I'M BAAAACK! xD
After a loong hiatus (that my laptop forced me into) and a brand new computer later, I am back with my newest fanfiction! I hope you guys enjoy it. I just sat down and started typing and...this is what came out. I hope you enjoy. I'm really proud of this fic :3
A note before we start, this story follows a headcanon about Victoria that was birthed by Sunnjays over on tumblr. To sum it up, Victoria is an outcast in her family. She deals with their rejection, ridicule, and verbal abuse daily before shipping off to Blackwell. (My words does not do their headcanon justice. I strongly advise you check it out for yourself).
But without further adieu, I present to you Life is Strange: Redress
Disclaimer: I do NOT own Life is Strange or its characters.
Life is Strange
Redress
"Room 3324. Go down the hall and to the right. It's the first door on the left." The receptionist informed Victoria Chase. Victoria nodded and responded with a thank you and made her way to her destination.
She was the reason why Kate was stuck here. In this hospital. She had recorded the video, created the webpage, and put Kate on that rooftop. Nothing anyone said would make her think otherwise. They couldn't know the fear that Victoria felt. The relief she felt when she saw Max bring Kate down from the roof. It was enough to bring her to tears.
When she had heard that Kate was in the hospital, she wasted no time buying a card and writing to her. Thinking back, she could still feel the weight of the card in her hands. How hypocritical, right? She drove the poor girl to suicide and here she was writing 'I only want to see your smile again' on a fucking postcard.
Pathetic.
She was entranced by the clicking of her heels on the marble floor. The door itself was, for all intents and purposes, a normal door. Grey and devoid of any personality. The only thing setting it apart was the numbers '3324' on eye level of the door. Victoria knocked lightly. Her heart dropped at how fast the door swung open to reveal Kate Marsh. Dressed in a white T-shirt and shorts that came to the top of her knee cap. She seemed surprised by Victoria standing there for a moment, before her lips curved into a smile.
"Hello Victoria." Kate spoke in a cheery voice. Victoria was almost sure that she was never gonna here the vitality in her voice ever again. And to have it presented at her? Victoria choked on her words- her mouth opened and closed without a word passing between.
"H-hey. Kate." She felt naked. Her mouth suddenly became dry and her palms were slick with a light sweat. Victoria doesn't do awkward, yet here she was. She could feel her nervousness creep up her neck and pondered if this was a bad idea. It was too late to turn around, however. "Um, I bought you flowers, but uh," Victoria shifted where she stood. She discretely wiped her hands against her skirt. "I forgot them... at my dorm." Truth be told, she was so busy reciting what she would say, she stormed out of her room without them. She didn't realize it until it was too late.
"Oh." Victoria looked everywhere except at Kate. She could feel her eyes bore into the side of her head, but even then Victoria refused to make eye contact. Kate's giggle broke the silence and her stupor. "You want to come in and have a seat?"
"Um...su-sure." Kate moved to the side and motioned for her to come in. Victoria slowly stepped into the room and was taken by the pleasant scent of fresh flowers. A far cry from the putrid, sterile, scent that filled the hallways just outside the room.
Kate stepped past her and took a seat on the other side of the room next to a closed drawing pad. She placed her hands on her lap and gestured to the chair on the other side of the coffee table. Victoria cautiously journeyed to the seat from her corner of the room. She acted as if the chair would jump at her if she wasn't careful. Her hands balled into a fist on her black leggings once she took the seat. A silence permeated the air between them once again.
"So, how have you been?" Kate began with small talk.
"Um." Victoria's mind was clouded with a million things, yet nothing to say. She finally managed to croak out "Good." She exhaled a breathe she didn't know she was holding in. "Everyone's alright." She paused. She flicked her eyes towards Kate for a split second before focusing back on her black leggings. "Everyone is still in shock about...y'know..." Victoria trailed off.
"Oh." Was all Kate said. "Well, I hope everyone knows that I don't blame them."
"Because you blame me, right?" Victoria didn't have time to stop the words from coming out.
"I don't blame you, Victoria." Kate said calmly, and opened her drawing pad. "At least, not anymore."
"Why not?"
Kate looked to Victoria. She was there with her, but seemed so far away. She could tell that Victoria was wrestling with...something in her head. Kate got a good look at the woman before her. Victoria Chase. The short haired blonde that was always dressed in the latest fashion. For all the bravado she had at school, she was bare here. She wasn't the Queen of Blackwell Academy. She was just a teenage girl.
Kate's vision drifted to Victoria's hands and the story they weaved. Her right hand was balled into a tight fist, grabbing into the grey fabric of her designer skirt. Her left hand held onto the right, sheltering it from the outside world. Its attempts to hide Victoria's emotions were flawed as Kate could read it like a book. Victoria was nervous. No; she was afraid.
