"R-remind me again why we're going towards the blasted fire?"
Odd's grumbled question fell unanswered as the five tattered heros back through the maze of passage ways, trying to find a way out.
"It's the forth floor, you're certain of it?" Ulrich asked Yumi again, who was in the lead. Her eyes trained ahead, her skirts were gathered in her fists as she marched forward, barely wincing at the sounds of crashing and creaking above them. Heat was slowly sinking into their skin as they went closer and closer towards the production floor of the factory.
"Ulrich, l...let her be." Aelita kept a close eye on her friend, knowing exactly why Yumi was leading, and why she refused to tell Ulrich, or the other two boys, why she knew. The image of the strange half-machine solider that had warned them still haunted Aelita's own mind. William, Yumi had called him. Once a man, only to be demolished by madness. Those nightmare warriors hadn't been the only ones destroyed by Xana and his Cathrage Project. Aelita's eyes narrowed at the thought. But hopefully they would be last to be harmed.
A cool hand wrapped around hers, and Aelita blinked, pulling herself out of her thoughts. Jeremie held on to her, a tired smile on his soot and blood stained face. Aelita winced, know she looked little better than he did. Still...she held tight onto his hand, comforted. Despite everything she had done, lied and kept secrets from him and the others, Jeremie seemed to refuse to stop protecting her. She opened her mouth to thank him, yet again, to appoligize, then stopped- just before another loud boom came from above.
Up ahead, Yumi cursed as stones rained down on them from the ceiling. Ulrich grabbed her and pulled her towards the wall, and Odd dove to safety. When the dust cleared he looked back at his cousin, who was standing back, her face pale as death.
"We'll get out of this, Princess," he told her softly, standing up. "We will. Don't look so scared."
Aelita's lips quirked. "Scared? Don't be a dolt." Despite the gentle scorn in her words, her voice shook.
"Too late for him not to be a dolt," Yumi and Ulrich muttered under their breath in unision. Another shudder blasted from the factory floor, and the group of five winced.
"It's closer." Jeremie renewed his grip on Aelita's hand. Her firm squeeze in return made a tiny part of his heart not pounding in fear bounce happily. He had made a fool out of himself more than once, yet she stayed with him. "The fire's closer. There should be a way around it. The main fires of the factory would be in the center. There might be a path layed out around it."
Yumi frowned. "Jeremie, that fire was out of control for hours, maybe even days-"
"There will be a way through." Aelita shook her head. "There has to be."
"We couldn't have survived all this to get burnt in a fire," Ulrich joked, but he didn't smile.
"Aelita?" Yumi was looking back at her pink-haired friend. "Do you want to lead?"
Jeremie frowned and tighened his grip on Aelita's hand. "She's been through enough, why-"
Aelita nodded. "I'll go. This is the forth floor, after all. And I got us into this." Her eyes narrowed, fighting back fear and tears of frustration. "I will get us out if it kills me."
"Your father got us into this," Ulrich started, shaking his head. "And that bastard Xan-" Yumi elbowed him, and Ulrich hushed.
Aelita went forward, and turned a corner.
A huge door had been blown- or burnt- off it's hinges, and was now hanging haphazardly against the wall. The heat coming from beyond the door was stiffling. Aelita's feet slipped against the stone, and she held on the wall for balence.
She could see light now. A dancing, shivering glow that grew brighter with each blast and boom. They weren't coming from above anymore. They were right in front of her.
"Through that inferno is home," she muttered, not sure if she was talking the others or to herself. "Somehow."
A sharp pain jolted through her chest, and she cursed. The scar where the Virtual Timepiece once lay against her skin burned and prickled more and more the closer she moved towards the fire.
"You can't stop me. Not anymore."
Panting, Aelita shoved hard against the hanging door, breaking it the rest of the way off the wall.
"Duck!"
"Aelita!"
A roar of hot air and flame raced towards them, and as one, they all fell to the ground, feeling burning wind graze over them.
"Bloody firebugs, burnt my tail," Odd growled somewhere behind Aelita. Jeremie snorted.
"You don't have a tail."
"Feels like I do," came the muffled reply. "It'll be hit with the ladies if we get out of here."
The conversation behind her fell silent to her own ears as Aelita crawled foward, dodging tiny fires on the floor. Looking up, she frowned, confused.
"Jeremie...what did you say about the fire being in the center?" Her eyes narrowed. "It almost looks like there's someone out there."
"What do you see?" Jeremie came up behind her, rubbing a cut on his forhead. He blinked, staring. "How utterly-"
"Odd?"
"Yes." Jeremie nodded, ignoring Oddric's pun on his own nickanme. "Four main fires in the corners. One in the center."
"That one-" Odd pointed at a spot the others had to squint to see. "The one on the far right. It hasn't gone out of control. The wire barriers are still up." He looked over at Yumi, who was standing back, and leaning heavily on Ulrich. "Can you move something to snuff the others out?"
Yumi stared at him. "Oddric, there is more than ten fires out there, including the main ones. Do you really think..." She trailed off, her gaze moving. "What on...Aelita!"
The other three of them turned. Jeremie blinked. "She was just right here a moment ago, what-" He squinted, then gasped in horror.
A pale figure in white was drifting between the two closest fire pits, dodging between the sparks and stones that were being spewed everwhere.
"Aelita!" His heart in his throat, he ran after her, ignoring the dangerous fire pits on a short distance away.
"I'll catch her." Ulrich took off, a blur in the fire.
Yumi dove foward after him. "Ulrich, no, stop! The fire-"
"Ah, bloody hell." Odd cursed. "If I'm the last one out, I'll never hear the end of it."
101010101010101
She wasn't mad. Not anymore. She couldn't be.
"Hello?"
In the midst of the roaring flames around her, sounds of other footsteps, other voice, echoed around her. Her friends were behind her. But someone was in front of her. She had seen their shadow. The scar on her chest seemed to be trying burn its way into her lungs, but she ignored it, gasping for breath, for clean air.
There was a figure, a dark figure, moving ahead of her. Walking away. She sped up. "Please! Wait! I can help you get out!"
Could she? She couldn't even help herself get out. Couldn't even get her own friends out.
"No. No. We will get out. We'll be safe."
A fire burst next to her, the push of air from the blast sending her flying off her feet into the wall. Pain and heat raced up her back.
"No. I can't stop."
She looked up, looked around. Her vision was swimming. Was it really someone there? Standing only a few feet away.
Waiting for her to get up.
With a sharp gasp, Aelita pushed herself off the ground and stumbled foward. She thought she could hear voices of her friends now, calling her. Following her.
I'm leading them to their death.
And doom.
Again.
That's all I've ever done.
Suddenly, white hot pain burnt into her skin, and Aelita screamed.
One more step.
Was the voice in her mind? Her ears? Her own voice? Aelita's throat constricted, unable to make another sound. The smoke rose in her lungs, cutting off her air.
One more step.
"Aelita!"
Cool hands around hers, on her face. Voices in her ears now.
Maybe I'm not going mad.
Jeremie's face, swimming above her own. A shout of pain, gentle pressure around her. Holding her to someone solid and warm.
"Aelita..."
She blinked slowly, the smoke turning her vision dark. More voices now. Loud ones.
And one whisper.
"Please don't go where I can't follow you. I love you. Don't go."
The roar of the fire drowned out the whisper, the shouts. Until there was nothing but silence.