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The Phoenix

Matthew managed a smile when they hauled me up from that stupid pit the next morning.  His face was coated with bruises, but they had apparently made good on making sure they got baths.

Diane was staring straight ahead, her eyes blank with defeat, while Andie glared at the Enforcer who had the audacity to touch her.

None of us were bound; after all, where could we go when we were surrounded by every trained Enforcer, whether we could see them or not?

Luke's teddy bear was tucked in the crook of my arm, and I looked down at that little stuffed animal, its burden seeming heavier by the moment.

Our group was marched out of Enforcement headquarters into the square where Luke had breathed his last.  As we were prodded up the platform where I had watched his execution months ago, I wondered if I would see the stains from his lifeblood.

"You won't get away with lying to the people much longer," Andie hissed to the male Enforcer next to her.  "Much like the Blemish, you can't hide the truth of what we have released.  Killing us may delay your downfall, but it will not stop it."

He slapped her across the face, and Diane flinched at the sound of flesh meeting flesh.  For a moment, her eyes focused on the nooses dangling across the platform before they flickered to the crowd.

I counted silently as the mass of Enforcers moved off the platform.  Only three.

Someone clearly thought that I was going to change my mind last second, or they had something worse in mind for someone within our group.

Four Enforcers were left to guard us while the flood of humanity was corralled within the square.  The rest had moved to form an isolated ring far from the rest of the population.

"The leader," I whispered, and Matthew, hearing my words, allowed his gaze to move that way.  "Everyone except for our guards and the trainees are protecting him."

"What's the plan?" He muttered.

I left my eyes on that huddle of Enforcement as I let a small smile to grace my face.  "I use what I know about the leader against him.  He won't be able to resist what I'm going to offer him."

He blinked at me before he glanced down at the bear still tucked within my elbow.  He didn't get a chance to ask me the question that lit his eyes before his Enforcer yanked him away from me.

Matthew was shoved forward hard enough that he stumbled and fell to his knees.  The picture he painted with head raised high even with him being forced into such a humble position was exactly how I had expected him to look.

"Matthew, the son of the executed leaders of the traitorous Igniters," his guard intoned.  "He has broken many of the laws of our society, the least being disobeying Founding Law Five.  Despite the deaths of his parents, he has continued their treacherous actions, rising up a new group of Igniters.  Today, you will see all that remains of this group die and with it, the chaos that threatens to consume our world."

He went on to list all the crimes that Matthew had committed against Cineres before pulling him to his feet in time for the next one to push the cousins forward.

Andie had forgotten her self-appointed mission of harassing the Enforcers and was instead comforting her weeping cousin as they knelt in front of the entire population of our world.

It was my turn all too soon, and I felt my knees crack against the hard wood of the platform.

"Ilania, the last member of this supposed peaceful group, has broken the most Founding Laws of the four of them.  Not only has she disobeyed the First Law, she has broken Three and Five as well. 

"Unbeknownst to us when one of the Igniters was executed several months ago, the young man known as Luke, the two of them were involved in a romantic relationship.  You can be assured that she will die in a way befitting such treachery."

"I want to speak to my father!" I said, interrupting him as soon as he paused to take a breath.  "I demand the right to talk to him before I die."

The crowd stirred, and when the Enforcer hesitated, they began shouting for him to grant my request.  Nervously, he looked over towards the shuffle of Enforcement and some unseen signal must have passed through them, for he hauled me to my feet, marching me down the stairs.

Rather than going through the crowd to the assigned area for the families of those being punished, we made straight for that huddle.  A grim smile flickered across my lips when the mass of Enforcers parted before me, and my suspicions were confirmed.

"Hello, Father," I casually told the masked form of the leader of Enforcement.  "Mother told me that you had deeper secrets than I knew, but I suppose that you knew that she knew exactly what you were."

Those hands reached up and tilted the mask up so that I could see the face of my father. "She discovered too much."

"Which is why you killed my little brother and her before blaming it on a missed vaccine."

