Phew! This chapter was a lot of fun to write... really like writing Hanan's family, especially her mom... she's so sassy. Well, she needs to be because Hanan used to be a little brat haha.
As always, critique, thoughts and anything is always welcome with open arms! (^w^)/)
And, again, thanks to Nexus_Schwarz and SugaryDiamond for beta-reading, the usual! But I wouldn't have been able to get this far without them!
"You seem rather sad today... did something happen?"
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it, dad."
"Really? Are you sure?"
"... Yes."
None of the two figures in the dimly lit room said anything for a while. An aroma of sweetness filled the room, originating from the cinnamon tea they both were enjoying in silence.
"It's really hard to make friends." The smaller figure began, voice low. "It's hard to make people like you. You always have to change..." The figure narrowed their eyes at the other person. "... Instead of being accepted for who you are..."
Episode 12: Overheated Compassion: Detonation
"Thank you for walking me home, Hanan." Connie opened door to her own house with her key. As soon as she stepped inside, Benny appeared in the hallway, calling her and running up to her for a hug. "I hope you don't mind. It's just that..."
"It's fine, really!" Hanan reassured her, giving Benny a warm smile as well. "It's nice getting some fresh morning breeze, and my house is nearby anyway. It's no problem." A quick, yet awkward pause. "I kinda hoped we would all walk back together. Or at least with Beryl, since Morgan isn't that fond of stuff like that."
Connie nodded and fumbled with her hands a little while Benny rushed back inside. "Will Beryl be okay? She seemed really upset..."
This morning had been as awkward as one would expect. By the time Hanan had woken up, Beryl had already left, and Morgan was getting ready to leave. Hanan and Connie had helped clean up the remains of the food with Bright before they had taken their leave as well.
"I hope so. I've never really seen her like that." Hanan replied, rubbing her arm. "Well, I haven't really known her for that long, though."
"Oh..."
"But yeah, please, don't listen to Ray. They're stubborn and very... ehm.. difficult." Hanan continued, grimacing at the memories of every time Ray had hurt someone with their words, including herself. "Just, don't take what they say too serious. They're trying, and I get that, but... they keep saying these mean things and hurting others. Don't let it get you."
"It's okay. I'm kinda used to that by now."
Hanan felt her heart sink when Connie had said that. She wanted to ask so many questions about the other girl's statement but bit back her words, in fear of making her sad again. Especially not now when her attention was once again turned to the little boy running circles around her and begging her to come inside.
"I'm coming, Benny." Connie smiled as the boy pulled on her shirt. "See you later, Hanan. Even though it ended... not so good, I still had a great time with all of you."
Hanan returned a smile of her own as she exchanged her farewells with Connie, before heading to her own home.
"Aren't you hungry, Ray?"
"No."
"Ray?"
"Please, leave. I want to be alone."
Bright leaned against the door and heaved a sigh. After tonight, Ray had locked themself in their room, refusing to come out or let him in. Even some freshly made omelettes hadn't been able to convince them to come out.
"They really want to be your friends... why won't you believe them?" He asked, still leaning against the door.
No reply.
This was her fault, Bright concluded. Lumina. Her constant putting ideas in Ray's head, making them fear everything... it had made them distrustful of everyone they came across, paranoid even.
"Forgiveness and acceptance is important." He said calmly, deciding to just leave that bit of advice before fulfilling their request of being left alone. "Not just with friendships, but any positive relationship you want to keep."
Inside the room, Ray twitched slightly.
Hanan came home to the loud voices of her parents. Judging from their tones, one would assume they were having a fight, but that wasn't the case.
She could hear her dad's voice. "Dear, calm down."
"Oh, no, no, nooo!" That was her mom's voice. "Thinking they're so great and amazing, well I won't have it! My children are just as talented as hers. I will not let her talk down on them. Remember when she called Hanan a 'freak'? I'm still m-"
Hanan awkwardly shuffled in place as she stepped into the living room. "Hey, what's going on?" She knelt down and took a moment to pet Chomp. The basset hound was sleeping as usual.
"Hey, sis, how was the sleepover?" Makeen asked, absentmindedly reading through a magazine while sitting on the couch.
Hanan bit her lip. "All right, I suppose."
Makeen gave her a slightly worried look before deciding to not pry any further. "Aunt Halima is gonna come next Wednesday."
"Uh... which one of the six is that again?" Hanan asked, trying to remember all the names of the aunts and uncles she had. There were so many and it was hard to keep track of all of them. It didn't help that she had only met half of them in person.
"The one that lives in Weathersdale. You know, her son, Omar, is a surgeon?" Makeen explained. "They travel a lot?"
