Rise like the Phoenix

Chapter 14

A/N Alright so I'm gonna introduce the final character NativeAvenger let me use and I hope I get him down as much as the other three. Anyway thanks for the support because I'm finally getting more reviews and I hope you guys like it. Also life caught up to me and I will be releasing chapter REALLY slow.

Demodius had made it back to his room after his talk with the Puritania and saw Torque was back. He was reading and he guessed he wasn't worried about where he was and he reappeared.

Torque didn't jump like normal because he had gotten used to Demodius doing that and he asked "Where you been?"

"Valo came and told me she knew I was here" he said almost casually.

Torque looked at him and said "Wait, Valo knows you're here… well actually that's not surprising" he re-thought who he was talking about and then asked "So what'd she have to say?"

Demodius went over everything that had happened, even the part where he met Van out in the forest. When he was done Torque said "Ok so now that you got Puritania in your corner or at least mostly in your corner you can come out"

Demodius shook his head "No she has to prepare first and I need to visit Valo everyday to get a check up to cure my bad side" he felt a chill go up his back as he said that almost like a warning.

Torque didn't notice and said "Well it's actually getting late so we can talk at the crow's nest" he said and walked out of the room.

Demodius walked over to the nightstand beside his bed and opened the drawer. He reached in past the books and grabbed the picture he drew. Every time he looked at it he felt his heart fly but he wondered if she would accept him now that she knew who he was. He even thought he wasn't good enough for her, she was so pure and innocent and he was a murderer with no remorse. The pairing would be odd to say the least if she even said yes to him, but for him it seemed like a far fetch dream now.

He put it away grabbing the book he was currently reading and fazed through the wall and made his way to the crow's nest to wait for Torque.

The night was un-eventful like always and soon Torque went to sleep… like always. He woke him when it was time for Burn to take their place and he took off back to the room and went to bed feeling a little bit tired from the night.

He expected an eventful sleep but surprisingly his dark side stayed quiet and he woke up a few hours later. He stretched and popped his bones in to place and saw his friend fast asleep. He was about to look at the picture again but heard a knock.

He heard a familiar voice say "Hey bro you awake, I need to talk" it was Awan and she sounded depressed. He remembered it was Sunday, one of her days off so that was why she wasn't already downstairs and walked over to Torque and shook him awake.

"Huh? What? Hey why'd you wake me, Stream was about to finally let me…" he was cut off by Demodius who said "Awan is out there and sound depressed and she needs you to talk to her"

Torque said "Oh, ya ok" he said getting up seeing how much Demodius wanted him to do this and walked to the door. He opened it to see his sister who was actually half turned having thought he was asleep and was going to leave.

Torque said "Sorry you know that I have to sleep, but what you need?"

Awan smiled and fully faced him again "Can we talk inside, I kinda want some privacy?"

Torque nodded and let her in hoping Demodius had heard and luckily he did and was now invisible but didn't leave, he kinda wanted to learn what was wrong.

Torque laid in bed still exhausted and Awan took a seat next to the bed and said "Thanks Torque, I always know you're willing to help me out"

He waved his paw at her like it was nothing "Don't worry about it, you and me are the only immediate family we have so we got to watch out for each other"

She smiled then looked down debating whether to tell him what she wanted to say and finally said "You know how Demodius left a while back?" Torque nodded "Well ever since he left I've felt… empty. I think I miss him" she was actually sure but didn't want her brother to start yelling stuff like "YOU LIKE HIM!"

Torque said soothingly "Ya I noticed. I should know I've lived with you all my life but seriously, I can tell, you've not been yourself. You aren't as filled with energy like normal"

Awan nodded embarrassed that it was that obvious and said "So what do you think?"

Torque thought for a moment "Well obviously you miss him like you said, and to be totally honest I miss him too. I came to like him, as a friend of course, plus he still owes me rent" he chuckled getting a light chuckle from his sister too. "Besides I feel he'll be back any day now" he tried to cheer her up with the hint.

She smiled and said "I doubt it but it would be nice to see him one more time. Thanks for the talk"

Torque smiled and they hugged. Awan left with a small smile on her face and Demodius reappeared. "I told you she wants you back!" he said to his dark friend.

Demodius rolled his eyes but knew he was right, for once, and said "So how do you think I should at least show her I'm still around?"

Torque said "Well that one's pretty obvious, just show her"

Demodius growled "No stupid, without showing everyone else?"

Torque thought "Well maybe I could get Stream to lead her somewhere away from the town and then you could 'show up" he said.

Demodius liked the idea and said "Ok, you go ask Steam I got to go to Valo's shop to do my first session of slaying my dark side"

Torque said "Alright we got a plan, let's do it!" and he walked out of the room.

Demodius thought about the picture and thought "That may be closer then I think"

In Valo's shop…

Demodius walked into the shop still invisible in case someone was already there. Luckily there was another dragon that looked like they were browsing through whatever they were looking for and he went to the back seeing Valo was nowhere to be seen.

Inside he saw a cauldron full of a strange but familiar liquid and a bad smell. There was a lot of stock if they ran out of something and he was about to keep going when he heard "Hello Demodius"

He jumped and looked to his right to see Valo with that motherly smile she had and he de-cloaked. He was going to ask how she knew he was there but knowing her powers, that wasn't hard to believe. "Hey Valo, I'm here like you asked" he said smiling only because her smile was so infectious.

