Contains little spoilers for ep 7, but juts like... real tiny ones.
The power of a voice.
The first time he doesn't notice. She's just another empty shell of a child; bullied, alone and so pale. Her voice is almost transparent, almost invisible. Every sound she produces is mostly colorless, and he finds her a sad reflection of the way things were.
Lisa reminds him of them, a little bit. They had been vacant, colorless dolls; used to their maximum, stretched until they lost all shape. She is almost a lost cause.
Almost.
"I…" the next time he starts seeing little bolts of light "I want to live!" even over the phone her voice forms a vague shape before his eyes. And she jumps to him, fearless.
He decides he wants to hear more.
-x-
It becomes a pass time. To find her at different cafes (she seems to be running from something; he wonders what, he thinks maybe she would tell him if he asked, but then he has to stop himself (don't get too involved)), to sit at her table and do his best to make her flustered, to juice every sound out of her. Sighs, muffled screams, mumbled questions, terrified whispers; all of them shade a new bolt of a color he can't yet point, but it's there. And it's intriguing.
All the fake threats Twelve throws at her, all the fake smiles; but only one sincere thought.
How brave could she become?
-x-
"Leave me alone! It's not like I have anywhere to go home to. I thought I could be taken somewhere out of this world, but I was stupid. I was so stupid."
And it's there, in a dark park in a city full of white noise that he can finally see. Lisa is daylight in his mind. She's sunshine warming his skin; she's feathers tickling his neck (he is the one who can take her away; he is the only one). She wraps her arms around him while Twelve feels her shaking, and he wonders almost out loud, how can someone who seems so fragile and pale have such a color?
How did he not see before?
"Are you going to destroy it? This whole world?"
He has to laugh at her. She has no idea about who he is, what he's doing, why he's doing it. But she jumps into his arms again and again, and it's then he answers his own questions. He didn't see her before because she is the one who chooses when to show her true voice.
She laughs and it's the most beautiful vision.
Twelve feels the need to make her speak more. Every day; for as long as he can.
(he's already too involved)
-x-
Lisa wakes up in a world she doesn't recognize. Where the floors are dusty and the windows are permanently shut. She's hazy with fever and adrenaline. She's not at that house that was never home; her mother is not around anymore. And despite everything, the feeling of happiness that fills her is infinite. She feels her body float like a sack of feathers.
"You know, you should rest. You still have a fever right? Don't try too hard"
She wonders how much of what this boy (what was his name? she feels odd calling him Hisami) says is true. She goes to sleep and all she can see is Twelve's face as he smiles at her, silently stating that he can take her away, but that it's her choice. And of course she runs in his direction. Lisa doesn't have time to think about it as he takes them through traffic (she should know better; because he has destroyed entire buildings and he could probably breathe fire too, if he wanted (he's not the knight that saves her, but the dragon that's gonna keep her captive)), but as she dreams she tries to figure out the meaning behind his smiles.
It's scary how this one boy that smells of chocolate and nitroglycerin becomes the center of all she knows. And she feels herself growing fond.
-x-
Lisa feels a hand on her forehead. Her eyelids are too heavy to open, but the sounds make sense in her dreamless mind.
"She needs to go. We can't risk having her here"
"Yeah… But she still has a fever. I think-" there's a pause. The hand on her forehead stills for a second "She said she doesn't have a home to go back to"
"That's not our problem"
She remembers when she was a child and her father was still around. His face is blurry, but his scent still lingers in her memory (tobacco, coffee, sweet mint). She had found a lost, wounded cat. But the words from him had been the same (not our problem). She was forced to turn her back, and reassure herself the cat would make it on its own.
But she's not a cat. And after being accepted (does he accept her?) she feels she's not able to be alone again.
"As soon as her fever goes down, she leaves" it's like a death sentence. Someone leaves the room, but Twelve's hand stays.
Lisa drifts back to sleep thinking that he's stealing her heart; that it's not fair and that she wants to stay with him. With them. She is Alice, blindingly following a white rabbit down a hole that's probably much darker that she could ever understand, and yet it's better than not following at all.
-x-
Her fever goes down and Nine doesn't make him drive her back to her house. Twelve knows it's because he's too busy worrying about Five and their little chess game, but he hopes.
