Zada min Albahr's Story

Hearing Alex talking about how quiet it was, how much he missed the spirits. Phoenix couldn’t imagine what it was like. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to constantly hear their whispers and their murmurs, but he also couldn’t imagine what it was like for that to just… disappear. This whole scenario was so horrible, and Phoenix couldn’t imagine what it was like. He didn’t know how to help. He felt like he hadn’t even been much help in the whole scenario, just making things worse with his stress and anxiety. He forced a smile as Alex thanked him. There was so much he wanted to say. If Alex would have had a nervous breakdown without Phoenix, Phoenix didn’t want to think about where he would be without Alex.

As Alex got back to his feet and finished gathering what they needed, Phoenix finished packing up the few bits he was to bring. He turned back around as Alex called him, raising an eyebrow, and expecting Alex to maybe say they were ready to go or to ask where Phoenix had put something when he’d been tidying up. But instead, his words just felt like a kick to the chest. He’d kept telling himself that everything would work out, that it would be fine, that they’d be fine, but Alex’s words were just an unpleasant reminder that Phoenix had no idea what the future held for him if this didn’t work. Until then, it had seemed straight forward, and maybe naive. But him and Alex fitted so well together that it was hard to imagine anything other than Alex always being there. He hadn’t said anything, because how could he? They’d only been properly dating for a relatively short period of time, and yet when Phoenix pictured his future now, Alex was always there. But Phoenix knew that if they couldn’t fix this, then everything would just be wrong. Greythorne would be wrong.

He’d been trying to keep it together all morning, but that was the point that his resolve shattered and he choked out a sob, instinctively pressing his hand to his mouth. “I don’t-” he tried to say, but he choked on the words and tried to take a deep, shuddering breath. It just turned into another sob. “I don’t know what- what I’m supposed to do without you.” He choked out. There was so much he wanted, no, so much he needed to say, and he couldn’t put any of it into words. “I’m sorry, I just- this has to work. I don’t care what you have to do, but I need this to work,” he managed to get out, managing to calm his breathing a little. “I love you so much. I don't want to think about what happens if this doesn't work.”

His phone buzzed, and he wanted to ignore it, but he caught a glimpse of the screen. Zada needed him, and he tried to take another deep breath, this one a little more successful. “Sounds like Triss has managed to burn herself on some silver. We should head back,” he said, wiping his face. “Can you grab the burn paste from the bathroom?” He didn’t want to go back, but he didn’t want to stay here either. He wanted to just go somewhere else entirely until all this was gone, somewhere he could pretend it wasn’t happening. But that wasn’t an option. He wasn’t going to let Zada down like that. He sent her back a text.

To: Zada
Shouldn’t be fatal, just a sore burn for a few days. Bringing something to help heal it up.

Rosie looked up as Neden began to speak from where they were in the kitchen. She frowned at the angel’s words, shaking her head slightly. “Neden, sweetheart… You can’t dwell on that. It isn’t healthy, and it won’t do you any favours. You’ve done bad things in the past. But you’ve also done good things since. You can’t change or erase the things you’ve done, but you leave it in the past where it belongs. Don’t let it hold you back or stop you from doing good things,” she said softly, standing up and putting a hand on Neden’s arm for a few seconds as she spoke.

“And as for your leg, I think you might be out of luck considering we just lost two of our best healers to the wilds of the Irish countryside. And I think there’s only so much Phoenix’s tea can do for something like that,” she said lightly. “But we’ll figure it out. We’ll figure it all out.” She looked up as she heard two more people approaching, tensing up a little out of habit. But she heard familiar voices and relaxed as Evelyn and Rosie came back in. It suddenly hit her again that she was going to have to tell Travis about the trial. The joking banter between Travis and Evelyn didn’t do much to help things.

She sighed as Travis asked her what was up, shooting Neden a glance. “I got a letter while you were gone. You’ve been called to stand trial for everything you’ve done. And… I’ve been asked to preside over proceedings as the Council’s representative, which means I can’t directly help you.”
“What the fuck?” Evelyn said, folding her arms. “Can they do that? Given your…” she trailed off, but Rosie knew what she meant.
“They can do whatever the hell they want. They, strictly speaking, run this place. There’s nothing stopping them. And if I fight it, I’ll make it worse. It’s a public trial, so the whole town will be there to keep me accountable. There’s nothing I can do. So… Neden has agreed to help you figure it out, find something that might help.”
“You can count me in too. You fucked up, hunter boy, but you don’t deserve to be ki-” Evelyn cut herself off. “Uhh… does he know about that part?”
“No. But he should,” Rosie said, turning to look fully at Trav. “That’s the other thing. The traditional punishment for a guilty party is ritualistic execution. Death. So if there’s anything you can think of that could help your case, we need to know about it.”

x
Travis wasn’t sure what exactly he expected to hear from Rosie and Neden, but what the siren revealed was a thought that lingered at the back of his mind for awhile that he ignored and just hoped would go away. He was now being held accountable for his actions, the things he ran away the first time for. Travis wasn’t sure how long he could just hide out at Rosie’s, sort of hoping that a miracle would happen and everyone would just forget about what he did and such. But now a public trial, and that it was upon Rosie’s shoulders. He wouldn’t want anyone else up there judging him, but he knew it wouldn’t be easy for her. Travi wasn’t sure how to react to the news, luckily Rosie kept talking and the others joined in the conversation, giving him time to just sit down with his thoughts for a moment.

Trav stayed quiet for most of the conversation between the group, just sitting idly. He didn’t show a physical reaction to Evelyn Evelyn saying he fucked up nor what the punishment would be if, when, he would be found guilty. He wasn’t scared of death, never one to fear what laid on the other side after a man closed his eyes for the last time. But he was still trying to come to terms with the monster he is, not the vampire side of him, but the side of him that used to be a hunter. Maybe this was the retribution for his sins and the consequence of his actions catching up to him.

It wasn’t until Travis looked up and noticed the others staring at him that he realized they were talking to him, as he lost in his thoughts for a bit. “Sorry, I’m just... thinking.” Travis said as he ran one of his hands over his face and through his hair. He could just run again, but if he ran now, he would have nowhere else to go. The Branded would know about his traitorous actions by now, plus being a vampire wouldn’t be easy to hide from them, and if he ran from Greythorne, he assumed news would travel about the hunter and he would be exiled from any other villages. Either way, he was now a deadman walking, waiting for judgement.

“I need some time to myself.” Travis said abruptly, not really noticing, or caring, if he interrupted anyone. He stood up and made his way into the basement, closing the door behind him. The room Rosie set up for him he appreciated, but being closed off in the basement would give him more time to himself and away from the others.

