A sorrowful goodbye

Kyle ran through the forest with heavy breaths, looking around as the swirls of green trees encapsulated him. He darted around the forest floor. "Hadriel!" he called in a tone filled with anxiety and worry, "Hadriel where are you?". There was no response. He was searching for Hadriel who had fallen into the forest prior to the battle. "Hadriel! For crying out loud where the heck are you?" Kyle exclaimed again as he threw his rapier to the ground in exasperation.
Then, a single tone of a whistle broke the silence. It was the whistle that Kyle gave to Hadriel before the fighting had begun. Kyle sprung up from the ground and did his best to try and follow the sound. He found himself again running to nowhere. The whistle then died out and he began to lose his patience again. "Hadriel! Can't you just use one of the guardian flares damn it!?" Kyle shouted with his hoarse voice.
Out from the trees a blue light flew into the sky and exploded into a firework-like display. Kyle knew where to go. He ran toward the blue light which became increasingly hard to see as the sun was high in the sky at that time. Eventually he caught sight of Hadriel leaning against an oak tree on a mound of grass. "Hadriel!" he said, running up to him, "I finally found you. What happened?"
"Well, I just thought it would be nice to sit out here against this oak tree and watch the trees" Hadriel replied.
"I saw you fall from the sky into the...What happened to your wing!?"
Kyle noticed that the feathered wing on Hadriel's back was badly twisted and was covered in blood. The white feathers began to fall of one by one onto the grass. " Oh crap... We really need to get you back to the village. You're in terrible condition."
"There'll be no need for that my friend..I am perhaps too badly hurt."
Kyle looked at him and gave a half laugh, " What are you talking about dude?"
Hadriel moved his cloak away from his chest and revealed an arrow penetrating straight through his heart area. Below it was a terrible gash near his ribs. His hands were stained in his own blood. Kyle's eyes widened as he saw his wounds. That was the first time that Kyle had seen the blood of his Fotch Guardian spilled. "O-okay...Hadriel wait here i'll go get some help..." he said as his lips trembled.
"Theres no need Kyle. My human eyes grow dark..." Hadriel said weakly.
"What? Come on don't say that man. I'm gonna get you fixed up."
As he turned to leave, Hadriel grabbed his cape. "By the time you get back, I'll be gone."
Kyle looked back at Hadriel. His face grew paler with every breath he took. "My time on this earth is almost through. And before I go, I'd like to spend my last few moments with the reason I was sent down here in the first place. My ward."
Kyle knelt down beside him and took his hand. "You're not gonna go Hadriel. You are a fotch Guardian. I've seen you get out of worst things than this."
Hadriel gave a soft laugh as Kyle said those words, "You make it seem that we are invincible. On this earth, we are merely humans with wings and special powers."
"Well then use your special powers are heal yourself or something!"
He pulled his battered body up slightly," Unfortunately, healing is only a femaleFotch guardian's power."
"Well then teleport us back to the village! Hadriel, you can't just die now! You have a contract up there!" Kyle said as he pointed to the sky.
"The contract expires if a Guardian is killed in an accident or a battle. So, i guess I'm going to be retired soon eh?"
Kyle grabbed him by the collar and shook him slightly,"Don't say shit like that!"
"I don't think you're supposed to shake someone who has an arrow through his chest."
He set Hadriel back down and placed his backpack behind his head. "You can't die now Hadriel..There's so much I don't know. How am I supposed to get through it all without a guide? How are we going to get by without you protecting us?" As he continued to speak, a tear rolled down his cheek and onto the ground, "How am I to continue this journey without my guardian by my side?"
"You will get by. I was only here to assist. You did everything up till now by yourself. And I bet if I wasn't here, you'd still have done it." Hadriel replied weakly as he coughed into his cloak.
"I don't want you to die. Come on Hadriel...we'll go back to Japan with the rest of them and pretend none of this crap ever happened. Let's go back..."
He shook his head and replied in a much sterner voice, " Kyle. Don't you get it? I'm already past my time. I'm violating the rules by staying here and talking to you. Feel my pulse."
Kyle put his fingers to Hadriel's neck. There was no pulse. Neither was he breathing at all. Kyle backed away slightly with his hand trembling as he removed it from his neck. Hadriel took Kyle's hand and opened it slightly. "Here, take this." he unlatched his sword from his waist and placed it into Kyle's hand, "May it guide you when I am no longer here."
Kyle took the sword. It was Hadriel's Guardian sword that he had used over the years. It was said that a Fotch Guardian's sword was unbreakable. He covered his face with his hands as more tears began to fall.
Hadriel looked to the right. "Aren't the flowers and the trees looking splendid this summer day?"
He reached out to a nearby bush and picked an orange flower from it. "For Nydia. Tell her I said goodbye."
Kyle reached out and kept the flower in his coat pocket. Hadriel once again pulled himself out and let out a sigh. "It's been a great run to have you as a friend and a ward all these years. But as everything has to come to an end, so our friendship ends here."
Kyle looked into Hadriel's blue eyes, which had lost it's aquamarine colour and were fading into pale darkness. His own eyes were now stained red by his tears. "Will I ever see you again Hadriel?"
"Perhaps. As long as you still believe in me." came the reply, "It is time for me to go now Kyle. Remember what I always told you. If you believe, you will achieve. Farewell my friend."
He brought Kyle's forehead against his and as he took his last breath, his human form faded into blue tranclucency. It was his true form. The true form of a fotch guardian. A ring of light emnated around his angelic figure as he waved his last wave to the boy he was sent down to protect. And as Kyle waved back, The spirit of Hadriel Tomoas was scattered into luminous blue feathers which danced around in the sunlight, filtering in through the massive oak trees of the forest. Kyle held Hadriel's sword close to his chest as he watched his guardian disappear from human existence and into a world unknown to him. A final tear fell from his eyes as the last of the feathers floated up into the wild blue beyond.
He walked up to the tree where Hadriel lay before and picked up the whistle that was left behind. "Goodbye old friend..." Kyle said as he placed the whistle into his backpack.
And as he left the forest, he could have sworn he heard the ever flamboyant voice of Hadriel once again say, "If you believe, you will achieve."


-Kyle Ganapathy

Adapted from "A sorrowful goodbye" from the pages of the unfinished series "Youngbloods"