Sophie's oldest younger brother, Simon, was the first to approach the two. Despite being 15, he was around 5'10, with more of a runner's build with dark brown hair, which would have matched his sister, had her hair not changed.
Sophie quickly took the ring off and placed it in her pocket, not wanting her brother to start a brawl in the house.
"Your boyfriend looks old," Simon said, while staring at Zander.
"Manners," Mrs. Grace lightly smacked the back of Simon's head and asked, "Sophie, did you have a growth spurt overnight?"
"There's a lot to talk about Mom," Sophie said as two other, younger boys came running over, trying to tackle Zander, who stood firm and made a joking motion like he was about to fall, so Simon pounced on him, only to realize Zander had three kids trying to tackle him and he just stood there with a smile.
Mr. Grace came out yelling, "Simon, Timothy, Thomas, I remember specifically telling you no video games for a week if you tried to beat up Sophie's boyfriend!"
Zander picked up two of the boys, with Sophie grabbing Simon, which surprised her parents, and lined them up, standing up straight.
"It's perfectly fine Mr. Grace, they're just looking after their oldest sister, it was no trouble at all," Zander said with a polite smile.
"That doesn't change the fact that they didn't listen, so you three better be on your best behavior the rest of the night." Mrs. Grace chimed in.
After the minor scuffle, Mrs. Grace sat them down for dinner and Zander learned a lot about Sophie's brothers.
Her oldest brother, Simon, was 15 and was considered a highly skilled runner and loved the four nations cup. He participated in the under 18 high school league, for Harmonia's gifted team, comprised of all 4 schools. He was quite pleased they were in second place. He even managed to win a few events in some of the matches, which was quite impressive for his age.
Timothy, the middle child, had blonde hair like his mother, blue eyes and was stocky for a 13 year old. He too, like his brother, followed the four nations cup and he planned on trying out next year when he got to the 14-18 academy.
Thomas was the youngest of the group, at 11, and he was also very quiet. He had the same blonde hair and blue eyes of his mother, and was quite short for his age. Mr. And Mrs Grace said he was quite gifted with technology and A.I. programming, to which Thomas turned beat red, as his two brothers laughed at him.
Zander was the first one to say something, "I never cared for the four nations cup very much, but I think it's awesome your sons take it so seriously but Thomas, not many people are gifted in A.I programming, which was something that he should be proud of."
Thomas smiled and said, "thanks," in a very quiet tone and Simon blurted out, "he just doesn't like the four nations cup because he's too scared to play it."
"Simon, how many times do we have to tell you to support your brothers and not act like you're better than them?" Mr. Grace asked while shaking his head.
Simon looked at Sophie, hoping for back up, but she just responded with, "well Zander, these are my brothers. They all are good kids, they just like to show off and they've never seen me with a boy before, so they're being extra rambunctious," Sophie said.
After dinner, Simon challenged Zander to a few of the games the four nations cup included. First, he wanted to race Zander. Then he wanted to fight Zander, to which everyone quickly agreed was a bad idea so they suggested, "last man standing" instead.
"You know I'm the team captain and my team has never lost a match of 'last man standing,' as I'm the strategist," Simon boasted.
"What do they do in the event there are only one player left from each team?" Zander asked.
"Sudden death. One flag each. The goal is to get your opponents flag off their waistband and take it to the center bin," Mr. Grace explained.
"You said Timothy is quite an up and comer as well, correct, well let's make this more interesting. I'll take Thomas on my team and we will do 3 events. The race and last man standing as you suggested, and then the event where someone has to build a program from scratch," Zander said with a giant smile.
"That's not fair," Simon and Timothy complained, "if we concede that event, you have to face us 1v2 in the other two events. Do we have a deal?" the boys asked.
"That's up to my partner, Thomas, do you want to take the free win and I'll bring us home?" Zander smiled while high fiving Thomas, to which the Graces and Sophie couldn't help but smile.
"What a wonderful young man, he's encouraging Thomas to be different and sticking up for him," Mrs. Grace whispered to Sophie and Mr. Grace.
"Yes it is, even after his brothers probably forced him to try to tackle Zander, Zander still remains kind and looks out for your youngest brother," Mr. Grace whispered back.
Thomas looked nervous and whispered to Zander, "are you sure you can win?"
