Okay, time for cute after that downward spiral that was the last two chapters lol. Sorry about the pause yesterday x'D I took a slight writing break to go back and re-read and clean up the first 5 chapters. with writing this fast I'm admittedly not really doing any proofreading which is not a great thing to do but it helps me keep a rhythm with writing while letting me take breaks after I forget what I wrote to look at it again with fresh eyes. there were a couple of sentences reading it back where I was like 'Oh lordy did I have an aneurysm or something, what is that actually supposed to say.' so if you see any sentences like that, know I will eventually fix them. hopefully. OH! and just a heads up this is another wishy-washy chapter. it starts with a few things from April that I didn't include because it didn't fit with the mood of the chapter after that, it will head into May.
Song Suggestion: Save Me by Bruno Martini, Avian Grays, TRIXL, Mayra
Disclaimer I own nothing. Hopefully, by now, that's not a surprise. CapCom please don't sue. k thanks.
Time Seemed to Crawl by slowly after the Funeral. Chris picked up his roughly 4 months worth of mail from the main office and found out that Summer had been leaving him a collection of drawing which the Postman would pick up and bring with him back to the office when dropping off everyone else's mail. she was figuring out spelling it seemed as her S was no longer backwards. The only other event of note from the month prior happened shortly after receiving a notification on his phone.
[Security system: Attention required - low memory]
Right. he had to clean that out... how long had that been?
he opened the folder labeled Priority Clips that saved smaller sections of footage based on movement proximity to the camera and started skimming through that to make sure he didn't miss anything important while he was gone. Mailman. summer. Mailman. mailman. summer. Pizza guy that went to the wrong door. Mailman. Yeah, this was taking too long. he clicked back to the folder and set it to thumbnail so he could get an even more condensed overview. as he scrolled down it mostly seemed the same. Lots of the mailman. he kinda had to show up every day. the camera occasionally picked up a neighbor walking to the shared laundry room on the floor and other than that it was the tiny tot setting off the device. April, March, February, Janua- he paused as an unexpected face was added to the list of visitors.
January 1st, 9:58 pm
"Fuckin hell, that's what he meant..." Chris says as he sees a clip with Tanner in the thumbnail. morbid curiosity got better of him as he opens the file to watch it and confirm his suspicion. He did forget something that day. He forgot to close his door. The clip shows a worry-faced tanner approaching Emma's door before it was replaced with an expression of confusion. It showed him walk over to the open door and stare with a frown before reaching into quietly close it and walk away, running his hands through his hair in frustration, and head out of the building once more.
That was why he accused him so adamantly back in the burning lab... that. very well could be why he refused Chris's help... So. Do I tell her about all this and make her feel worse, ooor, take this all to my grave.
Delete.
a loading bar showed up and slowly eeked across the screen... 5%...20%...45%...72%...89%...DING
[Storage availability 1TB/1TB]
To the grave. He already had plenty of secrets that were getting buried with him, so what was one more.
'*'*'*'*'
Before long it was the First of May. The weather was getting warmer and the sun shined like any other. Emma rolled out of bed. Tuesday. it had been a little over 3 weeks since the funeral. it still hurt a bit but she was starting to feel better. Even though she hadn't really been practicing with Chris anymore she still stopped by on Sundays with the usual lunch packs. It wasn't his fault that she was feeling blue.
She picked up her phone and went to send a quick message.
[Emma] Hey Chris, if you don't have plans. Can we practice on Thursday?
it took a moment but she got a reply.
[Chris] Yeah, might be a bit late getting home but I'll text you.
[Emma] Thanks, ttyl
She went back to her usual routine to get ready for the day when she heard a knock on the door. weird. she walked over and opened it. "Mr. Jacobs." Emma greets with a surprised expression.
"Morning Emma, I was hoping I'd catch you before you head out for the day." the man says with a smile before handing her an envelope. "Heres your last rent bill"
"Oh," Emma says surprised as she accepts it. Gracious time moved so quickly, it was almost a year.
"Normally I need renewals the month before the final bill but, well you've had a pretty rough go these last few weeks and I didn't want to add to the stress." the elderly landlord admits as the creak of a door opening could be heard. "Just let me know what you're planning on doing renewal-wise by the 15th. Otherwise, I'll keep the 31st marked as your move-out day."
"Of course, thank you Mr. Jacobs," Emma says with a nod as Chris walks past. "Oh, hey Chris. good morning" she says in passing.
