After she fell

22|Capture the Child

But the voice that spoke was not Six's....

Or Mono's....

RK's...

Not Alice's, that was for sure.

It was an unfamiliar voice, one that Alice had never heard before, but two of the others recognised it, and what it heralded. Capture. Pain. Hunger. Loneliness. This was only the beginning, if you didn't escape in time- you were dead meat. Literally.

Arms snaked around them, and time stopped. Noise sounded fuzzy, warping before it got to their ears. For almost the first time since they reunited, Six actually had an expression on her face. One that Alice knew all too well. Fear.

All was explained when the Janitor came into sight. It was a horrific vision, and Alice had to fight the urge to scream, because when the arms had first appeared, Six had leaned over and whispered,

"He's blind. Don't you dare scream."

Thus, there was silence. The Janitor felt around the floor, his stumpy legs waddling steadily towards them, so much that it was hard to believe that he was blind. RK felt doubtful, but quickly remembered when he was ambushed by Roger the Janitor, way back before he met Alice. He had been climbing a loud, rattley ladder and this was most probably what triggered Roger to his presence. Six had first noticed Roger's blindness when watching a tv commercial. She had been enjoying the song that was playing when he showed up. Staying as silent as possible, from fear, Six saw the Janitor completely ignore her, and instead make his way to the tv, and for the first time Six saw the light. Metaphorical light. She still remembered the rapid tumble of realization that struck her at that moment.

He was blind!

From that day forward, Six looked for signs that any of the other villains that she encountered were blind, for this would help drastically with her escape plan. Then she met Mono, and her priorities, which remained the same, steadfastly for a while, eventually molded around him, so they shared everything, including their adversaries. Mono had never met the Janitor, but knew the basics. It was Alice that she was worried about, in more ways than one.

A Nome's pattering footsteps fill the silence and The janitor slowly steps closer, ears flapping, nose twitching. But RK can't help himself. As the Nome runs closer to him, jumping into RK's arms, he lets out an "oof!"

Rogers' ears then twitched pointing in the direction of R.K. Everyone staring at him mouths open with shock that he dared make a sound in the silent room.

The last thing each of them saw was long stretchy arms reaching towards them.

They woke up in chains. That happened to be, really, really badly chained, never leave a blind person in jobs where they need to see. Touch alone, sometimes just isn't enough, I'm afraid.

So they easily broke free. The Nome had been chained up to, and RK insisted on freeing it, Six didn't care but Mono and Alice helped him. As they worked together, Mono popped a question that had been intriguing him for a long time, since he'd met Alice in fact.

"What's your name?"

Now, at first the other two didn't know who he was asking but then Mono pointed at Alice.

"You, what's your name?"

Alice stopped for a minute, and then choosing her words very carefully, she spoke.

"I mostly go by RG- which stands for Raincoat girl because of my raincoat. Some people have called me Five, and once I got called Three, because of my plait. I've also been called Aeo. Then sometimes RCG. Like, Rain Coat Girl. But you can call me Alice if you like."

Mono nodded, his curiosity ebbing, but it surged back in when he wondered something else.

"Then what's your last name?"

Alice stood still, words rushing through her brain like blood does when you hang upside-down, giving the same kind of sensation. It had been so long since she had even thought about herself, and her past before the nightmarish events of the past, present and hopefully not future.

So long...

But she remembered, she remembered back in the cottage that she was born in, when she had her mother's and her grandmother beside her, helping her discover what life was. Proper life- not the washed out expanse of what was left. Back in the Nome's hideaway, RK's palace, that was the closest she had ever been to feeling safe, and like she belonged since her hot-air balloon crashed. Her escape plan failed and she felt like trash, but then RK lifted her up from the rubble of her mind and set her straight. Literally, and figuratively.

(I'm going on tangents again aren't I?)

RK took hold of Alice's shoulder when she didn't respond. He knew by now that she was probably miles away from here, and there was only one way to bring her back.

He started humming.

Soon Alice was back, and when Mono asked his question a second time, she flinched, barely perceptible to anyone else who wasn't watching her as closely as Six and RK. But Mono just wanted to hear what she had to say.

"I can't remember. Someone called me Alice Raincoat once...If you like, you can call me that too..."

Mono nodded and their conversation moved onto another topic, and so did the direction that they were travelling in. But when they turned the corner, who was it that they saw? Can you guess?