After his feet shuffled down the stairs, Travis made his way across the basement and slammed his fist into the concrete wall, leaving a miniscule crack in the wall thanks to his vampiric strength. He turned around and slid his back down the wall until he was sitting down, one leg stretched out and the other bent with his arms around it.Travis let out some deep breaths and quickly wiped away a tear from his face. After all he had fought for, the friends he made, and the one place he felt welcomed, was now just crumbling down all around him.

xx
The moment Alex had finished talking, he had the sense that he probably shouldn’t have said anything at all. It crushed his heart when Phoenix began to sob, and Phoenix’s words had tears welling up in his eyes: this was all his fault. None of this would have happened if he wasn’t so impulsive and useless and afraid. He wanted to hold Phoenix close, to comfort him and be comforted in turn, but nothing about that felt right. He wasn’t himself, and a part of him wasn’t sure his touch would be well-received, and he didn’t know what to say. What could he say? “I’m sorry,” He half spoke, half mumbled, “I shouldn’t have said anything, I’m just scared, and-” And what? He knew he had needed to express his feelings before that fear turned to anger. He was angry enough with himself, he didn’t need to risk becoming overwhelmed by the combination of the situation and his own emotions. He’d learned the hard way that letting his feelings fester didn’t do him any favors.

Then Phoenix received a text, and like a crashing wave that was it, the moment had been taken over by the next event that required attention. Alex hadn’t thought to warn Triss against silver; honestly, he thought it was a give-in for supernatural creatures to avoid the stuff. Shows what he knew. Phoenix had asked him to grab the burn cream, and Alex nodded immediately, but stood rooted in place for a short moment, studying Phoenix’s face.

He moved on without another word. There wasn’t anything to be said, anyway.

In the bathroom, he found himself a little distracted by his reflection. There was something surreal about looking at yourself in a mirror and seeing someone else. It made everything feel a bit like a dream. He quickly grabbed up what he’d come from and went to rejoin Phoenix, but he hesitated there for a few extra seconds to give Phoenix a moment to- hopefully- compose himself. He briefly considered taking a moment to run and grab one of his hoodies. He’d feel better, he thought, if he had one. He hadn’t realized until that moment how he’d been using them for security.

But that would be hard to explain, and potentially upsetting, so instead he returned to Phoenix. “It’s gonna be okay, I’m just being negative. I need to learn how to keep my thoughts to myself.” He sighed, then reached out and smoothed a stray lock of Phoenix’s hair back in place. But his hands were too small, and it was weird and everything felt a little like it had before. Alex knew, on some level, that he’d been trying to absolve Phoenix of guilt, but he felt like he’d just made everything worse.

He cleared his throat, wanting to move on before either of them got any chance to get too emotional again, “We better get back before Triss ends up breaking an arm. Of course she’d get hurt. Everything goes well, she won’t have to deal with it much longer.” He started to gather up all the things he’d gotten together; hopefully they’d get this done very quickly, and he could bitch about Triss getting him hurt in the comfort of his own body.

Once they were both ready, they could head out easily enough, and Alex figured neither of them would much mind if they didn't discuss the feeling of impending doom that had so nicely settled between them.

Zada frowned when Triss spoke about how the water felt different; she couldn’t even imagine that, if she were being honest. Being in- and around- the water was like breathing to Zada, and the thought of having her connection to water severed was a horrifying thought. Zada sighed and rested a hand on Triss’ shoulder, gently rubbing her thumb across it. She hoped it would be comforting, but she didn’t know. “You’ll be back to normal soon enough, Trisstana.” Zada wasn’t sure she believed it, but she needed to. “And once you’re back, we can have a good, long soak.” Zada would have loved nothing more than to promise Triss they’d go for a swim, but going to the lake had made both of them nervous after what happened the last time. Zada had been so sure then that she was going to lose Triss, she never thought she’d lose her to something as stupid as a demon’s bruised ego.

Zada turned the tap off after Triss removed her hand from the water, and reached out to gently take Triss’ hand in her own, carefully inspecting the burn, “It doesn’t look too bad.” She jumped when her phone went off, and took a second to relax before checking the message. Phoenix’s words were a relief, “They’re going to bring something to help with the pain.”

She tilted her head slightly to the side, as if looking at Triss from a different angle would suddenly give her answers she didn’t have before. “I don’t know what it’s like to feel the water in the way you’ve described it,” She admitted, finally, “But I promise you it’s temporary.” Zada hadn’t felt so deeply devoted to another person since she’d been rejected by her pod, and she wasn’t going to throw it away for anything. “We’ll get you back to normal, you’ll be connected to the water again, and all will be well. I promise, lover, as much as I can promise you such a thing, all will be righted again.”

She grabbed a towel and gently dried off Triss’ hand, careful not to be abrasive on the burns, “And I’ll be with you the whole way.” She wasn’t sure the assurance meant much, but it made her feel better to have said it. It was funny, how a part of comforting others was sometimes comforting yourself.

“I’m going to take off this bracelet.” She said, before turning to leave the room. She didn’t know if Triss would follow or not, but she added, “I’ll just be a moment.” She went to her bedroom, traded silver for a bracelet of a more appropriate composition, and sighed. This was the strangest experience of her life, and certainly not anything she’d expected would actually happen. She’d known strange things would happen living in an inland supernatural community, but she never would have guessed at any of this.

She returned to the main room to wait. The town was small, and it didn’t take long at all to get around, even if you were walking, so she knew it wouldn’t be too terribly long, now. She spotted Phoenix and Triss- no, Alex- through the window and felt an overwhelming sense of relief. They were back. They could fix things now.

While Alex was gone, Phoenix took the precious few seconds to try and pull himself together. He wasn’t the only one dealing with this, he reminded himself, and having meltdowns wasn’t going to help anybody. This would work. It had to work. For everyone’s sake. He made sure everything they needed was in the bag and that he had the tea and the promised baked goods, knowing that keeping himself busy was key. He just needed to get through the next few hours.

He managed to shoot a smile at Alex as he came back. Alex reaching out to fix Phoenix’s hair was such a natural familiar gesture, but Phoenix flinched away from the touch for a fraction of a second, his body reacting almost instinctively to the wrong hand. “No. I think… we needed to say it,” he admitted softly, before taking Alex’s hint to move on and picking up the bag. Alex joking about Triss getting hurt made him crack a proper smile.

The walk back to Zada’s was quiet, but Phoenix was glad for that. Reflecting on and discussing what had happened seemed like something they should do when everyone was back in their correct bodies and the whole thing was behind them. Carrying the bag gave him something to do with his hands and made the absence of Alex’s hand feel less strange.

