(Whoa... this story's almost done already.

...somebody's gone and kidnapped me and replaced me with someone productive!

After this chapter is the last one...aren't you all excited?

Well, let's kick this off...

Let's begin.

Tyler, Victor, Leslie, Sidney © Nintendo

Rylee, Alex, Erika, the family © Me)

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Days of the Phoenix

Chapter Twelve- Out of Ashes

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It took all her willpower to keep her from collapsing...

Rylee staggered backward, horrified by the sight.

"This is... oh God..."

Small fires and a thick fog made of dust did not completely obscure the destruction that had befallen Angeles Bay. Rubble was strewn across the cracked streets and scorched yards; large houses were reduced to nothing but broken walls sticking out of the ground. Large buildings, off in the distance, were half-destroyed and barely standing... occasionally, the sound of a falling skyscraper could be heard, even from halfway across the city.

"...there were about five million people in the Bay area, before we started bombing," Victor muttered, kicking a shard of brick out of his path.

"How many of them went into hiding?" Rylee asked, trying to keep Alex and Erika in sight.

"About two million... give or take a half a million people who either got tipped off or fled the city."

"...so, this is what three million dead people starts to look like," Rylee chuckled bitterly. "...let's try to find the others who went into hiding."

Rylee, Leslie, Tyler, Victor, Erika and Alex carefully began walking along the ruined sidewalk, passing by the broken homes and the burning cars...

Alex could faintly hear tired cries coming from one of the dilapidated homes.

"Aunt Rylee, I hear voices in that house over there-- listen!"

Rylee spun her head to look in the direction that the blonde boy was pointing in...

The large slab of unbroken wall that had draped itself at an angle against one of the surviving walls was being pushed slightly upward; Rylee, too, could nearly make out the sound of a woman and man frantically crying for help.

"...Victor, Tyler, come and help me."

Tyler and Victor gawked at Rylee as she carefully began making her way over to the ruined building.

"What are you doing?!" Tyler exclaimed, his brown eyes widening.

"I'm going to help whoever's there... help me."

"But they'd turn us in in less than an instant!" Victor countered, his black eyes flashing. "Do you want to get yourself killed?!"

"Who would they turn us in to, Victor? Adam is dead; the Police are gone. Nobody can do anything to us..."

"Rylee, it's just one or two people... let's just--"

She snapped.

"Only two people!?" she shrieked. "Tyler, you and your wife are only two people! Wouldn't you want someone to go and save you when you were in danger?!"

"Rylee--"

"My mother and father were only two people," she continued, tears beginning to fall from her eyes. "And look-- because of them, I, one person, am here, trying to do something! What would have happened if any of us three would have died earlier?! What then?!"

She paused, trying to stem the tears pouring down her face.

"If you won't help me help them," she sobbed angrily, "then go without me. I'll go and help them."

Rylee turned, continuing towards the broken building.

Erika, after a brief pause, ran to her side.

"Wait for me, Aunt Rylee..."

"...she has a point," Leslie murmured softly, her amber eyes full of sorrow.

"So, what will we do...?" Tyler asked no one in particular, hesitant to make a decision.

"...Tyler, get your lazy ass over there. We're going to go help her."

Tyler stood in shock as Victor stormed off towards the young Kasal woman.

"W-wait, Victor! Wait for me!"

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The married couple had been leery of accepting their aid...

But they were eternally grateful for the Damned, who had come to their rescue in their darkest hour.

"Ma'am... why did this happen?" the redheaded woman asked Rylee, carefully holding her baby close to her body. "Why was everything destroyed? ...I'm not blaming you, please don't think that-- but, I know you had to have been involved somehow..."

Rylee sighed, brushing her long brown hair behind her shoulders.

"...we just wanted to get rid of this system," Rylee began softly. "And of Adam. But to do that... we needed to destroy the places... that wouldn't stop believing his words on their own."

"...so you did this just to get the power?" the woman muttered, averting her gaze in disgust.

"No," Rylee shook her head. "We did this because we're trying to fix the way things are done. If you don't like it, and just want life to go back to normal... well, anywhere rural has been left untouched... and I'm fairly certain that San Diego is intact as well..."

"...why would you choose this path for yourself?"

Rylee stopped. The woman looked at her, waiting for an answer.

"...my mother and father were torn apart by the Police," she spoke, her hazel eyes flashing. "I finally met my father... the day before he had been murdered for 'disobeying the system'. I'm trying to change things..."

Take care of my granddaughter, would you?

Rylee gently placed a hand on her stomach.

"...so that my child can grow up, knowing that her mother won't be taken away... and so that I can live to see my grandchildren live in a world where their lives actually mean something."

She continued to move forward.

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(End chapter twelve.

Oh man-- can you believe it? One chapter left. I mean... daaaaamn. And the story's not even a month old yet!

Please review!)