"Ok, starfish. Be careful. I'll be back as soon as I can." Killian hated leaving her. But sometimes he had no choice. He had to find a way to free her and he'd exhausted every option to get an answer from the tower. He'd read every one of the damn books in it. Some more than a few times. He could tell his daughter was growing more frustrated with each passing day. He never left her alone for long. He'd never so much as dared leave her alone over night. She was so small, and if sje was sleeping she was completely helpless.
Alice wasn't exactly used to h. im leaving the tower. He avoided ir when he could.
"Papa, do you have to go?" Killian knew she jdidn't like being alone. He understtood that to his daighter, being alone made the walls of the tower feel that much more suffocating. When he wasn't there, he couldn't console her. Couldn't distract her.
"Aye, Starfish. But I'll be back soon."
She hugged him before he left and he was on his way.
Alice didn't know what to do. Papa didn't leave the tower very often. What had she done thr last time? She'd tried to throw a ball against a wall but that hadn't worked very well.
"I have an idea!" Oh, right. Papa wasn't there at the moment. He'd be back soon. But she wanted to do something now. She decided she was going to suprise papa. She'd cook and when he cane back they'd eat dinner. She knew how to cook. She'd watched papa her entire life. Practically attached to him for most of her early years. Stuck like glue, or rather like a starfish.
She pulled out what she wanted to cook and pulled over the little stool she used to reach anything she couldn't quite climb on, which wasn't much. She climbed on just about everything. It was the only way she could explore. She wanted to climb the trees outside her window, but that couldn't happen. She felt a little sad again. The sudden reminder of her situation would usually be talked about with papa. But he wasn't here. He'd be back. Alice knew that. He always came back.
Alice tried to be careful,really. But her mind wandered and she got distracted. Fire. What was she supposed to do about a fire? Papa always put it out with a bucket of water. Well, not always. There weren't that many fires in the tower. She tried that. It just made a bigger fire.
She coukdn't do anything about the fire. She got as far away from it as possible. Sitting on the windowsill hoping that if the tower burned down she'd no longer be trapped, but then she worried that she'd still be trapped, just without any proper shelter.
Killian's search for a way to break the blood magic that plagued his daughter's life turned up more disappointment than answers. He'd tried. He wasn't giving up. Not on that. He got to the base of the tower. And smelled something. Was that smoke? He got to the top of the tower as fast as he could, thanking whatever powers that be that Alice was sittinf as far away from the fire as possible. Fire? The blood hell did the fire xome from.
He'd ask questions after. He tried watwr. Okay so it was not that kind of fire. It was the othwr kind. He got rid of the fire and immediatly turned to check on Alice.
"I tried to make us dinner," Alice admitted where the fire came from. Killian blinked. She admitted what she'd done. And she didn't seem concerned in the slightest. It was certainly making him feel better abljt himself. He wasn't his father. As much as he blamed himself for the situation, Alice bloody well knew she could trust him to listen to her. No mattee what. "It didn't work." Alice sou ded dejected. Killian knew she was just trying to do something nicd. Or maybe she'd been bored. Probably both. It's not like she could go and play with her friends like any other kid. He was her only friend. The closest thing she had to one anyway. He was aware of that and tried his hardest to make sure he never made her feel like she couls ever do anything that would make him all that angry.
"Hey, hey. It's okay. You tried. That's the importsnt part." He din't exactly take his own advice on that one. "Thanks. But please don't cook when I'm not here. You could hsve hurt yourself."
Alice nodded. "We can still cook, Whattevrr this was. I think the fire might have just liked it too much."
Alice laughed. There it was. Alice's laughter was one of Killian's favorite sounds.
"It was supposed to be grilled cheese." Oh tjank gos. She hadn't gone near any kind of sharp object. At least, she wouldn't have had to.
"Round two?" He offered.
"Aye."
"Ok. Just a little oil. That way it should 't spark as easily. Killian hkvered a little but let Alice do it all on her own. Even though he was internally screaming at the fact his daughter was anywhwre nesr hot oil. But he was right there. She coukd 't get hurt.
She finished and watched killian expectantly as he tasted it.
"Delicious!" It was pretty good, killian would admit. He had taught her a thing or two as she'd astched him from the time she was born.
Alice bounced a bit excitedly from his praise. They both finished esting and then settled down to play one of their board games. Killian knew Alice was stillntrapped, and she knew it. But they could avoid thinking too intently about it for just a little while.