Who: Alice Liddell and Yue Katou What: Alice runs into Katou while out running errands When: Late February/Early March Where: Just out and about Rating/Warnings: Medium at highest (It’s Alice she’s generally pretty tame) Status: Complete when posted
Alice couldn’t wait for June to get here. She wanted to get control of her bladder back. And the rest of her body too but mainly she wanted the baby to be born so that it wasn’t kicking her in the bladder constantly. That was one of the best parts about doing her classes over the computer this semester - she didn’t have to worry about missing lecture time or navigate in and out of a desk. Or try to make it to class on time and pee. She could start dyeing her hair again. She had an entire list of little things that she was looking forward to doing again and she didn’t care if anybody else thought they were silly things.
Like being able to drive her car again, she thought as she saw yet another taxi pull off before she could get the drivers attention. Maybe she should just call her mom to come and get her but then she’d have to deal with another lecture on how it would be better for her to live with her once the baby was born. Something about needing another woman to help. Like her dad hadn’t already helped raise two children - including the diaper changes. She stepped back towards the bench, bumping into someone and almost losing her balance but she managed to grab hold of the person’s arm and stop herself. “Sorry,” she said, pulling her hands back as soon as she felt that she was steady on her feet again. “I really should pay more attention to where I’m walking.”
***
Katou’d been standing, enjoying a smoke, when someone bumped into him and then grabbed him as if he didn’t have anything better to do than make sure they didn’t fall on their ass. He didn’t lose it, but his balance wasn’t what it was back when he’d had two arms to balance himself either, and she could have pulled him down along with her. “Yeah, you really should,” Katou snarled, pulling back his arm and taking a step back. But then he blinked, recognition dawning on his face, when he saw who it was. He definitely recognized her from somewhere, though he couldn’t exactly place where. “Oh. It’s you,” he said, still trying to remember who you was.
***
Alice felt really bad when she realized that the man she’d grabbed on to for balance had almost fallen himself. “I’m really sorry.” She repeated, stepping away from him as she tried to figure out where she’d seen him at before. Was he the guy that had saved her from the soldiers months before? He looked like him but that guy had wings and she didn’t think this guy did. “Is there anything I can do to make it up to you for my complete absentmindedness?”
***
Katou continued staring at Alice for a moment, both in an effort to make her feel more guilty and in order to place her. Then he shrugged, his demeanor suddenly switching to laid back and casual. “Whatever,” Katou said. “No changing the past, eh? Nothing to make up, really.”
***
“Sadly not an ability the dreams have given me. I keep hoping for something cool but I keep getting a white rabbit that I’m following.” And a kitten but she wasn’t going to tell that to this guy who was seemingly intent on staring her down. She wasn’t going to let it work though - she’d gotten too used to it in the last few months to cave easily.
***
“You follow the white rabbit too, huh?” Katou asked, grinning wryly. “You’d probably be happier with the dreams if all it is is just following a little bunny around. Count yourself lucky that you don’t needta fight off soldiers with laser swords.” He’d recognized her now, as one of the people he’d managed to save when Hyde’s dreams had infested the county, when his egg had gone missing.
***
Alice didn’t get what he was talking about but she doubted it was the same type of rabbit she dreamed of with it’s waistcoat and pocketwatch. “It gets boring. Although I’d probably get killed if I had to fight things in the dreams.” She said as matter of factly as possible. It was just what it was after all. Fighting wasn’t her strength and she was honest about it. “What happened to your wings?”
***
“Then be glad you don’t gotta,” Katou said simply. Sometimes he envied these people who didn’t have to fight shit to survive in their dreams. He looked at Alice as though she was insane. “What, you don’t think I just walk around with them sticking out all the time, do you? I ain’t an idiot.”
***
Alice gave a small shrug at his question. “You’re missing an arm. I thought something might have happened to your wings too. I don’t know how things like that would work.” She said as matter of factly as if she’d just asked him the time or the weather.
***
“No, if I lost my wings I’d be in trouble,” Katou said as though Alice should have known something so obvious, though even he wasn’t sure. He’d seen what happened to angels who’d gone through the wing drop. An angels wings worked like their immune system, and having their wings ripped from their back was considered heaven’s cruelest punishment, turning the angels into mindless, zombie-like ghouls before they finally rotted away, to live the rest of their existence as the ghouls that haunted Hades. But Katou wasn’t an angel, and his body, while organic, wasn’t an angel’s body, and he had no idea if the same rules applied to him.
***
“And you aren’t without an arm?” Alice asked, one brow raising as she asked the question, shifting so that she could lean more comfortably against the wall behind her.
***
“Not having an arm’s a pain in the ass, but it ain’t gonna kill me,” Katou grumbled, rubbing the side of his head.
***
Alice had to admit he had a point there about it not killing him. At least to herself. “Neither will not having wings if you’re walking around.” She said, shrugging halfway as she pulled her phone out to call for a cab. It would take a few minutes to get here so the sooner she called for one the better and she knew it.
***
Katou frowned. He’d probably already said enough about his wings. Not that he thought the pregnant chick who he’d rescued from mercenaries was much danger to him personally, but even he knew shooting your mouth off about your weaknesses was a bad call. Even things you never mentioned to anyone could be discovered and nearly destroy the world, as he’d recently learned.
As Alice pulled out her cellphone, he remembered that he really didn’t care about the blondie, so, without a word, he turned and started heading for home.