The Protector: Reignited

"You said Alex is a good child? What makes him more obedient than the others?"

Aiden perked up when he heard his therapist ask him the question "He's the only one who is really trying to improve doc." He slouched back into the couch he was currently sitting on, his therapist was sitting in front of him in a recliner "Tristan and Victoria are doing college, I thought college would maybe finally get them to... Mature. I was wrong, I hardly get to see Tristan because he's at some frat house drinking forties and Victoria is usually out and about with her 'friends'. Alex stays at home, he's really the only who enjoys hanging out with his dad. Alex really reminds me of his mother, he may look like me but he doesn't behave like me, he is always thirsty for knowledge. Alex is seventeen and already in college, if that's not an accomplishment then I don't know what is."

The therapist nodded "Do you think back to when you were their age? Do you feel like you had achievements?"

Aiden nodded "I never went to college but I did enlist into the military when I was seventeen, by time I was twenty I had already been accepted into the special forces. I was motivated when I was their age, I didn't have the opportunities they have. I took action on what options I had." He was honest with his therapist.

"Special forces, that requires killing does it not? Do you consider the deaths as achievements?" She went deeper into the subject.

Aiden sighed "I do, I feel like if I had never done it then worse things would have happened."

The therapist stared at Aiden "And when you came here to save ponies, was that you taking advantage of the opportunities you were given?"

Aiden shook his head "No, that was my way of getting revenge. After my father died I had so much rage, I had so much hatred for criminals. When I saw a criminal I raged so bad that I would just kill them, I never felt guilt for killing them."

"Okay... Let's move on to something more normal. Are you still avoiding your exercise?" The therapist had seemed a little disturbed from what Aiden had said.

Aiden smiled "I actually started back last week, I don't know why I stopped because I feel pretty damn good right now."

"I can see your muscle memory has taken action, you look healthier." The therapist complimented her client.

"You said these sessions are private, correct?" Aiden asked his female therapist.

"Yes, you can tell me anything. I cannot reveal anything to the public by law." She confirmed his question.

"I'm protecting again, I don't know why but I feel like this urge to do it. You know when I talked about the fire? Well I feel it, I don't know why but I do. I think it may have something to do with everypony missing the old me or maybe everypony talking about the next big disturbance... Or maybe it was the dream." Aiden guessed.

"Dream? The one with the archaic wolf?"

"Yeah, the one with the wolf. That shit still gives me the creeps." Aiden said as he held his chin in his hand.

The therapist sighed "I think this is good. After the birth of your first child you ran from who you really are, now you are coming to terms and trying to learn a way on how to be yourself without changing anything in between you and your family." She explained to him.

Aiden exhaled "I guess that could be it."

The therapist looked at her watch "Well, that seems to be about all of the time I have for you today, I'll see you next week." She said before getting up and holding the door open for him.

Aiden nodded before leaving the room.

Aiden walked in the door to his office to be welcomed by the mare working the front desk "Hello Mr. Sparkle, I already set up your work for the day on your desk." She informed him.

Aiden nodded "Thanks, I'll get right to it." He said before walking into the elevator.

Aiden entered his office and saw a few stacks of papers, the papers ranged from fan mail to bills for the building. He took a seat and began working, it took him several hours to get through just half of the stack, he was interrupted by his office phone ringing. Aiden picked up the phone.

"Hello?"

"Yes, t-this is front desk, u-umm we have a visitor f-for you. W-white Light is out on a call." She sounded spooked as if something terrifying had just happened.

"Okay... I'll be out in a second" Aiden sighed before standing up and exiting the office, as soon as he opened the door an axe came swinging at him. Aiden dodged it at the last second and saw a stallion in a business suit coming at him with the axe.

"Sorry bud, we gotta get rid of you first." The stallion said before swinging at Aiden once more. Aiden got on the ground and kicked the handle of the axe, this caused the stallion to lose his grip and drop it.

"He warned us that you're smart, just know that Gleam ain't happy with you." He said before whipping out a knife.

Aiden jumped up onto his feet and prepared for the stallion to swing. The stallion tried to take a jab at Aiden but he dodged it, the stallion smiled before pretending to swing again, he tricked Aiden and landed a kick into his face. Aiden was caught off guard by the trick as it was one he was familiar with. Aiden regained his balance and looked at the axe, he tried to grab it but the stallion was quick to dead leg him.

"Nope, not today buddy, Gleam already taught us all of your moves." He said before wrapping a arm around Aidens throat, he tried to put the knife up to his throat but Aiden had caught his arm and struggled to force it away.

