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CH 6 MAY 22 2009 JUNE 4
BURNING PHOENIX

Tali stayed on the first floor. Number sixteen.
Sim knew this much. He walked briskly to her complex and to her door. He'd picked up a switchblade along the way, flipping it open and closed in his left hand as he walked.

Once he reached the door, he cautiously shifted his weight from one foot to the other, then made an internal decision to just kick the door down and let himself in. It took two hard stomps before he could jump in and grab Tali, who was sitting on the couch. He quickly slashed her throat, with no respect for her life at all. Why would he have respect for a girl who could not respect anything else?

The blood frothed from her neck as she held her throat, seemingly in a panic. The Phoenix was trying to say something but her words went unheard as she asphyxiated.

Sim would've laughed at her torment and his success if it weren't for what happened next. A styrofoam box full of salad had been dropped, and a black sleeved arm pushed forward, many wires sweeping toward Sim in what appeared to be a large wrapped bind. Like a metal rope with a frayed end, the tendrils reached for Sim, as if they were alive.

Before Sim could even process what was going on, the wires had already pierced through his gut and out his backside, the tendrils still wriggling like crazy, misplaced earthworms.
The look on the attacker's face said it all: Remorse. Retribution. Hatred. Justice.

Tali finally slumped over on the couch. Her last raspy breath had been taken. The wires retracted with a lurch from Sim's body and into Fortenra's as he ran to save his fallen girlfriend.
“Tali!” he yelled, shaking her once he reached the couch.

Sim held his gut, gasping for breath. He hadn't expected someone else to be here. Or someone to have a Resonance Soul like that. He tried to get up, blood seeping between the fingers that held his skin. He found his legs wouldn't work the way he wanted them to and ended up on the floor, hissing in pain while Fortenra fretted over a lost cause.

Except it wasn't a lost cause.

Before their eyes, Tali's body burst into flames, burning what was left of the couch, Fortenra's hands, and the air around Sim. Fortenra screamed in both shock and pain, but just as quickly as the ashes fell, another burst of flames brought back a naked, shivering Tali.

Everyone's eyes were wide with awe. Tali brought her knees to her chest and wrapped her arms around her legs. She shook. No one had ever killed her before. And she had never in her life thought it possible to die that easily, let alone revive herself.

“Tali, Tali?! Are you okay?!” Fortenra took his suit jacket off and gave it to the girl who returned a frightened nod.
Sim, still on the floor bleeding to death, seemed to melt into the rug, switchblade the only evidence of him ever being there.

The real Sim had stayed behind the door of the apartment. He was still instinctively holding his gut, and gasped for air a few times before turning against the wall to stagger back home.
That doppelganger was practically a transfer of consciousness. It had all been too real, and it was something he decided he wasn't going to do again.

But what a find.
The Phoenix couldn't die.
That was something unprecedented. Something unexpected.
She really was like a Phoenix now, being birthed again through flames.

It was too bad she burned Fortenra Askasa's hands in the process of reviving herself....

Sim glared at the road before him.

CH 8 MAY 23 2009 JUNE 11
BROKEN HANDS

PRESENT DAY

Fortenra was at the sink, staring at his hands. There were blisters all over the both of them. He couldn't let Tali see how much pain he was in after she'd come back to life.
Now that she was sleeping in their room, it was all coming out.
He sucked in air in painful bursts, trying to hold the pain in. He wanted to scream, or hit something. But even moving his fingers the slightest bit to form a fist was excruciating.
He tried to expel one wire from his hand-- they came from inside his wrist. It only just peaked out before Fortenra cried a muffled shriek of pain.
There were tears in his eyes now.
He was ruined. He needed his hands to work.
He didn't know anyone who could heal him and he didn't have enough money to go see a real healer himself. He choked back a sob.

Tali wouldn't get a job, and as long as she was living with him, her family wouldn't support her. Tali's parents hated him. They only gave him a job at their restaurant out of pity at their daughter's request. They'd been looking for a reason to fire him for ages, and here was the perfect one.
He was done.

The eighteen year old leaned over the sink and began to finally cry. He didn't want to be on the streets again. He hated his life now but it was infinitely better than being homeless and alone.

That was when Tali came out, still looking vulnerable; not quite recovered from being dead. But she at least was clothed, now.
“Are you okay?” She asked.

