Resurrection: Phoenix Ascending, chapter 29: Metamorphosis

A collaboration between OobluebubblesoO and Nitebreaker

Back in the Thinkers' hive, Maria continued to grow. She was still a child, still fumbling around in a world of grown-ups, even if these grown-ups were even more confusing that the ones she was used to. But, to a child, the entire world is new, and children learn quickly.

Plus, she had Bear.

One of her new moms, the one called "Theta," had brought him to her one evening, just as she was getting ready for bed. "This is Bear," she'd said, presenting Maria with a slightly-worn teddy bear. "He can teach you things, but you'll have to listen. He will come to you in your dreams." And he had. The very first night, she dreamed he'd come alive, really alive, not like a play-alive, but really really alive and she was sitting with him in a cool green glen by a small stream. And she asked him things, like, who were these new people she was meeting, where was she, and, to her, most important of all, where was her real mom?

Bear answered, though it seemed to take him some time to understand what she was asking. He told her that these new, odd looking people were from another world (she'd already figured that much out), a world called "Osira," that they were known there as "Thinkers," (the sound of which Maria initially found funny), that they now called themselves the Kindred, and that she was in something called a "hive" (that scared her at first, because she thought of bees, but Bear explained it better as a place to live that was protected and underground), and Bear didn't know about her mom. But the one called "Alpha" had said they would look for her as soon as they could, and he would keep his word. That was important to Maria, because she was a little person in a group of big(ger) people, so someone keeping his word was important.

What would they do when they found her? But Bear didn't know that. From the way Bear talked, he didn't know anything about the white powder, or why the two scary men had taken her away from her mom. Or why her mom would let them. But the scary men had no power here; she was beyond their reach. And then, during her (frequent) nightmares, usually the one in which the scary me had found her, Bear had been there, somehow, but not the same. Now he was gigantic, like Godzilla, only ten times more fearsome, and he chased off the scary men. And he did better than that.

He showed her that she was dreaming, and that, while dreaming, if she realized that she was in a dream state, she could become gigantic, too, and chase off the scary men even without his help. After that, the scary men no longer bothered her in her dreams, but she still sought to find her mother. Unfortunately, that wasn't quite so easy.

Once she learned dream mastery, she often went back to where she and her mom lived, and sometimes her mom would be there, sitting in the kitchen, crying like she had been that awful day. And Maria would try to console her, but usually with no success. And sometimes, her mom would turn into the two scary men, and then Bear would be there, telling her what she needed to do. It wasn't her mother, he explained to her, and it wasn't even the two scary men; rather, it was an image of them in her mind, the way she remembered them, that was causing her to fear. That was why her mother could never tell her what was wrong, and why Maria couldn't comfort her—because it wasn't really her, just something like a photograph or picture that moved. Like a rerun on television. And the two scary men were the same for the same reason. Even though she knew she no longer had to fear them, the last time she'd seen them, she'd been afraid of them, so now she remembered that fear every time she saw anything that looked like them. But things were different now; she wasn't a helpless child any longer, and she had new friends, new moms, and Alpha himself on her side. And she was growing, developing in ways she hadn't expected. In ways that, if the comments she overheard from Delta and Theta were any guide, nobody had fully anticipated.

And….if the two scary men DID find her….and here, in her sleep, clutching Bear, Maria smiled a smile that her mother would probably have found downright disturbing.

Maybe SHE'D find THEM.

To be continued….