Chapter 26: Amethyst Phoenix

By: Galadeidre

All eyes gaped widely at Ruby Phoenix as the truth of what he had just said sunk in.

"You have got to be kidding me," Cyclops muttered as Bobby gave a low whistle.

Liz pushed her way past Wolverine and in front of Ruby, her arm pointing out towards the battlefield. "A couple?!" she hissed. "You're married to her?"

Ruby gave an uneasy sigh as he gently touched Liz's arm to calm her and shook his head. "Well…in the terms of the inhabitants of Earth, we're not married. We were…together…for a lack of better words. We could never be anything more than that…"

"Please," Beast spoke curiously. "If you could explain?"

"Yeah, please," Wolverine muttered dryly, folding his arms in irritation. "How does a phoenix like you, ever end up liking a phoenix like her? One too many fireballs to the head?" They all ducked as a stray fireball landed several yards from where they were gathered. They looked out as Sabertooth roared and lunged at Silver, smoke rising from his singed clothing. "And make it quick. We're like live bait at a shish kabob here."

Ruby sighed and nodded. "Please…you must understand. Silver…she wasn't always like this. She…she was kind, and loving, and filled with laughter…"

"Really hard to believe, Ruby," Liz interrupted, annoyed. "Really hard."

"I know what it looks like, and I understand. If…if only you had met her before…" Ruby shook his head as he recollected himself. "Silver was of a higher rank of phoenixes. Part of the royal flock. I was the son of the Head Guard, assigned to protect their line. On our home planet, it was forbidden for those of the royal line to mingle within the flocks of lower ranking. But…Silver and I grew up together. We were close friends long before that rule was enforced upon us. And even after we were both told that we were not to be seen conversing in such a relaxed manner, well, both Silver and I were never good with following the strict rules of our home…

"If only we had, perhaps things would have been different. But nevertheless, I eventually completed my training as part of the Guard; my main charge was none other than Silver herself…which made things even more complicated. I suppose…in the less descriptive term of what happened was, one thing led to another and Silver soon was found pregnant with our child."

"You and Silver had a baby?" Ana asked in surprise. They ducked again as the metal walkway above them rattled on impact of another fireball.

Ruby patted Ana on the head and closed his eyes, his voice cracking as he continued to speak. "She was carrying our child, yes…but it was forbidden. The royals wanted to keep their bloodline pure; any royal was only allowed to mate with another royal or a phoenix of equal status. No exceptions. And I was not of a high-enough status to count as suitable for Silver.

"Word spread quickly enough that Silver was carrying a forbidden phoenix child. We were all punished. I was sent to solitary confinement underground for the rest of my years, with no hope of ever seeing the outside light ever again. I would be left to rot and be absorbed within the core of our planet after a few centuries time. Silver was to be disowned from her family for her treachery, but since she was the sole child of her family lineage, she was pardoned but immediately given an arranged marriage with a phoenix from a nearby flock."

"So she's bitter that she had to marry some other bimbo that wasn't you?" Wolverine chimed in. "Doesn't give her a reason to destroy our planet."

"Of course it doesn't, and that isn't the reason," Ruby answered, his tone suddenly bitter. "The punishment for her of an arranged marriage…my eternal confinement...that wasn't a punishment. That we could have handled. It was what they did to our daughter that was a sure guarantee of driving her over the edge of sanity.

"Our daughter…we had planned to name her Amethyst. I can still imagine how lovely of a phoenix she would have been." Ruby leaned his head on the wall, hot tears falling down his cheeks. He opened his eyes and looked up to the ceiling as he audibly inhaled and exhaled. "If our child had been male, there may have been some hope for him. They would have probably given him to a wanting family and trained as part of the Guard, forever unbeknownst to him that he was actually part-Royal." He looked down, eyes open and unfocused, the tears starting to run continuously as he spoke. "But she was female, and considered useless to her half-royal lineage. The order was sent to have her…executed…the moment she was born. She was left to die in the Tundra – a sector of our planet that was a forever frozen wasteland of nothing but blizzards and endless dark mountains and snow-covered ground. And of course, being birds of continual fire, this is considered the severest punishment – and Silver was forced to watch our Amethyst freeze to death. To give birth to our child, have her stripped from your arms the minute she breathed her first breath, and then thrown into the blizzard, watching as her new baby flame turned from its vibrant live orange to a soft blue…to nothing but a wisp of smoke from a bundle no bigger than a pile of charcoal. Listening to her own flesh and blood screaming in agony from the cold and the pain, crying out for her mother or her father or for anyone, to hearing nothing but the sickening howl of the blizzard wind. That is what sent her over the edge."

Ruby stopped and looked down, his shoulders shaking uncontrollably as he tried not to sob out loud. His detailed story had stunned the mutants to complete silence, all sick to their stomachs as they tried not to replay the gruesome story within their imaginations. Ruby continued, his head in his hands, his voice muffled.

"After they confirmed the death of our daughter, they brought Silver home. They may as well have left her there at the edge of the Tundra, because I could truly believe that her soul died alongside our daughter. From that moment on, Silver was as silent as death itself. She locked herself up in her quarters for several weeks; and when she finally reemerged…well, my Silver never really did. The phoenix that came out of her room is the phoenix that you all know today – set for violence and bitterness. Silver began to train with the Guard and was completely ruthless. She was lost and gone, separated from anyone and everyone. Not caring. Not living.

