Obligatory Author's Note: Wow, I didn't expect to have so much fun writing the first part to this retelling.

A thing I'd like to point out that I didn't in the first part, regarding my OC's, is that since I have so many of them in this project (myself, Max, and 90% of my family), I will not be allowing a single person to reuse my characters, no exceptions. I assume most of y'all have an OC or 2 anyway for your projects anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem.

Everything else for Elemental I don't own, that all belongs to Pixar, and I will be respecting this.

If I haven't mentioned it already, being a retelling of Elemental, there are events here that are loosely based off the movie, so yup, SPOILER WARNING!

With all my notes out of the way, enjoy the show!

So yeah, my theories were proving rather correct about slowly but surely showing my feelings of love, or was I? I still had no idea. I was just about to call up City Hall and tell them I was going to turn myself in, but then remembered why I got promoted in the first place, so I just went about reporting a few more violations to this still unknown place. Still was rather relieved that no one was noticing, but after a little while of making my first eye contact with this fire person, I immediately let my curious thoughts win me over.

I still had that very photograph I saved from the rubble that had her and her parents. I stood there in awe; it was something that I hadn't had in more than 10 years. Again, my parents had been divorced due to a nasty argument that happened. It became apparent that the photo was simply distracting me from my work, so I did what any sane person would do. Procrastinate. Kind of a funny fact about myself, I was a damn big procrastinator, mostly when dealing with serious situations, mostly disregarding what I've been tasked for my shifts.

"Is… is this you?", these were all I could bring myself to say in my deep thoughts. Fire girl heard that, so turned around, only to find me there. I kind of got a few ideas as to how I got here in the first place now just even looking at her. Confused, yes, but also with a little hint of slight anger. Honestly, when I see someone I care about, most times when I talk, I let my heart do it for me, as would be the case here.

"This kind of reminds me of all the times I would have shared with my own family. I mean, I still have them around to an extent. Even… after losing my dad to a bad divorce. But yeah, just seeing this here just… I don't know, brings back memories for me."

That would be from my heart. But of course, as I would've expected, confusion still kicked in. "What are you DOING here!?" replied the fire girl. I will be honest, I kind of deserved this response. I finally came back to my senses right then.

"Look, I don't know how I got here, OK? All I know is that one moment I got involved in some freak accident miles away from here, and then the next, I end up here! What else would you expect?" I panicked. Clearly, I think she was wanting a slight bit more than that of what I gave. But also, I was just looking for her name somewhere around here while also at the same time just trying to explain myself and whatnot. My whole day just became a mess.

"I don't think you'll understand or even WANT to know what will happen if my dad finds you here! There's no way he will ever forgive me at all!" by this point, I think she was panicking… overreacting, maybe? "Okay, maybe you're right about that, but then again, I BARELY EVEN KNOW YOU! Or your family for that matter, so maybe let's tone it down before you go overreacting again?", I replied, seeing something on her head that made me a slight bit worried. Her flames were turning purple. And if anybody didn't know what that meant, for ANY element, if you see a purple flame on anyone that was a fire person, YOU STAY BACK FROM THEM INSTANTLY! That meant they were about to explode in pure anger. I decided to not worry about it and just go back to begrudgingly doing my job. I still had thoughts of leaving and making myself lose my job, but I wasn't that type to give up so easily.

"Ok, ok. I'll stop, I'm sorry." I replied when I saw the purple flames. Looking around at some more artifacts when I was trying to find some information that could help me identify her, like… a name! "I'm not going to ask again, wha-", she started. "Ok, look, as much as I don't like my job whatsoever, I'm a City Inspector, pretty much referring to me as a janitor of the city. And again, I STILL DON'T KNOW HOW I GOT HERE! Stop assuming I know everything, please!" I snapped. I felt very bad doing that around someone I just met. I then had to analyze the situation, things were already bad enough. It looked like the pipe structure wasn't up to par with what the regulations were in Element City.

"Yeah… no, this really violates several policies here… so, I'm more or less afraid to tell you that I'm going to have to write a ticket for this." I said, putting this down on my citations notepad. "A TICKET!? WHAT FOR!?" she responded. Yup, I could not escape the purple flames now. I screwed up. But also, found something with… potentially her name. I eyed it until I found a name of "Ember" on here. While eyeing this information, I got a small earful about this, not a lot.

