Phoenix sat at Maverick's bedside waiting for him to wake up again. She'd carried him back through town, leaving him in Finny's care and going back for her parents' bodies. She'd carried each of them the long way back to Finny's home. Though tears streamed down her face, she kept her jaw set, her gaze raised, daring anyone to come forward or say anything. The cowards remained shut in their homes, away from her sight.

When both Norman and Claire had been carried back, Phoenix wrapped them in linens Finny provided her, and prepared them for the journey into the next life. Maverick remained unconscious, though Finny said his wounds didn't seem quite as mortal as she'd originally believed.

Just as Phoenix covered Claire's face to keep her clean and dry until the funeral rites could be done, Finny called out to her. Phoenix had been sitting at Maverick's side ever since.

As he stirred, Phoenix straightened, moving off her chair and kneeling beside him. "Mav?"

He groaned. "Where am I?"

"You're at Finny's. You're safe."

"Mom. The fire." His eyes snapped open and he lurched up, grunting and dropping back down into the pillow, sucking air through his teeth.

"Lie back." Finny put her hand on his forehead, her wrinkled lips pursing. "Your fever broke." She shifted her attention to Phoenix. "He'll live."

Phoenix didn't look away from her brother. While he might physically recover, the haunted look in his eyes as he turned to her would be harder to overcome. 

"They're gone?" His voice cracked as he asked. Phoenix nodded. "Are you...are you Laina?"

Phoenix frowned, scooting closer to his bedside. "Of course it's me. Did the fire affect your eyesight?"

Finny cleared her throat. "Your transformation is complete, Phoenix."

Stomach lurching, Phoenix glanced back down at her hands, the marks unfaded. "I guess I already knew that." She turned back to her brother. "Mav, it's me. This is me."

His brow furrowed and he turned his head so he stared up at the ceiling. "Everything has changed." He shifted the sheets, glancing down at his side. "And none of it's a dream."

"Can you tell me what happened?" 

Maverick's throat bobbed as he swallowed, tears pricking the corners of his eyes. "After you left, Mom and Dad told me things weren't going to go well with the Army, but to trust them. They said everything would happen how it was supposed to happen, and I wasn't to react."

"They knew?"

He nodded. "I asked them what they meant - why I shouldn't react. Dad said reacting would only get me killed, but if I trusted him, it would all be okay." Maverick shut his eyes. "I thought he meant for all of us.

"When the Army arrived, things seemed...wrong. Eric didn't act like himself, and one of his men took charge, asking aggressive questions. He knew about Mom and Dad's meetings in town, who mom was, and who that meant I was. Eric wanted them to be treated with respect, but-" he shook his head, tears spilling down his cheeks.

Phoenix knew what he meant. After she brought them out of the fire, Phoenix hadn't really looked at them. After Maverick was safe at Finny's, Phoenix was able to see the damage that had been done. Whoever had given the death blow had chosen the most painful locations to stab Claire repeatedly, and Norman had been slashed across the chest. Both left to die, forgoing the tradition of a quick, clean death.

"He didn't care about them. He didn't just want them dead. He wanted them to suffer." Maverick's eyes were open again, but he didn't look at her. "He attacked them like a savage, and I didn't have time to react."

Phoenix pressed her head against the duvet, stomach churning. "I'll kill him."

Maverick didn't seem to hear her. "I went after him. I hit him, but not as hard as I wanted to. Eric pushed me back so I couldn't get to him."

"Wait, Eric pushed you back away from himself?"

"No. He pushed me away from the man who killed Mom and Dad. Jasma? Jonse? I can't remember his name."

"Eric wasn't the one who did this?" Phoenix straightened, the broken pieces of her heart twitching. 

Maverick looked her full in the face, his eyes like fire as his brows dropped. "Eric stabbed me." At Phoenix's silence, he nodded. "I went for the other man, but Eric pushed me back so I only managed half a hit. The man went down, but before I could even register anything else, I felt a sharp pain in my side."

