Amethyst (ON HOLD)

Chapter 27

Chapter 27

"Shit Amethyst wake up!"

She jolted, the nightmare right at the back of her mind and the cold, burning feeling of anger already being buried and washed away as soon as her eyes met with light. It was how she was trained. "Show no emotions..." Giotto said to her the first time her hands ever closed around a gun. "It's scarier to them that way."

"Amethyst, we need to get out now!"

She looked up, only now noticing the bright orange flames licking up everything in its path. The heat kissed her skin, drying her from cold sweat. She was in the factory that she saw in her dreams, that much hadn't changed.

Swiftly she pushed herself off the floor, taking a few dizzy steps forwards and testing her own balance before searching the room for the voice that called her name.

There.

It was Ai, standing on the other side of the fire wall with the same worried expression she saw in her dream. He beckoned her to hurry. Only then she realized she was standing right in the middle of the catastrophe. For some miracle, the small circle she stood in was spared though she knew it wouldn't stay for long. There was nowhere out, everywhere she turned she could see only flames.

She heard Ai yelling something but she didn't really register it. Before she knew it, her body was poised into a running stance, her legs as if not her own testing the bounce in her feet. Panic consumed her and so did the fleeting feeling of fear that she was going to burn to death, the after affects of the dream still consuming her.

Too late.

Her body off in a sprint. She felt as if she were watching a movie, like she could see her whole body tense before taking a huge leap over the wall of fire, the heat coming in contact with her skin like a brief make out session with the sun.

It was a short lived feeling. Not too soon, Ai had caught her before her face slammed straight first into the ground. And then they took off in a run, his palms cold against her skin.

He went through the fire like a maze, there was never a moments hesitation from him every twist and turn that they had taken. Somewhere along the run, she had asked where the others were but she soon got her answer even without him telling her.

They had arrived at an entrance, the rusted metal broken and torn apart as if someone had hacked at it with a very strong blade. Jagged ends were everywhere and they scratched her skin as she made her way out.

The cool air from outside was like a blanket to her. She took a deep breath in before going into a fit of coughs, her eyes watering.

"How'd you get her out?" a voice asked while she was still bent over. It sounded like Verna but more tired, run down.

"She woke up just in time." Ai shrugged.

With that Amethyst recovered herself and as much oxygen as she could. She straightened and looked at her surroundings.

The first thing she saw was trees, a dense forest going on for acres and acres. They were packed closely together, their leaves and branches twining together in a way that she doubted even a typhoon could separate them.

The clearing was small, the patch of grass they stood on moist and make squelching sounds under their feet. When she took a look at the burning building, she was shocked to see that it wasn't as large of an abandoned factory as she had originally assumed. It was the size of a standard house, only covered in rust and decay burning steadily to the ground.

"We need to tell her." Verna whispered, immediately being shushed by the few others that were there.

Amethyst's ears quirked at the sound of uniform shushing.

"Tell me what?" Amethyst croaked, her throat feeling like sandpaper.

Their faces showed hesitation, a spark of sadness present under their blanket of secrecy. The atmosphere was heavy, the tension so thick she could have cut it with a knife.

Ai stepped forward, his body language telling her that she did not wish to hear what he had to say next. He stopped, trying to say something but pulling back.

Finally, he sighed, calling out her name and making warmth flow through her body.

"Its Giotto..."