Phoenix really hoped the new guy would die in his sleep. Alas, it seemed unlikely. Especially with Ethiria lying down on the seats across from him, reading.

After Phire helped Ethiria lay Roel down across the extra three seats at the back of the ship, Phire'd sat down on the co-pilot seat, next to Phoenix. Though she could've been in a whole other universe altogether, with the way she kept on turning around and looking across the glass at Roel every two minutes, just in case he hadn't died in the span of those two minutes or something. And when she wasn't looking at Roel, she was staring off into space — literally. Whoever Roel was, he made a very big impact on Phire.

"So," Phoenix broke the silence. Phire's eyes flicked towards him, an almost surprised look in her azure eyes. It felt as if she'd just realized Phoenix was there. He pretended not to notice. "Do you know him?"

He spoke in a quiet tone, though he couldn't have said why. The glass divider between them and Ethiria and Roel was soundproof, so they wouldn't hear him even if Phoenix started screaming his head off like a banshee.

Though again, he hadn't tested that, so perhaps they would be able to hear him...

"I did." Phire's voice was even quieter than his, he had to strain his ears to hear her. "He was my best friend" - her voice hitched with tentative uncertainty - "my only friend."

He grinned, teeth gleaming starkly against his dark skin. "But then you met me and decided to ditch him because I'm simply that amazing?"

She mirrored his grin, the shock of remembrance in her eyes momentarily gone. "Or maybe I decided that you beings needed to be introduced to real greatness."

Phoenix snorted at that, but perhaps there was some truth in it. She was the best close-range fighter in their sector. Though Phoenix could beat her in a fight with his own methods. Phire called them cheating, Phoenix called them making use of his inventory.

She looked behind her for the fifteenth time before speaking again. "I thought he was dead." Phoenix said nothing to that. He knew the pain of loss all too well. One could say they were old acquaintances. "Then I had to meet a moron who couldn't distinguish his own explosives. Sound familiar?"

Phoenix glanced away from her and back at the frontal window, ashamed. Then he felt annoyed at how he felt ashamed. Did she have to patronize him? "Look, I know I'm the reason this whole mission went to hell, but it was an accident, Phire." He was gripping one of the levers a little too tightly.

"I know." The sincerity of her voice startled him. But not as much as the long silence that followed. He glanced back at her sidelong after a while, thinking she'd fallen asleep. She hadn't.

Phire was watching the stars, a look of awe in her eyes. Whenever Phoenix looked at the stars when he was flying their starship, he simply saw darkness with pinpricks of light. Most of the time, he didn't even see the stars. All he saw in his mind was the destination he was trying to get them to.

But she gazed at the twinkling stars as if they were old friends, the kind one would whisper secrets to in the darkest parts of night. Phoenix couldn't help but watch her, mesmerized. She seemed so calm in those moments - serene, even - that he couldn't bring himself to look away.

Sometimes Phoenix wondered what went on in her head.

A voice suddenly spoke in his ear, shattering him out of his thoughts. "Eyes straight ahead, Phee." It took everything in him not to jump and scream "GHOSTS!"

It wasn't Phire that had spoken. In fact, she didn't seem to notice his alarm at all. The voice had sounded distinctly like Ethiria...

"You left your comms on, genius." Ethiria laughed in his ear again, and Phoenix whipped around to look past the glass divider and at where Ethiria was lying down across the seats, her holobook still in hand. She waved at him mockingly and pointed forward. Not wanting to say anything to disturb the silence, he just glared half-heartedly and turned back around, trying to hide his smile. He focused on driving after that.

* * *

Where was she?

Phire inhaled slowly. It smelt like burning. A smell that was all too familiar.

Her eyes snapped open. The sight that filled greeted her was a wasteland. The land she'd called her home gone, and only the rubble remained to tell the tale of the glory it once had. Phire knew what part of the castle she was standing in. The ballroom. She looked down at herself. She was still wearing the red gown from that fated night. A cold gust of wind glided through the air and snaked up the back of her neck. She shivered.

Remains littered the ground. A pillar here. Glass from the glittering lights that used to hang from the quartz ceiling. The humans had made sure to leave nothing behind. Coated over all the ruins and the ground was what seemed to be snow. Phire looked up. The stars weren't visible behind the white clouds that covered the sky.

Snowflakes were falling from above. She caught one small flake on the tip of her finger and examined it.

