Request: Kailor fireman AU

Requested by: allthosechickens (guest)

Warnings: none

Pairings: Kailor

Fire, Fire, Burning Bright

When the bell rang, nineteen-year-old Kai was the first to respond.

His hometown, Ignacia, didn't have many official firefighters, so their fire department was a combination of official career fighters and volunteers such as himself. Kai's father, Ray, was an official firefighter. Today was a boring, but good day. Kai was lounging in the firehouse, Adam, Robert, and Jamie were situated on the couch. The three older men were currently focused on their game of Crash Bro's.

Ray was sitting beside Kai, texting an old friend. Kai was currently bored out of his mind, disinterested with the shooting game on his phone, and was lazily staring at the ceiling.

The firehouse was surprisingly calm, as it usually was. Though Adam, Robert, and Jamie were all closer to his father's age than his own, Kai liked the firehouse. It was the only place where adults treated him like a fellow adult and not a child playing dress-up.

His phone buzzed, and Kai looked down at the screen. It was from his little sister, Nya.

Yo, mom and I r goin to that noodle place, do u or dad want takeout?

Kai glanced at Ray. "Dad?"

"Mm?" Ray answered, not looking up from his phone. He drummed his fingers on the table, waiting for a response.

"Nya and Maya are going to that Noodle place, and they want to know if we want anything," Kai checked the news on his phone idly.

"Call your mother by her proper title, Kai," Ray answered absentmindedly. "Tell them to ask if they have anything spicy."

"Okay," Kai sighed, tapping out the answer, then he plugged in his earbuds and opened the Interflix app, choosing an animated movie to watch.

A while later, still watching the movie, Kai didn't realize the bell had gone off until Ray tapped his shoulder. "KAI?"

Kai yanked his earbuds out and dropped his phone. "What?"

"We got a call," Robert filled in for him. "C'mon, kid."

Kai leapt up from the table and rushed to the gear room with the other guys, all of them scrambling to get suited up. He started with the thick boots and overalls, pulling them over his blue jeans and then moving to the jacket. Finally, he placed his hat on and pulled on his belt.

Ray had rolled up the hoses and climbed into the truck. Kai was quick to follow, scrambling into the backseat and grabbing his oxygen tank, clipping it on. Jessie and Adam climbed in beside him (Kai had to sit in the middle because he was the smallest). Robert climbed in the front seat and they were off, sirens blaring.

"What kind of call is it?" Jessie asked, accidentally shoving Kai while pulling on his pack in the cramped backseat of the truck.

"Some building on Bionicle street caught fire," Robert answered, fiddling with the dashboard. "I think it was a restaurant."

Kai glanced out the window at a nearby park, where several teens his age were playing an impromptu game of Flag Football. If Kai hadn't decided to be a firefighter… would he be over there with them right now? Playing in the warm sunlight?

Looking towards the horizon, Kai watched the billowing black clouds of smoke creep into the sky like a lazy dragon. Taking a deep breath, he prepared himself for the sight of the building. Even though he'd responded to seven calls in the past six months since he'd turned eighteen, watching a charred building belch ugly black smoke into the cool blue sky still sent chills down his spine.

Pulling up to the building, Kai stared a moment. The outer shell of the building was still intact, as was most of the storefront, but smoke was billowing out of holes in the roof, and a crowd had gathered around the building, watching.

Scrambling from the truck, Ray and the others ran towards the back of the tanker, unwinding the hose. Kai scanned the crowd until he saw a man looking at the building devastated. Pushing through the crowd, he approached the man.

"Excuse me," He asked, and the man looked up, his pale eyes ringed with red. Kai swallowed. "Are you the owner of 70749 Bionicle street?"

"Yes, I am," He answered, looking back at the building anxiously. "It's my restaurant. The name's Chen."

Kai glanced at the building. "Is… everything alright?"

"No," Chen half-shouted. "My daughter, she's still trapped inside!"

Horror crept through Kai as he imagined a little girl, seven or eight, trapped inside the burning building. His firefighter instincts kicked in. "What's her name?" He started with. "How old is she? What does she look like?"

Chen wiped his eyes with his long, Asian-style sleeves. "Her name is Skylor. She just turned eighteen two weeks ago. She's about five foot three, with red hair and tanned skin. She was wearing a white v-neck t-shirt and an orange cardigan with a pair of jeans."

"Thanks," Kai answered, before taking a deep breath and looking up at the building. He grabbed his radio, opening the channel. "Dad, there's someone still inside the building, I'm headed in. Over."

Ray answered quickly, his normally sound voice crackling over the static of the radio. "Be safe. Call if you need assistance. Over."

Kai took a deep breath of smokey air before he put his breathing tube over his mouth and entered the building. Shoving open the half-melted glass door, he pulled a flashlight and a hatchet from his belt, using them to look around the burning interior of the restaurant.

