Phoenix Fire || Fairy Tail [1]

𝐱𝐥𝐢𝐢𝐢. 𝐩𝐡𝐨𝐞𝐧𝐢𝐱 𝐬𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐫

𝙨𝙤𝙣𝙜: 𝙘𝙖𝙨𝙪𝙖𝙡𝙩𝙮 𝙗𝙮 𝙝𝙞𝙙𝙙𝙚𝙣 𝙘𝙞𝙩𝙞𝙯𝙚𝙣𝙨 𝙛𝙩. 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙝
❛ 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶? ❜

◊

Rose crept into the village, quiet and light on her feet like a cat on the prowl. Her eyes glinted red in the moonlight. The fire raging within the buildings was spreading fast. She needed to act whilst the dragons fought a losing battle against a particularly strong foe, one of their own had supposedly turned against them. The resulting battle led to the pyro now around her.

Luckily, Rose had a few years of experience on her at this point. The ceremony had been postponed two years to allow for more training, and she was twenty years of age by that point. She'd learnt about how to properly deal with people, despite the more emotionally taxing aspects of her job.

The phoenix slayer paused for a moment, hearing something out of place, and suddenly turned the corner onto a dense cluster of buildings. Fire leapt the small gaps between the rooves with ease, embers cascading down from above as the wood was consumed. Amongst the crackling and the sound of splintering wood, Rose heard a faint whimper. The scent of smoke prevented her from catching their presence at first, but now she could catch the faint smell of a person. Her senses and her intuition both told her that there was someone within one of the burning homes.

It didn't take much to get inside; Rose absorbed the flames as much as she could, and cautiously cast a glance at the crumbling roof. She'd most probably manage to get out with her charge before it collapsed.

Binding the muffler over her lower face to shield herself from the smoke, Rose walked into the building. Immediately, she was assessing the situation – one conscious but injured man, trapped beneath a fallen support beam, and an older woman, unconscious beside him. She seemed to have been trying to help him escape, but gave into the sweltering heat and the toxic smoke. The man was so out of it that he didn't notice Rose was there until the beam on top of him was suddenly on the floor beside his prone form.

Panting heavily, the man struggled to prop himself up, but his arms gave into the weight and buckled. "Who... are you?"

"I'm here to get you out of here," Rose stated calmly. She knelt beside him and pressed lightly on his calf. "Can you feel this?"

"Y... yes, I can," the man sagged, allowing his head to fall to the floor limply. He'd lost any energy he might have had previously. "Why?"

"Making sure you don't have any serious injuries to your spine," Rose replied curtly. "Can you move your legs?"

"I can," embarrassed, he covered his face with his hand, "but... I don't have the energy to walk. You should go. Leave me, it's dangerous for you here."

Ignoring his melodramatic final speech, Rose casually lifted him by the back of his shirt and slung him over her shoulder. Considering the height difference, even with her unusual strength the man's feet still dragged as she walked over to the woman and checked her breathing.

"Huh? What? How?" The man blubbered senselessly, disoriented by the sudden movement. "What are you?"

"That's irrelevant," Rose replied. She somehow grabbed the woman as well, and it quickly became apparent that she definitely wasn't an average person. "I'm getting you out of here. That's all you need to know."

Exhausted, he eventually lost consciousness. The dead weight didn't seem to take much of a toll on the girl, who took them out of the village and to the pre-designated meeting point. Felliora would be there with the other survivors.