InsaneJournal

Tweak says, "it's over aaron"

Alice Shaw (goodnight_alice) wrote in colligo_threads,
@ 2009-04-29 16:39:00

Entry tags:

!open, alice shaw, angela petrelli, gabriel 'sylar' gray, noah bennet

WHO: Alice Shaw, Gabriel "Sylar" Gray (Nathan Petrelli), Angela Petrelli, and Noah Bennet
WHAT: Alice takes a tumble down the rabbit hole and winds up in Colligo.
WHEN: Mid-morning
WHERE: The Grand Library; Angela Petrelli's room
RATING: TBD
STATUS: In Progress

"... Banana?"

The teen's voice was a low, hoarse mumble as she slowly began to come to her senses. She wasn't sure quite what had happened so she stayed where she was, the cool, hard floor pressing into her cheek and her legs twisted at an odd angle that would have made her father complain about his back for days afterward.

Her father. Alice Shaw's breath hitched as the simple thought of the man was enough to make her memories slowly begin to resurface in her fog-filled mind. Doctor Suresh had slapped her and now... now her father was dead. Her mother too. And Angela, her beloved older sister...

Actually, Alice remembered with a start, Angela hadn't been there at the time. She'd snuck out with those boys and had told Alice to stay where she was. She'd said it would be safe. It was only after that fact that Doctor Suresh had wanted to talk to her, and everything had promptly fallen apart.

Then, as her memories returned, the small girl became aware of one thing with absolute startling clarity. The last thing she remembered was hiding under the porch in Coyote Sands as gunfire rang out around her. This, wherever this was, was most certainly not the middle of the Arizona desert and there wasn't a single gunshot to be heard.

That was all it took to make Alice raise her head and cautiously peer around. Fear knotted in her gut at her unfamiliar surroundings, the books barely registering as panic began to seep through her veins. "H-Hello?" she called out, hesitant at first then louder as she climbed to her feet. "Hello? Is anybody there?"

Her only answer, at least at first, was complete and utter silence. Just around the time Alice was starting to question if she'd possibly died and this was some version of Heaven she'd never been told about, she realized what the real story was. And very nearly began to weep at the thought.

She'd been caught. Somehow, someway, they'd found her under that porch and now she was stuck in some lab to be tested on for the rest of her life. Those boys had been right. The government wasn't trying to help them and, because she hadn't stayed like Angela had told her to do, she wasn't safe anymore either.

Blinking back sudden tears born from sheer terror, the girl wrapped her arms around her midsection and turned in a complete circle to look around. She was opening her mouth to call out yet again for someone when, without warning, she was lifted clear off her feet. A screech passed her lips and she kicked her feet wildly, arms twisting as best they could as the sudden statue come to life began carrying her toward the doors that she'd never even noticed until that very second.

A heartbeat later, Alice was sitting on the steps of the Grand Library with something dropped into her lap that was unlike anything she'd ever remembered seeing before. Curiosity warred with fear as she stared down at the unknown, electrical device and wondered if it was some kind of bomb or something. As she hesitantly began to turn it over in her hands, she paid little attention to the gathering of stormclouds overhead.

Not that she could have stopped them even if she'd noticed them. Alice may be the one responsible for the sudden, erradic change in the weather, but she was far from able to turn it on or off by force of will alone. Not when she was as confused and frightened as she was at this exact moment in time.

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reapwhatwesow
2009-05-02 07:56 pm UTC (link)

It was her. The only people that had known that nickname had been Alice and her parents, and for Angela, it had died with them. But Alice hadn't died. No. No, she had just thought that she had lost her sister for all those years only to find out far too late that Alice had been alive all that time, waiting for her to come back. Waiting in that horrible place just because she had said that she would be safe there. Guilt gripped her heart as Alice's hand settled over her own and the tears filled her eyes in earnest.

Angela swallowed over the lump that had formed in her throat before moving slowly, gently, and pulling her baby sister into a tight hug, "It's me, Ally-Cat. I promise," Angela whispered, dreading letting go. She had lost so much, so, so much in her life. Part of her wondered whether this was just a trick, some sort of cruel joke where Alice would end up ripped away from her, where Nathan would simply turn out to be Sylar, and every bit of hope that she had built up would just come crashing down.

"I thought I'd lost you. All those years.... I'm so sorry, Alice. I'm so, so sorry."

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goodnight_alice
2009-05-02 08:10 pm UTC (link)

Ally-Cat was all it took to convince Alice that this was, in fact, her sister. That was a nickname known only by a very select few - their parents and Angela, to be exact - so it simply had to be her. Instantly her arms slid up to wrap around her sister's torso as she fiercely returned the hug. "It's okay, Banana," she murmured. "It's not your fault."

As far as Alice was concerned, it wasn't either. How could her sister be to blame for any of what had happened? She'd tried to warn people that Doctor Suresh wasn't safe and she hadn't even been there when her words had been proven true. None of this was her fault. It simply couldn't be.

Pulling back ever so slightly, the girl gave her sister a kind, sweet smile and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. "I stayed," she said, simply yet with quite a bit of emotion in the words. "Just like you said. I stayed there, where I'd be safe. And then I wound up here."

Almost reluctantly she released her sister and turned to Nathan. Her smile was still present, eyes shining with unshed tears of pure happiness. "Thank you," she exclaimed, "if it weren't for you..." She didn't finish, instead simply wrapping her arms around Nathan's waist and hugging him briefly before pulling away and looking back to her sister. "You have kids, Banana. Kids."

