Chapter Text
The smoke smell drifted under the bedroom door as strongly as an incense stick. At first that's what Athena Black thought it was, until she saw the volume of the grey mist squeezing under the door frame. That's when she felt her heart starting to beat harder and faster. The house was on fire.
She jumped out of the bed and grabbed her sweatshirt covering her nose and mouth. Turning her ears, trying to find where everyone was. She heard her parents and the Hales screaming from the basement, nothing on her brothers.
Smoke filled the room as Athena shoved open her bedroom door with one arm. She kicked the door shut behind her and started wheezing. Athena frantically searched the hall, trying to find something or anyone that would help.
Before any real fear takes hold she was on my way to Cora's room. "Cora!" she coughed.
"Here!" The small girl was hiding under her bed. Her brown eyes betraying the fear she had. "Where's Mama and Papa?"
"I don't know, Cora. Let's get you out of here." It's only when she was in Athena's arms, she realized the stairs aren't an option that her heart started to pound faster. Adrenaline level rising, sweat rolling down her neck.
The smoke thickened and Athena pulled Cora down to the floor. She copied her, crawling to the bedroom window. It's too high to jump, a broken neck for sure, but from here rescue is at least possible. Well, not for them, but how would they tell the first responders. So now they held their hearts out to the almighty and pray rescue comes in time.
Thick towels laid on the floor were now soaked in water and stuffed underneath the door. Cora leaned back against the wall as her body heaved. Athena grimaced but rubbed the younger girl's shoulders gently. With her heart pounding in her ears, she was barely able to block out the horrific screams of the others.
Her family and her second family were dying and she was stuck in a bedroom. Athena shoved her sweatshirt and wrapped it around the other girl's mouth and nose, deciding to use her own shirt to block out the smoke. Tears streaming down her face. She hated this useless feeling. There had to be more for her to do.
Athena turned around, in the back of her mind she tried to connect to her brothers. 'Asher! Atlas! Ares! Alec!' Nothing. She knew that they were at school, where she was supposed to be but didn't feel good that morning. She needed to warn them, tell them to run away.
A sharp whine echoed from the hallway. "Peter!" Athena yelled.
"Cora! Thea!."
Athena released a deep breath only to start coughing. She looked up through the dark smoke to see Peter coming into Cora's room.
"There you two are. Come on!" Peter grabbed the two girl before making their way out of the room.
The main hallway branched off into several rooms; their open archways draped with sheer, silk scarfs, embroidered with rich colors of royalty. Sweet smoke curled through the thin fabric and billowed in dense clouds of sickly scents into the hallway. Tendrils of it swirled up into their lungs as they breathed in deeply and burned invisible holes of foreshadowed death.
Within the house the fire spread with ease, turning the once pretty first floor into a maze of flame. Black smoke billowed up the stairs and there was no alarm to sound. Alex couldn't stop her own choking. She could see the orange flame licking the walls as they were pushed down the stairs, though some flames.
"Run! The back door is opened!" Peter yelled, leading the girl to the backroom.
"What about my parents? Talia and William?" Athena asked.
"It's too late. Save yourselves." Peter pushed the girls towards the back door.
"But my brothers." Athena said.
"They are gone too, Thea. I'm sorry."
Wait. They were supposed to be at school. "What?"
A mournful, heart wrenching, agonized howl filled the air. Athena's heart stopped. She knew who that sound belonged to, but never before had she heard it filled with so much pain. Asher
Howls followed the first one. Atlas. Then Alec and lastly, Ares. Athena could feel the power rising in her. She was the only Black left.
"Go!" With one last pushed Athena was out the door.
A crack echoed as a beam fell on top of Cora.
"Cora!"
"Thea, go! I got her." That was the last thing Athena heard before the parts of the house started to fall.
She shallowed the pain and ran to the opening, watching the house burn with her family inside.
Her fingers entwined in the sweatshirt, gripping it as if it were more substantial than polar fleece, as if it could keep her from tumbling into the ground. But as the flames engulfed her home, scorching her skin and singeing the surrounding trees. She needed Derek to be here. She needed real comfort, strong arms and reassuring words.
Her eyes searched for her family to come out, but knowing deep down that they would never come back.
Death wasn't kind. Athena knew that. It snatched where it could, taking people who were far too young, far too good. It didn't pretend to care, it didn't pretend to distinguish.
The hooded vale of death had hung over the world for a long time, always threatening. It had never touched Athena quite so close. Death had ripped away a part of her, the part of her that was most loved.
Now Athena would stand staring for what seemed like hours. Her face sunken and haunted, her mind cold and empty.
From the gravel driveway came the sound of sirens and tires throwing up mud from the puddled, rain-kissed ground. The first responders were there to save the ashes. Athena looked down at the sweatshirt and release her hold on it. It was once perfect now had finger holes, it was stretched out of shape and there is a singed portion. The charred wool stirred a memory of stamping a flame from it. Funny. The memory seemed far away. Then a gloved hand was on her shoulder and there was a tender voice but she couldn't focus on the words.
And as Athena saw her mother that she had just seen hours ago being carried lifeless into one man's arms, her eyes glimmered with watery tears and she felt as if whole world was about to crumble. She dropped down on her knees and screamed with all her might. She sobbed and tears flooded like the waters rushing down from a waterfall and the only time she'd stop was to fill her lungs with fresh air.
Athena watched the deep flames of the enraged fire through blurry eyes. She couldn't breathe, nor could she hear even the simplicity of her heart racing in her chest. What was once beautiful wilted and cracked under the ferocity of the flames, turning to ash and dust. She continued to choke and splutter under the hold of someone, her struggling ceased. The smoke smelt of kerosene, and had a strange scent of perfume through it. Familiar. She had smelt this scent before.
As much as she tried to hold it in, the pain came out like an uproar from her throat in the form of a silent scream. The beads of water started falling down one after another, without a sign of stopping. She hit the person holding her and tried to scream, but her voice was melted by the sound of the person. The muffled sobs wracked against her chest. The world turned into a blur, and so did all the sounds. The taste. The smell. Everything was gone. The last painful emotion slammed against her before she lost the feeling of feeling. Everything darkened into nothingness as she passed into the oblivion of unconsciousness.