"So tell me again why we're hanging around here waiting?" Tyler asked, pacing the room.

"Andres has gone to do some digging to find out where Shinichi will be tonight so that we can kill the evil parasite." Elena explained, sat tapping her foot.

"What exactly is a Guardian?" He asked, trying to fill the silence.

"We're supposed to prevent bad stuff from happening. The term Guardian is exactly what it sounds like. We have to keep the balance, restore nature and bring punishment to those who cause harm."She explained.

They had been left alone in the house and had been waiting for hours since Elena had finished her training and made huge progress, Andres had left soon after. For the first time in her life she felt powerful and not completely useless. Part of it was rage but the other part was the natural power that her parents had hid from her for many years.

"That is so cool. Hey I bet you wish you had these powers the night of the accident."He stated.

"Tyler that's not funny. Why in the hell would you say something like that to me?!"She snapped, standing up and crossing her arms."Do you think that's funny?"She added.

"What? No! Elena, I don't think it's funny. Of course not. I'm sorry if what I said hurt you, sometimes I just say stupid things without thinking about it. Please don't hate me."He said, kicking himself for his stupidity.

"First off, little insensitive. Secondly think before you speak. Thirdly, I could never hate you. I'm just mad. Not because of you, but you didn't exactly help. Also even the slightest thing makes me want to freak out at this moment so don't push me! It's not you okay! Not even close."She explained, half raising her voice.

"Okay. I'm sorry. I get it, more than you think I do."He replied, slowly approaching her.

"No. I'm sorry. I overreacted. I'm not mad at you, I'm just mad." She stated,

"So are we good?" He asked.

"Yeah we're good." She confirmed.

Then everything fell silent.

******
More time had passed with still no sign of Andres and things were beginning to get even more frosty between the two as they waited. Tyler, who was sat on a kitchen chair back to front, occasionally glanced over at Elena, though each time he did, it was returned with not quite sour but certainly bitter glares that told him to keep his distance. That's exactly what he did... Up until his patience was wearing thin and he began to form questions in his head.

"Okay enough!"He suddenly snapped, jumping up from the chair.

"Enough of what?"She asked, surprised by his sudden tone.

"The silent treatment. Elena what is going on with you? The truth this time! You say it's not me but the looks you returned to me tell a different story."He demanded, standing directly in front of her.

"I am telling the truth! It's not you! I'm sorry about the bitterness, but do not call me a liar!"She snapped suddenly.

Taken aback by her sudden accusation, his somewhat bruised ego wanted to lay it on thick. But he wasn't that egocentric person anymore, so swallowing his pride, he took a seat on the sofa, still keeping a short distance between them.

"I didn't... I'm not calling you a liar Elena. I just want to know why you've been acting strange lately. If there's something on your mind then please tell me, because I'm really trying here. I mean really white knuckling it. If it's something about me that's okay, and if it isn't, I just want to help." He explained, keeping a calm tone despite his ego screaming at him to kick off.

"It really isn't about you. That I can promise."She began, making eye contact. "Since we first got here, after Shinichi did that stuff... It didn't end when he stopped. It changed me. I don't feel right lately. I feel disconnected from everyone. I feel like I'm losing my mind."She explained, breaking the eye contact, feeling herself on the brink of tears.

"I'm sorry. I feel like such an asshole now, I never even considered." He stated, unsure of how to react to her confession.

"No. Tyler. Don't play the blame game. It's not your fault. It's just how it is and wish to God I could change that." Elena replied, horrified by his response.

"Tell me Elena, what can I do? Please tell me there's something I can do." He pleaded.

"I'm sorry but I don't think there is." She answered, getting up, unable to stay still anymore.

"I should have realised. I really am sorry." He replied, getting up and jumping in front of her so that they were face to face.

"And I love you for that. But it's not on you, it's on me. I thought that if I pushed it down so that I could focus on what we have to do that I could deal with it later but I guess it caught up with me." She explained, turning her head away, avoiding eye contact.

"It's okay to let it in. Elena, it doesn't make you weak, in fact I think it makes you pretty damn strong." He encouraged, then added "And you just said I love you." He teased, trying to lighten the mood.

"Did not... Okay maybe I did but so what if I did. So what if I do." She replied, with a smile.

"That's awesome. Because you know it goes both ways right? I mean, you know that it's not just summer fun anymore right?" He questioned.

"Right. I know that." She answered.

With nothing left to say, the two leaned in for a kiss but just as their lips met, in walked Andres.

"Oh. Sorry." He muttered, turning away as the two quickly distanced themselves.

"So what's the headlines?" Elena asked, wondering why he took so long.

"Bad news. Shinichi has managed to escape the Dark Dimension." He stated in a quick ramble.

"You can't be serious. Please tell me you're joking!" She freaked.

"Afraid not." Andres replied, bowing his head in shame.

"We have to go. Now." She quickly decided, grabbing Tyler's hand and pulling him towards the door.

"I agree." Andres stated irrelevantly, following behind them.

*******
"Elena slow down! Shouldn't we make a plan first..." Tyler called out, struggling to keep up with her.

"Oh because that worked out so well last time." She snapped, increasing her speed.

"Andres, I hate to do this but I'm gonna bite and ask... Can you talk to her? You might be able to get through to her in a way that I can't." Tyler asked, stomping on his own ego.

"Sure pal." He replied before taking off to catch up with Elena.

"Hey can we talk guardian to guardian?" Andres asked, running backwards so that he was able to face her.

"My home town is about to be fox food so it's kind of a bad time incase you haven't noticed." She replied in a snarky tone.

"If you go charging in there without a plan you're gonna get yourself killed!" Andres yelled, causing her to stop in her tracks.

She had never heard anyone yell so loud.

"Then I guess I'm a dead girl walking." She stated, pushing past him and carrying on in the direction of the tunnels.

Andres just stood there staring after her before turning his head towards Tyler, giving him a look that told him that he was out of ideas.

"Man what's going on?" Tyler asked, approaching Andres who was still stunned.

"We have to stop her. She's gonna do something stupid. I read her aura and well... It's not good." He explained.

Before he could get another word out, Tyler was way ahead of him practically flying across the land, his feet barely touching the ground as he ran. Andres was running as fast as he could to keep up but damn they were fast. He half wished that he hadn't opened his mouth about Shinichi escaping now.

There was no way that Elena would ever let it go... Or give up on her stupid suicide mission. And it was all his fault. If he'd have just caught Shinichi when he was given the task, instead of letting the mischievous fox slip through his fingers, then none of this would have happened.

What had become of him? Was he really turning into someone useless?