Do you usually express your thoughts or keep them to yourself?
Immediately, tears began to well up in her eyes as she took in Emery's stunned form. Hands bandaged and eyes wounded just upon seeing her. He ran a subconscious hand along the width of his chest, hands hovering for a moment longer before they fell away.
"Emery..." Vanya said, voice broken.
"Hey, Vanya." Emery said softly, issuing a smile. "Did you get my message?" He asked.
Vanya nodded mutely and then Emery was sucking in a breath, stepping forward, and embracing the girl in a hug. They were nearly the same height and the moment Vanya relaxed, Emery squeezed her harder. Just for a moment before he released her.
"Are you ok?" He asked when they pulled apart.
"I think I should be asking you that question." She said.
"It's nothing. Don't worry about it."
"Five?" Vanya asked though her eyes told him she didn't believe his answer one bit.
"He-"
"Vanya?" Luther interrupted, coming down the stairs.
A new onslaught of tears pooled around Vanya's eyes now.
"Is Allison..."
"She survived."
"Thank God." Vanya exhaled, slowly walking forward- meeting Luther halfway at the base of the steps.
"What happened?" The man asked.
"We got in an argument." Vanya took a shaky breath in. "And things got out of control. I didn't mean to hurt her. Please you have to believe me."
"I do."
"It was an accident. I was... I was angry, and... it just happened." She paused. "Could I see her?" She asked, timid and hopeful.
"She's resting now. Maybe later." Luther replied softly.
"Is it okay if I wait here for a bit?" She asked.
"Of course. This is your home." Luther replied distantly as he opened his arms.
"I'm sorry," Vanya said. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she tied out as she fell into her brother's arms. "I didn't mean it... I didn't mean..."
"I can see that Vanya." Luther said.
Emery subconsciously wrapped his arms around himself, crossing his arms more to give himself something to do. He didn't know if he should leave or not, didn't know what he was allowed to do and what not to; what he should and shouldn't do at this moment.
Vanya's cries subsided in an instant then, followed by a struggled call of his name. "Luther, you're hurting me." She gasped out.
Emery unclamped his arms and took a step forward.
"Luther-" he warned as the place started rumbling; vibrating.
"I'm sorry too, Vanya." Luther said, squeezing tighter.
"S-stop." Vanya struggled out. "Please stop." The rumbling got louder and louder still until-
"I'm sorry." Luther said as Vanya went limp in his arms and the rumbling subsided.
"Luther, what do you do?" Emery hissed, racing to Vanya's side and supporting her.
"I did what I had to, Emery. It's best if you stayed out of it."
"I'm as much a part of this as you are."
"Yeah, maybe when dealing with the apocalypse but that's over now. This is a family matter. And you aren't family." He said, taking Vanya off of him and moving down the hall and down a new set of stairs Emery hadn't known existed before this.
"No." Emery said, ignoring Luther, and rushing after him. "You can't do this to her, Luther. It isn't right." He said when Luther opened a door to some kind of chamber, set her inside, and locked her in. "There are other ways." He pleaded but Luther just turned away. "Luther Hargreeves." Emery said, louder this time. "Ordinary or not, you do not treat someone like this." He said. His voice must have drawn the attention of the rest of the siblings in attendance for the door swung open and Diego and Klaus spilled down the steps.
Klaus raised shaky hands to his mouth as he watched his sister wake in a panic.
"You locked up our sister because you think she has powers." Diego said.
"No, I know she does. Pogo told me."
"He's always known, and so did Dad."
"Why would they hide this from us?" Diego asked as he watched Vanya- now awake, bang helplessly on the singular small window that looked out from the locked chamber. "I mean am I the only one that didn't know this place existed?"
"He hides so much from us," Klaus said shakily.
"He hid it because he was afraid... of her." Luther accused.
"That's ridiculous," Klaus said.
"Is it?" Luther bit back. "Dad's lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?"
"Well, if you're right, then maybe she's the one who killed Peabody," Diego said.
"And cut Allison's throat," Luther added
"Woah- no, listen. I ju— Sorry, just, let's go back, all right?" Klaus raised his hands. "This is Vanya we're talking about. Our sister. The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids."
