"𝐼𝑡 𝑤𝑎𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑙𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑚𝑎𝑧𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑛𝑢𝑚𝑏𝑒𝑟 𝑜𝑓 ℎ𝑎𝑟𝑑 ℎ𝑖𝑡𝑠 𝑓𝑟𝑜𝑚 𝑤ℎ𝑖𝑐ℎ 𝑎 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑐𝑜𝑢𝑙𝑑 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟."
―𝑆𝑡𝑒𝑝ℎ𝑒𝑛 𝐾𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝐹𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝐷𝑎𝑟𝑘, 𝑁𝑜 𝑆𝑡𝑎𝑟𝑠

𝒩.

"𝐇𝐄'𝐒 𝐑𝐈𝐆𝐇𝐓, 𝐘𝐎𝐔 know."

Natalia frowned as she entered Diego's room and sat by him on the bed. "Who?"

"Five." Diego's eyes were set firmly on his hands, and his voice was no more than a whisper (she was sure it was taking just about all of his dignity to admit that—God forbid!—someone else was right about something). "About Patch."

Natalia kept quiet while twisting her ring. Five was right. There was nothing Patch stood for more than honour and second chances—hell, how many second chances had he given Diego?

She wasn't sure whether or not she was supposed to verbally agree. Last thing she needed was for Diego to complain that she was taking Five's side all for the sake of disagreeing with him.

"What do you think, Natalia?"

Great.

"I think . . . Five's words have some truth to them," she said carefully. "Hazel's looking for a second chance. Patch would give him that."

"And what about Cha-Cha? She lookin' to do some charity work too?"

"Well . . ." She scrunched her nose. "I'm not so sure, but it doesn't mean she's pure evil. She's . . . As shitty as it sounds, she's just doing her job."

Diego sighed. Natalia scooched closer to him so that the sides of their legs were brushing each other.

"Listen, Diego. It sucks to lose a friend. It really does." She bit her lower lip before resting her head on his shoulder. "You'll be angry for a really long time. But, honestly, the best thing you can do is move on and remember the good times."

𝒩.

Natalia's eyebrows furrowed as she sat at her desk, about halfway through the book she was reading. She straightened up, looking towards her door. She didn't like how quiet it had been for the last thirty minutes; after all the chaos in the last week, the silence was unsettling.

Her gaze turned towards her window, staring out at the sky that was beginning to darken. If she squinted hard enough, she was able to see the moon and some glittering stars that were soon to illuminate the night. A gentle breeze drifted in from the open window, lightly blowing her hair to the side and sending a slight shiver down her spine.

She got up, tucking her chair in before heading towards the window that was hardly a few feet away and leaning against the window sill.

Her eyes roamed the city—the buildings whose windows were lit with bright yellows and whites, the cars whose engines rumbled as they raced down the streets, the drunken people who strolled as they laughed and stumbled their way home, all unknowing of the death that they had just narrowly escaped.

Natalia sighed, leaning a hand against her cheek as she let the soothing wind brush against her skin and cool her. It had been a while since she felt at peace like this. 

After a few moments, her eyebrows furrowed and her back stiffened. She shook her head, biting her lower lip as she stared out of the window. Something felt wrong.

She quickly closed her window before flicking the lights off and leaving her room. She peeked into Diego's room, which was empty before doing the same for Luther and Klaus', both of them also being completely void of life. She knew Allison was still in the infirmary, and Five had left the Academy some time ago with his mannequin girlfriend, so she didn't worry about them.

Natalia found Pogo in the living room before asking if he knew of the boys' whereabouts and felt her heart sink slightly as he shook his head and responded with a no.

She could hardly trust those three individually, but together? She could barely imagine what shenanigans they could get up to.

After searching throughout the entire house, she crossed over to the training complex, which she hadn't visited in years. She took no moment to reminisce in the white walls and (un)motivating posters as she headed towards the basement.

She felt her spirits lift as she heard familiar voices and quickly followed the sound until she reached them.

Her spirits quickly crashed when she walked into the room—one that she very much didn't recognize. It was large, though dimly lit, and its only saving grace was the yellow lamp hanging just above Luther's head. The walls were stained—almost damp-like.