Zander smiled, "in life, it doesn't matter if you win or lose in a game. It's about trying. You learn more from your failures than you do your successes, so I think you should keep trying hard to become the best A.I programmer, and whatever else in life you want to be."
"Ok we have a deal," Thomas yelled, and fist bumped Zander, not wanting to leave Zander hanging.
"Ok then let's head out back and let the events commence," Mr. Grace said in a playful manner.
Simon and Timothy were having a serious strategy conversation and Zander was standing by Sophie, Mr. and Mrs. Grace as well as Thomas and said "I'm going to lose the race on purpose and I'll make it look close. Then I'm going to serve them a nice dose of humble pie in the last man standing," with a grin.
Simon took out the object they would use to roll to see the distance of the race. It had six sides, one stating 100m, another 200m, 400m, 800m, 1600m and 3200m.
He handed it to Zander, who, by using just the right amount of magic, which only Sophie could notice, had it land on 200 meters so they wouldn't be going for nearly a 2 mile run.
"Yes," Timothy and Simon shouted. "400m and below is where we are strongest."
Mr. Grace took the official referee position, as the Grace's large back yard had what looked like a 200 meter track.
"Ok, each member will run one lap, so Zander, you will run two. On your mark, get set, go," Mr. Grace shouted.
Zander was genuinely impressed how fast Timothy took off for a 13 year old. Zander pretended to be trying his absolute best, when really he was finding it more of a struggle to slow down enough and keep up the appearance he was trying.
As Timothy ran over the finish line, Simon began sprinting and Zander was even more surprised at how fast Simon was. Zander quickly ran and passed Simon, which only made Simon angry and more determined and Mr. Grace declared Timothy and Simon the winner, by one half of a second.
Zander pretended to be tired, hunched over and breathing heavily. Sophie and Mrs. Grace were smiling as Simon and Timothy were on top of the world.
Sophie was thankful Zander made it look like he was trying, as she realized how much she loved her family, how in one week's time, how everything had changed so quickly.
She knew Zander was catering to her parents, but she couldn't help but have a nervous pit in her stomach.
"Don't worry big sis, look at how happy your family is. Look at how happy Zander is. They already let you live with him, which is crazy in itself, but once they know the truth about you and see the copies of scripture Zander brought, there's no way they won't agree to the wedding!" Scarlett told Sophie.
Sophie put her hand over her heart and said, "thanks little sis. Do you ever get bored or lonely just sitting in the white space of our consciousness, we could always switch more often?" Sophie asked out of legitimate concern.
"No, you feel what I feel and I feel what you feel, so as long as you're happy, I remain happy and if I take control and feel sad, for example, even if you were having the best day ever, you would also feel sad, if that makes sense. So really I'm just a newborn Phoenix enjoying everything new I see, the people of the Earth and you're always so happy so, it's fine. I promise I'll let you know if something changes," Scarlett responded.
With that, Mr. Grace had brought out three waist band sets, both with two flags, and then brought out two mesh baskets, which stood around five feet tall, one blue, which he placed just on the outside of the track behind Zander, and one red, just on the other side, behind Simon and Timothy.
"You two ever going to be ready," Zander teased, as Simon was going over the strategy with Timothy.
"Ok we're ready, Dad count us down!"
Mr. Grace said, "both teams know the rules, last one standing with a flag on wins. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. BEGIN,"
Like a bolt of lightning, Zander had sprinted so fast he was already in front of Simon, grabbing both of his flags before he could move, and Timothy was running toward where they planned on pinning Zander, only to feel his flags get pulled off. Zander finished the match in less than 5 seconds, by placing both sets of flags in the opposite bin.
"I believe team Thomas takes the victory, then?" Zander said while giving Thomas a thumbs up, and a huge grin appeared on Thomas face, as he ran in and gave Zander a hug and whispered, "thank you, that felt good they always make me play the games they're good at and never do anything I'm good at."
"Follow your own path buddy, you have a great family and look at your mom and dad. One's a surgeon, one's a chef, two completely different fields but they're both great at their own thing," Zander encouraged him.
Simon and Timothy were in shock and Mr. Grace declared team Thomas the winner. Simon and Timothy had their heads down.
Zander came over and gave them a little pep talk, "remember, even if you're #1 in the world at anything, there will always be people trying to take your spot. Learn from this, keep training and give Thomas a break. He has a different set of gifts, just like your parents," Zander said.
