@thymost
Fire wasn’t something that he was used to fearing. Not so long ago, Lio might have said that flames were a source of comfort, if anything, and certainly not a reason for him to be wary. In a world that had, for so long, labelled him as a fugitive, as a monster long before he’d ever joined the likes of the Mad Burnish, his fire had been one of the few things that he could count on, constantly driving him forward, no matter how difficult things got.
To find himself at the mercy of a force that he’d once relied on for protection, however, reminded him of just how much had changed in the last few months. Woken in the early hours of the morning by an alarm going off, the scent of smoke heavy in the air, Lio had scrambled out of the small bachelor apartment that had been his home since the loss of his burnish abilities. The building itself had been made to house other former Burnish, given that most of them had been displaced and without a proper living situation for so long. It had been a decent solution, all things considered, though gathering so many of them in one place had one dangerous side effect.
Namely, those who still retained their hatred for the former Burnish were able to find them quite easily.
It was entirely possible that this blaze in particular had been caused by an accident, but Lio found himself doubting it as he made his way past his neighbors, ushering a few confused individuals towards the stairwells so that they might find a way to safety. It wouldn’t have surprised him, for someone to find some cruel irony in causing a number of former Burnish to burn to death, though it did spark a familiar rage within him.
He could be angry later, however - for now, there were people to evacuate. It was the panicked exclamations of one of his neighbors regarding an elderly woman on one of the upper floors that sent Lio climbing the stairwell rather than descending it, with the back of his hand pressed against his mouth in a vain attempt at blocking out the thick smoke that hung in the air, his back hunched as he tried to remain beneath the toxic cloud. The sound of a weak, frightened voice was his guide in the inferno, and while he would no doubt be told that this had been a stupid stunt to pull, the blond could not - would not - knowingly leave someone to die here, all alone.
One by one, he checked the doors of each apartment, calling out for the trapped woman in question and fearing the worst when her cries went silent. Desperation had his feet moving faster, throwing open one door after the other, until one unit in particular greeted him with a wave of heat, the intensity of it sending Lio stumbling back as he held his arms up in front of him to shield himself. His lungs were burning now with a mixture of superheated oxygen and smoke causing him to cough violently as he peered through the flames, though the attempt did him little good. A wave of dizziness washed over him and the heat actually had him feeling nauseated as his vision began to blur a little.
It was strange, how one part of him wanted to run, while the other refused - not until he was able to find the victim. Pushing forward, ducking beneath the roaring blaze inside the apartment, Lio called out once more for someone, anyone, to answer to him, to give him some sign that someone was alive in here.
It was unfortunate that the only answer he received came in the form of part of the ceiling collapsing as its supports were burned away, right before his world went black.