With all the decisions finalized,
the door to the old housing was no more, in its place, a newer and fancier door
to the new complex. The seven of them walked inside and were greeted by a wide
room with three paths leading deeper into the complex.
“Seems
pretty fancy. Wonder where everything is though.”
“Without
a floor plan, the best course of action is to explore for ourselves.”
“Nice
idea Bruce. You and Karen come with me this way.”
Before either could respond, Sora
was already pulling them along the leftmost hallway.
“Leo
and Alice should go down the middle, and Shock and Psyche to the right.”
Sora called out as she dragged her exploring partners away.
“Wait,
who said I’d agree to this?”
As Alice questioned the results,
Shock and Psyche quickly agreed to go down the right hall together and left her
alone with Leo.
“Guess
that just leaves us then, doesn’t it?”
“Oh be
quiet lizard.”
“‘Be
quiet’, instead of ‘shut up’? Is this the real Alice I’m talking to?”
“If
you’d like me to insult you feel free to keep running your mouth like that.”
“No need
to get upset so easily just because King isn’t here.”
“I’m
leaving you behind.” Alice began walking down the hall.
“Alice
come on, you can’t avoid the topic forever.” Leo says as he follows
behind her. “Everyone here is essentially family, so
don’t isolate yourself from us.”
“What
do you know you winged lizard?”
“Enough,
I’d like to think. I might not be as smart as Shock, or as overly worried as
Karen, but I do take notice of what goes on between everyone.”
“Oh
that’s great. Are you trying to be the papa bear to Karen’s mama bear routine?”
This elicited a chuckle from Leo, which Alice frowned at upon hearing.
“Not a
chance. That would go to King and you know it. If anything, I’m the group’s
older brother figure.”
“So
you expect me to just lay my heart out and go, ‘Oh big brother Leo, please
listen to my sorrows. My woes, my anguish and my worries.’? Here’s a newsflash
for you: It’s not going to happen.”
Leo grabbed Alice’s hand and the
two of them came to a stop outside of a door marked “Psyche”.
“Let
go of my hand, lizard.”
“No, I
don’t think I will. Not until we get whatever is going on with you settled.”
“What’s
there to settle? We all get along fine, don’t we?”
“That’s
not how it feels a lot of the time.”
“Well
maybe that’s just you since I’m not well versed in the sensibilities of
lizards.”
“You want
to know something I’ve noticed about you? Every time you make fun of one of us,
you always have this look of regret afterwards when you think nobody is
watching.”
“Both
you and the bird need to get your eyes checked then. Now let me go.”
“Alice,
you need to be honest with us, and yourself.”
“Like
that’s something so easily done. Sorry I can’t be an easy to read and honest
reptile like you are. I think we’re done here. Now let me go. I won’t say it a
fourth time.”
“Alice-”
Before Leo could get another word
out, Alice turned to face him, closed the gap between them, and head-butted him
in the face. While it wouldn’t hurt Leo, the shock of Alice doing something
like that caused him to loosen his grip on her hand. She didn’t miss her chance
to free herself from his grasp and walk further down the hallway.
“How
convenient, this room’s mine. Don’t bother me about this again.”
She entered the room and slammed
the door shut. Once the door was closed, Leo had recovered from the initial
shock of the situation and sighed in frustration. He looked at the closed door
to Alice’s room for a bit before continuing down the hall. He passed by Sora’s
room before coming to the end of the hallway and into the kitchen where the
others were waiting.
“There
you are Leo. Took you long enough to get here.”
“Where’s
Alice?”
“In her
room.”
Leo relayed the events to
everyone. Karen was the first to speak afterwards.
“Maybe
I should go talk to her. I don’t think we should keep touring the house without
her.”
“Karen
you’re probably the last person she wants to see right now besides Leo. I’ll go
talk to her later, I had a feeling something like this would happen anyway.”
“Then
why’d you leave the two of us alone together? She probably dislikes me more
now.”
“I
have my reasons Leo. Besides, I understand you and that girl more than you
might think. It’ll be fine.”
“Are
you sure this is a wise decision Sora?”
“Have
some faith in me Bruce. I’ll have a girl to girl talk with her and straighten
things out.”
