Hi guys, the great and powerful Crimson here!

Anyway, I don't really got anything to say. I know that I said that I'd have a day where I update, but I'm just gonna update when I want to update. Fuck it already, laws are meant to be broken, am I right?

Oh, also, I hope you're ready for this chapter, you guys; a lot goes down.

Well, nothing else to really say, so...

ONWARDS!

Erin rushed over as fast as she could, jumping from rooftop to rooftop. She had left Ciel on such an odd note, most likely leaving him with more questions than answers.

Then again, she did lean leap of faith herself right out of his window.

She came to a stop on a rooftop over next to the stronghold, before climbing up the tall stone building. Reached the top, crouching on the tip of the roof, before looking it all over, eyes wide with shock.

The very safe haven last night had turned into a war zone, an unfair fight between buff battle ready men and boys who had just begun training.

Where ever she focused, there was either blood on the cold gravel-like ground, a body, or a body part.

Erin growled lightly, pulling her cane out, before screaming out in rage, jumping down. She pulled the blade out, before landing on two men, sinking her blade into one of them, before pulling it out to slice open the others neck.

She growled, eyes filled with fiery rage, before fighting her way over to Kian, who looked just as surprised yet stone cold expression, "What happened!?"

Kian shrugged, somehow keeping cool, while firing his gun, a knife held tightly in his left, "I don't know! We were training, like you told us to, and then these guys came in!"

"We're being pushed back!" Max yelled, sniping from behind the main line, only to curse every two seconds, "What do we do?"

"I want reinforcements now," Erin shouted, snap kicking someone in the face, "Till then, we keep this line! Understood!?"

Many different agreements sounded, before Erin nodded, "Kian, where is John, Tyler and Theo?"

"Going to get help." Kian said back, keeping calm somehow, before giving her a look, "Any other orders?"

Erin frowned, before looking out. She didn't like it, watching her gang, her family, fall because of something that she had done, and so, she'd do what she could.

She'd kill them.

She growled, "Let no one past us, let no one in." Erin murmured, cracking her neck, before charging back in. Adrenaline fueled her rage, not caring to contain the fire in her eyes. She stabbed one guy, backing up, before going a spinning around, ripping his stomach open. The blood sprayed all over her casual clothing, but at that point, she didn't care much.

No one hurt her family without being punished.

Her head whipped up at the cry of pain, watching as a boy fell back, shot in the leg. Erin growled, before jumping up on the fallen body, pile driving her cane into his head. He screamed out, "God, no, please!"

"God can't hear you." Erin growled, before blasting a cap into his head.

She pushed the body down, before looking over the kid, eyes going wide as she helped him up, "My God, Willy, you okay?"

He didn't respond, eyes wide, while Erin helped him up, "You…You killed him…"

Erin cracked a grin, before nodding, "Well, I had to choose between the two of you, and I wasn't going to let you die now, was I?"

William's eyes didn't stop widening, before Erin pushed the doors opened, "Cover me!" She shouted, before helping him onto the couch, "Alright, I'll take care of this…" She murmured, walking over to the first aid kit.

It was silent, besides the sounds of death and guns outside, as she tried to work quickly. She didn't want to see her friends dead, but she also knew that she had to take care of this first.

She grabbed what she needed, heading back over to him with a calm smile, roll up your pants leg, I need to-."

Before she could go on, William grabbed her hands, looking them over as if they had the cure to cancer. Then, as if possessed, he looked up at Erin, eyes wide.

"You've got a lot of blood on your hands."

Erin flinched, before pulling her hands away, Not now, Willy, I need to clean your leg-."

"You're a murderer."

Erin flinched, hands clenched, teeth grinding, "William…Let me help you…I've got to get back out there."

When William was silent, she went to work, looking his leg over, before letting out a sigh of relief, "The bullet didn't go to deep in…hold still...And I've got it!" She said, pulling the bullet out of his bleeding leg, blood splattering all over, "Whoops, sorry."

William looked to scared to even scream, before giving her a look, "Do they bother you?"

Erin gave him a look, pulling tightly on the bandages to make sure he wouldn't bleed to death, "What are you talking about?"

"The spirits." William said, a mix of calm yet scared on his face, as if this was normal, and yet, he didn't like it, like homework, "Do you notice them?"

