Moment to Moment

It was a pleasure to burn.

An even greater pleasure to watch, to feel the flames licking at your skin but not be burned yourself. Yes. Her inventions were beautiful, really. The way you got to step into flame as if it were nothing but a familiar friend. Once more, the thought crossed her mind.

Was this what Arsen felt like?

The screams distracted her, ripped her from her firegazing and back into the harsh reality. They were terrified. Trapped. It was sad, really. Someone should save them.

Boots moving silently over the burning floor, Karma continued to wander through the apartment building, her eyes watching with barely suppressed glee as she glanced at her watch again.

Five minutes.

The flames had been as hungry as she was.

The sirens neared - five minutes, honestly, she would fire firefighters for being so slow, no pun intended - and then screeched to a halt outside. Her firegazing was at an end now. How unfortunate.

She’d have to start another, then.

Moving briskly, she followed the whimpers - rather than the screams - and found two four year olds, a brother and sister, curled around each other protectively. They glanced up at her with a mixture of both hope and fright, fearing the flames and praying for a savior.

“It is alright.” She whispered softly, sliding the jacket off. Her boots were next. The temperature rose immediately, sweat drenching her entire person in a matter of seconds. Stepping into the closet, she flipped both sets of clothing inside out, leaving them for the fire to claim. Hothead didn’t like them, anyway. She’d just need to invent an alternative. She was close, in any matter.

Barefoot now, she kneeled before the twins, looking at them both carefully. “I want you to take a great big breath.” She said calmly, holding her arms out for emphasis. “And hold it like we’re going underwater.”

They nodded, taking deep breaths of the fresh air beneath the smoke as the fire came closer. Picking the two up easily, placing one on each hip, Karma ran, her feet hitting the floor faster than the flames could properly burn her. The soles of her feet were blackened by ash by the time she reached the doorway, other parts of her body moderately burnt as well. The two angels she carried remained relatively unharmed, but for their red faces.

She burst through the door as the fire trucks pulled up, a panicked look on her face that slightly calmed at the sight of the bright red fire engines.

“There are some still inside!” She yelled breathlessly. She had not been breathing during the run. Poor form. She would need some smoke in her lungs.

Coughing quite believably as the medics took her and the children beside the ambulance, she waved away their help, demanding that they look at the children first. The complex exploded just as the last firefighter exited with the final survivor. The crowd outside had grown by then, and they all reacted the same way.

It was a miracle, they exclaimed, that no one had been killed. Another, they gasped, that no one had been seriously injured. On cue, the reporters noticed her, ran over and pointed their cameras. She recounted her tale with a shaking voice. She’d just been passing through, she mumbled, when she had heard the flames. She had run inside, hoping to warn those entrapped, when she heard them. Blake and Elena, the brother and sister, had been hiding in a closet. She had run out just as the athorities had arrived.

“I must be very blessed.” She said, a single tear running down her face. “To not have perished myself.”

The story spread faster than lightning, live on three news stations before she could do more than blink. A hero, they called her, praising her to the high heavens. A heroine, A savior, A blessing to all. The night was just full of miracles, they decided in awe.

Yes, Karma agreed silently. The miracles of timing.

Kyrie hardly noticed anyone else, as he slipped beside the girl, his bright gaze frozen on the building. The bright light of it had attracted him earlier. He had noted it long before anyone else. He had been standing there long before anyone else.

Except for the girl he now stood beside.

"You lie exceptionally well," he stated in a neutral tone. It was neither accusatory or complimentary. It was merely a statement made off of an observation. "Do you always save people from the fires you start."

The boy was flexing his right hand, the skin red and inflamed, from where he had attempted to catch the fire. He enjoyed the way the pain flashed up his arm. It distracted him for a moment.

"The flames were pretty," he stated after a long moment, his mind finally recalling that he still had things it wished to say. He had still yet to look at the girl he stood beside. In fact he was speaking so low, that anyone looking at the two of them would not think he was talking to anyone at all.

"Its a pity no one burned."

Karma smiled softly, examining her feet as they slowly healed, standing up beside the boy and gazing into the flames. A firefighter had draped his coat around her shoulders, and the thing hung around her, giving her the appearance of being smaller, younger. Her eyes had also been enraptured on the flames. She'd noticed him too, while the kerosene had spread over the hallway floor and started its lazy way down the stairs. She loved that about the amber liquid. It was always so effortless, moving with ease. Starting fires so easily. It was almost unfair.

"Couldn't be caught." She said, her voice lowered to match his, lips barely moving. To anyone else, it was as if she wasn't talking at all. She had only met the boy beside her once, and that was only in the passing. "Hello Ky." She greeted. "Everyone needs a miracle, once in a while. Puts false hope in them."

"It is a shame, isn't it? I thought they'd have been slower. My apologies." She glanced down at the boy's hand, recognizing the burn. "Would you like a way to touch it?" She asked. "Pick it up and hold it in your hand? I know how. I've done it."

"Being caught does... cause things more difficulty," he responded easily, his brain searching to figure out why the girl beside him knew his name, though he hardly even realized his mind was even doing it. It was often like that, Ky's brain doing things he was not aware were being done, until suddenly... he had results he had no idea how they got there.

"Hope makes people sparkle. People always want... so much to hope. When hopes gone... they sparkle less so."

"Inno. You know Inno." The conclution, as predicted came out of his mouth with out him ever knowing he had searched for it, and was forgotten as soon as it was spoken.

"You've touched it? Truly? Fire is too magestic to tame," he stated softly, "But oh how one wants to."

"I have." She said, watching the flames as the rescue teams dispersed, checking up on her only once before she was left alone with the man beside her. "Touched it, I mean. And I didn't even burn." Slowly, she reached inside her pockets and pulled out the gloves, fingerless prototypes that Arsen had never gotten to. He hadn't wanted her to have them, so perhaps she should...

Offering them to Ky was easy, a small smile gracing her features. "Here. You can... touch it now. Pick it up and hold it. Send it on it's course. I can't promise control- but it's close enough."

Taking the proffered gloves with silent aw, the young man looked over them slowly, hardly daring to believe they really worked. There was a part of his mind, however deeply burried, that new that what she was offering him (even with magic) shouldn't be entirly possible.

And yet...

He put the gloves on slowly, moving his hands in them, taking in the feeling with each bend. They looked perfectly normal.... but he felt an odd sort of power emminating from them.

"I can... touch it?"

Karma nodded, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a lighter. She flicked it on casually, holding the flame out toward Ky. "Yes. Here, try it." She smiled, demonstrating to make a cup with her hands. "It won't hurt. and you can hold it."

The young man held out his hand eagerly, following directions with ease. He wasn't afraid of being hurt, even if she had said it could hurt him, he wouldn't have been afraid. The pain from the first burn was still alive, stinging.

It was exhilaration.

But it was nothing compared to watching the flame bend to his control, resting in his hand like a simple little ball. A ball that could be so destructive. The orange glow illuminated the awe on his face.

"It's so bright."