Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Some days, Vanya wished it would rain.

Sure, the rain meant no walks in the courtyard, no sketching the squirrels scampering across the yard, and no practicing violin on the balcony, letting the wind carry the sound through the leaves on the trees.

The rain also meant Grace would read to them.

The people living in the rather large house didn’t agree on much, the one thing they would undoubtedly swear on (Even Reginald if he was in a good mood) was that Grace’s voice when she read was as beautiful as Beethoven and as soothing as water bubbling down a brooke.  

Vanya knew it was also the only time Allison would sit next to her, Luther even let her sit on his knee sometimes, when they’d all crowded onto the same couch.

Even Klaus would calm down long enough to hear about Moby Dick or Jane Eyre, Anne of Green Gables or Anne Frank.

Five would stop talking about physics and jumping through time, he would even linger afterwards and talk to her about the logic of each characters decision, like her opinion mattered.

Like she mattered.

Today was one of those days, where all she wanted in the world was for the sky to rumble its belly laugh and pour down the labors of the clouds.

If she had Allison’s power, she’d tell the sky a rumor. She wondered if there was someone up there to listen.

Despite her wish, as it was, the sky was blue as the oceans in Grace’s paintings and the sun cast dusted shadows over the courtyard.

Yet one thing that even rain couldn’t stop was the missions, and at that moment, the alarm blared through the house, alerting her siblings.

Vanya stepped carefully down the stairs, moving quickly out of Ben’s way as he rushed past, yelling for Klaus to hurry up. She met Pogo at the bottom of the steps and he nodded at her with a smile, silently watching as six children rushed about, masks on and leather clad. Vanya didn’t bother asking what they’re mission was, she knew by now she would never get a straight answer.

“Does anyone have a hair tie?” Allison yelled, running past Vanya, “Mom?”

Vanya stepped up to tap her sister on the shoulder as she rolled an elastic band off her wrist. Allison whirled around, sighing when she saw who it was, “I really don’t have time Vanya.”

She looked down at what Vanya was holding and sighed again, this time in relief, “Oh, thank you.”

Without another glance, she was gone, down the hall and towards the shouting of Reginald, waiting impatiently at the door.

Diego was down the steps next, he tripped on the last stair and fell into Vanya, who’s body kept him from falling. He turned to glare at her and she shrunk back. Diego’s glare softened, “Y-you okay?”

Vanya managed a smile and a nod, and Diego was gone too, throwing a wave over his shoulder.

She’d turned to go back to her room when Klaus and Luther barreled past, apparently in a race of some sort. Neither of them stopped or said a thing.

Five came down much more calmly, though still skipping every stair he could. He was the first to stop voluntarily when he saw Vanya.

“The old man really likes to keep us going, huh?”

Vanya shrugged, “Lives to save I guess.”

Five nodded, casting a glance over his shoulder when Reginald yelled for him, “Hey, when I get back, can I run some ideas past you?”

“Why me?” Vanya answered quietly, digging the toe of her shoe into the carpet.

With a snort like it was obvious, Five started to turn, “Because you listen!” he shouted back to her as he ran off.

The front door opened and closed as sounds of six small feet, one set of large ones and a cane moved outside. As soon as the door shut again, the alarm turned off.

Pogo turned decidedly, Vanya didn’t question him.

Her brothers and sisters may have known the ins and outs of missions, powers, everything extraordinary that Vanya wasn’t, but she knew the house and the people in it.

Pogo would be in the library until the troops came home, putting in reading time Vanya had overheard him say under his breath that ‘he never got anymore.’.

Grace would either be in the kitchen, cooking a treat for when her siblings came back successful, or in her chair with her paintings, hand embroidering something or other.

Deciding she really had nothing better to do, Vanya moved across the foyer and down the staircase into the kitchen, she found it empty and retraced her steps, this time going up the stairs.

She found Grace embroidering and sat down quietly next to her, Grace’s hand stalled,

“Can I get you something dear?”

Vanya shook her head, “No, it’s okay mom. I thought I could just sit with you.”

Grace nodded and began to hum, positioning herself differently as Vanya rested her head on her shoulder.

“What one is your favorite?” Vanya asked, eyes flicking between paintings on the wall.

Grace tilted her head to rest her cheek on top of Vanya’s hair, “What one is your favorite?”

“Today…” Vanya started, biting her lip, “Today my favorite is the one with the lighthouse.”

WIth a nod and a smile like she’d just won a scholarship, Grace huffed, “Well, then today, my favorite is the lighthouse one too.”

Vanya laughed and sat forward, “Would you like to hear my new song?”

“Why of course!” Grace said with the excitement only a mother could have, “We can have a little concert, just the two of us.”

Smiling, Vanya stood and ran down the hall and around a corner, she may have been jealous of her siblings and what they could do, but Vanya always enjoyed the days home when Grace wasn’t busy, it was almost as good as when it rained.

She skidded to a stop inside her room and carefully pulled her violin case out from under her bed. She walked back to Grace slower, cradling the case to her torso.

“I wrote this piece myself!” She announced.

Grace set down her embroidery and folded her hands on her lap, giving Vanya her full attention.

The bow screeched against the strings the first time she brought it across and she winced.

“Don’t worry,” Grace said encouragingly, “Try again.”

So she did, and this time the sound ran out softly at first, then louder.

The melancholy melody drifted down the stairs and into the library where Pogo sat. He smiled and set his book down on his lap, leaning back and closing his eyes to listen.

“Extraordinary…” he muttered.

The front door clicked open and he sat up, moving the book onto the side table. He stood and walked out into the foyer, “That was rather quick.”

When no one answered he sighed, “It really isn’t very good manners to ignore someone talking to you.” Pogo made it to the door and stopped when he saw who’d come through, his eyes widened.

“My apologies,” The stranger said, a wicked grin stretched across his face.

Pogo stepped back, reaching for the emergency button hidden behind a drapery.

The stranger got to him first.

He picked Pogo up by the shirt collar, “Where’s the girl?”

“I’m afraid I don’t know what you’re talking about, all the children are gone.” Pogo said, calm, practised.

With almost no effort, the stranger threw Pogo across the room. He fell onto the sitting rooms coffee table and crashed through it. The stranger smiled as the sound of a violin screeched to a stop.

“Come out come out wherever you are,” He sang, walking up the stairs.

Small footsteps ran one way and the stranger began to follow when a hand on his arm stopped him.

Grace smiled, but her eyes stared daggers, “We are quite busy at the moment, please come back later.”

“Everyone in this house is so polite,” The stranger said, leaning in softly, he reached up and cupped Grace’s cheeks, snapping her head backwards with one swift movement.

He turned and began walking back down the hall, “Vanya? Come out and say hello.”

A strong hit to his back had him on his knees. When he turned, Grace loomed down on him, the back of her head facing him.

The stranger grabbed her heel and pushed, as she fell he caught her. Hefting her over the banister and into the large foyer. She landed with a crash and he turned sharply, once again resuming his path.

A whimper caught his attention and he opened the first bedroom door slowly, he looked around at the walls, chuckling when he spotted the embroidered name ‘Diego’ hanging in a frame.

“It’s okay Vanya, I won’t hurt you, as long as you listen.” He said softly.

The door bumped behind him and he spun in time to grab a fistful of Vanya’s dark hair.

“Mom!” she shrieked, wriggling under his grip. The stranger laughed and pulled her to the door, when she didn’t stop moving he growled and pulled a rag out of his pocket.

Shoving it over her mouth and nose, Vanya’s struggling went limp and her screams turned to muffled whimpers before they were gone completely.

The stranger threw her over his shoulder and walked out the door, whistling all the while.

Chapter Text

Luther jumped out of the car first and punched the air, “Did you see that punch? He went down in one blow!” as if the to demonstrate, he punched the space in front of him a few more times.

