Chapter 249: Reconstruction Postponed
"She might only be Alicia Lutherford."
Theo’s voice cooled.
On the other end of the line, Captain Chambers let out a long sigh that crackled faintly through the speaker.
"Ms. Montrose. You don’t know her as well as I do. Trust , she’s not herself. I just ca back from visiting her, and you know what she was doing?" His voice rose in agitation. "She turned her entire apartnt upside down. It was chaos. Drawers pulled out. Boxes everywhere. It looked like she was searching for sothing. I don’t understand what she’s trying to do."
Theo pinched the bridge of his nose, closing his eyes briefly.
"Then what do you expect
to do, Captain?"
Silence fell between them.
On the other end, Chambers hesitated.
"I... I thought..." He cleared his throat. "You... You successfully woke everyone else. And no one lost mories like she did."
He faltered again.
"I thought... maybe you can... fix her. Sohow."
Theo nearly laughed.
"Fix her?" he repeated, forcing his tone to remain even. "You want
to reinstall her or sothing?"
He tried very hard not to let the sarcasm bleed through.
Theo could almost picture Captain Chambers on the other end, scratching his head in frustration.
"I don’t know, Ms. Montrose. I really don’t know," Chambers admitted. "Just... please talk to her. You seem to be the only person she doesn’t mind speaking to. She’s wary of everyone else. Even the doctor."
That’s because I don’t push her to be the version of herself you want back.
Theo kept that thought to himself.
Silence settled between them.
Theo did not speak imdiately. He weighed the situation carefully. This might actually be a good opportunity to contact Alicia again. To see her condition for himself. To assess things directly instead of through soone else’s interpretation.
He ca to a decision.
"Okay, Captain," Theo said at last. "I know you’re worried about her. And please be assured that you’re not the only one. I, too, am concerned about her. I’ll call her and pay her a visit."
The relief in Captain Chambers’ voice was unmistakable.
"Thank you, Ms. Montrose! Thank you!"
------------------------------
"And that was why Thea decided to visit Alicia, and I went with her." Arthur finishes the first part of his story.
"Oh, I see," Julian says, nodding slowly. "I was wondering since when Thea beca close to her. Turns out it was Captain Chambers all along."
He leans back against the sofa.
"Poor Captain Chambers. He can’t accept the fact that the current Alicia might not want to be chief. She’s not the sa person who went into the dungeon."
Everyone nods in agreent. The mood in the room shifts slightly. Lighter, but thoughtful.
"Okay. That part makes sense," Liam says. "So what happened during the eting? You said it was interesting."
Arthur grins.
"That," he says, settling more comfortably into his seat, "is coming up next."
------------------------------
"Let
co with you, Thea. I want to see her too. I want to know how she’s doing," Arthur had said. He was already wearing his coat and shoes, clearly prepared to leave whether Theo agreed or not.
Theo had looked at him for a few seconds, assessing.
Then he nodded. "Okay. I was thinking it might be too much for her to see both of us at once, but I rembered she was quite taken with you."
He slipped on his coat, and Arthur stepped forward to help adjust it properly.
"Your presence might help calm her," Theo had added quietly.
A few minutes later, they were standing in front of Alicia’s apartnt door. Arthur raised his hand, ready to knock.
Before his knuckles could touch the wood, the door opened.
"Good morning," Alicia had said, wearing a small but genuine smile as she greeted them.
"Good morning," both Theo and Arthur had replied in unison.
Theo studied her face carefully. Dark circles lingered beneath her eyes, subtle but unmistakable. She had not been sleeping well.
Alicia stepped forward and wrapped Theo in a hug. She looked genuinely pleased by their visit.
"Co in. Both of you, please co in."
------------------------------
Alicia sits in her studio apartnt, surrounded by chaos.
Kitchen utensils are not inside the cupboards or neatly arranged on shelves. Pots, pans, and woks crowd the counter. Cups, mugs, and glasses take up every available surface. Plates, spoons, forks, and random cutlery are scattered among them as if she had pulled everything out and never bothered putting anything back.
The living room is no better.
Clothes lie draped over the two seater sofa. Among them is the Solarys DEU uniform. It looks unfamiliar.
And yet, painfully familiar.
Her bed is worse. She can barely see the mattress. It is buried under piles of clothes, books, and miscellaneous items she does not even rember owning.
She rembers Thea’s expression when she opened the door.
Arthur’s too.
And Captain Chambers’ earlier that morning.
All three of them had ended up sitting on the floor because there was nowhere else to sit.
She was not embarrassed.
Not in front of Thea Montrose.
Arthur... yes, maybe a little. Just a little. But she noticed sothing important.
He did not look at the ss as if she had gone insane.
He did not look disgusted.
He did not look impatient.
He looked concerned.
Both of them did.
That, she can accept.
Genuine concern.
For her well being.
For the person she is now.
Unlike Captain Chambers.
She knows he is not a bad person. He is caring. Honest. Earnest.
But he keeps looking at her like she is broken.
Like she needs to be fixed.
Like she needs to beco the version he rembers.
He fails to see that she is not the sa person he knew, respected, and called Chief.
------------------------------
"Her apartnt looked like it had been hit by a storm?" Maeve asks.
Out of all of them, she is the neatest. The re idea of a studio apartnt in complete chaos visibly disturbs her.
It also makes her want to fly over there imdiately and start cleaning.
The others know this.
She is the reason their apartnt is always immaculate, despite living with three n.
Correction.
Four n.
Arthur nods. "Yes. We had to sit on the floor since there wasn’t anywhere else to sit."
Maeve clamps a hand over her mouth, physically restraining herself from reacting.
Her eyes widen in horror.
She looks around and ets everyone’s amused expressions.
They are enjoying this far too much.
Maeve presses her lips together tightly, refusing to make a sound.
Then she waves her free hand impatiently, gesturing at them to look away from her.
Look at Arthur.
He is not finished with the story.
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