A/N All the characters and places you recognise here are based on Stephenie Meyer's "The Host". The story below, however, is entirely my own.

People say that some moments can be life-changing. In my early days on this planet, I would have struggled to believe that.

For me, change had always been a slow process. It had taken me several life spans on the Fire World to decide that I wanted to re-settle on Earth, and even as a human, I had always taken my time when making important decisions, carefully weighing each option before I'd so much as dip a toe into new waters.

But that was before that day, that special day that would mark the beginning of a new chapter of my existence. It was a chapter so different from everything I knew, from everything I could have ever imagined, that it probably couldn't even be rivalled by becoming a Flower after having been a Fire-Taster for thousands of years.

And it had all started with one little motion: my hand twisting the knob. To this day, I still wonder why I did it.

Sometimes I think that it must have been instinctual. After all, it had all happened so fast. Still, I remember it clearly.

I had been warned, but I hadn't been prepared. The backdoor slamming against the washing machine with a bang. Heavy footsteps hitting the linoleum floor in the hallway. The rush of air as he rounded the corner, paired with the shock on his face as he found me standing there, only a few yards away, between him and the front door. The beads of sweat on his forehead, some already trickling down.

Out of all the things, it had been his hair which had held most of my attention. Not even the dust which covered him from head to toe could hide its deep ebony color. It had framed his face perfectly, standing up in bushy locks that had almost made it look like a lion's mane. Up to his moment, I'd only known one person to match it, and being reminded of him so unexpectedly had sent a warm shiver of excitement down my spine. Could it be?

Eagerly, I'd scanned his features, but my heart had sunk almost immediately: his mouth too wide, his nose the wrong angle, his eyes a dark brown – a color nowhere near the light shade of grass that I'd so desperately wanted them to be. The realization had been a cruel, painful sting in my heart.

Then suddenly the voices in the distance, shouting indistinctly but coming closer. His eyes darting around the dark corridor, trying to find another exit, but seeing no way out.

And as his expression turned from desperation to defeat, there'd been this unanticipated feeling in my chest that I'd never experienced in this body before, but that I'd known from memories that weren't mine: my heart twisting into a different shape, almost pulling me apart. A feeling so all-encompassing that it was impossible to ignore.

And before I'd known what I was doing, my hand had been on the handle of the cupboard door on my right. It had swung open with a low creak.

At that, a gasp of surprise had escaped my opponent, but when I'd looked at him, his eyes had been narrowed under his furrowed brows. Suspicion, my mind had quickly informed me. But there hadn't been time. We couldn't afford to wait.

"Please."

The word had hung in the air between us. I hadn't known what else to say. I'd tried to let my eyes explain what I couldn't find words for.

And just as I'd thought that this would probably be the end, he'd taken a firm step into the cupboard. Without thinking, I'd ducked in beside him, closing the door firmly.

They won't find us here. Crouched next to an alien that I'd met only a few seconds before, it had been all I could let myself think. Everything else would have been too overwhelming.

And I'd been right: they hadn't found us. In the end, they'd let yet another human escape.

But what they didn't know, and what even I hadn't fully understood then, was that, inevitably, a soul had escaped with it.

A/N Wow, I can't believe how much I enjoyed writing this! This is the beginning of my imagining of Burns Living Flowers's origin story and I can't wait to expand on it.

I recently re-read "The Host" (for what must have been the sixth time since it came out more than ten! years ago) and I'm now excruciatingly infatuated with its characters again. Hopefully, I'll be writing more Host fics in the near future, but we'll see how much time I have next to real life stuff...

As always, thanks for reading and stay funky! :)