Author's Notes: Dang. It's been a looooooooong time since I updated this... Whoops... Sorry ^^;

Anyway, starting to get more characters involved in this one. So, enjoy this Crow story^_^

Theme #30 - Burn

Crow's POV

I could see the smoke billowing up above the city long before I saw the source. I was just heading back to the garage after a day of work that had felt like ten years, and all I really wanted to do was to park the Blackbird, grab some grub, and lounge on the couch for the rest of the evening. But, no; my conscience just wouldn't allow that. With a sigh, I turned my runner onto the exit ramp and headed in the direction the smoke was coming from.

It was an apartment fire. I pulled as close as I could before dismounting and pushing the rest of the way through the crowd on foot. Sector Security and the fire department were already present, attempting - and failing, really - to get the situation under control. Heading for the nearest officer, I hoped that maybe there was a way I could lend a hand. I stopped a few yards away, however, when an hysterical woman beat me to him.

"Please!" she was crying. "You have to do something! My daughter, Sayu - she's still up there! Please!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," the officer apologized, "but that building is about to collapse. There's nothing we can do..."

The woman cut him off. "But you have to do something! She's probably trapped in our apartment - it's on the fifth floor! Please!"

"I'm sorry, ma'am," he replied. "I really am, but there's nothing I can do."

I don't know what I was thinking at the time - I probably wasn't actually - but I took off in a dead sprint towards the building. 'Fifth floor, huh? That's not so bad... I mean, it could be the fifteenth instead...' I thought as I neared the closest doorway.

"HEY!" I heard someone shout from somewhere behind me. "LOOK! THAT GUY IS HEADED STRAIGHT INTO THE BUILDING!"

"YOU! STOP!" the officer I had been approaching only a moment before yelled. "STOP! YOU CAN'T GO IN THERE!"

But did I listen? Of course not. I had lost Pearson to a fire all those years ago, and I wasn't about to let that woman lose her daughter to the same fate. With that thought on the brain, I dove into the building. Instantly smoke stung my eyes, and I pulled the collar of my jacket over my mouth and nose to make it easier to breathe. Stairs... I needed to find a staircase... Over there! Ignoring the searing heat and flames, I made my way to the staircase and started up, taking two steps at a time.

If I didn't hurry, that little girl wouldn't be the only one lost to this fire...

Sayu's POV

"Mommy!" I cried out helplessly. "Mommy! Where are you? Help me, Mommy!" I was only seven! I didn't want to die! But unless someone came, I couldn't get out! I was trapped and scared and so alone... "Please," I whispered, tears streaming down my face. "Someone, help me!"

Crow's POV

My eyes were watering so badly I could hardly see. But I couldn't give up. Not yet, anyway. I was so close, and I couldn't stand the thought of leaving that little girl to burn.

Suddenly part of the stairway gave out right were I was about to step. 'Well, I guess I won't be coming back down this way!' I thought as I jumped over the flames coming up where the steps used to be. 'Sure hope there's more than one staircase!'

By the time I reached the fifth floor, I was completely out of breath and felt like I was going to pass out form the lack of oxygen. But I had made it this far, and I couldn't just give up now. "Sayu!" I called out the name I had recalled hearing. "SAYU!"

Sayu's POV

The flames were getting closer and closer. I felt like I couldn't breathe. And I was definitely stuck... There was no way I could get out on my own.

But... What was that? Someone calling my name? Or was I imagining it in the hope someone would still come to my rescue?

"SAYU!"

There it was again! "Here! I'm over HERE!" I yelled as loud as I could. I didn't care if I was imagining it; I wasn't gonna take that chance if someone really was looking for me! "I'm over here! Help me! Please, help me!"

Crow's POV

"Here! I'm over here!" I heard a faint voice call out. I tried to follow the voice, but it wasn't easy to pinpoint in the midst of the fire.

"Sayu!" I called again.

"Here! I'm HERE!" came the reply. I rounded a corner and just about all hope of saving this girl came crashing down. Part of the ceiling had caved in and, in the process, had trapped the girl underneath.

'This. Is. Definitely. Not. GOOD!" my mind screamed. But what I said was, "Hang on! I'm gonna get you out of here!" And I definitely meant it. I was gonna save this girl.

Or die trying.

Sayu's POV

He came into view, and I instantly wished I hadn't called out. He had six yellow marks on his face - marks that, my mommy had told me, identified him as a dangerous person. "Hang on!" he called to me. "I'm gonna get you out of here!" Strange; he didn't seem like a bad man... I mean, he was here to help me, right? He couldn't be all bad then...

