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Ch.42 (Phoenix): The Trials Ahead |
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After a winter, and a new Phanfiction, away, I am finally deciding to update on Phoenix's POV. It's about time I did, right? I have a lot of catching up to do. The good news is I know how my boys will look when they eventually turn into humans (albeit magical humans) for good, thanks to being reunited to something I hated when I was a little girl. But more on that later; for now, let's find out what happens when Phoenix gets his own fortune told and gets reacquainted with people old and new.
How long had it been since I had seen her? A whole year? It seemed like 10 times as long; she looked so different from when last I had seen her. For one, she was blue. For two, she had elven ears, and even though I had lived among Jareth's goblins for the past year, that still surprised me.
What really struck me into stunned, yet nervous, silence was the fact that she was staring at me as if she had never seen me before. Although I could tell she liked what she saw, it hurt slightly that she couldn't recognize me. "Who are you?" Anastasia said, breaking the quietness between us after a while. "What do you want from me?"
Of course. She would want to know how I had recognized that she was a sorceress, even though I hadn't expected it would be her. From the look of her, she had been a magical being for as long as we had been apart. (While living with my half-brother, I had learned to discern a magical being's age by how strong their aura was. The weaker the aura, the less time had past since they had come into to their magic.)
I wasn't sure she could take the fact that I had come back to her after a little more than a year. I decided to take my brother's approach: seduction, disguised as flirting, a technique I had often seen him use at the balls I had attended while in his court. "I would settle for your name," I replied. Remembering what she had said in my vision, I added, meaningly, "Unless you think it would break your hyadis from men by doing so."
Anastasia's cheeks reddened despite her new blue skin. Apparently, she hadn't done anything silly with Jareth after the night when he had travelled with her to the Land of Dreams. Still though, she looked as though she was deep in thought about something, something that she wanted to remember but slipped her mind. As her blush receded, she turned to me and said, "It's Anastasia (How I loved to hear that name!), and I should like to know yours because I've never seen an Earth bound god like you in all of the books I've ever read."
"You have me all wrong, my good woman," I said, deciding to run with acting like Jareth and upping the formality in my tone. "I am not a god because I can die as you do. (I had to change bodies every few years, which could be considered dying when you thought about it.) But, neither am I an ordinary mortal."
"Just who, or what, are you then?"
The curious yet teasing tone with she asked me finally caused my emotions to get the better of me. I took her hand and pulled her close to me; I hadn't held her in so long, and finally seeing her in my world once again nearly drove me mad with regret and happiness. 'How strange his hand smells,' I heard her think, 'like a strange combination of both new life and old death.'
I guess it was natural I should smell like that. I hadn't had access to my favorite cologne in almost a year, and of course I had shifted between bodies at least 7 times over the past 100 years. "Yes, I am neither alive nor dead.
"I am stuck between the two plains. My soul is still on the living plain but it is not my true body that it inhabits. I must change bodies every few years in order to go on living. An immortal soul is both a gift and a curse to a mortal I'm afraid." ('Half mortal,' I thought silently to myself, 'since royal fae blood runs in my veins as well.')
Anastasia just stared at me, astounded by my first seduction, albeit a hap-hazard one, in a long time, or maybe it was my heartfelt confession as to what I was. "Y-y-you still haven't a-a-a-answered m-my other question," she stammered, the shock in her voice plain to my ears. "Wh-wh-who a-a-are y-y-y-y-you?"
The accusation in her eyes surprised me so much that I let go of her. I caught her just before she fell backward too far with a quick snake-tongue spell. After letting my enlongated tongue retreat back behind my teeth, I replied, "I am simply a man who can talk to animals (another talent I had discovered while among the goblins). And also, I may have the answer to what you seek."
I went on to tell her, going along with the idea that I was a hermit of the forest, that I had seen a fleet-footed, blue-haired youth carrying a sword in a village I had stopped in yesterday. (He had said something to me about a sorceress in the guise of a green snake, but only now did I realize what he meant.) It looked as if Anastasia knew him, but I decided not to question further and simply deliver his message. "He said, 'Tell her to head towards the setting sun. She will find a town where she will find the prize she desires.'"
Anastasia thanked me for my help, for which I modestly credited snakes for teaching me to listen well to the secrets of the Earth. She asked my name again, but I still felt I shouldn't reveal myself to her. I told her that we would meet again, and then she would learn my name (Phoenix Rose, that is), before leaping onto the branch above us and disappearing into the trees. I had to consult the one person I knew who could help.
---------------------------------------------------
Flying is not a pleasant experience. I didn't see why, or how, Jareth could tolerate the winds whipping past him, not to mention changes in air pressure and possible bird poop, when he was airbourne in his owl form. I hadn't given much thought, let alone paid attention, to my brother's lessons about being a bird, preferring to keep my mouse paws planted firmly on the ground, so you can imagine how difficult it was for me to get to The Fortune Teller's cottage in ample time before Anastasia arrived.
The Fortune Teller was one of the few friendly faces I had come upon while among Jareth's court. She had taken a shine to me, saying she could see greatness tempered with much humility in my eyes. At first I thought she was crazy, but after considering how accurate she had been with "humility", I had let her read my fortune. She had said that inspiration to solve my troubles would come from my "twin soul", and now that it had, I needed to consult her as to what it meant for Anastasia.
"I thought you might be coming," her voice issued from another room as I flew in through an open window and morphed back into my normal form, a few stray raven feathers fluttering to the floor. "And after your first solo flight too. But this is not the time for congratulations, am I right?"
