A/N:

🎶Home by Machine Gun Kelly, X Ambassadors & Bebe Reyha.🎶

The song above is for Vivian's POV. It just fits so perfectly well with this chapter.

Happy reading!

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Steven's POV:

Everything's a mess.

I knew Micheal couldn't be trusted with her. Sure I fucking taunted the child, a bruise every now and then, but this.

Fuck this.

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Vivian's POV:

My eyes cautiously peel open. A strange white ungelled light blinds my vision as a silhouette of a woman nears me. With little to no success of identifying her, my eyes sorely begin to scan around the room.

I notice a rather familiar painting hanging on the wall to my right. My hands fumble about along my sides and I realize that I am lying in a bed, my bed. This must be my bedroom.

Wait, what? Why does this feel like déjà vu?... My mind is in a hefty frenzy, ready to explode.

I look back at the figure and attempt to sit up. The woman rushes closer and pushes me back into the pleasantly comfy bed. "No sweety. Please, lie back down," the woman bids. 

That voice. I know that voice. Bu-but it can't be. It's not possible. Yet, somehow something is telling me that it is.

Her close figure blocks out the blinding and I'm able to catch a clear view of her features. I find myself staring into her warm amber eyes that I've grown to love. Yet, for some or other reason I'm not completely shocked by this revelation.

This can't be real, but it is... Mom?

I'm about to question her, but sensing my confusion she cuts my words short. "You hit your head really hard when you fell at school. You've been out cold for a few days now. They say that-" , "That I tripped on my way while exiting my maths class?" I finish her sentence, but it comes out more as a question. Why I just said that truly baffles me.

"Yes, how did you know sweety? But anyhow, nevermind that. You're better now and that's all that matters." All the while speaking to me, she caresses my cheek with the back of her hand as she sits beside me. 

This gesture feels oddly familiar...

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Steven's POV:

"Where is he?" I ask half limping towards Peggy, trying my best to keep my anger at bay.

The day I got shot by that psychotic lieutenant caused Peggy to bed rest me for five whole days after she aided my wounds. Of course, I didn't complain, not at first that is, I knew I could do with a well-deserved break. Apparently, it's going to take a dreadful three months before these wounds fully heal.

Shit around here has been crazier than usual these past two weeks ever since that last shipment of girls came in. Sure things have gone wrong in the past, but hell cat has been taking it to a new level. She's a hazard magnet, attracting danger where ever she goes.

On the fifth day of being bed rested, Frank decided to visit and for some or other reason I ended up questioning him on hell cat's whereabouts and well-being. When I heard that she was still in that cage something inside of me snapped.

Wait, why did I care?... I guess sometimes I fucking surprise myself too.

It wasn't only the fact that she'd been inside the damn thing for so long that got to me, it's how Michael handled her. I know I'm no better than him, but I sure as hell wouldn't fucking bang her head against the wall or cage every time she had to be fed or needed the bathroom.

"Steven," Peggy sighs my name, seeing right through my nonchalant facade. She gets up from her seat and within a few seconds is standing right in front of me.

"Let it go. It's been a week. Besides. Marcus already dealt with him," she continues, her words sounding rather vague. However, the sadness lingering behind those bright blue eyes don't go unnoticed.

Bright blue ey-... Steven what the fuck?

Clearing my head of pointlessly ridiculous thoughts, I turn my attention back to the woman who clearly refuses to give me what I came for.

Michael's location.

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Vivian's POV:

Is it really her?... Jess inquires.

Of course, it is. It's my mom. I'm home. I'm safe... I 'think' back to her.

Are you sure? Something doesn't seem right. I can't be the only one sensing the déjà vu here... She informs me.

I'm home, Jess. I've always been at home... With that final thought in mind, an emotion blossoms inside of me that I haven't felt in quite some time. Longing. An aching yearning for a mother's love.

Actually no wait. Scratch that. 

I have felt this feeling before and strangely very recent. What's happening? Pushing my wandering thoughts aside, I solely focus on the woman in front of me.

Tears begin to form in my eyes and I can't help myself but jump up into her arms. With my face buried in the crook of her neck, loud sobs escape my mouth and her arms wrap ever so tightly around me. "Mom I had the craziest dream. You won't believe what happened," I speak through my broken sobs.

How is your throat not dry? Don't you need water? Especially after being 'out cold' for a few days. I'm telling you, something weird is going on here... Jess voices, but I decide to ignore her.

"What happened sweety?" she queries while rubbing the palm of her hands in circular motions on my back. 

"Nick cheated on me with Kate and then dumped me in the school cafeteria," I state while pulling away to see her face while riding the tears from my own.

I wonder if I should tell her how I- why does this conversation feel so familiar? If I didn't know any better, her next words would be something along the line of how he wouldn't do such a thing.

"He what! No. He wouldn't," mom says in disbelief. Her hands fly up to try and cover her gaped mouth.

What the hell?... I can't help but think.

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Steven's POV:

Peggy makes her way past me to grab some files laying on the table to my left. Not just any files, hell cat's files.