They let themselves back into Zada’s and went back into the main room. Phoenix dug the healing paste out of the bag and handed it to Triss. “You only need a little bit, and it should start to work right away,” he instructed. “I also brought some protective tea. Me and Abuela figured it out a while back, when the attacks were… really bad.” When him and Alex still weren’t talking to each other. The memory alone made the hollow feeling in his chest come back. “It’s all herbs, fruits, and flowers known to have a protective effect in necromancy and other forms of magic, and I grew them myself which means their effects should be increased. We don’t know for sure if it makes a difference, but I think we need to do everything we can to protect ourselves.” He explained it mostly for Triss’ benefit, as he guessed she was the most likely to question it.

xx

Trisstana let Zada take her hand and watched her inspect it, lightly twisting and rotating it to see the full damage of the silver bracelet. She tensed a bit at the touch, but tried not to show any more pain from it. Triss nodded as Zada said the burn wasn’t too bad and was looking better. Her hand hung for a second in the air as Zada let go and checked her phone. She seemed a bit more happy and spoke about the others on their way back, and with things with the pain. “Good.” She said quickly, looking back towards the sink again.

When Zada spoke again, Triss looked back towards her partner. She simply just stared and kept eye contact with her, soaking in the words she spoke. She hoped what she was saying was true, that this was only temporarily and soon be gone. When the mermaid called her lover, the word struck her differently. Trisstana’s internal temperature rose as she continued to speak, promising to be there for her, and knowing she was speaking the truth. She let Zada take her hand again and gently dry it off.


Triss was going to follow Zada to the main room, wanting to embrace her, talk to her, bathe with her. But it didn’t feel right at the moment, so she just turned and headed back to the main room. She heard Zada join her but didn’t face her yet, just staring out the window as Phoenix and her body approaching the house.

Phoenix motioned towards Triss and she walked over as he handed her a paste, speaking that it was to help with the burn and not use much of it. “Thanks.” She replied and walked a bit away, ending up next to Zada. She started putting the paste in her burn, Zada quickly assisted, spreading it out in a more calm manner and evenly across the burn.

The witches continued to talk, speaking soemthing about attacks, which confused her. Besides the silver burning her, nothing has really attacked her yet. “Attacks? What attacks?” She asked. If there were to be more side effects to being stuck in this body, she would like to know. “I don’t need anything to protect myself.” Trisstana said sharply, not exactly trying to be so hostile, but might be coming off that way. “Are we ready to go? Seterah wants us to make this shrine, and the sooner, the better.”

xx
Alex had gotten over the need to fill every silence between himself and Phoenix years before he’d felt any inkling of romantic attraction towards him, but the silence on the walk to Zada’s was far from comfortable to him. He knew it was because he felt guilty, as he often did. He really had been trying to do better, to not fuck everything in his life up yet again. He tried not to dwell on it- he didn’t want to spiral down into self-loathing just yet, that would be far from helpful.

He was relieved to see that Triss had only been burned on the hand- he knew it hurt like hell, but it would heal fairly quickly. That was good for the both of them, really. Something about seeing the way Zada didn’t shy away from Triss made the sadness and dread in the pit of his stomach more intense than it had been before before, so he went about finding a space to set down the box he’d packed his things in. He could get it loaded up with the candles then, and everything would hopefully be manageable. He could get through this if he just stayed busy.

He was half-listening to Phoenix talk about the tea as he started to carefully pack the candles up, and when Triss asked about the attacks he said, “Hunters. The attacks were,” He paused for a second, considering his words, “Intense when they first started.” He hadn’t turned away from his task, but when Triss spoke up saying she didn’t need any extra protection, he turned to look at her, “I know it seems like a waste of time, but you really can’t be too careful with things like this. I promise we’ll make the altar soon- I want this over with as badly as you do- but you never know. One thing could go wrong, and you’ll be cursed or something. Besides, it’ll probably help keep the spirits off your back.” He paused and, less flippantly, added, “I know it can be a little overwhelming.” He remembered when he’d first started to actively see and hear spirits in his everyday life, and not just catch glimpses of them out of the corner of his eye. It was a lot to deal with, even when you’d spent your entire life knowing that day would come. He couldn’t imagine if it came out of the blue.

Phoenix explained the paste to Triss, but Zada listened intently. She wanted to do whatever she could to ease this for Trisstana. This situation was intense- it was hell. Zada couldn’t think of something she’d enjoy much less, but they just needed to get through it. If they could just get through it, it would be fine. Zada felt better when Triss was at her side- wrong body or not, it was easier to make sure Triss was okay when she was beside her. Maybe she was too protective, but Zada had lost everyone she’d ever loved before, and she wasn’t ready to start losing the people she cared for again. When Triss started trying to apply the paste to the burn, Zada thought that it seemed difficult, having to apply a paste to your own hand. Zada gently took the paste from her and smoothed it over the burn, trying not to irritate it any. It was a strangely intimate thing, helping someone with an injury.

As the paste was being applied, Phoenix went on to talk about a tea with some sort of protective properties. It made some sense to Zada- even if she didn’t want to waste any extra time, there was no telling what they might encounter out there. They were dealing with magic and demons, not humans who had the strange idea that everyone different than them was evil.

Triss was insisting that she didn’t need any protection. Zada understood; she was impatient, wanted to get back to normal. It made sense, felt natural, and Zada found herself resting a hand on Triss’ shoulder, almost instinctively, “He’s trying to help,” Zada reminded her. Then Alex was speaking of curses and spirits, and that made Zada uncomfortable, maybe even afraid, “If it’ll help, it might be worth it.” She spoke softly, so only Trisstana would hear. She wanted this to go smoothly, and she didn’t know overly much about things that were more magical. Mermaids had their own sort of magic, but Zada had the inkling that it worked very differently from this.

Zada normally wouldn’t concede to any point Alex made, but he had a point. She was sure he and Phoenix knew more about this sort of thing than they did, so she offered, ”Obviously, we don’t want to spend more time than absolutely necessary,” Zada sighed, and looked at Phoenix. She knew she felt very helpless, and wished there was more that she could do. She understood that. She glanced at Triss, ”But I don’t think any of us know exactly what to expect.”

Phoenix just frowned as Triss refused the tea. At any other time, he would have considered it to be her own damn problem, but while she was in Alex's body, he didn't like the thought of her turning down protection. Both Zada and Alex spoke in favour of her drinking the tea, but a small pit of anger burned in Phoenix's stomach. He wondered if she'd be so reckless if she was within her own body.

"This is a demon we're dealing with," he said, quietly but firmly. "We can't take any chances. And besides. It's not your body that's going to have to deal with the consequences if you do get hurt," he said, a trace of warning in his voice as he pushed the tea into her hands. He was frustrated and the whole situation was beginning to wear him down. He handed Zada and Alex their tea. He had never thought that they'd be in a situation where Zada would be the one trying to keep the peace between them all, but there they were. He shot her a look of thanks.

"It's better that we take the time to discuss exactly what we have to do anyway. Trust me, I want to be out of this nightmare as soon as possible too, but rushing is only going to risk putting us all even more in danger which none of us want. You don't take chances when you mess with demons." He said.