No girl.

Taking a breath through his filtration tubes, Kai looked around the room, finally spying a burned door with a melting sign on the door that read 'Employee Break Room'. There!

Running through the rubble and smoke, Kai finally got to the door. Using the hatchet, he smashed it open, then he shoved aside the charring door. Looking around the room, he was slightly horrified, scared he was going to find a burned human body. Instead, all he saw was a lot of smoke and an empty room.

Well, not a completely empty room.

Sprawled out on the floor, as if she had been trying to escape, pinned down by a stack of chairs, was the girl. Her red hair was sprayed out like a firework, and her lightly tanned skin was red from the heat. She was coughing hard.

Kai took a breath and approached her. Laying her on her back, he placed his own hands on her shoulders. "Are you Skylor Chen?" He asked in a clear voice, trying to ignore the sinking feeling in his stomach that he got every time he saw a fire victim. All his heart could scream was you failed, you failed, you failed.

She coughed but weakly opened her hazel eyes to look up at him. "Go…" she rasped.

Kai stiffened, and moved her into an easier position so she could breathe. "What?"

"Insurance," She whispered. "My father… needed money…" her words dissolved into a horrible coughing fit as she curled into a ball, her body pressing against Kai's legs.

Insurance money? Was this some sort of scam?

Kai looked around the room. No, the restaurant was definitely on fire. Insurance or not, If he didn't get Skylor out of here, she could die.

He zoned in on a window and focused for a moment, before standing up and moving the stack of chairs pinning Skylor and hurling one at the window, which shattered into a million little bits and pieces.

Leaning down, he gently lifted the eighteen-year-old by slinging one of her arms over his shoulders and standing gingerly. She whimpered, her eyes clotting with tears.

Kai's heart went out to her. He'd been in many burning buildings before but as a trained firefighter. Poor Skylor was in here because of a stroke of bad luck, and she must be terrified.

Focusing on the window, he limped towards it, dragging Skylor with him. Just as they almost made it, however, there was a loud shout and the ceiling collapsed, blocking off their exit.

Kai stumbled back, coughing, as his oxygen had just about run out. The building had just… collapsed? By itself? But… that wall wasn't… how the… never mind that. Kai shook his head so hard his spiky brunette hair, now plastered to his forehead and neck with sweat, came loose and almost went spiky again.

Taking Skylor in his arms, he shook her again. This time, she opened her eyes and looked at him weakly. "Are you… firefighter?"

Kai nodded. "Listen. Do everything that I say and we might be able to make it out of here alive."

Skylor looked at him for a moment before she nodded hard. "Okay… what?"

"Just follow my lead," Kai answered, motioning for her to crouch down behind him. Taking a breath of the fresher air on the floor, he began to crawl through the room back towards the open dining area. After he got through the burned door, he paused, reaching around to help Skylor through the door.

She didn't need his help and was right behind him, a hand on the toes of his boots so she could feel where he was even when she couldn't see him. Together, the two of them made their way towards the glass restaurant door, but too late did Kai realize that it was melted so badly the frame had collapsed.

Panic exploded through him. He and Skylor were trapped in the building. They were stuck. He wasn't going to see Nya and his mom again. He wasn't going to go to college, or get a degree. He wasn't going to grow up and get married. He wasn't going to have kids or grandkids. He was going to die here, in the building.

Turning to Skylor, he lay a hand on hers, pulling her up beside him.

"What is it?" She rasped, coughing slightly.

"There's nowhere to go," He whispered, gritty smoke coating his teeth and tongue, making him gag. "We're trapped."

Skylor's eyes widened. "No… there's gotta be a way…"

"There's not," Kai coughed again. "We're gonna die."

Skylor slumped to the floor, her cheeks wet with tears. Kai couldn't tell whether she was sad or her body was reacting to the smoke, but he lay down beside her and grabbed her close to him. He hadn't been entirely honest with her earlier. One of them was going to make it out alive. He shifted, pulling her against his fireproof jacket. This way, even if he died, she could breathe through the cloth, and it would protect her face and chest from the worst of the burns.

"I'm sorry," Skylor whispered softly.

"It's my job," Kai answered, looking around the fire eating through the kitchen door. He likely only had a few minutes left. "I save people from fires."

"No…" Skylor rasped in response. "My dad… you'll die for no reason… it's an... Insurance scam."

Kai gasped then immediately regretted it. "An… insurance scam?"

Skylor nodded against him. "He was going to kill me for insurance money."

Kai's blood ran cold. The friendly restaurant owner he had met outside the store wasn't what he seemed… what kind of man would kill his daughter for money?!

"I'm sorry," Skylor whispered. "I'm so, so, sorry."

Kai curled tighter, glancing at the ceiling. "It's not your fault."