"Why would you even consider writing a ticket for all of this? My… my dad rebuilt all of this from the ground up. This place was his dream, sure some of it may not be perfect, but you don't understand! If her finds out that I caused this leak to happen, of if I caused you to come here, I'll be in big trouble with him!"

Believe me, I was listening, but not paying attention. I was still finding any identifiable information. Soon as I heard things about how this place was her father's life & dream, I felt that. "So… this whole building I just washed up at… this is your father's legacy? Oh wow. Well, I'm sure he wasn't aware of how anyone was supposed to construct a place. So yeah, I think I'll have to write him a citation too." I was visibly upset with myself saying that, I had felt like what I just said didn't even make the slightest of any sense. Then realizing I was scheduled for another half an hour, I had to take action right then and there! Even if that meant ruining someone's legacy.

"Sorry Ember… wait, did I get that right?" I asked. A simple nod followed up, Ember's anger was ever so slightly gone then, but still had a look of confusion. "Again, sorry I have to do this… but I really have to turn these citations in otherwise I'm losing my job. Really only got this job to provide for my family and my best friend, so… ciao!" I said, while coming out of the window at the same time. Ember was pissed off just seeing this. She too escaped from the window, in the middle of their busiest day ever! Sometime during this though, she removed her Red Dot Sale pin.

What I wasn't aware was that I had just started an equivalent of a high-speed chase between Ember & I. I didn't think much of it until I turned around when I thought I could hear someone yell "STOP! PLEASE DON'T DO THIS" in her voice. That said enough for me to start running as fast as I could, or what it felt like. Running through the entirety of Fire Town with her right behind me was stress-inducing enough, all the while her father stared in extreme disapproval. I had to find a nearby train to catch that would take my back to City Hall at once. I had to push past several people, which by itself was not ideal. But after what felt like 5 hours, I finally found an open door for a train, just barely avoiding Ember, who must've been banging profusely on the train door (scratch that, she was). Something I never said once in my life… I was very relieved to be on a train. I put on my music and could finally chill out for a while, meanwhile texting Max to let him know I was okay, because he assumed the worst when I was sucked into the pipe system below the city.

Ember's POV

What the heck was this dude up to… no, what was his deal!? There wasn't any way I was just going to let someone I barely even know try to bring down my whole family's dream, just because of some unspoken "violations", even then, my statement still stood. But what this unsuspecting water person didn't think of was that every train in Element City connected to one another, so I could easily just find him and steal then burn all of the citations into thin air into nothingness. So, what I had to do next was about one of the riskiest things I've ever done, considering I always believed it was going to have to be a miracle for me to cross that bridge that separated Fire from Water, Air, & Earth. I had a general idea of where he could be, so I wait all but about 5 minutes for the next train to show up (it was considered free public transport here). I'll admit that I could have caught the last train, if I were fast enough. I just banged on the door to make him think I gave up. No! I didn't!

So, I get on, acting like an ordinary passenger. All while avoiding other citizens. This wasn't due to some social anxiety I had, it was because I can't mix with anyone, otherwise a whole massacre would've happened. Such as the case as me accidentally running in to an Earth-ling. That was super embarrassing to deal with. I thought I heard him trying to yell down my neck. But as far as I was aware, if anyone was to yell down my neck, I'm not listening (My parents were an exception to an extent, although… I was still worried about them finding out my temper caused the water leak in The Fireplace and made this water person come in unannounced. I still want to know how he even knew my name). Anyway. I wasn't going to just find him like this. So, I just climb out the door, whilst the train was still in motion. Maneuvering my way through the side of the train, I genuinely thought I was going to fall off somewhere and die. Especially when there was a water tunnel coming up, thankfully, I could just barely open that door I was closest to, after about 10 minutes of being on the side of the train (must've took about 3 minutes trying to open that thing.), and I made it in. Just in time before I got disintegrated, I mean, it's not like I've already been partially disintegrated (just having a bite of anything that had coal in it restored a body part you lose due to a water spill, just a pro-tip for us fire citizens) from that damn leak! Almost everyone looked alike, plus it was nearly dark in here (If it weren't for my glow-in-the-dark like appearance here, then it'd be 90% pitch black on this train). Then I saw what looked like a notepad about a hallway's length away. Water guy! This was my chance to stop him from reporting my family's business!