He sighed and sat back down, both hands wrapped around his own cup. "So. What exactly do we need to do when it comes to building this altar. Is it just... find a place where it won't be disturbed, light a few candles, lay out a pattern of charms and so on, and hope for the best? Or are there specifics we need to be aware of now?" He asked, looking at Alex.

xx
Triss sighed when the others insisted on this further protection, not entirely caring about more protection and just wanting to get things back to normal, get back to her body, get back to enjoying her time with Zada. She wanted to retort back at Phoenix when he seemed to get hostile, speaking in a much firmer tone. But Zada quickly calmed her down, putting her hand on her shoulder and whispering into her ear. She took a deep breath and nodded to her, taking a sip of the tea. “Fine. But I don’t know anything about these attacks or spirits you are talking about.” Trisstana spoke as she continued to sip the tea as the others spoke.

Phoenix spoke again, talking about taking time to discuss instead of just going to make an altar. It’s an altar. How hard or difficult is it? You already have the items in that box. Triss thought to herself, she didn’t understand any of this witch and demon nonsense. She was content with her solemn living with her mermaid companion, but now all that is gone and at risk to not come back. She didn’t want to wait, she was getting frustrated after being told what to do so many times instead of just going and fixing the problem.

But Trisstana knew it was best to just stay quiet for now, knowing Zada had their best intentions in mind, more so than Alex’s and Phoenix’s. She didn’t want to force Zada to keep trying to calm her down. She met Zada’s glance for a second, flashing a short smile to the beautiful mermaid before staring back down at the tea before lifting it to her lips and finishing it, setting the cup down on the table. Her gaze rose up to Alex as Phoenix asked him more about the altar.

“What do you mean?” Triss quickly said in response to Alex, quickly before anyone else could. “Seafish has the candles, you have the box of items, I have what Seterah gave me. Why can’t we just go out and build this altar?” She continued, a bit of sharpness behind her tongue. This is witch magic, to Triss, witches should know about this sort of thing.

xx
Alex absently sipped on the tea Phoenix handed to him, glad that Triss at least relented and agreed to drink the stuff. When Phoenix asked about what was next, Alex took a brief moment to mull the question over in his head. It was easy enough to answer, or, at least, it should have been. “Well,” He started, fully aware of how unconfident he sounded, “She never really specified what she wanted, so… I’m not sure,” He shrugged, “I’m sure it’s not going to be as simple as building an altar but-” He stopped, mulling over the words in his mind when Triss jumped in. Alex understood that this was frustrating. Truly, no one in this room understood what Triss was going through like he did, but the anxiety that had been simmering just under the surface had come to a rolling boil, and- as seemed to be the custom- was presenting itself as anger.

He walked the space between himself and Triss (standing there smugly in his body, refusing to take this seriously) until he was right in front of her, “Have you ever built an altar?” He questioned, “You know, just in general?” He paused for a moment, but not really long enough to let her answer, “Do you have any idea of the amount of care and planning that typically goes into this?” Alex shook his head, “I have never built an altar to an ancient demon that could condemn me to a life in someone else’s body. Have you?” He didn’t mean to raise his voice, really, but he had before he’d realized it, “Forgive me for wanting to make sure we don’t fuck it up and make things worse!” He should have paused, taken a breath, tried to compose himself, but he went on, “This is all my fault. I understand that, there’s no delusion in my mind that it isn’t. If this goes wrong, that’s going to be my fault too. I don’t want that hanging over my head for the rest of my life, because I know at least one person in this room who’s set on making sure I remember that I’m a piece of shit.” He did take a breath there, tried to calm down a little, “I promise you that I’m doing my best. I need you to not be a fucking idiot and get us killed. Can you do that for me?”

Zada really wanted everyone to calm down so that they could get this over with, but Triss seemed to continually be getting under Phoenix and Alex’s skin. She hurried to Triss’ side as Alex had his little temper tantrum, but ultimately didn’t feel a need to intervene until Alex accused Triss of being an idiot, “Excuse me,” Zada raised an eyebrow, “How is that helpful?” Zada crossed her arms as Alex rolled his eyes, and the two stared at one another for an uncomfortable moment before Alex finally said,

“You’re right,” And then, directed at Triss, “I’m sorry.”

Knowing that was the best they were going to get, Zada gestured vaguely around the room, “I know that we’d like to be better prepared, but sitting around arguing isn’t helping. Trisstana and I don’t know anything about… Witch business.” She sighed, it was hard feeling powerless, and not knowing how, or if, she could help. “Some of us here are just feeling very out of the loop, I think.”

She glanced over at the box of candles and trinkets that Alex had been putting together and said, “I think I have some newspaper we can use to keep things from getting broken,” Normally she wouldn’t dream of being helpful to Alex, but this was bigger than her usual disdain of the man, “Wouldn’t want anything short of perfect for our demon friend, yes?” With that, she removed herself from the situation, if only temporarily, to go grab a small stack of newspapers that had been waiting to be recycled. She handed some of them to Alex, and since the candles were hers, and there was a chance they wouldn’t use all of them, she went about helping him more properly package everything up.

It always astounded her, how he could be so meticulous and careful when he wanted to be.

With that work finished, Zada stood and smoothed out the back of her pants, “Now, if everyone’s feeling better,” She shot a pointed look at Alex, and then gestured towards the door, “Staying here is only making it worse.”

It took a lot for Phoenix to fully lose his temper. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd been properly angry at someone. But Triss was very rapidly driving him to that. She didn't seem to grasp the concept that this wasn't something they dealt with every day. Or even at all. For the most part, his magic was innate, something he didn't have to actively work at. And the few spells and rituals he had learned were small, mostly protection spells. But Triss didn't want to know that. And if she kept up this reckless, impatient attitude, she was going to get them all killed. Or worse.

And Alex apparently shared the sentiment. At any other time, it might have been enough to earn a half-smile from Phoenix, but mostly, he was just exhausted. The demon had known exactly what she was doing when she'd decided to switch Alex and Triss. The chances of them messing something up and either rendering the whole thing ineffective or making things worse were significant, and Phoenix knew that, and Alex did too. Phoenix got the impression that Zada had an inkling of the danger they were all in, something he was somewhat glad for.

