1. a pretty woman sits at a long countertop, surrounded by fireboys trying to suppress their wild nature. a pale, cat-eyed child kneels in the corner. "why don't you come here and eat something?" cat-eyes only rolls a red marble across the floorboard in response.
2. a young man carrying a small camera pulls a jar of candy off a shelf and lets her take her pick. pretty woman tries to place the pink one in her palms, but cat-eyes can only grasp the little orb in front of her face. he has no idea.
3. cameraman laughs it off.
4. the pretty woman leaves the bar one last time. cat-eyes is still crouched in the corner alone.
5. cat-eyes starts to take interest in the king of the fireboys, who always smells like cigarettes and cologne. she watches him throughout the day, and once he's noticed her, even sits on the stool next to him. children aren't something he's particularly fond of, but he doesn't have the heart to push the niece of the pretty woman away.
6. cigarette smoke takes a marble from her hand and holds it up to her own eye. everything looks warped and red, including the limp body of the doll-like child on the floor.
7. she can feel his thoughts and nightmares and the monsters inside of him. she focuses on his breathing when he sleeps and she's curled up by his side. when he wakes, he tells her the story of mass destruction, of one human's powers gone out of control. cat-eyes: "will that happen to you too?" cigarette smoke doesn't need to respond. she can already tell. he does anyways: "who knows."
8. the fireboys are warm. cat-eyes can love them, but she can't allow them to touch what's inside of her. even they'll get burned if she lets her voice spill out.
9. pretty woman looks at cat-eyes but she doesn't really see her. it's okay, she tells herself. she doesn't need an aunt if she has the lovely red.
10. the next years are the least painful of her life, though whenever she looks into her marble , she still sees death hanging over their heads.
11. her clairvoyance has never failed her. watching cigarette smoke distance himself from the fireboys, she almost wished it had.
12. cat-eyes is used to reading countless strangers all over the city these days. how many more will she have to delve into until cigarette smoke finds who he's looking for? with every failed interrogation he burns out a little more.
13. one day he decides he's had enough. the blues take him without a fight.
14. the rest of the fireboys search harder than ever to avenge their captured king. cat-eyes doesn't know how many days or weeks have passed since he stopped walking through the doors. all she does is sit by the sunny window and roll around the spheres, hoping they'll show her a happy future.
15. one of the spheres stops rolling and levitates above her head. every fireboy stops what they're doing and looks to her. they've all been waiting for this day.
16. they're already by the iron gates when he makes his way out of the building. the entire place in in flames, burning, destroyed. cat-eyes doesn't see any of it when she takes his hand again.
17. "he's at ashinaka." those words were the beginning of the end.
18. cigarette smoke is laying on cold stone above the ground. cat-eyes climbs up the rocky side, almost falling down, until he grabs the back of her dress and hauls her up beside him. "aren't you cold?" he asks, concerned. "no, it's warm next to you," she whispers back, and digs her head into his side. she knows the warmth won't be there for much longer.
19. cigarette smoke has all the information he needs to finally finish this. cat-eyes can't let him. she reaches out her small hand as he passes by, stretching her arm to grasp his own, but he walks away before she can touch. it's helpless now.
20. snow falls silently on her hair and dress as she sits still and lets the fireboys handle the rest. all there is to do now is wait. wait and pray.
21. she can feel the shaking in her soul before she sees the sword descend from the sky. he mumbles something a mile away that only she can hear. the saber that pierces his chest, she too, can feel- a million times worse. no crystallized blood was necessary to predict this ending.
22. cat-eyes has never screamed or cried in her life but she can't help it now. the glowing crimson floating into the darkness, the auras dying out like fire losing oxygen the blood staining the snow where his body is- the lovely red is both a blessing and a curse.