Author's Note: I want to apologize that it had been so long since I updated. I've been trying to get past the writer's block for this story. I've reached that difficult middle part where it's so freaking hard to keep going. I did my best to rekindle my passion and desire for this fic by watching episodes of the second season which I had been procrastinating on watching since this story stagnated.
Just a warning, things move fast and there are several scene shifts as well as point of view switches, but I tried to separate things to make it easier to read and mark the changes.
With all of that being said, I hope the update doesn't disappoint. Thank you for reading and being patient!
Phoenix winced as Viktor pushed the needle into her arm. She held her breath as she watched her blood fill the test tube.
"Breathe, Phoenix," he reminded her as he slipped off the full test tube and pushed another into the hub. "How are you feeling today?"
"Okay," she sighed, stifling a yawn.
"Still tired?"
"Yeah. No matter how much sleep I get, I don't feel rested."
"Hmmm," he hummed cryptically, pulling off the test tube and rocking it back and forth. "I suppose you shouldn't be surprised. It sounded like you went through quite the ordeal."
"I suppose," she sighed heavily.
Whatever solution was in the bottom of the tube began to immediately separate her blood into its separate components. After placing the tube in the rack, he pushed on a third test tube to extract more blood from her.
"Are you sure you're okay? You're awfully quiet today. That's not like you," he teased her, attempting to get a rise out of her but failing miserably.
"I've just got a lot on my mind," Phoenix mumbled, staring absently out of the window.
She did indeed have a lot on her mind. They all did. Captain Ōbi had just informed them today would be the day they would be invading the Nether to catch the White Clads in their lair.
The Captain of the Eighth asked Phoenix to stay behind after the meeting. He told her she would be staying put at the Fire Cathedral, locked in the basement if necessary, for her own safety.
Everyone expected an explosion of curse words and violence that never came which frightened them worse than if she had been true to style and freaked out completely.
Are you done?" Phoenix asked impatiently when the tube was full.
"One more," Viktor replied.
"Vampire," she accused.
"I'm simply concerned about you after hearing what happened," he said, studying her arms for signs of permanent damage.
"Concerned or just curious for your research?" she asked pointedly as his eyes traveled down her legs revealed by her shorts. Since he presently had the look of a serious scientist, she knew he was doing his job and not being a lecher.
"I'm glad to see there's still no indications of tephrosis."
Viktor removed the needle and pressed a square of gauze to her arm. He grabbed the rack of test tubes and slid his chair across the floor to the table where his computer was already queued up to her file.
"Viktor?" she called as he began clacking away on the keys.
"Hmmm?" he hummed, typing in her temperature and blood pressure stats he had taken earlier.
"Did you...did you know about me?" she asked as the clicking of his typing continued.
"Of course. I already told you I read all of your mother's research."
"No, Viktor. I mean...did you know that I was...an experiment to create a hybrid? A person who could shift between being human and an Infernal? A weapon?"
The typing immediately stopped. The whir of the centrifuge was the only sound in the room. Viktor issued a noisy sigh and his head hung guiltily. That was all of the confirmation she needed. Being deceitful with her was something he could never be.
"Your loyalties still lie with them, don't they?" she gulped.
"Who?" he rejoined despite knowing exactly who she meant.
Phoenix refused to dignify his useless question with the answer he already knew.
"You're here to spy on the eighth after all," she stated in a harsh whisper because her voice deserted her.
Viktor reached into the drawer below his keyboard to pull out the syringe filled with a combination of a strong tranquilizer and a paralytic.
"You always have been a smart one, Phoenix," he said, sliding back over to her.
The squeak of the chair wheels covered the pop of the cap as he pushed it off of the needle. His eyes met hers while he held the syringe by his leg.
"I'm sorry. I'm truly sorry," he apologized, watching her face crumple into a questioning expression of sheer confusion.
Phoenix cried out in pain and surprise when he stabbed the needle into her thigh. Her hands reached out and grasped his throat, squeezing with all of her might. His eyes bugged out in fear and panic as she cut off his air completely.
