From the Ashes

by evergreenlove

.:prologue:.

When asked how their relationship began, Leon likes to answer that everything started from one very hot and frantic night. Frey usually slaps him upside the head, flustered and blushing, but doesn't do much else to correct him because, well. His raunchy phrasing aside, he's not technically wrong.

Everything started with The Fire.

"-EY! ARE – IN THER – CAN – HEAR US?"

"FREY!"

"PRIN - SS!"

Frey wakes abruptly, jolting upright in her bed and hacking violently. She fights down her panic and confusion and tries to take a good look around – but it's no use. Thick, stormy smoke fills the entirety of her room and she can't even see two feet in front of her. The air has become dense and almost tangible, an unrelenting wave of heat that makes it very difficult to breathe.

Gasping and still coughing, Frey tries to remember if her amnesiac brain includes any lessons on how to survive when trapped in a burning building. Nothing comes to mind, except for the very obvious thought that fires are bad and she needs to leave the castle now, if she wants to live.

Swinging her legs over the side of the bed is easy, but getting them to actually support her weight is nearly impossible. With a strangled cry, she crumples to the floor, feeling weak and lightheaded. She wonders just how long she was breathing in smoke before she woke up.

There's no helping it – Frey begins to crawl in the direction of her front door. Cries of "Frey" and "Princess" are coming through from the courtyard area, frantic and desperate. She lets them motivate her.

The air around her is oppressive from the heat, and she can see licks of fire, pure red and malicious, in her peripheral vision. The unnatural vibrancy of the flames is something she's quite familiar with – she practices daily with fire magic after all. Does that mean someone did this on purpose…?

Her thoughts cut off abruptly as something heavy crashes down on her back, and she's forced flat to the floor. White-hot pain lances from her left side and steals the breath right from her lungs. Sputtering on pain and smoke, she turns her head to see just what knocked her down. A sizable lump of rubble from the ceiling lies partially on top of her. Smaller pieces are beginning to fall and pelt her prone form. The whole room looks about to collapse.

Tears course down her cheeks. Whether from sheer panic or the grit in her eyes or maybe both, Frey isn't sure. Gritting her teeth and pushing up from the ground, she manages to slip out from under the chunk of ceiling. Her left side from her hip down is raw with pain and her leg drags terribly when she tries to crawl forwards. She moves closer to the door at the pace of a snail, but she doesn't let herself stop because if she does, she doubts she'd start back up again.

"PRINCESS!" She hears very faintly. That's weird, the shouts were so loud just a few minutes ago. Is the smoke muffling the sound that badly? Or maybe… is it that she's… she's losing strength…?

Frey shakes her head, using her now soot-stained hands smack her cheeks. Now is not the time to lose focus! She's so close to the exit, just a little bit more...!

With huge, staggering lunges, she crawls to her front door, tipping over and out into the courtyard. Even outside, all she can see is fire, it's everywhere, in front of her like a veritable wall. Some of the flames are whipping around as if alive, reaching out to her, burning her – but then -

"GraaaaAAAHHHHHH!" Volkanon's mighty war cry pierces the roar of the flames, and a huge jet of water erupts into the air. A section of the fire directly in front of her is doused under the onslaught, and through the opening, Frey can only just make out the shadowy silhouettes of people running toward her.

"PRINCESS!" a familiar voice cries out. A few of the figures reach her side and rapidly give out orders above her prone body.

"Vishnal, can you carry her?"

"I-I'll do my best! Hang in there, Princess!"

"Stay with us, damn it!"

"Hey, Frey?!"

Hey there! Thanks for checking out my story! The first chapter is already completed and will be up in just a few days. As a general note, this will be a slow build LeonxFrey story with a hint of adventure tossed in there. I hope you enjoyed this first bit and are willing to tag along for the rest of the ride!

Please drop me a line if you have a free mo,

All my love,

evergreenlove

PS: For any possible Homestead fans out there... sorry for the frankly terrible hiatus (3 years... yikes, I am so so so sorry). It is NOT abandoned, and my love for ChelseaxVaughn is still going strong. It's just taking me a while to get back into the rhythm of that story; I expect Chapter 8 to be up in a few weeks now that I'm writing again!