Chapter 217: Delving Deep Within, Part 5

One by one, from the flames… even more flaming hair, even more crimson eyes… they looked just as young as Latrissa… some even younger. Different heights, different sizes… girls, boys…

"Latrissa…" spoke one short-haired boy to the right, taking one step forward. "Second time in a month. Mom told you already - "

"I know!" Latrissa impatiently snapped. "But this is different." 

A girl with bangs veiling her eyes timidly approached, cocking her small head at her. "Different, how?"

An impish-looking boy gave a chuckle. "Who's that there? A human? Uh oh... someone's getting in trouble."

The one beside him, a little girl, the smallest of the bunch, was rubbing a pair of heavy eyelids, her only input being a small squeaky yawn.

As for the rest... I couldn't hear the others too well… everybody was muttering, whispering… most notably they were pointing, darting quick glances… their eyes staring perplexed at the one among them that was clearly not one of them.

-"Human…"

-"Another human…"

-"Latrissa's done it again."

-"Mom's going to be upset."

-"Maybe there's others too…"

-"We'll need to run again."

-"We'll need to hide again."

Felt like I was standing on stage, and they were both my audience and my spotlight.

What's a term for a group of phoenixes? I don't think there was one. I think I just came up with one, right then… from how they looked at one another, from how they looked to me.

A group of phoenixes was called a family.

And at the head of it, materializing from the biggest, brightest pillar there was - out walked a figure all too familiar…

Clad in red, at just the right size, at just the right height - there was no mistaking who this one was. The way those glimmered lightly and twinkled with mischief, how those lips always bordered close to a snide grin. How her long flaming locks burned a hue of crimson so vibrant and lively.

Just like the way they were when we first met each other.

Ria…

There she was. 

"Oh-ho okay!" Proclaimed the fevor in her voice, waving her hands in the air in an exuberant playful manner. "Who squawked the squawk? Who opened up their tiny little beaks this time? Come out, come out… promise I won't bite ya..."

Latrissa took a step forth, a movement that did not escape Ria's watchful eyes.

"Well, well, why am I not surprised?" Ria had that signature smirk of hers on full display. "The eldest little missy, tooting the horn once more - tsk tsk. Okie-Dokie then, so what do you have to say for yourself this time?"

Latrissa didn't look to be in a jesting mood. "Actually, Riri… I think perhaps, I should be the one asking that question this time."

"Hmm?" Ria cocked her head. "Me? Are we playing riddles again?"

"It's this human," Latrissa pointed her finger squarely at me.

I could hear Ria's breath stiffen. "Human?"

"It's not like last time, mom! This is different," Both their eyes slowly shifted over at me. "He says he knows you."

"Knows me?"

She sounded confused. 

I was too.

Ria wasn't smiling anymore. She took two steps towards me, squinting those scarlet eyes… before abruptly stopping in her tracks. She stared at me with indifference back then.

This time was different. 

She still wasn't smiling… her flames had suddenly lost their vibrant glow… I've never seen her look at me this way before.

Like I was unwelcome here, like I was intruding… I probably was.

The unbearable quiet… as the name implies, was something I couldn't bear with any longer. I spoke out.

"Ria…" There were so many things I wanted to say, and suddenly I couldn't say it. "Do you… recognize me?"

For a brief moment, I feared that she didn't. She was already a hard person to read before, being in here was even worse - here she was practically a Rubix cube… and I was colorblind.

"You're lucky I do," She muttered, her lips barely moving. "I can't believe what I'm seeing… I must be dreaming..." 

A joke? I think it was…

"You are dreaming," I said. "Quite a while now, actually…"

"Yes, I know," She spoke again, her tone sharper. "Don't worry, I know…"

I don't think she was as pleased to see me as much as I was seeing her… far from it.

"So many things have happened since," I swallowed. "And you weren't there for most of it."

Ria looked away from me, and slowly nodded her head, "Yeah, I remember that. Are you... upset?" 

"I am upset."

The words left my lips before I could think twice about saying them out loud. It was like impulse.

"Ria…"

She took a step back, her eyes still failing to meet mine.

"You know, you..." Her voice sounded so distant despite our short distance, and I didn't like how grim her words were. "You aren't supposed to be here…"

Not one bit.

She was always smiling around me... I've yet to see her actually angry. This moment here might be the closest I've ever gotten to that effect.

