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"Come on. Paw at it!" Fiore said, laying on the floor, swinging a small stuffed mouse on a stick as she was swinging it back and forth in front of Phoenix, a ginger haired kitten with one eye that was staring at her boredly.
"Do something!" Fiore pouted, as the cat stood up, meowing at her, making her smile.
Phoenix the kitten was an early birthday gift she got after seeing him at a mall pet store.
She loved him so much! And had to do something while waiting for her brother Barry to get off the phone, glancing behind herself, she saw him sitting upside down on the couch, mid conversation.
"The cat's not a furball like you said they could be!" Barry said, the soft sound of a girl laughing was heard as Alec glanced up from his computer, raising an eyebrow.
"It's normal length fur, and no it's not funny!" Barry said.
Fiore looked back at Phoenix as he nuzzled his head against her hand as she smiled, gently petting him.
"What are we doing for christmas?...... I have no idea. We don't have a tree or ornaments." Barry said as Fiore pouted a little at this, knowing he was right on that front.
"We just..... didn't have time to do either. Fi started school..... Dad's started a new job at the school, I've been helping out..... we also focused on getting clothes for me and Fi, because we needed it. Halloween was a big thing" Barry listed as Fiore giggled.
Him calling her Fi was new, but she found it funny, and Alec had to hold a chuckle in at how odd the conversation sounded. But it was more funny at how normal he was making everything sound.
Phoenix distracted her again as he climbed onto her lap, making her laugh.
"What?! That's silly! You don't have any room for us!........ The hell's an Air BNB?! Dollie, I still don't know what the fuck a curling iron is, you expect me to know that?!" Barry suddenly asked as Fiore and Alec looked over in surprise at this.
"I mean, I would have to ask my dad....... because I'm not saying yes without thinking! Alright. Alright! Yes I'll ask. Dollie, please calm down, when you get excited like this you can't stop." Barry said before he sighed.
"Yes. I'll do it right now. Just give me a minute." Barry said gently. As he lowered the phone, she saw him look right at Alec.
"Dahlia and Iris offered for us to visit for Christmas." Barry was blunt, normally was, so this wasn't a surprise. What he said was.
"In Chicago?" Alec asked.
"Chicago?!" Fiore snapped, making both look at her in surprise as it sounded fearful. Seeing this, she quickly turned away and hugged Phoenix.
"It's cold as hell at this time of year." Fiore said, hiding the true issue, that she didn't have to see their looks since she giggled at Phoenix licking her cheek. She couldn't help but giggle at this happening, it tickled and was funny to her.
"Well...... it is last minute..... but it might change pace a little. I saw you on Halloween, and every time you talk to them, you clearly want to see them. And spending Christmas with them might make you less grumpy at school." Alec said.
"I don't go to school. I'm a librarian assistant." Barry pouted as Alec chuckled slightly.
"You've scared my class." Fiore smirked.
"That's not helping!" Barry said as she stuck out her tongue playfully.
"Tell her yes. And we'll look into it now." Alec said.
"Wow... thought it would be a tougher task." Barry said quietly as he got back on the phone.
Fiore was quick to climb onto the couch, Phoenix in her arms as she saw Alec start typing away.
She glanced at Barry, not moving besides talking. At least it seemed to be a positive talk since he laughed a little.
Smiling a little, she gently laid her head on Alec's shoulder as Phoenix curled into a ball on her lap, purring slightly.
"Are you getting tickets first or an air bnb?" Fiore smirked.
"Of course you know what that is." Alec chuckled. "Air bnb first. Then we get tickets." Alec said as Fiore nodded, neither seeing Barry spin around to be sitting normally to look at the computer too.
He didn't want to miss the choices, especially since this was gonna be a FAMILY trip.
Fiore almost giggled at Barry squinting at the computer screen. He still sucked at computers and phones, she had to show him how to do basic stuff, but he at least was trying.
"Yes Iris. We're doing it now. Yep. I'll call when it's finalized. Yes we're gonna do both now. I love you too. And you Dollie. Okay. Talk to you guys shortly. Yep. Yeah. I'll tell her. Bye."
"So what's an airbnb?” Barry asked, squinting more.
"It's private housing for people on vacation." Fiore explained, petting Phoenix as Alec pulled up a house for them to look at.
"One bedroom? That's too small........ bathroom.... kitchen....... living room........ that's a vacation home?" Barry asked.
"They can be bigger, this is a basic one." Alec said.
"Some bigger ones can be more shitty." Fiore said, trying to get closer.
"Careful Fiore, I don't want to drop the computer!" Alec said as she pouted.
"I want to see it! Barry's double my height, he can just look over! I can barely see!" She whined.
"Okay! Just let me get to the next one!" Alec said.
As he got to the next one, Fiore looked confused.
"A bathroom, kitchen and bedroom? He's right, these are apartments!" Fiore snapped.
"Thank you!" Barry said, pouting.
"Okay. We'll go for bigger ones." Alec fixed his glasses as he typed on the computer and bigger ones were coming up now.
"Ugh. That one isn't fun, we have to share that with someone." Fiore said.
"Eh. Depends on who it is." Barry laughed.
"With Phoenix, I don't want to share. He's a nervous kitty with changes." Fiore said.
"You know that, how?" Alec chuckled.
"I watched him the first day he was here, it took him a week to get used to everything!" Fiore pouted.
"........ you got him eight days ago." Barry said.
"Exactly." Fiore said, missing Barry's confused look, Alec cutting in.
"Look, we're spending about 2 weeks there. Fiore's birthday and Christmas." Alec said.
"So not super fancy, but not small." Fiore nodded.
"Yeah. I'm lost." Barry admitted.
"It's a simple thing really." Alec started to explain.
"I spent all of yesterday just studying! My mind can't take more!" Barry snapped suddenly.
"Okay. Okay." Alec chuckled gently.
"We need to pay to live at an airbnb for two weeks, but we don't need super expensive ones because we're not there for a long time." Fiore said.
"Oh....... That makes a bit more sense." Barry nodded.
"Well we should try and finish this up now." Alec said as the two nodded.
"Ugh. Most of these are one bedrooms!" Fiore said when they scrolled though more pictures.
"More expensive ones have more than one." Barry mumbled.
"I mean, we could make one work, but I feel better if we all had our own spaces." Alec said.
"Expesilly if Dollie and Iris won't leave Barry's side! They'll just keep kissing his face." Fiore snickered.
"Hey!" Barry said.
"Fiore!" Alec said.
"I have to be honest." Fiore pouted.
"Look, we just need two good bedrooms. If we find a good one, go for it." Barry suddenly said.
"Agreed." Fiore nodded.
"Alright." Alec nodded.
As Alec went to the next one, he nodded at the prices as Fiore squinted, something was familiar about it!
"Oh, of course they sold that place!” She said coldly, as Alec was bringing up pictures for them to look at.
Alec looked at her confused as Barry didn’t see it.