“Sure, but did you see that throw?” Diego countered, twirling a knife between his fingers.

Allison stepped out of the car and rolled her eyes, “None of you would’ve been able to even get close if I hadn’t rumored that guard.”

Klaus’ foot caught on the curb and he tripped, catching himself on Luther, who pushed him steady. Before Klaus could argue his worth, Reginald cleared his throat, “It could have gone faster.”

Those few words shut them all down, the only noise was Five’s more than audible sigh as he walked to the door, a bloodied Ben followed, eyes trained on the ground.

He almost ran into Five when his brother stopped at the door, Five cast a glance back at his family, some semblance of worry on his face.

Reginald pushed forward through the group of children, “What is it, Number Five?” he was annoyed, Five bit back a retort,

“The door is open.” He gestured and Reginald raised an eyebrow, slowly pushing it open with his cane,

“Be ready.”

They all knew what the words meant, and they positioned themselves accordingly, the only glitch was Diego and Luther fighting for the front. In the end, Luther ended up at Reginald’s side and Diego stepped back to stand protectively in front of Klaus and Ben.

When the door opened, Luther rushed inside, only to stop abruptly, “Pogo?”

The one in question groaned in response and Allison was with him in a second, kneeling down, “What happened?”

Before Pogo could reply, Diego was running past, shouting for their mother. He skidded to a halt next to her limp form, “M-mom? Are you o-o-”

His mouth clamped up and Ben’s hand on his shoulder kept him from speaking anymore.

Reginald knelt with a huff and turned Grace’s head to the side not very gently, he seemed to pull at something behind her ear before Grace’s eyes blinked open.

Diego sat back and let out a breath of relief, Ben smiled at him.

Five, silent until that moment, looked around the room, “Vanya?”

Surprisingly, that caught Reginald’s attention. He stood quickly and spun, “Find her!” he barked, and the children scrambled to do as they were told, only Klaus noticed the hint of fear in his father’s voice, but kept it to himself.

Five ran up the steps alongside Diego, and the two burst into their sisters room. Diego’s breath hitched when he tried to speak and all that came out was a stuttered choking sound.

“Vanya?” Five said again, softer. If she was hiding somewhere, he didn’t want to sound like he was angry with her, “It’s Diego and Five, you’re safe now.”

Diego bent to check under the bed as Five opened her closet.

“Guys!” Ben’s shout came from down the hall. The children were gathered in Diego’s room quickly and Klaus handed a white cloth over to Luther,

“Smell it.” when Luther bent his head close, Klaus held out his hands, “Woah, wait! Not too closely!”

Luther pulled back and did as he was told, he swallowed, “Chloroform.”

“Shit.” Diego said, clear as day. He took the rag, “Why would someone take Vanya? She’s harmless.”

He didn’t get an answer before Five was running down the stairs, yelling for their father.

“Oh no,” Ben said softly, already guessing what was about to happen. Luther gave Allison a look and the two followed. Ben went after them, pulling Klaus along with him.

“I told you you should have brought her with us!” Five was yelling at a clearly annoyed Reginald.

“There was no need for her,” Reginald dismissed, helping Grace to stand.

Five scoffed, “No need? What about last week? When Klaus got hurt, she was the first to spot it!”

Reginald stepped forward menacingly, “I suggest you calm yourself Number Five.” despite his wording, it wasn’t a suggestion. It was a threat.

Always the one to mediate and step into the leading role, Luther put a hand on Five’s shoulder, “There’s no point blaming anyone now. We need to focus.”

“So what first?” Allison asked him, stepping in front of Five to block his view of their father.

Luther rubbed the back of his neck, “Um…”

He stopped short and looked at Reginald for help, but the man had already turned and started walking back to his office. The children followed.

“Dad?” Luther questioned.

Reginald didn’t acknowledge him as he pulled a key out of his pocket, using it to open a drawer at the bottom of his desk, he pulled out a bulky device with a screen crudely displaying a blinking red dot. Handing it over to Luther, he sat down and waved a hand,

“Go find her then.”

Allison took the device from Luther, “Is this a tracker?” her tone was accusing.

Reginald dismissed them with a grunt, Five looked like his head was about to explode. Allison took his arm and guided him out of the room before either of them could say anything they’d regret.

Klaus and Ben were waiting outside, toes stopped just before the threshold of his office, obviously too nervous to break a rule and step inside.

“Do you think they took her to get to us?” Ben asked softly, looking up at Allison.

“I’m not sure Ben.”

When Luther stepped back out of Reginald’s office he shut the door behind him, “Everybody be ready to head out.”

“What about dad, he isn’t coming?” Klaus asked, one hand in his pocket, the other leaning on Ben’s shoulder.

Luther shook his head, “Go get Diego.”

With a sigh, Klaus complied, bounding up the stairs and skidding to a halt inside Diego’s room, “Luther says it’s time to go.”

“She hid in my room,” Diego said, not really to Klaus as much as to himself.

Klaus rolled his eyes, “It’s the first room after the stairs Diego.”

Diego spun to face his brother, “Five is right, we should have taken her with us.”

“No good now, is it?” At Diego’s face, Klaus sighed, “Okay, I agree, but it’s lunchtime and she’s probably feeling pretty hungry right now, so let’s go brink her home so she can eat.”

His reasoning was ridiculous, typical Klaus, but somehow, it got through to Diego, who nodded, “Let’s go then.”

They moved back downstairs, Klaus sliding down the railing on the way. Ben waited at the railing and he reluctantly fistbumped Klaus when the young man prompted. Five stopped at the door and leaned against the frame, obviously trying to act like he wasn’t worried and angry.

Allison walked up to them with Grace, each holding three paper bags full of lunches the children had no idea how she had time to make.

Grace waited until Luther was with them to hand him a small bottle of pills, “Make sure Vanya gets her medicine,” she leaned in like she was telling a secret, “It helps with her nerves.”

Familiar with Grace’s insistence that Vanya take the small pills twice a day, even when the young girl didn’t want to, Luther pocketed them and gave her a thumbs up.

“Be safe out there!” Their mother said cheerily as they opened the door, when Diego glanced back, the hairs on the back of his neck rose when he saw the look Grace had on her face, behind the smile.

The six children walked down the sidewalk in a formal line, following Luther who had his head ducked over the tracking device, Allison skipped to catch up with him, “Are you worried?”

“If we don’t get this right, dad will be really disappointed,” Luther replied.

Allison furrowed her eyebrows, “What about Vanya? Aren’t you worried for her?”

Luther looked at her like he’d completely forgotten Vanya was even in the picture, “Sorry, It’s just- it’s easier if I think about it as just another mission.”

“She’s our sister Luther” Allison shot back, irritated.

“You think I don’t know that?” he hissed, “But I can’t let it cloud my judgement, everyone is counting on me to lead.”

With a scoff, Allison flipped her hair, “We’re expecting you to be our teammate,” her voice softened and she put a hand on his arm, “You’re allowed to be human Luther.”

Luther just shrugged her off and turned, “Klaus, before we left, dad told me that this guy is trained, which probably means he’s killed people.”

Klaus groaned, “Do you know how long it’ll take to sift through murdered people to find the right one? We don’t even know what this guy looks like!”

At Luther’s pointed look, he sighed, “I can try, but I’ll need somewhere to sit and concentrate.” Luther pointed at Diego, who slumped his shoulders and gave Luther a ‘i’m only doing this because I have to look’ before bending and holding his hands out behind him.

“What?” Klaus wrinkled his nose, “No way!”

“We don’t have time for this!” Five cut in, “Just get on his back so we can go!”

Klaus stuck his tongue out and did as he was told, grumbling the whole way. Diego hefted him up a little on his back before he started walking again, and Klaus closed his eyes.

