After The Fire:
Shorite by Lone Wolf
Starring: Ashley Williams

~I will be the flame~

	I am always a busy person. It's the only thing I can do to keep myself
from going stark raving mad. I take the really difficult or challenging 
missions, to keep my up on my skills and to entertain myself if need be. If 
they have some new device or ancient stone tablet in the labs that they are 
having problems figuring out, I drop by. With the exceptions of the ancient 
texts, it lasts all of five minutes after I flip a switch, push a button, or 
connect a wire they've overlooked. Even then, it's entertaining to listen to 
the mutters they let go of when I solve in 30 seconds what they couldn't in 
30 hours. The only times I relax are when I take a shower and when I sleep. 
I will never take a day off for myself.

	Except for May 7th.

	It was the five year anniversary of the day my life was shattered. I 
had taken the day before, this day, and the day after off for myself to 
ponder and mourn my losses. The 6th I had spent a little down in 
anticipation of this day. The 8th I would spend still not sure of why it all 
happened. But the 9th would mark another anniversary: the day I joined the 
Hunters. That, of course, would put me in a happy mood. It was a vicious 
cycle.

	Every 7th, I would hit the nearby mountain range, hike for an hour, 
and reach my desitnation. The mountains housed a secluded lake. Nobody 
except for myself, my boss, and my friends knew about it. I discovered it 
when on a training mission with Tabitha (my coach for that mission). It was 
so serene that I had to call it my own. Lake of Memory, I called it. At that 
time, we put the mission on hold and Tabitha helped me errect two, flat 
stones by the lake side. On it, we carved my parent's names and I called it 
their graves. It was more of a monument to the two than a grave. I didn't 
care. This was my last link to them. Ever since, I would come here on the 
8th and remember them, the good times, and, most importantly, figure out why 
this happened to me.

