A couple hours after Cinder put Harry down to rest, she decided to check on him. If he was having another Nightmare, she'd want to be there. Sighing to herself, trying not to smile warmly and retain an aura of dignity, she pushed the door open and peeked inside. Only to find...he was gone. A twinge of worry and confusion washed over her. Did he try to come and find her? Observing closer, she found that it wasn't the case. Several books and had fallen off of their places on their shelves. The Bed wasn't made. Harry always made his bed! Now she was scared. What had happened?! Where was he?! Then, she saw a piece of paper on the bed. Shaking, she picked it up and looked at it. It was a message... 'You shouldn't have messed with me, Miss Flame.'
Of course...of COURSE! Her hands and eyes caught fire. Giles...that disgusting waste of a man! He'd kidnapped her Harry! She closed her eyes and gritted her teeth with rage. Who knew what that horrible man was doing to him... The thought of it made her sick to her stomach... Luckily, she knew where to find him. He was an idiot...He had revealed his hideout to her during her talk with him. She was going to pay him a visit...
Meanwhile...
Harry was scared. Very, VERY scared. He had been lying in his bed, when the mean man who had argued with his caretaker appeared in his room, covered his mouth in a cloth and ran off with him. And now he was lying on a table, tied to it by ropes wrapped around his little wrists. The mean man stood over him with a horrible grin on his face. "Before Miss Flame shows up, I might as well have a little fun with you, brat." Harry shook his head, struggling harder in his bonds. They bit into his skin, making him cry out in pain. Out of nowhere, a punch caused him to see Stars. There was an audible crunch from the man's large fist, signifying Harry's nose was broken, and he was bleeding. He let out a cry, wishing he could clutch it. He let the punishment continue, more and more punches raining down on him until he was a bloody mess. Then, the man pulled out a heated iron bar. He wasn't planning on HITTING the kid with it, oh no. He didn't want to KILL him, he just wanted to send him back to Miss Flame beaten to a pulp. He was going to hold the bar against his skin, and burn him...
Meanwhile...
Cinder had sprinted out of the building as fast as her legs would carry her. Nothing was going to slow her down...She was going to kill the son of a bitch, and she was going to rescue the little boy. Cinder's eyes narrowed imagining how terrified Harry must be right now... With a glare, she somehow managed to go even faster than before.
Eventually, the young woman reached the building the scouts had confirmed the kidnapper to be in. She wasn't worried in the slightest. Emerald had seen the man, and from the description, she recognized him as a naive newcomer to the criminal underground that was probably trying to prove himself in some way by kidnapping one of the top dogs...Idiot didn't even have any underlings yet...
Her thoughts were interrupted when a scream sounded through the night air.
Harry's scream...
Without a second thought, Cinder blew the door of the building clean off its hinges...and promptly froze at the sight. There was the...the B*** who had the nerve to steal the child she had been caring for so lovingly for the past few months...and he was beating Harry with a heated metal fire poker. The child had fallen unconscious from the pain. His bare back was covered in burns. And then, the monster had the AUDACITY to SMIRK at her!
"Cinder, you actually ca-" The criminal froze at the expression on the crime lord's face. His eyes widened as he realized that he had made a very grave mistake indeed...
The world came to a standstill around Cinder, everything coming to a silent holt as her eyes burned into the man's face, the fire in them burning and glowing more than ever before. Her lips were pulled back into a snarl, her shoulders shaking, and most shocking of all was the fact that she could actually fell tears falling from the corners of her eyes.
Cinder had only ever cried three time in her life, and two of those times had been when she was too young to know any better, before she learned that it was a sign of weakness. But these tears weren't weak, they were powerful, filled with her rage at the sight of her charge…no, her Harry being subjected to such horrors.
She had made a promise to both him and herself that he would never feel pain like this again, like he had been dealt at the hands of his whale of an uncle…this was like seeing him for the first time again.
Barely paying the man that had kidnapped her boy any attention, Cinder flicked her wrist and sent a fireball at him, strong enough to send him into a wall and burn him before he could even get out a scream. She had just enough time to regret making it so quick, wishing she had made him suffer more before ending him, before a new sound reached her ears.
Harry was waking up, and he was crying, quietly as if afraid to make a sound.
Cinder was at his side instantly, all thoughts of the man that did this momentarily forgotten, as she focused all her attention on the boy. She quickly untied him, closing her eyes for a moment when she saw the rope burns around his wrists where he had struggled against them, before pulling the now wailing boy into her arms.
Cinder was careful to avoid touching the burn marks on his back, but still held him as close as she could without hurting him, her face pressed into the top of his head as his hair tickled her nose.