The other phoenixes, they stood and watched... Latrissa, the closest, the oldest, spoke up once more.

"Mom... who is this person?"

"No one, darling... he's..." Her eyes found mine again, just a brief gaze, a quick gaze... an empty gaze. "He's no one..."

The smallest phoenix waddled through the dead grass, and ran up to Ria's legs, clutching onto them tightly... peeking a curious eye at me, like a baby bird behind its mother wings.

"Is he another bad man?" She asked innocently. "Will we have to run from the bad man?"

Ria gently sailed her fingers through the child's hair, producing tiny baby embers swirling in the air like dust.

It was a tender touch, a mother's touch, Ria smiled a reassuring smile. "No, we don't have a run. He's not one of the bad men."

Then another voice, the short-haired boy again, spoke, "But he's human, Mom. You said we shouldn't - "

"I know what I said, Lent," Ria interjected, still with that tender tone. "Look, it's okay. Let me deal with it. Remember, I won't let anything happen to anyone of you. Come now, you all trust your mother, don't you?"

Everybody nodded. Nobody even hesitated. The ring of flames slowly drew closer to one another. Such a tightly knit bunch…

Ria Ignis. The first and last of her kind. 

I'm looking, and all I could see were children… children barely even half my age. The youngest… still stumbling over her words, staring at me with those big wide-open filled with innocent wonder.

What happened? What transpired to earn you such a lonely title, Ria? Do you even want to tell me? Will you ever tell me?

You don't seem like you want to…

"I don't know how you got here," Ria spoke, her voice going cold once more. "And honestly, I rather not have to think about it… or anything else regarding what's out there, you know?"

"Why not? Ria, you can't just stay asleep and - "

"I just said I don't wanna hear it," She drew her eyes back up, her head shaking slightly. "I'm sorry, I know your intentions are good. They always are. Probably have a great speech rehearse as you valiantly dove in here expecting to save me… you probably went through great lengths just to even get that chance. Mr. Hero always itchy to play the hero." 

Didn't like where she was going with this, the way she sounded so accepting… and yet so dismissive.

"I already told you not to get into it, I already told you I didn't need saving. Didn't I say that? Couldn't have been that long since we had that conversation. Listen, I don't want to say it again… I am not your damsel to be saved. I don't need you to save me."

"What does that mean, then?" I took a step forward. "Don't tell me you're staying. Look, I don't know what has happened to you, and I certainly ain't in a position to start emphasizing on things I barely know anything about - but you already know this is a dream, don't you? This isn't real, you know this isn't real!"

Right then, Ria smiled again… but it wasn't like the ones before, it didn't look like the ones before. For the first time, there was a sad look on her face, a sense of sorrow tinging her words. 

"I know," She said, her smile stayed. "But does it really have to be?" 

Took another step, but I guess she's decided that's already far enough. "Just leave. You don't belong here." 

"Neither do you, Ria." 

She scoffed. "So says you." 

"If you're staying, I'm staying," I proclaimed, staying put where she was staying put. "You slept for long enough… if this is what it takes, then - "

I never got to finish. I remembered taking another step forward… but I didn't remember finishing that step. I was blinking, confused… wondering for a second why the world suddenly looked so large, why the withered blades of grass poked at me like they were close.

That's because they were. That's because I've fallen. In the blink of an eye, I was on the ground… and there was a familiar aching in my legs again… the ones I get when I went walking beyond my limits. 

The pain came back, as did the suffocating feeling when I first got here… I tried to speak, but the words didn't come as words - more grunts than anything…

"What's… happen… ning?" I asked, just as a sharp stabbing pain in my throat started to surface. I could feel my heart beating fast, I was beginning to panic.

Ria looked over at me… and she didn't seem as if she could care any less. 

"Once again, you always have your way with timings don't you?" She was walking away from me again. "You're waking up. You're saying goodbye."

I don't want to say goodbye. I don't want to go just yet.

Don't let me leave.

But what I wanted to happen was beyond my control… everything slowly started fading to a bright empty white, first to succumb were the deep blue of the skies… then left the color of the trees… the green in the leaves… the many faces that surrounded me - Latrissa too, they were all leaving.

Ria was leaving. Gone with words that didn't echo, that didn't even sound like words… and yet I heard them all the same.

"Don't come back."