Her mom stepped into the conversation. "She's the one who always gave you those watches? The ones that broke really easily, even though they were 'high quality'?"
"You kicked Rashida's ass once?" Fadil added with a snicker. "That was great."
"Oh!" Hanan remembered an unpleasant memory. "Oh..."
Nodding, her mom chuckled. "I will never forget when you broke one of those watches, though! She didn't like that one bit."
Hanan cringed at the memory. Back when she was a kid, Aunt Halima had visited and personally given her a watch. Hanan couldn't remember why she had gotten so angry back then but it had caused the watch to actually melt in her hand and break into two.
She had also fought with her cousin, Rashida, and accidentally gave a burn mark on her cheek. Man, she had been such a little brat back then.
Her aunt had seen it, and had reacted badly to both incidents.
"Farah, something is wrong with your child!"
It was always like that. Whenever she burned a paper in class, or hurt someone by grabbing their arm and burning it. Always those weird looks. And yet, nobody had an explanation for it either.
Just... weird.
"Hey, hey, mom!" Fadil raised his hand. "How would she react to Hanan being a Pretty Cure? That's way cooler than a surgeon!"
Makeen placed a finger on his lips, pondering. "Hmm... both save lives."
"Yeah, but only one has magical powers!"
Despite her slight embarrassment, a smile found its way on Hanan's face as her two brothers argued among each other. Her mom put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her into a hug.
"It'll be great if you showed off some of your fire-tricks while they're here!" Her mom gained a prideful smirk. "That'll show her! One of my children is the chosen one!"
Fadil let out a somewhat strained chuckle. "There are more Pretty Cures, mom..."
"Yes, like the ones from Garden Haven." Makeen said, his attention returning to the magazine in his hands. "I like them. Their outfits are really nice."
Hanan furrowed her brows thoughtfully. What was so special about a Pretty Cure anyway? Well, she already had the answer to that question. Magical powers, the ability to transform...
But, according to Bright and Ray, there were only four Titans. So... where did all these other Cures get their powers from? She obviously had heard of them from the news and Scrapbook, but... she wondered what their deal was and who they were up against.
They probably all had their own set of troubles to deal with.
Hanan shook her head. That didn't matter right now.
"I know! We can do a barbeque!" She heard her mom exclaim. "How does that sound? Hanan can light the fire!"
"... Me? I'm not that good with my powers, mom." Hanan's protest fell on deaf ears as her mother had already waltzed out of the room and to the phone to call Hanan's oldest brother Wasim, spilling the entire plan to him happily.
Her mom laughed. "Right? I've never liked Halima. That'll show her!"
Frowning a little, Hanan shot some questioning looks to her brothers and dad.
"What if I mess up? I don't want them to think I'm... weird... or even worse... have someone get hurt again because of me."
"It's fine." Her dad reassured her with a wave of the hand. "Your mom's family is really hard to please anyway. It was a gigantic drama fest when I went to meet her parents." He chuckled at the memory.
Maybe she really should start practicing her powers more? She mostly tried to not use them in fear of freaking out Beryl, but sometimes she had no other choice, or the flames escaped from her body anyway.
Fire was dangerous. She should at least learn how to control it.
She grimaced at the memory of her blowing up in the diner, losing control of powers she hadn't really realised she had. No, actually, she had always known there had been something off about herself.
Waking up even earlier than normal, Hanan went through her usual morning routine of an hour long bath or shower. Nobody was awake yet so she silently made some toast for herself before heading out.
She needed to go to a place where not too many people were, and a place where it was safe to literally play with fire. She had some time before class would start.
Hanan had found this particular spot on the beach that was slightly hidden away by the rocks. It was close by water so if she accidentally set herself on fire she could just jump right in. Well, as Cure Ember, she had already done that and it had only felt intensely warm, but it hadn't hurt.
The warmth, overheating, burning stuff... it was all starting to slowly click into place. Being some kind of reincarnation of a fire goddess. It was a hard concept to grasp, but the more she thought about it, the more it made sense, and the more it felt right.
But she didn't like it one bit.
Ignis... what had she been like? Had she really been as bad as Ray had made her out to be? Had she really been as sadistic and violent as Shade had said?
Hanan clenched her fists. Trying to think about Ignis made her feel... angry? She wasn't entirely sure why, but feeling to be so in the dark about her... other self (as Beryl referred to the Titans as) kinda frustrated her.
"Focus." Shaking off those thoughts, Hanan held up a hand and closed her eyes. "... Focus."
"Hey."
A younger Eclair looked up from her trading cards to find a familiar brunette standing in front of her.
"My mom said I should... um..." Hanan fumbled with her glasses. "Say s-sorry... I guess." She pouted as her cheeks gained a red glow.