Aiden watched as the stallion slowly overpowered him and got the knife closer 'C'mon Aiden, think! What the hell would I do in this situation!?!' He panicked before he remembered. Aiden reached up with his free arm and managed to grab the stallion mane before pulling as hard as he could to flip the stallion over and in front of him, the stallions knife slipped and put a small cut onto Aidens cheek.

The stallion was dazed for a few seconds before getting back up "Now you're in for it!" He flipped around to only have an axe go cleanly through his neck and into the wall.

Aiden took deep breaths as he saw the stallions head sit perfectly level on the axe blade in the wall as his body fell down to the floor, blood spilled out of the stallions body like a miniature water fall, it stained the hardwood floor in Aidens office. "Holy shit, holy shit!" Aiden walked to his desk and opened a drawer, he pulled out his gun he kept for emergencies. "Gleam, Gleam... Gleaming Shield? I thought me and Shining... I thought we killed him, no way this was him." He said as he rushed out of the office, he stepped into the hallway to see a few dead workers lay lifeless in the floors, these were his workers, there must've been more than one of the enemies.

Aiden got down to the first floor and saw a group of his workers being held hostage, there were two other stallions that were dressed similar to the one Aiden already killed. Aiden raised his gun and shot one of them in the head, the other he shot in the lower spine.

The group of ponies being held hostage didn't take a second to thank their boss, they ran as fast as they could out of the door.

Aiden walked to the one that he assumed was still breathing, he assumed correct.

The stallion looked up at Aiden "I guess Gleam wasn't bullshitting us, you are violent." He said this before coughing a few times, he hid his pain fairly well especially for somepony that got shot in the back.

Aiden crouched down beside him "I'm gonna assume Gleams full name is Gleaming Shield?" He felt a few traits of his old self start coming back.

The stallion coughed and winced from his wound "Yeah. I'm not too sure what you did to him but it must've been something rough, he wants you and some other guy named Shining Armor dead." He tried to reach for his cigarette pack.

Aiden handed them to him "One last smoke before death?"

The stallion chuckled "I guess you could say that..." He said while opening the pack.

"What else does Gleam want? He'd better know not to mess with my family." Aiden asked.

The stallion paused "Well, if you want them safe then you'd better go get them." He then pulled a syringe from the box and injected it into Aidens leg.

Aiden jumped back "You bitch!"

The stallion laughed "Cause you ain't got long hot rod" he said before taking a bullet to the face.

Aiden ran as fast as he could out of the door

It didn't take Aiden long to run to his home, his business wasn't to far away, he had already felt a slight difference in his body already.

Aiden busted through the front door to his home and saw a few overturned tables, that was before he heard Twilight shouting from the kitchen.

"Stay away! I will hurt you!" Twilight threatened a rather large stallion, he was dressed like the rest. Twilight had her three children behind her, the stove was on since Twilight had been preparing dinner.

The stallion teased the four by taking slow but large steps closer to them, he was unaware of the new guest.

Aiden pulled the trigger to his gun but it only clicked, it was out of ammo, this alerted the stallion. Before the stallion could get ahold of Aiden he had a pistol thrown right into his snout.

The stallion stumbled but regained balance quickly, he was to slow as Aiden tackled him into the counter.

Aidens adrenaline pumped even more as this was his family in danger, the poison was settling in but his family mattered to much to him. He punched the stallion in the gut before kneeing him in the face, while he was disoriented Aiden grabbed his face and forced it onto the hot stove, you could hear the skin sizzle as it cooked.

The stallion screamed and tried to force himself off but Aidens dedication overpowered his, he kicked Aiden but got no closer to escape, by time he could do anything else he was already dead.

Aiden let go of him and his lifeless corpse fell to the ground, the half of his face that was being cooked stuck to the stove so you could see the charred insides of his head, his eye had fallen out of its socket and was clearly swollen, half of his mouth still had lips, the other half did not and you could se the full length of his teeth.

Aiden looked at Twilight while breathing heavily "Are you guys okay?" He asked.

Twilight nodded slowly.

"Good, because I'm not. I've been poisoned." Aiden tried to take a step closer to them but only found himself passing out, mostly from the poison.

A black void, so peaceful, so silent. Nopony can bother you, nothing can bother you but yourself.

Aiden opened his eyes to see nothing but a black space, nothing but one door, a door nopony could tell him where it lead, a door only he could open 'Where am I? Am I dead?' He asked himself inside of his head. Aiden sighed before walking to the door 'Well, where else can I go? It's not like I have a choice.' He told himself before opening the door.

A blinding light was revealed and a suction like a black hole in space sucked Aiden into it.

