Ember

Ember (Story of an Ex-Superhero) -12-

There was a cautious moment of silence as Ember studied the woman standing only a few paces away. While it was not like looking in a mirror, there was no denying the two of them were related. They both possessed the same slightly angular chin, the same lips that naturally curved upwards in the right corner and the same fiery colored hair. But that, was were the similarities ended. The woman looked through glassy, opal colored eyes that contrasted sharply with Ember's large, dark ones. Compared to Ember's taller, larger build, the woman looked like a twiggy branch that could be easily snapped in half.

It was only when they made eye contact, that Ember found herself so caught off guard at the feeling that tore through her. To someone like her, it was  the most strange, most foreign thing she'd ever experienced in her life. She felt safe. She felt warm. She felt loved and at the same time, absolutely terrified. After several confusing moments, it occurred to Ember that his feeling just might be some sort of motherly love. Was a bond between a mother and her child really this powerful? Ember wouldn't have known. She wasn't sure she knew what love was. 

Her mother stretched a delicate hand to Ember and all the love in the world seemed to pool in her eyes. She wrapped Ember in a light hug, pressing Ember's head tightly to her shoulder. But then, tears began to sting the corners of Ember's eyes and she found herself stumbling back, scared of the affection. Snapping out of it, she furiously scratched the tears away, cursing herself for tearing up. Ember hated crying, for in her mind, it was always a sign of weakness.

But through this momentary clarity, she noticed something awfully peculiar. If one looked closely, one would notice there was no telltale signs of age on the woman's face; no creases on her cheeks, no crows feet curling from her eyes, no trace of gray scattering her hair. In fact, this woman didn't look a day older than Ember herself. Now as she looked at this woman clearly with her outstretched arms and wide eyes, there was something that was sickeningly wrong. 

"What's wrong, baby?" a wispy voice crawled in her ear. Ember knew it belonged to the woman, but her lips remained still as death.

"I'm right here, child. You don't need to be afraid," said the woman again, lips still unmoving. Then, Ember caught an essence of black flicker behind the woman's opal eyes. An uneasy feeling began to stir in Ember's blood, adrenaline beginning to trickle through her body.  She reached towards the woman hesitantly and touched her hand to the woman's bony shoulder. While she somehow expected her hand to pass right through, she found that it didn't. She wasn't a hallucination. The woman was solid and as human as one could look, but she still did not blink. 

"Who are you?" Ember found herself asking.

Finally, the woman's mouth moved, but only to curve into a strikingly familiar smile. It was a far more innocent version of Ember's smile; no malice, no hatred and most importantly, no fear. Just love. The simple beauty of it almost curved away Ember's uneasiness.

"That's a silly question, dear. I'm your Mother," the voice then curled in the back of Ember's mind. She noticed it had the peculiar essence of a conscience, the voice, but the thought was silly to Ember because whatever conscience she still possessed did not live in the form of her Mother. It felt awfully familiar to her, like the time where Reno invaded her mind in Christina Delangio's hotel room. She remembered that day as clear as ice, because it was the day that everything she loved had begun to fall apart.

"No you're not," Ember glared and found herself whirling on Reno who still lay on the cold floor, seemingly dazed by the violent florescence of the lights above. Anger was now powering her and she flew towards him, lifting Reno off the floor by the collar of his shirt. 

"Get out of my head!" Ember screamed, shoving Reno against a pyramidal food display, watching him scramble out of the massive pile of cans. He was dazed no more and with a flick of his long fingers, sent several cans hurdling Ember's way. She ducked instinctively before turning again on the woman who claimed to be her Mother. She stood still, smiling like one of those housewives that resided in the 50s. 

"How are you doing it?" she screamed at Reno, "How is she real? How are you fucking doing it?"

Reno then stopped trying to kill her momentarily, eyes finally noticing the person watching them in the middle of the aisle. Ember watched closely as his eyes widened and something terrifying crossed Reno's eyes. It looked awfully like raw, cultured fear. But it didn't make sense. Reno, the hero of San Marino was terrified of a simple woman?  A girl?

She turned back and her Mother was gone. There was no swipe of fiery hair and no glint of opal eyes. Instead, there was something so completely the opposite.  A man stood directly were her mother or whoever she was stood before. He was tall, dark haired, sturdily built, a few days over forty and looked through a pair of familiar charcoal black eyes. 

---

He heard stories of this man. A man with charcoal black eyes and a heart no lighter. When he first saw those dark eyes planted in Ember's face, his heart leapt with fear, for there was no denying the two were related.  Being related to this man could mean nothing good. Perhaps it was one of the reasons why she was so prone to cruelness, as his blood ran through her own veins. He was the only thing Reno feared in this world. 

"Run," Reno found himself whispering to Ember. It was strange, against his own nature, the way the words escaped from his lips to aid the girl he was trying to kill minutes before. But in any given situation, he would rather side with someone he internally and outwardly hated than succumb to the fate this man brought upon his kind.  

Ember surprisingly did not question his words and they both ran as fast as they could, not giving themselves any time to look back. It didn't matter if they did look back really, because the man would catch up to them sooner or later. Reno just found he could hold on to whatever was left of his sanity by pretending his doom was not in his shadow. By just pretending it was around the corner.

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Sorry I haven't updated in a long time. This chapter took my awhile to flesh out and I'm not so sure if it  lives up to your expectations. Oh well, tell me what you think and all that jazz.

Love you all!