Based on a beautiful comment by @goldentigereyemania on [This Post]
Robert eventually gets used to living as a Phoenix. After Janelle teaches him flight, there’s not much he can’t do. In honor of him, the Z-team becomes the Phoenix team, as they are by far the most outstanding of the Phoeniz program.
But there’s one thing they didn’t know.
It’s not just death that causes his rebirth, but also loss.
Chase goes first. They all knew he would. The amulet wasn’t a permanent solution. Still, they managed to get a few more years with him, and that’s what mattered. He was given a heroes buriel.
No one expected Robert to suddenly take to the sky and burst into flames.
When Flambae gets him down, the feathers on his wrist and ankles have spread up to his forearms and shins. No one can understand why or how, but their Robert is still there, so maybe it isn’t a bad thing. They pretend not to notice Chase’s old Trackstar helmet added to the nest of blankets and clothes.
Beef follows after Chase. Again, Robert bursts into a show of flames, and again the feathers spread. His humans ears have started to shrink. Not even SDN’s greatest doctors can understand why. Robert doesn’t act different. A little more instinctual, maybe, but maybe it’s his walls coming down.
Beef’s collar rests in the nest.
Over the years, more are lost.
Over the years, Robert becomes more and more like a bird..
Over the years, more gets added to the nest.
A stapler with an odd baggie inside where staples should be, a cropped purple jacket with a quarter-full inhaler in the pocket, a wrench still covered in oil stains, frayed hair ties that used to smell of smoke. Black shades that glitter in the light, a stained beer mug, an unraveled turban, a piece of a wet suit that has long since lost its moisture. A feather shaped blade lies on a soft pillow, being the treasure kept the cleanest. An amulet is kept safe under the nest. Many people wish to find it. He will not let them take it.
A hundred years later, the Phoenix team is a local legend in Torrence.
Three members of the original team are still alive. Malevola can’t die of old age. Bruno is a construct, and it would take a whole lot to ‘kill’ him. Katon-Ur is not immortal, but his species has a much longer lifespan than humans do.
Robert is, in a sense, no longer there. He has become a Phoenix, forever burning, living to right the wrongs of his city. He does not know why he keeps these trinkets, but he will bite and burn those who try and take them. The original three are the only ones allowed in his nest, for they are his flock. They preen his fiery feathers and tell him such enchanting stories, but no matter what he does, the sadness in their eyes never leaves.
And one day, when Malevola is struck lethally, when Bruno’s magic burns out, when Katon-Ur finally reaches the end of his long life, Robert will become no more than a mythical protector, revealing himself only to those in dire need in his city. When no one requires his presence, he watches over the relatives and descendants of his flock, traveling through space and realms to keep watch.
And thus sprouts the legend of the mythical Torrence Phoenix, the cities fiery defender bird, carrying constellations of lost lovers on his ever-burning body.
