Phoenix was about to nod off having almost been rocked to sleep by the rhythmic movement of the train and the steady clacking of the wheels on the track. Her body moved forward ever so slightly when its speed started to decrease.

"We are now pulling into the Asakusa Station," a woman announced. "For those of you continuing on your journey, please stay seated during on the onboarding of passengers. Thank you for your patience."

"Asakusa...damn," she sighed, opening her eyes to look out of the window.

The platform still looked exactly the same as the day when she first arrived here. She and her friends had come looking for a party and a good time. Her two best friends on the world found death at her hands, or her wings rather, after one of them became an Infernal then the other tried to save her.

How could she go home after that? There was no way Phoenix could face her friends' families much less her Aunt an Uncle. Though they knew about her ability, they had agreed to keep her secret and even helped her hide it. She refused to add to their shame by returning home as everyone would see her: a murderer.

Someone sat down in the seat beside her. Facing the window, she had seen their shadowy silhouette before they dropped heavily into the seat shifting her a little in hers. It was as if they wanted to make her well aware of their presence, perhaps to avoid startling her.

Glancing around without turning to see her seatmate, Phoenix noted there were so many other empty seats on the train. Even two right across from her. The unwanted proximity of the person made her aware of the tears running down her cheeks. Swiping at them with the sleeve of her coat, she avoided turning to see who had sat so uncomfortably close to her.

"Running away from home again I see," the man with a familiar raspy voice said.

"Beni," she gasped, twisting her body to see him sitting beside her. His legs stretched across to the seat in front of him, his booted feet planted firmly on the cushion. "Wh-what are you d-doing here?" She huffed and rolled her eye. "And I'm not running away from home."

"I know. I just wanted to see if I could get a rise out of you," he said, picking at his fingernails. "It's good to see you haven't completely lost your personality."

"You always hated my mouthy, smart ass, and just plain disrespectful personality. I thought you would like me better now," she retorted. "That hurts my feelings."

"Yeah, you sure seem to have a lot more of those here lately. Feelings. Blegh." He visibly shuddered. "I think I always hated your personality because it was too damn much like mine," he confessed, losing interest in his fingernails. He folded his hands over his belly and leaned his head back against the headrest while closing his eyes as if settling in for a nap.

"What are you doing here?" she repeated since he had not answered the question earlier.

"Isn't it obvious?" He opened one eye to peek at her. "I'm chaperoning you to your aunt and uncle's place. You're so damn helpless now, we can't have you running around out here all alone."

The "we" he mentioned had to be her Father, her present Captain, and her boyfriend. All well meaning but they had become annoying in their over-protectiveness. Only those three would be so worried and meddlesome to call Beni and somehow convince him to go along with this ridiculous plan to be her 'chaperone' as he put it in order to assuage their anxiety.

"I'm not that helpless," she muttered, folding her arms over her chest. "I've been training. I'm working on getting stronger."

"And when you do, you need to come see me for some real training. I'm sure your boyfriend will be back at some point for training," he mumbled, shifting his shoulders as if to try to find a more comfortable position.

"Beni, you don't have to do this."

"I know I don't. Since when have I ever done anything people want me to do?"

She snorted. "Like never. So why would you - "

"Just shut up, would ya?" he snapped, glaring at her with both eyes open now.

"Yes, Sir," she returned, sinking back into her seat.

"Hmmm," he hummed thoughtfully continuing to stare at her. "This is weird. I don't know if I like this new compliant, submissive you."

Phoenix could feel her face heating. Hearing 'submissive' always triggered something inside of her like flipping a switch. The mere sound of it was so offensive it raised her ire. The word conjured images of her bowing down, both literally and figuratively, giving up control of her body and her life to someone else.

Maybe because that is exactly what she had done to the phoenix for so long. She had submitted to its power, allowing it to drive her body, her emotions, even her thoughts. She permitted it to push away everyone she ever cared about with its single mindedness to complete its mission, hurting and alienating them.

More than ever she was convinced her mother's soul had been attached to the phoenix. All along the both of them had still been being manipulated and used by the White Clad. What kind of person had her mother really been? She had purposely turned herself into some kind of mutated Infernal that attached itself to her daughter. What the hell had the White Clad done to her that she would do that to herself?

