The table of the Frost family was silent. Not only had the young man, who couldn't possibly have created such a large business imperium, turned down Winston Frost, but he had done so without even acknowledging him. He didn't even stand up to tell him, or give him the proper respect as an 'elder' in the field of business. That was ironic since Winston did the same, but in Winston's narcissistic mind, that made perfect sense. T'Challa didn't concern himself with Winston, not for tonight. He was here with Ororo and was enjoying every moment of it, seeing her marvel at everything new for her. He would never have this again, so he wouldn't bother with the abusive man that was Winston Frost.
Everyone at the Frost table looked at their plates, trying not to look at Winston. The patriarch had his fists and his jaw clenched in anger. He stands up and walks away, and everyone at the table knows that his abuse will only increase after this. It was not going to be a good holiday for the children. They make sure to stay out of their father's way tonight and make it to their rooms rather quickly after dinner. Adrienne and Christian go and have a look at the nightlife of Cairo, while the two youngest make their way to bed.
.
.
(Emma POV)
The next day arrives, and with it, the dreaded breakfast for me. Up to this point, my life seems like nothing more than a series of aborted attempts. I look at the ceiling and think about my life up to this point. Emma, is my name... Emma Frost, daughter of Winston Frost, the second richest man in Massachusetts, the CEO of Frost International, is a rich and spoiled girl... But thinking about my life is like looking at scenes of utter humiliation replayed over and over, in a relentless pattern that seems to transcend time and place, or circumstance. It seems as if I can't ever do anything right, I have to be at fault for my failures, that's what Daddy tells me. My incompetence and the cruelty of those in my school, who always make fun of me for not fitting in.
'... mustn't be late for class!'
Oh, no. That cursed memory enters my mind again. It haunts me from time to time, and whenever it arrives, I can't shut it down. On that cursed day nine years ago, I was in my room, alone, playing with dolls and soft toys, re-creating school.
(Flashback)
"Good morning, class. I will be your teacher today. My name is Miss Frost, but you can call me Emma! Today I'm going to tell you about one of my favourite books: Sleeping Beauty. 'Once upon a time, in a kingdom far away... a beautiful queen gave birth to a...'
"EMMA!"
"Y-yes, Daddy?" Emma says as her father enters the room with his regular angry expression, looking livid.
"Playing your little fantasy games with the dolls again, are we? A perfect recipe for a feeble mind and underachievement! Certainly not worthy of a Frost!" Winston shouts and smashes the dolls and soft toys to the ground.
"What, you think you can wait until you're an adult to get serious about life and a career? You think you'll be able to just coast along on Daddy's money until you find yourself?" Winston continues and stomps on the doll's head, breaking it.
"I don't indulge laziness or failure. The only way to make it in this world is to work hard and be the absolute best!" The angry beast that is Winston Frost grabs his daughter by the chin and pinches hard, making her look at him.
"Perhaps you ought to spend more time learning how to look pretty like your sister Adrienne... or else cease your foolish play and decide to become something more than a simpering buck-toothed patsy!"
After loading all of that on the young girl, Winston leaves her behind with the broken dolls and toys, left with nothing but a bad feeling.
(Flashback End)
Mother was no help; she never was. After I asked her why Daddy did that, she told me that he secretly loved me the most. Lies. All of it lies! And here I am, on holiday, which, thanks to that young man, I have just turned into a nightmare. I have to hurry, if I'm not at the table before Daddy, he'll be angry and chastise me.
.
I make it to breakfast just in time before he arrives and make it seem like I was there the entire time. Daddy doesn't look good; he still has that angry look on his face, and the poisonous gaze he usually directs at Christian and me.
"Good morning, Dadd-"
"Shut up, before I make you! I can't stand that feeble voice you use all the time. I'm warning all of you. I'm in a terrible mood, and it won't get better any time soon. So if you don't want to get a reaction out of me, then be as silent as possible."
