Author's note: I'm baaaack! I am so sorry that I have been away for so long. Lot of personal stuff to take care of. But it's all good now. Sorry again, lovelies.

Rachel woke to a faint growling sound. She groggily lifted her head. She had tried her best to not fall asleep the night before, but to no avail. The stress and grief of the last few days had just been too much for her.

She heard the growl again. "Roland, please tell me that was your stomach."

Her response was the sound of a gun being cocked.

"No. That was something else."

"Do you think it was bear?" Jake asked as he eagerly glanced around.

"Possibly," Roland replied.

Rachel sat up. "Must have been a pretty big bear."

"You'd be surprised."

Rachel watched Roland check his bullets. His brow was covered in a sheen of sweat.

"How you feeling?" she asked him.

"I'll be fine."

Rachel sighed. Why did men have to be so macho about everything? Roland's arm could have been hanging off and he would probably still try to use both guns.

"Well if there is a bear, there's no need to sit here and let it come to us," Rachel said tersely.

She threw off Roland's coat and stood, brushing the leaves off her.

"Probably not a good idea to go wandering around," said Roland.

"I'm a guardian of the Tower, Roland." Rachel bent to pick up Roland's coat. "You think I'm going to be worried about some stupid forest animal?"

He frowned at her and got to his feet. Rachel didn't mean to sound so defensive. She was just tired. Tired of being the damsel in distress. Tired of men telling her what to do. She thought of Pennywise. She missed his towering, comforting embrace. She missed the good times. But something had eventually changed. Something had shifted between them that had had nothing to do with the fact that he had threatened her family. Being in Mid-World had thrown him off balance. But was it just that, or had there been something else? Something besides her gunslinger protector? She and Roman had never really discussed it.

And now because of her former mate's animalistic, possessive ways, they would never get that chance again.

They set off again, and before too long, Rachel heard the sound of rushing water.

"If that is what I think it is, you guys may have to avert your eyes," Rachel commented snidely.

Sure enough, a creek came into view.

"Oh ho, yes!" Rachel hollered. "Sweet, beautiful, blessed water."

She ran forward and dropped to the knees next to the creek. Right away, she bent forward, cupping her hands. She splashed some of the cool, fresh water on her face. Then she scrubbed her face with the palms of her hands. She scrubbed at her neck, the washed her hands. Then she drank.

"Roland," she said between desperate gulps, "please tell me you're filling your water skin."

"I am."

Rachel knelt for a moment and watched the water trickle past. She glanced at their surroundings and heaved a deep, contented sigh. Sure enough, to her right, Roland was filling his water skin.

"How's your shoulder?" she asked.

"Same."

She frowned. "Need me to look at it? And please don't tell me you're fine again. I may just have to drown you."

Roland glared at her out the corner of his eyes. A smile tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Someone's in a good mood."

"Good enough." Rachel dried her hands on her pants and stood. "Can I take a look on your shoulder?"

"No."

Roland set his water skin aside and drank from the creek. Rachel jutted her hip out.

"Why are you so stubborn?"

"Would you let me check out your wound?"

"Yes. You know I would," she replied testily.

Roland sighed. Rachel went around him and knelt. He opened his shirt.

"Holy shit, Roland."

Purple veins snaked out around Roland's wound.

"You need to see about that."

Roland closed his shirt again, his face in a frown and his eyes staring straight ahead.

"Kind of hard to do that around here."

"Well you could at least try to clean it out. That's what I would do anyway."

"No, you wouldn't even be in this predicament." Roland's eyes met hers. "You would have stopped it."

"Yeah sure." Rachel gave him a wry smirk. "Messed up girl with her crazy powers."

"You're not a monster, Rachel. You know that."

"No, I just breed with them," came her dismal reply.

The pair sat quietly for a moment. Finally, Rachel gave Roland's arm a gentle squeeze.

"We better get moving," she said. "Let me just get another drink."

She bent down to the creek again. She was lifting her second handful to her mouth, when she felt a vibration in the earth. The water in her hands trembled. She drank. The ground shook again. Rachel heard something that sounded like a bunch of birds. She glanced up at the trees. Sure enough, a large flock of birds flew out, above the trees. The ground shook again, harder this time.

"Roland."

Rachel put her hand on Roland's arm.

"We need to leave. Make for the cover of the trees," the gunslinger said.

He motioned to Jake and the trio ran for shelter. Rachel glanced back to see the trees on the other side of the creek shake. Something massive was moving through the woods.

"Shit! Shit!"

Rachel scrambled behind a tree, but Roland grabbed her, pulling her with him to their right.

Behind another tree.

Roland's shoulder was up against hers, to her left. And then Rachel glanced around frantically.

"Where's Jake?"

"I don't know," came Roland's fearful reply. "But we can't move now. He might see us."

"He?" Rachel said dubiously.

"Shhh."

The ground shook again. And this time, Rachel shook with it. Whatever it was was right even with them. Rachel froze, her back against the tree, afraid to even breathe. She heard the trees move behind them, followed by the sound of heavy, gravelly breathing—coming from way, way too high up.

There was a lot of rustling and creaking noises, and then she heard sniffing.

Sniffing.

Rachel put her hand over her mouth.

If whatever this creature was couldn't hear her heart about to explode, she would have been shocked. Neither she nor Roland budged.

And then the trees started rustling again. The sniffing stopped. Rachel started to breathe a sigh of relief when-

CRASH!

Rachel screamed and threw her hands over her head as branches rained down on top of her and Roland.

"Run, Rachel!" Roland hollered.

Rachel never had to be told twice.

She ran.

