Purgatory- Phoenix Saga

The longer Ezra swam, the more agitated he became. Putting aside his past experience, what qualified him to teach someone like Abyss about control? Sure he had done his share of helping in his previous years with Freesia Academy, but that was different. Those were Metas, humans with enhanced gifts. Abyss was not a Meta, not even human, really. If what Sin told him was true, she would require a drastically different approach, one Ezra was not sure he could use. If he failed, it would be another death on his hands, possibly many. What would happen if she lost control in a public place? Would he have to put her down? Could he even put her down without killing innocent people?

For about an hour, Ezra swam, mostly below the water. The mind-numbing peace found in the pressure below the plain of the stream gave him a chance to clear his head and focus on what was important. Clearly he had taken a step backwards, but the question was the same: "Can we make this work?" Ezra was not the kind to abandon someone just because they had different opinions and outlooks, but he did question the decision to put her under his care, so to speak.

Ezra climbed out of the stream and grabbed his belongings, heat-drying himself as he walked back to the house in naught but his shorts and a pair of ankle socks.

The phoenix remained in her pocket space in the basement, her sanity and anger quickly spiralling out of control. The music wasn't helping. The training wasn't helping. Pain was quickly spreading through her body, only escalating her anger further. As the heat burned through her, it began to manifest in her pocket space, black and purple flames incinerating anything it touched. Since it was in such a small square footage, the power was much stronger and it caused a small explosion.

Abyss was thrown against the basement wall, an enraged cry echoing in the empty room. The pocket space began to waver allowing the sound to reach the outside world. The darkness was coming back with a vengeance, but the barrier between her and the real world was strong.

"Shut up!" She screamed. "Leave me alone!"

As soon as Ezra walked through the door he could hear Abyss' voice coming from downstairs. Immediately he knew what was happening, for he could feel a surge of familiar power emanating from the basement. He did not run, for he figured that bursting through the door would likely startle whomever was inside the basement at the time. Calmly he set down his clothes, folded in a neat stack on a small table in the hallway. It was time for him to showcase one of his most powerful talents, one that no one alive really knew anything about. Even Purgatory.

Ezra opened the basement door and descended the stairs. Fabric and paper swirled around in the air, sometimes being firmly pressed against a wall or a piece of furniture by the high winds. Ezra's shorts whipped around in the breeze, but thankfully they stayed firmly fixed to his hips. Though he could not see what was happening inside the pocket dimension, the sounds of anger and distress filled the room.

"Abyss, that's enough," Ezra said, his voice calm and soft. Gone was the condescending tone. Gone was the scowl he wore with his other students to force them into hating him so he could train them properly. Gone was any judgement he may have demonstrated with her before. "Come back. Let's talk."

"Leave me alone!" Abyss wailed, crouching down, her hands over her ears, finger tangling in her hair. "Get away from me!"

Ezra's prescence calmed the storm a fraction, yet it escalated her rage. He tried to suppress her before, to push away her power. She should have stopped him, tried harder to convince him that this was who she was. She couldn't be helped. It was better for him to just leave her alone in her space. Pain surged through her veins, and she cried out clamping her eyes shut. The noise inside her head only grew, voices whispering at her, taunting her, hurting her.

"No!" The phoenix cried, her voice shaking. "Shut up.. shut up.. leave me alone!" Flames leapt up higher, the barrier between her and the real world fluctuating, giving way so that now she could be seen, yet still untouchable. The storm inside her pocket space began to calm, and her eyes widened, red fire bleeding through her bright hues. "Please.. stop.."

Watching her materialize within her pocket world, Ezra did not move. He did not even blink, even as the air swirled around him, whipping him from side to side though he stayed firmly planted. Though he was confident that she wouldn't hurt him, he did not want to push his presence on her and aggravate the situation. If he didn't handle it carefully, things could get out of control very quickly.

"I'm not going anywhere. I made a commitment to you, and I plan on staying true to my word." Granted he had lapsed just a bit, wavered on his promise slightly, but he did not break his word if he could help it. What would happen if she did? How heavy would his conscience weigh on him if he chose to leave and something horrible happened? What would happen to her without him?

"I will not abandon you. I know that's what others have done, but I won't, nor will I let you push me away."

