Episode: 5.11

--- Ember ---

(I can’t believe that asshole!)

She stormed through the market trying to get as far away from where she’d left Aiden as possible.

“That son of a bitch!” she cursed under her breath as she forced her way past people who were giving her much less space than before.

(This is third fucking time today!)

Three times today, that he’d left her on her own, as he ran off to take care of something else, something (more important than you.)

She shook her head, wondering why he even bothered bringing her along if he was just going to ditch her at every opportunity.

Sure, the thing at the restaurant was him ‘going to the bathroom’, (but who spends fifteen minutes in a public restroom!)

Obviously, he just used that as an excuse to run off and ditch her and came back when he finished whatever he was taking care of.

If this was any indication of what it’d be like for the month it took her mom to get out of the hospital…

She shook her head.

(Why did mom leave me with this asshole?)

She quit walking as another thought occurred to her.

(What if… what if it takes mom longer than a month to wake up?)

She wouldn’t put it past the adults to lie to her, to give her the best-case scenario, to give her false hope that would just make it hurt all the more when those same hopes were shattered.

(No… Don’t, don’t think like that…)

She wiped away the half-formed tears, that had begun to form.

(Mom, mom, will wake up… She has to…)

After a moment, once she was sure her eyes were done watering, she took a second to look around, and try and figure out where she was. Not that she’d actually be able to recognize her surroundings, since it was her first time at the market.

She glanced up at the second and third floors that looped around the entire market.

(Right, just have to find some stairs and I can find my way back to the entrance.)

Nodding at her newly formed plan, she turned only to freeze as she caught sight of four masked figures huddled together.

Normally this wouldn’t be a problem given how just about everyone at the market wore a mask, the problem was that these four were also wearing a very recognizable set of hooded knee-length robes with a purposely shredded hem along the wrists and coat bottom.

(The Cheshire Cult…)

Her mother had warned her about them. The Cheshire Cult, a group of people who worshiped the Cheshire Trickster, a mad man who was quite possibly both the most powerful and the most corrupted Wonderlander on the planet.

She began slowly backing away from them, before freezing as she stepped on a can someone had tossed aside, the crumpling aluminum crying out for all nearby to hear its agony.

All four of the cultists turned their heads towards the sudden sound.

(Shit!)

“Well, hello, hello…” One of the robed figures greeted as they stepped forward, a simple mask of a yellow smiling face covering his own. “What’s a pretty little thing like you doing all alone?”

(Shit, shit, shit!)

She may not have known much about the cult itself, but she did know that if even her mother, who had lived in a relatively safe neighborhood far outside of the Cult’s territory, had warned her to stay the hell away from them, then they were a threat worth worrying about.

(What did Aiden say to do if someone bothered me?)

“I’m um, I’m waiting for someone…” She told the cultists, as she took a step away from them.

“Oh, and who might that be?” The cultist inquired curiously as he matched her with another step forward.

“Aiden Caine?” She offered, even as her words sounded more like a question than anything else.

“The Flame-bound?” The smiling mask cultist asked with a tilt of his head. “Why ever would you be waiting on a ruffian such as that?”

(The flame-bound?) She shook her head. (No, that doesn’t matter. What matters is that they have heard of him.)

“He’s my guardian.” She told them, hoping her voice was more confident than she felt.

The cultist laughed, actually laughed, at that before turning to her a mad smile to his voice. “The flame-bound is no guardian, he is a destroyer and little else. A child such as yourself should be left nowhere near such a monster.”

(Damn it!)

She cursed taking a step back.

(So, much for his name being enough to ward people off…)

She knew he’d been too full of himself, but that didn’t stop her from looking around for help, in case that thing he’d said about child safety was true.

(Shit!)

Unfortunately, in her haste to get away from Aiden, she’d wandered into a part of the market that seemed to have little to no actual traffic.

Figuring that someone had to hear her in an enclosed space like the market warehouse, she opened her mouth to scream... only for no sound to come out.

“Ah-ah, that wouldn’t be the smart thing to do.” A female cultist wearing a mask with a giant eye for a face chided her in a kind tone. “Sadly, the Market doesn’t care for our cult. They just don’t understand how we’re trying to offer everyone a place in our lord’s wonderland.”

“They don’t understand much if there’s not a price tag on it.” Another cultist, one wearing a dog mask, growled roughly.

“Now, now, no need to be so angry.” The smiling masked cultist scolded in a soft tone. “The Market are merely doing what they consider their duty, we can’t fault them for not comprehending our own when it clearly falls outside of theirs.”

She thought about making a break for it while they were distracted, a tendency she'd heard was relatively common amongst those suffering from prolonged exposure to a Wonderlander’s powers.

“Really now, there’s no need to run.” The smiling masked cultist told her before she could even take a single step. “We mean you no harm.”