Back to Sam's POV now…

I loved this chill feeling I had. Not a care in the world just on my way back from Fire Town to City Hall to (hopefully) get an early night off. I was vibing to something known in the human world as Virtual Insanity. Well, that was until I felt something boiling nearest where I was holding the citations for The Fireplace. Ember! Had to look behind to even confirm that, then started freaking out. I would find myself banging on the train doors just to even let me off, I was NOT just about to evaporate because of this. But I wouldn't have to wait long, as about 25 seconds later, the train doors would open again. And the second it did, I sprinted off, Ember still in hot pursuit (no pun intended) behind me. When I found what appeared to be a crack in between two buildings that theoretically could take me directly outside my destination. Shortcut scored!

"Just give it up already!" Ember pleaded behind me, genuinely concerned at this point. "Sorry, gotta run!" I responded back, then started my way in between the two buildings. And man, THIS SUCKED! I kept thinking I was going to be deformed when I got out of that spot. Halfway across, I saw a hint of orange come my way. "How the hell is she even doing this!?" was my first of several clustered thoughts. How, just how did Ember fit in between these buildings, more or less not burning them down in the process (thankfully). It's like she was willing to try anything at this point for me to change my mind, which after escaping the buildings, I remember my feelings I slowly gained, then got second thoughts about sending these citations over.

"What if I don't want to do this? I'm so upset that I have to do this. I should've never got the citations notepad from him in the first place. Wonder where he went?"

All of that and then some more that were still clustered in my mind went through my head when I got closer to City Hall, in fact, I was right outside. Given the crowd I saw outside, I was for certain that Ember wouldn't be anywhere to be found. But I actually was already considering intercepting her somewhere near here then having her plead her case in front of me, then just lie to my boss about it. Lie… in the fact that notepad tracks your EVERY move, so it was hard to get away with anyway. The reason I said I wanted to talk with her about elsewhere was because I felt extremely guilty even doing this.

Yup, I officially was in love. No turning back now. Not like I already had such feelings about half an hour ago.

I weighed all the options I had just walking back to the entrance of the place, even tried to come up with what to say to my boss in the event I just wanted to resign immediately. But I gave myself up and just kept on trekking along, putting the citations in a tube like object. These get sent to two different processing departments, who have to review these cases, but unlike what you guys are thinking, at least 5 people were dedicated to actually inspect any place with citations, so even if they wanted to, they had zero rights to immediately shut any business down. It was, in a vague way, still a win-win. But that didn't mean the business could simply dodge any danger. You're given several pieces of information on how to handle the situation. More on this later.

Right as I was about to hit the front entrance, Ember intercepted me! Yeah, ironic, right? I get thoughts of intercepting her, and she does it right back? This didn't even make sense? A simple "What the?" wouldn't even suffice. Some form of oil (not unlike the motor oil still left behind in the canal that the disaster happened) was placed right where I was walking. Next thing I knew, she grew into some giant wall figure, it just startled me.

Wait, startled? That'd be an understatement. It completely made me nervous for my life. I never felt my heart beating so fast to see this figure in-front of me. "Oh boy…" I muttered. I wasn't getting out of this one, was I?

"I GAVE YOU ONE TOO MANY CHANCES TO STOP IN YOUR TRACKS! JUST GIVE THEM UP OR I'LL DO IT MYSELF! HAND THEM OVER, NOW!" just from seeing this, I knew she wasn't playing around. But, unluckily for her, I had another advantage right in-front of me. If anyone was going to be nagging me in this sense, I wasn't listening. So, I gave a shrug and a sly "Looks like my day just got weirder… sorry about this.", then slipped into the sewers for about 5 seconds, avoiding the wall entirely. And that wall would go back to her normal self, almost instantly. It looked like she wanted to give me one final chance to stop what I was doing but I knew I couldn't lie to my co-workers. And what would my family or Max think if I told them I got terminated because of such an event as this.

I just went in, sighing heavily. I still had thoughts of me screwing up horribly bad, given as I looked back, Ember looked visibly upset, however, not angry anymore, just… saddened. She was about to lose her father's business, thanks to me. Several opportunities came where I could've tried and reversed the situation. And when I got near the very site to turn in this thing, more intrusive thoughts followed:

"What have I done? I made someone upset over this stupid policy with the citations pad! I'm screwed!"

