"Here you go," Hazel told Sky, smiling, as she handed him an orange fizzy drink.

The warm midday sun shone over her hazel hair with a heavenly glow. Green leaves and lush flowers bloomed. The air carried the delicious scent of grilled meat and spicy sauce being cooked in the Falcon's back garden.

"Thank you, Hazel," Sky replied, grabbing the can. After opening it, he cheered, "To new beginnings."

"Cheers!" she replied with joy and took a sip. "Where's the star of this splendid birthday barbeque, by the way?"

Before Sky could reply, a few phoenixes leisurely flew over their heads, playing tag in the air. They swooshed past, intertwining their paths but never colliding.

One of them was Haywire, his beautiful golden feathers shining under the sun. He corkscrewed in the air with the grace of a swan while a Bloodrunner chased him. Joyful whistles and chirping filled the air as Haywire spotted Sky down below.

He nodded and whistled to his winged friends, signalling he was done playing. In a heart-stopping diving manoeuvre, he descended on Sky and Hazel and landed right beside them, making the air shuffle their hair and their clothes stick to their skin.

"Hey, big fella," Sky said, patting his friend's side with enthusiasm. "How are your new friends doing? Glad to be finally free from mind control?"

Haywire chirped a series of high-pitched sounds as he nodded vehemently.

Sky smiled. Now that Mrs Evergreen and Endurance are both dead, I could free all the phoenixes thanks to my coding skills. A public statement on their true nature was necessary for the city to accept them for who they really are, but I'm glad everything turned out to be okay in the end.

Then, Sky's eyes locked with an approaching figure behind Hazel. Naomi was coming, pushing her wheelchair forward. Beside her, Kovak walked leisurely as he was talking to her.

"... so, we'll soon see the results," he said in a gentle voice.

"The results of what?" Sky asked with curiosity when both got close enough.

"The results for a brand-new lupus treatment I started at New Anti-Ageing Inc.," the older man replied.

Sky nodded. The company had reshaped itself in its entirety after Mrs Evergreen died. New name, new headquarters, new products, and a new philosophy—one more ethically-driven than the previous one. A young, green stem, where a thin, green leaf grows. A new beginning.

"The current meds are working splendidly," Naomi added with a loving smile. "But I'd love to get out of this wheelchair at some point in the future, so I hope that the new meds do work as you promise."

Her skin was paler than it used to be before being locked up in a cell without her medications and the great battle against Endurance and Mrs Evergreen. Her arms moved with more fragility, and her hair was thinner. But, despite her general image of frailty, her smile warmed the atmosphere with hope.

"Don't worry," Kovak replied, smiling. "I'm sure they'll work as I expect to a tee. I've never been so sure about anything—except for one thing."

Naomi raised an eyebrow.

"You, my gem," he whispered as he took her right hand and kissed it.

Sky's eyes shied away for a moment. It's nice to see them together again. She loves him, but she can also handle him. Not many people would know how to cope with his personality. I'm glad to see they have worked out their issues.

"Congratulations," Sky said. "On both your new job in New Anti-Ageing Inc., Kovak, and your promotion, Naomi."

"Thank you, Sky," she replied. "It feels good, you know, to be Head of the Elite again. And Kane is having the time of his life in his brand-new lab in the business headquarters."

"I can't wait to start the trials for the anti-aneurism meds, by the way," Kovak said as he looked at Hazel.

Hazel's eyes went wide open and her hand mildly shivered at the mention of her illness.

"They're still in an infant stage, I'm afraid," Kovak explained in a less excited tone. "But the effects of the formula look promising on rats and pigs so far."

Hazel smiled.

"How about... you know... the–?" Sky cleared his throat.

"Ah, yes," Kovak replied with frail enthusiasm. "The cure to the Lifebringer." He sighed. "Your father will still need palliative care for some time. Years, probably. I'm sorry, but so far, I can only recommend prescribing him anti-inflammatories and such. The cure to the Lifebringer will be hard to get. It's a really tricky procedure. I will need a lot of time to figure it out."

"Don't worry, Sky," Naomi said with a reassuring, soft voice as she put a hand on his. "It'll be alright. We have the early reports on that particular stage in the drug development from the old labs. Kovak will examine those thoroughly and find a way to get rid of the Lifebringer inside your father's body... as well as Haywire's and you, of course."

Sky sighed. My father regained consciousness a few hours after the great battle, but he was not in good shape. Something in the Lifebringer formula inside him is not working well. He could not regenerate damaged tissue. Coagulation had an unnaturally slow rate. His newfound skills or superpowers forsook him completely. We thought he was dying.

"Yes, but we've been infected by different strands of it. And Haywire is a different species," Sky explained. "I'm not sure there's a way out of this."

Sky's hands turned into fists and trembled. What if what's happening to my father will soon happen to both Haywire and me? What if the Lifebringer kills us, all three who've been exposed to it?