Throughout the whole argument and as they began to pack things up, Phoenix just stayed sitting, steadily staring in to his tea. It would have been so easy to get caught up in it, but he needed to keep his own emotions under wrap. If Alex and Triss were going to stay bickering this whole time, Zada needed him to be able to keep himself in check and step in if needed. He drained his tea and put the cup in the sink as Zada suggested they leave. He nodded and stepped outside into the fresh air. "We need somewhere quiet. Somewhere it won't be disturbed, and somewhere difficult to find so nobody will find it accidentally." He said as they stepped outside, before glancing at Triss and sighing, figuring she'd demand he explain. "We don't want to be discovered while building it for obvious reasons," he explained. "We don't want it being accidentally destroyed in case that just pisses her off more. But we also don't want people to find it and... either get the wrong idea about why it's there... or think it's something that should be worshiped. Bad things happen when people decide to get entangled with demons they don't know much about." The last sentence was out of his mouth before he even knew it or had considered how it sounded, but in that moment, he found himself struggling to care. He stayed walking towards the woods, hoping the familiarity and proximity to nature might help him relax somewhat.

xx
Trisstana was a bit surprised when Alex approached her and started speaking, quickly asking questions back to back and not much time in between them to answer them. She started getting more annoyed as he raised his voice towards her. Triss just rolled her eyes as he continued, crossing her arms as talked about stuff being his fault, which she wasn’t going to argue that with him. But then he decided to insult her, calling her an idiot. Trisstana’s arms went to her side, but before she could say or do anything, Zada spoke up, stopping her in her place. There was a moment of silence, as if Alex and Zada were having some sort of conversation, then Alex apologized to her. “Whatever.” Triss turned around and walked to the side of the room.

Triss mostly watched as the others seemed to have some sort of idea of what they were doing. She did start to get a bit jealous watching Zada and Alex putting things in the box together, seeing her partner with basically her own body didn’t feel right. She was brought back to reality when Alex spoke to her again, expecting another sort of remark, but instead a request. Well, more of telling her to take some stuff and carry it. She looked over at Zada for a moment who just nodded at her and took a box that held the candles and some other items, before following Phoenix, Alex and Zada outside and quickly into the woods.

The group had been walking for a while and Trisstana wanted to say something, but the moment she opened her mouth Alex pointed and spoke about a tree stump, hidden a bit by some shrubbery and saying that would work. Triss set the box down gently and dusted herself off, as well as brushing some sticks that had gotten caught in Alex’s hair, well her body’s hair. She didn’t say anything about it to him before turning back to the others. “So… I guess this is where we are doing this?” And then pulling out some items. “How does an altar get built?” She asked.

Triss felt a pull for a moment as Alex went to take the items out of her hand, but she held fiercely. "No. Let me." She spoke shortly, basically saying she wanted to help, but not exactly choosing the right words. Alex paused for a moment, before giving her directions on what to do and how to do it. Trisstana would've usually just sat back and done nothing, but something felt different right now and there was something that make her feel like she should help. Not sure if it was some anxiety with what was going on, a change in emotion and attitude, or just the demon behind all of this guiding her.

xx
When Zada suggested they get going Alex hoisted up the box of candles and trinkets to rest on his hip. It struck him, then, that he didn’t know how intensively he was going to have to look for a suitable space, and when paired with the simmering anger he felt towards Triss, he decided to make her carry it. “Here,” He said, calmly, “I might need my hands free. Would you mind?” He held the box up, an offering and indication of what he was talking about.

Once Trisstana had taken the box, Alex nodded and turned to follow Zada and Phoenix out the door. Phoenix started to explain the situation to Triss, and Alex was glad to be spared from having to try to explain all of this, himself. He understood it, himself, but he was more inclined to just tell Triss that she needed to trust him than try to help her understand.

“Bad things happen when people decide to get entangled with demons they don't know much about.”

As those words left Phoenix’s lips, they hit Alex almost like a slap in the face. He didn’t need to be reminded that this was all his fault, yet reminders kept coming. He’d made a deal with a creature he didn’t understand and now he was in this situation, and he’d dragged everyone down with him. He wondered, sometimes, at times like these, why anyone bothered with him.

He tried not to let it show how that hurt him, instead busying himself with looking around the forest. There wasn’t likely to be anything like what they were looking for until they got farther in, but it was a plausible way to try to distract his mind. A thousand thoughts swirled around his head, but at least they weren’t accompanied by the lamentations and urgings of the dead, beckoning him ever closer…. He still knew exactly where they wanted him to go. He wished they hadn’t picked somewhere so sentimental. They’d grown louder since he’d stepped foot into their world, since he’d survived his own death. Creatures of death don’t like giving up one of their own. The pact he’d made softened their cries, sometimes blotted them out. He knew that no one here understood the significance of that. Besides maybe….

He glanced in Triss’ direction. Were they whispering to her? Would they try to tempt her farther and farther into the woods? Would she listen if he told her not heed them?

As they walked deeper into the woods, Alex started looking in earnest. He knew these woods well. They had been a solace for him for many years. When he couldn’t find a reminder of his mortality in someone else’s arms, he often sought out trees and rocks and streams to ground him. The spirits had always been loud and overwhelming, and their voices had distrubed him ever since they’d started whispering to him in his dreams. If he’d known then how far he’d eventually go to quiet them….

When he finally spotted a good place to set up the altar, Alex felt himself letting out a sigh of relief. This whole thing coming to an end was looking more and more real, now they just had to hope they didn’t fuck it all up. “There,” He said, pointing out the tree stump. It was hidden away from the path most people walked on, but not too far out that he’d forget where it was, and it was obscured enough from view that he doubted anyone would notice it if they weren’t looking for it. “That’ll work.”

Alex didn’t pay much notice if anyone was following him as he walked the short distance to better check out the spot. He doubted they’d find a better spot without spending an extensive time searching, and figured he could move the stuff later if the demon wanted something grander. But if she was doing all this she was desperate, so he was willing to wager that she would accept whatever they offered to her. When he turned to face the others, Triss was right there, and then she was picking some twigs out of his hair. Her hair? It was confusing, and Alex could feel the warmth in his cheeks, and then he felt embarrassed about it all.

Luckily, Triss made it so he didn’t have to try to address it at all; she started rummaging through the stuff, asking how an altar is made. “There’s really no one way to build an altar,” Alex said with a shrug, “It’s mostly about intention.” With that, he reached out for the items Triss was holding, and the surprise was evident on his face when she resisted.

"No. Let me."

She wanted to help? Alex sighed, then nodded, “Okay.” He went rummaging through the box and nodded when he found a paint marker. They were a game changer for stuff like this. “Come here,” He instructed, kneeling in the dirt beside the stump. “Left arm.” He said, as he held out his hand. When Triss gave him her arm, he gently turned it until he could see the ugly scar the demon had left there, and he copied the shape down- albeit much larger- on top of the stump. “Now,” He said, turning to look Triss in the eyes, “We just… Make it look nice.” He turned to grab some crystals and candles and went on to put them across the stump, sort of bordering the symbol he’d drawn, letting Triss help and give input as they went.

