Up in Flames (Fire Force fanfic)

Chapter Thirty: Infestation

Joker smirks as he lights a new cigarette, "Do you want to get back to where we left off? Or should we start fresh?"

"Fresh deck and let's do this away from prying ears and eyes."

"Fair enough. Hey can we use one of the private card rooms to play? Too noisy out here."

The host comes over with a key and leads us to a back room with cards and a table set up; the host looks between us, "No funny business. People have to clean up the rooms."

My face heats up and I am at a loss for words. Joker finds this amusing, "Ah no nothing like that. Besides I hear around here she's got a man."

The card den host huffs, "How boring. Just don't make a mess."

We walk in and Joker shuts the door behind us; the lights are already on and on the table there's a variety of cards for us to play with.

He sits across from me, "Five card draw but whiskey instead of sake for each round...and the loser has to tell the winner whatever information they know. And passing a round is an automatic loss."

"Whatever let's do this." I pour myself a glass of whiskey from the handle of liquor under the card table.

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I lose the first round; while Joker shuffles the cards to give us a fresh hand for the next round he asks, "What exactly happened ten years ago? I never heard the full story."

I down a shot of whiskey; my mind already picturing their burning coal eyes. "Ten years ago...it happened in the middle of the night after celebrating Tsukimi's final night. I woke up..." I can see the moonlight shining through the autumn trees. "I had to go to the bathroom. I remember looking out into our yard and..." there was a man. There was a man. "I saw a man. He came over to me and crouched in front of me. I can't remember his face," liar. I don't want to remember his disgusting face. "but I remember his eyepatch. He pulled out five vials and pressed one of them against my arm. Fire engulfed me as he slipped by. I thought I was going to die but instead the flames were my own to control. That's when the screams happened..." those horrible, howling screams. The orange light in each room as they came running out on fire. "The rest of that story you'll have to win."

Joker grins, "Fair enough. Next round."

He deals me my cards. And I do everything in my power to keep my emotions from surfacing in front of this guy. He does not NEED to see my vulnerability.

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I win the next round and as I shuffle the cards I ask, "Why was my family targeted?"

Joker lights a cigarette, "Well based on what I've heard and seen around the local gambling scene, she won a huge load of money from someone associated with the fire force and church of Sol. The guy who lost almost skipped out on his debt, but I heard that your mother threatened to expose his illicit activities to the church. She was then paid in full. But...there was talk of getting back at her through bug infestation...something like that."

"An infestation?" I ask in a semi daze.

"Remember these were rumors so I would take some of it with a grain of salt."

"You entice me with gossip?" I raise an eyebrow at him.

"There's always some truth in a rumor but I was there when she won that money." I stand up, Joker smirks, "Got your attention? Sorry but you'll have to win to get more." 

I deal out the cards, "Believe me I will."

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I lost the next round and Joker says, "Well continue your story."

I take two more shots of whiskey, "My parents ran out of their room and set the living room ablaze. They noticed me..." burning coal eyes. Flames licking at the walls burning all in their path. "and attacked me. I ran as fast as I could out of the house. I fell on the gravel driveway as they lunged after me. My grandpa came out of nowhere and struck my father through the heart. My mother turned to him..." there were tears in his eyes. His entire body was shaking like the fallen leaves. "as she was about to attack him, my brother grabbed my leg and dragged me away into the cover of the forest." His vice grip burning my ankle; I cried. "I turned around and used my ignition ability to slash off his arm. He fell down and then I..." killed my infernal brother. "killed him. I came back to find my grandfather on his knees crying in front of my mother's ashes. And that's the end of my family's story."

Joker deals out my hand, "Your grandfather also had the ignition ability?"

"Not before that night he didn't." I suck in some air to keep myself from crying.

Joker looks at me contemplatively, "Alright next round."

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I suspect that he allowed me to win this round...but I don't care. I need to know. "I want to know why you were at the Rookie Games yesterday?"

"Don't want to hear anything else about your mother?"

"Answer the question." I demand.

"Multiple reasons but I guess I could narrow it to three reasons. First reason is that there was some kid there who had a very similar experience to you except the church seems to have great interest in him. Can't divulge too much to you since that kid is a work in progress. Second reason was that a friend of mine wanted to experiment using infernal ash to strengthen my flames."

"And the third?"

He laughs, "Because it is a pleasure to burn."