Umber reflexively took a step back, falling backward and taking Flame with him as he tumbled to the ground watching the containers of food fall through the air. They hit the ground with a splat causing them to spill whatever was in them. Everything had already happened so fast — from the fire starting, all the way to it nearing them happened in only a split second.

He could smell the burning in the air now, and it smelled like someone had put noodles into a pot with no water, and lit them up until they charred. It quickly began making Umber sick to his stomach, but he hardly cared right now.

By now, dragons had realized what was happening and quickly stood up and started running around and screaming, leaving their expensive meals behind through their panic — they probably forgot about them completely. That's what Umber did as soon as he saw the fire anyways.

As Umber looked around, he realized that this whole place was covered in this red carpet and the fire would surely reach them before he could think of where to go. His mind subconsciously began analyzing all of the routes they could run to, but he couldn't find any in time. So his mind went to the next best thing, and that was to think of a way to avoid it entirely.

With one quick motion, he dug his talons into the rug and slid them across, making a clean incision. He dug both of his talons under the fabric and ripped it up as hard as he could while ignoring the resistance it gave; his adrenaline had already kicked in and gave him the strength he needed to do it effortlessly.

That should give us enough time to escape! Umber hoped.

He quickly staggered up, almost tripping himself again in his panic. He frantically grabbed Flame's talons and pulled him up, who also stumbled over himself for a few seconds before finally getting his balance.

"Holy fucking shit!" Flame yelled, his voice shaky and obviously panicked. "Where do we go?!"

"I-I don't know!" Umber responded in an equally panicked voice, already beginning to look around for an exit. "The kitchen! There's probably an exit through the kitchen!"

The door had been on the opposite side of the restaurant and dragons were running around in a panic. Most of them probably hadn't even realized that they could leave through the kitchen, so they were just kind of scouring in fear on the other side of the room, staring at the blocked-off door.

Some were trying to exit through the windows, breaking them and then wiping them clean of glass before trying to fit their whole body through it. Most of them failed, where some of the smaller, skinnier dragons barely got through, like the dragonets. An adult dragon had no chance of escaping the same way. Obviously, neither Umber nor Flame could escape through the window either; he could tell just by looking at the size of each square.

He began trying to run through the restaurant with Flame's talons still in his, but instead just kept getting knocked over and trampled by all of the other dragons. This went on for at least a minute, where dragons finally realized that they could leave through the kitchen and began piling up at the door, escaping one at a time.

Unfortunately, Flame and Umber were both stuck at the back of the "line" and the fire had already made significant progress, setting the roof on fire and burning the support beams at the top which surely couldn't be a good thing for anyone who was still stuck in the building, including them.

Umber could feel his heart banging against his chest right now, feeling like it was trying to claw its way out with sheer force. He could feel his legs beginning to get weak which made him exhausted and every second more in this restaurant that much more unbearable.

The air was beginning to get hot and began giving Umber a headache. The screaming and yelling of the dragons around him wasn't helping either and he put his talons on his head from the pain.

"Fucking move already!" Flame frantically yelled. It sounded more like a beg than it did a demand though, which wasn't very surprising judging by the situation they were in right now.

That's when Umber heard some sort of loud cracking sound, followed by a loud bang that shook the whole restaurant and dragons flying back screaming, knocking them both backward. Once he recovered from the sudden noise, he looked ahead and could see that one of the support beams had already been burned enough to collapse, falling in the middle of the crowd. Thankfully, everybody had gotten out of the way in time. But the fact that one of the beams had already collapsed meant that the wood had to have been mostly air on the inside.

I guess I know where their priorities are then! Umber thought.

Finally, dragons were beginning to get through the door and the crowd was beginning to get smaller — the fire on the other talon was only getting bigger. Thankfully, Umber ripping the carpet had opened enough of a gap so that the fire couldn't spread as quickly near where they were, since there was only carpet where there wasn't a table which created rows in between. The other row though, was almost completely burned up and was beginning to spread to the interior wall which was made of wood — something Umber hadn't noticed until now since it was painted a similar black to the bricks outside.

