Quick A/N: sorry this chapter's beginning is kinda an info dump! I had to edit it from the previous version to keep it updated, but it needs editing still. Just bear with me! XD

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There was once a time when Night trusted people when they said they loved him.

But that was before one night, when he was a mere seven-year-old. His father was a kind man named Tizian, who'd raised him alone since his wife had died in childbirth. His strange, mystery career had pulled him away from home several times a week. He'd always hire a babysitter to look after his son during those times, but never quite explained where he went and what he did.

Tizian was a loving father, and he never gave any sign that he didn't love him. Which made the betrayal all the more painful.

One night, out of nowhere, Tizian had woken him up in the middle of the night, carried him half-asleep to the car, and driven to the orphanage, the whole time insisting they couldn't be together anymore. The closest thing to a hint that he could remember was his father saying, "You're not safe with me anymore." But that was the gist of their entire emotional argument those last minutes, before his father had given him a black rock and a note that he could barely read, then left him at the doorstep of the orphanage and driven away, never to be seen again.

It should've stopped there. But it only got worse.

The adults at the orphanage were kind but asked way too many hard questions. "What's your last name?" He couldn't remember. It had never seemed important. "Where are your parents?" Dead and missing, but there was no way he was going to tell them that. "Where do you live?" Some tiny living space somewhere in the city. Again, he'd never thought it was super important to know his address. "Where do you go to school?" What was that supposed to mean? His father had taught him school at home.

When he'd fumbled through all the questions and sort-of answers, the grown-ups had all looked at each other and said stuff about how they'd never be able to figure out who he was or where he came from with so little information.

Then they'd looked at him, put on big smiles, and assured him they'd take care of him there. He was given a little room with a bunkbed. He tried to read the note his father had left him, but he'd still been learning how to read. He could only figure out little words here and there, and some of them he didn't even recognize. He slowly finished learning how to read over the next few years, but obeyed his father's final commands by never telling anyone about the note or the black rock.

He'd eventually been adopted, but it had been a rough process. The first time a young couple wanted to adopt him, his initial reaction had been excitement and a kind of relief. Of course, he still wanted his father back more than anything. But maybe it wouldn't be the end of the world, living with these new parents who said they loved him.

At least, that was what he'd thought, until they sent him back to the orphanage a few months later.

And all he could think was, What did I do?!

No one had told him why, dismissing it as "too complicated for him to understand" and telling him not to worry, that he would get adopted for real soon enough.

He'd been stupid enough to believe them. And to believe that first couple when they promised to try and write him to see how he was doing. He even kept watch for the letters for months.

They never came.

Another couple, slightly older with one child of their own, tried to adopt him after another few months. They too claimed they loved him, and he forced himself to believe them. He never had any problems with their own child, so he thought everything would be alright. But then they had brought him back, too. Again, no one would really tell him why, only saying that they weren't able to handle him.

The same thing happened four more times. Each rejection slowly broke down his self-worth and trust in others. Six pairs of adults plus his own real father promised they loved him, only to abandon him.

For a time after those rejections, he fought often with the headmistress whenever she told him some couple wanted to talk to him. He was so tired of having his trust shattered, he'd built a wall around his heart, refusing to allow any more liars inside. Eventually, however, he'd lost the energy to fight anymore, and went along numbly with yet another couple who seemed to want to adopt him. Their names were Jenni and Mateo Sameron. There were a lot of things he'd wanted to yell at them, but of course he hadn't. During the first few weeks, whenever either of them told him they loved him, he would ignore them and silently retort, Yeah, right. Sure. How much time before I should start packing?

Weeks went by. Then months. There was no indication that they were going to send him back, but he continued to ignore them and hide from them most of the time. He figured it was only a matter of time. After all, he hadn't seen any indications from any of the former couples.

