30. Paranoia

Each passing year since the new protectors discovered their powers, their training sessions were increasing. Almost all the first year remained with their monthly visit to the mountain where the Miracle Protector used to train every Saturday. The next year it changed to a visit every two weeks so they could explore a bit more of their powers: gravity manipulation, healing, freezing and acid production. For the third year, the Miracle Protector taught them about his strategies while watching every one of his past fights, always skipping details in his fight that gave him his current title, with the excuse that they weren’t ready for that talk yet.

The fourth year, the last having their secret, went with a training session once every week, when he taught them a bit of everything without going to the extremes, letting them have some fun but recognizing their own limits.

When they were finally presented, all the island’s mood raised the same as when he got introduced that time fifteen years ago. Soon they had everyone attention onto them, being praised and cheered on by every bystander and person, just as their mentor had told them that would happen.

The four of them were honored and excited, none scared about the pressure because they had each other and their mentor. In every interview when they were asked about how it was to be so close to the Miracle Protector, they would be all shy and said “He’s as amazing as he looked on TV, he’s so kind, gentle, smart and strong, everything we strive to be” or “He’s like a father, a brother, a friend, I don’t know what would be of us if he wasn’t here.”

And with that, their sessions turned to be daily, after their classes in high school. All the people around them noticed how much trust they had in him, how much they look up to him, following every instruction and advise as it was sacred or decisive. They feel so confident about their skills when he was around.

When the Protector turned thirty-five, his brother moved out from the Protector’s House to his own to start a family, while his mother decided to go back to his own home so he could feel a bit more independent. Because of that, when the new protectors were fifteen, sometimes they would spend their nights there when analyzing his past victories.

The first time they go to a battle with him, was one with only one pirate’s ship in which he made them see from afar, when they were sixteen, almost seventeen years old. Before, they were amazed of his numerous powers and how he control them, but seeing him using them as if it was nothing, mixing them up so easily and winning the battle in nothing more than forty minutes left the new protectors more taken aback than before. All their admiration went some levels higher; their motivation maxed out as well.

With his chemist job in the morning, mentoring in the afternoon and night, he had less time for himself again. Although he didn’t need it as before.

After fifteen years of visiting the group’s reunion place, he bit farewell to it. Shonda, Pious and the Awkward Boy already left the place too, some years or months earlier than him, so he thought it was enough for him too. However, to those three, Orange, Nightjar and Flying Fish, he let them have his phone number, so they could see each other from time to time. While they told him their true names, he still kept his unsaid.

His relationship with the Awkward Boy and Shonda improved so much after their declaration of love, they became good friends with Pious too, going from their last teen years to their adulthood. Talking to Thesaurus was, as they always said, a calming and refreshing experience. Even though he didn’t talk much, or forget some things easily, having him with them was the only thing they needed to relax and think clearly.

They went from student, job, love, marital and emotional problems without restrain, always trusting his kind words or prolonged silence. And, too, always questioning themselves if they were doing enough to repay his kindness when they invited him to go out, enjoy some afternoon or night, sometimes even their weekends. Because he never talked about anything in particular, they felt a bit of paranoia, believing he could disappear if they leave him alone.

But they were not wrong.

When the new protectors were seventeen, because their own accord, they began to be more active in the battles. Soon they got so used to do it, that they barely noticed when the Miracle Protector was doing less than them. He trusted them, so he let them make their own mistakes but always covering them up, so they didn’t hurt themselves so much. With that, their self-confidence was fed enough to let them grow faster.

 That way, when they were eighteen years old, they went by themselves to do the Protector’s duty. The Miracle Protector was appointed to the watch towers or the headquarters, always fully prepared if it was needed. At least for the first six months.

“Do you see that? Forty minutes for three ships!” The shorter boy said when the recording of their battle ended, just as the dinner they had in the Protector’s House with food that the Miracle Protector did for them.

“Oh and you barely were hurt, that’s something that needs a praise too, right, Senior Protector?” said the leader of their group. Even though he tried, they never called him by his name because all the respect they felt towards him.

“Yeah, all of you have become so good at your duty,” the Miracle Protector praised them, rubbing the head of the other girl in the group. “Soon the people will forget about me and I’ll go to retirement.”

