Hello my pretties. For any of you who have been around since the beginning you should be familiar with the title of this chapter. ;) For those who are new, it was originally the title of the story as a whole. And yes - it's because of this chapter. This is the climaxish and so at the start I figured that was grounds for a story title. I ended up stumbling upon the song 'King of Anything' and changed the title because quite honestly it is a million times more fitting. My plot follows the lyrics scary good. lol
Well, enjoy!
Courtney wakes with a start and a pounding heart. Sweat slicks her body and for a moment she is amazed that a nightmare could have such power over her. Then her head clears and the thick smoke, terrible heat, and fire register in her brain.
Courtney sucks in a sharp breath and jumps forward. She falls headfirst on the floor and her head spins. Why was she on the couch? She jerks her head up and sits upright. Her pupils dilate and breathing hitches as she takes in the true extent of the world of red and orange before her emerald eyes.
The flames eat away at the carpet and chomp at the priceless curtains. She jerks her head around toward the kitchen. It is completely engulfed. That's right...I was cooking. A sharp crackling catches her attention and a spark jumps toward her.
Courtney yelps and springs backward. She presses herself hard against the couch. The tiny spark quickly grows and snakes its way toward her. A panic rises within her and she scrambles up onto the couch. But it's not much better. The flames are swiftly working their way up the fabric toward her.
Courtney looks around her in a frenzy. A way to escape. Need a way to escape! Any way! She pitches forward as a rough coughing fit rattles her. Smoke rises. This isn't safe. She needs to get lower. But…
The far side of the couch ignites suddenly. A wall of flames rise only a few feet from her. Courtney's heart leaps in her throat and she coughs again. Her eyes water and head pounds along in rhythm with her heart. There's no way…no way out.
She can't stay here though. She needs to be lower. So she peers tentatively over the back of the couch and steels herself. Then she leaps over, very narrowly surpassing the flames hugging the couch. She stumbles and hits her head hard on the wall.
Her head spins and the pain increases. She stands on unsteady feet and her vision starts to fail her. Once defined lines blur and nothing sits still, not even the furniture. She lifts her hand gently to her temple. No blood. Still, it's hardly comforting.
She sinks back against the wall. It is the only spot close that isn't consumed by flames. Her mind clouds. Her drive to do anything slowly seeps from her. Her breaths, once erratic and full of panic, grow slow and infrequent. She slides down the wall all the way to the ground. She stares through half lidded eyes at the display of red and orange springing across her house. Only there is no fear.
She feels nothing as the smoke slowly fills her lungs and takes her over. There is but one thing that crosses her mind in her last fleeting moment of consciousness. It comes out as no more than a whisper, but the plea is obvious as she says, "Duncan…"
…
Duncan stands in shock before the once familiar house turned into a splotch of raging flames. The lawn is quickly becoming the same and the few routes left inside are being cut off as fast as seconds pass in time.
The blaring of sirens is all that snaps him out of his daze. He jerks his head up and around toward the noise. They are close. He shakes his head. But not close enough. He narrows his eyes in determination. There's no way they'll be here quick enough, not quick enough for him anyway.
So he acts. He darts around the circle of flames to try and find an entrance. Only once he reaches the side where there is concrete footing does he find any luck at all. It's narrow, uncomfortably so. So he goes all the way around to the front.
He gasps as he sees the red brimming at the windows. He runs to the door, but does not open it. He presses a hand against it to feel for the heat. He jerks back instantly and hisses. It's scalding. There's no way he can get in here. The fire will be right there waiting to burst forth.
He tilts his head back the way he came. He sets eyes on the small opening. There doesn't seem to be any other way. He quakes slightly in his skin as he approaches it. Still, he can't hesitate. He clenches his eyes shut tight and charges forward.
The fire licks at him and tries to take hold of him enough to drive him backwards. And he won't lie, it burns. The heat pulsing against him scorches his clothes and attacks the skin. But he won't go back.
He breaks through to a relatively open space within the circle of fire. He tries to focus on the next step – an entrance – but the pain is distracting. He grimaces and clenches his teeth as he turns his eyes on his arm. Red splotches dot it and each one pulses with pain.
Later. His mind screams at him. Your arm is worth nothing compared to life – her life. Duncan nods and tears his gaze away from the arm. He zones in on the house. If the front is that bad, then he might as well not bother with the back.
He lifts his eyes to the window leading to her room. He hasn't climbed it in a while, but the way to do it is burned into his brain like everything else about her. He breathes in and out deeply and heads for the vines.