Months stretched into a year, and he found himself still living with the Samerons. They had their own pair of twin girls, which jolted him back to the start— waiting for them to send him back. They had their own sweet little things now! Why in the world would they want to keep the moody, problematic kid they'd only adopted for a year? He went out of his way to avoid them, especially when they were taking care of the new babies—named Annah and May. Although he hated to admit it, he'd grown to respect his new parents to a degree, especially his adoptive mother. She put up with his mood swings, his nightmares that kept her up most nights trying to calm him, and patiently helped catch him up with his education. She even displayed trust in him by asking for his help every now and then with his "new little sisters." He didn't want anything bad to happen to her, but still he wouldn't let himself get attached to her. He grew more and more distant from not only her, but life itself, as more time went by. For a long while, starting a little before he turned thirteen, he went through a frightening phase of numbness, during which he had no idea what was going to happen to his life. He'd been diagnosed with major depression and showed signs of PTSD. It was unbelievably hard to talk to anyone, even about something casual. It became harder and harder to sleep through the night. His chest ached from sadness almost all the time. He was so sick of the pain, he'd almost committed suicide.

But then he'd met Sunray.

The paper had given him instructions to "activate" the black rock his father had given him on a certain day, which had turned out to a magical object called the dark gem. It made him the supposed host of darkness, which he found kind of ironic. The first few weeks and months of being a guardian had been very confusing and stressful, since he'd been so distracted during the years leading up to it. His and Sunray's first meeting hadn't been smooth, and even though she'd seemed to want to be friends with him, he refused to let her inside. All those other people had lied to him, and they were responsible adults! Why would a young girl probably around his age— fourteen at the time— be any different? He'd sidestepped her attempts to get him to open up, and tried his hardest to keep their relationship strictly professional. They were fighting partners—nothing more. Not even friends. The increased amount of hiding made everything worse, but like his adoptive mother, Sunray refused to give up. Sometimes he wondered if she was just as stubborn as him, but in a nicer way.

He'd bottled up his difficulties for so long, Sunray's determination and unwavering goal to help him had finally worn him down. In their most emotional memory, he'd broken down and spilled practically everything to her after a near-death experience. And to his complete amazement, she'd listened, then promised she would be there to help get him through it. She was the only reason he'd survived.

Now, over three years later, she was his best and only friend. He'd fallen pretty hard for her as well, but of course hadn't said a word, too scared of ruining his only friendship. It hadn't been her looks that had made him fall for her, but she was beautiful. She had light green eyes, filled with a fiery warmth most of the time. Her long, light blonde hair was almost always tied back Jasmine-style: tied in sections all the way down as a ponytail, although it was usually hidden behind her hood while they were fighting. He especially loved it when she smiled. 

In the present, he jolted back to attention in time to avoid running straight off a roof. "Smooth, Alex," he muttered to himself as he skidded to a halt and leapt down to the road. "Real smooth."

He slipped further into the alley he'd landed in and whispered, "Sunrise." Instantly, his transformation wore off, leaving him in his more casual dark attire: jeans and a black T-shirt, with a black sweatshirt on top of that. He didn't wear the hoodie because he got cold easily—he didn't. But the hood made it easier to hide. And it gave him automatic pockets to keep his hands in, although he mainly did that to keep from fidgeting when he had to talk to people. Sure, he often got frustrated with himself for constantly wearing depressing stuff, since it didn't help with anything. But he never really wore anything brighter. 

The pain wasn't gone. Sunray had saved his life, but even she couldn't erase the damage done to him. He knew he wasn't alone anymore, but he still struggled. Especially since he wasn't allowed to tell Sunray everything, because it would risk his identity, which she wasn't allowed to know for some dumb reason. Once upon a time he'd been grateful for that: not having to share every detail of his life. It had made him feel safe. But now . . . he wished she could know.

He approached his house— a little one-story white house with a small, neat lawn— and immediately a little blonde six-year-old girl came tearing across the front yard and threw herself into his arms. "You're baaaaack!"