He rubbed his chin as he was thinking gently. Looking over everything before he started speaking.
"Two bedrooms, bathroom, two stories, kitchen, backyard.......... hmm.... not a terrible price." Barry mumbled.
“What’s up Fiore?” Alec asked.
"That's my old house!" Fiore snapped, Phoenix's head shooting up as Fiore suddenly moved over, almost climbing onto Alec's lap to look closer.
"Carefuly Fiore!" Alec said, gripping the computer tighter as the almost 9 year old scowled.
"Ugh. Someone's actually using it for an airbnb. Stupid." Fiore scowled, pulling Phoenix closer into a hug, the kitty purring, before meowing, Fiore letting go of the kitty to let him hop down, wanting to get something to eat!
"I..... think it would be a good choice.... if I'm reading the price right, it's not that expensive." Barry mumbled.
“Meh.” Fiore grumbled.
"So you don't want it?" Alec asked as Fiore looked blank faced.
"It's..... just a really shitty place to live. Book it if you want. I don't care." Fiore said, eye twitched slightly, meaning she didn't like it.
At phoenix wheezing suddenly, her eyes went wide as she looked around.
"Phenoix!" Fiore called out, sounding worried, frantically looking around for him.
"In the kitchen!" Barry said.
"Don't worry, you'll be okay! I'll be back!" Fiore said as she got up, running out of the room to make sure her kitty was okay.
As Barry watched Fiore leave the room with a frown, he looked back at Alec to see him clicking on the house!
"You're getting that one?! She clearly hates it." Barry said, crossing his arms.
"You know what I learned on All-Stars?"
"....... Not to hide your feelings?" Barry asked.
"........ the fact you can admit that, makes me think your therapy is working." Alec chuckled.
"I think that's a good thing." Barry said.
"It is. But I learned sometimes to overcome fears, you got to fight them head on. I think it'll help her fully move on from her parents." Alec said as Barry frowned.
"Or it could make her more upset."
"What helped you move on from your parents?"
"It........ was going through where I lived as a kid, being able to close that book....... Stella's words..... and be able to fully look forward to anything we do." Barry said.
"Exactly. Get her to do that too." Alec said as he went to get the tickets online too.
"If she can't bring Phoenix, she'll refuse to go." Barry added.
"Way ahead of you on that one." Alec chuckled as he typed more on the computer, knowing exactly that was gonna be a thing.
"Dollie is so gonna want to wait at the airport for us when we fly."
"It's like 11 hours."
"Oh fuck me!" Barry groaned.
"I think it'll be alright." Alec said.
"Phenoix coughed up a hairball. He's alright!" Fiore yelled out.
"Thank you Fiore!" Alec called out, looking at Barry who was giving him a look.
"I think this will be the best thing for her." Alec whispered.
"Alright." Barry said, clearly not sounding 100% positive.
“Don't be negative like that." Alec chuckled.
“If I wanted to be negative i’d say your fucking up stupidly with this.”
“Ouch.”
"I'm allowed to be that cynical asshole. Iris finds it hot."
"Does she?"
"She laughs a lot at it."
"I question that too."
"Everyone does."
—
"You all packed up?" Alec asked as Barry was zipping up his suitcase.
"I think so." Barry said as he got up. Giving a small yawn as he grabbed his Freddy hoodie, something Iris gave him after All-Stars. He had on a christmas sweater on, a green sweater with red lines throughout it that said “merry christmas.” on it.
"What did you pack?" Alec said, as he tied his hair into a ponytail.
"Clothes..... a lot of clothes..... a book Dollie gave me. The music player and a few DVDs that Iris gave me."
"I forgot she got you that." Alec chuckled, before seeing two lockets on Barry's dresser.
"What's this?" Alec asked as Barry quickly grabbed them, putting them in a small chest and dropping it into his bag.
"It's my Christmas gift to Dahlia and Iris." Barry smiled.
"You got them matching lockets?" Alec asked.
"Yeah, they got me one before we left the motel. A picture of both of them on either side. So I always think about them. So I got each of them one with me and each other." Barry smiled as Alec chuckled.
"You two are sickly sweet." He said.
"That's what Fiore says, like a lot."
"Well with her, you should expect that." Alec chuckled.
"Is Fiore ready?" Barry asked, as he stood up.
"I'll go make sure." Alec said, leaving the room.
Going to her room, she was laughing as she was petting Phoenix, his travel case beside her suitcase and backpack. She had on a red sweater with a green stripe around her stomach, and a bluish black skirt on with white leggings, wanting to be a little festive (and most likely Barry making a joke that got to her.)
"Fiore, we leave in 10 minutes." Alec said.
"Okay." She smiled more as Phoenix pawed at her hand slightly.
"See you downstairs." Alec chuckled as he left the room.
"Alright Phenoix. Get in your case." Fiore smiled as Phenoix meowed in confusion, but entered the case as Fiore was quick to close the case, she made sure there was a blanket and some toys for Phoenix. She wanted her kitty to be ready to go.
"You set that travel case up well." Barry said as she turned to face him.
"Yeah? Good. I wanted Phoenix to be alright." Fiore giggled as she looked at his face.
“Is there a reason you're wearing your hair down?” He asked, noticing her hair wasn’t in a ponytail like usual.
“I only just got dressed, I haven't tied it up yet.” She giggled.
“Sorry, I guess I just got used to the ponytail style.”
"Know what airbnb Dad picked?" She asked, grabbing her backpack.
"Na. He wanted it to be a surprise." Barry shrugged.
"I hate surprises. Most are never fun." Fiore scowled more.
"Well it was a surprise with the papers. But it led to our family starting. I wouldn't hate that surprise."
"I guess that's true." Fiore smiled suddenly, handing Barry Phoenix's travel case as she finished packing.
"You gonna sketch the whole time?"
"Or sleep. It's a long flight. What are you doing?"
"Reading 10 blind dates for Dahlia and Iris."
"Is that a romance novel?"
"More family."
"Ah." Fiore said as she got her pencil case and got it in her bag as she got a cat treat and tossed it onto Phoenix's case.
"Alright! I'm ready!" Fiore grinned as she rolled her suitcase out of the room, Barry behind her, heading towards the front door.
"You're sure that's everything you wanted?"
"Yep!" Fiore smiled, before smirking.
"Don't forget to lock the door."
"I won't."
As Fiore happily skipped out, she saw something that made her eyes light up and she went running off towards the yard as Barry chuckled seeing this, rolling his suitcase over to the car where Alec was putting his and Fiore's suitcases into the trunk. Remembering to lock the door as he walked away from it.
"Do we have enough for the plane?" Barry asked.
"Each got a personal item and a carry on, and paid extra so Fiore got an extra one for Phoenix.
"Ah. Got it." Barry said, lifting his suitcase in as Alec made sure it was even.
"I think I have the window seat, and you have the middle." Alec said as Barry laughed.
