"So now what do we do?" Mercury asked, holding the bag of clothes.
"We go back to the base of course." Cinder replied simply. Emerald and Mercury both groaned. Cinder frowned. "Is there a problem?"
"Yeah, I'm sick of being cooped up in that base! We've been working like dogs, I want to get some fresh air for a bit longer!" Emerald complained. Cinder rolled her eyes, then looked down at Harry, who was snug in her arms, thoughtfully. He WAS rather pale...Maybe some fresh air would do him good.
"Well...I guess a little more fresh air couldn't hurt..."
"YAAAAY! LET'S GO PLAY AT THE PARK!" Stevie exclaimed before dashing off.
"...I suppose we're going to the park then." Cinder said flatly, before following her mentally challenged henchman.
When they arrived at the park, Stevie was playing on the monkey bars. And by that, I mean he was standing on the ground holding onto the bars with a big stupid grin on his face.
"This is so much fun!" He said happily.
"Does he even have more than two functioning brain cells?" Emerald muttered.
"Three at the most." Mercury agreed.
"Forget him." Cinder said before setting Harry down. "It's not nice to pick on the mentally challenged." She turned to Harry, expecting him to run off to play on the slide, or swings, or monkey bars or something. Instead, he just stood there, looking around in confusion. "Harry?" Harry turned to see her looking at him. "Aren't you going to do something?"
"A-Am I supposed to?" Harry asked softly. Cinder sighed. The fat bastard really did damage him psychologically...
"I think you should. Be a kid. Have fun." Cinder insisted.
"Okay...Um..." Harry looked around. He wasn't sure what to do...
"What's up, buddy? Haven't you been on a playground before?" Harry shook his head.
"U-Uncle Vernon said freaks don't go outside..."
"Sounds like this Vernon guy's the real freak." Emerald muttered before smiling and grabbing Harry's hand. "Come on, Mercury and I will show you the ropes here!"
"We will?" Mercury asked before yelping as Emerald grabbed his ear and dragged him off, leading Harry towards the playground. "I MEAN OF COURSE WE WILL PLEASE LET GO OF MY EAR OWOWOWOWOW!"
Cinder smirked at the scene, and leaned back on the bench. She turned to look at Stevie. He was currently being yelled at by the parents on the playground for hogging the monkey bars. After a while of not getting through to him, the parents opted to grab Stevie and throw him away.
"Are you having fun, Stevie?" Cinder asked sarcastically.
"Yeah! I was until they threw me off the monkey bars!" Stevie said happily. "Oh well! I'm just gonna have a little snack!" Cinder made a mental note to be extremely careful before turning to watch Harry, Emerald and Mercury. She couldn't help but smile softly as she watched. Harry was well and truly enjoying himself, from being pushed on the swing, to going down the slide, to climbing around on the jungle gym. She felt an immense warmth in her heart seeing a huge genuine smile on his face after so much time seeing him quiet and terrified of his own shadow.
Emerald and Mercury seemed to be having fun as well. It amused the young woman how enthusiastic the two of them were about playing on a children's playground. She watched them have their fun for a good couple hours, before deciding that would be a good time to return to the base. She stepped off the bench, completely forgetting that Stevie was eating a banana earlier. Predictably, she fell forward. It was rather dark when she opened her eyes, and she found that while her lower body could move just fine, she could not move her torso. She scowled when she realized she had gotten her upper body stuck in the sand pit. Well, no matter. Surely someone would be quick to help her out, right?
Stevie pointed at the twitching legs sticking from the sand. "Hey, why's Cinder allowed to play with the playground stuff and not me?" He pouted.
5 minutes later...
"All right, kid, ready?" Mercury asked.
"Yeah!" Harry replied.
"All right, here goes!" And with that, he pulled the swing back, ran forward with it, and let go once he reached the swing's limit. Harry laughed and cheered as the swing began to move back and forth.
"Has it occured to you that we're basically children right now?" Emerald asked.
"Eh, it's keeping the kid happy." Mercury shrugged.
"Yeah, he's adorable when he's happy." Emerald agreed fondly.
"Cinder's probably smiling up a storm right now, watching him enjoying himself." Mercury chuckled, unaware that Cinder's legs were now flailing in the air in her struggles to pull herself out from the sand.
15 minutes later...
Emerald once again caught Harry just as he came down from the slide and twirled him around playfully, causing him to giggle.
"Wanna go down again?" She said enthusiastically.
"Yes please!" Harry said with a nod and smile before climbing back up the slide.
"He's so polite." Emerald said with a smile.
"Guess the fat guy beat it into him." Mercury said, a slightly bitter tone in his voice.
"I really hope Cinder made him suffer before he died." Emerald agreed somberly, before jumping right back to happy and upbeat as Harry came down once more and she caught him and twirled him again.