"Yep." Alex squeezed his little sister—Annah—tightly in a hug, then lowered her gently to the ground. Annah, the younger of his little twin sisters, had had a strange sort of attachment to him from day one. When she'd been a toddler, she'd seemed to think he was her protector. Whenever their mother wasn't home and he was babysitting, she would run up and cuddle against his chest if she got scared. May was the opposite. She used to be scared of him, and the moment she'd found out he wasn't her real brother, she'd avoided talking to him and even once tried to make Annah stay away from him. He tried not to let it bother him, reminding himself of her age, but sometimes it still stung.

Annah frowned. "Alex, how come you're always so late on Mondays?"

Alex shrugged. "You know the big, ugly bad guy?"

"Preciser? Yeah."

"Well, he always seems to attack on Mondays and Fridays," he explained, trying to ignore his conscience. "I have to go the long way home to stay safe."

That's not technically a lie. It's just not the "long way" she thinks I'm talking about.

"But he won't ever hurt anyone, because Night and Sunray will protect them," Annah protested.

"True." Alex took her hand and started toward the front door. "But we shouldn't take our chances."

He opened the door and let his sister in, then closed it behind him after he entered. The warmth from inside surprised him as he suddenly realized how cold it was outside. He was also taken aback at the realization that he preferred the colder temperatures.

Sometimes he thought his power had become a part of him, since he'd been their host for so long. There was no warmth in darkness. The term "dark and cold" described his powers well, though not his personality.

"Alex, where have you been?!" his adoptive mother exclaimed from the kitchen.

"Out," he answered distractedly, and wandered to his room while Annah repeated his explanation to her.

As he entered his room, Preciser's words from earlier that day rang in his head. You can't be in the light.

He closed his door and flipped the light switch. "Yes, I can," he said aloud, his tone defiant. "Just not at two on Mondays and Fridays."

He sat back against the wall on his bed, listened carefully for footsteps in the hallway, then pulled out his dark gem and studied it. It didn't look too special; an ordinary mortal other than himself and Sunray's secret identity wouldn't give it a second glance. It was small, maybe an inch in height, shaped like a 3D diamond, and jet black. It was scary, knowing how much power somehow fit into this tiny black gem. He glanced up and tucked it safely back in his pocket.

Recalling the day's battle, a chill ran down his spine. Over the years they'd fought Preciser, the giant had mainly been a nuisance. He caused damage to the city, but nothing too severe that couldn't be cleaned up by the end of the week. The routine had been strictly: they transform ahead of time, they show up, Preciser makes a dramatic entrance (usually by destroying one thing or another), they fight, Preciser threatens them, they defeat him, they go home.

The giant had made it clear that he wanted their power, despite the fact that he already had several of his own. And even though he'd gotten disturbingly close today, they always wondered to themselves why he continued to show up twice a week. They'd come to the conclusion that either he had ridiculous patience and persistence, or he had another goal they hadn't found out yet.

Today, watching Sunray stumble blindly forward to give herself up, had been more than he could bear. He knew it wasn't her fault; the arrow had done something to her he didn't understand. Seeing that blank, dazed look in her eyes had scared him half to death. She often fussed at him for being reckless and taking too many risks during the battle, which may or may not have been true, but despite how powerful she could be, she still needed protection sometimes. Just like him. And he was willing to protect her no matter what, even if he had to put the entire universe at stake. Literally. If he stayed too long in the light, he would die, and his gem would be destroyed, along with darkness itself. Every light already shining would instantly go beyond its limits and outshine everything. The stars would all shine as brightly as the sun, turning the sky into pure blinding heat, and the world would be consumed by the overwhelming light and heat within minutes. Which meant that he really did need to be careful. By trying to protect her, he could ultimately kill not only her, but the rest of the world.

It wasn't fun to think about.

Alex jolted back to the present as Annah poked her head in his room, partway so only her light blue eyes showed. She stuck a hand in and waved. "Hi, Alex."

He smiled and gave a little wave in return. "Hey, Annah."

"Whatcha doing?" she asked.

"I dunno."

"Can I come in?"

"Sure."