"What?" Beni sneered, watching the color drain from her face while she stared into space slack jawed with glassy unfocused eyes. He snapped his fingers in front of her face. "Hey! What the hell's wrong with you? Having a stroke or something?"

"I'm..." Her voice was thick, garbled. She swallowed several times to clear her throat. "I'm sorry, Beni."

"What the hell for?" He turned his head to face forward, closing his eyes. "What's wrong with you? You look like you've seen a ghost. You're pale as one."

"I actually did come to talk to you before I left," Phoenix confessed, gazing out of the window.

"We're really talking about this again? Look, I thought we got past this."

"I haven't. There's something I want you to know."

She still recalled that night clearly. After hours of deliberating with herself in her room, she had finally mustered up the courage to go to talk to her Captain who she loved dearly. Standing in the dark hallway in front of his room, she could see the sliver of light under his door. At the time, that small bit of golden light leaking into the hallway was like a beacon of hope. With her hand raised to knock, she issued a silent prayer, begging whatever powers that be for Beni to talk her out of leaving.

"I heard you talking to Konro. You knew I had talked to Captain Hibana. You already knew then I was going to leave. You said, I deserve this, Konro. I knew she would take advantage of my kindness and betray me. I should have never - "

"I should have never taken in a stray cat. Stray cats are only loyal to those who give them the best treats," he said, completing his own quote. "Yeah. I said that. I meant it too."

Phoenix knew he wasn't wrong. Hibana had dangled a tasty looking salmon in front of the stray cat that was her, and she greedily wanted all of it.

But Beni was the first. The first to extend a helping hand. He gave her food, shelter, training...a family. Everything she needed.

Benimaru rubbed his cheek recalling the sting of her slap when the Eighth came to visit him for the first time. No wonder she had been brazen enough to slap him.

"You saved me, Beni...in many ways. I never properly thanked you for that. You were just too good to me, my Captain," she sighed, staring at her reflection in the window. Facing the truth about herself was easier than facing him in this given moment.

Like a spoiled child, Phoenix had gotten angry after overhearing his words spoken in confidence and ran away from home. Those words, steeped in truth, had broken her heart into a million pieces. She had loved Beni, devoted herself to him, in her own immature selfish way. When she left, her attitude had pretty much been "I'll show him." Boy, did the world show her and give her a serious humbling.

Phoenix learned important lessons from all of her Captains. Even if they were wrong ones sometimes.

Captain Hibana taught her how to lie and deceive, to manipulate and finagle, in order to get what she wanted. Under the Princess's tutelage she became quite the good spy. The Captain of the fifth also taught her how to dominate men. Useful skills when she needed them. Totally pointless now that she didn't need them.

Living at the Fifth and working as a spy under Hibana had fed her anger and the black hole of her heart. She enjoyed being a sadistic, domineering bitch, walking all over the men of her unit, sometimes literally. Hibana used her hate and anger to get the information she wanted from Haijima Industries. In the end, they used and abused each other, hurting each other terribly.

But the hurt parade actually began with her leaving her aunt and uncle. They had given her more than a home. They given their hearts as if she was their own child.

"I've made such a terrible mess out of things," Phoenix murmured.

"Yes, you have," Beni agreed.

Phoenix inhaled sharply, not to fly into a tirade but because she felt like she was suddenly under water and drowning.

"But don't waste time feeling sorry for yourself anymore," he began, nudging her in the back with her elbow. "You're trying to make amends. Your aunt and uncle are accepting you back with open arms. I'm here aren't I?"

"So maybe I didn't completely burn down every relationship?"

"Not completely. You were always a force to be reckoned with. Maybe once you get past all this guilt and emotional baggage, you will be again. But better. Do better. Be better this time around."

Phoenix took his words as a compliment. She smiled, turning her head to glimpse at him.

"I never knew you were so wise, Benimaru Shinmon."

One weary eye, the one with the red iris with a white X pupil, popped open to focus on her. "It's about time you realized that. If you have ever just shut up and listened, you would have known that a lot sooner."

"Yeah," she giggled awkwardly in agreement.

"Now, be quiet so I can get a nap. I didn't get much sleep last night because of you."

"Were you worried about me?" she ventured, nudging him in the ribs.

Beni grunted and leaned away from her. "No, I wasn't worried about you. Those idiots wouldn't stop calling me begging me to babysit you and deliver you to your aunt and uncle. They act like you're some useless child."