"Hm?" Eclair frowned, squinting her eyes. "Didn't catch that. Come again?"
Hanan puffed her cheeks. "S-Sorry..." She stopped as her eyes caught a burn mark on Eclair's hand. She gasped, but quickly regained her tense look.
The blonde inspected her hand. "Huh? This?"
"Sometimes my hands get really, really hot... and sometimes I burn stuff... I don't know why but-" Hanan stopped and mentally slapped herself on the head for blurting that out. Don't casually reveal that, fool!
Her heart tightened. Hanan was waiting for it. That look. That look of disbelief. That look of disgust.
"So, are you like... a fire monster?" Instead, Eclair grinned, looking through the cards in her hands and shoving one into Hanan's face. "Like an Ifrit!?"
"You have an Ifrit card!?" Hanan was too hyped to be relieved by Eclair's reaction. "Those are super rare and have super high attack!"
Eclair's grin widened. "Heh. I'd love to trade if you can offer me something even cooler."
With a dramatic swipe, followed by a malicious laughter (well, as malicious as a child could sound), Hanan exposed a few cards from her pocket and presented them proudly.
"I have a Garuda, Chimera, Raiju-"
"Raiju!?" Eclair leaned forward, starry-eyed. "I've been looking for that since forever! Let's trade!"
The two girls exchanged the cards hastily. Both of them eyed their new prized possession with shimmering eyes.
Just as Hanan started to walk away, Eclair stopped her.
"Hey, wanna duel?"
Hanan hung her head a little. She wasn't entirely sure why that memory had popped into her head. Maybe it was the relief she had felt when someone, for once, hadn't reacted oddly to her powers.
No, instead Eclair had embraced them, accepted her, and helped her. Maybe emptying a bottle of water over Hanan's head when she had been close to overheating hadn't been the most clever method, but it worked.
Becoming a Pretty Cure had actually allowed Hanan being more comfortable with these powers. People hadn't reacted as weirdly to them because...magical girl stuff. It came with the package.
Without realising she had manifested a small flame in her palm. It was warm, almost too warm. The flame burned brightly, somewhat unsteady in the heavy wind.
Focusing all her attention on the single flame, Hanan closed her eyes. When she opened them, she realised the flame had grown huge. It was almost as big as herself.
Uncontrollable, dangerous, destructive.
"No!"
Panicking, Hanan ran up to the water and dunked her hand in it, dissolving the flame. The chill of the water felt so nice to her almost burning skin.
This was going to be a long day, but she had around two more hours to spare before class, so hopefully something would get done.
"Ew, family reunions."
"It's only one of my aunts, her son, and daughter." Hanan corrected Eclair with a sigh. "If it was the entire family... man, I don't think they would all fit in our house."
It was surprisingly sunny that afternoon, so Hanan, Eclair, and Connie decided to sit outside during lunch break. Hanan tried to get a nice, cool spot in the shadows while Eclair and Connie basked in the heated sun. Now Eclair could at least blame the sun for her glowing red face.
"Aren't you hungry, Hanan? You have barely touched your lunch." Connie asked, worried. She just finished up her own lunch and Eclair instantly offered her the rest of her own lunch.
"Huh?" Hanan looked up from said barely touched lunch on her plate. She actually was hungry but, throughout the entire day, her mind seemed to be somewhere else, or it desperately wanted to be somewhere else.
"My mom wants me to show off some of my powers and..."
"So, show them off!" Eclair said. "Ooh, do it here!"
Hanan frowned. "What? No!"
Suddenly a tall, gruff looking student walked up to them. Hanan cringed at noticing an unlit cigarette in his hands.
Eclair sighed. "Hey, Neil. What do you want?"
"Yo, Eclair, you... uh..." He started, looking around warily and leaned forward so he could whisper something in Eclair's ear.
"Seriously? Now? Your dumb ass is gonna get caught smoking again and I'm not gonna stick up for you this time!" She cried out. As soon as her eyes met Connie's, she shrunk back in embarrassment.
"Geez, fine." The boy, Neil, shrugged then nudged her in the side with a grin. "Guess you're trying to be a goodie-two-shoes now that you've got a girlfriend."
With a face as red as a tomato, Eclair punched him in the stomach. He wasn't that visibly bothered, probably protected by his muscles, but his face turned into a slight grimace.
"Oh, you and Hanan are dating!?" Connie acclaimed with a gasp and clapped her hands together. "I had no idea! That is simply wonderful!"
Hanan couldn't help but snort at that and Eclair's overdramatic reaction made it even funnier.
"No! No, no, nonooo!" She stammered out, punching Neil's arms a few more times. "I'm single!"