"Like when you guys met me. Ironic." Barry said.
"Do you have a sleeping mask?"
"Yes. Always have one ready for travel and at home. To help with my eye. The doctor said it would help if I had one, so I have one." Barry said as he smirked slightly at seeing what Fiore was doing. Alec however did not.
Carrying Phoenix's carrier, Barry got into the passenger side as Alec got in, seemingly ready to go. Not noticing a lack of a smart mouthed 8 year old in the back seat.
"Alright. Suitcases packed?" Alec asked.
"Yes."
"Phenoix?"
"Everything we need in a bag, and he's right here." Barry said, the cat carrier on his lap as Phoenix let out a soft meow.
"Good...... wait, where's Fiore?" Alec asked when he looked in the back seat.
Upon hearing Barry snicker, Alec looked at him pointing out the window, in the yard, he could see Fiore was on the sidewalk hugging a boy.
"Is that.....that boy in her class from school?" Alec asked.
"Yeah." Barry said, a smirk still on his face as Fiore made her way over to the car. Barry noticed her running a hand through her still untied hair as she was waving bye to the boy as he waved back, as she opened the door and entered the car.
"Alright........ where's Phoenix?" Fiore asked as Barry handed her the carrier, making her smile as she sat her backpack down near her.
"You're sure you have everything." Alec said.
"Yep! Let's go!" Fiore grinned.
"You're sure? I don't want to turn around." Alec said.
"You double checked my bag last night dad!" Fiore said, pouting.
"I was just checking." Alec shrugged gently, before pausing at Barry having a shit eating grin as he relaxed in his seat.
"Great! Now that Fiore is done saying goodbye to her boyfriend, we can finally hit the road to board our eleven hour flight." Barry grinned more as Fiore instantly scowled at him.
"HE'S NOT MY BOYFRIEND!!!" She yelled out at him, cheeks slightly pink at this as Barry laughed.
"And what am I supposed to think when I see you hugging a boy like that?" Barry teased more.
"SHUT UUUUUUUUP!!!" She whined as Alec chuckled now too, making her pout and cross her arms, looking out the window.
Alec started the car as he saw Fiore continued to pout, he hoped she wasn't gonna be upset the whole time.
But he did smile a little at seeing her give a small wave to the boy as they pulled out. Once again running a hand down her hair.
—
"Barry, come on!" Alec said, looking behind him as Barry looked over, currently in a gift shop.
"What?! I never got to go to one of these! Last time I was here, I had to follow Marcus and HER to a plane to fly to England, because they had to do a medical exam there, only to come here for Fiore! I want to see what's here."
"You can check it out when we return from Chicago." Alec said, before his eyes went wide. "Where's Fiore?!"
"Alec! They have cat headphones here!" Fiore said, running up beside Barry, who tried to hide the smirk on his face at this.
"We're gonna miss the flight if you two don't stop messing around." Alec rubbed the bridge of his nose, he should have expected this from them.
"You did promise Fiore if she got an A on her last test, next time you see headphones like that, you'd get them for her." Barry smirked as Fiore grinned like a shark at this.
".............. If I get them will you two come with me?" Alec asked.
"Yes." Barry said.
Fiore nodded, holding her laughter in.
"Last time I made a deal like this..... Barry watch the luggage please."
"I don't know, most people don't trust the one eyed person with anything." Barry said as he walked by Alec, getting an unamused look from him.
"You're worried about him, aren't you?" Fiore asked when Alec grabbed the headphones.
"A little. Do you remember how he was on the plane on All-Stars. To the camp and back to here, he was jittery the whole time, like he was scared of something going wrong." Alec sighed.
"That's why he's stalling a little....... He's worried about this going to hell." Fiore said as they both glanced back at Barry, gently talking to the animal carrier.
"It's not flying this time." Alec said, glancing at the price before paying for the headphones.
"He's worried Dahlia or Iris's parents don't like him." Fiore crossed her arms.
"I remember that with Cheryll. Nervous with her parents." Alec chuckled as he handed Fiore the headphones.
"Well the first instance Dahlia's dad saw the two of them together was something Dahlia didn't want." Fiore giggled as Alec raised a brow.
"What do you mean?"
"Remember when we watched their season, episode one at the beach?" Fiore smirked.
"..... I don't see the huge deal. It's not like he fully understood it then."
"Would you want one of us doing that?"
"Aboslutley not...... I see your point." Alec sighed.
"So he's scared inside, that they won't like him. Like with your ex. He was worried about making them think you sucked at raising us because of him." Fiore said as she walked over to Barry and Phoenix.
Alec paused, before sighing. He had to notice these more. Barry was his kid too, and he still missed these signs with him.
He shook his head before walking over, he had to worry about that after they were on the plane.
"Are we all good to go?" He asked as Barry looked at him.
"Yeah." He nodded as Fiore grumbled as she struggled with opening the plastic container for the headphones.
"Alright then, we need to find gate 35." Alec said as Barry grabbed the headphones from Fiore as he started opening it for her.
"Watch Phoenix. He's more calm when you're the one carrying him." Barry said as Fiore pouted, but did this.
"I think this will be like Halloween." Alec chuckled.
"The dressing up part, walking for 3 hours house to house. Or one of us eating so much candy that she falls into a coma for like a day?" Barry asked.
"It wasn't a day!" Fiore snapped.
"You were all bloated and looked ready to throw up any second." Alec chuckled, as Fiore crossed her arms and glared at him with a pout.
"I mean I felt sick after eating that bowl of candy you had like a week after." Barry noted.
"Those were expired Barry. You got sick because you ate the whole bowl."
"Well excuse me for liking sour apple flavored candy. Iris hooked me on it at the motel! I wasn't gonna ignore it!"
"We need to work on both of your impulses. It's gonna get you in trouble." Alec sighed, making sure they were following him.
"Hey. If I thought about any of my choices, that fake idol plan wouldn't have worked." Barry said.
"Didn't you almost slice your hand with your team's hachette?" Alec asked as Barry didn't respond, finishing opening the headphones and placing them over Fiore's head and onto her ears.
"Don't forget your hands, the ten different bruises you got. You almost blew out your knees in the weight challenge, the fact you ran in the cliff climbing one for so long is insane. Your impulses there were bad."
"Hey! I've gotten better thank you." Barry said as he took a pill suddenly.
"You almost forget your medicine." Alec said, Fiore kept glancing back and forth, loving the two's small bickering.
"I remembered, and I think that's the important thing. I already struggle with sleeping, I'm not letting sudden anger bursts or bouts of sadness ruin this trip." Barry said.
"You could get pills for that too." Alec said.
"Isabel said using a dream journal is better to help figure out what may keep you up at night."
"That hasn't worked for you." Alec blankly said as Fiore giggled.
"Helps me when I write down your dreams." Barry shrugged.
"Why do you do that?" Alec asked.
"Because he wants to stop my nightmares." Fiore said, glancing up as they reached their gate.
"I still think you got that frozen alive nightmare from one of those horror movies, or video games you play." Alec sighed.
"Banban doesn't have anything related to freezing in a lake....... nor a horror movie i've seen...... and we saw Tusk."
"I love Dollie just cackling at that movie."
"Remind me again why I let you watch that with everyone else at the motel?" Alec asked.
“Because you're the best dad in the whole wide world!” Fiore said with a super sweet, sickly voice, her eyes sparkling. Honestly, with the headphones, it made it look even more adorable.
"And because you didn't want her being pissed at you for making her be the one left out along with Yul." Barry smirked.
"I hate when you get smart like that." Alec sighed.
"He's learning from the best!" Fiore giggled.
At least this seemed to stress them less than before.
—
It was late in the evening as they drove to the airbnb in a rental car.
"Are either of you up?" Alec asked as he glanced over at Barry next to him to see Barry turn his head gently.
They had been driving for about an hour, trying to get to the airbnb so they could get some sleep.
"Sadly....... Fi's asleep." Barry said, sounding tired as Alec nodded.
"She was drawing for most of the flight." Alec said.
"Or hugging and kissing Phoenix." Barry mumbled.
"You were up for that?"
"I listened to an audio book of Jurassic Park. Iris loved it, but I didn't want to get pissed off by reading and my eye or head hurt. So the audio book was better."
"I thought you were reading that date book."
"Ten blind dates thank you. Get the title right! Dollie would be upset if I forgot it."
"Is the book really just a romance novel?"
"..... No. It's more wacky than romantic." Barry blankly said.
"Hmmm..... And was Fiore listening to anything?"
"I think she piggybacked off my audio book."
"That book's not for kids her age." Alec said.
"Please. She saw you get exploded by a guy running at light speed into you and saw me not only tear Riya's head off but rip Yul in half. I think an audio book about cloning dinosaurs mutilating people is the least of our problems with what she sees or hears." Barry said, as he looked at the back seat to see her passed out.
"Yeah, she didn't want to fall asleep........ but she got tired..... The headphones helped her relax."
"Why did you want her to have those headphones so badly?" Alec asked.
"She mentioned last night that she was scared of freaking out from too much noise at the airport. I get that way sometimes. It's why I drown people in crowds out with my headphones." Barry said as Alec's head shot towards him.
"She has Phonophobia?!"
"Is that what a fear of sounds is?”
"Yes! Why am I only hearing this now?"
"She thought she was being picky with shit." Barry shrugged.
"I know she hated thunder and too many people talking, but she seemed fine at the motel party."
"She hid it well." Barry said as Alec sighed.
"I just want to help you two if you have issues.... like a father should." Alec said.
"It takes time Dad. We're built to not tell others our problems unless cornered. We'll get there." Barry said as they stopped in front of the house.
"We're here." Alec said as Fiore yawned, sitting up as she looked around, eyes going wide as she saw the house.
"WHAT THE!? YOU ACTUALLY PICKED IT!?!?!?"
—
As Alec turned the key to unlock the door, he looked back at Fiore who was crossing her arms with an angry pout on her face. She wasn't even looking at him.
“Oh come on, Fiore. We didn’t think it would be that big of an issue.” Alec said, he really should've seen this coming.
"Hey, don't bring me into this! I wasn't up for this idea!" Barry said Alec narrowed his eyes at him annoyed, but wasn't bothered to argue back.
Barry had a cheeky smirk on his face, but then he looked down and his cheeky expression disappeared, as Fiore was now looking up at him with narrowed eyes.
“You knew?” She asked, in an unusually cold tone. Alec looked surprised at this, but Barry kept a straight face.
“...I didn't want to risk the chance of you not wanting to come. I told Dahlia we would all be coming. She was excited to see you and her sister wanted to, and I quote "meet her sister's boyfriend's sister." Barry explained, simply and with little energy.
Fiore didn't respond, just looked away again. While she wasn't looking, Barry gritted his teeth and shivered a little.
Alec finally managed to unlock the door and pushed it opened. Him and Barry looked inside for a few seconds, before they both looked at each other for a second, and then looked back at the girl still faced away from them.
“Fiore.”
Fiore turned her head slowly and saw them both looking at her softly, gesturing to the door.
She sighed deeply, and slowly stepped towards the door. Stopping a foot step away from entering.
She poked her head in and looked around the dimly lit living room. She felt a shiver down her spine, but didn't seem to notice her whole body was tensing up and shivering a bit.
She jumped slightly at a hand being placed on her shoulder. She turned her head around and looked up to see Alec giving her a calm, neutral expression, but it also felt reassuring.
She let out a deep sign as she took her first step through the door, her foot touching the ugly moss green carpet inside.
She actually noticed a small amount of dust appeared with her step, showing this hell hole hadn't been clean in awhile.
Fiore dragged her other foot through the door and had officially entered the house, clearly not frilled about it.
She took a few more steps in, keeping her hands close to her chest. Alec and Barry followed in behind her, carrying all the bags between them. Barry was even holding a plastic bag full of Phoenix's stuff with his teeth.
Fiore stopped after a few steps, and started looking around again, scowling at the place she wished wasn't so familiar.
Alec and Barry sat all the bags onto the floor. Barry spat Phoenix's bag out of his mouth, and shook his head violently with his tongue stuck out to try and get the taste out of his mouth.
“Blaaahaaahaa!”
Alec chuckled a bit at seeing this, he then found the light switch on the wall right next to the door. He flipped the switch and the living room light flickered on.
He then turned his attention back over to Fiore, who was still just slowly looking around the place. He couldn't tell exactly how she was feeling, all he could tell was she was absolutely anything other than happy right now.
Fiore continued looking around the house in complete silence. Everywhere she looked, it was exactly the same as when she had last seen it.
She looked down. Same ugly moss green carpet.
She looked up. Same boring beige coloured walls and ceiling.
She looked to her left. Same dark green coloured couch with tears in it, and the exact same box shaped 28 inch television that looked like it was made in 1996.
She looked ahead to across the other end of the living room. She saw into the kitchen, black and white wall and floor tiles. Basically checkerboard the kitchen. She could even see the sliding glass door that led into the backyard.
Then she looked to her right and saw the…the stairs. …Old wooden ones, that curve at the bottom then go straight up…
Her breathing had gotten slightly heavier as she kept looking up and down them.
Alec and Barry were looking at her both confused and concerned. The moment she entered, she had been looking around the place in silence. To them it had looked like she was moving in slow motion, like she was in some sort of trance.
“Fiore?” Alec called out to her, making her snap out of her trance as she looked back at them.
“Are you…alright?” He hesitantly asked, as a small scowl appeared on her face as she narrowed her eyes at him.
“Ha-ha…Obviously not!” She snapped.
“Well, what's the issue?” Barry asked. They didn't fully know everything about her past in this house, and were hoping she would be willing to confide in them.