"Have patience... and faith, my dear," Naomi answered with a motherly smile on her lips as he grabbed one of his fists and sunk her fingertips into his flesh to reassure him. "We'll find a way out of this, okay? It'll be alright." Her eyes took a glimpse of something moving behind Sky, and she smiled. "Oh, look who's coming our way!"

"Happy birthday, my dear sister-in-law!" Alistair exclaimed, opening his arms wide as he came to Naomi to hug her.

His manner of walking was that of an old man, slow and rather shaky.

"Ouch," Naomi said, faking the pain when Alistair crushed in a joyful, vehement embrace. "Not so tight!"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot you're an old lady," Alistair mocked her, and then a fit of laughter erupted in his throat.

"I'm older today; that doesn't make me an old lady," she replied with mild sarcasm. "By the way, where's... where's my sis–?"

Alistair took a step sideways and looked over his shoulder. Far behind him stood Halle, who was chatting with a young girl clad in a beautiful purple dress with pearls. The style made her look older than she was, already an adult when, in fact, she was not even fifteen.

Not to mention that she looked like a young version of Mrs Evergreen.

Sky's eyes almost went out of their sockets. It's her. Wow, I didn't expect her to come to Naomi's barbeque birthday party.

"Halle!" Alistair motioned her to come over.

As Halle turned her head to him, the hair over her ears parted, exposing a shiny, white device embedded in it. Part of it went into her ear canal, while a cable went up her ear, connecting it to a second part of the device implanted into her skull, right at the back of her ear.

"Come with me, please," Halle told the young girl. "There's someone I want you to meet."

Both women approached the group. The young teen's eyes stared into Sky's.

"Hi there, Naomi," Halle said with a broad smile as she hugged her sister. "Happy birthday. And congrats on your promotion."

"Thanks. It means a lot coming from you." Naomi's smile was the most joyful.

Halle's eyebrows went lax as a look of embarrassment crossed her face. "You deserve it more than me."

"It wouldn't have been possible if you hadn't quit."

A warm breeze went past her. She inhaled deeply and smiled.

"The job made no sense to me anymore," Halle added. "Anyway, Sky, Hazel, I want you to meet Jasmine. Jasmine... Evergreen."

The pause was deliberate, as if she found it hard to say that surname. She bit her lower lip.

Sky swallowed hard. After all that's happened, who can blame her?

"This is my son, Sky. And this is his girlfriend, Hazel Beam," Halle said.

"Nice to finally meet you, Jasmine," Sky said, extending a hand. She shook it gladly.

I wonder whether Mrs Evergreen's only daughter feels awkward or anything about being here with my mother. She brutally killed her mother. And she almost killed me. Not to mention that everyone here at this party hated her mother's guts and wanted her dead.

"Likewise," Jasmine replied with a lovely smile on her face. Then, she turned to Hazel to shake hers.

"Nice to meet you, Jasmine," Hazel said.

"Nice to meet you too, Hazel," she said, with a gentle nod of her head.

"Thanks for attending my birthday party. Your speech yesterday was truly inspired," Naomi told her.

"It's a lovely party," Jasmine said. "I was aching to meet you all."

Sky's palms started to sweat. And I was aching to meet her, too. After the speech she gave yesterday at the New Anti-Ageing Inc., I didn't have the opportunity to talk to her. She was surrounded by the new big shots at the company in that sort of turning-the-page celebration. My parents, Kovak, and Naomi were lucky enough to meet her, though. I guess it was because they work there.

"Aren't you... I mean, I don't mean to be rude or anything. It's just th–" Sky hesitated. "Isn't it awkward that–?"

"It's okay, Sky," Jasmine replied. A nervous sigh escaped from her trembling lips. "I know what you mean. It's not really awkward, being here, with you all, bearing in mind what happened to my mother."

"Jasmine and her mother were estranged," Naomi explained. "Jasmine was sent to a boarding school in another country years ago, when she started elementary school."

"Oh, really?" Hazel asked, her eyebrows going up in a sad kind of amazement.

"We barely had any contact at all," Jasmine explained. "She was always busy."

"If you don't want to share private stuff, it's okay," Naomi said, interrupting her.

"No, it's okay. I feel as if I need to do this, you know," Jasmine added. "After what she did." She sighed. "She would postpone all virtual calls or any meetings we had. She would always give priority to business meetings and such. It's not that she didn't care about me. She did—in an academic way. She was adamant about my progress in school. She used to talk about me to my teachers a lot more often than she would talk to me. Anyway, I... I don't feel any genuine connection with her, to be honest. I want to reassure you that I have no real connection with her."

That left Sky breathless. And I thought I had a lousy mother!

"Truth be told, I... I don't even know what or how to feel these last few days," Jasmine admitted. "I'm still trying to figure out whether to mourn her or not, whether she deserves it, or even if I... I care."

