Author's note: This chapter was written in 2019 - I promise. Really, I promise.

A terrible disease broke out in Zilby. The streets filled with children and adults whose noses were blocked and who complained of headaches. Phoenix sent Annabelle a message. "Keep safe" it read "Don't go shaking strangers' hands. Eat your oranges, remember to keep your sanitiser on hand."

Phoenix didn't have to tell Annabelle to do all these things as she did them anyway without being told. Annabelle just smiled and took the instructions as a sign that Phoenix cared deeply for her.

"Remember that your life is important. It is important to me and it is important for Zilby because you are the reason that I fight as hard as I do" wrote Phoenix.

As she finished reading the message from Phoenix, Ferne' Brave, the boy who always hung in Phoenix's shadows came up to Annabelle and said frantically "Phoenix is sick. He is in the hospital"

"Why is he in the hospital? Surely a tissue would be all that he needs?" Asked Annabelle dismissively.

"Phoenix is so strong that when he falls, he falls hard" said Ferne' with admiration "He started convulsing. He must have caught the flu. He was fine, then he drank a glass of wine when negotiating with Lesser Lord George about reducing the interest rates. Immediately he started coughing and complaining of a headache. Now he is convulsing. The doctors rendered him unconscious to prevent swelling on his brain."

"He drank the wine of the Lesser Lord George – why would he have done that? For that manner why would he be negotiating interest rates with the Lesser Lord George?" Said Annabelle confused "Something doesn't make sense"

"Come quickly. Maybe your presence will be able to heal him. The doctors are beside themselves. Every time they try to take him out the coma, he starts seizing again."

Ferne' tried to grab Annabelle's hand, but she was quick to hit away, remembering Phoenix's cryptic warning.

They ran through the street, Annabelle tripped a couple of times, but eventually, they made it to the hospital.

"Annabelle" a doctor came to her. "We are going to try one last time"

A body lay on a bed in the middle of the room. A blue sheet covered the obviously very shapely form of a well-built man, but the camera did not focus on his features, and there was no way to tell for certain that the man was Phoenix.

"Don't do anything that might hurt him" said Annabelle

"Phoenix is not the type of man who you can leave lying on a bed. He wouldn't want to be building up debt that he had to pay back to the Mamlish. He is strong, if anybody can fight through it, Phoenix can" explained Ferne' to Annabelle.

"I just don't know if he is ready yet. Give him time to heal." Said Annabelle.

"He will only grow weaker and weaker" said the doctor.

The doctor pulled the drip out of Phoenix's left arm. Immediately the form started to shake and tremble

"No, Phoenix, fight, you can do it" Annabelle screamed. The form shook even more violently

"Phoenix, don't die" Annabelle sobbed.

Suddenly the body stopped moving. "I'm sorry miss," the doctor came and touched the top of Annabelle's arm "He is no longer there, he is dead." The doctor pointed to a screen monitoring Phoenix's heartbeat. "He is gone, but he will always remain in our hearts"

"He can't be gone" said Annabelle. "He can't be gone"

James didn't know much about writing female superheroes, but he did know that if you wanted to indicate that a woman had received superpowers you needed a scene where explained how her entire look changed. This was also a useful scene to have if the main female character was getting married or needed to become a popular girl in high school.

The easiest way to show that a woman had come into her own and had accepted the call to adventure was to have the woman no longer need to wear glasses. James was grateful that this trope did not seem to apply to men because he would be tripping over everything if he needed to walk around without glasses.

However, there was another problem that James faced, Annabelle did not actually wear glasses. Annabelle had uniformly up until this point, worn white short skirts and t-shirts. James had been told that she was actually quite graceful and in odd sort of way fashionable. She always wore long slinky red high heels, unless she was in a scene that actually required her to be playing tennis. Then she wore sneakers – not tekkies – although James was not entirely sure what the distinction was.

Her hair would fall in front of her face a lot, it was always loose – Phoenix liked to have something to run his fingers through.

At all times, although it was an unconscious choice on James's behalf, Annabelle's legs were emphasised. So long and tender and easy to buckle and bend.

This much was clear, Annabelle needed a transformation. She needed to be a superhero. There must be nothing soft or giggly about her.

"I have been reading the script" said Vanessa, the actress who played Annabelle, "I think that the Annabelle needs to wear a lot of silver."

A make-up artist came out from behind the curtain. "We always tried to dress Phoenix up with themes of fire and the sun, but I think that Annabelle as his compliment should be the moon and water"

"Phoenix is dead" said James coldly "He bears no more relation to the story. Please focus on Annabelle from now on. Her hair must be tied up, it mustn't move, she needs to become stiff"

"Spray me with hair spray, Darlene" said Vanessa to the stylist "This soft flowing mess is going to turn into marble"

The man thing is that Phoenix had promised was to kill any man that hurt Annabelle. But now Annabelle was in a lot of pain and Phoenix wasn't there. No man had ever hurt Annabelle as much as Phoenix had. She wrung her hands in anguish. She thought to herself bleakly that maybe Phoenix had in a roundabout way had killed the man who hurt her.

Annabelle lifted her head and saw the bottle that was on the nightstand next to Phoenix's bed.

"Top Secret" it read "Drink me"

It didn't make sense, how could a man that was the picture dictionary definition of strength and vitality be dead. And to have died of a summer cold no less. Men like him were not supposed to be fragile and get seizures and die. She had never seen or read of anything like that. Phoenix had shrugged off bullet wounds and had laughed after being bitten by rabid dogs.

"Top Secret" she read the words again "Drink me"

Could Phoenix have been poisoned? He had always been so careful with what he ate although he drank any junk that could get him drunk. Even so, she doubted that he would have been so foolish as to drink something that said "Drink me"

Her life was so miserable without Phoenix by her side that she didn't see the point of going on. She grabbed the bottle and poured the contents down her throat. Immediately a burning sensation filled her entire body, her clothing began to rip and tear as muscles grew and flexed underneath the surface. Terror filled her mind and a blinding light filled the room. Was this what death felt like. It wasn't what she thought it would, where her body grew weaker and weaker until it stopped working altogether. Instead, she looked down and noticed that her clothes had completely changed. She no longer wore shirts and a modest yet flattering top, but instead, she wore skin-tight jeans. And had metal top, with circular orbs for her beasts to fit into. It was a bit clanky, but she felt empowered by it. She looked straight ahead at the camera and then said.

"Right boys, I believe that the Lesser Lord George has been spreading lies about how Phoenix died." She walked out with swagger.