And eardrum shattering roar sounded behind her. She heard more rustling in the trees and then gunshots. Rachel didn't dare to look back. What looked like giant swords swiped at the trees to her left, shredding them to kindle. Rachel brought up an arm to shield her face. A shadow passed in front of her and then a giant paw swooped down.

Rachel stopped short. The paw was much taller than she was and she had no time to react as the fingers started to curl around her, blocking her escape. She whirled around and froze, and stared up.

And up.

The bear was even taller than the trees. Roland still fired at it, but it wasn't doing any good. Rachel felt the paw against her back and tried to run, only to be blocked again by its sword like claws. She felt the urge to fly away.

Only she had no wings.

Just a couple of useless, painful stumps.

But there was something else she did have. Her magic. She sent out a blast, striking the bears fingers. The bear hollered and lifted its paw. Rachel ran to Roland, who had just run out of bullets.

"That was totally useless," she hollered at him.

"I knew it wouldn't kill him," he said. "I was just hoping he would let you go."

"Well we can't run from it. What are we going to do?"

The bear roared at her.

Rachel whirled around, her hands into fists, and hollered back.

The bear tilted its head at her. Rachel noticed a strange contraption attached to the top of its head, like a satellite. But that wasn't all. In place of where a live bear's hand should be, the left hand was completely metal. On its right forearm, a large patch of what was supposed to be flesh was exposed. Metal cables ran underneath.

"What…in Maturin's name…is that?" Rachel asked, her eyes glued on the monstrosity before her.

"His name is Shardik," Roland said. "He is one of the Guardians."

Rachel breathed a heavy sigh of relief. A Guardian? She furrowed her brow in thought. Originally, she had thought the bear was trying to kill them. He could have crushed her easily. Or picked her up and ate her. But the way the bear stared at her…it was like he had recognized her somehow.

Rachel held her hand out, palm forward and took a couple of steps towards Shardik.

"My name is Rachel," she called out. "I am a friend to Maturin. The Turtle."

Shardik growled softly. Rachel kept slowly advancing towards him.

"I am a Guardian of the Tower like you."

Shardik leaned in towards her. Rachel jumped back in shock and Roland put his hand on her arm protectively. Shardik cocked his head sideways at her.

"R-Rachel," came his gravelly voice.

Rachel smiled. She gave a nod. "That's right. Rachel. Rachel Porter. And this is Roland." She gestured at the gunslinger. "He's a friend to the Dark Tower also. A gunslinger."

"The Tower…is in danger," Shardik annunciated.

Rachel frowned. "I know. And I'm trying to stop that. Both of us are. There is a village that we are trying to get to. Can you help us get there? Protect us?"

"Your magic…protects you. But it is…tainted."

Shit, Rachel thought.

"I know. I'm sorry. That wasn't my fault." And it really wasn't. First Rachel had imprinted on Pennywise against her will, and then Walter. "But I am trying to do what is right. To save the Tower. To save my daughter. I'm sure you'll meet her if you haven't already. If we succeed."

A dark cloud of sadness and concern filled Rachel's mind. Would she ever see Eleanor again? And what about her wings? What would she turn into if they succeeded in stopping Walter?

And what would happen to her if she failed?

Rachel bit into a piece of rabbit. "I can't believe we met one other Guardians."

"I can't believe he let us pass through," Jake said with a grin. He also had a rabbit in his hands.

Roland poked the fire. "We're not out of the woods yet. Physically or metaphorically."

Rachel rolled her eyes. "You know," she took another bite, "you could for once look on the bright side of things."

Roland looked at her. Rachel grinned, her mouth full of rabbit.

"She's right. I mean, we all made it this far," Jake said.

"And you wouldn't believe some of the stuff I went through before I got here. And that was in my own world."

"Was Pennywise that bad?" Jake asked.

"He wasn't that good. And I was stupid enough to fall for it."

"You're not stupid. I told you that," Roland said.

Then why am I walking into the same predicament again, just with my eyes open this time, Rachel wanted to say.

To save Eleanor. Rachel had long passed realized that she didn't care what happened to herself anymore. She still missed her daughter. It was like a gaping hole in her chest that would probably never heal.

"You know, I've been thinking," Rachel said. "All the Guardians are animals. And I'm the only human. Well…humanish."

"But you're growing wings," Jake said.

"Exactly. What if that's what's happening to me? What if to become a full Guardian, I have to acquire an," she made air quotes, "animal attribute?"

"Angels have wings," Roland reminded her.

Rachel scowled. "So do some demons."

"Hey, when I first had that vision about you, the one where you were in the Tower, you had some sort of glow about you. Some kind of aura."

"That was my Tower magic. I've done that before," Rachel told Jake.

"Yeah. But it was weird. It reminded me of a phoenix almost."

"You've said that before. What is a…phoenix," Roland inquired.

"It's a bird of fire. Like it's not actually made of fire, but that's still its element. And when it dies, it's reborn from its own ashes," Rachel said. She was going to take another bite, but then stopped as a thought occurred to her. "You know what's weird? I played as Cinderella in my town's play a few months ago." She glanced back and forth at the two guys to see if either one of them would catch on, but they both just sat there, waiting for her to continue. "The name Cinderella literally means girl who sits among the ashes."

"Woah. That is pretty cool." Jake's face lit up.

"And I have literally died and come back to life a couple of times," Rachel continued.

"So you are like a phoenix then," Roland concluded.

"Yes." Rachel grinned. "The phoenix of the Dark Tower."

Jake met her with a conspirituos grin. "The Dark Phoenix."

Rachel felt her spirits lift. It was so fitting. Walter had a special title that he was known by. A name that suited him in every sense of the phrase.

And now so would she.