60: Embracing Phoenix

I had no idea for how long the pain had lasted, but once it had ended, I found myself awakening in my bedroom, covered in sweat and completely alone. My body felt different though. It felt... whole and agile and powerful. As though the entire time there had been some sort of lack in synergy between myself and my body and now that I'd had all my memories returned, I'd finally achieved that synergy I'd so desperately needed. I held my hand up, inspected it for a moment and then rubbed my fingers together in wonder. For the first time in my entire life, I finally felt like a whole person, and although I'd lived as Phoenix for a mere 18 years, my mind now carried the knowledge and wisdom of centuries.
I gazed around the room a moment, curious as to where everyone was. Then, I managed to slip myself out of bed, only to fall painfully onto the floor. It took a while, but my wobbly legs finally began to respond and eventually, I managed to get myself up off of the ground. But when I did, my eyes met my reflection in one of the mirrors on the walls. Everything about my appearance had remained the same. Everything except my eyes. They were a darker shade of golden and within them reflected a subtle glaze of wisdom and depth. I touched my fingers underneath my lower lids and gave a little smile. I was still the same Phoenix as I'd always been, the only difference was that I now knew more about myself than I had before.
Once I'd successfully managed to get out of my room- with much stumbling- I began my task of finding at least one of the four of my royal pains-in-the-ass. My first destination was Sebastian's room. I was, however, disappointed to find the door locked, and when I called out, no one answered. The next obvious choice was Demetri's room and when his was just as empty, Liam's. Disappointed to find all their rooms vacant, I decided to search in the other rooms and found myself successful the moment I reached the dining room.
"...I don't know how much longer I can keep Sanguis satisfied with my excuses. It's been almost a week now and they are growing suspicious of Phoenix's absence." I heard Sebastian say as I stood at the doorway. I went no further, wanting to hear more of their conversation.
Demetri sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "How long is she going to be out for? I'm starting to worry. What if she's entered into a coma, Sebastian... what then?"
Sebastian stayed silent for a moment, and Xavier and Liam shared worried glances. I smirked, and decided it was perhaps time to alleviate these poor souls from their agonising worry, and then began to enter the room.
"Well that would be tragic, wouldn't it?" I said.
Immediately, all eyes were on me, gazing at me on shock. But it was Demetri and Sebastian who seemed the most astonished as they gazed at my face. Sebastian squinted slightly, and then gasped as he glanced into my eyes.
My smirk widened and I said softly, "My love, worry is not a good look on you."
His hands shook and he almost fell to the ground. "D-Diana?"
"I prefer Phoenix." I whispered, walking up to him. It took him a moment, but when he finally recovered, he knelt down on one knee. I handed him my hand and he kissed at the back of my palm.
"My beloved... your memories have returned." He uttered out before standing back up and gazing into my eyes, searching them as an extra precaution.
"They have, yes. I must say, getting them back was more painful than I thought." I teased. But Sebastian did not laugh, instead his face fell serious, and he quickly looked away from me.
"I'm sorry... for what I did."
"What are you apologising about?" I asked, reaching up and tilting his head towards me. "It was not your fault. And in any case, you fulfilled your promise. You managed to bring me back from the dead, though how you did it, I'm still uncertain of."
Sebastian's lips curved into a smile, one reaching his eyes. I took a moment to study it, capture it in mind and add it to the growing collection of memories I now held at my disposal.
"Can someone explain what the fuck is going on here?" Xavier exclaimed, confused and frustrated.
I turned towards him and a smile appeared on my face. "So they didn't raise them with manners after all. Then again, you had none when we met the first time I got here."
"It's funny how you think you can talk to me like that," Xavier said, but I could tell by the way he blushed that he really did like it when I spoke to him like that. And so I began walking towards him, and he lowered his gaze immediately. Once I reached him, I grabbed at his chin, forcing him to look me in the eye, and raised a brow at him. His gaze never faltered, nor did mine, but I could sense a shiver travelling up and down his spine. They were almost as soft and subtle as mine were.
"...Diana." He uttered.
"So, he does know who I am?" I asked, letting him go.
Liam smirked and gave a little bow, "Of course, your majesty. How could we not when you were all Sebastian spoke of, and all Phoenix represented. It’s a pity we weren’t born during your time."
"What so you could witness my execution?" I asked.
Liam chuckled and neared me. Then, he picked up a strand of my hair and then let it fall before lowering his brown eyes towards mine. "So we could have courted you sooner." He whispered extremely softly. I assumed it was to avoid the wrath of Sebastian.
I reached up and touched at his cheek and he sighed softly at the heat of our touch. The second he did, the realisation finally set in.
"The four of you..." I said turning around and retracting my hand from Liam.
Sebastian smiled and nodded. "Yes. We are all your anchors."
And as he said that, a bite mark appeared on the side of his neck, Liam's neck, Demetri's neck and Xavier's neck. I stood there in shock, gazing between the four of them. Sebastian's mark was one I distinctly remembered making, but the other three were a wonder to me.
"Are those mine?" I asked.
"Yes," Demetri said, "They appeared the moment you were reborn into this body."
"And who did this body originally belong to?" I asked.
They all fell silent for a moment.
"Diana-"
"-Phoenix," I corrected. I didn't quite like the idea of the suffocating past the name "Diana" carried. In fact, now, as I stood before them, the name "Diana" left an ugly, bitter aftertaste in my mouth. If I wanted to live a different life than I had before, I'd need to embrace the fact that Diana was my past self, and Phoenix was who I was now.
"Phoenix," Sebastian continued, "I think it's time we told you everything."
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Updates will be slower as I have more tests this week and next week.
Stay safe! Stay healthy! Sending my love!