The next morning Aurélie walked down stairs to see her father and Phoenix having a conversation over a cup of coffee. Her father had decided to stay the night.

"So your accent isn't actually a stereotypical French accent because you're older than France."

"Exactly. I was born 3000 years ago where I garnered lots of attention as ze wisest man in ze world."

"That is such an interesting title, do you still hold it?"

"No. I am now ze wisest man in ze universe."

"Oh. And how does this wiseness translate into battle?"

"I use ze many experiences zat I gained, from my time before, during, and after working for ze Devil as his soul collector, and formulate many strategies zat I use against my opponents."

"You must be great at chess."

"Never lost a fair game."

"Now that's an impressive feat," Arthur responded before turning to see Aurélie standing in the doorway. "Aurélie! How well did you sleep last night?"

"I slept wonderfully Papa. What were you two talking about?"

"Oh this and that. His past. My past. What's it like being on fire? Normal conversations." Her father gave a grin that made Aurélie laugh.

"Normal for us at least."

"He also told me about how well you girls are excelling at school. I was shocked at first to hear how all seven of you went toe to toe with one of your combat teachers."

"We lost that fight though."

"'Sometimes you win and sometimes you learn,'" David quoted as he entered the kitchen with two boxes of donuts. "Robert T. Kiyosaki," he added, stating the name of the person who said the quote. "Dunkin Donuts, you can find one in practically every American town," he chuckled as he placed the boxes down and opened them up. There was a wide selection of donuts in the box. "There are 8 of us here, so 3 for each of us. I didn't know what most people wanted so I got as many different kinds of donuts as I could."

"Did you get a plain donut?" Adamus asked as he entered the kitchen, Kusa laying across his shoulders in her lemur form.

"Yup. I got a single one. I had a feeling you'd give Kusa one."

Adamus nodded as he grabbed the plain donut from the box and broke off a piece, giving it to Kusa. The chimæra nibbled on it with a happy chitter.

Arthur looked at Kusa with an inquisitive gaze. "How have you been able to tame such an exotic creature?"

"Oh. Well Kusa is definitely exotic for Earth, but on Loric, where my powers originate from, her kind, the chimæra, are comparable to a house pet."

"You know Ad, you've never explained what a chimæra is," Aurélie remarked.

"They're shapeshifters. They can transform into most animals present in the universe."

"That's fascinating," Arthur remarked. "How do they do it?"

"I'm not too sure."

Suddenly a roar ripped through their conversation, putting everyone on alert. "Mr. Duax, stay here while we go check zat out," Phoenix remarked, transforming from his unassuming human form into his Ghost Rider form. He ran outside with David, Adamus, and Aurélie following him. In the distance they saw the red xenomorph rising over the buildings.

"That's bad."

"It's in pain," Marina remarked as she jumped out of her bedroom window and landed next to them.

"Are you sure?" David asked.

"Yes," Marina responded.

"How are you sure?" Aurélie asked.

"Zat's not important," Phoenix interrupted.

"Yes it is," Emily retorted as she and Tor arrived. "If we don't know why she's sure, then we can't be sure that it is in pain."

Marina looked at Adamus, distressed. She realized that she had slipped up and needed a way out of the corner she had backed herself into. Adamus didn't know how to help her, he just gave her a look that said, 'it might be time.'

Marina turned to the rest of the group, she looked like she was on the verge of breaking down. "P-please don't hate me," she pleaded as she shed her glamours, revealing her form as a xenomorph.

Everyone besides Phoenix, Adamus, and Aurélie froze in shock. Both Phoenix and Adamus had obviously known. Amelie had figured it out through some of the peculiarities of Marina and she had told Aurélie. Aurélie didn't want to tell anyone to protect her friend, but she realized now that she made a mistake by asking how Marina knew.

Marina backed away from the group and fled before anyone could say anything.

AN: Hello everyone. I have decided to change up my schedule to only updating twice a week. You can expect updates on two of the three days that my old update schedule.