"Do you think I'm a useless child?" She had the sinking feeling she was going to regret asking that question.

"I think you're an annoying child. Now, shut up," he ordered her.

"Yes, Sir."

Phoenix turned her head to stare out of the window because she could not stop smiling. That was not the answer she had expected. She had steeled herself for something so much worse. His bark truly is worse than his bite. As much as he bitched and complained about helping the members of the eighth, especially her, he was always willing to do so.

Once she was sure he was asleep, she leaned over to whisper in his ear. "You're a good and kind man, Benimaru Shinmon. Don't worry. Your secret is safe with me."

~\'/~

"Hey, sleepyhead, we're here," Beni said, poking her in the arm repeatedly.

"We're here?" Phoenix mumbled drowsily, forcing her eyes open but they would only cooperate by separating into mere slits.

Although the lights in the train car had been dimmed to allow the passengers to sleep, they were still blinding while trying to come to wakefulness. The train pulled into the station just before dawn. Sleepy passengers shuffled to the doors to disembark.

Beni got off first then extended a hand to help Phoenix down the metal stairs to the wooden platform. Setting her suitcase at her feet and closing her eyes, she inhaled deeply. For the first time in quite a while she felt like she could breathe.

The air was truly different here. They were in the countryside after all. There were no tall buildings, traffic, street lamps, or miles and miles of pavement and concrete covering the ground. There were dirt roads, grass, fields, and trees. If the sun were not so close to rising, they would have been able to see millions of stars dotting the expanse of sky that seemed to stretch on to forever above them.

Her aunt and uncle owned a massive farm including special hydroponic greenhouses. Everything in them was grown in a water based solution. The water was pumped from a well that had been dug miles deep underground. Their entire homestead was covered and protected by a biodome. Their farm was unique and one of a kind even in this place full of farms.

"You left here to come to the city?" Benimaru contemplated aloud, glancing from the trees swaying in the cool breeze at the end of the platform to the bright red flowers filling the rectangular wooden boxes on the platform. "What is wrong with you?"

"That's the second time you've asked me that since joining me," she noted, twiddling her fingers as she visually scanned the area for her aunt and uncle.

"Phoenix! Phoenix!" a woman shouted, her booted feet beating like a drum on the ancient silvered planks of the platform as she ran toward her with open arms.

Phoenix barely had time to get her arms open to receive her aunt into them before the woman almost bowled her over. Hugging each tightly, they turned in circles while crying and laughing all at once.

Benimaru stood uncomfortably nearby, moving out of the way to avoid getting knocked over himself by the whirlwind of women still spinning around. Looking at the two of them together, he realized he had a glimpse into the future, seeing what Phoenix would look like in thirty years. Her jet black hair would have lovely silver streaks. Would she wear it in a bun at the nape of her neck like her aunt? What he couldn't picture was her in faded overalls and a pink gingham shirt with worn brown work boots.

A chubby but friendly looking man with gold wired spectacles walked past his sobbing wife and niece to extend a hand to Beni.

"I'm Phoenix's uncle," he introduced himself.

"I'm Benimaru Shinmon," he returned in like manner.

"Oh, my!" her aunt exclaimed suddenly noticing Benimaru. "Is this your young man?"

"Her what?" Beni muttered, his usually unresponsive facial twisting with confusion.

"Oh, Auntie, no!" Phoenix exclaimed, her hands fluttering nervously like the butterflies in her belly. "This is Benimaru Shinmon. He's a Fire Force Captain. Company Seven. To be more precise, he was my first captain."

"First captain?" her aunt repeated, blinking rapidly while trying to understand. "Well, dear, how many captains have you had?"

"Well, uh - "

"Three to be exact. Almost four. Her father was going to transfer to his company but changed his mind," Benimaru helpfully explained rather succinctly.

"My goodness! Did you cause problems for all of your Captains? What kind of trouble did you get yourself into?" Her aunt grabbed her shoulders to square them in front of her so she could examine her face more carefully. "What has happened to you? Your father warned me about your eye but - "

"Phoenix, dear," her uncle interrupted, reaching out pick up her suitcase. "We should get going to the house."

"Yes!" her aunt readily agreed. "We have so much to talk about!"

"But first these two should rest. It was a long train ride and it's still early in the morning so we should let them get some sleep," her uncle suggested.

