Bliss - Vanya Hargreeves FF *previously Sour Candy*

CHAPTER NINETEEN

"How can you know that?" Luther challenged.

"Because I've been here every day that you lot havent!" She snaps. "I know her, she wouldn't hurt a fly. She told me off when I tried to kill a spider a week ago, for christ sake."

"She's right. Look, if he was poisoned," Diego cut in stiffly. "It would have shown in the autopsy report."

Luther seemed confident. "Yeah well I dont need a report to tell me what I can see with my own eyes."

"Maybe all that low gravity in space messed with your vision," Diego approached the screen. "Look: dad has his monocle, grace stands up, monocle gone."

"Oh yeah!" Klaus chimed, resting an elbow on Florences shoulder much to her annoyance.

"She wasnt poisoning him, she was taking it. To clean it."

"Then where is it?" Luther snapped. "Ive searched the house including all her things and she doesnt have it."

Diego perched against a table and sighed, lowering his head. "Thats because I took it from her after the funeral."

Florence began growing uncomfortable and walked away, running a hand through her wild curly hair, pacing a short distance away from the others.

Klaus and Vanya eyed her in concern.

The arguing was getting to her head.

"Youve had his monocle the whole time?" Allison raised her voice. "What the hell, Diego?"

The wings at her back snapped towards her and shifted, twitching, the tops of the wings moving some of her hair across her shoulders.

"Give it to me!"

"I threw it away."

A headache pressed against her temples and she grit her teeth. "Keep it down." She warned, words falling upon deaf ears.

"You what?"

"Look i knew if you found it on mom you'd lose your shit, just like you're doing now!"

"Diego..."

Just as Diego pulled a knife into his hand, backing up a step prepared for a fight. Luther stood his ground.

It was, surprisingly, vanya who intervened, stepping between the two much taller and larger men and stopping them. "Calm down."
She started. They looked at her. Florence turned, curious as well. "Look, i know dad wasnt exactly an open book but I do remember one thing: mom was designed to be a caretaker, a protector."

"What does that mean?" Allison asked.

"What the hell do you think it means?" Florence stepped back into the circle, wings still twitching angrily at her shoulders. "It means she's programmed to intervene when someone's life is in danger you dipshits. She was made to look after us, surely you'd realise that!"

Vanya nodded.

"Well if her hardware is degrading, then... maybe we should shut her off." Luther suggested, causing uproar from two people in particular.

Diego poked his chest and snapped, "whoa, wait. She is not a vacuum cleaner you can just throw in a closet! She feels things, I've seen it."

"Funny how youll defend Reggie to your grave and swear he could do no wrong, but now you're suggesting the software that he made is faulty," Florence shook her head, years of built up rage and aggression finally bubbling to the surface. "I mean, do you even hear yourself speak?"

"She just stood there and watched our father die!" Luther yells in her face.

The two great masses of darkness become more twitchy and snappy in their movements the more angry she gets.

"Yeah? Well he stood back and watched Ben die all those years ago!" She retorted sharply.

Almost immediately there was an effect on the room. Everyone was sent reeling, sharp intakes of breaths and widened eyes.

The name she had uttered alone sent a pang of pain through their hearts.

Florence firmed her jaw and scanned the room, turning to look at the others. They were shocked, some saddened, reminded of a time that they'd all rather forget.

Luther in particular seemed enraged and stepped forward, just slightly too close for comfort and opened his mouth to argue but Florence, to put it simply, had had enough.

"He stood back and watched your other brother disappear, not knowing if he was dead or alive." She continued ruthlessly, wings flaring up at her back and making her appear bigger.

Luther hesitated all of a sudden.

"Why is it different this time?" She shouted finally.

She was absolutely seething.

Luther stared directly into her eyes, a cold, enraged look simmering under his resolve that he struggled to contain. Allison stepped forward, putting a hand on his arm, a disapproving look on her face.

Florence herself stepped back, looking at Diego and Klaus, who seemed solemn and serious. She finally caught Vanya's eyes and she held her gaze, which to her meant an odd type of reassurance.

Her wings were higher and half splayed out, the dark masses tense at her back. She inhaled finally and snapped them swiftly into her back, curling them against her body in their natural resting position so fast that the others flinched.

"If anyone even thinks about deactivating mum, ill kill them." She threatens calmly, backing away.

With the threat hanging heavy in the air, she stormed out, eyes following her.

When she stopped outside her fists subconciously clenched and she whimpered in realisation.

A shock wave of pain made her unfold her bandaged palm quickly and a wave of dizziness take over as she irritated the wound. She swallowed, a glassy look covering her eyes as the powerful anger slowly dissipated and all she felt was pain.

"Fuck." She whispered, bandaged hand shaking terribly now that she'd been reminded of it.

Her mind had been on other things until now, and for once she wanted her mind to be overwhelmed so that she had no reason to pay attention to the searing pain shooting up her arm.

She almost threw up her drink from earlier and breathed slowly, heading towards the exit fast, throwing her coat over her shoudlers and carefully pulling her injured hand through.

Vanya would understand.

Florence left, slamming the door behind her and walking, hand pulled to her chest as it throbbed with her pulse.