Neil let out a loud laugh before turning to Hanan. "Oh, hey, you're Cure Ember right?" He asked, showing her his unlit cigarette with a wry smile. "Can you maybe...?"
"Hey, hey, hey! What makes you think you can take advantage of her like that!?" Eclair called out before Hanan could reply, going from embarrassed to irritated in a quick moment. "Magical powers are very serious and not just some handy convenience for you!"
"No, wait!" Hanan stood up. "Let me try. I need some practice."
Eclair slammed her fist on the table. "Are you kidding me, Han?" She raised an eyebrow. "You were so quick to give me shit when I had a cig-!"
"I really wanna practice. Besides, you just said I should show off my powers. So, sure." Hanan said, crossing her arms with a slightly scolding look at the taller boy. "Just don't blame me when you get caught. Cigarettes aren't allowed during school hours and-"
Neil waved his free hand around dismissively. "You kidding me? I'm no snitch." He grinned and handed her the cigarette. "Anyway, I'd love to see you do the magic for real."
"Heh. Me too." Hanan admitted with a wry smile as she held up her free hand and held her finger against the cigarette.
Focus. Calm. Steady.
She felt the warmth of her body rise to her fingertip.
Taking in a deep breath, Hanan closed her eyes.
Focus.
"Awesome!" Neil's words brought her back to reality before she realised she had left it. "Thanks, dude!"
Opening her eyes again, Hanan saw that she had a small flame on her fingertip, like it was a candle.
All morning she had been practicing... and every time her clothes had almost caught on fire. What had she done differently now?
She grinned, proud of managing to produce such a small flame.
For the next two days, Hanan continued practicing at that same spot on the beach before and after school. She hadn't quite managed to recreate the tiny flame from before. Every time she had tried, it had grown too big.
Hanan closed her eyes again.
Focus. Focus. Focus.
"Hanan!?" A familiar voice snapped her out of her concentration. "I knew it was you! That smell of ash is unmistakably yours!"
"... Beryl?" To say that Hanan was surprised to see the red-haired girl, let alone see her with her usual happy smile, was an understatement. "Hello. How have you been?"
"Greeeeaaat!"
Hanan narrowed her eyes to look for any sign that Beryl was lying. The last time she had seen Beryl was at the sleepover. Seeing her blow up like that, made Hanan feel... worried? Scared?
"I didn't expect to see you here!" Beryl grinned widely, exposing her chipped tooth. "What were you... doing?"
"I'm... um... practicing..." Hanan muttered, holding her hands behind her back. Beryl was afraid of fire, and Hanan knew it. "I want to get a better grip on my powers. I don't want to... hurt anyone..."
At seeing Hanan's troubled look, Beryl grabbed her warm hands. She winced a little as she did so, but kept holding them tightly. "Thank you for being so considerate to me and the others, Hanan. You're a great friend... don't forget that."
Hanan didn't really know how to reply to that. Suddenly being buried in praises, while she liked it, came really out of the left field.
"Thank you, Beryl. I hope you're aware that you're an amazing friend too." She suddenly was pulled into a tight hug by the other girl. "Don't let Ray bring you down, okay?"
Hanan instantly regretted mentioning Ray as she saw Beryl's smile disappear for a quick second.
"I've gotta go. Later, Hanan~!" The redhead suddenly said, still smiling as she gave Hanan as little wave before hopping off. "Let your kindness burn bright..."
That Wednesday afternoon, a woman, man, and younger woman strolled inside the Karim house. All of them were dressed in expensive clothing and their presence demanded attention.
The older woman walked up to Hanan's mom and kissed her on the cheeks.
"Farah, it's been so long!"
"Not long enough, Halima." Hanan's mom replied simply, leaving the other woman with a frozen frown on her face.
"Oh, you're still with that construction worker, I see." Halima said before going to greet Hanan's father, who let out a laugh at her comment.
Hayim grabbed Farah by her sides and pulled her close. "Yes, she is."
"And we're very happy together!" Farah finished as the two shared a kiss.
After that the other family members all started exchanging some, admittedly quite awkward, greetings among each other. The male, Omar, was the only one who quickly gave Chomp a small pet. The dog didn't even react and merely whined softly in his slumber.
As expected Aunt Halima had brought gifts for everyone. Designer-clothes for Wasim, a Turkish cookbook of sorts for Makeen, a notebook for Fadil, and, as usual, a watch for Hanan.
"Oh, Hanan! It's been ages!" A new voice said.
Rashida, the youngest daughter and only a few years older than Hanan, walked up to her. She was tall, slim, and had a beautifully defined figure. Her chest proudly huffed forward as she marched to Hanan and kissed her on the cheeks like close sisters would. It was so awkward, Hanan couldn't help but cringe internally.