At that, she skipped inside, closing the door behind her, and plopped on the bed beside him. "Are you tired?"

"A little bit."

"Did Preciser get you on the way home?"

How . . . How am I supposed to answer that? I've lied enough today! "Um . . ."

"He did?" She sat up straighter in alarm.

"He . . . um . . . sorta," Alex mumbled, trying not to show his unease.

"What does that mean?"

Alex didn't know what to say.

"Are you hurt?"

"No!" he finally burst out, nearly trembling. "Just— just don't tell anyone about this, okay? Please?"

She nodded slowly, then went on in a puzzled voice, "But if Preciser attacked you, how did you escape?"

He hesitated for another moment. When he finally answered, it was the truth, and he didn't feel guilty.

"Sunray saved me."

Annah sat bolt upright. "Really?!"

"Yeah . . ." Her sudden excitement made him smile.

"Lucky!"

You're right. He glanced out his window and gazed at the last rays of sun over the city buildings in the distance. They were beautiful, he thought, just like his partner. As May called for Annah somewhere in the hallway, and she left, he remembered how relaxed and happy he felt every time he saw her, on Mondays, Fridays, and any other time. It wasn't often other than the times he saw her that he felt so relaxed.

Now, the rays of sun had disappeared. The sun was out of sight, but it was still light outside.

This is the only time we can really be together, Sunray. I wish we could've talked a little longer when we had the chance today. But I also don't want you to endanger yourself when it gets darker, so maybe how things turned was for the best. I hope Friday's cloudy. I'll see you then, can't wait.

He rested his head against the cold glass of the window, and quietly repeated his own words from the last time he'd seen her.

"See you Friday." He hesitated, then added, "Or hopefully sooner."

• • •

"Everyone up! Quickly! Earthquake!"

Startled, Alex jerked awake. It was the next morning, and his mother's terrified voice sounded down the halls. He instantly knew she was right; the walls and floor were trembling, not too violently, but growing louder and harder by the minute.

Glad he'd slept in his clothes and not his pajamas— which would've been pretty embarrassing if he'd made his next move with them on— he ran out his door, tore down the hallway, then burst out the front door and took off running down the street. He knew his neighbors well enough to know they wouldn't be up at seven, even with an earthquake starting. His sisters had rooms on the opposite side of the house. All this whirled through his mind as he ran, and he made sure he checked all the houses for watching faces before beginning his transformation rhyme:

"The sun goes down and darkness falls,

The time my power grows.

I stand in shadows of nighttime's halls,

While my contrary glows!"

While chanting he never stopped running; he had no time to waste. The earthquake was steadily increasing in power, and anyone could see now it was going to be bad. At least one building would be coming down.

Night started racing faster, defying the violent quaking of the ground. Suddenly sensing danger close by, he realized he'd been right: a building was falling. Skidding to a halt just in time to avoid a collision with his barrier, he thought, Take me to the danger, and stepped forward. The next second he was standing in a new shadow . . . which happened to belong to the falling building.

He looked up in a brief flash of terror, realizing the sun had been rising behind the building, and its shadow stood alone.

But his terror quickly drained away. He could see a way to escape already, even though there was no time and no point in shadow-transferring away. The building was falling fast, and some people hadn't gotten out of the way yet. Before he started, however, he spotted a familiar gold-white figure racing toward the building with amazing speed.

He smiled. Sunray.

Her face was fiercely determined, her sharp green eyes fixed unwaveringly on the danger. She vanished inside, reappeared a millisecond later with an older woman, set her down, then shot out of sight again. The structure was almost flat on its side, but within half a second Sunray had saved all its inhabitants: eighty to ninety people.

Shaking himself back to the current events, Night sprinted around the area he was in, shoving people out of the path of danger as quickly as he could. By this point the huge structure was practically on top of him, but he hastily lifted his arms and used all his strength to hold up the collapsing building. The weight of it forced him onto his knees, but he managed to keep it from crushing him and the last of the scrambling people around him. Still, it didn't seem as heavy as it should've . . .