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reapwhatwesow
2009-05-02 08:23 pm UTC (link)

"And grandkids," Angela said with a quiet laugh as she raised a hand to press against her forehead. This Alice didn't have almost fifty years to become bitter because she had stayed at Coyote Sands. She didn't have fifty years to build up hate and anger and bitterness about it all, but even still, Angela wasn't going to make the same mistake twice and tell Alice that she had lied to get her to stay behind. No. Some things were better left buried with their parents.

"Nathan has three of his own," Angela said with a soft smile as she looked up at the vision of her eldest son.

Nathan smiled right back down at her, chuckling a bit at getting hugged around the waist before nodding. "Claire's actually here. I'm sure you'll get to meet her later," Nathan said before looking over at his mother with a soft understanding in his eyes. He knew that it had killed him when he thought that he had lost Peter after the explosion, thought that he had failed him. He couldn't imagine what it must have been like for his mother to live with that feeling for nearly five decades.

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goodnight_alice
2009-05-02 08:41 pm UTC (link)

Grandkids. Grandkids. Alice could scarcely imagine such a thing. She shook her head with a smile, peering back up at Nathan as he spoke of Claire. Part of her wanted to ask just how old Claire was, but decided against it. It was one thing to have to come to terms with being so much younger than her sister and even her nephew. Having a great-niece that was older wasn't something she could dwell on at the moment without all but guaranteeing herself a headache.

So instead she looked back to Angela with a smile that was somewhat saddened at the corners. "I've missed so much," she said quietly. "You've had this entire life and I wasn't even around to see it happen." It wasn't Angela's fault, wasn't really anyone's fault (except maybe the government) but Alice still couldn't help but feel a bit... cheated. She didn't want to grow up with a sister that was old enough to be her own grandmother. She didn't want nephews and great-nieces that were older than she was, with memories of her sister that she could never share. Yet that's exactly what was happening and some part of her kept insisting that it simply wasn't fair.

Then again, life wasn't fair. It was a bitter pill to swallow but one that Alice was managing to choke down as best she could. Life wasn't fair and, really, she should just be grateful that she was still alive to have a life of her own. A lot of others weren't as lucky.

With a shake of her head to force the soured emotions away, Alice once again smiled. "I guess we've got a lot of catching up to do, don't we?"

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thecompanyman
2009-05-04 12:02 am UTC (link)

Noah had been exploring the strange city, seeing if he could learn anything else about Colligo and how they had all arrived there, and had wandered into a small bookstore. A copy of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland caught his eye, making him think of Angela and her sister. Noah was fonder of Angela than was strictly appropriate, given that she was his daughter's grandmother, but the two had been through a lot and she had been a good friend and a better partner to him. On a whim, he picked up the book and paid for it, slipping it into his coat pocket.

He was headed back to his room when he saw Angela and Nathan, he had to think of the man as Nathan or he wasn't sure what he would do, with a young girl. A young girl who looked incredibly familiar. Even if Angela hadn't showed him her photograph, even if they hadn't seen the woman she would grow up to be, he would have been able to tell who the girl was. "Is everything alright, Angela?" he asked, calm in spite of his concern, and he made a mental note to ask Angela again when Nathan and Alice weren't around. He couldn't imagine how out of sorts this must have made Angela, on top of being in a strange place with a man who was either her son or the man who killed him. He turned his attention to the young girl, not wanting her to think he was rude. "You must be Alice," he said with a smile. "Angela showed me a picture of you once. I'm Noah." He pulled the book out of his pocket and held it out toward her. "I actually just picked this up...sort of a whim, actually. I don't know if I'll actually have time to read it, so maybe you could?"

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reapwhatwesow
2009-05-04 06:29 pm UTC (link)

Angela smiled over at Alice, a deep sadness in the expression as well, but her attention was distracted by Noah's arrival on the scene, a soft amusement flickering into her features as he produced the book. Sometimes there were moments when Angela really wondered if Noah was hiding an ability somewhere in that head of his. He certainly couldn't just be that prepared all the time. He had to see some of these things coming before hand.

"Always with the amazing timing," Angela said as she chuckled at Noah before turning her attention back down to Alice. "Alice, this is Noah. He's a good friend of mine." It was odd, actually describing Noah like to someone. Even if she had thought of Noah as a friend for quite some time now. There had been a reason, other than the fact that he was pretty much one of the only agents with a wife, that she had placed Claire under his care.

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goodnight_alice
2009-05-04 06:35 pm UTC (link)

Alice stiffened slightly at the arrival of yet another unfamiliar face. Her eyes were slightly widened as she shifted a bit closer to her sister and nephew, peering up at the newcomer with a hesitant expression. She gave a slight start when he produced a copy of Alice in Wonderland from his jacket pocket, but hesitated and glanced to Angela rather than reach for it fully.

Her questioning gaze disappeared with the introduction and she looked back to the man with a small, polite smile. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Noah," she stated, gaze flickering to the book then back to his face. "I couldn't possibly take your book, but thank you..."

Oh but how she wanted to. Still, it wouldn't be right, simply taking something from a veritable stranger. No matter how good of friends he might be with her sister.

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thecompanyman
2009-05-05 03:40 am UTC (link)

"I do try," Noah gave Angela a small, but no less warm, smile. He would have laughed if he'd known her thoughts. He was absolutely certain of his lack of ability, and the idea of it was ludicrous. He was just lucky on occasion.

He let her introduce him to Alice and then smiled at the young girl. "Like I said, Alice, it was a whim. Your sister mentioned you quite a bit, and talked about the book, and when I saw it, I just felt like picking it up. So, see? Clearly I bought it for a reason. And I'd really like you to have it. Humor an old man, please?"

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