< March 31st 2019 >
The only way that Luther could think of protecting his sister was by putting her into a holding cell in the basement of the academy, a place where none of the siblings had ever ventured before and didn't even know existed. It was another one of their Father's secrets and it seemed that there were a lot more that they didn't even know about. Everyone was shocked to think that Vanya had powers as they had been brought up believing that she was ordinary and that was why she couldn't come on missions or train with them. She had been isolated all that time for no reason because she actually did have powers but their father refused to let her use them and used medication to stop the urges from happening. Luther told his brothers what he had done and they followed him into the basement to see for themselves what had happened; surprised to see little Vanya behind the glass, sobbing and pleading to be let go but the cell was soundproof and they couldn't hear what she was saying.
They hated to see her looking so vulnerable when they weren't completely sure what was going on, but Luther knew this was for her own safety and the safety of everyone else around them. If Vanya really did have powers, then they had no idea what kind of velocity it could be and if she couldn't handle them then she could be dangerous. Still, it was hard for the brothers to see her constantly hitting the glass with tears in her eyes, terrified about what was happening and what she had done. She just wanted them to listen to her, to know that she was good and that she didn't mean to hurt anyone; she wanted them to trust her and let her out of the cell but they were being cautious because they didn't know what to expect. Diego and Klaus seemed more unsure of the method, not liking how insane Vanya looked from the other side of the glass and wondering if the holding cell was really necessary.
Diego furrowed his eyebrows, trying to work out what was happening with his family, even though they had stopped the end of the world, it seemed like more problems were arising than they had planned. "You locked up our sister because you think she has powers."
"No, I know she does." Luther explained, folding his arms across his chest and looking between his two brothers. "Pogo told me. He's always known and so did dad."
"Why would they hide this from us?" He questioned, looking around the large dark room that he had never ventured into before. "I mean, am I the only one that didn't know this place existed?"
"He hid so much from us." Klaus shrugged, not moving his eyes away from Vanya who was still pleading with him through the soundproof walls.
"He hid it because he was afraid...of her."
Klaus scoffed at Luther, knowing that Vanya couldn't be scary, they had grown up with her and she wasn't scary by any means. "Oh, that's ridiculous."
"Is it? Dad's lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?"
"If you're right, then maybe she's the one who killed Peabody." Diego sighed, then his eyes lit up and the realisation hit him like a ton of bricks. "Shit!"
Luther raised an eyebrow, not understanding the breakthrough that his brother had had. "What?"
"That's what Katy was trying to tell me." He explained, running a hand through his hair and annoyed with himself for not actually listening to her. "No wonder she was freaked, Vanya was the one who hurt Allison, that's what she's been stuttering about all day."
"Sorry, just, let's go back, alright?" Klaus stopped him from making any fast judgements because he was still convinced that their sister was innocent. "This is Vanya we're talking about, our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids."
"Yeah, I know. I know it's difficult to accept-"
"It's not difficult to accept, it's impossible to accept." He interrupted Luther, hating that he wasn't taking the side of their own sister and believed that she was dangerous enough to not only kill a man but also almost kill Allison.
"No, he's right." Diego agreed with Klaus, knowing that it was wrong to jump to conclusion on this, it was a serious matter and they needed to take their time with it. "Look, we can't keep her locked up without proof."
Luther rolled his eyes, bringing back a point from earlier in the conversation. "You said it yourself, Katy's been giving us warnings all night. Isn't that enough evidence?"
"Why don't we just open the door and ask her?" Klaus asks, moving towards the door but Luther puts his arm out and stops him before he could make it to the door.
"No, she's not going anywhere."
Diego shook his head, not liking the fact that they were allowing Luther to keep their sister locked up when they didn't know what was really going on. "No, even if you're right, she needs our help and we can't do that if she's locked in a cage."
"Yeah, and for all we know she might be struggling with this new power. I mean, it must be scary, terrifying, really, to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do."
"Look, if what Pogo told me is even half true, then she is not just a danger to us." Luther tried to explain to them, keeping his tone serious so that they would understand just how important their next decisions were. Then they all heard footsteps and turned to see who had joined them in the basement, shocked to see Allison had gotten out of bed and was in front of them. Immediately he was concerned for her and tried to usher her away from the cell. "Allison, what are you doing down here? You should be in bed."
She couldn't speak and no one knew if she would ever get her vocal cords working again, so she had been given a notepad and a pen to communicate with everyone. Right now, she knew that Vanya shouldn't be in the cell because that was her sister and she didn't deserve to be punished; so, she wrote her feelings down and showed the boys: LET HER GO.
"I can't do that, she hurt you." Luther explained, wanting nothing more than to protect her.
Allison flicked the page and began writing on the other side before showing the boys what she had written: MY FAULT.
"I'm sorry, but she's staying put." Luther said sternly, Allison tried to get past him but he held her and so she hit him several times but it didn't do anything. He stuck by his belief that Vanya should stay in the cell. "Just until we know what we're dealing with. She stays put." Angry at him, but knowing that she couldn't do anything, the siblings left the basement and left Vanya sobbing alone.
Now that things were clearer about what had happened the previous night at the cabin, Diego knew that he needed to talk to Kate properly and not just ignore what she was telling him. He knew that she had been trying to warn him the whole time that Vanya had powers and that she was the one to hurt Allison, but he had stopped her from speaking and sent her to rest instead of believing what she was saying. His first place to check was the bedroom but with no sign of his girlfriend he began to panic that she had left because she was angry at him for the fight with Hazel in the Parlour. Diego knew that he was in the wrong but genuinely believed that the best thing for Patch would be to take down the people that killed her, now he realised that that wouldn't be what she wanted and knew that to get things back on track; he needed to apologise to Kate.
