Awakening pt.2

Howard was lost. Actually lost.

He looked around and sighed as he realized his plan was a little off and he probably died with not a lot to recover from, especially meaning his brain was destroyed. It didn't mean it was game over or he was going to lose his memory or something, and he didn't have any side-effect to it all except he would end up in this space.

Dark, empty with his body just floating in nothingness until his brain fully regenerates. At first, Howard wanted to see if he would ever meet death but he never did here. Since after all, his consciousness or his soul must be somewhere until his body recovered. But nothing, it was literally nothing.

It wasn't that this place made him uncomfortable, in fact, it was the complete opposite, he liked being here. It cleared his head of everything, it made him feel warm and complete but it wasn't the time to relax after all, if Diana couldn't handle herself it would be hard for all of them to defeat Ares. And in the worst-case scenario, he escapes. So even now, he was extremely anxious.

The overwhelming feeling was eating him from the inside until he realized, that the source of it all was external. He looked straight ahead and in the far of a distance, he could see a small light that grew bigger and bigger.

"Well, shit!"

"Good to see you again!" The light in front of Howard said, more exactly it was another Howard just extremely bright.

"Umm...What is going on?" Howard said being rightfully confused. The bright light shining in front of him like the sun wasn't irritating. The flare rising from well, his other self didn't burn him either.

"I can sense you're distressed," The other Howard said, "But fret not."

Without another word, the flare came towards him entering his head. He tried to escape but it was useless as the flare entered his head revising a long lost memory.

(A/N:- So this memory belongs to the original Howard not the protagonist. So it's from his perspective, not the MC's.)

It was the time before Howard took over the body when the real Howard had just been shot in the head by his father. It awakened something within him, that pulled him to this very same space and in front of him was the giant like bird, A Phoenix..No, THE Phoenix to be exact.

"Your soul is dying...let me help you." The Phoenix's voice sounded in Howard's head.

"How?" Howard managed to speak up, for him, it didn't matter where he was and what was going on. All he knew was that he was dying and all he hoped for was his survival.

"Your ability, your psionic ability is too powerful and it is suppressing your ability to heal." The phoenix's voice sounded, "As long as I can suppress it you'll survive. So take my hand as I will fulfill your heart's desire."

Howard without any hesitation accepted it and took the phoenix's hand as everything went to blank and when he woke up, it wasn't the real Howard anymore but it was Ray Smith from normal Earth who had taken over his body and in front of him where little James and Victor.

Howard opened his eyes as the other him was standing in front of him just as before but his identity was now clear. Not sure if Phoenix knew whether he was the real Howard or not, he was more confused than he was before.

"I have always been around you Howard and now with a divine being threatening your existence, I couldn't help myself."

"You know that I am not--"

"Yes." The other him nodded, "But it doesn't matter since as far as I know you're the only Howard."

"What about the other me?"

"He is no more."

Howard sighed but one question hunted his mind, "You can't read my mind?"

"No, and that's what makes you special."

Howard stood silent for a while as he figured out every solution and the way this could go, "I need to go out of this space."

"You can't as almost all your body were vaporized by Ares and the few remaining are burning in a sea of fire, so the best choice you have is to regenerate from your back up."

"You mean, I can't fully regenerate?"

"Yes, when Ares poked through your mind before he weakened the walls I created which was already on the verge of breaking." Phoenix said in an emotionless tone, "Your psionic abilities overwhelms your healing ability as it did before."

"So it's a choice between one of the two abilities?"

"No, unless you can control your psionic ability then you'll have nothing to worry about."

"So you've been seriously watching me, huh," Howard said shaking his head, regenerating back with his back up would be quite detrimental as the nearest he had one was back on the Island where he experimented on the Lycan, far away from the current battle "So can this psionic ability of mine, can it help me now?"

"Yes and No." The other him said, "Your ability is something I've never seen before, it shouldn't exist. And neither do you have the ability control it now. So it could but you just can't."

"So I am guessing we have no other choices than to me letting you in and becoming your host? So you can help me control it and keep it in check." Howard clicked his tongue as it was clear as day as to where this was going. Phoenix who still wasn't well connected with human emotions nodded but a look of surprise and doubt lingered in his face. "Do I have a choice?"

"We already have a link and I am already within you Howard." Phoenix said, "All I need for you to do is to fully accept me."

"Would I still be me?"

"If you asking whether you'll still be the conscious then yes."

"Why did you ever show yourself to me?"

"Because we're compatible, it's a kinship if you will."

"Can you help me a little before I decide," Howard said as the Phoenix nodded. With Phoneix's help, he quickly got a bird-eye view of what was going on outside. He quickly stopped the canon with Phoenix's help and got inside Diana's head calming her down as well.

And with just this as if an unspoken agreement formed between the two, Phoneix took on its original appearance as it absorbed into Howard.

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A/N:-

The whole riddle was supposed to be a hint to the phoenix force and it wasn't meant to be taken literally lol.