"What's the point of doing that, anyway? You've done it every time he's come down that slide."
"Don't question me, it makes him laugh, and that's good enough reason for me to do it, so there!" Emerald stuck her tongue out at Mercury as Harry made his way back up the slide.
"Seriously? How old are you?" Mercury teased.
"We're on a children's playground right now. Age means nothing."
"Touche."
"We've been here a while, I thought Cinder would have wanted to leave by now."
"Eh, she'll let us know when she's ready." In the background, Cinder had managed to force her feet against the ground, and was currently pushing against it to try to pull herself out.
30 minutes later...
"Um...Emerald? Mercury?" Harry said.
"Yeah, buddy?" Mercury replied.
"What's up?" Emerald said.
"Um...What's that over there?" They looked in the direction the little boy was pointing. Mercury laughed.
"Some chick got stuck in the sand pit...That's gotta suck." Emerald looked too, seeing a pair of legs sticking from the sand, pushing against the ground, the woman rocking her rear end back and forth as she struggles to escape.
"Uh...Mercury? Doesn't that dress look familiar at all?" Mercury raised a brow, then took another look. His eyes widened in realization.
"Oh. Oooooooh. Oh...Huh...CRAP, HOW LONG HAS SHE BEEN THERE?!"
"Oooh, I hope she doesn't get mad at us..." Emerald said nervously.
"She probably will if she's in there long enough!" Mercury said.
"Keep your voice down, you're freaking Harry out!" Emerald snapped.
"Uh...sorry...Anyway, let's go help-" He was interrupted as Cinder finally managed to pull her upper body out of the sand with a loud gasp.
"Are you done playing, Cin-" Cinder interrupted Stevie by punching him in the face, knocking him unconscious. She wiped some sand out of her hair, then sighed heavily.
"That was unpleasant..." She muttered. Her eyes widened in surprise as she felt something latch onto her leg. She looked down to see Harry hugging her leg once again.
"I'm sorry..." He said quietly. "I'm so sorry..." Cinder frowned.
"For what?"
"I-I should've seen you stuck...I should've helped you, I-" Cinder knelt down and quieted him by placing her index finger over his lips.
"It's alright. You didn't do anything wrong. I'm glad you had fun. I'd willingly stick my upper body in a sand pit a hundred times over to see a smile on your face." Harry looked up at her and smiled, then hugged her. Cinder smiled warmly, then her face contorted into one of shock and confusion. What was she saying, and why did it feel so right to say it?! She looked over to Emerald and Mercury, who were grinning at her nervously. "...You two are such children." She muttered in exasperation. "Getting too distracted over a children's playground to notice that I was stuck... It's both embarrassing and comedic for both you and me..."
"Sorry, boss..." Emerald apologized.
"Yeah, sorry..." Mercury agreed. Cinder smirked.
"Well, I think we've been here long enough...Let's return to base. Mercury, grab Stevie, Emerald, grab Harry's clothes."
"But he's heavy!" Mercury exclaimed.
"I'm supposed to carry all that by myself?!" Emerald complained.
"Consider it payback for leaving me to pull myself out of the sand pit." Cinder said before picking Harry up. Harry smiled up at her, then yawned softly. Cinder smiled. "It's been a busy day for you, hasn't it? You must be exhausted." Harry's eyes glazed over slightly. Cinder smirked. "Well, I suppose you can take a nap when we get back to the base..." And with that, the group began walking, Emerald struggling to see due to the bags she's carrying, and Mercury almost getting crushed by Stevie's weight.
At the base...
Cinder carried Harry back to his room, allowing Emerald to dump off the bags in front of his door, saying she would bring them in, then gently placed him in his bed. He looked up at her with a sleepy smile, and she felt the confounded warmth inside her once more. It was getting harder and harder to distract herself from it, and the young woman didn't even notice as she started softly humming a lullaby to lull him to sleep. Once he was finally alseep, she caught herself, and whipped her head towards the open door in the hope that no one had seen. She turned to glare at the sleeping boy, but merely resting her eyes on his peaceful sleeping form was enough to melt her heart. Her maternal instinct took over once more, and she leaned down, and gently kissed his forehead, causing his smile to widen. Cinder smiled widely, and left the room, unable to stop smiling. She gave the sleeping child one more smile before closing the door.
Emerald and Mercury were on their way to their own quarters when they saw Cinder smiling happily.
"Huh...Never seen her that happy before." Mercury mused.
"Well, it's pretty obvious who caused it." Emerald said with a smirk.
"Yeah, she loves the little guy." The two turned to look at the door to Harry's bedroom. "She'd give up criminal business for him if she had to..."
Harry had a wonderful dream where he had a mother. The mother looked exactly like Cinder...but it couldn't be. No one would want him as a son... But he could dream...