A sharp acrid scent stung her nostrils and tore her from her dreams. Suddenly she was engulfed in an unbearable heat prickling her skin. A strange rushing sound filled her ears. Eyes still shut she wrinkled her brows, trying to deduce the strange sensations she experienced. The air felt rough against the back of her throat and she fought to suppress the urge to cough. Finally she pulled herself into a sitting position and opened her eyes in the process. What she saw shocked her.

The room was alight. Greedy tongues of red hot, blue and yellow licked at the door, the wardrobe, the curtains. The distant rush distilled into the angry growl of fire. Their room was on fire!

"Raoul!" Christine croaked panicked, the smoke had already gotten to her vocal chords. "Raoul wake up!" She frantically shook her sleeping husband by his shoulder until his eyes first flickered and then flew wide open in alarm.

"Fire," he gasped numbly, his thoughts still sedated by his slumber. It took him another five seconds before the situation truly hit him. He whiped his head around to Christine, mirroring her wide eyed terror.

"We need to get out of here," he rasped. He scrambled out of their bed and pulled Christine with him. "Don't put on your dressing gown," he ordered, "it might catch fire." He grabbed for his own robe only to rip off two stripes of fabric. One of them he pressed into Christine's hand.

"Press this over your nose and mouth, try not to breathe in the smoke." She did as he told and followed as he pulled her along, never letting go of her hand.

The hallway was alive with dancing flames. They ate away at the wallpapers to expose the wooden beams that lay behind, greedily devouring the dry lumber. Christine chocked on the thick smoke that lay in the air. She had to stop to cough, doubling over from the force of it. Raoul could show now regard for this, they had to get out of here quickly. He tugged on her arm until she stumbled along after him, trying to avoid the burning pieces of debris that were starting to fall from the ceiling. The smoke was burning in her eyes, making it hard to see. Breathing was a labor.

They were at the top of the staircase when the glass panes in the windows burst from the heat, casting their shards in all directions. Christine felt a stinging sensation just above her left eye and let out a small yelp of pain. Raoul whirled around to her, his eyes landing on the pieces of glass strewn all over the floor. Without thinking he lunged forward to grab her, scooping her up into his arms to protect her bare feet from the shards.

Up close she could just hear his labored panting over the deafening roar of the flames and prayed that they would make it out alive. She clung to Raoul's chest and pressed her face against his shirt that was covered in soot and sweat. Therefore she didn't see them nearing the front door and was surprised when she was suddenly smacked with cooler air. Her head shot up and she took a deep breath of relief and surprise. Raoul was placing her back on her feet and was about to run with her as far away from the burning house as possible when a scream cut through the pandemonium of the fire. Raoul froze and looked back at the blazing building.

For the split of a second his was perfectly still, only his eyes flitted between his wife and the house. Before she could stop him he had run back and leapt through the burning doorframe.

"Raoul!" Christine's scream raked her sore throat. She was about to run in after him when a strong hand held her back. She snapped around to see one of the stable boys behind her. She hissed in protest and tried to yank herself free from his grip but he held her with an iron hand and her attempts were fruitless.

"Let me go!" she growled but the stable boy, big and dark-haired and not in the least bit a boy anymore, wouldn't budge.

"You can't go back in there, it's dangerous," he rumbled in his deep voice.

"But Raoul is in there!" she screamed, quickly losing her nerve and temper.

"Bad enough." The stable boy, Evrard was his name, said. Christine felt a wave of anger and fear wash over her and she continued her resistant struggle. It was cut short when around her people exclaimed aloud. She looked towards the house and saw Raoul heading for the door, the limp body of a woman in his arms. She stiffened as she willed him out of the house as quickly as possible. A foreboding crack froze her to the core. She didn't hear her own scream when the hallway collapsed over him. His panicked filled eyes on her were the last things she saw.

Everyone froze in a moment of shock, even Evrard loosed his grip. Just enough for Christine to rip herself free and run for the house. No! She thought. No, no, no, no! Raoul! She ran for the pile of burning wood that had been the door, determined to dig Raoul free if that was what it took to save him. She sank onto her knees, hardly noticing the burning embers beneath her and reached for the first beam.

Strong hands yanked her back forcefully.

"What do you think you're doing?" Evrard bellowed, disregarding the rules of propriety. Christine didn't care. She didn't listen. All she could think about was Raoul lying beneath the heaps of wood and fire. She screeched like a Harpy and writhed within Evrard's arms, which were now slung around her hip. She dug her nails into his flesh, kicked him and hit him and scratched him. She would have bit him if she could. She had to get to Raoul!

"RAOUL!" she screamed, her shrill cry mixing with the roar of the flames. "RAOUL!" She didn't feel the painful sting in her throat or the tears on her face. She only felt the need to get to Raoul. "RAOUL!"

Knowing of no other way to keep her fixed, Evrard saw himself forced to push Christine to the ground and trap her with the mass of his body. Christine shrieked in protest but she could do nothing against his weight that pushed the air out of her lungs. It didn't keep her from trying though. She bucked and screeched and cried in her desperate struggle to reach her dying husband. Everything around her was fire. Everything around him must be fire too. Burning him to death.

"RAOUL!"

Suddenly there was a commotion behind her and she felt Evrard's weight lift from her. She thought she saw her chance, but he held her tight, clamping her legs between his knees and wrapping his arms around her arms and torso. From the corner of her eye Christine could just make out the shadows of other people.

"This should calm her down." She knew that voice. Wasn't that the doctor? She had no time to think about it as a sharp object was pushed into the crook of her elbow. Almost immediately she felt a thick syrupy fog settle in her veins, brain and arteries. Her blood was suddenly made of syrup. A strange heaviness befell her and threatened to drag her down. She tried to fight it, but there was no more strength left in her body. She felt her eyelids flicker shut. The blazing flames were the last thing she saw.

A/N: There is actually a whole story where this came from. I'm still working on it and I'm not sure if I'll actually ever publish it - it depends on the direction the story is headed. But I at least wanted to post the beginning as I initially started it as a oneshot. Also don't ask me why I ever started writing this at all. I guess I'm a masochist at heart.