“Retirement? In your forty’s?” all of them laughed. “You could be sixty and still beat us in a fight, with the four.”

“Besides, who could forget about the Miracle Protector? No one!”

With that, they got their desserts, but before they could turn on the TV to watch a movie, their mentor put the battle that happened days before they were born, they had watched it countless of times, without any comment coming from him, until that night.

“We’d need a miracle bigger than that, and still, people love you too much.” The girl said, and before anyone got to answer, their mentor started to talk.

“That was my decisive battle, that one made me open my eyes to what I had to do.” He began. “Different from the past protectors and you, I was alone, the duty of keeping safe all our people never felt so heavy as that day, however I didn’t let my insecurities won.”

“I sent all my fears, self-doubts, everything, at the back of my mind. I went to those ships with solely one thought: I couldn’t let anyone from those ships to go back alive.” The Miracle Protector drank from his cup. “And don’t misunderstand, your powers are not to kill but to guard. Everything you do over the sea, over the enemies’ ships is for your family to be safe, your friends and lovers, and all the people living here were powers are only granted to those who will protect them.”

He told them about how tired and hurt he was, but still he fought. How scared he was before the escaping ship, but still he fought. Just when they thought they couldn’t admire him more, it happened.

The next day, he went to his family’s dinner to celebrate his brother’s son seventh birthday. They enjoyed their time together, dinning and watching movies, talking and resting. Just another family reunion.

And the next day after that, he went to Pious’s new home. There with Nightjar, Flying Fish, the Awkward Boy and Shonda. They were talking, giving their gifts to Pious and congratulating him, even if they did already.

It was at 10 pm when Thesaurus got their attention. The five of them noticed how nervous he looked, so they waited for him to talk.

“There was one thing I lost, but I couldn’t talk about it; there was one reason why I couldn’t say my true name, my birth date or my city address,” he began with his head hanging low and his fingers twisting each other. “And, still, all of you were by my side, never asking questions or pressuring me, trusting me and making me part of your lives as another friend…”

“I’ll never be able to repay your friendship, because being with you and the group… helped me so much to endure the most difficult time of my life.” Then, he finally confronted their eyes. “I hope you don’t hate me, I hope you don’t change your view of who I was with you and why I’ll say I lost something forever…”

All of them shook their heads, trying to say that they would never do it, still, he didn’t let them talk. “I lost everything I had for twenty-three years. I lost a life I never thought boring or lacking, I lost my identity and my future. My life wasn’t mine anymore, my existence got a purpose I didn’t want but I fulfilled to the very end with pride and compromise. I can’t say I regret it, I can’t say there was something missing that could had made things go better or worse.”

With that, he took off his glasses and wig, that day when he didn’t wear his contacts. The five of them were surprised, as he thought it would happen. “My true name is Teshal, I am the one the people call Miracle Protector.”

Shonda and Pious rose from their seats with their mouths opened as if they were broken. Nightjar covered his mouth without taking his eyes off him, Flying Fish took his husband’s hand and squeezed it as if trying to wake up. The Awkward Boy went silent too, surprised but looking him with a smile.

“Dammit… you really… you really kill me every damn time” and with that, he started to laugh until tears came out his eyes and he had to grab his stomach, making the rest to imitate him.

“Oh my gosh… you saw us fangirling about you every single reunion and you never laughed at us, how?” said Pious drying his tears.

“No, think about all the times I spoke against him, and he supported me! “Nightjar was barely able to talk coherently.

Seeing them laughing as real as that, allowed Teshal to breathe again, even if his heart wasn’t calming down. At first it wasn’t easy to go back to talk as before, because how much admiration they felt. But because he was the same shy and taciturn man as before, they started to speak to him as before the revelation.

As soon as the clock marked 3 am, all of them decided to go back their homes. Feeling the news still a bit unreal, they took a picture and said goodbye until their next meeting.

Nevertheless, there was not next meeting with all friends, family or new protectors. That same day the Miracle Protector disappeared from the island without warning, without no one that could say that The Protector was acting different than usual. Without taking anything with him, not even his phone that he left in the Protector’s House, he was never seen again.