They weren't even close. Last time they had seen each other had ended with them fighting, and Rashida getting her cheek burned by Hanan's hands.
"Hanan, you haven't changed at all since I've last seen you." Rashida said as she looked down and inspected Hanan from head to toe. "In every way, it seems." She added with a smirk.
Hanan let out a sigh. This was going to be a long day.
The rest of the day was as awkward as one would expect. Wasim tried very hard to get a friendly conversation going with Rashida, but her replies to his questions or subjects were either blunt or very short. Instead, she preferred to talk with her mother. Omar was also quiet and solely seemed to be focused on his coffee, only nodding to agree with his more chatty mother or sister every once in a while.
"Farah, how can you allow your son to grow out his hair that long?" Aunt Halima commented with a look to Wasim, and earned a dark glare from her sister. "Or bleach it to that color?" Now Halima's gaze was on Makeen's hair, who looked away nervously.
Wasim was ready to defend both himself and his younger brother but his mother cut in before he could say a single word.
"Well, Halima, what makes you think your opinion has any say in what my children want?" Farah said. "Surprise, it doesn't."
"I was just saying. You're always so defensive."
"You too, and isn't that exactly the reason why Yusuf left you?"
The awkward tension became even worse after Farah had said that. Halima glared daggers at her sister.
"So what does your son do again?" Farah leaned forward, looking pleased at the tension she had created.
It took a moment for Halima to reply.
"Omar is a surgeon. Rashida is busy studying medicine."
"Ah, a surgeon? Congratulations." Farah looks and tone were dripping with sarcasm. "Well, Wasim makes people's hair look perfect and beautiful, Makeen is studying to become a teacher and help children with learning disabilities, Fadil is going to save lives as a fireman someday, and Hanan is already saving the world on a daily basis."
Now it was Halima's turn to smirk. "So, I've seen. Judging from Scrapbook, she's still playing with fire like an immature child. I suggest you discipline her correctly. I rather not pay for another treatment after last time."
Hanan felt a lump appear in her throat and looked away in shame. Treatment? Had that burn from back then being that bad?
Her eyes wandered off to Rashida. Her face seemed fine. Smooth and pretty.
But would there have been a scar on her face if she hadn't gotten the treatment her aunt had mentioned?
"Being a Pretty Cure is not that special." Rashida chimed in with an uninterested tone. "They're all over the world by this point."
Halima nodded in agreement. "Yes, we saw a trio of Cures while we were in Garden Haven. One of them used fire, like Hanan. They were all quite capable, which Cure Ember doesn't seem to be."
"Cool! They've met Garden Haven's Cures!" Fadil whispered and nudged Makeen in the side.
For the first time during dinner, Omar spoke up. He kept his eyes focused on his plate, though.
"Even Weathersdale has its own team. They're quite new, but clearly know what they're doing."
Hanan's eye twitched.
"Look."
She stood up, drawing everyone's attention to her.
"My friends and I are still new to this. Allow me to show you I can control my powers, and that I am capable." She felt more emotional than she should. "I am not a freak."
"Having magical powers is pretty strange."
"Didn't you just say that being a Pretty Cure is not that special, Rashida?" Wasim hissed, playing with a lock of his hair. "What happened to that?"
Rashida scoffed. "She hurt me so she had powers back then already. How is that possible? She wasn't a Pretty Cure back then!" She turned to Hanan with a questioning look. "Right?"
Hanan felt that lump again. She shook her head.
These powers. It was the only proof she had to go with Ray's claim of her being Ignis.
Ignis.
Thinking about her made Hanan feel that frustration, if not outright anger, again.
"Now, everyone, can't we just not be like this?" Her father's voice cut through the tension like a knife. "Is this really necessary?" He added as he grabbed a pack of cigarettes and got ready to light it up. Hanan stopped him and snatched the cigarette from his hand.
From the corner of her eyes she saw Rashida roll her eyes, Omar give a strained look, and Aunt Halima groaned in disgust.
"Let me show you how precise my fire can be." Hanan spoke and was slightly taken back by how bitter her voice sounded.
Her dad let out a good-natured laugh. "Go ahead, Han. I'd love to see!"
Hanan nodded with a smile and went to the garden, not being comfortable with the idea of potentially burning down her house if it didn't work out. Her family followed, eyeing her with looks of curiosity, or impatience in Halima's case.
Taking in another deep breath, Hanan closed her eyes. She pressed her fingertip against the top of the cigarette, like she had done a few days prior.
Focus.
Focus.
Fo-
"Ignis, I will never forgive you for this!"
Snapping her eyes open, Hanan felt ready to explode. Her body felt so hot. Too hot. It was like it was overflowing with the hottest of fire, wanting to come out.
That person... who...?
