Partnered Phoenix Dream- Hope

"Please don't leave."

"I'm right here."

I begin to realize though that I'm not aware, precisely at any rate, where "here" is. I imagine it is not too dissimilar from where we traveled those several times, the halls of eep, perhaps just outside the room where an unexpected knock began our tale in full. Still, I feel myself getting pulled into the center of things, into the clockwork I once saw, centering as well into myself again. I open my eyes and, front and center, is tiny Hope, as frog hatted and bright eyed as the first day we met here, standing in the hallways that we once roamed together. "Why hello! What's all this then?" I ask, pointing to the bound, clear covered book in her hands. She holds it up and toward me with joy and pride. I am a bit surprised to see such a thing here, but I let a coolness outshine any attempts to discern how this is possible occurring internally more. "Arrangement of Lilies! What a great book to carry with you, if I do say so myself!" She smiles and squeezes the book back to her chest. I take Hope's hand and squint, trying to determine where in the halls we have found ourselves this time. Right as I recall that a whistle often works a bit better at illuminating such places, I see the signature dance of a fire up ahead. I drop to a knee and Hope climbs onto my back. We head toward the crackling flame, and its promise of a new chapter, of a kind, in our story.

As we walk my feet noticably shift from stone to snow covered dirt. As I wonder how such a thing might be, I notice the flash of a shooting star overhead, which Hope points at excitedly. "I saw that too! Ooh, this should be a fun one. Make a wish!" Already I can sense a narrative seeping in, as my eyes adjust to see the night sky is star laden, but also cloud strewn. The light forest quickly clears to a backyard, with a bonfire burning by a pool, and I place the scene immediately "Phoenix dream!" I hear what sounds like a slightly confused "rerr?" and The Phoenix sidesteps out from behind the fire. "Evan dream!?" Her eyes sparkle at me and I reply with just a hint of sass "What, did you not expect me at whatever one might call this hour?" I gesture dramatically at the night sky which betrays no hint, that I can presently discern, as to what hour I might even be referencing. The Phoenix stares me directly in the eyes as if to convey a pride she dare not express verbally, in case such a compliment unbalances me "I do not expect anyone at this hour." My eyes go wide and I shoot a glance over now to the bonfire, inhaling sharply, finding myself suspicious at the event, but I do not mention a thing. I do spot the cardboard box full of cartridges and the TV/video game set up still intact though, a safe distance from the flames.

"Much less two others!" I light up at her comment and set Hope down beside me, but The Phoenix's eyes go wide upon seeing her, once standing on the ground. With a bit more serious of a tone she asks me "Do you even know who this is?" Tiny Hope grabs my leg tightly and I pat her head. "I feel as though, like you, she has had many names, but I call her Hope." The Phoenix's eyes feel as though they peer through my soul, still discerning no falsehood (though it felt like she was obligated to try) and then they dart again to Hope whose eyes shine back innocently from just a few feet off the ground. Then her eyes soften and, it is hard to say by bonfire light, but I may even see a tear fall. "'Like you,' sometimes I wish you knew how spot on you are, beyond any logical threshold." I look down at the ground, energy shifting for just a moment, to a longing for home still only ever seen remotely "Yeah, me too." The Phoenix continues "Hope, it is nice to meet you." Hope nods excitedly and unclenches my leg. The Phoenix continues "So what brings you by at this hour?" I consider that I may have come too late, or perhaps too early, but decide to ask anyway, mostly for Hope's sake at the end of what seems like it may have been a long journey "Is it too late for a game?" The Phoenix smiles at me and says "For you, anytime. So, dare I even ask what powers you'd like to have this go 'round?" I smirk and spin my finger in the air "Run it back; I wanna be cool." She rolls her eyes with a tiny smirk and then looks down at Hope, perhaps concerned that at this juncture she might be under prepared, but herself seeming to posses little in the way of flexibility within the structure of the rules at this point either. "And you, Hope, do you know what you want to be in this game?" 