The boyfriend shook his head, trying to wipe the tears away with his sleeve. “I'm fine,” he choked.
Tali walked over, “You're such a liar,” she whispered. Then she saw his hands.
“Oh my god, what happened?!”

Fortenra stayed quiet, looking away.
“Are these burns? What did you do?”

“I didn't do anything,” he said, turning away from her.
“You did it.”

Tali grabbed Fortenra's arm, but the man pulled away from her, walking out the busted, open door.
“I can't take this anymore,” he muttered.

He knew he should've stayed strong, should be there for Tali when she needed him. But she had made one too many mistakes. She used her family to rescue him and claimed him her boyfriend. When they lived in her parents' house it was nothing but love and affection.

As soon as they moved out, though, the game changed and suddenly he owed her everything and got no thanks for what he provided. Tali had ruined herself this time.
Her quirky fiery youthful charm was not going to work on him again.

CH 10 WRITTEN BY CHERRY AVE JUNE 18
SUSPICION

FIVE YEARS PRIOR

“Keep your concentration,” Esvera said, “become your target. You must be completely in tune with it. Even in the fraction of a second, hundreds of things can happen. You have to begin to predict if, between the moments that you pull the trigger and the bullet reaches its mark, if your target is going to move.”
Esvera kneeled down to Q who was looking through the scope of a sniper rifle. Behind his sunglasses, Esvera could see that his eye was wide, watching his target, over five-hundred yards away. The human-sized cardboard cutout stood out behind the trees and foliage around it. Esvera laid down next to Q and picked up a pair of high-powered binoculars and watched the target.

“Anything six-hundred yards or further away, you aim for the center of the body, under that, you aim for the head,” Esvera continued, “You must sync your breathing with your weapon. Breathing and firing must be one fluid movement. As if your rifle is an extension of your body. You breathe in, and breathe out. Focus on your target, breathe in, begin to put pressure on the trigger, breathe out and squeeze.”

BLAM!

The shot startled Esvera a bit. She hadn’t expected him to actually fire right at that second. She glanced back into her binoculars at the target. A small bullet hole smoked from the top left-hand corner of the target’s head. Not a perfect shot, but a kill nonetheless.

Esvera looked over to Q and grinned. “Very good Q,” she said. Q looked back and gave a small grin himself. Esvera patted him on the back and got up. Dusting herself off, she turned to the small table beside her and began packing up.

“That will be all for today,” she concluded, “you’ve been progressing very quickly. Soon you’ll be ready for field work.”

Q got up as well and began dismantling his rifle. When it was put away he followed his teacher back to the house.

“Does it bother you?” Q asked Esvera when they had gotten back to the base.

“Does what bother me Q?” Esvera questioned.

“You know, knowing how you will most likely die?” Q continued.

Esvera smiled and patted Q on the head.

“Q,” she said slowly, “everyone dies. I cannot think of a better way to die than protecting someone I care about. Unfortunately, this world is a dangerous place. Not everyone believes that killing should be a painful last resort. For all the killing I’ve done, it’d be nice to save someone for a change.”

“So, you don’t think it’s scary?” Q asked.

“No Q,” Esvera replied, “I think it’s beautiful.”

Esvera looked over at Q. He was fingering his limiter, a worried look on his face. Esvera shook her head and smiled.

“You know Q, a lot of people have very powerful Rez. With training they learn to control them. I’m sure if you tried, you would be able to control yours as well,” Esvera said.

“I don’t know,” Q said worriedly.

“If you’re so worried about the philosophical ramifications of wearing the limiter, then why don’t you just take it off and learn to control it?” Esvera said, she reached over to remove the collar.

“NO!” Q cried and jumped away.

Esvera held her hands up in a non-aggressive way. “Alright, alright,” she said peacefully, “you don’t have to do it now. What is it that caused you to put the limiter on in the first place?”

“Well,” Q said, slowly relaxing again, “these two were giving me a hard time. It made me really angry. There was this flash of bright light and then… they were switched.”

“Switched? What do you mean?” Esvera asked.

“Just never mind,” Q said nervously. He jumped up and began to walk towards his room, “I’m going to bed.”

A few hours later, Esvera peeked into Q’s room. He was asleep on his bed, his headphones on, music playing. Esvera shook her head. Those headphones were going to get him killed one of these days.

His blanket had been kicked away, and even though he was still wearing all of his clothes he seemed to be shivering. Esvera reached over and pulled the blanket back over him. She noticed that he still had the book she gave him in his hands. Gently, she reached over and picked it up, being careful to keep his spot in it. She was looking around for a bookmark when she happened to glance at the chapter he had been reading.