“So
Leo, what’s down that hallway?”
“Alice,
Psyche and Sora’s rooms.”
“It
seems that every hall contained three rooms before leading to the kitchen.
Yours, Shock’s and mine are all down the hall I traveled.”
“Karen’s
room is the only one in the hall Shock and I went down, but there’s space for
more.”
“So
what should we do in the meantime while we let Alice cool off? I still don’t
think we should continue exploring the house without her.”
“I
don’t think any of us do. So instead…” Sora trailed off as she wandered
to the refrigerator. “Let’s have lunch. Leo, since
you made Alice get all mopey, you’re the fire.”
“Sora we
have a stove for a reason, why should I be the fire?”
“It’s
a punishment you doof. Just take it like a man and let me cook from your fire
breath.”
“You
just really want to cook that way don’t you Sora?”
“What,
me? No, you’re crazy Karen. This is all for Leo’s punishment.”
“That’s
not what you’re thinking Sora. I can sense your selfish intentions.”
“Hey,
no fair reading my mind Psyche!”
The six of them continued on in
this manner, Leo eventually relenting and supplying a steady flame with his
fire breath for what Sora and Karen prepared. After the cooking was done, Sora
took two plate to Alice’s door.
“Alice,
open up. I brought lunch.”
“I’m
not hungry.”
“Oh,
guess I’ll just give your portion to Leo then. He seemed hungry enough for
seconds.”
Sora waited for a few seconds
before hearing the door unlock. Alice opened it and stepped aside for Sora to
enter.
“Whoa,
you didn’t waste any time coming up with a theme from your room. This is so
cool.”
Alice’s room had all of the
traditional furnishings, a bed, dresser, mirror, etc… But there was something
mystical about everything in the room. The bed was floating off of the ground,
her staff hovering high in the air and numerous objects were arranging
themselves and rearranging themselves to better suite Alice’s aesthetic sense.
“I
guess it is for someone not used to magic. Who made the spaghetti?”
“I
cooked the noodles, Karen made the sauce, and Leo was the fire.” That
last part got Alice to laugh a little bit at the thought.
“Since
you brought two plates I assume you wanted to eat with me, right?”
“You
got it. Figured you needed some girl talk after what happened between you and
Leo earlier.” Alice’s face darkened a bit.
“So he
told everyone. I had a feeling he might, you guys must share everything with
each other.”
“Eat
some of your pasta before it gets cold.”
A bit annoyed at being ignored,
Alice did as she was told and started eating her food. The look on her face
showed her surprise at the taste.
“I
didn’t think we’d do a good job either to be honest, but spaghetti isn’t that
hard to make, and Karen spent a lot of time practicing after Christmas. King is
still a better cook, but she’ll get there eventually.”
After Sora said that, the two
girls ate in silence until both had finished. Sora used the time to examine
Alice’s room more closely and get her thoughts in order.
“So,
why are you so upset King’s off on his own?”
“I’m
not upset.”
“Now
we both know that’s a lie. So tell me. I promise I won’t let the others know
unless you’re ok with it.”
“…” Alice’s
face had a pained expression on it before she sighed and stopped trying to put
on a brave front.
“My uncles, Belial and Nebiros,
always did their best to make me happy. They allowed me to have free reign over
any soul that I found to keep with me forever. I didn’t understand how awful
the things I was doing to people were, but I did them out of fear of being
alone. After a time, a man came to the part of Tokyo my uncles ruled over and
he ended up defeating them during his journey. I was supposed to fade away
after that, without any power to keep me in the world of the living, but for
some reason, I came back. I was very confused, but happy to be ‘alive’ again
and wandered about looking for someone strong to latch onto. King was that
person. The fact that he was raging war against the man that defeated my uncles
was an added bonus. Gaining a human form that’s completely alive and going on an
actual adventure only made me more attached to him. He really became my new
family, and I haven’t imagined myself anywhere but by his side supporting him
since.”
“So
that’s why you were so mean to us when he took Karen and Leo to Misaki. I
thought you just didn’t like animals.”
