Chapter 39

It was almost sunrise when the two defeated the last of the beasts. They didn't think it would've taken that long, but where both proven wrong. When they stepped into their hotel room Erza quickly equipped into some pajamas and all but jumped into the soft mattress that awaited her. She was tired and had all kinds of aches. Her lids felt heavy with sleep as she struggled to keep her eyes open now that she was in bed. The room was quiet safe for the shuffling and rustling of Archer ridding herself of her clothes. She was still filthy after getting buried in the earth earlier. She wasn't a fan of the dirt she was covered in. Erza shifted, pulling the blanket into her arms and hugging it tightly as she watched Archer quickly undress. She left a trail of clothes in her wake as she made a beeline for the bathroom. She didn't seem tired at all. Did she even need sleep? Erza noticed that Archer could spend an entire night awake and still be full of energy the next day.

There was a click as the door to the bathroom closed. Soon there was the sound of rushing water as the shower was turned on. Erza wiggled slightly when she felt Silver trying to get between her and the blankets she was clinging to.

"There are many other places you can sleep, you know" Erza informed once Silver popped her head out the blanket. Her ears twitched quickly as she eyed her. She said nothing to the redhead and soon looked away. Erza watched as she climbed out of the blankets and higher up her body. She came to stop at her stomach and slowly forced herself into Erza's arms.

There was a comfortable silence between the two as they both listened to the sound of the shower. It was really calming and enough to almost lull them both to sleep. Erza could feel her eyes closing when the door to the bathroom opened again. Archer came walking out with a towel on her head and fully dressed. Her hair was very long. When in the usual pony tail it already reached past her waist. When let down it was reaching her knees. She never asked why she let her hair grow out like that.

"Why's your hair so long?"

Archer hummed to the question as she worked on drying said long hair.

"Because I let it grow out of course" she replied with a chuckle, knowing that was not what Erza wanted to hear. She turned around just in time to find Erza looking at her with a blank face. She snickered at that, but still did not reveal the truth. She turned back to the mirror she was facing and continued the task of drying her hair. The towel was infused with warmth which helped achieve the goal she was going towards. With her hair acceptably dry she took a moment to consider. What should she do with it? It was always a nightly question. Her hair was long and that was sometimes troublesome. She didn't know why she always wasted time wondering what she'll do with her hair when she always just pulls it into her trademark pony tail and goes to sleep.

"I can braid your hair for you" Erza suggested having slowly come to realize why Archer lingered in front of the mirror.

"Aren't you in desperate need of sleep?" Archer quirked a brow in question even as she dutifully approached the bed. She understood that Erza would insist on doing her hair no matter what she said.

"I'll survive" Erza sat up and moved to the edge of the bed as Archer sat herself on the floor.

Archer replied with another hum as she toyed with a single strand of hair. She watched the way the light seemed to bounce off it curiously.

"Are you going to answer my question?" Erza wondered, slowly running her fingers through soft silver locks. At her side Silver rested her head in her ŀȧp before promptly going back to sleep. She had a long night and would need to recover her loss of sleep as soon as possible.

"My hair is a representation of who I am" Archer found herself saying, remembering the words of her father. "Or so my father said anyway" she admitted.

"Why is that?" Erza was even more curious now. She expected a simple answer, but instead she received something that could tell her more about the person who liked keeping herself a mystery.

"I had asked him that very same question" Archer recounted. "He had then asked me another question"

"Which was?"

Archer was quiet for a moment as if she was debating whether or not to continue the conversation.

"What would you feel if your wings were ever cut?" She repeated the very question her father had asked her one day. The memory was playing in her mind. She could remeber them sitting under a tree together. She didn't know what they had been doing beforehand, but she was filthy.

Erza paused midbraid at the words. Wings? She already suspected Archer wasn't human, but that sentence was proof enough.

"It would hurt" she continued slowly. "It would hurt terribly. To have my wings cut. The feature that defined me as a phoenix. To have it removed would bring a pain like no other. I would lose a part of myself. A part I can never reclaim"

Her wings were the one thing she could not lose. Because once gone there was no hope of her ever getting them back? What is a phoenix without their wings?

"Now you know something else about me" Archer smiled and tilted her head back to meet Erza's eyes.

"You're not human are you?" Erza asked the question that had been plaguing her mind for a year. The question she had asked multiple times and never got an answer to.

"No, I'm not" Archer admitted freely. She wore an amused smile on her face at the revelation. She already knew it had been on Erza's mind for a long time.

"You admit it so easily now, but when I asked you a year ago, you refused completely" Erza recounted with a huff. What was the point of that then? She seemed perfectly fine with revealing this little secret. It became very obvious that Archer didn't care if others knew. Or at least she didn't care if Erza knew.

"I didn't refuse, I just danced around it" Archer corrected factually. "I never denied it nor did I confirm it"

"You do that a lot"

"I know" Archer said. "So, now that you have this confirmed, are there any questions?"

"Would you answer them?" Erza quirked a brow. She of course had questions, even if she couldn't think of one at the time. Questions are deserving of an answer and Archer has a tendency to not do that. So it would be pointless to ask any questions when Archer won't fully answer them.

Archer's only reply was a chuckle that died very soon. She remained quiet after that. Quiet and unmoving as she let Erza finish braiding her hair. She wondered if the redhead would go ahead and ask the questions. She would answer them this time, however Erza didn't need to know that. It was always fun dancing around the subject, as annoying as it could be.