The Soul Stealer, Esvera thought as she read it. She noticed the chapter had been underlined with a pencil. Why would he…?

Esvera’s eyes widened with realization and the book slipped from her fingers. It made a soft thud noise as it hit the ground. Switching people?

No, she thought, it can’t be. Not him, not here.

Deep down, Esvera knew there was no other explanation. Quickly she withdrew her handgun from its holster. She pulled back the slide, chambering a round. She took two steps and pointed her gun at the sleeping Q.

“For the good of the world,” she whispered and pulled back the hammer.

Esvera’s hand shook, her breath became staggered. Tears began to fill her eyes and the image of the sleeping Q became warped. She pulled the gun back, releasing the hammer and slinked to the floor. She couldn’t do it. Not her own student.

CH 12 JUNE 25
REBIRTH

The next day, when Tali awoke, Fortenra was still gone.
This wasn't like him. Fortenra loved her. What happened last night must've been some sort of dream. Now she had to make her own breakfast, had to be alone.... No. No. She wasn't going to do that. And she had long passed the point of turning back to her parents for help.

Tali had been dead. She had died! And she remembered how it felt. She remembered dying. Her life had passed before her eyes in a split second. She had relived everything and she realized how much of a stupid waste of a life it was that she had lived. She wanted to change things. She wanted to live a life worth living. She wanted to be popular at school instead of just resented.

She wanted to burn this place down. And that's just what she would do. That's where she would start.
She balled her hands into fists and heated up the air around her, which soon burst everything into flames. Goodbye couch. Goodbye TV and refrigerator and bed! The paint flaked from the walls. The carpet melted beneath her feet. The Phoenix was going to start over, like a Phoenix should!

The room began to fall apart around her, and she could hear screams from the distance. They were the other tenants, and they may as well start over too if they lived in a dump like this!

It wasn't long before the entire area was reduced to ashes. Tali felt free. A great weight had been lifted from her shoulders. Liberation!
As she stepped from the wreckage, she noticed a large crowd of people had gathered. They all stood and watched her wide-eyed. Did she do that? they whispered to themselves.
In a fit of pride, Tali grinned and pointed back to the still smoldering pile of debris that used to be a building.
“You see that?!” She yelled, pointing to herself. “I did that! ME!!” She tossed a fireball at the rubble.
“Tali Heartlie is starting over! Just you watch!!”

One of the people stepped forward. “You b***h! My sister was in there!”
An icicle was thrown and it pierced through Tali's heart before it melted. She immediately fell to the ground and died.
The crowd began to cheer at first, but quickly went silent when Tali self-cremated and rebirthed herself from the flames.

“What the hell?!” The Ice Man yelled.
He began to throw more ice shards, but this time Tali was prepared and all the efforts turned to mist. Tali laughed, then realized she needed some new clothes and ran off to the nearest car to drive to a clothing store.

Throughout the day, she would steal things and angry Dexterians would kill her. Each time Tali revived faster, the pain and fear of dying becoming less ominous. Soon Tali felt and feared no pain or death and was able to revive herself instantaneously. However, it seemed that each time she revived, the ring of fire it took to resurrect herself became larger, harming more people and things around her, like a ripple in a pond covered with flaming oil.

Finally Tali wised up and stole a fire resistant suit. This allowed her to bring herself back from the dead clothed. Word spread quickly at the Phoenix and her rampage across town. But soon the challengers thinned and the followers grew.

Someone who could revive themselves had never been heard of before. The Phoenix's power was on par with a god's. Regardless or not if people believed Tali would bring about the new world, all of them feared her. In a few days time, Tali had to only show her face for others to do what she wanted them to. Others began to commit crimes in the name of the Phoenix. The actual Phoenix Gang, the Heartlies-- Tali's Mafia family-- were taken care of and replaced with new devout followers of the new religion which worshipped The Phoenix as their lord and savior.
Tali was unconcerned with them.

Fortenra was still not here.
She was going to find him and get him back.

BIG crack update...

Story crack FTW!

n_n

"The penalty for using this Rez is that one second of use is roughly equal to one year of the user’s life lost. The user does not age externally- their internal organs take the hit."

._.

D:

You guys don't have any less vague comments/questions/criticism? D:

.....theories?

I'm not an english major either. D: