[TW] Pyrophobia

Prologue | "Ashes"

RED

The whole world around RED was engulfed in a black abyss. Everything felt like it was on fire. All he could do was sink. He felt himself transform into something he couldn't quite identify at first. Over time, he pieced it together and found himself to be a single particle of ash.

How did I get here? That was all he could think to himself. How did I end up here? One moment I was free, and now... now, I'm gone, I'm dead...

He was defeated. He told himself he'd never die once. But he was gone in a flash, just like that.

That wasn't right.

He could act as fire. He always had been a spark, a bit of a blaze, but he never truly tried to be. But now... he had a chance to. He had the chance to be a burning forest, an ignited home that no longer felt like a haven to others but felt like a beautiful oasis to him.

He always wanted to experience things, to feel things, to see things. He wanted to know how things worked. But why didn't he ever get the chance?

Why did Scope have to take that away from him?

Where... was his fire?

RED breathed slowly, or at least, he tried to. Not like he could. Could ashes breathe? They could live. Maybe. He did, after all. He swore he spotted a figure in the distance, but he couldn't make it out. Who could it be?

An eye glared at him from the dark. One all too familiar. He could name her right away.

Scope.

The only thing he could see was her white eyes, slowly duplicating, duplicating again. Staring at him. Menacing, but satisfying. Fear was what he needed. It made him feel stronger.

"Scope."

He didn't expect an answer. Really, he didn't. He fucked over her life just as she had ended his. She deserved everything she was given. Most things were bad. She never deserved places like a home. She never deserved power. And she most certainly never deserved people like RED or Duh.

Duh. That name struck as funny to him. He was Doc's now, wasn't he? Quite the rejection of a lifetime, and he was glad it happened.

RED found himself astonished, however, when Scope actually did reply to him. Although, it was admittedly salty. She obviously wasn't dumbstruck of his actions in the past; her voice was an angry mutter.

"RED. I thought you died."

She sounded unpleased. RED didn't blame her. But God, he hated that voice. He hated her as a person. What the Hell did he do wrong?

He only tried to get revenge.

"How could you think that?" RED chuckled, his voice breaking into a giggle. "No matter what shape or form I am... I can't be stopped that easily."

"Quite clearly. I'm not an idiot."

"Not an idiot." RED echoed, his voice mocking, as intended to be. "You were an idiot, doing all of this. You ruined your own life when you tried to ruin others."

"I never tried to ruin other lives." Scope snorted. "You know damn well it was an experiment. Besides, I gave you power. You should be grateful."

"Who said I wasn't?" RED questioned, floating around Scope with ease. He was only a speck of ash, a particle of cinder. That was simple for him. "You gave me so much and took as much away from you. How does it feel, to lose?"

"I didn't lose. I never had a goal."

"There it is!" RED jeered. "You admit defeat. You admit that you never even had a goal in the first place! How embarrassing."

Scope didn't reply to him, or even scream at him like she did to a few others.

"You did lose. You experimented on me like some guinea pig in a scientist's laboratory, and all for what? Nothing? Nothing like you say it is?"

"I was not!" Scope exclaimed. "I had to try it out. You would've just ended up calling me a coward, if it wasn't you."

"I thought you didn't care about people at all." RED mocked her. "I thought that was your 'goal'."

"I never said that." Scope returned, her voice even.

"Oh, no. I never said you did. But you act like it." RED floated closer, buzzing around Scope's face like a bee. "You really think I think you're a good person, Scope?"

"Stop putting words in my mouth." Scope hissed. "I'm a terrible person, and I know that damn well."

"So, why aren't you trying to fix that?"

"What is there to fix anymore?" Scope snapped. "I ruined this God-forbidden planet. The 'Spreading' or whatever the Hell that idiot calls it is all over the place now."

"It can't spread anymore though."

"Who are you to confirm that? You're not dead."

"You're right, for once in your sorry life."

"That's a very stupid thing to say."

"You only say that because you're so afraid to be wrong." RED mocked her. "You think you've always been correct. But when have you ever been?"

"I never said that, RED." Scope grumbled.

"But you think it. You think it, and I know that for a fact." RED had begun to float away, drifting in the open black air.

"How could you be so sure?" Scope countered.

RED paused, midair, and turned to face Scope. She couldn't really tell that, of course. But he was giving her the sharpest glare he had given in a long time.

"Did you really just ask that question, Scope?"

Scope had opened her mouth to argue, but immediately got cut off.

"You really just asked that!" RED broke into a fit of laughter, no longer concentrating on the previous conversation. "And here you were, acting like you were the smart one. Acting like you deserved everything."

"You know I never said that, I—"

"Wow!" RED interrupted, a stupid grin on his invisible face. "You narcissistic asshole."

Scope grumbled to herself and took a step back. "What the Hell are you doing here, anyways? This isn't reality. I don't even know where I am."

"Nor do I, Scope." RED buzzed around her again, circling countless times before stopping in front of her. "This is some hopeless abyss. This is where your heart lies. In a burning pile."

"Is that all you're doing here? To just ramble annoyingly about how much I suck?"

"I'm here to confirm something." RED grinned, whirling close so he was only a few inches away from Scope's face. "This isn't over. None of it is until you're dead."

Scope's eye twitched, but she didn't reply.

"You and those stupid... brats! All three of you will die! Just you wait."

And with that, the world around him cut to black.