For a moment she thought it was Ray... but... it wasn't? Or was it? It looked like Ray, yet... it didn't. The figure had gigantic, distorted wings... the figure seemed taller, their hair was longer and their eyes... those eyes. One was normal, yet the other... black, like people from the darkness.
Even though Hanan had only seen it for a split second... she had seen the despair, fear, and hopelessness in those eyes.
The figure somehow made her feel angry, but also... afraid?
"Whoa, are you okay!?" Fadil slapped her on the shoulder, probably harder than intended. Darn, he was getting stronger by the day. "Hey, Han, be careful!"
Blinking back to reality, Hanan realised the huge flame flaring in her palm. No, her entire hand was covered in fire! Even her sleeve!
She felt panic rise up in her. It was warm and hot, but didn't hurt at all.
"Hanan!?"
"Lay down, quick!"
"Someone call an ambulance!"
Her family's fearful and shocked looks didn't help calm her down. In fact, it only made her more and more panicked, more angry.
Those looks.
Don't look. Don't look. Don't. Don't.
"Don't look at me like that...!"
Her own flames swallowed her up.
Physically it didn't hurt but mentally... her mind was screaming.
Why was she so angry? Why did these feelings of hatred and rage consume her like this...? And almost entirely unprovoked, too.
Then, out of nowhere, something blew up behind her and she was thrown forward. She landed on the ground as the flames dissolved.
"Haha, oops, my Poofs have such explosive tempers!" A clear voice suddenly said. While the voice itself was familiar, the fact that it was spoken in Turkish was new to Hanan. "Look at you crawling on the floor like a bug."
Groaning, Hanan snapped her head around and cringed at the sight of a dozen Poofs. Their master stood on the fence, effortlessly balancing on it.
"I... didn't know you could speak Turkish." She narrowed her eyes at Smoky, who simply shrugged. His nonchalant attitude made her even more irritated.
"Yup, there's probably way more stuff you don't know about me." He replied, continuing to use his surprisingly fluent Turkish tongue. "Oh, and would you look at that! Seems like I've intruded on a pleasant family meeting." Smoky had a hint of disdain in his voice. "Didn't know setting yourself on fire was the key to success. Maybe that's why all of my family meetings sucked."
Farah snorted. "Define 'pleasant'."
That actually got a chuckle out of Smoky. "I knooooow, right?" He cried out with a shrug. "But, your little party is missing something... hmm. Oh! I know!" With a flick of his hand, he summoned his guitar and smoke filled the area. "A performance by me!"
Hanan got back up, grabbing her Overheated Charm. "Primal Spirit Unleash! Precure Evolution!" A barrier of flames surrounded her and out of the barrier jumped her Cure self.
"The heart that burns with the warm flames, Cure Ember!"
"Get inside, everyone. I'll handle this." She said, spreading her arms. "He's dangerous."
"Wait, it's literally just a weird human you're fighting and you can't even do that correctly!?" Halima called out with a frown lingering on her face. The frown turned into a look of shock as Smoky was suddenly right in front of her.
"Oh, I'm not human, missy." He said, smoke coming out of his hands as he opened a bottle of black liquid and poured it into her shadow. He then dragged it out and jumped back as the shadow swallowed Halima whole. "Yuck. No matter how many times I see it, it's still gross."
He strummed his guitar loudly and the Poofs cheered while the Unbound started to properly form. "Unbound, overshadow your light and dim your hope!"
The Unbound wore something resembling a headdress and jewelry on its arms. It also has various clocks on its chest and arms. The hands of the clocks were crooked, yet still spun around, making constant ticking sounds.
How irritating.
Everyone hurried back inside, with the exception of Ember, and Farah, who looked at the Unbound with a rather amused look.
"Oh my, how ironic that you got turned into a monster, Halima, and now Hanan has to save you. How tragic~!" She said with a chuckle and fake sobbing sounds. "Anyone but my dear sister."
"Mom! Get inside!"
Farah let out another laugh before following Ember's command. "Hanan, just let her be and have those more 'capable' Cures save her~!"
"Mom! I can't do that!" Ember cried, keeping her gaze on the Unbound. She jumped out of the way to avoid a swing. Another jump, over the fence, and she landed on the street. She needed to lure the monster as far from her house as possible. Everything would get magically restored, yeah, but it didn't hurt to be careful.
The Unbound roared as it ripped off one of the hands of the clocks on its body and threw at to Ember like it was a spear.
A blast of wind redirected the "spear" right back at the monster before it could hit Ember.
"Gale!?"
The purple Cure hovered next to Ember, hands over her ears. "Um, I heard the... noise so I came right away." Gale winced from both the ticking noise and Smoky's song, as well the Poofs' excited cheering. He seemed completely in his own world and absorbed the cheers with a gleeful grin.
