Firestorm: Origins

Chapter 20: Red Sorrow

Aryn stared at her phone absent-mindedly, bundled beneath four blankets with her head being practically swallowed by her oversized pillow. Wistful tears filled her eyes as she gazed over the pictures that she had taken of her time spent with Mira and Reyna. She paused momentarily as a video appeared that she didn't recognize from the training area beneath the guild.

She pressed play and choked back a sob as she watched her best friend hold the phone in selfie mode and wave into the camera. "Hi, Aryn! This is so strange, I can see myself without a mirror. You and Reyna decided to have a competition and you wanted me to record on your phone. I hope I'm doing this right, I've never used a phone before."

She turned the camera awkwardly, unsure of how to change the phone's camera to the one of the back, revealing Reyna as she snapped her fingers, igniting an explosion nearly forty feet away that disintegrated one of the training dummies.

"Woooo! That was wonderful Reyna!" Mira said, shaking the phone's camera vigorously as she let out a hearty laugh. "Oh, you're up next! Let's see what you can do!"

Aryn wiped the tears from her eyes as the camera shakily focused on her. She instantly knew that this was less than a month after she'd apprenticed here, given how short her hair was. It might as well have been a boy's haircut. She'd wanted to be a true Hoconin so badly that for the longest time she refused to let her hair grow out. It was only after Reyna suggested she grow it out that she let it extend past her shoulders.

"Go Aryn!" Mira cheered. Aryn watched with a teary-eyed smile as she projected a blast of fire from her hand that washed over the entire training field, scorching the grass and turning a handful of training dummies to ash. As the flames died down, Mira laughed and smacked Reyna's shoulder before rushing over to her. "You've been holding out on us, little sister!"

"Mëlme, that was wonderful!" Reyna said as she gave her a hug. "You need to train that gift, don't let it go to waste!"

"Let me see the video!" past Aryn insisted. Mira handed her the phone and shortly afterwards the video ended. Aryn sniffled and scrolled to the next photo before glancing up at Reyna as she opened the door to their room.

"How are you, Mëlme?" Reyna asked as she sat at her bedside and handed her a bowl of soup from the dining hall of the guild. "You missed dinner."

"I'm not hungry," Aryn muttered.

Reyna blinked back tears as the red-haired girl refused to meet her eyes. "...I'll leave this here for you. I'm going on a mission to Earth with Zultak. I'll be back soon, okay?"

"Okay," Aryn replied. As soon as Reyna closed the door, Aryn broke down and sobbed into her pillow for what felt like hours. Her eyes were red and swollen, and her throat felt as though she'd been hit with a bat by the time she'd gathered enough strength to pull herself together. She slowly sat up, took a sip of the soup Reyna left for her and stared absently into the wall directly across from her, only glancing down to make sure she didn't spill the soup from her spoon.

A knock on her door jolted her out of her daze, and she hastily put the bowl on her bedside table before responding. "Who is it?"

"It's me." Aryn recognized Jasper's iconic british accent and hastily threw off her blankets.

"Come in!" Aryn said as she rose to her feet. Jasper opened the door and took a quick glance around her room, noting the rat's nest that was her hair as well as the bowl of now-cold soup on her bedside table.

"...You know the policy regarding food in the living quarters," he said softly.

"Yes sir, I'm sorry," she replied.