Of what, Kate could hazard a guess. She had came here to make amends. Whether of her own accord or not, Kate could not tell. But she knew the fear of having your heart open to the world. How fragile you feel. It's much easier to keeping anyone and everyone away, than to let someone in and give them the chance to hurt you. Victoria had friends. Obviously. But how close to her were those friends? Did Victoria share her deepest fears with them? What made her uncomfortable? Guilty pleasures? Was she always putting on masks to keep up appearance? And when those false airs put someones life at risk, how hard did her walls fall?
Kate stood from her chair and stepped in front of the now reclusive blonde. She lowered herself to her knees and attempted to look into her brown eyes, but they eluded her hazel pupils.
"Victoria," Kate placed a hand over Victoria's. She used her other hand to cradle Victoria's chin and tilted her head up until they were making eye contact. She held her gaze for a slow second. Her smile and cheery disposition became replaced by worry and concern. The way she peered at Victoria was alike a concerned mother. "Are you okay?"
Startled by her question, Victoria became wide eyed. She wasn't the one with a viral video on the internet that would never disappear. She wasn't the one that was bullied into trying to end her life. And she wasn't the one that was in the hospital. So why did she feel completely...exposed, looking into Kate's eyes? Why did she feel like she had been walking threw a haze and now, for the first time in her life, felt as if it was dissipating?
Without warning, tears fell from her eyes. She couldn't hold it back anymore. She covered her face with her hands as the sobs rocked her. She tried to breath slowly, but her breathes hitched and did nothing to help. She didn't say anything. Memories of her laughing about Kate being a slut, and how she enjoyed what she did, came to her. Writing the link to the video on the mirror, every word uttered behind closed doors, it all surfaced. Each horrific thought pushed Victoria further into hysteria.
And now this woman, this...angel of a woman, was holding her. She was being cradled, whispers of forgiveness and assurance filled the gaps between her whimpers. Victoria came here to apologize and redress. And yet here she was, sobbing and talking so fast that she wasn't even sure if she was coherent. It didn't matter. She didn't care. She told Kate everything, all restraints gone. Her insecurities, her stress- she told her how she was a failure in the eyes of her parents. How she missed her real mom. How she can't be herself for fear of ridicule, and how she would give anything to be happy for once. For Kate to be happy.
She just wanted the world to stop hating her. She wanted to look in the mirror and not be disgusted with her reflection.
The more she spoke, the more selfish she thought she sounded. She was dumping everything that she bottled up onto Kate. The last person that she would've thought that cared.
After what seemed to be an eternity, she began to calm down. The tears stopped their assault on Kate's shirt. Now, the only thing that rocked her was her own post- frenzied hiccups. But even when she had stopped crying, Kate didn't relent.
"It's okay." She whispered.
"I'm okay." She rubbed Victoria's back.
"You will be okay." Victoria smiled against her chest.
"Why?" Victoria asked, her voice straining under the stress from her waterworks. "I've been so awful to you. Why don't you hate me?"
She heard and felt Kate giggle. "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Kate pulled away from Victoria just enough so she could look her in the eyes. With a warm smile, and tears in her own eyes, Kate explained. "You can be not nice sometimes-"
"You mean a total bitch?" Victoria interrupted with a chuckle and wiped her eyes. Her mascara was probably running and making her look a mess. Scratch that- it was definitely running and she was a mess.
Kate stirred uncomfortably at the swear. "Your words, not mine. But that doesn't mean you're not worth forgiveness. Everyone stumbles." Kate pulled Victoria back into a hug. "You being here means that you want to be better. And that's enough for me." She paused and let go of Victoria once more. She leaned back and winked at her. "...under one condition."
"Name it." Victoria said, not even trying to help the smile growing across her lips. She felt as if a world of weight and stress was just lifted.
"Once I start going back to school, you must partake in weekly tea parties with Max and I. That way you can be with people that you don't have to put on airs for." Kate beamed, a sight Victoria felt elated to see. "Besides, I'm sure Max wouldn't object to another friendly face."
Victoria nodded. Tea time with Kate and Max sounded...nice. Tea parties was one of the many things she had given up in the pursuit of being 'mature'. It was juvenile and only kids had tea parties. But knowing that Kate and Max both partook in in it, she didn't know how to describe it. Relieving? Comforting? She didn't know the right word for it. She just knew that it meant that she wasn't alone anymore.
"Deal." She replied easily.
THE END
I hope you guys enjoyed that just as much as I enjoyed writing it. I apologize for the shortness of this story, compared to some of my other ones. This is more or less my way of shaking off some cobwebs that formed over my hiatus. Hopefully I'll be back up to tip-top shape by the time my next story rolls around. Take care!
A Favorite and Comment are always welcomed :3