Erin was sure that he was going crazy at this point, "What on earth are you talking about?"

"They're right behind you."

Erin did what she could to ignore the shivers running down her spine, "No one's behind me." She said, more to herself than Willy at this point.

"But he is. He's shaking his head, he's angry with you."

Erin sighed, getting really uncomfortable, "Who are you talking about?"

"The man you just killed. He's behind you."

Erin couldn't help but feel chills crawling up her spine, "What do you mean?"

"I can see them, Erin." William murmured, "They're following you. They are unpleased with you-."

"Not now." Erin cut off, not wanting to hear more, "I need to get back out there. You…have fun with your delusions."

But, right as she ran out, she heard him say one last thing.

"I see her too. She says to stop blaming yourself, stop pretending to be something you're not. She wants you to be free, and move on."

Erin stood still, eyes widening, before turning around, giving him a pointed look, "…You can see her?"

William nodded, looking said spirit behind her, "Yes, I do."

Erin shook her head, not wanting to believe it, before sighing, "…We will talk about this later on." She murmured, before pulling out her gun, "Stay here."

William didn't make any other attempt to speak, only nodding, before looking around him, whispering to himself.

Erin, now more than a little psyched, ran back out, guns blazing.

The unused street was now running red with blood of both boys and men. Erin growled, looking to Mathew, who had been fighting with two pistols, a long red line of blood across his forehead, "We need a plan to push them back!"

Mathew sighed, "There's nothing else we can do! We need to buy time, and we can't do that! We're falling apart!"

Erin sighed, weighing her options. She had two options, wait it out, fighting, or, she could…No, it was much too risky.

She growled lightly, firing, only to find herself out of bullets, "Fuck!" She growled, pushing the gun back into her belt, before drawing her cane, "I'll go melee."

"Melee?" She heard Juke shout, confused.

Jake and Jacob seemed to agree, "What the hell is melee?"

"Of yeah, right, you guys have yet to play super smash bros." She murmured, more to herself, before shouting, Cameron, cover me!"

Cameron, wielding a gun similar to Max's, nodded, "I've got ya, just go help!"

Erin nodded, before dashing in. Her first victim was a man towering over a twelve year old boy, who got a slow end by the blade to the back. She pushed the body off, helping the boy up, before dashing off.

She let out a kind of battle cry, before dashing to the side of one guy, leaping over a bullet, before spinning around. A red line drawn across his neck, before his head fell off. Cane blade held above her head, she jumped up, landing on top of the man trying to sneak up on her, only to meet a sharp whack to the back of the head, before stabbing him through the chest.

She huffed, feeling her stamina slowly depleting, before dashing out of the way of yet another bullet. She sun around, leaping out of the way of many things, before tripping, falling onto her face. She groaned, slowly pushing herself up.

All went by in slow motion, as she looked around. She saw young boys, boys that she had given comfort, a home, safety; they were dying. Because of her.

She could feel it all slowly sucking into her, the rage she felt, the helplessness, the want to kill.

No, she didn't want to kill.

She wanted to burn them.

Burn there soul.

Fuck the control. Fuck holding herself back. It was now or never, do or die. If she didn't do it now, who knew what would happen?

She growled, the sound slowly morphing into a dragon-like scream, a shrill yet powerful sound, as her vision reddened. She pulled her gloves off, flexing her hands, a crazed smile on her face.

All she heard was Mathew curse, Dylan yelling, "MOVE, SHE'S GOING PHOENIX!" before all hearing was cut off.

Her cane had been dropped, as a warmth filled her insides, feeling like her blood had become liquid fire. Her head whipped back, growling out in a very inhuman way, before opening her hands.

Sparks flew from her fingers, before two red flames burst into life in her hands, the fire that should have burned her skin merely felt like warm water, her sadistic grin widening.

This was gonna be fun.

She could see the men backing up, fear all over their faces. Some of them ran, others trying to hold their ground, the rest charging.

"Boys, line the stronghold!" Erin ordered, her voice louder than normal. It felt like she could do anything in this state, the phoenix state, so they called it, "Back me up!"

She did her best to maintain some form of control, the flames from her hands fighting against her control and direction. Her arms shook from the amount of force behind her hands, eyes narrowed as she slowly felt her will being burned away.

Fuck control, she wanted to say, let the flames do as they please.

