Hey Nerdians! Instead of updating Broken and double updating Collision Course, I'm uploading my one shot (It's called Scared of the Dark. It's pretty gory and I don't recommend it if you get sick easy.) and now I'm uploading this short It's based on an idea for a story I had which I probably won't upload, and I hope you like it and it isn't too confusing :)
I SEE FIRE
(Song-Fic for I See Fire by Ed Sherran)
The man stood on the hillside alone.
He wore a black jacket that reached down to his ankles, black boots, black pants, black shirt… everything black, as black as whatever was left of his soul. He stared out at the city that burnt before him, no emotion on his face.
The wind from the roaring, intense fire flew at him, whipping his coat and his silver hair around. A pained smile twisted his lips as he watched it burn. Everything he'd wanted to save needed to burn.
He'd tried. Oh, he had tried. But they all rejected him because he was different, because he had a mind that kept him trapped. It wasn't his fault that they were scared of what he could do. It was his thoughts, everything that he'd been cursed with, the thoughts he got when he looked at their faces… He saw into their souls. He could see when they would die and how they would die.
He'd made friends. They had understood that he didn't talk much. But Ethan didn't dare tell them why. He didn't tell them that he saw how they would die. He didn't speak because he knew that if he spoke, it would all spill out. Sky, you're going to die in a car crash after drinking too much over your loss of Dawn. Dawn, you're going to run as far away as you can from Sky and step right out in front of that truck. Jason, you're going to try your hardest to please and end up with a knife in your back. Ty, you're going to put a gun in your mouth when it gets to be too much. It made his mind scream. He wanted to tell them so they could try and prevent their demises so he could pretend to be normal for just a little while longer.
But if he told them, they would shatter. They would know of his abilities – no, his curse. They would hand him over to the Government because they would think he would be able to save so many lives when in reality it would kill people. When people knew how they would die, when they would die, why they would die, they would be driven to insanity. They would do anything to prevent it so they could live on. But no, Ethan had tried to save someone. He'd told the girl he'd loved she would drown and she had ran screaming. The next morning, they'd found her with a rope around her neck and the chair kicked to the wall.
That's why they needed to burn. It had been an accident, it had just fell out. He remembered how Dawn had looked at him and how Sky had paled and how Jason had backed away, and how Dawn had ended it then and there – and how Ethan hadn't known that it would be him that kicked off the chain reaction of death.
It was a cruel twist of fate. He'd caused it for once. Ethan watched the flames leap up, higher than earlier. Somewhere in there, his friends burned. In a way, he'd saved them from the most painful death of all – knowing that they were going to fall and he couldn't do anything.
He was a Reaper. He couldn't help that he had been cursed with this job. It was too dangerous to make friends. When he moved to the next city, it would be all over the news. Mysterious man sets fire that burns city to ground. There, Ethan will try and be quiet. He won't make any friends. He'll go about his life, knowing that everyone around him was going to die and that he could help prevent it but wouldn't because he was too scared.
The pain of it all was overwhelming. Knowing he could help. It made his mind hell. The guilt, the pain, the horribleness of it all.
How many times had he tried to end it all before he'd realised he couldn't? How many guns had he felt in his mouth, how many bridges had he jumped, how many ropes had he felt roughly against his neck? How much longer until he didn't have to watch his friends die?
Why was he chosen? Yes, it sounded stupid to whine when his friends were the ones that had to inevitably die. But if Ethan could walk up to Notch, he would ask that one question without pause or hesitation each time: Why do I have to watch them die without being able to join them?.
The flames were creeping up the hillside further and further. Ethan felt the heat but didn't move. If he could, he would rush forward and leap into the warm embrace of the fire. How easy it would be for human people. But he wasn't human. Oh, not by a long shot.
Large wings unfolded from his back. Deathly pale white feathers with three, long black feathers spaced out on each wing. Angels only had white wings. Fallen angels had black wings. But Reapers… Reapers were a mix of both, of evil and good.
The wind buffeted up into his wings and Ethan took a step, letting the wind lift him up. He flew up and with a strong, powerful beat of his wings, flew out over the burning city. Smoke and ash floated through the air, the flames burning bright and furiously. He could've only killed Sky, Dawn and Jason. Then they wouldn't of run and told anyone. Then the whole city wouldn't have had to burn down. If anyone else found out…
No one would survive such a blaze. Grim satisfaction pained Ethan's chest. With another flap of his wings, Ethan shot forward. Then, Ethan pressed his wings in around his body and his angle dipped violently, sending him flying down. Ethan closed his eyes as he fell towards the flames.
With a crack, Ethan landed against the bubbling, burning pavement but he didn't die. With an enraged scream, Ethan stood up and beat his wings. He flew up and then let his wings fall limp. He plummeted again and crashed back down, still coming up with only a split lip.
"Why won't you let me die?" Ethan screamed, his heart twisting. "Why? Why me?!"
The fire burnt around as Ethan lay there on his back, wings spread out. He could feel the heat of the pavement beneath him but he didn't burn. Everything else could burn but he couldn't.
"Why me?" Ethan whispered to the wind. "Why won't you let me finish it?"
No one answered, and once again all Ethan was left with was the fire burning around him.