Now with both of his arms better this will be easier than ever. He scales it in moments and shoves the window up fluidly. For an instant he is amazed at the feat and pretty proud of himself, but the feelings snap back into focused panic. The smoke that billows out and chokes him furthers his desperation.
He coughs and waves at the smoke, but it's too thick for him to disperse and he settles on just moving on. He leaps through the opening and drops to his hands and knees. He crawls across the room and toward her bedroom door.
As he reaches the threshold he freezes. Don't you ever go anywhere in my house. She told him that once. He shakes him head. Who cares!? This is not even the same. This is a dire circumstance. He hurries on and into an even thicker smog. Even so low to the ground it gets to him pretty bad too. He coughs terribly and his eyes water.
He wipes at his eyes and proceeds cautiously. He reminds himself that this isn't his house and moving by memory won't do him a lick of good. In the next instant he proves his point by running into a wall. He grunts and backs up. Where are the stairs?
He feels around carefully. The floor shifts from soft carpet to hardwood and his face lights up. He makes a big move forward, expecting to find the stairs just in front of him. Unfortunately the floor remains as flat as before and he stumbles terribly. As he tries to right himself the next step he makes finds him on the stairs and he tumbles half way down.
Duncan slams his head again and again as he falls until he catches onto the railing. His head throbs and his world spins as he finally sits up. He groans and touches his head lightly. For a moment even he loses track of the situation and his feelings concerning it.
He turns his head slowly as the heat pulses against him and he snaps to attention. His eyes widen and heart leaps in his chest. He scrambles back from the wall of fire at the bottom of the stairs. That sure as hell isn't an option.
He stands on unsteady feet and survey's what little he can see. He can only see just past the railing. There are little patches below still untouched by the furious flames. That'd it then. He decides it is the only way. He climbs onto the railing and perches atop it.
He starts to take a deep breath, but quickly clamps his mouth shut. That's utterly stupid. He just propels himself across the room. He lands with a thud and his legs quake as he endures the backlash. He spins around without a second thought and squints, struggling again to see farther than an arm's length through the ever thickening smoke.
"Courtney!" He wheezes. He pitches forward as he goes into a coughing fit. He presses his hands against his mouth but it does little to nothing. "Can you hear me?" He holds his breath and watches closely as he listens for the tiniest sound.
Nothing.
Duncan weaves carefully in and out of the flames. Some spaces are wider, but some are even worse than the area in the yard. Worse still is how he is bordered on both sides by the vicious flames. The spots dotting his arms increase in number and his legs sport similar marks.
He ignores it this time, however, without fail. The pain is unbearable, but he focuses on Courtney. Heck, maybe she's not even here. Maybe Zane already picked her up for the dance. It makes him a bit irritated at the thought of suffering for nothing, but at the same time he wants to believe she is far away from danger.
Then he sees it – a patch of startling blue in the dark smoke and bright red of the fire. With a direction and object to zone in on, he starts to see the vague outline of a body. "Courtney!" He jolts forward, mindless of the flames. He instantly jumps back and cries out. He grips his face and stumbles, nearly falling over the rug.
Focus idiot. He tells himself, he's sure it's him. Yet he hears Courtney's voice in his mind. There's not much time. This place will come down any minute now. Duncan lowers his hands and narrows his eyes. He breathes heavily in and out. His head spins. He really does need to hurry. The smoke is finally getting to him. But that's not nearly as frightening as the thought that Courtney must be in dire condition after being stuck in here for so much longer.
Duncan moves quickly, but he pays close attention this time. The flames attack him, but he breaks through to where the blue is. And now he sees her clearly, as clearly as possible in this mess anyway. He dives down to where she leans against the wall and stops suddenly with his hands above her. She might have burns too.
He looks her over quickly. Miraculously he sees no marks marring her skin. She got to the only place that is not yet being attacked by the fire. But it's still dangerous and they are both very much in danger. "I'll get you out."
He works his way around her and scoops her into his arms. He gasps as she weighs heavy against his damaged skin. He nearly releases her in the sudden onset of agony, but regains a firm grip on her. He swirls around and starts as he sees the way is completely blocked by flames. He swivels back around and peers toward the kitchen.
It is ravaged, but because of that there is not much left to burn. The flames are dullest here. It's the most unstable because of this too, still it's their only chance. He bends Courtney's body inward, her knees pressed up under her chin. He is particularly careful to keep her head close against his chest so there isn't a chance of it leaning out over the flames. He takes another foolishly deep breath and barrels through the remnants of the fire.