"I don't have to do this, do I? I can just make up a reason not to do this, or I can blame someone else, it really doesn't matter at all."

"I REALLY don't want to hear any of this from her father! MORE THAN HALF OF MY KIND LOATHE HIS GUTS HORRIBLY!"

And more as well. And then I come to a decision. "No… I can't do this." I quietly said to myself. Now if you thought this would've been the end of it, you thought wrong. As I was starting to head my way to the office to resign, some jerk (a goody two shoes of the company) bumped into me (seeing as I had the citations tube ready), and… there wasn't anything I could do to stop it. As if he were there to remind me that I had no choice of doing this action. The amount of anger I had with this jerk was so big, I really wanted to make sure he never got away with this action. Wanted to, but couldn't, since he blames others for his mistakes. In fact, he was the same person who covered some officials in cement and chose me for the blame instead. And was also the person responsible for the water contamination disease killing my grandparents in the process. How he wasn't in prison for this? Well, he got the guts to place the blame on his own mother. Talk about spoiled brat, eh? Everyone knew he caused said disease in my community.

But something made me have to call him out in private.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME RIGHT NOW!? Also, weren't you the same person who covered some of MY clients in cement!? The fact they can let you get away with ANYTHING baffles me! Including YOU murdering my grandparents thanks to the infamous contamination disease YOU ALSO CAUSED! If it were up to me, YOU'D BE TERMINATED RIGHT NOW!" I couldn't really think of much for calling him out, but I had to get it out of me. Being a toxic person he was, he just said "At least I wasn't the one that deliberately abandoned an official in training today!"

Yeah, that wasn't true. That whole thing wasn't my fault at all. But then realized two can play this game! "Oh yeah, AT LEAST I DIDN'T JUST RUIN SOMEONE'S LIFE & LEGACY BECAUSE YOU HAD TO BE THE DAMN SELFISH JERK OF THE ENTIRE OFFICE!"

I was steaming mad. But after this, I got my temper back under control within a matter of seconds, which was when I remembered, I could just take Ember to plead her case and maybe reverse the entire decision. I went back to the front entrance. I actually was half expecting her to be gone at this point, but nope, Ember was still there.

"Well, I tried. I tried not to send it over, but some jerk ran into me and ended up making me send the tickets anyway. However, maybe this won't be so, because you came across another opportunity. One I should've gave a while back. I can actually take you to the first processing office so you can plead your case!"

That made Ember perk up a little. But I felt after all of that, I still wanted to introduce myself to her at some point but knew that now wasn't a good time… if it weren't for my inspector tag that had my name on it! So I started walking her to that very office, making sure not to touch her at all.

And yes, as you might have guessed, we have two processing offices here in City Hall, you have the first office, which is where all of the citations are read and reviewed and checked for accuracy and not lies of any sort, this process could take anywhere in between 30-60 minutes, depending on how many violations one would report (In my case, a whopping 25 violations. Oh man this does not look good, does it?). Then you have the second office, which fun fact, I sort of worked here when recovering from the lighter fluid incident. This is the fun part as referred to by anyone who's ever worked here. Here, you get to actually be a part of these reports, you're sent to where the violations happened or were reported, and you find information that would be viable to the case, in which most cases, it ends with the business being closed in 7-14 days, depending on how big the business was. I myself had to do this, shutting down a sketchy looking business in just 5 days.

The first office was the only one in the building, however, you could actually talk it over with one of three potential people working there in hopes to reverse whatever citation tickets you sent over.

But, this came with a con. A whole pile-load of what looked like deformed plants, and some trees were blocking the path. I had to maneuver the both of us past this mess. Especially since I wasn't ready to explain what would've happened if she were to get in contact with just one of these structures.

Someone I used to know was working the desk that day. A certain someone that would have helped me out a long time ago. For certain sake, I'll leave his identity unknown for the entirety of this here attempt.

"Oh hey! Long time, no see man! How you doing?" I asked, kind of excited to see him again after 4 years. Clearly he wasn't into this job, in fact, this wasn't his first job. He worked at the Garden Central Station before it flooded some time ago, this was one of the only jobs he could land after that happened.

"Yeah… definitely living my dream… not." He replied. However, this is someone you'd want to be with for pleading a case, as he does listen fully, unlike the other two, who just go off of their definition of facts and whatnot and are purely lazy good for nothings. Why are they even still working here?

