A Feast of the Heart (Alicia/Elliot&Isaac)

The hug caught Elliot completely off guard. His eyes widened in surprise as he realized the sudden gesture, and he found himself fumbling with the dish that he was already cleaning in order avoid dropping it. After a few seconds of worry he managed to catch the dish, sighing in relief as he gingerly set it on the counter. After all, he'd feel awful if he broke one of Alicia's good plates. Only then did he allow himself to melt into the hug, clinging to her tightly while trying to keep up the appearance of strength. Occasionally his shouldere seized, as if he was about to let out his every emotion, but tjese were worries he had to keep in check. "Thank you, Alicia," he managed, his voice every bit as frail as he was.

He couldn't tell her why these worries lurked, though. Not when she already had so much on her own plate. She had work, a family, a quest. Why throw something she could never do anything about onto the pile? It'd just give her undue stress, and he'd feel awful about himself for it. "You don't need to worry about me. I'm fine. Besides, I really like helping you," he assured. It would likely be more effective of his own heart was on it, though. As is, while his voice was genuine, it was also hesitant and the slightest bit pained. His sentence seemed to trail off instead of ending decisively, and the "I'm fine" came only after a few crucial seconds of hesitance. Elliot could only hope his words would say what his tone refused to, and that he wouldn't be a burden on someone he increasingly came to recognize as his big sister.

Elliot flailed as he was carried away from his work station and forcibly brought to the couch. He pouted slightly as he was put down, so close to finishing his job and everything. "No fair! You're bigger than me," he protested. Still, there was a levity to his tone that at least helped push some of his worries into the back of his mind. He was still bummed about his anxieties, but being goofily carried away like that made the situation silly enough to help him move past them. "And I'm not a knucklehead! I just don't want to make you worry or anything," he clarified. Between the leg, his smallness, and his youth, sometimes he found himself kind of worried that he'd just be holding everyone back. Isaac was way nore suited for the big hero business than he was, really. But he still wanted to try! He still wanted to help! At least until he finally got to go home, sleep, and bring his life back to some degree of normal.

"It's pretty dark, but we know the way. Of course, if you want to come along we've got no complaints," Isaac responded. Some of Elliot's statements were a bit worrying, and he'd want to have a talk with him about that later. However, he also didn't want to necessarily bring it up just yet. Especially with Alicia here. The group would be way safer and more comfortable walking home if Alicia was with them, but instead they would be able to get a lot more important talking done if they were alone. Really, at this point the ball had to be in Alicia's court. If she was too tired to join them on the way back, their decision would become a total no-brainer. At the same time, Isaac got the feeling if she was insistent, there would be no way of dissuading her.

They really were a stubborn family, weren't they?

She had a good point. It'd be an even better point if she knew that they were currently living at the wrong side of the tracks, so to speak. There was a reason why the brothers sprinted rather than walked when they went back from the Trailmon Terminal, and why they preferred to leave home at the crack of dawn instead of when darkness set in. In a way, they'd hoped she wouldn't ask too many questions when she saw they were heading toward Greater Shibuya instead of further down Western Shibuya. As they crossed the borders between two regions, they tried to hasten their paste in hopes of getting past any troublesome characters quickly.

The air was quite cold and crisp, Elliot zipping his jacket up a little tighter to make sure he didn't get a chill. The shadows seemed almost jarringly steep in the moonlight, stretching forward as if reaching out at the group. The streets were dead quiet, barring the occasional barking dog or car tearing down the pavement. If it wasn't for the ominous setting, it would actually be kind of a peaceful day.

"What made you pick us?" Elliot's question came right out of the blue, but it was clearly one weighing on Elliot's mind ever since his delayed reaction during dinner. As much as he appreciated and cared for Alicia, it felt so out of the blue to him. They only really knew each other for a short period of time, and they'd be leaving to go back to California soon. Did they really make that much of an impact in that quick of a time? It made him feel great to hear, but also made him feel almost guilty about leaving. He really wanted to go home, but he also didn't want to leave these amazing people behind.

Why did life have to be so hard?

The answer made as much sense as any other. Why? Because she could, and wanted to. That seemed to fit Alicia's mode of operation well enough. Elliot knew Isaac's thought process was overall pretty similar. Even he was prone to his own moments of rashness, especially when people important to him were in trouble. He tried to keep everything under control, but really the whole trio seemed prone to following their hearts to the end of the Earth. Maybe that was why the brothers and Alicia were already so close, even in this short amount of time. His initial confusion gave way to this final understanding, a small, peaceful smile spreading across Elliot's face. "Well, I think it's right too!" he said, voice cheery even as it bled into a more sad line of conversation. "I'm really gonna miss you when we're gone."