They took a quick leap over the fallen beam, being careful to jump over it a good distance since it was still on fire on the top. Thankfully, it hadn't burned the carpet in their row enough for it to set fire, but it was definitely a hazard regardless. Actually, this whole place was a hazard! How could they not have had anything to prevent something like this?! I mean, they didn't even use half-decent wood for the walls!

They were halfway to the door now, and Umber could see that the fire was spreading up the walls on the outside of the kitchen door and the air was beginning to get even hotter than before, only making Umber's headache worse.

Finally, they neared the front of the line and Flame began shoving past all of the dragons, and Umber began hearing the top of the frame splinter and crack. Obviously Flame heard it too, because he began pushing past the dragons even more than before. They just kept getting pushed to the back of the line though, so the only thing they could do was pray to the moons that the sounds were enough motivation to hurry.

The splinters and cracks were only becoming more frequent as the seconds passed until they finally made it to the front and Flame went to leave through the door. That was until Umber saw the top of the doorframe do something he was dreading seeing: collapse.

He wasn't going to let Flame die in here though; not like he did Crane. So almost like a reflex, he lunged forward and pushed Flame through the doorway right as it collapsed, sending him a little bit under the rubble before he quickly pulled his way out. Looking around, the doorway was on fire with a row of flames following it, which made it a less-than-desirable way to leave. He was trapped.

No more miracles, no more luck, Umber thought. It's my turn to save someone for once.

"Umber! What did you just do?!" Flame screamed from the other side of the collapsed door, staggering up and putting his snout as close as he could to the pile.

"Saving you, Flame! I'm done having my life saved over and over again! It's my turn to save someone this time," Umber said.

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Flame said, panicked as he tried to push through the pile of wood but eventually gave up once he realized it wasn't going to budge. "Stay calm, I'm going to get help! I'm going to get you out of here!" He turned away and began to run.

"Don't bother," Umber called out lowly, making Flame stop in his tracks. "You'll just end up getting yourself killed. This whole building will already be on fire once you find someone."

"Don't say that!" Flame said. "I'm going to get someone, and I'm going to get you out of here. Alive."

Umber was about to say something along the lines of "Please just leave me" or "I don't want you getting hurt", but he already heard the clacking of Flame's talons against the tiled floor as he sprinted.

He backed up from the door and made his way over to the end of the row and over to the table they were sitting at before, which was still intact since this row of carpet was yet to set fire; it would soon though, and Flame's path would be blocked.

Maybe they'll stop him from coming. Maybe nobody will want to come in with him and he'll realize that there's nothing he can do. Maybe once he sees my…my body, he'll leave, Umber thought, wincing at the last few words.

He was definitely scared though. I mean, who wouldn't be? He had survived a war for his whole life, but was about to be killed by some lousy fire! But, there was nothing he, or anybody else could do now except wait for someone to put it out and recover his body for the closed casket funeral that Flame would definitely buy.

He sat down at their table, staring blankly into space and clasping his shaky talons together, expressionless as he began shuffling through all of his memories with his sibs like a deck of cards — or at least the best ones he could remember in the face of death.

One memory that immediately came to him (and one he thoroughly enjoyed) was the time when they had all gone out flying, and Pheasant jumped onto his back and forced him to land while holding her weight. Sure, this was a little mean, but Umber knew that she was only messing with him and that he'd get her back sometime.

"Hey! Get off!" Umber demanded as Pheasant landed on his back.

"Come on Umber!" Pheasant yelled. "You can do it! I believe in you! Just land in that field over there and I'll get off," she laughed, flicking her tail to the field in the distance.

It didn't help that they were over a large lake either, so he had to fly across the whole thing to the field that Pheasant was talking about. Him being the smallest of the group, he could already feel his wings begin to falter, making them droop lower and lower as the seconds passed.

Her talons were firmly grasped onto Umber's shoulders and he knew that there was no getting her off unless he plunged them both into the water, which was something he was thinking about doing the whole time. He didn't want to hurt Pheasant though; that wasn't his goal.

"Umber, just straighten your wings and stiffen your back!" Crane yelled as she flew steadily beside him. "If you do that, her weight will be much easier to carry!"

