Firestorm (Ace x OC)

Chapter 2: Smoldering Gaze

Their eyes... Staring... Uncaring... Glaring... Judging... All followed after the child who wore torn-up clothes and carried a bruised fruit and stale and semi-moldy bread. Scraps were all that could be gotten from the bins behind shops, gathered with care by the young child. Moving through the alleyways of the town towards the outskirts. Towards home. 

A droplet of water hit the back of the girl's neck as she picked up the pace trying to get to her small shelter. The rain began to fall a bit harder, obscuring the surroundings slightly, the girl clutched her salvaged food to her chest and hunched forward as she ran. Seeing the heavy leaf-covered structure she had built was still standing she momentarily lost her careful steps. Her foot slipped out from under her from the muddy ground, the scraps she had carried tumbling into a shallow puddle. 

"No..." The girl whimpered hurrying to pick up the food and quickly got under her small fort. In the rippling reflection of herself in the puddle she could see the deathly pale skin, light freckles splattered across her gaunt cheeks. Her eyes were a dull steel grey-blue in color, dark circles resting under her tired and puffy eyes. She grimaced at the sight before quickly getting into her makeshift fort. She huddled on the ground quickly pulling off the soppy crust of the bread to avoid losing as much as possible. She tossed the discarded mess of soaked bread as far as she could into the bushes nearby. She began to pull the molded parts of the bread off and did the same, her face perking up slightly seeing she had managed to salvage enough bread that she could hold it in both hands.

Despite the taste of lingering dirt, she ate it quickly to quiet her growling stomach before turning to what she assumed was an apple... or was it a black plum... it was hard to tell but as she bit into the fruit it certainly was an apple, the flesh within sweeter than normal as it had almost become a mush within the skin. 

The girl sputtered as she jumped at the sound of lightning crashing somewhere nearby with a roar of thunder. "Why... why do you cry sky? Everyone looks at you so fondly. Are you crying for something?" the girl asked the storm while tears began to fall as she hugged her knees to her chest. Another crash of thunder rolled through the sky as lightning crashed into the ground closer to the small camp. Looking outside she could see the area where lightning had struck and let out a startled scream as lightning struck once again, hitting the tree beside where she was taking shelter. She watched in fear as the tree split into two pieces and one flaming half started to fall towards her.

~~~

Ryoko sat up with a choked gasp, heart hammering in her chest as she looked around the room and then out of the porthole window. There was no storm. She took a few calming breaths to slow her breathing and heart rate as she grabbed a small cloth from her bedside in order to wipe away the sweat covering her face. She swings her legs off the side of her bed before biting into her knuckle at the sharp pain that struck up her leg. Her eyes flicked down to the bandages wrapped around her leg as a scowl hit her face. 

Being more careful now, the sniper carefully moved to get onto her feet. She reached down and grabbed the hem of her damp white outfit and peeled it off the rest of her body before drying herself off a little with a small towel. She began to grumble to herself as she pulled on a new shirt and sat down to carefully pull on a pair of shorts. She glanced around the room quickly realizing she didn't have her sniper rifle on her back, becoming slightly panicked as it was her only gun at the moment. Her eyes flicked to the far corner, relief washing over her as she carefully stood up again and moved along the wall to get to her rifle which had been set to dry. 

She grabbed her case and slung it and the rifle over her shoulder as she moved back to the door, using the wall as a support. When she opened the door she was greeted with the delightful smell of cooking food, however as she moved to the railing she glared at the steps leading to the deck. "Stupid stairs..." she muttered as she gingerly places her right foot onto the first step and then brings her left foot down, hissing at the pain of the bandaging shifting on the skin.