Then he twisted his head slightly and realized Sunray had dashed in and was helping him hold it up. She was peering around, apparently scanning for any people still underneath it, but the road was clear aside from them. A moment later she glanced over at Night and called, "We're good!"

He nodded once, then began forcing his way to his left, while his partner started moving to her right. Both continued to support the horizontal building until they finally made it out to the open air and dropped it fully to the ground. He leaned against it for a moment, trying to catch his breath.

Sunray came around the side, also panting, but with a gleam in her eyes. "You didn't think I was going to let you have all the fun, did ya?" she called with a smirk.

"Of course not!" he called back, smiling in the midst of the natural disaster, then straightened as cracks began to open in the ground. The people, frightened by the weakened buildings, had all come outside, and another building was falling.

Night and Sunray both darted forward, but Night had forgotten about his barrier. He ran straight into it, then rolled his eyes and shadow-transferred to a more convenient shadow. He quickly joined his partner, pulling back the people from the cracks as he ran.

Sunray raced inside again, once more emptying out all its terrified inhabitants in less than a second.

There was another panicking crowd standing in the path of danger. Night could see they were trying to get out of the way, but the roads around him were too crowded. Exchanging a quick glance with Sunray, Night gave a brief nod, then dashed forward, yelling to everyone, "Clear out! Move back!"

Gradually, they obeyed, but not fast enough. Gritting his teeth in determination, and knowing Sunray wouldn't need orders on what the plan was, Night ran into the dark section of the building, his partner doing the same in the lit section, and lifted his arms above his head for the second time. Once again, they managed to catch the huge structure and keep it high enough for the people to scramble madly out of the way. Fear for their lives seemed to make them obey faster. 

Once the road underneath was clear, Night shouted to Sunray, "This one's bigger; we've gotta drop this one, too, but don't let go until I tell you! Got it?"

"Got it!" she called back, and began to walk slowly sideways to the edge. Night did the same in the opposite direction, gritting his teeth under the weight of the heavy structure. Once he was out from under it, he made sure he thoroughly scanned the shadowed road where he'd just been standing for any people, and could see Sunray also standing out of danger before calling to her, "Now!"

Both of them let go, and the building crashed fully to the ground at last.

Shortly afterward, the rumbling began to cease. Night stepped back, breathing heavily, while Sunray came around the side of the building and began checking after the crowd. She began helping the people who had fallen to their feet, her soothing voice calming the panic. Watching her, Night couldn't help a little smile of admiration for her. Even though she was an introvert herself, she had a way with people that he lacked.

He walked over to his partner and put his hand on the barrier, watching the golden ripples for a moment before asking softly, "You okay?"

She looked up at him and smiled. "That was a first. Do you think Preciser had anything to do with it? He might've had a 'little-' " she did air quotation marks with her fingers, "-temper tantrum once he recovered from the blindness I gave him yesterday."

Night shrugged. "It would've been nice if the blindness was permanent. Then he could be stumbling around blindly, and it would be simple to defeat him, even if I didn't use darksweep."

She giggled. "Nah, this one was probably natural." Briefly she glanced over at the sun, not squinting at its blinding brightness, then back at Night as he stepped backward; the sun was rising fast, and his barrier was moving towards him.

He couldn't help feeling a little disappointed when she went on, "Okay, the crowds are calm, and I'm pretty sure the cops over there have everything else under control." She pointed across the street. "Plus, the shadows and light will be moving all over the place at this time of day, so . . . we should probably get going."

There was a momentary silence. She reached out and placed her hand on the barrier against his on the other side, the ripples from the soft impact black instead of gold. She drew in breath and opened her mouth as if to continue, but bit back whatever she was going to say, dropping her gaze to the ground. Instead, she looked up at Night again, and his heart began to ache as he recognized the familiar sadness and pain in her eyes, shared in his own.

At last she broke the silence by saying in  a strained voice, "It was . . . nice to see you sooner than we expected." Hesitating, she finished with a little smile, "See you Friday, Night. Or hopefully sooner."