Lucky for him, the mix of drugs was fast acting. Before he blacked out, her grip on his neck loosened. When she fell forward, Viktor caught her to keep her from hitting the floor face first. He wheezed and panted for the air she had starved his lungs of. He really did regret having to sedate her. But that was only the beginning of the shameful things he would do today.
Unable to pick her up, he hooked his arms under hers and dragged her over to the examining table in his office. Laying her back on the table, he swiftly bent to lift her legs before she slid to the floor. Covering her with a sheet, tucking it around her shoulders, he left his office to go to the kitchen. He needed water.
Hot and feeling a bit queasy, Viktor stood in front of the open refrigerator allowing the cold air to blow over him as he guzzled the water. If any member of the Eighth knew what he was up to, they would kill him.
"Licht!" Captain Ōbi's voice boomed behind him scaring the hell out of him.
Viktor squeezed the bottle of water, shooting a jet of water down his throat causing him to choke on what didn't come flying back out of his mouth to soak his shirt and doctor's coat. A powerful hand slapped him on the back to aid him as he coughed vehemently to eject the water from his lungs. He was convinced his spine would break if the man struck him one more time.
"Hey, careful there, Viktor," Ōbi said, reaching around Viktor to grab a sports drink. "Can't have you dying on us, can we?"
"I guess not," he coughed and wheezed.
That was twice within ten minutes someone had tried to kill him albeit one being accidental. If Phoenix had not gone out like a light, he would definitely be a dead man right now.
"How's Phoenix?" the concerned Captain asked, taking a seat on one of the bar stools.
Viktor stiffened and felt faint. He closed the refrigerator and sat down the nearby stool as his knees weakened. Akitaru Ōbi frightened him on a visceral level. The man could snap his skinny neck like a twig using only a single hand.
"She's resting in my office. I had to give her something," he confessed but did not tell the worried Captain the entire truth of the matter.
"Hmmm, I knew she would be upset about being left behind," Ōbi murmured, his eyebrows drawing together with worry. "But I can't risk taking her into the Nether with us and the White Clad getting their hands on her."
"Yeah that would be disastrous," Viktor agreed trying not to think about the fact he would be turning her over to Haijima practically gift wrapped.
"Get ready," he ordered the scientist. "We will be leaving soon."
"Sure thing," he replied, leaving the kitchen in a hurry to return to his office.
Since he had been given orders to prepare for their mission, his fast departure would not be suspect. Besides, they all viewed him as being a bit squirrelly anway, the typical 'mad' scientist.
Standing beside the unconscious woman on the table, Viktor gazed down at her. Guilt swam around in his gut making him feel nauseated.
She did not deserve this - any of this. But she was a valuable experiment. A stunning success Haijima could not afford to lose. They demanded her to be returned to them - immediately.
Viktor believed Phoenix had done nothing wrong even when she manipulated him to get information. She had a job to do and had done it no matter what the cost. He understood her motivations.
When she was a spy at Haijima, he had allowed her to use him because in a way, mostly out of respect for mother and pity for her, he had wanted to help her back then. His own quest for knowledge, to know more about pyrokinesis, trumped even his new found affection for the members of Company Eight which is why he was turning her back over to Haijima Industries to continue their research.
Viktor pressed his hand to her cheek then her forehead to check for fever. Her skin felt warm, radiating heat into his palm. He took her temperature to be sure. Her body had become unstable, and he did not want her to overheat while unconscious.
"I really am sorry," he whispered.
Her actual core temperature was not elevated which was good. The rise in surface body temp might be due to her forced state of deep unconsciousness similar to a medically induced coma. He flipped open the locks on the windows before he left to join the others downstairs to don his turnout gear.
"Where's Phoenix?" Shinra asked Viktor, making him wince.
"In my office. Asleep," he added, his voice cracking and raising two octaves.
"Oh," Shinra murmured, looking positively devastated. "I was hoping I could talk to her before we left."
"Sorry, Shinra. I had to calm her down so I gave her an injection. She was going ballistic because the Captain had told her she would be staying here," he lied, the nausea welling back up.
