𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬

|♠ 𝖻𝖾𝗌𝗍 𝖿𝗎𝗇𝖾𝗋𝖺𝗅 𝖾𝗏𝖾𝗋 ♠|

♚ 𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 ♕

"NICE TO KNOW DAD DIDN'T FORGET ME."

Together we stared up at his portrait, Vanya jumping at our presence.

"Read your book, by the way," Five told her, still staring at himself. What a moron. "Found it in a library that was still standing. I thought it was pretty good, all things considered." He looked at Vanya and gave her a small smile. "Yeah, definitely ballsy, giving up the family secrets." He paused. "Sure that went over well."

"They hate me," Vanya told us, frowning. She glanced at me. "And she hasn't even read it yet. Please don't," she added.

"Well, there are worse things that can happen," Five muttered under his breath.

Vanya turned back to him. "You mean like what happened to Ben?"

We were silent for a minute. Five looked away. Then I asked, "Was it bad?"

Vanya nodded, and Five grabbed my hand and blinked us away.

Somehow, he had managed to grab an umbrella before teleporting us outside, into the courtyard and into the rain. Everyone else was there, holding an umbrella, except for Luther, who held the urn with Dad's ashes, and Diego, who couldn't care less about getting wet. Klaus held a small, plastic see-through umbrella with pink lining. I grinned at him. 

It was raining, and thunder rumbled somewhere far away. I stared. The house, from viewing it in the courtyard, was now covered in vines, but it looked pretty. Foliage grew everywhere, almost out of control. But now there was a new addition to the courtyard. 

Ben had a statue. It didn't look like him. It made me uncomfortable looking at it. I know he wouldn't have liked it. I walked a little closer to it, ignoring Five's orders for me to stay under the umbrella, and peered at the label beneath the statue.

Ben Hargreeves, it read. May the darkness within you find peace in the light. It was a nice thing to have been written there, but my warm thoughts faded when I thought about Dad having written it.

Five teleported to me and yanked me closer to him, under the umbrella. I stared at him. He was just a little taller than me, his sharp jaw clenched. He held the umbrella's handle tight, almost angrily. The shaft rested on his left shoulder. I was stuck by his right.

"Did you see his statue?" I asked him, gesturing to the figure of Ben.

There was silence for a moment. For a second, I was sure he hadn't heard me over the rain. Then he said in a low voice, "It doesn't look like him."

"Did something happen?" Mom asked loudly with a smile.

I had talked to Mom earlier after we left Five's room, said hi and everything. Same with Pogo. I was really glad to see Pogo again, but Mom...didn't seem right.

Allison stared at her. "Dad died...Remember?"

Mom's smile faded. "Oh. Yes, of course." She looked down, and then straight ahead.

"Is Mom okay?" Allison asked, the question now directed at Diego, who stood beside Mom.

"Yeah," Diego replied, "yeah, she's fine. She just needs to rest." Allison gave him a weird look. Klaus lit a cigarette. "You know, recharge." No one laughed. I turned to Five, giving him a questioning look, but he didn't say anything.

Pogo arrived, leaning heavily on his cane, his umbrella held high above his head. He turned to Luther, who held the urn, uncertain. "Whenever you're ready, dear boy."

Luther stepped forward and took the top off the urn. Slowly, he tipped the jar over, Dad's ashes falling anticlimactically.

Klaus made a face. I had to restrain myself from laughing at his expression.