fandomtownies | Outside the Ruins of Pizza Planet, Sunday Morning

As soon as Kathy had bounced--literally--out of bed this morning, she'd known what she had to do. It had been almost forever since she'd had a chance to greet the morning with a run and this opportunity was too good to pass up. Bounding down her warehouse, she'd dashed off towards town, practically daring any hollows to try for her now. She could outrun damn near any of them; her days of being hobbled were over.

Her mad dash paused when she passed Pizza Planet and saw the familiar thatch of brown hair. It had been years since it was that color--or that style, oh god--but once she'd known it better than almost any other, save for blond waves pulled back in a haphazard tail. "Dante," she greeted, wary once more. "You're just going to make yourself upset, you know."

Dante froze up for five seconds - yeah, upset was right. "Eh," he said, "I was just hoping there'd be something."

"The experienced scavengers were all over this place a day or two ago," she said with a shrug, including herself in that number. "We know to strike fast after a Fandom-merge. Something might have crossed over and if we wait too long, it'll be gone."

There was a long pause.

"This kind of thing happens a lot?"

That wasn't terrifying at all.

"More than once, definitely," Kathy said, scrunching up her face. "I think I can remember at least four different other Fandoms? I'm not sure. It's hard to say and things blur together."

"Great," Dante said, wincing. "That's just fantastic."

"It's why I didn't get my hopes up yesterday when you all went out to fight things," Kathy admitted.

"It was kind of a crapshoot anyway," Dante said, glancing away from her. It was better that way. "Guess it worked... a little."

Too bad he didn't have a mask to hide behind. Might make the whole 'looking at her' thing easier.

"We'll see," Kathy said, still not willing to hope this was anything more than a temporary improvement. And then she gave a bitter laugh. "Looks like some things run true no matter what."

Dante's head came back up abruptly. "... Like what?"

"You're deliberately avoiding looking at me," she said. "For one."

"Yeah, well, the last time I saw our you, you bailed on all of us and got killed for it," Dante said, lifting his head up.

This one hadn't quite lost his confrontational edge yet. "So I'm sorry if it's hard, all right?"

Kathy bit back her instinctive And the last time I saw you... Mostly because 'You walked away from me after our first moment of connection in years' didn't really hold up.

"Yeah, well, in this world you left me," she snapped instead. "Both of you did. And for just as bullshit reasons."

"Like what?" Dante said, staring at her. "And both-- you mean Anders?"

She skipped right over his first question in favor of his second. "Yeah, I mean Anders. I guess some relationships just don't survive high school."

Or some kind of weird, evil twisting of reality. Or trips home that ended with vengeful spirits in people's heads. Or crushing accidents that left people broken and bitter and inclined to push people away.

Dante winced.

"That's not right," he said.

This time Kathy looked away, trying to keep her hurt off of her face. "It's reality, though," she said.

Reality sucked.

"How?" Dante asked. "I mean, you guys were totally fucking in love in high school. And now you're living around here together. It's just--"

Beat.

"Not right, yeah."

"People change," Kathy said and gave a bitter laugh that was closer to a sob than she liked. "You wouldn't believe how much people can change."

Especially with some outside help.

But even knowing all the circumstances, it still hurt. Hurt enough that she couldn't hide it all from Dante, even though she tried.

Dante rubbed the back of his neck. Well, fuck, now he felt awkward.

"You want a hug or something?"

And there was more of that laughter, the laughter that was sharp and brittle as glass. It wasn't a sound he'd ever heard the other Kathy make. "Do you really want to give me one?" she challenged. "What part of you isn't resenting her for fucking off and dying is resenting me for not being her."

Dante pulled a face. "Of course I want to give you one," he snapped. "You're hurt."

That stopped the laughter, replacing it with a look of surprise. "I--"

What was with all these people and their obsession with hugs?

She swallowed hard. Looked away. And quietly mumbled, "Okay."

Hey, now. Dante wasn't usually the hugs guy. Not at all.

But reality had gotten too shitty for him to ignore the urge. (He'd blame Alluka if asked.)

He sighed, taking a couple of steps closer. "C'mon," he said, and reached to draw her in.

"Okay,"Kathy said again. "Okay." She stumbled the last few steps, not because of her legs but because of the emotions she was struggling with. And then she was in his arms and hers were wrapping around him and--

It wasn't the same. But it was close.

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