Storylines & worlds

Destren, a country straight from a YA dystopia novel. The country is wracked in war, gangs, and crime. For a young Cruella and an even younger Ember, it was even worse, their parents disappearing in the night, leaving them with nothing. Cruella finds work for a clothing distributor but quickly finds the owner is a member of a high-up gang, which proves to be more than just an unsafe work environment, but also means she cannot return home to her sister.

Meanwhile, Ember has found the cupboards are thinning faster than she thought they would. With Cruella gone, she has to go to the streets to see what her pocket money would buy her. While going from store to store, she meets a nice stranger who buys her a sandwich, and they get to chatting. Unbeknownst to Ember, the stranger had friends he brought with him, and when he offered her a place to stay with other kids and even a real school, Ember became hesitant, not wanting to scare Cruella when Cruella returned home. When she declined, the stranger told her it was already decided, and his friends and he took her to “The Divide.”

The Divide was a prominent orphanage on the outside. Inside was a covert training facility, mainly taking young girls to turn them into weapons and spies in an attempt to gain control of the country, all run by a man who called himself “The General.” Ember was scrappy and driven to escape to find Cruella, who Ember was convinced was waiting for her at home this whole time.

During this time, Cruella was still trapped in the factory of the clothing distributor, which by this time she had fully learned about their involvement in the gang wars of the area. She works so hard to get out to find Ember. As it turns out, Cruella isn’t the only person in the factory trying to escape, as one day she finds a small firearm in the fabrics she is folding. She wastes no time in finding the foreman and takes him out, assuming command of the factory and freeing everyone from the near enslavement they were under.

Unlike Cruella, Ember does not escape the Divide. Even with many attempts, she is brought back and pushed to become one of their best spies, as she can find any possible exits in a structure and anticipate where and when her target would go. She is still determined to escape, however, numb to the idea of finding Cruella, believing her sister no longer cares, as years have passed and no one can truly remember someone else after that much time has gone. Ember manages to take two of The General’s officers and nearly takes them out but is caught before she could. Ember is isolated after claiming she had a mental breakdown which led to her almost taking out the two officers, The General not believing her claims but also now supervising her training nearly every day.

Weeks go by, and one day when Ember is in training, The General watching, he enters the training floor unexpectedly, and without thinking, Ember takes him out. The Divide slowly crumbles from the inside out without their leader, leaving Ember unguarded and free to escape. She becomes somewhat of a mercenary, finding the outside country is still as badly wracked in war as it was when she was a child. While gathering intel on her next target, she comes across a figurehead of the fashion empire that was once a prominent gang using a clothing company as a front. Cruella, her name was, dressed in a striking black-and-white patterned coat and sporting a black-and-white bob cut that was too unmistakable for Ember to miss. That was her sister.

Ember tracks Cruella down to a press conference, posing as a reporter. She catches Cruella right as she was stepping away, asking her to “promise me a place in your house of memories,” as they promised each other as children. Cruella is shocked by Ember’s words, having nearly forgotten about their childhood promises and, after this many years, having believed her sister to be dead.

Reuniting, the sisters run both the cornerstone of fashion and the strongest gang in the country, determined to end the corruption and poverty.