Once they’d finished, he nodded, “Now to light the candles.” They’d ended up using four candles, and while the lighter he’d packed had settled to the bottom of the box, it didn’t take long for him to fish it out and start lighting candles. Since Triss had wanted to be involved in building the altar, he figured he’d let her light some, too, and passed off the lighter to her after he’d lit half the candles.

xx
Alex quickly replied, but giving an open ended answer to her question about altars, but it made sense. Trisstana had seen a vast number of altars and not many of them were that similar, though so many of the temples humans made look identical to each other. But she was relieved when he allowed her to help, she had an inkling that Seterah wanted, or demanded, them to work together for this to come to an end without much more issues.

Triss followed Alex’s lead, and doing as he asked, a bit quizzical about holding out her arm and analyzing the scar on it. She hadn’t really noticed it before but after watching him trace it into the stump with a knife and he went back to setting up crystals. Triss sat for a moment looking around wondering what to do, and her eyes went back to the knife. She shrugged before picking it up and making a small slice on her right hand and adding some drops of blood to the stump before being nudged by Alex. “What? Don’t demons like blood? Am I wrong?” She asked, before being scolded. She just rolled her eyes and went back to setting up a few crystals, and adding a few flowers to the outside, making it a bit more prettier.

Trisstana stood back up when she felt like she had added enough to the altar and let the other two witches finish, glancing over at Triss and giving a light smile. Hoping this would all be back to normal sooner rather than later. Her attention was taken back to the altar when Alex lit two of the candles and held out the lighter to her. It took her a second to realize what he wanted her to do, light the other two candles. She nodded and took the light and knelt down in front of the altar, taking a look at the tree stump and the items they had laid out across it to make it into an altar. and eyes fixing on the last two candles.

It took her a few clicks, but Triss was able to light the last two candles, but stayed kneeling down in front of it as the flames flickered, waiting for something to happen. She heard Zada ask a question and Alex said something that caused another remark from Zada. Triss mostly ignored what they were saying and remembered the piece of paper that Seterah had given her and quickly took it out and held it in her palm before looking back at the altar. Trisstana stared at it for a moment before holding it over one of the candle flames and watching it slowly burn and wither into ash.

In less than a moment Triss felt herself get pushed to the side, barely catching herself as she watched Alex as he tried to grab the burning piece of paper. After he burnt himself and dropped the paper, part of it still unburnt, he leaned over Triss, quickly interrogating her. She wasn’t sure exactly why she did that, while it was impulsive, it felt as if someone else was guiding her hand. But she didn’t appreciate how Alex was reacting to what she did and being so hostile.

“Get off me!” Trisstana said sharply as she pushed Alex back and stood up, brushing some dirt off of her. “I did it because...” She paused for a second. “I don’t know why, but I did.” Starting to get a bit more defensive, especially when Alex called her stupid. “I am not stupid. I’m just trying to deal with this, what feels right!” She shouted back, bending back over to try to pick up the piece of paper and finish burning it. Triss almost had it over the candle when she was pulled back again by Alex, but ignoring what he said. “I said, get off of me!” She shouted again, trying to separate her and Alex, forcing them both to the ground.

Usually Triss was used to overpowering someone when having to wrestle against them, but that was her old body, not Alex’s. She was quickly pinned to the ground by her old body as she could tell Alex was getting upset, and unintentionally using the nixie’s bodys claws. Luckily Alex was quickly pulled off of Triss, and she was pulled back as well. She was confused as to who was pulling her back when she looked back and saw it was plants, quickly shooting a look over at Phoenix. Witch magic… Trisstana quickly wrestled against the vine, reaching for the knife and cutting herself free. She used this opportunity to crawl over and finish burning the paper on the candle. Doing it now out of principle and Alex telling her not to.

Phoenix felt useless as he watched Triss and Alex build the altar. He had a decent knowledge of spells and charms and enchantments; you didn't spend most of your childhood and teenage years with Abuela without picking something up. Alex hadn't wanted to know or engage, so Abuela had taught him instead, possibly in the hopes that one day, he could teach Alex. None of them could have ever imagined this, though. Building an altar was something they'd always been steered away from.

He wasn't sure what he was expecting as Triss lit the last candle. A flash of light, some sort of visual indication, something. But nothing happened. He watched Triss and Alex, waiting for their behaviour to switch back to their proper selves. But nothing happened. And then Triss lifted the piece of paper up to the fame, and everything fell apart.

Phoenix didn't have time to even say anything or step between them before Alex had tackled Triss to the ground. With that kind of strength, Phoenix knew that getting involved could be dangerous. And so he acted instinctively, vines and branches wrapping around the two of them and pulling them apart. He almost regretted it as Triss finished burning the paper, possibly destroying everything. He couldn't just stand back and say nothing now. Triss and Alex were constantly at each other's throats, and that was going to ruin everything. Which was what she wanted.

"Okay. Time-out. We need to take a moment and seriously think about what the hell we're actually dealing with, because you both seem to have forgotten that we can't trust demons." He stepped forward until he was standing between the two of them in case things turned sour again. "Did you even read the paper she gave you? Did you even stop to consider the implications of burning it?" He asked Triss. "You can't just trust your gut when it comes to demons, because she wants to ruin things. You don't know the slightest thing about demons, so for fuck's sake, ask us before doing anything else stupid, before you get stuck like this because you couldn't take two seconds to double check something."

"And have either of you considered that you two constantly being at each other's throats might be exactly what she wants? To stop us from actually working together and finishing this properly?" He asked both of them. "She's watching us right now, and she's laughing, because we're playing right into her hands. But a deal is a deal, and she's bound to fulfull her part it. So just... stop it and... give me two moments to think so we can figure things out, okay?" He walked a short distance away, far enough that if they started bickering again, he wouldn't be able to hear them. Sighing heavily, he ran his hands through his hair, trying to remember the books he'd read with Abuela. He closed his eyes, trying to visualise the books he'd read when bored in Abuela's. Almost out of the blue, it came to him, and he headed back to the others.

"Give me the knife." He said, holding out his hand to Triss. "And don't argue." She stared him down for a few seconds, glanced at Zada, then handed it to him. "Most altars can be built like this, which is enough. But she's a older demon,more powerful, so we'll need something more. We'll need blood. From both of you." He held out his hand to Alex first, knowing Triss would refuse to go first and that Alex would trust him.

Zada didn’t understand this altar building stuff, but she figured she didn’t have to. She hung back, standing stiffly- and far beyond- the rotting tree stump Alex and Triss were consecrating for their demon. She wondered what lasting impressions this would have on the town. They didn’t have much of an option though, did they? Zada occasionally glanced over to Phoenix, as if searching for some sort of emotional support in this; but Phoenix was at the end of his rope. Perhaps being with Alex did that to a person. Zada wondered how often things like this happened.

When the candles were finally lit, they all stayed very still for a moment, but finally Zada couldn’t handle it and asked, “How will we know if it worked?”