“I
felt a little betrayed while he was there. As it went on I understood that
Karen really was the better pick for his master, and that he needed to focus on
giving the rest of you humanoid forms. But now there’s no excuse I can make for
him not taking me along. Even if he just wanted to make one of you stronger I
could rationalize it in my mind, but he’s by himself. The only family I have is
off somewhere I can’t be for ten years. It-”
Sora pulled Alice into an embrace
before she could finish her next sentence.
“You’re
an idiot, you know that?”
“…”
“Alice,
I would have thought Christmas was the time you finally accepted us as your
family.”
“Even
before you all had human bodies after those initial first ten years the seven
of you had an unbreakable bond. By the time I came along there was a history I
knew I couldn’t be a part of. And as time passed and you all started gaining
human forms, I felt like King was paying less and less attention to me.”
“Alice,
we’ve always thought of you as our friend, our family, a person we can trust
and rely on. You bonded with Karen as students at Mahora academy right? That’s
time that only you, her and King know about. You got along with Shock as the main
members of the occult research club at Inaba didn’t you? And through everything
in between, none of us has seen you as anything less than a precious friend. No
matter how many times you mock Leo by calling him a lizard, or Shock by calling
him a mouse, or even all the times that we fight, nothing will change how much
we care about you. You shouldn’t just rely on just King to fill the void left
by your uncles when there are six of us here that all consider you family.”
“It’s
not that I don’t want to consider you all my family it’s just…the moment I do
I’m afraid something might happen. I already worry about King enough as it is.
If I allowed myself to care about all of you the same way I don’t think my
heart could take it.”
“Alice,
you already do. It’s time to be honest with yourself and take that first step
forward. It’s okay if you stumble, we’ll all be here to pick you back up.”
The two girls sat in a silent
embrace for what felt like a long while before Sora finally broke it off. Alice
wiped away the tears that had coated her eyes and got up with Sora.
“Come
on, everyone’s been waiting on you before we finish exploring the house.”
“They
have?”
“Of
course. This house belongs to all of us. No way we’d get settled before you got
a chance to see it all.”
The two of them made their way to
the kitchen where the others were waiting. Shock and Psyche were discussing
something about the COMP laid out in front of them while Karen was locked in
what appeared to be a heated arm wrestling match between Leo and Bruce at the
same time. When Karen noticed them enter the kitchen, she send both Leo and
Bruce’s hands to the table and rushed over.
“Alice,
are you feeling ok? Do you need to rest , or want more food or-”
“I’m
ok Karen, thank you.”
The others had gathered around at
this point and Alice gave them a small smile.
“We’ve
still got to see the rest of the house right? Let’s get going.”
“Are my
eyes and eyes deceiving me, or is this really Alice?”
“If a
certain lizard wasn’t a bit insensitive earlier he wouldn’t be confused right
now. Everyone ready to go?”
While Leo was taken aback by Sora’s
words, everyone else nodded their agreement and set off further into the
kitchen to the dining area. There were three more hallways to choose from, but
these had labels on the walls detailing where each one lead. Leftmost being the
engineering bay, in the center the medical bay, and on the right the
entertainment center. The seven of them briefly went about each area together
and made sure everything was in order. Once they finished, they gathered back
in the kitchen.
“I
really like the house, and this kitchen is just divine. I’m glad you all agreed
to get it.”
“The
engineering bay is also pretty great. Now I can have a dedicated space to work
on stuff.”
“Don’t
you mean ‘we’, Shock? I’m not just going to leave everything to you. And don’t
forget that Sora knows stuff too.”
“That
covers everything doesn’t it?”
“The
only thing left is to claim our rooms now.”
“That
‘theme’ thing we got is super cool. Alice’s room looked epic with all the
magical effects going around.”
“It’s
not that spectacular, really…”
Sora went and whispered something
to Leo and proceeded to usher everyone but him and Alice out of the kitchen to
go get their rooms customized. Leo sighed and puffed a bit of smoke before
saying something to Alice.
“Look
Alice I…I’m sorry about earlier. I overstepped my boundaries and I’m sure it
made you uncomfortable. It’s just that I realized how isolated from the rest of
us you really are and I wanted to change that. The way I went about it was
wrong, and for that I apologize. I guess I was trying to rush things along
before you were ready.”
