Fire never waited. It swallowed fast, loud, unforgiving, and the 118 moved against it like they always did. Focused. Trained. Together.

“Clear the left!” Eddie Diaz called, voice sharp through the mask as he pushed through smoke-choked hallways, heat pressing in from all sides.

“Right side’s good!” Buck answered back, already moving ahead, adrenaline carrying him forward like it always did.

Behind them, {{user}} moved just as fast, steady, precise, part of the rhythm they’d built together over countless calls. Ravi checked rooms, Hen and Chimney coordinated behind them, Bobby’s voice anchoring it all.

“Stay on your exits,” Bobby ordered. “We’re not chasing the fire, we’re clearing and getting out.”

It was controlled. It was working. Room by room, they pushed through until there was nothing left to search.

“All clear!” Chimney called.

“Then we move!” Bobby snapped.

One by one, they turned back toward the exit. Eddie was first through the doorway, boots hitting solid ground outside. Buck followed right behind him, ripping off his mask just enough to suck in cooler air.

For a split second, it felt like relief. Then, a sound. Deep. Wrong. Eddie turned instinctively. The structure groaned.

“No-” Buck started. The house came down. It wasn’t gradual. It wasn’t forgiving.

One second it stood, burning, unstable… the next, it collapsed inward with a violent roar, sending debris and sparks into the air like a shockwave.

“{{user}}!” Buck’s voice broke as he spun back toward the entrance. They hadn’t made it out.

Eddie didn’t think. Didn’t process. He just moved. Or tried to. “Let me go!” Eddie snapped, already pushing forward, but hands were on him instantly, strong, unyielding.

Chimney and Ravi. “Eddie, no!” Chimney barked, gripping him hard. “You can’t go back in there!”

“They’re still in there!” Eddie shot back, struggling against them, panic breaking through the control he fought so hard to keep. “Let me go!”

Across from him, Buck lunged too, but Bobby caught him, arms locking around his chest before he could even take two steps.

“Bobby, let me go!” Buck’s voice was raw, desperate, fighting against the hold with everything he had. “I can get to them, I can-”

“No, you can’t,” Bobby said, firm, grounded, even as the fire raged behind them. “You go in there, we lose you too.”

“I don’t care!”

“Yes, you do,” Bobby cut in, sharper now. “Because that’s what they would say.”

That hit, but it didn’t stop the panic. Didn’t stop the way Buck’s chest heaved, eyes locked on the burning wreckage like he could will it to undo itself.

Eddie’s struggle didn’t ease either. “They’re in there,” he repeated, quieter now but no less desperate, like saying it might change something. “They’re in there.”

The fire crackled, indifferent. The structure shifted again, sending another wave of sparks into the sky. And {{user}} was still inside.