"But-" Emery said sadly. "It's true. But just because she killed him- they were fighting, Luther." He said. "She doesn't know how to control it. But that doesn't mean lock her up!"
"I know it's difficult to accept-" Luther began, ignoring Emery.
"It's not difficult to accept, it's impossible to accept." Klaus exploded.
"No, he's right. Emery's right. Look, we can't keep her locked up without proof."
"Wh— what more proof do you need?"
"Why don't we just open the door and ask her?" Klaus asked, moving to do it himself but Luther pulled him back.
"No, she's not going anywhere."
"No, even if you're right, she needs our help, she needs our help and we can't do that if she'd locked in a cage." Diego said.
"Yeah, and for all we know, she might be struggling with this new power. Like Emery said. 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 was even half true, then she is not just a danger to us," Luther said.
Emery looked hopelessly at Vanya's equally hopeless face through the window- if not more. She banged at the window and looked to be saying something- pleading but Emery couldn't hear anything, couldn't even feel the vibrations of her pounding.
"Allison, what are you doing down here? You should be in bed."
Emery whirled around and saw Allison awake and walking around. She was silent as she could not risk speaking, bandage around her throat. She lifted a notepad and started writing.
Let her go. It read when she turned it around.
"I can't do that. She hurt you." Luther said.
Allison frowned with tired, sad eyes and flipped the page on the notepad. Scrawling another, she turned it around.
My fault, it read.
"I'm sorry, but she's staying put. Just until we know what we're dealing with."
Allison pushed Luther, hit him, and shoved him but the man would not budge.
"Come on." He said. "Come on, you need to get some rest." He gently pulled Allison's fighting arm until she gave up at which point he guided her through the hall and back upstairs. Klaus and Diego followed sombrely after, going their separate ways when they reached the top.
Emery turned back around to see Vanya still fighting, mutely crying out and banging against the panel. He took a deep breath and shook his head but whatever self-restraint he held in Luther's Will was small and he moved his hands up to test at the door handle, a large wheel that took immense strength to close by Luther, let alone open by a merger Emery.
He sighed when he strained his muscles and the thing had yet to budge even an inch. He gave one last valiant heave but then the pressure on his hands became too great and he pulled away with a cry, cradling them to his chest as he slid down the door and to the floor.
"I'm sorry, Vanya." He said though he knew the girl couldn't hear him. "If there was any other way-" he broke off. There wasn't. What Luther did wasn't right but the worst part of all was when Emery couldn't think of any valid reason why Luther's actions weren't justified.
He knew he should get up, go find Five, and reason this whole thing out but Emery found he couldn't bring himself to move for a long while and when he finally did, he felt like his body had been through hell and back. His chest hurt every time he breathed and his hands- every time he pressed down on them to push himself up for even to manipulate light, an act that had come so easy to him before- hurt.
Finally, he pushed himself up and started walking forward, back to Vanya, and jaw held firm. He knew if he looked back he wouldn't be able to leave Vanya, not like this- but what else could he do?
He could imagine her banging against the slim panel, calling out to him, to her family. Bang bang bang. Bang. The final one was not of his imagination but of the real thing. He paused, just steps away from the foot of the stairs and leaving and waited as another bang sounded.
He whirled around with wide eyes and saw Vanya had moved away from the window and was now in the middle of the room, talking to someone- herself. It couldn't be anyone else. Her arms were tense as tears streamed down her face. And then the vibrating started.
A dull thing at first but it quickly grew louder.
"Vanya?" Emery asked though he knew the girl couldn't hear. "Vanya!" He shouted, louder as he stepped back to the window, he himself plastering his bandaged hands on the window as he watched something change in Vanya. The rumbling was strong- so strong now he could barely see her through the vibrations. He banged a hand against the pane though it pained him and called her name out once more before he stumbled back, feet nearly tripling over one another as he struggled to get out of the room.
He turned and bolted forward and up the steps as a raging heat overcame the room and the grumbling became unbearable.
Metal squeaked and Emery knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that their problems were far from over, and that Vanya had escaped.
But no joy or relief washed over him as he might have liked to imagine, just a deep-rooted trepidatious fear.