33. Welcome Home

"Elisa!" Klaus his voice sounds through the hallway, sure his brother brought Elisa back to the Academy. "Elisa! Elisa! Elisa!" he repeats quickly. He jogs through the hallway, and he only stops when he almost bumps into the two. To no one's surprise, Five his arm is curled around Elisa her waist, and she is leaning into him, enjoying the connection.

"You're back," Klaus states, grinning. Even though he wants to, Klaus doesn't throw his arms around Elisa. It is not hard to notice that Five doesn't want to free her anytime. It makes Klaus stick his tongue out to him.

"I am." Elisa returns a smile. Then her eyes travel to the empty hallway behind Klaus. "Is Vanya here?" She needs to talk to Vanya. With everything in her, Elisa hopes that Vanya isn't horribly afraid of her—which any normal person would be. Still, there's a little bit of hope left inside of Elisa.

"She is," Klaus answers. "She's in the kitchen." His eyes flicker to Five again, and he—not so discrete—gestures that they should let the two talk.

Five gets the message. His arms unhappily unfold around Elisa her waist.

At first, Elisa pouts when he takes a step back, but she understands soon enough. She blows him a kiss, wanting to thank him for giving her some time alone with Vanya.

Before turning his back on Elisa and disappearing into the dark hallway together with Klaus, Five forces the corners of his lips to curl up, hoping to reassure Elisa. Klaus, on the other hand, puts his thumbs up, already sure Elisa will do great. Yet, Elisa isn't so sure about that.

Stepping forward, hundreds of thoughts go through Elisa her head. Fire Fire Fire. She's a bomb. Vanya knows exactly what she can do. If she has some common sense, Vanya would screech the moment Elisa walks through the door. It would be normal, and Elisa wouldn't blame her at all.

But Elisa doesn't hesitate to walk through the dooropening. She can't allow herself to hesitate. Every second that Vanya gets to think could be another second she changes her mind about Elisa. Whatever she has decided, it can change. And even though it's selfish, Elisa doesn't want Vanya to decide to run away from Elisa this second.

Vanya her eyes fall on Elisa immediately. Her mouth falls open a little, but she doesn't run . . . yet. And that's a good thing, Elisa thinks.

"Elisa?" Vanya does hesitate to speak. It's as if she's afraid that her voice will fail her, that it's untrustworthy. "You're here," she states. "You've finally come back."

Of course Elisa frowns at the woman. She should be at least showing some kind of fright. Hell, she should be running away right now. "You're not screaming." Elisa her frown grows even more.

And to her surprise, Vanya grins—actually grins. "I'm so happy you're back."

"You're happy that I'm back?" Elisa echoes Vanya her words. how is this possible? Perhaps she's still dreaming.

Vanya continues grinning as she approaches Elisa. Then, she playfully slaps Elisa on her arm. "Of course I'm happy you're back."

"It doesn't make any sense." Elisa shakes her head, unable to meet Vanya her eyes. Again, she's ashamed of herself. How can Vanya be so not scared? "You should be very afraid." Now, Elisa does meet Vanya her gaze. Vanya has an understanding smile on her lips—one that Elisa doesn't understand at all. "Why aren't you afraid?"

"Because I know why you did it." Vanya shrugs. "You got me out of there, Elisa. I'm so thankful for that. I won't ever be able to thank you enough."

"Don't thank me." Elisa can't smile back. She can't say that she'd do it all again. Don't get her wrong, Elisa is happy she saved Vanya. But by doing that, she let the monster take a piece of her over again. That can't happen anymore. Never. If it does happen again, Elisa is afraid that'll take her over for forever.

"I should," Vanya tells her as her smile falters. She shoves a random chair from under the table, and sits down on it. Afterwards, she gestures for Elisa to do the same. And Elisa does what Vanya expects from her. She's too much in shock by Vanya her behaviour not to. "You've saved me from such horrors," Vanya adds followed by a sigh.

