Visiting the Family [closed]

Bell's eyes widened as she saw the pale figure in front of her wearing black, his posture stiff and poised.

"De-demon..." Bell said weakly as her eyes began to mist. Her body began trembling furiously and her mouth quivered. "MAMA! PAPA!" she shrieked as she slammed the door shut.

"D... Demon?" the boy repeated with wide eyes and a triangle shaped mouth.

"Bell?? What's wrong?" Cheshire exclaimed as he ran towards the front door.

Bell rushed to Cheshire immediately crying. "The chivalry demon! Papa, he's outside! He's tall and white with a dark suit and has white cat ears! And he's going to eat me, just like you said!"

Liseran rushed from the bedroom in a lilac dress with a panicked expression on her face. "Bell? Bell what happened!? Cheshire, what's going on? Why did Bell scream?"

"Ch-Chivalry Demon?" Cheshire murmured. He glanced over towards Liseran before turning back to the whimpering girl and patting her head comfortingly. "Now hold on there and calm down little one. Why don't you let papa take a look at this for now..."

Cheshire walked over towards the door as best as he can with Bell clinging onto him and gripped the handle.

"Wait... cat ears... pale... nah it can't be," Cheshire murmured as he opened the door. "...Oh my lord it is..."

"Big brother!" Kit saluted stiffly, immediately breaking from his trance of shock. "It is good to see you again in good health, sir!"

"Kit... what are you doing here?" Cheshire couldn't help but ask.

"I have been allowed temporary leave big brother," Kit said formally, still standing at attention which looked less intimidating and more cute coming from an eight year old. "I decided to spend my days off to visit you and see how you were doing, big brother. Permission to ask why you are here instead of the dorms or at Beacon, big brother!"

"I'm not your drill sergeant," Cheshire deadpanned, a bead of sweat running down his face showing how tiring this was to him.

"Hush, Bell, it's okay..." Liseran said soothingly as she lifted Bell into her arms and carried herm "There's no demon here."

"Mama..." Bell murmured as she wrapped her arms around her neck. Liseran shushed her again and moved to the door. "Cheshire, whose there?" She asked softly so not to alarm Bell.

"Oh! Uh..." Cheshire stammered nervously.

"Big Brother, who are those people?" the little boy questioned.

"Uh..." Cheshire muttered. He sighed and turned to Liseran and Bell, stepping to the side so that they can see the little boy outside the door. "Liseran, this is... Kit... my little brother..."

Liseran's eyes widened with surprise as Cheshire showed him the little boy.

"Oh, well this is a surprise," Liseran smiled as she lifted up Bell more who was clutching her tightly and watching Kit cautiously. Liseran stooped a little bit and smiled at the boy.

"Hello, Kit," she said warmly. "I'm Liseran Dormirse. It's nice to meet you. This here is Bell, my daughter."

"Mama," Bell said scared as she looked at the boy. Liseran shushed her soothingly. "It's alright. Kit is Cheshire's family. He won't hurt you. Come on, say hello."

Bell lifted head from Liseran's shoulder to look at Kit shyly with a red face and small remnants of tears from earlier in the corner of her eyes.

"He-hello..." Bell said.

"A pleasure," Kit said stiffly and quickly turned to look at Cheshire. "Big brother, who are these people? Why are you associating yourself with a delinquent?"

"Delinq..." Cheshire trailed off, "N-NO! Liseran isn't like that!"

"But she has a daughter her age while she herself is so young," Kit stated, pointing at Bell.

"She's... It's a long story," Cheshire concluded, "But Liseran is not a delinquent or otherwise. Now be nice!"

"Very well..." Kit agreed stiffly, turning back to look at Liseran and Bell. He bowed to both of them and slowly rose saying, "It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Kit Schrodinger. I am Cheshire Schrodinger's little brother. I apologize for startling you earlier."

Liseran had been a bit surprised by the remark but not too much. However, the little boy's formality felt so oddly out of place it was adorable. She settled on sheepishly smiling and shaking her head. "It's not a problem at all. In fact, why don't you join us inside for a light snack. I'm sure you're tired and it'd be nice for you to catch up with Cheshire. Isn't that right, Bell?"

But as Liseran said her name, the girl vanished from her arms and appeared right in front of Kit, just inches from his face. Her face was still red but her past worried expression had been replaced by an upset one. Her mouth scowling and her dark eyes glaring at the white cat. Liseran had never seen Bell angry looking so it stunned her.

"B-Bell?"

The little girl glared at Kit.

"Mama is not a delinquent," Bell said crossly and firmly. "The dictionary says a delinquent is a person who does bad things and Mama is a good person! Mama is the nicest, kindest person in the whole world! If you say that again, you're being a bully and I won't like you!"