"My father came to my confinement every day to give me news of Silver, worried that no one could do anything to bring her back to her old self. I begged him as well as the royals if they would let me speak to Silver, but of course, that was clearly not an option. So my father would just give me what little news he had of her.

"I suppose it was worse for her, what with her being forced to live her normal day-to-day life, as if a forbidden phoenix child had never been born from her. Being forced to pretend that she was happy. From what I heard, her arranged marriage was short-lived. Her husband could never coax a word from her and must have eventually given up. But I'm sure, Silver was screaming within herself. I was. Deep in the underground dungeons where not a single soul could hear me, that's where I released my anger. I had lost my daughter, and I was sure I had lost Silver. I felt so useless, and continuously beat myself up for these unfortunate events.

"Everything continued to worsen. Particularly for our home planet. Tremors began to be felt throughout the lands; the core of our planet was steadily collapsing, resulting in the balance of temperatures shifting and cooling our planet at a rapid rate, making our home turn into an eternal Tundra. The cold was infecting all of the phoenixes, making them sick, leaving them to die with no hope for a cure. Those who hadn't been infected were in a state of panic and trying to leave our home as soon as they could.

"My father came down after several weeks of absence from his visitations with me. He had the keys to the dungeons and unlocked my cage. The minute I saw him, I knew he didn't have much time left to live. His flame had turned a dull, sickly blue-green; he was in the last stages of the infection. I had been lucky enough to be one of the few that hadn't caught the infection yet. I asked him if he had seen Silver, if she was all right. My father didn't know where she was, or if she was even alive. It had been absolute chaos on the planet, with all of the phoenixes vying for the last of the pods that could carry them far away from our home before they, too, succumbed to the infection.

"We ran to the surface, where the tremors were much more intense. The minute we inhaled fresh air, my father collapsed and gave out his last breath. Before he passed, he urged me to get to the private hangars of the royals, since he had keys to access it, being the Head Guard. There were bound to be a few pods left that none of the other lower-class phoenixes had knowledge of.

"And so I ran, trying to make sure none of the infected were following me. I didn't know if the infection was contagious. I made it to the hangar and found one of the last useable pods, and flew out as quickly as I could, with no set course. As I left our planet's atmosphere, I turned to give it one last look, watching as my own home collapsed and turned uninhabitable, destroying those left on its surface by turning into a frozen graveyard.

"And so I traveled for several decades, not knowing where to go. Just searching for any signs of life or for any other fellow phoenixes that may have made it out alive. I eventually reached this solar system and spotted Earth. I left the pod and began to fly towards your planet, in hopes that I could start a new life here. As I neared, I spotted another phoenix also heading towards Earth. It was as if destiny and irony were working side-by-side; there was no mistaking the other phoenix. I would never forget her, no matter how long we were apart. I called out to Silver and she turned.

"She looked a bit surprised to see me, and for a moment I thought she would fly up for an embrace, happy to be reunited once again. But the next moment, she gave me a grin that I had never seen her make. Full of mischievousness and malevolence. The stories my father had told me of Silver being completely lost within herself were confirmed. She turned back around and sped towards Earth's surface.

"No matter what happened, I knew I couldn't lose her again. I had to get her back. And so I followed. She immediately set her eyes on Cleo, and I in turn took Byron, in hopes of getting her back to the old Silver that I knew. And that's where our stories continue to the present day."

"But you haven't gotten her back. And I really don't think you're going to be able to," Cyclops commented. "There doesn't seem to be any of the old Silver left in her."

Ruby shook his head. "I have to try. I owe it to our daughter to set things right." He slowly stood up, Ana and Liz supporting him, and took a deep breath. He looked up as Silver knocked Sabertooth and Mystique to the side, accompanied with two fireballs. "Silver's the only one I have left. And it kills me to see her like this."

"Well, bub," Wolverine remarked, his claws slowly appearing as he pointed a finger at Ruby's face. "You had better make sure she's got a complete change of heart. Or you'll have more than just the death of your daughter on your conscience."

Ruby calmly glanced at Wolverine. "I understand. And if it comes to it that I can't convince her – which I hope it doesn't – I will personally be the one to stop her, at any cost. If our Amethyst was still here with us, I know she wouldn't have wanted to see her mother like this."

The other mutants watched as Ruby slowly began to levitate off the ground, his skin glowing and his hair burning brighter. Ruby turned to face them, his eyes solemn.

"You know," Wolverine started, "that that's sick, right? The fact that your own kind could kill off a newborn baby just because it didn't fit royal protocol?"

Ruby gave a half-hearted chuckle. "Why do you think we're in this predicament?" He turned as he heard Toad give a scream of pain and sighed uneasily.

"Good luck," Ana whispered, tugging on Ruby's pants leg. "I hope Silver becomes normal again. I'd like to see what she's really like."

Ruby flew back down and gently hugged the little mutant, kissing her head of curls and smiling before standing up once again and walking into view of his beloved phoenix.