*****

The girl lay on mossy dirt, tossing and turning as she drifted in and out of sleep. Suddenly, she was plunged into a nightmare that was all too familiar. In her dream, she was surrounded by people who were rejecting her, turning their backs on her, and walking away. She called out to them, begging them to come back, but they only moved further and further away. As she watched, the faces of the people in her dream turned from confusion to fear, until finally, they were all running from her in terror.

She tried to follow them, to explain that she meant them no harm, but the more she pursued them, the more frightened they became. And then, suddenly, the fear turned to anger. They began shouting at her, accusing her of all manner of terrible things, until finally, they were throwing things at her and chasing her with sticks and stones.

The girl was terrified, feeling more alone and rejected than ever before. She didn't understand why they were so afraid of her, why they hated her so much. She wanted to run away, to hide from their anger, but there was nowhere to go. And then, just as suddenly as it had started, the dream ended, and she was left alone by her lonesome, shaking and sweating with fear.

As the girl slowly came back to herself, she realized that it was just a nightmare, that the people in her dream were not real. But even though she knew this, she couldn't shake the feeling of rejection and fear that still clung to her. She hugged her legs within her arms, trying to find comfort in their warmth, but it was no use. The fear and anger from her dream had seeped into her waking life, and she knew it would take a long time to shake it off.

Her morning stupor was cut off before she could go back to sleeping again when she heard a loud crash followed by the loud thud of something huge falling to the ground from behind the tree under which she was hiding.

She felt scared, but also curious as to what could it be that caused such a loud sound. It could be dangerous, which makes for a good reason to keep hiding and to also check it out.

Falling prey to her own curiosity, she crawls out of her little hole and peeks over the roots. Nothing. On the roots at least, but how about behind the tree? She crawled up the root she was hiding under and peaked to the side of the tree to maybe catch a glimpse of whatever crashed onto it.

Then the smell hit her, it smelled of burned wood. She ignores the smell and obvious smoke that started to rise from whatever was on the other side of the tree, pinched her nose, squinted her eyes, and leaned on the side to look at the thing.

Well, calling that a thing would be quite rude now. There lay a huge flaming figure that looked like a bird.

Is that… a phoenix?

She wonders to herself.

But from what I remember phoenixes should be able to infinitely regenerate or something like that… so why is it not getting up yet?

She continues to stare at the bird, halfway through it the bird starts to cough out what seemed like blood, it was glowing bright yellow like molten metal but not quite the same. One thing was it wasn't quite as viscous as lava.

If it isn't regenerating then is it something else from the same species?

She continues to stare at the flaming bird, confusion and curiosity obvious in her gaze.

The bird coughed even more of the bright liquid and even more after it struggled to get up. And then more as it tried to move after noticing the girl's gaze.

I should do something, it will die if it continues to bleed like that…

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She walks away from her hiding spot and makes her way toward the flaming bird.

She readies her magic and raises her hands toward the direction of the fallen bird. Then she pauses, her heart and head invaded by an awful clench and she was reminded of yesterday's happenings.

Her failure of being unable to give Mia what she lost because of her stupidity. The failure had shaken her to the core. And now, as she stood in front of a new patient who was in desperate need of her healing, she found herself frozen, unable to call forth her magic at the thought of failure.

The girl tried to push the memory of her failure out of her mind, to focus on the present and the task at hand. She closed her eyes and tried to calm her racing heart, but it was no use. The fear and doubt were too strong, and they had taken root deep inside her.

Tears welled up in the girl's eyes as she realized that she was failing again. She couldn't do this, she wasn't strong enough. She was useless, a failure. The wounded bird's cries of pain only made it worse, as she knew that she was the only one who could help him. But she was failing him too, just as she had failed Mia.

The trauma of her failure the day before had made her scared to try her hand at healing magic again.

The bird coughed even louder and even bloodier, looking at her as she breathes in and out heavily and unevenly.

… I should at least try but I… I'm scared!

Her vision was blurring as she looks at the struggling bird until she could only see rays of light through her wet eyes.

What if I fail again? What if I made it worse? What if I do save him but end up giving him endless pain? What if he explodes? What if he dries? What if I end up—

Her thoughts of doubt were cut off as she felt a warm sensation in her still-raised right hand. Her knees had given up and she was now sitting at the same height as the bird while it lay on its stomach.

The warm sensation came from the bird's forehead, it has placed itself on her hand. The moving flame not burning her in the slightest but instead gave her a warm feeling.

Is he..?

She ended her line of thoughts before it could even begin. No more doubts, at least just for today. Just for this moment, she will put everything behind her and do what she must.

She wipes the tear from her eyes with her sleeve. With her other hand, he held the bird's head to her chest, hugging it as magic directly flowed from her heart, out of her chest, and into the bird's body.

She could feel the bird's breathing become progressively better. The gurgling sound he made as he desperately breathed in for air disappeared and was replaced by a peaceful hum of airflow.

The girl could only stare in horror, she didn't move nor did she stop the flow of magic. She was afraid that what happened to Mia might happen to him as well, and that made her body freeze in place as she waited for the bird to move away on its own.

But not only did the bird not move away after it stood up, it circled around her and enveloped her in his wide flaming wings.

She felt tears well in her eyes once more, she didn't feel that instability within the bird's body and it made her glad.

I did it… I really did this time… Mia…

The picture of Mia brightly grinning as she flexed her muscular arm appeared in the girl's head once more. That ended her happy feeling and instead replaced it with regret.

If only she had learned more about her healing magic then there wouldn't have been any problem. If only she wasn't hasty, and didn't rush things.

Even the toughest soldiers needed days, weeks, months, and even years, just to be able to walk with prosthetics. She can't just expect to be able to heal someone with little to no surgical or magical knowledge.

The bird snuggles its huge head on her thighs and proceeds to sleep there. As if to remind her of her first success ever since coming into this world, she couldn't help but pet the bird's head which was as large as her own torso if not smaller. The warmth it provided, it made her feel safe and free of problems.

Soon she as well started to doze off, taken in by the warmth that the flaming feathers of the bird that enveloped her. She leaned back as she let the drowsiness temporarily take her off to her own head.

It felt right, to sleep on her new friend. His body radiated off warmth that she have never received even from her own parents. A feeling that she only had the luxury to experience twice, now and when Mia took her in.

Her dreams were filled with the same warmth. In front of her eyes was a vast field of sunflowers and grass. The sun radiated the warm heat of summer.

She walked up to a tree and sat on the wooden swing, ropes infested with beautiful greenery from the tree. And for the first time ever, the girl felt at peace. Just kicking off the ground as she slowly swung herself.

*****