Fated Fire Family

Chapter 1 - Stubborn

(See end for notes)

Shortly after the city had begun to recover from the Lady Bone Demon's defeat, it was quite heartwarming to see families and friends alike be reunited. Many people were lucky that way.
But, no ending is perfect. For y/n, this was the case.
When the ice had been covering the city, they had been just a toddler, barely able to fend for themselves. It was fuzzy, that memory of being with their parents that day—the earth had cracked and ice had taken their parents away from them, but they had been found shortly after by a rescue team that took them somewhere safe. Well, relatively safe, until finally the bone witch had been defeated by the Monkie Kid.
Y/n held out hope they'd see their parents again. They were demons, surely they could survive?
But no.
All alone now, they waited for every opportunity to run away from the hell that was this "orphanage" where they refused to go with any old family. They wanted their parents, not some random people who pretended to care.
They were ten years old now. Under near constant supervision, they found it increasingly hard to run away, but that would change today.
Today, one of the older children took y/n with her to get food from the store. And just like y/n had hoped, the girl was lenient and let them go to the bathroom on their own. Five minutes max, she had said. Seeing the small window of time they had, y/n booked it, running as far as they could and winding through any alleyways they could find; if for some reason the girl followed, she would most definitely be lost by now.
Finally, y/n came to a stop when they emerged into a new shopping district, mostly with restaurants. They sat down on a nearby bench, catching their breath, and relaxed. Their stomach growled as the smells of street foods drifted into their nostrils. Maybe, if they played their cards right, they could get some "samples".
They wandered up and down the area, before finally settling on a stall that had dumplings that were cooked to perfection. The man behind it took notice of the small potential customer in front of him.
"Ah, hello there! See anything you'd like?"
"They all look really yummy...but I don't have any money on me." Y/n had seen other children use this line and see success, so they hoped it would work for them just the same.
"Don't worry about it, youngster. You can have one for free, you seem very polite!"
Perfect.
Y/n happily accepted the food, knowing it would be way better than the frozen stuff they usually had to eat.
"Thanks, sir!" They beamed, and waved as they strolled away. They tried and failed to savor it, since they just ended up scarfing the whole thing down. It was so good they weren't keeping track of where they were going. They didn't have a real plan for when they ran away...they just hoped they'd be able to make things up on the fly.
"Hey, watch where you're going, brat!" Y/n bumped right into a tall woman. She was dressed in fine clothes. Clothes that now had a small tear in it from where y'n's claw caught in her jacket. Y/n stood back from her.
"Sorry, I didn't mean to—"
"Sorry doesn't cut it! Either pay for the damage you've caused, or I'll teach you a lesson!" She demanded, grabbing the child by the wrist. Y/n panicked—her grip was incredibly strong.
"I don't have any money—Please, let go!" Y/n was close to trying to claw at her arm to get away, however she didn't budge.
"You're coming with me!" She started dragging them away from the area, but she stopped when a different figure stood in front of her. He looked to be a young adult, with a long red coat and bright red hair. He also had a pair of horns and a bull's tail. He folded his arms and stood his ground.
"I'll thank you for taking your hand off of my sibling." He stated. The woman begrudgingly let go of the child,who ran to stand behind this new stranger.
"Get your sibling under control. Look what they did to my jacket!" She showed him the tear. He merely adjusted his small glasses and scoffed.
"Ma'am, it was ruined as soon as you decided to wear it. Now go mind your business somewhere else, peasant."
The woman, offended, did indeed walk away in a huff. The stranger turned to face y/n.
"Are you alright? Did you know her?"
"No...thank you."
"Don't worry about it. Just be careful next time. And anyways, where are your parents?" Redson looked around, hoping internally that the parents would show up so he could get out of here. He was only around the shopping district to find hardware for a new project he was working on, but this had distracted him.
"Um. I don't have any...anymore..." y/n trailed off, seeing the annoyed look on the stranger's face. It was similar to the look they'd receive every time they were brought back to the orphanage.
"Hm. Well. If any other problems arise...put this on the ground and stomp on it. I'll be summoned to where you are." He handed y/n a slip of paper that had a symbol on it. It looked vaguely like a bull. They looked up to thank him, but he had already disappeared.

(Notes: this chapter's short just because I'm feeling everything out. Hope you enjoyed!)