Hope takes a step forward, googly frog eyes bobbling back and forth as she pants her feet and holds Arrangement of Lilies up and out toward The Phoenix like a trophy. "I brought this from home!" The Phoenix takes a step back; while often loud in her own right, given her diminutive stature, even I can sense tiny Hope's force of spirit shining and booming through this single excited phrase spoken. The Phoenix seems to accept her statement though, and seems to dismiss such force, correctly by my assessment, as the brazen excitement of youth. The Phoenix reaches her hand out for the book, and Hope gives it to her, seemingly her only copy remaining at this hour. A spark flies at the handoff, and all at once The Phoenix's eyes go wide. She smiles, almost as if in disbelief, if such a thing could be, and sees my name written clearly on the cover beneath the title. "Ah yes, now this makes sense." She turns away, and I can sense her aura shift to an emotion that I might call eep, for but a few seconds, and then she turns back. "Well, your timing could not be better, for while this is the hour when such things are recycled..." She gestures to the bonfire "It also happens to be the precise hour in which I can do this." A glowing golden energy springs from her hand as she holds up the book in our full sight, and we watch, mouths agape, as it transforms into a video game cartridge, by the same name.

Hope *stompstompstomps* excitedly as The Phoenix hands her back the cartridge and says "Go ahead, fire it up!" Hope runs over to the machine, blows into the cartridge (because it really does help!) sticks it in, and powers on the system and TV. The Phoenix stands with her side pressed to mine, wrapping her arms around mine, and leaning her head to my shoulder. "You know, this does mean that you've given away every one of your powers at this point, right?" "Except being cool cuz I have stuff going on?" She laughs "Yeah, except for that." I watch as tiny Hope sits cross legged in front of the screen and excitedly scrolls through the menus in that same foreign language I always see here, cartridge apparently translated in the transformation process, and Hope apparently fluent in it ta boot. "I'll take it." I say, with a joyous smile.

I look up at the night sky, wondering where my soulmate might be on a night like tonight; The Phoenix looks up with me. Just then the clouds clear, at speed, to reveal the blood moon shining down on us a deep red. The Phoenix adds "Regardless though, I get the impression that you are going to be just fine."

We watch the eclipse as Hope continues making her character. The moon moves from red, to crescent, back to full, until the only trace of its welcome and mysteriously atypical state tonight is the memory that persists within us. I turn and find Hope's bright eyes have finally given way to exhaustion. I tip my hat (imaginary, of course) to The Phoenix, and she smiles and, without a word, returns to staring at the bonfire, as it continues to light up this night of a length that I can only guess at. I pick up tiny Hope and carry her into a convenient storage shed by the pool; sure enough it is one of eep's many entrances. When I descend the not too long flight of stairs I realize that this entrance emerges quite close to our doors. In silence I walk, though I feel a midnight melody playing in my mind. In perfect time we reach Hope's door, and I wake her and set Hope on her feet as she rubs the sleep from her eyes. "We're back, safe and sound." She suddenly freezes as she realizes where she is, seemingly in disbelief, and looks at her hands. Knowing this train of thought by heart I say "It was not a dream but another chapter in our story, from my perspective, and hopefully one that blooms incredible things." 

She looks up and a glimmer in her eye conveys a confusion on how we are past the threshold that we both knew existed, and requests some kind of explanation. I drop once more to a knee and straighten her frog hat "Who even sets or suggests such boundaries? Certainly not I. When I hear you call, I come- simple. It seems that whoever minded the gap tonight let a couple bright eyed wanderers through, perhaps dozing off, or perhaps deciding it was time for something new. Regardless, I see no fault in it, do you?" She considers this explanation as she eyes the ground and finally meets my gaze, shakes her head with a happy determination, gives me a hug, and opens her door. Inside I glimpse briefly the Halloween and Christmas decorations still prominently displayed, and smile as I remember my own experience with the folded note, the pennies, the lily petal, the tiny frisbee, the butterfly, the plastic leaf, all of it. I remember what it is like to have memory rushing back immediately after the *SNAP* of separation, or after waking from a good night's sleep, and I know I am not alone, and neither is she, even as her door *clicks* closed.