“This place…is exactly what I said it was, a really fucking shitty place to live! It looks like it hasn't been cleaned in years! There's dust everywhere, it…smells odd, and I swear I see…uh, mold up in the corner there! This is a hell hole!” She ranted. Leaving Alec and Barry silent for a few seconds, they kept glancing at each other a few times.
“...is that it?” Alec asked.
“W-What?”
“Is that your only issue with this place?” He asked calmly. Which stunned her for a second.
“Well…yeah! I still can't believe you picked it!” She said, trying to sound more angry and less…shaky.
“We honestly didn't think it would be this big of an issue for you.” Alec said.
“I told you this was a shitty place to live! I've lived here for over ⅔ of my entire life!” She snapped again.
“But you also said you didn't care.” Barry said.
“What?” She asked, annoyed.
“We asked if you didn't want it, and you said, and I quote “book it if you want. I don't care.” Barry reminded her.
“Well obviously I did care! It was all in the subtext!” Fiore said annoyed, while Barry looked confused.
“Subtext?”
“Yeah, you know. Like when someone says “I'm only 2 minutes away.” But what they're really saying is “I'm still in my pajamas.” Fiore explained to him.
“People do that?” Barry asked.
“Usually by adults when their late for work, or when they're supposed to meet up with someone they knew back in high school they really didn't like, but ran into them a week before and they offered to take you out for dinner, but their just as annoying as back then, but you already agreed to it and now you have to deal with it.” Fiore explained, with a bored tone and expression.
“Fiore! That's…uh…hm.” Alec shrugged,
“Well there you go.” Fiore said, as she looked at Barry while gesturing at Alec.
Alec rolled his eyes and walked past her to look inside the kitchen. Barry chuckled at this.
“Meow.” They both looked down to see Phoenix pawing at the sliding lock on his cage, clearly wanting to come out.
Fiore quickly went over to the carrier and kneeled down to unlock the cage. Placing her hand on the floor for him to climb into, and she lifted him up for him to nuzzle her cheek.
Barry noticed this was the first time a smile appeared on her face since they arrived.
"Alright look, we're here now, and we're all a little tense and worn out. So I think the best thing to do is for all of us to just get some sleep." Alec said, returning from the kitchen as Barry and Fiore turned to him.
"You guys are sleeping. I'm gonna try." Barry laughed. "What's the sleeping arrangement?"
"You guys get the bedrooms, me and Phoenix will sleep on the couch." Fiore said as Barry raised a brow.
"That seems flawed." He mumbled.
"How so?" Fiore asked. She didn't get what was wrong with this suggestion.
"I lived on the street for eleven years. I think I can handle a couch. You can have the bed. You should sleep better."
"Exactly! I got a bed at my shitty school! You should get one this time. You could gain a few inches to match your girlfriend's height." She said, as Phoenix nuzzled into her chest while purring.
“But it's literally your bedroom up there.” Barry said, ignoring the dig at his height.
At this point Fiore wanted to scream, as she clenched her fist and her face went slightly red.
She didn't want to go up those damn stairs!
"Alright, If you're that adamant, you can sleep in the bed tonight, and we can switch tomorrow. How's that?” Barry asked, trying to offer a compromise.
Fiore wanted to do nothing more in this moment than to kick him in the shins. But she was exhausted, and she didn't have the energy to fight him on this. So unless she wanted to tell him her real issue, she had no reason to keep arguing.
"....Fine." She said as she let Phoenix down.
"Alright. Then we're good." He yawned, as he leapt backwards with no hesitation and flopped onto the couch.
Alec and Fiore just stared at the couch he was already sprawled out on. They were on the opposite side, so all they saw was a foot handing off the end, and a hand resting on top.
They looked at each other, Alec with a dumbfounded expression while Fiore's was mostly blank.
“Ok then.” Alec sighed, slowly shaking his head as he turned and walked over to the bags on the floor at the front door.
Fiorella meanwhile faced back towards the stairs again, that shiver going down her spine returned in full force, but she tried to ignore it. She knew there was no getting out of it, not with them around.
She slowly walked over, and slowly lifted her trembling foot up, and pressed it down onto the bottom step.
“creek!”
She quickly jumped back and nearly stumbled backwards.
Why the hell did it do that? It never creaked like that before!
She logically assumed it was yet another showing of this house's poor condition. But even then, the eeriness she felt about these stairs just amplified. It felt like a scene in a horror movie, which she's now starting to think she's seen too many of.
She stepped closer again and turned her head to look up the stairs again, she semi expected there to be a flash of lightning and demonic laughter to come from upstairs.
But then her gaze went downwards, and she saw something that made her blood run cold. Which she was now seeing as she was standing closer.
She saw…patches of dried out…red splatters on a few of the steps…and the worst part was…she knew exactly where it came from.
…….you know, just because it didn't feel enough like a horror film.
Her breathing quickened as she walked backwards from that bottom step. She was about to quickly run from there, but she froze at seeing Alec, who wasn't paying attention to her at the moment as he was struggling with the bags.
Then turned to the couch and couldn't see Barry's face as he was still laying down, so he hadn't seen her either.
She knew they would have questions about this, questions she wasn't gonna answer. But she absolutely wasn't stepping foot on those stairs, which again would lead to questions.
What was she supposed to do?
“Ugh!” Alec grunted as he was lunging the bags towards the stairs.
…her eyes then lit up as she came up with an ingenious strategy!
"Alright look! I'm just gonna leave our bags here. We're all pretty tired, so we should all just get some sleep. We can unpack in the morning." Alec said, clearly exhausted and irritated, but trying to be positive.
He then suddenly felt weight against his leg as he looked down and saw Fiore had fallen against his leg, looking sleepy.
"Carry me." She said in a sleepy voice, that was slightly muffled with her cheek smushed against his knee.
“Carry you?” Alec asked, with a raised eyebrow.
“Pleeeease.” She said, emphasising her high pitched voice while tilting her head up to perfectly display her big glistening eyes.
Alec groaned, he hated those dumb glistening eyes. He looked over at Barry as he sat up to look over at them, and he smirked.
“Did you honestly expect the princess here to walk up herself.” He teased, with that cheeky grin again as he flopped down again.
Alec rolled his eyes as he looked down again to see Fiore now resting her chin on his knee so he could now see her quivering lip along with her big glistening eyes.
"Oh for the love of…” He could feel her arms wrap tighter around his leg as she kept the same pleading look. This was aggravating.
“...alright" He said, as he picked her up by her waist and threw her over his shoulder.
“You're the best.” She said in a cutesy sleepy voice, as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
“That's a dirty trick.” He complained as he started walking up the stairs.
“Hey, if it works it works.” She shrugged, and although he couldn't see her face, he just knew she had a confident smirk on her face right now.
“Meow.”
They both looked down to see Phoenix looking up at them, as he had his front paws on the bottom step. He tried jumping up onto the step, but he was too little so he stumbled backwards.