Phoenix threaded her arm through her uncle's for him to lead her to their truck. She wondered if it was the same old beat up farm truck with the wooden slats on the sides of the open bed to hold in the contents. Many times she had ridden in the back of the truck around the fields and orchards on the outside of the biodome, bumping along and laughing like crazy while being jostled around.

"Are you all right?" her uncle asked her.

"I'm...okay," she replied after a pause being as truthful as she could be without giving details.

"You and your Father seem to have taken to each other really well," he said, patting her hand resting on his forearm.

"We did. I'm so happy we've been able to start developing a really close relationship."

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Mr. Shinmon - " her aunt began to be abruptly cut off.

"Please call me Beni. I don't care much for formalities."

"Beni, did our girl give you too much trouble? If she did, I apologize," she said, hooking her arm around his to pull him forward to follow her husband and niece. "You really must tell me what it was like having her as a subordinate."

"Oh, the stories I can tell you," Beni returned.

Oh, Holy Sol, please don't, Phoenix begged silently, clinging tighter to her uncle as they approached the truck.

"But that will have to wait for another time," Beni said, hearing Phoenix issue a noisy sigh of relief.

"Are you hungry? I can cook breakfast. Bacon, eggs, pancakes, grits, orange juice," she named off the menu. "Everything is grown on the farm. Even the pigs to make the bacon."

"What are grits?" Beni inquired, genuinely curious but also a bit intrigued and disgusted. Whatever it was really didn't sound good at all.

"Corn that is dried and roughly ground. Then it is cooked in water. Add butter and salt and it's the bees knees, kiddo!" Auntie enthusiastically explained. "The orange juice couldn't be any fresher either. I squeezed it myself this morning from oranges we picked yesterday." She patted Beni's arm affectionately. "I was so excited to see Fifi again I could barely sleep!"

"Fifi? Hey, is that why you hate it when Obi calls you that?" Beni inquired, peeling himself away from her aunt to help her uncle place the suitcases in the back of the truck.

"You hate that nickname? Why didn't you ever tell me?" her aunt asked sounded mortally wounded from the slight.

"It's not that I hate it," Phoenix said, her face burning hotly with embarrassment. She hugged her aunt. "It just hurt for someone else to call me that when it was the nickname you had for me. But now, it won't hurt so much. Thank you for letting me come back and not hating me."

"Hate you?" the woman returned, pulling back to stare at Phoenix's face. "How could I ever hate you?" She held Phoenix's face between her hands, kissing her on the forehead. There were tears in both women's eyes when they met. "You're my child. I might not have given birth to you, but I chose you. I made you mine."

"Oh," Phoenix gasped, burying her face in the woman's shirt to sob uncontrollably while being held.

"How long do you think this will last?" Beni whispered to Uncle while they stood at the back of the truck watching the women.

Uncle shrugged, wiping away a tear that leaked from the corner of his eye before it could streak down his cheek.

"So tell me, son, what's this Shinra kid like? He's Phoenix's boyfriend, right?"

"You'll have to meet him soon to make your own assessment," Beni replied, refusing to get caught in the middle of such a family matter that did not pertain to him at all anyway.

"Good answer. I like you. You're smart enough not to poke your nose in where it doesn't belong," he said, giving Beni a slap on the back before continuing. "Burns seems to approve of him so I guess he's okay."

"Are we ready to go? Sun's coming up. We got chores to do, hon!" Auntie hollered as if it wasn't her holding them up.

"Yep. Come on Fifi," her uncle said, waving her toward him. Putting his hands around her waist, he lifted her to sit her on the back of the truck. "I'm afraid you two kids will have to ride back here, but I'll take it slow," her uncle assured them.

Beni placed his boot on the bumper poking out on the side to hoist himself up onto the back of the truck to sit beside her. Despite being dressed in one of her prim black pencil skirts and a white silk chemise with a black jacket over it, she looked like she belonged here. She kicked her feet clad in her usual pencil thin black high heels, happy as could be to be home.

"You look ridiculous, you know," Beni said, frowning at her.

"I don't care how I look," she returned, elbowing him in the ribs. "Ask me how I feel? Come on." She nudged him again until he edged away from her. "Ask me."

"How do you feel?" he begrudgingly inquired, although he could already tell exactly how she felt by the big smile on her face. Her cheeks were blushed a rosy pink and her eyes glistened in a way he had never seen.

