Disclaimer: I own nothing involved in this story unless I invented it myself. This is written for fun, not for profit. All forms of feedback eagerly accepted. Concrit is loved the most, but everything is welcome.
Fandom: Yu-Gi-Oh GX
Title: Consume, Consumed By
Characters: Asuka
Word Count: 1,017||Status: One-shot
Genre: DramaRated: PG-13
Challenge: Written for the Diversity Writing Challenge, section C, #38, fic that starts & ends with the same word; Written for the Valentine's to White Day Advent, day 27, write from a female character's POV.
Notes: This is set in an AU. I won't say which one right now. You'll find out eventually.
Summary: She is the fire. The fire is her. The fire consumes her. She consumes the flame.

Fire licked at her fingers, danced and played just within her reach, giggling and whispering in words that she couldn't understand thought she should.

Fire wrapped around her shoulders, warming her from the inside out. Fire cascaded all around her, stretching in every direction, weaving and whispering and wanting, wanting her, wanting her to want it, wanting, wanting, wanting, needing, desired, burning, and the fuel was her, and she was the fuel, and she didn't know where she was, only that she wanted to be the fire and the flame all at once.

Her fingers flexed and moved and the flames wove to her will, swirling around her in a blaze of red and rose, white and blue.

Those last colors tugged at her attention; didn't they mean something? Hadn't they meant something, before the fire? Before the burning, before the flame sliced through her, taking all that she had been and working to recreate her into something she'd never been and never thought she could be.

The fire didn't want to hurt her. The fire danced over her and left behind only the offers of strength and passion and more fire more burning more flames and fire and strength and no one would ever call her a pretty doll again!

Fire is beautiful. But fire is feared. Fire must be taken seriously.

She did not know where the words came from. They did not feel like her, but they weren't not her, either. But more than that, they were true. And they called to her as nothing had before, whether she could remember it or not.

Fire is tamed, she thought, and she knew that was herself. Fire has to be useful to be wanted. That was her counterargument; she didn't want to just be a tool for someone else. She wanted to be, she could only be… herself.

You are the fire. The fire is you. You alone choose where you will burn and how. The words spun all through her mind and she shivered, though she was not cold. The thought of cold teased at her, but she couldn't grip the concept. Instead she let it slide away. It wasn't as important as deciding what to burn. How to burn. If to burn. When to burn.

What do I do? She knew there were those she cared about. She didn't want to bring them harm. She could; she knew that very well. But she pulled the fire back, closer to her heart. The fire would burn them. But she wouldn't let it.

What does fire ever do? It burns where it will. It brings life and light and heat. It can heal or it can hurt. You alone can decide what you do.

That was not what she had expected. She couldn't remember what she had expected, if anything, but this wasn't it. Faintest flickers of memory told her she hadn't been sent here for any good purpose.

Choose your own path. Light it up for yourself. The fire will burn within you, where it belongs. Is this what you want?

She didn't know. Slowly, she tensed, staring down at herself. For the first time, she could see herself clearly. The fire hadn't lit up anything around her before. Now that was different. She recognized her uniform. The fire hadn't touched that. The fire hadn't touched anything outside of her.

But inside, it still burned, a brilliant flame that hovered outside of her core.

Is this what you want? Again the voice spoke and now she recognized it as the voice of the flame itself. We are you. You are us. If that is what you want. Is it?

She reached up, fingers sinking into herself, and she did not find that unusual at all. She took hold of the flame and it danced within her fingers, happy to feel her.

"It is," she said, knowing it was the truth. The fire was everything she'd ever wanted without even knowing that she wanted it.

But she could not gain everything she wanted just with the fire alone. She would need to learn how to use it and not let it use her. She could feel the flame's laughter at that, but it wasn't mocking her. It understood her.

We are one. You are me. I am you. The fire burst up higher, waves and swirls spinning all around her yet again in an endless dance that destroyed and created all at the same time. We do not have to return to where you were. Wherever there is fire, we can go.

She didn't know how. Her hand fell from her chest, but the fire remained, settling into her heart and filling every little nook and cranny of her soul. To most eyes, there wouldn't be any change in her at all, at least until she showed the fire that now burned within. That was good enough for her.

Come. The worlds are waiting for us. There are so many of them. Where do you want to go?

Part of her still wanted to go home, to see her brother and her friends again. But it wasn't time yet. Not until the fire in her veins came at her call and could be used without being wildfire.

Wildfire has its place, as does the hearth fire, the flame reminded her. Do not scorn one for the other because you fear what it could be.

A tiny smile touched on her lips. "All right." The flames hadn't died down and she knew that they wouldn't, not until she needed them to. "Let's go."

She didn't know where she wanted to go, not in the terms of a place exactly. But she knew the kind of place she wanted to go: a place of warmth, where she could learn the flame's ways and be with those who would not see her as nothing but a pretty toy.

This way. The flame beckoned and she walked in its path and the flame closed around her and parted before her and Tenjoin Asuka gave herself over to the fire.

The End