CHAPTER NINE:
THE MOM
it was a normal day in the lives of the Hargreeves, well as normal as the lives of the eight kids with superpowers, a talking monkey, a robo-mom and a cold-hearted multibillionaire. normal for the Hargreeves was Luther doing hundreds of push-ups, Diego throwing knives or asking Alex to help him with his stuttering, Allison having a fake soap opera in her room- occasionally inviting Alex, Vanya and Klaus to join her- Klaus smoking something or cuddling Alex. Five reading some book on some complicated science-y stuff, Ben reading a book while Alex reads his own beside him, or trying to stop Klaus from doing something stupid. And Vanya could be found playing her violin either alone or with Alex relaxing next to her. and well, Alex is mostly with his siblings or lover, sometimes helping his mother with Diego. when he was alone, he would listen to music or go and practice his piano in secret. he preferred to know more about others than others know about him. Alex despite his cheerful attitude was a very secretive person. so it was normal that when an alarm blared in the mansion, nothing was where it should've been and no one was prepared.
Grace the robo-mom walked in the hallways of the mansion and taking care of her kids. Reginald was complaining about how they were never on time.
Allison walked up to Grace in panic, "I can't find my domino mask."
Grace smiled down at her, "It needed a little bit of Tlc after last mission."
Allison smiled and ran to get her mask, "Thanks, Mom."
she walked by Luther's room, "Ready to go?"
Luther paused his push-ups a second."Yeah." he grunted with a smile and went back to his workout.
"Where're my knives?" shouted a distressed Diego from his room and got a reply from Alex who walked out of Allison's room with something in his hand and walked into Klaus' room, "look behind your bed, krak."
and after a moment Diego shouted, "Thanks!"
As Grace walked by Vanya's room she heard her playing the violin, "Sounds beautiful, Vanya."
"Thanks, Mom."
Klaus was jumping on his bed while something on his desk was on fire. Alex was calmly sitting on a chair and reading a magazine he found in Allison's room. she walked inside and turned off the fire. "Oh! Klaus!"
Klaus didn't even stop his jumping and laughed, "Thank you, Mother."
"Boys will be boys," Grace said and Alex couldn't help but agree.
"Oh, Ben."
"It-It's stuck." Ben then ran after the others, "Guys, wait for me."
"D-Don't mmm" Grace heard from Diego's room and walked into the room. Diego was standing in front of the mirror.
"Don't mm mm mm" he sighed after he couldn't make the word. normally Alex would help him like he always does, but he's not the only sibling Alex takes care of.
"Remember, Diego, just picture the word in your mind," Grace said and walked up to him.
he sighed and tried one more time, "D-Don't mm muh D-Don't mmm Don't mo-move." he finally said.
Grace gasped, "You did it! I'm so proud of you!"
Diego smiled at her feeling please. that was until Reginald cleared his throat
-⚜️-
"Mom, we need to talk." Diego-and unknowingly Alex- said as he walked up to his mom who was sitting in front of her paintings doing cross-stitch while being charged.
"Okay." she responded, "But only for a minute, I need to finish this cross-stitch."
"Everything you did for us when we were kids for me why'd you do it?"
Diego said as he stood behind her. Alex standing slightly behind him, in hearing distance but not really close.
"Because being your mother is the greatest gift of my life,"
she answered in her usual cheerful tune.
"Is that you saying that?"
"I'm not sure what you mean, Diego," Grace said an continued to do her cross-stitch.
"I mean, our father, he made you." he began, "When you think something, is it like he's telling you what to say?"
"Your father isn't here, silly," Grace said with a smile, making Alex give a small smile.
"Did I do something wrong?"
"No, it's it's not Look. It's okay if you hated him. He was terrible to you, - to all of us."
"Don't say that."
"Why not? We were just tools in an experiment to him. Nothing more." Alex had a bittersweet smile on his face, after all, he could relate.
"So I'm saying, I would understand if you know, if-if you wanted to hurt him."
"Now, now," Grace began, "Mr.Hargreeves was a great man. Industrialist, inventor, Olympic gold medalist. He made the world a better place."
"Stop it! Do you hear me? Stop trying to defend him! Mom, you gotta feel something. Look, he treated you worse than anyone. You worked for him for 30 years. He didn't even give you a room to sleep in." Diego argued.
