WITCH. five hargreeves [1]

thirteen. the statue

EDITED MAY 20, 2021

The siblings shared uneasy glances, remembering how close Ben and Eight had once been. During their whole childhood, it was always Eight and Ben who managed to stick with each other even at the darkest of times. Their bond was even stronger than what she had with Five; which was saying a lot.

Klaus suddenly turned serious, looking behind him as if someone was there.

And that someone was there.

Ben looked at his sister for the first time in 17 years, in the exact same state. Her eyes that used to be so calm and caring were now red with tears threatening to spill out of them at any moment. Her hands were slightly trembling, and she was biting her lip to keep her from shaking too much.

"It's in the yard." Allison mumbled, and held the hand of her sister. "Come on, I'll take you."

Soon, Eight found herself in the yard, all alone, with the black umbrella hovering on her head. Reginald's funeral was about to start, but she just wanted to visit her brother for a moment.

As she saw Ben's statue, she made her way to it. The statue looked nothing like Ben, in her opinion. "In the memory of Ben Hargreeves," Eight mumbled to herself, reading the plate that was at the bottom of the statue.

"Hey Ben," Eight mumbled, staring at the statue. Ben stood at her side, badly wanting to hug her, but he couldn't. "I missed you."

"I missed you too." Ben stated, even though he knew that Eight couldn't hear a word that was coming out of his mouth. Ben just stood sadly, his hands deep into the pocket of his hoodie.

"You really had to die that way, huh?" she chuckled a bit, sitting on the concrete that was on the bottom of the statue. It wasn't fair at all - Ben had a lot to live for. He died too early; he was an angel, and he deserved a lot more than the fate he recieved.

Ben slightly grimaced as he remembered how gruesome his death was.

"You know what, Ben? Stupid Reginald. Stupid house. Stupid powers." she mumbled, knowing damn well that she wasn't making any sense at all. Still, no one was watching her, so it was okay.

Ben laughed slightly at how she let her emotions out.

"I'm glad he died." Eight continued, blinking rapidly. She knew that being glad someone died was a bit too gruesome, but she didn't care. Not after Reginald put her through so much shit. "The world is better off without him."

The other children came out the door, with Luther holding out a container, which presumably held Reginald's ashes. They started to form out as a line, with Klaus looking over to see Ben staring at Eight. Klaus heart slightly clenched as he remembered those nights when Eight wasn't there, when Ben would cry himself to sleep.

Ben sighed at his sister, who ignored all of her siblings who just went walking in. "You know Ben, I hate myself for not saying goodbye to you one last time." Eight muttered. Ben went in to hug his sister, his emotions controlling him again. The same thing happened, Ben wasn't able to interact with her.

"Eight? Wanna come here?" Luther asked, motioning to his siblings who were in a line. "No, Luther. I'm staying here, with Ben." she stated out loud. Luther was pretty annoyed for a second before Allison put her hand on his shoulder. "Luther, she hasn't seen Ben for a lifetime, I think you should just let her be." she stated, persuading him stop from making a scene.

"Eight, come here. We need to do this as a family." he said sternly. Eight raised her left eyebrow. "We were never a family, Number One. I forgot, you're the leader. Need to play by your rules." she hissed and started to make her way towards the line and setting her place next to Five. Five squeezed her hand in reassurance before turning back at Luther.

There they stood, the whole family in the yard, with all of them with umbrellas, except for Diego and Luther. Klaus had a clear umbrella with a pink rim on it, and Eight didn't even bother to ask him about the unusual choice. In some sort of twisted way, she knew that Klaus would put out a stunt like this.

They all stood at the spot where Reginald's ashes were supposed to be put.

"Did something happen?" Grace asked in an oblivious tone.

"Dad died. Remember?" Allison answered, furrowing her eyebrows.

"Yes, of course." the woman replied, a sad expression changing her warm one. Eight was a bit concerned, but instead, she looked back at the ground and tried to focus.

"Is Mom okay?" Allison suddenly asked out in concern. Diego turned to her before diverting his attention back to his mother. "Yeah, yeah she's fine. She just needs to rest. You know, recharge."

"Whenever you're ready, dear boy." Pogo comfortingly told Luther. Luther nodded and opened the container. He slowly poured out the ashes of their father as it landed on a pile on the ground. It wasn't as how Eight imagined it was going to be, but that was alright. Reginald didn't deserve a beautiful funeral. In fact, he didn't deserve a funeral at all.

"Probably would have been better with some winds," Luther mumbled.

"Does anyone wish to speak?" Pogo cut in. Silence.

When no one replied, Pogo heaved out a sigh before continuing. "Very well, in all regards, Sir Reginald Hargreeves made me what I am today. For that alone, I shall forever be in his debt. He was my master and my friend, and I shall miss him very much." Pogo stated with a saddened expression. Eight wanted what Pogo said to be true, but it wasn't. Reginald Hargreeves was nothing but a -

"He was a monster." Diego snapped. Eight laughed dryly at his comment. "He was a bad person, and even a worse father." he continued. "The world is better off without him." he claimed. "Diego," Allison hissed, trying to stop one of her brothers from making a scene. "My name is number two. You know why? Because our father couldn't be bothered to give us actual names. He had mom do it." Diego ranted out. "Would anyone like something to eat?" Grace asked sweetly from beside Diego. "No, it's okay, mom." Vanya replied calmly. "Oh," her smile  faltered a little. "Okay."

"Look, you want to pay your respects? Go ahead. But at least be honest about the kind of man he was." Diego stated, stepping forward to face everyone. Eight's amusement started to falter away. Diego was getting mad, and he was the absolute worst when he gets mad.

"Can we just go back inside? He was a real asshole, and thats the truth. So lets just go inside, get a nice cup of coffee, and-" Eight was cut off when Diego started to laugh. "No. Eight, they deserve to know how he's the absolute worst. How could I just listen to them say this about dad? After what he did to you? He tortured you, Eight." Diego stated. Eight bit her lip as flashes of all the experiments Hargreeves did on her appeared on her mind. Diego and Luther were arguing, but she didn't really hear anything. All she could think of was when Hargreeves shot a gun at her, testing if she could catch it with her mind, or when he made her hurt Diego, or when he always summoned the being inside of her so she would control it, or that time when-

"Love, calm down." Five held Eight. Eight suddenly gave her attention to Luther and Diego. Pogo had already turned away has he realised that there was nothing stopping them. "We don't have time for this." Five muttered, starting to make his way back inside. Eight stayed, watching as Luther and Diego fought will all they could.

Eight started to make her way towards Ben's statue, wanting to look at Diego and Luther from another angle. Diego stumbled over towards where she was, and raising his fists, clearly not giving up. "Come on, big boy!" Diego yelled again. Luther went charging towards his direction, until Eight realized what Diego was about to do. They were too near to the statue, it would be broken.

Diego jumped out as Luther's fist was about to collide his body. Eight swiftly controlled Luther's hand, stopping it to make any damages to Ben's statue. With a grunt, Eight took control of his whole body and threw Luther down at the ground.

The action caused everyone's attention to be on her. Eight started sneering, taking steps towards her siblings.

"You two can both act like children any damn time you want." Eight snapped, holding out her finger at Luther and Diego. "But do not touch the statue."

Eight started making her way out, gripping the umbrella in anger. Five was right, they didn't have time for this.