"Yes thank you Demodius, now I can tell you have some questions so feel free to ask" she said seeing his questioning face.

Demodius looked at the cauldron and once again could swear he could tell what it was and Valo picked up his question before he spoke "That is my Pool of Vision. The smell unfortunately is how I make it. Unlike at the temple this is synthetic and makes a terrible smell, but works properly"

Demodius nodded then asked "Ok so I have to ask, how do you think you can cure me?" He didn't quite trust all this and last time he used something that involved heavy alchemy on himself it make him what he was now but he wanted this crap out of his life forever as soon as possible.

Valo said "I understand your worry and for now I just want to learn how strong your corruption is so I can order the right ingredients"

Demodius was ok with this and said "Alright go ahead"

She took some dust and blew it into his face making him cough. She looked at his chest carefully and he asked "What are you doing?"

She chuckled and said "Sorry sometimes I forget. This dust allows me to see inside of you and see your soul. From what I can see your soul is fighting but can't break the corruption from itself. I'm guessing you've had this for a long time?"

Demodius frowned "Ya… years"

She frowned and said "I'm sorry for you; well this is strong so it may take a while to get what I need to start at least curing it. You may leave I know you have a lot to do today" she smiled knowing what was about to happen and Demodius made a weak smile and she said "Good luck!' as he left.

He went back to Torques room and he explained the plan "Ok, Stream will get Awan to come with her to the lake where they'll find you" he said getting all excited over what was going to happen.

Demodius asked "Wait what should I do?"

Torque shrugged and said "I don't know you got half an hour to think though now move it!" he said and pushed him.

Demodius was too far in thought to get angry at him pushing him and turned invisible again and headed for the lake.

While he waited ideas shot through his head like lightning and thought "Ok should I just come straight out and say 'Hey I'm back'! No that's terrible how about I stay at the shore line facing away and pretend they just stumbled on me… no too obvious. ARG why is this so hard!?"

He was deep in thought when he heard a loud yelp from the forest. He knew it could only be from Awan and Stream because nobody was usually out here this far away from the town and he dashed into the forest without thinking.

He kept running until he heard a voice say "Alright girlies, hand over everything you have and don't skip on that weird necklace" Demodius peaked through the bushes and saw five dog pirates surrounding Stream and Awan, they were quivering in fear and Demodius felt something in his chest that made him want to jump out and kill the five, but if he did they may use Stream and Awan against him. He started to think but saw one of the pirates rip the necklace he had given Awan from her neck and he burned with rage.

He was pissed off and once again nearly gave into his rage but looked down and saw a rock as a plan started to form. It wasn't elegant but it would get the job done. He picked up the rock and threw it over all of them and it landed in a bush on the opposite side.

They all turned to the noise and the leader said "Who's there, show yourself?!" The dark dragon saw his chance and grabbed the nearest pirate and dragged him into the bushes covering his mouth to not make any noise. He bit down on his neck injecting a large amount of venom into him then let him run back to his friends but the fast acting poison made him drop and he crawled into the small clearing.

They all turned to hear his moans of pain and he started to scream seeing all his nightmares come all at once in his head and his body slowly shut down. Demodius took the distraction to move to the other side of the clearing and saw the closest of the pirates had Awans necklace and he jumped out and slit his throat and stole the necklace back in a flash before any of the others could turn to see another of their friends falling to the ground gasping for breath.

The leader said "I said show yourself coward!"

Demodius responded by spitting a large glob of poison on another of the pirates and he screamed feeling the liquid eat away at his head and body. Soon most of his head had been eaten away and he fell silently still with a loud sizzling sound of the acid still doing its job.

The smallest of the pirates was shaking in his boots about to lose his nerve and said "We have to get out of here!" and ran out of the clearing.

The leader yelled "You fool, don't run you'll…!" he was cut off hearing a loud slicing noise right after a scream.

There was a long pause until they heard a grunt and something flew from the forest and it landed in front of the leader. It was to all three of the living people in the clearing terror the pirate's head that had run off. The leader gasped starting to show his fear and said "What kind of demon does something like that?" he started waving his pistol in all direction then suddenly felt claws grab his shoulder.

To the girls they could only see the pirate and the claws on his shoulder and the pirate heard a deep voice whisper "Your worst nightmare"

Suddenly they heard the pirate gasp and yelp in pain and he arched his back a bit. They heard a crunch sounding like bones shattering and he jerked and then they saw something poke from his clothes and a rip and suddenly metal spewed from his chest covered in blood and shooting droplets all in front of him and the blade looked very familiar.

It pulled out swiftly and the pirate stood for a few seconds until he fell to his side revealing Demodius standing casually behind him flicking his tail trying to remove the blood from his tail.

Ok there's the new chapter and I'm sorry it took so long. I can't use the computer because I'm grounded for reasons I won't say but I have to write in the hour my parents aren't home before they come home. If I even continue writing I'll be slow but that's why they'll be very slow. As for the story I decided that if I may not be posting for a while I may get the story going so here it is his reveal to Awan. Not what you would call a perfectly romantic rescue but what can you do? See ya next time.

Admiralkirk