Dante's House, Limbo City, Sunday

[spin_kick_snap]

Last night after finally exiting the tower, they had made their way back to Dante's place in Limbo City. Kathy had been half-tempted to get a portal back to the island, worried about Eliot, wanting to be home, but she'd been too sore and exhausted to do much more than look at her phone before letting it fall back to pocket.

At least her texts to Raven had gone through, even if she probably seemed like a madwomen in them.

Exhausted as she was, she didn't manage to sleep much past sunrise. Too many thoughts, too many memories, too many feelings crowding close to keep her asleep. She got up, limping a little unevenly downstairs, scrounging to see what kind of breakfast she could make from the remains in the kitchen.

The answer was apparently coffee, so she set that to perking and went to sit in front of the big window, staring out at the street, eyes blank and seeing very little.

[For them who are in Limbo City with her! SP for forever because BDE and also brain.]

Comments

[rebelseekspizza]

Dante frowned.

Then that frown deepened.

"You got a problem here, Kat?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Nope!" Kathy sat up straight, flashing him a v-sign. Partially because she knew he hated it. God, she was a mess. "Everything's peachy. Let's go back to talking about pig-cops and demon scabs, huh?"

[rebelseekspizza]

"Jesus fucking christ," Dante muttered.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Less prepared to talk about him," Kathy chirped, "but I'm ready to give it the old college try. Which is hilarious, considering I haven't given college the old college try, but one hurdle at a time, huh?"

[rebelseekspizza]

What the fuck was he supposed to do with that?

There was a brief silence.

Then:

"Do you want me to leave?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'll be leaving soon enough for both of us, won't I?" Kathy said quietly.

Because that's what she did. Even she was self-aware enough to know it.

[rebelseekspizza]

After yesterday, after the things she hadn't seen-- that comment was just over the edge of too much.

"Fuck you."

[spin_kick_snap]

Kathy's eyes snapped up to his, confused. She'd meant it more regretful, not--however he'd taken it. But rather than apologizing, she just raised an eyebrow.

"Okay then."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You made a choice," Dante said flatly. "Don't give me that."

It wasn't her he was angry at, either.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Pretty sure the last fucked-up twelve hours made that choice for me," she said, voice tight.

She wasn't sure if it was having Vergil bounce her off the edge of the tower or coming face to face with the dead body of her father or watching the alternate universe her blow her alternate universe dad's brains out, but one of those things had definitely made up her mind for her.

"And even if you wanna argue the point, I fucking owned that it was," she added.

[rebelseekspizza]

"Yeah?" Dante snapped. "You think it's gonna be better living in Fandom forever, hoping this semester's fucking shitpile is going to skip over you this time, eternally, until the day you die?"

[spin_kick_snap]

"Oh, so instead I should come here, where demons stalk the fucking streets, and I'm constantly reminded that I'm fucking useless?" Kathy snapped right back. "That I really am just a Saturday morning cartoon, hoping that this demon is gonna go down to a lightning bolt, some knives, and a couple of bullets! There's already another Kathy here, after all, and she's gotta use a fucking bazooka to make a difference. Are you gonna get me one of those so I can pick up bread and eggs at night, or should I just let you do all the heavy lifting while I hide in the house all the time, afraid to go out?!"

It felt...surprisingly cathartic to yell about this. Huh.

"You remember that other her, right? Considering you couldn't even tell us the fuck apart."

[rebelseekspizza]

"Hard to," Dante said. He didn't raise his voice any; it stuck tight to the same note. "I mean, you both got the same face and you both love walking away from me."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah well, I--"

Kathy bit that back. She might be angry and hurt and emotionally all over the place, but there were certain comments she wouldn't make. And Vergil wasn't a weapon she'd ever use against Dante, no matter what their disagreement was.

"Technically, I'm the one staying this time. You're the one walking away. But I'm sure it's easy to decide this is the better option when you don't have anything to be afraid of."

[rebelseekspizza]

"No, I just don't let fear stop me from making a single fucking decision in my life," Dante snarled. (It was a time to let it all out, wasn't it?) "You want me to spend the rest of my life like you're doing right now? Spinning in place 'cause at least you know you can survive whatever on Fandom? I know what I want. Anders knows what he wants. All you got is fear."

[spin_kick_snap]

"Actually, I have a life," Kathy said, tightly. Her knuckles were white, fists balled at her side. "I have a life I have painfully rebuilt one step at a fucking time. Yes, I am afraid. I'm afraid of a lot of things, but I'm still getting my shit together bit by bit. Sorry during all our talks, I hadn't picked up that you were judging me for it."

She stood, wanting to push past him and go but having literally nowhere she could go. The kitchen, maybe?

[rebelseekspizza]

And Dante wanted to snap back at her. He felt fucked up and in pain and he wasn't sure how to deal with it around her but she'd been swinging at him, and--

He had no punches left.

"I wasn't. I don't," he said, voice going quieter. "I just don't wanna lose you too."

[spin_kick_snap]

"But you nearly did," Kathy pointed out. She wasn't yelling anymore, either. If she yelled, she'd cry and she didn't want to cry right now. The tears were hovering too close for comfort anyway. "The only reason I survived getting thrown off the roof by your brother the first time is because Barry made me a grappling gun to use as Banzai."

She was alive now because of superheroing. The irony was palpable.

[rebelseekspizza]

"I'm sorry about all the shit that he pulled. I really am," Dante said quietly. "But you're right. You did just survive the absolute fucking worst Limbo City could throw at you. I didn't lose you today because you are a fucking badass."

It wasn't said as praise so much as it was a statement of a fact.

[spin_kick_snap]

"I'm not," Kathy said, shaking her head. "And I'm not--I'm not mad about Vergil. I mean, I'm furious at Vergil, but I'm not blaming you for what he did. Hell, he's, like, fourth on my radar of fucked up things that happened to me yesterday."

Though the sensation of hurtling through the empty air with nothing to catch her and exactly one chance to survive was going to linger.

She sank back down again, drawing her knees up to her forehead. "I'm not even supposed to be yelling at you. I'm supposed to be giving you space and understanding while you and Anders work through how you feel."

God, she was a shit girlfriend.

[rebelseekspizza]

"We're all not supposed to be doing a whole load of things," Dante said.

Watching her, again.

[spin_kick_snap]

She still didn't like it. She felt exposed and raw and anxious and, yes, afraid. She wasn't a badass, she was just a stupid, stupid girl feeling way too much about shit that didn't even concern her, grieving all over again for someone that hadn't even been hers to begin with.

"I don't know how to give you want you want."

[rebelseekspizza]

"You need safe, I get that," Dante said quietly.

[spin_kick_snap]

"Yeah," she said, dully. "Maybe I'm spinning in place, but sometimes knowing I can survive whatever on Fandom is all I've got. It's what gets me through the day."

[rebelseekspizza]

"It drives me insane," Dante said, just as dull. "Like it's wearing away on my fucking edges a little more every day and if I don't get out soon I'm gonna stop feeling a goddamn thing."