Suki, Amara, Takara and Mono tore through the twentieth floor dungeon. They had been tracking Phoenix and Tem since they had departed, just in case something happened. And When Trent's beacon went dark, they knew something was up. They had teleported down and ran like the wind. Suki was hoping they weren't too late, they couldn't be, not after all this could they lose another so soon. They were coming up on Phoenixes and Tems location. But as they drew close, it was clear something bad had happened. Bright blue player blood was splattered all over the walls, weapons, pixels and torn up clothing were littered everywhere.

And around a blind corner came a blood curdling scream. It was inhuman, and yet it could only have come from one person Phoenix. And as they slowly edged around the corner they saw a truly horrific sight. Phoenix stood only twenty feet away. He was covered in deep cuts, he was missing two fingers on each hand, covered in player blood, he was surrounded by swirling pixels, and he had Tempest in one hand, Lightbringer in the other, and Tems bow in his right hand. He was knelt down on the floor, crying, a weapon in each hand, leant back, and just sitting there. "Phoenix?" Suki yelled trying to get his attention. Immediately his sword was at her throat, glowing with electricity. "Phoenix, stop it's me, Suki." She said flinching back. Phoenix slowly lowered he blade and kneeled on the ground in front of Suki. And kneeling in front of Phoenix, Suki confiscated the weapons, and she looked straight into Phoenixes eyes. And what Suki saw frightened her. His left eye had literal electric sparks flying through it, and the other held a pure white flame. Both his eyes were blood red from crying. And while they held power, they held an unimaginable sadness. His eyes were broken like glass.

Cradling Phoenixes head in her hands Suki slowly rocked him back and forth. "Phoenix what happened?" She asked looking at the carnage around her. "W-we were ambushed." Phoenix began, still crying "Trent was killed first, they stunned us, and I couldn't do anything." He wailed. Sobbing into Suki's shoulder. "They somehow knew me, said I killed their friends, and they wanted to punish me." "Ok, Phoenix, what happened after that? And where is Tem?" Suki asked, but she already knew the answer. "Th-they killed her, right in front of me, and once they did, the paralysis wore off, and I tore them apart, even after they were dead." Phoenix shuddered, slipping both of his swords back into his inventory.

"What, no, Phoenix, are you sure, I mean, surely you were seeing things, something could have happened." Suki said, her words hurting herself more than Phoenix. "She's gone, Suki, she's gone, and she's not coming back." He said slowly standing to his feet. And tears still flowing, he broke the news to Mono. At first she refused to believe it, and then she saw the bow. She demanded to know where Tem was, but Phoenix just shook his head. She fought back, but in the end she broke down, and Amara and Takara sat down. In under the span of a week, they had lost two of their members. It was too much for any of them to bear.

Tatami, the fun and creative spark of the group, their main strategist, and happiest member. And Tem, the silent heart of the group, the unspoken spirit of the group, every members little sister. And both of them were gone. Enough was enough. For nearly two years they had struggled through Helios, nearly half of the people who started here were dead, and all of it meant nothing to any of the former Honour guard members now. Their friends, dead, their chances diminishing. And after all they had been through, it still wasn't enough, they still had to lose more. Well that ended now.

Phoenix kicked in Yuma's doors at Dragon castle. "Yuma, I'm here to tell you that I and a few new members are going on leave." Phoenix said as pleasantly as you could when you had just lost a friend just over an hour ago. Yuma still wearing the same green dress looked a little taken aback. "You come in here, and after only a few hours of service you are demanding leave?" She said in a mocking tone. "Yes, and you know why? Because a good friend of mine, Tem, Was just killed in front of me, over an hour ago, by some PKers, which you assured the remaining player body, were all dead." Phoenix growled. Yuma took a deep breath. "Very well, after the loss of two friends in under a week, then I suppose I should."

"Thank you." Phoenix said pointedly, and turned to leave, surprised by the compassion. "But, should you ever presume to command me again, I will personally, deal with you myself, am I perfectly clear?" Yuma said pure malice in her voice. "Perfectly clear, and I look forward to it." He said leaving her behind. A leave of absence was perfect, just what he needed. He needed to grieve, and forgive himself. But more importantly, he needed some quality time alone, and some target practice.

It was Phoenixes second day off. He now resided in a small wooden cabin on floor thirteen, which over looked the giant lake, the forest, and the hills. It was a beautiful view. The cabin gave him a certain serenity, a calmness that he didn't expect to find. But even though he had feelings of serenity, the guilt and sadness were still eating him alive. After all he did have the blood of at least nine people on his hands at the moment. But he needed to forgive himself, which is a harder task than forgetting. Phoenix spent most of his time fishing, hiking, training, swimming, and sleeping. But Phoenix knew he couldn't do this forever, and it wouldn't cure his guilt. He needed to come up with a plan keep himself calming, and yet active.

He decided to go for a walk, armed of course. He found that the walks cleared his head, and he normally found some monsters to farm, so it wasn't all boring. Phoenix loved walking through the woods, he loved running into other players, and striking up conversations. But today Phoenix didn't run into anyone, which was boring. He normally ran into Beth ad Gregory. A very likable couple, both of them twenty years old, and very talkative. Phoenix like them, they had invited him over for lunch yesterday. And it had been a pleasant afternoon.

Later on in the day Phoenix went fishing, it was a relaxing pastime, waiting for the fish to get hooked, and then reel them in. He caught a total of five snapper, and a tuna. He didn't know what a tuna was doing in a lake, but he'd take it. And after that, he did archery practice. He practiced with Tem's bow, and was absolutely hopeless. He could never get the sight to line up, and he could never shoot straight to save his life. But he was getting better. Not by much, but it was noticeable. And he was finally able to hit, near the target. And while he was training he had a little revelation. He knew what he could do for the next week. He had only seen the floors consecutively up to this one. And he had seen floor nineteen too twenty-one. But floors fourteen to eighteen, he never got to see those ones.

