Sweet Dreams (HIATUS)

A Mirage of Wasted Time

"Oooh what does this do?" I faintly heard Ava's voice coming from the weaponry section of the Preparation room. I paused abruptly from my chasing of Phoenix around the ever aloof Vincent and immediately ran towards Ava, but I didn't make it to her in time.

"Wait-" A loud gun shot silenced my words and I cringed and watched Ava as she jumped back into Lilly, the bullet nearly hitting her shoulder.

"Ahh! Woah guys don't touch that thing. Lilly! Did you see what just happened?" Ava twisted to yell out to Lilly only to come face to face with the fiery bundle of joy. Quite literally. A small section of Lilly's hair near the side of her face was smoking, though strangely her facial expression remained unchanged.

"Yes, I did. That will teach you not to mess with unidentified weapons. Idiot." Lilly grabbed the gun from Ava's hands and began to examine it. Ava's mouth dropped open and she adopted a pitiful look of rejection. She crossed her arms and pouted, but to no avail. Lilly merely walked past her to sharpen her arrows.

I was about to return to my chase when I was thrown back into a pair of strong arms.

"You're so mean to me Lilly! Bren! Tell Lilly to stop being mean to me!" She dragged out the "me," grabbed my shoulders, and proceeded to shake me back and forth. Dear God. Here we go again. I removed myself from her grasp, however I couldn't even get a word out before they were once again at each other's throats.

I sighed.

What are they? Five? I feel like I'm babysitting. I myself am having a hard time believing that they could probably kill me right now if they wanted to. Oh look, Phoenix is harassing Genevieve again. Great.

I trudged over to the ball of terror and ripped him off Genevieve's shoulder. I glared at him as he flew off to his owner.

"Vincent, please get a hold of this thing before he manages to destroy the whole room!" Phoenix fell gently on Vincent and stuck his tongue out at me. Why that little-

"I would like to kindly remind everyone as to how much time we have left," there was a pause, "Exactly twenty minutes." My insult was interrupted by Dmitri's voice sounding from the entrance of the room. A quick glance told me that he was dressed and ready to go. Well excuse me. I don't need your sass mister. Alright, I've had enough of their goofing around.

"Alright asshats, gather around. We have successfully managed to waste two hours in here and yet half of you still don't have shoes on," at this Vincent looked down, "I am going to go change, and when I return, I expect all of you to be ready or none of you will have hands to touch things with!" I sent a stern look to Ava, who looked down with guilt. I almost felt bad.

With a huff I turned on my heels and marched to one of the many fitting rooms. Once the door had closed on their surprised faces, I let my weight fall upon the door. How am I so tired? It has only been a day! I have no idea why Evangeline chose me for this mission when I'm obviously not cut out for it. Sometimes I wish I could lock myself up with just my mind to keep me company. Then again, my mind is a pretty scary place. Aright, enough of the "woe is me" shit. I'm never going to get anywhere by laying on the floor. I pulled myself up off the slab of cold marble and slugged my way over to the vanity across the room. I squeezed my eyes closed before looking at myself in the mirror. I saw confused brown hair and brown eyes, almost invisible behind my puffy skin and dark circles. I stared at myself and tried my luck at smiling.

It didn't end well.

I saw the result and immediately frowned. I turned hastily and made my way toward the uniform hanging on the closet door. I blindly threw it on and pulled my uneven hair up into a ponytail, dark strands sticking out at whichever angle. I braved another look in the mirror.

I was wearing a dark purple vest that covered a sleeveless white button-up shirt. Black leggings wrapped my bony legs, and violet shorts were over them. Tall boots of the same shade reached up just past my knees, and finger less gloves topped it off, completing the ensemble that looked and felt completely useless.

I attempted to smooth down my hair but soon gave up, grabbing my gun off of the vanity and walking out.

The scene I found myself watching made me wish I hadn't left.

"Just keep it in your pants Phoenix, that's all I'm telling you."

"Is that a challenge? I'll have you know that I have no problem keeping it in my pants!"

"Oh really? Because as far as I can see you aren't wearing pants." I saw Vincent, but I didn't know who he was talking to. The others were surrounding him, and I mentally face palmed at the fact that half of them didn't have shoes on. Again. Really people? What did I tell you? What is going on here, and who is Vincent talking to? That voice sounds very familiar... I pushed past Dmitri to get to the center, where I saw Vincent calmly arguing with who I now know was a certain aviary liar.

My mouth fell open in surprise when the obnoxious parrot was swallowed by a crimson flame, sending his feathers up in the air. I plucked a magenta feather off of my noise as I spit some out of my mouth.

"Vincent and Phoenix, what the Hell is-"

"See! I told you! I am wearing pants!" Phoenix spoke, cutting off my sentence, but I didn't get a chance to be mad. When I looked up, I saw him suspended in the air, only this time, he was human. My eyes grew wide when I saw that not only was he human, but that a single long necklace with three colorful feathers at the end was the only thing he had on his body.

Phoenix had a smug look on his face, but it faded when his eyes met Vincent's, who motioned for him to look down. When he did, Phoenix turned redder than his hair, which was an insanely bright red, and was once again engulfed in flame. He returned to Vincent's shoulder with his head under his wing.

Vincent laughed, "Ha ha! I knew you weren't wearing pants, but I didn't know think you were going completely commando!"

"Yeah yeah, whatever. It feels much better than wearing pants," Phoenix muttered from his hiding place. I took a few moments to blink and realize what just happened. I felt my cheeks heat up, but it wasn't all from anger.

"Wait, what?" I yelled. I looked from Vincent to Phoenix, catching his striking hazel eyes to give him a death stare. He cowered back behind his wings. "Does someone wish to explain what just happened here, because I would love to hear it!" I crossed my arms in front of my chest and raised an eyebrow at Vincent and his doppelganger. There had better be a good fucking explanation for this. I don't do surprises.

Vincent met my gaze and stated ever so nonchalantly, "Phoenix is a shape shifter. I thought you would have known that. Sorry." Phoenix must have regained some of his dignity, because the next thing I knew, he was on my shoulder.

"Surprised? I can't help but notice your red face. Would you like to see me change again? Of course, I can do a lot more than just that..." He whispered in my ear, and it took all of my might to keep my face its original shade. His voice is like velvet...wait what? Why am I thinking that right now? Keep your cool Bren, he is just a parrot. Human. Thing.

"If you know what's good for you, you won't come near me again," I said and smacked him off of me. I heard him chuckle before returning to Vincent. I gave him what I hoped was a terrifying glare, pointing my gun at him in the process, and from the look on his face, I knew I succeeded. Yes! Bren-1, Phoenix-0. I had about reached my mental capacity for these peoples' shenanigans.

"Alright, I have had enough of your messing around and-"

That was when everything went black.

A/N Yay early update! I have a lot of time now, so updates are probably going to be closer together but not very regular. I'm sorry! This chapter is more of a filler chapter for the next one, since I wanted to split it up into two instead of one long chapter. Either way, I hope you enjoyed it! Have a wonderful day today and always!