“Phenoix!” Fiore called out, seeing her kitty stumble.
“He needs to come up with me.” She said to Alec, who chuckled slightly at this as he stepped down to the floor.
He was about to crouch down to reach the kitten, but then he looked at the girl in his arms, then at the kitten staring up at him with big eyes(oh god, another one), and a sly smirk appeared on his face.
He slowly grabbed one of Fiore's ankles, which she looked down at with a puzzled look. Then he quickly grabbed her other ankle, and with nothing supporting her upper body, she fell backwards.
“AHH!” She shrieked as she felt herself falling. Next thing she knew everything was upside-down as Alec was holding her by her ankles while she just dangled.
Her long untied hair was actually touching the floor, a lot of it just laid there flat, which really annoyed her because she didn't want it to get all dusty.
“What the actual hell!?” She asked annoyed, looking up at Alec.
“Now you can reach him yourself.” Alec chuckled, she could even hear Barry chuckling behind the couch, much to her irritation.
“Phenoix.” Fiore called to her kitty, as she reached her hands out to him to make him come over.
And he did, he ran quickly towards her, but not into her hands.
“Hey!” She shrieked, as she felt him pawing at her hair, and even rolled in it as if it was laid out just for him to play with.
“Hey! Stop that!” She shrieked, clearly irritated as she tried to grab him. But she couldn't reach back far enough to get him.
Alec seeing this, lifted her higher off the floor, which also lifted Phoenix off the floor as his claws were dug into her hair, so now he was dangling off her hair.
He then put a hand on her back to flip her back upright, and Phoenix dangled right next to her cheek.
“Come on, let go.” Fiore said annoyed, as she grabbed him and gently tried to pull him off. But he was latched on, and didn't seem interested in letting go.
“Ow! Ow! OW!!!” She wined as she kept trying to pull him off her hair.
“Does it hurt? Him hanging off your hair like that?” Barry asked, looking up from the couch again.
“Not really, it just hurts when I try to pull him off, he is really light weight. I just want him off so he doesn't mess up my hair.” She explained, as she kept trying to gently pry her kitty off, while looking agitated.
“Oh jeez, well there's no time to lose then.” Barry said while smirking, as she scowled at him while still trying to remove the kitten from her hair.
“Here, let me try something.” Alec gently said, as he gently pinched one of Phoenix's claws with 2 fingers and gently twisted it back and forth.
Which made his claws retract, and he did the same with the other, as he released and now laid in Fiore's palms.
“You're a naughty naughty kitten!” Fiore snapped and scowled at him as she held him in front of her face.
“moew.”
She tried to look angry, but then she saw his big glistening eyes, which made her pout with her eyes squinting.
It was hopeless.
“Aww, I can't stay mad at that face, you silly boy.” She cooed, as she kissed the top of his head and nuzzled him against her cheek.
“Wonder where he learnt that trick from.” Alec said obviously, as he bounced her in his arms a bit.
Fiore couldn't stop the giggle slipping out of her mouth. Alec and Barry smiled at each other, seeing she was in higher spirits.
Alec then started walking up the stairs again, with Fiore in his arms with her head on his shoulder, and Phoenix in her arms and head on her shoulder, turning off the lights as he did so, seeing Barry still sitting up with his elbow on top of the couch as he watched them.
"Goodnight Barry." Alec said as he stopped walking up for a second.
"Night." He called, as Fiore gently raised her head.
"Night." She said.
“Nighty night princess.” He teased, as he flopped back onto the couch.
She stuck her tongue out at him as they kept going up the stairs.
As Alec was walking up the stairs, Fiore was trembling a good bit. She was glad she wasn't walking up herself, but still going up them was unnerving.
It was worse when she was looking over his shoulder at the stairs beneath them, as they continued creaking.
And it was even more worse when her eyes for some reason started moving down the stairs, despite her brain telling them to stop.
They did eventually stop, only when she saw something that made her eyes go wide.
In the wall at the bottom where the stairs curve, was a small hole which was surrounded by cracks and…more red splatters, just like on the stairs, but much worse looking.
And again, she knew exactly where it had come from.
Her trembling got worse as she buried her face into Alec's shoulder to avoid looking again, while her arms wrapped tighter around his neck and Phoenix's little body.
“meow.” Phoenix let out a small discomforting meow, and Fiore immediately loosen her grip in her arm holding him without looking up from Alec's shoulder at all.
Alec could feel her shaking a lot and her hugging his neck tightly as he walked up, but knew she would deny any issues...... he'd ask in the morning. They all needed sleep.
—
The door to the bedroom creaked open, as we see Alec standing just outside of it with Fiore in his arms, who had Phoenix in her arms.
As they entered her room, Alec placed the girl down next to him and turned on the light.
The light flickered on just like it had downstairs, when it stopped and fully lit up the room, Fiore looked around, seeing the plain wooden plank floor and the dull as hell pink wall paper.
"Oh my god, it looks exactly the fucking same.” Fiore scowled as she placed Phoenix on the floor.
“Is that a bad thing?” Alec asked, looking down at her worried.
“I…I-I don't know yet.” Fiore said, crossing her arms and looking at the floor. Alec placed a hand on top of her head, making her look up at him.
“If you're really not OK with this, you can sleep with me in the other room tonight.” He gently offered.
“...N-No, no thank you.” She quickly said, as she quickly made her way over to the bed. Leaving Alec looking even more confused and concerned.
What he didn't understand was that she hated that room even more than this one.
Fiore walked up to the side of the bed, and ran a hand over the spread with a blank expression.
She then looked down and saw Phoenix pawing at the side of the bed, basically saying he wanted to come up. So Fiore scooped him up and placed him on her bed, as he immediately started rolling on.
“Fiore, we talked about this. You sleep in your own bed, Phoenix sleeps in his.” Alec said, calmly but with a stern look.
“And, where is his bed?” Fiore asked, looking unimpressed.
“Uh…oh jeez, it's still downstairs in the bags, isn't it.” Alec groaned face planting.
“Yeah, so unless you want to go back downstairs to get it…” She said, trying to exaggerate her point.
“...Barry! Can you bring up Phoenix's bed!” Alec called down to him.
“Can't! I'm asleep!” He called back up.
“What! You're obviously not!
“Hey you heard him, he says he's asleep. It's rude to wake someone when they say they're asleep.” Fiore teased more, with a cheeky smirk.
“Oh for crying out…I'm not wasting my energy on this. He can sleep with you, but just for tonight. Especially if it will make you feel more comfortable.” Alec said, sounding mostly drained of energy.
Fiore smiled as she turned to look at Phoenix who was already curled up on the bed.
“He's already comfortable.” She smiled gently, as she gently ran her hand along his back.
“Alright, now get your pajamas on and I'll tuck you in. Where are they?” Alec asked, now realising she didn't have them.
“Also downstairs in one of the bags.”
“Oh my god, and so are mine.” Alec groaned, rubbing the sides of his head.