"And your father?" Sky asked.

"I've never had any," she replied. "Sperm donor. My mother chose to become a single mother in her forties."

Sky nodded as his cheeks mildly reddened. I will never again complain about my family life.

"You told me yesterday you were in therapy. Is it helping you figure it out, though?" Naomi asked.

"Yeah, sort of." Jasmine let go a deep sigh. "I want to distance myself from who she was, what she did, and what she represented to you, people. I had no idea of the things she did. Anyway, selling all the company's shares right after reading her last will and testament did help. That way I feel cleaner. And seeing that both of you, Mrs Hardy and Mr Kovak, got your old job back relieved me, too."

"Glad that you approve of the new administration's decisions," Kovak replied.

"Yeah. The Hovering Hive needed a new beginning." She took a large intake of air as her gaze travelled to Haywire. Her smile broadened. "So, this is... Haywire, right?"

"He is," Sky replied.

"Amazing," she whispered as she came forward to him, extending a palm in front of her. "I was dying to meet a phoenix. They look so..." A nervous giggle ensued. "Big and dangerous online, but now... here... May I–?"

She signalled with her palm forward that she wished to pet him.

Haywire replied with a gentle nod and a joyful chirp.

"Go ahead," Sky said. "I think he likes you already."

Haywire leaned forward so that Jasmine could place her palm on his beak. When she did so, the Golden Ranger let go of a bird-like purring sound, making her giggle.

"I wish I had a friend like you, Haywire," Jasmine whispered.

"Well, now you can," Sky replied. "All phoenixes are free. You can befriend one any time."

Jasmine's smile widened. "I'd love to."

"Haywire," Sky said, turning to his winged friend and patting his side, "why don't you bring some of your phoenix friends here? Like that Lightspark or that Bloodrunner you were playing tag with a moment ago?"

When all food had been eaten and only dishes with sauce stains remained, the air grew a bit colder in the Falcon's back garden. Most of the guests, family friends and work colleagues, were seated still, chatting among themselves in small groups.

Only Sky was alone, standing apart from the rest while staring into the vast horizon before him, where several groups of phoenixes were flying in packs.

"How are you doing, son?" Alistair asked, taking him out of his reverie. He grunted as he sat down on a wooden bench.

"Fine." Sky sat beside his father. "You?"

"I'm alri–" Alistair's rusty voice fooled no one.

"Dad. Stop faking you're okay," Sky whispered with worry.

"Fine." Alistair sighed. "I've had better days, but I can manage."

"You should lie down," Sky said, staring into his father's eyes. "You look exhausted."

Alistair giggled as a cool breeze combed his hair. "You're such a buzzkill, son. I want to enjoy Naomi's birthday party a bit more."

"Dad..."

Alistair turned his face to his son and arched an eyebrow. "Did you know that I'm the parent here? Not you."

Sky chuckled.

"I missed you, both Halle and you," Alistair said, in a sad tone, "Naomi, my old colleagues, everyone." He took a large intake of air. "I want to make the most of it now that I'm free."

Sky didn't know how to reply to that, so he just fell silent as he stared at the crowd enjoying the party.

"Anyway, your mother hasn't breathed a word about you since she came back from the hospital a week ago," Alistair added, leaning forward as his elbows rested on his knees. "She talked about you a lot when we came to help you in the battle against Endurance and Evergreen. But now... she never even looks straight at you. Her gaze is usually cast down. It's weird. I thought you were now on good terms, after what you said she did to save you. What did I miss?"

"Maybe it's the hearing implant and all those post-op meds she's taking," Sky suggested, leaning forward in the same fashion. "It's a lot to handle, I guess. She even gave up her old job, preferring to be a public relations manager for the new company. A lot of changes in her life lately. And hearing through an implant must feel... different, right?"

"Yeah. She lost all hearing. It was either that, or learning sign language."

"What if those drugs are diluting her personality?" Sky asked.

"I don't think it's that, Sky." Alistair mildly shook his head. "I believe it's her... her shame. She loved and loves you dearly. I wasn't here when she had to look after you on her own, but I think she fears her new role as a mother. Maybe she fears fucking it up again."

Both men stared at each other.

"She's never been so careful around me... or about me," Sky whispered, fidgeting with his fingers. "It feels weird."

Alistair sighed. "I'll go talk to her." He slammed a hand on his knee to stand up.

"Don't," Sky interrupted him. He put a hand on his father's hand and knee. "I will."

"Good." Alistair smiled and patted his son's back twice with pride. "It's nice to see you all grown up, son."

Hello, my sugar cubes!

Only the second part of this barbeque birthday party remains! It was too long to post it on a single chapter, so I decided to split it in two for readability reasons.
Thanks a lot for reading! 🫶

Stay tuned!

XOXO

Mar