"same to you," he replies with a wave and continues to head down the stairs. He'd forgotten that Leases eventually run down. He'd been here long enough that he had a long-term agreement that still had what. Three more years on it? The standard for an apartment was 12 months...
Emma went back inside her apartment and closed the door after saying her goodbyes to the landlord before walking over to the couch to take a seat and look over the bill. "Well... guess I have some thinking to do, huh duke," she says looking over to the Dog who was happily sleeping on the couch after a long walk. He gives a quiet huff and rolls over. Emma looks over to the corner of her living room to a small duffle bag that was starting to collect dust. she shakes her head and puts the bill down on the coffee table and got up to head to work.
The bill sat there for the next few days as Emma thought over what to do about her living situation. before long Thursday night arrived.
[Chris] I'm home, stop by whenever
Emma looks at her phone and nods after reading the message to get up and head over. The routine starts as usual upon arriving. she moves the furniture, he gets the mat set up.
"Ready?" he asks
"yep, let's get started," she says with a smile, while still a bit tired, it was a genuine one. good.
"You know the drill then," he says as he holds up a hand. she hit the target. weaker but not as bad as he thought it would end up being after not really being able to practice together since January. she must have kept practicing. good. He had her go for a kick next. those were probably fine.
It was significantly weaker. That was the one thing he didn't think would change. she practically walks everywhere in town, she goes skating multiple times a we- "Try that one again," he says as he keeps his hand in place. The same result..."Go get your jacket, we're going for a jog" he says as he heads over to the door to get his jacket and puts his wallet and keys in his pockets. "Around the neighborhood and back."
Emma gave a quiet sigh, she couldn't say she wasn't expecting that one. She hadn't been skating in almost a month now... she was actually hoping to just practice like normal but, jogging works too. "Okay," she agrees and heads out with him, stopping by her apartment to get a light jacket.
"Make sure you keep up with me okay?" he says and she nods before following after him. down 6 blocks hang a right past the park 4 more blocks and another right at the edge of the park. They made it another 3 blocks before passing the penny arcade which caused her to frown and run faster. Before she could get too far she felt a strong grip on her arm a tug and a pressure in her stomach as she was on the air and hoisted over Chris's shoulder. he was walking back the way they came.
"What are you doing?" She asks annoyed and resisting the urge to kick him. he remains silent and carries her into the Penny arcade, earning the two a few confused and concerned stares before he eventually put her down. she looked around and sure enough. the one place she was avoiding. the skating rink.
"Chris I don't want to be here," she says hoping for empathy. "This isn't fair."
"Life isn't fair," he counters with a stern frown. "The lessons were to teach you to get back up when you're knocked down... so get back up. Running away isn't going to work this time."
Her frown remained as his words stung. He was right and she kinda hated it. It wasn't fair. "... Fine," she says begrudgingly. "What's your shoe size, I'll get the rentals," she says while crossing her arms. Chris was about to object but she cut him off, "Because if you're going to push me straight into my own personal Hell. You're damn well coming with me... cause can't do it alone..."
Well great, when you put it that way. "Fair enough," he agrees and provides the requested information. Emma walks off and surprisingly actually did come back rather than run for it. she took a seat and started switching out her sneakers for the rental skates. With that taken care of, she stands up without much fuss. Maybe this wouldn't be too difficult. That thought got cut short as he tried to figure out how to stand up as well only for the pressure to cause his feet to start moving forward before he could stand all the way up. Thud. and he was already on his rear... He would say he stands corrected but he couldn't figure out how to stand.
She wanted to leave him there. He made her come here. She took a deep break before moving over to offer him a hand. "It's hard to get up sometimes huh," she says with an even tone though there was a bit of a jab in her voice. Okay, now she could drop it. "If you're already down, roll over so you can stand on your knees then get on one foot at a time using the stopper. at the front of the skate," she explained.
Point received loud and clear. he thought while shaking his head, with the instructions given he followed them and accepted the offered hand to get back on his feet. okay. new challenge. how to walk because somehow leaning forward was making him slowly eek backwards. Emma Hooks his arm with hers.
"I'll get you to the rink. use the stopper to push your opposite foot forward" she says and says and slowly makes her way over to the rink with him. there were a few other regulars on the floor. "You'll need to go to the middle to practice so you don't get hit."
The middle looked so far away considering he could barely stand but he nods "I can handle that. you go ahead" okay stopper on left, push right. stopper on right, push left.
"Okay," she says though, her tone more so said 'if you're sure.' she did as he suggested and started making laps. it felt bittersweet. It was something she loved since she was a kid, she always enjoyed the feeling of the air moving around her. She imagined it's what flying would feel like and as she grew up it always helped her clear her thoughts. but it became a routine with a friend that suddenly she couldn't continue. It felt weird being here without them.
