The Passionate Pursual

(A Series of Unfortunate Events Fanfic)

By DoYouCareEnough

*****

"The truth of the matter is that you always know the right thing to do. The hard part is doing it."
-Norman Shwarzkopf, U.S. General

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Chapter One

Unfortunate Unveilings

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It was stormy out on the waters, and the rain was flooding Beatrice. I looked to Klaus, terrified, and he looked back at me like, You're the inventor. Do something. But there was nothing I could do. The boat was going to sink, and we were going to die.

It was as simple and as complicated as that.

What was truly ironic about this was that we could see the shore. Though we were many miles out, we could just see the faintest strip of land on the horizon. The boat only had to hang on for another few hours or so, yet our journey on boat still had to end here. How were we going to make it to land? How would we possibly survive?

I looked over at Beatrice, and her eyes were wide with fright. I closed my eyes, trying to hold the tears back. I must be strong. I must. For them. For my siblings, and my friends who were also my family.

"Violet." Quigley says from behind me. He grabs my hand, and I look over at him. "We stick together." He orders and promises, and I nod, the tears trying even harder to make their way out of my eyes. I fight the migraine that's sweeping through my head, trying to stay alert. These next few minutes were going to be crucial, and I couldn't be worried about things as contrastingly simple as a headache.

As the boat began to tip, I look to my family.

"I love you all. And I plan to seeing you on the mainland." I squeeze Quigley's hand, and the rest of my family members jump out of the capsizing boat and into the water. They began to swim towards the shore, and I look to Quigley. He smiles reassuringly.

"We'll all make it." And then we jump into the warm water, too.

The current and storm instantly took us all in different directions, and I saw Duncan clinging to Beatrice, Isadora clinging to Klaus, and Sunny, ever the independent soul, was swimming hard towards the shore. God, how I loved my little Sunny. Only she wasn't so little anymore.

Quigley and I held onto each other as we swam and let the current take us where it wanted. Eventually the storm died down, and we let go of each other in favor of swimming our hardest. It took us two days to reach the mainland, and we arrived cold, sick, and drenched. We were terrified, and had no idea where our siblings were.

And so we made our way into the world.

*****

[One Year Later]

Quigley and I eventually found Duncan, Sunny, Isadora and Klaus. They made it to the shore not too far from where we were, and we reunited to make a game plan.

Beatrice was gone.

We still haven't found her.

Though the rest of my family has begun to accept that Beatrice has inevitably passed away, I can't accept that. No, I won't accept that. Call it a hunch, call it intuition, I just know that my strong Bea is out there somewhere.

Klaus, Quigley, Isadora, Duncan, and I did odd jobs and even panhandled until we got money for an apartment for the five of us, including Sunny, to share. We enrolled Sunny in school, and all tried our hardest to get steady jobs, or at least just a job, so that we could try and make a life for ourselves.

All the while, I've desperately searched for my dearest Beatrice.

*****

I was in an elevator shaft. And empty elevator shaft; one without all of the gears and levers and pulleys and wiring needed to make one run. The shaft was very, very tall, and was oddly familiar, though it was pitch-black. In the far corner was an empty, abandoned cage. I knew that somewhere, deep in the back of my mind, I knew why it was empty, but my psyche came up blank. God, why couldn't I remember?I needed to get out of here. Right now! My entire self was screaming for me to run, jump, climb, anything.

Wait.

Climb.

That was it! A little bell "dinged," the light bulb was lit, all of those little metaphors for figuring something out happened.

I dug my fingernails into the hard, concrete wall of the shaft, and tried my hardest to climb. I clumsily fell multiple times. And then, suddenly, something cascaded down the wall, landing next to me.

Since my eyes had adjusted to the dark, I could tell that it was a make-shift rope, composed of extension chords, scarves, ties, and bits of rope. It, like the cage and the elevator shaft was very, very familiar. I thought hard as to why I remembered it, but then realized that I was wasting my time. I tugged on the make-shift rope to make sure it was sturdy, and then started climbing.

