The Ballad of the Phoenix

A gray girl concealed herself in a gloomy bedroom, only a pale face with the wisp of a black tattoo poking out the white curtains to face the bright sunlight. Sophia's outfit matched her mood and room while the outside was a comical contrast. It was sunny, summer, mid-June, the warmest, brightest month. Sophia could hear chirping birds, but one in particular had a siren song so sweet that it finally drew her out of her bedroom. She gasped as she saw golden feathers flashing in the distance, tinged by red, brown, and black.

I've never seen—or heard—THAT type of bird before...! Woah...! She was spellbound, both by sight and by sound, and soon, so was everyone else. While Sophia was rooted in place, still at her bedroom window, clutching the curtains like lifelines, a crowd began to form in the park below, where the beautiful songbird was located. She spun lazily around the air in an acrobatic dance to accompany her enchanting, hypnotic singing. Every day, the crowd that came to see and hear the mysterious, talented bird grew. Sophia never left her bedroom window.

I don't understand. Look how they cheer for her! The gray girl thought, lavender gaze locked on the golden bird. Yes, she is marvelous, but can they not tell? She is... sad... It was in the bird's voice. Although the crowd cheered, the songs were not cheerful. She was singing ballads, but in the sense that the music was slow and melancholy, not that it was romantic or happy. Either that, or sad girl hours are trendy. Ha! As if. Nothing I like is ever popular. It's always weirdo stuff... Except...

The bird. Sophia's gaze focused on the golden feathers and golden voice again. Sophia was usually never so presumptuous as to think highly of herself, especially compared to others, but the bird brought a new side out of Sophia. Maybe her ears were sharper, or her vantage point better, but she was the only one to correctly identify the ballad of the phoenix as a sad one rather than romantic.

It was a song of heartache, but while the crowd was fixated on the tragic tale she wove, they seemed not to realize that the pain of the music indicated something person within the heart of the performer. Likewise, although Sophia had no interest in listening to the people, she heard them whisper, and they still referred to the bird as an "it", a thing of mythical, distant, incomprehensible beauty. Sophia agreed that the bird was beautiful, but she was not some alien, a foreign creature from another world. Sophia knew better. Sophia knew her.

You're sad, and lonely—depressed—like me, the gray girl thought, ever watching the golden bird from her white-curtained window.

Then at last, at the end of one particularly powerful performance, the golden bird finally sang her last. She raised her wings with a world-weary sigh, feathers shining brighter and brighter until the massive crowd realized that it wasn't just the summer sun.

"It's a phoenix!" they cried, then they clapped and cheered and celebrated as they never had before, wishing to give the glorious, magnificent bird the send-off it deserved. Only one figure watched, expressionless and frozen.

Only hours later did she allow tears to fall. They landed on the ashes of the phoenix, burned into the ground by magic, impossible to remove or clear away. They would only vanish whenever the phoenix finally resurrected again.

But who knows when that will be? Or where? Sophia thought mournfully as she knelt over the phoenix's "gravesite". Oh, such a fool, am I! I never had the chance! ...Never had the chance... to tell her... that I understood... how she felt...

While the rest of the world cheered, Sophia wept, for she heard the truth in the siren song of the phoenix. That ballad, Sophia was certain, saved her life, because for the first time in her miserable, little life, someone had articulated perfectly how she felt. She'd never felt so seen, validated, or understood before. Now, the phoenix was gone. Sophia never took the chance to approach her and tell her...

The gray girl grieved until she felt fingers poke her shaking shoulders. "H-huh?! Who are you?! And how did you get here?!" she shrieked, tearing away from the prodding digits. They were attached to another girl, and she left Sophia breathless. Woah...

The other girl was tall, lithe, and beautiful. She had crystal-blue eyes and long, golden hair. She was clad in brown and black, feathers jutting up from her back and shoulders. Sophia's eyes widened in immediate recognition while the other girl shrugged, smirking slightly.

"I don't know, that is, I haven't fully decided on a new name yet. I guess, though, you could call me... Neo." Her smirk widened slightly. "It means "new" in Greek." Some of the teasing melted from her face as she met Sophia's eyes again. "Your tears... Even though there were... hundreds... who wept on my grave—and many of them well-meant—none of them quite... understood..." Except you.

Sophia's stomach seized. "N-N-Neo..." So... I was right...! Even though she remained farthest away from the phoenix, she was closer to the mythical bird than any other spectator. She was also correct that she was the only one to correctly identify the ballad of the phoenix as sad. Unlike the rest, she was not too swept away by the beauty of the sound that she missed its melancholy. Instead, it was a grief she knew all too well.

"I never got the chance to tell you..." Sophia breathed, finally, slowly rising to her feet, face and voice awed.

"I know," Neo promised, crystal-blue eyes drifting down. Her ashes were gone. They both knew she was referring to Sophia's tears. "You saw me clearly. The real me." She gently rested a hand on Sophia's shoulder, then squeezed it meaningfully.

Sophia was suddenly struck by a vision of herself as a falconer, and Neo as her phoenix, landing on her arm whenever it was outstretched. Neo chuckled quietly. Perhaps she'd seen the vision too? Or maybe she was the one responsible for it.

"Hmmm. Sophia." Neo tilted her head, some of her golden tresses shifting as she did so. "Your name means "wisdom" in Greek."

"O-o-oh! R-really...?" Sophia blushed and stuttered, looking away and tugging embarrassedly on the collar of her shirt.

"Perhaps it is fitting." Crystal-blue eyes searched Sophia's face once more. It took a while, but eventually, Sophia was brave enough to look back.

The next day, Neo was gone. The bird was back! Though not in the park anymore. Instead, white talons perched on a white windowsill. Crystal-blue eyes stared into an awed, lavender gaze. A pale hand reached out shyly to caress the golden feathers of the bird's head. The bird cooed, a deep sound, and dipped her head forward. She and the human were each happier than they'd been in ages. At last, the phoenix had someone to sing for. The girl had someone who truly understood her. And they both had someone to love. Now the ballad of the phoenix was laced with romance.

AN: Randomly remembered their bdays and randomly got inspired to actually write fics for them, so here's the first one!