Adam blinks _Online_ with the zesty taste of blood orange sizzling on his tongue. Almost blood, but sweeter. The air is charged with electricity.

The ever changing landscape of the Astral Plane has shifted to a cemetery. The names on each stone flicker through hundreds of different titles.

People he knows; Owen, Sage, Darla, Jax. People he doesn't know. Faceless strangers he's responsible for, lives that rest in the balance.

A striking tombstone stands alone at the peak of a hill, stabbing into the twisting red skies, black as a shadow. It's a cross with pointed ends, the Phoenix symbol burning in the center.

The Astral Plane is his domain, the Phoenix. Adam feels him even now, a low thrum beneath the dirt.

He blinks and stands before tomb at the base of the towering structure. The trees twist and shake around him, faint whispering voices speaking in dead languages.

They speak words long forgotten in any history books, not even Kiko would know the names to these ancient tongues... Yet he understands every word.

'_Make them bow_'... '_control your flock_'... '_there are those meant to rule, and those meant to serve_'... '_finish what I started_'... '_my_ _sweet boy, you were born for this_'...

The words sink into his skin, coating every inch of his body in the filthiness of damp cool soil rich with life and death.

He looks up at the wild cry of delight, or agony. It's hard to tell in the whipping winds. Birds of prey circle above him, large flapping wings sending gusts of wind down to the ground.

The voices get louder, drawing his eyes back to the tombstone. Then he sees it. There, at the bottom, nearly overgrown with poison ivy and red capped mushrooms is his name.

_Adam Licksheer..._

A massive force slams into him, sending him sliding across the wet dirt. The birds have descended upon him. Dozens of shadow birds come into the light, razor sharp beaks and talons.

A bird lands on a gravestone, massive clawed feet covering the name, its eyes track every breath punching out of Adam's chest. Its eyes are large, and brown, and soft. _Sage?_

It can't be.

Another bird leaps up from the jet black dirt, clinging to his skin. It cuts in with desperation, eyes shining with that mesmerizing shade of green. It's Owen. It has his eyes.

Adam chokes on air, a scream trapped in his burning throat.

A bigger bird lands beside his head, screeching into the sky. It's got eggshell colored feathers and a sickeningly sharp beak.

Adam's skin, glowing faint red, bleeds beneath the tight grip of Owen's bird. He squawks and cries and spreads his wings. They're brunt to all hell, feathers falling to the floor in ashen ruin.

Adam screams out finally, and he screams and screams until his throat is raw and the blonde bird lunges at him with her beady black eyes and-

"_Adam_, breathe. Please, please just breathe for me... that's it." Large hands card through his damp hair, pushing it away from his sweaty forehead, "that's it, Adam, keep breathing."

It's Owen, and his _human_ hands, not those cruel talons tearing at his flesh like wrapping paper.

Adam, eyelids heavy with a deep sleep, blindly snuggles deeper into the warmth of Owen's stomach. He smells like cinnamon and dirt.

"Shh, I've got you."

"...Don't- please don't turn into a giant killer bird, Owen."

Adam's words are slurred but heard nonetheless. Owen laughs, a breathless sound, and keeps playing with his sweaty hair.

"I can't make any promises, Adam. We can literally grow wings from our backs."

Oh, yes, how could Adam forget? They aren't human. Half Celestial Avian souls, half human. Tied together by some karmic bond.

"Can we just pretend we're human, for right now? Until the sun comes up, then we can stop lying."

Owen hums, as soothing as a gentle river. Adam pretends to sleep, the searing pain of claws ripping him apart still too fresh to truly rest.

He had a grave in the Astral Plane. It was a messsage sent by the Phoenix... He's running out of time.

So Adam counts the seconds of warmth spilling from Owen, because if time is almost out, he wants to spend it here. Being warm, and human... at least until the sun rises.