"Liar.. no one stays... You'll go just like all the rest.." Slowly Abyss pushed herself to her feet, turning her gaze towards him. One of her eyes was completely red, while the other was still mostly green. It was obvious that she was having a hard time keeping herself under control and she was losing. Despite being inside her pocket world, she was able to approach him, her body flickering in and out of view as the barrier flexed with her power.

"You look down on me. You judge me. You think I'm insane and unstable... not worth the effort. You have no idea... no one does... the things they say... the things that were done to me... you're just like them!" Her last words left her mouth  in a snarl, anger hiding her pain and loneliness. The storm around Abyss began to settle down, but that meant nothing if the burning rage inside of her wasn't controlled.

"Come inside.. if you really won't abandon me... come inside and prove it."

Without hesitation Ezra moved forward, his hands resting relaxed against his hips, approaching the powerful phoenix without fear. It wasn't over-confidence or narcissism or arrogance that allowed him to stand so bravely against the pressure of a phoenix flooding the room, though he did recognize that the outer-effects of her talents had started to calm.

No, it was honesty. He had nothing to hide from Abyss. Ezra's story was mostly known to the members of Purgatory, but they still did not have all the facts, as they may have believed. There were parts of him that no one had seen, until that moment when he decided to show them to the raging phoenix before him.

Even as he neared her, sensing the awesome power held within Abyss' person, he did not raise his power at all. No shield came up to protect him against anything she brought to bear against him. A sign of trust, a statement to the phoenix that he recognized her power but did not fear it or her. When they had closed the distance to each other, Ezra felt the world around him shift as it had before.

"Not all that you say is a lie. You are unstable. But that doesn't mean I have to fear you or what you might do. I do judge you, but only by the merits of your heart, your attempts to transcend the labels others have placed on you and to prove you are not the sum of what they did to you. You are you, and that's all you can be."

Ezra's voice was softer than normal, less forceful and rigid. He wanted her to see that he did not resent, pity, or look down on her. Standing in front of the phoenix, the almost immortal being of immeasurable, powerful feats, the meta brought his hand up to her cheek, cupping under the red hue of her eye lovingly.

Almost like twins, their eyes mirrored his own, the same in that one was a different color than the other. "I will not abandon you."

Abyss had the full intention to kill Ezra. She was going to wait for him to enter her realm, and she was going to engulf him in flames, and watch him turn to ash and dust. She had yearned for it, wanted to hear him scream in agony. But that was not what happened. Right as she was about to command her flames to eat him alive he touched her face. He cupped her cheek, his touch soft, and gentle, matching his tone.

Almost at once the red vanished from her eyes, the storm died completely. Her rage disappeared as if it had never been there, and she just stared up at him with wide eyes. "You're lying..." She whimpered softly, as tears rolled down her cheeks. Her body shook and trembled, almost in shock at what had just happened and how quickly it ended. Ezra had just waltzed into her space unafraid of her, he did not try to defend himself, he did not try to physically restrain her, he did not force her to do anything.

He was just there for her. Promised her he wouldn't abandon her.

Gently Ezra pulled her closer, softly cradling her against his chest, one hand resting against the back of her head while the other trailed long lines across her back. Pressed against his skin in such away, his more unnatural traits were more obvious before. His core was considerably warmer than a normal human's, and he had no heartbeat, just a steady hum coming from his 'core', similar to a heart but almost artificial in its design.

"I know that so many others have left you. You don't have a lot of reason to trust me, and I don't blame you. But I want to be here. I feel no obligation to stay other than a desire to help you. I only ask that you help me, too. Be patient when I make mistakes, because I will make them. If you can handle my ignorance, I will stay."

It'd been a long time since he'd felt anything beyond indifference to another soul, yet there he was embracing one as he would console a loved one, in spite of the fact that she could have roasted him where he stood, lovingly and protectively holding her as a shield... as a barrier against anyone that would try to harm her emotionally.

Abyss stood there for a long moment, before she wrapped her arms around Ezra, and let herself cry. Her loneliness, her pain, her fear.. all were heard as she cried, clinging onto him as if she were afraid he would disappear if she let go. With her control restored, in order to keep her tears hidden from everyone but the man holding onto her, she locked them in her bubble, sound and sight once again vanishing from the real world.

The phoenix held onto him tightly not having realized how comforting it was for another person to hold her while she wept. It made her feel like she wasn't alone anymore; his words made her actually start to believe she was worth it, and that maybe she would be able to learn how to control her blood-lust fueled rages.

