Zeke (iceagecometh) wrote in commandhq, @ 2018-05-26 20:25:00 |
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Zeke had always known that eventually he'd be moved and he would be at some point expected to up sticks and settle into a new facility, he just hadn't expected it to be such a long away from the one he had been in Florida. To say he was feeling the after effects of the long trip was putting it mildly but judging by the communication from his new handler he wasn't going to have a whole lot of time to settle in before he would be expected to prove his metal. Great, just great. With bag slung over his shoulder and held in place by a hand Zeke was using the map he'd been given to haphazardly make his way to his new room and living quarters where he was going to be surrounded by new agents that he would need to get to know. Thankfully he'd never really had any issue with getting to know people or making friends so hopefully making connections here at Limbo would as easy as it had been in Underworld. He whistled a tune as he strolled down the corridor in the direction of his room and was still whistling even as he began to unlock his door and step inside. Cerise had moved into her room relatively quickly. After all, it wasn't difficult to pick up two bags worth of belongings that hadn't even been unpacked. She figured this move would be at least a little more permanent, and that was what counted, wasn't it? She was moving out of her room when someone breezed past her, tall and broad shouldered, whistling a tune that was skin-pricklingly familiar to her. She stepped properly out of her room and shut the door behind herself, following him to the door to his room. She knew the cut of those shoulders, even the way his bag was slung over his shoulder she recognised. She knew that because she'd lived with him for over a decade. Her chest felt tight, like a band was wrapped around it, something akin to hope burst in her chest and she wet her lower lip, her voice feeling dry and the door had been opened and he was stepping inside by the time she finally found her voice. "Zeke?" If it wasn't him, this would be embarrassing. Zeke had placed his bag on the bed and was in the process of opening it up when he heard a voice from behind and almost immediately he felt his spine go ramrod straight. If he wasn't awake right now he would have sworn he was in some sort of dream because there was no way in any kind of reality would it be possible for her to be here. Yet he couldn't help himself, Zeke turned his head and sure enough it didn't take him long to clasp eyes on Cerise. It felt surreal, to see her stood right there, and he'd definitely hallucinated her and the others from Wonderland enough for him to be a little wary about whether or not it was another trick by his mind. "Cerise?" He repeated, brow furrowing as if he still wasn't one hundred percent that she was actually there. Cerise was standing looking at him, her eyes raking over his face when he turned around to face her. He looked just the same as he had done just under two years ago when he'd been caught. While she'd thought about this moment it had never been with both of them being incarcerated but at least they were together. "Looks like it," she offered with a little shrug of her shoulders, rocking up onto her toes as she caught her lower lip between her teeth. "Shit, Zee," she breathed, taking half a step forward. "I didn't think I'd find you. We looked everywhere." Zeke didn't need to be told twice. She was there, right in front of him, and that was enough for him to close the distance and basically pull her into a bear hug that was nothing short of crushing and a little desperate. It had been a very long very lonely two years because the Wonderland crew and Cerise had become his family. Of course he was going to need to know how and why she was stuck in the same position as him as the whole point of him doing what he did was to keep her safe. Cerise managed to pull her hood up in the nick of time as Zeke crossed the distance and pulled her into his arms. Her own lifted, circling his shoulders and clinging to him just as tightly as he was clutching at her. She could feel his fingers twisting in the fabric of her jacket and not for the first time wished she could just bury her face in his neck and wait for everything to make sense again. "Are you okay?" she asked, despite having been with them for a few months herself and knowing how they were treated. "Did they hurt you?" She didn't lean back, not until he did, because Jesus things hadn't been right without him. It was something of a relief when Cerise clung to him the same way that he clung to her, made him feel less self conscious about the sheer and utter desperation in his embrace. Even as she spoke she didn't lean back which meant he didn't either, he just nodded his head. "Yeah, I'm okay. " He did however lean back but only so he could take Cerise's head in his hands, palms against fabric and fingers spread out. "What are you doing here?" He'd done what he had to keep her out of the clutches of the authority but she was here now which meant he hadn't done a very good job or something else had happened. "I-" Cerise curled her hands around Zeke's forearm as he took her head in his hands. The sensation was familiar, reassuring. She'd gone a little overboard looking for him after he'd been taken, not even the Doormouse had been able to find any trace of where Zeke had been taken. He'd just vanished. She squeezed his forearms, her gloved fingers clutching at him before she remembered that they were both adults. She lifted her hand, kissing two fingers and then pressing those fingers to his cheek. "It's a really long story," she offered, "I- are you sure they didn't hurt you? I'm so sorry- I shouldn't have left." Zeke searched Cerise's expression in the hopes she might be able to explain why she was here of all places. He'd hoped that she was free, being Alice, helping people and pushing Wonderland further than ever before. Now it would seem that hope had been dashed. She was trapped here like him. "I told you to run," he returned with a shake of his head. "You were only doing what I told you. That's not on you, Cerise." "We were looking for you," she shared, seeing the way he searched her expression for something - anything - that might give some indication as to why she was there. "It was an accident, I overexerted myself and then..." She sighed, "Then people started touching me, too many. I woke up in a jail cell." She squeezed again, "Still, I've waited for two years to chastise you for that, you gonna try and take that away from me?" She smacked his upper arm gently. "I never should have left. It won't happen again." "You're okay though, right?" Zeke asked, concern clear in the gaze that regarded his friend. His best friend. Especially when she mentioned that people had been touching her and he knew better than anyone what that did. You weren't friends with somebody as long as he and Cerise had been friends and not learn a lot about them. Of course then she smacked his arm gently and he pulled a mock hurt expression as he even went one step further to rub at his upper arm like he was in fact wounded. "Hey now, I did what I did because it was the right thing to do. You were the inspiration for Wonderland, remember? Alice can't be lost." "Da," Cerise said softly, cupping his cheek with her hand. The worry that filled his gaze was touching, even though comparatively little time had passed he still worried about her. She would be willing to bet that he'd still do something stupid to protect her, too, if he felt that he needed to. "I've been here a while now, at least six months? Time just disappears here." When he rubbed at his arm she rolled her eyes, finally dropping her touch from where she'd all but been clinging to him and pushed her hood back, smoothing down her hair. "The others know what to do," she told him. "They- they'll just go underground. Try and do what they can to help the SEA pass. Then when we get out of here, we'll go back and pick up the pieces." "Time does have a funny way of doing that," Zeke agreed. "Kind of scary how fast it disappears." His first six months of his arrest had been spent behind bars with the authorities trying to get him to talk, to tell him all the secrets of Wonderland but for all their efforts he'd done nothing but give them remarks and quotes from the book the entire setup had been based on. It was something of a relief to know that the others were still out there, continuing the good work, it really was. "It's good to see you even under these shitty circumstances." "You can say that again," Cerise said, pressing her hand over his mouth and leaning up to kiss the back of her own fingers. "C'mon, get your bag into your room and we'll catch up over coffee." She withdrew, needing just a moment to recollect herself. She'd been hoping to see him since she'd been arrested, but knew that it was a long shot. Someone, at least, was smiling down at her. "There's an actual coffee shop here. It's no Starbucks but it's close." Zeke's lips broke apart into an easy grin, one that was completed by a full set of beautiful pearly whites, the canines of which were ever so slightly sharper than the others. "Alright, I'll meet you outside in ten?" Coffee sounded good, really good in fact. And maybe just maybe this transfer to Limbo was looking up, especially as Cerise was here. He would have preferred that she was still free but right now he would take what he could get. |