A/N: Um... i don't actually have anything to say - which is shocking i tell you - other than this is just the prologue, the rest will follow shortly.

Disclaimer: I don't own anybody. Don't sue me.

Everything Burns

Prologue

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Johnny let out a pained sigh as he stared at his darkened ceiling. Everything hurt. His throat ached, his head throbbed and his muscles felt like led. He couldn't remember ever feeling so awful. "Damn flu." He grumbled to himself, struggling to slowly pull himself into a sitting position before flicking on his light. He squinted as his bedroom was illuminated, then grabbed the glass from his bedside table. He let out another grumble seeing it empty, and pushed himself off of the bed onto his feet. "Stupid flu." He grumbled again, grabbing a sweater and pulling it on over his wife beater as he headed for the kitchen. One minute he was boiling, the next he was freezing. "Make up your damn mind." He muttered to his body, shivering slightly as he made his way through the rest of the apartment, hitching up his pyjama pants as he went. Leaning over the sink, clinging to the tap, he filled his glass up quickly and drained it almost immediately before refilling it again. After his third glass, he headed over to the kitchen table and sat down heavily, leaning over and resting his head on the wood. He shivered suddenly and sat up, his feet were freezing. He stared at them trying to heat them up, but the flu had affected his powers and he was too tired and too weak to do anything other than screw up his face in concentration. He let out a grunt of annoyance as he gave up, heaving a sigh and standing up, ready to head back to his bedroom. Movement out of the corner of his eye stopped him. He frowned. "Reed?" He tried to question, seeing a shadow move across the far side of the apartment, but his voice came out as a croak. "Reed?" He tried again, a hand rubbing his throat absent-mindedly. "That you?" He squinted into the darkness as the shadow moved towards him. "What are you doing u--?" Johnny trailed off as the man drew nearer, into the light. His eyes widened, the glass slipping from his hand and smashing to the floor as realisation suddenly dawned. "You're not--"

A hand clamped over his mouth and nose before he could finish his sentence and a sickly sweet smell invaded his senses. He tried to struggle, but the man behind him was bigger, using his other arm to pin Johnny's to his side.

'Oh God. Oh God.' Johnny's mind was going a mile a minute as he tried desperately to kick out at the two men but things were quickly growing foggy. 'Flame on! Flame on!' He thought desperately, but the flu had weakened him too much and whatever he was inhaling wasn't helping. His lungs were burning for fresh air and his head was throbbing even more. Just as his vision began to blur his foot connected with his captor's knee and, released from the man's grip, he fell to the floor, sucking in as much air as possible. "Sue!" He tried to call out, but his voice came out a strangled cry. "Ben!"

There was a quiet laugh. "Give it up kid."

Before he could do anything else Johnny felt himself being hauled to his feet, the hand was replaced over his mouth and the smell once again invaded. 'No.' He thought weakly, before his vision blurred into darkness, and his body slumped to the floor.