It rained. Poured rain. Hadn't stopped raining. Wouldn't stop raining. It comforted some. It scared others. We could hear it all around us. Surrounding us. Kept out only by the thin walls we hid behind. It didn't really matter at this point, did it? We had all been caught in the storm. We were all wet anyway. Water covered every part of my body. It was stuck in my hair, dripped down my arms, clung to my clothing. Water doesn't leave you. Not easily. I know that now. There were a good number of people under such a small roof. Too many to be as quiet as it was. Everyone in the room had lost most everything. The serpentine had burned down most of the village.

I hadn't been able to control it.

But I was used to that by now. No one would have been able to. It had become a pattern. This war was never going to end. We didn't stand a chance anymore. Everyone was going to die. There wasn't much left for me to hold on to. I almost felt guilty. Everyone else had lost so much. Hell, I had too. There was a lot to mourn over and get angry about and feel hopeless for, but none of that mattered. Not to me.

And I'm not exactly sure why.

I felt small hands grasp my arm. My eyes looked to the motion to see a young girl looking up at me. She wore a single braid in her hair, stray hairs poking out from every edge of it, sticking to her face and hanging to the earth from the weight of the rain. She looked up at me with a hopeful smile.

"Thank you for helping us Mr. fire man," She whispered.

I gathered my strength to smile back down at her. A fake smile, but a meaningful one. At least maybe to her. "That's what I'm here for. You're going to be just fine, okay?"

She nodded and hugged my arm for a moment before moving past me to what looked to be her mother. As my eyes began drifting back towards the ground, they were caught by another pair, looking directly into mine. Maya.

My eyes instead decided to rest on her. The corner of her mouth perked up to the side. This time, my lips moved up naturally. A real smile. Both our smiles soon faded, but our eyes remained connected. I studied her face. The tan hue of her skin, the dark shine of her hair, the way her eyes shimmered like dew drops. The way the water lingered on her skin, smoothed her hair, decorated her lips… her lips. How had my eyes made it to her lips?

Her figure stood and walked towards me, her body soon sitting next to mine. We sat in silence for a moment. Neither of us knew what to say. In a way, there was nothing really to say, and at the same time, too much to put into words. A need grew inside me to say something. Speak to her. Anything. You tell her everything, you've known her for years now, why is it suddenly so hard to think of anything?

She sighed. "You want to find a place we can talk… in private?" Her head turned to face me, waiting for my response. Waiting for me to speak.

I looked back at her. "I don't think we're going to find somewhere in here to be alone."

Her eyes still stared into mine. Constant. "I don't mind getting wet." We shared our gaze for another moment before she stood, extending a hand down to me. I stared at it for a moment, before accepting her offer, and joining her as we walked outside.

As I stepped out from under the roof, a wave of droplets hit me, drenching what of me had managed to dry off inside. Maya had already walked out to the balcony that stretched out over the hill the building was on. I gazed at her figure resting on the railing for a moment before moving to join her.

"Well, it's a bit humid."

She smiled. "It's also still warm."

"Well, most everything was on fire until recently."

"Ray," She looked at me, intensely. "It's okay." She gripped my hand gently. "It's not your fault. No one could handle something that big."

I hung my head and closed my eyes. "Yeah. I know. That's not really what's bothering me."

"Something's bothering you though." She let go of me, as my hands suddenly felt… empty.

"That's the thing. I don't know what is." I lifted my head again to see her staring over the edge, into the trees. "…What's bothering you?"

Her lips quivered as she began to speak. "Everything." The strain in her voice scared me. It filled me with an empathy I can't begin to understand. I gently placed my arms around her, turning her to face me, one of my hands cradling her cheek.

"Hey, hey, hey," I hushed her. "You don't need to cry."

Her eyes avoided mine as she spoke. "It's just… what happens next? What can we possibly do? I'm sick of watching lives be ruined, and families be cut in half. I'm sick of watching people die." At this point, a thick mixture of tears and rain sat on her skin. I desperately wanted to embrace her. Hold her in my arms, close to my chest, tell her everything would be fine. Tell her I would protect her. Tell her everything would be worth it. But I couldn't. Because that would be a lie.

I bit my lip, my hands sliding down her arms before letting go of her. "Yeah. But I don't think there's any way we can stop it."

Her hands quickly grabbed mine again, her body shaking, her fingers trembling in my own. "Ray… I'm scared."

I could feel tears forming in my own eyes. "I know."

"Even if we somehow defeat the serpentine, even if we're somehow alive after all of this… What do we have left?"

The answer hung on my lips for a moment, but words can be hard to find. Even just one word. One word that could change everything. One word that made me feel more vulnerable than anything else in the world. One word to admit something I didn't want to admit to myself, nonetheless her.

Just one word.

"…Us."