And he did just that. He straightened his wings as much as he possibly could, and tried making his back as stiff as a rock. Suddenly, she was marginally easier to carry; it was more exhausting though.

He began flapping his wings as hard as he could and he could tell that they weren't drooping down nearly as much as before. He could feel the burning in his wings with each flap as they neared the edge of the lake.

"Alright, that's enough," Reed said. "Umber obviously can't hold you up, Pheasant. It's time to stop."

"Yeah, c'mon Pheasant! This isn't funny anymore," Marsh said.

These words only made him want to continue pushing forward, giving him a strange sense of extreme motivation with each flap of his wings and beat of his heart, just like the rushing of a river whenever he would try to swim upstream to catch a fish. Not the smartest idea, but anything's possible when you're hungry — which was basically all the time.

He could feel Pheasant's grip begin to loosen, but he was going to prove to them all that he wasn't "weak little Umber who couldn't even hold a dragon's weight".

"No, it's fine," Umber assured. "I can do it." Her grip tightened again, firmly grasping his shoulders as he flew.

These words caught everyone off guard and he could see it on their faces as he slowly descended toward the ground, struggling a bit under her weight. Until finally, he felt his talons dig into the grass as he fell over so that her weight didn't actually crush him, panting all the while. She fell over with an "Ack!" and quickly got up. The others eventually landed beside him, who were trailing him the whole way to make sure he didn't get hurt.

"You did it, Umber!" Crane said cheerfully. "Wow, I really didn't expect for you to actually land with her on your back! It looked like a lion riding a scavenger from our perspective!"

"Oh- thanks Crane," Umber said with a mix between a laugh and a pant. "I didn't think I could do it either, but your advice helped! If it wasn't for you I'd probably be wishing I was a SeaWing right about now."

But his sibs weren't here to give him advice, and they weren't here to save him either. He snapped back to reality by the hisses and crackles of the flames smoldering around him; the heat pulsing against his scales as if he had gotten too close to a bonfire and the sounds of dragons' screams and cries outside: including Flame's. He couldn't make out exactly what he was yelling though, so he strained his ears to try and hear what he was saying but still couldn't hear over the fire's screams.

Nobody else needs to get hurt, Umber thought. I just hope Flame realizes that before it's too late.

Just like when right before Crane saved him though, he didn't want to go out scared; no, he wanted to go out thinking of all of the happiest memories with his family and friends, so he kept digging through his memory like a groundhog desperately tunneling through the dirt in anticipation for winter. Finally, though, his mind landed on a memory of him and Flame back in the Healing Center, only a little while after they started dating.

"Umber," Sora said, breaking the long silence. "Do you want to go and gather some more herbs tomo-"

She was cut off by the familiar rhythm of talons banging against the door. One, pause, two, pause, three. Just by his knock though, Umber could already tell it was Flame, and he felt a bubbly excited feeling in his chest — he hadn't seen him all day today.

"Oh! That must be Flame!" Umber exclaimed, leaping to his talons and running to the door. "Also, yes!" he answered, being rewarded with a smile from Sora.

He turned the handle, and low and behold it was in fact, Flame. His red scales were shining from the candlelight in their room and he had a big smile curved around his face, looking happier than ever just from seeing Umber. This wasn't a surprise though because he already knew how much Flame loved him.

"Hey, Umber," Flame said awkwardly. "Do you want to come over to my room tonight? Or…"

"Yes!" Umber interrupted before turning around and throwing a "Will you be okay?" glare at Sora, to which she gave a nod with a smile.

He turned back to Flame and they began walking through the halls, slowly making their way to his room. They had to walk outside to get to Flame's building since they somehow still weren't placed in the same one. Until finally, Flame stopped at his door and twisted the handle. To Umber's surprise though, the room was extremely clean; the table was wiped off, the floor had been swept, and his bed was made almost perfectly.

"Oh- you cleaned your room!" Umber said with a bit of surprise.

"Yep, just for this," Flame said proudly. "I've been in the kitchen all day, so I haven't had much time to do anything. They kept telling me to do a bunch of shit that was either entirely pointless or someone else could've easily done."

