

Diana was a spine-chilling beauty, singing her long pained howl. It was a blend of the ghostly banshee and the heartbroken princess. As Dark and I watched and listened, I could feel him silently singing along.

This was the beginning of the end.