REWRITTEN
The siblings all sat around on hard plastic seats surrounding one of the empty bowling lanes. The lights above were bright and overwhelming, the chairs stiff and uncomfortable, and the constant noise of parties and bowling balls crashing down other lanes was nothing but headache inducing.
Violet sat with her legs crossed on the chair, her back hunched forwards and head lowered as she picked at her nails repetitively.
The others had gathered she was there given the fact Five's attention was half on the empty space next to him, even if she was invisible.
With Luthers depressing drone meeting her ears through all of the noise of the bowling alley, Violet felt like tearing her hair out.
Her mind kept drifting from one troubling thought to another.
Grace was dead, gone, and it was all Vanya's fault.
But Mom should have gotten out. Why didn't she leave? Why didn't she save herself?
Vanya caused it. Vanya killed mom.
But Vanya needed help.
And all Luther was talking about was preparing to end her life.
"Look I hate to be the one to say this but everyone needs to prepare."
"For what?"
"To do whatever it takes to stop Vanya."
Vanya was their sister.
She needed help. She just discovered she had world-destroying powers and that she was lied to for her entire life.
Her mind went to all the times Vanya was left out, alone, ignored, pushed away as a child. All the times she solemnly watched, wishing to be apart of the family.
But they'd never really been much of a family, had they?
Violet felt what Vanya felt. The pain, the suffering. Being pushed aside because she was different. Ironic how she had spent her years wishing to switch places with Vanya, and she had likely wished the opposite.
Two sides of the same coin.
A darker thought hit her - if she had powers as dangerous as Vanya's, and she was in her position, would she snap too? Would she be able to control it, even if she wanted to?
Would she want to?
The others looked uncomfortable. Allison was upset and smacked Luther on the arm with her notepad.
Their debating made Violet want to throw up.
They were talking about putting her down like some rabid dog.
They didn't know Vanya like she did. She cared more about everyone else's feelings than her own, even if it put her down.
At the mention of Sir Reginald her frown deepened and she buried her face in her hands, fighting the urge to claw at her skin. Everything was becoming too much. The noises, the bright lights, the turn of the conversation, everything was grating on her nerves and her noise cancelling headphones and every comfort she had once owned, save for the sweater she was wearing and the boy next to her, was gone.
"I'm with Luther on this one."
Violet snapped her head around to stare at Five's stoic expression, a forlorn glance in his haunted eyes.
She uncurled herself from her position, leg bouncing up and down rapidly, her nails digging into the back of her hands.
Maybe there was a reason Five refused to glance her way as he continued speaking. For the first time during the night, even though he couldn't see her anyway, he did not let his eyes flicker towards her on the off-chance that this time he would catch her expression.
"We can't give her a chance to fight back. There are billions of lives at stake, we're past trying to save just one."
She stood abruptly, nails drawing blood at her skin, the rigidity of her knuckles aching, the sting a constant burn.
She couldn't take her gaze away from his eyes. She scanned his expression and felt her heart sink.
Her hands shook with how rigidly she held them.
Bitter tears welled in her eyes as she forced herself to turn away.
She began pacing back and forth, tiny smears of blood welling between her skin and sharp nails.
How could he think that how could he think that how could he want to hurt Vanya-
Vanya was possibly the only person she cared about more than Five - she was the one who was there for her when the others weren't, she was her voice when Five had left - even if no one would listen. She stood by her side and kept her going when she felt like she couldn't. She was her sister.
And possible one of the only family members who actually felt as such.
A million colourful words lodged in her throat as she imagined herself screaming at them all at the top 9f her lungs. She wanted to scream. She wished she had the guts to do it.
But the words died on her tongue with a sour taste.
Her sister deserved better than everyone just turning on her the second they realised she was powerful, dangerous.
If only she could force the words out of her mouth...
Unbeknownst to her, Five had noticed her absence the second he heard the squeek of her shoes as she began pacing behind the chairs.
Her chest ached and felt entirely hollow at the same time.
Every thunderous bang of a bowling ball slamming into the lanes and crashing through the clattering pins made her flinch. She felt sick. Her head was pounding, her mouth felt dry as sandpaper.
When Violet turned back to the others, nerves in her hands screaming, she suddenly stilled at the sight of Five's seat being empty.
Her heart sank further as she prised her nails from the back of her hand. She was barely concious of the sticky feeling at her fingertips.
Why did he leave why didn't he tell me why didn't he say something where has he gone-
He'd left.
He'd left her again. He was gone, again.
The others were generally displeased, muttering between eachother. By now this was something she was used to but it hurt just the same.
