Title: A Desperate Escape
Summary: Tonks and Charlie are having a nice weekend away, but it ends in disaster thanks to a man from Tonk's past
Pairing/Characters: Tonks/Charlie Tonks/Amycus Carrow (one-sided)
Rating:T
Warnings: Violence
Notes:N/A

Fire licked at her ankles, making her run faster. She could barely see through the thick smoke and her throat burned every time she tried to yell. She turned down the corridor only to skid to a halt when she saw the flames consuming that room as well.

"Charlie!"

The pain didn't stop her, though. In fact, it was almost the opposite when she saw the melting pictures on the walls.

"Charlie! Where are you?"

Nymphadora—call me Tonks or else—continued to run, turning into a different room which was flame free for now. She stumbled over a corner of the rug but managed to keep her footing. She screamed when the fire danced across her shoe, and she tried to pick up the pace, but it was almost impossible to force her limbs to work.

"Charlie!" her voice shrieked out, the sound being swallowed by the crackling fire almost instantly.

A figure came out of nowhere and tackled her to the ground. Despite being startled, at first, Tonks was grateful. Only moments after they fell, the place she'd been standing was covered in beams from the roof. There were a lot of them in the cabin and she'd been lucky to dodge all the falling ones so far.

Tonks turned in the figures arms to give them a kiss—because who else could it be but Charlie—but the dark hair startled her and a pearly white grin scared her more than the fire did.

"Hello, luv."

Tonks screeched and punched the man in the nose, scrambling out of his arms. She knew that this fire wasn't an accident. The man was startled enough to let her go, and Tonks didn't waste her opportunity to race outside, slamming open the door so hard it splintered against the outside wall.

She ran into the arms of another person and Tonks screamed again, fighting against the arms to make them let her go. They didn't and after a few seconds she could hear a very familiar voice.

"Tonks! It's me! Stop!"

Tonks stopped her struggles and looked up at Charlie with wet eyes. His face was darkened with soot, scratches and bruises covered his face and arms and there was a large burn mark on his collar bone, but he was smiling.

"I'm so glad—"

"We have to go," Tonk said in a manic whisper, glancing at the house and desperately clutching to Charlie's burnt shirt. "Please, we have to, we have to— the fire's getting closer, Charlie! And there's, inside, just, please—"

"Shh, it's okay. We'll go. Come on."

Tonks tried to calm herself as they turned away from their holiday cabin, but her limbs felt shaky and weak. She'd never felt this way before. Usually she was a pillar of strength in a disaster, it was one of the reasons she was so good at her job at the police station, but something about tonight had really shaken her.

"We need to *hic* find shelter or, or, something." Tonks could barely get the words past her lips. She found herself leaving against Charlie when he tightened his hold of her to pull her close.

"It's alright. We'll find somewhere safe." Charlie headed towards the road, but before he managed to take more than two steps, a man charged him, sending all three of them to the ground.

Tonks pushed herself off the ground with a groan, only to be yanked up by her hair and dragged away from the still form of Charlie. Tonks tried to fight but her energy was spent. She barely managed to stumble along behind him.

"Let me go," she begged. "Carrow! Please let me go!"

"Darling, call me by my first name."

Tonks scoffed and tried to yank herself away from the man, but his grip on her hair was too strong. Her hands fell limply at her side and her body sagged. She turned her eyes to her lover and saw how motionless he still was. He was probably already dead.

"You're crying," Carrow muttered when he stopped and sat next to her, releasing her hair in the process. "Are you afraid of me?"

Tonks didn't answer, only curling into herself more. She burred her head into her knees as she felt her body give in. She didn't care anymore.

"I'm not really wicked."

Tonks couldn't help the snort at his words, but her disbelief only seemed to anger the man and she shrunk away from him once more.

"If you loved me you would see! I would care for you like any man should. All I ever wanted was your love."

Tonks shook her head, but a familiar voice had her snapping her head up.

"If you truly loved her, you wouldn't be torturing her like this." Charlie raised the log in his hands above his head, but Carrow was quicker. With moves only ever seen in movies, Carrow knocked the log out of Charlie's hand and pulled out a knife.

"You're going to regret that," he snarled, charging Charlie.

They fell to the ground and Tonks watched with growing horror as Carrow started to win. Somehow she found the energy in her to stand again and approached the fight. Something inside her snapped when Carrow knelt over Charlie with the knife poised. It was the same something that snapped when she saw him so still, but this time instead of sorrow, she was filled with rage. A fire hotter than the one they just escaped burned inside her and without a thought to her own life, she tackled Carrow, catching him off guard and knocking his head hard against the ground.

Dazed, Carrow tried to stumble up again, but Tonks didn't let him, hitting him over the head with the discarded log. Carrow fell back to the ground and didn't get up again.

"Tonks! Are you insane?" Charlie said as he stood and approached her, picking up the discarded knife along the way. He swayed slightly but Tonks was there to steady him before he fell.

"I just saved your life and this is the thanks I get?" Tonks joked. Her voice was weak and shaky, but she was starting to feel a bit more like her usual self. "Is it too much to ask for a kiss?"

Charlie frowned at her and then looked at the unconscious man in front of them. "Do you think he's dead?"

Tonks winced, but she tried to make her shrug casual. She didn't quite succeed. "I don't know, nor do I care." She pulled Charlie away from Carrow and towards the road.

"Why didn't you fight earlier?" Charlie asked after they'd been walking for a few minutes.

Tonks shivered, and when she stopped to face Charlie, her eyes were haunted. "My fight lives in you."

Charlie blinked at her for a moment before he lowered his head down and kissed her gently. When he pulled back, a tear was running down his check.

"So, I guess a kiss wasn't too much to ask for?"

Charlie chuckled and started walking again, forcing Tonks to walk with him. "Tonight, you can have whatever you want."

(w.c 1,192)

WolfWinks-xx-