"Why didn't you ask me to help?" Umber said in an obviously offended tone.

"Calm down, MudWing," Flame said. "I thought you needed a day to yourself. It's not easy to deal with me sometimes."

At this point, they were already in the room so that nobody could hear their conversation, and Flame closed the door behind them.

"Flame, I'll always be able to deal with you," Umber said with a scoff.

There was a silence between them for a few moments as they stared into each other's eyes, unsure of what to do next. They hadn't been dating for too long now and it didn't help that they were both pretty new to this whole "being together" thing.

Flame made the first move though, inching his face closer to Umber with a light smile until he could feel his hot breath.

Umber could feel his heart rate begin to pick up, and his breaths got shorter as well. He began mimicking Flame's movements until their snouts were only centimeters apart, and Umber opened his mouth and tilted his head and felt a wave of relief fall over him as their mouths met.

Flame pushed them both onto his bed without stopping, and Umber had so many emotions going through him at this moment which all gave him the urge to keep going.

They did this for at least an hour, giving themselves a couple minute long breather every now and again, before falling asleep in each other's arms.

I'll never kiss Flame again, Umber thought with an aching realization, snapping back to reality once again and tears beginning to fall down his face. and he'll never kiss me again, either. But I did it though, I finally made up my debt to Crane.

His talons were still shaking in anticipation of the painful death he awaited with tears dripping onto the table. He looked back and could see that his row of carpet was finally beginning to catch fire, spreading to the pile of wood in the doorway.

Goodbye, Flame, Umber thought. He hoped he'd never have to think or say these words, but here he is, trapped in a building with his last moments being without Flame.

That's when he heard something above him begin to crack and fall, sounding extremely similar to the beam that had fallen before. He fought the urge to look up though because that wouldn't do anything except make him even more scared than he already was, so he sat in the same position as before, anticipating the impact.

The flaming beam above him finally gave way though, hitting him in the head and causing him to fall out of the chair, unconscious, making him crash down onto the floor, pinning his body beneath its scorching grasp.


As Flame desperately ran through the empty kitchen looking for an exit, he could still hear the crackling of the fire inside, his heart pounding faster and faster every second he wasn't in there with Umber protecting him. He wished that he could spread his wings all around his body and take all of the splinters, burns, and scars that he possibly could until his body gave out, just so that Umber had a chance of escaping.

Just wait, Umber, Flame thought. I'm going to get you out of there, even if I have to die trying.

He soon found the door outside and ran straight through it. It was a wooden door, similar to the ones inside the building except it had a clear sign on the other side reading "KITCHEN. DO NOT ENTER" in big red letters.

As he looked out at the road, he could see that there was a massive crowd of dragons watching the building burn, completely unaware that there was still someone stuck inside with no way out, and that dragon just so happened to be one of the most important dragons in Flame's life.

Most of them looked fine, but a few had a couple of slight burns from the look of it, not to mention the smoke inhalation many of them have probably suffered from already. Most of these dragons probably deserved it anyways if they were anything like that SkyWing that clawed Umber's face!

He immediately ran over to the crowd and most of them were completely ignoring his existence and instead were entirely focused on the building; no "Are you OK?" or "Are you hurt?", just completely fucking ignoring him.

He could already feel the anger boiling inside him; not because they were ignoring him, but because ignoring him meant they were ignoring Umber as well. But he wasn't going to let it show because right now — for once in his life — being angry wasn't the solution.

"I some fucking help over here!" he frantically screamed, immediately getting the attention of a few dragons. Most of them were still staring at the fire which only made him more angry. "My boyfriend is still in there!" He pointed his talons toward the building.

As he anticipated a response, he could feel himself begin to panic even more at the thought of losing Umber, his breaths beginning to get short and quick and he started getting lightheaded and he could feel tears begin to fall down his face as his hope slowly faded into darkness. But these were the least of his problems right now; he had to save Umber, no matter the cost.

C'mon Umber. Please, just hang in there a little longer. Just until I can find someone to help me get you out, Flame prayed.

