"Pogo! I'm headed out to get some more booze! Lemme know if anyone else shows up!"
"Yes, Miss Vivian."
I grabbed my coat from where it was strewn across the couch, pulling it on as I walked through the entrance to the academy.
"More alcohol? Really, Vi?" Allison asked, grabbing my arm as I passed.
"Klaus is gonna want some when he gets here, and I'm running low. Besides, it's a funeral, Alli! Better being drunk than being solemn at the death of dear ole dad!" I twisted my arm out of her grasp and shot her a grin.
See, while my brother Klaus prefers drugs, I like to numb my feelings in the form of drinking. It's a bit less illegal, and I can stay acting relatively normal while drunk.
"Be back soon," Allison told me, a worried look that I had most certainly not missed on her face.
"Of course, Alli!" I called over my shoulder, and shut the door behind me.
The whole dysfunctional family was gathering at the home I had lived in for all the thirty years of my existence, and I wasn't particularly looking forward to having to share the mansion again. It had been just myself, my eccentric old adopted father, my mother and our butler for years, and soon it was going to be all six of the alive Hargreeves kids. I most definitely did not want to be sober for that.
I hurried across the street, ignoring the honking of a blue car I had walked in front of. Brushing off the concerned stares of a group of elderly women on the corner, I slowed to a stroll, gladly taking in the fresh air. It was going to rain soon, I could tell, but it was nice to be outside. I normally only went out to get the groceries for the week.
After a few minutes, I was greeted with the familiar storefront of the nearest liquor shop to home. I pushed open the door, sending the jingle of a small bell through the store and alerting the three men inside of my presence.
"Hey, Viv! What's up?" Jerry, the owner of the shop, asked.
"My insane family is in town for my dad's funeral," I said, walking up to the counter and resting on it. The two men browsing the isles looked at me like I was extremely weird, then went back to their shopping.
"Rough. The usual?"
"Yeah, but add in a bottle of whatever Klaus had last."
"How's he, then?"
"No clue," I chuckled, messing around with the key chains advertised near the counter. "I haven't seen him in months. Pogo says he got out of rehab, like, yesterday. Should show up at some point, he'll want the money left to him. Though, it wouldn't surprise me if the old man left no one but Luther and Allison anything." I shook my head, leaving the key chains alone as Jerry plunked a bag on the counter.
"It's on the house. It's the least I can do to ease your suffering." Jerry smiled.
"Gracias, mi amigo!" I grinned, grabbing the bag and swinging it around as I walked towards the door.
"Good luck with the fam!"
I took my sweet time getting home, procrastinating social interaction for as long as I could. I liked Klaus's, and, on the rare occasion, Diego's company, and didn't mind Allison and Luther half the time, but Diego and Luther were constantly arguing, which got on one's nerves if you had to spend an eternity with them. As for Vanya, our sister, I wasn't sure if she would even show up, or if I'd want her to be there. We hadn't left off on very good terms. A.K.A., there was shouting, and some door slamming. Not a fun time. But after my siblings left again, I'd have the house to myself. Of course, Mother and Pogo would be there, but Father couldn't restrict me anymore. No more rules. I could leave anytime!
I spun around in a circle in the middle of the sidewalk, my hair spinning out around me. Bottles clinking in the bag, and I got more odd looks, but I got them whenever I left the house. I'd given up caring about other people's opinions, noticing the stares and brushing them off. I slowly stopped, stumbling into a parking meter as I did, but eventually righted myself and continued on towards the house.
My phone buzzed in my pocket, and I pulled it out to find academy's phone's contact on screen. I accepted the call.
"Miss Vivian, all of your siblings have arrived. They're all sitting around in the living room. It's extremely awkward," Pogo's weary voice informed me.
"Alright, be there in approximately twenty seconds," I said, then hung up and walked up to the gate.
"You can do this, Vivian. Only a few dreadful days until absolute freedom. You got this," I whispered, preparing myself to deal with the drama that ensued whenever more than two of my siblings were in the same room as each other.
I opened the gate, then the door, and walked into the house to hear Luther's raised voice. Sighing, I continued into the foyer.
"There are still some important things we need to discuss, alright?"
"Important things such as who's gonna get the china now that Pa's gone?" I asked, bringing the group's attention on me.
"Viv! You don't look a day over sixteen!" Klaus exclaimed, stumbling to his feet and walking over.
"Ha ha, hilarious You say that every time we see each other, and it never gets any funnier."
He smirked, and pulled me into a hug. Over his shoulder, Diego nodded in my direction, and I returned the gesture.
"Nice to see you again, Viv," Luther said.
"Same, Space Boy." I pulled away from Klaus and held up the bag of bottles. "I brought the drinks."
"You always were my favorite sibling." Klaus grinned, and patted me on the head.
I rolled my eyes, and moved back towards the bar in the back of the room as an audible sigh came from Luther.
"As I was saying, there are important things to discuss, such as the way Dad died," the burly man said.
"And here we go," Diego muttered.
"I don't understand- I thought they said it was a heart attack," Vanya spoke up. She looked as timid as ever, and seemed to be pretty much the same as the last time I had seen her.
"According to the coroner," Luther told her.
"Well wouldn't they know?"
"Theoretically."
"Theoretically?" Allison asked, confused as I was.
"I'm just saying, at the very least, something happened. The last time I talked to Dad, he sounded strange," Luther said.
"Oh, quelle surprise!" Klaus gargled through a mouthful of whiskey.
