"Damn it!" Onyx roared. He spun to face the girl behind him in both rage and hatred. "You stupid, naïve little girl! Why didn't you listen! If someone questions your decision, listen!"
Aurora sat, huddled on the street after she had ran and knocked into him. She was crying, but Onyx couldn't care less. Elliot was gone! The only one Phoenix might come back for! The only one who kept an eye on the home haunted with ghosts. GONE!
"You believe all people are good, but they're not! There are monsters out here!" he shouted.
She sniffled. "Stop yelling at me."
"I'll stop when you stop being a child!" he spat.
Going into the alley, he searched for clues as to who might have taken Elliot. Something… anything! There was nothing. No scratches. No blood. Just rats and garbage.
"Damn it!" Onyx roared again.
"What is going on?"
He spun to see Advandth, Devdan and Ecthrois looking around. "Nothing!" he hissed and turned his back on them.
"Onyx-"
"I said nothing, Advandth!"
"Why does the girl out there look like Phoenix?" Ecthrois asked.
Onyx shook his head, dropping to kneel and bow his head. He needed to calm his thundering heart; thundering with fear and worry, two things he had never felt for anyone except his father. He needed Phoenix to come back and help with her sister, help with finding Elliot, help with everything.
"Onyx?"
"Let me escort her home, then we'll meet at the coffee shop and I'll discuss everything."
Advandth made a step towards him. "I can take her wherever she lives."
"No, Advandth. I appreciate your offer, but no."
He heard a gasp from the woman, and he knew it was the first time he ever said anything about appreciating anyone.
"Onyx, whatever is going on-"
"What!" He stood and spun around, glaring Ecthrois down with so much rage, he thought he'd explode. "You'll go to Neclord and tell him what a bad boy I've been? Or maybe you'll set a trap for me for lying to you? What, Ecthrois? What are you going to do?"
Ecthrois narrowed his eyes. "I didn't have a choice," he hissed.
"Why? Because he threatened you?"
"You're no different!" the other man shot back. "Neclord threatens your father and you go rampaging around to lure a pretty girl into a cage and claim you didn't have a choice!"
"It's my father!"
"What about Advandth?" Ecthrois growled. "Would you do anything for her if Neclord threatened her? Or Devdan? Would you do anything for him?" Onyx didn't answer. Not because the answer would hurt them, but because it would give them false hope. Ecthrois snorted. "No, why would you? You only care about yourself!"
It was silent a long time before Devdan stepped between the two men and said, "Let's finish this later. We don't have time to argue about this here and now."
Onyx didn't move. Neither did Ecthrois.
"Onyx!" Advandth pleaded. He looked at her, seeing tears in those dark eyes of hers. "Enough, please! This isn't helping!"
She was right.
"I'll meet you all at the shop," he sighed and hurried past to get away. He grabbed Aurora's wrist roughly and dragged her behind him as she protested and fought. He didn't hear or feel a thing.
Phoenix watched from a nearby rooftop as the two disappeared. She heard shouting and came to see what was going on, only to find Onyx and his friends in the alley while a girl sat in the road, crying. She didn't recognize the girl, but didn't care at the moment.
She kept replaying the argument in her head. From their words, she suspected Ecthrois had something to do with Onyx's decision to bring her into Ironshade territory for humiliation and execution. She didn't exactly know how or why, but it led to her being nearly shot down and Onyx's father being beaten weekly for her escape.
Ecthrois and the other two walked out of the alley and dragged their feet along, not seeming to be in a hurry for once. "You had no right, Ecthrois," Advandth said, crossing her arms.
"But he does!"
Phoenix raised a brow. Onyx, she knew yelled at anyone and everyone. But Ecthrois seemed different. Up until she saw them, she had thought the man was quiet and watchful. Not at all ruthless to his companions.
"I'm not saying that, but you have to know that you've wounded him deeply."
"So what?" Ecthrois splayed his hands. "He needs to be told when to step down! He needs to stop treating everyone as if they were maggots!"