Nobody responded to him though and they just looked away back at the fire, not even giving a shit that there was a dragon in there that would be burned alive if nobody helped!

Wait, that NightWing! Surely he'll help! Flame thought. He seemed to care so much when Umber first came in! He has to at least care about him a little!

He looked around though but didn't see any black scales in the crowd. They would stick out, too, so there's no way that Flame could miss him; he just kept running around though, looking for him just in case he skimmed over him somehow. After a couple tried at finding him, he couldn't see anyone and gave up.

What he did see was a group of SkyWings along with a few IceWings flying toward them who all had some sort of white fabric strapped tightly all the way around their neck, which had a giant red "+" on it. He guessed that they had to be here to help put out the fire and help the injured.

They'll help me! Flame thought with a bit of hope sparking inside of him again. They have to! They can't just ignore Umber's existence! Please…please help! he begged.

As the medics landed, he ran over to them as fast as he could. The IceWings immediately split off from the group and got into formation to begin putting out the fire.

"Hey!" Flame called out as he ran, fear shivering through his voice. "My boyfriend is still in there! He's trapped!"

He looked around at the SkyWings' faces and saw a bit of remorse trickle down their scales. Nobody seemed to be moving a muscle though; not one. His stomach felt like it was being twisted into knots, over and over and over again until the pain was too unbearable to stay quiet. He shifted his scales restlessly with uncomfortability conjuring up a response just in case they couldn't quite hear him.

"Did any of you fucking hear me?!" Flame screamed. "He's trapped in-"

"I'm sorry," one of the SkyWings near the front interrupted. "There's nothing we can do. The fire's already too out of control and if he is still in there, it's…it's probably too late for him."

These words shot through his whole body like being bitten by a dragonbite viper, except it didn't only bite once; it bit as many times as it possibly could, constantly pushing its venom through his veins and slowly killing you from the inside out. But he wasn't going to give up yet. With or without these dragons' help, he was going to go inside to save Umber, death sentence or not — he was still at least a little afraid of running straight into fire though, which was understandable.

If he is still alive, the back of his mind whispered. NO! HE IS STILL ALIVE! he retorted. HE'S STILL IN THERE, PROBABLY WAITING FOR ME BY THE DOOR!

He could already see the scene playing out in his head: Umber would still be standing right by the door waiting for him, and Flame would break through the fallen wood and rescue him, then they would go home and Flame would hold him as tight as he possibly could in his wings and they would never go back to another restaurant in their whole life.

I'll just make him food from now on! Flame thought. We'll never have to go to another restaurant again, and Umber will never, ever, get hurt!

No matter how many times he denied it though, the image of Umber's corpse kept flashing through his mind a million times, ignoring his demands for them to stop. He couldn't take this anymore! He had to go inside, and nobody was going to stop him!

He couldn't imagine living a life without Umber. Even though he had only known him for two years, it felt like a lifetime. Umber was the dragon that had finally brought some meaning to his life and drowned out all of the hatred he had, and he wasn't going to let a few stupid fucking SkyWings stop him from saving him, either.

Fuck this. If they won't go in with me, then I'm going in by myself, Flame thought.

Without a second thought, he bolted toward the kitchen door but soon felt something grab his tail, then something else grab his body, then something else grab his neck until he could hardly even move. He looked around and could see a flurry of red scales all around him — they must be the culprits.

"Get the…FUCK OFF ME," Flame screamed at them, choking on his words a bit as dread ran through his veins.

"Sir, we cannot let you go inside of that building!" a different SkyWing said.

"I don't necessarily give a shit! Let go of me!" Flame protested.

"I'm sorry," the SkyWing from before said, trying to de-escalate the situation, who was also the one who initially grabbed his tail. "He's already gone. You have my condolences."

Hearing these words sent rage shooting through him like never before, so he took his talons and conjured up as much adrenaline-fueled strength as he could. As quick as lightning, he scratched the dragon's face who was holding onto his neck and it immediately sent him flying back, releasing his grip on Flame.

The other SkyWings started using even more force to try and pin him down, but he wasn't going to be stopped from saving Umber — he couldn't live with himself if he was. So he built as much fire as he could in the back of his throat and steered his head around just to make sure that they could all hear the noisy hissing coming from his mouth.