"He stabbed you. Just like that."

"Just like that."

Phoenix sucked in a breath. "I'll kill them both."

"Only if I can't get to them first," Maverick replied.

Finny hadn't said anything, her face drawn and pale. "I think both of you are missing something very important."

"What's that?" Maverick snapped. "Our parents are dead. She looks like...that...and I should be dead."

"No, you shouldn't." Finny shook her head. "Your stab wound was deep, yes, but its placement was one of the only places in your entire body where you wouldn't die if someone got to you."

Phoenix let out a sigh. "Well we can thank Adonai for your lucky miss."

"You should get some rest," Finny said, squeezing Maverick's arm. "You both need to rest. Maverick, your parents will need to be set free tomorrow. If you want to be there, you have to sleep." Finny left the room.

Maverick remained quiet for some time, his jaw working as tears trailed down the side of his face. 

Phoenix finally stood, stopping at the door when Maverick said her name. She turned and saw his troubled gaze fixed on her.

"Yeah?"

"Eric never misses."

###

Leaving Maverick to rest, Phoenix wandered into Finny's main room. She knew where a mirror hung on the wall, and she hovered next to it, her stomach flipping. Steeling herself, she moved in front of it, sucking in a breath at the sight of her reflection.

She looked like them. She finally looked like them, and it broke her heart.

Gone were the lanky brown locks that, now she thought of it, resembled Norman's. While her eyes had never been quite as orange as Claire's, the new bright green were identical to Elyo's. Her hair, vivid and fiery red, had one strand of icy white the same as Selene's. Like her birth mother, her cheekbones were well defined, her nose pointed, but her chin and jaw were strong like her father.

"It's striking."

Phoenix jumped as Finny spoke, a blush rising to her cheeks at being caught staring. "I was only...I just wanted-"

"To see? Who wouldn't." Finny stepped up beside her, turning her back toward the mirror. "You look like them."

Tears spilled over, and Phoenix shrugged. "For the first time, I wish I didn't. I want to look like Maverick. I want to see Claire and Norman every time I look in the mirror."

"You looked nothing like them before, my dear. Don't try to convince yourself you did. This is who you are, who you're meant to be. Look here." Finny pushed back Phoenix's red hair. "The mark goes all the way up your neck on both sides."

"My birth parents don't have these marks."

"No. This is something else. Something uniquely you. They're marks of your power."

Phoenix turned her head to the left, the right side of her face exposed. The line did go up her neck, disappearing behind her ear. "What does it mean?"

"I've only seem them once or twice before. It usually means you're half of the story. There's a mirror to you, and you'll find it when the time comes." 

Phoenix rolled her eyes. "That's not cryptic at all."

"Cryptic is the best I can give you without knowing more." Finny wrapped an arm around her in a side hug. "I only know Guardians with markings like these usually come in pairs. Not always related, but always connected."

"So there's someone out there like me?" Phoenix frowned down at her hands, the lines almost seeming alive. 

"Maybe. Or maybe you'll be enemies. There's no way to tell." Finny reached her fist up and chucked Phoenix's chin. "It doesn't matter now. Your transformation didn't come gradually, as you expected, and now you'll have to face the consequences of what the fire has revealed."

"What did the fire reveal?"

"Your true nature. No matter what you do now, you won't be able to hide what you are. Who you are. Laina is gone. Phoenix, Guardian of Braskey, has finally arrived."

With one last look at her emerald green eyes, her vibrant hair, and her striking new face, Phoenix moved away, sitting down at Finny's table. "Maverick said something. About Eric."

"Hmm?"

"He said Eric never misses." Phoenix watched as Finny moved to sit across from her. "Do you think it's possible, I mean, could - could Eric have stabbed Maverick just to save him?" Before Finny could answer, Phoenix kept on. "Norman told Maverick that if he just listened, he'd be okay, that he'd make it through. And he did. Couldn't that be what Norman saw? Couldn't Eric have done one last good deed for my brother when he couldn't save our parents?"