THUD.
The loud noise broke her thoughts as she looked to find that Chris barely made it to the middle before falling again. he was going to hurt himself... but he was trying. One more lap and a deep breath later she adjusted her path to stop in front of the struggling militant man who was wabbling like a newborn deer. "Need some help getting the hang of it?" she says once more offering a hand but her tone was more genuine. He was trying because of her.
"Just until I feel confident enough to do this on my own" he replies with a nod and accepts the offered hand.
She took his other hand as well, He was significantly bigger than Summer and heavier. But hopefully, this would still work. "Alright, let me lead, keep your feet still and work on getting used to the feeling of moving," she says as she starts skating backwards slowly towards the edge of the ring and pulls him around for a few laps.
It was kind of embarrassing, he was a grown-ass adult being treated like a child but, he didn't know what he was doing. This was her domain, not his, and she needed to be here.
"The hardest part is getting used to the feeling of the skates moving under your feet" she admits while watching behind her. "It tends to cause first-time skaters to overreact and then they end up on their face... if you find yourself falling don't catch yourself, you're more likely to break your wrist." She continues to explain while making the laps. "I'm going to bring us back to the center and let go, try and keep moving without falling," she says as she starts adjusting course and slowing down a bit.
"I'll give it a try," he says though there was doubt in his tone.
"Don't worry, I'll be right in front of you," she says and gets a nod in return. upon seeing that she makes the next turn a bit tighter so they could head back to the middle and give him the full length of the rink to practice. As she said she let go, and he was able to keep momentum while standing though he didn't really move his legs. Emma grabbed his hand again to redirect him back into a lap so he didn't run straight into a wall. it took a few tries but eventually, he was able to get the process of moving forward.
"Okay, I think I got this," he says which causes Emma to smile.
"Okay, do you want to try a lap on your own then?" she offers and he nods. they finish the turn and she lets go to turn around and go on ahead only to hear a thud again as Chris kept moving forward... into the wall. Emma eventually makes her way back around and takes his hands again to keep him from getting hit by another skater.
"How do you turn in these things" he grumbles as they make another lap.
"You lean a bit" she starts
"you said not to lean" Chris points out.
that causes Emma to laugh "That's true, I did say that," she admits "you were leaning too much, you lean a bit while adjusting where your toe is pointed. the direction your toe is pointed, is the direction you go" She explains "Sorry, the only way to learn that one is to run into a wall a couple of dozen times... I could try skating next to you to pull you if you're not redirecting?" she offers and gets a nod in return. again it takes a while but eventually, he gets it and was able to skate on his own.
"You're picking this up pretty quickly, I'm impressed," she says with a smile. This... really was what she needed wasn't it... between the stress of the merger at work and everything else that happened last month she needed this. Dang, it all and she was being a jerk earlier...
"Well helps that you were pretty much carrying me for the first half of that," he admits with a chuckle.
"Still..." she says while in thought. "So, wanna try a skating game? I promise it's easy."
his legs felt like fire from falling and landing on them for the last 2 hours. "I'm listening"
"All you have to do is catch up and slap my hand," she says with a smile before skating ahead and turning around to skate backwards with an outstretched hand. she was a good 8 feet ahead of him already. That was a game? how har- nope he learned his lesson with that phrase while standing on these stupid things. All the same, he gave it his best attempt.
8 ft. 9ft... 12 ft. she was getting further away. Emma laughed a bit. "Keep that up and I'm going to lap you" she points out which gave him an idea. work smarter not harder as they say. and with that, he smacks into a corner wall, waits there for a bit so Emma would come back around waiting for her to pass him as he reached out to grab onto her. Emma starts cracking up at first but he ends up bumping her skate which throws both of them off balance and tumbling along the hardwood floor. Thud.
the two stare at each other for a moment before Emma cracks a smile and starts laughing again which causes Chris to laugh as well before smacking her hand. "There, that means I win"
"You cheated," she says still laughing as they worked together to get untangled from each other and stand up.
"says the card counter" he rebuttals quietly earning a stare of mock shock.
"That was one time," She says giving him a swat on the arm before an announcement could be heard.
"It's currently 10 PM, the penny arcade will be closing in 1 hour." the announcer says which causes Emma to wince. it was getting late.
"We should probably head back, you're probably going to start feeling the bruises in the morning," she says feeling some sympathy.
