Who: Fralice + Sammiegirl When: 3am on the 2nd Where: The Cats Meow & their Suite above it What: Addressing the giggle in the room Rating: S for sads. Alice gave birth like 3 weeks ago so it ain't gonna be high lol Status: In Progress
Falling asleep was not normally a problem that Frank had. Generally speaking, by the time he actually allowed his head to touch a pillow or pillow like surface, he was out for the count until the early morning. But this night was different and he knew exactly why. They had chosen not to address it as they settled in, as if doing so would only upset the not-yet 3 week-old milk drunk infant passed out in the cot beside their bed. What could they possibly say that was constructive anyway? There was nothing to say, nothing bright and beautiful at the end of that tunnel, nothing that could possibly bring any sort of comfort. Frank had held onto his wife a little longer, a little tighter, but ultimately they said nothing.
At some point he had managed to nod off through the reminders running his head, something he'd only realised happened once he'd woken from where those reminders lead. His eyes had been fixed on Barty the whole time, challenging him to man up for what he was putting them through. His own family. He'd endured hours of this torture himself before Alice made her way home to check on him, before they started to use her as leverage to get him to answer the question he had no answer for. He stared right into Barty's soul as they threw everything they had at the mother of his child, giving no time for pause as they had for him. She wasn't a player in the game, she was a toy and there was nothing he could do about it. There was nothing he could do to stop the screaming. There was nothing he could do once the screaming stopped.
For all of the training they both had, nothing could prepare Frank for when that screaming stopped. He heart fell at the first assumption that he had lost her until the next sound in the room hit him right in the base of the spine. Alice giggled. He'd been fortunate to be on the receiving end of her laughter for years but this sound, this sound wasn't Alice. They hadn't killed her as they probably intended, no, they ended up stealing her from herself until all that remained was that giggle.
Frank woke with a gasp as the next wave of the cruciatus curse hit him, his brain still trying to process the giggle and now having to process that it was a dream. A terrible memory that would be etched in the back of his mind for the rest of his own life. He checked on his wife quickly to make sure that he hadn't disturbed her before getting out of bed, needing to move, needing something else to think about that was her beautiful voice making that awful sound. A few moments later, he was down in the Cats Meow, their sleeping daughter tight against his chest as he desperately tried to remind himself how much they could have here. How this little girl meant that that giggle no longer needed to be a reality. Just a dream. Just a terrible dream.