He felt her poke his arm. "You keep telling yourself that, … -gosh- I never learned your name. What is your name?"

Kai looked back at the ceiling. It was unnaturally unstable, and would probably collapse on them. For that, he was grateful. He'd much rather die by being crushed than by slowly asphyxiating in the dingy restaurant.

He smiled slightly. "My name's Kai."

And then the sky came crashing down.

?

Blip.

Blip.

Blip.

The sound of a heart monitor crept through the chilly darkness to annoy Kai. He took a deep breath in, relaxing when he could no longer smell smoke. He blinked slightly, seeing blurry shapes and the white ceiling of the room he was in. Taking a deep breath, he noted the oxygen trickling under his nose and the machines around him beeping. There was some sort of greasy salve on his arms, and it hurt to hold his eyes open.

"He's awake," Someone noted, and there was a flurry of movement to his right.

Kai was vaguely aware of someone taking his hand, and after blinking a few times, and after his bed was raised, he realized it was his mother. Ray was to his left, and Nya was watching from the foot of his bed.

"Kai, can you hear me?" Maya asked, reaching to brush her hand over his forehead.

Ray intercepted her. "Careful, love, he's still pretty burned."

Kai took a breath and managed to rasp a sentence. "What happened?"

"Uh…" Nya glanced at their parents. "An entire building collapsed on you?"

Kai managed to choke out a laugh, even though it sounded more like he was trying to clear a living frog from his throat. "I know. What else happened?"

"It appears Mr. Chen was trying to scam his insurance company," Ray explained. "When you entered the building to save his daughter, some of his compensated workers pulled down the walls surrounding the exits and trapped you both inside."

Kai blinked slowly, taking all this in. "It hurts to blink," He whispered.

"You were burned pretty badly," Maya explained, brushing away some of her son's hair. "On your eyelids and your right hip." She sucked in a breath and took Kai's hand again. "I'm so sorry, Kai. I shouldn't have let you go to work with your father-"

"Mom," Kai rasped, squeezing her hand. "I fight fires. I was bound to get hurt eventually."

"We thought you were going to die," Nya cut in bluntly, folding her arms across her chest. "The doctors said you only had a fifty percent chance of making it because you almost smothered."

Kai blinked, then winced. "...Sorry?"

Nya moved to stand by her mother and punched Kai's forearm playfully (and gently, because she wasn't going to be cruel for no reason). "You're good, just don't do it again."

Kai tried to grin at her, but it hurt too badly. He took a deep breath. "Whatever happened to Skylor?"

"Chen's daughter?" Ray asked. "You saved her life, Kai. She had a few cuts and scrapes, but nothing as serious as you."

"Can I see her?" Kai twitched his leg, making sure it still worked. "Please?"

"I'll ask the nurse," Maya answered. "But we do have to get home soon, Kai. Nya?"

Nya followed Maya out of Kai's room, muttering about how this was 'no way to properly get a girlfriend.' Kai rolled his eyes.

Ray clapped his shoulder gently. "You did good today, son."

Kai managed a small smile. "Thanks, Dad."

"But I'd understand if you don't want to fight fires any longer," Ray added. "It's okay to say that you're done. You can try Maya's plumbing business, or go into cars like my dad or…" He trailed off. "My point is, you don't have to keep doing this."

Kai shook his head. "Dad, I love firefighting. I don't want to stop."

Ray smiled. "There's my boy."

A nurse walked in carrying a chair. She smiled at them. "Glad to see you're up, Mr. Smith," She said to Kai. Walking out again, she eventually came back leading Skylor.

She waved slightly when she caught sight of Kai, and he smiled at her as she sat down. Ray gave Kai a knowing wink and left the room.

Skylor looked at her fingers. "Hey."

Kai blinked, then winced. "Hello."

"I, um, I wanted to thank you," Skylor said, looking up at him. Their eyes met. "I mean because you saved my life."

"But of course, my lady," Kai joked playfully."

Skylor smiled.

"Look, I'm glad you're okay," Kai added. "But… really? Your father tried to end your life?"

"He'll go to jail," Skylor answered. "I've filled out a police report, and Mr. Julien is a fair judge. There's no way I'll go back with him."

Kai smiled. "That's great."

"It is what it is," Skylor answered with a shrug.

Kai bit his lip. "Hey, I was wondering, when we get out of the hospital, do you want to… go for coffee?"

Skylor smiled shyly. "I'd like that if you wouldn't mind it."

"Of course I wouldn't," Kai smiled at her. "I'd love to get to know you better."

"You too," Skylor added. "Speaking of which," She glanced at the clock. "We have some time now…?"

Kai grinned. "Duh."

A/N: See, I finally got around to it!

Requests are still closed ;).

Update April 29th: Hey guys, I'm struggling with heavy panic attacks lately and the next chapter might be a bit late. Thanks for your understanding.