"I SAID, GET THE FUCK OFF ME!" Flame yelled, sending shivers running down even his spine — he didn't know he was even capable of yelling like he used to, but it was for an important reason.

They all let go of him in almost an instant, throwing their talons in front of them and slowly retreating backward.

"Hey!" one of them said in fear. "We-we're just trying to help! If you go in there, you'll surely be killed!"

"I don't care!" Flame responded before breaking into a sprint, leaving them behind in a cloud of dust.

He ran as fast as his legs could possibly take him, feeling weak as if he was overdosing on adrenaline at this very moment.

But within a few heartbeats, he was at the door and he slammed through it with all of his might, breaking it off of the hinges from trying to bend it the wrong way. He didn't have time to open the door normally though. Umber didn't have time for him to open the door normally.

Running through the kitchen at lightning speed, he retraced his steps all the way back into the door, slamming into things at every turn from the pure speed he was running. Once, he almost sent a pot of still boiling oil off of the stove and onto his scales, but dodged out of the way just in time and only got a few drops of the scorching liquid on himself — which he hardly felt.

He made it to the collapsed door, panting restlessly from all of the stress and anxiety that was running through him.

"UMBER? UMBER ARE YOU IN HERE?" he yelled. He waited a couple of seconds for a response but never got one. "I'M GETTING YOU OUT OF HERE! I JUST HAVE TO BREAK THROUGH THIS DAMN DOOR!"

He began slamming his body at the planks, harder and harder as his body wouldn't let him at full strength at first. But he kept slamming into it for what felt like an eternity, before the wood finally gave way and fell forward, like a tsunami of planks.

He looked forward and could see that the carpet was on fire and was slowly creeping down the row, but he couldn't see Umber anywhere in here. Maybe it was just his scales that blended him in with the wood? Or maybe he escaped through a window somehow? Regardless though, he began running directly through the fire, burning his paws and sending a singeing pain up his legs as he did. He ignored the excruciating burning though and kept moving forward, the only thing on his mind being Umber.

Once he got past, he looked forward at the two fallen beams: one right in front of him — which was the one they jumped over before — and another one right by their table. One thing was odd though because laying under the beam was Umber's body, completely still.

"Holy fucking shit!" Flame reflexively said before running over to him and attempting to push the beam off.

The wooden beam was still on fire, so he ended up burning his talons even more than he already had, but he still didn't care; as long as Umber lived, he would be okay, dead or alive.

He got the beam off and now he could see Umber clear as day. He was laying on his right with one of his wings sprawled out, and the other one was bent in the completely wrong direction, definitely broken. His scales had melted around his side, back, neck, and back left leg, leaving them to be a charred mess.

I'm too late… Flame thought with heart-aching dread. No! I can still save him! I just have to get him out of this room!

He latched onto Umber's back legs — being careful to avoid his burn spot, of course — and began trying to drag him through the building. He couldn't though; Umber was way too heavy for him to drag all by himself, but he kept trying. He was never going to give up on him.

There was still one issue though: the row of carpet was still on fire and there was no way Flame would be able to carry him over it, while simultaneously getting his paws and legs burnt to a crisp — which he would gladly do for him, he just didn't think his body would physically allow him to continue carrying Umber through all of that pain.

So what he did instead was let go of his legs and lay down next to him, hugging him close and wrapping his wing around him as tight as possible and waited for the fire to inevitably kill them both. If Umber was going to die, he was going to go right along with him.

"I'm so sorry, Umber," Flame whispered with tears upon tears rolling down his face, making him lay there in a whimper. "I couldn't save you in time. But don't worry, I'm coming with you."


Author's note: I- uh…did not expect for this to be so difficult to write, but I don't know what I was really expecting. One thing I'm going to say before painfully starting the next chapter is that I also very often text in the r/wof discord writing channel ( /invite/WingsOfFire) and sometimes post leaks of some of my new chapters if you're interested. I keep them in spoilers though so that if there is the off chance that someone does read my story there, they don't get flashbanged with spoilers.