Moonlight: A Gay Twilight Fan Fiction (Emmett Cullen boyxboy)

Chapter 1: Burning

Jo tried to focus on keeping his jaw tightly clenched. Struggling as he fought against a scream as it clawed its way out of his lungs. He could no longer feel any distinction between the parts of his body. He was just one mass of burning ash. No more than the scorched imprint of a person. How much longer? He thought to himself. Make it stop. Please, make it stop. Any words he had attempted to form turned into screams of agony in his throat.

The fire started as a sharp pain in his shoulder and quickly ran down the length of his arm and across his chest. In an instant he was hyper aware of every inch of his body as the flames rapidly spread. He knew he had blacked out and came to multiple times in quick succession but was now trapped in total consciousness as his body burned. His eyes fluttered every so often, giving him passing glimpse of his surroundings, but never lasting long enough for his brain to focus. The pain was all enveloping, leaving no space for anything else. A few times the smokey haze in his mind would clear, and he was able to take in more detail. The rush of air, lights blurring by and then a dark musky room. But those glimpses vanished as quickly as they appeared. Eventually, the connections between his body and his brain began to mend themselves. He could now reach his mind down the snaking arms of the fire into each limb, feeling for the extent of the damages. As he did so, the limb seemed to jump back to life and was now adding its own brand of torture to the cacophony.

Jo focused on breathing. In. Out. In. Out. Slow and deliberate. How long does it take to die? Was he dying? In. Out. In. Out. A soft padding noise. In. Out. In. Out. The creak of hinges. In. Out. In. Out. Another person breathing, their pace low and slow. How long had it been? Minutes? Hours? Days?

The stranger in the room was standing very still, only their breathing gave away that they were there. It never faltered, like a metronome keeping a perfect beat. Without realizing, Jo began to count each inhale. His mind began to clear, or rather, it began to expand. The pain was still there, but it was relegated to a mere side thought, background noise. Another sound began to stick out. His heart was drumming in his ears so loudly, he was shocked he hadn't heard it before. It was beating furiously to push what he knew was now gelatinous blood. With each beat it lurched forward in his veins like thick magma. Cooling for an instant before igniting with the next wet pump. Every now and then his heart would sputter from the strain, and Jo felt the air catch in his lungs each time. He thought for certain if the fire didn't kill him, his heart would.

"I knew you would be beautiful. But even now I can see I was wrong with just how beautiful." The voice chimed as soft as a bell but crashed into Jo's head like a siren. Smooth as silk, it washed over his thoughts, drowning out his labored heart beats. A light French accent wove its way through her words, making them almost musical. "Your heart is strong. The heart of a fighter. I am sorry for the pain, but I promise it will all be over soon. And when it is, you will be stronger, faster and more beautiful than you could have ever imagined."

It was the voice of an angel, and she was promising he would soon be pulled from his pyre. Her voice echoed around his still ever-expanding mind.

It started in the tips of his fingers and toes. The flames began to pull away, and in its place a welcome coolness settled in. The retreat was slow, but steady. As they crept back up his arms and legs, a strange sensation of calm and strength radiated down the muscle. As though tissue was being expertly replaced with steel. But, as soon as the flames passed his knees and elbows, heat began to pulse from the outer reaches and into the center of his chest. With each heartbeat, the flames retreated closer and closer and the flames grew hotter and hotter. Jo's body rocketed into a panic, causing his lungs to suck in air faster than they could expel it. His brain and chest felt like they would burst from the pressure, his heart beat so hard his torso began to lift up.