“You don’t?” She asked cautiously, not believing them for a second, but fully believing she could stall them out for another opening.

“No, no, no.” The cultist shook his head. “We’d never do harm to one who has been marked by the gods.”

That brought her up short. “What?”

“Oh?” The cultist tilted his head. “You didn’t know?”

She swallowed down her apprehension. “Know what?”

“Well, if you don’t know then we’ll just have to educate you.” The cultist nodded.

(I do not like the sound of that…)

She took a step to her right, back towards where the majority of the market was, only for the fourth cultist, one with a solid black mask, to step in front of her blocking the way.

(Shit, I forgot there were four…)

“Oh, don’t feel bad, he tends to slip past everyone’s attention.” The smiling mask cultist consoled her. "It's his gift really."

Her eyes darted between the three (four, damn it!) cultists as they boxed her in.

“Don’t worry, miss, like I said we have no intention of hurting you.” The cultist assured her in a way that definitely didn’t make her feel better. “We just want to teach you about the gift you’ve been given.”

The cultist began reaching for her but before he could grab her, a gloved hand wrapped around his wrist, and twisted it away from her at an obviously painful angle.

“Back the fuck up.” A familiar voice growled.

(Aiden!)

She couldn’t help but feel better as Aiden stepped between her and the cultists, figuring that even in human skin these monsters couldn't be worse than what the hunter faced on the norm.

“You don’t understand this one has been marked by our lord!” The smiling masked cultist tried to explain with a sudden almost religous fervor.

Aiden glanced over his shoulder at her, before glaring back at the cultist. “And your lord is a psychopathic sadist, who treats people like toys.”

“You don’t understand the blasphemy you speak!” The cultist cried.

“I know exactly what I’m talking about.” Aiden laughed bitterly. “Just like I also know that if you come anywhere near this girl again, evila uoy nrub ot gniog m’I.” She didn’t know what those last words meant, but for just a second, she could’ve sworn Aiden’s eyes burned red liked hellfire as he tossed the cultist away.

The man in the smiling mask glared as he straightened out his robes. “We will not forget about this transgression Flame-bound one.”

Aiden gave them a derisive laugh, before spreading his arms wide with his cane in one hand and his hat in the other. “I’ve already got a dozen names on my list, don’t think I’m afraid to burn through a few dozen more.”

The lead cultist spent another moment glaring at Aiden, before turning and storming off, his followers trailing behind.

Once they were sure the cultists were gone, Aiden fixed his hat and turned back to her. “Damn it, kid. That’s twice today someone’s tried to get you. Even I don’t piss people off that fast.”

(And there go any feelings of gratitude…)

Aiden gave her a once over, and she was just able to make out the hint of concern in his eyes as he did so. “You okay, kid?”

(No…)

“I’m fine.” She lied, not meeting his gaze.

Aiden watched her for a moment, before sighing, “Right…”

They both stood there in awkward silence, neither of them really sure of what to say.

“Look… Ember...” Aiden started, only to stop when she did look at him

He scratched at his neck and seemed to (lick his teeth?) before reaching into his vest and pulling out a pack of cigarettes and a lighter. It didn’t even take him five seconds to pull out a cigarette and light it.

After another moment, and couple of puffs on the cigarette, Aiden nodded to her as he put his lighter away. “Any idea what those psychopaths were after you for?”

She just shook her head.

“Didn’t think so…” Aiden admitted, tapping his foot on the ground.

He glanced at her again before shaking his head and waving for her to follow. “Either way, we should get moving before those jackasses try something else.”

Reluctantly, she did, figuring she had nowhere else to go, though that didn’t make the silence between them any less grating or awkward, if anything it made it more so.

Eventually it grew to be more than she could handle.

“I… I thought your name was supposed to be enough to keep people from, from bothering me if I used it.”

Aiden scratched his neck with something of a grimace. “The Cheshire Cult is the exception to that rule, almost my entire family has a target on their back when it comes to those psycho-fucks.”

(Yeah, they gave you a nick name and everything...)

Aiden sighed, as he flicked a bit of ash from his cigarette. “Honestly, using my name is more likely to piss the cult off than anything else. That said, they usually have issues with the people who run the market too, so I wasn’t expecting them to be here this week, let alone today of all days. Going to have to mention that I saw them to someone at some point.” He added as an after thought.

She nodded, accepting that excuse since she remembered how little of an opinion the cultist seemed to have of Aiden and the Market in general. (Though that does raise another question…)

“What exactly did you do to make them all hate you?”

“Well,” Aiden grew a smirk at some far-off memory. “It’s less what I did, and more what my family did as a whole.”

“Yeah, but what did you guys do?” She pressed, figuring it must’ve been something pretty big if the entire cult held a grudge against them.

Aiden chuckled around his cigarette before giving her a downright vicious grin.

“We slapped the bitch out of their god.”