"I want you to stay," Abyss cried, sniffling. "I can be patient.. I'll try harder.. I'll be good.." Desperately she wanted him to stay, to have someone to hold onto, an anchor as he had put it, a line to sanity that would never be severed. Abyss didn't realize that she had needed something like that in her life until that moment when Ezra appeared, and she never wanted to let him go.

Ezra continued to hold the sobbing girl, his cheek resting against the top of her head. He hadn't noticed immediately that she had recreated the pocket dimension, but after a few moments it dawned on him that she had, indeed, done so. She didn't want anyone to see her cry. Perhaps she saw it as weakness or vulnerability. Maybe it embarrassed her. But whatever the reason, she had not excluded him from the space, allowing instead for him to comfort her, trusting his word that he would not leave her.

"Ssshhh... nikhto ne idealʹnyy," Ezra whispered, the phrase one he remembered from his childhood, spoken by his mother when he was disappointed with his performance in training. 'Nobody's perfect' it meant, but Ezra always felt like it sounded better in Ukrainian than it did in English.

"I will stay, dear. We will both try. That's all we can ask, right?"

Nodding in response to his question, Abyss cried until she had no more tears left. But even after she had finished, and her sobs quieted to nothing but soft sniffles, she did not let him go, nor did she remove the barrier to the pocket space. She felt safe there in his arms, in a world where no one could see, or judge. Ezra had given her that, and he was slowly taking away the suffocating feeling of loneliness.

True, she wasn't technically alone, she had Trip sometimes and her sister, but until their new mission, Abyss hadn't been around anyone else for nearly a year. A danger to herself and those around her, she stayed alone until such a time when her control was restored. But then came the mission, and she met Ezra. Three times now he had seen her in a state of near loss, and twice she felt the urge to end his life, but there he stood. Not because he restrained her or used his own enhancements against her, but because he faced her, talked to her, and helped her latch on to her sanity long enough to push away the thoughts of ripping him apart.

Abyss held him tightly for a moment longer, then looked up at him, her eyes red and puffy, lashes and cheeks wet. "I've never cried with someone before, when is it culturally appropriate to let go? Or can I hold you forever? You're warm, and soft, and I like the way you feel. You should always not wear a shirt, you don't look too bad under your clothes..." and off again she went, all traces of sanity, and blood-lust, gone leaving the unstable and insane phoenix to ramble on as if she didn't need to breathe.

Ezra felt a rush of heat in his ears and cheeks, and not just because of his mutation. Abyss held him tightly, as if he might float away if she let go. Maybe that's what she was afraid of, him disappearing if she dared let go. "You can hold me as long as you like," he said softly, his eyes closed as he tried to put his mind elsewhere, lest certain bodily responses start to occur and make the poor girl uncomfortable.

It was not working for him, however, for she continued to speak about his physical appearance admiringly. Ezra felt very sized-up at that moment, and even more grateful that no one could see what was happening inside that dimensional pocket. It didn't matter how long she trailed off, or how she may have changed subjects. A desire was building inside of Ezra, one which he could not bypass or derail. He'd have to take care of it soon, or he may very well burst from the tension.

Abyss was blissfully unaware of his growing discomfort, clinging tightly to him, her body pressed firmly against his. She continued to speak rapidly about anything that popped into her head, sometimes going on long tangents about nothing. Currently, however, she was on the existence of unicorns. "I'm not saying they're not real, but what if they are? I would love a unicorn, it would be so fun to ride one and then you could train it to impale your enemies! Jousting horses is what they are.. do you want a unicorn?"

For the first time in several minutes she stopped talking, her head tilting to the side as she gazed up at him and awaited is answer. Even though she was not in her completely right mind, she was still aware of how good looking Ezra was, and she was going to make it a point to keep letting him know. A devious plot began to unfold in her mind, and she grinned widely, suddenly, her bright eyes shining.

Closing his eyes for a moment, Ezra tried very hard to push away the thoughts and feelings that ran rampant through his mind and body at that particular moment. It had been a long time since he felt any sort of physical affection from another, even for himself. Self-gratification had not crossed his mind in many years, so the attention he was receiving worked quickly to undermine his train of thought.