“Why’d you make Diego? You have super strength,” Ben said under his breath, Luther waved the tracker and ruffled his brothers hair,

“I’ve got the device!”

Allison rolled her eyes and moved in front of the group, she looked up at the blue sky, whispering a rumor and hoping something up there would hear.

“I heard a rumor that Vanya is safe.”

Chapter Text

When Vanya woke up, she wasn’t scared.

She wasn’t scared because she was in bed and the sound of her favorite violin album drifted through the room.

Her head hurt, as her memory slowly drifted back.

Vanya still wasn’t scared though, just worried. What had happened? Was mom okay? Was she the one who brought her to her room? Was it Pogo?

It wasn’t until she sat up and threw her feet over the edge of the bed and the clang of chains hitting the floor made her head hurt worse that fear started to edge it’s way into her heart.

By the time her vision cleared completely and she could see she wasn’t in her room, but a pink one with plush walls, and the bed wasn’t her bed, but a large queen with a wood frame, her heart was beating twice it’s pace.

Vanya lifted her left foot gingerly and whimpered when she saw the heavy shackle cuffed to it, as if her senses were slowly returning one by one, her arm began to throb, looking down, she let a sob escape her when she saw a rag wrapped crudely around her forearm, soaked in blood.

“Hello?” The violin stopped and footsteps above her had her scrambling to the corner of the room, as far as the shackles would allow.

Vanya watched the ceiling as more footsteps stomped across when the lights went out. She couldn’t help the screech that ripped from her throat as she was plunged into total darkness. Wrapping her arms around her knees Vanya began rocking back and forth, humming the familiar tune Grace always seemed to hum when she was doing anything around the house.

It provided little comfort, but she was delirious and if she drifted far enough away, it almost felt like Grace was with her, whispering soft assurances in her ear.

I square of light hit the floor as something opened above her head.

Another sob left her lips as the voice from before she passed out echoed through the room,

“Hello Isabel.”

********

A small bell above the motel check-in door rang when Luther pushed through, followed by five not-so-happy teenagers.

The desk clerk lifted his head and waved. Luther smiled, “We need to book three rooms please.”

“Okay…” the clerk looked around, “Do you have an adult with you?”

Next to Luther, Five mumbled something that sounded a lot like ‘I told you so’.

“We just need to stay for a couple nights,” Allison tried next, “We’ll stay out of your way.”

“Sorry,” the clerk said, sounding far from it, “Rules are rules, I can’t book any rooms unless you have an adult twenty-one or older with you.”

Allison took Luther’s arm and pulled him a few feet away, the others followed, “Do we really need a room?”

“We’ve been walking for hours, plus, like dad always says, we need some sort of HQ to set up in.” Luther said back.

“Luther’s right.” Diego spoke up, he made a face when his siblings gave him surprised looks and moved Klaus higher on his back, “What? My back hurts.”

Allison waved her hands out in front of her and shook her head, stalking back over to the clerk. She leaned over the counter, “I heard a rumor... that you’re happy to have us.”

The clerk’s demeanor changed almost immediately and he smiled, handing over three motel key cards, “Enjoy your stay!”

With another huff, Allison took them and walked out into the parking lot, she handed Diego a key and he took it gratefully, moving to the indicated door with his burden.

Without warning, Five snatched the second key card and turned, pulling a disgruntled Ben along with him.

“Guess that just leaves us then,” Luther said with a tight lipped smile.

Allison, apparently too tired and focused on what was happening to worry about him, pushed through the motel door and kicked off her shoes, falling into one of the two twin beds, “Wake me up in an hour.”

“Uh,” Luther looked around as he shut the door, “Okay, I’m going to take a shower.”

A sleepy hum was all the response he got.

********

Diego stepped out of the bathroom and shook out his hair like a dog as he straightened his tie. He shivered a little, skin still chilled from the cold water the shower had spurted, hitting his skin like needles.

At the thought of needles he swallowed and shook his head, imagining knives instead.

Movement caught the corner of his eye and he turned just in time to see Klaus sit up abruptly… and fling himself off the bed.

Diego rushed over to him, quickly turning over onto his back. He sighed and sat down with a huff when he realized Klaus was still asleep- or unconscious- and closed his eyes.

Vanya’s violin was getting better. It was almost pleasant to listen to now. He twirled his knife between his fingers, timing it so he threw it against the wall as the violin finished it’s crescendo. The violin screeched to a stop and Vanya’s quiet yelp made him wince.

Diego waited for a few minutes, thinking the violin would start again. When it didn’t, he rolled off his bed and walked out the door, turning to knock on Vanya’s.

She opened it slowly, and ducked her head when she saw him, “Sorry if I was playing too loud.”

“You weren’t.” Diego shrugged, “I liked the song.”

Vanya’s worried expression brightened, “You did?”

“Yeah.” Diego shrugged again, like it was no big deal. Mom’s bell rang, signaling it was time for training. He waved at Vanya as he left, feeling oddly energized by her smile as she waved back.

A knock on the motel door startled Diego out of his thoughts, he looked down at Klaus, still on the floor, snoring lightly. He stood and walked to the door, unsurprised when Five was waiting on the other side.

“Where’s Ben?”

“Sleeping, where’s Klaus?”

“On the floor.”

“Of course he is.”

Studying his brother, Diego opened the door wider and let him walk through. Five teleported past him and into a crisscrossed position on the bed closest to the door. Diego rolled his eyes and walked over to join him.

Five made a face as he leaned over to look at Klaus, “Is it always like this?”

Diego shrugged and Five nodded. The two sat in silence for a while longer, FIve seemed to be comfortable with the lack of conversation, but Diego, having rarely even spent much time with Five ever, bounced his knee anxiously.

He was almost relieved when Klaus woke up.

Almost.

Because when Klaus woke up, he jumped up, and started screaming, covering his ears with his hands.

It took a good ten minutes of Diego telling him he was safe, Five jumping back and forth between the ice machine and the room because Klaus kept grinding his teeth, Ben running in with a half panicked, half murderous look, Luther having to explain to the other motel tenants that, no, his brother wasn’t being murdered and Allison rumoring a cop who happened to be in the area, to calm Klaus down.

When they finally did, they sat in a circle breathing heavily. Klaus was curled up next to Ben’s side and his eyes stared straight ahead.

“What did you see Klaus?” Five said as gently as he could, attempting to brush off the wet spot on his shirt from ice that melted before he got it to Diego.

Klaus shook his head, “So many.”

“So many of what?”

“So many people, dead. They killed them, they killed them all, so many, so many people…” Suddenly Klaus lurched forward and gripped one of Allison’s wrists, “Rumor me, tell me to sleep.”

Allison’s eyes widened, “Klaus, we promised each other a long time ago we’d never use our powers on each other.”

“Please.” Klaus’ voice shook, “Tell me to sleep.”

Looking pained, Luther gently pulled Allison’s wrist out of Klaus’ grip, “We need to know what you saw Klaus.”

“No, no, no,” Klaus wailed, “don’t make me remember.”

Ben was with him in a second, grabbing his shoulders and forcing him to look him in the eye, “A name, then you don’t have to remember anymore. We just need a name.”

When Klaus continued to shake his head, Ben shook him lightly, “For Vanya.”

Repeating back Ben’s words, Klaus nodded and closed his eyes, whimpering slightly, “Aaron Lagner and his daughter.”

With a horrified expression, Allison’s voice came out in a whisper, “His daughter ?”

Klaus nodded, “Isabel.”

Chapter Text

“Hello Isabel.”

Vanya tried to calm her breathing, what had Five told her? She couldn’t remember, all she could think of was when he told her she needed to be careful, because someone might try and take her to get to them.

So why was he calling her Isabel?

Vanya took a breath, “My name- my name is Vanya.”

As her eyes slowly adjusted to the lack of light, she became horribly aware of the man looming over her. He smiled, “Don’t worry, you’ll be yourself again soon.”

