𝐚𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫 | 𝐟𝐢𝐯𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐫𝐞𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐬

|♠ 𝖺 𝗇𝖾𝖾𝖽 𝖿𝗈𝗋 𝖺 𝖻𝗈𝗈𝗄𝗆𝖺𝗋𝗄 𝖺𝗇𝖽 𝖺 𝗐𝖾𝗅𝖼𝗈𝗆𝖾 𝗆𝖾𝗆𝗈𝗋𝗒 ♠|

♚ 𝐕 ♕

I FLIPPED THROUGH VANYA'S BOOK, SIGHING.

I had already read through half of it, all in one sitting. I guess that wasn't much, considering I had all the time in the world.

I glanced around, searching for some sort of paper or something I could use as a bookmark. I had set up camp in the ruins of the academy (how poetic), so there was probably plenty of things I could use. But I got lost in all the dumb shit my siblings and I had.

I found one of Luther's glass shards, from the vase he broke. It brought a small smile to my face, and I carefully slipped it into my bag. I kept rummaging through the rubble until I found something that reminded me of each of my siblings. Allison's hairbrush. One of Diego's knives. A small case of bow rosin Vanya had used. A crumpled up page from Ben's favorite book. An unrolled joint, obviously Klaus's.

All I needed was something of Y/N's. I made my way over to where her room would have been. I imagined myself standing in the doorway, knocking to see if she was okay after Dad had yelled at her. She'd probably wait a minute before opening it and saying some devastating insult to me before letting me in, and we'd sit on her bed together and eat gummies or something.

I swallowed hard, looking around. I had already searched her room a thousand times, to see if I could find any remnant of her life. I had found some things, like the hoodie I had stolen for her. I was wearing it now, zipped up and the hood over my head. 

I picked through the ruins until finally I found a small photograph of all of us together, smiling. What made it special was that we weren't in the academy. It was one of our donut nights, and we had taken our blankets from our bedrooms along with us that time. I remembered it clearly. Luther and Allison had shared a blanket. Klaus and Ben shared one, too, but Klaus kept taking most of it and they ended up fighting over who should have more. Diego refused to use one, even though it was winter time and he was shivering like hell. And Y/N, we shared one together, but I let her take the whole thing eventually. I remember the look she gave me, the way she tried to hide her small smile by turning away.

I smiled slightly and took the photo from its place in a shattered glass frame, dusting the tiny shards off of it. I stared. Klaus was the one taking the picture, his thumb covering the top left corner of the image. He was making a ridiculous face, his tongue stuck out, his eyes widened. Ben was chasing after him with an angry look, probably because it was Ben's camera in the first place. Luther and Allison were sharing a blanket in the background, smiling and laughing and giving each other bunny ears. Diego was cutting open a donut with one of his knives with much focus, ignoring everyone else. His seriousness was ruined by a ring of powdered sugar around his mouth, though. Y/N and I were nearer to the front. We were sharing the blanket, and I was looking at her, smiling. She was laughing, her mouth open and her eyes squinted with happiness. I remember what she was giggling at. She had just shoved a donut hole in my mouth, making me choke a little. It was cruel, and I loved her for it.

I walked back over to camp, where Delores was waiting in the wagon. "Look at what I found, Delores," I said, walking up to her and holding up the photo. "Those...are my siblings." 

I drew the photo back to see it myself again. "They were morons, and idiots. You would've hated them." I paused, my gaze focusing on Y/N's laughing face, the way I was smiling at her. "I...I loved them, though."

And without another word, I stuffed the photo into Vanya's book, using it as a bookmark to keep my spot.

♚ 𝐕𝐈𝐈𝐈 ♕
| 𝗉𝗋𝖾𝗌𝖾𝗇𝗍 𝗍𝗂𝗆𝖾 |

THE HANDLER GLANCED AT ME. "And you must be Number Eight."