Elemental

Chapter 4: City Hall

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Wade led Coal and (Y/n) into City Hall and guided them to where the Processing Department was. He opened a door that led to a room with dozens and dozens of plants in it. Wade pushed through the plants, (Y/n) following behind, and Coal following behind her, being very careful to not touch any of the plants for fear of setting them on fire.

When they pushed further into the room, they came across an older looking Earth element sitting at a desk sorting through files.

"Hey Fern." Wade greeted. "How you doing?"

The man gave him a blank stare. "Living the dream." He grumbled.

Wade chuckled nervously. "You know the citations I just gave you from Firetown?"

"I was just about to send them to Mrs. Cumulus." Fern said, holding the glass tube with all the citations in his hand.

He raised the tube towards a long pipe and was about to send them off.

"No!" The three exclaimed, making him pause.

Wade looked to Coal. "Tell him what you told my sister about your dad and letting him down."

Coal glared at him. "No! That's personal."

"But it really got to me. Maybe he'll feel it too." Wade insisted. "His dad will be sup—."

"Nope!"

"Super—."

"No!"

"Disappointed in him."

"Stop it!"

"Wade! That's not your story to tell!"

"He might even be...ashamed."

"What are you doing?!" Coal exclaimed, his fire starting to turn purple.

"But the main thing is...if his father can't retire, it will be all Coal's fault—!"

"STOP TALKING!!!"

Coal's flames burst around him burning up all the plants in the room, including Fern's mustache and hair.

"Looks like I'm going home early today." Fern mumbled, putting the tube in the pipe.

"No!" Coal exclaimed.

"Expect to get shut down within the week. Have a good one." Fern told Coal, handing him a pamphlet.

Coal took the pamphlet and looked at the cover. 'So Your Business is Being Shut Down.' He sighed heavily.

...

Coal solemnly walked back to Firetown, staring down at the pamphlet. When he got back home, he glanced up and saw the Closed sign on the shop window and gasped.

"What? Already?" Coal ran inside and began looking around the empty shop. "Hello?!" He called.

He heard coughing in the distance, and saw that it was coming from the basement. Coal ran down there and saw his parents trying to fix up the pipes down there. Apparently, Coal hadn't sealed them well enough, and they were leaking again.

"Oh no. Dad, what happened?" Coal asked.

"We lucky nobody hurt. It ruined Red Dot Sale." Bernie grumbled. "Did she do this?"

Coal furrowed his brows. "Who?"

"The Water Girl I see you chase." Bernie specified.

Coal looked down for a moment and hesitated. "Uh...no...no, it wasn't her. It-It was her brother. He burst through a pipe. I don't know why. But I closed it off. I couldn't catch him though."

Bernie growled as he sealed another pipe. "Water. Always trying to water us down."

"They were water people, dad. Not just water." Coal corrected.

Bernie scoffed. "Ah, same thing. And why is water in pipes? City shut down years ago. There should be no water!"

Bernie started coughing, and fell off the ladder he was on.

"Dad!" Coal gasped, rushing forward and catching his dad.

Cinder came over and helped Bernie over to the stairs. "We will get through this. Just like before." She reassured.

Coal furrowed his brows. "Before?"

His mother nodded. "There is a reason we left Fire Land. Oh, Coal, we loved it there so much. Most everyone had a Blue Flame. And it connected us all together. To our traditions, our family. It was hard living. But your father began to build a life for us. We put everything into it. But then, a great storm came. Everything was lost for us. Your father understood we had to leave everything. Our home. It was the only way to create better life. It was the last time your father ever saw his family. That is why we came here. To build all of this." Cinder explained.

Coal subtly glanced at the pamphlet in his hands, and quickly hid it in his pocket. "Àshfá, nothing will happen to this shop or the flame again. I promise."

Bernie looked up at him and smiled. "Good son."

...

The next day, Coal returned to City Hall to fix the tickets and save his father's shop. He was waiting outside a door, sleeping under a chain blanket when Wade and (Y/n) walked by wearing green shirts that represented a sports team.

Coal's flames accidentally set Wade's bag on fire when he passed by, and he began to panic. "Ah! Fire! Fire!" He screamed, stepping on Coal's form under the blanket.

"Hey! Hey!" Coal yelled, revealing himself.

Wade shrunk back. "Sorry, sorry."

(Y/n) glanced at the burn marks in the bag. "Wow, you're so hot." She commented, not thinking about what she was saying.

Coal gave her a weird look. "Excuse me?"

(Y/n) quickly realized what she said, and tried to fix her wording. "No, I mean, like, you're smoking...I mean, no! You're not smoking, or hot...b-but not like, you're not...not hot...I..."

"Are you done?" Coal asked her, raising his brow in slight amusement.

"Yes please." She answered.

"I'm waiting to talk to his boss." Coal said, gesturing to Wade. "So if you two could just make like a stream and flow away..."

"Actually, Gale won't be in today." Wade revealed. "She's a huge airball fan and the Windbreakers are finally in the playoffs. Toot toot!"

Coal groaned in frustration.

Wade and (Y/n) shared an awkward glance. "Okay, well, we just came here cause I left my three game passes here last night." Wade commented.

Coal perked up. "Wait, three?"

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