Arizium

Chapter 19

(A/N: Sorry it's a day late, please don't throw tomatoes at me ;-;)

Phoenix paced around her small room and bit her forefinger. Why did I do that why did I do that. She thought and ran her hand through her hair.

He hates me now. He hates me so much. Gods what have I done. She stopped pacing when she heard a knock on her door.

"What?" Phoenix mumbled in a cracked voice. She cleared her throat and growled louder "What?"

Bear opened the door hesitantly and said cautiously "Something happened last night."

Phoenix sighed and grabbed a cloak before following Bear into the cold morning air. Bear filled her in as they walked towards the river "Madelina was on watch and Amaria woke up. They had a conversation-that was most likely hostile-when suddenly a mountain lion pounced from the forest. It died before it even touched Amaria, cause of death was an arrow through the skull."

"Wolf?" Phoenix asked hopefully, but Bear shook her head.

"Nope," she said sadly "This was done by a stranger. We managed to tie her up, but it was with lots of difficulty. Apparently she's got the same thing as us, she has the power to shapeshift and her soul-beast seems to be a fox. We had to threaten to kill her fox before she finally stopped turning."

Phoenix nodded and felt Nix land on her shoulder and heard Nevaeh (Bear's grizzly bear) trudge over to waddle along by Bear's side. Apparently the beasts think that this stranger is dangerous, Phoenix noted thoughtfully.

When they arrived they found Madelina looming over a tall girl with long maroon hair, a nasty scar, and a scowl. Her grey fox was tied up alongside her, trying to get free.

"Do you know where Raven is?" Phoenix asked Bear suddenly.

The question caught her by surprise "Um, no... she might still be sleeping."

Phoenix nodded, took a deep breath, and asked Madelina "Alright, what have you gotten so far?"

"Nothing. She refuses to speak," she stated angrily and kicked at a pebble.

Phoenix knelt down next to the girl carefully and started the interrogation, "What is your name?"

The girl stared back at Phoenix with no emotion.

"Not willing to talk, huh?" Phoenix sighed and used her power to make a small ball of light in her hand. It didn't radiate heat, but Bear used her power to make it seem like it did. "It would be a shame if all that pretty long hair were to... burn off suddenly, wouldn't it?" Phoenix said mischievously.

The girl's eyes widened slightly and her scowl deepend when she realized she had no choice, "Arro," she blurted.

"Arro, huh? Why are you here, Arro?" When she locked her jaw stubbornly, Phoenix brought the ball closer.

Arro sighed and gave in, "I was here to kill that lackwit princess."

Madelina pumped her fist "Ha! I knew it!" but ended her celebration when Phoenix glared at her.

"How did you obtain Arizium?" Phoenix inquired.

"Arizium? What the fuck is that?"

"How did you obtain your fox?"

"What, Guertena? I'm not sure, one day I just woke up with these weird power things and a best friend. What's Arizium?"

"Did you ever use a drug to recharge your powers?"

"What? No. My power never dwindles," Arro stated cockily.

Phoenix furrowed her brow, "How could you have possibly had a soul resonance strong enough to connect without Arizium?"

"Wait so you can do it too? I thought I was the only one! Thank the gods." she breathed out, then reverted back to her neutral tone of voice and cleared her face to be devoid of expression once again "It's just sort of, natural to me, I guess."

"Why did you save Amaria instead of killing her?" Phoenix noted that Madelina had relocated the twins somewhere where they couldn't interfere with the interrogation.

"Because I changed my mind. Why are you asking so many questions an-"

"Are you an assassin?"

"Wow I can't believe you figured it out!" Arro exclaimed sarcastically "Yeah, I'm a fucking assassin, you dolt. What of it?"

"Who wants Amaria dead?"

"That's classified,," Arro stated and drew her mouth into a thin, stubborn line.

"Who do you work for?"

"That's classified."

"Where is your headquarters?"

"Honestly woman, do you think I'll answer any of these? Here I'll give you your fucking answers, I work for the fucking cow fairy and live on lollipop mountain in a forest of fucking chocolate."

"Are you here to kill any of my family?"

Arro sighed heavily and glared at Phoenix, "No, just the princess, but if you keep me and Guertena tied up any longer I might consider it."

Phoenix nodded at Madelina to remove the bonds. Once they were free, Phoenix stated "Alright, show us what you can do."

Arro looked at her incredulously, "You want me to put on a fucking show for your entertainment?"

"No, I want to see what you're capable of. Do. It." Phoenix demanded and held the ball of light up as a reminder.

Arro sighed and closed her eyes. She shrunk down to a rabbit, a mouse, a canary, and a fox before returning to her original form. "There, happy?" she scoffed.

"Is it only those animals?" Phoenix asked.

"I can transform into anything that's considered harmless, with the exception of the fox, that is," Arro stated and picked at her nails with boredom.

Phoenix rubbed at her chin thoughtfully, then said "Alright. You can go."

Arro looked confused, "Wait, you're just going to let us free? Just like that?"

Even Madelina piped up "Phoenix, maybe this isn't a great idea. We could really learn a lot about this whole soul thing and-"

"I said she's free to go. End of discussion." Phoenix stated and left swiftly. She wasn't a dimwit, she knew that Arro wouldn't leave, but Phoenix didn't want her to feel like she was being forced to tell them everything she knew, just in case she decided to lie about everything.

Look at me, I've become manipulative. She sighed and laid on her bed, Why must I cause so much drama, what is wrong with me.

(A/N: alright, things are gonna slow down now because I have to write and stuff. I'll try to get at least one chapter out per week, but I can't promise anything since I'm moving rn and stuff :( ily all so much thank you for sticking through my crappy writing^w^)