C45: The Shadow Phoenix (Rebirth)

Breathing heavily, Alan stumbled back to his feet. The Crimson Magic... One might say one of the most brutal magic there ever existed was used upon them, even though it was 'accidentally.'

He looked around to see if anyone was damaged, but everyone was on their feet, and Lucy was right next to him.

"Lucy... Are you okay?" The girl raised her hands to grab onto something, just to stand.

From the explosion, her hearing was slightly scarred. She could only feel the mana around her, but the balance of her body was gone, so she could not use the Qi to sense anything around her.

However, she did notice that Alan was standing in front of her, from the weak mana that came from him.

"Alan... I can't hear!" She yelled.

The rain had wetted all their clothes, and the roofs were no longer rough, so she could barely move without slipping.

"Wha — damn! Come on! I'll carry you,

Lucy!" Alan leaped towards her and got her up to his hands on a princess carry. By instinct, Lucy wrapped her arms around his neck and held close to him.

"Mmm..." she felt utterly shy because she had never been in this position with a boy before.

"Here we go, Lucy! Hang on tight!" Alan leaped through the air, from roof to roof until he was a good distance away from the church.

The others did the same.

"No, Owl! Put me down! I need to –"

"No! I won't let you die, Elijah!" Owl grabbed the two girls around their waists and leaped from roof to roof, till he was far enough to confirm their safety.

***

"Fuck it... Claire's gonna be mad when she sees me like this." Ray walked down the road, covering the wound in his chest.

A wooden plank had gone through his stomach, and now... He was bleeding. Thankfully, the Blood Mage escaped, or she might've just sucked up all his blood in an instant.

'And that damn Foxes....' he gazed at the sky, and above, he could only see the dark clouds and the constant arcs of lightning that ran from cloud to cloud with the constant flashes.

'...I'll find you... No matter what. I'll give you a slow death, so your souls may go to the afterworld with no suffering... my friends.'

He could hear the people on the streets screaming and the crowd who lived nearby, coming out to see what the commotion was.

Ray leaped into the air and landed on a roof. With all his strength, he pulled out the piece of wood stuck to his stomach and covered the blood outage with his right arm.

Chuckling, he leaped from roof to roof, dashing back to his mansion. 'Glad I didn't die...'

***

That day, the Blood Mage, the Foxes, and the Moon King escaped, going on their separate ways, hoping to meet each other once more.

"Hmm... That was fun, wasn't it guys?" Rick said, amusingly, gazing at the line of rebels sitting beside him.

The rain had stopped, finally. The tension of the town had grown quiet. The night had reached its peak, and everyone was asleep, except the Foxes, sitting on a line on the bridge that connected the two watchtower, facing the docks and the vast sea.

Everyone chuckled upon hearing Rick's words.

"Damn... That was darn hard —" before Alan could finish, Lucy grabbed from his collar and pulled him closer to her, kissing him on the cheek.

"Thanks for saving me!" She blushed, and looked away, shyly.

Riza and Winry felt like they were hit by lightning when they saw this.

Winry: 'NOOO!!!'

Riza: 'GETAWAY, Lucy!!! GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM MY LOVER!!!'

Rick laughed upon seeing this. Before things got worse, he changed the topic.

"For tomorrow, Elijah... What may we do?" He asked Elijah.

Elijah, who was silent for a long time, finally spoke. "Tomorrow... We set sail to Monorith, to find this Bloodstone." She said.

"That is our main mission, right? Finding the Bloodstone, killing the Blood Mage, and eliminating the Queen of Monorith." She reminded the group about the whole mission.

Elijah turned to Katie and Rick. "So... I don't think you guys chose to work with us. Are —"

"Nope... It's not like I've got anything interesting to do, Elijah. I'm in... Dunno about sis, though." He said.

It took him a minute to figure that he just called his big sister, 'sis,' after a very long time.

'Oh shit.'

"Aw! You called me sis!! You called me sis, again!!!" Katie hugged him, tightly, pressing him closer to her. "Thank you, Lil bro!!!"

"Oh God, get off me!" Rick pushed her away, huffing.

"Well... Katie? What will you do?" Riza asked Katie. Riza and Katie shared a little history, of being the best of friends, until they departed at Riverria.

Smiling, Katie turned to her. "What else, bestie... There's nothing better than hanging out with the old team, and also... I think I need to learn a lot more about my 'new' friends..." she said, with a wink to Alan.

Riza tugged her arm around Katie, pulling Katie closer to her and giving her a warm hug.

Elijah gazed at the sea, silent and utterly still. No ship was sailing in the night, not within a thousand-mile radius, because ships were forbidden to sail the seas in the twilight.

"What do you say, Elijah? We go back to being the Shadow Phoenix?" A voice asked her, from her left. She turned and saw Luke.

"Luke... What are you saying?"

"The Shadow Phoenix... Why can't we be the Shadow Phoenix once more? Owl is here, Riza, Lucy, and even that Alan boy, with the two thievish siblings! Haha..." he winked at Katie.

"Hmph!" Katie slapped Luke on the head. Scratching his head, he continued.

"...Why not pull all of these people back together? Why not be a two-sided coin once more. We become heroes in the light, we become shadows in the night."

Elijah's mind turned upon hearing Luke's words. Everyone was listening to Luke, and no one seemed to have any objection.

Elijah looked at the faces in the line of Foxes, sitting right beside her. Biting her lip, she asked them, "Anyone who wants to be Reborn?"

'Oh, this fuck again...' Alan thought, shaking his head at this. 'I've been reborn and it already feels like —'

[Say yes!!!!] A voice boomed in his mind. [Hmph! Say yes, you idiot!!] The voice spoke again.

Upon hearing this voice, Alan was dumbfounded. Again, his past wife's voice echoed in his head, and this time... Not in his sleep.

"Alan?" After receiving everyone's confirmation, Elijah turned to Alan, who had a dumbfounded expression on his face.

"Why are you surprised?"

"Umm... I'll go with your plan. After all, I'm your slave." Alan smiled at her bitterly. This made Elijah slightly blush, and made Owl suspicious.

"Good you remember that! Hmph!" The girl huffed, looking away pridefully.

"Hehe..." Alan chuckled slightly, upon hearing this and especially, seeing her act that way.

The group sat there in silence for a while, until Elijah removed the buckle on her cloak, and dropped it down.

"Everyone... We might not need this, again." She said, pulling out her cloak and taking it to her hand.

All of them followed her, and got out of their cloaks, back to their normal dresses. Since Elijah wore that cloak since she was a mere child, she never hoped to pull it down, even if she was king, but here they were, pulling out the cloak in the end.

Luke smiled at Elijah, holding his hand up, for Elijah to grab onto. "You're right, Luke. We should become the Shadow Phoenix once more... And we shall find peace and a new king." She grabbed his hand, smiling at him.

A flock of cloaks flew into the air, as they threw them, towards the seas. Everyone gazed at the view, for, they were no longer the 'Woodland Foxes.'

The badge of the Woodland Foxes sewed into the cloaks, shone through, as the cloaks flew away.

Everyone smiled as they saw this. It was like a flock of free birds, flying towards the horizon. A tear ran down from her eye, as she smiled. 'Thank you... Everyone.'

Elijah gazed at the sky, and her destiny appeared before her eyes. The destiny only she knew about, for all those years.

[You are... Destined to be the Monarch, Elijah Rayworth.]

[Destiny: King]

<<THE END: SECRETS ARC>>

UPCOMING ARC: SOULS WITHIN YOU...