The character profiles for Zahra and Daryn have been uploaded, and the ficlet-page has been updated with an AU ficlet by Maxwell Dark, centered around Hal and Zach. The addy is sorciere.freeservers.com / journey / index.html
A/N 1: Ideas for fic and character development, questions, plotbunnies, suggestions, flames, character pictures, ficlets, corrections, additions, comments, and everything in between can be mailed to hack_heaven@usa.net.
A/N 2: VivaGlam: I had a talk with Vamp - he agreed to stop thinking of you as 'amusing, squeaky food', if you agreed to let him get his hands on Tora for just an hour or so. Between the two of us, I *do* advise you to accept the deal...O.o
Italics indicates thoughts/telepathy
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Twelfth Interlude: Beneath the Mask
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The desert around them was slowly cooling down as the searing sun disappeared below the horizon, and in the second of the two vans, Hal was more than a bit thankful that the wide plains no longer reflected the sun. She was driving the van, following Ryan who drove ahead, and in the seat beside her, Pheonix was watching the desert area with an unnerving, emotionless look.
The two front seats were separated from the rest of the seats by a dark glass screen, and that was part of the reason why Hal had chosen this van rather than the other. Ever since Jhonen's revelation, Pheonix had slowly, but steadily sunk into herself, barely reacting to the world outside her own mind. Someone needed to pull her out of the almost trance-like state, and at this moment, Hal was probably the best person for the job.
She hadn't needed to explain it to Ryan - whether it was his telepathy or simple common sense, she didn't know, but he had realized just as fast as she had, that Pheonix needed to be around someone she knew and trusted. No words had been exchanged, merely an understanding look, and the group had split up in two, leaving the internment camp as quickly as they could. They had avoided the main entrance and instead escaped through a wide hole that Zach had been more than willing to blast through the large wall that surrounded the area. With a little luck, they would be safe for the time being - time to relax, to re-charge...and to take care of their teammates.
Hal looked briefly at Pheonix, mentally debating the options before opting for the most direct one.
"Pheonix?" she asked, but the girl didn't reply. Instead, she merely curled up on the seat and stared at the desert that surrounded them.
"Pheonix..." Hal tried again, hoping to get through to the girl. Her silence was starting to get more than a bit unnerving, and Hal couldn't help but worry about her younger teammate. Despite the faults she'd had, Laetitia had been almost like a sister to Pheonix, and there was no telling how Pheonix would react to this sudden loss.
"She wasn't heartless," Pheonix finally said, still looking out the window.
Hal sent her a questioning look, waiting for the girl to elaborate.
"She wasn't heartless," Pheonix repeated quietly after a long moment of silence. "She cared about me."
Yes, Hal thought, turning her attention to the road again. She did. And she isn't the only one, Pheonix.
"We do, too," she said quietly.
"But she understood me," Pheonix half-snapped, turning her head to look at Hal. This sudden bout of anger was the first emotion besides grief that Pheonix had shown, and somehow it comforted Hal. "You don't - none of you do."
Hal waited for a moment before replying, letting Pheonix calm down a bit.
"We might if you gave us a chance," she replied. "You're our friend and teammate, Pheonix - we *do* care about you."
Pheonix snorted and looked away again. "You don't know what it feels like to lose the only person who ever gave a damn about you!" she said angrily, glaring at the desert ground that flew by beneath them.
The comment made Hal turn her attention from the road just long enough to send Pheonix an almost angry look. "Don't you think we know what it feels like to lose someone you care about?" she asked, her voice matching the hard look in her eyes. "Just because we rarely talk about our pasts, doesn't mean we've never experienced loss."
Pheonix fell silent and Hal continued, a bit quieter this time. "I had a family once, someone who cared about me. Then my powers manifested and I saved my sister's life...and they drove me out at gunpoint. Don't you think that hurt?"
Pheonix didn't reply, but kept staring at the road with an impassive look. Hal wasn't sure if she'd even heard the words, but she continued nonetheless. She couldn't force Pheonix to listen, but if she continued for long enough, she just might be able to pull the young girl out of her self-pity.
"Aaron lost his big brother while they lived on the streets," Hal explained softly, remembering the late-night conversations with the boy. "Zach had to leave his family when he was fourteen. Don't you think they hurt, too?"
This time there was a faint reaction from Pheonix - she looked down briefly, and that one gesture was all the encouragement Hal needed. "We've all had a fucked up childhood, Pheonix, and we all know just how much life can hurt. Don't think you're the only one who has ever lost someone."
Pheonix hesitated, then looked slowly, almost uncertainly at Hal. For a moment the hard look in her eyes were gone, replaced by the softer look that suited someone her age; grief, pain, and confusion mixing in their dark depths.
"What did you do?" she asked, and hesitated for a moment. "When..." she trailed off, but the meaning wasn't lost on Hal.
The albino shrugged, and felt a brief, dull pain at the memories that suddenly returned.
"I moved on," she replied. "It hurt like hell, but I got over it."
"Moving on means forgetting," Pheonix pointed out with a frown. "I don't want that."
"You'll have to eventually," Hal replied, she herself not even sure if she referred to moving on or forgetting. Maybe both.
The two fell silent again, both thinking about what had been said between them. Silence, then-
"I'll miss her, too, you know," Hal confided quietly, and on some level she was surprised to find that she would indeed miss the Greek mercenary. Somehow, she hadn't expected that. "She was a good teammate."
Pheonix smiled faintly, and a bit of life slowly returned to her eyes.
"Thank you," she whispered.
Hal just shrugged uncomfortably, and the van fell silent once more.
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