Alex – Heart Of The Vanguard

__________*_Alex_*__________

Guitars started playing a familiar riff...

'Wooo!

Darling, you got to let me know,

-riff-

Should I stay or should I go?'

I stirred and buried my head in the pillow.

-riff-

'If you say that you are mine

-riff-

I'll be here 'till the end of time'

I pulled my groggy head up, remembering that that song was my old alarm clock on my phone.

-riff-

'So you got to let me know

-riff-

Should I stay or should I go?'

I reached over to my bedside table, picked up my phone and cancelled the alarm, I looked at my phone confused... The time and date showed '07:01 Tuesday, 18th January, 2022'

'There was something about that date... it was all coming back to me... that was the day I saved London and fought Skylen... and died!' I dropped my phone then at my next realisation... my hand... it was Human! My pale skin shining back to me rather than the dull dark green scales I had been use to of late.

'Was I dead? Well, I mean, properly this time? Had Crystal not been able to revive me again? No... the suit had no power, I remember... I peeked under the duvet to survey the rest of my body... yep, I was definitely my old male Human self, hairy junk and all. I leapt from the bed, stumbling slightly as I went, I was not as graceful as I had been recently and my leg was numb and quickly turning to pins and needles. I hobbled to the make up mirror in the room and stared at my reflection, rubbing my hands over my face... Yep, definitely my old self, short blond hair, short beard and all.

"Have you still not turned that alarm off? I'm surprised you didn't do it on Saturday, knowing that you had holiday all this week..."

'I know that voice... Kayley!...' she entered the room through the door in a dressing gown and looked straight at me, "...well, good morning." She greeted seductively, approaching me wearing a dirty smile, seeing me in my birthday suit and she tried to pull me in for an embrace but I leapt back.

Me: "What is this?!"

Kayley: "What? Can't I get a little excited over seeing my hubby to be stark naked?" She asked playfully disappointed trying to get in close again.

Me: "No no no no no, this, all this, here, now! What's going on? How did I get here?"

Kayley: "What are you on about? You certainly know how to kill a mood." Sounding genuinely disappointed now.

Me: "Shh shh shh…" The room fell silent, I looked around, Kayley looked around too, but confused, trying to see what I was looking at. I touched the dresser, it felt like wood, I leant over and touched the bedding... it felt just like soft cotton bedding. I grabbed Kayley's dressing gown, her sleeve, the fluffy collar, then to her neck, then ran my hand through her hair.

Kayley: "Yeah... that's me." she said with a curious but happy tone, I stepped back and looked around the room again.

Me: "This... this is our bed room..."

Kayley: "Yeah?"

Me: "...This is our house?..."

Kayley: "Yeeahh?..."

Me: "This... doesn't make sense..."

Kayley: "You're not making sense!" She replied a bit hysterically.

Me: "I... Wait... can you smell something burning?" Kaley's eyes widened,

Kayley: "OH SHIT!" and she shot out of the room and down the stairs. I quickly threw some clothes on that I knew were mine and followed her down, taking in everything that I remembered, pictures that hung from the wall of us as a couple, from my life before everything changed, arriving in the rather smoky kitchen.

Kayley: "Bugger..." she exclaimed while scraping something black into the bin from the frying pan.

Me: "What was that?" I asked as I opened up the windows to let it air and get the smoke out.

Kayley: "It 'was' breakfast... I was going to bring it up to you until I heard your alarm go off so I thought I'd just bring you down anyway if you were awake. Then you distracted me with your weirdness."

Me: "I thought you liked my weirdness?" I mocked and Kayley looked back at me as she washed up the pan.

Kayley: "Oh I do, but that was new levels of weirdness."

Me: "That's because I... baby, do you ever have one of those dreams that you feel is so real, that, it feels more, 'right', than real life?"

Kayley: "Hmm, sometimes, but then I wake up and remember that THIS is real life and no one is going to take that away from me, or us." she replied glancing over her shoulder at me.

Me: "Hmmm..." She stopped washing up, turned, crossed her arms and leant against the sink.

Kayley: "Alright, I'll bite. What's bugging you?"

Me: "That's one thing I do love about you straight to the point... right, hear me out ok, some bits or questions I will ask will sound weird, but just listen and answer the best you can ok?..." She shrugged her shoulders, gesturing me to get on with it. "...Ok. What's today's date?"