"I'm happy." Her fingers gripped the wooden base underneath them when her uncle started the truck that roared and rumbled to life. "I'm happy to be home."

This is why I couldn't answer you, Beni. I have no idea why I left home now, she thought, staring at the clouds of dust the tires puffed out behind the vehicle. All for some ridiculous, self-sabotaging quest to find out who killed my mother. In the end it was the why that was the real question and the answer was most disturbing and unsatisfying.

"Hey, stop that," Beni gruffly commanded her.

Phoenix shook her head as if to shake off those depressing thoughts before they could take hold and continue to run around in side her brain.

"Stop what?" She vehemently brushed the dirt and hay from her skirt that had not bothered her at all five minutes earlier.

"Thinking. You're getting sad again. Just when I was getting used to seeing that goofy smile of yours."

Phoenix snorted to stifle her giggle. The man found it nearly impossible to just be sweet and sincere, to give someone a straightforward compliment. Comforting words even came with a dose of sarcasm. But that was Beni's strange way of showing he cared when emotions were thick and overwhelming.

"So how long were planning on staying?" she asked, recalling that he had brought a small duffel bag with him.

"Just through tomorrow. It's a long trip just to turn around and go right back. Besides, the train doesn't leave again until the day after tomorrow so don't read too much into this. What choice did I have?"

"Right. Of course. Silly me," she murmured, lowering her chin to her chest to hide her smile.

"It is beautiful here," Beni said, looking out over the fields of green on either side of the dirt lane that served as a road. "I had no idea places like this still existed."

"Just wait. You haven't seen nothin' yet. Stand up," she ordered him.

"What? Why?"

"Stand up."

Issuing a growl, Beni stood to his feet. Phoenix extended her hands up to him to receive a scathing glare. After tsking her, he took her hands and pulled her up to her feet. Somehow, almost miraculously, she managed to tottered without falling to the front of the bed behind the cab of the truck. Stacking two of the hay bales, she knelt on them and placed her arms on the roof of the truck.

"Come see," she invited him, waving for him to join her without looking back.

The sun had just peeked above the horizon, coloring the sky pink and yellow. As promised, Benimaru had never seen anything like her adoptive parents farm. Amid the fields and groupings of trees stood a marvel of manmade engineering and construction: a gigantic dome of glass shining like a pearl amid the varying shades of green and brown.

"It's like a city unto itself," Beni said.

"Or maybe a kingdom like in a storybook?" she ventured, pride showing in her smile as she looked at the awe inspiring structure. "Uncle designed this himself. He hired every available man from the village and several villages nearby to help him build it. He's still the biggest employer here, keeping the village from sinking into poverty and ruin. He's helped a lot of people. He's a great man," she stated proudly, her blush deepening. "My aunt is pretty amazing too. She helps him run things. She even took business classes while the dome was being built to help him with accounting and human resources and such."

"Shit, you had your own freaking kingdom. You really are a spoiled brat. No wonder Obi calls you Duchess."

"He doesn't know about all this. No one does," she said, turning away and returning to her seat on the rear of the truck. "I've never told anyone about where I came from except that it was a farm."

"Well, don't I feel special," Beni muttered managing to sound sarcastic rather than flattered. "What I don't understand why you left. This could have all be yours some day," he said, while sitting back down beside her, "but you chose to walk away from paradise to be a fire soldier. To live a life engulfed in flames with death always knocking at your door. Why?"

The truck slowed to a stop.

"I'm not really sure anymore. It all seems kind of stupid and pointless. Now that I know about my mother...that my questions have been answered, I don't know what it was all for," she admitted, hopping down from the back of the truck.

To his surprise, she landed firmly on her feet without wavering or losing her footing. Her balance had gotten much better. She had been doing a lot of work with Obi and her company.

"Sometimes when we get what we want, we realize too late it's not what we wanted at all," Beni said, lowering himself to the ground to stand beside her.

Phoenix faced him directly, smiling broadly at him.

"Yeah, you're right," she agreed. "Thanks for turning me down when I confessed my love to you. I like you much better as a friend."

"Hey, you two shake a leg!" her Uncle shouted on his way toward the back of the truck as if to warn them he was coming. "The wife is already in the house gettin' the vittles ready!"