"... Smoky is not gonna listen to you, Gale." Ember placed a hand on her shoulder before she could fly off. "Let's just defeat the monster first, okay?"
Gale nodded and raised her hands, getting ready for an attack. "Pretty Cu-!"
"Not yet!"
"Huh?"
"We have to wait till the eyes become maroon."
Smoky suddenly stopped playing, and the Poofs silenced along with it. "Yo, Aeris... uh... Cure Gale!" He called with a grin, which Gale returned with her own smile.
"Look!" He pointed at one of the three buttons on his vest. "I got a button with you on it! Next to Cure Jade and, of course, Cure Sunlight. Don't take it personally, you're great... but Sunlight will always be the number one!"
"... There's a button of me?" Gale gasped softly then pressed her hands against her cheeks as she flew up to him to look at it. "Oh gosh, it really is me!"
He chuckled and got three more buttons from his pocket and placed them in her hand. "Heh, yeah. It was a package deal, you can have the others. I don't want them."
"Really!? That's so nice! Oh, Ember, this is you!" Gale called out excitedly. "You look so angry in this, though... and Splash is smiling! So cute~!"
"Okay, great, but I'm kinda busy here!?" Ember grit her teeth, holding the hand of the Unbound above her head as it had tried to squish her. "We're kinda fighting this monster right now and... not... having a chit-chat with the... enemy...!?"
Even though they were hidden behind his shades, Ember was sure Smoky rolled his eyes. "Don't be so hot-headed. Can't I have a little chat with my friend?" He said. "I'm really not looking forward to the day when the brat corrupts you, Ignis."
"That is not my name!"
Frustration lit up in Ember at hearing that name. She sent all her power to her fists and was was ready to use her fire. Beryl wasn't here so she wouldn't have to worry about scaring her. She could do this. Prove to them that she wasn't a freak, playing mindlessly with powers that she shouldn't have.
She needed to prove it to them, but she especially needed to prove it to herself.
The Unbound threw a punch in her direction with its free hand, which she, surprisingly, managed to block with her own fists. She dug the soles of her boots into the ground as she tried to keep standing.
The flames in her hair grew.
Anger. Anger. Why was she so angry?
Her mind tried to rationalise her thoughts. She tried to confront her current feelings and understand them, but she couldn't. Not understanding only made her more frustrated, at nothing. She had just wanted her family to not think she's weird. She wasn't a freak. She wasn't a monster.
"What's this weird guy? He looks like a bug." A younger Rashida said, holding one of Hanan's action figures and looking it over with a frown. "Don't you have any barbies to play with?"
Hanan adjusted her glasses with a scoff. "Barbies are for losers! Like you!"
"What did you say!?"
"You heard me, Rashida. You can't play dumb because you already are dumb!"
Before the two knew it, a petty argument had turned into a petty fight. Hair was pulled, legs were kicked, arms were scratched, and a cheek was burned.
Rashida was crying, screaming, screeching in panic and pain as a large, red mark had appeared on her cheek.
Hanan stood on the other side of the room. Her body was close to overheating. Her hands were shaking, sweat was dripping from her face, and a tiny bit of smoke escaped from her mouth.
"Farah, something is wrong with your child!" Aunt Halima hugged her daughter tightly and shot her a horrified and disgusted look. The look was shared by a younger Omar and her then husband, Yusuf.
"That is not normal." Yusuf added, taking a step back.
Hanan's brothers, as well her own parents all had varying looks of worry and shock. Her father said something to her but his words never reached her ears.
Wrong. Wrong wrong wrong wrong...
She looked at her hands. She couldn't see it but it felt like they were fizzling, like frying oil in a pan.
"I told you she was possessed!"
Ember lost her concentration and this allowed the Unbound to punch her again. The impact sent her flying against her a building as the air was pressed out of her lungs.
She didn't stand up right away, being too lost inside her own head.
Possessed?
Those words suddenly ran through her mind. The more she repeated it, the more she started feeling like she was going in the right direction to the answers. What if that was the case? What if she wasn't Ignis' reincarnation at all like Ray and Bright suspected? What if she was just possessed by Ignis' lingering soul?
That had to be it, right?
That would explain so much. The sudden anger that didn't make sense. The fire that didn't felt too hot for her simple, human body.
She wasn't Ignis, and Ignis wasn't her.
"Ember!"
The red Cure looked up to see a horde of Poofs ready to jump at her, each of them beeping loudly, signaling their explosion soon. Gale flew towards her and raised one hand, sending a windblast at the Poofs. They were flown toward the Unbound, and exploded while hitting the monster's body. The Unbound shrieked in pain and stumbled a little, then grabbed two more spears and threw them at Gale.
