(Short chaper because... I didn't feel like making it longer. Sorry.)

Calm down! Blaize roared in my head as my heart pounded in my chest. I opened the lighter, ready to throw it like a grenade under the door, hoping my Charizard would protect me.

Don't throw me. His expression probably was that of a harried mother.

His bright white flame flickered on the lighter, nearly setting my eyebrows up in flame as I held him up in front of me like a priest with a cross. Why was Blaize so freaking calm?! This thing could up and kill us! The Gucci shoes turned slowly, and I heard a faint creak as the wolf leaned against the wall. Goth sweat dripped in my eye, the sting lost to me, for all my attention was on the knob, which was slowly turning.

Uh, uh, what was I going to do? Why wasn't Blaize giving me directions anymore? Was he mad at me for calling him a Charizard? Please forgive me please forgive me, I said in my head before I saw the door begin to open.

"Someone's in here!"

I realized that was probably the worst thing you could say to a werewolf that was about to eat you.

I could see a small sliver of her face through my dark shades, her almond eyes were closed, full lips parted. I caught a glimpse of sharp silver fangs as her face scrunched up, snarling. Her nose crinkled, her penciled eyebrows pinching.

Then her head jerked down.

I dropped Blaize's lighter, which made a loud clatter, slapping my hand over my mouth as I pressed myself to the wall.

"Choo!" The wolf lady sneezed with such force I was surprised she didn't blow the place down. She slammed the door shut again and her Gucci shoes turned towards the check out. "Not only is this place scummy, but it completely reeks of" –ACHOO- "Disgusting cotton candy and"-HAAA CHOOO- "VANILLA!" With one final screeching sneeze, she exited the store with a huff, yelling that she would be contacting the manager.

"I... survived," I whispered before looking at my hand and realizing Blaize wasn't in them. I grabbed the lighter from the floor, where it had been still lit. "Blaize- your plan worked! You saved me!"

Blaize did not reply.

"Blaize? Are you alive in there?" I shook the lighter and the flame swooshed every which way.

What? His voice snapped in my mind. One of the most beautiful angriest voices I have heard in my life.

"Blaize! Your plan worked! You saved me!" I grinned like a fool.

Heard it the first time.

"No seriously Blaize, I... thank you. You're really a nice guy, I'm sorry for"-

Do me a favor.

"Sure! I could do that for you!" My hands were shaking a bit in relief, jostling the lighter.

Shut up while you're ahead.

Suddenly the door opened and a man with a buzzcut hairstyle loomed down at me with a perfect Grumpy Cat frown, making his face erupt in wrinkles. His name tag read: Logan.

"Hi?" I said. I didn't realize how bad it looked, me huddling in the corner with a lit lighter, staring at it as if it held the key to life's existence.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to have to escort you out. We don't allow drugs in our store." He grunted, grabbing my shoulder and hauling me up. I put the cap on the lighter hurriedly, glaring as I realized he thought I was on drugs in the first place.

"Hey I'm not on drugs!" I protested, trying to pull out of his grip. "Honest man, I was just...."

"Talking to your imaginary friends. Yeah. We get it." The woman behind the desk shook her head, huge hoop ear rings wobbling.

"Can I just get my bags real quick?" I asked, pointing to where they still were on the floor.

"Yes. But then, you must leave," the big guy said, releasing me to fold his arms, flexing them in a show of dominance.

I rolled my eyes as I walked over to the bags, picking them up and dragging them out. With a sleight of hand, I snuck a few shirts in there as well. I saluted dryly at the two of them as I made my exit, trying to hide the smirk that was threatening to stretch across my features.

As I walked back towards the store I had entered, I received several glances and wrinkled noses. Some people even took big detours to get around me. I inhaled the sweet cotton candy taste of victory, my large assortment of bags bulging out on either side of me.

"Holy Guacamole!" A male voice said. "Smells like a clown up and died in here!"

Nope. I thought to myself. This clown survived. My triumphant march through Macy's came to a halt as soon as I heard the sound of a thundering alarm. "Fire Alert. Please go in an orderly fashion towards the exit. Do not run. Fire alert." A robotic voice thrummed through the speakers overhead.