Liseran's mouth dropped in surprise but she soon grabbed Bell by the shoulder to pull her back.

"Bell, that is no way to talk to a guest," Liseran said firmly as she looked her in the eyes. "Especially to Cheshire's family."

Bell's eyes saddened. "But he called you bad!"

"It was an accident," Liseran reassured. "Now apologize and be nice. We're going to treat Kit like a welcomed guest like real ladies do. Alright?"

Bell lowered her head and sighed. "Yes, Mama."

With that Bell turned to Kit. "I am sorry for yelling at you," she said still frowning. She awkwardly curtsied and made a hesitant smile. "Welcome to our home, Kit. Please come in."

Liseran smiled in approval and made way for Kit to enter. "Right this way," she said sweetly. And then to Bell, she patted her head. "Very good. That was very grown up of you. Cheshire, can you help me with the drinks?"

Liseran said this walking in and leaving Bell close to Kit. Bell huffed and turned around indignantly but not before stomping her foot on the white cat's toes.

"Meanie," the six year-old said before heading in.

Kit winced when Bell stomped on his foot and watched her as she stormed away. "What did I do??" Kit whined.

"You have much to learn about interacting with girls," Cheshire remarked as he pushed his kid brother into the house.

"But you used to tell me that women were too scary to understand," Kit stated. "You used to tell me women were much worse then any grimm."

"Yeah, well..." Cheshire murmured, "They still are so be nice or the chivalry monster will get you."

"Chivalry Monster?? Where?!?" Kit yelped, looking around frantically.

"Come on already," Cheshire half sighed half chuckled, pushing Kit towards the dining table to sit. "I'm going to go help Liseran. Behave."

Despite feeling better, Liseran wasn't well enough to make baked goods out of scrap and settled for baking some pre-made cookie dough from the godmother's weekend stay. Popping them into the oven, she and Bell moved over to get the table ready with little saucers and plates and glasses for milk.

As Cheshire and Kit entered, Liseran turned around and smiled, wearing a light yellow apron over her dress and slipping off currant-red oven mitts.

"Ah, there you two are," Liseran smiled brightly, somewhat happy to entertain Kit as a guest. "Kit, you can sit down next to Bell. Cheshire, I'm afraid the milk pitcher is a bit too heavy for Bell to carry. Mind bringing it to the table for me?"

Bell had just finished placing the utensils and seeing Kit, she frowned. Hearing Liseran's remark where she had pointed as to where Kit should sit, Bell moved away from the chair and across in order to avoid him.

"Bell, what's wrong?" Liseran said. "You always sit there."

Bell turned to Liseran smiling. "I want to try sitting by the window for once, Mama. Also, you and Papa should sit next to one another. Also..."

She turned to Kit and gave him a huffy look before returning to Liseran's gaze to smile. "Nevermind~"

"Just behave," Liseran said. "Your Papa and I expect you to be a good little girl."

"Yes, Mama~" Bell said sweetly in a singsong manner as she waited for the cookies to bake. Whenever she'd see Kit, her smile would turn into a frown and she'd look away again.

As Cheshire went to get the pitcher, Kit stared at Bell for a while, narrowing his eyes every time she'd see her smile turn to a frown.

"What are you so angry about," Kit questioned blankly.

"I don't know what you're talking about," Bell huffed as she looked to the window with crossed arms.

Liseran soon opened the oven and the sweet smell filled thd kitchen. She laid down thd cookie slices on a platter as well as some raspberry sandwiches. With the milk in place, Liseran smiled and sat down

"Go ahead and help yourself, kids," she said. Bell beames and tool a square to nibble it thoughtfully. Liseran looked at Kit.

"So, Kit, you must have traveled a bit in order to gey here," she said. "How far off is yout school?"

"It's only a day's trip by boat," he replied stiffly as he took a cookie and took a small bite from it and chewed thoughtfully. "The academy rarely allows time off but expenses are provided for. I took this rare opportunity to see my big brother. I am glad to see he is in good health."

"His language and grammar teachers used to fall in love with him," Cheshire remarked as he nibbled on a sandwich. "How have things went since you joined the academy?"

"I have been keeping up my studies and training diligently," Kit replied.

"Have you made any friends?" Cheshire asked.

"I have many comrades in my core," Kit answered.

"What about friends?" Cheshire asked again.

".... I have many comrades in my core," Kit answered, slowly taking another bite of the cookie.

Liseran listened, amused, before taking a sandwich and biting into it.

"Well, I'm glad they gave you some time off," she said. "And if it's friends you'd want, I'm sure Bell would be more than obliged."

Bell's eyes turned wide as she looked at Liseran but didn't protest. She instead gave Kit a bitter smile.