He could spend a couple of days on each floor, seeing what they had to offer, what he had missed. It was a perfectly sound idea. And along the way, maybe he could find himself again. It was perfect. But first he had to get home, he had walked for about three hours, fished for four hours and practiced for five hours. Now it was time to go home. Making his way back Phoenix knew that he as being followed by someone. But they weren't threatening in any way. So he let it slide. And once he was home his pursuer went a different course.

Pushing open his door Phoenix decided to put on some dinner. He put on the snapper, and put the tuna in the freezer. Phoenix put on a garlic sauce, and prepared some assorted vegetables. He was just starting to set up a movie when there was knock on the door. Phoenix opened it to find Amara, dressed in jeans and jacket. "Hey Phoenix." She said pleasantly. "Hey, Amara, were you the person following me?" He asked suspicious. "Yeah, I wanted to know where you were staying, and I wanted to hang if that's ok."

"Sure come on in." Phoenix said, ushering her inside and giving her some food. "Nice place." She whistled. "It cost around half a million, and I brought it when I ran off, for the first hour we were all on this floor." Phoenix explained. Amara looked around the cabin, a little piece of heaven. "How are you coping?" Amara asked, as casually as she could. "As well as I could be." Phoenix replied. "Phoenix, honest answer." How does she read me so well? "The guilt is eating me alive." He replied solemnly. "It wasn't your fault." She replied placing a hand on his shoulder. "That's, what I keep telling myself." Phoenix sighed.

"Phoenix, you can't carry the weight of all these deaths on your own." Amara sighed taking her hand off Phoenixes shoulder. "Your only one man." She reminded him. Phoenix just shook his head, but silently he agreed. Then he had an idea. "Hey, Amara are you free for the next week, or so?" He asked grinning. "Um no why?" "I'm going on a tour of all the floors I missed, I'm spending a few days in each, and none of the others are able to come." Phoenix explained. "Um ok, what does this have to do with me?" "Well would you like to come with me?"

Phoenix waited to let the question sink in. It took Amara a few second to respond, but she looked like she was wrestling with two answers. "Phoenix, I'd love to, but I just don't have time, I pretty much live for Mono at the moment." Amara replied, looking guilty. It saddened Phoenix a little, but at least it was legitimate. Mono had taken Tems death hard. "It's ok I understand, but would you like to stay for dinner?" Phoenix asked revealing the mouth-watering meal prepared on the table. "Wait seriously,,," She began but stopped mid-sentence. "Um, I mean, sure, if it's not too much trouble." She said much calmer this time.

So the two of them sat down, and began their meal. "Wow, seriously how are you so good at cooking?" Amara asked, after the first bite. "Well cooking was a huge stress reliever in the real world for me, and since it's so easy to cook here, it's impossible to make a bad meal." Phoenix explained. "You mean apart from that horrible bread from floor one." Amara chuckled. "True, but it wasn't half bad with a bit of butter and jam." Phoenix said taking another bite of his fish. "I never thought of that." Amara admitted. The mostly made small talk over dinner, but it was still something.

After that Amara stayed to watch a movie. But that then turned into two, and then tree. And half way through the third movie Amara fell asleep, curled on the couch next to Phoenix. But then she slowly leaned toward Phoenix, and was soon curled up next to Phoenix her head nuzzled in Phoenixes chest. He blushed from ear to ear when it happened. If he ever got a girlfriend again he would be in so much trouble, because stuff like this happened way too often. But since he didn't want to wake her up Phoenix drew her closer, and drifted off to sleep.

The next morning Amara slowly stirred and woke up. And immediately her face turned bright red, and jumped off the couch. She had fallen asleep, on Phoenixes shoulder, and in his arms. What was she thinking? He had just lost a good friend, and it would be cruel to play with his emotions now. Ah, she was overthinking this, they would probably just laugh it off. Like they always did. Down on the couch Phoenix woke up and smirked. "Have a good night's sleep?" He said winking. "Look, I know what it looked like but, it wasn't that." Amara said hurriedly, walking for the door, her cheeks bright red. "I never said it looked like anything." Phoenix called as she left.

Amara was down at the Honour guard house in under half an hour, just in time for breakfast. Takara had made scrambled eggs, fried tomatoes, and prefect bacon. She was still blushing when she came through the door. "So you slept over at Phoenixes place, eh." Takara said as she walked in. "I fell asleep when we were watching a movie." Amara said trying to hide her smile. "Oh, and nothing else." Mono said from the couch, suddenly interested in the conversation. "Oh come on, guys, you're making a big deal out of nothing." Amara sighed sitting down at the breakfast table. Then Suki walked out of her bedroom, her hair half brushed. "Are my ears deceiving me, Amara and Phoenix fell asleep together, while watching a movie?" She said sitting next to Amara and resting her elbows on the table.

Amara was cornered, but she tried to play it off. "Guys, come on, nothing happened." "Oh yeah, tell that to your cheeks." Suki giggled. They had her. "Ok, fine, I fell asleep, and woke up in his arms." Amara admitted. All three girls let out a small squeal. "Is there room for anything between you two, or is it strictly friends?" Suki asked, leaning close. "Oh, please, nothings decided." Amara chuckled, gently pushing her away. "Yeah but there is something?" "Maybe, but there's no investment yet." "What? Why?" Mono asked, momentarily back to her old self. "Because, he's just lost two friends, and it would be cruel to throw a relationship into the mix." Amara replied. All four girls agreed, but still wanted some more details.