“I mean, you're the one who didn't want to unpack till tomorrow.” Fiore said teasing, him getting frustrated was getting kinda funny now.
“Fine then, we'll just sleep as is.” He said, gesturing to his regular clothes he was wearing.
“You want me to sleep in this Christmas jumper and skirt?” She asked, with a raised eyebrow, looking down at her outfit.
“I mean, it's comfortable right?” He asked.
“Well, yeah. But I don't want to ruin it before Christmas.” She said, looking down at her outfit with concern.
“It's alright, Christmas isn't for at least a week, we can wash and iron it before then.”
“Okay.”
“Do you want to tie up your hair so it doesn't look like a jungle in the morning?” Alec offered, refraining from chuckling at her unamused expression.
“Well you didn’t need to phrase it like that, but sure.”
“Do you have a hair tie?”
“Downstairs in the bags.” Fiore smirked, and nearly burst out giggling at seeing him gritting his teeth.
“Nah I'm kidding, I have one here.” She giggled, as she pulled a hair tie out of her skirt pocket.
Alec shook his head at her and rolled his eyes annoyed, as he took the hair tie out of her hand.
“Okay, you know the drill.” He said, pointing at the bed.
Fiore looked at the bed, placing a hand on it again. She looked hesitant, which Alec noticed.
After a few seconds she jumped up onto the bed, and sat crossed legged facing the head of the bed. Alec sat down on the edge of the bed behind her, he lifted her hair up and started tying it up.
Fiore just stared at the wall ahead while fiddling her thumbs and humming. She always felt calmness in these types of moments.
Unfortunately it didn't last long as Alec quickly finished tying her hair into a near perfect looking ponytail. He had been getting better at this.
“There you go. Now you ready for bed?” He asked, wanting to make sure she was.
She hesitated for a few seconds while still facing the head of the bed, but turned her head to look back at him and nodded with a blank expression.
He wasn't fully sure she was alright, but again knew she wouldn't admit anything. So then without warning, he scooped her up, holding her in his arms and got ready to place her under the covers.
“Wait!” Fiore said, as Alec stopped while still holding her up.
Was she finally going to admit what was upsetting her about this place?
Fiore lifted her legs up and kicked her sneakers off which fell on the wooden floor with loud smack sounds.
“Alright, now I'm ready.” She smiled sleepily.
“Oh.” Alec thought to himself. Was he supposed to be disappointed by that? He couldn't tell.
He pulled back the covers with one hand, making Phoenix quickly roll back onto his paws and back away to the end of the bed. He then placed her down on the bed then brought the covers back up and tucked it under her chin.
Phoenix then came back up, and curled up right on top of Fiore's stomach. Which made her giggle.
Well at least she looked comfortable.
“Alright, do you need anything before bed?” He asked, looking down at her.
She looked to be in though for a few seconds, before shaking her head.
It actually concerned him how silent she had been this whole time.
“Alright then, but if you need anything, I'm right down the hall.” He said, as he turned and made his way over to the door.
“I know.” She said quietly, watching him leave.
"Try and get some sleep, tomorrow's a big day." Alec added as he stopped at the door, but paused to look back at her.
"Yeah..... waking up to a freezing hell." Fiore sighed, but was surprised at Alec walking back over as he bent down to hug her.
"It's also your birthday." He chuckled.
"Oh.... yeah." Fiore laughed a little, too tired to think about it. "Night dad." She yawned.
"Goodnight sweetheart." Alec smiled gently, as he cupped her face in his hands and gently kissed her on the forehead, while brushing some hair out of her face.
Then seeing her eyes slowly close, he stood back up before leaving the room.
When the door gently clicked shut, Fiore opened one eye to make sure he left. She then looked down at Phoenix who was sleeping soundly on her stomach.
She then looked up at the ceiling with a blank expression, and she just stayed like that for a while.
—
It was about 2am, and Fiore had eventually managed to fall asleep. It seemed she had finally got herself comfortable in bed.
Phoenix had moved from her stomach, down to her feet after she had turned over in her sleep, much to his annoyance.
It was quiet and peaceful for a while, but then Fiore started fidgeting in her sleep and mumbling about something.
She rolled side to side looking uncomfortable. She then reached her hand out across the bed, like she was trying to find something.
Upon not finding anything there, a sour expression came onto her face as she kept mumbling.
“D…Do…Doll…?” She murmured in her sleep as her hand kept searching the bed.
“Dollie?”
Fiorella leaned down off the edge of her bed to look underneath it.
As she looked underneath from her upside-down view, she reached underneath the bed and pulled out her red haired doll.
“Found you!” She cheered with glee, as she then jumped off her bed.
She then started twirling and jumping all around her room with dollie in her hands, her dress skirt fluttering around her waist and her giant pigtails bobbing on top of her head.
“I love you…and I always will.” She said, hugging Dollie gently and kissing her forehead.
She smiled as she held her out in front of her. But her smile quickly vanished when
a dark hand suddenly grabbed dollie by the head and yanked her out of her hands.
The room suddenly went dark as Fiorella looked up and immediately fear appeared in her eyes, as there was an all black silhouette with red eyes standing there holding dollie by the head out in front of her.
“N-No…”
The dark silhouette stared right at her, then they suddenly grabbed dollie's torso with their other hand, and aggressively twisted her head and body in different directions.
“NO!” Fiorella screamed as tears started coming out of her eyes. She couldn't move her feet for some reason and she couldn't reach out to them.
…she was powerless…
The silhouette then gripped dollie extra tightly, and ripped her head clean off her body.
Tears streamed down Fiorella’s face, as stuffing floated downwards right in front of her face.
The dark silhouette then held up the head in one hand and the body in the other, and lit them both on fire with her bare hands as they burnt to ash instantly.
“...no.” Fiorella fell to her knees with her head down looking completely defeated, as the tear kept streaming down her face relentlessly, as every mussel in her body was trembling.
Then she heard the echoing of footsteps as she shakingly lifted her head, and saw the dark silhouette walking towards her now. Those red eyes glaring daggers right at her while clenching her fists.
Fiorella quietly stood back up trembling, and started backing away from the approaching figure.
She started breathing heavily as she looked into the figure's eyes. She then noticed the area went from a dimmed room to a dark void.
She was about to turn on her heels and run away, but before she knew it, a large flight of stairs appeared right behind her.
A very very VERY large flight of stairs…
She could feel her breath get caught in her throat as she struggled to breathe, as she looked down this seemingly endless twisted staircase.
She then looked back up at the dark figure now standing a foot away from her. Fiorella tried to move, but her feet were again frozen in place.
The figure then raised up her vice tight fist, aiming right at her.
“...no…please…” She pleated.
The figure pulled back, getting ready to hit her.
“...please…mommy.” She pleaded, sniffling a little.
The figure's eyes didn't change, yet they lowered and unclenched their fists.
