Her siblings seemed to want no contact with her after father took her violin. She couldn't really blame them.
After her violin was taken, she became even more reclusive and less willing to maintain the illusion she was okay. So she threw herself even further in trying to find out the extent of her power.
She'd made some headway, but not enough for her to be satisfied. Vanya had accidentally figured out that she could use any sound to do almost anything. Her ability was more versatile than any of her siblings. She swallowed the bitterness that came with that thought.
Vanya was alone in the kitchen, fixing herself a sandwich, having missed lunch because she was reading through every book she could get her hands on.
She was humming Für Elise, longing to play her violin with a pianist again. She needed a knife to spread the mustard crossed through her mind. She dismissed it and moved to just smear it with a piece of meat. She jolted when a butter knife clattered onto the table.
She'd blinked and looked around. The drawer holding the silverware was open and no one was in sight. Then she grabbed the knife and inspected it. She didn't know what she was looking for, but she couldn't find anything wrong with the knife.
The knife was fine.
After that, she'd eaten her sandwich quickly, glad no one had seen what she'd done with the knife. There were a few more incidents that followed along the same vein, but they were hardly ever on purpose. Always accidental.
And that routine continued on for another week. Until something different broke it.
Ben was back.
Vanya didn't know what to do. She was comfortable with how things had been, not happy but definitely comfortable. No one had bothered her, and she was content to wallow in pity, self-loathing, and self-isolation. She knew it wasn't healthy.
But Ben broke that routine. He didn't immediately adjust like she did. He seemed to have moments of Clarity, where he seemed to wonder at Klaus's sober state, or at the fact that Fives was home and not on some suicidal mission. He never seemed to have any of those moments with her, and honestly, she was glad. She didn't think she could handle the look in his eyes.
So of course it didn't last.
The next moment of Clarity happened when she was in the library, reading and taking notes on the couch. Ben was sitting on one of the chairs doing the same. She was disarmed by his quietness, he wouldn't bother her. He never did.
So she was shocked when he did.
"Vanya?" Her pen dragged roughly across the page, nearly tearing it. She looked up, and saw the Clarity in his eyes. She swallowed and braced herself.
"H-how are you?" Ben asked, on the edge of something. Desperation, longing, or panic? Maybe a cocktail of all three.
Carefully she flipped to a clean page in her notebook and wrote, 'Fine.'. He deflated at that. It seemed that moments of Clarity had the consequence of him not remembering anything that happened in this body. He only had his own knowledge, and conversely the thirteen year old Ben had no memory of what'd happened when the other Ben took over.
"Are you sure? Why aren't you talking?" She quickly wrote the answer to the first question, but the second had the pen sitting on the page. She showed him what she wrote and shrugged. It wasn't easily explained, not even to herself.
Ben set his book down. He didn't bookmark the page, thirteen year old Ben would be confused. She tilted her head when Ben stood up.
"Can I hug you, Vanya?" She stiffened and looked at the doors. Ben seemed to catch the look in her eyes, and backed off a bit. He instead kneeled down by the arm of the couch, out of the way of the exits. She'd barely registered that.
"Please, Vanya?" She looked down at her hands. What could it hurt? It's not like Ben had super strength.
Vanya nodded. Warm arms wrapped around her, she barely kept herself from stiffening. Instead she went limp, ready to slip out of his hold at a moments notice. Ben held onto her for a few minutes, seeming to gain energy from it.
"I'm home, Vanya. And I'm here to stay." Ben whispered against her shoulder. Vanya couldn't stop the tears from flowing. She didn't know how much she needed to hear those words.
Seconds later, thirteen year old Ben was back. He continued to hug her while he she cried. Even if he was confused.
Ben came back to Clarity one more time, then then the Clarity seemed to settle. He was home.
Reginald Hargreeves was a deceivingly complicated man. To outsiders he seemed buried in mystery, hidden behind layers of curtains, his emotions under layers of locks. But Reginald was a simple man. He cared about two things, preventing the apocalypse, and control. Preventing the apocalypse was easy to explain.
Buy seven extraordinary children off their ordinary mothers. Train them, break them down, and build them up even stronger. Making the children stronger and more capable of stopping the apocalypse was his only concern.
Conversely, if the children got too strong, and fled his control. He broke them down, brutally. After all that's what happened to Number Seven. She had the greatest power of all the children that he'd adopted. But that power also helped her break the cookie cutter mold he'd carefully crafted for the children.
He'd locked her up, manipulated her, and drugged her until she was no longer recognizable anymore. If he couldn't control his children, he'd neutralize them.
So it concerned him when Number Seven started displaying signs of her powers. The butter knife, the light switch, and book. All signs of his faltering control.
But, he tapped his finger on his desk. Analyzing the footage, he noticed she seemed to have some measure of control over her powers. Sure, it came out in bursts, not entirely on purpose, but it had potential.
He brought out his notebook and took notes, considering his options. Break her again, or mold her while he still could?
A/N: oh you poor, sweet, summer child, you forgot about the cameras.
Korn- Black is the Soul, Seether - Fake It, and anything by Five Finger Death Punch were some songs i listened to while writing this in one sitting. i had to play to loud and energetic songs to stay awake, so sorry if this chapter is really edgy, this should be the worst. except for maybe when luther and allison show up.
thank you to reviewers Guest, toile grant, and zoeheart14! and everyone who has fav and followed so far!