I don't say anything and just start eating. It is essential that I don't make too much noise right now and simply stay in the background.
"That's such a lovely dress, Emma. Truly, you will grow into a very lovely lady, wouldn't you say so, Winston?"
Oh, no. Why did she have to say anything?
"I think I already told you once that you either try to look as pretty as your sister, Adrienne, or you don't try at all. And from what I can see, you should focus on learning, as you're useless in the other field. Now that I think about it, aren't you also useless in school? What was that..."
I look at the table and try to keep it together. When he starts, it is hard to not feel bad.
"... useless..."
His words hurt. They always do. The only one who understands what I'm going through is Christian and he doesn't look any better.
"... pathetic..."
I feel the tears in my eyes and desperately try to keep them in. Don't fall, please don't roll down my cheek...
"...Stop crying! You won't get out of this by crying!"
"What a humanitarian you are. Why don't you just take all the good Emma has out of her life, huh?" Christian says.
I can't help but start to cry. I don't want him to see it and run away. I hear his shouting as I run, but don't care. I have to get away, away from him, away from this family. I run and run and run and don't even look where I'm running. My legs carry me forward, through the restaurant, out of the hotel and through the streets of Cairo. I should have paid attention to where I was running because 30 minutes later, I arrived somewhere that didn't look like the same area and had no idea how to get back.
It looks run down and so... poor and dirty. Everything smells strange. People look at me from their windows and shake their heads. Kids on the side of the streets watch me like I'm some kind of attraction. I don't like that look; I want to leave. I walk forward as fast as I can, but am suddenly stopped as I hit the back of a tall boy. He turns around and sees me and sneers.
"واو، شوفوا ده يا شباب. زهرة بيضة صغيرة ضايعة. هيهي، إيه رأيكم نعمل إيه معها؟"
("Wow, look at that, guys. A little white lost flower. Hehehe, what do you think we can do with her?")
"أنا عندي فكرة..."
(I can think of something...)
"آه، إنت عبيط بجد. شكلها عندها 14 سنة أو كده."
(Oh, you're a pervert, man. She looks like she's 14 or something.)
"ده ما منعوش."
(That hasn't stopped him yet.)
"استنى شوية... شكلها كأنها معاه فلوس. إيه رأيكم، ممكن نجيب منها حاجة؟"
(Wait a minute... she looks like she's got money. What do you think, could we get something for her?)
"همم، ده ممكن. نشوف هي جاية منين..."
(Hmm, that would be possible. Let's see where she comes from. ...)
"Hey, you girl... where... from, you? Country?" one of the young men asks me in English.
I am afraid. I don't know what to do. I feel my knees about to give in, but I concentrate to get the words out of my mouth.
"A-am-erica... M-my name is... Emma... Emma F-frost." I say.
"أمريكا... فروست، تعرف الاسم ده؟"
(America... Frost, do you know the name?)
"أيوة، يا أحمق، ده الاسم اللي مكتوب على الباخرة الكبيرة. اللي في الميناء."
(But yes, you idiot, that's the name on the big steamer. The one in the harbour.)
"آه صحيح... ههههه، أنتم عارفين ده معناه صح يا أصدقاء؟"
(Ah yes... hehehe, you know what that means, don't you friends?)
"فلوس كتير."
(Mighty big bucks.)
"بس بجد. إحنا ممكن-"
(But so what. We must have-)
Suddenly, another voice is heard. I look at the end of the street and see a young girl, roughly my age, with beautiful silver-white hair, approach us.
"هاي! اتركوا البنت في حالها!"
(Hey! Leave the girl alone right now!)
"إيه؟ واحدة تانية. بس هي شكلها مش زي اللي هناك. بس شوفوا شعرها. يا سلام، أكيد هنقدر نجيب منها حاجة."
(What? Another one. But she doesn't look like that one. But look at that hair. Shit, we'll probably get something for that too.)
