spin_kick_snap | Dante's House, Limbo City, Sunday

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.]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

spin_kick_snap

"But it wasn't really mine." That's what she was trying to tell herself anyway. "He wasn't my dad. He was hers. That was all just..." More handwaving. "Transference. Putting my shit on top of the shit already going on."

Didn't stop those shots from echoing in her memory all night long, or the noise his body had made when it hit the ground, or the feeling of unreality when she'd stumbled across his body for the first time, but maybe if she hammered on the This wasn't about you button hard enough, she'd stop feeling like she'd watched her own father get killed.

That she had any right to a measure of Lady's grief.

From:

rebelseekspizza

"He wasn't your dad," Dante agreed. "Your dad was just a garden variety dickhead who got killed by some bullshit. And I don't know what Lady's deal is other than this, but she ain't you."

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy's gaze flicked back over to him and swallowed the comment on her tongue. Uneasy truce, dammit.

"Yeah," she said. "I know. Just some parts of that are easier to make stick in my brain than others. He died wearing my dad's face. And the girl wearing mine killed him. If I wrote it up, Dr. Lecter would tell me to be a little more subtle with my Freudian imagery."

From:

rebelseekspizza

Dante shrugged. "I know," he said. "Just all I can do is point that out, okay?"

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy bit her lip and let her forehead fall against the glass. "Okay."

From:

rebelseekspizza

"And I don't actually think you're anything like her," he said slowly. "That shit yesterday... my head was kinda upside down."

From:

spin_kick_snap

That was fair. More than fair. Kathy blinked at him and rearranged her thoughts about it.

"I...I know that," Kathy said. Or, rather, she should have. "My head was, too. And it just took me by surprise."

Beat.

"It hurt. To have you confuse me with anyone. But especially--"

The mirror reflection of her. Things Kathy wished she was, things Kathy was afraid to be, things Kathy couldn't ever accept.

"But I should have known."

From:

rebelseekspizza

"There's only one Kathy Li on this planet," Dante said, shrugging lightly. "For me anyway. Sorry I made you feel otherwise for even a second."

From:

spin_kick_snap

That made Kathy's heart thump and she let go of some of her defensiveness. She reached out to lace her fingers with his for just a moment.

"Thank you," she said softly. "It means a lot hear. Shouldn't, I know. But does."

From:

rebelseekspizza

"Can you take a compliment without beating yourself up just this once?" Dante teased gently, squeezing her fingers before she could pull them back.

From:

spin_kick_snap

"I'm working on accepting compliments," Kathy said with a small laugh. "It's apologies I'm still pretty shit with."

From:

rebelseekspizza

"Will you take a kiss, at least?" Dante asked.

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy took a moment to think and then smiled, a little shyly, and nodded. "I'd like a kiss, yeah," she admitted and leaned in.

From:

rebelseekspizza

Dante kissed her, gentle and slow.

They were on tentative ground. It was needed.

From:

spin_kick_snap

Gentle and slow was the only thing she could handle right now. She kept her mouth closed, lips soft.

From:

rebelseekspizza

Dante cupped her cheek.

When he broke the kiss, it was only to press his forehead to hers.

From:

spin_kick_snap

Dammit. Of all things, that was what nearly set her crying. "I love you," she murmured. "And I'm sorry."

For the whole stupid fucking morning.

"Are..." she faltered, knowing he hated the question. "You okay?"

From:

rebelseekspizza

Dante thought about his inability to keep a brave face around Anders earlier and sighed.

"Vergil took a plunge into hell," he murmured, "I tried to catch him. He cut my hand."

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy hadn't actually expected an answer. At least, not a blow-off one. Her surprise registered on her face for a second before it was replaced by sympathy and concern. "You offered him another chance, didn't you?" she said softly.

She wasn't even sure what number this was anymore. But she knew that Dante would have offered it.

It was why she loved him.

From:

rebelseekspizza

"He didn't need to do it," Dante said. "Fucker."

From:

spin_kick_snap

Kathy opened her mouth to offer an opinion on why Vergil had done it, what he might have been thinking - and then shut it again. She didn't know and Dante didn't need her half-cocked ideas.

"I'm just glad you came back," she said, wrapping her arms around him. "I wish you could have brought him with you, but I'm just glad you came back to us."

From:

rebelseekspizza

"Always gonna come back to you," Dante said softly, wrapping his arms around her waist in turn. "I belong here."

From:

spin_kick_snap

She wanted him to make that a promise. But no one, not even a Nephilim, could promise that safely. So instead, she made a promise of her own, one she could hold to. "And I belong here," she said, indicating the circle of his arms. "And nothing, not fear, or anger, or hurt, is gonna keep me away from here for long."