“I want to go home!”

The man’s face contorted in anger, “This is your home now,” he spat, “I think it would do you good to have some manners.”

Flinching, Vanya was suddenly reminded of her father, and the way he’d snap at her when she’d done something wrong, “Y-you’re right, I’m sorry.”

Smile returning, the man reached out to pet her hair, “I know you’re confused, but soon, you won’t be anyone but my dear Isabel.”

Trying not to cry, Vanya looked up at the man, “What’s your name?”

“Aaron.”

“I like that name.”

That seemed to be the right thing to say, “So does Isabel.”

Deciding to push her luck, get as much information as she could, just like Five had taught her, Vanya forced a smile, “Who’s Isabel?”

“Soon,” Aaron turned and began to pull himself up through the trap door, “she’ll be you.”

********

They’d found the tracker.

They’d found the tracker next to a gas station.

They’d found the tracker thrown away, blood dripping off it.

They’d found the tracker with no sign of Vanya.

Luther felt like punching a hole through one of the gas tanks. He held back though, shoving his hand in his pocket instead. It hit Vanya’s pill bottle, making the pills inside shake around with a click clack noise.

Luther’s anger ebbed away, replaced by guilt, by worry, by fear.

He’d been scared before, scared when one of the bad guys had hit Klaus in the head just a little too hard, scared when Allison’s mouth was covered, keeping her from defending herself. But those were fixable problems, the infirmary and some pain medication, a punch to the gut so Allison was free.

This was different.

This was Vanya.

Luther held the tracker in between two of his fingers, the blood on it made him want to puke. This guy- Aaron, Isabel, whatever- had carved it out of his sister.

“What now?” Ben sounded tired, scared, alone. Luther wanted to hug him. He didn’t.

“The library?” Allison suggested, turned away from the others.

Five took the tracker from Luther, his hand shook, from anger or fear or both, Luther wasn’t sure.

“His daughter, Isabel, how old is she?”

Klaus sighed, “I don’t know, ten? Eleven?”

Diego made a face, “He makes his ten year old kid kill?”

Something in Ben’s face clouded, and Luther hurried to change the subject, “Why, what are you thinking Five?”

“I was thinking about why he’d take Vanya.” Luther rolled his eyes, yeah, all of them were. Five glared at him, “Listen, do any of you remember that guy who came to the door a few weeks ago?”

Allison turned, “You mean the guy who said his daughter was missing?”

Looking like he was going to be sick, Diego waved his hand, “Hold on, you mean he was at the house? He was right there and we didn’t do anything?”

“We couldn’t have known,” Ben reassured, “but yea, I remember too, he said his daughter was gone.”

That didn’t make sense, Luther shook his head, “Then why didn’t we help him?”

“Because he didn’t want our help.” Five kicked at the curb, “He just kept saying he wanted another, dad said he was drunk and shut the door.”

“Are you saying he took Vanya because he wants her to be his daughter?” It was Allison who looked sick now, and Luther was sure his expression mirrored hers.

Their speculations were interrupted by a man stepping up to them, his name tag read ‘Carl’ and he looked nervous, “Hey guys, is everything okay?”

It took them longer than it should’ve it realize he knew who they were. Part of him was probably thinking he was in trouble, either because of them or because of some threat they were there to stop.

“Did you see a man pass through here with a little girl?” Five questioned, “Dark hair, bangs, a uniform like ours but no mask?”

Carl wrinkled his eyebrows, “What’s this about?”

“Just answer the question,” Diego said. It was a threat in a way, Luther watched as he tapped one of his knives against his thigh.

Swallowing, Carl nodded, “Uh, yeah, come to think of it. This guy came in, had a girl on his back, he bought a pack of beers and a chocolate bar. Said that his daughter had just finished her first dance lesson and they were headed home.”

Licking his lips like he was trying not to say something brash, Five pointed at a sign in the window, saying something about twenty-four hour surveillance, “We’re going to need to see the footage.”

********

Above Vanya, the trapdoor opened again, and she scrambled back into her corner.

Aaron climbed down, holding a gray case in one hand and a chocolate bar in the other. He held out the candybar to Vanya, who took it hesitantly, setting it down in her lap.

“We’re going to play a game, okay?” His voice was gentle, and it reminded Vanya of the time she’d cut herself helping Mom with dinner, she’d needed stitches and Mom had said the same thing before pushing the numbing needle into her skin. Vanya flinched at the memory and shook her head.

“Don’t worry,” Aaron opened the gray case, revealing wires and a heavy machine inside, “it won’t take long.”

Vanya wanted to fight him off, keep him from doing anything, but she’d cornered herself and the shackles on her ankles were too heavy.

Aaron brushed her hair back from her face, ignoring her whimpers as he stuck two squares of adhesive on either side of her head. They were cold, and Vanya shut her eyes.

The suction of the wires came next, she could hear Aaron’s smile through his words, “Let’s start small?”

A shock hit her temples and Vanya cried out, more from surprise then pain.

The next shock was harder, she gripped her skirt and tried to think of something else, anything else.

Another shock.

Another cry.

Vanya focused on her breathing, in and out.

“What’s your name?” Aaron asked quietly, Vanya swallowed and grimaced at the metallic taste in her mouth,

“Vanya.”

Shock.

In and out.

“What’s your name?”

“V-Vanya.”

When the shock came the next time, the floor under her shook. She opened her eyes and Aaron looked around, “Interesting.”

He took her chin and tilted it towards him, “Let’s try this again, what’s your name?”

Shaking with the room around her, Vanya wrapped her arms around her knees, “My name is Vanya.”

After the sixteenth shock, Vanya stared straight ahead as he asked the question, her lip quivered, “Number Seven.”

It wasn’t until the twenty-first shock that Vanya’s answer pleased him.

“What’s your name?”

“...Isabel.”

Chapter Text

Aaron Lagner worked at a construction site a mile from their motel.

That was the easy part, logos displayed on hats where a dead giveaway, from there, they just had to break into the company records and find an address.

That’s when the hard part came. Aaron Lagner’s home was empty, no sign he’d been there in days.

Which left the property he owned across town, a survival shelter.

“You’re kidding.” Allison stared down at the blueprints they’d found in his house, “What kind of guy has a survival shelter ?”

“It’s not uncommon,” Ben supplied, “a lot of people think that the worlds going to end soon, so they build special shelters to shield them from bombs and other threats from a live worzone.” at the others blank looks, he shrugged, “I read.”

“Okay, so I’m guessing there are a lot of security measures, right?” Luther asked.

Happy to be of use outside of the monsters writhing under his skin, Ben nodded, “Most of them probably aren’t even on the blueprint, in case they fall into the enemies hands.”

Nodding along, Diego waved the knife in his hand, “So how do we get in?”

Ben didn’t have an answer for that.

Five did, “I can jump in.”

“No way,” Luther shook his head, “like Ben said, we have no idea what’s waiting in there, you can’t go running in with no back up.”

Sighing, Allison nodded, “Luther’s right,” she looked at the floor, “but it might be our only chance to help Vanya.”

“What?” Luther looked hurt. To be fair, this was the first time in Five’s memory that they didn’t agree.

Allison pointed at the blueprint, “Vanya is somewhere in there, alone and scared and helpless,” her eyes were glossy, she blinked before any tears could fall, “I know she isn’t like us, but she’s our sister, we can’t leave her in there alone.”

Klaus shrugged, “What’s the worst that could happen?”

“Five could get captured,” Diego suggested. Klaus shrugged again,

“Then Vanya would have company!”

Luther groaned and looked around, “Diego? What’s your vote?”

Surprised that he was getting one, let alone having Luther ask him, DIego blinked, “Uh,” he looked from Luther’s face down to the blueprint, “She doesn’t have powers, she’s never been in a situation like this, the longer she’s alone, the worse it’ll be.”

