Author's Note: This is an alternate universe! I started writing this with the knowledge of 1-40 episodes. Of course the show progressed rapidly and the storyline no longer works with the original show.
The Mission date was set for two weeks from now. Phoenix was quietly meditating in her room. Everything had to go right. She had to destroy the Arachne, the Keishan, and both Grim Reapers. What could she expect, what could she prepare for? There was a lot to think about. She was interrupted out of her thoughts by eight knocks on the door, exactly one second apart from each other
"What is it, Kid" Phoenix said highly irritated. She had become a lot bolder since the start of their partnership. It was hard to keep meek and shy around someone so infuriating.
"I thought we could train for a bit" DTK said while putting his pointer fingers together. By practice he really mean choreography, Phoenix knew that line my now. On the off chance that he really did want to practice, Phoenix would still refuse. His hands were still extremely burnt because he never gave them any time to heal.
"No, I'm busy" Phoenix said. It struck her that she was busy planning his death. Why did that sudden pang of guilt twist her stomach again? They were mortal enemies. He had only protected her from the Keishan and Black Star because he didn't know that. If he knew who she truly was, he would stop at nothing to end her life.
"Stop it, Phoenix, stop feeling guilty" Phoenix thought to herself. The feeling lingered. No! She could not be weak. This was it. This was the mission that would make her the Grand Witch. What was she doing, having doubts at this moment? Why couldn't she convince herself?
Suddenly Phoenix felt a breeze from the window. Did she leave it unlocked? She looked that way. One of the windows was open and DTK was standing in her room.
"Didn't I tell you to lock your window" DTK said. It was another of his obsessive tendencies. He liked everything closed and locked. The thought of a sudden gust of wind opening one window, but not its symmetric counterpart chilled him to the bone.
"I would have if I knew you would be breaking into my room" Phoenix said shocked. Phoenix tried to shove him back out the window. How did he climb up this high? Phoenix's room was in a very high tower in this mansion. Phoenix pushed forcefully but DTK didn't budge.
"Oh come on, we need to practice, not that we need it to bring down Arachne" DTK said. He seemed unmovable but then he realized something. He left the window open! The whole room was asymmetrical now. Oh my god, how long had it been that way. Suddenly DTK fell over.
"Something like this could ruin my life" DTK said into the polished floor "I'm garbage, trash, just throw me away with last night's leftovers"
Phoenix closed the window. She sighed. His perfection was getting on her nerves. She felt like stomping on his face while he laid there powerless.
"I knew it be someone like you, who would close the window" DTK said with his face still on the ground, "Symmetry begets symmetry".
He began to cry some more until his words became intelligible babble. It was then that a huge crash destroyed the outside wall. It was Black Star. He had caused one of the statues on the outside wall fall into her room. This guy never quits.
"Heh, with reflexes like that, you can't hope to defeat me!" Black Star said. He was standing on the concrete steps outside. He stared at the statue with a gleam in his eyes. It was still for a second until it began to crack.
"Huh" Black Star thought.
The statue blew away revealing a sphere. The sphere was composed of two perfect white feathered wings. It was the wings of the rising Phoenix. They parted to reveal Phoenix with the wings connected to her shoulder blades. Also inside the sphere was DTK. He had a look of astonishment on his face. Phoenix looked absolutely furious. Phoenix had gotten stronger, though her Soul-Protect blocked out seven eights of her power, a stronger soul still had its benefits. She was able to use her wings again without revealing her witch's frequency.
"Black Star" Phoenix said "You are going to pay for that dearly"
"You can't possibly hope to defeat someone like me" Black Star said. There was a flash, a white light past through him. Before he could realize anything he was already falling. He didn't even the chance to think, how was I defeated so quickly, before he went unconscious. DTK looked as Black Star fell to the ground. Then he stared up at Phoenix who was floating in place.
It was here that he realized something. That faint whisper of frequency, so that's why he couldn't hold her. Then a second feeling washed over. He liked her. It wasn't because she was perfectly symmetrical. Even her wings were so perfect. It was because she didn't hesitate for a second. When that crash happened she had instinctively protected him. She was willing to save him and yet so reluctant to receive help from him. Phoenix looked over at him. His eyes were filled with… admiration, and … could it be …? What had she gotten herself into? She descended on the ground below and her wings dissolved into the air.
Why did she save him? She convinced herself that it was because she needed him to lure the Grim Reaper into a trap. But at the time she wasn't thinking about that all. She was thinking about shielding him. Why she thought that, she didn't know. She didn't want to know. This was all a façade. This was nothing more than a mission. She had to convince herself of this
"Maybe you should call a repair crew" Phoenix shouted up at him. Good, this would keep him busy while she collected her thoughts. DTK looked around.
"Absolutely disgusting" DTK said, "Now this whole house is asymmetrical!"
Back to Back update, won't be updating over the weekend
Chapter 7: Side Mission: Wolf Man, an eye for an eye! No hesitation
DTK, the Thomson sisters and Phoenix were walking through the swamp. More correctly DTK was on his skate board, deadly afraid to get any slime on his clothes. He was also holding an umbrella just in case any dew from the trees above decided to fall on him. What a big baby he was!
Phoenix was assigned as back up but she knew that as soon as the Wolf Man showed up, she would devour him with flames. He was the reason that her mother was dying. He was lower than the dirt, and had only stolen the immortal eye under very specific circumstances. How could you steal something from an immortal? Only the underhanded slime of the earth could figure that one out.
