Victor felt sick to his stomach. There was nothing he could do; the fire was spreading wildly, devouring everything in its path. Sure, he could control wind and manipulate blood, but what good was that?! This fire was so big that the wind would only help feed its rage.
"I wonder if I'd die from being burned alive . . . or would I just be brought back again." He looked disparagingly on the field of flames. "What's so special about me? Why do I have to live when everyone else I love has died? Who hates me this much?" Victor knew the answer; Leon. It was Leon who had given him eternal life, it was Leon who had killed his lover, it was Leon who had pushed him off the brink of sanity.
"So why am I on his side?"
"Because we all know that in the end he'll destroy the worlds and when he does you'll die too. It's what we want." The Whispers had started up again. Victor closed his eyes; letting their manipulative words wash over him, fill him to the brink of despair. He loved being hated; it was a sadistic pleasure of his. He had to be the bad guy. The pain, it made everything okay. He laughed out loud, that little girl had been so horrified when he ripped open his wrist like that, come to think of it, and it must have been a disturbing site for a child of that age.
Suddenly something caught his eye; there she was, running straight toward the ocean of flames.
"IDIOT." He swore and bent down aiming the skateboard for the blur that was the little girl. She had stopped, surrounded by flames; there was no way she could escape. Victor hovered above, viewing the situation carefully; how could he get her out without hurting the kid? He had to act soon; the nearest flame was licking the ground by Cio's feet.
Victor swore again and swooped down, through the raging fire. Tendrils of flame crackled against his skin, searing his unprotected flesh. He could feel an earring on his left ear start to heat up. He was bleeding all over, it was so hot. But there she was trying to escape, crying loudly. Victor reached out and grabbed her wrist, pulling her up in the sky not a moment too soon, for the flames had touched the spot where she had been standing just seconds ago.
"IDIOT! WHAT THE BLOODY HELL WERE YOU THINKING YOU FOOLISH GIRL?!" He yelled.
Cio's eyes filled with tears and she flung her arms around his neck, sobbing buckets of hot tears on his neck.
"I'm so sorry!" she wailed "I didn't mean to set fire to your flowers!"
". . . hey" Victor felt awkward, what was he supposed to do in this situation? "It's okay, little girl, just as long as you're okay, right?" He was starting to feel light-headed from blood loss. He knew he wouldn't be able to control his skateboard much longer. He looked at the hazy ground, searching for a spot to touch down. After a few minutes he found one, well away from the fiery meadow.
He flew slowly to it and as they were roughly two feet from the ground, Victor felt his powers give way and the skateboard disappeared. Victor grabbed Cio's little body, protecting it from the ground.
WHAM! CRACK.
That was not a good sound.
"Be a good girl and stay the bloody hell away from that flame, kid." Victor said thickly and then he blacked out.