Ashes (Flame Ash Burned Backstory)

Chapter 16: Little Ass-Kicker

31st October 2007

It was Flame's twelfth birthday, and she had been training hard -practically non-stop- for the past year, so that she knew she would be able to challenge Magma for the crown. Phoenix and Jaws had been incredibly supportive of her, of course, because they knew she had what it would take to beat the Fire Queen.

Flame had packed her things early that morning, before any of the other students at the school had woken up, and had been allowed to take whatever else she wanted from the room she had been staying in for the past few years. She had been awake since five o'clock, and after packing her things, she had decided to sit on the roof of the school to watch the sunrise.

A gentle breeze swept Flame's fiery hair to one side and scattered the golden autumn leaves on the ground below. The sunrise matched the girl's hair: mixtures of ruby reds, warm oranges and bright yellows painted across the sky.

It had been ten years to the day since her life was turned completely upside-down.

Ten years ago, the nameless man forced his way into her life.

Ten years ago, her mother was killed.

Flame ran her finger along the smooth white bones of the skeletal hand on her necklace. She had never taken it off, and wouldn't until she had gotten rid of the man who ruined her life. 

"Hey, little ass-kicker." Blaze said, surprising Flame by seemingly appearing beside her. He rested his head on one hand upon the railing surrounding the roof and gazed at the sunrise. "I still can't believe you're leaving today... It only seems like yesterday that I met you and Phoenix and brought you here..."

The little fire girl looked at him - Blaze, the one person who had been the closest thing she had ever had to a father figure in her life - and saw worry etched on his face.

"Something's wrong. I can tell by the look on your face." She said. "What's wrong?"

He sighed, running a hand through his hair and sweeping it out of his eyes. "I'm scared, honestly. For you, and for myself." He turned, leaning his back against the railing and looking up at the sky. "Magma is crazy, you know that. If -for whatever reason- you don't beat her, she's going to kill you - publicly, too. And if you do beat her, like I know you will, she'll have more time to spend searching for me. I don't ever plan on going back to her."

"She's planning to increase the population of the Fire Kingdom so she can train as many people up as soldiers as she can and then she'll take control of The Under-Realm." Flame commented. "I remember her saying that in one of her diary entries."

"It's not right." Blaze said. "It's not fair." Then he looked down. "But she convinced me, at one time, that masses of the innocent down there in The Under-Realm needed to be slaughtered in order for their ruler to understand that he shouldn't mess with us. I've killed so many innocent people: men, women, children, the sick and the elderly. I can still hear their screams in my nightmares. I'll never forgive myself for what I've done, and if I could go back in time, I'd never have done it..."