Aya opened his eyes and immediately felt disoriented and confused, as if the entire world was rushing in on him. Everything around him was burning; flames stretched as far as he could see, and the fire's roar was almost deafening. Terror washed over him as he realized that he was in the middle of a field full of fire. He shouted at the top of his lungs for Yohji, Omi, Ken, anyone. But he could barely even hear his own voice above the fire's noise. Although he continued to shout, he knew no one would respond; there wasn't anyone around to hear him yelling. Even if anyone had been there, it wouldn't have mattered. He knew there wasn't anyone left in this world to care whether he lived or died. He looked down and was surprised to realize that he was wearing his assassin gear. He couldn't remember putting it on. He stepped backward slightly, shielding his face, as flames jumped up in front of him and lapped at his heavy boots, scorching the silver buckles that ran along their sides. The smell of burning, melting leather was nauseating. He clamped his hand over his mouth and fell to his knees as he felt his stomach lurch.
The flames seemed to close in on him, reminding him of hungry wolves closing in for a kill, and he absently wondered if their targets felt this way in the final moments before Weiss closed in on them. He shielded his face against the heat and tried to step backward again, only to find any retreat cut off by a circle of fire. In spite of the fire surrounding him, he was ice-cold; he couldn't ever remember being so cold, and, as the flames continued to close in, he wrapped his arms around his body to gather whatever warmth was available to him. As he stared at the field of fire surrounding him, he wondered, almost absently, 'How the hell could I be cold in the middle of all this damn fire?'
"Ran! Ran! Where are you?"
The voice barely carried over the fire's noise. Aya stood in response to the familiar sound. He stepped into the circle of fire surrounding him and swatted at the flames that licked onto his leather coat as he strained to see through the smoke and fiery haze obscuring his vision. Finally, he saw her, standing a short distance away. She smiled at him and beckoned for him to come to her. Although flames surrounded him, she was standing in a green, grassy field full of yellow flowers. She had woven some of them into a chain, which she wore in her hair, and she held more of the yellow blooms in her hand.
"Aya!" he yelled. He felt relief and joy wash over him at the sight of her, and he quickly began to move forward in response to her outstretched hand, completely ignoring the flames that greedily grabbed and sucked at the sleeves and hem of his jacket and at his boots.
She laughed again and waved to him, seemingly oblivious to the flames surrounding him, and he couldn't help but smile back at her. He couldn't remember the last time he had smiled, but, now, with her here, it seemed like everything was going to be all right --- for the first time in a long, long time. In spite of the flames that still tried to pull him down with them, he laughed and continued to move forward, toward her beautiful, happy smile.
Suddenly, his parents were standing next to her. He could have sworn that they weren't there a few moments before, but he didn't care. If he had stopped to think about the situation, he would have known that this wasn't right. He was surrounded by fire that engulfed but didn't burn him, and, yet, he was freezing. His sister and dead parents were right there, almost within arm's reach --- not more than a few feet away from him, yet the more he moved toward them, the further away they seemed to be. He was an assassin. His mind was sharp and well-trained, no matter what the situation, and it was telling him that this was all wrong, that this entire situation couldn't be happening. He could hear his mind yelling at him, but he didn't care. He wanted to belong somewhere; he wanted to be with them, and it didn't matter where they were. He began to run forward, desperate now to reach them, but they continued to move further and further away from him, until, finally, they began to disappear. Just as he managed to reach them, just as he reached out to touch Aya's hand, they all burst into flames right in front of him.
The fire didn't even touch him, but he could only stand there and watch as first his mother, then his father, and, finally, his beloved little Aya, were consumed. As she faded, Aya still smiled at him and held her hand out to him, and he still reached out to her, as if he could stay with her if he managed to grab hold of her wrist in time.
As she faded, he fell to his knees, holding his head in his hands, and screamed, "NO! AYA, NO! DON'T DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!" He was still screaming as the flames closed in completely, but his voice was lost in the noise of the roaring fire.
Over his sobs, he heard a new sound, a familiar voice calling to him. Was that Yohji? He wanted to follow his family, or, failing that, to stay there and let the flames completely consume him. He didn't belong anywhere. He didn't belong to anyone any more. But, the new voice continued to call to him, and he couldn't ignore it.