Not snow, she realized with a horrified start. Ash.

* * *

Phire gasped and opened her eyes, feeling the hardness of her seat and the comfortable dusty smell that she always associated with their starship. She calmed down. Just another dream, she reminded herself. You're not there again.

She hated how much her dreams scared her. Sometimes, it would get to the point where she was too afraid to fall asleep, in fear that another dream like that would greet her. What happened that fateful night wasn't something she wanted to relive.

And yet, her dreams insisted on otherwise. She wondered whose side her brain was on.

"You okay?" She turned to her left. Phoenix had his eyes focused in front of him, though he raised his eyebrows pointedly in concern.

"Fine, fine." She dug the heels of her palms into her eyes, wishing she could remove all the horrors she'd seen. It didn't work. "How long was I out?"

He didn't seem convinced that she was fine, but he left it. "Not sure. I think you dozed off for like ten minutes."

She sighed and looked up at him, long and hard. Phoenix, with his dark skin, long black horns on his head, and that mischievous smirk he always had. She did her best to avoid looking at his golden eyes for too long. The burnished amber color of them reminded her too much of home.

Phoenix groaned as he looked at the radar, ruining the moment he wasn't aware of.

"What's wrong?" She asked him, peering at the radar too. It didn't make much sense to her, just a bunch of dots and symbols that blinked back at her.

"Checkpoint terminal up ahead," he sighed.

"Ah." Checkpoint terminals were run by the Innwatch, which was the basic authority of most of the space between planets. They claimed to be run by the Inneco, which Phire highly doubted. The 'gods' haven't been seen for many centuries. It seemed as if the Inneco just wrote the Exciel — the book of laws and principles all planets must follow — hung around for a few centuries to oversee everything, then disappeared back into their own planet. No one has seen them for over a decade. Some believed that the Inneco lived among the normal society and species, spying on them to make sure they were being loyal followers. Some believed the Inneco to be somehow dead, despite them being immortal.

Phire honestly didn't know what to believe. The gods had never helped her before, so why should she care, anyway?

Peering into the void, she could make out the line of giant cargo ships chained together, forming a sort of barricade. There were spaces between the ships for other starships just big enough to go through and be checked for authorization to pass through to the next sector. If a ship tried to just zoom past or over, they'd be chased by a fleet of the fastest kind of starships from inside the cargo. Rumour had it that the ships used pieces of actual stars to power their ships, so the starships could even catch a starship trying to warp through the checkpoints. Phire wasn't sure how that worked, as one couldn't actually see a ship warping through space. Phoenix probably knew, but Phire didn't really feel like listening to him rant about astrophysics again.

They neared the checkpoint, and Phoenix slowed to one of the spaces. He waited until the Innwatch on duty made a connection to their ship and spoke in their starship's speaker.

"Names of occupants, business, and destination?" They asked in a monotone voice, clearly bored. Phire couldn't place their gender as she glanced across Phoenix and at the cargo ship, where the Innwatch sat, sipping from their drink. They had vibrant orange hair and scaly skin, and piercing green eyes that watched them with little interest. Perhaps they were Fei — of neither gender.

"Ash elite from the Ayros corps." Phoenix said into the speaker. Phire didn't how their face darkened at that. The Innwatch had some ridiculous one-sided rivalry with the Ayros corps. They always thought of them as upstarts trying to be better than the Innwatch. It never failed to make Phire scoff. The Ayros corps was obviously better. They actually fixed problems.

Though usually, the relationship between the Ayros corps and the Innwatch was just mutual dislike. Phire could've been mistaken, but when the Innwatch glanced at her, a look of utter loathing flashed in their eyes. Phire blinked, but the cool, disinterested look they had before was back, and the moment had passed. Weird...

"I'm Phoenix, this is Phire, and there's Ethiria in the back," Phoenix continued. "We're going back to our headquarters from our mission." Most beings didn't have surnames, such a thing was usually saved for those of nobility, because they seemed to enjoy showing off their bloodline. Not many beings had the same name anyway, so there really wasn't much need for surnames.

"Alright," they tapped a few times on their tabloid, initiating a virtual scan while still sipping from their cup casually. The Innwatch looked up with a frown. "Says there's a fourth being back there?"

Phoenix blinked slowly, confused.

"Roel," Phire provided helpfully.

"Oh," Phoenix nodded. Phire refrained from rolling her eyes. "Right. We found him as a hostage during our mission so we took him with us."