	It was about two in the afternoon. I was leaning on my mother's stone, 
eyes shut, quietly contemplating why everything I knew and loved was 
stripped from me. My face bore two streams of matted fur from where the 
tears went. "Why?" I asked nobody. "Why were they taken? Why was it all 
taken?"
	"I don't know," a voice answered. "But you aren't going to figure it 
out by yourself." Tabitha. I looked and saw her in the bushes. She had 
followed me.
	"T-tabitha. What are you doing here?" I tried to clear my face up. 
The last two times that anyone had seen me cry was when they first picked me 
up in the old town and when Tabitha and I finished the stones.
	"It's that time of the year again," she responded softly. "This was 
the year I was really worried about you." She crawled out of the bushes and 
towards me. "Ashy, hun, please. I want to help."
	I turned away in spite. "I don't need your help. You never knew me or 
my parents." It was a defense mechanism. I could use all the help when on 
duty (362 days of the year), but when it came to matters like this, I would 
accept no assistance. 
	She sat down next to me, but did not lean on the stone behind her. "I 
know that it's hard to lose a loved one under such conditions, and I know 
that you want to figure out why by yourself. But I don't think you can 
handle it alone." She took my hand. "Ashley, I want to know, if not as a 
comrad, as a friend, how bad is it? How bad is the pain?"
	Those words caused me to lose control. I wrapped my arms around her, 
buried my face into her shoulder, and cried like a little child who just had 
her favorite toy broken. "Tabitha," I managed between bawls. "The pain is 
too much sometimes. I don't know why they were killed and not me. Why wasn't 
I killed too?"
	She patted my back and rocked back and forth, trying her best to 
comfort my emotional wounds. "Shhh....it'll be okay. I'm right here for you. 
Let it go." I sniffled. What she was doing reminded me of my mother. It 
brought back memories of when I was sick and when I had broken my leg when I 
was 11.
	"T-tabitha," I said, my voice soft and weak, every emotion showing. 
"Why do these things happen?"
	"What do you mean?"
	"Why do innocent people have their peaceful lives shattered?"
	She sighed. "If I could tell you that hun, I wouldn't be a Hunter. I 
would have enough closure to go back to a civilian life and just live out 
the rest of my days knowing why my problems happened."
	I looked up at her. "Your problems?"
	She lowered her head. "When the Hunters found me on their doorstep, I 
was badly beaten, bloody, raped, and on Death's doorstep. I was only 16."
	I sat up and looked at her. "Who did it?" I didn't want to open old 
wounds for her, but I wanted to know who did this to my friend at that 
tender age.
	She curled up against my father's stone. "My dad," she whispered, 
shutting her eyes. My jaw dropped. Her own kin had pulled the worst thing 
you could do to a person. And at that age! My blood boiled, but I withheld 
my outburst and hugged her.
	"I'm so sorry. What happened to him?"
	She sniffled. "The last I saw him was on a mission. He was the target. 
I blew his gonads off and waited for the rest of the team to show up before 
I-" She squeaked and held onto me. I lowered my head. "To this day, I never 
understood why he did that to me. In the three hours that he spent rolling 
on the floor as we waited for the rest of the team to show up, he never 
confessed a single thing. I kept asking him, telling him I would spare his 
life if he told me. He fuckin' didn't say a word!" Tabitha is one not to 
curse. It must have been bad. It was my turn to comfort.
	"I don't know what to say. Is that why you're...." I rocked my hand 
like a see-saw. She nodded sadly. I hugged her. "Don't let this hurt you. If 
I were in your shoes, I would have nailed your father a lot sooner."
	"Really?"
	I sat her up and looked her in the eyes. "Tabitha, nobody, and I mean 
nobody, deserves that sort of treatment." I took a deep breath. "I will 
always be here to support you in any way I can."
	"Really?" I nodded. She smiled. "Thank you. I'll be here to help you 
with your problem as well." I smiled and kissed her, which shocked the shit 
out of the both of us. She looked at me when I pulled away. "Ashy? Did you 
just-?"
	"I know. I'm surprised as well."
	She smiled. "Does that mean you're considering-?"
	"Not at the moment." She sighed. "Tabitha, you're a friend. I wouldn't 
mind sharing the occasional kiss every now and then. It'll be a while before 
we can get close and it'll be an icy day in hell before I go down on you or 
allow you to go down on me, but kisses are okay."
	"Okay." She smiled. "Is it all right for one more?"
	I smiled and kissed her again. It felt pretty good, to be quite 
honest. We smiled and looked at the stones. It all came flooding into me 
then. "I know why!"
	She looked at me. "You know why what?"
	I set my hand on my mother's stone. "I lost everything for a reason. 
The Hunters are that reason. It was meant to be. I was supposed to come here 
and make my name in this business! It all makes sense now!" I hugged the 
stone. "Thanks Maman!" I hugged my father's stone. "Papa!" I turned to 
Tabitha and hugged her. "And thank you, Tabby."
	She hesitantly hugged back. "What for?"
	"I was destined to join up with the Hunters. And I was also destined 
to meet and befriend you. You helped me realize this. Thank you."
	She laughed and hugged tighter. "No, thank you Ashy! I haven't told 
anyone about what had happened since I killed him." We stood up. I looked at 
the stones and smiled.
	"See you next year," I told them.
	Tabitha quirked a brow. "Next year?"
	"Yeah. Next year I am coming back only to relive some of my memories 
of them. I will never forget them. But next year, I plan on going with a 
smile." I looked at her. She had an odd look on her face. I laughed. "Let's 
get back home. They're probably wonderin' about you!" I offered her an arm, 
something only a guy should do. She smiled and took it. I bowed to the 
stones and we took off for home.

	When the 9th rolled about, we had a mother of a blow-out! Everyone was 
there. I mean, come on! It was my fifth anniversary with the Hunters! Most 
operations were cancelled for this occasion. We tore through 8 cases of 
liquor and got drunk off of our asses. The security tapes tell the story of 
how Michael decided to dance on the table in nothing but a lampshade! Even 
ol' Johnathan, the poster child for prohibition, got drunk! We had a grand 
old time. I didn't even mind it when I woke up to find Tabitha in bed with 
me and our clothes on the other side of the room. For the first time in my 
life, everything made sense. For the first time, I had no questions, but all 
the answers. For the first time, I had no worries.

	For the first time, there was no limit to my happiness.

End
Ashley Williams and Tabitha Evans are © Lone Wolf and 
<([ Lone Wolf Studios ])>

See you next time!
	-Ashley Williams and Tabitha Evans