For the past week now, she has been jotting down information onto those sheets. Failing to understand what most of it meant in the first place, I stopped reading them. Which somehow only worsened my mood. If I can't see the girl, I at least want to know how she's doing.

"Don't tell me what to fucking do. We both know what he did to her. We've had this discussion before. Now. Where. Is. He!" I yell while walking after her since she decided to 'grab-and-go', marching straight out of the evaluation room.

Upon hearing my words, she stops dead in her tracks and something tells me to prepare myself for the wrath of Peggy.

Gut instincts; trust your vibes, because energy doesn't lie.

"What he did to her?... WHAT HE DID TO HER! WHAT ABOUT EVERYTHING YOU'VE DONE TO HER?" she fumes as soon as she turns around, all the while practically leaping herself towards me.

If it wasn't for my injuries, I'm one hundred percent sure that she would be attacking me by now. Instead, she only jabs the point of the files into my chest. Each jab far more forceful than the previous, but not enough to cause me to stumble. So I stand my ground, take the pain and allow her to get whatever it is she needs to off of her chest.

"So because someone other than yourself has inflicted pain upon the poor child, now suddenly it's a problem? Now suddenly you care! Have you ever thought that maybe, just maybe, if you cared from the beginning, none of this would have happened!" she continues.

Her eyes glisten with tears, yet not a single drop falls. Her voice drip with a mixture of emotions. Anger, pain, and sorrow; the trio of emotional disasters.

Her words and not all are somewhat true, that much I can't deny. However, it doesn't mean that they'll have any form of effect on me. Peggy knows damn well that I don't give a shit about anyone. Never have and I promised myself I never will.

Not after my sister.

What my parents put us through is nothing any of these girls have ever faced and ever will face. The things they did to my baby sis... Let's just say their final act of parental cruelty took any form of emotions I had with it.

And I'll be fucking damned, deluded or deranged if any should come creeping back.

Right now Peggy needs a punching bag and if I happen to be that punching bag, so be it. But she sure as hell better return the favour. I need one of my own and it has Michael's name written all over it. I'm the only one who gets to mess with hell cat.

"You honestly believe that I care? The only thing I care about is my paycheck and I won't let some steroid-pumping jackass ruin what little we have going for us right now," I speak up after noticing her rant has come to an end.

"What he did is inexcusable," her eyes burrow into mine, "But you're no better."

Yeah, I established that much.

She lowers her hand with the files in and steps back, ready to walk out again. I don't think so.

"You told me to wait for seven days. Peggy it's day seven and she's still in that fucking coma!!" I yell, frustration getting the best of me.

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Vivian's POV:

I told you something weird is going on! Déjà vu of the same situation doesn't come around several times all in one day!... Jess' voice rings throughout my ears and I continue to ignore her.

I have to focus my time right now on my mom. She's what matters most. "Well, he did. But that's not even the craziest part. Afterward, I-" 

I stop as my thoughts take over. 

I shouldn't continue. She's going to yell at me.

And how do you know that?... Jess quesions. Her voice laced with curiosity and an 'I-told-you-so' can easily be detected.

I don't know. I just do. Okay, you're right. Something weird is going on. Jess, what's happening?... I question and now of all times, she decides to remain completely silent.

"Afterwards you what honey?" mom questions and I continue, but make sure to leave out a few details. It's for the best and rather safer that way. Yes, that's what I'll tell myself. It's for the best.

"Umm, then there was this Steven-"

"A Steven?" she asks rather puzzled. It's freaking me out how I expected that exact puzzled look that has taken over her face at this very moment. I know that if I spend to much time worrying about it, I'll drive myself insane.

"Yeah a Steven and-" before I can finish, the world around me starts spinning.

One by one everything around me starts to dissapear, being replaced by a pure bright white light. Suddenly I feel trapped, trapped inside a blank white room with no beginning or end. Trapped inside my own body, my mobility becomes nonexistent and panic kicks in. A growing pain forms in my head and my breathing becomes rigid. I can feel a sense of nausea building up in the pit of my stomach. I shut my eyes tightly, trying to rid my headache and gain control of my heartbeat, but fail miserably as I physically weaken by the second.

Then a feeling of 'awakening' consumes me, as if I've just returned from the dead. My mind is in a daze and I have no clue as to where I am or what had happened to get me here in the first place.

With my vision blurry, I blink a few hundred times to clear up my foggy eyes. Even though I can't see much more than fuzzy shapes, my eyes wander about. I don't recognize this place or anything around me, which only causes more concern. I try to sit up, but something or someone is restraining me from doing so.

"Where am I?" I question once an annoyingly loud beeping sound ring through my ears. Yet, sound itself refuses to escape my mouth. I can feel something gagging my throat, preventing me from uttering a single word.

It take me longer than what I'd like to, to realise that I'm not home. I've never been home. And at this very moment, I feel my heart shatter into a million tiny little pieces. It's going to take more than a miracle to find and mend my broken heart.

"Welcome back princess," a mysterious voice announces.

Princess? But no one calls me that...