Fiorella’s eyes went wide as her breathing stayed fast and heavy, as her whole body continued trembling. But a small smile started appearing on her face.
“POW!!!!”
In that instant, the figure had shot her foot straight up and kicked her right in her face, sending her falling backwards down the infinity stairs.
All she could do was watch the shrinking figure glaring down at her while she kept falling, tears basically flying out of her head.
“AAAAAH!!!” She screamed as she continued to fall.
Instead of falling down and hitting a straight flight of stairs, the stairs started curling, then spinning and then basically turned into a large spiral. So now she was just falling into a spiralling abyss.
She then looked at her pink dress which started to get ripped up and basically looked to be disintegrating as she continued falling, and her nose started bleeding too for no reason.
“MAKE IT STOP, PLEASE!!!” She screamed as she continued falling for what seemed for all of eternity, as tears and blood from her nose were flying behind her head from the speed of her falling.
“AAAAAH!!!” Fiore screamed, as she quickly sat up panting heavily while gripping her chest.
She looked around and saw she was still in bed in her old room and it was still the middle of the night.
“meow.”
Fiore looked down to see Phoenix had climbed onto her lap, and stood up onto his hind leg and braced his front paws against her stomach, as he looked up at her with a tilted head and those big ol eyes.
Fiore’s heavy breathing started to subside, and eventually managed to catch her breath as she scooped her kitty up and held him up to her face.
“I'm alright Phoenix. It…was just a nightmare.” She hesitantly said, as Phoenix gently licked the tip of her nose, making her smile a little.
She was about to lay back down, but she felt sick to her stomach thinking about what she'd see if she closed her eyes again.
She didn't even feel comfortable being in this bed anymore, just as she figured she would. But no, Barry had to be a stubborn ass.
She pulled the covers off and stepped out of bed with Phoenix in her arms, but she stumbled a bit as she did, because her feet touched the wooden floor sooner than she expected.
“Huh, weird.” She said, with a raised eyebrow looking down at the bed and floor.
But she just shrugged and ignored it, as she stepped away from the bed, and just stopped in the middle of the room.
Right now, she was just stuck standing in the middle of her old room in the middle of the night, with her kitty in her arms.
She breathed gently as she closed her eyes, trying to clear her head before moving.
“It’s just a dream. It’s not real…… like Barry said before…… dreams are internal fears, but not real.” Fiore gently said, looking around the dark, mostly empty room.
“FIORELLA!!!”
She felt herself choke on her air suddenly as her eyes shot opened, looking around frantically.
“Did you hear that?!” Fiore asked, looking at Phoenix who tilted his head in confusion.
“Meow.”
“Right…… it’s not real…… that cagna isn’t here.” Fiore said, breathing gently.
“Where are you, you little monster!”
She flinched at this, looking around frantically, seeing the walls around her slowly closing in.
She felt her breathing pick up….. What did Iris say to Barry when this would happen? Breath in and out…… and figure your issue and deal with it!
Her issue?...... She was being trapped by them…. Or the walls?…… she couldn’t be trapped again, she wasn’t helpless, nor was she with…… them!
“Nope. Not staying here.” She said, instantly opening the bedroom door and gently stepping into the hallway.
She wanted to breathe in gently at it not feeling as enclosing, but she right away ran towards the room Alec was in. Screw being subtle.
She ignored the tension creeping up her spin as she went to open the bedroom door but froze at hearing voices again.
“It's your fault we even have that little monster in the other room anyway!”
“Hey, I didn't want her! You're the one who had no self control and got your party animal ass wasted!”
Fiore backed up, shaking her head as she tried to ignore this, looking behind her.
She shook her head as she turned and ran towards the stairs, she had to get away from the voices. Just anywhere but be near them!
As she got to the top of the stairs, she looked down as she felt light headed suddenly.
It was reminding her of..... NO! She didn't want to think about that.
She felt herself breathing gently again as she shook her head, maybe Barry was right about her getting a dream journal.
"That does it you little bitch! Your really trying to test me aren't you?"
Her head jerked up, looking around as Phoenix looked up at her, his worried “Meow” came out silent to her as she looked back down at the stairs, seeing them spiraling and going on forever as her breathing picked up more as she tripped backwards, finally screaming loudly at everything happening, ringing in her ears being all she was hearing as everything went blurry in her vision.
“Fiore?!”
She paused at hearing the muffled voice as she looked up, seeing Barry kneeling beside her, concern on his face as she shook her head.
“W…… what?” She asked weakly, hating herself for it coming out like that.
“You screamed loudly and fell back….. I got worried.” He said she could hear Alec walking over quickly as she tried to get the fear out of her voice.
“I….. just didn’t want to sleep in that bed…… and I almost forgot about the stairs.” She lied, hugging Phoenix.
She missed the glances Barry and Alec gave each other as he suddenly picked her up, and Phoenix.
“Hey!”
“You can be downstairs with me. The princess wants it, she gets it.” Barry smirked as Fiore pouted at him.
Glancing at Alec, Barry gently nodded, talking without saying a word as he walked down the stairs, Alec waiting a few moments to make sure they got downstairs alright.
As he walked over to the couch, he glanced at Fiore who was trying to hide how the stairs scared her when he went down.
“Okay…. So why were you out of bed?” Barry asked as she looked at Phoenix, knowing he could tell when she lied.
"I.... had a nightmare." She said, looking away. His gaze still on her, but the concern look still there (even if he was mostly blank faced)
"Was it the-" He started to say before she cut him off.
"No. It was..... about my time here..... before season one....... …… can I please just be down here with you and Phoenix?” Fiore asked as Phoenix jumped out of her arms, and curled up into a ball on the arm rest of the couch.
He’d be sleeping on one of them soon enough anyway.
"Alright……. It’s like Halloween. Sure. You can, you can watch some of...... Dino thunder with me." Barry said as Fiore smiled weakly, lying down on top of him before blinking at the tv in confusion.
“I thought we needed to connect to the internet to watch tv?”
“It’s a DVD. Iris sent it to me. She said this season was an awesome one…. So I want to finish it before tomorrow.” Barry said as Fiore squinted at the screen
“It’s dinosaurs….. And japanese super heroes?”
“It’s actually from a super sentai…. From Japan so yeah.” Barry said as Fiore shook her head, watching the colored rangers fighting a monster.
As they were quietly watching as the White ranger episode started, Barry glanced down. At her as she was quietly watching.
"....Hey."
"Yeah?"
"Happy Birthday." Barry gently said as she smiled.
Of course he wouldn't forget.
"....Thank you."
"Anytime." He said.
As they kept watching, she suddenly laughed after yawning.
"I love the white ranger." She said, dozing off.
"Oh he's a badass."
“And he’s cute.” She said, falling asleep.
“Wait what was that?” Barry asked, looking back down at his sleeping sister, before chucking.
“Dollie was right about when the crush phase is obvious……. The fact I didn’t see this with them is frustrating to me now.”