"Do... I want a unicorn?" Of course she would name an animal with a HORN on it. "Uhm... i'll let you have it, if I find one." Ezra shifted slightly, trying to avoid poking Abyss unintentionally.

When she didn't continue speaking right away, Ezra looked down and cocked his head to the side, a curious gaze lingering in her eyes. "What are you looking at? What's in your head?"

"You'd let me have your unicorn?" While the question was innocent, the look in her eyes made it seem as if there could have been another meaning behind it. "That's awesome! I really want one. I think they'd be fun to ride." With a giggle, she finally released Ezra sensing some discomfort from him, and with a flick of her wrist, she lowered the barrier between them and the real world.

"Do you wanna play another game? Or maybe we could bake a cake! I love cake. Do you want some?" And again Abyss was off on a tangent, this time focused on the types of cakes she has tried, the ones she liked, and the ones that she would kill to get her hands on.

The barrier dropped around them, leaving Ezra feeling a tad exposed. True he had no qualms about being naked, but being naked at full mast was different. He at up, closed his eyes, and took several deep breaths to try to calm his body before he answered her. "I don't think I can play a game right now, Abyss. I'm sorry." He didn't really have anything better to do, so he would not lie. But the mixture of body chemistry and desire were stronger then than any heroine that had ever been created.

Another game? The only games he could think about at that moment would lead to other things... not more games. "I need some time..." Another true statement. Ezra had thought, up to that point, that he would never let himself have feelings for another. Not after what happened to Depth. Yet there he was, with a girl he had sworn to protect and nurture, and he wanted so badly to explore her and let her explore him.

"I did have fun though. Maybe we can play a little later, okay?"

"Oh.. okay.." Abyss frowned for a moment, her mask of happiness slipping for a second, before she firmly snapped it back in place. Grinning, she just nodded. "It's okay, we can play later. I'll go make a cake, and then dinner, and maybe we can play outside just like last night." Without really waiting for a reply, the phoenix turned and bounded up the stairs to the main floor. Turning toward the kitchen, she nearly ran into Trip.

"Hey, Aby, how ya doing?" He grinned at her.

"I'm gonna make a cake!" She declared happily.

"Oh, what kind?" He laughed.

"I... have no idea." Abyss chirped. "Help me! We'll have fun." Not giving him a chance to reject the idea, she grabbed his arm and dragged him behind her.

Once again, Ezra was left alone with his thoughts, returned to the basement as if nothing at all had transpired. For a moment he found himself quite envious of Abyss. She could experience emotions in so many extraordinary ways, while he could not switch himself from one to another without great effort and help from his environment. Instead he left himself access only to a few key emotions while keeping the others on standby, simply for acting purposes.

Once he heard her meet up with Trip, Ezra sighed and picked himself up off the floor, dusting himself off before heading back upstairs to his room. On his bed he sat, letting the high-pitched sound of total silence fill the space until it surrounded him like a pool of water inside of which he could still breath. What was he doing? How was he supposed to continue teaching a girl who was quickly working her way into his heart after what happened last time?

Ezra could not leave. Staying brought pain. Logically speaking it didn't matter which he chose as far as he was concerned. It did, however, matter to others. Leaving would lead to hiding out elsewhere, probably wasting away the year alone. Staying, however, meant that he could actually do some good in a world he helped create.

The only real question that remained was simple to state but difficult to answer:

If he was adopting feelings for her, would she ever reciprocate them?

Abyss and Trip remained in the kitchen for a while making a cake, and the frosting to go with it, more batter going onto them, the floor, and the counters than in the actual cake. They laughed and enjoyed themselves until the cake was in the oven to bake, and the clean up had begun.

"How's your training, or whatever, going with Ezra?" Trip asked, and he began to wipe down the counters.

"Well. Very well~ he said if he found a unicorn he would let me have it!"

Trip couldn't help but laugh. "I'm sure you'll have fun with your unicorn."

"Oh I will. He's very kind to me. I like him." Abyss grinned, sticking her hands it hot dishwater.

"The unicorn?" The demolitions expert raised an eyebrow.

"No, silly. Ezra!"

"Ezra's kind to you?" Trip turned to look at his insane companion, memories of his few encounters with the Potential surfacing. None of them in which he was very kind.

"Yes, I like him a lot. He said he'd stay with me forever~" Abyss chirped happily.