Kayley: "The seventeenth? No wait,..." She looked at her calendar on the fridge, "... eighteenth, sorry."

Me: "Of?..."

Kayley: "January?... 2022? What's this about?"

Me: "Just bare with me please... Where have I been since August last year?"

Kayley: "Since August?! I don't keep track of you every mo-"

Me: "Just answer it, I don't mean day to day, I mean have I been missing? Have I been anywhere and come back?"

Kayley: "What? erm, no... You've been here, you work each day, pub with your mates every other weekend as you always do? I don't know... Boxing day we had Christmas dinner with your parents?... I don't entirely get what you're asking I'm sorry."

I pulled my phone out, went onto Facebook, typed into the search box, 'Samantha Bryne', I found a profile which matched, 'Sam Bryne, 21, lives in Brighton. I called up the profile, the profile picture looked very similar to the girl in the photos on the SkyTech files. I scrolled down to look at the posts on her wall... Friends and family all posting up messages and shared posts... 'PLEASE FIND THIS SWEET GIRL' and 'My thoughts and prayers are with you wherever you may be.'

I showed the profile and posts to Kayley.

Kayley: "Okaayy?... should I know her or something?"

Me: "Doubtful. Just keep her in mind ok?..." She nodded unamused, maybe she was getting pissed off with me showing her a random girl's profile on Facebook, but I didn't care, this was important. "...Now, before I even search for her, Jenny Halewood, I bet she's missing too." I searched for her as well. Sure enough, third down the list of 'Jenny Halewood's I found a thumbnail that again looked like the girl I saw on the file on SkyTech's database, pictured with a young boy. I handed Kayley my phone.

Me: "Click on the third Jenny down..." She did so. "...I bet you the boy in her profile pic is her brother, what was his name... Oliver? no no Oscar! She lives in surrey and does fine art at college... and I bet she's also missing." Kayley glanced at me through her eyebrows, then back to the phone before handing it back to me. Sure enough there were similar posts on Jenny's wall that were on Sam's.

Kayley: "Where are you going with this? That you're a serial rapist and murderer that knows where they're buried?"

Me: "W-What?! No! What is wrong with you?!"

Kayley: "Just wondering. You're showing me profiles of missing girls who you seem to know an awful lot about."

Me: "No! It's not like that... What I'm saying is I've met these people, and others, in a dream! Now how can I know them and dream about them if I never met them before?"

Kayley shrugged her shoulders.

Kayley: "I don't know... I'm no psychiatrist, but maybe you've seen the names somewhere, like on the news and your mind subconsciously put them into your dream?"

Me: "Hmmm, maybe..." I needed some hard evidence. I thought back to the day I went 'missing', when I was kidnapped... the accident... "...My car... MY CAR!" I ran out the back door and looked down the drive... it wasn't there, so the only other place it might be... I ran back to the garage, fiddled with the code lock on the garage door and yanked it up and open. There she was, my beautiful Black Forester STI with the same red accented lines that highlighted the shapes in the panels down the sides and bonnet. It was in pristine condition and actually looked like it was recently polished. Kayley stepped up beside me, cuddled into my side as I held the garage door aloft.

Kayley: "Exactly where you left it after we went out on Sunday... Are you finished having a moment yet?" I looked to her as she smiled quizzingly at me from my arm pit, but I saw something out of the corner of my eye. A red and purple cloudy streak went up one side of the car and it momentarily looked crashed, damaged, like the day I last saw it. But by the time I looked back it was fine again.

Kayley: "Come on, I'm hungry, might be best if you cook after my last attempt, plus it's still cold and dark out here." She started walking back to the house.

Me: "Yeah..." I said confused "...Be right there." I stepped into the garage and ran my hand down the wing where I thought I saw damage but only felt the mirror smooth paint. I shook my head, stepped out of the garage, took one last look at the car then closed and locked the door again. Then I went back through the back door, into the house, only to find Kayley, stood perfectly still, mid step in the doorway into the kitchen.

Me: "You want me to cook you better get moving..." I half joked. But she didn't reply, she didn't move, there was no reaction wat so ever. I pushed past her to look her in the face, even her features were frozen, not even blinking, her grey eyes staring down and off into space, as though someone had stopped time, "...baby?" I asked her waving my hand in front of her.