Alice had yet to turn and face
Leo, opting to look down the hall where her room was.
“I
guess subtlety isn’t one of your strongest points is it?” Alice turned
her head slightly to glance at Leo. “But I guess
sometimes a situation calls for a more direct approach. I’ll accept your
apology this time lizard. But to make it up to me you’ll be my personal heater
whenever I want.”
“What is
it with you all not wanting to use the appliances that come with the house?”
“Do I
hear an insensitive lizard making complaints?”
“No, no
you don’t Alice. And before you even ask, I’m not calling you ‘Your Highness’ or
anything like that, so don’t push it.”
“You
really do lack subtlety. I think we’ve said what we need to. I’m going to my room.
See you later, Leo.”
With that, Alice walked back to
her room, a slight smile on her face.
“Man this
was exhausting. Maybe I’ll go take a nap on that king sized bed I have to
myself…”
* * *
“It
might be a good idea to describe what each of our rooms look like to everyone since
they each get a theme. I’ll go first. My room’s theme is very water based
because if you recall, I was originally a gyarados. The walls look like a giant
fish tank filled with various water Pokémon so it feels like an aquarium every
time I step in. I have a jewelry stand that looks like coral that I hang the
necklace Leo gave me, and plan to put anything else I get there as well. The
stuffed animals Sora and the others got me are almost always on my bed. It’s a
bit embarrassing to admit, but sleeping with them close makes me feel safer
than I already do. It’s like everyone’s care for me wraps around me and that
fills me with such happiness. I haven’t had anything other than good dreams
sleeping with them. There’s also a portion of the room I keep free to practice
my dancing, and I keep everyone else’s gifts on my dresser. That’s all there is
to my room really.”
“If
you don’t remember, I’m still a Fearow at heart, and losing the ability to fly
has been the only thing I regret about becoming human. So to remind me of the
sky, my room has two modes. It generally looks like a fairly normal room. Sky
blue painted walls with clouds, a jewelry stand that reminds me of the wind and
the same furniture everyone else has. In ‘sky’ mode however, the room’s floor
opens to reveal a simulated sky, with jets of air keeping everything suspended
and allowing me to pretend to fly whenever I want. My room’s pretty awesome isn’t
it?”
“For those
unaware as to why Alice continually calls me a lizard, I was originally a
charizard. Knowing that, it should be no surprise that I don’t really like the
cold that much. My room is fire themed, and the inside looks like the inside of
a volcano, with the toy stuffed charizard watching the room from the top. There’s
not really much else to it. The closet entrance looks like a cave, and the
furniture looks like it was crafted from the rocks that coat a volcano’s
interior.”
“As I
was a hitmonlee originally, it’s only fitting that the inside of my room look
and feel like a dojo. There are several punching bags and training dummies
scattered about (merely for decoration unfortunately.), and a portion of the
room dedicated to training. There’s nothing else to my room, as the theme is a
simple one that suites me.”
“My
room’s theme revolves heavily around the magic I learned from my days as a
student at Mahora. The bed floats, my staff dances in the air freely and there
are numerous runes on my varying pieces of furniture. I have books scattered
about, that I always end up moving because I can’t find a good spot for them
and the ceiling looks like the night sky when I’m ready to sleep. I keep the stuffed
toys of my uncles that Sora made me on my bed when I’m not sleeping. Move
along, that’s all you get to know.”
“My
rooms theme is a bit strange. For those unaware, I was an alakazam during an
earlier portion of my life and as such, have psychic powers of varying degrees.
The inside of my room is a reflection the inner workings of the mind, and is
generally in a state of near complete darkness. As long as I’m the only one in,
it remains this way to better help me meditate and hone my powers. I know where
everything is, and I traverse it by utilizing my mind’s eye. The layout may
change from time to time in order to keep my powers sharp.”
“And
now we’ve got my room. Bet it’ll shock you once you find out, but my room isn’t
based around lightning like one might assume. Even though I was a Raichu, before,
I chose to go with a workshop theme. Most of my furniture looks like it has
mechanical parts to it, I keep the gifts from my friends on a special shelf
that I made some modifications to. As a bonus, the ceiling will open up to show
the sky of whatever world we’re in at the time of day.”
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