"Man, come on, I don't see you for 4 years, then this happens? I'm sorry you lost your old job by force, but… you know what, whatever, it isn't worth me saying it out loud." I wanted to call him out, but realized I still had something to do here, so toned it down instantly. I went about starting the process of pleading anyone's case.

"Okay, yeah, those citations I just sent over to you, but not by choice apparently. You don't have any plans to send those over for a while, right?" I asked. "Sam, even if I wanted to right now, I have to go through several processes here before I send these off to the second processing department, and they're currently taking a major excavation through five businesses that were all criminal-led. So it'd take a week for them to head to this place anyway." he replied. Even then, it was sort of a win-win solution for Ember, even if they wanted to, EVERYONE in the second processing department was out of office. But we weren't done yet.

"Yeah… can I maybe ask you to hold off on this? You know we can talk this over, right?" I said, my confidence and guilt were slowly washing away from me (again, no pun intended, I know, they're bad).

"So, what she said about her family owning this business as their dream seriously hit me hard." were my first words, I was going to do the talking, and maybe have her back things up for me, but this already was taking a sour turn.

"Wait WHAT? No! Sam, what were you thinking!? That's personal!" Ember freaked out, somehow getting my name in the process when I wanted to give it myself, oh well.

Over the next 5 minutes, I tried explaining as much as I could, but I kept getting rudely interrupted by her doing everything she could to stop me from talking. But, two cons of being a water person, covering someone's mouth and/or hiding anything in you was basically easier said than done. I kept persisting, clearly remembering everything I took in from her and how Ember would be the one blamed if anything bad happened. Each time, I'd get cut off.

"Yes but, I don't think her father especially would understand, given he's the one that owns the place." I also said in between failed attempts by her to shut me up. I could see the inevitable happening, as a purple flame was growing again.

"LET! ME! TALK!" I was that close to losing it and sending her out of the office, but I just didn't have the courage to do so. Office worker was just sitting there being all like "Get me out of here…", that look said it all.

I tried once more to regain control of my case I opened. "Yeah but he's really going to be…" I started. Then it happened.

"JUST STOP TALKING!" her purple flame exploded. All in the blink of an eye. I didn't say anything, and Ember just stood there in pure embarrassment, the room was basically burned at this point, obviously.

Thing is, every time her purple flame went off on her (AKA, when she lost her temper), usually she regretted it instantly. Even this time too. I was scared beyond recognition.

"Uh… I don't know what just happened, I really don't want to hear the end of this at all. I think I'll just…" I was that scared I just ran out. I was pissed with myself. I ruined her business. A facepalm didn't even suffice. I just waited for Ember at that point. Getting even more upset with myself at that point.

"If I were to have just shut up when she was trying to hint me to do so, better yet, if that jerk NEVER bumped into me and made me get into this mess in the first place, NONE OF THIS WOULD'VE HAPPENED!" it was clear I was never going to forgive myself for that. Then Ember came around the corner.

"Sam?" she asked. Peering up, I just had one good look at an also upset Ember. Who now was in possession of a brochure titled "So Your Business Is Shutting Down". This was the real worst instance of me screwing up, horribly bad. Something I now could not recover from.

"Ember I'm sorry. Really I should've been more sensitive and actually let you had a chance to talk first." I apologized. I didn't think she was going to buy that, but… "Look… honestly I should not have freaked out. I know you understood how I felt about not wanting you to report something that I cared about. I just didn't appreciate trying to bring up things that were personal to me." Ember replied back, now more empathetic. Clocking out for the night, I responded back with something I remembered.

Yes, if that didn't work, you still had one more option to reverse the citations. My boss herself. But good luck actually trying to get that cloud-puff to show any reasoning at all, you had to show that you meant business just to get her to change their mind with citation reports. This was 99% of the time easier said than done.

"Well, best I could have you do at that point is just talk to my boss. But other than that, I don't know what else to do, other than just lie to everyone else in that office… Ember… believe me, I definitely did not intend to ruin anyone's legacy, even if I wanted to… I knew that deep down, it really wouldn't have mattered anyway. If that jerk called out sick today, like he does about 6 times a month, maybe I would've went somewhere nearby here and we could've talked about this." I once again let my heart do the talking for me. Once again I saw her emotions perk back up.

