Backdraft

Chapter 1

"It was like walking into the mouth of a volcano. Fire coated everything in Yang's sight, and she could tell that the fire was quickly going to get worse. The living room to her right was just a large fireplace now; flames completely covering everything. The stairway ahead looked somewhat scorched but mostly safe, so Yang darted up the stairs. "Second floor, second floor" Yang repeated as a mantra to herself. She lifted up her mask, and even though she was immune to fire, the sheer intensity of the heat stunned her for a few seconds. Seconds she didn't have. "Snowflake!" 'At least, that's what I think her name is...' Yang opened the door to her right and one look in the room told her that nobody was in it. Or if they were it was no use looking further. Just then, Yang heard something. A voice. A scream. "Snowflake!" Yang heard the voice again, shouting "Mom!" For a brief few seconds, Yang had a flashback to a fire when she was screaming for her mom.

With renewed vigor, Yang opened the door to the left and saw a kid crouching in the corner. Her white hair was covered with soot, and she was coughing. At the sight of Yang, she cowered further back, screaming. Yang approached her slowly, setting down her ax. "Hey, hey it's okay! I'm Yang and I'm here to get you to your mother, okay? But we have to go soon; the house is fragile right now."

If there was one thing Yang had learned, it was to try and not scare children. If a kid got frightened they might try to run away, and that was not safe and could result in injury or death. And no deaths would happen on Yang's watch. Ever. Yang grinned her trademark grin and held out her open gloved hand. "Come on, Snowflake." Snowflake reached out and took Yang's hand, and Yang sighed slightly with relief. Until all hell broke loose. Yang had been warned of a backdraft, and had taken dozens of training exercises to learn how to avoid them. But in her concentrating on Snowflake, she forgot to make sure to break the window to let in oxygen. In turn, a window or something somewhere broke, and the sudden inflow of oxygen caused the fire to suddenly ramp up and burn everywhere. Yang didn't even think about what to do. She ripped off her turnout coat, wrapped Snowflake in it, and ran towards the stairs. The last thing Yang wanted was to be caught upstairs. She took about five steps on the stairs before they dropped away from her.

Yang twisted her body in mid-fall, wrapped her arms around Snowflake and crashed to the bottom, using her body to cushion the fall for Snowflake. "Ow…" Her powers were over fire, not over falling down stairs. 'That's going to leave a mark…' Yang could feel the fire get hotter, so she tried to focus on her powers. She could see a gentle flame surround Snowflake and herself, and she cooled off. It was odd, the thought wryly. Covered in fire yet feeling cool. Snowflake opened her eyes wide. "How…how…" Yang just blushed because for some reason, someone witnessing her use her fire powers made her nervous. Snowflake looked around at the fire that blew the door off its hinges. "Cool!" Yang might have tried to join her enthusiasm, but using her powers for not just herself but for another person too was draining her. She could feel herself get dizzy, and she stood up, pulling Snowflake to her feet and picking her up again. "Just a little bit further…" Yang slowly inched towards the door, her feet suddenly feeling as heavy as lead. She made it to the doorway and gently set Snowflake on her feet, who went running towards another white-haired woman, right before she passed out.

Weiss saw a shadowy figure in the doorway, and she held her breath. The figure made it into the doorway, and several firefighters rushed towards it, and suddenly Weiss could see a white-haired girl running towards her. "Mom!"

Weiss nearly broke down, but she managed to just start crying instead of fully breaking into a pile of tears. "Snow!"

Snowflake was wearing an oversized firefighters coat, and other than her face being covered in soot she looked just fine. Then Snowflake coughed. Medics from a nearby ambulance were suddenly right by Weiss. "Ma'am, I know you're happy to have your daughter back, but she might have lung problems from the smoke. It's standard procedure to take rescued people from fires to the hospital so they can look at her lungs. And maybe yours too just to be safe." The one who spoke was a young adult, with short light brown hair and green eyes. She seemed very eager to help.

Weiss nodded, feeling overwhelmed by everything that was going on. "All right...come on Snowflake…" Weiss glanced back and saw a blonde firefighter missing an overcoat being lifted onto a stretcher and rolled quickly to another ambulance. A voice brought Weiss's attention back to the situation at hand.

"In here, Ma'am."

Snowflake and Weiss shakily followed the young woman medic and her male partner, a tall male with a scar on his forehead and a military haircut. "Penny, make sure you strap them in safe." The woman, now known as Penny, smiled and nodded. "Of course, James, you worry too much. Don't worry; they will be safe."

James just nodded and got into the drivers seat. Penny helped Snowflake into the ambulance, and Weiss sat down into the seat next to Snow. They both buckled in, and Penny smiled at them. "So Snowflake; you ever ride in the back of an ambulance?" Snow silently shook her head. Penny smiled even wider. "Well now you will know what they are like!" Weiss appreciated the medic trying to calm down Snowflake, but she just wanted to get to the hospital already. It was a long ride.

Weiss paced up and down the hallway by the x-ray room. Because of the x-rays being somewhat bad if you weren't wearing lead protection, it was safer for her to be outside while they looked at Snowflakes chest. They already checked her blood and pulse, so this was the last thing left. Snowflake looked to be in near-perfect condition.

