"Where are you going?" Lucas trailed after the Phoenix in Azura's body as it made its way down the stairs.

Wearing jeans and one of his black t-shirts only, Lucas cocked an eyebrow as he followed the barefoot woman to the front door. She never got cold due to the Phoenix and now that the creature had taken over he doubted that fact would change now, still, it would be considered strange if she were to go out like this. At least it had put on a pair of panties but the bra was something it had forgotten.

"Nathan and Oliver. They need to set things in motion." She responded in that strange adjusted voice.

"You know where they are? You called them or send them a message that you're coming?" He wanted to reach out and physically stop her but had to force himself not to.

Mind and body clashed inside his mind as he watched her. He knew it wasn't her, but seeing her standing there, black hair al disheveled, pointing in different directions, made him want to walk over and embrace her. It hurt, it felt like a big loss even though she was standing right in front of him. Despite it needing him. There was no time to think about it though. No time to reminisce about the change that had happened. He could only hope the Phoenix would let her come through at times.

With a shock, he realized this was the same feeling Azura must have had when he had been under Marric's influence. At least she wasn't out to kill him. That was something.

"It's a Sunday, Azu. They're not at the town hall."

She stopped; doorknob in her hand and slowly turned back, cocking her head sideways at him. This was his cue to continue talking. He had its full attention now.

"You've gotta listen to Azura in there. She would've known. You gotta work together. I can give Nathan and Oliver a call, tell them you want to talk. In the meantime, try to blend in a little. If you go out, put on socks, shoes, and a coat for example."

It was silent for a moment as the Phoenix seemed to contemplate his words. Eventually, her hand slid off the doorknob and she walked past him to the stairs. Right before she went up, she paused and spoke up.

"Call them. This needs to be done."

Lucas gave her a nod and took out his phone. The Phoenix was listening to him and hopefully, It was listening to her too. Opening his contacts folder, he soon found Oliver's number and hit dial. It rang a few times before it was answered.

'Lucas. Everything all right?'

"Yeah... No. Sort of. It's complicated" He could practically hear the silent confusement of Oliver at his response. "Look, can you and Nathan meet up with Azura today? It's urgent."

There was a short silence on the other side and some muffled taking before Oliver replied.

'Today? Can't it wait till tomorrow? I'm with my family and all.'

Wishful thinking he would reply eagerly to do so straight away.

"It can't wait. It's... complicated but it involves Azura who isn't Azura but rather a big gigantic flaming bird thing and the future of our city. I don't know details, but it's coming and it's coming fast and the Phoenix took over."

'Wait. Give me a moment to find some privacy.' There was some shuffling and mumbling, nothing clear that Lucas could make out from the other side of the phone. 'It's serious then? And I take it Ben doesn't know anything?'

"It's serious all right." Lucas paused and took a deep shaky breath. "I wouldn't call you if I knew it could wait."

'I get it. Well, truth be told, I don't. I guess nobody probably gets it. But it's all about going with it and making the best of things am I right? Just answer this question for me. Do you trust Azura and that... bird of hers? For a full 100%? Do you believe it, or her, or whatever, and do you have any doubts at all?'

"I trust her. Completely. And how I wished I could say I had my doubts, I don't have them. Something is coming which is bigger than us and all we can do is try to contain the damage and save the city."

'I'll round up Nathan. Meet us in two hours at the office."

Oliver hung up almost straight away. Lucas stared at his phone for a moment before putting it into his pocket. He stared at the fireplace, back turned to the stairs. It was set in motion. No way back. It was all just happening way too fast. He gripped the headrest of the chair in front of him and hunched over. He hadn't done anything all those years ago when he and his dad had been in the hostage situation. He had been a failure back then, weak. Because of that, Azura and Nora had been dragged off, which had triggered the events leading up to Azura killing the men and getting seriously hurt. It had haunted him for so long. Believing that Azura had died that day and that he somehow could've prevented it if he had just acted sooner.

A failure.

A weakling.

It had taken him so long to get past those feelings. To believe he was not that. But they all rushed back to him now. What if he was? What if he failed to protect those who he cared about again?

What if he failed to protect her?

A loud chuff forced him to turn around. It was one thing seeing a snow leopard in the snow outside but one inside the house?

"Shi–" The rest got swallowed as he stared at the red-eyed beast in front of him.

She looked three times inside than she did outdoors and with the Phoenix controlling her gaze was ten times more intense. She bared her teeth at him and let out a soft snarl to warn him which oddly reminded him more of wolf behavior than cat behavior. It did force him to break eye contact and let the rest of her register in his brain.

Her thick spotted coat, long tail, bushy strong paws. At first glance, it all seemed like her except the eyes but as he looked closer he noticed the glow. Azura had fused with the Phoenix before when she was shifted. It had created a sheer layer of flames across her fur, gave her translucent wings, and additional strength. Technically, she was fused with it now too but it outed itself differently.

Fur mixed with tiny flames. They were barely visible but it was there as an extra layer. Before it had looked like she wore a translucent coat of fire but now they seemed to be sprouting from her. An extra layer of fur. As if the original fur of a snow leopard wasn't thick enough already.

If he would ever tell this story to anyone else, nobody would believe him. Shaking his head at the thought he relaxed and slowly made his way over to the big cat. "You better not try to bite my ass off."

Phoenix or not, all big cats had one thing in common. They loved head scratches. As he suspected, the flames did not burn him. Instead, it almost felt as if they greeted him as an old friend as he placed his hand between her fluffy ears. At first, she protested but as soon as he started to scratch she mellowed out underneath his touch and a deep, loud purr started from within her chest.

