Nothing Could Fall

Nickel Romeo

"What are you doing up?" Alicia snaps at Elyza. "You should be resting."

Alicia gives her best side-eye to the blonde woman currently standing frozen, mid-throw in the middle of the library. She looks over to the far wall and sees two of Elyza's knives stuck in a makeshift target tacked to a bulletin board.

"I was, love," Elyza soothes with her hand raised. Alicia rolls her eyes and not so subtly gestures to the third knife grasped in Elyza's hand. "Okay, well I have been resting. Five bloody days of resting. I'm fine. No fever anymore, and these wounds don't even hurt much."

"They don't? Really?" Alicia asks with her eyebrows raised. She casually strolls across the library and comes to a stop, a little closer than usual, in front of Elyza who plasters that smirk across her face. Alicia leans in ever closer and hears Elyza's breath hitch in her throat before placing a firm yet gentle smack on the blonde's right shoulder.

"Ow! Bloody hell, love!" Elyza yelps. She stumbles backwards gripping at her injured shoulder.

"That's what I thought."

"Point made. You didn't have to go and do that," Elyza whines, still holding her shoulder.

"Apparently I did to get it through your thick skull that you need to heal," Alicia argues. She barely holds in the grin she feels bubbling up at the sight of Elyza's hurt puppy routine. Before her face betrays her, she quickly continues with a harsh, "Properly."

Elyza narrows her eyes at her and takes a step forward. "Are you going take your own advice any time soon there, love? Your wrists broke open again." She points at Alicia's arms. Alicia looks down to see her left wrist dripping little drops of blood down her hand. Her shoulders slump in annoyance. The cuts she received from being tied up are becoming more irritating by the day. The stupid things just won't heal up. It has nothing to do with the fact that Alicia has been pushing herself to the limits these past few days, finding food, water, and supplies in the rundown little town. Nothing to do with that whatsoever.

"Minor scuffle with the dead," Alicia shrugs and nonchalantly covers her wound with her right hand. "I'm fine."

"Alicia-"

"I'm fine, Elyza," Alicia snaps.

"You're not. You keep saying you are, but I can tell it still bothers you," Elyza says reading Alicia's mind. She takes another step toward her and reaches out as if she's about to wrap her in an embrace. The blonde stops, seemingly catching herself and drops her arms. "You did what had to be done. I would have done the same, love."

"So you keep saying," Alicia comments with a heavy sigh.

"They recognized you. That left you with only one option if you wanted to make it out of there. You chose correctly," Elyza states firmly.

"Speaking of," Alicia deflects, eagerly changing the subject. "I grabbed some stuff that day in the pharmacy. To help maybe..." Alicia rummages through the piles of supplies she has gathered over the week and finally grabs what she's looking for. She holds a box of hair dye triumphantly in the air.

"Not sure that's my color, love," Elyza says with little more than a casual glance at the box. "And you? What color are we turning your chestnut hair? Same god awful blood red? Sapphire blue? Dusty rose pink, perhaps?" Elyza quips. Alicia just holds up a pair of shears with a grimace. "No color for you?"

"I was never able to dye it with these cheap kits from the store. Color never stuck," Alicia shrugs.

"You're really going to cut it, love?"