Advandth stepped in front of the man and glared up at him. "He is not the one who treats us like maggots and you know it! You're just as bad as him!"
"Atta girl," Phoenix whispered, grinning at the fury on Advandth's face.
"He does nothing when Neclord uses you!"
"Neither do you! But at least he had the decency to get me out before that became my life!"
"It still is your life!"
"But it isn't as bad as if I were there full time," she said softly. "At least he's decent enough to scare away the others."
Phoenix had enough. She jumped down and made her presence known. Advandth gasped while the men prepared for fighting. "Stop talking to her like she's stupid," Phoenix snapped to the big man. "She's not a dog!"
Ecthrois stiffened. "If you're here, then you must be ready to die."
She smiled. "Not by your hands!" She turned to Devdan and raised a brow. "I'm not going to attack, darling. I want answers!"
Devdan opened his mouth, but Ecthrois beat him to it. "What answers!"
"Devdan, since you are the only one here who is clear headed, tell me why you all were huddled in that alley."
"Phoenix-"
"Enough, Advandth!" Ecthrois growled and took a step towards Phoenix. "She's not worth our breath!"
He charged, but Phoenix sidestepped and rolled her eyes before catching his knife hand and twisting it behind his back. "You either let me talk, or I will send you to Neclord in pieces!"
Ecthrois bared his teeth. "Do it!"
Phoenix shrugged and was about to oblige when Advandth said, "Please don't!"
Phoenix closed her eyes and breathed, hoping for patience. "Devdan?"
"I don't know. All I know was that he was pissed."
"Who was the girl?"
Devdan shook his head. "I don't know, but…" He trailed off, his eyes seeming to stare at Phoenix in confusion and wonder.
She opened her own eyes and glanced at him. "But what?"
Devdan blinked and shook his head. "Don't kill me, but she looked like you."
Phoenix dropped Ecthrois in disbelief. "What do you mean?"
"We thought it was you until we saw her dress," Advandth whispered. "Even her eyes match yours!"
Phoenix shook her head. "That's impossible! There's no one that looks like me!"
"Then you're blind," Ecthrois groaned as he stood. "Skin, eyes, hair, right up until you notice the dress, it's like she's your twin."
"Did you get her name?"
Devdan shook his head. "She was too scared to say anything and Onyx wouldn't."
"Anything else you can tell me?"
"Why should we tell you anymore?" Ecthrois asked, calmed, but still resilient.
Phoenix gave him a narrowed eyes stare. "Because if uou don't, I will go after him myself and force it from his lips!"
"Phoenix!"
"Advandth, I may have a deal with you, but this isn't part of it."
"A deal?" Ecthrois hissed. He turned to the other woman. "You have been meeting her and said nothing!"
Advandth shrank away. "Because Onyx would make me tell him!"
"As you should!"
"Unlike you," Phoenix drawled, "Advandth isn't a careless bastard when it comes to someone's life."
"You have no room to talk!"
Phoenix shrugged again. "At least I can admit it."
Devdan spoke up again. "He's been looking for you."
Phoenix gave him a dry look. "Well, considering he's supposed to take me back to be killed, I'm not surprised."
Devdan shook his head. "I don't think that's the reason."
Phoenix gave him a smile that was both sad and malicious. "If that we're true, he wouldn't be trapsing around the archipelago with another woman, Dev. He would also be leaving little messages about how sorry he is. Instead, I'm inclined to believe the worst."
"Phoenix?" She raised a brow at the man. He tilted his head and she saw how sad he was. "If you do continue to go after the Ironshades, can you spare a few? They're innocent. Unable to-"
"Save it Devdan!" Ecthrois demanded. "She won't save anyone!"
Phoenix walked passed Ecthrois and up to Devdan, who watched her with both fear and hope. "I am a monster, Devdan." He gulped audibly, but didn't back down. She respected him a little more for it. "But, if there are innocent people mixed up in dark things, I will save them. But not without proof."
Devdan nodded. "What kind of proof?"
"The kind that can't be faked."