Burying the Dead (Tag: Adeline)

Adeline glanced at her phone for the hundredth time, then sighed.  Despite the apocalypse being over for a while now, she still hadn't heard from Pitch.  And it was starting to worry her.  Everyone else she knew was okay.  Even if she hadn't seen them in person yet, they'd at least called her or sent her a text.  But so far, she'd still heard nothing from Pitch.  Had something happened to him during the apocalypse?  During the whole thing, she'd figured he'd been too busy fighting off monsters and helping people.  She knew he'd had to stay focused on his job.  But the danger was over now, for the most part.  Sure, there were still some demons here and there, but they weren't prowling every inch of the city anymore.  She pocketed her phone before walking on.  She and her parents had decided to follow everyone else's example and offer their magic to anyone who needed help.  Powers such as theirs could be pretty handy if someone needed a building put back together or a road fixed.  Adeline wasn't sure if she'd find anything to do at the graveyard, but it couldn't hurt to check.  Who knew, maybe Pitch was here.  This was where they'd met, after all.  As she stepped inside, she saw that the graveyard was far from empty.  It looked like there was a funeral going on.  She hung back for a second, not wanting to interrupt, but the sight of bright red hair caught her eye.  Her eyes widened.  It was Axel.  Had he lost someone during the apocalypse?  Last she'd heard from him, he'd been fighting tooth and nail to protect his bar and everyone connected to it.  Had one of his girls died?  Or an old customer of his?  Or someone even more important?  She stayed where she was, hoping she could talk to him once the service was over.  He looked so sad, she wanted to at least try to help him feel better.  

Adeline didn't have to wait long for the service to end.  Soon, Axel was the only one left.  Their eyes met, and while he didn't say a word, Adeline felt like she could tell well enough what he was feeling.  "Oh Axel..."  That was all Adeline could say before she went over and gave him a hug.  It didn't matter who had died.  Obviously, it was someone who had meant something to Axel, and he was feeling pain over it.  Adeline wanted to help him if she could, like he'd helped her so many times before.

Adeline could hear Axel's light-hearted tone coming back a bit, so maybe she was doing some good.  Him ruffling her hair felt comfortingly familiar.  "Yeah, still in one piece," she said.  Really, the most trouble she'd had was running into that Constantine guy.  But she'd managed to get away all on her own.  That had to count for something.  It looked like Axel was more or less in one piece too, so that was reassuring.  Adeline glanced at the grave before turning back to Axel.  "So...what happened?" she asked.  "Did you lose someone while you were fighting or something?"

Adeline's brow furrowed in anger.  "Bastard," she muttered.  How could someone just abandon a person that loved them?  If it had been any of Adeline's friends, she'd have fought to protect them no matter what.  Heck, she'd thrown herself between Pitch and Thrax once.  If that didn't speak of her desire to protect her loved ones, she didn't know what did.  Thinking about Pitch made her heart ache a little though.  She glanced up before asking "Hey, you didn't happen to see...Pitch while you were fighting, did you?"  She figured it couldn't hurt to ask.  Maybe she was just the only person that hadn't seen him in a while.  Maybe other people had glimpsed him now and again during the apocalypse.

Adeline wondered if there was anything that could be done about that guy.  Surely he deserved some kind of punishment for leaving the girl behind to get killed.  But her and Axel dealing out vigilante justice probably wouldn't be looked too favorably upon.  When he asked about Pitch, she said "I'm...not sure.  I haven't heard from him since the apocalypse started.  I thought maybe it was just because he was fighting demons and stuff, but...it's been over for a while and I still have no word from him."  Her arms wrapped around herself, trying not to let too much of her nervousness show.  Maybe she was just being paranoid.  She couldn't stop thinking about the worst possible outcomes for this.  It wouldn't do her any good. 

"Thanks."  Adeline gave a little smile.  She just hoped Axel didn't give Pitch too much of a lecture if he did manage to run into him.  Surely Pitch had some kind of explanation.  The last time he'd avoided her, it was because he'd been afraid of his feelings for her.  And Adeline had understood that.  Heck, she'd been a little afraid of her feelings for him too.  Both of them had never really felt that way before, and it was kind of scary.  And while they still worried about each other quite a bit, a lot of that fear was gone now.  They trusted and looked out for each other.  If something bad had happened to Pitch, or if he ended up hurt somehow, Adeline wanted to be there for him, like he'd been for her.

Adeline was glad to see a smile on Axel's face.  He was starting to look a little more like himself.  Not everyone in the city would recover as quickly.  For some, time was what they needed most.  And everyone else would have to help them along as best they could.  "I'm doing okay," she said.  "My parents and I were hunkered down at our place when all the craziness first started happening.  Once things calmed down a bit, we just went around to see what we could do.  Magic powers are kind of handy to have during an apocalypse, you know?  We helped fix some stuff, fought some monsters off, that kind of thing.  Now, we're kind of doing the same thing, just less fighting."  Really, she felt like the most eventful thing was running into Constantine.  But Adeline doubted she'd see him again for a while.  He had Cruella to take care of, and she had things to do too.  She wasn't exactly high on his priority list.