The Fei watched Phoenix carefully with their poison green eyes, as if looking for something. Phoenix shifted uneasily under their stare, but didn't look away. Phire had once read somewhere about species that could discern whether a being was lying or not. This Innwatch was probably something like that. Beings with that sort of ability were mysteriously wiped out a few loops ago, so it surprised Phire to find another living lie detector before her.

"Clear," they finally said. Phire let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. Something about the Fei unnerved her. "Are you demonspawn?" They nodded at Phoenix's horns. A muscle on his face twitched as he started up the ship again.

"Of the worst kind," he said airily. "And if you're not nice to your mother, I'll come back and add your bones to my collection." He grinned a dark grin, and their starship zoomed off again. But not before Phire caught the look of surprise on the Innwatch's face. Phire bit the inside of her cheek, trying not to laugh.

"That can get you in trouble," she told him. Phoenix, who was fuming, hadn't noticed her trying to hide her grin.

"They keep judging me because of my horns." He gestured to the horns in question. Horns were quite rare in most species, and some believed that beings with horns were descended from the demons that were said to reside in black holes. Which was absolutely ridiculous. The story of black-hole-inhabiting demons was just some old myth sworn to be true by delusional pirates. "Honestly, sometimes I wish I didn't have them."

Phire shrugged. "I like your horns," she said without thinking. And she did. It suited him. Phoenix glanced at her, surprised, and slowly smiled back.

* * *

"Aaaand, touchdown." Phoenix announced when he finally landed their ship on their spot with little trouble.

"Finally," Phire stood up and stretched before the engine even had time to turn off. She opened the glass division to the rest of the ship and went over to the exit door, leaving the stuffy ship with Phoenix turning off all engines and Ethiria putting away her book and stretching. Phire gave one last concerned glance at the still-sleeping Roel before walking out.

The bright light of the hangar attacked her eyes, and it took Phire a bit of blinking for her eyes to adjust. When her vision cleared, she found herself surrounded by a familiar scene. Other starships were landing nearby, the whines of them dying down as the engines turned off. Beings in blue uniforms walked by, directing spaceships and making sure the areas for landing and takeoff were clear. Some beings rushed past her, carrying repair tools. The noise that accompanied the commotion was deafening, and Phire quickly felt out of place amongst all the rush.

Phire turned back around to see Ethiria walk towards her. The first time Phire had seen Ethiria, she was thoroughly convinced that Ethiria was some sort ethereal angel, like the stories Phire used to listen to as a child.

Angels were stars with life breathed into them, brought down to live and mingle with ordinary beings and to perform great deeds and to go on dangerous adventures, each story more fantastical and epic than the last. The drawings Phire had glimpsed always showed angels as glowing warriors in golden glory. For some reason, the drawings always showed them like that before their gruesome deaths. Phire remembered asking her caretaker why angel drawings always depicted the moments before their deaths once, back when she was a small child. Her caretaker had just clucked and said "I suppose true angels shine brightest before they meet their fates, aricia."

Ethiria walked up to her now, her runes glowing dully in the bright light of the hangar. "I'm going to need a pallet for Roel," she murmured in Phire's ear. It felt odd, hearing Ethiria say Roel's name. Like two completely different worlds colliding. Ethiria looked up. "Oh, no, there's Dusit now."

Indeed, the in-charge of the hangar was approaching them, smiling as always. It was almost creepy how he managed to keep that grin on, and it always seemed genuine. "HAD A GOOD FLIGHT?" He yelled over all the noise. Even without surrounding noise, Dusit was always yelling. He didn't seem to know what an inside voice was, which, frankly, made him perfect for his job. You couldn't get louder than Dusit. Period.

"Passed by a few ghost ships along the way." Phire shouted back, completing the code easily. It was a simple line, there for Dusit to make sure it was the real Ash Elite and not some beings morphed like them in disguise. Of course, they didn't actually see any ghost ships. Those were rarer than dying stars. Impossibly, Dusit's grin grew wider.

"LOVELY TO HAVE YOU BACK." Ethiria winced. Phire sympathised with her. It seemed that everyday, Dusit made a new universal record on the volumes a being's vocal cords can reach.

Phire hastily excused herself, leaving Ethiria to suffer through asking Dusit to call for a stretcher. She needed to get out of the hangar before she exploded. It was a wonder how Dusit wasn't deaf yet, after all those loops surrounded by noise.