Beni slung the strap of his duffel over his shoulder, grabbed her suitcase, and followed Uncle with Phoenix behind him. They entered a door attached a long, enclosed arched passageway leading into a chamber where a blast of cool air blew off any dirt and debris clinging to them.

"For when we're really dirty, there are showers and changing rooms on the other side of the dome," Uncle explained to break the stifling silence.

After walking down another much shorter corridor, they came to the door that opened up into the interior of the dome which encompassed several acres. It must be like living inside a giant terrarium, a self-contained city with a house and several separate stand alone greenhouses with small plots of land between growing flowers or trees or some type of food.

The house stood a few yards from the entrance. It was no castle or even a mansion, but a single story structure that looked like a log cabin with a porch surrounding it.

"There's a waterfall in here that is connected to the plumbing and irrigation systems. Uncle can even create a rainstorm in here to water everything," Phoenix informed Beni as they took off their shoes in the entranceway of the house.

"I'll show you to your rooms," Uncle volunteered, leading them down the short hallway and to the right past the living room.

The kitchen and dining room had been to their left. Another corridor opened to their right. Phoenix opened a door half way down on the left. Her room was exactly as she had left it when she went away to college. Apparently her aunt had come in and cleaned regularly because there was not a speck dust any where. The bed linens were fresh and clean.

A pink frilly comforter covered the white four poster bed. White and pink feather boas were draped over the rod above the white lace curtains. There was a matching white painted chest of drawers and desk with a chair. The lamp on the desk had a pink paper shade with a fluffy feather border around the bottom. On the second shelf of the bookshelves, amid the journals and romance novels, was a picture of a ten year old Phoenix with buns on each side of her head secured with huge pink bows wearing a pink and white leotard holding the first place trophy from a gymnasts competition.

"Oh, wow, this is exactly what I expected," Beni remarked, turning in a circle while standing in the middle of her room.

"Get out!" Phoenix yelled, pushing him toward the door. "You shouldn't be in a lady's room."

"I don't know about a lady, but I'm definitely in a girl's room," he said, glancing around quickly to take in the posters of kittens and creatures he had never seen before. He slapped his hand against the doorjamb, keeping her from shoving him out into the hallway. "I can't wait to tell Shinra I was in your room."

"You better not, Benimaru Shinmon! Get out!" she screeched, digging her feet into the pink shaggy throw rug to push him out.

Instead, the rug slid backwards, throwing her off balance and pitching her forward. Before she could bang her knees on the hardwood floor, Beni spun on his heel to turn and catch her. When he pulled her up, they were almost nose to nose with his arm hooked securely around her waist.

"Uhm, thank you," she whispered as he slowly withdrew his arm.

Uncle cleared his throat a few feet away down the hall. Beni walked out of her room, and Phoenix poked her head out.

"Mr. Shinmon, your room is down here. By ours," her Uncle added.

Benimaru did not need the Fatherly warning which made Phoenix giggle all the more. He could not possibly be less interested in her romantically.

After a shower and a change of a clothes, Phoenix joined her Aunt and Uncle in the kitchen. While Beni was still getting freshened up, she told them exactly what had happened at Company Seven to prevent them from asking any uncomfortable questions later and tripping into a sticky situation for them all.

"So your Captain now is a man named Akitaru Obi?" her aunt asked while placing strips of still sizzling on the paper towel covered plate to drain off the grease.

"Yes, ma'am."

"Tell us about your boyfriend, Shinra," her Uncle encouraged her, setting down a cup of coffee in front of her as if to bribe her.

"We have a lot in common surprisingly. He's a fire soldier in Company Eight too."

Her aunt gasped then clicked her tongue disapprovingly. "You should never date colleagues. I thought I raised you better than that."

Should I meet a man at a restaurant, and have an ill fated love affair that ends in me being single and pregnant then killing myself?, she thought but refrained from speaking those horrible words out loud.

"I'm hoping you get to meet him soon," Phoenix said instead, bringing the cup to her lips.

"Why didn't he come with you?" her Aunt inquired, placing the plate of bacon on the table. She slapped Phoenix's hand when she attempted to steal a slice.

"Well, Company Eight had a very important mission to go on and - "

"You didn't go?" her Uncle interjected impatiently, sitting up straighter and leaning forward with interest.

"I'm glad they didn't let her go," her Aunt spoke up, turning to place a glass of orange juice in front of her. "Drink up. You need the vitamins to help with your recovery."

