"Heehee~!" Alice giggled randomly, and Matthew looked up from his book to look at her oddly.
"What's so funny, eh?"
"I was just remembering something someone said, that's all," she replied with a smile. It was quiet in the dorm, especially now that Zip had stopped barking at Alice whenever she so much as moved.
Speaking of whom...
"Alice, where is Zip? I haven't seen him all day." He used his finger to mark his spot in the book and straightened his posture when he asked this.
Alice thought quickly without letting her hesitation show. "He's with Finland, playing with Hanatamago. You know how well they get along."
"Heh, yeah, that's true." Matthew relaxed, although he was curious as to why he had gotten so on edge when he asked her that. It was true that something didn't seem right, but maybe he was just being paranoid. After all, a lot of things happened at Martin's house, so he couldn't blame her for acting a little more different than what was usual for her...
'But then... Everyone else seems to have noticed it as well.' He thought hard, trying to recall any times where she was completely unlike herself. There was that instance where someone, not to name names -Alfred-, forgot to recycle right in front of her and she didn't even notice.
Then the time where she was groped by someone else, also not naming names -South Korea-, and she didn't hit him for it.
And the same thing happened with a certain Frenchie...
Also, she didn't want to make pasta with Italy or discuss the newest songs Japan had come up with. Zip hated her presence, and Ko wasn't around either, although Matthew knew she was with Kumajirou.
Her eating habits had changed, too. Completely watching what she ate, she didn't take any meat or grain from the cafeteria buffet.
'Wow, she really must be out of it to not be acting the way she used to... I think...' Matthew furrowed his brows and glanced down at his book (a romaction one) before looking back at Alice. She was on her laptop, surfing the web for who knows what.
He didn't really want to try it, not after the incident two nights ago...
"Mattie, it's getting late. Maybe we should go to bed now, hmmm~?"
"Yeah, I suppose you're right." I got into bed and said good night before turning out the light, and then she was on top of me, kissing me strongly and hungrily. I pulled back and looked at her in surprise, but it was hard to make her out in the darkness. "What was that for?"
"What, you don't like it when I kiss you?" she asked me with an innocent tone.
"You know that's not true, but why did you just... attack me? That was weird, eh?"
"How is it weird for a woman to want to passionately kiss the man she loves?" Alice's hand was on my leg as I sat in bed, and it started moving up. "I don't think that's so weird."
"Alice, c-could you cut it out, please?" I asked.
"Matthew, Mattie, please~" she cooed. "Do what you want with me~"
"Alright, that's enough," I said strongly, surprised at the authority my voice suddenly held. I had stood up and broken out of her grip. "Alice, I know a lot happened at Martin's house and that you went through way too much in one night, but don't be like this."
"But, Mattie, I-!"
"No, I'm serious. Talk to me, don't come on to me." I looked around, grabbed my flag-printed pillow as well as Kumajirou and Ko, and went to the door. "I'll go sleep elsewhere, you can have the room for tonight. It's weird they even let us share a room now that your secret is out..."
The door closed and I listened for what she would do next. I heard her get off of my bed, walk over to hers, and lie down. Two minutes later, I was situated on the floor in France and Spain's room, thinking hard about what had just happened.
'Yeah, do I really want to kiss her after that?' Matthew wondered. 'I still can't believe I came back to the room already...'
"Alice?" he began, keeping his hesitation out of his voice.
"Yeah~?" she replied.
"Ab... Aboot the other night, I-"
"Let me stop you right there, Mattie," she said quickly while holding up a hand. "I want to apologize, I have no idea what came over me. Seriously, that was weird and I'm sorry."
Internally, Matthew was sighing with utter relief. Externally, he smiled. "Apology accepted. I think it's too soon for anything like... like that. After all, we only have been dating since Valentine's Day."
Valentine's Day made me think of that night, and thinking of that night made me remember the necklace I gave her (as well as the fire, but we'll get to that eventually). I looked around her neck to see if she was wearing it, seeing as how she never took it off, and I was a little surprised to see that she wasn't wearing it at the moment.
"Alice, where's your necklace?"
"Oh, the clasp broke so I sent it in to get repaired," she answered right off the bat.
"And the scrimshaws? Those are still okay, right?" Those were hundreds of years old and still in amazing condition, so they had to be special. And the rings were from their "wedding"... The memory still made him blush, just a bit.
"Uh, yeah, 'course they are," she said while opening a new tab and using Google to find the meaning of the word "scrimshaw". 'What the hell are those?' Alice thought to herself as the page loaded. 'Oh, they're carved trinkets made out of whale bone. Weird...'
~~~
I ran my thumb across the smooth, lined surface of the phoenix at my throat. It always seemed to calm me down when I touched it, like it was a talisman meant to bring the wearer peace.
'Well, maybe it is. Kadi did get mad at Cade and Alphonse for making them out of her 'special' whale bones, after all...' I chuckled at the memories that flooded my mind: the blue sky, the fresh and salty sea air, the ships' rocking decks, the hammock I slept in on Rayn's own pirate vessel, Sunshyn's big and wet tongue slobbering all over my hand...
"Yeesh, someone looks nostalgic," Jasper's voice invaded my stroll down Memory Lane. I jumped and turned around quickly, one hand resting on the porch rail like it was a tether to the real world.
"So? What's it to you?" I shot back, hardly missing a beat.
"Retract the claws, Kitty, I don't especially care," he replied while taking a drag from his cigarette. He leaned his elbows against the rail and stared out at the setting sun.
"Don't call me 'Kitty' and there won't be any need to bring out the claws," was my retort. I began to walk away, my mood shattered already just by his appearance, but he said something that made me stop in my tracks.
"Just wait, I might have some information you'll like to hear," he said without turning around. If I had been a cat, my ears would have twitched back to point more in his direction.
"What are you talking about?" I asked hesitantly. I refused to face him, my fists were clenched at my sides.
His chuckle made the air chillier than it had been a moment ago. "As it turns out, Oliver and the others have been watching you at the school for quite some time now. The fire that consumed the dorms last February, do you remember that?"
