25Hello everyone! I'm back!
Thank you, Tom and scone104 for reviewing my previous chapter!
Judging by the lack of reviewers I take that this story isn't nearly as interesting as my other one, and so I'm debating as to whether to continue it or not...
Here is chapter 2! And this time, you get to see the other Garde as well. This isn't very Two/Eight centric, but I still thought it would be fun to write.
"..which then grew into a hope….."
A single spark of hope can light up even the darkest of times.
It had been nearly a year since the Phoenix project had been initiated, and planning for Pittacus' Evacuation Protocol was almost complete. It looked great on paper, however great a plan to save your planet from certain destruction can look, that is, but it would all go to waste if the children involved couldn't work together to bring back Lorien, in the event it was ever required. Selections had been done carefully, and a group of 5 boys and 4 girls was finalized.
The children's parents had been contacted, had been made aware of what their child was selected for, and their approval had been sought. None had disagreed, but then, none of them even believed that such a plan would ever be required. Lorien was flourishing in an era of peace and prosperity. The idea of a cataclysmic attack was unthinkable, unfathomable, but yet they agreed. The children in question, however, remained blissfully unaware of their destinies as the future elders of the planet, and went about life as usual.
They had met their respective Cepans, and had taken a liking to them instantly. The pairs met about twice a week, to talk or train, depending upon the age of the child and the requirement at the time, and all had been going well, that is, until a week ago.
The Elders believed it was time to see if the children could indeed get along, and the plan had evolved to introducing them to each other, one at a time.
The pairs had been selected randomly, usually a boy and girl, and they would be left to play together while the Cepans watched and judged their responses.
The results had been -to put it lightly- shockingly disappointing.
First up was a girl with long dark hair and big brown eyes, who introduced herself as Kara. She was shy and reserved, in great contrast to her playmate for the day. Leo was as far from reserved as one could possibly get. He had wild black hair and a - shall we put it this way - dynamic personality. Their session had been a disaster. Leo had run around, trying to pull Kara into a wrestling match and she had completely closed off, and instead had sat in the corner of the room and ignored him.
The Cepans had shaken their heads, but had decided to try another pair.
This time, the boy and girl involved knew each other, and their parents were best friends. The girl, Lira, had dark hair and grey eyes and was slightly older than Jonathan, who was about 4 years old. This time, the Cepans introduced a few toys into the room, and hoped that the results would change.
No such luck.
Upon entering the room, both the kids eyes fell immediately on a shiny red truck in the center of the room, and they began running towards it. John somehow managed to reach it first and grabbing it up off the floor, began to play. However Lira wasn't about to let it go and soon, both children had to be dragged out of the room as they cried in frustration and anger at each other.
With such depressing results, the Cepans didn't know how to continue.
In all the time they had spent discussing this, they had never considered the possibility that the children wouldn't be able to get along. They sat wondering what to do, when a young man named Sandor, who had accompanied Leo's Cepan, Daxin suggested bringing them all together at once. Initially his idea had been met with great opposition, but he argued that maybe when they all came together, they might be able to adjust better to each other, they agreed.
A date was set and the Cepans were informed, now all that was left to do was to assemble the Garde.
Kiara and Joseph climbed into the back of Reynolds' vehicle and Conrad strapped them in. "You'll like it, don't worry. It'll be a lot of fun playing with the others, I promise", he said to the twins as he finished locking the buckles in place.
"But we don't even know them!", Joseph whined and Kiara nodded, "They're strangers!", she complained and they looked pleadingly at their Cepans. "Then you guys get to make some new friends", Reynolds said as he put the vehicle in gear and pulled away from the house.
They reached the Lorien Defense Academy building fifteen minutes later and walked through the twisting halls until they reached a set of sliding doors. "The others are already inside", Reynolds said as he fixed Josephs collar, "and I want you two to be on your best behavior". "Remember to introduce yourselves and try to talk to the others, OK?", Conrad said as they began to walk towards the door.
"Have fun!", they added, almost as an afterthought, as the twins stepped inside the room and the doors shut behind them.
Kiara looked around to see seven pairs of eyes fixed on them. She squeezed Joseph's hand and he glanced at her quickly before looking back to the others. They stared for about a minute before going back to what they had been doing before.
A boy with messy black hair ran around the room, yelling at the top of his lungs as a tan skinned boy ran after him . A blonde haired boy and a girl with grey eyes were fighting , watched closely by another toddler. A girl with blonde hair was asleep in one corner, while another sat beside her and stared at the opposite wall through her big brown eyes.
Kiara looked helplessly at her brother and he shrugged as if to say, "Well I'm clueless, do something!". She thought for a moment and whispered something in his ear, and they both set off across the room towards a pile of foam bricks in the corner.
They sat down on the ground and began arranging them to form a large square, and soon the other kids crowded around to watch.
"What are you doing?", the blonde haired girl asked, having been awoken from her nap by the black haired boy yelling in her ear a few minutes ago. "We're building a fort", Joseph replied, "and we would really love some help".
He smiled at the girl with brown eyes, who stood at the back of the crowd and held out a hand. She smiled shyly back at him as she took it and sat down beside him to work. The blonde haired girl brought over some more bricks from the other side of the room and began to stack them.
Soon, all the kids were working away, some bringing bricks, others stacking them up high, until the fort was finished and they stepped back to admire their handiwork.
"It looks awesome!", the black haired boy yelled out and everyone nodded. He turned to Kiara and held out his hand, "I'm Leo", he said and she smiled. "Kiara", she replied and they shook hands. Soon all the Garde were introducing themselves, and all tensions had evaporated. They spent the next hour playing around their fort, and when it was time to leave, they begged to stay longer.
The Cepans watched through a one way glass at one end of the room. What they had tried to accomplish for a week took only a matter of hours when the Garde were together. They were getting along really well, and had even been able to work together to finish a simple task.
They smiled at one another, and were all thinking the same thing as they led their respective charges out of the LDA building.
"Today, it was a foam fort, and tomorrow, it could be our planet itself. But whatever the challenge, we now know, there is hope for our future yet."
I suck at making up names... :P
So tell me what you think! Should I continue with this story or not? What can I do to improve? Any prompts you want me to write?
Until next time
-thesecondgarde