It hurts just the same as before and the air is knocked out of him with the shock. His legs tremble beneath him and he crumples to his knees. He coughs and gags on the smoke. Maybe his weakness isn't even from the flames. It could simply be the smoke finally overwhelming him. His vision blurs. The tremors in his legs work up his body until every inch of him is shaking.
Get up! The ceiling is falling around him at this point. "I know…" He squeezes out. "Gotta…go…" He struggles to his feet, falling back down more than once as her added weight throws him off balance. But he eventually manages to stand.
He looks slowly around through a hazy mind and clouded eyes. The door was engulfed when he first came to the house, but now from what he can see the flames have subsided. At least enough for him to get through it.
He knows better than to grab the handle. It will burn him as badly as the flames themselves after absorbing all that heat. He can hardly do it anyway with Courtney in his arms like this. He might have been panicked, but the haze is so heavy now that he can barely think.
This ends up being the highest of blessings. The veil over his emotions keeps him calm enough to allow an idea to break through to his mind. He steps forward, digs his heel into the floor, and kicks the door as hard as he can. It gives way and with another kick he slams it open wide.
He is assaulted by the sounds of sirens and shouting men. He is sure they were always there, but somehow it is only now as he steps out onto the lawn that it registers. The smoke billows out around him as he stands in a only half alert state. The only part that stands out about him in the smog is his startling green hair and Courtney's blue shirt.
"There's someone there!" Someone yells. It comes particularly clearly to Duncan, but he doesn't even turn his head to look at them, whoever they are. A fireman he supposes. He just walks on. The fire on the lawn is out because of those same firemen and he is able to walk numbly on out over the torched ground.
"Young man!" Another voice calls to him. "Hey! Hey! You've gotta go to the hospital." Duncan senses the man right at his side now. Still he keeps his straight path and unmoving gaze forward. "Can you even hear me? Hey!"
"He's probably in shock." Someone else says. Duncan tunes it out then as they start to talk back and forth. He makes his way to the edge of her yard, to a single tree in back. It stands tall and unyielding despite the calamity before it. It's a good place.
Duncan does a slow turnabout. He slumps back against it and stands for a minute. He breathes deeply in and out, sucking in the clear air. It sends him into a coughing fit as he chokes on the air and struggles with the smoke still lingering in his system.
He regains control of his breathing and then slowly sinks down the tree until he is sitting. He closes his eyes for a fleeting moment, then snaps them open again as his mind catches up with the gravity of the situation. He jolts up off the tree, but remains sitting. "Courtney." His voice is strained, his throat tight. "Courtney, can you hear me?"
There is no reply. Courtney's eyes remain closed and her head leans heavily against his chest. Worst of all she is far too still. Duncan's heart beats double time as he sees this and his already troubled breathing becomes further labored. "Courtney," He pulls her away from him and jostles her slightly. "Come on."
The stifled panic rises with force tenfold. He presses his fingers against her neck and holds his breath. He can't feel anything. Fear grips him in a stranglehold. If only he had been faster. If only he'd thought clearer. If only…! A slight movement catches his eye. He jerks his head around to her chest. It's faint, unsettlingly so, but it's there. Her chest moves ever so slightly. So she must be alive.
Duncan lets out a breath and chokes again. Maybe he should get help. He knows she needs it for sure. She's surely suffering from smoke inhalation. Still, he can't get up. The pain of his injuries pulses unbearably and even just falling back against the tree is excruciating. His eyes are heavy with exhaustion and a fog descends on him due to the wave of relief he feels for Courtney being alright.
He sighs softly. He shifts Courtney and cradles her head more carefully. He stares down at her peaceful face. It's probably the most docile he's ever seen her. And it scares him. He's happy, but he's scared. "You'll be ok…" He whispers. He runs his fingers across her cheek. "You'll be ok…"
He says it over and over again as he sits there in an oddly surreal world with her. Nothing pierces his mind, not with the impact it should. The mass of sirens and burning and chaos is soft while the approaching footsteps are sharp and impossible to ignore.
Still, he doesn't move. Not until he hears their voices. And even then it's just a little hole in their bubble of peace. Right now nothing else resonates like the feel of her, so solid and safe in his arms. He just wants it to last. He doesn't want to believe that tomorrow he'll mean nothing again. He's not nothing.
He burned for her.
So, what did you think? Was it realistic? Horribly unrealistic? Or do you even care BECAUSE DxC IS AMAZING! And because I actually updated. lol I'd love to hear your thoughts on it. So please review! :)