"So," Liseran continued now addresding both faunus. "Do you have plans on how you'll be spending today? And how long is your leave?"

"About three days including today," Kit replied.

"I didn't exactly have anything planned," Cheshire said. "Maybe we can plan something we can all do. Bell, how about you play with Kit in the back while me and your mother talk about things?"

Bell smiled sweetly.

"Okay, Papa~" she said as she got down from her chair. She then moved over to Kit and took him by the wrist. "Let's play in the garden, Kit. There are flowers there and its sunny."

She led him away and Cheshire was alone with Liseran who smiled sheepishly.

"Well, he certainly is adorable. Though not quite what I expected..."

"I wasn't exactly the best role model I guess," Cheshire said, scratching the head of his head awkwardly. "I always kept to myself and well... I guess that sort of rubbed off on him. Heh, I remember how he used to grab onto my sleeve all the time and wouldn't let go."

-----

"H-Hey, what are you doing??" Kit yelped as he was dragged by the wrist by Bell. As they went outside, his eyes shifted around and he had a grumpy look on his face. "What are we supposed to do now?"

Liseran looked at Cheshire reassuringly and squeezed his hand.

"You could have only done so much," she said softly. " To be the only one to rely on is hard. Besides, he seems to look up to you. And I know for a fact that you're the most wonderful person I've ever met. Kit probably knows that, too. That's what matters. And now, well, you can make up all the lost time right? So what do you think we should do so Kit can learn to enjoy himself?"

***

The garden overlooked another side of the cliff and showed the pure blue waters shimmering in the sunlight. There was a light breeze and the many flowers moved with it. White roses in honor of Alice, wild roses for Liseran's mother, begonias, bluebells and irises...all seemed to dance. There was a small table with three chairs under a weeping willow, covering it like a curtain. Bell let go of Kit and walked towards it.

"Whatever you want," Bell said crossly. "But I'm staying away from you."

And with that, she walkes through the willows leaves and they closed behind her as she sat at the table.

"I don't know," Cheshire muttered. "I mean, he doesn't really like going out or... well anything that doesn't have purpose."

~~

"What's your problem," Kit asked crossly as he marched over towards the table, literally marching like a soldier on the battlefield.

Liseran smiled.

"Well of course our outing is going to have a purpose," she said. "For you and Kit to catch up. Hmm, let's see...we could go for something educational like the observatory...or something active like an outdoor thing...does Kit like amuseme nt parks?"

***

Bell frowned as Kit approached and lifted her chin proudly as she turned away and huffed.

"You're a meanie," she said as she opened a book to read. "I don't like meanies."

"I don't think he even knows what amusement parks are for," Cheshire half chuckled. "I don't know... maybe a picnic?"

~~~~

"Meanie?" Kit murmured. "How am I a meanie??"

"Well, a picnic it shall be," Liseran said as she leaned over to kiss Cheshire on the forehead. "Just like with Bell. Only now, the family's bigger. I'm not feeling that ill thanks to the medicine. I can whip up some food and desserts for us. The bay below is pretty clear of people now since it's a work day. And it's just below, so no need to worry about traveling too far. Or we could go to the small fields nearby. It's windy and there are flowers. What do you think?"

***

Bell continued to scowl as she narrowed her eyes to read Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.

"You called Mama bad even if you don't know her," Bell said coldly. "You don't smile and you are always grumpy. That is not politr, it is mean. Meanie."

"I have a decent feeling he would like the fields better," Cheshire stated, kissing Vide on the cheek. "And I'm sure he'll love your cooking. I'll help out."

~~~

"And you slammed the door at my face and called me a demon," Kit deadpanned. "I do apologize for making assumptions on your mother though. Your mother seems like a nice lady. What exactly is her relationship with my big brother, if I may ask?"

"I sure hope he will," Liseran said. "I'd like to make my best impression on him. Hehe. Hm, speaking of which, I wonder what Kit and Bell are doing now..."

***

Bell's face went red upon the demon remark, and she indignantly turned away with crosses arms. "We-well, you look like the chivalry demon! That's why! And of course Mama is nice, she's the best person in the world. That's why your brother, my Papa, is in love with her!"

"I'm sure they're having fun," Cheshire reassured her.

~~~~

"I do not look like--" Kit was about to say when Bell's last statement registered in his mind. His eyes widen and his body was shaking. "P-P-Pa-" he stammered, "WHAT?! In love??!! HOW!!!??"

Bell looked rather taken aback by Kit's shock. She frowned.

"What's the matter? Papa loves Mama. It's only natural for parents, isn't it?"

She sighed and shook her head. "You're weird."

The backdoor opened and Liseran emerged from it.

"Bell, Kit? Having fun over there? Do you want me to bring the snacks over there?"