They were about halfway to Elliot and Isaac's place now. Thankfully, nobody had tried jumping them yet. That had only really happened once, but the neighborhood still made Isaac leery. At least they'd only be here for a few more days. It was the one thing about this trip to Japan that Isaac wasn't going to miss when he left. No offense to their mom's friend, but she didn't exactly pick a winning neighborhood to live in. At least their security system was good, not that they ever needed to use it yet. The bright lights of the wealthier district were giving way to flickering, poorly maintained ones, and the sounds of people congregating became all the louder. It was quite the shift of environment.

Elliot looked a little worried at Alicia calling out the poor state of their living conditions. Sure, Isaac was always on the lookout for bad guys, and there was always a lot of poorly maintained repairs, and the alleyways seemed to swallow up the darkness. But it couldn't be that bad, right? "It's not all bad," Elliot started, but found himself completely incapable of quantifying and explaining that statement. Why wasn't it so bad? Because Isaac was there, and their mom, and how could anything be all bad if they were there? So long as that was the case, Elliot felt at least marginally more safe than usual.

"Yeah, it's a shame," Isaac answered, figuring he might as well be honest with Alicia. "It's a bit nicer where we're living, but it's still definitely the wrong side of the tracks. And the walk to and from here is always a killer. I just try and make sure we get to Shibuya Station as quick as possible most days." In a way he envied Alicia. Even if her house was modest, it was a lot safer. What he wouldn't give to spend his vacation somewhere so beautiful, instead of somewhere so downtrodden.

They were getting close now, and the sky was turning a blackish blue as evening quickly began to set in. It felt so long ago that they had been sparring with the intensity of heavyweight champions. So much had happened today, in such little time. Frankly, it sent Isaac's head spinning. In a way, he had some regrets about leaving this early. Maybe it was the fact that he had sacrificed so many days like this for so many days spent adventuring. Maybe it was the people he would be leaving behind. Maybe he just plain didn't want to go home. After all, somewhere Terrence was there. And that was a part of his past Isaac never wanted to revisit.

That was the past, though. Isaac hated dwelling on it. Even worries about the future, something always on his mind, had to fall to the wayside. He was going to sit back and enjoy the present for once in his life, damnit!

"Yeah, guys, leave Alicia alone," Elliot said, unsure if the spirits could even hear him. "Tease Isaac instead. It's funnier." That earned Elliot a gentle, good natured punch to the arm from his big brother. All the proof Elliot needed, really.

"On the bright side, at least when they project you get some alone time. Sorta," Isaac suggested, figuring he could point out a bit of silver lining to the situation. You know, on top of the "dealing with them makes you hella buff" part of the equation."That's more than I could say about Elliot." Shots fired and shots returned! Now it was Elliot's turn for a good natured brother punch. It made the boys realize that in the grand scheme of things, they hadn't really done much sparring with their powers either. Considering that they were basically predetermined partners, perhaps they could learn a lot by fighting with and against each other. Maybe with a veteran like Alicia presiding, they'd be able to have some really cool matches.

Of course, now their home was looming in the distance. Elliot almost found himself sadly frowning when he saw it. Were they going to have to say goodbye so soon? The boy turned around and gave Alicia a big hug, almost afraid that this goodbye would also be their last. Isaac stood by for a second, then shrugged and joined the group hug as well. Couldn't just leave his surrogate big sis behind without one, right?

"Yeah," Isaac said. Was it possible for a sentence to trail off with only one word? If it was somehow possible, that was exactly how Isaac sounded right now. He couldn't think of any other words.

"Thanks, big sis. I know we'll make this work," Elliot whispered back. It almost surprised him to have the words come out of his mouth, but at the same time they just felt right. He didn't want to let go, but it was Isaac who stopped the hug first. As sad as it would be to see the day end, they had to go home now. They've been having too many nights spend completely out of the house, and their mother was finally returning to her old, more suspicious ways. All of this sneaking about and secret adventuring was shaping up to backfire on them in a major way if they didn't start acting a bit more subtle about it.

Once Isaac let go, Elliot did as well, the two heading up the stairs to their front door. They turned around, smiled, and waved, making sure that Alicia would be able to see that they made it safe. Of course, now they would be the ones watching and waiting, making sure that nobody had any ill intentions for Alicia as she left their eyesight. They weren't happy that she would have to walk through this neighborhood all by her lonesome, but if they insisted on going home themselves she would've likely been even more worried than they were. Really, watching as she left to make sure that she would be okay was the least that they could do.