He waited until she was weak. When she was in labor with the Phoenix, this was time to strike. The Grand Witch wouldn't have a problem protecting herself even after labor but, how could she protect her infant child? The Grand Witch had turned over her immortal eye in order to protect her child's life. The immortal eye was a very special object. It could never be stolen from the owner. It had to freely given. A secondary rule is that the Immortal eye never passes the same hand twice, meaning that the immortal eye couldn't save the Grand Witch from death now that she had passed it on.
So this was how it was going to work. Phoenix would apply amounts of torture that would make even Stein blush. Then as the Wolf man begged for death, he would free give the immortal eye to Phoenix. Then she would kill him. When the Wolf Man was in witch prison, they had treated him humanly hoping to acquire the immortal eye that way. That wasn't the way, this man needed to feel the pain. He needed to drown in it.
Liz stopped suddenly and Phoenix accidentally bumped into her. Phoenix was a little too deep in her thoughts.
"Hey watch it!" Liz yelled "Look where you're going, you klutz"
That was another thing. Liz was really angry with Phoenix all the time. Phoenix knew why, that was obvious. Even though she was a secondary weapon, at the moment DTK was practicing with her twice as much as both Liz and Patty. They were afraid of getting replaced. They weren't so angry at first, but that was because DTK hands burned when he touched Phoenix. Now that was different. Ever since that little incident with Black Star wreaking the side of their house, they had been working a lot better. The burning became an itch and finally it had ceased all together.
"Sorry Liz, I know, I'm such a Klutz" Phoenix said blushing slightly. She wasn't sorry about the bump. Nor was she sorry about being a meister hog. She was sorry that eventually she would have to kill DTK, and possibly her. But of course Liz didn't know all that.
Damn it, Phoenix was weak after all. Feeling all this guilt, remorse, and possible even fear, this was not the witch's way. But she couldn't fight it, every time DTK wielded her. On some level she knew that they could have been friends in another life. Damn it guilt, why wouldn't it go away!
"Just watch it next time. You're the newbie in the team, and you should respect your seniors" Liz continued. She was really mad. Patty looked at Liz in the background. Clearly she didn't share the same feelings, most of the time she was oblivious to any bad feelings.
DTK turned around. He sent a glare towards Liz. She became quiet at once. They started walking again in silence. Then they felt it, the faint wavelength of the Wolf Man. Phoenix felt her anger bubble, she would kill him. She would put him through pain unlike any other. This pain would drive him into madness, this pain would drive him to spill all his secrets, mess with his idea of reality, and make him question his perception. Then finally when he is on the brink of becoming another Keishan, he will gladly offer her the eye, in exchange for his death. She would gladly accept.
When she looked up, she saw him. The Wolf Man suddenly appeared before them. Phoenix smiled wickedly. She became the shadows. DTK looked around surprised. Phoenix had disappeared. Where was this skill when they were training? She was holding back.
DTK had figured out Phoenix was a witch for a while now. Even though being a traitor took away his sleep at night, he couldn't bring himself to hurt her. When he had sensed the faint witch's frequency during their fight with Black Star, he realized a lot of things. Though she was his mortal enemy, he could not hate her. He accepted the fact that she was witch without any resistance and because of this they were able to work together. The burning disappeared almost instantly. Though DTK had thought of a million ways to say "By the way, I know you're a witch" to phoenix, it never seemed right to bring it up. He didn't know why she was there, what she was up to. For all he knew, she was sent to kill him. If that was the case, his life would end right after he confronted her, because he knew in his heart, he could not destroy the symmetry that was her.
Phoenix became a light streak that charged at Wolf in all directions at once. She would burn him to a crisp, when he regenerated, she would do it again.
"Gaahhh" Screamed the wolf man "That hurts" Did he take pleasure in stating the obvious? What a fool. Surely the world would be better without such scum living in it.
DTK prepared his death cannon while Phoenix continued to bring on the pain.
"Noise level, 5.3%" said Patty. That was a bit on the high end. Something was off.
"Fire" DTK said, though he couldn't shake the feeling that their solid bond had been somewhat shaken. Liz was mad at him, and at Phoenix.
The Death Cannon fired out shots at the Wolf Man. There was huge explosion and a cloud of smoke covered the area. When the smoke finally cleared, DTK saw something that made his jaw drop. Standing in front of the Wolf Man was Phoenix. She was in a defending position, with her arms out to the side. She had taken the hit
"This is my fight, Kid" Phoenix said darkly "I don't need your help". She looked furious. The Wolf Man standing behind her looked amused despite the fact that he could barely stand. DTK melted into the ground. He was trash, he had damaged the perfect aesthetic beauty that was her. He was the most vile and despicable creature that crawled on the earth. He was like that ugly fish with two eyes on one side of its face and none on the other, the fish that dragged its belly on the ocean floor.
"Arrogant b*!%h" Wolf said "You dare to show you're back to me!" He made a swipe at her. Phoenix disappeared again as if the Death Cannon didn't faze her. In truth she had taken some internal damage from that. It could have been worse if she wasn't in sync with DTK soul wavelength. The fact that she was protected her from part of the damage. She coughed up a little red discharge. That sucked. But it was better than accepting their help. This was her fight.