A collection of side stories and headcanons from "A Phoenix's Heart"

Bachelorette party

Mereoleona's point of view

It is an early Wednesday morning in Raque. Estella, Noelle, Nebra, Mimosa, Charlotte, Dorothy, and I traveled to the resort town the night before, and those of us who stayed up late partying and drinking. The seven of us are barely awake with some still asleep(Dorothy) as we stumble into the most prestigious spas in the area, Ocean Breeze Spa and Resort. Estella is one of the owners and was able to pull some strings so we have the spa to ourselves.

"Okay," yawns Estella. "Okay, everyone. Today is the second day of Mereoleona's Bachelorette trip. We have the spa all to ourselves with a skeleton crew of only the most trusted workers. Here." Estella pulls out a piece of paper. "I took the liberty of making a schedule for us to follow today so we can..."

"Screw the schedule" I scream, setting Estella's schedule on fire. "Let's go in and have fun!"

"Yeah!!" cheers Noelle and Mimosa.

Upon entering the spa the workers explain to all the massages, facials, pedicures, manicures, baths, and other services they offer before ushering us to a changing room and then to their Hot Springs. The spa serves wine and snacks. We spread out throughout the saltwater hot spring. Charlotte sat to the right of me between Dorothy and Estella keeping the two sleepy heads from drowning in their sleep while Noelle, Nebra, and Mimosa sat huddled together to my left.

"So," whispers Noelle, "what's going on between you and Zora?"

"Zora Ideale," perks up Mimosa. "What about him? What's going on?"

"Shhh," shushs Nebra. "Nothing's going on. Don't read into things too deeply you two."

I sip my drink listening in on their conversation. Ahh Drama. I don't miss being their age. I can't blame Noelle for her curiosity. From what I saw at the Black Bulls base, Nebra has been really trying to reach out to Noelle to mend their relationship after the Elf reincarnation. Zora always fought Nebra off. It got to the point that Julius started sending them on missions together along with a neutral party hoping they might get along better.

"Bullshit," mutters Noelle. "It can't possibly just be training. You two spent most of the ball together. You say you're super close to Estella yet you spent the entire ball with the black balls. You didn't even talk to her."

"What happened?? I didn't attend," admits Mimosa.

"That's true! Why weren't you there Mimosa?" questions Nebra.

"Oh. Well. I've been going on dates with this guy. When I told him I didn't want to continue, things got complicated."

"Really! Spill Mimosa. What was dating like? I've never been on one," said Nebra.

"No no no no. We'll come back to this Mimosa. Don't change the topic, Nebra. Tell me what's going on," screams Noelle, gaining the others' attention.

"What's going on," calls out Charlotte.

"Drama," I answer, taking a long sip of my favorite red wine. "Sappy teen relationships drama. Speaking of, I heard Yami has asked you out on a date."

"What," shouts the 3 younger girls toward Charlotte.

She immediately bursts into a blushing mess and dove under the water to hide. When she moved away from the sleeping Estella, she too slipped under the water. I put my glass down and examined the water dove her head waiting for her to safely wake up and get out of the water. After a few more seconds of the girls chattering I push past them and drag her out of the hot springs and slap her awake. Dorothy on the other hand wasn't affected by Charlotte moving away at all.

"You okay Estella?" I ask, slapping her on the back. She coughs and weakly nods in response. "I think it's time to move onto the ..."

I look up to see one of the attendants waiting for us. "What would you like to do next?" she asks.