He ran through the building, terrified that Kate had left because of their argument and was worried for her safety. Even though they had stopped the apocalypse, it didn't mean that they were safe from all possible danger and with assassins still on the loose; he didn't want her to be wandering the streets alone. Luckily, as he stormed past the kitchen, a smell of baking filled his nose and he knew that she was still here. It was the same smell as her apartment, the same smell that was constantly floating around her after working at the donut shop and it was Kate's smell. He pushed open the door of the kitchen and sure enough spotted two figures next to the cooker. One being Grace, who was flicking through a recipe book and the other being Kate, who was managing the stove. Diego was surprised to see them together but it seemed that in the little time they had known each other, they had become quite close and it was a nice sight to see his mom and his girlfriend getting along.
Diego slowly walked over to the two women and stood by the counter. "What's going on?"
"We're making p-pancakes." Kate told him, not taking her eyes off the stove and talking curtly so that he would know that she was still angry with him.
"Hey, your speech is getting better." He realised, noticing that the stuttering wasn't as bad as it had been straight after the incident and tried to make her feel better. "Maybe the after-effects of the trauma are wearing off?"
She narrowed her eyes, still not looking up at him. "Asshole." Grace knew that this was a moment for the couple to have privately and quickly took her leave from the kitchen; deciding that Kate could handle the pancakes on her own and didn't need any more guidance.
"Must be a good sign if you're insulting me again." Diego muttered under his breath before moving away from the counter and getting closer to his girlfriend, hoping that the closer he got then the more likely she was to look at him. "Look, I'm sorry for not listening to you earlier."
Knowing that he was being sincere, she stopped staring at the stove and turned to look at him, not caring about how close they were because they were having a serious conversation. "About what? H-Hazel or Vanya?"
"Both, I know Patch wouldn't want me hurting anyone else. I shouldn't have gone after them, especially not after you told me not to. She was your sister."
"S-She loved you, in her own way." Kate explained, biting her lip and holding back the tears that were clouding her eyes at the mention of her sister. "I didn't want you to mess that up."
"I know, you're always right and I'm always wrong." Diego sighed, grabbing one of her hands and rubbing his thumb over her skin soothingly.
Kate laughed slightly, shaking her head. "Not always, just most of the time."
They took a moment to just enjoy each other's company, the last few days had been hectic and they didn't get to spend much time together; then the time that they did spend together, they ended up arguing which wasn't fun. After being together for three years, they knew each other pretty well but when circumstances like the end of the world come into play, things change and priorities are made. Kate knew that she should be more empathetic to Diego because he was dealing with a lot of things, not only the death of his Father but also the stress of saving the world and worrying about his own family. Sure, they had somehow avoided the conversation about his mom, who had come back to life but she still had questions about it. Diego knew that he should have been more open to hearing what Kate had to say, when the whole thing started, he had been so focused on keeping her away from family business that he didn't realise how well she fit in. Now that his siblings had all met her and gotten to know her, it was obvious that she fit in with them and he should have had more faith in her abilities.
"Vanya's here, Luther is keeping her in the basement until we know how to help her." He explained, before looking directly into her eyes and being honest with her. "I shouldn't have ignored your warnings; you knew that she had powers and you were trying to tell us."
"It's alright, you were just looking out for your family." Kate shrugged, before turning slightly so that she could check that nothing was burning on the stove and luckily, her pancakes seemed to be ready to eat. "I'm just glad that everyone is safe, are you hungry?"
Diego looked over her shoulder at the stove and quickly realised that something was different; these pancakes weren't as fluffy as her usual ones. "These don't look like your pancakes?"
"Grace taught me the way that she would make them when you were a kid." She told him, plating the pancakes and then using any leftover fruit from the bowl to add faces to them. "Figured it might make you feel better."
"I don't deserve you." Diego muttered, once again in awe of the woman in front of him as she handed his plate of perfectly made pancakes to him. "Seriously, you are too good for me. And I know that what I said the other night may have freaked you out-"
"It didn't freak me out, I just wanted the moment to be perfect." Kate said honestly, pausing as she used her finger to scoop up some whipped cream from her own plate of slightly unhealthier pancakes and dropped it onto his nose. Smiling, she admitted something that she had been holding her tongue over for days. "I love you too, asshole."
He licked the cream off his nose, chuckling at her childish behaviour which he had missed since the past week had been draining for both of them. "And that was the perfect moment?"
"Nothing more perfect than surviving the end of the world."
"I love you so much." He whispered, putting his plate onto the counter so that he could wrap his arms around her and spin her around the room. He loved the sound of her laugh as she was lifted into the air and kissed her gently when placing her back on the ground; their kiss was steamier than he had intended it to be and when they pulled away, they were both panting slightly, trying to get their breaths back. Diego tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and admired her flushed cheeks. "Why didn't we say it sooner? Now that I've said it once, I can't stop, you're turning me soft."
"You've always been soft, don't kid yourself." She smirked, pressing a chaste kiss to his lips and then turning back towards the pancakes that they hadn't eaten yet but before their perfect moment had ended, it was ruined by the sound of glass shattering and the entire building shaking.
a/n: i've been super busy lately with writing different things because there's too many ideas & not enough time to write them 🥺 i have another book published & i'm really proud of it 💖 it's about prince caspian so check it out if you're enjoying my writing!🥰 -lizzie ⭐️
date published: 05/01/22