"I don't know what the hell you're planning to do but be back in an hour and a half. Oliver agreed to bring Nathan and meet us in two hours."

He needed to trust her and the Phoenix. Needed to let them do whatever they felt needed to be done but it was hard to let them go alone. Lucas kneeled next to the giant wild leopard and continued the scratching. The big beast closed her eyes and lifted her head when he added his second hand in the mix underneath her chin. When she was all mellowed out he grabbed the scruff next to her cheeks and brought her head down and placed his forehead against hers.

"I love you..." He softly muttered. "And I trust you."

The big cat pulled back after a few moments and made her way to the front door. Lucas got to his two feet but stilled the moment he saw her lift her front paw.

"Azu! No! I just said I trusted you and already you want to scratch up our door?! You're fucking paying for it if you damage it!"

The snow leopard glanced at him as she had her paw in the air, razor-sharp nails protruding between the fluff. Very gently she touched the door, obviously challenging him but also sending a message. She wanted out.

"For fucks sake..." He breathed as he walked to the door. "Next time, shift when you're outside."

He dared not to wait and opened the door to let her out. She sprinted away without looking back.

It left him more empty than he had thought. There was nothing to fill the space she had left besides silence. He hated it, it was something he could not fight. It was like a stealth assassin, you had no idea the trouble you were in till it was too late. Suffocating, poisoning, wrecking him from the inside until he had nothing left to hold on to.

"Get your shit together, jackass." He spoke to himself in an effort to get himself out of the downward spiral.

He threw the door shut with a bit more force than needed and stalked back to the living room. He was dying for a whiskey but he had his fill yesterday and they had to talk to Nathan and Oliver. He sure as hell had to be sober for that. His left hand had moved to his right arm, touching the area where the feather mark rested. For some reason, it calmed him to touch it. He had caught himself doing it more and more over the past few days. Ever since Azura had killed him actually... Or rather, revived him. It sounded and felt so crude to think of it as if she killed him. Then again, he had murdered her too and he hadn't been the one to revive her. Shit, this whole story was too crazy to be true and yet it was. Thank fuck others had been around to witness everything otherwise he wouldn't have believed it himself.

Killian. He needed to know. Lucas had no idea why the name popped into his head but there was truth to it. Killian was like a brother to Azura. And despite the fact the guy already had more on his plate than he could probably chew, he still deserved to know what was about to happen. He took out his phone for the second time in just an hour's time and dialed the number.

'Lucas. Everything alright?'

It had rung just once time before Killian had picked up. Lucas snorted as he heard the concern in the other man's voice.

"Can you see through the phone or something? Jeez."

'You only call me when something is not right. So I guessed this time there was no difference' Even though what Killian said was the truth, his voice kept it light.

Lucas let out a short laugh before answering. "You got me there. I hope one day things will be different. So to answer your question, I really wish things were alright but they kinda aren't."

'Can't say I wish for the same. Things have been crazy, that's for sure. So what's going on?'

"Well good news first. Azura's alive, and I'm still your sorta brother-in-law. Bad news, I don't know how long this will last. Things are coming to an end and much faster than I had hoped. The Phoenix took control of her. It senses that its enemy is coming and it will be around Pleyvale. Azura has left her mark here and it is following it. Even if she were to leave, it would still come and attack."

It remained silent on the other end of the phone. Some breathing was the only proof the line had not gone dead.

"Killian? You still here?"

'Yeah...' a flabbergasted voice came from the other side. 'I'm here. I just... Don't know what I can do. Can I do something? Like what's going to happen? A fight? The end of Pleyvale? The end of the world? How big is this going to get?! Will... Will she survive?'

"I wish I could answer those questions. I don't know. I don't fucking know what will happen and it scares me, to be honest. I just thought that you needed to know. She's bound to contact you but I don't know what she'll ask from you."

Admitting to someone out loud that he was scared felt strange but good. There were not many people he shared his feelings with but with Killian, it came naturally.

'Thanks for the heads-up. How... How is she? And how are you?'

That last question threw Lucas. How was he doing? What was he supposed to answer to that?

'Azu told me about why she came back to us for a while. Said you had issues after she brought you back to our side.'

Lucas let out a deep breath as he realized how fast things had been going the past few days.

"I'm fine. She was fine... still is, in a way. I had my fallbacks right after she knocked me back to normal. Attacked her. I had no idea what was happening, it was as if something else took over. But that's gone now. I had another setback while Azura was gone but a friend of mine knocked me out. I think that did the trick. When she got back, I ran into her by accident. Killian, I love her. I'm doing good, keeping myself together. I just wish we had more time."

'You and me both. Make sure she pulls through, Lucas. I'll see what I can do from here. Take care and keep me posted.'

He couldn't help the small smile which rested on his face after the phone call. Killian was something else alright. Trying to find that spot between being a leader and a brother. Lucas understood his situation, knew he couldn't come over to help. The man was barely holding his own group together at the moment, struggled with his new place and the people that were now under his guidance. The blue-eyed snow leopards had lived in such strange ways past thirty years that it was hard to get everyone to look into a different direction again. He had faith in Killian and Zahair though. They could pull it off. They could shake Marric's reign off their shoulders and focus on the future. If there was one.

There was another call he had to make before Azura would return and they had to visit Nathan and Oliver. Looking at his phone, he scrolled through the contacts until he got back to A again.