Fallen Hero (Check Author's note!)

Fire.

Jim's timeline, Jim's Pov:

Toby and I walked through the sunset roads. It was nearly 7:00 and my mother had gotten suspicious. Toby had stopped by a taco truck, while I stood to the side. I scrolled through my phone, trying to look busy, when in reality my phone was empty.

"Jimbo! You want one?"

"Nah, I'm good." I stopped myself from continuing. "Do you smell that?"

"It smells like tacos."

"No no, it smells like smoke. A lot of smoke."

I spun around to see a gigantic fire, a few buildings from where we were standing. The distant sound of sirens got louder and louder.

"What do you think caused it?" I asked.

"A microwave exploding maybe. Or they left their stove on. I just hope there was nobody in there."

We walked around the large fire, and saw people crawling out of the building on ladders. People whispered indistinctly all around us.

"That's a lot bigger than it looked on the other side."

"That's everyone." I heard one of the firefighters say. "We checked a couple times, but there was nobody else. Guess they just heard debris falling, and thought it was someone."

"Jim? Why are you looking at the fire like you're going to do something?"

"I think there's someone still in there."

"How do you know?"

"I just-" I stopped, "I have a hunch."

I looked around and made sure everyone wasn't looking.

"I need you to cover me. I'll go in and-"

"What happens when the fire cooks you alive?!" He asked, worried.

"I'll go in with armor. I mean, the armor is made of Daylight, so what's the worst that could happen?"

"You could die?" He suggested.

"Don't think about the little things."

"But-"

Without letting him finish, I dashed into the building. My armor started heating up, but not enough to burn me. I went into a coughing fit as the smoke entered my lungs. I saw bits of purple fire- Wait, purple fire?

I ran towards it to see Claire on the ground. Her hair was almost completely white.

"You're alive..." She said, her throat sore.

"How did you get here?" I asked, helping her up.

I threw her arm around my shoulder, while she shifted her entire weight onto me. She let out a long staggered breath.

"Are you ok though? The... other timeline is..."

"Is what?"

"It's a disaster..." She said.

Her eyes fluttered closed, and her body went limp. I quickly ran out with her, only to

be spotted by the people around the building.

"Look, they made it out!" Someone yelled.

I looked over at Toby, who was fiddling with his thumbs. He ran over to me with a guilty looking face.

"Sorry... I thought you wouldn't make it out! You took like an hour."

"But, I was only in there for 5 minutes?"

"No. You were in there for an entire hour! It's 8:00. And wait, is that Claire?"

"What did you do Toby?"

"I may have told them you were in there-" he squeaked out.

"What?!"

"Isn't that councilwoman Nunez's daughter?", "Look at what that guy is wearing!", "Whoa, is her hair white?"

We're screwed.