"What's happening to me?" Kiru screeched, the sound echoing through her dark surroundings. She squeezed her eyes shut against the different, wrong sound of her voice, tempted to bury her face in her hands but unwilling to feel her foreign shape.

"Isn't it obvious?" her own voice asked, "You have passed the test, and surrendered yourself to me, the phoenix."

Looking up, Kiru saw…well herself, except not. It was certainly her body, but whoever was inhabiting it carried themselves in an entirely different way. The clothing was risqué, easily removed, and way more of an advertisement of "her charms" than Kiru would ever wear. Her hair was mussed as though a lover's hands had just passed through them, but her face and eyes were cold, as if never knowing such an intimate touch. Once again, she was struck by the sense that the being before her could not possibly be the warm spirit that had dwelt in her hands for so long.

"You are not the phoenix," Kiru replied, "She would never have eyes as cold as you do." She felt the burned skin on her face pull as she narrowed her borrowed eyes, "And I would never have been willing to sacrifice myself for one so overtly unkind as you."

"Unkind?" the false phoenix asked, discarding her ruse of kindness with a sharp, unpleasant laugh, "How rude of you…I am not unkind…if anything I am evil, but only made so by your precious phoenix." A sneer graced her face, turning the lines cruel. "I am Phena, an innocent victim of your beloved protector," the last word she spit, making clear her opinions on the matter, "I was once beautiful, and the phoenix punished me for that beauty." Something resembling a smile crossed her face, "Why was it so bad that I loved all men, and sought their attentions for myself? I deserved to be loved, not that ugly fire sparrow."

As Phena continued her rant about the lack of evil in her original intent – after all, what was wrong with subjugating all the world to your will when you were a wonder to behold? – Kiru could see that the false phoenix had clearly lost her sanity long ago, and fully believed she was entitled to use her newest incarnation to achieve original mission. However, it was something Kiru could not allow, not at least if she had any power to stop it…

…You do…

The soft whisper in her mind came with a brush of the familiar, gentle warmth of the true phoenix. With a start, Kiru realized the small trickle of ki keeping her alive belonged to that merciful and merciless bird of fire.

'How….how can I stop her?' Kiru asked, speaking in her mind as to not disturb the insane rant of Phena.

…We are one…young fire…your life is my life...do you recall?...

With her words, blurry images of her long-dead parents crying, praying upon the necklace housing the protector of the demi's flashed before her eyes. Memories of herself, on the verge of death on her trek across the barren icelands, miraculously bursting into blessed, renewing flames. Countless instances of comforting warmth during the darkest times of her life….

It was you! Kiru realized with a start, You were always with me…you bound your life to mine when I was a baby!

Yes…we are one...

That means…

Yes…the life I once gave you… you can give me in return.