"Forever, hm?" Trip returned to wiping things down. "That's a long time, Abs. Humans don't generally live as long as you do."

"He's not like them. He's like me, I can tell. He'll stay with me forever." The assassin frowned at the notion that Ezra would not always remain by her side. "He promised."

The voices in Ezra's head were loud, like too many people standing inside a small room, each trying to talk over the other. It had never been that bad, or that distracting. Unlike the voices one with several personalities might hear, Ezra's were not a product of extreme psychosis. They manifested in the forms of nightmares and horrible memories, haunting his waking self as a lion stalking a gazelle, ever present and always watching, striking at the most opportune and inconvenient times.

Ezra reached into his pocket and removed a small, worn out notepad, one that had obviously seen years of use. The weathered pages curled in the corners, and some had turned slightly yellow as time ravaged the paper. Flipping to a relatively blank page, Ezra began to write, furiously jotting down the sayings in his mind, his soul occasionally retching and threatening to make him sick. Slowly, as each word was scribed, they begin to quiet, until nothing was left but the sound of his pencil against the paper and the voices coming from downstairs.

After a few minutes, he replaced the notebook and decided to head downstairs for something to drink. He'd barely had anything to eat or drink since he arrived at the manor, and it was finally starting to catch up with him. Reaching the kitchen, Ezra found Abyss and Trip talking, her voice lowering slightly.

"Pardon my interruption. Just came to get something wet to drink." Ezra stuck his head in the fridge, trying to figure out what he even wanted, eventually settling on a small jug of milk.

Immediately following Ezra's entrance to the kitchen Abyss' mood improved dramatically. She once again grinned, finishing up the cake dishes, bouncing over to him.

"Do you want some cake now? It's almost done, and after that I'm going to start making dinner." Her fingers were laced behind her back as she talked, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

Watching her interaction with the Potential, Trips compared the two of them to a puppy and master, a sideways grin on his lips. He could practically see her tail wagging in happiness, it almost made him laugh out loud. "Well, if I'm not needed here, I've got things to blow up, and ladies to woo." He winked at Abyss, turned and exited the kitchen.

The assassin knew he was going to Oasis, and an idea formed in her mind. "After dinner did you want to go to Oasis? I'm sure the girls would love to meet you!"

"Cake? now? I suppose so. I'll still have an appetite when dinner is ready." It was true that Ezra would, indeed, be hungry when that time came. His metabolic rate was a unbelievably fast, even for a Meta. He burned food almost as quickly as he consumed it, making him feel hungry almost all the time. Besides, the kitchen smelled of cake, dripping with the sweet fragrances of sugar and fruit.

Aby's quick change of subject caught him off guard, however, snapping him out of the song played by the cake sirens. "I... don't know what that is?" Ezra's face said it all. He knew absolutely nothing about Oasis, and could gather only small pieces of information about it, judging by the way in which the name came up. After a moment, however, it clicked. Aby liked to dance. It must have been an exotic club.

"If it is a place to meet girls, I really have no interest in going. That's not really my thing. Thank you though.

"Yay!" Aby pulled the cake out, quickly finishing the frosting, bouncing on the balls of her feet in excitement. "I hope you like it~ I love cake!" She grabbed a plate and fork for him and pushed them towards him as she began to prepare dinner. It wasn't anything special, but she was making a lot. She always ended up making too much leaving tons of leftovers when she was finished.

"You really don't want to go to Oasis with me? I thought you said you wanted to see me dance?" She didn't look at him while she talked, focused on preparing the meal for that night. To say she was disappointed would be an understatement. She had really wanted him to go with her, and the thought of him not going made her mood dampen. If he wasn't going to go then she wouldn't go either.

"It's okay~ we'll just stay here then!"

"I do want to see you dance. I'm just... i've never been to a place like that before. Not for fun, anyway. My father took me to one when I was young, to hunt down another Meta." Ezra felt bad, for he could see the look in her eyes when she refused. More disheartening, however, was her admission that she would not go either if he wasn't going. Why wouldn't she go? She just said she liked going there... why wouldn't she goes because he wasn't going?

Breathing a sigh of resignation, Ezra lowered his gaze to the table, a sort of paralyzed resting face falling over his masculine features. Despite his morose expression, the tone of his voice was genuine. "If you want to go, and you will not go without me, then I will go. You deserve some time to relax."