The moment he seemed to realise it was her, she felt his tiny fists grabbing the front of her dress as tightly as he could, his face pressed into her chest as much as he was able to in his weakened state as his cries only increased.
It both warmed and broke her heart at the same time.
"M-Miss Cinder!" He cried, shocked. Cinder stroked his head.
"Hush...he's all gone...the mean man is gone..."
He continued to cry into the woman's chest, burying his face into her dress as far as he could. Cinder silently lifted him up out of the chair rocking him back and forth as she left the abandoned building. This day had taken a dark turn... She glared over at the pile of ashes that had been Giles and scowled. An ironic way for a foolish man to go... Harry's wails eventually softened, reducing to light whimpers here and there. He refused to let Cinder go. She was one of the only nice things here... He asked her miserably, "W-what did I...do wrong..?"
Cinder huffed. All her hard work, fixing him to be a real child...gone. "Nothing, dear...ABSOLUTELY NOTHING." She said soothingly. "It was HIM who was in the wrong..."
"B-But...I get hurt when...when I do something bad..." He explained, stopping to sniffle here and there.
Cinder rocked him back and forth. "No...You were just taken by a...a VERY bad man..."
"S-So...he's bad..?" He asked, pathetically rubbing his eyes with his fists.
Cinder nodded. "Yes...he was very very bad.." She kissed his head. "You, on the other hand...are a very...VERY good boy, Harry..."
"P-Promise..?" He questioned, eating up her love like a five star buffet.
She smiled a small smile and nodded. "I promise..."
Over the next couple of days, Harry refused to budge an inch away from Cinder, Emerald, or Mercury. He had slept with Cinder every night. He didn't even have to ask for her permission, she would just come into his room and crawl under the bedsheets with him. But really...she had to break him of his Cuddle addiction. She had work to do! And if she even separated from him, he freaked out. She had to scare her inferior work mates and rivals. But still...She DID want to be there for him...She...She LOVED holding him...He was so cute and cuddly and tiny... It tore her apart! What was she to do? She was frustrated, but she had to keep it bottled up to avoid scaring her Harry... She sighed. She'd have to coax Harry to do some different things, get him out of his shell so he would be brought back up. But...what would she do? Playground? Another Playground visit would do him some good.. But was he ready to leave the base? He had taken to being indoors since the incident... Grr! Was she going to help him or not?! Maybe just a quick walk around the nearby areas. Playground was out. She decided to ask what HE wanted to do...That would help out a bit. "Harry..?" She asked, the child resting on her lap in her bedroom. A fire crackled in the corner, making the area cozy.
"Hmm?" Harry mumbled softly, his eyes closed as he savoured his caretaker's warmth.
"How about we go on a walk?" She offered him, "I hear it's nice out today..."
Harry's eyes opened, and he gave her an uneasy glance. "I-I dunno..." He said, wary. He didn't like outside...bad people were probably out there...
Cinder gave him a sad smile and ran her fingers through his hair. "If you really don't want to, you don't have too..." She promised. Harry considered this visibly.
He let out an uneasy groan... "N-No...I don't wanna..." He said softly. Cinder nodded, then returned to cuddling him.
"Well...Some other time then, maybe?"
"M-M-Maybe...t-the outside scares me..." he muttered, clutching at her dress again. She cooed softly, and caught sight of his burn injuries...
She felt sick to her stomach upon seeing them again. It was just a bitter reminder of her own failures... She continued rocking him back and forth, bitter. She let her guard down...guard. Guards! She could have Guards outside his room! Then they wouldn't think to break in... But what if they had a transformation semblance, like Giles did, and slip through the cracks...? Frustration coursed through her veins. She was being so paranoid! She had to relax somehow. "Harry, how about we put you down fro naptime. Would you like a story?"
Harry smiled and hugged her. "Y-Yes p-please..."
Cinder carried him back to the bed and laid him down, grabbing hold of "Beauty and the Beast" It was a favourite of hers... And as she read it, Harry seemed to enjoy it. He kept his eyes forced open as he watched it, trying not to fall asleep. He was still suffering nightmares, so he was afraid of going to sleep... But if Miss Cinder was here...it wouldn't be that bad. As Miss Cinder got to the finale, he fell asleep, clutching at her like a child. Cinder sighed deeply and gave him a small smile. "Oh Harry...so funny..." she said, kissing his forehead and tucking him in with the gentleness of an angel. She gave him a gentle kiss to ease him into the land of dreams. "Not to mention Cute..." she whispered, laying down next to him and wrapping her arms around him. She buried her nose in his hair, smiling tenderly. "I love you Harry...so much..." she whispered. Harry responded by subconsciously nestling closer into her. And as a result, they fell asleep next to each other. Cuddling, like a mother and son would.