She hovered by the edge of the group, furthest away, hugging herself and craning her head over families and people in the building, hoping to spot Five or any semblance of that stupid uniform anywhere. She knew it would be useless but quick movements made her gaze slide over to the entrance.
She froze.
Shock morphed her expression as she spotted dozens of armed men dressed head to toe in black, masks covering their faces and heavy duty guns in their hands.
It was just like the diner. Just like Hazel and Cha-Cha.
Panic clawed it's way up her throat as gunshots tore through the building and screams hit her ears.
She flinched and ducked down on instinct behind the chairs, her heart thundering in her chest as she covered her ears, appearance flickering out of fright.
Bullets whizzed past where she hid, shattering things, toppling chairs and sharply cutting through screams filling the room.
"Who the hell are these guys?!" Diego yelled while covering his head.
"Maybe they're here for Kenny's birthday!" Klaus exclaimed, clutching his ears and peaking round the wall.
Violet barely managed to peak out of her hiding spot before a bowling ball shattered above her head. She let out a tiny scream and flickered to her ghost form, the heavy shards falling through her body and lying at her feet as a chill swept through her spine.
The others stood to fight as best as they could, ducking down between attacks to take cover from the gunfire.
The cacaphonous noise tore right through her skull as she watched Diego launch knives at any slither of open skin he could see, backing up until he was nearest her.
She had no idea if he could see her or not, not until a knife struck the nearest attackers hand. The gun slipped from his grasp and the two clashed, the man kicking Diego's knee out from under him and slamming his head into the side of a table.
Violet moved without thinking.
She tore forwards and uncloaked herself, grabbing a knife from one of the holsters at her brothers back and disappeared a second later, jamming the blade through the attackers back.
His grip turned slack on him as he fell to his knees, dropping Diego, desperately reaching back to grab at her.
Her eyes met Diego's wide ones as he met her gaze over the mans shoulder, blood trickling down his forehead as he grasped the table unsteadily.
She ripped the knife from the mans back and he fell forwards, lying still between them.
"Violet!" Suddenly he bolted towards her and reached for her.
But on instinct she backed away from his hand, too caught up in her usual panic than logic, and felt a burning pain rip through her lower leg.
She cried out and collapsed, unable to cloak from the shock of the pain searing through her calf.
Diego's hand latched around her arm as he pushed her down and leapt in front of her, launching a knife through the air at the gunman. He didn't even take a second to see if it hit it's mark before tucking her in behind him and hiding with her beneath the counter.
She frantically tore his hands from her, noises of distress leaving her throat as she ignored the pain in her leg the more she moved.
"No, you're hurt-"
She clutched her bloody lower leg with her hand and leant on the other, leaning as far away from him as she could in the cramped space.
Her breathing was faster than usual, eyes frantic as she stared at Diego warily as though expecting to attack if he tried touching her again.
He held his hands up defensively to show her he wasn't going to do anything, eyes flickering from her face to the blood dripping down her leg.
"I'm sorry. I had to do that," he reasoned carefully with her. "I'm not watching you die again."
Her gaze softened drastically, her ears beginning to ring.
She avoided his gaze and leant back, trying to focus on the wound, on the warmth seeping through her fingers and staining the tiles beneath her.
"Are you okay?"
She hesitated.
None of the others had ever asked her that. Not during missions or training, not ever, not while actually meaning it.
Violet could heal. Injuries meant nothing to her. She could recover ridiculously fast. They shouldn't have to waste their breath over her getting hurt because her body adapted to it naturally.
Five's voice rang in her head, a reminder. "You said just because you could heal doesn't mean you don't feel the pain."
The sudden overwhelming urge to cry struck her. She held tight over the bullet wound, not even realising she wasn't in pain anymore, not until he spoke again.
"We have to run for it," he told her, scanning her appearance. "Think you can do that?"
Violet swallowed and nodded.
He nodded back, glancing down the lanes before yelling for the others to follow.
She pushed herself to a stand, cloaked in her transparent form just in case, and followed Diego as they all made the run for it down the lanes.
Bullets whizzed through her chest, shattering the neon lights ahead of them and sending chills across her skin.
She watched Diego and Klaus hop down through the end of the lane and phased through the wall to save her the drop.
Once on the other side she landed roughly, shoulder barging into the opposite wall from the momentum as she uncloaked. Her calf burned a little but otherwise was fine.
They all ran with just one place in mind - the Icarus Theatre - all while Diego kept a close eye on her as she walked with the tiniest of limps.
Slowly it got better the further they crossed down, but the blood coating her legs was a stark image that stuck with him the entire time.