Ashes (Flame Ash Burned Backstory)

Chapter 10: Diary

24th December 2002

The two fire children, both aged seven years old at this point, had been together for over one whole year, and had set up shelter several miles outside of a large, bustling city. They had found a small, old shed and set up a home for themselves inside it, filling it with items they had stolen from different stores around the city under the cover of night.

They knew stealing was wrong, of course they did, but they had no other choice. Neither of them had any money. They were desperate. As winter came, food became scarce in the woods, so they had to rely on being stealthy and quick enough to get into stores and steal food without being seen once. Not by people, and definitely not by CCTV cameras.

The last thing they wanted was attention.

After some unfortunate run-ins with some rather unpleasant people who had their own prejudices against Fire People based on the stories they had heard of what Fire People had done in the past, Flame and Phoenix had decided that regular-human interaction should be avoided at all costs.

The shed the two had made their home in was dark practically all the time, as there was no windows to let the light in during the day, so the only light source when inside the shed with the doors closed came from Flame and Phoenix's glowing hair and the fire they made. It was about seven meters in length and about five meters in width, and the place stank of rotting wood, but it was better than nothing.

"Flamey?" Phoenix asked, sitting in the open doorway of the shed, looking ahead of him at his best friend, who was tidying up their sleeping area inside.

"Yeah, Phio?" Flame replied, glancing over her shoulder to acknowledge him before going back to folding their blankets up and brushing some dust away. ((A/N: "Phio" is pronounced as "Fee-yo," just shortening Phoenix's name))

"Can you..." He hesitated for a moment, rethinking his question before just deciding to go through with asking it. "Can you tell me about your family?"

Flame immediately froze in place. She had never mentioned a thing to Phoenix about her family, but had hinted that the things in her life were dead - she had explained to him that she had chosen her middle name, 'Ash' because of that when she met him. Maybe he wouldn't have asked if she had just told him her family was dead, and that it was a difficult topic to talk about.

However, he was her best friend. She had watched when he had lost everything: his family, his home, and his life. She had seen him at his worst. There should be no problem with her telling him about her family.

Flame turned her head slightly to look at him. "They're dead, Phoenix."

Phoenix's eyes widened, and he was completely overcome with guilt. He regretted asking, because he could tell by the pain in her voice that she hated saying it. Hated thinking about it, even though there was no escaping it. "Flame, I'm so sorry..." He looked down at the ground, biting his lip nervously. "I shouldn't have said anything-"

"No, it's alright." Flame hastily responded, moving closer to Phoenix and hugging him, realizing she had made him feel guilty about asking the question. "You're my best friend. You should know, anyway."