One spear missed but the other went straight through her abdomen, disappearing a few seconds later. While there was no visible sign of being hit, Gale still clutched her stomach painfully and crashed on the ground.
Ember gritted her teeth as she kicked the arm of the Unbound away before it could grab Gale. Concentrating, she spread her arms with a cry and a wall of blazing fire rushed toward the monster. It let out another shriek as the clocks almost seemed to melt away, like in an abstract painting.
There it was! The eyes had changed color.
"Pretty Cure Scorch Wrap!" A rope of fire tied itself around the Unbound and set it aflame, just like Ember's eyes. She cried out as she sent all her frustration into the fire. All of it.
"Hey!" A familiar voice suddenly called out. "Leaving no fun for us! That's not fair!"
Splash and Terra appeared next to Ember and Gale as the Unbound dissolved, leaving an unconscious Halima behind. Ember instantly rushed over to the woman and picked her up.
"We got all the way here for nothing!?" Splash groaned. "I need to kick something...!" Her eyes turned to Smoky. "Or someone."
"I'm sure if you try hard enough you can kick your own ass. It's not that hard to miss!" Smoky laughed before making a portal. "Gotta go now, bye!" He added hastily as he jumped right through the portal before Splash could even get close to him.
Splash hit the ground instead and stumbled around a bit. She let out a yell of frustration, and Gale placed her hands over her ears. Terra giggled as she patted Splash on the shoulder, but only got a kick in the side as return.
"At least you got to kick something so... this... wasn't a... waist of your time." Despite holding her side in pain, Terra still grinned.
"I'm leaving."
"You saved me?" Aunt Halima narrowed her eyes as the family had reunited again in the Karim's house after the fight.
"She was... her friend was... that guy was..." Rashida tried to explain what happened but couldn't find the words. She just hugged her mother tightly. "I'm just glad you're okay!"
Farah gave Halima a big grin. "See? Hanan is more capable than you think."
"Two of her teammates didn't even show up until the monster was defeated..." Omar commented softly, expression stoic.
"What?" Halima gasped. "How unreliable..."
Gritting her teeth again, Hanan stepped forward. "My friends and I can't be everywhere. I'm sure Weatherdale's team will be able to protect their home, and Garden Haven's team will protect theirs as well. Any other Precure team out there... no matter who or what they're up against, I will put my trust in them, as a fellow Precure."
Hanan briefly wondered how many Precure teams were out there and if any of these teams even knew of Hanan's existence. It didn't matter. It shouldn't matter.
"Like I said, my friends and I are still starting out. I don't need you looking down upon them, upon us for no reason." She continued, feeling her anger boiling again once she saw Halima, Rashida, and Omar's critical looks. "For the last couple of weeks, my friends and I have been constantly attacked... we've been threatened... we've seen at least two people die..."
Hanan heard some gasps. "Wait... d-die?" Makeen asked with a hand over his mouth.
"Not really die-die. It's a long story... I'll explain later." Hanan replied quickly, regretting mentioning that. The images of Ray and Shade's lifeless bodies flashed through her mind again and she felt her stomach twist. "The point is... we're trying and we've been doing a fine job so far, if I say so myself." A smirk found its way onto her face, despite the mixed emotions she was feeling right now. "We've saved every single person who was attacked. We are keeping the darkness away, protecting this world... and I will continue doing so until my dying breath."
Nobody said a word, but the slightly alarmed looks said more than a thousand words.
"Your words won't shake my resolve." Hanan closed her eyes and raised her hands, lighting her fingertips aflame effortlessly. "I, Cure Ember, will promise to protect this world and everyone on it."
Wasim clapped his hands together with a smile. "Hanan..."
"You did it!" Fadil cheered, pointing at the flames at her fingertips. "That's awesome, Han!"
Halima was still locked in an embrace with her daughter. Omar gave Hanan a tiny smile and a little nod. "Thank you, Cure Ember." He spoke, still with his somewhat drone tone, but he seemed genuine. "For saving my mother. Hopefully you and your friends will be able to become true protectors someday."
Somewhat reluctantly, Hanan nodded. "I won't turn my back on anyone in need... I know you don't have faith in me, but I don't care about your opinion." She narrowed her eyes and was, once again, slightly disturbed by the almost harsh tone of her voice. "My flames of compassion are endless."
"Oh, look at my daughter being all heroic! I'm so proud!" Her mom pulled her in a hug and pressed a kiss on her forehead. "Let's have that barbeque now! Will you lend a hand?"
Feeling better once she saw the supportive smiles of the other half of her family, Hanan grinned, followed by a nod.
"Yes!"