Blaize, what did you do? I looked down at my pocket, before realizing that the lighter was gone! Oh crap! The color drained from my face as I looked around. Had I dropped it? Or did I leave it at Hot Topic? A huge wave of worried shoppers flooded the Macy's, making it impossible for me to trace my tracks. Blaize? Where are you? He didn't answer me again. Patting down my jacket one last time, I was nearly bowled over by the mob. "Hey!" My voice was lost in the panic and robotic voice yelling through the speaker.

Blaize saves my life and what do I do? Lose him. What a great person I was.

I ran through the crowds, bashing everyone in my way with my shopping bags. When you're as desperate as me, you get a little crazy. "Blaize!" I yelled over the crowd. "Blaize!?" I raced towards the stairs before a mall cop stopped me.

"Blaze? Do you see the fire elsewhere?" he asked, looking around the area, pushing me towards the exit.

"No no.. uh... it's my baby. He's still in here," I winced at how stupid that was.

He gave me a pained glance. I could tell a few questions were running through his head; you're too young to be having babies and you named your baby Blaze? And quite possibly- you would leave your baby in a burning building?

"My baby... he's still in there. I gotta get him sir, please let me get him," Fake tears welled up in my eyes and I could tell he was starting to falter. Someone give me an Oscar already.

He looked over and saw that one of the ladies was trying to grab some 'free' jewelry on the way out. Before I could get an answer, he was rushing over to intercept the burglar.

I made a mad dash upstairs while the few remaining people were making their escape. Another mall cop was leading an elderly lady towards the exit. "Sir- you have to make your way to the.." I wasn't stopping. I ran right past him. Hot Topic was in sight. Target locked. Feet must... go faster...

I dropped my bags and ran inside. Luckily I was wearing motorcycle fingerless gloves and a baseball hat as well as a longsleeve shirt and jeans, because the fire inside would have burned me so bad I wouldn't be able to even approach the entrance. My teeth grit when it singed my cheeks and forehead, but that didn't stop me from looking for the lighter desperately.

Now let me get this straight, although the fire was a big deal for me, this fire was a joke. Okay, evacuate the whole building for a little bonfire in a tiny shop? A normal person could have put this thing to ashes if they just had a proper fire extinguisher. Which I guess was the employees job, but they hadn't stuck around. Guess they didn't really care about their job that much.

I scrambled around for the lighter, throwing off shirts and jeans. The fire department would soon be here to put this sucker out, and they'd find me- Justin Timberlake, your friendly neighborhood arsonist. Which would be promptly thrown in jail. "Blaize!" I yelled frantically, dropping to my knees. My hands patted around the ground where I had stolen some shirts. "Blaize where-" I felt something smooth and my hands and grinned as I saw the familiar gold skull emblazoned on the front of the wooden lighter.

You left me. Blaize was clearly happy to see me.

I'm sorry! But Blaize you gotta help me, they are gonna think I'm an arsonist!

You dropped me.

I'll make it up to you. Please, come on man. I said, knowing I was really stretching it at this point. I realized that this all wouldn't have happened if I hadn't dropped him when I was scared of the wolf. And now I was asking Blaize to pick up my mess.

How about you start with opening the cap? He said, his voice having a sting to it. Step away. Then I'll go, clean up your crap, and you will walk out to the car.

Blaize wasn't one to bandy with words, and his directions were pretty clear. I opened the cap, set it on the table, and stepped away, shoving my cap lower on my back, my back facing him. My shoulders hunched, eyes widening when red floodlighted the area, glinting off the glass windows in front of me. My face reddened further before I was sent reeling to the side, my hip smacking into the black display case as my savior marched out the door. The flames behind me immediately were vanquished. I sighed, rubbing my hip tenderly as I went out to get my bags. Once I heaved them up, I looked around at the vacant mall, then back to the store and I grinned.

I piled my bags into the back of the pickup, being extra careful with the Macbook Pro I had successfully burgled. I was surprised I was even able to lug these bulging bags out here. This was quite an accomplishment! I hummed, unlocking the truck door and opening it, sliding into the seat.

I almost fell right back out when I saw someone was already in there. "Oh.. hey Blaize! You scared me!" I laughed nervously.

He didn't say a word, neither did he change his expression. He just held out a clawed finger.

Oh. Keys. Right. I plopped it into his hand, whistling at the size of those claws popping out of his fingers. Slowly I began to slide myself onto the seat and strapped myself in. He turned on the car, turning down the windows so he wouldn't have to smell my pungent odor, and dropped the lighter on the cupholder. I gazed at the lighter, burning with curiousity. I waited a few minutes, knowing he probably didn't want to talk. After a little while, I felt like he might have cooled off. "So. What's it like being in that lighter?"

