Fire Child By LadyPrin

Disclaimer Applies.

Author's Note: There have been three different official versions of Magic Knight Rayearth: the Manga, the two seasons of Anime, and the Rayearth OVA (Original Video Animation). I know that the OVA has a bit of a darker tone in the colors they used, and the feeling that the darker colors bring is the kind of feeling I would like for this story. So, you may notice that the Magic Knight's hair colors are a bit different. These are intentional. They will be the color that they are in the OVA, Umi's will be dark blue, Fuu's will be dark brown, and Hikaru's will be, as best as I can describe it, dark magenta. Thank you for reading, and I hope you enjoy the story!

Chapter One

The baby was born amidst chaos as fire overtook the house.

Outside the tiny room into which her mother was bringing her, the household servants and family members ran around, shouting orders or just screaming fearfully.

The only ones who were calm amidst this terror was the baby's mother who lay upon the bed, sweating profusely, and the midwife who stood ready to catch the baby as it came.

Though outwardly calm, these two were terrified. As the contractions became more intense and the head of the baby started to appear, there was no hope of the mother moving from her bed, much less escaping the fire that now burned so closely by the hallway door. No hope to flee until this baby was born, but by then they feared it would be too late for any of them.

"Its head is out! Push! I can see its shoulders!" The midwife encouraged the mother as she quickly wiped sweat from her own forehead.

The mother cried out in pain as she pushed again, bringing the baby halfway out.

The midwife continued her words of encouragement and her commands to push, glancing fearfully every few seconds at the closed door that was only feet behind her.

Both of the women could feel the heat, they could hear the roar of the fire outside which drowned out any screams and yells if any there was left, and they could see the fire starting to burn through the door.

The baby slid all the way out and the mother collapsed onto the bed, breathing heavily.

The midwife cut the umbilical cord, and quickly wrapped the baby in a white blanket that was laying on the side the bed, though why she continued to do this when they would all be dead in just a few minutes anyway she didn't know.

She coughed from the smoke that now slowly filled the room, as she carried the baby around the bed and placed her in her mother's waiting arms.

The mother looked down at the newborn baby with a loving sad expression.

With the light of the fire that burned outside the windows she could see that her precious baby had little wet curls of dark magenta hair.

She was worried at first that the baby might be stillborn because she wasn't crying like most newborns did, but she was happy to see her little chest move up and down with breath, though her eyes remained closed.

Both women started to cough madly as the door finally collapsed all the way and thick black smoke filled the room.

The midwife huddled on the bed next to the new mother, and held her arms around the new mother's shoulders.

The new mother held close her dear baby to her chest, and shook her head fiercely as if in defiance of the great element that was about to claim all their lives.

"Stay calm my little Hikaru." The mother whispered her first and last words to her baby daughter as the bottom of the bed caught fire. "Stay calm, stay brave, and I shall hold you again soon!"

Little Hikaru's eyes remained closed, but she heard those words being whispered to her.

She couldn't really understand the words yet, and she couldn't understand why everything smelled so bad, she couldn't understand why everyone around her was screaming.

When she finally did open her eyes that night, all she saw was the bright flames around her.

She smiled and laughed, for to her the fire was whispering greetings to her, welcoming her to this new world. It was dancing around her, its happiness blazing bright, and it embraced her with its soft, warm, gentle flames.

That fire was soon to be called the Great Fire, for it burned through nearly half the Kingdom, destroying many villages, woodlands, meadows, and taking many lives.

Little Hikaru would soon be called the Fire Child, for the Great Fire didn't take her life, but made it special instead.