"If I would've listened to you, then you'd have had to experience less of that," Elisa admits, looking at Vanya with guilty eyes. "I'm sorry."

This causes Vanya to frown. She doesn't actually ask Elisa what she means, but her confused facial expressions practically do.

"I dreamt," Elisa starts, "I dreamt about you. You were there, screaming for help. At the time, I didn't even realize that it—or part of it at least—was real. I didn't know you were really in such danger."

"Wow." Vanya her eyes widen, but she recovers herself quickly and neatly. "That's quite a lot." A quiet chuckle leaves her lips. After it has faded away, Vanya frowns deeply again, watching Elisa very closely. "You saw me screaming?"

Elisa nods. "I did," she says. "You were screaming for help, and I didn't give you any." She sighs, getting more and more sorry with each glance at Vanya.

"Don't be silly." Vanya pats Elisa her shoulder. "It was a nightmare. That's all. Just a coincidence."

Doubting that it was "just a coincidence" a lot, Elisa bites her lip. "A coincidence," she repeats in a whisper.

"Well, I am glad you dreamt it," Vanya admits, and a laugh of her sounds. "Otherwise I'd still be there." She then looks at the door if no one is coming in. No one is. Then her head turns to Elisa again. "Do you think they would've eaten me?" Vanya asks Elisa in a whisper, sounding very, very serious.

"Eaten you?"

"Yes!" Vanya exclaims, pressing her hand over her mouth immediately after. "Sometimes I thought they would."

For the first time, Elisa has to keep down a laugh.

"The cold stares." Vanya shakes her head, hoping to make the images to fade away. "I'm happy I get Klaus his giggles now instead of those haunting faces."

Now, Elisa does laugh and completely because it's true what Vanya says. Klaus his giggles are way better than the cold stares from everyone at the Commission.

"Elisa," Vanya suddenly speaks up again. Immediately, Elisa looks at her, and notices the worried twinkle in her eyes.

"Yes?"

"Have you. . ." she trails off already. "Have you told Five what happened?"

Disliking herself even more for it, Elisa shakes her head slowly. Still, she doesn't look away from Vanya. "I have not," she admits. "Well, he does know that she's dead and that I killed her. Plus, he knows about the whole other me taking this me over. It's still so weird. But he doesn't know what really, really happened to the handler—how she died, you know. I don't think I can tell him."

"It's good you told him all that already." Vanya smiles weakly. "He deserves to know."

"Yeah," Elisa agrees. "He really does. I don't know if I'll ever be ready to tell him, though. It's quite horrific."

Vanya stays quiet for a moment, then she says, "Now, can I tell you a secret?" Vanya asks sheepishly, a huge grin spreading over her face after having decided to forget all about the other subject.

Naturally, Elisa nods.

"I'm planning on writing a book," Vanya admits, sounding proud of herself.

"Really?" Elisa smiles widely.

"Yes." Vanya chuckles when she looks down at her lap, as if a little shy herself. "It'll be a fantasy novel. Oh, and with powers!" Elisa listens closely, her stomach doing its weird thing again when she hears Vanya getting excited over the superpowers. The only normal one. "I've got it all planned out already. I only need to put it onto paper." A sigh leaves her lips. "Of course, that isn't as easy as it sounds. I've tried it before—writing. And it didn't really score well . . . everywhere and in the family."

Sure that Vanya is the strongest person alive, Elisa places her hands on Vanya's shoulders. Her smile widens determinedly. "Vanya, I'm like a hundred percent sure it's going to be effing amazing. Honestly, the bookworm that I am, I can't wait to binge read it."

For the very first time ever, Elisa notices tears filling Vanya her eyes. "No way." Elisa chuckles softly, throwing her arms around Vanya. "You're tearing up for that?"

"Shush." Vanya shakes her head, chuckling, too. And then she accepts the hug. "Welcome home again, Elisa."

-

Short chapter because I wanted Vanya and Elisa to talk :) ALSOO just a few more chapters 'til the end of the first book!!