Searing heat on my face, smoke in my lungs, clawing my way up – out –

I must have woken up because it’s dark but I still can’t breathe and I hear screaming. Something comes at me from one side and picks me up and then my head is underwater and someone’s saying “BREATHE, DAMN YOU” and the screaming stopped.

I take in great gulps of water until I stop sobbing but I’m still shaking. Someone lets my head up – Fire? He pushes dripping hair out of my eyes, pulls me to his chest to keep me warm. “Breathe,” he orders again.

--

More elementals. :3  I like the Fire/Water interaction, and the way the scene totally isn't complete.  And going from breathing water to breathing air is pretty awesome as well.

He knelt and took one of her hands in both of his. He couldn’t look at her face.

“You asked me once what the worst part was. I think I said having three sisters, like the gods couldn’t pick one other boy. That was a lie. The worst part is this. You’re going...” He choked. “You’re going to die. And I have to spend the rest of my miserable magical life without you. That’s the worst part. Five hundred years of heartache.”

He dropped her hand on her chest, rose, and ran away. He couldn’t let her see him cry.

--

Sad sad drabble.  I think this is a Fire elemental, but it doesn't appear to really matter which it is.

I like the phrase "miserable magical life" a lot.  I don't like the last two sentences; they don't feel right.  But I'm too lazy to tinker with them anymore, so there they are.

Definitely based on the phoenix's five-hundred-year lifespan.

Winter is the dead season. For all of us. Maybe Air has it easier than Fire, maybe Water has some new tricks to make it more bearable. But we all struggle. I think I struggle most of all.

Every winter I’m afraid it’s going to be my last. You’d think after three hundred years I’d have a little faith, but it’s difficult to believe I’ll see another spring when I start feeling like an empty husk. When sleep finally overtakes me... it’s hard not to be afraid I won’t wake up.

The worst part is I know someday, I won’t.

--

Oh look it's the elementals again.

I think this is drawn partly from the phoenix myth, where after five hundred years it is reborn in another body.

I think this one is cool when read with the other Earth and winter drabble, Change In The Weather.