you never wanted to be the phoenix that RISES
from the ashes because to be reborn, the phoenix
first has to BURN.
A breathy sigh escaped the goddess, eyes shut to the world, the timeline's she'd foregone. The place she'd never visit again. She'd swore it after the umpteenth time her datemate had died. But the only thing keeping her there was his last words. "Bright, love. Promise me something. When I'm gone, promise you'll be happy, no matter how many different me's you meet. Promise." And she had. But she didn't know how to be happy anymore. She didn't. Every time she lost him, it hurt, worse and worse.
But not anymore. She didn't meet him, she didn't suffer. That's how it worked,, right? But even that didn't work. No matter what path the worlds took, it was always the same, without her to bring him to the point he had always been useful. Suffering, anguish, which hurt her in turn. Being time was hard, and often unsatisfying. And with her detachment, it was made worse, She'd never been good with dealing with loss. Made worse with her immortality. Doomed to watch them die over and over again.
A pained whine escaped her as she flipped over, pain coursing through her body as tears streaked down her cheeks. An anguished sigh fleeing her body as she rolled to her feet in the void space that was her eternal home outside her binds. Still though, her eyes didn't open. She patiently rolled her shoulders before tucking her long hair behind her ears. Time couldn't stand to sit by idly anymore. She'd wallowed for a million timelines, and yet, nothing more than a few hours in a timeless place, but far past enough time for her.
Bright was back, and the vastness that she covered, it knew. Every last being knew.