The supposed 'Queen of thieves' Given her terrible title, was incredibly quick and agile. She rained down blow after blow, without showing any signs of fatigue. And god damn was she strong. She was probably just as strong as Phoenix himself, if not stronger. And boy was she angry. "You will suffer for what you've done, Phoenix." She would scream. "Ok honey chill out." Phoenix would reply. To which she would reply. "When I'm done with you, I'm going to drink from your skull." A real stand up chick.

But Phoenix couldn't get a strike in. Partially because she wasn't allowing him to. Because she never stopped attacking. But Phoenix was. He wouldn't be able to stand his ground much longer. But there was one last trick he could pull. "Horus, Ember claw." He yelled, diverting another powerful strike. Horus dived, and headed directly for the queen. Who grabbed Horus by the neck, and as she did so flicked her wrist back.

Horus went limp in her hand, and slowly turned to ash. And as it fell, the queen simply kicked them aside. Making it considerably harder for Horus to respawn. "Horus, no." Phoenix yelled. Delivering a hard kick to the Queens stomach and sending her sprawling a few metres backwards. He quickly regrouped most of the ash, and a small baby Phoenix crawled from the ashes, and was immediately and roughly shoved in a small satchel Phoenix had picked up off the floor.

But when Phoenix looked up the queen was gone. He quickly looked around in search of her, but he couldn't find anything. But he did hear small rustles and footsteps. Phoenix had been searching for a few minutes, and thought he'd heard a noise from around a blind corner. So with the Tempest sword in hand, Phoenix took a peek around the corner. And was rewarded with nothing but air. Then came the light giggle. Too late. Phoenix felt the short and sharp pain of being stabbed in the neck.

Both swords were removed from his hands, and Phoenix was just trying to breathe. The wound had been in the side of his neck. Enough to turn his health red but nothing more. But Phoenix didn't have a clue what to do. He had been stripped of all his weapons. He was bleeding from a wound in his neck, and he had no more backup. Yeah he was fucked. The Queen of Thieves stood above him, a cruel smile curled on her lips. "So, this is it, the mighty Phoenix, defeated, by an assassin, and a thief no less." She chuckled, flicking her left wrist blade out.

Phoenixes blood ran cold. It couldn't end like this. No, he wasn't dying here. He just needed time to come up with a plan. "Yeah, you caught me while I was on vacation, normally I have my friends with me." Phoenix smiled, trying to start a conversation. "Oh really, so all those stories, and you simply rely on your friends." She chuckled, letting her arms fall to her sides. Yes, he still had time.

"Yeah, don't you?" Phoenix asked pretending to sound surprised. "Trust leads to friendship, which can lead to love, and love equals a bullet to the brain." The queen sighed, as if Phoenix was a naive little kid. "Right, then who's got you back then." He asked smiling seeing a familiar sight. "Me, kid, the best person to have it." She smiled. "I beg to differ." "Tatami and Tem probably wouldn't." The queen sighed taking out both her blades.

Just as she received a hoof to the back of the head. Making her stumble forward. Right into Phoenixes waiting arms. And boy was he angry. He gripped the Queens forearms so tightly he shattered them each in nine places. There was literal fire and lightning in his eyes. "You should not have brought my friends into the equation, or the dead." He growled. Triggering both the queen's wrist blade gauntlets, and driving them, while still attached to her arms, into her throat. Killing her instantly.

Phoenix took her gauntlets which fit nicely over his gloves. And set to have a look around the cave. He had no idea what he'd find, but Phoenix knew he probably wouldn't like it. As he went deeper into the caves he heard weird noises coming from below. And making his way down further, he let Horus light the way, who he was practically force feeding experience mice. When the finally reached a door Phoenix was not in the mood for picking the lock. So taking a running start, he kicked it in. only to hear a very panicked scream from the other side.

"Please don't kill me!" a young female voice yelled from inside the room. Phoenix was more than a little angry at this. The girl inside the room couldn't have been more than twelve, what the hell were they doing in here? "Hello, look, I know you scared, but its ok, I'm a friend, and I'm here to help." Phoenix said standing in the light of the door way. The girl inside the room quivered and shook, as soon as Phoenix took a step forward. "It's alright, I'm not going to hurt you." He said slowly taking another tentative step forward. The girl slowly looked up at him and gasped. She was definitely twelve to eleven years old, had long brown hair, and wore a torn and dirty white dress. And she was looking at him rather strangely.

Two seconds later The small girl jumped up and him, and had him in a tight hug. "I knew it I knew you'd come for me." She yelled. "Whoa there." Phoenix said trying to balance himself. "Sorry, it's just I'm so excited to see you, they kidnapped me so long ago, I wasn't sure you would ever find me." She said. Phoenix wasn't sure what was going on, but played along. "Yeah, I wasn't sure either, I searched everywhere." He said, still unsure of who he'd just rescued. And how the hell did she know him?

Phoenix led the girl up the tunnel, she told him her names was Lilly. They finally made it to the top of the tunnel and into the cavern. Which was now empty. "What?" Phoenix drew Light bringer, and called Thalia. "Um, dad, what's going on?" Lilly said nervously, as Thalia flew towards them, and made a hasty landing. Phoenix quickly propped her up in Thalia's saddle. And told her to hold on tight. And then ordered Thalia to take her to floor thirteen, and back to his house. And ordered Horus who was finally full level again to protect them. And quickly sent them on their way. "Wait, did she just call me dad?"

