Series: Dragonflame and Nature's Spark||Title: To Mark The Flame
Characters: Akane (Osiris Red Girl) & Asuka||Ship: Akane x Asuka (very mild
Chapters: 1-1||Words: 1,004
Genre: Drama||Rated: PG
Prompt: FebuWhump 2022, day #5, "Let Me See"
Notes: This takes place in the same AU as Rewards of Losing and Garden of Death, a few weeks after the ending of Rewards. Life isn't all fun and games for the defectors to XYZ. There's implied branding in this.
Summary: One defector from Fusion was a powerful Frostflame. One was a Healer being courted by Michael Arclight. A third is an ordinary person. But the fourth is a Firestarter – and Asuka has no Healer. Firestarters need Healers – or very bad things can happen.
Akane wasn't a Healer. There had been a Firestarter about five generations back in her family line, but he had been an extremely low level one and she'd never had so much as a flicker of the gift herself. She couldn't be the kind of partner that someone like Tenjoin Asuka needed as a high-ranking Firestarter, no matter if she were on Fusion's side or their current location with XYZ. Asuka-sama deserved someone - well, she didn't know who, but she knew what, and she knew that she wasn't that.
She set a cup of hot tea down next to Asuka, however, and offered up her best smile. No matter whether Asuka wore the strict military outfit of a Fusion warrior or the more relaxed attire of those of XYZ, she was worth smiling at.
But she'd scarcely settled down herself before her attention caught on something - the red scarf that Asuka had worn since they'd become part of the resistance wasn't there anymore. Akane's eyes narrowed.
"Are you all right?" None of them took those off. Especially not the four who had been part of Fusion before Hell Kaiser's frosting over and their defection. Little else kept them safe around here from some people.
Asuka reached for the cup of tea, but didn't look up. "I'm fine. It's nothing to worry about."
Akane wasn't going to believe that. Every instinct she had told her that Asuka wasn't telling her the truth. She wasn't sure what the truth was but she wasn't hearing it. She worried at her lower lip, glancing at the fire that burned cheerfully before them. She'd never wanted to be either a Firestarter or a Healer so badly. If she were a Firestarter the flames would tell her what she needed to know. If she were a Healer, then Asuka would tell her what was really wrong.
No, she decided. I want her to tell me because she wants to tell me. Not because she can't not tell me.
She sipped a little at her own cup of tea, thinking over the last few days. There had been a few new arrivals in the camp, mostly survivors who'd finally made their way there after weeks and weeks of ekeing it out on their own, and most of them had been told that the four Fusion defectors were to be trusted, or at least not harmed. But if not all of them believed that...
When she glanced back at Asuka, she caught the other turning her head, and saw something, or the shadow of something. At once she was on her feet. "Let me see?" Akane requested, hoping she wasn't seeing what she thought she was. Asuka turned towards her, confusion in her eyes. "That mark there."
She nodded towards where the scarf had been. Firestarters didn't bruise easily except by certain methods and those most likely weren't available here. But she wasn't sure it was a bruise anyway. Whatever it was, she didn't like the look of it.
Asuka raised one hand to the spot and shook her head. "It's not anything." But her eyes smoldered as her fingers brushed up against the skin, and Akane wasn't going to believe that. She reached out her hand again.
"Please."
Asuka's eyes met hers and Akane did all she could to convey how much she only wanted to help. Then slowly Asuka lowered her hand, and Akane looked closer. When it dawned on her what she saw, her heart spasmed and tears stung in her eyes.
"Asuka..." She'd never addressed Asuka without some kind of honorific but it slipped out now. If Asuka even noticed, she said nothing about it.
The mark wasn't as big or noticeable as it could have been, though it was very clear, and shaded in bright purple - the kanji for Fusion, branded into Asuka's skin in the very color of Fusion itself.
"They said it was because I can pretend all I want, but I don't belong here." Her fingers flexed and raised to touch the brand. "They took my scarf. I wanted to stop them - but -" She pressed her lips together, more emotion sliding into her tones. "They had a Healer there."
Oh. That made more sense than Akane wanted it to. Firestarters of Academia were taught to obey Healers, and it was even more difficult to disobey if the Firestarter wasn't bonded. Which Asuka wasn't, not yet. There wasn't anyone around here who might be suitable either. Akane tried not to think of anything other than how she wanted to help Asuka.
Then an idea hit. "Wait right here," she assured Asuka, before rushing off to where she kept the remains of her own Academia uniform. A few minutes later she came back, glad to see that Asuka hadn't moved. She held out her hands, where rested the torn remains of her old jacket. "You can wear this instead."
Asuka's eyes widened and warmed, and Akane smiled brilliantly. "Do you mind if I put this on you? I think I can make sure it doesn't hurt." She'd heard things like this hurt for ages.
"Go ahead," Asuka agreed. Akane settled closer and very gently settled the new, if tattered, scarf around Asuka's arm. In the very back of her mind, her thoughts gibbered and skittered around one another at being this close to her. She managed to keep her mouth shut, though, until an intelligent question forced itself out.
"Would you like to talk to someone? Rio-san and Kotori-san?" Kotori was one of the best Healers that Heartland City had at the moment - whatever her rank had been before. She needed to be, with Rio as her bonded Frostflame.
Asuka looked for a few moments as if she intended to say no. Then she raised her head enough to catch Akane's eyes and Akane did her best to communicate that she, personally, thought this would be a very good idea.
"I think so," she said at last, and Akane smiled.
The End
Notes: I know how this gets sorted out. But there's going to be a lot of fun beforehand – my kind of fun, which no one I write about finds fun.