She held her arms low and out, fingers wide, before jutting her chin out. A circle of fire formed around her, incinerating anyone on the spot.

She could feel the power of all of the bullets behind her, the roar of the fire music to her ears. She ducked and threw, dodging and weaving about while also firing back.

They were small, but packed the power of a meteorite.

She didn't notice that they had won before someone threw a bucket of water over her. Sure, it didn't make her fire go out, but the steam did make her snap out of it. She took a deep breath, forcing the fire in her stomach to slowly but surely qwell itself, forcing it back. She extinguished the fires in her hand, before falling back to the ground.

She didn't even know that she'd been levitating, but that tends to happen when you fight rather than think.

She looked around, looking over the blackened ground, some of the gravel bubbling and liquefied. Bodies littered the ground, both friend and foe.

Erin sighed, trying to keep a straight face. She couldn't do a victory dance, but she also couldn't break down in tears, crying over the fallen.

Just then, a loud sound of marching came around the corner, a team rushing out, lead by Hank, only to have the sound died down when they arrived.

Max, trying to soften up the mood, snorted, "A bit late, don't you think?"

Hank looked over the place, Tyler, Theo and John behind him, John gasping for breath from the run, before they all gave Erin a look. Hank sighed, "You went phoenix?"

Erin nodded, before Mathew cleared his throat, "Dusty…What's your orders?"

Erin groaned, holding her head. She had much to sort out, but one thing was for sure.

She needed to speak with William.

"I want this all cleaned up quickly." Erin shouted, looking over the rest of her gang, "...Now you know why we've been doing what we've been doing. We're fighting a force stronger than us, and if you decide to leave, I will not blame you."

She waited for them to all leave, running away in terror, something. But no, no one moved, no one ran.
"LONG LIVE THE PHOENIX!"

The chant was quickly taken up, the voice of hundreds of boys screaming at the top of their lungs, hopes and pride as high as the sky itself.

Erin couldn't help but small tears welling up in her eyes, she loved these guys, "Well then, what are you waiting for? Clean it up!" Erin said, trying to keep her voice high and hopeful, before walking into the stronghold, only to have an arm block her.

Looking up, she saw a face that she hadn't seen outside the base many times, "Oliver? I thought you hated being outside!"

"I 'eard that you needed me for something," He huffed, sounding out of breath, "Came running as soon as I 'eard that there was a fight. What's wrong?"

Erin didn't looked him in the eye, before lowering her voice, "It's William. He's…He's got a power, per say."

Oliver groaned, "I swear, if 'e can throw fireballs to, I'll never be able to live a 'appy life."

Erin growled lightly, "Just...keep everyone outside, please? This is going to be private."

Oliver nodded, a grim look on his face, looking over the bodies, "…I don't like it. I mean, can you?"

"I don't like the death of friends either." Erin murmured.

Oliver shook his head, unable to bring himself to really look over the carnage, "No, it's not that. I mean, these boys are family, brothers even. 'ow do you think they'll feel when they see their dead brother? 'ow do you feel when they 'ave to bury their friends?"

Erin felt her spine crack, eyes slowly watering up, only to quickly wipe them away, "…I…I know. Please, don't. Just…Help them?"

Oliver nodded, before walking off, leaving Erin alone. She sighed, breathing growling frantic, before walking into the stronghold; closing the door behind her.

This was going to be a nice, long, awkward talk.

That's for sure.

Erin tried to look casual, talking a seat beside William, only to have William flinch, leaning back.

"You don't notice them?"

"I have no idea what or who you're talking about." Erin said, trying to keep a straight face, pulling at the collar of her shirt, "…So, explain."

William gave her a look, "…You can't see them?"

"What did I just say?" Erin groaned, a bit tired of all of it, "Look, just…Answer me this. You're not lying to me, right?"

"Why would I lie to you?" William conquered, shaking his head, "It's…it's a gift from when I was younger."

Erin nodded, knowing her good share of when it came to powers that couldn't be explained, "Yeah…I get what you're trying to say…But, still, could you explain it?"

William rubbed the back of his head, smiling a bit sheepishly, "I…I don't know how to explain it…I just…I can see the souls of people."

Erin's breathing took a hitch, before jutting her thumb over her shoulder, "So…You can see her?"

William nodded, "She's…she's a lot brighter than most spirits are. She…she's really pretty."