"What exactly happened to you?" her Uncle asked.

"Well, uh...I uhm...you see, it's kinda hard to explain," Phoenix stumbled across her words, hemming and hawing, while desperately wondering how she was going to explain this especially not knowing her Father had told them.

"It was an accident similar to what her mother suffered while pregnant with her," Benimaru said from where he stood at the wide open entrance of the kitchen. "But it had the opposite effect, taking the Infernal away. She no longer has pyrokinetic abilities. She's what we call unpowered."

Both her aunt and uncle stared at him gape mouthed. Finally her uncle nodded as if he understand.

"Oh, I see," he said, lifting his coffee cup to his lips. His attention shifted to Phoenix. "You can no longer be a fire soldier, right? Does this mean you will moving back home? Permanently?"

"No," she replied. "I won't be moving back home."

"But you don't have any fire abilities. How are you going to fight those, those, those..." Her aunt whirled around, waving her spatula that she had used to flip the pancakes. "...those things?!"

"They're called Infernals. And they were, are," she quickly corrected herself, "people. They're people who need our help. We extinguish the flames so they can rest, find eternal peace."

"You kill them," her Uncle said with dismal forthrightness getting straight to the heart of the matter. "You're killing people, Phoenix."

"Uncle," she sighed, reaching for his hand that had curled into a fist on the table. "I struggled to come to grips with what I was doing for a long time. You have to understand, these people are already dead. They're doomed to burn and suffer until someone shows them mercy and ends their misery."

"You took it upon yourself to destroy those helpless creatures?" her Aunt asked.

The mystery of where she got her brusque, outspoken, and sometimes rude personality from had been solved.

"They are far from helpless," Phoenix scoffed. "Once they turn, they are in so much pain they lose their minds. More often than not, they start killing innocent bystanders. It's our job to - "

"To kill them for harming others? So you became an avenging angel?" her Auntie inquired a little too forthrightly.

Phoenix flinched so violently she nearly fell out of her chair. Beni lurched forward, catching her to prevent her from falling on her face for the second time in the last hour. He sat her back up in the chair, holding onto her arms while she took in rapid, ragged breaths.

"It's okay. You're okay." He held her face between his hands, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Just breathe. You're safe."

"What happened? What's going on?" her Aunt asked, staring in wide eyed horror. After pushing Beni aside with strength that explained even more about Phoenix, she dropped down to her knees in front of her niece. "What's wrong with you?"

"That religious cult your sister got herself involved with had this sacred creature they called the Avenging Angel. We believe that's what your sister turned herself into before attaching to her newborn daughter," Beni told her with brutal honesty. "Your sister made all of you suffer for what she did for that bunch of lunatics. But no one more than her own daughter."

"What?" her Aunt hissed, standing to her feet. "I don't believe you. How dare you talk to me in such a manner! In my own house!"

"Sit down, please," her husband begged her, standing up to ease her into a chair. "We knew your sister was involved in some weird religious cult but we had no idea...we thought she was trying to find a cure for spontaneous combustion."

"Yeah. So did Phoenix. But that wasn't the truth. Look, I won't say I fully understand all of this because I don't," Benimaru admitted, sitting in the chair beside Phoenix. "Shinra could not come with here because he and his Company along with a few others are going after those people who are part of that same cult. They're called the White Clads."

"Can we please not talk about this?" Phoenix pleaded, running her fingers through her still wet hair. The color of her face matched the white towel draped around Beni's neck. "I just want to have a nice breakfast and a nap. I came here to forget about all of that stuff. So please, can we just - "

"Yeah. I'm sorry. We're just worried and have no idea what's going on. You never told us anything about this," her Uncle said, taking her clammy hand in his.

"You're right. Because honestly, I never wanted you to know. It would only hurt you more. And you've been hurt enough," she said, placing her other hand over his. "I love you both so much. And I am so sorry for how I've hurt you. I just didn't...I just didn't want to add to that pain."

Smoke rose in wisps from the pan where the pancakes were burning. Her aunt jumped up with a squeal to toss the pan, pancakes and all in the sink. She turned on the water to cool it before the pancakes could burst into flames, sending a cloud of steam up into the air. Waving her hand and coughing, she backed away and exhaled a long, disappointed sigh.

"Who wants toast?"

Everyone raised their hands.