Allison looked at Luther with big eyes, Luther sighed, “Yeah, okay, you’re right. Five-” he stopped and spun, “Five?”

Klaus snorted, “He left forever ago.”

Luther groaned again.

********

Five hadn’t waited for them to argue over the decision, he was the one jumping and Vanya needed him.

Jumping somewhere you knew vs jumping somewhere he’d only seen on blueprints were two different things, and when Five emerged from the blue ring of- whatever it was, he ran face first into a wall.

Falling back onto his back, Five covered his nose with his hands and grumbled something about equations that even he wasn’t sure he understood.

He was on his feet in an instant when he heard footsteps behind him and he quickly scrambled to hide. With nowhere to go, he steeled himself and jumped to the ceiling, wrapping his arms and legs around a structural beam.

Under him, the man from the gas station surveillance camera walked past.

Five bit back a growl and forced himself to hold on. He didn’t like to admit it, but Luther was right. He didn’t have back up and Aaron had taken out Pogo and Grace with ease. He didn’t know what he was walking into.

Biting the end of his tie to muffle his grunts, Five crawled along the ceiling, following Aaron to wherever his destination was.

A few turns and a lot of sweating later, Five stopped above a trap door and watched as the man climbed down. Five considered going after him, but weighing the consequences, it was probably safer for him to wait.

He ended up waiting until his legs were shaking and his arms were threatening to break their hold. Part of him was glad the others hadn’t come with him to see how bad he was struggling, he was sure Diego and Luther would have no problem staying still and Klaus and Ben had a tendency to cling to anything.

Allison he wasn’t so sure about it, but she had a rock solid will and he tried to channel that as he waited.

Finally, Aaron climbed back out of the floor and Five waited until he couldn’t see the captor anymore to let out the breath he’d been holding.

Dropping down, Five tugged on the trap doors handle, sighing when it didn’t budge. He wasn’t surprised, but it would've been nice not to jump in on Vanya without warning, assuming she was in there.

Five closed his eyes and curled his hands into fists. A small pop in his ears and his feet hit the ground, he looked around the room, turning slowly and making a face at the plush walls and queen sized bed, it looked like a fairy had thrown up pink all over the room.

“Who are you?” the voice was accusing, scared, and familiar.

Five turned and sighed a little when he spotted Vanya, “Vanya! It’s me, Five.”

“Who’s Vanya? Why are you in my room?”

Five’s stomach dropped. She was just confused, she probably couldn’t tell it was him, so she was trying to protect herself, “It’s okay Vaya, Aaron’s gone, you’re safe.”

Vanya sunk back into the wall behind her, Five winced when he spotted the shackles on her ankles. She shook her head, “Stop calling me Vanya!”

Above them, the lights flickered, Five swallowed, “I don’t know what’s happening, we need to get back to the others.”

Again, Vanya shook her head, “My name, is Isabel!”

One of the lights burst and Five ducked as he stepped closer to Vanya, “What?”

She turned her head away from him and squeezed her eyes shut, as she did, her bangs brushed aside to reveal a purple mark on her temple. Five’s breath hitched, “Oh no.”

“Get away from me!”

Five stepped back, hating the lump in his throat and hating what he was about to do, “I’ll come back for you, I promise.”

With a flash of blue light, he was back outside the shelter. He staggered slightly and fell to the ground.

Faintly, he was aware of Luther kneeling in front of him, his breath was ragged and his hands shook, he couldn’t focus on anything Luther was saying.

Then suddenly, Klaus was there, shoving his head between his knees and saying something, over and over.

“-your name, what’s your name?”

Shaking his head, Five choked out a breath, “Five.”

“Countdown.”

Doing as he was told, Five closed his eyes, counting down from five. When he looked up Klaus raised an eyebrow, “You good man?”

“Y-yeah, I’m fine.” He brushed Klaus off and stood, clearing his throat. The rest of his siblings stood around him, all with varied expressions of worry.

“What happened Five?” Allison asked softly, “Where’s Vanya?”

“Aaron did something to her,” Five pushed his hands through his hair, “she didn’t- she didn’t recognize me.”

As they absorbed the information, he was surprised at how calm they all seemed. Only Ben seemed effected, crossing his arms over his chest tightly and going pale. Diego reached out to put a hand on his shoulder, Ben leaned into the physical contact and Diego pretended he didn’t notice, that was normal.

Five held onto that, the small amount of normal that was left. He needed to focus, to breathe. The mission was still the same: save Vanya.

It was just a little more complicated now.

Chapter Text

Glancing up from the complimentary motel notepad he’d been furiously scribbling equations on, Five paused when he saw Klaus sitting in the corner of the room on the floor. Five looked around for Ben, when he didn’t see him he stood, edging towards his brother slowly, “Where’d Ben go?”

“Luther wanted to ask him more about the whole ‘survival shelter’,” Klaus replied, “If you ask me, we should just charge in there guns blazing.”

“I think Vanya would object.” Five put his hands in his pockets, attempting to sound like he hadn’t just broken down in front of his siblings over the fact.

Klaus waved his hands, “Maybe it was just dark and she didn’t see you.”

“I told her it was me.”

“Maybe she was just scared?”

“She said her name was Isabel.”

“Well maybe-”

“You didn’t see her!” Five cut him off, annoyed that Klaus would even think he’d gotten it wrong.

His brother shrugged. Five sighed and sat down next to him, but far enough away that they could ignore each other if needed.

Klaus seemed content to do just that, he picked at the carpet and blinked twice as often as normal. His face curled occasionally, flinching away from something that wasn’t there, or at least, wasn’t there to Five.

“How’d you know what to do?” Five asked after a while, “Earlier, when I, you know…”

“Had a panic attack?” Klaus finished as he sighed, “I have them too, so between me and Ben, I’ve had lots of practice.”

Although he wasn’t surprised at the response, it still felt like a punch to the gut. It wasn’t often he payed attention to his other siblings powers aside from when they were training or on missions, so it was even less often that he really thought about Ben and Klaus’ powers and what they must do to his brothers.

Part of him wanted to hug Klaus, but affection of any kind was generally frowned upon in the Hargreeves home, and Five wasn’t Grace.

“I don’t want her to die.” Klaus whispered, Five hadn’t noticed that he’d pulled his knees to his chest, bending awkwardly to hug his long legs, “I don’t- I don’t want to see her like them.” he nodded to a corner of the room, Five turned to see nothing.

“We’re not g-going to let that happen-n,” Diego said from the doorway. He walked up slowly to the two, casting a cautious look at Five before nodded back to the door, “Allison has a plan.”

Five was on his feet in a second and out the door. Something made him stop in the doorway and wait for Klaus as Diego offered his hand to the -literally- haunted boy. Klaus didn’t say anything as he passed him, Diego stopped,

“You o-okay?” He seemed frustrated by the waver in his voice. Five nodded and started walking, matching Diego’s strides without realizing.

Allison was standing next to Luther, ringing her hands. Five nodded at her in acknowledgement and moved to sit next to Ben on one of the beds.

“Okay so, me and Luther were talking…” Allison looked at Luther, letting him take over. Always faithful to his role as ‘No. 1’. Five hoped that would change as they got older, though he’d never admit it, she could make a good leader.

“We think we should ambush the bunker.”

Diego and Klaus scoffed loudly, masking Five’s own, “It took you two hours to think of that ?”

“Genius’,” Klaus muttered.

Luther bristled, “No, it’s taken us two hours to figure out what to do with Vanya. We can’t just carry her out, if Five is right, she’ll resist.”

“So what?” Ben spoke up, “I mean, she’s small, if it means getting her out of there, it’s worth it, right?”

“Not if she tries to help Aaron, he could use her against us.” Allison shook her head, “We’re going to have to get her to remember us.”