Phoenix scoured the cavern, but couldn't find any trace. Where the hell had they all gone. After about ten minutes He'd given up. He'd searched practically everywhere. The mini church, the bank, the quarters, and all the taverns, even inside the bell, in the bell tower. But still nothing. He was just about to give up when he saw movement. It was a slight shimmer in the air. Barely noticeable, but it made a definite shape of a man. But it left as quickly as it came. He was just about to leave when he heard, a loud cough. And saw the same distorted air. "Hi there." Phoenix grinned throwing his titanium tipped knife directly into what he assumed was a shoulder.

The was suddenly a figure standing in front of Phoenix. Only problem was that he'd hit him in the head, not the shoulder. "Opps." He cringed, as the body hit the floor, and disintegrated into green pixels. Wait, Green? That wasn't right. Running to where the body hit, there were still green pixels, but that meant that he was a programme, why would a programme be stealing from players, or have the capacity too. Then he remembered the queen thief's death. She had died with green pixels; it had only just come to him now. So better question, why were a bunch of programmes stealing from players, acting like players, and why did they have that little girl in a cell?

Phoenix quickly ran, because there was no point in hunting programs, and sending a quick message to Ash, saying that the bandits were gone, but to keep an eye out. And the returning message was full of praise, and they would tell others the same. Which did make Phoenix feel a little better. But he was still swimming in doubt. Lilly had called him dad? Did she think he was her father? Well he could answer that when he got home. So tearing towards the centre town Phoenix decided to ask his 'daughter' some questions.

Phoenix was finally back on floor thirteen. It had been a while. But the air still smelt like the sea, it was still warm, and the sun was always shining. But Now wasn't the time. He needed to figure out what was going on. Then, he didn't know. But he quickly made his way up to his house, where the door was open, and Thalia and Horus were waiting outside patiently. "Thanks you two." Phoenix said patting Thalia, and giving Horus a scratch under his beak. And taking a deep breath, entered his house. Lilly was waiting for him in the lounge room. "Dad!" She yelled, running forward, and grabbing Phoenix in a fierce hug. Oh this was going to be difficult.

Since she was hungry, Phoenix fixed her up a sandwich. And wondered what to ask her first. But there were a few things to note. Lilly had a striking resemblance to himself. Her hair and eyes were exactly the same colours as his. And there was something strangely familiar about her. He just wasn't sure what yet. But as he walked over, he was more and more sure there was something odd going on.

"Here you go trouble." He grinned, handing her the sandwich. "Thanks dad." She said, happily munching into the sandwich. Phoenix was still getting used to being called that. "Um, Sweetie, what's the last thing you remember before you were taken?" He said carefully choosing his words. Continuing to tear into her sandwich Lilly began. "We were out for a picnic, and then there were those people everywhere." Lilly said finishing the sandwich, and sitting with her hands on her lap. "Ok, and then what happened?" "You drew your swords, and fought most of them off, but there were to many, and you told me and Mum to run, so we did." This puzzled Phoenix. Now he had a wife, and a daughter, what next?

But keeping up his act, Phoenix asked on. "And what happened to you and mum?" "We ran, but a few got past you, and Mum fought them, and told me to run, that you would find me after it was over." She said a dark expression falling over her features. It was about to get bad. "And then you got caught." Phoenix summed up. "Yeah, I'm sorry dad, but he had his hand clamped over my mouth, and I couldn't scream." She said looking at the floor.

Phoenix knew none of this actually happened, but he felt bad. More than that he felt sorry, like he'd failed her. "I'm sorry." He said, a small tear in the corner of his eye. Lilly stood up and hugger him. "Dad its ok, I heard you and mum, you looked and looked." She said slowly, he herself crying a little. "I heard you promise, promise that you would find me, and that you wouldn't rest until you did." She cried, Phoenix knelt down, and grabber her in a hug. "It won't happen again Lilly, I promise." He said smiling. "I know dad." She said, yawning. "Hey it nearly my bed time, can I go to bed?" She asked pointing at the clock, which was at seven thirty. "Sure think trouble." He smiled, guiding her towards the guest bedroom.

As they went by some photos on the wall Lilly chuckled. "What?" Phoenix asked, giving her tummy a small tickle. Giggling she pointed to a Photo of himself and Amara. Phoenix had taken it the day he'd gotten back, just him and her. "You and Mum look cute in that Photo." She smiled. Walking into the room, and letting Phoenix tuck her in. "Night Lilly, it's good to have you back." Phoenix said, the lies hurting him with every word. And once he was sure she was asleep, Phoenix let his charade drop. "What the fuck, what the fuck what the fuck." He whispered over and over again.

Amara was his wife, he had a daughter with her supposedly, and now he had to explain this to the others. How was he supposed to explain this, and how would she even be remotely ok with this? Well he would cross that bridge when he came to it. Which would have to be tonight. The girls would kill him if he came back and didn't tell them. But he really didn't want to do this. Especially considering, what Amaras feelings on the matter, would be. But she did have a right to know. Because thinking about it. And there was one other thing. Lilly had reminded Phoenix of himself and someone else. He now realised that was Amara. She looked like a smaller version of Amara with brown hair, and blue eyes. Something was seriously up.