Phoenix had come to him after her talk with Captain Ōbi for her check up. She had been shockingly accepting of his orders for her to stay at the Fire Cathedral. Her tranquility had amost terrified Viktor. She did not lose it until he injected her. Understandably so because she knew he was a threat to her in that moment. She was always a perceptive woman. He regretted abusing her trust, all of their trust, in him.
"Licht! Get a move on!" Vulcan yelled at him from the driver's seat of the Matchbox.
Once his butt was planted in the passenger's seat up front, they were on their way to invade the Nether. He had no idea how he would explain her absence when they returned to the Fire Cathedral. Somehow an excuse would present itself even if he had to blame her saying she ran away because her mental state had grown unpredictable along with her physical status.
~\'/~
The two lower ranked White Clads stood outside the ground level window having been instructed where their Angel would be waiting for them. Although they had been told she would be unconscious, they still had good reason to hesitate.
"Are you sure that spy we planted at Haijima can be trusted?" asked the one literally shaking in his boots.
"Yes, for the tenth time," hissed the other, shoving the flat end of the crowbar under the window that is supposed to be unlocked. He pushed down on the bar and the window raised with only a little bit of resistance due to the old frame. "The intel we received is good. He took care of the scientists who were supposed to come get her."
"Why did they send us?" he inquired, sounding a bit whiny at this point. "We're so low ranked and - "
"The others are busy with those fire soldiers from the eighth. Look you coward," growled his companion who had lost his patience. He whirled around and grabbed the frightened man by his cloak and shook him. "Snap out of it! They've entrusted us with an important job. We have a free and clear shot to finally raise up in the ranks."
"Yeah, but - "
"Shut up and get in there," he snarled, shoving the man through the open window.
The wimpy White Clad hit the floor and rolled, crashing into a tray of metal surgical implements that fell with a loud bang sending the tools clattering across the tiles.
"You idiot!" his companion yelled as he crawled through the window.
"But you - "
"Get up!" the man ordered him, walking over to the table where the woman lay. "Hmph," he snorted waving his hand over her face despite her eyes being closed. "She's still out cold after all that. He must have dosed her big time. Good for us or she would probably incinerate us both like she did our comrade at Company One."
Although Phoenix had not moved a muscle, she was far from being out cold. Awake, able to hear everything, but unfortunately unable to move because the paralytic had not worn off as fast as the sleeping drug. She had been lying here plotting Viktor's demise, and it was not going to be fast or painless.
Then she heard the window being raised. If these idiots were not here to kidnap her, she would have found their bumbling antics comical. No matter how much she willed herself to move, her numbed muscles would not cooperate.
Phoenix wanted to scream and punch the man as he pushed one arm under her knees and the other under her shoulders wrapping the sheet around her like a cocoon. She could not even grunt in protest when he lifted her from the table.
Goddamit! I hate this!, her inner voice screamed, trapped in a useless body. When I escape the White Clads and get back to the Eighth, you are a dead man Viktor Licht.
~\'/~
"Wake up, my Angel," a lilting, ethereal female voice called to her.
Phoenix opened her eyes. The blinding white light bouncing off the stark white walls forced her to close them again just as quickly. The cold air surrounding her convinced her she was trapped inside her mind in another dreamscape. At least the voice she heard did not belong to Shō Kusakabe.
"Do not be afraid. Open your eyes," the voice implored her.
Phoenix tried to move but still could not sit or stand. Yet it was not due to the drug keeping her muscles frozen. The muscles contracted attempting to move her arms and legs which resulted in jolts of agonizing pain shooting through her entire body. Opening her mouth, she screamed in response to the unexpected and overwhelming physical torment.
Her muscles felt like they were unraveling fiber by fiber, coming apart on a cellular level. The ache in her bones made her believe they would shatter to pieces any second. Heat, enveloped her body, hotter in places than others, receding then growing in intensity as if flames licked at her skin.
"Open your eyes, my Angel," the soft voice ordered her ever so gently but with a force she could not ignore.
Gradually her eyelids parted so her eyes would adjust to the overpowering light. Phoenix saw a statue of about eight or nine feet tall of a cloaked woman. All of her face was hidden under the folds of fabric of the hood except for her mouth and chin. Her hands pressed together in front of her chest held serenely in prayer.