Because Sophie could hear everything, she told her mom and dad what he was saying.
They both laughed and said, "I guess our hearing wasn't what it used to be."
"This is it!" Sophie thought as she put her hand in the pocket with the ring, and she was able to place it on her finger without her parents noticing.
"Mom, remember when I asked you to not be mad?" Sophie asked as her dad gave them both a raised eyebrow.
"Well, Zander asked me to marry him and I said yes. The wedding is on the 28th, which is his birthday. Before you overreact, can the four of us please go to the basement so we can explain some things?" Sophie, beaming with confidence, which her parents noticed, took note of and despite her parents' look of anger, Mrs. Grace simply asked the boys to clean up and for Zander to join them.
Zander jogged over and saw the looks on the Graces' faces and knew what Sophie had done, especially since he saw the ring.
"I'll go grab the stuff from the car and meet you inside, " Zander said as he ran to the car, and grabbed a piece of scripture, the note Luna left about the rings and the USB drive his parents left him.
As Sophie walked with her parents, not a word was said until they got downstairs and sat down.
Mr. Grace said, "have you gone mad, Sophie? First you meet this boy, then you convince us to let us move in with him, and on the day before you start at your new school, you say you're getting married, on the 28th?"
Mrs. Grace said, "maybe we were wrong to let you move in with him, he's obviously used some sort of magic to trick you."
Furious, Sophie stood up and couldn't take it anymore. She let her giant wings spread out and her eyes changed from pink to grey.
Shocked, Mr. Grace saw Mrs. Grace ready to faint and told her, "breathe dear, breathe!"
Zander walked down, put his hand in his face and said "so much for easing them into this, hey Scarlett, is Sophie ok?"
"Yes, she's just upset and embarrassed," Scarlett said as Zander tossed over a bra and pink shirt to Scarlett and added, "Sophie, come back my love. There's nothing to be ashamed of and I brought everything you asked for."
Confused, Mr. Grace stood up and demanded to see his daughter to which Sophie's eyes reverted to pink, and she gave her dad a hug and said, "it's me, it will always be me, there have just been, well, some changes."
First, Zander pulled out a copy of scripture he found in the library in his mysterious room his parents left hidden in his closet stating the prophecy the Father and Tej saw.
After they were done reading that, "Mr. Grace said it's just a copy how do I know it's real?"
Zander rolled his eyes, teleported outside his house, walked in, teleported to his closest, said the phrase, entered the password, grabbed the scripture, walked outside and teleported back.
"See, I challenge him and he runs away," Mr Grace said angrily.
Sophie then teleported to Zander's.
Her Mother scorned her husband, "can't you see you're hurting our daughter? Clearly something bigger than just you and I or even normal life on Earth knows about and you scare them away."
Zander and Sophie had returned, with Zander holding something that looked like parchment but clearly had magic inside it.
"Here's the original," he showed the Graces, to which Mr. Grace went to grab and touch it but as he did, he felt a sharp pain in his hand.
"That's why I brought a copy, it's embedded with magic from Solace only Sophie and I can touch it," Zander explained.
He then handed the note from Luna to Mrs. Grace, to which she started crying.
"Our little girl isn't a little girl anymore," she told her husband.
Lastly, Sophie played the contents of the USB for her parents, with Zander's approval, and after several minutes of apologies, hugs, and tears, Zander cast the bind spell on Mr. and Mrs. Grace stating, "sorry but I have to protect the Kingdom of Solace," as a Golden circle appeared intertwined with a scarlet heart, on the opposite hand of their other bind.
"We understand, " Mrs. Grace said, wiping away the rest of her tears.
"So Sophie isn't human anymore?" Mr. Grace said with a blank face, like his entire world had just been flipped upside down.
"She's still human, as am I," Zander said. "We're just a little bit different, as his eyes glowed gold and Zintan said hello and nice to meet you, I'm Zintan, the golden Phoenix."
"But why rush the marriage? Why have it so soon," Mrs. Grace asked.
"Isn't that obvious Mom?" Sophie asked.
"So they have a year that they can enjoy being together and doing normal married and couple things, before that protection spell wears off," Mr. Grace said with worry in his eyes.
"Exactly. Also, Mr. Grace I'm sorry I didn't ask your permission in advance but Sophie and I talked and it seemed better to tell you together," Zander added.