Erin shook her head, "I know." She murmured, before cleaning her throat, "So, can you speak to her?"

"Not really, no." William sighed, rubbing the back of his head, "How do I put it...She can hear us, but I can't hear her. I see her around you often, but she's never looked this...panicked."

Erin sighed, "Yep, that just makes me feel so much better."

William laughed, "You made her laugh."

Erin smirked, "She's always like my sense of humor." She murmured, before shaking her head, "But is there a reason she's here? Why hasn't she, you know, passed on?"

"I don't know," William admitted, squinting as he looked over Erin's shoulder, only to groan, "She's trying to say something, but...I don't get it."

"Well...Is there anyway for me to contact her, maybe?" Erin asked, trying her hardest not to sound too hopeful.

"Right now?" William asked, shaking his head, "No, not here. But...there is a chance that I can do something else."

Erin nodded, "Okay, what do we need to do then?"

"We need to go to her final resting place." William murmured, "…She's shaking his head."

"Oh, stop that." Erin murmured in what she assumed to be the spirit's general direction, before nodding to William, "We'll do it."

"This could lead to some nasty consequences if done wrong…Not to mention that she may be mad later on."

Erin sighed, turning around to give the ghost behind her a look, "We'll do it-."

"Umm…She's on your left." William murmured, laughing lightly.

Erin groaned, before pulling her stuff on, "Come on then, we're leaving now."

"Now?" William asked, "Just you and me, on the streets, when your head is wanted?"

Erin shot him a smile, "No better time than the present." She said, going into her area of the stronghold, pulling her coat out, dusting the white fabric off, before putting it on, "Come on then, you'll have to keep up with me. Her final resting place isn't to far, but it'll take a while."

William nodded, getting up, limping a bit, "Umm, can you slow down?"

Erin groaned, giving him a look, "Go get a crutch, Tiny Tim." She teased, pulling her gun out from the gravel outside, dusting it off, before reloading it. She smiled to herself, "Never thought that I'd be going back." She murmured to herself, before turning around, finding William behind her, "Alright, let's-."

"Hold up!"

Erin flinched, similar to how a child in trouble would when a parent finds them eating out of the cookie jar, before turning around, "Oh cra- Hey, Zig! I see you've brought Fang with you-."

"Explain this." Zig murmured darkly, gesturing to the corpses that had yet to have been moved, eyes flashing with danger and anger, "I know that you're used to being around pain and death, but you know damn well that I'm not!"

Erin, already out of all of it, sighed, "Got into a fight."

"Yeah, I noticed!"

Erin groaned, looking around, before facing Zig, "Look, it's not important. William has a way to speak to her."

Zig's eyes went wide, looking at William, "You…You can-?"

"Yeah." William said sheepishly, "Can we not make this a widespread thing? I…I don't want that."

Erin nodded, before giving Zig a look, "I'll need Fang, and if you want, you can come to see her final resting place. I'll need all of the useful defense I can get."

Zig groaned, rubbing the back of her head, before nodding, "Yeah, sure. Let's go visit her."

Erin nodded, walking off, William limping to catch up, "Um, question; why don't we use her name?"

Erin gave him a look, "…It's for respect, in a way. Just…Don't say her name, that's how we do it."

"It's like an unsaid rule in the gang." Zig murmured, pulling a small jagged knife out, "You don't speak of her unless you've got to."

Erin nodded, "…William, get on Fang, we need to move quickly." Erin murmured, watching as Zig helped William on, before sighing, "Alright guys, it's close, but with all of the obstacles, it'll take a while. Keep up, would you?"

Zig did a mock salute, "Sure thing, oh great Eris."

"Don't call me that." Erin murmured, before pulling the collar of her coat up, trying to keep the cool air out, before finally arriving to a building, looking up at it as if it were the first thing to remove, 'Undertaker won't stop calling me that."

With that said, she scaled the wall, quickly like a gecko, before pulling herself onto the roof.

Today had been a giant mess. Jumping out of Ciel's window, defending stronghold 2, going super saiyan; it was enough to make anyone go insane. Erin couldn't help but snicker to herself, and now she had to go back to HER final resting place.

"Well, this'll be fun."

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Well, that's all the time I've got for today, leave a theory and/or comment, and I'll see you guys later!

Till then, bai bai!