Weiss huffed. "Taking forever…" Just as she was about to go and see what was taking so long, the door to the x-ray room opened and Snowflake ran out. Weiss opened her arms and Snowflake hugged her close. A door behind them opened, and Weiss heard and felt Snowflake gasp.

Suddenly, Snow was wiggling out of Weiss' arms and running past her.

"Oomph!"

Weiss stood up and turned around to see a tall blonde woman wearing a t-shirt and firefighting pants looking down at her legs, where Snowflake was tightly hugging her. Knowing Snowflake, she likely nearly tackled the woman over.

The woman chuckled and patted Snowflake's head. "How are you feeling, Little White?"

Snowflake looked up at the woman and smiled super wide. "You saved me! I am feeling great!"

The blonde woman smiled down at Snow. She had very short blonde hair, almost shaved on the sides with the top a bit longer. By the look of her toned arms it was obvious she did some form of working out. Weiss couldn't tell the color of her skin because she was covered in soot at the moment.

"Mommy look! This lady saved me from fire!" Snowflake let go of the woman's legs and kind of hopped in place.

Weiss smiled a bit and held out her hand. "It's nice to meet the woman who saved my daughter. I'm Weiss and this is Snowflake." Weiss nodded to Snow who was basically jumping she was so excited.

The woman looked up at her and shook her hand, and Weiss noted that her handshake was very gentle. But the first thing Weiss noticed was her eyes; they were an impossible lilac color.

The woman smiled. "I'm Yang. Just doing my job."

Weiss liked that she wasn't trying to make it seem like she was a hero or anything. Weiss was just about to thank her again for saving Snowflake when behind Yang a voice said: "Miss Xiao Long, I know you'd like to escape before we take a chest x-ray, but it really is important."

Yang looked slightly annoyed, but she smiled at Weiss and Snowflake. "I have to go now; but hey, take care, Little White." Snowflake suddenly stopped in place and got a crestfallen look on her face. "But…Yangy…I won't see you again?" Yang couldn't stand to look at the sad look on the adorable child's face, and so she shook her head. "I'll see you again; promise."

She nodded at Weiss. "Take care, and if there is anything you need let me know." She then walked down the hall and all but ran down the stairs. A short woman with brown hair streaked in very blonde, nearly white highlights in a doctor's coat ran after her. "Yang Xiao Long I swear to god you need to quit running away! They are just x-rays!"

Weiss couldn't help the smirk on her face.

The woman just sighed at the top of the stairs. "Every single time…"

Yang headed outside and as expected, there was Pyrrha waiting for her. What was not expected was Pyrrha's car. A very nice and shiny red 1967 Chevrolet Camaro. Yang whistled in awe at the car. "Damn, Pyrrha, where did you get this sexy beast?"

Pyrrha's emerald eyes sparkled, and she grinned. "Turns out winning in the last tournament I went to made my father so proud of me that he gave me his old car. Mom was dying to get rid of it too. Now get in; we have to get back to the station."

Yang climbed in and was just about to put her feet on the dash when Pyrrha spoke up, as if reading her mind. "If you put your dirty boots on my dash I swear to god you will walk all the way back."

Yang grinned. "Nice to see you too, Pie."

"Call me that again and you'll have 'Pie' kicking you out of the car."

Pyrrha was grinning now too, and they both were laughing as Pyrrha backed out of the parking spot and headed to the fire station.

"You're alive!" Yang laughed at Nora's remark as Pyrrha and Yang parked outside and walked up towards the open garage doors.

"Yeah; isn't she always?" Remarked Pyrrha.

Nora nodded. "This is true. But that backdraft was pretty intense! It blew the front door out! Nearly hit Jaune in the head."

Jaune was cleaning the floor by Engine 6, the water tinder Unit 6 used. He looked up and shrugged. "Yeah but it didn't so can we drop another one of my embarrassing moments?"

Nora grinned. "Sure! There are always plenty more!" Jaune facepalmed and groaned.

Yang shook her head. "You guys are too much. Hey did someone make any food?"

Yang was starving. Nora got a horrified look on her face before suddenly running into the back where the kitchen and dining room was. "My pancakesssss!"

Pyrrha sighed. "At least we are all firefighters; the fire couldn't be too bad." Yang laughed. "I'm going to head upstairs and get cleaned; save me pancakes from Nora, would you?"

"I don't know…that's a dangerous task…" Pyrrha whistled.

Yang glared. "I will sneak out and throw mud all over your car if you don't."

Pyrrha gasped. "You wouldn't dare!" She placed a hand on her heart and faked a pout. "And here I thought we were friends…"

Yang grinned. "We are and that's why I get to threaten you so." She headed upstairs and dropped her dirty clothes in the hamper before jumping into a hot shower.

Pyrrha saved her pancakes.

A/N: I hope you guys enjoyed this second chapter! :D Snowflake, from Arieko's Snowflake! story is in here, so go give that a read if you think Snowflake is adorable, which she is.

Thank you guys for following and favoriting and leaving reviews! I love knowing people like this story, and if you think of anything I could have done to make you like this better, send me a PM! I would love to talk to you readers and get your opinions and stuff.

As for now, Peace! Jackie out!