"Phoenix are immortal, no?" Erza broke the silence with an obvious question.

"I suppose" Archer replied. "We can and do die, but we come back"

"Rise from the ashes?"

"Rise from the ashes" Archer confirmed.

"How long can you live for?"

"500 to 1000 years" Archer said casually. "And we stop physically aging at some point"

"So, how old are your parents?" Erza asked curiously.

"Five hundred each, although my father is older by five years. Or so he says" Archer sounded skeptical of her father's words.

"Is it complicated, this process of being reborn? " Erza had to wonder about that. They were immortal in a sense. What does being reborn even mean? Would she have to start all over again? Or would she just be brought back in the state she passed in?

"I never saw it as such" she had been told of what would happen when she took her last breath. "I'll just come back as me. Which is great since I won't have to relive my infancy years"

"So you'll just come back like nothing happened" Erza concluded. When there was a long silence after her words she glanced down at Archer, a brow quirked. "Archer?"

She hummed before chuckling to herself. She pulled her knees up to her ċhėst, using them to rest her chin. Of course it wasn't like that. She wouldn't come back like nothing happened. She'll keep her control of powers, yes. The skills she had gained over the years would be instinctual. The magics she learned would be known to her as well. But that's it. Her memories would be lost and so would the emotions she had learned to experience.

"Things are never truly that easy" she finally said. "I'll come back of course. All wounds would be healed. It would be like nothing happened as you said. It would seem that way, but nothing's ever what it seems"

Erza wanted to say something, but she didn't know what it was she wanted to relay to her.

"But that's life I guess" Archer said as she stood. She did a stretch before quickly climbing into bed.

"What do you mean?" Erza wanted to know what Archer was referring to and she feared she wouldn't elaborate. And she knew that fear was justified when Archer bȧrėly looked at her and instead focused on curling into the thick blankets on the bed. "Hey, come on, answer me"

"I don't feel like it" she spoke rather quietly, not how she usually speaks when taking amusement in Erza's curiosity. "It brings a terrible feeling"

She never liked the idea of losing all her memories and emotions just like that. She did understand that everything had its price and that was the one she had to pay for her eternal life. Maybe it was for the best. Maybe it would spare her the pain of living on without those she grew to care about. It was logical enough, but even then it brought a terrible feeling in her gut. It was even worse now that she had to admit it to Erza. She didn't want to tell her at all. She may not fully understand her own emotions right now, but she wasn't oblivious. She knew that her feelings towards Erza aren't merely platonic. She knew that Mira was right. She knew, but refused to face or acknowledge these feelings.

Rolling onto her back she released a long sigh. She stared up at the ceiling blankly as the thoughts ran through her mind. She could feel the mattress sink next to her as Erza joined her under the blanket. Silence lingered in the room for a long while as neither of them dared say a word. Erza wasn't going to question her anymore for she didn't want to upset her. She had never seen Archer upset before and didn't plan on making this her first time. It was obvious enough to her that the subject of her rebirth cycle was a sėnsɨtɨvė one to touch on.

Erza was suddenly staring into fiery eyes when Archer rolled onto her side. She was far closer than she expected and it took Erza a moment to realize.

"It's interesting how your face could almost match your hair in color when you're flustered" Archer observed with a small smile.

Erza had no words to reply and the only sound that left her was one resembling a whimper. It had Archer quirking a brow as she quite enjoyed it.

"That's new"

"You're very close"

"I'm aware of that" Archer didn't move at all.

"It was on purpose wasn't it?" Erza mumbled as the smile on Archer's face slowly grew.

"Yes" she admitted. "I knew you'd get so red, but I didn't expect that sound. That's very new"

"Are you going to kiss?"

The sudden voice of a half asleep Silver had them breaking eye contact. The exceed was between them and didn't seem fully aware of what was going on.

"Why would you ask that?" The words came out rushed and in a higher pitch as Erza's cheeks got redder.

"You're really close" was Silver's reasoning.

Archer bit the inside of her cheek to stop the laughter bubbling up inside her as Erza struggled to get any words out at the blunt statement.

"You should go to sleep Silver" Archer suggested, bȧrėly stopping herself from laughing.

Silver nodded, not needing to be told twice. It seemed that was enough for her to forget what was currently happening as she curled into Archer's ċhėst and fell asleep almost immediately.

"Isn't she precious?" Archer snickered

"This isn't funny"

"Oh? But I find myself quite amused" another snicker escaped her.

Erza huffed, still very embarrassed and turned her back to Archer. The other continued to snicker until she was quietly laughing.

"There's no need to be mad at me"

"I'm not"

"That's good then"

Erza almost jumped when she heard her voice so close to her ear. In fact she actually felt her breath touch her skin. How does she get so close without her realizing? Soon she had her arms securely around her waist and pulled her snug against her body. She was quiet for a moment before she started to hum softly. The tune was unfamiliar, but not unwelcome.

"You should go to sleep as well"

Erza wasn't sure if she liked the way her voice had her shivering or not. She nodded to the words, agreeing with her completely. She did need to sleep. She was tired and had a long night.

"Goodnight then" Erza said in a yawn.

"It's morning"

"Don't do that"

"I apologize" again, her voice was very close to her ear. It was an odd sort of ticklish that Erza was still debating the feeling of.

"Your hair is a beautiful color" Archer repeated the words she had spoken many times.

"I know, you tell me often"

"I do"Archer confirmed as if she needed to. "I'll never forget the color of your hair"