"Certainly not," I replied, inclining my head in the direction of her voice. "I need your advice as to what I should do."
A woman with hair the color of autumn wheat, eyes as blue as mine had once been, and skirts of every color imaginable strode into the room. "I knew you would, eventually, Phoenix. Friends can never stay seperated for too long, as you found with your student this morning." She gestured towards a small table near the fireplace at the other end of the room. "Come, sit with me and let's see what message the cards have for us."
It was amazing that a woman that was a foot shorter than me could have such a large influence over others, including the King of Goblins himself. The glitter-obsessed playboy didn't give much thought to bohemians like The Fortune Teller, but then again, she had helped steer him in the right direction on a lot of difficult decisions. She nodded to the hearth as we passed, a fire combusting instantaneously, and the room became just that much more eerie; the sun was setting and despite the sparse furnishings of the room, creepy shadows were cast over the walls.
I ignored these things that would scare a normal mortal and sat down across from her. "The King of Swords, as with last time?" she asked.
I shook my head. "I think Cups would be more appropriate since my question concerns my emotional well-being."
The Fortune Teller nodded and withdrew the Knight of Cups from her Tarot deck, which was surprising since by age, and the definitions she had given me for the Court Cards, I should be represented by the King of Cups. Even still, the Fortune Teller was not someone to be questioned for she knew many things people did not know about themselves, and some they didn't wish to know. And besides, I knew I had been a musician, artist, and dreamer before I became immortal. (I still was really.)
While she set out the Celtic Cross around my card, I thought of my question. It didn't take long, for I knew what I wished to know. "How can I help Anastasia in her impending trials, and what will this mean for our relationship?"
The Fortune Teller just grinned and picked up the first card. "This covers you," she said. (XI, Justice, reversed. This represented being treated unfairly, wrong decisions, and possible conflict. I knew that I had made a bad decision in abandoning Anastasia when Jasper disappeared, but I couldn't bring myself to face her then and I still couldn't now. Also, it might be hinting at the dream I had had before I left Jareth's palace, when I had seen through Lelouch's eyes and manipulated my most beloved student.)
Her hand moved to the crosswise card. "This crosses you, for good or evil." (VIII, Strength. Self-confidence, patience, wisdom, protection, courage. All were represented by this card, and all were what I wished for my student in facing my "twin". However, it could also be telling me that I had come to grips with my shadow side, which I had done.)
She turned over the cards that formed the cross in a clockwise direction, starting with the bottom. "This is beneath you." (XIV, Temperance, reversed. A representation of what the years before coming into my immortality had been: moodiness, lack of control, excessive ambition, not to mention lust and impulsiveness. I hoped never to possess these qualities as long as my eternal life would last me.)
"This is behind you." (The Page of Cups, upright. My friendship with Anastasia had had a significant impact on my life. She had needed me, nay wanted me, to help her through a turbulent time in her life, and I had been all too happy to educate her in the ways of music, loving how she doted on every note the way I once doted on my lost love.)
"This crowns you." (The 4 of Pentacles, reversed. Upright, this card represented steadfastness, good fortune, and hard work; in this position, it represented fear of failure, lack of fufillment, and trouble letting go. This card summarized the meaning of every card so far.) I tapped my fingers nervously on the table as I glanced out the window at the rising moon. "We can stop if you wish."
I shook off my confusion and turned back to her, despite the aching in my head and heart. I must know, no matter what happened to me, what I could do to help my newly magically-endowed protoge, and I made a point in telling her so.
"Very well." She picked up the last card of the cross. "This is before you." (The 6 of Pentacles, upright. This card was the epitome of helping others, generosity, and gifts. It could also represent a mentor. A smile twinged at the corners of my mouth when I saw this, openly relieved and secretly overjoyed.)
The Fortune Teller turned over the cards in the column from bottom to top. "This is your Self." (The 4 of Wands, reversed.) "You're really worried about her, aren't you?"
I nodded, knowing this card symbolized insecurity. "She's unlike any student I've had before, different from all of the others. There's something special about her that I can't quite place, but I know that it'll put her in great danger."
"Keep calm, my friend. There are still three cards left." She turned over the next one from the bottom. "This is your environment and those around you." (The Knight of Pentacles, reversed. It seemed that I was the only one who realized Anastasia needed help and I didn't know how. But since the 6 of Pentacles was in my near future, I knew I would help her somehow.)
"This is your hopes, fears, and expectations." (The 7 of Swords, reversed. This card was a paradox. In its positive sense, it meant good advice and appreciation, but the negative meaning implied dwelling on the past and indecision. I would need to see what this one meant.)
"This is what will come," she said with finality as she turned over the final card. (The 10 of Wands, upright. This card symbolized success bearing down on you, but it could also symbolize romantic maturation. Perhaps Anastasia would discover more than just her friend, whom I suspected was Melissa Sapphire Triton knowing Lelouch, on her journey.)
"If I were you, I would stay until morning," said The Fortune Teller as I stood to leave. "It wouldn't do you good to get caught in the rain, as your student will 4 days from now. You'll need your strength to find her henchmen, Erik. They will help you."
I shuddered when she said my real name, but gave no sign of recognition. I had something more important to think about right now: just what did my descendant want with Anastasia and her best friend?
 srs diva 2011 xxl · Tue Mar 30, 2010 @ 03:11am · 1 Comments |
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