"She can't hear you." A pleasant yet familiar sounding female voice told me, which sounded like it came from the dining room. I spun around to look into the dim room. Down the head end of the table was a figure, in white armour, with a design reminiscent of that that I had worn in my 'dream', as if me and Sarah had built it ourselves, blue glowing eyes staring at me.

I stepped into the door way, turning the light on as I entered, now illuminating the figure for me to see her better, which definitely was a she. The white armour, looked a very similar design to mine indeed, though accented with black lines instead here and there. The figure looked much more Human though, from what I could see from behind the table anyway. She had a definite Human sized and shaped feminine torso, modest sized breasts. Other than that, anything else Human was hard to pick out under the armour, but attached to her back was a large set of armoured dragon wings and a tail slowly slinked around behind her. Her Helmet was still triangular shaped, just like my old one, albeit smaller and a more suiting scale to the rest of her form, finished off with a dull blue tinge for the eye slits rather than the red of mine.

Me: "Is she-" I started pointing a thumb over my shoulder back to Kayley.

Stranger: "She's fine... technically speaking."

Me: "What do you mean 'Technically'?" I asked defensively, the figure sat back more casually in her seat.

Stranger: "Why don't you take a seat, and I'll explain us much as I am able to." She gestured to the opposite end of the table, closest to me. I eyed up the chair pulled it out and sat down.

Me: "I -"

Stranger: "-'Felt like sitting', I know. let me begin by saying this, this is not the first time I've been here, not the first time we've had this conversation. So, let's get the boring obvious shit out of the way first shall we?"

Me: "What do you mean, 'not the first time'? I've never met you before."

Stranger: "First time for you, not the first for me."

Me: "Ok, so who are you?"

Stranger: "Well, I can't tell you specifically, but I can tell you I am someone VERY close to you, someone who you will need to and eventually will trust unquestionably."

Me: "Ok, so why are you here?"

Stranger: "Where is here?"

Me: "Answering my question with a question doesn't help."

Stranger: "No, but it's the question you should be asking." I looked confused at her,

Me: "I know where I am, this is my house."

Stranger: "Is it though?..." Her helmeted head moved, pointing, looking around the room analytically. "...I have fond memories here myself..." she then shook her head, "...But this isn't home, not any more, it's not even real."

I looked back at Kayley, still frozen on the spot, then back to this strange figure at the other end of the table,

Me: "Are you-"

Stranger: "No, I'm not Kayley, I am close to you, yes, but not 'Kayley' close. Besides, she's not really a part of your life anymore, is she? and be honest with yourself." I took another glance at Kayley... I had to admit, since waking up and seeing her again, I hadn't felt the same way I use to about her, not since finding out that she had moved on so quickly easily and since I had met Wrex. His charming, smiling face instantly appearing in my mind's eye. I turned back to the stranger again.

Me: "Noo." I replied solemnly.

Stranger: "Mmm-hmm." she slowly nodded her head.

Me: "What's going on here then? If this isn't home then where are we? Am I dead?"

Stranger: "Yes and no... what's the last thing you remember before waking up here?"

Me: "I... I was in Iceland, fighting off Skylen and his goons-"

Stranger: "I'll even rephrase that for you, you were getting your ass kicked."

Me: "I was not!"

Stranger: "Oi, I was there, I know."

Me: "If you were there then why weren't you helping."

Stranger: "Let's just say I was, and I was doing the best I could." I shook my head confused.

Me: "Ok, whatever, so, Iceland, I wasn't doing very well, I mean, got to give me credit, I thought I was doing ok, given the circumstances. It was one V three and come on, I was dying... And... then I did..." I slowed as I the realisation hit me, "...My Plasma core died, so the suit ran out of power... And I... died... Soo... I am dead... right?"

Stranger: "As I say, yes and no. Right now, yes, but you won't be for much longer."

Me: "So... I'm not dead... permanently?..."

Stranger: "You got it."

Me: "But that doesn't make any sense, how does that work? When someone dies, that's it, right? I mean yeah, CPR et cetera, can bring people back... But that fight... I died, no power from my suit, miles from anywhere to get any sort of medical attention-"

Stranger: "And does any of that matter?"