It felt like I was climbing for all of eternity. Really, and truly, this was the most tedious and difficult task I'd ever done. Ever. Including S.O.R.E. at Prufrock Preparatory. This was a thousand times worse than that.

Finally, I could see the top. I smiled victoriously, and started to climb faster and harder.

Suddenly, a figure appeared at my destination. I could not see who it was, but I could see two very shiny, shiny eyes staring hard at me. For the fourth time, something very familiar showed up, but I could not place my finger on why it was so familiar.

Then, like someone had flipped a light switch, everything got very, very bright. Neon bright. My eyes stung and for a minute or two I couldn't see anything but white. I held onto the rope for dear life as I blinked furiously, trying to see who those familiar eyes belonged to. Finally, I could see, and I was struck with horror when I saw who was in front of me.

I tried to scream, but I was completely mute. I tried with all my might to alert someone that I was in trouble, but nothing came out.

"Hello, Violet." The greedy voice of Count Olaf said. He pulled out a long bread knife, which was rusted and kind of bloody, and once again I was struck with the familiarity, but was unable to understand why I recognized it. The person began to saw into one of the extension chords, and I began to panic. I grabbed onto the top of the shaft, and tried to pull myself up as the rope split in two, and the bottom fell noiselessly down the elevator shaft. I looked down to where it fell, and turned back to the Count.

He shook his head mockingly at me.

"Goodbye, Violet." He said once again, and kicked me hard in the head. I didn't feel any pain, but I felt the sheer terror as I fell down the shaft.

I was just about to hit the bottom when, suddenly…

*****

I awoke. I was breathing hard and crying, and, like every other time I had a nightmare, I began to scream. Terribly loud and piercing, my screaming just kept coming and coming without any liberation from the ear-splitting noise. I just could not stop, though.

In the beginning, Quigley, Klaus, Sunny, Isadora, and Duncan had always awoke in a fright, thinking that somehow Count Olaf had resurrected and was coming to murder me in my sleep. But, they always found me in the same state, sobbing, screaming, and shaking violently, while clinging to my blanket and pillow for dear life.

I hated mine and Quigley's bedroom, because it was ominous and old, making me always afraid, which made sleeping nightmare-free impossible.

I felt bad for putting everyone through this trial. I was the oldest, so I should be the strongest.

Yet I wasn't.

Of all of us, I was the one who had the hardest time adjusting to 'normal' life. I was always terrified, always on edge, always unable to get out of bed most mornings. The only reason I did was, once again, to be strong for my siblings especially, but also my friends. I could only imagine what it would do to Klaus and especially Sunny if they saw their older sister, their rock, falling to pieces even more than she usually did.

Every morning, when I awoke, I thought of my parents' order for me to always protect my siblings, and remembered that I had to protect them from my pain.

I was the only one that wasn't completely flourishing in my job. Duncan, Isadora, Klaus, and Quigley all found jobs that suited them perfectly, and made the most out of their new life. I, however, couldn't handle work. Even though I worked in a place that was perfect for me- I worked as an assistant to an inventor- I just could not deal with it. I saw the stares of my co-workers, heard the whispers about me. While most people in our town enjoyed the presence of my old and new family, none of them understood why I had such a problem adjusting. Many people knew our past, but many people did not understand just how drastic our internal scars were.

I was the weird girl, the one who was constantly breaking down on the sidewalk, the one who was on the verge of a mental breakdown. They avoided me like the plague, so my only friends were my family, which was fine by me.

The amount of change that I'd done since before my parents had died was terrifying. I went from the fun-loving, outgoing, friendly, naïve girl to the strong, misfortunate girl, to the nervous, terrified-of-life loner. I hated who I'd become, but I didn't know how to change how I felt. My anxiety was getting worse, and it was like I just couldn't deal.

Quigley kept me going. He was my best friend, and the only person who I could really talk to about this. He never judged me, never made me feel like I was crazy or unstable.

He was my rock, and without him I should surely not continue to continue on.

A/N: Hope you liked Chapter One. I plan on having thirteen chapters, like the real books.

I will update soon, and I hope you guys actually want me to continue this story.

Review! Review! Review!