"اثنين في ضربة واحدة، لازم النهارده يكون يوم حظنا."
(Two in one go, this must be our lucky day.)
"غلط."
(Wrong.)
I hear the girl say something, and suddenly, she starts attacking the young men. She moves like a blur and kicks the first man. I don't know what is happening, but he just falls to the ground. I want to back away, but something keeps me there. She looks so... graceful as she punches another one and kicks one between the legs. How can she be so fast?
"يا عم، هي ممكن تضرب."
(Dude, she can really hit.)
I hear them talk and then attack again. Some of these are tall and even have weapons. I am scared. I turn around and want to run away, while they are fighting, but a big hand grabs my hair and pulls me forward. I feel something cold on my cheek, and a deep voice says something in their language.
"متحركش لو حياتك تهمك!"
(Don't move if you value her life!)
A large man holds a weapon to my cheek and looks at the girl. She doesn't say anything and just raises her arms in surrender. One of the other young men walks forward and punches her in the stomach. From the looks of it, very hard as she falls to the floor. I look up at the man, and he has a disgusted look on his face. He pulls his arm back, and a moment later, darkness overcomes me.
.
I wake up and realise that I am somewhere dark. I try to stand up, but feel my hands and feet are both restricted. I can't move much and am forced to lie on my back, looking at the ceiling of some strange box. Why... what did I do to deserve this? Why am I the one to experience this? For the second time today, I feel the tears appear in my eyes and can't stop them from falling. The second time, I was weak.
"Shhh, hey, hey," someone says next to me and scares me.
"Wha-?! Who... who are you?" I ask.
"It's me. The woman from before. Don't you remember me?" I hear her and feel her hand touch my shoulder.
"Y-you? Did they also put you in this box?" I ask.
It is so dark in here that I can't see anything right now. But slowly, my eyes adapt to the darkness, and I can make out the other girl. She looks at me with a smile, as if she's glad to see me. I have never met... wait! Isn't she-
"You're that girl..." I say weakly, wiping away the tears in my eyes without her seeing.
"Girl? No, I'm a woman. My name is Ororo. What's yours?" she asks me.
"Woman? You can't be older than me." I say.
"So?"
"If you're as old as me, you're not a woman, you're a girl." I tell her. I think she must have mistaken the words. Maybe english is not her mother tongue?
"Haha, no. I am a woman. I have let the girl die, and I am a woman now."
"..."
"So you still haven't told me your name," she says.
"Oh, Emma. My name is Emma Frost." I say.
"Emma? That's a lovely name. I like it. So Emma, what got you in this position?"
"Uhm... I got lost in the city and didn't know how to find my way back." I tell her. I don't say that I cried, never.
"Is that so? Hehe, then we're the same. I also got lost, trying to find my way back to the hotel," she laughs.
...
"Why... why did you intervene? You could have run away. Why did you fight them?" I ask her after a pause.
"You were in danger. I saw it and wanted to stop them. Sadly, I'm not yet as good as my man."
"What will-" I start, but stop hearing our captors talk with one another.
They seem to be enraged about something. The large man who hit me earlier walks forward and looks at the girl next to me... Ororo. He tells her something, and after a moment, she answers him and shakes her head. He looks at her and then at me and says another thing, to which she nods. Then he leaves with some final words and closes the door to the room again.
"What did he say?" I ask her.
"Well..."
"What? Is it about my father? Please tell me." I beg her, but I see her unwillingness.
"It seems... that your father doesn't want to pay ransom," Ororo says.
"Doesn't... won't pay."
"Hey, hey Emma. Calm down. There's no need to panic. I told them that my man would pay both of our ransoms," Ororo says, reassuringly placing her hand on my shoulder.
"Why would he do that? He doesn't know me, so why would he spend so much money on someone he doesn't even know?" I ask her.
"Oh, I never said he would pay with money."
"What do you mean?"