Deucalion Family One-Shots

The Fire

It was an ordinary Wednesday evening at the Hotel Deucalion... well, not quite - it was the holidays, so naturally, the Hotel was buzzing with life. The staff were busy working, except Fen, who was with Jupiter, Morrigan and Jack. The four of them were on the rooftop, watching the sunset. It was truly beautiful, the orange, pink, yellow and slight red colours all mixed together. Morrigan liked the dark, purply shade it turned the surrounding clouds.

Slowly, the sun began the disappear and by the time a slither of it was left, the world around the 4 of the Hotel had become colder.

"Alright you three! I think it's time to go back inside," Jupiter said, calling them all back to the real world.

They all turned and began the descent down. Fen went off to do who-knows-what, Jack went off to study for an upcoming exam while Morrigan and Jupiter went down to the Lobby to see how the Hotel was going.

Not much was happening, just the usual - someone had tried to smuggle a bison in, a few kids got lost, Fen had scared some people and Frank was planning some sort of extravagant event for the coming weekend. About an hour later, Jupiter had decided to head to dinner 15 minutes early, dragging Mog along with him. They were a hallway away from the dining room when they heard it. The fire alarm.

Morrigan turned to Jupiter, heart-pounding - the alarm was inside the Hotel.

"We have to get out. NOW." Jupiter told her, worry evident in his voice. He grabbed her arm and hurried back down the hall, yelling for everyone to go to the emergency assembly point. By the time Morrigan and Jupiter got to the lobby, they could smell the smoke.

"Jupiter!" Martha cried, racing over to them. She was ghostly pale.

"Martha, has the fire department been contacted?" She nodded, "Yes sir."

"Okay, where's the fire?"

"It's on the seventh, fifth and third floor, but we don't know where it started. Captain, it's arsonist's fire."

Jupiter paled and Morrigan had two thoughts. One, what was "arsonist's fire" and two, why on Earth were they standing in the middle of the Lobby discussing this?! They should be getting themselves and everyone else out to the assembly point! Jupiter seemed to realise this and instructed Martha to get Morrigan out while he tried to get the guests out.

When Martha and Morrigan reached the assembly point, Dame Chanda and Frank met them, both looking extremely worried and Morrigan supposed this wasn't the sort of drama Frank liked.

"Where's Charlie, Fenestra, Kedgeree and Jack?" Martha asked loudly, trying to be heard over the noisy guests and looking even paler than before.

"Charlie's helping Jupiter but I don't know where the other two are, " Chanda nearly yelled over the noise.

Morrigan looked back at the Hotel, a lot of it was ablaze. She could see her bedroom glowing orange. More people were coming out to the small hill which was the assembly point. Morrigan scanned them for her friends-more-like-family. No luck until the end of the swarm of frightened guests. There was Fen, swatting people out of the way and hissing things such as "move it" and "stop panicking, you'll make it worse". Kedgeree and Jack were trailing behind her, apologising for the Magnificat's attitude.

When the three reached them, Chanda, Martha, Frank and Morrigan all let out sighs of relief - that was three less people they had to worry about. Fen went off to try to get everyone to settle down until Jupiter got there, while Chanda, Martha and Frank went off to make sure Fen did this in a kind manner, leaving Kedgeree, Jack and Morrigan to discuss how this happened.

"Well, this was the last situation I expected to be in when I woke up this morning, " Jack said grimly.

Kedgeree nodded in agreement, "Arsonist's Fire they say it is."

Jack gave him a bewildered look, "Really?" he asked, turning back to look at the burning Hotel, "well.. it does look like it."

"Umm, what's 'Arsonist's Fire'?" Morrigan inquired, still not knowing what it was.

"It's a magical fire that spreads quicker than usual fire. Used by arsonists for... well, arson."

"Oh.."

"It's terrible stuff, 'Arsonist's Fire', Lassie. Used to be no way to put it out until three Ages ago. Highly illegal now of course, it stopped being made too," Kedgeree said, staring at the Hotel which was now nearly completely engulfed by flames.

"Are you lot alright?"

The voice startled the three as they had not seen Jupiter or Charlie exit the burning building. The shock was over and quickly replaced with relief. Jupiter gave each a hug and Morrigan noted that he smelt strongly of smoke.

"Jupiter! Charlie!" Chanda yelled, pointing them out to Fen, Martha and Frank.

"Oh thank goodness," Martha cried, breathless, running over to embrace the two.

The Nevermoor Fire Department shortly arrived and began an attempt to control the fire. The guests of the Hotel were led to a park across the road whilst Jupiter and the rest of his gang continued to watch the blaze that was once their home. Morrigan took this time to study her companions;

Martha had tears streaming her face and was clutching onto Charlie who held her, slowly stroking her back while she sobbed into his chest, a few tears of his own sliding down his face. Beside them was Frank. The Vampire-dwarf was silently crying, leaning against Dame Chanda as she gave a sad and teary half-smile, one of her hands on Jupiter's shoulder. Jupiter... he looked like he had lost everything he had ever owned. Looking to her right, Morrigan saw Kedgeree, head bowed slightly, eyes closed as if he was paying his final respect to the Hotel. To her left, stood Jack, he seemed as though he was struggling with his emotions about this event - after all, he, like Morrigan, had been taken into the Hotel Deucalion and been given a family. He met her eyes and the two shared a sad, half-smile.

The blaze was slowly dying and in a matter of minutes they were able to see the damage. It was horrible. Morrigan felt a few tears slide down her face - there was only burnt rumble. She could make out where objects used to be or were still partly there, such as the love-seat that she and Jack had waited upon Jupiter most holidays when he was returning from an exhibition or if the three were going somewhere. The Concierge desk which Kedgeree had polished just this morning was barely there. The giant, black, bird chandelier wasn't there at all.

Fen, Chanda and Frank went off to find out more information while Martha and Charlie went and sat with Kedgeree under a nearby tree. Morrigan slowly approached Jupiter, not knowing what to say or what to do. He looked down at her with a sad smile which she returned. He put an arm around her and beckoned Jack over, draping his other arm around his shoulders.

Drawing them both close to him he said, "We'll be alright. It'll take some time to get over this, but we will. Eventually. I know we will!"

They may have lost their home that unfortunate night, but they still had each other and as long as they were together, they would make it through anything. 

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I watched a thing with a fire in it and now here we are. Arsonist's fire came from the idea of a type of fire that spread quickly and you would be lucky to escape it... and this is Nevermoor (and a fanfic) - anything could happen. If anyone has any requests/prompts for this book, they would be much appreciated, if not, that's okay too. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed!