Not Roger. He can’t be our first loss. Not him. Please, not him.

The news is traveling through the crowd. The relief of the missing crew’s return is immediately demolished by the discovery that one of them didn't make it back. I haven’t opened my eyes yet, but I hear Roger’s name all around me. The crew boss is trying to get him on the radio. He isn’t answering.

I feel sick, dizzy. I start to slide down the side of the ambulance.

A strong, gentle hand closes around my arm, pulls me upright. Fingers slip through mine and give them a tug. I let them lead me, moving on autopilot. When we stop again, I open my eyes, and Aiden has my face in his hands.

We’re standing away from the cluster of firetrucks and ambulances, where it’s a tiny bit less loud. Where I’m not directly at the center of everyone panicking about Roger. And Aiden is looking down into my eyes, showing me that the ice-blue light hasn’t gone out of them yet.

Showing me proof that Roger is still alive, still fighting somewhere out there.

I think I had kept my eyes closed because I didn’t want to look at Aiden and see proof of the other possibility. The very real possibility that will soon become reality, if we don’t do something.

The other people here stand no chance of saving Roger. If they were going to save him, Aiden wouldn’t have been called here by the sound of his soul.

It’s up to us. Only us. And that means I can’t have a meltdown, right now.

I struggle to take deep breaths, throwing all of my effort into not falling apart. It’s easier with Aiden’s hands on me, with his steadiness, his presence.

“Hey,” he says softly, his deep voice cutting through the mayhem. “We’ll find him.”

I know that Aiden is just as scared as I am, just as unsure about what the outcome of all this will be. But somehow, hearing this from him - it helps. It helps a lot.

“What do we do?” I ask, and Aiden takes a heavy breath, thinking hard.

I watch him, relieved that the noise in his head isn’t overwhelming him so badly that he can't think. It means we still have at least a little bit of time.

I start thinking, too.

I’m sure that Aiden can pull enough heat out of a fire to make it go out. But he simply can’t do that to an entire wildfire. Way too dangerous to even attempt. The heat has to be released, to go somewhere. Aiden might start an entirely new fire, or burn everyone on the scene. Besides, his magic is tied to his energy, and the effort of doing something that huge... I can’t even imagine what it would do to him.

So - what the fuck can we do? We have no idea where Roger is, and in the midst of all this chaos and panic, I doubt that Aiden could listen carefully enough to follow his soul sound.

But it looks like Aiden is going to try, anyways. He closes his eyes, takes a long breath, and puts his hands over his ears, blocking out the external noise.

A moment passes, and then Aiden starts walking. He heads further away from the firetrucks and ambulances, going south down the road.

I turn to glance at the people rushing around the base camp. They’re all occupied, busy - not looking at us. The smoke and heat haze are probably making us hard to see, anyways. No one notices as we head past where we’re allowed to go.

I set off after Aiden and put a hand on his back, doing whatever I can to be a steadying force while he concentrates. Almost jogging to keep up with the swift strides of his long legs. He’s pushed up the brim of his snapback, now that no one is watching. His shining, glowing eyes cast soft blue light on his cheeks as he walks.

He takes a sudden, sharp breath, then picks up speed. My heart stumbles wildly, afraid of why he did that, afraid that the sound he's hearing has begun to escalate. I start running, too, trying not to panic, but the world is starting to blur before my eyes, and I think I’m even seeing visions in the fire -

Only it’s not a vision, it’s Kasey, bursting out through the flames.

I jolt to a stop, seize Aiden’s hand, and run for her. “Kasey!”

“Jamie!” she yells, sprinting to meet us. “We found one of them, it’s - it’s-”

Roger.

“Where is he?” I ask, my voice trembling. “Is he okay?”

“He was smart!" Kasey's words are fast, frightened. “He got up on some boulders! But he definitely lost some of his gear, he’s all alone, and he's surrounded on all sides - there’s nowhere for him to go!”

I relay this back to Aiden automatically, from some numb part of my brain that’s still functioning.

“Where?” he asks urgently, and Kasey turns, points.

“He’s far out there, Aiden - he’s like, in the middle of a burning field, fire on all sides of him, completely encircled…”

I repeat this to Aiden, pointing in the direction that Kasey is pointing. It looks like we were already headed the right way.

Kasey sees the expression on my face and bites her lip.

“Will is with him,” she says gently. “Roger isn't all alone. He just doesn’t know it.”

Aiden suddenly cringes, reeling from the volume in his head, and now there’s no denying that Roger is rapidly running out of time.

