Generation Why Bother

Andy, arm-in-arm with Tegan and Riley, and Chance, cruising back with such aplomb, went back to our ice platform with the biggest, realest smiles I’d seen on their faces in a long time. We couldn’t help a little celebration when they set foot on the solid frozen water along with some hugs and gratuitous happy swear words, but there was still one of us who wasn’t there, so we didn’t want to get it all out of the way.

Anthony took his rightful place on Andy’s back, and those two were airborne again. Chance had to expand his moving icicle a little more in order to make room for him, Tegan, Chuck, Riley, and me, but it was no problem for him, even if it was a little wonky to have to stand up straight on that thing as we moved back to the shore, surfing above the water with so much ease.

It was odd as anything to come back to the stage with people under the tarp whooping in a combination of shock and glee after they’d just seen everything we did under the guise of it being perfectly rehearsed. Of course, it was comforting. I was still coming off of that high from facing my fears and getting over it, shaking like a dog pooping razorblades.

I almost thought I was dreaming again, like I was still in a hospital bed and still sleeping off the pain of getting struck by lightning and that whole half a year was just me hallucinating my wildest dreams of being somebody.

So I looked down again, at the water and sand rushing underneath me as I held Tegan’s arm for dear life as she held on to Chance’s, and I felt the sea breeze chill my bones as if Florida wasn’t anywhere near as hot as it was cracked up to be. I heard people screaming in the audience as we returned to the stage and all of us stepped off of the ice plate and Anthony jumped off of Andy’s back, as Mick ran over to us with flowers sprouting from his hands and between the stage and stage barrier. The huge group hug complete with uncomfortable touching drove it home even further.

Every second of my life was real. Even the ones that didn’t seem “real” were far from fake, and that meant the world to me.

Riding off the cheers, Riley and Tegan restored the land around the crowd to normal, Riley moving the mini-mountains back into the ground and Tegan moving the tarp through the sea breeze back on top of the stage, where countless people were cowering in fear at the completely random stunt Put’emup, Put’emup had just pulled.

The eight of us were now one on the stage, having a totally corny “we did it” moment complete with self-satisfaction and a truly earned sense of self, and the way that the crowd went insane over it let us know that the beast wasn’t just dead – it was completely gone from our lives and it was now just a distant worry.

Andy was the first to break off and take his rightful place behind the microphone again, grinning ear to ear like the rest of us, and even laughing into the microphone a little bit before saying a few words.

“We’re sorry for that little interruption,” he gasped between laughs, “but the sun is setting right now and my God, it looks beautiful.” He was right; the sun was sinking into the late afternoon sky and the colors painted the sky a sweet mix of pink, yellow, orange, and purple, vivid hues strewn across our world. “And don’t worry, we’ll clean up after our set. You don’t have to worry about that bug coming to ruin the show anymore.”

He looked back at us and gave us an exaggerated wink, just another added bonus to our newfound success in life.

God, I couldn’t wait to call my dad.

When I was smiling onstage next to my partners-in-justice, it was the most genuine grin I’d had in a long time – since before this even all started happening to me. How did we manage to get out of it unscathed? Even Shira sounded like she had a rough time fighting her battles, and she seemed like a genius in that area. Well, I didn’t know, and I can’t say I cared. Questioning success isn’t something you need to do, especially when you’re still reeling from winning in the first place. It was a beautiful feeling, knowing that I contributed to something so grand, even if I hadn’t voluntarily signed up for it.

Anthony stepped up to his microphone that he hadn’t visited since before our heart-pounding battle, and swung the attention back to the music. “Anyways, in case you forgot, we’re Put’emup, Put’emup, and we’re from Chicago!”

Chance and Anthony walked to near the back of the stage where they kept their guitars, and Andy watched them get ready to start the rest of their set while the other four of us just kind of stood there. They hadn’t ushered us offstage yet and backstage was a bit crowded, what with all the questioning faces begging us to answer their interrogations, so personally I was just looking around for a simple way out of the spotlight.

Someone new who looked like they knew something was standing at the edge of the side stage, though.

Her face was twisted in suspicion and her blonde ponytailed hair was mussed as if she just got back from fighting her own war. Anthony saw her first, and then Andy was staring at her as Chance put his guitar on and looked in the same direction, and then that was when we all caught sight of the young woman.

She stepped forward, hesitantly at first, then fully committing, and she paused to make a sentence.

“I…am so sorry,” she said, shaking her head in disbelief. “I’m…I’m from the Underland, and we were having a bit of trouble of our own, we get that a lot…I’m really sorry I wasn’t able to come here in time, but by the looks of it, you handled it all on your own really well.”

It became clear as she spoke – she was the “ninth” guardian Shira had hinted towards and hadn’t shown up to the party. Her arms crossed over the broken heart logo on her t-shirt, she bit her lip as she went off in thought, apologetic. All of us looked at each other, and I could see that the rest of them must’ve figured it out since Andy spread Shira’s old news to every guardian backstage after she’d called.

Mick was the friendly one and softened the blow. “No problem, we got it squared away.”

“Yeah, I saw! It was awesome,” she complimented, breaking into a guiltless smile. “I’ve never seen anything so spectacular. You guys handled it really well. And I’m from the Underland so I have to see alien creatures like that all the time.”

“Sounds pretty intense,” Andy said, his head cocked with a smirk.

She shook her head again. “Not nearly as intense as what I just walked in on. You guys are new to this?”

“Aw, shucks,” Mick gushed, “it was nothin’.”

She held her hands up in excitement, her face still bright. “And I’m sure I’m never gonna hear the end of it from my little brother when he finds out who Earth’s guardians were – he loves you guys and your music. He’s probably not even gonna believe me when I go back home to New Jersey and tell him what I saw.”

Anthony gave her a questioning look. “Wait, you’re a human?”

She laughed and said, “Yeah, I was reeled into the Underland as their human guardian, not by choice.” Okay, that made sense. The most humanlike aliens I’d ever heard of were the Daltians, and God knows they were nowhere near as warm-spirited as this chick seemed to be. “Well, anyways, congratulations, you guys! That was awesome and I’m sure the crowd loved it, but I gotta get back home – my husband’s probably worried sick about me.”

Just as quickly as she appeared, she turned on her heel and ran backstage, but not before Chance shouted, “Wait! What’s your name, anyway?”

The woman looked over her shoulder and said, “Abby!”

Then she disappeared into the backstage, hiding herself in obscurity once more.

For a second, Andy had a little smile on his face, still probably coming off of that high like the rest of us were. Then that happiness gave way to utter puzzlement, and he cocked his head so quickly I think I heard a few bones snap.

He asked nobody in particular, “Wait…the Underland? What the hell is an Underland?”