Chapter Text
1960: Vanya
Vanya landed hard on the ground, groaning in pain. She squinted and shielded her eyes from the sun, lying on her back.
Where was she?
Where were the others?
What happened?
She looked around, trying to blink away her blurred vision.
“Vanya? Wake up! Vanya!”
Vanya groaned again, directing her attention to the source of the voice.
Her vision cleared up and she was finally able to see who was calling her.
“Leonard?”
She quickly sat up.
“Leonard! You died!”
“Well yeah. I’m actually a safe manifestation of all the negative emotions you’ve been harboring for the last 30 years. I just appear as whoever your subconscious sees whenever you think certain thoughts.”
“What? Go away.”
“I can’t, Vanya. I’m your subconscious.”
She stood up and looked around at the alleyway. “What happened? Where is everyone?”
“Uh, well let’s backtrack. You killed Allison, killed Leonard, Luther trapped you in the basement, you killed Pogo, destroyed your home, the moon, and the world.”
Vanya was silent, remembering what had happened. “No...Luther said Allison was okay.”
“He said that to keep you from going off the rails. Which he failed to do.”
“Do you ever stop talking?”
“Hey, I’m only saying what you’re thinking.”
She rolled her eyes and started pacing. “Five must have jumped us all to a different time to save us all.”
“A wild conclusion to jump to.”
“Look around, Leonard! The people around here don’t exactly look like they’re from 2019! So the others must be showing up any time soon. Right? So I should just stay here until one of them shows up.”
“Great idea.” The not-Leonard said sarcastically, now appearing as Five, smiling with a sarcastic grin. “I mean the last time Five time traveled, it ended so well, right? It was only, what, seventeen years? And that was with just him. With all six of you, that could only be about...100 years between all of you. You should get comfortable.”
“You’re such an asshole.”
“I’m only saying your thoughts!”
Vanya continued her pacing.
“Okay, think...I’m in another time, I don’t know when or if my family will show up, I’m now alone in an alleyway with the world’s most annoying imaginary friend, Allison isn’t dead because I remember seeing her at the concert, Pogo definitely is dead…” Vanya took a breath, starting to hyperventilate. “Luther was right. I should have just stayed in the cell until I calmed down. This is all my fault. If I hadn’t gone crazy none of this would have happened. I’m never going to see them again. Unless they sent only me away to get rid of me. They wouldn’t do that, would they?”
Not-Luther glared down at her. “I don’t know, Vanya.”
She growled and stormed off.
Not-Leonard appeared next to her as she passed a mailbox. “Where are you going?”
“To get some food. I’m hungry and I need to think.”
------
Vanya sat in a diner, staring at a cold plate of food. She had only started to process the amount of trauma she’d gone through in less than a day.
Not-Leonard stared back at her, waiting for her to say something, but she said nothing.
She blinked slowly and tried to hold back tears.
The last thing she needed was to cry in the middle of a 1960’s diner with everyone watching her.
She took a shaky breath and looked up at the not-Leonard. “I’m never going to see them again, am I?”
He shook his head quietly. “No. Never. You’re going to die here. Alone. With no one but yourself. They’re not even going to bother looking for you. They dumped you here and you know it. They hate you. They never loved you. And you made it worse when you wrote that book. You told everyone their secrets, you insulted them, you were careless and didn’t even consider how they’d feel. All because you were mad at them. You were jealous and angry. And even if you did have one of them with you, they wouldn’t want to help you. You’re just like you always were. Alone and hated.”
Vanya choked back a sob and her cup exploded.
She yelped and looked at the shattered glass.
The other patrons looked over at her and she tried to avoid eye contact as the waitress came over.
“Are you okay, dear?”
“Yeah...I’m fine.”
“That’s so weird. Here, I’ll get that cleaned up for you.” She swiped all of the broken glass into a garbage can with a rag and gently wiped off Vanya’s pants.
Vanya’s heart skipped a beat, her breath catching in her throat. She cleared her throat as the waitress smiled at her, putting another cup on her table and walked away.
Not-Vanya stared at Vanya. “You are so easy to fall in love.”
“I’m not in love, moron.”
“Maybe she likes you, too.”
“I doubt that.”
“I don’t know, she looked at you like she thought you were cute. Maybe you can convince her to pay for your food since you don’t have your wallet with you.”
Vanya froze, coming to that realization.
Shit.
She looked at the food on the table and bit the inside of her lip, trying to think of what to do.
What would Klaus do?
“I don’t know what Klaus would do.” Not-Klaus said. “Probably run away like he does with everything else.”
She slowly stood up and went to the bathroom.
This was a bad idea.
She found a window and her eyes lit up, shattering the glass.
This was a very bad idea.
Not-Klaus crossed his arms, watching her try to climb up, but failing to reach the windowsill.
Vanya took a breath and started floating up.
Once high enough, she grabbed on and started climbing through the window.
She got all the way through and fell to the ground.
“Ow…” She groaned, wincing in pain.
“Are you dead?”
“I wish I was.”
“I do, too. I feel the pain you feel. You have glass in your back.”
“I know that!”
This was a very, very bad idea.
Vanya stood up and held her back, feeling the blood leaking through her shirt and coat.
“Fuck…”
“Well now what?”
“I don’t know, okay!? I don’t even know where I am!”
She held her head, groaning.
So many negative thoughts were swarming in her head. She didn’t have the luxury of having her siblings to protect her anymore. Not that they would want to. Not after everything she did. They all hated her. She deserved to be hated. Maybe they did leave her here alone. Why else would none of them be here? Why would they even forgive her? Why did it have to be her? Why only her? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why? Why?
“Vanya!”
She gasped, coming back to reality as debris, cars, and a dumpster dropped out of the air, crashing to the ground.
The car alarms went off and people gasped and crowds gathered around, trying to figure out what happened.
“No one saw me do that, right?”
“Well no one except her.”
An elderly woman adorned in pearls and jewels stood, aghast at the sight before her.
“Shit.”
------
Before Vanya knew what had happened, the old lady, who she found out was named Esther Holloway, had taken her to different events, showing off her amazing ability to crowds of dozens of rich folks.
They applauded her as she turned music into something physical.
They shouted with joy as she floated in the air, even allowing some others to float with her.
It felt nice to be appreciated.
Soon, the get-togethers of 100 turned into crowds of 500 and then thousands.
The positive reinforcement slowly spread into worship and blind praise.
People came from across the globe just to see her work.
The crowds evolved from rich snobs seeking to be entertained to people of all ages and backgrounds who sought to bow at her feet. They adorned themselves in white suits, appearing more like a bunch of Michael Jackson cosplayers than worshippers.
The Rain, they called themselves.
Much like her family, Vanya’s followers ended up with matching tattoos on their wrists. Umbrellas, just like her family. But these umbrellas had raindrops dripping from them. She didn’t think it was very original, but they all seemed to think it was a brilliant idea. And that made her feel nice.
“You deserve this, Vanya. You didn’t get any love in 2019, not even from your own family. Now you have thousands of people who love you. Unconditionally. They’ll do anything for you. Isn’t this nice?”
It wasn’t until Vanya looked over at the not-Allison staring back at her with a smile on her face that she realized that this was, in fact, very very bad.