Aiden looks at me, then looks out at the fire. He takes a deep breath, then steps off of the road and onto the grass, heading right for the wall of flames.

I follow him, and Kasey follows me. The already ferocious heat swells in intensity the closer we get.

Aiden stops just before the place where the fire starts. He holds out a hand, his palm facing the flames.

I sense an electric charge gathering in the air around us. Aiden moving energy, channeling magic. He closes his eyes, focusing, gritting his teeth in concentration.

The flames roar as something sweeps through them, a massive, invisible pulse from Aiden’s hand. An open tunnel forms in the fire, the pushed-back flames making burning walls on either side. The ground beneath is a molten strip of red and black and glowing orange.

I stare in wide-eyed silence, my fingers pressed over my mouth.

Aiden slowly lifts one foot, holds it over the pathway of searing embers, and steps onto the air.

Just as he does when he walks on water, he stands a few inches above the surface. Manipulating the heat, using it instead of letting it burn him. He turns around to look at me, and I step forward to go with him.

I go very still when he puts a hand out to stop me.

“Aiden,” I begin, my voice trembling, and he takes my hands.

“You can’t come with me, Jamie. Not this time. I have to run, and if your hand slips out of mine, even for a second, you’ll be... you can't come. You have to stay here.”

“Aiden, no!” The tears rolling down my cheeks are drying up in the scalding heat before they can fall from my face. “I’m coming with you, I’m-”

Aiden leans down to kiss me, cutting off my words. I let out a sob against his mouth, because I know that he’s right. Even if my heart is screaming in protest.

“Promise me that you’ll stay here,” he says, his forehead pressed to mine. “Promise me.”

I can barely see him through the tears in my eyes, but I nod, trying not to start sobbing again.

“I love you,” I tell him, squeezing his fingers.

Aiden gazes down at me from his place in the air, then brushes one more kiss onto my lips.

“I love you, too, Linden.”

He presses something into my hands, something around the same size as my palm. I don’t know what it is, and I don’t care. I can’t break my gaze away from him.

He looks down at me, his blue eyes full of magic, the flames all around him. Then he turns and takes a step out into the fire.

I realize suddenly that while he knows roughly where he’s going, he probably won’t know how to get back out.

But there is one sound he always seems to know how to follow.

“Aiden!” I shout.

He looks at me over his shoulder.

“Listen for me,” I tell him, blinking the tears out of my eyes. “To find your way back.”

He stares at me for a second, then nods. Then he turns around and walks into the flames.

The pathway he made closes up after him, and I have just enough time to see him break into a run. His feet don’t touch the ground, but he sends up burning sparks where he steps.

The heat he’d been keeping away from me returns all at once like a full-body branding iron, and I go staggering backwards, gasping. Kasey follows me as I start stumbling back towards the road, but I shake my head at her, pointing to the place where Aiden vanished.

“Go with him!”

“Jamie, he can’t see or hear me, I can't help him-”

“I don’t care!” I sob, dragging my sleeve over my eyes. “Please, I need someone to be with him!”

Kasey turns and races back towards the fire, leaps into it after Aiden.

The pain of letting Aiden go is so complete that I almost sink to my knees. I tighten my grip around whatever I’m holding, then remember it, and look down to see what Aiden gave me.

It’s my inhaler. Even with the noise in his head - even with everything going on - Aiden must have remembered to grab it from my car before we got out.

I give it a shake and use it. I don’t know if it’s the smoke in the air or letting Aiden’s hands out of mine, but suddenly it’s fucking impossible for me to breathe.

The fire before me surges in the wind, howling with red fury, and I bite into my knuckles to keep from screaming.

From dating Roger, I know exactly how dangerous this shit is. It’s not just flames and burning, but smoke inhalation, heat exhaustion, crush injuries…

My heart wrenches painfully, overcome with fear for Aiden. And for Roger, too.

I know that he’s brave and smart, that he’s trained for this. That his uniform is made from non-combustible materials, that he’s wearing heavy-duty boots, fire-resistant gloves, fire-retardant clothes even beneath his turnout gear.

Regardless, I can’t help but be terrified. Roger and I weren’t right for each other, but I always thought he was a sweetheart. I never wanted to see anything bad happen to him. I wanted the opposite of that.

I wanted him to find someone like - like how Aiden is to me. Someone who you love more than anything, someone who makes you forget every other thing in the whole fucking world when you have them in your arms. A Companion Plant.

I wanted to see Roger happy, not hurt, or worse. And - didn’t he say that there was a cute EMT he liked, someone who worked with his crew a lot, a guy that Roger was hoping might be gay or bi? Did Roger ever try to find out? Now I might never know...