Five stood, “I don’t think you guys get it! He used electroshock torture, I saw the burns!”

“He only had a day, how deep could his hold go?” Klaus asked, though he sounded unsure.

“I- it’s hard to say,” Five admitted, “without her meds, she’s probably disoriented, not to mention the effects it has on her mind. She’s been on them for years so she’s probably going through withdrawals as well.”

His siblings didn’t move. Apparently, they hadn’t even factored in Vanya’s pills and the damage it could have on her psyche.

Luther cleared his throat, “Uh, yeah, we think we have an idea for that too.”

“I’m going to rumor her,” Allison said quietly. Her head was ducked as she spoke, “It’s not the best option, but it might be the only one we have.” She looked around like she was hoping someone would tell her differently, when no one did, she sunk down to the bed in resignation.

“What are you going to say exactly?” Ben asked, he looked at Five, “I mean, it has to be specific or it could mess up everything about her.”

Five nodded, “Ben’s right, we need to figure out what you’ll say before we go.”

“How about, I heard a rumor that you remember who you really are?” Luther suggested.

Surprisingly, it was Diego who shook his head, “If she thinks that she’s really Isabel, would that even work?”

“We don’t need to fix her completely, we just have to jumpstart the memory.” Five was mainly talking to Ben, he was the only one Five trusted to understand.

“I heard a rumor you remembered us!” Klaus announced. Luther looked like he was going to brush off the idea when he paused, mouth half open, and raised an eyebrow at Five.

Slowly, both him and Ben shrugged, “That could… actually work.”

Klaus grinned around the room, moving next to Allison when she smiled back, “See? I’ve got some good ideas.”

Allison ruffled his hair in response, “Are we leaving?”

Already out the door, Luther pushed his mask onto his face. Five was mildly surprised at the worried crease in his eyebrows and the look on his face that said murder. He guessed the two’s faces mirrored each other.

Ben waited to leave until Five did, trailing behind him, eyes glued to the floor. As much as Five was worried about Vanya and wanted Aaron to pay, he hoped Ben wouldn’t have to use his powers today. Ben seemed to share the sentiment.

Looking around at his siblings, he realized that he hadn’t been referring to them as his team. It was a sudden change that he hadn’t even noticed until now. He didn’t think he minded.

They were a family, and if Aaron thought he could get away with hurting one of them, he had another thing coming.

********

Allison loved her powers. She loved how she could take down bad guys with only a few words and not even have to get her hands dirty.

What she didn’t love was using them on her siblings.

Klaus rounded a corner, crowing like a rooster. He bumped into Allison, laughing as they both fell, “Sorry Allison, didn’t see you!”

“Maybe watch where you’re going then,” Allison grumbled. It had been a long day of training and she wasn’t really in the mood for her brothers antics.

“Hey! Don’t be mean, it’s all in good fun!”

“Except I’m not having any fun.” Allison stood and brushed of her skirt.

Klaus grabbed her hand, “Wait, you could play with me, then you would have some fun.”

It wasn’t like she never wanted to play with him, but right now she just wanted to read the new issue of her magazine and relax, “Next time Klaus.”

“Oh come on,” Klaus begged, “Ben is training and no one else wants anything to do with me.”

“Klaus-”

“It’ll be fun!”

“God! I heard a rumor that you left me alone!”

She didn’t regret saying it until the next day, at breakfast, Klaus didn’t say a word to her. Allison didn’t even think to reverse it until three days later. He looked at her differently after that, so she made a promise to never rumor one of her siblings again.

So much for that promise now.

Walking in the back of the group, Allison kept her eyes trained on Luther’s back.

“Are you ready for this?” Allison started at the voice next to her, turning to look at Diego who was spinning a knife casually in his hand.

“Yeah! Maybe,” Allison sighed, “I don’t have much of a choice.”

Diego stopped spinning his knife to look at her, “It’s to help Vanya.”

“I know.”

In front of them, Klaus laughed at something Ben said. Allison’s lips curled into a smile that went as fast as it came. Diego watched her, he didn’t say anything, just silently handed her one of his knives.

She took it hesitantly, rubbing her thumb over the cool metal. Diego nodded and turned his eyes front, apparently seeing the gesture as good enough.

Knowing how much his knives meant to him, Allison smiled and pressed it between her palms. The tip bit into her finger as the view of the bunkers location came closer. She let herself take a shaky breath before squaring her shoulders and setting her jaw.

She could do this.

She had to do this.

Chapter Text

The worry was the worst part. Isabel could hear the pacing upstairs, the stomp of each of her father’s feet. He hadn’t been mad when she told him what happened earlier in the evening, he was too good of a father for that.

Isabel just wondered if he was going to be okay. If she was going to be okay.

What if the boy came back?

He’d scared her, the way he acted like he knew her. He was desperate too, his voice sounding the same as fathers when he asked what the boy had told her.

She told him that he said his name was Five, an odd name to have, especially for a child. She’d told him that ‘Five’ could teleport like a magician, disappearing in a cloud of blue.

He also told her that her name was Vanya. For some reason, she’d kept that part from father. So maybe it wasn’t the worry, maybe it was the guilt.

She didn’t hate the name, Vanya. If she was being honest, it felt more familiar rolling off her tongue then Isabel.

The trapdoor above her opened and father climbed down, his face was stone that slowly twisted into a smile when he saw her.

“Hello Isabel,” he greeted, “how are you feeling?”

Not wanting to upset him, she shrugged.

Father shook his head, “Come now, you can tell me.”

“I- I guess I’m confused.” at her father’s nod, Isabel continued, “Why would he come for me? And- and why can’t I remember anything from before yesterday?”

Father nodded and beckoned her to his side, she shuffled towards him, a surprising sense of weariness setting over her when he lifted her onto his lap, “Do you remember how I told you that those shackles are for your safety?”

Isabel did, she’d complained that they were hurting her ankles and he’d calmly explained why she had to wear them, his tone was stern, letting her know that she should never ask again, “So that no one can take me.”

“That’s right!” father smiled, “You can’t remember because two days ago, evil children took you from me, you tried to get away and hit your head.” he took one of her hands and brought it up to a sore spot on her temple, “See?”

“The boy from before, was he… one of the evil children?” Isabel gulped, he had tried to take her, and he told her he’d be back.

Father brushed her hair away from her face, “One of six my dear.”

“They’re coming back for me.”

“I know.”

Panic shot through Isabel, “When? Will I be safe? What if they take me?”

Hushing her gently, father kissed the sore spot on her temple, making her wince. He shifted his position so they were looking at each other, “They won’t, do you know why?”

Isabel shook her head slowly.

Father patted her knee, “Because we have a secret, you and I.”

“We do?”

“We do.”

Bouncing a little, Isabel smiled, “What is it?”

Father leaned in close, whispering even though no one else was in the room, “If you ever get scared, or angry at one of the evil children, you just close your eyes and pretend there’s an earthquake and I’ll know you’re in trouble.”

Eyes widening, Isabel made a face, “How will that work?”

“Do you trust me?”

Isabel watched his face, thinking through what had happened. It made sense, what he had explained. So why did a tiny voice in her head keep telling her to run?

Slowly, she nodded.

Father lifted her off his lap and stood, “Then it will work.” he moved up through the trap door, pausing at the top, “I love you Isabel.”

“I love you father.” Did she? She had to.

The man nodded and shut the trap door under him. He straightened out and looked around, then up, before walking down the hall and turning at a steel door. Aaron pulled it open and stepped inside, surveying the screens hanging on the walls. He watched as Isabel sunk down to lay on her bed.

Aaron turned to the opposite wall and pulled a paper off a corkboard. It showed The Academy and odd energy spikes surrounding it, “You are special Isabel, no one will ever tell you differently again.”