"Sam… thank you for that. Let me fill you in on something… I don't really think it matters anyway. In fact, I usually get second thoughts on the daily on if I actually want to follow their life path, but I do it anyway because I really want to keep their dream alive. In fact, I almost didn't want to run the Red Dot Sale today, but I don't really show that because I never get asked what I thought or wanted to do at all." She responded back. So in case it was not obvious enough, sometime down the line, Ember was set to take over The Fireplace whenever ready. Well, unless a miracle happened, that was not looking likely.

"Well, I myself got screwed over on a life path that was set in stone for me when… well, first, you remember that water contamination disease from a few years ago, right?" I felt like I was ready to tell her about that time my grandparents death screwed over my life path I had originally. And yes, Ember remembered this too. In fact, this was around the time the infamous sparkler incident happened. "Oh, yeah… that." Ember too lost someone due to this. A third of her family passed because of the fact some diseased water people broke in The Fireplace when they KNEW most everywhere around Element City was on lockdown, and then went ahead to try to mix with fire in an incognito waw. Which while this was to great success, due to contaminated water actually being less pure than the water that normally ran through here and of our kind being purer than that of what was actually making people ill, we couldn't put any sort of fire out whatsoever with that kind of water. They were disintegrated about 6 hours after contact with those contaminated people. I got that earful from her.

"Oh wow… that was worse than that of me losing my own grandparents in that mess. I can only imagine what that must've felt like… none more so than losing a third person I cared about as well."

Yes, believe it or not, Max too had someone he loved. But obviously with a difference, it was too a water person, not fire. Her name was Estelle. Estelle was Max's whole world, they'd both meet in the hallways during the final semester at the high school that him & I went to, sitting nearest the back door entrance to where Air residents lived.

Both did everything together, as it was a "love on first sight" type of relationship. Man oh man, when I say that they both loved each other dearly, I wouldn't be playing around, however, we won't be getting into that here. Estelle would also become more closer to me as time went on. We all had a plan for ourselves. We'd all move out one day after both Estelle & Max were married, find someplace for the 3 of us to live together, they become parents, I'd mostly be there to watch over the kids they had and be there as a secondary father figure. Life would've been great and simpler this way.

But, a week after my grandparents death, I get a frantic call from Max telling me to immediately rush over to his place. I assumed he was in immediate danger, so rushed to his place in the same exact speed as mentioned earlier. It was Estelle. She'd been affected by the contamination disease and was slowly on the way out. Max's mother was mostly holding him back so he wouldn't be contaminated.

A grueling 5 minutes would pass before reality set in on me. Estelle had been hit by the disease way harder than anyone would imagine. It was so bad that the symptoms only really started showing way too late into this process. Medical treatment was basically non-existent at this point. Nothing could be done, well, all but one thing, but it would mean a sacrifice, and I did NOT want to lose 2 people in a day. We all had to say our goodbyes, and in so doing, I gave something to her that would stick with me. "Don't feel sad that it's over, just be happy you lived your best life."

And just like that, a minute and a half after that, Estelle was gone. Max was hurt more than anyone else, that it took him half a year to recover from that loss. Somewhere in the middle of this, he made a promise to his mom, "I promise on my life that I will hopefully never have to witness another death like that again!"

As you can imagine, telling all this to Ember was hard. Especially since I can't share that information without letting a few tears go. Contrary to what is said about water people, I'm not a big crier, try as I might. And in this note, I've been given similar words that overrode the ones I gave to Max & Estelle on that dreadful day.

"Sam… my mom has always said this when people she knew or otherwise ended their relationship in some way or another. Don't feel upset that it's over, just feel happy that you met someone you truly cared about. That may not have applied to me, but at least it helped my relatives when they all lost someone they cared about." Ember showed some sympathy in saying that. I guess this must've been what I needed to hear about… wait, Max should hear this more than I. But, I got carried away so badly that I forgot what I was doing and had to head back soon, in spite of it being my day off the next day.

I finish telling her about my grandparents dream for me and how it was demolished, after which, we said our goodbyes for the night. Of course, this definitely was unknown to me yet. I caught up with Max, who was seemingly waiting for me nearby. Oh yeah, I definitely was just about to tell him about this weird way of meeting someone.