Glancing around, Phoenix saw that she hung suspended in the air, ropes tied to each of her wrists and ankles and attached to something somewhere unseen as if they meant to draw and quarter her.
"Welcome home, my dear," the woman said.
Phoenix's eyes flew back to the figure. The lips stretched before the corners lifted upward into an ominous, cold smile.
Holy shit! She's fucking alive!, she screamed internally without uttering the curse words.
That bizarre little smile did not make her feel very welcome. She found herself too shocked to be afraid. Awestruck, fearfully captivated, and dumbfounded would better describe how she felt looking at the woman she recognized as the Evangelist.
Her body still felt like it was about to burn away completely but there were no flames on her. She remained suspended in space in front of the Evangelist.
"You are blessed, my Angel. Soon you will take your rightful place," the Evangelist said, her words sounding more like a threat rather than a blessing.
There was a sound like a thunderclap and everything went dark. Goosebumps raised over Phoenix's entire body as frigid air surrounded her and cooled her scorching skin that showed no signs of charring or incineration. Her bones still throbbed as if they might explode and her muscles writhed under skin in torturous spasms.
Light began to slowly filter through the darkness. Dim and a pleasant blue, the soft light eventually lit up the room around her. There were columns, dozens of white floor to ceiling columns but she could not see the roof they supported or the floor on which they rested. She was still suspended from the ropes tied off somewhere beyond her range of sight.
"Phoenix! Phoenix!" Shinra called to her from somewhere far away, possibly another dimension.
Her head whipped around wildly as she tried to find him in the darkness that encompassed the edges of her surroundings including the floor and ceiling. Everything remained concealed in blackness except for those damn pillars.
"Shinra!" she shrieked back despite the intense stabs of pain it caused in her head. "Shinra, I'm here! Where are you?"
Phoenix looked to her left. There was a large rectangle edged in blue like a window that allowed her to see into another world. There were more of the white pillars as if she looked into a continuation, or perhaps a mirror like reflection, of the place she was in.
She could see Shinra standing in front of Shō on a black and white, randomly patterned tile floor. He placed his hand on his little brother's shoulder. Shō knocked away his brother's hand with disdain which made Phoenix feel as if she had been sucker punched in the gut. He quickly shoved his big brother away and drew his sword.
They both disappeared from her sight to reappear beside one of the columns as a yelp of distress echoed through the vacuous room. A circle of light, similar to a spot light, centered on them, illuminating Viktor with his body pressed against the column with a wide grin of unadulterated terror rivaling one of Shinra's anxiety grins on his face. The only thing keeping Shō's sword from piercing the man's neck was Shinra gripping the blade in his hand.
Damn, she thought, disappointed Shinra held his brother back from possibly beheading Viktor. She couldn't think of a more deserving fate for the man except dying by her own hands.
Phoenix could not hear what he was saying but Shinra said something then Shō punched him not just once but three times in quick succession. To her wicked delight, Shinra knocked his brother backwards with a fiery kick.
They continued trading strikes, either throwing each other around the room or giving chase to relentlessly continue delivering punishing blows. Although she knew Shinra had no intention of actually harming his brother, she could not help but think he would inflict some serious damage without regret. He most likely indulged in a pointless effort to knock some sense into his baby brother. But how can one fight undo brainwashing imposed on a daily basis for twelve years?
They both seemed to completely disappear at times. Suddenly, as if she had been some kind of special sight, she could see Shinra breaking apart into tiny particles of matter, moving through space and time before reforming at a different location. Shō did not actually move fast but basically slowed the passage of time by super cooling the air around himself. Ice particles even formed on his skin and clothes at times.
What the hell is going on? Is this real? A hallucination? Another hyper-realistic nightmare?, she wondered, truly unable to tell.
Shinra surged forward to attack his brother who slashed upward with his sword, sending Shinra flying backwards in his effort to dodge the blade. Shō stabbed the sword into the floor as if suddenly making the unilateral decision to end the fight. Moving fast as he simultaneously caused a lag in time, Shō swung the sword from left to right, hitting his brother with a powerful force that knocked him across the room and into a column.