Blaize's blind eye blinked, but that about all I was going to get from him. I went quiet so that the only thing I could hear was the thrumming of the motor, then Blaize's stomach growling. I realized he hadn't eaten all day, and once I saw the clock, I realized it was four in the afternoon. I frowned and leaned forwards, taking off the seatbelt to look around. "You've got to be hungry, Blaize. We can stop somewhere before we get to the wilderness."

Blaize rolled his shoulders, but for once I could read him a little. It was a soldier mentality, listen to your commanding officer, which in his case was Darius. I'm guessing Darius said nothing about him getting a bite to eat, so he didn't. But I could tell he was getting swayed. He was hungry.

While I looked around to spot somewhere where we could get something a big dragon like him would like, it suddenly dawned on me. Blaize hardly spoke. And when he did, it seemed like it pained him. He only spoke freely when he was talking in my head. Maybe he didn't go because he couldn't even order his food?

"Blaize, hey, there's a KFC. I could order a chicken bucket for you." I said, pointing to it.

Blaize tried to ignore me, but his head slowly turned until it was sharply craned to try to see out of his good eye what I was looking at. He bit his lip, obviously thinking about it.

"We could just go through the drive-through. No sweat." I shrugged nonchalantly.

He drummed the steering wheel before he turned on his turning signal on headed off in that direction. He used his knees to drive as he opened the glove compartment and got out a fresh bandage for his scar, peeling off the old, drool encrusted one and throwing it in a plastic bag. I scooted up to look outside as he carefully put on the new patch so he could eat without half of his food going out his cheek. He was navigating the streets easily with his knee- I was amazed at his prowess as he put an eye patch over his blind eye. Why did he care so much?

He rolled down the window as he neared the menu. He looked it over thoughtfully, before pointing to the bucket of grilled chicken. I leaned over the middle of the truck before calling out the number it was loudly. Blaize did a heavy metal sneeze when my perfume laden scent wafted over to him.

'You okay?' the guy said over the intercom.

I looked at Blaize and could tell he was about to do another sneeze. Deep in the throat of his mouth, a bright flare of red was beginning to flow. "Yeah yeah we're good!" I said before plopping back in the seat, narrowly escaping a firey sneeze that was barely stemmed by his cupped hand. The sound was tremendous. And the fire burned his bandage to a crisp. He didn't seem to notice though as he drove on up to the payment window. He looked down at his hand and I caught a glimpse of molten lava. And the lady stationed there was ready for her money. Blaize seemed to freeze, not sure what to do. I reached over and yanked his wallet out of his back pocket, before rifling through the thick wad of cash to find the suitable amount of money, trying not to concentrate on how much money was slipping through my fingers. I reached over Blaize to hand it to her as Blaize looked ready to sneeze again. "Keep the change! Thanks! Bye!" I said, leaving her bewildered as Blaize haltingly drove to the next door, managing to keep his fire down on the last sneeze. His face was still scrunched up in pre-sneeze.

"Here's your order, sir," a woman said, baring her teeth in a huge smile. Blaize looked over at her, his bandage burnt off his face, his terrible scars pulsing and throbbing, his fangs showing through his ripped cheeks, and the patch over his eye. She stepped back, obviously about to scream but she managed to collect herself, holding the bucket in one hand and pointing at the stonefaced Blaize with the other. "This is a joke right? A prank?" She moved her head back and forth to spot me. "You have a camera right?"

Blaize looked back to the road, almost about to drive off. "Just give us the bucket!" I yelled.

She held it out. "Nice mask by the way." She said to Blaize as the dragon snagged it and drove away so fast that I hit the seat.

He bit the chicken, tearing into it like he was some wild animal, savagely tearing it apart.

"I'm sorry." I said, before biting my lip. I always said the worst thing around this guy.

He turned to face me and I never have and never will see the glare that I received from him that day. His eyes flamed a brilliant white. He didn't want my sympathy. When I looked in his eyes, I saw what he really wanted and it made my blood run cold. I looked away hurriedly, exhaling slowly.

And we drove back towards home, with me sitting glumly in the back of the pickup truck with a blanket and a drumstick.