Blood and Ash || Fire Force x Male Reader

Shell Shock

A metallic smell filled the air as your (E/c) eyes took the chance to gaze around. Nothing but smoke and ash fluttering around you. It was hard to tell what exactly was going on but a weight filled your chest and nearly buckled your knees as the hair on the back of your neck stood up. Something was familiar about this place... But as you gazed down at your bare hands you couldn't quite grasp the idea. Your hands felt numb and you couldn't even feel the burning embers landing in your palms. 

(Y/n): What is this...?

Something heavy brushed past your shoulder though there was nothing there as you glanced over your shoulder. A searing heat engulfed the air around you as the breath was sucked out of your lungs. Your gaze was growing hazy with a thick layer of smoke covering your vision as you clenched your hands softly. Your eyes slid closed as you took in an almost desperate breath before huffing it out. 

(Y/n): Just my head messing with me...

You mumbled out softly as your hands unclenched and your eyes opened. Surprisingly enough the sight of thick smoke and fire was gone. You couldn't even see your hands as they were housed in a pair of your uniform gloves. You were instead being jostled around by fire company 8's armored vehicle. Your brain was still wrapped in the sudden feelings and sensations you had experienced but you were back in the present for now. Your mind was strange like that. Your brain was filled with flirts and jokes that often fell flat, useless facts and ideas... as well as painful memories and visions that seemingly overpowered your logic at times. The trauma you couldn't avoid but then again... who really hasn't experienced some trauma? 

Something flicked against the side of your helmet and drew your gaze over in time to see Maki. She didn't say anything but you could tell she was concerned at how zoned out you were considering you were pulling up to a sighting of an Infernal. Managing a gulp you pulled a smile onto your face before offering her a wink. Maki's concerned look almost immediately dropped before she turned away from you. A chuckle escaped your lips as the Matchbox finally arrived at the scene and company 8 piled out of the vehicle. It was an ordinary home. Nothing special or malevolent but that was often the case with random appearances of flame people. Someone who had already been at the scene approached the captain to explain the situation but your gaze was drawn instead to a young girl crying in front of the home next to a nurse.

Hinawa: Two years ago the child's mother also became an Infernal.

Ōbi: Now it's her Dad's turn? How cruel...

Iris: Battalion commander Ōbi?

The captain went to speak but didn't have much of a chance as he took note of you already kneeling before the girl, her gaze vacantly lifting up to rest on you but her eyes looking miles away. Ōbi ordered the others to prepare to enter but left you to your own devices. Despite still not knowing much of your past to this day, he trusted you when it came to tender moments like this. Truthfully, there was nothing you could say to try and comfort the girl. She had lost both parents to infernals and now your company had arrived to extinguish her Dad. Despite your jovial attitude, it was moments like these that made you sick to your stomach about this terrible world of yours. All you could do at this moment was open your arms to the girl. Her eyes seemed to finally register with you before another wave of tears shed down her face. She pressed forward and awkwardly laid against your chest as you completed the hug. The poor girl sobbed into your chest and you simply allowed her sorrow to spill out onto your uniform. 

The comforting embrace did not last long as the situation in the house seemingly deteriorated at a rapid rate. Flames spit out from the roof of the home in an almost skull shape before the booming sound rattled you softly. You peeled back from the girl and rested the blanket on her shoulders once more before offering her a smile and rushing back to follow the team inside the building.