He came closer and squatted down on the floor next to me. "Can you move your legs?" he asked.

I wiggled me feet. "Yup... But I can't get out!"

"Okay, Crow," I heard him mumble, talking to himself more than to me. "There has got to be a way to get her out... Just use your head..."

As I watched, the strange man began to lift and push at the debris that had me trapped. It took a few minutes, but he could finally lift up the fake wood panel that had me pinned. I scurried out as fast as I could, and he let the panel fall back to the floor with a crash.

Crow's POV

I was really starting to feel light-headed. I had to get us out of here and fast. I turned back to the girl. "Sayu, can you do something for me?" I asked. She nodded. "Okay, I'm gonna give you a piggy-back ride, but I'm not gonna be able to hold on to you; you'll have to hold on really tight, okay?" She nodded again, so I turned around and squatted back down again. She reacted instantly, hopping up onto my back, her arms hugging tightly around my neck and her legs wrapped securely around around my waist. I stood and moved as quickly as I could towards the stairs I'd come up. I didn't know if I'd be able to get back down this way, but it was faster then looking for another stairway and, right now, time was of the essence.

I reached the stairs and looked down. It still looked intact for the most part so I'd have to take my chances with it. I took a breath and started down - and just in time, too. I was three steps down when I heard the roof cave in taking the spot I had been standing a moment ago with it. 'Okay, definitely time to go!' I thought, picking up the pace.

I got down to the third floor before I got into trouble. I was just about to step down when half of the set of stairs gave way. 'Oh, boy!' I started to panic. 'That was just a tad too close for comfort!' The building wasn't gonna stay standing for much longer, I knew, so I made a split-second decision to hurl myself across the gap.

Let's just say it really, really, REALLY hurt when I landed on the stairs half a floor beneath, I stood up and sprinted down the remaining flight of stairs. I was so close now; I just had to make it a few more yards, and I'd be out of the building.

I broke out into sunshine and clean air a moment later. I carried Sayu over to where her mother still stood with a the Sector Security officer. Setting her down on the ground, the girl rushed over to her mother, crying.

"That was some dumb stunt, kid," the officer reprimanded. "You've got a lot of guts..."

"And for that," the mother cut in, "I thank you!" She walked away, her daughter in her arms, toward an ambulance waiting nearby.

Now that the girl was safe, I realized just how much smoke I must have inhaled as the world started to spin out of control around me. I felt someone grab my arms in an attempt to keep from crashing into the ground.

"Steady there," came a familiar voice; it wasn't the first officer, and I thought I recognized the voice, but my brain was in such a fog that I couldn't put a name to the voice... The owner of the voice and hands steered me towards a second waiting ambulance, and I didn't protest. All the adrenaline that must have been keeping me going was completely gone. Someone sat me down on the back of the ambulance and placed an oxygen mask over my mouth and nose. It didn't take long after that for the world to stop spinning as the much-needed oxygen reached my blood stream.

"Better?"

I nodded, looking up, now being able to identify the voice as Officer Trudge's. I lowered the mask for just a second but instantly regretted it as I started coughing painfully. Trudge forced it back up over my face.

Then the unfamiliar voice of one of the paramedics spoke: "We better get him to the hospital. Looks like he's got some bad burns, here, on his arms..."

Trudge stepped away from the ambulance as the medic helped me get up into it. It was then that I remembered painfully landing after jumping across that collapsed stairway.

"And maybe a break or fracture to along with those burns..." the medic added as I unsuccessfully tried to suppress a cry of pain.

"Crow," Trudge spoke as the medic helped me up onto a stretcher. "You did a good thing today. A stupid thing - but still a good thing. Took a lot of guts to risk your life for that girl's. Why'd you go it?"

I took the mask away in order to speak more clearly and, thankfully, didn't start coughing again. "I took care of some kids back in Satellite, Trudge. And I lost a friend in a fire a few years ago. Sayu has so much of her life left to live. I couldn't stand the thought of her losing it so soon. Yeah, I ended up getting a little burned in the process, but it was well worth it in the end."

Author's Notes: So now Crow gets in the mix of one-shots^_^ Don't worry; you'll soon have Akiza, Jack, Leo and Luna, Carly, and -maybe- a little of Yusei's dad thrown in (haven't completely decided which theme yet^_^)...

Anyway, read and review please? I love reviews (but, then again, who doesn't?) ^_^