And Aiden... my Sugar Maple, my Companion Plant...

I stand there staring at the wall of fire, swaying on my feet, praying to whoever might be listening. I wait for what feels like a fucking eternity, like I’ve lived my whole life and grown old a thousand times over just standing here -

And then two figures appear in the fire.

I stare at them, frozen to the spot. The flames shift, then burst outwards, like someone pushed them out of the way.

Aiden comes staggering out of the fire, Roger’s arm around his shoulders.

My heart leaps so wildly that it actually hurts. The sound torn from my throat is one I've never made before.

Roger's head is hanging down, and it’s clear that Aiden is holding him up, but - he’s walking. Not on air, but on ash. Aiden must be pulling the heat out of the ground with each step that they take, making safe passage for them.

I go sprinting forward to meet them.

I take Roger’s other arm, hook it around my shoulder, and help get him to the road. But all the while, I'm looking at Aiden.

He has ash on his face and in his hair, but he looks unhurt. His blue eyes are fixed on me, filled with love and exhaustion.

My heart nearly gives out from relief.

Roger manages to lift his head when we get to the pavement. I don’t see his radio, or whatever he was using to cut the firebreak. One of his gloves is missing, as is his helmet, and he’s smeared with ash everywhere.

But his eyes are open, and he’s breathing.

"Are you okay, Roger?" I ask.

He blinks at me, his eyes dazed and glassy, then pulls down his mask.

“Where’s - Luca?” he coughs, choking on his words.

I don’t know who that is, but I’m more focused on helping Aiden lead Roger back up the road towards the waiting ambulances, towards people who can help him. We’ve already made it far enough that someone has seen us coming. One of the paramedics breaks free from the crowd and comes sprinting towards us.

But he’s not carrying any equipment, and as he gets closer, I realize that there are tears running down his cheeks.

“Roger!” he half-sobs, half-shouts.

Roger lifts his head again, gets his eyes to focus, and lets out a shuddering breath. Hit with a sudden burst of renewed strength, he lets go of me and Aiden, and opens his arms.

The paramedic throws himself into them and flings his slender arms around Roger’s tattooed neck, apparently unconcerned about hot ash or the blazing heat clinging to Roger’s uniform.

Roger locks his arms around the paramedic, drops his forehead onto his shoulder.

“Luc,” he says softly, and the paramedic lets out another sob, stroking his fingers through Roger’s hair.

They hold each other tightly for a moment, and then Luca gently pushes Roger back, takes his face in his hands.

“Are you okay?” he asks, his voice shaking.

Roger looks down into Luca’s eyes, touches his fingers to his cheek. “I am now.”

Luca lets out a soft, broken little sound, trailing his thumbs over Roger’s face.

“Roger, I was so fucking scared, I thought - I thought you-”

“I’m here.” Roger puts his forehead to Luca’s. “I’m right here.”

Luca takes an unsteady breath, then pulls back and starts undoing the front of Roger’s turnout jacket.

Roger coughs out a laugh. “Right now, Luc?”

“Stop it!” Luca lets out a watery laugh of his own, swiping tears away from his pale green eyes. He pulls Roger’s jacket off of him, leaves him in his navy blue, long-sleeved shirt. “I need to check you for burns, I need to get you on a non-rebreather, I need to…”

He trails off, bites his lip, and buries his face deep into Roger’s chest, wraps his arms around him again. Roger cradles the back of Luca’s head in his ash-covered hand, pushes his nose in his hair, presses a kiss into it.

They stay like that for a moment, only breaking apart when rising shouts from the base camp startle them. Roger’s crew comes rushing out to meet him, Andrew leading the way, everyone yelling with relief.

Roger blinks at them, and his body suddenly seems to remember what it’s been through. His shoulders sag, and he leans heavily into Luca. Luca catches him, keeps him upright until two firefighters take Roger’s arms onto their shoulders and lead him towards the ambulances.

Luca turns to stare at me and Aiden. It’s clear that he has a lot of questions, but he doesn’t ask any of them.

Instead, he rushes forward and pulls us both into a hug. Aiden and I both freeze, startled.

“Thank you,” Luca stammers, stepping back, brushing the tears off of his face. “Just - thank you.”

He sets off after Roger again immediately, before either of us can say anything.

“I like your hat!” he yells over his shoulder.

Aiden touches his fingers to the bi pride colors on his snapback, breaks into a wide smile, and looks down at me.

I twine my arms around him, overwhelmed.

Speechless with relief, with gratitude, with love.