Me: "Well yeah, I kinda think it would?"

Stranger: "Well, stop thinking about what isn't possible and start thinking about making everything possible."

Me: "Eer... What?"

Stranger: "Exactly."

I buried my face in my hands in frustration.

Me: "Grr... You a literally frying my mind right now."

Stranger: "Ok, well don't worry about what happened in Iceland, worry about here and now." I brought my head back up from my hands,

Me: "Ok, yeah, fine, let's just pretend that I didn't die right, like it's no big thing, sure, why not... but you said this isn't real, but it feels real enough." I replied while stroking the wooden table.

Stranger: "And thein lies your problem... 'it feels real enough', you're already willing to accept it... Alex, I am here to offer you a choice."

Me: "What choice?"

Stranger: "If I implanted a seed of doubt in your mind, would you want to leave this?..." She gestured to the room around us. "...This life of... Let's call it Human tranquillity? The girl of your dreams who you will soon happily wed to, stick to your day job, earn a nice little living and retire some day?"

Me: "And what's that?, this 'seed of doubt'?"

Stranger: "You have to be prepared to leave this place before I can tell you..." I nodded in reply after a few seconds and the stranger sat forward keenly, "...the dream you just woke up from? What if that actually was real? And this 'real' life now? was just a trick, a mirage, to keep you content in your own little head? Even sweet little Kayley over there, she's not real. Now, which life would you rather lead? The lie? Or the one where you can be something more? To make a difference? What would you say?"

Me: "But... you already know what I'm going to say?, Right?" The strange figure cocked her helmeted head and pointed at me.

Stranger: "Now you're catching on."

Me: "Just by you being here, if you really do know what I'm going to chose, then it's not really a choice, just by you being here you've planted that seed of doubt already." The Stranger leant back in the chair, crossed her arms and chuckled, seemingly content that her plan was working. There was a rumbling and cracking noise coming from all around me, like the house was vibrating.

Me: "If I already know that this is all a lie, that it's not real, why would I stick with it?" The figure stood up and leaned over the table at me, chuckling again.

Stranger: "That, Alex, Is the right question that you should be asking..." She stood up straight as the walls started cracking around us. "...Word of advice, when you get back to the real world, don't trust yourself, not straight away."

Me: "What do you mean?"

Stranger: "I've set you on the right path Alex, but I can't tell you too much or it will affect future decisions you make, trust me, I've been there. But put it like this, who do you think put you here in the first place?"

Me: "What?... You... are you saying I did this to myself?"

Stranger: "Sort of. All will become clear eventually... Now, we gotta go." She waved her hand upwards as if throwing something into the air but her hand ignited in red and purple flames and I felt myself get launched from my chair.

I screamed as I hurtled through all sorts of debris from my house, crossing my face with my arms defensively, miraculously none of it hitting me, through a white void until the white void turned into the black night sky and I landed hard on my back with a rather feminine "oof".

Stranger: "About time you showed up." The familiar voice said nearby as I groaned and rolled off of my wings onto my front... 'WINGS'? I shot up and looked down at myself, I was back in my female Draconian form... with no armour.

Me: "Shit..."

Stranger: "You don't need your armour, not here anyway, not that I could get you any anyway even if you did." The voice said, answering my thoughts. I looked around me for the source. The place was a mess, rubble and debris littered the floor, and there, sat on a partially demolished wall, was the strange figure that I just spoke to in my dining room, or at least, I think it was. The Stranger smacked a bit of her armour back into place on her thigh and stood up from the wall into the moon light. This version, just wasn't quite the same. The last had white and black, crisp, clean and immaculate undamaged armour. But this one, although she looked pretty much the same, she looked war torn, a very dirty white with black accented lines which most was dulled down to more of a grey and some were missing entirely, burnt or scratched off. In fact, there were scratches, dents and scorch marks all over her.

Me: "How do I know I can trust you?"

Stranger: "Because as I said before, eventually you do, and you will need to if you want to survive."

Me: "Still not really given me a lot to go on."

Stranger: "Make up your own damn mind." She snapped.

Me: "You're certainly not as friendly as you were in the dining room just now."

Stranger: "If you want to make the choice to not trust me then so be it..." She went to walk away but abruptly stopped, "...Wait wait… I'm sorry... look, there's more to this than I can explain to you, if I tell you too much will affect your future choices."