Once at a distance far enough away from the hangar that the noise was just a small buzz, Phire began to breathe easier. Gods, that hangar gave her a headache.

There weren't many beings walking the halls, as it was some time in late night. Or early morning. Depends on how one looked at it.

No lights adorned the ceiling, but the glow of the selenastone walls provided ample light for Phire to see by. Engraved into the walls were the words of the Exciel in looping calligraphy. One shouldn't question how we were brought into this universe, but rather why. Every being has a purpose to play in this life, and they cannot escape their fates.

What's my purpose? Phire wondered. To burn the human empire, she reminded herself. It had always convinced her before. But this time, it didn't convince her. It felt too simple, too... incomplete.

She forged on, navigating the hallways with ease. She'd lived in the fortress for almost a third of her life, though she'd never called it home. Home was a planet with gold skies and amber buildings. Home was a place that no longer existed.

And the being who was responsible for that was living on borrowed time.

In what felt like no time at all, Phire reached her destination. The double doors to General Ayros' office weren't particularly different from all the other doors. They were a cloudy white color, and it felt like fragile glass when touched. But it was just a trick, Phire knew. Whatever material the doors were made of, they could withstand anything.

She waited in front of the door patiently while the camera in front of the door recognised her face and let her in. She strode into the office, suddenly feeling conscious of the fact that her hair was probably a mess. Oh, well. Too late to fix that now.

She looked around the room with familiarity. Though his door was simple and uninteresting, Ayros' office was quite ornate. The walls were covered with drawings of a timeline of his endeavors, from when he sided with the Inneco in the War, slew the king of Tra'O, then rewarded for his valor by the the leader of the Inneco themself - the Inneco was featured as a void body with no features, as no one knew how they looked like, and those who did know weren't able to say; then Ayros moving on to found his corps after the Inneco had disappeared, for the good of the universe.

The slowly rising star gave a red glow to the office, the light rays bending and refracting though the glass ceiling. And sitting at his desk, going through his holograms and mail, was General Ayros himself. "Just give me a minute," he said without looking up, examining whatever he was looking at with vivid interest.

Phire studied him while she waited. It had been a while since she went to Ayros. The holograms distorted her vision of him a little, but she could make out his ebony-tinted face, his short hair barely visible as it blended with the color of his skin. The top of his forehead always had a line due to long loops of frowning in concentration.

After his promised minute, Ayros closed what he was reading and smiled at her. "Phire," he greeted. "How was your mission?"

"Unsuccessful," she chewed on her bottom lip as Ayros frowned.

"I'll ask you for details later," he said. "This wasn't what you wanted to talk to me about, though, correct?"

Of course, he was right. Ayros could read minds, and Phire didn't know of any species that could do that except for Ayros. It circulated a lot of rumors about him, each even more ridiculous than the last. Ayros was a fallen star, Ayros was an Inneco in disguise, Ayros was the killer of the Inneco. If Ayros knew about the rumours, they didn't seem to bother him.

"Yeah, no," Phire stammered. She wanted to sink into the floor. "But in the mission, we found a hostage and..." she trailed off. Did she really have to speak? Ayros could just see into her mind anyway. She didn't like the idea of anybody looking into her thoughts, but she supposed it could've been a much worse being than Ayros.

He probably took pity on her, because he completed her sentence for her. "You want me to let him stay here," he mused. He paused and tilted his head as he studied her. "You know him? Ah, a childhood friend." he frowned. "I thought you were the only Ambrosian left? Oh, he was a prisoner, you said, the humans must've taken him with them. But why?" He wondered.

The thought struck Phire. Why did the humans keep Roel specifically? They killed everybody else. Except her, of course, but her survival was accidental.

She stored the questions away in her mind for later. "So can he stay here for now?"

"Hmm?" Ayros waved a hand dismissively as he went back to his holograms. "Yes, yes of course. But he'll have to join training and your duties with the Ash Elite so nobody starts asking questions and getting their friends to sleep over or something."

"Thank you," she beamed a genuine smile then walked out of the office, a small burden taken off her shoulders. Thank the gods Ayros liked her, or else he never would've agreed to letting Roel stay.

Now, Phire thought as she headed for her room, time to sleep until the next decade.

She just hoped that she wouldn't get any unwanted dreams again.

~*~*~