"Yo! Max! So, funny story today…" I started, before Max just frantically started losing it at the fact I was A-OK from today's incident. I let this go on for 30 seconds before telling him to cool off. Oh yes, you best believe I gave him every detail of how I met Ember. And when I told him that I was in love at that point with her, his first response was "Um, are you crazy? You know perfectly well you can't work well with someone EXTREMELY dangerous to you!"

Oh yes, he loved to live dangerously, but being near fire was his massive exception. "Max, just trust me on this, okay? I didn't touch her or anything, so… we good now?"

"Well… I mean… I am still happy for you regardless, Sam, you finding true love is a huge thing, and as such should not be treated lightly." Max slyly responded. Oh, and finding true love was one of my dying promises to my grandparents, I told them "No matter what, I WILL find myself true love! I don't care who they are, just I hope they'll have the same feelings for me as I do to them."

This goes on for about another 15 minutes until I eventually end up back at my place. I at this point would consider a bicycle or a moped for easier transportation, plus, I'd finally give Max a ride back to his place whenever needed. I wished Max a good night, then parted ways for the evening. I also told mom & JoAnne everything. JoAnne also gave me a bit of advice since I told them I fell in love with a fire-girl.

The next day…

Something big was happening tonight, which is half of the reason why I got today off. If there is something else you should know about Element City, it's that a certain sport was VERY big here! That sport was known as airball! I've only ever been to about 2 airball games in my life, but Max & I were huge WindBreakers fans! And when we got word that the playoffs were happening at Cyclone Stadium, we knew right then we HAD to be there! I got Max to buy our tickets for the game tonight and had them dropped off while doing office work one day.

A third person was set to go with him & I, but they bailed out on the last second. And unbeknownst to me, I had completely forgot to take my tickets home from work that day. So back to City Hall I went to pick them up. Coming in on a day I didn't work was surreal. Max told me that, about the third ticket, I could just take whoever I wanted.

I was vibing, again. I had my headphones on, not a care in the world, once again. Until my bag caught fire, which it wasn't a second ago. Naturally, I freaked out. This lasted for 10 seconds until I figured out what that fire was.

It was Ember.

I immediately became embarrassed when I saw it was her. Well, I suppose that's one way to get someone's attention. "Oh my god! I'm so sorry! I… I didn… I didn't know that was you!" I had to play this off, clearly I didn't think either one of us were having it. Given I was embarrassed, I kept stammering on what I was saying. "You're just hot though." was my latest entry in my list of things I said while embarrassed.

I'm guessing Ember took this the wrong way with her response of "Excuse me!?"

"Wait no! I didn't mean it like that! What I meant to… uh, that came out wrong, no… I didn't…" I was out of control at this point. "Are you finished yet?" Ember replied unamusingly. I calmed myself down, then said yes. "Wait, what are you doing here anyway?" I asked

"Well, I'm just waiting to see your boss. So why don't you just-" Ember started. Still not happy about our attempt to plead her case yesterday. She decided that she'd take matters into her own hands. Before I remembered that my boss wouldn't be in today either.

"Well, pretty much got bad news about that. She… won't be in today. Reason for that being, she, along with more than half of the city are huge airball fans. And the WindBreakers are FINALLY in the playoffs tonight at Cyclone Stadium for the first time in 13 years! So yeah, everyone I know is going tonight, including her. I actually came by because… I left my passes for the game here, I got one for myself, my best friend, and one other person of my choice."

The second Ember heard this, she had to make sure she heard this right. "Wait… passes? You mean like… plural?"

Yes, now I not only had a third person for the game, but another chance for her to reverse the processing department from showing up at The Fireplace.

Things would get rather interesting when Max & I showed up for the game… Gayle (my boss) would thankfully be seated where Max & I would, nearest the Sky Box. Ember would follow shortly behind, and due to the crowds, had to mostly protect herself from running into other people. But shortly after, found Max, myself, and Gayle.

Let the games begin!

Oh wow! Things have just got more interesting, haven't they! Anyway, that will conclude Part 2 of this monstrosity. I actually wanted to make this shorter, and definitely not have backstories, but I wanted to experiment with longer parts of this story, so… I went nuts with my creative side, and this is what happened! Overall, I'm pretty impressed with this myself.

Also, a slight note for the next part, I think I'm going to experiment with a time jump cut. I will have Part 3 of this project start right when the game ends.

Anyway, that'll be all for now! Have a great day!