Hey there again~ Ready for story two?
This one is a bit of Mars's past before he came to be at Astro Academy. I give full credit to this story to our wonderful Rosierose. Here we go: Mars and Seabiscuit.
“Oh please, please, please wake up!” Water dripped down onto his face, trickled down his cheek and then down his neck. Hmmm, could it be rain? Mars thought to himself. No, no. It’s definitely too hot for rain. Actually, too hot for anything. Damn, it’s hot in here. Plus there seemed to be whimpering to. He deduced that it must in fact be: crying. Someone was crying over him. He sighed, probably one of his sisters’ night terrors again. He would have to wake up and comfort them. And I was having such a good dream, too... Mars took a deep breath, preparing himself for reality. But instead of nice, clean air, he took in a lungful of smoke.
Coughing and hacking, he sat up quickly. The sister beside him let out a yelp. He had to squint through the haze to see which one it was, but he soon identified the orange bow in her hair. “Phobos! Where the hell is everyone else?!” His sister just plopped down on the ground and cried, bawling her hands into fists and bringing them to her eyes. He took this opportunity to glance around their apartment and see how bad the situation was. He labeled it a 6 out of 10. The flames had devoured the kitchen and were drifting toward the living room. Thank god the door is still untouched, Mars thought to himself. Maybe we can edge around the flame before it gets to the other side of the living room and still get to the door. He pondered for a moment. We will have to be fast... Mars snatched Phobos up, cradling her in one arm and stroking her hair with the other. “Shh, short stuff. Come on, calm down. It’s all alright. I just need to know where your sister is. Quickly.” Phobos managed to regain her composure for long enough to point to the room his sisters shared with their mother. Mars nodded and bounded across the living room. Their bedroom door was shut. He tried the handle. It was locked. “Shit!” He cursed under his breath, and then began to beat against the door with his free hand. “Deimos! Let me in! Please, I’m trying to help.” There was no answer. He took a step back. “Hold on, tightly.” He commanded Phobos, and then kicked down the door.
He then put her down gently, luckily the fire hadn’t reached this room yet. “Help me find your sister,” He glanced out the doorway at the quickly spreading flames, “we don’t have much time.” They called her name frantically, and looked around. Finally, Phobos let out a surprised yelp and motioned to under their bed. Mars kneeled down, catching a glimpse of a pink bow. He dragged Deimos out from under it. “I-I thought you were going to be mad at me...” She mumbled weakly. Mars shook his head with a small smile. “No, never.” He picked both of them back up and glanced out the bedroom door. The floor Mars had been unconscious on moments before was being devoured by the hungry flames, bits of flaming furniture glided about the room. The jet black smoke was working it’s way down from the ceiling and filling the apartment. He brought his sleeve to his mouth, trying to find the door through the brume. And all at once he spotted it. Just for a moment. The smoke seemed to clear just enough to reveal it. “Hold your breath!” He cried out to his sisters and rushed into the worst of the smoke, feeling for the door knob.
After about thirty seconds of fumbling he felt the brass oval brush across the back of his hands. He quickly turned it and threw the door open, rushing down the stairs and out into the night. They all took a simultaneous gulp of breath before Mars sat down and they collapsed onto the lawn. He glanced around and just as he suspected, his mother was there too. She stared up at the blazing house with a blank stare. What is she holding? Mars though to himself. He leaned forward to get a better view. A bag of hypodermic needles. Of course. Mars’ face contorted into one of disgust. He had no respect, whatsoever, left for his mother. A small tug on his shirt sleeve brought his attention back to his sisters. Deimos pulled her thumb out of her mouth with a faint “Pop!” and began to cry. Tears streamed down her ash covered face and left little clean trails. “We forgot about Seabiscuit!”