“I assume we’ll go back to normal.”

Zada fought the urge to say something cruel- Alex had never experienced something like this before, of course he didn’t know exactly what would happen. “I was just expecting something… Bigger.”

Zada heard a stifled chuckle fighting to escape Alex’s throat, and for a moment she thought that- just maybe- this tense atmosphere could dissipate. She looked down at the ground, wondering if maybe someone should think about bringing some food in case they’d be here for a while, when she heard shouting. Alex and Triss were fighting now, physically. Zada had hoped it wouldn’t come to this. Panic rose in Zada’s chest- they were going to rip each other to pieces.

Thank the goddess that Phoenix was there.

Phoenix started demanding cooperation from Triss, and when she looked to Zada for encouragement, Zada nodded. She had to trust that the witches present knew what they were talking about. That Phoenix could help fix this.

But blood? Zada didn’t like the sound of that. Demons and blood felt… Strange. Wrong. Twisted. Blood was the water of life, and even under the sea everyone knew of its power.

xx
The candles were lit, everything looked good, why was nothing happening? For a moment, Alex let his thoughts run away from him. This was all probably something the demon didn’t intend to honor. Had Triss signed any sort of contract? Probably not. How do you even get a demon to uphold a bargain without a contract. He should have asked her more questions about that. Then Triss produced something from her pocket. That paper the demon had given her. Maybe there were some sort of instructions, or-

She set it on fire.

Did she really just set it on fire?!

“What the fuck?!” He shouted, pushing Triss aside with a strength he didn’t quite realize he possessed to grab the paper out of the flame. The paper singed his fingers, and he quickly dropped it. “Why would you do that?”

Triss pushed him then, gave some sort of a weak explanation. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done? How fucking stupid it is to just take what a demon says and do it?” Alex gestured between the two of them, as if the consequences of such actions should be obvious to her.

Triss tried to get the paper back to the candle, and Alex grabbed her arm, “You have no idea what you could be unleashing, you-” But Triss just yelled, and fought, and Alex just hated her in that moment. In the struggle, they both toppled over to the ground, but Alex managed to get the upper hand, pinning Triss beneath him. He hadn’t meant to use the Nixie’s claws and strength, didn’t even know how he’d done it. But nearly as soon as the fight began, they were pulled apart. Phoenix.

Alex shot Phoenix a dirty look as Triss finished burning the paper. “I wasn’t going to hurt her,” He said weakly. He wasn’t sure he believed it.

Alex crossed his arms as Phoenix spoke, feeling ridiculous and small. He didn’t say anything as Phoenix walked away, just looked down at the grass and wished he were far away. Wished he’d never dealt with demons. Wished that Rory and Oliver and Violet had just let him die. At least two of them would still be here if they hadn’t insisted on saving his stupid ass, and what was he doing with the chance he’d been given?

When Phoenix came back, asking for blood, Alex almost said no. “Phoenix, maybe we should…” He looked at Phoenix, and he knew he looked defeated, tired. But what was he supposed to say? He didn’t like the idea of what adding blood to this mix might bring them, might bring the world, but when he looked at Phoenix, any objections died in his throat. He presented his arm- Trisstana’s arm- to Phoenix. A little blood from both of them, and maybe they could be done with this business. Convincing Triss was easier than Alex expected. Maybe seeing him go along with it helped, or the promise that they could be back to normal, he didn’t know. He didn’t care.

For a moment, Alex thought nothing was going to happen, so he started to say as much, “I’m not-” Suddenly, he felt a little light-headed, “Woah…” Then the world went black.

He’d hoped that Alex would trust him, that he’d trust that Phoenix knew what he was doing. And there was a moment that their eyes met, and Phoenix swore that he could see a moment of hesitation. And then Alex held out his arm. Phoenix was as gentle as he could, drawing as little blood as he could. Triss didn’t resist, something he was surprised by for a moment. There was an awful moment where Phoenix thought nothing was going to happen; and then Triss and Alex both dropped. Phoenix shot a glance at Zada, knowing that she was probably about as anxious as he was. “At least it… did something?” He said.

It was impossible to tell how long had passed before a sudden movement made Phoenix jump. It was Alex. He was back, and it was him. Phoenix knew it had worked even before he said so. He couldn’t say how he knew other than he just did, knew by the way his expressions settled on his face, by his movement, by the tone of his voice. Phoenix’s face broke into a relieved smile, almost without even realising. But then he realised that Triss was still unresponsive, and anxiety settled back in at the pit of his stomach.

But before things could deteriorate any further, Triss woke and suddenly launched herself at Zada in joy. Phoenix smiled despite himself, relief flooding through his veins. He felt Alex’s eyes on him and glanced back over, expecting equal relief. But there was something unreadable in Alex’s expression, before he just sighed and went and started cleaning up. Phoenix’s smile slipped. All he’d wanted was for things to be back to normal, but that distance was there. Had Phoenix ruined things? Had he been too harsh, had he reacted too strongly? He went over to Alex and helped him pack up the last few bits, before picking up one of the boxes to carry back.

These silent moments were excruciating. Alex wanted nothing more than to let everything back to normal, but there was something there that he felt he needed to address, and he didn’t want to do it in front of Zada and Triss. That was sure to be an uncomfortable display of vulnerability that he wasn’t prepared for. He’d been embarrassed enough for the day.

If Phoenix were paying attention, and Alex knew he was, it was probably very obvious that Alex had something he wanted to say. He knew he couldn’t just let it go like that, so after a few minutes he sighed and set what he was carrying down on the ground, “Phoenix?” He waited a moment and took the box out of Phoenix’s hands, setting it aside. “I, umm…” There were a lot of things he could have chosen to say. I understand why you said the things you said, I’m not mad at you, or even I was so scared. Instead he stood there, awkwardly, for a few seconds before wrapping his arms tightly around Phoenix, burying his head in the crook of Phoenix’s neck. “I’m sorry,” He murmured against Phoenix’s skin, “I’m so sorry. It was all my fault, I…” He stopped, willing himself not to start down the road of teary theatrics, “I was convinced I’d be stuck that way forever and lose you.” He’d wanted to believe that he’d be back in his own body the whole time, but the farther along they got, and the more he and Triss fought, it had seemed utterly impossible at the time.

He took a moment there, pressed so closely to Phoenix he could feel the rise and fall of the other man’s chest, before pulling back to look Phoenix in the eye. “I love you,” He said, simply, “So much.” He forced himself not to ask for reassurance there, “I’m not trying to make things difficult or fuck things up... I’m… I’m just so scared.” He’d lived his entire life afraid, but things had gotten a lot worse since the attacks started.