"It's fine, we understand, you have our blessing. Where is the wedding and how many guests?" Mr. and Mrs. Grace asked.
"We were thinking at the Church of Solace in Central Harmonia, and keeping it very small. The Harts, Claire and her parents and you and my brothers of course. The Johnsons and Jackson, who I'll entrust as the ring bearer if that's ok with Sophie." Zander said.
"Sounds great to me babe but can we do it on Sunday April 2nd instead?" Sophie asked.
"Sure, but why is that?" Zander asked with a polite smile.
"I want to have two days to celebrate, not two celebrations on one date and the idea of getting married on a Tuesday is, well, kind of weird, don't you think?" Sophie asked.
"That sounds great to me, Ella and the Harts already planned on helping with the wedding so let's just think of it as a great day," Zander stated.
Mr. and Mrs. Grace gave Sophie a big hug and said, "we're so sorry for acting like that. Zander seems to be quite special, and if he's special enough for our daughter, he's special enough for us."
"One last thing," Zander said, as he transformed into his phoenix form, which was further along than Sophie's, but kept his pants on by just ripping off the bottom with a partial transformation.
"Now you know that you've seen my Phoenix form, you'll understand why Sophie's appearance changed," Zander smiled.
Sophie managed to do the same and used her wings to cover her bare chest and bare bottom. She wasn't as good at controlling it yet.
"Woah," her parents said in unison as Zander kindly handed Sophie a bag with clothes he had packed.
With that, it was getting late and they had their first day back at school tomorrow.
Mr. and Mrs. Grace cried as they said their goodbyes, both giving Zander a hug as well and her brothers all asked Zander to visit and help them train up, to which he promised he would when they were all settled in.
Zander drove home this time, and he noticed that Sophie had her face scrunched up, in that cute fashion that always let him know that she was upset.
"What's wrong my love?" Zander asked.
"Nothing, it's fine. I'll be fine," Sophie said as she sighed.
"I didn't ask you to marry me to be just fine and keep something from me, I can take whatever it is that's wrong," Zander prodded.
"They looked at me like I was a monster, Zander. Had Scarlett not come out I'm worried I would have uncontrollably shot a fireball or something. My own parents are mocking me for asking for permission to get married and looking at me like a monster. It's going to be hard to not shake that feeling every time they see me."
"I have the feeling a lot of people will begin to look at us like monsters, especially when the protection spell is broken. I'm sorry they looked at you that way. I saw it too when they looked at me, but I was raised to embrace it. They're your parents and they still love you, but I can't even imagine how much that look hurt, and I'm glad you told me." Zander had pulled over the car.
He teleported them into the driveway, clicked the button for the garage and walked in holding Sophie's hand. He took her into his childhood room, where a path had been cleared of all his parents' stuff to the closet.
He said the incantation, entered the code, and the elevator appeared. After a minute, it went away.
"Now you try." He encouraged Sophie.
To her surprise, it worked. They went in the elevator and Zander realized he left the ring down there.
As the door opened, the first thing Sophie saw was the ring and she gasped, walking up to it in amazement.
Zander let her walk around the room, and finally she arrived to the two sets of armor and she tried to touch it, and the glass wouldn't allow her to pass through.
She stared at a gold and white male pair of male armor and a pink and white set of female armor.
"The Father of Solace set all of this up, with the help of Tej, Luna, Leo and Soraya. Fate brought us together. I know it hurts to not have your parents full approval, but at least you still have them and they love you." Zander said.
Sophie turned around, more determined than ever and successfully teleported her and Zander outside.
"Woah, that's amazing. I didn't think that would happen," Zander said with the biggest smile on his face, as he tried and failed to teleport back in.
"Here, take my hand and transform," Zander said.
Sophie agreed, learning to rip her pants enough to keep them on, with her bra on as well. "You're so beautiful, Zander said with a kiss."
Zander flapped his wings as hard as he could and he and Sophie were eventually in the air. Sophie eventually let go and they spent the next hour flying, until Sophie finally grabbed Zander and teleported him to their bed.
"Quest complete. You can now fly. Fly has been added," and Zander cut his system off.
The girl of his dreams was laying on him, and she had quickly fallen asleep.
Zander checked his system, and he too had used a large chunk of energy.
"It seems like being in the sun, water and sleep are the things I know refresh my energy, I wonder if it's the same for her," Zander thought as he nodded off, into a deep sleep.