Oneshot stories| FireWeaver

Nightmare and Fantasy

-A/N-
This could technically be in the story but it's more like a side story so due to story pacing I'm putting it here in the one shots. This happens after the events of chapter fifteen, before arc 2. Enjoy!

Fire. Brilliant orange conveyed in tall wisps that lapped at the buildings around her. A child was screaming- sobbing somewhere close to her, but as Esme frantically looked around, she realized there was no one else around except her. She was screaming.

"Mama! Mama!" She coughed and felt tears cake soot to her cheeks.

The house in front of her was beginning to crumble- tiles from the roof shattering on the ground in fractured terracotta.

She knew her home had always been close to a *comunidades, but she had never expected this. For the masked men to flood her neighborhood streets. To torch all the surrounding homes- send cars crashing in explosions that rocked the ground. If volcan de San Salvador erupted she wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

"Esmerelda!"

She heard a voice scream from inside. The dark door groaned as the fire began to crack its surface. The flor de izote that she had just planted with her mother was singed now- the scent of the flowers overpowered by pillars of smoke.

"Mamá!" Esme screamed again, taking a step forward.

Hands grabbed her from behind, lifting her tiny feet off the ground. She felt the weight shift on one of her legs and looked down to see her shoe on the ground. She looked behind her at a square, scruffy jaw, then up at caramel eyes.

"Papá! ¡Suéltame! ¡Mamá sigue dentro!" She squirmed, frantic. 'Let go! Mom is still inside!'

"¡No es seguro!" Her father yelled, hugging her tightly and turning. She could see the flames over his shoulder. 'It's not safe!'

She wailed, her lip quivering as she desperately hit his shoulders for release, but his arms were stronger- more formidable than the punches of a child.

"It's going to be okay, shhh. Your mamá is safe, she made it out." He hugged her tightly, the house becoming smaller and smaller as he ran the opposite direction.

"W-where is she?!" She sobbed harder.

She flinched as she heard far off gunfire. It was coming closer.

"Papa-"

The warmth of his clothes shifted. The fabric wasn't smooth against her anymore. It was fuzzy. Like the hairs of a brush pricking her skin. She used her palms to push herself away from his shoulder and met two black spheres surrounded by smaller eyes. A pair of fangs that dripped with saliva and venom.

Her papa was gone, replaced with a spider. The village street behind him was now pitch black darkness. His hands on the small of her back now felt like sharp swords slicing into her skin.

She opened her mouth the same moment it's mandibles arced forward- then-

"NO!"

She kicked her arms and legs against the weird fuzzy object that ensnared her, screaming.

Hands quickly grabbed her arms, warm and soft.

"Esme, shhh- it's okay, Esme!"

She panted, and spewed more unintelligible words, trying to gather her thoughts and ground herself to her surroundings. Warm hands. Two of them. Calloused fingers. Pale milky skin. Freckles on his arms. Red plaid blanket across her body, pressed against another's.