Me: "Yeah, you already said that."

Stranger: "Yeah well, had you been what I've been through then you'll understand why my memory is a bit scattered!... Sorry... Again... Look, maybe I should just show you, why I am like I am. Come on." She beckoned me to follow and I did so cautiously. It was only as I followed her around on this roof top did I notice her back. Between her folded wings was a large crater in her armour and flesh, to the point I could see bits of wire and metal sticking out jagged around her exposed spine.

Me: "Oh my God!" She stopped and turned to me.

Stranger: "What?"

Me: "Your back! You're injured!"

Stranger: "No... I'm dead." She dropped her head and carried on walking.

Me: "Er, what? Dead? How can you be? You're walking and talking!" She stopped in front of a tarpaulin sheet and turned back to me as I caught up.

Stranger: "It's hard to explain... The Heart of the Vanguard and the Shard... no one truly knows what they're capable of, I came close but... just think of me as a ghost, an echo of who I use to be."

Me: "What happened?" She raised the tarpaulin with one arm, revealing a desolate city, abandoned, destroyed, lifeless with what looked like a palace equally degraded in the distance, my mouth dropped to the scene in front of me. I recognised this place, and that palace!

Stranger: "Skylen and Reikon win, that's what happened."

Me: "Is this... Axis Mundis?"

Stranger: "What's left of it."

Me: "But... Reikon… she's dead, everyone said she died on Earth a thousand years ago!"

Stranger: "Apparently she wasn't as dead as everyone thought."

Me: "So this is the future? When does this happen?"

Stranger: "2024 going by Earth Calendar."

Me: "This... THIS is 2 years away?..." The stranger nodded

Stranger: "This isn't limited to just here either, Axis Mundis was first to be hit because of the royal family and the Vanguard Head Quarters, very quickly the rest of Dracconia followed, now Earth is being wiped out as we speak, your militaries are failing badly, severely outnumbered, Reikon has billions under her command by now and the numbers are still growing and most cities already look like this."

I surveyed the scene again, 

Me: "...How can we stop it?"

Stranger: "Reikon must be killed, properly this time. Skylen too. He's not as powerful as she is, but he is also capable of upholding Reikon's ideals."

Me: "Is this something that's down to me to do again?"

Stranger: "If we succeed, you'll have the help of your friends again, but ultimately yes."

Me: "If I need to change this, stop this from happening, then do I need to change my future choices? As in, you need to tell me what I need to do, rather than me guessing and potentially getting it wrong. Surely that would be better, right?"

Stranger: "I've already put you on the right path. Had I left you in that dining room with your missus, then this would definitely be the result. But if Reikon lives, then this will always be a possibility. I don't need to tell you any more than what I have. But we still need to get you out of here."

Me: "Do I ever catch a break? You're in my future right?"

Stranger: "If you let this happen, then no, technically speaking at this moment in time, you're dead too right now, so is everyone else you know, Wrex, Sora, Sarah, Jinx, your Human family and friends..."

Me: "Ok ok, I get the hint..."

Stranger: "But I haven't lived in the other timeline, so I don't know."

Me: "Ok but if I'm dead, what can I do about it?"

Stranger: "You're dead, just not as dead as me."

Me: "See there you go with that 'not making sense' bollocks again."

Stranger: "Alex!, Look, it's far too complicated for me to explain, but I promise you that soon, very soon, things will start becoming clearer ok?"

Me: "Ok ok, fine… so what do I need to do?"

Stranger: "First of all, we need to get you back to where and when you belong. By way of which, getting past a horde of SkyTech and into that palace and to the Heart of the Vanguard." I looked to the palace she pointed to.

Me: "Oh joy... can't wait." I said sarcastically.

Stranger: "Good..." She walked over to the wall and slung a holster over her shoulder and one wing, partially covering the hole in her back, then picked up a rather familiar looking cannon, I stepped back upon recognising it.

Me: "That's Skylen's!" she placed the cannon in the holster and turned back to me.

Stranger: "It WAS Skylen's… think of it a souvenir... I killed him, 3 months ago, pissed Reikon off a good'n too... I had no weapons at all, so now it's mine. Come on."

( (The War Edit) -Nine Inch Nails)