"NO!" Phoenix screamed in mind-numbing panic.
Shinra coughed and blood streamed from his mouth to form a pool on the floor between his splayed legs. Pieces of the column he crashed into rained down on him hitting him in the head but not knocking him unconscious. He glared at his little brother through one open eye, the other already swelling closed.
"Shinra!" she cried. Her voice sounded muffled even to her own ears. The sound seemed to halt for no real reason as if she were trapped in a soundproof room enclosed by invisible walls.
Shō raised his blade. He was speaking but she could not hear the words. Growing frustrated, she cursed under her breath.
Shinra bent down like a competition runner at the starting line. Igniting his feet, he hurtled toward his brother only to be effortlessly rebuffed. He tried again to be slammed into another column.
Tears fell from her eyes unchecked. Phoenix did not notice when they dripped from her chin onto her chest like warm drops of rain. Her eyes were pulled away from the brothers locked in battle to the bushy haired man hiding behind one of the columns in relative safety observing the fight with far too much inquisitive glee.
"You son of a bitch!" she screamed but it felt like her voice went no where. "Viktor Licht, I'm going to kill you!"
Viktor blinked, glancing around the room. Somehow he heard her. His eyes held hers as he outstretched his arms, shrugging his shoulders, and shaking his head. He appeared as astounded and confused by her appearance here as her. His reaction gave her the confirmation she needed to know this is not a bad dream but a horrible reality.
Phoenix closed her eyes and pulled at her restraints despite the physical torture they imparted. Her muscles throbbed and burned, reigniting with the fire that had no flames. She screamed in agony before falling still to dangle haplessly from the ropes. These were not just normal ropes, and she surmised they were what caused her intense pain when she moved.
Raising her head, she saw Shinra held Shō in his arms in a brotherly embrace. His mouth moved as he spoke to him. For a long moment, as if someone had paused time, neither one of them moved. When Shinra opened his mouth to speak, blood poured forth instead of words.
"What happened?" Phoenix asked aloud.
Shō backed away a few steps, separating himself from his brother with a shocked looked on his already lily white face. His sword was buried in Shinra's chest to the hilt. The longer part of the sword exited his back straight through the cross on his jacket, the symbol of the Fire Force and everything he fought for - including his little brother.
"Shinra, no! No, no, NOOOOO," Phoenix screamed so long and loud her throat became raw. Her muscles contracted, and she purposely squirmed, inviting the physical pain to numb the much more hurtful emotions.
"Shō," Shinra huffed, embracing him again which pulled the sword deeper into his body. He grunted, his breathe coming in short rapid inhales and going in shallow exhales. "I won't give up on you little brother. I will save you."
Shinra's arms slowly let go of his brother. His body slowly lowered to the floor to a kneeling position, his head hanging forward onto his chest. Shō did not move and could only gape at his wounded brother.
A young blond girl appeared with what looked like a gold crown covering her eyes and wearing a white jumpsuit with a large part of the baggy sleeves missing to reveal most of her arms including the tattoo covering her left arm from the shoulder to her elbow. The tattoo looked like a sun over a computer power button with an exclamation point under that.
What the hell does that mean? It had some meaning Phoenix was sure since the woman is a White Clad and nothing was meaningless or whimsical to them.
"Hidey ho there, Shō," Haumea cheerfully greeted the Commander with a little wave. She cast a glimpse at Shinra down on his knees. Squatting down in front of him, she studied him momentarily before clicking her tongue as if to say "What a shame."
She skipped in circle around him before leaning down to get a closer look at his face.
"Awww," she cooed with mock concern. "Looks like someone couldn't control their speed and accidentally stabbed themselves. Well, you can't die yet Shinra. We need you to bring about the Second Cataclysm."
Haumea danced around a bit, happy and carefree. She abruptly stopped and snapped her fingers as if she remembered something.
"Oh, that reminds me," she gasped with excitement, clapping her hands. "We have a very special guest who will be joining us tonight."
A deafening high pitched whine filled Phoenix's ears. Once again she seemed to be transported; courtesy of the Evangelist no doubt. This time she found herself in the room with Shinra and Shō, positioned near them yet still apart as if she was being prominently displayed.