"pretty sure I'm already feeling them" Chris admits with a sigh as they make their way off the rink.
"Yeah. maybe" she replies yet again her tone had a different message. No, you're probably not. it's going to get worse. the two eventually get to seats and take off their skates to put on their sneakers and return the rentals.
"Does walking usually feel this foreign afterwards?" he asks slightly concerned.
"It goes away in a few minutes" She replies with a nod as they put their jackets back on. "I don't recommend jogging the rest of the way back though," she says with a small smirk.
"Absolutely not" he agrees and walks with her out of the building. the two make their way through the park rather than walking around. The last time they were here it was covered in snow. Now the trees were in full bloom and Spring was well underway. The two enjoyed the cool night air in silence, making it about halfway through the park before Emma spoke up.
"Hey Chris," She says quietly.
"Hm?" he replies, as usual, to let her know he was listening.
"...Sorry about earlier..." Emma says as they walk. "I was, kinda being a jerk for a while back at the arcade."
"Tends to happen when you're forced to think about unpleasant things..." he replies with some thought "but apology accepted." he looks over to see her smiling "Now that being said. I'm probably never doing that again... pretty sure that's your thing."
"Come on, you were getting the hang of it by the end there" Emma teases with a laugh.
"Oh so you want to go to a shooting range then?" he says in return with a short chuckle as her expression quickly switches to horror and she shakes her head.
"Not a chance," she says and drops the subject. They didn't have to do everything together. That was kinda nice in its own way. The two eventually made their way back home. Emma stopped at her own door "Thanks again Chris, that was fun." she says with a smile and goes to unlock and open her door.
"Not a problem," he says with a nod "have a good night," he says with a short wave.
"Good night" she replies and closes the door as Chris heads to his own apartment.
'*'*'*'*'
It was the 11th now Emma sat at her couch after a long day of work and looked at the bill that was sitting on her coffee table. She picked it up to look at it. she needed to make her choice now. She looked at a few other apartments. Part of why she was interested in that apartment was because it was closer to work and the rink which was a midpoint for her and Tanner to meet at for practice. That bit was not really a draw anymore. It was nice to be close to a rink but she could be close to a different one while still being close to work and in a less crowded area.
She thought over the break-ins, lack of air conditioning. it was about to be summer again... She thought about Mrs. Russo giving her the recipe for Tomato sauce, and Bastion giving her 'New Year's luck' and hugging her when she was scared. She thought about running around town with Chris and their recent trip to the rink. How Summer would constantly ask about 'her friends' at the apartment. As her mind wandered over the more pleasant memories she Smiled a bit to herself. The thought of New Year's day came to mind and the message that she wrote to be burnt. She shook her head as her cheeks stained a light pink. She marked down her decision on the bill, wrote a check and made her way down to Mr. Jacobs's office to drop off the check.
4 days later the Landlord was at her door once more. She opened the door with a smile. "Good morning Mr. Jacobs."
"Morning Emma, Heres the renewal papers for the Lease." He says and offers her a small packet of papers. the sound of a door opening and closing could be heard. "Now remember, I'll need your next renewal decision by next April." he says with a nod "try and get that back to me by the end of the day if you can." the Landlord added as Chris walked past.
"Morning Chris" Emma greets quickly while accepting the papers before looking back to Mr. Jacobs "Of course, I'll have these to you before I head to work" she agrees.
There we go, a bit of fluff to do the heart good. bit of a rocky start but finally got to it lol.
Review Responses:
Ink Scribble- Yeah chapt 13 was definitely a gut puncher OTL if I could I'd offer ice cream but hopefully, fluffy healing works as a replacement. the next chap is probably gonna be a bit short so I'll hopefully have it done tomorrow.
Monarch123- Hiya monarch U lmao oh my gosh I am so sorry for the deluge of chapters X'D hopefully by the time you get to this one I've cooled my jets a bit. part of this was a personal challenge to write 50k words in 5 days as like, a super NaNoWriMo challenge. I'm so happy to hear that you liked the reveal for chapter 7! It was a fun plotline to work with. hopefully, you end up re-reading after I finished cleaning up the spelling and grammar for those chapters lol!
Guest- I'm glad you enjoyed chapter 11 :) It's definitely still my favorite one. That might be changing soon though, there is a very cute chapter in the pipeline. shouldn't be long now. I actually am using a tiny notebook now and have each page labeled as a month so I can plan out the story a bit better and keep track of the RE timeline. The one I'm thinking of should be in about 3 chapters so long as I don't rearrange things in post.