Author: Sobia Helen
Disclaimer: Not mine.
Rating: U, PG
Distribution: Want. Take. Have. Just, ask first: AphroditeH@aol.com
Summary: Tess thinks about fire and Courtney's demise.
Dedications: To Minnie for inspiring the Element series idea with her
wonderful "Water" and for letting me be a part of this. You
rock, chica.
Notes: This is the 3rd stand-alone fic in the Element series. The
first 2 are Water and Air...both written by Minnie.
I move closer to the burning candles on the dressing table, wanting to feel the
heat on my face. I look up in the mirror and see the hypnotic spark of
reflected light in my pupils.
The flames dance in front of my eyes; they're alive, beckoning to me.
Almost in a trance, I reach out my hand and ran it through the flame.
Once, quickly. It almost feels cool to the touch; soft, loving. It
ends too quickly for me to feel the heat.
Is that how she would have felt had she been alive when I brought the fire?
Or would she have been able to feel the heat, the pain just before the fire
devoured her completely?
Would she have chosen to see the fire as the source that set her free? Or
would she have condemned it for destroying her?
Would she have condemned *me*?
No. She wouldn't have.
I think back to the moment when I unknowingly brought the fire. It was
almost as if I was possessed for that single moment.
The wind blows in the window and puts out the candles. Yet, I could still
feel the heat despite the absence of fire. The heat is still here, *she*
is still here.
Like fire, she has only changed form.
"Courtney..." I sigh, and the flame lights up again. She has become
the fire.
Courtney. She nurtured, she devoured.