"I never wanted the child to die, but she confronted me at a time when my son won't have lived apart from her," he replied, confirming what I had just said.  "It was a painful but necessary sacrifice."

I pursed my lips, trying not to erupt.  "You wanted him to live.  You would have prefer if I had been the one to die with my mother.  When that didn't happen, you ignored me like it could solve all your problems.

"Luke gave me something that you had ripped from my hands.  He gave me his love, and I'm not ashamed of what we shared.  It was better than spending lonely nights alone in that house I called home, feeling unwanted!"

His eyes sparked.  "I should killed that boy the instant that suspicion entered my mind.  I should have hurt him more than I did!"

"You took everything that I ever cared about from me!" I yelled, no longer allowing my fear to fetter my tongue.  "I'm ashamed to even think that I'm related to the man who tortures someone simply because he fell in love with his daughter!  I'm ashamed to be half of a man who lies to everyone he knows and hides behind a mask like a coward!"

My father took a deep breath.  "I've always loved you, Ilania.  That's why I had Luke killed.  I didn't want you to be hurt by him later when he left you.  If you give him up, deny the Igniters, you can live, and we'll be the family that we should have been years ago."

I feared this silent bargaining portion of the leader than I did the screaming one with spittle flying out of his mouth.  As shiny and polished his promise seemed from the outside, I knew from experience what would truly happen.

However, as I caught sight of the teddy bear I still held, I saw my chance.

"Father," I said, holding out the stuffed animal, "allow me to give you this last piece of Luke that I've been clinging to as a sign of me giving up everything I've done in the past three years."

He took it, but moments before my hands left the body, I slyly flipped the switch that Luke had warned me never to touch.

"You won't regret this, Ilania.  Now, how about you head back up to the platform, so that the people can see that you have repented?"

I nodded even as I slowly counted down the seconds.  "I don't need an escort.  I promise I'll stay on the platform until the executions are over."

Ten...nine...eight...

Without waiting for his reply, I turned on my heel and started to maneuver my way through the huddle.

Four...three...two...

I broke into a run as a thundering boom exploded from the middle of the circle that threw me to the ground.  Once I had managed to steady myself, I rolled onto my back and sat up to find the entirety of the circle's center simply gone like it had never existed.

"Thank you, Luke," I muttered, remembering handing him the blueprints for a weapon that our ancestors had called a bomb.

Then I looked down at my legs and realized that I hadn't escaped the blast unscathed.  My feet were ablaze, and as I saw those flames licking greedily at my flesh, a scream tore out of my throat before I could stop it.

The first one to crouch beside my body was Meara, and I noticed that her eyes were flooding with tears.

"Why, Ilania?  Why did you choose yourself to do this?" She asked.

I swallowed, watching the fire spreading towards my knees.  "The world needed to burn in order to rise anew.  Luke made that bomb for this exact purpose."

She sighed, and I sensed a long lecture coming.  I didn't have enough time for that, so I grabbed her arm.

"Meara," I choked out as the flickering flames reached my waist, "find the Widow Anna.  Learn the truth."

Confusion flitted across her eyes, and I coughed with the smoke filling my lungs.

"Luke and I...we have...secrets.  Find them..." I managed.

The fire set my chest on fire, and I released her arm before it could spread to her.

"Go," I whispered hoarsely as I closed my eyes.

I felt the heat of the fire consume the rest of me, but by the time it burned through my face, I was already floating away.

When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was Luke.

My Luke, my beautiful whole Luke, standing in front of me with pride and love filling those lovely cyan eyes.

"Lane," he breathed before taking one last step towards me and engulfing me in his arms.  "You're here."

I tasted salt on my lips, and when he lifted his face towards mine, I saw that tears were tumbling down his cheeks.  With aching sweetness, he bent his head and covered my lips in a kiss.

There in his embrace, I felt peace and love overtake me even as the darkness and pain dropped away.

I had fought for the chance to free my world, but now my fight was over.

I was home at long last.  Home with the husband I had lost and drowning in his love.

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