She could hear Shinra panting, desperately pulling in air as he knelt in front of his brother because he could no longer stand. The way he wheezed, his breathing labored as if the air would not enter lungs, she guessed the blade had pierced his diaphragm. He would die if he did not get help soon.
"Phoenix, no," Shinra whispered, gazing up at her with one open eye amidst a plethora of blood and bruises on his swollen face.
"Shinra," she sobbed in return.
"What a touching reunion," Haumea said, pretending to wipe away a tear. "Almost as touching as yours with your big brother, Shō. But nothing beats the emotional impact of a lover's reunion."
"Shō...make her become what she is meant to be," the Evangelist's voice commanded him. "Let them see her true form."
Phoenix glanced at Shinra who struggled to get onto all fours revealing the puddle of blood under his body. She watched in fearful dread as he coughed and more blood which splattered onto the black and white tiled floor.
The woman in the baggy jumpsuit skipped over to Shinra, grabbing a handful of his hair and snatching his head back so he would have to focus on Phoenix.
"You really should watch this, Shinra. The transformation into our Avenging Angel is something you can't miss," she said with a smile on her face.
Phoenix was fixated on Shinra so she did not notice as Shō approached her with his sword held out in front of him. Opening her mouth to speak, wanting to tell him one last time she loved him, no words came out. A searing pain in her belly garnered her attention.
The blade, still covered in Shinra's blood, sliced through skin and muscles then the punctured several of her internal organs before exiting through her back narrowly missing her spinal column. Presently, her blood joined his to drip onto the floor under her.
"Shō, no!" Shinra yelled despite his brother having already ran her through exactly as he had him minutes before.
Shinra's stabbing had been unintentional where Phoenix's was not. Tears zigzagged down Shinra's face, mixing with the blood to turn red. He opened his mouth and shouted something to her, but she could not hear him.
Phoenix smiled at him - a silent and pathetic good-bye. Only the purple blotches under his skin and blood smeared over his face kept him from looking like death - but not by much. His ruby irises remained unfocused as he tried to look at her through the waterfall of tears while blood trickled from the corners of his mouth.
Weirdly enough, she was more worried about Shinra than herself in that moment. The burning in her abdomen grew more profound, pulling her attention back from the man she adored.
Looking down at the heat source in the middle of her abdomen, the intensity grew. Oddly, there was no pain. Flames of orange and red emerged from her belly around the blade that impaled her. Ironically, now that she was actually on fire, she felt nothing. No pain, no heat, nothing at all.
Shō withdrew his sword which seemed to release the inferno that had been boiling inside of her this entire time. The orange and yellow flames gradually morphed into white and blue - the highest temperature flames hardly seen even in their world of abundant fire.
Make her become what she is meant to be...well, damn...here it is, Phoenix thought, closing her eyes. There was nothing she could do to stop it now. Her life as she knew it was over. The destiny she had been forewarned of in her little talks with Shō had arrived.
Everyone watched in varying degrees of horrified astonishment and dreadful awe as the white and blue flames consumed her, burning away her clothes then her skin and hair. Little black specks of her burned flesh swirled around her body in the heated air.
White hair sprouted from her charred skull. The snowy white strands lengthened until they reached her waist. Flawless white flesh covered her scorched muscles. When she opened her eyes, the irises were no longer silver but a frigid deep blue. Her wings extended, flames of the palest blue darkening to an intense blue at the tips to match her eyes.
At last, Phoenix pulled herself free from her restraints, snapping them like thread. She lightly floated down to land delicately on her bare feet. The flames covered her body like a dress, white ones starting at her breasts and eventually becoming dark blue around her feet. She was beautiful and terrible all at the same time.
Haumea let Shinra's hair go, clapping her hands in celebration of the complete transmogrification while laughing insanely.
"No, Phoenix," Shinra mumbled, pressing his forehead to the floor.
"Shinra, we have to go," Viktor said, pulling on his arm.
"No, he's staying with us," Haumea corrected him, grabbing his other arm and preparing for a short game of tug of war.