"But I've got such beautiful views here," Grace said softly and looked at her painting. A wall full of them. Alex had to admit sometimes when he needed to think he would come here and sit beside his mother and look at the paintings.
Diego sighed, "Mom, those are just paintings."
"Of course they are." She said and looked at one of them. She sighed, "What a wonderful world she lives in. Sometimes I wonder if she's lonely."
-⚜️-
Alex was walking down the hall, searching for Klaus. As he was whistling, he suddenly heard the sound of gunfire. and shouting. Alex ran to the direction the noise was coming from and found her siblings trying to fight two ridiculously masked mercenaries - at least, that's what he thought of them- firing at them. he looked helplessly as his sibling fought the masked people.
"I lost my gun." he heard the larger guy in the mask shout and tried to ignore the urge to shout 'burn the rabbit foot!'
then they separated into two groups. one of them with Allison somehow ended up in the kitchen, and the other one in the living room.
"Hello? Guys? Is everyone okay? Hello? Guys?" he heard Vanya's voice and ran in her direction. he grabbed her arm and yanked her behind a wall just as the masked guy passed them. Diego arrived grabbed Vanya's hand and shushed her when she was about to say something. she looked confused and then she looked scared.
as Luther distracted the guy, Diego shoved Vanya away and told her to hide. Alex stayed by her side even when she was safe. for the moment.
he heard grunts and panting making him tempted to look and see what was going on, but he stayed where he was beside Vanya. no one was going to hurt his sister.
he did, however, run when he heard Allison screaming and something heavy falling. Vanya ran along with him not that she knew he was there.
when he arrived, he saw that the chandelier had fallen on Luther, tearing his clothes and showing his hairy skin.
Diego whistles.
"Holy shit."
"Did you know?"
"No." he said.
That's when they all heard someone humming.
"Shit.Mom." Diego said and ran to find her. alex hot on his trail.
They found her where they left her. In front of her paintings, still doing her cross-stitch. she was sitting there with a peaceful expression on her face.
"Mom," Diego said as he and Alex arrived. "You okay?"
"Of course I am," she said and continued her stitching.
"You didn't hear the noises?" he asked, "The guys in the masks that just shot up the house?"
Grace Chuckled softly, "What are you talking about, silly?" and then continued her humming.
Diego breathed shakily and Alex closed his eyes with a pained expression. he knew this would happen.
"Diego?" Grace asked when Diego took a hold of her hand where it was stitched and opened her hand. "What are you doing?"
Alex opened his eyes slowly,he didn't want to watch but he had to. he heard the sound of beeping and whirring.
"It's gonna be o-" Diego cried softly, unable to finish his sentence. Alex had tears running down his face. he walked closer to his mother.
the woman that had her back whenever he needed it. the woman who raised him and told him it's okay to love. the woman who showed them all kindness when they had nothing but a cold-hearted man as their adopted father. Grace despite being a robot was their mother. and he sure as hell was going to cry for her.
Grace smiled softly at Diego. "Remember what we worked on," she said making Diego cry harder. "Just picture the word in your mind"
"It's gonna be okay," he said between his stuttering. Grace smiled at her.
"Mom."
the whirring faded.
Grace looked at Diego with a smile, "Di-e-go," she slurred. "Re-mem-ber." she looked at him and then behind him, where a crying Alex was standing. She smiled at him. "yo-u too." and with that Grace stopped moving. leaving two of her children crying over her.
-⚜️-
Alex left his mother with one last look. he needed to find Klaus and make sure he was okay. he hadn't seen him during the attack and before it, he wasn't having a good day. he walked to the bathroom and found the bath full of water with some cigarets beside it.
he heard some shouting from downstairs but didn't mind them. he looked in every room and shouted Klaus' name.
but he was nowhere to be seen.
★彡WORDS:1750★彡
this took so long to write for some reason. sorry!
I'll admit that I cried while I was writing Grace's death.
I usually update once a week but for the next month and a half, the updates will get slower because of my finals. be patient. I will update but it will take longer.
fun fact; everything I write is from memory from when I first watched the show and I only have the script. like I know what they say but sometimes I don't know who says what or does what.
Like always I wanted to thank you for your votes and comments. and we reached 13k. thank you all. I enjoy reading your comments.
The one-shot book is still in progress. if you have any ideas for it, please do tell.