"Strange how?" Allison's attention was on Luther as I came to sit on the arm of the couch beside Klaus, a glass of something alcoholic in my hand. I had just grabbed a random bottle from the bag.
"He sounded on edge," Luther said, "Told me I should be careful who to trust.
"Luther, he was a paranoid, bitter old man who was starting to lose what was left of his marbles," Diego said, standing to face our brother.
"He was going a bit crazy," I added.
"No. He must have known something was going to happen," Luther insisted. "Look, I know you don't like to do it, but I need you to talk to Dad." He looked at Klaus expectantly. Allison scoffed, and I took a sip from my glass, hiding a smirk.
"I can't just call Dad in the afterlife and be like, "Dad, could you just... stop playing tennis with Hitler for a moment and take a quick call?"" Klaus sat up, gesturing with his glass in one hand and a cigarette in the other.
"Since when? That's your thing."
"I'm not in the right frame of mind!"
"You're high?" Klaus laughed at Allison's question.
"Yeah, yeah! How can you not be, listening to this nonsense?"
"Well sober up, this is important," Diego demanded.
"Bro, he hasn't been properly sober since we were teenagers," I said, and got a glare from him.
"Then there's the issue of the missing monocle," Luther moved past the spat.
"Who gives a shit about the stupid monocle?" Diego muttered, looking to the floor.
"Exactly. It's worthless. So whoever took it, I think it was personal. Someone close to him. Someone with a grudge." My mouth fell open, and I set down the glass.
"Where are you going with this?" Klaus asked.
"Oh isn't it obvious, Klaus?" Diego's tone grew angered. "He thinks one of us killed Dad."
"You do?" Klaus tilted his head.
"How could you think that?" Vanya asked, a feeling of betrayal clear in her voice.
"Great job Luther. Way to lead." Diego walked off.
"That's not what I'm saying," Luther protested.
"You're crazy man. You're crazy." Klaus stood, following Diego out.
"I'm not finished-"
"Sorry, I'm just gonna go murder Mom. Be right back," Klaus shouted.
"Luther, we hated him, but we would never kill him. This is ridiculous," I said, rising from the couch and wandering off after Klaus.
"That's not what I was saying- I didn't- Viv-" I left my stuttering brother behind and went up the stairs, spinning myself around the banister and brushing past the door to my room. The room was how I had left it that morning, a few bottles littering the shelves, books messily piled on every available surface, the stars I had gotten Luther to help me plaster to the ceiling in our childhood still shimmering overhead.
I plopped down on my bed, and pulled one of Ben's books from a pile the nightstand. Ben, the brother that I was closest to (who just happened to have died), loved books, and after he had passed I had taken up reading to compliment my lovely drinking problem.
I had only just flipped open the cover when one of Luther's old records began playing from the room down the hall from mine. "I Think We're Alone Now" easily came through the walls, and I set the book down.
As the song began to pick up, I tapped my feet against the bed frame. Memories of times when all of us were young, and two of us weren't missing and/or dead, came to mind, and I grabbed the nearest bottle. I didn't need memories of the past.
Before I could get up and tell Luther to turn the memory-inducing music off, it flickered off, along with the lights. Thunder, or what I thought was thunder, crashed, and lightning crackled across the window.
"What the-" I muttered, and yelped as the bottle I was holding flew out of my grasp and shattered against a wall. At that point I decided to get the hell out of Dodge, and ran out of my room to see Luther sprinting down the hall, Allison trailing behind him.
"What the actual fuck is happening?" Allison shrugged as I fell into step with her.
We rushed down the stairs and followed Luther out the doors to the back garden. A massive, glowing, blue tornado-y thing had appeared, and it was terrifying.
"What is it?" Vanya yelled over the wind's howls.
"Don't get too close." Allison grabbed Luther's hand and pulled him back.
"Yeah no shit!" He exclaimed.
I moved around them to get a good look at the thing.
"Vivian!" Diego pulled me back, and put an arm in front of my body to stop me from moving closer.
"Looks like some sort of temporal anomaly," Luther said, "Either that or a miniature black hole. One of the two."
"Pretty big difference there, Paul Bunyan," Diego yelled.
"Out of the way!" Klaus burst through the doors and shoved past Diego and Luther, clutching a bright red fire extinguisher.
"What are you-" Luther asked, then stopped as our high brother sprayed the large glowing storm with whatever the heck they put in fire extinguishers.
After the white fluff did nothing, Klaus simply chucked the extinguisher into the blue thing.
"Genius, Klaus!" I exclaimed, my voice practically dripping with sarcasm.
"What is that gonna do?" Allison yelled.
"I don't know! Do you have a better idea?" Klaus tossed up his hands.
Electricity crackled again, and Luther lunged forward, pulling Klaus to stand beside me.
"Everyone get behind me," Luther demanded.
"Yeah, get behind us," Diego reaffirmed, and I shook my head at their battle for leadership as he kept an arm wrapped protectively around me.
"I vote for running! C'mon!" Klaus shouted, and I was ready to take off with him when a man appeared in the swirling blue thing.
The elderly man morphed into a boy, who pushed his way through the thing and fell into a heap on the ground. Within the second, the sky was clear.
"Does anyone else see little Number Five, or is that just me?" Klaus asked as we stared at the boy in front of us, who pushed himself off the ground and stood.
My brother, who had gone missing before he could be known as anything but Five, looked down at himself, then back up at us.
"Shit."