They start a routine in which she keeps silent most of the time, probably too scared that if she says the wrong thing the bully in glasses will kick her out. Twelve is annoyed. He wants her to speak up and sing and laugh. Instead she tries to cook and even though her food is always burnt he eats whatever he can without making an effort. He smiles at her, much more sincerely than the few first times.
"Don't get too involved" Nine reminds him every time they're alone. And every time he answers he won't, even if he knows he's lying (he has never lied to Nine before).
What is 'too involved' anyway? Lisa sleeps on his bed while he reluctantly crawls into the sofa. He wouldn't mind sleeping beside her but Nine gives him a crude stare. She bathes and dries herself with their towels; she even smiles back, sometimes. Isn't this already being involved? What is he supposed to avoid? He was never good with human emotions.
Eventually she accepts his little conversations (just another effort to hear her voice and feel the feathers down his spine), and he slowly unfolds little Lisa. She lived with her mom, her father left them when she was five, her favorite food is crepes and her favorite book is about poetry. He thinks she's pretty simple, to the point of being endearing.
When she asks about him he has to lie.
"I looove gelato!" or "Dogs are pretty cute I guess". It always makes her smile so it's ok, he supposes. Food doesn't really have any taste and he couldn't care less about the animals they made him dissect when he was six. But he can't tell her that.
-x-
Something moves him to bare part of himself before her. It could be her clear eyes, or the fact that she's earned his trust by having pointless little chats. It doesn't matter.
"It's a pale yellow"
Twelve can't express the color of her voice in words. Because it's not just what he sees, it's also what he feels and what he perceives in her. She's become a unique lightness that settles in his chest, but when he tries to explain further he hesitates.
Don't get too involved.
He's never known where to draw the line.
-x-
Twelve remembers Nine casually telling him to sacrifice his queen. He had understood then, and still understands now, but after nearly losing her, he gets a better view of his emotions. She is not his queen. She is not to be part of this game board they keep playing. She's not a sacrifice.
Lisa curls into a ball and shuts herself, Nine climbs to his bed and does pretty much the same, and Twelve is left with a choice. He walks to where she's hugging her knees.
Maybe he should have never gotten involved after all. Better judgment told him it would only hurt more when he loses her (because he is going to lose her, one way or another; what they have (he, and Nine, and this feather girl) will not last forever). He can still go back, but instead he drops unceremoniously beside her, and crosses an arm around her shaking shoulders.
"You did well, Lisa" he notices she's trying not to weep "We won't ask you to do it again. They've probably seen you anyways. Guess you really are one of us now."
The look she gives him seems torn between hurt, fear and gratefulness, and again he is struck by the softness of her color.
"I'm sorry…" he moves hair from her eyes, and he knows his stare is too intense when she starts moving backwards, but he doesn't want her to push him away. He wants no engulf himself in her sound (and it's not her fault, if anything it's theirs for putting her in danger when she has no idea why they do what they do).
Twelve wonders how much more her pale yellow could change.
With the arm that hugs her (a little bit too tightly, maybe) he moves her forward and he rests her forehead on his. She's closed her eyes at some point, and he feels a thug at his pride because she's too small, yet she has such a strong grasp on him. He kisses her out of instinct, hears her voice get caught at her throat and feels soft tickles in every inch of his skin.
When he lets go of her face, she hides behind hair and arms, and he laughs. Lisa makes him laugh at the most ridiculous things.
Twelve doesn't push (he can see her neck is all red), but doesn't leave her side either. They share a comfortable silence in which he can feel his bloodstream go a little bit faster. After a while, Lisa turns her head to the closed windows, frees her arm from around her knees and holds his hand.
Don't get too involved.
It's all him. He could have let her get caught by the police back at the park, and she'd be at home by now, and he would have missed her bolts of yellow, their conversations. Her laugh.
He rests his head on hers and drifts to a false state of sleep. Twelve ignores the alarms in his head, and the chess board that lies at the coffee table, with his queen still in the game.
man i had the weirdest musical inspiration but(t) ok there it is i hope you enjoyed twelve and lisa are so precious i have to... protect them at all costs...
and i rEALY hope you didn't find them out of character? bc tweleve is a tricky mofo so i wasn't very sure buT ANYWAYS thay you for reading!