But the thing that caused Natalia to gasp, was the chamber opposite her. The one where—seen through the windowed door—Vanya was, banging against the glass. It was obviously soundproofed; Vanya's mouth was wide open, yet she couldn't hear a thing.

Her gasp caused the three men to turn to her, and she took their attention to say, "What the hell is going on?"

Diego seemed just as disturbed as she was as he gestured toward Luther. "He locked her up because he thinks she has powers."

Natalia's gaze snapped back to Vanya. Her? Powers?

"No, I know she does. Pogo told me," Luther cut in. "He's always known, and so did Dad."

Diego placed a hand on the outside of the chamber, curiously. "Why would they hide this from us? I mean, am I the only one that didn't know this place existed?"

"He hid so much from us," Klaus breathed out.

"Nevermind all that," scoffed Natalia, stepping toward the door. "Let her out!"

"No, Natalia," said Luther sharply, and she was suddenly stopped in her tracks as a rough hand grabbed her shoulder. "We can't. You know . . . He hid it because he was afraid . . . of her."

"Oh, that's ridiculous!" she replied, attempting to shove his hand off her, though his grip was firm.

"Is it?" he swiftly rebutted. "Dad's lied about everything else, why is this so far-fetched?"

"If you're right, then maybe she's the one who killed Peabody," Diego realized.

"And cut Allison's throat," Luther added grimly.

"Whoa, no. Let's—I just—sorry, just, let's go back, all right?" interrupted Klaus, shutting his eyes and shaking his head. "This is Vanya we're talking about! Our sister! The one who always cried when we stepped on ants as kids."

"Thank you!" sighed Natalia. At least one of them was sensible.

"Yeah, I know," Luther said quietly. "I know it's difficult to accept—"

"It's not difficult to accept," Natalia retaliated, "it's impossible to accept!"

"No, she's right," quickly said Diego, turning to his brother. "Look, we can't keep her locked up without proof."

"Wh—what more proof do you need?" questioned Luther.

"Why don't we just open the door and ask her?" said Klaus incredulously, and Natalia couldn't agree more.

"No," Luther said strictly, grabbing Klaus' arm as he reached for the door, "she's not goin' anywhere."

"No, even if you're right, she needs our help," exclaimed Diego, pointing toward Vanya, who was relentless with her begging, "and we can't do that if she's locked in a cage!"

"Yeah," added Klaus breathily, now having walked a few steps away, "and for all we know, she might be struggling with this new power. I mean, it must be scary—terrifying, really—to discover that you can do something that you never thought you could do."

"Look," Luther said quietly, "if what Pogo told me is even half true, then she is not just a danger to us."

Natalia could barely hear Luther at this point. All she could focus on was her friend, whose hands were clamped together as she pleaded with them through the glass.

Her eyes locked on the door handle—which looked more like a ship's wheel if anything—and she knew one or two blasts would be enough to break it. She knew she wouldn't have that much time, a split second at most before someone could stop her, so she prepped her energy while the attention was off her.

Magenta immediately shrouded her hands, though she kept them by her side.

But before she could even think of a proper plan, two rough hands grabbed her shoulders and yanked her back.

"Natalia," Luther warned in her ear, his fingers digging into her shoulders, "you don't know what you're doing."

"I'm helping my friend!"

And just as she managed to get his hands off her, she felt a blow to her jaw, and she blacked out.

𝒟.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?!"

Diego thanked his lucky stars that he had managed to catch Natalia on time—if he hadn't, they would have to add a concussion to the list of injuries.

Luther didn't seem all that sympathetic as he rubbed his knuckles. "Sorry, Diego. I had to."

"Had to, my ass."

"Yeah," added Klaus, coming to Diego's side and softly patting Natalia's cheek, "I don't think that was necessary."

All Diego wanted to do at this point was give Luther a taste of his own medicine, though he restrained himself. He readjusted his hold on Natalia so that he was carrying her bridal style, and looked at the door, where Vanya was giving him an imploring look.

He looked back at Luther, whose grave face hadn't changed. Even if Diego wanted to do something about this whole Vanya situation, he had a strong feeling his voice wouldn't matter.

He shook his head. "I'm outta here."