Wretched Seabiscuit, that bunny always seemed to haunt him. The first day they got it, it had chewed off quite a bit of his hair while he slept. Then it tore up his favorite movie, and bit him countless times. And now he was risking his life to save the evil mammal (Oh Mars, *courage the cowardly dog voice* the things you do for love). He sighed, shushing his sister. “Don’t worry, I’ll get him, I promise.” And with that, Mars rushed back into the burning building.
As soon as he had opened the front door and stepped inside, he heard a loud “CRACK!” above him. He glanced up. A large flaming beam was relinquishing its grip from the ceiling and falling down. He gasped and leaped across the living room, managing to escape the beam. He fell onto the ground, close enough to the flaming couch to singe his eyebrows and most of his bangs. he pushed himself up and cursed. He brushed his hair out of his face and then stumbled towards his sisters bedroom. It was then that he heard the awful, high-pitched squealing. Mars thought to himself, that fucking rabbit, as if the smoke wasn’t bad enough...
He was sure the rabbit only made that noise in the middle of the night to annoy him, but it also must have doubled as a panic alarm. He grappled with the lock on the cage and picked up the bunny. It wasn’t in his hands for two seconds when it sank its bunny fangs into his index finger. He bit his lip to keep from yelling,and glared at the rabbit. Half of him wanted to leave it, well more like three-fourths of him did. But he didn’t want to even imagine the looks of disappointment on his sisters’ faces, so he carried it along. He turned to see that flames had already began to spread to the room he was currently in.
Well, I suppose this is it. He thought to himself. And I get to die with this fucking bunny. Oh joy. He closed his eyes just as the flames enveloped his ankles. And he waited. And waited. And waited some more. He cracked an eye open. The flames were licking at his knees now. Shouldn’t I be at least feeling a bit of pain? He though and then looked down closely with both eyes. The flames were still there, but there was no pain. Meanwhile, Seabiscuit was shrieking like a banshee. But, Mars really wasn’t paying attention. Holy shit, I’m the new superman! He squealed delightfully in his head. He glanced out the door, keeping the bunny above his head and away from the flames. The beam was propped against the only exit. He brought the rabbit to his face so that they were eye level “Well it appears, Seabiscuit, that you and me are going to die here.” As a response, the bunny promptly bit his nose. Mars sighed and pulled it off.
“I love you too, buddy.” He glanced around the room, looking for a comfortable place to sit down and wait it out, when he spotted it. Of course! How could I have forgotten about it?! His last chance, was a window. They were three stories up, but he didn’t have much time to think it through. The floor was beginning to crack underneath them. He through the window open.
“Hold onto your whiskers, Seabiscuit! Or... well, what you have left of them.” He sat on the window ledge for a moment, took a deep breathe, and then plunged downwards. He hit the ground feet first, and heard a deafening “CRACK!”, His legs then gave out underneath him. Luckily he hadn’t landed too far from where his family had gathered to watch the remains of their home burn to the ground. His sisters ran over to him, Deimos immediately taking Seabiscuit out of his hands and Phobos asking him what his adventures were like in there. He just sighed and motioned for them to be quiet and sit down. They did as he told them to do. He felt his legs. Pain seared through him with every gentle tap.
He wasn’t a doctor, but they were surely broken. Hopefully when the fire department arrives they will bring paramedics... All was silent for a moment, more families from houses across the street gathered around to watch the smoldering remains. It was then that Mars remembered a question he had earlier.
“Girls, how did this even start?” he asked. “Well,” Phobos answered, “ it was actually pretty strange! You and mommy were fighting like always when, poof! The towel in mommy’s hand caught on fire and you passed out. Then mommy dropped it on the ground, grabbed her special bag, and ran out of the house. You know the rest.” Mars nodded a thanks and laid back on the grass. He began to think. That sounds strange. Did I somehow start the fire? Phobos didn’t mention a match or anything, she made it sound like it just magically appeared... Could I have somehow started it with my mind? Nah!
He absentmindedly stroked on of Seabiscuit’s long eats, and it almost immediately reared up and sank his teeth into Mars’ flesh. Goddammit, he thought to himself, I hate that rabbit.