He turned his attention to another screen, six masked children ran down the hall it portrayed, cautiously peeking around corners before moving on. Aaron smiled and picked up his coat, pausing to brush a hand tenderly across his daughters screen, “We’ll be together again soon. Remember what I told you, and we’ll cause more destruction than ever before.”

Tearing down papers from the wall, Aaron stuffed them into his briefcase, leaving only the poster announcing the grand opening of The Umbrella Academy statue in the heart of New York. Pulling out a red marker, he crossed an ‘X’ over it.

Getting out of the bunker without being spotted was easy, after all, he’d built it, and the only rooms the blueprint showed were Isabel’s and the surveillance room.

Aaron climbed into his car and started the engine, this was going to be easy.

The only stop he made was at the Brooklyn Bridge, he pulled to the side of the road and leaned over the railing, dropping the briefcase into the water below.

********

Luther held his arm out, signaling for the others to stop. He moved slowly around the corner, breathing as quietly as possible. When he’d cleared it, he turned to get his team, rolling his eyes when they were already following behind him.

“Diego?” Luther asked quietly, Diego looked up from the blueprint he was holding and pointed to the right.

All six of them were on edge. Luther could feel the worry and anger without even looking at his team. He was feeling it too.

The motive behind what Aaron was doing still confused him. He could believe it was a way to get at them, except then why did he want Vanya to be his new Isabel? To hurt them? It seemed a little far fetched.

For now, he’d have to push down the doubt. Vanya was somewhere in the bunker, she thought she was someone she wasn’t. He hated himself for thinking it, but at least she wasn’t scared.

Vanya and him had never been close, they hardly talked. Luther was Number One, Reginald had expectations and goals for him, and he couldn’t let their father down. Vanya was on the other side of the scale. Ordinary. Invisible.

Sometimes, after a hard training session or after father yelled at him for messing up, Luther envied his sister. She kept her head down and Reginald didn’t look twice. No weight on her shoulders.

Luther had never told anyone that, for some reason, he thought Vanya would be the one who would listen if he wanted to. She always had a sort of silent offer to talk if someone needed it. It was what Luther liked most about her, that she found her own worth.

Luther stopped abruptly when Five jumped to the spot in front of him, “This is it!”

“Uh, where?” Klaus asked looking around for a door.

Five pulled on Luther’s shoulder, moving him so a trap door in the floor was in his eyeline.

“When I was here, it was locked,” Five said, stepping aside to let Luther through.

Bracing his hands on the handle, Luther prepared to pull hard. When he did, the door sprung open easily, making him fall. Behind him, Diego snorted.

Allison moved to help Luther up, “I thought you said it was locked?”

With a suspicious look on his face, Five shrugged.

Luther put one foot down onto the ladder, “Allison, I’ll go first, you follow.” Without waiting for an answer, he climbed down the shoot. When his feet landed on the floor someone whimpered.

“You can’t take me,” The voice said softly, unsure. Luther blinked a few times as the face connected to the voice came into view.

“Vanya,” Allison whispered from behind him.

The look on both his sisters faces made him want to punch someone, preferably Aaron.

Vanya shook her head, “Stop- stop calling me Vanya, my name is Isabel.”

“Do you really believe that?” Vanya expression wavered at Luther’s question.

“My father won’t let you take me.”

Allison stepped forward slowly, “He isn’t your father, our father is at home, waiting for us.”

“Our father?” Vanya leaned back against the wall, “He’s not mine . I’m not one of the evil children.”

Biting back a growl, Luther closed his eyes for a brief second. Aaron had convinced his own sister that the people who’d been trained to protect wanted to hurt her. He could already hear what their father would say when Luther debriefed him.

Above him, the ladder clattered as Ben climbed down. Luther almost told him to go back, but decided against it.

“Who are you?” Vanya asked.

Luther watched as Ben’s eyes drifted to the floor, “My name’s Ben. I’m not going to hurt you.”

That’s when the room started to shake.

Ben stumbled, falling into Allison. Luther braced himself on the wall, “What’s going on?”

“We must of set something off!” Diego shouted from above them, “We need to go!”

“Allison,” Luther urged. Allison nodded and stepped forward,

“I heard- I heard a rumor that you-” She was cut off by the light, previously dangling from the ceiling, crashing at her feet. Jumping back in alarm, Allison yelped.

Vanya screamed as the shattered light set fire to the rug under her, and the shaking increased.

“Luther!” Ben yelled, desperate. Frantically, Luther looked around for something to quench the flames. Finding nothing, he pushed Ben and Allison back to the ladder.

A breath and three steps, and Luther was through the flames. He gripped the chain connected to Vanya’s ankles and pulled hard, stumbling a little when the bolts ripped free of the floor. Three more steps and a cough and he was grabbing a struggling but weak Vanya, and hoisting her up to Diego’s waiting arms.

Allison stuck her hand down the shoot, grabbing Luther’s forearm and pulling him out. He collapsed on the ground above.

“Are you okay? Luther!” Allison asked, hovering over him, “Luther?”

Gasping out a few breaths, Luther nodded, pulling himself up to sit with a groan. He wrinkled his eyebrows when he realized the ground had stopped shaking.

“Woah man, maybe don’t, don’t get up just yet?” Klaus stuttered out, holding out his hands but not making contact.

“Why? What’s-” Luther looked at Allison, “-what’s wrong?”

Diego, still holding onto Vanya though she wasn’t struggling anymore, just staring blankly at Luther, winced, “Y-you’re h-hurt.”

It must be bad if Diego’s stutter was surfacing. Luther chanced a glance down at himself, eyes settling on a raw patch of skin on his shoulder, uniform leather melted into his skin. As if looking at it sparked something in his brain, pain shot through the wound. Luther bit the inside of his cheek to keep from crying out.

“You saved me.” It was a whisper, barely audible. Luther looked up at Vanya and nodded.

“You’re our sister,” Diego said for him, giving Luther a very rare look of appreciation.

Vanya slumped, “But I- it’s not-”

Surprisingly, Klaus was the one to hush her, “Don’t worry about it. Right now, we just need to get out. Right Ben?”

In response, Ben looked around, “Where’s Five?”

Diego breathed out a curse, “If he went after Aaron alone it won’t end well.” for Five or for Aaron, he didn’t say.

“He’s not here,” Five said, materializing in between Klaus and Ben, making them jump.

“I found an office though.” he handed Ben a flyer with an X across it and more blueprints. Looking around and decidedly skipping over Vanya, Five made a face at Luther, “What happened to your arm?”

Luther snorted, “What are the papers?”

“One’s a flyer for the statue their opening today,” Ben said, passing it to Allison, “the other’s plans for a bomb. A big one.”

“He’s going to bomb the statue? Hundreds of people are going to be there!” Luther really didn’t like this.

“No!” Vanya tried to pull herself out of Diego’s grip, “He wouldn’t! He’s a good man!”

Five spun on her, “Is that why he had you shackled in a locked room?”

Vanya glared, “It was for my protection, so you couldn’t take me again!”

“Again?” Five looked at the ceiling as the overhead lights flickered, “Let’s just get out of here.”

“We need to get to the statue.” Luther stood, brushing off Allison and Klaus’ hands.

Allison shook her head, “You’re hurt and we need to get Vanya home.”

“There isn’t time,” Luther argued, “we’ll take Vanya with us and keep an eye on her.”

“What about you?”

Luther didn't answer his sister, just turned and started walking back the way they came.

Chapter Text

Scared, confused, worried, and back to confused again. Isabel’s mind was in turmoil.

Her father couldn’t be planning a bombing. He wouldn’t.

And then there was the boy- Luther. Why had he saved her? And why did the other one call her his sister?

Diego , her mind supplied. Isabel didn’t remember hearing his name. It was just, there.