Phoenix’s stomach twisted as Alex said his name. He knew that there was something unspoken hanging in the air, and he was afraid of what would happen if they spoke it. He couldn’t quite meet Alex’s eyes as Alex took the box from his hands, almost afraid of what was to come. All of that disappeared the moment Alex wrapped his arms around Phoenix. Everything felt right again when they were like this, and it felt like everything that they both wanted to say was said in that hug. But even still, Alex apologised, admitting to being scared. Phoenix just nodded. “I know. I know. It’s okay. We’re okay now.” He said, just loud enough for only Alex to hear.

As Alex moved, Phoenix expected him to pull away altogether, but they stayed pressed together, arms wrapped around each other, the only difference that now they were looking each other in the face. There was a lump in Phoenix’s throat, but it was relief, relief that things were okay again and that they’d worked it out. “I love you too,” he said. “And… I know you’re not trying to fuck things up. I know you’re scared. I am too. But you’ve got to promise to talk to me, okay? I can’t fix everything but I can try, and if nothing else, you won’t have to do it alone. Okay?” He said.

“Okay,” Alex repeated. He could talk to Phoenix, he knew he needed to if he wanted this to work out, and god did he want it to work out. “Thank you,” He didn’t know what else to say, really. He pushed thoughts of not deserving all of this out of his head, “We wouldn’t have gotten through all of this without you,” He admitted, “It was a mess.” He thought about the implications of what had happened there, when he and Triss saw the demon. He would tell Phoenix about that later, at home.

Reluctantly, he pulled away from Phoenix. They couldn’t stay here forever, nor did Alex want to. He gave Phoenix the lighter of the boxes, as if that would make up for the day. As they walked this time, he said, “I’m gonna start having the dreams again,” He blew air from his nose in a bitter sort of laugh, “Well, hopefully anyway. I asked her to stop blocking them out. I didn’t expect she’d totally stop them in the first place, I just wanted the spirits to stop-” He didn’t know if he’d ever really told Phoenix the way they urged him to join them. He needed to figure out how to deal with that. “I just needed them back. If I can properly interpret them, I can help. I mean, you know… If we can figure out when an attack is going to happen.” He sighed, he had a lot of work to do; he wished he hadn’t been so afraid of his abilities when he was younger, or that his fear had spurred him to learn about his powers rather than shun them. Abuela would be thrilled that he was finally interested in learning, at least.

Phoenix grinned a little bashfully as Alex admitted that they couldn’t have done it without him. Growing up, Phoenix had seen how Alex had struggled with the voices and the dreams, and he never had been able to help. Alex said that Phoenix just being there was always enough, but Phoenix always felt useless and unable to help. He was just glad that, for once, he’d been able to actually make a difference.

Phoenix was a little glad when they finally began to make their way through the woods back towards home. It felt like the moment they were out of earshot of Triss and Zada that Alex opened up properly and began talking about the dreams. Phoenix didn’t interrupt, just let Alex talk. Even if he knew the theory of necromancy, he could never know what it was actually like. He couldn’t imagine what it was like. Their abilities were so different and affected them in such different ways, and all he’d been ever able to do was listen. So that was all he did.

He was taken aback for a moment as Alex admitted to asking for the dreams back so he could use them to try and predict the attacks. He was silent for a few seconds as he tried to put the words together. “That’s really admirable. I can’t ever understand what they’re like but… I know they’re… unpleasant.” He fell silent for a few more seconds, unsure of what he could say that hadn’t already been said. I’m here for you. Please stay talking to me. I’ll do whatever I can to help. Alex knew that. Phoenix knew he did, and besides, if Alex wanted to learn more about them, there was only one person he could ask, and she’d make damn sure he didn’t bottle it up any more than he already had. But there was still one more question Phoenix had, one he didn’t particularly want to ask, but that he needed to know.

“Is… is this over now? Our dealings with… her?” He asked. “Or do I need to just start burning sage on a constant basis?” He asked, managing half a smile.

While the dreams certainly were unpleasant, Alex wasn’t sure he’d go so far as to say it was admirable to try to use them to help. A part of him felt like it was what he should have been doing all along. Something in the back of his head reminded me that he’d been through a lot, and it really was going to be a big task to try and sift through the dreams he sometimes had for any meaning, let alone try and steer them towards the information he wanted.

Alex shook his head when Phoenix asked about the demon, “Either way, you live with me, I don’t think some extra sage would hurt.” he shot Phoenix a brief, cheesy, grin, and then added, “I’m not sure we’ll ever really be rid of her, but I’m going to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.” He sighed and, before Phoenix had the chance to remind him, added, “Of course, I’ll let you know what’s going on, I won’t let myself get in over my head. Don’t worry,” He paused, considering his words carefully, “I want to have a lot more time to spend with you.” He wasn’t sure he’d expressed that out loud, or so explicitly, but if he were being completely honest he might have used even stronger language there.

The grin and the joke about the sage lifted the remnants of the weight on Phoenix’s shoulders as he laughed. The fear and the stress of the past few hours seemed to be fading more and more as they got further and further away from the altar and the thoughts and the memories associated with it. Phoenix had known that hoping that would be the end of their dealings with the demon was a long shot, so he wasn’t disappointed when Alex said he didn’t think they were rid of her. There was a drive in Alex he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen before. He meant it when he said he was going to make sure it wasn’t going to happen again, and Phoenix knew that. He also knew that Alex meant it when he said he’d make sure Phoenix knew what was going on.

The comment about wanting a lot more time to spend with him caught Phoenix off guard, but in the best way possible. Things had felt so right since they’d gotten together that it was hard to imagine not being together now. The events of the day had only done more to solidify that, that Phoenix couldn’t picture not having Alex by his side. And hearing Alex express the same sentiment made the biggest, cheesiest smile fix itself on Phoenix’s face.

“Good,” he said, leaning over to kiss Alex’s cheek. “Because you’re stuck with me now. Me and my habit of baking bread at three in the morning and drinking far too much coffee and forcing you to watch Disney movies with me. I’m not going anywhere. And neither are those bad habits.”

“Dammit,” Alex said, not even trying to suppress the smile on his face, “However am I going to deal with fresh baked goods and cheesy children’s movies?” As far as he was concerned, Phoenix was absolutely perfect, “Good thing I’m so accommodating.” He shot a wink at Phoenix, “There’s no one I’d rather be stuck with.”

They made a quick stop by Zada’s to drop off the unused candles, Alex didn’t want to have to deal with Zada and Triss again for a few weeks, at least, before really steering themselves back into town proper. Every new level he and Phoenix reached was entirely unfamiliar to Alex, and sometimes he felt insecure, like he couldn’t possibly live up to Phoenix’s expectations, or to those that had come before him, but seeing just how happy Phoenix looked, Alex had never been so sure that he was on the right path before. No matter where life led him now, so long as he had Phoenix, he knew he would be okay. The events of the day only proved that to be true.