AN: LOL wow I posted the wrong chapter. I did get kind of lucky, since you could really do without this one plot-wise, but this is a stream-of-consciousness story, people. PLOT IS IRRELEVANT! (┛◉Д◉)┛彡┻━┻
Anyway, without further ado, I present the REAL chapter seven.
As she ran down the passageways that lead towards the exit, tears formed in her stinging eyes and she could barely breathe. Engie chugged along behind her, obviously in worse shape yet still able to keep up. The smoke was getting thicker as they pushed along, past doors and walls just edges away from being washed in flame.
"Doggone it," Engie said between breaths, "This is… it's Pyro again. Has a real hard time 'a controllin' himself. You didn't' – you didn't—" he began to sputter in a coughing fit, stopping for a moment to double over. Dahlia waited for him to finish as Engie let out a tired sigh. "hoo wee, we gotta get outta here fast, er this smoke's gonna get to me."
"You were saying…" Dahlia prodded with worry, trying to figure out if they were any closer to the exit and, more importantly, her bedroom door.
"What? – [huff] - Oh yeah! – [huff puff] – I was saying that you – [wheeze] – Ought not to have anything – [ack hack coff] – anything really, really pointlessly flammable. Y'hear me missy?"
Her mind went instantly to the letters. The countless papers practically lined across the floor. The words Medic had written her in ink and lovingly sent day, after day, after day. She could envision the pure white stationary curling in on itself as its edges glowed a fine neon red, the center turning blacker, blacker, blacker – until at last the letters she had cherished would be nothing but ash enveloped in ceaseless flame.
Dahlia stopped.
"We have to go back."
Immediately she turned on her heel and went marching towards the dormitory hallways, towards the source of the fire, where Pyro had obviously been all too tempted to set everything she owned into flames.
"No! You crazy? Ya play with fire, ya get burned, kiddo! G-get back here!" He could only waddle helplessly after her in an effort to catch up. "there's nothin you can do!" But she, ignited by new reason, was running faster than ever. It was a vain hope, but she had to save those letters, no matter the consequence. When she reached the door, left wide open, what she saw horrified her. The room she had been sitting in not ten minutes ago was ravished in the flames, bits of burning paper scattered everywhere, floating up before disappearing into vapor. The old wooden desk charred and crumbling as the legs burned down and it lost its balance.
"No…"
As flames circled around her, Dahlia fell to the hot ground on her knees, leafing through the once letters as they crumbled through her fingers. All the loving words he had sent to her… She wanted to save them all so badly, but it were as though the letters were peeling themselves off of the page and disappearing into the sky. I'm so sorry, Fritz…
"Huntress, you get yerself outta there this instant!" Engineer came bursting into the room, out of breath – but now Dahlia seemed to be enclosed in a ring of fire, flames blocking the way towards the door and nibbling the doorframe. "You can't save them papers, gosh darn it, yer just gotta get hurt!" This she knew, yet she didn't want to know. Her vision wasn't the only thing the fire made hazy, but her judgment as well. Engie panicked; Huntress was trapped, and it seemed as though nothing could save her. This is the end? she thought to herself, with a melancholy that was almost calm, sitting in her circle of flames. I'll never know why, then…
He wiped the sweat from his brow and said with gestures electrified by adrenaline, "I'll go get Pyro. He's… he's got a suit. You wait here and see what you can do, ok? Can ya handle that?" She nodded, and he dashed off immediately, despite still being out of air. Her heart beat slowly, as a wave of dolor came over her. "I guess this is the end," she said aloud to no one in particular. An awful smell told her that her hair was starting to singe in the heat.
"Dear Medic," she traced in the ashes with her finger, "I'm going to die now. Thanks for being my friend. I never would have survived without you.
"Dear Frtiz, I don't know if you liked me, but you were really my only friend and I always felt protected when you were around. Thank you.
"Dear Friend, if I died, would you miss me? I guess you do already but… you can find someone else to make traps, I suppose.
"Please, Medic. I don't want to die.
"Please, please come find me.
Smoke filled her nostrils and she could barely draw breath to sustain her sobs.
"Please, Medic." Her fingers trembled. "I love you."