"No... I thought I finally got past this, no way. I thought I blocked this from my mind, I never wanted to see this again." Aiden stared... At himself, he was looking at his younger self holding his fathers lifeless corpse, crying, mourning. Aiden walked slowly towards himself before reaching a careful hand out to touch his own shoulder, Aiden all of the sudden felt a sudden feeling in his heart, a feeling that hadn't been felt in long time 'The fire... Except it's temporary, it's not long lasting like before.' Aiden got sucked into somewhere else all of the sudden.

Aiden opened his eyes to see himself on a hospital bed, his family surrounded him, they all cried like as if he was dying 'N-no... I can't... I can't leave, not yet. I have to see them grow, I can't do the same thing that my dad did, I can't die.' He felt a growing desire in his heart, the desire to be with his family, a desire to not abandon them 'The fire's back, it's back like before... I can't lose them....' He felt a panic start coming into his body.

"Then don't" it was Aidens voice "You promised, you promised yourself, you promised me." Aiden turned to see his younger self "you promised your kids the day they were born, you promised Twilight, you promised to never leave them alone."

"How do I prevent that?" Aiden asked himself.

"It's simple, let me back into your life."

"You're younger Aiden, I can't reverse time." Aiden told himself.

"I'm not young you... I'm The Protector" The Protector told Aiden.

"How do I become you again?"

"you'll accept me into your life once more. I am still you, it's just that I'm locked behind a door and you're the one with the key." The Protector told him.

Aiden nodded "I want to let you out, how do I do that?"

The Protector pointed towards a brown wooden door "It's simple, just walk through that door and come back from death."

Aiden cocked his head "Death? Have I already died?" He asked.

The Protector shook his head "Not yet, you will if you stay here. You were poisoned by something bought from the black market overseas, the only cure is a potion created using black magic, at least for a pony. What ponies don't know about the human body is that we can overcome this poison quite easily, it's capable of knocking us out and that's how we die, our body isn't as active when we're out and the poison will stop your heart, you have to keep moving and keep your blood flowing. When you were running home and fighting that stallion you felt odd but not necessarily bad. If you keep moving for at least four to eight hours then you'll be fine. You sitting in a hospital bed will kill you, you getting out of that hospital bed will save you. Now, you need to get up and tell your family about the cure and you becoming The Protector again. Take these four to eight hours to exercise and regain some skill." The Protector looked at the door "Now, I must warn you of the rage and dedication you're gonna feel enter your body once you open the door, that's me coming back into your life again. Now go, your heart's slowing down."

Aiden nodded and rushed towards the door, he looked back at The Protector once a question raised "How do you know this?" He asked him.

The Protector smiled "Your mind really is rusty, you've been through this situation before just minus the family and the whole protectors return stuff. Think back to when you and Shining fought all of those wolves with the hostages, you were poisoned with the same thing and Shining told you how to cure it. Seriously, go." He instructed Aiden.

Aiden opened the door and instantly felt all of his old blocked memories come flooding back into his mind, he felt the anger, the desire, the fire, the love, the everything he had before, even his forgotten fighting moves came back. His heart sped up from all of these emotions, his brain sped up its processing power. Aiden felt whole again, he definitely felt the fire now. The Protector was back.

Aiden shot awake and instantly jumped out of the hospital bed, this caused the IV's to rip out of him, he quickly covered the wounds and clotted them up "Holy shit, I haven't felt this amazing in years!" He saw his wife staring at him in awe and confusion.

Twilight wiped a tear from her eye "Y-you're awake!" She got up and hugged him tightly "They said you were dying!" She nuzzled her head into his shoulder.

Aiden hugged her close "About that, I've gotta keep my heart pumping for about eight hours!" He felt like his old self once more, he felt great.

Twilight looked at him puzzled "Huh? How do you know this and why are you acting so healthy?" She asked him.

Aiden took a deep breath "Well, that's complicated and I'll tell you later. Why I'm acting so healthy is because the fire's back Twi, The Protector is back, shit I even remember all of the memories from my youth!"

Twilight stared at him "Back? No way... You and Celestia had those sessions where she treated your mind. Don't you remember her giving you PTSD so you could avoid this?" She reminded him.

Aiden let go of her "Look, we can talk later but I need to get going. I don't know when I'll see you again but just call me if you're worried or something, tell the kids daddy's not dying and that he loves them." He rushed out of the door with his clothes that were on a chair, they still had blood stains on them. Aiden heard Twilight call out after him but he knew it was best if he just got to moving.

A few doctors tried to stop Aiden but he easily overpowered them, he felt so much stronger, he felt like an unstoppable force 'Man, this is a badass fire!' He thought to himself as he exited the hospital and into the night. Aiden changed out into his old clothes before running off towards the forest, he knew in order to be his old self then he needed to go back to his original roots.

The Protector was back, for good.