A bullet bounced off the back of her visor causing her to release Shinra and whirl around to find the source.
"Get your damn hands off of him!" bellowed Hinawa, leveling the gun at her chest and preparing to take another shot.
"She's gone...she's gone," Shinra moaned, grieving for the woman he believed no longer existed as he knew her.
But Phoenix knew him as she stared down at him from her position on the platform near the stone chair that looked like a throne for a king. She actually recognized him as the man she loved. Although her appearance had changed, her mind had not. She tried to tell him she loved him since she had a second chance. However, she could not speak. It was like her lips had been sealed shut preventing her from saying anything.
"Shinra's not going anywhere with you," Captain Ōbi growled at Haumea, bending down to easily pick up Shinra. He placed his gravely injured subordinate over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. He announced to his crew, "We have to go."
"But Phoenix...we have to..." Shinra mumbled weakly.
"There's nothing we can do for her now. You certainly won't be any good to her or your brother if you die here. We have got to go," his Captain reiterated as Shō stepped in between him and the White Clad with the crown visor.
"Go," Shō said to Ōbi.
Shō did not expect a thank you, and he did not get one as the massive man turned and ran with his mortally wounded brother. He kept his eyes on Haumea as the rest of Shinra's fellow fire soldiers followed to escape.
"Don't move!" Haumea shouted, shooting an electrical current toward Hinawa who pulled the trigger.
The bullet dropped harmlessly to the floor while Arthur pushed Hinawa out of the way to stop the brain frying electric shock with his plasma sword. She tried to shoot him again but the electricity crackled uselessly around her without going any where.
"Hmmm, that plasma is interfering with my signal and getting my wires crossed," she mumbled irritably, decidedly less entertained by the sudden turn of events.
A rumbling could be heard seconds before the floor started to shift and large pieces of stone from the columns and parts of the ceiling began to fall.
"Let's go, Haumea! Our time is up!" Yona shouted at her, already retreating.
"Tell me what happened twelve years ago," Shō demanded, raising his bloody sword to point it at her.
"You're kidding right? Don't threaten me," she scoffed. "It doesn't matter anyway."
"Yes, it does," he insisted, pushing the tip a little closer to her face. "Tell me."
"Quit messing around! We have to go!" Yona yelled at them.
"We don't have time for this," Haumea grumbled impatiently. She glanced at the Angel who stood on the platform in stupor. Their newborn angel seemed dazed and confused. "Grab her, and let's go."
Phoenix stared at Shō as he approached her. Her legs felt wobbly, almost too weak to support her as she tried to take a step back from him.
"Angel," Shō said, extending his hand to her. "We have to go."
But that's not my name, she wanted to tell him yet she could not open her mouth. She cast a glimpse at the retreating fire soldiers. Her heart broke as she watched Shinra's limp body hanging over Ōbi's shoulder.
"My Angel!" Shō yelled, startling her.
Phoenix had never heard him raise his soft voice the slightest bit much less yell. Her eyes met his giving her another shock. His eyes actually registered an emotion - sadness. There were tear tracks on his cheeks.
Rather than recoiling from him, she placed her hand into his outstretched palm permitting him to pull her into the darkness. She would not have to be alone in this awful place - and he would no longer be alone either.
Ending Author's Note: Hope you liked the update!
Just a few last thoughts...
First let me say, no, there is not going to be a romantic thing between her and Shō. Please don't go there because I am not. Sibling relationship only!
I know in the anime fight scene the blade was sheathed when Shō threatened Viktor with it so please don't point that out. It was a purposeful change on my part. I also diverged from Haumea's long diatribe about the second cataclysm since all of that information has already been established in past chapters of this fic. It would be pointless and redundant here.
I also truncated the fight between the brothers and made some other changes to the end scene as it took place in the anime. Those changes were necessary for purposes of this fic. Once again, I must reiterate, I never claimed this story would be absolute canon as a matter of fact I think I stated the opposite. I don't write canon fodder, but you should know that by now if you read this far. I'm also not writing a transcript of the anime.
I'm hoping I'm over that wall that had been blocking me, and I'll do my best not to let so much time pass before I update again. Thanks again for reading!