• • •

Shortly after she left, Night shadow-transferred himself back to his room, grabbed his backpack, then vanished again before his adopted parents could see him. Reappearing behind his high school, he muttered, "Sunrise," and detransformed.

This was one of the not-so-great parts about living in a city with guardians, and being one of them. Normally everything would close or shut down after a disaster like that. But since he and Sunray had kept anyone from being killed, the only damage was the fallen buildings and some cracks here and there. Obviously, he was relieved that was the case. Otherwise, however, life went on as normal. Including school.

He didn't necessarily hate school, but he didn't enjoy it at all. He had no friends there, obviously, and he used to have problems with older students bullying him. Most of the time he just tried to blend in the background.

He swung his pack over his shoulder and quickly made his way down the windowless side of the school, trying to figure out an explanation to his teacher, Ms. Elena, why he was late. Then again, she probably wouldn't ask; he was almost always late.

Speed-walking down the white halls, he finally arrived at his first class and entered. His classmates all turned around as he did, and as he walked to his seat he realized he was the last to arrive.

There were four rows of four desks, and his seat was in the front row, which he wasn't exactly content with. He would've preferred a desk in the back row, so he could hide behind his classmates. Jakira Lumière and Gracea Chao were the only other introverted students in the class, which made him probably the least popular guy in the entire school. Not that he really cared.

Flashing an uneasy glance at Alex, Ms. Elena began talking. "For our next history project, which you will not be allowed to research for with the Internet, you'll be working in pairs." As the students began to murmur excitedly, she finished, "Which I've already chosen."

The class groaned.

"Gracea and Michael," she announced. As the two got up and met, the teacher continued, "Shawn and James."

She went through nearly the entire class by the time Alex heard his name. He sat up straighter as she called, "Alex and Jakira."

He blinked, then twisted around to look at his new project partner. She shrugged and waved, smiling a little. He waved back, then picked up his books, stood up, and walked over to her. "Uh, hi."

"Hi," she answered quietly. For a moment there was an awkward silence between them, until she finally broke it by continuing shyly, "Do you . . . um, happen to know much on this? I'm not what you'd call a historian."

"Neither am I," he admitted, clearing his throat. "I guess we're doomed, then."

"Noo," she responded with a quick laugh. "We've just gotta do a lot of research if we wanna win, that's all." As the other students paired up and left, she added, "Do you wanna go to the courtyard or the locker room?"

"The courtyard," he said instantly. "It's quieter. But first the library, to see if they have up-to-date encyclopedias that might help."

She nodded. "Good idea."

A few minutes later they arrived there, soundlessly slipping through the tall shelves searching for the encyclopedias. After a brief search, Jakira spotted them.

They each grabbed a book and slid down beside the tall shelf, quietly flipping through the pages looking for the subject. Alex couldn't believe what he was seeing. "When were these things written—Noah's time?!" he demanded incredulously. "These say Giampiero Borghini is still Mayor!"

Jakira laughed and swatted his arm playfully. "Noah and Borghini are in two very different time eras!"

He smiled. "Yeah, I know. I was joking."

They both remained silent for a little while after that. Suddenly finding what he'd been looking for, he looked up in excitement at his partner and exclaimed, "I've got it!" just as she said the exact same thing at the exact same time.

They both blinked, then lowered their eyes in embarrassment. "Sorry," Jakira mumbled. "You go."

Alex held up his hands. "No, no, no, no, no," he insisted. "Ladies first."

She looked up at him sharply, her bright green eyes widening for a moment. Alex blinked, wondering if he'd said something weird without realizing it.

But as quickly as she'd gotten it, her shocked expression faded away. Avoiding his curious eyes, she said quietly, "Thanks," and explained what she'd found.

Inwardly he calmed down and in turn told her his own information, but the strange feeling picking at him grew, and an unexpected question repeatedly rang in his mind the rest of the day.

Why do I feel like I've known her before?