Finny stayed quiet for some time, wringing her wrinkled hands. "I can't say. It's possible."

"It is." Phoenix dug her hands into her hair. "It has to be. It's the only way."

"The only way what?"

"The only way I still have a chance to save him." 

"Your brother is going to be fine." Finny stood. "You need to get some rest." She exited the main room, closing her bedroom door behind her.

Phoenix glanced around the main room. With Maverick in Finny's spare room, Phoenix would sleep on the couch. As she moved to lay down on the sofa, her grief sat heavy on her chest.

"I wasn't talking about my brother."

###

Eric marched, numbness filling him. It was done. Jensa had destroyed the Knight family, but Eric had stabbed Maverick before Jensa could cause him unnecessary pain. It had been his final gift to his former friend. He'd hoped Maverick would survive long enough to be found, but Jensa - in a fit of rage after Maverick attacked him - lit the cottage on fire.

Now, Eric imagined what it would be like for Laina when she arrived to find her family dead and her home destroyed.

He imagined Abigail's disappointment when she heard what he had done. News would travel, even if he could never speak to her again.

Worst of all, he imagined the pride on his mother's face, and how pleased she'd be with Jensa's decision.

He saw this look all too soon. Narissa flickered into camp that night, Eric and the Army having moved out after the Knight family massacre. 

"My child." She wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so proud of you."

He pulled away, disgusted with both her and himself. Her brow arched, and he swallowed the bile rising in his throat. "I can't believe this is what Father wanted."

"It's what's best for Braskey. We can't have competition for the throne."

"It doesn't feel better. It feels wrong. Everything feels wrong and all there is is pain." Eric rounded on her, baring his teeth down at her as he grabbed her by the shoulders. "You've turned me into a monster, and you're proud of it. I can't take this anymore." He hit his chest. "I don't want to feel this anymore."

"Then don't."

Eric paused, blinking. "What?"

"Don't feel it anymore." Narissa reached up and pressed her thumb against his forehead, her pinky pressed against his jaw. "Feel nothing. No pain. No guilt. Just do what must be done. Don't think of this. It will only cause you pain. Listen to me, and trust me."

A wave of calm washed over him, settling deep down into his bones. The heartache, the battle waging within him disappeared. He felt nothing.

Narissa slapped him hard across the face. Eric jerked back. "What do you feel?"

Eric assessed his own emotions. No anger. No pain. No frustration or disappointment. "Nothing. I feel nothing."

"That's my boy."

###

Castor sat still, watching Altair as he moved through the trees, reaching out and touching them as he passed. 

"Is it too late?" Altair asked, his body facing Castor, his face hidden in light. "Is he too far gone?"

"He's never too far gone." Castor's heart lurched and he shook his head. "He can't be too far gone. We have to believe there is good in him for the sake of the kingdom."

"And if not?"

Castor wouldn't even consider it. "He'll do what he was made to do. He'll bring peace to these lands. I know it."

Altair grimaced. "If not, then she'll have to do what only she can do. She'll have to do everything in her power to see her brother onto the throne." 

Castor shook his head. "I hope it doesn't come to that. I continue to seek peace for both of them."

 "As do I." Altair sighed. "I'd hate for the two of us to be at war."

"I will be at his side the moment he needs me."

"And I at hers."

Things are a bit more intense now.

What do you guys think about Phoenix's new appearance? About Eric stabbing Maverick to save him? Now Eric doesn't feel ANYTHING negative. Narissa has herself a little robot. Anyone else smell trouble, or do you believe Castor - is Eric savable? 

Speak now in the comments. Tell me ALL the things. I want to know the predictions and assumptions you've got going on in your heads.

Who is going to get on the throne? Who is going to make it through to the end? Will Eric be saved, or will Phoenix have to destroy him in order to save Braskey? And what of Maverick? Will he get through all of this?

Love you all. You rock!