i miss the days: Katelyn + Kirito

The soft shells of plants press into the pot Kirito carries through the garden. Constant couriers have come and gone from his home over the past few days as panic has become the pulse of the District. Of course Kirito couldn't sit back while the people around him suffered, so as promised he has handled every ounce of medical necessity Vasco's needed. Today he is making soothing salves in preparation for the potential phase of mental deterioration cresting over the quiet crops. Even being in his backyard, Kirito is surprised Peacekeepers aren't coming to clamor him back behind the doors of his home. Something is definently going on, Kirito has experienced the Capitol enough to know when they are stirring something dangerous.

Just as Kirito collects the final fragments of a bush' bundles, a figure flies over his head. The small swallow swims through the sky before vanishing behind the roof of Harbinger and Navya's house. Kirito's eyes wane worringly at the thought of his two friends. He hasn't seen anyone other than Harbinger over the past couple days and Kirito can sense something. Perhaps he will head over at nightfall to check in on them all, see if there is anything they may need during all of this enclosure. After all, he does miss their company. 

Stepping inside from the backyard, Kirito is embraced by the cooling pleasure of shade.  His hands snag a small towel from the kitchen as he blots away the scattered sweat settled above his brows. The smell of beef broth and vegetables wafts through the afternoon air and Kirito swoons in the seductive smell. The stew he has left  slowly cooking since the morning is slightly starting to bubble spurring the scent all throughout the house. Knowing his children, and knowing his wife, steps will surely spawn soon from all around the house in search of the source.

Kirito makes quick work of categorizing the plants he's collected in his medical room and washing away the remnants of dirt that were dried beneath his fingertips. The room is quiet and it makes Kirito long for his students' snickering and snark comments. This week they would have been practicing sutures on minor wounds, a very common and important technique for the Games. The thought makes Kirito's teeth tighten together as his hands fumble aimlessly with the neck of his cane. Fifteen years and another Quell. Kirito has almost lived another an entire lifetime of the one he had when he stood among falling clock towers and deadly dopplegangers. No phantom faces haunt him this time, but the grief is still there ebbing and flowing like the waves of existence.

The knock that rattles from the front door startles Kirito causing him to knock several sheets of paper from a nearby desk onto the floor. He frantically picks up the pictures of plants drawn by none other than Ludo and sets them back into place. Kirito can't quiet imagine who could be knocking on his door in the middle of a lockdown, but he will always answer none the less.

"Coming!"

Kirito calls from the hall as he walks towards the mystery visitor. When his fingers finally find the knob of the door, he couldn't be more happy to have answered. Standing in the sunshine of the porch with her blonde hair beaming brightly is Katelyn. The smile that settles onto Kirito's face is instinctual, missed. Over the years he hasn't seen much of the woman who inspires every inch of him. He knows she's suffered more than he can ever imagine in the cruel clutches of the Capitol. Of course he wanted to be around her from the instant she returned, but he thought she could use some space that was chosen for herself. He knows what it's like to have to fall apart before being rebuilt.

"It's been too long." Kirito starts stepping back from the door to offer her inside. "Also the kids will be lucky if I don't eat all of those before they even know you brought them."

A light laugh lifts from the younger Victor's lips in hopes of easing some of the anxiety he can just barely sense surrounding Katelyn. He knows this can't be easy for her, even if she is the strongest person he knows. To have to return to a world and a life where things have never stopped churning is painful and confusing. All Kirito wants her to know is that nothing about the way he sees her as changed. He still sees the woman who held him as he cried surrounded by shards of glass. He still sees the woman who he screamed with when Harbinger won. He still sees the woman who sat with him alone in a train on the way to the Capitol and promised him that he would never be truly alone in that arena. He still sees his hero.

"It's great to see you too. The kids are pent up with energy while Oasis and I are trying not to be trampled, but we're all okay. This whole lockdown is well- interesting to say the least."

It's so formal, too formal. Kirito remembers when he could come to Katelyn and just share any shreds of shadows without hesitation. Maybe he should be the first one to stop acting like things have changed when they haven't. At least, not in bad ways. He closes the door behind her as she steps into the house.

"I miss you. I miss us all coming together for big family feasts. But I don't have to miss that anymore, you're right here. And Katelyn, you matter to me."