What did it all mean? Why did her father leave her to be taken? A small part of her wondered if he really was her father. She quickly shook away the thought.

“Hey… how’s the head?” Isabel looked up slowly at the boy leading her down the road. He was scrawny and his eyes darted about like he was surrounded by something she couldn’t see. His eyes were kind.

Klaus. That was his name. She was sure of it.

“It’s fine.” Isabel swallowed, “What- What do you want with me?”

Klaus turned to look at the shy one -Ben, he’d told her his name was- next to him, they seemed to have a silent conversation before Ben spoke up, “We’re trying to help you Vanya.”

There it was again. Vanya. She whispered the name under her breath, ignoring the stares she got from the two boys.

“Vanya. A Russian name meaning ‘Gracious Gift of God’. I think it fits, don’t you?”

Isabel almost stopped when the kind voice from a memory she didn’t know she had brings tears to her eyes. Who was that?

Eyes glued to the floor, Isabel ran into Ben’s back when he stopped suddenly. Isabel leaned to look around him, Luther was standing with his back to a building, a tall object covered in a sheet visible a few yards from them.

“Okay, someone needs to stay with Vanya,” Luther said, clutching his hurt shoulder.

Allison nodded, “Maybe you should Luther. You’re hurt.”

Luther shook his head and Isabel found herself wanting to roll her eyes.

“I’ll stay,” Klaus spoke up, small and hesitant, “it’s not like I’m much good in the field anyway.”

Ben opened his mouth and shut it again, nodding.

For some reason, Isabel realized she was watching Five. He caught her eye and held contact until she looked away.

Luther nodded, “Our main priority is to get people out of the danger zone, we’ll deal with Aaron after.”

“But-”

“Five.” Luther cut him off, “We need to make sure everyone is safe.”

Looking like he did not agree at all, Five scowled but nodded, grabbing Ben’s arm before moving away to a group of people at the far end of the park.

“Diego, you stay around here, make sure Aaron doesn’t try to make a move on Vanya.”

Make a move? What did that mean? Isabel watched as Diego nodded, still twirling a knife in his hand.

“Allison-”

“I’m coming with you,” Allison interrupted, crossing her arms.

Apparently realizing he wouldn’t win this argument, Luther grunted and turned, sprinting off the opposite way as Five and Ben. Allison smiled at her in what Isabel thought was supposed to be reassuring before running after him.

Klaus sat down and patted the ground next to him. Because she really didn’t have another option, Isabel sat with him, her back against the buildings cold wall.

“I’m sorry,” Klaus said suddenly, picking at the remnants of black nail polish on his fingernails. Isabel didn’t say anything, just gave him a blank stare until he continued, “For leaving you out of stuff back home. It’s just a little weird you know? Because you don’t have powers.”

For some reason, that made Isabel angry, and she pulled her knees up to her chest.

“But also thanks… for not telling dad about me sleeping in your room or faking a fever so I don’t have to train.”

“Klaus?”

“Can I sleep in here tonight? My room is dark.”

“... Yeah okay, come on.”

Isabel blinked and pushed her palms into the sore spots on her head, “I- is your room really dark?” she realized it was a stupid question, but Klaus seemed happy to answer.

“It feels like it when I’m alone, and you have that night light shaped like a-”

“-Elephant,” Isabel finished, much to her surprise.

Klaus grinned, “Yeah, an elephant.”

********

Five pulled Ben around the park, letting him tell people to leave because if he opened his mouth he’s pretty sure he’d start yelling. There were six of them for god's sake, they should’ve split off into groups.

Luther should’ve let him go after Aaron.

There was a part of him that had wanted to stay with Vanya, try and jog her memory, but he was also, well… he was scared.

Scared he’d make things worse. Scared she wouldn’t remember and would go on for the rest of her life not knowing who they were, who he was.

“Five?” Five looked back at Ben and realized he was half dragging him. He let go slowly as Ben watched him, “I know you’re worried.”

Stuffing his hand into his pockets, Five looked down at the ground, “Yeah? We all are.”

“Not all of us spend hours listening to Vanya play or telling her about all your crazy theories.” Ben sighed, “She’s your best friend.”

No. The Hargreeves weren’t allowed to have friends. They weren’t allowed to enjoy themselves. Vanya wasn’t even an exception, “She’s my sister.”

“And we’ll get her back.”

Five was about to reply when someone screamed.

It was high pitched and terrified, words jumbled in that Five couldn’t make out.

“Five! There!” Ben shouted, pointing towards the soon to be unveiled statue. A man stood under it, arm wrapped around a woman, holding her hostage.

“Aaron,” Five growled, and then he was running.

He could hear Ben behind him, shouting for him to wait, he jumped closer in short bursts, not wanting to waist his energy. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Allison and Luther, and he smirked. Aaron was going to wish he’d never been born.

“Stop!” the ground shook and Five tripped. He turned to see Vanya, Klaus trying to hold her back and Diego running up to them. She screamed again, the statue shifted. Five wrinkled his eyebrows, first in the bunker, and now the statue?

Vanya managed to wriggle her way out of Klaus’ grip, running up to Aaron, “What are you doing?”

Aaron’s face lit up and he pulled the hostage in his arms closer, “My dear! I’m so glad you’re okay!”

“What’s going on?” Vanya asked wearily, stepping back a step, “Why are you hurting that woman?”

Luther had stopped a yard away from her with Allison and Diego, holding them back. What was he doing?

Ben raced up next to Five, pulling him to his feet, “What do we do?” he whispered.

“I don’t-”

“This is for you darling,” Aaron called with a smile, “the evil children deserve to pay.”

Vanya looked back at Five and met his eyes. She shook her head, “They’re not evil.”

Aaron glared at her and stepped forward, looming over her, “Now Isabel…”

“My name. Is Vanya. ”

Blood boiling, Five jumped forward so he was standing next to her, “You don’t get away with taking our sister you freak.”

When he looked back at Vanya, Klaus was holding her hand, Diego stood on the other side of him. Five could feel Luther, Allison and Ben’s presence behind him and laughed at how cheesy they must look, “Give up, Aaron.”

“You are my daughter Isabel, and you will listen to what I say!” Aaron tried again, voice rising and eyes widening in his desperation.

Allison moved in front of Vanya protectively, “I heard a rumor that you let the woman go.”

Slowly, Aaron complied, eyes blank.

Diego pounced.

********

By the time the authorities got there, Aaron was pretty beat up. Luther told everyone it was for resisting arrest, and who wasn’t going to believe the golden boy?

They found a pack of pipe bombs in Aaron’s car, ready to blow. It took them a few hours to clear the rest of the park.

Vanya was first to the infirmary when they got home, Reginald basically shoving her pills down her throat. Five still thought it was a little odd, but he wrote it off, wanting to just enjoy the fact that she was back.

Luther’s shoulder took time to heal, he even got to skip out of training for a week, and Five could sometimes hear him clapping after one of Vanya’s songs.

There were days after Vanya got back where if anyone called her name, she’d blink like she wasn’t sure if it was hers. Memories were missing too, like the first time they snuck out to Griddy’s and the mothers day that they got cake batter all over the kitchen.

But, as always, it didn’t take long for everything to fall back into routine. Training got worse, and they all got more distant. Luther stopped listening to Vanya play, Allison stopped having ‘girl talks’, Diego stopped his not-so-secret boxing sessions with her, even Klaus and Ben stopped inviting her to play hide and seek or draw on Klaus’ walls.

Five would still read with her, sometimes out loud, when the scars on her temples gave her a headache, and most of the time on their own but together, sitting on the same couch.

On rainy days, people seemed to remember everything that had happened. They’d crowd into the library with Grace, piled on top of each other and under legs.

The days the clouds opened up were the best days, in Five’s opinion. And the look on Vanya’s face whenever the soft pitter patter of raindrops hit the windows told him she’d agree.